of a Reverend Man will hold us in some order if Gehazi had known that the Spirit of Elisha went with him would he have run after Naaman for a reward 2 Kings 5.26 his prophetick Spirit went with him We can no more be removed from the presence of God than from our own Being he is the continual Witness and Judge of our Conversations he seeth us in secret as well as in publick Now when the Soul is habituated to this thought how awful and watchful shall we be Psal. 119.168 I kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my ways are before thee The sense of his Presence is the great ground of watchfulness God is not so shut up within the Curtain of the Heavens but that he doth see and hear all that we do or say yea he knoweth our thoughts afar off Thirdly Love to God maketh us tender of offending him for it is a Grace that studieth to please the Soul is jealous of any thing which looks like an offence to those whom we love Others are not troubled though they sin freely in Thought foully in Word frequently in their daily Practice because an offence to God seemeth as nothing they have no love to God Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil it is a loathsom thing to them to a gracious heart it is argument enough against sin That it is the transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 and he inferreth it out of Love to God ver 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us c. They have such a deep apprehension of Gods Love to them in Christ that it breedeth an awe upon them or a fear to offend Ezra 9.13 14. After all that is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve and hast given us such deliverance as this Shall we again break thy commandments Joshua 24.31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the Elders that outlived Joshua and which had known all the works of the Lord which he had done for Israel What! offend God who is so blessed a Being who created us out of nothing of whose Mercy we have tasted every moment who preserveth and delivereth us continually from whose Goodness we expect all our Blessedness Is our deliverance by Christ of less value than all our temporal deliverances Will not Love draw the same Inferences and Conclusions from it Caution doth not arise out of a fear of anger but a lothness to offend 2. The Time when this Duty is to be practised always it is never out of season Conscience must still sit Porter at the door and examine what goes in and out If men neglect their watch but for a little while how soon doth sin get an advantage against them Lot that was chast in Sodom miscarried in the Mountains where there was none but his own Family David whose heart was so tender that it smote him for cutting off the lap of Sauls garment falleth into so deep a sleep afterwards that his Conscience was silent when he had defiled it with Blood and Lust. The tears and sorrows of many years may perhaps not repair the mischief which one hour may bring unto you You have need to watch after the sense of your Duty hath been revived upon you Satan loveth to snatch the prey from under Christs own arm He entred into Judas after the sop Joh. 13.27 After solemn Duties how soon do people miscarry Assoon as the Law was given with terrible Thundrings the people do presently miscarry by worshipping the golden Calf Exod. 32. And the Priests in the very day of their Consecration in the beginning and first day of their Ministration offered strange fire to the Lord Lev. 10. After some escape from sin we need to watch that we be not intangled therein again 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning As under the Law a Sore rising as a boil when it was healed might afterward break out again and turn to a Leprosie Lev. 13.18 19 20. So sins after we seem to be healed of them may return and make us worse than before As Christ saith to the man cured Joh. 5.14 Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee In Prosperity we need to watch it is hard to carry a full Cup without spilling and to live at ease and yet to keep up a due and lively sense of our Duty And in our Adversity when the course of Temptation is altered we are strangely surprized every Condition bringeth its own snares with it Ephraim is a cake not turned Hos. 7.8 Those who are most advanced in a state of Grace they need still to watch Mark 13.37 What I say unto you I say unto all Watch. We are never past this care this is the great difference between Christian and Christian one is more watchful than another 3. Against what we must watch 1. Generally against the three grand Enemies of our Salvation the Devil the World and the Flesh. First Against Satan for he hath laid his Ambushes and Enterprises against us continually and by his spiritual Nature hath advantages of being near us when we are little aware of him 1 Pet. 5.8 Be sober be vigilant for your adversary the Devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour Satan is ever watching therefore you should watch you give him the greatest advantage by your folly and negligence now the Apostle saith he would not give him any advantage 2 Cor. 2.11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices He is unwearied in his motions lays his designs deep takes all advantages and occasions to destroy us If the Devil were either dead or asleep or had lost his malice and power then we need not stand so much upon our guard Secondly Against the World for we are bidden to deny worldly lusts Tit. 2.12 not only ungodliness must be watched and prevented but our inclination to worldly things See how these two are matched for when we fall off from God we take to the Creature Jer. 2.13 My people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns broken cisterns that will hold no water And Christ died to deliver us from this present evil world Gal. 1.4 Here lye all the baits and snares and dangers pass but safe through these flats and quicksands and we shall soon arrive to the Haven of eternal Glory The great virtue and proper effect of the Cross of Christ is seen in crucifying us to the World Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
of the Life of grace 2 Cor. 4.16 For though the outward man perish the inner man is renewed day by day 2. As to pleasure and pain joy and comfort When all the joys of the Body are gone the joys of the Soul are inlarged as when the Bodies of the Martyrs were on the rack under torturings their Souls have been filled with inward Triumphings and their Consolation 2 Cor. 1.5 also aboundeth by Christ. When their flesh is scorched their Souls are refreshed 5. They are distinct in the Commands God hath given about it Christ hath Commanded us to take no thought for the Body Matth. 6.25 But he never Commanded us to take no thought for the Soul rather the contrary Deut. 4.9 Only take heed to thy self and keep thy Soul diligently The great miscarriage of men is because they pamper their Bodies and neglect their Souls all their care is to keep their Bodys in due plight but never regard their Souls which were more immediately given them by God and carry the most lively character of his Image and are capable of his Happiness 2. The Soul is not only distinct from the body but can live and exercise its operations apart from the body There are many arguments from reason to prove it but let us consider Scripture which should be reason enough to Christians That it can do so appeareth by that expression of Paul 2 Cor. 12 2 3. I knew a man in Christ fourteen years ago whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell God knoweth such an one carryed up to the third Heaven If Paul had been of this opinion that the Soul being separated from the Body is void of all sense he must then have known certainly that his Soul remained in his Body during this rapture because according to this supposition in that state alone could he see and hear those things which he saw and heard And that argument is not contemptible to prove the possibility where among other things 't is said Death cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ. Therefore the Soul liveth in a state to injoy him in a sense of his love to us and our love to him 3. That the Souls of the Saints not only can live apart from the Body but actually do so And are presently with the Lord as soon as they flit out of the Body This I shall prove from these particulars taken from Scripture 1. From Luke 23.43 This day shalt thou be with me in paradise This was said to the penitent Thief and what was said to him will be accomplished in all the faithful for what Christ promiseth to him he promiseth it to him as a penitent believer and what belongeth to one Convert belongeth to all in a like case Therefore if his Soul in the very day of his death were translated unto paradise ours will be also Now Paradise is either the Earthly or the Heavenly not the first which is no where extant being defaced by the Flood If it were in being what have separate Souls to do there That was a fit place for Adam in Innocency who had a Body and a Soul and was to eat of the fruit of the Trees of the Garden By Paradise is meant Heaven whither Paul was rapt in Soul which he calleth both Paradise and the third Heaven 2 Cor. 12.4 And there all the Faithful are when once they have past the Pikes and have overcome the Temptations of the present World Rev 2.7 To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God Well then there the Thief was not in regard of his Body which was disposed of as men pleased but his Soul And when should he be there This day 'T was not a Blessedness to commence some fifteen hundred or two thousand years afterward 'T is an answer to his quando the penitent Thief desired when he came into his kingdom he would remember him Christ sheweth he would not defer his hope for so long a time but his desire should be accomplished that day 't is not adjourned to many days months or years but this day Thou shalt presently injoy thy desire 2. The Second place is Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better To be with Christ is to be in Heaven for there Christ is at the right hand of God Col. 3.1 The Apostle speaketh not this in regard of his Body for that could not be presently upon his dissolution till it was raised up at the last day but in regard of his Soul This state that his Soul was admitted into was much more better if compared with the estate it injoyed in this life yea though you take in the end and use of life yet his being with Christ upon his dissolution was more eligible and to be preferred before it Is it not better you will say to remain here and serve God than to depart hence It were so if the Soul were in a state wherein we neither know nor love Christ what profit would it be to be with the Lord and not injoy his company Present knowledge services tasts experiences are better than a stupid Lethargy and sleepy estate without all understanding and will 'T is better to a gracious man to wake than to sleep to be hard at work for God than to be idle and do nothing to use our powers and faculties than to lye in a senseless Condition 't would be far worse with Paul to have his Body rotting in the grave and his Soul without all fruition of God if this were true What is that preponderating happiness which should sway his Choice Is it to be eased of present labours and sufferings Gods people who have totally resigned themselves to God are wont to prefer value their present service and injoyment of God though accompanyed with great labours and sufferings before their own ease Surely Paul would never be in a streight if he were to be reduced upon his dissolution into a Condition of stupid sleep without any capacity of glorifying or injoying God The most afflicted Condition with Gods presence is sweeter to his people than the greatest Contentments with his absence if thou art not with us carry us not hence Better tarry with God in the Wilderness than live in Canaan without him surely it were absurd to long for a dissolution of that estate where we feel the love of God and Christ in our Souls which is unspeakable and glorious for a Condition wherein there is no tast nor sense 3. The next place is 1 Pet. 3.19 By which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in prison which sometimes were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah There are many Souls of Men and Women who once slighted the Lords grace and are now in hell as in a prison Their Souls do not go to nothing nor dye as
to be in Prayer if we be not careful to glorifie his Name zealous to promote his Kingdom ready to do his Will earnest for pardoning Grace watchful against Temptations A Christians life is a Comment upon his Prayers and his Prayers do interpret his life We understand the one by the other Our endeavours and diligent use of means do shew what we really desire For what we pray to God for we bind our selves to seek after Secondly There is a Watching with respect to our future Estate that we may be ready to meet Christ at his Coming Now this consisteth 1. In a deep and lively sense of Christs Appearing and the whole state of the World to come We look for nothing but what we believe Faith is a realizing sight of things not yet in being and maketh them in some measure to work as if they were at hand and ready to be enjoyed Now the more lively sense we have of the concernments of the other World the more diligent and serious shall we be in our preparation when we have a deep sense of these things as if presently to be Arraigned and walk as before the Judge to whom we are to give an account of all our actions Most men live as if there were no day of reckoning no God to see and punish no Books to be opened the careless spending their time sheweth they have no deep sense of these things no sound belief of them But Faith looketh upon these things as great sure and near and so keepeth the Soul awake and alive It greateneth our Apprehensions of these things For 't is no slight matter for the Creature to meet with his Creator the Sinner with his Judge from whom he must now receive his final doom Faith doth speak aloud to a sluggish Soul Thou must be judged Rom. 14.12 So then every one of us must give an account of himself to God And as 't is sure so 't is near The Judge is at the door Phil. 4.5 You must hear of what you now speak and do another day Mat. 12.36 For every idle word that a man shall speak he shall give an account of at the day of Judgment It suppresseth sin and quickeneth and awakeneth to Duty 2 Pet. 3.11 12. Without Faith we have no sensible awakening practical knowledge of these things The sight of Faith differeth from the sight of Sense Sense can discern little more than we see taste smell hear and feel We are affected with these things so are the Beasts who only see things before their eyes by the eye of sense We see nothing but what Dogs may see and Beasts may see that 't is comfortable to eat well and drink well and sleep well and be well cloathed and walk up and down at pleasure and pursue the advantages of the Animal life There is a mist upon Eternity How acute soever men be in worldly things they are blind here 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off Sharp-sighted in things that concern the back and belly and this present World but know nothing of the hazard of perishing for ever or the worth of Salvation their need of Christ and making serious preparation for their great account Faith is a Perspective by which we look into the other World None have such a sharp sight as Believers have for they can see beyond the limits of time the corruption and changes of all things that are in the World even to that blessedness which God hath reserved for them that love him And the light of Faith differeth from Reason That can only see things by ghess or see things in their Causes and that as probable but Faith can look thorough the mists and Clouds of intervening Ages Heb. 11.13 Having seen them afar off embraced them and with certainty and such a sure perswasion as if the things we are perswaded of were in hand and actually enjoyed Reason corrects Sense A Star to the eye of Sense looks to be no bigger than a Spangle but Reason sheweth it must be of a vast bigness because of its distance from us But Faith is an higher light and compare it with the light of Prophesie Rev. 20.12 they agree in the common Object divine Revelation They agree in their common Nature that they are both for things future and things future to us but they differ that Faith depends upon the common Revelation which God hath made to all the â—aints whereas Prophesy hath more of Extasie and Rapture in it and the light is like the lumen Gloriae the beatifical Vision in some measure and degree We do not see him face to face but are desirous of this blessed Estate and perswaded of it and are affected with it as if we saw it The sight of Faith is not a full enjoyment but as sure and so proportionably affects the Heart Nay this lumen Fideâ— is somewhat like the sight God hath of things God seeth all things in his own design and Faith seeth them so far as they are manifested in the Promises of the Gospel There is no hope to get rid of our dead-heartedness and security till we have this reallizing light of Faith 2. This Watching consisteth in Preparation If we expect a thing to come and do not prepare accordingly we do not watch for it but neglect it Now this Preparation must be speedy thorough and constant 1. Watching implyeth a speedy Preparation That we may be in a fit capacity to receive Christ at his Coming we must take the next advantage lest we be surprized and called home before we are ready This is not a work to be put off to Age or Sickness Why should we provide a burden for that time when we are weakest and least able to bear it And therefore now we should begin it Every day brings burden enough for it self He is an unthrifty Tenant that suffers the Rent of one year to run into another How shall that Crop discharge two years Rent that cannot pay one If it be tedious now to turn to God it will be more tedious when thou art hardened in sin and thy neglects of God and Christ will provoke him to deny his Grace And what assurance have we of another year we have this by the favour of Providence Our life was forfeited and lost in Law the first moment and therefore we have but a Reprieve during pleasure What warrant have I to expect another day but my own hope and fancy He that is Security for himself to himself is no whit the better secured he doth but take the word of a Spend-thrift If we had a Lease of our Lives yet what hope of Grace when we have resisted the Spirit of God all our lives what hope that he should assist us at death we do but provide matter of Despair to our selves Every day will prove worse and worse A Traveller may easily pass over the Head of a Brook but when he goeth down thinking to
if in want we would relieve him Christ is so nearly conjoyned with his Servants that in their Afflictions he is afflicted in their Comforts he is comforted he looks upon it as done to him The Godly of old time thought themselves much Honoured if they could get a Prophet or an Apostle to their Houses Heb. 13.1 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares Here 's Christ himself will you refuse him who is Heir of all things 3. 'T is the great Question Interrogated by him at the great day of Accounts 'T is not Have you Heard have you Prophesyed have you Eat and Drank in my Presence But have you Fed have you Cloathed have you Visited We are one day to come to this Account and what sorry Accounts shall we make So much for Pleasure for Riot for Luxury for Bravery in Apparel and Pomp in Living and little or nothing for God and his People As if a Steward should bring in his Bill So much spent in Feasts in Rioting in merry Company when his Masters House lyeth to ruine the Children starved and the Servants neglected We are very liberal to our Lusts but sparing to God A man that expecteth to be posed is preparing himself and would fain know the Questions aforehand Christ hath told us our Question SERMON XXIII MATTH XXV v. 37 38 39 40. Then shall the Righteous answer and say Lord When saw we thee an Hungred and fed thee and Thirsty and gave thee Drink When saw we thee a Stranger and took thee in and Naked and Cloathed thee Or when saw we thee Sick and in Prison and came unto thee And the King shall answer and say unto them Verily I say unto you In so much as you have done it unto one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me WE have handled the Sentence and the Reason The Reason is amplified in some Parabolical passages which contain a Dialogue or interchangeable Discourse between Christ the King and his Elect Servants In which you may observe First Their Question verses 37 38 39. Secondly Christ's Reply and Answer verse 40. Not that such formal words shall pass too and fro at the day of Judgment between the Judge and the Judged but only to represent the matter more sensibly and in a more lively and impressive way to our minds First For their Question certainly 't is not moved 1. By way of Doubt or exception to the Reason alleadged by the Judge in his Sentence there being a perfect Agreement and harmony of mind and will between them Neither 2. Out of Ignorance as if they knew not that Christ was so much concerned in their works of Love done to his Children for his sake for this they knew aforehand that what was done to Christians is done to Christ and upon that account they do it as to Christ and such Ignorance cannot be supposed to be found in the glorified Saints 3. Some say the Question is put to express an holy wonder at what they hear and see and no question Christ will then be admired in his Saints 2 Thes. 1.10 And three Causes there may be of this wonder 1. Their humble sense of their own Nothingness that their Services should be taken notice of and rewarded that he should have such a respect for their mean offices of Love which they little esteemed of and had no confidence in them 2. The greatness of Christs Condescention that he should have such a care of his mean Servants who were so despicable in the world 3. The greatness of the Reward Christ shall so incomparably above all that they could ask or think reward his People that they shall wonder at it This sense is pious taken up by most Interpreters I should acquiesce in it but that I find the same question put by the Reprobates afterwards vers 42 43 44. they use the same words therefore I think the words are barely Parabolical brought in by Christ that he might have occasion further to declare himself how they fed him and cloathed him and what esteem he will put upon works of Charity and to impress this truth the more upon our minds that what is done to his People is accepted by him as if it were done to his Person However because the former sense is useful I shall a little insist upon it in this note Doctrine That when Christ shall come to Reward his People they shall have great cause to wonder at all that they see hear and enjoy 1. They shall wonder at the Reason alleadged They that are holy ever think humbly of their own works and therefore considering their no deservings their ill-deservings they cannot satisfie themselves in admiring and extolling the rich Grace of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that he should take notice of any thing of theirs and produce it into Judgment see how they express themselves now Psal. 143.2 Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant Non dicit cum hostibus tuis So Psal. 130.3 If thou shouldest mark Iniquity O Lord who shall stand So 1 Cor. 4.4 For I know nothing by my self yet am not I thereby Justified Isa. 64.6 But we are as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags This thought they have of all they do and their minds are not altered then for this is the Judgment of Truth as well as of Humility Luk. 17.10 When we have done all we are unprofitable Servants Their Lord hath taught them to say so and think so they did not this out of Complement And for their works of Mercy they were not to let their left hand know what their right hand did Math. 6.3 'T is a Proverb that teaches us that we should not suffer our selves to take notice of what we give in Alms nor esteem much of it as if there were any worth therein and therefore when Christ maketh such reckoning of these things their wonder will be raised they will say Lord when saw we thee an hungry or athirst Their true and sincere Humility will make them cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour Lord 't is thy Goodness what have we done The Saints when they are highest still shew the lowest signs of Humility to their Redeemer and confess that all the glory they have they have it from him and are contented to lay it down at his feet as holding it by his Acceptance and not their own Merit they have all and hold all by his Grace and therefore would have him receive the Glory of all 2. They shall wonder at the greatness of Christs Condescention and hearty Love to his Servants though poor and despicable for in the day of Judgment he doth not commemorate the Benefits done to him in Person in the dayes of his Flesh but to his Members in the time of his Exaltation he doth not mention the Alabaster box of precious Oyntment poured
on his head nor the Entertainments made him when he lived upon earth but the feeding and cloathing of his hungry and naked Servants The greatest part of Christians never saw Christ in the Flesh But the Poor they have alwayes with them Kindness to these is Kindness to him Again Among these he doth not mention the most Eminent the Prophets and Apostles or the great Instruments of his Glory in the World but the least of his Brethren even those that are not only little and despicable in the esteem of the World but those that are little and despicable in the Church in respect of others that are of more eminent Use and Service Again The least Kindness shewn unto them Mat. 10.42 Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a Cup of cold water in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward He had spoken before of kindness to Prophets and righteous Men Men of Eminent Gifts and Graces then ordinary Disciples among these the least and most contemptible either as to outward Condition or State of Life or to Use and Service and it may be inward Grace Now all this sheweth what value Christ sets upon the meanest Christians and the smallest and meanest Respect that is shewed them The smallness and meanness of the Benefit shall not diminish his Esteem of your Affection any thing done to his People as his People will be owned and noted When the Saints that newly came from the Neglects and Scorns of an unbelieving World shall see and hear all this what cause will they have to wonder and say Lord who hath owned thee in these Alas in the World all is quite contrary Let a Man profess Christ and resemble Christ in a lively manner and own Christ thoroughly presently he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set up for a Sign of Contradiction and that not only among Pagans but Professing Christians yea by those that would seem to be of great note in the Church as the Corner-stone was refused by the Builders 1 Pet. 2.7 And therefore when Christ taketh himself to be so concerned in their Benefits and Injuries they have cause to wonder Christ was in these and the World knew it not 3. At the Greatness of the Reward That he should not only take notice of these Acts of Kindness but so amply remunerate them In the Rewards of Grace God worketh beyond humane Imagination and Apprehension 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things God hath prepared for them that love him We cannot by all that we see and hear in this World which are the Senses of Learning form a Conception large enough for the Blessedness of this Estate Enjoyers and Beholders will wonder at the Grace and Bounty and power of their Redeemer 'T is transcendent hyperbolical weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Where is any thing that they can do or suffer that is worthy to be mentioned or compared with so great a Recompence When these Bodies of Earth and Bodies of Dust shall shine like the Stars in Brightness these sublime Souls of ours see God face to face these wavering and inconstant Hearts of ours shall be immutably and indeclinably fastned to love him and serve him and praise him as without Defection so without Intermission and Interruption and our Ignominy turned into Honour and our Misery into everlasting Happiness Lord what Work of ours can be produced as to be rewarded with so great a Blessedness VSE That which we learn from this Question of theirs supposed to be conceived upon these Grounds is 1. An humble Sense of all that we do for God The Righteous remember not any thing that they did worthy of Christ's Notice and we should be like-minded Nehem. 13.22 Remember me O my God concerning this also and spare me according to the Greatness of thy Mercy When we have done our best we had need to be spared and forgiven rather than rewarded On the contrary Luk. 18.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself God I thank thee that I am not as other Men are Extorioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican And those Isa. 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted say they and thou seest not wherefore have have afflicted our Souls and thou takest no Knowledge They challenge God for their Work None more apt to rest in their own Righteousness than they that have the least Cause Formal Duties do not discover Weakness and so Men are apt to be puffed up they search little and so rest in some outward things 'T is no great Charge to maintain painted Fire The Substantial Duties of Christianity such as Faith and Repentance imply Self-humbling but external things produce Self-exalting They put the Soul to no stress Loaden Boughs hang the Head most so are holy Christians most humble None labour so much as they do in working out their Salvation and none so sensible of their Weaknesses and Imperfections Old Wine puts the Bottles in no danger there is no Strength and Spirits left in it So do formal Duties little put the Soul to it On the other side they are conscious to so many Weaknesses as serious Duties will bring into the View of Conscience and have a deep Sense of their Obligations to the Love and Goodness of God and a strong Perswasion of the Blessed Reward None are so humble as they They see so much Infirmity for the present so much Obligation from what is past and such sure Hope of what is to come that they can scarce own a Duty as a Duty None do Duties with more Care and none are less mindful of what they have done They discern little else in it that they contribute any thing to a good Action but the Sin of it This is to do God's Work with an Evangelical Spirit doing our utmost and still ascribing all to our Mediator and blessed Redeemer 2. What Value and Esteem we should have for Christ's Servants and Faithful Worshippers Christ treateth his Mystical Body with greater Indulgence Love and Respect than he did his Natural Body for he doth not dispense his Judgment with respect to that but these He would not have us know him after the Flesh 2 Cor. 5.16 Please our selves with the Conceit of what we would do to him if he were alive and here upon Earth but he will judge us according to the Respect or Disrespect we shew to his Members even to the meanest among them To wrong them is to wrong Christ Zech. 2.8 He that toucheth you toucheth the Apple of his Eye The Churches Trouble goes near his Heart which in due time will be manifested upon the Instruments thereof To sleight them is to sleight Christ He that despiseth you despiseth me To grieve and offend them is to grieve and offend Christ. Matth. 18.10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little Ones for I say unto you That in
with thee and yet hast thou not known me Philip that is not known so distinctly God the Father and me as coming out from him But God's Children are not altogether unteachable 4. We have no reason to trust the Judgment of Carnal Men in matters of Godliness for they do not know God Can blind Men judg of Colours I urge it that you may not be discouraged tho the World scoff at Holiness who would take notice of the Judgment of Fools 5. That Ignorance is not only the Badg of silly weak Persons but of great Men and those that are carnally Wise. Mat. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Whatever parts they have they have no saving-Knowledg of God The Godly Man is the only knowing and wise Man all others they are but Fools however they swell with an opinion of Knowledg and count it a reproach to be so called II. The second Illustration is by the Efficient and Exemplary Cause of our Knowledg but I have known thee c. All along our Likeness to Christ and Unlikeness to the World is asserted Observe That Christ's Knowledg is the Pattern and Cause of ours We have all things at the second hand I have known and they have known All the Candles are lighted at this Torch Or to use a comparison more Celestial all the Stars receive their Light from the Sun Therefore he is called The Father of Lights James 1.17 and the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4.2 Christ giveth us Knowledg two ways by his Word and by his Spirit Now none is fit to establish a Word none to pour out the Spirit but Christ. 1. None can give us a sufficient Revelation of the Father but Christ that came out of his Bosom that knew all his Counsels John 1.18 No Man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the Bosom of the Father he hath declared him Our Knowledg is by the Senses by Sight and Hear-say Now no Man hath seen God but Christ that was God-Man who came out of his Bosom So Mat. 11.27 No Man knoweth the Son but the Father neither knoweth any Man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him To know him perfectly and comprehensively so neither Men nor Angels know him To know him originally so as to establish a Revelation with Authority and so as fit to offer the Light and Knowledg of him to the Creature so none but Christ knows him our Faith is built on God Humane Authority begets but an Humane Faith and Credulity It was necessary that in the Bedroll of Gospel-Preachers the Son of God should have the first place that in the latter Times he should preach to us by his Son that the ultimate Resolution of Faith might be into Divine Authority John 7.29 But I know him for I am from him and he hath sent me And chap. 10.15 As the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father It is for our Confidence that the full discovery of this Doctrine was reserved for the Son of God 2. None else can give us a capacity to learn Jesus Christ is such a Teacher that he doth not only give the Lesson but the Wit and Skill to learn 1 John 5.20 We know that the Son of God is come and hath given us an Vnderstanding that we may know him that is true No matter what the Scholar is when we have such a Master We use to inquire whether any one hath a Capacity to learn He openeth the Scriptures and openeth the Understanding to learn Luke 24.27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself And Vers. 45. Then opened he their Vnderstandings that they might understand the Scriptures There is a double Vail upon the Doctrine and upon the Heart Christ removeth both Vse 1. If that the true Knowledg of God is only to be had from Christ it directeth us in the use of all Ordinances to look up to him there must our Trust be fixed in Reading Hearing Meditating We must use Helps and Means else we tempt God but our Trust must be elsewhere In Reading Psal. 119.18 Open thou mine Eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law There are wonders in the Law but our Eyes must be opened to see them otherwise we shall have but a superficial and literal Knowledg when Men think to find more in Books than in Christ. So in Hearing Cathedram habet in Coelis Isa. 2.3 Come ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his Ways You come to the Word to be taught by Man and yet not to be taught by Man in Obedience you use the Means but your Confidence is on Christ that you may hear his Voice to the Soul that he that brought the Gospel out of the Bosom of God may bring it into your Hearts The Dial is of no use without the Sun except the Sun shine you cannot see what is a Clock by the Dial. So in Meditation and Study Christ is Wonderful Counsellor Isa. 9.6 Prov. 8.14 Counsel is mine and sound Wisdom I am Vnderstanding I have strength How are Men befooled that go forth in the confidence of their own Wit Flesh and Blood are apt to stumble in God's plainest Ways Carnal Hearts turn all to a Carnal Purpoâ—e Prov. 26.9 As a Thorn goeth up into the Hand of a Drunkard so is a Parable in the Mouth of Fools The same Cloud that was Light to the Israelites was Darkness to the Egyptians Luther calleth the Promises bloody Promises through our perverse Applications Truth is only renewing as taught by Christ. Ephes. 4.21 If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him as the Truth is in Jesus We cannot tell how to master Corruptions without this the Light of common Conviction is like a March-Sun that draweth up Aguish Vapors it discovereth Sins but cannot quell them We should be apt to forsake Truth upon every Temptation unless it were for Christ's teaching Psal. 119.102 I have not departed from thy Judgments for thou hast taught me 1 John 2.20 Ye have an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all things When Men lead us into Truth others may lead us out again Those that have made trial can best judg of the difference between being taught of God and Men. 1 Cor. 2.4 My Speech and my Preaching was not with inticing words of Man's Wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power When the Arrow cometh out of God's Quiver it sticketh in our sides Then we see Truths with Application Vse 2. It teacheth us how to direct our Prayers to Christ. Seek to him with Confidence and with all earnestness of Affection 1. With Confidence we despair many
We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord then we shall be changed by the beatifical Vision 1 Joh. 3.2 When he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is our life here and life there is but one life begun here and perfected there here are manifold imperfections but there is compleat blessedness sometimes as the morning to high noon or light of the perfect day Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day here the day breaks but it is but a little sometimes to a man and a child 1 Cor. 13.10 11 12. But when that which is perfect is come that which is in part shall be done away When I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then shall I know even as also I am known as it is in the change of Ages so is it between this and the other Life Now all these things shew both the sameness of the life and also the necessity of one degree of Grace to another 3. Observe how fitly this is mentioned as an help to Mortification we should sweeten the tediousness and trouble of the work by thinking of the life that will ensue 1. The Life of Grace Conscience calleth upon you for your duty to your Creator and Lust hindereth it now is it not a great advantage to have a vital Principle to incline us to God By the life of Grace we are enabled in some measure to do what is pleasing in his sight Heb. 12.28 Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Set about Mortification and you shall have this Grace This should be a great consolation to us who are so often vexed with guilty fears because of the neglect of our duty 2. The Life of Glory Pleasures Honours and Profits seem great matters to a carnal heart and can do much till you put Heaven in the balance against them as Moses did Heb. 11.26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of reward he looked off from one object to another Alas when we think of this life all that we enjoy here is nothing and should do nothing upon us to gain us from God and our duty to him we should have such thoughts within our selves Shall I take these pleasures instead of my birth-right For this preferment shall I â—ell my part in Heaven Shall I cast away my Soul for this sensual delight The Devil usually prevaileth over men when Heaven is forgotten and out of sight Sure the Baptismal Vow and Engagement hath little hold upon us 2 Pet. 1.9 He is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins These things are fitly coupled 4. Observe how we have all with Christ we dye with him and we live with him as we mortifie sin by virtue of that Grace which he purchased for us by his Death so we hold Heaven by his gift or the Grant of that Covenant which he hath confirmed by his Blood his Dying is the Pattern of our Mortification and his Life of our Happiness and Glory if by his Example we first learn to dye unto sin according to his Pattern and Example we shall have a joyful Resurrection to eternal Life for still we fare as Christ fared he would not be a Pattern to us only in his worst estate but in his best also we shall be partakers of the same glory which Christ hath at the right hand of the Father and as we shall live eternally so we shall eternally praise our Redeemer who deriveth influence to us all along both in dying and rising III. The certain Apprehension we have of this we believe Here I shall handle 1. The necessity of this Faith 2. The grounds of it 3. The profit of believing this 1. The necessity of believing 1. This life is not matter of Sense but of Faith whether you take it for the life of Grace or the life of Glory 1. The Life of Grace If you consider the nature of it which is of the order of things spiritual and men that judge according to things of sense see no glory in it 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Alas the rich preparations of Grace which God hath made us in the Gospel a carnal heart hath no savour for them nor value and esteem of them is nothing moved with the tender and offer we must have a higher light to see these things Besides the new Nature is hidden under manifold infirmities and afflictions Col. 3.3 Your life is hid with Christ in God and 1 Joh. 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be Once more it is Gods gift and a matter full of difficulty for them to apprehend that are sensible of their own vileness and are daily conflicting with so many lusts that they should be quickened and inabled to live to God is a matter which they cannot easily believe Shall these dead bones live O Lord thou knowest Ezek. 37.3 It is an hard matter to perswade them that have a great sense of the power of their bewitching lusts they shall ever overcome 2. For the Life of Glory that is also a matter of Faith because it is a thing future unseen and to be enjoyed in another World Now faith is the substance of things not seen and the evidence of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 2. The Person Office and Power of our Redeemer are all mystical Truths Joh. 11.25 26. I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye believest thou this That Christ is able to raise the dead to life again now or hereafter 3. The matter is difficult to be believed that after worms have consumed this flesh it shall be raised again in Glory and at length reign with Christ for ever Therefore Abrahams Faith is so often propounded to the Faithful Who considered not his own body now dead nor yet the deadness of Sarahs womb Rom. 4.19 and the Apostle sheweth us That such a kind of faith shall be imputed to us for righteousness vers 24. who believe Christs Resurrection and then ours All this sheweth the necessity of Faith in this case 2. The grounds of believing this blessed Estate which is reserved for the mortified 1. The infinite Love of God which prepared these Mercies
so in many other places Whole Christianity is a coming to God by Christ Heb. 7.25 and that is the reason why faith cannot be in the heart of one that is yet intangled in the false happiness John 5.44 How can ye believe which receive honour one from another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Which is to be understood not only meritorie but effective because while they are intangled in the false happiness Christ is of no use to them neither will they mind any serious return to God as their felicity and portion 2. From self to Christ for we are to flee from wrath to come or the Condemnation deserved by our Apostacy and Defection from God Mat. 3.8 O generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from wrath to come Heb. 6.18 Who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us Therefore none are in Christ but those that thankfully receive him and give up themselves to him John 1.12 To as many as received him 2 Cor. 8.5 They first gave themselves unto the Lord That is Venturing on his Promises gave up themselves to the Conduct of his Word and Spirit and trust themselves intirely in Christs hands while they go on with their duty and pursuit of their true and proper happiness 3. From sin to Holiness both in Heart and Life for we are called to be holy and must flee not only from wrath but sin which is the great make-bate between us and God and therefore we need not only reconciling but renewing Grace which is accompanied in us by the spirit of Sanctification 2 Thes. 2.13 Who hath chosen you to Salvation through Santification of the spirit and belief of the truth The Spirit beginneth it as the fruit of Gods Elective Love and by faith and the use of all holy means doth accomplish it more and more for he acts in us as the spirit of Christ and as we are Members of his body for framing us and fitting us more and more for his use and service The Third Proposition observed in the Text was 3. Doct. Those who are in Christ obey not the inclinations of corrupt nature but the motions of the Spirit This is brought in here as a fruit and evidence of their Vnion with Christ and interest in Non-condemnation for being united to Christ they are made partakers of his spirit and they that have the spirit of Christ will live an holy and sanctified life the spirit first uniteth us to Christ and sanctifieth and separateth the soul for his dwelling in us and the effects of it are life and likeness We live by Vertue of his life Gal. 2.20 and walk as he walked 1 John 2.6 or else our union is but pretended But let us more particularly consider this Evidence and Qualification They walk not after the flesh but after the spirit where we will enquire First What is meant by Flesh and Spirit By Flesh is meant corrupt Nature by the Spirit the new Nature according to that noted place John 3.6 That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit 2. Both serve to those that are influenced by them as a guiding and inciting principle The Flesh to those that are after the flesh and the spirit to those that are after the spirit Rom. 8.5 The flesh guideth and prompteth us to those Things which are good for the animal life for Things of sense are known easily and known by all Carnal Nature needeth no Instructor no Spur it doth pollute and corrupt us in all sensual and earthly Things but spiritual and heavenly Things are out of its reach 2 Pet. 1.9 and it inclines as well as guideth for the Things we see and feel and taste easily stir our Affections Demas hath forsaken us having loved the present world Yea 't is hard to restrain them and it is not done without some violence Gal. 5.24 They that are in Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof that the spirit or new nature doth both guide and incline is clear by those expressions Heb. 8.10 I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people 3. That those who are under the prevalency of the one principle cannot wholly obey and fellow the other is clear for those two are contrary Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and contraries cannot subsist together in an intense Degree they are contrary in their Nature contrary in their tendency and aim contrary in their rule Gal. 6.16 the one carrieth us to God and Heaven the other to something pleasing to present sense the one is fed with the world the other with Heaven they are contrary in their assisting powers Satan and the Spirit of God the good part is for God and the flesh which is the rebelling Principle is on the Devils side 1 John 4.4 Satan by the lusts of the flesh taketh men captive at his will and pleasure 2 Tim 2.26 That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will and pleasure but the Spirit of God is assisted by the Author of it the holy Ghost Eph. 3.16 Strengthened by the spirit with might in the inner man They are irritated by the Spirit or the flesh presenting different objects of sense and faith The flesh hath this advantage that its objects are near at hand ready to be injoyed but the Objects of Faith are to come lie in an unseen world only they are greater in themselves and faith helpeth to look upon them as sure enough Heb. 11.1 4. That every Christian hath these two principles in himself the one by nature is called flesh the other by grace is called Spirit Gods best children have flesh in them Paul distinguisheth in the former Chapter betwixt flesh and spirit the law of the members and the law of the mind Rom. 7.18 23. as two opposite Principles inclining several ways 5. Tho both be in the children of God yet the Spirit is in predominancy For the acts of the flesh are disowned not I but sin that dwelleth in me and a mans estate is determined by the reign of sin and grace in a man converted to God the spirit or renewed part is superior and governeth the will or whole man and the flesh is inferior and by striving seeketh to become superior and draws the will to its self so that the heart of a renewed man is like a kingdom divided Grace is in the Throne but the flesh is the rebel which disturbeth and much weakneth its Soveraignty and Empire it must needs be so otherwise there would be no distinction between nature and Grace a man is denominated from what is predominant in him and hath the chiefest power over his heart if it be the flesh he is carnal if
