there is an acounting of it but that accounting of it serves only to take it into possession So it is here also There is somthing the soul doth in receiving but it tends only to this end that it may be possessed of Jesus Christ and of his merits Secondly As there is a passiveness in Receiving to be noted So in receiving there is a meanness and and lowness of condition It was an Apothegâ—e or usuall speech of our Lord as it seems by the Apostle To say It is better to give than to receive Acts 20.35 That is better more honorable more commendable He that gives the least gift hath more honor than he that receives the greatest kindness And as I shall shew you afterward In regard of the profit of beleeving it is very great but in regard of the manner of beleeving it is an abasement unto man A denial even of his reason for the testimony sake of Christ But those are not the things which I intend principally Thirdly in Receiving there is a taking to ones self that which before he had not As a man receives mony which before was out of his hands by being received it comes into his possession and is his own And in this sense you shal find the word Received used in the Scripture in Heb. 11.39 All these having obtained their good report through Faith received not the promise Received it not that is they saw not they were not made actually partakers of the benefits of Christ being in the flesh Although that they had the advantage and profit of his undertaking for them with the Father They Received it not that is they were not actually partakers Fourthly Receiving notes the taking a thing with joy and gladness of heart As the Text saith in Heb. 13.2 There was some that did receive Angels unawares It being you know a phrase that is taken from those men that do bid welcome their guests or friends Acts 7.59 And so Stephen prays in that language Lord Jesus saith he receive my Spirit He doth by his faith apprehend Jesus Christ standing in the door of Heaven as Abraham stood in the door of the Tent and praies him to be pleased and not pass him by but to receive him that he may sit down and eat and drink in the kingdom of God These two latter things are those which principally I intend to speak unto in this point And if you look into the words of my Text you shal find First that the persons that are Receivers are Beleevers For as many saith the Text as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to as many as beleeve on his name All they that received him beleeved on him and all they that beleeved received Christ They and none else They are the same persons Doct Secondly you may observe which is the main thing I intend that Beleevers and Receivers are not only one and the same persons But to beleeve is to receive and to receive Christ is beleeve on his name What in the beginning of the Text is called receiving of him in the end of the Text is called beleeving on his name the same persons in the same act that in the beginning of the verse are said to receive are in the latter end of the verse said to beleeve on his name They must of necessity be but divers expressions of the same Act for this reason Because otherwise if you make them two distinct acts a man may receive Christ and yet not beleeve and a man may beleeve on Christ yet not receive him It is impossible that Christ should be received but by Faith and it is impossible a man should beleeve on the name of Christ and not receive him The manner of speech is supposed to be a Caldeisme or a propriety among the Caldees who make it all one to beleeve and to trust And upon this now shall I fasten a little while Faith I say it is a receiving of Christ As many as received him There is somthing to be received for beleeving In 1 Pet. 1.9 Receiving the end of your Faith the salvation of your Souls A man shal be saved for his faith as well as rewarded for his sufferings or any other act of obedience and observance unto God a man shal be as well rewarded at the last because he hath much of God as because he hath done much for God indeed he doth most for God that receivs most from God He that goes on trust with Christ and receivs any thing of him shall be rewarded for his receiving rewarded for his gain and for his getting Of his fulness have we received Grace for Grace John 1.16 For Grace that is because we have one Grace we shall have another until we come to be full That word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated for is as much in the Scripture as Because in Eph. 5.31 For this cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall a man leave his Father and Mother and shall be joyned unto his Wife The same word may be rendred For this cause Because God hath given us one degree he will give us another Because he hath shewed us one kindness he will with-hold nothing that is good from us Among men he that takes upon trust binds himself to make return and to pay again But he that trusts God makes God a Debtor to him It may be that thou accountest it a presumption that thou beleevest But God accompts it service And of all services it shall not be unrewarded but have the fullest and largest measure because of all services it is that which is most humbling and self-denying of the Creature But of that by the way As there is a receiving somthing for beleeving so there is a receiving in beleeving Faith it self is a receiving as eating is a taking of what may nourish And buying or possession is a receiving an inheritance So you shall find that Faith is compared in John 6.53 to eating and drinking And to buying in Esa 55.1 Somtimes it s an hand that laies hold and wil not let go the thing which it hath and to the being possessed of an inheritance Christ receives all from the Father and Faith receives all from Christ All comes from the Father into Christ as into a Fountain and Faith fetchech all from that Fountain into us as into lesser measures or cisterns Jesus Christ is the Treasury and Faith tels out of him what the Soul hath need of as Christ is made between us and God so faith is given to this end that Christ may be made whatsoever he is unto us That the thing I aim at may yet be more fully and plainly known to you Faith indeed in the Scripture is somtimes expressed by Working but the Text saith It works by love Gal. 5.6 that is It doth set love on a flame and makes a man to have an indeared esteem of God and an undervaluing of himself and every thing which he
That men may be brought to beleeve we teach them that the nature of God is good and kind and merciful But it is only to these ends and in this sense Partly to shew them that God is not moved by any thing out of himself But not to shew them that he were not God by nature unless he took their cause to heart And partly it is to shew them how his wil hath set his nature on work for them and of his grace he hath laid a law upon himself that as he is holy he should keep his word And as he would be acknowledged to be powerful so he should work for us and as he would have the glory of his Justice so he should save And therefore Christ useth these titles Father and Holy Father as it is in John 17.11.21 But this is the first thing When men wil beleeve no more then can be deduced out of those principles which they have of the knowledg of God in them by nature when as the things that God hath promised by Josus Christ are those things which his nature wil make good but they are those things only which his wil hath given to us II. And again Men do receive Jesus Christ into their reason only when as they wil beleeve no more then can be demonstrated and evidently concluded from the scriptures themselves Concluded from the scripture every thing must be demonstratively or by just consequence and it is beleeved savingly But though it must be concluded justly yet it is not necessary that it should be demonstrative unto our faith A conclusion is then demonstrative mark it when it is as clear and evident as the principle is