therefore since the wrath of God shall in such a manner be revealed against such as with-hold the Truth in unrighteousnesse You need no other Argument to shew that the sin is great Againe One Evidence more is in this very Chapter that is from the kinde of punishment for punishments you know where the Iudge is just are according to the measure of the sinne Now marke God punishes this with giving them up to a reprobate sense For this cause saith the Apostle Rom. 1.26 God gave them up unto vile affections And afterwards in the eight and twentieth verse As they regarded not to know God even so or therefore God delivered them up to a reprobate minde that is a minde without knowledge an injudicious minde that cannot judge of things And looke in all the booke of God among all the Armies of sorrow there is not any like this to be given up to vile affections to lusts to an injudicious mind in matters of God and things belonging to their Salvation This punishment shewes the greatnesse of the sin but men slight this as it is the greatest judgement so it is the least felt men lye at rest they are cast into a dead sleepe but it is like the sleepe of them that have crazie braines they wake in a frenzie so these shall wake in an horrible astonishment their sleepe is such a calme as will end in a tempest and such a tempest as shall never be blowne over Therefore let no man blesse himselfe in this I feele none of these things for thou hast the greatest judgement on thee when thou feelest it least And so much for the three things I propounded to you what this Truth is how it is with-holden and the greatnesse of the sin now wee will come to make use of it And the first use we are to make of it is that which is the maine scope of the Apostle here and that for which we pitched on these words and that is to humble us to learne to know our selves to know in what Condition we are for the Truth is revealed to us but we with-hold it in unrighteousnesse This Truth that should rule in the hearts of men that should be as the supreme governour in the soule of which it may be said as it is said of the Peace of God let it rule in your soules that where by men should be acted is by men imprisoned Therefore Rom. 2.9 the Apostle denounceth Tribulation and anguish upon every one that disobeyes the Truth Intimating that Truth is our King that should governe and rule in our hearts now when men disobey it nay goe further imprison this Truth it is as when men imprison their lawfull King or servants their Master and they run riot and at liberty in the meane time And this is our case we doe with it as children doe with their Masters we desire to be rid of it because it watches over us and so we grow enemies to it And this is no small sinne for if we consider whence this comes who puts it into our hearts it will appeare hainous by the Law of man it is death to kill children that are begot by man but this Truth is begot by the Holy Ghost it is put in by the Spirit of God and to extinguish this Truth not to suffer it to live not to nourish it not to bring it forth is the great sin of all Even the Heathen shall rise in judgement against Christians for this who maintained the Vestall fire because they conceived it to come from heaven they for that cause never suffered it to go out But this Truth is a fire which came from heaven a sparke put into the brests of men to guide their feet into the way of Peace when men shall extinguish this Truth let it goe out and not maintaine it the Heathen shall rise against them in judgement as the men of Niniveh should rise up against the men of that Generation among whom Christ lived We were wont to take care of precious things consider the preciousnesse of this Truth what is precious we wil not be willing to destroy as the Prophet said of the bunch of Grapes Destroy it not for there is a blessing in it And what doe you thinke of this Truth is it not a precious thing Yea it is the chiefe thing in a man In a ship a wise man will have an eye to the rudder for that turnes all the rest of the body of the ship Of all things in our selves wee looke to our eye the guide of the body so we should learne to watch and be tender over this Truth as over our eye for the one is the light but of this life the other is the light of the soule to eternall life In Micah 3.5 It is threatned as a great Iudgement when God shal turne their Visions into night and their Divinations into darknesse when the Sunne shall goe downe on their Prophets and the day shall be darke on them and will you bring this Iudgement on your selves They that are guilty of this that have not used this Truth but imprisoned it and laboured as much as they can to cause the Sun to goe downe and rise no more to turne the day into night let them consider what the sin is when you reade the story of the Kings and heare them saying to the Prophets prophesie not imprisoning them as Ahab did Micaiah and slaying them as Ioash did Zecharial you will little thinke you are guilty of the same sinne but when this Truth comes as a Prophet from God and tels you such and such things ought to be done and such and such evils ought to be abstained from and you shall desire it to be silent and shall say Prophesie not when you shall not suffer it to speake freely I say your sins shall be as great as theirs therefore learne to consider of it and be humbled for it men are wont to thinke their Condition better because they know more than others but it is quite contrary for nothing aggravates sin more than that It is an extreme folly in men when they cannot deny the fact they slight the fault and will not acknowledge it It was Adams fault when God came towards him he fled and hides his sinne and it is the fault of all Adams posterity But let men know that the quite contrary way is the way to Salvation It is not with God as it is with men among whom confession makes way for condemnation for with God confession is the way to salvation Therefore be not unwilling to examine your selves consider how much you have knowne what truths have been revealed to you Do this with one eye with another eye looke on your lives and see how short your practise hath beene of your knowledge come willingly and if you confesse you shal be forgiven This wil drive you out of your selves it will be your Schoole-master to bring you to Christ. They that carry this
but think with your selves doe you thinke he lesse pities the diseases of the Soule than he did the diseases of the Body Doe you thinke that he hath lesse compassion now he is in Heaven than hee had when he was on Earth Or doe you think that His Arme is shortned that he cannot doe as much now to heale the running sores that are on thy soule as he did on earth to heale bodily diseases My Brethren if you doe but seeke to him if you can get but a word from him if he say but to you Be whole if hee doe but rebuke thy sinfull lusts as he rebuked the Feaver it shall presently obey him Hee that was able to calme the sea and that hath the strong winds in his power is he not able to dissolve a strong inordinate apprehension a strong lust a strong unruly affection and so set them at liberty certainly he is able You know the woman that had spent so many yeares and all that she had upon Physitians and could doe her selfe no good by all yet when shee comes to Christ once you see it was done in an instant So I say a strong lust an old lust which is contrary to this New Creature which it may be thou hast been contending with many yeares and cannot get the victory over it yet if thou canst come in this manner to him and contend with him and knocke at the doore and never give over till thou hast awaked him certainly hee will give thee the holy Ghost he will change and renue thy heart he will set thee at full libertie This he hath confirmed with an oath and whatsoever God hath sworn he will performe it without all reservation where hee is said to doe a thing without an oath there may be a reservation left therefore we never finde an oath to the old Covenant but he hath sworne to performe the new Covenant and you know this is a great part of the new Covenant to give a new heart to make a man a new Creature therefore where the new Covenant is made there this is repeated in Ier. 31. and Heb. 8. I will make a covenant with my people and what is that I will put my Law into their minds and in their hearts will I write them that is I will make them New Creatures Therefore I say this is a matter of much use to you If you goe to Christ and labour to have this done My Brethren there is nothing left for us to be assured nor any other experiment that wee need have that there is another life that Iesus Christ hath done these great things for us and that the Gospel is true I say there is nothing else left for us no other experiment in comparison of this that we see wee are made New Creatures This is all the miracles that we have nay I dare be bold to say more It was the greatest miracle that they had in that time when all the miracles were wrought And therefore you shall find that Paul gives this as the maine argument among the rest That they shall be raised againe at the last day that they were in Christ that the Gospel is real and true For saith he We have received the Spirit we have had the Spirit which is the earnest the pledge the annointing you shall finde it every where scattered in his Epistles the receiving of the Spirit is the maine ground that hee builds on as in the 2 Cor. 1.23 Hee hath established us together with you and hath annointed us and sealed us by giving the Spirit as an earnest into our hearts As if he should say this is the Argument we have that we shall be saved not for all the miracles so much as this that we have received the Spirit for that is the true annointing wee feele it in our selves that sealeth and confirmeth us wee cannot doubt having had experience of such a mighty worke in us that is the earnest and the pledge we have and therefore Ephes. 1.19 He prayes that they might see the exceeding greatnesse of his power working in those that beleeve as if that would bee a great confirmation to them if once they should finde an experiment of the greatnesse of his power And so Phil. 3.10 I care not for all the world on this condition that I might know him and the vertue of his resurrection that is that I might know him by the power of his Spirit changing my heart killing my sinnes raising me againe and in a word making me a New Creature that I might know this experiment I looke upon all the world as drosse and dung as things not to be named So I say seeing there is nothing else left in comparison of this and when miracles were wrought there was nothing like this that wee might have this experiment in our selves we should goe to God and not give him over till the worke be wrought in us that we might be made New Creatures That which keepes men off from religious courses for the most part is discouragement they think they shall not be able to go thorow it when they heare they must bee made new men in all things that there must be nothing that is old left but all the old leaven must bee purged out it discourageth men because they thinke they shall never bee able to reach it whereas this is an assurance to thee that if you go about it you shall not faile of your purpose but you shall certainly bring it to passe because if you seeke it at Gods hands he cannot deny you only I told you you must pray It may be for this purpose God will not heale thee altogether but suffer many lusts to grapple and to contend with thee that thou mayest be taught to doe this duty and therefore wee should learne to goe to Christ wee should feed on him every day and by that meanes we shall be renewed we shall get new strength otherwise what is the meaning of that In this mount hee will make a feast of fined wines and of fatlings of fat things full of marrow of wines fined and purified Esay 25.6 The meaning is this when you come to Christ to renue your Communion and your Covenant with him which is done through faith and prayer you draw neerer to him and that strengthneth the soule as Mannah strengthned them in the wildernesse that you live by it for every day there growes new distances betweene Christ and us we let goe our hold as it were in some measure and begin to fall off from him a little therefore every day we should renue this Covenant especially when we come to the Sacrament As Ionathan and David they renued the Covenant of God againe that was between them as if there were a new Solemnity of marriage if it were often to be renued to make the parties joyned more united make no question of it we should renue our match with Christ we should come neerer to him
but besides this as there is a wearinesse in the service of sinne and a wearinesse in the guilt of sinne and in the fruit of sinne So yet there is more wearinesse There is a wearinesse in the habite of sin for sin is to the soule as sicknesse is to the body Now a man that is sicke is weary of every thing he is weary of sitting he is weary of lyving so the soule while sinne abounds in it is weary of every thing a man is weary of himselfe he is weary of his owne company Now when Christ comes he takes away this wearinesse and gives grace which is to the soule as health is to the body that cures all the distempers and give â—â—st unto it but yet there is more than this There is a wearinesse in all that sinne toucheth in all the conditions of this life there is a wearinesse A man is weary of solitarinesse and he is weary of company he is weary of businesse he is weary of idlenesse he is weary of high condition for that is subject to Envie as the wind is most boisterous upon the top of hils And he is weary againe of low condition for the valleyes are over-low there a man is still subject to injuries and to be trampled on that place us where you will by reason of sinne it makes every condition weary to us But Christ comes to take away this wearinesse likewise by teaching us how to accommodate our selves to all conditions by teaching us how to want how to abound how to bee well how to be sicke how to live how to dye and this he doth by giving wisdome for folly will quarrell at the best condition wisdome makes the worst condition comfortable This the Lord doth thus hee delivers you from the wearinesse of sinne this rest you shall have if you will take him because when he comes into the soule he casts out sinne the cause of all these Tempests As Ionas when hee was cast out you know then there was a calme I say such rest you shall have in Christ out of him there is nothing but trouble and disquiet and restlessenesse and this is the third benefit that 〈◊〉 invite you to come in and take him Come unto me you that are weary and you shall finde ease and rest to your soules And now what would you have besides There is nothing that your hearts can desire but you shall have it in him And because we are so much moved with sensible things the Scriptures sets forth the good things we have by Christ under notions of such things as are sensible as we feele the sweetnesse of them as wee can taste in this world that is a kingdome riches peace godly apparell c. First therefore if you will come into Christ you shall have a Kingdome the Kingdome that is the Epitome of our happinesse and the journeyes end to all our desires You know when the Messias was to come what expectation the Iewes had of a kingdome that should bee restored to them how frequent are the Prophets in setting forth the glorious lustre of that kingdome When the Messias came it was fulfilled for saith he Matth. 3. Repent for the kingdome of God is at hand and Feare not little flocke it is your Fathers will to give you a Kingdome and Rev. 1. Hee hath made us Kings and Priests You will say wherein is this Kingdome wherein doth this kingdome consist Looke to all the properties of a Kingdome and you shall finde all in this First one thing wherein the freenesse of Kings consists is that they have their liberty others are Subjects Now what is liberty Liberty is nothing else but a power to live as you will This you have by Christ because he gives his spirit as soone as you take him hee sends his Spirit into your hearts that rectifies your will that sets all right and strait within us Now when your will is rectified you will that which you ought when you have this you live as you list because you list not to doe but that which is good and so you have liberty in Iohn 8. The Sonne shall make you free that is you shall be subject to nothing as Paul saith wee will bee brought into subjection to nothing we will not be subject to lust wee will not be subject to any thing you shall serve nothing as he saith Wee are bought with a price wee are not the servants of men we need feare nothing Luke 1.74 That being delivered from the hands of all our enemies we might serve him without feare because when you feare him you need feare nothing besides As the true Serpent ate up the false so the true feare eates up the false When you are in him you are at liberty you are delivered from all your enemies Take any other man still he feares something hee feares death hee feares sicknesse hee feares losse of friends hee feares losse of the favour of the Prince hee feares the losse of something or other But when a man is in Christ he is delivered out of the hands of all his enemies hee need feare nothing for what should hurt him It must be some of the creatures but all they are like Mastives rated by the masters command as it is onely the master that can doe it and he doth rate them that they shall not flie in the face of his friend though they may assault his enemies and doe but thinke with your selves what a happy condition it is what safety you have in Christ that nothing can hurt you and therefore we are bidden be in nothing carefull If any thing could hurt you we might bee carefull in something No saith he Be carefull in nothing Christ takes care for you nothing shall hurt you and so All things shall worke for your good And if so be then nothing can hurt you this is that you shall have by Christ one thing you shall have liberty But another thing wherein a Kingdome consists is Plenty that is you shall have abundance of all things What was Salomons Kingdome And what were other kingdomes of the world but plenty of all things What shall we have then you will say Shall we have Meate and Drinke Houses and Vines No those are too base things for the Kingdome of God to consist in Rom. 14.17 The Kingdome of God consists in righteousnesse holynesse peace and joy in the Holy Ghost that is there shall bee a rectitude in all your soules that it shall be free from disorder from distemper from obliquity Besides you shall have peace that is a companion of a Kingdome you shall have peace that is your soules shall be quiet there shall be a serenity there as the Sea is when it is without wind or storme Againe you shall have joy your hearts shall be filled with the consolations of the Spirit these things you shall have if you will come in to
