haste hee makes haste to use the means but he is content to stay till the Lord please because he knowes the Lord onely must doe it and if the heart bee given to murmure and repine saying I pray and the Lord doth not answer I have grapled with my sinne and the Lord subdues it not now faith saith we must goe to God for mercy that hee may order all our occasions and wee must not order Gods grace according to our humours but the Lord seemes to frowne upon the soule and to reject the prayers of a poore sinner and to beat him away from the doore as the Lord Christ did when hee called the woman a dog yet faith will bring on the heart still and it will be sure to lye at the gate and it keepes the soule with the promise what ever befals it as Psal 119. Mine eyes failed for looking up for thy word Oh when wilt thou comfort me his heart and all failed him and yet he would looke towards heaven Oh saith he when will this sinfull soule be humbled and this distressed conscience pacified hee would looke towards heaven till hee had no heart and therefore excellent is that passage Genes 32.36 when the Lord and Iacob were wrestling and the Lord would have beene gone Iacob said I will not let thee goe untill thou hast blessed mee so the faithfull soule layes hold upon the Lord for mercy pardon power and grace and though the Lord seeme to give him up to the torment of sinne and corruption yet the soule saith though my soule goe downe to hell yet I will hold here for mercy till the Lord comfort and pardon and subdue graciously these cursed corruptions which I am not able to master my selfe As it is with a sun-diall the nature of the direction is this the needle is ever moving and a man may jog it another way yet it will never stand still till it come to the north-point so when the Lord leaves off a beleeving heart with frownes and with the expression of displeasure yet the soule turnes to the Lord Christ and will never leave till it goe God-ward and Christ-ward and grace-ward and saith let the Lord doe what he please I will goe no further till hee bee pleased to shew mercy then the issue is this faith goes out to Christ it layes hold upon Christ and layes the weight of all upon Christ and drawes vertue from Christ and it leaves the soule with the promise and this is in every faithfull soule under heaven howsoever the sense is taken away if the soule once come to Christ it will never away but ever cleaves to the promise and is towards God and Christ whatsoever befall it Part of the doctr 4 The fourth and last part of the doctrine is this First as the soule must be humbled and enlightened Secondly as it is effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father And thirdly as by the power of this perswasion it casts it selfe upon the freenesse of Gods grace so in the last place the soule comes to bee furnished with all spirituall wants and the supply thereof and this containes the finall cause and that discovers the good and benefit which comes from faith First to open it in generall and then to come to some particulars In the generall observe thus much a poore sinner having fallen from God and departed from him he goes away from God and all goodnesse at that one stroake he that goes away from God the God of all strength must needs be weake and he that goes from the God of wisdome folly must needs possesse him because God is the God of all wisdome and all wisdome must be from him and hee that goes from God goes from life and happinesse therefore death and cursednesse must needs seize upon â—im now hee that hath gone from God hath gone from all these and therefore he is full of nothing but wants miseries and troubles and vexaâ—ions that are come in upon him and overwhelme him Now faith is appointed as that only meanes whereby the soule may bee succoured and the heart furnished anew and it is faith that doth all these and this is the excellencie of faith and the good of it and the benefit that belongeth to faith in a peculiar manner above all other graces in the world now that yee may see how faith suits a man with all graces take notice that there are three wayes whereby the heart went away from God and the spirituall wants which by this meanes befell the soule 3. Sorts of spir wants are three all which faith supplies to the soule answerably The first and great want of the soule is this it is gone away from God and the Lord is a stranger to it it was made for God and to have communication with God but now it is gone from God and God from it there are now many controversies betweene the Lord and the soule this is the great want and this brings in all the rest now faith supplies succour and answers to these necessities faith bringeth the soule againe to God and the soule to have a nearer union and more inward fellowship with God than ever it had thus the soule being an enemy to God and God an enemy to it and God being a stranger to the soule and the soule being a stranger to the Lord now faith doth this it pitcheth the soule and makes the soule of a poore sinner to fall upon the very Deity and essence of God firstly and upon all the three whole persons as some Divines that are now with the Lord leaving a remembrance behinde them have interpreted it which phrase the Septuagints never used as they are observed for it is one thing to beleeve that there is a God and another thing to beleeve into God faith fasteâ—â— upon the Godhead firstly as 2 Corin. 6.11 where the Apostle saith Hee that joyneth himselfe to an harlot is one body but hee that joyneth himselfe to the Lord is one spirit the Spirit of God sets a frame of soule upon the poore sinner that it flings it selfe upon God that which firstly must be the object of faith that faith must firstly rest upon as that which is able to give that succour which it wants now because God only is infinite he alone is able to succour a man according to his wants therefore faith must first goe to him we need pardon and therefore faith goes to God who only is able to pardon and we need power and faith goes to God who is able to succour us thus it is an infinite God only that must create this power in us and therefore nothing but God must firstly be beleeved in we beleeve in the promise because God is there and because â—n the promise only wee finde a fulnesse of sufficiencie to supply what ever wee want or need therefore why should faith goe to any thing else now nothing can save a man but God infinit and therefore faith goes to
another poore heart cheared yet thy unfaithfull heart is like a barren heath no good shall come to thee in it there is no mercy nor consolation for that soule in all the meanes that God continues and vouchsafes this is the maine cause of all the inconveniences that come upon us that after all the meanes continued and multiplied there is almost no good at all done every family is 〈◊〉 a barren heath there is no good comes to such a childe nor to such a servant they are all infidels I doe not meane Pagans but unbeleevers and they receive not that mercy which Christ offers nay it is just that it should bee so that thou shouldst never get good though all the Angels from heaven should come and reveale Gods minde and though all the Devils should come from hell to terrifie thee because unbeleefe drawes away thy heart and pluckes away the soule and makes the power of the truth not to prevaile with it so that when the Lord would come in upon the heart unbeleefe pulls away the heart from the truth of God Rom. 11.20 The Iewes were broken off because of unbeleefe they were cut off from bâ—ing Gods people and from enjoying the meanes of grace that when the Lord would lay hold upon a poore soule unbeleefe plucks the soule from the word that it may turne from it Quest But some will say if unbeleefe makes all meanes unprofitable then an unbeleever should use no meanes at all Answ I answer Yes use all the meanes as may be because the word may take away thy unbeleefe and as thou usest all meanes so labour to have thy heart subdued and overmastered the word tampers thy tongue and thy fingers but looke thou up to the Lord and say Good Lord let thy word be powerfull to come in upon my heart and to take away my unbeleefe Thirdly it is unbeleefe that maintaines all sinne in the heart of a sinner in the strength and power of it so much as may be in this case unbeleefe is the mother of all corruptions and breeds many it nurseth and nourisheth them so that they are fat and well liking and they come up marvellous well that 's the meaning of the Apostles phrase 2 Thess 3.2 That we may be delivered from the hands of unreasonable and absurd men how came they to bee so because all men have not faith that is he that wants faith will never want him and he that wants faith will ever be unreasonable and absurd drunkennesse stares men in the face and out-faces the officers and contempt of God and prophanation of the Lords day and the world carries all before them as if they were the only commanders of the world what 's the reason of it all men have not faith they doe not beleeve the word of God that condemneth those sinnes and which would direct them to cast away those sinnes and therefore they goe on with marvellous violence let the word of God come in publike or private they make nothing of all these but they will have their owne wayes I use to call unbeleefe the protectour of the estate of corruption as it is with some lower states and princes as in the Low-countries and in Germany they are not able to subsist of themselves and therefore they are in league with some other that they may be protected by them and receive succour from them and if they defend them they hope to make their parts good with any so this unbeleefe maintaines any sinne good in its rank and state indeed restraining grace may curbe corruption and keepe in the distempers of the heart but there is nothing that can kill corruption but onely the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of his grace Rom. 8.2 The law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Iesus hath freed mee from the law of sinne and of death sinne sets up a law and rules in the heart as you shall finde it in your owne hearts pride saith you shall bee proud there is a soveraigne rule and a tyranicall authority which pride expresseth in the heart now the Spirit of the Lord Iesus sets up another law and there is more commanding power in that than in the corruption of the soule and the law of the Spirit taketh away the power of sinne that would prevaile against a poore sinner the law of meeknesse in Christ takes away the law of anger in the heart and the law of patience in Christ takes away the law of impatience and the law of courage takes away the law of cowardize and the law of chastity takes a way the power of uncleannesse so that there is no sinne can be subdued but by the power of Christ and the work of his Spirit now unbeleefe keepes the heart wholly from Christ therefore it can receive no good from Christ and from hence it is that all sinne is maintained in the soule in the full vigour of it there is no unbeleever in all the world but he hath all sinne strongly in him and not one sinne that ever was slaine it is strange to see when unbeleefe previles but a little in the heart of a poore Saint how all other sinnes put out their heads and shew themselves a maine as Luke 22.32 Simon Simon Satan hath desired to sift thee as wheat but I have prayed that thy faith faile thee not Sathan laboured to shake the hold of Peters faith and thereupon many corruptions were expressed in his life because Peter did faile and did not beleeve that which Christ had said to him so soone as unbeleefe prevailes then false-heartednesse exprest it selfe and he presently denied his master and then base cowardlinesse sayes I know not the man and his want of reverence to the name of God discovers it selfe for hee fals to sweare that he knew him not and there was self-love in all these thus you see when a man will not beleeve every corruption breakes forth and that amaine and this unbeleefe will fat all corruptions in the soule and all cursed distempers and makes them fat and well-liking as it is of faith in the spirituall man so it is of flesh in the corrupt man 1 Pet. 2.11 The flesh lusteth against the soule there is a kinde of armour of the flesh and of corruption as well as the armour of the Spirit which procures comfort to the soule sinne hath its armour as well as grace now looke as it is in the spirituall armour of a Christian faith is a shield a shield defends not only the body but all the armour of the body so faith it defends not onely the body but the soule and all the graces of the soule so it is also with this infidelity in regard of a mans corrupt nature corruption it is maintained by infidelity as by a shield it is the shield of a mans corruptions as faith is the shield of the spirituall man I confesse that reformation and the meanes thereof out of the ordinances
Christ the soule must be brought from under the jurisdiction of sin and the dominion of Satan before it can be translated unto the kingdome of God Acts 26.18 the Apostle was sent to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turne them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God Every man by nature is in darknes and under the power of sin now the Apostle must turne them from the power of sin before he can bring them to God and all this must be done before a man can receive remission of sins and justification by the blood of Christ Now darknes and sinne and Satan expresse their dominion over the soule and wee cannot have sinne and Satan to bee our Lord and have Christ our Lord too This must be wrought in preparation Matth. 12.29 The strong man must bee bound and cast out before another strong man can come to take possession Satan is the strong man who by the power of sinne takes possession of the soule now the power of sinne and Satan must bee east out by the power of preparation and humiliation Now for a man to plucke a poore soule from the power of sinne and Satan and to wrest the keyes from the hand of the devill and to rescue a poore soule from the malice of the devill aâ—â— to breake that leâ—gâ—â— and combination betweene sinne and the soule and to withdraw the heart from these corruptions and from that power which sinne and Satan and Gods justice would expresse in the soule no man can doe it but onely hee that hath a greater power than both these which none but the Lord Jesus Christ hath Revel 1.18 which hath the keyes of hell and of death now the key is a signe of command now the Lord Jesus Christ only hath the key of hell death t is he that hath led captivity captive t is he that triumphed over all his enemies therefore he only can pull the soule from the government of sin and Satan and so prepare a way for faith and thereby bring the soule to God Secondly consider the glorious nature and the excellencies of this grace of faith looke upon the surpassing excellency of the worke of faith above all other graces for we have made it good by argument heretofore that faith is a worke above man in his corrupt estate so that a man may truly say that this worke of faith is more than naturall now for nature to worke above nature t is above common sense that a tree should see and walke and a beast to reason these things nature abhorres Now because faith is above corrupted nature therefore it is impossible for man to worke it in himselfe this I take to be the reason why this gracious worke of God findes more contradiction in the heart than any grace I know A man findes a greater doe with his owne heart and a greater hardnesse and crosnesse in the heart to come in and beleeve than to doe any thing else a man will heare and read and pray and doe any thing and mourne but to beleeve it is that which a man scarce considers of and this is the reason of it because not onely corruption opposes the worke of faith but even a mans gifts and selfe and sufficiency which God gives him that now and then seemes to bee the hinderance of faith it s through our corruptions indeed in other things it is not so we would faine get sorrow and therefore we labour for it and we would have love and therefore we labour for it But all this is out of our owne power or abilities we would keepe us in our selves but faith would have us goe out to Christ and our parts would worke this in us but faith sayes wee must goe to the Lord Jesus Christ or else wee are not able to doe that which he commands So now you see that a mans parts and abilities are sometimes great hinderances and barres to keep a man from beleeving and this is the reason why if God opens a mans eyes and discovers a mans corruptions by nature we fall to doing to repenting formally and all this while never see a need of a Christ but rest in our selves and our owne abilities and will never goe to Christ Thousands goe to hell this way the most that professe the Gospell and perish they perish upon this point So then the work is more than naturall Thirdly if wee consider the manner of Gods working upon the soule in beleeving the Lord doth not concurre in an ordinary common kinde of providence as meeting with some power and abilitie in the soule to helpe forward the worke as God moves and wee move and wee are co-workers with God in severall passages and so it is in all the workes of sanctification which comes after faith There is still something that concurs with God in the worke but now it is a true miracle hee findes nothing in the soule but meere feares and oppositions at first and therefore Divines doe truly say that it is more to make the soule beleeve than to create a world for in the creating of the world the Lord had no oppositions he onely spake the word and all was made but now sinne and Satan and the world and all set against the poore soule If a man gets a knocke by the Ministery of the Gospell and begins to be humbled then carnall friends begin to perswade and every man hath a blow to hinder him from receiving the powerfull impression of the Word of God so that the Lord in this worke findes more fierce oppositions than in any worke and moreover when these oppositions are opposed and removed and the Lord comes into the soule the soule is very emptie and cannot receive nor close with any grace As it is with a dead man hee hath no power to quicken himselfe as Ephes 19.20 What is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us ward who beleeve according to the working of his mighty power which hee wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead the same Almighty power which raised up Jesus Christ from the dead the same power the Lord puts forth in bringing a dead soule to beleeve So that as the dead body hath no living vertue in it selfe to quicken it selfe so the soule hath no ability to beleeve of its owne selfe but see how the Apostle cannot content himselfe to speake of this worke of God you shall see five degrees in it what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to us that beleeve First the power of God Secondly the greatnesse of it Thirdly the excessivenesse of this greatnesse Fourthly the excessivenesse of that mightinesse Fifthly the working of all together so that there is the exceeding greatnesse and the excessive greatnesse and the mightinesse of that excessivenesse and then the worke of all as if he had said view you the heavens search all the stories and behold all the miracles that ever God wrought and
much sustained What is there yet hope that my offence may bee pardoned will the King receive mee to mercy So when the Lord humbleth the soule discovereth his sinnes maketh knowne his judgements these are thy sinnes that thou hast committed and for them thou shalt be plagued the great judgement of the great God shall come upon thee and the great God whom thou hast dishonoured will come against thee and to hell thou must Now the poore soule seeth no hope no helpe no means of supply now the poore soule heareth a voyce from heaven there is no hope in thy selfe nor in meanes yet in the Lord Jesus Christ thy sinnes are pardonable thy soule may be saved thy heart may be quickned that place in the Psalmist Let Israel hope in the Lord for with him is plenteous redemption this upholdeth and sustaineth the heart of Gods servant yet there is plentifull redemption and this may discover it selfe in three particulars The infinitenesse of Gods power though thy sinnes are many though the guilt of sinne is mighty and powerfull to condemne the soule yet when the soule apprehendeth an infinitenesse in the power of the Lord to over-power all his sins all the guilt of corruption this lifteth up the heart in some expectation that the Lord will shew favour unto a man though it is a hard thing to hope when the soule is thus troubled can this hard heart be broken can these sinnes bee pardoned can this soule bee saved now commeth in the power of God God can pardon them never measure the power of God to that shallow conceit of thine as Christ when he had told his Disciples it is hard for a rich man to be saved they said how can any man be saved the Lord Christ saith all things are possible to God though not to men and it is said of Abraham hee hoped above hope he looked to the Lord that was able to doe what he promised to supply what he wanted he considered not that he had a dead body but he considered he had a living God not Sarahs barren wombe but the gracious goodnesse of God able to make it fruitfull nay hee beleeved in the God that can make things that are not thy soule is not humbled the Lord can humble it thy sinnes are not pardoned the Lord can pardon them thy soule is not converted the Lord can convert it though I cannot see it though man cannot imagine it yet the Lord can doe it As the infinitenesse of Gods power so the freenesse of his grace and promise that is a thing that marvellously taketh up the heart and maketh it hope for wee are ready naturally to expect no kindnesse from God the Lord is able to doe it that is true but I am unworthy the Lord will not bee wanting to them that can desire it but I am wanting now here is comfort the Lord will not sell his mercy his mercy is not to be merited it is not to bee discovered it is to bee given and to bee bestowed Malach. 7.18 Who is a god like unto our God we say Oh if I could please God if I could walke with God nay but God saith mercy pleaseth him and that place in Esay I for my owne Name sake will doe this not for thy workes sake I for my owne sake not for thy obedience sake this is certaine as there is no worke in any poore creature can discover any mercy from God so there is no wickednesse in the heart of a sinner that can hinder the Lord when hee will bestow grace and mercy in Jesus Christ Object But the world will say Then a man may live as he list and doe what he will if grace be free Answ No no the Lord will pull downe thy proud heart and lay thee in the dust the Lord will abase thee and humble thee before thou shalt receive any mercy from him hee can as well sit thee for mercy as bestow it upon thee The abundance of the riches of Gods goodnesse that exceedeth all the basenesse and vilenesse of man though thou hast sinned against heaven and the Lord in heaven yet there is mercy above the heaven bee thy sinnes and rebellions for the nature of them for the number of them for the continuance of them never so hainous yet they may bee pardoned Here the soule saith My sins are so many so great of such a nature what shall I beg mercy and oppose it shall I desire grace and resist it as that place clearly sheweth Rom. 5.20 Where sinne abounded grace superabounded hee is the Father of mercy and the God of all consolation Iam. 2.13 there the holy Ghost saith mercy triumph above justice justice cannot bee so severe to revenge thee as mercy is gratious to doe good unto thee if thy sinnes be never so many Gods justice never so great yet mercy is above all thy sinnes above all thy rebellions this may support the soule So then you have the first ground to stirre up hope thy sinnes are pardonable this is possible what thy sinnes be it skilleth not what thy iniquities be it mattereth not there is more mercy in God than sin in thee to pardon more power in God to shew mercy to thee than power in sin to destroy thee The Lord doth sweetly perswade the soule that all his sinnes shall be pardoned the Lord maketh this appeare and perswadeth the heart of his that he intendeth mercy that Christ hath procured pardon for the soule of a broken hearted sinner in speciall and that it cannot but come unto it So that hope commeth to bee assured and certainly perswaded to looke out knowing it shall bee accomplished the former only sustained the heart and provoked it to looke for mercy but this comforteth the soule that undoubtedly it shall have mercy The Lord Jesus Christ came to seeke and to save that which was lost he came for this purpose it was the scope of his comming now saith the broken and humble sinner I am lost did Christ come to save sinners Christ must faile of his end or I of my comfort God saith Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden I am weary unlesse the Lord intended good unto me why should he invite me and bid me for to come surely he meaneth to shew mercy to me nay hee promiseth to releeve me when I come therefore he will doe good unto me The Lord letteth in some rellish and taste of the sweetnesse of his love some sent and savour of it so that the soule is deeply affected with it marke this there is yet a further dint a setling and an assured kinde of fastning of the good unto the soule so that the heart is deeply affected with it and carried mightily unto it that it cannot bee severed It is the letting in the riches of his love that turneth the expectation of the soule another way it overshadoweth all outward good Looke as the covetous man is up early to contrive his riches
seeke after him whom her soule loved and prized and from whom she expected that good she needed It ought to bee so with our desires they must proceed only from the sparke of the spirit The smoking flax God will not quench Matth. 12.20 all flax of it selfe will not smoke but a sparke must come into it and that will make it catch fire and smoke thus lay your hearts before the Lord and say Good Lord here is only flax here is only a stubborne heart but strike thou by thy promise one sparke from heaven that I may have a smoking desire after Christ and a longing desire after grace that I may walke with more care and more conscience with thee hereafter using the meanes thou hast appointed for my good that they may at the last worke unto my good this take notice of above all the rest for he that thinkes to get a desire from himselfe will not labour to obtaine from the hands of the Lord. Therefore labour to use all meanes and labour to see a weaknes in all means and expect this desire onely from the hands of the Lord. Thus we see the means how we may get this desire Thus we see how the Lord learnes every faculty his lecture the mind hath beene inlightned we have done with that hope hath beene stirred and desire quickned these we have likewise finished We come now in the fourth place to treat of two other faculties of the soule Love and Ioy which because they are so neerly combined together both in nature and forme as we shall heare hereafter therefore with your patience handle them together and read one Lecture to them both But before I proceed to meddle with the particulars let me premise something in the generall that wee take all rubs out of the way and that none may stumble at that which shall be delivered Therefore let no man thinke it strange that I come here to meddle with Love and Joy as though I would make sanctification to goe before justification for wheresoever we finde love and joy they seeme rather the effects that follow faith than to be the seeds and spawne to bring in faith Methinkes these doubts should not trouble any if they did but consider what wee have spoken already in the worke of preparation But a little to take away these rubs take notice of three ensuing passages which will cleare the way to that which afterward shall be spoken Passage 1 Know in the first place it is not mine intendment to perswade any to thinke that sanctification is before justification for the truth is I conceive the thing is not agreeable to truth taking sanctification in a narrow strict sense as it must be so conceived in this place neither can the Doctrines which I have delivered if they bee understood aright according to the explication thereof shew so much this is the first Passage 2 Secondly looke by what right and reason many judicious Divines of late yeares having by experience observed in their owne spirits and judiciously scanned and delivered it that there is a saving desire by which God brings in and breeds faith in the soule It is the speech of judicious Perkins Nay the Spirit seemes to me to intimate as much when it saith Ho every one that thirsteth Iohn 7.37 come and drinke there must be first thirsting then comming and beleeving which thirsting is nothing else but a saving desire Therefore as there is a saving desire by which God causeth both grace to breed and faith to spring in the soule by the same reason there may bee a kinde of Love and Joy by which as spawnes and seeds of faith faith may bee communicated and stamped upon the soule for the same ground that is for the one is also for the other and it is a thing to me incredible that the soule of a man should fall and rest upon the promise and yet never desire it nor hope for it being absent and imbrace it love and delight in it with joy when it is comming For looke with what authority and right there is thirsting before comming and a desire before faith for faith is all this while a hatching and breeding by the same right and authority there is a saving kinde of love and joy before faith whatsoever wee speake of the one wee must necessarily speake of the other Passage 3 The third thing is this wee must understand that all these saving workes of the affections are no sanctifying I call them saving that is such workes as doe accompany salvation for there is a difference betweene a saving worke and a sanctifying taken in the proper narrow sense of it Know therefore that desires and loves are of a double nature some in vocation are observed some in sanctification are considered as there was a sorrow in preparation a sorrow in sanctification so there is one desire and love and joy in vocation stirred another in sanctification expressed both joyne one with another but they are not the same The frame of the heart and the worke upon the soule in vocation is not the same which is in sanctification Briefly in vocation in this call which I speake of the Lord worketh this worke upon me I have no power of my selfe but onely receive it from the Lord. At the first conveying in of the power of hope and desire and love and joy God communicates them unto me but in sanctification I worke from a principle which I have received from the power of grace which Christ hath communicated to me being called and sanctified and having received the Spirit of Adoption So that the graces I now speake of usher in and lead the way for the comming in of faith when faith comes into the soul it is there as the King in his privy chamber it rules and commands all his servants Now the way being cleare if you meet with hope and faith love and faith put for one another understand that they are not literally to bee conceived but in a figurative sense So then to proceed to the Doctrine I meane to stand upon which is this Doctrine The Spirit of the Lord kindles in an humbled heart and inlightned sinner love and joy to entertaine and rejoyce in the riches of his mercy there are three passages to be considered that so we may see the compasse of the point in hand Passage 1 First this love and joy is no where to be found but in a heart humbled and inlightned for unlesse the soule bee humbled before God it seeth no need of grace or mercy and therefore despiseth it and disclaimes it and is carried with a hatred against that grace that would master his corruptions and purge them Nay the soule is carried with a kinde of wearisomnesse and is pestered with the power of grace that would frame his heart anew his corrupt heart is rather troubled with it than any way delighted in it and if humbled and not inlightned be could not be
will overcome all corruptions that mercy that will pardon all our sinnes then saith the will content it shall be so and this makes up the match for now the match commeth to bee made when the will saith Amen to the businesse and this is that great worke of the will the spawn and the seeds of faith went before now faith is come to some perfection now the soule reposeth it selfe upon the Lord and Divines say that here commeth in faith what the minde hath knowne and hope expected and desire longed for and love embraced then commeth in the great wheel the great commander the will which saith I will have it Goe no further it is the best match wee can make you saw the seeds of faith before in the affections but now you shall see the root of faith and the full growth of faith in the will So from hence the point of Doctrine is this Doctrine The will of a poore sinner humbled and enlightned comes to bee effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father to rest upon the free grace of God in Christ that it may bee interested therein and have supply of all Spirituall wants from thence For the better clearing of this Doctrine consider these foure particulars First the worke must be in an heart humbled and enlightned Secondly the will must be effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father Thirdly by the power of this perswasion it casts it selfe upon the rich grace and free mercy of God in Christ Fourthly the end of it that it may bee interested into all the good that is in the promise For by faith wee come to have a title to all that ever Christ purchased and God hath prepared for his people and as by infidelity wee went from God so now by faith we come again to God Particul in the doctr 1 For the first passage this grace of faith the root whereof is seated in the will it is in an heart humbled and enlightened if either of these two bee wanting it is not possible that ever sound saving faith should be in the soule I doe not now dispute of the measure of these how farre a man must bee humbled and how much enlightened these I have handled before I abate a man of the measure and leave that to the good pleasure of God but the heart must bee truly humbled and soundly enlightened First The heart must be humbled that is loosed from sinne and from selfe if the soule be not thus truly humbled there is no roome for faith for the worke of humiliation cleeres the coast â—nd clenseth the roome for if the soule of a poore sinner be not loosened from sinne and made weaâ—y of it but takes fast hold of it as Ieremie saith Ierem. 8.5 They hold fast to deceit and would not returne so when a man will hold his pride and his corruptions that man is carelesse of Christ and not onely so but also opposit from going to Christ he will not goe to Christ that he may receive power for â—he subduing of his corruptions because he is resolved to keepe his sinne still and therefore know â—hat it is not possible to receive Christ and to â—leave to sinne too Secondly suppose the soule be truly burdened â—nd the heart be surcharged with sinne and the â—eart seeth an absolute necessity of a change and â—e saith if this be certaine then I am a miserable â—an and either I must reforme my way or else perish in my way now when the soule is come to this if the heart will yet shift for it selfe and thinke to recover it selfe seeing it must needâ— change it will change it selfe it will hinder faith for whatsoever it is that keepes a man in himselfe that alwayes hinders the worke of faith for faith ever goes out to another for grace and power to ease him of corruption and for strength to subdue his sinnes if the soule say either I need not change or if I must change I will change my selfe and save my selfe what need have I of a Saviour these hinder faith therefore if ever faith be there the heart must have thiâ— wrought he must see himselfe in a lost condition that is that by all the meanes under heaven heâ— cannot succour himselfe this is the meaning of that phrase Luke 19.10 The Lord Iesus came 〈◊〉 seeke and to save that which was lost a lost man indeed every man is lost under the power of sinne and dominion of Satan but he must see himselfe lost how the guilt of sinne is condemning him and therefore lost in regard of pardon to save him and also how he is polluted and therefore lost in regard of power to subdue corruptions and when he seeth this indeed that nothing can helpe him but a Christ then the soule makes out for a Christ this is the meaning of that place Iohn 1.12 To as many as received him he gave c. so that we must receive a Christ when we are gone oâ—â— of our selves by humiliation then are we fit to goe to God by vocation Quest But may not a man beleeve and is it not lâ—â—full to beleeve unlesse a man be thus humbled Answ It is lawfull at any time if thou canst but I say it is impossible for thee to beleeve untill thou be thus humbled as Iohn 4.44 the Lord Christ comes to the Pharisees and saith I know you will not come to mee that you may beleeve nay in the next place he saith How can ye beleeve that receive honour one of another how canst thou beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ to subdue thy lusts and yet wouldst bee uncleane still and live in thy lusts still how canst thou beleeve in Christ to master thy rebellious heart and yet wouldest be rebellious still it is impossible heaven and earth cannot meet together no more can these two stand together therefore set your hearts at rest a man must be truly humbled and broken hearted â—f ever he beleeve Secondly the soule must be enlightened I â—oyne these two together in this clause for though faith be above reason yet it is with reason it is not that colliers faith of the Papists â—hat put out his owne eyes to see by another mans this is a delusion and an implicite faith â—herefore I say a man must be inlightened to see â—he grace and mercie and freenesse of Gods love â—n Christ as Psal 119.10 They that know thy name â—hall put their trust in thee it is against common sense that the soule of a man that is reasonable â—hould fall upon any thing and rest it selfe there â—nd yet never seeth whether it bee a sufficient helpe or no this is by the way of preparation Particul in the doctr 2 It is effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father to rest it selfe c. this I adde in the second place upon the same ground because a man hath no legs of himselfe to bee carried to the Lord Jesus Christ to beleeve in him further
runnes and reacheth after a Christ for a man can never rest on a thing before he come to lay hold on it and to deliver all his strength and lay all his weight upon it This is implied necessarily and it is one maine proper act of faith when the soule seeth this that the Lord Jesus is his aid and must ease him and pardon his sinnes then let us goe to that Christ saith he see what our Saviour saith Iohn 6.35 He that commeth to me shall never hunger and hee that beleeveth in mee shall never thirst the phrase of comming and beleeving they are both one Ier. 3.22 there the Prophet makes the answer of the humble sinner the Lord calls upon by his Spirit and sets on his mercy effectually and saith Come to me yee rebellious sinners and I will heale your rebellions Though a poore Minister speake the word yet the Lord from heaven saith come to me ye loose hearted c. Now this voyce comming home to the heart and the prevailing sweetnesse of the call overpowring the heart the soule answers Behold we come for thou art the Lord our God The soule goes out and falls and flings it selfe upon the riches of Gods grace thus setled and revealed Come to mee all yee that are weary saith Christ when the Lord saith come I have mercy though thou hast none and I have comfort though thou hast none nay I not only have it but am ready to bestow it and come to me thou poore burthened sinner I have undertaken for thee and I will ease and helpe thee Now as for you that were never humbled nor brought low God will pull downe your proud hearts and make you stoope but you that have beene burthened and have seene your sinnes and mourned under the loathsome burthen of them to all such the Lord saith Come to mee thou poore broken hearted sinner I will heale thee and I have undertaken for thee we goe then saith the will to that Christ and that promise and that mercy and that grace that will pardon all and subdue all whatsoever is amisse It is with a sinner as it is with a Sea-faring man that is tossed with the windes and driven to a hard set with the tempest hee labours to betake himselfe to a shelter and to land at some Haven This is the nature of beleeving in the Hebrew phrase as Esa 25.4 Thou hast beene a strength to the poor and needy in trouble a refuge against the tempest a shadow against the heat c. Now when a poor sinner is weather-beaten and can see no comfort and finde no evidence for the pardon of his sinnes the Lord is pleased to make knowne the goodnesse of Christ through the promise then the soule shrowds it selfe under that shâ—dow and that goodnesse thus offered and revealed Psal 118.11 Davids soule had gotten away from God and he began to quarrell with Gods providence saying I said in my haste all men are liars see what an hasty spirit is hee hoysed up saile upon the maine Ocean and he had imaginations and conclusions of feare and despaire At last he got the Haven againe and said where art thou Oh my soule thou hast gone from God and from his promise Returne to thy rest O my soule let us goe to the promise and keepe us there to see land and make haste to it and labour to hold the heart close to the Lord Jesus Christ now the soule is come to Christ The next Act of resting is this it layes fast hold upon Christ and when the Lord saith Come my Love my Dove and come away behold I come saith she and when she is come she fastneth upon Christ and saith my Beloved is mine and I am his When she is come to Christ shee will not away againe In the Hebrew phrase to beleeve is nothing else but Amen the Heathen say that the answer of a man is this let it be done which thou hast promised that 's faith So after the soule hath walked a great while in horrour and vexation and the soule sinks in the apprehension of it the Lord lets in the comfort of his promise and saith thou poore burdned heart thy person is accepted thou art unworthy but Christ is worthy thou art sinfull but hee is mercifull Now when the soule heares this voyce it saith even Amen Lord let it be so Lord. This is the hold of the heart hope and desire love and joy have discerned a world of mercy and the will saith so be it let us stay and hold here and goe no further Esay 64.7 There is none that calleth on thy Name neither that stirreth up himselfe to take hold of thee Faith layes hold on the Lord and will not let mercy goe but cleaves unto it it is sweet to see faith in conflict with the Lord. When a man hath it as in Iob see how faith holds its owne God makes him even the Butt of his wrath as it were but Iob saith though he slay mee yet will I trust in him Me thinkes I see how the Lord makes his hand all goare blood and yet faith holds his owne it is able to fasten it selfe upon the promise of God in Christ 1 King 20.32 33. when Ahab was deeply provoked with a drunken Benhadad who said take him alive c. they entred the combat now when the day went against Benhadad for hee had dealt basely with Ahab and hee could not with any face looke for any favour from him yet when hee was driven to a stand his servants being worse than their master came to him and said Wee have heard that the Kings of Israel are mercifull Kings we pray thee let us put ropes about our neckes and sackcloth on our loynes c. Because the poore servants were like to come into danger as well as their master they went to Ahab and said thy servant Benhadad saith I pray thee let me live and Ahab said is he yet alive he is my brother and the servants catched at that word and said he is yet alive and they went away rejoycing This is a lively picture of a broken hearted sinner after he hath taken up armes against the Almighty saying shall he be at Gods command he will never doe it whilest the world stands but he will have his lusts his profit and ease c. and the Lord and hee are at open warres and now the Lord lets in justice and hee seeth the anger of God bent against him and even frowning upon him and the wrath of the Lord dogging him from day to day saying thou art an enemy to me saith the Lord and I will be an enemy to thee Now the soule seeth that he cannot avoid justice neither can he beare it and therefore the soule reasons thus I have heard that though I am a rebellious sinner yet none but sinners are pardoned he is a gracious God and therefore the soule falls downe at the footstoole of the Lord and saith Oh
none but him and makes an end of all controversies betweene God and the â—oule it takes away all divisions and brings the soule into favour againe and makes it acceptable â—o God through the merits of Christ so that now â—he anger of God is appeased Act. 26.17 when God sent Paul among the heathen he gave him this commission saying Goe preach the Gospell and open the eyes of the blinde that they may turne from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan to God every man by nature is gone from God and you goe all sin-ward and hell-ward and away you goe from God now that you may bee for God againe faith goes to God Ioh. 1.12 To as many as received him and beleeved in his name to them hee gave this privilege that they should bee the sonnes of God God will not only bee a friend to them but a carefull loving and tender Father thou by nature art a childe of perdition and destruction but dost thou beleeve and repent now then 〈◊〉 the controversies betweene God and thee are â—â—ded and of a fiend of hell thou art made the soâ—â— of God and the Lord is a tender hearted Father to that poore soule of thine Ioh. 3. He that belâ—veth shall bee saved but hee that beleeveth not tâ—â— wrath of God abides upon him so that an unbeleeving soule hath God up in armes against him Oh that God would perswade your hearts of thâ—â— this is a great misery when thou lyest downe tâ—â— wrath of God hangs over thine head and thy eyâ— may close up and the Lord may send thy soâ—â— downe into the pit and when thou goest frâ—â— home the wrath of God abides upon thee thâ—â— mayst never returne home againe goe what thou wilt and doe what thou canst while thâ—â— abidest in thy sins the wrath of God abides 〈◊〉 thy soule body and what appertaines to thee 〈◊〉 thou art an unbeleever but if thou art a belâ—â—ver the wrath of God is gone and thou art pâ—â—â—â—â— from death unto life Ah what a happy condition is this that a man may say Lord I was a child of wrath I wonder that God cut me not off and I admire at it that God sent mee not downe to hell every night that I went to bed but now the Lord hath made mee to beleeve and hath accepted me I was under the curse of God and now God hath delivered me and now I have beleeved in the promise and now I have a right to the promise and all the mercy and goodnesse in it thus the soule hath a supply of this first want and is brought into favour with God againe Want 2 The second want of the soule is this the soule being now departed from God the God of all wisdome good and life hence it is that the soule is deprived of all good and grace and life for whatsoever life and grace it had it was from God and therefore the soule being departed from God the Lord strips the soule of all that righteousnesse and holinesse it had in Adam the Lord gave him wisdome and righteousnesse in Adam and in him to all his posterity but now being gone from God God hath justly taken all from him so that now the poore sinner is dead and though he lives because he hath a naturall life in him yet he lives not spiritually because he hath no spirituall life in him and therefore can doe no spirituall good he can neither doe well nor live well that thereby hee might please God for his comfort Now faith steps in like a friend at a dead lift and lends helpe this way it not onely brings a sinner to God but it is as a hand to communicate from God to a sinner whatsoever spirituall good it needs and this only faith can doe Marke it I beseech you a man that is dead in sinne and should be brought to some spirituall good and life he must either live by himselfe or by another but by himselfe hee cannot because a dead man cannot live by himselfe but every man is spiritually dead by nature and of himselfe hee cannot live and therefore he must goe to another which is God he must give life and therefore he must beleeve in another and receive the spirituall grace and power from that living gracious God to walke more cleerly in a good course this iâ— the intent of all these phrases in Scripture Gal. 2.20 the text saith I live but how it is by faith in Christ Christ lives in him and he in Christ faith is not so much the soule of a Christian but faith inables a man to live by Christ whom it apprehends therefore Saint Paul to the Hebrewes saith Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God it is said of Enoch that he walked with God and did thereby please God but how came he to doe it by faith hee did it Now no man can yeeld obedience to Gods commandement and thereby please God except he goe to God by faith and receive power from God thereby to please God I take this to be a truth that in proprieties of language and speech faith as wee now speake of it is not any part of the spirituall life and soule of a Christian but a spirituall instrument and engine whereby the soule goes to God to fetch a soule whereby he may live thus it is punctually the soule in vocation goes to God and being come it receives the spirit of adoption brings in the image of sanctification which Adam had lost and now the sinner is inabled to live in obedience unto God so that in vocation we goe to God and in adoption we receive the spirit the image of sanctification from God and by sanctification the spirit brings new spirituall powers from God to the soule and so the soule is inabled to love God above all and his neighbour as himselfe now whether Adam had this faith or no I will not stand to dispute in this popular congregation but onely speake so much as shall be seasonable and profitable Therefore for the thing in hand this I take to be the excellency of faith to goe out to God to fetch a spirituall new principle of life and grace faith saith thou art dead and must have life and thy life is to be had only from God and therefore goe out that thou maist receive spirituall life from God so then when no other can bring it selfe life faith brings all other graces now faith doth all these not so much because it goes to him that hath all life in him faith is the field and the pearle is in it and the hid treasure is in Christ and faith goes to God from whom it received all things from the consolation thereof this is the meaning of that place 2 Cor. 3.18 and to this it is to be referred But we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glorie of the Lord are changed into the same image from glorie to glorie even
by the spirit of the Lord this discovers how faith brings in a new soule and a spirituall life into the soule by the glory of the Lord is meant the glorious attributes of the Lord as his holinesse justice righteousnesse patience c. by the glasse is meant the Lord Jesus Christ as a mâ—â—â— face is seene in a glasse so all the attributes of the Lord are cleerly seene as in a glasse in the Lord Jesus Christ now how doe wee behold them 〈◊〉 him the heart being made to beleeve by faith it lookes upon the Lord Jesus Christ and in hiâ— seeth all these graces and what followes thereby we are changed that is we are transformed from one degree of glorious grace to another Jesus Christ God and man hath all graces in himselfe now by faith the soule eyes the Lord Jesus Christ and then answerably it receives grace for grace eying his patience by the self-same spirit it is made patient and eying the holinesse of God by the self-same spirit it is made holy and eying the meeknesse of Christ by the self-same spirit it is made so thus the soule looking upon the glorious grace of Christ it receives graâ—â— for grace if thou wouldst be patient see that by faith in Christ and by that spirit of patience iâ— Christ that it imprint the like grace upon thâ— soule and it will doe it Want 3 In the supply of this third want appeares the excellencie of this worke of faith the heart of 〈◊〉 poore sinner being friends with God and having received grace from God it is marvellous fearfull lest it should lose that grace that it hath and not bee able to maintaine that stock which God hath put into his hands this is a great want and it was in Adam he had a faire state and lost all and undid himselfe and his posterity too now the soule feares this but faith steps in and lends succour herein as thus faith maintaines a continuall influence of Gods grace and power into the soule upon all occasions so that howsoever many wants and weaknesses may bee in the soule faith goes to heaven and brings new succour upon all occasions to releeve it this is the maine difference betweene the first and second covenant Adam had the stock in his owne hands and the fountaine and roots of it was in himselfe yet howsoever it is true a mans grace is weake and would come to nothing and may easily bee overcome and yet the fountaine of grace and goodnesse that is in Christ will never be drawne dry and faith goes to that daily and so drawes supply and succour and from hence it is that faith is called the protectour of all graces Ephes 6.16 there faith is called a shield now the nature of a shield is this It not only covers the body but all the armour of the body so faith not only covers the soule but all the graces of the soule and succours them all and it is not only the protectour of all graces but it is also a victorious conquerour in the behalfe of graces so 1 Ioh. 5.4 This is your victorie even faith so that faith makes a Christian soule a conquerour and keepes him safe and sure now it is true indeed that mans corruption is too strong for his owne grace in himselfe and his temptations are too strong for all his spirituall abilities in himselfe yet faith goes for nâ—â— power and might from Christ and with this might and power from Christ makes him strong as Ephes 6.10 Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might 2 Tim. 2.1 My sonne be strong in the grace that is in Iesus Christ hee doth not say bee strong in the grace that is in thy selfe but in the Lord Christ as for instance thou hast many pâ—â—vocations to kindle thy patience and choler and many occasions to injurious dealings and thâ—â— hast an impatient and peevish heart of thiâ—e owne too now these corruptions are too strong for this patience yet faith saith I will be strong by that might and power of that patience which is in Christ and that subdues all impatience and beares all injuries and faith brings that patience in Christ and makes the soule strong with that patience hence we are said to be preserved through faith unto salvation faith keepes the soule to God and God keepes faith and soule and all so that it is the power of God by the meanes of faith clasping the soule to God you that are weake Christian consider this you complaine that you are so proud and peevish that you cannot subdue these corruptions now set faith on worke and that will make you strong in Christ and make you able to stand against all temptations and occasions as it is in the naturall frame of a man the Philosophers and Physitians observe these two passages in it there is not only a soule and a body in a man but there is an heavenly heat and a naturall spirit either animall or vitall that lyes and knits the soule and the body together â—nd looke how strong this is so strong is the boâ—y but if this band bee once broken the body â—omes to nothing just so it is with the soule God himselfe is the soule of this soule I meane Gods free grace in Christ the heavenly heat and â—pirituall spirit and the bloud that bindes God â—nd the soule together is faith and whiles this â—aith holds a mans good condition holds even for â—ver I conclude with that of the Apostle â— Corin. 1.24 where hee saith by faith you stand it is faith that gives foot-hold to all graces we have weake patience but faith gives patience strength and foot-hold for it goes our to the Lord Jesus and receives sap and life from him whereby every grace comes to flourish in the soule 1 Pet. 1.9 Receive the end of your faith even the salvation of your soules as if he had said faith will be with you upon all occasions in temptations and distempers of heart and doe you service â—nd goe to Christ for strength and power and uphold you till it hath brought you into heaven â—nd shut the gates upon you and if you cannot â—hift for your selves there then perish this faith puts a man into possession of everlasting happinesse and never leaves him till then this faith furnisheth the soule with a supply in spirituall wants Now to summe up the point 4. Causes of faith take notice of the â—ength and breadth of this blessed grace of faith that you may see how it is made up of the causes which are foure First the next principle and the efficient cause of faith is the Spirit of God undeniably reporting this favour of God unto the soule this is that which workes faith and the hand from whence it comes Secondly the matter of which faith is minted is this it is effectually perswaded of and affected with this goodnesse of the Lord thus reported this is the firme earth as I