wheat but then he shall be trodden under our feet Rom. 16 20. Fourthly For the afflictions of the world They do not now endanger salvation but then wholly gone Rev. 21.4 Then God shall wipe all tears from our eyes then no more sorrow and crying That is because of oppression and violence 2. For Rights and Prerogatives Now we serve God at a distance by some remote service then immediately minister before the Throne Here we come to God now and then but then we shall be ever with him we have now a right to use creatures then we shall need none now a title to Heaven but then possession made actual partakers of eternal blessedness therefore there cannot be a greater liberty than the children of God have at the last day 1. USE is to admire the goodness of God to poor afflicted creatures We have this glorious liberty from Gods bounty Matth. 25.34 Christs love he purchased it 't is the Son of God hath made us free John 8.36 'T is applied to us by the spirit Rom. 8.2 The spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of sin and death The Roman Captain said With a great sum obtained I this freedom Acts 25.28 To us it cometh on meer favour 2. Have you interest in this blessedness Is the liberty begun Hath he sealed you to the day of redemption Eph. 4.30 You will find the comfort and benefit of his sealing On that day God will own those whom he hath stamped and marked with his own seal that is whom the spirit hath formed for God by impressing his image upon them in righteousness and true holiness after that day no more place will be left for doubts and fears But till that day this is our warrant and assurance till full possession the seal of the spirit is an holy frame of heart fitted to serve please and enjoy God SERMON XXIX ROM VIII 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now THE Apostle had shewed how the creature waiteth for its future perfect estate now what sense it hath of its present condition In the Words we have 1. The Certainty We know 2. The Agony of the Creature It groaneth and travelleth in pain 3. Their consort and agreement in this groaning The whole creation groaneth c. 4. The duration and continuance Vntil now 1. The certainty of what is asserted We know But how do we know First We see by our sense that the whole Creation is under vanity and corruption Secondly We know by faith that it came by sin so that partly from sense and partly by faith we conclude that the creature is under a burthen 2. The great agony of the creature it groaneth and travelleth in pain Groaneth as a man under an heavy burden travelleth in pain as a woman in child-bearing The creature would fain be disburdened of this estate Some think that this last Metaphor implieth that the issue will be comfortable for the pain of Travel ends in joy John 16.21 A woman when she is in travel hath sorrow for her hour is come but assoon as she is delivered of the child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a manchild is born into the world It may be so here only I find this Metaphor used for bitter pangs and sorrows without any respect to the end and issue as Matth. 24.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows 3. The consort and harmonious agreement that is between all the parts of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole creation collectively or every creature distributively they all groan together and travel in pain together 4. The duration and continuance until now that is from the time that sin entred into the world unto this present time Doct. That the whole creation groaneth under the burden of our sins 1. What is this groaning of the creature or in what sense the creature is said to groan 2. How we are concerned in these groans 3. How we know it for who ever heard the groaning of the whole Creation 1. What is this groaning of the creature Or how can that be ascribed to things without Reason Sense and Life There are two causes of groaning in sensitive creatures Labour and Pain that which answereth to Labour is unwearied motion that which answereth to Pain is corruption and decay 1. Labour and Motion so we may say the creature is worn out with hard labour to serve the uses of man because 't is in continual motion the Sun moveth from East to West in the Day and in the Night from West to East again Eccles. 1.5 The Sun also ariseth and the Sun goeth down and hasteth to his place where he arose The Hebrew Panteth as pressing forward to be at his appointed place to give man light to go about his labour how many thousands of Miles hath it travelled to come to us again since we went to bed so Job 37.11 By watering he wearieth the thick cloud and scattereth the bright clouds it is turned about by his counsels He speaketh of the clouds as things that could be wearied being hurried hither and thither to serve the earth in divers places and spendeth its self in that service The earth is digged and rent and torn with the Plough seldom suffered to enjoy its Sabbaths that it may bring forth fruit to man The Rivers flow and the Sea hath its Ebbs and Tydes all things in the lower world are â—ull of labour and so the creature is wearied and worn out to serve even rebel man to whom God continueth this favour 2. That which answereth to pain is their passing away by corruption the four Elements being contrary one to another are still wasting one another till all fail heat against cold and moisture against dryness all things being compounded of these four Elements do in the end return to them again by dissolution and corruption And besides by Gods Judgment the creature is often blasted in its greatest glory and beauty Look as in a fruitful season the Valleys are said to laugh with fatness Psal. 65.12 13. And the flourishing of the spring is as it were natures smile 'T is a pleasant sight to behold when the earth is blessed of God with increase and variety of fruits the creatures do as it were rejoice in Gods bounty and invite us to rejoice with them so on the other side when these things are taken away it doth as it were mourn and look sorrowful like under the judgment as they laugh in their kind so they mourn and groan in their kind as Jer. 12.4 How long shall the land mourn and the herbs of the field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein Isa. 24.4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away the world languisheth and fadeth away Jer. 33.9 The earth mourneth and languisheth Lebanon is ashamed Jer. 21.10 Because of swearing the land mourneth Joel 1.10 The field is wasted the land mourneth for
and unseen But other qualifications are necessary beyond these already mentioned 1. It must be something promised by God 2. Believed by us before we can hope for it 1. Such future things as God hath promised to bestow upon us These are the matter and object of our faith and hope the promise giveth us notice and the promise giveth us assurance First Notice We can have no other certain knowledg of their futurity but by Gods promise the light of nature or reason giveth a shrewd guess at a future estate but the certain knowledg we have by Gods Word there life and immortality is brought to light 2 Tim. 1.10 He brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel There we have the clear prospect of it the Heathen had nothing but the light of nature to guide them spake doubtfully of a future estate like men travelling on the hills and see the spire of a steeple at a distance sometimes they have a sight of it and presently they lose it and so cannot certainly tell whether they saw it yea or no but all is clear full and open in Gods promise 2. Certainty and assurance for it conveyeth a right to us upon certain terms for he that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life John 3.36 Hath it in the offer and promise of God if he will fulfil the condition required not only shall have it at the close of their days but they have the grant already and therefore wait for 〈◊〉 â—â—uition as we are fulfilling the conditions we gain more security and confidence that we shall have it 1 Tim. 6.12 Fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life V. 19. Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation that they may lay hold on eternal life The meaning is challenge it for theirs In short our expectation must be grounded on some promise or else 't is but a fancy and presumption 2. The thing hoped for must be believed by us For there can be no expectation of things not seen till there be faith which is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 First There is a firm assent by faith we are as confident in some measure of those things as if we saw them with our eyes or as we are of those things which we daylie see then after this assent there followeth earnest expectation For hope maketh the assent practical Though God promise never so much yet if we believe him not we expect nothing therefore faith is necessary look as to bodily sight there needeth an object to be seen and an eye by which we see so in spiritual sight the promise sets the object before us Heb. 12.2 Looking unto Jesus and Heb. 6.18 lay held of the hope set before us But the eye is faith which though it cannot give us sight it giveth us foresight we have heard of it though yet we have not seen it and see it by the eyes of the mind as it is contained in the promise of the everlasting God though we do not and cannot see it with the eyes of the body Compare it with reason By reason we apprehend more than we see for we see effects in their causes but that is but probable foresight for many things intervene between the cause and the effect by faith we foresee the blessing in the promise by reason we see things beyond sense so far as natural probabilities will carry us by faith we see things beyond reason so far as the promises of good invite us to a better hope But how can we surely hope for that we see not which neither sense nor reason can inform us of Answer 1. This glory is not a fancy 't is seen by many in our nature that now possess it and by the word of God you are invited to follow them in the same course of holiness and godliness that you may in time see it also Heb. 6.12 be ye followers of them who through faith and patience have inherited the promises propound the same noble end and the same holy course and matters of faith will in time become matters of sense Now though the end be unknown the way is so good and holy and justifiable by reason that we should venture the imitation of them not their holiness only but their faith Heb. 11.13 they lived and dyed in this faith their life was holy and their death was happy that are gone into the other world But you will say If we could talk with any of these that are gone into the other world Luke 16.30 31. And he said Nay father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they would repent and he said unto him They have Moses and the Prophets and if they will not hear them neither will they be perswaded if one should come from the dead They are out of the sphere of our commerce their testimony is not convenient for the government of God who will not govern the world by sense but by faith and besides you have better hopes Moses and the Prophets there is more reason to perswade a man the Scriptures are true than to believe a message brought him from one among the dead 2. One that hath seen and is an infallible witness hath testified to us of the truth of these things we hope for John 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten son which is in the bosome of the father he hath declared him Christ perfectly saw and knew all that he hath told us of â—od and the world to come John 3.11 Verily verily I say unto thee We speak that which we know and testify that we have seen and ye receive not our witness so that our faith and hope goeth on sure grounds so verse 32. What he hath seen and heard he testifieth and no man receiveth his testimony A good man whose testimony is valuable that hath been in a strange country and testifieth what he hath seen there of it would not we believe him Christ that came from the other world and told us of the blessedness of it deserveth the credit of a good man he used a faithful plainness John 14.2 if it were not so I would have told you But more of a Teacher sent from God who confirmed his message by miracles and laid down a Doctrine holy and good and shall not we receive his testimony concerning these things he had perfect knowledge of assured us of the truth of them shall we not receive his testimony 3. Those that saw him and conversed with him were not only authorized by him to shew us the way to Eternal life but saw so much of it themselves as the mortal state is capable of yet enough to prove the reality of the thing 1 John 1.1 2 3. That which was from the beginning 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 for the life was
Body and so remaineth a widdow as it were till the Body be raised up and united to it 'T is without its mate and companion so that it remaineth destitute of half its self which though it may be born for a while yet not for ever 2dly 'T is agreeable to the Wisdom Justice and Goodness of God that the Body which had its share in the work should have its share in the reward 'T is the Body which is most gratified in sin and the Body which is most pained in obedience What is it that was wearyed and tyred and endured all the labours and troubles of Christianity Therefore the Body that is the Souls Sister and Coheir is to share with it in its Eternal Estate whatsoever it be before that the wicked are but in part punished and the Godly in part rewarded There is a time when God will deal with the whole man 3dly The state of those that dye will not be worse then the state of those that are only changed at Christs coming The Bodies are not destroyed but perfected the substance is preserved only endued with new qualities Now there would be a disparity among the glorified if some should have their Bodies others not 4thly In the Heavenly estate there are many objects which can only be discerned by our Bodily senses The Humane Nature of Christ the beauty of the Heavenly place or Mansion of the Blessed with other the works of God which certainly are offered to our contemplation Now if God find objects he will find faculties How shall we see those things which are to be seen hear those things which are to be heard unless we have Bodies and Bodily senses 5thly As Christ was taken into Heaven so we For we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly He carryed no other flesh into Heaven but what he assumed from the Virgin that very Body which was carryed in her womb which was laid down as a sacrifice for sin that very Body was carryed into Heaven Phil. 3.21 The Body that is subject to so many infirmities that is harrassed and worn out with labours exposed to such pains and sufferings even that Body shall be like Christs Glorious Body 1 Cor. 15.43 44. It shall not be decayed with Age nor wasted with sickness nor need the supplies of meat and drink nor be subject to pains and Aches c. Well then let us serve God Faithfully 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. SERMON VII 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for this self same thing is God who also hath given unto us the Earnest of his Spirit HAving shewed 1. The Persons who desire Eternal Glory v. 3. 2. The Manner of desiring not simply to be unclothed v. 4. 3. He now shews the grounds of desiring in this verse They are two 1. God hath fitted us for this very thing 2. He hath given us the Pledge and Earnest of this Glorious estate All the business will be 1. To open the Expressions 2. To shew how these are grounds of the Desire First To open the meaning of the Expressions 1. God's forming us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is that self same thing he speaketh of A groaning and an earnest desire after Immortality say some We would gladly be rid of our Burthen here and be in Heaven and surely the sense of Nature would not incline us to so holy an Affection No God hath wrought us for this self same thing hath framed such a desire in us We know and are assured that when this earthly Tabernacle is dissolved we have a Building c. say others Surely this persuasion is of God created and produced in the hearts of his People by his Special Grace Flesh and Blood hath not shewed it to us Still good Others carry it higher That we eye things unseen and make them our scope still this is from Grace not from Nature for Nature looketh only to things before us to present welfare That we are contented though our outward man perish so that our inward man be renewed Surely all this is from God A man may admire Coelestial Happiness but not industriously desire it and self-denyingly seek after it to the loss of the Contentments and Interests of the bodily life unless God move his heart and supernaturally bestow such a disposition towards himself All this is true and good but 't is a part of this sense The Apostle speaketh not of the Desire but of the Happiness its self that we may be capable of it He first formeth us and frameth us for this very thing 1. Here in this World he fits us and prepareth the Soul by Sanctification or Regeneration purifying and cleansing us from sin 2. For the Body the Spirit that now dwelleth in us will at last raise our mortal Bodies Rom. 8.11 and prepare us for that Immortality God now frameth the Souls of his People hereafter their Bodies They are wrought to this thing Man must be new made before he is capable of entring into glory There is a new work on the Souls and on the Bodies of his Saints they must be new moulded and transformed before they are brought into this Blessed estate The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth a powerful work and an exact work None who are unfit or unmeet for Heaven get an access to it no we are framed for this very thing II. Given us the Earnest of his Spirit This better life is sealed and confirmed to us by Earnest Dona gifts that is one thing As we give a shilling to a Beggar Pignus a pawn or pledge is another As when a poor man layeth his Tools at pledge with an intent when he can make up the money borrowed to fetch it away again But Arrha earnest is a part of the bargain till the whole be performed God will not deal with us by bare Covenant but give Earnest to assure us the more of that life which he hath promised in his Covenant we have a tast and experience of it in the present work of his Spirit Secondly How these are grounds of this Desire There are Two things considerable in that glorious estate which we expect according to promise the Certainty and the Excellency both are confirmed by God's working us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And giving us the Earnest c. 1. The Certainty of it is confirmed by both these by things the frame of the New Creature and Earnest of the Spirit 1. By the Frame of the New Creature If a Vessel be formed 't is for some end and what doth not attain its end is vain and lost A man may make a thing useless and short of its end but God cannot for he cannot mistake in the forming nor change his mind and therefore if God had made us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end is sure to be
the God of my Salvation And Psa. 23.4 Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear none evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff doth comfort me To make the promise yield us that which the creature cannot health strength life peace house and home and maintenance for our selves and Children When we die and have little or nothing to leave them and all means of subsistance are cut off and blasted then to live yea to grow rich by Faith as having nothing yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6.10 'T is enough that God carryeth the purse for us Many talk of living by Faith but 't is when they have something in the World to live upon As those Isa. 4.1 Only let us he called by thy name So in other cases why do the vain delights and dignities and honours of the World so prevail with Men that all the Promises of the Gospel cannot reclaim them yea fell their birth-right for one morsel of meat Heb. 11.15 The life of Sense is lifted up above that of Faith The Soul dwelleth in Flesh looketh out by the senses and knoweth what is comfortable to sense that God is unseen our great hopes are to come and the Flesh is Importunate to be pleased 2. Pet. 1.9 They that want these things that is Faith and other graces are blind and cannot see afar off Doct. 2. That Faith is for Earth and sight is for Heaven So the Apostle sorteth these two Here we believe in God and there we see him as he is As soon as we are reconciled to him God will not admit us into his immediate presence as Absolom when he had leave to return yet he could not see the King's face 2 Sam. 14.24 So God causeth us to stay a while in the World ere we come before him in his Heavenly Temple 1. Because now we are in our minority and all things are by degrees carryed on towards their state of perfection as an Infant doth not presently commence into the stature of a man In the course of Nature there is an orderly progress from an Imperfect state to a perfect The dispensations of God to the Church Gal. 4. And the Apostle compareth our estate in Glory and our estate by grace to Child-hood and manly Age 1 Cor. 13.11 12. Our words inclinations affections are quite changed in the compass of a few years so as we neither say nor desire nor understand any thing as some years before we did so it is with this and the next life Now our vision is very dark and imperfect looking upon things when they are shewed us as through a glass on purpose to give us a Glimpse of them but when we come to Heaven we shall see perfectly as we see a person or thing that is before our Eyes 2. We are now upon our tryal but then we are in termino in our final state now we are in our way but then we are in our Country Therefore now we walk by faith but then by sight God would not give us our reward here A tryal cannot be made in a state of sense but in a state of Faith We are justified by Faith we live by Faith we walk by Faith This state of Faith requireth that the manner of that dispensation by which God governeth the World should neither be too sensible and clear nor too obscure and dark but a middle thing as the day break or twilight is between the light of the day and the darkness of the night that as the World is a middle place between Heaven and Hell so it should have somewhat of either If all things were too clear and liable to sense we should not need Faith if to obscure we should wholly lose Faith Therefore 't is neither night nor day but towards the evening If the Godly should be presently admitted to their Happiness and have all things according to Hearts desire it would make Religion too sensible a thing not fit for that kind of Government which God will now exercise in the World Heb. 6.12 But followers of them who through Faith and patience have inherited the promises And Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth Temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Every man must be tryed and approved faithful upon tryal and then God will admit him into his presence 3. There is no congruity between our present state and the beatifical vision the place is not fit nor the persons 1. The place is not fit because 't is full of changes Here time and chance happeneth to all and there is a continual succession of Night and Day Calm and Tempest Winter and Summer There is neither evil nor only evil not all good nor all Blessing but a mixture of either The World to come is either all evil or all good This is a fit place for our exercise but not for our injoyments here is the patience of the Saints But there is the reward of the Saints 'T is a fit place to get an Interest in but not a possession 'T is Gods Foot-stool but not his Throne Isa. 66.1 Now he will not immediately shew himself to us till we come before the Throne of his Glory He manifesteth himself to the Blessed Spirits as a King sitting in his Royal Robes upon his Throne but the Church is but his Foot-stool as he filleth the upper part of the World with his Glorious presence so the lower part with his powerful presence This is a place wherein God will shew his bounty to all his Creatures a Common Inn and receptacle for Sons and Bastards a place given to the Children of men But the Heaven of Heavens he hath reserved for himself and his people Psa. 115.16 2. The persons are not fit Our Souls are not yet enough purified to see God Matth. 5.8 1 John 3.3 Till sin be done away which will not be till Death we are unmeet for his presence when Christ will present us to God he will present us faultless before the presence of his Glory Jude 28. Our Bodies also are not fit till we have passed the Gulph of Death We are not able to bear Eternal Happiness Old bottles will not hold the new wine of Glory a Mortal Creature is not capable of the Glorious presence of God and cannot endure the splendour of it Matth. 12.6 They fell on their Faces and were sore afraid Upon any manifestation of God the Saints hide themselves Elijah Wrapt his Face in a mantle Moses himself when God gave the Law trembled exceedingly 3. Point That till we have sight 't is some advantage that we have Faith There is no other way to live spiritually and in holy peace joy and the love of God but by sight or faith either by injoyment or expectation therefore sight being reserved for the other world if we would live holily and comfortably we must walk
and minding us of our duty is the proper means to cure slightness and to remove their Impotency which lieth in their obstinacy and wilfulness There is no such means as to besiege them with constant persuasion and the renewed offers of a better estate by Christ for the Impotency is rather Moral than Natural we do not use to reason men our of their natural Impotency to bid a lume man walk or a Blind man see or a Dead man live but to make men willing of the good they have neglected or rejected we must perswade them to a beter choice In short to inform the Judgment to awaken the Conscience to perswade the will this is the work and Office of the Word by its precepts promises and rewards 't is true the bare means will not do it without Gods concurrence the influence and power of his Spirit but 't is an incouragement to use the means because they are fitted to the end and God would not appoint us means which should be altogether vain 5. That it is not enough that the Word be written but preached by those who are deputed thereunto For several reasons 1. Partly Because Scripture may possibly lie by as a neglected thing The Lord complaineth Hos. 8.12 I have written to them the great things of my Law but they were counted as a strange thing Men flighted the Word written as of little Importance or concernment to them are little conversant in it therefore some are appointed that shall be sure to call upon us and put us in mind of our eternal condition that may bring the Word nigh to us lay it at our doors bring a special Message of God to our Souls Acts 13.26 To you is the Word of Salvation sent he speaketh to all the World by his Word to you in particular by the special Messages his Servants bring you 'T is sent to you there is much of God in it the Word written hath its use to prevent delusions and mistakes and the Word preached hath also its use to excite and stir up every man to look after the remedy offered as he will answer it to God another day 2. Partly Because the Word written may not be so clearly understood therefore God hath left gifts in the Church authorized some to interpret As the Eunuch was reading and God sent him an Interpreter Philip said unto him Vnderstandest thou what thou readest And he said how can I except some Body guide me Acts 8.30 31. The Scripture is clear in its self but there is a covering of natural blindness upon our Eyes which the Guides of the Church are appointed and qualified to remove Job 33.23 If there be a Messenger with him an Interpreter one of a thousand to shew a man his uprightness There are Messengers from God authorized to speak in his name to relieve poor Souls that they may soundly explain forcibly express and closely apply the truths of the Word that what is briefly expressed there by earnest and copious Exhortations may be inculcated upon them and the arrow may be drawn to the head and they may more effectually deal with sinners and convince them of their duty and rowse them up to seek after the favour of God in Christ Look as Darts that are cast forth out of Engines by Art and fitted with Feathers are more apt to fly faster and pierce deeper than those that are thrown casually and fall by their own weight so though the Word of God is still the Word of God and hath its proper Power and force whether read or preached yet when 't is well and properly enforced with distinctness of Language vehemency and vigour of Spirit and with prudent application 't is more conducible to its end 3. Because God would observe a congruity and decency As death entred by the Ear so doth life and peace Rom. 10.14 15. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent By the same sense by which we received our venom and poison God will send in our blessings work faith and repentance in us by the Ministry of reconciliation Besides as vision and seeing is exercised in Heaven so hearing in the Church 't is a more imperfect way of apprehension but such as is competeâ—t to the present state Job 42.5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the Ear but now mine Eye seeth thee speaking of his extraordinary vision of God which is a glimpse of Heaven Now we have a report of God and his grace Satisfying ocular inspection is reserved for Heaven but now we must be contented with the one without the other 6. That to preach the word to us God hath appointed men of the same mould with our selves and intrusted them with the ministry of reconciliation As the Fowler catcheth many birds by one decoy a bird of the same Feather so God dealeth with us by men of the same nature and affections and subject to the Law of the same duties who are concerned in the Message they bring to us as much as we are men that know the heart of man by experience our prejudices and temptations for the heart of man answereth to heart as the face in the Waters Prov. 27.19 And so know all the Wards of the Lock and what Key will fit them Now the love and wisdom of God appeareth herein 1. Because God will try the World by his ordinary Messengers Col. 1.21 It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe We now live by faith and not by sight and therefore he will not discover his own Majesty and send us Nuncios and Messengers out of the other World or deal with us in an extraordinary way to lead us to faith and repentance but send mean Creatures like our selves in his name who by the manifestation of the truth shall commend themselves to every mans conscience to see if they will submit to this ordinary stated course We would have Visions Oracles Miracles Apparitions one come from the dead but Christ referreth us to ordinary means if they work not extraordinary means will do us no good Luke 16.30 31. And he said Nay Father Abraham but if one went from the dead they will repent and he said unto him If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead When God used extraordinary ways man was man still Psa. 78.22 23 24. Because they believed not in God and trusted not in his Salvation though he had commanded the clouds from above and opened the doors of Heaven and had rained down Manna upon them to eat and had given them the corn of Heaven They had their Meat and Drink from Heaven and yet they were rebels against God and unbelievers Their victuals came out of the Clouds their Water out
God and partly with the Creature neither loosed nor unloosed but between both can never be sound and upright Jam. 1.8 A double-minded man is unstable in all his wayes A man must purge himself from Lusts before he be a Vessel fit for Gods use 2 Tim. 2.20 There is some delight in lawful or unlawful things that lyeth between us and Christ and is so near and dear to us as to draw away the Heart at least in part that the heavenly Plantation cannot thrive and prosper in our Souls Luke 8.14 There is some unmortified root of bitterness Jer. 4.3 4. Sow not among thorns plow up the fallow ground Till God be our scope Religion can never be our work If the pleasing enjoying or glorifying him were more sincerely intended other things would come on with more ease and success as the Water floweth of its own accord if the Pipe be not leaky If the Honour of Christ his Glory Will and Command lye nearest and closest the Heart then sin would be more loathed than any other thing more feared more avoided and we would follow our work more heartily We are enlivened in the Means by an unfeigned regarding of the End our carelesness cometh from this that God is only minded as a matter by the by The End and Means alwayes go together If any thing be prized more than God or equal with him or apart from him a little Grace and Godliness will serve the turn If God were intirely our End we would be mainly for him and most industrious to approve our selves to him if it be not so something there is that causeth that neglect that must be found out something that cloggeth thy heart and detaineth thee from this effectual pursuit some lust the gratifying of which is the delight and pleasure which contents us and therefore are we cold and sleight in Religion 4. Vnbelief For faith doth enliven all our Notions of God and Christ and Heaven and the day of Judgement and maketh them effectual and powerful The Apostle telleth us Heb. 11.1 That Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen It puts a presence into things and so affects us as if the things believed were before our eyes Otherwise a man cannot see things at a distance 2 Pet. 1.9 Christ and Eternity are afar off Hence to an Unbeliever they seem little and therefore 't is not made a business of the greatest weight or Importance to seek after them At the day of Judgment how will wicked men stamp and tear their hair when matters of Faith become matters of Sense that they minded them no more Oh! if I had known this I should never have dreamed out my time as I have done saith the convinced Wretch but made a more serious business of my preparation If the day of Judgment be too far off let us lay the Scene a little nearer Suppose one of the damned Souls now in torments that feeleth that which he would never believe thus crying out Oh! had I thought my Lazy desires and good meanings would have done me no more good that my sloathfulness would have ended so sadly I would rather have wept out my Eyes and have filled the World with sorrowful Complaints I would have bereaved my self of sleep by Night and refused my Bread by Day rather than to have wanted time to have thought of God and the great Affairs of my Soul If our Faith be so short-sighted that we cannot look as far as the Region of darkness time may come in this World that we shall wish we had done more for God and our precious and immortal Souls First or last we bear witness to this Truth when the neglected Soul cometh to be separated from the pampered Flesh or over-prized body If we would learn to shut the Eye of Sense and open the Eye of Faith we might see it now 2 Vse Is to press you to get Oyl in your Vessels to be rooted and grounded in Faith settled in Love Hope Zeal Temperance and perfect what is lacking to every grace That you may be sensible what I exhort you to I shall give you the summe of it by degrees 1. Do not meerly affect the reputation of Good People and rest there As the Lord saith of the Church of Sardis Rev. 3.1 Thou hast a Name that thou livest and art dead Do not rest in this that you have a Name to live God judgeth not as man judgeth Man judgeth according to outward appearance but God judgeth according to the reality of the thing Many have the Name without the Thing Isa. 48.2 For they call themselves of the holy City and stay themselves upon the God of Israel That is they get themselves a Name to be his People but they have not the Thing its self On the other side we read of some that are Israelites indeed John 1.47 Some are only so in the shew and outside and some are Disciples indeed Joh. 8.31 so in reality others are so in pretence only There is no true ground of solid Comfort but in this in being real Disciples so Joh. 8.37 we read of some that were free indeed The Jews had the Name of free men but were not free indeed stood upon their Liberty they were in bondage to no man Some are Religious indeed humble indeed fear God indeed when a man hath gotten the Thing he may referre himself to God for the Name 2. Do not rest in a common work of Grace Look as in the Beasts there is some little tincture of Reason so in Temporaries there is something that looks like saving Grace but is not something that resembles it and looketh most like it yet 't is but the shadow of Grace not true Grace it self Historical Faith is the shadow of true saving Faith There are some outward Lineaments of Repentance in Ahabs Humiliation and Judas his Compunction of spiritual Affection in Herod's delight in John and the stony ground received the Word with joy And some shew of Reformation there was in those that escaped the pollutions of the world Therefore if you rest here without a powerfull and inward affecting of the whole Heart you may come short of glory The Grace of Temporaries is good in its kind but must not be rested in 'T is good in its kind 't is like priming the Post to make it receptive of other colours 't is an inchoate imperfect thing They are affected almost with the same feeling the Godly are come very near How nice a point is that wherein the Temporary and the real Christian differ Both pray with sorrow hear with joy perform duties with some enlargement and sweetness Simili fere sensu afficiuntur Yet as two Hills may seem very near at the top when their bottoms are far distant one from another so these Operations may seem near together when in the bottom and root they much differ These motions argue Gods Spirit working on them not dwelling in them actuated they are
be renounced or we are for ever miserable and why not now Sin will be as sweet hereafter as now it is and Salvation dispensed upon the same terms You cannot be saved hereafter with less adoe or bring down Christ or Heaven to a lower rate If this be a reason it will ever be as a reason against Christ and Religion because you are loath to part with this or that pleasing lust and so it will never be 3. The Suspicion that is upon a late Repentance 'T is seldome sound and therefore alwayes questionable That is no true Repentance which ariseth meerly from horrour and the sense of Hell This sensible work that men have upon them may be but the beginning of everlasting despair All men seek the Lord at length but the wise seek him in time This was the great difference between the wise and foolish Virgins one sought him in time the other out of time They would covet his favour at last Upon a Death-bed the most prophane would have God for their portion When they can sin no more and enjoy the World no longer then they cry and howl for mercy and comfort and a little well grounded hope of Heaven or eternal life But who can tell whether this sensible work that is upon them be not meerly an act of self-love and the fruit of those natural desires which all the Creatures have after their own happiness or a meer retreat others have when they can hold the World no longer We cannot say this Repentance is true nor affirm the contrary that 't is false but 't is doubtful There is but that one instance of the Thief on the Cross that truly repented when he came to die The Scriptures contain an History of four thousand years or thereabouts and yet all that while we have but this one instance of a true Repentance just at death and in that Instance there is an extraordinary Conjunction of Circumstances which cannot reasonably be expected again Christ was now at his right hand in the height of his love drawing sinners to God Never such a season as then and 't is more than probable he had never a call before then Well then let us put this necessary work of Preparation for God out of doubt betimes yea let the Children of God if they have not yet prevailed against such a Lust or lived in the neglect of such a Duty could not bring their hearts to it hitherto make speed left they be surprized and this defect in their preparation make their death uncomfortable A good Christian is alwayes converting yet not fully converted The first work is often gone over and he is still getting nearer to God by a more affectionate compliance with his whole will Doct. 2. That those that are finally refused by the Lord may yet have a desire of the Ioyes of Heaven 1. Consider them in this VVorld and in the VVorld to come These two respects are different For though Self-love be the common cause of their desiring Heaven both now and then yet there is a difference 'T is more commendable to desire it now than to desire it then though neither be an argument of any gracious Constitution of Soul 'T is more commendable to desire it now when 't is a matter of Faith to believe the World to come than when 't is a matter of Sense as when all Shadows are chased away then 't is no hard matter to convince men of things that lye within the Veil that is of the truth and worth of Heavenly things And yet if they should be convinced of this we cannot say they are gracious however they are better than meer Infidels for carnal men may desire a share in the state of the Blessed as Numb 23.10 Oh that I might die the death of the Righteous Balaam had his wishes And those that did not like Christs Doctrine but departed from him said Joh. 6.34 Lord evermore give us of this bread of life They would fain be happy When this happiness was represented unto them it may and doth stir up strange motions in the Hearts of those that are unrenewed and unchanged 2. There is a difference in the End and Vse of this desire of Happiness Now and then God leaveth these Velleities and Inclinations as a Stock upon which to graft Grace as a Spinster leaveth a lock of Wooll to fasten the next thread as Nebuchadnezzar's shape remained when he was turned a grazing among the Beasts and as Job's Messengers I alone am escaped to tell thee There are these Inclinations to happiness that are escaped out of the ruines of the Fall God by our self-love would draw us to love himself Man will not be dealt with else It leaveth men capable of Heaven the Doctrine of Life represented to them they are without excuse if they refuse it This is the use of it now but then when we are in termino it hath another use This love of their own happiness and desire to be saved serveth for this very use to make them sensible of their loss the grief of their Condemnation and lost estate is encreased thereby Now this is little thought of by carnal men because they have Oblectamenta sensus the entertainments of sense to divert their minds but when separate and set apart from all these then if they have no other punishment this is enough Surely their understanding remaineth having nothing to comfort them and allay the bitter sense of their loss But now let us see 1. How far carnal and unregenerate men desire Happiness 2. Why this is so little improved and they make so little use of it First How far a carnal and unregenerate man may desire Happiness 1. They may desire good confuse non indefinitè Happiness in the General but this desire cometh under no deliberation and choice The happiness that is offered by Christ or that Life and Immortality that he bringeth to light cometh under another consideration Good Good is the cry of the World Certainly no man would be miserable but all would be happy and live at ease Christians Pagans all good men bad men they that seldome agree in any thing do all agree in this they would have good To ask men whether they would be happy or no is to ask men whether they love themselves yea or no. 2. They would not only have good in the General but some eternal good And because this is not so evident by nature they grope and feel about for it Act. 17.26 There is an unsatisfiedness in present things and therefore they are scrambling and feeling about for some better thing As Solomon tryed all experiments so do men go about seeking for good Eccl. 7.29 Since we lost the streight line of Gods direction we seek it sometimes in one thing sometimes in another and Christ saith Mat. 13.45 46. That the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant man seeking goodly pearls And when he had found one pearl of good price he went
the most secret discovery of wrath and discontent and suiteth his Temptations to all the postures of spirit we are in Secondly There is besides this Hostis domesticus the bosom Enemy the Flesh or the inbred Corruption of our Nature that is ready to betray us to the basest Temptations and to open the Gates to the Enemy without Man needeth no Devil to tempt him we have enough in our own bosoms to prompt and urge us to sin Jam. 1.5 The Spirit in us lusteth to envy Gen. 6.5 The thoughts and imaginations of our hearts are evil continually 'T is easie to set Tinder Gunpowder or Flax on fire and therefore they had need to be kept asunder We cannot be too careful the best of us have a good self and a bad self the one must watch over the other or all will come to ruine and Grace will be ready to die Rev. 2.2 Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain that are ready to die From whence cometh the vanity of our Minds our proneness to break the bounds of due liberty in all our Comforts our readiness to erre in Speech our frequent Miscarriages in Conversation our frequent unfitness for holy Duties our unfruitfulness in our Conversing with others our unsettledness in our Consciences our immoderate cares and fears whence I say cometh all this but from our want of Watching against this inward Enemy our Flesh Especially when temptations are near importunate and constant We proceed every step to Heaven by Conflict and Contest because Sin is alwayes at hand ready to assault us and taint us So that a serious Christian cannot but take himself to be still in danger Thirdly The World We walk in the midst of Snares and Temptations saith Austin and Bernard saith That our Life is a continual Temptation We are in the midst of tempting Objects that are comfortable to our Senses necessary to our Uses and present to our Embraces that we can hardly distinguish between what Necessity craveth and Lust desireth and so we are strangely gained upon 1 Joh. 2.16 For all that is in the VVorld is the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and pride of Life He doth not say Whatsoever is in our corrupt Hearts but he describeth the Objects by the Lusts because they are readily excited by them All that is in the World there are Baits for every Temper Honour for the ambitious Wealth for the covetous Pleasure for the sensual Now every distemper loveth the Diet that feedeth it Lust in the Soul or unmortified corruption maketh our abode in the World dangerous 2 Pet. 1.4 That having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust Here one plungeth himself over head and ears in the World another is intemperate in the delights of the Flesh and the Entertainments of Sense another is aspiring after Honour great Places and Pomp of living or Esteem in the World or at least we give our selves too great a liberty and freedom in these things Therefore you see what need there is of watching when alluring Objects lay such close siege to the Appetite and Senses 2. There is a VVatching unto Good or for the Performance of our Duties that we go about them in an holy serious conscionable Manner observing the best Opportunities and taking heed there be no secret Leaven of Hypocrisie in them Of all holy Duties the Scripture applieth it to Prayer which of all other holy Services is the commonest and the chiefest and Watching therein is a great help though by Analogy it holdeth good in other duties as we shall see in a few places Col. 4.2 Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving So 1 Pet. 4.7 Be sober and watch unto Prayer So Eph. 6.18 watching therein with all perseverance Sathan is a great Enemy to this duty and our Hearts are averse and hardly brought and kept to it Unless it be well performed our Communion with God is interrupted and at a stand Out of all these places we may well collect That there is First A watching unto Prayer or before Prayer Secondly A watching in Prayer or in the Duty Thirdly A watching after Prayer or when the Duty is over 1. The VVatching unto Prayer or before the Duty is mainly to keep up a Praying frame that we may be ready upon all occasions to call upon God The praying frame lyeth partly in Brokenness of heart or a due sense of our Necessities and partly in an earnest Bent of heart towards God and holy and heavenly things and partly in an holy Liberty and Child-like confidence If either of these be lost how slack and backward shall we be in Gods Worship or slight in the performance of it whether in Closet or Family or publick Assemblies and slubber it over in any fashion But when this frame of spirit is kept up the Soul is mightily actuated and enlarged in the Duty As when there is brokenness of heart or a due sense of our Necessities which is the occasion of Prayer or an earnest desire of Grace which is the Soul of Prayer or our Liberty and Confidence is not broken which is the great Encouragement of Prayer then we are like light and airy Bodies whose natural motion is upwards so are we carried out towards God and Prayer is our Element in which we live and breathe Indeed the whole spiritual Life is but a watching unto Prayer that we may have alwayes a readiness for Communion with God 1 Pet. 3.7 2. There is a VVatching in Prayer that the Duty be performed with that seriousness attention and affection that the Nature of it doth require This Watching is necessary because of the slipperiness of our Hearts which easily go off from the work in hand We often mingle Sulphur with our Incense interline our Prayers with carnal distractions suffer our Hearts to be stollen away from under Christs own arm therefore we had need to watch Eccl. 5.1 2 3. There is a Watching after Prayer Partly that we may observe Gods dealing with us whether our Souls have been streightened or whether he hath given liberty hidden his face or shewed himself gracious Here we may gather some matter of Comfort to our selves and Thanksgiving to God Col. 6.2 We must not throw away our Prayers as Children shoot away their Arrows and never look after them Hab. 2.1 I will pray and look up to spy the Blessing a coming We should have many an Argument against Atheism great helps to Faith and encouragements to love God and many a sure ground of comfort in our selves if we did look after the answer of our Prayers And partly that we lose not that affection which we have professed and expressed before God We seemed to express a great desire of glorifying his Name and doing his Will and being sanctified pardoned and strengthened against Temptations Now 't is but the personating and acting a part before God if we be not such in some measure as we professed our selves
