certainly by faith Now this faith is not by seeing him with our eyes comming neare to him with our bodies but comming to him with our soules the soule is the seat of faith Now this you may doe though you never thus saw him whom though you see not yet beleeving you rejoice this comming of the soule to Christ doth make a firmer union between thee and Christ then if thou wert bodily present with him in heaven For many touched and crowded him that never were truly united to him or received vertue from him If our soules were in the third heaven with Christ who of us would then doubt of our portion in him I tell you if your soules goe out of sinne and selfe unto Christ Jesus and there rest this makes you nearer to him then if your soules were under his wing in the highest heavens The poore Sea-man when hee is neare dangerous shores when he cannot goe downe to the depth of the Sea to fasten his ship yet if hee can cast his anchor twenty or forty fathom deep and if that holds this quiets him in the sorest stormes when we are tossed and cannot come to Christ with our bodily presence yet if our soules can come if our faith our anchor can reach him and knit us to him this should exceedingly comfort our hearts How and where should my soule come to Christ who is now absent from me Christ comes to you in his Word and Covenant of Grace there is his Spirit his truth goodnesse love faithfulnesse receive this you receive him embrace this you embrace him as among our selves we see great estates are conveyed and surrendred by Bond and Writings Act. 2.41 When they received the Word they received Christ. Ioh. 15.7 If my words abide in you i. e. if I abide in you by my words you shall be fruitfull By the Word let thine eye pitch upon the person doe not onely account the Promise true but with Sarah account him faithfull who hath promised and then let thy heart roll it selfe upon that grace and faithfulnesse revealed in this word leane upon the breast of this beloved and thus the soule by the chariot wheeles and wings of the Word is possessor of Christ in it and carryed up to Christs crosse as dying Gal. 3.1 and from thence to his glory in his Kingdoâ— by it Heb. 10.19 22. As a man that gives a great estate by some writing to us we beleeve it as if he were present and by this we doe not onely beleeve the writing to â—e true but the man to be be faithfull and loving to us and hereupon our hearts are carryed after the man himselfe though afar off from us Thus we ascend to Christ in the cloud of faith as Iacob though he could hardly beleeve yet as soone as he was perswaded Ioseph was yet alive his spirit presently revived and it was immediately with him before his body came to him so t is with faith the soule goes unto Christ before our bodies and soules both together shal have immediate communion with him 3. The forme of Faith This is the third thing in the description of Faith the comming of the whole soule out of it selfe unto Christ is the forme of Faith and that wherein the life and essence of it consists and which doth difference it from all other graces of the Spirit The first act of Faith as it unites us to Christ is not assurance that he is mine but a comming to him with assurance that hereby he is become mine Come unto the waters and so buy wine and milke i. e. now make them your owne The weary and heavy laden shall not have rest unlesse they come to Christ for it Faith doth nothing for life for that is the Law of Works it onely receives him who hath done all for it it comes out of all it hath or doth like Abraham that left his servants behind him when he went up to God in the mount unto Christ for life Conceive it thus Adam had a principle stock of life in himselfe in his owne hand and therefore was to live by this to live of himselfe and from himselfe and therefore had no need nor use of faith he lived by the law of works which the Apostle sets in a direct opposition to the Law of Faith but Adam being now falne hath lost his life and became not like the man that fell among theeves betwixt Jerusalem and Jericho stript wounded and halfe dead but wholly dead Ephes. 2.1 so that let any man seeke life from himselfe its impossible he should live for if there had been a Law that could have given life our righteousnesse should have been thereby Gal. 3.21 Hence it followes if any man will have life he must goe out of himselfe unto another viz. the Lord of life for it Iohn 5.40 Iohn 6.27 28 29. Now observe it this very comming this very motion of the soule to Christ a grace which Adam neither had nor had power to use is Faith the Spirit of Christ moving or drawing the soule the soul is thence moved and so comes to Christ Iohn 6.64 65. The soule by sinne is averted from God and turns his back upon God the turning or comming of the soule not unto duties of holinesse for that is obedience properly but unto God in Christ againe is properly and formally Faith All evill is in mans selfe and from himselfe all mans good is in Christ and from Christ. The soules of all Gods elect seeing these things forsake and renounce themselves in whom and for whom is all thâ—ir evill and come unto Christ in whom and from whom is all their good This motion of the soule betweene these extreames through that vast and infinite distance that is betweene a sinfull wretched man and a blessed Saviour is faith for by faith principally we passe from death to life Iohn 5.24 The soule of a poore sinner wounded and humbled sometime knowes not Christ and then cryes out as those Act. 2.37 What shall I doe Whither shall I go sometimes dares not sometimes cannot it hath no heart to stir or come it therefore looks up and longs and goes unto the Lord to draw it like poore Ephraim Ier. 31.18 Oh turne me Lord and then I shall be turned Lam. 5.21 and this is the lowest and least degree of faith But at some other time the soule mourning for want of the Lord the Lord comes unto it with great clearnesse glory and sweetnesse of grace and peace hence the soule cannot but come and close with him and cry Rabboni and say Oh Lord is it thy good pleasure to have respect to such a clod of earth to tender such riches of grace to one so unworthy and to bid nay to beseech me to come and take Lord behold I come This is faith Would you have proofe of it Consider therefore these particulars 1. Consider these Scriptures Iohn 6.35 I am the bread
I Others professe they cannot part with sin they would be better but they cannot and God requires no more then they are able to performe Another saith I will continue in sin but a little while and purpose hereafter to leave it Others say We are sinners but yet God is mercifull and will forgive it Another saith Though I have sinned yet I have some good and am not so bad as other men endlesse are these excuses for sin In one word I know no man though never so bad though his sin be never so grievous but he hath something to say for himselfe and something in his mind to lessen and extenuate sin but beloved when the Spirit comes to convince he so convinceth as that he answers all these pulls down all these fences teares off all these fig-leaves scatters all these mists and pulls off all these sâ—ales from the eyes stops a mans mouth that the soule stands before God crying oh Lord guilty guilty as the Prophet Ieremy told them Ier. 2.23 Why dost thou say I am innocent looke upon thy way c. so the Spirit saith why dost thou say thy sin is small it is disobedience as Samuel said to Saul 1 Sam. 15. 23. which is rebellion and as the sinne of witchcraft and is that a small matter the Spirit of conviction by the cleare evidence of the truth binds the understanding that it cannot struggle against God any more and hence let all the world plead to the contrary nay let the godly come to comfort them in this estate and think and speak well of them yet they cannot beleeve them because they are certaine their estates are wofull hence also we shall observe the soule under conviction instead of excusing sin it aggravates sinne and studies to aggravate sinne did ever any deale thus wickedly walke thus sinfully so long against so many checks and chidings light and love meanes and mercies as I have done And it is wonderfull to observe that those things which made it once account sin light make it therefore to think sin great ex gr my sin is little the more unkind thou saith the Spirit that wilt not doe a small matter for the Lord my sin is common the more sinfull thou that in those things wherein all the world rise up in arms against God thou joynest with them God spares me after sin the greater is thy sin therefore that thou hast continued so long in against a God so pitifull to thee the dearest sins are now the vilest sins because though they were most sweet to him yet the Spirit convinceth him they were therefore the more grievous unto the soule of God you poore creatures may now hide and colour and excuse your sins before men but when the Lord comes to convince you cannot lye hid then your consciences when Jesus Christ the Lord comes to convince shall not be like the Steward in the Gospell that set down 50. for a 100 l. no the Lord will force it to bring in a true and cleare account at that day There is a reall light in spirituall conviction rationall conviction makes things appear notionally but spirituall conviction really the Spirit indeed useth argumentation in conviction but it goes farther and causeth the soule not only to see sin and death discursively but also intuitively and really reason can see and discourse about words and Propositions and behold things by report and so deduct one thing from another but the Spirit makes a man see the things themselves really wrapt up in those words the Spirit brings spirituall things as well as notions before a mans eye the light of the Spirit is like the light of the Sun it makes all things appeare as they are Iohn 3.20 21. It was Ierusalems misery she heard the words of Christ and they were not hid from them but the things of her peace shut up in those words were hid from her eyes Discourse with many a man about his sin and misery he will grant all that you say and he is convinced that his estate is most wretched and yet still lives in all manner of sin what is the reason of it truly he sees his sin only by discourse but he doth not nay cannot see the thing sin death wrath of God untill the Spirit come which only convinceth or sheweth that really A man will not bee afraid of a Lyon when it is painted only upon the wall why because therein he doth not see the living Lyon when he sees that he trembles So men heare of sin and talke of sin and death and say they are most miserable in regard of both yet their hearts tremble not are not amazed at these evills because sinne is not seen alive death is not presented alive before them which is done by the Spirit of conviction only revealing these really to the soule and hence it is that many men in seeing see not How can that bee thus in seeing things notionally they see them not really And hence many that know most of sin know least of sin because in seeing it notionally they see it not really And therefore happy were it for some men Schollers and others that they had no notionall knowledge â—f sin for this light is their darknesse and makes them more uncapable of spirituall conviction the first act of spirituall conviction is to let a man see clearly that he is sinfull and most miserable the second act is to let the soule see really what this sin and death is Oh consider of this many of you know that you are sinfull and that you shall dye but dost thou know what sin is and what it is to dye If thou didst I dare say thy heart would sinke if thou dost not thou art a condemned man because not yet a convinced man If you here aske how the Lord makes sin reall I answer By making God reall the reall greatnesse of sin is seen by beholding really the greatnesse of God who is smitten by sin sin is not seene because God is not seen Iohn 3. ep v. 11. He â—hat doth evill hath not seen God No knowledge of God is the cause why blood toucheth blood the Spirit casts out all other company of vain and foolish thoughts and then God comes in and appeares immediately to the soul in his greatnesse and glory and then the Spirit saith Lo this is that God thy sins have provoked And now sin appeares as it is and together with this reall sight of sin the soule doth not see painted fire but sees the fire of Gods wrath really whither now it is leading that never can be quencht but by Christs blood and when the Spirit hath thus convinced now a man begins to see his madnesse and folly in times past saying I know not what I did And hence questions Can the Lord pardon such a wretch as I whose sinnes are so great Hence also the heart beginnes to bee affected with sinne and death because it sees them
is the greatest hinderance of salvation Iohn 3.19 Iohn 5.40 Oh Ierusalem wilt thou not be made cleane Ier. 13.27 that was their great evill they were not only polluted but they would not be made cleane the Lord Jesus therefore rolls away this stone from the Sepulchre beats down this mountaine and because it must first beleeve in Christ before it can receive Grace from Christ it must come to Christ to take away sinne before the Lord will doe it Hence so much loosening from sinne as makes the soule thus to come is necessary So much feare and sorrow as loosens from sinne and so much loosening from sinne as makes the soule willing or at least not unwilling that the Lord JESUS should take it away is necessary For who ever comes to Christ or is not unwilling Christ should come to him to take away all his sinne hath what ever he thinks some antecedent loosning and separation from sin Oh saith a poore sinner when the Lord hath struck his heart and he feeles guilt and terrour and mighty strength of corruption If the Lord Jesus would take away these evils from me though I cannot means cannot that will be exceeding rich mercy The Lord doth not wound the heart to this end that the soule should first heale it selfe before it come to the Physitian but that it might seek out or feeling its need be willing and desirous of a Physitian the Lord Jesus to come and heale it It is the great fault of many Christians either their wounds and sorrowes are so little they desire not to be healed or if they doe they labour to heal themselves first before they come to the Physitian for it they will first make themselves holy and put on their jewels and then beleeve in Christ. And hence are those many complaints What have I to do with Christ Why should he have to doe with me that have such an unholy vile hard blind and most wicked heart If I were more humbled and more holy then I would goe to him and think he would come to me Oh for the Lords sake dishonour not the grace of Christ. It is true thou canst not come to Christ till thou art loaden and humbled and separated from thy sinne Thou canst not be ingrafted into this Olive unlesse thou beest cut and cut off too from thy old root Yet remember for ever that no more sorrow for sinne no more separation from sinne is necessary to thy closing with Christ then so much as makes thee willing or rather not unwilling that the Lord should take it away And know it if thou seekest for a greater measure of humiliation antecedent to thy closing with Christ then this thou shewest the more pride therein who wilt rather goe in to thy selfe to make thy selfe holy and humble that then mightest be worthy of Christ then goe out of thy selfe unto the Lord Jesus to take thy sin away In a word who thinkest Christ cannot love thee untill thou makest thy selfe faire and when thou thinkest thy selfe so which is pride wilt then think otherwise of Christ. The Lord therefore when he teacheth his people how to returne unto him after grievous sinnes directs them to this course not to goe about the bush to remove their iniquities themselves or to stay and live securely in their sins untill the Lord did it himselfe but bids them come to him and say Take away Lord all iniquities Hos. 14.1 2 3. You shall see Ephraim bemoaning himselfe Ier. 31.18 But how Doth he say he feeles his sinnes now all removed No but he desires the Lord to turne him and then saith he I shall be turned As if he should say Lord I shall never turne from this stubborne vile heart nor so much as turne to thee to take it away unlesse thou dost turne me and then I shall be turned to purpose What saith the penitent Church Come say they let us goe unto the Lord. They might object and say Alas the Lord is our enemy and wounds us and hath broken us to pieces we are not yet healed but lye dead as well as wounded shall such dead spirits live Mark what followes True indeed He hath wounded us let us therefore goe to him that he may heale us and after two dayes he will revive us The Lord requires no more of us then thus to come to him Indeed after a Christian is in Christ labour for more and more sense of sinne that may drive you nearer and nearer unto Christ. Yet know before you come to him the Lord requires no more then this and as he requires no more then this so t is his owne Spirit not our abilities that must also work this and thus much he will work and doth require of all whom he purposeth to save If thou wilt not come to Christ to take away thy sinnes thou shalt undoubtedly perish in them If the Lord work that sorrow so as to be willing the Lord should take them away thou shalt be undoubtedly saved from them If you would know what measure of willingnesse to have Christ take away sinne is required You shall heare when we come to open the fourth particular in the doctrine of Faith If you further aske How the Spirit works this loosening from sinne in the work of compunction I answer the Spirit of Christ works this by a double act 1. Morall 2. Physicall As in the conversion of the soule by faith unto God the Spirit is not onely a morall agent pâ—â—swading but also a supernaturall agent physically working the heart to beleeve by a divine and immediate act so in the aversion of the soule from sinne the Spirit doth affect the heart with feare and sorrow morally but this can never take away sinne as we see in Iudas and Cain deeply affected and afflicted in spirit and yet in their sinne And therefore the Spirit puts forth it s owne hand physically or immediately and his owne arme brings salvation to us by a further secret immediate stroke turning the iron neck cutting the iron sinews of sin and so makes this disunion or separation You think it easie to be willing that Christ should come and take away all your sinnes I tell you the omnipotent arme of the Lord that instructed Ieremy in a smaller matter can onely instruct you here both these acts ever goe together according to the measure mentioned the latter cannot be without the first the first is in vaine without the latter But what evill in sinne doth the Spirit morally affect the heart with and so physically turne it from sinne He affects the soule with it as the greatest evill by sinne I meane not as considered without death for at this time the soule is not so spirituall as that sin without consideration of death and wrath due to it should affect it but sinne and death sinne armed with wrath sinne working death pricks the heart as the greatest evill and so lets out that core at