whence it is drawn I say when it is as cleer As for example In 2 Cor. 5.15 Saith the Apostle If Christ died for al then were al dead This is the conclusion Then were al dead and this is as demonstrative and as cleer as this That Christ died For he died for them and in their stead and he needed not to die for them and in their stead if they had not been lyable to death themselves But al matters of faith al matters that shal be done for us by Jesus Christ shal not be thus cleerly demonstrated That is the thing in hand For the proofe of it Consider with your selves that it is the self same faith whereby a man doth beleeve his own Salvation and doth beleeve the truth of the promises The faith of assurance it is a divine faith as wel as the faith of assent is unto what God hath revealed A man that makes this discourse Mark 16.16 He that doth beleeve shal be saved takes that upon the word of God which cannot be denyed But I have true faith faith he and therefore I shal be saved This conclusion now is as divine because drawn from that proposition as that proposition is That he that beleeves shal be saved But it is not as demonstrative and cleere It is as true I say but not as cleere Then you see that more is to be beleeved then can be cleerly demonstrated The scriptures are like a treasure or womb which containe more things in them then the word at the first face and looking upon can make known unto the mind of a man I would but only instance in one thing more Math. 22.32 which I spake of just now Christ goes about to prove the resurrection of the dead from this that God said he wil be the God of Abraham Isaack and Jacob. That he wil be their God that is cleere From thence he concludes therefore that the dead shal rise This is as certaine but it is not so cleere unless God first explains what it is to be a God unto one It is required of Faith in this promise I will be thy God to expect as much as God can do for one though it be not expressed That is the thing that I aim at Matters of favors are to be alwaies inlarged and promises are to be interpreted in the extensivest and largest sense And you have this proof of it because when God saith he will be ones God and gives him this promise he is bound to beleeve that God will do as much for him as he can though those words do not express it Therfore saith Christ in Math. 22.29 You err not knowing the Scripture and the power of God You think the Scriptures contain no more in them than what the words do at first sight and in their view tender to you You must saith he interpret the scripture according to Gods power and know where he hath said he will be a God unto a man there he hath ingaged all his power to do for a man or else you err You err not knowing the Scripture and the power of God However the words of scripture are used to direct and limit the sense of our Faith or the hope of our Faith yet they are not given to limit and bound the goodness of God The goodness of God and the love which he bears and the good that he will do is far greater because it is infinite than words taken from men can set forth There are some that go yet further in their entertainment of Jesus Christ and they put him into their affections They that hold that mans Will must have the casting voice in the matters of his conversion and salvation use this distinction They fay the Will may be wrought upon quo ad affectum but not quo ad effectum God by means doth effect the Will But that the Wil should be throughly effected and brought over unto the things that God would have it that ariseth from a mans own self The distinction is good and serviceable to the point in hand though it be applied by them But it hath this truth in it That a man may have his affections stirred and stirred under the means with the things which do belong unto eternal life and yet notwithstanding have his heart ful of lusts and his wil stand in the same firmness stiffness and stubborness against the things of Jesus Christ as if he had no such kind of affections Let me but instance in this one particular Suppose a man to be taken or delighted with a Jewel that is worth millions but the delight that he hath in it is but as the delight which belongs unto a thing worth but twenty pounds So there may be a delight in Jesus Christ but not suitable to the worth and excellencies of him Suppose yet further Suppose a man should make shew of love unto a man as I said in the beginning of the point but yet should lodg him among vile persons whom he loaths no man will say this mans affections are good So when as Jesus Christ shal be lodged with the Devil and with thy lusts and corruptions With one breath thou art for him and with another thou art for them When thy sins reign and live in thy heart taking their pleasures
concernment only but as the things which cannot be otherwise And therefore it works a firm assent in the soul so as nothing can make it think otherwise Nothing can make it question whether these things be not to be had in Christ which it doth reveal And so you have it in John 3.33 He that doth beleeve sets to his Seal that God is true He sets to his Seal It 's a further confirmation you know in Law for a man to set to his seal before witness than it is for a man to pass his promise When the Seal is set there is no plea as wel as no going back That is the fullest confirmation such a confirmation as Amen and such a ful assent doth faith work in the Soul concerning what it knows of Jesus Christ So that Faith wil say It 's true and it cannot be questioned and it is undoubted It is worthy of all acceptation as the Apostle saith in another case And let the cunning and subtilty of Satan be what it will be yet he holds that sure which is spoken concerning the promises And hence in all the troubles in the minds of the Saints their trouble is not so much for any thing as this that there being such things to be had that they have no share nor portion in them as they fear For the setting forth of this firm assent In Bsay 53.1 Who saith the Text hath beleeved our report and that word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beleeved is of such a conjugation in the Hebrew Tongue as maketh a thing out to be true It gives it a being that is it makes the thing as reall as if the thing revealed were revealed unto sense and to be taken notice of by the eye or ear or the like And in Rom. 4.21 it is said that Abraham because he had the promise of God was fully perswaded that what God had promised he was able to perform He was fully perswaded Where true faith is there is not alwaies such a ful perswasion that a man shal be saved but where true faith is there is a fulness of perswasion that the things revealed shall be accomplished But yet not such a fulness as no further degree can be added to it but such a fulness as there is no doubt nor fear of the contrary As full assurance is opposite to an opinion whereas an opinion is nothing else but an assenting to a thing with fear that it may be otherwise than it seems to be In opposition to an opinion Faith is a full perswasion though it 's not a ful assurance as it notes perfection As for example He that sees a color may be so certain as he cannot be deceived and yet he may see it more cleerly than he doth So a man may have more of the Grace of the faith of assent yet that further degree doth not adde any further certainty of the object but only of the degree of beleeving Joh. 10.3 Isa 55.3 And therefore in the Scripture Faith is somtimes called seeing and somtimes tasting Tast and see how good the Lord is And somtimes hearing My sheep hear my voice And hear and your Souls shall live As reason perswades the understanding in ordinary and natuarll things and that Reason most which is demonstrative So Faith perswades the Soul in things that are revealed and though that the things themselves do not appear yet because God saith they are so it doth as verily beleeve them as if they saw them