groans unutterable The heart is but as so much dull earth till the Spirit of God inflame thee Thy praier is a body without a soul if there be words but not Gods Spirit in the heart But oh what shall we then think of most mens praiers that have nothing but custome and formality in them No wonder if these be birds without wings Messengers without feet good for nothing at all Thou saiest thy praiers and thou hast thy praiers but oh consider the Spirit of God must move upon thy heart else thou art onely a worm crawling on the ground 2. An heavenly Praier must have an heavenly heart that which pants after and delights in heavenly things but Ps 4.6 Many say Who will shew us any good Every one can pray for earthly and temporall good things for health strength peace and outward plenty but few with David Lift thou up the light of thy countenance In the Lords Praier we are first to pray for those spirituall things that relate to Gods glory before we are to ask for our temporall comforts yea while we pray for temporall mercies we are to do it in a heavenly manner for this end that we may be more instrumental to Gods glory and be brought nearer to him Difficile est erare quia difficile est desiderare said Aquinas It is a very hard thing to desire heavenly things and therefore as hard to pray for them how happy then is it when the matter praied for and the frame of the heart are both heavenly Now like Christ he is gone up to the Mount and praieth alone he is above all earthly things alone with God himself 3. That Praier is heavenly when the heart and affections are purified and sanctified fit for the enjoyment of God In praier we have an immediate approach unto and fellowship with God There cannot be greater honour vouchsafed unto a creature then to be admitted to pray to him but who is sufficient for this duty The Heathens did often presse this that God was to be worshiped prae mente but the Apostle more divinely 1 Tim. 2.8 Lifting up holy or pure hands Mat. 6. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God A sore eye with corrupt humours is not fit to look on a bright object and truly in all our praiers we should think nothing so comely as to have heavenly hearts for heavenly work If the godly mans conversation even in buying selling and all other lawfull emploiments is to be heavenly much more in praier then there should be Sabbatum mentis the rest of the Soul there should be no distractions no debasings of it by earthly affections we should have a garden readily dressed for the Spouse to walk in If Christs body was to be in a Sepulchre where none ever lay btfore how much rather will whole Christ abide in a clean heart The devil would not come into his Lodgings but because they were swept and ready garnished for him how much rather will Christ expect that the soul should be in an holy and heavenly manner fitted for to enjoy him 4. An heavenly Praier is When it stirreth and moveth the heart to more love and delight in heavenly things Praier is not to be only heavenly in its nature but in its effects By praying holily we are made more holy It 's like exercise to the body which makes it more strong and active It 's the rich Ship that brings in glorious returns from God Heavenly Praier leaveth an heavenly frame it keepeth a soul in longings after God As Moses who had been in Gods presence his face did shine with great lustre Thus the soul that is heavenly in Praier to God leaveth an excellent and spiritual lustre upon all his actions his conferences his conversation speaks the mighty glory of this praier oh what godly man may not fall down with shame and confusion to think how far short he comes of this heavenly praier Vse of Instruction in two things 1. How hard it is to pray indeed You may say of the dull Formalist that hath bare words and no heart he praieth but it is as unprofitable as a body without life Oh that the God of grace would work this in you that he would pour the Spirit of praier and supplication upon you I know nothing wherein people are more to be instructed and rectified then in this particular They have good praiers and they say good praiers as they speak but understand nothing at all about an heavenly praier 2. Why it is that after many publique and private praiers thousands of people live in the same wickednesse they did Who would not think their sinnes would make them give over praying or praying their sins how can this fire and Ice stand together The reason is they are not heavenly praiers neither private or family praiers do raise thee up like Elijahs fiery Chariot You ask and receive not because you ask amisse He doth not say you ask mala but male you do not pray for unlawfull things only you pray not in a right manner Oh then say the decay of all my godlinesse all my comforts arise from my decay in praier Pray heavenly and all will be heavenly and on the other side meer dead and customary praier leaveth a man in a destitute estate he may pray in that manner all his life and yet receive nothing at Gods hand Think and meditate of this more say the beginning of all my spirituall consumption is in my lean empty praiers SERMON II. The transcendent Excellency and Efficacy of Christs Praier in respect of the matter and nature thereof as being Mediatory his Person and Relation c. held forth as a ground of unspeakable comfort to Beleevers JOH 17.1 These words spake Jesus and lift up his eyes to heaven and said Father THE Introduction hath already been dispatched which contained the Order and Method of Christs Praier as also his gesture We now come to the praier it self he said Father c. To open this Consider That Praier is of two sorts Either 1. Mentall which is only in the soul and spirit for God being a Spirit and omniscient knoweth all the thoughts and desires of the heart Thus Angels and the spirits of just men perfected in heaven do pray The souls under the Altar cried for an holy avenging on their enemies Rev. 6.9 Or else there is 2. a vocall Praier when our desires are manifested by outward signs of words and thus Christs praier here is a vocall praier neither may such kinde of praying be thought needlesse for we do not use words as if God needed these signs in which sence Eliah derided Baals Priests bidding them cry aloud it may be Baal was asleep or in a journey 1 King 8.27 but hereby to excite and stir up our affections for the soul and body do mutually help each other and partly because we are to glorifie God with our body and with our soul
strength should fail them lest one time or other they should yeeld to sinne and be overwhelmed Now in the midst of all these fears Christ hath praied for thee as well as for Peter that thy faith may not fail Insomuch that we may say Christs praier for beleevers is all their hope and foundation In some sad exigences how carefull are we to have the praiers of all Gods people to be remembred in such and such a Congregation but if all the Churches in the world should pray for a man it would not amount to so much as Christs praier therefore let the godly comfort one another with these things Lastly He hath praied for their glorification Thus he praied that they may be one even as he and the father are one and that they be where he is viz. that they may enjoy that glory which Christ had purchased for them Therefore he is called the Resurrection Job 11.25 because he will raise up such at the last day The body though dead and consumed to ashes shall not alwaies be in the grave neither shall the soul have such rags and deformities upon it continually but shall be cloathed with glorious robes Thus you see the chief and main matter of Christs praier not so much earthly and temporall things as heavenly for although Christ did comfort his Disciples even in earthly straits Mat. 6.25 that they had a Father in Heaven and if he did provide for all the creatures in the world they might much rather be perswaded of his care to them and Paul argued Rom. 8. he gave his only Son for them how shall he not give all things else Yet the great things that Christ before his sufferings thought fit to commend unto God were spirituall and heavenly benefits And that is the first consideration The matter of Christs Praier Secondly Take notice of the nature of this Praier it 's by way of Mediation It 's a Mediatory Praier and so differs from all the praiers of other men As they are bare meer men so their praiers are bare meer praiers There is no merit no mediation in thee but Christs praier is of a farre more transcendent nature Even as the bloud of the Martyrs came farre short of Christs Their bloud was not expiatory it was not by way of a Sacrifice for sinnes whereas Christs was Thus there is a vast difference between praiers and praiers God may regard one mans praier more then anothers it may be more effectuall as in that supposition though Daniel and Job stood and praied they should not be heard Job you know was commanded to pray for his Friends and his praier was accepted of more then theirs and Daniel was said to be a man greatly beloved because his praiers were so readily heard Likewise the praier of many or a Church is more prevalent then the praier of one single person So a Praier from one in office as a Minister is more then of one in a private condition but yet the praier of Christ as in the office of a Mediatour doth farre surmount all So then in Christs praier we are especially to look to the Mediatory power to the impetratory efficacy of it It 's not a meer supplication as ours are but a powerfull obtaining of what is desired His praier can be no more refused then his bloud they both are in the same nature they go along under the same respect his bloud may as well be without advantage as his praier The high-Priests praier for the people was of greater concernment for the people then their own praiers I tell thee all thy own praiers are not of that consequence to thee as Christs praier is all Mediatory and impetratory efficacy is from that Thirdly Consider the dignity of the Person who did pray for beleevers and thereby cometh an infinite efficacy and worth to it Christ who praied for us being God and man in regard of his divine nature there cometh an infinite worth upon his praier his praier is like himself and from this account it is that it is meritorious with God that it is just with God to grant him his Requests his Supplications are put up in his own name he needeth no Mediatour there is none to make way for his acceptance with God so that this Meditation affords unspeakable consolation though all thy praiers and duties be nothing worth yet Christs is of infinite value The dignity and merit whereby any good cometh to us is not for our praiers but for Christs Certainly the people of God do not live so chearfully upon this consideration as they ought They are careful to pour out their own praiers but not by faith to rest on Christs What needest thou fear who canst bring praiers of infinite merit The Lord Christ hath praied that I might have this mercy he hath praied that this grace should be vouchsafed unto me What fault can be found with Christ What blame or imperfection is to be seen or found in him how can Christ be denied in justice It is his right to have his Requests answered Fourthly Consider the respect and relation Christ stands in towards God the Father And then you will still say his praier is of great concernment to 〈◊〉 Now his relation is the only Son of God and dearly beloved by him This is my well-beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Mat. 3.17 So that his praiers are heard unquestionably upon a twofold ground the one of justice because infinite in worth the other of love because the only begotten Son This Heb. 5.7 He is said while he praied to be heard in what he feared and Joh. 11.12 Christ thanks the Father that he heard him alwaies and often doth he professe that the Father loveth him the Sonne and that the Father and the Son are one This also is very comfortable to meditate upon Thou hast the praier of him who is the only begotten of the Father whom the Father heareth alwaies and to whom he denieth nothing if we are able to say Lord this is not my praier only This is not my desire only but it s the request of Christ so beloved of thee then thou maist justly beleeve thou shalt be accepted of O Lord though I have no lovelinesse no comelinesse yet Christ hath Some have doubted whether Christ was heard in every thing he praied for and they instance in his praier that the cup might passe from him but that was only conditionall If it be thy will and therefore he added Not my will but thine be done That which he absolutely praied for was Gods support and preservation of him as also the raising him out of the grave That which seemeth to have gteat difficulty is his praier Luke 23.34 Father forgive them for they know not what they do but of the efficacy of this we need not doubt of because the Pharisees and others they sinned against their knowledge and conscience and for such Christ praied not but
he for them It is as ridiculous as if a man should delight in childrens baby-clouts Oh do thou remember of whom thou art born and thou wilt take the best things to rejoyce in Fourthly Heavenly Joy surpasseth in the certainty of it The joy which God createth in the soul cannot be taken away by any but God himself Though sicknesse come though poverty come though afflictions arise yet all these cannot take away his joy yea in death it self many times he doth most abound and overflow whereas all worldly joy under such calamities are turned into wounds into howlings and tremblings so that they know not what to do Fifthly It surpasseth in the Vniversality and Extent of it Joy in God is all Joy because God is an Universall Good There is no want but he can fill it no misery but he is a peculiar remedy to it whereas the Creatures have their peculiar Joyes Health is one Joy Wealth another Joy but no one Creature hath all Comforts in it Sixthly It transcends in the Fulnesse and Degrees of Joy Solomon speaks of worldly Comfort That even in laughter the heart is sad Even Seneca could say Think you of those many that laugh any one hath true Joy Res severa est Gaudium Digge to the bottome of the heart of these merry blades and you will finde terrours and fears there Vse of Instruction Which is the way to get true Joy A life in Christ a life of holinesse Omnis vita est propter delectationem Judge not jolly bodily delights worthy the name of Joy These will turn to bitter howlings and gnashings of teeth Oh what a bitter alteration will death make upon you Now laughing then roaring now excessive in drinking then crying for a drop of water to quench those eternal torments SERMON LXXIX The Excellent Effects of Christian Joy JOH 17.13 That my Joy might be fulfilled in themselves IN the next place Let us Consider the Effects of this Christian joy and they are admirable First It doth dilate and enlarge the heart so that the Soul rejoycing is far more capacious then otherwise it would be Some have died they say for joy because of the too much dilating and dispersing the spirits The Saints glorified in heaven enjoy more then ever they could here of God because their hearts are more widened and prepared Our Souls are narrow and streightned within us till joy doth extend them A man of a joyful spirit is like a Vessell of a broad mouth that receiveth far more of God and Christ then a dejected unbeleeving person so that when we are commanded to set open the doors that the Prince of Glory may enter into us It 's joy that will thus prepare us It 's the complaint of many of Gods Children of their narrownesse and straitnesse of heart that they have no room for Christ Fears they fill the heart Worldly cares they also fill so that as men in a Consumption complain of a stopping and streightnesse in their breast they have much ado to fetch their winde Thus do the Children of God oh they have such stoppings upon their hearts that they have much ado to pray or to do any heavenly duty Now joy is an excellent opener That removeth these sinful obstructions so that this should make thee endeavour after a joyful life it will make thee dilate in all dimensions of grace Thou wilt be a Christian of a higher pitch or like Daniels Tree whose branches spread themselves abroad exceedingly 2. This Joy makes a man active and serviceable to God Neh. 8.10 The joy of the Lord is your strength Weak hands and feeble knees which are the Instruments of action and motion are attributed to fear as the cause of them Thus on the contrary Joy makes strong hands and firm knees The Incestuous person when almost swallowed with sorrow could no more vigorously serve God then a piece of wood whose moisture is not yet dried up would be useful for building Hence any service done to God that is accompanied with dejections and sorrow hath a kinde of uncleanesse in it as we have a notable expression Hos 9.4 Their Sacrifices shall be unto them as the Bread of mourners all that eat thereof shall be polluted Lev. 11.1 Persons that mourned for others that were dead were accounted unclean and thus doth all sinful sorrow and dejection it makes thy duty unclean it polluteth thee for God loveth not only a chearfull giver but chearfulnesse in all duties and therefore we reade of Gods severe threatning for the neglect of this Deut. 28.47 One great cause of all those heavy Curses there mentioned is because they did not serve the Lord with joy and gladnesse of heart Adde to this Deut. 12.7 12. as also Deut. 26.14 where the person offering Sacrifices was to make this Protestation that he had not eat thereof in his mourning If you say God is of such infinite purity and holinesse that I being full of infirmities have cause to tremble before him We grant it yet remember the Psalmists Advice Rejoyce with trembling Psal 2. That is the fat of the Sacrifice Oh then thou that complainest of thy dulnesse listlesnesse and lukewarmnesse in Gods Service whose duties look like Pharaohs lean Kine and though they swallow down many fat opportunities as these did the fat Kine yet remain withered and ill-favoured still Consider whether unbelief and sinful dejections are not like Ivy to the Tree or like rottennesse in the bones so Solomon cals Sorrow The bones which are the chief strength of a man if they have rottennesse in them how weak must that man be Consider then whether thy want of heavenly joy be not the cause of the evil upon thee whether that do not make thee a barren Wildernesse and a parched heath whether thou hadst not fulfilled all Relations and opportunities more fruitfully if this Joy had been fulfilled in thee 3. Christs Joy fulfilled in the heart doth consume and expell all carnall and worldly and sinful joys He that rejoyceth in the Lord cannot rejoyce in sin because the Objects are clean contrary no more then a man at the same time can with one eye look upward and with another downward A body may as well be in two places at the same time as the soul be intensly affected with two contrary Objects so that if thou complainest of the pronenesse of thy heart to rejoyce in earthly and worldly things Know there is no such medicine to cure this as heavenly joy as they say fire will drive out fire so joy will expell joy Joy in the Lord Joy in the world What made David professe so much joy in God but the heavenlinesse of his heart and this greater joy put out the lesse As the Sun-beams will the fire Seeing therefore a man cannot live but he must have joy in something Do thou pray and endeavour that the joy of the Lord may take up thy heart for when this Sun is in thy soul the Starres cannot
them Thou thinkest with thy self Oh when will the hand of the Lord be over Oh that this burthen were taken off and in the mean time praiest not watchest not lest this should any waies distemper thee and make thee sinful Vse 2. How foolish they are that wil run into any sinne so they may avoid danger That will bow their knees to Baal worship the golden Image ere they will venture any misery What saith our Saviour to such They that will thus save their lives shall lose them God frustrates their earthly Expectations and then Oh the wofull horrour sinne will leave upon them They will finde a wounded Spirit worse then any calamity in the world They will wish O that they had been wracked and tormented in their bodies so that they had never committed such sinnes as wrack and torment their Souls David when he had lost all heavenly joy and all his desirable things did perish could then tell you that sins guilt upon the Soul was worse then all the miseries and troubles that ever he did undergo SERMON LXXXVII That God hath determined a precise time to every particular man in the world how long he shall live JOHN 17.15 I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world c. THough we have gathered the full vintage of this Text yet there remain some gleanings of which we may say with the Prophet a blessing is in it Two remarkable truths there are implied the first in the Negative the second in the Positive part In the first in the Negative I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world We may observe That God hath the dominion and immediate disposing of our being and continuance in this world When his day is come when his Decree is expired then none can withstand when he commands to return to the dust from whence we came or shall say This night thy soul shall be taken away there cannot be any gainsaying This truth is the more to be regarded because it hath been doctrinally agitated by learned men Whether there be an immovable term of life in this world prefixed to every man and then practically it is of great concernment as is to be shewed But to explain this truth consider First That God hath not onely determined a general or specifical time for all in the world but an individual and peculiar for every man or woman a general term of life God hath provided so that none shall live beyond it No man ever lived a thousand years In the beginning of the world then men were longer lived but in Moses his time we see him affirming the ordinary bounds of a mans life to be threescore and ten Psa 90. For in the wilderness by their wickedness they brought short dayes upon themselves So that all creatures have a general term of life There is the maximum quod sic though some live longer then others Thus men have bounds in the general they cannot out-live But this is not enough God hath appointed to every individual man his continuance in the world so that it is God that taketh him out of the world when his time cometh 2. Though God hath thus appointed our continuance in the world so that in respect of his providence none could live longer or shorter yet if we respect second causes and speak according to them so we may truly say such might have continued longer in the world Hence wicked men are said not to live out half their dayes and Solomon saith Be not over-wicked Eccles 7.17 Why shouldst thou die before thy time Wicked men many times by their wickedness drunkennes and uncleanness kill themselves and sometimes provoke God to destroy them But though they are said not to live out half their dayes yet that is to be understood in respect of second causes not Gods appointment for so it was their whole dayes 3. Though God hath appointed the times of our abode or removal out of the world yet this decree and appointment is brought about in the use of means We are not to apprehend such a decree in God that we shall live such a time let us do what we will eat or not it 's no matter for the use of the means This is wretchedly to dishonour God for though Gods will doth not uncertainly depend upon thy will yet his appointment is with great sweetness and condescention to second causes both natural and rational so that they are moved by him according to their natures Therefore when Paul had a revelation That none in the ship with him should perish yet he tels them that unless they continued in the ship with him they should perish Act. 27.31 4. Therefore though God hath appointed the bounds of our life in this world yet he hath kept it secret from us he lets none know unless by special revelation the times of their death And therefore there is a duty imposed upon all that they use the means of life Thou shalt not kill reacheth first to a mans self and then to another Hence to live chearfully to use the help of the Physician are duties Christ said The sick need the Physician Mat. 9.12 as for secret things they belong to God The souldier knoweth not whether he shall conquer such an enemy scale such a wall yet because his General commands him he is ready to obey and thus though we cannot tell such means shall prolong our lives in the world yet Gods will cannot be neglected without great sin 5. God hath determined the time of our being in the world out of justice and wrath to the wicked out of mercy and wisdom to the godly It 's anger to the wicked for all the while they live they increase their sin they treasure up wrath so that it had been well for them if they had been cut off by death long before They live to make hell the hotter for them when they die But to the godly the time of their abode is limited in mercy The righteous is taken away from the evil to come Isa 57.1 The shepherd driveth his sheep to a refuge before the storm ariseth The jewels are safely put up when the house is in danger when Simeon had seen and imbraced Christ then he had liberty to depart The word is used in Scripture sometimes of those that are dismissed out of prison or are dispatched when their errand is done or freed from a flux or such disease that is upon them and certainly in these respects it may be applied when God taketh his out of the world it 's because they have finished this work and death freeth them from this world that was like a prison to them yea and now a stop is put to all those lusts that were like a bloody flux running from them so that the time when God takes his out of the world is from much wisdom and great mercy They shall not go sooner nor yet later then he willeth and thus many
received into his presence but it is for our good solely and certainly if the Queen of Sheba pronounced Solomons servants happy because they were alwaies in his presence how unspeakable shall the happinesse of all beleevers be who shall constantly behold and enjoy Christs glory But let us Consider more largely what was only hinted before viz. How much is comprehended in this expression of beholding Christs glory And first There is the immediate seeing and looking upon all that Majesty and Glory which God and Christ have This is often called by Divines Beatisical vision The sight of God which makes immediatly happy Now because God is an infinite and spirituall invisible Object It 's disputed whether we shall behold God by our bodily eyes That with our understanding which are the spiritual eyes of the Soul we shall behold him is acknowledged by all and clear by Scripture for then we shall see him face to face that is perfectly not as in this world And as for the beholding of God as a Spirit with our bodily eyes there are Divines that affirm it for although say they it be naturally impossible for a bodily eye to see a Spirit yet then God will in a wonderfull manner lift up the eye of the body above that which naturally it can do even as then God will make it a body without passion or heavinesse and as they say the torments in hell and the flames of fire there do by Gods power work upon the devils and the souls of men though spirits in hell But it may be a curiosity to determine this Therefore though it may be doubted whether our bodily eyes shall directly behold the glory and majesty of God yet consequentially we shall for we shall with our bodily eyes behold Christ in respect of his humane nature and body which he hath now in heaven so that the Glory which Christ as Mediatour hath in heaven is externally visible and to be beheld by the bodily eyes of a glorified Saint So that although God be a Light that no man can approach unto yet in and through Christ we may draw nigh unto this light Now this happinesse of the souls knowing and the bodies seeing of God and Christ in heaven must be unspeakable for there is an excellent consonancy and conveniency between the faculties and the objects how farre do men go to see objects of worldly glory It was Austins wish that he might have seen Rome in her temporal glory but what is all this to see Christ sitting on the right hand of God on the throne of glory 2. All our happinesse doth not lie in the meer beholding and seeing of God but in the enjoying of him as our happinesse and our good Therefore we are said to be Co-heirs with Christ and to be glorified with him yea in the Rev. 3.21 we are said to sit on the same Throne with Christ himself not but that Christ hath a prerogative in his glory and his glory is incommunicable yet in some proportion and according to our capacity we are made partakers of the same glory Therefore it 's necessary to take seeing for enjoying here and indeed it cannot be but that the immediate beholding of Christ should make men happy for he is an object filled with all sufficiency and perfection able to satiate and replenish the appetite of the soul even to the very utmost Oh therefore how easily should we mortifie our hearts as to earthly and worldly glory who would lose this heavenly glory to obtain that Let the devil shew thee all the glory of this world but know Christ in his word sheweth thee the glory of heaven and wilt thou fall down to worship the devil rather then Christ so that we do not only behold and see Christs glory without some enjoyments as Moses did see the Land of Canaan but was not admitted into it but we see the expression is Come thou faithfull Servant enter into thy Masters Joy Mat. 25.23 Not only behold it but enter into it Oh that our hearts were more affected in this 3. From the seeing and enioying of Christ there doth arise in the will infinite complacency joy and delight It 's disputed wherher happinesse be more in the acts of the understanding or the will and some conclude that it is principally in the will because that is an active appetite and predominant in a man Indeed the whole of a man Now in beholding of God the whole soul must needs be swallowed up for God is an object infinitely satisfying the knowledge and also replenishing the will so that nothing but God can satisfie the soul and this happinesse is the more encreased because God will then widen and enlarge the faculties of the soul that they shall be able to know more to love and delight more then they can do in this life Therefore our joy here is but a drop to this Ocean as we know but in part so we rejoyce and delight but in part Hence it is if God should communicate himself to us in this life as he will do in heaven we were not able to bear no more then the eye can endure the dazeling beams of the Sun it would be true that none can see God in this sence and live so that in heaven the souls of men will be enlarged to receive more of God then they can do in this life 4. From this joy and delight in beholding Christs glory their mouths will be filled with all praise and thanks-giving We reade of Angels and Saints continually praising of God in heaven so that whereas many duties will cease in heaven this of Thanks-giving will abide for ever there shall be no more the duties of humiliation and mourning the acts of patience and justifying faith will cease in heaven but the duty of praising and glorifying God will continue to all Eternity And no wonder if praise be our only work there for if upon some temporall Deliverance and particular eminent mercies the Church of God hath solemnly broken forth into all praises of him how much more in heaven when there is such an universall Deliverance from all Enemies that there will be no more tears or fears There will be no more matter of complaints either from within or without Oh then that blessed time which beleevers shall have in Heaven to all Eternity Nothing to do but with joy and gladnesse to sing forth the praises of God and that his Mercy endureth for ever Oh beloved how should this make the godly long for and desire that glory more Here they are in a Valley of Tears here they are sighing groaning exercised with one care one fear after another Thus we are groveling upon the ground while they in Heaven are full of joy and delight This should teach us to be weaned from these things 5. To the performing of all these things there is required a perfect Sanctification of all the parts and the faculties of the Soul as also a full
there any one sinne any passion or lust that is apt to prevail over them to captivate them here also they may have strong confidence in praier saying O Lord how unseemly is such a member to so glorious a head such an ulcerous noisome part to such an eminent head if not out of love to me yet for thy own honour cure me What head is there that would suffer a leprous noisome part in the body if it could help it Again Do the godly say they cannot perform their relative graces their general calling they are able to discharge comfortably but as a Minister as a Husband as a Wife herein they fail O the weaknesse and imperfections there Consider this head gives nourishment to every part sutably The hand hath a nourishment of the hand the eye of the eye and thus there is in Christ a particular sutable ability for thy proper wants And if you are not enabled in these things it 's not because there is not fulnesse enough in Christ but thy faith is weak There is Oil enough but thou hast no cruse Lastly If the meannesse and lownesse of thy condition trouble thee saying though Christ the head may communicate to such worthy and eminent Christians they are enabled to doe him great service yet will he look on such a dead dog as I am If thou art but the foot the lowest part in the body yet the head mindes that and procureth its welfare as well as other parts so that this very consideration is a Catholicon It 's a Remedy against every Disease 3. This relation of a Head implieth a near Vnion and Conjunction What can be nearer then the head and the body yet such a communion and conjunction there is between Christ and the godly and this very consideration proveth the perseverance of the godly Shall Christ lose one member of his body totally and suffer it to be damned in hell Oh the comfortable and hopeful thoughts the children of God should have from this relation from Wife from Husband though they be bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh thou must part but not from Christ This Union with Christ is the foundation of all our comfort and hope against Apostacy Again because of this conjunction we may expect protection and provision even in outward things Doth not the Apostle say No man yet ever hated his own flesh but cherished it Eph. 5.29 Shall Christ then the head forget thee Shall he withhold his eâ—e from his own flesh Will the head suffer the foot to starve Certainly this consideration should wonderfully support against all discouragements and necessities whatsoever Lastly Because of this conjunction Christ hath a sympathy and fâ—llow-feâ—ling with us What is done against the Saints on earth is also against Christ If one part suffers the head condoleth with it and for this end Christ endured those many temptations that he might know how to pity those that were in the same condition Heb 4.15 3. Christ is the head in respect of government and direction he is the King of Saints and the King of Nations You reade he had a Rod of Iron to bruise his enemies only this government though it be in the world yet it is not in a worldly manner The bâ—st and choicest part of it is in preparing and fitting those whom the Father hath given him to eternall life and to these his spiritual government is full of sweetness and full of power admirable in positive and preventing mercies It 's from this gracious government that nothing shall fall out either through the malice or policy of hell that shall be able to hinder them from their crown He is the strong one that hath conquered all the enmity against his people Oh what treasures of comfort are in this Thou art under Christs spiritual government and so all conditions all necessities all occurrences in the world they further thy spiritual good There is nothing can befall thee against his will Thus you see all his power summed up in this that he is the head I shall now spend the other part in practical Inferences for it 's a womb big with many such Conclusions As in the first place Hath Christ this power over all then let us take heed how we refuse him speaking or commanding If his goodnesse and mercy will not win you he hath power enough to awe you If not love let fear bring you in and that quickly lest it be too late The Apostle Heb. 10.17 aggravateth this that if they that despised Moses died without mercy of how much sorer judgement shall they be thought worthy who refuse Christ speaking Think ye saith the Apostle any one that hath reason may gather this that he shall die and be damned without mercy But where is Christ You will say how can we refuse him speaking The Apostle tels you Those that hear not his Ministers declaring his will they do not hear him Ye that live against the Scripture you whose lives are contrary to the Word you are enemies to Christ It 's not we that are refused but Christ by us As if an Embassadour be contemned it 's not he but the great Person that sends him whose Embassadour he is Well then we must lay this down for an undoubted Axiome Every man that liveth in the constant practise of his wickednesse he refuseth Christ who hath all this power Now let these Motives from his power terrifie thee 1. If it were but an earthly worldly power what fear what subjection will that put thee in Rom. 13. If thou do evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain Oh then know much rather if thou do evil be afraid for Christ hath not this power in vain Dost thou fear a Prison and not hell Art thou afraid of losing thy outward estate and not thy soul and all happinesse Thou fearest earthly power but can that damn thee Can that throw body and soul into hell Ignosce O Imperator said one tu carcerem Deus gehennam minatur Well then for every prophane act of wickednesse for drunkennesse uncleannesse unjust dealing there is worse then any Legall fine or mulct Christ hath appointed everlasting torments for those moments of pleasures Be not then so bruitish and athiesticall as to think nothing grievous but what the Sword of the Magistrate can inflict and as for this eternal punishment thou dost not matter it 2. Let this make thee afraid to affront this power because it is his who will be thy Judge before whose Tribunall thou art sure to be arraigned This should be a piercing argument If this power were in him who had nothing to do with thee as a Malefactor in one Countrey feareth not the Magistrate in another Countrey because his power doth not reach to him he is none of his Subject But Christ hath an universal jurisdiction we must all appear whether we will or no and to give an account to him Now what can be more dreadfull
restlesse till it fix there Take all the men in the world who have drunk deepest in the streams of these earthly comforts yet still they thirst There is a dropsie on them still they would have more and other objects They have a feavoriâ—h heat with them That makes them restlesse whereas when we come to Christ we shall finde rest to our souls and He that drinketh of this water shall never thirst more Jo. 4.14 so then we see what eternal life is it 's all the good that God is What good is in God that the beleever hath and how unreasonable is it to think that there is a better good then he If the Creator cannot satisfie can the Creature From hence it is that the godly do so long for this time of enjoying him I desire to depart saith Paul Phil. 2.23 The Church crieth for Christ to Come quickly Those Patriarchs looked on themselves as Pilgrims and desiring a better City then that of this world so then you can but judge of this happinesse by the footsteps by the drops of it If there be any attractive good in the creature it 's but a drop God the Fountain he is the Ocean Now in this object God enjoyed there are these remarkable properties of his goodnesse 1. He is the Vniversal good he is the bonum in qua omnia bona There cannot be any desirable perfection but it is in him The Creatures have their particular limited goodnesse health hath its wealth hath its learning its but now God is the Jehovah all beings are eminently in him As the Psalmist argueth He that made the eye shall not he see he that made the ear shall not he hear Psal 94.9 He then that makes this and that thing desirable is not he much more desirable Is there a ground to love Father Mother Wife or Children and not much rather to love God so that that Command Mat. 22. hath the greatest reason where God willeth to be loved with all the heart all the soul all the might for there is nothing hath any good which is the Object of love but it 's in God or from him There is none good but God saith Christ so then what are Stars to the Sunne The Starres cannot dispell the night only the light of the Sun can do that Thus only God and the light of his countenance can make the heart happy as having all things 2. That good which God is it is an unmixed sincere good He is so good that there is no trouble in him for that is the imperfection of all earthly good things as there is a drop of honey so there is a drop of gall Every Rose hath its thorn If God gives thee any mercy in this life yet still there is a sting as well as hony so that no condition no mercy hath every thing in it Though they have this yet they want another and hence Solomon who gave himself to finde out this Philosophers stone to obtain an happinesse if it could be in this world yet upon experience he giveth this Motto of every thing Vanity of vanities all is vanity Eccl. 1.1 But do the Saints in heaven who have had the experience of enjoying God passe such a sentence upon that happinesse in heaven Of this honey in the world we must not eat too much lest we surfet But there is fullnesse without nauseating There is replenishing and yet alwaies hungring God is as much desired after millions of years as at the first moment in heaven Hence this life is to be spent only in joy in praises and gladnesse of heart Oh that we could affect our hearts more with this eternal life it would be a great comfort in afflictions and a quick spur to all duties Lastly God who is thus the object of this Eternall life is the proper peculiar and convenient good No object is so sutable and adequate to the heart as he is howsoever morall Philosophers say good is the object of the will yet they say It 's not good in the generall or absolute but that which is proportionable and convenient The sick man desireth health because it 's the good proportionable to his wants so the tormented man ease Thus although it be true that since man is fallen and corrupted with sinne God is not proportionable or sutable to him Hence wicked men are said to hate God Exod. 20. yet take we man according to his Creation and the Image of God first planted in him and so God was his ultimate end in him only could he have full complacency and so as farre as we are regenerated and this holy Image restored in us Nothing can satisfie us but God We see David in many of his Psalmâ— he discovers severall extremities and necessities upon him yet the only cure is the light of his countenance Let God look graciously on him let him draw near to him and then the troublesome waves are presently quiet 2. This Eternall life doth positively consist in the beatifying the soul and the whole body sanctifying it so fully that now it can enjoy God For though God be never iâ— glorious an object yet till the soul be made perfect he cannot enjoy God No more then the Sunne which is primum visibile yet because of its dazling lustre the eye is too weak to behold it stedfastly Now in heaven the spirits of iust men are said to be made perfect and no corruptible thing can inherit the Kingdom of heaven This then this eternal life is seen in that the soul yea the whole man is â—o heavenly and holy so perfected in every thing that it 's made capable of all this happinesse The godly have communion and fellowship with God in this life now they are no more capable of this if not sanctified then a beast can converse with a man Hence because this sanctification is impotent we know in part we beleeve in part We see him but in a riddle not face to face but then shall we know him even as we are known of him 1 Cor. 13.12 It was a general received opinion as appeareth by severall examples in the Old Testament that if God made any glorious appearance to man he should presently die so Manaoh and others argued and whence rose that apprehension but because of the glorious Majesty of God and the vain weak frail nature of man Oh but in heaven where God is in all his glorious manifestation and we shall behold him continually yet there shall be no faintings no fears within us and all is because the Saints are then glorified and perfected in soul and body There 's not the least spot or wrinkle of sinne to put them to any shame or fear within 3. This Eternall Life consists in a quick and lively apprehension of this happinesse it hath without which happinesse could not be happinesse A man in a Lethargy though he liveth yet he is as good as dead because he perceiveth not his
to the order of our matter That which is absolutely necessary is to be preferred before what is convenient only what relates to Gods glory and our salvation is farre to be preferred before any temporall good thing as we see by the direction in our Lords Praier and by Christs command Seek ye first the Kingdom of heaven Mat. 6.33 It 's disputed whether temporall mercies may be praied for or no it may seem a thing below the heavenly Spirit of a Christian but if it be lawful then it 's disputed how far whether absolutely or conditionally only and it 's resolved that because temporal mercies are not promised by God absolutely nor are they absolutely necessary to our salvation Therefore we may pray only with submission and subordination if it be Gods will and so farre as they may be a furtherance to our spiritual good 3. There must be an attention to the words we use in our prayer as well as to the matter That they be grave decent and comely That there be nothing of vanity affectation or irreverence Praier is a worship of God When Abraham was admitted to a discourse with God how greatly did he debase himself he was but dust and ashes Gen. 18.27 and who was he that he should speak to God Eccl. 5.2 There is a notable advice to look to our words when we have to do with God He is in heaven and thou on earth That is a vast distance and great disproportion Therefore let thy words be few The wiseman doth not there forbid a long praier for he himself made a very long one at the Dedication of the Temple and repeated this Petition very often Then hear thou in heaven and forgive and heal this people 1 Kin. 8. But that we should look to our words that they be not idle superfluous and vain a long praier in this sence may be said to have few words when the matter is pithy and the words pertinent as he said of a Book Non sunt longa c. That is not a long Book from which you cannot well take away any thing so that the length and shortnesse of a praier lieth not so much in the quantity of time as in the matter a praier held out for an hour without any savory matter or comely words is a long praier Look we then to the matter in the first place and then to words but if we look towards more then matter and make an eloquent oration to God rather then an humble supplication this is ridiculous and sinfull 4. We are to have our attention upon the obiect to whom we do pray and that to God himself What preparations and perfumings were there to come into Abashuerus his presence If the Majesty of an earthly King strike such terrour then what ought not the presence of so great a God so that a diligent attention to his greatness must greatly elevate and raise up the Spirit must unite and strengthen it to one object how can distraction and divisions enter into thy heart when it 's applying it self to such infinite greatnesse 5. We are to be attentive to all those concomitant graces without which Praier is like a Bird without wings or a rusty Key Zeal and fervency and faith in the promise and power of God are necessarily required for Without faith it 's impossible to please God Heb. 11. This is the life and soul of all There must be also heavenly mindednesse and a hatred of all sin otherwise we are not fit to have any communion with God Lastly We are to attend to the end we have in our Praier for lawful temporal things Jam. 4.7 You ask and have not because you ask amisse You ask to spend on your lusts and this is very difficult to ask health life and strength for no other end but thereby to glorifie God and promote his Kingdom Thus briefly because not principally intended to declare how great a matter it is to pray 3. Vocal praier or the use of the tongue in praier is not for information of God as if thereby we would discover to him that which he did not know before Nor if we use repetition in praier is it to move God as importunity may a Judge If it were so then no wonder if we did double and treble the same thing over and over again but partly because we consisting of a soul and body are thereby to glorifie God and honour him with both Hence not only the heart but the tongue is called upon to glorifie God and that is called the glory of a man Though some expound it of the soul and partly because the voice and exercise thereof doth stir up and move the affections there being a reciprocal efficacy one upon another and a circular causality Even as vapors make the clouds which distilling in rain do make vapors again so out of the heart come affectionate expressions in praier and these again do encrease heat in the heart These things premised let us consider When Repetitions or ingeminations of the same matter in Praier may be useful and necessary and we shall speak of such a vocal Praier as is publique wherein not only the Petitions but the edification of others is greatly to be respected for this you must know and it may serve for a fourth particular to preface this matter That in publique praier wherein many joyn together he that praieth is not only to attend to all the forementioned particulars but to them that are assembled also to consider what Petitions what confessions are fit for them to be stirred up unto and that is 1 Cor. 14. The reason why the Apostle so much pleadeth against praier among other duties in an unknown tongue because it will not edifie those that are conioyned with us and so some expound that I will pray in the Spirit that is for his own particular and I will pray in the understanding also that is in respect of others to advantage and benefit them so that in our publique whether as a Minister as a Master of a Family or otherwise We must consider the persons with us what they need what things most concern them and this is a particular way to affect them it being here as with a Sermon the closer it comes to the heart the more good it doth so with a praier the more any Petition closeth with another mans heart the more it doth affect him and enlarge him and therefore fit words and fit matter are especially to be attended unto in such publique praier where not only supplication but edification is intended Let us then consider when the ground of repetition and ingemination is good And 1. When the matter is so exceeding necessary that our hearts are deeply sensible of it As when a burthened soul lieth under the guilt of sinne sinne is like a Mountain upon him it gnaweth and devoureth within then to beg for pardon over and over again the soul cannot but do it The necessity