with us for the present yet we know not what may befall us Things present therefore and things to come saith he all this is yours and if all this will not content you I will adde one thing more the Lord himselfe is yours so that take God and looke on him in his greatnesse in his mighty power God that is Lord of Heaven and Earth I say he is yours all that he hath is yours all that hee can doe is yours And therefore when hee speakes to Abraham Abraham saith he I will bee thine if thou wilt be mine I will be to thee an exceeding great reward you shall have God himselfe for your portion You will say how can God be your portion Yes he himselfe is yours for you must know that finding Mee are the best riches Loving favour Prov. 22. is better than life he that is rich in friends is better than he that is rich in money and among friends who is like to God It was the speech of the heathen when he was asked where his treasure was saith hee Where Cyrus my friend is that is I reckon my friend my chiefe treasure I say God is your friend as hee was the friend of Abraham so hee is the friend of all the Saints you have him and all that he can doe for that we may truly say there is no end of a Christians riches Paul when hee considered this Eph. 3. saith This is a glorious priviledge that I should preach among the Gentiles The unsercheable riches of Christ the unsercheable riches of Christ hee could finde no bottome hee knew not the measure the length the breadth the height of these riches and unsercheable riches of Christ. Wee give you but a little glimpse if God open a crevise of light to you to see these riches you will be content to doe as the Merchant to fell all for the pearle for it is worth all that you can sell for it I say if you could see what it were if you could discerne and judge of it with righteous judgement you would regard nothing in thâ— world besides but you would then say I will goe and take Christ for there is riches indeed and hee is a happy man of whom God saith as he saith of that Church I know thy poverty but thou art rich So you see you shall have a kingdome by Christ and you shall have riches But is this all No for I tell you the Scriptures present them to us under sensible things things that wee can feele because that we are lead with senses in this life he saith if you will come into Christ he will make you a feast Esay saith 25.16 In the Mount of the Lord he will provide a Feast of fined Wines of fat Wines fined and purified of fatlings full of marrow and frequently it is repeated in Scripture that Christ wil make you a feast They were sent to come unto the feast of the King Mat. 22 His Wine was drawne his Fatlings was prepared that is any thing you shall have by Christ you shall have a Feast What is this Looke what meat doth meat is called a feast because it maintaines life and so doth this it breeds and maintaines life yea immortall life as the food is of an immortall nature it is the bread of life Againe meat breeds strength so this strengthens you in the inward man to doe holy and spirituall duties as the corporal meat strengthens the outward man to labour and exercise Againe a Feast breeds joy and cheerefulnesse So doth this As the corporall feast cheeres the heart and refreshes the spirit so if you would know what this feast is it is that which breeds and maintaines spirituall life and strength and cheerfulnesse You will say what is that By induction of particulars what it is not you shall finde what it is First it is not that which continues you in a being for that stones have and yet are farre from having this life Againe it is not that which gives you vegetation and motion and sense for that Beasts have and that have not this life Againe it is not the exercise of reason and understanding for that reprobates and divels may have yet dye the second death What is it then It is that which breeds and maintaines that holy and regenerate men live heare and with the Angels live in Heaven for all eternity that which breeds that life for you must know that the soule that is within us hath its food to feed on as well as the body The soule hath its food that is whersoever there is the hidden man where there is the new man the hidden man of the heart as Peter cals it it must be fed as well as the outward man it must have dinners and suppers and break-fasts if there be life there it must have all this otherwise what is Christs saying when he said Ioh. 4. I have other meat that you know not of and what is Davids meaning when he saith Thy word is sweeter to mee than the honey or the honey combe If it bee not that the soule the regenerate man within is fed with a kinde of foode And what is Iobs meaning when he said Hee found it better than his appointed meales that is he would let his body starve it should want at least rather than his soule should be deprived of the ordinary meat it should have In this sense Manna is said to bee the food of Angels why could Manna bee the food of Angels If these materiall and substantiall soules and the Angels had not somewhat else to feed on Manna was Angels foode Angels have not mouthes to eate Manna therefore it is not the corporall Manna that is said to be Angels foode What then It was Christ that was typified by Manna as he saith Iohn 6. I am the true Manna the true bread that came downe from heaven The Fatheâ—s eate the same spirituall meate so it was then the spirituatll Manna that was Angels foode and if Angels foode then the foode of our soules for our soules and Angels feede alike You will say yet cleare unto us further what this is If wee come to eate Angels foode you shall finde in Iohn 6. Seek not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat that endures for ever saith Christ which the sonne of man shall give you for him hath God the Father sealed Marke Seeke the meat that endures for ever so then there is another feast another meate and if you would know what it is this is one property it is meat that endures for ever That is other men when they eate the sweetnesse is gone as soone as they have eaten but the sweetnesse of this continues that is what profit you have had from hearinâ— the word what comfort you have had from praying to God from serving God with a perfect heart these comforts continue for ever As twenty yeares after a man may feele the
much you shall have a kingdome you shall have riches you shall have a feast I will adde but one You shall have gorgeous apparell a thing that we prize to be somewhat out of the weakenesse of our flesh so trifling as that yet because we prize it it pleaseth God to set out the glorious condition we have by Christ under this notion In the second of the Revelation I will cloath you with white raiment and Rev. 3.2 To him that overcommeth will I give the morning-starre Buy of me white garments to cover your nakednesse So I say if you will come into Christ you shall have gorgeous apparell now every man naturally seekes some excellency in one kinde or other Now what is so excellent as this To have the image of God renewed in us that excels all others as the beauty of the morning-starre excels others This you shall have by Christ you shall have your soules cloathed with beauty you shall have them adorned with Rubies and Saphires that is with all the shining graces of the Spirit you shall be justified that is you shall be washed you shall bee sanctified so shall all the Saints be clad so shall all the Saints be cloathed that will come home to Christ. But you will say tell us in plainer tearmes what this cloathing is This white array partly is a signe of the dignity which you have by Christ as Kings in ancient time were wont to be cloathed with white apparell on solemne times which was a signe that they were Kings Againe as Tertullian reports Servants were wont to weare white array when they were set at liberty in token of manu-mission so it is a token of the freedome you have by Christ. Againe Christians as Tertullian reports were wont to weare white array all Easter weeke in token of the sincerity that Paul bids us keepe the Passover with 1 Cor. 5. So when he saith you shal be cloathed with white array the meaning is you shall have the dignity of Kings the freedome of Servants that are set at liberty you shall have sincerity given you you shall have in a word whatsoever may adorne the soule I will not hold you long This cloathing of the soule stands in two things In Iustification And Sanctification There is a cloathing of Iustification that you shall have if you will come into Christ. First we are said to put on the Lord Iesus that is you shall come cloathed with him and when you come cloathed with Christ come and welcome as you know Iacob got the blessing when hee came in his brothers cloathes In Rev. 12. there is mention of a woman cloathed with the Sunne what is that every man by nature is vile and base and miserable but when he is cloathed with Christ hee is like one cloathed with the Sunne Now you know the Sunne is a most glorious creature of all the creatures that God hath made that when hee would chuse a creature that was the most glorious that our eyes have seene hee pitcheth on that and such are we when we are cloathed with Christ that is God lookes on us as on men that are as glorious as the Sunne in his brightnesse and this you shall have by Christ. But is this all No although it were all it were much because by this you may bee admitted to the presence of the Lord without it you cannot But this is not all you shall be cloathed likewise with the graces of sanctification that is when you come to Christ that shall be purified which David saith of Saul Oh you daughters of Ierusalem weepe for Saul he cloatheth you with Scarlet and hung ornaments of gold on your apparell I say Christ cloathes the soule with Scarlet Psal. 45. The soule goeth cloathed in imbroidered gold in garments of needleworke that is when the Lord comes to a soule he comes as a King of glory other Kings bring their glory with them and when they goe they take it with them but when Christ comes to the soule hee makes it a glorious house for himselfe to dwell there the materiall Temple that was so stately and so glorious the Temple of the Iewes you know it was but a type of the Temple of the Holy Ghost that is of the soule of a Christian for indeed those are the Temples wherein the Lord delights to dwell it is certaine that Salomon in all his royalty was not cloathed like one of these for shall Christs power be lesse in grace than it was in nature Hee that cloathes the Lilies shall hee not cloathe his servants with beauty and consider this that this is not a small matter to be thus cloathed The great God of heaven and earth and not God onely but holy and wise Men that are able to see through these trappings regard not what cloathing the body hath but they looke how mens soules goe apparelled I say Christ will thus apparell the soules of all that come in to him that as Aaron had all variety of precious Pearles of gorgeous apparell such Priests will Christ make every one to God his Father and therefore if you will come in to Christ this wee can promise you you shall put on the Lord Iesus you shall put on the Sunne Againe you shall be cloathed with Diamonds that is with all the shining graces of the Spirit And now what will you doe when you come to a rich Wardrobe for such is Christs to us there you may sute your selves from top to toe You reckon it undecent for a man to weare some part of his apparell rich and precious when other parts are base and old and ragged why doe you not doe this with your soules Why doe you suffer your soules to goe ragged as it were to be so unequally so unreverently clad It may be thou hast the grace of bounty but not of chastity it may be thou hast the grace of governing thy hands but not of governing thy tongue it may bee thou hast the grace to speake well but not to pray fervently there is some unevennesse in the cloathing of thy soule What wilt thou doe then Goe to Christ there is change of raiment that is there is garments of all sorts to cover thy nakednesse and to adorne thy soule all these things you shall have by Christ you shall have a Kingdome you shall have Riches you shall have a Feast you shall be cloathed with white array So you have seene now the second consectary that riseth from this Doctrine wherein wee are exhorted to take Christ to invite us to it we have shewed you your misery out of him and the happinesse you shall have by him Now there remaines no more but that you be content to come in and take him and serve him for the future so you may have him therefore what should hinder you why doe you not come in and take Christ. Onely you must know this that you must take him for your Master so as to serve no other
to raise them againe to preach Remission of sinnes Thirdly to teach the doctrine of Sanctification These three Humiliation Iustification and Sanctification are the three maine things wherein our condition to God consists Therefore my Intent is to goe thorow these three And we will do it briefly beginning with this Text which wee have in hand The occasion whereof is this Paul tels the Romans that his intent was To come to them But what should he doe there He would preach the Gospell yea but it was an ignominious thing to be a Christian a thing that would expose him to much persecution and shame It is no matter saith he I am not ashamed of the Gospell for it is the power of God to salvation But how doth hee prove that it is the power of God to salvation Wee see that in the Gospell the righteousnesse of God is revealed that is there is no way in the world for men to be justified to be counted righteous before God but to have a righteousnesse revealed from heaven even another kind of Righteousnesse than any man hath in himselfe a righteousnesse of Christ a righteousnesse that is to be imputed to men and this saith he is revealed in the Gospell and therefore the Gospell only is the power of God to salvation But here comes the great question Why is it needful that there should be a new kind of righteousnesse revealed a righteousnesse wrought by another and made ours only but by Imputation saith he It must be so else no flesh can be saved every man must needs be condemned for all men are unrighteous every man is full of all impiety and wickednesse which he delivers in this verse thence concluding that it is needfull to have the Gospell revealed for that is it that reveales the righteousnesse of Christ. A righteousnesse of Christ which is onely wrought by Christ and will onely stand out before the Iudgement-seat of God So that the end of the words is to convince men to shew unto them that they have no righteousnesse of their owne to assure them that if they stand in the condition they are in by nature they remaine in condemnation for he that beleeves not is condemned already there needs no new condemnation if he have not the Sonne the wrath of God abides on him So that the maine thing in these words is this assertion That mans nature is full of ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse Two things are charged upon mans nature First a fulnesse of all kind of sins against God Secondly of all injustice and unrighteousnesse to men one touching the first Table the other the second Now when hee saith All ungodlinesse and all unrighteousnesse of men The meaning is That in mans nature there is all kind of ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of all sorts And againe that is to be marked unrighteousnesse of men he sets it down in generall because he speakes it of all men none excepted so you must take both in Every man none excepted is full of all unrighteousnesse all impietie all parts of impietie all kinds of unrighteousnesse are found in him But how will this be proved He proves it by two Arguments First because the wrath of God is revealed against every man and God being a just Iudge his wrath would not be kindled against men except there were just cause and that is one Argument But how shall we know that God is angry with men saith hee It is revealed from heaven Whence three things may be noted For thence you may see the evidence of his wrath It is revealed And secondly the surenesse of it it comes from heaven and God will be as good as his word And thirdly the Terriblenesse of it it is revealed from heaven For when God is said to sit in heaven and to laugh them to scorne And 2 Cor. 6. to sit in heaven it argues he doth things powerfully But you will aske how is the wrath of God revealed from heaven It is revealed by the light of nature Every man hath so much light in him as to know that hee deserves wrath and judgement and punishment And partly it is revealed by the Scripture and partly by continuall experience God is ever and anon executing his wrath and Iudgement on sinners And that is the first Argument The second argument to prove their unrighteousnesse is because they With-hold the truth in unrighteousnesse And here is a secret objection answered For it may be objected There be many excellent things in men as your morall Philosophers had they not much light in their understandings much rectitude in their lives Did they not practice many morall vertues That is all one it will but encrease their condemnation It was Gods worke to put so much light so many excellent things in them which had they used as they should and might those Principles would have shed themselves into their whole soule and conversation but they imprisoned them shutting them up within the walls of their Conscience men doe not use the light they have nor improve it they doe not bring it out in their lives and conversations but With-hold it in unrighteousnesse So that in the words there are three points laid downe all which will helpe exceedingly to humble us First That mans Nature is full of all impietie and unrighteousnesse The second is The wrath of God will surely fall on men for this If sinne went alone it would not so much amaze men but when the wrath of God comes too accompanied with the fruits of his wrath men out of selfe-love will be moved therewith The third That all the good in a man before his regeneration serves only to helpe forward his condemnation But before I come to the handling of these points one point we must needs observe out of the method of the Apostle This that hee saith here in few words is amplified to the middle of the third Chapter All which time he spends in expressing particularly how mans nature is full of impietie and unrighteousnesse and when he hath done that he urges Iustification by Christ and after that he comes to Sanctification Wherein the Apostles method is very observable and therefore from his method before we come to the maine we will briefly deliver this point That Humiliation must goe before Iustification You may observe it from the method used Men must first be convinced of their impietie and unrighteousnesse before they can be fit to receive the Gospell As the Physitians have their method in curing first to purge and cleanse the body and then to give Cordials so it is a rule in Divinitie you must be humbled before you can be justified or Humiliation goes before Iustification Which may be gathered not only from this but likewise from many other places You shall finde it is the course God takes every where with men and it is a very necessary thing to be knowne for by reason of the ignorance of this method men doe not