with their eyes or felt them with their hands or were partakers of them by any sense And herein lies a very great difference between the people of God Beleevers and others To others the great things of the Gospel seem to be as a strange thing yea as foolishness as the Apostle saith And as the Apostle doth intimate in another place when he useth this phrase Why should it seem strange and incredible to you that God should raise up the dead All that the Gospell saith till faith hath this work is not only counted as a fable that is the Phrase of the Apostle when he speaks of them that preach Fables such things as are devices for some further end and because there are such things but only used as a piece of Rhetorick to perswade men to another thing As there is no disputing against sense A man feels it to be hot and nothing can make him say it is cold when he tasts the thing that is sweet nothing can make him say it is bitter So nothing can make a man that beleeves beleeve the things that are revealed to be otherwise That is the meaning of the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.15 That the spiritual man is judged of none He may be censured of men for to be a fool and by his own heart and by Satan What do you beleeve that God wil part with such things unto such a one as you are Is it reason that the Lord of life should die be made a curse for you But though he may be judged yet he cannot be cast in his judgment he cannot be perswaded to the contrary from what he receives from the judgment of Faith in the Word of God The spirituall man judgeth all things and he himself is judged of none There is a Judgment of censure and a Judgment of conviction By a Judgment of censure a Beleever may be condemned of others and condemned and checkt by his own carnall heart As Sarah laughed when she heard the news of having a child in her old age in whom all the generations of the World should be blessed So a man is ready to laugh at himself for beleeving things which the Gospell requires which are so much above reason I say a man may censure himself and be censured by others But with the Judgment of Conviction he cannon be Judged The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle useth signifies such a kind of Judgment which a man makes of a thing when he hath tri'd it in al the most exquisite waies that possibly may be used Such a kind of knowledg as a man hath of the matter which he hath gotten out of the confession of another by torments and tortures Do what you wil unto a Godly man and a Beleever yet still he holds that God is good and that there are such things in Jesus Christ which the Gospell reveals Do what you will Torture him with temptations yet when he is himself he holds that You may see this to be the nature of common Faith Men that have but a common historical faith yet they beleeve so firmly as nothing can make them denie Christ As we see by experience of many among the Turks who have nothing but this Faith yet when they have liberty offered them from those torments upon refusing to own Jesus Christ to be God yet they refuse that liberty Specially you shall sind those that have strong faith they will hold the conclusion when they cannot answer the
so much doth it argue Faith in a man CHAP. XXI Receiving denotes taking a thing with joy and gladness of heart and so Faith is receiving An Object answered Faith is called receiving because the soul that doth beleeve doth beleeve willingly and cheerefully Receiving in the scripture is used for such entertainment as freinds give one unto another Or guests or strangers have of their freinds As in Math. 10.14 And Luke 20.10 Christ sends his disciples abroad without any thing to live upon and faith If they wil receive them that is if they wil be glad of the Gospel at such a charge and at the cost they must be at In Heb. 13.2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for in so doing saith he some have received Angels As it is in that place of the Gospel Math. 10.41 He that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet that is that makes him welcome as the Messenger of God In the third Epist of John and vers 9. Diotrephes that loves the preheminency received us not nor would have suffered the Saints to receive us As the Text tells us in the Book of Genesis that Abraham stood at the door of the Tent that he might entertain strangers that passed by And Stephen saw Christ in Heaven and therefore used the word of the Text Lord Jesus Receive my spirit Acts 7.59 My meaning is this Though I cannot look upon Heaven as my own house and home Though I be a stranger and cannot demand the glory thereof as due unto me yet receive me kindly Bid me be of good cheer and give me what is laid up in store there Al this I have spoken to shew that this word Receiving is proper to a kindly entertainment Now faith is such a kind of receiving and entertaining Jesus Christ in some measure I say in some measure As Jesus Christ doth receive the soul into Heaven so doth the soul receive Jesus Christ into it by beleeving That self same love which Christ shews that kindness which he expresseth to the soul in entertaining it into Glory that in some measure doth the soul express in its laying hold upon Jesus christ It is said in Luke 19.5 6. That Christ bad himself to Zacheus his house to dinner Zacheus come down and make hast for this day I must abide at thy house And Zacheus came down made hast received him joyfully Thus is it in effectual calling in conversion Christ comes unto a soul and saith Turne unto me live Beleeve you shal be saved why wil you dye in the way wherein you are Though there be nothing belong unto you but shame and confusion of face for ever yet by and in me you shal find happiness As Christ doth first offer unto the soul himself So doth the soul receive this offer of Jesus Christ In Acts 8.37 Though that the Eunuch was but a young convert yet notwithstanding of him as of a young convert Philip requires he should beleeve with al his heart If thou beleevest with al thy heart Al the heart is not there taken extensively or gradually that is al one with perfection As it is in the Commandement Thou shalt love the Lord with al thy heart that is love him and love nothing else But al the heart there is opposed unto a divided heart and unto an unwilling spirit If thou beleevest with al thy heart that is if thou be glad of Jesus Christ to undertake for thee If thou dost willingly give up thy self unto him for salvation I say there is a great deal of difference between a mans doing of a thing willingly and doing a thing electively and out of choice A thing is said to be done willingly when it is done out of a principle suitable to it though that in the doing of it there be no thought of taking contentment or pleasure in it As a man sins willingly when the corruption that is in his heart doth break into act As for example A man that hath a prophane and wicked spirit he sweares willingly though he doth not think of swearing when he doth it So al actual corruptions are voluntary though that we do not consider what we do As the wise man speaks that they know not that they do evil because it comes from a corrupt heart within To do a thing voluntarily and willingly it is enough that a man doth it of himself moved thereunto of his own disposition and quality of mind A thing is said to be done electively or by choice when a man having weighed arguments on both sides doth choose one rather then another He puts a difference between the reasons that are urged on either part and chooseth to follow one before the other In Heb. 11.25.26 Moses is said to choose afflictions with the people of God because he judged or esteemed saith the Text. Doing things out of choice is a manner of doing things willingly and the highest sort of so doing And So there is a difference between a mans beleeving willingly and cheerefully and a mans beleeving electively and out of choice A man