may say on which faith stands and whereby it is able to rest it selfe upon the promise Thirdly the nature and forme of faith is this the reposing of the soule upon the Lord and his speciall favour so reported for the ground why any man goes to God is because he was effectually perswaded of and also affected with the goodnesse of God as it is with some outlawed traitour he dares not goe to the court unlesse he will goe to his ruine because hee knowes there is nothing expected but cruell execution but if once he come to see his pardon sealed under the broad seale and that there is some hope of mercy then hee willingly goes to the court what was the ground of his going home even this because hee was effectually perswaded that the King had a favour to him so it is with an humbled sinner humbled in the fight of his sinne and broken because of his Lords displeasure against him and when the soule hath this certification from tâ—e hand of the Spirit that the Lord intends good to him then the soule goeth and saith Lord I durst not have beene here but that I have heard thou art a mercifull God And lastly the finall cause of faith is this the soule comes to be fitted with all good according to is necessity Object But some may say I heare nothing of the beleevâ—r all this while it seemes he doth nothing if the Spirit bee the efficient cause and if the Spirit workes it and makes the soule able to worke upon Gods free grace and if the Spirit be the finall cause of all then the beleever doth nothing c. Answ This worke of beleeving is a worke of the Spirit upon the soule rather than any worke wrought by the soule or issuing from any principle which the soule hath in it selfe as it is with an eccho when God saith thy sinnes are pardoned thy person accepted faith sounds againe my sinnes pardoned my person accepted good Lord let it be so then this perswades the heart and that marvellously to rest it selfe there for all good but it is done upon the soule rather than by the soule as Phil. 3.12 we are said To be comprehended of God and not to comprehend God so we know God because we are knowne of him now give mee leave in a word to describe the cause of it what it is in the promise that thus effectually perswades the heart that it may beleeve and herein I will goe no further than the promise and therein shew the motives in the promise and how the heart comes to beleeve and these will discover the reason of the point There are three things in a promise 3. Things in a promise whereby the will of man is drawne to beleeve First the all-sufficiency of the freenesse of Gods favour that is an admirable cause to perswade the heart to come on cheerefully it is the speciall prerogative of the promise to answer the soule wholly in all the desires of it nothing under heaven doth or can doe this but the promise haply a man desires wealth and when hee hath it this cannot make him honourable and the ambitious man desires honours and when hee hath them they cannot make him rich so each thing of it selfe hath but a particular helpe but the promise hath all-sufficiency to answer all the heart would have the will of a man naturally desires good and so consequently all good now the promise hath all good in it as in that place open thy mouth wide and I will fill it there is a fulnesse in the promise to answer all the pantings and desires of the soule thou saist thou art a poore dead sluggish creature and the promise calls upon thee as the Angel did and saith come hither and here is life that will quicken thee and thou art a weake creature come hither saith the promise and I have grace to make thee strong and thou art a damned creature come hither then saith the promise here is mercy to pardon all sinnes of all kindes the consideration of the rich provision in his fathers house carried the prodigall home so there is mercy grace pardon comfort enough in the promise you poore hungerbitten sinner away away away for shame to that enough of the promise and there refresh your selves for ever it is that which Elisha said to Naaman 2 King 5.8 Let him come hither and he shall know that there is a God in Israel and that there is a healing God though not a helping King so the promise saith to every fainting languishing and leprous soule if thou art a truly humbled heart and art sick of thy sinnes and even drawing on to despaire and all thy prayers and dayes cannot prevaile nor doe thee good but still thy sinnes thy sorrowes thy corruptions prevaile and thy condemnation sleepes not but is drawing on apace upon thy soule now see what the promise saith let him come hither and he shall know that there is a God in Israel that is able to cure all and to loose him from all his corruptions Object Oh but saith one I confesse there is enough in the promise to be had but what is that to me if the Lord intend it not to my good Ans 2 Thou being humbled and broken hearted God doth seriously intend it for thy good and on Gods part there is nothing to hinder thee from it it is not more cleare that the promise is all sufficient then it is certaine the Lord intends it for thee if thou beest humbled God sent his Sonne to save thee Esa 61.1 Christ came to binde up the broken hearted and to comfort all that mourne Iohn 12.47 God sent not his Sonne to condemne the world c. Nay Christ being sent of his Father freely came to this end 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners that is humbled and broken and meeke hearted sinners and not some of them neither but all that are broken hearted and all that are lost sinners but never a proud stout-hearted and sturddy sinner under heaven hee came not to call the righteous that is those that trust to their owne righteousnesse but sinners to repentance Nay God doth earnestly desire thee to come and take this mercy ho every one that will let him come to the waters of life c. and behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any will open c. and the Lord intreateth you to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5.20 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and be that commeth I will in no wise cast away Ioh. 6.37 the originall saith cast away no no thou poore distressed soule though thou art never so meane in parts or gâ—fts or never so much distressed in the world though thou weare a leatherne pelt and though haply great men may despise thy society yet the Lord Jesus Christ will not cast thee away thou mayst cast away thine owne comfort if thou wilt through thy pride
and peevishnesse but the Lord Christ will not cast thee away if thou come to him he will never doe it Object 4 Let me adde a fourth motive I confesse saith the soule there is no want of willingnesse on Gods part but I have a heart which cannot beleeve what is that to me to see provision of mercy and have no heart to receive it Oh this unwilling and distrustfull heart it cannot beleeve Answ If I finde a cure in the promise for this then I hope you will yeeld therefore know that the Lord hath provided in the promise a meanes whereby thou mayst bee made to beleeve and thou shalt be able to beleeve first that sufficiencie which is in the promise and which God intends for thee Now the Lord strikes up the match 2. Things and that the Lord doth this it shall appeare if you consider the manner of Gods worke in two things First God the Father in the promise gives an humble broken hearted sinner into the hands of â—esus Christ that hee may make him able to beâ—eeve Secondly he gives Jesus Christ into the hands of a poore sinner that hee may take him and receive mercy from him Now though thou canst not beleeve yet if Jesus Christ take that heart of thine in hand he can and will make thee beleeve This was the end of his office and comming Iohn 6.44 No man commeth unto me except the Father draw him and I will raise him up at the last day I will make him beleeve and in the grave I will love his poore body and not lose so much as his â—shes but will preserve them there and raise him up from thence and at last I will bring both body and soule to honour and make both happy in Heaven for ever for Christ his sake thinke on this earnestly that every broken hearted sinner is given to Christ as if God the Father had said Oh my Sonne looke well to such a man he lives in a base world and hath many corruptions in his heart but looke thou to him Iohn 10.16 Other sheâ—pe I have which are not of this fold and these I must bring home saith Christ there are many of Gods people called and converted but there are many yet which are in the gall of bitternesse and I know such a drunkard and though hee bee a woolfe now yet he is one of my sheepe and him I must bring home It doth my heart good to thinke that there is many an enemy of Jesus Christ and many that hates grace and goodnesse many a wretched drunkard many a covetous and uncleane wretch that shall bee brought home One goes up and downe this way and another that way as a company of poore sheepe that wander up and downe one falls into this ditch another into that and another in such a grove so there is many a poore sheepe that goes away from God and all goodnesse the Lord give us hearts to pitty them howsoever God hath opened your eyes and brought your hearts and my heart home to himselfe yet there are many other sheepe that as yet goe from God Oh what a blessed mercy is this If Christ hath once undertaken for you hee will seeke you out wheresoever you are The Lord seekes you out many times in the congregation you might come home then if you would well the Lord will make the fire of hell to flash upon the conscience of a man and drag him home but it is no matter which way the Lord brings him home so he come to heaven at last Iohn 17. Thou gavest them to me and I have given them eternall life There is no more difference than this the Father gives the sheep to Christ and saith looke to him and Christ saith you are given to me take you everlasting life betweene you and take eternall glory I give it to you as freely as ever God the Father gave your soules to me Secondly God the Father gives Jesus Christ to the poore soule and saith I give thee him freely with his bloud and all his merits his grace and goodnesse Oh saith the poore sinner blessed be God that Jesus Christ hath undertaken for me and that God the Father hath given mee Christ but alas I cannot pay the price I am notable to purchase the pearle as in a marriage when the parties are both agreed if there bee a quarrell about the feffment all breakes off so it is in this case the soule is now inabled to rest upon Christ but what will the Lord require for I am base and poore well saith God the Father I will not sell my Sonne but I give him to thee and thou must not thinke to purchase him Ioh. 19.26 27. when Christ would commend Marie to the care of Iohn hee saith Woman behold thy sonne and to Iohn he saith Behold thy mother so God the Father saith to Jesus Christ My blessed Sonne behold that poore broken humbled sighing sinner behold thy sonne take him for thy owne and thou poore sinner behold thy Saviour take him to thy selfe and the soule receives that gift at the hand of God the Father Ioh. 10. So God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. that is God so set his heart upon those whom he would save that hee gave Jesus Christ to bee received from him and to doe all good for them according to all their necessities thus I hope the heart hath no starting holes the promise is sufficient saith the soule if I had it and God sadly intended it therefore I may take him and God hath given Christ the care of me to make me to beleeve now the will is fully perswaded and saith to hope and desire and all the other affections here is good enough and come hope expect it for ever and come desire here is mercy enough that thou hast desired and come love and joy here is that mercy whereof you have felt the sweetnesse nay saith the will let us rest here and settle our selves upon the freenesse and favour of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ as our Saviour said to the Disciples Ioh. 6.27.28 Will you also goe away oh saith Peter whither shall we goe thou hast then words of eternall life the world cals and our lusts call and pleasures call and the more they call for our hearts the more wee cry after thee out Christ whither shall we goe if not to thee for there is none so gracious none so mercifull to sinners none so ready to doe all good for us and as there is sufficient in the promise and as here is sufficient in thee and enough for sinners so upon thy mercie we will hang upon thee our Saviour wee will live and dye and upon the promises will we put our selves to receive all the comfort and good they will affoord and upon this will we feed for ever Thus much for the opening of the point Vse 1 The first use is for information to rectifie our
judgements for the right understanding of the nature of faith and the frame of this blessed grace in the soule and that which wee collect is this saving faith is no part of that holinesse which Adam had nor no part of that image to which we are restored by sanctification in a word faith is a worke of effectuall vocation and no part of sanctification neither of the image in which Adam was created or to which wee are renewed and this followes from the Doctrine thus If it bee so that faith is the maine especiall â—nstrument whereby the soule goes to God to fetch a principle of grace and the Image of grace whereby wee may live then it is not the image which formerly wee had in Adam nor to which we are renewed againe in sanctification But the first is true namely that it is faith that goes to fetch that spirituall power from God which wee â—ost in Adam therefore it is not that spirituall power this is the point of information Beloved â—n our Saviour Christ I am not ignorant that many learned godly judicious Divines whose parts I reverence are of another opinion yet I remember their different opinions and therefore I hope â—o man will be offended with mee though I difâ—er from some for I must needs differ from some â—nd it hath ever beene my care not to trouble a â—opular congregation with any matter of disâ—ute and I hold that it rather should bee the care of Ministers to winne men to faith than to trouble them with matters of this kinde and I hold it the greatest part of zeale to get them to holy hearts and to exact lives and conversations Therefore I am marvellous hardly drawne on to the least dispute in this kinde and yet at the earnest request of some and also because this is the proper place where this question falls and to cleare some doubts according to my promise and because haply some good mâ—n may stumble at some things therefore let mee deliver those thoughts which I have many times heretofore intended to impart and I should bee very willing to heare of better arguments if any shall be suggested these are spirituall passages and hard and difficult therefore this I would tell you First what the controversie is and wherein it lies Secondly the reasons of it Thirdly shew the order of Gods proceedings in this worke of grace in the soule and when these are done the point will be very plaine First for the first namely wherein this controversie lies It is confessed of all hands that Adam in his innocency did not beleeve in a Saviour he needed it not onely here lies the maine point of controversie that though Adam did not beleeve in a Saviour and God did not require it yet men conceive and some judicious Divines too that Adam had ability that if Christ had beene revealed he could have beleeved for they say thus a man is able having a cleere eye to see but one world because there is no more but if there were five worlds the same eye that seeth one the same eye would see them all if they were visibly made So Adam did not beleeve a Saviour because the Lord Christ was not revealed and administred to him but Adam had that spirituall power of faith if the Lord Jesus Christ had been revealed hee was able to beleeve in him and so to rest upon him as men doe now in the time of the Gospell this is the controversie which we flatly deny Secondly the reasons to confirme this point that Adam had not this grace of faith The reason is this this beleeving in the Lord Jesus Christ â—is that which doth directly crosse the estate of Adam in his innocency and the innocency of Adam wherein he was created and therefore cannot by no means agree to him and that appeares thus for a man to have a principle of life in himselfe which Adam had and to fetch a principle of life from another which wee doe by faith these are contrary the one to the other hee lives well and to bee saved by living well and to bee saved by another and to live well by the power of another these are contraries one to the other to have all in himselfe as Adam had and to have all from another and not in himselfe these are contradictions the one to the other and therefore cannot stand together and therefore observe it the manner and phrase of Scripture is this and it is very strange Phil. 3.9 That I may bee found in him not having mine owne righteousnesse as if he should say Adam in his estate of innocency was in himselfe and had his owne righteousnesse he had a power to please God and to save himselfe by it but now in the time of the Lord Christ the case is cleare wee are not nor cannot â—he found in our owne righteousnesse or in the workes of the Law but in the righteousnesse of God by faith imputed to us and of his grace bestowed on us so that these two cannot stand together So then I reason thus that which is crosse to the innocencie of Adam and contradicts the estate of Adam in his innocency that can never agree to the estate of Adam but for a man to beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and to have all from him if it had beene revealed this had beene crosse to the nature of Adam and therefore it is not possible that he should have this faith in him now I come to answer some objections Object .1 First if Adam had not this faith and if the Lord did not require it at his hands then it seems that not beleeving in Christ is not a sinne against the Law of God for God commanded it not iâ— the Law Answ 1 To this I answer that not beleeving in the Lord Christ is not a sinne against the morall law but it is a sinne against the Law of the Gospell 1 Iohn 3.23 This is his Commandement that wee should beleeve in the Name of the Lord Iesus Christ the want of this faith is a sinne not so much against the ten Commandements as against the Gospell properly as Rom. 3.28 By what Laws boasting excluded by the Law of faith so that there is a Law even of faith not onely a law morall but a law of faith Object 2 Againe they object did not Adam then trust in God and put his confidence in God Answ 2 I answer there is a kinde of confidence which Adam had but it is not that which is of faith and which we now speake of in vocation and Divines do truly say that we are bound to trust in God by the first Commandement but that trust is not this faith but it is of a marvellous farre different nature Know therefore that to trust and beâ—eeve in Christ savingly is thus much when the soule is wholly pluckt off from it selfe and goes wholly to another for that which it hath not of it selfe this Adam had not for
Adam could not seeke to another for a principle of life for hee had it in himselfe neither was â—t sinne in him for the Angels themselves doe not beleeve in Christ neither is it required of them Againe Adam had a kinde of trust and confidence in God but not this trust nor this faith but it was this so farre as the creature beâ—ng a second cause should stay and move it selfe according to the first cause and to concurre with the first cause unto any worke This Adam had â—nd the Angels have it in Heaven which beleeve not in Christ The blessed Angels have a power spirituall in themselves and they say that all power is firstly in God and that he doth governe them and all the Heavens too and stay themselves upon God firstly and so co-worke with God but this is farre different from saying thus the Angels stay themselves first upon God as being the first cause of all created substances and to goe to God to fetch a principle of life from God these are contraries Object 3 The maine objection of all is this If say they Adam never had power to beleeve and so beleeving in Christ was not in the state of his innocency then why doth God condemne 〈◊〉 for not beleeving seeing they have not this power and Adam had it not It is all the difficulty that lies upon the point The answer is plaine open and naked and therefore I answer it by distinction thus Answ 3 Infidelity and not beleeving doth imply two things thus the first is the meer want of the power of faith and the absence of ability to rest upon another and to fetch the principle of grace from another neither the Law nor the Gospell nor God himselfe doth condemne thee for this nay the Gospell doth not require this that a man should have power of himselfe to beleeve not God doth not require it but the promise breeds faith and feeds faith it begets faith and continues faith in the soules of all those that have it and this is all that God would have that the soule of a poore sinner should be contented to taked from him and bee under the Spirit that would inable him to beleeve and to goe to him for the which may make him beleeve that hee might be made strong in the power of the might of Jesus Christ as in that place of the Ephesians the Gospell saith thou art a poore miserable sinner her is mercy only be contented that I should worke upon thee for thy good and convey mercie to thee so that the bare want is not the cause why God doth condemne a man the Angels in heaven this day have not this saving faith and yet there is no sinne in them againe besides 〈◊〉 are want of this confidence there is an aversnes â—f heart and a crossenesse of soule to the meanes of grace and the Gospell and against the Spirit â—f grace that would worke faith and draw my â—â—ule out of my sinne and plucke my soule to my â—aviour 〈◊〉 sinfull soule is fastned to his folly and â—ettled upon his base corruptions and hee rests here with a kinde of resolution not to goe off â—om his distempers and he will hold his corrupâ—ons and maintaine his lusts so that when merâ—e is offered he saith I will not have mercie but â—y sinne and the Spirit of God shall not plucke â—y corruptions from mee but I will have my â—nne rather than a Christ thought I perish for it â—is resisting against the meanes of grace the proâ—ise and mercie and the most blessed Spirit of â—â—ace this flowes from originall corruption and â—â—refore Adam never had this and comming â—om sinne and being a fruit of sinne a man shall â—nd must justly bee condemned for it though â—dam had not faith yet he would not have oppoâ—d the Spirit of grace it would have wrought â—pon him this is the infidelitie which the Scripâ—ure so often makes mention of because the â—eart is proud and sturdy and setled upon his â—es and saith What shall Jesus Christ come to â—fer me grace and to plucke away my sinnes and â—rruptions and to give mee grace I will none 〈◊〉 this Christ not I if thou doest want grace beâ—use thou hast resisted grace thou art justly to â—e condemned as a sinner this is the whole â—urse of Scripture Ioh. 3.19 This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darknesse better than light because their wayes are evil that is they love their sinne lusts and corruptions and chuse them and fasten to them and will have them and will not have a Christ this is the ruine of a sinner and this is the infidelity which the Lord speakes of and this is nothing else but the resisting the grace and mercie which would worke grace in him and this is properly unbeleefe to see how unbeleefe bankes the way to heaven a man that is a covetous wretch close hearted the word reveales this and condemnes this and saith hee I will not forsake the world and the adulterer saith I will not forsake my lusts and the drunkard faith I will not forsake my companions hee is staked downe to his corruptions so that all the Angels in heaven and all the promisses of the Gospell cannot perswade him to forsake his corruptions but he is staked downe to his corruptions and hugs them and saith I will hug my sinne in despire of all the world and God himselfe this is a cursed fruit of originall corruption this is sinfull and fearfull and a man is justly condemned for it so then no man is condemned for want of power to beleeve but because he resists grace and mercie and will not receive power to beleeve Thirdly now I come to show how the Lord workes upon the heart this is easie for all of you to apprehend and you may the better see the order of Gods worke if yee observe these foure rules the maine weight lies upon the third and the fourth therefore we will onely propound the two former to make way for the rest First when God comes to worke upon a poore sinner hee findes him dead in sinne and hee hath no good at all in him no saving supernaturall good and hee is not able to worke any good in himselfe by all the meanes in the world and he is not able to receive any spirituall good in the use of those meanes so the Apostle saith I know that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing and our Saviour Iohn 3.6 Whatsoever is borne of the flesh is flesh whatsoever comes from man from corrupted flesh is uncleane so Rom. 8.7 The carnall or the fleshly wisdome is not subject to the law of God so that a man not only hath no good in himselfe but he is not able to receive any good but rather oppose it Secondly hence it is cleare that all saving workes are the proper gifts of God and the peculiar operations of his good Spirit in the hearts
three it strikes three so the soule is thus led by the Spirit of God as Rom. 8.14 and then it obeyes God and doth every good duty and loves God above all and his neighbours as himselfe in truth and in uprightnesse so that the soule is stopped in humiliation and is turned in vocation it receives the poise in adoption and renovation in sanctification and it obeyes God in all things then the conclusion is this all these are saving workes and such as doe undoubtedly accompany salvation but all this while one is not another for two of these are wrought upon us that is preparation and vocation and these are by a passive worke the wheele workes because it is moved and in the other three the Lord conveyes his Spirit to us and mercifully workes the power of sanctification in us and makes us able to serve him and obey him Acts 26.18 Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open their eyes to turne them from the power of darknesse to God that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes and an inheritance amongst them that are called and sanctified marke all the passages of it from darknesse and Sathan that is in preparation to God and to light that is in vocation and as Saint Peter saith Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that yee maâ— receive the forgivenesse of sinnes repent there is preparation and bee converted there is vocation turned from Sathan and the power of the Devill that they may be under the power of the Lord Jesus and lye at his foot-stoole as a souldier is turned from such a captaine when hee is content to be under another so the soule is turned from sinne and is content to take presse money and to become a souldier of Iesus Christ Thirdly that he may receive forgivenesse of sinnes that is in justification and an inheritance among them that are sanctified that 's in sanctification all these are done by faith the scope of the holy Ghost there is to discover the frame of grace in the heart and therefore it is not to be understood of the nature of Sanctification but of the worke of it that a man should receive his sanctification by faith and yet is but sanctified in part these are contraries The fourth is onely the worke of sanctification and lastly from the question thus resolved from hence that question falls to the ground and from hence first a man may see it clearly that sanctification comes after justification and secondly whether repentance is before faith or whether repentance is before justification or justification before faith and repentance and thirdly whether there be any other instrument to beleeve in Christ but faith No there is no other for they all concurre by faith Thus much for the first use a word of confutation and information Vse 2 Secondly if it be so that faith is a resting upon God and a receiving of mercy from God then this is a word of terrour to all that still remaine in unbeleefe they are to see their sinne and misery by sinne their sinne is most hainous and their plagues are intolerable if it bee faith that brings a man to Christ and suits a man with all comforts from Christ then all you unbeleeving sinners let your soules shake in the apprehension of all these plagues of which you are guilty It is the misery that befalls poore creatures they are loth to be knowne to be drunkards or theeves or robbers because shame will come to them but not to beleeve the promise and to despise the Lord Jesus Christ you make nothing of this you draw the harrowes lightly after you you confesse this sinne and the other sinne and you doe welcome it but in the meane time no man lookes to his unbeleeving heart and yet this is the greatest sinne of all other and brings the greatest misery as Heb. 3.12 Take heed why what 's the matter For the Lord Jesus Christ his sake take heed lest there be in any of you an evill heart of unbeleefe to depart from the living God this unbeleefe makes you depart from the Lord God you will take heed of whoring and drunkennesse and you will say you are not so and so but I say thou hast an evill and unfaithfull heart and thou art a dead man and a miserable man and thou art gone from the Lord God the God of all happinesse and therefore thou art but a damned man This is the root and the worst of all take heed of an unbeleeving heart it departs away from the living God this is the nature and misery of this sinne What is the estate of the damned in Hell and this shall bee the sentence that is past against the wicked in that day when the Heavens shall melt and the Goats shall stand on the left hand and the Sheep on the right hand and when ye shall see all the Heavens on a flame and you shall heare that fearfull voyce saying arise you damned unbeleeving wretches stand forth and heare your doome what will bee your greatest misery in that day even this Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting flames this is the upshot of vengeance and the sharpest sentence would you not thinke this terrible if you did heare it Now therefore away thou varlet bee gone to Hell I doubt not but the very proudest wretch in hell would then be content to hang upon mercy before hee went to Hell and hee would beg that he might yet breathe to call after mercy If thou wouldest take heed of this sentence then take heed of an unbeleeving heart for by unbeleefe thou passest the sentence against thy selfe thou needest none other to condemne thee Oh therefore get you home and humble your selves in secret and say thus The Lord hath given mee a heart to see the evill of my heart I blesse the Lord thou hast kept my hand my eye my life but good Lord I never saw the horrible nature of sinne which will be my bane to this day I was never burthened with it Oh that I might now take heed of it what shall I say to mine owne heart depart thou wretch to Hell the Lord forbid Oh strive mightily with God and with your owne soules and rest not till you get some strength from Heaven and say if that voice should come againe Oh woe to mee for ever well my unbeleeving heart doth this and hath past the sentence upon mine owne soule you heare these and if you would but take home these truths they would make you stagger See what our Saviour saith Iohn 5.40 You will not come to mee that yee may have life but I know you that yee have not the love of God in you comming is beleeving is this sinne so heavy the Lord fasten it upon your hearts what shall any man goe away and say I will not beleeve there is such a generation whither will you goe If the world calls yee run if the devill calls ye goe presently but will you not
there is none equall to his to bee compared with this worke of beleeving I say of faith as Iacob did of Reuben Gen. 49.3 Reuben thou art my first borne my might and the beginning of my strength the excellency of dignities c. So I say of faith it is the first borne of all other graces it is the might of God and the beginning and the excellency of the might and power of God for as the first borne hath a double portion appointed by God so this is the first borne and hath a double portion of that Almighty Spirit of his So then if it be so that all the parts that ever a man had and all the highest privileges and meanes and duties cannot reach this worke and are not able to worke faith but are too feeble to worke faith and if it bee so that this worke is extraordinary great and so are the hindrances to be removed and none but Christ can doe it and if faith bee supernaturall the opposition against this worke of God bee so fierce let then every man that heares the word of God this day yeeld that it is unconceivable how it is done and therefore much more out of our power to worke it in our owne soules therefore you that have heard and understand the minde of God that out of ignorance have beene deceived to you I now speake you are to be intreated in the name of the Lord to goe home and say and take shame to your selves and confesse your owne folly thou that hast made it a easie worke to beleeve saying if people were but judicious to understand the Scriptures it were easie to beleeve now take shame to your selves and say thus Lord the truth is I condemned such and such a poore soule I heard such a man a mourning and saying hee could not beleeve in the meane time I thought it was easie or else they wanted wit but I thought that by my parts and abilities and because I was able to see the depth of Scriptures that therefore I could beleeve and that it was an easie matter to doe it but poore deluded creature that I was I see now that I am no more able to beleeve out of my owne power than to pull the sunne from the heavens consider it sadly and know that he that beleeves must beleeve through grace therefore parly with the promise and say Lord I must beleeve through grace it is not parts nor privileges meanes nor duties I must beleeve through grace if I could meditate till my eyes sunke into my head yet Lord it is through that grace that I must beleeve through that grace of thine inable thy servant and strengthen him in hearing prayer and all meanes that I may receive the good and benefit of faith to my comfort and brethren whensoever yee appeare before the Lord in the use of the meanes doe not sticke upon the meanes and say now I shall beleeve but looke to him that by all these can doe more than thou canst doe and say Good Lord thou hast appointed the ordinances to worke faith and the messengers have knockt at the doore of my heart and would faine have had me come home to the Lord Jesus but alas this heart would not yeeld I will not beleeve nor rest upon the promises nor goe to Jesus Christ nor denie all carnall confidence in parts and gifts and the like therefore good Lord thou that hast the keyes of hell and death doe not onely stand and knock but Lord shake off these iron gates of unbeleefe from the hinges it is thy owne worke doe it Lord for the good and comfort of thy servant this we must doe or else it will never be done it is the Lord that must doe it you know a little before my text the Scribes and Pharisees said How did he come downe from heaven Let no man saith Christ be offended with this for no man can come to mee except the Father draw him and in the 28 29. verses they said How shall we worke the worke of God This is the worke of God saith Christ that ye beleeve in the Sonne of God this is the Master peece and the first-borne of God and the exceeding greatnesse of his mightie power and in the text Hee that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth to me and Christ saith I have called you out of world the Disciples were setled upon the world and Christ calls them now if all the Angels in heaven had called they would not have heard but Christ saith I have called you from the world and from that evill and sinne in which ye were c. when you heare of there workes treasure them up in your heart and plead thus with the Lord and say Lord thou hast bidden us come unto thee and it is our dutie but no man can come unto thee though he have never so many parts and gifts except thou draw him Lord draw this heart of mine to beleeving no man can know the way to thee except thou teach him Oh therefore teach thou this blinde minde of mine it is not our worke can make us beleeve it is not in our power to frame our hearts to this blessed worke Lord doe thou it and let that excessive greatnesse of thy mighty power be manifested in making mee beleeve and draw home this soule by the greatnesse of thy power Lord here are great hinderances and great sinnes and mightie great basenesse and loosnesse of heart Lord thou hast that exceeding great power to doe it Lord worke mightily upon my heart and over-power this greatnesse of sinne with the greatnesse of thy power and over-power this mightinesse of corruption by that mightinesse of thy power you must goe to God for this power or else it will never bee for though you had all the meanes and helpes that ever any had yet this carnall confidence will never out before the almighty power of God come downe from heaven seeke for that power and never be in quiet till you have it that you may have this worke of faith to your comcomforts for ever Vse 4 Hence in the next place wee collect the exceeding great benefit that will come by beleeving to the soule the difficultie in getting of it cannot be so great but the benefit of it when it is gotten will bee as great every way and that is thus faith makes the life of every man that hath it most easie and brings full content to the soule of him that hath it these are the two heads to which I will referre the benefit of faith First it makes the life of a Christian most easie Secondly it gives full content to the heart of a poore Christian these follow from the former truth in this manner if this be the nature of faith to cause the soule to rest upon the free grace of God in Christ and to furnish the soule with a supply of spirituall wants from hence then this must needs make the life
man well but hath he not given thee a heart to beleeve and to rest upon the riches of Gods free grace in Christ then goe thy way for ever cheared and know that thou hast a marvellous great childs part therefore be thankfull unto him and droope no more nor bee dismaid no more thou saist thou hast not riches nor honours nor parts and thou hast not what others have nor thou canst not doe what others can doe but hast thou a heart to beleeve be cheared then and snarle no more murmure no more thou hast a good part and wilt doe pretty well every day thou risest and every nighâ— thou goest to bed blesse God and downe upon thy knees and prayse him for ever that hath given thee a graine of this precious faith bee for ever thankfull and rejoyce as David saith Psalme 92.1 It becomes upright men to be thankfull Let the wicked those that have no share in these gâ—â—ces let them be discouraged but the Saints of God cannot go away dismaid it becomes the righteous to be thankfull If the soule be inwardly setled and established by faith in the promise there cannot but come some savour of comfort to it 1 Pet. 1.9 In whom though yee see him not yet have ye beleeved and rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious therefore observe it beleeving rejoyceth and saith Good Lord is Christ mine that have abased him and is Heaven and the Spirit mine that have so abused it and the heart leaps at the remembrance of it and wonders at it and can scarcely beleeve it to bee true but yet hee is wonderfully thankfull It is a duty to rejoyce for mercy and grace received as well as to be humbled for sinne committed all those phrases of Scripture run thus and those joyes that may make us rejoyce they all belong to that man that is brought home to beleeve Men rejoyce as those that divide the spoyle you know this gives much joy to the souldiers that overcome so when the rich merchant gets a prize what rejoycing is there So there was never any poore soule that beleeves in Christ and comes home to Christ by the promise but he is a great conquerour and hath gotten a rich spoyle one promise is better than all the Rubies and Diamonds of the Indies When the Prodigall had beene pinched with famine and poverty when he was returned from his misery to his father marke what a deale of mirth there was the friends were feasted and the father rejoyced but if they were so comforted what was the Prodigall then surely his joy was incomprehensible and unconceivable if they which were onely the beholders of the Prodigals good did so rejoyce then what was hee that was the gainer of all that good to come from such a deale of misery to such a father nay to come from such a base course not onely to be entertained to the family but to the affections of the father hee must needs bee full of joy for the same Oh then how great is that joy and that consolation which is spirituall and which every faithfull soule which hath beene a Prodigall now receives when hee is come home to God and is come home to him whoÌ„ he hath formerly dishonoured This Prodigall is nothing else but the picture of a poore sinner that runs riot from God and from his truth as 1 Pet. 2.25 We were as sheepe going astray we are the Prodigals naturally and wee follow our owne wayes and the corruption of our owne hearts and we have spent all our patrimony and are gone away from God and grace and life and all but the broken hearted sinner now comes home to God the Father by faith Now if the Prodigall when he found his home was so cheared and if his father rejoyced and the friends feasted much more then when a poore sinner comes home to God the Father there is joy in Heaven for one sinner that repenteth therefore thou maist justly rejoyce in earth God the Father rejoyceth to see thee comming home and God the Son rejoyceth to receive thee poore and meeke and the Spirit of God rejoyceth to welcome a poore sinner that art brought home by true repentance and faith to the Lord The Saints of God rejoyce to see thee and the Angels of Heaven glory in it and it is the greatest comfort that they have the Angels fing Hallelujahâ— when any poore Saint is humbled and brought home to the Lord and they make it holyday in Heaven It is a good day to those glorious Spirits nay all those that were friends and favourers of thy poore soule they all rejoyce wert thou a wife or a childe that went away from God and art thou now brought home to rest upon the Lords free grace in Christ thy tender hearted Father that hath often prayed for thee with many teares hee rejoyceth and thy mother that hath sighed many a groane for thee nay all the people of God with one joynt consent many of whose hearts thou hast sadded by thy ungodly practices they have sought for thee and said Lord breake the heart of that poore creature Lord humble that wife or that childe when they heare that God hath answered their prayers and humbled thy heart their soules leape within them to heare this and they say there was such a Prodigall such a wife such a childe such a vilde wretch but now he hath forsaken his vilde wicked courses and he is now come home to the Father and they all rejoyce at it Now doe all the Saints and all the Angels in Heaven rejoyce and all thy Friends thinke it a happy day tâ—at they live to see this day that thou art humbled and broken and brought home to the Lord Jesus Christ then goe thy wayes for shame and blesse God that ever thou hast lived to bee possest of all this goodnesse and mercy from God If the standers by doe so rejoyce how ought thy heart to be inlarged in thankfulnesse to that good God who hath beene so gracious to thee Let me perswade every faithfull soule who hath found this to humble himselfe before the Lord and to tell the Lord in this manner saying Lord I was vilde and ignorant and rebellious and went away from thee but now I am come from the world and from my lusts and all to a Saviour to a Father to a Spirit of comfort and blessed be this day that ever I came home to thee that I may receive this mercy at thy hands You know in Exodus 15.1 when as Pharaoh had pursued the children of Israel to the red sea and they drowned themselves in the red sea and that the Israelites were come safely upon the shore then the text saith they beleeved the Lord and feared him and hiâ— servant Moyses then Moyses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord and said I will sing unto the Lord for hee hath triumphed gloriously so Revel 15.3 there the same song is recorded againe saying
great and marvellous are thy workes and in the 107. Psalme 8. when the Prophet had shewed the great workes that God had done for his people Israel he saith Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare his wonderfull workes before the sonnes of men This was also a type of our spirituall comming home to Christ wee are all slaves to the Devill and in spirituall bondage under sinne hell and death but faith sets a man upon the shore and brings him home unto Christ as Iohn 5.24 He that doth beleeve is passed from death to life Lord saith the poore soule I confesse I was in the mouth of hell but now I am passed from death to life faith sets a man beyond sinne and death and all therefore the soule should be thankfull and sing a song of praise unto the Lord his God Now there are two bottomes from the former Doctrine which give foot-hold to your comfort First by beleeving all the goodnesse and mercie of God is thine and he cannot nay he will not deny thee therefore thou mayst with boldnesse challenge the good of all that mercie and goodnesse of his When God hath engaged himselfe to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee he cannot take away his mercy from a faithfull soule because hee cannot deny himselfe hee will not denie his truth and his promise therefore the Saints of God cannot but be partakers of all this mercie and goodnesse the Apostle saith Ephes 3.17 Christ dwels in our hearts by faith so Coloss 2.3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge now gather up all and the summe is thus much and there you may see how the comfort comes by faith I lay hold upon a Saviour in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge and so I lay hold upon these what would you have and what is it that may comfort you thou art beggerly in wisdome and in consolation and in all the graces of Gods Spirit but if thou hast faith thou hast a Christ and in him are all the treasures of wisdome and mercie take your treasure and be inriched for evermore you may doe it it is your owne Secondly all the sinnes that thou standest guilty of and all the temptations of Sathan cannot hinder thee from injoying that light and receiving that good which thou hast need of there is no sinne that hath beene committed can stand betweene thee and eternall life be thy corruptions never so many for number never so vile and strong for nature never so long for continuance in them and all those old bruises and old lusts of youth which make thee say can the Lord pardon me and is it possible for such a wretch as I am to have mercie that have all these corruptions I answer it skils not what thy sinnes be see thy faith and repentance bee sound it matters not what thou hast beene a rebell even against God if now thou canst beleeve and rest upon God and repent thee of thy sinnes Quest But now the point growes on the soule is in some reasonable manner satisfied that if it had faith then it could be satisfied but many seeme to have faith and have it not if my faith were true I could gaine some sound comfort to my selfe that all would goe well with mee but how shall I know that Answ I answer I confesse that the faith of the most men in the world is but a meere delusion as I shall discover in the next use of reproofe but that thou maist be undoubtedly perswaded of the truth of this grace that though thy faith be never so little yet it is saving justifying faith I will therefore lay downe some trials I will not now intrench upon any of the particulars that come afterward but onely lay open such particulars for triall as are in the doctrine I know faith purifies the heart and workes by love c. and faith makes a new creature but these come too farre off I will onely gather somwhat from the point in hand Triall 1 First observe the root and rise of thy faith the cause by which thy faith was wrought and from whence it came and this will be an undoubted evidence whether thy faith be good or not therefore when thou dost begin to brag and say I doe beleeve then aske thy heart this question and say how came I by it prove it have I faith make it good then it is not enough to say so but let mee see that it is so didst thou bring it into the world with thee did thy wits contrive it did thy parts and abilities worke it and because thou hast more wit and learning than others and thou thinkest it as easie a matter to beleeve as to understand a hard writing if it bee thus thy faith is a delusion and no faith at all it is true here of faith which Iob speakes of wisdome nature saith it is not in me and eloquence saith it is not in me I know not the way to it all these say I have heard the newes of faith but I am not acquainted with it God onely knowes the way thereof and is the worker of it the text saith Every man than hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me the Father must first teach this lesson or else no man can understand it except the Father give thee a heart to know Jesus Christ there is no power in thee that is able to give this grace to the soule hast thou thy faith from heaven then it is like to bee of the right kinde but it must bee from thence it ariseth not from the earth it comes not from parts and gifts and learning it must come from heaven or else it is not of the right kinde all the coine that is currant is minted in the tower by authoritie of the King if not it is not currant in 1 Pet. 1.7 the Apostle cals it precious faith it must bee stamped by the Lord Jesus Christ by the hand of the Spirit it must come from the tower of Zion or else it is copper faith and not saving justifying faith nor that which will stand in steed in the day of triall here or in the day of judgement hereafter as wee say in nature the Alcumists are growne to that skill that they will make Alcumie appeare to be perfect silver and gold and much of it will beare the touchstone insomuch that a man can hardly discover some of it it is so cunningly made but when the fire and the hammer comes it will beare neither of them but the true gold comes from the gold oare and will endure the fire and hammer the alcumie gold comes not from the right place where the gold is it comes not from the minerals from the golden mines so there is a great deale of this alcumie faith for the world is come to this passe that they have a faith of their owne faining
and it is ready to cousen the touch I meane of able judicious Christians but now this faith never came from the right place for if it were right it must come from the mine of mercie and from God and the worke of his Spirit from thence thou hast it if thy faith bee sound Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing the word faith is not in us it comes to us it is not wrought or purchased by our owne worthinesse or power the word is the conduit to convey it but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is as the fountaine that sends it into the soule so that you must not thinke to have faith here first but hast thou found faith here first then it is not of the right but if the good Spirit of the Lord hath wrought upon thee if it be so then thy faith is right but some will say we heare the word diligently and we doe attend upon God in his ordinances and have wee not faith I answer hearing is the meanes to convey it but it is the Spirit of the Father that conveyes it by the meanes and that Spirit thou must receive by the meanes if ever thou have it there is the pitch of the point Object But how shall we know when the Spirit of God is pleased to worke this in our soules and to put it into our soules by hearing Ans There is all the difficultie and it is worth the while to consider sadly of it for I know the worke of Gods Spirit by the word in the soule by these particulars First the Spirit sheweth to the soule of a poore sinner that hee hath no faith nor no abilities 〈◊〉 worke it of himselfe this the word workes first but we are not yet at the bottome Secondly when the Spirit hath shewed thee that thou art an unfaithfull soule and that thou hast to power to worke it of thy selfe then the Spirit of the Lord by the word breathes upon the soule of a poore sinner and by the sweetnesse thereof overmasters and breakes downe all those secret cursed distempers of heart that brought under the soule and kept him in himselfe every man is brought in bed with his corruptions as Iob speakes namely thus The Spirit of God in the word drives the soule to a restlesse disquiet and makes him see that hâ—e must not stay here but hee must seeke out and goe from hence and seeke for another condition or else hee must perish for ever rest not here saith the Spirit you must bee gone and the soule saith If I rest here I am an undone man therefore hee will out and seeke for another condition Thirdly as the Spirit of God doth overpower those distempers and drives the soule to a restlesse condition till it looke out for a better condition so lastly the Spirit of God shewes that poore soule an impossibilitie of finding mercie but from God and therefore turnes the face and sets the frame of the heart that way to looke God-ward and to be for God and this is the meaning of that place Iohn 16.9 when the Spirit of God comes to bring faith and peace to the conscience the text saith Hee shall convince the world of sinne because they beleeved not on him this place implies two things First the Spirit of God sets downe all sinfull carnall pleas and pretences that the heart can make and perswades the heart that he is in a sinfull and most lamentable estate and condition and must change Secondly it convinceth the heart that there is good to be found in another and with that the heart is turned that way to looke towards a Saviour and to wait for him till mercie come from thence and then if thou canst say this to thy soule The truth is Lord I was an unbeleever and an unfaithfull creature and the Lord made mee see it and left me not there but by the power of his Spirit and the ministery of the word he drew me from thence and laid fast hold on me and left some remembrance of his indignation upon my soule and made me restlesse in myselfe and opened mine eyes to see a better way and said thou must goe on in another way and in a better way and so opened to me a glimpse of his mercie and goodnesse so that the foule is now comming on to God where this is it will never end but the Spirit of God will worke faith and faith is now comming home to the soule and the soule will come home to the flood oâ— conversion is nothing else but a setting of the soule for God as it is plaine in all the phrases of the Scripture this is the first triall Triall 2 Secondly if thou wilt judge thy faith whether it is true or noe doe thus faith makes choice wholly of Christ and resolves to match with Christ onely the meaning is this it chuseth Christ wholly for now the match is made up when once the soule comes to beleeve the preparation to the match was before in desire c. but now the match is made up and now the soule makes choice of Christ as he on whom he will bestow himselfe he chuseth Christ wholly and that you shall perceive thus when he is thus cald home by faith whatsoever it is that Christ brings the soule chuseth all of that whatsoever belongs to a Christ and is of Christ and in Christ he chuseth all Christ Christ is not only the Saviour of all his but hee is the God of all grace and hath grace to bestow upon the soules of all those that beleeve in him now faith chuseth the holinesse of a Christ and whatsoever grace is in Christ the soule chuseth that as much if not more than pâ—â—don of sinne and removing the guilt of sinnes there is the authority and rule of Christ and faith chuseth that and had rather to be under the government of Christ than under any other Scâ—pâ— in the world and faith chuseth the life of Christ whatsoever life Christ lives that life faith will chuse the woman is now content to conforme her selfe to the estate and condition of her husband she must not thinke to live as she list and to be in this place and that place and that fashion therefore thinke of it that thou didst never as yeâ— beleeve in a Christ except thou didst chuse the patience and holinesse and meeknesse of a Christ and the rule and life of Christ many Lords have ruled over us saith the text when thy cursed corruptions come and would rule thee if then thou art content to bee ruled by a Christ and to live and converse as he did this is an undoubted argument that thou chusest Christ aright nay thou must chuse the shame and disgraces and the crosse of Christ and the crowne of thornes too that is that whatsoever it is that comes with a Christ thou must make choice of it and say I will have Christ and all that comes with Christ as it is with a
Christian and his heart is satisfied with Christ and he goes to and rests upon and is satisfied in a Christ but if thou beare up thy heart with other businesses resting upon thy gifts and parts and pompe and place then thy faith is naught it rests not upon Gods free grace but upon it selfe and upon some broken reed which will faile thee When a man hath the world and honours and pleasures to stand by him he goes on cheerfully and comfortably but when these are gone all his comfort is gone then thy faith is naught for if thou hadst rested upon the free grace of Christ thou wouldst have been contented and comfortable though all honours and the like had beene taken from thee but alas this is our misety wee sit downe Rahellâ— like and will not bee comforted because honours and friends and meanes are not well goe thy way thy faith is naught it never as yet rested upon a Christ who would have continued any comfort to thee The conclusion is this the soule must bee perswaded by the spirit of the Father therefore nothing is the author of faith but the Lord. Faith must come from Heaven and from the Spirit of God in the Word if ever thou have that faith which will doe thee good Secondly the soule was effectually perswaded and therefore chuseth a Christ wholly Thirdly it rests upon his free grace and therefore is fully contented with it Vse 6 In the next place it is a word of just reproofe and the former Doctrine is a bill of Inditement against multitudes of men that were never yet partakers of this blessed worke of Grace they are not far off but in the very bosome of the Church of God they are to this very day unfaithfull It is a foolish delusion of many who thinke that onkly Sithians and Parthians and Turkes and Pagans want faith this is an idle dreame and a doating conceit and prevailes too much even with those that thinke themselves some body and are in high place Oh let not this delusion prevaile with your judgements for the former Doctrine comes as a swift witnesse against such as looke high and professe gloriously and thinke their penny good silver yet the former truth I say is that which testifies to their faces and to their consciences that there was never one dramme of saving faith wrought in them Woe therefore to their soules for it and to all such whose conditions shall bee found to bee so yet this is not the greatest of their misery for althouhh they are in this condition yet they will not see it nor bee perswaded of it when their owne lives can testifie to their faces and also proclaime to all the world that there is no faith in their hearts and Gods people mourne for them and cry to God for them and sinke under the burthen of their miserie yet it is strange to see how people will beare up themselves with a blinde boldnesse and a wretched carnall confidence and conceits that they have faith It is true say they our lives are not so holy as they ought and our workes are not so good as they should be therefore we trust not to our workes but to Jesus Christ he came to save sinners and we trust in him and all the worid nay all the devills in hell shall not perswade us to the contrary but we will beleeve in our Saviour If we should goe from man to man and from house to house and call at every mans doore and say are there any beleevers here they are at daggers drawing presently and say are not we all beleevers and we hope to goe to heaven as sone as the proudest professor of them all many soules perish this way and goe downe to hell hoodwinckt and never know where they are untill they come in the bottomlesse pit past hope past helpe I hope you will confesse this that to beleeve is more than to say so or to thinke so or conceive it in a mans minde nay it will cost you much labour before that day come that those proud hearts of yours be humbled and those distempered soules of yours that are fastned to your lusts and corruptions be brought to beleeve and to bee effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father and that those doubting and staggering soules of yours be brought to rest upon free grace in Jesus Christ Oh how few finde this worke I can scarcely tell whether to make it a matter of lamentation or of reproofe of those that thinke they have faith and have it not I am afraid that too many of you will finde the want of it when it is too late If ever Doctrine were needfull to be pressed then now especially in these times that so if it were possible me might shake the carnall confidence of most men Suffer mee therefore to goe on plainly in this use of reproofe and let me doe it in two particulars First I will shew and prove that many that live in the bosome of the Church have not faith Secondly I will shew who they be in particular that have no faith which things being opened then I hope every man but especially such as God shall blesse this truth unto shall be apprehensive of their condition if they will deale plainly with their owne hearts First let me lay the inditement and shew that many that live in the bosome of the Church want this saving faith Scripture and reasons are pregnant here for the first that many not onely pagans and heathens but you which live in the bosome of the Church of England have not faith as Esay 53.1 Lord who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed this beleeving spoken of is saving faith and it was so hard to be found that though Esay were a man of admirable parts and one that spake in a most admirable manner yet faithfull men were so few that hee could see none therefore he goes up and downe as it were to inquire for beleevers is there any one in this family that beleeves therefore hee saith To whom is the Arme of the Lord revealed that is the power of God in the Gospell that 's the thing you must take notice of you that are wise aske this question did God ever reveale himselfe to thee to pull downe thy proud heart and the heart of your wife or your husband c. Christ found hard measure here Iohn 1.11 He came to his owne and his owne received him not the Jewes were cald his owne people he did not come to strangers to pagans and infidels but to his owne upon whom hee had bestowed many meanes and whom he had carried upon eagles wings and to whom he had communicated many rich tokens of his love yet how did they use him even they received him not not only some few of them did not receive him but the whole body of the Jewes the whole nation and people of the Jewes did not receive him indeed