of it And is not this matter of great consolation to all those who feele themselves utterly unable to beleeve you think the Lord would give peace and pardon life and mercy if I could beleeve oh consider the Lord hath undertaken in the Covenant of Grace to worke in all his the condition of the Covenant as well as to convey the good of it Ier. 31.31 32 33 34. He hath done this for others by an irresistible power Heb. 12.1 2. Look up to Jesus the author and finisher of your faith he came out of his Fathers bosome not onely to give life by his death but to enable his to eat and close with him by Faith that they might never dye Iohn 6.50 so that the Lord may work it in thee it is true also he may not yet it is unspeakable comfort to consider that if the Lord had put it over unto thee to beleeve it is certaine thou shouldst never have beleeved but now the work is put into the hand of Christ that which is impossible to thee is possible nay easie with him hee can comprehend thee when thou canst not apprehend him this is exceeding sweet when thy body is sick and soule is deserted incredible things to be beleeved are propounded an impossible work to thy weaknesse urged upon paine of Gods sorest and most unappeasable wrath to consider it is not in me but in the Lords owne hand and it is his office his glory to work faith and as the Apostle speakes to shew mercy unto them that are shut up not onely under sinne but also unbeleefe Rom. 11.32 But why hath the Lord made thee feele thy inability to beleeve truly the end of our wants is not to make us sin and shift for our selves but to aske and seek for supply and the end of the continuance of those wants is that we should continue to aske and seek And dost thou thinke thou shalt seek to the Lord by his owne hand to create faith and fetch thee in and will not the Lord take his time to work it He that beleeves saith the Apostle Rom. 10.11 shall not bee ashamed why so because the Lord saith he who is over all is rich unto all that call upon him verse 12. If thou hast not a heart shut up from asking of it the Lord who hath power hath not a heart shut up towards thee from working it But withall be thankfull exceedingly all you whose hearts the Lord hath drawne and overcome he came to his owne people the Jewes and would oft have gathered them but they would not and therefore he forsook them and left their habitations desolate oh how oft would the Lord have gathered you and you would not yet the Lord hath not forsaken you but called you in whether you would or no the Lord hath taken many a man at his first word and left him at the first repulse shaken off the dust of his feet against him presently Mat. 10.14 without any more intreaties to accept of him yet though thou hast not only refused but even crucified the Sonne of God yet hee hath not been driven from thee but his bowels have been oft kindled together when he hath been ready to give thee up when thou hast been under the hedges and in the high-wayes that lead to death didst never think of him nor didst desire him yet hee hath compelled thee to come in hee hath made thee feel suâ—h an extream need of him and made himselfe so exceeding sweet that thou hast not been able to resist his love but to cry out Lord thou hast overcome me with mercy I am not able to resist any more nay which is more wonderfull when thou hast been gathered and gone from him and lost thy selfe and him also againe and it may be hast bin offended at him yet he hath gone before thee into Galilee and gathered thee up when thou hast been as water spilt upon the ground what should be the cause of this but only this the work of faith lies upon him both to begin and finish he must gather in all his lost sheep and therefore hee hath put forth an irresistible power of his Spirit upon thy heart which must carry thee captive after him I am afraid my faith hath been rather presumption a work of my owne power then faith wrought by the Spirits power how may I discerne that If you are wrapt up in Gods Covenant if any promise be actually yours it is no presumption to take possession by faith of what is your owne dost thou seriously will Christ and resolve never to give the Lord rest untill he give thee rest in him then see Rev. 22.17 Whosoever will let him take of the water of life Dost thou thirst after Christ then read Esay 55.1 〈…〉 Iohn 7.37 If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink When Christ saw their faith Mat. 9.1 2. what said he Sonne be of good cheere thy sinnes be forgiven the word signifies be confident It is no presumption to beleeve pardon of sinnes now thou art come unto me not onely for the healing of thy body but especially for pardon of sinne It is the great sin of many Saints when they doe thirst and beleeve and come to Christ and so are under the promise of grace yet they think it presumption now to believe and take possession of all those treasures that be in Christ but look that the Lord should first make them feele and then they will beleeve whereas faith should now receive and drinke in abundantly of the fulnesse of Christ shall it be accounted presumption for any man to eat his owne bread and drink his owne drink and put on his owne cloathes the promise makes Christ and all his benefits your owne therefore it is no presumption to apply them Suppose you cannot find your selfe within any promise and you see no reason to beleeve onely you have the Lords call and command to beleeve doe you now in conscience and obedience to this command or to Gods invitation and intreaty in the Gospell beleeve because thou â—â—rest not dishonour God by refusing his 〈◊〉 thou dost therefore accept oâ— it this is no presumption unlesse obedience be presumption nay the most acceptable obedience which is the obedience of Faith Iohn 6.38 For what was the ground on which those 3000 beleeved Acts 2.38 39. c. Peter said Repent that you may receive remission of sinnes now what followes they that gladly received the word were baptized Oh that word repent i. e. as Beza expounds it return to God and come in was a most sweet word to them and therefore they received it this was no presumption either for Peter to exhort them to repent or for them to take the Lord as that godly man said at his first word I know there is a subjection to the Gospell arising only from slavish fear and carnall hopes Psal. 66.3 Psal. 18.44 this may bee in presumptuous reprobates but
his owne heart and the secret sinfull practises of his life as if some had told the Minister or as if hee spake to none but him that he is forced to fall down being thus convinced and to confesse God is in this man 1 Cor. 14.25 Nicodemusâ—â—ay â—â—ay first see and bee convinced of the want of regeneration and thereby feel his need of Christ the Lord may set a man upon the consideration of all his life past how wickedly it hath been spent and so not one but a multitude of iniquities compasse him about a man may see the godly examples of his parents or other godly Christians in the family or town where he dwels and by this be convinced that if their state and way bee good his own so far unlike it must needs be starke naught the Lord ever convinceth the soule of sins in particular but hee doth not alway convince one man of the same particular sinnes at first as hee doth another whether the Lord convinceth all the elect at first of the sin of their nature and shewes them their original sin in and about this first stroake of conviction I doubt not of it Paul would have been alive and a proud Pharisee still if the Lord had not let him by the law see this sin Rom. 7.9 and so would all men in the world if this should not bee revealed first or last in a lesser or greater measure under a distinct or more indistinct notion and hence arise those confessions of the Saints I never thought I had had such a vile heart if all the world had told me I could not have beleeved them but that the Lord hath made me feel it see it at last was there ever such a sinner at least in heart which is continually opposing of him whom the Lord at any time received to mercy as I am 2 The Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth not only convince the soule of its sinne in particular but also of the evill even the exceeding great evill of those particular sins The Lord Jesus doth not onely convince of the evill sinne but of the great evill of sinne Oh thou wretch saith the Spirit as the Lord to Cain Gen. 4.10 what hast thou done whose sins cry to heaven who hast thus long lived without God and done this infinite wrong to an infinite God for which thou canst never make him amends That God who could have long since cut thee off in the midst of thy sins and wickednesse crusht thee like a moth and sent thee down to those eternall flames where thou now seest some better then thy self mourning day and night but yet hath spared thee out of his meere pity to thee That God hast thou resisted and forsaken all thy life time and therefore now see and consider what an evill and bitter thing it is thus to live as thou hast done Ier. 2.19 Look as it is in the wayes of holinesse many a man void of the Spirit may see and know them in the literall expressions of them but cannot see the glory of them but by the Spirit and hence it is hee doth not esteeme and prize them and the knowledge of them above gold So in the wayes of unholinesse many a man void of the spirit of conviction of sin may and doth see many particular sins and confesse them but he doth not cannot see the exceeding evill of them and thence it is though he doth see them yet he doth not much dislike them because he sees no great hurt or evil in them but makes a light matter of them therefore when the Spirit comes it lets him see and stand convinced of the exceeding greatnesse of the evill that is in them Ioh. 36.8 9. In the time of affliction which is usually the time of conviction of a wild unruly sinner he shews them their transgressions but how that they have exceeded that they have been exceeding many and exceeding vile Oh beloved before the Lord Jesus comes to convince we have cause to pray for a pity every poore sinner as the Lord Jesus did saying Lord forgive them they know not what they doe You godly parents masters how oft doe you instruct your children servants and convince them of their sinfulnesse untill they confesse their faults yet you see no amendment but they goe on still what should you now doe oh cry out for them and say Lord forgive them for they know not what they doe Their sins they know but what the evil of them is alas they know not but when the Spirit comes to convince he makes them see what they doe what is the exceeding evill of those sinnes they made light of before like mad men that have sworne and curst and struck their friends when they come to be sober againe and remember their mischievous wayes and words now they see what they have done and how abominable their courses then were Oh you that walk on in the madnes of your minds now in all manner of sinne if ever the Lord doe good to you you shall account your wayes madnesse and folly and cry out Oh Lord what have I done in kicking thus long against the pricks The Lord Jesus by his Spirit doth not only convince the soule of the evill of sin but of the evill after sin I meane of the just punishment which doth follow sin and that is this viz. that it must dye and that eternally for sin if it remaines in this estate it is now in Rom. 4.15 The Law works wrath i. e. sight and sense of wrath Rom. 7.9 When the Law came sin revived and I dyed i. e. I saw my selfe a dead man by it so the soule sees cleerly God hath said The soule that sinneth shall dye I have sinned and therefore if the Lord be true I shall dye to hel I shall if now the Lord stop my breath and cut off my life which he might justly and may easily doe Death is the wages of sin even of any one sin though never so little whan then will become of me who stand guilty of so many exceeding the number of the haires on my head or the stars in heaven Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge the Minister hath said so the Lord himselfe hath told me so Heb. 13.4 I am the man my conscience now teares me and tells me so what will become of me The Lord Iesus will come in flaming fire to render vengeance against all that know not God and that obey not the Gospell This I beleeve for God hath said it 2 Thes. 2.7 8 9. and now I see I am he that hath lived long in ignorance and know not God I have had the Gospel of grace thus long wooing and perswading my heart and oftentimes it hath affected me but yet I have resisted God and his Gospel and have set my filthy lusts my vaine sports my companions cups and queanes at a higher price then Christ and have loved them more then him