beleeves willingly when he is carried unto Jesus Christ by the spirit of faith in a sense of his own nothingness and a knowledg of the tenderness and sufficiency that is in Jesus Christ to save him A man beleeves out of choice when he chooseth rather to adventure his soul in that way of beleeving upon Christ then in any other course As for example Conceive you a man like him that came to our Lord Jesus Christ willing to do any thing to obtain eternall life And as a meanes thereunto there is advice given him to repent of what he hath done and to mortify his lusts that he should take up the practise of al dutyes and ordinances heare much and pray often and deny himself opportunities of sin and give that which he hath unto the poor And al this advice is urged upon him with al that can be said from the scripture and reason that if he doth thus he shal be saved But he is also advised to beleeve upon Jesus Christ who Justifies the ungodly who cures a man for nothing who saves them that are not able to returne him any thing again suitable to what they receive from him And he chooseth this way of faith rather then that other way This now is a beleeving out of choice when I say al other wayes are laid before a man for salvation in their greatest probability and yet a man can see faith to be the best way and can answer the reasons that are brought to the contrary Unto this election faith wil grow in time and by experience So that it can say Whom have I in Heaven but thee and I have none on earth in comparison of thee Psal 73.25 Therefore it is compared to a Marriage which cannot be without union to Christ and willingness to be so A woman after Marriage comes to say if she were unmarried again she would have none
I must be put under his feet and it is fit it should be so Yea canst thou receive him thus simply and not upon condition only or principally Rather than the Prodigall would starve he would serve and serve in the meanest condition that could possibly be Rather than he would die he would eat and feed with the Hogs A great change and altogether unlike the Spirit of such a one as he was when he went out from his Father that could not endure to live upon his Fathers curtesie in hopes of his portion but must have it in his own hands Now as he did it out of necessity so may men be ready to receive Jesus Christ But in such a case as that is it is a burden to a man and unto Jesus Christ also For I beseech you consider it If there be no greater cause or reason why a man would have Jesus Christ than that he may be a Plaister to heal him of his sores than that he may be life to recover him from the dead His life is dear to him that is cleer And his salvation is dear to him but Jesus Christ is only as a means to serve his turn and so far he cannot but be desired of a man What man is there as you shall hear by and by that will take delight in Physick for it self or that doth not count it a misery to be alwaies in Physick though it be a means to preserve his health Salvation is to be looked for by Jesus Christ But Jesus Christ especially When Faith gives entertainment unto Jesus Christ it also receives salvation As Christ said unto Zacheus This day salvation is come unto thy house But Jesus Christ is the great and chief Guest Faith I say bids welcome unto Christ and his benefits but most of all unto himself And so much now shall suffice to have spoken of that first sort such as receive not Christ willingly and therefore have no true Faith because they receive him not according to that Glory which he is of CHAP. XXVI Asecond sort of Persons not Receivers of Jesus Christ viz. Such as delay their coming to Christ When delaies argue unwillingness SEcondly such also as do delay and put off their going unto Jesus Christ or closing with him Delay argues unwillingness So the Seller saith A man hath no mind he is not willing to lay out his money by beating up and down he doth not make up his bargain Again Delaies are a kind of denials And so the poor man takes them who cals and asks for an Alms and receives no answer In War If men accept not of conditions by such a time they are counted enemies God counts delaies unwillingness Luke 14.18 The Guests that are invited would not come and yet if you look there you shal see that they do but put off the matter for a while for one saith he had bought a yoak of Oxen and another had other business that he could not come God counts you to be unwilling when you are delaying There is a forbearance which is not a delay As the Apostle Peter saith in 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise though he delaies his coming to judgment because he hath this great reason for it viz. His elect are in the world and must be born into it that so they may be called and saved by him The Lord having so great a reason for his patience with the world therefore he is not to be counted slack though he lets things go disorderly and without punishment for many years together for what we can think I may say now in the like case also that a man doth not delay to beleeve alwaies because he doth not beleeve For there may be some reason for it There is no reason can exempt a man from the obligation unto Faith It s no reason at all for a man to say that because he is poor and miserable and under Gods displeasure or in his sins therefore he should not beleeve But though there be nothing to exempt a man from the obligation of the Commandment of Faith yet there is somthing to be done before the Act of Faith That is the heart must be humbled and have the sense of sin The sense of sin and of a mans need of Jesus Christ doth in order of nature precede go before this Act of resting on him He that hath no sense of sin ought to say that it is my duty to beleeve But he ought to say as well That I may beleeve I ought to see my sins Because therefore there may be a reason therefore every forbearance of believing is not a deniall Nor doth every forbearance argue unwillingness Every forbearance of a duty is not a sign that a man is unwilling to a duty As for example A man makes his friend to stay at the door or in some out-house for a while before he goes out to him Because the room wherein he would entertain him is not righted and made hansome for him And yet he may be as glad of his coming as of any thing in the world And yet make him stay till things be ready for his entertainment So the Soul may be desierous of Christ and yet not think himself fit to receive him as yet A fault there may be in thee and often times there is Because Jesus Christ provides for his own entertainment As soon as ever the door is open that is that the heart be sensible of sin Jesus Christ doth come in with all his furniture makes it an habitation for himself If a man will stay from Jesus Christ for want of one degree of Grace more than he hath there is the same reason he should stay for all degrees of Grace for all degrees of Grace are little enough to compass him with or to give him entertainment But though that forbearance argues not unwillingness in all cases yet in sundry cases it doth As for example When we are not sensible and take not notice of what is done by God and Christ to egge and draw out the Soul by Faith unto him When no spurring will make us go on Though we be exhorted perswaded commanded intreated threatned yet still we stand where we were Amazed at our misery but give not up our selves unto this Grace of Christ Or if a man be moved and not proportionably unto the means that are used Though he hath lived long and been under the perswasion of the Gospel continually yet still there is little very little progress or looking towards the Lord Jesus Like green wood that though there be much fire and earnest blowing yet retains nothing but only a little warmth and comes not unto fire at all Were it only a dulness and heaviness and slowness of spirit and not unwillingnesr the continuance of the means and being continually spurred would remove that and make us at length to get as much as might testifie and bear witness to our Souls that indeed
