Christ it is not giuen us to keepe exactly for that is impossible it was impossible to keepe it through the weaknesse of the flesh Rom. 8.3 the Law was therefore given that wee might know our weaknesse not that we should keepe it but that Christs righteousnesse might bee fulfilled in us by faith Gal. 3.24 the Law is our schoolemasted to bring us to Christ that we might be iustified through faith that is the end of â—he Law But it will be objected that in as much as we are commanded to doe things impossible mans nature is destroyed for man is a free creature Secondly the command implies an absurdity an impossibility to bid a man doe that which hee cannot doe to bid a man that is in a deepe Well bound hand and foote to come out himselfe is foolish yee may blame him for falling in it is absurd to bid him come out To this I answer that there is a difference betweene the externall binding and the bonds wherewith a man is fettered by sinne There is an externall impediment which a man cannot remove as when he is fettered in the well but there is no externall impediment when as men are bound in the chaines of sin When wee command you to doe thus and thus all the businesse is with the wil we rather say men will not than they cannot come There is liberty when as a man hath eligibile or non eligibile when hee hath a thing in his owne choise when there is no impediment when hee may argue both wayes If a man out of the perversnesse of his nature doth it not it is not compulsory but free a beasts action is not free because hee cannot reason on both sides but man when hee considers arguments on both sides when hee can say doe not doe such a thing but doe such a thing when he can conceive arguments on both sides he is free there is no such externall impediment in him as to bid one in darkensse to doe a thing of the light or one bound hand and foote in a pit to come out since the chiefe impediment here is in the depraved wils of men which God doth rectifie and change by his grace and Spirit through the use of meanes If then every man out of Christ bee in an estate of death let every man examine himselfe and consider whether he be a dead man or no this is the great quere or question in this mutability and incertaintie of things Let us make the life to come sure our life is uncertaine here but have we this spirituall life are we living men then wee are happy but are we dead then he that is not partaker of the first resurrection shall not be partaker of the second It is too late to begin to live when we are dying certainely the time of our naturall death is a time of spending not of getting or inquiring after life If yee deferre this search while yee are in health when ye lie on your deaths bed when ye shall see heaven and hell immediately presented unto you this question will hold you solicitous and then you shall see that this spirituall life is the life indeed The time of this naturall life is not long the candle burnes not long if it burne out yet it is oftner blowne out than burnt out men oftner fall downe than come down from the tree of life this Tabernacle is often throwne downe before it fals downe therefore in this short life make your selves sure of eternall life Now there are two things which hinder this search and inquirie after spirituall life The first is a false opinion men thinke themselves in the wayes of life being in the wayes of death they thinke there is a greater latitude in the Gospell than there is The second is men are not at leasure there are millions of businesses in their heads so that they cannot hearken to the whisperings of conscience they have no spare time to be wise unto salvation It will be our wisdome therefore to consider our end Deut. 32.29 To helpe you therefore in this Quere whether you are dead or alive Consider first if ever you have beene dead Secondly if ye have beene dead whether yee are made alive First I say consider whether yee have beene dead or no I meane whether sin hath beene made alive in you that you might die Rom. 7.9.10 I was alive without the Law once but when the Commandement came sinne revived and I died that is the Commandement awakens my sinnes and they being aalive I died sinne when it affrights not a mans conscience then hee is dead when it wounds the conscience then hee is alive The Law being brought to the soule by the Spirit yee see the rectitude of the Commandement and your owne obliquity and crookednesse then sinne is alive and ye die Peter preaching to the Iewes Acts 2. recites to them their sinne in crucifying the Lord of glory which sinne was made alive and pricked them at their hearts Sinne was dead in David till Nathan and the Law came unto him afterward hee lived and was humbled Luke 5. Peter seeing Christs Divinitie by the draught of Fishes cries out Depart from mee Lord for I am a sinfull man hee had sinnes in him before but they were dead then they were made alive Paul hee had sinnes that were dead in him but when the outward light which was but a tipe of his light within did shine about him then he dies and his sinnes were made alive So Iosephs brethren had sinnes but they were not made alive till they were put in prison then their sinne in selling their brother Ioseph lived and they died Hath sinne ever beene alive in you by the commandement to slay you that is hath it bred such an apprehension in you as of death not a sigh or two for a day that is no slaying of you but ye must apprehend sinne as death as one that is to bee executed forthwith apprehends death so must you apprehend sinne then it is a signe that there is life within you Secondly are yee made alive againe Is there such a change in you as if yee were other creatures as if yee lived an other life Where this life is it works an alteration and a change gives us another being makes us to bee no more the same men Who ever is in Christ is a new creature it works a generall change from death to life it makes all our actions to bee vigorous like the actions of living men Old things passe away all things become new it makes men lead a new life If old acquaintance and lusts would draw us away we answer that we are dead that we live no moe to these that now we have not our owne wills Christ lives in us and workes in us Gal. 2.20 It is not I that live but Christ lives in me The same mind will bee in us that was in Christ Iesus Phil. 2.5 Now if ye desire
brings us to that state that Adam was in at first this restores us to it seeke not then your happinesse where it is not to be found We all doe as the Prodigall did we get our portion into our owne hands and goe from our Fathers house and seeke for our happinesse elsewhere but yee shall finde at last that all else is but huskes Thus the Saints have found it This life of grace gives rest to the soule all else in the creature is but vanity and vexation of spirit Vanity is nothing else but an insufficiency in the creature to give that content that wee looked for in it as when we looke for water in an empty well seeke for that in the creature that is not in it wee see its vanity in the absence of the good wee looke for and presence of the evill wee looked not for In God yee finde rest and tranquility such a tranquility as is in the Sea when it is without waves as is in the upper region of the ayre where no tempests are Looke on the lives of men who are taken up with trifles when they are young when they come to a riper age greater things move them when men are wiser they feele the apprehension of higher things when ye lift up your soules and keepe them on the wing yee are freed from troubles and cares Paul had a greater measure of this life than other men his Epistles which doe transcribere animam transcribe as it were his soule declare as much and hence was it that in all his troubles and afflictions he was full of constancy and comfort the more constantly we live this life the greater gainers shall we be Lastly till yee live this life yee have no assurance that yee are in the number of the elect Repentance puts a new life into men till yee finde this in you yee know not whether God is yours whether God will worke this life in you This should make us tremble and feare and never to leave till wee had got this life This life is a fruite of election wee know not whether wee are in Iacobs or Esau his case till we know we have it make haste therefore to get it It lies not in your power The Spirit breatheth when and where it listeth ye may feare that God will not give it you if you spend your life in vanity Take one who neglects you all the time that hee is able to doe you service if hee seekes unto you in his extremity for his owne ends what answere doe you give him but this Seeing he hath neglected you when he was able to doe you service you may justly refuse him now he is able to doe you none So if ye neglect God whilst ye are able for to serve him and seeke to him in your extremity take heede that yee receive not that answer from him as the Israelites did in their extremity Goe to your Idols and let them helpe you nay hee forbids Ieremiah to pray for them Consider this and make haste to live this life of grace ye cannot get it of your selves God must put it into you Now if these motives move you to seeke this life and after examination of your selves ye finde it not to be in you then use these meanes to get it The first meanes to get and mainetaine this life which is all one for that which begets it doth likewise nourish it is knowledge abound in knowledge get much light this life consists in light when a man judgeth aright The understanding enlightened is the primum vivens the first living part and therefore ye shall finde that life and light are put one for the other Ephes. 5.14 Stand up from the dead and Christ shall give you light and Ioh. 1.4 Christ was that light and that light was the life of men this life stands in inlightning the mind adde to this light yee adde to life The reason why men are dead is because there is a darkenesse in their soules they see not the wayes of God therefore they act not they step not forwards because they are in the darke All shining is from light as ye increase light so ye increase life Ephe. 4.18 it is said of the Gentiles that they were strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them The knowledge of God brings men nearer to the life of God Ephe. 4.24 Holinesse is said to proceede from truth the words are put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and holines which proceeds from truth But you will object that there are many who abound in knowledge who have life little enough that ignorant men live this life most that none live it lesse than those that know most To this I answer that there is a double knowledge First there is a meere inlightening and informing knowledge Secondly there is an operative knowledg yee may have enough of the first and be never the neere but it is the last that helps and gets this life and this knowledge is the gift of the sanctifying Spirit this is the operation of God we doe but informe and teach men wee cannot make them doe any thing wee cannot make them practise Gods teaching makes this knowledge operative perswades every way works every way Secondly there is a knowledge in the habit and a knowledge in the act which produceth actions these are set downe obscurely In the. 2 Pet. 1.12.13 the Apostle there saith that hee would not be negligent to put thē alwaies in remembrance of those things though they knew them and were established in the present truth yea I thinke it meete as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stirre you up by putting you in remembrance Peter did not write unto them that they might know those things habitually for so they knew them before but that they might know them actively and might presently act them for that end he wrote The first knowledge is as sparkes raked up in ashes the other as sparkes blowne up the first is as the sap in the roote the later like the sap that fills the branches with leaves and fruite the first is a generall knowledge gotten by contemplation the last is a practicall and actiue knowledge a knowledge to practise The Scripture exhorts to doe things that intend this knowledge Deut. 4.1 and Deut. 6. the Israelites were exhorted to heare and know the statutes of the Lord that they might doe them to speake of Gods word and works which actes their knowledge puts them in remembrance of Gods mercies and stirres up their minds Iosh. 1.8 he is commanded to reade the Law and to meditate in it day and night he must reade it not to know it for at that time there was little written but hee was to reade it that he might doe it But if we doe this so much it will hinder and interrupt our businesses so that we shall faile of