and therefore though I may be spared for a while yet there is a time wherein Christ himselfe will come out against me in flaming fire To this purpose doth the Spirit worke for beloved the great meanes whereby Satan overthrew Man at first in his innocencie was this principle although thou dost eate and so sin against God yet thou shalt not dye Gen. 3.4 Ye shall not surely die the Serpent doth not say Ye shall not die for that is too grosse an out-facing of the Word Gen. 2.17 but he saith Ye shall not surely die that is there is not such absolute certainty oâ— it it may be you shall live God loves you better then so and is a more merciful Father then to be at a word and a blow Now look as Satan deceived and brought our first parents to ruine by suggesting this principle so at this day he doth sow this accursed seed and plant this very principle in the soyl of every mans heart by nature they do not think they cannot beleeve that they are dead men condemned to dye and that they shall dye eternally for the least sinne committed by them Men nor Angels cannot perswade them of it they cannot see the equity of it that God so mercifull will be so severe for so small a matter nor yet the truth of it for then they think no flesh should be saved And thus when the old Serpent hath spit this poyson before them they sup it up and drink it in and so thousands nay millions of men and women are utterly undone The Lord Christ therefore when he comes to save a poore sinner and raise him up out of his fall convinceth the soule by his Spirit and that with full and mighty evidence that it shall dye for the least sin and tels him as the Lord told Abimelech in another case Gen. 20.3 Thou art but a dead man for this and if the Spirit set on this let who can claw it off I tell you beloved never did poore condemned Malefactor more certainly know and hear the sentence of condemnation past upon him by a mortall man then the guilty sinner doth his by an immortall and displeased God therefore those three thousand cry out Act. 2.37 Men and brethren what shall we doe to be saued We are condemned to dye what shall we doe now to be saved from death Now the soule is glad to enquire of the Minister Oh tell me what shall I do I once thought my selfe in a safe and good condition as any in the Town or Countrey I lived in but now the Lord hath let me heare of other newes dye I must in this estate and t is a wonder of mercies I am spared alive to this day There is not onely some blind feaâ—es and suspitions that it may possibly be so but full perswasions of heart dye I must dye I shall in this estate for if the Spirit reveale sin and conviâ—ce not of death for sin the soule under this work of conviction being as yet rather sâ—nsuall then spirituall wil make a light matter of it when it sees no sensible danger in it but when it sees the bottomlesse pit before it everlasting fire before it for the least sin now it sees the hainous evill of sin the way of sinne though never so peaceable before is full of dâ—nger now wherein it sees there are endlesse woes and everlasting deaths that lye in wait for it Rom. 6.21 And now saith the Spirit you may goe on in these sinfull courses as others doe if you see meet but oh consider what will be the end of them what it is to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season and to be tormented for ever for them in the conclusion for be assured that will be the end and hence the soule seeing it selfe thus set apart for death looks upon it selfe in a farre worse estate then the bruit beasts or vilâ—st worme upon the earth for it thinks when they dye there is an end of their misery but oh then is the beginning of mine for ever hence also arise those feares of death of being suddenly cut off that when it lyes downe it trembles to think I may never rise againe because it 's convinced not only that it deserves to dye but that it is already sentenced for to dye hence also the soule justifies God if he had cut him off in his sin and wonders what kept him from it there being nothing else due from God unto it hence lastly the soule is stopt and stands still goes not on in sin as before or if it doth the Lord gives it no peace Ier. 8.6 Why doth the horse goe on in the battell because it sees not death before it but now the soule sees death and therefore stops oh remember this all you that never could beleeve that you are dead condemned men and therefore are never troubled with any such thoughts in your mind I tell you that you are far from conviction and therefore far from salvation if God should send some from the dead to beare witnesse against this secure world concerning this truth yet you will not beleeve it for his messengers sent from heaven are not beleeved herein woe be to you if you remaine unconvinced of this point But you will say how doth the Lord thus convince sin and wherein is it exprest which is the third particular All knowledge of sin is not conviction of sin all confession of sin is not conviction there is a conviction meerely rationall which is not spirituall there are three things in spirituall conviction There is a cleare certaine and manifest light so that the soule sees its sin and death due to it clearely and certainly for so the word Ioh. 16.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to evidence a thing by way of argumentation nay demonstration the Spirit so demonstrates these things as that it hath nothing to object a mans mouth is stopped hee hath nothing to say but this behold I am vile I am a dead man for if a man have many strong arguments given him to confirme a truth yet if he have but one objection or doubtfull scruple not answered he is not fully as yet convinced because full conviction by a cleare sun-light scatters all dark objections and hence our Saviour Iude 15. will one day convince the wicked of all their hard speeches against him which will chiefly be done by manifesting the evill of such wayes and taking a way all those colours and defences men have made for such language before the Spirit of Christ comes man cannot see will not see his sin nor punishment nay he hath many things to say for himselfe as excuses and extenuations of his sin One saith I was drawne unto it the woman that thou gavest me and so layes the blame on others Aâ—other saith It is my nature Others say All are sinners the godly sinne as well as others and yet are saved at last and so I hope shall
now as they are indeed and not by report only A man accounts it a matter of nothing to tread upon a worme wherein there is nothing seen worthy either to bee loved or feared and hence a mans heart is not affected with it before the Spirit of conviction comes God is more vile in mans eye then any worme as Christ said in another case of himselfe Psal. 22. I am a worme and no man so may the Lord complaine I am viler in such a ones eyes then any worme and no God and hence a man makes it a matter of nothing to tread upon the glorious Majesty of God and hence is not affected with it but when God is seen by the Spirit of conviction in his great glory then as he is great sin is seene great as his glory affects and astonisheth the soule so sin affects the heart There is a constant light the soule sees sinne and death continually before it Gods arrowes stick fast in the soule and cannot be pluckt out My sinne is ever before me said David in his renewing of the work of conversion For in effectuall conviction the mind is not onely bound to see the misery lying upon it but it is held bound it is such a Sun light as never can be quenched though it may be clouded When the Spirit of Christ darts in any light to see sin the soule would turne away from looking upon it would not heare on that eare Felix-like But the Spirit of Conviction sent to make thorow work on the hearts of all the Elect followes them meets them at every turne forceth them to see and remember what they have done the least sinne now is like a moath in the eye it s ever troubling Those gastly dreadfull objects of sinne death wrath being presented by the Spirit neare unto the soule fixe the eye to fasten here they that can cast off at their pleasure the remembrance and thoughts of sinne and death never prove sound untill the Lord doth make them stay their thoughts and muse deeply on what they have done and whither they are going And hence the soule in lying downe rising up lyes downe and rises up with perplexed thoughts What will become of me The Lord somtimes keeps it waking in the night season when others are asleep and then t is haunted with those thoughts it cannot sleep it looks back upon every day and week Sabboth Sermon Prayer speeches and thinks all this day this week c. the goodnesse of the Lord and his patience to a wretch hath been continued but my sins also are continued I sin in all I doe in all my prayers in all I think the same heart remaines still not humbled not yet changed And hence you shall observe that word which discovered sin at first to it it never goes out of the mind I think saith the soule I shall never forget such a man nor such a truth Hence also if the soule grow light and carelesse at some time and casts off the thoughts of these things the Spirit returnes againe and falls a reasoning with the soule Why hast thou done this what hurt hath the Lord done thee will there never be an end hast not thou gone on long enough in thy leâ—d courses against God but that thou shouldst still adde unto the heap hast thou not wrath enough upon thee already how soone may the Lord stop thy breath and then thou knowest thou hadst better never to have beene borne was there ever any that thus resisted grace that thus adventured upon the swords point hast thou but one friend a patient long-suffering God that hath left thy conscience without excuse long agoe and therefore could have cut thee off and dost thou thus forsake him thus abuse him Thus the Spirit followes and hence the soule comes to some measure of confession of sinne Oh Lord I have done exceeding wickedly I have been worse then the horse that rusheth into the battle because it sees not death before it but I have seen death before me in these wayes and yet goe on and still â—inne and cannot but sinne Behold mee Lord for I am very vile When thus the Spirit hath let into the soule a cleare reall constant light to see sinne and death now there is a thorow conviction But you will say In what measure doth the Spirit communicate this light I shall therefore open the fourth particular viz. The measure of spirituall conviction in all the elect viz. So much conviction of sin as may bring in and work compunction for sinne so much sight of sinne as may bring in sense of sinne so much is necessary and no more Every one hath not the same measure of conviction yet all the elect have must have so much for so much conviction is necessary as may attaine the end of conviction Now the finis proximus or next end of conviction in the elect is compunction or sense of sinne for what good can it doe unto them to see sin and not to be affected with it What greater mercy doth the Lord shew to the elect herein then unto the Devils and Reprobates who stand convinced and know they are wicked and condemned but yet their hearts altogether unaffected with any true remorse for sin Mine eye saith Ieremy affecteth my heart The Lord opens the eares of his to instruction that he might humble Some think that there is no thorow conviction without some affection I dare not say so nor will I now dispute whether there is not something in the nature and essence of that conviction the elect have different from that conviction in reprobates and devils t is sufficient now and that which reacheth the end of this question to know what in asure of conviction is necessary I conceive the cleere discerning of it is by the immediate and sensible effect of it viz. So much as affects the heart truly with sin But if you aske What is that sense of sin and what measure of this is necessary that I shall answer in the doctrine of companction Let not therefore any soule be discouraged and say I was never yet convinced because I have not felt such a cleare reall constant light to see sin and death as others have done consider thou if the end of conviction be attained which is a true sense and feeling of sin thou hast then that measure which is most meet for thee more then which the Lord regards not in any of his but you that walke up and downe with convinced consciences and know your states are miserable and sinfull and that you perish if you dye in that condition and yet have no sense nor feeling no sorrow nor affliction of spirit for those evills I tell you the very devills are in some respect nearer the Kingdome of God then you be who see and feele and tremble woe woe to thousands that live under convicting Ministeries whom the word often hits and the Lord by the Spirit often meets
and they heare and know their sins are many their estates bad and that iniquity will be there ruine if thus they continue yet all Gods light is without heat and it is but the shining of it upon rocks and cold stones they are frozen in their dregs be it knowne to you you have not one drop of that conviction which begins salvation Before I passe from this to the second work of compunction let me make a word of application If the Spirit begins thus with conviction of sin then let all the Ministers of Christ co-work with Christ and begin with their people here bee faithfull witnesses unto Gods truth and give warning to this secure world that the sentence of death is past and the curse of God lyes upon every man for the least sin Lift up thy voyce like a Trumpet was the Lords words to Isaiah Isay 58.1 and tell them of their sin Those Bees wee call drones that have lost their sting When the salt of the earth the Ministers of Christ Matth. 5. have lost their acrimony and sharpnesse or saltnesse What is it good for but to be cast out your hearers will putrify and corrupt by hearing such doctrines only as never search When the Lord inflicted a grievous curse upon the people Ezek. 3.26 the Lord made Ezekiel dumbe that hee should not be a reprover to them What was the lamentation of Ieremy thy Prophets have seen vaine and foolish things for thee and have not discovered thine iniquity how would you have the Lord Jesus by his Spirit to convince men must it not bee by his word verily you keep the Spirit of Christ from falling down upon the people if you refuse to indeavour to convince the people by your word Other doctrines are sweet and necessary but this is in the first place most necessary Beware of personating beware of bitternesse and passion but oh convince with a spirit of power and compassion and hee that shall bee instrumentall unto Christ in this or any other work for Christs sake unto him the Lord will be the principall agent and by him will attaine his own ends finish his great work gather in his scattered sheep who are in great multitudes throughout the Kingdome scattered from him if once they be throughly convinced that they are utterly lost and gone out of the way May not this also be sad reproofe and terrour to them that stand it out against all means of conviction and will not see their sin nor beleeve the fearfull wrath of God due to them for sin not a man scarce can be found that will come to this conclusion I am a sinfull man and therefore I am a dead I am a condemned man but like wild beasts fly from their pursuers into their holes and thickets and dens their sinfull extenuations excuses and apologies for sin and for themselves and if they bee hunted thither and found out there then they resist and article against that truth which troubles them They flatter themselves in their owne eyes untill their iniquities be found most hatefull Many a man dislikes the text the use especially the long use wherein his sinne is toucht and his conscience tost especially if it be his darling sin his Herodias his Rimmon especially if withall he thinks that the Minister meanes him he will not see it nor confeste it especially if hee apprehends he shall lose his honour or his silver shrines and profit by it he will not see his â—in that he may not be troubled in conscience for his sin that so he may not be forced to confesse and forsake his sinne and condemne himselfe for it before God and men Oh Lord I mourne that I can scarce meet with a man that either cares to be or will be convinced but hath something alway to say for himselfe their sins are not so great they are not so bad but have some good and therefore have some hope and if God be mercifull it is no great matter though they be exceeding sinfull or some such thing their mouths are not stopped to say nothing for themselves but guilty There is lesse conviction in the world in this age then many are aware of For I believe that all the powers of hell conspire together to blind mens eyes and darken mens minds in this great work of Christ Principiis obsta it is policy to stop Christ in his entrance in this first streake upon the soule but oh little doe you think what you doe herein and what woe you work to your selves hereby dost thou stifle and resist the first breathings of Christs Spirit when he comes to save thee what hurt will it be to know the worst of thy condition now when there is hope hereby of comming out of it who must else one day see all thy sins in order before thee to thy eternall anguish and terrour Ps. 50.21 When the Lord shall say to thee as unto Dives Remember in thy life time thou hadst thy good things remember such a time such a place such a sin which then you would not see But now thou shalt see what it is to strike an infinite God Remember thou wast forewarned of wrath to come but thou wouldest not beleeve thy selfe accursed that so thou mightest have felt thy need of him that was made a curse to blesse thee and therefore feele it now oh you will wish then that you had knowne this evill in that your day What dost thou talke of grace thou thinkest thou hast grace when as thou hast not the first beginning nay not the most remote preparation for it in this work of conviction what should wee doe for such as these but with Ieremy Ier. 13.17 if you will not heare my soule shall weep in secret for your pride Oh be perswaded therefore to remember your sins past and to consider of your wayes now All the prophanenesse of thy heart and life all the vanity of thy youth Eccles. 11.9 all your secret sins all your sinnes against light and love checks and vowes all that time wherein thou didst nothing else but live in sin thus Gods people have done Ezek 6.9 thus all the elect shall doe oh consider the Lord remembers them all and that with griefe of heart against thee because thou forgettest them Hos. 2.7 Hee that numbers thy haires and tels the sparrowes that fall numbers much more thy sins that fall from thee they are written down in his black book They are not trifles for hee minds not toyes the bookes must bee opened oh reckon now you have yet time to cal them to minde which it may be shall not continue long it is the Lords complaint Ier. 8.6 of a wicked generation that hee could heare no man say What have I done Winnow your selves as the word is Eph. 2.1 Oh people not worthy to be beloved I pronounce unto you from the eternall God that ere long the Lord will search our Ierusalem with candles he will
