had and what he received by faith they that beleeve as he did may expect the selfe same mercy that he had Now the faithfull of God and sonnes of Abraham are here described two wayes I say every faithfull man that is the sonne of Abraham that imitateth the faith of Abraham is discovered two wayes First Negatively What will not suffice to make a man the sonne of Abraham Secondly Affirmatively What God specially looks for at the hands of those that are to be the children of Abraham First Negatively thus Abraham is the father of circumcision not onely to them who are of the circumcision that is not onely theirs who have the priviledges of the Jewes the Word and the Oracles of God Circumcision and the Passeover T is true Abraham is their father but not onely theirs that have no more but those priviledges but also theirs that walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham So that by Circumcision you must here understand all these prerogatives and priviledges which the Jewes had above any other Nation and consequently that none of all those priviledges then could that none of ours as to be in the Church to be baptized c. now can make a man to be the sonne of Abraham Abraham is the father of the circumcision not to them who are of the circumcision onely but he is the father of the circumcision if they have faith They that have bare circumcision onely may indeed applaud themselves therein but they shall never receive thereby those things God hath promised This is the Negative Secondly The Affirmative part sheweth who they be indeed that shall truly be partakers of the comforts and graces of Abraham namely those that walk in the footsteps of that faith of Abraham If a man beleeve as he did work as he did walk as he did so onely he may come to have title unto and interest in the promises God hath vouchsafed in his Word Thus much for the opening of the words Come we now in the first place to speak of the negative part in which the Spirit of God is pleased to exclude all outward priviledges and prerogatives and to say thus Abraham is the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision onely that is if they injoy onely outward priviledges they are not the children of Abraham The point we learn hence is thus much That all outward priviledges as the hearing of the Word the partaking of the Sacraments and the like are not able to make a man a sound Saint of God The point is clear in the Text That if a man had circumcision that is if he had all those preferments that God vouchsafeth to a people in the face and bosome of his Church this would not doe him any good at all he hath no title to the promises because of these if he rest in them Abraham is not the father of those that are circumcised onely So that I say again all outward priviledges are not able to make a man a true Saint of God Our Saviour Christ speaking of Capernaum saith And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down to hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodome c. Mat. 11.23 Capernaum was lifted up to Heaven how In all those spirituall helpes and excellent meanes that God vouchsafed them above many others they were highly advanced in the enjoyment of heavenly priviledges they heard the Word of God and they saw the Miracles of Christ and yet Thou Capernaum shalt be deep in punishment thou wert lifted up to Heaven in regard of excellent priviledges but thou shalt be cast down to Hell in regard of thy impenitency and stubbornesse under them The Apostle Paul disputeth the point and makes the case clear Rom. 2.28 29. where he plucks away all these hopes and vain props which men raise to themselves from the having of outward priviledges He is not a Jew saith he that is one outwardly that is he is not therefore a true child of God and a faithfull man he hath not therefore saving faith because he is circumcised because he enjoyeth the liberties and priviledges of the people of God and liveth in the bosome of the Church but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumciston is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of men but of God You know that it was an ancient Proverb in Israel Is Saul also amongst the Prophets 1 Sam. 10.12 and 19.24 Yes Saul was amongst the Prophets and he that was once amongst the Prophets is now amongst the Devils in Hell Judas was highly promoted he lived as an Apostle amongst the Disciples heard out Saviour continually sate at table with him and yet for all this is now damned in hell for ever These were high priviledges and if these would have done the deed Judas had never perished Ishamel was circumcised and yet he was excommunicated out of Abrahams family the then Church of God and was a cast-away Instances are many in the Scriptures to this purpose but I list not to dwell longer upon the proofe of the point you see it is evident enough that bare priviledges be they never so high and excellent are not able to make one indeed a faithfull man before the Lord nor the sonne of Abraham I should have shewed the Reasons Alas outward matter 's never work upon the heart That which makes a man a Saint must work upon the soul Now the Word and the Sacraments barely considered cannot work upon the spirit unlesse the Lord work a new frame inwardly by the infusion of Grace Gal. 5.6 Circumcision and uncircumcision profiteth nothing but faith that worketh by love These outward things are too shallow to reach the inward man too weak to work so powerfully upon the soule of a Christian man as to bring the heart to God But I leave the strengthning of the point by Reasons and because I would not be prevented I come to the Uses The first Use I will hence raise is an Use of reproof This Doctrine confoundeth the carnall confidence of those Professors that living in the bosome of the Church place all their hopes and assurance of being saved upon this bottome because they have been baptized and come to Church and hear the Word and receive the Sacrament therefore of necessity they presume they must be accepted of God This was the old plea of the Jewes in Jeremies time When the Prophet came to them to reprove them for their sinnes and presse them to repentance they began to quarrell with him and to take up Bucklers against him and cried out The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these These are the Fig-leaves wherewith poor and ignorant Christians think to hide themselves at this day Tell them of their saults bid them walk humbly and holily before God reprove them for their strange practises against God
to the honour of Christ to the Gospel of Christ In a word what ever is Christs to that faith doth work a love where ever it is so that whosoever hath faith they have in them a love to Christ and to all the things of Christ You may conceive it by this similitude If a woman have with a conjugall affection taken a man to be her husband that same taking of him to be her husband makes her love him and all that is his she loves his name his honour and credit his profit his contentment his ease his safety his person his friends for that same conjugall affection which makes her to take him to be her husband works love in her in all these particulars To beleeve in the Lord Christ is nothing but to take Christ as I said before to be our husband Now if we have taken him to be our husband then we shall love him as a wife loveth her husband There is the second thing Again thirdly a third Propertie of Faith is that in the 1 Thes 5.8 The breastplate of faith and love faith is a Brest-plate there is the third property of faith What is the use of a brestplate A brestplate it doth fence and secure the heart from all danger from all stabbs from all injuries Where there is faith the soul is fenced as it were with a brestplate so that it is neither drawn away from Christ nor wounded with the fierie darts of Satan or temptations of sin My brethren I pray observe it there is no faith where the heart is not in some measure fenced from the wounds of sin and from the insnarements of the world Faith is a brest-plate there is the third Again in the fourth and last place the last propertie of faith that I will name is that in the 1 John 5.4 Whosoever is born of God overcommeth the world and this is our victorie even our faith Observe that place where there is faith there is a victorie and a victorie over the world where ever there is faith there is an overcomming of the world To overcome the world it is not to be overcome of the world it is to persist in setting our chiefest affection upon the Lord Jesus Christ notwithstanding all the devises and attempts of the world either by flattery or by frowns either by favour or by blowes this is to overcome the world Now then where ever there is faith there is a victorie over the world that soul which hath faith in it it hath overcome the world the care of the world was wont to overcome it but now it overcommeth the care of the world it is not so carefull for the world as it is for Christ The feares of the world were wont to overcome it but now it hath overcome the feares of the world it is not so afraid of all the worlds injuries and threats as it is of Christs displeasure The pleasures of the world were wont to overcome it the world runneth after nothing so much as after worldly pleasures is delighted in nothing so much as in some worldly pleasure either of contentment or profit or friends of riches or honours But now the soul that hath faith in it it delighteth in nothing so much as in the comfort of the Spirit in the communion of the Lord Jesus Christ Thus I pray consider it though I speak but briefly of these things yet consider it where ever there is faith there is a victorie over the world before there is faith there the soul is a slave to the world but if once there be faith he is more then conquerour he is not the worlds slave but the world is his the world is trampled under his feet and is a dead flower to him that hath neither beauty nor sweetness in it Thus my brethren they that have these Properties they whose hearts are purified they who work by love they whose hearts are fenced with a brestplate that they cannot bee stollen from Christ nor wounded with sin they that are conquerours over the world they are beleevers And so you see the first thing the Object of this Act of Christ The persons for whom Christ gave himself viz. for them that have a faith purifying the heart for them that have a faith working by love for them that have a faith that is as a brestplate to their soul for them that have a faith that overcometh the world for these Christ gave himself Now we come in the second place to open the second thing that is the Act of Christ the thing that Christ did he gave himself for these beleevers What is meant by giving of himself to give a thing in the generall it is to put a thing out of ones own use and power and freely to bequeath it to the use and power of another this is in the generall to give a thing But here I conceive giving is taken a little more strictly and not so largely viz. that which we call giving a ransome For if you compare with this Text that which you shall find in 1 Tim. 2.6 Who gave himself a ransome for all that is for all sorts and conditions of people so that here by giving himself is meant a giving himself as a ransome Now what it is to give a thing as a ransome you are to know it is this It is to dispose and order a thing so as that it may redeem another out of that distresse wherein he is So then the meaning of these words he gave himself for us is this That the Lord Christ did so dispose of himself that by him there may come a redemption to all beleevers from all that miserie and distresse they are in by nature This is the meaning of the words The words then thus explained this Doctrine doth arise Jesus Christ hath given himself for all that believe I need not stand to prove it it is so plain and evident in the Text onely let me give you one place which is parallel to it Eph. 5.25 Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it By the Church is meant nothing else but the company of beleevers now he so loved the Church that is the company of beleevers that he gave himself for them to be their ransome For the opening of the point that you may see what this Action of Christ was I will shew you the particular things to which Christ gave himselfe for beleevers First Christ gave himself to incarnation to become a man for beleevers Secondly Christ gave himself to a perfect obedience of the Law to work all righteousnesse for beleevers 3. Christ gave himself to suffering to passion for beleevers These I will briefly open and so make use of the Point The First thing to which the Lord Christ bequeathed himself for the sake of beleevers it was for to be a man For the understanding of this you must know that Christ he was as he is God he was not man
