But they were false-hearted men that would not hold out if they came to wetting And so in Matth. 13. 21. and Luke 8. 13. they that received the word and with joy too they are such as believe but for a while but having no root they go away As the house built on the sand may stand till the wind blows And in John 12. 42. Many believed on him but yet they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God worldly things are preferred before spiritual And in Acts 8. 13 24. compared together Simon also believed but that did not pluck him out of the gall of bittterness nor unfetter him from the bond of iniquity That faith that lets a man lie in an unregenerate estate that is the faith of Simon Magus It is called Believing and you may so call your selves Believers and yet be without saving Faith For every place in which it is named sets a blemish upon it Shewing that such a believing is joyned with predominant lust But now the Faith that saves that is other wayes in Scripture described and set forth with other recommendations It is called a believing to the saving of the soul and so opposite to that which withdraws that is Faith for a time Mark the distinction and emphasis of the words in Heb. 10 ult It is a receiving of Christ Jesus as Saviour and Lord Col. 2. 6. which is alwayes accompanied with true regeneration In John 1. 12 13. Whosoever believes in Christ to the saving of his soul is born of God 1 John 5. 1. Whoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Whoever believeth that he is so and so takes him And is called in Scripture by these properties and epithites a heart-purifying faith Acts 15. 9. a faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. the Faith of Gods elect 1 Tit. 1. a precious faith 2. Pet. 1. 1. an effectual or operative faith c. all this shews that though the Scripture call this and that both by the same name Believing yet they differ as much as saving and not saving Faith This is the first Reason concerning that opinion of the easiness of believing They that will be thus mistaken we may well say of them they are in danger to miss of their salvation Serm. 19 Reason 2 THe second Reason is That as men are mistaken in Faith as I have shewed so they are also mistaken in the Formalis ratio of believing The formal reason of Believing is the Word of the Gospel which is therefore called the power of God to salvation to every one that believes Rom. 1. 17. And it is an excellent mark of true and saving Faith that it hath been wrought in thee by the word of the Gospel by that which is called the hearing of Faith Gal. 3. 2. This is the reason of believing as you may gather from those words John 3. 33. he hath set to his seal that God is true i. e. he that believeth and he that believeth not makes God a lyar 1 John 5. 10. shewing that Gods Word or the testimony of Christ in the Word is the ground and true reason of believing all that do believe truely do resolve their Faith into this reason the truth and veracity of the Word of God but now the common Faith of most that live in the Church in the ayre of the Gospel if it be followed to the last resolve or resort of it is not into conviction by the word or spirit but the custom and example 〈◊〉 men that profess they believe Christ to be a Saviour because they see it commonly believed and owned in the Church that they live among these have the same reason for believing in Christ that the Turk hath for believing in Mahomet and that the Jew hath for his rejecting Christ whose Religion is milked into their mouths by education in such places and by such parents as are of this opinion thus it is with us that have suckt in this kind of believing with our milk which makes it easie to us as the Fathers authority to the Child in minority is the greatest in the world But to think that without a better Reason of our Faith we can be saved is a great mistake For the heart must be convinc't and principled by the Gospel and by the power of God therein Reas 3 The third reason of the easiness of this kind of unsaying Faith is freedom from temptations For many men are carryed on the wings of this Faith all their lives long freed from temptations doubts fears disquietments have no thoughts perplex them from the beginning to the end of their lives for they are temptations within that are the cause of the difficulty of believing when the wind lay Peter doubted not the Lord called and Peter went to him upon the water But when the wind rose and was boisterous then saith the text he was afraid and doubted Math. 14. 29. then Lord save me or else I perish then Christ saith Oh thou of little faith wherefore dost thou doubt when the wind was strong faith became weak when a man rides on in security and peace no guilt within no fears doubts or soul-troubles encountering him it s an easie thing to believe But when tribulation seizes upon the spirit and the wind arises then you come 〈◊〉 doubtings fears and disquietments and find it hard to believe then saith the heart Lord that I had but one drop of Faith that I were but able to come and be fixed upon the center of believing this is the common and greatest Reason of easie believing the empty traveller sings before the thief For First Satan rather keeps the peace of such a soul then molests it because he knows that his kingdom and possession is not endangered by such a faith as sights not against his dominion Pharaoh arms not his Egyptians whiles Israel followed a quiet drudgery and therefore the devil rather rocks the cradle then he will disquiet his sleeping Child And Secondly While a man is not sensible what it is to lose his soul nor feels the damnable sins he hath nor considers that the whole moment of his Salvation hangs only on this cord he doth not fear neither is disquieted But when he sees that life Eternal hangs upon this naile it startles him and makes him afraid When the man perceived that the cure of his child did he upon his believing it made him cry out Lord help my unbelief Mark 9. 24. They that see not the concernment of their believing unto Salvation cry not out for the help of their unbelief Reas 4 Fourthly While the props that a man leans upon remain uncashiered it is not hard for the man to believe Faith is the easiest thing in the world whiles a man rests upon something in himself while he swims upon the Bladders that are not pulled from under his arm-holes t is easie for him to keep his head above water Let me tell every one of you whiles you are
that you believe not few men that believe the one will believe the other they will not believe but that they can believe as if it were an easier matter to believe in Christ then to keep the law that is as if it were easier to obey the Gospel then t is to obey the law and that therefore such an omnipotent power as this divine drawing imports is not necessary to make a sinner believe Now I beseech you consider the Law hath something in you for being once written in the heart of man there do remain some fragments or rubbish if I may use that word in allusion to a building form but of the Gospel there is not a line in the heart of man by nature because it is wholly revealed and therefore it is as impossible by a saving faith to believe in Christ unto salvation as it is for a man to keep the law it 's as easy for a man to love God above self which the law requires as to believe in Christ Jesus with self denial for in both self goeth down to love with all the heart which the law requires is as impossible as to believe with all the heart as the Gospel requires and commands and therefore men are mistaken that think faith is in their power and confesse that obedience to the command is not Obj. But you will say the law requires perfection the Gospel only sincerity therefore the Gospel is easier of the two Answ It s true integrity is required in the law of God for you must not misse a hair if you will be saved that way Cursed is he that continues not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. 