that praier doth not draw God to us but our hearts to God In our earnest Petitions we do not bring Gods will to ours but ours to him Praier is a golden chain that reacheth from heaven to earth and although we think to move God to us yet we move our selves to him as the Ship that is fastened with the Cable doth not bring the haven to it but it 's self to the haven so that the change praier makes is not on God but on our selves 6. Praier is necessary because hereby Faith is drawn out in all the choice and excellent effects of it Praier without faith is like the musicall Instrument without an hand to make a sound melodious It 's like a picture without life but of this more in the qualifications of a praier The demand then may be What is that Praier and how must it be accomplished that is a fruitful Praier such a praier as will bring about what we desire And 1. It must be the praier of a righteous man such who washeth himself from his sinnes for sinnes they have a tongue and they cry for vengeance and will quickly cry louder then our praiers Hence a wicked mans praier is said to be an abomination to the Lord Pro. 28.9 and the blinde man could see and say this God heareth not the praiers of a sinner There is a twofold sinner a sinner wilfully going on in his wickednesse and such God will not hear but then there is a sinner praying mourning and repenting as the Publican who said Lord be mercifull to me a sinner and such sins God doth hear Nay all men are sinners in this respect and thus God should hear no praier at all if he did not hear such But for other kinde of sins of which all places are full those God doth loath and their duties David hath expressed it fully If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear me Psa 66.18 Oh then look to thy self and thy life when thou goest to pray If the tongue that praieth be a cursing swearing tongue If the eyes lifted up to heaven be full of wantonnesse and adultery If the hands held out towards heaven be full of violence fraud and injustice God is of purer eyes then to behold such 2. They must be fervent zealous praiers The effectual fervent praier of a righteous man availeth much Jam. 5. He must be righteous but many a righteous godly mans praier may have no successe if it be full of dulnesse distractions and lukewarmnesse Therefore it must be fervent We must be Jacobs wrestling with God ere we can be Israels prevailing with God Praier is compared to Incense and it 's the fruit of Gods Spirit which is compared to fire Rom. 8. They are said to be groans unutterable It 's not then enough to pray unlesse it be fervently and zealously otherwise they are like a Bird without wings or a Messenger without feet 5. They must be beleeving praiers Let him ask in faith nothing doubting For he that doubteth is to conclude he shall not receive any thing in spiritual things that are necessary our faith is to be absolute in other things our fiducial faith is to be guided by our doctrinal faith so farre as those things make for our good and Gods glory our faith is to conclude of them This is the grace that crowneth our praiers This grace God highly honoureth insomuch that Without faith it 's said it's impossible to please God Heb. 11. Now though presumption be a weed that comes up of it self yet Faith is a gift of Gods own planting and great opposition great difficulty there is to put this forth Lastly It must be persevering and constant Praier our Saviour spake that Parable of the unjust Judge that we should pray incessantly not give God over till we obtain the blessing not to be discouraged though we meet with many delaies and great discouragements like that Woman of Canaan whose Praiers had an holy kinde of impudency and pertinacy in this to take no deniall Vse of Exhortation To be a people much in praier that it may be said of thee as of Paul Behold he praieth and of thy house as of Gods Temple an house of Praier Oh what shall those prophane persons and prophane Families expect but Gods dreadfull vengeance who rise and go to bed without such fervent zealous praiers never expect good from that man or Family that is not tender and constant in this duty he is like a Tree in the barren Wildernesse that cannot bring forth any fruit and do not say I have no time to pray this and that businesse puts it out Wouldst thou have time to receive mercies from God and no time to go by praier to God Shall the Sluggard sit still neither plow or sow or take pains and yet expect his ground should yeeld a plentiful crop oh what hope would there be that God would blesse the Ministry work conversion by it If ye were more diligent in this duty But how greatly is it neglected by most and those that do it how formall and customary are they so that it brings no good at all to the soul Think of these things more and tremble under them SERMON XXVI Of Heavenly Glory as opposed to Earthly And how the hopes thereof earnestly sought and prayed for will comfort a man against the fear and in the midst of all Trials and Afflictions JOH 17.5 And now O Father glorifie thou me with thy own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was THE next thing in order to be pursued is the nature of that glory which Christ praied for For Christ being near the bitterest part of his Cross and seeing nothing but gall for him to drink he comforteth and encourageth himself with that glory which is provided for him and this makes him so earnest in praier for it where by the way we may see the arrogant presumption of those who hold they are above Praier They will give thanks to God as Angels do but their perfection is such that they need not present Petitions in Praier what a Diabolical delusion is this for Christ himself though he confessed no sinne in Praier yet was not above Petitions as we see in this Chapter and if it were granted which cannot be that they were so pure as to be without sinne yet they have not as yet glorified bodies and therefore for that glory in heaven they ought to pray but why do we meddle with these who indeed need praier most and that to see themselves deluded and to be in a farre more dangerous estate then many other persons We come 1. to the description of this glory praied for from the nature or inherent property of it It 's a glory with Gods own self Glorifie me with thy own self This as you heard is spoken partly oppositely to humane glory and the honour of the world for as Christ despised the shame and was not
in the Word As there cannot be any love or delight in what we know not so neither any joy The bruit beasts have no joy properly because they have no knowledge They have a naturall delight but that is not truely joy Infants may have grace yet have no actuall joy Therefore when John Baptist a babe in the womb did leap for joy it was extraordinary and this is the reason why ignorant and carnal men are wholly destitute of all heavenly joy They have no knowledge no spiritual illumination so that as the blinde man cannot delight in pleasant colours nor the deaf man rejoyce in curious musick neither can the naturall man rejoyce in heavenly and holy Objects for he knoweth no better he is not acquainted with any other Comfort or Consolation but what is in the bowels of the creature Thirdly There is required a sanctified and heavenly frame of heart For such as a man is such is his joy The voluptuous man rejoyceth in his pleasures the intellectuall man doth so rejoyce in his studies and finding out of truth that some have forgot their time of food yea have not attended to their lives so great hath their joy been in such contemplations Thus the people of God being made new creatures and made partakers of a Divine Nature they now become to love and delight in those Objects which once they hated and abhorred They finde all the Consolations from the creatures contemptible in respect of God concerning whom they say with David The Lord is my portion and whom have I in Heaven but thee and in earth in comparison of thee The old Rule is Simile gaudet simili The heavenly heart delights in heavenly Objects Heaven it self and all the Glory of it do not or cannot affect a wicked man no more then fine flowers or pearles do a Swine So that this duty of rejoycing in God is altogether impossible to an ignorant carnall man they can no more in their souls thus be raised up to God then in their bodies they can flie in the air As our vile earthly bodies must be made spirituall and immortall ere they can be filled full of agility and be enabled to meet the Lord in the air So these souls of ours must be renewed and sanctified ere they can take any delight in that which is good Fourthly This Christian Joy requireth some kinde of possession at least in some degree of Christ or those good things we long for Propriety and possession is requisite to joy To know of never so many excellencies if a man have them not it doth but increase his misery The famished Lepers knew there was food enough abroad but till they were replenished they could not rejoyce in it What joy hath a poor man to hear of many others that are rich the sick man of many others in health If they have not such things in peculiar possession it advanceth them not at all Hence full and compleated joy is onely in Heaven because there is full and compleat fruition of God Then we are come to our journeyes end we cannot goe further or desire more then we have But in this life our joy may be daily filling our hearts There be many vacuities to be filled up There be many desires still to be satisfied so that we are to grow in our joy as well as in knowledge and in grace But yet because even in this life God is the God of his people and they are said to have him and to enjoy him and so Christ is said to dwell in their hearts yea the Father and the Sonne are said to be in them to sup with them to take up their mansions with them to dwell amongst them Hence it is that even in this life they may have unspeakable joy Therefore when the soul hath left the presence of God or is under many sad and black temptations thereby as we see sometimes in David and in the Church Oh the anxieties and perplexities that it is filled with Therefore in the Devils there is no capacity of any joy For although they have a self-love and though their wicked desires be many times successefull in tempting of men and destroying of their souls yet they cannot rejoyce because the state of misery they are in cuts off all hopes from them If therefore the godly would live joyfully let them take heed of interrupting their communion with God see you do nothing to eclypse this Sun If God hide his face all your comfort will presently wither In the next place Consider the transcendency and excellency of Christs Joy above all worldly joy It cannot be denied but that many wicked men spend their lives in jollity they seem to be the onely merry men and godlinesse is decryed for Melancholy for moping and for that which will undo a man But true joy in the Lord surpasseth all humane and worldly joy First The soul can more intimately and fully receive it's object then the body can Bodily and worldly pleasures are received in by the senses which are but narrow doors and gates of the soul but the soul of a man what it receiveth it doth let in with greater abundance Hence if the Object be finite and a meer creature it cannot fill the heart the heart is too bigg for it onely God is more then the heart can comprehend Therefore all the pleasures and all the joy that any man can take though he set himself to it as Solomon did yet are but like the joy of tickling or scratching comparatively to those immense joyes and consolations which God vouchsafeth Hence our Saviour saith Your hearts shall rejoyce John 16.22 This heavenly joy is like Elisha's oyl that multiplieth exceedingly and stayeth not till thy cruises fail to receive it Secondly This heavenly Joy surpasseth worldly in the pure and unmixed Nature of it It 's joy without sorrow It 's honey without any gall called The fruits of Gods Spirit because of the sweetnesse of it as the Apostle saith Perfect love casts out fear tormenting fear Thus joy from Christ and in him expels dejections troubles of heart No sooner doth this Sunne arise but all black and noisome vapours are dispelled Here is a joy that is like the Elementary fire they speak of pure and unmixed here are no mixtures to debase it or allay it But as for those worldly delights it 's as a mad man that teareth his own flesh and yet laugheth while he doth so So thou eatest and drinkest and makest merry while thou damnest thy own soul Thirdly It surpasseth in dignity for this Joy is in God himself it is in the highest good that can be There cannot be a greater cause or motive to rejoyce in but as for the creatures they are broken cysterns they are limited in their comforts they have their vexations as well as their delights but above all they are below man He debaseth himself when he taketh delight in these sublunary things they were made for him not
bring others into the same estate and condition also but then those who professe holinesse from carnall and corrupt ends they care not for this work of Conversion in others like Adulterers that respect not Children but their lusts Secondly We may be more sanctified in the better improving of the means of Sanctification For God he hath appointed spirituall Ordinances the good managing whereof will greatly advance the Principles of Sanctification within us Now the Ordinances are Prayer Hearing of the Word and Sacraments and whatsoever holy Institution Christ hath appointed and decreed for to make us better The way therefore to be more Sanctified is to pray better to hear better and indeed it would be well if thou didst set upon the Reformation of thy Corruptions but not only of them but of thy Duties also Not only to resolve I will be proud no more and earthly no more and passionate no more but I will not pray so formally so coldly nor so negligently as I have done any more A man that groweth better in his Health eats his meat better and doth digest it better And thus if thou wilt proceed from Holinesse to Holinesse Thou wilt pray with more Zeal and Faith hear with more attention and fear It 's impossible you should ever grow in Sanctification unlesse you do begin to amend in your duties As the Disciples were mending their nets else they could get no fish Thirdly and Lastly We are to be more sanctified in respect of Continuance and Duration It is not enough that thou wert once made holy and Righteous but thou art to continue and persevere therein to the end For how many did begin in the Spirit but yet have ended in the Flesh You have a terrible Instance Hebr. 10.29 where a man said to be Sanctified by the Bloud of Christ is yet said at last to tread under foot the Bloud of Christ making no account of it It is true this man was not truly Sanctified for then he could not have so totally apostatized for he had some imperfect and inchoate motions of Sanctification He was an Embryo and did prove abortive and thus all the Ages of the Church have given sundry and sad Instances of such Hypocrisies and Apostacies Therefore the Apostle John Revel 22.12 after the divers Visions and Revelations he had about the Church he concludeth Let him that is holy be holy still Let him continue and persist in his Holinesse So that whatsoever changes and alterations there may be in the Church yet thou art not to change or to vary in thy Holinesse and certainly such is the opposition and so great are the Contrarieties to all Sanctification in Heavens way That it 's a wonder of wonders that a man is not deprived doth not lose all or be discouraged out of it In the next place Let us illustrate this Growth in Sanctification by the opposites and contraries to it and they are First Idlenesse Negligence or Security He that is idle in his outward Calling can never expect to encrease in his Wealth Poverty comes like an armed man upon such and thus it is with him that is lazy in his spiritual Calling As Solomon observeth of the Sluggard He passed by and saw his Field full of Thorns and Briars Thus it is with every one that liveth negligently his whole life will immediatly be filled with all kinde of vice and folly Want of Exercise doth breed Diseases in the body and so neglect of spirituall Exercise doth consume the Soul Idlenesse and further Sanctification can be no more consistent then light and darknesse together Secondly Barrennesse This is the fruit of Idlenesse As the Apostle saith He that doth not work let him not eat Let him starve if he will This is also true here He that will not labour in a spirituall manner he shall not eat he shall neither have more Grace or more comfort Barrennesse in one that looketh to Heaven is a very hainous sinne Heb. 6.7 The Earth which drinketh in much rain and yet is barren is nigh to cursing Did not our Saviour say to the Fig-Tree that had no fruit on it Never fruit grow on thee more Matth. 21.12 So that God punisheth barrennesse with barrennesse It 's thy sinne to bear no fruit and it shall be thy Curse How severely was that unprofitable Servant dealt with who though he did not imbezill his Masters Talent yet because he hid it in a Napkin and did not improve it Therefore he is commanded to be cast into utter darknesse Matth. 25.30 Tremble then under all manner of unfruitfulnesse and unprofitablenesse Say How doth this agree with Growth in Grace Thirdly Another great opposite to further Sanctification is Apostacy and declinings in godlinesse which are either gradual in the truly godly or totall in him that appeareth to be so only Rev. 2. Gods great Controversie with some of those Churches was because they fell from their first love and they are commanded to strengthen the things that are ready to die This is to be a very Antipodes to encrease in grace when thy Sunne doth not stand still but go backward and still more backward Oh fear these Consumptions of the Soul Thou hast not the life the vigour the zeal of Grace once thou hadst thou art not the man thou wert once Thou art like Sampson that hath lost his strength like old Barzillai that canst not take thy wonted delight in heavenly things Oh be afraid of these languors and repent from whence thou art fallen But the godly Soul may be hereupon dejected and question whether ever it were truly sanctified or not for they finde much decay They have often dead and cold hearts yea they are not as lively as they have been They are even turned into stones and are like Idols in Christianity having eyes they see not and hearts they understand hot 1. Art thou thus exercised Despise not this Chastisement of God yea make an advantage of it To feel the disease is the way to be cured Blesse God that hath done thus for thee that though thou dost not grow in grace or encrease yet thou seest this decay and bewailest it A man that sees he goes behinde in his Estate and layeth it to his heart he will be careful to prevent it betimes 2. Know these humiliations and bewailings are a kinde of further Sanctification in thee For to grow in Grace is to discern more and more our Imperfections to be acquainted with all the need and wants that we are in As he that groweth in Learning seeth how much he is ignorant of and thus he that groweth in holinesse he seeth himself more unholy then ever he thinketh he hath lesse Grace then ever because he is more tender and discerning then he was before As a man recovering out of a disease is more sensible of pain and his weaknesse then he was in the height of his sicknesse 3. There may be a growing in gifts and parts and a growing in
vain-glory Did not the Devil think to overcome even Christ himself in this temptation when he shewed him all the glory of the world Begin then to despise and contemn all the earthly glory of this world what will this avail when thou art vile in Gods eyes Thou art a loathsom abominable creature before God though richly cloathed and faring deliciously every day Now the grounds why humane and earthly glory do not arise to this heavenly is from these particulars 1. It 's not a lasting during glory The fear and certainty of losing of it takes off from all the lustre of it A flour is a glorious creature yet because quickly withered none makes long account of it and thus all the glorious things of man are compared to no better The Prophet Isaiah Isa 40.6 and John Baptist of all Sermons and truths were to proclaim this All flesh is grasse and the flower thereof fadeth away c. And this was to make way for Christ implying that while men continued in their confidence about these things they were too high mountains and so no prepared path to receive Christ As therefore our Saviour argued in another case If the grasse be so cloathed with glory that is to be cut down and withereth so if thou art thus carefull to cloath thy body with glory that presently must become dust and worms meat rotting in the grave how much rather shouldst thou look to have thy soul cloathed with the glorious robes of Christ that continue for ever call that glory and that alone which is eternal which will live with thee and not die with thee 2. It 's no true glory because it 's not inward and substantial It 's not this glory of a man in his most substantial part which is his soul The soul of a man in Scripture language is called a mans glory Gen. 49.6 unto their assembly Let not my honour or glory be united that is not my soul If then a man hath the earthly glory of this world this is not the honour of his soul this is not solid it 's not in the noblest part of him If rich and glorious apparel should be put upon a dead corpse what glory were this to the corpse it would not bring life and comelinesse to the dead body So it is here let a wicked man have more earthly glory then a Solomon yet he is but a dead corpse he hath not that which should be the proper glory of a man viz. the adorning of his soul Hence grace is called glory as you heard So that nothing makes a man glorious but grace this is the image of God in him The Heathen could say That an horse is not chosen by his trappings and other rich accoutrements but as he is naked in his own body and certainly man much lesse is accounted glorious by body or wealth but by his soul 3. It 's not the proper glory of a man as he is a Christian And this is much to be considered Every creature hath that which is a peculiar grace and glory to it in its kinde So Seneca We praise a Vine if it burden its branches with fruit if another had golden grapes or golden leaves the fruitfull Vine would be preferred before it So that what is comely to one is not to another now take man as he is a Christian and so all his glory is spiritual and invisible if you look upon Christ who giveth him his glory he had none external nay none had lesse of that then he for he knew not where to lay his head yet in regard of spiritual glory he did abound in it he had the glory of a Messias though not of a temporal Monarch and thus it is here that is only a Christians glory which is excellency in Christianity The Apostle speaking of women saith Whose glory let not it be of embroidered apparel c. 1 Pet. 3.3 but an humble and meek spirit Hence the Kings daughter is said to be all glorious within Psal 45.13 That then which the world doth deride and contemn that is indeed the greatest glory and hence the glory of a Christian is to be justified to be sanctified to have communion and fellowship with the Father in Christ Lastly There is no true glory without Christ because in times of afflictions and tribulations he only gives occasion to glory Rom. 5. We glory in tribulation and Peter saith While we suffer for righteousnesse sake the Spirit of glory resteth upon us 1 Pet. 3.14 What then will thy outward glory avail in the time of Gods wrath when he shall set thy sins in order before thee he will make all thy desirable things to perish When Belshazzar is smitten with trembling for his sins he findes little glory in his stately Palace in his golden cups he was carousing in Oh then prize such a glory that will bear up thy heart in the saddest extremities A second Corollary is That the meanest Christian united to Christ though never so contemptible yet is surpassing Solomon in all his glory Every believer if you look upon him spiritually is more glorious then the greatest Potentates in the world for concerning that they made a blaze in their solemn installings of the Pope saying Sic transit gloria mundi but the glory of heaven abideth for ever It 's true this world doth not see any glory in a believer no more then they did in Christ Therefore in the Caniicles the women asked the Spouse What was her beloved more then other women They saw no such comelinesse and beauty in him and thus it is with wicked men What glory can we see in those that walk more strictly What is admirable in them more then in others Therefore this glory Christ giveth his people is invisible and discovered onely by the eye of faith So that this should exceedingly bear up the heart of a believer while he lieth under all the reproaches contempts and oppositions of the wicked world Oh comfort thy self with this spiritual glory God gives thee glory Christ gives thee glory while the world doth thus despise thee and doe not be discontented because God hath not given thee so much of the worlds glory as he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ven others What then if he revealeth and vouchsafeth this spiritual glory to thee he doth more then if he should give thee the glory of many worlds Nay further thou many times art dejected in thy own eyes and as thou hast no external glory amonstg men so neither dost thou perceive any spiritual glory in thy self Oh thou criest out that thy soul pollution thy â—oul defilements are worst of all but remember this glory comes from Christ without that it doth not naturally grow up in thee Thirdly Though Christ give part and a beginning of this glory here yet it is not perfected and consummated till hereafter I have saith Christ given them glory already yet he prayeth afterwards for the consummation of this
a Command yet withall sheweth the difficulty of it and whence it doth come to pass that the children of God sensible of their sins are so hardly brought to Beleeve As also why ungodly men think it so easie a thing SERM. XXXIX Further sheweth how acceptable it is to God to beleeve in Christ the Mediatour and setteth forth the dangerous nature of Trusting in our own Righteousness SERM. XL. Further setteth forth the Excellency and Necessity of pressing the Doctrine of Faith in Christ the Mediatour and of our being affected with it and invites the greatest sinners to come unto him for Salvation SERM. XLI JOHN 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine Of praying both for the Godly and the wicked with the Reasons and Motives thereof SERM. XLII The Excellency and Efficacy of Christs Mediatory prayer set forth in many Aggravations of it for the Consolation of the Godly SERM. XLIII Of the Extent of Christs Mediatory Prayer and of his Death That he praied and died not for all and every one of mankinde but only for the Elect and that the Scripture expressions of Christs dying for all are to be understood indefinitely and not universally SERM. XLIV Reasons why the Scripture speaks thus universally about Christs death when yet but some were intended Also what Benefits Reprobates have by Christ with some Arguments further proving the point of Christs dying not for every man but some SERM. XLV The Application of the former Subject setting forth the Necessity of Faith and Repentance as to the interesting us in Christ The Freeness of Gods Love The Qualifications of those to whom Christs death is made advantagious and also their priviledges above all others SERM. XLVI Of Free-Grace opposite to Arminianism tending to raise the hearts of those that are Godly to Joy and Thankfulness SERM. XLVII Of Gods Propriety in his people as the ground of all the good that accrueth to them SERM. XLVIII JOHN 17.10 And all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them The Deity of Jesus Christ cleared and defended against the Socinians SERM. XLIX Of mans glorifying of Christ and how many waies that is done SERM. L. JOHN 17.11 And now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee holy Father keep through thine own Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are Of Christs tender care of all his people in the greatest of their care and afflictions SERM. LI. Of the great danger of Gods peoples being in the world chiefly from its tempting and seducing to sin SERM. LII Of the danger Gods people are in in the world in respect of its hating and opposing of them with Reasons why the Lord makes the world such a disquieting place such a valley of tears unto his own people SERM. LIII The Exaltation of Christ improved for the Joy of all Beleevers SERM. LIV. That all Civil Governours as well as Ecclesiasticall from the meanest Master of a Family to the greatest Monarch have from Christ a spirituall charge of those that are under them and are above all things to endeavour the good of their souls SERM. LV. The great Lord-keeper of Israel from inevitable Ruine both of body and soul extolled SERM. LVI That it 's not enough to be put into a state of Grace unless by Gods power we are kept therein How farre men may acknowledge Gods help and yet with the Pelagians Arminians and Papists not give him his due Glory And also sheweth how many waies the power of God keepeth his people SERM. LVII Reasons proving the Necessity of Gods preserving his children in Grace That God keeps them by Faith Also why and how Faith keeps them rather then other Graces SERM. LVIII The greatness of the mercy of being kept sound in the Truth and the damnableness of Errour demonstrated SERM. LIX That it 's a speciall Mercy for the Ministers of the Gospel to agree in one Wherein their unity should be and the Reasons of the differences that are among them SERM. LX. The great Pattern of Unity the Nature and Property of the Unity that is between God the Father and the Sonne against the Socinians That the Ministers of God should endeavour after a perfect Unity even to be one as the Father and Sonne are Also some Rules guiding thereunto SERM. LXI JOHN 17.12 While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Name those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that the Scripture might be fulfilled The great changes that even a Godly man is subject unto in respect of the having and losing those sensible supports both outward and inward which God at sometimes vouchsafeth to them Also what those sensible injoyments are and why God doth so change the condition of his people SERM. LXII Sheweth how prone men are for to know Christ after the flesh and wherein it appears SERM. LXIII Of the Saints Lord-keeper shewing how safe the Godly are kept to Salvation by Christ as a trust committed to him SERM. LXIV Of the manner of Christs keeping those that are his Of a four fold principle that is operative to the preservation of Beleevers And of the excellent effects of the Lively Meditation of this Doctrine of being kept by Christ to Salvation SERM. LXV Of the Perseverance of the Saints The Question stated SERM. LXVI Of the Perseverance of the Saints SERM. LXVII Arguments proving that every one that is in the state of Grace shall be preserved to Eternall Life SERM. LXVIII Of the sonne of perdition Shewing that some persons are wilfully set for to damn themselves though they have never so many excellent Remedies and Means to the contrary And what are the Causes that move them thereunto and Characters of such persons SERM. LXIX Of the son of perdition Shewing more Causes and Symptoms of such wretched persons that are desperately bent to damn themselves SERM. LXX Of the sonne of perdition Sheweth from the example of Judas that men may be eminent for a while in the Church of God and afterwards prove desperate Apostates SERM. LXXI Of the sonne of Perdition SERM. LXXII Of the sonne of Perdition SERM. LXXIII The great stumbling-blocks of Religion removed SERM. LXXIV Of the Scripture SERM. LXXV Of the truth of Scripture-prophesies and against Judiciall Astrology and Witchcraft shewing the vanity and wickedness thereof and of seeking to them SERM. LXXVI John 17.13 And now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves The Joy of Saints handled both as a duty and priviledge as being one great end of Christs Prayer Command Promises and Ministry SERM. LXXVII Of Joy and Comfort shewing how many waies the Spirit of God works it in the hearts of his people SERM. LXXVIII The severall
dead man but when cloathed with divine authority then it beateth down every thing that opposeth it self If then we are bound to pray to God that he would make naturall causes though with so much inherent pronenesse to cause their effects as that our bread may nourish us our cloaths may warm us how much rather when there is no such naturall efficiency If man lives not by bread alone but by every word proceeding out of Gods mouth much lesse is man converted enlightned or regenerated by Preaching of the Word only without the power of God manifested from heaven Yet oh the security the sencelesnesse of most people herein They do not earnestly contend in praier with God before they come hither What earnest wrastlings and strivings hast thou had with God to day that thy soul might be put into an heavenly travell and Christ be formed in thee This is the true reason why you heare your selves into damnation and we preach you into greater and greater spirituall judgements daily because few are diligent in praying for a blessing upon that which shall be delivered to them In the third place After doctrinal Instruction there is great need of praier to God because of the utter insufficiency and inability that is in every man to what is good Such is the contrariety and enmity in every mans heart against Truth preached that we had need pray and pray again that God would open our eyes and soften our hearts The Scripture in severall places doth describe mans Impotency and his utter aversenesse to what is holy He is a Tyger a Lion a wilde Bear he is a meer briar and bramble There cannot be any good wrought in him till God make dead men to rise out of their sinnes We doe not hear Sermons as the Heathens did their morall Orations for they had some imbred strength to doe those things that were civilly good but when we have to doe with supernatural things there all must be planted in us There is nothing in us to love or embrace it yea whatsoever we are think or will it all riseth up in rebellion against God and certainly if the godly themselves though endowed already with an heavenly life do yet earnestly pray that God would open their eyes Psa 119. That he would quicken them and make them to grow up in an higher stature how much more do men destitute of Gods Spirit need this help yea we may take notice Eph. 6.18 that when the childe of God is fully compleated with the whole Armour of God he hath his helmet his shield his brestplate upon him yet he must not trust to this but after all this he is to pray alwaies with all praier and supplication So that you see in all holy exercises we are to be as the little childe who leaneth only upon his Father we are like the Fowl when we have drunk down a little presently to lift up our heads to heaven that it may work on us Vse of Instruction From this order of Christs learn we in Preaching and you in hearing what we ought to do know it must be Praier that will sanctifie every Sermon According as thou hast laid up Praier beforehand so do thou expect to speed What a wofull thing will it be if God make this Heaven brasse and iron these helps of salvation furtherances to damnation and all because thou dost not carefully seek to him Canst thou pray in other things and not here Is not every Sermon of eternall consequence Is not heaven or hell delivered at this time why then are we such stupid blocks as not to lay fast hold on God and say I will not let thee go till thou givest me a blessing It 's taken up as a sad Question Why in these latter daies the Word preached makes no more wonderfull works At first Propagation of the Gospel so many fish were caught in the Net that it was ready to break And at the first Reformation out of Popery the Kingdom of God suffered violence but now he that is prophane is prophane still the blinde are blinde still the proud proud still What is the matter Is not the Word of God as powerfull as ever Is not the Lords arm as strong as ever Yes but the zeal of people is grown cold There are not such fervent praiers such high esteems of the means of grace Men do not besiege Heaven giving God no rest day or night till he come with salvation into their souls and truly the Spirit of praier is a sure fore-runner of spirituall mercies to be bestowed Optat dare qui mandat orare when God will blesse the Word and Ministery to thee he will stir up thy appetite make thee hungry and thirsty fill thee with daily pantings after his grace And thus much of the order I proceed to the gesture used in praier He lifted up his eyes to heaven In the Scripture we reade of severall gestures in praier one of the Publican clean contrary He cast his eyes upon the earth and that did arise from the great and reall sence he had of his unworthinesse and of the multitude of sins that were upon him but yet that which is most commendable and indeed most natural is to lift up the eyes to Heaven the place of Gods speciall presence though he be also every where for the eye in this case should be the demonstration of the heart Cor in oculis that if it were possible we would both in soul and body while praying be lifted up into heaven Now how our Saviour who was God as well as man could pray and what kinde of Praier this was will hereafter be cleared From this gesture Observe That all our Praiers should come from a spiritual and heavenly heart It 's the very definition of praier that it 's Elevatio mentis ad Deum The lifting up of the minde and of the whole soul to God To pray is a farre more difficult and noble exercise then most are aware of It 's not the running over a few words like a Parrot but the soul is then to be on the Mount of Transfiguration There must be many things meeting together ere thy praier be an heavenly Praier It 's good to set this home for praier is the universall Instrument of all thy good if that be blunted or unprofitable all is marred If a poor man that liveth by his handy labour hath marred his tools that he cannot work by them how shall he subsist Praier is the Key to open heaven if that be empty and unprofitable how canst thou be replenished You ask and pray and have not Jam. 4.2 No sins are removed no spirituall mercies are bestowed on thee and all because thy praier is not heavenly Now these things make an heavenly Praier 1. It 's necessary the Spirit of God do enable and move the soul to this duty Rom. 8. It is the Spirit of God that helpeth against our infirmities and enableth us with
these do accuse thee say if a discharge had not been fully made how could Christ be glorified 2. It makes much to our eomfort because of that near relation which is between us so miserable and afflicted here and Christ our head now glorified What can be a greater cordiall then in the midst of all those exercises and trials and reproaches the people of God are debased with then to think they have a glorified head in heaven Though they be contemptible he is not This is but a conformity to him in his sufferings that we may also resemble him in glory 3. It is much to our comfort and advantage to hear of this because his glorification is a sure and effectual cause of ours so that our hearts may greatly rejoyce at this truth For as the Apostle argueth from Christs Resurrection If he be risen then shall we also certainly rise So doth the Argument unavoidably follow if Christ be glorified then shall we also be glorified with him so that when those innumerable Objections do arise how shall these vile bodies ever be made glorious How shall these corrupt and weak souls ever be made happy and blessed The answer is easie What is already done to Christ glorified will in time be fulfilled to us Death and the grave had no dominion over him no more shall it have over us Hence it is that the Scripture saith We are already set down with Christ in heavenly places Eph. 2.6 because he is our head Fear not then such a glorified head will not forget his members He said He went to provide a mansion place Joh. 14.2 It cannot then be but that Christ will set you on Thrones of his glory as well as he himself is set So that this doctrine is wholly for thy comfort 4. It may much rejoyce us to hear that Christ is glorified because in this state of glorification he is mindeful of us and pleading for us So that howsoever the greatest parts or effects of our mediation were seen in the time of his humiliation by his life and his death The Scripture attributeth all the mercies we do enjoy yet since he ascended into heaven and is partaker of all this power he maketh intercession for us his daily will is that the priviledges he purchased should be applied to us He daily acts as a King subduing our lusts conquering our corruptions applying his comforts and consolations to his people Well then Christ is glorified not for himself only neither is he exalted for his own honour meerly but it is for our glory as well as his for our honour as well as his As Joseph was lifted up in Pharaohs Court not for himself meerly but for his brethren to succour them in their necessities And as the glorious effects of the Sun are not so much for it self as for us the Creatures below oh then let thy soul cast off all unbelief and trouble when it heareth of Christ glorified for in all this glory he doth not forget thee he is not ashamed of thee Lastly This advantage the soul may make of this Truth thereby to lift up our hearts to heaven and to desire to be there where our glorified head is Thus the Apostle he longs to depart to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 and the Church longs for and hastens the coming of Christ from whence we look for Christ saith the Apostle Phil. 3.21 Who shall change our vile bodies into his glorious body Oh this should make us draw off all our affections and desires from other things Christ glorified should be the loadstone we should not be at ease or quietnesse till we come to him which made Austin say That as there were some men who needed patience to die so there were others who needed patience to live for the love and desire after Christ did so burn in their hearts that having tasted of this honey they judged every thing else gall and wormwood so that this Truth may be like fire burning in our bones In the next place let us consider the nature of this glory which Christ praied for And 1. There were three degrees to it The first and immediate beginning of this glory was upon his Resurrection After the black and dismall clouds this Sunne had been in the first glory of it began to appear in its Resurrection from the grave By this he was conqueror of death and the grave By this he judged the Prince of the world Till this was in all mens thoughts Christ seemed to be overcome in all appearance he was now brought under the power and command of death and Satan He was judged weak till this power discovered it self and this resurrection being not only by the Fathers power but his own He being the Sampson that brake the barres and bonds of death it was thereby made manifest to all the world that he was the Sonne of God Resurrection is such an impossible thing to humane reason and so incredible that Paul was cried down for a vain babler Act. 17.18 in promulging such doctrine and only in the Church of God Was ever such a thing heard of But this Resurrection was remarkable in Christ who not only raised himself from the dead but also caused many others to rise with him here was the first degree of his glory 2. The second degree was his ascension into heaven and this did exceed his Resurrection for though he was risen yet he conversed with his disciples did eat and drink with them occasionally so that he was to partake of greater and fuller glory when he ascended into heaven This Ascension of his into Heaven was great matter of wonderment and astonishment to his Disciples They all stood admiring when he was carried up thither Act. 1. 3. The last and chiefest degree of this glory was sitting down at the right hand of God By which expression is meant that great and wonderfull honour which God put upon him he sitteth at the right hand that demonstrateth a full and compleat victory over all his enemies and a quiet possession of this glory In these three things lieth all the glory Christ praieth for Resurrection Ascension and sitting down at Gods right hand all which immediatly followed his passions and sufferings and God had appointed such an order that one must be before the other and such a way God also doth take with his people They must have a Crown of thorns before they have a Crown of glory In the third place let us consider some of the most eminent and chiefest particulars wherein this glory of Christ doth manifest it self And 1. It lieth in that spirituall command and authority which he hath in his Church This is expressed when he saith All power is given to me in heaven and earth therefore go make disciples and baptize Here you see the Institution of Sacraments is founded upon that power given to Christ and from this it is Eph. 4 That upon his Ascention He led
all honour and glory shall be given by the Saints in heaven to all Eternity to the Sonne only it shall be to him as the meritorious and procuring cause whereby we are brought to enjoy the Father Having thus considered Christs intentions in all his works that the Sun cannot be free◠from spots then his holy will was from all oblique and sinister respects Let us consider man who being a meer creature having all both in being and continuation from God as the beams from the Sun and the streams from the Fountain it lieth as unavoidable upon him to be affected more with Gods glory then his own good This is a very hard task to flesh and bloud but self-love and de-ordination of the faculties of the soul hath made it thus difficult Now we may divide the good of a godly man into two sorts Either that in heaven his treasure laid up there in the upper Region Or all the good he can have in this life in the lower Region And of both these we commit a kinde of horrible Idolatry when we desire them upon any other terms then in tendency to God If it be so great a sinne to alter the bounds and change the Land-marks which the Laws of a Nation have set how much more to break that good and excellent order which God hath appointed between him and the creature Let us consider the first kinde of a godly mans good his eternall felicity and salvation even this glory he is to desire in subordination to Gods glory For if Paul could make a conditionate wish and veleity that he might be accursed from Christ Rom. 9.3 to serve his brethren how much rather might this be done for the glory of God yet take heed of a mistake here some have gone so farre as to say that a godly man is never truly humbled till he can be willing to be damned for Gods glory and that it 's unlawful to look at the reward in heaven This is dangerous as well as false for it 's not lawfull but a duty to seek our salvation Rom. 2.7 To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for honour and glory and Moses is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have a fixed earnest eye upon the reward Heb. 11.26 So that it 's a Speech full of vanity and no man can speak it truly that he is willing to be damned for Gods glory for such a thing cannot be and our salvation we are bound to desire so that we must take heed lest by overmuch wringing a good truth we make bloud come out instead of milk yet though this be so it 's no contradiction to say that a godly man hath such an holy principle within him that would carry him out to the obedience of God though there were no heaven and that the glory and honour of God is his principal end that it 's dearer to him then his own soul and truly if we see in nature God hath so ordered it that every particular denieth it self to preserve the universall The water will ascend upwards that there may not be a vacuum and the particular orbes are carried about against their own motion according to the power of the first mobile how much more must this hold in man and God all his life comforts and happinesse it self is to give place for Gods honour and glory Let God be glorified and ruat mundus but I shall not insist on this Let us descend to those particular good things we have in this world riches honour greatnesse and parts We shall see it 's the greatest reason in the world that we should not desire these things to advance our selves to satisfie our appetites but only thereby to glorifie God but who doth this yea who is able to bear this truth to take this yoke till a renewed nature hath made it easie And therefore let us first consider the causes procreant or principles constituant of such a gracious disposition as to be able to say O Lord I begge for health for a good name for outward comforts in this world but it 's not for my own sake so much that I do this as that hereby I might glorifie thee And 1. He must necessarily be born again or from above he must be partaker of a divine nature that can ascend thus high He that is of the earth is earthy he that is of heaven is heavenly Till a man have the Image of God and be made like him he cannot but minde earthly things When men are made godly you cannot say O Curoae in terras animae No then their souls as well as their bodies are made streight up towards heaven A worm can never do as the Lark soar up on high singing as she goeth but when descending towards the earth silent as if she were grieved Till then God hath made us new creatures given us new hearts and a new spirit within us we cannot desire these worldly comforts for any other end but our selves To be rich to be great to be wise only for our selves 2. There must be great love to God that can make us relate all things to him Jacobs great love made him do every thing to obtain Rachell and so a strong love to God will make us sacrifice all to him insomuch that our love is of so great an operation that God in a speciall manner commands that for himself and that not a meer love but love with all the heart and might Mat. 22.37 Nothing is to be left out love is fire and where that is it will burn separat heterogenea it divides all heterogeneous matter if riches if honors if friends oppose this it trampleth on them all and for this reason it is that our Saviour saith If a man hate not Father and Mother he is not worthy of me Luk. 14 20. so that the love of God is not kindled in mens hearts if it were as fire assimilateth all things into it self so would this love make us referre all things to him whom our souls love Thus David Whom have I in heaven but thee and Paul the love of Christ constraineth me 2 Cor. 5. Oh that we had the experience of this more Dost thou not see what the love of money puts the worldly man upon What the love of pleasures puts the voluptuous man upon They doe all things in reference to such corrupt ends Thus where there is an heavenly love that makes use of every thing to glorifie God that studieth and meditateth how may I advance and set up the honour of God by these things This love would quickly put out all carnall and worldly love as the beams of the Sun will put out the materiall fire 3. Mortified affections to every thing here below when we can perform the Apostles commands To buy as we bought not to weep as if we wept not 1 Co. 7. This duty of mortification the Scripture often speaketh of as a
necessary companion to the minding of heavenly things There is no externall duty of praying or hearing that will make the heart moderate and regular in the use of all comforts unlesse it be accompanied with mortification Let not then the waters overflow the banks Do not over-love over-desire over-grieve about these earthly comforts It 's an argument thou lovest them for their own sakes or thy own sake and not for God who art thus over-sollicitous about them so then to say I desire no temporall mercy but to honour God thereby requireth an heart mortified and crucified if we would speak the truth and not deceive our own souls Till therefore we be thus divinely qualified within You may as soon gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles as the honour of God from such men In the next place take notice of the Reasons why we are to pray for all our comforts in reference to Gods glory And 1. Because God himself doth all things for his own glory His own actions are for it and therefore much more ought ours to be God made the world God saveth his people and all this is for his own glory and indeed as Gods wisedom is only able to comprehend himself so his own love is able to love him in quantum est amabilis yet we are commanded to be holy as he is holy Now as his holinesse is in willing of his own glory and all things in reference thereunto So our godlinesse consists in willing and procuring Gods glory and improving all we have for that purpose If God made the world for his glory do thou use it for his glory If God give thee parts and gifts to glorifie him oh do not abuse these against their good and lawfull end 2. From the nature of Gods glory and all these earthly comforts respectively that is the ultimus finis and these are the media and morall Philosophy teacheth us that media movent bonitate finis it 's not absolute goodnesse in the means but the relative goodnesse of the end in the means that excite and provoke the appetite It 's not Physick for Physicks sake though never so sweet but for healths sake that we take it Lay this as an undeniable argument upon thy own soul These good things are but the means they are not the end Now they are desired not in an unlimited but commensurated manner If a man would quench his thirst he doth not desire all the water in the Sea but as much as will quench his thirst If a man desire a garment to cover his nakednesse he would not have all the cloth in the world but what is proportioned for his body So it 's here Thou art not to will as much wealth as much honour and greatnesse as may be had but what will be serviceable to that great end the glory of God otherwise thou art in thy abundance as David in Sauls armour It was too great for him and in stead of being serviceable was cumbersome and truly hence ariseth the inordinate sinfulnesse of our sences in all earthly comforts we desire them for their own sake and so are infinite and never satisfied still saying Give whereas this regulated desire would much moderate us Appetitus non est regula concoctionis the appetite is not the rule of our concoction is in Divinity true as well as in Philosophy 3. Consider the greatnesse of Gods glory It 's more worth then all the world all thy wealth estate and greatnesse is nothing to this glory of God neither thy soul or body no nor all mens souls and bodies are to be compared to this Better we all perish then that God should lose his glory Oh then how should this make us whatsoever we do to do all to his glory 1 Cor. 10.31 because the Sun is far above one Star the Ocean above one drop 4. If we desire not all things in reference to him we are guilty of spirituall Idolatry we set up another God besides him or we attribute that supreme dominion to another which belongs only to him unlesse we were God himself we might not do so how severe was God against that Jewish Idolatry in worshiping Idols his glory he would not have given to another Now this is not the lesse Idolatry because it 's not so bodily The more secret and hidden it is the more abominable Herod was eaten up with lice because he was not displeased when others said The voice of God and not of man Act. 12.23 He was tickled with it and received it well enough I tell thee such sins as this are committed when thou takest thy wealth thy honours and exaltest thy self thereby and not God Vse of Instruction How few then take notice of this doctrine who desire mercies only to serve God thereby riches and greatnesse to promote God therewith If this were so there could not be those immoderate and unsatisfied affections in thee Thou wouldst be more solliciuous bow to improve all for God Thy heart would tremble lest God receive not more glory by giving thee more mercies We give thee of thy own said David 1 Chro. 29 14. and certainly if we have any thing to glorifie God by both the gift and the good use of it is wholly of Gods grace What wilt thou do who takest the good mercies of God and usest them as weapons against him Thou servest thy own lusts and the devils Will the patience of God alwaies bear this SERMON VII The Text Vindicated from Arians Vbiquitarians and Papists And the power and dominion of Christ observ'd and applied to the comfort of his Disciples and terrour of his Enemies JOH 17.2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternall life to as many as thou hast given him THe Verse before spake of the mutual glorification which is between the Sonne and the Father Now this second verse is specificative or declarative of that wherein or whereby the Sonne may and doth glorifie the Father viz. by the power that he hath in the whole world more especially in the Church of God giving eternal life to them that do beleeve So that this Text containeth one principall way or manner how the Sonne doth glorifie the Father All the wondrous works that are done in the world bring not so much glory to God as the spiritual works which are wrought by Christ in the Church In the words we may take notice of Christs power and the use or exercise of it The power is mentioned in the former part The exercise in the latter Concerning the former observe 1. The power expressed in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which say some doth not signifie a meer power but a power with right and so difference it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if that signified any power this only is just and lawfull As among the Latines potentia and potestas are diversified but this is not universally true for 〈◊〉
