Riolanus Anatomy 6 Veslinguâ— Anatomy of the Body of Man 7 A Translation of the New Dispensatory made by the Colledg of Physitians of London Wherein is added The Key to Galens Method of Physick 8 The English Physitian Enlarged 9 A Directory for Midwives or a Guide for Women 10 Galens Art of Physick 11 New Method both of studying and practising Physick 12 A Treatise of the Rickets 13 Medicaments for the Poor Or Physick for the Common People 14 Health for the Rich and Poor by Diet without Physick The London Dispensatory in Folio of a large Character in Latin The London Dispensatory in twelves a smal Pocket Book in Latin To the Physical Reader THe greatest Reason that I could ever observe why the Medicines prescribed in these Books above mentioned and in many other Physick Books do not perform the Cures promised is the unskilfulness of those that make up the Medicines I therefore advise all those that have occasion to use any Medicines to go or send to Mr. Ralph Clarke Apothecary at the sign of the three Crowns on Ludgate-Hill in London where they shall be sure to have such as are skilfully and honestly made The Printer to the Reader I Have in my hands divers other works of Mr. Stephen Marshals which for their excellency and variety of matter are highly esteemed by all that heard them preach'd Or have read them in writing I intend to print them in several smal Books that they may not be above the reach of a poor man's purse The Subjects on which they treat are Chiefly these that follow VIZ. 1. Of the Covenant of Grace And the great priviledges the Saints have therby 2. Formal Professors seldom become sincere 3. Reformation and turning to God the only means to prevent Ruine 4. Christ the Prince of Peace 5. The Excellency of Christ's Kingdom 6. How Freedom come by Christ. 7. The Vnion between Christ and Beleevers 8. The Riches of the Saints through the Poverty of Christ 9. How Christ is the Head of the Church 10. Christ and his Seed have sufficient strength to destroy their Enemies 11. Christ the Bridegroom Beleevers are his Bride 12. No Participation of Christ but by Faith 13. Faith so precious a Grace that Christ is glad of any thing that may further it 14. An Humble Spirit Infinitly acceptable to God 15. Great Joy to all that Mourn in Zion 16. The double Recompence the Godly shall have after their affliction 17. The Happiness of the Saints under the Cross 18. The untimely Death of good men a Ground of Great Lamentation 19. The Magistrates Dignity Duty and Vsefulness 20. The Churches Danger Deliverance and Duty 21. The Churches praise unto God for their Deliverance 22. A great Mercy in God to prevent his Peoples ingageing one against another in Blood 23. Gods Chosen Ones are the Preventors of destruction 24. Mens Misery is only from themselves Their Deliverance is only from the Lord. 25. The Pearl of the Gospel 26. How the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation 27. It 's impossible for true Beleevers totally and finally to fall away 28. Parents Duty to their Children 29. Provision for the Poor 30. The Great Judgment of Famine 31. Of the Sacrament The CONTENTS of the first Book of Mr. Stephen Marshals Works VIZ. Of Christs Intercession or Sins of Infirmity SERMON I. On 1 John 2.1 And if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous THe scope of the Epistle Opened Page 1 2 3. The words of the Text explained Page 3 4. Doct. That the Lord Jesus Christs Intercession in Heaven is the great dayly Relief that all the Saints diligentest their watchfulest work in the world to keep their hearts in a good frame when once the Lord in mercy hath put them into a good frame Page 132 133 Reasons of the Point Reas. 1. Because the Heart is beyond all comparisons the best part of Man it is the Head Quarter Page 142 Reas. 2. Because the Heart is not only the best part of Man but it is the Treasury wherein better things are laid up than it self Quest. What are the Treasures laid up in the heart of a gracious Man Answer 1. The great God chooses the Heart of every Godly man for his Privy and Presence Chamber 2. Christ Jesus dwels there Emmanuel dwels there in whom are bid all the Treasures of God 3. The Holy Ghost dwels there too the Heart of every Godly man is his Temple 4. All the Graces of the Spirit of God are laid up there 5. The Word that is the the rule of our life is laid up there Reas. 3. Because the Lord whom we profess to serve looks only at the Heart in al the Sacrifices we perform to him Reas. 4. The Devil makes all his Assaults and Batteries against the Heart and counts all his labor lost if he get not into the Heart Reas. 5. Because the Heart is not to be trusted but is deceitfull false cosening even the Heart of the best man in the world 139 Reas. 6. Because out of it are the Issues of Life thy whol Conversation wil be as thy Heart is kept Use 1. Serves to reprove thousands with a bitter reproof who would fain go for Children of God and yet 1 They are exact