9. But now the Gospel requires only a sincere heart It 's true God in the Gospel is content and pleased with sincerity and mark what the Apostle saith concerning the law It 's a burden intollerable which neither they nor their fathers wâ—re able to bear Act. 15. 10. But Christ saith that his yoke is easy and his burden is light Matth. 11. 30. Here is the difference but to rise out of this estate into which we are plunged now for we must speak of a recovery and rising again this is as hard and difficult as it is for us to keep the law all is one Suppose a man dead lying in the grave bound in the grave-clothes as Lazarus was and a man dead not bound at all but perfectly loose from such impediments is it not all on to put life into either of these two so though there be not a full integrity of the duties required of necessity in the Gospel yeâ— man being dead and to rise recover and come again to a state of salvation and Gods Image it 's all one power that is put forth to raise a man by faith in Christ which is recovering Gospel grace as to set a man in the state of perfection which is the life of Gods Image but indeed this is made possible as I said through grace to believe but to keep the law perfectly is not made possible to us in this life no not by grace God left it under an impossibility called the impossibility of the law Rom. 8. and therefore as the Apostle speaks of that faith that is wrought in those that shall be saved it is wrought by an exceeding hyperbole of power 1 Epes 18. 19. â—he uses such a weight of words the exceeding greatness of his mighty power in them that do believe according to the power that was exercised in Christ when God raised him from the dead now Christ was perfectly dead and lay under the weight of the sinnes of all believers and therefore the power that raised him up was omnipotent and is not this power exemplified in raising you to faith which is a recovering grace except men be pleased to deny that man is not so dead as Christ was that he hath some degree of spiritual life though Christ had no degree of natural life for then he had not been dead as neither we if it be so and I know not why they should deny the same omnipotent power to raise them from being dead in sinnes to come to Christ for to deny the greatness of the power is to deny the degree of the death and therefore I think it to be a good reason for the conclusion of this digression from the privation oâ— defect that is in man to believe and the power that is necessary to relieve that defect and heal that privation to argue the impossibility of faith to a natural man And For that which is said if others of lower form lesse in parts do believe why not Iâ—â— why should not I think my self a believer as well as he or another I reply that in Scripture especially our Saviours doctrine the reason of believing and not believing seems to lie very high and out of sight as they say of the head of Nilus mark and take no offence but let your Reason stoop to God and his Word you believe not because you are not of my sheep John 10. 26. as many as were ordained to eternal life believed as if ordination to eternal life were the original or cause of believing Acts 13. 48. But we shall look only into man himself in whom there is reason enough for his unbelief how can you believe that receive honour one of another John 5. 40. there are so many reasons for unbelief as there are master sins for every master sin as it brings the soul under great guilt so it hinders the soul from coming to Christ Jesus but then what reason in man can there be given for his faith in Christ We see many simple men the Scripture calls them babes believe learned men do not We have read of a thousand converted at the first Sermon they heard as at Peters Sermon And again many hear a thousand Sermons and yet are not believers In short though nature and art in their works require the subject they work upon to be disposed and fitted with capacity else the work is hindred therefore the sun hardens and softens according to the temper of the subject on which it works but God that works this faith if he do not find a subject prepared as indeed he doth not he can make or create faith in most indisposed subjects for Creation requires not so much as matter to work on but works out of nothing as we know which nature cannot do When God works faith in yâ—â— he finds no propension to faith but opposition he finds nothing lesse then nothing in man but he works it I say there is no cause can be given in man why one believes and not another because it is the hand of free and powerful grace that works it in man without finding any propension unto it Reason The reason why these Gospel-graces do require a supernatural strength is this in general Christs dominion in man is begun and carried on first
there are many things whereof women have experience that counterfeit impregnation which is not so So there may be such appearings of believing in a man as give but an uncertain or fals evidence thereof therefore you need know some certain evidences that you are drawn to God for your comfort And First If you be come then you have been drawn this stands upon the evidence of the text the effect shewes the cause for no man can come except the father drawes If the wall shine you may conclude the sunne is up and shines upon it for it would give no light of it self but by reflection if you find in your hearts a willing receiving of Christ Jesus for your Saviour and Lord that you have surrendred and made a deed of gift of your selves to the Lord Jesus to be his certainly you have been drawn by God this light hath shined upon you otherwise you could not reflect it Secondly Is thy faith an inchristing that is a Christ receiving faith is it a marriage faith I call that a marriage faith which accepts of the person of Christ a Saviour and Lord which some call the faith of the person whereby you do not only believe for benefits without him but for the benefiâ—s with him there is a faith in formal hypocrites and such as the very sound of the word begets as we see in all or the generallity of us here in England that live under the sound of the word of the Gospel a kind of faith and opinion begotten in all men of Christ by a general and uncontrolled conviction as those that did believe when they saw the miracles that he did but he did not commit himself to them John 2. 24. But that which is called the faith of Gods Elect in Titus 1. 1. that 's not found in any but they that are thus drawn and is that which he works in man in pursuance of his purpose of election making good the rest of the links of the chain after the first namely effectual calling and Justification and Sanctification which every faith or believing doth not doe every faith you find in men is not in pursuance of this drawing of God as I have described it Thirdly When we can willingly subscribe to the course that God hath taken to save our souls which the most of men do not now the course that he hath taken is in another not in our selves it is in Christ by whom God doth justifie reconcile adopt sanctifie and govern all in Christ A sanctified heart submitting to this course of God is a sign that God hath drawn you and given you some taste of Christ Jesus and is your faith such a believing yea or no then certainly by the victoriousness of it to bring you to this pass it appears to be the teaching of God as it is delivered in 2 Cor. 10. 5. It is powerful to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ For man naturally and of himself thinks very meanly of this way and means of saving men by Christ for so it was in the type at first Israel thought very meanly of Moses when he came into Egypt one that seemed an unlikely instrument to cope with 〈◊〉 and such potent impediments And therefore the Jew hold fast his own righteousness and would not submit Rom. 10. 