is expressed 4 Phil. in these words Be in nothing carefull saith the Apostle And that you may see wee have ground for this generality In nothing bee carefull but in all things make your requests knowne unto God That is whatsoever your case bee I make no exception at all but whatsoever you stand in neede of whether it concernes your soules or your bodies your name or your estate yet be in nothing carefull This is a great matter There is none amongst you that heares me now but sometime or other hee is carefull of something or other for which he is solicitous Now when a man hears such a voyce from heaven that the Lord himselfe saith to us Bee carefull for nothing doe no more but make your request knowne it is well enough I will surely heare in heaven and grant it It is a great comfort Beloved comfort your selves with these words and thinke this with your selves that this is that Charter great Grant that the Lord hath given you and to none but you that what prayers you make to him hee heareth you But it will be objected why is this said so generally That wee must in nothing be carefull but in all things make our request knowns For then if a man were but a poore man it is but going to the Lord and asking riches and hee shall have them If a man were sicke of an incurable disease it were no more but going to the Lord and hee should be sure to be recovered If a man hath an enterprise to bring to passe it is no more but goe to him and it shall be done what is the reason then that godly and holy men have not these things granted to them To this I answer you must understand it with this condition even as it is with a Father I will prove it to you by that suppose he should say to his sonne I will deny thee nothing whatsoever I have I will deny thee nothing but thou shalt have part in it Though he say no more yet we understand it with these conditions First that if his Childe shal aske him for that that is not good for him or if the child should refuse to have that done or pray his Father and say I beseech you doe it not when the Father knowes it is good here the Father is not bound hee thinkes as for example if a Father sees his childe needes Physick it may be the child finds it bitter and therefore is exceeding loath to take it it makes him sicke and is irkesome unto him so that hee earnestly desires his Father that hee may be excused that he might be freed from it In this Case the father will not heare him for hee knowes the Child is but mistaken On the other side if the Child aske something that is very hurtfull if he aske for wine in a feaver the Father denyes it him No saith hee you are mistaken I know your desire is that you might have health and recover and this I know will hurt you though you know it not This the Father understands and therefore he puts in that condition So when the Lord saith In nothing be carefull but in all things make your requests knowne If you mistake the matter at any time and your prayer shall not bee the dictate of the Spirit so that yee alway make request according to his will but the dictate of your owne hearts and shall bee the expression of your naturall Spirit and not the Lords Spirit In this case there is no promise of being heard and yet the Lord makes his Word good Be in nothing carefull but in all things make your requests knowne Secondly a Father when he saith to his Child I will deny you nothing but you shall have part in all that I have yet the Child may carry himselfe so that the Father upon such an occasion may deny him and bee ready to say unto him Well if you had followed your Booke if you had not runne into such disorders if you had not bin negligent to doe what I gave you in charge I would have done it In this case the Father withholds the blessing that hee will bestow upon his Child not because he is unwilling to bestow it but because he would thus nurture his Child he useth it as a meanes to bring him to order So the Lord saith to Moyses That because he had spoken unadvisedly because he had not honoured him before the people at those waters the waters of strife therefore the Lord tels him by the Prophet he should not goe into the good land And so he tels David that because he had sinned against him hee would not give him the life of the Child So the Lord saith to us sometimes I will not grant you this request for though I bee willing to grant it yet this is one part of the discipline and nurture that I use to my Children That such a particular request I will deny you for such an offence as worshipping of Idols c. Beloved this is not a generall denyall this is not for our disadvantage but it is a helpe to us it makes us better that sometime we should be denyed knowing hereby that it is denied to us for our sinne that we may learne to come to the Lord and renew our repentance and to take that away that we may come to prevaile in our prayers with him Thirdly when a Father is willing to grant it yet hee will thus say to his Child Though I be willing to doe what you aske at my hands yet I will not have you aske it rudely I will have you aske it in a good manner and a good Fashion For when wee come to call upon God come in an unreverent manner in such a case the Lord heares not Or againe hee will say to his child I am ready to heare you but you must not aske in a negligent manner as if you cared not whether you had it or no So the Lord saith to us I wil have you to pray fervently you shall aske it as that which you prize Againe he will say to his child I am willing to bestow this upon you but I do not give you this mony to spend it amisse to play it away to spend it in trifles and geugawes that will do you no good So saith the Lord I am willing to give you riches but not to bestow upon your lusts Thus speakes the father to his child when hee comes to aske hee tels him hee must come in such a manner as becomes a child hee must speake to him as to a Father he must spâ—â—ke with confidence to receive it So also the Lord tels us wee must come in faith So that in a word this is to be remembred That though the Lord promise that hee will give whatsoever we aske and bids us In nothing be carefull but make our requests knowne yet notwithstanding this hee would have us
will quicken you as the soule doth the body A Christian hath the life of the Sonne of God Gal. 2.21 I live yet not I but Christ lives in me all that I doe Christ doth it in me all that the body doth the soule doth it the body lives not but the soule lives in it After that manner Christ lives in us not a good thought or affection nor any resolution or motion of the soule but comes from Christ being united to Christ by faith he lives in us Ioh. 6.43 he that eates my flesh and drinkes my blood shall live As flesh gives life to the body so the Sonne gives it to the soule To eate the flesh of Christ is to prize him to desire and long after him which is after the spirit of bondage to eate him is to take him to come to him to have him for your God In these two things stands the eating of Christ First in prising him exceedingly so as to part with any thing for him and to take up his Crosse with all losses Secondly in beleving him to be yours and you his this eating and drinking of the body and blood of Christ expresseth our relative union with him and then followes our reall union the Spirit immediately gives this he that doth the first shall have the second But how shall we doe to beleeve this I answer yee see the old Adam communicated corruption to all his posterity because they were borne of him so those who are borne of the new Adam that is those who take him and beleeve in him have grace communicated to them by him this new birth makes you as capable of Christ as the other doth of the first Adam why then shall not the second Adam communicate grace as well as the other doth corruption The phylosophers were all deceived in this poynt from whence corruption should come but wee know that it came from Adam and so doth grace come from Christ. To get this life let us seeke it in him let us beleeve more let us be humbled more repent more and take Christ more take him on any condition prize him set him at the highest rate hold him fast As in the actions of mariage those who are to marry will not part upon any condition they take one another for richer for poorer for better for worse after this manner must wee take Christ the more yee take Christ thus the more yee have the Sonne and so yee live more the life of grace All grant that this life comes by the Spirit and there is no way to get the Spirit but by the Sonne Yee must first eate ere yee can bee nourished yee must fixe your eyes on his passion as the wife doth fixe her eyes or her husband yee must seeke this life from the Spirit ultimately but yee must first have the Sonne and then yee have life He must have the Sonne that will have this life he must be ingrafâ—ed into Christ as the branches are into the roote get Christ and then this life shall abound in you The fourth meanes to get and increase this life is the communion of Saints The mouth of the righteous is a well spring of life Prov. 10.20 they put life into those that have it not and increase it in those in whom it is Ephe. 4.24 Their speeches minister grace to the hearers they edifie them hearing of the word of life and talking of the fountaine of life puts life into men The life of the body doth not communicate it selfe to others it is otherwise in the life of the soule the life of it makes others to live more as Iron sharpens Iron so one holy man doth another See it by the contrary In evill men who are dead there is an aptnesse to dead others their words are as continuall droppings to put out this life their tongues are set on fire of hell Iames. 3.6 The tongue of good men is a cole fetched from the Altar they have fire within them When two lie together they keepe one another warme there is action and redaction which ingender heate so it is in the communion of Saints it is a powerfull meanes to get and increase this life The tongue the example and communion of the righteous is full of life it is powerfull to make men live Gal. 2.14 Paul speaking to Peter saith why compellest thou the Gentiles to live after the manner of the Iewes he used not outward compulsion his example and life was a compulsion The company which wee keepe compells us to doe as they doe Evill company are the Divels snares they doe as brambles keepe us in and fetter us the sutablenesse of evill companions drawes out our secret corruption He that resolves to live this life must resolve to withdraw himselfe from evill company who are a strong temptation unto evill and betake himselfe to the communion of Saints There is a difference betweene leading our selves into temptation and being led into it when you leade your selves into temptation as you doe when as you rush into evill company you are out of the pale of Gods protection If you touch pitch yee cannot but bee defiled with it wherefore make your company good this is an effectuall and powerfull meanes to beget this life in you Saul being among the Prophets changed his spirit and became a Prophet one that goeth fast makes those that goe with him to mend their pace Act. 11.23.24 it is said of Barnabas being a good man and full of the holy Ghost and of faith that he added much people unto the Lord. Which manner of speaking shewes that the speeches of those who are full of faith helpes to breed faith that if men be full of the Spirit they quicken the Spirit Evill company deads men they are the trunkes through which the Divell speakes and this deading is done in an insensible manner and then most of all where it is least perceived Evill company poysons men a man turning his opiaion which company can doe is most of all poysoned when as he thinks that he hath least hurt The last meanes to get and increase this life is that which is mentioned in the text and that is the hearing of the voyce of the Sonne of God this will beget and increase this life that is if when wee speake to your eares hee speake to your hearts then ye live Ye have two teachers the one is he that speakes to you the other is Christ. Heb. 8 1â— They shall no more teach one another for they shall all be taught of God There are two sheapheards the one is hee that feeds you the other is the great sheapheard of the sheepe Ther are two great voices the one speaking outwardly to the eare the other when as Christ speakes effectually to the heart When Christ speakes inwardly to the heart then men live and not before This is such a speech as Christ spake to Lazarus Lazarus come forth and he