First Let me observe to you that there is a twofold fear Filial and Servile Child-like and Slavish The one is a lawful and necessary fear such as quickneth us to Duty Phil. 2.12 And is either the fear of Reverence or the fear of Caution The fear of Reverence is nothing else but that awe we are to have of the divine Majesty as Creatures or our humble sense of the condition place and duty of a Creature towards its Creator The fear of Caution is a due sense of the Importance and Validity of the business we are engaged in in order to Salvation certainly none can consider the danger we are to escape and the blessedness we aim at but will see a need to be serious And therefore this fear is good and holy 1. But there is besides this a slavish fear which doth not further but extreamly hinder our work For though we are to fear God yet we are not to be afraid of God This is that which the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opposite to the Spirit of Adoption Rom. 8.15 and a cowardly fearful Spirit opposite to that Spirit of Power and Love and of a sound Mind which is the principle of all faithful Service to God They that are under the Spirit of bondage serve not God as Children serve a Father but as Slaves serve an hard and cruel Master Fear is the inseperable Companion of this Spirit which must needs be a great hinderance to our Duty because it begets hatred to God and the torment it bringeth to our selves As it breedeth Hatred to God Oderunt quem metuunt quem odimus periisse cupimus when we only dread God for his Vengeance we keep off from him as a dissolute servant hateth that Master who would scourge him for his Debaucheries The Nature of this fear is to drive us from God Gen. 3.7 10. I was afraid So because of the Torment it bringeth to us Eph. 4.18 For the legal Spirit 't is called a Spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 It hath fear and torment in it and is an Enemy to us for it banisheth all those sweet Principles which should enliven our Service as Love to God and Delight in our work which doth enliven and inspire every thing that we do with an earnest Spirit But where Love is wanting and all the Comfort that should accompany our duties 't is lost either a man doth nothing or all that he doth is in a compulsory manner by meer force and so our hands must needs be weakned in Gods Service if we be not totally discouraged For often it endeth in a Despair of pleasing or being accepted with God There is a lazy sottish Despair as well as a raging tormenting Despair Jer. 18.12 There is no hope we will walk in the Imagination of our own Hearts Cast off all care of the Souls Welfare This was the fear of the sloathful Servant in the Text and such a fear have many others in the bosom of their hearts by which they can never do any thing effectually in the business of Religion by reason of their-strong Prejudices occasioned by their own tormenting fear 2. That this fear is begotten in us by a false opinion of God that rendereth him dreadful rigorous and terrible to the Soul The Servant in the Text doth not only say I was afraid but giveth a reason of it I knew that thou wert an hard man reaping where thou hast not sowed and gathering where thou hast not strawed A parabolical speech to set forth a cruel Tyrant that doth exact upon those that are under him without Mercy and Reason Our Affections follow our Apprehensions and we either love or fear according to the inward notions that we have of God in our minds They that know thy name will trust in thee Psal. 9.10 If we had righter notions of God we would love him more and trust him more But when we conceive amiss of him accordingly we are affected to him And therefore we should take heed what Picture we draw of God in our minds for if we have only such apprehensions as render him grievous and burdensome to us these thoughts will leven our Hearts and make us either neglect his Service or do it by constraint in a very awkward and uncomfortable manner If the Devil can bring you to have a base opinion of God as cruel and tyrannical and once possess you with sowre thoughts and fretful Jealousies or harsh surmises of his Government it will turn all your love and obedience into hatred and slavish fear Therefore those that consider that Love is the great principle of Obedience should also consider that there is nothing so necessary to breed love as good thoughts of God and a due sense of his goodness in Christ come to this once and then all that he requireth and doth will be acceptable to us His Laws will not be grievous nor his Providences seem burdensom to you nor his Judgments intolerable How can you love him till you represent him as an Object of Love one upon whom you may chearfully depend for Life and Defence and from whom you may comfortably expect the Rewards of Obedience Therefore take heed of painting out God in your thoughts as an hard Master The Apostle telleth us Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him As soon as we apprehend his Being we should also pitch upon his Bounty and Goodness First That he is and then That he is a Rewarder There is in all men some Impression of a Godhead which is clearly understood and seen by the things that are made Rom. 1.20 This Apprehension of God calleth for Worship for next that God is we must believe he must be Worshipped Joh. 4.24 These two notions live and dye together they are clear and blotted out together As the apprehension of God is clear and more deeply engraven upon the Soul so is this notion of mans Duty of Worshipping God clear and imprinted upon the Soul also The one Impression cannot be worn out without the other But now want of a true Knowledge of God breedeth slavish fear fearing God in excess rather than loving him in any tolerable measure because a man naturally looketh upon God with the same eye that a Malefactor doth upon his Judge Fear is more natural to carnal men because a bad Conscience is very suspicious and our sense of Gods Benefits is not so great as the sense of our bad deservings is quick and lively Therefore naturally we have no other notions of God than as a rigid Law-giver and severe Avenger The Heathens who in all their Worship discovered the natural Sentiments of Religion that are in the Hearts of men observed this in the Straits Vt prius placarent iratos Deos c. Wrath and Anger were the first thoughts they had of a Divine Power and 't is as true among Christians Guilty Nature is more presagious of
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Thess. 2.8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his Mouth and shall destroy them with the Brightness of his Coming 4. If you consider some foregoing Appearances of Christ. As for instance At the giving of the Law 't was the Second Person that managed that Appearance For 't is said Acts 7.38 that it was an Angel that appeared in Mount Sinai and spoke to our Fathers That is the Angel of the Covenant Jesus Christ For 't is clearly said Heb. 12.26 That the Voice of Christ then shook the Earth Now what a dreadful Appearance was that The Earth shook the Mountain trembled and out of the midst of the Thunderings and Lightnings and a thick Cloud was the Sound of the Trumpet heard so that the People trembled yea Moses himself a meek Man that had done great Service in the Church did exceedingly quake and tremble Heb. 12. from 18. to 21. When he gave the Law he is represented as a terrible Judge ready to overcome his Adversaries with the Tempest of his Wrath much more when he cometh to execute the Sentence of the Law as Execution is alwayes more terrible than Promulgation Or you may guess at it by Prophet Isaiah's Terror when he saw God in Vision Isa. 6.5 Into what an Agony it drove that Holy Prophet Wo is me for I am undone because I am a Man of unclean Lips and I dwell in the midst of a People of unclean Lips For mine Eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Adam fled from the Presence of God walking in the Garden though God came to him in no terrible Appearance and though he had sinned yet was not cut off from all Hope of Reconciliation How will wicked Men abide the Presence of Christ when he cometh to shew forth his Glory and they are excluded by his final Sentence from all Hope of Pardon Or you may set it forth by the Glory of Christ's Transfiguration the Glory that was seen then For that was a Glimpse of this Glory of the Father in which he shall appear at that Day Matth. 17.2 And he was Transfigured before them and his Face did shine as the Sun and his Rayment was white as the Light And then arose a bright Cloud and a Voice out of the bright Cloud And when the Disciples heard it they were sore afraid There was a glorious shining Brightness breaking through Skin and Garment overwhelming the Disciples that they were not able to stand before his Majesty though it were in Mercy revealed to them Or by that Appearance of the Angel described Matth. 28.3 4. His Countenance was like Lightning and his Rayment as white as Snow and for fear of him the Keepers did shake and became as dead Men. Or by the Appearance of Christ to Paul Act. 9. when he was blind for seven Dayes when the Lord Jesus shewed himself to him from Heaven These Instances will give us a Ghess a Taste of it But Secondly Why he will come in this great Glory I Answer 1. To take off the Scandal and Ignominy of the Cross and to recompense him for his Humiliation He that was once despised in the World for his outward and despicable Estate will then be Glorious when he shall declare his Power in Raising the Dead by his Voice and all the Elements burning about him and all the Saints and Angels attending him every one as bright as the Sun A glorious high Throne set in the Air for him and all the Creatures presented before him and bowing to him Ransacking the Consciences of Sinners and bringing forth the Story of all his Administrations in the World Then there will be a full Recompence for all his Sufferings To make this eviden◠let us compare the Two Comings of Christ Christ's First Coming was so obscure that it was scarce observed and understood by the World The Second will be so conspicuous and glorious as to be seen of All. In the former he came in the Form of a Servant and the contemptible Appearance of a mean Man In the second he cometh as the Lord and Heir of all things cloathed with Splendour and Glory as with a Garment At his First Coming he had a Forerunner The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness In the Second he hath a Forerunner also There the Baptist Here an Arch-angel with his Trumpet 1 Thess. 4. 10. In his First Coming he was accompanied with a few poor Fisher-men Twelve Disciples Persons of mean Condition and Rank in the World Now with Legions of Angels and with his Holy ten thousands of his Saints Jude 14. Heretofore he Raised Three to Life Now all the Dead Then he was scorned buffeted spit upon Now crowned with Glory and Honour In the former he was to act the Part of a Minister of the Circumcision to Preach the Gospel to the People of Israel In the latter he shall act as the Judge of all the World In the former he invited Men to Repentance and offered Remission to Sins to those that received him as a Redeemer But in the latter he shall cut off all Hope of Pardon for evermore from them that Received him not and neglected their Day of Grace At first he came to bear the Sins of many But now He shall come without Sin Heb. 9.28 not bearing a Burden but bringing a Discharge not as a Surety but as a Pay master not as a Sufferer but as a Conqueror triumphing over Death and Hell and the Devil He cometh no more to go from us but to take us from all Misery unto himself In the former State he was God-Man but he did as it were hide his Godhead under the Infirmities of his Flesh Sometimes it peeped out through the Veil in a Miracle but yet mostly obscuring himself But in the latter he shall discover himself with an unspeakable Brightness and Majesty and there will be no need of Miracles to prove the Divinity of his Person and Office For then it shall be a matter of Sense all shall see it and feel it some with Joy others with Trembling In the former State he presented himself to suffer Death But then he shall tread Death under his Feet In the former he was Judged and Condemned by Men to an Ignominious Death the Death of the Cross But in the latter he will Judge and with his own Mouth pronounce Sentence upon all Men on all Kings Emperours and Judges as well as poor Peasants sitting upon a Glorious Throne and Tribunal Then he Judged no man John 3.17 For God sent not his Son to Condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved His work then was to hold out the way of life or to open the way of Salvation to lost man as a meek Saviour and Mediatour So John 12.47 If any man hear my words and believe them not I Judge him not for I came not to Judge the world but to save the world I Judge
brake in pieces the Image and cut down the Groves and defiled their Places with the bones of Men. Infants were burnt there with horrible Cries And Screeches and sound of Drums and Tabrets and other Instruments to drown the Noise And those that were condemned were burnt in that Valley as also the Bones of Malefactors Now to the Piles of Wood and the Piles continually burning there doth the Prophet allude This was represented in Sodom's Burning as a Type as the Drowning of the World was a Figure of Christ's coming to Judgment The Burning of the Sacrifice which in the Interpretation of the Law was the Sinner himself was the Figure of it 2. Now come we to the New-Testament There are Places without number 'T is sometimes represented by Fire where we read of a Furnace of Fire Matth. 13.42 And shall cast them into a Furnace of Fire there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth God's Wrath is compared in the Old-Testament to a fiery Oven where the contracted Flame appeareth most dreadful Sometimes to a Lake of Fire Revel 19.20 And the Beast was taken and with him the false Prophet that wrought Miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast and them that worshipped his Image both these were cast into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone At other times 't is compared to a Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 By which also be â—â—nt and preached to the Spirits that are in Prison Or to a Bottomless Pit Revel 9.11 And they had a King over them which is the Angel of the Bottomless-Pit There is Darkness and Chains and Gaoler and Judge The Chains of Invincible Providence and their own horrible Despair There is no making an Escape But of this more hereafter So that unless we will count God a Liar there is such a Place of Torment provided 2. Ask Men. The blind Nations had a Sense of Eternity and Fancies of an Heaven and Hell Elizian Fields and obscure Mansions and Places of Torment There are some Relicks of his Truth in the corrupt Doctrine of the Gentiles But we need not go so far back as Tradition look to Conscience Wicked Men find in themselves an apprehension of Immortality and Punishment after Death Râ—â— 1.32 Who knowing the Judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death Reason sheweth that he that perfectly hateth sin will perfectly punish it not in this life for abominable sinners are many times prosperous here Justice is not discovered to the utmost therefore guilty Conscience presageth there is more evil to come There is much in these presages of Conscience especially when we are more serious however they dissemble the matter when well Heb. 2.15 And deliver them from the fear of death who all their life-time were subject to bondage Yet when they come to die when they are entring upon the confines of Eternity then they cannot hide their fears any longer Oh! the horrours and terrours of wicked men when they lie a dying if ever men may be believed 't is then 3. The Devils are Orthodox in this point for Jyudges There are no Atheists in Hell Matth. 8.29 And behold they cryed out saying What have we to do with thee Jesus thou Son of God art thou come to torment us before the time They know there is a time when they shall be in greater torment than now they are therefore if we will take Gods Word or Authentick Record for it or Mans word when he is not in a case to Dissemble or the Devils word there is a Hell or everlasting Torments prepared for the wicked Obj. 1. But is it not an everlasting abode under Death and to make it the more terrible to vulgar capacities expressed by Eternal Fire I Answer This were to make Christ a Deceiver indeed and to publish his Doctrine with a lye or an handsome fraud But clearly 1. There is a state of Torment as well as a state of Death 'T is true 't is called the Second Death because deprived of Eternal Life which is the only true Life and because 't is worse than the temporal Death better never been born Matth. 26.24 It had been good for that man he had never been born He doth not say It had been good but it had been good for that man If only Death and Annihilation were in it what sense would there be in this Speech Therefore there is a lively and effectual sense of the Wrath of God Besides the Consciences of wicked men feareth and presageth other kind of Punishment from Gods Wrath or else why are they most troubled when they come to dye why is it so dreadful a thing to fall into the hands of the Living God Heb. 10.31 We are mortal Creatures but God is a living God why should the Eternity of God make his Wrath terrible but that there is a fear of an eternal subsistence on our part also we read of many and fewer stripes Luk. 12.47 48. Math. 11.22 It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Judgment than for you If it be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you torments are measured out by proportion according to our sins and means of Grace that we have enjoyed but not improved 2. There is a place of Torment a local Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 16.28 This place of torment And Judas went to his own place Acts 1.25 As in all Common-wealths the Prince hath not only his Palace but his Prison it must be somewhere for the wicked are somewhere God keepeth it secret with wise Councel because he will exercise our Faith and not our Sense Job 38.17 Have the gates of Death been opened to thâ—e or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of Death This is one of the secrets of Providence Obj. 2. But how can it stand with Gods Love and Mercy to punish his Creature for ever Our Bowels are troubled if we should hear the howling of a Dog in a fiery Furnace for a small space of time Now God is Love its self 1 Joh. 4.8 therefore surely he will not damn his Creature to everlasting torments I Answer Man is not fit to fix the bounds of Gods Mercy but the Lord himself therefore take these considerations 1. Gods Punishments may stand with his Mercy 'T is very notable in one place 't is said Heb. 10.31 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God But in another place 't is said 2 Sam. 24.14 I am in a great strait let us fall now into the hands of the Lord for his Mercies are great The one noteth God Angry the other God Appeased When God hath been long upon a treaty of Love Patience abused is turned into Fury The one sheweth what God is in himself Love Sweetness Mercy the other what he is when provoked The Sea in its self is smooth and calm but when the Winds and Tempests arise how dreadfully
the Righteous and the full Vengeance of the Wicked keep time and pace Christ cometh to fetch the Saints to Heaven in Sate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.19 The earnest Expectation of the Creature waiteth for the Manifestation of the Sons of God Then it shall be seen what God will do for his Children They are clad in their best Robes to set off Christ's Triumph So suitably the Wicked's Judgment is not yet full upon the last day it shall be increased Christ sets himself a-work to shew the power of his Wrath to cloath them with Shame and Contempt 2. Scripture 2 Thess. 1.6 7 8 9 10. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power Heb. 10.27 There remaineth nothing but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversary And in many other places 3. Reason The Body which hath so long Respite then hath its share of Misery upon the Re-union of the Body and Soul they shall drink the Dreggs of God's Wrath The Soul worketh on the Body and the Body on the Soul As an heavy sad Spirit weakens the Body and dryeth up the Marrow of the Bones and a sickly Body maketh the Soul sad and mopish so when the Soul is filled with Anguish and the Body with Pains their Torment must needs be greater because they have had a great sense of the Joyes of the glorified Saints as that Nobleman Thine Eyes shall see it but thou shalt not taste of it It worketh upon their Envy to see them glorified whom they have maligned and used despightfully and it worketh upon their Conscience this they have lost by their own folly As a Prodigal that cometh by the Houses and Fields which he hath sold and thinks This was mine 't is a grating thought to think This might have been mine Partly because of Judgment and Sentence Then the Books are opened and all their wayes are discussed They are ashamed but God is cleared and vindicated There is a Worm as well as a Fire The Fire signifieth God's Wrath the Worm the gnawing of their own Conscience 'T is hard to say which tormenteth them most the Terribleness or the Righteousness To consider that God is righteous in all that we feel and we our selves have been the Causes of our own Ruine this is a cutting thought to the Damned It maketh them gnash their Teeth and though they hate God they can discharge the anger upon none but themselves Besides their Companions are gathered together those that sinned by their Inticement or Example which are as Fuel to kindle the Flames bind them in Bundles and set Fire on one another Objects reviving Guilt are very displeasing here when Conscience flieth in the face as when Amnâ—n hated Tamar They cannot look upon the Devils but they think of Temptations upon the Damned but either they read their own Guilt by Reflection they are the same or else it bringeth to mind their former Example they brought them to this place Again Christ's final Sentence is past and therefore Wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such Wrath as they cannot have more for he will no more deal with them 1. VSE Observe how a Sinner hasteneth to his own Misery by steps and degrees In this life we are adding Sin to Sin and in the next God will be adding Torment to Torment Here God beginneth with us Joh. 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already Do not say 't is a long time till the last Judgment the Halter is about thy Neck and there needeth nothing but turning over the Ladder Men are not sensible of it till they come to die then there is an Hell in the Conscience a Sip of the Cup of Wrath. The Honours of the dying Wicked are the Suburbs of Hell then Yellings and Howlings begin At Death the Bond of the old Covenant is put in Suit and at the Separation the Gaolâ—r carryeth us away to Prison there the Soul is detained in Chains of Daâ—kness in a fearful Expectation of more Judgment I am horribly tormented in this Flame But after Christ's coming to Judgment we are plunged into the depth of Hell the whole Man is overwhelmed with Misery Well then if you add Drunkenness to Thirst God will add to your Plagues till Wrath come upon you to the uttermost II. Observe the Patience of God he doth not take a full Revenge of his Creatures till the last day The most miserable Creatures are suffered to enjoy some degree of Happiness or rather do not feel the whole Misery at the first In the most dreadful Executions of God's Justice you may read Patience God is patient to the fal'n Angels though presently upon their Sin they were cast down into Hell 2 Pet. 2.5 but much more to sinning Man In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt 〈◊〉 was the Sentence yet the Sentence is prorogued till the day of Judgment To those whom he hath a mind to destroy he is patient The old World he bore with first an hundred and twenty Years and then the Rain was forty dayes in coming and Reprobates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 9.22 He endureth them with much long-suffering Intermission of Wrath in this life and Respite to the Body till the great Day How doth God bear with a company of Hell-hounds he suffereth them to stand by as a Dog while the Bread of Life is distributed to the Children To bear with his Children is much but to bear with his Enemies who seek not his favour and are the worse because forborn and do provoke him daily and do not relent and acknowledge their Offence is much more yet all this while God holdeth his hands Admire his Patience but do not abuse it We are apt so to do Eccles. 8.11 Because Sentence against an evil Doâ—r is not speedily executed therefore the Hearts of the Sons of Men are fully set in them to do evil Reprobates fare well for a time live in plenty and ease and therefore think Hell but a Dream and vain Scare-crow But take heed that which is kept off is not taken away And when you see wicked men endured and not presently â—ut off be not offended their day is coming 1 Pet. 2.9 they are but reserved Justice shall break forth though the Cloud of Mercy long overshadow it Their Doom was long since past God might strike them dead in an instant III. One Judgment maketh way for another Our Anger is rash and therefore cooleth by degrees 't is at the heighth at first but it is not so with God his heateth by degrees and is worst at last There is first Snares then Chains oâ— Darkness then a most active sense of the wrath and displeasure of God Let no man
folly of Sinners that will run this hazard for a little Temporal Satisfaction For as he cryed out For how short a Pleasure have I lost a Kingdom when he had parted with his Soveraignty for a Draught of Water so you out of a desire of present Contentment forfeit Heaven and run the hazard of Eternal Torments When thou art about to Sin think of this We need all kind of Helps 1. To stir us up to Godliness If Men were as they should be sweet Arguments would be enough but now we need the Scourge 'T is good to counterballance any Temptation when 't is violent My Heart will call me Fool to all Eternity Can I dwell with Everlasting Burnings 2. To rouse us up to the Consideration of our natural Misery 1. Partly that we may flee from the Wrath to come Matth. 3.7 There is no way but by Jesus Christ. We need every Day to look back In their Flight to Zoar they were not to look back upon Sodom lest there should be Relentings kindled But 't is good to look back in this Sense we shall see nothing but Fire and Brimstone behind us 2. That we may be thankful to Christ 1 Thess. â— 10. Even Jesus which hath delivered us from Wrath to come He was substituted in our Room and Place he suffered a kind of Hell in his own Soul or else this must have been our Portion 2. VSE Are we of the number There is a Catalogue of the Damned Crew Rev. 21.8 But the Fearful and Vnbelieving and Abominable and Murtherers and Whoremongers and Sorcerers and Idolaters and all Lyars have their part in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone The Fearful Such as for the Fear of Men swerve from the Holy Profession and Practice of Godliness The Vnbelieving All that remain in an impenitent Estate Abominable Murtherers Whoremongers Impure Gnosticks such as Ranters 1 Cor. 6.9 Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God Is there any likelihood of Deceit there Corrupt Nature is alwayes devising one Shift or another wherein to harden Conscience Idolatrous 'T is dangerous not to be right in Worship The Covetous cometh in Gal. 5.5 Nor Covetous Man who is an Idolater Let no Man deceive you for because of these things the Wrath of God cometh upon the Children of Disobedience We think it a small Matter All Lyars Not only the gross Lyar but the Heretick as Heresie is called a Lie 'T is good to keep to the Pattern of sound Words The Hypocrites Hell is his Portion Matth. 24.51 Appoint him his Portion with the Hypocrites there shall be Weeping and gnashing of Teeth Hypocrisie 't is a practical Lie SERMON XXVII MATTH XXV v. 46. And these shall go away into Everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal THE Words are a Conclusion of a notable Scheme and Draught which Christ gives us of the last Judgment In that Day there will be 1. A Congregation 2. A Segregation 3. A Discussion of the Cause 4. A Solemn Doom and Sentence both of Absolution and Condemnation 5. And lastly Execution Without which the whole Process of that Day would be but a solemn and useless Pageantry The Execution is in the Text. Wherein observe First A Distinction of the Persons These and the Righteous See the last Sermon on 2 Cor. 5.10 Page 103 c. Secondly As there are different Persons so different Recompenses See 2 Cor. 5.10 Page 104 c. Thirdly Observe these different Recompenses are dispensed with respect to the different Qualifications and State of the Persons judged as their Case shall appear upon Tryal according to their Works Some are Wicked and others Righteous God must needs deal differently with them 1. To shew the Holiness of his Nature The Holy God delighteth in Holiness and Holy Persons and hateth Sin and the Workers of Iniquity And therefore will not deal with the one as he dealeth with the other Both Parts of his Holiness are spoken of in Scripture his Delight in Holy Things and Persons See the Fourth Sermon on 2 Cor. 5.10 Page 97. 2. The Righteousness of his Government requireth that there should be a different Proceeding with the Godly and the Wicked That every Man should reap according to what he hath sown whether he hath sown according to the Flesh or the Spirit That the Fruit of his Doings should be given into his Bosom And this though it be not evident in this Life where Good and Evil is promiscuously dispensed because now is the Time of God's Patience and our Tryal Yet in the Life to come when God will Judge the World in Righteousness Act. 17.31 it is necessary that it should go well with the Good and ill with the Bad or as the Apostle saith 2 Thess. 1.6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompense Tribulation to them that trouble you And to you that are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels Mark Both Parts of the Recompense belong to the Righteousness of his Government to give Rest to the Troubled as well as Tribulation to the Troublers Indeed with the one he dealeth in strict Justice to the other he dispenseth a Reward of Grace Yet that also belongeth to his Righteousness that is his New-Covenant Righteousness For so 't is said Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your Work and Labour of Love As he hath bound himself by gracious Promise to give Life and Glory to the Penitent Obedient and Faithful 3. The Graciousness of his rewarding Mercy and free Love to his faithful Servants Though they were involved in the same Condemnation with others as to their Original and first Estate and the Merit of their evil Actions and the constant Imperfection of their best Works yet since it was the sincere Bent of their Hearts to serve and honour God he will give them a Crown of Life They might have perished everlastingly as others do if God should enter into a strict Judgment with them But when others receive the Fruit of their Doings he dealeth graciously with them pardoning their Failings and accepting them in the Beloved God is not bound in Justice from the Right and Merit of their Actions to reward them that have done him most faithful Service but meerly of his Grace upon the Account of Christ. 1 Pet. 1.13 Hoping unto the End for the Grace is is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ And Jude 2â—0 Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto Eternal Life And 2 Tim. 1.18 The Lord grant that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that Day Namely when the Lord shall judge the Quick and the Dead and shall distribute Punishments and Rewards In some measure we see Grace here but never so fully
those that have only a washy weak Knowledg not a living Light and Knowledg that is rooted in their own Hearts they talk like Parrots like the Moon they are dark themselves though from others they shine to others like Vintners that keep Wine not for use but for sale The Cellar may be better stored but it is for others 2 Pet. 1.8 For if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is a disparagement to know Christ and never be the better for him These are like the Noble-man of Samaria that saw the plenty of Samaria but could not taste of it Surely there are not greater Atheists in the World than Carnal Scholars that have a great deal of Light but no Grace It is sad to hear of such a Christ and feel nothing John 17.17 Sanctify them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth They who are able to understand the Word but to no purpose must needs doubt of the Truth of it Vse 2. To press Christians to grow in Knowledg that they may enter upon Eternal Life by degrees Hos. 6.3 Follow on to know the Lord. There is a growth in Knowledg as well as Grace it is not so sensible in the very increase and progress as that of Grace is because growth in Grace is always cum luctû with some strife but the Work upon the Understanding is more still and silent Draw away the Curtain and the Light cometh in and our Ignorance vanisheth silently and without such strife as goeth to the taming of Lusts and vile Affections yet afterwards it is sensible that we have grown Ye were Darkness but now are ye Light in the Lord Ephes. 5.8 as a Plant increaseth in length and stature though we do not see the Progress We read of Jesus Christ that he grew in Knowledg we do not read that he grew in Grace he received the Spirit without measure and nothing could be added to the perfection of his Innocence yet it is said Luke 2.40 The Child grew and Vers. 52. Jesus increased in Wisdom and in Stature and in favour with God and Man The Godhead made out it self to him by degrees Oh let us increase It is notable that Moses his first Request to God was Tell me thy Name and afterward shew me thy Glory a more full manifestation of God We should not always keep to our Milk our Infant-Notions and Apprehensions but go on to a greater Increase it much advanceth your Spiritual Life and will be an advantage to your Eternal Life They have the highest Visions of God hereafter that know most of him here upon Earth they are Vessels of a larger capacity and though all be perfect yet with a difference Now for Means and Directions take these 1. Wait upon the preaching of the Word God appointed it and hath given Gifts to the Church for this end and purpose We should quicken one another Isa. 2.3 Come and let us go up to the House of the Lord and he will teach us his Ways God's Grace is given in his own way When Men neglect and despise God's solemn Institutions they either grow brutish or fanatical as we see by daily experience Light as well as Flame is kept in by the breath of Preaching By long attention you grow skilful in the Word of Righteousness Men that despise the Word may be more full of Crotchets and Curiosities but that Light is Darkness It is disputed which is the sense of Learning Hearing or Seeing By the Eye we see things but must by reason of innate Ignorance be taught how to judg of them 2. You must read the Word with diligence That is every Man's Work that hath a Soul to be saved They that busy themselves in other Books will not have such lively Impressions Psal. 1.2 His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night that must be our Exercise not Play-Books Stories and idle Sonnets How many Sacrilegious Hours do many spend this way Castae deliciae meae sunt scripturae tuae Aug. Nay good Books should not keep from the Scriptures Luther in Gen. cap. 19. saith Ego odi libros meos saepe opto eos interire ne morentur lectores abducant a lectione ipsius scripturae We should go to the Fountain 2 Tim. 3.15 And that from a Child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation We put a disparagement upon the Word when we savour and relish Humane Writings though never so good and excellent better than the Word of God it self This is the standing Rule by which all Doctrines must be confirmed and you do not know what sweet fresh and savory Thoughts the Spirit of God may stir up in your own Minds for Word-representations are not so taking as our own inward Thoughts and Discourses these like a draught of Wine from the Tap are more fresh and lively It is necessary as I said before to wait upon Preaching to hear what others can say out of the Scriptures but it is good to read too that we may preach to our selves Every Man is fittest to commune with his own Heart and that Conviction which doth immediately arise out of the Word is more prevalent A Man can be angry with any Preacher but Conscience In another when a Matter is expressed to our Case we are apt to suspect the mixture of Passion and private Aims but read thy self and what thoughts are stirred up upon thy reading will be most advantagious to thee Besides those that are studious of the Word have this sensible advantage that they have the Promises the Doctrines the Examples of the Word more familiar and ready with them upon all Cases It is said of one that he was a living Bible and a walking Library 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a Christian is a walking Concordance And whereas other Christians are weak unsetled in Comfort or Opinion these have always Scriptures ready And let me tell you in the whole Work of Grace you will find no Weapon so effectual as the Sword of the Spirit as Scriptures readily and seasonably urged Therefore no diligence here is too much if you would not be barren and sapless in Discourse with others if you would not be weak and comfortless in your self read the Scriptures that you may bring sic scriptum est upon every Temptation and urge the solid grounds of our Comfort I speak the more in so plain a Point because I would make Men more conscionable both in their Closets and Families in this Point that they may not only have recourse to learned Helps and Books of an humane Original but to the Word it self 3. The Scriptures must be read with Prayer We must plow with God's Heifer if we would understand his Riddle we must beg the Spirit 's help The Spirit is the best Interpreter bene
to the end of the World Into whatsoever place and time of the World our Lot is cast we may have an assurance of Christ's Presence that is of his Assistance and Blessing as much as if he were actually and corporally present with us To Ministers Now if they improve their Interest they might have Christ in their Company as the Apostles had they are taken into the same Patent and Charter So also to all Believers Mat. 18.20 Where-ever two or three are met together in my Name I am present in the midst of them Whenever we are met together in any religious Work and Business Christ's gracious presence is with us in this sence he will never depart from Believers Now this gracious Presence was not vouchsafed till his corporal Presence was removed Partly because Christ will do nothing unnecessarily When he was personally present to solve their Doubts to instruct them in all Cases the Spirit was not poured out in such abundance as it is usual still with God to make up to us in spiritual Supplies what we want in outward Helps Partly because his Disciples had carnal Thoughts of his bodily Presence and rested in it which was to be confuted by his absence Partly to make way for his unlimited universal Influence his bodily Presence could only be in some Places but now he is ascended he filleth all things Eph. 4.10 As the Sun if it should come down and shine on one particular Field it could not diffuse its Beams far and near but now it is fixed in the Firmament nothing is hidden from its Light So Christ exalted scattereth his Beams and Influences every where into all parts and corners of the World Partly because it was meet that Christ should enter into his Glory and Kingdom before he declared his Efficacy to Men by the more plentiful pouring out the Spirit as Princes use at their Coronation to give Gifts and send abroad Ambassadors So when Christ was in his Royal Palace he gave Gifts unto Men and he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Ephes. 4.8 11. Vse 1. For confutation of the Lutherans who to establish their Doctrine of Consubstantiation make Christ's Ascension to be not a local Remove but only a change of the manner of his Presence they say he is still corporally present but not visibly as if the Humane Nature of Christ were made invisibly Omnipresent and not locally removed and carried into Heaven This is a Doctrine contrary to Scriptures for it is expresly said Acts 1.11 that he was taken up into Heaven And by virtue of this taking up he is no more in the World no more in the Earth nor in any place thereof For it is said Acts 3.21 That the Heavens must contain him till the time of the restitution of all things there is his personal-Presence fixed And therefore if any say Lo here or Lo there believe him not it is flatly contradictory to Scripture that Christ should be corporally present on Earth till he cometh to Judgment and it is contrary to the Truth of Christ's Body though it be glorified it is not deified a Body cannot be Omnipresent and without Quantity for then it is no more a Body And it is a Doctrine barren and of no use the Presence of Christ's Body is not so absolutely necessary to the comfort of a Christian John 6.63 It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing Nearness or distance of place doth not help or hinder his Presence with us or Efficacy upon us The Degree of his gracious Operation doth not depend upon the Degree of his Personal Presence as if Christ were like the Sun shining more or less hot according to the difference of his Posture and Scituation Christ doth not work like a natural Agent by Contact but according to his free Pleasure and the wise Dispensation of his own Will and our Communion with him is wholly Spiritual and Mystical not Gross and Carnal the Flesh profiteth nothing Yea it is against our Comfort Christ hath Business to do for us in Heaven and it is our Advantage that he is no more in the World If he were not in Heaven he were not a Priest Heb. 8.4 If he were on Earth he could not be a Priest And again Heb. 7.26 we had need of a Priest who is made higher than the Heavens that is that is ascended into the Third Heaven those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those Holy Places not made with hands now to appear in the Presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 But to leave this Vse 2. To press Christians to look for the Spiritual Presence of Christ tho they do not enjoy his Bodily You may make use of Christ now he is in Heaven as the Disciples did on Earth to ask him Questions to seek his Counsel to commend your Prayers and Persons to God It is no disadvantage to Faith that Christ is removed out of sight but only an occasion given whereby it may discover it self with more praise Therefore let us believe in Christ tho we see him not we shall one day see him in the Heavens to our Comfort and to the Terror of the Wicked in the mean time let Faith serve instead of Vision It will be your commendation whom having not seen ye love 1 Pet. 1.8 God hath removed Christ out of sight to make way for the Exercise of Faith and Love and it is much better by Faith to converse with him in Heaven than by sight to see him upon Earth John 20.29 Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believe Thomas would make his Senses the Judg he must feel the Wounds and put his Finger in the print of the Nails and thrust his Hand into his Side which discovered the weakness of his Faith Faith is not grounded on Sense but Testimony Be not discouraged tho you never saw him in the Flesh you shall one day see him in Heaven tho you could not hear his gracious Words yet you have Whispers and Counsels from his Spirit You saw him not hanging on the Cross yet he is crucified before your Eyes Gal. 3.1 In the Word and Sacraments he is notably and plainly laid forth to Faith The Gospel is a Magical Glass as it were wherein God will have the Soul look that we may see our absent Friend Sic Oculos sic ille Manus sic or a ferebat there are the very Postures of Christ. Therefore let us make use of our present Advantages you may expect as powerful Influences from him as if present in Person as the Sun doth not come down from Heaven but only his Influence There is a derivation of Virtue from his Person yea Christ is not like the Sun the farther absent from us in Body the more powerful is his Influence Ephes. 4.10 When he ascended up on high he filled all things Briefly then if you have any thing to do with Christ you know where to seek him Those
Bargain that Christ made for his Father was only an Interest in Souls 2. By way of Charge This again is only proper and peculiar to the Elect they were given to Christ by way of Charge to be redeemed justified sanctified glorified given not by way of Alienation but Oppignoration laid at pledg in his Hands so that none of them can miscarry I shall name some places to prove this way of giving John 6.37 38 39. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me c. Where you see they shall surely and infallibly be brought to Grace and as infalliby be conducted to Glory and when they come they cannot miscarry This is the Father's Will that hath sent me that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing Christ hath received a Charge he is to look to all God's Flock not to lose a Leg or a piece of an Ear. So John 10.28 29. I give unto them Eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any Man pluck them out of my Hands My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no Man shall pluck them out of my Father's Hands Where see Christ's Power and Faithfulness is engaged by the Father's Gift for the Preservation of the Saints So that we see what it is to be given to Christ to become his Reward his Charge III. A third Question yet remaineth Why is it mentioned here The Phrase as I said is often used in many Verses of this Chapter but the Repetition is not needless it is not an empty Tautology but repeated for the more ample Consolation and Instruction of the Apostles that in the midst of their Troubles they might look upon themselves as given to Christ and so the more interested in a sure Preservation for God is bound to make good his Grant and Christ his Trust. Christ pleadeth his own Faithfulness Vers. 12. While I was with them in the World I kept them in thy Name those which thou gavest me I have kept He made good his Trust and therefore now pleadeth with the Father that he would make good his Grant I am no more in the World do thou keep them and he useth the same Argument those which thou hast given me that swayed with him to keep them and he knew the Father would take care of them for the same Reason Well now having laid this Foundation let me Observe That this is a Ground of solid Consolation and Establishment to the Elect that they are by the Grant of God the Father given and committed to God the Son as his Purchase and Charge The Point is genuine for this giving is by way of Gift and Charge and this giving is proper to the Elect as we have proved and it is here urged as a ground of Establishment and Consolation Christ expresseth the Elect by such a Character Those which thou hast given me not only to specify the Persons but to declare the ground of Audience keep them because they are those which thou hast given me Therefore in following of it I shall use this method I. I shall more largely explain the Manner of God's Grant and Donation to Christ. II. I shall shew you how it is a Ground of Establishment and Consolation III. I shall enforce all by Application 1. To open the Nature of the Grant let us again resume the Distinction of giving by way of Reward and Charge These two answer to one another as Work and Wages Christ taketh upon himself a Charge of Souls and all his Reward is that he may have an Interest in them Let us begin with the Charge the Work first and then the Wages 1. They are given to him by way of Charge What his Charge was will be opened by considering What the Father proposed concerning the Elect and how the Son undertook it 1. What the Father proposed The words of Heaven are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 12.4 Words which it is not lawful for a Man to utter Those secret ways of Discourse and Communication between the Father and the Son are to be adored with Reverence and deep Silence were it not that the Spirit of God hath put them into such Forms as are suitable to the Transactions and Intercourse which pass between Man and Man It is usual in Scripture to put the Passages which concern God and Christ into Speeches Psal. 40.6 7 8. Sacrifice and Offering thou didst not desire mine Ears hast thou opened Burnt-Offering and Sin-Offering hast thou not required Then I said Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me I delight to do thy Will O my God yea thy Law is within my Heart Psal. 2.8 Ask of me and I will give thee the Heathen for thine Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for thy Possession Psal. 110.1 The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right Hand until I make thine Enemies thy Footstool The Father came to Christ and did as it were say to him Son I am loth that all Mankind should be lost and left under Condemnation there are some whom I have chosen to be Vessels and Receptacles of my Mercy and Goodness and because I am resolved that my Justice should be no loser you must take a Body and die for them and afterwards you must see that they be converted to Grace justified sanctified guided to Glory and that not one of them doth miscarry for I will take an account from you of them It were easy to prove all these things out of Scripture to wit That there are a certain definite Number whom God chuseth to be Vessels of Mercy 2 Tim. 2.19 The Foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this Seal The Lord knoweth those that are his There is no Lottery nor Uncertainty in the Divine Decrees the Number is stated and sealed none can add to it nor detract or take away any one Person And that Christ received a Command to lay down his Life for them and for them only John 10.15 I lay down my Life for my Sheep And Vers. 18. This Commandment have I received of my Father The Description is a Limitation it is for his Sheep God would have none of Christ's Blood to run waste That he is to do this that the Honour of Justice may be salved and so Mercy have the freer course Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of Sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say his Righteousness that he may be just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus The Son was not only to use Intreaty but to make Satisfaction not that God by any Necessity of Nature required it the exercise of Justice is free and falleth under no Laws but it was most convenient to preserve a due sense and apprehension of the Godhead That Christ was to see them converted it was the