in keeping their Houses c but neglect their Hearts Page 143 144 2. Others are curious about their Bodies to Feed Physick Adorn them but neglect their Hearts Others are careful also of their manners and Conversation to avoid scandal and yet neglect their Hearts 4 Others keep indeed their Hearts but sleightly they do not keep them above all keepings Page 146 Use 2. This is a Doctrine of wonderful consolation though it carry just rebuke with it to al whose Consciences witness that their greatest care is to purge and keep their Hearts Page 147 Use 3. To exhort all men for the time to come to make this their study to keep their Hearts Before this can be done I. The Lord must break the Heart to pieces and new mold it And then you must 1. Keep it pure from Sin 2. Keep it fit for Duty The Life of Christ or the great Mystery of Spiritual Life SERMON I. THe Text Opened Page 1 2 3 Doctrine 1. Every Soul that hath Interest in Christ while he is in this world it is in Christ that lives in him Doctrine 2. The manner of their living this Life in this world it is by Faith For Explication consider that There is a twofold life 1. A Natural life which we have from Adam 2. A Spiritual Life which flows from the second Adam Quest. What is this spiritual life Answ. It is a Participation of Christs Righteousness upon the Souls union with him Use 1. Shews how necessary it is that we should all try and examin our Souls whether we are partakers of this Life or No. Page 20 Considerations to stir up to this examination 1. That in Truth this alone is
of Application is come the making himself over to them in the consideration or notion of an elder Brother and so they really by their conjunction with him partake of it There is the second work 3. There is the work of the Holy Ghost and til that likewise be past over the Soul never is any man made the Son of God The Holy Ghost and his work is so eminent and apparent that he is called the Spirit of Adoption that when the Lord gives his Spirit unto his Children he cals it by the Spirit of Adoption because it is the great Office of the Spirit to make that great work of Adoption Quest. Now what is the Holy Spirit 's work about it Answ. I Answer It stands in three things and you wil see them all cleer in Scripture and I hope I shal have some time for the Application for I go it over as fast as I can the Holy Ghosts work in making us the Sons of God stands in three things as it is cleer in the Scripture The one is 1. When the acceptable time is come that the Lord means to make a Soul that is by nature a Child of wrath to become the Child of God He sends the Spirit of Jesus Christ into that Soul to be a band of union betwixt Christ and that soul that whereas Christ is to be applied to them as a Brother and they to be mystically united unto him the holy Spirit takes this Office upon himself to come and dwel in the heart as a band of union betwixt Christ and them that Christ and they should never more be separated and this work of the pouring out of the Spirit into the Soul to take possession of him for Christ and to give the possession of Christ unto him the Spirit being the band of it this is the first work of the Spirit as he is the Spirit of Adoption There is one The second work of the Spirit is this 2. That when the holy Spirit comes to make Christ and us one he as the elder Brother and we as his Brethren inseparably united to him whereas he findeth us enemies hateful hating that would rather be united to Harlots to the Creature to any thing the Spirit of God works a Child-like heart in them framing and molding their Spirits that for the time to come they calling God Father as they have warrant to do they likewise shall be made Sons even in the frame and bent of their spirits which is very excellently expressed in the very next words to my Text wherein it is said He gave them this Prerogative that they should become the Sons of God which were born saith he mark not of Blood nor of the wil of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Now no longer shal flesh and blood sway them but being born of God the Spirit of God gives a new birth and a new life now they come to have the hearts of Children that as nature hath planted in the heart of a Child toward the Parent Honor and Love and Reverence and Obedience where sin hath not utterly perverted it this is the natural genius of a Child to his Father So the Spirit of God molds and frames the Soul and this the Scripture signifies when it saith Because you are Sons God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts whereby now we can cry Abba Father now the hearts of them shal stand to God and be carried to him in Faith and Prayer as the hearts of Children are naturally carried to their Parents That is the second thing And then the third and last work of the Spirit and so you have all this indeed as plain before you as I can set it out briefly the Third Work is this 3. This Holy Spirit even as it is