but endeavour perfection I would but aske this question of you doe you make God your utmost end or no If you doe then appetitus finis est infinitus you would never stint your selves if you do not make him your utmost end then you will limit your selves If a man desires money for such an end when he hath the end the desire ceaseth so if a man desire Physicke for health hee desires onely so much as shall gaine his health but if a man make money his utmost end hee sets no limits to it Thus it is with every holy man that desires grace and makes it his utmost end hee sets himselfe no limits you must not set your selves any bounds in grace When you finde this disposition in you that you are not ready to complaine for want of Grace but to justifie your selves when as you do not see your lamenesse and that corruption which is in you you have not the Spirit for that convinceth men of sinne and of righteousnesse and of judgement Iohn 16.8 You would be then complaining of your selves if you had the Spirit if you follow Christ you must cleanse your selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God 2 Cor. 7.1 Let that minde then be in you that was in Christ Phil. 2.5 follow him to the very utmost Fourthly if all that looke for any intrest in Christ must follow him then learne frō hence not to go before him we must follow Christ go not then before him in any thing in your opinions yeeld to his will let no desire runne out but know first whether it bee Christs will or no you must resigne your selves to him in every thing in all conditions you must follow him doe not therefore chuse your conditions hee saith to one sit here to another sit there in high or low places he is the great Symposiarch hee placeth you were hee pleaseth and you must rest contented So for your workes and calling he gives you your worke to doe Christ is the Master and good reason is there that hee should appoint the worke So for suffering if he who is the Generall commands it yee must doe it So for Physicke and corrections we would rather have other than that hee appoints us yet we must resigne all to him we are subject to preconceptions Iames complaines of this Iam. 4.13 Goe to now yee that say to morrow wee will goe to such a Citty and continue there a yeare and buy and sell and get gaine whereas you ought to say if the Lord will you goe before and doe not depend on Christ by resigning your selves to his providence Remember then that you are but Creatures and must follow Christ in every thing as servants to him A servant doth not say I will goe to such and such a place to morrow because hee saith that hee knoweth not his Masters will so a child that is under Tutors cannot goe whither hee will say not then to morrow wee will doe thus and thus boast not of it preconceive not of such an estate if you doe it is sinfull for then you are your owne guides and follow your owne wayes and not Christ. Lastly learne from hence to doe what you doe from an inward principle we must not be drawne after Christ as beasts but wee must goe on our owne legs Many do follow Christ but other respects doe carry them some mens company carries them and these are but carried in the streame Some are set on with other respects some other wheeles set them on worke as the spring doth the clocke such as these doe not follow Christ. Now the meanes to follow Christ are these First seeke to Christ None can come to mee except the Father draw him Iohn 6.44 Secondly love him If you did but love him you will like the Spouse in the Canticles follow him in all places Cant. 3. Thirdly feele the burthen of sinne Sathans yoake and then you will come unto Christ whose yoake will then be easie Math. 11. vlt. Fourthly beleeve in him Hee that comes to God must beleeve that he is and that he is a Rewarder of all such as seeke him Heb. 11.6 There are promises that you shall have a hundred for one even in this life if you follow Christ beeleeve them therefore and then you will follow him Fiftly have patience possesse your Soules with it without this you continue not as the fourth ground did which brought forth fruit through patience And thus much for this Text. FINIS THREE SERMONS VPON THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORDS SVPPER 1 Iohn 5.14 And this is the assurance which wee have in him that if wee aske any thing according to his will he heareth us THe scope of the holy Apostle in this Chapter is to set forth some of those principall priviledges we have by Iesus Christ. One maine and principall which is the greatest of all the rest is that through him we have eternall life And therefore saith hee know this that when you have the Sonne once you have life in the 12. verse He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Sonne hath not life Therefore saith he have I written this Epistle to you for this purpose that you might consider well what gaine you have by Christ Iesus These things have I written saith he in the verses before this that I have now read unto you to you that beleeve in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternall life After this he names another great priviledge that wee have by Christ mentioned in this verse that I have now read unto you This saith he is the assurance we have in him that whatsoever wee aske according to his will hee heareth us This is the second great priviledge we have by Christ we shall be heard in all our requests it is no more but aske and have 〈◊〉 up what petition you will if you bee 〈…〉 once you have this assurance that he 〈…〉 you but he delivers it with this 〈…〉 must first bee in him We have 〈…〉 him saith he that if wee aske any 〈…〉 to his will he heareth us So that 〈…〉 are two plaine poynts lying 〈…〉 us 1 That except a man be in Christ he 〈…〉 hee ought not to apply to himselfe any 〈…〉 spirituall priviledges that we have by him if we be in Christ this and all other are ours if you be in Christ saith he then you have this assurance for we have that assurance in him The second point that the verse affords us is 2 That whosoever is in Christ whatsoever he askes he shall have it Now my full intention was onely to have handled that which is mainely aimed at in the verse for the other you see is but touched by the way which is this great priviledge that belongs to all Christians that whatsoever they aske in prayer according to the will of God they shall be heard in