Thou saist I have no power I shall never be able to go through this condition or that but hath Christ no more There is power in his Death and power in his Resurrection Every thing of Christ hath power The Prophets dead body gave life to one how much rather shall Christ crucified Oh but you will say These are words These are Fancies Though Christ hath all this power I am not a whit stronger I am as unable as any I answer Thank thy self for thy unbelief All things are possible to the Beleever Christ hath power but the fruit of it is to him that beleeveth You see all the cures he worketh all the wonderfull works he did it was still beleeve and it shall be thus to you according to thy faith so be it to thee If the Fountain be never so full unlesse you come with your vessell you may be scorched with thirst You see then how all this power and greatnesse of Christ may be yours There is nothing in him but it may profit you and that is by relying on him putting confidence in him because of his promise and if thou saist how can I beleeve that is also by Praier to God Even Christ he giveth this also viz. to beleeve SERMON X. Of Predestination or Gods giving some of Mankinde to Christ not all for him to redeem And what unspeakable Grounds of Comfort to Gods People flow from thence JOH 17.2 That to as many as thou hast given him he should give Eternall Life THis latter part of the Verse containeth the use and exercise of Christs Power which he had from the Father and therein you may consider 1. The Fruit and benefit of it 2. The Subject on whom this is to be bestowed The Fruit is described in the nature of it 1. It s Life As Death is the King of Terrors so life must be the King of joys 2. The Property of this Life it 's Eternall This naturall life in the midst of the joys that may accompany it hath this bridle and check It 's but for a short uncertain time In the next place you have the manner of obtaining it It s given There is no merit no antecedent worth but it 's given O this is the benefit The Subject who is to partake of this gift is limited and restrained by this qualification To as many as the Father hath given him So we translate it regarding the sence otherwise if it should verbatim according to the Greek it would be hardly sence to an English ear For thus it is That every thing which thou hast given him to them he should give Eternall Life Neither indeed is it pure Grecisme but an Hebraisme where sometimes the Nominative case beginneth the sentence and then the sence is so cast afterwards that it quite loseth its Verb as here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is also the Neuter gender for the Masculine Or else it 's used emphatically to shew that not so much totus homo as the torum hominis the every thing of a godly man is given to Christ not his soul but his body also This phrase is severall times used especially Joh. 6.37 where it is said All that my Father giveth me cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out and will raise him up again Where that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every thing implieth body as well as soul because it 's said he will raise him up Now when the Father is said to give some of mankinde to Christ that is not to be understood of his divine nature for so he hath all things as God but as a Mediatour and Redeemer so that the sence is God the Father gave some of Mankind◠to Christ committed them to his care and trust that he should be their Mediatour and obtain everlasting Salvation From whence Observe That not all but some only of Mankinde are given by God the Father to Christ to be a Mediatour for them Though Christ have a sufficiency and fulnesse in him to obtain Salvation for all yet some only are given to him intentionally by Gods Decree to be their actuall Saviour and Mediatour To as many saith the Text as the Father hath given him This place doth batter to the ground that pleasing opinion of Universal Redemption for by that not some but all are given to Christ by the Father and if so then all must be saved for mark that place Joh. 10.28 29 speaking of his Sheep They shall not perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand for my Father which gave them me is greater then all We need not a cleerer place for these two things 1. That there are but some that the Father hath given Christ 2. All those that are given they are sure to have eternal life because none is greater then the Father So that those two dangerous doctrines Universal Redemption and the total and final apostacy of the true Saints are evidently confuted by that place This is so clear that we need not matter their many distinctions to obscure the truth That there are some whom the Father hath thus committed to Christ to be their Mediatour appeareth by this expression us'd at other times The forementioned place Joh. 6.37 39. is considerable The occasion of that expression was from the unbelief of the Capernaits who though they had seen Christs wonders yet beleeved not but it was no wonder for saith he All that is given me of my Father shall come unto me If you had been thus given to me you would beleeve Now because it 's invisible and altogether a secret known only to God who they are that are given to Christ he sheweth a sure and certain fruit of this They will in time come to him i. e. beleeve in him and receive him so that we may invert the Saying all that do truly beleeve in Christ they are given unto him of the Father and for their encouragement he saith He will in no wise cast them out a Metaphor from the Master that takes a Scholar though dull and weak yet he will forbear and not cast him out and lest it should be thought that though it be well with them thus for the present yet for the future they may be undone he addeth v. 39. It 's the Fathers will of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but raise it up again at the last day Oh the divine and unspeakable consolations that are here treasured up for the godly So Joh. 10.29 which you heard before One place there is that may be a stumbling-block and seem to weaken all Joh. 17.12 Those that thou gavest me I have kept and there is none lost but the Sonne of Perdition But the answer is The Apostles are said to be given to Christ in a twofold respect 1. Of sanctification and glorification and thus Judas was not 2. In respect of their Office and calling as when he said Have not I chosen twelve and one of you is
own life neither doth he take any pleasure in any earthly contents Hence it is that the inanimate creatures Trees and Rocks though they should be free from pain yet cannot be said to be happy because they have no faculty of reflexion They cannot perceive or discern their happinesse but in this eternal life The knowledge and assurance of their happinesse is that which makes it indeed to be a blessed life The Heavens are not happy though they shall abide ever because they have not life nor can they reflect upon what they are A childe in the womb though heir to a vast inheritance yet cannot take any comfort from it because he hath no reason to discern it But then our souls shall have the most accurate quicknesse and there will not be the least circumstance that shall aggravate our happines but we shall apprehend it we shall know how to improve every comfortable consideration Alas in this life the godly through their weaknesse of knowledge and faith make not that advantage of Christ as they may There are many blessed arguments to refresh their souls and they know them not or attend not to them but when we shall come to eat of this bread of life we shall not lose one crumb of it Then there is nothing shall be hid from our eyes but according to our capacity we shall then love God and Christ and enjoy them to the full Come we in the next place to the properties of this life for we can better speak of them then the life it self as we can better look upon the Sun-beams then the Sun it self And 1. It 's a continued life of happinesse There is no interruption or stop put to this joy and comfort and that is a transcendent thing for in this life two things intermit our joy 1. Occurrent adversities contrary miseries our health is taken away by diseases our wealth by poverty our hopes by fears so that every mans life hath more gall then hony And 2. If there were no opposite calamity as there was not to Adam yet there is a naturall intermission of it by sleep so that if we were never so happy yet as often as we sleep our Sun would be ecclipsed but this happy life we speak of admits of neither of these Interruptions There cannot be any misery or grief there for God will wash away all tears from their eyes and it must needs be so because all the cause of misery which is sinne is there taken away so that as there cannot be any thunder or lightning in the upper Region because the vapours which are the materials of it cannot ascend so high can have no entrance there so because no unclean thing no sinful thing can enter heaven therefore no evil no misery or affliction can come there This should make us all despise this valley of tears for that Mount of Vision or transfiguration What is this Wildernesse to that Canaan What are these husks to that Manna Why are we so hardly plucked out of this world that hath so many thorns and troubles with it to enter into heaven where there is no grief no complaining or discontent at all Again There is not the second intermission of this happinesse for there is no night no sleep nor drousinesse but it is a waking joyful life to all Eternity Alas if here we should have the most desirable comforts that can be yet we would call for a time to sleep they could not keep us alive without this bodily Rect but there the body is made so glorious a body that it 's no more capable of sleep then it is of hunger or thirst Oh then happy and thrice happy is that life where thou shalt not for a moment be taken off from God It 's impossible for the godly in this life to have an actual love and complacency in God never to be distracted or diverted by other thoughts something or other comes and steals the heart away and laieth the dead childe in the room of the living one but then we shall have a constant intuitive beholding of God and nothing shall withdraw us from him Thus it is not to be interrupted 2. In this life there is an affluence and an accumulation of all things to make it blessed The very Philosophers thought happinesse must be such a state wherein was an aggravation of all good things so that if a man could have all good things and want but one he could not be called an happy man Hence in the Scripture the Hebrew word for happinesse is in the plural number because it is not one or two or twenty good things can make a man happy but there must be all things And for this reason it is that the Scripture hath so many variety of resemblances to represent this blessednesse To shew you that it hath all desirable things It 's called a Kingdom a Crown of glory a Feast and Banquet a place of joy Heaven is said to be paved with all precious stones Now why doth the Scripture use such expressions Not that we should conceive any carnal pleasures or worldly contents there as Mahomets Alcoran speaketh of a bruitish happinesse altogether sensual but from earthly things would lift up your hearts to heavenly it would gather you a Posie of the finest flowers and tell you heaven is this Do but abstract the imperfections of the creatures and the perfection that is in heaven Even as Divines say concerning the perfections of creatures God hath them but in an eminent manner abstracted from the imperfections he hath wisedom but not the imperfection of mans wisedom he doth understand he willeth as well as a man but not with the imperfection of a man So it is here Heaven is riches heaven is health heaven is glory heaven is honour but still without the imperfection of these earthly comforts 3. This life is a glorious life Beside freedom from evil and a positive affluence of all good there is external glory to make it yet more desirable Our souls shall be made glorious souls our bodies glorious bodies Heaven is a glorious place The Angels are glorious the Majesty of God will then be resplendent in all his glory If the Queen of Sheba had no more spirit within her beholding Solomons temporal glory how ravishing must this heavenly glory be The Scripture every where speaks of the glory of this condition now glory is that which exciteth all generous spirits What did the Romans the Pharisees doe for glory but it was a vain empty glory This is called by the Scripture The exceeding weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 It 's a solid substantial glory glorious within and without also 4. It is an holy life For if you ask what shall be the emploiment of those who have this Eternal life The Scripture tels us that both Angels and Saints are wholly exercised in this in praising and glorifying God The Angels Isa 6. are brought in crying Holy Holy
Holy Lord God of Hosts And this is that which makes wicked men so carelesse about it They rather desire a bruitish sensuall life Let us eat and drink as if they were so many Swine but as the life of a Beast is not comparable to that of a man so neither are the pleasures and joys of the flesh like those of holinesse Hence it is that those who live holily have a taste and firstfruits of this eternal life He that beleeveth hath eternal life Joh. 6.54 He hath it already both in respect of a sure Title and interest as also of the taste and pledges of it in his soul Wonder not then if you see men given up to their lusts no waies diligent to obtain this life The holinesse of it is no motive to them no more then a Pearl doth affect a Swine They must be holy who desire such an holy life 5. It 's a spirituall life that differs from the former because it 's opposite to that animal life we live here The body is made a spirituall body we shall there no more hunger or thirst no more eat or drink All those civill and natural actions will be done away No more delight in Father in Wife in Children for the soul is wholly swallowed up with the love of and delight in God As when the Sunne ariseth we cannot see the Starres so when God shall come to fill the capacity and potentiality of the soul no more earthly comforts can be discerned by us It 's a true Rule that spirituall delights are farre more transporting and affecting the heart then any bodily can be As those who are in an extasie and rapture they minde no worldly thing Paul did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body yea the delight in study did so transport Archimedes that he was drawing lines when Syracuse the City he was in was taken so that as David said of prevailing grief some Philosophers could say of their delight in study They forgat the time to eat their bread Now spiritual delights must needs elevate higher then all these Hence it is that Divines say The beatificall vision or fruition of God makes it impossible for the Saints to sinne They cannot leave God so excellent and full to cleave to any creature As a man that hath tasted honey doth not like the taste of other things or as he who hath long gazed on the Sunne hath his eyesight taken away to behold other things The Apostle tels us 2 Cor. 4.15 that while we behold the glory of the Gospel we are transformed into his Image If faith in God in this life is so able to assimilaâ—e us unto God that he purifieth himself as God is pure If Moses by speaking with God face to face had such glory communicated to him that the people were not able to behold the glory of his face what a Transmutation will that immediare beholding of God make in us We see the Disciples in a transient sight of this were so transported that they said It is good for us to be here let us build Tabernacles They would never have gone to their former lives again If a drop do thus work what will the Ocean do Vse Of Instruction to Inform us That true happinesse which is Eternal life cannot be had on this side heaven It 's said the desire of happinesse is imbred in all No man can refuse the desire of it Ask every man in the world what he would have he will answer you happinesse Only here is the miserable corruption in us we mistake where it is we seek for it where it cannot be had The voluptuous man would have it in his pleasures The Ambitious man in honour and earthly greatnesse All seek for it in this world But how do you like the blinde Sodomites grope and feel after that which you cannot finde Go home and say I am not yet happy I am rich but not happy I have worldly comforts but this as no more happinesse then a Landfloud is to the Sea yea for all this happinesse thou hadst better never have been born Every worm every toad is happier then thou art Oh then perswade thy self thou art not yet in the haven Thou art in the Wildernesse not yet in Canaan Nulla verior miseria quam falsa laetitia and such joy such comfort such delight is all thou hast who hast not God SERMON XII A Consideration of Eternal Life compared with this present life And with its contrary viz. Eternal Death JOH 17.2 That he should give to them Eternal Life ETernal life in the nature and some properties of it hath been treated on There remains one more which I shall mention viz. that in the Text Eternall Therefore take the best wine at the last That which crowneth all and without which whatsoever happinesse or glory might be had it would in time fall as the leaf from the Tree and this is Eternity And here again we must be more in our acclamations and divine amazements at it then descriptions of it The Schoolmen they tell us that Eternity is like a fixed starre now whose whole is altogether There is no succession no former or latter in Eternity but all is together I shall not perplex you with such intricacies Eternity it self being only a fit space to know what Eternity is This only take notice of That a thing may be said to be eternal in a twofold sence 1. Absolutely and simply so that it hath neither beginning or ending and thus only God is eternal Thus Deut. 33.27 God is called the Eternall God Or else Eternal is used for that which had a beginning but never shall have an end this is called Eternum a posteriori and so this blessed life is called eternal for although it had a beginning yet it shall never have an end but after millions and millions of imaginary years they are to continue in this life as if it were the first moment Let us then consider as much as we are able what an infinite and incomprehensible happiness this is which shall be for ever Then shall we be with the Lord for ever saith Paul 1 Thes 4.17 Who is not put into extasies and raptures while he seriously meditateth on these things Alas in this life if we had the confluence of all desirable comforts yet because our life is short and uncertain our joy also can be no longer But there whatsoever glory thou dost once partake of thou shalt never lose it It will be thy Crown for ever thy Kingdom for ever thy glory is ever lasting glory O the depth and unsearchablenesse of this grace and love of God well might Christ say he would give it and Paul call Eternal Life the gift of God Rom. 6.23 For who can think that these duties which we do here are meritorious of such eternal glory for grant they were perfect and had no drosse in them yet there is no proportion in the
Scripture you must beleeve those things to be the portion of every unreformed sinner O what a vast difference will there be between thy pleasures here and eternal torments hereafter and not to have a drop of ease in all thy misery 3. This eternal death as it hath fulnesse of torment so likewise Eternity For heaven and hell have no period There is no time set when the fire of hell shall go out called therefore unquenchable fire So that these two properties easelesse and endlesse might startle and amaze every ungodly man Why wilt thou buy these eternal torments at so dear a rate for a moments pleasure to have everlasting woe So that here are two Eternities before thee an Eternity of happinesse an Eternity of misery Sinne saith and the devil saith taste of the honey of sinne God saith There is eternal gall for this Now which wilt thou beleeve either sinne tempting or God threatning Was not Eve at first undone because she would hearken to the devil against God What fruit or profit had Judas for thirty peeces procuring to himself eternal horrour and trembling Thus you have seen eternal life in the contrary to it We have been upon the Mount of Blessing and upon the Mount of Cursing If good things will not allure let dreadfull things astonish and terrifie Only you must know the grand difference between eternal life and eternal death in the manner of coming to it So you see in the Text it 's given by Christ and it 's called the gift of God but eternal death comes by desert It 's the wages of sinne Rom. 6. ult Our sinnes deserve hell but our graces do not heaven and whereas it might be thought an unjust thing in God for a transient sinne to inflict eternal torments yet that is no wonder For 1. We see amongst men that Malefactors for a crime committed by them which was acted in a very short time do yet suffer death which as to this world is their eternal destruction they can never come back to live here again 2. All sinne being committed against God who is of infinite glory hath thereby an infinite guilt and so deserveth eternal damnation Hence it is that Dâ—vines say Omne peccator punitur citra condignum Even hell it self is not a punishment adequate to the nature of sinne for Gods honour is more worth then ever our sufferings can make up again And lastly There is no injustice because all those torments can never make any satisfaction For hence it is that thy misery is eternal because thou canst not pay the utmost farthing Thou art never able to discharge the debt therefore thou must for ever lie in prison Thus there is justice in every mans damnation and there is only mercy in every mans salvation For 1. Those graces and good works thou dost have no proportion to this Eternal and glorious reward The Apostle did not account his suffering which seem to be the most efficacious for salvation any whit comparable to that eternal weight of glory If a man should have the whole world given him for lifting up a straw that is not so great a disproportion as to give heaven for Martyrdom the highest act of love to God And 2. It 's only of grace because he who giveth the Crown giveth us legs and strength to runne in the race Coronat dona sua non merita nostra so that we are so farre from meriting by good works that the more we do the more we are beholding to the grace of God Vse Of Invitation Who is there of you that hath heard of the nature and properties of this eternall life that is not brought in love with it Who is there that hath heard of this pearl that will not sell all throw away every sinne to enjoy it If there were nothing but this it might work on thee Hast thou any lust that will be equivalent to eternall life that will be in stead of that to theâ— What wilt thou do when a mortall disease hath surprized thee thy friends weeping thy children crying and thou dying Will these lusts then help call to them and see if they can give thee eternall life What wilt thou be worse then Balaam he wished Oh that I might dye the death of the righteous and his later end might be like his And shall there be not so much as a desire as a sigh though if there be no more if thy life be not the righteous mans life thy death cannot be his SERMON XIII Weighty Considerations upon Eternity JOH 17.2 That to as many as thou hast given him he should give Eternall Life ETernall Life is the glorious gift mentioned in the Text and though I was concluding this verse yet the consideration of this glorious matter shall make me once more endeavour throughly to possess your hearts therewith It was the fault of one of the Kings of Israel that he did not strike arrows often enough to the ground 2 King 13.19 for then he should have obtained more victories It shall therefore be my endeavour if possible that the arrows of this truth may be stricken often even through and through your hearts And that I may further quicken you hereunto consider these particulars as so many effectuall conclusions upon this subject And first The chief and most principall and necessary question which every one should seriously propound ought to be that Luk. 18.18 What shall I do to inherit eternall life Not indeed upon such a corrupt opinion as he did who thought by his own works meerly to obtain this eternall life No that cannot be it 's the gift of God and when we have done all this eternall life is of grace not merit but in a right sense viz. what way ought we to walk in what is to be done that at last we may not eternally perish This I say is a most noble and necessary question if this were more studied and practised it would advantage the soul ten thousand times more then other unnecessary and impertinent disputations The best method in morall Philosophy is to begin first with the end because that is the chiefest there must be first a knowledge and desire of that Now all Divinity agreeth with morall Philosophy in this it 's wholly practicall The first thing then in your thoughts and meditations should be What is that end for which I was made how may I obtain that eternall life for which I came into this world Oh why are we busie in unnecessary things for what end and purpose were you made Was it to heap up wealth To satisfie the lusts and pleasures of the flesh No it was at last to injoy this eternall life The Heathen did well call man the orizon of time and eternity for in respect of his body he partaketh of time in respect of his soul eternity So then the chief and more excellent part of thee that which makes thee differ from a beast it is that
be so wellcome Had the Prodigall not met with husks and extream hardship he would not have resolved to go back to his Father again Think and practise these things so wilt thou be greatly affected with eternity And to encourage thee herein consider the blessed effects which a lively meditation of eternity accompanied with a firm faith will put thee upon For first Who so hath this eternity set upon his heart he will not be immoderatly and inordinatly desirous after these things below As the beams of the sunne will put out the fire so will the thoughts and affections about eternall things overcome temporall The Apostle 1 Cor. 7. presseth all upon an hard duty To marry as if we married not to buy as if we bought not Why so because the time here is short eternity is coming upon us And thus those holy Patriarchs mentioned Heb. 11. they accounted themselves pilgrims and strangers and they sought a City to come not built with hands Thou complainest thy heart is so full of deadnesse dulnesse so full of the world the cares and distractions thereof devour thee up there is nothing will help thee against this temptation then often thoughts and affections about eternity 2. As the thoughts of eternall life will thus moderate our affections so it will work in us 〈◊〉 longing for and hasting of the coming of Christ who then will bestow this eternall life upon us We wonder how Paul should be lifted up above all these earthly comforts as to desire to depart and to be with Christ Phil. 1. It seemeth very difficult to us that any hasten in their praiers and desires Christs coming but all this is because our hearts are not as full of hope and expectation of eternall life as theirs were Alas many of us know no better and so cannot desire any better then what may be had in this world and therefore the thoughts of death and the coming of Christ are unwelcome to us Whereas to The godly it 's the coming of the bridegroom and they are to lift up their heads with joy when that approaches Matth. 26. Let then that godly soul which doth so complain that it loveth life too dearly and feareth death too immoderately let that be strengthened and comforted with the sure hopes of this eternall life If an heavenly frame of heart were powerfull in us this very world would be a wildernesse it would be tedious to us to be kept so long from that home we have in heaven The Saints have a rest provided for them and who doth not desire to be at his rest Oh blame your selves more that you have not Davids exclamation and now Lord what long I for truly my soul waiteth for thee As the heart panteth after the water brooks so doth my soul after thee O God Psal 42.1 David spake this but of enjoying God in the Ordinances in this life Oh but how greatly must the soul be inflamed for the life to come 3. Powerful thoughts of Eternity will quiet and wonderfully calm the soul under any afflictions and troubles No such antidote as this Paul abundantly witnesseth that we account not the light afflictions of this life comparable to that eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. so this Eternity made him not value or regard any temporary affliction It was this that made the Martyrs joyfully take the spoiling of their goods and the losse of their lives Thus in every affliction and exercise if sanctified to thee how sweetly and joyfully maist thou dwell in heaven while thou art on earth Thou maist be in heaven every day even while thy condition is beset with many troubles It 's thy sinne and unbelief if thou makest thy house a prison Thy self a torment to thy self if thou set faith on work about this Eternity it will put thee into heaven before thou comest to possesse it Eternal Life will give thee a better body a better house a better heart oh this Eternal life it 's the health of our bones the light of our countenance a continual Feast and a perpetual cordial Hence the godly even in this life are said to have Eternal life because of the right they have to it and partly because they have the beginnings and first fruits of it upon their souls Vse of Admonition Take this Subject more into your thoughts how many roving thoughts hast thou but if placed on Eternity it would be great profit How many thoughts hast thou unbeleeving disquieting and troubling if fixed on Eternity they would all vanish especially let the wicked man turn from all sinne saying There is an Eternity If it were only death that would not so much trouble thee but it 's Eternity after Death SERMON XIV The Necessity of Divine Knowledge And Arraignment of Ignorance JOH 17.3 And this is life eternall that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent IN the Verse before we had the great priviledge vouchsafed viz. eternall Life and the Subject to whom viz. Those that are given to Christ In this Verse our Saviour informeth of the manner or way how we may come to it For to speak of eternal life and not direct to the enjoying of it is to see Canaan but to want a pillar of fire to guide to it and although our Saviour had described such as should inherit eternal life yet because it 's a secret written in Gods Book which no man can reade who are given by the Father to Christ and who not Therefore it 's necessary we should be told the way and that is done in the Text. In the words you have then affirmed the way to this happinesse This is eternal life this will make you have eternal life None can ever attain it that take not this course for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may either relate to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or else after the manner of the Hebrews be put absolutely for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This phrase is like John 12.58 Now therein Consider 1. The way or duty enjoyned 2. The object of it The duty is To know Among other distinctions this is very obvious in Scripture to speak of a twofold knowledge 1. That which is meerly speculative and apprehensive If ye know these things happy are you if ye do them Joh. 13.17 2. Which is practicall and operative for it 's a known Rule that among the Hebrews Words of Knowledge are put for all the affections and effects that use to follow such Knowledge Thus God is said to know the way of the righteous Psa 1. That is so to know as to approve and preserve the righteous and in this sence To know the true God is taken so to know as to do all those things that are commanded by him and the reason why the Scripture comprehends all under knowledge is because this is the Introduction and gate to all practicall piety Although to know here is more particularly taken for beleeving for
ignorant man not knowing the one must necessarily have the other hid from his eyes Can there be any hope of that mans cure who knoweth not and feels not his disease Thy Ignorance of Christ argueth thou art also ignorant of thy self for didst thou know thy own poverty and guilt nothing could hold thee till thou mightst get some interest in Christ pain of body will make a man cry out for ease but pain of soul through sinne much more Thus you see the ignorant man is in the plain way to hell Thirdly Grosse Ignorance must needs be damnable because it 's immediatly opposite to the sanctified and appointed means that bring to God and Christ viz. the Ministery The Preaching of the Word is instituted by God to bring us to understanding and faith about these things Therefore they are called the Light and Guides But where there is grosse Ignorance there commonly the Preaching of the Word hath least effect and fruit as the Sunne-beams doe no good to the blinde man For seeing the Word of God is a morall Instrument and though potent by the power of God yet it doth by argument convince and perswade where men are bruitish like beasts what improbability is there of doing good Indeed the Word doth give eyes to the blinde and understanding to the simple where God useth it efficaciously for nothing can resist it then because it takes away the actual obstinacy yet the Ignorance of men is that which of it self would make all Preaching to drop like the water upon the rock where no fruit can grow For what doth the ignorant man understand what can he remember what can he meditate upon when he is gone hence Take a knowing though prophane man in his life yet we have something to work upon we speak to wise men that will judge what we say but to the blinde man day and night is all one Preaching and no Preaching To the deaf man Thunder and a still voice is all one Consider then lest thy ignorance doth not damn thee in that all the means and instituted waies of God become altogether unprofitable unto thee That makes all preaching in vain I shall not further enlarge on this Here is an Objection will presently be made Doth not ignorance quite absolve a man from guilt Is he not to be pitied rather then blamed I â—t doth not excuse a toto yet a tanto He doth not sinne so much as knowing men do which doth greatly encourage and comfort them We may answer this by that known distinction of an Ignorance merae negationis and pravae dispositionis It's true meer negative Ignorance doth excuse The Heathens and Pagans that never heard of Christ though they have other sins they are damned for yet the meer ignorance of Christ who was never revealed to them doth not condemn them Infidelitas negativa non damnat but then there is an affected and wilfull Ignorance this doth not excuse but accuse and aggravate and such is the Ignorance of all those that live under the means of grace and where the Name of Christ is preached It 's thy wilful and wicked disposition in thee that makes thee thus blinde You say as those in Job let the knowledge of the most High depart from you Job 21.14 Seeing you will not see and hearing you will not hear Therefore your condemnation is the greater It 's disputed among Casuâ—sts whether God may not have mercy upon natural fools that cannot know any thing of God or Christ because of a natural incapacity But thou art a voluntary fool and dost wilfully deprive thy self of all knowledge and how then shall God be gracious unto thee In the next place you may say If the estate of an ignorant person be thus dangerous how comes it about that there are so many ignorant persons Why cannot all say with the Apostle We know that we know 2 Cor. 8.1 There are some outward causes or inward causes or causes from the ignorant man himself or in respect of others First Many are therefore so ignorant in matters of Religion because they understand not the damnable estate this ignorance puts them into So that the ignorance of their dangers makes them also ignorant of the remedy As Austin said of Original sinne It was peccatum causa peccati and poena peccati the same is true of Ignorance It 's a sinne in its own nature because contrary to that command of God which doth so often require that we should know him and then it 's a cause of sinne yea of all sinne It 's because men do not know God that therefore they are so bold to transgresse his Laws Lastly It 's the punishment of sinne for all that black darknesse and confusion we are in is because of our revolt from God Ignorance then keeping man off from the true understanding of his misery makes him the more secure and content in it If thou didst know what curses hang over thy head If thou didst know what a gulf is between God and thee In what utter darknesse thou art in here which will be rewarded with utter darknesse hereafter thou wouldst have no rest within thy self 2. Another cause of Ignorance is Slothfulnesse and negligence They strive not they pray not for knowledge whereas this cannot be obtained without praier and diligence Then shall ye know if ye follow on to know the Lord Hos 6.3 and Solomon bids us seek after it more then for gold or the richest treasures Pro. 2.3 8.10 to love it as thy Sister or Mother many people complain they are ignorant God help them for they have little knowledge and where is the fault all this while Is it not thy negligence thy slothfulnesse May we not produce many instances of those who have been very ignorant and stupid yet by praier and hearty endeavour have obtained to a competent measure of knowledge for humane knowledge shall there be so much labour taken sudavit alsit said the Poet and for Christian knowledge wherein is our happinesse and eternel life shall we not be as industrious Why dost thou not rather cry out of thy self every night I goe to bed and yet have got no knowledge I understand such and such things in the world but nothing at all about God and Christ Thus the sluggards Field is full of briars and weeds At the day of judgement when God will call for an account of every day and hour thou wilt bewail thy folly that time was not more redeemed to get knowledge 3. Earthly and worldly affections These do so immoderately possesse the whole man that they regard nothing else Why is it that men ordinary plain men get so much skill and craft in worldly affairs they know the best way for improving every worldy advantage It is because their heart is set upon it They minde and regard this thing They rise with the thoughts of it and so goe to bed If their hearts were thus
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quiet easie death without pangs and torment but this is the easiest the comfortablest the best dying Oh that we should preferre any thing before that Oh that thou shouldst not cry out of every sin This will trouble me when I am dying 4. It 's a blessed thing to go out of the world having done Gods work because we are immediatly to appear before him No sooner is thy soul gone out of the body but it appeareth before God he either for thy sinne adjudgeth it to hell or because thou art a member of Christ appoints thee to eternall glory oh then when there is but such distance between God and thy soul how comfortable is it to have been all thy life time glorifying God Thou hast been glorifying God and God comes now to glorifie thee Thou hast been doing his work and now he is giving thee the good things promised Oh Beloved how should this prevail with you there is but a step between my soul and God how will God look on me who can endure his frowns and displeasures Doth not the Apostle say It 's a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.3 And now I am falling into Gods hands either the hands of a merciful Father or provoked enemy Well then while thou art in these conflicts and agonies what support is it to have this sure evidence O Lord in my life time I lived for thee and to thee now I come to live with thee O Lord In my life time I knew thee I did thy work but I was at a vast distance now I come to the immediate injoying of thee Reas 5 5. It s a blessed thing to have this evidence because it 's of that good which will be eternall Canst thou truly say thus then it 's an immortall Crown of Glory that is laid up for thee no more deaths no more changes no more fears or tears thou art made for ever But of this heretofore Vse of Admonition Let every one attend and give all diligence to get this evidence Oh the terrour and horrour that must take hold on thee if thou hast been dishonouring of God all thy life long if thou hast been doing the work that sinne and Satan tempted thee to why art thou so devoid of all understanding will thy health and strength alwaies hold Art thou exempted from the stroke of death Is not thy time running on sit down then and consider what thoughts will at thy death possesse thee What testimony have I that I have done the work of the Lord Oh doth not thy life accuse thee Is it not all over bloody Canst thou think of what thou hast been with any content Is thy life at present such that thou canst say O Lord I am doing thy work Oh the amazement and astonishment that should take hold on such men SERMON XX. Sheweth who they are that cannot at the close of their daies take comfort in this That they have finished the work God gave them to do As also what things if not avoided will much diminish the comfort of the Godly ones at that day JOH 17.4 I have glorified thee on earth c. THe Doctrine observed was That it is a most blessed and happy thing in the close of our daies to be able to say upon good grounds We have finished the work God gave us to do You have heard particulars illustrating it and the grounds of the point I shall now amplifie this and in the first place shew Who they are that cannot with any comfort or very little be able to say thus For although this truth in the general be very terrible yet in the particular it loseth its edge because every man is a self-flatterer Every one is apt to think I have done Gods work and therefore it will be well with me If therefore it be possible my endeavour shall be that this arrow of Gods truth may enter in at the joynts of thy armour seeing it cannot any where else Consider then who they are that may say they are dogs and not children so that this bread doth not belong to them And first All those who daily and constantly are doing the clean contrary work to what God requireth such whose conversation is a perpetuall reproach and dishonour to God these do not at all glorifie God These have cause to tremble and quake when death approaches and their accounts must be made and is not this the condition of most Look generally upon mens lives are they not doing the devils works are they not dishonouring God all the day long by their ungodly conversation If there be any that are tender and consciencious are they not like gleanings after a Vintage here a man and there a woman otherwise for most men you would think they thought hell and the day of judgement to be but fables and such a truth as this to be a meer bugbear But God will not be mocked neither can mans greatnesse or atheism or prophane scoffings put off these things Oh then be at last perswaded that that life thou livest will be little comfort to thee one day Oh how speechlesse and confounded wilt thou be when God shall enquire into all thy words into all thy actions and there is nothing but sinne appeareth when every thing will be turned into blood as the Egyptian punishment was into the bloud of thy soul When God looked over all his works he had done he saw them exceeding good and so blessed the seventh day but thou wilt look over all thou hast done and finde it exceeding evil and curse both the day of thy birth and the day of thy death Oh that men would be wise that they would consider their later end What wilt thou do when God when thy conscience when the law when devils will accuse thee Where wilt thou hide thy self Remember Jacob Gen. 32.13 when his brother Esau was to meet him who was enraged and provoked against him how carefull he was by Presents and humble deprecations to mitigate his anger Remember the unjust Steward Luke 16.8 who knowing he must be called to account taketh all the subtill waies he can to make himself friends when he shall be cast out of his office our Saviour speaks that parable to this purpose That when God shall say to every one of us Thou shalt be no long or steward in this relation in that condition I will have an account of all that then we manage all things so that we may be able to have some comfortable refuge 2. Those have nothing of this texts comfort who though they do not contrary work yet do different non-required work It 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though they do not male yet they do aliud agere a servant though he do not contrary to his Masters work yet if he do not the same he is commanded he is obnoxious to his Masters wrath And this is
death but these works of God they are living works partly because they proceed from a life of grace and partly because they will live for ever they will go to the grave with thee to heaven with thee they will never forsake thee 2. It 's our duty to work because God hath made them the necessary way to walk in if we will be saved Without holinesse no man shall see God Labour for the meat that perisheth not Hence if we consider every gracious work of patience love meeknesse we shall see blessednesse is promised to them Not that these justifie only the person justified cannot be without them They are the media ordinata ordained mean in the use whereof we are to arrive at eternal happinesse It 's faith only that receiveth Christ and his righteousnesse yet this faith cannot be separated from an holy walking It 's the eye only that seeth yet the eye cannot be separated from the other parts of the body and thus the Apostle doth immediatly oppose Rom. 4. beleeving working grace and works in respect of Justification yet he doth at the same time presse the Children of God to all holinesse and the fruits of righteousnesse 3. Working is necessary by way of gratitude and thankefulnesse to God and Christ If there were nothing else but this this might pour coals of fire upon thee for how many works of Gods grace hast thou been partaker of If Gods grace did not work all the day long for thee thou couldst not be a moment preserved out of hell and as for Christs working reade the History of his Life he was alwaies finishing the work of thy Redemption and Salvation he had nothing to do for himself all was in reference to thee Oh then how unworthy wilt thou shew thy self of all that love and kindenesse which God and Christ have done for thee If thou like the Sluggard let the Field of thy Soul grow full of briars and thorns Oh how can thy heart be so cold and slothful When thou considerest grace is working for thee all the day long if Christ had no more zealously and earnestly wrought my peace for me then I do perform his duties my soul had perished irrecoverably Lastly Therefore it 's necessary we should work Gods work because we have for a long time spent our selves in the Service of Satan and doing the works of the devil Oh this should be a perpetual goad in thy side this should be fire in thy bosome to consider that there was no hour no day no season but thou didst take the opportunity to satisfie thy lusts Thou never couldst have enough of sinne No thirsty man did more greedily swallow down water then thou didst sinne yea how active to draw on others to infect others with the same plague thou hadst I tell you this will lie heavy upon the godly soul If I were to live Methusalems age it would not be time enough to do God service for the dishonour I have put upon him Thy time is short and thou hast much to do because thou hast undone so much In the next place Consider That it 's lawful for the people of God in all the work they do for God to encourage themselves with this that there is an everlasting glory laid up for them Even as Christ had an eye to this glory so it 's lawful for us Thus Moses had an eye to the recompence of the reward Heb. 11. The godly Rom. 2. are said to be such as seek for immortality and glory Rom. 5.2 They rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and Paul accounted all these sufferings but light in respect of that eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Indeed Gods glory is to be sought in the first place and then our glory so that it 's a shame if in all our doings and sufferings for God we are not full of joy because of that unspeakable glory apprehended by faith Faith makes it present as if we already were partakers of it So that whatsoever temptations and discouragements are in the work of the Lord this glory will abundantly make amends for it Are there reproaches and disgrace in the world All the while thou didst sin and the devils work thou hadst the love and good-will of the world but since thou hast betaken thy self to the service of God thou art the scoff and reproach of all O think of the glory God will crown thee with before all the world Again are all the works of God painful difficult and contrary to flesh and bloud thou must strive and wrastle much in praier be alwaies in a combat and conflict Remember this everlasting glory yea God therefore doth many times put his Children upon all exercises and sad temptations which make them ake at the very heart and all is to encrease their glory the more Thus Job thus Paul they had extraordinary trials that they might have extraordinary glory Furthermore is there self-denial required in Gods work Must thou part with thy pleasures with thy profit thy delights still remember this glory will make thee no loser for alas what proportion is there between these petty things thou leavest and those everlasting treasures God hath provided for thee In the sixth place That the glory of Gods people may be full he giveth them time and large opportunities of working for him and keeps thee in this world not for any earthly and outward advancement of thy self but to serve him in thy generation as it 's said David served God in his generation Act. 13.36 and God calleth Moses his servant Whatsoever thy relation thy place thy office be God hath appointed thee to work and therefore he prolongs thy life till thy work be done This is a comfortable consideration which all the godly may take that death shall not seize on them while thay have work to do for God and when that is finished then this summons to everlasting glory As for Infants this Truth reacheth not to them and if any like the Thief on the Crosse are called at the last hour and so are not able to work in the Vineyard yet even such have an habitual prepared heart for it if they had the opportunity But for others whose daies are prolonged they are thus to think with themselves I have this day this week longer to adde to my work God hath for me to doe Take heed of mispent time take heed of losing daies and weeks The night is coming when none can work Vse 1. How much comfort and joy the godly may take at the hour of death Their work is done now they have nothing but the Robes of glory to put on That fulnesse of glory they are immediatly to possesse should swallow up the fears of death and the love of the world With what joy should they cry out Farewell Friends Wife and Children welcome God welcome eternal glory Alas thou hast no glory here Thy body is a vile body thy soul a