3. And mans pride makes greatest head and resistance against this way of Salvation that may be until it appear that there must be no Salve or Chirurgerie to apply to the sting of fierie Serpents on pain of death but that unlikely way of looking up to the brazen Serpent on the pole for he that used his own medicine perished and died So when a man is convinced that there is no salve of his own making no medicine of his own applying will serve the turn for a man may die under his medicine as well as under his sinne if he do not fly to this only remedy to look up by faith to Christ Jesus When he is convinc'd of this he will subscribe and give up his hand to God the Lord as it 's said and this submission doth stand in three things First In a contented losse of that which was his gain for every man hath somewhat to leaâ— upon that he may not lie open to the arrowes of the fiery law of God and his own conscience therefore some gâ—in he will have to shelter him and therefore when he can willingly esteem all those excellencies dung and dross and adventure to make himself empty and naked that he may be found in Christ Jesus Phil 3. 8 9. This is a sign of submitting to God as the storm makes the Merchant at Sea to submit he loves his goods but the danger of his life which the storm puts him into makes him heave them all over board It 's good when a man is willing to be a loser of his proud self-sufficiencies or his beloved sins to gain Christ for these are our hardest losses and to make Christ Jesus our gain answerable and valuable to and with all our losses A hard point but 't is a point of submission Secondly In a willing submission to the conduct of Christ as Israel if they will go out of Egypt they must submit to the conduct of Moses and go which way he will lead them for not the shortest but the safest way God leads them wherein he will shew them wonders further miracles then he had shewn in Egypt so this submission to the conduct of Christ in the wilderness that he leads you through where the cross the loss may make you more miserable for Religion for Christ then other men in the world are as the Apostle saith the confession of Christ makes us miserable men in the world miserable for religions sake which we might avoid if we would shun religions if this can be digested by you and there be a sweetning of sowre morsels by the name of Christ it argues well Thirdly In a cordial submission to Christ his wayes especially when they are quarreld by flesh and blood Some men are so bold as to account them foolish others as unreasonable most of us do account them hard and that we shall be contrary to other mens examples or reasons or principles and therefore it is a hard thing to submit to the waies of God without consulting with flesh and blood so as though reasons taken from religion are the strongest with us in any debate or consultation yet there is a propension in our natures to follow the guidance of our own reason until the Load-stone have toucht the Iron and caused it to look to the North point as you use to say till the interest of God have taken place in our hearts to draw them to Christ Jesus then there is a submission to Christ for righteousness and to those waies and Commandements that he injoines us be they never so hard and untractable to flesh and blood Fourthly When we find that God will
the stroak this teaching of God which teaches you to believe that gives you the particular assurance of salvation And therefore though God have sent Christ yet there are thousands of reprobate and rejected persons in the world It is Christ in you and you in him by Faith that strikes the stroak Seventhly The point of Gods sending Christ affords sweet meditation but the sense of Gods drawing thy soul unto Christ affords sweet consolation In the one thou mayst see the love of God to the world for God so loved the world John 3. 16. By the other thou mayst see his special love to thee concerning which you find it written by the Apostle Gal. 2. 20. He loved me and gave himself for me No man can say this word me until he be drawn unto Christ And when is that may some say that is not my point now to handle yet in brief I answer First When thou art come then thou hast been drawn If thou canst embrace and receive Christ as a Saviour and a Lord then thou hast been drawn Col. 2. 6. And therefore as I may say of the shadow on the Dyal that is gone to another line though you cannot see the motion yet you may conclude it is moved because it is gone to another line So you may certainly conclude that you are gone from the state of nature to the state of grace when there is a reception and embracing of Christ Jesus Secondly When thy enmity and opposition is removed and those things that obstructed thy faith are taken away Gods drawing doth that If there be an inclination to Christ as the chief Good come in place of the aversation that was there before if there be a complacency come in stead of the hardness and antipathy that was there before It is made one of the first signs of grace I will pour out upon them the Spirit of grace and supplication and they shall look on him whom they have pierced and mourn and be in bitterness Zach. 12. 10. spoken of the Jews This is a sign that there is a great change as when light comes into a chamber we conclude that the shutts of the window are removed so when you find a new light a new disposition of the heart to God you may conclude the obstructions are removed and the enmity is taken away So much for the second Corollary drawn from this point Use 3 Thirdly If no man can come to Christ except the Father draw him Hence we may learn how much faith and coming to Christ being both one ver 35. are mistaken in the world the great hinge on which the salvation of man turns It is undertaken and entertained as men think with great easiness and at pleasure performed without any sense or sensible need of Gods drawing without which Christ teaches us that no man can come to him I shall make it appear that this coming to Christ is I will not say hard and difficult for that intimates some possibility of mans performance but that it is altogether unperformable without the assistance of divine power That saying A man may believe in Christ if he will to take in that by the way is true and good if it be taken in a right sense for so the Scripture Rev. 22. 17. Whosoever will let him take the water of life freely But then I must say and I think Reason will go with me that every wish is not a will and every velleity as they call it is not a will set on edge an earnest thirsty will after Christ Jesus He that hath a will wrought by God and the truth is we differ from other men only in this all confess him to be free in believing But man is not made by himself free but the grace of God frees the will of man for if the Son make you free then are you free indeed And no man doth any thing in the world with greater freedom then a willingness to believe when of nilling he is made by God willing as Austin saith such a soul being freed from its servitude to thirst after the righteousness of God is pronounced blessed Matth. 5. 6. We may safely say he hath the seed of faith that hath this will in him But every Balaams wish to die the death of the righteous and every one that saith I will but doth not Matth. 21. 30. this is not reckoned in Scripture to be a will therefore men are as much mistaken in their willing as in their believing The Reasons of the opinion of this easiness of believing are three Reason 1 First The mistaking of Leah for Rachel My meaning is the taking of a Dogmatical for a saving Faith which is the common mistake of the world that live under the Gospel For this is but light oar that lies near day as the Mettalists say though it looks like gold it is not gold It looks like the Faith that saves but it is not it For this as the Apostle saith in another case they willingly know not This is not the Faith that is hard and difficult You must not look to be saved by a Christ without you but by a Christ within you For to be in the Faith and to have Christ in you is all one 2. Cor. 13. 5. As there are that may be called Disciples outwardly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2. 