are as Fish out of the water Every life hath likewise a taste and appetite a new life hath a new taste and judgement Pro. 29.27 An unjuste man is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked that is one hates the thing that the other loves he that is alive the things which before he loved he now hates he abhors the things that evill men delight in That which is a dogs meate is a sheepes poyson as the proverb is so that which wicked men delight in is as odious as poyson to the just To judge this life by see what your company and delights are nothing can be lesse dissembled than company In his company man doth speake out of the abundance of the heart he then bewrayes himselfe what he is there is no dead man no living man but he is inward with the like no signe so much poynted at in the Scripture as this Yee are translated from death to life if yee love the brethren 1 Ioh. 3.14 and Ioh. 13.35 By this shall all men know that yee are my disciples if yee love one another this rule will not deceive you Secondly yee may know whether yee live this life if ye contend for it that life which a man lives for it he will contend he will let any thing goe rather than it If yee live this life of grace yee will maintaine it and yee can doe no otherwise 1 Iohn 3.9 Hee that is borne of God cannot sinne to be borne of God is to leade a new life he that lives a new life admits not the things which tend to the destruction of it Compare this with the 1. Pet. 2.11 Abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule hee that is borne of God sinnes not that is hee yeelds not to sinne with his good will but struggles against it as one in health strives against sickenesse resists the disease and maintaines a warre against it But yet the best are foyled T is true yet they strive they never yeeld they maintaine a warre and this they doe not onely by discourse but there is a naturall instinct that puts them forwards they may be cast backe yet they returne againe they may have a sickenesse that takes away sence they may swound and be astonished for a time yet after they contend for life Every evill man contends for his life he leades his life in some lust or other from which if he be drawne hee returnes againe as a thing that is lifted from the earth will fall downe to it againe he reckons the wayes of God hard and opposite to him The wisedome of the Spirit is enmity to the flesh neyther can it be subiect to the Law of God Rom. 8. it cannot but resists it Every creature labours to mainetaine its being so evill men continuing in sinne strive naturally against all that would bring them out of this life of sinne So the Saints they live a life of grace and labour to maintaine it Iohn 6.68 Christ asking his Disciples whether they also would goe away Peter made this answer Lord whither shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternall life that is whiles we conceive thee to be the principle and fountaine of this life we cannot depart from thee The Saints wil let go friends and life and all for this life Count therefore of others and judge of your selves by contesting for this life strive to mainetaine it let all goe rather than it Thirdly yee may know whether yee have this life in you or not by the fruites of it as the tree is knowne by its fruites If the word turne the flocke into its owne nature ye know it by the fruites Gal. 5.25 If ye live in the Spirit ye will also walke in the Spirit that is if ye professe your selves holy men shew it by walking in the Spirit holy men will bee doing that which is good This is the surest triall our workes will not deceive us other things which consist in imagination may 1 Ioh. 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the children of the Divill who doth not righteousnes is not of God he that is of God doth not unrighteousnesse Consider then what your walke and your actions are and by them ye shall know this life But how shall we know whether we walke in the Spirit or no I answere first that there are many by-walkes and if ye walke but in one of them yee walke in the flesh and not in the Spirit Iam. 1.26 If any man seeme to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his owne heart this mans religion is vaine that is hee that makes this sinne his trade and walkes ordinarily in it his religion is vaine Secondly yee may know it by the guides yee follow Evill men they follow three guides Ephe. 2.3 they follow first the world secondly the Divill thirdly the flesh Holy men have three contrary guides first the renewed part within secondly the holy Ghost thirdly the course of the Saints Goe ye the broad way oportet Sanctos vadere per diverticula the Saints doe not so Follow yee the streame fulfill yee the will of flesh or of the Spirit what are your actions Ephe. 4.17 I charge you that you henceforth walke not as the Gentiles doe in the vanity of their mindes that is holy men may have vanity in their mindes yet they walke not in it as others doe evill men may have other thoughts yet they walke in the vanity of their mindes and albeit that evill men walke not in all the waies of sin yet they are dead there is but one way to hit the marke but there are a thousand by-wayes a holy man may stumble in the wayes of God and have some foyles but he leades not his life in sinne he strives against it hee that leades his life in any knowne sinne not resisting it and will doe it and not crosse himselfe in it is dead his religion is vaine But what actions are there that holy men doe but that wicked men and others doe them I answere that there is no good actions we doe but they may be dead workes as men may pray and keepe the Sabbath yet they may be but dead workes they may doe them for a shew yet they are dead A shaddow hath all the liniaments of a body yet it wants life so the workes of hypocrites they want life consider therefore whether your workes are living workes you may know it by these three signes First if they proceed from the fountaine of life they are not dead workes compare Gal. 5.6 In Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love with Gal. 6.15 In Christ Iesus neither Circumcision availes any thing neither uncircumcision but a new creature all that proceeds not from a new heart and from faith which worketh by love is nothing this is
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
body is darke that is we are Vnregenerate Iames 1.8 A double-minded man GOD hates the minde is double when it hath an eye to GOD and our selves too such a man as this is unstable in all his wayes he will follow GOD but in some things Iereboham will follow GOD but not in the matter of the Kingdome without a single eye we are unstable in our wayes This joyning of both together makes many thousands loose their Soules Many that live in the Church will not abandon all they will doe many things to satisfie naturall Considerations this doth destroy many having eyes to GOD and themselves too But consider First that it is a folly to doe this yee loose both the world hates you for that good which is in you and GOD hates you because you have no more If BAAL be GOD follow him altogether Secondly for what end doe ye doe it Doe yee it for your credit and advantage Ye are deceived in both if ye doe if you follow GOD onely you have pleasure and content but if you mixe him with other things yee loose the comfort of both Thirdly for what end doe yee it None can bee saved not serving GOD with a perfect heart 2 Chronic. 