these two Fountains that must needs be dried up If repetitions then come for want of judgement they have not a good understanding to digest and order their matter this is not a seemly Sacrifice to offer to God It 's a strange position of some devout Papists that this is the best Praier When a man is so ravished that he knoweth not what he saith So when Repetition comes for want of an affectionate heart this is blameworthy affections make eloquent and copious and heavenly affections do wonderfully enlarge the heart in Praier This is the fire that makes the heart boil over Praier without the heart in it is like the body without the soul 2. When repetitions are out of affectation and ostentation thereby to lengthen and protract their praiers this is also vanity For although there is a necessity as occasion may serve of long praiers especially when we intend solemnly to humble our selves and we have examples of such in Scripture yet out of ostentation to affect length and thereby to come over with the same things in a tedious and empty manner This is not to perform the duty aright 3. When Repetitions are so often iterated thereby thinking for the work-sake to please God To think God esteemeth of the length and so much said rather then the affections and heart therein and this seemed to be the Heathens sinne our Saviour said they thought by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their many words in that so much was said to have a good answer And thus it is in Popery The saying of so many Paternosters The mumbling over so many Ave-Maries this is enough to expiate sinne They regard the number and when the number is done all is well and thus most people amongst us put their confidence in a praier said and never at all consider with what heavenly affections and a spirituall heart they approach unto God Thus you have heard when a repetition in praier is lawful and when unlawful Vse of Instruction That to pray is such a solemn worship of God that it requireth the whole man the intellectual part all our judgement invention and memory is to be imploied therein as also the whole heart the will and affections yea and body also and besides this there is also required the Spirit of God to enlighten the minde and to sanctifie the heart for meer judgement and invention without Gods Spirit enlivening of them is like a Sacrifice without fire Oh then if all these things go together may we not cry out Who is sufficient to pray It 's a great work to be a Minister and it 's a great work to be a private Christian for every one is bound to be much in Praier and yet how many requisites go to this Oh therefore that we could awaken three sorts of men by this 1. The ignorant man that hath his praiers but without any understanding any affection and therefore praieth while he is doing other work or sluggishly in his bed yea he knoweth not whether it be a praier or not only he is told so and therefore they think the Creed and the Commandements a Praier Miserable blinde people what will become of them 2. Superstitious persons who lay their whole ground of acceptation upon such and such praiers or upon such a number but as for the spirituall discharge of the duty that they do not understand 3. All formall and customary people who dare not but pray publikely and sometimes privately yea and in Families also but no stone is colder then their hearts Oh what dead empty things are their duties with what anger doth God look upon them when all is done They rise up and say Now is all well Oh but God is provoked by such formall lukewarm duties You have a better heart and more lively affections and why then put you God off with the worst Doth not the Prophet say He is cursed that hath a Male in his Flock and yet offers the maimed Thou hast more masculine affections to other things though they be not seen in Praier SERMON XXV Of the Promises and of Prayer JOH 17.5 And now O Father Glorifie thou me with the glory I had before the world was WE are treating on the Petition it self and whereas we see our Saviour praying for that which was appointed and promised before the Petition for it we may observe That even those things God hath promised and decreed to give to his people must yet be accomplished to them praying for it Gods purposes and promises require our Supplications This is the order God hath appointed Ask and ye shall have seek and ye shall finde knock and it shall be opened to you Mat. 7. Thus when God had promised he would do such and such things for his Church by his Prophet he addeth Neverthelesse he would be sought unto by the House of Israel for those things Ezek. 33.33 There is much considerable matter in this Doctrine and therefore it needs the more diligent explication As 1. There have been two contrary errours about Praier Some have looked upon it as necessary and strictly commanded that they thought we might do nothing but pray That we were to cast off all other employments and betake our selves to that duty only They were called the Euchetae they were deluded from the mistaking of these places Pray alwaies and Pray without ceasing Others have runne into a contrary extremity making praier altogether uselesse and unnecessary and that because all things came about in an inevitable and fatal manner as they say and therefore praier doth no good at all but the severall commands of this duty do shew the impiety of that opinion The Socinians though they grant men did pray in the Old Testament yet they say there was no command for it till the Gospel-dispensation They say Christ required it as a new duty it not being a duty before but this also is false For doth not the Old Testament say Call upon me in the day of trouble I will hear thee and thou shalt glorifie me Psa 50.15 So that to pray is not an indifferent or arbitrary thing Neither may it be judged uselesse but of great power and prevalency 2. It cannot be denied but that if a man should pray with these thoughts that he should change Gods minde and make him alter his will such a man hath false and sinful thoughts of God and yet how many are plunged into such falshoods They conceive they have to do with God as with a man who is mutable and therefore by entreaties and importunities we make him change his resolutions and do those things he never purposed to do as we see in the importunate Widow with the unjust Judge If therefore thou in thy Praiers to God should go with these thoughts as if by thy praiers thou couldst provoke God to will that at the present which he did not will before from all Eternity or that when he had purposed one thing by thy praiers he should
he plainly feeleth God working in him The wicked man knoweth God by the creatures and his works abroad but the godly knoweth him by the new creature and works of grace upon his heart and this is the most excellent knowledge when he knoweth God by the regeneration and sanctification of his nature by his heavenly and gracious quicknings to holy duties and against sinne If in regard of out naturall life we live and move and have our being in God how much more in our supernatural life Those know God indeed that feel those divine workings upon their souls As Job before when God had humbled him said I have heard of thee by the ear but now my eye seeth thee Job 42.5 So saith the godly I have heard many Sermons of God but I never felt him till now or as the Queen of Sheba who had heard much of the fame of Solomon but when she came to be an eye-witnesse of it then she was astonished and judged all her former apprehensions nothing Thus it is with the truly sanctified though you tell him what good parts what Scripture understanding what abilities in duties he had Oh saith he all that time I did not know God I never knew him till these inward workings were upon me I spoke of him as a man will do of some strange Countrey he had often heard of but never saw Argum. 5 5. The true godly man only knoweth God because he only hath communion and fellowship with him he only is admitted into Gods presence All wicked men though never so knowing are at a great distance from God They know not the light of his countenance what it is to have the assurance of his favour what to have those experimental sweetnesses of heart which flow from the enjoying of him Therefore it s added in that of Joh. 18. I will manifest my self to him and come and sup with him that is God will give us a joyfull chearfull familiar fellowship with himself he will make known himself as Joseph did at last to his brethren God draweth nigh to them and they to God and this indeed is a choice way of knowing of God when we know what it is to have his love shed in our hearts when we hear God speaking peace to us when it 's not duties nor any religious performance but God himself that the heart partakes of Thus the Psalmist inviteth to taste and see how good God is Psa 34.8 Oh hast thou ever had this tasting and seeing then thou knowest God comfortably Now the ground of all this is because obedience love and fear are the end of all knowledge therefore that knowledge which doth not obtain its end is no knowledge and hence the Scripture saith If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 and generally the Scripture describeth wicked men by this that they know not God as Paul said of the Jews If they had known Christ to be the God of glory they would never have crucified him 1 Cor. 2.5 Thus did men know God as they ought they could not think and speak or live as they do Vse Rest not in any kinde of knowledge about God till it hath these effects on thee Never judge thy self to know any thing of Religion till it hath thus transformed thee till it be the acknowledgement of truth after godlinesse but alas where are the persons where is the Family where are the people that know God The ungodliness they live in proclaim they know no such divine Majesty Oh consider that God knoweth not thee likewise with a knowledge of approbation of omniscience he doth and that will be thy confusion but not of complacency at the day of judgement he will say Depart I know you not Oh that we were such of whom it may be said Their obedience their pure and holy life their delight and acquaintance with God manifests they know God and then you will not die with such terrour with such fear I go to him I have known I go not to an unknown God SERMON XXX The Great End of the Ministery And what should be the end of both Ministers and people in their Preaching and hearing JOH 17.6 I have manifested thy Name to as many as thou hast given me out of the world WE have considered the action or efficacy of the person or efficient spoken of in the Text We now come to consider the person himself and that is Christ who saith of himself I have manifested thy Name Christ speaks in this as he is the great Prophet and chief Shepherd of our souls for being intrusted with this office he did faithfully discharge it whoever reads over Christs life and seeth how laborious and diligent he was to bring men to the knowledge of God and to save their souls must needs say The Lion of the Tribe of Judah went up and down more earnestly to save then the roaring Lion of hell is busie to destroy Hence Joh. 4. while he is emploied to bring home but one poor Sheep that was gone astray the Woman of Samaria he is so earnest in it that he forgets to eat his bread and tels them his meat and drink was to do his Fathers will which was to declare the truth of God and invite sinners to come in unto him so then we see here an excellent President for all the Ministers of the Gospel to follow As Christ was wholly in this to make people know God so ought they to be In Christs works of his Mediatorship and of his Miracles we may not imitate him we cannot but in this of his labour and tender love to mens souls we are bound to follow him Obs That the end of the Ministry and Ministers should be to bring people to the knowledge of God to the saving knowledge of Christ Thus Paul exceeded the Heathen Hercules in his manifold labours to this purpose especially see what a divine profession he makes to them of Ephisus Act. 20.26 27. I take you to record this day that I am pure from the bloud of all men Here we see there is a soul-murder as well as a body and the Ministers of the Gospel are to keep themselves pure from that for if the bloud of Abels body crieth aloud what outcries will the bloud of peoples souls make Now Paul kept himself thus pure by declaring unto them all the Counsell of God so that if we would doe our duty we must be Lights shining upon the understandings of men that they may know beleeve in and obey God And so Paul again at large 1 The. 2. There his very heart flameth out into affectionate words for their salvation The end then of our Preaching and of your hearing should be to have God manifested to your souls how apt are both Ministers and people to fail of this great and necessary end To open the doctrine you may take notice that as the Logicians speak of a twofold end Finis operis and
no good Thou wilt die and perish though the Prophets have been amongst you R. 2 2. The end of the Ministery is to bring men to the knowledge of God in a saving way because of the nature and property of it which is wholly supernatural The Word is commanded to be preached not for any natural or civill ends but spirituall and supernaturall When they followed Christ because of the Loaves it was a low and unworthy motive It should have been because of their souls and because of the bread of life to feed their souls If thou regardest a Ministry or comest to hear for any other end but divine and supernatural If it be for custome or to keep up thy good repute amongst men this is to be carnall this is to be a worm and no Christian for God hath given these Officers to the Church and commanded a diligent dispensation therein for sublime and holy ends to enlighten thy minde to soften thy heart to spiritualize thy affections to reform thy life even to polish and preserve thee that thou maist be a stone of glory in the heavenly Jerusalem Say then thou dost nothing if this supernatural improvement be not made of it Thus also it is for the Preacher if he preach to shew his Learning to make himself admired to satisfie any corrupt end This is also low and unworthy Malo ut me reprehendant grammatici quam non intelligant populi yet oh how prone are corrupt and insincere motives to creep in few being able to say with Paul That they handle the Word of God sincerely as of God and in the presence of God Let then the nature of the work raise up our hearts it 's sublime and supernatural in its use It 's holy merchandizing or trading for mens souls and therefore so often called by that glorious Title R. 3 3. The Ministers of the Gospel are to urge this because of the dignity and excellency of the work To bring men to the saving knowledge of God is a noble emploiment a work for Angels to do The great Rulers and powers in the world they do but order the body and the outward man but this work is to enlighten the soul and to make it fit for the enjoyment of God This made Paul so often rejoyce in and blesse God that he had chosen him a vessel to make known the Name of God We are a sweet savour unto God saith the Apostle We are the precious Apothecaries that open the sweet box of the Gospel Hence it is that the Apostle exhorts people to honour and to have the Ministers of the Gospel in high esteem and why for their works sake 1 The. 5.13 Their teaching and guiding of you in the way to heaven is that great work for which you are to esteem them if to direct a Traveller that is farre out of the way into a ready path be so acceptable a work what is it then to inform people who are going securely and joyfully in the broad way to hell of the danger herein and to direct to the way of life If then it be so excellent minde this in the first place Oh say what a wretch am I who know the way to my own house but not to my long home I know how to buy and sell but I know not how to enjoy God R. 4 4. We are to insist on this end because of the difficulty and great opposition that is in the work For 1. The devil by his Instruments endeavours to keep men in darknesse All those black cloudy times which have been upon the Church brought in Idolatrous Superstition and prophanesse insomuch that the devil reigned almost within the Church as much as without his Kingdom was not more promoted by those without then those within No wonder then if such opposition hath alwaies been against times of light and times of Reformation because the bright shining of the Gospel doth immediatly destroy Satans dominion as when our Saviour sent his Apostles to preach he said he saw Satan fall from heaven like lighening Luk. 10.18 and who can bewail that Ignorance which did overflow in the time of Popery The Sun of the Gospel being then in a constant eclipse and howsoever learning of it self is either used well or ill as the Subject is who hath it yet in the general Learning is a special means to preserve and conveigh the true knowledge of God for the Apostle saith The unstable and unlearned wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3.18 So that in some sence we may take up that allegory of Philo Sarah cannot have children without the help of Hagar i. e. The doctrine and knowledge of God is not propagated without the help of humane Learning especially the tongues and arts Therefore it 's required of the Minister of God that he should rebuke with all doctrine and to be able to convince the gainsayers and to divide the Word of God aright which can never be done without learning so that you see the difficulty of it in respect of the opposition 2. The difficulty doth arise in that the true doctrine and knowledge of God is hardly obtained for there must be constant study in the Word of God daily praier unto God to be led into the Truth There must be a godly use of all the means God hath appointed to get this knowledge Hence the Scripture doth foretell of such as shall arise even from the Church and shall speak perverse things men of corrupt mindes yea many shall bring in damnable heresies that they shall have much craft much seeming piety that if it were possible they would deceive the very Elect Mat. 26. So that you see how difficult it is even for the Ministers of the Gospel to finde out the Truth how many think they teach you the way to heaven and leade you to hell Doth not the Papist Doth not the Socinian Doth not every heretick say None teacheth with the true knowledge of God as they do yea and they may be strongly perswaded of this for the Apostle speaks of many that are delivered up to believe a lye 2 Thes 2.11 So that it 's of infinite concernment for people to have such guides that do not give them poyson in stead of food Would the Scripture have said Mar. 4.26 Take heed how you hear and what you hear if there had not been such danger in hearing 3. It 's difficult because of the hearers Every man naturally is so corrupt that he loveth error and will sooner close with any false doctrine then the true You see the Apostle complaining what applause the false Teachers had Oh saith he You suffer if a man smites you 2 Cor. 11.20 If a man wrong you that is if false Teachers were never so tyrannical though they did abuse them and kept them under yet they could like them well enough but they could not abide the Apostles carriage though his severity was mingled with much meeknesse and
Psa 119.20 They cry out As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so do our souls after thee O God Psa 41.1 Thus when God calleth a man out of the world he giveth him another Spirit even an heavenly heart he was a beast before now he is like an Angel He did formerly no more understand or discern spiritual things then the deaf ear doth melodious sounds They were a wearisomnesse a burden to him but now they are his delight Secondly They are not of this world because they walk not after the rudiments or elements of the world Col. 2.8 20. The Apostle there sheweth how inconsistent such a life is with an heavenly life When we are risen with Christ Now what are those Elements of the world Even all such principles of Religion as men by humane and carnall wisedom take up to worship God by He cals them Elements or principles because the Jews made their traditionall worship the very foundation and beginning of all as if godlinesse were not able to consist it and Elements of the world because men by humane wisedom without the Scripture do presse them and do not walk by the light of Gods Word This then is an excellent discovery that we are not of the world when in the matters of Religion especially in our worship of God and the way of our justification we are not carried by the principles of a worldly Religion but by divine direction when we do not worship God according to custome to universality and such rudiments of the world as most do The Pagan the Papist discovers a very worldly Spirit in his Religion being able to say no more for it then Heathens have done and so in the matters of justification They say but very little more then Aristotle and the Philosophers of the world have done about righteousnesse whereas the righteousnesse and grace of the Gospel is wholly different from such principles manifest then by thy adoration of the fulnesse of the Scripture and sufficiency thereof that thy religion thy worship thy hopes of salvation are not meerly upon worldly principles and not supernaturall Thirdly The godly man is discovered not to be of the world by his constant life and conversation He doth not live as one that takes this world for his home They declare by their words and actions they seek for another Countrey Heb. 11. As the Israelites were to manifest the Wildernesse was not a place for them to abide in but Canaan Hence Rom. 12.1 They are not conformed to the fashion of this world They are as Pilgrims and Strangers They are in the world as bright Stars in a dark night so that this doth necessarily imply a singularity and exactnesse in the godly mans life comparatively to the world Men of the world are proud earthly bruitish running into all pleasures and following all excesse of riot but they dare not do so so that there cannot be a surer symptome that thou art still of the world then by speaking doing and living as most in the world do 2 Pet. 3.6 Even those that have but a common bare profession of the Christian faith are said to escape the pollutions of the world Though Godlinesse should not have a deep impression on you though it should not go to the root and bottome yet if it hath made any impression at all if it hath gone but to the skin if you have heard of it but by the ear onely it should make thee avoid such pollutions Jam. 1.17 What saith the Apostle James Pure Religion is to keep a man unspotted from the world Pure Religion There is a generation of devils rather then men that mock and deride at purity Thus the Apostle saith there must be a pure Religion and this pure Religion is to keep us unspotted from the world That doth imply the world to be some lothsome noisome dunghill that a man cannot be in it but he is ready to get soil and filth upon him how many trust to sin come and do as we do will you be so pure but whether will you beleeve the Word of God or the devil tempting by such beastly Instruments Fourthly He is discovered not to be off the world because he is principally taken up with heavenly priviledges Jam. 4.4 The friendship of this world is enmity against God and 1 Joh. 2.15 If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him It 's as impossible a man that is godly should be of the world in this sence as it is for Doves to be Moles they cannot live by digging into the earth Hence the godly man is said to be born of God he is said to be heavenly to be from above to he risen with Christ to sit in heavenly places to have his Conversation in heaven These are the noble descriptions of the godly man so that though they use the world and discharge their Relations therein yet they are not overcome by the world They have the world the world hath not them Oh how close may this discovery be for there are many who escape the pollutions of the world and yet are worldly The third kinde of hearers did not only cast off all prophanesse but made some great progresse in obedience to the Word but the love of the world and the cares about it choaked all Did not Judas appear as eminently for Christ as any at first but the love of the world discovered his rottennesse Did not Demas get approbation and that by Paul himself yet at last he did cleave to this present world so that not only prophanesse but immoderate earthly and worldly affections These are inconsistent with the power of grace The world is not only the prophaness thereof but the immoderate and excessive affections to the lawful things of the world Our Saviour doth not say He that loveth his sins or his lusts more then me but he that loveth his Father wife or life it self more then me is not worthy of me Mat. 10.37 See then the difficulty of grace and tremble under it Thou hast with much ado quit thy former sins but do not the inordinate affections about lawful things still ensnare thee Dost thou buy as if thou boughtst not Dost thou marry as if thou marriedst not 1 Cor. 7. Art thou rich as if thou wert not That is thou usest these things as comforts against thy necessities not as Masters over thy affections Fifthly In this it 's apparent they are not of the world because the world hateth them and is wholly opposite to them Joh 17.14 Because they are not of the world therefore that hateth them If they were of the world the world would love his own and 1 Joh. 4.5 They that are of the world speak of the world and the world heareth them There cannot be a better discovery then this The world knoweth his own Let a man be a wise worldly man that matters not religion that regards not the power of godlinesse nor strictnesse
obedience Nothing is too much too great too dear to part with for so gracious a God This breedeth love and we know love is an active fire it cannot lie still but kindleth all that it cometh near Thirdly They are active and willing because of that sanctified renewed nature which they are partakers of They are said to have the divine Nature 1 Pet. 1.4 The Seed of God is said to abide in them 1 Joh. 1.3 And by this means they are carried out voluntarily to divine actions Thus in nature saith Aristotle which is the inward principle of motion or rest How readily do sparks fly upward The stones descend downward And thus it is here Those inward principles of Sanctification they do so new mold a man that now the will of God is his delight the Law of God is written in the inward man Nothing is so connatural and sutable to him as those things that are also pleasing to God Indeed for the unregenerated man it 's no wonder he must be haled and constrained to what he doth That he like the Mill cannot move any longer then the waters of affliction fall upon him for there wants a principle within but it is otherwise with those that are born again Their proper food their proper delight their all in all is to be doing the will of God as Christ professed Joh. 4. and David doth often acknowledge those indeared affections he had to the Word of God above Kingdomes and all other earthly advantages Fourthly They are a willing people because in their former time of unregeneracy they were so willing and ready to serve sin and Satan and were constantly obedient thereunto Now saith the Apostle As they had given themselves servants to sinne so now to righteousnesse Rom. 6.19 They readily set themselves as the word signifieth whensoever lust bad them go they did go Whatsoever was commanded there was ready obedience This by way of an holy revenge and to make a godly satisfaction They are the more serviceable to God They grudge the devil had so much time that so much of their choicest and best affections were lessened in time They therefore strive to redeem the time to recover all for God They shame themselves saying What was I willing and glad to doe the works of the devil and shall I not doe the Will of God Fifthly They are willing because they know no Obedience is accepted of with God unlesse it be willing It 's not thy faith thy humiliation thy zeal unlesse there be willingnesse and delight in it that God accepts of Isa 1.29 If ye be willing and obedient so God accepts of a willing minde Wo be to me saith Paul if I preach the Gospel and not willingly but of constraint 1 Cor. 9.6 Though he did preach it yet if not willingly there is a Woe to him Oh then it 's no wonder if the people of God are so glad and chearfull within them in the work of the Lord otherwise their work would lose their reward and they the Crown of Glory Think of this then when you finde the wheels of your Chariots move heavily Thou art happily thinking how to put off truth or duty or thou wishest it over say this unwillingnesse marreth all God will not aceept of a Sacrifice unlesse offered in fire Say upon all thy dead and formal duties these are not duties God looks not upon them as so Non operari non esse are all one before God in some respects Sixthly They must needs be a willing obedient people because of that eternall glorious reward which is promised to every holy duty What will put Wings to the soul if not this To think that God will assuredly put upon thee Robes of Immortality and glory for a duty though never so little for a cup of cold water who may not admire the vast disproportion that is between our work and Gods reward If the Apostle spake of the most extreme sufferings that could be in this life they were not worthy to be compared to that eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4 17. How much more is it true of those good works we do which are but little in quantity and defiled in quality Well therefore may they rejoyce and work righteousnesse Well may the godly labour even in the heat of the day with much gladnesse of heart for the recompence of thy reward doth exceed all proportion If the Kingdomes of the world should be given to a man for lifting up a straw it would not be so great a matter as when God and Heaven became thy reward for every holy duty No wonder if they are best when they are thus doing for how can they be better There is no such profitable and comfortable wotk as to be doing that of the Lords Lastly Even in the very duty it self though there were no heaven hereafter yet there is so much present comfort and joy attending it that it 's both work and meat and drink also Therefore we see how David was joyfully affected herein Who are we that we should be able to offer thus willingly He that doth Gods service willingly and fervently he hath present pay in hand The very sence and feeling that he doth it so readily doth afford great comfort to him Virtus est sibi ipsi praemium A godly duty is accompanied with honey and manna he would not do otherwise for all the world Oh then that wicked men who though they have some pleasure in sinne yet finde many wounds and torments within them would make an exchange in stead of drunkennesse put on temperance in stead of riot and wantonnesse live in all chastity Thou wouldest finde an heaven for a hell immediately Oh how wouldest thou bewail thy time that thou didst not leave these husks no sooner Oh what an enemy was I to my own soul when I lived in such lusts and neglected such holinesse Taste and see the difference while you have this sinful distempered palate upon you it 's no wonder if you love the Egyptian garlick above the heavenly Manna Vse of Instruction How lothsome and unacceptable all that Obedience is to God which comes from any other principle then a renewed spirit It 's the free and principal spirit David praied for Psa 51. he saw all obedience if constrained if forced by the judgements of God was condemned as hypocrisie Thus the Prophets complained of the Jews that in the time of their distresse and calamity they would pray to God They would fast and humble themselves but saith God Oh that there were such a heart within them Deut. 5.29 And hence it is that Repentance and contrition extorted by the fear of death and the judgements of God are not acceptable Whatsoever is done is by force and this mâ—y be even death to many that hear it for when art thou for any good duty When is thy heart or mouth for it but when some great judgements of God are abroads or
also in Divinity our own Righteousnesse our own good thoughts they cleave so close to us and so we are not able to put forth any spirituall sence But as even the Ethiopians think the flattest nose and the blackest colour to be the best beauty and the Persians the contrary and all because that they are so It 's a National property So it is here because our heart is ours our works ours our duties ours therefore we think them good and so put secret hopes therein and though in this high bloudy sinne yet our Consciences do not cannot smite us therefore fear Security more then all despair and trouble of Conscience for this is felt and discovered and thereby the better prevented but the other is a secret Impostume never manifesting it self but when immediatly killing 2. As it is a secret sinne hardly perceived so it 's a deep radicated one It 's our very nature and essence almost You see by these many disputes that Paul had against those who would joyn the works of the Law with the Lord Christ that it is not only imbred in us to put confidence in them but even to pleade for it and to justifie this doctrine and this was not only amongst the unbelieving Jews but even such as did acknowledge Christ also The danger therefore is that when we can cast away other sinnes yet this will cleave the faster to us The more we abstain from iniquities the more trust we are apt to put in our selves This our Saviour urged when he said unlesse a man become like a little childe he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven Mat. 18.4 And when he spake a Parable to this purpose that when we had done all we should say we were unprofitable Servants Oh then take heed of this sweet poison within thee Do not say within thy heart Such and such sinnes I have left I am none of the prophane ones of the world I have a constant care about all holy duties for if thy heart be hereby confident in these things it is Idolatry Though it be more subtle yet he that fals down before a stock or stone and worshipeth Idols is no greater an Idolater then thou art for thou makest thy self a Saviour and saist of thy duties as they did of the golden Calf These are the Gods that brought thee out of Egypt 3 This trusting in our own Righteousnesse and not in Christ solely is a Spirituall sin It 's a sicknesse not of the body but of the soul and so the greater sinne All sinnes that are immediatly subjected in the soul have the greater guilt and defilement ceteris paribus more then any bodily sinnes As the Schoolmens Rule is The sinnes of the Spirit are maioris reatus but bodily sinnes maioris infamiae We see it in the Devils Their sinnes are wholly sinnes of the Spirit and are therefore called vnclean spirits yet they are more sinfull then men Therefore they are called spirituall wickednesses in high places Eph. 6. Though then these sinnes of spirituall pride and secret confidence in our selves do not make a noise in the world and bring reproach as bodily sinnes doe yet in other respects they may be of a crimson colour 〈◊〉 â—loudy aggravation They are a corruption of the best and choicest part â—hin thee and therefore look not only to outward but inward heart-sins Lastly The grievousnesse of this sinne doth appear in the immediate contrariety and opposition it hath to Christ and the Gospel of grace There is no sinne doth so formally and immediatly reject Christ as a Mediatour as this self-fulnesse and self-righteousnesse as we may see by our Saviour and the Pharisees That which kept them from Christ was their self-justification They thought they had a Righteousnesse of their own which made our Saviour call them Blessed that did hunger and thirst after Righteousnesse That were heavy laden and burthened And indeed Reason will tell us that a false Righteousnesse set up against the true is more dangerous then open and plain sinnes and Christ must needs be more jealous of such a person Seeing therefore that God requireth a Righteousnesse there must be a Righteousnesse procured and this of Christs can onely be satisfactory it is an high sinne to set up thy Absalom King instead of this David Thou dost in effect say All that Christ did it was needlesse it was in vain for thou hast a Righteousnesse of thy own works thou wilt trust to and never think to wash thy self from this sinne because by thy words thou speakest the clean contrary There is none that professeth Christ will grosly and palpably own his works for Justification but there is an inward secret tickling of heart and confidence because of them so that God onely can charge this sinne upon men for he knoweth and trieth the hearts and reins of men But thus you will say If this Self-righteousnesse and trusting in what we doe be in some sence worse then all the grosse sinnes that are committed how should we become convinced of it and so forsake it Oh that we could tell how to get this Ivy from cleaving thus to us lest it consume all that is within us Now the ready and onely way for a man to be driven out of this self-righteousnesse is First Seriously convince and inform thy Judgement of that Originall pollution which cleaveth to thee as soon as ever thou hast a Being Remember those place In iniquity did my Mother conceive me Psal 51. The Imaginations of the thoughts of the heart are onely evil and that continuly Gen. 6. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean We are by nature the Children of wrath Ephes 2.3 Oh the true apprehension of this loathsome contagion will quickly make us cry out of our selves and any thing that is ours Secondly Remember the purity and perfection of the Law what it is that requireth even the perfect actings of all grace so that if there be wanting but one duty yea one degree of grace The Law rejects all and curseth all There is no way but Hell and eternal damnation Nâ—â— the knowledge of this must needs make a man cry out of himself because he fails in all things Thirdly Consider the examples of those that have been most holy and godly how still they would go out of themselves They would not have their own life to be the Rule to be justified by David that is so highly commended and who breaths out such divine affections to God 〈◊〉 saith If thou enter into Judgement with thy Servant who can be Justified Psal 133. Oh it 's not for us to stand upon our works and duties when God cals to account and Job Though he pleadeâ— his Integrity yet he humbled himself under his imperfections comparatively to God Paul likewise would not be found in his own Righteousnesse It would be shame to 〈◊〉 â—â—d guilt to him to be found so Fourthly The reliques and remainders of corruption still cleave to us
hast an Interest in Christs Death thou art not only dead to sinne but to the world God forbid that I should glory saith Paul but in the Crosse of Christ whereby the world is crucified to me and I to the world Gal. 6.14 Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth for ye are dead Col. 3.2 3. Therefore not onely grosse prophanesse doth exclude from a propriety in Christs Death but an immoderate frame of heart to these lawful things below Indeed if thy overflowing affections to these things be a burthen to thee and matter of daily conflict then it 's plain these immoderate affections are not in a quiet pacifical dominion over thee and so they are the evil thou wouldst not do And then these can never hurt non sensus but consensus nocet But if they do withall delight so possesse thy heart that they quite dead thee to God and heaven Thou sindest no rellish in heavenly things comparatively to the earthly Thou canst say contrary to David when thy Wine and Oyle encreaseth thou hast more joy then those that trust in God Psal 4. Then art thou to fear Christs Death and his Praier doth not as yet belong to thee Hence it is that the efficacy of Christs death is much discovered in the godly by this twofold Death it works on them a death to sinne and a death to the world Even his Resurrection manifests it self in quickning of us to all holinesse and seeking of those things that are above Let us then see by the effects that Christs Death belongs to thee 3. They that have an Interest in Christs Death they make that an example of all patience and humble Resignation 1 Pet. 2.21 24. Christs Death is not onely efficacious and meritorious but exemplary also So that if the Lord afflict us it is no more then what hath been done to his only Sonne already Though he were a Sonne yet he learned Obedience saith the Scripture by those sufferings Heb. 5 6. Now then behold Christ in all his sufferings when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered threatned not What threatnings might not Christ have denounced against the Jews because they killed him who was the Prince of glory and so dear to his Father but he is like a Lamb that opens not his mouth before the shearer or the killer Oh then how should this shame us for our unruly passions for our impatient workings and commotions of soul Oh silence thy Soul saying Did Christ bear his afflictions no otherwise Did Christ refuse the bitter cup that was given him to drink Did he not say Not my will but thy will be done 4. He that hath advantage by Christs Death looks upon the bitternesse and uglinesse of sinne as being so foul that nothing but the bloud of Christ could wash it away The very thoughts of Christs Death presently makes him say Oh the cursed and foul nature of all sinne Neither men nor Angels could take away the spot of it but only Christs Death Wicked men therefore they are said to trample under feet the bloud of Christ Heb. 10. Because they have not those right precious thoughts about it as they ought to have Though the bloud of Christ speaks better things then that of Abel yet it doth in some respects speak more terrible things because by that we see how infinitely God is displeased with sinne how unsatisfied his justice was till such an atonement was made So that if we look into hell if we behold all the torments and miseries there it doth not so fully represent the foul guilt of sinne as Christ crucified on the Crosse sweating drops of bloud and crying out My God My God why hast thou forsaken me 5. They that shall have advantage by Christs Death they are infinitely affected with that love of God and Christ therein As you see in Paul That love of Christ giving himself for us sinners and enemies to be reconciled thereby to God Oh how mightily did it constrain Paul 2 Cor. 5.14 The love of Christ constraineth us holds us in an extasie working on us as the Spirit did on the Prophets in their illuminations and prophesies And why so Because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead To consider from what a dying damning estate Christs Death doth free us must needs be like fire burning and inflaming a man all over If we had not been desperately dead dead every way dead in sin dead in guilt dead in respect of all earthly hope Christ would not have died for us Oh then the unspeakable affections and enlargements which the Death of Christ works in those that have a propriety therein 6. They that have a propriety in Christs Death will resign all they have up unto Christ and now live no longer to themselves or to worldly motives but unto Christ Rom. 6.10 11. 1 Pet 2.24 so 1 Cor. 6.20 the Apostle urgeth because we are bought with a price therefore we are none of our own and we should glorifie God in soul and body He then that can claim a Title to Christs Death looks not upon his body his estate his health his parts the faculties and affections of his soul as his own his love is not his anger is not Oh how rare then are they who may urge this Argument Christ died Christ was crucified for me for unlesse thou art a redeemed man and that from thy self and all creatures in the world to live wholly to Christ and to resigne all up to him here is little hope for thee Observe then these qualifications and if upon true search they can be found in thee then proceed to make an application of all those glorious priviledges that come by Christs death Fear not let not the devil or thy own guilty heart keep thee off from tasting yea eating abundantly of this honey Hearken what Christ speaks to his Church concerning priviledges and gracious favours Cant. 5.1 Eat O Friends drink â—ea drink abundantly And 1. Those that can pleade Christs Death may also pleade his Resurrection Intercession and whatsoever glorious actions of his are done for his people If Christ died for thee he rose again for thee he interceded in heaven for thee When thou saiest he is an Advocate to pleade thy cause Rom 8. It 's Christ that died who is risen again so that the Death of Christ is the foundation of all his other gracious acts Hence it is that the remission of our sins is attributed to the shedding of his bloud The atonement of our iniquities is given unto his death because in it he did manifest the greatest obedience unto the will of God and the lowest humiliation of himself for us Phil. 2. If then thou hast a propriety in the death of Christ Christ hath done the utmost for thee even to die for thee You see that put him upon the greatest struglings and agonies if he would have refused in any thing it would
safety because of the adversary without and the Traitor within If thou hadst Argus his eyes they would be too little to look about thee in this matter for an Angel who is free from any inward filth to be sent into this world and to be here doing the will of God it 's no danger there is no fear that an Angel should sinne because though the world should tempt in all the allurements of it yet there is nothing within to receive those sparks but now man carrieth about with him prepared matter of sinne he hath a body and law of sinne within him and therefore the world doth no sooner knock at the door but this root of sinne betraieth all sets open all insomuch that the godly man is hardly saved because there are so many Spies laid in wait to damn thy soul as there were to kill Now the Apostle John 1 Joh. 2.16 when he had exhorted not to love the world or things in the world He doth divide all the things of the world into three heads and who is there that liveth in the world that is not in danger of being insnared and overtaken by one of these 1. There is the lust of the flesh that is all those things that draw out the pleasure and delights of a man immoderately Thus the young man he findes the Word a very whirlpool Beware of too much pleasure as eating of too much honey it will quickly turn to a Surfer 2. There is the lust of the eyes Expositors say this is Covetousnesse for so aceording to the Scripture an earthly heart is described because whatsoever profitable thing it seeth it 's ready to desire it Another mans land another mans house another mans goods so that the eye like hell is never satisfied and thus the world is a dangerous Whirlpool to the old man who as in his body he is every day growing nearer to the earth so his soul also groweth more earthly desiring it most of all when he shall have the least need of it 3. There is the pride of life and that is all those things that draw out ambition pride and desire of great things in this world To have power greatnesse and preheminency above others this is the middle age sinne so that the Apostle doth lay down three main capitall Springs of all the evil in the world and makes them like three predicaments to which all other things may be reduced Now do but consider what a Sympathy and fitnesse there is between these Objects and mans corrupt heart and it must needs be that every man will inevitably sink in these Waters unlesse Grace doe keep him up Fifthly A godly mans danger in this world to sinne is because of the clogging and dulling disposition all things in the world work in respect of heavenly things The earth is the most heavy Element and therefore a stone the product thereof fals down speediy Thus men of the world they are the most sencelesse heavy and stupid men about heavenly things that are They incline with all might to these things below This is the reason why the Scripture so often saith a man cannot serve God and the world Friendship of the one is Enmity to the other As a stone cannot ascend upwards Jam. 44. So that though a godly man be never so powerful in grace yet the world doth cool him dull him and indispose him It causeth dust in his eyes and lead in his heart To pray to hear with worldly thoughts is to swim with a Millstone about a mans neck Hence Mat. 13. the cares of this world are said to choak the Corn that came up so hopefully As the Lark doth not sing sweetly till she is got aloof from the earth towards the heavens so neither can the soul full of earthly and worldly thoughts May not then the godly cry out O Lord I would fain meditate with delight on thee but this world will not let me I would gladly serve thee without dulnesse and distraction but this world will not let me Oh that while we are in our callings in our worldly businesses we would think of what danger we were in Korah and Dathan were swallowed up in the Earth bodily take heed thy soul be not spiritually that is a more grievous judgement Sixthly A godly mans danger iâ— in respect of the discouragements and disheartenings the world puts upon godlinesse that is man must be endowed with great might from above that can despise all the reproaches and shame the Word of God meets with Therefore a great encouragement is put upon the Confession of Christ before a crooked and wicked generation Mat. 10.35 To be godly in the world To own the strict and powerful waies of God in the world is to laugh amongst Lyons to dance among Serpents to contemn all dangers The Scripture tels us often that the world cannot but hate the Disciples of Christ for they are as Light and Darknesse together Now then where there is continuall opposition for thee to be stedfast is a great matter Oh how many have suffered shipwrack because of the shame and reproach of the world In mundo nihil nostrâ refert nisi ut quam primum de oe exeamus Now these discouragers in Heavens way are not only the profane and wicked sort of men but many times their dearest Friends their Parents their Husbands their Wives What will you be wiser then others Will not you doe as most doe Will you be a by-word where you live Thus there is no time when Christ is to be born as it were but there is some Herod or other to kill him Insomuch that many Children had been saved but that their worldly Parents hâ—ndred them Many Wives but their worldly Husbands like Pharaoh to the Israelites would not let them go out of Egypt to serve God This made our Saviour say He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthy of me Matt. 10.37 This made him say That he came to set Father against Sonne and Mother against Daughter and to make those of his own Houshold a mans Enemies vers 36. Because where Christ is obeyed there will be greater opposition to the contrary Oh then Consider the Word of God convinceth the Ministry urgeth Conscience presseth but I have this or that worldly Friend and he dasheth all But if thy worldly Friends cannot hinder thee in the main for Godlinesse yet they hinder thee in the degree and fervency of it Thou art not so forward so active as thou shouldst be This is to endanger thy Salvation for the lukewarm God will spue out of his mouth Revel 3.16 Oh take heed of saying I dare not be more forward I shall displease my Parents in doing thus thou caust not please God at all If thou wilt be Godly be Godly as God and his Word would have thee Doe not be stinted by carnall worldly Friends How many think they can never have Wealth and Riches enough yet think they