cannot but confesse it Sort. 2 The second sort to be reproved are the carnall Gospellers which live scandalously and live and trade in their wickednesse they come and heare sometimes and they thinke that God is much beholden to them for it one man will sweare and another will be tipsee in a corner and beare some good will to the truth but fall off grosly another cheats and cousens and keeps false balances and yet professeth the Gospel and thinks it a high dishonour if hee be not respected now though these will come to the meanes of grace yet if the word of God doe but reveale these mens sinnes and sharpen a reproofe against them and come somewhat keenly upon their conscience they are all up in armes and make defiance for their sinnes and their great Diana of Ephesus is like to fall and they will rather part with Christ and Gospell and all than with their lusts these men thinke they have mercie in a string and Christ at command and power to beleeve and you cannot perswade them that they doe not beleeve What a swearing faith and a cheating faith and a drunken faith the Lord keepe mee and all Gods people from it you cannot perswade them but that they beleeve in a Saviour and Christ must save them this Doctrine will dash all their vaine hopes they that beleeve will submit to the Spirit of grace they that beleeve are effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father in the promise and they are pluckt away from their lusts and corruptions but these take up armes and are in open defiance for their sins they that beleeve are humbled for faith will not grow but in a heart that is humbled and contented to part with sinne and selfe and all but these keepe both sinne and selfe and all they that have faith rest upon the freenesse of Gods grace and depart from their corruptions and only cleave unto and rest upon Christ but these rest upon their corruptions and goe from God and Christ and grace few of these people come into the congregation but if there be such a fellow here this day Oh that God would meet with him and let him see that he hath no faith What thou faith faith comes by hearing and not by resisting faith comes by yeelding and submitting to the Spirit in the word and not by opposing it therefore know that faith never came in that wretched heart of thine 1 Iohn 3.6 Whosoever sinneth hath not knowne him nor seene him and in the 8. verse Hee that committeth sinne is of the Devill that is hee that makes a daily trade of sinne and whose occupation is nothing else but rebellion he that committeth drunkennesse and adultery and makes a trade of them shall never see God nay he is the childe of the Devill but he that beleeves is not the childe of the Devill all the world knowes that now if thou trade thus in sinne thou art the childe of the Devill and therefore never hadst faith and continuing thus thou shalt never have it Iohn 5.44 How can you beleeve saith our Saviour which seeke honour one of another and seeke not the honour that commeth of God so say thou to thy owne soule how can I beleeve and yet harbour my lusts and attend to them and doe not yeeld to the truth of God revealed and made knowne to mee mee thinkes these owles should not abide the light of the sunne brethren all that we intend towards you it is that you may see sinne and what mercie wee desire for our owne soules the same wee desire for you but you must see your want of faith before you can know the way to get faith therefore suffer us to trade freely with you Oh get you home and howle you drunkards and swearers and enemies of God and of his grace get you apart as the leper did and cry I am uncleane I am uncleane Oh that the Lord would worke upon thy conscience and make this truth good to thy soule this day get you now into your corners and there cry and say I have an unbeleeving husband you wives joyne with your husbands and cry with your children and say we are all unbeleevers and he that beleeveth not is condemned already Now if any cavill be cast in upon thee and if the devill would make thee presume and if some carnall friends come to thee and say if you beleeve the Minister he will make you goe out of your wits and no man must have faith but they that are of his sect therefore say as it is spoken of Esau Hebr. 12.16 He sold his birth-right for a few pottage and so Iudas he sold Christ for thirty peeces of silver so when the devill would cast in some temptations and make you to presume reason thus with thy owne heart and say Esau sold Christ and Heaven and Grace and all for a few pottage and Iudas was a wretch and is now in Hell this day and as his heart was full of covetousnesse here so it is full of horrour in hell but I have sold Christ for a base lust and for my pride and envy and abominable lusts and drunkennesse which I get nothing by What I faith nay the devils have as much faith as I have When Pilate said to the Jewes whether will you that 〈◊〉 let loose to you Barrabas or Iesus which is called Christ they said not Christ but Barrabas did they beleeve in Christ which would have a wretch and a murtherer before Christ let your consciences speak◠plainly nay they loathed and crucified Christ and did not beleeve in him thou saist true thou that dost refuse the Lord Christ and chusest thy murther and pride and spleene and envy and all dost thou embrace a Christ and rest upon him the Lord perswade your hearts and make you know that you are these carnall Gospellers and such as have no faith You that have beene brethren in iniquity and you that have beene drunke together and adulterous together if any of you have hearts to pray goe and pray together and if you cannot pray then cry together and say wee are these carnall Gospellers and these ignorant persons that have no faith If any of you have more gifts than others goe and pray for poore drunkards and say Good Lord we have beene led by our lusts and have made a trade of sinne and to this day we have no faith Oh goe home and as you have beene sinfull together so howle together who knowes but the Lord may be gracious to you If the Lord would but give you one dramme of faith it would save you from all that drunkennesse and adultery of yours is it not worthy the having Oh stirre stirre for the Lords sake and as you have provoked one another to sinne and wickednesse so now provoke one another to goodnesse and goe seeke God one for another and every morning and evening pray for those sinfull soules of yours that have beene polluted by others
you have a heart to beleeve nay thy prosperitie thy blessings are cursed unlesse thou hast this grace of faith faith will make thee honourable in thy honour faith will make thee blessed in prosperitie Iohn 6.28 O how shall we worke the workes of faith marke how hee answereth Why this is the worke of God that you beleeve why would you doe that which God might take contentment in O this pleaseth the Lord admirably and contenteth him wonderfully when he seeth the soule leaves honour and leaves prosperitie and leaves the world and commeth to Christ and lieth at his footstoole and will never leave him nor forsake him this pleaseth the Lord admirably it is true all duties are good with this grace but none of them will please God without this thou maist pray untill thy eyes are weary untill thy heart sinketh and thy Spirit fainteth yet without faith the Lord careth not for thy best performances if a poore Christian whose parts are not so strong whose prayers are not so powerfull can but sob and sigh out a prayer in faith this is more pleasing to the Lord Eccles 7. a man will doe any thing that he may live all a mans labour it is that he might live what wilt thou labour for clothes to cover thee and meat to nourish thee and wares for thy shop and not for Christ and faith to save thy soule therefore when your carnall friends would withdraw your endevours and say what needeth all these prayers and what needeth all these endevours answer what would you not have me live observe the scope of all motions and the end of all labour is rest the poore sea-faring man his eye is upon the shoare when his hand is tugging at the oare the traveller his body is in the way and his heart is at home the souldier fighteth that he might have a peaceable victorie the people in the wildernesse were travelling and at last they had rest Heb. 4.3 wee are thus wildering wee are thus travellers and wee are thus poore sea-faring men that are tossed up and downe the waters of the world and in seas of sorrow and the truth is we are so in wrath and vengeance 〈…〉 horrour of conscience and would not you have rest Heb. 4.4 He that doth beleeve doth enter into that rest he hath entred into that rest Brethren the truth is we are tossed we are thus troubled miseries without horrour within Would you not now be at rest there is no more horrour to trouble you no more vengeance to plague thee no more wrath to haunt thee let thy eye be upon the shoare pray to beleeve and heare to beleeve and labour to beleeve labour for that rest For the further clearing of the point I will here discover three particulars 1 I will shew you the hindrances of faith 2 I will shew you the means to get faith 3 I will shew you the motives to perswade you to labour for it 1 What these be that hinder a man from getting faith and here in the generall know thus much they are very many and very dangerous it is therefore a point of wisedome to bee carefull to foresee these hindrances and to be watchfull to prevent these Satan above all doth labour to hinder a poore soule this way hee would not have a man chaste hee would not have a man regenerate he would not have a man meeke and humble but above all hee would not have him beleeve for then he knowes he is gone If he bee so violent to cast hindrances in our way wee should bee as watchfull and carefull to avoid these hindrances It is that wee shall observe concerning Peter Satan saith our Saviour desires to winnow thee Now that Christ aimed at was that he would winnow his faith and Christ laboured to fortifie that for saith he I have prayed that thy faith faile not as if he had said if faith holds all holds the Devill sights neither against small nor great but onely against faith he deales with faith as one enemy doth with another in the field in fight one against another if the enemy perceive that there is some castle or some trench to which the contrary side have resort upon all occasions all their aiming is to cut off their passage the bridge that they may not come to the shelter and then they can conquer them and prevaile against them as they list This is an ordinary care that one enemy hath against another So Satan deales with the soule hee easily perceives that the Lord Jesus Christ and his promises are the castle of a distressed soule they are the trenches wherein the soule may refresh it selfe and finde succour upon all occasions Now Satan labours to cut off the passage of confidence and take away the bridge of beleefe when hee hinders a man from resting and beleeving in Christ he cuts him from comming to his shelter and castle therefore he can prevaile against him as hee please Therefore let the soule bee so much the more wary to prevent these hindrances because Satan is so carefull and watchfull to lay hindrances in the way and to fortifie all sides that we may not beleeve in Christ this is the greatest labour of Satan to hinder us let it bee our greatest endevour to attaine it Now to deale more plainly the hindrances that Satan casts in our way to keep us from beleeving are of two sorts The first are those hindrances that doe disinable a man from comming to Christ as having no title to him no interest in his mercy some hindrances doe really withhold a man that he cannot rely upon and repaire unto the Lord Jesus Christ Other there bee againe that doe not take away our interest in the promises they doe not hinder our title we have to Christ but wee hinder our selves from comming to Christ because wee are not wise to prevent these hindrances as wee should and avoid them as we ought First wee will beginne with the former and the question is what are those reall hindrances that keepe the soule that it cannot beleeve in the Lord Iesus that it never shall beleeve in the Lord Iesus upon these termes in that estate and condition those hindrances are especially foure The first is this A blinded carelesse and senselesse security and presumption which commonly takes possession of the hearts of men whereby they content themselves with their condition because they know not the misery of their condition Marke what I say this same sluggish senselesse this same carelesse presumption of a mans welfare when there is no such matter he is only blinded and deluded When men cry peace peace to their soules when they conclude their estates are good they desire to be no better because they see no other because they see not the misery of it These cannot see the excellency of faith therefore cannot make a step to goe to Christ by faith such a soule is rivetted and scrued to his base wretched condition therefore
there is no trading with him in matters of faith till his conscience be a wakened and his sinnes discovered The text saith The whole need not the Physitian and therefore will not seeke him nay he will not receive him when he comes he cares not for him while we thinke our selves whole and safe and sound and seared and speake peace to our soules in our naturall condition wee looke not after Christ neither will wee receive Christ if hee come to our doores It is a fine passage of Saint Paul and it is the ground hee makes of the unbeleefe of the Iewes Rom. 11.25 the text saith Hardnesse is come upon the Iewes till the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in the word in the originall is prettie There is a kinde of sleepy sluggish stupid benummed senselesnesse in the Jew till the Gentiles came in the one are hindred from comming to Christ and beleeving in him because they are rocked asleepe therefore the word in the originall signifies a stilnesse for when a man hath got a stupid benummed heart he is all stilled all quiet and at rest he seeth nothing he lookes after nothing he cares for nothing but rests in the condition he is in and in this the Jewes shall dwell till the Lord awakes him out of this securitie This is the cause men complaine they cannot endure sharp preaching and to have their sinnes discovered and their consciences awakened I wonder Ministers should make this adoe cannot men goe to Heaven without such a stirre they see no neede therefore they desire no trouble this is that the Lord observes of the Church of Laodicea Revel 3. which was an argument of the base estate she was in Thou saist thou art rich and needest nothing and knowest not that thou art poore and blinde and miserable and naked because she knew not her miserie shee never laboured to goe to Christ to be freed from her misery and it is observed Zephany 3.12 when the Lord would discover a people that should beleeve hee saith I will leave an afflicted and a poore people a pooâ—e soule that trembles at Gods Word and seeth his misery hee is like to looke out for succour from the Lord Iesus nay famous is that place Iohn 12.39 marke a passage or two they are very observable and usefull for the point in hand There our Saviour speaking of the Jewes saith they could not beleeve hee addes the reason for I say saith The heart of this people is waxen fat hee hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts lest they should see with their eyes and beleeve with their hearts and should bee converted and I should heale them There are two passages observable one by the by that beleeving and converting are all one in Scripture hee saith they could not beleeve that they might not he converted but here was the ground why they could not beleeve Their eyes were blinded and their hearts were hardned They were in a senselesse benummed secure cursed course they hope to be saved and all is well and they never see what condition they are in till they are in Hell therefore they never seeke out for mercy Therefore Christ saith to the Jewes Yee will not come to me to be saved for how can yee beleeve when yee seeke the honour one of another and seeke not the honour that comes from God It is impossible for a man to bee in Hell and in Heaven both at once for light and darknesse to bee together in one place for a man to rest upon sinne and upon the feee grace of Christ as long as thou art setled as long as thou restest in thy base course as long as thou livest in a naturall sleepy condition Tell it to your children you that are Parents tell it to your husbands you that are wives husband how can you beleeve childe how can you beleeve when thou seekest not the honour of God but setlest thy selfe upon thy base rebellions and restest upon thy corruptions Thus wee see the hindrance it is a sleepy secure carelesnesse of condition Now the cure of it is this namely labour to inforce thy selfe touching thine owne estate and pinch thine owne heart awaken and stirre up thy soule and pinch thine owne heart in the apprehension of that misery and wofulnesse of that condition thou art in and you shall helpe one another A man that is asleepe cannot awaken himselfe but another man that is but new awake that scarce hath his senses about him can stirre another better than himselfe bee you so wise Every poore sinner is asleepe and secure in sinne when will his eyes be open he will never see he can never awaken himselfe and jog him and pinch him awaken him you must beleeve the word you are in a fearfull condition in a miserable estate A naturall man is an accursed man thus deale one with another and resolve of this in two or three passages Let every man say the Word is true and reason undeniable unlesse I be altered in my condition I shall bee confounded in my condition unlesse I be another man I am an accursed man unlesse I bee borne againe by the Word it had beene better for mee I had never beene borne into the world I must not thinke that Christ will carry my soule and my sinnes to Heaven together I must not perswade my heart that flesh and blood can enter into the Kingdome of Heaven no heart it will not be you are sleepy and sluggish and you thinke Christ will save you no no t is true Christ came to save sinners and t is as true Christ came to humble sinners and to sanctifie sinners and to convert sinners Christ came to save his servants from sinne as well as from Hell Tell thou thy owne heart thus and never be quiet till thou affect thy soule with the apprehension of Christ I am a miserable man and shall bee so for ever if I continue in this condition Secondly againe imagine that the heart is now awakened a little that the sinner beginnes to see that hee must change hee lookes about and conceives God is angry and his sinnes are hainous and hell is gaping for him and the Lord tels him there is your portion thither you will goe one day either you must be another man or else an accursed man When the soule begins to thinke of this that he must bee altered and changed the other hindrance of faith is this that a sinner thinkes hee can change himselfe this is another maine hindrance and it is one of the greatest hindrances under Heaven First the soule thinkes it needs no change what saith the soule doe you tell mee of Hell and stagger my conscience I thinke my selfe well enough but that Ministers will not let me alone But now he seeth he must change and thinkes with himselfe either I must have my soule humbled and my life reformed or else goe downe to Hell and then hee shuffles for himselfe and sharkes for his
doe this though they can doe nothing else they cannot pray they cannot understand they cannot remember they cannot subdue their corruptions but they shall be taken away with company and fall into that sinne but they can beleeve in Christ with all their hearts thus we see that every man thinkes it in his power and within the compasse of his abilitie naturally to rest upon Christ Now marke what followeth why should a man desire that hee hath why should he seeke for that he hath attained why should he labour to be possessed of that which is in his owne power and he is possessed of already if I can beleeve naturally if it be in my power to goe to Christ when I list why shall I use all meanes and receive abilitie to doe that which I can doe by my owne power and this I take to be one maine ground why the endevours of men are taken off from attending and why the labours of Christians are taken off from seeking often this blessed precious grace of faith there are many grounds why men are driven to this kinde of conceit there are many reasons that make way for this conceit As first to beleeve is a spirituall thing betweene God and thy owne soule to pray and reforme belongs to the outward practice but to beleeve is a closure of the heart with an entertaining of the Lord and his truth and the giving way of our soules thereunto now because men cannot see their faith therefore no man will yeeld but he doth beleeve Secondly men conceive that it is an easie matter to take of mercie from Christ and say they is there any man that will not have mercie is it such a hard matter to receive favour offered or to take a gift when it is tendered unto us Thirdly these doe apprehend that the assenting to the Gospell of Christ wherein is revealed the riches of Gods mercie is all that is required in faith when the Lord saith He hath sent his Sonne into the world that he hath prepared salvation in him and wrougt redemption through him they acknowledge and assent to the truth and conceive this is whole to beleeve upon this ground poore creatures thinke it is in their power to beleeve and take grace and helpe from Christ though they cannot helpe themselves therefore they labour not to get grace from God to doe this worke because they thinke they can performe this worke by their owne abilitie and power The cure of this hindrance is this and it lieth specially in these three meditations First see thy selfe and convince thy owne heart how thou art cozened and thy conscience how thou art deceived in common sense when such thoughts creepe into thy minde and reason thus were it in my power alone to beleeve or in any mans power else would any man goe to hell for want of beleeving if it were in my power or any mans power else to get faith would any man perish for want of faith Take a little experience from those that lie on their death beds A riotous wretch that hath run headlong against the Lord and his truth a man that hath lived stubbornly and stoutly under the means of grace and hath taken up armes against God and his grace he lieth gasping and then hee lookes to Heaven and considers what shall become of him The Minister saith he must renounce himselfe and apply Christ and his promises to his soule Oh saith he I cannot beleeve the Lord will save mee and pardon me and comfort me I cannot rest upon the promises of God What I such a sinner and saved what I such a sinner and comforted I cannot beleeve it if all the Angels in Heaven tell it me is it in this mans power to beleeve now when he sees Hell open before him and the devils ready to receive him doe you thinke hee would rush into Hell if hee could beleeve and escape it Secondly looke into the depth of thine owne heart and weigh seriously thine owne weaknesse by the ballance of the Sanctuary and thine owne infirmities by the blessed Word of the Lord and see that thou must not onely have a gift from God to take it God must not onely give a man a gift but power to receive it Ioh. 3.27 No man can receive any thing unlesse it be given him from above therefore judge your owne abilities not according to your owne conceits and overweening imaginations but judge by the Word and judge righteous judgement that a man can receive no good thing unlesse God give him power The gift must come from above and the power must come from above whereby hee must receive it Thirdly consider and settle thine owne heart in this same determination and resolution that there must be a supernaturall power put forth to make thee beleeve or else all the power under Heaven cannot furnish thee with sufficiency thereunto a man is able to doe the condition of the first covenant as to observe the condition of the second covenant he is as well able to keepe the Law as to beleeve the Gospell unlesse there be a power to inable him Iames 1.18 Her hath begotten us according to his owne will by the Word of truth a childe cannot beget himselfe So it is here spiritually as there naturally the Lord doth beget us according to his owne will it is not in our owne will to beget our selves as the Pelagians dreamed it is not in our will to dispose of our hearts to take Christ when we will to let him stand at doore so long as we see fit and take him in when we see fit but it is the Will of the Lord that must beget us and not our will that can beget our selves Therefore that faith that groweth upon the ground of thy owne naturall abilitie it is a fancy it is no sound faith God must come down from heaven to thy soule before thou canst goe up to heaven againe faith must be first wrought in thy soule before thou canst be carried to God by faith there must bee a power in all means above all means there must be a spirit in all endevours above all endevours to helpe us to beleeve or else wee shall never beleeve while the world standeth therefore avoid those proud imaginations of heart when men thinke they may refuse grace take grace when they list shut Christ out of doores over night and take him in the morning it is against sense and there is nothing more crosse and contrary to the power of grace No goe secretly betweene God and thine owne soule and confute it what I Lord and my parts Lord what in my will Lord to beleeve and in my power and so forth no if all men and Angels should conspire together and all the Ministers under Heaven joyne together to work faith in my soule it will never bee the power of Angell Men or Word will never worke it but it must bee the power of the Lord that must worke it
as we may see Ephes 1.18 The same power that brought Christ out of the grave must bring the soule to Christ or else it will never come while the world stands be perswaded of these things they are true chuse whether you will beleeve them but the Lord make you beleeve them that you may receive comfort to your soules We come now in the second place to those second kinde of hinderances which doe not deprive a man of the title to Christ but through our own folly and weaknesse they stop us from comming so readily to Christ wee have interest in a promise but through our owne ignorance and Satans subtilty wee goe not so readily to a promise wee have title to The ground of all these hinderances is one and that is this namely when men out of carnall reason contrive another way to come to Christ than ever God ordained than ever the Word revealed when wee set up a standard by Gods standard when out of the heady haughty imaginations of our mindes wee make other termes and conditions of beleeving than ever God made then ever Christ required we lay bars in the way and lay boults upon our feet and manacles upon our hands and then wee complaine wee cannot goe the fault is your owne and the impediments are many because carnall reason is fruitfull to devise and Satan followes and fires these imaginations I will onely mention three hinderances which are mainly observable by which many a gracious heart is wonderfully damped from comming to and receiving benefit from the Lord Jesus Christ Hinderance 1 The first hinderance is a desperate kinde of despaire and discouragement which sometimes oppresseth the soule of a distressed sinner the distressed soule lookes upon his owne corruptionâ— and worthinesse and sinfullnesse and then hee dares not come to Christ hee viewes the number of his sinnes so many the nature of his abominations so hainous the continuance of them so long the soule of a distressed man sends his thoughts affarre off and viewes all both the abominations of his life and the distempers of his soule and seeth his iniquities mustering up themselves and Satan helps him forward for this is his policy First hee will keepe a sinner if hee can that hee shall not see sinne and then all will be whole and the sinner thinkes there is mercy enough in a Saviour and why should I trouble my selfe but when hee sees the sinner will pore upon his sinnes then hee shall see nothing else but sinne so that he dares not goe to God for mercy this is that I desire to trade in and follow Satan as far as I can Now the sinner that is in this case tell him that mercy is in Christ and redemption offered in a Saviour hee dares not heare of it hee dares not thinke of it what saith he shall I once imagine or thinke that there is any mercy for me that I have any title to or interest in Christ that were strange and the soule is here foyled and fastned upon his owne misery and never goeth to the Physitian he stares in the wound and never goes to a Saviour for a man is as well kept from going to Christ by poring continually upon his distempers by despaire as by resting upon his owne sufficiency by presumption hee that seeth not his sinnes he thinkes he hath sufficiency and therefore will not goe to Christ and when a sinner seeth and feeleth the burden of his iniquities he dares not goe to a Saviour this is the course of Satan and here in hee is marvellous cunning but this should not be any discouragement to our hearts from comming to the Lord Iesus Christ for I beseech you observe it for whom did Christ come into the world for whom did Christ die when he came it was not for the righteous that needed him not but for the sinners that had condemned themselves and hee came to save those that could not save themselves 1 Tim. 1.15 It is a faihfull saying Christ came to save sinners whereof I am the chiefe Zachary 13.1 There is a Fountaine set open for all people to wash in all sorts of sinnes and all sorts of sinners there is a fountaine set open for them bee they what they will be be they what they can be their sins never so great the time never so long and the hainousnesse never so vilde come they that will come come and welcome There was a fiery Serpent in the wildernesse and there was a brasen Serpent to cure them that were stung so if thou beest stung with the fiery Serpent of sinne Christ is the brasen Serpent that will heale thee Esay 43.24 When the Iewes had tyred God with their wickednesse and wearied him with their distempers yet the Lord for his owne Name sake pardoned all their iniquities and remembred their sins no more I say this though our sinnes bee never so hainous never so vile and abominable in themselves if the soule can see these and be burthened with these they doe not hinder the worke of faith and the worke of mercy I would faine have you thinke of that which I now say it is not our sinfulnesse properly I meane our unworthinesse but our haughtinesse that hinders us from comming to a Saviour it is not a mans basenesse and sinne that hinders him but his owne haughtinesse that lets him from comming to a Saviour we would have somewhat in our selves and not all from Christ therefore when we have nothing in our selves we are loth to goe to Christ were your sinnes lesser and your holinesse greater then you would goe then marke what followeth thou goest to Christ not because of the freenesse of his grace but because thou hast something in thy selfe to incourage thee to goe to Christ thou wilt have something before thou wilt goe to Christ and therefore wilt not have all from Christ therefore it is not thy basenesse and thy sinnes that hinder thee from Christ but it is thy haughtinesse and pride Object But Satan suggests and the soule replies I dare not come to Christ not onely because of my sins but because it is the freenesse of the offer of grace that I have rejected Answ Why this will not hinder thee neither provided thou canst be humbled for this though thou hast cast off the kindnesse of the Lord he will not reject thee and cast off thee if thou wilt come unto him Esay 57.18 the text saith for his wickednesse I have smitten him and was angry with him yet he turned after the way of his owne heart by this means Iudah should never be recalled but marke what the Lord addes I will heale him and restore comfort unto him as if he had said poore soule I have striven with him but he scorned me I offered him grace he received it not but went after the stubbornnesse of his owne heart hee seeth not his misery but I see it and I will pardon it Ierem. 3.2 Yet returne to mee saith
all this debate here lies the root of this bitternesse and the ground of this wretched estate wee will expresse our selves by practice hence it is 〈◊〉 when the Word hath beene cleerely discovered to the soule all objections are blowne away and reason is satisfied and conscience convinced yet aske the soule are you perswaded that God hath accepted of you in Christ and intended good unto you no all the world cannot make me beleeve it I cannot bee perswaded of it Ministers are mercifull and Christians are compassionate and they speake charitably and will not discourage me but did they see that which I see did they but know those weaknesses and take notice of those distempers that are in my heart they would never thinke it what I grace it is a thing I could never perswade my heart of nay I doubt I shall never bee perswaded of it I cannot thinke it all the world cannot make mee beleeve it reason is answered and the conscience is satisfied but the heart will not yeeld it is out of stubbornnes of soule that you will not take that mercy that God offers and that grace God propounds for your good and it is horrible it is hellish it is devillish pride If there be any such spirit in the congregation let them know it and take this home with them it is infinite pride But you will say Object How can that be I cannot thinke that they are broken hearted Christians and are overwhelmed with sorrow they are ever mourning and sinke downe in sorrow in this nature and therefore it cannot bee pride in this case what ever it bee Answ I say it is devillish pride against the Majestie of Heaven and that I will shew in two particulars For a man to follow his owne conceit and selfe wildnesse of spirit against the light of the truth against the force of reason against the testimony of conscience against the judgement of all faithfull Ministers out of the Word to bee above the Word and reason and conscience and to bee above the judgement of all Gods faithfull servants is not this infinite pride this is your condition just the Word hath cast you and reason and conscience have cast you and yet you will maintaine your owne conceits of that proud heart of yours I say againe this pride appeares in this That because we have not what we would and because we have it not in that measure we desire because we finde not that sweetnesse in grace that others have and we covet therefore we cast away all this is infinite pride to fling Gods favour in his face you have not this and that and God hath done nothing for you and never vouchsafed any good unto you it is wonderfull mercy that God hath not cast off that soule of thine because God will not follow your conceits and goe your way you will have no grace at all As it is with a Client that hath a suit in law hee hath the cause determined and the conveyance made and his estate setled by the verdict of the Judge but because his evidences and conveyances are not written in great Roman letters as he would have them he flings all away and saith they will not stand in law will not all the world count him a miserable foole this is your case you have no grace because you have not so much grace you have no zeale because you have not so hor zeale you have no humiliation because not so great humiliation this is nothing but pride and a world of pride therefore marke what I shall say labour to bring thy soule to this passe and to this humble submission and subjection to the truth of God take it as well a duty to receive comfort when God gives it as to entertaine duty of love when God requires it Answerably know it is a sinne to refuse mercy when God offers it and thou hast title thereunto It is as well a sinne though not so much a sin perswade thy heart of this and bring thy soule to yeeld to this And therefore learne this lesson you poore Saints of God that have beene pestered marvellously in this kinde and have beene enemies to your owne comfort labour to eye your owne soules when they begin to slide away from the authority of the truth when reasons are sound arguments cleere and conscience satisfied and yet the heart slides off from the Lord and from under the covert of Gods wings Reason thus This is the proud surly dogged way-ward disposition of my heart what would I have what can I desire is not the Word cleere are not reasons sound and is not conscience satisfied and shall I deny this and so wrong the glory of God and the worke of his blessed Spirit in my heart the Lord forbid but the heart pleads Must I eat my owne words and never cavill more and never complaine more and must I confesse I have grace when I never thought I had grace Answ Must you say so aye and blesse God you may say so and be thankfull for ever that thou mayest upon good grounds say thus and bring under these distempers of your soule and make them yeeld and submit to the blessed truth of God you had better a great deale crosse your owne humours than crosse the good Spirit of the Lord and grieve it Esay 7.13 when the Lord offered a great offer to Ahaz to aske a signe in heaven or in earth the text saith he cast off Gods kindnesse God bids him aske a signe hee saith I will not tempt God hee refused Gods kindnesse with marvellous stubbornnesse now marke what God answers Is it a small thing for thee not onely to grieve man but the good Spirit of the Lord so thinke you with your selves when the Lord bids you take comfort comfort yee comfort yee saith my God You that have beene wearied come and bee refreshed you that have beene lost shall be found the soule faith I dare not take it I will not entertaine it doe you thinke it a small thing not only to grieve man and the heart of a poore Minister but to grieve the Lord and his Spirit Iob 15.11 Seemes the consolation of the Lord a small thing unto you that God stoopes to your meannesse and condescends to your weaknesse and supports your hearts and restores comfort to your soules that you trample his kindnesse under your feet and make nothing of it take heed of it lest that stubborne soule of thine that now refuseth consolation when God offers it thou shalt creep upon thy hands and knees and eat thy flesh and beg one offer of grace which thou hast denied often Iohn 13.8 see how Christ doth schoole the humble pride of Peter for so I terme it our Saviour Christ rose from supper and bound himselfe with a towell and went to wash his Disciples feet but when he came to Peter he was very squamish he was loth Christ should stoope so low what wash my feet thou shalt
then to God and to his Word and to thine owne heart and to the Ministers of his Word and advise wisely and judiciously of thine estate and labour to see sound evidences of the worke of grace in thy soule and see them every day and read them every morning noone and evening and get them by thee and learne them by faith that when thou commest to improve thy faith thou maist not question whether thou hast it or not and if thou wilt not be perswaded yet looke to the promise but if thy doubting comes still upon thee and controversie still oppresseth thee and is set on foot against thee then reason thus with thine owne soule If I have not faith nor grace I am sure I shall never get it by looking upon mine owne corruptions and distempers where must I have it if I want it the promise only must doe it therefore looke you to that It is with a doubting man as with a man that is melancholy if he would but set upon the worke he should see his owne folly and by going he would be able to goe and by speaking he would be able to speak so this vaine dismaiednesse of heart and these discouragements of a doubting soule doth more hinder the worke of faith than any distemper else therefore when thy feares and discouragements come in upon thee goe thou to the promise and in going thou wilt be able to goe Now faith is whetted the shield of faith scoured and it is fitted that a man may improve it in some measure to his good Rule 2 Secondly when thou hast thus maintained the clearnesse of the worke of grace before gained How to carry our hearts for the keeping of faith then labour to bring thy heart to a marvellous stilnesse and calmnesse from time to time that you may give way to faith and that faith may have its full scope to frame thy heart it is a point of great experience that wee have had as the chasing away of doubting scoures the worke of faith so a staidnesse and stilnesse of soule frames the heart to hold the shield steedily a man must not only scoure and furbuse the shield but hold it so as he may defend himselfe so then first the maintenance of the evidence of faith and the calmnesse and staidnesse of heart makes a man hold the shield stedily and beare the blow comfortably when it comes those boisterous affections those crowds and troops of troublesome imaginations as feare and jealousie and superstition these doe unranke the frame of the soule that the soule is not at the command of faith as it is in an armie when it is unranked though the commander bee never so wise and skilfull yet no man can march on so though wee had never such so victorious a faith yet if the soule were hurried up and downe with those boisterous distempers the soule could not command faith Luke 24.41 when it was told the Disciples that Christ was risen from the dead and had manifested himselfe to them the text saith They beleeved not and wondred they would not beleeve for the while and it was through the violence of their joy which made them that they had no leasure to beleeve as it is true of immoderate affection so it is true of strange feare and care and distemper because these hurrie the soule so violently and transport the soule of a man that hee cannot beleeve as it is in a crowd or tumult the travellour is fitted to goe on his journed but the crowd is so strong that they crosse him and oppose him in the way and overturne him and over power him and so make him goe another way the fault was not because hee would not or was not able to goe but because they did oppose him and hinder him just so it is with a soule thus troubled with tumultuous thoughts especially melancholly and those enemies of vaine imaginations of feares and sorrow and distempered thoughts and cares that though the heart is willing and able to beleeve yet those stirrings of boisterous affections they crosse faith in the way and beare downe faith that it cannot goe on in the way of the promise towards God nor receive helpe from him Psal 43.5 there David chides his owne heart and rockes it asleep and would bring it quiet saying Why art thou so disquieted Oh my soule and why art thou disquieted within me this signifies to lay a man flat upon his back againe why art thou so tumultuously troubled this is taken from a wave in the sea that is carried up and downe there are three things in this text fitting for our purpose First that a tumultuous distemper of heart makes a man lye flat upon his back and sinke into a swound Secondly it hinders the worke of faith marke what followes Still trust in God as if he had said leave those distempers of heart and rest upon the freenesse of Gods grace Thirdly David chides his owne heart and brings it into a calmnesse and stilnesse he rocks his heart and quiets it as if he said still looke up to God and wait upon him for mercie for he is yet my God The vertue of this rule we finde in experience especially in melancholy persons when they have swarmes of thoughts buzzing in their mindes sometimes restlesse feares that doe chase their hearts as the hound doth the Deere in the forrest and after this comes another affection and after that another and so at last they come altogether sometimes the horrour of a mans conscience makes hue and cry after him and makes him say Oh how my heart smites me me thought I saw hell gaping for me and the Devils even standing at my elbow ready to hurry mee downe to everlasting destruction this makes his soule to have such an amazement and gasternes of spirit that he cannot reach the promise of God because of those distempers therefore labour for that which the Lord himselfe adviseth by his Prophet Feare you not but stand still and behold the salvation of the Lord that is lay aside those restlesse imaginations and those crowds of foolish conceits and those needles feares stand still and be quiet that is with the eye of faith behold the salvation of God and looke upon his promises Rule 3 That your faith may bee fitted for the worke take notice of this How faith may be fitted for the worke in the want of any means doe not first seeke for them and in the presence of any means God affords looke not first to them for succour and supply but first goe to the promise that the promise may supply what you need and that the promise may blesse what means you have It is an uncomfortable and disorderly course for a man barely and firstly to looke at those things which are within the compasse of sense and so range up and downe for comfort in the use of the means and the promise and Christ are the last things thought of in
our hearts we onely looke to bring in this or that for our comfort and releefe as for instance that every man may take his portion in the time of poverty how doth the soule behave it selfe and unfit it selfe for the promise When a man sees that his estate is low and he is like to come to misery he saith I have some good friends that will not see mee want and I have so much means yet left and I have my health and strength and I hope I shall get a poore living and there is not one word of the promise all this while but haply death takes away all friends and sicknesse takes away thy health and strength and the fire or theeves takes away all thy goods whither wilt thou goe now then at a dead lift he is faine to goe to that mercy which endureth for ever hee might have gone thither first Therefore now reason thus I am like to be poore and my friends may die and the theeves may rob me of all my goods but the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever Againe the Minister that is faithfull desires to preach fruitfully and to benefit the congregation and then wee catch at the helps that are neere at hand and goe to our books and studies our wit and pains and thinke that these will doe the deed we doe well in thus doing but the fault is in the order of them haply God knocks off mans wheeles and a man is not able to come to the bottome of the point and if he be able to compasse the truth in some measure yet God blasts all that hee doth and there is no good comes to the soules of his people at last he is faine to goe to the promise and then the poore Minister saith Lord thou hast said thou wilt bee with thy faithfull Ministers to the end of the world little strength is in us but be thou with us Lord now the worke goes on againe the tradesman is honest and painfull and he hopes to compasse a good estate by his calling his stocke is good and great and his skill is sufficient and his penny worth shall be as reasonable as any others and his acquaintance are many then God blasteth all these and at last hee comes home to the promise and saith as it is in Psal 1.3 Whatsoever the righteous doth it shall prosper hold here and say I expect all from the promise goe first to the promise and expect mercy and succour from the promise This was the course that Iacob tooke Gen. 32.9 First hee wrestled with God and overcame him and then he wrestled with his brother Esau and saith O God of my Father Abraham and God of my Father Isacke Lord which saidst unto me returne unto thy Countrie and I will doe thee good I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies Lord deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau for I feare him Thus he wrestled with the Lord and by vertue of a promise overcame him and then overcame Esau Heb. 13.45 Marriage is honourable among all men and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge let your conversation be without covetousnesse be content with those things you have But how will you have helpe against this covetousnesse a man would have said thus you have gotten a good portion and but little charge and many friends but this course God takes for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee He doth not say thou hast much means and many friends but I say I will not leave thee nor forsake thee Now faith is fitted for the worke when I have chased away doubting then faith is ready and the shield is scoured Secondly when my heart is calme and quiet then faith may goe on there is a free passage Particular 3 Thirdly when the soule lookes out first to the promise and then to the means this is the right way that faith should goe now you may set on your journey faith is cleered and that is the right and best way to everlasting happinesse Now I come to shew how wee must come to order faith in the worke How to order faith in the worke and here two things are to be attended unto First how the soule should get to the promises Secondly how the soule should take receive and improve this sufficiency and excellency of God that is in the promise For the first how to get the soule to the promise you see all is ready and the way open and faith is fitted Now there are three rules to bee observed to shew how the soule may get to the promise or there are acts of the soule wherein this truth may bee discovered that the soule which doth beleeve may have the ready way to goe to the promise Rule 1 Renounce all power and ability in thy selfe for to beleeve and goe unto God it is a point of marvellous use though a man would not imagine it thou maist not expect faith in thy selfe or of thy selfe or from thy selfe any ability to goe to the promise though thou hast faith as it is Gal. 2.20 Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me It is not I that lives by any power of my selfe but Christ liveth in me It was Christ quickning and reviving and inabling him though he had faith Ier. 10.23 O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in a man to direct his owne steps so doe thou say if ever thou wouldst have thy heart fitted to goe to the promise it is not here Lord it is not in this vaine minde it is not in the power of this dead heart or any passage that ever I received whereby I am able to beleeve in thee I meane the principall of life is not here the root of faith is in the promise and from thence it comes into the soule As it is with a mariner when the ship is upon the ground in the ebbe and low water hee doth not expect to tugge his ship to the shore by any power of himselfe it is not in my wisedome that can direct mee and it is not in my weapon that can defend mee it is not this humility that can bring my soule downe it is not here it is not I Lord that can rest or goe to a promise even all our abillities are at an ebbe all that we have or can doe is to empty our selves and fit our selves and to get up the maine mast that is let the soule bee ready for the promise by vertue of that to be carried heaven ward and Christ ward take notice of this in your owne soules that the heart would begin at home if a temptation come the heart of it selfe would overcome it and if a duty to be done the heart of it selfe would performe it and if opposition come the heart of it selfe would resist it O remember that it is I a man offers an injury
in shew but false in heart p. 279 Here are further to bee discovered foure sorts of Hypocrites 1 There is a whining Hypocrite p. 280 2 The wrangling Hypocrite p. 280 3 The glorious Hypocrite p. 280 4 The presumptuous Hypocrite p. 280 We are now come to the worke of the will p. 283 Doctrine VIII The will of a poore sinner humbled and inlightned comes to be effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father to rest upon the freenesse of God in Christ that it may be interested therein p. 284 The opening of this Doctrine consisteth in 4 particulars Particular I. That this worke must be in an heart humbled and enlightned p. 285 Particular II. The will must be effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father p. 287 Particular III. By the power of this perswasion it casteth it selfe upon the rich grace free mercy of God in Christ p. 295 Now this resting of the soule upon the rich grace of God in Christ discovereth it selfe in a 5. fold Act. Act I. It doth imply a going out of the soule to Christ that the soule runs and reacheth after a Christ p. 296 Act II. Of resting is this it layeth fast hold upon Christ p. 298 Act III. Of resting is this it flings the weight of all his occasions and troubles upon Christ p. 302 Act IV. Of resting and reposing is this it doth draw vertue and derive power from the Lord Iesus Christ for succour and supply p. 305 Faith doth draw vertue from Christ by a three-fold Act. p. 307 Act I. Is this Faith doth appropriate and apply the promise to it selfe in particular ibid. Act II. Faith doth jog the hand of God and sets Gods power on worke p. 309 Act III. Faith urgeth God with his owne Word and presseth Gods promise and challengeth God on his faithfulnesse and truth not to be wanting unto him for the acceptation of his Person and the pardon of his sinnes p. 311 Act V. Of resting is this it doth leave the soule with the promise p. 312 Particular IV. Is the finall cause why it doth rest that it may be interested into all the good that is in the promise and to have supply of all Spirituall wants from the promise p. 315 The Spirituall wants of the soule which faith doth supply are of 3. sorts p. 316 Sort I. Of Spirituall wants are these that the soule is gone away from God and is estranged to God now faith bringeth the soule againe to God ibid. Want II. Is this the soule being departed from God hence the soule is deprived of all good grace and life now faith doth not onely bring a sinner to God but it doth communicate from God to a sinner p. 320 Want III. Is this the heart is fearfull lest it should lose that grace now faith it is that doth keepe a man grace p. 322 Question How doth the soule come to beleeve Answer There are three things in the promise where by the will of man is drawne to beleeve p. 327 Motive I. Is the All-sufficiencie of the freenesse of Gods love p. 328 Motive II. Is this that this mercy is intended for thee p. 329 Motive III. Is this that God doth earnestly desire thee to come and to take this mercy p. 330 Use I. Of information that saving faith is no part of that holinesse which Adam had nor no part of that Image to which wee are restored by Sanctification p. 335 Use II. â—t is an use of terrour to all that still remaine in unbeleefe p. 349 The fearfulnesse of this sinne of unbeleefe is laid open in foure Particulars p. 352 Particular I. Because unbeleefe it doth keepe off the riches of mercies from the soule that are in Christ that it cannot enjoy them p. 352 Particular II. Vnbeleefe it doth make all meanes to be unprofitable p. 356 Particular III. Vnbeleefe all sinne in the strength and power of it in the heart of a sinner p. 361 Particular IV. Vnbeleefe maketh the soule of a sinner to be in a desperate case and condition p. 366 The danger of unbeleefe doth appeare in these three Particulars p. 369 Particular I. Consider it seriously that whatsoever thou dost so long as thou art an unbeleever it is all unprofitable and to no purpose at all p. 369 Particular II. All the good things an unbeleever doth enjoy will prove uncomfortable p. 370 Particular III. Vnbeleefe is the breeder and maintainer of all the rest of the sinnes of an unbeleever p. 371 Use III. It is a collection concerning the difficultie of the worke of faith that the worke of faith is beyond the reach of all created power p. 374 Use IV. It is to shew the benefits that come by faith to the soule p. 390 What these benefits are in particular vid. p. 394. and p. 396 Use V. It is an use of consolation and great comfort to all the servants of God that through his mercy have received this grace p. 416 The knowledge of true saving faith from a false faith appeareth in these three trials p. 423 Triall I. Is this observe the root and rise of thy faith the cause by which thy faith was wrought and from whence it came p. 423 Triall II. Observe whether thy faith doth make choice wholly of Christ and doth resolve to match with Christ only p. 428 Triall III. Observe whether thy faith doth beare it selfe upon the promise in all its extremities and is satisfied with it p. 431 Use VI. It is a word of reproofe against all those that never yeâ— were made partakers of the blessed worke of grace p. 434 Most that live in the bosome of the Church want saving faith p. 437 The reasons of it vid. p. 440 There bee foure sorts in particular that have no faith p. 446 Sort I. The ignorant persons p. 447 Sort II. The carnall Gospellers that doe live scandalously and trade in their wickednesse p. 450 Sort III. The meere civilized or judicious professours that beare up themselves much upon their owne wisdome and judgement p. 455 Sort IV. The counterfeit that have a forged kinde of false faith they have their alcumie faith p. 464 Of these counterfeit beleevers there are three sorts p. 465 Sort I. The first sort of counterfeit beleevers are the temporarie beleevers p. 465 Sort II. The second sort of counterfeit beleevers are the sturdy hypocrites p. 483. Sort III. The third sort of counterfeits are the shifting stately hypocrites p. 500 Use VII It is an use of exhortation to desire you to labour to get this grace of faith p. 515 The hinderances of faith are of two sorts some are reall hinderances that doe hinder the soule from Christ others doe not hinder the soules interest in Christ p. 519 The reall hinderances are foure p. 520 The hinderances that doe not hinder the title to a Christ are three in particular p. 538 Sort I. The first kinde of seeming hinderances are those discouragements which oppresse the soule through carnall reasoning p.