28. and there are others that Christ calls Disciples indeed or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 really John 8. 31. So there is a Faith that brings forth a profession of Christ as the blade in the stony ground And there is a Faith that brings a man into possession of Christ and that is the Faith Now it is a fatal mistake of many men to reckon themselves in Christ and a state of salvation by a Faith that makes them only Disciples outwardly For even the greatest part of the called are not chosen That Faith must needs be unsaving that is consistent with predominant lusts that encounters not raigning sins For all resistance of sin in a Scripture-phrase is called conquest For in the resistance of it there is as much love seen to God as in the conquest of it though there be not so much power seen That which is the best kind of Faith and saving is that which is most hard difficult and impossible to man The very Faith of Miracles that you read of sometimes in the Scripture is not so hard as saving Faith to come unto and believe in Christ Certainly this is to be known those that came short of saving Faith have yet attained to the Faith of Miracles as Judas and others And therefore let us set these two the Faith which saves and that which saves not in front one against the other and see what the Scripture saith of both And you shall find the drawing power of God affixt to the saving faith but not to the other In John 2. 23. many believed on Christ when they saw the miracles that he did
in your natural condition you have some thing which you call your gain Phil. 3. 7. and if you should presently die you have something to trust unto and while these remain with you it is not a hard thing for you to believe and therefore a man trusts to his fleshly confidence till he come to know Christ Jesus the Lord But when the soul is unhorst of her false confidence and true faith hath dismantled all mans strong holds that there is nothing to relieve it but faith in Christ when a man is left naked as Adam was of himself and his own righteousness and a man hath nothing to trust unto but the word of God whom he hath offended and yet now he must trust to it and venture his soul upon it when troubles and fearful questions do arise then you will find no sea no Euripus is more unconstant then the heart of man nothing more hard to fix this will make him cry out with Francis Spira Oh that I had but one dram of Faith O that my Faith were fixt and my heart by Faith these are the Reasons of that opinion the easiness of believing Now I must shew the contrary to this opinion about the easiness of Faith and to that end I shall say thus much that it is not properly said to be hard for a natural man to come to Christ for that may denote a possibility but that man cannot come without Gods drawing which I shall endeavour to prove First Because the Scripture makes it the work of God and the gift of God the work of God for he draws the gift of God for it is given to believe And in some places gives that as the reason why men cannot believe of themselves as in the text No man can except God draw which is given as the reason of the unbelief of these murmurers against Christs doctrine and ver 64. 65. its said Christ knew from the beginning who should not believe For no man can come to me except it were given him of my Father And our Saviour as appears by this thought it a good proof that they that were not drawn by Gods work nor had faith given them of his Father could not believe in him or come to him That faith is the gift of God it is said expresly Phil. 1. 29. to you it is given to believe sincerely And Matth. 13. 11. to you it is given to know the mysteries And Ephes 2. 8. you are saved by grace through Faith and this not of your selves it is the gift of God And Secondly That you may see that assigning of our Faith to Gods work and Gods gift doth deny man to be the social as well as sole cause of his faith and that God only teaches the heart to believe you may observe that it is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of opposition unto and not of Composition or Concurrence of man with God in way of Co-ordination where the Scripture speaks of God it speaks of God as the sole cause Mark the antithetical places where it is not only said that God works it but God works it and not man Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee saith Christ to Peter Matth. 16. 17. but my Father our sufficiency is not of our selves to the least thought but of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. there is an antithesis excluding our selves Not of our selves but it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. As therefore they say in Philosophy God is Causa totius entis which doth deny all concausality he made us not we our selves in the hundred Psalm so it may be said that we are his creatures in grace as well as in nature We make not a haire of our selves no not the colour and shall we not lay it to heart In nature did I make my self why shall not I give as much to God in regeneration as generation seeing God is seen in the one as well as in the other Thirdly Faith in Christ is a distinguishing grace a work that differences those that are sheep from them that are not those that are given from them that are not given to Christ this is proved Matth. 13. 11. to you it is given to them it is not given to the babes it is revealed but hidden from the wise Matth. 11. 25. This coming unto Christ to speak plainly is a fruit and effect of election all that are chosen to Eternal Life shall come in unto and believe in Christ they shall all know me Heb. 8. 11. both the least and the greatest every man that is taught of God doth believe Joh. 6. 45. If any man living can know himself to be Elected of God how must he know it we must know our election if at all ascendendo not descendendo not prying into the abysse but beginning at the lowest round of the ladder my regeneration and Faith in Christ and from thence ascend As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Act. 13. 48. a place as it pinches hard so men have set their wits on the tenters to make something of it or rather nothing not as were qualified and disposed as say some but appointed or ordained It s vain to wash away the sence of the word We know it is called The faith of Gods elect and that it is said the election hath obtained Rom. 11. 4. our Saviour saith John 10. 26. you see the works that I do miracles that one would think might work faith but there is a secret reason why you believe not Because you are not of my sheep for all they do believe in me and this is my constant doctrine for this I have said unto you It is said of the Councel of Trent by him that wrote the history of that Councel that when those that were for the will and power of man disputed with the other party by reason they seemed to carry all before them to get the victory but when the other party that was for the Grace of God against the will of man came to back their arguments by Scripture not by reason then they went as far backward as forward It is objected that it is not likely that all that in that Congregation were ordained to life eternal did believe at that time It is but a quibble which we can speak no further unto then the text doth It is enough that the reason of believing is drawn from their ordination to life as John 6. 37. all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and if all that God giveth to Christ shall come to Christ we conclude that it is proper to those that are the elect of God to those God gives it in those God works it Serm. 20 NOW I come to lay down Reasons to prove true Faith to be the work of a supernatural hand taken from faith it self and the Reasons will be eight or nine because I would humble-men out of themselves and out of those vain thoughts that