us when we receive the Effects and God is actually become our reconciled Father in Christ. God's Love from Everlasting was in Purpose and Decree not in Act. God's Love in us is to be interpreted two ways both in the Effects and the Sense In the Effects at Conversion Ephes. 2.4 5. But God who is rich in Mercy for his great Love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in Trespasses and Sins hath quickned us together with Christ. In the sense when we get assurance and an intimate feeling of it in our own Souls Both are wrought in us by the Spirit Rom. 5.5 And Hope maketh us not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost that is given to us A Man may have the Effects but not the Sense God may love a Man and he not know it nor feel it But we are to look after both Therefore I shall do two things First Press you to get the sense Secondly Speak to the Comfort of them that have indeed the Effects but not the Sense First I shall press you all to get the sense and comfortable apprehension of this Love that God loved you as he loved Christ. 1. Motives The Benefits are exceeding great 1. Nothing quickneth the Heart more to love God Certainly we are to love God again who loved us first 1 John 4.19 Now tho it be true that Radius reflexus languet that God loveth us first best and most yet the more direct the Beam the stronger the Reflection the more we know that God loveth us in Christ the more are we urged and quickned to love God again 2 Cor. 5.14 For the Love of Christ constraineth us And this Consideration is the more binding if you expect those Privileges which Christ had you must express your Love by suitable Obedience John 6.38 I came down from Heaven not to do mine own Will but the Will of him that sent me John 4.34 My Meat is to do the Will of him that sent me and to finish his Work John 8.29 And he that sent me is with me the Father hath not left me alone for I do always those things that please him You must love him as Christ loved him Will you sin against God that are so beloved of him Thus we must kindle our Hearts at God's Fire for Love must be paid in kind 2. It maketh us contented patient and joiful in Tribulations and Afflictions Rom. 5.3 And not only so but we glory in Tribulations also And 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom the now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory 3. Nothing more emboldneth the Soul against the Day of Death and Judgment than to know that God loveth us as he loved Christ and therefore will give us the Glory that Christ is possessed of 1 John 4.17 Herein is our Love made perfect that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment because as he is so are we in the World the greater apprehension we have of the Love of God in Christ the more perfect our Love is 2. Means that this may be increased in us 1. Meditate more on and believe the Gospel It is good to bathe and steep our Thoughts in the remembrance of God's wonderful Love to Sinners in Christ. John 17.26 I have declared to them thy Name and will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them Fervency of Affection followeth strength of Perswasion and strength of Perswasion is encreased by serious Thoughts 2. Live in Obedience to the Spirit 's sanctifying Motions for this Love is applied by the Spirit Rom. 8.14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God compared with the 16 th The Spirit it self beareth Witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God The Spirit obeyed as a Sanctifier will soon become a Comforter and fill our Hearts with a sense of the Love of God 3. Take heed of all Sin especially hainous and wilful Sins Isa. 59.2 Your Iniquities have separated between you and your God and your Sins have hid his Face from you that he will not hear Ephes. 4.30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed to the day of Redemption Otherwise you may lose the sense of God's Love once evidenced Men that have been lifted up to Heaven in Comfort have fallen almost as low as Hell in sorrow trouble and perplexity of Spirit One Frown of God or withdrawing the Light of his Countenance will quickly turn our Day into Night and the poor forsaken Soul formerly feasted with the sense of God's Love knoweth not whence to fetch any Comfort and Support Secondly I shall seek to comfort them that have but the Effects not the Sense For many serious Christians will say Blessed are they who are in Christ whom God loveth as he loved Christ but what is this to me that know not whether I have any part in him or no To these I will speak two things 1. What Comfort yet remaineth 2. Whether these be not enough to evidence they have some part in Christ. 1. What may yet stay their Hearts 1. The Foundation of God still standeth sure The Lord knoweth those that are his 2 Tim 2.19 He knoweth his own when some of them know not they are his own he seeth his Mark upon his Sheep when they see it not themselves God doubteth not of his Interest in thee tho thou doubtest of thy Interest in him and you are held faster in the Arms of his Love than by the Power of your own Faith as the Child is surer in the Mother's Arms than by it's holding the Mother 2. Is not God in Christ willing to shew Mercy to Penitent Believers or to manifest himself to them as their God and reconciled Father Did not his Love and Grace find out the Remedy before we were born And when we had lived without God in the World he sought after us when we went astray he thought on us when we did not think on him and tendred Grace to us when we had no mind and heart to it Isa. 65.1 I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not 3. Hast thou not visibly entred into the Bond of the Holy Oath and consented to the Covenant seriously at least if thou canst not say sincerely Or dost thou resolve to continue in Sin rather than accept of the Happiness offered or the Terms required then thou hast no part in Christ indeed But if thou darest not refuse his Covenant but chearfully submittest to it then God is thy God Zech. 13.9 I will say It is my People and they shall say The Lord is my God If thou consentest that Christ shall be thy Lord and Saviour thou art a part of the renewed Estate whereof Christ is the Head 4. If thou
more endearing Title the Spirit of God here will use it Father if I can do any thing or have any room in thy Heart or Affection Father I will c. When we would prevail Christ biddeth us urge our Interest When we pray say Our Father Luke 11.2 so doth he When we mediate for others we are wont to mention our Relation as a Circumstance of Endearment◠So doth Christ expresly mention his Relation when his Requests are of great Concernment Secondly The next Circumstance is the Manner of asking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will a word of Authority becoming him that was God and Man in one Person who knew the Father's Will who had made a through Purchase and so might challenge it of right So some observe he doth not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But possibly it may bear a softer sense in this place and thus is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used elsewhere Mark 10.35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master we will that thou shouldest do to us whatever we desire thee if that look like an Expostulation or a Capitulation rather than a Request see Mark 6.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will that thou give me by and by in a Charger the Head of John the Baptist. Mark 12.38 Master 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we would see a sign from thee Briefly then it doth not express his Authority so much as the full bent of Heart only because he useth the word Will and because at least the manner of expression carrieth the force of a Promise which if it be backed with his Prayers cannot fall to the ground We may thence Observe The Certainty of our glorious Hopes If I will be not a word of Authority it looketh like a Testamentary Disposition Christ was about to die and now he saith I will When Christ made his Will Heaven is one of the Legacies which he bequeatheth to us This was his last Will and Testament Father I will You have the very words and form of a Testament Luke 22.29 I appoint unto you a Kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only word we have for a Testament Heaven is ours a Legacy left us by Christ. But what Power had Christ to dispose of it Let me clear that by the way since he saith Mat. 20.23 To sit on my right Hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father Christ's Power of disposing is not denied but he sheweth only to whom it is given not for by-Respects but according to God's Eternal Will and Purpose In the Original the words run otherwise than they do in our Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no Ellipsis which some have fancied and it should be rendred thus It is not mine to give save to those for whom it is prepared of my Father He doth not deny degrees of Glory he doth not deny his own Power to distribute them but only asserts that he must dispose according to his Father's Will not for outward and temporal Respects of Kindred and Acquaintance but as God hath given to every Man his Measure Certainly Christ's Will standeth good to all Intents and Purposes for as God he hath an Original Authority and as Mediator he doth nothing contrary to his Father's Will he is tender of that as you see in the place alleged so that the Objection confirmeth the Point Vse 1. It is comfort to us when we come to die thou hast Christ's Will to shew for Heaven When God's Justice puts the Bond in Suit against us then let Faith put Christ's Testament in Suit There is an old Sentence against us In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Gen. 2.17 Confront it with Christ's Prayer In Life we should provide for Death and a comfortable departure out of the World Hear for the time to come it is good to have our Comforts ready Can a dying Man have a sweeter Meditation than Christ's Words Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am We know not how soon we may go down to the Chambers of Death and become a Feast for the Worms When we come to make our own Will we should think of Christ's Father I will c. Vse 2. It is an Engagement to Holiness That is a part of Christ's Will 1 Thess. 4.3 For this is the Will of God even your Sanctification How can I plead his Will in one thing and not in another Hereditates habent sua onera Legacies have their Burdens annexed Christ will have an Action against us if we do not fulfil his whole Will As a Man that sueth for what is left him by Will must take care that his claim be not invalidated Did Christ ever say I will that all that live as they list should at length come to Heaven for all that No But I will that all those whom thou hast given me c. And therefore Thirdly The next Circumstance is the Parties for whom he prayeth It is as ne-necessary to know for whom Christ prayed as for what it is not enough to hear of a Privilege but we must consider which way our Claim and Interest doth arise For those which thou hast given me that is for all the Elect who are intended in this Expression Observe That there is a certain number given to Christ which cannot finally miscarry but shall come to Glory But of that in former Verses 1. Who are given hath been already discussed The Elect are given those that come to him from the Father John 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me They are given before all Time and therefore in Time they come and actually accept of Grace And as they come to him so they keep there for of those he can lose nothing Vers. 39. And this is the Father's Will that hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing 2. But how are they given By way of Reward and by way of Charge the one as his Work the other as his Wages 1. By way of Reward John 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me They were given to be Members of his Body Subjects of his Kingdom Children of his Family Christ hath a special and peculiar Interest in them This was the Bargain which he made with God that he should be Head of the renewed State This was all the Honour and Benefit accruing to Christ by the Covenant of Redemption Isa. 53.10.11 He shall see his Seed he shall prolong his Days and the Pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his Hands He shall see of the travel of his Soul and shall be satisfied Christ was pleased with the Bargain Nothing could be added to the greatness of his Person who was the Eternal Son of God equal with the Father in Glory and Honour yet he was pleased to account it
formidable but in Heaven they are comfortable we are more able to bear it the Natural Faculties being fortified and we come to consider it as a Glory put upon him for our sakes II. What is this Beholding It is either Ocular or Mental 1. Ocular our Senses have their Happiness as well as the Soul there is a glorified Eye as well as a glorified Mind 2 Cor. 5.7 We walk by Faith not by Sight He doth not mean present sense and the present view of Things the Life of Faith is sometimes opposed to that but now he meaneth our Privileges in Heaven Job pointed to his Eyes Job 19.26 27. Tho after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another We shall see that Person that redeemed us and that Nature wherein he suffered so much for us God intendeth good to the Body he hath intrusted it with the Soul and the Soul with so much Grace that he will not lose the outward Cask and Vessel There is a Glory to entertain our Eyes in Heaven not only the Beautiful Mansion and the Glorious Inhabitants but the Face of the Lamb. We shall be always looking on that Book 2. There is Mental Vision or Contemplation The Angels that are not Corporeal are said always to behold the Face of our Heavenly Father Mat. 18.10 Angels have no Eyes yet they see God When we are said to see God it is not meant of the bodily Eye a Spirit cannot be seen with bodily Eyes And therefore God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Invisible God Col. 1.15 And seeing Face to Face is opposed to knowing in part 1 Cor. 13.12 Now we see through a Glass darkly then Face to Face now we know but in part then we shall know Men as also we are known The Mind is the noblest Faculty and therefore it must be satisfied in Heaven or else we cannot be happy it is the Mind maketh the Man it is our preferment above the Beasts that God hath given us a Mind to know him Man is a rational Creature and there is as great an Inclination to Knowledg in the Soul as in Beasts to Carnal Pleasures Drunkards may talk of their Pleasures and the gratifications of Sense but the Pleasure and Delight of the Soul is Knowledg And besides this general Capacity there is a particular Inclination in Believers by Grace and therefore that we may be compleatly happy the Mind must be satisfied with the sight of God III. Why our Happiness lieth in beholding Christ. First It is the Cause of all our Fruition and Enjoiment in Heaven Secondly All Fruition and Enjoiment is resolved into it again First It is the Cause of all our Fruition in Heaven Ocular Vision maketh way for Mental and Mental Vision for Compleat Holiness or Conformity to God and Conformity for Love and Love for Delight and Delight for Fruition 1. Ocular Vision maketh way for Mental We go to Heaven to study Divinity in the Lamb's Face Rev. 22.4 They shall see his Face and his Name shall be in their Foreheads There is an Assembly sitting round about the Throne and the Lamb is in the midst of them and there by looking upon his Face they learn more of God We need no other Books than beholding his Glory We converse with Christ that we may know more of God Thus we come to Knowledg without labour and difficulty Christ in his Glory and Eminency is Bible enough 2. Mental Vision maketh way for Likeness and Conformity to God Knowledg in this Life changeth us Col. 3.10 And have put on the New Man which is renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him Much more are we sanctified and made holy by the Light of Glory The sight that we have of Christ in the Gospel transformeth us 2 Cor. 3.18 For we all with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. By looking upon Christ through the Light of the Spirit we are made like him But now in Glory when we see him Face to Face we are more like him 1 John 3.2 We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Moses by conversing with God his Face shone As a Glass held up against the Sun the Image and Brightness of the Sun is reflected upon it So the more we behold Christ the more we do bear the Image of the Heavenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Basil he dieth his own Spirit with a Tincture of Glory 3. This Light and Conformity maketh way for Love that is Knowledg increaseth Love as Light is so is Love our Affection is still according to the rate of our Knowledg In this World Love is but weak because Light is imperfect we love little because we know little John 4.10 If thou knewest the Gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked and he would have given to thee Living Water And Conformity is a ground of Love it is the highest pitch of Love to love God out of the Communion of the same Nature The lowest Love is to love him out of Interest as the highest Love is to love him out of a Principle of Holiness not because he is good and bountiful but because he is Holy Whilst Holiness is weak Love is imperfect We wander and estrange our selves from him and go a whoring from him for there is some suitableness between us and the Creature as long as Flesh remaineth but when we are perfectly Holy there is no suitableness between us and any thing but God and the Saints and Angels which partake with us of his Image And we love the Creatures for the need we have of them as well as the suitableness of them to us but when we are likened to God in Holiness and in Happiness we are above these Wants we are above all Baits and Snares so that our Love is entirely carried out to God 4. Love maketh way for Delight Can a Man cleave to God and not rejoice in him Rejoicing in God is not only a Duty but a Reward Isa. 58.14 Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. The Saints love God and delight in him in his Essence and Being as much as in their own Glory This maketh Heaven comfortable it would be a torment to a carnal Heart to be always thinking of God and employed in Acts of Love and Service to God but the Saints delight in him they delight in his Presence and in their own Happiness because God is glorified in it There is an inconceivable delight in seeing knowing and being beloved of God 5. Delight maketh way for Fruition for the more we delight in God the more doth God delight in us and giveth us the actual Fruition of himself for our Blessedness so that we
are fully satisfied It is Fruition maketh us happy We can only speak of it in general Terms the filling up of the Soul with God and of the Glory that shall be revealed in us Rom. 8.18 We are in God and God in us as Fire in Iron that is red hot it seemeth all on fire Thus can we prattle a little and darken Counsel with words Secondly Backward again Fruition maketh way for Delight We enjoy God to the full therefore we delight in him We are bidden to rejoice in our Pilgrimage Phil. 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice God hath made our Work a part of our Wages to train us up by degrees But now when we come to Heaven we enter into our Master's Joy It is our only Work in Heaven painful Affections have no more use And Joy maketh way for Love these mutual Endearments pass between God and us to increase Love We delight in God therefore we are never weary of him And Love maketh way for Likeness and Light for Likeness eadem velle nolle There is the most perfect Imitation and Resemblance of God because the most perfect Love And for Light there is Light in this Fire blunt Iron if it be made red hot pierceth deeper than a sharp Tool we have but one Object And Likeness maketh way for Knowledg Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God A dusky Glass doth not give a perfect Representation Ignorance is the Fruit of Sin Man never knew less than since he tasted of the Tree of Knowledg Holiness clarifies the Eye We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3.2 There is little proportion between God and Men and therefore we do not know him when we are conformed to God we are in a greater capacity to understand his Nature And then Light or Mental Sight maketh way for Ocular Sight that we may look upon Christ. It is a sweet Emploiment to see the Brightness of the Father's Glory in Christ's Face there is God best to be seen at the Rebound and by Reflection It is a delightful Spectacle Vse 1. To ravish your Hearts with the Contemplation of this Happiness O what an affective Sight is Christ's Glory 1. The Sight it self is a Privilege 2. That we shall be able to see it with Comfort 1. The Sight it self is a Privilege Abraham had a sight of his Incarnation when it was a thing long after to come and it filled him with Joy John 8.56 Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my Day and he saw it and was glad Simeon saw him when he was a Child and then said Now it is enough Luke 2.29 30. Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Zacheus climbed up into a Tree to see him when he was grown up Luke 19.4 yet then he went up and down as the Carpenter's Son Many saw Christ in Person that had no benefit by him So to see him by Faith and Spiritual Illumination fills the Soul with Joy 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen we love in whom tho now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory To know Christ by hear-say is lovely and glorious but now what will it be to see Christ in the midst of Angels and Blessed Saints Face to Face he is another manner of Christ than ever we thought him to be It is ravishing to behold him in Ordinances Feasts are poor things to be spoken of to that but yet there is a Vail upon his Glory O that there should be such a glorious Spectacle provided for us It is God's own Blessedness to see himself and enjoy himself 2. That we are able to behold it and that with Comfort That we are able to behold it The World is a dark Place and we are weak Creatures our Eyes now are like the Eyes of an Owl before the Sun we cannot take in a full Representation of his Greatness nor bear the Lustre of his Majesty God is sometimes represented as dwelling in Light to show the Lustre of his Majesty 1 Tim. 6.16 Who only hath Immortality dwelling in the Light which no Man can approach unto And sometimes as dwelling in Darkness as noting the weakness of our Apprehensions Psal. 18.11 He made Darkness his secret Place his Pavillion round about him were dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Sky We are dark Creatures and can but guess all is Mystery and Riddle to us The Children of Israel cried out We cannot see God and live Deut. 5.25 Now therefore why should we die for this great Fire will consume us If we hear the Voice of the Lord our God any more then we shall die God is fain to dwell in the Heavens and fix his Throne there his Glory would drive us to our Wits end the very Happiness of Heaven would not be a Mercy upon Earth And then that we may behold it with Comfort God in Christ is not formidable Wicked Men shall see Christ but they shall see him as a Judg but saith Job with these Eyes shall I see my Redeemer Job 19.25 26 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And tho after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom mine Eyes shall behold and not another Every Time we look upon Christ we have the liveliest and sweetest sense of God's Love it bringeth to remembrance his Passion and Sufferings Wicked Men shall see him as a Judg to their Terror as Joseph's Brethren were ashamed to look on him they cannot hold up their guilty Heads But we come to behold our best and beloved Friend to see him that laid down his Life for us John 15.13 Greater Love than this hath no Man that a Man lay down his Life for his Friend To see such a Friend will be comfortable Vse 2. Strive to get an Interest in so great a Priviledge Who are those that shall have an Interest in it 1. They that are careful to serve Christ here John 12.26 If any Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there also shall my Servant be His Servants shall serve him and they shall see his Face c. Rev. 22.3 4. Those that have suffered with him and sighed with him that have owned him now an hidden Christ shall have the honour to behold him a glorious Christ they that incourage themselves with these Hopes One day I shall see Christ Psal. 27.13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the Goodness of the Lord in the 〈◊〉 of the Living The true Land of the Living is Heaven the World is but the Valley of the Dead or the place of Mortality The Queen of Sheba took a long Journey to behold the Glory of Solomon which yet was but a temporal fading and earthly Glory
the Ways and see Jer. 6.16 Stand in the Ways and see and ask for the old Paths Where is the good Way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your Souls We should be able to render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3.15 A Reason of the Hope that is in you with meekness and fear And we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stedfastness of our own 2 Pet. 2.16 We must not only regard the Consent of others but our Judgments must be ballanced with sound and weighty Grounds otherwise we shall be carried about with every Wind of Doctrine when the Posture of Interest is changed or a new Opinion is started Non exploratis traditionum rationibus probabilem fidem portant Such Men have no Principles But must we not hold fast what we have received must we always be searching and keeping our selves in a wary reservation and be never setled I answer 1. For Principles and Fundamental Doctrines we are not to doubt of them Deut. 12.30 Thou shalt not enquire after their Gods saying How did these Nations serve their Gods even so will I do likewise It is dangerous to loosen Foundation-Stones tho with an intent to settle them better Here we should be at a certainty 2. For lesser Truths when they are already cleared and God hath taught them it is good to hold fast what we have already received and not to loosen the Assent or keep the Soul suspensive out of a jealousy or supposal that something may be said against what we now hold ever learning and never coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the knowledg of the Truth But in case of actual Doubt it is good to search Doubts smothered make way for Atheism or hardness of Heart Therefore in Cases of Anxiety it is good to bring things to an issue Smoke maketh way for flame 3. In your choice be not swayed with Interests nor vulgar Prejudices nor vile Affections 1. Not with Interests God puts us to trial to see if we can love an hated Truth The World is a blinding thing 2 Cor. 4.4 The God of the World hath blinded the minds of them which believe not Why is Satan called the God of the World he throweth the Dust of the World in our Eyes and then we cannot see We easily believe what we readily desire and are loth to search when we have a mind to hate Let the Weights be never so equal yet if the Ballances be not equal you can never judg of the weight of any thing When the Mind is prepossessed and infected with Interests we are not capable of making a right Judgment as the Water when it is muddied doth not render and represent the Face 2. Not with vulgar Prejudices as prepossessions of Custom and long Tradition the Opinions of Holy and Learned Men general Consent Pretences of a stricter Way Men would fain judg upon slight Grounds without entring into the Merits of the Cause to save the pains of Study and Prayer This is but to put a Fallacy upon your selves Some are against Novelty and when the Ways of God are revived they are hardned they will not change as if there were no Obstinacy as well as Constancy Obstinacy in the bad Angles as well as Constancy in the good Others are swayed by the Opinions of godly learned Men whose Persons they have in admiration there is no ipse dixit in the Church but the Lord's It is observed that the Corruptions of the Roman Synagogue were occasioned by admiration of some venerable Pastors of that Church Paul withstood Peter to the Face Gal. 2.12 when his Credit and Example was like to do hurt Others are swayed by general Consent but it is dangerous following the Multitude the World hath been against Christ when a few only have owned him Others by Pretences of a stricter way Col. 2.23 Which things have indeed a shew of Wisdom in Will-worship and Humility and neglecting of the Body This is to be wiser than God and to judg the Law 3. Not by vile Affections Pride Passion Envy Pride or an over-weening Opinion of our own Wit and Learning John 9.40 The Pharisees said Are we blind also Proud Persons as the great Rabbies will not seem to be in an Error Men chuse rather to be Wicked than to be accounted Weak So Envy at others when Men cannot be admitted into such Places as they affect and that puts them upon Error and Opposition 1 Cor. 3.3 For whereas there is among you Envying and Strife and Divisions are ye not Carnal and walk as Men So Passion Revenge and Discontent The Devil worketh much upon Spleen and Anger when Offence is taken whether justly or upon supposed Occasion it mattereth not Many in spight and stomach have turned Atheists or Hereticks Carnal Cham when cursed of his Father began the way of Atheism 2. Observe That the Reprobate World can never have any true Knowledg of God The World hath not known thee 1. The Reprobate World can go as far as Nature can go 1 Cor. 2.14 The Natural Man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two Reasons urged by the Apostle a Natural Incapacity and a Positive Enmity 1. A Natural Incapacity He supposeth a sufficient Revelation they are spiritually discerned There must be a cognation between the Object and the Faculty Spiritual Things must be seen by a Spiritual Light Sense which is the Light of Beasts cannot trace the workings and flights of Reason we cannot see a Soul or an Angel by the Light of a Candle So that the Object must not only be revealed but there must be an answerable Light in the Faculty There is Light enough but we have not Eyes There needeth not a plainer Revelation David prays not that God would make a plainer Rule but open his Eyes Psal. 119.18 Open thou mine Eyes that I may behold wondrous Things out of thy Law The Understanding must be opened as well as the Scriptures Luke 24.45 Then opened he their Vnderstanding that they might understand the Scriptures 2. Positive Enmity They are foolishness to him He looketh upon the Things of God and solid Piety as frivolous and vain When Paul came to Athens they called him Babler Acts 17.18 What will this Babler say The same Disposition still remaineth in Natural Men. Tho the Truths of Religion by long tract of Time and by the consent of many Ages have obtained Credit yet Men nauseate Spiritual Truths and the Power of Godliness A Stomach ill-affected by Choler casts up wholesome Meats so do they scorn Strictness and the Holy Ways of God 2. Experience shows it Take mere Nature it self and like Plants neglected it soon runneth wild as the Nations that are barbarous and not polished with Arts and Civility have more of the Beast than of the Man in them Jude 10.
and all that is his if she will accept him for an Husband So Jesus Christ the Son of God the Heir of all Things sendeth Messengers to treat and deal with us about a Spiritual Marriage to tell us how he loved us gave his Life for us established an Everlasting Righteousness whereby we may be accepted with God and that he is ready to bestow it upon us if we will receive and honour and obey him as Lord and Husband which if we do then we are interested in this great Privilege Yea Lord I give up my self Body and Soul to thee and I take thee for Lord and Husband For these are the Terms Hos. 3.3 Thou shalt not be for another Man so will I also be for thee You will think this is easy because you do not understand what it is to receive Christ. Alas Christ stretcheth forth his Hands to many that never take him by the Hand again Isa. 65.2 I have spread out my Hands all the day to a rebellious People which walketh in a way that is not good after their own Thoughts He inviteth clucketh spreads his Wings but to no purpose till he puts his Fingers upon the Handles of the Lock Cant. 5.4 My Beloved put in his Hand by the hole of the Door and my Bowels were moved for him Herein he differeth from ordinary Suitors that he doth not only woo and invite but draw by the secret and prevailing Power of his Spirit he must inlarge the Heart and open the Hand or else we shall not receive him Why what is there in this Receiving a Renouncing of all others Thou shalt not be for another Christ findeth us intangled with a former Love of the World addicted to Carnal Pleasures in Covenant with Death and Hell this must be renounced for God is jealous and cannot endure a Rival it is Spiritual Adultery to have any thought of other Lovers As when the Ark was brought into the House Dagon was thrown to the Ground Christ will be entertained alone you must not only renounce your former Loves but hate them In ordinary Marriages if a Woman loved one and afterwards marry another Man it is enough that she withdraw her former Love tho she be not an Enemy to him whom before she loved In some Covenants if you come off from such a side it is enough But here is a League Offensive and Defensive when we receive Christ as our Captain his Enemies must be our Enemies if as dear as a right Hand or a right Eye it must be cut off and plucked out And again Christ himself is to be received not his Gifts and Benefits you must not come to him as to a Physician to give ease to the Conscience but as an Husband not marry the Estate but the Man otherwise you do not take what God offereth He hath given us his Son and all things with him Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but gave him up to the Death for us all How will he not with him also freely give us all things The Father doth not offer the Portion meerly but his Daughter and the Portion with his Daughter as you cannot have Life without the Son so you cannot have the Son without Life and you must receive him gladly Marriage importeth not a forced but a free Consent you do not receive Christ as a Land receiveth a Conqueror for Prince and King against their Will but as a Woman her Husband as being convinced her state will be much bettered by him So doth the Soul receive Christ as knowing in whom we believe and what we enjoy by him Psal. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee Neither Angels in Heaven nor any Creatures upon Earth are so lovely and fit for the Soul's Love and Trust. You cannot live without him If a Woman can live without an Husband she doth well if she marrieth not saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.8 but you cannot you are undone for ever if you have him not And you must receive him sincerely to obey him and serve him as Lord and Husband and not be ashamed to own him Act 2.41 Then they that gladly received his Word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand Souls When Articles are agreed and sealed and the Marriage compleated a Woman is content to go into her Husband's House and leave her Kindred and Fathers House So must you profess Christ openly and then live in constant Communion with him This is to receive Christ and is this easy Can all this be done till God inlarge the Heart O my Lord I am willing to receive thee do thou open and inlarge my Heart so to do Again it is expressed by apprehending Christ. Phil. 3.12 If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus by taking hold of him leaning upon him Psal. 22.8 He trusted in the Lord or rolled himself upon the Lord by running for Refuge Heb. 6.18 Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before them as Joab laid hold on the Horns of the Altar or the Man that casually killed another ran to the City of Refuge by a being found in him as in an Ark when the Flood came upon the World All which Expressions imply a sense of Danger This Effect of Faith is sensible in a time of Trouble Bodily or Spiritual as things are more sensible one time than another Horses draw the Coach but down the Hill apace The Strength of an Anchor is seen in a Storm the Courage of a Souldier in a Fight The Child runneth and claspeth about the Mother when any thing affrighteth it Sometimes it is expressed by coming to Christ and coming to God by him Heb. 7.25 Wherefore he is able to save unto the uttermost all those that come to God by him By chusing Christ as Mediator owning him and consenting to God's Eternal Decrees that he is alone a sufficient Mediator This was represented by laying Hand on the Head of the Sacrifice Lev. 1.4 He that is he that brought the Sacrifice shall put his Hand upon the Head of the Burnt-Offering and it shall be accepted for him to make an Atonement for him q. d. This is me I deserve to die but here is my Sacrifice All Prayers were to be made in or towards the Temple 1 Kings 8. Deut. 12.13 14. Take heed that thou offer not thy Burnt-Offerings in every place that thou seest But in the place which the Lord shall chuse in one of thy Tribes there thou shalt offer thy Burnt-Offerings and there thou shalt do all that I command thee Daniel his Windows being open towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his Knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks to God Dan. 6.10 he would not omit that Circumstance In all our Addresses to God we must make use of Christ. Sometimes it is expressed by committing our selves to him
being dead to sin should live unto righteousness Dying to sin is made a step to the life of Righteousness So Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God We are hereby freed from clogs and impediments Fifthly Sin is the better mortified when life is introduced for the Love of God doth most ingage us to hate evil Psal. 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Life is sensible of what is contrary to it Vse 1. Information it informeth us of divers Truths 1. Except a man be turned from sin to Holiness he is not made a partaker of Christ and therefore while he lives in sin cannot be justified or have any right to pardon He that continueth to live in his sins shall dye in his sins and miserable shall his portion be for ever Well then be perswaded if we would have the comfort of Christs Death we must be changed into the likeness of it 2. How much it concerneth every Christian to be cautious and watchful For he is to remember this within himself I am to represent Christs Rising and Dying the death of sin must answer the Death of Christ and the new life his Resurrection Now is Christs dying and rising seen in us We were never implanted into him unless it be so Therefore unless we will declare to the World that we have no Union with Christ we must endeavour after Holiness What maketh so many Atheists in the World but because so few Christians discover the fruit of their Baptism they live as if they were wholly alive to sin and the world and dead to righteousness 3. That they have not yet attained to true Christianity that content themselves with abstaining from gross sins but make no conscience of loving serving pleasing and glorifying God or preparation for the World to come They do no man wrong but have no care of Communion with God Paul could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To me to live is Christ Phil. 1.21 meaning that he had no other object and employment for his life but Christ and his Service But these wholly live to themselves a true Christian can say Rom. 14.7 8. None of us liveth to himself and no man dyeth to himself For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord whether we live therefore or dye we are the Lords Vse 2. Is Exhortation to press you 1. To dye unto sin All that profess themselves Christians are by obligation dead O do not keep it alive after you have undertaken its Death charge your Consciences with your Baptismal Vow Besides Christ hath purchased Grace enough for the subduing and mortifying of sin and we have engaged our selves to improve this Grace The Ordinances call upon us every day to do it yet more and more the Word and Sacraments with the dispensations of which there go some motions of the Holy Ghost Nehem. 9.20 Thou gavest them also thy good Spirit to instruct and teach them O quench not his motions disobey not the sanctifying Spirit If this Grace hath taken hold of your hearts in any sort and you are affected with the offers of it you are bound to improve it the more Col. 3.3 For ye are dead vers 5. Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth you are dead by Vow and Covenant dead by Grace offered dead by Grace received Habitual mortification maketh way for actual Habitual mortification is when the heart is turned from sin so that it is turned against it Actual mortification consists in the resisting and suppressing its motions Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Once more none are in such a dangerous condition as those who have begun the work and then give it over 2 Pet. 2.20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning Those that fall from a common work make their condition more uncomfortable For real Believers the reign of sin is broken its strength and power much weakened by Grace but still it is working and stirring Gal. 5.17 The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would do Rom. 7.23 I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin that is in my members Therefore still you must take care of this work Means 1. Be sensible of the evil of sin When once we begin to make light of sin we lye ready for a temptation God doth not make little reckoning of sin Christs Death sheweth it Rom. 8 3. What the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh Infants death sheweth it Rom. 5.14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression The punishment of the wicked sheweth it Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile The smart of Gods children sheweth it Prov. 11.31 Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner 2. Earnestly resolve against it in the strength of Christ 1 Pet. 4.1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffereth for us in the flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin The mind is hereby fortified Christs dying ingageth them to it Christ hath suffered for it and we are bound to subdue the flesh and deny the pleasures of it 3. Seriously endeavour against it according to the advantages the Spirit giveth you a conscientious Attender on the Ordinances of God hath many motions and helps 2. To walk in newness of life or to express the likeness of Christs Ressurection The spiritual Resurrection is described 1. By the Cause of it Joh. 5.25 The â—our is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live In the spiritual sense that Power was already executed by him in raising sinners out of the grave of sin for he saith it now is It is the Voice of Christ awakens as Lazarus come forth Do not then delay do not say it is too soon Heb. 3.15 To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts 2. The Nature of it as to the first Grace Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light awake as a man out
Lord and Master Sin and the Devil and the World are Usurpers and therefore are exauctorated we are no longer bound to serve them but God hath a right to require love and service at our-hands Acts 27.23 The God whose I am and whom I serve He hath a title by Creation as our proper Owner Psal. 100.3 Know ye that the Lord he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves By Redemption 1 Cor. 6.19 20. Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Christ came to recover us from our slavery Secondly To shew the disadvantage between having Sin and God for our Master What is more filthy than sin and more mischievous than sin and more holy and beneficial than God To serve sin is a brutish captivity and will prove our bane in the issue but to serve God is true liberty and it will be our present and eternal Happiness Rom. 6.22 But now being made free from sin ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life Secondly The Grace to perform this Duty Through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to die to Sin and live to God not only ex praescripto Christi according to the precepts of Christ which every where run strongly against sin and pleading Gods right with us nor only ex imitatione Christi to imitate our Pattern and Example that we may be like Christ in these things and express his dying and rising in our conversations but virtute Christi by the power of Christs Grace as by the force of his Example This power of Christ may be considered as purchased or as applied or as our interest in it is professed in Baptism 1. As it is purchased He died and rose again to represent the Merit of his Death to God that he might obtain Grace for us to kill sin and live unto God and that in such a continued course of obedience till we live with God 1 Thess. 5.10 He dyed for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him i.e. to redeem us from all iniquity and to preserve us in our obedience to eternal Life While we wake or are alive we live with him and when we sleep after we are dead we still live with him we live a spiritual Life here and afterward an eternal Life in Glory So that place which otherwise hath some difficulty in it may be expounded by Rom. 14.8 9. Whether we live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord Whether therefore we live or dye we are the Lords For this Christ died 2. As it is applied It is applied by the Spirit of Christ by virtue of our Union with him Jesus Christ is the Root and Foundation of this Life in whom we do subsist For it is in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the Context it is said vers 5. we are planted into his likeness so that this conformity is the fruit of our Union and wrought in us by his Spirit which is the sap we derive from our Root 3. As our interest in him is professed in Baptism for then we are visibly graffed into Christ Gal. 3.27 As many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Thence an obligation resulteth we ought to be like him So that in short the summ of the whole is this the Precepts and Example of Christ do shew us our Duty the Grace whereby we perform it is wrought in us by the Spirit by virtue of our Union with Christ and our Baptismal ingagement bindeth it on our hearts Or thus it is purchased by Christ effected by the Spirit sealed and professed in Baptism which partly bindeth us to our Duty and assureth us we shall not want Grace but have help and strength from Jesus Christ. Thirdly The means of improvement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reckon your selves It may be inquired why the Apostle faith not simply we are dead or be ye dead indeed but reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin c. Shall our reckoning our selves dead or alive make it so Answer 1. Let us consider the import of the word 2. Why it is used 1. For the import of the word It is equivalent with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 9. what they signifie this signifieth It is an act of judgment the power of the mind is put forth in it 2. The Use of it here 1. It is Actus Mentis cogitantis it is an act of the mind considering or meditating upon this matter and the effect here mentioned doth much depend upon meditation as the means The weightiest things work not if they be not thought of therefore we must not slightly pass over this Mystery of Christs dying and rising but consider how they concern us and what we were before Regeneration and what we are now to be who profess to follow our Redeemer unto Glory 2. It is Actus Rationis concludentis an act of reason concluding from due Premises and inferring that this is our Duty Because the heart is averse from God we need positively to determine upon rational deductions that it is our unquestionable Duty for we must certainly know a thing to be our Duty before we will address our selves to perform it and herein Reason is a good Handmaid to Faith for sanctified Reason ever concludeth for God whilst it improveth Principles discovered by Faith it is our Light to discover many things evident by natural Light it is our Instrument to improve other things which it cannot discover but depend on Gods Revelation We ponder and weigh things in our minds then determine what is our Duty So that Reckon is by Reason collect as often in Scripture 1 Cor. 10.15 I speak as to wise men ye have reason Judge ye what I say 3. It is Actus Fidei assentientis it is the Syllogism of Faith It is not the bare knowledge nor the bare discourse of these things doth make them operative and effectual but as Faith is mingled with them Heb. 4.2 The word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it This is not matter of conjecture or opinion only but of Faith to owne the obligation which dependeth on the Authority of Christ which is a supernatural Truth 2. to believe the Power which doth assist us which is also a matter of pure Faith and seemingly contradicted by sense For though Mortification and Vivification be begun in us yet because of the troublesom relicts of corruption to reckon our selves with any degree of confidence and trust to be dead unto sin and alive unto God is an Act of Faith the thing is not liable to external sense and internal sense contradicts it we being oppressed with so many remaining corruptions 4. It is Actus Fidei applicantis We must not