step to Salvation And so much shall serve for this third use Fourthly if this be the case and miserable Condition wherein every man is before Regeneration to with-hold the Truth in unrighteousnesse Then take heed of putting thy selfe into that Condition consider the danger of disobeying this Truth of offending it of doing any thing contrary to it of restraining and curbing it for it is of that nature that if thou offendest it it will offend thee It is a Truth that God hath set in thy heart and appointed it to rule there if thou oppose it and set up usurpers he will doe as Iehojada did that set up the right King he will even set up this Truth at the day of death to accuse thee and to raigne over thee as a Tyrant It sits in thy Conscience it markes what is done amisse and will be assuredly revenged for every rebellion and offence committed against it as it is said of Truth in generall Magna est veritas praevalet if thou be for the Truth it will be for thee and if thou be against it it will be against thee and it hath God on its side it is attended with the wrath of the Almighty who will be ready to execute upon thee whatsoever this Truth shall alleage against thee though he doth it not presently yet all the while thou art in the way to Damnation as it was with Iudas and Achitophel Therefore be sure to keepe this Truth well that thou offend it not as thou art tender over thy weake stomacke to give what contents it to avoid what may offend it and then it shall be as a continuall feast to thee otherwise it shall be as a sicke stomacke to thee that doe what thou wilt yet whether walking or sitting still it will trouble thee So this Truth thou wilt not be able to deceive it will see what is amisse whether thou wilt or no 2 Cor. 4.2 saith the Apostle Wee commend our selves to every mans Conscience in the sight of God by manifestation of the Truth That is the Conscience within will see thee thorow doe what thou canst there will be an agreement betweene it and the Truth that is presented to it it cannot but observe all the obliquities of thy life all thy errours thou canst not deceive it nor long shake it off But it may be objected May not a man observe this Truth too much may he not be too scrupulous too carefull in regarding it I answer the Conscience may mistake and give that charge that it ought not but as wee say of Thistles they are a bad weed but it is a signe of a good ground where they grow so though scrupulousnesse be not good yet it is a signe of a good heart where it is If a man be to goe thorow a narrow passage or over a narrow bridge it is good to goe in the midst so it is good not to be scrupulous and yet not to give it offence for if thou dost with-hold it imprison it or restraine it thou shalt finde it will be revenged on thee for it is attended with the wrath of God Fifthly if this be the miserable Condition of all unregenerate men thus to with-hold the Truth in unrighteousnesse As there have beene words of Humiliation and reproofe so let mee shut up with a word of exhortation Be exhorted therefore from hence to give this Truth leave to rule and governe in thy heart and life doe not make a bancke against it or an hedge about it restraine it not fetter it not but suffer it to walke freely in every part of thy conversation to rectifie and reforme every facultie speech and action for so it ought to doe and as I said before thou shalt finde it a dangerous thing to restraine it Among men he that imprisons one whom he should not runs into a Praemunire and forfeits all he hath Commonly we faile both these wayes we give Lusts liberty which should be restrained and imprison Truth which should be at liberty therefore our judgement shall be accordingly For letting thy lusts goe at liberty take heed lest God say to thee as he did to Ahab for letting King Benhadad goe Thy life shall be for his life lest on the other side by imprisoning the Truth you forfeit all things and God take advantage of your forfeiture Since the fall of Adam man doth turne all things upside downe according to that which is complained of those Prophets They did slay the soules of them that should live and gave life to the soules that should die So doe men the Truth that should live they slay and the lust that should die they give life unto But you know what Gods judgement was on them Ezek. 13. He would destroy both the dawber and the wall of untempered morter God requires at thy hands that thou give account of the Authority committed to thee and take heed of abusing it If the King send a Privie Councellour or a great man about him to reveale his will to expresse his commandement in this or that particular that so men may know it and be free from the danger of the Law if a man in stead of obeying it imprison him how will the King take it at his hands What then will God doe in this case He hath put his Truth into the hearts of men he hath sent his messengers to shew his will that this he will have done If thou imprison this Truth be assured God will not hold thee guiltlesse therefore let it have liberty let it rule and raigne in thy heart let it doe what it will This benefit thou shalt have Thou sets it at liberty and it shall set thee at liberty Ioh. 8.32 If you continue in my words c. the Truth shall make you free From what or what great benefit hath a man by this freedome a benefit unspeakable thou shalt be free from the feare of Death from the hands of all thine Enemies to serve God in holinesse and righteousnesse from the feare of Iudgement from the feare of hell from the guilt and punishment of sin from the rule and tyranny of sin and is not this to be desired Againe if thou set this at liberty if thou wilt practice and use it thou shalt finde more benefit and sweetnesse from it than from the meere contemplation of it we are deceived in thinking that the knowledge of it is pleasant but the practice hard Indeed that that keeps the world from practice is because it is accompanied with persecution whereas bare knowledge crosses not at all and therefore most men are willing to heare and know but in practice they fall short But in this they are deceived for this Truth brings more pleasure in the practice and use of it than in the knowledge and contemplation of it Instance in Faith suppose thou know all the doctrine of Faith the knowledge is pleasant much more the practise if thou wilt
to that of Iustification which we promised to handle These words doe second the former which we have gone thorow The wrath of God is revealed from heaven c. The Apostle having set this downe hath two things to prove First that there is such a Truth revealed Secondly That they with-hold it in unrighteousnesse Both which he proves in the sequele of this Chapter First there is such a Truth revealed to men for saith he That that may be knowne of God is manifest in them that is there is a certaine portion of Truth a certaine measure of knowledge which God hath made-knowne to every man indeed there be different measures but to every one some measure is given set forth by the Author thereof God saith he hath shewed it to them Secondly it is set forth more particularly by the thing that is revealed And thirdly by the meanes whereby it is revealed Fourthly by the end Secondly the thing that is reavealed as if he had said if you will know more particularly what this knowledge is it is the knowledge of Gods eternall Power and God-head Thirdly will you know the meanes how it is revealed It is revealed by his workes and chiefly by the creation of the world But you will object his eternall power and God-head are invisible shut up from the view of men how shall men doe to see and understand these things seeing they are so remote Saith he They are knowne by the things that are seene You may see the world you may see the workes of his providence these things run into the senses and by these they are knowne As the soule of a man is a thing in it selfe invisible but yet you may see it by the motions of the body the effects of the soule in the bodie this the senses are capable of so the invisible things of God are knowne by the things that are seene Last of all this is set out by the end wherefore GOD hath done this the end is that they may be without excuse And so far he proves the first part that there is a Truth revealed to men In the next words he comes to prove That they with-hold the Truth in unrighteousnesse For they knew God but they glorified him not as God and not negatively only but affirmatively also Their foolish hearts are full of darknesse they became vaine in their imaginations But they were wise men Grecians Athenians men excelling in wisdome all other how did they detaine it one would thinke they did enlarge it It is true they were wise in their owne conceit but thinking themselves wise they became fooles how doth that appeare They turned the glory of the incorruptible God into the image of corruptible man c. So much for the scope of the words Wee will not runne to every particular because this is a place of Scripture on which wee meane not to dwell but these three points we intend to handle out of these two verses In the handling of which you shall see all these particulars will be brought in The first is That that Law or Truth or Knowledge by which every man shall be judged is made manifest by God himselfe Secondly The workes of God or the Creation are the meanes by which he hath made it knowne Thirdly They are so much made knowne to every man as will make him inexcusable To begin with the first I say That truth or that Law or that knowledge by which every man shall be judged at the last day is made evident to him by God himselfe In this proportion you must marke three things First what it is that is made knowne It is that Law or Truth by which every man shall be judged the word in the original◠is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which may be knowne of God that is there is a certaine measure and portion of Truth which God disposes and reveales to men to some one measure to some another measure and according to the measure of Truth he must conforme himselfe and for breaking that rule onely hee shall be condemned at the last day The Gentiles have one measure of Truth the Iewes have a greater measure but Christians to whom the Gospell is revealed have the greatest measure of Truth given them Againe some Christians that live under better Ministeries they whose education is better they have more Truth than others Now seeing he saith it is made manifest the meaning is every man hath a measure and that is to be made manifest as light when it comes into a roome it showes all the glory all the beauty and deformity round about it showes the right way and the wrong way if you come to the light all things are made manifest now which were covered when you were in darknesse thus God enlightens men he kindles a certaine light in their minde for so the word signifies he puts a light into their hearts by which they are able to judge of that which is good and evill of that which is agreeable to his will and contrary to his will of that which is the way to happinesse and that which is not and this is made knowne The second thing to be marked in this proposition is to shew how it is made knowne you see that the thing is made knowne to us Not it is made knowne to us these foure wayes First it is made knowne to us by the light of Nature God hath written the Law in their hearts Rom. 2.15 They show the effects of the Law which Law is written in their hearts that is God hath implanted it there God hath written it there he hath fastned it there he hath revealed to men some Truths but the question will be how it shall be knowne that God hath done so why saith he you shall know it by the effects every man even Heathens though they have not come to the knowledge of the Scripture ye◠they have the Law written in their hearts fo◠they doe the things contained in the Law their actions show it they could not doe these things if they had not the Law written in their hearts Againe their consciences accuse and excuse Againe it is seene by their judging of others for in judging of others they judge themselves and make it evident that they doe know though they doe not practice and so it is revealed by the Law of Nature Secondly God makes it knowne by his works specially by the creation of the world by his workes of Providence which be ordinary and extraordinary as miracles that is when a man lookes on the great volume of the world there those things which God will have known are written in capitall letters and such letters as every one may understand and reade so as that which the Papists say of Images they are Lay-mens bookes and ignorant mens bookes so and in a much better sense this Booke of the world is the Heathen mans booke wherein
sinne As David in the one and fiftieth Psalme saith Against thee against thee onely have I sinned repeating it twice in that place he composed that Psalme to set forth his sin but that which wounded his conscience that made him see the hainousnesse of his sinne was this Against thee I have sinned So the Prodigall sonne this is the circumstance by which he aggravates his sin Against heaven and against thee I have offended So learne to know that your sinnes are against god and therefore to presse this Truth a little more Consider well with your selves what is the reason that God hath required such a vast punishment against sinne that is eternall death thinke what eternity is it is that which swallowes up your thoughts it is a punishment the length and depth and breadth whereof you cannto comprehend Thinke why God hath appointed such a vast punishment and you shall find it is because you sinne against an Immense a great and Almighty God the length and breadth and depth of whose greatnesse you cannot comprehend Againe what is the reason God should appoint such a Mediatour to take away the sins of the world that the Son of God must needs take flesh which the Angels themselves wonder at it is such a wonderfull action that they cannot but admire and in heaven we shall stand amazed at it which evidences the greatnesse of sinne Learne to know this put al these foure together and see how these doe hold correspondencie one with another and you shall finde out the nature of your sinne First consider the greatnesse of God his infinitenesse the greatnesse of his Authority the wonderfull vast Soveraignty he hath over all creatures from this greatnesse of God comes the second the greatnesse of sinne I have made knowne this Truth but thou hast with-holden it thence it comes that sinne is so great that the least sinne which thou makest nothing of is a thing of so great moment That is the second which followes on the greatnesse of God Thirdly upon the greatnesse of sinne you see the greatnesse of the punishment if such an one as Aristotle or a stranger from the Truth should heare of this punishment the greatnesse whereof appeares herein that the worme dieth not and the fire is not quenched how would he wonder at it but knitting these together it will not seeme strange Last of all the greatnesse of the punishment causeth the greatnesse of such a Mediatour to take away this punishment and sin So there is a correspondencie in them come from God to sin from sinne to the punishment from punishment to the Mediation or redemption by which this sinne is taken away Learne therefore to know what sin is I know not a truth of greater moment And to all adde that 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of death is sinne If you look on death it is the most terrible thing in the world You know what the Philosopher said of it of all terrible things it is the most terrible the most fearfull but sin is the sting of death As if he had said Death is a small thing in comparison of sin let a man want sin and death is nothing it is but sleepe it is nothing to have the body and soule separated Againe suppose there were no death but let body and soule remaine together yet sin is a terrible thing it is above all the Terrours in the world as in Iudas see his Terrours though there was no death on him see Adam when he was not in Hell but in Paradise yet how was he Tormented with his sin Therefore weigh not sin in a wrong ballance looke not on it with a wrong light take heed of being deceived for in this of all other things men are most apt to be deceived That is the corruption of Nature that strange darknesse is brought on men by Adam that in the thing that most concerneth him which is sin in that he is most ignorant most apt to be deceived Therefore when the Apostle speaks of sin he comes in still with this caution Be not deceived 1 Cor. 6.9 Be not deceived neither Fornicatour nor Idolaters nor adulterers c. shall inherit the kingdome of God as if men in that were most apt to be deceived So Ephes. 5.6 Be not deceived for for such things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience And observe when Christ goeth about to show to any man or to any Church what their sins are or what their danger is he addes this Let him that hath an eare heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches his end being to tell them of their sin still that comes in He that hath an eare to heare let him heare As if he had said when I come to speake of matter of sin there be many here that can tell what I say that can understand me well but few have eares to understand indeed As when the Prophet came to Ieroboam he heard the Prophet so as it anger'd him he knew what his sin was but he heard it not to purpose So when Christ pronounceth a woe to the Scribes and Pharisees they heard it well enough but they had not an eare to heare it to purpose Men may heare what flesh and common reason and common men say of sin but not what the Spirit saith of it there is another kinde of sinfulnesse in sin which is the spirituall evill of sin and what the Spirit saith of this they doe not heare Therefore you must even be brought to Christ as the deafe man was who being both deafe and dumbe was brought to Christ that he might lay his hands on him now Christ put his finger into his eares and saith Ephata be thou opened and then the man heard and spake so of all men that heare this Word there is not a man but he is deafe according to this inward kinde of hearing therefore you must be brought to Christ and beseech him to give you eares to heare for few hath eares to heare what the Spirit saith unto the Churches when it discovers their sin and misery Therefore let not this Doctrine be in vain to you but learne from hence to humble your selves to come to God and say to him Lord I am now amazed and confounded I thought before losses and crosses were great matters but now I see they are but flea-bitings to sin I was heretofore troubled at a small crosse but little or nothing at sin Lord I confesse this was my case but I see now sinne is another thing Thus we should learne to humble our selves before God But if any object This is the way to discourage men to make them desperate to make them fly from Religion by telling them sin is so terrible I answer it is not the way to discourage men from comming to Christ but to encourage them and drive them to him This is the way to Salvation Indeed if there were no remedy for sin it were a desperate case but