24.46 It must be so else the Justice of God could not be satisfied else mans Redemption could not be obtained This our Saviour implieth I come to thee but how Even as the Israelites to Canaan through a Sea of bloud That then which our Saviour quickly spake was with great pain and agony undergone I come to thee through fire and bloud The Father doth this to demonstrate the bloudy nature of sinne the unspeakable love of Christ and the order God hath appointed for all beleevers ere they come to glory 1. the bloudy nature of sinne for it was this and nothing else that put Christ to be a Sacrifice for us had not Adam and we in him all apostatized from God There had been no need of his death but now by this transgression and ours superadded without the shedding of his bloud there could be no remission of sinne Yet oh the prophanesse and blindenesse of the world what a little matter do they make of sinne how easily do they think a pardon may be had for it Oh remember the least vain thought or idle word cannot in this world or in the world to come be expiated but by Christs bloud only had there been no other sinne in the world but a vain thought Christ must have undergone all that wrath of God and man ere it could be blotted out Oh think of this you who like Leviathan laugh at the Spear and sport your selves with those sinnes which put Christ to all that Agony Lastly This sheweth the order God hath appointed we must first be on Mount Calvary before we can be on the Mount of Transfiguration As Christ had first a Crown of Thorns here before he had a Crown of glory so it must be with us Rom. 8. We shall be glorified with him if we suffer with him Let this then sweeten all thy afflictions and miseries Though the beginnings of God with thee like those of Joseph to his brethren are harsh and rough yet the endings will be full of sweetnesse and comfort If thou grudest at thy Tribulations say this is to grudge at the Crown of Glory This is to repine at the way to everlasting happinesse In the second general place Consider That when Christ saith he goeth to his Father herein is implied that state of glory and honour he shall have in heaven as if he had said I shall be no more in the state and habit of a Servant no more in a despised and contemned condition but I am going to receive that Majesty and glory which is due unto me Although we told you Christ ascended into Heaven for our good and to pleade our cause yet it was also for his glory and honour This our Saviour excellently presseth Joh. 14.28 If ye loved me ye would rejoyce because I go to my Father The Disciples were troubled and full of fears because they were to lose his corporal presence but saith our Saviour true love to me would make you do otherwise you would regard my honour more then your benefit It is for your good that I abide with you It is for my glory that I go to the Father Now love that is unfeigned lieth in our affections to another not because of the good we have by him but for his own good Thus the Disciples they were to rejoyce because Christ was to be honoured and exalted though they should lose the comfort of his presence See here then who are they that do spiritually love Christ even such as rejoyce in that he is exalted and glorified though it be to their ruine and undoing O Lord Let me have this comfort and that comfort no longer if Christ may be more honoured As Mephibosheth said Let Ziba take all so that King David was returned safe so that the honour and kingdom of Christ may be promoted let good Name wealth and life it self go unlesse we be the true genuine Sons of God we are never able to abide this touchstone Doe not the most holy depend on Christ more for the benefit they receive by him then to honor and glorifie him Hence they bemoan their want of assurance and evidence which is their comfort more then recumbency on Christ which is his glory So then in that Christ went to his Father it 's implied that now there was a period to be put to all sufferings Now he was no more to be like a Servant but to be made the Prince of Glory Therefore observe the reason why he goeth to the Father because the Father is greater then he Not as the Arians would have it essentially but in outward dispensation because Christ here was in the fashion and form of the meanest and most despised of men Thirdly Though this phrase imply Christs Exaltation yet we must know also that in this is the whole Treasury of a Christian The Fountain of all our Comfort is in this that Christ is gone to the Father Therefore let the beleever diligently improve it for the effects are admirable of this his departure 1. Hereby his holy Spirit is given in the more plentifully and abundantly It is said The holy Ghost was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified Joh. 7.39 The large administration of the gifts of Gods Spirit were reserved till Christ in triumph went up to heaven Ioh. 16.7 If I depart I will send him to you You see the sending of the holy Ghost depends upon Christs departure The Spirit comes to make a spiritual supply of Christs bodily presence There cannot be two Suns together in the Firmament O then let all those who have Gods Spirit dwelling in them enlightening sanctifying and comforting of them acknowledge this the blessed fruit of Christs going to his Father but men are so prophane and sensual that they know not what the Spirits working upon the Soul is no more then a beast knoweth the operations of a rational Soul 2. A second benefit by Christs going to the Father is the enabling of us with all holy and heavenly gifts either in a sanctifying way or a ministerial Thus Eph. 4. Christ when he ascended into heaven gave gifts to men That you have a Ministry and Ordinances with the spiritual effects thereof it 's wholly from this Yea Ioh. 14 12. all miraculous Gifts do descend from this Our Saviour there saith That he who beleeveth on him shall do greater works then he doth that is as some say greater Miracles in themselves for we reade that by Peters handkerchief and his very shadow wonderful things were done which we reade not of Christ or greater in quantity and extension They did them in more places For whereas Christ wrought no Miracles at Ierusalem the Apostles did or greater as others say in regard of the successe because farre more were converted to the faith by the Apostles preaching then by Christs Well let this be how it will Consider the ground why they shall be enabled to do these great things because saith Christ I go to the
flying Roll that had curses written on it within and without This is proved by the Parable of the Talents where he that had but one was not pardoned but must give an account and for his negligence be condemned Now by a Talent is meant every thing that a man is betrusted with thereby to glorifie God and it 's called a Talent because of the high price and worth that is in every the least opportunity we have to serve God Oh then let all Superiors tremble at this how great and unexpected will thy account be If thou hast endeavoured to be good thy self and holy yet if thou hast not attended to have holy Children and an holy Family thy Condemnation will be exceeding great Think not to say with Cain Am I my Brethrens Keeper What have I to do with others I am no Preacher or Minister for in that thou hast a trust thou shalt give an account of thy godly improving of it 3. All those sinnes that Inferiors do commit for want of thy care and instruction will be thy sinnes and thou wilt be the cause of their damnation That Rule in morality is also true in Divinity qui non dat vitam aufert Ezechiel must be judged guilty of the Israelites sinnes and God will require their bloud at his hands if he do not his duty to them Eze. 3.18 And therefore Paul protested he was free from their bloud because he had made known all the Counsell of God Act. 20.26 Who then will be able to stand under this burthen Hast thou not sinnes of thy own but thou must have thy Childrens sinnes thy Servants sins also to lie upon thy back as an heavy burthen Will Christ at the day of Judgement condemn men because his poor Members were sick and they visited them not They were hungry and they fed them not And will he not much rather be provoked because there have been sick sinful wicked persons under thy care drunkards and thou didst not admonish Swearers and thou didst not frown on them Shall God make Inquisition for the bloud of the body upon Murderers And will he not for the bloud of Souls Shall Abel though dead speak and cry Vengeance and shall not Children Servants Inferiours damned in hell cry out saying It was the negligence the prophanesse of my Superiors that hath brought me hither Were not men stones and Rocks these Considerations would make them melt and tremble Vse of Exhortation to Governours especially Parents and Masters Take our Saviours example here and follow it see his care was that his Disciples might not sinne that they might be kept in all holinesse Oh then blame and condemn thy self saying my thoughts My cares have been to make them rich to provide for them in the world but not at all have I looked to their Souls Do they not lye swear drink Do they not prophane the Sabbath and live dissolutely yet these things are no trouble to thy heart Canst thou say of thy Children as was said of Austin to his Mother Monica It was impossible that a Childe of so many Teares should perish Are thine Children of praiers and tears and careful instruction How many are too like that Woman of Zebedee she comes to Christ with this Petition That her Sons might sit with Christ in his Kingdom one on the right hand and another on the left dreaming of some earthly temporal greatnesse Thus we are apt to think we will provide so much leave such Estates and in the mean while their miserable Souls are undone to all Eternity Be moved hereunto because 1. This is the greatest love and charity to them You cannot discover greater compassion then by taking care of their Souls Their Souls are more worth then all the world how highly did Christ esteem of Souls when he came into the world and endured all that misery for Souls only He died only to make them blessed 2. Consider that thy evil example who art a Governour doth encourage and embolden Inferiours in their wickednesse They are the more obstinate because thou shewest no dislike no frowns on them they think they have cause to sinne then It 's well observed by Lactantius speaking of this particular about Example The nature of man is proclive to all vice and would seem not only cum veniâ but ratione peccare and this they never do more pleade then when their Superiours are such as act Wickednesse or else doe countenance it 3. Be moved hereunto from the Certainty of the Souls good and uncertainty of all worldly things When thou hast consumed thy self in thoughts and cares about thy Children Solomons Observation will hold true Who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a Fool thou hast laboured for Eccl. 2.19 But now if he hath been instructed in the fear of God This will abide to all Eternity In the next place we come to the Compellation Holy Father From that attribute given to God he is an holy Father and so being a Fountain of all holinesse may easily communicate it to others Obs That God is an holy God and so able to make others holy For we are not to consider of this Attribute meerly as a glorious property in God but to improve it for our good that we also might be made holy This glorious Attribute Isa 6. the Angels of all others do single out and with great â—cclamation praise God saying Holy Holy Holy Yea this is the only Attribute we are to imitate Be ye holy as I am holy not be omnipotent as I am Now God is holy several waies And first He is essentially holy his holinesse and his nature are not two things as it is in Angels and men In this sense Christ said None is good but God God is a pure act and so whatsoever is in God is God His holinesse therefore is not only in that he worketh all things holily but his very nature is holy Hence God is called Jehovah and I AM Exod. 3.14 because what he is he is essentially and therefore seeing his nature is incomprehensible so is his holinesse Seeing we are never able to define what he is so neither can we what his holinesse is Quicquid de Deo dici potest eo ipso indignum est quia dici potest Our dwarfish Nature cannot measure these Pyramides Our shell cannot contain this Ocean Though Astronomers by their Instruments guesse at the magnitude of the Sun yet we cannot reach unto the greatnesse either of Gods Nature or his Attributes Secondly He is not onely essentially holy but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and oppositely holy to those false Gods mans corruption hath set up and in opposition to the Devils who are called unclean spirits Hence he is often stiled the Holy One of Israel because they only worshiped the true God Those ancient Christian Writers Arnobius Austin and others who wrote in defence of the Christian Religion did convince Heathens of their Impiety by worshiping such for gods
whom yet they fastened many impious actions upon for certainly nature would have told them That was God quo nibil melius cogitari potest Thus the God whom Christians according to the Scripture doe serve is the onely holy and true God Thirdly He is holy in respect of his will command and approbation His word is an holy Word The Scriptures are holy Scriptures They command They approve They encourage and comfort nothing but holinesse David Psal 19. compareth them to Gold often refined that hath no drosse and Hab. 1. God is of purer eyes then to behold Iniquity viz. by approbation Therefore he is said to be angry with the wicked all the day long Oh then though other men love thee and thou art in love with thy own self yet if not holy God doth not God cannot love thee Fourthly God is holy efficiently He is the Authour and cause of all the holinesse we have Iames 1.17 Every good and perfect gift comes from him We are his Workmanship created to good works He made the Angels holy He created Adam holy yea he infused all holinesse into Christs humane Nature and therefore much rather must he cause all the holinesse that is in us Therefore Christ by praying that God would sanctifie his Disciples doth thereby teach that none can make holy but God alone Let then the proud Patrons of free-will be confounded at this They that cannot make themselves Creatures will they say ' they make themselves holy Creatures Minus est te fecisse hominem quam justum Fifthly He is finally holy That is all our holinesse is to terminate in him Holinesse doth properly respect God as the Object and therefore though a man praieth heareth giveth alms yea his body to be burnt and doth not with a pure and chaste Intention look at Gods glory in all this it is not holinesse Hence it is that many have low thoughts about holinesse and grosly mistake in it taking copper for Gold and Samuels Ghost for Samuel himself Thou art not holy till thou canst truly say in some Degree at least though with much opposition Whom have I in Heaven but God and none on Earth besides him In Heaven Heaven it self would not be heaven to a gracious heart but because God is there Sixthly God is holy exemplarily He is the Rule Pattern and Example of holinesse 1 Pet. 1.15 Be ye holy as I am holy Levit. 20.26 So that if we would know how we are to be holy it must not be as men think or as the world prescribeth but as God is holy Not that we can attain to an equality but to a similitude onely So that the principle of the world must fall to the ground They will doe as others doe or as most doe Oh but rather Consider that God himself hath set down a Form for thee and because there is such fulnesse in him as in an Ocean therefore we have a necessity of growing every day No man is as holy as the patern therefore still he is to be perfecting Holinesse and Righteousnesse in the Fear of God 1 Cor. 7.1 Thus you have heard that God is holy But in the next place know it is our Duty to improve this Attribute for our Good For so our Saviour doth not look upon it as an absolute property in God but as that which may be profitable unto his Disciples So that we are to make use of this by Faith And that first Because when God becomes our God by the Covenant of Grace he is wholly ours and all his Attributes are for our benefit and advantage I will be their God Now God is not our God nulesse his Wisedome be ours his Holinesse be ours that is for our benefit For we cannnot separate God and these Oh then what an unwise and foolish thing is it in a Christian when he hath such a Treasure and yet will make no use of it Such a Mine and yet improveth it not In God there is holinesse for all Angels and men much more for thee Secondly God being thus absolutely good he is communicating of it and it is a Rule The more any thing is good the more diffusive it is of it self As we see in God who though glorious and happy enough in himself yet he created a world and ordained many to Eternall Glory out of his meer good pleasure and Fullnesse not that he needed or wanted any Oh then it is very acceptable and well-pleasing to God that we should come with thirsting Souls unto this Fountain and draw Water out of it That we should suck plentifully at these full Breasts and be refreshed Vse of Instruction to the People of God who are greatly afflicted under this great Temptation They are not an holy People Oh they finde sinne captivating them sinne prevailing over them but where is an holy heart holy affections and holy aims in what they doe Oh they say Could they finde they were more holy though they were poor and afflicted yet they should rejoyce Let such Consider It is their Unbelief and want of earnest Praier if they be not richly supplied and furnished in this for God is infinitely holy and he delights to communicate it The larger the Vessell is the more willing he is and will be to fill it and there cannot be any Prayer more acceptable then to begge for this above all things Vse 2. Is God thus holy Then let the most holy be humble in all their approaches to him for he is of such pure Eyes that he findes spots and blemishes yea damnable matter in thy most holy duties Angels holinesse is not proportionable to him Thirdly Of Reproof to wicked men who deride scoff and maliciously oppose holinesse What is this but to rise up against God himself Is not Holinesse the Glorious Attribute of God And do the Beams of this shining in his People offend thee This argueth thou art of a perverse and of a devilish Spirit for thou shouldest rather reverence and honour it saying Oh that I might live and dye like such holy men Indeed there are many would like Balaam die like a Godly man but not live like him as One said He would live like Croesus but die like Socrates Yet this is impossible There must be an holy Life else there will hardly be an holy Death SERMON LV. The Great Lord-Keeper of Israel from inevitable Ruine both of Body and Soul extolled JOH 17.11 Holy Father keep through thy own Name those thou hast given me c. WE have dispatched the Introductory Compellation and now proceed to the Petition it self and in that Consider 1. The mercy praied for and 2. The Amplification of it The mercy praied for is Keep The amplification is 1. From the Subject described by their Election from Eternity And 2. Actuall donation to Christ in time Those thou hast given me This is often repeated by our Saviour as being a main Argument why nothing should he denied them that were thus
indeared both to Father and Son and also the frequent Iteration of this might produce the more faith and confidence in the Disciples 3. This is amplified by the manner or instrumental cause how they are to be kept Through thy own Name 4. The End or Consequent of all this That they may be one as Thou and I are one Of the Mercy praied for Keep and the Subject Those thou hast given me in the first place I shall not enlarge any thing more upon this Description Neither is there any difficulty in the words only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by some serva and they take it properly for those were said to be servari who were taken in warre and so the Conquerour had full power over them to put them to death but of his clemency he saved them and thereupon were called servi but the Greek word hath no such allusion Only there is a twofold keeping external and temporal from the violence and rage of wicked men in respect of their bodies and lives because the world hates them And 2. Spiriutal and internal in grace and holinesse and this he doth principally pray for as appeareth by the matter instanced in Keep them in their outward condition that they be not destroid keep them in their spiritual condition that they lose not their faith or other graces Keep them in bono that they be not undone deficiendo Keep them a malo that it hurt them not Inficiendo If they do sinne keep them reficiendo by repairing and raising them up again If then the Disciples though thus wonderfully given by the Father to Christ do need a daily keeping lest they be undone every way then it holds true also of all beleevers Obs That even all the People of God were they not kept by Gods grace and power they would every moment be undone both in Soul and body It is not our grace our Prayer our Watchfulnesse keeps us but it is the power of God his right arm supports us We may see David praying to God that he would keep him in both these respects from temporal dangers Psa 17.8 9. Keep me as the Apple of thy Eye from the wicked that oppose me Where he doth not only pray to be kept but he doth insinuate how carefully God keeps his people and in what precious account their safety is even as the apple of the Eye and for spiritual preservation he often begs it Psa 19.13 Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous sinnes Though David be Gods Servant yet he will like a wilde Horse run violently and that into presumptuous sinnes if God keep him not back yea he prayeth that God would keep the particular parts of his body that they sinne not Psa 141.3 Keep the door of my Lips he entreateth God to keep his Lips and to set a watch about his mouth as if he were not able to set guard sure enough Thus much more are we to pray that God would keep our hearts our mindes our wils our affections for they are more masterfull Let us briefly consider the first God keepeth us from temporal dangers and that upon these grounds 1. Man hath by sinne forfeited all his temporall mercies there is nothing due to him no health no wealth not the least comfort but every man here upon the earth might be like Dives in hell begging for a drop of water and not able to attain it Gal. 3. Cursed is he that keepeth not the Law and Gen. 3. upon sinne death in all the concomitants of it came into the world so that if all these curses of the Law be not every moment inflicted upon us it 's because God keepeth us He beareth off the blows that Justice and the Law would lay upon us So that it's Gods goodnesse that keepeth thee alive that keeps thee on this side hell that keeps thee from that proper doom which belongs to thee The Sentence of death is passed upon all long agoe onely the execution of it is put off till God pleaseth Who art thou then that repinest and art troubled under such a losse such an affliction how many thousands more are there that God keeps thee from None is so miserable but he may see others more miserable then himself It is the Lord that keeps all these curses from thee and thee from them 2. The godly man would be undone if God did not keep him from his own imbecility and infirmity He hath no power to preserve himself from misery Hence man is called Enoch and in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So that he doth not only deserve all misery but he is prone of himself to fall into it did not God keep him Job 14.1 and Job 5.1 Man that is born of a woman is full of trouble even as the Sparks fly upwards So that as the Spark if not stopt doth of it self ascend upward Thus man of himself though there were no outward cause to drive him yet would stumble and fall into all desolation Therefore the great troubles men lye under are self-created they come by our indiscretion blindenesse or some sinful way or other Therefore Solomon observeth that a mans misery is great on the Earth because he hath not judgement to discern the times and seasons of things Eccl. 8.6 If therefore God did not keep the Godly man no Childe would sooner fall or run into the fire then he would into mischief You may reade of that good King Josiah for whom the Kingdom made such Lamentation how foolishly he ran upon his own Death 2 Chro. 33.22 3. Did not God keep us the devils rage and enmity is such that he would not onely destroy the Soul but the body You see his malice when he had liberty to possesse the bodies of many how miserably he tormented them and when God gave him leave to afflict Job in his Estate and body he did it to the utmost There wanted no evil while he could do it Now there is no reason why the Devil should not do thee the same mischief continually but onely God bindes up this roaring Lyon The Devil is said to be a Murderer from the beginning and that for the body as well as the Soul he tempted Cain to murther Abel he tempted Judas to betray Christ Oh then wonder that God keeps thee when there are such Legions of Devils crafty and potent enough to procure thy destruction 4. Did not God keep the godly he would be undone temporally because of the hatred and malice wicked men bear to every godly man Therefore Christ said they were as Sheep among Wolves Can they hope for mercy from a Wolf David complained that his Soul was among Lions and Ezechiel complained he dwelt among Scorpions Now then seeing the world is so full of malice and the number of wicked men is like the Sand upon the Sea-shoar to them They are as the Israelites Army seemed to the great power that came against them like a Flock of
Birds Now what is the reason that wicked men have not their will of destroying the Godly It is onely God that keeps them yea God keeps every part of them He keepeth their feet Every stone else might be their Death Yea Psa 34 20. He keepeth all their bones he maketh their Beds in their sicknesse What an expression is that There is no Nurse can so diligently and tenderly look to the sick as God doth to a godly man diseased Oh then that we should attribute our Estates to such care and diligence of our lives to such places to such second causes and not rather look up to God who keepeth us all the day long His keeping of all the godly doth not diminish his care in keeping every particular man for it's God that keepeth every man and that keepeth the Church in generall How could this Ark that had no Sails no Pilot no Stern have been kept in the midst of the Deluge but that God preserveth it Psa 121.3 God is said to be the Keeper of Israel and such an one that neither flumbreth or sleepeth Certainly could the people of God for their Estates Lives and all they have commit all to this Keeper they would live with more joy Thou saist who will keep me Who will keep mine Oh remember a better Keeper then if thou hadst all the Monarchs in the world Whence then arise your fears and doubts but because you are your own Keepers or Friends must keep or such an Estate and so much wealth must keep you See what David tels us Psal 121.1 Except the Lord keep the City even the Watchmen watcheth in vain Though he watch and doe not sleep yet there must be a better Keeper Say so of thy House of thy Family of thy Children and of all outward worldly things Therefore let the Use of this Branch of the Doctrine be to all that are godly to cast off all fears and perplexities about any worldly thing They have a faithfull Keeper all their mercies are in his hand The world nor the devil cannot take them away Is not the Childe secure because he hath a Loving Father who keeps all things for him We are not our own Keepers no more then our Creators And if thou losest any outward comfort stay thy self with this I have a wise and an holy Keeper who would not have suffered this or that losse to fall out but that it was best for me to do so and thou maist be encouraged to this holy Security because 1. God is an Omnipotent God None saith Christ is stronger then my Father Joh. 10. We betrust men with things and there comes a stronger then they who takes all away but none can do so here 2. He is a faithfull and wise Keeper He will not lye or deceive thee Thou wilt have no cause to complain as Jacob did to Laban That he had defrauded him so many times Thou canst not trust in riches or in men for these are unfaithfull These are a lye but God is not like man he will not deny himself 3. He doth not onely keep thee himself but appoints others also to keep thee Armies of Angels are appointed by him to keep thee yea all the creatures are a Safeguard to thee The stones in the Field are at peace with him who feareth God Did not thy Faith lie asleep in thee as Christ in the Ship there would never be so many dangerous Tempests to overwhelm thee But I proceed to the second part which is more principally intended by our Saviour and of greater consequence to the godly for what iâ— their Goods and their bodies be kept but their Souls lost Will this keeping avail them if he keeps us that an hair of our head do not fall to the Ground but our graces they are lost a man could take little comfort therefore let the godly know of a Truth That it 's the power of God that keeps them to Salvation 1. It 's God onely that preserveth and keeps the Truth of Grace once wrought in thee We see Adam and Angels lost their precious Treasure of Grace And can we think to be better Conservators then they were No thou wouldest immediately of a Paradise become a noisome dunghill and a hell did not the Lord keep thee Hence the Apostle praieth so often that God would strengthen and settle them No Leaf would fall sooner to the ground then our Graces wither did not God keep them We see then upon what Rock the godly are built what it is that though they are in the midst of spiritual Thieves and Robbers yet their Jewels are not stolen it is because God keeps them Hence is the perseverance of the godly Hence it is that Peters Faith is not totally and finally lost David and Peter were in sad and great Temptations in danger to lose all the Truth of grace put into them and all had been gone but that God kept them So that as in natural things God is not only the Creator but Preserver of all things And if he did not uphold them by his arm they would fall into their first nothing Thus did not God graciously keep thee thou wouldest fall into that old desperate state of impiety again and be as prophane and wicked as ever before 2. The Lord doth not onely keep the habits and being of grace but also all the quickenings and actuall stirrings of the Soul to good Such Sparks would quickly go out did not the Lord keep them alive We might say of them as of mans life They are but a Vapour and a Bubble Thus 1 Chro. 29.18 When David and the people had with so much willingnesse and delight offered unto God he praieth that God would keep this for ever in their hearts If then thou finde thy heart at any time raised up to actual hungrings and thirstings after God if it break for the longing it hath to God alwaies then runne to God that he would keep this excellent frame of heart alwaies in thee That the world and the Temptations thereof may not bring thee down again from this Mountain of Transfiguration Say O Lord It 's not in me to keep this frame of heart alwaies I shall quickly lose it Something or other will take away this live Childe and put a dead one in the room of it Oh therefore O Lord do thou help me and keep me I renounce my own strength I see my own weaknesse and certainly if we are to pray to God for daily bread though we have a Bâ—rn full of Corn because he can immediatly blast all and within an hour or moment make us like Job how much more have we cause to pray for this daily Keeping even though we were the strongest Christians for we see what many of the chiefest Rank in Piety even David and Peter did when without this actual Custody or preservation They fell into the Dunghill and from thence would have fallen into hell had not the grace of God
times prayeth God would direct and order his wayes This directive power is of consequence to us for without it we should throw our selves into every pit Fifthly The power of the Lord keeps us applicando by an efficacious applying of the means of grace to us For when we say God's power keeps us in grace that is not to be understood immediately as Angels in Heaven are kept but mediately by the Word and Ordinances Therefore the organical and instrumental cause of our conservation is the word of God as our Saviour afterwards prayeth God would sanctifie them by his truth his Word was truth So that this makes much for the advancement of Christs Ministery and the Gospel preached for by the lively working of these we come to stand fast These are the continual rubbings that keep heat in us These are the Cocks that crow to put us in minde of our sinnes These are the frequent alarms against our spirituall enemies that they surprize us not in our security Sixthly The power of God keeps us corroborando by strengthening and fortifying the powers of the Soul while they do work A man that is paralytical though he hath life in him yet cannot steadily and firmly move the parts of his body but they shake as if they did not belong to the body Thus even while the people of God are acting and working what is good they do it so remisly so faintly that did not the Lord confirm them all their duties would be very uncomfortable to them Hence Paul so often prayeth That God would strengthen and settle them that he would establish and build them on the work It 's a blessed thing to walk in the paths of godliness with an imboldened and confirmed heart Seventhly The power of God doth keep us suaviter alliciendo by putting strong consolations and sweet delights in our soul while we are doing his will Nehem. 8.10 The joy of the Lord is your strength We glory in tribulations when we are filled with joy As fear and unbelief make feeble knees and weak hands so joy and heavenly delight doth strengthen and confirm the soul What is that which makes Angels and Saints so inseparably adhere to God and that to all eternity never weary of him Is it not the infinite joy and delight they have in God So while God doth thus give us to taste and feel how good he is while we have an experiment of the preciousness of Christ upon our hearts we stand immovable like so many Rocks in the same place though never so many waves beat on us Eighthly Gods power keeps us from sinne reprimendo by repressing and curbing those reliques of sinne which are within us For from our own selves would arise such noisome lusts that would separate us from God even as from the earth arise such black vapours that hide the Sunne from it The Spirit of God therefore doth mortifie the body of sinne keeps this root from sprouting forth and is ready to crush the Cockatrice in her eggs Lastly The power of God doth keep us arcendo by driving away and keeping of the devil from us How strangely this roaring Lion is set upon us as a prey appeareth by that of our Saviour Luke 12. Satan hath desired to winnow you he would spare no godly man Therefore he is called the Tempter because all the day long it 's his work to seduce to sinne so that herein the necessity of Gods power appeareth Ephes 6. We wrastle with principalities and powers Thou art no fit match for them You see that Adam in the state of integrity was overcome by him It 's God then that keeps these roaring Lions tied up otherwise what could poor Sheep do to oppose so many Lions Vse of Instruction With what thankfulness and joy we should bless God at the close of every day Hast thou not been a Cain a Judas this day Bless God that kept thee Hast thou not by words or works broken thy Communion with God Oh acknowledge his goodnesse to thee Thou mightst have been tempted and seduced by sinne or Satan so that great wounds and gashes might have been made upon thy Conscience Oh say Lord I am amazed at thy power and grace in keeping of me The Godly are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the preserved ones and well may they be called so for did God withdraw his hand you should see them wallowing in filth and made like the vile ones upon the Earth Do not then presume on thy own strength but depend upon Gods power SERMON LVII Reasons proving the Necessity of Gods preserving his Children in Grace That God keeps them by Faith Also why and how Faith keeps them rather then other Graces JOH 17.11 Keep through thy Name those thou hast given me WE have heard how many waies God keeps even converted persons from falling into their first Chaos and confusion Let us Consider the Grounds Why there is such a Necessity of Gods preserving power that so we may be humbled in our selves and God exalted 1. We may be strongly convinced of the great necessity of Gods power in keeping of us by the Apostate Angels and lapsed Adam What can more forcibly teach us this Truth then their Apostacy Did not God create Angels full of Light and Glory like the Starres and yet the Apostle Jude saith They kept not their first habitation Did not also God create Adam after his own Image in Righteousnesse yet how quickly did he become a Prodigall and spent all You see here the most glorious of all Creatures furnished with a rich stock yet in a very little space proved Bankrupts and lost all Oh then what shall the godly man think of himself who hath not such strength of grace as they had And besides they had no corruption or principle of Rebellion within them to betray them as we have Who then is not compelled by this consideration to acknowledge the glorious right hand of God to uphold his Servants from falling every moment for in that all the Angels did not fall as well as some it is to be attributed to the meer confirming grace of God therefore they are called the Elect Angels 1 Tim. 5.21 God did by his power graciously confirm them in what was good and denied such help to those that revolted Oh then let the Godly Soul pray fervently Lord keep me daily Adam yea the glorious Angels could not keep themselves and shall I think my self secure Secondly Therefore need we the power of God to preserve us though furnished with inherent grace because grace abiding in us is but a Creature that needeth help and support as well as other Creatures Though Grace in us be the most glorious thing in the world and the Image of God yet being still a created being it needeth preservation from God So that as in our naturall life we live and breathe and move in God So it is much more in our Spirituall Life So that as our grace because of
worship Thus all is done in a corporal manner and whereas of old it was sursum corda now it is deorsum corda None are more devoid of spirituall Understanding then those that are thus busied in a visible carnal way of Religion 3. The corrupt Opinions about Sacramenes as if they did conveigh Grace and Christ by the very work done This is also to know Christ after a carnall manner for it 's not the Ordinances but the Spirit of God in and by them that doth us any good Joh. 6. The flesh profiteth little but the Spirit yet this hath been the universal disease of Gods Church in all Ages In the Old Testament there they rested upon the Sacrifices upon the Temple upon their external Rites Oh how often do the Prophets labour to convince them of this errour Hence Paul speaks of a Jew in the flesh and in the Letter and a Iew in the Spirit Rom 2. and all the Jewish rites are called carnal Ordinances and beggarly They bring no real good to them that are exercised therein without the Spirit and may we not say that almost all Christianity is but a religious carnality a resting and relying upon Ordinances so farre as they are bodily and visibly performed When the Apostle 1 Pet. 3. had said Baptism serveth to prevent all mistakes he addeth Not the washing of the body but the answer of a good conscience When a man upon good examination of himself can say O Lord thou knowest that I do in truth and uprightness keep to those duties I am solemnly by Baptism engaged unto Thus for the Lords Supper is not it the very receiving of it judged the very saving of men Do not commonly people take it as if in the very bread and wine there were some Sacrifical vertue as when they take Physick they judge some Physical inherent vertue in that to help them Oh what Ieremy hath his head full enough of water to bewail this carnall grosse and ignorant Christianity that is in the world which judgeth the very Sacraments or any bodily worship in praiers or singing of Psalmes though they be but as Parrats in these things to be great evidences for heaven But as the body without the soul is dead and a lothsome Carkasse thus is all thy Religion worship and Ordinances a dead lothsome thing in the presence of God without the Spirit This the Apostle cals serving of God in the oldnesse of the letter not the newnesse of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 And in this sence we may say the Letter killeth and damneth but the Spirit giveth life Oh then be afraid thou art not one of those that split their souls at this Rock This is the common poison that devoureth most Even as the Scripture speaks contemptibly of the Egyptian Army Isa 31.3 They are flesh and not spirit The same may be said of all that Religion and devotion which most put confidence in But yet take heed of another extream errour that crieth down the Ordinances and under pretence of a spirituall high attainment which they think they have wholly lay aside these visible Ordinances and performances which Christ hath appointed in his Church till the end of the world 4. Then men would have Christ after a visible manner when they pretend Revelations and Miracles For what is this but to leave the Word and the promises as if that were not sufficient God indeed hath condescended to support sence as when he vouchsafed Miracles in the Infancy of the Church yea the Sacraments he hath appointed are a kinde of relief to our sence he considered our weaknesse in appointing such visible Signs but when we are not contented with Gods Institutions but desired such sensible supports which he will not afford This proceeds from a carnal disposition in us This is the cause in Popery why they tell us of such miraculous apparitions they will tell you of Crucifixes bleeding of Christs visible appearing of such great wonders done upon the Invocation of such and such Saints and all this is to humour the carnal part of a man for spiritual things are supernatural and very hard and difficult to flesh and bloud 5. This is to know Christ after a corporal manner when we professe his Truth and acknowledge his waies only for earthly advantages as he said Fac me Episcopum Romanum ere Christianus Thus they did of whom Paul made mention with weeping that they were enemies to the Crosse of Christ that their God was their belly that they minded earthly things Phil. 3.19 Such Disciples were those that followed Christ because of the Loaves Now the Lord Christ he cals to such duties that are opposite to flesh and bloud that are against the incilination of our nature To pull out the right eye To deny our selves To take up the Cross We are not to be of those that love Christs Crown of gold but not his Crown of Thorns How greatly did Mahumetan Religion prevail by such Doctrines as were pleasing to the corrupt inclinations and sinful pleasures of men and because Christs Doctrine was accompanied with so much difficulty Lastly There is in the godly sometimes an inordinate desire after Christ in a sensible manner and that is when they cannot rest upon the promises beleeve on Gods Word barely unlesse they have also evident and sensible Consolations Bare acts of depending faith and constant waitings on God in the way of his promise argue thee to be more spiritual in thy Christian warfare Vse of Instruction how much it becometh all Christians to be a spirituall people for all things in Christ are spiritual and all benefits to be received by him are in a spiritual manner How comes Christs Death Christs Resurrection effectual to thee but in a spirituall manner You cannot now do so much as the Woman in the History touch the hem of his garment You cannot with Thomas put your fingers in the print of nails No here is the Eye of Faith required to behold Christ Christ bid the Woman touch him not for he was not yet ascended but we may say Because he is ascended do not thou have carnal imaginations about him It is for want of a spiritual heart that so many titular Christians have no real vertue or efficacy from him He is not an Head he is not a Vine he is not Wisedom Righteousnesse and all things to thee because thou art not a spiritual Subject to entertain him SERMON LXIII Of the Saints Lord-Keeper Shewing how safe the Godly are kept to Salvation by Christ as a Trust committed to him JOH 17.12 While I was with them in the world I kept them in thy Nam◠c. HAving dispatched the Circumstances of time and place we proceed to the Benefit it self which is expressed with the efficient cause of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the manner how In thy Name Because something hath already been spoken to this I shall be the briefer in both the particulars First The Benefit with the cause
of sinne but when it is turned into a stone and made like an adamant then it 's sensible of nothing Pharaoh though he had such wonderfull miracles wrought before him that never such things were heard of in the world before yet because his heart was hardened therefore doth he sinne presumptuously to his own ruine And thus it was with the Jews when that spirituall judgement spoken of Isa 6. was accomplished in them to have blinde eyes and hard hearts Thus all the Prophets at first and all the Apostles afterwards yea Christ himself with all his miracles did not mollifie them yea by these remedies as all incurable diseases do they grew worse and worse what motions relentings must we expect from stones Lapidi loqueris is a proverb Truly such is all preaching and the whole Ministry to men given up to a hard heart Though the Prophet when he spake to the Altar of stones crying O Altar Altar that immediatly rent yet the hearts of men are more sensless Pray therefore of all judgements not to fall into an hard heart Though thou mayest fall into hard times into hard dealings from others into many hard distresses yet as long as thou hast not an hard heart there are some hopes for thee Fourthly Inordinate and immoderate love to some lust or sinne When a man is once enslaved to some lust though he hath never so much light so much conviction yea though he have never so many afflictions upon him yet he will break thorow all to have his lust satisfied As Nero's mother said Occidat modo imperet Let him kill me so he may reign Thus let such sinnes damn me so that I may have my will and desire satisfied What made Judas though he had received so much love and kindness from Christ Yet so perfidiously betray him into the hands of those who had long sought to kill him but only he was a thief and had an immoderate love to worldly-gain It was thirty pieces that made him lose body and soul Oh it 's an heavy thing to be captivated to any one sin Thou must have such and such sins for thy darling sinne Oh this Dalilah will be thy ruine as it was to Sampson Who would have thought that Sampson a godly man as he is recorded Heb. 11. seeing what deadly enemies the Philistims were would have discovered where his strength was But this Dalilah can perswade him to his ruine And thus Herodias can prevail with Herod to kill John Baptist though he knew him to be a just man and had a reverential fear of him thy lust thy sinne thy whore thy unjust gain can make thee fall down and worship the devil without any trouble of conscience Fifthly Decayings from former expressions of holiness or quenchings and extinguishing of such motions as formerly have greatly affected us These commonly seek the Kingdom of darkness as Christ speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven by force and are violent for hell Heb. 6.4 2 Pet. 2.20 The Scripture speaks of some that have had great gifts of the holy Ghost and have escaped through the knowledge of Christ the pollutions of the world if such are intangled again they are worse then ever and there is no hope of recovery Therefore none are in such a desperate condition as those that once had greater workings of heart and hopefull movings of conscience but since are grosly apostatiz'd the prophanest men that live who never cast an eye towards heaven are in a more hopefull condition then such relapses are more dangerous in the soul then in the body Mat. 12.45 when that unclean spirit was cast out but returned again he brought seven other spirits more wicked then himself and so the last state of that man is worse then the first Look to this and tremble you who have had often checks of conscience and often wounds of heart take heed they plunge thee not into an incurable condition The water once heated if cold again is cooler then ever These frequent aguish fits will at last end in a consumption Take heed lest thou turn a derider and a persecutor of what once thou wert forward for SERMON LXIX Of the Sonne of Perdition Shewing more Causes and Symptomes of such wretched Persons that are desperately bent to damn themselves JOH 17.12 But the Sonne of Perdition THe Words have been Explained and the Doctrine gathered which was That there are some men wilfully and desperately set to damn themselves though they enjoy never such means to the contrary We gave in some Characters of such wretched persons and now proceed to instance in some more And the first in order shall be A long and constant Vnprofitablenesse under means of Grace When men have for a long time sate under the powerfull means of Grace yet are as ignorant as prophane and unreformed as formerly These men commonly are resolute in their damnation They have so often heard and heard they are so accustomed now to the remedies that they despise them and get no good by them This the Apostle affirmeth Heb. 6.8 The ground which often drinketh in rain and yet bringeth forth nothing but briars and thorns is nigh unto cursing whose end is to be burnt This was the case even of the whole body of the Jews they being accustomed for many years to the threatnings of the Prophets were so farre from trembling under it that they made a scorn of it Jer. 23.33 because the Prophet Jeremy did so often tell them of the Burden of the Lord that is the heavy Sentence and Judgement of God threatned against them they did impudently and prophanely make a scorn of it Even as many hardened sinners will now adaies at the name of hell and damnation Oh then let all such who for many years together have been under the Sunne of the Gospel fear lest when we speak of a Son of Perdition it be said Thou art the man for as when the body that hath been accustomed to often Physick doth yet remain diseased it 's a great Argument of its incurablenesse Thus it is here When there are daily importunities of thee constant expostulations with thee and yet thou art averse and obdurate this may prove fatall and dreadful to thee 2. Sinful and ungodly prejudices taken up against those Prophets and Ministers of God that do in his Name admonish thee and warn thee against thy sinnes Oh when men instead of hearkening to their Counsels take occasion to slander them to oppose them these men have hastily tumbled into confusion Mat. 23. This Christ complained of O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets c. how often would I have gathered thee and thou wouldst not And it was of old the Jews wickednesse to persecute and oppose all such as came from God to admonish them of their sinnes and therefore at last they crucified the Heir even Christ himself The Wise man speaks peremptorily to this Prov. 29.9 He that being often reproved hardeneth his