the Spirit of Adoption doth not only unite them to Christ and frame a sutable disposition in them towards God and Christ But it abides in them upon all need to witness to their Spirits that this is their condition to give not only the Seal of it by changing their hearts but by giving them the comfort of it as they need it in their necessities which the Apostle expresseth in those words it is in Rom. 8. And the same Spirit witnesseth to our spirits that we are Gods Children it carries our hearts to God and testifies to the Soul that God is their Father There is the second Now I have been larger in that because in truth the world doth not ponder these things nay few of Gods own Children do ever consider what a strange work it is that none but the blessed Trinity can undertake and each of them have their distant work in it of bringing a poor Child of Wrath to become the Child of God That is the second You hear now what Adoption is and how it is wrought Now the third thing in the Doctrinal part and then I hasten to the Application is Wel What are the benefits of it Now what are the benefits of our Adoption That when the Lord hath took this strange course and brought about this strange work Wherein doth the worth of this Priviledg stand I answer You wil receive a great deal of light of it at least it wil help you to remember it and understand it the better if I do illustrate it by the practice that was amongst the Romans So their Adoption and the Roman Adoption had three things in it it carried three things as all learned men that have read their Stories and Laws do know The first is 1. When a man was Adopted into a Family the Family of a Caesar or the great men by his Adoption he was cut off from the Family from which he sprung by his natural birth cut off from it not simply but from whatsoever was base or unworthy in that Family that if his Father were a Slave and himself by his birth a Slave it was hereditary to him or if any blot or infamy stuck upon his family whatsoever it was the Adopting of this Person into another Family wholly cut him off from al the base ignominious slavish bondage and dangers which belonged to the Family from which he sprung by his natural birth That was the first The second was 2. That by his Adoption he was taken as belonging to the Family into which he was Adopted as much as if he had been begotten by him he was to have by the Laws of the Empire the same respect from his adopted Father the same provision the same protection the same immunities whatsoever that his own begotten Son might claim by nature from the Roman Laws the adopted Child was instituted in them all And Thirdly 3 By his Adoption he had the same right to the inheritance that the begotten Child had if there were no other begotten Children the whol Inheritance sel to the Adopted Child if there were another begotten Child though beloved the Adopted shared with him in it Look how
should all joyne together to put out their utmost skil they could not make such a conjunction between Christ and the soul as beleeving doth but yet I wil tell you thus far not by any virtue that God hath put in faith but as it is the hand whereby we receive the holy Spirit for by the Spirit we receive faith and this holy Spirit that takes Christ and gives him to us and takes us and gives us to Christ this holy Spirit in a way utterly unknown to us and no waies to be understood in this world makes us one with Christ. There is the fifth And then the sixth and last is this 6. That look as in our food when the food is prepared and we have an appetite to it and the stomach receives it and works upon it and it becomes one with us then by vertue of that by the strength of that food are we enabled to live as men if we have wasted our spirits if our healths are decayed here is strength to be added if we have work to do we are thereby enabled to do it to go through what belongs to us by the power that comes in Gods way of ordering it by the power that comes and is added to us So it is here in our spiritual life that when once the Lord brings the Soul to value Christ as that wherein his life lies to have a desire after him above all goods in the world to come to have Christ incorporated into us by the power of the Spirit then do we come from hence by the Covenant of Grace the operation of â—he Holy Ghost according to Gods dispensation to his People to receive such a supply of his Spirit as we are enabled to walk as those that are alive unto God through Jesus Christ only add this difference for I wil shew you how the preheminence lies in our spiritual eating with this difference that whereas our outward food never gives life to those that want it but by the blessing of God only repairs it in those that have it now this spiritual eating of Christ doth not only maintain life in those that are alive but it raiseth them up from the very dead it gives life and that moment that the Lord enables the soul to hunger after him and rest