laid open to the heart all things necessary to salvation must be manifested to it then there must be light in the heart to apprehend those reasons which are propounded The Scripture propounds things by authority and when as things are thus expounded the holy Ghost doth kindle light to apprehend them which another doth not Marke how Moyses beginning his booke saith that in the beginning it was thus and thus God did he doth not perswade them by arguments to beleeve it so Iohn begins his Gospel without perswasions In the begining was the word c. so the Apostles commission was Goe and preach that Christ is Come he that beleeves shall be saved he that beleeves not shall be damned The word of it selfe is sufficient authority when the Gospell it selfe is thus propounded then the holy Ghost kindles light in men And when as the Gospell is propounded and light kindled then this life is wrought Now there are three degrees of working this life by the Spirit First there is a stirring up of men to attend to the voyce of Christ many there are that heare yet attend not Act. 16.14 The holy Ghost opened the heart of Lydia to attend unto Pauls preaching We sow on fallow ground till the Spirit opens the heart to attend to the things that are spoken The second worke of the Spirit is to convince and perswade effectually and fully Ioh. 16.8 The Spirit shall convince the world of sinne that is it shall convince and perswade thorowly none can doe this but the Spirit It doth also farther perswade men that it is good for them to be convinced and this is when the knowledge is full when as all the corners of the heart are answered and the minde resolved to practise Hypocrites and civill men are perswaded yet not fully therefore they never practise if one objection of the heart bee unanswered yee never come to practise The last worke of the Spirit is to keepe this voyce on the heart that it vanish not Iames 1.21 The ingrafted word is that which is made able to save your soules and none else Men may attend for a flash but the Spirit must ingraft the Word into the heart which as a sprig ingrafted growes bigger and bigger and hath fruit from the sap other men having truthes not fastned on them they grow weaker and weaker To understand fully what this voyce of the Sonne of God is ye must know that there is a double voyce First an outward voyce of the word which all heare Secondly an inward voyce of the Spirit This I collect out of Esa. 6.9 Goe to that people and tell them heare ye indeed but not understand see yee indeed but not perceive that is they shall have an outward hearing an outward knowledge but not an inward There is a common knowledge which all those have who live in the Church and there is a knowledge that is onely proper to the Saints which saves them The differences twixt these two knowledges that of hypocrites and of them in sixth of the Hebrewes twixt common knowledge and effectuall knowledge that is wrought in the hearts of the elect are these First common knowledge is confused and generall this is distinct inward and particular that is the voyce of the Sonne of God speaking in the Ministry to all may breed a knowledge of truthes in men yet they apply them not to their hearts and the turnings of them Heb. 4.11 The Word is sharper than a two edged Sword discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart piercing even to the dividing asunder the soule and spirit and of joynts and marrow that is that Word of God that is lively indeed that voyce of God that is effectuall to salvation it is sharpe it strikes not in generall but enters the inward parts A staffe cannot enter the flesh it may bruise it but the voyce of Christ enters like a two edged Sword discerning twixt morrall vertues and supernaturall things wrought by the Spirit it distinguisheth exactly twixt the rectitude and obliquity of mens hearts this is proper onely to the saving knowledge of the Word As nothing is hid from God but it is naked to his sight so it is to his word See if the word be distinct to you else you know nothing A man never knowes any thing till he knowes the Elements parts and grounds of it the voyce of the Sonne of God onely makes you know things thus particularly So in other things yee know not till you know particulars Aristotle saith a man is not a Physition that knowes things in generall in the grosse but he that knowes them in particular This is not to be a Physition to know that such dry meates are good for a moyst stomacke unlesse he also know dry meates and the Symptomes of a moyst stomacke so it is in the knowledge of the Word To know what regeneration is is not enough except yee know the parts the kinds and signes of it To know that none are translated from death to life that love not the brethren is not enough except yee know the brethren and love them To know that hee that is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof is nothing except yee know that yee your selves have crucified it This particular knowledge is that which makes manifest to a man the secrets of his owne heart 1 Cor. 14.25 that is the voyce of the Sonne of God discerneth the secrets of the heart to know things particularly that are in it The sheepe distinguish the voyce of the sheapheard from the voyce of a stranger when men come to heare they heare the voyce and distinguish not the sound because they want this particular knowledge Secondly this hearing of the voyce of the Sonne of God workes a quicke sence in the hearts of those that heare it which the outward voyce doth not and this followes the former Let knowledge be particular it workes quicke sence Heb. 4.11 the word is called lively in operation now life consists in quicknesse and motion the voyce of Christ speaking effectually breeds quicknesse Sola individua agunt et sentiunt A knife in generall cuts nothing the particular knife cuts To know in generall you are sinners have corrupt natures offend in many things workes nothing it is the reflection on your particular sinnes that workes this makes men tremble Act. 2.36.37 Peter having told the Iewes that they had crucified Christ that pricked them at the heart As it is of sinnes so is it of comforts particular comforts only worke If one can say I am thus and thus then comfort followes so particular threatnings make men sensible When God said to Adam Hast thou not eaten of the tree whereof I said thou shouldest not eate this made him feare The word doth breed a quicke sence they who have not this true voyce sounding to them Esay 6.9 In hearing they doe not heare and seeing they doe not
see their hearts are fat their eares heavy and their eyes shut Rom. 11.8 God hath given them the spirit of slumber that is when as men heare his voyce in a common manner they are as a man in a slumber it stirres them not their hearts are fat that is they are sencelesse for fat is without sence The property of them that heare in an ineffectuall manner is this they have a spirit of slumber they are as one hearing a tale when as his minde is otherwhere If the things propounded were naturall they would heare them well enough but they are spirituall therefore they are dull of hearing them Thirdly which followeth the second those that heare the voyce of the Sonne of God have experimentall knowledge the other is but speculative 1 Cor. 2.6.9 Wee preach wisedome to those that are perfect such wisedome as eye hath not seene eare hath not heard neither hath it entered into the heart of man but God revealeth it to us by his Spirit that is the cheefest in knowledge have not seene with their eyes or heard with their eares but those that heare the voyce of the Sonne of God have an experimentall knowledge which others have not This experimentall and saving knowledge hath triall 1. Ioh. 2.13 I write unto you fathers because you have knowne him that was from the beginning expound this by the 33. of Ezekiell 33. When this commeth to passe then shall yee know that a Prophet hath beene amongst you that is when I shall doe this they shall know experimentally that there was a Prophet amongst them 1 Ioh. 5.19 wee know that wee are of God that is wee know it experimentally they can say of this as it is said in the 1 of Ioh. 1.1 That which we have heard that which wee have seene with our eyes that which wee have looked upon and our hands have handled of the words of life delare we unto you David takes it as peculiar to himselfe Psal. 9.10 They that know thy name will trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seeke thee that is they that experimentally know thee will trust in thee for thou never faylest them that trust in thee they know it by experience 1. Pet. 2.3 Desire the sincere milke of the word that you may grow thereby if yee have tasted that the Lord is gracious We find in the Saints a longing after God they desire him which others doe not thus did David Moreover they have assurance of salvation which others have not and this assurance comes from sence optima demonstratio est a sensibus the best demonstration is from sence as he that feeles the fire hot knowes it best tasting breeds longing assurance from experience breeds certainty Fourthly effectuall knowledge that is bred by the voyce of the Sonne of God makes men approve and justifie the wayes of God makes them to relish them this followes the other when men have tryed them they approve them Ioh. 6.63 The Spirit quickens the flesh profiteth nothing the words then that I speake they are Spirit and life Christ having spoken that his body was meate indeed many were offended at it then hee said The Spirit doth quicken that is yee accept not my words because yee have not the Spirit yee have but flesh that is a common knowledge my words are spirituall and you are carnall therefore they doe not relish you These words are otherwise interpreted by some that is these materials profit nothing without the Spirit but the other is undoubtedly the meaning for so it is through the Scripture the Spirit profits that is saving knowledge wrought by the Spirit men not having it doe not approve it It cannot be otherwise where the voyce of Christ doth sound effectually there they justifie this Wisedome is justified of her children Luk. 7.35 Rom. 10.15 How beautifull are the feete of them thaâ— preach the Gospel of peace that is they see much beauty in the wayes of God that they are beautifull to them they are vile to others The Scripture often toucheth this that when as there is but a common knowledge men relish not the word Rom. 8. they tast not the word the spirituall part of the word crossing them is bitter to them 2 Cor. 2.15 The word is compared to a sweet savour to many it is not so to some it is the savour of death to death it is a savour