Isa 6. called a fat heart from Cattell that doe grow fat in Fruitfull Pastures But above all places there is one more remarkable Eccles 8.11 Because Sentence is not speedily executed against the sinner Therefore the heart of the Sonnes of men is fully set in them to do evill Fully set There is nothing can divert them they are resolved come hell and come devils they will have their way 6. Hypocrisie or a deceitfull pretending to matters of Religion when yet at the same time their hearts are carnal vile and unsanctified this was the Case of Iudas he never from the beginning did truly love Christ or in a saving way beleeve in Christ as appeaseth Ioh. 6.64 It 's true his hypocrisie was the more wonderful because they left all and followed Christ They were exposed to all hardship and hatred from the world who would not think that only pure ends had moved Iudas but yet you see that even in the poor and low way Christ was in yet Iudas could have false ends and there were temptations to draw out his carnal worldly heart whether he was a convinced hypocrite that lived in sins against conscience at first is hard to say But after he became the Bag-bearer and did daily steal from that publike stock which Christ had for the maintenance of himself and his Apostles then no doubt but he knew he did not walk uprightly and so was a grosse hypocrite Now this hypocrisie all along he discovers especially Mat. 26.7 in this History of Mary who anointed Christs feet with precious Oyntment at a dear rate Iudas murmured at this Iohn the Evangelist mentioneth him only â—e other make all the Apostles to murmure but either it is an Eâ—allage the plural for the singular number or else Iudas was the beginning of the Sedition he was Ringleader and put others on it But in this complaint of this See how speciously and religiously be covered his wickednesse Ad quid perditio haec saith this Son of perdition It might have been sold and given to the poor This he said saith the Evangelist not that he cared for the poor but because he was a Theef If all that had been put into the bagge he could have stolen from it and so enriched himself This was his hypocrisie Another instance is when he had agreed with the Priests about betraying of Christ his Master he comes and kisses him with an Hail Master this which appeared such an obsequious expression of love was made the very sign by which they should lay hold on Jesus and carry him away It is true some of the Ancients have much excused Iudas as if he intended only to cheat the High-Priests of their money because he thought that Christ could escape out of their hands as soon as he was apprehended for Iudas had observed before that when the people took him and intended to throw him down the Hill that he did in a strange miraculous manner convey himself from them but this cannot be for our Saviour had informed them that he must die though as yet his hour was not come that one of them should betray him and that Iudas was earnest and reall in this Treachery appeareth by this expression Whom I shall kisse that is he take him and leade him away diligently as fearing Christ might have escaped them or as it is translated Mat. 26.46 Hold him fast Thus in his most devilish actions he hath fair pretences and under this Visor perpetrares his abominations in like manner Absalom when he was upon that Treacherous design of unnatural rebellion against his Father he pretends a Vow and Piety to perform it Thus that cruell bloudy and deceitful Doeg on whom David acted by Gods Spirit doth pronounce so solemn Curses yet it is said of him 1 Sam. 29.7 He was detained before the Lord Though he was upon some speciall Vow or otherwise serving of God yet he could even then take occasion to inform Saul against David and be the cause of the death of many innocent Priests of the Lord and the Pharisees were so hypocritically Religious that they would not enter into Pilates house lest they should defile themselves when yet they could crucifie Christ Thus when men can harden themselves as they think to cosen God and men no wonder if they fall into perdition Lastly Men who become Sons of Perdition are such as willfully despair of Gods mercy and conclude there is no hope for them Iudas had committed grievous sinnes especially in betraying innocent bloud but his despair at last was worse then all the rest Even that bloud he had shed would have washed away that grievous sinne of shedding it had he by Faith sprinkled himself with it What made Cain so desperately continue in rebellion as was against God though with constant trembling upon him it was his despair My sins are greater then I can bear Thus as the devil when he possessed some bodies threw them in the fire and water so when he doth the soul by despair he violently hurleth them into hell Thus you have heard the inward cause of selfâ—destroiers there are some outward causes mentioned in the Scripture And they are 1. Evil and wicked company Men imboldened in sinne labour to make others so As Joab said to the young man that trembled to runne his Spear into Absalom Fear not saith he have not I loved thee Thus such great Ones such rich Ones or such a multitude they bid thee doe thus Why then shouldst thou regard what Ministers or the Scripture saith Art thou so foolish and precise to be awed with such things Thus Prov. 1. Old hardened sinners are brought in enticing the young man to be one of their company 2. When Satan takes greater hold and possession of men then formerly Thus he driveth them to hell that as you reade the devil entred into some Swine and threw them headlong into the Sea Thus he possessth some men and throweth them as violently into hell Judas before he sets upon this Treachery is said Joh. 13.27 Satan entred into him he entred into him and took full possession of his Soul Thus before Ananias and Saphira did in so horrible a manner lye and dissemble it 's said Act. 5.3 Satan had filled their heart and thus the Jews are said to be of their Father the devil There is a generation of men that have by way of curse the devil often in their mouths but he is much more in their hearts and such men none can stop from hell Lastly God by a just and severe judgement withdraweth or denieth all mollifying and softening grace to some men for their former sinnes and when thus left by God they are in a sencelss stupid and impudent estate of sinning Thus Pharaoh was left by God and then he was so hardned that no Miracles did him any good Vse of Instruction Marvell not if such desperate mad men live amongst you though they come to Church though they hear never
deny any prescience in God because they say this would enduce an absolute necessity and it would be as vain a thing to think to avoid what God doth foreknow as what he doth preordain Therefore they take away one as well as the other but this is impudently to contradict the Scripture which doth so often make prescience a property belonging solely to God observe that place Isa 41.21 22 23. shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know ye are gods and indeed he only can know future things that only knoweth the hearts of men and that the Scripture attributeth to God only Indeed the Prophets who were but men yet they did foretell many things to come but they were only ministeriall in this It was God that revealed these things to them so that it was not they so much as God and thus the Scripture revealeth things to come because it 's the word of him who knoweth all things and it 's the writing of such who were immediatly inspired by the holy Ghost Now one reason why God must needs foreknow what is to come is because nothing can ever be without his decree predictive of it and so because God knoweth what he will do therefore he knoweth what shall be Therefore we need not with the Jesuites run to a scientia media whereby God knoweth all things they say from the infinity of his knowledge comprehending the nature of things antecedently to his Decree their actions absolutely future or conditionally only for his knowledge is founded upon his decree Secondly Although God only doth originally and by his own property know things to come yet the devils they may foretell some things Not that the devils can of themselves foreknow any future casuall thing for they know not the hearts and free wils of men yet some things they certainly foreknow some things with great conjectures certainly they know such things which God revealeth to them and employeth them in to bring about for seeing even the very devils are Instruments of bringing about his vengeance as appeareth by that when God commanded the lying spirits to be in the mouth of the false Prophets as also when they appeared before God as well as the Angels Iob 1. Seeing I say God useth these as Instruments no wonder if he make known unto them what Service they have to do and therefore they can foretell things yea the Lord suffers false Prophets sometimes to foretell things by way of judgement to a people as is to be shewed for not only to godly men but even to wicked men God hath sometimes revealed things to come as to Balaam and those Mat. 7. who said Have we not prophesied in thy Name But besides this revealed knowledge the devils may probably foretell things to come partly as Austin well observeth because of their intellectual acutenesse having such extraordinary quicknesse in theit understanding and this added to their long life which they have had ever since their Creation and partly because of their agility whereby they can quickly move from one place to another as it 's related of Apollonius Thyancus who being at Ephesus when Domitian was murthered at Rome cried out Be of good courage for at this moment the Tyrant is killed Historians write that Posts came afterwards that did confirm all those things about Domitians Death Now if this were so then it was by the help of the devil who could quickly move so far as that Apollonius did many other things and therefore is thought by some to be raised up by the devils to oppose Christ and draw off from him by false Miracles Thirdly Consider there may be predictions of three sorts divine such as are of God himself or by Prophets inspired by him or diabolcicall predictions which are by Gods just judgements suffered to be upon a people and these are either by the devil or by his Instrumenss Witches and Sorcerers Astrologers and other kinde of waies of Divination which are too common even amongst Christians or humane and natural predictions which are from natural causes to their natural effects Thus the Astronomer may foretell the Eclipses that shall be The Physician can the effects of some Diseases and so the natural Philosopher may but not with such certainty foretell of drought or much rain as our Saviour implieth Mat. 16.20 but this is only probable because many particular causes may interpose and alter all their prognostiques Thus also politick Predictions which wise men sometimes can presage about Commonwealths Though those are but Coniectures as he said Bene qui conticet hunc tu perhibeto vatem optimum Fourthly Seeing that to foretell any thing to come be thus the property of God and of the Scripture Then by this we see That all those who go to Astrologers or Witches to know things to come and all those that professe judiciary Astrology that will undertake to foretell not natural things but voluntary such as are meerly subject to mens will Do not only undertake a vain rash and false thing but that also which is very abominable and wicked It 's necessary to speak to this because there are many people look more to the fullfilling of what such Prognosticks and Almanacks say then to the Scripture as if Saturn and Jupiter did reign therefore the Earth must tremble and not God reign It would require a great Volume to speak of this exactly Onely briefly Consider these things 1. That it hath been the Devils way alwaies to disturb the Church and endeavour the damnation of many mens souls by making them credulous in these things That as Christ hath set in his Church Pastors and Teachers to instruct in the way to heaven So the devil hath raised his Witches his Sorcerers his Soothsayers and Astrologers to seduce the world Of old there were the Heretiques Priscillianists that did binde men to the Starres and made the body of men to be compounded according to the Signs yea into this soul errour Aquila that famous Interpreter of the Scripture fell for which he was cast out of the Church of God and Cardan rose to that high Impiety as to observe Christs Birth and made his power to do the Miracles he did to flow from the influx of those Starres that he was born under Some have not been so wicked yet others as Petrus de Aliaco thought by the Stars there might have been prognosticated the Birth of Christ And Kepler contends those Wise men by the Rules of Astrological Art might have presaged not only an Event of some great moment but the Birth of some great Monarch As if Christ were not born after an extraordinary and miraculous manner That the Heavens have influence upon the bodies of men may not be denied Though Pererins argueth against those Coelestes influentias as I remember Hence a man possessed with the devil is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lunatick which some say was because the devil took the occasion that at
humbled for sinne would willingly have comfort as the lame man would to walk the blinde man to see but how to have true peace with God there is the difficulty As there were above an hundred Opinions amongst the Philosophers whaâ— was the summum bonum So there are great disputations about that Righteousnesse whereby we are justified the ground of peace So that it 's an heavenly skill to be directed into the right way for comfort Heb. 6. The babe is unskilfull in the word of Righteousnesse As the young Childe though it cryeth for the breast yet knoweth not how to come at it Before the Gospel was purely preached how many false waies were observed to comfort the afflicted conscience how many Pilgrimages devotional praiers and several penitential practises were enjoyned to comfort the timerated heart through sinne but all these were like Jobs miserable Comforters Physicians of no value The souls Mountebanks that instead of healing did enflame and enrage the wounds more Therefore as to the infant new-born it 's a great matter to fall into the hands of a good Nurse for the education of it and care about it No lesse is it for people when once awakened through the guilt of sinne and deeply wounded for their iniquities to have such spiritual Physicians that can prepare them the true Gospel-cordials and direct them into the right way for Consolation This is the Art of Arts Nothing being more tender and to be handled with more câ—rumspection then a wounded Spirit These are therefore two distinct benefits to be convinced of the duty to walk comfortably and to be direâ—â—ed into the way of it for who is not here out of the way Doth not every one think to obtain comfort by working and not beleeving Do they not labour to qualifie themselves sufficiently first and then go to Christ Do we not think by works to come to Faith and not by faith to works To do enough to comfort our selves and then go to Christ for comfort This is the preposterous course that every afflicted soul doth naturally take Oh then as the wise men when they saw the Starre that directed them to Christ rejoyced with exceeding great joy so when the Spirit of God shall direct thee by the word into this supernatural way of rejoycing blesse God for thou mightst have wandred through dark and uncomfortable waies into hell it self 3. The Spirit of God is given by Christ to comfort us Causaliâ—èr that is it doth by a mighty efficacious power work joy in the soul Is bids the heart rejoyce and it will rejoyce Neither greatnesse of sins sence of unworthinesse weight of Temptations oppositions of Satan shall discourage But as it 's said in Job when he speaks peace who shall make Trouble So it 's here When God commands the heart to be quiet and to rejoyce before him who can forbid it Hence Gal. 5.22 Joy and peace are made the fruits of the Spirit It 's only the God of all Consolation and Father of all comforts that comforteth us in tribulations 2 Cer 1. So that as the Almighty insuperable power of God goeth to make a gracious heart so also it doth to give a comfortable heart That God who made Iron to swim and the waters of Jordan to go backward he also and he alone makes the heavy heart to sing for joy Oh therefore pray for this work of Gods Spirit though thou canst not of thy self rejoyce yet the Spirit of God can make thee joyfull 4. The Spirit of God is a Comforter by witnessing and sealing unto us that we are the Children of God for then we have joy in the fulnesse of it when we have assurance not only resting on Christ for Salvation but assured that we are in him Now this is the proper work of Gods Spirit to witnesse unto us Rom. 8. and to seal unto us Eph. 4 30. when the Spirit of God doth thus assure then the Oyl of joy doth overflow On the contrary many of Gods Children do therefore walk in darknesse and are like the Passengers with Paul in his Voyage tossed up and down with waves and tempests not seeing the Sun for many daies and all because they have not this sealing and witnessing unto them had they this then they could with old Simeon say Lord let thy Servant depart in peace I can live and die comfortably when he hath thus seeen the Salvation of God Hence he is called the Spirit of Adoption which being sent into the hearts of the Godly makes them to cry Abba Father Gal. 4.6 Lastly The Spirit of God comforts them by blessing the Ordinances and making them successeful to them These are like Jonathans eating of honey like Elisha feeding himself to go a long journey The Gospel is a Gospel of comfort The Sacraments Seals of Comfort The Preaching of the Word instrumental to encrease joy Praier is an heaven to the Soul Now the Spirit of God blessing these to the godly soul doth thereby fill him with heavenly Consolations That as Christ in Praier had his countenance changed shining like the Sun and his garments with glorious Light and as Moses in his Communion with God had his face shining so as to dazle the eyes of his beholders Thus many times the children of God in these duties have soul-transfigurations and are so full of joy that they can scarcely bear it despising the pleasures of this world for such spiritual joy Thus you have heard it's Christs will we should have compleated joy in us because of the holy Ghost But in the next place if we consider Christ himself for what end he came into this world and what he hath wrought for us this makes it evident that Christ left nothing unwrought that might procure our joy for what are his three Offices but to procure our peace Did he not as Priest make an atonement for our sins Did he not as Prophet reveal the good pleasure of God about our Salvation Did he not as King subdue all our enemies Now what is the fruit of all this but joy and peace Therefore he is called our peace and the Prince of peace Isa 9. yea Is he not still our Advocate ever-living to make Intercession for us and can any other thing then honey distill from these sweet Combs Vse of Exhortation To the people of God Awe your selves with this Duty As Jonah said he did well to be angry so you think you do well to be thus immoderately grieved with Peter You bid Christ go from you because you are a sinner you pleade for your unbelief you argue for your troubles Is not this to oppose the comforting spirit of God within you Did not Judas murmure and cry but because there was no faith and holy joy therefore he became miserable 2 Cor. 7.10 you see there is a sorrow opposite to godly sorrow and that is when it is not in the manner God hath appointed There is a repentance to be repented of There
is a grief thou must be grieved for how many sad thoughts and tears will require more sad thoughts and tears Vse of Instruction on the contrary It 's Christs special will that all who live wickedly should have no comfort Wo to ye that laugh and there is no peace to the wicked Isa 57.21 SERMON LXXVIII The severall Sorts of Joy and the Nature of Spirituall Joy Shewing also how farre it transcends and differs from Worldly Joy JOHN 17.13 That they might have my Joy fulfilled in themselves THese words are the finall cause of Christs solemn prayer for his Disciples Wherein you have The Benefit it self described and the Manner of possessing of it The Benefit it self is My Joy This may be understood Actively and Passively Actively for that joy which Christ might take from his Disciples being preserved in purity of Doctrine and Unity amongst themselves Thus some understand it and parallel a like place Phil. 2 2· where Paul bids them fulfill his joy which was the joy he would take by seeing their happy agreement but because it 's said in the Text That this joy may be fulfilled in the Disciples themselves Therefore it is more consonant to understand it passively of that joy which the Disciples took in him and the benefits flowing from him So that it may be called Christs joy both effectively because he is the Authour and giver of it as also objectively because it is in him in divine and holy things not in the world much lesse in the pleasures of sin Now the Manner of possessing is that it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filled up that they might have a good measure of joy overflowing he would have every part of the soul filled with it and every kinde of joy yea degree of it some superficiall joy for the degree of it or some transient joy for the continuance of it doth not answer our Saviours prayer it must be filled up Lastly Here is the Subject recipient of it in themselves This say some is spoken oppositely to worldly joy to such as men take in the pleasures of the world these are but in the face in the countenance they are not cordial and hearty Observ 1. That there is a joy in Christ which his people are to have fulfilled in them As they are to be filled with grace so with consolations and one floweth from the other though not naturally It 's of great concernment to treat of this joy because the people of God look upon it as a thing above their reach They are convinced of repentance of humiliation but not of walking joyfully There is a three-fold Joy 1. A Naturall Joy which is an implanted affection in a man and of it self simply considered is not a sin 2. There is a Sinnefull Joy which runneth into two streams either when the Object is wholly unlawfull when it 's a forbidden Tree and we may not eat of it And thus to rejoyce in our evil doings to take delight in the wayes of wickednesse this is a wicked joy that will end in tormenting sorrow and it argueth a wretched distemper of the soul otherwise it would finde sinne to be terrible and bitter but through the corrupted constitution of the heart it comes about that they delight in sinne as distempered stomacks do in coales ashes or such drosse Again there is a sinnefull joy when the Object matter is lawfull but then we exceed in the measure in the bounds or limits we over-joy The water runnes over the bank and then it gets soyl and it 's as hard to rejoyce in these things and to sinne not as it is to be angry and sinne not 3. There is a gracious and an heavenly Joy when the soul delights it self in God and Christ in all heavenly Objects For though to wicked men these things are a burden yet to an heavenly heart they are the most connaturall Object They are the proper center of the soul as David often professeth his joy in the Lord It 's of this we are to speak of only we must inform you something of joy in the generall The Philosophers speak of a three-fold affection sutable to one another There is Love which is carried out to an Object that is good simply considered There is Desire which moveth to some good thing but absent and not yet obtained And then there is Joy which ariseth from the obtaining and possessing of it And answerable to these there are Divine Graces and supernatural works of Gods Spirit in the soul There is the Love of God which next to Faith is of the greatest glory and activity in the soul 2. There are Desires and earnest longings after God to which hunger and thirst a promise is made of being fully satisfied 3. There is Joy which ariseth from the enjoyment of God onely you must know there is Gaudium viae a joy we have while in the way to Heaven which admits of much increase and meeteth with much opposition and there is Gaudium Patriae a joy in Heaven where the soul will then be so filled that it cannot receive any more To know the nature of this Joy Consider First That the efficient cause of it is onely God The Spirit of God is called the Comforter as you heard because he alone poureth it into the heart as the Heavens onely give rain and it 's called Gal 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit which doth imply that it comes solely by Gods Spirit and that there is excellent sweetnesse in it Lusts are called the workes of the flesh but this with other Graces The fruit of the Spirit Hence it is that as in respect of Regeneration the Spirit bloweth where it listeth So also in respect of Consolation How many of Gods children walk with much consolation and abound in much joy And others again go bowed down and greatly tempted not obtaining comfort though they would give a world for it So that as the Husbandman cannot have rain when he would nor the Merchant winde when he would neither can the godly have comfort when they would as appeareth by David praying so earnestly for the Joy he had lost It 's the fruit of the Spirit Therefore joy doth not flow from Graces exercised as by a natural resultancy as heat doth from the fire and light from the Sunne but by Gods voluntary dispensation of it The Schoolmen use to say That a man doth not merit that is their proud phrase by rejoycing in God or good things but by his Love which was antecedent and from which joy they say floweth by a naturall necessity But the Scripture makes these two Love and Joy two distinct works of Gods Spirit and that they are separable experience confirmeth it for many men that are high in Grace are low in Comfort As the tall Mountains have few flowers on them or Mines of Gold little grasse covering them Secondly To this Christian Joy is required a knowledge of God and faith in him as revealed
be seen David saith At Gods right hand is fulnesse of joy Psa 16.11 If then the Soul have already fulnesse it doth not desire any other Object If a man have the Ocean he wants not the stream If a man have the Sun he needeth not the Candle Thus he that hath fulnesse of joy in God wanteth not the joy of other creatures Insomuch that he who hath this heavenly joy may be said to be in Heaven while he is here on earth No life comes so near to that of the glorified Saints in heaven as an holy life accompanied with this joy If there can be an heaven upon this Earth this is it This is the Mount of Transfiguration that changeth a mans heart and his countenance that makes him say It 's good to be here Oh what enemies are we to our selves Thou makest thy house thy chamber a prison yea an hell by thy distrustfull fears when every place would be an heaven 4. This Joy of Christ will exceedingly wean a mans heart from the world it will make him undervalue all these earthly things which the world so much admireth Psa 4.7 Thou hast put more gladnesse in my heart then in the time their Corn and Wine encreaseth If then the soul have more joy and gladnesse in Gods presence and in his favour then in all earthly contentments whatsoever no wonder if the heart he loose from the one and fixed upon the other As he that hath eaten honey findes an unsavoury taste in other things compartively or as he that hath stddfastly beheld the Sun is so dazeled with the lustre thereof that he cannot see other inferiour Objects Thus the heart that is once ravished with the sweetnesse and glory that is in God and Christ knoweth not how to stoop to these inferiour fading joys No man then sets so loose in heart from earthly Comforts as he that hath this heavenly joy Every thing tempts him to his losse Shall he lose his fatness and sweetnesse by embracing the Creatures 5. This Joy of Christ will facilitate all holy and religious actions They will make us think the time short and grudge the work of God is so soon over Your worldly joy is called pastime and thus is heavenly upon a better account When a man rejoyceth in the Sabbaths and cals them a delight then they do not as those worldly wretches in the Prophet Amos c. 8.5 say when will the time be over that we may be buying and selling There is nothing makes the duties of holinesse so burthensome to thee as want of joy if they were matter of delight thou wouldst with joy wish that the Sun would stand still be grieved to give over Isa 61.3 It 's called the Oyle of Joy as the Oyl makes the Wheel go speedily or the yoke easie so doth a joyfull heart The voluptuous man The worldly man thinks not the day or week long enough to enjoy his delights much lesse doth the godly man the time of enjoying of God Hence Eternity doth not glut the Saints in heaven and make them weary of God 6. This Christian Joy will bear up the heart above all afflictions and tribulations Thus Jam. 1. They are to account it all joy when they fall into tribulation and 1 Pet. 1.8 he speaketh of those who for the present were in heaviness through manifold temptations yet at that time did greatly rejoyce and that with joy unspeakable and full of glory They could glory over all their tribulations This joy you heard is compared to Oyl and that will alwaies keep us above the waters Oh how happy is it when thy Temptations do not devour thy joy but thy joy takes away the sting of thy Temptations This made the Martyrs and Confessors finde thorns grapes and thistles figs Oh we think that it 's impossible ever for such weak and infirm wretches as we are to go through such Tryals as the Godly have done but if we had their joy it would be no more to us then it was to them 7. Joy as it is participated in this life encreaseth more hungring and desire after the object we desire to have more of it still Take any Object of delight which we do not perfectly enjoy and oh how it quickens and stirs up the appetite to have more still for although perfect joy doth fully satiate the desire and extinguish all thirst because as Aquinas saith well Gaudium se habet ad desiderium sicut quies ad motum and so when the stone is come to the center it moveth no further yet because in this life we have not a perfect fruition of God only have some bunches of the Grapes of Canaan not Canaan it self Therefore the sweetnesse we have in God or Christ doth more stir up the desire after God as you see in David those inchoate enjoyments of God did make him restlesse and impatient for further Communion with him Hence David exhorteth to taste how good God is if once we had but an experimental sweetnesse of the Excellency of his love we should still be breathing after him as David Psal 119. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to him at all times But especially the heavenly joy produceth this admirable effect so contrary to flesh and bloud that it makes a man look for the coming of Christ and hastening it in his praiers and desires as that which will compleat his joy Here sorrow and joy will be mixed together but there is pure and unmixed joy and that to all Eternity Oh what a wilderness what a place of banishment is this world to such a tempered heart This is the valley of Tears and that is the mountain of joys Now to all this may be Objected That it cannot be a Christians duty to be alwaies rejoycing for many times they lie under sad Temptations especially there are times and seasons when God cals to mourning Is any man afflicted let him pray Is any merry let him sing Psalms And Solomon of old said There is a time to weep and a time to laugh David also saith Psa 126.5 Such as sow in tears shall reap in joy which implieth a time of tears only To this Consider these things 1. It may not be denied but that there are some times wherein God doth in a peculiar manner call to the duty of mourning fasting and humiliation Insomuch that the Prophet Isay complaineth that when God called to mourning they went to their mirth and jollities Isa 21.12 And thus when God shall plainly afflict thee for any sins thou hast committed as David with the losse of his Childe for his Uncleanesse In such cases it is our duty to be humbled and to mourn under his hand But these humiliations and fastings lie in the abstinence of that natural and lawful joy we might take in the Creatures not in spiritual Joy In daies of humiliation it 's a duty to rejoyce in the Lord and such joy will like fire melt and thaw the heart This joy that
God that hath changed my blackmore-skin that hath given me another heart when Paul met with wretched adversaries that blasphemed him and the Gospel he preached No doubt but he reflected upon himself I was such a mad blasphemer once I persecuted the godly once I delighted in cruel vexings of them heretofore And now how great is Gods goodnesse to me that he hath had mercy on me If thou blessest God that he made thee not a Serpent a Toad or that thou wert not a natural fool or a mad man How much rather that he hath not given thee up to such a vile malicious disposition The next thing is to give Cautions and Arguments of admonition to the wicked who thus hate Christ and his Disciples And First Let them know it 's a causless hatred yea it 's an hatred where the greatest love and delight should be And that upon two grounds For 1. They are such who would bring them to everlasting salvation if they were not prejudiced their exemplary life is it not a light shining before you that beholding their godly holy and pure conversation you may be thereby wone to glorifie God The counsels admonitions and spiritual help they would vouchsafe to thee should make thee prize them more then all outward comforts Do ye love such as can make you rich preferre you to places of honour supply your necessities Oh how welcome should such be to you that would give you many an helping lift to Heaven Why then is thy hatred so causless Is it because they desire thy salvation Is it because they pray for thee they mourn in secret for so David professed Rivers of waters ranne down his eyes because men kept not Gods Law Wert thou not a stone and adamant these things would turn thy heart towards him 2. They are such for whose sake thou enjoyest many blessings It 's because of them the ship thou art in is not drowned God keepeth up the world in reference to them therefore the hedges are kept because of the Corn in the ground The innocent deliver the Island for Lot's sake Sodom was spared a long season These stand in the gap when Gods overflowing tempest would carry all before it Secondly Consider that thou dost not hurt them yea thou increasest that which makes them so hatefull to thee For by this means they walk more closely with God they separate themselves from the world It 's a mercy to them they have this hatred otherwise they might comply too much and ensnare their souls and symbolize with mens wickedness Now how absurd is thy hatred by that thou makest them more holy and so advancest that which is so abominable to thee Thou art to them as a fyle to the rusty iron thou art to them as Lazarus dogs tongues were to lick his sores whole thou art Gods scullion to wipe and keep his vessel clean who would not think thou shouldst rather do as that persecutour that would not let him die saying he envied him the honour of a Martyr Thy very hatred should make thee leave hating and opposing because hereby thou makest the godly man more glorious and happy Thirdly Consider hereby thou hurtest thy self and not them As the dog that bites the stone for rage or a man that shoots an arrow at a brazen wall and that recoileth back and kils the Archer thy hatred thy cursings will fall back upon thy head It 's not the godly man only but thy self and thy own soul thou hatest See whether those many curses and miseries thou hast be not the fruit of thy hatred thou art a tormentor and troubler to thy self Though Achan troubled Israel yet he troubled himself and his own house also Fourthly Remember that it 's a devilish thing thou art more wicked then a man useth to be Not to obey or yeeld thy self up to godlinesse is a grievous sin but to oppose is a devilish thing Thou dost the work of the devil if he were incarnate he would speak and do as thou dost 5. Remember the woful and heavy judgements which remarkably follow such men Who ever hardened himself against the Lord and prospered This Christ meant when he said he that stumbled at this stone should fall but upon whom this stone shall fall he should be beaten in pieces Christ will fall on such that oppose him and they shall not have the least mercy Vse Doth the world hate Gods people then admire the goodness and power of God that keeps up a poor Church in the midst of such violence that preserveth a few Lambs among so many Wolves Bears and Lions in such a Wildernesse as they are in We justly admire Gods power in putting bounds to the sea that it overfloweth not the Land much more admirable was that goodness of God in preserving the Israelites when the waters were on every side Oh how much more is God to be praised that keeps his people with any safety any liberty Should wicked men have their will food and raiment and life would be thought too good for thee SERMON LXXXIV Of Conformity to Christ in not being of the world And in his Sufferings JOH 17.14 Because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world THE Last particular considerable in this Verse is the exemplarity of Christ or the Disciples conformity unto Christ They are not of the world as I am not of the world Which words are repeated in the 16. verse and therefore have some weighty and great matter contained in them In the words we are to take notice 1. What it is to be of the world 2. How Christ was not 3. The similitude between Christ and his Disciples herein To be of the world is to partake of the manners life and conversation of the world to have the spirit of the world in a man and this is oppsite to the Spirit of God and to all heavenly things so that both the inward inclination and outward conversation is wholly worldly as our Saviour saith he that is of the earth is earthy That as bodies in whom the element of the Earth is predominant doe naturally fall downward so that soul which is thus principled and habituated in a worldly manner doth minde only earthly things this is to be of the world To be in the world is another thing Our Saviour and the Disciples were in the world but not of it A man may be in the water for some good end but the fish are properly of the water because that is their Element and they have a watery Constitution 2. Christ is said Not to be of the world Now that is a higher degree then the Disciples can be for Christ as God is no waies of the world and then take him as man yet being conceived by the holy Ghost he was not of the world in a natural way 1 Cor. 15.47 The Second Adam is the Lord from Heaven opposed to the first Adam who is said to be of
be kept from sinne and all evil in our Afflictions and Troubles then from the afflictions themselves This is a speciall Truth for whose heart is not troubled about the Affliction more then the Sinne Whose heart is not more upon the passive evil he suffers then the active evil he doth Whose soul is made so spiritual that no vexation or pain and losse in body or Estate doth affect him so greatly as the sinful distempers and troubles of his soul doth But to open this Consider 1. That it's Gods special Gift and his power only that keeps his people from sinne in their afflictions For did not God sanctifie Did not God teach as well as chasten the Evil of Sinne and the Evil of Punishment would alwaies go together the time of our trouble and the time of our transgressions would never be separated When David could say That out of very Faithfulnesse God had afflicted him that before he was afflicted he went astray This was wholly from the Grace of God for how many in their distresse are like Ahaz that then did worse then ever before for certainly Afflictions to wicked men are like the fire or pouncings to ill and unsavoury Herbs the more they are medâ—ed with the more they stink As the damned in hell their Torments make them rage and blaspheme against God Thus it is with the wicked on the Earth their present troubles draw out their corruptions They are more impatient more discontented and never more evil then when they have the greatest cause to be exceeding good But to the Godly it is otherwise that light which burneth the wicked enliveneth the Godly as the fire in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace did lose the bonds that the Worthies were bound in and made them at Liberty when it consumed the ungodly Thus Afflictions many times set the Godly at Liberty from their sinnes loose their hearts more from the world but how comes this about it 's the meer Gift of God Did not God support as Christ did Peter in these waves we would presently be over-whelmed Oh then reflect on thy self Hath any trouble Have any Afflictions made thee more humble and more upright Hath Beleeving outed thee from the world and earthly things know that it's God that hath kept thee from the evil Secondly The Scripture speaks of it as a special favour when God will be with us in our Afflictions so that we shall not be left to Temptations Therefore we are constantly to pray Mat. 6.13 that God would deliver us from Temptation Now although prosperity and outward mercies are a Temptation yet the Scripture doth for the most part call Afflictions only Temptations because we are so hardly able to keep our Integrity and holinesse in them We can hardly overcome flesh and bloud or conquer our selfish Inclinations so as to lie humbly and with deep Resignation into Gods hand Oh then what great thoughts of heart should there be that such a Condition such a streight such an Affliction be not a Temptation to thee that God do not leave thee in it It 's a special mercy to be kept from a Temptation but a greater in it This is miraculous like those that were in the fire and yet not burnt There is not a more comfortable evidence of Gods love when thou shalâ—be bruised and broken with many afflictions and yet they are not able to stir up corruptions in thy heart Never forget to pray That as Temptations and Afflictions shall come on thee so Gods sutable Grace and tender Preservation may accompany thee Though Christ prayed thus for the Apostles to be kept from the evil yet Peter gradually though not totally or finally was left by God in his Temptation when he was surprised with fear how grievously doth he deny Christ with bitter curses and swearings Here Peter was not quite from evil though so farre as Christ prai'd for him he was preserved viz. that his faith might not fail Oh by this sad instance we see if God withdraw his Arm from us how dreadful our Estate would be That thou hast not blasphemed God and his Providence and charged God foolishly in thy streights blesse and praise God for it and remember that self confidence is the great sinne to provoke God to leave thee to the evil of temptations as we see in Peter and Hezekiah Take heed of going out of Gods arms of letting go his hand or provoking him any way Thirdly Afflictions and Tribulations do not of themselves make us holy but they work according to the subject exercised with them Indeed naturally to every man unregenerate they draw out corruption and sinne and Physick to an incurable disease doth but hasten Death and fire to wood and such like Combustibles doth not refine but consume The more a muddied Pool is stirred the more noisome it is and thus it would work even in a godly man did not grace live within him as well as sinne Yet even to a godly man it 's a very difficult thing not to have the waves of his heart rise high when these windes and tempests have blown upon them and for this reason it is that the more troubles are upon us the greater assistance and discoveries of grace we need and therefore there is more comfort in this praier of Christ then the heart can conceive Here is a provision made for thee in that which thou dost most want for if the least temptation the least Evil fall on thee if that fall upon thy heart it will presse thee to hell should not God support and sanctifie it a gnat will choak thee as well as a Camel God only moveth on these deeps and makes them fruitful In the next place Let us consider the Grounds and Reasons why it 's more blessed to have preservation from sin the evil of an affliction then from the affliction And First Because an Affliction is but a particular temporall Evil but Sinne is an infinite universall Evil Sicknesse depriveth of Health Poverty of Wealth and thus every Streight doth but oppose some temporall particular Good that is the Creatures Good But Sinne is an Universall Evil it depriveth of God and it divesteth of all Glory and Happinesse so that as Anselme said It ought to be our Resolution That if Hell were on one side and Sinne on the other we ought rather to choose Hell-Torments then Sinne and the Reason is because Sinne is an Offence and a Dishonour against God God is infinitely more then the Creature and his Glory and Honour is more worthy then all we are It 's better the whole World should be annihilated and destroyed and come to nothing in all its Comforts then that the least glimpse of the Glory of God should be Eclipsed Oh then whosoever had rather sinne then be afflicted he preferreth himself above God he preferreth himself above Christ and he sets up his own particular Safety and Security above Gods Glory Oh then that we could be more afraid of Sinne then we
be risen with Christ seek those things that are above and set your affections upon them Oh this is a great matter when not only our minde and tongue but our affections are set on things above The Affections are like wings to the bird like fire among the Elements it assimilates and turneth every thing into fire Thus where the beleever affectionately remembers he is not of the world he cryeth out as the Maid ready to be ravished under all inordinate and worldly thoughts What do you come to overwhelm me for He runneth away as Joseph from his Mistresse how can I do this and sinne against God The Apostle speaks in the Name of all Beleevers Phil. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven Thus as the Sunne in Heaven though the Beams of it shine upon Dunghils and noisome Jakes yet it 's not defiled So the Godly though they live in a noisome sinful and wicked world yet they are not stained therewith because their Conversation is in Heaven and as the Bird as long as she soars on high is out of all danger from the snares and gins of the Fowler Thus the Childe of God as long as his thoughts and his affections are kept above and are out of reach they receive no defilement from these things below Oh then let the Beleever remember he is not of this world and this will inflame him it will be a fiery Chariot to carry him up into Heaven But because to be heavenly-minded is a general and particular things do most inform and affect Singularia sunt quae pungunt Let us branch it out in particulars and shew you wherein a Godly man remembring he is not of the world doth expresse his heavenly Conversation and that emptieth it self into these streams First He mortifieth and moderateth his heart and affections even to lawfull things 1 Cor. 7. The time is short Those that marry must be as if they married not Grace doth alter the pallat of Nature so that like old Barzillai they take not that delight which once they had in the comforts of the world Nature is content with few things but Grace with the one necessary thing which is God himself If then thy heart be like a water overrunning the banks and so be muddied stop thy self and remember thou art not of this world and therefore thou darest not over-love or over-desire or go beyond thy bounds Thou hast indeed these mercies but as if thou hadst them not Truly this is an excellent discovery of an heavenly heart when this Ivy doth not so cleave to thee as to consume thee When thou canst so eat drink and enjoy all earthly and worldly Comforts that yet thou do not distemper and disease thy soul Secondly An Heavenly Heart is in these worldly things when they are made but the secondary and the lesse principall They are the Stars not the Sun This our Saviour makes a fundamentall qualification to every Disciple He that loveth Father or Mother more then me is not worthy of me Matth. 10.37 The Godly man therefore hath Christ lying nearest to his heart There must be nothing above him equall to him as David expresseth this predominancy often Whom have I in Heaven but thee And My Soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thee at all times And God was his Portion The Light of his Countenance was better then Life and all Earthly Comfort If therefore thou remembrest thou art not of this world Earthly things shall be admitted only to the Court of the Temple not to thy heart which is the Holy of Holies They are kept at the bottome of the Hill not suffered to come up to the Mount There is no man if not truly regenerated though never so great in parts and expressions of Religion that giveth Christ the better part of his Soul That gives the Superiority to him As in the Sacrifices of old all the fat was to be burnt unto God Oh then awaken thy self in this matter if thou art not of the world then God and Christ are in the uppermost room of thy heart They are more unto thee then ten thousand Creatures To say thou arâ— no prophane person no wicked person is a poor and a small matter But art thou one to whom Christ is more then Wealth then honour and all Greatnesse Thirdly The man that remembers he is not of the world dareth not sinne against God to obtain the greatest advantages here below This doth necessarily follow from the former For if once he be so heavenly as to love God and Christ better then all then he will do nothing that he may lose them He will not be so foolish as to take Dirt and to lose Gold Hence those Hearers that had the Cares of the world choaking the good Seed and those Apostates that fell off in Persecution all these did serve Mammon and not God for when it comes to this here is an offer and choice either I must lose God or this worldly advantage If thou wilt take the present world and leave Christ this cannot stand with an Heavenly heart I do not speak of some particular passages for the Flesh sometimes overcometh the Spirit but of an habituall and constant course Therefore it was a full discovery that Moses was not of the world when he chose the Reproaches of Christ rather then all the Treasures of Egypt This an earthly heart would never have done Fourthly The man that remembers he is not of the world desires not neither rejoyceth in worldly things any further then thereby he is made more serviceable to God and instrumental te his glory All these earthly things they are Talents and we are called Stewards Now the Steward looks not upon the money and Rents he receiveth as his he rejoyceth not in them as his own He is to improve all for the best to his Masters use Thus the heavenly Christian doth This Health This Life These parts These Comforts they are none of mine I am but a Steward I must give an account what improvement I have made of them This is a notable discovery of thy heavenlinesse when thou art thus affected Fifthly He that Considers he is not of this world his Heavenly-mindednesse is discovered in that though he be in the midst of all these businesses yet he labours to keep his heart holy and fervent His Shop doth not dead his heart his worldly affairs do not dull the Edge of his Spirit but he can delight in God call him Father be fervent and effectuall in Duties Not but that the most Heavenly man which is findes and complaineth of much deadnesse and dullnesse They can be affected with worldly things but not Heavenly onely they are sensible and complain of this dead heart That as they mourn over a dead Friend a dead Childe so they do over a dead heart onely herein they strive and labour that no worldly thing may any whit abate their Affections to God That they
Art thou not guilty of many omissions of duties Thou hast not reproved mourned prayed for others Thou hast not done that spirituall and temporall good thou shouldst Paul excused the Philippians that they would have done good but they wanted an opportunity Phil. 4.16 But how many times have we an opportunity and we want hearts John could write to that pious Gaius his Host 3 John vers 2. to wish that his body may be in health even as his soul prospered What a glorious commendation was this It was better with his soule then his outward man Now wee cannot say thus of our selves because we are not diligent and industrious to doe more then we doe Certainly every godly man may be astonished when he shall consider how broad the Commandements of God are and how narrow his heart is growne in doing more then thou hast done 2. Thou mayest be sanctified extensively by the Relations that thou doest take upon thee when made an Husband a Wife a Minister a Magistrate here thy holinesse is to extend further God requireth more of thee and that godlinesse which would have served thee before will not now While the Apostles were private men they needed not that Sanctification which they were to have as Apostles Hence we see the Apostle diligently in his Epistles informing Husbands Wives Children and Servants of what they have to doe And certainly the grace of our Relations is an excellent evidence of our holinesse in the main If the Heathen could say He was not Bonus vir that was not Bonus civis not a good man that was not a good Citizen So may we say He is not a good Christian that is not a good Minister a good Magistrate a good Husband a good Servant The Apostle bids Archippus fulfill his Ministry And thus Ministers are exhorted to look to the flock over which God hath set them Oh then see if thou mayest not be greatly sanctified in thy Relations if they may not be filled with more Wisdome Patience and exemplarity of Conversation Alexander wept because there was no more Worlds he wanted work But to be sure thou hast more then ever thou canst turn unto Every Relation requires a new grace or a new exercise of grace So that here is no time for thee to sit down or to be still as if all thy enemies were conquered Thirdly We may be more sanctified in the deeper radication of Grace in our hearts It 's a Philosophicall Dispute Whether accidents are intensed by addition of degrees or a deeper radication of them in the subject We may conclude That grace in the heart is both wayes improved and for the rooting of it in the soul This is so great a matter that the temporary believer is in this respect as well as others mainly differenced from the true believer Though they had some root yet they had not root enough and the unwise builder did not dig deep enough for this therefore the Apostle prayeth even in reference to such as were already rooted in Christ that they may be more rooted Colos 2.7 Rooted and built up in him And to this purpose are all those Exhortations of being stedfast and immoveable of being strengthened stablished settled 1 Pet. 5 10. as there the Apostle prayeth remrkably There is no man hath laid so sure a foundatinn but he may make it more sure No man is so established but he may be more established Is it not a terrible thing to see the fall of many Cedars in Lebanon of many Starres from Heaven And why is all this They were never established deep enough they never took more root downwards like unwise builders they attended to make a glorious upper-room and stairs in the house but mattered not the foundation and certainly though the childe of God even of the lowest form be so farre rooted that he shall never fall away yet this establishment and stedfastness of his is not by his own power and strength it 's God that keeps him neither is it continued but in the constant daily exercise of holy means Oh then every day be indeavouring after this Lord grace is not rooted in me enough it 's too superficiall Oh that I could say I no longer live but Christ within me Oh that it were like leaven diffusing it's power over me the Promise is Jer. 31. I will write my Law in thine inwards parts in the midst of them So that grace shall be habituated in thee and sink as deep as ever original sin did in thee Fourthly We may be more sanctified Subjectively that is every part of the soul may be more throughly sanctified every day as in that place 1 Thess 5.23 Hence to the converted Ephesians the Apostle exhorts as you heard both a further renovation of the minde and of the will and affections Ephes 4.23 24. In the mind How greatly may we be more sanctified have more illumination more heavenly knowledge of God and Christ Thou art to grow in knowledge more and more Paul was once like a childe but he became a man The Apostle Heb. 6. doth severely reprove those that continued babes and were not carried on to further perfection It 's both a shame and a sinne that thou hast yet no more knowledge and heavenly understanding by the Ministry thou hast enjoyed so many years Again the minde is to be more sanctified by a more firm and solid faith the Apostle then directs That they should be stedfast and sound in the faith not tossed up and down with every winde of doctrine Their increase of faith may be both in the Objects believed though for the things necessary to salvation the knowledge of them by the Spirit of God is promised to every believer yet there the superstructions in Religion which according to the means we enjoy we are to believe Therefore the Apostle 1 Thess 3.10 sheweth his earnest prayer to come to the Thessalonians that he might perfect what was lacking in their faith which could not be meant in regard of foundations but superstructures not essentials but additionals Thus they are to grow in the doctrine of believing but then in the manner of believing that is the proper way for all to grow To believe more certainly more firmly more practically Therefore though the fundamentals of Religion cannot be augmented No necessary truth to salvation can be revealed which was not known before yet it may be more strongly and clearly believed And this is the end of all Authors that write against Heretiques of all sorts not to bring a new Religion into the world or new Articles of Faith but to cause a more clear and firm assent to those things which the subtilty of Heretiques had obscured Further Their mindes are to be more sanctified by holy thoughts heavenly-Meditation For what godly man doth not perceive vain thoughts creeping into his soul as the Froggs did into Pharaoh's Chamber whether he will or no and as for a fixed heavenly-Meditation it 's an