Abraham That man that not onely enjoyeth the Priviledges of the Church but yeeldeth the obedience of faith according to the Word of God revealed and walketh in obedience that man alone shall be blessed with faithfull Abraham Two points may be hence raised but I shall hardly handle them both therefore I will passe over the first onely with a touch and that lieth closely couched in the Text That Faith causeth fruitfulness in the hearts and lives of those in whom it is Mark what I say A faithfull man is a fruitfull man Faith inableth a man to be doing Ask the Question By what power was it whereby Abraham was inabled to yeeld obedience to the Lord The Text answereth you They that walke in the footsteps not of Abraham but in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham A man would have thought the Text should have run thus They that walk in the footsteps of Abraham that is true too but the Apostle had another end therefore he saith They that walk in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham implying that it was the grace of faith that God bestowed on Abraham that quickned and inabled him to every duty that God required of him and called him to the performance of So that I say the Question being Whence came it that Abraham was so fruitfull a Christian what inabled him to do and to suffer what he did Surely it was faith that was the cause that produced such Effects that helped him to perform such actions The Point then you see is evident Faith is it that causoth fruit Hence it is that of almost all the actions that a Christian haah to doe faith is still said to be the worker If a man pray as he should it is the prayer of faith Jam. 5.15 If a man obey as he should it is the obedience of faith Rom. 16.26 If a man war in the Church militant it is the fight of faith 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 4.7 If a man live as a Christian and holy man he liveth by fasth Gal. 2.20 Nay shall I say yet more if he die as he ought he dieth by faith Heb. 11.13 These all died in faith What is that by the power of faith that directed and ordered them in the course of their death furnished them with grounds and principles of aflurance of the love of God made them carry themselves patiently in death I can say no more but with the Apostle 2 Cor. 13.5 Examine your selves whether yee bee in the faith Why doth not the Apostle say Examine whether faith be in you but whether yee bee in the faith His meaning is that as a man is said to be in drinke or to be in love or to bee in passion that is under the command of drinke or love or passion so the whole man must be under the command of faith as you shall see more afterwards If he pray faith must indite his prayer If he obey faith must work If hee live it is faith that must quicken him and if he die it is faith that must order him in death And wheresoever faith is it will doe wonders in the soul of that man where it is it cannot be idle it will have footsteps it sets the whole man on work it moveth feet and hands and cies and all parts of the bodie Mark how the Apostle disputeth 2 Cor 4.13 We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written I beleeved and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak The faith of the Apostle which he had in his heart set his tongue a going If a man have faith within it will break forth at his mouth This shall suffice for the proof of the point I thought to have pressed it further but if I should I see the time would prevent me The Use therefore in a word is this If this be so then it falleth soul and is a heavie Bill of Indictment against many that live in the bosome of the Church Go thy wayes home and read but this Text and consider seriously but this one thing in it That whosoever is the son of Abraham hath faith and whosoever hath faith is a walker is a worker by the footsteps of faith you may see where faith hath been Will not this then I say fall marvellous heavie upon many souls that live in the bosome of the Church who are confident and put it out of all Question that they are true beleevers and make no doubt but that they have faith But look to it wheresoever faith is it is fruitfull If thou art fruitlesse say what thou wilt thou hast no faith at all Alas these idle Drones these idle Christians the Church is too too full of them Men are continually hearing and yet remain fruitless and unprofitable whereas if there were more faith in the world we should have more work done in the world faith would set feet and hands and eies and all on work Men go under the name of professors but alas they are but Pictures they stir not a whit Mark Where you found them in the beginning of the yeer there you shall find them in the end of the yeer as profane as worldly as loose in their conversations as formall in dutie as ever And is this faith Oh faith would work other matters and provoke a soul to other passages then these But you wil say May not a man have faith and not that fruit you speak of May not a man have a good heart to God-ward although he cannot find that abilitie in matter of fruitfulnesse My brethren be not deceived Such an opinion is a meer delusion of Satan whereever faith is it bringeth Christ into the soul Mark that Whosoever beleeveth Christ dwelleth in his heart by faith Eph. 3.17 And If Christ be in you saith the Apostle the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you that is Whosoever beleeveth in the Lord Jesus Christ dwels in such a man by faith now if Christ be in the soul the bodie cannot be dead but a man is alive and quick and active to holy duties ready and willing and cheerfull in the performance of whatsoever God requireth Christ is not a dead Saviour nor the Spirit a dead Spirit The second Adam is made a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 And wherever the Spirit is it works Effects suteable to it The Spirit is a Spirit of puritie a spirit of zeal c. and where it is it maketh pure and zealous c. When a man will say he hath faith and in the mean time can be content to be idle and unfruitfull in the work of the Lord can bee content to be a dead Christian let him know that his case is marvellously fearfull For if faith were in him indeed it would appear yee cannot keep your good hearts to your selves where ever fire is it will burn and where ever faith is it cannot be
my hands The like Christian courage was in Luther when his friends disswaded him to goe to Wormes If all the Tiles in Wormes were so many Devils said he yet would I goe thither in the name of my Lord Jesus This is the last step Now gather up a little what I have delivered He that is resolved to stoop to the call of God to prize the promises and breath after them to rest upon the Lord and to wait his time for bestowing mercy upon him to break through all impediments and difficulties and to count nothing too deare for God to be content to performe ready and cheerful obedience he that walketh thus and treadeth in these steps peace be upon him Heaven is hard by he is as sure of salvation as the Angels are it is as certain as the Lord liveth that he shall be saved with faithfull Abraham for he walketh in the steps of Araham and therefore he is sure to be where he is The case you see is clear and the point evident that every faithfull man may and must imitate faithfull Abraham It may be here imagined that we draw men up to too high a pitch and certainly if this be the sense of the words and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in this place what will become of many that live in the bosome of the Church Will you therefore see the point confirmed by reason The ground of this Doctrine standeth thus Every faithfull man hath the same faith for nature and for work that Abraham had therefore look what nature his faith was of and what power it had of the same nature and power every true Beleevers faith is Breifly thus The promises of God are the ground upon which all true faith resteth the Spirit of God it is that worketh this faith in all beleevers the power of the spirit is that that putteth forth it selfe in the hearts and lives of all the faithfull gather these together if all true beleevers have the same promises for the ground of their faith have one and the same spirit to work it have one and the same power to draw out the abilities of faith then certainly they cannot but have the very selfe same actions having the very selfe same ground of their actions Every particular beleever as the Apostle Peter saith 2 Pet. 1.1 hath obtained the like precious faith Mark that There is a great deal of Copper-faith in the world much counterfeit beleeving but the Saints doe all partake of the like precious faith As when a man hath but a Sixpence in silver or a Crown in gold those small pieces for the nature are as good as the greatest of the same metall so it is with the faith of Gods Elect. And look as it is in graffing If there be many Scions of the same kind grassed into one stock they all partake alike of the vertue of the stock just so it is here The Lord Jesus Christ is the stock as it were into which all the faithfull are grafted by the spirit of God and faith therefore whatsoever fruit one beareth another beareth also howsoever there may be degrees of works yet they are the same for nature As a little Apple is the same in tast with a great one of the same tree even so every faithfull man hath the same holinesse of heart and life because he hath the same principle of holinesse The fruit indeed that one Christian bringeth forth may be but poor and small in comparison of others yet it is the same in kind the course of his life is not with so much power and fulnesse of grace it may be as anothers yet there is the same true grace and the same practise in the kind of it for truth however in degree it differ Here by way of caution I will suggest too things to you 1. That howsoever all beleevers have the selfe same nature of faith yet all must not look to have the same measure of faith and the same degree of works 2. That faith doth not performe all its works at one time but groweth to a ripenesse upon severall occasions A Child is a perfect man in regard of parts though not of degrees he is able to eat and to see though he cannot walk and talk yet because he hath a reasonable soule as well as others he will walk and talk like others in due time So howsoever many of the Saints of God have not attained to those great actions of grace that others have yet having the same spirit and principle of grace within they shall be inabled hereafter to a further discharge of those holy services that God requireth Thus you see the point confirmed by reason if all the Saints of God are ingraffed into Christ indifferently if all have the same ground of faith and the same spirit to work it and to make it work they must needs have the same actions and fruits of faith because I say they have the selfe same causes of their faith Let us now come to see what benefit we may make to our selves of this point thus proved and confirmed And certainly the Use of this Doctrine is of great consequence In the first place it is a just ground of Examination For if it be true as it cannot be denyed the reasons being so strong and arguments so plain that every sonne of Abraham followeth the steps of Abraham then here you may clearly perceive who it is that hath saving faith indeed who they be that are true Saints and the sonnes of Abraham By the light of this truth by the rule of this doctrine if you would square your courses and look into your conversations you cannot but discern whether you have faith or no. That man whose faith she weth it selfe and putteth it selfe forth in its severall conditions agreable to the faith of Abraham that man that followeth the footsteps of the faith of Abraham let him be esteemed a faithfull man let him be reckoned for a true beleever But if any mans faith doe not this but be contrary unto or fall short of this in the truth I say not in the measure of it certainly it is counterfeit it is Copper-faith O the world of counterfeit faith then that is in the Church at this day It was the complaint of our Saviour Christ that when he should come he should scarce finde faith on the earth Luke 18.8 as if he should say It will be so little and so rare that one shall hardly know where to find a faithfull man It was the complaint of the Psalmist of old and is most true of these times that the faithfull faile from among the children of men Psal 12.1 Many a man hath a name that he is alive and yet is dead Rev. 3.1 Many have a fancie of faith yet upon the tryall we shall find that there are but few even of those that are interested in the title of Christians and live in the bosome of the Church that have any right or
reconciled to him Now when the soul findeth this and the like and withall hath an inward work which though happily he cannot discover the manner and order thereof nor expresse it to others yet he knows more thereof then any man under heaven Ask a child How doe you know such a man is your father Alas he cannot tell you yet he hath a strong affection toward him above all others and feels in himself such a leaning in his affection towards him as another feels not So the mother of the child that was brought before Solomon had no Argument in the world to prove the child to be hers but the yerning of her bowels and relenting of her spirit toward the child proved it sufficiently So there is in a Saint of God an inward tenderness of affection a leaning of his soul towards God which no man knowes but he that hath it If a curious workman after he hath made a clock or a watch shew the frame thereof to a man ignorant of that Art and declare to him the manner of making it happily he will conceive his words and his reasons and perceive that he saith truth but he cannot make such another because he hath not the Art it self of clock-making My brethren so it is here There is a curious frame in the soule of a Christian of grace of faith of repentance of holinesse of love patience and the like a blessed disposition of heart whereby the soul runneth right toward God and every holy dutie and strikes right as I may say in all holy obedience to God this is a frame reared up by the hand of the Spirit of God alone in the heart of a Christian Now the Apostle Paul who had such a work as this wrought in him can tell the nature of hope and of faith and of repentance but I that read what he hath written of these things being a naturall man though happily I understand the sence and apprehend the meaning of the words yet the true knowledge of the nature of repentance or faith or hope I cannot possibly attain to so long as I remain a meer naturall man Even as an ignorant man cannot conceive the Art of Watch-making in that manner as the Artist himself understands it so cannot I discern the nature of this spiritual frame in the heart further then God is pleased to teach me this skill by the work of his Spirit within my self When I finde my own heart wrought upon then I can best discover it to another then doe I know that which before I never understood though happily I could discourse something concerning such things and understand the outside as it were yet that was all I never knew the bottom as I doe now You see then the difference between the knowledge of Hypocrites that live in the bosome of the Church and the knowledge of Gods Elect or saving knowledge Now for the Use of all in a word or two If this be so that men may live in the Church of God and enjoy the means of grace and yet be a people of no understanding have no saving knowledge then my brethren here is a word of reproof to check all those conceits and pull down all those silly imaginations of poor ignorant carnall creatures that live here among us in the bosome of the Church who because the Lord hath been pleased to put them into a place where the truth is plainly taught and preached presently perswade their own souls that they have wise dome and knowledge enough to bring them to life and salvation If happily you come to any of these men and tell them that they ought to be inlarged