Christ and yet opened not her heart to lament her sinne and misery in her estate without Christ suppose she were without Christ is more then can be proved from the Text for t is said Her heart was opened to attend unto the things that were spoken by Paul and can any think that Paul or any Apostle ever preached Christ without preaching the need men had of him and could any preach their need of Christ without preaching mens undone and sinfull estate without Christ and doe you think that Lydiae was not made to attend unto this doe you think that when Philip came to open the 53. of Esay to the Eunuch that Christ was bruised for our iniquities that he did not let him understand the infinite evill of sinne and misery of all sinners and of him in speciall unlesse the Lord Jesus was bruised for him In examples recorded in the Scripture of Gods converting grace doe not think they had no sorrow for sinne because it is not distinctly and expresly set downe in all places for the Scripture usually sets downe matters very briefly it oftentimes supposeth many things and refers us to judge of some by other places as Acts 6.7 it is said Many of the Priests were obedient to the faith doth it therefore follow that they did immediately beleeve without any sense of sinne Look to a fuller example Acts 2. and then we may see as the one were converted to the faith so were the other having a hand in the same sin 1 Tim. 1.13 14. Paul he was a persecuter but the Lord received him to mercy and that Gods grace was abundant in faith and love doth it hence follow that Paul had no castings down because not mentioned here If we look upon Acts 9. we shall see it otherwise Doe not judge of generall and common workings of the Spirit upon the souls of any to be the beginnings of effectuall and special conversion for a man may have some inward and yet common knowledge of the Gospel and of Christ in it before there be any sorrow for sinne yet it doth not hence follow that the Lord begins not with compunction and sorrow because common work is not speciall and effectuall work when the Spirit thus comes he first begins here as we shall prove The terrours and feares and sense of sinne and death be in themselves afflictions of soule and of themselves drive from Christ yet in the hand of Christ by the power of the Spirit they are made to lead or rather drive unto Christ which is able to turn mourning into joy as well as after mourning to give joy and therefore t is a vaine thing to think there is no need of such sorrows which drive from Christ and that Christ can work well enough therefore without them when as by the mighty power and riches of mercy in Christ the Lord by wounding nay killing his of all their carnall security and self-confidence saves all his alive and drives them to seek for life in his Son These things thus premised let us now hear of the necessity of this work to succeed conviction Else a sinner will never part with his sin a bare conviction of sin doth but light the candle to see sin compunction burnes his fingers and that onely makes him dread the fire Cleanse your hearts ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double minded men saith the Apostle Iames Chap. 4.8 But how should this be done He answers verse 9. Be afflicted and mourne and weep turn your laughter into mourning So Ioel 2.12 the Prophet calls upon his hearers to turne from their sin unto the Lord but how Rend your hearts and not your garments Not that they were able to do this but by what sorrow he requires of all in generall he thereby effectually works in the hearts of all the elect in particular for every man naturally takes pleasure nay all his delight and pleasure is in nothing else but sinne for God he hath none but that Now so long as he takes pleasure in sinne and finds contentment by sinne he cannot but cleave inseparably to it Oh t is sweet and it onely is sweet for so long the soule is dead in sinne Pleasure in sinne is death in sinne 1 Tim. 5.6 So long as t is dead in sinne it is impossible it should part with sinne no more then a dead man can break the bonds of death And therefore it undenyably followes that the Lord must first put gall and wormwood to these dugs before the soule will cease sucking or be weaned from them the Lord must first make sinne bitter before it will part with it load it with sinne before it will sit downe and desire ease And look as the pleasure in sinne is exceeding sweet to a sinner so the sorrow for it must be exceeding bitter before the soule will part from it T is true I confesse a man sometime may part with sin without sorrow the uncleane spirit may goe out for a time before he is taken bound and slain by the power of Christ. But such a kind of parting is but the washing of the cup t is unsafe and unsound and the end of such a Christian wil be miserable for a man to heare of his sinne and then to say I le doe no more so without any sense or sorrow for it would not have been approved by Paul if he had seen no more in the carelesse Corinthians in tolerating the incestuous person but their sorrow wrought this repentance No the Lord abhors such whorish wiping the lips and therefore the same Apostle when he reproves them for not separating the sinner and so the sin from them he summes it up in one word You have not mourned that such a one might be taken from you because then sin is severed truly from the soule when sorrow or shame some sense and feeling of the evill of it begins it Not onely sinne is opposite to God but when the Lord Jesus first comes neare his elect in their sinfull estate they are then enemies themselves by sin unto God And hence it is they will never part with their weapons untill themselves be throughly wounded and therefore the Lord must wound their consciences minds and hearts before they will cast them by Now if there be no parting with no separation from sin but sin is as strong and the sinners as vile as ever before hath Christ who now comes to save his elect from sinne the end of his work what is the man the better for conviction affection to Christ name what you can that remains still in his sins When the Apostle would summe up all the misery of men he doth it in those words Ye are yet in your sinne So I say thou art convicted but art yet in thy sinne art affected with Christ and takest hold of Christ but art yet in thy sin He that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy You
and death for sin that this end might be attained Gal. 3.22 And therefore feeling of sin and death and misery being the meanes must precede the other as the end and therefore as grace may be seen by conviction of misery so the sweetnesse of it only can be felt by feeling misery in this worke of compunction But you will say What is this compunction and wherein doth it consist This is the third particular to be opened in generall it is whereby the soule is affected with sin and made sensible of sin but more particularly compunction is nothing else but the pricking of the heart or the wounding of the soule with such feare and sorrow for sin and misery as severs the soule from sin and from going on toward its eternall misery so that it consists in three things 1. Feare 2. Sorrow 3. Separation from sin The Lord Jesus when hee comes to rescue his elect look as Satan held them in their misery First by blinding their eyes from seeing of it Secondly by hardening their hearts from feeling of it So the Lord Jesus having cut asunder the first cord of Satan by conviction breakes asunder the second by compunction and causing the soule to feele and be affâ—cted with its misery and as the whole soule is unaffected before he comes so he makes the whole soule sensible when hee comes and therefore hee sils the conscience with feare and the heart with sorrow and mourning so as now the will of sinne is broken which was hardened before these feares and sorrowes seised upon it Let me open these particularly that you may tast and try the truth of what now I deliver I sâ—y the Lord Christ in this work of compunction lets into the heart of a secure sinner a marvellous fear and terrour of the diâ—efull displeasure of God of death and hell the punishment of sin Oh beloved look upon most men at this day this is the great misery lying upon them they doe not feare the wrath to come they feare not death nor damning even then when they heare and know it is their portion but their hearts are set to sin Eccles. 8.11 The Lord Christ therefore lets in this feare that look as the Lord when hee came to conquer the Canaanites Exod. 23.27 28. He sent his hornets before him which were certaine feares which made their hearts faint in the day of battell and by this subdued them so the Lord Christ when hee comes to conquer a poore sinner that hath long resisted him and would goe on to his owne perdition le ts in these feares that the soule shrinkes in with the thoughts of its woefull estate and cryes out secretly Lord what will become of me if I dye in this condition Paul trembles astonished at his misery and wickednesse and now he begins to cry out the Jayâ—â—ur was very cruell against Paul but when the Lord Jesus comes to rescue him from this condition you shall see him trembling The Lord had let in that feare that now he is content to doe any thing to be saved from the danger he saw he was now in when a man sees danger and great danger neare and imminent now man naturally feares it before Christ come the soule may see its misery but it apprehends it farre off and hoping to escape it and hence doth not feare it but when the Lord Jesus comes hee presents a mans danger death wrath and eternity neare unto him and hence hath no hope to escape it as now he is and therefore doth feare and seeing the misery exceeding great he hath an exceeding great though oft times deep feare of it as men neare death and apprehending it so begin then to be troubled and cry out when it is too late The Lord Jesus deales more mercifully with the elect and brings death and eternity neare them before they draw neare to it whiles it is callâ—d to day the poore Jaylor began to think of killing himselfe when feares were upon him and so many under this stroke of Christ have the same thoughts because they see no hope but this measure is not in all this work is in all Put them in feare oh Lord that they may know they be but men before this feare comes men are above God and think they can stand it out against him the Lord therefore le ts in this feare to make them know they bee but men and that as proud and stout great as they are yet thaâ— they are not above God and that it is in vain to kick against the pricks and goâ— on as they have done for if they doe he will not endure it long The spirit of Bondage makes makes men feare before the spirit of Adoption comes these feares therefore are such as the regenerate after they have received the spirit of Adoption never have and therefore they are such as pursue the soule with some threatning of the word pronouncing death and perdition to him in that estate Ex. gr He that beleeves not is condemned already thus the word speakes to conscience Iohn 3.17 Thou beleevest not saith a mans owne conscience the Spirit witnessing with it therefore thou art condemned saith conscience now the spirit of Bondage is the testimony of Gods Spirit witnessing to both the premisses and conclusion now this Spirit no regenerate man indeed ever hath after this time but the feares he hath arise from another principle of corruption of conscience and malice of Satan through the present desertion of the Spirit leaving him not from any positive witnesse of the Spirit of any such untruth which yet is truth while the soule is under this strâ—ake and not regenâ—â—ate marke therefore diligently that this â—eare is the worke of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus and hence it followes 1. That these Fears are not meerly naturall as those Rom. 2.15 arising from naturall conscience only which only accuse of sinne but never affect but they are supernaturall they are arrowes shot into the conscience by the arme of the Spirit so dreadfull that no word nor meditation of death and eternity can beget such feares but creates them 2. Hence it followes that they are cleare feares for the Spirits work is ever cleare before he leaves it Eph. 5.13 they are not blind confused feares and suspitious and sad conjectures whereby many a man is afraid and much afraid and affrighted like men in a dreame that thinke they are in hell yet cannot tell what that evill is which they feare but they are cleare feares whereby they distinctly know and see that they are miserable and what that misery is 3. Hence it followes that they are strong feares because the almighty hand of the Spirit sets them on and shakes the soule they are not weak feares which a man can shake off or cure by weake hopes sleep or businesse c. like some winds that shake the tree but never blow it downe but these feares cast down
union 1 Cor. 1.30 Christ is made righteousnesse and sanctification unto whom read the beginning of the verse and you shall see it is onely to those that be in Christ which is by faith Let none say here as some doe that we have union to Christ first by the Spirit without faith in order going before faith For understanding of which let us a little consider of our union unto Christ Our union to Christ is not by the essentiall presence of the Spirit for that is in every man as the God-head is every where in whom we live and move This is common to the most wicked man nay to the vilest creature in the world Hence it followes that our union is by some act of the Spirit peculiar to the elect who onely shall have communion with Christ working some reall change in the soul for of reall not relative union I now speak this act cannot be those first acts of the spirit of bondage for they are common unto reprobates they are therefore such acts as are essentiall unto the nature of union Now look as disunion is the disjunction or separation of divers things one from another so union is the conjunction or joyning of them together that were before severed Hence that act of the Spirit in uniting us to Christ can be nothing else but the bringing back the soule unto Christ or the conjunction of the soule unto Christ and into Christ by bringing it back to him that before this lay like a dry bone in the valley separated from him Thus 1 Cor. 6.17 He that is joyned or as the word signifies glewed to the Lord is one spirit with him The Spirit therefore brings us to the Lord Christ and so we are in him Now the comming of the soule to Christ what is it but faith Iohn 6.35 Our union therefore is by faith not without it for by it onely we that were once separated from him by sinne and especially by unbeliefe Heb. 3.12 are now come not onely unto him as iron unto the load-stone Iohn 6.37 out which is most neare into him as branches into the vine so grow one with him and hence those phrases in Scripture to beleeve in Christ or into Christ. I speak not this as if we were united to Christ without the Spirit on his part for the conjunction of things severed must be mutuall if it be firme I onely shew that we are not united before faith by the Spirit unto Christ but that we are by faith wrought by the Spirit whereby on our part we are first conjoyned unto him and then on his part he by the person of the Spirit is most wonderfully united unto us The Spirit puts forth variety of acts in the soule as it acts us to good works t is the spirit of obedience as it infuseth habits of grace so t is the spirit of sanctification as it assists us continually and guides us to our end and witnesseth favour t is the spirit of adoption as it works feares of death and hell t is the spirit of bondage but as it drawes us from sinne to Christ so t is the spirit of union and therefore to imagine union before and without faith by the Spirit is but a spirit indeed which when you come to feele it you shall finde it a nothing without flesh or bones or sinewes As our marriage union to Christ must have consent of faith on our part wrought by the Spirit or else the Lord Jesus is a vaine sutor to us so now the Spirit on Christs part must apprehend our faith and dwell in us who otherwise shall suddenly goe a whoring from him 1 Pet. 1.5 Eph. 3.17 3. That Vocation is not all one with Sanctification may appeare thus 1. Vocation is before Justification Rom. 8.30 But Sanctification is not before Justification as we have proved and therefore they are not the same 2. Sanctification is the end of Vocation 1 Thess. 4.7 therefore it is not the same with it 3. Faith is the principall thing in Vocation The first part of it being Gods call the second part being our answer to that call or in comming at that call Ier. 3.22 Now faith is no part of Sanctification strictly taken because it is the meanes and instrument of our Justification and Sanctification Acts 26.18 Our hearts are said to be purified by faith Acts 15.9 not our lives onely in the acts of holinesse and purity but our hearts in the habituall frame of them I live by the faith of the Sonne of God saith Paul We passe from death to life by faith Iohn 5.24 therefore it is no part of our spirituall life You will not come to me which is faith that you may have life Iohn 5.40 Iohn 6.50.51 therefore faith is the instrumentall means of life and therefore no part of our life as faith comes by hearing and therefore hearing is no part of faith so Justification comes by faith and therefore is no part of Sanctification all our life both of Justification and Sanctification is laid up in Christ our head this life according to Gods great plot shall never be had but by coming to Christ for it Heb. 7.25 else grace and Christ should not bee so much honoured Rom. 4.16 it is of Faith that it might be of Grace Sanctification therefore is the grace applyed by faith faith the grace applying by coming to Christ for it we have it and therefore have it not when first we come I am sorry to be thus large in lesse practicall matters yet I have thought it not unusefull but very comfortable to a poore passenger not only to know his journies end and the way in generall to it but also the severall Stadia or Townes he is orderly to passe through there is much wisdome of God to be seen not only in his work but in his manner and order of working for want of which I see many Christians in these dayes fall very foulely into erroneous apprehensions in their judgments the immediate ground of many errours in practise the objections made against what hath been delivered are for the principall of them answered the maine end my beloved of propounding these things is that you would look narrowly to your union oh take heed you misse not there if you close with Christ beleeve in Christ and yet not cut off from your sin viz. that spirit of resistance of Christ you are utterly and eternally undone this is the condemnation of the world not that men love darknesse wholly and hate light but that they love darkenesse more then light not that the uncleane spirit is not gone out but that he is not so cast out as never to returne againe the wound of all men yea the best of men that professe Christ and yet indeed out of Christ lyes in this they were never severed from their sinne by all their prayers teares feares sorrowes and hence they never truly come to Christ and hence perish in their sin Trouble