there is a remedy if you will but see this sinne of yours and mourne for it for all that mourne in Sion and are broken hearted shall be comforted Therefore you must know there is a passive sorrow for sin when God shall affright a man with the Terrour of his wrath and that is a flash of hell fire if our end were only to kindle these sparks it were indeed to breed Torture in the soule but there is an active humiliation when a man labours to be convinced of his sin to know all hee can against himselfe and this is it which leads to life for this is the end of our preaching the end of our discovering of sin And this use you may make of the hainousnesse of sinne and so much shall serve for the first use Secondly if there be such a truth such a knowledge made evident by God himselfe then men should learne hence to be thankful to God for it for whereas all men might have perished as the Devils did as the Angels that fell did yet God hath shewed this mercy to mankinde he hath given them Secundam Tabulam post naufragium and that is this light which is the thing which you have cause to be thankfull for for this light is worth all the world beside nothing is so precious because it shewes the way to escape Hell and damnation therfore you ought to be thankfull to God for it You specially that live under the Sun-shine of the Gospell you must thinke you might have beene borne in other ages when darknesse covered the world or in another Nation and not in Goshen where the light shines and if in the Church you might have been ignorant as many of our Countrey people are even almost as ignorant as Turkes and Iewes but when God hath discovered light in great measure and hath given a great portion thereof to you you must know all this is not come to passe by accident but by Gods providence you are to take notice of it and learne to be thankfull not in show only but indeed and in truth that is by practising according to the knowledge you have for it is a thing most precious Mat. 7.6 An Admonition is compared to a pearle whereas the admonition is but one part of this light and what is said of a part may be said of the whole Salomon could not finde a fit thing to compare this Wisdome to It is more precious than pearles nay all that can be named or desired cannot be compared with it Therefore seeing it is a precious thing trample not these pearles under your feet know that God hath put a price into thine hand and that is thy light and it is a price that will buy heaven it will bring thee to salvation but if thou wantest an heart as the foole hath a price but he wants an heart it will do thee no good take heed thou doe not neglect it doe not abuse it take not the grace of God in vain but see thou use this light When the great promise of Christ his comming was made what was it but this that they should have a new light that the people that sate in darknesse and in the shadow of death should see a light they never saw before you that live in this light that enjoy that which was so many yeares ago promised to the Gentiles and is now fulfilled take heed of abusing it use it to the purpose for which it is given that is to guide your feet into the way of peace Againe thirdly to joyne that with it As you must be thankful so in the third place you must take heed of doing any thing contrary to this Truth it is a very dangerous thing to neglect it There is not a sparke of it not a beame of this light which is conveyed to you by the ministery of the Gospell which shall be in vaine Though you doe not prize it it shall set you a steppe nearer heaven or hell even every sparke and beame of this and this is it which may make men afraid and looke about them seeing that when this light is made knowne it is so dangerous to neglect it Therefore thinke this when God hath sent a right Ministery Consider who hath sent this light God hath done it and will GOD send a vaine mâ—ssage A wise man will not doe so if then God send it not in vaine it is to some purpose to doe either good or hurt Now suppose that this light have done you no good that you have lived long under this light but have attained no good you have knowne much but practised little then know this shall exceedingly encrease your condemnation Paul saith We thanke God that he hath caused us to triumph in IESUS CHRIST in making manifest the savour of his knowledge in every place What is the reason he should rejoyce that this was made manifest seeing to some it did no good Yes saith he it shall encrease their condemnation it shall be the sweet savour of God in them that are saved and in them that perish So when wee preach if the light doe you no good it doth you hurt As Isaiah his Commission was Goe preach to this people and shut their eyes lest they should see with their eyes and heare with their eares If we are not sent to enlighten men we are sent to make their hearts fat and their eares heavie Thou shalt doe no good by thy ministery yet I have sent thee that they may know there was a Prophet among them Therefore take heed you to whom this is sent that it be not sent onely to this end that it may be knowne there hath beene a Prophet among you Those to whom God hath revealed much let them know it shall not be in vaine If the King send a Message and men will obey it so it is if not if they make his authority worth nothing he will elevate his Authority and will inflict a Penalty So God sends not in vaine if you will not obey him God will not suffer any to sleight his Authority but he will be surely revenged Therefore take heed how you detaine this Truth in unrighteousnesse that when GOD hath discovered this knowledge you doe not practice it But every man will be apt to say and indeed they that are most guilty but I hope we doe practise it and not detaine it Therefore I will set downe though not all yet many of the Cases wherein they detaine this Truth and with-hold it in unrighteousnesse wherein they doe not practise according to this knowledge and these are seven in number First in the Commission of all knowne sins there you detaine this Truth there you imprison it whensoever you finde this to be your Case that you commit any knowne sinne therein you are a detainer of the Truth an imprisoner of it As for example when a man shall know that these duties ought to bee done I
men see it not that keepes them in their old condition if we could hit on it And it is either Inconsideration men consider not what they have to doe they look not about them according to that in Deut. 29. You have seene all what the Lord did to Pharaoh but the Lord hath not given you hearts to consider it to this day Now if you aske what Consideration is I answer Consideration is nothing else but an Act superadded to Knowledge when a man not only knowes but returnes and reflects on what he knowes when he stayes and abides on it when he lookes round about a businesse not on a corner of it but fully and weighes every circumstance Therefore we are said to ponder our wayes when wee doe not onely looke to that which is present but to the time past and to come when all things are taken in Now when a man shall lay all together when he shall consider that is thinke seriously and remember that he hath but a little time to live here and that there is another place where he shall live for all eternity that he hath an immortall soule and that his state is dangerous that his sins are great and the wrath of God is as a consuming fire when these are laid together when he considers them and stayes on them by these means he comes to see with his eyes and understand with his heart and to be converted and healed but because men doe consider thence it is that they grow on their roote still and are not brought to this inexcusablenesse nor have all Arguments taken away Or another reason is some Lust there is world credit riches pleasures or something which they are loath to part with the rich man will not part with his possessions they in the twelfth of Iohn will not part with their credit with the Pharisees Ieroboam will not part with his Kingdome till these Arguments shall be answered and God shall cut off those snares for so they are termed 2 Tim. 2.25 Waiting if God will give them repentance to know the truth and to come out of the snare of the Devill who taketh them at his will The meaning is every man before he be regenerate is holden by some snare the snare is some lust the root of it is some false reasoning now when men come to know the truth and to be delivered out of the snare of the Devill when God convinceth a man and opens that truth undoes that false reasoning on which that lust is founded he cuts the snare asunder and then they are set at liberty Every man saith I cannot live without credit without my state without my kingdome as every man hath a kingdom of his owne when God teacheth that this is vanity and if we will be happy the best way is to serve God with a perfect heart when God teacheth the contrary Truth then he is out of the snare of the Devill when he hath awaked his conscience that he is sicke of sin that he feeles his rebellions then the thing he magnified before is nothing now As when a man is sicke the houses and orchards he magnified before are now not regarded his dainty fare and gorgeous apparell he hath no pleasure in them for he is sicke So it is with the Soule when God chargeth sin on the Conscience Againe when God shewes better things than these as Heb. 10.34 They had in heaven a better and an enduring substance and therefore cared for nothing They cared not for parting with their goods when they had another righteousnesse to trust to So when God opened the heavens and shewed himselfe to Paul He reckons all as dung and drosse he doth not magnifie what he did before And thus are men freed from the snare of the Devill Therefore when a man shall deferre and thinke I am ready to come but I will not yet I say these must be taken away for they are false reasonings by which we are built on our root Now when a man shall be perswaded of the danger of putting the evill day farre from him when the Holy Ghost shall give him wisdome to number his dayes then he will take to himselfe new thoughts Every man naturally feares death but because it is farre off no man regards it and so because we put the evill day farre from us we turne not to God now when God shall convince a man of the Truth and teach him to number his dayes Wel thou art now in healtâ— and strength but when thou commest to numâ—ber the dayes that remain they are very small Put case a man had an hundred dishes of meat before him if one come and sayes Take heed what you doe for one of these dishes is poison he will not taste of any of them except he have taken an Antidote before So when the Holy Ghost teacheth it is true In one of these dayes is death thou shalt finde poison that shall take away thy life whether first or last it is uncertaine if thou were wise to consider thy latter end that is if thou hadst the wisdome which God must teach thou wouldst see little reason why to venture thy soule on one of these daies if thou hast not made thy Election sure for this is as to eat of one of those dishes when there is poison in it Therefore consider beloved what uncertainty of life there is what it is to venture the soule and what eternity is When God shall each this and stirre up present affections of feare and apprehension of wrath it will teach a man not to deferre but to come home speedily Againe when this place of Scripture and the like shall be seriously considered That if the Good-man of the house knew at what time the Theefe would come he would have an eye to him That Christ hath threatned all before hand that doe not watch And I will come at a time thou thinkest not of me If thou didst consider this when thou art most secure and furthest off from God in the midst of thy jollity and fast asleepe I will come at a time when thou lookest not for me And didst thou thinke this threatning in vaine Didst thou beleeve this Scripture and lay it to heart thou wouldest not deferre thy Turning to God Againe consider put case thou hast liberty if sicknesse come and give thee warning alas how farre art thou from being able to repent Are the times in thine hand Must not the Holy Ghost change thine heart If thou dost now take resolution to amend hast not thou cause to suspect that it proceeds from selfe-love For if it had beene not of love to God wouldest thou not have turned sooner And if it be out of selfe-love God accepts it not All this while wee have spent in shewing the Disease and now wee must shew the Remedy FINIS A SERMON PREACHED AT A GENERALL FAST BEFORE THE COMmons-House of Parliament the second of Iuly 1625. In the time of
judgement and righteousnesse in the earth As if hee had said if these things were able to doe you good or hurt you might rejoyce in them but it is I the Lord that show justice and judgement and am onely able to doe all So in Psal. 62.10 If riches encrease set not your heart on them and why For power belongeth unto God But they might object The Lord useth the meanes that is answered in the last ver It is true but GOD rewards according to our workes and not according to our meanes And so much for the clearing of this and now wee will apply it First if the Lord be able to doe all good and evill then learn we hence to see God in his greatnesse the Lord is forgotten in the world we doe not see him in his greatnesse and Majestie and Almighty power if we did it would draw all our thoughts and affections to him which are now occupied about so many severall fancies I say they would be all pitched upon him whereas seeing they are conversant about pouerty and riches and friends and disgrace as able to doe good or evill it is an argument we attribute that to the creature which belongs to God which is no better than Idolatry as in Colos. 3.5 Mortifie your earthly members fornication uncleannesse and covetousnesse which is idolatry marke that Now Idolatry is of two sorts either when you worship the true God in a wrong manner or else when you make the creature God and that you doe either when you conceive the creature under the notion of God as the heathen did the Sunne and Moone and as the Papists doe the bread for if there be Idolatry in the world that is Idolatry or else when you attribute to the Creature that which is proper to God that is when you place your comfort and safety in the creature and so place your joy and delight in him And thus wee doe when wee thinke riches or poverty by their presence or absence can do us good or hurt Esay 41.23 you shall see there the Prophet useth two arguments to prove that Idols were not gods First They tell us not things to come Secondly They doe neither good nor evill As if hee had said if they could doe good or hurt they were gods yet there is a secret opinion that lodgeth in our breasts though we observe it not that these things can doe us good or hurt and therefore because our affections follow our opiâ—nion we lust after them inordinately and thence it is that they steale away our hearts as as Absolom was said to steale away the hearts of the people that is hee who was not the owner tooke them And secondly he did it secretly and so deale the creatures with us when we have a secret opinion of them The rich man in Luke having much wealth about him concludes Now soule take thy ease And when Davids Mountaine was made strong he sayes therefore I shall not be moved and have not wee the same thoughts in us Are not wee ready to thinke if I had such an advantage such a friend I should do well But I say to you that if you had all these you should not bee a jot the better nor in the want of all these are you a jot the worse for it is God onely that creates peace and commands comforts that you may set downe for a conclusion That is his Prerogative Royall and thence it is that we must love him with all our hearts and withall our soules thence it is that we are not to regard the creature at all because he onely can make our lives comfortable or not comfortable If this were beleeved how would it change our joyes into teares What an alteration would it make in our lives If we did beleeve it indeed should wee bee so taken up in seeking of wealth and outward excellencies and not rather in growing rich in faith and good-workes If it were well planted in our hearts we should minde nothing but grace and sin for you know grace onely findes acceptance with God and sin onely provokes him to anger And indeed what in the world else is worthy our intentions you may joy in these things but still remember the Apostles rule Buy as if you bought not and grieve as if you grieved not c. Why so Because these things can doe you neither hurt nor good if they could they might have your intentions but they cannot Therefore doe as Moses did Heb. 11.27 He endured for he saw him that was invisible What then Therefore he forsooke Aegypt not fearing the wrath of Pharaoh When hee saw God in his greatnesse when hee saw him that was invisible that is when he saw him as if hee had beene visible it removed all feare of the creature When a man sees the Sun what is a Candle or torch to him And so will all these things seeme to thee if thou couldst see God in his might If God only doth good and evill why then doe you hasten after outward things and weary your selves in vaine for that which will not profit Therefore the Schoole-men call sin Aversio a Deo and Conversio ad Creaturam a turning from God and a turning to the Creature But you will say to what end then are the creatures And what will you have us to doe I answer you may make use of these things I deny you not that liberty onely use them with a dependant affection so as still you have an eye on God you may take water out of the streame so as you have an eye to the Fountaine you may take light from the Aire so as your eye be on the Sunne So that if the glory of the Sunne set you account all your light to bee gone though you have the Aire still that is you may enjoy all these outward comforts you may use your wealth and friends and have wife and children c. but your comfort shall not be more nor lesse nor your prosperity longer nor shorter than as God is pleased more or lesse to shine on you by the enjoyment or want of whose favour you may be happy in the want of all and abundantly miserable in the having of them all Therefore saith the Prophet You have forsaken God the fountaine of living waters and digged to your selves Cisternes that will hold no water What is that It is as if the Lord said what doe you meane It is the Lord that doth all he is the Fountaine and the creatures are but Cisternes and all their comfort is but borrowed Againe you have in God living waters that is comforts of a better nature but the water that you finde in these pits is but muddy water Againe he is a fountaine that is never drawne dry but these are broken pits that hold no water Againe if God onely doe all good and evill then let us consider that what businesse so ever wee have