they can believe at pleasure Reas 1 First Because the knowledge or light in which faith is seated is not a natural light but it is a light proceeding from the Spirit of God 2 Cor. 4. 6. shewing that this light is bidden by God to flow out of our darkness and a Created light as the first light was so that the light wherein saving Faith is seated is not a natural light In all faith that is true and saving there must be a proportion of knowledge and therefore faith and knowledge are sometimes put for one and the same in the holy Scripture famously in Isa 53. 11. by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many that is by the Faith of him and whence this light of faith doth come you may very well perceive by that Flesh and blood hath not revealed it It is not a light of natural reason or acquisition but is a light created by God and conveyed by the spirit of God only Matth. 16. 17. For that which is called a spiritual discerning and that must either be Faith or the light wherein faith is planted that is affirmed not to be within the power of a natural man 1 Cor. 2. 14. where he gives the reason why a natural man doth not perceive the things of God because they are spiritually discerned and therefore I conclude that a natural man hath not the spiritual discerning of heavenly things and having not this spiritual discerning it remains that it must be a supernatural hand and therefore all the light of Reason learning and pregnancy of wit in man naturally is but darkness to this spiritual light which is given to babes and fools as the moon light is but night and darkness unto that light which makes day and if this be that light whereby Christ is only savingly known in the excellency of his knowledge it must needs follow that faith being seated in it must be a supernatural work which is a clear demonstration and strong proof as any I know from reason that as the sun can not be seen in the light of a torch so you must see and know and believe in Christ Jesus by a light held forth from God which is supernatural Reas 2 Secondly Every predominant and reigning lust doth not cannot stand with saving Faith because it will hinder the plantation and growth of it as the rock hindred the rooting of the sown seed and what is this to the purpose may some say very much sor it shews that no unregenerate or natural man every of which hath some master fin or other can have a saving faith it must be said of every lust what is said of one for there is the same Reason our Saviour instances in on Joh. 5. 44. how can you believe that receive honour one of another and not that which comes from God only one marriage prevents a second untill some divorce or separation be made and so doth any reigning sin hinder faith in Christ Oh that you would think of it that live in any known raigning lust you can have no saving faith in Christ Jesus I know infirmities may stand with faith but raigning sin cannot no more then a first and second marriage can stand together A miserable case that a man should think he hath faith when he is martyed to sin I confess a dogmatical faith an opinionative faith a common faith may consist with a mans lust Simon Magus was in the Gall of bitterness and yet he believed with that kind of faith that was in unregenerate men but saving Faith will not consist with lusts that is the second reason therefore naturally no man can believe in Christ Jesus Reas 3 Thirdly The establishment and pursuance of self righteousness by your own worthiness and works that also hinders the plantation of saving faith in you and therefore as Luther said Of all taking heed take heed you do not pursue any thing that may be called your own righteousness For they went about to make their own righteousness to stand and therefore did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God Rom. 10. 3. they attain not that seek it so as Israel that pursued after righteousness they followed the chase hard but did not overtake it Rom. 9. 31. why because they sought it as it were by the works of the law and not by the faith of Christ Jesus those that run fastest as humbled men do after this righteousness are but like a man that runs apace after his shadow that runs as fast away from him as he runs after it therefore as Adam did not strip himself nor may be never would but God stript him and then cloathed him with skins not with leaves that was an embleme of death for it appears that some beasts were killed the green leaves whereby a man covers himself are an embleme of his own righteousness wherein he would stand But when God comes to strip him of this righteousness Oh then saith he that I might be cloathed with skins an embleme of the atonement made for sin by the death of Christ this also doth oppose and hinder the plantation of Faith Reas 4 Fourthly To bring a man to saving faith in Christ is no less then to take a Castle fortified so it is compared 2 Cor. 10. 4 a strong hold must be beaten down and this is the mighty work of Gods power saith the text for the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ now mark if it be to take a fortified Castle then the Apostle supposes that every natural man till he be converted is in his strong hold and such a one will not dismantle his own Castle nor take himself and become captive to himself and certainly if the work be this no hand can do it but the hand of God Reas 5 Fifthly Faith in Christ is no less then the surrendring and delivery up of a mans self to a new Soveraignty to be no more his own a man must acknowledge and take a new Lord assoon as he believes in Christ for as redemption frees us from the vindictive Justice of God so the conquest of Christ frees us from the power of sin from our Jaylor or former ruler the devil It cannot be expected of a bondman that he should free himself especially a voluntary bondman that delights to have his ears bored you that say you are believers in Christ if your faith be true know by this it resigns and surrenders you up to the will of a new Lord and Soveraign and let any man ask counsel of his own heart whether he would be willing without divine power drawing him to surrender up the mastery of himself therefore I conclude if this he cannot do he cannot believe Reas 6 Sixthly The whole Soul is moved in or by the plantation of faith The School-men do dispute and quarrel about the seat of faith whether it be the understanding or the will
the act of God To speak plainly there can be no coming to Christ except there be first a drawing of God For no man can come to me except my Father draw him They are both of them delivered in Jer. 31. 18. 19. Turn thou me and I shall be turned After I was turned I repented there is the act of Ephraim after I had received the passive Conversion that God had drawn and turned me There is no resurrection from the dead without first a resuscitation the word and power of Christ goes forth before the act of Lazarus the Sun shines upon the wall before the wall can re-shine any beams of the Sun from it so there must be the work of God upon the heart the grace of God must shine there before the heart can return take hold and carry the soul to Jesus Christ And there are two Premises two Propositions that do carry on this Conclusion in the generality of it That no man will or can be saved if left to his own disposal or sufficiency Propos 1 First That every man in the world must reckon of himself to be one that naturally and of himself is come short of the glory of God And oh that this Point had a sensible Impression upon us all Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and are come short of the glory of God the Justification of a sinner is Gods glory all are not only in but under sin Rom. 3. 9. nay all are not only fallen under sin but all are shut up concluded under sin Galat. 3. 22. all are not only shut up under sin in their own thoughts but by the Scripture shut up under sin the Scripture is the key whereby man is shut up and what possibility of escaping is there when all the world are shut up and certain it is that a man departed from God and fallen into himself is in the Scripture account in a lost estate and dead condition for that time as the Prodigals Father said of his son This my son was lost and dead but now upon his return he saith He was lost but now is found he was dead but is now alive Luke 15. 