be in bitternesse for them before the Lord will passe them by it is not every trouble that will serve the turne look that it be such as separates thy soule from thy sin or else it will separate betweene thy soule and God I know it is not in your power to breake your owne hearts no more then to make the rocks to bleed yet remember he that bids thee cast up and prepare the way of the Lord he hath promised that every mountaine shall be brought low and the crooked wayes made plaine and the rough smooth and the valleys filled He only can doe it for thee and will doe it for some it may be for thee he that broke the heart of Manasseh and Paul after their blood and blasphemies when they never desired any such thing he can break thine much more when thou art desiring him to doe it for thee here are many of you that feare you were never humbled nor burthened enough I say feare it still feare lest there be a stone in the bottome not so as to discourage and drive thy heart from Christ but so as to feele a greater need of his grace to soften thy heart and to take thy senslesnesse away the Lord doth purposely command thee to plough up thy fallow ground that thou mightest feel thy impotency so to do and come to him to take it away every thing will harden thee more and more untill the Lord come and take thy stony heart away by his owne hand all Gods kindnesses will make thee more bold to sin and all Gods judgements more fierce and obstinate in sinne unlesse the Lord put to his hand if Pharaohs heart be softned for a time it will grow hard againe if the Lord take it not away The means therefore for thee to get this compunction is 1. To feele the evill of thy hard heart no surer token of Reprobation then hardnesse if continued in especially for thy heart to grow hard under or after softning meanes as it was in Pharaoh 2. To look up to the Lord in all ordinances that he would take it away Have not you great cause of abundant thankfulnesse into whose hearts the Lord hath let in feares and sorrowes concerning your estates the blind world lookes upon all troubles of conscience as temptations of the devill to despaire and the very way to run mad but consider what the Lord hath done for you that have such what if the Lord had left you without all feeling as those in Eph. 4.19 what if the Lord had smitten you with a spirit of slumber as those Rom. 11.8 would not your estate have beene then lamentable and have you no hearts to acknowledge his unspeakable goodnesse in awakening of you in shaking thy very foundations dost thou think that any ever had such a hard heart as thou hast dost not say so in secret before the Lord sometimes oh then what rich grace is this to give thee any sence and feeling of thy sin and danger by it though it bee never so little in thine eyes some think these terrors are a judgement it is true if they were meerly imaginary or worldly and desperate but saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 7.7 I thanke God I made you sorry Suppose thy sorrow should be only in regard of the punishment of sin yet this is the Lords goodnesse to make thy heart so far sensible that once didst goe like a beast to the slaughter fearing no danger at all the very meanes to prize favour from God is to feel wrath as well as sin and the very reason why the Lord hath let thee feele thy punishment heavy is that thy soule might feel the evill of sin by considering that if the fruits be so bitter what is then the cause be not therefore weary of thy burthen so as to think the Lord powres out his vengeance on thee while thy trouble remaines oh consider that this is the hand of the Lord Jesus and that he is now about to save thee when he comes to work any compunction in thee especially such as whereby he doth not onely cut thy heart with feares and sorrowes but cut thee off from thy sin so far only as humbles thee and drives thee to the Lord Christ to take them away And so I come to the third particular of Humiliation SECT IV. The third Act of Christs power which is Humiliation THe Lord Jesus having thus broken the heart by compunction is not like a foolish builder that leaves off his work before he hath fully finished it and therefore having thus wounded a poore sinner hee goes on to humble him also for though in a large sense a wounded contrite sinner is an humble sinner yet strictly taken there is a great difference between them and therefore he is said to dwell with the contrite and humble i. e. not onely with those that bee wounded with sin but humbled for sinne although it is certaine the soule is seldome or never effectually wounded but it is also humbled at the same time A man may bee wounded sore even unto death and yet the pride of the man is such that he will not fall downe before him that smites him so it is with many a poore sinner the Lord hath sorely wounded him that hee will resist no more yet he will rather fly to his duties to heale him or dye alone and sinke under his discouragements then stoop Oh beloved man must downe before the Lord Christ will take him up and therefore in Isay 40.5 6 7. the glory of the Lord is promised to be revealed but what meanes must bee used for this end Cry saith the Lord what should I cry saith he the Lord answers that all flesh is grasse and that the glory of it fades and that the people are this grasse i. e. not only that mens sinnes are vile but that themselves also are grasse nay their glory and excellency is withering and fading and therefore not only mountains must be pull'd downe but all flesh and the glory of it wither before the Lord shal be revealed I shall briefly open these foure things 1. What is this humiliation 2. What need there is of it 3. What meanes the Lord useth to work it 4. What measure of it is here required What is this humiliation Look as pride is that sinne whereby a man conceited of some good in himselfe and seeking some excellency to himselfe exalts himselfe above God so Humiliation in this place is that work of the Spirit whereby the soule being broken off from self-conceit and selfe-confidence in any good it hath or doth submitteth unto or lyeth under God to be disposed of as he pleaseth 1 Pet. 5.6 Levit. 26.41 That look as compunction cuts the sinner off from that evill that is in him so humiliation cuts it off from all high conceits and self-confidence of that good which is in him or which he seeks might be in him and so the soule is abased
and humbled his elect and laid them downe dead at his feet they are now as unable to beleeve as they were to humble their owne soules and therefore now the Lord takes them up into his owne armes that they leane and rest on the bosome of their beloved by faith After Ioseph had spoken roughly to his brethren and thereby brought the blood of their brother to remembrance and so had humbled them then he can containe no longer but discovers himselfe to them and tells them I am Ioseph whom you wickedly sold yet feare not so doth our Saviour carry it towards his elect when he laid them low now is the very season for him to advance the glory of his grace he cannot now containe himselfe any longer but having torne and taken away that vaile of sinne and of the law from off their hearts now they see the Lord with open face even the end of that which was to be abolished 2 Cor. 3. The explication of this great work is of exceeding great difficulty nothing more stirring then faith in a true Christian because hee lives by it yet it is very little known as children in the wombe that know not that navill-string by which they principally live I shall therefore bee wary and leaving larger explications acquaint you with the nature of Faith in this brief descripâ—ion of it Faith is that gracious work of the Spirit whereby an humbled sinner receiveth Christ or whereby the whole soule cometh out of it selfe to Christ for Christ and all his benefits upon the call of Christ in his word Before I open this particularly give me leave to premise some generall considerations Faith is the complement of effectuall vocation which begins in Gods call and ends in this answer to that call the Lord prevents a poore humbled soule with his call either not knowing how or not able or not daring to come and then the soule comes and hence men called and beleeving are all one Rom. 9.24 with 33. Many a wounded sinner will be scrambling after Christ from some generall reports of him before the day and houre of Gods glorious and gracious call Now for any to receive Christ or come to Christ before he is called is presumption to refuse Christ when called is rebellion to come and receive when called is properly and formally Faith and that which the Scripture stiles the obedience of Faith Rom. 1.5 And now Christ at this instant is fully and freely given on Gods part when really and freely come unto and taken on our part This receiving of Christ or coming to Christ are for substance the same though the words be diverse the holy Ghost useth to expresse one and the same thing in variety of words that our feeblenesse might the better understand what he meaneth And hence in Scripture beleeving coming receiving Christ rolling trusting cleaving to the Lord c. set out one and the same thing and therefore it is no wonder if our Divines have different descriptions of faith in variety of words which if well considered dâ—e but set out one and the same thing and I doe conceive they doe all agree in this description I have now mentioned I know there are some who tread awry here whom I shall briefly note out and so passe on to what we intend 1. The Papists with some others of corrupt judgements at least of weak apprehensions among our selves describe Faith to be nothing else but a supernaturall assent to a divine truth because of a divine testimony Ex. gr to assent to this truth that Christ is come that he is the Sonne of God that hee was dead and is risen againe that he is the Saviour of the world c. and to confirme this they produce Mat. 16.16 1 Ioh. 4.3 It is granted that this assent is in Faith for Faith alway hath respect to some testimony for man by his fall hath lost all knowledge of divine and supernaturall truths hence God reveales them in his word hence faith sees them and assents to them because God hath spoken them to see and know things by vision is to see things in themselves intuitively and immediately but to see things by Faith is to see them by and in a testimony given of them Iohn 20.20 Blessed is he that hath not seen i. e. Christ immediately but beleeved i. e. his testimony and on him in it this assent therefore is in Faith for we must beleeve Christ before we can beleeve in him but this comprehends not the whole nature of faith I meane of that faith we are now speaking of viz. aâ— it unites us to Christ and possesseth us with Christ. For 1. This description placeth Faith onely in the understanding whereas t is also in the will as the words trusting rolling c. intimate 2. This assent is meerly generall without particular application which is ever in true faith Gal. 2.20 3. This is such a faith as the devils may have Iames 2.19 and reprobate men may have 2 Pet. 2.20 21. Heb. 10.26 There is a wilfull refusing of the known truth 4. It is the Papists ayme to vilifie faith hereby by describing it by that which is one ingredient in it but excluding that which is principall those phrases therefore of beleeving Christ to be come in the flesh 1 Iohn 4.3 and that he is the Sonne of God Mat. 16.16 as if this were the onely object of faith are not to be understood exclusively excluding other acts of faith which the Scripture in other places sets downe clearly but inclusively as supposing them to be contained herein for as we in our times describing faith by relying upon Christ for salvation do not exclude hereby our beleeving that he is the Messiah but we include it or suppose it because that is not now questioned the truth of the Gospel being so abundantly cleared so in those times they described Faith by one principall act to beleeve that he was the Sonne of God and come into the flesh because this was the maine and principall thing in question then and if the Lord had not set out faith by other acts in Scripture we should not vary from our compasse in such expressions in the Word in these dayes for their faith then is exemplary to us now but because the Word doth more fully set it out in more speciall acts hence we set it out also by them for t is evident as the Jews did beleeve in a Messiah to come so they did also beleeve and look for all good from him Iohn 4.25 He will teach us all things when he comes and therefore their faith did not confine it selfe to that historicall act that a Messiah should come or that this was the Messiah but they did expect and look for all good from him And hence the Apostle expounding this saying viz. beleeving that Christ is dead and risen againe wee shall hereby be saved If thou beleevest saith he with thine heart this truth thou shalt be