know and no sin but what you are truly desirous to get rid of so that the chiefest care of your hearts and endeavour of your lives be to serve and please God and it is your daily desire and endeavour to please God and master its rebellious opposition to the Spirit and you so far prevail that for your drift and course you are not led by the Flesh but the Spirit then you are sincere and upright with God otherwise you must not think every striving will excuse you if it be such a striving as may consist with the dominion and customary practice of sin There are few Wretches so bad but they may have some wishes that they could leave sin especially when they think of the inconveniences that attend it and Conscience may strive a little before they yield but they live in it still A Christian striveth but cannot be perfect there are infirmities but the convinced sinner striveth but cannot live holily there are iniquities This striving hindereth not the dominion of sin because he doth not conquer and master it so far but that it breaketh out in a gross manner his striving cometh not from the renovation of the Spirit but the conviction of his Conscience which is ever condemning his practices 2. Positively when we obey it and follow it and do that to which sin inticeth us For the end of sins Reign and Empire is our Obedience the commands and urgings of it are in vain if you obey them not but rather rebuke and suppress them Now we may obey bodily lusts two ways First By the inward consent of the mind for what sins you would do you have done in Gods account though the outward Act follow not Mat 5.28 He that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart though you be impeded and hindered in the Action The life and reign of sin is in the heart in the love of the heart though it may be it may not appear in outward deeds Restraint is not Sanctification Practices may be restrained by bye-ends but if you like the sin in your hearts you let it reign and do not oppose it by gracious motives Your hearts are false with God if his Empire be not set up there Therefore obey not the lusts of the body that is consent not to them if they arise and bubble up in your hearts let them be disowned and disliked We are to abstain from fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 before they break out into our conversation for the governing of the heart and the regulating of the life are two distinct acts of our obedience to God they are required indeed the one in order to the other but you must be careful of both Your love to God and his Law must be shewed by abominating the motions that would draw you to the contrary Psal. 119.113 I hate vain thoughts but thy Law do I love The first motions are sins for they proceed from corrupt Nature we had none such in Innocency and the consent is a farther sin because then you begin to give way to its reign The delightful stay of the mind sheweth our love to it these pauses of the mind come from sin are sin and tend to further sin Jam. 1.15 Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death Secondly The Execution of these Motions by the Body when sin is brought to her consummate effect Micah 2.1 Wo to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds when the morning is light they practise it because it is in the power of their hands This is a sign of the reign of sin too much room being given to sin in the heart that it obtains a mastery there it violently and effectually commands our practice which if it be a scandalous enormity it makes sin to reign for the present Lesser evils steal into the Throne by degrees and leaven us with a proud worldly or carnal frame of heart but gross sins invade the Throne in an instant at least for the present making fearful havock and waste of the Conscience and the repeated acts shew our state II. That Christians are strictly obliged to take heed that sin get not Dominion over them 1. By the Light of Nature which is in part sensible of this disorder which hath invaded all Mankind namely an inclination to seek the happiness and good of the Body above that of the Soul The very make and constitution of man sheweth his Duty man is composed of a Body and a Soul both which parts are to be regarded according to the dignity of each the Body was subordinated to the Soul and both Soul and Body unto God his Flesh was a servant unto his Spirit and both Flesh and Spirit unto the Lord but sin entring defaced the Beauty and disturbed the Harmony and Order of Gods Creation and Workmanship Man withdrew from subordination to God his Maker seeking his happiness without God and apart from him in earthly and worldly things and also the Body and Flesh is preferred before the Soul and Reason and Conscience enslaved to Sense and Appetite Understanding and Will are made bond-slaves to the lusts of the Flesh which govern and influence all his actions his Wisdom Mind and Spirit as it were sunk into the Flesh and transformed into a brutish Quality and Nature This many of the wiser Heathens saw and sought to rectifie Maximus Tyrius calls our Passions and Appetites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tumultuous Populacy or common People of the Soul which must not be left to their own boisterous violence but be kept under the Law and Empire of the Mind Philo the Jew calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Woman part in Man in opposition to Reason which he maketh to be the Masculine part Simplicius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Child in us which needeth more stayed heads to govern it And some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Foot part of the Soul as it is a monstrous disorder if the feet be there where the head should be so it is for us to serve divers lusts and pleasures when we should be governed by Reason The Stoicks generally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bestial part in us which they counted the Man as if the Beast should ride the Man as Socrates expresly calls Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Rider or Chariot-driver as the Body and bodily Inclinations the Horses Now if the Light of Nature taugh the Heathens who knew little of the cause and malignity of this Vitiosity and Disorder to observe this and labour under it surely Christians are more strictly bound to curb the flesh and moderate the lusts and passions of it We know more clearly what an evil it is to love the Creature above God the Body more than the Soul the World above Heaven Riches Honours and Pleasures more than Grace and Holiness as the Light of Christianity befriendeth
not they No the Apostle saith Give not up your members as weapons of unrighteousness c. and elsewhere Glorifie God in your bodies and souls which are Gods And the Apostle pleadeth the dignity of the Body and how it is defiled by Fornication and other inordinacies 1 Cor. 6. per totum 2. That it is not enough to abstain from evil but we must do good for the Apostle saith Yield not and then yield So the Apostle saith 2 Tim. 2.21 If a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel of honour sanctified and meet for the masters use and prepared unto every good work So 2 Cor. 5.15 And that he died for all that they that live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again They are sinners that hide their Talent in a Napkin though they live not in apparent gross sins all that time and strength that is bestowed on sin is used against God but what is idlely and impertinently lost is not used for him Both deprive God of his Right the one alienate their time and strength the other mis spend it Some do not run into Gluttony Drunkenness Oppression Adultery these apparently use their bodies as weapons of unrighteousness but they do not live to God and so are defective in the other part 3. It sheweth what care we should take how we imploy our bodies for the members of the body are instruments of the Soul to execute that which it willeth and desireth and sin without the body is unfurnished with Arms. But chiefly two things should we take care of in the body the senses by which we let in sin and the tongue by which we let out sin for it is the Interpreter of the Heart First For the Senses a Christian should not be guided by his Senses but by his Reason and Conscience as sanctified by Grace Our Lord would teach us that it were better to want senses than gratifie them with an offence and wrong to God against them that cannot deny the pleasures of senses Mat. 5.29 30. If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast if from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell Better be blind than by wanton gazing run the hazard of damnation not that we should maim our selves but of the two count it the less evil Therefore to want the sinful pleasure should not be so grievous when we should be content to want the sense it self The far greatest part of the world are meerly guided by their senses because the far greatest part of the world are unconverted and unsanctified and the world is full of allurements to the flesh and the more we enjoy the good things thereof the more is corruption strengthened within us and as the heart stands affected sensitive objects make a deeper or slighter impression on us Some temptations which are nothing to another may be great matters to some who cannot deny themselves without great difficulty Therefore when such temptations as suit with our fancies and appetites assault us with more than ordinary potency we must remember Sense is not to be the ruling Power in our Souls but Grace Sometimes sin is brought to our hands and the bait is played to our mouths as Joshua 7.21 Achan saw coveted and purloyned the wedge of gold Prov. 6.25 Lust not after her beauty in thy heart neither let her take thee with her eye-lids 2 Sam. 11.2 David saw Bathsheba and so his heart was fired In short Sense is an ill and dangerous Guide it was never given for a Judge or Counsellor to determine or direct but an Informer to represent the outward forms of things partly natural to inform us of things profitable or hurtful to the outward man partly spiritual to transmit the objects of Gods Wisdom Power and Goodness to our minds or to be the ordinary passage by which the daily effects of Gods Love and Mercy are conveyed to our hearts God instituted them for helps but we make them snares Well then better want senses than gratifie them with the displeasure of God to lose an Eye is a far less evil than to lose a Soul Secondly For the Tongue The Apostle saith it produceth a world of evil It hath a great use in Religion to vent the conceptions of our minds to the praise and glory of God Jam. 3.9 Therewith bless we God even the Father and therewith curse we men which are made after the similitude of God In the general think of this every member must be an instrument of Righteousness is my tongue now imployed for God or for Satan when you are apt to run into censuring detraction vain and frivolous talk Vse 2. To press you to this solemn Dedication of your selves to God intirely unreservedly irrevocably 1. God giveth himself to you in Covenant Father Son and Holy Ghost all their infinite Goodness Wisdom Power c. and will not you give your selves wholly to God 2. You are already absolutely wholly his and will not you consent that he shall be your God and you his People that is all that is wanting Jer. 24.7 And I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart This God worketh by his renewing Grace 3. You are never so much your own as when you are Gods not as to disposal but as to enjoyment 1 Cor. 3.23 All are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods There lieth your safety glory and happiness it is the foundation of all obedience and of all comfort 1. Of obedience you will not easily yield to temptations a Christian hath this answer ready I am dedicated to God 1 Cor. 6.15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot God forbid Nor will you stick at interest 2 Cor. 8.5 They first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God 2. Then for Comfort Joh. 14.1 Let not your hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me 1 Tim 6.8 Having food and raiment let us be therewith content 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you This easeth you of all your cares and fears you are Gods nay it secureth you against eternal miseries Joh. 12.20 Where I am there shall my servant be Vse 3. To put us upon self-reflection Is your Dedication to God sincere If so 1. In the whole course of your Conversations you will prefer his Interest before
God is cured As Moses pleaded many things why he should not be sent to Egypt he was not eloquent and the like Exod. 4.19 Go return into Egypt for all the men are dead which sought thy life he had never pleaded this but God knew where the pinch was and that was the main ground of his tergiversation and therefore gently toucheth his privy sore So some complain of other things this and that is amiss but the main thing is neglected and slightly passed over 2 We rather complain than give over sinning resistance is certainly a greater evidence of a sincere heart than complaining We should not be so haunted with Temptations if we did resist more Jam. 4.7 Resist the devil and he shall flee from you Satan only hath weapons offensive as fiery darts he hath none defensive as a Christian hath namely sword and shield and we should not be so much troubled with the ill consquents of sin who will pity that man that complains of soreness and pain and doth not take the gravel out of his shoo If you wound and goar your selves no question but your smart and trouble is real you do not complain in Hypocrisie but who is to be blamed your business is to remove the cause We read of the young man Mat. 10.22 He was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions His grief was a real grief but the cause was in himself he would have Christ and yet keep his love to the World still so many complain of their Lusts not as a burden for they indulge them but because of their inconvenience they cannot reconcile their sense of Duty with those corrupt affections which it apparently disproveth 2. When it is opposed weakly and with a faint resistance It is not enough for men to see their sins and blame them in themselves or purpose to amend and forsake them but they must strive to overcome them and in striving prevail for otherwise sensuality carrieth it because our Reason and Will make too weak an opposition Jesus Christ our Head and Chief resisted Satans motions with indignation Get thee behind me Satan so must we when we speak faintly and coldly the Devil reneweth the assault with the more violence therefore our resistance must be valid and strong Many purposes there are that come to nothing because they are not deep and serious Pharaoh in his qualms proposed to let the Children of Israel go and yet when it came to it he would not let them go Saul purposed in his heart not to kill David yea bound it by an Oath yet afterwards he attempted it 1 Sam. 19.6 compared with 10 and 11. So many times they purpose to avoid the sin by which they have been foiled but when the Temptation returneth they are over-born with it as marish ground is drowned with the return of every Tide Many are perswaded that sin is evil as contrary to God and hurtful to themselves hereupon they have some mind to let it go yea some wishes and weak desires that Christ would save them from it yet still have a Love that is greater than their Dislike the bent of their hearts is more for it than against it and their habitual inclination is more to keep it than leave it Therefore we must look not only to our endeavour but to the success that we have against sin for if our Will were more strong and our endeavour more serious we should have more success if there were a firm ratified resolution of mortifying and crucifying every sin and an endeavouring against sin with all speed and diligence the old man would more decay in us and the life of Grace be set up with greater power and efficacy I would not leave this point without distinct information 1. Then there are certain unavoidable infirmities which the Saints cannot get rid of though they fain would such as the Apostle speaketh of Rom. 7.19 When I would do good evil is present with me As those swarms of noisom and unsavoury thoughts which are injected on a sudden and do hinder us and distract us in the best imployment wandring thoughts in the time of Prayer never distinctly consented to rash words spoken of a sudden sudden unpremeditated actions In these cases watching and striving is conquering for you do prevail in part though not in whole it preventeth many of them Of this nature are want of degrees of Love to God and that liberty and purity in his service which the holy Soul aimeth at and the first stirrings and risings of corruption in the heart 2. There are a smaller sort of sins as the sins of daily incursion Jam. 3.2 In many things we offend all of us There is no man so exact but his watch is intermitted and then he will be sinning other cannot be looked for in this state of frailty wherein we now are We bewray too much dulness weariness formality in our Duties to God our domestick crosses put us into fits of anger and discontent in our publick actions some intermixture of Hypocrisie and vain Glory some high-mindedness in our Prosperity some distrust and uncomely disquiet of spirit in our Adversity Our Lord telleth us Joh. 13.10 He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet they that are in an holy state by walking up and down in the World in the several businesses and employments thereof contract some filth which must be washed off every day by a renewed application of the Blood of Christ which is the Fountain God hath opened for uncleanness Though the Saints do not like Swine voluntarily wallow in the puddle yet in a polluted World they contract some filth In this case every failing must make us more wary and watchful and teach us wisdom that we do not lapse another time 3. By the sway of great and head-strong Passions some that make Conscience of their ways in the general may fall into sins more hainous but they do not make a trade of it or settle in such an evil way To lapse ordinarily frequently easily into these sins will not stand with Grace The Saints may fail in their Duty strangely on occasions as David Peter Lot c. as a man sailing into France a Tempest may drive him into Spain or some other Country their face is towards Heaven but a sudden Passion may drive them another way as the wicked are good by fits but evil by constitution so the Children of God the constitution and bent of their hearts is towards God for a fit or so they may do things misbecoming the new Nature but assoon as awakened they retract their sins by a special Repentance Psal. 51.3 4. For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight 3. As sin in general should not bear sway in our hearts so no one sin should have dominion over us Psal. 119.133 Order my steps in thy word and let
reward the obedient with everlasting Blessedness Though we merit nothing of him you cannot say you work for nothing he is very ready to manifest his approbation of the obedient Mat. 25.23 Well done good and faithful servant It is a delightful thing to him to speak good of his Servants and that before all the World Vse 1. We learn hence whom we should chuse for our Master or to whom we should stand in the relation of Servants 1. Consider Gods unquestionable Title that will awe the Soul You are Servants of God by Obligation before you are Servants of God by Consent you are His by Creation before you are by Contract Our self-obligation is necessary the more to enliven the sense of our Duty and make it more explicite and active upon our hearts and more acceptable to God God will make the wicked see he hath a right to punish them without asking their consent but he will not reward you without your consent unless you willingly give up your selves to serve him and obey him Christ forceth not men to good against their wills but the effect of his victorious Grace is to make you willing to bring you to yield up your selves to obey him Psal. 110.3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power 2. Consider the necessity of Obedience Our service is not abrogated by Grace but changed His servants ye are to whom ye obey we are redeemed that we may obey Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives We are pardoned that we may obey Psal. 130.4 There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared We are renewed and sanctified that we may obey 1 Pet. 1.2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience And when once we are brought into this blessed estate and are in Covenant with Christ to depend upon him and obey him then all the subsequent Priviledges are dispensed according to our obedience as the further supply of the Spirit Acts 5.32 Whom God hath given to them that obey him and eternal Life Heb. 5.9 And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal life to all them that obey him all the effects of Gods internal and external Government all the intervening Communion with God that we have in the World Joh. 14.21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him that is he will inlighten him with the knowledge of his Salvation quicken him by the saving operations of his Grace and lift up the light of his Countenance upon him give them peace of Conscience Mat. 11.29 Take my yoke on you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls a sanctified use of such good things as he seeth meet for them Isa. 1.19 If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the land It is his obedient Servants that Christ is so tender of and willing so to cherish and to give to them the effects of his illuminating quickening comforting Grace and of his fatherly Providence 3. Consider much what it is wherein you should obey him or study to know his Will Eph. 5.17 Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed in the renewing of your minds that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God Doubtfulness of our Duty doth exceedingly weaken our care of obedience so it doth also our detestation and resistance of sin when you are sure a thing is sin you will be more shy of medling with it and when you are sure it is a Duty Temptations will less draw you from it for it will strike you with horrour in the hour of Temptation What! shall I disobey God by venturing to do that which he hath forbidden or omitting to do that which he hath expresly commanded When our Duty is once made matter of Controversie you shall always find people less serious in it therefore it is the Lords mercy that most of the necessary things are unquestionable and out of debate otherwise sin would be more commonly committed and with less regret of Conscience Therefore it concerneth you to understand what is Duty or what is Sin that want of Light may not disable nor enfeeble your Practice and abate your Zeal for such things as God hath commanded or against such things as God hath forbidden 4. To continue your Resolution of obeying God you should often consider of two things what is past and what is to come First What is past the fruit of serving Sin and obeying God The fruit of serving sin Alas we cannot look back without shame and blushing Rom. 6.21 What fruit have you of those things whereof you are now ashamed The object of shame is either Folly or Filthiness now your eyes are opened by Grace you see both in that former course of Disobedience wherein you wandred from God But what fruit had ye then It filled you with the bondage of anguish and fear that you could not have one comfortable thought of God and alas what was all the vanishing pleasures of sin to this trouble and anxiousness of mind And you that have tasted of these bitter waters will you try once again What an evil and bitter thing it is to forsake God and walk in the way of your own hearts Jer. 2.19 They that have smarted before are wont to be more cautious afterwards a Child that hath been bitten by a snappish Curr will not easily venture his fingers again They reasoned Joshua 22.17 Is the iniquity of Pear too little for us from which we are not cleansed until this day Will you again fly from the face of God and grow shy of him Sin is another thing in the review than it was in the committing do not lay open your old wounds and make Conscience bleed afresh But do not only remember the fruits of your Disobedience but your experiences of Obedience also in the tastes of Gods Love the Deliverances and Blessings vouchsafed to you as David Psal. 119.56 This I had because I kept thy precepts this Comfort this Peace or serenity of Conscience this Protection this Deliverance and why should we grow weary of God What iniquity have we found in him Micah 6.3 Wherein have I wearied you Secondly For what is to come what will be the fruit of Sin or Obedience Of sin unto death of obedience unto righteousness Sin in it self deserveth Damnation and Hell is not a matter to be jested with for this many are now in flames and will you take that path which leadeth down to the Chambers of Death But the
up there can be no water in the stream 4. It giveth us greater certainty of the Religion we profess when we feel the Power of it in our Hearts 1 Joh. 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself he hath a sense of what he hath heard he hath felt the power of the Spirit inclining him to God and heavenly things and subduing his carnal affections he hath tasted the sweetness of Gods Love in Christ and you cannot perswade a man against his own sense therefore when men have tasted and tryed and found the admirable Effects of the Gospel upon their hearts they will know that which bare Speculation could never discover to them in order to love certainty and close adherence they find all made good and accomplished to them they find the Truth doth make them free heal their Souls and sanctifie their Natures appease their Anguish offer them help in Temptations relieve their Distress bind up their broken Hearts c. 5. Then the Truth hath a power upon us when it is put into their mind and heart they have an inward ingrafted Principle Jam. 1.21 Receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls they find not only Truth in the Word but Life and obey God not only as bound to obey but as inclined to obey there needeth no great inforcing 1 Thess. 4.9 Ye your selves are taught of God to love one another and Prov. 2.10 Wisdom entreth into thy heart it becometh another Nature to us if it enters upon the mind only it begets but a lazy and faint inclination 6. It begets a holy Conversation for those who have the Word of God stamped upon their hearts and minds will shew it in their actions So it is said 2 Cor. 3.3 Ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshly tables of the heart Believers are Christs Epistle by which he doth recommend himself and his Doctrine to all men when they see what excellent Spirits his Religion breedeth So Phil. 2.15 16. That ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world Holding forth the word of life 2. I observe That the fruit of this imprinting of the Doctrine of the Gospel upon their hearts was Obedience For so saith the Apostle Ye have obeyed All that Knowledge we have must still be directed to Practice Deut. 4.6 Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and understanding otherwise we do little more than learn these Truths by rote or at best to fashion our Notions of Religion that we may make them hang together 1. We are bidden to inquire after the ways of God not to satisfie Curiosity but to walk therein Jer. 6.16 Thus saith the Lord Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls But they said We will not walk therein Their disobedience was not so much against the knowledge of the Truth as against the practice thereof Men are not against Truth so much in their minds as in their hearts they will not do what they know 2. The comfort and sweetness is in keeping and obeying Psal. 19.11 In keeping thy commandments there is great reward not only hereafter but now There is a sweetness in knowing for all Truth especially heavenly Truth is an oblectation of the mind but there is more in keeping and obeying because Practice and Obedience giveth a more experimental knowledge of these things as a taste is more than a sight and by a serious obedienceâ—he taste of these blessed Truths is kept upon our hearts It is but a flush of joy that is stirred up by Contemplation the durable solid joy is by Practice and Obedience Besides that God rewardeth acts of Obedience more than acts of Contemplation with comfort and peace for Contemplation is an imperfect operation of man unless the effect succeedeth yea we are not capable to receive this comfort for knowledge doth not prove the sincerity of our hearts so much as obedience therefore it is Practice that hath the Blessing in the bosom of it 3. Where men receive the Doctrine of the Gospel rather in the Light than in the Love of it they do but increase their punishment Luke 12.47 That servant that knew his masters will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will he shall be beaten with many stripes all the Priviledge of their exact Knowledge shall be but an hotter Hell 3. I observe That it is Obedience from the Heart and so it must needs be if we consider the contexture of the words or the imprinting the Doctrine of the Gospel it is first upon our Hearts and then upon our Lives Isa. 51.7 The people in whose heart is my Law So Deut. 6.6 These words that I command thee this day shall be in thy heart for by the love of it we are brought to the obedience of this holy Law So Prov. 4.4 Let thy heart retain my words Prov. 22.22 Lay up my words in thy heart there is the proper Repository of the Law of God it cannot work any good effect upon us till we get it there there is its proper seat thence its influence I shall urge but two Arguments First It is Terminus actionum ad intra it is the end of all those actions that come inward The heart is that which God looks after Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart He commandeth the Ear but still his commands reach the Heart It is the Heart wherein Christ dwelleth Eph. 3.17 not in the Ear Tongue or Brain till he take possession of the Heart all is as nothing The Bodies of Believers are Temples of the Holy Ghost but still in relation to the Heart or Soul nothing is prized by God but what cometh thence Men care not for obsequious compliances without the heart 2 Kings 10.15 Is thine heart right as my heart is with thy heart Some content themselves with a bare profession of Religion or some superficial Practices but all is nothing to God though thou pray with the Pharisee pay thy Vows with the Harlot Prov. 7. kiss Christ with Judas offer Sacrifice with Cain fast with Jesabel sell thine Inheritance for a publick good as Ananias and Sapphira yet all is nothing without the heart Judas was a Disciple yet Satan entred into his heart Luke 22.2 Ananias joyned himself to the People of God but Satan filled his heart to lye unto the Holy Ghost Acts 5.3 Simon Magus was baptized but his heart was not right with God Acts 8.22 the great defect is in the Heart Secondly It is Fons actionum ad extra the Well-spring of all those actions which look outward as Prov. 4.23 Keep thy
That 't is a great felicity not to be obnoxious to condemnation 2. That this is the portion of the true Christian or such as are in Christ. 3. Those who are in Christ obey not the inclinations of corrupt Nature but the motions of the Spirit First It is a great priviledg not to be obnoxious to condemnation There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ. To understand this you must consider First What condemnation importeth Secondly How came we by this exemption 1. What condemnation importeth The terror of it is unspeakable when 't is sufficiently understood and therefore by consequence our exemption and deliverance from it is the greater mercy In the general Condemnation is a sentence dooming us to punishment Now particularly for this condemnation 1. Consider whose Sentence this is there is Sententia Legis and Sententia Judicis the Sentence of the Law and the Sentence of the Judge The Sentence of the Law is the Sentence of the Word of God and that is either the Law of Works or the Law of Grace The damnatory Sentence of the Law concludeth all under the curse for all are under sin Gal. 3.10 For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is he that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them So all the World is guilty before God Rom. 3.10 But the Gospel or the Law of Grace denounceth damnation to those that believe not in Christ and obstinately refuse his mercy Mar. 16.16 he that believeth not shall be damned and also against them that love not Christ and obey him 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed This is the Sentence of the Law But then there is Sententia Judicis the Sentence which the Judg passeth upon a sinner and is either 1. The ratifying of that Sentence which the word denounceth be it either Law or Gospel for what is bound in earth is bound in heaven and God condemneth those whom his Word condemneth so that for the present wicked men have a Sentence against them they are all cast in Law condemned already as it is John 3.18 If men were sensible of their danger they would be more earnest to get the Sentence reversed and repealed before it were executed upon them they are not sure of a days respite 't is a stupid dulness not to be affected with this woful condition there is but a step between them and death and they mind it not 2. As pronounced and declared So it shall be at the last day by the Judg of all the Earth Acts 17.30 Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judg the world in righteousness And 2 Thess. 1.8 He shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel Then the Sentence is full and solemn pronounced by the Judg upon the Throne in the Audience of all the World Then 't is final and peremptory and puts men into their everlasting estate And then 't is presently executed they go away to that estate to which they are doomed Of this the Scripture speaketh John 5.39 they that have done evil shall arise to the resurrection of damnation It is miserable to be involved in a Sentence of condemnation by the Word Now that shuts up a sinner as in a Prison where the Door is bolted and barred upon him till it be opened by Grace But doleful will their condition be who are Condemned by the final Sentence of the Judg from which there is no appeal nor escape nor deliverance 2. Consider The punishment to which men are condemned and that is twofold Either the poena damni the loss of an heavenly Kingdom they are shut out from that But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matth. 8.12 Or poena sensus the torments and pains they shall indure called the damnation of hell Matth. 23.33 Both together are spoken of Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Words that should cut a sinner to the heart if he had any feeling of his condition now to be exempted from condemnation to this punishment is the greater mercy 'T is enough to heighten in our thoughts the greatest sense of the Love of God that we are freed from the curse that Jesus hath delivered us from wrath to come 1 Thess. 1.10 that we are as brands plucked out of the burning but much more when we consider that we shall be admitted into Gods Blessed presence and see him as he is and be like him 1 John 3.2 And for the present that being justified by faith we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3.7 The Apostle expresseth both parts of the deliverance in one place 1 Thess. 5.9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Mark the Antithesis not to wrath but to obtain salvation Which should increase our sense of the priviledg that when others lie under the wrath of God we shall see him and love him and praise him in Heaven to all Eternity 3. How justly it is deserved by us by reason of Original and Actual sins both before and after Conversion Original sin for the Scripture telleth us Rom. 5.16 the judgment was by one to condemnation and again in Verse 18. by the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation All Adam's Children are become guilty before God and liable to death or brought into such an estate wherein they are condemnable before God So by many actual sins it is deserved by us As we are by nature children of wrath Eph. 2.3 so for a long time we have treasured up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 We have even forfeited the Reprieve which Gods Patience allowed to us and have more and more involved our selves in condemnation Till we comprehend our great need of pardon and exemption from condemnation we cannot understand the worth of it Nay we have deserved this condemnation since conversion He doth not say here There is no sin in us but there is no condemnation sin in its self is always damnable and our Redemption doth not put less evil into sin but in strict Justice we deserve the greater punishment this is another consideration that should indear this priviledg to us 4. How Conscience standeth in dread of this condemnation For if our own hearts condemn us 1 John 3.20 they are a transcript of Gods Law both Precept and Sanction and therefore do not only check us for sin and urge us to duty but also fill us with many hidden fears which sometimes are very stinging When we are serious the more tender the heart is the more it smiteth for sin Ro. 1.23 Who knowing the judgment
a lawful and necessary Fear which doth quicken us to our Duty Phil. 2.12 Work out your salvation with fear and trembling and is either the fear of Reverence or the fear of Caution The fear of Reverence is nothing but that awe which we as Creatures are to have of the Divine Majesty or an humble sense of the condition place and duty of a Creature towards its Creator The fear of Caution is a due sense of the importance and weight of the business we are ingaged in in order to our salvation Certainly none can consider the danger we are to escape and the blessedness we aim at but will see a need to be serious and therefore this fear is good and holy Secondly There is besides this a slavish fear which doth not further but extreamly hinder our Work For tho we are to fear God yet we are not to be afraid of God This servile fear may be interpreted either with respect to the Precept or the Sanction of the Law First with respect to the Precept and so it sheweth us how men stand naturally affected to the duty of the Law Whatever they do is meerly for fear of being punished Secondly to the Sanction Penalty and Curse The fear of evil is more powerful upon us than the hope of good The greater the evil the greater the fear and the more tormenting Doct. That men under the Law-Covenant are under a Spirit of Bondage Here I shall enquire 1. What is the Spirit of Bondage 2. How is it the fruit of the Law-Covenant 3. Whether it is good or bad 1. What is the Spirit of Bondage To open it we must explain Three Things The Nature of the Object 2. The Work of the Spirit 3. The Disposition of man 1. The Nature of the Object The Law requiring Duty of the fal'n creature and threatning punishment in case of disobedience For the Law hath a Twofold Office to convince of sin Rom. 3.20 Now by the Law only cometh the knowledg of sin and to bind over to punishment Therefore 't is said The law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 In both respects the Old Covenant is called the Law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 The Law as a covenant of Works is called a Law of sin because it only sheweth our sin and a Law of death because it bindeth us over to death 2. The Work of the Spirit Every Truth is quickned by the Spirit and made more powerful upon our hearts The comfort which we have from the Truth of the Gospel is by the Spirit and therefore 't is called Joy in the Holy Ghost So Law-Truths are applied to the conscience by the Spirit Jer. 31.19 After I was instructed I smote upon the thigh and when the commandment came that is in the light and power of the Spirit sin revived and I died Rom. 7.9 That is was made sensible of his sinful and lost condition And indeed the usual Work wherewith the Spirit beginneth with men is to shew them their sin and misery their alienation from God and enmity to him and insufficiency to help themselves 3. The disposition of man which is corrupted under the workings of the Spirit of Bondage And so this Spirit of Bondage or servile Fear worketh several ways according to the Temper of men First in the prophane it giveth occasion of further sinning as conscience being awakened by the Spirit urgeth either the Precept or the Curse the Precept as a Bullock at first yoking groweth more unruly or a River swelleth when it meeteth with a dam and restraint Rom. 7.5 For when we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Sinful practices were more irritated by the prohibition and so our obligation to death increased or else by urging the Curse which produceth the sottish despair Jer. 18.12 And they said there is no hope we will walk after our devices There is a double despair of pleasing or being accepted There is a lazy sottish despair as well as raging and tormenting despair by which men cast off all care of the Souls welfare There is no hope Secondly in a middle sort of men that have a legal conscience it puts them upon some duty and course of service to God But 't is not done comfortably nor upon any noble motives That which is defective in it is this First 't is constrained service This Bondage which is a fruit of the Law doth force and compel men to some unpleasing Task A Christian serveth God out of love but one under the Spirit of Bondage serveth God out of fear A love to God and true holiness prevaileth with the one more than the fear of wrath and punishment for the Spirit of Adoption disposeth and inclineth him to God as a Father but one under the Spirit of Bondage is forced to submit to some kind of religiousness for fear of being damned Indeed both are constrained the one by love the other by fear 2 Cor. 5.14 only the constraint of love is durable and kindly and sweet the other his Task is grievous and wearisome Mal. 1.11 and holdeth most in a fit when danger is nigh they are frighted into some devotion Psal. 78. from 34 to 38. Secondly That service which they are forced and compelled to yield to God is outward service and obedience Isa. 58.7 hanging the head for a day like a Bulrush and as they do Micah 6.7 offer Thousands of Rams and Ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl or the first born of their body for the sin of their souls 'T is a Sin-Offering rather than a Thank-Offering more to appease conscience than to please God consists in Rituals rather than Substantials and those invented by men rather than commanded by God Whereas the true Christian is otherwise described Phil. 3.3 For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the fiesh But the false Christian is one Matth. 15.8 that draweth nigh to God with the mouth but their heart is far from him their heart is averse from God tho they must have an outward Religion to rest in and so they serve God not as children do a father but as slaves serve an hard and cruel master Thirdly In some the Lord may make use of it to bring on conversion for according to our sense of sin and misery so is a Saviour and Redeemer welcome to us and prized by us There must be a sensible awakening knowledg of our great necessity before we will make use of Christ for our Cure and Remedy None but the sick will care for the Physitian Matth. 9.12 the burdened for ease Matth. 11.28 29. the pursued for a Sanctuary and Refuge Heb. 6.18 None but the condemned to be justified and acquitted Rom. 8.33 34. the lost and miserable to be saved Luke 19.10 2. How is it the fruit of the law covenant The law covenant is double either the
of Adoption no less Agent or Witness will serve the turn Rom. 8.16 The spirit its self beareth witness to our spirits that we are the children of God When that is done yet the glory intended to be revealed in us is not sufficiently known we have not now an heart to conceive of it 1 Cor. 2.9 And Prophesie is but in-part 1 Cor. 12.9 And the Apostle when wrapt up in Paradise heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 12.4 Heavenly joys cannot be told us in an earthly dialect the Scripture is fain to lisp to us and to speak something of it as we can understand and conceive of things to come by things present therefore our glory is in a great measure unknown and will be till the day of manifestation and then there shall be a Crown of Glory prepared for us 3. Why this Glory is hidden 1. Because now is the time of tryal hereafter of recompence Therefore now is the hiding time hereafter is the day of the manifestation of the sons of God if the glory were too sensible there were no trial neither of the world nor of the people of God Christ himself might be discerned by those who had a mind to see him yet there was obscurity enough in his Person to harden those that were resolved to continue in their prejudices therefore 't is said Luke 2.39 This child was set for the rise and fall of many in Israel So if the whole excellency of a Christians estate were laid open to the view of fense there would be no trial Christ had his bright side and dark side a glory to be seen by those whose eyes were anointed with spiritual eye-salve John 1.14 And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the father And affliction and meaness enough to harden those who had no mind to see So God hath his chosen ones in the world who keep up his honour and interest and he hath his ways to to express his love to them but not openly they are called his hidden ones Psal. 80.3 They are under his secret blessing and protection but not visibly owned but in such a way as may be best for their trial and the trial of the world The Lord Jesus came not with external appearance his Divine Nature was hidden under the vail of his flesh and his Dignity and Excellency under a base and mean outside in the outward estate there was nothing lovely to be seen by a carnal eye Isa. 53.2 He hath no form and comliness and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him Yet in himself he was the brightness of the Divine Glory and the express image of his person Heb. 1.3 2. God hath chosen this way to advance his glory that he may perfect his power in our weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 By wants and weaknesses his fatherly love appeareth to us more than in an absolute and total exemption from them God would not so often hear from us nor would we have such renewed experiences to revive the sense of his fatherly love and grace which would otherwise be dead and cold in our hearts were it not for these wants and afflictions during our minority and nonage 3. To wean and draw us off from things present to things to come That we may be contented to be hidden from and hated by the world if the course of our service expose us to it for we must not look upon things as they are or seem to be now but what they will be hereafter Now is the trouble then the reward present time is quickly past and therefore we should be dead to present profits and present pleasures and present honours and look to eternity that is to come 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look not to the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Oh how glorious will the derided vilified Believer be then It should be our Ambition to look after this honour 't is the day of the manifestation of the Sons of Cod tho the wicked have a larger allowance by the bounty of Gods common Providence yet you have his special love We think God doth not place his hands aright no! God doth not misplace his hands as Joseph thought of his Father Gen. 48. when he preferred Ephraim befor Manasseh What a poor condition was the only Begotten Son of God in when he lived in the world When you are poorer than Christ then complain tho you do not enjoy Pleasures Honours Riches Esteem yet if you enjoy the Favour of God 't is enough tho mean yet if heirs of glory Jam. 2.5 God doth not esteem persons according to their outward lustre 1 Sam. 16.7 Look not on his countenance or the height of his stature for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh upon the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart 2. How manifested Their persons shall be known and owned Rev. 3.5 But I will confess his name before my Father and before his Angels 'T is no litigious debate then no more doubt when owned not by Charracter but by Name they shall be manifested to themselves and their glory also revealed to the world by the visible marks of favour Christ will put upon them when others are rejected Isa. 66.5 But he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed Yea the world shall stand wondring 2 Thes. 1.10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe 2. Doct. That the state of the creatures shall he renewed when Gods children come to be manifested in their glory For he saith the whole Creation groaneth and waiteth 1. This is clear that heaven and earth that is the lower Heavens and the Elementary Bodies as well as the earth shall suffer some kind of change at the last day for 't is said Psal. 102.26 As a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed He will change them quite from the condition wherein they now are 2. That this change of the world and the heavenly and elementary bodies shall be by fire 2 Pet. 3.7 The heavens and the earth which are now reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men 3. That notwithstanding this fire and universal destruction rational creatures shall subsist to all eternity in their proper place assigned to each of them the Godly in Heaven the wicked in Hell Matth. 25.46 These shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into eternal life 4. 'T is probable that the bruits and plants and all such corruptible bodies as are necessary to the animal life but superfluous to life everlasting shall be utterly destroyed 5. That the world and elementaty bodies shall be refined and purged by this fire and