redemption or redemption encreasing if misery sorrow and anguish be multiplyed there is multiplyed redemption also Then know it if you know your owne soules you see it if you see your owne lives that it is new sinnes new corruptions prevailing with you But here is the comfort of the soule as sinne increaseth so mercy increaseth as corruption multiplyes so redemption multiplyes therefore he is called the Father of mercy as who should say he begets mercy even a generation of mercies from day to day and it is a large generation of new mercies framed and made to incourage poore soules therefore it is said with the Lord there is a fountaine of life Looke as it is with a fountaine there is not onely water in it for the present but it feeds severall cocks and conduits and though it runnes out daily it enlargeth it selfe daily So with the Lord there is a fountaine of life If there be a fountaine of death in thy soule in regard of thy sinnes to kill thee so a fountaine in God to quicken thee Hence it comes to passe that the Lord speaking of his mercy calls it the exceeding riches of his mercy Ephes 2.7 I say the Lord hath not onely fulnesse of mercy but he is rich in all his fulnesse nay he exceeds in all the riches of the fulnesse of his mercy So that be we never so poore and beggerly these sins increase and those miseries increase why yet though thou bee a bankrupt in grace yet the Lord is full of goodnesse full of mercy yea he exceeds in his fulnesse to succour thy heart in all necessities nay our miseries and wants bee great yet haply thy feare is greater than all the rest thy soule is troubled many times more with the feare of what will be than with the feeling of what is already befalne thee But now how ever thy miseries be great and thy feare exceeds all misery that can betide yet mercy will remove and prevent those feares and Christ will doe more for thee than thou canst feare will fall upon thee Nay a man doth not feare what misery can befall upon him but his heart may imagine more than he doth feare But here is the fulnesse of mercy mercy full to the brim and running over mercy is able to doe more for thee than thou canst feare or conceive shall come upon thee Ephes 3.20 then saith the Lord exceeding excesse abundantly above that we can aske or thinke So then the words runne thus then winde up the point Thou seest thou findest thou feelest many sorrowes now assailing thee thou expectest more trouble to befall thee and thou dost conceive more than thou dost feare thy sorrowes out-bid thy heart thy feares out-bid thy sorrowes and thy thoughts goe beyond thy feares and yet here is the comfort of a poore soule in all his misery and wretchednesse the mercy of the Lord out-bids all these whatsoever may can or shall befall thee Gather then up briefly and shut up this first passage Many are the sorrowes of the righteous guilt of sinne perplexing the sinner and filthinesse of sinnes tyrannizing and domineering over the soule nay many feares and cares for future times for a sinner saith Sometimes my condition is marvellous poore my estate marvellous miserable what if small temptations what if small corruptions what if such a fall should betide me what then shall become of my soule Nay a mans imagination exceeds all feares The soule that thinks with it self Should the Lord deale in justice and should my sinnes get the victory over me which I hope will never be for what shall I then do for succour yet this is the comfort of a poore soule let it read this lesson The Lord is able and mercy can doe excessive exceeding abundantly above all thy sorrowes are abundant thy feares are very abundant thy imaginations are excessive exceeding abundant exceeding above all present sorrowes above all future feare and above the course of all imaginations This discourse shall serve for the first passage We will now adde the second The soule is not yet fully satisfied but replyes It is true there is bread enough in my Fathers house that I yeeld and that I confesse there is abundance of mercy in God a world of mercy that pardoned Manasses and saved Saul but what is that to me if there be bread enough in my Fathers house and I starve for hunger and get no benefit by this mercy of God But how shall a man starve in this mercy if a way can be conceived and a meanes can be propounded for another supply to the soule to fill up the necessity of it this will be seene in the next particular I say herein appeares more fulnesse of mercy It is not onely sufficient to releeve a man in all the miseries that can befall him but this is another thing considered mercy is able to make thee partake in the same mercy God doth not leave thee to thy selfe that thou shouldest buy it and purchase it and buy it and procure it but mercy is able to suffice thy soule that thou maist be refreshed thereby This is the tenor of mercy God requires of a man that he should beleeve now mercy doth helpe to performe the duty commanded The Lord as he requires the condition of thee so he worketh the condition in thee hee makes thee beleeve that thou shalt be saved as there is fulnesse of grace in himselfe to doe thee good if thou dost receive the same this is the difference betweene the two Covenants the Covenant of workes and the Covenant of grace The first covenant runnes Adam shall doe and live now it stood upon the use and abuse of his free will either to doe the will of God and be blessed or to breake the law and be cursed it was in his power to receive the life and thus either by breach or not doing the condition required Adam must performe But it is not so here the Lord in deed requires a condition no man can be saved but he must beleeve but here is the privilege that the Lord as he makes this condition with the soule so also he keepeth us in performing the condition for the Lord he requires that the soule should rest upon him and he make him also to doe it he requires the soule to cleave unto him Ezek. 36.26 27. There is the tenor of this covenant A new heart will I give you and a new spirit I will put within you and I will take away your stony heart and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes Or if they will walke in my wayes out of thine owne power then I will vouchsafe this mercy and favour Now the Lord requires this condition and workes it also in his children he requires this of them and he workes this in them for their everlasting good as Heb. 8.9 the Lord saith This is the covenant I
will make with the house of Israel I write my lawes in their hearts and they shall not need to be taught Men must know God and beleeve in the Lord. Now as the Lord requires this as the condition of the covenant so the Lord will work this in them as he requires this of them Iohn 1.12 the text saith To them that beleeve he gave them power to be the sonnes of God Now if a man will beleeve he shall be saved Now then hee makes a man beleeve that he may be a sonne This is the second passage whereby the soule of a sinner comes to be cheered or that there is not onely abundance of sufficiency in the Lord Jesus Christ but that mercy as it is able to doe him good so it will make him partaker of the good The third particular is this That as mercy hath all good and will make us partakers of what it hath so also it will dispose of us and of that it bestoweth upon us Mercy will not onely have a sinner but it will rule and order that grace it hath bestowed upon the soule For if mercy purchase a soule at so high a rate as the blood of the Lord Jesus it is right that the soule purchased by grace and supplyed with grace that mercy should dispose it for the honour of God You are not your owne saith the Apostle but bought with a price therefore you must glorifie the Lord in body and soule Nay it is not onely right that mercy should doe it but reason and beneficiall to the soule that mercy should doe thus Nay I say unlesse that mercy should rule a man he had not beene able to give full content to the soule If the Lord should leave any poore soule to the destiny of his owne heart and the malice of Satan hee would runne to ruine presently he is not able to supply his owne wants and to dispose of his owne spirit and employ aright his owne soule For if Adam in his innocency had a stocke in his owne hands fell and perished then if mercy should put a man into the same estate that Adam was a man should bring himselfe into the same misery that Adam was brought into but there is that fulnesse of that mercy that is in Christ that it wil bestow all good needfull for me so also it will dispose of that good in me so that Satan shall never prevaile the world shall never overcome nor my corruptions beare sway in me but the Lord shall rule me for ever and this is the fulnesse of Gods mercy Gather up the point then that we may see what wee must learne There is sufficiency in mercy to supply all wants nay there is ability in mercy to communicate that it hath and we stand in need of Nay mercy will preserve us and that it giveth to us against all oppositions that can befall thee This is the lesson that the soule must learne that it may be able in some measure to see the way and learne the path that leadeth to everlasting happinesse This is the first lesson that the soule must learne of God the Father Vset For the use of this Is this the lesson the soule must learne then looke wisely upon it and when this comes upon thee and sorrow assailes thee heavily doe not looke into the blacke booke of conscience and thinke there to finde supply neither looke into the booke of the privileges and performances and thinke to finde power out of thy owne sufficiency Looke not on thy sinnes to pore upon them whereby thou shalt be discouraged neither look into thy owne sufficiency thinking thereby to procure any thing to thy selfe These are but lessons of the lower forme It is true thou must see thy sinnes and sorrow for them but this is for the lower forme and thou must get this lesson beforehand and when thou hast gotten this lesson of contrition and humiliation looke onely to Gods mercy and the riches of his grace and be sure as you take out this lesson take it not out by halves for then you wrong mercy and your selves too if you thinke that bare workes will serve and that is all No no mercy will rule you therefore take all the lesson out and then the heart will be cheered and thy soule in some measure enabled to come on to the Lord and will see some glimpses of consolation from the Spirit Quest 2 We see the lesson what must be learned now we must see the reason why the Lord must teach this lesson Answ I answer It is not appropriated to the Father alone for the Father teaches not alone but the Sonne and the holy Ghost teach too But why then doth the Text give it to the Father Here I answer directly because the Father was directly offended with the sinne of man 1 Iohn 1.7 If wee sinne wee have an advocate with the Father namely the Lord Jesus Christ to plead for us with the Father He doth not say wee take an advocate with an advocate that doth not plead with himselfe the reason is God the Father was directly offended though all the persons in the Trinity were offended yet the Father more directly Now he that is directly offended favour and mercy must come from him to the party that doth offend and that is the reason why Christ especially cast this upon the Father Take a creditor that hath money or creditors that are bankrupts now this is no meanes to helpe and succour these men but it lyeth upon the creditor that oweth the debt for he onely it is must come to forgive the debts for it is here God the Father being directly offended by the sonne of man therefore from him in the first place must proceed the pardon and mercy to the sonne of man Hence it comes to passe that the text saith the Father must teach this lesson Quest 3 The third question is this After what manner doth the Lord teach the soule Christ speakes now of the worke of the Spirit and that you may not be mistaken know this that the worke of the Spirit doth alwayes goe with and is communicated by the word therefore if the question be After what manner doth God teach the soule to spell out this lecture of mercy and pardon Answ I answer brieflâ— The Lord teacheth the soule by his Spirit I told you that before that not only the Father but the Sonne and holy Ghost also teacheth the Father from himselfe the Son from the Father and the holy Ghost from both Therefore understand what I say the Spirit of the Lord doth not onely in the generall make known Gods mercy but doth in particular with strength of evidence present to the broken hearted sinner the right of the freenesse of Gods grace to the soule nay it holds those speciall considerations to the heart and prefenâ—eth the heart with them not onely so but in the second place the Spirit doth forcibly soke in the reâ—â—ish of that grace
canst lay down all thy owne conceits and captivate all thy carnall reasons then thou art like to be taught of the Lord But before these hinder the Lord from informing thee in the way of truth He that sets up his owne wit above the wisedome of the Lord he shall never be exalted by the Lord of heaven This I take to bee the reason why some men of deepe reaches and of great understandings are marvellously besotted in a christian course in the way of life salvation The reason is because they trust to their owne wisedome and rely upon the arme of flesh and upon their owne policy and upon the depth of their owne understandings and that is the reason why the Lord leaves them to their foolish imaginations and as the Text saith to the Romanes when they thought themselves wise they became fooles Iames 5. at the beginning If any man want wisedome let him aske of the Lord. The word in the Originall is if any man be like a begger that beggeth up and downe for bread when he is hungry for if thou beest empty of thy selfe and a begger in thine owne apprehension if thou dost lay down all they conceit of thy owne wisedome then the Lord will give thee wisedome abundantly Reason 2 Secondly doe what thou knowest and then the Lord will informe thee much more in what thou shouldest doe improve that little sparke and knowledge thou hast and then the Lord will increase that knowledge of thine Gen. 18.19 when God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah Why saith he shall I hide this thing from my servant Abraham The end God teaches a man is to improve his knowledge and when God hath taught him one lesson perfectly then the Lord will teach him another presently When thou hearest the word doe that duty which God commands reforme that sinne and amend that course which God forbids and he will teach thee abundantly Iob 7.12 he that doth Gods will the Lord will instruct that man The master of a family will not give a man fire and candle to sit up and doe no worke by it it will not quit cost Wisedome and knowledge is the candle of God if thou wilt walk by this light and walke by this candle the Lord will increase thy knowledge till thou art become a perfect Christian Reason 3 Thirdly we must not onely doe what we know but must be marvellous painfull and study and indeavour to the uttermost of our power to get knowledge doe not make it onely a holy day taske but labour continually in the use of all meanes for to get knowledge You come here to the congregation and attend to the word you doe well but very few that will make this your taske and study at home to furnish his heart with spirituall understanding It is a shame that a man should alwayes be fed with a spoon and hold the spoone in his mouth as children use to doe that is to goe and come to the congregation and get little or nothing Hos 2.3 When you labour more and more pray more heartily study more diligently bee thinking men and meditating men and chewing men setting themselves upon the truth till this I never look that they should come to any saving or judicious knowledge of life and salvation Reason 4 Last meanes take heed of bearing any secret grudge against any word and truth of God bee it never so crosse to thy corruptions if you doe the Lord in stead of directing you will delude you and in stead of informing you will besot you and give you over to blind minds and hard hearts This we know by experience men of great knowledge great parts and abilities are taken aside with dotage and fall into those errours which a man would wonder how a man of judgement should fall into The reason is they will not entertaine the truth of the Lord Rom. 1.28 as who should say Oh this strict way and this teaching preaching and the thundring of judgements wee cannot beare them we cannot undergoe them we have no delight to these take heed lest the Lord say Blindnesse take him hardnesse take him reprobate sense let him never entertaine the word of God to informe him let him never know the wisedome of God to his comfort here and everlasting happinesse hereafter Vse 3 In the third place doth the Father teach you acknowledge you have it as from God labour so to improve this wisedome that God may get something by it you are but stewards of it and therefore you must improve it for his advantage as the steward that receives money from his master c. so hath the Lord given thee a stocke of wisedome and hath cleered that eye and that judgement of thine use it to his glory Therefore doe not lift up thy selfe in regard of thine owne parts and sufficiency but if you finde your hearts to swell and rise within you for knowledge is a very airy metall as the Apostle saith it puffes up a man therefore when thou findest thy heart thus bubling with those cursed distempers reason thus Why should I be proud of a borrowed suit my minde was as blinde as any under heaven therefore let basenesse bee mine let wisedome be the Lords Gal. 5. The apprentice that is taught by his master must not presently trade for himselfe but he workes for his master and gives him the commodity so let us doe we are Gods schollers and prentices we are now come into his schoole Hath the Lord taught thee any skill in prayer any wisedome to conceive doe not worke now for your selves doe not set up presently but labour to returne all to him and to make the Lord partaker of the good he hath bestowed upon thee Thus much in generall that the Lord is the author of this teaching but now we come to particulars to see how the Spirit in speciall manner doth this This I tell you that the whole soule must come to God For as the whole soule in this gracious call of God both the minde that discovers that mercy and hope and desire and love and joy have bad entertaining thereof and the wil which is the great wheele of the soule that falls on that mercy and rests thereupon and gives answer to the call of God therein Give mee leave to propound two things by way of preface for the cleering of the following truths they will be as a key to open the doore to all the following discourse Thing 1 First those faculties of the soule which especially goe out to God and carry the soule thereunto are especially to be considered in this great worke of going unto God and beleeving in him Now there are two things in the worke some evill and some good the evill to be refused the good to be embraced Now answerably to these 2. things the Lord hath placed in the soule of a man two sorts of feet some feet carry the soule from evill some feet againe carry the soule
treasures of his mercy in the Lord Jesus If a man have no eye hee cannot see if hee have an eye and have no object nor colours before him hee cannot see first therefore the Lord gives an eye to the humbled heart and when hee hath given him an eye then hee layes colours before him that hee may see and looke and fall in love with the treasures of mercy and compassion 2 Cor. 3. the foure last verses the Text saith The vaile of blindnesse is taken from our minds and then the faithfull Soule beholds as in a glasse all the grace and mercy and compassion that God layeth before him in Christ the humbled sinner hath now gotten an eye and some spirituall eye-sight that the Lord hath brought within his view all the riches and treasures of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Soule saith oh that mercy and grace and pardon were mine Oh that my sinnes were done away The Lord saith I will refresh them that are heavy laden Oh that I had that refreshing saith the Soule You shall have rest saith God Oh that I had rest too saith the soule Now the Soule beginneth to looke after the mercie and compassion which is laid before it Passage 3 The Spirit of the Lord doth witnesse or certifie throughly and effectually to the Soule that this mercy belongs to him that is the upshot of the notice God gives to the Soule The third stroke of the Spirit strikes through the bargaine and makes the understanding close with that grace and mercy set forth unto it and without this the Soule of an humble broken hearted sinner hath no ground to goe upon Beleeving in Scripture is called comming Now no man can goe without some ground now this is the ground without which the Soule hath no bottome to beare it up either to come to Christ or perswade it selfe of mercy in Christ What good doth it doe any hungry stomacke to heare that there is a great deale of cheere and dainties provided for such and such men what is it to him if he have them not Take a begger that hath a thousand pound told before him hee may apprehend the summe of so much gold and so much silver but what is that all to mee saith he if in the meane time I die and starve It falls out in this case with a broken hearted sinner as with a prodigall childe the prodigall he hath spent his meanes and abused his Father the prodigall hath now much need the famine is in the land and poverty is befalne him and hee knowes there was meat enough and cloaths enough in his Fathers house but alas hee can expect no kindnesse from his Father but only his heavy displeasure if any man should say goe to your Father hee will give you a portion of a hundred pounds againe doe you thinke the prodigall would beleeve this no no he would answer thus haply my Father will imprison mee or send a Sergeant to arrest mee or an executioner to take away my life it is my Father that I have offended my portion I have spent and his anger I have incensed and what will hee receive mee no I will never beleeve it Indeed had I beene a good husband I might have had his favour and increased my estate but I have lost his favour my owne estate patrimony and all but if a man should come and tell him now that he heard his Father say so and bring a certificate under his Fathers hand that it was so this would draw him into some hope that his Father meant well towards him so it is with the sinner when he is apprehensive of all his rebellions that hee hath heaped up against Gods mercy and spirit and grace by his declining from the truth If a man should tell such a soule goe to God he will give you a pension of a hundred thousand pounds a yeere that is hee will give you abundance of mercy and compassion the Soule cannot beleeve it but thinkes what I mercy no no blessed are they that walke humbly before God and conforme their lives answerable to Gods word let them take it but the truth is it is mercy I have opposed it is grace that I have rejected no mercy no grace for mee you cannot wooe the soule to be perswaded for to thinke that there is mercy for him But if God send a messenger from heaven or if under the hand of his spirit that hee doth accept of him and will doe good to him and passe by all former sinnes and shew favour to him this makes the soule grow into some hope this is the ground whereupon the soule goeth to the Lord. This the Lord performeth to the soule That which David prayes for Psalm 35.3 the Prophet was not contented that there was salvation in Gods hand hee knew that God had a world of mercy and salvation and pardon lying by him but David prayes to God Say unto my soule thou art my salvation testifie it speake it home Lord once more plainly effectually and sensibly there is salvation with thee Paul was saved and Abraham was saved but what is that to mee say unto my soule thy sinnes shall be pardoned thine iniquities shall be forgiven thy person accepted Quest But now the question growes on But how shall a man discover this testification and this witnessing of the spirit to the heart of a humble broken hearted sinner that these things are so Answ This third worke of the spirit makes knowne it selfe in three particulars Partic. 1 The spirit doth evidence to the soule broken and humbled That the soule hath an interest in this mercy that it was appointed for it and he hath to meddle with it in reason we may observe that a witnesse in a cause doth marvellously cleare it if he be wise and judicious and the thing that before was doubtfull comes now to be apparant as now in a point of Law two men contend for land now if an ancient wise man of some place is called before the Judge at the Assises and hee beares witnesse upon his knowledge that such Lands have beene in the possession of such a generation or family for the space of many yeares this is a speciall testification that this man being of that generation he hath interest to these lands So it is with the witnesse of Gods Spirit there is a controversie betweene Satan and the soule the soule saith oh that grace and compassion might be bestowed on mee why saith Satan dost thou conceive of any mercy or grace and Salvation marke thy rebellions against thy Saviour marke the wretched distempers of thy heart and the filthy abhominations of thy life dost thou thinke of mercy Here is the controversie whether an humble sinner hath title to or interest in the mercy of God Now the Spirit of God comming in that casts the cause and makes it evident if such a poore heart have interest and may meddle and make challenge to mercy and salvation because
finde my selfe I hope the Lord will save me though I cannot save my selfe But the hopes of the wicked hang like a cloud they are not grounded upon the evidence of the Scripture they crowd all in the generall I hope to fare as well as others and other had mercy and why not I And hence the hopes of the wicked are unstedfast and wavering but a man might here demand are not the hopes of the Saints so too Doe they not waver and stagger many a time Answer It is true but with this difference the hopes of Gods servants are like an anchor which though sometimes it is shaken yet it holdeth the faster but the hopes of the hypocrites are like the waves of the seas and they come to nothing Prov. 8.28 The hope of the righteous shall be glad but the expectation of the wicked shall perish as who should say though the waves be great and the stormes violent yet the anchor shall bee fast and the ship shall come safe to haven but it is otherwise with the wicked their hopes doe perish What is become of your hopes now you thought you should bee saved and that you should doe as well as others but when the day of judgement commeth and the last great day of account shall be what then shall become of all your hopes You shall see it is as if a man should plead for a mans inheritance because he did dwell in the same towne and were of the same name But now the Saints of God when they come to lay claime to mercy they bring a hold a word Isay 61.3 He appointeth them that mourne in Sion will you have a legacy of joy mercy and pitty here it is the Lord Christ left it you I bequeath this and leave it to all you broken hearted sinners to all you humble mourning sinners in Sion this is your legacy sue for it in the Court and you shall have it for ever Hence David ventureth all for this hope hee taketh this as a childs part Psal 33. the last verse Let thy mercy come unto us as our hope is in thee not according to our sense and assurance but according to our hope thy desires may faile and endevours faile and the means faile yet let thy mercy come unto me according to my hope The second is this a grounded hope is ever of great power and strength to hold the soule to the truth of the promise the Spirit you know wee shewed stirreth the heart to hope now hee turneth hope so to God that the eye of the soule goeth that way and cannot bee taken from it but it will goe promise-ward and God-ward Hence take a poore sinner when hee is at the weakest under water when all temptations oppositions corruptions grow strong against them the Lord letteth them loose against the soule nay letteth the poore soule come to joyne side with Satan against himselfe and the goodnesse of the Lord and hee saith the truth of it is I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul this proud foolish filthy heart of mine it will be my bane it had better for me never to have beene I shall never get power strength and grace against these sinnes here is the lowest under of a poore soule If a man should now reply why then cast off all hope and confidence reject the meanes and turne to your sins Marke how hope steppeth in and saith it is true what ever I am and doe what ever my condition is I will use the means I am sure all my helpe is in Christ all my hope is in the Lord Jesus and if I must perish I will perish seeking him and waiting upon him Why this is hope now and I warrant that soule shall never goe to hell Psal 119.81 My heart fainted and my hope was in thy salvation Isay 8.7 I will wait for the Lord who hath hid himselfe from the house of Iacob the Lord hideth himselfe he doth not shew himselfe he hath not manifested himselfe yet I will hope in the Lord that hideth his face Psal 69.3 But the hope of the wicked is not so 2 King 6. and the last verse this evill commeth of the Lord and why should I wait any longer Prov. 14.32 The hope of the wicked is driven away that though a man stood upon his bottome and all the world could not perswade him to the contrary but that he should be saved and hee should goe to heaven though proud still though vaine still but his hope shall bee driven away but the righteous shall have hope in his death friends faile life faile and wealth faile but yet he hath hope in his death Signe 3 As the strength of this hope is great in regard of all opposition that commeth to the contrary so also the excellency and surpassing worth of this hope which overshadoweth all the hopes in the world that can be offered propounded desired all seeme nothing to this hope which the soule hath to God that when the soule commeth to be drawne to God and to hope in him all other hopes hold no weight hopeth not for honour for profit nor liberty nor delight it discovereth the basenesse of these so that the soule careth not for any thing else in comparison It is in this case with the soule as with the hound the hound haply followeth the game untill hee bee spent and tyred yet if there come a fresh hare yet the very sent of a fresh one will make him leave all so it is here though heretofore hee hath had many games in the world he hoped for honour and profit and his soule run all amaine upon them but when the soule hath beene brought to know the riches of Gods mercy in Christ it leaveth the old profits the old contents the old delights that he had Heb. 11.13 All these died in the faith when they had saluted the promises And observe here a carnall hearted Hypocrite his hopes be vaine idle and uncertaine the truth is if the world giveth other hopes of honour and profits and delights he leaveth his hope and with Demas he embraceth the present world but the Saints of God are not so Heb. 11.25 Moses might have had great honour but he forsooke his honour and had an eye to the recompence of reward Signe 4 The last is taken from the vertue of hope and the speciall fruit and effect that it worketh in the soule A grounded hope it alwayes lendeth supply and succour when all the rest of a mans abilities faile and are not able to sustaine and support his soule when desire faileth and love faileth I meane in his owne sense and apprehension I say then hope supporteth the soule Psal 16.9 My flesh shall rest in hope that is hope will give a man rest in the most miserable forlorne condition that may be that when the heart is ready to say where is the meanes that I have had and the good dayes that I have seene this dead heart cannot
bee quickned I am as dead as the roome where I am and the bed where I lye why hope will give a man rest in this condition my flesh shall rest in hope Looke as in the sea when the stormes arise and the billowes beat and the tempests rage then a little hope yet the anchor holdeth so though the mast the saile and all sinke yet the anchor holdeth nay when all give themselves for lost despaire of all helpe yet the anckor holdeth and here is the excellencie of an anckor in this particular that when a man hath nothing to sustaine him yet commeth in this grace of hope yet it may be better and it will be otherwise this upholdeth when nothing else can it is not but yet hope saith it will be therefore cheare up that fainting soule of thine that love God will enlarge that desire God will quicken that fearfull heart God will establish that dead heart God will quicken thus the anckor holdeth still from day to day hence hope is said to be the nurse of the soule it nourisheth faith and it feedeth faith hope fetcheth the promise from farre Lord thou hast said it and therefore it cannot but be I beseech you observe looke as it is with a man that cannot see a thing a farre off yet with a prospective glasse he may see it so here how ever eye cannot see it the heart cannot feele it yet hope waiteth still expecteth still as a man in a sounding fit he cannot see and heare yet there is some life in the heart and that bringeth him againe so when a mans heart would faile and he is overwhelmed with sorrow and despaire then yet the pulse of hope beateth still there is this life of hope left still in the heart of a Christian but it is not so with the wicked their hopes are not like the hopes of Gods servants It is a fine place Iob 11. last verse The hope of the wicked is like the giving up of the ghost that though a man can lift up his head full high and thinke he shall be saved and goe to heaven though he carrieth a base wrethed heart about with him No no when the Lord shall come to lay thee upon thy death-bed let us then see your hope if your hope can now keepe life and soule together if it can cheare comfort and refresh you let it nay if all the Ministers under heaven and all the Angels in heaven should come and reveale the promises why a man will then tell you Alas I am a wretch I never did any thing never had any thing but that which cursed carnall Hypocrites have had I have prayed and Iudas prayed and he is in hell and so may I be too for ought I know why but the Minister replieth comfort up your owne heart cheare up your owne soule in expectation of some favour from God why alas saith the soule there is no comfort for me why but saith a man there is mercie in Christ it is true there is mercie but alas I have resisted mercie I have despised the offer of grace therefore there is no hope he was gracelesse here and he shall be damned for ever he was stubborne here and he shall be for ever miserable hereafter Looke as a tree that is falling there are some strong sprigs in the root and that beareth it up and it bringeth sometimes a great deale of fruit so it is here though desire endevour be dead unto the word and ordinances yet there is a sprig of hope and that supporteth the soule and the soule saith unto the Lord thou hast said the broken hearted sinner shall have mercie I am so I am wearie and heavie laden therefore refresh me I have a dead heart Lord but wearie of it Lord a prophane heart but wearie of it Lord. Vse 3 The last use it is an use of exhortation since you see the worth of it and the way thereunto Exhortat let every one labour for this hope Heb. 11.6 there saith the Apostle I would desire you to give the same diligence to the full assurance of hope I desire you I intreat you I will not say I command you though this may be enjoyned if you have any hope in heaven if you have any treasure in Christ labour to quicken this affection above all here I am to shew the motives and the meanes Motive 1 The first motive is this in truth wee have no more use of any thing than of hope it is a thing that is most usefull for us in all estates in all conditions what ever we doe brethren there is nothing more usefull than this grace of hope hope is an universall grace I tell you hoping and breathing are all one as breath continueth life and soule together so doth his hope the truth is wee have as much use of hoping for God and waiting for his goodnesse as the body of breathing and preserving of life 1 Corin. 9.10 That hee that ploweth may plow in hope brethren all our actions must have hope goe along with them the man must pray in hope preach in hope and heare in hope what ever thou hast hope still that God may blesse it what ever thou dost hope that God will assist thee in it when a man preacheth hee must preach in hope though hee doth not doe good now this day nor next day yet hope what the Lord may doe yet hope what the Lord will doe so in the time of our pilgrimage here wee cannot live without this hope so in comming to the word of God thou commest one day and yet the word of profiteth not thou commest the second day and yet the word prevaileth not thou commest the third time yet the word humbleth not come still hope still the Lord may be pleased at last to set home some word that may humble thy heart and quicken thy soule and subdue thy corruptions Motive 2 The second motive is this we have most need of it as nothing is more usefull so nothing is more needfull for the benefit of the soule you know in warre those places of the body that are most ready to be assaulted they looke to fence that especially as now the head of every souldier therefore every one getteth a head-peece and will bee sure to get a helmet about him now what a head-peece is to the souldiour in warring that hope is to the Christian in living 1 Thessal 5.8 I beseech you observe it the Devill fighteth at the head continually which is the hope of salvation the assurance of Gods love this is the head-peece of a Christian if once this be gone the soule is gone and a mans heart sinketh within him Sathan intendeth most harme this way and therefore wee should bee most carefull to bestow the more paines for our helpe in this particular take a poore sinner cut off his hope and you cut off his head if a mans armes were gone hee might live if a man want a leg
my furtherance why doe you not labour then and if you desire to doe my message faithfully why doe you not goe about it then O suffer not your selves to be deluded and cozened in those things which concerne your everlasting comfort it is no true desire when a man will not labour in the use of the meanes God hath appointed it is a delusion that will cozen you not a desire that will helpe you at the great day of accounts would any have a harvest and yet neither plough nor sow this is the practice of many in this point of desire they thinke they desire Christ and grace and mercie and yet never endevour after it It is observable Prov. 13.14 the sluggard desireth and hath nothing he desires meat and yet he starves he desires clothes and yet is not covered he desires riches and yet dyes a beggar his desire never accomplisheth any thing he could be content to have this and that but hee will doe nothing for it therefore he hath nothing this is the picture of a lazie professour he desires mercy and he desires that God would pardon his sinnes and he desires that God would give him grace against his corruptions but alas the desire of the slothfull is all in talking and because he doth nothing therefore hee hath nothing at the time of his death and day of his departure hee hath neither mercy nor favour nor grace nor assurance but perisheth everlastingly hence it is that the Lord dealeth with the sluggard answerable to his desire The desire of the sluggard killeth him Prov. 21.25 saith the text because he cannot get his hands to labour some Interpreters holy and judicious doe marvellous fitly expresse a sluggard by this place of Scripture it is not said because hee cannot get his heart to labour but because he cannot get his hands to labour as if he should say it is good for a man to labour it is good to heare and pray but I cannot get my hands to it the sluggard saith prayer in his family is good and commendable and the Lord requires it but thy tongue will not speake his knees will not buckle the fault is not in thy tongue and knees but in thy heart therefore the text saith his desire will kill him and that will be his bane for when the sluggard shall thinke he hath desired grace and mercy and pardon and salvation and shall misse of that hee thought hee truly desired when hee lyes on his death-bed and seeth that his desire vanisheth and comes to nothing this will slay him because his labour was not answerable his desire was not profitable his labour was nothing therefore his desire brought him nothing These lazie professours you would thinke there were but few of them in the world but these lazie droanes swarme every where and are the very plague-sores of our families and townes they could be content to be as they ought and doe as they should but they never labour to doe that which God requires therefore let me enter into some particulars and I will ranke these lazie hypocrites into foure formes that every one may see of which sort he is 4 Sorts of lazie Hypocrites The first sort are those who when they enjoy the meanes of salvation marvellous profitable and plentifull when wisedome hath killed her fat things and refined her wines and furnished her tables every one may come and eat of my meat and drinke of my wine now these lazie professours esteeme not receive not any benefit by these blessings which God offers and wisedome tenders to them but complaine of too much bread and too much wine and too much manna they will not take that mercy which is offered a Minister cannot force a power of grace upon their soules or any of Gods precious promises upon their hearts these are lazie droanes indeed Doth that man desire a commoditie that will beat the Carrier that brings it to him and cast it away from him No all the world will say he prized it not hee desired it not otherwise hee would have received it gladly and given much money for it too If a soule were hunger-starved would hee not receive bread if it were offered him or would he not call the man to him that sold bread and buy it of him to supply his wants with the soonest and say let me be served first So had these professours any longing desire after the precious meanes of grace and salvation when mercie and salvation hath beene set upon the stall and the Lord crieth Ho every one that will let him take of the well of the water of life and live for ever freely and Ho every one that thirsts let him come and buy wine and milke without money nay many a poore Minister would faine leave his commodity behinde him and saith You must have it and shall have it and I will give you the buying of it wee are faine to force Gods favours upon the soule we beseech you to beleeve and wee intreat you for the Lord Jesus Christs sake to receive mercie and humble your soules wee would force Gods favours upon your hearts But will any man take these favours now No beloved these lazie hypocrites will not prize this grace they will not receive this mercie many sweet promises and many admirable precious things of grace and salvation are revealed but they neither passe nor care to receive any benefit thereby this argueth that such men have no true desire after Christ Jesus For a poore hungry sinner that is apprehensive of his owne weaknesse and feeblenesse hee longs when will the feast day bee and when will the Lords day come And when hee comes into the congregation to heare the word how carefully will he listen and how diligently will he attend and if the word comes home to his conscience or if hee receive not comfort hee cries out Oh when will the dish come to the end of the table I am full of doubts good Lord resolve me I am in trouble good Lord comfort me I have a proud stout stubborne heart good Lord humble mee thus the hungry soule longs after these meanes of salvation and is willing to receive benefit by them and a longing heart is at best ease when the word works most Note But a lazy Hypocrite is at best ease when the word workes least upon him And therefore when he thinkes the Minister will come to his soule hee will not bee at home that day he will be sure to be out of towne he knowes the Word would have awakened him and affrighted him and he cannot beare the blow therefore he keeps away and shunnes the hearing of Gods Word which would awaken and humble him Sort of lazy Hypocrites 2 Secondly of this crew are those who when God hath taken away and deprived them of the ordinary meanes of grace and salvation whereby he doth good unto the soule they are well content to be without the same they sit
a matter of complement and indifferencie No no I may call it the very wheeles of faith upon which faith is carried for all this while faith is a sowing into the soule Looke as it is with a waggon knocke off the wheeles and all lyes in the dust so take away this desire and faith is in the dust the tenour of all the promises run upon this the thirstie they are invited the hungrie they shall be satisfied nay not onely so but observe further the necessity of this when desire comes all good workes goe forward and our hearts are not only set upon the dutie but the dutie is crowned and credited by this desire It is like the mill damme the fuller the damme is the faster the mill goes so get but desire and all will goe forward the more desire the more paines in seeking after grace this gives a crowne and a credit to all our actions thou prayest haply halfe an houre it is not thy tongue that the Lord accepts but thy desire thou performest many duties outwardly God cares not for that he lookes only at thy desire to approve thy selfe to God in those duties this is the thing that gives credit to all our actions Meanes 3 The third meanes is this labour to spread forth the excellencie of all the beautie and surpassing glorie that is in the promises of God Looke wisely daily and judiciously upon them as occasion serves and when thou seest that admirable and incomparable vertue and beautie that is in Christ and in the precious promises and canst but view them in their proper colours Oh they will even ravish thee and quicken up thy desire If a man carry a packe of never so rich commodities and never opens them no man will have a desire to buy Or if a man have a cabinet full of never so precious jewels if he doe not unlocke it no man will be stirred with a desire after them Even so it is with the promises all those unsearchable riches that are in the Lord Jesus and all the comforts both of this life and that which is to come they are all shut up in the promises Now set open the Gospell and unlock the cabbinet of the promises and then the soule will earnestly desire the same I tell you God is a God of comfort and all the promises are yea and Amen in the Lord Jesus Christ read them daily and examine the excellencie and beautie therein that so thy heart may be brought to prize them and the comfort arising thence Thy soule is discouraged there is mercie to comfort thou wantest grace there is grace to quicken thee See the worth thereof more fully Luke 24. When Christ came and walked with the two disciples that were travelling towards Emaus Luke 24.32 opened Did not our hearts burne within us say they while he opened the Scriptures the Latine word signifieth to burne with desire But how came this they did not talke a word and away but the Lord Jesus Christ opened the Scriptures to them the riches of grace and salvation were unlocked and by Christ opened and then their hearts burned againe with desire Oh that Christ and that mercie and that pardon c. So view thou the promises of Christ and grace and salvation you doe not see the value and riches that are therein but if you will but talke and conferre about them your hearts will burne with desire doe not cast an eye and be gone doe not looke over a promise and away no wonder though your hearts are not affected because the excellent things therein contained are not opened and propounded to you Meanes 4 In the fourth and last place after all this thou must know that it is not in thy power to bring thy heart to desire grace thou canst not hammer out a desire upon thine owne anvill digge thy owne pit and hew thy owne rock as long as thou wilt that is a worke out of thy abilitie and strength Nay let all the Angels in heaven and all the Ministers on earth provoke thee yet if the hand of the Lord be wanting thou shalt not lift up thy heart nor step one step towards heaven therefore I beseech you marke and acknowledge this and goe to him who is onely able to worke this desire in thy soule It is the complaint of Christians and they mourne under it and it is a great miserie Oh they are troubled because they cannot fetch a good desire from their owne soules and one falls another sinkes and a third shakes and they are overwhelmed with discouragement And their complaint is this What a wretched heart have I Object Grace No no the world I can desire the life of my childe I long for that nay every trifling profit and pleasure my soule covets it and I say with Rachel Let me have honour or else I dye But I cannot buckle my heart nor worke this vile nature of mine to bee carried after and long for the unconceivable unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ And will the Lord shew mercie to me Shall I attaine any favour either here or hereafter Answ Marke the deceit in this case desires grow not in your garden they spring not from the root of your abilities you cannot frame your soules nor order your spirits to desire Christ no struggle while thy eyes sinke in thy head and thy tongue falters when thou prayest and yet thou shalt not procure any longing desire after Christ whiles the world stands desire comes from the quickning vertue of the spirit Therefore seeke to God and confesse In truth Lord I cannot it is not in my power I have not any sufficiencie to frame my heart to this desire I expect it not from my selfe it is not this vile and sinfull soule it is not this wicked base wayward heart of mine that can lift up it selfe it is earthly and heavie but it is thou O Lord from whom come all our desires it is thou that must worke it it is thou that hast promised it good Lord quicken thou this soule and inlarge this heart of mine thou only art the God of this desire none of thy Saints that ever panted after and longed for thy mercie David himselfe had it not in his owne power and sufficiencie it must come from thy power and thy promise and thy grace and blessing Now good Lord worke this in the heart of thy poore servant I would faine have a desire Lord from heaven thus hale downe a desire from the Lord and from the promise for there only you must have it this is the course whereby you may partake of this desire from the hand of the Lord. When the Church was lazie and sluggish and would not rise Cant. 5.4 the hands of her beloved dropped mirrhe upon the handle of the doore and this raised and pulled up the heart of the spouse and she lingred after him and followed him and pursued him and her heart was quickned and inlarged to