saved Now to beleeve with the heart as it doth not exclude assent so it necessarily includes the acts of the will and affections in relying upon him and comming to him And hence when Peter had made that confession Acts 16.16 Christ tells him Thou art Peter i. e. a stone resting upon the rock as some good Interpreters expound it and therefore Peters faith did not exclude these principall acts of resting on Christ cleaving to Christ but did include and suppose them 2. Some run into another extreame and make faith nothing else but a perswasion or assurance that Christ dyed for me in particular or that he is mine That which moves some thus to think is the universall redemption by the death of Christ they know no ground or bottome for faith but this Proposition Christ dyed for thee and hence make Redemption universall And hence the Arminians boast so much of their Quod unusquisque tenetur credere c. But 1. This is a false bottome for Christ hath not dyed for all because he hath not prayed for all Iohn 17. 2. T is a sandy bottome and foundation which when a Christian rests upon it shakes under him when the soule shall think though Christ hath dyed for me yet no more for me then for Iudas or thousands of reprobates now in hell Indeed after faith a Christian is bound to beleeve it as Paul did Gal 2.20 1 Cor. 15.1 2. I conceive therefore those holy men of ours who have described Faith by Assurance have not so much aymed at a description of what Faith is in it selfe as it possesseth us with Christ but of what degree and extent it may be and should be in us they describe it therefore by the most eminent act of it in full assurance and therefore consult with the Authors of this description and enquire of them Is there no doubting mixt with faith Yes say they mans doubtings sometimes are even unto a kind of despaire but then say they it should not be thus The Papists commend doubtings and deny assurance place faith in a generall assent our champions that were to wrastle with them maintained it to be a particular application and not onely a generall assent and that with a ful assurance of perswasion which being the most eminent act of faith excludes not other inferiour acts of it which as they are before it so may possesse the soule with Christ without it Although withall it is certaine that there is no true faith but it hath some assurance of which afterward Let me now come to the explication of the description given where note these five things 1. The efficient cause of Faith it is a work of the Spirit 2. The subject or matter in which it is seated viz. the soule of an humble sinner 3. The forme of it viz. the comming of the whole soule to Christ. 4. The end of it viz. for Christ and all his benefits 5. The speciall ground and means of it viz. the Call of Christ in his Word 1. The efficient cause of Faith Faith is a gracious work of the Spirit of Christ the Spirit therefore is the efficient cause or principall workman of faith the Spirit doth not beleeve but causeth us to beleeve t is not principium quod the principle which doth beleeve but principium quo the principle by which we doe the soules of all the elect especially when humbled are of all other things most unable to beleeve nay look as before compunction and humiliation Satan held the soule captive chiefly by its lusts and sinnes so now when the Lord hath burnt those cords and broken those chaines all the powers of darknesse strengthen themselves and keep the soule under mightily by unbeliefe What doe you tell me of mercy saith the soule t is mercy which I have continually resisted desperately despised why doe you perswade me to beleeve Alas I cannot t is true all that which you say is true if I could beleeve but I cannot see Christ I cannot come at Christ I seek him in the meanes but he forsakes me there and I am left of God desolate and here beloved the soule had not formerly so many excuses for its sinne as now it hath clouds of objections against beleeving the Spirit therefore takes fast hold of the soules of all the elect drawes them unto Christ and therefore it is called the spirit of faith 2 Cor. 4.13 and that by an omnipotent and irresistable power Esay 53.1 Who hath beleeved and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed that the soule must and shall beleeve now Compell them to come in saith the Lord of the Supper Luke 14.23 This the Arminians will not beleeve for say they the Question is not Whether we are enabled to beleeve by grace but Wheâ—her it be after this manner and by this meanes viz. modo irresistibile Consider therefore these Reasons to cleare this point 1. Whence doth our call and comming to Christ arise but from Gods immoveable and unchangeable purpose the Lord therefore must either alter his purpose or prevail with the soule to beleeve and over-power the heart thereunto 2. Is not Christ Jesus bound by office promise to his Father to bring in all his lost scattered sheep that so the Father and he may be glorified in them Iohn 10.16 Other sheep I have those I must bring home and they shall heare my voice You that complaine you cannot beleeve nay that you have no heart to beleeve the Lord must fetch you in and you shall heare the Bride-groomes voice with joy 3. Is not the act of beleeving wrought by a creating power Eph. 1.9 Eph. 2.10 Esay 57.18 19. I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is near and a far off and is not a creating voice irresistible though there be nothing for it to work upon so though you have no ability heart head or strength to beleeve yet the Lord will create the fruit of the lips of Gods messengers Peace Peace 4. Doth not the Lord let in that infinite and surpassing sweetnesse of grace when he works the soule to beleeve standing in extreame need of that grace that it cannot but come and cleave to it Psal. 63.2 3. I long to see thee saith David for thy loving kindnesse is better then life is it possible for a man not to cleave to his life much more to that which is better then life the light is so cleare it cannot but see and wonder at grace the good is so sweet it cannot but tast and accept what God so freely offers and therefore the poor Canaanitish woman Mat. 15. could not be driven away though Christ bid her in a manner be gone but she made all the objections against her arguments for her as usually faith doth when under this stroake of the Spirit The violent take the Kingdome of heaven by force the Spirit puts a necessity upon them and irresistibly overpowers them and this is the cause
to Christ onely thus their whole soules doe not come 4. If the whole soule by unbeliefe departs from God then the whole soule must return and come again unto God 5. If the want of this be the great cause why men are rejected of God then the whole soule must returne to him but this is the cause why all men under the meanes are rejected of God Israel would none of me i. e. would not be content alone with me would not take quiet contentment in me as the Hebrew word signifies the Lord was not good enough for them but their hearts went out from him to other things therefore the Lord gave them up to their own hearts lust and they walked in their owne counsels The woman that forsakes the guide of her youth and sets her heart as much upon other men as her husband is an Adulteresse for which onely shee shall have a bill of divorce 6. Because as the Gospel first reveales Christ to the mind and then offers him to the will so Faith which runs parallel with the Gospel first sees Christ there the mind one part of the soule goes out then receives Christ gladly there the other part the will goes out and so the whole soule comes to Christ. The Gospel comes to all the elect first in great clearnesse and evidence of the truth of it 1 Thes. 1.5 to which the understanding assents and is perswaded of secondly in great grace and goodnesse surpassing beauty and sweetnesse Lam. 3.24 with which the will is drawn and so the whole soule comes unto Christ for the Gospell is not onely true but glad tidings to all the elect especiall when humbled at Gods feet 1 Tim. 1.15 in whom saith the Apostle Eph. 1.12 13. you beleeved after that yee heard the word of truth there is the object of the understanding the Gospel of your salvation there is the goodnesse of it the object of the will so that the whole soule is drawne to Christ in the work of faith Hee that understands how liberum arbitrium may be in two faculties must not wonder if one grace be seated in both faculties of understanding and will no grace can bee compleatly seated in divers faculties but gradually and imperfectly it may the work of faith is not compleat when the understanding is opened onely to see and wonder at the mysterie of mercy in the Gospel but when the will adheres and claspes about that infinite and surpassing good it sees then it is perfected and not before Iohn 6.40 And this is the reason why saving Faith as it is called doth not look only to a bare testimony and assent unto it as humane faith doth because in the Gospell not only divine truth is propounded to the mind to assent unto but an infinite and eternall good is offered to the heart and will of man to embrace and thence it is that it is not sufficient for a christian to beleeve God or to beleeve Christ but he must also believe in him or else he cannot be saved the object of believing of him being verum or truth the object of the second bonum or good take heed therefore a poore lost sinner undone in its owne eyes for ever not knowing what to doe unlesse it be to lye downe and lye still at Gods feet as worthy of nothing but hell what doth the Lord now doe the Lord Christ by his Gospell first lets in a new light and it sees the Lord Jesus there bleeding before its eyes and held forth as a propitiation to all that believe to all that come to him the mind sees this mystery this exceeding rich grace and free mercy and thinks happy are they that share in this mercy but will the Lord look upon such a nothing as I can such infinite treasures be my portion the Lord therefore calls and bids him come away and enter into the possession of it Thy sins indeed are great saith the Lord yet remember blood-thirsty Manasseh persecuting Paul was pardoned nay remember my grace is free for whose sake I invite thee I beseech thee to come in thy wants indeed are many yet remember that thou hast therefore the more need and more cause to come and that it is I that have made thee empty and poore on purpose that thou mightest come it is true I have an eternall purpose to exclude many thousands from mercy yet my purpose is unchangeable never to cast off any that doe come for it I never did it yet I will not doe it unto thee if thou dost come it is true many may presume yet it is no presumption but duty to obey my great command and it is the greatest sin that ever thou didst or canst commit now to reject it and refuse this grace come therefore poore weary lost undone creature Hereupon the heart and will come and rest and roll themselves upon these bowels and there rest thus the whole soule comes and this I say againe is Faith Iust as it is with the loadstone drawing the iron who would think that iron should be drawn by it but there is a secret vertue comming from the stone which drawes it and so it comes and is united to it so who would think that ever such an iron heavy earthy heart should be drawne unto Christ yet the Lord lets out a secret vertue of truth and sweetnesse from himselfe which drawes the soule to Christ and so it comes May not the consideration of this be of great consolation to those that want assurance and therefore thinke they have no faith oh remember that if thou commest unto Christ as that poor woman of Canaan she had no assurance she should be helped of Christ nay Christ tells her to her teeth that he would not cast childrens bread to such dogs yet she came to him and looked up to free mercy and claspt about him and would not away you will say Was this faith yes our Saviour himselfe professeth it before men and Angels Oh woman great is thy faith Mat. 15.28 So I say unto all you poor creatures whom the Lord hath humbled and made vile in our own eyes unworthy of childrens bread as dogs yet you look up unto and rest upon mercy wiâ—h your whole heart this is precious faith in the account of Christ. But how shall I know when the whole soule comes to Christ When the eye of the soule so sees Christ and the heart so embraceth and resteth upon Christ as that it resteth in Christ as in its portion and all sufficient good many rest upon Christ that doe not rest in him that is that are not abundantly satisfied with him and hence their soules goe out of Christ to other things to perfect their rest and so their hearts are divided between Christ and other things oh feare this saith the Apostle lest there being a promise left us of entring into his rest any of you fall short of it for saith he we that have
soone as he was made but wee need Vocation unto Christ before we can be sanctified by Christ we need this call to make us come to Christ to put us into Christ and therefore much more before we can receive any holinesse from Christ the ground of our coming by faith is Gods call 2 Thes. 2.13 14. chosen to salvation through sanctification the remote end of Vocation and beleefe of the truth the next end of it whereunto he hath called you there is the ground of it The explication of this call is a point full of many spirituall difficulties but of singular use and comfort to them that are faithfull and called I shall omit many things and explicate only those things which serve our purpose here in these three particulars 1. I shall shew you what this call is or the nature of it 2. The necessity of it 3. How it is a ground of coming and what kind of ground for Faith 1. The nature of this Call I shall open for your more distinct understanding in severall Propositions or Theses Our Vocation or Calling is ever by some word or voyce either outward or inward or both either ordinary or extraordinary by the ministery of men or by immediate visions and inspirations of God I speak not now of extraordinary call by dreames and visions and immediate inspirations as in Abraham and others before the Scriptures were penned and published nor of extraordinary call by the immediate voyce of Christ as in Paul and some other of the Apostles for these are ceased now Heb. 1.1 unlesse it be among people that want ordinary meanes and elect infants c. whose call must be more then by ordinary meanes because they want such means we speak now of ordinary call by the ministery of men 2. This voyce in ordinary calling home of the elect to Christ is not by the voyce of the Law for the proper end of that is to reveale sinne and death and to cast down a sinner but by the voyce of the Gospell bringing glad tidings written by the Apostles and preached to the world He hath called you by our Gospell These things are written that you might beleeve By the foolishnesse of preaching the Lord saves them that beleeve I meane preaching at the first or second rebound by lively voyce or printed Sermons at the time of hearing or in the time of deep meditation concerning things heard the Spirit indeed inwardly accompanies the voyce of the Gospell but no mans call is by the immediate voyce of the Spirit without the Gospell or the immediate testimony of the Spirit breathed out of free grace without the word Eph. 1.12 13. And therefore that a Christian should be immediately called without the Scripture and the Scripture only given to confirme Gods immediate promise as a Prince gives his letter to confirme his promise made to a man before as Valdesso would have it is both a false and dangerous assertion This voyce of the Gospell is the voyce of God in Christ or the voyce of Jesus Christ although dispensed by men who are but weak instruments for this mighty work sent set in Christs stead but the call the voice is Christs it s the Lords call Rom. 1.6 it is certaine some of the messengers of Christ called the Romans by the Gospell yet Paul saith they were called of Christ Iesus the dead heare his voyce and arise and live and when the time of calling comes they listen to it as his call and hence it is styled Heb. 3.1 because the Lord Christ from heaven speakes takes the written word into his owne lips as it were Cant. 1.1 2. and thereby piâ—rcâ—th through the eares to the heart through all the noyse of feares sorrowes objections against beleeving and makes it to be heard as his voyce the bowels of Christ now yerne toward an humbled lost sinner bleeding at his feet therefore can contain no longer but speaks and calls and makes the soule understand his voyce so that this call is not a mean businesse because the Lord Jesus himselfe now speaks whose voyce is glorious The substance of this call or the thing the Lord calls unto is to come unto him for there is a more common calling or as some tearme it a particular calling of men as some to be Masters or Servants 1 Cor. 7.24.20 21. or to office in Church or Common-wealth as Aaron Heb 5.4 and the voyce there is to attend unto their work to which they are called There is also a remote end of vocation which is to holinesse 1 Thes. 4.7 and unto glory also 2 Thess. 2.14 Phil. 3.14 but we now speak of more speciall calling the next end of which is to come unto Christ the soule hath lived many yeares without him the Lord Jesus will now have the lost prodigall to come home to come to him the soule is weary and heavy laden and the Lord Jesus could easily ease it without its comming to him but this is his will he must come to him for it Mat. 11.27 Ier. 3.7.22 I said after shee had done these things turne unto me come unto me ye backsliding children I le heale your back-slidings Jer. 4.1 If thou returnest returne unto me This voice Come unto me is one of the sweetest words that Christ can speak or man can heare full of Majesty mercy grace and peace a poor sinner thinks Will the Lord ever put up such wrongs I have offered him heale such a nature take such a viper into his bosome doe any thing for me if there be but one in the world to be forsaken is it not I the Lord therefore comes and calls Come unto mee and I will pardon all thy sins I will heale all thy back-slidings I will be angry no more Jer. 3.12.13 Though thou hast committed whoredome with many lovers yet returne unto me saith the Lord. Ier. 3.1 Though thou hast resisted my Spirit refused my grace wearied me with thine iniquities yet come unto me and this will make me amends I require nothing of thee else but to come for Gods call is out of free grace Gal. 1.6 and therefore calls for no more but only to come up and possesse the Lords fulnesse Luke 14.17 1 Cor. 1.9 This call to come is for substance all one with the offer of Christ which consists in three things 1. Commandement to receive Christ as present and ready to be given to it as when we offer any thing to another it is by commanding them to take it 1 Iohn 4.23 and this binds conscience to beleeve as you will answer for the contempt of this rich grace at the great day of account 2. Perswasion and intreaty to come and receive what we offer for in such an offer wherein the person is unwilling to receive and we are exceedingly desirous to give we then perswade so doth Christ with us 3. Promise to offer a thing without a promise of having it if we receive it is but a