upon him in that moment is the life of Jesus Christ conveyed to him And this is the first part to let you see that eating and drinking it is nothing but beleeving in Christ and the resemblance of them stands in these things as I have opened to you and now the second which I wil be but brief in because I would not stay you long nor be hindred from the Application of it the second thing I promised is 2. A little to discover what the benefit is that we partake of by eating and drinking the flesh and the blood of Jesus Christ What do we get by it For answer We can easily say when men are extolling the good cheer they have been at at any Feast or Banquet where luxury is set out What get you by it a feeding of our Bodies that wil return to clay is al that a man gets by it Now what is gotten by this eating and drinking of Jesus Christ Oh! could I but in a few words open to you what our Lord hath said of it saith he 1. He that eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood he shal have everlasting life There is the first benefit What means he by that life That is not this poor frail momentary life that we live though this be the purchase of Christ to Beleevers but he shall have First 1. The life of pardon that whereas all of us are dead under the guilt of sin dead in Law liable to wrath they are pardoned men if once they beleeve in Christ. 2. Whereas they were dead likewise under the dominion of sin and were strangers to the life of God the Lord Jesus infuseth a principle of a new spirituall life into them and such inward qualities and holiness that enables them to live the life of God that life that is of the same kind that Christ himself lives his life a holy spiritual life that alas if I could open it to you and you understand it it would make you conclude that there is no such life in any creature to be found as the life that every soul lives that laies hold upon Christ I and then he adds 3. This life is an everlasting life that is as our Savior expresses it saith he Your Fathers did eat Manna that is as the Scripture saith Angels Food not that Angels eat any meat but if they did eat any food it would be Manna Your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead but he that eateth upon me lives for ever It is not such a poor momentary life as this is but a life that wil last to all eternity this is the Benefit Nay mark some other expressions that come in here together 2. He shal never hunger nor thirst more That wil explain wel what the Lord means by saying an everlasting life they shal never hunger nor thirst What is that He means not that they shal never desire more of Christ No there is a two fold hunger and thirst 1. There is such a hunger and thirst as riseth out of sweetness that because the honey is good they would have more of it because the Wine is good therefore the Drunkard saith I wil sip again where the content of it makes them desire more of it This hunger all the People of God have because they find contentment in Christ therefore they desire more of him But then 2. There is another hunger and thirst which is deadly which will kill a man unless it be supplied which our Savior explains in his discourse with the Woman of Samaria He that drinketh of that Water shall thirst again that is if he have not a supply he will be in as dead a condition as he was in before if he be not supplied But now he that eateth and drinketh of the meat and drink that he prepares though there wil be a sweet hunger to make him desire more yet there wil be such a life and stock of life within that til eternity have end they shal never be destitute of meat So here is a benefit a life everlasting that they shal never hunger nor thirst Nay he explains it yet a little higher in the words I have read the one is saith he 3. Whosoever doth thus eat and drink and thus cometh to me I wil in no wise cast off What is that though it may be he may think himself the most unworthy and say Lord here is meat indeed Lord ever more give us of this meat But who am I that I should come I am the unworthiest wretchedest vilest of all Nay let him be never so unworthy in himself never so vile I wil in no wise cast him out if he come to me for God my Fathers
set you down any one of them may be sufficient to convince but al of them together may and I hope wil abundantly satisfie you that we have no such Duty lies upon us as to our selves in this world as the looking to our hearts The first is 1. Because the heart that heart which I have interpreted it is beyond all comparisons the best part of man it is the head quarter You know in an Army they have their Sentinel in every corner they would be loth to have the out quarters beat up but the head quarter where the General or chief Officers lie there is the strongest and watchfullest guard of all Now the heart of man the wil and the affections and the intellectual faculty that is beyond all degrees of comparison better than every thing else that is