nor receive it from any creature under Heaven further than the Father sends downe some beames of his love to kindle this in us further than the blessed Spirit of God is pleased to blow these sparkes when they are kindled further than the Lord Iesus Christ is pleased by the power of his merits to feed these sparkes of love thus blowne in our soules It is almost impossible that any man in his naturall estate should be so deluded as to thinke hee can love the Lord or delight in him 1 Tim. 1.13 14. opened The Apostle Paul tels us plainly hee was a persecutor and a blasphemer and injurious Paul could doe this and thou haply canst doe this thou canst be a blasphemer against Jesus Christ and thou canst be a persecutor of Jesus Christ but Paul cannot beleeve in Christ nor love the Lord Iesus how comes hee to this Why the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Iesus marke that As if hee should say it was Gods abundant grace that over-powerd my unfaithfull heart and made it faithfull It was Gods abundant grace that over-powerd my stubborne injurious heart and made it a loving heart But how comes this that the grace of the Lord was abundant in faith and love Why it is in Christ saith the text from Christ this faith was rooted from Christ this love was kindled As if he had said I could persecute and blaspheme and despise and cast off God and his grace I was a wretch a villaine that I could doe But that I should love the Lord being injurious and that I should beleeve the Lord being unfaithfull this was from Christ alone In experience we finde it the ball must first fall upon the ground before it can bound up againe and returne from the ground So the Lord Jesus must dart in and fling in this love of his into the soule before the soule can rebound in love and joy backe to him againe We must receive the Spirit of love from God 2 Tim. 1.7 before the Lord can receive any spirituall and holy love from us In a word what the Lord spake in some case to the Jewes is true of every man naturally I know that you have not the love of God in you Iohn 5.42 As if he should say you know not your selves you thinke you have hearts inlarged to God and you pretend great kindnesse to God but you are deceived in your soules and cozened in your corrupt natures for I know full well that the love of God is not in you I pursue the point the rather for these two ends First it discovers and confutes the carnall conceits of a company of carnall Gospellers that pretend they doe not delight to set out themselves in shew so much and they doe not heare and pray and fast so much as these and these doe But say they as for the soundnesse of our love to the Lord Jesus wee defie any man in the world that speakes against us they finde no difficulty in the matter to love the Lord they are certainly perswaded they doe that Therefore if the Minister shall presse upon them and challenge them of want of love to God and his grace they flie in a mans face presently What not love the Lord Jesus Christ why then it is pitie a man should live upon the face of the earth they doe love him and they will love him all the world shall not perswade them from the loving of Christ Oh poore silly creature it is a great argument that thou never hadst this love to God because thou sawest no hardnesse to get it It is an argument thou never didst expresse any delight in Christ because thou thinkest it an easie matter to delight in him Most men thinke it a matter of nothing what not love the Lord Jesus Christ why who cannot love Christ Who cannot I say neither thou nor I nor any man under heaven can love Christ by any power in himselfe Nay let me speake peremptorily thou art as able to save thy owne soule nay thou art as able to redeeme thy soule without Christ as thou art able unlesse the Lord by the Almightie helpe of his Spirit-inable thee to love the Lord Jesus Christ Nay marke what I say you that love Christ and yet doe nothing for him but pretend great kindnesse inwardly how ever you expresse not your selves in outward appearance I tell thee if a man might have happinesse by it if he might have heaven laid downe upon the naile as wee say if he could love Christ I say upon these conditions if thou hast but nature in thee thou wouldst never goe to heaven thou wouldst never be happie No no it will cost thee more than that comes to it will cost thee much paines it will cost thee many prayers and many teares before that day come It is not an easie matter to love the Lord Jesus the Father from heaven must learne you that you must goe to another manner of schoole than ever you have beene at yet if ever you learne this lecture thou mayst pray till thy eyes sinke in thy head and till thy heart failes and yet thou canst not love Christ unlesse the Spirit inable thee thereunto Thinke of this you that thinke it is nothing to love the Lord Jesus Christ If it were nothing but to talke of love and to complement with the Lord Jesus to make a cursie to Christ and to make a leg to the Lord and yet hate him inwardly then it were an easie matter indeed it is nothing to buckle to him in this fashion and in the meane time oppose him and the power of his grace but to entertaine and welcome a Saviour sutable and agreeable to the worth of him this nature will not cannot doe it is the worke of the Lord. Observe it I beseech you I say as nature cannot doe this so nature will not doe it first nature cannot doe it 1 Iohn 1.5 God is light and in him is no darknesse Ephes 5.8 saith the text at all and Ye were darknesse but now are light in the Lord A man naturally is nothing but darknesse and God is nothing but light a man by nature is nothing but unholy and God is nothing but holy Now darknesse will resist light and not give way to it and wickednesse will oppose holinesse and not give way to the same this is thy condition thou hast an ignorant carnall blinde heart and God is light pure and holy and thou canst resist a Saviour but not entertaine him doe what thou canst Nay further as a man cannot naturally doe this so in the second place I say he will not doe it The Apostle affirmes of the Thessalonians That they would not receive the love of the truth 2 Thess 2.10 opened that they might be saved he doth not say They would not receive the truth but they would not receive the love of the truth It is
what shall I doe What shall I doe unto thee Oh thou preserver of men and the broken hearted and terrified sinner craves that he may yet live in the sight of the Lord. And at last when the soule hath beene sufficiently humbled the Lord lets in his sweet voice of mercy and saith Thou art my sonne and thy sinnes are pardoned with that the soule catcheth at that mercy and saith mercy Lord and a sonne Lord pardon Lord and love Lord the soule is marvellous willing to heare of that consideration But it will not away from the Lord againe as they catched at the words of Ahab and said thy brother liveth so the soule saith beleevingly and â—eccho-like pardoned Lord accepted Lord love and mercy in Christ Lord the heart holds it selfe there It is the fashion of a drowning man when hee seeth himselfe going and sinking if any man come to helpe him when he hath taken hold hee will rather die than leave him hee holds for his life Just so it is with a drowning sinner that is tossed up and downe with the floods of Gods indignation He that formerly made nothing of all and a mock of Christ and thought hee might goe to heaven with all his lusts now the Lord opens his eyes and sets upon him and tosses him up and downe that the heart smites with it and hee seeth himselfe lost and going downe to the pit â—nd hee expects nothing but damnation and at â—ast the Lord lets in a record of mercie and the promise of grace and salvation when the soule â—eares hereof hee catcheth it greedily and knowes if that faile his soule must needs faile â—nd therefore he will never let it goe Act 3 The third act of resting is this it flings the waight of all its occasions and troubles upon Christ as the porter that is weary of his waight and hath no way to helpe himselfe but to be eased of his burden so when the soule hath fastned upon Christ it layes all the waight of all its guilt and power of corruptions upon the Lord Jesus Christ Christ hath promised to give ease and power to pardon and the soule now layes all upon him as Psal 35.7 Commit thy way to the Lord and trust in him commit thy way that is the waight of all thy occasions roule thy way upon the Lord as it is with a barrell that is tumbled up and downe the earth beares the waight of the barrell but some body moves it so the soule casts the waight of all its disgrace dishonour temptation and all upon Christ Esay 50 10. Hee that walkes in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon hiâ— God that is if any man be in extremes hopelesse in misery and seeth no helpe for himselfe neither in himselfe nor the creature and walkes in desperate discouragement and hath no light of comfort let him trust upon the name of the Lord and stay upon his God as when a man cannot goe of himselfe hee layes the waight of all his body on another so the soule goes to a Christ and layes all the waight of it selfe upon Christ and saith I have no comfort all my discomforts I lay upon Christ and I relie upon the Lord for comfort and consolation and when the soule hath thus leaned upon Christ it leaves it selfe there and sucks and drawes all the good that it needs from Christ Cant. 8.5 Who is this that commeth up from the wildernesse leaning upon her beloved the party comming is the Church the wildernesse is the troubles and vexations the Church meets withall and the beloved is the Lord Jesus Christ now the Church comes out of trouble and out of her selfe and leanes her selfe all upon her husband the Lord Jesus Christ she only walked with him but he bare all the burden for her and as the Jewes after their Passeover had their feet shod with sandals and staves in their hands the promise to the soule is like that staffe which did testifie the promise when we are going to the land of Canaan the promise of grace and mercy is the staffe which wee leane upon and it is not a broken staffe that will faile us but a strong staffe which a man may trust to and lay all the waight of life and happinesse upon it and the subduing of his sinnes also 1 Pet. â— 7 Cast all your care on him for he careth for you the originall is hurle your care upon the Lord as â—f a man should say suffer not your care to rebound backe againe but hurle it upon the Lord as a man doth with a ball when it rebounds hee beats it backe againe the Lord will not thanke you for carrying your cares and troubles about you but he requires you should hurle it upon the Lord for he careth for you All that faith would have the soule doe is this First that the soule should labour to finde out the meanes of grace Secondly that it should practice what it knowes Thirdly that it improve all meanes when it hath gotten them now that it may bee able to doe this faith layes all the weight of the worke and burden of the day upon the Lord Jesus Christ so that I shall know what I should doe or the Lord will pardon what I doe not know and either I shall be able to doe what I know or else God will accept of my poore endevours and either I shall finde successe in that I doe or else God will make me contented so that all the burden is gone therefore what if thou doest not know what thou shouldst doe seeing God will pardon thy ignorance and what if thou dost not that which thou knowest if God will pardon thee in it and what if thou hast not that successe thou desirest if God will accept of thee without it and therefore David chides his owne heart and rocks his owne soule asleepe where it was golling Psal 42. Why art thou cast downe O my soule c. I am banished from my house and from my friends and especially from the house of my God and have not I cause to be disquieted no hee had not but how shall I amend my selfe in all these troubles still trust in God for he is yet the helpe of my countenance and my God and I will yet give him praise as if he had said thou shalt not need to be distracted discouraged nor vexed inordinately still trust in God and cast all thy care upon him the faithfull soule viewes all his sinnes that he hath committed and all the miseries that are intended and inflicted and when it hath done all it conclude thus with it selfe and saith It is not in my power nay it is not my duty to determine of all these troubles I lay all the weight of my sinnes upon Christ to pardon them and all the weight of my corruptions to subdue them and then I know he will care for me that hath undertaken mercifully for
me all my care is to leane upon my Saviour and this is my comfort he will looke to me though I cannot doe it for my selfe Act 4 The fourth act of reposing the Spirit which makes it up is this and this indeed is the nature of faith it drawes vertue and derives power from the Lord Jesus Christ for succour and supply here is the especiall life of faith and it is the very words of Scripture or else I durst not speake so much of it but that the Scripture sayes it open in this manner faith findes all in the promise and fetcheth all from the promise that it needs as when a man hath provision of meat and money in his house if any man say to him where shall we have such and such things Oh saith he I will goe fetch them so it is with the nature of faith it goes for mercy and grace and comfort in Christ it knowes t is to bee had from him and therefore fetcheth all from him it drawes and suckes the sweetnesse of the promise as it was with the woman that had the bloudy issue Mat. 9.21 22. Oh saith she could I but touch the hem of his garment I should be whole and so she did and vertue came from him and shee was healed of all her grievances that lay upon her so it is with a faithfull soule that toucheth the Lord Jesus Christ it layes hold but a little on the promise and there is sap and vertue communicated to the beleeving heart whereby it comes to be helped and comforted in the way of God Esay 12.3 it is said With joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation the fountaine of salvation and all the waters of life and grace and mercy are in Christ now it is not enough to let downe the bucket into the well but it must bee drawen out also the waters of life are in Christ now it is not enough to come to and to looke to Christ but wee must draw the water of grace from Christ to our soule as Esay 66.11 They shall sucke and be satisfied with the brests of the consolation that they may milke out and be delighted with the abundance of her glorie the Church is compared to a childe and the brests are the promises of the Gospell now the elect must suck out and be satisfied with it and milke it out the word in the originall is exact upon the promise and oppresse the promise as the oppressoâ—â— grinds the face of a poore man and will have his goods what ever become of his wife and children so a man must wrest the promise for grace and power from the Lord Jesus Christ Ah beloved this is our misery we suffer abundance of milke to be in the promise and we are like wainly children that lye at the brest and will neither sucke nor be quiet so we suffer this to be in the promise and yet imploy not our selves to get it out and to sucke it out therefore brethren suffer not your faith to come to the promise and to lye at it but hale mercy from thence and with aâ— holy kinde of oppression exact upon it and get what good you may from it the Lord allowes it Quest But here it may bee asked how this is done how doth faith draw vertue from Christ Answ I answer It is an heavenly skill and yet marvellous hard and difficult Threefold Act. faith drawes vertue by a threefold act or faith improves the promise three wayes First faith doth appropriate the promise to it selfe and applies all that good and grace that is revealed offered in the Lord Jesus Christ home to it selfe the voices of faith in the Scripture are these my Lord and my God so Paul saith Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe he would be sure to have a share in the mercy as if a man should say I will cut something before the dish goe away Psal 48.14 when the Lord had so much care of his Church and how terrible he was to the enemies and how mercifull to his people c. in the end the Church saith This God is our God and he will be our God even till death she doth appropriate God to her selfe and engrosseth God and saith our God is not as the Heathens god and there David would have God all his owne and saith whatsoever God hath done for any of his people how terrible for them and how mercifull to them the same God hee is to my soule and he will bee my God for ever and hence the Scripture saith Esay 55.1 Come buy and eat c. all these places are nothing else but the act of faith to come is to repaire to the promise and to buy is to take possession of it and to eat is nothing else but to embrace it for our good and comfort it is not enough for mee to goe to the market and stand looking on the commodity there but I must lay downe my money buy it and take possession of it and beare it home so the Lord saith Come to the waters buy wine and milke c. the Lord sets open the shop of grace and salvation every day where the Gospell is preached and therefore not only cheapen but come to the agreement and buy offer like chapmen and stand not hagling but say I will lay downe all my lusts and part with all for Christ and when yee have done thus take mercy and comfort it is yours you have bought it so that now the faithfull soule enters upon the promise as his owne as a man that comes to take possession of house and land as his owne so the faithfull soule reads of all that mercie in pardoning of sinne and all that God effects to save and all that mercy offered to the poore man out of whom the Lord cast seven Devils then the soule saith all that mercie is mine Manasses was an idolater and a monster yet the Lord humbled saved him and all that mercy is mine Paul a persecutour and an oppressour and yet the Lord opened his eyes pardoned his sinne and hee is now a glorified Saint in heaven c. all that mercie is mine hence I take that phrase to be Iohn 3.33 where faith is said to set its seale to the promise He that beleeveth hath set to his seale that God is true now observe that as it is amongst men in their agreements it is not enough that the articles are drawne and made but they must be sealed if they are only made wee use to say they want nothing but sealing now when they are sealed every than takes his owne and the bargaine is thorow Just so it is betweene the Lord and the soule the Articles of agreement whereby God passeth over his promise to a poore sinner are these If wee will part from our selves and our sinnes the Lord Jesus saith all this grace and mercy is yours you that are thus
burthened Christ will ease you and you that are thus lost Christ will finde you But now if a man will not set to his seale and if the soule doe not take all this to it selfe and enter possession of it in this kinde and seale and deliver as wee use to say it will never prove authenticall but when it is sealed and delivered then it is authenticall So when the soule makes an application of the promises to it selfe then it is authenticall and the soule feeds upon it and refresheth it selfe therewith for ever Secondly faith jogs the hand of God and sets Gods power on worke and makes way for the streame of Gods promise and providence that it may take place I say it makes ay for the worke of the promise that so whatsoever is good may flow in amaine upon the heart and be communicated to it as it is in other courses of providence When God sets up a course of providence in the â—se of means then in the use of those means as â—â—e ordinarily workes Now God will nourish a man if he will eat his meat and use the means appointed for his nourishment and hee that will take up the course that God hath appointed may expect a blessing so faith is the condition that God requires and the means that he hath appointed whereby he will convey all good to the soule and as all grace and mercy is conveyed from God through the promise so if wee will beleeve and lay our hearts to the promise wee are under the power of the promise to convey all grace and mercy to us As it is with a Pump or Well there is water enough in the Well but yet a man must draw and pump it up before hee can have any and when hee drawes then the water doth come So the Fountaine of all grace and goodnesse in Christ and the promise is the pump now faith must jog the promise before any grace can come this I take to be the reason of all those passages in Scripture where the Lord is said to give away himselfe to beleeving soules as Matth. 15.28 Oh woman great is thy faith bee it unto thee as thou wilt Christ gives her leave to goe to the treasure of mercy and grace and to take what she would he doth not say be it unto thee as I will but as thou wilt looke what health thou wilt have for thy daughter and what comfort for thy conscience goe and take it the Lord denies her nothing This is the meaning of that place Math. 9.29 Bee it unto you according to your faith not according to your wit or pride or strength or sturdy spirits as if a man would goe to Heaven and bee proud and stout hearted too no no there is no such matter not according to your parts and gifts but according to your faith Gen. 17.7 God makes a deed of gift to Abraham saying I will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee take all Abraham so that beleeving sets Gods grace a going and puts Gods power and providence forth for the good of the soule Now imagine the Lord did yet deny that soule that mercy which it seekes and begs and doth not answer the desire of the heart and let in that good and sweetnesse the beleeving soule expects from him what will faith doe then This is the third Act of faith in drawing vertue from Christ faith urgeth God with his owne word and presseth Gods promise and challengeth God on his faithfulnesse and truth not to be wanting unto him for the acceptation of his person and the pardon of his sinnes Faith enters into suit with God Psal 143.1 Heare my prayer Lord and in thy faithfulnesse answer me as if he had said I confesse I am base vile and sinfull and deserve â—o mercy therefore not in my worthinesse but in thy faithfulnesse answer me I cannot bee but â—ile and thou canst not bee but faithfull and if thou canst cease to be faithfull I am content to be miserable and so you may for he can as well cease to be faithfull as cease to bee God It is a â—aw-case betweene God and Iacob Gen. 22.10.11 see how he presseth God in a point Oh saith hee I know my brothers maliciousnesse and dogged spirit and I expect hard measure from him O Lord therefore remember thy servant for I feare my brother Esau and thou hast said thou wilt doe good to thy servant c. As a man that hath a good cause at the Assizes or Sessions though hee hath a great enemie one that over-powers him yet being confident that his cause is good will bring it about againe and will not rest till he hath an equall hearing So faith when the Lord frownes upon him yet the heart puts him in suit as it were and doth expostulate the cause with the Lord saying Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious and will he be no more intreated This expostulation of the soule that the heart presseth in upon God withall when it is upon a good ground it argues the pursuit of God that he will not leave till the Lord give that hee hath engaged himselfe to bestow Thus to gather up all faith goes out to the Lord Jesus Christ and layes hold upon him layes all the weight upon him drawes vertue from him as in all the former particulars The fifth and last thing wherein the great worke of resting consists is this faith leaves the soule with the promise and after all desires haply and all denials and all the discouragements of God and yet the soule seeth not the way of God but that God frownes upon him and though God comes not yet faith leaves the heart with God This is marvellous needfull and it must needs be the worke of faith for it is the maine tenour of the worke of the covenant of grace and the covenant of workes in the covenant of workes made with Adam when he said doe and live If Adam had done that hee should have received constant assistance and God would never have denied to helpe him but now in the covenant of grace because it must bee and is free and that a soule may and must know that it is onely the goodnesse of God to us therefore the Lord reserves this prerogative royall to himselfe that howsoever God will bestow what he hath promised yet hee reserves the time to himselfe and what time he will doe it and after what manner and by what means that is onely of Gods free will and hereupon the soule acknowledgeth that it is of Gods free grace as if the Lord should say it is mercy that I give and therefore it is according to my owne minde and I will take my owne time Now in this dead lift the power of faith is this it leaves the soule with the promise it takes up its standing there and saith I will goe to none other and I will seeke no further Esay 28.16 He that beleeves makes not
of those that have it for if every man by nature is dead in sinne and hath no good of himselfe and can receive no good but rather oppose it then if hee have any saving worke wrought in him it is Gods free gift therefore first the Lord meets with a poore sinner and reveales himselfe to him before he be aware of it as many a man haply drops into the congregation or fals into a house where there is conference and mercy and grace shines upon him before he is aware of it and doth effectually draw the soule home from sinne to God as Ioh. 6.44 No man comes to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him the Lord bindes the strong man in preparation and humiliation for the Devill will not goe out by intreaty no the Lord Jesus must binde him and then the Lord Jesus is pleased to separate the soule from sinne to himselfe and he takes possession of him and in vocation hee perswades the soule effectually and brings it home and when he is brought home he gives him his good Spirit to sanctifie him Thirdly and this I would have you marke though all grace come from the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of his Spirit yet the Lord workes the worke of his grace and Spirit after a divers manner and the manner especially which is remarkable is this no man hath grace by nature nor any good and all that he hath is the proper worke of God and this God workes though differently some workes God workes upon us to bring us to himselfe and some workes God workes in us to bring us into a nearer communion and 2 Tim. 1.14 That excellent thing which was committed to thee keepe fast how by the Spirit that dwels in us this excellent thing was the doctrine of the Gospell now Saint Paul perswades us to keepe it by the Spirit that dwels in us this is a matter which blindes many a poore ignorant man that otherwise would bestow himselfe upon the free grace of God we truly say that all grace comes from Christ hereupon many a man thinkes that he must first be in Christ before he can have any grace we receive Christ by faith and therefore we must have faith before we can have him and wee come to Christ by faith and therefore we must have faith before wee can come to him now the Lord Jesus is the Authour of all grace in the hearts of his owne the Lord workes some grace upon us to bring us himselfe as the worke of preparation and vocation this is a saving worke of Christ but yet it is the worke of the Lord to bring us home to himselfe but now when we are come by faith then God conveyes another worke to us he doth justifie a sinner and adopt him and sanctifie him as in this similitude the first Adam by way of a naturall generation must beget a childe before he can imprint his image of corruption upon him and he must be the sonne of Adam before he can receive corruption from Adam so that generation is the way to corruption else it is no corruption as in that place Adam begat a sonne in his owne image that is as blinde as stubborne as proud as Adam so that generation is the way by which wee receive corruption from the first Adam so it is in the second Adam he doth by spirituall regeneration and after a speciall manner worke upon the hearts of his to bring them home to him before he will imprint his image upon them which is the image of sanctification the Lord Jesus will by the worke of vocation and preparation as by a spirituall union bring the soule to himselfe before he will imprint his image upon him sanctification now preparation and vocation goe before sanctification and yet they are not sanctification in the strict sense as generation went before the imprinting of the fathers image so vocation to Christ is before the image of Christ can bee imprinted I use to expresse my selfe by this similitude looke as it is with a clocke that hath the wheeles turned the rong way what must a man doe to make these wheeles goe right First he stops the wheeles and the wheeles doe not stop themselves and then he turnes the wheele and the wheele doth not turne it selfe and when hee hath done so then he gives it a poise or plâ—â—â— and by vertue thereof the wheeles run right and the clocke strickes right all these are severall workeâ— upon the wheele the stopping is not the turning and the turning is not the striking so it is with the soule of a poore sinner the heart of man iâ— like this wheele it was made for God to please him and to serve him and was altogether heaven-ward but now it is hell-ward and sin-ward and world-ward and it is quite unjoynted now how must God worke upon this heart to bring it into the right frame againe First the Lord stopâ— the poore sinner and that is by preparation he shewes him his sinne and the punishment of it and when he is posting on to hell the Lord writes bitter things against him and saith friend this is not the way to happinesse friend if you goe that way there is the pit of destruction before you and so with a mighty strong commanding hand he stops the sinner by godly feare and sorrow and hatred and turnes it from wickednesse Secondly the Lord turnes the heart to himselfe in vocation and the Lord saith come hither thou poore sinner doe not goe to thy lusts they will kill thee but goe to the Lord Christ and he will save thee goe not to the world it will delude thee but goe to the Lord Christ and he will inrich thee thou art filthy but goe to Christ and he will purge thee thou art miserable but come to Christ here is happinesse and that will save thee by thiâ— time the wheele is stopped and also turned the right way and every wheele is where it should be and then the Lord justifies a poore sinner and is well pleased with him and is reconciled to him and he giveth his Spirit in adoption and that is as the poise that so he shall no more be ruled by the world nor by his lusts but by the good Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ and the hand of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ doth assist that poore soule for ever Thirdly the soule having received the Spirit by faith as Gal. 4.5 receives hereby the adoption of sonnes Fourthly now the whole frame of the heart runs right and is towards God and for God and loves God and hath the spirituall power and a new principle of it selfe and this is the maine worke of sanctification if you will take sanctification in the stricktest sense all the rest are saving workes but this is the maine worke of all Fiftly as the clocke when it is thus framed strikes right and when it is two it strikes two and when it is
come to the Lord Jesus when he calls you then Hell is to good for you beare witnesse of it many a soule here this day is still resolved to goe on in his sins and sayes I am resolved to have my owne courses and I will be as proud as ever and sweare and drinke as much as ever and I will not goe to Jesus Christ whither will yee goe then Will yee goe to destruction I call the Angels and all the Saints to record you will not come then you must to destruction there is no other way to come to Jesus Christ but by beleeving in him Now further to discover the fearfulnesse of this sinne and the misery of them that continue in it let mee lay it open by foure particulars whereby it shall appeare that howsoever unbeleevers make no great matter of it yet if they have the hearts of men about them they shall see the misery of their owne soules and that in thâ—se foure particulars First it keeps off the riches of mercies that are in Christ from the soule that it cannot enjoy them there is no happinesse but onely by communion with God and now infidelity keeps off God from us and keeps out that goodnesse which God is willing to bestow upon us if we had hearts fitted to receive it Infidelity shuts up a poore sinner that hee cannot looke out nor looke up towards Heaven and that 's the reason why when the Lord chaines ups poore sinner under the power of his chiefe displeasure he gives them up to hardnesse of heart and unbeleefe Rom. 11.32 He hath shut up all in unbeleefe it is a comparison thus to be conceived as it is with a hainous malefactour that hath conspired against the King and when he is taken they put him into little ease or some such close darke dungeon and clap cold irons upon him and if any friend come to bring him any thing hee cannot speake with him nor he cannot receive it because he is close prisoner So the Lord doth in his heavy displeasure hee locks up the soule in unbeleef and holds the heart in the chaines of unbeleef that howsoever judgements passe up and downe the world yet all these judgements cannot awaken him nor all mercies why because the unbeleever is sure enough hee cannot so much as looke to that mercy prepared and offered in Iesus Christ and that 's the reason why when the Lord comes by in all his glory and mercy as he did Exod. 33.6.7 saying the Lord the Lord strong mercifull and glorious When all these passe by the unbeleever fits in his seat but his heart is lockt up that hee cannot looke up and that 's the reason why the Apostle saith Rom. 11.8 He hath given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and eares that they should not heare to this very day that though he hath all the calls of mercy yet he hath eyes and sees not and all is still and nothing stirring in the soule nay it is not onely shut up and cannot come to God but unbeleefe barres the doores that Jesus Christ cannot come to it therefore Iohn 1.11 He came to his owne and his owne received him not but in the 12. verse to as many as received him to them he gave power to be the Sonnes of God this unbeleefe barres the doores and raiseth Forts against him and closeth every crevis of the heart that not a beame of mercy not a glimpse of pitty can be let into the soule so long as it is in this condition I beseech you observe it unbeleefe is a fin not so much of one faculty of the soule but it is that as carries the whole man with it as when a man sets himselfe in any unruly will and will be ruled thereby so that it stops every passage and there is no entrance for mercy for looke as it is with faith the root of it is in the will but the rule of it is over all the whole man and therefore faith carries all the whole soule to God love and hope and joy and all goes towards God and the very same nature unbeleefe hath to carry the soule from God the root of it is in the will but the rule of it is in the whole man and keepes the soule under the power and authority of it as by faith wee goe home to the Lord Jesus Christ and are content that he should doe what he will with us so unbeleefe keepes the soule under command and will dispose of all at his owne pleasure this is the poyson and venome of this corruption it stops all the passages of the soule that Christ cannot come at it nor it at Christ so that if eternall life and happinesse were laid downe upon the naile yet unbeleefe will not suffer the soule to stretch out a little finger to it and saith love and joy I charge you delight not in that mercy and desire looke not out after it nay if the wrath of God bee revealed from Heaven against the soule yet it stops the soule that the wrath of God moves it not because unbeleefe rules and saith feare tremble not at Gods judgements and sorrow mourne not you for sinne come all this way and sorrow for the losse of profits and pleasures and because my will is crossed but I will not have you so much as looke after God This is the cursed nature of unbeleefe that there is nothing of God of grace and happinesse can come neere the soule unlesse the iron gate of infidelity bee pluckt off the hinges and the bars be broken asunder this is that which the holy Prophet speakes of Isay 7.9 when the Lord would expresse the power of himselfe in an extraordinary manner he bids Ahaz that he should looke for a miracle and yet he saith If you beleeve not you cannot be established so that though God expressed never such miraculous power of mercy and goodnesse yet so long as the heart is lockt up in unbeleefe there is no mercy can come at him nay which is worse if worse can be unbeleefe not onely shuts the doore against Christ and will not receive him when hee intreats for entrance but it sets open the doore to all base lusts to sinne and Satan than which there can bee no greater indignity offered to the God of heaven and earth as Ier. 2.12.13 Oh ye heavens be astonished at this why what is the matter my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me the fountaine of living waters and digged to themselves broken pits that will hold no water This is not onely unreasonable but unnaturall and the heavens they shake at it it is against the course of nature that a man should depart from the Almighty that would strengthen him and to rest upon his owne folly and goe from the wisedome of God that would direct him in every good way nay it chuseth a mans owne base corruptions and lusts and in the meane time departs away
of God and the powerfull worke thereof may marvellously snub and wound sinne but infidelitie will heale it againe and will restore life to it againe I compare reformation to the retreat of an army when one side is weake and the other side is too strong and they are not able to make their parts good then they make a retreat and goe home againe to their trenches and hee that wisely retreats himselfe though he may lose the day yet he loseth not a man and the Commander saith such a man was wounded and such a man was hurt a little but we came all well home they retreat into the trenches and get more strength and then they levy our their forces againe So it is with outward reformation haply a man lives under a powerfull Minister under a good master and in a good family and all these make sin retreat and hee dares not sweare and he cannot walke in his wicked wayes his master curbs him all this while his sinnes make a retreat but there is none of them gone the life of never a one of them is gone so long as he hath an unbeleeving heart let the unbeleever enjoy never such means and live in never so good a family yet he hath not one sinne killed they are onely retreated and so unbeleefe nurseth them and makes them grow out with greater violence This I take to be the reason why many a man that hath professed the Gospell and hath had much horror of heart and many good resolutions and much care expressed outwardly after many yeers his corruptions breake out againe and get ground and they are armed afresh and they run violently and for any thing a man knowes they goe downe to hell how many professours have turned to be uncleane persons and to be drunkards because their old sinnes were but onely snubbed by good company and the word c. But they never had their hearts throughly broken the root that nursed all was still the same and therefore they breake out notoriously to the dishonour of God the scandall of the Gospell and the confusion of their owne soules if God be not mercifull Fourthly as unbeleefe keepes God from the soule and makes all meanes unprofitable and maintaines all sinne in the strength and life of it So lastly it makes the soule of a poor sinner to be in a desperate estate and a man continuing in this condition is past hope help recovery beleeving is the last covenant that ever God hath exprest a man may be saved and not doe the law but a man cannot be saved if he doe not beleeve that 's the last covenant and condition of all and if hee stick here he is past all recovery without a wonderfull worke from Heaven Heb. 3.18 There the Lord takes a solemne oath that they that would not beleeve should never enter into his rest to whom did he sweare thus to them that beleeved not God never takes an oath that hee that keeps not the law shall not bee saved or that hee that cannot performe to keepe all the Commandements shall not be saved and never see happinesse no but he takes an oath that they that beleeve not shall never see happinesse and when God once sweares the thing is unchangeable God never swore that if Adam did not doe hee should not live but if he had not beleeved in that Christ that was promised hee had never beene saved but though we cannot live by exact doing yet we may live by beleeving and we may goe to another to doe what God requires of us and this is the reason of that peremptory curse which God sealâ—s downe upon the hearts of unbeleevers Iohn 3.18 He that beleeveth is not condemned but he that beleeveth not is condemned already hee hath one foot in hell but why is it so I answer looke as it is with a man that hath a case to be tried if it be tried in all the courts of England and he cast in them all there is no more trouble to bee made nor no more hope of recovery So it is in this hee that beleeveth not is cast in all Courts in Heaven and earth Law and Gospell both condemne him justice will not save him for it must bee satisfied and mercy will not save him for he is an unbeleever so that there is no trial to be lookt for the sentence is passed upon him in heaven and earth onely there wants a Jaylor to bring him to the gibbit that is death and the devill who is the hangman to turne him off into hell for ever there to plague him nay unbeleefe bindes Gods hand and hinders the power of God as may be said with reverence he may justifie a sinner but he will not justifie an unbeleever in his estate of unbeleefe Marke 6.5 He could doe no miracle there because of their unbeleefe the text doth not say hee did not great workes there So S. Matthew hath it but he could doe no great workes there so the Lord hee can doe mighty workes he can justifie a sinner and comfort the discomforted and cleanse the polluted and save the polluted but he will not save the unbeleever hee cannot worke this mighty worke upon him and therefore doe not trouble thy selfe so much for mercy towards thee if thou bee an unbeleever never dreame of comfort for God cannot save thee will God goe against his owne words then he should not bee truth hee hath sworne that an unbeleever shall not enter into his rest this word and oath shall stand for ever Therefore goe to God that hee may give thee a beleeving heart and then mercy will come and pardon and glory will come to the soule but remaining in unbeleefe hee cannot save thee hee will not deny his Word nor his oath for never an unbeleeving wretch under Heaven Now if you doe conceive the nature of your sinne and your misery thereby then for the Lords sake you that heare the Word this day all you unbeleevers that never had this worke of faith in your soules hie you out of this miserable condition goe your wayes and give no quiet to your soules nor no comfort to your consciences before the Lord shew mercy to you in removing this corruption from your soules and shew mercy to you Now whether you have true faith or no I shall shew afterwards when I shall come to trie every mans evidence and that yee may come out of this unbeleeving condition labour to see the danger of it in three particulars and establish thy heart with these considerations that thou maist never bee in quiet till thou have some power against them and grace to come out of them First know and consider seriously that whatsoever thou dost so long as thou art an unbeleever it is all unprofitable and to no purpose at al couldst thou heare with attention and remember sufficiently whatsoever is revealed and pray with abilitie and understanding beseeming a Christian man in that case didst thou reforme
your selves the Lord Jesus came into the world in an acceptable time and hee had this covenant made with him that he should draw poore soules out of darknesse and say to the prisoners come forth God the Father hath sent him for this end and hath promised to heare him when he calls for mercy in the behalfe of poore sinners you poore creatures remember this for I doubt not but here are some that have faith though no question there are many of you in this place that are yet unbeleevers and marke this if you were never yet sensible of your unbeleefe in some measure I say you never tooke one step towards grace nor Christ wee cannot helpe our selves wee cannot goe to Christ and Christ cannot come to us so long as this iron barre is betweene us therefore intreat him for his covenants sake to accomplish that he hath said and tell him that thou art a poore prisoner and that Christ came for this very end plead hard with him and say Blessed Redeemer it is but one word of thy mouth say to a poore prisoner and an unbeleeving heart rest thy selfe upon the promise plead thus with the Lord and this is the only way to obtaine this mercy of the Lord it is a sinne that undermines all our comforts and makes all meanes unprofitable whatsoever we have and yet we never looke after it nor care for it Oh hate all sinnes but hate this infidelitie above all other sinnes Vse 3 In the next place is it so that the Spirit of the Father must perswade the heart before it can rest upon the free riches of Gods mercie in Christ then here we collect the difficulty of the worke of faith the conclusion not onely followes apparantly but undeniably that the worke of faith is of marvellous difficulty and beyond the reach of all created power and beyond all the power of man to have power of himselfe to beleeve the promises of God the point followes thus if we cannot come to God further than God carrieâ— as and if we have not legs to goe to the Lord Jesus Christ no further than the Lord gives us legs I meane spirituall power then let us all know it and conclude it that it is not only hard and difficult but also impossible for man from any power of his owne to rest upon Gods promises by the worke of faith it is true indeed we can doe thus much wee can settle our selves upon our owne bottomes and rest our selves upon our owne sufficiencie and if a man have parts and gifts wee can wee doe naturally stay our selves upon these broken props and our soules goe that way naturally as heavie things naturally goe downward this we can doe out of the power of corrupt nature thus we are our selves and we rest upon our selves in a word when a man findes parts and gifts and meanes and then to rest upon God and to cast away all carnall confidence and to cast our selves upon the free grace of God it will cost us much worke to doe it nay it is beyond all our power it is the worke of God to doe it I speake this the rather for these two ends First to crush that vaine conceit of a company of poore ignorant creatures that make it a matter of nothing to beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ and thinke it is all one to beleeve as to say they beleeve Oh they beleeve in their sweet Saviour and man nor Devils shall not perswade them to the contrarie hence is that speech of a poore creature standing by a man ready to dye when a Minister of God who was there did exhort him to rest upon the promise and urging him to many things that way and the poore creature complaining much that hee could not beleeve here upon his carnall friend standing by said Beleeve thou foole canst thou not beleeve A man would not imagine it almost but that experience hath made it good and others have informed us of it that many wise judicious men are not ashamed to speake it that if people knew the current of the Scriptures and were able to understand the texts of Scripture it were not so hard a matter to beleeve as men would make it but men are not able to dive into the nature of Scriptures and to conceive of the mysteries thereof which if they did it were an easie matter to beleeve this is the conceit of a company of poore deluded creatures though otherwise learned and judicious follow these men home and you shall finde this true that either they are carelesse in their families or else they have some tang of some strong corruption now to overthrow these two let mee doe it upon these two grounds First see the difficulty of the worke of faith in regard of the feeblenesse of all that a man hath or doth to make him beleeve Secondly in regard of the extraordinary greatnesse of the worke that may hinder a man from doing what he may for the first that which may dis-inable all those things that a man expects comfort from there are but foure things that a man can put any confidence in first the excellencie of his parts or secondly the height of his privileges or thirdly the performance of his duties or fourthly the powerfulnesse of those meanes that he hath to summe up these briefly and to overthrow them first hadst thou that strength of judgement sharpnesse of wit and quicknesse of memorie and all naturall abilities none of all these can make thee able to worke faith in thy selfe Matth. 11.25 26 27. when Christ had considered the hardnesse and difficultie of the worke of faith and had upbraided the Pharisees because they beleeved not at last hee saith I thanke thee heavenly Father Lord because thou hast hid these things from the great and wise of the world and hast revealed them unto the babes it is so Oh Father because it seemed good in thy sight if wisedome and prudence and skill in arts and sciences would have carried men to Jesus Christ the Scribes and Pharisees would then have gone to him but God hath hid these things from the wise and prudent so it will be in every man bee his parts and abilities never so great for the worke of faith it is not in thy parts and gifts but in the Lords revealing it is not thy selfe but the Lord that must worke it babes themselves shall have these things revealed and shall be made able to beleeve when thou with all thy parts and gifts and wisdome shalt be cashiered and thrown downe to hell and then he shewes the reason of it All things are delivered to me of my Father and no man knoweth the Son but the Father and he to whom the Sonne will reveale him so then it is not what we have or doe but what the Lord Christ can and will doe for us all the wit in thy head and all thy skill and parts will never make thee able to know the Father