mock-offer and hence you shall find in Scripture some promise ever annexed unto Gods offer which is the ground of faith Ier. 3.22 This call or offer hath three speciall qualifications first it is inward as well as outward for the Lord calls thousands outwardly who yet never come because they want an inward call to come an inward whispering still voyce of Gods Spirit and therefore it is said He that hath heard and learned not of man only but of the Father commeth unto me Iohn 6.45 The Lord doth not stand at the outward doore only and call to open but the Lord Jesus comes in he comes neare unto the very heart of a poor sinner makes that understand Hos. 2.14 and the Lord makes his grace glorious and his mercy sweet unto the hearts of his Elect Look saith the Lord Jesus how I have left thousand thousands in the world and have had greater cause so to have left thee but behold I am come unto thee oh come thou now unto me 2. It is a particular call for there is a generall call and offer of grace to every one Now though this be a meanes to make it particular yet the Spirit of Christ which is wont to apply generalls unto particulars particularly makes the call particular that the soule sees that the Lord in speciall means me singles out me in speciall to beleeve otherwise the soules of the elect will not be much moved with the call of God so long as they think the Lord offers no more mercy to me then to any reprobate and therefore the Spirit of Christ makes the call particular Esay 43.1 I have called thee by name Iohn 10.5 He calleth all his sheep by name not that the Lord calls any by their christen name as we say as the Lord did extraordinarily call Samuel Samuel and Paul Paul but the meaning is look as the Lord from before all world 's writ down their names in the book of life and loves them in speciall so in Vocation the first opening of Election the Lord makes his offer and call special and so speciall as if it were by name for the soule at this instant feeles such a speciall stirring of the spirit upon it which it feels now and never felt before as also its particular case so spoken unto and its particular objections so answered and the grievousnesse of its sinne in refusing grace so particularly applyed as if God the onely searcher of hearts onely spake unto it and so dares not but thinke and beleeve that the Lord meaneth mee 3. It is effectuall as well as inward and particular Luk. 14.23 Compell them to come in Iohn 10.16 Christs other sheep shall heare Christs voice and those he must bring home for every inward call is not effectuall There came a man in without his wedding garment Mat. 22.6 7 8. whence our Saviour saith Many are called but few chosen but this I now speak of is a calling out of purpose Rom. 8.28 and therefore never leaves the soule untill it hath reall possession of Christ and rests there this call falls upon a sinner humbled not hard hearted hence the call is effectuall Mat. 9.12 13. 2 Chron. 30.10 11. it is such a call as was in creation Rom. 4.17 And hence the soule cannot but come and when t is come it cannot depart like Peter Lord whither should we goe and therefore though it hath never so many objections in comming to Christ never so much weaknesse or heartlesnesse to close with Christ yet the Lord brings it home and there keeps it and now it infinitely blesseth God that ever the Lord gave it an eye to see an heart to come and seek after Jesus Christ. Thus much of the nature of this Call now follows the necessity of it which appears in these three particulars 1. No man should come unlesse first called as it is in calling to an ordinary office so t is in our calling much more unto speciall grace the Apostle saith Heb. 5.4 that No man takes this honour but he that is called of God so what hath any man to doe with Christ to make himselfe a sonne of God and heire of glory thereby but he that is called of God what have we to doe to take other mens goods unlesse called thereto what have we to doe to take the riches of grace and peace if not called thereto t is presumption to take Christ whiles uncalled but not when you are called thereunto 2. Because no man would come without the Lords call Mat. 20.6 7. Why stand you here all the day idle The answer was No man hath hired or called us thereto When there is an outward call onely yet men will not come in Mat. 23.37 and therefore there must be an effectuall call to bring men home Esay 55.5 and therefore you shall see many let there be a legall command suppose to sanctifie a Sabbath or to speak the truth they have no objections against obedience unto this but presse them to beleeve shew them Gods call for it they have more feares and objections rising against this then there be haires on their head because the soul would not close with this 3. Because no man could come unlesse called Iohn 6.44 No man can come to me unlesse the Father draw him and how doth the Father draw any man but by this call if the Lord should not come and speak himselfe and make his call the most joyfull tidings and the sweetest message that ever came to it it would say I have no heart I cannot I am not able for Rom. 11.32 wee are shut up under unbeliefe and therefore the Lord Jesus Luke 15.5 must bring his sheep home upon his shoulders else it will dye in the wildernesse of its own droopings whereas when the Lord effectually speaks the soul cannot but come Lastly how this call is a ground of faith and what ground of faith For answer hereunto I doe not make this call considered without the promise the ground on which Faith rests for that is Gods free grace in the promise but the ground by which it rests or wherefore it rests upon the promise The mind sees 1. the freenesse of mercy to a poore sinner in misery and this breeds some hope the Lord may pitty it 2. The fulnesse and plenteous riches of mercy and this gives very great encouragement to the soule to think The Lord if I come to him surely will not deny me a drop Psal. 130.7 8. The Prodigall comes home because of bread enough in his fathers house though he was not certaine he should have any 3. The preciousnesse and sweetnesse of mercy makes the soule long vehemently for it Psal. 36.6 7. and makes it set all other things at a low rate to enjoy it but when unto all this the Lord sends a speciall commandement a speciall message on purpose and calls it to come in and accept of it and take mercy as its own and that for no
other reason but because it is commanded and called to accept of it this puts an end unto all doubts all feares all discouragements and the soule answers as those Ier. 3.22 Behold we come for thou art the Lord our God As a man in great want of bread one comes and freely offers him bread to preserve his life the man takes it if you aske him Why doe you take it you are a poore fellow unworthy of it never did yet one houres work for it he answers T is true I am unworthy but yet because it is offered to me to preserve life I gladly take it the man doth not promise absolutely to me that this bread is mine and shall feed me but he tels me if I doe receive it it shall certainly be mine to feed me and this is the main ground of his receiving of it Just so it is in Faith Aske an humbled sinner Why doe you beleeve Why doe you take Christ as your owne Hath the Lord said absolutely that he is yours No saith the soule but the Lord freely offers himselfe unto me who am undone without him and saith if I doe receive him he shall be for ever mine to give life to me and therefore I thankfully accept of him this is the ground of Faith The Scripture sets out this in a lively similitude of a great Supper to which many were invited what was the ground of their comming to it Behold all things are ready if you come and eate they are not yours if you doe not come but if you come at my call and invitation then all things shall be yours And hence it is that they that came not were excluded they that came were received with welcome I know t is a question of some difficulty among some viz. Whether an absolute testimony of actuall favour and justification be not the first ground of Faith They that make Faith to be an absolute assurance of Gods favour must of necessity maintain this assertion and then these things will follow 1. That a Christian must be justified before he beleeve for the cause of Faith must goe before Faith This proposition Thou art justified reconciled is according to this assertion the cause of faith for no proposition can therefore be true because we are perswaded that it is true but it must be first true before I am perswaded of it the wall is not white because my eye sees it so but it must first be white and then I see it so Now to make actuall justification before faith is crosse to the whole current of Scripture We beleeve that we might be justified Gal. 2.16 we are not justified that we might beleeve We passe from death to life by faith Iohn 5.24 we are not in a state of life before faith When the Lord Iesus saw their faith Mat. 9.2 he then said Be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiven thee The Word saith He that beleeveth not is condemned already Iohn 3.18 and therefore unlesse the Spirits witnesse be crosse to the Word it doth not say to one that beleeveth not that he is absolved already To be justified by faith and to be justified by Christs righteousnesse is all one in the Scriptures phrase and meaning Gal. 2.16 17. Add therefore we may as well say that we are justified before and without Christ as before and without faith And indeed this doctrine of being justified by faith and by this meanes to have remission of sinnes the Apostle Peter affirms to be the doctrine of all the Prophets Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witnesse that whosoever beleeve in him shall receive remission of sinnes not that they had remission of sinnes before they did beleeve I know not any one Protestant Writer that maintaines our justification before and without faith except learned Chamier who not knowing how to avoid the blow of Bellarmines horned argument that if Faith be an assurance of our actuall justification then we are first justified before we beleeve he affirmes we are justified before faith and therefore that when the Scripture saith we are justified by faith the reason of that saith he is not because our faith doth efficere justificationem i. e. is a cause meaning instrumentall of our justification but because efficitur in justificato i. e. is wrought in a justified person but if that be the reason of the phrase we may affirme our justification to be as well by love and sanctification and holy obedience as by faith because these are wrought in a justified person also Then no mans ministry nor the doctrine delivered by the faithful Ministers of Christ froÌ„ out of the Scriptures can be any ground of faith for before faith no Minister of Christ can say to any man in particular or any men in generall that they are already justified and reconciled and therefore beleeve it but to deny that doctrine which is opened out of the Scriptures by the Ministers of Christ to be the ground of Faith is expresly crosse to the testimony of Scriptures and the end of the Ministery and of the messengers of Christ who have the keyes of office given to them that what they bind on earth is bound in heaven what they loose on earth is loosed in heaven whose sins they remit they are forgiven whose sins they retain they are retained Mat. 16.16 Ioh. 20.23 Most excellent for this purpose is the Apostles dispute Rom. 10. You need not go up to heaven nor down to hell to fetch Christ himselfe to tell you whether you shall be justified and saved ver 6 7. For the word is nigh them verse 8. that opens Christs heart unto thy heart But what word might some say is this Is it not the internall word of the Spirit onely The Apostle answers It is that word which we preach hereby you shall know whether you shall live or no but what is that word Paul preached is it not an absolute testimony that all your sins are already pardoned by Christ and therefore beleeve it No but If thou beleevest with thine heart that God raised up Christ from the dead thou shalt be saved vers 9.11 12. What can be more full yet consider tâ—at one place more Iohn 17.20 I pray for all them that shall beleeve on me through their word What is the ground or meanes of beleeving in Christ It is said here expresly Their word Is it not the word of Christ rather then the word of the Apostles and of their successors in the doctrine they delivered is it their word Truly that which thâ—y delivered was the word of Christ and that which is opened from their doctrine in the Scriptures is the word of Christ yet as they open it and apply it so t is their word and this Word is the ground by which all that Christ prayes for doe beleeve in Christ the bare Word I grant cannot perswade without the Spirit yet the Spirit will not give ground to Faith without the Word but as
18 19. thou shouldst please him and as it were make him amends for all the wrongs thou hast done him by coming to him Heb. 11.5 6 7. 2. This aggravates all other sins If I had not spake to them saith Christ they had had no sin i. e. comparatively but now they have no cloak for their sin can the sin of devills be so great as thine that nâ—ver had a Saviour sent unto them yet thou hast one sent and come out of heaven to thee calling to thee from heaven and yet thou despisest him 3. This provokes the Lord to most unappeasable unquenchable wrath Heb. 3.11 I sware in my wrath they should not enter into my rest after sins against the Law the Lord did not sweare that man should dye for that notes an unchangeable purpose but let Christ be despised the Lord now sweares in his wrath against such a one he that drawes back my soule shall take no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 after sin against the law the Lord took pleasure in glorifying his grace upon man fallen but if you draw back from the grace of Christ in the Gospell the Lord will take no pleasure in you 4. It provokes the sorest and most unsupportable wrath Take heed you despise not him that speaketh for if they did not escape who refused him that spake on earth much lesse shall we that despise him that speakes from heaven Heb. 12.25 Take heed therefore you despise not him that speaketh the word despise signifies in the originall to despise or refuse upon some colour of reason every man hath some seeming reason against beleeving one thinks time is past another thinks he is excluded by some antecedent dâ—cree of election another thinks he is not humbled nor holy enough another makes excuse not by pretending his Ale-house and Whore-house but his Farme and Merchandize Mat. 22. another thinks he is well enough without Christ c. Oh take heed for the wrath of God most intolerable is your portion the lowest dungeon of darknesse is tâ—y place in hell for this sin Hear ye despisers and wonder for I will worke saith the Lord a worke in your dayes which you shall not beleeve though it be told you Acts 13.41 I pray you what is this worke certainly a work of wrath and vengeance but what is it you will not beleeve though you be told of it oh you secure sinners but what is it that they will not beleeve nay truly the Lord himselfe is silent there and saith nothing as if it was so great and dreadfull that the glorious Lord himselfe is not able to expresse it and truly no more am I oh therfore be not worse then that generation of Vipers that camâ— in to Iohn because some had forwarnd them to escape the wrath to come Mat. 3. but come unto a Saviour that you may be ever blessed with him But you will say How should we come to him Come to him mourning and loathing your selves for your long continuance in refusing of him Ier. 31.9 Ezek. 6.9 come mourning for all thy sinnes but especially for this that thou hast slighted him and not sought him shed his blood rent his bowels and if thou canst not come yet come to him and make thy moane to him of thy unbeleefe and inability to come Come with confidence that they that doe come he will never cast away and that thou being come he will never cast thee away Iohn 6.37 Heb. 10.22 Come gladly and willingly glorifying his grace but abasing thy selfe With gladnesse shall they be brought and enter into the Kings presence Psal. 45.15 doe not receive Gods grace as a common thing but thankfully and with all thy heart for the end why the Lord gives Christ to any man is the glory of his grace if the Lord attaines this end he desires no more for why should he when he hath his end Doe not come and tast but come and drinke Iohn 7.37 you may famish to death and pine away in your iniquities and prove Apostates even to commit the impardonable sin if you doe but tast of him as those did Heb. 6.4 5. but drinke abundantly Oh ye beloved of the Lord Cant. 5.1 If you cannot satisfie your soules by what you feel already received from him then satiate your soules by what you may find in him Isay 45.24 take possession of all the grace glory peace promises of the Lord Jesus and leave not a hoofe behind thee and be for ever refreshed and comforted therein So come to him as that you keep your confidence and keep your savour of him and joy in him Heb. 3.14 with 6. let the word that called you be ever sweet precious as David said Psal. 119.53 I will never forget thy Precepts for by them thou hast quickned me Let the Lord Jesus be ever fresh Heb. 3.6 and as an oyntment powred out take â—eed that the blood wherewith you are sanctified doe not grow a common thing and promises withered flowers and Sermons of Christ and his grace unlesse there be some new notions about them as dead drinke for this is the great sin of this age the old truths about the grace of Christ and the simplicity of the Gospell is as water in mens shoes Ministers must preach novelties and make quintessentiall extracts out of the Scriptures and it may be presse blood out of them sometime rather then milke or else their doctrines are to many as Almanacks out of date or as newes they heard seven yeares since and they knew this before Oh the wrath of God upon this God-glutted Christ-glutted Gospell-glutted age unlesse it be among a very few poore beleevers whose soules are kept empty poore and hungry by some continuall temptations or afflictions and they are indeed glad of any thing if it be any thing of Christ Verily I am afraid such a dismal night is towards of spirituall desertions and of outward but sore afflictions of famin war blood mortality deaths of Gods precious servants especially that the Lord will fill the hearts of all Churches families Christians that shall be saved in those times with such rendings tearings shakings anguish of spirit as scarce never more in the worst dayes of our fore-fathers and that this shall continue untill the remnant that escape shall say Blessed be he that commeth in the name of the Lord bessed bee the face and feet of that Minister that shall come unto us in Christs name and tell us that there is a Saviour for sinners and that he calls us for to come And thus I have done with this Divine truth viz. That the Lord Jesus in the day of his power saves us out of our wretched and sinfull estate by so much conviction as begets compunction so much compunction as brings in humiliation so much humiliation as makes us to come to Christ by Faith CHAP. 2. That every sinner thus beleeving in Christ is at that instant translated into a most