diffused through the house many there are who abhorre it and being guilty of death it leades them to death In others it is the savour of life that is they smell a sweetnesse in it it brings them to life to heaven the word being powerfully taught there comes a savour some smell sweetnesse in it others doe not so Luk. 2.35 When Christ shall come the hearts of many shall be opened to approve or disapprove him therefore he is said to be set for the fall and rising of many So when he came some said he was a good man others that he was a divel some said that the Apostles were good some that they were bad See how yee approve the word in its selfe and as it is expressed in mens lives Fiftly if it bee a right knowledge it breeds holy affections the other doth not this followes the other If men justifie the Word then they affect it It s a generall rule that all full perswasions draw on affections let it bee but a perswasion in habit it stirres as the habit is 1 Thes. 1.6 My word was to you not in word but in power because it did worke in you ioy in the holy Ghost Ier. 23.29 God comparing the word of true and false Prophets together saith thus My word is as fire and as the hammer that breaketh the stone it is the powerfull word if it stirres your affections Luke the last Christ speaking to the Disciples that went with him to Emmaus their hearts burned within them they were full of holy affections Consider if yee have these holy affections Holy affections in the Scripture are ascribed to this knowledge every where where men heare or know a. right Psal. 112.1 Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandements Psal. 1.2 Blessed are they that delight in the Law of the Lord See whether there be holy affections wrought in you by the word Felix did tremble at the word so the second ground received the Word with joy but not with holy joy But how shall wee distinguish them I answer that if your joy be holy joy afflictions will not put it out if your ioy be carnall joy persecution puts it out but ioy in the holy Ghost is not extinguished by the contrary Sixtly that knowledge which is lively brings forth action it is powerfull in mens actions it is active and mighty in operation Heb. 4. It workes in mens hearts and lives mightily to overcome all contraries Esa. 6.10 Make the heart of this people fat make their
must doe as Mary did shee layed up all the sayings that shee heard of Christ and pondered them in her heart Luke 2.51 The Disciples often questioned of Christ which proves that they pondered his Words in their hearts So the Nobles of Berea they searched the Scripture so Iacob hee noted the saying of Ioseph and laid it up Yee doe not heare thus if you doe but lend your eares for the time if yee worke it not upon your affections ye profit not The reason why there is so much preaching and so little profit is for want of this There are two kinds of ill hearers the first are such as heare as Swine and trample all they heare under feete the second such as heare as Dogs snarling at the doctrine if yee offend in eyther of these yee heare amisse Of all the foure grounds that was worst which received not the Word When men heare the Word there is more than a naturall forgetfulnesse in them the Divell helpes it Iam. 1.23.24 He that heares the Word and recals it not or practiseth it not is like one that beholdeth his face in a glasse for he beholdeth himselfe and goeth away and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was yee must recall it before yee can practise it else yee will be like to those that behold their face in a glasse and wipe not away their spots Be not therefore forgetfull hearers and for this first recall and repeate what yee have heard when yee are gone Secondly practise it afterwards there is a blessing promised to mindfull hearers there is a curse denounced against those that are forgetfull Ioh. 13.15 If yee know these things happy are ye if you doe them but there is a curse for you if you doe not profit God will make you to heare and will not give you his Spirit Regard to prize the Word if ye will not be forgetfull Rom. 1.28 those that did not like to retaine God in their knowledge those that did heare the Word and not regard it God gave them up to a reprobate sence to an Injudiciousnesse to doe those things that were not convenient not being able to profit by it The ancient Fathers much pressed the repetition of Sermons and one of them useth this similitude A man that comes into a pleasant garden will not content himselfe with the present sent only but he wil carry some of the flowers home with him So in a cold day a man will not be content to heate himselfe at anothers man fire but he will carry away some fire with him to keepe him hot at home So doe yee when ye come to heare the Word carry home some flowers of it with you carry some fire home with you to heate and warme your hearts God regards not flashes and moodes and such negligence in performing of holy duties as will not warme your hearts Men are like a Sive in the water it is full whiles it is in the water but being taken out of it it hath nothing it is not the hearing of the Word of God or the doing of it negligently that will profit if ye heare it only pro forma and negligently it doth you no good but it brings Gods curse upon you Gods curse is on many they grow not in knowledge or grace for want of diligence wherefore in the 2 Pet. 3 17. the Apostle bids us beware least being led away with the error of the wicked we fall from our owne stedfastnesse to prevent this grow in grace and for this purpose grow in knowledge for then ye grow in grace The fift meanes to heare profitably is to prize the Word and the voyce of Christ speaking to the heart pray earnestly for it that ye may seeke it earnestly at Gods hands beseech him to speake to your hearts your hearing is nothing without this it is the great sheapheard of the flocke that must feede you It is the Spirit that must teach you Therefore when as you come to heare pray earnestly to God to speake unto you by his Spirit It is the Spirit that quickneth Ioh. 6.63 the Word is spirituall and wee are carnall therefore wee must pray for the Spirit to helpe us for to heare the Spirit is not bestowed without prayer Act. 1.14.15 God promised to give his Spirit to his Apostles yet they continued long in prayers ere he gave it them Luk. 11.13 God gives not his Spirit but to such as aske it to such as coÌ„tinue praying asking and knocking Dauid prayes to God to open his eyes that he might see the wonders of his Law Men may heare the Word yet God opens not their eyes without seeking to him God speakes unto you by his Ministers Paule and Apollos are yours we are the Ministers of God for your sakes for your service If God open the dore of utterance it is not for our sakes but yours that you might seeke the Word at our mouthes and beleeve Act. 14.1 a great company of Iewes and Gentiles beleeved by hearing the Word preached and receiving of it The world receives not the Spirit because they seeke it not Ioh. 14 17. We in preaching can doe nothing it is the Spirit that must doe it 2 Cor. 3.18 we can shew you the Image of God but it is nothing to you if ye be not transformed into the same image from glory to glory and it is the Spirit that must thus transforme you Conclude therfore with God in prayer let not him deny you one Word from him is more than a thousand from us God fastning his Word upon your hearts it changeth you without him we preach in vayne The sixt meanes to heare profitably is to come with vacuity of minde free from all things that hinder else wee sow but amongst thornes Ier. 4.4 we speake to men prepossessed the seed falles on fallow ground we speake to men whose hearts are full of lusts they have a noyse of businesse within them and so they heare us not because their hearts are forepossessed The arrowes head being in the wound it is in vaine to lay plaisters upon it therefore Iam. 1.24 when as wee come to heare the Word wee are commanded to lay aside all superfluity of naughtinesse and to receive with meekenesse the ingrafted Word which is able to save our soules Dâ—e in hearing the Word as men doe in grafting cut off all superfluous branches come with empty minds attend to the matters of grace Men who have full stomacks God feeds not He feeds the hungry others are sent empty away they are alwayes hearing but never profiting I should speake now to Ministers and people to Ministers that they speake in the voyce of Christ that they speake as he did not in wisedome of words but in the evidence of the Spirit To the people that they must heare them by whom Christ speakes those who have Livings to bestow ought to bestow them on such as speake the Words of Christ they that
over the Soule and all the faculties as the forme is over the matter for a man cherisheth it as himselfe that which fights against it fights against himselfe But how can a man possiblie deny himselfe For there must be a request before there can be a deniall and this cannot be done but where there are two one to request another to deny now man is but one how then can this be I answer there are two selfes two men in every man one requests the other denyes Rom. 7.20 It is no longer I that doe it but sinne that dwels in mee that is there are two in me the flesh and the spirit by the one I will the thing by the other I resist it In every Regenerate man there are three things 1. Common Nature which is neyther morally good nor evill this hath an entity in it and so is good Secondly to this is added the flesh the corruption of Nature on the one side byaâ—â—ing it the wrong way on the other side of it there is the spirit turning it the right way and rectifying it This common nature as it is guided by the spirit denyes it selfe in the things propounded according to the flesh the understanding and the will in this competitition 〈◊〉 the flesh when as your wills and 〈…〉 desire riches pleasures wealth life in an â—â—ordinate manner deny your selves the spirit reqvesting the contrary Without this Selfe-denyall a man cannot be saved there is a necessity of it and there is much equity in it as there is in all Gods Commandements if wee could but see it For first if we looke into our selves there is great reason to deny our selves because if we doe it not wee destroy our selves The flesh is to the Soule as a disease is to the body If ye give one that is sicke of a Dropsie drinke or one sicke of a Feaver Wine you please the humour well but ye kill the man so it is here Galath 6.8 He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape Corruption that is by satisfying of it wee reape Destruction hee that soweth to the flesh reapes destruction that is destruction comes not presently it is as seed that is sowne it comes for the most part afterwards And this answers an objection that might be made that we see the contrary Ezek. 18.31 God sayth Why will yee dye O yee house of Israell That is though you see not present death yet your sins will bring death As it is said of uncleannes Prov. 2.18 That it leads to the Chambers of death so may it be said of any other sin it leades to death But now to deny your selves is life because by so doing ye sow to the spirit And he that sowes to the spirit shall of the spirit reape life everlasting Gal. 6.8 Secondly in regard of God there is good reason that we should deny our selves For what is it to have a God without worshipping him as God If we doe not deny our selves we set not God above our selves Looke upon the nature of things you shall finde that God hath none above himselfe GOD may doe all things for his owne ends but looke to your selves you are made for another end keepe the order of nature doe as the order of things requires you must be subject to him your desires comming in competition with what GOD requires you must deny your selves But how is it possible for a man in his projects and the thoughts of his heart not to seeke himselfe To this I answer first that in every man there is