in the Wil which now I shall betake my self unto CHAP. XI Faith receives Christ also as it is an act of the Will And here it hath a fivefold act 1. A pious affection 2. An approving of the assent of the understanding to the â—…th of the Promise 3. A giving up it self to Jesus Christ 4. A resting upon Jesus Christ 5. An application to it self of what is in Jesus Christ A Caution Application FAith doth not only receive as it is an act in the understanding but as it is an act in the Will There are five severall waies whereby Faith as it is in the Will doth receive Jesus Christ and his fulness A fivefold act Faith doth as it is in the Will put forth to the getting in of what is promised concerning Jesus Christ and his benefits First There is a pious affection Or it works a kind of liking of and love unto Christ and the things of him as good and desirable and real That is the first thing That whereas before the Soul looked upon him as an Enemy or as one that was exceeding hard and austere and it may be as one that did but delude and mock and intended not to give what he spake of and revealed Now the soul begins to have better thoughts of God and to think that he is kind and reall And whereas before it looked upon the things of Christ as of no value and cared not for the knowledg of them now it sels all to buy that Field wherein they are it looked before upon communion with God as not to be desired in comparison or competition with the pleasures of sin His favor and good will with the will of the flesh he would have but would rather leave God than leave his lusts Whereas before he had no mind to mortification or deniall of himself in any thing now there begins to be some liking of the things of Christ and some kind of contentment to be so In Psal 16.7 My reins instruct me saith he in the night season It 's a Psalme which is a profession of Christ and a Picture of one that is made after Christ You may see in that how Christ suffered for us and how we ought to be whatever our afflictions or sufferings be for his name sake Now saith David as one that is drawn after Christ My reins instructed me in the night season The Reins are the seat of the affections and desires They instructed him that is they perswaded him and they began to work him into a better opinion of the waies of God than before he had Then I could say saith he The Lord is my portion and my Lot is fallen in a good ground and now God and troubles God and afflictions are exceeding desirable together let the afflictions be never so hard In Rom. 4.20 it 's said that Abraham did beleeve and gave Glory to God What is it to give Glory to God It is to give a praise and commendation of his works unto him which is to set out the Attributes lively which he hath put forth in any thing towards us But saith he he gave Glory unto God that is he commended God and spake well of him and surely he said within himself he would never have spoken that I should have had a Child and not have done it and he would not have made me beleeve that all the Generations of the world should be blessed in him that should come from me unless somthing above nature should be done for the bringing forth of him He had a good opinion of God Marke it Though there hath been no parley no agreement nor match made between parties yet we discern love between them upon their commending one another So when the Soul begins to commend God and cannot tel how to think so and so of God as Unbelief suggests then he begins to love and that indeed is a beginning of Faith The Papists tell us that Faith is unformed and as a body without a soul untill there be love That is an error For the formall act of Faith is in the understanding to assent which is not comptiable unto the will and affections But in this sense much might be said concerning love Though it gives not a Philosophicall yet it gives a divine being unto Faith that is it puts an excellency upon it Whatever comes from Love unto God is thereby you know made more acceptable unto God And this love or desire of God is necessary both to make a mans understanding captivated unto the mind of God to make the things revealed to become easie unto him We easily beleeve that shall be which we would have be and that man that gets our love gets our trust That therefore is the first thing which Faith doth in the will it begets a pious affection and liking of the goodness in God and the goodness that is in the things which are promised by him unto us It 's not saith the Soul I perceive now such a hardness and such an ill condition to be married to Jesus Christ as I thought of before It 's not a way that brings with it so many inconveniencies as my heart supgested to me But Secondly As Faith is in the Wil it doth approve and allow of that aslent and credit which the understanding hath given unto the truth of the promises I say it doth approve and allow of that assent which the understanding hath given unto the promises The understanding saith I do verily that these things are true you do wel saith the Wil hold you there hold fast that word that is a word worthy of all acceptation receive that rather than any thing As a Steward lets a Lease unto a Tenant and afterwards brings it to the Grand-Lord and he takes cognizance of it and gives consent to it So the understanding brings the promise to the Soul and saith I have beleeved these things to be true and that they shall be accomplished They are above Sense and Reason But I cannot but think buâ— they shall be They are better than all things else Now doth the Will give up it self fully unto the liking and ratifying of this act You have it I conceive fully proved in Phillip 3.3 We are the Circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh We rejoyce faith he and have no confidence in the flesh the Apostle is there proving that a man cannot be saved by the works of the Law but only by being found in Christ Concerning this saith he we do rejoyce As if he should have said we are glad with all our hearts that we shall not go to Heaven by doing but by beleeving and not upon out own Legs but in the Arms of Christ It doth us good to the heart that there is no duty nor service that shall be accepted but only the Lord Jesus Christ It is not our salvation alone which makes our hearts cheerfull but it
their unbelief Math. 13.58 No great works The meaning of the place is this that God doth do unto men according to their Faith According to thy Faith be it unto thee Math. 9.29 As mens Faith is so shall their receiving be If their Faith be mingled with unbelief their receipt shall be but small Where there is a totall unbelief their receipt shall be nothing from God OBJECT But you wil say unto me as it is said in 2 Tim. 2.13 If we beleeve not yet he remains faithful and he cannot deny himself Answ To that I answer If we beleeve not that is if we beleeve not some particular Promise and at some particular time God will abide faithfull for if you observe the place it speaks concerning suffering times and this Promise viz That if we suffer with him we shall also raign with him A man may come to the stake and to his Grave and yet notwithstanding want a perswasion of this A man may dy by his act of affiance and yet have no perswasion of what assistance he shall have in his sufferings But if a man beleeve not that is not at al then nothing is due unto him Mark the Text again God saith he is faithfull Therefore his faithfulness supposeth his Promise And his Promise supposeth our Faith for he is ingaged to none but to them that beleeve Therefore though God abides faithfull yet the meaning is though we question this and that at this and that time yet if our hearts remain faithfull to God and his name we shall receive the things that are promised Therefore let me speak unto you and unto you especially that can settle upon any