that we may strengthen our soules because we recover our Communion with him For what is Sanctification but a drawing neere to the Lord And then we draw neere when we renue our Communion and our Covenant with him when the match is renewed between us and if we doe so we shall goe from him every day as men refreshed at a banquet like men that have fed on fat things full of marrow as men full of wine Be you filled not with wine wherein is excesse but with the Spirit What is the meaning of that Antithesis but to shew that the Spirit is like wine it strengthens and how receive we the Spirit Is there not the same meanes of renuing of it from day to day Is not the same meanes of renuing it as there is of receiving of it at the first Didst not thou get it first by going to Christ and shall not thou still regaine and repaire thy strength by that meanes I cannot stand to presse this farther Secondly in that they are put together thus Iustification and Sanctification hence wee should be stirred up to prise it to set it at the same rate as wee doe Remission of sinnes because we see the Holy Ghost doth so For seeing this thing is promised seeing it is chosen out among the great benefits wee have by CHRIST that we shall be renued we should learne so to judge of it to set it at an high rate in our conceits to conforme our Iudgement to the Iudgement of the Scriptures Every man would bee content to be saved but to be made a New Creature men are so farre from reckoning it a priviledge that they reckon it a bondage you would fain be free from Hell you would faine goe to Heaven without such a necessity put upon you this is the common fashion of men but marke the Holy Ghost puts this among the great benefits wee have by Christ. You know the comming of the Messias how it was magnified by the Iewes what great things they should have when Christ should come What were those great things One of the chiefe was to make them New Creatures to set them at libertie from their spirituall enemies That they should be taught of God that they should have his law written in their hearts and have their hearts circumcised to love him that they should have new hearts and new Spirits given them this is that great benefit that hath beene so much magnified so many yeares before the comming of Christ. It is that which the Apostles when they came to preach the Gospell set out as so great a Priviledge learne we to prise it for certainly there is nothing in the world so precious a grace whereby we are made New Creatures It is a true saying because indeed there is no excellencie that is like it if you would rectifie your judgments and teach them to apprehend things as they are therefore let us reason with you a little for that old man those lusts that you prise so much that you will not part with that you cherish and nourish in your selves and you are Enemies to those that are Enemies to them I say consider what you doe this old man is it not the sicknesse of the soule is it not the filth and the foulenesse of the soule is it not the slavery and bondage of the soule And the new man is it not the contrary doth it not excell it Therefore as much as health exceeds sicknesse as much as cleanenesse exceeds impuritie foulenesse and filthinesse as much as liliberty exceeds slavery and bondage so much and more doth the New man excell the Old man Besides if you looke to other things take all other things which the world hath all the profits all the pleasures all the learning and knowledge whatsoever it is that in the world is precious yet to be made a New Creature goes beyond all because indeed it puts you into the same condition that Adam had in innocencie you will say to be made like Adam againe to be restored to that happinesse it is beyond all that the world can afford Now to be made a New Creature it puts you into that estate But you will say that is not so Adam was in Paradice he had outward contentments in abundance but to be made a New Creature is not so It is true there were two Conditions that Adam had one was his outward Condition being placed in Paradice the other was his happinesse to be a New Creature this was incomparably beyond the other as wee shall easily make that plaine to you Put case there were a man that had faire Pallaces and Gardens and Orchards and all things that his heart could desire to have but all this while he hath not health would he regard all this On the other side suppose he had health put him into a Cottage if he have strength would hee not beare it well enough That is our case When Adam had all that yet when he had lost Gods Image when hee had lost being a New Creature he was like a man that was fallen into a great sicknesse he was fallen into terrour and horrour of conscience what good could all that doe A man that is out of Paradise that lives as wee doe among men that hath Gods Image renued on him which hee lost that is made a New Creature he is happie when Adam was miserable Let us consider a little What was it thinke you that made Adam happy in Paradise Was it the being in a Garden full of pleasant things No it was not that but his Communion with God that made him happy Therefore you see wherein his misery consisted it consisted not in the losse of Paradise for there he was still he had all that he had before for outward things but he felt shame and horrour of conscience he felt inward trouble and anguish of spirit when he heard the voice of God walking in the Garden therefore it stands not in that but to be made a New Creature is to be put into the inward condition that Adam was in and therefore you have reason to seeke it If any thing in the world be worth the seeking it is this to be made a New Creature All other things are not the proper excellencie of a man you know the Angels and the Saints want them and the Beasts enjoy them but the excellencie of man is to be made according to the first Rule to be squared according to the Image of God after which he was first created and hee is never well till he come to that As no Creature is well till it have that excellencie belonging to the kinde of it this is an excellencie peculiar to man therefore seeke happinesse as long as you will in other things you shall never finde it but in being made New Creatures in having Gods Image repaired in being sanctified in Body and Soule and Spirit this puts you into an happy
heart but fainedly As if he should say If it be not done with the whole heart it is fained it is a signe there is no life there if a man abound in duties never so much let him be excellent in prayer excellent in almes-deeds in doing justice let him come to Church let him doe what he will if there be any thing old yet it is a signe he wants life for where there is life there is augmentation of parts a man that is living encreaseth in all If thou find some part of thy soule of thy life to be augmented and not the rest thou art dead a dead thing may be capable of it you may encrease one part of Wheat or of Silver or Gold but the other part continues as it was but all increase in living Creatures it is a generall encrease there is nothing stands at a stay if thou finde a reservation in some things wherein thou takest liberty and standest at a stay thou art not yet a New Creature Thirdly thou shalt know if thou be new by this thou lookest upon every thing with a new eye every thing is presented to thee in a new manner this I take from this very Chapter the Apostle saith We know no man after the flesh therefore whosoever is in Christ let him bee a New Creature As if he should say I am a New Creature or else I could not be in Christ as I so every man else must be for that instance he gives of living to the Lord of being a New Creature he knew no man after the flesh Look to thy selfe in this dost thou looke upon every thing in the world with a new eye that is upon all the particulars thou lookest upon sinne in another fashion than thou did'st before thou seest more in it than ever thou did'st Thou lookest upon spirituall Grace in another mâ—nner thou seest more excellencie in it than thou diddest thou look'st upon the world in another manner than when thou didst magnifie it and the things of it the dignity the honour and the wealth thou art now able to say as Paul They are as drosse as a withering flower thou lookest upon good and ill men after another manner a vile person will be despised in thine eyes let him have all outward excellencies and hee that feares the Lord thou wilt honour him let him be never so base thou lookest on thy selfe after another manner thou doest no more behold thy selfe as thou didst to thinke thy selfe perfected by adding to thy outward condition to thy outward comforts and conveniences though that be a thing that is not to be despised yet a mans selfe lyes not in that but himselfe is the inward man the Regenerate man thou wilt not care to have thy outward man perish thou wilt not care what loser thou be in any thing else thou wilt reckon that thy selfe therefore thou wilt deny those things because thou reckonest not them thy selfe for it is impossible that a man should deny that which is himselfe but thy judgement is altered thou lookest with another eye upon another selfe than thou didst before and therefore thou deniest that which before thou tookest for thy selfe and nourished'st for thy selfe Now a man lookes upon God with another eye now hee sees his beauty and his excellency he sees there iâ— nothing in the world to be desired in compaâ—â—son of him before hee was shie of him and ranne away from him as Adam did It is the state of every carnall man he presents God terrible he hath no delight in God he lookes upon him as upon a Iudge as one he serves of necessity but I say then you will know the Lord Ier. 31. when you are taught of mee then you shall know the Lord when you are made New Creatures then you shall know me that is yoâ— shall see mee in another fashion than ever you did you shall looke on me with another eye you shall know me then as to love me to desire me to long after nothing so much as Communion with mee I might run thorow more instances but the time calls mee away Thou wilt looke upon every thing with another eye they will be presented with another shape for there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth to thee I say all will be new to thee for marke the newnesse of any sense or of any facultie when it is renewed by any infused quality it is not so much discerned by it selfe as by the object as if a man have a new taste and a new savour a new taste in health How shall hee know it Give him meat and drinke and what you will in all the objects of the taste you shall finde a new rellish So if you would know of your heart if it be new goe to the objects that thy heart is conversant about see if thou lookest upon them in another fashion if thou have a new taste and a new rellish in thee for if there be a new heart in thee thou mayest see it outwardly thou wilt say as Paul said I know no man or any thing after the flesh after the outward condition this note will try it if you apply it to your selves after once the change is wrought that you are made New Creatures there is nothing that is presented to you after the same manner as it was every thing is changed with you as if you were brought into a new world you will see them to be other things than you did before but I cannot stand to presse this further Againe if you would know whether this bee in you or no then consider whether your workes be altered for we have a rule in Philosophy and a true one and we will apply it here As a thing is in being so it is in working If there be a new disposition in thee if there bee another Nature there will be a new kind of work for all things in the world worke according to their being and there is nothing that hath an essence and a being but the operations and acts of it are sutable to it therefore if thou wouldest know looke to what thou doest It is not therefore thy good purposes or thy good meanings but thy doing therefore examine thy selfe Hast thou left any old courses Hast thou given over thy drinking thy gaming thy sinne of uncleannesse thy breaking of the Sabbath Wilt thou say that thou hast a new heart and yet keepest thy old company still That thou hast a new heart and yet usest thy old speeches still That thou hast a new heart and yet ploddest in the same old tract that thou didst Looke what thou wast wont to doe thou doest still thou wast wont to spend the Sabbath thus and thus and thou doest so still thou wast wont to neglect prayer to performe it in a remisse manner thou wast wont to be a negligent hearer without recalling it and working it upon thine owne heart without growing in knowledge and
wherein consists the new man The new man consists in holinesse wrought in the will which proceeds from truth revealed unto the understanding so when the understanding and the judgement is rectified thou art made a New Creature Againe when the will is corrupt by lusts proceeding from errour in the understanding thou art in state of an old Creature The old man stands properly in lusts therefore saith Peter 2 Pet. 1.4 Fly the corruption which is in the world through lust All the corruption of mankind stands in these inordinate lusts Others wee may looke on as the fruit but this as the Root What are those lusts Iohn shewes them by three heads 1 Ioh. 2.16 The lusts of the flesh the lusts of the eye and the pride of life The old man stands in these three Take the first Lust even the lust of the Eye A man lookes upon wealth to make him happie in this life I meane no otherwise and looking upon this he lusts after it Doe but rectifie his judgement and let wealth be presented to him as it is in it selfe and hee will come to be affected with it as Paul was who accounted all but drosse and dung hee will say then why should I set my heart upon that which is nothing but vanity I say when the understanding is rectified you will looke upon wealth aright and as you shall see it at the day of death for then wee are as a man awakened out of a dreame we will looke on it then as it is Iam. 1.10 Let the Rich-man rejoyce that hee is made low for as a flower of the grasse so shall he vanish The meaning of this is when a man is made a New Creature he is brought downe in his conceit whereas before hee thought himselfe a great man because of his wealth Now Religion comes and that makes him low and let him be glad of it Why What reason hath a man to be glad of it Indeed if wealth were a thing of moment it were another matter but he was deceived Riches are but as the flower of grasse A wise man lookes on Riches as flowers of the Garden with children and the weakest doe much magnifie Indeed if they were of great moment he lost by it but as Iames saith They are but as flowers of the grasse worth little For the Lust of the flesh that is another thing whereby this old man is seene A man lookes on outward pleasures or delights as able to give satisfaction and as the greatest delights in the world let his Iudgement be rectified he looks upon them as Enemies that fight against the Soule as the workes of darknesse which he abhorres and so he comes to Lots disposition Whose righteous Soule was vexed to see the filthinesse of the Sodomites When his Iudgement is right hee lookes on them as base and vile things as Enemies unto his Soule that will be his destructioâ— For the Pride of life Man lookes on outward things as the onely excellencies which makes him admire them so but when his Iudgement is once rectified hee lookes upon them as the Apostle doth who accounted them but empty things as bubbles blowne up by Boyes To conclude when the Iudgement is rectified in stead of Errour and Deceit which is the Root of the old man whence comes these three great Lusts which are the maine and from which all the rest will follow then the lusts are dissolved and the new man comes from truth as the other is corrupted and comes from deceit So you see what it is to have this new quality to have the Iudgement rectified and the lust dissolved And not so onely but there must be new desires wrought in thee A carnall man over-values carnall things and in spirituall things hee comes farre too short like a man that lookes upon a banquet when his belly is full he hath no appetite unto it So a carnall man lookes upon Sinne and forgivenesse But when a man hath his Iudgement rectified he comes to have many holy desires and in this stands the New Creature Againe it comes from knowledge of the Spirit But you will say we have knowledge and if that would doe it then they that know most are best men But you must know what kinde of knowledge this is The new man must be renued in knowledge This is such a knowledge of holinesse as the Holy Ghost reveales unto us and except this knowledge be revealed unto you our revealing is nothing We preach Wisdome which the Princes of the world know not neither can know Take Aristotle or others which are the Princes of the world for wisdome they know not these things nay if they were taught them they could not learne them for they are revealed by the Spirit and if wee preach unto you never so oft if the Spirit doe not reveale them unto you it is nothing We see that by experiience that a man that can reason against these and these sinnes can speake of the vanity of these things can give twenty better reasons against them than another man yet hee seekes after them as much as any The wise-men and strongest wits which can say most against them yet have not their lusts dissolved when a poore man that is truly sanctified although he cannot say the hundreth part against sinne as another man yet he doth hunger after Iesus Christ. Therefore it must be the worke of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. ult But we all behold as in a mirrour the glory of the Lord with open face and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord that is when wee looke into the Word wee see the Image of God so may another man too but he doth not see the glory of it he doth not looke on it as a desirable thing as a thing he is in love withall God shewes Moses his glory hee never shewed his glory but to the Saints The greatest request that Moses desired was to see the glory of the Lord I will shew thee my glory saith God that is thou shalt see as much as shall be needfull for thee to see in this life God shewes himselfe unto us in his Word and when hee will shew a man his glory he makes him to have a love to it and then hee is transformed into his Image Another sees it but he is not transformed into such a knowledge as convinceth the minde of sinne when wee teach knowledge it is as the Sparkes in a darke roome or as the Starres in a darke night the roome is darke still so it is with all knowledge till the Holy Ghost doth teach it wee may beget a thousand sparkes in you but they will not turne the darknesse into light But when the Holy Ghost comes it doth not onely appeare there but it changeth us from darknesse into light You must know that when we preach only it is as when the light shines the windowes being shut against it there
is none shines into the house so when men thinke they understand most yet they want this light to shine into the house Luke 24.45 Then opened he their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures They had heard Christ before but they understood not his Word like those which sowed seed on ill ground and therefore received not the fruit of it but when the Holy Ghost comes into thy heart that will convince thee of evill it will expell darknesse and set right thy Iudgement otherwise though you heard Paul preach yea Christ himselfe were your Iudgements never so good yet it would not be done till the Holy Ghost teacheth you you will never know him never see him aright in his glory never see him so as to delight and long after him so as to desire nothing in the world so much as communion with him Thus it is when his Image is renewed in Knowledge and Truth and where this Knowledge and Truth is Holinesse instantly followes There are many that know and practice not and there are many which neither know nor practice but where this Image is what ever they know they practice Well let us apply this unto our selves briefly If to bee a New Creature there is required of us this Faith and Love Truth and Holinesse Knowledge and Righteousnesse then let us learne not to bee deceived to regard nothing else in comparison of this Doe as the Apostle Gal. 6.15 For in CHRIST IESVS neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but a New Creature that is it is no matter for any thing in a man Circumcision is no better than Vncircumcision Goe thorow all the duties of Religion you shall finde them nothing till you bee made a New Creature I know many doe many things they come to Church and give almes well saith the Apostle Circumcision and Vncircumcision is all one so say I Prayer and no Prayer is all one doing justly and unjustly it is all one untill a man bee a New Creature Therefore saith Paul 1 Cor. 13.3 Though I give all my goods to the poore which is a glorious action nay though I could be content to bee a Martyr though I give my body to bee burned and have not love it profiteth nothing So except you be New Creatures your labour is lost for Nature may doe much with the knowledge of the Gospel As the Earth brings forth grasse of it selfe and some flowers of the lowest sort but to bring forth a crop and flowers of the finest sort it must be tilled and there must bee seed put in Nature I say may doe much but this New Creature must come from an Immortall seed sowen in the heart by God himselfe Therefore looke whether thou hast that wrought in thee or no. For this is all the comfort we have when the body is decayed and waxen old yet let us not be discouraged though this outward man decay and perish there is a new youth springing up This is all the comfort we have that when the old house is going downe we have a new house setting up in stead of it Every man is glad to see an old house pulled downe and a new set up in stead of it but to see an old house going downe and no new one to bee set up the ruine of it is a most miserable Spectacle Take an Husband-man who hath taken great pains in plowing and sowing his ground when he sees his corne is rotten he is glad of it because he knowes new will come up in stead of it so when we see the body decaying and our day drawing towards evening when the Sunne of life is ready to bee set upon us when we shall grow no more this presents nothing but confusion yet here is hope for us There is light Sowen unto the righteous All the consolation and all the comfort wee have in these dayes of our vanity is that we have a New Creature that is not subject to vanitie The end of the Third Sermon THE FOVRTH SERMON VPON THE NEW CREATVRE 2 COR. 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ let him be a new Creature NOw we come to the last thing to be observed in the New Creature which is that there is not only an infusion of a new Quality but a weakning of the old Therefore we put that into the description A man is a New Creature when his heart is cast into another mould by the infusion of a new quality of grace and by a destroying of the old And this is specially to be observed because there bee two parts of the New Creature a mortification of sinne as well as a vivification For Common Nature is like a Bowle between two byasses Corruption is the wrong byas carrying us out of the way and Grace the good byas carrying us into the way So you must knocke off the old byas as well as put on a new one that is Common Nature lyes as an indifferent thing betweene Grace and Sin the Flesh and the Spirit Corruption and Holinesse so that as the body is betweene health and sicknesse so is Common Nature between originall sinne which is as the sicknesse or death of the Soule and Holinesse which is the health of it Now it is not only required that there be an infusion of the new Quality but likewise a weakning of this old both cannot stand together so farre as you strengthen one the other is weakned it is alwayes so where is contrariety where there is no contrariety two may stand together but when things be opposite the comming in of the one is the weakning of the other the comming of heat is a weakning of cold this is of speciall use And this use we are to make of it that hence then you see this will follow that if you finde much newnesse in your selves according to your owne opinion you finde you can doe many things you could never doe before you are able to doe these and these duties of new obedience well suppose it yet except there be a mortification of the old lusts if thou find that there be any lusts continue in thee in strength that in that regard thou art the same man still whatsoever addition there be it is no matter it is certaine thou art not yet a New Creature for a New Creature consists not in superinduction of the new Quality the old remaining but in a weakning of the old too It is not only a superaddition of the new but the death of the old also Therefore if thou findest any corruptions continuing in the fulnesse of their first strength not weakned at all though thou hast all signes of grace all parts of a New Creature to thy seeming yet thou art deceived because if thou wert new there would be a mortification of the old lusts So againe it is true on the other side Put case thou finde a great change in thy selfe such lusts as have been vigorous and lively thou findest to be