in those duties God requireth of his children that they should be able to catechise their families to pray with them to instruct them that they should be skilfull in the art of humbling their souls before God in private conversing and spirituall communion with him Alas they will answer you that for the present they are too weak and unable for such things as these Well but prove them again afterwards when they have continued a longer time under the means and demand of them how they have bettered themselves what strength of grace they have attained unto By no means you must meddle with them What they have not lived so long in a good Parish under a panfull Minister and gone so often to Church but surely they have sufficient to bring them to heaven and although they cannot doe so and so though they cannot give you a reason of the hope that is in them yet they make no question but to speed as well as the best Men think it enough to be good Church-men to have and injoy the helpes God vouchsafeth and bestoweth upon his people to be often hearers of the Word read and preached and so rest themselves contented and there set up their staffe though in the mean time they remain as blind and ignorant and as carnall as ever My brethren be not deceived the Lord will not be mocked It is not sufficient to salvation for a man to be an often hearer to have his heart now and then inlarged to give assent to the truths delivered to conceive the grounds of them or to be able happily to discourse of some points of religion Oh look further he that hath saving knowledge indeed goes farre beyond all this You that are tradesmen or you that have children will any man say my child is a good Schollar for he hath gone so long to schoole or my Apprentise hath good skill in his trade because he hath served me so many yeares It is true he ought to be so but it doth not follow that because he hath had such and such helps and lived so long under them that therefore he is so So it is here there is no reason for any man to ground his assurance of salvation on his injoyment of the meanes or to imagine that God hath wrought mercifully for him in the matter of knowledge which accompanieth life and happiness because of his long living under a good ministry no it is not enough to have the preaching of the word among us and to have the meanes and helps of saving knowledge you may have all these and yet remain ignorant and blind and be a people of no understanding Secondly this is a word of instruction to us We are hence given to understand the sinfulnesse of our nature and the blindnesse of our mindes seeing a man may have all the means under heaven and yet all prove unprofitable to him may injoy all the helpes that God hath set up in his Church for the good of peoples soules and yet receive no good by them What a strange heart is ours Yet so it is even amongst many of us in this place and I wish it were not so with most that live in the Church at this day I fear me that if a man should goe from heart to heart and observe every ones particular
thee that art a beleever Exod. 14 13. Moses said to the people Fear not stand still see the salvation of the Lord which he will shew you this day What is that For the Egyptians whom you have seen to day you shall see them again no more for ever This was typicall this was a type of Christs redeeming thee that art a beleever from all iniquitie I say therefore to thee stand still and fear not be not afraid of any thing art thou invirond round about with iniquities as they were with the Egyptians fear not stand still be but patient a little soon shall â—he time come wherein thou shalt see the salvation of the Lord for thine Iniquities whom thou now seest thou shalt fee them again no more for ever This is the very end of Christs dying therefore this end shall be made good Oh let us rejoyce together in the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ How would it glad our soul if we were vassalized to the Turk or slaves to the Moors to be redeemed from that vassalage and slaverie If we were to be imprisoned but all our life time for a debt which we could never pay how would it rejoyce our soul if a friend should come and pay our ransome and discharge our debt and set us free Behold here my brethren a greater redemption wrought for thee by Christ thou art redeemed from under all iniquitie not with a temporarie redemption thou mayest be redeemed in thy body from a slave and taken captive again the next yeer thou mayest be redeemed out of prison for debt and brought in again soon after but the redemption thou hast by Christ it is an eternall redemption as it is called Heb. 9.12 an universall redemption it is from all iniquitie and it is for ever Here is the first Use Admirable consolation to all beleevers you that are not sensible of this comfort are not beleevers Christ hath given himself for this end to redeem us from all iniquitie therefore assuredly his end shall be effected all beleevers shall be freed from all iniquitie The Second Use is for Exhortation Is this the end why Christ gave himself to redeem us from all iniquitie then let us that are beleevers be exhorted to these two things First of all let us be afraid of coming under any Iniquitie The Lord Christ did so much desire our redemption from all iniquitie That he gave himself for that end Oh then let us bee afraid of being again brought under the power of any iniquitie Hath Christ so much desired our freedome from Iniquitie as that he gave himself for that end and shall not we have a care that Christ may have his desire in keeping our selves free from iniquitie Suppose a Father had been content to redeem his son out of prison wherein he was perpetually to lie for debt to sell all that he had and to strip himself of all his estate to set his son free should we not cry out of that son that should after that he was redeemed so costly by his father again turn Prodigall It is as grosse a thing my brethren for us that are redeemed by Christ with so costly a Redemption as is even the giving of himself to rush again under the power of that iniquitie from which to redeem us Christ hath given himself Suppose a father should so love a son as that for the curing and freeing of him from a disease he should shed his own hearts bloud should we not judge it abhominable for that son presently to run again into the infection of the same disease when as his father with so much love and cost even his own life had procured his freedome from the disease I beseech you consider it the Lord Jesus Christ hath therefore given himself to be a man to obey the Law to suffer the wrath of God and to die that we might be redeemed from iniquitie Oh therefore let us ever be fearful of coming under iniquitie any more let us not suffer our selves to be defiled with that sin from which to deliver us Christ hath given himself Certainly if any argument in the world would perswade people not to given way to sin but to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously in this present world this will doe it When therefore thou art tempted to commit a sin reason thus with thy self Now that I am tempted to sin here is presented to me pleasure or honour or profit or escape from trouble and if I will commit the sin I shall attain many of these but let me remember that to the end I might bee brought out of sin Christ gave himself Is not Christ more worth than profit more worth than pleasure of more worth then my life why then to save my self from danger or to gain profit or pleasure or honours should I rush into a sinne out of which Christ to pluck me hath given himself Consider of it for this I assure you that there are none whom Christ hath redeemed from Iniquitie but he doth put into them such a spirit that they shall for ever after bee carefull to keep themselves from iniquitie The Lord Christ would not bee at so great cost to give himself for an end that should be frustrate he hath bought our redemption with the price of himself therefore he will make it sure that it shall be effected If therefore you find your hearts bold to run into any sin and ready to put your selves into all iniquitie you are not those that are redeemed by Christ Consider for the proof of this these places James 1.27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and widowes in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Observe it where there is a true Religion there men keep themselves from the spots of the world And you shall finde this also excellently and plainly laid down in 1 John 3. from the 6. verse to the 11. Whosoever abideth in him that is in Christ sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen him neither known him Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousnesse is righteous but in v. 8. He that committeth sin is of the devill Observe these Phrases of the Scripture And in v. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and be cannot sin because he is born of God And in v. 10. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devill whosoever doth not righteousnesse is not of God In few words here is a plain tryall who are Gods and who are the Devils children whoever sinneth whoever doth not righteousnesse is of the Devill is not of God Take notice of it I beseech you they are the very words of the Spirit of God And to this you may adde that in the fifth Chapter of the same Epistle of John v. 18. We know that whosoever is born of
you doe not finde your hearts loving Christ above all things if you cannot say of Christ as the Church in the Canticles Oh thou whom my soul loveth if you cannot say that Christ hath more room in your affection that there is more inlargement of heart toward him then to any thing else in the world then you are not yet in the number of them for whom Christ gave himself to redeem them from all iniquitie Therefore I beseech you quicken up your hearts towards Christ Why doth Iniquitie so abound now and the love of so many waxe cold Surely you have forgotten your selves have not you forgotten what Christ hath done how else could your affections be so little so cold towards him Remember what I have opened now unto you Christ gave himself to be a man to obey the Law to suffer the wrath of God and man and that for this end to redeem you from all iniquitie therefore love you the Lord Jesus according as he doth deserve And thus much shall serve for the first end Why Christ gave himself for beleevers That end which concerns beleevers themselves Viz. That he might redeem them from all iniquitie The Second remaineth and that is that which concernes himself But so much for this Time â‚ THE BLESSED INHABITANT OR The BENEFIT of CHRISTS BEING In BELEEVERS By that Reverend Divine THOMAS HOOKER Late Preacher in New England EPHES. 3.17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by Faith LONDON Printed by G. D. for Francis Eglesfield and are to be sold at the Sign of the Marigold In Pauls Church-yard 1651. The Blessed Inhabitant OR The Benefit of Christs being in Beleevers SERMON II. ROM 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse THe Apostle Saint Paul having in the first verse of this present Chapter in the very first words of the Verse set down the blessed Priviledges of all true beleevers such as are regenerated and are in Christ he doth afterwards in many Verses lay down the Signs and Tryals whereby he doth discover who they bee that are in that blessed condition and who they bee that are not And amongst others not to stand upon the Coherence it not being necessary for the understanding of this Verse he doth in the words of the Text lay down certain cleer Signs and Tryals whereby people may know whether they are regenerated by Christ and so justified yea or no And that is the Scope and Sum of this Verse If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse In the Verse then you have these two things considerable First the state and condition of all justified persons Christ is in them in the first words If Christ be in you Secondly the Signs and Evidences whereby it may bee known whether Christ be in people yea or no in the rest of the Verse the bodie is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse I begin with the First The state and condition of all persons that are justified They have Christ in them If Christ be in you saith the Apostle supposing thus much That the Lord Christ is in every justified person in every one that is exempted from condemnation The Point is clear and evident in the words of the Text If Christ be in you The like to this you have John 14.20 I am in my Father saith our Saviour to his Disciples and you in me and I in you They are in him and he in them The like also you have John 17.21 23. There our Saviour prayeth That they may be one in us I in them and thou in mee that they may bee made perfect in one Mark I in them and thou in me Look as God the Father is in Christ so the Lord Christ also is in every beleever To this purpose also is that of the Apostle Col. 1.27 The riches of the glory of this mysterie is Christ in you the hope of glory CHRIST IN YOU You see the Point is clear Christ is in every justified person For the further understanding hereof I will let you know in a word or two for I purpose but to touch it how the Lord Jesus Christ is in all justified persons First he is in them as the Housholder or Master of the Family is in his house Therefore the Apostle saith Eph. 3.17 That he doth dwell in our hearts Look as the Master of the Family dwelleth in his house ruling commanding and ordering all things there even so is Christ in them that are justified persons Again he is in them as the food that we receive is in our stomacks Therefore he is often in the Scripture compared to meat and drink because as meat and drink are in us after we have eaten and drunken so is the Lord Jesus Christ also in all them that are justified for their refreshing nourishing and strengthning and preservation of life in them Last of all He is in them as a mans life is in him I live not saith the Apostle Gal. 2.20 but Christ liveth in me Christ is in the soul of a poor sinner that beleeveth as our naturall life is in our bodies as our life doth act and move us being the principle of all those motions that are in us even so is Christ also in all justified persons But you will ask In what respect is it that the Lord Christ is said to be in justified persons I answer Amongst others Christ is said to be in them in these two respects First Because his Spirit is in them By his Spirit I do not mean his humane spirit his soul as he is a man that is proper to himself as every mans soul is but by his Spirit I mean the Spirit of God the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinitie which is the Spirit of Christ both as he is the second Person in Trinitie so the Holy Ghost proceedeth from him together with the Father and also as he is the Mediatour of his Church so it is his Spirit because he hath merited and as it were purchased it to imploy it and to send it about for the effecting of the salvation of the Elect. Now the Lord Christ is in beleevers by vertue of his spirit because his spirit is in them This the verse before the Text and the verse after plainly prove where the Apostle maketh mention of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the faithful If the Spirit of God dwell in you v. 9. And If the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you Verse 11. This is the first Reason why Christ is said to be in justified persons his Spirit is in them Another is Because the vertue efficacie life and operation of Christ is in them as the tree or the root may be said to be in the branches because the life and sap of the tree is put forth in the branches So