25.2 AMAZIAH served GOD uprightly but not with a perfect heart hee did much but not with a perfect heart therefore it was nothing worth Why doe you heare and pray and are just in many things and not in all Yee loose your labour while thus you halt betweene GOD and Baal Fourthly it is needlesse to joyne other things with GOD to seeke content in the Creature there is enough in GOD alone hee is all-sufficient there is all in him Fiftly if there were a possibility to joyne both together yet the lesse you have heere the more yee have with GOD the more yee have of the world the lesse yee have of Grace the lesse praise yee have of men the more yee have with GOD Man must deny himselfe have a single eye forsake all things else hee looseth all many take much paines yet because they deny not themselves they loose all Secondly if all thar come to CHRIST must deny themselves then learne to make account of this before hand to deny your selves Cast with your selves if you will bee saved and follow CHRIST not to provide for pleasures and estate say not I will bee rich I will have such content you must deny your selves withstand your selves see what your thoughts and intentions are doe you not thinke how to satisfie your selves in your earthly things these be your thoughts but suffer theÌ„ not to run out put yee on the Lord Iesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof Every man till hee be another man will seeke himselfe but doe you renounce your selves Consider what your morning thoughts are consider that the flesh is lusting and running thinke therefore every morning how to crosse it the day following you must dayly deny your selves you must goe up the Hill of holy duties when as the flesh would goe downe be carefull in crossing the flesh when it would be busie be painefull in your callings when as the flesh would be lasie feare not to have shame in the world for CHRIST and Righteousnesse sake though the flesh brookes it not nothing troubles men more than being crossed wee having preconceived a thing it vexeth us for to loose it if wee will be Christians wee must crosse our selves not please our selves please the spirit let not the affections run out part with all that is sweet and taste those things that are bitter and not onely thus much my Brethren but thinke you have a good bargaine too hee that takes Christ for his Lord must deny himselfe and hate Father and Mother for his sake else hee is not worthy of him Matth. 14.26 That is except yee thinke mee worthy of all this let me alone yee will not be saved The Merchant gave all that hee had for the Pearle and thought that he had a good Bargaine yee must not complaine if yee doe yee continue not thinke what Heaven is worth Is GOD the governour of all See what yee have by him If yee deny your selves yee are Kings and Priests yee have all if yee take him therefore see whether yee take him thus or no yee must not thinke yee have a hard bargaine But you will say this is a hard saying who can beare it To this I answer that there is reason for it there is enough in CHRIST if ye saw it there is reason to perswade you to it First consider that your Goodnesse is all in Christ it is contained more in God than in your selves When ye deny your selves Suppositio nihil ponit yet suppose that a man could cast himselfe into hell for Gods sake he would be a gainer by it Our good is in our GOD more than in our selves even as the beame is more in the Sunne than in its selfe The perfection of every thing is the end of it Take all Creatures mixt bodies and the rest let them have their end and they are perfect God is the end of every man we are made redeemed and live for this purpose that wee might be his alone We cannot then be miserable whiles we have our end Rom. 9.3 PAVL could wish himselfe separated from God for the love which hee had to his Countrimen the Iewes hee could bee content to bee accursed that CHRIST â—ight have glory by their Salvation Lose yee 〈◊〉 credit or your lives for Christ his sake yee are happy in it ye have a Command to love God above your selves because your good is more in him than in your selves If it were not so GOD should contradict himselfe in bidding us love him above our selves Therefore our good and happinesse is more in GOD than in our selves Let a man therefore deny and lose himselfe for Christ and the Gospel he gets by it Secondly let the emptinesse in your selves moove you to deny your selves Why will you defend your selves Out of GOD there is no fullnesse If you would bee happy I woulâ— aske you where you would finde your happinesse out of GOD Either it must bee in your selves or in the Creature In your selves it cannot bee for how many things doe yee want Wee are so indigent in our selves that wee are faine to step out to other Creatures In the Creatures it cannot bee because they are inferiour to us and worse than our selves They were not made for that end for to make us happy but to helpe us Againe the mutability of the Creature shewes that wee have no happinesse in it it is like brittle Glasses that are soone broken Againe if they did continue there could bee no happinesse in them for they are but Vanity 1 Sam. 12.21 Turne not away from following the LORD for then should you seeke after vaine things which will not profit for they are vaine Goe through
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
be much in doing 134 The third meanes to get this life is to get faith 136 The fourth meanes to get and increase this life is the communion of Saints 140 The fift and last meanes to get and increase this life is the hearing of the voyce of the Sonne of man 14â— The hearing of this voyce is the onely meanes to translate men from death to life 144.145 c. What the voyce of the Sonne of God is 146.147 This effectuall voyce consists in two things 147 Three degrees of working this light of life by the Spirit 148 A double voyce of the Sonne of man 149. c. Those that heare viz. obey the voyce of the Sonne of man have experimentall knowledge 150 Effectuall knowledge bred by this voyce makes men approve justifie and relish the wayes of God 155 A right knowledge breeds holy affections 156 Lively knowledge brings forth action 157 Wee must examine our selves whether we have heard the voyce of the Son of God or no. 159 Which wee shall know by our lives and actions 160 The first impediment hindring men from hearing Christ voyce is selfe-wisedome or selfe conceitednesse 161 The second hinderance or let is long custome p. 162 The third let is similitude which like false wares deceives men p. 163 The fourth impediment is false experiments in some workes of God that should draw us nearer to him p. 164 The fift impediment is ignorance ibid The sixt impediments is inconsideration p. 166 The seventh impediment is a certaine stiffenesse and obstinacie of will or minde p. 167 Meanes how to heare profitably ib. c. To practise a little is the way to get more p. 168 Fearefull judgements on them that receive not the love of the truth p. 169 God curseth barren and unfruitfull bearers p. 170 Disobedience to the Gospell grievously punished p. 171 Meanes to heare the preaching of Gods word profitably for our conversion and building of us up in our most holy faith p. 172 The second meanes ibid The third meanes p. 174 The fourth meanes p. 175 The fift meanes p. 176 The sixt meanes p. 180 A Caveat or warning both to Ministers and people p· 181 Vaine excuses will not serve before God p. 182 The Summe of the chiefe points contained in the Treatise of Selfe-deniall OVt of Christ we are dead men 185 By Christ we gaine life eternall 186 What we must do for Christ viz Deny our selves take up our crosse c. ibid Whosoever will have benefit by Christ must follow him ibid Two maine impediments that hinder men from following Christ. ibid Whosoever will be saved by Christ must deny himselfe p. 187 What it is to deny our selves p. 188 What our