manifested and we have seen it and bare witness and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the father and manifested unto us that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you Acts 4.20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard they had it not by hearsay but some kind of sight there being fidelity in the witness there should be faith in those that hear and read The Apostles had sensible confirmation of what they did declare If they say that they heard saw and handled that which they never did then they were deceivers if they only imagined they did see and hear those things then they were deceived if what they saw and heard will not amount to a proof of Eternal life then their testimony is not sufficient But their down-right simple honesty and great holiness sheweth they had no mind to deceive and the nature of the things they relate sheweth that they could not be deceived for they were eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses and always conversing with Christ the proof is sufficient If such miracles such resurrection ascention such a voice from the excellent glory will not prove another world what will 4. There is a care taken that we also may have a sight of these things so far as is necessary to a lively and quickning hope for the spirit is given to refine our reason and elevate our minds and raise them above sensible things that we may believe these supernatural truths and hope to enjoy this blessedness in the way of Christianity Gal. 5.5 For we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith interpret it not only of the righteousness of faith but the hope built thereupon it doth assure us of bliss and glory for all that are obedient to the faith and believe those endless joys which are prepared for Christians John 1.17 18. 5. If we see not these things by faith 't is because we are blinded by lusts and bruitish affections which misbecome the humane nature 2 Cor. 4.3 4. If our gospel be hid 't is hid to them that are lost whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded 'T is because worldly advantages have seduced and perverted their affections which inchant their minds that these sublime truths make no impression upon them nor have any influence upon their hearts so 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off They have not that purity of heart which should inable them to believe this Doctrine or see things that should contradict or check their lusts and being wedded to present things have no prospect of things to come 1. USE For Confutation of those that will not believe or hope for any thing which they see not they think Christians a company of credulous fools that nothing is sure that is invisible that the promises of the Gospel are but like a dream of mountains of Gold or Pearls dropt from the Sky and all the comforts thence deduced are but fanatical illusions that nothing so ridiculous as to depend upon unseen hopes that lie in another world they make the life of faith a matter of sport and jesting Psal. 22.7 8. All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shut out the lip and shake the head saying he trusted in God that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him 1 Tim. 4.10 We therefore labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God Christians thought their reward sure and endured all things Atheists and Infidels therefore scoff at them persecute them To these I shall propose two things 1. Is nothing to be believed and hoped for that is not seen Reason will shew you the contrary Country people obey a King whom they never saw but only know his power by the effects in his Laws and Officers of Justice and doth not sense teach us the same concerning God if we transgress his laws by omitting a duty or committing a sin we hear from him though we see him not Rom. 1.18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men And Heb. 2.2 For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward And for hope do not men venture their estates in forreign Countries in the hands of persons whom they never saw nor knew and shall we venture nothing on the promises of God 'T is true God liveth in another world and our hopes lye there also but doth he not manifest himself from thence to be concerned in our actions whether they be good or evil And if he be concerned in them will he not punish the evil and reward the good hath not natural conscience a sense of these things And therefore 't is unreasonable to question these things 2. They think good people are credulous and easie of belief their own experience of these good people evidenceth the contrary that they are too slow of heart to believe what God hath revealed concerning the other world and that by the use of all holy means 't is with difficulty accomplished But what if we prove that none so credulous as the Atheist or Infidel First you are not sure there is no such life 't is impossible they should ever know or prove the contrary it may be questionless the Lord that made this world can make a world to come and the same persons to exist there in ignominy contempt and shame that lived wicked here and bestow honour on the godly and holy the question between the downright Infidel and the Christian is not so much Whether there be a world to come but whether we can prove there is none The belief of the positive That there is a God That there is everlasting life is necessary to our hope but to their conviction let them infallibly prove there is none they can never do that you cannot disprove the reality of the Christian hope or by any sound Argument evince that there is no heaven or hell for ought you can say or know there are both and if we should go on no further it were best to take the surer side especially when you part with no more than a few base pleasures and carnal satisfactions that are not worth the keeping In a Lottery where there is but a loose possibility of gaining men will venture a shilling or a small matter for a prize of an hundred pound So be there no heaven or hell or be there one you part with no more than the vain pleasures of a fading life but if it should prove true in what a woful case are you then when to gratifie a bruitish mind you run so great an hazzard the heathens granted it an Hypothesis conducing to vertue and goodness Secondly To the Atheist and Infidel bating all Scripture it may be proved That 't is a thousand to one but it is so natural reason will
perswade us of the immortality of the soul and the fears of guilty conscience are shrew'd persages of eternal punishment the tradition and consent of barbarous Nations as well as the civilized doth attest it desires of happiness is so natural So that these Bravadoes that would outface the Religion they are bred in sheweth none so credulous as they that will hearken to every fond suggestion of their own carnal hearts or Atheistical companions and prefer the bruitish conceits of their own frothy wit before the common reason of mankind or that rational evidence wherewith the doctrine of eternal life is accompanied 2. USE Is to reprove the sensual part of mankind who are altogether for the present world 2 Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken us and imbraced the present world They must have present delights present fruition a little thing in hand is more than the promises of those great things which are to come The worldlings comfort wholly lyeth in those things that are seen they live by sense as the Christian liveth by faith they must have something in the view of sense or have nothing to live upon lands honours pleasures when these are out of sight they are in darkness but a Christian looketh to things future and unseen secured to him by the promise of God 2. USE Is to exhort us to seek after the happiness we never saw we shall see it in time but now we hope for it And 't is no vain and uncertain hope the things we hope for are sure and near They are sure Gods truth is as certain as truth it self can be and believers so account it in the holy word Job 19.25 26. I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens To a believer it should not be a conjecture but a point of faith and certainty Secondly 'T is near things at a distance move us not though they be never so great 't will not be long ere our great change come about and therefore we should have more effectual thoughts about the world wherein we shall shortly live and make what preparations are necessary thereunto as 2 Tim. 4.6 The time of my departure is at hand therefore we should watch and be always ready we must be gone hence ere long therefore do not set objects of faith as a greater distance than God hath set them lest your time be stoln from you and you step into the other world because you thought of it or prepared for it 3. USE Do we hope for that which we see not First It may be known by the victory and over-ruling influence of these hopes if they govern the design and business of our lives if they do then these things will take up more of our time and hearts and care than things sensible and visible 2 Cor. 4.18 While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal If your hope be not powerful and effectual to overcome your inclinations to things seen and break the force of them 't is but a slight hope 2. If we hope for things unseen they will be the life and joy and solace of our actions some have no other joys and sorrows than what are fetched from fleshly and sensible things and speak of nothing so comfortably and so seriously as of this wordly life the pleasures of the flesh revive them but they take little comfort in the joys of the other world but where the eye of the soul is opened to behold the glory of the world to come it lets in an abundance of heavenly pleasure Rom. 5.2 and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God 3. More eager desires and diligent seeking after this blessedness for hope is an industrious affection Col. 3.1 If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Matt. 6.33 First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness His great business is to get what he hopeth for his endeavours are serious and constant and the course of his life is for heaven Secondly The inference thence deduced Then do we with patience wait for it Doct. They only hope for eternal life who continue in the pursuit of it with patience As hope is bred by faith so is patience bred by hope 't is sometimes made the fruit of faith or a stedfast reliance on Gods promises as Heb. 6.12 but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises sometimes of hope Rom. 12.12 rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation the great work of hope is to provide us patience to endure the hardships which at present lie upon us Let me speak of the kinds of patience There is a threefold sort of patience 1. The bearing patience which is a constancy in adversity and worketh constancy and perseverance notwithstanding the difficulties and tryals that we meet with in our passages to heaven Heb. 10.36 Ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the promise A child of God cannot be without patience because he cannot be without troubles and molestations in the flesh a man would think that he that hath done the will of God and been careful in all things to keep a good conscience should have nothing else to do but go and take possession of his blessed hopes but 't is not enough to do good but before we can go to heaven we must suffer evil God hath something to do by us and something to do with us Now we must be prepared to do all things rather than fail of our duty nor desert a good way because 't is difficult to follow it but suffer the greatest evils and suffer long and constantly even to death and that readily and willingly And this is patience 2. There is the waiting patience to tarry Gods leisure evil is present and good is absent and to come a trouble may arise from the absence of the good we hope for and the long delay of it as well as from the evil that we endure in the mean time therefore the Scriptures recommend to us the patience of hope 1 Thes. 1.3 Or waiting the good pleasure of God till our final deliverance be accomplished Lam. 3.36 'T is good to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God Time is certainly determined in Gods purpose and it will not be long ere it come about and 't is not only decreed and determined but promised we must undergo death before we can have
curse of the law and absolve us from the guilt and eternal punishment of all our sins and moderate the temporal punishment of them surely the cross may be the better born and then a life begun which shall not be quenched Blessed is that soul who hath these priviledges 6. See the way how we get assurance of Gods love and our own salvation We know the purposes of Gods grace by the effects by which he witnesseth his love to his elect ones by vocation our predestination is manifested by justification we feel the comfort of it so climb up to glory by degrees Those whom God hath predestinated from all eternity and will glorifie in the world to come he doth powerfully call The Scripture promiseth Salvation not to the named but described persons here then is your way of procedure Would you know your election of God Are you called sanctified brought home to God Begin to live in the spirit 2. USE Do not know these things in vain nor reflect upon them meerly to satisfie curiosity or to keep up a barren speculative dispute but to cherish the love of God Holiness Patience and become more serious in the work of salvation What effects have you of this Predestination 1. Love to God From everlasting to everlasting he is God Psal. 90.2 Psal. 103.17 And from everlasting to everlasting his mercy is to them that fear him We see his love in his purposes and performances the one before the world began the other when the world shall have an end and so two eternities meet together eternal glory arising from purposes of eternal Grace so that whether we look backward or forward you see the everlasting love of God Oh then Let God be yours first and last let the everlasting purposes of his Grace be your constant admiration and the everlasting fruition of God in glory be your fixed end which is always in your eye and let the sense of the one and the hope of the other quicken all your duties Gods mercy you see from all eternity it began and to eternity it continueth we adjourn and put off God as if we had not sinned enough and dishonoured his name enough hereafter will be time enough to return to our duty If we begin never so soon God hath been aforehand with us some make early work of Religion as Josiah Samuel Timothy some are called sooner some later but tho all are not called so soon as others they are loved as soon as others for these benefits were designed to us from all eternity 2. Holiness That we might hate sin more and prize holiness more holiness is inferred out of election as a special fruit of this predestination Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us to be holy 'T is inferred out of calling for he hath called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. 1.9 The calling is from misery to happiness from sin to holiness 't is inferred out of Justification Sanctification is the inseparable companion of it God freeth us a malo morali that freeth us a malo naturali impunity followeth uprightness our recovery were not else intire our case is like that of a condemned Malefactor sick of a deadly disease who needs not only the skill of the Physitian to heal him but the pardon of the Judg. And 't is inferred out of glorified none shall enjoy everlasting glory after this life but such as are holy here and if they be not sanctified and renewed by the spirit they shall never enter into the Kingdom of God for we cannot have one part of the covenant while we neglect another 't is not only the way but part of glory 3. Patience under afflictions The same notions are used of afflictions which are used of your priviledges by Christ 1 Thes. 3.3 Ye are appointed thereunto You should look to that in all that befalleth you he that appointed you to the Crown appointed you to the Cross also Called 1 Pet. 2.21 For even hereunto were ye called We are called to the fellowship of the Cross we consented to these terms Matth. 10.38 He that taketh not up his cross and followoth after me is not worthy of me Justified the comforts of it are most felt then Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God Glorified take it for degrees of holiness holiness is promoted by affliction Heb. 12.10 We are chastned that we might be partakers of his holiness Final blessedness 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding joy Christs last day is a glad day to you 4. More seriousness in the work of salvation 2 Pet. 1.10 Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure 2 Pet. 3.14 Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless SERMON XLI ROM VIII 31 What shall we then say to these things if God be for us who can be against us WE are now come to the Application of these blessed truths and the triumph of Believers over sin and the Cross yea over all the enemies of our Salvation 't is begun in the Text What shall we then say The Words contain two Questions 1. One by way of preface and excitation 2. The other by way of explication setting forth the ground of our confidence So that here is a question answered by another question 1. Let us begin with the exciting question What shall we then say to these things Doct. When we hear divine truths 't is good to put questions to our own hearts about things There are three ways by which a truth is received and improved By sound belief serious consideration and close application sound belief 1 Thes. 2.13 For this cause also we thank God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe Serious consideration Deut. 32.46 Set your hearts unto all the words I testifie among you this day Luke 9.44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears Close application Job 5.27 Lo this it is we have searched it out know thou it for thy good Now these three acts of the soul have each of them a distinct and proper ground sound belief worketh upon the clearness and certainty of the things asserted serious consideration on the greatness and importance of them close application on their pertinency and suitableness to us see all in one place 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief These are all necessary to make any truth operative we are not affected with what we believe not therefore to awaken diligence the truth of things is pleaded 2 Pet. 1.5 10 16. And besides this
save you not from afflictions he will save you in and by afflictions How is God with us in deep and pressing afflictions partly in brideling the rage of men if you be in your enemies hand your enemies are in Gods hand whatever power they have is given them from above John 14.11 and they cannot do any thing but as God permitteth partly by the effects of his internal Government 1. Supporting them Psal. 138.3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthnedst me with strength in my soul. 2 Cor. 12.9 And he said unto me My grace is sufficient for thee Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me If we have his supporting presence tho we have not his delivering presence 't is enough Secondly His comforting presence Psal. 91.15 I will be with him in trouble God is most with his afflicted people as the blood runneth to the wronged part as the mother is with the sick child even to the envy of the rest then we are most prepared for the comforts of his spirit being refined from the dregs of sense Thirdly His sanctifying presence Blessing the affliction for an increase of Grace Heb. 12.10 But they verily for a few days chastned us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Now these experiences shew that he is still with us USE is Information 1. It informeth us of the misery of wicked men in the general by parity of reason if God be against us 't is no matter who is for us how soon are all things blasted when God is against a people they make little reckoning of Gods help or securing their greatness by Gods protecton therefore the ruin is the more speedy Psal. 52.7 Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthned himself in his wickednes Alas how soon can God blast all their confidences man is the meer product of his Makers will and all that supports his Being is the fruit of his bounty surely he that blew up this bubble can as soon crush and dissolve it they look upon the godly as the most afflicted creatures because the hatred of the world is usually upon them but sure they are the most miserable tho they have all the world on their side yet if they have God against them they have cause to fear there is a wall between them and Heaven certainly wicked men have stronger enemies than the people of God have or can have they have God himself for an enemy and he will overcome 2. What reason the enemies of Gods people have to be afraid and to stop their fury and rage against his cause and interest 'T is fruitless and vain to curse those whom God will bless Balaam could teach them this Numb 23.8 How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed or hâ—w shall I defie those whom God hath not defied 'T is ruinous To allude to Act. 22.27 They that set themselves against his people set themselves against God Isa. 37.23 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed against whom hast thou exalted thy self and lifted up thine eyes on high even against the Holy One of Israel Men do not know and consider who is their party and with whom they have to do that breathe out nothing but threatnings and destruction against the servants of the Lord are you a match for God He is their Second and engageth against you and he can soon tread out this smoaking flax and with the wind of his displeasure scatter this dust that flieth in the faces of his people 3. That a Christian is or may be above all opposition And the fear of man which is a snare to others should be none to him for he hath Gods Favour and Almighty Protection to support his courage and fortitude there are two things trouble us an inordinate respect to worldly happiness as our end or an inordinate respect to man as the author or means of procuring it cure these two evils and what should trouble or perplex a Christian 1. An inordinate respect to temporal happiness That must be cured in the first place what is your first and chiefest care to secure your temporal interests or to save your souls to cure our cares and fears Christ directeth us Matth. 6.33 First seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall bâ— added unto you He promiseth us a Kingdom Luke 12.32 And the Apostle describeth the true Christian Heb 10.39 to be one that believeth to the saving of his soul Now if you will be Christians indeed stand to this that whatever becometh of other things your business should be to save your souls and then your trouble about worldly accidents is plucked up by the roots for 't is our affections to them cause our afflictions by them Can men take away the priviledges of God's Kingdom from you or cast you into Hell and prohibit your entrance into Heaven No but you would save your stake agreed so it be consistent with your duty and fidelity to Christ but if it cannot be venture it in Gods hands Heaven is worth something and 't is a question whether they desire it or no that will venture nothing for it therefore this must be determined and fixed as your resolution in the first place that you will get to Heaven whatever it cost you and will obey God at the dearest rates 2. An inordinate respect to man as if he did all in the world Sense seemeth to tell us so but faith must teach us better therefore to cure this consider who is most able to help or hurt you and whether it be better to have God a friend or an enemy if you will take the judgment of the people of God you shall see 1. That they always profess that Gods presence to whom all things are subject is their great security Psal. 46.7 The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Israel is our refuge Selah They think themselves safe enough with God tho all the world should be against them 2. They have been confident of his presence with them and fatherly love and care over them in the saddest condition Psal. 23.4 Tho I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear none evil for thou art with me When death and they walk side by side yet they are still confident of Gods favour and presence God doth not forsake his people tho he permitteth them to be exercised with divers calamities Heb. 11.35 36. 3. Vpon this ground they defie the creature Psal. 27.1 The Lord is my light and salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid So Psal. 118.6 The Lord is on my side I will not fear what man can do unto me It argueth great Pusalanimity to yeild to temptation when God is with us and for us and to doubt of
a great Diligence Sobriety and Watchfulness before we can have it 1 Pet. 1.13 and Heb. 6.11 We desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of Hope unto the end The first Hope may be accompanied with some doubts of our Salvation or the rewards of Godliness ex parte nostri as it belongeth to us not ex parte Dei as promised by him For this Hope apprehendeth all there as sure and stedfast but our own qualification is not so evident In short the Conditional Hope is absolutely necessary in all Christians the latter is very desirable that we should have an assurance on our part of the thing Hoped for but that always cannot be Now Hope sheweth itself both by looking and longing 1. Looking Hope is often described by that act Jude 21. Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life So Tit. 2.13 Looking for the Blessed Hope and in many other places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stretching out the Head Rom. 8.19 as Sisera's Mother and her Ladies looked through the Lattis We should dwell more upon the thoughts of the world to come and live in the constant expectation of it The vigour of the Spiritual life is abated as this act is abated For when our thoughts of Heaven grow cold heartless raw and unfrequent we grow remiss in our Duty 2. Longing Can a Man believe Blessedness to come and not long to injoy it have an House above and not come at it desiring to be at home The Saints are groaning longing for it Rom. 8.23 2 Cor. 5.2 3 4 5. Mind and heart are both set awork by Hope a Tast will make us long for more III. Prepare and diligently seek after it in the way of Holiness A Christians life is a continual pursuit or seeking after eternal happiness Heb. 12.14 Follow peace with all men and Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Col. 3.1 If ye be risen with Christ seek the things which are above Mat. 6.33 First Seek c. This is his work and his business His whole life is a continual motion towards this eternal and glorious estate every step an approach nearer Rom. 13.11 and the nearer the more earnest quo propius fruimur as natural motion is the swifter the nearer the center Faith and Hope set all the wheels a going I press onward because of the high Prize of the Calling of God in Christ Phil. 3.14 still getting more Grace more fitness We have no reason to begrudge Gods service when we consider what Wages he giveth We do but talk of eternal life not believe it when we do no more in order thereunto What Labour and hazards do men expose themselves unto for a little of the present world and surely if men did believe the world to come our industry care and thoughts should be more laid out upon it A man that spendeth all his time and care in repairing the House he dwelleth in for the present but speaketh not of another House nor sendeth any of his furniture thither will you say such a man hath a mind or thought to remove that spendeth the strength of his Life and cares on worldly things Surely he doth not believe a Blessed Eternity We work as we do believe if indeed we are perswaded of such an estate why do we no more prepare for it IV. Clear up your own Interest We know we have And henceforth there is laid up for me c. 2 Tim. 4.8 There are many necessary duties which can hardly be done without a sense of your Interest Therefore you should not be satisfied in the want of it As to rejoice in the Lord always to bear the afflictions of the present Life not only with a quiet but with a joyful mind which the Scripture often presseth now who can rejoice in afflictions who is not perswaded they work for Eternal good They are bitter to sense nature and grace teach us to have a feeling of our Interests and to be affected with Gods providence when we maketh a breach upon us The afflictions cannot be improved if we have not some sense of them But now not to be broken with difficulties and Crosses yea to rejoice in them surely that requireth some Interest in better things If God will whip us forward that we may mend our pace towards Heaven the Christian seeth that he hath no cause to complain None of these things move me saith Holy Paul Acts 20 th 29. so I may Finish my Course with Joy Another duty is to Love the appearing of Jesus Christ 2 Tim. 4.8 Who can long for this appearance but those that are assured of welcome at his coming to whom he cometh as a Redeemer and not as a Judge They say even so come Lord Jesus come quickly Another duty is to desire to be dissolved to get above the fears of death How can they desire to be dissolved who have not made sure of another place to go to Well then you must give all diligence to clear up your own Interest V. Improve it to the vanquishing of Temptations 1. Those which arise from the delights of sense or the pleasures honours and profits of the world The proper notion of a Christian is that of a stranger and pilgrim and the duty of strangers and pilgrims is to abstain from fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 And the force and strength of it ariseth from our confidence in the promises Heb. 11.13 The great use of Faith is to teach us to reject those â—orbid and bewitching pleasures which would withdraw us from looking after those pleasures which are at Gods right hand for evermore Those deceitful riches which would beguile us of the better and enduring substance those slippery and vanishing Honours which would bereave us of the Glory from whence we shall never be degraded To beget an holy weanedness and moderation in us to all these things Vse 2. 2dly To comfort and support us under all the afflictions and sorrows of the present Life of what nature soever they be 1. Against all fears Luk. 12.32 We must look for hardships here in the world but all will be made up when we get home to God therefore bear up with a generous confidence 2dly When pained in sickness and full of the restless weariness of the flesh Consider I shall shortly be in Heaven and there Everlastingly at ease Psal. 73.26 My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my Heart and my portion for ever 3dly Against Imprisonment when shut up in a streight nasty Room Oh! What a comfort is it to consider I shall be with Christ In my Fathers House are many Mansions Joh. 14.2 4thly against loss of fading Riches Heb. 10.34 That took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance My solid estate lyeth elsewhere out of the reach of Thieves and Flames 5thly Against loss of Love and
there is such a thing as Eternal good for natural desires are not frustrate nature doth nothing in vain 2dly Now as these are increased and are more earnest directed to a more certain scope to Holy Men it doth more confirm it For holiness was never designed for our Torment The more Holy any are the more they long These desires are of Gods own planting raised up in them by his Spirit and therefore will not be disappointed 2dly It informs us how far they are from the Spirit of sincere Christians who are content to live here always Will not part with their earthly portion Their Hearts are set upon satisfying the vile lusts of the Body They are not as yet weaned Children but hang upon the worlds dug have no desire of that great happiness and Glory which God hath provided in the other world Such as mens natures are such will their desires be Most men are at home in this world pitch their Tents here desire no other portion than they have in hand there is a suitableness between the world and them As Fishes desire to be in the water and Fowls in the Air so they are the Children of this world and their Hearts cleave to present things Psal. 17.14 2. Use. To exhort us to rowse up our languid and cold affections That they may be more earnestly carryed out after Heavenly things and with greater fervency seek after them 1. Consider how clear these things are to the eye of faith In the promise you may see enough to awaken the most dead Heart The hope is set before thee Heb. 6.18 If we had eyes to see it So 't is said of Christ Heb. 12.2 Who for the joy set before him The promise sets it in our view that we may eye it much and often look upon it and press earnestly towards it sense cannot discover it but in the Scripture there is a clear representation and firm promise if we had more lively apprehensions and certain expectations we would more long after it 2dly The miseries and troubles of the present world are matters of sense Sense cannot discover what should draw our desires yet sense can discover what should drive them from the world enough to set us a groaning in a way of sorrow if not a groaning and desiring in a way of hope The misery of the present state is no matter of faith we need not Scripture to tell us that we are burthened and pained and conflict with sundry Tryals Oh draw off thy Heart more and more 3dly Rowse up you your Love Can you Love Christ and not long to be with him Col. 3.2 3. Set your affections on things above not on things on the Earth for you are deed and your Life is hid with Christ in God If Christ be in Heaven and your Life there should not your Love be there SERMON V. 2 Cor. 5.3 If so be that being Clothed we shall not be found naked THe Apostle here limiteth the Priviledge of the certainty of putting on Heavenly Glory which is not Common to all men but only belongeth to the faithful He limiteth also the desire of that happy estate which he had produced as an evidence of the certainty of it to the same faithful ones who departing out of this Life to an immortal Eternal estate are not found naked that is destitute of that true covering wherewith our filthy nakedness is Covered We groan and desire earnestly If so be c. There are several senses given of these words I shall only take notice of Two that seem to offer themselves with equal probability the First is built upon the special notion of that word to be Clothed upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the former verse I Know not or I am ignorant of the mind of God in this thing whether we shall be found Clothed with our Bodies or naked that is stripped of our Bodies at the Lords coming As if it had respect to that mystery spoken of 1 Thes. 4.17 That we that are alive or remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air And to be for ever with the Lord. And 1 Cor. 15.51 Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 2dly The other sense giveth us the reason why he and all the saints groaned or longed to be Clothed upon because they were prepared or made ready because they were found Clothed with the Righteousness and Holiness of Christ in the day of their transmigration whereas others who are naked and destitute of this Righteousness of Christ cannot and are not to expect this Glory I shall give my reasons why though both be probable I prefer this latter sense 1. 'T is not every probable to imagine that the Apostle should conceive that possibly they might survive till the coming of Christ or that his Gospel Kingdom should be of so short Continuance as that they should see the end of it especially when he had so zealously cautioned them against that mistake that the Day of Christ was at hand 2 Thes. 3.2 2dly In the first verse he supposeth a dissolution of the Earthly House of this Tabernacle where he compareth the weak and mortal estate of the bodily Life to a Tabernacle or Tent which men in their Travel easily set up and at their departure take down again or let fall of its own accord And that the Glorious estate which he expected should ensue after this Tabernacle was taken down or dissolved and he proveth his certain Knowledge of this because he and all the Saints groaned Even all those were Clothed and not Naked 3dly What he expected and groaned for he sheweth in the 8 th verse We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. Therefore Paul doth not suppose that he should live in the Body till Christ should come to change his Body without having need to put it off 4thly The commodiousness of the other sense and suitableness of it to other Scriptures where nakedness and clothing is used Metaphorically and with respect to our final estate of Glory or being found of Christ in the day of our transmigration That holiness is the true wedding Garment Matth. 22. That the graces of the Spirit are Garments of Salvation and Christs Righteousness represented by a robe is evident by Isa. 61.10 And many other Scriptures That we put on Christ that the Church is Clothed with the Sun Rev. 12.1 is a thing so evident that it needeth not to be insisted on And that in this estate we must be found of Christ at his coming to the general Judgement or to us in particular is evident by many Scriptures Rev. 16.15 Behold I come as a Thief Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame A Christian is Clothed with Christ and his Righteousness which is a covering which is not too
profession without any fears of persecutions and sufferings as Heb. 3.6 Whose House we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of hope firm to the end And in the 14. verse For we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end And again Heb. 10.35 Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompense of reward In all which places confidence noteth a bold owning and avowing of Christ or fearlesness and courage in our Christian profession arising from our certain perswasion of and dependance on Christ rewards in another World The great use of Faith is to fortify us against all Temptations and difficulties and inconveniences that we meet with in our passage to Heaven even against Death it self Then are we confident when born up against all dangers and sufferings There is a like word used John 16.33 Be of good cheer I have overcome the World Gods Children may be bold or of good cheer in the midst of all their afflictions for Faith assureth them the end shall be Glorious Therefore we are bold perform our duty and pass on in our pilgrimage with a couragious and quiet mind This couragious confident encountering with trouble is the immediate fruit of Faith Because Faith inableth us to look to the end of trouble and our Salvation as sure and near 2. 'T is seen also in a generous contempt of all the baits and pleasures of sense and the delightful things in this World and cheerfully carrying on our duty though the flesh would tempt us to the contrary Faith is an obediential confidence and the strength of it is seen in checking of Temptations Or an affiance on God as it draweth our hearts after better things than that the world offereth We can more easily want and miss the contentments of the flesh and the pomp and ease and gratification of the present Life So that to be confident is to be prepared and resolved to do those things which God commandeth though with denial of those sensual good things which the flesh craveth as to endure what happeneth in the way to Heaven so to refuse and reject what hindreth us from it For we are exercised with tryals both on the right hand and on the left and we need the Armour of Righteousness both on the right hand and on the left 2 Cor. 6 7. Our way to Heaven lyeth per blanda aspera As the terrours of sense are a discouragement to us so the delights of sense are a snare to us confidence hath an influence upon both it breedeth a weanedness from the baits of the flesh and a rejection of what would divert us from the pursuit of Eternal Life and is much seen in mortification 1 Cor. 9.26.27 I run not as one that is uncertain therefore I keep under my Body As if he had said I am confident therefore I am mortified contemn the allurements of sense As they dyeted themselves for the Isthmick games Hope to get a Crown of Laurel made them look to their bodies that they were in fit plight for the race There 's much more confidence of an Eternal Crown 3. There is another branch of this boldness that carryeth the name of this confidence also And that is Child-like Freedom with God in prayer Eph. 3.12 We have access with confidence and boldness through the Faith of him And 1 John 3.21 If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God And 1 John 5.14 And this is our confidence that whatsoever we ask of him he heareth us And Heb. 10.19 Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the Holyest by the Blood of Jesus An Holy boldness with God in Prayer or a filial Child-like access to God in Prayer for obtaining what he hath promised There is a shyness of God His presence reviveth our guilty fears As David when he had sinned hung off from the Throne of Grace Psa. 32.3 Or as Adam run to the Bushes when he heard the voice of God in the Garden Now this is done away by Faith in the promises This Holy comfortable addressing our selves to God by Christ is a great branch of this confidence it imboldeneth us to go to him in Prayer and to trust in him and expect Salvation from him In the hour of his extremity he is not to seek of a God to pray to or a Mediator to interceed for him or a Spirit of Adoption to inable him to fly for help as a Child to his reconciled Father having been frequently intertained and accepted by him 4. The last and greatest of all is confidence at his coming 1 John 2.28 When he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming We feel the comfort of it when we seriously think of Death or when God summoneth us into his presence 2 Kings 20.3 I beseech thee O Lord remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart We know that we shall receive a Crown of Righteousness at his appearing Before they look for it and wait for it with confidence A Christian should cherish no other Confidence but what will be approved then what will hold out then If our Confidence cannot bear the thoughts of it and supposition of it how will it bear the day its self 4. The Properties of this Confidence 1. 'T is an Obediential Confidence or Affiance for he that hopeth for mercy is thereby bound to Duty and Obedience for mercy must be had in God's way and we cannot depend upon his Rewards unless we regard his Precepts 1 Pet. 4.19 Commit the keeping of your Souls to him in well doing We come to the one by the other yea the one breedeth the other Psal. 119.166 Lord I have hoped for thy Salvation and have done thy Commandments Dependance certainly begets observance and if we look for all from God certainly we will be faithful to him and keep close to his ways 'T is a lazy Presumption not a Christian Confidence that consisteth with disobedience both the Promises and the Precepts are the Object of Faith Psal. 119.166 I have believed thy Commandments Our believing the one breedeth Confidence in the other our believing the other breedeth Obedience but they must both go together if there be any difference in believing these by a right Faith 't is weaker in the Promises than in the Precepts because the Precepts commend themselves to our Consciences by their own Light and Evidence the Promises contain meer matter of Faith and lye farther out of the view of Sense and Reason Well then if we believe these Laws to be God's Laws and these Promises to be God's Promises our sense of duty will be at least equal with our hope of mercy Certainly Confidence and relying upon the Mercy of God for Salvation may be less than our care to walk in Obedience ordinarily greater it cannot be 2. This Confidence must be well rooted that fear of
evermore 2. This is that which is highly prized by them to be where Christ is Why is this so much prized by true Christians 1. Out of thankfulness to Christ's delighting in our presence Therefore much more should we delight in his He longed for the society of men before the Creation of the World Pro. 8.31 I rejoiced in the habitable parts of the Earth and my delights were with the Sons of men Christ delighted in all the Creatures as they were the effects of his Wisdom and Goodness and Power but chiefly in men as they were the objects of his grace capable of Gods Image and favour Thus he longed for the company of men before the World was When the World was once made he delighted to appear in humane shape before his incarnation As Gen. 18. A man appeared to Abraham and he is called Jehovah And Zach. 1.10 11. And the man that stood among the Mirtle-trees answered and said these are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the Earth As if he would try how 't would fit him to become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh When the fulness of time was come 1 John 1.4 The word was made flesh and dwelt among us as long as it was necessary when he departed he had a mind of returning before he went away and removed his bodily presence from us his heart was upon meeting and fellowship again and getting his people to him John 14.2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am you may be also Until the time that the meeting cometh he vouchsafeth his powerful presence to us Matth. 28.20 Lo I am with you to the end of the World he would never have gone from us if our necessities did not require it 't was necessary that he should die for our sins That nothing might hinder our believing and coming to him 't was necessary that he should go to Heaven if our Happiness had lain here he would have been with us here but it doth not 'T is reserved for us in the Heavens Therefore he must go there to prepare a place for us before he went he desired we might be there where he is As if he could not take content in Heaven till he hath his faithful with him Now he is gone away he will tarry no longer than our affairs require To have our Souls with him that doth not content him till he come and fetch our Bodies also That we may follow him in our whole person and then we and he shall never part when all the elect shall meet in one Common Rendezvous and Congregation Now shall not all this breed a reciprocal affection in us 2. Out of Love to Christ. We would fain get near him who is our great friend Psa. 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee And the Saints are described to be those that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 If we have heard him if we be Christians indeed if we loved him when we saw him not and delighted in him and tasted his grace in truth and felt his power we shall long to be near him and see him and converse with him intimately 3. Tast. Communion begun maketh us long for Communion perfected Psa. 63.1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is To see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary 4. Their compleat Happiness dependeth upon it 1 John 3.2 We shall see him as he is and be like him John 17.24 That they may be where I am and behold my Glory Christ cannot be fully seen on this side time 1. Use is to condemn and disprove them from being true Christians that cannot abide the presence of Christ. The Gadarens desired him to depart out of their Coasts Matth. 8. Yet carnal men have such a Spirit Job 22.17 Which say unto God depart from us Cannot abide Christ in their neighbourhood that he should come near their Consciences 2. Vse is to press us to two things 1. To prize the Communion and fellowship of Christ for the present 'T is constant and habitual that he may dwell in your hearts by Faith Eph. 3.17 Where Christ taketh up his abode there his Spirit is the Fountain of Life Gal. 2.20 Our defence against Temptations 1 John 4.4 Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the World The seed and hope of Glory 1 Col. 27. Solemn and actual in holy duties there is Heaven begun there we behold his Face in Righteousness Psa. 17.15 And a day in his Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere Psa. 84.10 2. Let us long to be with him to get out of the pesthouse of the World and the Prison of corrupt Nature I allude to that Gen. 24.57 58. And they said we will call the damsel and enquire at her mouth and they called Rebekah and said to her wilt thou go with this man and she said I will go Wilt thou go to Jesus Lord I will go with thee Hindrances are these 1. A surfeit on the sinful pleasures and contentments of this World This weakens your desires and taketh off the edge of your affections Lot lingered when he was to go out of Sodom Gen. 19 16. 2. Do not darken your confidence by your sin and folly Then you will as a Malefactor fly from him as a judge rather than rejoice to be with him as a Saviour SERMON X. 2 Cor. 5.7 For we walk by faith and not by sight IN this verse a reason is given why we are said to be absent from the Lord while we are at home in the body because all things are transacted between him and us by faith and not by sight or Immediate vision for we walk c. These words do notably set forth to us both the nature of faith and the condition of believers here in the World 1. They set forth the nature of faith which mainly goeth upon things unseen or not obvious to present sense 2. The Condition of a believer in the World he doth not now see God face to face he hath only the promise of blessedness not the injoyment But that I may draw forth the full Scope and sense of the words I shall give you six observations or propositions 1. That faith and sight are opposed and contradistinguished the one from the other 2. That faith is for earth and sight is for Heaven the one is of use to us in this world the other is reserved for the World to come 3. That till we have sight 't is some advantage that we have faith 4. Those that have faith are not satisfied and contented till they have sight For therefore the Apostle groaneth and desireth 5. That if we have faith we may be sure that