a naturall selfe-love therefore we doe not destroy it but say that a man may seeke himselfe because God hath planted it in Nature and the plants which hee hath planted we must not root out we have Gardens in our hearts and we must weed them grace destroyes not nature but elevates it Nature is the Worke of GOD Opus Naturae est opus Authoris Secondly GOD will not binde us to that which is simply impossible therefore GOD will not have us not to seeke our selves yea he hath commanded us not to kill our selves and to love our neighbours as our selves whicâ— shew that a man may love himselfe Thirdly the motives used in Scripture Repent for the Kingdome of God is at hand and Feare not him that can kill the body and doe no more but feare him that is able to cast both soule and body into Hell shew that a man may love himselfe Wherefore wee doe not take away this selfe-love but rectifie it wee doe not dry up this streame but turne it into it's right Channell wee extirpate not this plant but guide it into the right way as Musicians breake not the strings but rectifie and tune them Wherefore wee affirme that a man may and must seeke himselfe so farre as it is good for himselfe and no farther This religion doth it rectifies our love teacheth us to deny inordinate affections and to serve God with a perfect heart Before regeneration a man seekes himselfe by doing things that are pleasant according to the flesh he doth the thing he sees and handles But a man that is sanctified seeks his happinesse in God though he looseth his goods his life and all that hee hath his happinesse is in God he is resolved to doe or suffer any thing for God If none can have any interest in CHRIST without denying himselfe then joyne not both together make no conjunction whereas God hath made an absolute disiunction deny all that is in you the whole body of sinne all it can desire deny every request of the flesh every desire of it without all exception Christ saith not deny your Covetousnesse every such particular sinne but your selves every sinne stocke and branch both cannot bee joyned if there be any pleasure any thing that yee delight in have yee any commodity in such a thing yee cannot be saved without a Divorce from it when it comes in competition with GOD. So if there be any Crosse that yee will not suffer for GOD yee cannot be saved Put case a man will not endure Obloquie if he will endure this yet he will not loose his estate if this yet he will not loose his liberty and life such a man as this denyes not himselfe Those who would follow CHRIST must doe as the Apostles did Mark 10.28 Forsake all and follow him GOD will try us all one time or other whether we will forsake all and follow him Mark 6.22 Hee that will follow CHRIST must have a single Eye that is if the eye be fixed onely on God without joyning any thing with him then it is single it is said to be single in regard of the object when as that is single When wee can be content with GOD though we have nothing else then is our eye single and we are light but if our eye be wicked that is eyeing of our credit and estate and the like all the
all things Men women riches honours any delights pleasing the fancy there is nothing but vanity in them that is there is an inability in them to give that satisfaction that is expected From this wee say a Well is empty because wee looke for waters in it and finde none What needs there a change and vicissitude of things if there were not an emptinesse in the Creature What needed there such a multitude of them if they were not empty Besides consider that GOD can make you happy without them If yee have the Sunne no matter for the Starres though yee have them without the Sunne yet it is night It were an easie thing to deny our selves if we were perswaded of this Were wee in SALOMONS case who saw all that is under the Sunne and had aboundance of outward things himselfe yet in Eccles. 1.2.3 he saith They are all but vanity it were an easie matter to perswade us to deny our selves If a chast wife were perswaded that there is no worth in him that solicites her to uncleannes it were easie for her to deny him Now adde this to the rest that all we have said perswades not but when God sendeth a light into the heart and that is the reason that many speake of this but few practise it Thirdly there is much equity in it that you should deny your selves because Christ hath redeemed and bought you of your selves Suppose a man sell himselfe to bee a Servant it is injustice in him to bee any more for himselfe 1 Corinth 6.19.20 Ye are not your owne yee are bought with a price Servants are not their owne but their Masters Rom. 8.12 Yee are no longer debtors to the Flesh to live after the Flesh but to the Spirit to live after the Spirit yee wrong God much if the flesh knocke and yee answere it Consider the price and the greatnesse of it that was payed for you 1 Pet. 1.18 Yee are not redeemed with Corruptible things as Silver and Gold from your vaine Conversation but with the precious Blood of CHRIST as a Lambe without spot Paul considered that Christ gave himselfe for him so that hee stood upon nothing but denied himselfe in all things that hee might live to him 2 Corinth 5.15 Wee thus judge that one dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose againe Consider this yee that come to the Sacrament ye must not doe all for your selves but for CHRIST and what advantage will this bring to Christ Let men examine themselves and yee shall finde that few live to Christ most to themselves Otherwise why are not men more affected to Gods glory and the Churches good Consider CHRIST will have his end yee must live in him else yee shall have no interest in him Fourthly consider what yee doe when yee yeild to your selves and when as you deny your selves When as ye yeeld to your selves ye strengthen the flesh denying your selves you strengthen your selves and the inward man the more ye yeeld to the Spirit the more beauty ye have the more ye yeeld to the flesh the more deformity Gal. 5.19 The fruits of the flesh are adultery fornication uncleannes and the like which bring death but the fruits of the Spirit are joy peace long-suffrings gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse temperance against which there is no law Looke to your selves the fruits of the flesh are shame misery corruption death the fruits of the Spirit are life grace and glory yeelding to the flesh yee strengthen the disease the wisest way is to strengthen that which will sticke by us Yee must maintaine the Spirit crucifie the flesh which is as the sea having gotten ground it is hardly to be recovered therefore snib not the Spirit quench it not lest it speake lesse and lesse till it speake not at all yeeld to the whisperings of the Spirit and quench it not deny not any request the Spirit makes Thirdly If all that will have any interest in Christ must deny themselves you see how prone our nature is to evill else wee needed not this exhortation Wee sinke downe to sin as a stone doth to the Center the flesh is still drawing and byassing us the wrong way therefore let us not have too good an opinion of our selves let us bee jealous with a holy jealousie remember the Flesh is prone to evill continually But how shall wee know it I answere that it is plaine in many things But how shall wee know whether the desire be from the Spirit or from the Flesh A man desires a place hee saith it is to doe good with it hee desires honours for the good of others But how shall wee know if hee doth so I answere that in these generals no exact signes can be given yet we will guesse at some whereby yee may know it First consider if it bee a turbulent desire desires of Grace are as naturall desires gentle and quiet unnaturall heate and thirst are turbulent and violent such are the desires of the Flesh. Secondly the desires of the flesh are hasty it runs without an errand when as a wise man ponders his wayes The desires of the Spirit doe not easily rise wee must take paines with our hearts for good desires fleshly desires are hasty Thirdly know it by the satisfaction you give it doth satisfaction of your desire make you more heavenly minded it is right but doth it make you earthly minded and indisposed to holy duties then the desire is from the flesh Fourthly know it by the contrary If the duties of Prayer and the like doe weaken the desire then it is Carnall but if they strengthen it so that you goe on with boldnesse and security it comes from the Spirit Fifthly know if there be some selfe-respect that doth carry you so farre yee goe and no farther that respect being taken away ye end Doe you it in secret and constantly even then when ye are sequestred from all other respects and have nothing else but Gods glory to stirre you up to doe it If the heart be iust wee doe it when we have no other end in it Are yee angry with your selves when ye neglect Gods businesse Are ye angry with a Sonne because he neglects God or is it because of his loosenesse and dissolutenesse because hee takes ill courses and would waste your estates Many men are zealous for sinnes against themselves for sinnes that preiudice themselves As Ministers are angry with such as rob the Church and have Impropriations and sometimes deservedly too but when the Pulpit rings of nothing but this it is a signe that it is onely out of Selfe-respect So the people cry out of the Ministers Covetousnesse but it is out of selfe-respect because they are loath to give them that which is their due Iohn was zealous for God but it was with an eye and respect to the Kingdome So Hosea 7.14 The
people fasted and assembled themselves together but it was but for Corne and Wine take away our respects wee are cold these are desires that should be denied Fourthly if all that have interest in Christ must deny themselves then try whether you have interest in Christ or no are ye willing to deny the flesh Are ye willing to undergoe the crosse To crucifie the flesh for Christ Else ye are not in him He must deny himselfe that is in Christ all are ready to say that they deny themselves when as it is spoken in generall but if yee will know whether you deny your selves or no consider but these three things First are ye willing to be informed Will ye try and sift thing to the bran Try ye if the thing be lawfull which yee desire If yee stop your eyes and eares and will not examine it you doe not deny your selves it is all one to stop the light as to have it and not to follow it Is there not a secret light within you that tels you this and this is a sinne doth your conscience whisper within you if it doth ye deny not your selves except yee desire to be informed Num. 22.20 Balaam would not goe upon any tearmes to curse Israel at the first and second request he had a secret light within him that told him that hee should not goe though God bade him goe but yet God who knowes the waies of the flesh and Spirit saw that hee lingred after Balacks wages and therefore he bids him goe and he went hee did not satisfie his conscience So SAVL caried it fairely when as he offered Sacrifice before SAMVEL came so hee did when hâ—â—â—ared AGAG and the best things pretendiâ—g Sacrifice to be made with them yet his conscience told him that it was a sinne he did not satisfie it· Examine things to the full else yee deny not your selves Wee preach to you that you must doe thus and thus peradventure yee deceive your selves and reason against it yet your Consciences are convinced 2 Corinth 4.2 Wee speake to your Consciences and approve our selves to them we preach not to the wits and humours of men but to their consciences in the sight of GOD and men You must love the light Ioh. 3.12 Hee that doth truth commeth to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought of GOD. Doe yee choose the light without seeking any â—istinctions or evasions If a man seeke evasions it is a signe hee is not of the truth Hee that loves the truth is of the light approves things that are excellent he is willing to