selfe is ibid Why corruption of nature is reckoned a mans selfe p. 189 In every man there are two selfes ibid Reasons of Selfe-deniall p. 190 God will not binde us to that which is simply unpossible p. 191 A man may lawfully love himselfe p. 192 To deny our selves is to deny every sinne stocke and branch p. 193 We cannot follow God and the world both 194 No happinesse to be found out of God 198 Great equity in denying our selves 199 The fruites of the flesh and of the Spirit 201 How prone our nature is to do evill ib. And how we may know it 202 How to try whether we have interest in Christ or no. 204 How to know whether we deny our selves 207 Meanes to deny our selves 208 God multiplyes comforts to them that deny themselves 209 In cleaving to God wee must leave the care and custody of other things unto him 210 The right knowledge of Christ makes us deny our selves 211 The manner how we should deny our selves 212 The wayes of God are full of Crosses 215 And the reasons thereof 216 The wayes of God have much difficulty in them and the reasons thereof 217 Yet the wayes of God are pleasant to any man that is upright 220 Reasons why difficulty in Gods wayes should not discourage any man therefrom 221 We must make account before hand and prepare for troubles before they come 223 It is not the way to heaven that most men go 225 What causeth persecution to follow the Gospel 226 If wee suffer not in Gods cause for well doing wee shall suffer of God for evill doing p. 227 Answer to them who say they can doe no good in Gods cause p. 230 Against discouragement by being a lone p. 231 Many thousands lose their soules because they thinke lesse will serve the turne in Gods service than indeed is required of them p. 232 Satans wiles in deceiving men ibid Cold slight and customary performance of holy duties does no good at all p. 233 We must go through fighting till we have the victory p. 236 It is hard to bring our soules to good duties ibid The crosses and difficulties that are in Gods wayes are an argument to prove that the doctrine came from heaven p. 239 The cause that the wayes of God are so hard and difficult p. 240 The difficulty in Gods wayes ought to be a meanes to humble us p. 241 All that looke to have benefit by Christ must follow him p. 242 Christ is to us an example of the rule viz. of the Law p. 243 c. Though Christ himselfe be absent in the body yet he hath left guides to leade us in his stead p. 243 The Saints that lived before us and went in one path of truth are our guides p. 244 We have the word the Spirit and the Saints for our guides ib. What it is to follow Christ. p. 245 And how to follow him p. 246 We must follow Christ at all times p. 247 We must follow Christ all manner of wayes inwardâ—ly and outwardly p. 248 The obiect and example which wee must follow is Christ. p. 249 And not his example onely but his precepts also and commandements must we follow p. 252 False boasting Christians refuted p. 253 Difference betwixt the wicked and the godly in sinning p. 254 Many follow Christ for worldly respects p. 256 Difference betwixt the falls of good and evill men p. 257 We must be content to forsake all for Christ. p. 258 And to beare all things for his sake ibid. We ought to have the same mind in us that was in Christ. p. 259 Against false unconstant double minded men p. 260 We must not stand still at a stay but grow in grace and endeavour what we can towards perfection p 261 We must not presume to goe before Christ but let our minds and desires yeeld to his will p. 262 Five things required of them that will truely and sincerely follow Christ. p. 264 The Contents of the three Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lords Supper THe maine and principall priviledge that wee have by Iesus Christ is Eternall life p. 265 The drift of S. Iohns writing is that beleevers might know they have Eternall life p. 266 Another great priviledge that we have by Christ is an
the subject on which Christ doth exercise his Divinitie and that is on dead men The dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and shall live Secondly the instrument by which he doth it and that is by his Word which is not meant onely the bare preaching and hearing of the Word but such an inward commanding powerfull operative word that makes men doe that which is commanded them Such a word was spoken to Lazarus being dead Lazarus come forth and he did it This word commands men and makes them to obey it Thirdly the time when he will exercise his divinity the houre is comming and now is that is the time shall come when as it shall bee abundantly revealed the fruit of the Gospell shall appeare more plentifully and fully hereafter but yet it is now beginning to appeare there is now some small fruit of it Lastly It is affirmed with an asseveration or oath Verily Verily I say unto you And these are the parts of this Text. Out of these words I purpose to shew you these three things First What the estate of all men is out of Christ. Secondly what we gaine by Christ. Thirdly What we must doe for Christ. First we will shew you what your state is out of Christ for this will make you to prize him more And the point for this is That every man out of Christ is in a state of death or dead man that is All men how ever they are borne living yet they are still dead men without the living Spirit the root is dead Hence are these places of Scripture Gen. 2.17 The day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Mat. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead Ephes. 2.1 You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light The meaning is that all men are spiritually dead This will be of some moment to shew you that you are dead without Christ. Yee account it a gastly sight to see many dead men lie together it affects you much but to see a multitude of dead men walke and stand before us that affects us not The naturall death is but a picture or shadow of death but this spirituall death is death indeed As it is said spiritually of Christs flesh Ioh. 6.55 That it is meate indeed Now that you may know what this death is I will shew you First of all what this death is Secondly how many kinds of this death there are Thirdly the symptomes and signes of this death Fourthly the degrees of this death For the first what this death is it consists in two things First in death there is a privation of life then a man is dead when as the soule is separated from the body so a man is spiritually dead when as the soule is separated from the quickning spirit of Grace and righteousnesse This is all our cases In us there dwels no good there is no Spirit of life within us the Soule is so out of order that the spirit is weary of it and forsakes it When the body growes distempered and unfit for the Soule to use then the Soule leaves it Even as when the instrument is quite out of tune a man layes it aside whiles it is in tune he plaies on it So a man dwels in a house as long as it is habitable and fit to dwell in but when it becomes unhabitable he departs so as long as the body is a fit organ for the soule it keepes it when it becomes unfit it leaves it Even so the holy Ghost lives in the soule of man as long as it is in good temper but being distempered by sinne