conditions Take all other things that please thy nature it is but when thou hast such a lust such an humour in such a time it is not so at all times it is not a continuall feast But you will say I find it not so I find that since I began this new course I have more trouble and perplexity of mind than I had before I was quiet before and all at rest I answer it may be so but stay a while till the Sonne of Grace hath got higher till it hath got more strength and thou shalt find it able to disperse those vapours and to scatter all those clouds It is true at the beginning there is but strength enough to move them to raise them a little but when it hath more strength they are scattered and dispersed therefore though there be a little hardnesse at the first yet goe on and thou shalt finde it pleasant The Heathen man could say Elige vitam optimam consuetudo faciet jucundam Chuse the good way and though it be hard at the first afterwards it will be the more easie If we appointed you a new worke without a new heart it were another case but you must know what we said before you shall have a new Nature and being so it will be pleasant because the wayes of God will be sutable to it So much likewise for this Last of all if we must be made New Creatures then give God the praise of that great worke of changing old men into new men I say give him the praise of it for he lookes for that at your hands Will you magnifie him for healing a lame man a blind man for they were true maladies and he was worthy of praise for them and is he not worthy to be magnified for changing the whole Nature for altering the whole frame of it Are the cures of the soule lesse than the cures of the body What if Christ should now make the lame to walke the blinde to see to take away the blindnesse of the mind to heale the sicknesse of the soule to make a man a New Creature Is not this a worke of an higher Nature When the Centurion saw the Veile of the Temple rent he said Surely this was the Sonne of God So when thou shalt see the Course of Nature turned that old Nature of thine rent to peeces be ready to say Surely this was the Sonne of God Shall we say Christ was God for turning water into wâ—ne and shall we not give him the praise of his power when we see him turne one Creature into another making Lions Lambes making you New Creatures This is a turning of the course of Nature is not your Nature carried as violently to sinne as the Sunne in his course And to turne it is as much as to stay the Sunne in his course It is no lesse to make you New Creatures No man considers it therefore let me put you in minde what it is for this is a thing you should marke Therefore Iohn Baptist gives this signe of Christ by which he might be distinguished from himselfe and all men I baptize you with water but when he comes he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire that is when that is done be assured that the Sonne of God is come in the flesh This is the great miracle that Iohn will have them attend unto and is not this daily done Doth not Christ baptize us with fire and with the Holy Ghost Therefore you shall see what answer he gives to Iohn Bapt. when he would know Art thou he or looke we for another Goe and tell Iohn the blinde see the lame walke and the poore receive the Gospell that is I have made them New Creatures This is put with the other miracles of healing the blinde and lame It is true we that live see not this done the blind to see or the lame to goe yet we see men receive the Gospell that is are regenerate by the Gospell are made New Creatures This is a thing we should hearken to as it was a great sinne in them in Christs time to neglect the miracles he did so it is with us when wee neglect this Therefore Christ takes up Nichodemus when he tells him that men must be made New Creatures he wondering at it saith what dost thou meane by that Christ saith what wilt thou doe when I tell thee of things in heaven if thou wilt not beleeve when I tell thee of earthly things The meaning is this Regeneration is a thing done on earth that is the meaning of the place this you see before your eyes this you have experience of if you will not beleeve this how will you beleeve things that are remote from your eyes that are shut up from you which you have no experience of but only that I tell you and therefore you ought to beleeve me Therefore when you see New Creatures argue thus with your selves Certainly there is a renewing God and a renewing Spirit that is there is a Redeemer for as by the common creatures which you see you know there is a Creator as opus monstrat efficientem if you see a creature then you know there is a Creator then why should not that renewing of Christ his exercising that act of renewing among the sonnes of men put you in minde of glorifying Goâ— and of giving you the praise of it When Câ—â—â—t wrought miracles you shall finde what different successe they had saith the Text in more places than one therefore I need not quote it some of the people glorified God when they saw such a thing done others envied some glorified God others went and told the Pharisies You shall see when Lazarus was raised from the dead some beleeved and glorified God others went to the Pharisies Now I say when you see this done for this is the greatest miracle and all the miracles that is now left that men are made New Creatures and it is done before your eyes if you will see it as Christ said Hee that hath eares let him heare Take heed how you looke on it consider with what eye God never makes a New Creature but when men looke on it there is a different judgement some there are that magnifie it and desire to be made so likewise that make this use of it and so you ought to doe surely there is vertue in the Spirit a vertue in Grace an efficacie in the Word surely these be the ministers and servants of the most high God This you ought to doe but on the other side how many hundreds and thousands are there that doe as they did when they saw the miracles they envied Yea as they did with Lazarus When the Iewes saw that for Lazarus sake many went away and beleeved on him they consulted how to put Lazarus to death That is the fashion of the world when they see New Creatures men regenerate that holinesse and purity of godlinesse shines forth
we should draw nearer to him Therefore labour to strengthen your faith So did Moses it was the strengh of his faith that made him cleave so fast to GOD as he did Fourthly get experience of him for it was Pauls experience that united him nearer to Christ the experience that he had of Christ in the mortification of his lusts in all the courses of his ministery in all the distresses and troubles that he passed thorow he still had experience of him and the more experience you have of the Lord Iesus the nearer you come to converse with him and the more you will love him and joyne to him Strangenesse disjoynes affections we say there is strangenesse when men salute not when there is not a neare conversing Strangenesse doth dis-joyne the heart Againe nearenesse of conversing and walking with him from day to day drawes us nearer to him and intends the will of desiring him to be our Husband Last of all there is a certain impression made in the spirit of man by the Holy Ghost which causeth him to draw neare to Christ that makes him prize him more As there is in the Iron a certaine naturall quality to follow the Load-stone so there is in the Saints towards Christ And if we seeke a reason why Paul and the rest of the Saints that excelled so were able to prize Christ above all things and to count all things losse in respect of him the true reason is it was the impression made upon their spirits by the Holy Ghost there is a certaine attractive vertue put into them enabling them to prize Christ above all and to draw neare to him therefore you must know it is the gift of the Holy Ghost to inable us to prize him Therefore to all the rest adde that seeke to the Lord that he would worke it in your hearts that you may learne to magnifie him Thus you must seeke to encrease the union to adde degrees to the will by which you are content and resolve to match with Christ and to be made one with him And this is the thing that you are to be exhorted to not only to know this but to exercise it when Paul had once tasted the sweetnesse in Christ he could relish nothing else he counts all other things as drosse So should we if we had once experience of it Therefore we should learne to renue this union from day to day and as I said before Wee should eat his flesh and drinke his bloud every day that is every time we renue the covenant with God we renue the match as it were betweene us we eat Christs flesh and drinke his bloud He is that Bread that came downe from heaven they ate Mannah in the wildernesse and died but hee that feedeth on me shall have life everlasting Therefore eat my flesh and drinke my bloud that is take me come to me for eating of his flesh is nothing but to come to him to take him to receive him Now saith he the very act of taking me is your duty as you renue that every day so you take me anew as it were and so there will come new strength to you as from bread or Manna when you eat it or from flesh and wine when you eat and drinke it so doth there from from me when you renue your eating of my flesh and drinking of my bloud that is when you renue your act of taking and receiving me there comes new strength to you that is you shall have new comforts and consolations you shall be encouraged the more herein you draw nearer to me than before For as your union with Christ at the first doth make way for the Spirit and causeth it to be shed in your hearts so the more this union is encreased the more you are filled with the Holy Ghost So you get new strength from day to day as this union is more confirmed It is like a new eating and drinking your Peace is more abundant and your strength is more enlarged you are more full of joy in the Holy Ghost every grace is more encreased and strengthned in you therefore exercise this union eat his flesh and drinke his bloud every day But you will say what needs that when we have once done is it not enough No it is not enough for there growes a distance betweene Christ and you from day to day a little neglect the very omission of duties yea though it were no sinfull omission may cause it As the body is subject to waste and needs eating and drinking that it may be repaired So doth the soule and inner man there is a continuall wasting of strength and you must eat his flesh and drinke his bloud every day to repaire it that is you must renue the union that grace may be strengthned and renued in your hearts that those spirits may be repaired that you spend every day that your very strength may be renued you shall find this true by experience the more you doe this more neare you get to Christ the more you renue that match and make a new marriage with him you shall and new strength comming to you you shall find your hearts draw nearer to him and further from sinne you shall finde your selves made more spirituall more heavenly minded you shal find your selves more strengthned you wil be ashamed to sinne when you stand in such neare termes with him there will be a secret influence of the Spirit in your hearts Therefore exercise this union and as you must exercise it from day to day so know the comfort of it and improve and husband it well If I have Christ for my husband shall he be my husband in vaine Shall I have him and not make use of him No you must learne to make use of him learne to use him as he is a Prophet a Priest and a King If you would be more enlightned goe to him as a Prophet beseech him to enlighten thee to give thee wisdome to give thee the Spirit of Revelation and he cannot deny thee If thou hast committed a sinne use him as a Mediatour as a Priest for he is thy Husband thou hast him for that purpose forget not that Christ is a Mediatour We fall into sinne from day to day but if we knew really what it is to have Christ an Intercessour to have him our Priest to make an attonement for our sinnes every day we should learne to prize him more we should be full of comfort we should doe in another manner than we doe If there be any strong lust which thou canst not subdue know that it must be done by him as a King he must bring it into subjection he must circumcise thy heart Therefore know what is in Christ for all that is in him is thine and he is full of treasure When thou hast the field what shouldest thou doe but digge the treasure to know what is there when thou knowest thou hast such a
have said Blessed is a rich man a man in honour and dignity in credit and that hath health he is a blessed man No saith David but hee is a blessed man whose sinnes are forgiven whose iniquities are covered because such a man GOD sets himselfe to make blessed for blessednesse is the heape of all good things Now who can give that but God who hath the command of all things Can any but he cause all things worke together for thy good And if any thing be wanting thou art not blessed Againe when thy sinnes be forgiven thee God is made thine he is reconciled to thee for thy sinne is taken away and when GOD is thine thou art a blessed man for he brings all good things and hee is the Buckler that keepes off all evill he is the Master of the Creatures Now you know the Master is he who can rate the dogge when he fals on a Guest or a stranger and it is onely the Master that can doe it It is he that can rate any evill and suppresse it thou hast him therefore thou art a blessed man and thou hast him by having thy sinnes forgiven thee that is the great promise that he should save his People from their sinnes he needs say no more when he saith Hee shall save his People from their sinnes for then he saves them from all trouble and misery in the world Therefore this may be a great motive it was CHRISTS owne motive when hee would invite men to come to him he saith Come unto mee all yee that are weary and heavie laden and I will ease you That is thy sinnes that are as an heavie burthen shall be taken off of thee But you will say I feele no burthen of it No but thou shalt finde it a burthen when GOD shall set every man to beare his burthen when GOD shall charge it on thy conscience and it is thy wisdome to have it taken off though thou finde it not a burthen I say guilt is a great burthen which will binde thee over to damnation It is a great burthen when conscience is awaked Againe Corruption is a great burthen for it wearies a man Sicknesse is a wearinesse to the bodie and Sinne is the same to the Soule that Sicknesse is to the body A sicke man is weary of every thing weary of his bed of his chamber of his dyet he is weary of sitting of standing for hee is sicke So it is with every man that hath not his sinnes forgiven him hee is weary not only of the guilt but hee is weary of every thing Put him in the best condition he findes no rest and in that hee is weary of every thing That which they say of Folly it may bee more truely said of every wicked man that every condition is miserable to him he is weary of himselfe he is weary of every thing he hath no rest Further when thou art in CHRIST he will give rest to thy soule that is he will take away the power as well as the guilt of sinne hee will heale thy sicknesse and then the worst condition will bee pleasant to thee thou wilt finde rest in a Prison thou wilt finde rest in sicknesse thou wilt finde rest in death every condition yea the worst will bee sweet unto thee before in the best thou foundest none for there was a restlesnesse within but when thy sinnes bee forgiven thee thou shalt finde rest to thy soule The end of the Seventh Sermon THE EIGHTH SERMON VPON THE NEW CREATVRE 2 COR. 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ let him be a new Creature GOD hath planted in every man selfe-love every man seekes his owne happinesse Two things every man would have they would be freed from all evill and enjoy all good things if they could finde these in Christ men would be perswaded to come in Now we can assure you that both these you shall finde in Christ you shall by him be freed from all evil and be compassed about with mercy on every side First I say you shall be freed from all evill for what Christ saith to all his Disciples Luke 10. You shall tread on Serpents and Scorpions and all the power of the Enemie and nothing shall hurt you may be applied to all the Saints though there be many hurtfull things in the world yet nothing shall hurt them It is true indeed they may have to doe with Serpents and Scorpions that is evill things may fall upon them as well as upon others you see the same condition fals to all yet it shall not hurt them according to that in Luke 1.74 That we being delivered from our enemies is that we may serve him without feare Mark that you shall be delivered from all your enemies if you will come in that is there shall not an enemie in the world be able to doe you hurt and you shall live without feare that is the great advantage you shall have as if he should say other men feare a thousand things they feare death they feare sicknesse they feare losse of friends and good name but when a man is one in Christ he shal be delivered from all his Enemies he shall serve the Lord without feare because nothing is able to hurt him for what could hurt him Either it must be the Devill or men or some other Creature but none of these can hurt him Is not God the Governour of the house Is he not the Master Is not he able to rate the Mastives from flying in the face of any of his friends that come to him yea he is able to doe it and none but the Master of the house is able to do it None can keep the Creatures from hurting of you but he that hath the command of all the Creatures therefore if you will come in nothing shall hurt you he is a Buckler and a Shield to compasse you round about He will be your strong fortresse into which no Creature shall be able to shoot an arrow But besides this you shall have all things else that you can desire The Lord himselfe shall bee your habitation from generation to generation Psal. 90.1 That is you shall dwell in the Lord and you shall not dwell in him for a fit as we doe in our houses of clay but for ever and looke what an house doth that doth he he will keepe you safe and defend you from evill he is an house that it shall not raine thorow and such an house he is as will goe with you whithersoever you goe he is our habitation from generation to generation yea an house as will not onely defend you but refresh you with all manner of comforts for houses are made for delight as well as for defence Whatsoever you want he will helpe you to If you be sicke he is able to heale you if you be weake he is able to strengthen you if hungry to satisfie you whatsoever condition you