Graece This distinction is greatly to be marked for a Christian through bodily distempers and old Age may decay in parts not have the memory nor the activity or the hot affections he had once and yet be a more mortified and solid Christian for Grace will not cure a man of bodily Diseases or of Old Age and because the Soul doth work dependantly upon the body as the body it 's Instrument doth decay so are the Souls Operations impaired thereby But be not discouraged this is not a decay in Grace it 's only in parts and gifts or a bodily constitution which though comfortable mercies yet are not Essentials to grace On the other side there are too many that encrease in Knowledge that are enlarged in parts but decay in grace yea their corruptions and lusts grow with them 4. Distinguish between a further Sanctification in respect of the solidity of it and the affectionatenesse of it Every decay in affection is not presently an abating in grace for godlinesse lyeth chiefly in the minde and will If these be solidly established and really bent for God Though affections be not passionately and sensiby put forth yet thou maist grow a more sound and firm Christian 5. There is difference between a further Sanctification and the certainty and evidence of it Many a Christian groweth in holinesse yet he is not sensible of his growth as in nature a man groweth yet doth not perceive it What our Saviour spake of the spreading and growing of the Gospel is true also in respect of Sanctification Mar. 4.27 It 's as if a man should cast Seed in the ground and should sleep and rise night and day and the Seed spring up and grow he knoweth not how Thus the godly they shoot out in grace when yet they do not perceive it yea sometimes they are tempted to the clean contrary 6. Grant it be true that thou art lesse sanctified then before thou hast decaied sadly Let this then quicken thee up to make the more haste for the future Let this stumbling make thee get ground Sometimes a David a Peter are left to fall that they may rise and go the faster After some diseases the childe groweth more then ever The Traveller that hath overslept himself doubles his pace Thus let thy very decaies do good to thee In the third place Let us Consider the Reasons why that it 's not enough to be sanctified but we must be more and more holy every day And 1. We are not sanctified to stand still there We are yet in the way we are not yet come to our journeys end Hence our Christianity whilst in this Life is compared to running in a Race We are not come to the term and end of our Sanctification when we are first converted We are but put into the right way to happinesse we are but beginners We have much work to doe ere we shall receive a Crown of Glory You see that glorious Saint Paul who laboured more then they all yet Phil. 3.14 I presse towards the mark forgetting the things that are behinde 2. We are further to be Sanctified because there remain Reliques of corruption still to be subdued Sanctifying grace doth expell sinne but by degrees Even as the heat by degrees doth expell the cold Now the Apostle tels us Gal. 6. what is in the hearts of all the godly There are lusts rebelling against the Spirit and there is a law of sinne in our members If then Sanctifying grace do not encrease sin will encrease If we be not further sanctified we shall be further corrupted The heart of a man is immediatly susceptible of one of these either grace or sin If then there be not more grace there will be more sin you cannot stand at a stay If you swim not against the stream the stream will bear thee down 3. This is the end of all those afflictions and chastisements which God laieth upon us that we should be more sanctified John 15. Every branch is purged that it may bring forth more fruit These are like the compost laid on the ground these are the plowing and the harrowing of the ground to make it more fruitful The fire is to make the gold more pure from drosse The winnowing is to separate the Chaff from the Wheat and thus are all Gods Dispensations which come in Severity to thee They are to sanctifie thee more to make thee more Heavenly-minded 4. This is one great end of the Word and the Preaching thereof Sanctifie them by thy Word and Eph 4. We are to be edified to a full stature in Christ by the Officers in his Church So that as the Sun and the Clouds help to make the Ground fruitful as the Winde filling the Sails of the Ship makes it go more swiftly So should the Ministry and Ordinances Oh what knowledge and grace shouldest thou have attained to by this time Let thy profiting appear to all as Paul said to Timothy 5. The sweetnesse and excellency of grace if once tasted of should make thee insatiable to have more Shall the hydropical man the more he drinketh the more desire it and the earthly man the more wealth he hath be the more covetous of it What a shame then is it if the more gostlinesse thou hast thou art not the more desirous still to have more 6. It 's Gods promise that such who are godly shall grow more holy Isa 40.29 30 51. They shall renew they shall mount up like Eagles So Hos 14.6 7. That as it is a curse upon the wicked to grow worse and worse so it 's a blessing to the godly to grow better If God will blesse their outward store make their oyl encrease much more their graces Vse of Exhortation to stir up your selves in holinesse Endeavour after more grace then thou hast yet oh bewail thy leannesse thy barrennesse In how many things maist thou be bettered still Thou dost greatly deceive thy self if thou thinkest now I may sit down I have gone far enough Vse 2. to confute corrupt Opinion of most men that do not like this forwardnesse and strictnesse in the way to Heaven Can a man be too godly then he may be too happy as well and have too much of Heaven Doth not our Saviour pray here for his Disciples sanctified already yet to be more sanctified Do we not daily pray that Gods grace may come more into our hearts why then are we displeased to see it doth encrease SERMON XCI Of the Causes of Sanctification and in particular of Gods Word as the Instrumentall Cause JOHN 17.17 Sanctifie them by thy truth thy Word is Truth WE are now come to the Manner or rather the Instrumentall Cause of our Sanctification and that is Truth Sanctifie them by thy truth Some understand this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly sincerely and so those that limit this Sanctification to their Ministerial Separation for to preach the Word of God
most powerfull means of grace are It was thus with the Jews Col. 6. who enjoyed besides the ordinary Ministry of their Priests the instructions of extraordinary Prophets and yet the truth of God did not sanctifie them But go saith God to the Prophet make their eyes blinde and their hearts hard and this our Saviour did apply to their posterity also who enjoyed Christ himself and saw all the wonderfull miracles he did This is a dreadfull and terrible thing to consider of when in stead of sanctifying God shall say Harden them blinde them and make them more wicked by the truth It 's not the Word worketh thus of it self but wicked hearers through their unbelief and unprofitableness provoke God to give them up to believe a lie and for the abuse of heavenly light they are given up to vile affections To many cursed sins which is a greater judgment then to be cast into the mouth of wilde beasts for they will only devoure the body but these will damn the soul Vse of Direction to all the people of God whose burden and grief it is that they have no more holiness who cry out like the horsleech It 's not enough and their souls refuse all comfort because they cannot climb up this hill to Heaven faster let such be directed to take the right way How willingly is the earthly man ready to hear how he may get more wealth and the languishing man how he may get more health and strength Why then shouldst not thou rejoyce to know which is the way to purifie the heart more Few know the divine efficacy of Gods Word but such who set themselves to get the vertue of it And that this may be instrumentall to your Sanctification In the first place Remember faith without which it can do no more good then excellent medicines if they be not applied set faith a work and then the word of God will powerfully work upon thee It 's with thee as thou believest Believe and those high mountains of lusts shall be thrown down 2. Bring an humble tender and trembling heart at the teaching of it Such an heart King Josias had and he is commended for it yea Ezra 9.4 it 's the character of the godly to tremble at his Word The hard heart no more then the hard Rock can receive the seed sown into it 3. It 's not enough to receive the Word of God at first but keep it there The Apostle Peter cals it the ingraffed Word the Word that turneth us into the nature of it that we are walking Bibles as great Schollers are called walking Libraries David said He had hid Gods word in his heart This is the leaven that will diffuse it self 4. Rest not in the bare hearing but joyn earnest and fervent prayer that the Spirit of God may teach inwardly while the Word doth outwardly Vse 2. Of Instruction How terrible a thing it is to see men grow more wicked and ungodly by how much the more plentifully they enjoy the Word that the Word should work contrary to it's nature upon thee that this light should put out thy eyes that this life should bring thee to death Oh the rivers of water that should run out of our eyes for this matter and yet is there any more common judgment then this Oh bewail and cry out for fear of it Lord every thing I take doth me more hurt SERMON XCII Of the Truth of the Scriptures JOH 17.17 Thy Word is Truth THis is a Description or Explication of what was meant by Truth Thy Word is Truth which is a Proposition Wherein you have 1. The Subject 2. The Predicate The Subject is described by its Name and Nature with the propriety thereof Thy Word The Word of God is sometimes called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It 's called Gods Word because spoken by him and that two waies Either 1. Immediately when God himself spake as unto the Patriarchs of old Or 2. Mediately when he inspired the holy Prophets and made them to publish his Word It 's called at other times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Scripture is given by Inspiration 2 Tim. 3.16 So Search the Scriptures and in many other places This is a Description of Gods Word from the accidentall form of it as it is put into writing Sometimes God did govern his Church by his Word as revealed only Thus it was with the Church at first In this latter Age he guides it by the Scriptures only There is no other Word of God but what is written In Christs time there was both for there were the Books of the Old Testament and they were Gods written Word and what Christ while on the Earth did with his own mouth speak to the Church that was the Revealed Word and Will of God We reade not that Christ wrote any thing but once upon the Ground and what that was though there are many and severall Conjectures yet none can certainly tell But what Christ spake and did the Evangelists afterwards being guided infallibly by the divine Spirit of God did commit to Writing Object If then you ask What Word of God it is our Saviour doth here mean I answer Both the Word that was written the Scripâ—ures that were the Oracles of God committed to the Jews and that Word which he did manifest to his Disciples of which he had spoken ver 6. Some indeed by Word understand Christ and it 's true that Christ is the Essential Word of God and so also the Essential Truth but the Context doth evidence it that he speaks of the Revealed and Preached Word Now this is called Gods Word because whether immediately delivered by God or commanded to be written It 's still Gods Word Speaking and Writing are but accidentall to it It 's the same Essentiall Word as it is the same man though he alter his Garment and the same wine though put in divers Vessels The Word of God written ought with as much Faith and Reverence to be received as if God did immediately speak it from Heaven and though it seem incredible yet our Saviour confirmeth it Luke 16.31 that he who doth not beleeve the Scriptures the Word of God written would not beleeve though there were miraculous waies of publishing it In the next place we have the Predicate its Truth Interpreters judge this to be taken out of the Psalm 119.151 They are therefore said to be Truth not true in the Abstract to shew the Fulnesse and Universality of Truth in them Obs That the Word of God is Truth This Doctrine if beleeved may work wonderfull changes in the mindes and lives of men for Certainly the Foundation of all Heresie and Impiety is because Gods Word is not received as true In the Scripture it is often called the Word of Truth Colos 1.5 2 Timoth. 2.15 James 1.18 And sometimes Truth in the Abstract 1 Peter 1.22 2 Peter 2.2 To Open this Consider That it 's not my purpose
say here is a greater then a Pythagoras here Deus dixit Therefore observe the Prophets they do often repeat this Thus saith the Lord because nothing could amaze and humble their hearers so much as that God said it and indeed when once it 's received as Gods truth then the heart doth readily obey as 1 Thess 2.13 you may there see wherein the truth preached doth work in it's due and proper manner even when it 's received not as the word of man but of God Divine truth will have divine operations but when received as mans truth it hath but humane effects such as Tullies Orations or Demosthenes had upon their auditors which is like the influence of the Moon that doth not give true heat and life but the word of God works like the Sun not only in respect of penetrating light reaching into all the inwards of the soul but also vivifical heat It makes men live a spiritual and heavenly life whereas moral truths help only to an external honesty It 's true that which Ambrose said Omnis veritas est à Spiritu sancto Every truth is of the holy Ghost even natural and humane truths are But as God is the author of nature and yet of grace in a more special way so the Spirit of God is the author of all truth but in a more peculiar manner of Scripture truths Therefore all Scripture is said to be given by inspiration 2 Tim. 3.16 Consider then the truths we deliver you out of Gods word are his truth Thus saith the Lord against the heretical person Thus saith the Lord against the prophane person Oh if it were only men that say thus it might be easily rejected but it 's God that speaks it and therefore none may oppose 2. Because it's Gods truth therefore it 's infallible it 's so certain that we can never be deceived whosoever believed according to Scripture and lived according to Scripture that a man was never confounded or ashamed he will never have cause to wish Oh that he had taken another way Oh that I had done otherwise Thus David Psal 119. Then I shall not be confounded when I have respect to all thy Commandments Have a conscientious respect to Gods Word in thy Religion and in thy conversation this will prove infallible this is the Israelites cloud and pillar upon their Tabernacle we are to go when that goeth we are to stand still when that stands still This is the Star that will certainly guide us to Christ All divine faith is infallible in Philosophy in humane Authorities we may be deceived but in the Scripture we cannot Venture all upon the truth of Scripture it will never deceive thee when thou wilt finde Satan and the world liars 3. It 's an eternal Truth Even as God doth abide for ever so will his truth Mat. 5. Heaven and earth shall sooner pass away then one iota or tittle of it Truth will abide when these heavens and earth shall not abide at least not in the same manner as they are now and excellently to this purpose speaks 1 Pet. 1.23 24 25. being born of the incorruptible word of God for all flesh is grass but the word of God abideth for ever and this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached to you Scripture-truth abideth for ever whereas all errours and false ways though they have overflowed for a while yet presently they withered again What is become of the Manichees Arrians Pelagians Nestorians and those thousands of Heretiques They had a time of glory a shew in the world but then died neither lamented nor desired Scripture-truth will prevail even as Christ the essential Truth As the Sun will at last get the better of all clouds and foggy mists and cannot alwayes be in an eclypse so it 's with the truth of God All errors are like men mortal they pass away if any error be so strong as to hold to threescore years it begins like man to be full of pain and sorrow They are compared to hay and stubble these will not long continue They are like Davids rich and great men in the world like the grass upon the house top not only homo but haereticus est bulla Truth will continue in the field when all errours will lie prostrate and conquered and have no other burial but that of an Ass as that despised King had 4. It 's an universal Truth within the bounds of Religion I do not say that all philosophical and mathematical truths are in the Scripture but all soul-saving truths are as 2 Tim. 3. The Scriptures are able to make thee wise to salvation There is nothing for doctrine or for practice but that can guide thee This sufficiency and perfection of Scripture-truth we do justly maintain against the Papists who as they foolishly set up their lighted tapers at noon-day so they add their traditions to the Scripture but it 's often said we may neither adde to it nor detract from it therefore it 's abundantly sufficient Now it 's good with Tertullian to adore this fulness of the Scripture for thy faith and doctrine to believe as thou readest to worship God as thou readest As the childe in the womb is nourished only by the mother through her nourishing Thus the Church of God is instructed nourished and enlivened only from God by the Scriptures We read the Manna fell from heaven but there fell a dew before it to constringe and bind the earth Thus truth fals from God but the Scripture is like the dew to keep it together that it may be for our use Let not then tradition custom antiquity multitudes nor such Gorgons heads lifted up by men terrifie thee but follow the word in thy faith and worship where that stands still do not thou go further where that goeth do not thou stand still And as for faith so for thy life know that hath all practical truth in it necessary to salvation that teacheth and that only how to repent how to be converted how to believe in Christ how to pray how to hear how to be in the world yet to have a conversation in heaven That teacheth thee how to be godly in thy relations a godly father a godly childe a godly master a godly servant Now this most people are greatly faulty in they will be of no Religion but what the Scripture commands yet they will live otherwise and do otherwise When thou seest an heretick thou will bring Scripture against him And is not Scripture against thy prophaneness and impiety as well as there are damnable heresies so are there damnable wickednesses in mens lives 5. It 's a supernatural Truth Many of the truths revealed in Scripture are such as no Plato's no Aristotles no wisdom of man though raised beyond Solomons could ever have attained unto such as the doctrine of the Trinity of the Nature Person and Office of Christ of the Resurrection of a day of Judgment and the
riches his honours his greatness his parts his morality doth not free him from this impurity so that he ought to abhor himself as a monster as a toad This is the foundation of all our misery that we doe not look upon our selves as so many vile carkasses as so many dead dogs Till this be laid as the first principle Christ is not prized Sanctification is not sought after Oh therefore stand like the leprous person afarre off and cry out I am unclean unclean Thou wouldst be ashamed as Adam was to come with this nakednesse and filthinesse upon thee into Gods presence 2. Being unsanctified doth imply That even the holy things we are imployed about do not sanctifie us but we rather pollute them Hag. 2. He that was unclean though he touched the holy things though he ranne to the Temple and the Altar yet he was not thereby sanctified but he rather polluted them and thus while a man is unsanctified those very duties prayers and ordinances he doth runne unto will condemn him as appeareth Isa 1. by that severe expostulation with them that abounded in their Sacrifices yet did not wash them or make them clean 3. There is implied an utter unfitnesse and indisposition to any good work as on the other side a vessel sanctified was meet for his masters use So that till we be sanctified by Christs blood we have no fitnesse for any holy duty iron can as well swim and logs flie as a natural man be prepared to do that which is holy and supernatural Thirdly That our Sanctification is here attributed to Christs Sanctification of himself we see 1. That the initials and beginnings of Sanctification are wholly from him Some have endeavoured to make the very Heathens partakers of some kinde of sanctification making a pietas pagana as well as Christiana but they are to fear lest that might be applied to them which Bernard did to Abailardus Dum sudat Platonem facere Christianum scriptum facit Ethnicum There is no sanctification but where Christ is and Christ and his body cannot be separated as the gold onely in the Temple was sanctified and this is good to lay us low and to make us admiring of the grace of Christ How is it thou art sanctified and others remain prophane polluted like bruit beasts who hath made this difference Who infused this holy nature into thee Wast thou not as loathsom as wallowing in the filth of thy lusts as others till Christs blood did cleanse thee 2. Not only the initials but progressives and consummatives in Sanctification are to be attributed to his Sanctification Therefore you heard him called the finisher as well as the authour of our faith and the Disciples though already sanctified yet are still more and more to be sanctified It 's true here is a difference between our first Sanctification and the increase of it at first we were wholly passive Christ found us dead in our sinnes and wallowing in our blood but afterwards he findes us alive onely needing his continual exciting and quickening grace Therefore Paul though converted yet still lives a life of faith in Christ we need Christ all the day long How unholy earthly dull and lumpish is thy heart if Christ did not constantly sanctifie it Fourthly This Sanctification purchased by Christ must be in truth and integrity so Christ addeth sanctified in the truth that is truly in opposition to those legal and ceremonial sanctifications which did only cleanse the body but not reach to the soul Although in the New Testament we have no such external bodily Sanctification yet still there is an outward Sanctification and an inward both coming by Christ and one separable from the other Thus you heard the apostate is said to be sanctified by the blood of Christ which was not indeed and truly so for then he would not have totally fallen off but in respect of the external administration Hence 1 Cor. 1.2 the whole Church of Corinth though afterwards reproved for many sinfull practices yet are called sanctified and that partly because of the external dispensation of the Ordinances which they enjoyed So that there is a Sanctification external and a Sanctification internall External is when by our Baptisme and Christian profession We acknowledge our selves separated from the world to live unto God but internal is when we are so indeed How shall we call the prophane ungodly person a sanctified one Look to the truth of Sanctification here mentioned in the Text. Now the truth of it lieth 1. In the manner of working of it The Spirit of God by the Word doth thus sanctifie therefore some understand this in the Text by the truth as formerly our Saviour prayed God himself is the onely Authour of Sanctification We cannot make our selves holy no more then we can make our selves men yet God works not in the order of grace immediately no more then in the order of nature where he makes use of second causes Thus in the working of grace he appointeth second means as the Ministry and Ordinances and therefore Paul 1 Cor. 3. saith They were Ministers by whom the Corinthians did beleeve and there is no better discovery of true Sanctification then to examine the manner and way how thou hast received it for if the Spirit of God by the Word hath wrought it in thee then fear not this is of a more noble and supernatural being then what morality or principles of civility can incline unto thee As Christ himself was in his bodily nature conceived by the holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner Thus is every one sanctified in an higher and more sublime way then all the moral and prudential dictates of nature can carry us unto Oh then prove thy self what hath the Spirit of God and his Word done unto thee That was not more wonderfull in those who had a prophetical Spirit then in such who are sanctified To enable men to speak with strange Tongues is not more admirable then to give a man a strange heart to what he had once and strange in respect of others 2. It 's true Sanctification when it hath the universality and integrity of all parts which is the whole Image of God as Paul prayeth 1 Thess 5. I pray God ye be sanctified throughout in spirit soul and body This work of Sanctification it 's an entire compleat harmonical compages of all holinesse take any part of it away and you dissolve the whole fabrick It 's true Sanctification though it have not perfect and compleat degrees but not true if it want any essential parts and therefore called the Image of God which cannot be one grace no more then a man can be a man in one part and a beast in another but the Systeme of all 3. It 's true Sanctification in the permanency and continuance of it Perseverance doth not make Sanctification to be true but the truth of Sanctification makes it persevere Perseverance is an effect not a cause of
an evident comprehensive knowledge for then it would be science strictly so called but it hath a plain knowledge of the testimony or authority that revealeth it and also some apprehensive though not comprehensive knowledge of that we do believe Hence Paul saith I know whom I have believed 2 Cor. 4.13 And again How shall they believe unlesse they have heard Rom. 10. And this discovers the sad condition of thousands who say they believe in Christ and yet have no true knowledge about him 2. There is required to this justifying faith a firm and lively assent to the whole word of God For unless this be laid as a foundation there cannot be any building upon it Insomuch that we see the Scripture sometimes attributing salvation to the belief that Christ was able and that God was powerfull not that by that object they were justified only that was the particular in which the doubt and difficulty did seem to be so that it was not exclusive of that special act of faith but inclusive of it and indeed this is necessary to be known that justifying faith doth carry a man out even to Historical or Dogmatical matter respectively to Justification So that when a justified person believeth any temporal promise or the power of God it doth not simply and ultimately believe them as such but as they represent God a Father in Christ so that he believeth the power of God as of a Father in Christ and all the temporal promises are looked upon as Yea and Amen in Christ so that this is to be observed by the believer There is nothing true in the Scripture but justifying faith fetcheth filial arguments from it and makes him sensible of that peace and reconciliation with God in Christ And indeed to believe all the truths in Scripture doth beget fear and horrour unless this justifying faith qualifie it The devils believe and tremble so the meer dogmatist he believeth but hath cause to tremble for till every thing be brought to Christ that as God reconciled all things in heaven and earth through him so if thou reduce all things in the Scripture to Christ even the threatning part to him because fulfilled by him thou wilt have solid comfort Thus as it 's with man because he is rational all those animal acts which are common to him with beasts yet are reductively and participatively rational so in the godly man all those general acts of faith are reduced to justifying as the summe of all SERMON CVIII Of Justifying Faith Shewing what things are necessary thereunto And how or in what method the Spirit of God enableth the humbled soul to beleeve JOH 17.20 But for them also who shall beleeve on me SEveral particulars have been given in to the clearing of the nature of justifying Faith The last we were upon was to inform what goeth to the being of it and two Ingredients have been dispatched viz. Knowledge and assent Proceed we therefore to a third thing and that is 3. A deep sence and feeling of the burthen of sinne with some sorrow and humiliation thereupon The Law must work in the discovery of the disease before the Gospel doth in manifestation of the Remedy There must be the pain and smart of a sting felt ere there be any earnest beholding of the brazen Serpent Our Saviour said The sick needed the Physician When Paul by the light of the Law found himself out of measure sinfull then he began to seek after the unsearchable Riches of Gods grace Come unto me all ye that are heavy loaden and I will ease you saith Christ Mat. 11.28 Faith that is the easing and reposing of the troubled Spirit It is disputed whether Repentance go before Faith and indeed there is an Evangelical Repentance whereby the heart is melted with grief for sinne because God is so gracious a Father in Christ and this must necessarily follow Faith but then there is a Legal sorrow for sinne arising from Gods just hatred against it which breeds great trouble and confusion in the soul before it hath laid hold on Christ and this precedeth Faith Of this our Saviour speaks Mat. 21.32 Ye repented not that ye might beleeve And so Peters hearers Act. 2. were pricked at the heart before they were directed into Evangelicall Repentance and Faith There is then a fence of our undone estate going before this justifying Faith whereby a man findes himself utterly lost all his desirable things perish sinne that was once so beloved by him is as Tamar to Amnon hated more then ever he loved it Now he would throw it out of doors the sight and memory of it is grievous to him I presse not such a measure or degree of sorrow it worketh so much in all that there is a displacency and abhorrency in sinne as that which is the cause of all misery Hence in the 4th place followeth a conviction and perswasion of minde that there is no Creature in Heaven or Earth no nor nothing that he can do is able to justifie him or bring Reconciliation with God The Spirit of God Joh. 14. that doth convince of sinne in the first place doth afterward of a Righteousnesse That there is no Righteousnesse to be had but in Christ only If so be a man be no further convinced then of his sinne and disease thinking to make medicines and plaisters of his own thereby to heal himself This man will alwaies be kept in a wandring Wildernesse What was it that made so many run into Monasteries undertake strict waies of Discipline and mortification They had but an half Conviction They felt wofull troubles and agonies in their Souls for sinne They could not tell what to do as Luther professed of himself while a Papist but not being convinced of true Righteousnesse They ran to miserable Comforters and so skinned the Soar when the putrifying humour was still within but that Soul which the grace of God will carry on to Justification doth not only finde sinne manifested but the insufficiency of all Creature Righteousnesse he seeth with Noah that unlesse he get into an Ark there is nothing but overflowing waters every where While then this stone is squaring for an Heavenly building he is instructed in his own lost and undone Condition Being therefore thus fully perswaded that in himself he is a dead and a damned man In the 5th He proceedeth to an actual renouncing of every thing but Christ He seeth there is no remedy in the world for him but by Christ He abhorâ—eth all those Doctrines and practises in Religion which he did put confidence in as if they could save him Phil. 3. You see this method in Paul when once his eyes were opened then all the priviledges that were formerly counted gain he looked upon them as losse yea as dung in comparison of the Knowledge of Christ Now certainly this is a great work of Gods Spirit not only to make a man renounce his sinnes but his works of Righteousnesse also for this
to beleeve though it might be matter of comfort and priviledge yet it was not of duty But O how graciously hath God taught thee otherwise Now thou ar◠as much afraid not to lay hold on Christ as to commit any other sin Thou art as consciencious in believing every promise as in conforming to every command Thou darest no longer listen to doubts and fears to Satans Temptations in this matter then thou darest to the lusts and pleasures of sin 2. The Spirit of God doth instruct us in this That thus to beleeve and rest on Christ is to perform or to do that to which Justification is promised He that believeth is passed from death to life and still Remission of sins is said to be received by Faith and we are justified by Faith Rom. 5. So that when the Soul doth rest on Christ he performeth that to which Christ with all his benefits are promised Joh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have eternnl Life So that the humbled sinner having his eyes thus opened he seeth it the greatest madnesse and folly that can be not to receive Christ and to rest on him Why thus he argueth I cannot he justified I cannot partake of Christ till I do believe so that to believe is as necessary in an instrumental way as Christ in a meritorious way Shall the diseased Patient question whether he shall take that medicine which will certainly heal him Shall the hungry man doubt whether he may receive that alms which will preserve his Life Thus the humbled sinner is convinced that as he must not murther his own body wilfully by refusing to eat meat so he must not his own soul by a wilful rejecting of the promise 3. The Spirit of God instructs him in this also That by beleeving he doth not only bring comfort and salvation to his soul but in a most eminent manner doth also glorifie God As Abraham by that remarkable act of Faith is said to give Glory to God Rom. 4.20 The tempted Soul is apt to think Why should I believe this is but to seek my self This is because I would have comfort whatever becometh of Gods Glory Oh but saith the believer when thus awakened if I could perform all the Commandments of God if I could love God so as to give my body to be burnt for his Name yet I could not glorifie God so much as by believing for this acknowledgeth God in Christ wherein God is more to be admired then in the creation and government of the world Lastly He is enabled to see the folly and unprofitablenesse of Vnbelief If he go not to Christ where can Salvation be had he is sure to be damned by keeping from Christ Therefore with those Lepers he is resolved not to perish but to go to God though he seem an Enemy to him And then 2. God worketh faith in us effectively as you heard by strengthening the heart of a man fiducially to repose on Christ if other graces as love and patience do not grow of themselves in mans heart much lesse doth Faith which is so supernatural every way SERMON CIX Of Justifying Faith JOHN 17.20 But for them also who shall believe in me through their word WE are treating upon the Doctrine of Justifying Faith and certainly we may say It 's good to be on this Mount of Transfiguration and having declared that method Gods Spirit leads an humbled soul into when it 's enabled to believe We proceed to further particulars instructive in this business The ultimate and last act of justifying faith was a fiducial resting upon Christ for all spiritual benefits But to understand this further Consider that the Scripture expression of it is very emphatical and denoteth several notions in it as when it expresseth it by receiving 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word often applied to faith in this act it receiveth Christ Joh. 1.12 it receiveth the promise it receiveth forgivenesse of sins Act. 26.18 so that in this justifying act of faith we are to conceive a precious treasure offered by the grace of God even Christ himself and faith as the hand receiving of it and this expression is full of excellent matter for it teacheth 1. That we in this act of Justification or laying hold on Christ have nothing of our own All our righteousness is without us we are to receive it offered we have nothing inherent This Paul knew experimentally Phil. 3. when he would be found not in his own righteousness but that which is by faith His own mark that Any thing we may call our own we must not be found in and that is our own which is not only so effectivé by our own procuring and labour or merit but subjectivé which is inherent in us though it be wrought by the grace of God as the Just is said to live by his faith Hab. 2.4 It 's his faith subjectively though Gods effectively This word then receiving doth carry every man humbled Evangelically wholly out of himself and as was said to the woman looking into the Sepulchre Why look you for him he is not here he is risen So it may be said Why art thou searching and digging into thine own heart Thy works or graces these are not the object of faith It 's above thee It 's without thee though by faith applied to thee Even as the poor cripple that desired to be healed looked upon Christ expecting help from him he knew he had nothing in himself or as the indigent beggar looks without him and stretcheth out his hand to receive food or money So is it with the humbled sinner Oh then be directed here why doth God make thy own heart thy own wayes so bitter to thee Is it not because thou shouldst seek out for a Christ and look for a righteousnesse without thee 2. This word receiving implieth That we are wholly passive in our Justification That we are not justified by doing any thing or offering any thing to God but receiving from him Even as some Philosophers say Intelligere and sentire are passions Though we express them actively yet the soul therein is passive So when by believing a man is justified we are not to consider what he brings to God or doth for God but what he receiveth from him This is a fundamental principle to be grounded in it 's a mercy of mercies to be directed in the agonies of thy soul to the right way of believing to know the way to this City of refuge If a manslayer pursued by the avenger had not known the way to the City of refuge what danger had he been in It 's like the childe not coming the right way in it's birth now naturally we all think by doing to partake of Christ not receiving which made the Apostle so industriously assert this That it 's not to him that worketh but to him that believeth
appeareth evidently Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God yea vers 14. there is a chain of faith and hearing and preaching inviolably put together We may bring a second witnesse to confirm this 1 Cor. 3.5 Who is Paul or Apollo but Ministers by whom you beleeve Where you see to be instruments of faith is not only limited to Paul the Apostle but is extended to other ordinary Officers in the Church even all that water as well as plant The Apostles planted the ordinary Ministers they water I shall not at this time prove a distinct calling of Ministers from people that hath been done already I shall only shew the perpetual usefulness and necessity of a Ministry for spiritual ends as long as there will be a Church upon the earth and the rather because Socinians and Seekers though they grant There was once an extraordinary Ministry in the planting of the Church yet they say it was only temporal for a season even as miracles were and that where the Scripture is made common there needeth no Ministry Therefore to inform herein consider these Propositions First That God hath appointed a Ministry in his Church not from necessity but a voluntary liberty condescending herein to our capacity God did once govern his Church as in the Patriarchs time by immediate revelations and apparitions and thus he could still do if he pleased It 's not therefore from necessity but meer bounty that he hath appointed such a way of spiritualizing people God doth not need the parts or gifts or piety of any men in the world and certainly if God hath appointed second causes in nature which work from a necessary principle within not necessarily but freely much lesse did he in these things which are of a supernatural constitution Secondly It 's to be affirmed That in the first plantation of Christs Church there were some things extraordinary but that doth not inferre every thing thus appointed was extraordinary The Office of the Apostles who had a Commission to go over the world and had an universal Authority being furnished to that end with infallible assistance was extraordinary Christ seedeth his Church spiritually as he did once the bodies of men miraculously first he took bread himself then he gave bread to his Disciples and they gave it to the people Thus Christ he preached the word of life and then he commanded the Apostles to preach who instituted others in their room The Office then of Apostles and Prophets with the gift of miracles were extraordinary in the first constituting of the Church but then ordinary Officers were afterwards required As with the people of Israel while in the wilderness God made miraculous provision for them but when once setled in Canaan then their Manna and other miraculous provision failed them And if you say How shall we know what is an extraordinary Office and what is an ordinary Office seeing the Apostle Eph. 4.11 12. reckons them up altogether I answer It 's true the Apostle there mentioneth extraordinary and ordinary Officers because he is to speak of the whole fruit of Christs Ascension to his Church and so because Apostles were a great and principal part of Christs gift to his Church and the influence of their labours upon the Church to the end of the world and therefore they are called the foundation Rev. 21.14 Hence they are mentioned as well as the ordinary only the difference between these two may appear in the qualifications of either for to an Apostle was required gifts of miracles an universal Commission and Authority infallibility of assistance c. but to the ordinary Elders there is no such thing required but what may be in an ordinary manner attained unto Thirdly When we say A Ministry is appointed for spiritual ends it 's good to know in particular what they are And 1. You see it 's in the Text To work Faith And therefore faith is said to come by hearing The ear that is the organ of learning and knowledge as also of faith It 's observed by a learned man That though we reade of godly persons that could not see or speak yet of none that could not hear because that was the instrument of faith yet this is not so to be urged as if a godly man might not be made deaf only it 's a sad affliction because by hearing faith is begotten and increased What enemies then are such to their souls who care not for hearing who give over hearing come now and then it may be for sinful ends whereas by hearing the Word preached God hath appointed to give thee faith Art thou not then such an atheistical or prophane man because thou doest no more regard this hearing of Gods word preached Be swift to hear said the Apostle James 1.19 2. The Ministry is appointed for the conversion and regeneration of men who naturally are dead in sinne and averse to God It was a subject the Prophets often preached upon to return every one from his evil way to God and John Baptist yea Christ himself also preached repentance as well as faith Hence Jam. 1. God is said Of his own will to beget us by his Word and so it s called the washing of regeneration through the word Tit. 3.5 That as the Spirit of God at first by moving on the waters prepared and produced living creatures Thus God by the Ordinances cals those who are like Lazarus dead in their sins to come out of the grave and live There is a resurrection of souls by the Prophets when they lift up their voice like a trumpet as well as there will be of bodies by the trump of an Archangel and indeed this is the proper effect of the Ministry No moral Philosophy hath attained to the inward change of mens hearts As Eliah when he threw his mantle on Elisha he left his Oxen and followed him Thus when God by the Word preached doth lay hold on the heart of a man he is a new creature minde new heart new affections new all is made new Thus while Peter was preaching there were three thousand converted So that to take the preaching of the Word away is worse then to take the Sun out of the heavens that is but an instrument of heat and life bodily this spiritually 3. The Ministry is for edification as Eph. 4.14 For the perfecting of the Saints and till we come to a full stature in Christ So that the Ministry and Ordinances shall not be abolished till we come into heaven the Sacrament is till he come and he will be with the Ministers till the end of the world and certainly the godly man findes much need of a Ministry to quicken comfort and direct his soul craveth and calleth for this as much as his body doth for food and raiment So that those who argue against a Ministry demonstrate they finde no experimental benefit of it upon their own souls 4. God hath appointed it to propagate
justification and a vivifical influence from Christ into us He is not an head in vain he is not a vine in fancy and imagination Therefore he saith I am the true Vine Joh. 15.1 not corporally but spiritually yet the expression sheweth that a natural vine doth not so truly nourish its branches as Christ doth his people Hence Joh. 6. he saith My flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drink indeed Not as the Capernaits understood it but in a spiritual reality and certainly the wonderful effects of Christs union with the godly do demonstrate the reality of it There is love of God an heavenly life support in all Exercises c. which are the blessed effects of this glorious union 6. Consider the necessity of this union with Christ without this we are in a necessity of perishing For without Christ there is no justification no Sanctification no Salvation The branch withers that is not in this Vine The stream drieth up that is not joyned to this spring That member must needs die that is not joyned to this head Oh then that natural men would tremble at that distance they are in from Christ The Scripture saith such are afar off and indeed there is a great gulf between them and heaven God is an Enemy to them and they to God till they be made one in Christ Alas they can no more approach to God in any duty then stubble can endure before the fire This made Paul Gal. 2. say he no longer lived but Christ in him And again Phil. 3. he would not be found in his own Righteousnesse but in Christ And Col. 2. Ye are compleat in him It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell 1 Cor. 1. God hath made Christ wisedom rigteousnesse and redemption So that Christ hath the preheminence in all things he is Alpha and Omega he is all in all Who art thou then poor wretched and miserble sinner that darest abide an hour a day in thy natural condition without Christ Why dost thou not fear the curses of the Law the devils of hell and all the vengeance of God may immediatly devour thee 7. The excellency of this union can never be enough meditated on for this is a Catholicon to all diseases evidence of this will answer all doubts Dost thou fear perishing if united to Christ thou canst not perish any more then he Dost thou fear God may leave thee and forsake thee This cannot be no more then that Christ should be forsaken for this union makes thee and Christ one mysticall person so that by this union there is a communion of all Christs good things to thee and of thy evil things to him thy sins were laid on him he became sinne for thee and thy evils are felt by him Saul Saul why persecutest thou me saith Christ from heaven Act. 9.4 yea the Church is called Christ because of this intimate union 1 Cor. 12 1◠So that no Son no wife can take such comfort and confidence from a Father or husband as the believer from Christ he may truly say Christ is better then all husbands and fathers and all relations whatever 8. There is the inseparableness of this union All natural unions will be dissolved the wife will one day be parted from her husband the childe from his Father They are not everlasting relations but this is eternall Even as Christ took his natural body never to be divided from it so also he doth his mystical and upon this union is the perseverance of Gods children immovably fixed Christs members can never be broken from him and thrown into hell 9. There is the efficaciousnesse of it where Christ is united to the soul there he puts forth his vigour and power as Christ while on earth wheresoever he went put forth his miraculous power healing the blinde the lame and raising the dead thus also Christ dwelling in us can be no more hid then the Sun when it ariseth on the Earth 10. It 's an immediate union all believers are immediatly united to Christ one is not more united then another In the body every member is not proximely joyned to the head but in Christ the meanest and weakest believer is immediatly joyned to him 11. It is an harmonious Vnion Every believer receiveth proper supplies for its own peculiar necessities as Eph. 4.16 Lastly This union is of so great concernment that the principal end of the Sacrament is to represent and seal this as if this were the great priviledge we were alwaies to live upon Vse Are the godly united to Christ then how holy and Christ-like should they be in all their operations Can there be a greater argument to holinesse What saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. Shall I take the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot SERMON CXIX Sheweth What a special means Vnity among Believers is to enlarge the Kingdome of Christ And yet notwithstanding that Vnity without true Doctrine is no infallible Mark of the true Church against the Papists JOHN 17.21 That the world may believe that thou hast sent me WE are now arrived at the last part of this Text as it stands divided which is the consequent and fruit of all Believers Vnity It will convert the world and bring them to the true Faith when they see such agreement It 's true Austin makes not this a consequent but a distinct prayer and therefore repeateth the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if our Saviours sense was I pray that the world may believe in me And upon this foundation he makes this Question How Christ that said before he prayed not for the world doth here pray for the world And answers The world is here taken for the world not of reprobates but predestinated ones in which sense the world is taken he saith in these two places I came not to judge but to save the world John 3.17 And God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself 2 Cor. 5.19 So that it 's plain Austin thought that the world might sometimes be taken for the elect only howsoever some cannot endure that Exposition but though there may be truth in this yet I think the Context is to the contrary for it 's plain that the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth denote here some event or consequent from the believers unity Therefore others by faith do not understand saving but an historicall faith and by the world do understand reprobates for even such by the preaching of the Word and other demonstrations are many times so farre convinced as to believe the Christian Doctrine Therefore they say Christ doth not here pray for the world of reprobates only this is a consequent of believers amongst themselves But I rather with Calvin take the world here for mankinde in a negative and indefinite sense First Negative for such as do not believe yet and then Indefinitely of those who do believe Some do truly and savingly believe