unlesse the Lord Christ will make thee able to know him if Christ make thee know him then be must chuse thee and this we know that hee chuseth the weake and meane things of the world nay all these excellencies are so farre from interesting a man in the Lord Jesus Christ that it is a great suspition I doe not say in alwayes certaine but I say it is a great suspition that the Lord Jesus Christ will never reveale himselfe to thee because be reveales himselfe to the poore and weake therefore thy parts cannot make thee beleeve if thou hadst all that ever any scholer under heaven had because it is the worke of grace Secondly all thy privileges are weake and cannot reach the worke as Saint Paul by experience proves it Philip. 3.7.4 verses The things that I accounted gaine they were losse unto me If any man might be confident in the flesh much more I what soule could say any thing for any outward excellencie but Paul could say much more were they circumcised so he was were they Hebrewes so was he were they zealous so was he did they live unblamably so did he now were not all these able to carry him to heaven no saith he I thought my selfe to be upon a good bottome but I found them all to be losse that is they were all causes and hinderances why he did come unto Christ so farre were they from being an incouragement to come to Christ that they were barres to keepe him from resting upon a Saviour if this could not profit Paul no more will they profit thee thou mayst heare and fast and pray and read and come to the supper of the Lord which are appointed as a meanes to nourish the soule and yet have an unfaithfull soule and goe downe to hell Thirdly all thy duties though they were never so glorious in the eye of another and never so great in thine owne apprehension yet they are all too weake to worke this grace of faith in thy soule Luk. 13.24 Strive to enter in at the strait gaâ—e for many shall seeke to enter in and shall not be able There are foure or five passages or aggravations to helpe on this point hee doth not say that idle and lazy people shall not enter in but those that seeke and take paines and thinke they are at great cost too and not a few of them neither but many shall seeke and he doth not say they shall not bee able to run on in the wayes of godlinesse but they shall not be able to enter into that gate it is beyond all their power and ability to make them enter in So that were a man able to attend with never so much care and heare with never so much reverence and judgement to reforme with never such conversation and were a man able to doe much in the profession of the truth yet hee might goe to hell and never get faith nor Christ It is possible to goe thus farre and to doe all these services gloriously in mans fight and yet never come at Christ and so perish ever If ever man might have thought it to have done it of himselfe then Paul might have done it as Acts 23.2 I am verily a man which am a Iew borne in Tarsus a famous City in Gilicia but brought up in this City at the feet of Gamaliel and instructed according to the perfect manner of the Law of our fathers and Gal. 1.14 Hee profited in the Iewish religion exceedingly and yet all this while he confesseth that hee was an unbeleever 1 Tim. 1.13 Lastly the power of means are not able to frame the soule to this blessed gift of beleeving a man would thinke that if a mans paines were great and the means powerfull that this would undoubtedly worke faith but yet this will not doe it neither for then Ierusalem that had all the Prophets to foretell a Christ and all the proclamations of Iohn Baptist and Christ himselfe preaching that spake as never man did and besides all these shee had miracles expressing the power of God to confirme that doctrine yet she fals short of the work as Iohn 12.37 Though they saw many miracles yet they beleeved not in Christ they had all the Prophets and Apostles and all the sacrifices and services and thither the Tribes went up and all the helpe that ever any had and yet they beleeved not and therefore it is that Christ upbraids them heavily for their fearfull scandalous hardnesse of heart Matthew 11.16 He compareth them to little children sitting in the market place and calling unto their fellowes saying We have piped to you and ye have not danced wee have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented that is no means in the world would worke upon them Iohn Baptist came in the way of humiliation and Christ came in the way of comfort but all would not prevaile with their hearts no Law nor Gospell Quest. But you will say if this bee so that neither a mans endevours nor the means will make a man able to beleeve then what will it availe a man to doe any duties or to use any means Answ I answer it is very profitable and usefull as the Apostle saith because though wee cannot worke faith in the use of the means yet God by the use of the means can doe what he will the begger must come to the doore though the man in his love and bounty provides to give the doale yet the begger must come to the doore to wait till it be given him Acts 18.27 The Apostle confirmed those which had beleeved through grace So that the Word of God the meane of grace and all the duties that we doe these are but as Conduit pipes to convey what God is pleased to bestow he may stay the Conduit when he will hee may worke with means and without means but let us wait upon God in the use of them The Lord in them may and haply will work upon thee So that if the best meanes and the chiefest privileges and the best duties cannot worke faith then I presume it is not onely difficult but in regard of parts and privileges and all duties and means of themselves it is impossible ever to have this faith wrought and therefore it is not easie to get this faith into the soule Secondly as the weaknesse of the means that should doe this worke shewes that it is difficult so also the greatnesse of the worke hinders us that we are not able to compasse it by all the means we doe enjoy Now the greatnesse of the worke of faith will discover it selfe in three particulars First because there must be severall hinderances removed before there can be any room for faith and these hinder the power of Satan that takes possession of the soule naturally and the supreme soveraignty of sin it carries the whole man according to the lusts thereof and the soule must bee brought from under both these before it can be brought to Jesus
of a Christian most easie if faith makes the life of a Christian so easie then the soule must needs bee contented but the nature of faith is this to cause the soule to rest upon God and his promise and therefore it makes the life easie Secondly it furnisheth the soule with all necessaries and therefore it gives the soule full content First of the former the life of the beleever is the life that hath most ease with it and brings most delight with it there is no life under heaven more free from tediousnesse and hath more ease and liberty than a Christian course let a mans condition bee what it will bee faith makes a mans life most easie I use to compare the conditions of them that want faith to the cart that is from his wheeles they draw heavily and they are in great extremitie and they tug and toile but it will not be drawne with any ease or good successe so unfaithfull soules sinck in their sorrowes upon every occasion and their lives are tedious and wearisome but faith sets the cart upon the wheeles and carries all away easily and comfortably you must know thus much it is the hardest matter in the world to get faith when we want it but it is the most easiest life in all the world and hath the most delight in all the world if wee have but skill to use it wisely when we have it and it gives most ease and quiet to a man in all his conversation and this faith doth two wayes First because faith hath a skill and a kinde of slight to put over all cares to another that whereas the unfaithfull heart beares all the cares in himselfe and so he sinckes under them this is the cunning of faith to put over all to another wee take up the crosse but faith hurls all the care on Christ as Matth. 11.29 Take my yoke upon you and you shall finde rest to your soules faith makes a man rest and goe on easily in a Christian course and all his troubles are removed and therefore he may goe on easily in a Christian course all his troubles are removed therefore he may goe on with ease whereas the unfaithfull heart is as Saint Iames speakes Chap. 1. 15. Like a wave of the sea tossed to and fro and Esa 57.20 There is no peace to the wicked but they are as a raging sea which cannot rest faith sets us to the worke but it layes all the weight of the worke upon another it is an easie matter to lye under the burthen when another beares all the weight of it this is the difference betweene a faithfull soule and a man that lives by his wits and shifts looke as it is with two ferry men the one of them hals his boat about the shoare and cannot get off but tugs and puls and never puts her forth to the tide but the other puts his boat upon the streame and sets up his saile and then hee may sit still in his boat the winde will carry him whither he is to goe Just thus it is with a faithfull soule and an unbeleever all the care of the faithfull soule is to put himselfe upon the streame of Gods providence and to set up the saile of faith and to take the gale of Gods mercie and providence and so he goes on cheerfully because it is not he that carries him but the Lord Jesus Christ whereas every unfaithfull soule tugs and puls at the businesse like the ferryman with his boat upon the shoare and can finde neither ease nor cheare nor successe because hee thinkes by his owne wits and power to doe what he would but faith will keepe a man upon the streame of Gods providence and labours for the blessing of God to carrie him along and so he rests himselfe upon the free grace of God this makes the life of faith marvellous easie and free from trouble and makes the soule goe on wonderfull cheerfully though the childe were naked yet if the father would buy cloth and see the garment fitted for him hee only to take it and put it on were not this easie and though the childe were even hungerstarved yet if the father would provide meat and drinke and set it before him hee only to eat it were not this easie when the Lord had made a marriage for his Sonne Luke 14. the text saith He hath killed his fatlings and drawne out his wines all things are ready come therefore to the marriage this is all that God lookes for at our hands all the dainties of life and salvation peace pardon power against corruption whatsoever we can want they are all prepared onely come unto the marriage take this mercie and feed upon these precious comforts that the Lord Jesus Christ offereth unto us if you want grace and if you want wisdome and power and holinesse and patience you may goe to Jesus Christ and take it it is bought and paid for already onely take it and put it on is not this an easie life what would you have brethren nay yet more if more may be added all that the Lord requires in this case is in a manner to stand still and see what the Lord will doe for him as in the 2 Chron. 20.15 to the 20. when Iehoshaphat was in a great straight and knew not what to doe the Lord saith to him The battle is not yours but Gods stand ye still and see the salvation of God it is easie conquering when a man may stand still and overcome by looking on the adversaries then in the 19. verse the Levites the Sonnes of the Kohathites fell to singing and to praising of God when as yet they had not strucke one stroke in the battle but the truth is they had the victorie by faith they beleeved the Prophets of God the Prophets had spoken it and therefore the King did beleeve it that it should be done and it was not only so in that extraordinary case of his wherein the power and life of faith was expressed but it is that which appertaines to all the Saints of God in their spirituall combats and what God did for the King in that case the same hee doth for all the Saints therefore Rom. 8.38 The beleevers are more than conquerers and why so there is no man can conquer before hee come into the field and contend with his enemies but wee overcome before wee fight how through him that loved us if wee looke upon the Lord Jesus Christ and keepe our hearts by a holy bent to the promises of life and salvation we shall overcome our enemies this is the first ground Secondly faith makes the life easie this way because it sweetens all our afflictions even those that are most hard and full of tediousnesse and withall faith apprehends all troubles and afflictions and faith apprehends the faithfulnesse of God ordering all for his good and that 's the reason why all troubles are digested comfortably without any harshnesse at all
looke at Hâ—â—â—â— and Mordecai Haman had the Kings favour and all his desires granted him and the postes were dispatched and yet he was more troubled in plotâ—ing this evill against the Jewes than Mordecai was in bearing it because faith made the life of Mordecai easie and comfortable and therefore â—e saith Salvation will come I see not the way â—or I know not the meanes how it should be but â—alvation will come therefore David in the 119. â—salme 75. verse saith I know that all thy judgeâ—ents are just and that thou of very faithfulnesse hast â—fflicted mee hee drunke nothing but mercy in â—hat bitter cup which God had tempered for â—im when the patient takes bitter pills if they â—ee well sugered they goe downe the easier and â—he bitternesse never troubles him so it is with â—aith it takes away the harshnesse of all inconveâ—iences which are bitter pills in themselves but â—hey are sweetned and sugered over by the â—aithfulnesse of God for the good of the soule â—nd therefore it goes on cheerfully so the issue of the point is this if the burthen of the worke â—e laid upon another and if all cares be put over â—o another and if all the harshnesse of all troubles â—e taken away by faith then faith must needs make the life of a Christian easie and comforâ—able The second thing wherein the excellencie and â—enefit of faith appeares is this it fils the soule of a beleever with full contentment and in truth â—ontentment commeth through beleeving for â—ee that doth partake of the mercie of God in Christ he cannot but partake of all the good that 〈◊〉 therein and so hee cannot but bee contented therewith Oh saith one I would faine have contentment in the world then the life of faith brings full content to the heart of a believer so that he shall say I can desire no more 1 Corin. 3.22 23. when the Apostle would still the divisions that were risen amongst the Corinths for every man was not content with what he had but would have even what hee list hee saith All is yours whether Paul or Apollos or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all is yours and will not all content you would you have the world it is yours would you have things present take them would you have things to come expect them they are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Christ hath what God hath and the beleever hath what Christ hath nay sinne and hell and death they are but your servants and hee that hath Christ and all good in a Christ hee hath all working for his good therefore hee that hath a Saviour and all good in him he cannot be discontented Now faith workes a mans full content three wayes First faith supplies all wants Secondly it cures all feares Thirdly it inables a man to all duties and more than these cannot be added nor desired For the first faith supplies all wants faith plucks the soule and hales the heart of a poore Christian away from all those secret bosome distempers as pride and such like which breed any discontentment within a man as all curiositie and all pride and unquietnesse for these rack the soule with a restlesse discontent all the inordinate desires and the like these lusts and corruptions ought not to bee quieted nay it cannot bee for spirituall things will not satisfie a corrupt heart and worldly things cannot quiet it Now faith divorceth the soule and withdrawes the heart from under the power of those boysterous distempers and makes the soule resigne up it selfe to the good will of God and when faith hath done these then in the second place faith makes the soule say the good will of the Lord is better than any thing that hee shall deny or than all the good things that an inordinate sinfull heart can crave faith makes the soule apprehend that whatsoever God doth and whatsoever Gods pleasure is is better to him than whatsoever hee can desire though God deny what he desires if God will have a man poore faith sayes it is better than if he had given him riches and if it bee the will of God to lay shame and disgrace upon a man faith sayes it is better that God lay shame upon me than honours because it is his good will and pleasure so to have it and so the heart is quieted and fully contented and the want is supplied because the will of God is better than to have what wee desire The Patient that trusts to the skill and faithfulnesse of the Physitian is better content to take pills from him than all the best Cordials that can be desired Thirdly faith either obtaines what wee need and desire or else procures a farre better thing than what we desire art thou in trouble and misery faith will either fetch from God what thou needest or else bring that which is better from the hands of God by this means the Lord Christ cures all the discontentment that might creep in upon the hearts of his Disciples Matth. 19.29 There is no man which shall lose father or mother or wife or children or friends for my Names sake but he shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit eternall life whatsoever wee lose for a Christ we shall have a hundred fold recompence for it as if a man for the cause of Christ suffer persecution or imprisonment and loseth peace here thou thou shalt have peace with God and thy soule shall prosper in grace and if friends haply forsake thee and the father is against the sonne and the husband is set against the wife thou shalt have the favour of the Lord God of heaven which is better than the love of all earthly husbands or friends for all these things here below are but as it were the shell but this is the pith and kernell the love of God in Christ and if a man lose liberty for Christ he shall have a thousand times more libertie in the peace of a good conscience and a free heart to serve God and in the 63. Psalme in the beginning of the Psalme David was in the wildernesse of Iudah when Saul had banished him from his house and deprived him of friends and meanes and all yet see how David supplies all in the 3. verse because thy loving kindnesse is better than life my lips shall praise thee and in the 5. verse he saith My soule shall bee filled as with â—â—â—row and fatnesse now marrow and fatnesse is the chiefe of all you know as if he had said Saul hath taken away my meanes but thy loving kindnesse is better than all the world it is that which fully satisfieth me Saul hath taken away my liberty but thy loving kindnesse is better than life it selfe and therefore my soule shall bee fully quieted therein Thus faith brings a supply of all good to the soule In the 73. Psalme 25. and the last verse compare them both together and see
how David makes the conclusion David was almost disquieted and his heart disquieted with the prosperitie of the wicked therefore hee said if this bee so then have I cleansed my hands in innocencie and washed my hands in vaine yet marke how hee recovers himselfe againe saying Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee therefore it is good for me to draw neere to God Let the wicked take the world and their profits and their pleasures yet there is nothing in the world that I desire in comparison of the Lord Jesus Christ and his grace and goodnesse Consider it sadly the wicked have much wealth and friends and means Oh thou beloved faithfull soule thou hast the rich treasury of grace and mercy to inrich thee all this whole world is nothing to that rich treasury of mercy which faith brings in as Salomon saith in Ecclesiastes Money answers all if a man have money he may buy meat to feed him and cloth to apparell him and cover him If money will doe so much what will mercy doe then thou hast not wealth nor friends nor meanes but thou hast mercy from God in Christ and this will answer all it is better than friends and meanes and all therefore if thou hast this let thy heart be contented and know that thou hast a childs part and thy lot is fallen into a marvellous faire ground Secondly as faith takes off all miseries and supplies the want of them so in the second place faith takes away all feares for the time to come alas saith the soule friends and means and wealth are good but they continue not ever What if sicknesse come and if povertie come what shall I doe then and so the heart shakes at the feare of evill Now pray marke how faith cures all feares and takes off the edge of all those inconveniences that may bee brought upon a man as in the 112. Psalme 7. He shall not bee afraid of any evill tidings why for his heart is fixed and he beleeveth in the Lord for although heaven and earth may shake yet God and Christ and the promise will never faile and hee casting his heart there by faith he must needs hold What is it that a man may feare we feare the power and policy and malice of the devill and his wicked instruments now faith outbids these and faith rests upon the precious promises of God in Jesus Christ and faith perswades the heart that they have no power but from God and they cannot use that power further than God gives leave and they cannot have successe further than God goes with them they can goe no further than God gives a Commission Now sayes faith that God which orders the power of all these he is my God hee is the God of Hosts and none of all the armies can either command peace neither can they hinder peace therefore I adde a little more faith levies new forces from heaven against all the sorces of earth are the wicked politique then sayes faith the Lord is much more wise and is able to dash all their enterprises and are the wicked fierce and violent then faith lookes to God where there is more power to defend him than they can have to hurt him doe wee see the wicked maliciously bent and full of spleene to wrong the people of God faith sees mercy and goodnesse in the Lord that is more able to releeve us than all the wicked can bee to hurt us faith sayes if hell gates were open and all the devills were about thy eares they can doe nothing further than God gives them power and gives a Commission to them therefore I may bee quieted because God is more able to keepe me than they are to hurt me Thirdly faith it is that inables a man to all duties for imagine a man had all the power in his owne hands and had no wants present nor feared no wants nor troubles to come if yet hee were not able to doe what God required this would disquiet his heart therefore by faith the Lord inables a man to doe every duty that the Lord commends to him or expects from him It is the ground that Paul contents his heart withall Phil. 4.13 I can doe all things through the power of Christ which strengtheneth me I can bee poore and beare it and I can be rich and yet not surfet of the world I can doe all but how through the power of Christ inabling me therefore famous is that of Abraham Rom. 4.18 God had promised Abraham a childe and yet his body was dead and his wife barren and it was even against nature for him to beget a childe or for her to beare any Now how doth God provide for this Abraham under hope beleeved above hope and in the 21. verse because he was fully perswaded that he that had promised it was able to make it good there was no hope in nature that Abraham should beget a child his body being dead and no hope that she should beare any therefore faith goes to God that was able to quicken them hast thou a barren a dead heart as theirs was and therefore thy soule complaines and thou saist I shall never be able to goe through the worke required I know it is the complaint of many poore soules Oh send faith up to Heaven and beleeve in him that is able to succour you and to quicken you to whatsoever he requires content thy heart in this manner and say when thou findest thy heart dead I am ignorant but the Lord is able to inlighten my blinde minde and I have a dead barren heart but the Lord who is the God of power hee is able to quicken me and to releeve a poore dead blockish sinner Hee beleeved in him saith the Text which calleth things that are not as if they were Abraham is not lively and Sarah is not fruitfull but the Lord can make them so and therefore faith goes to God so thou shalt be wise and have thy heart quickned to whatsoever duty concernes Gods prayse and thy owne comfort so then hee that hath what hee will or can desire or stand in need of and he that hath all his feares removed and is inabled to doe all duties commanded nothing more can bee added to this man therefore why should not hee be contented what would you have you poore beleevers Quest Then the question here growes namely if it be so that faith makes a mans life easie and gives him full contentment in every condition then why is it thus as Gedeon said so if faith thus contents the soule then how comes it to passe that those poore silly creatures are so troubled with discouragements and discontentments and none so cast downe with their owne basenesse and vilenesse as they they hang downe their heads and goe drooping all the day long either saith one I have not faith or else if I have faith then why
is it thus with me Ans I answer the fault is not in faith that it doth not or cannot lend supply and succour to thee but the fault is in thy selfe either in thy carelesnesse and ignorance that knowest not when thou hast faith or else in thy unskilfulnesse that thou dost not imply that faith which thou hast faithfully for thine owne good I speake only of the beleever I goe not about to prove that he which hath not faith can be contented no hee hath a worme in his bosome a conscience which will plague him and torment him for ever Quest But to speake of one that hath faith if it be so that it bringeth such contentment how may a man that hath faith improve it to have this contentment from it Ans For answer hereunto the rules are foure which a man must use to have this contentment whereby he may be carried on in his course and goe on singing to Heaven remember still that I speake of a man that hath faith Rule 1 First labour to gaine some evidence to thy owne soule that thou hast a title to the promise make thy title good It is not enough for a malefactour in prison to have a pardon granted him but he must know that the pardon is granted before he can bee contented therewith haply the King hath granted it and the Prince hath begd it but the malefactour is not contented untill hee know it It is not enough that a poore begger hath a friend or a rich unkle that will doe much for him or that he hath setled a great estate upon him and his heires after him but hee must know it before he can be contented with it it may be he is not neere by a hundred miles and he is troubled with misery and poverty because hee knowes not of it just so it is with a faithfull soule there is never a poore beleever but hee is rich in faith though hee live in a smoaky cottage and lives meanly and goes barely yet all these revenues of faith are his Heaven and Earth and all is thine thou poore beleever But what is all this to the matter if thou hast no evidence that all this iâ— thine this is the fault why poore Christians goe drooping and are overburthened with their sins and their miseries because they see not their title to mercie nor their evidence of Gods love in 2 King 6.16 17. when Elisha was beset with an armie of his enemies the servant of the Prophet said good Master what shall we doe they are many and wee are few they are armed and wee are naked then said the Prophet Lord open his eyes that he may see and God did it and then hee saw those hils full of fierie charets and then hee saw that there were more with them than were against them and then hee was quiet now the armies and the chariots were there before but hee saw them not and therefore he could not be quieted so it is with every faithfull soule the Lord hath caused his Angels to pitch their tents about the elect wee have God on our side and Christ and the Angels but wee see not our privileges and the interest that wee have in the mercie and goodnesse of the Lord we crie out as he did good Master what shall we doe so many sinnes and so many corruptions how shall we be succoured the Lord open our eyes that we may see the free riches of his grace and the fulnesse of his mercie this is all ours that we may see his love to us and his Angels waiting upon us and his blessing going with us this would quiet our hearts I will not now adde how you may doe this and how you may make your evidence cleere that you have a title to mercie this were to multiply a division upon a division only judge your estate by the word and take one evidence from the word as good as ten thousand this is the fault of people it may bee some evidence fits them marvellous well but because they have not all they will have none at all in truth but throw away all and therefore I say judge your estates by the word and not by carnall reason and if you have but one promise for you you have all in truth though all be not so fully and cleerly perceived this is the first rule Rule 2 Secondly labour to set a high prize and a wonderfull great account of the precious promises of the Lord thus estated upon thee for thy good and make account of the least promise of grace above a thousand worlds looke what account you make of the sufficiencie of a thing so much content you have in that thing whose sufficiencie you see and doe esteeme of now because the promises of God and the riches of Gods love in Christ are most worthy of our love and most sufficient for us let us therefore be contented with them above all and then wee shall bee contented though wee want all Luke 12.32 when the Disciples were in great trouble and expected more and further miserie after the death of Christ the Lord Christ saith to them Feare not little flocke it is your fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome if you finde hand measures and feare troubles and expect persecutions on every side yet feare ye not you shall have a kingdome and that will carry you through all occasions are you imprisoned and persecuted and disquieted feare not you shall have a kingdome and then you shall bee comforted and quieted for ever you little ones that are poore and meane in the world and you lye as stepping stones for every base wretch to tread on you are persecuted and despised and scorned but feare not you shall have a kingdome the want of this is the cause of all that discontentment that is in the hearts of Gods owne people which are beloved of him and respected by him Take a poore man in misery his children crie for meat and the mother saith goe to bed poore babes you shall have meat when the Lord sends it brethren this is hard I confesse but now if a friend should come and give him two hundred pounds a yeare for ever this would make him goe away contented because this would provide for him and his now I propound a promise to this man the Lord hath said he will never faile thee nor forsake thee what is this worth of your money one man offers him two hundred pounds a yeare and I offer him a promise now couldst thou thou poore miserable creature bee content to take this two hundred pounds a yeare and leave the promise and bee content that the Lord should not pardon nor comfort nor save thee I presume thou wouldst not doe thus now will a thousand pounds content thee and will not the promise the reason is thou prisest the money because it is temporall and thou seest it and thou prisest not the promise because it is spirituall and thou seest
Gods love and quarrelling with himselfe and his owne comfort and the fault was here hee onely tooke a snatch and away but remember this the same promise that you heard in the publike keepe it and be ever sipping of it I confesse saith he my heart was cheered and when I heard such a Minister preach and such a Christian pray I was exceedingly comforted and had sweet assurance of Gods love but now all is gone the fault is your owne for if you would cleave to the promise it would doe you as much good in the private as in the publike it would comfort you at one time as well as at another many times it thus befals us Ministers when we preach of consolation and when wee pray and conferre wee thinke that wee are beyond all trouble but by and by we are full of feares and troubles and sorrowes because wee take not full contentment in the promise wee drinke not a deepe draught of it therefore take heed of these two things whereby poore Christians are marvellously couzened First take heed of attending to the parlies of temptations and of making a pursuit of every temptation of the Devill if you will listen to his chat he will make you forget all your comfort for the Devill casts in a bone of dissention and we snarle at it and parly with him about it and so lose the comfort of the promise therefore talke not with Satan at all but hold your hearts to the truth of the promise that is revealed to be yours Secondly be not alwayes quarrelling and cavilling with carnall reason but when you have any evidence keepe it and let it not be taken out of your hands for it is certaine that there are many poore Christians that cannot but confesse that they have faith and are wonderfully comforted but when they are gone from the Minister their old carnall reason comes againe and they attend not to the promise but to their carnall reason and from hence the devill gets marvellous ground against a poore soule therefore when you have the promise cleared from the Word heare nothing from Satan against that but from the Scripture but throw away all cursed carnall suggestions hold you close to the truth and if the devill can say any thing against the truth so t is if not then hold to it Now is it so that faith makes the life and soule of a beleever full of comfort and contentment then you faithfull soules take heed of ever repining and murmuring against the Lord and when you finde these distempers rising in your hearts still them and suffer not your hearts to murmure against God nor to bee discontented with his good providence Oh saith one I have no sense nor feeling of his love nor I cannot doe this nor that and would you have a man contented in this condition how now soule why did God never give thee any grace nor stir up thy heart to beleeve yes t is true I have a little faith if it were not for that what should I doe it is all I have I have nothing but that Oh for shame hold your peace nothing but that is it all come to nothing is Christ and Grace and Heaven and mercy and all come to but a so much hath God given thee faith and wilt thou not bee content with it seeme the consolations of God small unto thee is it nothing to thee that Christ and Heaven is thine is it nothing that God hath given you his Sonne and that Christ hath shed his heart-bloud for you and made you able to rest upon him is all this nothing It is as much as if a poore man had a thousand pounds given him and hee were angry with his friend for his kindnesse Oh gâ—e your wayes cheered and comforted and murmure no more but say as good Iacob did I have not this nor that but I have a Ioseph in Egypt my sonne iâ— alive I will goe and see him ere I die He is better to me than friends and means and all so goe your way and take heed how you offend the riches of Gods free grace nothing but a heart to beleeve Oh for shame bite thy tongue when it saith so and say Lord I have not friends nor means nor this nor that but I have a heart to beleeve and to rest upon thee Lord cause mee to rest upon thee more and more it is enough that I have a beleeving heart though I never see a good day besides It is enough that I have seene Christ my Saviour and my Redeemer c. It is a mâ—rvellous folly and shame and trouble we dishonour God and Christ and all and make the wicked peoplâ— say that swearers and drunkards goe on merily laughing and rejoycing and these Christians they goe drooping If this bee grace saith one God blesse me from it there is a strugling a striving to get a little grace assurance and power against corruption and yet for ought I see they have no more comfort than I have Oh walke humbly yet cheerfully and comfortably hast thou any wants faith will supply them hast thou any feare of trouble for the time to come faith will cure all feares art thou weake and unable to doe this or that duty faith will inable thee to every duty required doe but beleeve and rest upon Christ and grace and strength will come and thou shalt bee able to doe all things through Christ that strengthens thee Oh saith one this is a lesson for a Paul and for the great standers the Cedars in grace I answer Paul doth not say hee did it of himselfe but by the power and grace of Christ strengthning him and Christ hath as much strength and grace for thee as hee had for Paul if thou beleeve in him and rest in him therefore goe thou thy way and let us all be comforted thou and I and every poore Saint of God may doe well through the grace of Christ that strengthens us Thus much of the fourth use Vse 5 Hence in the next place wee conclude that as the difficulty is great in getting faith so the benefit of it when it is gotten is every way as great therefore it is a ground of admirable comfort to all the servants of God that through his mercy have received this grace at his Majesties hand they ought to be wonderfully comforted because they have it and so to bee thankfull to him that hath wrought it you see the difficulty of faith and the benefit of it Now hath the Lord wrought this in thy soule then goe thy way comforted for what thou hast and be thankfull to him who hath given it thee The Lord gives one man riches and another man advancements and another hath great parts and another large revenues thou seest all these and thy teeth begin to water at them and thy heart begins to bubble and repine at this and thou saist the Lord hath given riches to this man and honours to that
woman that marries a man for better for worse with all wants and faults and miseries so the Lord Jesus Chiist doth with us he chuseth us with all our miseries and disgraces a poore meane Christian a man of no parts nor place yea howsoever you bee Christ chuseth you with all these and he loves you never the worse for these and if thou chuse Christ aright thou wilt not say as the Jewes Come downe from the crosse and wee will beleeve in thee thou must not thinke to have a Christ and no troubles nor disgraces with him no thou shalt never have a Christ upon these tearmes but thou must chuse Christ wholly and all that comes with him this cuts the throats of many that doe not chuse Christ aright but their honours and ease this is no beleeving but a meer delusion in Heb. 11.25.26 when Moses was there to make his choyce whether hee would bee the son of Pharaohs daughter and have honours and delights in the Court or bee a persecuted Saint of God the text saith Hee chose rather to suffer adversitie with the people of God than to bee called the sonne of Pharaohs daughter hee chose them out of judgement and accounted the reproaches of Christ greater honours than to be so and so He did not chuse an honoured and an advanced Christ and an enriched Christ but he chose afflictions and the like nay hee accounted them greater honours than all the honours of Egypt so wilt thou doe if thy faith be sound and right Secondly as thou wilt chuse all Christ and whatsoever comes with Christ so there must bee nothing on thy part that must hinder the match but thou must forsake it and cast it away and let it rather be taken from thee than thou to be takes from thy Saviour As a man will not chuse his lusts if he were an adulterer before because they will hinder him from receiving the chastity of a Saviour Therefore he that will bestow himselfe upon a Saviour he cannot but refuse that adulterous course which would hinder him from matching with a Christ and the ambitious man will not now chuse his honours but hee will cast away his pride and ambition and advancement because these will hinder him from receiving the humility of a Saviour As a woman will be content to take her husband for better for worse so also she must be content to cast away whatsoever may hinder her from him and shee will forsake friends or honours or any thing that may hinder her from her best beloved so if thou wilt chuse Christ wholly as thou must take a Christ and all that comes with him so thou must cast away whatsoever may hinder thee from receiving him as Ruth said to Naomy Ruth 1.16 Intreat mee nor to leave thee or to returne from following thee for where thou goest I will goe where thou lodgest I will lodge thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God so saith the soule If lust and pleasure or the world or any darling delight come and perswade thee to set up thy selfe in stead of Christ the soule saith I have chosen a Christ and therefore intreat mee not to forsake the humility and chastity and meeknesse of Christ for I will live and die with him hee shall bee my Saviour and Lord for ever The Saints of God first gave away themselves to God and then to the Apostles so faith chuseth all a Christ and bestowes it selfe upon a Christ to be ruled by him and to enjoy whatsoever he hath and to imbrace whatsoever comes with him and to remove whatsoever may hinder the soule from him Triall 3 Thirdly justifying faith beares it selfe upon the promise in all its extremities and is satisfied with it for you know it is called resting as if hee had said here will I rest for ever Oh this grace and mercy I will goe no further it is good to be here to be so holy and so glorious and so sanctified and justified and so I confesse that pride and unbeleefe will have his ranges and sharke up and downe for some comfort and contentment in the world and haply by base means but wheresoever saving faith is when it feels these it opposeth them and breakes through them to come to the promise and saith now I see what you doe rest is not in the world nor in profits nor in honours nor parts nor abilities nor any outward thing but in the promise and the promise is the portion of the soule and that by which it lives and the stock of commoditie which the soule trades withall as a mans trades and his lands are his livings though haply a friend may give him something else sometimes yet hee lives by his owne means So the faithfull soule will take what God gives but it lives by the promise and by the loving kindnesse of the Lord that is the maine life and maintenance of the soule as it is with a woman now married to a man you would account it a strange thing if shee should goe away to another womans husband to aske for her releefe this is an adulterous wretch but the wife goes to her husband and if there be any provision to be made shee goes to her husband to provide it and if any debts be to bee paid her husband must pay them and hee must pay all and doe all she relies her selfe upon her husband So when the heart pretends great matters that it loves Christ and yet will have his backdoores and hee must live by his wits and his shifts this is an adulterous heart It is rather of a harlot to his lusts than of a holy chaste man that is espoused to Christ so it is with a faithfull soule if he hath any wants Christ shall heare of him and if any trouble or distresse faith sends to her husband the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven and layes all the weight upon him if any succour comes in by the way the soule takes it thankfully from God and in the meane time he lives by the promise as in the 1 Sam. 30.6 when Zicklag was burnt the wives and children taken captives the people much grieved and David much distressed yet the text saith that David comforted his heart in God there was faith indeed so the wife haply her father or her mother dies yet shee comforts her selfe in her husband so the soule saith the Lord is better than all outward comforts and all honours and all friends and means under heaven in a word these two passages will bee of great use First if in the want of all these thy soule can be satisfied with a Saviour and with the promise in him And secondly if in the presence of all thy soule stands onely to and rests it selfe upon a Saviour it is an undoubted argument that thy faith is right I doe not deny but that there are pranks and fetches of flesh and flesh will have his bouts yet take away all from a
that speech Iohn 16.9 it is the cause why our Saviour Christ doth challenge that sin where hee saith I will send the Comforter to the earth and when he is come he shall convince the world of sinne because they beleeved not on him a Minister may haply convince a man of his drunkennesse and the Magistrat may convince him of his swearing but the Lord from heaven by that almightie power of his must set downe the heart and convince it of this sinne or else a man cannot see that he beleeves not nay let a man goe from pole to pole and aske all the drunkards and all the vile rakeshames and tell them thus You are a drunkard a swearer and the like they say I confesse it is true it is my infirmitie and I confesse it but tell them of unbeleefe and they will not acknowledge that but this fine spun wickednesse and this spirituall wickednesse of the soule is a meere turning off from God and so from Christ and the truth and the promise and therefore not easily discerned Reason 2 Secondly as it is hard to see the want of this grace of faith so it is marvellous difficult to see the use and need and benefit and helpe that will come from this grace nay wee are more ready to bee perswaded of the need and benefit of any grace naturally than of this grace of faith as an ignorant man and a weake man when he is asked a question and a point of dispute hee saith Oh that I had learning and were able to dispute the reason is because hee is sensible of his want of knowledge in that kinde and when a poore Christian comes to joyne in prayer and in conference with others it may be his abilities are small and when he heares such a man pray so holily and able to give such wholesome counsell hee saith Oh that I had that gift in prayer and those parts and abilities what a happy man should I be he is sensible that hee wants the power of prayer and abilities to conferre and all this while he saith not a word of his unbeleefe he complains not of that the reason is because all those abilities that carrie a man to his duty towards men we are more sensible of the want of them because that our credit and respect lies upon them because a man thinkes if he want these it is a discredit and hee shall want that respect that he might have therefore because these carry a man to his duty towards man and make for our credit wee are sensible of the need and use of them but faith in the next worke of it is to close with God and to fasten upon him and to rely upon the precious promises all these are beyond the reach of the world â—nd unbeleefe is the withdrawing of it selfe from God and Christ now because unbeleefe doth not so much hinder us in our duties towards man and because faith I meane in the next worke of it for faith doth fit us for duties and the like but because faith in the next worke of it doth not so much furnish us with abilities to carry us outwardly towards man and also because unbeleefe hinders us not in the same therefore wee are not sensible of the need and use of faith nor of the hurt and the danger of the other Reason 3 Thirdly hence it followes undeniably that as a poore sinner is hardly brought to see the want of faith and sees lesse need of faith than of any other grace because hee hath lesse need of it outwardly in the next worke of it therefore a Christian bestowes least care and time about faith and hath small and feeble desires after it and little care to get it but it is plainly proved before that a Christian is hardly convinced that hee wants faith and seeth lesse need of faith naturally than of any other grace and therefore hee hath lesse care to get it for that which a man seeth but little need and use of that he hath least care to get this I desire to make use of and so I desire my fellow brethren and Ministers this is the common course of the world take a sinner whose eyes God hath opened and revealed his sinnes and corruptions to him and let him see his wrath from heaven against him and drives a man to a stand so that hee saith if this be so then I am a damned man and so he is even staggering now in this extremitie marke the behaviour of this poore soule hee will doe any thing but beleeve and seeke for any thing but for faith hee will confesse and crie out of his sinne and resolve amendment and the drunkard loathâ— his old company and the adulterer will not goe after his lusts any more and the covetous mâ—â— in the horrour of conscience will rid his hands of all his ilâ— gotten goods and send for one man and call for another and make restitution and all this while not one word of faith nor of going our of himselfe to a Christ for mercie and succour for him â—ay those that have beene desperat persecutours of God and of his much and grace upon their death-beds they will turne to God and love his people and now those will pray which formerly have scorned prayer and they will doe this and that and yet all this while not one word of this precious faith the reason issues from the â—wo former things because they are not convinâ—ed that they want faith and doe not see the â—eed and use of faith and therefore doe not desire nor looke after it so gather up all and the summe is this if all men by nature are marvellous â—ardly convinced that they want faith and see the â—â—rtle and if all men bestow least care how to get his faith then the case is cleare and it is no marâ—ell though the most men want faith now wee have laid the inditement and it is marvellous â—aire you see and you cannot but confesse it for 〈◊〉 is against reason to deny it as some stuâ—dy hyâ—ocrites doe that will beleeve nothing but what â—hey list and yet they will be beleevers too Now let us come to plead the inditment â—ow mee thinkes every mans heart should tremble within him and â—â—e thinkes your very countenances doe suggest what your hearts doe desire let every man cast his head up and downe and paâ—ly wiâ—â— himselfe in this manner and saâ— Good Lord is it so that many families in the kingdome are unbeleevers and many people in the bosome of the Church want faith then why not my family too if most parents want faith thâ—â— why not my parents too and if many children want faith then why not my children too and if many soules want faith then why not my soule too nay it is ten to one that many that heare the word of God this day and many that liveâ—â— the bosome of the Church want faith mee thinkes I heare some say and am not