you shall want that beauty which God only accepts Againe if you be out of Christ you shall be hungry you shall be wretched and miserable for I pitch on that generall one because that is one of the outward miseries when a man is hungry when he is starved when he wants that which should strengthen him and refresh him and maintaine his life This is the case of every man out of Christ he wants that which should feed him that which should strengthen him for you must know that the soule hath a meat as well as the body otherwise why doth Christ say I have a meat to eat that you know not of They wondred to see him neglect his dinner when hee stood talking with the woman of Samaria Iohn 4. Why saith he I have another meat to eat And why doth David say Thy Law is sweeter to mee than the honey if there were not somewhat that his soule did feed on And so why is it said that Manna was Angels food You know Manna was a materiall thing such as a spirituall substance cannot feed on but because by that Manna Christ was represented You know he is said to be the true Manna The true Bread that came down from heaven the Angels they feed on this and in that respect it is called Angels food they feed on the same spirituall meat 1 Cor. 10. Your Fathers did eat that spirituall meat that is the corporall meat did typifie the spiritual meat which is Angels food therefore there is a food thâ—t the soule feeds on out of Christ there is none of this but your soules are starved are miserable and wretched For what is it that food doth It maintains life in a man take away food and you die for it Now it is Christ that gives that His flesh is meat indeed and his bloud is drinke indeed that is Whosoever beleeves not in him whosoever partakes not of him he dies for ever Againe meat strengthneth and so doth the Lord when we come to him he gives spirituall strength Without him we are able to doe nothing As you have it Ioh. 15. Without me you are able to bring forth no fruit But as the Apostle speakes Phil. 4. Through Christ I am able to do every thing It is the Lord that giveth strength If you will come in you shall have strength given you which is the property of meat Againe meat refresheth and revives the spirits so doth the Lord by his graces by the joy of the Holy Ghost by peace of conscience by those things that he puts into the heart of every beleever I say they refresh the soule more than flaggons of wine and there is as evident refreshing and therefore you know that metaphor is used often in Esay 26. I will make a feast of fined wines and of fat things And in Mat. 22. he cals them to come in for his fatlings were prepared and all things were ready What is the reason that the Lord resembleth spirituall things by a Feast because they doe the same things as a Feast doth a Feast is a refreshing to a man a continuall feast is a continuall comfort and this you shall have if you will come in to the Lord if you will not come in you shall be starved you shall be wretched and miserable This you shall have by the Lord Iesus Let this move you to come in But now a man will be ready to object you tell us of these things and indeed these are goodly things if they were present if they were reall if they were not Imaginary things onely that consisted in notion and in speculation if they were things that were sensible but they are not so these things are future things they are remote things they are things but in Imagination they are things that we have no feeling of they are things that if we looke after them we shall lose other things in this life This objection all the world makes against such motives as these and therefore I will answer these briefly and proceed First whereas men say they are things that are farre off and indeed such things move not much I say they are already present they are a great part present we have the first fruits present though the harvest be deferred and wee may boldly say to you that those very gleanings for the present are beyond the vintage that the children of this world enjoy the peace of conscience the joy of the Spirit boldnesse in death security and freedome from all deaths and dangers familiarity and acquaintance with God to enjoy his favour with all that hee can doe the grace the prevent us the blessing that followes us in all our actions the comforts of the Saints whose hearts are made glad with the light of Gods countenance these things I say are beyond the wine and oile beyond the dainties and honours which they have who have their portion in this life therefore you have something for the present indeed the outside of these things are but base but the inside is precious This is the difference betweene heavenly things and earthly in heavenly the worst is first the best is last In outward things it is true the beginning is sweet but the latter end is bitterest but let that be one answer to it that you have much of it for the present And besides this remember though you have it not present yet you shall have it after and what great matter is it to want a little to enjoy more for the future Are we not content to buy great reversions with the losse of a little money for the present for we say it will come in Are we not content to endure an Apprentiship of seven or eight yeares for our greater advantage Doe not men willingly serve a Master or a Mistresse a long time for hopes hereafter Now what folly yea what Atheisme and unbeliefe is it for a man in things that concerne salvation not to be content to want a little for the present to enjoy happinesse for ever If a man should be put to his choise whether he would have five shillings to day or many thousands to morrow a man no question would have it to morrow You know this life is not so much to eternitie as to day is to the next day why should we not be content to want a little that we may have the more afterwards And besides if you consider what men are men are reasonable and to what end is reason given you but to looke on things past and future That is the part of a Beast only to look on present things you should doe more than the Beasts doe you should looke to things that are future and should order your lives according to that And what have you faith for For faith is that which distinguisheth a Christian from another man as reason distinguisheth a man from a beast surely this should teach you to goe beyond reason reason teacheth you to goe
shall live for ever it is water that shall keep life in him for all eternity when she heard this she harkens to heare of water that could keepe life for ever When you reade the story in Genesis that the Angell was set with a sword shaken to keepe man from comming to taste of the tree of life you should thinke with your selves if the Angels were removed now or there were a man so happy that the Angell would give way to him that he might come and eat of the tree and when hee had eaten to live for ever you thinke that man in an happy condition Now the Lord doth say Revel 2. He that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree in the middest of the Paradice of God That is he shall eat of me and live for ever this is the great happinesse we have When Christ would use a compelling argument to move Revel 2.11 Hee that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death Why is it so great a matter Oh that is all not to be hurt of the second death The first death is nothing the first death is but the doore it is but the gate that leads to the passing thorow the first death is but a going over the threshold the breadth of it is but a step and the length of it is but a moment of time or two But the second death there are the chambers of death as Solomon speakes where you shall be led from one misery to another and where you shall dwell for ever And therefore consider this if you take Christ you shall not be hurt of the second death I beseech you consider seriosuly reckon nothing so sweet if this life be sweet that is but a spanne long is not abundance of life much sweeter It is naturall to every man to desire immortility if you could but have this life continued let every man aske his owne brest what he would give that his life might be continued that he might be immortall If there were such a thing as the Alchymists speake of I could draw out the threed of this life to keepe it firme and even as they dreame of what would you give to obtaine And will you not regard this that will doe that indeed Will you not take Christ which is life indeed which will give you another life of immortality for you must know that it is not immortality simply that man desires The Naturalists were deceived in that for a man had rather not to be than to be in misery And the soule in hell are immortall and therefore it is not immortalitie that we desire simply for death is not the extinguishing of life but the misery of life And therefore where the Scripture speakes of the losse of the soule it is to be meant thus a mans finger or his joynt is lost when it is seized on by any incurable sore So when eternal misery is on the soule then the soule is lost and yet you have the joynt still you have the soule stil you have life still and therefore it is not immortality simply that we desire if we consider what it is but it is happinesse it is such a life as is not only immortall but happy withall this life Christ hath promise we shall live and an happy life such as S. Paul expresseth 2 Cor. 5. saith he We desire not to be unclothed but to be clothed upon that immortality might be swallowed up of life As if he should say consider with your selves you that love this life so well that you neglect that which is to come saith he we love our lives as well as you we are not weary of them no more than you are we desire not to be unclothed no but we desire that immortality may be swallowed up of life how swallowed up as we see a rude draught in a picture swallowed up with the picture when it is perfected as child-hood is swallowed up of manhood as the glimmering light is swallowed up of the perfect light so their immortality is swallowed up of life that is if there be a small poore glimpse of comfort here saith Paul we would not be rid of these we would be content to have these as well as you onely wee would have them swallowed up of perfect life we would have imperfection swallowed up of perfection And therefore Iob saith I will wait till my change shall come he saith not till my destruction come till my perishing come or till my death come but I will wait till my change come and he that changeth doth it for the better If you will take Christ you shall have this immortality and life perhaps you will say but I could be content to have this temporall life continued And haply my brethren if the Lord would make that promise that he would proclaime to men that they should have immortall life here it may be he shall have more followes than now he hath when hee promiseth immortall life in heaven but to take away that in a word I say it is a foolish choice if you might have it For what have you heere Here the body is tormented with diseases the spirit is wearied with vexation and the state is assualted with losses and crosses evill things wound us with sorrow and the good things we here doe but infect our affections and weary us still and yet they whet our tired appetites with a new edge In a word every condition here is pestred and troubled with businesse one invites and drawes on another we are hampred with succeeding fetters and makes this short life more short than it would be with carefull griefe with bitter feares and with corrupt joyes and at last all cut off and end as many men many times spread their branches and flourish their estate over-swallowes their wishes their suceesse excceds their desires now on a sudden this pompe is no where to bee found their desires vanish the floud of their wealth is dried up the owners and their goods perish together they will not see this by experience What is it in this life you would have if there were immortality But I say it cannot be so that is not so you cannot have immortality in this life but as evidently as you see the heavens roll about evey day so plainly we may see if wee will take it into consideration mankinde hurried along with an unwearied motion to the West of his dayes their posterity posting after them by an unrepealeable law of succession our fathers you know are gone before and we are passing and our children shall follow us at our heeles that as you see the billowes of the Sea one tumbe on the neck of another and in the end all are dashed upon the shoare so all generations and ages in the end are split on bankes of death and this is the condition of every man Is it not our wisdome then to provide for another life Certainly if there bee any wisdome in the world it
is wisdome to remember our latter end The wisest among the Heathen were wont to say There should bee nothing but a meditation of death that is a wise man though the course of his life should be still fitting and preparing himselfe for death and shall Christians â—me behinde them It was a wise speech of Peter to our Saviour Lord whether shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life as if hee should say there is no motive to that surely we will not leave thee therefore I say consider here we are but Tennants at will wee may be turned out of doores to morrow therefore let this be a motive to win to Christ you shall have life But you will say I hope death is farre off yet I have time enough well take heed thou be not deceived in that for ther is a collusion there as the Painter by collusion of colours makes a thing seeme farre off when it is neere at hand so wee by our folly and vanity our fansie mis-apprehending of things we looke on death as farre off when it may be it is at our heeles at the next doore thou knowest not how soone thou maist meet with it therefore say not it is farre off but thinke with thy selfe goe sit alone but a little time together and then think with thy selfe I must die it is appointed to mee as to all men once to dye Consider if a man might dye twice or thrice perhaps he would be ready he would be prepared but consider thou must dye but once if thou be not prepared there is not a second oportunity and then consider thy soule is immortall in another place it must live for ever And then remember Christ saith thou shalt have life if thou take him thou shalt live for ever then thou wilt finde it an exceeding blessing worth the having it is that that may wooe you and win you to come in and take Christ to love him and to serve him and to obey him certainly if you will not now be moved with it yet when death shall come then you shall finde that beyond all the treasure to have that white-stone with a new name in it that stone was a signe of absolution that a man was quitted that his sins are forgiven that he hath interest in Christ and eternity that eternall life is for him in heaven this is the first motive to win you to Christ. Secondly if you will come into him you shall have all your debts payd you shall bee under cover that is you shall have all your sins forgiven that when the creditors come with an arrest with a judgement and execution you may be able to say no they are none of my debts goe to my husband hee must pay them and not I I say when you have Christ when Satan shall come and when sin shall come you may put them over to Christ for now you are his and he is yours he hath taken our debts on him is this a small thing Psal. 32.1 saith David Blessed is the man whose sinnes are forgiven and whose iniquities are covered marke Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven Perhaps if one of us should seeke a happy man we would say that he is a happy man that lives in health and in wealth in credit and abundance of all things he that hath the favour of Princes hee that hath some notable excellencie to make him famous among men some such thing wee take for happinesse But when David comes to looke through the world and all the felicity in it oh saith David Hee is a happy man that his sinnes are forgiven And there is good reason for it because when our sin is forgiven wee are reconciled to God and God onely can make man happy For wherein doth happinesse consist but in a freedome from all evill and in enjoying of all good you know this is happinesse Now sin is it not the first linke in the chaine of ills As the under-wheeles in a Clocke or Watch depends upon the first so all miseries depend upon sin as the Master-ill of all take away that and all the wheeles stand still they move not a jot to doe us the least hurt take away sin take away all this ill in sin is a bar and stops from us all good things take away sin and you shall enjoy all that in abundance that your hearts can desire If you have not your sinnes forgiven what will it availe If you come to a Prisoner and tell him you shall have the best Lodging you shall have a Pallace you shall have Orchards and Gardens to walke in you shall have Gold and Silver as much as you will desire you shall have honour put upon you would not he answer Alas what would all this availe without a pardon So I say to men that magnifie the things of this world so much and remission of sins they thinke not of I say what is all this will it availe without a pardon No therefore this is a great motive to bring us into Christ that our sins may be forgiven Therefore that great promise went of the Messiah that when he should come into the world he should save his people from their sins and this is a mercy which though you may slight now in health and strength yet when the times come that God shall charge sinne upon your consciences that they feele the weight and burthen of it you shall finde no mercy like to this that you may come to have your sinnes forgiven then he that bringeth the glad tydings of peace his feet will be beautifull the thing is the same if wee had hearts to consider of it if we were poore in spirit if we knew what sinne were if wee had ever felt the bitternesse of Satans yoke that wee were weary of it wee would come in and reckon it a great matter to have our sins forgiven this is the second I shall prosecute the rest at some other time The end of the Second Sermon THE CUPPE OF BLESSING DELIVERED IN THREE Sermons upon 1 Cor. 10.6 The Third SERMON 1 CORINTH 10.16 The Cup of blessing that we blesse is it not the Communion of the bloud of Christ The bread that we breake is it not the Communion of the body of Christ THE point you know we have delivered out of these words is this That in the Sacrament there is a true reall Communication or giving or offering of Iesus Chriâ—t of his body and of his bloud to all worthy receivers Wee have shewed you the difference betweene the Papists and us in this point They will have here a reall corporall presence of Christ. We say it is true but it is Spirituall but it is Mysticall but it is Sacramentall We have shewed you the reasons by which wee refelde that opinion of theirs That there is no necessity neither in regard of the thing nor in regard of the words and if there be no necessity we may not grant it other