imperfections let them quicken up praier upon this consideration The glory Christ had he will give to beleevers Why had he such fulnesse but for thy emptinesse Why had he such glory but to make thee glorious Shall our vile bodies be made glorious like his glorious body and shall not our vile and corrupted souls be also made glorious like his soul This is excellently illustrated 2 Co. 3.18 where we are said te be transformed from glory to glory that is from grace grace is glory so much godliness so much glory thou hast and because it is not perfect therefore we proceed from glory to glory and how is this done by the Gospel for we beholding the glory of God in Christ are thereby changed Thus 2 Cor. 4.6 the glory of God is said to be seen in the face of Jesus Christ the meaning is that whereas God is in his own nature invisible and we are not able to conceive of him aright in Jesus Christ We see the infinite wisedom and grace of God so that we become glorious in grace by faith looking on God in Christ this makes heavenly this changeth and altereth the heart That as Moses by communing with God did obtain external glory which was so dazeling that the Israelites could not behold it So the people of God by Faith beholding God in Christ are thereby enlivened and made more heavenly every day Thus we see what those effects of glory are which Christ gives of that treasury of glory to us In the third general place Consider that none are made partakers of that Glory of Christ but by Vnion with him Now this Union is twofold either meerly external in the outward Ordinances in which sence our Saviour Joh. 15. supposeth a branch may be in him and yet not bring forth fruit By vertue of this Union we may obtain many glorious gifts and common graces from the Spirit So that we may have much spiritual glory in the eyes of others or else there is an internal and invisible Union and by this only we are made partakers of Christs glory Therefore none may be contented in any outside of Religion let thy duties be never so ravishing and affectionate yet not these but faith in the Olive Tree is that which maketh us partakers of this fatâ—ess so that the Union of Christ with the believer is the foundation of all grace and glory for as a branch separated from the vine or a member from the body doth not partake of any vital act and nourishment So neither doth that soul which is disjoyned from Christ if the beams of the Sunne had not immediate dependance and emanation from the Sun they could not have such lustre and Glory So neither were not believers joyned to Christ and made one with him they could not put forth such glorious acts of grace as they do for if power to work Miracles and transcend nature be called a glory how much more to perform the acts of grace which do also surpass the course of nature It 's a glorious thing to beleeve to be patient to be heavenly-minded to be zealous for God In these actions the spirit of Christ which is also the spirit of glory doth reside upon us 4. As union with Christ makes us partakers of glory So the foundation and Original of this is because Christ is one with the Father and one with us He is the Mediator between God and man So that by this means he receiveth glory from the Father which otherwise would be incommunicable to sinners and doth convey it to such as are his members So that still our eyes are to he fastened on Christ as a Mediator for none can or may approach to God in his own ablolute nature but as those who cannot look upon the Sun behold it in a basin of water where the reflexion is Thus we who could not draw nigh to that infinite wise and pure God having a Mediatour that both partaketh of Gods Nature and mans thereby is afforded an admirable passage of conveyance of glory from the Father through Christ to us as the light is conveyed from the Sun through the glass into the house Vse To make us admire the dignity and excellent condition of a Christian united to Christ for all the glory of Christ redounds and diffuseth it self to them Whatsoever priviledge or glory Christ hath it is proportionably communicated to thee therefore lift up thy head by faith and live joyfully in the meditation of this Doth not the woman though contemptible when married to an honourable person forget her Fathers Cottage and rags and saith Now she shall have the riches the glory the honour the state that her Husband hath since thy Soul hath been united to Christ all thy old poor despicable things are laid aside Truly the ground of all a godly mans discouragements and perplexities ariseth for want of faith herein SERMON CXXIII Practicall Conclusions from the fore-going Doctrine JOHN 17.22 And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them c. HAving cleared the sense of this Text and shewed what that glory is which Christ giveth us Let us proceed to make some Corollaries or practical Conclusions from this Doctrine And hence therefore in the first place this Conclusion is to be asserted That no man till he be united unto Christ hath any true and solid glory For if the glory of a Christian be in Christ the fountain as the Sunne-beams are in the Sunne then till partakers of Christ we do not receive any of his glory And this truth may quell the vain brags of the world and the boasts of carnal men Some account riches their glory their birth their glory outward honours their glory but these are not worthy the name of glory Christ came not into the world to give men riches honours greatness but a spiritual glory The Hebrew word for glory signifieth a weight and the Apostle alludes to this when 2 Cor. 4.17 he cals the happiness in Heaven an eternal weight of glory Let therefore a man be never so much exalted in this world yet if not given to Christ he doth not partake of Christs glory This earthly glory is no more true glory then a glow-worm is the Sunne The Scripture cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a meer fancy that presently passeth away All humane glory is but like Jonahs gourd that is presently consumed or like Herod Act. 12.21 who being arayed in royal apparel and blasphemous acclamations made to him he was immediately eaten up with worms Be not then any longer like children that account a toy a glorious thing thou art no wiser when riches greatness beauty c. are accounted matter of glory an obedient ear to Gods word is more glorious then an ear full of jewels interest in Christ is greater glory then all that of the world which our Saviour was tempted with yet is there any thing that is more apt to ensnare our hearts then this
became man and was thus furnished with all fitnesse to be a Mediatour because we could not be without him It behoved us saith the Apostle Heb 7.26 to have such a High-Priest that was holy and unspotted separated from sinners that needed not to offer for his own sins 5. We reade that not only habitual grace was given him in respect of his humane nature but also the spirit of God was bestowed on him and though this be thought by the Socinians a pregnant Argument because he that is God cannot have the Spirit of God given him Now to this we readily grant that not only the graces and gifts of Gods Spirit but the Spirit it self also was bestowed on him So the Prophet Isa 11.2 The spirit of the Lord is said to rest on him the spirit of wisedom and counsell Thus Act. 1.2 he is said through the holy Ghost to give Commandments unto the Apostles whom he had chosen but yet this doth not take off from his God head for first the assistance and operation of the holy Ghost was only in respect of his humane nature for as by the holy Ghost his humane body was prepared and fitted So also his rationall soul by the same holy spirit was sanctified and made the holy One It was not therefore in respect of his divine nature but his humane that he had the holy Ghost working in him and if you say What necessity was there of the holy Ghost Seeing his divine nature was able to assist and sanctifie his humane nature It 's answered that the holy spirit being the third person cannot be separate from the Father and the Sonne though therefore Christ as the second person was able to do all things yet because where the Father and Son is there also is the holy Ghost therefore that works also as the other not that the other persons need it but because of the inseparability Even as the Father did at first create all things by the Son not that he was insufficient or impotent without him but because of their intimate Union 6. That which we do so eminently reade of in the Scripture is the glory power and honour that the Father gave him upon fullfilling the work of Redemption for us Act. 2.36 God hath made Jesus both Lord and Christ he was made Lord Now that dominion is not his essentiall dominion which he had as God for so he could not be made any more Lord then God but his Mediatory Dominion whereby he is exalted above all and rules all things for the good of his people So Phil. 2.9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him giving him a Name above all Names c. In these and many other places we reade of wonderfull Majesty and glory bestowed upon him and that upon his humiliation and voluntary obedience in reference to us but although the Scripture doth evidently speak of this glory and power given him yet this doth not take off from his God-head For 1. It is one thing to speak of the giving of the right and property to a thing another thing to speak of the possession of it It 's true indeed Christ upon his Resurrection had the possession of all that glory and honour which the Word mentioneth but yet he had right to it farre before and therefore we reade of divine wotship given to him before his Resurrection as also of a Kingdom he had and that he could work what Miracles he pleased and so he believing God had a right to all that glory which could any waies be superadded to him 2. This dominion and glory given to him is so farre from evacuating his Godhead that it doth rather necessarily presuppose it for who can be made the Judge of the whole world who can be exalted to be the King of Saints and the Nations but he who hath infinite wisedom power and greatness Vse 1. Doth Christ receive all that he hath not for himself but for his members then what great encouragements and hopes have all the people of God for though they have not enough yet Christ hath Though the starre hath not light enough to dispell the day yet the Sun hath Though the stream cannot refresh yet the Fountain hath water enough Oh therefore that beleevers would more enlarge and quicken themselves up with hopes in Christ That they would live on his fulnesse That they would depend on his fulness God gives thee grace and many gifts but what he hath given Christ that must be thy only support Vse 2. How wofull the condition of all wicked men is who are separated from Christ for if all fulnesse come by him then none of this can be derived to thee The devil will give of the torments he hath to thee not Christ of his glory SERMON CXXV Vnity among Christians is part of that Glory Christ hath purchased for them JOH 17.22 That they may be one even as we are one THough this Unity of believers so earnestly prayed for hath been at large treated of yet because here again repeated I shall consider it relatively as it stands with respect to the fore-going words Christ giveth his glory he received from the Father to those that believe in him That they may be one Now the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here as in other places may be taken either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the end of this glory or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as specifying what is part of that glory which he giveth to them for so some understand this as describing and determining what that glory is he would give them viz. the glory of unity and agreement which as Chrysostom observeth was more admirable then that of signes and doctrines which they abounded in Their unity did more glorifie them then their miracles Others they understand it as the end and fruit of that glory they received by Glory understanding all the heavenly benefits and priviledges vouchsafed unto them From these Interpretations conjoyned and the relative capacity the words stand in I observe That Vnity among Believers is part of that Glory which Christ as Mediatour hath obtained for them For Christ speaks here as Mediatour in whom and by whom only the spiritual unity of believers can be obtained In this Doctrinal Proposition three particulars are observable 1. That Unity among believers is part of that spiritual glory Christ purchased for them 2. That Christ as Mediatour purchased Unity as well as other priviledges 3. That Believers cannot have Unity but from Christ till he command these dry bones to come together and be united they lie scattered up and down Let us consider First That Vnity is part of the Churches glory It 's their Glory both actively and passively Their glory actively they may in an humble and holy manner rejoyce in it Not indeed as the Papists who confidently and falsly triumph in their Unity but in a godly and sober manner for if schisms and divisions in the Church did so greatly divide and
from the world to God yet that which is here primarily intended is the perfection and consummation of them in unity which though it will not be compleat till in heaven yet it is inchoate and begun in this life Obs That the Father and Christs being in believers is the cause of that perfect and consummate unity which they ought to have of themselves There could be no union in the body if the Head did not unite it All believers union doth first flow from Christ as their Head and Mediator Insomuch that whatsoever unity they may have which doth not first arise from this spring is humane and carnall To open this let us consider What is implied in their being made perfect in one And First Here is implied sincerity and uprightnesse That their unity be from a pure heart and unfeigned faith This is often the use of the word perfect as opposed to that which is false and counterfeit many are said to walk with a perfect heart because they did not walk with an heart and an heart by dissimulation so that it 's a perfection of essence and parts not of degrees and this indeed is greatly to be urged that as all the other things in the godly be sincere so their unity that they be joyned together from spiritual principles and by spiritual means It was the Heathens Position That amicitia could onely be inter bonos that whatsoever friendship was from bono utili or jacundo and not honesto it did not deserve the name of friendship Now how much more is this true in that unity amongst the godly which hath for it's cause and original Christ himself and for it's patern such an unity that the Father and Sonne have To be perfect then in unity is to have sincere hearts one towards another as the Apostle Rom. 12. Let love be without dissimulation Let there be no water to debase this wine let not this fair fruit be rotten at the core Secondly To be perfect in Vnity doth imply not onely sincerity but integrity of all those substantials and essentials wherein this onenesse doth consist You have heard that the Unity of believers doth empty it self into two great streams one of Faith in respect of Doctrine The other of Charity in respect of life and affections Therefore if any of these be wanting the Unity is dissolved if love be pretended but yet there is no divine truth this is conspiracy not unity and if faith be pretended but not love as yet we have no signe of the true Disciples of Christ Let then the Church of God look it hath these two pillars like Jachin and Boaz to bear it up All Unity without Truth is like a stately building upon sand and Truth without love is like a foundation without superstruction pray that the Spirit of God would lead into all truth for the former and would also work those sanctifying fruits of it love peace meekness c for the latter Thirdly The word perfect in one doth imply an increase and daily progresse in the way of Vnity For though the Church of Christ be his Body yet it 's a growing body it 's not come to it's full stature no not in this life There are further degrees to be attained Ephes 4.13 We are to grow to a perfect man in Christ Jesus and thus we reade of many called perfect as 1 Cor. 2.6 Heb. 5.14 not in an absolute sense but comparatively because they are carried on to further degrees of grace then others We are not then to think that any Church will have such perfect Unity in this life but that it may be more perfected In the best constituted Churches there are several imperfections there is much weakness many carnal affections which are apt to discompose the beautifull frame of the Church Fourthly It doth imply That they are perfected in those means which are appointed by God for this Vnity For seeing the means are wholly for the end the end can never be better enjoyned then formerly if the means be not better improved so that if the Church of God be perfected more in one it must more faithfully improve the means of unity and they are especially two 1. The preaching of the Word of God For as by that at first the Church is called out of the world so by that also it 's kept up in it's purity and unity The Word of God preached is the onely means appointed to remove ignorance and mortifie corruptions which are the rares that hinder the good seed As the envious man soweth these so the Spirit of Christ by the Word worketh the clean contrary Hence Ephes 4. the Ministry is appointed as a means to bring us to this perfect stature farre be it therefore from them to make divisions and rents in the Church of God whose great office and imployment is to proclaim peace The good shepherd will not suffer his sheep so to fight with one another as thereby to be destroyed 2. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper that is a special means to preserve Vnity yea and to perfect it The Apostle 1 Cor. 10. speaketh fully to this For we being many are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that one bread So Eph. 4. one Baptisme is brought as an ingagement to unity Therefore the more graciously and perfectly these Ordinances are received the more is this unity confirmed and established and therefore those primitive Christians who had one soul and one heart were constant also in their breaking of bread whereby their mutual love was strongly preserved Bellarmine not unfitly speaks of a six-fold Unity in the Church The first is Ratione principii of God who calleth though as he saith this makes the Church not so much una as sub uno one as under one 2. Ratione ultimi finis the salvation to which it 's called and this makes the Church not so much one as ad unum 3. Ratione Mediorum in respect of the means of Faith and Sacraments and thus the Church is rather by one then one 4. In respect of the holy Ghost as a separated Governour 5. In respect of Christ as an internal and conjoyned Head 6. In respect of the connexion of the Members amongst themselves and in these two last respects it 's properly one Lastly This Vnity will be wholly perfected in Heaven Then will all partition walls be destroyed Then shall it no more be said I am of Paul and I am of Apollo but God will be all in all Therefore as this life is a place like Hadadrimmon a valley of tears bewailing corruptions and sinnes amongst us so also the divisions and breaches that are upon us But in Heaven all opinions all different wayes will cease So that although this unity for the main of it be attained in this life yet in the life to come there it will be totally compleated Thus it is here perfect because the endeavours and breathings of the godly should be
compleat perfection of a Christian Who is made righteousnesse wisdome and all things and therefore this is the character of those that are spiritual They have no confidence in the flesh and rejoyce in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.3 Lastly We glorifie Christ really in our lives and conversations when we walk as Members sutably to the Head when we order our conversations answerably to the rule of the Gospel For how often do wicked men reproach and dishonour Christ by their ungodly lives as if Christ taught them no better or as if Christ died not to deliver us from all ungodly and sinfull lusts Therefore on the other side then we honour Christ when we are holy as he was zealous as he was humble and meek as he was as Paul said He carried the marks of Christ upon his body so do thou the graces of Christ upon thy soul We come in the next place to a brief description of the subject described Those that thou hast given me Now this is the opposite description to such who are of the world By giving unto Christ some understand by a Metonymy of the effect for the cause Gods decree to give as 2 Tim. 1.9 The grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began that is decreed to be given to us So some expound the fore-going place The glory which thou hast given me that is which thou hast decreed to give even as in this Chapter he saith I come to thee I sanctifie my self and as John 6.33 Every one that my Father giveth shall come to me where by giving must be understood a decree to give for actual giving is the very coming it self unto Christ Though this be true yet we must adde that in respect of those who were to believe so it 's a decree of giving but in respect of the Apostles and others who did then believe it was an actual giving Now whereas we see the original and fountain of all grace formerly prayed for and now all glory here is because some are given to Christ by the Father we may observe That it 's no free-will or preparatory work in man that begins either his grace or glory but the sole gift of God I shall but touch at this because handled before only as our Saviour thought fit to use this description of believers so often in one Chapter so it should also inform us that it 's a truth of absolute necessity which ought constantly to reign in our hearts that we did not prevent God but Gods grace did prevent us that we did not choose him but he chose us Therefore it 's a violent wresting of the words by Arminians when they will have this giving of some to the Father to be understood for the consequent mens obeying and receiving of the grace offered and so we give our selves to Christ and are not given by the Father That the initials of all good is from grace only and not of us is abundantly convinced by that wretched sinfull and wofull pollution that we are all born in like that miserable infant spoken of by the Prophet Ezekiel chap. 16. I shall not doctrinally inlarge this only let the Use be 1. Admonition to take heed of all those proud and self-advancing Doctrines that magnifie the power of nature that think not grace absolutely necessary that if it be required it 's only ad facilius operandum or that grace doth onely excite and stirre up the natural abilities within us Oh take heed of swallowing down this deadly poison Vse 2. Of Exhortation to the people of God with all humility and astonishment to admire the grace of God in Christ that mollified thee that prepared thee that began first upon thee Alas thou wast wallowing in thy bloud thou wast hotly pursuing thy sins thou didst violently refuse the grace of God till at last he opened thy heart and saved thee against thy will making thee of unwilling willing SERMON CXXXVIII Of Gods love to Christ as Mediatour and in him to all believers from all Eternity JOHN 17. â—4 For thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world THis last clause is brought in as a Reason of that which went before Some make it a Reason of Christs Petition why the Father should hear him viz. because he alwaies loved him and so nothing could be denied to him others referre it to the gift of Glory mentioned immediatly The Father gave Christ glory because he loved him from Eternity but these do not oppose but may include one another The only doubt is In what sense the Father is said to love Christ before the Foundation of the world Many understand it of Christ as the natural and only Son of God That as he had alwaies the same glory with the Father so likewise he was alwaies loved of him and from hence they prove the Deity of Christ But Calvin and others expound it of Christ as Mediatour That the Father did love him from the beginning in appointing of him to be a Mediatour and preparing him thereunto Now this seemeth the more genuine Interpretation and doth not exclude but include the former also So that by direct consequence the eternal god-head of Christ is asserted Indeed Piscator referreth those words before the foundation of the world to the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou hast given As v. 5. implieth but there is no necessity to make such a trajâ—ction The sum is that Christ as Mediatour doth referre all the glory and honour he hath to the Fathers love Now you must know that when the Father loveâ—h him as Mediatour It 's not absolutely terminated upon the person of Christ but the whole number of beleevers in him and therefore this loving of Christ is to be extended unto all Beleevers for the Apostle saith the same thing of them because of Christ Eph. 1.4 where we are said to be chosen in him before the foundation of the world To be holy and without blame before him in love where that love is referred to Gods predestinating and electing of us by some Interpreters So that from the words we may observe That God the Father loved Christ as Mediatour and thereby all beleevers in him from Eternity This Truth deserveth explication and application And 1. Let us consider wherein the love of the Father was shewed to Châ—ist as Mediatour as that will appear in the designing of him to it and approbation or complacency in him while discharging of it The love of God in preparing him thereunto is seen in these things 1. In appointing and ordaining the second person as the only begotten of the Father to come into the world and take our nature upon him For herein did the Father love the Son because when mankinde was lost and justice could no waies be satisfied by any meer creature that in this exigency Christ should offer himself and so readily professe Behold I come to do thy will O Lord Thus when he formerly had said I sanctifie
the Ephesians who though they were made light in the Lord and had the mystery of Gods will so much made known unto them that he did not cease to give thanks for them daily in that behalf yet still he prayeth Ephes 1.17 18. That God would give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him that the eyes of their understanding may be inlightned c. Here it 's plain That though these had knowledge yet they might still encrease in it Hence the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1.19 doth encourage beleevers for their diligent attending unto the Scripture untill the day dawn and the day-starre arise in their hearts that is till they obtain more firm and evident knowledge of the things of God In the Old Testament we have David Psal 119. though professing he had more knowledge then his teachers and the Word was continually his counsellour yet prayeth he That God would open his eyes that he may understand the wonderfull things of Gods Law Davids eyes are not opened clear enough the word implieth there are some scales and film upon his eyes that must be rolled away and that there are excellent precious things in Gods word that he doth not yet understand For the improving of this truth Let us consider in how many particulars a further constant teaching by Christ is requisite to the most able believers And First They need further revelation in respect of the objects of their knowledge to know more then they do know So imperfect is every godly mans knowledge that it may be called ignorance rather then knowledge We are ignorant of farre more excellent truths in Religion then we do know If the Heathen could say Our eyes were in respect of natural truth but like those of the Owl to the Sun How much more is this true about spiritual objects You see how the Apostles knowledge was successive they come to know one thing after another as Christ revealed it till they had that plentifull effusion of the holy Ghost upon them And the Apostle Paul who was taught not of men but of Christ himself yea he was caught up into the third heaven yet for all that he puts himself in the number of those who know but in part 1 Cor. 13. So that this is true not only of believers but of the eminent Doctors and Teachers in the Church they know but in part yea and that will be true of them even at their last hour though their whole life hath been to obtain knowledge of God Therefore this should quicken all up to diligent use of the means for who can sit down and say He knoweth enough or he knoweth all things Indeed there have been those that were called Guostiques because of the great knowledge they boasted of but yet they made themselves even like bruit beasts O then confess that the waters of divine truth are so deep that though thou wert an Elephant yet thou mightest swim in it we are as the Ancients said Secondly As in the object we need much revelation so in those things we do know we need much assistance and direction from Christ in respect of the adjuncts of it For 1. Though we do know the objects yet we may every day know them more evidently more distinctly more clearly Alas our knowledg about God and Christ is very confused and therefore Paul is every day desirous to know Christ better then he did As it is with digging in a Mine of Gold every daies labour brings richer and fuller supplies or as the draining from a Spring doth not exhaust but makes it more plentifull Thus it is with the heart of a man when set to know God or Christ There are new considerations new respects and new arguments arising alwayes from them Insomuch that God and Christ may seem new to the soul every day we begin to nauseate and grow weary when the same things we know are alwayes suggested unto us but the soul of a man can never he weary of the knowledge of Christ For in him are hidden all treasures of wisdom and grace And therefore even those principalities and powers in heavenly places that are so vast and comprehensive in knowledge yet Eph. 3.10 The Lord Christ is in the Ministry of the Church made more known to them continually So that if Angels do learn in Christs School and obtain more knowledge of him and do with great delight search into these things no wonder then if the most enlightned men may yet search deeper and deeper into the Lord Jesus Christ Paul though one of the highest Scholars in Christs School yet desired to know nothing but Christ crucified for if in heaven the knowledge of God when yet it is intuitive and transcendent to this we have will not weary us but daily provoke the soul to know God more no wonder then if in this life our knowldge be not satisfied when it is but in part 2. As we need Christs daily manifestation in respect of the evidence of them so also in respect of the firmnes and immoveableness of our knowledge Faith you heard is knowledge and that doth necessarily imply assent Now if our assent be not firm and setled We are like children tossed up and down with every winde of Doctrine Instability and inconstancy is much condemned in Scripture and indeed it doth directly oppose faith which makes the soul confidently and firmly-adhere to the truths of Christ as divine as those which cannot be dispensed with or ever prove false for if Paul thought it so great a disparagement that with him should be yea and nay in his words much more would this be reprochfull to Christ himself who saith He is the truth it self Joh. 14. So that as truth cannot be a lie so neither can the Doctrine of Christ be false Now the Doctrine being in it self thus true the power of Christ is seen in making a gracious heart thus strongly to adhere upon divine motives to it as that which wil abide though heaven and earth shall pass away Scepticism and faith are directly opposite when we are inabled to believe we receive it as the truth of God and not as the truth of man So although while this gift of faith was not bestowed upon us we debated truths of Religion like those in Philosophy and were prone to have as Hilary said of old Menstruam annuam fidem a monethly or yearly faith yet when God shall once strengthen us to believe then we are no longer reeds shaken with wind but as Origen of old alluded When many things are removed from us then this Arundo for of that they made pens formerly is made the Calamus the pen of a ready writer Where God strengthens us to believe there that turning this way and that way that mutability is removed and our hearts are fixed so as to be able to dig for that we so firmly adhere unto Thus the Martyrs they were confirmed by God exceedingly in
15 16 463 Acts. 17 23 91 17 27 585 20 27 424 26 22 388 Romans 1 21 92 1 17 174 6 19 206 9 5 99 10 2 77 12 1 456 12 10 431 1 Corinthians 1 14 115 1 2 516 2 17 424 3 8 563 6 20 257 6 7 587 8 4 5 90 8 2 94 11 19 389 15 22 44 15 47 435 2 Corinthians 2 15 348 4 6 606 5 16 334 11 20 17 Galatians 1 4 175 3 28 524 4 16 430 6 17 126 Ephesians 2 2 189 2 3 363 4 1 3 4 571 5 2 502 Philippians 2 10 28 2 2 407 2 15 514 3 1 401 3 20 454 3 9 549 4 18 502 Colossians 1 16 150 2 20 45 2 20 171 2 5 596 2 9 629 2 19 635 3 1 454 1 Thessalonians 2 13 478 2 Thessalonians 1 3 189 3 2 254 1 Timothy 1 16 532 4 16 484 5 10 424 6 20 424 6 2 526 2 Timothy 1 9 149 1 9 533 3 16 390 3 15 479 Hebrews 2 7 46 4 9 126 5 14 633 10 29 464 11 26 32 11 24 18 11 3 155 13 18 151 James 2 11 201 4 3 7 4 6 153 5 16 141 1 Peter 1 3 146 1 5 307 1 23 24 479 2 20 554 2 7 686 4 18 355 4 12 389 4 14 15   16. 421 2 Peter 1 6 273 3 17 316 3 12 456 1 John 2 20 513 2 2 278 2 19 360 3 8 344 3 19 552 5 16 230 3 John  2 460 Jude  3 316 Revelation 3 4 364 21 27 364 22 12 464 FINIS * Of the reason why Christ imposed on some new names see Casauâ— ad Annal. Exerc. 13. In his Apology pag. 8. To all Instructions and Consolations Praier is necessary for their good effect Reasons I. On Gods part 1. God is the sole fountain and authour of all grace 2. That all the praise may redound to him 3. Because God in anger many times doth blast the Word to men for their sins II. From the nature of Preaching and what kinde of cause the Word is of conversion 1. The Word converts not necessarily 2. Nor as a natural cause 3. It s efficacy is only by Gods Institution according to his command and good pleasure III. Because of mans inability to what is good Vse Doct. That all our praiers should come from a spiritual and heavenly heart The requisites to spiritual praier 1. The Spirits enabling and moving the soul to this duty 2. An heavenly heart 3. When the heart and affections are purified and made fit for the enjoyment of God 4. Heavenly praier moveth the heart to more love and delight in heavenly things Vse Why we should pray with the tongue In vocal praier there must be a threefold attention How Christ being God could pray Doct. That all the godly are under the benefit of Christs Mediatory praier I. The matter of Christs praier for his Children 1. All grace 2. Pardon of sin 3. 4. Glorification II. The nature of his praier by way of Mediation III. The dignity of the Person praying IV. His relation to God the Father Whether Christ was heard in every thing he praied for or no. V. Christs praier had all the qualifications requisite to acceptation VI. A condition or medium of good things Why Praier is needfull notwithstanding Gods knowledge and unchangeableness VII Christs praier sanctifieth our praiers Doct. Those praiers successefull that are put up to God as a Father To open this Consider 1. All by nature are in a state of enmity against God 2. The state of Sonship is purchased by Christ 3. We cannot call God Father but by the Spirit of Adoption What frame of heart this compellation Father may breed in every childe of God Why the Title Father so much prevails with God Vse Doct. That God doth appoint times and seasons for his great works I. In relation to Christ II. Gods other dispensations 1. A time is set for the Reformation of his Church 2. God lets wicked men have their time 3. A set time for judgement 4. The hour of every mans death is set 5. There is a remarkable set time of grace wherein God may be found 6. The times of the Churches troubles and deliverances are set Vse How Christ who is God can be glorified Whether Christ did merit glory for himself Doct. It was the holy and wise will of God to glorifie Christ Christs being invested with glory redounds to the advantage of his members 1. It 's a demonstration of his conquest over all our enemies 2. Because of rhat near relation that is between us 3. His glorification a cause of ours 4. In his glorified estaâ—e he is pleading for us 5. It encourageth us to lift up our hearts to heaven The nature of this glory which Christ praied for There were three degrees to it Wherein this glory of Christ doth consist Doct. We should desire comforts and advantages chiefly that God may be glorified I. Christ did so 1. In his humiliation 2. In his exaltation II. Much more should all men be affected more with Gods glory then their own good The goods of a godly man 1. Heavenly 2. Earthly The principles constituent of such a gracious disposition 1. He must be born again that can do it 2. He must have great love to God 3. And be mortified to the world Reasons 1. God doth all things for his own glory 2. From the nature of Gods glory and all earthly comforts respectively 3. Because of the greatnesse of Gods glory and the value of it 4. Else we are guilty of spirituall Idolatry Vse The Text vindicated against 1. The Arians 2. The Ubiquitarian Lutherans 3. Papists Doct. Observe these particulars to clear the nature of Christs power I. Christs dominion universal II. The administration of Christs power is by his Spirit III. Of Christs dominion over the consciences of men IV. The chief effects of Christs power are spirituall V. It is infinite power VI. It is arbitrary in the use of it In what particulars Christs dominion appears 1. In appointing a Ministry for the conversion of souls 2. In giving successe to the means of grace III. Enlightning the Understanding IV. V. The Fountain of Grace VI. The giver of glory VII Forgive and pardon sin VII The great Law-giver IX And supporter and comforter of his people X. The Judge of the world XI And the subduer of his and his Churches enemies Vse 2. Vse 3. Vse 4. Vse 5. Vse 6. Vse of Consolation Doct. That not all but some of mankinde are given by God the Father to Christ to be redeemed by him How warily the doctrine of predestination should be preached The Doctrine repeated Corollaries from hence I. From the Father giving 1. The Father is the original Fountain of all good 2. That the Father expects the salvation of those he hath given to Christ 3. No cause to doubt of Gods accepting of Christs Mediation 4. All that the Father gives to Christ shall
It 's good to distinguish between the sufficiency of Christs death and the effectual application of iâ— IV. Christs speciall love to some rather then others is no ground of despair V. In this Point as in all others we must not go according to our carnal affections but Scripture VI. That the Scripture speaketh indefinitely of All. Why the expressions of Christs dying for all is to be taken in definitely and not universally I. Reasons why the Scripture speaketh thus universally about Christs Death II. Reprobates receive much benefit by Christs death How the maintainers of Universal Redemption differ among themselves Grounds of the Point The Qualifications of such to whom Christs death is made savingly advantagious The priviledges that come by Christs Death to those that have interest therein Doct. That all the spirituall good the godly enjoy is only the gift of God I. Election is free II. Vocation is of grace III. Justification is of grace Reasons IV. Glorification is of grace Reasens Of Gods peculiar propriety in his people as the ground of Christs praier for them care of them and of all the good that accrueth unto them Propositions concerning Gods peculiar propriety in his people 1. A people become Gods peculiar ones freely by grace 2. And from his meer goodness not out of any want 3. They are Christs and the holy Ghosts as well as the Fathers 4. Their being Gods excludeth all other creatures How the propriety in God is the cause of all good Doct. Christ hath all things the Father hath 1. The same Name and Titles 2. The same nature and essence 3. All the essential properties of God 4. Christ doth all the works the Father doth 5. The saâ—e will 6. The same propriety in all the godly How all Christ hath is the Fathers 1. By eternal generation 2. By vertue of the hypostatical Union Vse Therefore 1. Christ is truly God 2. The people of God are happy 3. Take heed of refusing Christ speoking Doct. As the people of God make in their work to glorifie Christ so it is well-pleasing to God How many waies the people of God glorifie Christ 1. When by faith they own him to be the promised Messias 2. When there is relying on him as Mediatour 3. To glorifie Christ there must be an outward profession of him 4. A receiving him as Lord and King 5. A suffering persecution for his sake 6. And by a holy life 7. By walking chearfully in the midst of all troubles Why it is our duty to glorifie Christ 1. Because Gods purpose from Eternity was to put infinite glory on Christ 2. It is the end of the Ministry to glorifie Christ Vse Doct. The greater the dangers are Christs people are in the greater is Christs care of them I. If God remove some mercies he makes a supply of others If he greateâ—â—gers 〈◊〉 then 〈◊〉 strenâ— III. Christs care of his appears in the dangers themselves IV. Christs care in sanctifying the troubles that they may be for spiritual benefit Doct. The godly mans life is full of spiritual danger I. Of the contagion of sin in the world II. Of the temptations in the world by lawful comforts III. He is in danger from the deceitfulnesse of all things in the world IV. From the sutablenesse of the worlds temptation to that corruption within V. Because of the clogging disposition all things in the world work in erspect of heavenly things VI. In respect of the discouragements the world puts upon godly men 7. Because the worldly snares are improved to the utmost by the devil 8. A godly mans danger appears by the Examples of Scripture The worlds great enmity against those that are godly The several waies whereby a godly man fals into trouble in this world 1. Because of their many sinnes God brings many troubles on them 2. From Satan 3. Their trouble ariseth from the wicked and prophane in the world 4. And sometimes from the godly themselves 5. No condition and relation free from trouble 6. A mans trouble ariseth from himself Doct. Christ by Death went to the Father All these particulars are involved or implied in the Point The benefits of Christs aseension and exaltation Doct. That all Governors that have a charge over others are to watch and pray for the good of those they are betrusted with Doct. God is an holy God and able to make others holy I. He is essentially holy II. Oppositely holy to all false Gods III. Holy in his Will and commands IV. Holy efficiently V. He is finally holy VI. Holy exemplarily Doct. That all the people of God if not kept by Gods grace would be undone in soul and body That God keeps all his from temporal dangers prove Of Gods keeping all true beleevers from spiritual evils 1. God keeps the truth of grace in them 2. He keeps in the actual stirrings of the soul to good 3. He makes them hold out to the end Observ That it s not enough to be put into the state of grace unless by Gods power we are kept therein Quest Answ How far men may acknowledge Gods help and yet not give the full glory to him How many ways the power of God doth keep us Why there is such a necessity of Gods preserving power From the Apostate Angels and lapsed Adam Quest Answ Vse Depend on Gods gracious power only in thy way to heaven And take heed of these things Doct. That the people of God are kept to salvation through Faith Consider these Propositions 1. That whatsoever priviledge is attributed to faith either in respect of justification or salvation it is not for any dignity in faith 2. Though faith be instrumental to our conservation yet faith it self needeth Gods help as well as other graces Why faith confirmeth us rather then other graces Observ That its a special mercy to be kept in the truth and pure faith we have received Grounds proving it to be such a special mercy I. Because of the frequent and diligent exhortations given to all that they fall not from the truth 2. Because one main end of the Scripture is to inform and keep us therein 3. Because the Lord hath appointed Officers in the Church for this end among others to preserve the truth 4. Because the more godly endeared any are to God this priviledge they shall have to be kept in the truth at least so as not damnably to erre 5. Because that is the foundation and necessary pre-requisite to hoâ—inesse 6. Because of the proneness that is in men to be lead aside by errours 7. Errors of judgment are damnable as well as sinfull practises 8. Because of those heavy censures the Scripture inflicts upon heretical persons 9. The more noble the subject is in which any habit or perfection doth consist the more noble is that perfection 10. Gods command is laid upon us to believe the true Doctrine as well as obey the holy command Doct. It is a special mercy for Ministers of the Gospel to
thus it is alwaies any errour any false way is more pleasing to corrupt men then the truth and hence it hath many followers People will run out to see to gaze and hear some new thing If a man be a dwarf or a gyant every one will run to see him but not the man of ordinary stature Vse Is this the end of the Ministry of all our labour and preaching to bring you to the saving knowledge of God Oh then may we not take up the Prophets complaint That we labour in vain the bellows is burnt the lead is consumed but the reprobate silver is not purged away Jer. 6.27 Do not many Families and persons proclaim they know not God for in this it is seen that they call not upon God there are no Family-duties no worshiping of him whereas our houses should be like the Temple of the Lord they are slies of sin rather Christ is to come in flaming vengeance against those that know not God May not the Ministers of God cry with Isaiah Isa 6.5 Wo be to us we dwell among men of polluted lips and lives It 's a Wo to dwell there Isaiah was much affected with it SERMON XXXI That Gods People are not of though in this world Wherein is also shewed the vast difference between them and the men of the world JOH 17.5 I have manifested thy Name to those that thou gavest me out of the world THE next thing considerable is The description of the Subject about which Christ did thus imploy himself and they are set out 1. From their original descent and heavenly rise These God hath given Christ but of this we have already treated and shall say more before we come to the end of the Chapter it being often repeated 2. From the term from which they are given out of the world They are given to Christ out of the world The Scripture in this Chapter makes a distinction of being in the world and of the world The people of God even as Christ himself and his Kingdom are in the world but they are not of the world As a Stranger in a forreign Countrey he is in that Countrey but not of it he hath not the nature the Language nor doth he accustome himself to the fashion of that place Thus it is with the godly Though they are born and so live in the world yet their natures and affections and conversations are not worldly As the Fowls that were at first created out of the water yet did not continue there but flew up to heaven and continue for the most part there As clouds though of the earth yet are carried about after the motions of the heavens They are not then given out of the world so as if every good man were presently upon his godlinesse removed out of this earth to heaven but in respect of their nature affections and conversation localiter they are not but in respect of heart and affections in which sence Paul said he was crucified to the world and the world to him Gal. 6.14 Now you must know that the word world hath several significations in Scriptures Est mundus cujus Deus est creator est mundus cujus Deus est redemptor est mundus cujus Satan est seductor Sometimes it is taken for the whole Fabrick and Vniverse with the parts thereof as when the world is said to be made by God and Christ a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world Rev. 13.8 Sometimes it 's taken for the greater part of the world as they said all the world did run after Christ or the world said to be taxed by Augustus Luk. 2.1 Sometimes for the power riches pleasures and glory of the world but then most commonly fot the wicked men of the world Thus often by John The world hath not known thee if ye were of the world the world would love you and now wicked men are called the world because their whole heart and desires are fixed on worldly things No worms no Moles delighting more in earthly things then they do and therefore they are the Serpents seed which live on the dust of the earth And then they are called the world because they are the farre greater visible and more flourishing part of the world Alas take these that are godly and they are but a despicable and contemptible handful to those that ruffle it in the world Obs That the people of God they are called out of the world He that is truly godly is no more a man of this world as we say of a dying man he is not for this world his heart his thoughts his desires are quite taken off Thus the godly are said to be dead and crucified to the world Gal. 6.14 They have not those carnal worldly affections and dispositions as formerly and from hence the people of God are called Ecclesia the Church as much as persons called out of the world not bodily but in respect of their souls and hence the world and the Church is opposed 1 Cor. 5.10 The Fornicators of this world in opposition to the Church so that by this we see there is none in the Church of God but they should have renounced the waies customes and sinnes of the world To be a Christian and yet of the world is a contradiction as if we should say a black Sun yet how is the garden of God made a Wildernesse how is the Church become the world So much prophanesse wickednesse and carnal living as there is so much of the world there is Oh that men did consider what an holy obligation their Christianity brings upon them Art thou a Christian and yet the drunkard of the world the fornicator of the world the proud the earthly of the world this ought not to be no more then the Angel a worm no more then a Starre a clod of earth The Apostle cals those of the world without What have we to do to judge those that are without 1 Cor. 5 ult but those of the Church within Oh but how many â—â—eâ— within according to Christs Rule ought to be turned out of Christs sheepfold To illustrate this necessary Truth let us observe those demonstrations or discoveries whereby it may appear that the godly are not of the world And first This makes it manifest because they have not the Spirit of the world but of God 1 Cor. 2.12 Now what is the Spirit of the world even a judgement and wisedom to discern only worldly things to see the necessity of them the excellency of them To be wholly affected with them To meditate on them day and night But the godly they have received the Spirit of God whereby they savour and discern spiritual things They have hearts alwaies depending upon God and they have hearts wholly fixed and placed upon God They see incomparable excellency in heavenly things above all earthly They say with David My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to God at all times