my brethren is Christ said to be in the soul of every beleever because the vertue and influence of Christ is working in them as truly as it is in himself onely differing in regard of degrees and perfection Now for the fuller illustration of the Point give me leave in the last place to shew you the means whereby Christ is in all them that are justified They are these two First the grace of Faith For this in-being of Christ in all justified persons is the consequent of their union with him Now by faith they are joyned to Christ and Christ being joyned to them and they to him Christ is in them as well as they in him Therefore in that forenamed place Eph. 3.17 Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith Another means is The abiding of Christs word in us John 15.7 If ye abide in me and my words abide in you In the fourth Verse our Saviour had said thus Abide in me and I in you now repeating that again he somewhat altereth it and saith If ye abide in me and my words abide in you I conceive the ground of the alteration is onely this because the abiding of Christs word in people is a means whereby Christ doth abide in them By the words of Christ I take it is meant the Gospel of Christ with all the commandments instructions and promises that are contained in it Now when this Word of Christ doth abide in people which it doth when understood remembred practised and observed by this means Christ is said and made to abide in them The words of Christ are as so many plants which he doth ingraft into a poor soul as we doe ingraft Cions into a stock Therefore the Apostle calls it the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls Jam 1.21 Now look as the stock cometh to have the nature and to bear the fruit of the Cion by having the Cion implanted and ingrafted into it even so by ingrafting the word of Christ into us we come to have the sap and life of the Spirit of Christ and consequently Christ himself to abide in us For the further understanding of the Point you must in the last place know That however the Lord Christ is in all justified persons yet he is not wholly and compleatly in them not so as to exclude sin and Satan out of them Christ is in them and sin and Satan are in them also so that Christs dwelling in them is but imperfect yet notwithstanding it is perfecting and in the end shall be consummate and then Christ shall onely be in them and sin and Satan altogether shut out This serveth my brethren to teach us all which is the readiest and surest way to become justified persons and partakers of Christ and all his priviledges to wit to get Christ to be in us In vain dost thou hope for any Christian priviledge in vain dost thou indeavour after any thing that is necessary to salvation if by faith Christ is not brought to be in thee People doe oft trouble themselves many waies but most are ignorant or negligent of this way whereas our hope of happinesse of the forgivenesse of our sins our labours and endeavours after heaven are all in vain if we doe not labour by beleeving to get the Lord Jesus Christ to be in us Many conceit that Christ will be for them but he will be for none but for them in whom he is I mean not now to dispute whether Christ be for us or in us first but this is sure he will be for none but such as he is in also Therefore saith the Apostle Col. 1.27 Christ in you the hope of glory The Connexion is to be observed Christ the hope of glory but Christ in you implying that as we must have no hope but Christ and therefore Christ is called our hope so we can never have Christ to be our hope if we have not Christ to be in us Learn this therefore I say above all things to labour to be joyned to Christ by a lively faith that so you may come to have him in you and then he shall be for you and never till then Thus much for the first thing The condition of all such as are justified They have Christ in them Now for the second which is the main thing the Apostle aimeth at the Evidences or Signs whereby it may be known who have Christ in them Yee have them in the next words The body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse Give me leave first to open the words unto you By Sin you know is meant the transgression of Gods law the going beside the rule of Gods Commandment either in neglecting what is enjoyned or in doing what is prohibited this is sin By Righteousness also must be meant the contrary to this For howsoever righteousness is sometime in the Scripture taken strictly for the observation of those duties that concern men which the second Table injoyneth yet sometime it is taken largely for the observation of the whole Law of God and all duties concerning God and us and thus it is usually taken when as it is not joyned with something else that doth restrain it Here it is opposed to sin and therefore as by sin is meant the going beside the Commandment of God so by righteousnesse is meant the observation or doing of the Commandment of God Thus you see what is meant by sin and what by righteousnesse But it is more difficult to know what is meant by the bodie and what by the Spirit The bodie is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse I take it here by the bodie is meant the bodie of corruption the bodie of sin that same Original corruption that is in all of us by nature It cannot be understood of the natural body because of the opposition to spirit for by the spirit here cannot be understood our soul or our spirit for it cannot be said that any mans spirit or soul is life to righteousnesse it may be said that it is enlivened to righteousness but it cannot be said to be life to righteousnesse therefore seeeing by the spirit the soul of a man cannot be meant I thinke it is clear that by the the body the bodie of man cannot be meant But by the body I conceive as I said is meant the body of sin for so Saint Paul calleth it Rom. 6.6 That the bodie of sin might be destroyed Now this Originall corruption is called a bodie in these respects 1. Because that it commeth to us by propagation from the parents of our bodies 2. To expresse the baseness of it for our bodies are but base and vile as Saint Paul calleth them Phil. 3.21 3. To expresse the fadingness of it for that is our comfort as our naturall bodies are mortall so the body of sin originall corruption is also mortall to all the Saints Therefore it is called flesh
because through the merit of Christ and the mercie of God it is transitorie to all beleevers 4. Lastly it is called a bodie because as our bodies are made up of many Integrals and consist of several members by which they act and exercise severall functions so also originall corruption is one thing consisting of many particular sins as so many integrall parts or severall members whereby it putteth forth it self in severall operations For these and such like reasons Originall corruption is called a bodie Thus you see what is here meant by bodie And now it is more easie to understand what is meant by the Spirit The Spirit is life because of righteousnesse For if by the body be meant originall corruption then by the Spirit must be meant originall righteousnesse that which is elsewhere in the Scripture called the divine nature or the seed of God or grace or holiness or the like Originall holiness or righteousness is that which I take it is here meant by the Spirit It is so called John 3.6 That which is born of the spirit is spirit and so in many other places Now this same habit of holiness is called the Spirit 1. To shew the excellency of it That as a Spirit is an excellent thing far above all bodily substances so is holiness the excellentest of Gods creatures for grace is also a creature as other things 2. To shew the durableness of it though sin shall die in the Saints and be utterly destroyed yet grace shall never be destroyed stroyed nor cease in the Saints of God 3. It is called the Spirit in regard of the Objects of it for the Objects of this grace are spirituall things 4. In regard of the Author of it It is the holy Spirit of God that begets and works it in people therefore as the child beareth the name of the Father so doth this of the Spirit Thus you see what is meant by sin namely the transgression of Gods Law either in omission or commission What by righteousness The observation of Gods Law in the duties of the first and second Table What by the bodie Originall corruption What by the spirit the habit of holiness or originall righteousnesse Now then the whole amounteth to this That if so bee the Lord Christ be in people then there is a death of sin in them and a life of righteousnesse Thus much is meant by the words let them be taken any way which way soever Expositors can carry them this must be the sence of them and therefore we need not spend further time in the Exposition but will fall directly upon the Doctrine which is this In whomsoever Christ is there is a death of sin and a life of righteousnesse The Point is very evident and expresse in the Text being the main matter scope and drift thereof as well as in other places of Scripture For the proving of it not to trouble you with many other Scriptures you may consider these things First The ends and the offices of Christ which the Apostle Paul expresseth Tit. 2.14 Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquitie and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works The main end of Christ is the redemption of a people from all iniquitie which implieth not onely the removal of the guilt of sin but the destroying of the bodie of sin Therefore 1 Joh. 3.8 it is said That for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devill Not onely the guilt of sin but the power and dominion of sin is the work of the Devill now therefore for this purpose saith the Text the Son of God was manifested that he might free us from the guilt yea and from the dominion and life and power of sin There is one end Another end of Christs giving himself was To purifie us therefore he must put sin to death in us for to purifie is nothing else but to purge out corruption as the fire doth work the drosse out that is in the gold Again To purifie us that we might be a peculiar people zealous of good works Where there is a zealousnesse of good works there must be a life of righteousnesse So that by that place you plainly see that the end of Christ is the putting of sin to death and bringing in the life of righteousnesse Moreover Christ was to be the second Adam and he is so called 1 Cor. 15.45 And to speak the truth the first Adam was a Type of Christ as it is Rom. 5.14 Who is the Figure or Type of him that was to come For not onely the Ceremonies amongst the Jewes were Types of Christ but even Adam in his fall in his undoing the world in his overthrowing of mankind was a Type and Figure of Christ also Onely other Types did figure out Christ by way of similitude but Adam by way of dissimilitude and contrarietie For look what Adam did the contrary to that Christ is to doe Now Adam did cause to all in whom he was as the Parent is in the child a death of righteousnesse and a life of sin Therefore the contrary the Lord Jesus Christ must work in all those in whom he is a death of sin and a life of righteousnesse Secondly this Point is also plain from the consideration of those respects in which Christ is said to be in people Those are as you heard before First in regard of his Spirit Secondly in regard of his Vertue influence and sap that is in them Now where ever these are there must be a death of sin and a life of righteousnesse For the former even as fire doth purge away drosse and rust so the holy Ghost works out corruption and puts sin to death where ever he cometh and as light expelleth darkness even so doth he expell unrighteousnesse and sin because he is the holy Spirit Again for the vertue and life of Christ you know it was the life of righteousnesse therefore whereever this is there must be a life of righteousnesse in that man Last of all the truth of this will appear from the consideration of that communion with Christ and conformitie to him that all those must have which are in Christ and Christ in them Wherein they must have a communion with and a conformitie to Christ Saint Paul sheweth Rom. 6. from the third verse to the twelfth In the third Verse he layeth down that Union by Faith which all justified persons have with the Lord Jesus and from this he inferreth a communion with him and a conformitie unto him But in what In his death and in his resurrection If we have been planted together saith he v. 5. in the likenesse of his death mark not in the same death but in the likeness thereof wee shall bee also in the likeness of his resurrection Where the Apostle declareth that like as there was in Christ a bodily death and a bodily resurrection so there is in