I an unfaithfull man yet and doe not I and my wife and my family want faith yet Oh that I could know who they are in particular that want faith thâ—â— we might know what to hold our selves to noâ— I will referre them to these foure sorts The first is the ignorant person The second is the carnall Gospeller The third is the meere civilized or the judicioâ—â— professour and a man that hath a great reach for judgement and parts and haply able to put a Minister to a set and yet hath nothing in thâ— world in him touching the power of faith Fourthly the counterfeit that hath made a viâ—zard of faith and hath his alcumie faith as I tolâ— you the Alcumists have that skill to make alcâ—â—mie silver and so cunningly that it will beâ—â— touch but yet it is not true because it will 〈◊〉 heare the fire and the hammer so there is a great deale of copper faith in England not that I speake against the Doctrine of faith of the Church of England for we are to blesse God that hath given the King a heart to maintaine it but I speake of that copper and counterfeit faith which many have framed to themselves which is not good for if trouble and dayes of persecution should come they would forsake God and Christ and the Gospell and all Sort. 1 Now for the ignorant person the ignorant man is an unfaithfull man I doe not meane a weake and a feeble Christian and one that hath smaller and meaner parts than others have for we all know but in part even the best of Gods people and the choisest of Gods Ministers they know but in part but I meane such as are grosly and carelesly and wilfully ignorant as we are pestered with them and I doubt not but my fellow-brethren finde much to doe with them in other places they are content to goe up and downe as the horse in the mill and yet know nothing aske them what is Gods name and what it is to hallow it and what is to be understood by the comming of Gods kingdome they know nothing at all and they are wilfully ignorant and doe not labour to get knowledge neither doe they mourne for the want of it this grosse ignorance is thus much they will not suffer other men to helpe them nor they are not able nor willing to helpe themselves many come to our Sermons it is little they understand but it is lesse they remember and if a Minister come home to their families and catecâ—â—â— them Oh say they we are past children wee are not schoole-boyes ever you cannot helpe your selves nor you will not suffer us to helpe you you are thus ignorant and this ignorance faith cannot stand together be not it is that the promises of God and Christ and grace as these substantiall truths of salvation and the truths of the Gospell they are as a sealed letter to them take away the name of Christ and the name of sinne and the name of faith and the truths that are under these names and the most ignorant creature understands them not it is almost impossible to thinke that men should be so desperatly ignorant you that are masters of families when you come home catechize your families and see whether they are thus or no this may bee where faith is not yet faith cannot be where saving knowledge is not in some measure I meane where the knowledge of spirituall truths is not which may reveale to the soule the way of grace and the meanes how to get it I take it that these three things must beeâ— some measure apprehended of every man that hath any faith First he must have a through knowledge of 〈◊〉 sinne and of the want of faith and of Christ and all Secondly he must have the knowledge of the excellencie and goodnesse of a Christ which hee wants and he must know the Lord Jesus Christ and the good things in the Lord Jesus Christ which the soule now informed of sinne and feeling himselfe lost he findes a supply there Againe he must be thorowly informed in the way how he may come to Christ All these three must be and are learned of every faithfull soule that ever did or ever shall beleeve for that which a man sees not nor knowes not of he can never beleeve and when a man knowes not the excellency and goodnesse of Christ he will not rely his whole life and salvation upon him specially if he be wise and judicious and faiâ—h is a judicious grace They that know thy Name will trust in thee saith David and therefore those that know not Gods Name cannot trust in him and therefore see what Christ saith â—o the woman of Samaria Iohn 4.10 A silly woman she was and therefore see what our Saviour saith to her thou poore silly creature that ignorance of thine is the cause of thy pride for hadst thou knowne the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee give me drinke thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee water of life had she knowne this shee would have asked it it is such a knowledge as will bring in faith You that are ignorant be humbled for this great sinne of yours which doth barre out faith you that know not Christ though you meet him Looke as it is with men in darknesse Exodus 10.23 When the Lord sent that plague of darknesse upon the land of Egypt the Egyptians saw not one another neither did any man remove from his place for three dayes there was no passage all that while so it is with an ignorant man that sits in Egyptian darknesse hee seâ—s not the way nor he cannot finde it nor hee hath no power to goe on in it he sits still and yonder is Christ and grace but he cannot stirre one foot for hee is fastned to his sinne and riveted to his corruptions by reason of his blindnesse See what the Apostle saith Ephes 4.18 They were ignorant of the life of God from all that goodnesse and holinesse that is in God for that is Gods life his mercy goodnesse wisedome holinesse c. but how came they so through the ignorance that is in them you that know how ignorant your husbands are at home and how ignorant your children are goe home and mourne for your selves and them and say wee are strangers from God there is a great deale of mercy and grace in Christ but wee are all strangers to it why because we are carnally ignorant wee are a thousand miles off from him and wee shall never have any part in him continuing thus you that are thus be humbled and ashamed of it give no rest to your soules before the Lord awaken you and let you see the want of this blessed grace and make you labour to get it an ignorant heart is a wicked heart and if you be ignorant it is certain you have no faith for except you will deny the Word of God you
and never rest till you get this blessed grace of faith that you may bee happy by it for ever Sort. 3 The third sort which we will meddle withall and discover that have no part in this saving faith are the meere civilized and seemingly judicious professors such as beare up themselves marvellous comfortably upon their owne wisedome and judgement howsoever these have a name yet it is but a name and no more and for this man that we may discover him and that he may know himselfe we will doe it in three things First I will shew him in his fashion Secondly wherein his falsenesse doth appeare and wherein he falls short Thirdly wherein hee discovers himselfe to fall short First he is a man that will deale very honestly and fairely betweene man and man hee is not scandalous in his practices hee is a man of good parts and deepe understanding and deepe reach if you will beleeve him and he exceeds the most nay even the best in his private paines he is very studious and reads much and can remember well and can expresse himselfe marvellous well and so will carry all before him nay this man is so lifted up in his imagination that hee could almost undertake to teach Ministers how to preach if any man out of weaknesse would condescend to him but if you follow him home to his family there he prayes but once a weeke and if misery and sorrow and affliction come then haply hee can pray twice unlesse some carnall base friend come into his family which haply would scorne him and his profession then he prayes once and scarcely that because hee would not offend his friend and hence it is that poore people make this man an oracle and this mans words and judgement and determinations they are of great weight and if a poore soule which can dive deeply into his owne heart comes and questions his faith and to make some doubt of his graces all is in an uproare presently what say they such a man have no faith the Lord be mercifull to us then if a man of such judgement and parts hath no faith then what shall become of us this mans words cast the ballance any way and his words are of great weight amongst the vulgar sort of people and hence it is that the poore ignorant creatures beare up themselves upon this mans judgement and say they for a man to pray twice a day it is not required and it is more than is needfull and if a man have a minde to stay at home may hee not read the Word in his owne house and get as much good by it as by going to Church wiser than wee thinke so and if it were not so doe you thinke such a man would professe it a man of parts and good judgement and many times Gods owne servants out of the sight of their owne weaknesse and the discouragements of their owne heart and when they see themselves so farre outbidden by their parts then they have such a one in a high account and preferre him above themselves by many degrees now see the guise of this man hence it is that this man falls in love with himselfe and is lifted up into a fooles paradise and he begins to admire at himselfe and for any matter of faith hee doth not question it what a man of such wisedome and such understanding what not he faith he makes no question hee cannot misse of faith and so he goes away comfortably and contentedly thus you see the faith of this man Secondly wee come to view and to see where he falls short now you see him Oh that the Lord would make him see himselfe and brethren observe thus much few of these men are ever brought home by the powerfull preaching of the Gospell and the reason is because their owne wisedome is beyond the ministery of the Word and they say such a Minister is a good Scholer but had hee that wisedome and those parts and the like thus they reare up bulwarkes against the Word of truth that it sinkes not into their hearts therefore to make this man knowne to himselfe observe thus much in the generall the basenesse of this mans faith for it is no better but that he is deluded that he cannot see it it discovers it selfe thus it is bred in his bookes and in his judgement and goes no further and it is far from saving faith therefore that the inditement may lie cleare and that we may outbid him in his booke learning and all know thus much the maine ground of this mans mistake may be discovered thus there are two things in the nature of faith First illumination Secondly application as wee tearme it illumination not onely is when a man hath the common rumours and intimations of the truths of God in the Gospell and knowes the reason of the texts and the meaning of the scriptures this the reprobate may have and this he hath but there is also an operation of the Spirit upon the affections and then there comes an application wherein the soule goes out to the promise and takes that for his good which is thereunto appointed now observe this judicious man hee hath a generall apprehension of the truths of the Gospell but as for that speciall working upon the will and to enter in upon the promises of God and to have the sap and sweet of these and to goe out to Christ and to take all from Christ he is a stranger to this and it goes beyond all his booke learning and hence it is that when the Minister comes to handle these points he saith the Minister was something confused to day and the reason why he faith so it is because hee did not understand them these men are ignorant in the spirituall turnings of the heart Iohn 3.8 9. when Christ came to teach Nicodemus he was at a losse and thought that Christ spoke without booke therefore Christ reads the lecture againe and saith I speake of the spirituall worke that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit Oh saith he how can these things be he could not gainsay Christ and yet because hee could not understand it therefore hee would not yeeld so it is with this man it befalls this man as it is with some wise Lawyer hee reads over a mans writings and the leases and hee rehearseth the tenour upon which the lands are holden and what right the man hath to them hee layes open all the questions of the law and he reads his name in the will and yet he never reads his owne name there nor any right that he hath to them Just so it is with this judicious professor he is able to dispute of the maine points of the Gospell and shewes that others have right to them and he reads the writings but never comes to partake of them himselfe as it was with the wise men that came to inquire for Christ
Matth. 2.1 2. verses the Scribes and Pharisees could tell you where Christ was to bee borne and bid the wise men goe to Bethlem but they would not goe themselves so these men have wisedome enough to say here is the way to Heaven but their owne hearts are not humbled nor framed to walke in that way and to goe home to Christ nor to receive mercy from him Know therefore you that are weake that beleeving carries two things with it in the phrase of Scripture First the assent of a mans judgement to the truth when a man is so farre convinced that hee sits downe and acknowledgeth that whatsoever the Word hath revealed his judgement saith it is all true and yeelds fully with the whole streame of his minde this is that which the Scripture sometimes calls beleeving and it is nothing but the bare assent to the truth saying it is so Secondly when the will embraceth that good in the promise formerly revealed when the will of a man claimes Gods Statutes and casts his heart and hope upon the goodnesse of the promise Now the judicious professour hath faith in the first sense hee assents to all the truths of the Scriptures and acknowledgeth that they are true the devills in hell have this faith too and all that have no more than this faith shall goe to the devill too as Iames 2.19 in the 14. verse the Apostle saith if a man say hee hath faith and hath not workes will that profit him and in the 19. verse thou beleevest there is one God thou dost well the devils also beleeve and tremble that is they assent to all the truths of Scripture that God reveals and this is the beleeving of this great man which wee have discovered in his fashion when a man can dive deepe into the Scriptures and understand all the texts and unty every knot and dispute all questions and is able to judge of the reasons of them is this thy faith the devill himselfe will outbid this faith If cunning and judgement and knowledge be thy faith the devils have this faith they know the Lord Jesus Christ is the Sonne of the most high God they know that the mercy of the Lord Christ is great and that they shall never taste of it they know that the Lord Jesus shall bee the Judge of all the world and that hee shall condemne them they assent to it and tremble at it Marke 5.8 when our Saviour came amongst the devils they said We know thee who thou art even the holy one of God and Acts 16.17 there was a Devill in a woman which was a Diviner and a Witch and she said These men are the servants of the living God which shew unto us the way of salvation it was the Devill in the woman therefore the Apostle bad him goe out of her because he hindered their worke I wish that the Devils in hell might not rise up in judgement against many of our unbeleevers which will not yeeld to the truth of God this is the bottome which beares up that kinde of boldnesse which many carnall creatures have upon their death-beds which never had the power of grace in their soules Come to a carnall man that knowes nothing savingly and sanctifyingly and he will say I beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart I have admired at it and sought to know the bottome of it and it is this they thinke this is beleeving to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is come into the world and that they are not infidels they assent unto the truth and yeeld unto it in their judgements they thinke this is faith and that it is sufficient too Oh you poore creatures that have your friends or parents or husbands that thus lay hold upon Christ and are perswaded that this is faith understand what the meaning is they only assent to the truth but never make application to their owne soules What 's that to thee that thou knowest the way to life and salvation and never walkest in it and what 's that to thee to heare that the Lord Christ came to save sinners and to know that there is mercie enough in him and yet never partake of it Thirdly I come to the evidences which make it cleare to us that he hath no more than this and those evidences are two First you shall finde this man past feare and almost carelesse but he is without doubt of the difficultie either of getting or maintaining his faith hee never comes to question whether hee hath faith or no and he accounts them silly Christians that are so daily troubled and disquieted for their estates whereas he carries the matter very confidently and scarcely lookes after it but beares it out with marvellous boldnesse and confidence which in truth is an undoubted argument that this man never knew what this faith was our Saviour saith Strive to enter in at the straight gate for the gate is narrow that leadeth to life and few there are that finde it and so the Apostle 2 Pet. 1.5 Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure yet this man makes it a matter of nothing nay when many seeke and labour and take much paines and never attaine it by reason of their former strength of it as Prov. 1.28 They shall call upon me but I will not answer they shall seeke mee early but they shall not finde mee yet this man thinks to have it with a wet finger that faith which is wrought by the Spirit of God in the soule and is thereby kept it hath daily opposition in the soule so that every godly man that hath faith he must fight against the Devill and all enemies and oppositions yet this man never comes to blowes the Lord Christ found it thus by experience and thus the Apostles and the Saints of God found it yet this man hath found out a shorter cut and an easier way to heaven and he is not ashamed to confesse it and say If a man were exercised in the word and if men had but his skill and were but trained up in his schoole it were not such a hard matter to get faith and so it is true for they may easily get that faith which thou hast Secondly follow this man home and close with him in his private chamber and attend upon him in his other occasions and there he hath no power of godlinesse in his life he hath practice without any pith and a course without any kernell and hee performes superficiall duties without any strength all his duties are as dry as a chip only he carries all out with this he is wise and learned and judicious and this answers all if hee doe omit or neglect duties and doe them carelesly this comforts him that hee is a judicious man it is certaine this man wants that grace which he seemes to have hee that hath so much faith without wavering must needs have his conversation answerable he that hath so much faith in
house to that house to pray and yet never pray in their owne families nor never humble themselves before God as if the performance of a service publikely could abate all the rest in secret It was not for his state to pray privately in his closet but onely amongst others some of these we have heard of and we make no question but there are more of this feather if you know any such either make them revoke these things or else casheere them the servant haply is religious and therefore he is resolved he will not dwell but where he may have liberty to heare and he will indent with his master and mistres that he will have the fellowship and communion of such and such this is all very good and I love such a heart but marke now when they returne home they are idle and unfaithfull and sturdy and they are masters and mistresses and will not bee governed and their plea is this My master is a carnall man my mistres is a carnall woman but if they are carnall the Commandement is spirituall and the duties injoyned are holy and therefore those prayers of thine which maintaine thy sinne will one day be an accusation against thee but will never comfort thy conscience this is not true religion all your setting your selves to sale and all your outside shewes and reformations it is not all worth a rush unlesse there bee the discharge of all those duties that God requires If there were saving faith and if ever thy soule rested upon Jesus Christ hee would inable thee to all duties as well as one and cause thee to make conscience in all as well as in one faith would make thee shew forth the power of godlinesse guiding thee faith would make thee pray in private as well as in publike For as faith doth crucifie the flesh Gal. 5.24 so also it makes a man a new creature 2 Cor. 5.17 It makes a new husband a new wife as well as a new Christian therefore let them professe what they will follow them home to their houses and closets and you shall finde them to bee errand theeves and robbers and rob God of his glory the Lord of Heaven will finde out such and condemne them continuing so Thirdly this is that which cuts the finewes and sinkes the heart of this hypocrite this will put him to the triall more than ever any thing did this is that which will goe to the quicke and make him appeare what hee is and either finde him sound or else flie off altogether If there come another Christian of the same ranke and place that exceeds him in parts and abilities so that this man is not esteemed and his commodity is not regarded this touches his freehold if it were in the matter of honours or riches he would not care but now when he sees his light to grow dimme and darke and no man hath an eye to him and his commodity growes naught then this mans heart is quashed hee is weary of the name and presence of that man and loth to bee in his company and loth to doe any thing while hee is there and hee wisheth secretly that such a man had never come to the towne what 's the reason of it because before this man came his commodity went off easily and hee was respected for his parts and gifts And marke what followes either God will humble him and bring him upon his knees or else he will fall off from his profession and all and will rather be content to be a base varlet than to have no credit If the Lord breake his heart and humble him blessed bee his Name for it but if God doe not humble him but that he falls off then he commonly proves an enemy to Religion and God and Gospell and all goodnesse Lastly this hypocrite fals short of saving faith as in all the former things before mentioned of the sturdy hypocrite as namely that he was never truly humbled hee was never effectually perswaded by the Spirit of the Father to rest upon his free grace in Christ and hee did not make a right choyce of Christ for if hee had seene an absolute need of Christ then hee would have prized Christ more than all parts and gifts because hee had gotten Christ which was better than all his abilities but he hath made a match with his services and abilities and hath only traded with Christ he faild in all these but the maine wound of this hypocrite lies here hee rests not upon the Lord Jesus Christ but upon his owne bottomes and his owne abilities and performances which God inables him to discharge and so he fals short of a Saviour All this will not doe the deed brethren it is not rowing but landing which will doe the deed it was the guise of those wretched Hypocrites in Esay 56.3 they plead with God and begin to wrangle because he heard them not and said Why have we fasted and thou regardest it not as if they had said Thou must needs doe it what shall I weep so much and knocke my brest so hard and crie out and turne to the Lord and will not all this doe the deed no for if thou couldst howle till thy mouth failed and goe mourning all thy dayes and goe howling downe to the grave if thou hast not Christ in all these it will never doe thee any good what availes it a man to saile up and downe in the ship and can never get to land he must certainly perish if he have no comfort so doe not delude your owne hearts you may row up and downe in holy duties and goe from sinne to dutie and from duty to sinne and never come to Christ faith rests upon Christ and not upon duties we must not neglect duties but we must not rest in them Thus you see where this man fals short of saving faith now to set it home a little you see there are but few that have saving faith if the ignorant man went out at one doore and the carnall Gospeller at the other and the meere civill man at the other and all the hypocrites were put into a corner where would there be any faith found upon the face of the earth how few have faith and how difficult is it to get faith the Lord convince your judgements of it you see how farre men goe and yet never have one graine of saving faith what remaines then there are two things evident from hence First you that are gracious and are the Saints of God and see the basenesse of the hearts of wicked men goe your wayes home and fall to praying Oh that wee could leave preaching and hearing a little and all of us fall to praying and to examination brethren let us leave preaching and hearing and all of us fall to mourning that there are so few beleevers you masters goe your wayes home and mourne that so many live in your families and yet so few have gotten good by the ordinances
of God you that travell up and downe mourne in secret and say Here is every man busie in the world one makes haste this way another that way so many chapmen and clothiers going up and downe every weeke and yet how few goe home to Christ by faith and receive mercy from him in truth I condemne my owne soule because I have not a heart to mourne for them we reprove their sinnes and condemne them for their sinne and wee must doe so but where are the heart bloud petitions that wee put up for them and where are the teares that wee make for the slaine of our people if they will needs goe to hell let us bury them with bitter lamentations and not only should we doe this but also you tender hearted mothers and you that live one with another you tender hearted wives you have husbands and you prize them and love them and some good you have from them consider this when you see your husbands take lewd courses let your hearts breake over them and say Oh woe is mee for that poore husband of mine Iohn 3.18 He that beleeveth not is condemned already hee is cast in heaven and in earth both by law and Gospell there is no releefe for him can you sit by a condemned husband and eat and drinke and lye by a condemned husband and never mourne for him haply you follow him from one taphouse to another and still a condemned man doe you love your husbands if they were poore you would mourne for them if they were dead you would mourne for them and say alas I am left a poore widow but he is a condemned husband and hath not a dram of faith and yet you cannot mourne for him mee thinkes the sight of this should make you sinke againe but alas our hearts are flinty and we cannot mourne and the like I may say of you mothers there are many of you whom God hath given children beautifull obedient and wise Oh mourne for them that so many come into the world and so few come home to Christ by faith the Lord be mercifull to us in this last age of the world wee meerly scramble for our owne comfort and regard not our salvation therefore get you home and mourne for them and say Oh these poore children which I have brought up and had much comfort from they are poore condemned children this were enough to sinke us Secondly it should bee a ground to make us search into our selves and thinke that the staffe stands at our doore imagine the hand-writing comes upon every man then let every man take his portion and say No faith no Christ and so consequently no salvation by Christ looke to thy owne soule and say Have I found faith in the Lord Jesus Christ if there be not then I can tell my owne doome the sentence is past already shall we thinke of these and yet live quietly lay this under your pillow and say How can I sleep a condemned man and sleep what if God should take away my life ere morning hell is prepared and I fall into it let every man take account of his owne heart and say Have I any faith husband wife childe hast thou any faith It may be saith one I have it as well as another but how doe you prove it and how will you doe if you have it not no ignorant person no carnall Gospeller none of all these hath faith what so many men that have so much knowledge and yet fall short of faith and salvation Lord what shall become of mee is there any faith here make it good then or else yeeld the day and confesse that there is no faith and then there is some hope say I am a thousand miles off from faith I never knew what it was to be thus inlightened and to bee wounded for sinne I can commit sinne and play with sinne but I never knew what it was to be wounded for sinne I never knew what it was to be zealous in a good course there are many strict truths that I have not a heart to receive I confesse I have no faith now if you yeeld this then there is some hope that you may get out therefore take this advice goe to some faithfull humble experienced Christian and to some faithfull Minister and intreat them to advise you how to get faith but doe not goe to a faithlesse heart that hath no savour of grace nor godnesse in him how can he tell that which he never had experience of make privie search whether ever you had grace or no and if not then labour to know the way how to come to it if a mans state did lye at hazzard he would have every mans opinion and hee would inquire of this man and that man whether his evidences were sound and his title good and he would spare for no paines not cost much more should we doe it for the title of eternall life there is much conterfeit faith in the world and thousands perish upon this ground like motes in the sunne and never know where they are till they are in hell therefore goe to the Lord by prayer aske the counsell of some faithfull Minister and never rest till thy heart is perswaded of it Vse last It is of exhortation you that see the way walke in it you that know the way I should set an edge on your desires and endevours labour I say hard for this blessed grace as for you that have beene labourers you are to be encouraged continue your prayers and quicken those endevours every day more and more you that never did yet you are to be provoked to the performance of the dutie and give no sleep unto your eyes nor rest unto your selfe untill you have this and here are two things to be done First you must labour to get it Secondly you must labour to use it when you have it First you must labour to get faith we ought to make it our daily taske and study the aime of a mans desire the maine white and marke that we should shoot at in all our labours I would not have men account this as a matter of course a dutie reserved for a rainy day as sometime I have observed here in the countrie they will delay their base services their lesser necessities for a rainy day when they can do nothing else but O let us count it the most necessary duty and not to reserve faith for a sick bed an old age a crazy body only to get faith to goe unto Christ when weare going out of the world no this is unseasonable this is unreasonable and therefore take this home to you and make it the maine businesse of thy life to get faith I would have a Christian count all the endevours that he did besides his duties and performances to count them all losse wherein he hath not made some step in this glorious grace why alas your hearing your sacrifices will never profit you unlesse
he saith Though he kill me yet will I trust in him his faith was strong though his feeling were nothing trust to the goodnesse of the Lord and not to those shadowes and brittle bottomes that will breake under you Thirdly the Saints of God are deprived of comfort not because God will withhold it but because they will not take it Gods owne servants want the assurance of the freenesse of Gods love not because God will take it away from them but they will not take it when hee would give it them it is not because they may not have it but because they will not receive it Psal 77. My soule refused comfort like a little childe that will not eat his meat because it is not in a golden dish he doth not say God did not offer mee consolation but I refused consolation out of a discontented spirit because you cannot have comfort upon your owne termes and please your owne pallats because you cannot have a dish for your tooth you will have none at all you want comfort not because God will not give it but because you will not take it upon Gods termes these and many more are the hinderances One saith God hath followed mee with crosses in my life and estate another the wrath of the Lord lies heavy upon me I am still doubting and perplexed and I cannot beleeve The upshot of all these is upon one and the same ground these are hinderances which we out of our owne folly and the subtilty of Satan make to hinder us from comming so freely to Christ and beleeving in him as otherwise we might and yet in truth these are no hinderances we onely make them so Therefore we will now come to the cure of all these and shew how wee may take off these hinderances if it bee possible as in truth it is possible and not onely to remove these hinderances but all other of this kinde quality and condition if you will attend to the means that shall be propounded it is possible to cure them and the cures are these whereby the soule may bee fortified against these or passe by and leap over all these hinderances and notwithstanding all goe to Christ in the promise Cure 1 The first cure and helpe that I desire to propound is this namely we must not look too long the soule distressed and troubled should not sticke too long and looke too much and dwell unwarrantably and continually upon the sight and consideration of his owne sinnes upon his weaknesses and distempers so farre as to bee skared and altogether discouraged from comming to and depending upon the riches of Gods free grace The devill keeps us in our sinnes by poring continually upon our sinnes when we thinke to have our hearts carried against our corruptions we are more intangled in our corruptions by dwelling continually upon them This was the course that Abraham tooke that was the Father of all the faithfull Rom. 4.19 when God had promised him a sonne and not onely a naturall sonne but a sonne that should be a Type of Christ whereby he and all the faithfull should be saved Now this promise was made unto him when hee had a dead body and Sarah a barren wombe he unable to get and Sarah unable to beare now what course tooke he to heale this why the text saith He being not weake in faith considered not his owne body which was now dead nor Sarahs wombe which was now barren he knew his deadnesse and Sarahs barrennesse but he considered it not that is hee did not dayly pore thereupon and quarrell with himselfe and say how can Sarah beare a childe her wombe is barren and unable to beare my body is dead and unable to beget there is no ground here to beare up his confidence if hee considers Sarahs barrennesse there is no childe to be looked for if hee looke upon his owne deadnesse there is no childe to bee expected now therefore what doth hee doe hee lookes to the promise only and there rests and stayes himselfe though he had a dead body the promise was living and though Sarahs wombe was barren the promise was fruitfull and though he were weake the Lord was strong and able to performe whatsoever he had promised so we must see our sins and know our infirmities and consider our weaknesses but we must never settle our selves and sit downe in the consideration of our owne distempers and thereby be hindred from comming to the Lord and from receiving that mercy the Lord offers unto us in the Lord Jesus Christ and we may freely take for when a man is continually poring upon his sinnes and dayly meditating upon his corruptions two things follow First wee stop the streame and current of the promise that it cannot run into the soule wee turne the frame of the soule downward and the frame of the heart inward shut down the sluce whereas by beleeving wee open the flood-gates of the promise that the streames of mercy may flow a main in upon our soules when we returne inward and doe settle our hearts upon our owne distempers we shut downe the sluce of the promise and secondly set open the flood and stream of corruptions that they may run violently upon us to the overwhelming of us in conclusion and our distempers will take advantages against us by reason of our dayly consideration and attendance thereupon Meditation in this case I compare to distillation when a woman distils a kind of herbe or flower and when the Alchymist distils some kinde of metall there is an admirable water drawne out by distillation and an excellent oyle by Alchymie and this water and oyle were in the creatures before but they were not seene to be there before but they are of wonderfull force and strength when they are distilled so it is with the dayly poring setling and attending upon a mans distempers a man thereby distils a distemper and a discouragement and an infirmitie and drawes out the very life and sap and spirit of it and drawes out the very quintessence of a corruption and makes it dangerous nay he makes it deadly many times so that after a mans dayly poring upon and attending wholly to his sinnes he multiplies inconveniencies more than else would be so that the soule which before was troubled comes now to bee overwhelmed with the dayly poring and looking and attending to his owne wickednesse Therefore the wisedome of the woman of Canaan is to bee observed and her humiliation is to bee regarded by us observe the humiliation of her heart and the wisedome of her minde Matthew 15.27 she came to him to beseech him to heale her daughter that was possessed with a devill at the first hee would not listen unto her but shee would not be put off so but cried after him then hee answered I am not sent but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel not to you that are Gentiles yet for all this shee would not leave him but
thinke hee will cast off you take heed of that depart not from the Lord for that is to follow lying vanities and that is to forsake your owne mercies so the soule of a poore sinner should reason thus T is true my sins are many my wants are exceedingly multiplied I have sinned against God and am discouraged and shall I be more discouraged and sinne more against God I am miserable by departing from God and shall I depart more from God and be more miserable thou darest not goe to Christ for mercie why because thou hast sinned and wilt thou depart from God still and be more sinfull that is against all reason Cure 2 The second cure is this all this while I speake to broken hearted sinners those that are obstinate wicked and ungodly men stand you by you must give mee leave to deale the childrens bread to them you had your portion formerly let the children have their bread also and take their share too the second cure therefore is this make conscience either not to attend to or not judge thy selfe or thy estate by any carnall reason without a warrant I will repeat it againe because I would not have you forget it make conscience I say either to attend to or judge thy selfe or thy estate by any carnall reason or carnall plea without reason or warrant as thus it is the fashion of poore distressed spirits to passe heavie doome and to set downe heavie sentences upon themselves upon false or weake or groundlesse arguments as I never found Gods mercie I never felt it I never was perswaded of it I feare it will not be so thus we have these carnall pleas which our mindes invent and Satan suggests and wee judge our selves by these as the witnesses that should warrant our estates as the Judge that should determine of our estates now make conscience of judging thy estate in this manner you that are broken hearted for to you I speake this kinde of course is naught and this sinne is more hainous than you imagine for when thou concludest certainly thy estate is naught and God hath given you no grace upon these grounds mark against how many Commandments thou sinnest first thou dost wrong thine owne honour that God hath put upon thee in giving thee grace thou sinnest also against the third Commandement in wanting that reverence which is due to Gods name and the worke of grace hee hath wrought in thy soule thou dampest thy owne heart and art a spirituall murtherer and so sinnest against the sixt Commandement thou robbest thy selfe of that comfort of heart and refreshment of minde that God hath prepared for thee and offered unto thee and so sinnest against the eighth commandement nay you doe beare false witnesse infinitely you speake against your selves to the overthrowing of your soules and you beare false witnesse against Christ and his Spirit and the worke of his grace whereby you are sealed up to the day of redemption and you joyne sides with the Devill in this case But you will say Object Truly I speake as I thinke and affirme as I am perswaded Answ I answer this hinders not but thou bearest false witnesse if thou affirmest a thing thou hast no ground for thou bearest false witnesse though it be true this is a rule which Divines hold if a man should affirme peremptorily such a man is a drunkard and yet he knowes it not though he be so yet hee beareth false witnesse because a mans witnesse must bee upon ground and knowledge so thou peremptorily affirmest what I grace no will God vouchsafe any good to mee I will never beleeve it now thou certainly affirmest of thy selfe that thou hast no true grace when there is no ground for it but suspition and feare and the like and therefore thou bearest false witnesse against thy soule observe this the rather because of the sinfull distempers that creep into the hearts of many Christians broken and humbled and it is usuall and common this is their guise out of a selfe will of carnall reasonings and out of a base haunt of heart they swell against themselves and their owne soules their hearts come to bee perswaded that they are not in a right course that they walke not in a right way unlesse they bee quarrelling and opposing the worke of Gods grace in their soules and out of a selfe conceit of theirs that they are moulded into by custome they thinke they have libertie to doe so and that they doe well in so doing now thinke of it you that are humble know that you sinne fearfully all this while and it is very remarkable to take notice of the soule in this kinde in a case of conscience when a poore broken hearted sinner hath his judgement informed when reasons are plaine and when the comforts are cleerly evidenced when Scriptures are undeniable these poore creatures now doe not so much attend what you speak and what the Minister saith and the Word delivers but all their care is how they may answer a mans reason and put off the force of an argument and they count it a matter of weaknesse if they cannot answer any thing that is propounded to them for their comfort it is admirable to consider and but that daily experience teacheth us wee would not speake it nor could we beleeve it therefore take notice of it and know that howsoever you give leave to your owne soules to doe this and have invented reasons and arguments to gainsay the power of the truth and to defeat the power of the Word goe aside and wonder that the Lord hath not taken away from thee all the worke of his grace and all the comfort of his Spirit admire at this that when thou hast cast off all grounds of comfort yet God doth vouchsafe it to thy soule the Prophet David prayeth that the Lord would turne away his eyes from beholding of vanitie now if a man must turne away his eyes from beholding of vanitie he must turne away his thoughts from attending to vanitie much more hath God ever given me a minde to consent to Satan hath God ever given me a tongue to parly with Satan I have something else to doe I must attend to the counsels of God I must attend and listen to the voice of God I must not listen to the suggestions of Satan that I have nothing to doe withall I sinne deeply in so doing no man in reason will deale with a cheator if hee know him to be a cheator unlesse he meane to be couzened so it ought to be our wisdome carnall reason is a cheator and an old deceiver let us not therefore attend thereunto nor be ruled thereby unlesse we resolve to be cheated but if the sinne cannot scare you yet let the miserie that will follow thereupon force you and drive your hearts from it in Esa 50.2 last verses the text saith Who is among you that feareth the Lord let him heare the voice of his servant he
man doth use to say I durst not have thought it nor expected if you had not promised it so the promise of God made to the soule makes the soule to rest upon it to expect faith without a promise is all one as if a man should expect a crop without seed for the promise is the immortall seed of Gods word whereby the Spirit breeds this faith in the hearts of all that are his Iohn 5.25 The houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall live it is spoken of raising of a dead man from the grave of sinne First there is the voice of Christ to the soule before there can bee an eccho againe of the soule to Christ so the power of the promise must come to the soule and wee must heare the voice of God in the promise before we can returne an eccho againe to the Lord the Lord saith Come to me and the soule saith I come Lord when thou seest much deadnesse and unfitnesse of heart doe not thou goe away and looke off from the promise and say Thus I am and so it is with mee but rather goe to the promise and say Whatsoever frailties I finde in my selfe yet I will looke to the Lord and to his promise for if I want faith the promise must settle mee more and more therein I must not bring faith to the promise but receive faith from thence and therefore I will wait till the Lord please to worke it Meanes 4 Lastly labour to yeeld to the equall condition of the promise and make no more conditions than God makes now the promise requires no more of a man but that he should come and lay hold on mercie therefore doe thou require no more than God in the promise requires there is enough in the promise to doe thee good therefore expect all good from it and be content to goe to the promise and take of God whatsoever he hath therein offered Esay 55.1 2. Bâ—y without money this is the condition that God offers mercy upon Buy wine and milke that is grace and salvation without money that is without sufficiencie of your owne for wee must not looke for sanctification till we come to the Lord in vocation for this is all the Lord requires of thee to see thy sinnes and be weary of them and be content that the Lord Jesus shall reveale what is amisse and take it away and that the Lord should give thee grace then the Lord will bring thee to himselfe and thou shalt receive mercy from him and then all thy corruptions shall fall to the ground To summe up the point briefly thus First when wee have pluckt away all carnall props there is way made for the promise to come to us Secondly when our hearts are possessed thorowly of the sufficiencie of Gods promise and grace then the promise drawes neere to the soule Thirdly when we expect all from the promise even power to come to the promise then the promise layes hold upon us Fourthly when we are content to yeeld to the equall conditions of the promise then the promise carries us quite away Thus we have seene the hinderances removed and the meanes propounded and now that wee may be moved and perswaded importunately to seeke after this blessed grace of God I le propound three motives Motive 1 The first motive is this because if you once get this grace you get all other graces with it in this you have all the rest attending and you have all the rest overplus it is a ground of comfort to set a man aworke when in the doing of one he may doe many things so it is in the worke of faith men that are wise to provide for themselves and to lay out their money for their best advantage for a purchase if they see it is well wooded and all the stocke goes into the bargaine especially if there be some golden mynes all their mindes will be upon that purchase because if they have that they have all in that so it is here get this grace and get all strengthen this and strengthen all nourish this and nourish all want this and want all once get this and then you need not seeke for wisdome for faith will make you wise it will bring holinesse with it to purge you Ah the golden mynes of mercy and salvation doe all attend upon the purchase of faith it is in this case with faith as it is in a mans body a man hath an especiall care of his stomack and liver because the stomack disgests his meat and the liver makes bloud and bloud is in all and now if all be maintained all is for health so what ever a man lookes to â—et him looke to this for by faith we lay hold on Christ and from Christ wee receive all good whereby our hearts may bee cheared and refreshed faith brings all grace and workes with all grace get faith and get all 2 Corin. 3.18 Wee all with open face behold as in a glasse the glorie of the Lord and are changed into the same image from glorie to glorie I have opened the place before to have the glorious grace of God his meâ—knesse and patience that the soule may be transformed and of an impatient man be made meeke and patient and to have the glorious grace of God imprinted upon the soule how will all this come we all by faith looke upon the riches of Gods grace in Jesus Christ Christ is the glasse and the glorious grace of God Christ is compared to the glory of the Lord therefore first we must behold grace before wee can receive it first see humility in Christ and then fetch it and there see courage to put mettall into the heart that is cowardly Secondly as all grace comes by faith for it is faith that closeth with Christ and from Christ receiveth grace for grace as the seale leaves the same impression upon the wax that is upon it selfe so secondly by faith wee are delivered from all and made conquerours over all either enemies that can assault us or miseries that can trouble us wee have many enemies the Devill and the world but especially a vile base and corrupt heart if you know and feele these miseries here is one speciall privilege of faith it will rid all these and make you conquerours over all these enemies this only faith can doe every man labours for mastery and victory this is the white that every man shoots at as it is in a pitched field though it be but for one victory how every sâ—de drawes on the forces and use all the meanes and skill that can be to get the day but if there were an engine or instrument that would overcome all enemies and breake all forts and trenches if there were any such engines no man would sticke at any price or spare any meanes and endevours to get the engine because if they have this