hereafter we shall have sight or hereafter injoy the beatifical vision 6. That those that have faith must walk by it 1. That Faith and sight are opposed and contradistinguished the one from the other Faith is a grace that is conversant about things unseen or a dependance upon God for something that lyeth out of sight That this is the Essential property and nature of Faith appeareth by the definition of it Heb. 11.1 'T is the Substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen The Objects of Faith are things invisible and future the Lord is absent from us who maketh the promise and Heaven which is the great promise which he hath promised us is yet to come The nature of Faith and Hope is destroyed if the object be seen and present or ready at hand to be enjoyed Rom. 8.24 For hope that is seen is not Hope for what a man seeth why doth he hope for it Vision and possession exclude Faith and Hope there is a constant opposition you see between Faith and sight so that we may know that we have Faith when we can believe those things which are promised though we have little probability in Sense or Reason to expect them and hereby we may know the measure as well as the nature of our Faith for the excellency and strength of it is in believing things upon Gods word to which sense giveth little incouragement as appeareth by those words of Christ to Thomas John 20.29 Thomas because thou hast seen thou hast believed but blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed Thomas must have the object of Faith under the view of his senses which though it did not Argue a nullity in his Faith yet a very great weakness and Imbecillity weak Christians must be carryed in Arms dandled upon knees fed with sensible Pledges and ocular demonstrations or else they are ready to faint but strong Christians can believe above sense and against sense As 't is said of the Father of the Faithful that he believed in Hope and against hope Rom. 4.18 19. And considered not his own Body being dead being an hundred years old nor the deadness of Sarahs womb he staggered not at the promise of God but was strong in Faith giving glory to God The more Faith can live upon the Word of God the better though the things believed be neither felt nor seen and the less of sensible Demonstration we require the stronger the Faith ever This is true in all the objects that Faith is conversant about I shall instance in some The person of Christ. Many believed on him though they had never seen him in the flesh and therefore their Faith is commended 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love and in whom ye believe rejoycing with joy unspeakable and full of Glory 'T was an advantage certainly to converse with Christ personally here upon Earth but Faith can Imbrace him in the Word though it never saw him in the Flesh. So for the threatnings when we can tremble at the Word as Josiah did when he heard the curses of the law though there were no dangers nigh we do not read of any actual disturbance and trouble at that time in the nation So many times when an Age is very corrupt and things are ripe for Judgment and God giveth warning alas few take it or lay it to heart they are not affected with things till they feel them Few can see a storm when the Clouds are a gathering they securely build upon their present ease and peace though God be angry But in the eye of Faith a sinful Estate is always dangerous and they humble themselves while the judgment is but in its causes as 't is said Heb. 11.7 By Faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet prepared an Ark to the saving of his house by the which he condemned the World and became the Heir of Righteousness which is by faith Mark things not seen are still matter of faith he saw them in the warning of God though he could not any way else see a flood a coming So for Gods aid and succour in a time of danger Heb. 11.27 By faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the King for he endured as seeing him who is invisible To appearance he was like to be swallowed up being pursued by a Wrathful and puissant King but the terrours of sense may be easily vanquished by those invisible Succours which Faith relyeth upon So in all matters of practical experience In prosperity we have but too much Confidence but when we are lessened in the World and cut short we are full of diffidence and distrustful fears Psa. 30.6 In my Prosperity I said I shall never be moved Even a Child of God when he gets a carnal Pillow to rest upon lyeth down and sleepeth securely and dreameth many a pleasant Dream and is full of confidence But when God taketh away his Pillow from under his head then he is as diffident as formerly confident God is the same his promises the same his covenant the same the Mediatour the same but we are much changed because we look to things seen and live upon things seen In danger how are we troubled about protection in deep poverty about provisions and maintenance If sick and nigh unto death how little do the promises of pardon and eternal life prevail In perplexed affairs how little can we unravel our selves and refer the issue to God Faith is staggered because we cannot believe in Hope against Hope We must have something in view and sight faith yieldeth no relief to us Let me instance in a case of Spiritual sense in troubles of Conscience When Gods law speaketh him an Enemy and Conscience feeleth him an Enemy How long is it ore we can bring men to any kind of Hope by Christ notwithstanding the rich and free offers of his grace or ingage them when the curse of the Law cleaveth to their Consciences to take Gods way for Cure and Remedy Because they prefer Sense before Faith and the feeling of Gods Law that cleaveth to them maketh them exclude all hope by the Gospel Isa. 50.10 Who is there among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God The recumbency of such a Soul is a notable act of Faith loving God as a Friend trusting him as an Enemy So in outward tryals and difficulties to wait for so much as God hath promised Many trust God no further than they can see him or have probability to expect his help which is a limiting the holy one of Israel Psa. 78.41 Confining him to a circle of their own making If sense be against the promise the promise doth them no good Now to comfort our selves in God when all faileth Hab. 3.18 Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in
by faith for our life is not maintained so much by the things which we injoy as the things we look for from God If a Christian had no more to look for from God than he injoyeth here he were of all men most miserable not only equal but more miserable Gods Children have fewer Comforts more afflictions and their affections to heavenly things are stronger than others Therefore that which we look for must be our Solace What relief will Faith yield us 1. Faith hath its sights though not full and ravishing as those which Presence and Immediate Vision will yield to us By the light of Faith we see the good things which God hath promised and provided for us We see them in the promise though not in the performance That there is a Spiritual sight which Faith seeth by John 6.40 He that seeth the Son and believeth on him Faith is a sight of Christ such a sight as affecteth and ingageth the heart such a fight as maketh us to count all things but dung and dross Thus Abraham rejoyced to see my day and saw it and was glad The Lord-suspended the Exhibition of Christ in the Flesh till long after Abraham but he got that which was far better than a bodily sight he got a Spiritual sight of him by faith Faith hath an Eagles Eye and can see a very far off and can draw Comfort not only from what is visible for the present but yet to come for a long time through all that distance of time could Abraham see Christs day This will in part â—atisfy vs Eph. 1.18 That the eyes of your mind being inlightned ye may know what is the hope of his calling The Eye of the Soul or the mind is Faith without which we are blind and cannot see afar off 2 Pet. 1.9 It seeth things past present and to come Past Gal. 3.1 Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth Crucified among you Christ was not crucified in Galatia but in Jerusalem 'T is not meant of a Picture and Crucifix for in those early days they did not paint what they worshipped but set forth to their Faith So plain and powerful is the apprehension of faith as if he had acted his Bloody passion before them as if they had seen Christ Crucifyed So not only for present things but in the other world God Heb. 11.27 As seeing him that is invisible Christ at the right hand of God Stephen saw it in vision and extasy Acts 7.51 But every Believer seeth it by faith Things to come as the day of Judgment Rev. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great stand before God A believer is certainly perswaded and suitably affected so Abraham saw Christs day 2. Faith goeth not upon fallible but certain and sure Grounds Injoyment is more comfortable but faith is sure sight is better than faith yet Faith is our present strength comfort and support 'T is our unhappiness that we walk not by sight but 't is some piece of happiness that we walk by faith so that a Believer is comforted but not satisfied His Faith is Satisfyed though his love and desire be not For faith goeth upon good security the security of Gods promise who cannot lye nay we have not only promises but pledges which faith worketh 'T is of Faith that it may be sure to all the seed But the World thinketh nothing sure that is invisible To carnal men what they see not is as nothing that the promises are but like a night Dream of Mountains of Gold that all the Comforts thence deduced are but fanatical illusions Nothing so ridiculous in the Worlds eye as trust and dependance upon unseen comforts Psa. 22.7 8. All they that see me laugh me to scorn saying he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him Ungodly wits make the life of Faith a Sport and a matter of laughter They are all for the present World present delights and present Temptations have the greatest influence upon them one little thing in hand is more than the greatest promise of better things to come 2 Tim. 4.10 Demas hath forsaken us and imbraced the present World But are all things future and invisible to be questioned Surely we do not deal equally with God and man Countrey people will obey a king whom they never saw if a man promise they reckon much of that they can tarry upon mans security but count Gods nothing worth They can trade with a Factour beyond Seas and trust all their estate in a mans hands whom they have never seen And yet the word of the infallible God is of little regard and respect with them even then when he is willing to give Earnest 3. Faith hath some injoyment All is not kept for the World to come We are partakers of Christ Heb. 3.14 Partakers of the benefit 1 Tim. 6.2 That is of Salvation by Christ. A Christian hath here by faith what ever he shall have hereafter by sight or full injoyment They believe it now they receive it then they have the beginnings now the consummation then 4th Point Those that have Faith are not satisfyed and contented till they have sight For therefore the Apostle groaneth after and desireth a better estate The Reasons of this 1. The excellency of that better estate which is to come 'T is expressed in the Text by Sight Now what sight shall we have The sight of God and Christ. Of God 1 Cor. 13.12 We shall see him face to face and we shall know as we are known And for Christ 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see him as he is And Joh. 17.20 That they may be where I am and behold my glory What is this glory The Excellency of his Person the Vnion of the Two Natures in the Person of Christ John 14.20 At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father and the Father in me The clarity of his humane nature They shall see the Lambs Face and be eye-witnesses of the honour which the Father puts upon him as Mediatour In what manner shall we Behold it 'T is either ocular or mental 1. Ocular Our senses have their Happiness as well as our Souls there is a glorifyed eye as well as a glorified mind With these eyes shall I behold him Job 19.26 We shall see that person that Redeemed us that nature wherein he suffered so much for us God intendeth good to the Body and hath intrusted it with the Soul and that Soul with so much grace that he will not lose the outward Cask and Vessel 2. There is a mental Vision or Contemplation The Angels that are not bodily are said to Behold the face of our heavenly Father Mat. 18.10 And when we are said to see God 't is not meant of the bodily Eye a Spirit cannot be seen with bodily Eyes so he is invisible Col. 1.15 And seeing face to face is opposed to knowing in part The Mind is the noblest faculty And therefore must have its Satisfaction
present life requireth many ministries and services at our hands Besides sinful distractions there are many worldly occasions to divert us but then 't is our work and our wages to see God our business and blessedness to study divinity in the Lambs face John 17.24 That they may be where I am and Behold my Glory 'T is our constant work in Heaven to admire and adore God in Christ. The difficulties and distractions are removed and that mass of Flesh which we then carry about us will be then no clog to us 1 Cor. 6.13 Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them Nature calleth for them and in this life there is an absolute necessity of them but the necessity and use shall cease the Spiritual body will need no other supplies and put us upon no other Imployments than the loving pleasing and serving of God All the things which we shall see will leave more sweet enlivening and powerful Impressions on us than possâ—bly now they can because we shall understand them better and have more leisure to attend upon them 3. Our presence with him shall be perpetual We shall meet never to part more 1 Thes. 4.17 We shall be for ever present with the Lord. Wicked men shall see Christ for they must appear before his Tribunal but they shall see him to their confusion Rev. 1.7 Every Eye shall see him and they that have pierced him shall wail because of him But the Godly shall see him to their Consolation Job 19.26 I know that my Redeemer liveth and with these Eyes I shall see him The one shall see him as their Judge the other as their Saviour but the chiefest difference is the one shall see him for a while and then be banished out of his presence Matth. 25.41 depart ye cursed There is a dispute whither paena damâ—i or Paena sensus be the greatest I cannot determine such nice points The sense of pain is from the wrath of God Conscience reflecteth upon our loss the Agents are not to be compared yet on the other side the object is greater the thing lost is God himself 'T is the creature that is pained but I am sure the loss will be much greater than now we apprehend it to be for the present we do not value communion with Christ we have other things wherewith to entertain our Souls there are no pleasures of the flesh to abate and divert the sense of our loss nothing left but the vexing remembrance of our own folly and perverse choice which will torment us for ever but now to be received into Christs presence and ever abide with him how great is the Happiness 4. The person whom we see and with whom we be present he is our best friend 'T is with Jesus Christ who is the life of our lives and the whole felicity of his people as long as the Church is without him she cannot take full contentment What doth the Spouse esteem when she seeth him not to whom she is espoused What can delight the wife when the husband is absent What comfort when they want the presence of Christ to whom their Souls cleave When the Church is here upon Earth she heareth much of Christ he is evidently set forth before their eyes in the Word and Sacraments but we do not see him face to face we do not injoy his presence nor his Immediate Imbraces The Church is left upon earth but Christ is received into Heaven with his Father we believe in him now rejoyce in him now when we see him not 1 Pet. 1.8 But how shall we love him when we see him and see him glorious in our nature and injoy him by seeing Hearsay and report could not convey such a knowledge and report as this personal experience as they said John 4 42. Now we believe not because of thy saying but we have seen him our selves Here is but a sight at Second hand as the Queen of Sheba 1 Kings 10.17 It was a true report which I heard in my own land of thine acts and thy wisdom but when I came and mine eyes had seen it the half was not told me We believe the report of Christ in the Word but when we come to see him we shall find that prophesy was but in part the one half was not told us however sight is the more precious because faith went before we believed him a Saviour and now we find him to be so How glad was Simeon when he had Christ in his Arms Luke 2.29 30. Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 5. The Place and the Company where we shall be present with him The place is glorious the Heaven of Heavens must contain him Acts 3.24 The Earth is not a fit place for his glorified body nor for us to converse with him in his glorified estate We shall be there where God dwelleth and where he hath designed to manifest himself to his People and amongst the Servants of the Lord shall we ever remain Heb. 12.22 23. To an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judg of all and the Spirits of just men made perfect A choice company picked and chosen out of the World to be objects of his grace In this Council of Souls we are to abide for ever Use. Let us often think of this Blessed Estate what it is to be present with the Lord among his Holy Ones to be called to Heaven as Witnesses of his glory The Queen of Sheba said of Solomon 2 Kings 8.10 Happy are the men that stand in thy presence They that stand before the Lord and see his glory are much more happy Zacheus being a little Man pressed to see Christ upon Earth and got upon a Sycamore Tree The Wise men came from the East to see him in his Cradle 'T is our burden in the World that the Vail of the Flesh and the Clouds of Heaven interpose between us and Christ that there is a great Gulph between us and him which cannot be passed but by Death That Christ is at a distance therefore our Enemies so often ask us Where is your God But then when we are in his Arms then we can say Here he is here is he whom we loved here is he in whom we trusted Then our Redeemer shall be ever before our Eyes to remember us of the grace purchased for us and we are as near him as possibly we can be we dwell in his Family and abide in his House David envyed the Swallows that had their Nests about the Tabernacle He telleth us Psal. 64.10 One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere Now you shall be always before the Throne and look upon Jesus so as to live on him This sight shall ravish and content your hearts The Three Children walked comfortably in the Fiery
Furnace because there was a Fourth there one that was as the Son of God If a Fiery Furnace be a comfortable place when Christ is there what will Heaven be when Christ and we shall be there to all Eternity Again this presence maketh way for enjoyment 'T is not a naked sight and speculation we are coheirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 We shall be like him live in the same state participate of the same glory Servants may stand in the presence of Princes but they do not make their followers their fellows and consorts with them in the same glory Solomon could only shew his glory to the Queen of Sheba but Christ giveth it us to be enjoyed Luke 22.30 Ye shall eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdom The greatest love that David could shew his Friends was to admit them to his Table 2 Sam. 9.8 Thou shalt eat Bread at my Table continually said he to Mephibosheth and so to Barzillai He put him upon his own Mule and caused him to sit upon his Throne 1 Kings 13.35 Thus Christ dealeth with us we sit upon his Throne we are feasted at his Table with unmixed delights In how much better Condition are we than Adam Adam was in Paradice we in Heaven Adam was there among the Beasts of the Earth we with God and his holy Angels Adam was thrown out of Paradice we never out of Heaven 'T is no matter if the World leave us not a Room to live in among them they cast us out many times but Christ will take us to himself Again if this presence of Christ be no small part of our Happiness let us more delight in it We injoy his presence in the Ordinances this is to begin Heaven upon Earth Therefore let us begin our familiarity here 2. Doct. That we are presently with the Lord as soon as the Soul flitteth out of the Body This is one of the plainest Texts to prove That separated Souls as soon as they are out of the Body do injoy Bliss and Glory There are a sort of men in the World who are so drowned in sense that they cannot believe things to come either questioning the Immortality of the Soul or else which is a step to it asserting the sleep of it And all because they so fancy it to be tyed to the Body as that it cannot exercise its functions and operations without it Those that deny the being of the Soul or the abiding of it after the Body is dissolved I shall not handle that now But to those that grant the abiding of the Soul but in a deep sleep without any sense and feeling of good or evil I must shew the falshood of this opinion or else all that I shall say will be to no purpose Therefore I shall handle these three things 1. That the Soul is distinct from the Body 2. That the Soul can live and exercise its operations apart from the Body 3. That the Souls of the Saints actually do so 1. That the Soul is distinct from the Body and is not meerly the vigour of the Blood appeareth by Scripture Reason and Experience In Scripture we read that when mans Body was organized and framed God breathed into him the Spirit of Life Gen. 2.7 The Life of man is a distinct thing from this mass of flesh that is proportioned into hands and feet head and belly arms and leggs bones and sinews And this life of man what ever it be 't is such a life as implieth Reason and a faculty of understanding and willing or opposing In him was life and that life was the light of men John 1.4 It doth not only enliven this flesh but discourse and choose things at its own pleasure A life that hath light in it 'T is distinct from the Body in its Nature being a Substance Immaterial and not capable of being divided into parts as the Body is for 't is a Spirit not created of matter as the Body was The Body was formed out of the dust of the ground and therefore it can be resolved into its original but the Spirit was Immediately Created by God out of nothing Therefore the Scripture saith Eccl. 12.7 Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it Where the Body is dust in its Composition it shall be dust in its Dissolution There is described the first and last Condition of the Body in regard of its material cause and the Soul is described in the kind of its being 'T is a Spirit or an Immaterial substance its Author God gave it he framed the Body too but not so immediately in ordinary generation And our natural Fathers are distinguished from the Father of our Spirits Heb. 12.9 And by its disposal when the Body returneth to dust the Soul returneth to God that gave it When the material and passive part is separated from that inward and active principle of its motions the Scripture telleth you what becometh of the one and the other The material part is resolved to dust again but the Spirit returneth to God So the Saints resign it Acts 7.59 And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit 2. 'T is distinct in its supports The Body is supported by outward means and the help of the Creature but the Soul is supported without means by the Immediate Hand and Power of God himself The Body is patched up with daily supplies from without As it was made out of the Earth so is its food brought out of the Earth Psa. 104.14 And its clothing too but the Soul needeth not these things 3. 'T is distinct in its operations There are certain operations of the Soul wholly independant on the matter as understanding and willing for they agree to God and Angels who have no Bodies and there is no proper Instrument in the Body by which they should be exercised as sight by the Eye hearing by the Ear nay it understands not only corporeal things which are received by the ministry of the senses but Spiritual things as God and Angels who have no Bodies And it can reflect upon its self therefore it hath operations proper and peculiar to its self So that it doth not depend on the Body 4. 'T is distinct from the Body as to weakness and perfection as to pleasure and pain 1. As to weakness and perfection The Soul perisheth and decayeth not with the Body when the Body droopeth and languisheth the Soul is well and jocund yea better than it was before there are distinct periods of time beyond which 't is impossible to add a Cubit or hairs breadth to ones stature But the Soul is ever growing forward to its perfection And multitude of years though they bring on much weakness yet increase wisdom Job 32.7 Yea the Soul is strongest when weakest dying Christians have manifested the highest excellency under bodily infirmities and when least of the Life of Nature most Glorious expressions
called life and well deserveth it This life is but a continued death it runneth from us as fast as it floweth to us and 't is burdened with a thousand miseries but that life which is the portion of the faithful 't is a good and happy life and 't is endless it hath a beginning but it hath no end One moment of Immortality is worth a full age of all the health and happiness that can be had upon Earth what will you call life The vegetative life or the life of a plant Alas if that may be called life 't is not an happy life for the plants have no sense of that kind of life they have The sensitive life or the life of the Beasts will you call that life They are indeed capable of pain and pleasure but this is beneath the dignity of man and those that affect this kind of happiness to injoy sensual pleasure without remorse degrade themselves from that dignity of nature wherein God hath placed them and make themselves but a wiser sort of beasts as they are able only to purvey for the flesh more than the bruits can Wherein then will you place Life Surely in reason mans Life is a kind of light given us John 1.4 In him was Life and the Life was the light of men Reason and understanding was mans perfection Well then this is the Life which we must enquire after Now when is this Life of light in its full perfection While the Soul dwelleth in flesh and looketh out by the senses to things near at hand the proper contentments of the body are the poor paltry vanities of this deceitful World Now this is not the life which we were made for but when it seeth God and injoyeth God in the highest manner that we are capable of our true life lyeth in the vision of God 1 Cor. 13.12 And Matth. 5.8 For he is only that universal and infinite object which can satiate the heart of man and our proper and peculiar Blessedness Whom have I in Heaven but thee Psa. 73.25 This is our full and continued Happiness Alas the present life hath more gall than honey its injoyments are low and base and short and fading and its troubles and miseries are many Gen. 49.9 Few and evil are the days and years of my pilgrimage But in the other World there is nothing but Glory and Blessedness A glorified Soul in a glorified Body doth for ever behold God and delight its self in God 2. The other notion is punishment the Word signifieth not only punishment but torment So we render it 1 John 4.18 Because fear hath torment Annihilation were a favour to the wicked they have a being but 't is a being under punishment and torment Divines usually distinguish of poena damni and poena sensus the loss and the pain both are included Matth. 25.41 in Christs sentence Depart and go into everlasting fire God doth not take away the being of a sinner but he taketh away the comfort of his being he is banished out of his sight for evermore and deprived of his favour and all the joys and blessedness which are bestowed on the Godly and that is enough to make him miserable 'T is true a wicked man now careth not for the light of Gods countenance because looking to visible things he hath no sound Faith of those things which are invisible but now he cometh to understand the reality of what he hath lost and besides hath no natural comforts to divert his mind no Plays or Balls or Pleasures or Meat and Drink and company which now do draw off his heart from better things and solace him in the want of them Secondly the pain of sense that 's double the worm that never dyes and the fire that shall never be quenched Mark 9.44 The worm is the worm of Conscience reflecting upon his evil choice and past folly which hath brought him to this sad and doleful estate When he considereth for what base things he sold his birth-right Heb. 12.15 He parted with felicity and the Life to come this will be a continual torment and vexation to them And being under despair of ever coming out of this Condition his torment is the more increased If there were no more than this Conscience reflecting upon the sense of his loss with the cause and consequents of it surely this will fill him with anguish and the Body united to such a miserable self vexing and self-tormenting Soul can have no rest Secondly besides this there is the fire that shall never be quenched which is the wrath which bringeth on unspeakable torments on the Body For Wo Wrath Tribulation and Anguish is the Portion of every Soul that doth evil Rom. 2.9 10. What kind of punishments they are we know not but such as are grievous and come not only from the reflection of their own Consciences but the Power of God Rom. 9.22 God will shew his Wrath and make his Power known 4. Eternity is affixed to both Everlasting Punishment and Eternal Life 1. The joys of the Blessed are Everlasting There shall never be change of and intermission in their Happiness but after Millions and Millions of Imaginary years they are to continue in this Life as if it were the first moment Paul telleth you 1 Thes. 4.17 That we shall for ever be with the Lord. And what can we desire more in this Life if we had the confluence of all manner of comforts yet the fear of losing them is some infringement of our Happiness But there whatever Glory we partake of we shall never lose it it will be thy Crown for ever thy Kingdom for ever thy Glory for ever thy God and thy Christ for ever Oh why do we no more think of this This Life that scarce deserveth the name of a Life yet we would fain continue it though in pain and misery Skin for skin all that a man hath would he give for his Life Oh then how welcome should Eternal Life be which compared with this Life is like the Ocean to a drop When we lay both of these lives together this fading moment and that enduring Eternity how much more valuable doth the one appear than the other Our sorrows will soon end but these joys when they once begin will never end 2 Cor. 4.17 This light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and Eternal weight of Glory Cannot we suffer with him for one hour deny our selves a little contentment in the World Shall we begrudge the labours of a few duties when assoon as the vail and curtain of the flesh is drawn we shall enter into Eternal Life and Joy 2. The Punishment is Everlasting The wicked are everlastingly deprived of the favour of God and of the light of his Countenance When Absolom could not see his Fathers Face kill me saith he rather than let it be always thus 2 Sam. 4 32. The wicked are never more to be admitted into
once past here it must needs be executed Partly because there will be no change of mind in the Judge he is inflexible and inexorable because there is no errour in his sentence but it is every way Righteous and the truth of God is now to be manifested God would not astright us with that he never intended to do grant this Judgment execution is uncertain all his threatnings will be but a vain scar-crow In the day of his patience and grace his sentence may be repealed Mutat sententiam sed non decretum As Jer. 8.7 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and a Kingdom to pluck it up and pull it down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from the evil I will repent of the evil which I thought to do Here God revoketh the doom Conviction now maketh way for conversion but then for confusion And partly because there is no change of state in the persons judged they are in Termino as the Apostate Angels while man is in the way his case is compassionable God allowed a change of state to man after the Fall which must not last always 2 Pet. 3.9 He waiteth long for our repentance but he will not wait ever here we may get the sentence reversed if we repent but then 't is final and peremptory excluding all further hopes and possibility of remedy And partly because there can be no change of the heart they may have some relentings when matters of faith become matter of sense For if they would not love God inviting by his mercies and offering pardon then they will not love him condemning and punishing and shutting them out from all hope these three infer one another because no change of heart no change of state because no change of state no change of sentence 2. 'T is speedy there was no delay they were presently transmitted and put into their everlasting estate here is sententia lata sed dilata sentence is past but not executed Eccl. 8.11 Because sentence is not speedily executed upon an evil doer But here 't is otherwise they must depart and be gone speedily out of Gods presence Esther 7.8 As soon as the word was gone out of the Kings Mouth they had him away to execution 3. 'T is unavoidable 't is in vain to look about for help all the World cannot rescue one such Soul In short there is no avoiding by Appeal because this is the last Judgment nor by rescue they shall go away not of their own accord but compelled 't is said Math. 13.42 The Angels shall gather them and cast them into a Furnace of fire So again cast them they shall be dragged away Not by flight for there is no escaping nor intreaty for the Judge is inexorable 6. The sentence is executed upon the wicked first it beginneth with them for 't is said these shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal Now this is not meerly because of the order of the narration did so require it the wicked being spoken of last but there is a material truth in it sentence beginneth with the godly execution with the wicked sentence with the godly because they are not only to be judged but to Judge the World together with Christ 1 Cor. 6.2 Now they must be first acquitted and absolved themselves before that honour can be put upon them But execution with the wicked Matth. 13.30 Both grow together until the harvest I will say to the Reapers gather ye together first the Tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather ye the Wheat into my barn First the wicked are cast into Hell fire Christ and all the godly with him looking on which worketh more upon the envy and grief of the wicked that they are thrust out while the godly remain with Christ seeing execution done upon them And the godly have the deeper sense of their own Happiness by seeing from what wrath they are delivered As the Israelites when they saw the Egyptians dead upon the shoar Exod. 14.30 31. With 15.1 Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this Song unto the Lord. So when the wicked in the sight of the Godly are driven into their torments they have a greater Apprehension of their Redeemers mercy USE 1. To press us to believe these things Most mens faith about the eternal recompenses is but pretended at best too cold and a speculative an opinion rather than a sound belief as appeareth by the little fruit and effect that it hath upon us for if we had such a sight of them as we have of other things we should be other manner of persons than we are in all holy conversation and godliness We see how cautious man is in tasting meat in which he doth suspect harm that it will breed in him the pain and torments of the stone and Gout or Collick I say though it be but probable the things will do us any hurt We know certainly that the wages of sin is death yet we will be tasting forbidden fruit If a man did but suspect an house were falling he would not stay in it an hour we know for certain that continuance in a carnal â—â—ate will be our eternal ruine yet who doth flee from wrath to come If we have but a little hope of gain we will take pains to obtain it We know that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. Why do we not abound in his work 1 Cor. 15.58 Surely we would do more to prevent this misery to obtain this happiness when we may do it upon such easy terms and have so fair an opportunity in our hands if we were not so strangely stupified we would not go to Hell to save our selves a labour There are two things which are very wondrous that any man should reject the Christian faith or that having imbraced it should live sinfully and carelesly USE 2. Seriously consider of these things The Scripture every where calleth for consideration Think of this double motive that every man must be judged to everlasting joy or everlasting Torment These things are propounded aforehand for our benefit and instruction we are guarded on both sides we have the bridle of fear and the spur of hope if God had only terrifyed us from sin by mentioning unexpressible pains and horrours we might be frighted and â—â—and at a distance from it But when we have such incouragements to good and God propoundeth such unspeakable joys this should quicken our diligence If he had only promised Heaven and threatned no Hell wicked men would count it no great matter to lose Heaven provided that they might be annihilated but when there is both and both for ever shall we be cold and dead We are undone for ever if wicked blessed for ever if godly let us hold the edge of this truth to our hearts what should we not do that we may be everlastingly blessed and
abhor their kinds of Conversation and therefore censure and judge them as a sort of crasy brains that do not know what is good for them Men that live in any sinful course are unwilling that any should part company with them in their way wherein they will go that there may be none to make them ashamed which testify that their deeds are evil Job 7.7 Or to condemn by their practice what they allow Heb. 11.7 And the sweetness of Christs service is wholly hid from them and therefore are never more furiously confident then when most deceived and most blind and others appear in a real contradiction to their humours 4. Let us see how justly this crimination may be retorted and that their way is properly madness And in this sense Bedlam is every where the whole World is a dreaming distracted World a meer incurable Bedlam 1. If you will stand to the Judgment of God the case is determined that every carnal man is a fool and out of his wits There is all the reason in the World that he should be counted a fool and one besides himself whom God calleth fool for he is best able to Judge because he is the Fountain of Wisdom Psa. 49.13 The Holy-Ghost hath determined the case this their way is their folly Jobs Hypocrites and Solomons fools and those whom John calleth the World and Paul the carnal they are all the same company only diversified in the notion 2. We will give them as partial a Judge as can be First in the Judgment of their own hearts they are fools and mad-men when they are serious As when a man is convinced by the Spirit of God he cometh to himself as 't is said of the prodigal Luke 15.17 He came to himself The First thing that he is convinced of is the folly and madness of his carnal course Therefore every one of us must become a fool that he may be wise 1 Cor. 3.18 A Child of God when he cometh out of a Temptation Psa. 73.22 I was as a beast before thee Titus 3.3 We were sometimes foolish mad men or men out of their wits in regard of our perverse choice and till we repent we are never our selves then we are in our wits again The prodigal grew in his folly till he came to his Father and he went not to his Father till he came to himself We then come to our selves when we know our folly mourn for it and seriously amend it The First degree of wisdom is to know our folly The Second to turn from it and betake our selves to a wiser course 2dly When he cometh to die Luke 12.20 Thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of theee Why fool Because every thing was provided for but that which should be most provided for his precious and Immortal Soul He that provideth but for half and that the worser half and that but for a short time is a fool In his greatest extremity his Eyes are opened Jer. 17 11. At his latter end he shall be a fool In the conviction of his own Conscience his heart will rave at him Oh fool oh vain mad-man death bloweth away all vain conceits and fancies when all our vain pursuits and projects will leave us in the dirt 3. plain reason will evidence carnal men to be besides themselves I prove it thus There is in madness two things amentiâ— furor folly and fury That there are both these in a carnal man I shall prove by these Demonstrations for a tast 1. There is in them the folly of a distracted man or one bereft of his senses even in the wisest Worldlings and sensualists 1. Though they acknowledge a God by whom and for whom they were made and from whom they are faln by sin and cannot be happy but in returning to him yet the Worldly man knoweth no misery but in bodily and Worldly things no happiness but in pleasing his senses The beginning progress and end of his course is all from himself in himself and to himself looking only to things near at hand every toy that pleaseth his humour is good to him poureth out his heart upon it and loseth himself for it and will neither admit information of his errour nor reformation of his practice till death destroy him and the God that made him is forgotten days without number Rom. 3.10 There is none that understandeth and seeketh after God 2. They that neglect their main business and leave it undone and run up and down they know not why nor wherefore surely they act like mad and distracted not like wise and rational men Now alas worldly and carnal men spend their time and cares for nothing like Children and Boys that follow a Bubble blown out of a shell of soap till it break and dissolve This is the most serious business of worldly wise men they court a vain World which they seem to count Religion and though they believe Eternal Life and Death yet they make no great matter of it And though all their Life should be spent in fleeing from wrath to come and seeking after Heaven in the first place yet they never seriously enquire whether they shall be in Heaven or in Hell They know they must shortly die and be in one of them either endless joy or misery Yet they have not the wit to avoid Damnation or to prefer Heaven above inconsiderable vanities But like busy Ants run up and down their molehill lay out their time and thoughts upon impertinencies and some of them are blaspheming of God and scoffing at the Religion they do profess others whoring and debauching others flying in the face of them that would curb their folly others running after preferment and so eager in the pursuit of some worldly honour which they know to be slippery but they run after it as if it were their only felicity over-running one another like Boys at Foot-Ball and contending so earnestly as if it were some great desirable prize Others grasping after the World with both hands though within a little while it must fall to they know not who and be spent they know not how Come to any of those and interpose a few sober and serious words about Eternity they will answer as Antigonus when one presented him with a treatise of summum bonum or true Happiness he answered I am not at leisure Or as Felix when his Conscience wambled said to Paul I will send for thee at a more Convenient season Now what are all these but a company of mad-men Their great business lyeth by and trifles take up their time and care and thoughts men are sundry ways out of their wits and only one way in them That is when the true fear of God and the sense of the other World ruleth in their Hearts But every one is so wedded to his lusts that they will not consider and repent or suffer admonition Oh the folly and madness of the World Oftentimes 't is seen that men are
us good or bad men Men are as their love is We are not determinated from our knowledge but our affections a man may know evil and yet not be evil he is a carnal man that hath carnal desires love is the inclination and bias of the will Such as a man is so is his love a mans heart is where his love is rather than where his fear is 'T is love transformeth the heart it changeth us into the nature of what is loved This is the difference between mind and will The mind draweth things to it self and refineth and purifieth them But the will followeth the things it chooseth and is drawn after them made like them As the wax receiveth the stamp and impression of the seal Carnal objects make it carnal and earthly things earthly and Heavenly things Heavenly The love of God godly Psa. 115.8 They that make them are like unto them so are all they that put their trust in them stupid senless as their Idols Love transformeth into the things we love Therefore without love all is nothing 1 Cor. 13.1 3. So much of the Spirit of God as you have so much love For Love to God is the proper gift of the Spirit to all the adopted Sons of God to cause them with filial affection and dependance to cry Abba Father Gal. 4.6 Not always seen in challenging an interest in him as coming in a child-like affection and a Spirit of love 4. The sad consequence of not loving Christ. 'T is no arbitrary matter the Apostle suiteth his threatning to the form of the highest curse among the Jews 1 Cor. 16.22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ Let him be an Anathema Maranatha cursed till the Lord come Suspension from the congregation casting-out giving over all hopes of the party offending and leaving them till the Lords coming There is no hope for you Though you do not hate yet if you love not there is a curse that will never be repealed God made Christs love so exemplary to astonish us with kindness Anathema is too good for him the Apostle cannot express it under a double curse you will be cast out of the assembly of the first born if you repent not 5. Consider what advantages we have by love An interest in all the promises Eph. 6.24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity And Rom. 8.28 All things shall work together for good to them that love God And Jam. 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptations for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Jam. 2.5 Hath not God chosen the poor of the World to be rich in Faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him Faith giveth a right but love a sensible interest We cannot take comfort in the sense till sure of the Condition and qualification our faith is not right till it beget love 6. 'T is not only among the graces but the rewards Intire love is a part of our Happiness in Heaven 't is our only imployment there to Love God to love what we see and possess what we love So that love is the end and final Happiness of man Love is the final act as God is the final object The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom and love is the perfection of it SERMON XXVII 2 Cor. 5.14 For we thus Iudge that if one dyed for all then were all dead In the words observe two things 1. THe force and operation of love 2. The reason of it For we thus Judge c. In which two things 1. The instance of Christs love to us One dyed for all 2. The means of improving it We thus Judge In the Instance or Argument which love worketh upon you have 1. The act of Christs love He dyed 2. The peculiarity of it to him He alone dyed 3. The benefit that redounds to others One for all 2. The means of improving We thus Judge to wit after due deliberation and thinking upon the matter It Implyeth First Consideration And Secondly Determination 1. Consideration if one if one or since one 't is a suppositional concession if one appointed to dye and accepted in the name of all the rest 2. Determination we so far conclude thence The Determination of the Judgment maketh way for the resolution of the Will The one is formally expressed the other implyed Doct. That Christs dying one for all is the great Instance and Argument that should be improved by us to breed and feed love Here let me enquire 1. What dying one for all signifieth 2. How the great love of God therein appeareth 3. How suited this Argument is to breed that love which God expecteth A Thankful return of obedience 4. In what way this must be improved we thus Judge by considering and judging upon the case 1. What dying one for all signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is not only in bonum eorum for the good for all but loco vice omnium in the room and stead of all As appeareth by the double notion by which Christs death is set forth as a ransom and a sacrifice A ransom Matth. 20.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to give his life a ransom for many 1 Tim. 2.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who gave himself a ransom for all The ransom was paid in the captives stead therefore if Christ did die as a ransom for us it was not only for our good but in our stead The other notion is that of a Sacrifice Eph. 5.2 He gave himself as a Sacrifice and an offering to God a sweet smelling savour So Heb. 9.26 He appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Now the Sacrifice was offered instead of the Worshippers and therefore if Christ were our sin offering he dyed not only for our good but in our stead When the Ram was taken Isaac was let go so the sinner escapeth and Christ was substituted into our room and place he suffered what we should have suffered and died that we may live Deliver him from going down to the pit for I have found a ransom Job 33.24 This dying one for all proveth two things 1. The verity of his Satisfaction 2. The sufficiency of his Satisfaction 1. The verity and truth of his Satisfaction For when all should have died Christ dyed one for all We were all dead with respect to the merit of our sins and the righteous constitution of Gods Law and Christ came to dye one for all he represented our persons and took our burden upon himself and did enough to case us First He represented our persons as a Surety and so took the person of a debtor Heb. 7.22 By so much was Jesus made a Surety of a better Testament Or as a common person appeareth in the name of all that are represented in him That Christ was a common person appeareth by Rom.