remembrance of that Originall corruption that was in his soul and could never be rooted out this made him to cry out for deliverance Again Fourthly Wheresoever there is the life of righteousnesse there is a discovering and discerning of the severall Particulars of sin and of unrighteousnesse Light it doth discover all things that are foul and are amisse and life doth oftentimes discover weaknesses and illnesse and straightness we know discovers crookedness so where ever there is the life of righteousness there is a discerning of that inward contrarietie of unrighteousness that is in that heart I know that no man can discern all the evils that are in his soul because the life of righteousness is not perfect but imperfect in this world but yet notwithstanding he that hath the life or righteousness he doth in part discover every corruption in his soul he doth see in himself the corruptions that are contrary to the whole frame of righteousnes he doth see in himself the iniquities that are the transgressions of the whole Law of God Hence it is that the children of God are so humbled for a child of God one that hath the life of righteousnesse in him cannot be proud for he having a life of righteousness commeth to see the death of sin in him and to disscern in himself an universall contrarietie in part to the whole Law of God Hence it is also that they thinke worse of themselves then of any other because by the life of righteousness they discern the remnants of an universall contrarietie that is in them to the whole Law of God Lastly The fifth Effect of the life of righteousness it is this Where ever there is the life of righteousness there are all the fruits of the Spirit in some part and in some measure begun in them The life of righteousness it is not the springing up of one grace but it is the quickning of the whole body of grace in us the whole frame of holiness it is begun in them that have the life of righteousness there are all the fruits of the Spirit to be found in that soul What they are you may read in Gal. 5.22 Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness faith meekness temperance c. I say there are all the fruits of the Spirit begun in that soul so that there is no grace that the word of God calleth for that Christ hath that the Saints of God ever shewed forth but he that hath the life of righteousness can discern it in some measure begun or beginning in himself Take the lowest and meanest Christian of all others if he have the life of righteousness he can finde in himself if he doe not judge falsely at least the buddings and blossomings of the fruits of the Spirit of God of that which God requireth of his children By the beginnings and buddings of grace I mean First a discerning of the wants of grace for usually the first work of grace is a discerning of the want of grace The first work of the grace of humilitie is a discerning of the want of humilitie the first work of the grace of Faith is a discerning of the want of Faith c. So that there is I say a discerning of the want of such and such graces but that is not all hypocrites may sometime see the want of grace but there is together with a discerning of the want of grace an apprehension of the excellencie of grace a hungring and thirsting after the getting of it a high valuing of those that have it and a constant use of the Ordinances for the obtaining of it And to all these Effects of the life of righteousnesse as to the former Effects of the death of sin you must add that Propertie that it is lasting it is a never-dying life When this life of righteousness is quickned and begun in any it increaseth and groweth up it never dyeth and is finally extinguished Thus I have as briefly as I can shewed you how you may trie your selves whether you have this death of sin and life of righteousnesse that is in all those in whom the Lord Jesus Christ is Now then my brethren be exhorted I beseech you in the fear of God to put in practise and to make use of this Touchstone and looking-glasse It is of use to all of us not onely to you that are the people of God but to you that are not not onely to you that are not but to you that are the people of God These touchstones of the Scripture these scales and weights of the Sanctuarie they are of use to all sorts of people First To you that have the truth of grace in you it is of great use to you to trie your selves by for by often tryall you come to be setled and assured of the truth of your grace And for want of this you want the comfort of your interest in the Lord Christ the comfort of your justification and of your sanctification and consequently of your salvation You cannot but want comfort so long as you want assured Evidences of the truth of grace in you Again you doe not onely want comfort but you are disinabled to the service of God and growth in righteousness by discouragements Discouragements are to the people of God as the cold winde and frosts are to yong buds and whence cometh discouragements Because people are not assured of the truth of their grace And not onely so but lastly you are not so careful and thankfull to God as you should onely because you are not rooted in the certaintie of the goodness of your estate Therefore these tryals are of use to you And much more to you that are not yet in the state of grace What is the reason that so many drop into hell and are tumbled down into the pit of destruction notwithstanding they live under the Gospel and the preaching of it It is because the Devill hath begotten in them vain hopes groundless perswasions of their part in Christ of the forgiveness of their sins and salvation of their souls and so while they have vain and groundlesse hopes hence it is that they goe to hell with a dream and conceit that they go to heaven Could we but once convince people that they are not yet in a right state and that all their vain hopes and imaginarie conceits are false and will prove deceitful there were a great deal of likelihood that they would obtain true grace and so consequently come to be everlastingly saved Therefore I say it is of use to all sorts I beseech you therefore make use of those signs that the Scripture giveth you whereby you may trie your selves Doe not thinke that it is an irregular way to put people upon signs and tryals I confesse there are some particular cases wherein it is not safe for some particular persons at that time and in that case to put them to try themselves by signs But for the generall it is necessary and it is the
dutie of all people to look to signs and to try themselves by them And if there were nothing more but this that is in the Text me thinks it is an unanswerable Argument to confute them that crie out against Signs and Evidences of the truth of grace Doth not the Apostle Paul as plain as any man in the world can put them upon the tryall of themselves by Signs telling them that if they have such and such things in them they are in a good estate and if they have not that they are in a dangerous and damnable condition Therefore I say put it not off but make conscience to practise this duty to view your souls in this and the like looking-glasses Especially considering that which our Saviour Christ hath laid down for a certain truth That there are many called but few chosen There were four sorts of grounds upon which the seed of Gods word was cast and but one of those four proved good There were six hundred thousand of the people of Israel that came out of Egypt and went toward Canaan and yet but two of them that went into Canaan There were twelve Tribes which the Lord had caused to make them cleave to himself as a girdle to a mans loins and yet there were ten of those Tribes at one clap that were all cast off from being the people of God and but two of twelve that did remain You know how that the Apostle Paul telleth us in Rom 9.27 Though the number of the Children of Israel be as the sand of the sea a remnant shall be saved The Lord will put up righteousness in a short sum I say considering these things that there are so many of those that doe profess and hope to be saved shall miscarry how much doth it concern us all to try our selves When as our Saviour Christ had told his twelve Discriples that one of the twelve should betray him every one began to put himself upon the examination and asked their master whether it were he Were they so carefull every one to try himself when Christ told them that one of the twelve should betray him and shall not we be carefull to try our selves when as the Scripture telleth us that scarce one of twelve shall be saved and that eleven of twelve Professors are like to perish and miscarry Oh the heart of man is exceeding deceitfull hypocrisie is very strong and exceeding cunning hardly is a man able to finde out the state of his own spirit when he tryeth it with all his dilgence But above all my brethren let me presse you to this duty to try and examine your selves considering the times we live in These are the times wherein the Lord putteth people upon the tryall trying times even times like the times of the Fullers purging his cloth and the Goldsmiths refining his mettall And there are more trying times like to come Have we not wofull experience of divers falling away some falling scandalously perhaps being the Saints of God Davids and Lots and Noahs and Peters for so it is possible that some that are the children of God may yet notwithstanding fall into scandalous and offensive sins through their want of watchfulness and fear and carefulness But a great many doe fall and fall scandalously yea many give all cause of fear that there never was the soundness and truth of grace in them they went out from us because they were not of us Now I say considering that there are those that doe fall such as take upon them the profession of religion and are eminent in the waies of Christ and in the Gospel and yet fall and fall desperately and damnably Doth it not concern us all to fear and upon fearing to try our selves When the Apostle discoursed of the fall of the Jewes how they were broken and cast off What use did he teach the Gentiles to make of this Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall So say I are these such times that many fall away then such of us as doe stand let us also take heed that we doe not fall How shall we take heed of falling Oh let us look to our selves that we are sound the ordinary cause of falling away is rottenness and unsoundness when people in hypocrisie take up the profession of Religion Therefore let us not make that use of the falls of holy men as the people of the world doe if there be any that falls into any scandalous sin and manifests himself to be naught at the heart what use doth the world make of it To flie upon God and upon religion and upon all professors of pietie and upon the Ministers and Preachers of the word Oh say they this is their Religion they are all but hypocrites this will be the end of them all These kind of Uses doth the world make of the falls of upright men whereas alas there is nothing lesse use to be made of them than this If so be that people were not desperately malicious against God and all goodness and that they were not shamefully ignorant they would never make this Use of the falls and scandalls of these men For first of all how can it blemish God or Religion or good men because some that seemed to be good and were not good doe discover their rottenness and unsoundness by their falls What kind of blemish was it to the holy Apostles and to the beleevers in the Primitive Church that some that were amongst them did goe out from them What kind of blemish was it to the twelve Apostles that one whom Christ kept familiar company with and was conversant with the Apostles as brethren did prove a hypocrite Was Judas his desperate fall a sign that the Religion and Preaching of Christ were naught and the other Disciples hypocrites None dare say so and if it were not then why should it now be a sign They that doe fall away they doe therefore fall away because they are not religious and not because they are religious They therefore fall away because they did not observe the rules of that religion they profest and not because they profest it And as it argueth thus an ignorance in people so further if so be that the world were acquainted with the Gospel and works of God they would know that the Lord hath decreed from all eternitie that in all ages of the Church some that have been eminent in profession should fall away There must be offences and scandalls given the Lord Jesus Christ himself layeth down the rule Matth. 18.7 It must needs be that offences come The Lord hath foretold it and hath ever made it good in all ages and times of the Church that there shall be offences and scandalls and that for good ends First to the making of them that are true hearted to be more fearfull and watchfull and more diligently to try their own estates and to fear lest they fall and by this kind of painfull and