hold up his actions to the Sunne as one doth a vessell to see if there be ever a flaw in it Yee may call sanctifying the Sabbath Iudaisme yee may call strictnesse of life Hypocrisie and Precisenesse Zeale indiscretion But what say your consciences of them If that which we doe bee but hypocrisie why doe you not it in reality Yea but you are more strict than the rule Why then try whether it bee so or no take not the word upon trust 1 Corinth 3.5 Wee are the Ministers by whom yee beleeve and not what yee beleeve If yee are not willing to search what the good 〈◊〉 of GOD is yee deny not your selves In those things that are in question see that you satisfie your Consciences and that light which is within If there bee a question about sanctifying of the Sabbath and gayning doe as your Consciences bid you see if there be not a reluctancy within Secondly consider what yee doe in case of a strong affection in a strong temptation in a particular humour it is not what a man doth in coole blood but what doe you when as opportunity and strong affections meeâ—e Hee is a good Pilot that shewes himselfe so in a storme hee is a good Souldier that shewes himselfe so in a breach see if you doe as ABRAHAM hee denyed himselfe in his Son It is Selfe-deniall when as a man renounceth himselfe and his flesh when as they aske him violently and importunately Will you omit no duty though it cost you much As DANIEL would not leave off Praier though it should cost him his life Dan. 6.10 wil ye not commit any sinne though you gaine never so much by it as BALAAM did and as those that have the persons of men in admiration because of advantage doe Try what yee doe in such cases as these If some trouble follow such a duty what doe yee Mark 8.38 Hee that is ashamed to professe CHRIST though it brings a Crosse to him hee that will not professe him in time of tryall of him will the Sonne of man also bee ashamed when hee commeth in the Glory of his Father Hath Christ need of the same thing that you your selves have need of will yee bestow it on him Suppose it be a boxe of oyntment or tenne times more the tryall is how we doe deny our selves when as we shall injure our selves Thirdly yee shall know if yee deny your selves by the humility and lowlinesse of your minds Are yee content to be translated from one condition to another An humble man is willing and content to bee translated from one estate to another hee wonders he hath so much hee will be trampled on for GOD. If yee are proud having great thoughts of heart ye never will deny your selves The proud resist GOD and hee resisteth them 1. Pet. 5.5 They are full of murmurings and disquiet The broken hearts make no account of themselves care not for any condition are contented with the lowest roome as the Prodigâ—ll was so they have grace it is enough If ye have this disposition it shewes you are men denying your selves Apply these rules and try if yee deny your selves or not if yee doe not know your condition and labour to bring your hearts to it to deny your selves The wayes to doe it are these First to deny your selves have a right judgement of your selves reckon the inward man your selfe if yee reckon the Flesh your selfe riches honours credit and wealth that perfect the flesh your selfe then yee will lose all for it yee will not deny your selves Such a one will leave Religion wound his Conscience rather than lose his estate But if wee reckon the regenerate part our selves it hath friends and a Kingdome and reckoning it our selfe wee will suffer any thing rather than hurt it we will lose our life and liberty and yet are well because this is safe After a man is regenerate he reckons another thing himselfe than he did before the Spirit is now predominant he is himselfe doing Spirituall things the Spirit is Lord of the house the flesh may come in as a theefe but there is a great difference when as it comes thus and when as it comes as a Lord When as the Spirit is a mans selfe his hold is in heaven Let us judge of our selves and wee shall be able to deny
is a contention a contrariety betweene them and so a great difficulty Fiftly compare it with other things and you will finde it difficult to get an art or liberall science what paines and difficulty must be used Now to have Gods Image renewed in us must needs be harder for to this we have a contrariety and reluctancy to the other a naturall propensnes therefore it must be difficult Lastly looke to the variety and change wee must run thorow Phil. 4.21 Wee must want and abound beare good report and bad report It is hard to beare prosperity as hard as it is to drinke much wine and not be giddy It is hard to beare adversity and not to stoope hard to beare scorches without shrinking some can beare want but aboundance makes them leave God many can beare good report and cannot away with bad report some can doe both but yet they will not loose their wealth some can indure that but not imprisonment to goe through thicke and thin is hard and difficult But now you may aske mee two questions If this bee so how comes Christ to tell men Matthew 11.30 That his yoake is easie and his burthen light how is that true Prover 3.17 That all the waies of wisedome are waies of pleasure Why promise yee so much joy and peace in Religion if there be so many crosses following it To this I answere First that the wayes of God are pleasant to any man that is right to one that is renewed 1 Corinth 2.6 Wee preach wisedome to them that are perfect that is to them that are upright So the wayes of God are pleasant to those that are upright and able to judge of them yet they are not so to others If I say that good meate and drinke are pleasant it is true and you will all agree to it yet it is not so to a Sicke man So the light is very comfortable yet to sore eyes it is burthensome So Gods wayes are pleasant yet to men having sore Eyes sicke Consciences and distempered affections they are difficult Secondly Gods wayes are pleasant in themselves whereas other wayes are bitter Gods wayes bring pleasure and content they are pleasant in themselves therefore they are alwayes so but things that are pleasant by occasion are not alwayes so As the pleasure of Sinne is but for a season Hebr. 11.25 and by occasion of satisfying the lust but a good Conscience is a continuall feast at all times Gods waies are a burthen and yoke to the flesh but to the Spirit they are easie But you will object If the wayes of God are difficult and full of crosses it will discourage men to be religious how shall wee runne the wayes of Gods Commandements with cheerefulnes seeing they are so full of crosses I answer that though the wayes of God are in themselves difficult yet they are easie to those that come after Christ and that in these regards First every one that comes to Christ hath another spirit and heart given him that makes him with Paul Rom. 7.22 To delight in the Law of God concerning the inward man I will say of this as Christ answered Peter when as he asked him who should be saved if rich men were not this is impossible saith Christ with men but it is possible with God Matth. 19.26 That is such a man cannot change his owne heart but God can and then the wayes of God will bee pleasant God can give you another nature and they will bee easy Secondly though they bee difficult in the crosse yet take altogether then there is pleasure take therefore the reward and gaine with the labour The merchant indureth much yet the hope of gaine sweetens all a covetous man indures much labour hath a hard lodging fasts much but yet the gaine contervailes all Finis dat amabilitatem medijs The end sweetens the meanes the hope of harvest makes the husbandmans labour pleasant So it is with Christ he is pleasant if you put all together if you looke to the joy and reward as well as to the crosse looke on them as on weights in the ballance if the weights be equall they stirre not but put more weight into one scale then the other though it seemed heavy before yet now it is buâ— light So it is with these crosses in themselves they are heavy but compare them with the issue the end and reward they are but light Our afflictions which are but for a moment purchase us a far more exceeding weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 Thirdly to runne the wayes of Gods commandements with our owne strength it is difficulty but having another strength more than our owne it is easie It is hard for a Child to goe up the staires himselfe but if a strong man takes him by the hand it is easie though these wayes be hard what if the Holy Ghost helpe you then they will be easie A man that lookes on an artificiall thing he wonders at it and cannot tell how to turne his hand to doe it but if he once get the art it is easie so it is with us before we are in Christ all is hard to us but if we are once in him all is easie Looke to the Apostles they are shie at the first of every thing of suffering for Christ but afterward they indured any thing even whipping and death for him Fourthly it is hard to part with that which we prize and love much but when as we are perswaded that there is no such thing in it as we thinke there is then it will be easie for to part with it No man grieves much that the flowers that he hath in his hand wither that he loseth counters or shadowes such are the things that we see and have Psal. 39.6 they are but as flowers our eyes being opened to see that these things are so it is an easie thing to disesteeme them to one that is humbled this is easie he that hath felt the burthen of sinne to bee heavy will find Christs yoake to bee light the Divels yoake is a hard and heavy yoake he that hath felt the bitternesse of sinne will thinke Gods wayes to be pleasant Fiftly consider to whom we doe all that wee doe as David sayd to Micol 2 Sam. 6.21 Wee doe it to the Lord this makes all easie this made all easie to Paul Acts 21. When as Agabus told him that he should be bound at Ierusalem he tels them that he is not onely ready to be bound but likewise to dye at Ierusalem for the Name of the Lord Iesus A souldier doth much more when as he seeth his Generall looking upon him a good servant wil worke out of his heart when as his masters eye is upon him especially if his master hath a good eye consider then that we doe all for Christ and this will sweeten all If this be so that the wayes of God are full of crosses and difficulty then learne from hence to account of