work but the work of beleeving that are easily perswaded that the Promises belong not to you nor the mercies which are saving with a small hint and insinuation you are discouraged and disheartned Let me speak unto you that are ready to deprive your selves of every sweet morsell which the hand of the Lord reaches out to you who say within your selves when I am thus and can do thus then I will beleeve and go unto Jesus Christ You must come unto this if you wil have any thing from the hand of Jesus Christ to beleeve You must lay down your reason and your sense and you must put your selves to this question Ask thy own heart whether thou wouldest have Jesus Christ or not If it would have him and the things that are his then tell it that it must beleeve for there is no way to receive but by beleeving Therefore let me give this counsell to thee Spend that time in drawing and urging thy Soul to go to Jesus Christ which thou dost in disputing thy right and title and in answering objections and doubts In stead of making out a reflect act of Faith or assurance go directly unto the Lord Jesus Christ And mark the reason of it Faith it gives a title and the possession of the inheritance It 's a receiving Now mark Be sure thar thou hast a right If thou hast a Faith that is alwaies having and craving and longing and hankering after the things of Jesus Christ it is right And again Though that every Commandment of God be to be obeyed and none ought to be more carefull of holiness than he that is justified by the righteousness of another and by the Faith of Jesus I say none ought to be more carefull of a holy life than a Beleever yet spend thy time mark what I say and thy spirits first in receiving and getting Jesus Christ Go not this way to work when thou findest thy self to be so and so then thou wilt beleeve because thou art holy therefore thou goest to Jesus Christ But go to Jesus Christ that thou maiest receive holiness from him for Faith is a receiving As eating a mans meat takes up a great deal of time yet there is no time lost because it fits a man for his work afterwards So the fitter thou wilt be to all the works of sanctification the more time thou spendest in receiving and eating of the things of Jesus Christ It is wisdom first for a man to get in a fulness afterwards to live answerable unto it Why dost thou think of thy sanctification when thou hast not received him that must make thee holy Assure thy self it cannot be but al the things thou goest about will grow dead because thou hast not wherewith to maintain them Al thy motions are but like a Wheel which is hurried by a violent motion but having no spring in its self in a little while it wil grow dead And assure thy self that thou shalt not lay a ground of Faith by doings Doings may lay a ground of assurance but not a ground of receiving or going unto Jesus Christ It is true Many things are to be done as well as beleeving when a man would receive A man must ask that he may receive John 16.24 And a man must be mortified that he may receive Ye ask and receive not because you ask to spend upon your lusts Jam. 4.3 And a man must be humble Jam. 4.6 God giveth Grace to the humble And the Ordinances must be attended even every of them for it oft times fals out that that Ordinance which is neglected is that by which God will convey himself But the Ordinances are but the Vessels in the hand of Faith they are but Buckets which Faith doth let down or but Breasts which Faith doth suck The Receiving is still by Faith Heb. 4.2 And therefore the word profited not because it was not mixed with Faith And the Text saith If they praied and beleevâ—d they should then receive It 's true there are a great many Graces that must be in the man that receives any thing from Gods hands but they are all but the attendants of Faith They are necessary unto Faith Not for reception but by way of presence As the Eye alone sees though it cannot see unless it be joyned to the other members of the body So Faith receives though it never receives but when it is joyned with other Graces Whatever Graces are required unto Faith Faith will help us unto To pray acceptably If we are to pray with humility and submission Faith will help us to it When once Faith is infused it doth dispose and inable the heart to every thing that God requires Besides you know how a man that is touched with covetousness and the love of the world wil bow down himself and deny himself much and become base that he may heap up riches together So wil a man when he hath once gotten Faith He wil pray earnestly and go from ordinance to ordinance and submit to any condition that the ordinances of Jesus Christ require at his hands that he may serve God and be saved And therefore again and again I say If you wil receive any thing you must beleeve else there is no way for it If you wil stand reasoning and disputing and debating
that he should stand him in stead than any other This is that which the Scripture saith he will accept and take from our hands Go through all the several acts of Faith take them at the lowest observe when as your hearts beat Christ-ward but they beat flowest and feeblest and most uncertainly yet know that though there be much cause of humbling thee and being ashamed that where a man may receive so much good and where he hath so much reason to be good yet then he ought not to cast off his confidence for ever this shall receive this Dignity to be the Son of God And so much shall suffice to have spoken of the Second Reason why Beleeving is called Receiving CHAP. XVIII Receiving denotes a meanness and lowness of Condition in the Receiver And in this sense Faith is a Receiving whether you consider it acting in the Vnderstanding or the Will Thirdly There is a meanness in Receiving Receiving doth imply a meaness and lowness of condition a want or emptiness or being beholden to another God therefore makes it his Glory that he can challenge al the world to say that they have given unto him any thing Who hath given unto him and instructed him and it shall be recompenced It is an honor only belonging unto God not to receive In Acts 20.35 the Apostle doth advise them rather than they would hinder the Course of the Gospel who were Ministers to preach for nothing from the People for saith he Remember the words of our Lord Jesus how he said It is more blessed to give than to receive There is at least-wise a less blessedness in Receiving than there is in giving if I say not that there is an unhappiness in it Let that thing be never so excellent that a man hath yet if he hath received it he hath no cause to be proud or boast the praise must not be given to him that receives but to him that gives 1 Cor. 4.7 If thou hast received it why dost thou boast These several Instances proves that there is a meanness in receiving that receiving supposeth a meanness of condition A Condition that a man is not able to subsist of himself without taking in supplies from others without him And thus Faith is called Receiving because where ever Faith is who ever did or doth or shall receive Jesus Christ he doth receive him with the sence of his own vile condition There is not only such an apprehension in him as this that his state is low That apprehension is true and hath a real foundation and there is no error in such an imagination therefore I am poor and therefore I am unable to do my self good or to do good because there is no way of Salvation to be had but only by receiving is a most certain and good way of Reasoning As he is a poor man that hath no way to live but by taking the charitable Alms and good will of others So he is in a poor condition and in a lost condition that hath no means to save him but what he can get by receiving Neither is a Beleevers condition vile only because of sin and of punishment wherof he is guilty before he doth beleeve but this very act of Faith whereby a man doth receive doth make a mans condition mean though not