the holy Ghost removes You may see it in Adam as soone as hee did eate of the forbidden fruite the holy Ghost left him and he lost his Originall righteounes Secondly in this death as there is a privation so there is also a positive evill quality wrought in the soule whereby it is not onely void of goodnesse but made ill In the naturall death when a man dyes there is another forme left in the body so in this spirituall death there is an evill habit left in the soules of men This you may see Heb. 9.14 where the workes you doe before regeneration are called Dead workes there would be a contradiction in calling them dead workes if there were not another positive evill forme in man beside the absence of the quickning Spirit which forme is called Flesh in the Scriptures But it may be objected that sinne is a meere privation of good that it is a Non-ens therefore flesh cannot bee said to be an operative qualitie and forme of sinne To this I answer that though all sinne be a meere privation yet it is in an operative subject and thence it comes to passe that sinne is fruitfull in evill workes As for example take an Horse and put out his eyes as long as hee stands still there is no error but if he begins to runne once he runnes amisse and the longer hee runnes the further hee is out of the way wherein he should goe and all this because he wants his eyes which should direct him So it is with sinne though in its selfe it be but a meere privation yet it is seated in the soule which is alwayes active Anima nunquam otiosa The goodnesse that should inlighten it is taken away and there is a positive evill qualitie put into it that leades us on to evill Consider farther whence this death proceeds the originall of it is the understanding mind of man which is primū vivens ultimum moriens That which lives first and dies last The cause of life is the understanding inlightened to see the truth when the affections are right and the understanding straight then we live when it is darkened all goes out of order Ioh. 1.4 speaking of Christ it is said that in him there was life and the life was the light of men he was life because hee was light he did inliven men because he did inlighten them therefore Ephe. 5.4 the Apostle speakes thus to men Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light because light is the beginning of spirituall life Therefore it is said Iames 1.18 Of his owne will begot he them by the word of truth that is the word rectifies the understanding and opinion which is the first thing in this spirituall birth and Ephe 4.22.24 Put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts thereof and put on the new man which after God is created in holinesse and perfect righteousnesse The old man is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts that which is here called deceitfull lusts c. in the Originall signifies lusts proceeding from error and holinesse proceeding from truth Lust proceeds from error in mistaking things for lust is nothing
themselves to oppose God and the Saints but give themselves to pleasures and like those Widowes 1 Tim. 5.6 are dead in pleasures while they are alive The last step in this death is the death of Civility Civill men come nearer the Saints of God than others they come within a step or two of heaven and yet are shut out they are not farre from them the kingdome of Heaven as Christ said to the young man yet they misse of it as well as others Thirdly for the death that is opposite to the life of joy the degrees of it are more sensible Some have legall terrors the beginnings of eternall death others have peace of conscience and ioy in the holy Ghost the beginning of eternall life And thus much for the degrees of these deaths Now hearing that all are dead in trespasses and sinnes yee may object If wee bee dead why doe you preach unto us If we be dead we understand not wee move not we are not capable of what you say To this I answer First there is a great difference betweene this spirituall death and naturall death For first those who are naturally dead understand nothing at all but in those who are spiritually dead there is a life of understanding by which they themselves may know that they are dead men who are naturally dead cannot know they are dead Secondly those who are spiritually dead may understand the wayes of life though they relish them not yet they may heare and receive them which those who are naturally dead cannot doe Thirdly those who are spiritually dead may come to the meanes to the poole in which the Spirit breathes the breath of life whereas naturally dead men cannot come to the meanes of life Secondly I answer that though yee are dead yet hearing may breed life the word can doe it There was an end why Christ spake to Lazarus that was dead Lazarus come forth because his word wrought life therefore though yee are dead yet because the word can worke life in you our preaching is not in vaine Lastly this death is a voluntary death Men who are naturally dead cannot put life into themselves no more can those who are spiritually dead when they have made themselves dead Men die this death in a free manner I cannot better expresse it than by this similitude A man that is about to commit the act of murther or treason his friends perswade him not to doe it for if hee doth hee is but a dead man yet notwithstanding he will do it we say of such a one that hee is a dead man willingly So wee tell men if they doe thus and thus that they goe downe to the Chambers of death yet they will doe it Hence is that Ezek. 18.31 Why will ye die O ye house of Israel implying that this spirituall death in sinne is a voluntary death But ye will object men are not quite dead there are some reliques of Gods Image still left in them how are they then dead To this I answer that there is a double Image of God first a naturall standing in the naturall frame of the soule as to be immortall immateriall So there is understanding will and reason and some sparkes of life left in us as the remainder of a stately building that is ruinated but yet there are no sparkes of the living Image of God left in us the spirituall Image of God consisting in holinesse and true righteousnesse remaines not the Papists indeed deny it but how will they answer the rule of the Fathers that Supernaturalia dona sunt penitus ablata naturalia quassata that supernaturall gifts are utterly taken away no sparkes of them remaine But it will be objected that though men by nature have nothing left yet there is now an universall ability and grace an universall sufficiency given unto them To this I answer that that which they call universall grace is the same thing that nature is but they put another tearme upon it it is found in nature and common to all wherever it is therefore it cannot be grace For in grace there is alwayes something that is peculiar Secondly if there should bee an universall grace the Saints would be no more beholding to God than other men if God give all alike to all it should not bee God but themselves that put the difference Thirdly if there were that generall sufficiency it would take away all election there might then be prescience but no election no predestination to death or life Fourthly if there were a generall grace