that he came out of hâ—s Fathers bosome for thee wept for thee bled for thee powred out his life nay his soule to death for thee is now risen for thee gone to heaven for thee sits at Gods right hand and rules all the world for thee makes intercession continually for thee and at the end of the world will come againe for thee who hast loved him here that thou mightest live for ever with him then But is this our life in these evill and luke-warme times How many bee there that beleeve in Christ that they may live as they list If to drink and whore and scoffe and blaspheme if to shake a lock and follow every fond fashion if to crosse and cringe before a piece of wood if to be weary of the Word and outwardly zealous for long prayers if to seek for purity of ordinances in Churches and to maintain impurity in hearts in shops in families if to set our hearts upon Farmes and Merchandizes and so to bee covetous if to set up our owne selves and parts and gifts with a secret disdaine of Gods Ministers if to cry downe learning and set up ignorance if to set up Christ and destroy sanctification and obedience if to be a sect-master of some odde opinions if to cracke the nut of some superlunary and Monkish notions and high-flown speculations if to heare much and do little if to have a name to 〈◊〉 and yet dead at the heart if this be to liâ—e the life of love we have many that live this life the Lord Jesus wants not love if this be to love But oh woe unto you if you thus requite the Lord foolish people and unwise The Lord knowes we may complaine as Paul did Every man minds his owne things and none the things of Iesus Christ none in comparison of that huge number that thinke they are religious enough if they be baptized and say that they beleeve in Jesus Christ verily the time drawes neere wherein the Lord will come for fruits from his Vineyard and if he findes it not assuredly he will not be beholding to us for obedience he can raise his glory out of other people and there carry his Gospel to them who shall bring forth the fruits of it the Lord will shortly lay his axe unto the root of our tree and if wee will not serve the Lord in this good Land in the abundance of peace and mercy we shall serve our enemies in hunger cold and nakednesse if we will not serve him in love we must serve our enemies in feare doe not think that the Lord will bee put off with venerable names and titles shadowes and pictures what is most mens profession at this day but a meer paint which may serve to colour them while they live but will never comfort them unlesse conscience bee asleep when they come to dye Oh â—yâ—e heed of such formality I can never think enough of Davids expression Psal. 119.167 I have kept thy Commandements and I love them exceedingly should he not have said first I have loved thy Commandements and so have kept them Doubtlesse hee did so but he ran here in a holy and most heavenly circle I have kept them and loved them and loved them and kept them if we love Christ we also shall live such a life of love in our measure and his Commandements will be most deare when himselfe is most precious FINIS A TABLE OF the principall Contents A. ADoption what it is pag. 280 The manner thereof 282 B. Beleevers in a blessed condition 251 C. Conviction of sinne wrought in every Beleever 6 What that sin is which the Lord first convinceth of 9 How the Lord doth convince the soule of sinne 23 What measure and degree of conviction God workes in all his 32 Conviction of sin to be first preached 34 96 A sad thing to stand out against conviction 36 Meanes of conviction 39 Compunction immediately followes conviction 45 The Necessity thereof 48 Rules observable about compunction 49 Wherein it doth consist 65 What measure of compunction God workes in the Elect. 84 How and where the Soule should come to Christ. 177 Meanes of enabling the Soule to come to Christ. 239 In what manner we should come to him 248 E. What evill in sinne God most affects the heart withall 89 A three-fold evill of sinne 91 F. Feare of Gods displeasure necessary to conversion and wherein it consists 66 The nature of Faith 156 The efficient cause thereof 163 The subject matter of Faith 173 The Forme thereof 178 The end of Faith 198 The ground and meanes of Faith 215 How to discern Faith from presumption 169 Whether an absolute testimony of actuall favor and justification be not the first ground of Faith 227 G. Glorification what it is 313 Greatnesse of mens sinne in not comming to Christ. 246 H. Humiliation for sinne what it is 125 What need there is of it 126 What meanes the Lord useth to worke this 129 What measure of Humiliation is necessary 138 Wherein to expresse Humiliation 150 I. A Christian is not justified before faith is sought 107 Sanctification does not goe before justification 109 What true justification is 253 Who is it that justifieth and why 256 The meanes whereby the Father justifieth 257 Who are the persons the Lord doth justifie 261 L. Loosening from sinne how wrought in the soule 88 A life of Love requisite in beleevers 328 The life of Love appears in 5. things 338 The Law not to be slighted 334 P. How Christ doth save by his Power 4 Audience of Prayers a speciall priviledge 305 What are those Prayers that Christ will hear 306 Why God heareth Prayers 311 R. A double Resistance of grace in men 100 Regenerate and unregenerate how differenced 194 Reconciliation with God wherein it consists 274 S. What is it to see sinne 43 Sense of Mercy cannot turn a soule to Christ without the Sight of sinne 59 Sorrow for sinne accompanies Conversion wherein it consists 73 Separation from sin wrought in Beleevers 82 What true Sanctification is 289 The benefits thereof 294 V. Union unto Christ goes before Communion with him 101 Whether Vocation doth not goe before Iustification 102 Vocation is not all one with Sanctification 113 The nature of true Vocation 217 The necessity thereof 224 How it is a ground of Faith 225 W. The Whole soul goes to Christ in conversion 183 How to know when the Whole soule comes to Christ. 190 FINIS See the Sincere Convert Quest. Answ. Quest. Ans. Con. 1. Rom. 3. Quest. Answ. What those particular sinnes are which the Lord convinces men of in theiâ— conversioâ—â— â—on 2. â— Con. 3. Answ. Luk. 19 4â— Esay 6.9 How God gives a reall sight of sinnes Hâ—s 4.4 Psal. 51.3 Lam. 3.51 Job 33.16 17. Vse 1. Lam. 2.14 Prov. 1.23 Vse 2. Psal. 36.2 Vse 3. 1. Help 2. Help 3. Help 2 Cor. 5.10 Vse 4. 1 Sam. 25.32 33. Joh. 16.7 Levit. 19.17 Obj. Ans. 1. 2. 3. â—onah 3.5 Answ. 1. Rule 2. Rule 3. Rule 4. Rule 5. Rule 6. Rule 7. Rule 8. Rule Joh. 16.20 Hos. 6.1 2 3. Reas. 1. 2 Cor. 7.10 1 Cor. 5.2 1 Cor. 15.17 Pro. 28.13 Obj. Ans. 1. 2. Cor. 7.1 2. Reas. 2. Mat. 9.21 Jer. 2.31 Luke 14. Luke 15.17 Ram. 5.6 7 8. Col. 3.7 2 Cor. 5.14 Reas. 3. Mat. 9.13 Luk. 4.18 Luk. 15 7. Reas. 4. Quest. Answ. Acts 9.6 Acts 16. Psal. 10.5 Acts 16. Psal. 9.20 Rom. 8.15 Amos 3.8 Luk. 23.40 Judg. 2.1 Jer. 31.18 Hos. 6.1 2. Zach. 12.11 Cap. 13.1 Eccles. 7.26 Psal. 38.1 â— Prov. 18.14 Psal. 32.2 3. Psal. 40.12 Jer. 31.19 Daâ— 9.12 Jer. 3. ult Matth. 10.37 Hos. 6.1 2. Psal. 51.8 2 Chron. 53.11 12. Lam. 3.44 Psal. 39.10 11. Esay 5.8.5 Esay 58.5 Prov. 28.13 Jâ—b 33.15 16 17. Answ. Hos 6.1 Joh. 5.40 Quest. Answ. Jer. 8.11 Quest. Answ. Mat. 10.37 Acts 3.26 Quest. Answ. Luk. 15.7 Esay 33.6 Heb 7.25 Esay 56.8 Vse 1. 1. Cons. Scho. orth Spec. cap. 30 31 32. 2. Cons. 3. Cons. 4. Cons. 5. Cons. Jer. 4.3 4. Vind. grat p. 7 11 13 John 14.3 4 5. Gal. 2.20 Vse 2. Vse 3. Esa. 43.4 Vse 4 Jer. 30.15 Esay 57.16 Answ. Answ. Phil. 3.7 Gal. 2.19 Answ. Rom. 7.9 10 11. Lam 1.16 1 Cor. 11.31 Levit. 10.3 Answ. Vse 1 Vse 2. Quest. Answ. 1. 2. Vse 3. Deut. 6.19 4. Answ. Rom. 10.9 10. Rom. 8.28 Ps. 36.7 Object Answ. 1. 2. 3 Acts 10.43 1 Pet. 1.8 John 6.64.65 Heb. 4.18 19 20. Object Answ. Heb. 11.11 Esay 55.1 2. Mat. 21.28 Psal. 62.5 Psal. 81.12 13. Quest. Answ. Heb. 4.1 Object Answ. Ps. 116.7 Eph. 3.14 18. Object Answ. Ps. 25.11 31.9 Psal. 40.11 12. Hos. 6.1 2 Obj. 1. Answ. Hos. 6.2 3. Rom. 1.17 Rom 8.30 1 Pet. 2.9 2 Thes. 2.14 Joh. 20.31 1 Cor. 1.21 with 26 Joh. 5.29 2 Thess. 2.12 13. Isay 55.1 2. 2 Cor. 5.19 20. Mark 16.15 Luc. 14 17 Vse Joh. 1â— 22 Answ. 1. 2. 3. Act. 2.39 13.47 4. 5. Quest. Answ. Quest. 1 Answ. 2. Answ. 3. Answ. Esay 43.25 4. Answ. 2 Cor. 5.20 5. Answ. 6. Answ. Rom. 4.5 Esa. 4.1 2. Isa. 54.10 1 Cor. 3.22 Isa. 56.5 Mat. 6.31 32. Rom. 8.14 Tit. 3.5 2 Cor. 5.17 Rom. 2.28 2. 1 Pet. 1.14.15.16 Act. 9.31 Mic. 4.5 Deut. 18.18 19. Col. 3.3 Rev. 4.10 11. Prov. 3.17 Quest. Answ.
by it so upon it will build the souls of all the elect who are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ being the chief corner-stone Eph. 2.20 How can they beleeve without a Preacher Rom. 10.14 3. Then when wicked men and reprobates are commanded to beleeve as they are commanded Iohn 3.19 Luk. 14.17 Iohn 6.38 Heb. 4.2 they are commanded to beleeve a lye viz. that their sinnes are pardoned and they actually justified for if this testimony be the ground of faith then when they are commanded to beleeve they are commanded to be perswaded of this testimony But the sinnes of wicked men especially Reprobates are not nor never shall be forgiven and therefore this cannot be the ground of Faith 4. Then the Spirit of adoption which witnesseth that God is our Father and that we are his sonnes reconciled to him goes before faith but the Apostle expresly denyes this Ye are the children of God by faith Gal. 3.26 And because ye are sonnes he hath sent unto you the spirit of sonnes crying Abba Father Gal. 4.6 5. If such a testimony should be the first ground of faith then no man should beleeve but he that hath such a testimony antecedent to his faith but this is crosse to the Scripture Esay 50.10 He that sits in darknesse and sees no light let him stay himselfe upon his God When Ionah is cast out of Gods sight to his owne feeling yet he is bound to look againe unto the Temple 6. This absolute testimony is either the testimony of the Word or of the Spirit Not of the Word as is proved If of the Spirit then let it be considered whether that can be the testimony of the Spirit which is not according to the Word nay contâ—ary to the Word for the Word to say none are justified before faith for the Spirit to testifie some are justified before faith If it be said that the Spirit doth not witnesse these to any man before and without faith but yet it is without respect unto or shewing a man his faith for those that exclude Sanctification from being any evidence they meane Faith as well as any other renewed work of holines and so exclude that also then I say the testimony of the Spirit which of it selfe is exceeding cleare is an obscure and dark testimony because it cleares up the praedicate of this Proposition thou beleever art justified it witnesseth to a man thou art justified but cleares not up the subject of it viz. thou beleever it makes a man beleeve a testimony without understanding the full meaning of it for the Spirit testifying to any man thou art justified his meaning is thou beleever art justified and I doe beseech the God and Father of all lights that his poore people may be led into the truth in this particular for want of establishment here you little think how many delusions you may fall into about your spirituall condition I remember that when Satan came to overthrow the Faith of Christ in his second temptation Mat. 4.6 he brought a promise out of the Scriptures to him because he saw hee held close to them verse 4. and by this promise sought to lead him into temptation how so observe the text and see if it was not by hiding part of the meaning of the promise from him and in speciall that very condition required in the person to whom the promise is made for he tells him that if he cast himselfe downe headlong the Lord hath not only said it but writ it He shall give his Angells charge over him to keep him from dashing his foot against a stone whereas if you consult with the place whence it is cited viz. Psalme 91.11 The condition is set downe in all thy wayes which hee purposely hides from our Saviour as much as in him lay Oh take heed therefore of receiving any testimony from Word or Spirit without the meaning of it without knowing the person thus and thus qualified to whom it belongs otherwise Satan will hurry you headlong to a world of delusions and you shall find the word of God appointed to direct you through your mis-application of it the word of Satan to deceive and damne you doe not think that this is building faith upon works but to beleeve that they that believe in Christ are justified reconciled and saved is building faith upon Gods promise yea and his free promise too for saith the Apostle It is of faith that it might be of grace Rom. 4.16 It is believing to have the end by the meanes not the end without the mean of Faith It is true we may see Gods favour and love to us in the cause as well as in the effects of sanctification but what is that cause the meritorious cause is Christs righteousnesse and the instrumentall cause of applying this is our Faith so that as we are justified by faith so seeing this we may say assuredly with Paul Being justified by faith wee have peace with God Rom. 5.1 It is true we cannot see our justification by saith nor the work of Faith without the shining of the Spirit into our hearts but the question is not whether the Spirit helps us to see our justified estate but by what meanes by what Proposition in the word wee come to see it which we say is not by any such absolute testimony thou art justified already and therefore believe but if thou believe and come to Christ here is then pardon of sinne peace with God yea all the blessings of Christ ready for thee which God intends to give and never to take away if thou thankfully receive what God freely offers and as it were layes downe at thy feet The call of Christ therefore is the ground by which wee first believe and that you may be confirmed farther herein doe but consider the glory and excellency of this ground It is a constant ground of faith for if you come to Christ because you have assurance or because you feel such and such graces and heavenly impressions of Gods Spirit in you you may then many a day and yeare keep at a distance from Christ and live without Christ for the feeling of graces and assurance of favour are not constant but this call is alway sounding in thine yeares oh come not only because thou feelest holinesse in thee but come because poore hungry empty naked lost blind cursed forsaken full of sin there is not one moment of the day of grace but the Lord beseecheth thee to receive his grace 2 Cor. 6.1 2 3. this is an open door to Christ at all times an open harbour to put in at in all storms a heart-breaking word oh thou tossed with tempests and not comforted come unto me and thou shalt find rest to thy soule Many aske how should I come to Christ seeing that I have no promise belonging to me what have dogges to doe with childrens bread be it so yet Gods call command beseechings to come in