bee like me ready at a watch word to turne which way I will have you There are all the relations that may be betweene Christ and us which may cause us for to follow him Hee is our King our Father and our Maister therefore we must follow him There are two sorts of men in the world the first are straglers such as straggle abroad like sheepe without a sheapheard lawlesse men that follow their lusts these men are priviledged men and may goe whither they will The second sort of men are they that give themselves to serve Christ looking for Salvation from him these must resolve to follow Christ. But here may be some objections raised you will say that the Law is the rule of a mans life how then is Christ the rule I answere that Christ is the example of the rule as in Grammar and Logicke after the rule you have an example put and Christ by his example gives you more facility to performe it Yea but this rule is too high for us who is there that can reach it Take away hope you take away indevour I answere that it is true that none can reach it yet wee must goe as nigh it as wee may First therefore consider that it is for our advantage to have such a rule in other things men labour for the best copies and samplers It is absurd for a man to say I cannot follow the straite rule Therefore will I have a crooked one I cannot hit the marke therefore I will have a false one set vp Secondly it is needfull to have the best rule because we must alwayes grow forwards to perfection Phil. 3.13.14 We must forget that which is behinde and looke to that which is before Thirdly we must have a perfect rule to humble our selves by it taking Christ for our rule comparing our selves by him we see our owne filthinesse and with Peter say to him Luk. 5.8 Depart from us we are sinfull men So Iob seeing God abhorres himselfe and repents in dust and ashes Iob 42.6 But you will say If Christ lived with us and we saw him if he would as it were leade us by the hand it were something but hee is gone I answere that though hee be gone yet hee hath left guides to leade us in his stead he hath left the holy Ghost and his Spirit with us who Iohn 16.13 shall leade us into all truth necessary for Salvation he hath left us his Spirit to tell you that this is the false way this the true and this Spirit hee sends into every regenerate mans heart Gal. 4.6 As soone as you are sonnes he sends his Sonnes Spirit into your hearts whereby you cry Abba Father But you will say how shall wee know when the Spirit speakes I answere by the Word what the Word saith the Spirit saith But these are but remote guides Therefore you have the Saints that went all in one path First the Saints that are dead and gone and then those that now live You have the Spirit the Word and the Saints to teach you onely remember this caution that the Saints are a rule to you yet not a perfect one they goe in and out eye them but yet eye Christ beyond them who is the author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 In all other things and artes Non est eiusdem invenire perficere one man begins and an other finisheth but Christ as hee is the author so hee is the finisher of our faith hee hath begun the Doctrine and the thing and hee will finish it For the better understanding of the point I will shew you these two things First the action what it is to follow Christ. Secondly the object and patterne that wee must follow and that is Christ. For the first what it is to follow Christ I answere That to follow Christ is to resolve to do or suffer with all our hearts or willingly what ever he commands at all times and all manner of wayes Thete are foure things in this definition which expresse what it is to follow Christ. First wee must resolve to doe or suffer any thing that he commands we must except nothing wee must resolve to obey and doe all righteousnesse and to abstaine from all unrighteousnes we must resolve to go through thicke and thin rough and smooth we must do as the Romans did Rom. 6.17 Obey that forme of Doctrine that is delivered to us not one part onely but every particular from the very heart The reason for which we were deliuered by our Saviour from the hands of our enemies was that wee might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our lives Luke 1.75 Let the passage be what it wil safe or dangerous pleasant or difficult by poverty or aboundance let Christ leade us thorough good report bad report we must follow him I put in the definition to do or suffer suffering is but an higher kinde of action to do though you suffer for it Suffering of it selfe as the Philosopher well observeth is not commendable but to suffer in doing Gods will in simple obedience is to obey without any difficulty Secondly you must doe this with all your hearts and willingly this is expressed in the Scripture in 3. tearmes Deut. 6.5 to love serve or follow God with all your minde with all your soule and with all your strength I chose this Word with all your hearts the rather because it comprehends all the rest First to serve God with all your mind is to search his will to plant on it and to know it some there are that follow Cephas others that follow Paul addicting themselves to their opinions there are diverse opinions of men Some thinke this good others that without looking to Gods will this is not to follow Christ with all our minde When we submit our minds to his and make his minde to be ours then wee follow him Secondly to follow God with all our hearts is to affect that which he doth and all that hee doth affect when as all that he doth is comely to us when as we see his Image in his word and in his Saints and follow it men follow the actions in which they see a beauty and comelinesse Thirdly to follow God with all our strength by which we must note the executive powers and faculties is to do all that we do with all our might and by Gods direction nothing against his will or liking he that serves God thus with all his heart when any thing is suggested contrary to Gods will hee saith I know my masters will I depend on him I will follow his advice and nothing else this is to follow him with all our hearts I adde to follow him willingly it is not enough to doe the action commanded but we must follow him as the sheepe doth the bough with readinesse and willingnesse Being right it comes
in old garments that will do thee no good at al the Lord regards not that like new wine in old vessells so it is where there are some new things that are good things in themselves in a carnall and old heart they are not fit for the heart and therefore they never stay long there So saith the text Put a new peece into an old garment and it makes the rent greater Therefore all must be new I say there must be a new nature that these new things may bee there even as the severall creatures are in their severall elements as the elements are in their owne place as the plants are in their proper soyle as the branches are upon their own roote For then they florish then they hold out then they continue Therefore see whether this vigor this efficacy this vertue hath gone out from Christ into thy heart whether it hath not only renewed al in thee but also hath given thee a new nature That is whether it hath wrought such a change in thee that all the wayes of godlines and new obedience become in a measure naturall to thee so that thou canst doe them cheerefully even as wee heare and see and do naturall actions and that thou dost them without wearinesse for you know things that are naturall wee are not weary of them And so thou wilt doe them constantly for what is naturall stayes and abides by us that it out-growes and out-wearies what ever is in us beside Now hath there a vertue gone out from Christ that hath wrought all this in you that hath made all new hath not onely done so but hath made it naturall to thee But you will say must it needs be so cannot Christ take and comprehend me but there must be this wonderfull change wrought who can be saved then I have then but little hope when I am upon my death-bed and then shall looke upon my old nature and finde no such worke as this wrought upon me Beloved I beseech you consider this that there is a necessity of it It is so and it must be so and except you have it you cannot be saved you see the words in the Scriptures are most cleare Whosoever is in Christ is a new creature Doe but consider whether it be so or no there must bee a new-heaven and a new earth You see that was the great promise that was to bee fulfilled in our times of the Gospell Is there not a new priesthood is there not a new covenant and hath not the Lord said there must be a new heaven and a new earth That is new graces from heaven and a new company of men wrought on and changed by those graces Shall those that are borne of old Adam receive a power from him to make them like to him to carry his Image to be corrupt carnall and sinfull as he is And do you not thinke that the New Adam the Second Adam shall have as much efficacy in him to make those new creatures that are in him that come to him Certainely there is as much power life and vigor in the new Adam to change every man that is in him that comes to him to make them new creatures as in the old Adam to make them like to him Besides hath not Christ said plainely I came not into the world to save soules only that is not my busines alone though that was a great part of the businesse and errand for which hee came into the world but saith he I came to purifie a people to my selfe zealous of good workes in the 2 Tit. Now if that were the end of Christs comming dost thou thinke that hee will loose his end Wherefore its impossible that any man should bee saved or have part in Christ that hee should bee in Christ and Christ in him except his heart bee purified so as to be zealous of good workes If Christ dwell in thy heart thou mayest easily know it for dost thou thinke that Christ will dwell in a foule and uncleane place hath hee not pure eyes And therefore it is certaine wheresoever hee dwells that place must bee a fit Temple for him to dwell in Wherefore of necessity hee must cleanse thy heart hee must fashion it and keepe it pure cleane and sweet so as it may bee a fit Temple for him and his Spirit to dwell and delight in Besides doth hee not looke to his glory in all those that belong to him he hath many eyes to looke upon them as it were there are many spectators men and Angells to see what they are and how they behave themselves If he should have a company of men to belong unto him that are carnall perverse and worldly minded that have crooked wayes like other men would this be for his honour would it not be said Like men like Master would it not reflect upon him Certainely it would and therefore the Lord so orders it that those whom he hath redeemed shall be holy in all manner of conversation Saith he you must be as I am else it will bee for my dishonour As I am holy so every one of you must be holy in all manner of conversation Therefore let no man deceive himselfe to thinke hee can goe away and yet bee in Christ and bee saved through Christ and the mercies of God in Christ when there goes out no such vertue and power from Christ to change him to worke on him to alter him to make him another creature And therefore I beseech you in the examining of this for its a matter of great moment to consider with your selves if this be wrought in you or no whether you finde any experiment and effect of this mighty power efficacy and vertue and let me bring you a little to particulars Hath there gone out a vertue from him to enable thee to beleeve There is a faith required in the Deity there is a faith required in the promises of God and there is a faith required in the providence of God to thinke that every particular thing is ordered by it There is also a faith in all the threatnings of God Now for the manner of propounding when the Scripture comes to propound any thing it propounds it thus and no more as you see in Moyses he writes nothing but In the beginning God made heaven and earth c. And so the Apostles write Such a thing was done Iesus Christ was borne of the Virgin Mary Thus and thus he did Now when the naked object is propounded other writers wht they deliver or write is rationall They use Reasons and arguments to convince men of those things which thy deliver but when the Scripture sets downe any propositions of faith it doth but barely propound them for there is the Majesty and authority of God in them to confirme them But now here you will demand the proposition being but nakedly laid downe in the Scriptures what will