to doe all he commandeth yet this shutteth not out their endeavour His promise of enabling them is upon this supposition that they doe indeavour in the use of the meanes he shall appoint them The Lord in promising doth not meane that they should be idle and look that he should doe all but his promising includeth their endeavouring and upon their endeavouring in the use of the meanes that God hath appointed he hath promised to enable them to doe what he hath commanded And this is very expresse in that same of the Prophet Ezek. 36. verse 27. and verse 37. laid together In verse 27. there is a promise to make them able to keep the Law of God I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walke in my statutes and you shall keep my judgements and doe them But in verse 37. he commeth in with this caution which I desire you to observe Thus saith the Lord I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of of Israel to doe it for them As if he should say it is true indeed I have promised to enable you to all things I have commanded you but yet know though I have promised to doe all yet I will not doe it without your indeavour you must use the meanes whereof prayer is one and upon your using the meanes I promise then to helpe you If people he still and will not up and be doing God will not be with them it was the speech of David to Solomon 1 Chron. 28. Vp saith he and be doing and the Lord shall be with thee Implying thus much that though God hath promised yet God will not be with us to enable us to any performance except we also be up and be doing This therefore is no incouragement to lazie Christians that rest themselves upon this that when God would have them doe it he will enable them to doe it and so doe not to their uttermost endeavour themselves these are such to whom God will performe none of these promises Well now this caution being added let us come briefly to the Use of the Point And the first Use it is to shew us the truth of that which the Apostle telleth us 1 John 5.3 This is the love of God that we keep his Commandements and his Commandements are not grievous Here is a Paradox what the Commandements of God not grievous this the world cannot beleeve The reason of the Apostles saying they are not grievous is because of our love to God for whom we love none of his Commandements can be grievous to us But this Doctrine sheweth you the truth of it upon another ground Are any of Gods Commandements grievous when God commandeth us nothing but what he promiseth to make us able to doe so farre as shall be needfull for acceptance so we will indeavour our selves Indeed I grant that Gods Commandements are above the power of nature to obey nothing harder to corrupt infirme nature than Gods Commands but yet seeing that God hath promised to enable us to yeeld obedience to every Commandement so we will doe our indeavours what grievousnesse or what unreasonablenesse is there in the Commandement You may conceive it by this similitude A King commeth to one of his Subjects that it may be is not worth a thousand pound and giveth him a commandement to pay ten thousand pound but withall giveth him liberty to goe to his Exchecquer and take it If you look upon the greatnesse of the sum and poverty of the man it is a grievous command but if you consider this qualification that the King hath promised to give him sufficient to pay it there is no grievousnesse in it Thus is it in all the commands of God to his children God commandeth us things above the power of flesh and blood biddeth us doe what is above the abilitie of nature but withall promiseth in the use of meanes to make us able to doe them therefore there is no grievousnesse in the Commands God in this case dealeth with his children as Joab dealt with David 2 Sam. 12.26 27 28. Joab he beseiged Rabbah and when he had in a manner taken it he sendeth a Messenger to David to bid him come and take it that he might have the glory Joab had runne thorough the difficulties he had in a manner done the work but to the end that the glory might be Davids when Joab had done the greatest he biddeth David come and doe it Even thus it is between God and his people it is the Lord that works all our workes for us it is the Lord that enableth us to obedience to all his Commandements he makes it very easie and yet notwithstanding to the end we may have the glory of our obedience and the reward thereof at the last day when the Lord hath prepared it for us he biddeth us come and doe it he putteth the honour upon us but the power that doth it is his own there is no grievousnesse in any of Gods commands Oh my brethren beleeve this that you may be incouraged to put your necks into the yoke of Christ Come unto me saith he in Mat. 11.28 and take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easie and my burthen light Is not this true that Gods yoke is easie and his burthen light when he biddeth us doe no more then he giveth us strength to doe Stand not out against the Lord Jesus Christ doe not refuse to subject your selves to his Commandements because the World the Flesh and the Devill telleth you they are a burthen too great for you to beare I tell you they are easie there is no more commanded then strength shall be given to obey Here is the first Use The Second Use of the Point is to shew us how exceeding unexcusable all the defects and disobedience of Gods people are For why There is nothing commanded them but God hath promised to make them able to doe it if therefore they doe not doe it is not the fault wholly their own God hath commanded his children great things but yet he hath promised to help them to doe it all if therefore Gods children doe not doe it is not the fault theirs and what can they say for themselves Thou art commanded to mortifie thy lusts thou art commanded to deny thy self thou art commanded to keep thy self unspotted of the world thou art commanded to have thy conversation in heaven and abundance of such commands thou doest none of these what canst thou plead for thy self What excuse hast thou to make to excuse thee from the guilt of these sins All that thou caust say is this I am flesh and these Commandements are spirituall I am full of sin and how can I obey the Commandements of God they are too great things for so sinfull a creature as I am to doe True but yet notwithstanding are they to great for God to doe Is not God able to make thee able to doe them Hath not God promised
he will say whether he will speak comfort to his soul or no and then away with carnall reason and delusions of Satan My brethren yee should in the first place go to God and advise with him and hear what his good pleasure is toward you and never inquire of your own carnall reason Again there is oft another great fault in the people of God that as they go not to Christ in the first place for advice and counsell so in the second place when they have it they rest not upon it Many a one there is who after he hath been convinced evidently and clearly by the power of the word rightly and strongly applyed that his estate is good before God and that his conscience is sincere his heart upright and that the spirit of God hath begun an everlasting work of grace in him yet notwithstanding oftentimes relinquisheth that ground that God hath given him to stand upon and letteth go that hold that hath been reached out from heaven for him to sustain himself by and returning home again to a view of his own weaknesses and infirmities he forsaketh his own mercies and groweth forgetfull of his former comforts the consolations of the Almightie seem small unto him hee will not quiet himself in that truth which God hath made known nor rest upon his word as he requireth Yea but the soul replieth alas should a man content himself with a blind perswasion that his estate is good and not try his title to heaven or search whether his interest in Christ be such as will not deceive him at the last I say Yes a man should look into himself and examine himself whether he be in the faith or no but alwaies let the Lord be Judge let his word onely passe sentence upon thee Never Judge thy self barely by what either Satan seems to suggest or thy own sinfull weakness would perswade thee unto but when the Word of God is revealed and his truth manifested unto thee when the Minister out of the Seripture hath setled thy conscience and declared thy case good by such assured Evidences as thou maist safely build upon then hold there and beleeve nothing to the contrary search your selves but still doe it by the word of God If this course were taken and well observed where there are thousands of complaints among Christians there would be scarce one For my brethren the ground of all our feebleness and distrust and distemper lieth especially in this that we neglect our grounds and doe not fix upon those truths which God hath revealed and made known unto us either publikely or privately Hold this therefore for ever as the best direction I can give thee If my soul shall be condemned the word of God shall condemn it If I must judge my self to have no grace the Word of God shall say it If I must conclude salvation as yet belongeth not unto me it shall be because the Word saith so and not because Satan or my own imagination saith so This carrieth thousands of poor souls into manifold distempers because they settle not themselves upon the truth of God which alwaies standeth as mount Zion unmoveable and would make them rest in abundance of peace in the midst of all those disquiets that are raised by Satan and our own distrustfull hearts Lastly in a word doth the Lord himself call for and require this at our hands the Lord I say who onely hath right and authority to command us Doth he injoyn us when he speaks to hear and obey Oh now therefore though an unworthy Minister cannot perswade you to yeeld up your selves to the practice of this duty yet let the Lord himself prevail with you and woe to that soul that will not bee perswaded by the Lord himself Take notice of that place before alledged Acts 3.23 Every soul that will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people Let every one therefore now in the fear of God observe that which Christ himself injoyneth and so often calleth for in the second and and third Chapters of the Revelation He that hath an ear to hear let him hear The Lord saith the same now to every soul in this place Let every soul that hath an ear to hear hear what the Lord saith unto him not onely now but hereafter whensoever God shall be pleased to reveal any of his counsell to him for his direction Labour to bring your hearts to that temper we read to have been in Cornelius and those that he had gathered together to be partakers of Saint Peters Ministerie Acts 10.33 When the Apostle was come mark what Cornelus saith to him We are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God My brethren the same frame of spirit ought we to have whatsoever it is that the Lord shall speak unto us wee must hear him in all things as I told you before not onely in some easie kind of dutie such as every man is willing to imbrace but in every thing be it never so crosse to carnall reason and corrupt nature when the Lord teacheth we must bring docile hearts hearts inlarged to hear and entertain his doctrine hearts willing to be moulded into that good word of God that he shall reveal to us neither must we thinke this dutie tedious we should never be weary of it Observe what Christ saith Luke 10.24 Many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things which yee see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them What things Even those that are preached unto you and made known from day to day the great things of the Gospel which are now published in open view great men of great place and eminencie have desired to see and hear them The holy Patriarchs and Prophets whose spirits are now in heaven looked long for Christs day Abraham saw it afar off his eies dazeled in beholding of it If they rejoyced and delighted in these things should not we much more Nay the blessed Angels come down and delight to pore into these sacred mysteries that are now revealed to the people of God Which things saith the Apostle the Angels desire to prie into 1 Pet. 1.12 Those blessed spirits that are the subjects of joy and happiness are so ravished with those glorious mysteries that they are contented to come to our Congregations not a step or two as we doe who assoon almost as we are out of our doors are in the Church but a great journey even from heaven and with a great deal of liking and complacencie they behold the services of Gods people and are glad to see a poor soul converted and report it again in heaven rejoycing there together that a sinner is turned unto God My brethren thinke of it Shall we now that have most reason to attend these things they being that upon which our everlasting salvation depends be utterly careless of them Alas the
Angels have the least part in the redemption of a sinner We are the redeemed and the saved and we are they that must be glorified and shall we have no ears to hear no hearts to attend to no desires to imbrace the Word of Salvation Oh what a shame is it that we that have so much interest in mercie should have so great a neglect of mercy What then remaineth but this that we all provoke one another to the performance of this dutie here required of us that we stop our ears to all carnall counsell to all delusions of Satan that we hearken to the Lord onely as our Master resolving to attend to no advice to follow no directions to obey no commands but what he shall give us Oh but will some say what is this which you teach us May not a man hear his carnall friends may we not follow the advice that they give us If we slight their counsell we may be undome their anger may be such against us that wee shall not be able to bear it To this Objection I will reply in a word Will carnall friends be troubled and offended because their words are neglected and will not the Lord Jesus Christ thinke you be horribly displeased when his commands are despised Assure your selves my brethren either you must hear the Lord Christ now as a Saviour or you shall hear him hereafter as a Judge either hear him now so as to obey and doe what he requires or if you refuse to hear his counsel expect to hear an horrible sentence thundred against you when he shall sit as Judge at the last day when all your carnall counsellours shall not be able to acquit you You that are wives and pretend that you must please your husbands by submitting to their commands and desires you that are husbands and alledge that you must give satisfaction to your wives you that are Apprentices and plead that if you observe not your masters wills but walk according to the rule of Gods word you shall be thwarted by your masters and driven to some great inconvenience You that stand upon the humoring of your friends and acquaintance consider it well Will the perswasions and counsels and desires and commands of a Father or friend or husband or master stand you in stead at the day of judgement Will this be a satisfactorie answer at that day my husband intreated me my friends counselled me my master commanded me No my brethren as you are brethren in iniquitie and causes of sin one to another so you shall perish both together Therefore knowing the terror of the Lord let that scare you more then the anger and displeasure of all the friends in the world But the truth is you will answer again they are they that we receive all from and should we goe contrary to them and neglect their advice we must resolve to be poor and base and mean all our daies What a silly imagination is this Put case these carnall friends bear some kinds of respect unto thee and promise thee fair and seem able to doe thee good Can they doe thee good unlesse the Lord Christ blesse what they doe Is not he able to draw their hearts from thee or to move them towards thee Cannot he blesse the means and cannot he curse them also Thinke of this my brethren Whether is better for a man to be inriched or glorified To hear an earthly parent that happily may give him an earthly patrimonie or an heavenly father that assuredly will receive him to mercie in the end of this life Thinke of these things and withall know that the means and helps and supports that we desire are not properly in the power of friends