in man so much better than all the rest that our Lord saith that the man makes a very ill bargain of it that gaines all the world if he lose his soul Loose thy Heart and thy Soul is lost Now then if our Souls if the heart be ten times more worth than all things else that we have surely it should be kept more diligently than any things else we have This I think no man can question the strength of the reason of it it is the best Remember our Saviors word in a lower case when he did chide men that did take care of meat and drink and clothing and the like saith he Is not your life more than your food Is not your body more worth than your raiment I do but allude to that comparison Now I may say then Is not thy Heart better than thy Head Is not thy heart thy inward man better than thy outward man What is the body but meerly the shel It is the Heart that is the Jewel That is one I hope to have a little more time afterwards to shew what this includes in it this keeping at least to point at it but that is one ground Because the heart it is the best part of man it is the Queen it is the Prince it is the head quarter and al others are nothing when compared with it Secondly A second ground that is for the demonstration of it is this 2. Because the heart it is not only the best part of the man but it is the treasury wherein better things are laid up than it self The heart is a very rich Cabinet yea but it is a Treasury or Cabinet of the rarest the invaluablest wealth that is in Heaven or Earth Understand me aright I speak not of the heart of a wicked man of an unconverted man for Solomon tels us expresly the heart of a wicked man is nothing worth it self is a base thing and there is nothing in it but that that is worse than it self nothing in the world but the rubhish and the filth of the Devil and the World and Hell lies in the heart of a wicked man but a man that is a Child of wisdom that is Gods Child Oh! there is a rich treasury laid up in his heart You shal read our Savior speaks of a good man who out of the good treasury of his heart bringeth forth good things he hath a good treasury Now would you know what are the treasures that are laid up by God not of our own getting but of the Lords depositing Quest. What are the treasures that are in the heart of a Gratious man Answ. I Answer the Tongues of men and Angels cannot tel you what I wil name you a few The one is 1. The great God himself hath chosen to make the heart of every Godly man his own privy and Presence-Chamber himself saith it that though the Heaven be his Throne and the Earth his foot-stool yet he dwels in in an humble broken heart in the heart of one that trembleth at his word and fears his name there doth he himself dwel And then 2. Christ Jesus dwels there Emmanuel the Son of God the Savior of poor sinners the Scripture is plain That Christ may dwel in your hearts by Faith Christ dwels in our hearts Is not there a Jewel I tel you the Apostle saith of Christ In him there are hid all the treasures of God The God of Heaven is worth no more than is laid up in Christ and Christ al he is worth comes to dwel in the heart and in him saith the Apostle they are both of them in Collos. 2. the one in verse 13. and the other in verse 9. where he tels you that the fulness of the Godhead dwels in Jesus Christ essentially or bodily Now Jesus Christ dwels in the hearts of Gods people And then 3. The Holy Ghost dwels there too For the Heart of every Godly man is a Temple of the Holy Ghost and if you wil I might go on to Multiply more 4. That all the graces of Gods spirit are laid up in our Heart It is Faith in the Heart and love unfained in the Heart and all those excellent things And 5. The word that is the Rule of Life saith David I have laid up thy word in my Heart I have hid thy word in my Heart Now Brethren where there is such a treasury that God is laid up in it and Jesus Christ is laid up in it and the Holy Spirit pardon the expression is pleased to dwell in it and all Gods Graces all they that are Gods ordinances are there laid up his word and the like do not you think this should be wel watched and well barred and wel kept and wel looked to There is a second ground that thy Heart it is not only the best piece that is but it is the treasury of that that is a great deal better than it self the richest treasury and therefore Heaven hath not a richer treasury in it than the Heart of every Saint hath and therefore it should be kept above al keepings Thirdly A third ground of demonstration is 3. Because that the Lord whom we serve or pretend to serve and profess to serve and do serve if we be his The Lord looks only at the Heart in all the services that we perform to him All things that we are to do to the Lord as an homage and tribute and honor to him he regardeth nothing but the heart in them all nothing else is of any esteem with the Lord but the Heart My meaning is this plainly that in any services God liketh a thing never a whit the better for the brave accomplishment or adornment of it with any of our parts or faculties Wits Fancies Memory expression Decorum fair carriage and deportment of the Body the Lord values not this one button in any service whatsoever but so much as the heart is in it so much as the wil affections are in it so much doth the Lord value it insomuch that this one thing wil satisfie you about the truth of it read all the Scriptures over that speak of the servants of God