32. From that time that a man comes into Christ Jesus he is alive a man may live and yet be dead there is no time wherein you are to be reckoned alive and found but only from the time that you believe and take hold of Christ Jesus and therefore in 2 Cor. 5. 15. That henceforth those that live should not live unto themselves but to him that dyed for them and rose again which argues that all the time before they lived to themselves that is were dead That 's the first Proposition Propos 2 Secondly That every man in the world ought to reckon himself to lye still in this state of coming short until he be drawn to come in savingly to receive Jesus Christ For he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 John 5. 11. For so I would preach those out of Christ all of them dead I would unchrist them of that vain opinion that they have of being in him The Scripture is plain he remains under wrath till he come to believe receive and lay hold on Christ John 3. 36. For this is the only and necessary Condition of being saved that God hath assigned and proclaimed to lost man this is the new door for man shut out of Paradise to return to the Tree of life this is the only passible this is the certain way of re-instating man fallen short into capacity of the glory of God the Justification of a sinner is the glory of God and there is no other way but this those that you harp upon are false ways and to be abhorred Psal 119. For there are these two Reasons of it Reason 1 First It would be a disparagement and diminution to Christ if there should be found a second Saviour a second Way Truth and Life and therefore in 2 Cor. 11. 4 the Apostle challenges the Corinthians to find out if they can another Gospel another Christ another Spirit that cannot be found there is no other saving way but this The first Adam was but one and he lost all the second Adam must be but one neither as able to save all that are saved as the other was to destroy all that are destroyed Not that there is an equalitie in the number that are saved by the one and the damned and destroyed by the other that needs not to be but that the one is as only in saying as the other was in sinning Reason 2 Secondly That Christ is the only Condition of salvation appears by this because this will not stand with other Conditions of being saved which Man harps upon as works repentance sorrow for sin But there is but one because Christ will not stand with these For if Christ would stand with or consist with them then he should not be the onely way and the saving Truth Christ is made voyd by them Christ is of no effect to you if you will be justified by the works of the Law but if Christ be taken hold of by you then they are made void by Christ then the Righteousness of God makes void your own righteousness Not having my own as the Apostle saith in the like case Rom. 11. Either grace makes works to be no works or works makes grace to be no grace signifying that it must be this and not that not this and that not this with that which is necessarie to bring you to salvation but that it is Christ and not your own performances and works for without coming to Christ no salvation and no man can come to me except he be drawn that makes Demonstration thus A man cannot be saved except he receive Christ he cannot receive Christ except God draw him in therefore man left to his own disposal and the sufficiency of his own power cannot be saved this sum stands in plain Scripture terms This is the doctrinal Inference the practicall Use which I told you I would intermix with this Doctrinal is as followes First That we carefully maintain the necessity and soveraigntie the freeness of Gods grace and the power of it in the conversion of man Practic Use This is one practical and excellent Use that you carefully maintain these as Advocates of the grace of God the grace of God must be maintained and defended in these properties of it there hath rarely been found in the whole world in this point any man no not Pelagius himself that hath universally excluded or exploded the concurrence of the grace of God in the Course of salvation but have allowed it either for the inchoation or beginning of conversion or in the augmentation and increase of Grace or else in the consummation and finishing of it either for the sole work or the social work of it in and with man even very shame and the evidence of the point together forbids man to exclude that to which he
channel It was the saying of Austin long agoe De ipsis hominum voluntatibus facit quod vult God works upon the will of man what he will doth not the Workman that makes the watch know all the springs and can set the watch going and doth not God that made the heart know how to move and determine it to himself did not God make the day without the Sun at first and cannot he move nature by his omnipotency without ordinary course It s true I know men acute men of the Schools do hold it hard if not impossible to reconcile Gods working with mans freedome and think it not feasible but rather that the one crosses and thwarts the other but I say there is a harmony and sweet agreement between Gods drawing and mans coming when he will convert and bring in the Soul to close with Jesus Christ as there is between a weight or plummet of a Clock that accelerates the motion and a natural propension towards the Center which both joyâ— and interâ—â—â—r noâ— so t is here the will of man moves freely and God by his drawing doth give to it a greater weight that accelerates the motion of the will and by how much the more the Lord drawes by so much the freer is the will made Oh! that men would consider this and if they do not understand this let them believe that God doth the I pray what may be the meaning of that place Phil. 2. 12. Work out your Salvation here is mans working for Gods works in you to Will and to Do a Text that plainly shewes that the work of God and the work of man may very well stand together and the truth is there are four things that I think according to the principles of learning of Scripture I am sure that may make Gods drawing man to Christ and mans free coming very reconcilable so as the more man is drawn the freer he shall be he shall come as the Text Nay he shall runne Cant. 1. 4. as the more weight the freelier moves the plummet downwards First I hold it to be a great truth that was espied by learned Naturalists Philosophers that that which is a mans chief good and so apprehended to be is pursued with infinite desire and the will is necessarily carried towards it there is no shiness no indifferency of a man to this for Appetit us summi boni 〈…〉 the desire of my Chief good is an infinite desire Why because the highest good must needs have the highest appetite there being nothing that may put measure or limitation to that desire and therefore in the desire thereof the heart is necessarily carried and not indifferently contingently remisly Secondly The chiefest good of man consists in this the having and enjoying of God foâ— this is the highest and most satisfactory good that fills the appetite whereby the heart of man can be taken up and that fully and there is but one medium to the attainment of this chiefest good there is but one line leads unto it and being so the chief good and the line are equally desired the meanes is knowing of Christ coming unto or coming in by Christ so that when the chief good is but one and the meanes but one to it there can be no dissent of mans heart to either of these when they are known and apprehended and that this is the chief good and the onely meanes to it you are taught in one text of Scripture as I conceive John 17. 