own selves Christ had more to lose than all Angels and men They said of David 2 Sam. 17.3 Thou art better than ten thousand of us Every mans life is valuble 't is the Creatures best inheritance what was Christs life which was inriched with the continual presence of God 6. This one to dye so willingly Psa. 40.7 Lo I come to do thy will You cannot Meditate enough on these places Pro. 8.31 Rejoycing in the habitable parts of the earth and my delights were with the Sons of men And Isa. 53.11 He shall see of the travail of his Soul and be satisfied He had contentment enough in the Father right enough to the Creatures rich in all the Glory of the God-head what need had he to become man and die for sinners but only that he loved us and gave himself for us for me and thee Gal. 2.20 7. That he should die such a painful and accursed death He bore the iniquities of us all Isa. 53.6 The little finger of sin is heavier than the loins of any other trouble David that bore his own sins cryed out Psa. 38.4 They are a burden too heavy for me What was it for him to bear the iniquities of us all This made his Soul heavy to death filled up with such bitter agonies that he did sweat drops of blood Alas sometimes we feel what 't is to bear one sin what is it to bear many To bear all He did not only bear them in his body but in his Soul this put him upon tears and fears and amazement Now is my Soul troubled what shall I say John 12.27 As to bodily pains many of the Martyrs suffered more and with cheerful minds But Christ stood in the place of sinners before Gods tribunal Well then you see what a powerful Argument this is to breed and feed love 3. How this Argument is suited to breed that love which God expects even a thankful return of obedience 'T is proper for that purpose 1. From the end of Christs death Which was to sanctify us Eph. 5.25 26 27. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he mighty sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of Water through the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinckle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish And Titus 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people Not only redeem us from wrath but redeem us from sin to restore the Image of God which we had lost as well as his favour Now unless we would have Christ to be frustrate of his end and die in vain we should endeavour to be holy did he die for sin that we might take liberty to practice it come to unloose our cords that we might tye them the faster pay our debt that we might run on upon a new score Make us whole that presently we might fall sick or give us an antidote that we might the more freely venture to poison our selves No this is to play the wanton with his grace 2. The right which accrueth to our Redeemer by vertue of the price paid for us When a slave was bought with Silver and Gold his strength and life and all belonged to the buyer Exod. 21.21 He is his money So we are purchased by Christ redeemed to God Rev. 5.9 And we are bound to him that bought us to serve him in righteousness and holiness all our days Luke 1.74 To glorify him in our bodys and Souls which are his 1 Cor. 6.20 3. The pardon ensuing and depending on his death 'T is that God may be more loved reverenced feared and obeyed Psa. 130.4 But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Luke 7.47 She loved much because much was forgiven to her They are bound to love most to whom most is forgiven Psa. 85.8 For he will speak peace to his people but let them not return to folly The remission of sins past is not for a permission of sin to come but a great bridle and restraint to it His mercy in remitting should not make us more licentious in committing otherwise we build again the things we have destroyed when we sought for pardon sin was the greatest burden which lay upon our consciences the wound that pained us at heart the disease our Souls were sick of and shall that which we complained of as a burden become our delight shall we tare open our wounds which are in a fair way of healing And run into bonds and chains again after we are freed of them 4. The greatness of Christs sufferings sheweth the hainousness and filthiness of sin 'T was Gods design to make sin hateful to us by Christs agonies blood shame and death Rom. 8.3 By sin he condemned sin in the flesh That is by a sin offering God shewed a great example of his wrath by that punishment which lighted upon our Surety or the flesh of Christ his design was for ever to leave a brand upon it by his sin offering or ransom for Souls Now shall we make light of that which cost Christ so dear And cherish those sins which put our Redeemer to grief and shame If the stain and filthiness of sin could not be washed out but by the blood of Christ shall we think it no great matter to pollute and defile our selves therewith This were to crucify Christ afresh Heb. 6. And to trample the blood of the covenant under foot Heb. 10.24 5. The terribleness of Gods wrath which can be appeased by no other sacrifice And shall not we reverence this wrath so as not to dare to kindle it again by our sins for 't is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 Christs Instance sheweth that for if this be done in the green tree what shall be done in the dry 6. But the great argument of all is a grateful sense of our obligation to God and Christ. For God so loved the World that when nothing else was fit for our turn he sent is Son and his Son loved us and gave himself to die for us Where we see the love of God putting forth its self for our help in the most astonishing way that can be imagined this is such an ingaging instance so much surpassing our thoughts that we cannot sufficiently admire it A mystery without controversy great We may find out words to paint out any thing that man can do to us or for us The garment may be wider than the body But things truly great strike us dumb God being the chiefest good would act in a way suitable to the greatness of his love Therefore let us love him and delight in him who hath called together all the depths of his wisdom and counsel to save a company of forlorn sinners in such a way whereby his wrath may be appeased his Law satisfyed and full contentment
our Passive the other our Active Regeneration And as in Generation that which begets produces the same Life that is in himself a Beast communicates the Life of a Beast and a Man of a Man so 't is the Life of God that we receive when we are formed for his use by the power of his Grace It is called the Life of God and the Divine Nature Spiritual qualities being infused whereby we resemble God And Herein again it agrees with common Life Life consists in the union of the matter with the Principle of Life as when there is union between the Body and Soul then there 's Life without which the Body is but a dead and an unactive lump As Adams Body when it was organized and framed until God infused the breath of Life in it lay as a dead lump so this Life is begun by a Union between us and Christ he lives in us by his Spirit and we live in him by Faith Gal. 2.20 The Spirit is the Principle of Life and Faith is the means to receive it and therefore we are said Rom. 6.5 To be planted into the likeness of Christs Resurrection Planting notes a Union as a Bud that 's put into a Stock it becomes one with the Stock and bears Fruit by vertue of the Life of the Stock We no sooner are planted into Christ but we feel the power of his Life and vertue of his Resurrection he begins to live in us and we in him as the Graft in the Stock and as the Stock in the Graft 2. Where there is Life there is Sense and Feeling especially if wrong and violence be offered to it A living Member is sensible of the smallest prick and Pain and so is the Spiritual Life bewrayed by the tenderness of the Heart and the sense that we have of the interest of God Stupid and insensible Spirits shew they have no Life and therefore those that are alienated from the Life of God they are said to be past feeling Eph. 4 18 19. As long as there is Life there is feeling We may lose other senses yet there may be Life the Eye may be closed up and sight lost and the Ear may be deaf and lose its use but yet Life may remain still but feeling is dispers'd throughout the whole Body and we do not lose our feeling till we are quite dead therefore this is the Character of them that are alienated from the life of God that they have no feeling Now the Children of God the Regenerate are sensible of the injuries done and Spiritual Life by Sin and of the decays of that Life they have and of the comforts of it What Consciences have they that can live in carnal pleasures and sin freely in Thought and foully in Act and yet never groan under it never be sensible of it Paul was sensible of the first stirrings and risings of Sin Rom. 7.24 Oh wreâ—ched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death Now where there is no sense of this it shews such have no Life who are neither sensible of the injuries done to the Life they have nor of the decays of it by God's absence When the Bridegroom is gone sensible Hearts will mourn Mat. 9 15. when they have lost Christ when they feel any abatements of the influences of his Grace Carnal men that sleep in their filthiness they have no sense of God's favours or frowns of his absence or presence because they are quite dead they do not take notice of God's dealings with them either in Mercy or Judgment therefore are touched with no remorse for the one or thankfulness for the other but are careless and stupid and past feeling And can a man be alive and not feel it And can you have the Life of Grace and not feel the decays and interruptions of it and neither be sensible of comforts or injuries 3. Where there is life there 's an Appetite joyned with it an earnest desire after that which may feed maintain and support this Life What makes the Brute-creatures to run to the Teats of the Dam as soon as they are born but instinct of Nature Appetite is the immediate effect of Life Where there is life it must have some supports it hath its Tasts and Rellishes as 1 Pet. 2.2 As new-born Babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby I say where there is a new birth there will be an Appetite after Spiritual unmixed milk the new-nature hath its proper supports and there will be something relish't and favor'd besides meats drinks and bodily pleasures and such things as gratify the Animal Life As Jesus Christ said John 4.32 I have meat to eat that ye know not of So Spiritual Life hath inward consolations it hath hidden Manna whereby it is supported and maintained Meat that perisheth not John 6.27 painted fire needs no fuel those that do not live they have no Appetite there 's no need of nourishment But where there is life there will be a desire an Appetite that carrieth us to that which is Food to the Soul to Christ Jesus especially and to the Ordinances in which he is exhibited to us And therefore where there is no desire to meet with God in these Ordinances where Christ may be food to our Souls it is to be feared there is no Life Wicked men they may desire Ordinances sometimes but not to strengthen the Spiritual Life but out of carnal ends and reasons they are loth to be left out of the Worship that is in esteem in the place where they live as the Pharisees submitted to Johns Baptism though they hated the Lord Christ it was then in esteem therefore he calls them a Generation of Vipers Mat. 3.7 and partly because they trust in the work wrought there is somewhat to pacify Natural Conscience by the bare external performance of a duty and carnal men rest in the Sacraments or visible Ordinances It is Natural to us to be led by sensible things and the external action being easy they choak their Consciences with these things How usual is it in this sense to see many that tear the Bond yet prize the Seal that is to say they contemn the Bond of the Covenant and the duty of the Covenant yet dote upon the Lords Supper which is a Seal of it But a true Appetite desires these Ordinances that we may meet with God in them This is a sign of Life 4. Where there is Life there will be growth especially in Vegetables there Life is always growing and encreasing till they come to their full stature so do the Children of God grow in Grace Our Lord himself though he had the Spirit without measure yet he grew in Wisdom and favour with God Luke 2.40 not in shew but in reality he grew in Wisdom as he grew in Stature Though his Human Nature in his Infancy was taken into the Unity of his Divine Person yet the capacity of his Human Nature
then applied to us by him who is now alive and liveth for evermore for that end and purpose Therefore 't is said 1 Pet. 1.3 That God hath begotten us to a lively hope by the resurrection of Christ. By vertue of that power which he now hath as risen from the dead And Eph. 1.19 20. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in Heavenly places The same power worketh in believers which wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead The same power which wrought in and towards Christs exaltation is ingaged for Believers to work grace and carry on the work of grace in them Christ risen and living in Heaven is the Fountain of life in all new creatures He is the great receptacle of grace and sendeth it out by his Spirit A vital influence to all such as belong to him And therefore our life is made dependant upon his John 14.19 Because I live ye shall live also The life of believers is derived from Christs life who is our quickening head communicating vertue to all his members There is a vertue in his life to quicken us so that we do not live so much as Christ liveth in us Gal. 2.20 I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me As the root in the branches and the head in the members USE 1. Information It teacheth us three things in point of use 1. The Suitableness between Christ and Believers Consider him as God or Mediator As God Christ hath life communicated to him by eternal Generation so by Regeneration we are made partakers of the Divine Nature As Mediator he subsists in his life as man by vertue of the personal union with the God-head So do we live by vertue of the mystical inhabitation or union with Christ by his Spirit for our spiritual life floweth from the gracious presence of God in us by his Spirit Christ as man had first a frail life subject to hunger cold and sufferings so have believers a Spiritual life consistent with many weaknesses and infirmities But now Christ liveth gloriously at the Fathers right hand so we shall one day bear the Image of the Heavenly and be one day freed from all weaknesses thus are we conformed unto Christ and partake of the same life he doth 2. It informeth us in what way this life is conveyed and continued to us By Vertue of Christs death and resurrection by the Spirit through faith his death is at the bottom of it for he died that we should live together with him 1 Thes. 5.10 Who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him His resurrection is the pattern pledge and cause of it For Rom. 5.10 If we were reconciled by his death much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life After he had rescued us from the power and danger of our sins by his rising from the dead he is in a greater capacity to send out that Spirit by which he was raised to raise us up to a new life Then the Spirit is the Immediate worker of it for Christ maketh his first entry and dwelleth in the hearts of believers by his Spirit for we are renewed and born again by the Spirit John 3.5 That which is born of Flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Without which we are not capable of it The Spirit worketh Faith and then there is an habitation fit for Christ in the Soul Eph. 3.17 That he may dwell in your hearts by faith Then he liveth in us as the head in the members Col. 2.19 And the root in the branches John 15 1. 'T is by faith that the union is compleated John 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God And then a vertue and power floweth from this union to inable us to do those things which are spiritually good and acceptable to God which is nothing but that which we call life Without him we can do nothing John 15.5 With him and by him all things Phil. 4.13 I can do all things through Christ which strengthneth me Namely by the influence of his Spirit received by faith 3. It informeth us 'T is not enough to believe that Christ died for you unless also you permit Christ to live in you 'T is not enough for your faith 't is not enough for your love the Apostle mentions both and we must look after both As to have our old offences expiated so to live a new life in Christ Rom. 6.5 For if we have been planted together into the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection We are branches of that tree whereof Christ is the root We must have communion with Christ living as well as with Christ dying and not only freed from the damning power of sin but quickened to a new life Use 2. is exhortation to press you to several duties 1. To believe that there is such a life 'T is matter of faith for when Christ had said John 11.26 Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die he presently addeth Beleivest thou this Few mind and regard it The general faith concerning life by Christ must go before the special application Besides 't is an hidden thing your life is hidden with Christ in God Col. 3.3 'T is not visible to sense And invisible things are only seen by faith 'T is hidden from sense and therefore it must be believed 'T is hidden from the carnal World as colours are from a blind man because they have no eyes to see it The natural man cannot see things that must be spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 Besides the Spiritual life is hidden under the natural Gal. 2.20 The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God They live in the flesh but they do not live after the flesh 't is a life within a life the Spiritual life is nothing else but the natural life sublimated and over-ruled to higher and nobler ends spiritual men eat and drink and sleep and trade and marry give in Marriage as others do for they have not divested themselves of the interests and concernments of flesh and blood but all these things are governed by grace and are carried on to holy and eternal ends Besides 't is hidden because there is upon it the vail and covering of afflictions and outward meanness and a basement as it was said of some of whom the World was not worthy that they wandred about in sheep-skins and Goat-skins Heb. 11.37 38. Who would think so much worth should lye under such a base outside Their glory is darkened and obscured by their condition Besides too this life is often hidden by reproaches and censures
rejoycing in their good as our own mourning for their evil as our own such a Justice as groweth out of love Rom. 13 8. Owe no man any thing but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law But to our fellow Saints and everlasting companions a Christ-like love 2 Pet. 1.7 Add to Godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity Another man in his special relations Philem. 11. Which in times past was unprofitable but now profiâ—able to thee and me That 's the sphere of our activity In the government of himself he doth exercise a greater command over his passions and affections Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Alloweth no bosom sin Psa. 18.23 I was upright before thee and kept my self from mine iniquity And still a constant carefulness to please God Heb. 13.18 For we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly 2. If so there will be a solemn dedication of our selves to God Rom. 6.13 But yield your selves to God as those that are alive from the dead The reason is because the great effect of grace is a tendency towards God and that tendency produceth a setting apart of our selves for Gods use and service and the reality of this is seen in using our selves for God 3. Where there is life there will be vital operations For life is active and stirring it cannot be hidden but will bewray its self in all that we do though not at all times in a like measure our prayers will be the prayers of a living man our conferences and discourses such as come from those that have life in them our whole Service of God such as hath warmth and zeal in it Jam. 5 16. The fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man And Rom. 12.11 Not sloathful in business fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. Our addresses to God such as become feeling of wants an appetite after and favour of Spiritual things And if Christians do not feel this life for sometimes 't is weak and obstructed they cannot be satisfied nor rest in this frame when dull of hearing or Cold in prayer they rowse up and stir up themselves Isa. 64.7 There is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee What is wanting in fervour is made up in sense and feeling and bemoaning their condition so that the heart is alive because 't is sensible of its deadness living though not lively but the chief note is a sincere desire to please honour and glorify God and that by vertue of Christs Resurrection Christians obtain the grace of a new life SERMON XXXI 2 Cor. 5.16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth we know him no more THere were false Apostles at Corinth who gloryed much in outward things not only Birth Wealth Abilities of Speech but such outward things as had a nearer connection with and respect to Religion as their acquaintance with Christ that they had known him in the flesh and owned him when yet alive And therefore are supposed to be intended in that expression I am of Christ 1 Cor. 1.12 As others received the Doctrine of Life from Peter Paul Apollos they immediately from Christ himself Now this boasting these Corinthian Doctors used as to keep up their own fame among the people so to lessen and weaken the credit of Pauls Apostleship for this objection lay against him that he had not as other disciples conversed with our Lord Jesus Christ on earth Now Paul that he might give the Corinthians occasion to Glory in his behalf and furnish them with an answer that gloried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 12. in external priviledges though they knew in their Consciences they had little reason so to do He had more valuable things to boast of namely That he was much in Spirit much in labours much in afflictions for the honour of the Gospel and to all which he was carryed out by the hopes of Eternal Life the terrour of the Lord at the day of Judgment and the Love of Christ constraining him This was the threefold cord Hope of Reward Fear of Punishment and the Love of Christ And these were more valuable considerations whereupon to esteem of any one than external priviledges could be In their outward priviledges he could vie with them For though he was none of Christs followers here upon earth yet he was equal to them by seeing and having been spoken to by Christ out of Heaven 1 Cor. 9.1 Am not I an Apostle have not I seen Jesus Christ the Lord But Paul did not seek his esteem meerly for his vision of Christ and that extasie which befell him at his first conversion but for the faithful discharge of his work upon the ground aforementioned that he would not glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as those others did Mortified Christians or those that have seriously given up themselves to the Lords use should more mind that and esteem themselves and others for true and real worth rather than such an external previledge Wherefore know we no man after the flesh c. In the Words we have 1. A general conclusion inferred against the boasting of the Corinthian Doctors Henceforth we know no man after the flesh We own no carnal respect to any man living and do not value any by outward acquaintance with Christ but according to the Spiritual power that is in him and taught by him 2. The conclusion restrained unto the instance of Christ Yea though we have known Christ after the flesh Where there is 1. A supposition Though we have known Christ after the flesh 2. An assertion Yet henceforth know we him no more That is as a friend conversing with us upon earth in an outward way but as a King and Law-giver of the Church that is ascended up to Heaven there to govern the Church by his Spirit and Laws Offering and designing to us Eternal life upon our obedience fidelity to him Well then to know Christ after the flesh is not forbidden with intent to deny his Humanity or to exclude the comfort thence resulting So we must still know him after the flesh his Humane Nature is the ground of our comfort But that we should not esteem and judge of persons by their outward conversing with him but their Loyalty and Obedience to him This I think to be the most proper meaning of the words Though some with probability carry them another way thus Henceforth know we no man after the flesh that is we do not value men for their Wealth Honour Nobility and though we have known Christ after the flesh alluding to his esteem when a Pharisee according to the humour of that sect he looked for a pompous Messiah but now owned him as a glorified Saviour sitting at the right hand of God in the
weaknesses when our habitual aversation from God is not yet cured and of our unpreparedness for service when we have not the general and most necessary preparation are not yet come out of the carnal estate 3. In order to our future injoyment of God and that glory and blessedness which we expect in his Heavenly Kingdom None but new creatures are fit to enter into the new Jerusalem T is said John 3.3 Except a man be born again he shall not sâ—e the Kingdom of God Seeing is put for injoying He shall not be suffered to look within the vail much less to enter Man neither knoweth his true happiness nor careth for it but followeth after his old lusts till he be new moulded and framed By nature men are opposite to the Kingdom of God it being invisible future spiritual mostly for the Soul now men are for things seen present and bodily the interest of the flesh governeth them in all their choices and inclinations and how unmeet are those for Heaven In short our frail bodies must be changed before they can be brought to Heaven We shall not all die but we shall all be changed saith the Apostle If thy Body must be changed how much more thy Soul It that which is frail much more that which is filthy If bare flesh and blood cannot enter into Heaven till it be freed from its corruptible qualities certainly a guilty Soul cannot enter into Heaven till it be freed from its sinful qualities Use 1. To inform us 1. How ill they can make out their interest in Christ that are not sensible of any change wrought in them they have the old thoughts and old discourses and the old passions and the old affections and old conversations still the old darkness and blindness which was upon their minds the old stupidity dulness deadness carelesness upon their hearts knowing nothing regarding nothing of God the old end scope governeth them to which they formerly referred all things if there be a change there is some hope the Redeemer hath been at work in our hearts You can remember how little savour you had once for the things of the Spirit How little mind to Christ or holiness How wholly given up to the pleasures of the flesh or profits of the World What a mastery your lusts had then over you and what an hard servitude you then were in Titus 3.3 Serving divers lusts and pleasures Is the case altered with you now If it be your gust to fleshly delights is deadned and your Soul will be more taken up with the affairs of another World The drift aim and bent of your lives is now for God and your Salvation and your great business is now the pleasing of God and the saving of your Souls And now you are not Servants to your fleshly Appetites and Senses or things here below but Masters Lords and Conquerors over them but in most that profess and pretend to an Interest in Christ there is no such change to be seen You may find their old sins and their old lusts and the old things of ungodliness are not yet cast off such rubbish and rotten building should not be left standing with the new Old leaves in Autumn fall off in the Spring 2. It informeth us in what manner we should check sin by remembring 't is an old thing to be done away and how ill it becometh our new state by Christ. 2 Pet. 1.9 Hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Former sins ought to be esteemed as rags that are cast off or vomit never to be licked up again if we are and do profess or esteem our selves to be pardoned we should never build again what we have destroyed and tare open our old wounds So 1 Pet. 1.14 Not fashioning your selves to the former lusts of your ignorance We should not return to our old bondage and slavery So 1 Cor. 5.7 Purge out therefore the old leaven that ye may be a new lump The unsuitableness of it to our present state stirreth up our indignation What have I any more to do with idols Hosea 14.8 Worldly things are pleasing to the old man Use 2. Have we this evidence of our being in Christ that we are made new Creatures 1. Have we a new mind A new creature hath a new sight of things looketh upon all things with a new eye seeth more odiousness in sin more excellency in Christ more beauty in holiness more vanity in the World than ever before Knowing things after the flesh bringeth in this discourse about the new creature in the Text. A new value and esteem of things doth much discover the temper of the heart If thou esteemest the reproach of Christ Heb. 11.26 Esteemest the decay of the outward man to be abundantly recompensed by the renewing of the inward 2 Cor. 4.16 A new creature is not only changed himself but all things about him are changed Heaven is another thing and earth is another thing than it was before he looketh upon his Body and Soul with another eye 2. As he hath a new mind and judgment so the heart is new moulded The great blessing of the covenant is a new heart Now the heart is new when we are inclined to the ways of God and inabled to walk in them There is First a new inclination poise or weight upon the Soul bending it to holy and heavenly things This David prayeth for Psa. 119.36 Incline my heart to thy Testimonies and not to Covetousness And is that preparedness and readiness for every good work which the Scripture speaketh of 2. The heart is inabled Ezek. 36.27 I will put a new Spirit into you and cause you to walk in my ways wherefore is a new heart and a new strength of grace given but to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 For the Kingdom of God standeth not in word but power 3. New actions or a new conversation called walking in newness of life Rom. 7.4 A Christian is another man There is not only a difference between him and others but him and himself He must needs be so For he hath first a new principle the Spirit of God As their own flesh before John 3.6 Now his heart is suited to the Law of God Heb. 8.10 I will put my Laws into their minds and write them on their hearts And Eph. 4.24 And that ye put on the new man which after God is created in Righteousness and true Holiness Secondly A new rule and therefore there must be a new way and course Gal. 6.15 16. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature And as many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God And Psal. 1.2 But his delight is in the Law of God and in that Law doth he meditate day and night As their internal principle of operation is different so the external rule of their conversations
is different Others walk according to the course of this World or their own lusts Rom. 12.2 And be not conformed to this World but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds Thirdly A new design and end Are taken off from carnal and earthly things to Spiritual and Heavenly things to seek after God and their own Salvation the renewed being called to the Hope of Eternal Life look after God and Heaven to serve please and Glorify God SERMON XXXIII 2 Cor. 5.18 And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Iesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation IN this verse the Doctrine of the new creature is further prosecuted with respect to the Apostles scope which is to assert his fidelity in the Ministry For here are three things laid down 1. The efficient cause of all is God 2. The meritorious cause is Jesus Christ. 3. The instrumental cause is the Word 1. The original Author of all Gospel grace And all things are of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all these things He doth not speak of universal creation but of the peculiar grace of Regeneration 'T is God that maketh all things new in the Church and formeth his people after his own Image 2. The meritorious cause how cometh God to be so kind to us We were his enemies The Apostle telleth us here as elsewhere he hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ Rom. 5.10 When we were enemies we were reconciled by the death of his Son So that we have the new creature by vertue of our reconciliation with God as pacified in Christ towards the Elect when our case was desperate there was no other way to recover us 3. The Instrumental cause or means of application is the ministry of reconciliation which was given to the Apostles and other preachers of the Gospel God is the Author of Grace and Christ is the means to bring us and God together and the Ministers have an office power and commission to bring us and Christ together And so Paul had a double obligation to constancy and fidelity in his office his personal reconciliation which was common to him with other Christians and a ministerial delegation and trust to reconcile others to Christ. Two points will be discoursed in this verse 1. That God is the original Author of the new Creature and all things which belong thereunto 2. That he is the Author of the new Creature as reconciled to us by Christ. Let me insist upon the first point and prove to you that Renovation is the proper work of God and the sole effect of his Spirit That will appear 1. From the state of the person who is to be reconciled and renewed the object of this renovation is a sinner lying in a state of defection from God and under a loss of original Righteousness averse from God yea an enemy to him prone to all evil weak yea dead to all Spiritual good and how can such an one renew and convert himself to God 'T is true man hath some reason left and may have some confused notions and general apprehensions of things good evil pleasing and displeasing to God But the very apprehensions are maimed and imperfect and they often call good evil and evil good and put light for darkness and darkness for light Isa. 5.10 However to choose the one and leave the other that is not in their power They may have loose desires of Spiritual favours especially as apprehended under the quality of a natural good or as separate from the means Numbers 23.10 Oh that I may die the death of the Righteous They may long for the death of the Righteous though loth to live their life That excellency which they discover in Spiritual things is apprehended in a natural way John 6.36 And they said unto him Lord evermore give us this bread But these desires are neither truly Spiritual nor serious nor constant nor laborious So that to apprehend or seek after Spiritual things in a Spiritual manner is above their reach and power Neither if we consider what man is in his natural estate this work must needs come of God Man is blind in his mind perverse in his will rebellious in his affections what sound part is there in us left to mend the rest Will a nature that is carnal resist and overcome flesh No our Lord telleth you John 3.6 That which is born of flesh is flesh and his Apostle Rom. 8.5 They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh Can a man by his own meer strength be brought to abhor what he dearly loveth And he that drinketh in iniquity like water Job 15.16 of his own accord be brought to loath sin and expel and drive it from him On the otherside will he be ever brought to love what he abhorreth Rom. 8 7. Because the carnal mind is emnity to God and is not subject to the Law neither indeed can be There is enmity in an unrenewed heart till grace remove it Can we that are worldly wholly led by sense look for all our happiness in an unseen World till we receive another Spirit The Scripture will tell you no 1 Cor. 2.14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit And 2 Pet. 1.9 He that lacketh these things viz. saith and other graces is blind and cannot see afar off What man of his own accord will deny present things and lay up his hopes in Heaven Let that rare Phenix be once produced and then we may think of changing our opinion and lay aside the Doctrine of Supernatural grace Can a stony heart of its self become tender Ezek. 36.26 Or a dead heart quicken its self Eph. 2.5 Then there were no need of putting our selves to the pains and trouble of seeking all from above and waiting upon God with such seriousness and care 2. From the nature of this work 'T is called a new Creation in the 17th verse and Eph. 2.10 And elsewhere Now Creation is a work of omnipotency and proper to God There is a twofold Creation In the begining God made some things out of nothing and some things ex inhabili materia out of foregoing matter but such as was wholly unfit and indisposed for those things which were made of it As when God made Adam out of the dust of the ground and Eve out of the rib of man Now take the notion in the former and latter sense and you will see that God only can create If in the former sense something and nothing have an infinite distance and he only that caleth the things that are not as though they were can only raise the one out of the other he indeed can speak light out of darkness 2 Cor. 4 6. Life out of death something out of nothing 2 Pet. 1.3 By the divine power all things are given to us which are necessary to life and Godliness He challengeth this work as his own as
of the tumults and confusions of the present World 't is wrought in us by the Spirit these graces as they are created after God so created by God After God after his image Wisdom Power and Goodness are the three great attributes to which answer Light Life and Power or which is all one Faith Hope and Love Faith as the eye and Love as the heart this life is received by Faith and acted in Love Hope as the strength and reason sheweth it as well as Scripture Faith we cannot have of our selves for by sense we only see things that are before us By reason things future as they are contained in their causes may be seen if nothing hinder but things Spiritual invisible and wholly future cannot be seen with any certainty but in Gods light as he revealeth the object and openeth the faculty Love we cannot have of our selves for man being a fleshly creature his love accommodateth its self to the interests of his flesh suppose it to be placed like a needle between two loadstones between God and the World surely it will be drawn away by what is strongest and nearest self-love being guided by concupiscence tendeth towards the Creature till it be mastered by grace Those pleasures which enter into the Soul by the gate of the senses will corrupt our love till an higher pleasure let in by the understanding divinely enlightned and into the will draw it another way for before the understanding is daz'ed with false light or obscured by real darkness that it can hardly discern good from evil Such is the treachery of the senses and revolt of the passions and the will perverted by concupiscence hath no inclination but to what is evil Hope which floweth from love that cannot be for till God be our chiefest good how shall we seek and long for the time when we shall fully injoy him with any life seriousness and comfort 5. All things belonging to the new creature the Scripture ascribeth to God Take that noted place Phil. 2.13 For God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure All that we will and all that we do in the Spiritual life is of God Mark here First he did not only give us the natural faculties at first God as the Author of nature must be distinguished from God as the Author of grace that is another sphere and order of beings 't is one thing to make us men another thing to make us Saints or Christians We have understanding will and affections and senses as men but we are Sanctified as Christians 1 John 5.20 He hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true Secondly God doth not only concur to the exercise of these faculties as a general cause as he doth to all the creatures Acts 17.28 We cannot stir nor move without him general providential assistance is necessary to all things or else they could not subsist as the fire could not burn the three Children though he did not destroy the being of property of it only suspend his influence So God is said to give the seeing eye and the hearing ear not only the rational faculty but the exercise but this is not enough as the act is from God so the graciousness of the act Thirdly To come more closely to the thing in hand God doth not only work meerly by helping the will but giving us the will not by curing the weakness of it but by sanctifying it and taking away the â—infulness of it and sweetly drawing it to himself If the will were only in a swoon and languishment a little excitation outward or inward would serve the turn but 't is stark dead they do but flatter nature that say of it as Christ of the Damosel she is not dead but sleepeth Gods grace is not only necessary for facilitation that we may more easily choose and pursue that which is good as an horse is requisite that a man may pass over his Journey more easily which otherwise he might do on foot with difficulty No 't is impossible as well as difficult till God giveth us the will and deed Fourthly God doth not only give a power to will if we please or a power to do if we please but he giveth to will and to do the act of willing and doing Adam had posse quod vellet but we have velle quod possimus he had a power to avoid sin if he would but we have the will its self but he worketh powerfully and efficaciously that is to say the effect succeedeth Ezek. 36.27 A new heart will I give to you and a new Spirit will I put into you and cause you to walk in my ways If this were all the grace given to us for Christs sake that we might be converted if we would divers absurdities would follow 1. 〈◊〉 Christ dyed at uncertainties and 't is in the power and pleasure of mans will to ratify and â—â—â—strate the end of his death for 't is a contingent thing whether a man will turn to God yâ—â— or no. No 't is not so left it doth not depend upon mans 〈◊〉 with Iâ—hâ— 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me â—â— Man would be the principal cause of his own conversion and so would rob God of the glory of his free grace and put the honour of it on the liberty of mans will for grace giveth an indifferency he may or he may not but free will hath the casting voice a power to repent or believe he hath from God but the determining act is from himself which is more noble for he doth more that doth will and work than he that giveth a power to will and work As 't is a more perfect thing to understand than to be able to understand the act is more perfect than the power actus secundus est nâ—bilior quà m primus We should then expect from God no other grace but a power to repent and believe but it 's left to our wills to make it effectual or frustrate is this all No God doth not only give a power to believe but faith a power to repent but repentance its self not such grace as is effectual only as mans will is pleased to use it or not to use it but victorious grace such as conquereth the heart of man and sweetly subdueth it to God 3. Look to the prayers of the faithful dispersed every where in the holy Scriptures and they understand this of effectual grace Create in me a clean heart saith David Psa. 51.10 And Paul prayed Heb. 13.21 The Lord make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight Grace effectual by its self is prayed for not a grace that giveth the possibility only but the effect not only such as doth invite and solicite us to good but such as doth incline and determine us to good 4. This grace we give thanks for not for a power
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him Christ saith his Father gave it him Christ was consecrated Prophet of the Church by the Trinity Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased There was the Father's Voice the Holy Ghost as a Dove and the Son was there in Person Vse Which should stablish us the more in the Truth and is a Patern to Ministers It is excellent when we can say My Doctrine is not mine but his that sent me Or as Paul That which I received of the Lord I have delivered to you 1 Cor. 11.24 3. Observe Among the Things which the Father gave to the Son one of the chiefest is the Doctrine of the Gospel Let us look upon it as a Gift the Father gave it the Son gave it here is a double Gift it was a Gift from the Father to Christ and from Christ to the Apostles I have given them the Word which thou gavest me Next to Christ the Gospel is the greatest Benefit which God hath given to Men He that despiseth the Gospel despiseth the very bounty of God and Men cannot endure to have their Love and Bounty despised As when David sent a courteous Message to Nabal and he was refused he threatned to cut off from Nabal every one that pisseth against the Wall Take heed you despise not God's special Gifts The preaching of the Word it was Christ's largess in the day of his Royalty Ephes. 4 8 11. When he ascended up on high he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers As Princes when crowned have their Royal Donatives Those that grudg at the Ministry and count it a burden they do in effect upbraid Christ with his Gift as if it were not worth the giving Those that labour in the Ministry are his especial Gift to us They are but sottish Swine that trample such Pearls under Feet We should think of them as the special Favours of Christ. I do not speak of the Persons but the Calling This Disposition sheweth no love to Christ. Secondly The next Thing is the Nature of Faith There are two Things spoken of in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have received them and have known surely I. I begin with the latter in order of Words as first in order of Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they have known surely The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth truly surely is used to exclude that literal historical Knowledg which may be in carnal Men. I. Observe Faith cannot be without Knowledg It is not a blind Assent Rom. 10. 14. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard We must know what Christ is before we can trust him with our Souls 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed we must see the Stay and Prop before we lean upon it otherwise we shall neither be satisfied in our selves nor be able to plead with Satan nor answer Doubts of Conscience He that is impleaded in Court and doth not know the Privileges of the Law how shall he be able to purge himself Fears are in the Dark The blind Man spoke Reason in that Conference between Christ and him when Christ asked him Dost thou believe on the Son of God He answered and said Who is he Lord that I might believe on him John 9.35 36. We must know what God is Till we have a distinct Knowledg of the Nature of God and the Tenor of the Covenant we shall be full of Scruples Well then Vse 1. It discovereth the wretched Condition of Ignorant Persons We are not so sensible of the Danger of Ignorance as we should be God will render Vengeance to them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel 2 Thess. 1.8 Poor Wretches they live sinfully and die sottishly they live sinfully they are under no aw of Conscience because they have no Knowledg and when they come to die they die sottishly like Men that leap over a deep Gulph blindfold they know not where their Feet shall light In their Life-time at best they live but by guess and some devout Aims and when they come to die they die by guess in a doubtful uncertain way Vse 2. To press Christians to gain more distinct Knowledg if you would settle your Souls in a certainty of Salvation God may lay trouble of Conscience upon a knowing Person but usually Persons Ignorant are full of Scruples which vanish before the Light as Mists do before the Sun 2. Observe They know surely In the Knowledg of Faith there is an undoubted certain Light It dependeth upon two things that cannot deceive us the Revelation of the Word and the illumination of the Spirit The Knowledg of Faith is less than the Light of Glory for Clearness but equal for Certainty it hath as much assurance from God's Word though not so much evidence as ariseth from Injoyment 3. Observe They know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly indeed Every kind of Knowledg is not enough for Faith but a true sound Knowledg There is a Form of Knowledg as well as a Form of Godliness Rom. 2.20 compared with 2 Tim. 3.5 A Form of Knowledg is nothing else but an artificial Speculation a naked Model of Truth in the Brain which like a Winter Sun shineth but warmeth not But let us a little state the Differences 1. The Light of Faith is serious and considerate Faith is a Spiritual Prudence it is opposed to Folly as well as Ignorance Luke 24.25 Oh Fools and â—low of Heart to believe all that the Prophets have said Faith always draweth to use and practice It is a Knowledg with Consideration Ephes. 1.17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of Glory would give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledg of him Many have Parts but they have not Wisdom to make the best choice for their Souls There is a great deal of difference between Knowledg and Prudence it is excellent when both are joined together I Wisdom dwell with Prudence Prov. 8.12 Wisdom is the Knowledg of Principles Prudence is an Ability to use them to our Comfort Knowledg is setled in the Brain not the Heart When Wisdom entreth into thy Heart Prov. 2.10 it stirreth up Esteem Affiance Love A Carnal Man may have a Model of Truth a traditional disciplinary Knowledg such as lieth in Generals not Particulars and is rather for Discourse than Life A Vintner's Cellar may be better stored than a Noble Man's he hath Wines not to taste but sell a Carnal Man hath a great deal of Knowledg for Discourse not to warm his own Heart 2. The Light of Faith is a realizing Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the Evidence of things not seen Heb. 11.1 it maketh absent things present to the Soul But the Light of Parts is a naked abstract Speculation it is without feeling there is no sense and feeling
of the things apprehended True Knowledg is expressed by Tasting 1 Pet. 2.5 If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious Tasting implieth more than Seeing there is not only Apprehension but Experience Phil. 1.9 I pray God that your Love may abound more and more in Knowledg and in all Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all sense To others it is but an empty barren Notion Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the Power of his Resurrection that is Experimentally Carnal Men have no feeling of the force of the Truths they apprehend only now and then some fleeting Joys it is not realizing and affective Strong Water and running Water differ not in Colour but in Taste and Vertue They may know the same Truths but it differeth in relish they know the Things of God only as things in conceit not in being 3. The Light of Faith is wrought by the Spirit this but an hear say Knowledg gathered out of Books and Sermons they shine with a borrowed Light as the Moon that is dark in it self and hath no Light rooted in its own Body These shine with other Mens Light John 4.42 Now we believe not for thy saying but we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World Men talk of Things by rote after others and are rather said to rehearse than understand it is not written in their Hearts but only reported to their Ears Heb. 8.10 I will write my Law in their Hearts Truth is written there by the Finger of the Spirit to others it is but traditional learned as other Arts by Man Now there is a great deal of difference between seeing God in the Light of the Spirit and seeing God and the Things of God by the Reports of Men as between seeing Countries in a Map or Book of Geography and knowing them by Travel and Experience 4. It is a transforming Light 2 Cor. 3.18 We all as in a Glass beholding the Glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Looking upon the Image of Christ we are changed into the same Image and Likeness from Glory to Glory as Moses his Face shone Conversing with Christ it altereth and changeth the Soul which is hereby renewed in Knowledg after the Image of him that created him Col. 3.10 That is no true Light and Knowledg of God that doth not bridle Lusts and purify the Heart a wicked Man's Knowledg it is Light without Fire directive not perswasive 1 John 2.3 4. Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments He that saith I know him and keepeth not his Commandments is a Liar and the Truth is not in him it is a lie and pretence unactive Light is but Darkness In Paradise there was a Tree of Life and a Tree of Knowledg many taste of the Tree of Knowledg that never taste of the Tree of Life 5. The Light of Faith is an undoubted certain Light but in wicked Men it is always mingled with Doubting Ignorance Error and Unbelief It is not convictive but a loose wavering Opinion not a setled grounded Perswasion they have not the riches of the assurance of Vnderstanding Col. 2.2 that dependeth on Experience and inward sense of the Truth and is wrought by the Holy Ghost And therefore the Apostle speaketh of the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a clear convincing Argument by which the Judgment is setled it cometh in upon the Soul with evident Confirmation II. The next thing in the Nature of Faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have given them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them There is a receiving Christ and a receiving the Word Sometimes the Act of Faith is terminated on the Person of Christ as John 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he Power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believe on his Name Sometimes on the Promises to shew that as there is no closing with Christ without the Promise so there is no closing with the Promise without Christ first we receive the Word of Christ and then Christ himself and in Christ Life and Salvation that is the progress of Faith Acts 10.42 Through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins Observe That Faith is a receiving the Word of Christ. The Notion is elsewhere used Acts 2.41 Then they that gladly received the Word were baptized Unbelief it is a rejecting the counsel of the Word and Faith a receiving it Unbelief is thus described Acts 13.46 Since ye put away the Word of God from you So Luke 7.30 But the Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the Counsel of God against themselves that is refused the Counsel of God to their own loss and ruin On the contrary when Cornelius was converted it is said Acts 11.1 The Apostles heard that the Gentiles also had received the Word of God So that we may describe Faith with reference to this Act A Motion in the Heart of Man stirred up by the Spirit of God to receive the whole Word of God Let me open it a little 1. Receiving is a relative word and presupposeth an Offer God offereth on his part and we receive on ours As in all Contracts and Covenants between Party and Party one Party offereth such an Advantage or Commodity upon such Conditions the other receiveth the Offer confenteth to the Conditions and expecteth that the Covenant should be made good So in the Covenant of Grace Christ offereth Remission of Sins and the whole Blessing of the Gospel under the Condition of Faith and Repentance We are said to receive this Word or this Gospel when we consent to the Conditions and wait for the accomplishment of the Blessing we are willing to come to trust him for the Grace of the Covenant and to come under the Bond of the Duty of it 2. In this Receiving the Soul must be convinced that it is the Word of God and that he will deal with Creatures upon such a Covenant For in this Covenant it is not as it is in other Contracts the Party contracting doth not appear in Person but dealeth with us by Officers and Substitutes God tendreth his Covenant by the Ministry of Man Now whosoever would receive it in God's Name must be undoubtedly perswaded that they are commissioned and authorized by God to tender such a Covenant to us Therefore the Apostle saith 1 Thess. 2.13 When ye received the Word which ye have heard of us ye received it not as the Word of Man but as it is indeed the Word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe A Man that would profit by the Ministry must settle himself in this Perswasion that the Doctrines delivered in Scripture have God