lived by loading themselves with thick clay good store of Gold and Silver and Houses and Lands but saith he the just live by faith every godly man lives by faith Now this Text of the Prophet Habakkuk it is three or four times in the new Testament alledged by the holy Ghost to prove the very self same Doctrine as for example Rom. 1 17. I wil rather name that first because it proves both these Doctrines I have propounded saith he in verse 16. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that beleeveth the Gospel for saith he in verse 17. therein is the righteousness of Christ manifested from faith to faith There now is my former Doctrine that our Life to Salvation it is nothing but the righteousness of God manifested to us and communicated to us yea from one degree of faith to another according as we get more faith so we have more life and as Righteousness is further revealed so we have more faith and consequently more life as it is written the just shal live by faith mark it The manifestation and communication of the Righteousness of Christ it is held out in the Gospel but received by Faith and every Beleever lives by Faith The just shall live by faith So in the Epist. Gal. 3.11 the holy Ghost repeats the very same expression again speaking of the Life of the Saints as it is written The just shall live by faith Again the very same phrase in Heb. 10.38 where the Apostle there is pressing of Beleevers to a holy Life in difficult and troublesom times that are coming upon them and shews what wil become of Apostates and Back-sliders but saith he The just shall live by faith The whol life of al holy men while they are going through the world and get into Heaven all their life is transacted by faith this is clear And I wil ad but another Text that which you find in 2 Cor. 5.7 the Apostle saith expresly We live by faith we live not by sence if you wil take sence there for carnal sence things that are sensible to our outward man we live not to sence or if you wil take it in the more elevated interpretation spiritual sence that is the immediate enjoyment of the light of Gods countenance to ravish us though it is a Treasury to be desired rather than ten thousand worlds yet we live not by it but by faith the Life of Gods people it lies al in the grace of Faith But I wil add two Proofs more that are not particular Scriptures but conclusions that are fit for you to study and wil give a wonderful conviction to your hearts of the truth of this Doctrine That the Life of al Gods people while they are in this world is lived by Faith You shall have this demonstration First That the holy Ghost when he compares spiritual life and natural life together he useth to compare the grace of faith to al those faculties or members which are the whol livelihood of our natural lives those members or faculties which contribute the most to the livelihood of our natural life the holy Ghost makes faith to be al these in our spiritual life pray remember my meaning is thus You know while we are in this world while we live we must be fed take away food appetite eating digesting drinking concocting of it and you destroy a mans life presently Faith is our mouth by which we feed al the food that the soul hath it is by a spiritual mouth and it is faith whereby we feed ordinarily it is compared to our mouth appetite and stomach but then before the food cometh to our mouth the hand receives it and conveys it to the mouth Faith is our hand compared to the hand whereby we do our work and receive our food and carry it Faith is our eye whereby we behold the things we are to act and work upon for the maintaining of our life Faith is the foot whereby the soul is carried both to its business and food hands eyes mouth tast the Spirit of God sets it out by them all thereby signifying to us that what the eye mouth hand and tast contribute to our natural life that doth the grace of faith to our spiritual life while we are in this world That is one Conclusion that I think is a cleered demonstration that while Gods People live in this world it is faith that is their Life The Second which is yet more ful is this That you shal find cleerly in the Scriptures that not only our life in general is attributed to Faith but every thing concerning our life is in Scripture made the work of faith Oh! that we could understand this but you that are spiritual must needs be versed in the truth of this Doctrine I say that not only the bulk of our life in general is said to be the