3. This is life eternal that they know thee and him whom thou hast sent Jesuâ— Christ if the knowing of God life eternal be the 〈◊〉 bonum and knowing Christ the only means that leads to that end then without all question the will of man once apprehending this to be so is carried without indifferency necessarily in the pursuit of both Thirdly Now when enlightens convinces and convictively teaches the mind to know and see this chiefest good this God and to know the only mean to this happinesse the having of Christ Jesus then is the heart forcibly and freely drawn and cannot be other it cannot but pursue and follow after for the light of Gods teaching carries it and the bias of the will naturally followes the dictate of that light of God and so you have both in one Gods drawing and mans coming and the greater the drawing is the more light the mind hath the freer is the coming with greater propension and it is this teaching of God by which our Saviour explaines this word drawing in the next verse 45. It s written in the Prophets they shall be all taught of God every man that hath heard and learned of the Father comes to me So that hence I prove that the will naturally followes this voice of God and if this be Gods drawing Gods teaching what contradiction can there be between these two Gods drawing and Mans coming every one that is thus taught is a Comer a Believer in and a Closer with the Lord Jesus and doth as freely come as a man in the dark doth follow a Lanthorn or light set up Fourthly The great satisfaction which the heart of man finds in Christ Jesus thus taught and revealed to it in the light of the Spirit doth fully bind up and suspend the resistance or actual opposition of the heart at that time I confesse while corruption is in the heart of man there will be potentially some backwardness sluggishnesse and indisposition to walk with God as alwaies in the bottom of a vessel there will some dreggs remain but this the heart puts not out at the time of this satisfaction felt though at other times and in other matters it may like a bitter root vent out some gall that remaines yet when the Lord is working thus warmly and convictively upon the heart to turne it at that time this resistance is bound up and lies close and doth not break out but lies as if the hands were tied the resistance tamed and the opposition taken off as the exhalations drawn up by heavenly bodies do during the influence mount upwards on high and yet there is a power in the matter at some other time to move downwards again but that power is suspended for that time or as the fresh water-stream will runne amain being carried back with the tide And yet when 't is going back there is a propensness in it to run down the stream which to me seems lively to set out this point to you while the heart of man that is rebellious and reluctant hath this conviction on it and is taught to know God himself to be the chief good and Christ the only means leading thereunto For this time this resistance is bound up and opposition is not made though there be a power of resisting remaining that will sometimes put out it self though not now That 's the third Observation Observ 4 The fourth Observation is from these words Except my Father that hath sent me draw him
afforded that they may come but no marks that they shall be drawn Serm. 31 Use 3 Thirdly Consider what may be deduced from this point for the advancement of practical Godliness there is no point more copious in its use for the advancement of free grace then this doctrine of Gods powerful working and drawing men to Christ Jesus First It suggests matter of Humility grace is not loose though it be free there is no glorying at all left to us in the matter of our salvation all boasting is taken away by Gods drawing every point that 's profitable is so so far as it advances practical Religion and much of that consists in an humble frame of spirits for as lower grounds are richer and more fruitful then hill tops that see further but are more barren so a man that hath tasted of the tree of knowledge of good and evil may see further and discern more in matters of notion and speculation but the humble soul that hath seen the hand of God working its works in it is more fertile and fruitful to God Secondly It suggests matter of thankfulness for where humility goes before there thankfulness followes after and according to the proportion of the one is the other in 1 Pet. 2. 9. That you should shew forth the praise of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light who were before no people when we come to consider and have these impressions set on our souls that he calls us out of our darkness for darkness is ours into his marvellous light thankfulness arises from this And as light came out of darkness so God hath shined into our hearts the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Whence came the first light out of darkness where no man could have imagined the light to be so God hath called us out of darkness And Thirdly It calls for fruitfulness in requital of sogreat a grace fruitfulness is as we may say of varnish no colour of it self but sets off and puts a beauty upon other colours Fertillity is the nature of good soyl and men look for fruit from land or tree proportionable to the cost and labour bestowed so doth God expect fruitfulness according to the proportion of his goodness the meditation of this grace quickens the ingenuous heart to obedience when a man hath the sence of his justification that he is reconciled to God by the blood of Christ and that being reconciled we shall be saved by his life as 't is Rom. 5. 9. 10. this puts him on to a high degree of fruitfulness this manures the Tree and therefore in 1 John 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us and 5. chap. 3 vers It 's love that makes the Commandements not grievous Thus you see how it advances practical godliness And as it advances practick godliness so likewise it heightens all the obligations whereby a man can be obliged to God either to be humble thankful or fruitful they are advanced by the sence of the free grace of God Now for the advancement of obligations they are two-fold Such as have strength of Authority in them Or Such as have sweetness and constraint of love in them First obligations of authority are by the law of God For that doth not cease to oblige a believer being a perpetual law that God hath set on man in all states and conditions And then the Free grace of God is an obligation by a constraint of love the love of Christ constrains us in 2 Cor. 5. 14. Because we thus judg or have this sence that if one died for all then all are dead so that the obligation it puts upon you is of love and service above other men God may well expect some singular thing of you as namely first Because he hath drawn thee not others yea haply hath left many for one taken thou art one taken drawn out of the herd marked out for God as I said made to passe under the rod Vobis datum est non illis to you it is given c. not to others Secondly Because he hath drawn us when we withdrew for every man by nature doth withdraw even as a heifer withdrawes and will not be yoked so man withdrawes from the yoak of God from the doctrine from the faith the love and from the acquaintance of Christ Jesus and therefore it s said in Rom. 10. last vers I have stretched out my hands all the day long to a contradicting or withdrawing people Nay he not only draws us out of darkness and nothing but pursues and followes us when we run from him if the Lord should let men alone yea if the elect of God were let alone at first when God begins to draw they would be deserters forsakers and relinquish God you stiff necked people you do alwaies resist the Holy-Ghost but now God still knocks and if man comes not at first God knocks again and this bends mans heart to God that the Lord pursues him with mercy and followes him with loving kindness if God had let him alone he had perish'd but God would not let him have his will to perish Thirdly Because he hath drawn thee no better then others of the same clay saith the text the potter makes the difference not the clay are we better then they the Jew then the Gentile Romans 3. 