Christ which goes farre beyond the pompe and plenty and abundance of any other Kingdome But besides this That you shall have the liberty the plenty and abundance of Kings you shall likewise have the power of Kings as the Apostle saith The Kingdome of God is not in word but in power that is you shall not onely say I wish I could live a holy life as others doe I wish I could mortifie such and such lusts I wish I could abstaine from such sinnes and doe such duties but you shall have power and ability to doe them I am able to doe all things saith Paul through Christ that strengthens me Againe besides this you shall have the victory of Kings you shall be overcome of nothing to be in disgrace to be in Prison is not to be overcome But to be diverted from a mans way to be put besides his intention to fall from a mans stedfastnesse this is to be overcome Thus saith the Apostle We are in poverty but not overcome Such Kings were all the Apostles they marched as Kings in the world they triumphed over all the oppositions they found they tread under foot Satan and the power of the Enemie Againe besides all this you shall have the glory of Kings For what are you when you come to Christ but sonnes of God heires apparant in Psal. 45. Princes in all Lands others are but Princes in their owne dominion but he will make you Princes in all Lands But you will say we see no such things No but Eccles. 10. You are Princes though you walke on foot as servants and they are but servants although they ride on horse-backe like Princes Therefore 1 Ioh. 3. You are the sons of God but it appeares not yet what you shall be When we have acted our part and are gone off the stage when the part that we have sustained shall be taken from us and them then they shall appeare that they are servants and that those that are come into Christ are Princes You will say This were a goodly thing if it were a reall Kingdome but these are imaginary things I answer it is not so the kingdome of Christ is as reall as these outward externall kingdoms are and why should it be worse esteemed because it consists not in outward things for what is the body but the sheath the sachell the shell of the soule it is the soule that is the man the perfecting of the soule is perfecting of the man Therefore the kingdome that is spirituall must needs be beyond that which is outward and corporall especially such a kingdome as this that consists not in the titles of authority but is such a kingdome as the wise Philosopher speakes of saith he Some nature hath made Kings as the Eagle the king of birds the Lion the king of beasts there is an excellencie in some and those Nature hath made Kings I say such Kings Christ will make you for when the Kingdome of Grace comes into the heart it puts a Royall disposition into you it makes you excell other men as much as Eagles excell other birds as much as Lions excell other beasts as much as Lilies exceed other flowers such a Kingdome you shall have if you will come into Christ you shall have the liberty of Kings the abundance and plenty of Kings the power of Kings the victory of Kings and the glory of Kings And this is the fourth thing you shall have by him if you will come in and take him But is this all you shall have by him No You shall not have an empty kingdom but you shall have riches with it Christ will make you rich and Riches you know is that which all the world seekes after In Revel 3. I counsell thee come and buy gold tried by the fire that thou mayest be rich And Revel 2. to the Church of Smerna I know thy poverty but thou art rich Luke 12. Such are those that are rich in the world and not rich towards God So that there is another kinde of Riches the Riches that Christ gives And what are those Riches are but a Metaphor that is you shall have abundance of good things for if we have much if it be drosse it is not Riches if we have gold if we have little it is not riches but when there is that which is precious and abundance of it then it is said to be Riches I say you shall have abundance of good things by Christ. But you will say what are those First you shall be made rich in all graces in faith in love in patience in temperance in meeknesse these are riches these graces you shall have from him that shall make you ready to every good worke as you have it 2 Tim. 2. You shall be vessels of honour prepared for every good worke It is a Metaphor taken from vessels that as you would take any vessell as a Salt or a Spoone or a Cup they are fit and ready for your service that they are applyed to So if you would know what you shall have by these Graces when we tell you shall have Grace they shall fashion and fit your hearts as vessels are fitted for the doing of all the duties of new obedience this you shall have by grace and without these graces you are able to do nothing as without the faculty of hearing without the faculty of seeing without the faculty of memory you are not able to doe any of these but with them you are able to doe them with facility without wearinesse A man that hath the faculty of seeing sees easily the eye is not weary of seeing nor the eare of hearing This benefit you shall have you shall be made rich in these graces that shall make you ready to every good work it shall fill your lives with the fruits of righteousnesse As when a tree is full of sap it will soone bee filled with blossomes and with fruite So will you when you are rich in grace therefore the Saints are said to be rich in all speech Why For they were rich in knowledge first and every grace that is the way to make you rich to be rich in grace But is this all No you shall likewise be rich in good works as Christ saith Iohn 15. Without me you can doe nothing but by me you shall be able to doe all things But you will say what are these riches worth to bee rich in grace and to bee rich in good workes They are much worth every manner of way for first why doe you prize riches but because they can procure any thing that you need If you need Wine if you need Bread if you need apparell if you need convenient houses riches you know will procure them of the hands of those that have them when you want them So these riches will procure at the hands of God what you need If you need counsell in difficult cases if you need
are in he is able to furnish you if you need any service from any Creature in heaven or earth he will give command to all the Creatures to wait on you In a word every man that comes to Christ shall be like a Spouse whom her husband hath placed in aâ— house well stored with abundance of all things that her heart can wish and all this you shall have if you will come in But because Generals move not so much we will come a little to Particulars and will insist upon these two as the only things that can move us to come in First the miseries hurts and inconveniences you are exposed to out of him And secondly the happinesse you shall have by being ingrafted in him and married to him If you were to perswade a woman to marry such a man you know these are the two Arguments which must winne her If you marry noâ— you will bee undone you know you are in debt and the debts bee debts which you are not able to pay and if you cannot pay them you are sure to be cast into Prison and to lye in that Prison till you have paid the utmost farthing this is your condition if you will refuse Againe on the other side if you will take him you shall have a husband that shall make you rich that will pay all your debts for you and make you honourable you shall want nothing If you will take an husband whom you may love take Christ for whatsoever is amiable is in him These two serious considerations will make her come in and be willing to marry and to take him for her husband And so it is with us if we consider what we are out of Christ and what we shall have by him it will move us to take him You know it moved the Prodigall sonne he saw that if he lived out from his Fathers house he must needs perish hee could not get huskes to live by Againe if he would goe home there was bread enough his fathers servants living there in plenty and these two moved him to resolve to come home You will say what are those evils in particulars that we must needs fall into if we come not in to Christ and what good shall wee get by him To this end I will name such arguments as are used in Scripture for this purpose for you know that the businesse of Christ himselfe and his Apostles was onely to bring men unto him and therefore we will open such arguments as we finde there as briefly as we can And first you have this for one maine motive to bring men in Marke 16 16. If you will beleeve and be baptized you shall be saved if you will not beleeve you shall be damned Goe saith Christ into all the world preach the Gospell to every Creature What shall we say when thou hast given us commission saith he no more but this Goe to all the world Tell them if they will come in and be united to mee if they will take me for their husband Lore they shall be saved use that for a motive on the one side and on the other side tell them if they will not come in they shall be damned And this you shall finde was practised Matth. 3. Iohn tels them If you will come in and repent you shall have the Kingdome That is if you will leave your sinnes if you will be married to the Lord if you will be divorced from all other husbands and turne from all your evill wayes you shall have a kingdom that is you shall be saved but if you will not what then The Axe is laid to the root of the tree and you shall be cut downe So we see when the Apostle Paul came to do this businesse with Felix to have brought him to Christ if he could what course takes he he tels him of his miseries out of Christ Reasoning of Temperance Righteousnesse and Iudgement to come he told him what Sobriety and Righteousnesse and Temperance was in another manner than ever any Morallist had done Now the Endictment being not enough without the Sentence hee addes the Iudgement to come And it is as if he had said Thou seest how short thou art of that Temperance and Righteousnesse that even naturall conscience requires of every man and thou must know there is a Iudgement to come though thou perhaps feelest it not for the present yet there is a damnation and wrath reserved for thee thereby shewing the misery he was in if he came not home to Christ and that is partly set downe and is probable the other was not omitted though it be not expressed there And so Peter dealt with them Act. 2. He shewed them their misery and so the Lord dealt with the Gaoler he teacheth him to see what case he was in and upon the sight of thaâ— to enquire after salvation As indeed the thing that brings men into Christ is to make them sensible of salvation and damnation and when the Gaoler came to this to thinke of salvation Sirs what shall I doe to be saved That was it that made him willing to doe any thing whatsoever Paul appointed him to doe for now he had a sense of the wrath of God a sense of those terrours he began to see the Almighty Power of God he began to have his heart smitten with the apprehension of Iudgement and when he was smitten with that he began to enquire after salvation and his heart thus prepared with these two motives the feare of salvation and damnation he was fit to come in then saith the Apostle Beleeve and thou shalt be saved So I say that is one motive if you will not come in you shall be damned if you will you shall be saved But now we have another businesse to make men regard these One would thinke that men should not need much perswasion to tell them of damnation that great evill and of salvation to be a thing that much concernes them but there is that deadnesse in the heart of man that it regards neither Therefore let me say a word or two to shew that these two bee matters of great moment First this Salvation and Damnation chiefly concernes you all other things are but trifles in comparison thereof because Salvation and Damnation belong to the Soule It is the Soule that is to be saved or to be damned Now the Soule of man is a mans owne selfe other things are but the out-side as it were and that is the reason that Christ saith What matters it if you win the whole world and lose your owne soule As if he should have said Thy Soule is thy selfe therefore to win other things and to lose that it is great folly what is it to save the ship and lose the fraught To save the shooe and lose the foot to save the cloaths and to have the body destroyed So what is it to thee to have thy body
thy estate and name and all outward conveniences right and such as thou wouldest have them to be and thy Soule that dwels within thy Soule which is thy selfe for those doe but cloath the Soule and wait on it when this is lost what are all these Therefore if there be any wisdome in the world it is wisdome certainely to regard that and if there be any folly in the world it is to neglect that because that is all in all to a man If newes come to a man your friends are lost your goods are lost you are wronged in your name Suppose he had as many messengers of ill tidings as Iob had yet when a man considers seriously this is but a rending of the cloaths but the tearing of the sheath but the breaking downe of the house as it were but the man is whole and safe as long as the soule is safe as long as salvation is sure as long as a man is free from damnation all is nothing Therefore to a wise-man that will consider things seriously there is no motive to this if you will not come into Christ you shall be damned if you will you shall be saved But let me adde this more Salvation and Damnation continues for ever Take all other things even the best and worst things in the world they are soone blowne over and as you know of no continuance but Salvation is a thing that abides for ever And this is a thing you regard much in smaller matters take any good thing if it will last but a day or two you regard it not but as things are of more durance so you set a greater price on them Why will you not minde this then If you come in to Christ you shall be saved you shall have eternall life But now comes in the other If you will not you shall be damned and that remains for ever Remember saith the Wise-man the daies of darknesse for they are many that is infinite and this should worke on a man that damnation shall be perpetuall Take a man now when hee is fallen into any misery and see what it is that comforts him you shall finde nothing comforts a man in misery but hope for if there be no hope as we say the heart would breake But now come to this of damnation there will be no end there is no hope there when a man is in misery hee lookes about him and begins to thinke Is there any evasion If he finde there is none he begins then to think yea but is there any comfort to mingle with it No. But what kind of misery is it It may be by one misery I shall be freed from another this doth moderate it but if all kind of miseries come that a man hath no way in the world to evade them not any thing to mitigate them this is that that swallowes up the Soule and this over-whelmes it with griefe and this is the condition of a man subject to damnation Now I say this briefe argument we are to use If you will not come in you shall be damned if you will come in you shall be saved Well perhaps all this will not worke upon you then we have this to say to you Our commission extends no further if this will not move you you are not to be wrought on by us but we must leave you to your selves and to your owne wayes to goe on and perish and receive your Portion with those that are hardned through unbeliefe whose end is damnation and your bloud shall be upon your own heads for that is all our Commission to propound these two to you It must be Gods work to make your hearts sensible of these things we can but propound Objects And so much for the first Hee that comes in shall bee saved hee that doth not shall be damned The third Motive I take from Iohn 4.10 when the Lord had that converse with the woman of Samaria what saith he to cause her to come in Woman if thou hadst asked of me I would have given thee the water of life He that drinkes of this water shall thirst againe but he that drinkes of the water that I shall give him shal thirst no more but it shall be in him a Well springing up to everlasting life So that is the Argument if you will come in to Christ you shall thirst no more but you shall have your thirst satisfied and you shall have water given you which will be water of life What is that That is If you will come in to Christ two things you shall have by it First your thirst that you had before that disease of thirst that every man living is subject to untill hee be in Christ that shall be healed that is every man hath many things he thirsts after as take every naturall man he thirsts after credite and wealth and honour and life after a thousand things which the nature of man is sensible of Well saith Christ this thirst shall be healed in you if you come in to me How shall it be healed By breeding in you a right thirst by bringing the soule into health as it were It is as if he had said I will reveale things to you which you shall prize above all these when you shall see their preciousnesse and the need you stand in of them for these two things make thirst then the other Christ heales it in you As take every man that is regenerate to whom God hath revealed better things Even such as the eye hath not seene nor the eare heard neither hath entred into the heart of any naturall man I say the heart sets so by these things it so magnifies them that they take up his heart altogether that he no more thirsts after other things but his desires grow remisse in them though they were all taken away he could be content he hath better things there is a true thirst come in which hath cured the false thirst as the true Serpents devoured the false But you will say we finde not this experience doe not regenerate men thirst after these things as well as others I cannot deny it they thirst after them too much but yet this thirst is healed for now they do not thirst after them as things wherein their happinesse consists their hearâ—s are in a good measure taken off them they look on them with a right eye and so their thirst is said to be a healed not because the worke is perfect but because it is in the way to be healed and will be perfected And so we must supply all the rest Lusts are said to be mortified not because they are fully dead but because they are in the way of death and will die perfectly therefore we apply the name of mortification to them So it is in other things we say water is hot though it have but little heat and a thing is white though it doe but begin to be