Play-houses but in the Church assemblies Act. 10.44 whiles Peter was preaching to Cornelius and his family the Spirit fell upon them so the Spirit fell on others by laying the Apostles hands on them the ordinances are the Vehiculum of the Spirit give what is just to them and no more give them neither too little nor too much do not over-value them but yet neglect them not neglect not the Sacrament ye know not what ye do when ye neglect to receive it ye think that yee ate and drink your own damnation if ye receive it unreverently Absence from it is a sinne as well as the remisse and negligent receiving of it Sicknesse and death yee feare why then doe you neglect the Sacrament why doe you receive it unworthily Whence are those Epidemicall diseases amongst us the cause of them is from hence that yee neglect the Sacrament that yee receive it unworthily 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause many are weake and sicke among you and many sleepe Consider the danger of neglecting the Sacrament he that came not to the Passeover must bee cut off from the children of Israel the same Equitie remaines still in the Sacrament the cause of that was because he was to come up with the rest to remember the death of the first borne of Egypt and the redemption from their bondage hee being passed over thereby It is now the same sinne to neglect the Sacrament the Equity still remaines Are yee so strong in faith as ye need it not To bee absent from the Word yee thinke it a sinne so it is to be absent from the Sacrament nothing can excuse you If a master bid his servant do a thing and he goes and is drunken so that he cannot doe it will it excuse him If you have made your selves unfit to receive the Sacrament by commiting any grosse sinnes the unfitnesse will not excuse you If a man hath an occasion to ride a journey if he misse one day hee will take the next so ye if ye misse the Sacrament once be sure to take it the next time It is devided here that so if ye misse once yee may receive it the next time take heed therefore how yee neglect it The end of the Sacrament is to worship God to set forth Christs death it is the chiefest part of God worship therefore give it the chiefest respect Now from hence see the necessitie of this life of grace how can yee come to the Sacrament if yee are dead men Labour therefore for this life of grace And thus much for the first point that all men out of Christ are in a state of death We come now to the second which is this That all in Christ are in a state of life Our scope is to shew you what you are out of Christ and what benefits ye receive by being in Christ we cannot goe throughout all particulars but we will take the greatest life and death the one the greatest good the other the greatest evill All in Christ are living men this is the greatest benefit because death is the greatest evill therefore by the rule of contraries life must be the greatest good Farther men prize nothing so much as life this experience sheweth and Sathan himselfe could tell that skinne for skinne and all that a man hath he will give for his life Iob 2.4 Beyond experience God himselfe threatens death to Adam as the greatest evill The day that thou eatest of it thou shalt die the death Gen. 3.3 Now all that live this life are living men and have all things pertaining to life 2 Pet. 1.2 they have all that pertaines to life and godlinesse that is all things necessary for the nourishing and cherishing of them life were else unhappy take beasts and plants they having all belonging to their life are happy and they are said to live take any naturall life when as a man hath food and rayment and recreation he is said to live A man lives when he hath life and all that appertaines unto it I will divide this Doctrine into two parts and I will shew you two things First that there is such a life as this Secondly what this life is First that there is such a life as this It is needfull to shew you that there is such a life because it is a hidden life God hides these spirituall things as he hid Christ under a Carpenters sonne so he hides the glorious mysteries of the Sacrament under the base elements of Bread and Wine he hides the wisdome of God under the foolishnesse of preaching he hides those whom the world is not worthy of under sheepes Skinnes and Goates Skinnes Heb. 11. yea Col. 3.3 Our lives are hid with Christ in God But from whom is this life hidden I answer that it is hidden from naturall men as colours from a blind man they are there and he sees them not But with what is it hidden I answer that it is hidden First with this naturall life wee see it not because wee have this life it is hid as the Sap in the roote or water in the spring Secondly it is hidden with a base outside 2. Cor. 6.10 The Saints are as poore as despised as having nothing Christ had a base outside there was no forme or beauty in him that wee should desire him and so have the Saints being conformable to him they are like other men for their outsides Thirdly it is hidden with mis-reports thus Christ himselfe was hidden he was counted a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and sinners one casting out divels by Belzebub and therefore he became a stumbling blocke unto many The Saints are likewise mis-represented they are evill spoken of they are presented to mens understanding otherwise than they are There are a generation of men that pervert the strait wayes of God Act. 13.10 that is they make them seeme crooked though they are straight notwithstanding they pervert them as a crooked or false glasse perverts a face that is beautifull representing it in another shape or as a sticke that is halfe in the water and halfe out seemes to be crooked and yet is straight in it selfe But in what is it hidden I answer that it is hidden in Christ as in the fountaine as in the heart and soule as in the subject wherein it dwels Men what ever they professe beleeve not this that there is such a life because it is a hidden life what course then shall wee take to make you beleeve it The Scriptures you will not deny yet you will be as hard to beleeve them as you will be to beleeve that there is such a life Wee will therefore say something without the Scriptures to perswade you that there is such a life as this First there is a life which the foule and spirits lives as the Angels they move act and understand though they eate not there is therefore a life
besides this common life Secondly consider the matter of the soule then yee shall see that the soule lives such a life as Angels doe The soules of good men leade such a life as good Angels doe the soules of bad men such a life as bad Angels The life of beasts depends on the compacture and Temperature of the substance as the Harmony doth upon the true extent of every string With the soule of man it is otherwise the soule lives first and then causeth the body to live it is otherwise in beasts their soules and bodies live together Besides it is certaine that the soule shall live when as the body is laid aside then it lives another life from the body therefore it lives another life in the body The higher faculties of the soule the Vnderstanding and Will are not placed or seated in the body as other faculties are the visive facultie must have an eye to see the hearing facultie must have an eare to heare and so the rest of the faculties must have their organs but the Vnderstanding hath no such organ it onely useth those things that are presented to it by the phansie Our sight feeling and hearing perish when their organs perish but the superior faculties of the soule weare not away but the elder the body is the younger they are The soule lives now in the object now in the subject it lives in the things it is occupied about As the Angels are said to be where they worke because they haue no bodies as we have to make them bee locally there so the soule it also lives where it is occupied as if it be occupied about heavenly things then wee are said to have our conversation in heaven Take the understanding and faculties of reason they sway not men but the Ideaes truthes and opinions that dwell in the understanding sway men There are three lives in man there is the life of plants of beasts or sence and the life of reason I may adde a fourth and that is this spirituall life which is an higher life of the soule Where there is an evill life there is death but where there is a good life there is this spirituall life See it in the effects for these are but speculations First yee see by experience that there is a generation of men that live not a common life delight not in vaine pleasures sports and honors there is no life without some delights their delights and life is not in outward things abroad therefore they have a retired and inward life at home Secondly there are no Acts but for some end there are men who make not themselves their end if they did they might then take other courses going with the streame If then they make not themselves their end then they make God their end they live not to themselves but to the Lord 1. Thes. 3.8 Thirdly they care not what they lose to get advantage to God they are content to be despised contemned to suffer Torments imprisonments and death they are content to doe that which is the ruine of their lives which they would not doe had they not a more speciall-life within them 2. Cor. 4.11 We which live are alwayes given up to death for Iesus sake that the life also of Iesus might bee made manifest in our mortall flesh That is for this cause God suffered his children to be in danger that men might know that they live an other life and have other comforts this appeares by our readinesse to bee exposed to death all which shewes that there are some that leade an other life But it will be objected that the superstitious and those of another religion will suffer death as well as the Saints and morall philosophers are retired as well as the Saints and those who have but common graces live this life as well as the Saints therefore these experiences proue not the point sufficiently I answer that it is true that superstition doth worke much like Religion morall vertue doth many things like true holinesse and Common grace doth much like true grace yet it is no good argument to say that because a dreaming man dreames that he sees therefore a living man that doth see doth but as hee A picture is like a living man yet it followes not that a living man is dead because the picture is dead it is no Argument to say that because morrall vertue doth many things like true holynesse therefore true holinesse doth them not They may be like in many things yet not in all things the cause of all deceit is because we cannot discerne of things alike therefore I will shew you how these differ First superstition makes men suffer much as well as true Religion yet they doe it out of a false opinion the other from faith the one doe it being helped by the holy Ghost the other have a supernaturall helpe from Sathan that extendeth nature beyond his spheare the one doth it from grace the other from delusion the outward acts are alike but the inward principles differ Secondly morrall vertue and Christian holinesse differ in working the last is done of a sudden A man is made a living man suddainely though there are some previous dispositions yet the soule is suddenly infused after this manner the Saints passe from death to life Others have their habits by frequent acts and education they are moulded to it by little and little Thirdly in morrall men the change is never generall there is no new birth in them but in the Saints All things are new 2. Cor. 5.17.18 Fourthly morallitie doth never change nature but grace doth the most wilde man in a country the unlikeliest man of all others Religion makes him a Lambe of a Lion though it were unprobable Fifthly what did mortall men they went by divers wayes to the same center themselves were their end Epicures thought one way the best the Stoicks another but the Saints seeke a happinesse in denying themselves which helpes to perfect them Lastly common and true grace have many things alike yet they differ in this true grace doth things as a man doth naturall living actions as a man eates and drinkes with willingnesse and propensivenesse connaturally and readily so doth not the other Those who have onely common grace doe all from respects and by-ends their holinesse is but by flashes and by fits it continues not they are like violent motions quicke in the beginning and slower in the end the higher they goe the weaker they are but the motions and actions of the godly are as a stone falling downewards which moves faster and faster till it falles to the Center where it would be Now we have done all this there is not yet sufficient said to make it sufficiently appeare that there is such a life of grace these and an hundred other Arguments and reasons will not make naturall men beleeve that many men live other lives than they But when they see the life of