work of Faith but every thing that concerns our spiritual life the holy Ghost doth impute it to the grace of Faith as now I will instance in some things that wil comprehend al the rest All the Life of a Christian is reducible either 1. To the beginning of it Or 2. To the preservation of it and carrying of it on First The Beginning of it We have our spiritual Life begun in us by Faith it is on our part the principle whereby the very spiritual life is received or if you will have it more plainly All those things that are the real principles of our Spiritual Life they are all received by Faith As Jesus Christ who is our Life and is the fountain of our life we recive Christ by faith As many as received him that is as many as beleeved And in Ephes. 3.17 whether Jesus Christ dwels in our hearts by faith That Lord Jesus that remains in us constantly we have him by faith Then The Spirit of Jesus Christ who doth take from Christ and communicate to the Saints for so Christ said when he promised him to his Apostles and Church that shall be his Office to take of mine and give to you saith he How received you the Spirit was it not by faith So that by faith we receive the Spirit as it is the very principle of our life I confess this is a great mystery for Faith it self is the work of the Spirit and yet the Spirit is received by faith but the holy Ghost saith it is so Somwhat I would say to witness that but the time wil not allow it me So that our very beginning of our spiritual life is by faith while we are meerly passive the Spirit of God works alone without us but when we come to be active the very first and al the acts of our lives they are by Faith Well when this life is begun Then Secondly The Preservation the Maintainance of it the acting of it wholly the Spirit of God acts by the grace of Faith as thus All
himself there he reckons up Father and Mother and Wife and Children and Lands and all that he hath This is a third Branch of Self Fourthly 4. There is another that is as much Self as any of these and that is that that we cal religious Self and by that you are to understand our performance of holy Duties our Vertues our Righteousness any thing that seems to be spiritual and good and moral in us this you shal find a notable passage about in Phillip 3. where the Apostle there saith of true Beleevers saith he We are the Circumcision that do worship God in the spirit but we put no confidence in the flesh we regard nothing of the flesh and saith he if there be any man that might have any confidence in the flesh I as much as any mark his words I much more than any What flesh doth he mean mark what follows I was an Hebrew of the Hebrews of the Tribe of Benjamin by my Religion a Pharisee touching the righteousness of the Law I was altogether unblameable here was his self Now this was his flesh so that the Religion the Honesty the Conversation agreeable to the Law that Paul makes a part of himself and cals it his flesh Now concerning these four for yet I have not done explaining this first part what I mean by Self concerning all these four both our Lusts and our natural endowments and our worldly interest and our Religion you must take these three corrollaries to understand them all three things that I would add The first is 1. That al these are but one and the same self pray mark me all these are but one self only As the Sea which is but one yet it is called the Brittish Sea as it toucheth upon England or Scotland It is called the German Sea as it washeth the German shoar and a great way off it is called the Ethiopique Sea as it washeth there but all is but one Sea so all is but one wretched self though we call it a sinful self as self applies it self to Lusts cal it worldly self as self applies it self to wealth or riches or honor and cal it religious self as self applies it self to the Law of God or to God in any such like but all is but one self all is but one and the same man in all these And Secondly Another thing that I would have you know about them all four is this 2. That though all these are in every natural man yet commonly there is but one of them that is predominant and all the other are subordinate unto it As for example Some men make their Lusts their known Lusts their predominant self and unto that Reason and Wil and Father and Mother and Children and Law and Duties and all shal be subordinate because this is the Lord paramount In some others it may be the world is the paramount Oh! and then unto that all their other Lusts and all their Religion likewise shal be subordinate It may be in another his Religion is the predominant his Honesty his righteousness his holy performances that is his great predominant and then unto that all the other shal be subordinate Commonly there is but some one of them that carries the Chair that sits upon the Throne and al the rest are underlings to that Thirdly and that which I most of all would have you mark and weigh concerning them all is