they have the victory and although there never was nor never can bee any such engine for temporall deliverances as this is yet certaine it is this saving faith is a spirituall engine and instrument aâ— I may so say that gives victory and conquest over all spirituall enemies 1 Iohn 5.4 They that are borne of God overcome the world and sinne and this is the victorie that overcommeth the world even your faith marke the phrase and it is not for the conquest of some one corruption but for the overthrowing of a world of wickednesse it quencheth all the fiery darts of the Devill be the corruptions never so strong yet faith gives the conquest to a poore sinner it is not hope alone nor love nor zeale they are all good souldiers and they may strive much and lend much helpes to a poore sinner but they will grow weake and feeble and dead except saving faith come in to rescue anâ— bring a supply how often doe we finde that whâ—â— our hope failes and our love growes cold and ouâ— zeale dead then at last faith goes to heaven 〈◊〉 fetches new grace even grace for grace and thâ—â— hope is stirred and desire quickned and zeale enflamed Psal 27.13 I had fainted unlesse I had beloved to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the â—â—ving it was saith that did save him at a dead lift it is with the soule as it is with the body take a man that is swounding there is one friend that weeps over him another that comforts him but he that will cure him must goe to the Apothecaries shop and bring some Aqua vitae and that will fetch him againe so it is with a poore sinner being under the pressure of horrour of heart you wicked ones are not acquainted with this but you may be in time I have knowne the stouâ—â—st heart to stoop the poore sinner in his extremity faints and profits and pleasures and friends weepe over him saying Oh that we could have quieted and refreshed you but the poore man is goâ—e till at last faith goes to heaven and brings a pardon to save him and mercy to comfort him and hath supply there and faith brings the water of life even the freenesse of this grace and that cheares comforts and revives the heart thus sinking so that the poore sinner by this time begins to looke up and to come to himselfe againe as David saith Psal 73.1 Yet God is good to Israel hee wâ—â— even sinking but faith over came the temptation Oh saith he the world is naught and men are marvellous wicked and malicious to oppose and â—â—y owne heart is malicious and bad but God is good and he will be good to me and cure this vile hâ—â—rt of mine 1 Pet. 1.5 Wee are kept by the power 〈◊〉 God through faith unto salvation that which gets the victory is faith and next under God in Christ we owe our everlasting salvation unto faith even 〈◊〉 that blessed grace you that are acquainted with troubles and anguish of conscience and with many corruptions would it not doe you good at the heart to see all your deadly enemies laid downe at your feet would it not do you good to have all your strong lusts and masterly corruptions of pride and malice those mighty and Goliah sinnes that you have a deadly envie against and that you have stood so long against would you not see them all mastered and overcome I doubt not but you that feele these and undergoe the burden of these you would account it the best day that ever you did see if the conquest be worth the striving then get faith and then the day is yours and you shall see your lusts bleed your lusts breake and though your pride and other lusts now get ground against you yet then they shall be led captive as the text saith then Christ shall lead captivitie captive faith brings Christ into the field and so the victory is gotten Motive 3 As faith makes us glorious in all graces and gives the conquest over all enemies so in the last place it is faith that brings a blessing to all our blessings and it graces all our abilities and it blesseth us in all our occasions that concerne us the profit of all meanes and the successe of all our labours it is in faith nay there is a good which faith workes upon some and therefore it is wortâ— the striving it is that which blesseth all our blessings and all that doth concerne us meanes mâ—â— bend the worke and operation but all the profâ—â— is in faith as Heb. 4.2 The Gospell was preached unto them as unto us but it did not profit them because it was not mixt with faith in those that heard it hadst thou the greatest parts and abilities under heaven if thou hadst not faith with them they would not profit thee men thinke to goe beyond all with their power wit and policie but I say All will not profit them without faith if thou canst receive the Sacraments with faith it will strengthen thee if thou canst heare the Word with faith the terrours of the law will humble thee and the commands thereof will direct thee and awe thee but otherwise all is nothing though an Angell should come from heaven and preach to you as it is with the meanes of the body if a man eat never so much meat and cannot digest it if the stomack bee clogged with it there is nothing but sicknesse and diseases come from it but if a man take but a little meat and digest it well it will nourish him and doe him much good so it is here that which is the stomack and liver of the soule is faith and that turnes the Word and Sacraments and ordinances into good bloud it is a lowly beleeving heart that gets good by this Secondly all our performances finde acceptance through faith the Scripture saith Without faith it is impossible to please God and I say That without faith it is impossible that thou shouldst please God though thy judgement is weake and thy parts humble and thy ability poore and feeble but yet if thou canst but sigh up to heaven by faith that sigh is accepted in heaven with faith all thy weaknesses are pardoned and all services are accepted whereas without the grace of faith hadst thou the greatest abilities under Heaven and though thou canst please thy great Patron thine owne proud heart yet thou wilt never please the great God he that heareth holy faith and walketh by faith though hee can please none else yet hee shall be sure to please his God This is that which turneth all our sinnes and curses into good to us Oh marke that not that it makes them good in themselves but it brings good out of them The cunning Apothecary and wise Physitian can make the most deadly poyson the most soveraigne cordiall because he corrects the one that is so many degrees could and puts a stronger spirit of heat
into foure of five degrees of it and so fits it to be marvellous cordiall so faith makes a sweet extract out of pride and the venome of sinne and corruption without this is the overpowring worke of faith at Phil. 1.14 For this I know that by the supply of the Spirit of Christ this shall turne to my good and salvation through your prayers To winde up the point let us consider all these motives and consider whether wee can move our hearts to labour for this grace would you not be glorious in all the graces of God as humility meeknesse and patience and have conquest over all your enemies and the basenesse of your owne hearts and would you not have a blessing upon what you enjoy and would you not have all worke for your good if these bee worth the having then get this grace of faith that having this you may have all Hee that hath faith let him goe on in it and hee that hath not faith let him know that hee never had any thing To this purpose it will be very seasonable to call upon our hearts upon all occasions when you finde your hearts hunting to settle upon these things here below and when you begin to view all the contentments of this life and to say this is great Babell and I have gotten friends and meanes c. then put the question to thy soule and say hast thou faith too thou hast friends to stand for thee and means to inrich thee but hast thou faith to save thy soule if thou hast not faith thou art a begger whatsoever thou hast nay often startle your secure and carelesse hearts and put this plea to your hearts and parly with them in this manner and say doe not many and most men want faith and why may not I want it and doe not many secke faith and doe not attaine it and what if I should misse it the Lord forbid it for then thou art an undone man for ever thou hast lost all thy labour Iohn 2.8 Looke to your selves saith the Apostle that you â—â—se not the things that you have wrought thy hearing and thy praying and all thy Sacraments and all means and whatsoever thou hast or dost thou hast lost all and thou art gone downe the streame nay misse of faith and all the means under heaven cannot releeve thee I tell thee if thou missest of faith thou missest of heaven and salvation nay I may speake it with reverence mercy it selfe cannot saye thee Christ will not nay Christ cannot save thee without faith for he hath sworne he shall never enter into his rest continuing without faith therefore call home your hearts and stirre up your soules and looke up to the Lord Jesus and reason in this manner and say as Paul to the Philippians saith To you it is given to beleeve Lord it is given to thy poore servants to beleeve thou gavest Manasses Paul and the Iayler power to beleeve I am a vile stubborne prophane wretch Lord give mee power also to beleeve whether thou wilt give me honour wealth riches or no I leave that to thy selfe but Lord deny not thy servant an humble broken and beleeving heart lest I perish and be undone for ever As Rachel said Give mee children or else I die so say thou Lord give mee faith or else I perish Lord I know all my labour cannot worke faith and all meanes under Heaven cannot give it but it is thou Lord that must doe it and as the text saith Many beleeved through grace Lord therefore through that grace of thine draw this heart to thee and keepe it with thee and make thy poore servant blessed for ever Thus much for the use of exhortation namely that we should get faith Now I come to the second part of exhortation and here wee are to endevour if God bee pleased to goe out with us to perswade the heart of those that be faithfull to live by faith the Lord brought thy unfaithfull heart to beleeve now then labour to husband this grace well and to improve it for thy best good and live by it It is a marvellous great shame to see those that are borne to faire meanes I meane the poore Saints of God that have a right and title to grace and Christ and yet to live at such an under rate I would have you to live above the world though thou hast not a coat to cover thee nor a house to put thy head in yet if thou hast faith thou art a rich man therefore husband thy estate well it is a shame I say to see them that they cannot husband that happy estate which they have they live as if they had it not so full of want so full of care and pride so weake and unable to master their sinnes whereas the fault is not in the power of faith nor the promise nor in the Lord for the Lord doth not grudge his people of comfort but would have them live cheerfully and have strong consolations and mighty assurance of Gods love And therefore the text saith Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and againe I say rejoyce and make your calling and election sure Heb. 6.18 God hath sworne that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible that God should lie wee might have strong consolations nay the Lord rejoyceth in the prosperity of his servants and therefore he hath provided mercifully and richly for you that you may rejoyce therefore wee doe the Lord and his promises a great deale of wrong and bring an ill report upon that grace and mercy of his when wee open the mouthes of the wicked and make them say Oh these precise people talke of quiet and contentment and joy in the holy Ghost there is great talking of these things but wee could never see it yet Oh brethren it is a great shame are the riches and revenues of faith so great that a christian may live like a man all his dayes Let all the drunkards and malitious wretches against God laugh and bee merry yet they cannot see one of those dayes that a poore Saint canâ— though he should lie in prison all his dayes Matthew 17.20 If a man had but faith as a graine of mustard-seed and should say to this mountaine goe hence it should be done whether this is spoken of justifying faith or no I will not now dispute but this I am sure of if you will resist the Devill he will flee from you and you may trample under all your lusts and corruptions this is the life of faith and this life may wee live and this life wee ought to live If a trades-man have a good estate put into his hand and have a faire stocke and quicke returnes if hee goes downe the winde and begin to decline and decay every man will say he wâ—â— left marvellous well but either he knew nor how to vse it because he wanted skill or else he arâ—â—ded not unto it and was carelesse another man would have lived
bravely upon halfe of that means which he had So there is never a poore Christian Note this which trades in a Christian course but hee hath a faire estate and may live like a man One promise is enough to make a man live comfortably all his dayes though hee were in never so much want but if hee bee cast behinde hand and goes downe the winde with comfort and joy and sinks because of his pride and distempers and vexation the fault is not in the estate for the Lord left him very well he had a childes portion hee had an heart to feare God and love God as David saith O be mercifull unto me as thou usest to 〈◊〉 to those that love and feare thy Name the fault was not in the promises that they could not nor in his faith that it would not helpe him but he let the promises lie by they came into the table but he never cast them up neither did hee husband then aright hee had a world of comforts and consolations that would have given a man liberty in prison and honour in shame and disgrace and comfort in the time of distresse but hee did not husband them Therefore be advised to doe as the trades-man doth hee will not spend of his stocke but live of his trading So I would have every Christian to make a living of his faith whatever strength thou needst fetch it from grace in Christ and what ever comfort thou wantest fetch it from Christ but live by faith and make a good living of it too and then thou dost improve the promise aright bring but an empty beleeving heart with thee and the oyle will never faile and the meale in the barrell will never decay but continually supply thee as it did that poore widow So goe with an humble heart to the promises and husband it well and thou maist draw life and grace from the promises till doomes day And thus in generall Quest But how shall a man be trained up that he may get this skill of living by faith Answ Every man hath his owne shifts and trickes and lives by his owne devices and the devill hath enough of them in the world that lives this life but the best life of all is little looked after Note Now for the answer know thus much that there are three particulars necessary for the training up of the heart to learne this skill of living by faith How to live by faith First wee must labour to get matter for our faith to worke upon Secondly wee must labour to fit faith for the worke Thirdly wee must labour to order our faith aright in the worke Particul 1 First we must provide matter for our faith to worke upon for this wee see ordinarily if a workman want matter to worke upon either a Carpenter or the like hee must needs cease his worke and he can goe no further and if a mans worke failes how can hee provide for his family This is the complaint of poore people now adayes that they have no worke So it is in a Christian course many poore Christians that are newly set up and are not afore-hand in the world they want even matter for their faith I meane some are ignorant and cannot read and some have not meanes and a preaching Minister and others have but small parts and cannot heare and little doe they retaine of what they doe heare Now because they want the promises of God understood and remembred and rightly applied therefore they live marvellously poore though they might live marvellously comfortable in the world and now they have a word of comfort and sometimes the advice of a friend and they have faith but they want matter for their faith to worke upon and therefore they are scarcely able to uphold their soules in trouble Now the matter of our faith is in the whole Word of God Where the matter of faith is as it is with the Bee in gathering hony as the spider gathers poison out of every flower so the Bee gathers hony out of the same flower and out of the sweetest flower there shee suckes most hony and the Word of God the sharpest course and the fearfullest plagues denounced a gracious heart will gather some good by it and a man hath need of these but above all the sweet of the promises of the Gospell and the sap and sweet therein and the bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ that is communicated thereby Oh the faithfull soule sucks most there Now that wee may provide matter for our faith three rules are to bee observed which are commonly observed in all provisions Rule 1 First they provide and lay in in season timely as soone as they can When to provide matter for our faith this is the practice of him that would husband his estate wisely his care is to buy at the best hand So I would have a good Christian to store up all the good promises of God Remember this first in all the good Word of God seasonably I meane when all thy parts and abilities are strong and nature is able to fight it out while the Faire day of Gods favour lasteth and while the Word and Sacraments are dispensed this is the best time to lay in the promises of God that we may not want them when wee have use of them it is a marvellous weake nay a preposterous course when a man is weake his eyes dim and his heart and strength faileth and he is ready to give up the ghost then to lay in grace and provision of mercy and then for him that hath hated a Minister and loathed the meanes of grace and abused the patience and long suffering of God Oh then to have a Minister come to him and have a promise in the day of persecution then for a man to bethink himselfe of the comforts and promises of the Gospell and when a man should spend on the promises then to get it this is but ill husbandry the better way is this now to be buying at every turne and this is the reason why our Saviour saith Oh if thou hadst knowne in this thy day the things that belong unto thy peace while the Word and thy life and the Sabbaths and the ordinances last this is thy day we know not how soone God may take all from us Oh the estate of the poore Palatinates if it be true that we heare of them they have lost all the meanes of grace and they have idolatry now amongst them and there the enemies force them to goe to masse against their consciences and they cannot see a good Minister nor a good Christian but they weepe to consider the times that once they had therefore let us labour to be wise in the Lord now while the Faire is and consider how God deales with his children Psal 48.9 Wee have thought of thy name O Lord in the midst of the table It is spoken there of the goodnesse of God
that you may but step aside and have it Now you have the matter for your faith to work upon Secondly we are to fit faith for the service that it may succeed with more comfort and better speed for though a man be a beleever yet there is a great deale of dulnesse and bluntnesse comes upon this grace though he have it Luke 24.25 see how our Saviour chides his Disciples saying O fooles slow and dull of heart to beleeve c. so wee ought to whet our faith that it may line and square the promises as it is in the Hebrew that it may pierce through the vale of all the riches of the freenesse of Gods grace and so bring comfort to us It is with the hand of faith as it is with the hand of the body sometimes though the thing be neare one that he may reach it and the hand hath life yet if it bee nummed and stiffe and frozen a man must warme it and rub it before hee can lay hold upon and take the thing and doe the worke in hand so it is with the hand of faith for faith is the hand of the soule it takes hold of that mercy and comfort which God hath prepared for us in Christ Jesus now that faith is nummed and stiffe through carelesnesse and loosenesse therefore it is not enough for a man to have faith but he must supple and oile the finewes of faith that he may catch more speedily at the promise of life and receive comfort from thence Particul 2 Now for the setting of our faith to be limber and quick there are three rules to be observed Rule 1 First wee must maintaine the evidence of this grace of faith once gotten without question How to make faith limber undeniable without controlement I say a faith once gotten marke it I speak not now of those that have not faith it is in vaine to bid a man live by faith who hath no faith but it is for those in whose hearts God hath beene pleased to worke this blessed grace of faith this must be the care of every man that hath gotten faith hee must know the nature of faith in generall and of his faith in particular whither his faith bee of the right stamp and will stand him in stead in the day of accompt and whither it be of that faith which Peter speaks of for there is a great deale of copper faith in the world as that Iesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and the like now when thou hast gained evidence that thou hast faith then fill it up and keep it by thee and labour to have the demonstration of this worke so plaine in thy soule that it may be past deniall What a marvellous folly is it for a man to question when hee should use it the worke must needs be marvellously hindred though he have never so much faith when hee begins to cavill with it and to question whither it bee good or no it is a proverbiall speech hee that doubts of his way â—â—sisseth of his way for while he is doubting hee goes no way in conclusion so hee that doth question whether he hath faith or no and therefore gets little good by it tell a poore sinner of living by faith and he saith it is good newes if I had it it is poore comfort to bid a man to goe warme him when hee hath no fire to warme him by and so it is a poore comfort to bid a man live by faith when hee never had any faith the quarrelling and doubting when a man hath it it wholy hinders the use and benefit of faith that would come to us as it is with a man that hath a faire estate and hath land worth so many hundreds a yeare all the while his lands are in question and controversie hee lives exceeding poore and scarce makes so many scores a yeare whereas if his lands were settled to him hee might so many hundreds so it is here every poore faithfull soule is borne to a faire estate and hath rich promises and while he is yet in the law and makes question of his faith the truth is the promises lye by and hee dares not meddle with them and hee suspects whether hee may venture upon them or no and the reason is hee is quarrelling with and doubting of his faith when hee should live by it Matth. 24.29 30 31. when the Disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea they thought it was a Spirit but Jesus said unto them Be of good comfort it is I now when Peter knew it was our Saviour â—e being somewhat too venterous he said If it be thou Lord bid mee come unto thee on the water and Christ said Come and Peter going the waters beâ—â—â— to be something boâ—sterous his heart began to sâ—ck c. and Christ said unto him O thou of â—it the faith why doest thou doubt as if he had said â—â—t is now no time of doubting but a time of beleeving the Lord bad him to come and hee had ground enough to come and strength of faith to come but when he saw the waves great trouble some he began to doubt whereas he should have improved the promise and not have doubted of it so we doubt and sit afraid quarell with the promise improve not the grace that God bestowes it is with the soule in this case as it is with a gun or peece that is rusty and not well scoured or not well stockt he that goes to use the gun in stead of hitting the marke it recoils and hurts him because that either it was not well stockt or else it was rustie so it is with a poore faithfull soule though the heart doth beleeve and his heart is of a right stamp and is able to lay hold on the promise if that faith grow rusty with our doubting and is unstable or unsettled it recoils againe upon us and wee sit downe dismaied whereas we might have gone to Christ and received mercy from him and therefore our Saviour saith of the wise Virgins Matth. 25.7 They trimmed their lamps and when the Bridegroome came they entred with him into the chamber so it should be with our soules it is not enough for a gracious heart to have true faith and true oile but if there growes any snuffe of doubting that dims the light of our links throw it away and quarrell not and then we shall be fitted to see the way and to enter into eternall happinesse by the power thereof and I beseech you to observe this the very questioning and quarelling against the worke of faith it many times as much dis-inables a man to put forth the power of his faith as if he had no faith at all as some that are melancholy they thinke they cannot speake nor goe this hath made men not to speake for many yeares together though they can and doe speake to this day therefore for the conclusion of this first rule goe
against reason sense and religion and all Now thy faith begins to wrastle with him and his dealings and conscience checks and thou wilt teare thine owne heart out of thine owne bosome brethren this will not doe it When a ship of a hundred tuns is upon ground the mariners may pull and tug their hearts out before they can get it goe O goe then and say it is not I that can be patient and put up a wrong be quiet and expect it not from hence let the heart lie still till the winde and tide and promise come and that will carry thee Rule 2 Bring the promise home to thy heart that the promise may bring thy heart to it I meane thus I told you before that the heart renounceth all abilities of it selfe as the first principle and saith it is in an impatient heart it is not here Lord downe be quiet and still goe thou to the promise and bring that first to thy soule and when the promise comes it will bring thy heart home to it I will tell you how you must goe to the promise and say thus It is not in mine owne power to quicken my selfe yet Lord this I know that there is sufficiencie in the promise to supply all my wants and there is authoritie in the promise to rule and order mee in all my courses therefore take the promise and reason thus I conclude that the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit is in the promise undeniably and undoubtedly and unspeakably accompanying in his manner as hee shall see fit This I say that the almighty Spirit of Christ doth really and continually accompany the promise for the good of his hence it is called the spirit of promise for there is an Almighty creating worke goes along with the promise and I reason thus that word that discernes the thoughts of the hearts of men that word must needs have the Almighty worke of Gods Spirit accompanying of it so far as God hath promised it not haply when thou seest fit but when God sees fit Hee doth it as a voluntary workman therefore thou considerest that there is an Almighty power and a fulnesse in the promise then lay that promise upon thine heart and know it and conclude it and looke for vertue from thence to draw thy soule to it again I have severall passages to expresse my selfe by it you may understand it Iacob would not beleeve that Ioseph was alive or if he were alive he had but little means was poore Gen. 45.26 27 28 29. but when he saw the Chariots that Ioseph had sent him then he beleeved and said I have enough Ioseph my son liveth the Chariots sent from Ioseph to Iacob brought Iacob to Ioseph so every beleeving soule is poore and feeble and dis-nabled to goe to God and to beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ therefore looke thou unto the Chariots of Israel first and that will convey thee to the promise As it is with the miller first he pares the mill fitly and orders all the occasions thereof and when the stones are fit and laid to goe yet it will not goe till the sluce be pulled up and the water runs that drives the mill so the soule is humbled and lies levell with the Lord and his truth and is content to yeeld to his conditions but the soule of it selfe in it selfe cannot goe It hath not the principle of going but let downe the sluce of the promise and let that come to thy heart and it will bring thy soule home to the Lord. The promise must come to thee and make thee come to it It is not here Lord but in the promise bring that promise and set open the sluce and let the wind blow and it will convey thee comfortably as Luke 19.9 This day salvation is come to thy house not to the wals of thy house but to the men that are in the house they did not come to salvation but salvation came to them the Lord sent salvation to salute the house of Zacheus and that brought him to salvation this is the foiling of many poore beleevers O say they if I could beleeve then the promise did belong unto me but I dare not venture upon it but I say unto thee whomsoever thou art thou shalt never live by faith upon these termes thou must first let the promise come to thee and then it will carry thee unto it Rule 3 When the promise is thus come home and thou seest the sufficiency and authority of it then all thou hast to doe is this in the streame of that promise be carried and in the vertue thereof be conveyed home to the Father Luke 15.4 The Prodigall is said to be like a lost sheepe marke this for it concerneth you poore creatures The poore sheepe is wildered up and downe now in the mouth of the Lion and then in the briars and sometimes in the pit The text saith He leaveth the ninety nine to seeke that that is in comparison of what care he expresseth to the lost sheepe hee leaveth a man regenerate not carelesly but hee will not expresse so great love as to a poore lost man and though thou canst not find the way to Heaven yet hee will finde thee lie thou upon the shoulders of Christ as in the 5. verse of this Chapter when thou findest thy heart feeble and weake and thy selfe unable to beleeve then the Lord Jesus Christ brings the spirit of grace and that comes to seeke and Jesus Christ will lay that soule of thine upon his shoulders that is upon the riches of the freenesse of his grace therefore let thy heart bee transported by the power of that grace and by the vertue of that mercie that God hath made knowne unto thee for thy everlasting good when the chariots are come get thee up into them the Lord Jesus Christ is gone up to heaven and hee hath sent his chariots for thee therefore get thee up and say Lord take mee up with thee let the Lord convey thee by the power of his grace when the mariner hath sea roome enough hee cares for no more if hee can but observe the channell hee lookes not so much at his oare or any thing so he can observe the channell this channell is the full tide of the promise therefore lay thy selfe upon the promise and say Lord in the vertue of that grace and in the power of that Spirit carry mee and in the riches of that mercie of thine Lord convey the heart of this poore sinner and make mee happy with thy selfe for ever Passage 2 It is presumed that thy faith now is come to the promise now the skill is how hee may take and improve the good of the promise and receive all the incomes thereof There are two things especially observable First labour to husband the promises and to mannage them wisely when wee have them for our best advantage Secondly labour to live by the sweetnesse of the promises
so mannaged as it is with a man that hath a faire estate and is left marvellous well if he would have the benefit of his estate first hee must mannage it secondly hee must maintaine him and his out of the gaine of it so mannaged Particular 1 First the Lord hath left you well and you have wherewithall to live like men and like Christian men too yea an happie life that you may go singing to your graves and goe rejoycing up to heaven and you have faith too only you want some skill to use it for it is not conceived that you are well stockt and stored but it is required that you should husband the promises well and injoy them as your owne and live by the comfort of the promises the promises are ours and we have them in hand if wee can but bring our hearts to approve them aright Now that wee must mannage the promises aright two things are mainly observable though there are many others ready at hand yet I will insist upon those that are most usefull for the benefit of the worke Rule 1 Take possession of the promises and value that good in the promise as thine nay further make it present and substantiall to thy soule as the Apostle saith Heb. 11.1 not only that good which the promise will yeeld for the present but eternall and everlasting good which every promise will make thy soule assured of if thou hast a heart to improve it aright and care to bestow thy selfe thereupon The only way for a man to thrive in his estate is this hee must dwell upon his owne meanes and have it all in his owne occupying for as we use to say If a man lease it out why may not he get something by keeping of it as another by hiring of it If he would doe thus say we he must needs get more than hee doth now so it ought to be in our spirituall estate and so faith will enable us that wee may doe not only to take the present benefit that the promise will afford in this life but the promise is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seene all that glory and happinesse in heaven not yet seene and not yet in fruition faith will make all that happinesse within view and puts us into possession of them and makes them have a being to our soules faith it is that brings Christ and makes Christ present and in Christ all presented all glorie is in Christ who is the Authour of it and faith makes all that glory present all happinesse in Christ who is the worker of it and faith makes all that happinesse to be present so that by faith laying hold on thy Saviour not only to take comfort but to make all that happinesse and good that is eternally to be present as Luke 12.32 Feare not little flock but might they not say How shall we chuse but feare seeing there is nothing but sinnes within that deserve punishment and enemies without that breath forth threatnings O but a Saviour saith Feare not little flock why it is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome you are not in the kingdome as yet yet you are in the way to it and though you are now in the wildernesse leading to Canaan yet you shall come to Canaan and so you shall have a kingdome remember that and so you shall be comforted and refreshed live upon this when you looke only to the present benefit of the promise it is true this is more than wee can conceive yet wee let the better part of our stock and estate lye by us for there are two parts of the promise the present good and peace and the eternall and everlasting good and comfort of it now when we looke only to the present good of it this is ill husbandry for wee let the better part of the stocke lye dead by us and doe not trade with it as it is in the world for temporall meanes so it is for our spirituall estates for spirituall succour and supply though a man have little for the present yet if hee have some old reversions to come this beares up his heart in the time of poverty and misery and he saith if he can but make a scrambling shift for so long time then hee hopes to live as well as any man in the Country So that there is not some of the promise that we have in possession but there is the reversion of old rents as old rents of farmes that were let long agoe when the leases come out they are worth treble the rent they were let at the first So there are the old rents of comfort and mercie as Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you then no more teares no more trouble no more sorrow no more sinne get those into your hands and have them in use and say The day will come when wee shall have happinesse blisse and joy beyond all that the tongue of man can expresse or the heart of man conceive though we are buffeted with many temptations and wearied with a world of corruptions yet we shall bee saved saith faith Thus a man may make a pretty good shift to live upon these termes though we have nothing else to live upon in the world therefore remember what now I speake Labour to fasten this truth upon thy heart that there is not onely present good in thy selfe but in another and reserved by another for thy comfort and be thou content that it should be so not only to looke what thou hast but consider that the greatest part of thy glory is in the glory of a Christ and the greatest part of thy wisdome is in the wisdome of a Christ and thy liberty in the liberty of a Christ and thy riches in the riches of a Christ and know that whatsoever is in Christ thou hast it all as thine Iohn 3.12 Behold what love the Father hath shewed to us that we are now the Sonnes of God I tell you brethren this is a marvellous privilege and if you had no more but this you had a childes portion but it appeares not what we shall have we have but a glimse now what will the harvest be and now we have only some sips of it what shall then the full cup be when we shall see Christ as he is thus Moses did improve his estate Heb. 11.26 he bare all afflictions comfortably yea he esteemed the rebukes of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt why because he had an eye to the recompence of the reward we account of a mans estate for what he hath for present possession but what is like to befall him and what hee is borne unto what Moses did doe thou that thou maist account the misery and disgrace of a Christ greater riches than all the pleasures of the world have all thy estate in thy owne hand if thou wilt be a good husband as it is with
soule why should I not have that mercie supply and succour saith justice thou art a sinfull wretch and thou hast wronged me saith anger thou hast deserved to be plagued and thou shalt rather bee corrected by me Now faith layes hold upon the riches of the freenesse of Gods mercie in Christ and in him justice is satisfied and anger appeased for all and now mercie is purchased and mercie triumpheth over justice and faith layes hold upon and overcomes God himselfe as I may say with an holy humble basenesse of heart You know what the Lord did to the woman of Canaan when shee had striven with him a great while and would take no deniall at last he saith O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt take what thou wilt if thou wilt have life for thy child peace for thine own conscience and joy in the holy Ghost take it for it is all thine he as it were turnes her loose to all her treasury if she had gone away at the first or second deniall she had found no help but because shee held out shee had all her hearts desire God would have us wrastle with his Majestie that hee may be overcome in mercie and goodnes I might here have taken some of the most desperate cases that could be that you might have seen what faith would have done in the midst of the want of all meanes and in the greatest extremity that could have befalne a poore sinner but I will not stand about it now at this time now therefore consider what hath been said lay these things up and have them ever by you and practise them and by often writing learn to write and by often living learn to live many people live poorly and make a poore shift to go to heaven but I would not have a Christian to live so but be the master of his art know and see your way and use the meanes and labour to get good thereby that you may have sap and sweet of the promises and goe singing and rejoycing triumphing up to heaven Now that which I conclude withall is this you see how far the Lord hath brought us how the soule hath beene prepared and cut off from sin and himselfe if fitted for the Lord Jesus by contrition and humiliation and that the soule comes to see that there is no hope in the creatures nor any succour in heaven but the Lord Jesus Christ and so at last the sinner comes and lies at the foot-stoole of the Lord Jesus Christ and knowes that either he must be another man or a damned man now when he sees that prayer and all other meanes will not profit and the power of the meanes yet prevaile not and the power of his corruptions is not yet mastered then he looks up to Christ and is contented that he should doe what he will with him now when the Lord Jesus Christ sees him lie wearied then with his corruptions then the Lord gives speciall notioâ— to his soule that it is his purpose to do him good and there is mercie for that broken heart of him with that hope is stirred and saith is it possible is it credible shall all this wretchednesse of mine he pardoned desire is kindled and longs for that dâ—â—â— O that I might once see the funerall of all my saâ—â— and then love joy are cheared to entertaine this mercie and saith O how is the soule bound to the God that offers free undeserved grace to a 〈◊〉 borne rebellious hearted sinner at last the wilâ— saith Amen to the promise and saith O that mâ—â—cie I will have thus the soule is come home to 〈◊〉 by vocation now the prodigall is come home to his father and the fathers heart leaps within hâ—â— brest when he sees him lie at the doore and as the father rejoyceth so the Angels in heaven reiâ—â—â—â— and all the faithfull should rejoyce and say O my husband O my father or my child is come hoâ—â— againe and my wife that was a sinfull woman 〈◊〉 come home againe to her first and best husband you that have found it thus in your selves be comforted you that know it in others rejoyce the 〈◊〉 have heard how the soul is ingrafted into the sâ—â—â— Christ Now afterward if the Lord lend life and liberty we shall come to shew what the soule â—â—ceives from the stock consider what I have saiâ— and the Lord give you understanding FINIS
than God doth convey this and communicate to the soule a man naturally is as well able to keepe the law which is doe and live as hee is of himselfe in himselfe so considered to beleeve in the Gospell and to keepe the second covenant of grace which is beleeve and live but the difference is here the Gospell requires abilitie and gives it the Lord cals us to come and inables us to come whereas the law reveales a mans corruptions but never gives him power against them but as the Lord called Lazarus so the Lord gave Lazarus power to rise so when the Lord cals a poore sinner he gives strength and spirituall ability to come according to the call which the Lord reveales that he may come by that saving and precious faith as S. Peter cals it therefore it is of necessity required that as the soule beleeves the Lord must give strength that it may beleeve and therefore it is effectually perswaded Now that I might meet with that erronious opinion of Pelagians consider what I say they say it is of necessity required that a poore sinner have his minde inlightened but the will of man is unaltered and left free to refuse or chuse grace if it please so that they put a kinde of ability in the will to take or refuse Christ and grace when it is offered but here is a deepe mistake because the will of man is as farre averse from God as the minde is blinde nay it is more averse from God than the minde is blinde and it is more hard to be framed therefore there must be this effectuall perswading as the understanding must have the truth cleered to see a Christ so the will must be perswaded that it may receive power from him as it is with the sea and the thames there is ebbing and flowing now the natutall Philosophers observe that the ebbing and flowing comes not from any inward proper principle of it selfe but the light and heat of the moone leaves its beames upon the water and drawes the water after it this makes it to flow and when the moone is gone the water returnes backe againe and this is ebbing just so it is with the soule of a man humbled and enlightened there is no power in the soule to goe any further than it selfe to flow unto a Christ and to goe towards the promises further than the Lord lets in by the power of his Spirit the beames of his mercie upon the soule and sheds in the freenesse of his grace into the heart and that makes the soule flow againe so that as it ebbed and went away from God by sinne so it now flowes and comes to God againe but it is by the power and Spirit of God Quest. Now if you aske mee what it is to have the heart thus perswaded of Gods goodnesse in Christ Answ It is nothing else but this first as it is undeniably inlightened to see this mercie of God so there comes in a streame of the freenesse and riches of Gods grace and doth affect the heart with the sweetnesse and rellish of Gods grace that it findes a marvellous sweetnesse in it Quest Secondly what is it to be effectually perswaded Ans It is thus much not a touch and away and a little sip and begone nor a hourly kinde of tasting but take notice of these two things in it First when the prevailing sweetnesse in the promise and that goodnesse in the promise is let in by the Spirit of the Lord that it sinkes into the heart roots and it comes to take possession of the soule of an humble sinner and is next the soule there is nothing next the soule but that the world and pleasure c. are without the heart but the goodnesse of the promise and the freenesse of Gods grace hath its privie chamber in the heart of a man this I take to be the meaning of that phrase of rooting the promise in the heart and this was the fault of the stony ground-hearers Matth. 13.21 The seed grew up suddenly and perished suddenly why because it had not depth of earth the seed of the promise had not the depth of his heart but there was a stone in the heart and the world lay next the heart and a stone of lust and pride was betweene the word of the Lord and the heart so that the promise had not root and hence it was slightly affected with the truth but never thus powerfully to have it goe downe to the roots of the heart the good word of the Lord in this case comes to the heart not as an owner but as a travellour this is the meaning of that place Hosea 2.14 I will allure her and draw her into the wildernesse that is by preparation and then I will speake comfortably to her that is I will speake to her heart so it is in the originall there is a kinde of prevailing sweetnesse of the grace of God in Christ that will be at the roots of the heart that it may give allowance unto it now marke what followes from hence and this is the first part of the effectuall perswading of the heart when the heart saith away with profit and the world and all let me have the Lord and his grace Oh that goes to the bottome of the heart hence it is that the soule thus prevailingly is sweetned with the goodnesse of the promise can taste nothing in the world without this it is now out of love with all other things it had loved and doted on before most immoderatly the sweetnesse of the promise hath stolne away the heart of a poore sinner and gotten the good will of the soule to be only for Christ and to have his heart to close with Christ and to be nothing in the world without him this effectuall perswading it is the meaning of that place Act. 3.19 Amend your lives repent and turne that your sinnes may be done away repent and be converted that is be truly prepared in the worke of humiliation and be converted that is have a through heat of the heart for grace in vocation that your sinnes may be done away in justification so then when the soule is first humbled in preparation and the heart now all for the Lord Jesus Christ and can taste nothing but Christ and nothing in regard of him and God hath gotten his good will then followes justification that your sinnes may be blotted out this was the practice of the repenting Church when the Lord had hedged her way and built a wall that she could not finde her old lovers Hos 2.7 at last the Church saith I will returne to my first husband for then it was better with me than now as if the Church had said Oh the mercies of God and the consolation of Christ are better than all my delights in sinne the soule comes now to see a bettering in Christ Oh to have my heart purged and my sinnes remitted it were better than to wallow
in my lusts still now the heart is going out of the world to the Lord Jesus Christ when there is an overpowering vertue of the sweetnesse of the promise that prevailes with the soule above all and affects the heart with the good thereof more than all the rest this is then to be effectually perswaded Now the will and the heart is gone that way let all the temptation and the darling delights of sinne come in never so fast yet the prevailing power of the promise out bids and goes beyond all these and affects the heart more than all these I would have you retaine those things that ye may trie whose hearts are sound many pretend to have a lingering desire after Christ and to seeme to bee for Christ and yet the worke was never sound they were never perswaded powerfully as I now speake and as there is a strong and effectuall perswading so there is a kinde of hourly and feeble perswading and a slight motion of it the heart may seem to make out toward Christ yet never get â—ut because it was never effectually perswaded â—hese slight motions and hourly perswasions are â—ike the untimely birth of a woman that vanishâ—th away and comes to nothing in the end Many a man hath had his eyes opened and the sweetnesse of the promise revealed and the soule â—ad begun to purpose and to be at a hay now â—ay and then he will goe to Christ and yet sinks â—owne againe and falls back and perisheth everâ—stingly As it is with a waggon that passeth by a â—angerous pit being well loaden which if it passe â—ot by hee is undone he is at a set well they will use their skill they pull with might maine â—nd now it is going and then it is comming it 〈◊〉 ever at a hay now hay at last the traces breake â—nd it falls downe irrecoverably So it is with a â—arnall false hearted Hypocrite that hath had maâ—y of these feeble perswasions to pluck a base â—ile heart from his corruptions the Lord hath â—id some hand upon him by the terrours of the â—aw and let in some intimation of mercy and â—t him see what good he might have if he would â—art from his sinnes and he hath many good reâ—lutions the drunkard will be drunke no more â—e adulterer will bee uncleane no more and the â—roud person will never be proud any more it is â—et at a hay now hay but because hee is not â—fectually perswaded hee falls off from his halfe â—odging with God and is wholly overcome with â—nne never to be recovered more this was the practice of Agrippa Act. 26.27 where Paul shewing his conversation and what God had done for him when Agrippa heard this he was even at a dead lift and said Thou hast almost perswaded me to become a Christian almost holy almost humble and almost to forsake my sinnes I will never be more malicious against God and as the originall word saith Thou hast almost perswaded mee in a few things but hee never came to any good at all This is the guise of many that come to some outward reformation and get some knowledge and some parts and some duties performed so that a man would thinke they were making forward toward Christ and yet they recoyle and fall back againe to their old base courses most fearfully Of this generation was this spoke Heb. 6.4 that had a taste of the Heavenly gift that is saving faith they liked the promise but it was never at the heart roots Oh said they comfort ease and salvation is good to be had but they did not take downe the promise and disgest it and make it good blood they wanted this sound perswasion somewhat was neerer to the heart than the promise and therefore it came to nothing An Hypocrite that is tickled and hath some flashy desires as the stony ground was is a little affected with the Word of God This man may entertaine iâ— some kinde of hourely perswasion somewhat of the promise for some respect the promise is this that God will pardon the iniquity of his poore children and ease them of all their miseries and glorifie them for ever The Hypocrite heares this that there is salvation to be had and grace is now offered Oh it is pretty saith the soule then I hope it is possible for something to come to my share in conclusion hee entertaines the promise to pardon him but the promise and the prevailing power of it goe not deepe enough to loose him from his corruptions and to purge him hee would sip of the promises but make a meale of his lusts But a good heart doth the contrary the promise is the standing dish and the Lord â—esus Christ to be loved and embraced that is his meale onely he may sip now and then at his lusts â—nd corruptions The Hypocrite will have his â—ase haunts and his corruptions still but in the meane time hee could bee content to thinke on Christ to pardon him and that these evils might â—ot befall him Part. 2 Now you see what it is to bee effectually perswaded nothing but God can doe this and in his lies the excellency of faith to rest it selfe upon the freenesse of Gods grace that it may have â—n interest in the good thereof that is the end â—f faith there lies the marrow of faith that is the â—ertue and spirituall efficacy of faith that as hope â—aited for mercy and desire longed for it and â—â—ve and joy welcomed it and they all bring the â—romise home to the soule so then the will â—ith Amen Lord let it be so I will goe no furâ—her It is in this case as it was with the woman â—f Samaria Iohn 4.29 When Christ had opened â—er eyes and shewed her the vilenes of her heart â—nd also told her that shee had seven Husbands saying thou art an adulterous woman now when she had heard this away shee goes to the Citie and said Behold a man that hath told mee all that ever I did is not he the Christ Just so all the affections come to the will the great commander and plead in this case and thus begin to strive with the heart Oh saith hope I have waited for this goodnesse of the Lord and my eyes have failed with looking for it And desire saith I have longed for this goodnesse and saith love I have received it and joy saith I have felt the sweetnesse of it is not this mercy worth the receiving Then the will saith is it so indeed hast thou waited for it hope and hast thou longed for it desire and hast thou felt the sweetnesse of it joy then we will all goe to that mercy and seeke no further Let base corruptions and lusts doe what they will wee will goe to that mercy Foure things or Acts. and repose our selves therein Now this resting of it selfe discovers a foure-fold act Act 1 First it implyes a going out of the soule to Christ that the soule