miserable Through sin and punishment a mans condition is mean and miserable through beleeving a mans condition is not miserable but it is mean It is a mean and low condition you know to live upon another to go on trust for every thing to be beholden and to beg Credit for whatever a man stands in need of Consider the state of Faith with the certain Glory that comes by it for therefore it is of Faith that the Promise may be sure consider Faith as it is a relation Rom. 4.16 and a receiving from so glorious and excellent ones as God and Christ are and so it is the most excellent condition in the World A man lives better that way than if he had all that in Innocency continued to him wherein he was made But now consider this Receiving in and by its self and so it is a mean condition because it is a dependant one he lives at the will of another To eat ones own Bread we use to say is better a great deal and far more honorable than to live upon the Dainties of another mans Table In the verse before my Text it is said John 1.11 That Christ came to his own that is to the Jews and they received him not Now therefore they did not receive him because of tht meaness of the life of Faith He trusted in God said they to deliver him Matth. 27.43 Let him deliver him if he will have him As if they should have said He is not a fit way for a man to trust his Soul in or he is not a fit person for a man to beleeve on for the saving of his Soul who cannot save himself In Rom. 10.3 They went about to establish their own righteousness and submitted not to the righteousness of Faith They submitted not that is they thought the way of beleeving to obtain Salvation by to be too poor and mean a condition Now the Evangelist takes away this offence To as many as received him to them he gave this dignity to become the Sons of God His meaning is Though the life of Faith be mean in it self yet its glorious in its relation for it makes you to be the Sons of God Though the life be such as is beneath and lower than you could or would imagine should make you happy yet there is a greater freedom in it of converse and communion with God than can be imagined You shall live with God as if you were in Glory already That therefore which I would insist upon in this is this Where ever true Faith is there is a sence of meaness The heart is humbled and brought into the accompt of it self as nothing And as Faith grows so doth this accompt of it self grow also Take Faith now as it acts on the Understanding and there it makes a man to lay aside what Reason saith As Paul you know saith He did not consult with flesh and blood but immediately follows the voyce he had received from Jesus Christ Prov. 3.5 Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thy own Vnderstanding 2 Cor. 10.5 Every thought and imagination must be captivated he saith to the obedience of Faith Take Faith as it acts in the Will And so it takes away all Glory in a mans self How can ye beleeve seeing ye receive Honor one of another saith Christ and seek the praise of men more than the prase of God Iohn 5.44 By what Law is boasting taken away saith the Apostle in Rom. 3.27 but by the Law of Faith And therefore you shall find that when ever any of the Saints of Jesus Christ have through Faith attained unto any
that the Mother of my Lord should come unto me Much more doth the Soul say What is this that Jesus Christ should come to be in my Cottage in my understanding so poor and mean a one as mine is Prov. 13.12 The accomplishment of the desire is as a Tree of life It was a sign unto it that it should live So the Soul saith Evil shal depart from me the sins that I have been troubled with shall be mortified Weaknesses shall be repaired I shall no more lie down in sorrow My beloved as the man that watcheth for the morning and as the Child that waits for the full age and as the Joy of the Bride and Bridegroom All these the Scripture useth and much more is the joy of the Soul when it sees and feels and finds Jesus Christ But this I say is that which it comes unto The other five particulars are those which more concerns the Point in hand But at this last they all drive and at this they do all arrive but in their season CHAP. XXIV Reasons why the Soul must be willing to receive Jesus Christ 1. By this true Grace is distinguished from that which is not true but only like to it 2. By this the murmuring and corrupt disputing of the Soul is silenced 3. Faith is not saving till it be willing 4. The Soul must rest in Christ so as to seek help no where else NOW consider that this must be for three or four Reasons I say the Soul must be beleeving and willing to receive Jesus Christ First In this true Grace is distinguished from that which is not true but is like unto it It is that which changeth the nature and becomes a kind of nature In 2 Pet. 1.4 We are made partakers of the divine nature And that acts of it self and that prompts and puts on to do according to it A Stone when it is out of its center and place hath a naturall instinct to move thitherto The Fire would be upward because it is its nature Look how sin is in a man so Grace is in a Saint for it comes in the stead of that Sin is not the essence of a man It is not his soul yet it is so wrought into his soul that he doth as naturally sin as he doth naturally apprehend or think or do a rational act So now Grace is not the soul of a man but it is so infused and created in it as that the soul doth as willingly the things of God according unto its measure as it doth its rational acts or as it did its sinful acts formerly I say according to its measure For there is more sin at first then grace in any man that is converted Jer. 32.40 The scripture therefore speaks after this manner I wil put my fear into your heart And what then This grace shal have the power of a cause and that shal worke you according to it self Fear shal make you fear and faith shal make you beleeve and to beleeve naturally Common grace is not wrought into the nature nor become a nature and therefore hence it comes that men do loose it and sal unto their natural course As the dog unto his vomit and the sow to the wallowing in the Mire as the scripture speakes Secondly By this willingness to beleeve the murmuring and Corrupt disputing of the soul against Jesus Christ comes to be silenced altogether or in a very great measure 2 Cor. 10.5 The Apostle saith that every thought and imagination shal be captivated to the obedience of faith To the obedience of faith Now it is captivated by the love which a man hath unto faith You al know that we cannot indure to have that reasoned against which we love we are presently put into a passion if any one wil go to vilifie or speake against that which we have a mind unto Now when the soul hath a mind to go unto Jesus Christ and a mind to beleeve the nit stops its eare and doth withdraw its sense and apprehension from what ever can be said against it According as its mind is to beleeve so deafness growes upon it to al the reasonings of the flesh for continuance in any other state without Jesus Christ If a man hath a mind to any meat or to do a thing he wil say speak no more I am resolved to do it I wil venture And so doth the soul in this case And it s the best way of confutation of arguments As the Apostle saith God forbid So confute them with this I wil beleeve and I wil go unto Jesus Christ what ever you say I am resolved on that That is the second reason The murmuring and disputing that are against faith wil not be quiet and cease til they come to have such an affection to beleeve Thirdly Until you wil be in beleeving or til you love to beleeve your faith is not saving For faith is an applying of Jesus Christ to a mans self There is a double application of Jesus Christ to a mans self The one is in discourse when a man can conclude himself to be one of Christs And that is faith of assurance And the other is not by discourse but by aime and