and acquaintance but it is God that boweth the hearts and inlargeth the spirits of men whether friends or no to doe us good I have known many a carnall man that having wicked friends hath been inforced to bestow most upon those whose life and practise he most opposed and hated At leastwise beleeve for a truth what the Lord saith by the Prophet Isa 55.3 Encline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live That is enough me thinks to put to silence all such Objections as these What ever carnall friends shall perswade you to nothing shall doe you so much good as the hearing and obeying the voice of Christ But it may be some will reply and say Alas I have present need of such and such therefore I must either hear them counselling or else they will not hear me intreating Oh my brethren thinke of this Hath a man or shall a man have need of a friend and shall he not also have need of the Lord Jesus Christ Must a friend be obeyed because wee have need of him and shall not the Lord Jesus Christ be much more observed because we have much more need of him Hast thou need of a father or master to bestow some favour upon thee and hast thou not need also of a Saviour that may deliver thee from sin here and from everlasting damnation hereafter Know it know it that howsoever now you may neglect the counsell and advice of the Lord Jesus Christ and thinke that you have no need of him because happily for the present your friends smile upon you yet the time will come when you shall find you have more need of Christ then of all the world When a man lieth upon the bed of death and his eies begin to grow dim and his breath short and his pulse weak and he ready to goe the way of all flesh Oh what good can friends doe him then all of them together can neither restore health nor preserve life in that hour He that now would be our Saviour hereafter will be our Judge and will passe sentence upon us one way or other either of salvation or damnation Shall we not stand in need then of his mercy and saving health when that day cometh The soul will then wish for a dram of mercy more then for a whole world Ask a man my brethren when he is going the way of all flesh what then he most desireth and what he would have at that time especially Oh will he say mercy mercy Oh that the Lord would accept my person and pardon my sins and graciously look upon me in the face of Christ This is all that the poor soul then craveth But if you neglect now to hear the voice of Christ how can you expect that ever he will hear you in that day It is just it is just my brethren that you should then have the same sentence that was past upon the foolish Virgins Matth. 25.12 They came and knocked hard and spake loud Lord Lord open unto us Away saith Christ I know you not I know you not You would not hear me in the time of your pilgrimage upon the earth when I sent all my servants the Prophets rising early and sending them therefore now I will not
truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse Their heart being resolved which way to walk it is just I say with the Lord to give them up to blindnesse of minde to dulnesse of spirit to ignorance and error that they may be hurried on in the waies of destruction for ever It is Gods own word 2 Thes 2.10 Because men received not the truth the whole truth of God in the love thereof Mâ—â—y are loth to have some points to be true as that a man â—hould exactly observe the Sabbath it is just with God to give such up to a profane spirit to deny the Sabbath Others are loth to have this true that they must pray duly every morning and evening in their family it is just with God to give such up to a sottish and stupified course that they can be contended to goe to bed like beasts The like I may say of many other duties The Lord calleth for fasting and prayer and would have his people humble themselves and seek his face now because the duty is tedious and happily the world crosseth it therefore many will fall out with the Ordinance reject it have nothing to doe with it they will have their ease and their quiet their hearts are grown fat and if any thing crosse their corruptions they will not hear with that eare It is fearfull what the Lord speaks against these Rom. 1. 28. and my heart trembleth to think of the hideous curâ—e of God against such courses and his severe indignation against such persons It is said there that because the Heathen delighted not to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to doe those things which are not convenient Mark As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge as who should say Must my mind be inlightned must I be convinced and perswaded that I must lay aside my self and be content in uprightnesse of heart to imbrace every truth of God though it be with the losse of ease and credit and estate yea and of life it self must I doe this well I doe not like it I will not beleeve it all the world shall never perswade me to it And why Because you have taken a sleepy pillow before-hand you have been resolved to keep those things that these truths crosse It is just with God when men doe not love and like to retain the truth he affordeth them to give them up to a reprobate mind that is to a mind void of judgement not knowing the truth not approving the Word And you shall see these men in all their courses and opinions vanishy Why Because the Lord hath given them up to a reprobate mind a mind not able to observe what he revealeth and a heart not willing to entertain what he discovereth to be good Gather up these things This is the last and most speciall argument why the hearts of most men are estranged from God and his truth because they harbour many lusts in their soules and cleave close to some or other corruptions It is a passage worthy observation that is recorded Jer 43. The people that were left behind in the land when the King of Babylon had carried the rest away captive were resolved to goe down into Aegypt but they would first goe to the Prophet and take his advise and he must goe to the Lord and whatsoever the Lord should declare to them by the Prophet that they would doe be it good or be it evill Here was a very fair pretence But their hearts were fully resolved betore to goe down into Aegypt and therefore when the Prophet brought them the answer of God that they should not goe but that they should remain in the Land Thou speakest fatsly say they unto him the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say Goe not into Aegypt to sojourn there but Baruch the sonne of Neriah setteth thee on against us So they obeyed not the voyce of the Lord to dwell in the sand of Judah As if they should have said we had thought thou wouldest have perswaded us that it was lawfull for us to goe down into Aegypt and if thou hadst done so we would have hearkened to thee but because what thou sayest is not as we would have it because it doth not fit us nor stand with that course we are resolved to take we will not yeeld to it whether it be truth that thou speakest or no. I wish this were not so amongst many of us I doe not say carnall and profane ones the world is full of those and their spirits are too too manifest but I say I wish it were not a fault even amongst many that in some measure love and fear the Lord. We are grown sick of our peace and we must have our quiet and ease and contentment therefore though we should appear to be sincere before God in all things and zealous for the cause of the Lord of Hosts we will shuffle in divers practises rather then be disturbed and troubled in that course that we have set to our selves Now I say gather up these and I think the point is clear If it be so that men are blind in their mindes and cannot know the Word if so be they are carelesse and doe not attend to the Word nay if so be they be setled in their sinnes and corruptions from which they will not part it is no wonder that though they have means yet they are not savingly informed in the truth of God answerably to those meanes which are bestowed upon them Let me adde now but one thing for the full clearing of the Doctrine You will say we see the quite contrary For it is cleare and evident that there are many that live in the bosome of the Church that have a great measure of understanding yet are not such as God hath wrought upon effectually yea the Devill himselfe hath knowledge enough and many a man that is nought and carnall hath an abundant measure of understanding happily much more then some godly and holy men can attain to To answer this in two or three words It is true I confesse there is many a cursed hypocrite that hath a great measure of knowledge and yet in very deed hath no true understanding at all For the knowledge whereby such men are inlightned differs much from that information and understanding which the Saints of God have For look as there is wild thime and garden thime both of the same name and both growing after the same manner yet very different in their nature and qualities so it is with knowledge there is a gracious and a sanctifying knowledge garden knowledge as I may say and there is a wild and a common knowledge I will open it a little in two or three words If you goe no further but consider the understanding of both barely you shall cleerly perceive a main difference between a Saint of God and an Hypocrite 1. An Hypocrite and a carnall man like
Judas may thus farre have his understanding inlightned concerning all the truths of life and salvation that are either discovered or made known out of the Book of God as to perceive the sense of the words that are set down and understandingly to discourse of the meaning of the Scripture and reason of the points therein contained and that more freely and abundantly in outward appearance then many of the deare Saints and Servants of God are able to doe and yet all this is but that which the Apostle Paul cals a form of knowledge Rom. 2.20 Such an one hath onely got religion by rote as we use to say like a child that happily may be taught a sillogisme or some forme of an argument he may say it without book but understands it not so hypocrites may have a form and as it were an outside of knowledge but there is something in the bottome concerning the savingnesse and holinesse of knowledge which they can never attain unto For certain it is there is never a carnall person under heaven howsoever he can talk of God and of Christ and of Faith that either knoweth God in the works of his wayes toward him or hmselfe in the works of his duty toward God That is a strange passage concerning Hazael 2 Kings 8 When the Prophet Elisha setled his countenance upon him and wept Hazael said Why weepeth my Lord And he answered Because I know the evill that thou wilt doe unto the children of Israel their strong holds wilt thou set on fire and their young men wilt thou stay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with childe And Hazael said But what is thy servant a dog that he should doe this great thing He thought that there was no such matter in himselfe he perceived not the corruption of his nature And truth it is that as it was with Hazael so it is with every wicked man under heaven further then God is pleased to awaken him he neither knowes what he is himselfe nor what God is talk of it he may but cannot apprehend it in truth in the the generall he may speak of it but in his own particular he cannot 2. For the further proof of this point That there is a main difference between a child of God and an hypocrite in their very knowledge though I know it is the judgement of many and those holy and godly too that wicked men in matters of knowledge may go as far as any Saint under heaven yet I take it they are deceived for no sanctifying work of the holy spirit of God is common to those that are wicked and reprobates but the work of saving understanding and illumination is a work of sanctification and to prove that goe no further but to the naked consideration of a mans bare understanding When the Lord is pleased to work effectually upon the soule there is a sanctifying work on the understanding as well as on the will Now that work which is upon the understanding of a servant of God as truly differs from the inlightning of a carnall hypocrite as the heart of a Saint from the heart of a man not sanctified As the Spirit of God I say hath a proper and peculiar work of sanctification upon the will of Gods children so also hath he upon their mind and understanding therefore of necessity wicked men having no work of sanctification the children of God must needs differ from them in this particular of knowledge Again the Apostle is clear enough 1 Cor. 2.14 The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Before a man can discern spirituall objects he must have spirituall light therefore wicked men being as all hypocrites are but bare nature and wanting spirituall light are not able to perceive and discern the things of God So you see there is a plain and broad difference between the Saints of God and carnall hypocrites in the point of knowledge and understanding Now then for the point it selfe That there is such a knowledge as is peculiar to the Saints take it my brethren thus The godly doe not onely apprehend the meaning of the words in the Scripture and are able to discourse of the reasons therein contained but they discern also the spiritualnesse of the work of grace that is discovered in the same Observe it There being first the Word of God set down in his book and then reasons that goe along with it and lastly a spirituall work of grace that God hath made known in those reasons the Saints of God alone see the spiritualnesse of the work that is manifested and communicated in that reason there set down The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal 25.14 wicked men may know repentance but there is a secret of repentance which the godly onely have Wicked men may pray but there is an inward spiritualnesse and closing with the Lord a secret humbling of the soule before the Lord which the godly onely have wicked men I say can pray and hear and discourse of repentance and of faith and the like but there is a secret in all these and a spirituall work derived into the soule thorough the knowledge of all these which the Saints onely apprehend and understand Take but an Apple there is never a man under heaven can tell what tast it is of whether sweet or soure untill he have tasted of it he seeth the colour and the quantity of it but knoweth not the tast so there is no man under heaven discerneth more of grace then he findeth in himselfe A carnall man may talk of repentance and faith and obedience yet notwithstanding there is a sappinesse which I call the spiritualnesse in these blessed works that no man can tell and understand but onely those that indeed have found by experience the work in themselves We use to say and we say truly that no woman knoweth the nature of a mother before she hath been a mother So it is here first a man must have the work of grace in himselfe before he can rightly understand the nature of it No man knoweth what it is to be the child of God or what it is to have a child-like affection toward God but so farre forth as he findeth and feeleth this in some measure wrought in himselfe by the operation of the Spirit I will not dispute that text Rev. 2.17 I will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it but I take this to be the main thing intended there which makes for my present purpose Name there signifies Adoption and the white stone Absolution the Lord will absolve and acquit him of all those sinnes that he is guilty of and withall he will give him the name of a sonne The Lord sealeth to the soule of a Christian man that he is God