9. No in no wise and therefore God to shew that there is no difference in man instances in twins that tumbled in a belly Rom. 9 10. Rebecca conceived by one even Isaac c. Nay it may be thou wast one of lower and meaner rank from whom God could not expect so much service so babes have it revealed not the wise Base things of the world are chosen not many noble and great Naaman the Syrian is cleansed and not many lepers in Israel who would think that Rahab the harlot should be named with Abraham in James 2. 25 Fourthly The Lord found thee when thou did'st not seek him he overcame thy opposition and resistance waiting that he might be gracious Isaiah 30. 18. if he had taken thy denyal and let thee alone if he had not overcome the evasions and Tergiversations of thy sturdy spirit by pursuing thee with fresh forces till he had brought every thought within thee into captivity unto the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. had he not stricken thee down as Paul was until he made thee say Lord what wilt thou have me to do what might have become of thee had he not hedged thee in with thorns and laid mustard on the breast to wean thee from thy sweet sins Lastly When God hath taken this course and won over and made the heart willing then a man accompts his own gain his arguments of confidence his own righteousness all dross and dung for the excellent knowledg of Christ Jesus in Phil. 3. 7 8. when the Lord hath given such a tast and sweetness then a man desires
which is said to contain better promises then the former hath this as the first I le write my law in their heart and put it in their mind that is in their inwards Hebr. 8. 9. 10. But instead of lighting a candle to the sunne I shall endeavor shortly to make a brief Anatomic of this Jew or Christian that is one inwardly and how he is distinguished from him that is so outwardly 1. There is in every true Christian an inward and spiritual man this is called The new man Ephes 4. 24. The inward Rom 7. 24. 2 Cor. 4. 16. A dead man may have inward parts but he hath not an inward man because there is no soul so an outward Christian may have inward parts a dead knowledge a dead heart dead affections but no inward man because there is no work of grace in him and this is called an inward man because as corruption spreading over the whole man is called the old man so this inward renewing grace spreading into and over the whole man the mind will affections is called an inner man and this inner man is that which knows God believes in Christ loves fears thirsts after grace delights in Gods Commandments and hath a continual opposition to the old man counter-lusting counter-desiring and counter-standing it Christ dwells in your hearts saith the Apostle The holy Spirit is within you saith Christ but as the soul never is in a dead body because where it dwells life is so Christ never is in a man that is dead where he is life is there is an inward man he that hath not in him this inward man cannot be a Christian inwardly Secondly There is an inward work of God that goes to the forming and begetting of this inward man Outward Ordinances may make a Christian in the Letter but an inward work makes a Christian in Spirit I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts Jer 31. 33. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit 〈◊〉 put into you Ezek. 36. 26. I will put my Law into their minds and write it in their hearts Heb. 8. 10. These are Covenant-promises performed to all that are Covenant people In this inward work we have but the Ministry but the writing is by the Spirit as it 's said 2 Cor. 3. 3. Ministred by us but written by the Spirit of the living God Thirdly In this inward man wrought by an inward work consists the being of a true Christian for without this he that is called a Christian is no more a Christian than he that acts the part of a King is a King the name of a Christian is given or may follow from the outward profession but the nature is in this inward man He that begets communicates his Nature to the begotten he that paints a man imploys Art only but communicates no Nature God in a Christians new birth communicates holiness which is the Divine Nature but in an Hypocrite there is nothing but Art as I may say or some outward work for the outward forms may be painted yet inward forms cannot the lineaments of a Christian may be drawn to the life upon the white wall of an Hypocrite but the inward man which is that quod dat esse gives being to a Christian that cannot be but in a true Christian Fourthly He that is inwardly a Christian hath some marks of difference and distinction from the outward Christian forma dat distingui this inward work diffâ—renceth him from all sorts of them that are nominates and Christians outwardly First He is distinguished from the carnal Jew or Christian that professes Christ but lives in sin for though the outward Jew or Christian may hate some sins Thou abhorrest Idols thou hatest Popery and dost many good works yet that is out of some peculiar and particular indisposition to a particular sin and some particular approbation or liking of some good works but this hate of any sin or this inclination to a performance of any good works ariseth not from an inward nature or gracious principle as it doth in him that is a Christian inwardly and the reason is that contrariety to sin which is in a true Christian arising from this inward gracious Nature is to the whole species or kind of sin and is irreconcileable to any sin whatsoever as contrarieties of Nature are to the whole kind as light is contrary to all darkness and fire to all water so that this contrariety to sin arising from the inward man is universal to all sin though not an universal victory yet there is an universal contrariety victory argues strength contrariety argues nature hence it is that an outward Christian may hate one sin and love another becsuse there is not a gracious Nature in him which would be contrary to all And so also he may do good works but not out of a Nature that is in him for if it were from an inward Nature there would be an universal sympathy with and inclination towards God and all that is of God his Children his Commandments 1 Joh. 5. 12 3. Therefore saith the Apostle I delight in the Law of God according to the inner man Rom. 7. 22. not a particular good inclination but the Law in the whole of it It 's the victory of a Christian over corruption may not be full the performance of good may not be perfect but the inward Nature of a Christian is to be judged by the universal contrariety of his inward man to all sin and his universal inclination to God and holiness and that universal contrariety will beget a combate against all sin and that universall inclination to God an endeavour to all good but whether that combat be victorious or that performance be perfect though it may be much to shew the strength of a Christian yet it shewes not his inward nature but the other this universal contrariety to sin can be in no man but him that hath an universal sympathy with God and his whole law and image in his children they are both in him that is a Christian inwardly and they argue an inward nature of grace in him in which nature he differs from the carnal Christian who may oppose some sins and do some good works out of other principles and reasons Secondly This inward Christian is distinguished from a moral man that to his dogmatical faith and profession of Christ addeth moral vertue for there is as great difference between grace and virtue as between the sweet flowers spread upon a dead carkass and inward life a man be full of virtue 〈◊〉 and emptie of grace as a room exquisitely painted without light moral virtue is like flowers of needle work that are made by art but never grow from any living root natural temper disposition education produce moral virtues but now this inward man of a Christian is as I may say made up of Christ the knowledge faith love the tastes and rellish of Christ are