intention When a man doth go unto Jesus Christ for good unto himself Now mark what I say Al the credit that you give unto the word Al the sence that you subscribe unto the promises of the Gospel These do not apply Christ to you No more you know then for a man to meditate on the treasures of the King of spain do make his treasure his or do give him an interest in it When a man loves faith and loves Christ then he gives up himself to Christ that he may be his A man looks not from Christ for any thing to himself until he doth by an act of the Wil rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ Fourthly and Lastly There must be this affection of love in beleeving because the Soul must acquiesce and rest So in Christ as to seek help no where else Now that he must So acquiesce is evident by this because to go to Jesus Christ or to receive Christ and not as the only Savior is to dishonor him A man cannot rest in him as the only Savior unless that he doth approve and like of and take pleasure in that which the Gospel hath revealed concerning him Or more plainly thus That way which a man doth not approve a man wil not stick unto for the salvation of his Soul That a man may therefore stick unto Christ and never depart from him he must have a good will or liking or approbation of him And so much shal now suffice for the Doctrinal part of this Point CHAP. XXV Application Then there are but few Receivers of Jesus Christ This Vse concerns three sorts of Persons 1. Such as do not receive Jesus Christ as he is USE IS Faith such a kind of Receiving then truly it will cast even all
and rouling themselves with delight and contentment and yet thou saiest there is none like unto and none can save but the Lord Jesus Christ A man may be affected that hath sins reigning in him that is out of controversie with the things of Jesus Christ Matth. 13.20 They received the word with joy who loved the world better than the word and therefore when tribulation arose they parted with the word and fell unto the world presently I beseech you beloved know thus much That as our Lord Jesus Christ when he was to keep the Passeover Mark 14.15 bid his Disciples go and they should find a man and they should ask for an upper room and there he would eat the Passeover The Upper rooms among the Jews were their Guest-chambers which were far from their lower rooms whereinto ordinary Persons came Ordinary persons were below but they were with their friends in the Upper room Know thus much That when Jesus Christ comes into the soul by Faith he will have an upper room the best of your Understanding and Will He wil not be thrust into a room with Satan and with your lusts and with dirt he will not be corrival with them in one house In a word beloved If there be any Person that you have a respect unto if there be any good thing that you have a respect unto and subject it not unto him If there be any evill that you have respect unto he wil not have respect unto you That is certain That Faith shal go for nothing that can lay hold upon Jesus Christ and yet scrable after the world and this and that lust as if there were good and happiness to be found in it This particular point that I am upon To beleeve upon conviction hath some difficulty in it and I would fain make it plain to you it is not your conviction that is the reason that your Faith is good Mark it But it is a sign your Faith is not good when you wil beleeve nothing but what you have convictions of from the things themselves For the Spirit of God working in an unregenerate man he doth but improve things that are common His nature is not changed and therefore useth but ordinary and humane abilities to the best improvement of them But all that I aim at in all that I have said is only but this That in this great matter of your Faith you would look warily to your selves that you be not deceived Take heed least when you think you have received Christ into your heart you have indeed carried him only into the outward room thereof and not given him the chief place Many men can dispute for Christ and many men they are stout and of courage in the Doctrine of Christ and yet notwithstanding for all this they have not the saving Faith of him Many men there are that that because they think to compound all differences and to make a way easie to their beleeving by proceeding in the matters of Faith by the wisdome of men they lose their own Souls How many men are there that judg themselves that because they cannot so mourn for sin as they mourn for Children and they cannot be so carried after Christ as they are after the things they love here Be it Husband or Wife or the like therefore they think they have no love at all This is only to make the things of the Gospel subject to the Laws and principles of reason It 's true indeed there is greater reason why you should love God more than Children And the least discovery of him more than comfort That is there is a ground why you should do so Yet know that your love is not judged by what you do to these things which are altogether in your power But by what carriage and affection you bear unto God who is contrary unto you by nature but yet brought near by Jesus Christ And it is a greater matter to a poor Soul though it cannot do what it should do to love God a little when it hath so much corruption to plead with him for to get his heart from God than it is for a man to love a Child so affectionately when there is nothing in his heart to draw him from it Esa 55. Saith God My thoughts are not as your thoughts nor my waies as your waies The waies of men are that if they do good they shall receive good But Gods way is to justifie the ungodly and to do good against evill You think saith he that if you buy you must have money or moneys worth But know saith God that my bargains are not driven on as yours are For know If you have no mony you shall buy that is have as good a title as if you had money or monies worth This is a riddle That a man may buy without money or monies worth whereas all kind of bargainings are by one of them But Gods waies are not as your waies It is enough for you that you have the word of God He knows what is best for his own Glory Therefore take his word And do not judg of things according to what thy reason doth suggest and square not thy hopes according to thy sense and as thy wisdome directs for he knows what is the best way to express his mercy by FINIS A Short and Excellent TREATISE OF COVETOUSNESS LUKE 12.15 And he said unto them Take heed and beware of Covetousness CHAP. I. The occasion and scope of the words The Doctrine The words in the Text Take heed and Beware glossed upon Covetousness considered more generally in three Particulars More strictly and specially and so it is a desire of having much arising from an uncontentedness with a mans present condition though he would not by any other then lawful meanes mend or better it IN the 13. verse of this Chapter One that was with Christ desired him to appeare an Arbitrator in a difference between him and his Brother Master speak to my Brother that he divide the Inheritance with me Christ answers him with Indignation at the 14. vers Man who made me a Judg or a divider over you As if he should have said I have no commission It s not my errand or end in coming into the world to take up differences between men and men but between men and God Nor am I to help men to their right and inheritances here but unto an inheritance among the Saints And secondly his advice to them is rather to take care for death and another world Then for an inheritance Take heed and beware of Covetousness For your life that is the end of the life and the comfort of your life consists not in having much And to that end he tells them a parable of a rich man that laid up much and made accompt to live quietly and comfortably upon what he had got but he died suddenly he died like a fool and perished from the presence of the Lord. For in