to the lure of a poor Minister to be at his beck and to stand at his command Alas my brethren doe you think we preach our selves Indeed in carnall reason if a Minister should come in his own name and lay upon you his own commands it were fitter for him to say nothing then to goe about such a work in regard of the great distance there is between the men of the world and him in outward respects But we come in the name of the Lord of heaven and it is his word that we preach and the Word of God is powerfull and will make the sturdiest heart to bow or break under it it is mighty in operation like a two-edged sword dividing asunder between the joints and the marrow searching even into the very thoughts of the heart Now because the heart of a naturall man is not able nor indeed willing to stoop to the authority and power of the word loth to be at the beck of Gods command such naturall pride and arrogancy of spirit there is in carnall men that in stead of submitting and yeelding thereunto they take up arms the more against it by how much the more powerfull the word it It is a pretty passage that we read of the Philistines when the Israelites brought the Ark into the field now the Ark was a Type of Jesus Christ mark the Philistines resolution when they heard of it Woe unto us for here hath not been such a thing heretofore Wo unto us who shall delive us out of the hands of these mighty Gods Be strong therefore and quit your selves like men O ye Philistines that you be not servants unto the Hebrews c. 1 Sam. 4. 8 9. So it is here when the word of God commeth with a certain kind of commanding power as it doth when it is delivered in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit if a man indeed preach under the hatches as I may say as he may easily doe and trouble no man he shall meet with no resistance but if a man bring the Ark into the field that is set up the power of Gods Ordinance labour to advance the Throne and Scepter of the Lord Christ in the hearts of men then mark to the end that men may not be brought into subjection to the Ordinances of God that they may not stoop and be brought under the yoke of Gods Commandment they joyn hand in hand and side one with another and fight for their liberties as it were counting it a matter of basnesse and pusillanimitie to be subject to the Word of God You have an example of this spirit that is in wicked men in Jer. 2.21 Wee are lords say they there wee will ceme no more at thee And it is observable in that place I named before Gen. 19.9 This fellow came to sojourn with us and shall he be a judge there lay the pith of the Argument and that which moved their wicked spirits against Lot if Lot had ruled them by his counsell then he should have been master over them therefore say they Shall he bee a judge I could tell you wofull experience that we finde of this Wicked men when they are gainsaid and when the word of God is with that Evidence and power of the Spirit discovered to them that it will either stoop them or work upon their galled hearts and consciences they are not able to bear it they cannot endure to be under the government of it therefore they will rebell against it and resolve what shall the Minister rule us Doth he thinke to bring us under his girdle to make us doe what he will and follow what course he will have us take Shall he be lord over us It is the same also with Magistrates and with private families Any means that God useth any admonition whatsoever findeth such entertainment as this with wicked and carnall hearts Let this suffice for a second Argument and reason why wicked men are so marvailous opposite against the word of God and the means of grace even then when it is most powerfull in gainsaying them and their corruptions because of the pride of heart that is in all naturall men whereby they are not able to stoop and submit to the yoke and rule thereof but though they are often admonished yet they harden their necks Wee will now come to the Use And to let all other Uses that might be made of this truth thus cleared and confirmed alone I will onely intimate two unto you What now can we gain from hence thinke you The case you see is evident and every man must subscribe to this as an everlasting truth That wicked men are the worse under the best means You have seen the manner of it and you have seen the grounds of it What gain can we get from this truth Briefly thus much First it is a Use of Examination And next a Use of Exhortation A man may hence clearly see his own soul as in a glasse and discern very plainly what kind of person he is what kinde of course he leadeth in what state and condition he standeth whether he be a gracious man or a gracelesse man whether a wicked man or one that God hath a part in yea or no. It concerneth us all my brethren very deeply to thinke of it Consider well therefore of what hath been said I would not have you conceive that all this that we have spoken is meerly to spend out the hour No my brethren you must labour to bring your souls to be under the power of the truths delivered And know this that whatsoever the Lord saith unto you out of his word he will require it of you when you come to give up your accounts at that day Every Sermon a man heareth he is thereby nearer either to heaven or hell either he is made better or worse by it All mens estates in this world are either holy or unholy either they are in a state of grace and salvation or in a state of sin and condemnation Hence therefore you may take a scantling of your conditions and plainly and clearly see how it is with you Whether you be of the number of those that have infallible Evidences of the work of Gods Spirit in the Ministerie of the word tending to holiness and sanctification or whether you be yet in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquitie Whether you be as you came into the world the children of wrath still or whether you be begotten again by the immortall seed of the Word to a lively hope and to an inheritance with the Saints in light Observe what the frame and temper of thy soul is and how it standeth affected to the word of God when it is revealed to thy conscience If the word prevail not over thee and over-power thee if thy heart submit not to the Scepter of the Lord Christ and yeeld to his commands certainly thou art not right in the sight of God Wee
Conversion by John Cotton of New England in 8o. A Brief of the Bibles History in 12o. by Enoch Clapham Occasionall Meditations by Joseph Hall in 12. A brief Exposition on the Epistle to the Hebrewes by David Dixon 8o. Short-hand writing by Thomas Shelton in 8o. Wollebii Compendium Thelogiae in 12o. Spare minutes or Warwicks Meditations in 1◠The Map of England with the Kings Short-hand writing by Henry Dix Luchans Dialogues translated into English in 4o. Holidaii Philosophia in 4o. Veneti Historia in 4o. Deaths Deliverance and Eliahs fiery Chariot in two Sermons by Alexander Grosse A Manuall of Controversies in English by Osiander in 8o. Munition against mans misery by R. Smith 12. Wit and Mirth by John Taylor in 8º Garden of spirituall Flowers in 12. Bible Battles by Bernard in 12. Monuments in the Saxon tongue written 700. years ago shewing that both the Old and New Testament Lords Prayer and the Creed were then used in the Mother tongue collected by William Lisle 4o. The Excellency of a gracious Spirit together with Moses Self-deniall by Ieremiah Burroughs 8o. Formulae Oratoriae in usum Scholarum concinnatae by Io. Clark of Lincoln in 12. Phraseologia puerilis or selected Latine and English phrases by Io. Clark in 12. The power of the Christian Magistrate in sacred things by Lewis du Moulin History reader in Oxford in 8o. Brief notes upon the whole book of Psalmes by George Abbot late published in 4o. Amicus Reipublicae the Common-wealths friend or an exact and speedy course to justice and right and for preventing and determining tedious Law-suits by Io. March of Grayes-Inne Barrister The Souls preparation for Christ by Thomas Hooker of New-England in 12. The Souls possession of Christ by Thomas Hooker of New-England in 12. The CONTENTS of the severall Sermons in the ensuing Work SERM. I. Doct. 1. JEsus Christ hath given himself for all that beleeve page 8. To what Christ gave himself for beleevers page 9 Use 1. The love of Christ to beleevers page 17 Use 2. Ground of consolation to beleevers page 18 Use 3. Motives to give up our selves to Christ page 19 Use 4. Perswasions to beleeve in Christ page 21 Doct. 2. Christ gave himself for beleevers to free them from guilt and punishment page 24 The Point opened page 25 And further cleared in four particulars page 27 Reas 1. From Christs love to God page 31 Reas 2. From Christs love to beleevers ibid. Use 1. Consolation to beleevers page 32 Use 2. Exhortation to two things page 34 Use 3. Instruction threefold 1. That there needs no satisfaction on our part page 39 2 The great bondage under iniquitie page 40 3 To love Christ that hath given himself page 41 SERM. II. Doct. 1. Christ is in every justified person page 48 In what respect Christ is in them page 49 The means whereby Christ is in them page 50 Use The readiest way to become justified page 51 Doctr. 2. In whomsoever Christ is there is a death of sin and a life of righteousness page 54 Degrees of the death of sin and life of righteousnesse page 56 How to know the death of sin and life of righteousness page 58 Use 1. Exhortaion to the death of sin and life of righteousnesse page 66 The bad use that the world makes of the falls of others page 70 Use 2. Comfort to those that die to sin page 72 Terrour to those that doe not page 75 SERM. III. Doctr. 1. God commandeth his children to doe nothing but he promiseth to inable them to perform it page 80 Reas 1. It is Gods purpose they should obey his Commandements page 81 Reas 2. All their obedience shall come from Christ page 82 Use 1. To shew that Gods Commandements are not grievous page 83 Use 2. How unexcusable defects o◠obedience are page 85 Use 3. The readie way to obey Gods Commandements page 88 Use 4. Consolation to Gods children page 90 Doct. 2. Sin shall not reign in Gods children to obey it as a King nor so as to damn them for obeying it page 93 Reas 1. All reign of sin to damnation from the Justice of God page 94 Reas 2. All Christs people must be like Christ page 95 Use 1. The falsnesse of that position that all are sinners alike page 97 Use 2. Consolation to Gods children page 98 Use 3. Exhortation to fight against sinne page 101 Doct. 3. All the incouragement we have from God is of grace page 102 Doct. 4. All the priviledges and mercies we injoy come by Christ and his Gospel Ibid. Use 1. To check their unthankfulnesse that injoy the Gospel page 105 Use 2. Exhortation to prize Christ and the Gospel page 106 Doct. 5. All that are in Christ are not under the Law but under Grace page 107 What it is to be under the Law Ibid. What it is to be under Grace page 111 Use 1. Comfort to those that are in Christ page 113 Use 2. Reproofe of uncomfortable Christians page 114 Use 3. Instructions to those that are out of Christ page 116 Use 4. Exhortation to get interest in Christ page 118 SERM. IV. Doct. The voyce of the Lord Christ is onely to be attended to and obeyed page 126 After what manner the voyce of Christ must be hearkened to page 127 The voyce of Christ made known two wayes page 135 Reas 1. Christ alone hath command over us page 136 Reas 2. The direction of Christ is surest Ibid. Reas 3. Christ onely is able to teach us page 137 Reas 4. Christ onely can teach the inward man Ibid. Use 1. Reproof of severall sorts that hear any thing but the voyce of Christ Ibid. Use 2. Reproof of the Saints in severall cases page 143 SERM. V. Doct. 1. All outward priviledges are not able to make a sound Saint of God page 157 Reas Outward matters work not on the heart page 159 Use 1. Reproof of those that trust to outward priviledges Ibid. Use 2. Exhortation not to rest in outward priviledges page 160 Doct. 2. Faith causeth fruitfulnesse page 163 Use Reproof of those that are unfruitfull page 164 Doct. 3. Every faithfull man doth imitate the actions of Abraham page 166 Severall steps of Abrahams obedience page 167 Reas The same promises and spirit in and to all beleevers page 176 Use 1. To shew who are true Saints page 177 Trials who be children of Abraham page 178 Use 2. No by-way to bring to happiness page 184 Use 3. Comfort to Gods people page 185 SERMON VI. Doct. People may injoy the means of knowledge and yet not profit by them but remain void of the knowledge of God page 194 Reas 1. From the blindness of mens mindes page 196 Reas 2. Because men are meerly naturall page 197 Reas 3. Resolution to keep some lust page 200 Difference between knowledge of Hypocrites and Saints page 206 Use 1. Reproof of conceited ignorant persons page 211 Use 2. Shewing the sinfulnesse of nature and blindnesse of mind page 212 SERM. VII Doct. Wicked men grow most rebellious under the best means page 221 Wherein this rebellion discovers it self page 225 Reas 1. From the love to sinne page 228 Reas 2. From the pride of mens hearts page 231 Use 1 For Examination page 234 Use 2. For Exhortation page 238 Means to come to submit to Christs yoak page 240.