what is the reason that Paul made it such matter of difficulty to answer that question of election Rom. 9. If Aristotle and other Heathen if every one have such a generall sufficiency Paul would not have made such a scrupulous answer and have cried out of the depth Fithly there is no such universall ability because that which is borne of flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit we are all borne of the flesh and cannot therefore have this spirituall sufficiency But yet there are some spirituall gifts in men I answer that we cannot have these spirituall gifts if we are not borne of the Spirit that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Not Bellarmine himselfe nor any man else will say that all are borne of the Spirit It is our Saviours owne speech Iohn 15.2 Every branch in me not bearing fruite he taketh away and it is cast out and withered that is as the branch not being in the root bringeth forth no fruit so men as long as they are not ingrafted into Christ bring forth no buds no fruite at all they may heare the word but they cannot make use of it they cannot doe it without the Spirit and that is free it breatheth where it listeth cōpare Iohn 3.8 the Spirit breatheth where it listeth with Iohn 6.44 No man can come unto mee unlesse the Father draw him that is not as a sheepe is lead with a bough for Christ doth not say no man will come but no man can come except the Father draw him compell him as it were by force not perswade him by intreatie that is unlesse he changeth and taketh away his wolvish will But it will be objected that God drawes every man I answer that the context concludes against this For Christ doth bring this in to shew the reason why many did not receive his Doctrine and hee concludes with this that men therefore doe not receive it because God doth not draw them None can come unto me except the Father draw him I will answer one objection more and so conclude If we are dead to what end is the Law given why are wee commanded to doe thus and thus if we be dead To this I answer that the Law is given to this end to shew us our weaknesse and to leade us unto
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
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
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
not alter them Ioh. 4.12 the woman of Samaria was much held off with this argument Christ comming to teach her the doctrine of salvation Art thou greater said shee than our father Iacob that gave us this Well This opinion that our fathers have gone this way and it is transmitted to us hinders men much men cannot indure newnesse Lot is taxed for this by the Sodomites Gen. 19.9 This fellow came in to sojorne here and will he now bee a Iudge So Act. 17. Paul preaching at Athens the Athenians asked What new doctrine is this that thou preachest Men being accustomed to a way it winns their opinion men having once judged are loth to judge againe custome winnes their affection Change is troublesome men having gone long in a course they will still plod on in the same tract Custome of our fathers or country or place where wee are our owne custome makes us loath to forsake it Thirdly Similitude is a great hinderance Exod. 7.22 Pharaohs heart was hardned because the Magicians did the same miracles that Moyses and Aaron did So similitude hinders men from imbracing the wayes of Christ and God Men seeing Papists austerity like our mortification their suffering like true martyrdome they are perswaded of their wayes as we are of ours so for civility when as men see it so like religion as a sparke is like the fire they imbrace it All deceit is from similitude false wares having the same dye that true have deceive the buiers so falling starres are like other starres When wee see some men that professe religion to be false hearted we thinke all are so wherefore Phil. 1.10 The Apostle prayes that They might abound in all knowledge and iudgement to discerne of things that differ This proximity makes us deceived Fourthly false experiments hinder us much some experiments of the workes of God that should draw us nearer to him if wee make false use of them separate us farther from him As if God afflict and restore againe or keepe us from affliction our hearts are hardened Exod. 8.15 When as the Frogges were removed Pharoah his heart was hardned rest made him harden his heart so many times it makes men slight the word and afflictions which God layes on them We may see this in Souldiers and Mariners none more ready to contemne dangers than they because they have often escaped they delude the workes of God that should draw them to salvation Rootes will make the weeds grow againe not being taken heed of The long suffering of God should draw us to repentance but it doth not so 2 Pet. 3.3 In the last time shall come mockers walking after their owne lusts and saying Where is the promise of his comming for all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation that is men shall feele nothing apprehend nothing that God doth iudgements being beleeved they second the Word being eluded they hinder us and it The fift impediment is ignorance men know not the wayes of God therefore they doe not imbrace them Ioh 4.10 If thou hadst knowne the gift of God and who it is that speaketh to thee thou wouldest have asked of him There is enough in religion to make men love it if they knew it there is vertue in it there is beauty and profit in it Esa. 57. There is a peace in it all the wayes of it are wayes of pleasantnesse there is honour in it old age is honourable with righteousnesse But mens hearts are full of darkenesse they see not neyther doe they understand it 2 Pet. 2.12 They speake evill of the things they know not It s true they know the things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they know them not experimentally and really and that deceives them 1 Cor. 8.2 If any man thinke hee knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know One may know all things and yet know nothing as he should Ignorance deceives many it makes them to measure religion by a false rule and common opinion Act. 24.14 it is called heresy when yee judge of it by externall shewes all basenesse is outwardly in religion it is as like a costly thing covered with straw Christ was hid under a Carpenters Sonne preaching under the name of foolishnesse so our ignorance in attributing things to false causes keepes us off If the Gospel be hid it is hidden to those that perish there is a double ignorance privative and positive that is it by which the God of this world blinds men breeding a false perswasion of good and a good perswasion of evill The sixt impediment is in consideration men doe not consider the things they might know if men would deduce one thing from another and doe that they know they might be brought to God Deut. 29.2.3 Yee have seene saith Moyses all that the Lord did before your eyes in the Land of Egypt upon Pharoah and his servants yee have seene those great signes and miracles which hee did yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare untill this day that is yee have not profited because yee have not considered We thinke if that we had lived then wee had beleeved yet wee see how few of them did beleeve we beleeve the Scriptures yet what inconsequence is there in mens lives because wee doe not consider things Consideration helpes to perfect mens actions it is as a circular line one part helpes the other If wee looke backe and examine our actions it helpes want of it hinders What is repentance but consideration Ier. 8.6 No man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done want of this keepes men from salvation 2 Chron. 6.37 If they bethinke themselves in the Land whither they are carried away and turne and pray unto me in their captivity saying Wee have sinned we have done amisse and dealt wickedly then I will heare So Ier. 8.6 God harkned whether any would say What have I done men goe on and consider not Hosea 4.11 Whoredome and new wine steale away their hearts that is it makes them not to consider Mark 6.52 They considered not the loaves therefore their hearts were hardened they were feareful in the ship because they considered not the miracle of the loaves The seventh impediment is a certaine stifnesse and obfirmation of minde whereby a man is setled to continue in such a course that is pleasant to him and all that crosse him in it are enemies to him Rom. 8. the flesh is not subject to the Spirit it crosseth it one reckons not a man his enemy unlesse hee crosse him It must be so every creature as long as it hath a being opposeth that which is contrary to it so every man that delights himselfe in such or such a lust will not be circumcised cleansed and washed from it hee will not have Christ reigne over him he will have his elbow roome Those men that are not translated from death
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
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
from the regenerate part every regenerate man findes a disposition to Christ longing after him inclining to him as the yron doth to the loadstone or the stone to the Center Many there are that follow Christ and hold not out because the Principle is not good But the Saints themselves finde reluctancy the spirit is willing but the flesh is weake I answere that oftentimes the flesh followes obtorto collo like the Beare going to the stake yet the spirit brings it into subjection I cannot better expresse it than by that of Peter Christ tels him that when he was old he should be carried whither he would not Iohn 21.18 True it is that he went to the stake willingly else his death wherby he glorified God had bin no Martyrdome true it was his flesh was unwilling for to do it yet his spirit overcame it remember this that you must doe it cheerefully Thirdly it must be at all times many follow Christ but at a brunt and in an extremity they fly away as souldiers from their colours when as the battaile is nigh or as servants leave their maisters in harvest when as they neede them most Christ would have men know what he expects as the proclamation was made to the Iewes that if any mans heart fainted hee might goe backe and returne to his owne house againe Deut. 20.8 Iudg. 7.3 So Christ deales with us hee tels us the worst before hand to see whether wee will goe backe or no. Christ deales with us as Naomi did with Ruth when shee had intreated and perswaded her to leave her and goe backe to her owne Country againe Ruth· 1.28 When all would not doe and when shee saw that shee was stedfastly minded to goe with her then shee left speaking Christ tels his followers what they must looke for If they are willing to undergoe it then hee takes them else hee takes them not Fourthly wee must follow him all manner of wayes that is inwardly and outwardly In both these there is a difficulty There is a difficulty to serve him in the spirit many an action commeth that if it were to be done in the outward appearance onely it might be well put off but to doe it in secret this is hard when as the Conscience saith such a thing must not be got such a thing must be done such a lust must bee subdued such a duty must not be omitted this is not enough but you must professe Christ weare his livery and shew whose you are In many things it is easier to doe the spirituall than the outward Act As Mark. 8.38 Whosoever is ashamed of me saith Christ even in this adulterous and sinfull generation of him shall I be ashamed when I shall fit in my glory To professe what a man is in such company in such a place is not much but you must professe Christ at all times in all places In the midst of an adulterous Generation You must thus follow Christ else all is nothing And thus much for the first thing what it is to follow Christ. Wee come now to the object and example which wee must follow and that is Christ. And here first we must follow his Example Secondly wee must follow his precepts First you must follow his example doe as he did set him up as a patterne of Imitation It would be infinite to shew you all his graces yet I will name some particulars wherein you must follow him that so we may not be all in the generall First he abounded in love which he shewed in his readinesse both to give and forgive Hee shewed his love in giving in that hee loved men so that hee gave himselfe for them Act. 20.35 Hee saith It is more blessed to give than to receive For his love in forgiving he forgave those that did him the greatest wrong hee had compassion on the soules of men and on their bodies too For their soules he groaned to see them as Sheepe without a Shepheard Math. 9.36 So for their bodies hee fed many thousands of them often times Secondly For the glory that was set before him he endured the Crosse and despised the shame Heb. 12.2 that is hee saw God and his glory and then the good and evill speeches of men were nothing to him hee eyed the glory of God and despised the glory and shame of men as you may see Luk. 23.8.11 by comparing them both together When as Pilate sent him to Herod Herod was exceeding glad when hee saw him for hee was desirous to see him of a long time because hee had heard many things of him and hee hoped to have seene some Miracle done by him Luk. 23.7 to 12. But Christ despised that glory which hee might have gotten hee would neyther doe nor speake any thing before Herod Therefore Herod and his men mocked him Here hee despised the glory and the shame too when as much was expected from him hee neglected all and so must we Thridly hee was exceeding humble and meeke Learne of mee for I am meeke and lowly in heart This his humility appeares in this First that he excluded none no not the meanest Secondly hee did not render rebuke for rebuke 1 Pet. 2.23 Hee endured all Thirdly in that hee was ready to part with his right and his life Fourthly in that he washed his Disciples feet Fourthly he was diligent in his calling publikely and privately hee went abroad preaching upon all publike and private occasions ready to take all opportunities to doe good hee takes occasion to comfort the woman of Samaria at the Well Iohn 4. so when as hee saw them striving for the upper place at the Table hee takes occasion to discourse of humility Luk. 14. He did consider the end wherefore hee came This was the end of all his comming to doe good It was his delight to doe Gods will all hee did it was Gods Worke hee did it to glorifie him and for the good of men which was an other end wherefore he did it Fifthly hee was ready to suffer any thing to be despised to undergoe any thing at his Fathers pleasure he subjugated his desires to his Fathers and hee did rejoyce in it Mat. 11.25 I thanke thee O Father Lord of heaven and Earth because thou hast hid these thinges from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them to Babes and Sucklings even so Father for so it seemeth good in thy fight It had beene more for Christs honour to have had wise and great men to follow him but hee rejoyceth in this that God had hid him from those and revealed him vnto Babes for that was his Fathers will So we must rest contented with any thing if it bee Gods will Sixthly Christ likewise fulfilled all Righteousnesse Math. 3.15 he was full of zeale for his Fathers glory follow therefore his example in all these And not onely his example but his precepts too First beleeve in him this is the great Worke of God this is
any of these in the Church put it up to him and put it up with confidence For this is a marriage day as it were it is the time when he reacheth out his scepter as you know the things I allude to and thou maist come to his presence You know when Hester was admitted to the presence of the King then said he What request hast thou when thou art admitted to the familiarity and presence oâ— the Lord he looks for it he asks what request you have to put up to him and the promises are large enough I will give it whatsoever it be if you aske according to my will and therefore do in this case as Moyses used to do you shall find when Moyses drew neere unto the Lord when he was admitted into his presence and saw him face to face for that was the great priviledge Moyses had when there was any special apparition of the Lord to him Moses makes this argument saith hee It is a great mercy that thou wouldest shew mee this that such a poore man as I am should have this priviledge and give mee leave to make use of it Lord if I have found favour in thy sight that is since thou hast vouchsafed mee such a favour in thy sight do thus and thus for me you see he made this request for the whole Church of God and saved them or else they had beene destroied If thou hast not any particular argument in this case say If I have found favour in thy sight do this so I say when thou hast this promise confirmed that Christ hath given himselfe to thee and the symboll of that promise is the bread and wine which he hath given to thee put up thy request O Lord if thou hast vouchsafed to give mee Christ wilt thou not with him give mee all things else Lord if I have found favour in thy sight to do so great a thing for me deny me not this particular request Thus we ought to doe especially when we come to things that are beyond nature when we come let us consider with our selves Indeed I have a naturall disposition that carries me strongly to evill I shall never be able to overcome it there are such duties to doe I shall never be able to performe them In such a case thou must doe it the more earnestly thou must sigh groane to the Lord. Elishah when hee comes to doe a thing so much above the course of nature as to raise a dead child to life hee sighed unto the Lord that is he prayed earnestly Eliah when hee would have Raine he cryed he tooke much paines he prayed So must thou do in this case and know this for thy comfort that though thou thinke thou shalt never be able to doe these things to overcome such lusts such hereditary diseases yet the Lord is able to helpe thee though these are past naturall helpe yet they are not past the helpe of grace though the spirit in us lust after envy yet as the Apostle Iames saith The Scriptures offer more grace that is the Scriptures offer grace and ability to doe more than nature can doe nature cannot heale a spirit that lusteth after envy or any other thing a spirit that lusts after credit after money after the sinne of uncleanenesse or whatsoever is presented now the Scriptures offer that grace that will overcome any of these sinnes be they never so strong or so old Christ healed hereditary diseases he healed those that were borne lame and blind so though thou be borne with such lusts Christ is able to heale thee you see a Prophet could heale Naaman of his Leprosie when there was no other that could doe it so saith Christ Come unto me all ye and I will heale you So that you see wee must put up our requests to God The third Sermon WE have already made some entrance upon the words I told you what the Apostles scope is in them which is to make knowne to all Christians to whom he wrote another great priviledge besides that which hee named before that is That he that hath the Son hath life this saith he is another priviledge that whatsoever you aske you shall have onely remember that you have this assurance in him that is in Christ Iesus That point what it is to be in him that it may be the ground of all the benefits and priviledges wee injoy we handled the last day Now wee come to the priviledge it selfe If we aske any thing according to his will hee heareth us The words are so plain I shal not need to spend any time in opening of them but deliver you the point that lyes so evidently before us which is this That all the prayers of the Saints made upon earth are assuredly heard in heaven whatsoever we aske saith hee according to his will hee heareth us onely the conditions must be observed When you heare such a generall as this it must be limited there are certaine bounds set to it which we will name unto you which are these foure conditions First all the prayers that are made upon earth shall be heard in heaven if they be the prayers of a righteous man and are faithfull and fervent The person must be righteous that must first be remembred because although the prayer be never so good yet except the person bee accepted from whom it comes the Lord regards it not you know in the old Law the blood of Swine was reckoned an abominable Sacrifice yet if you take the blood of sheepe and compare them together you shall find no difference It may be the Swines blood is the better then what 's the reason the Swines blood is not accepted even because of the subject of it it was the blood of Swine and therefore you see it was put downe that it was an abominable Sacrifice So it is with prayer Take the prayer of a Saint and the prayer of a wicked man it may be if you looke upon the petition or whatsoever is in the prayer it selfe you shall finde some time the prayers of a godly man more cold and lesse fervent the petitions are not so well framed as the wicked mans yet because this comes from such a person the Lord regards it not you know the condition is mentioned Iames fift The prayer of the righteous man availeth much if it be fervent Now as this is required in the person so there is somewhat required in the praier also that is that it be fervent and faithfull that it be fervent you have it in the same place The prayer of a righteous man availeth much if it be fervent that is it must be a prayer made from the sence of the misery that is in us from the mercy of God when a man takes a thing to heart that he prayes for and comes with confidence to bee heard for that makes him fervent This the Lord will have and also he will