this and I beseech you weigh my words 3. That in all these the heart is equally wicked in every one of them the heart is as bad and as far from God in the one as it is in the other I mean plainly thus That man that sets up his Lusts suppose his Whore suppose his Pride suppose any known wickedness sets up that to be the great good that pleaseth him that man is no more wicked his heart is no more wicked in that than another man that maketh Mammon his God the gathering of wealth or the maintaining of his honor and neither of these are more wicked than he that maketh his righteousness his own religious performances his God because for though these may seem strange yet if you wil wait you will find it to be good Divinity though in all these self is the end and all these are used but as means in the one of them I make use of the Devil to serve my self in another I make use of the world to serve my self in another I make use of God to serve my Self but whosoever I make use of it is my self that I set in the Throne my own Ease my own Wil my own Good my own Happiness Now then here is the result whatsoever a poor lost sinner doth make his portion before he come to be reconciled to God in Christ whatsoever it is that he maketh his portion or placeth his happiness in that our Lord means by self and there you have the first thing explained that I intended to handle What is meant by our Self that must be denied all that we make our portion be it our Lusts be they our natural abilities be they our worldly interests be they our religious Vertues Duties Righteousnesses they are all alike when the heart sodders with them or rests in them all these make up that self that must be denied That is the first Secondly The second thing that is to be explained is 2. What it is to deny a mans self he that will follow Christ must deny himself What is that I answer First 1. In general as I hinted before it must be a total denyal it is such a denial of a mans self as must be a total abrenunciation it must not be to put off the skin the Serpents skin and leave the Body or to cut off a Joynt and leave the Trunk but the whole man all the comprehension of this must be abhominated and renounced by that self-denial that the Lord here means But what is it you wil say Wherein stands it That I shal labor to cleer to you as wel as I can 1. Negatively I wil shew what it is not And then 2. Positively I wil shew you what it is 1. What it is not First 1. By denying a mans self the Lord means not that we should counterfeit our selves to be other than we are as Jeroboam's Wife denied her self to be Jeroboam's Wife by faining her self to be another Woman than she was The Lord means not that he that is a proud man should say I am not a proud man or he that is a rich man should say I am not a rich man or he that is a proper man should say I am not a proper man or he whose name is John or Thomas should say I am not that man that is not the meaning that he should counterfeit or feign himself to be another than he is Nor Secondly which it may be you think most probable by denying a mans self is this meant 2. That a man must wholly be
our nourishment comes from Ordinances for though the Lord be the Fountain of it yet the Ordinances are the canales the channels wherein the Lord gives out a greater supply of himself we must receive all these by Faith The Word profits no man unless it be mingled with Faith your Prayers they must be Prayers of Faith the Sacraments they are received by Eaith All Ordinances are so far effectual to the soul as the grace of Faith puts them upon you Faith is not only the means of our Food but for Physick the overcoming of our evil al the Spiritual enemies of our spiritual life all that would destroy it it is Faith alone must do it You shall find Satan the great Enemy how do we overcome him By resisting him in Faith The World another Enemy every one that is born of God overcometh that the world cannot prevail upon them and this is that that overcometh the world even your Faith So All our Lusts it is by Faith that we put off the old man the Scripture is cleer in it nay the actings of our lives all the actions of our spiritual life all the excitings and callings out of all our graces in every relation publick and private the Spirit of God laies it al upon Faith until we come to be consumated and put into Heaven the Lord doth leave the mannagement and carrying on of our spiritual life to the grace of Faith himself is the Sum the fountain but so far as the Creature hath a hand in it that is the sanctified creature it is this faith whereby the whol life is acted Thus you see the first thing I hope sufficiently cleered That the Life of al Gods People while they live in this world it is the life of faith But now comes the greatest Question for there are so many cleer Scriptures about that you cannot doubt of it you had as good doubt of your Christianity as to doubt of this Whether a Christians life is the life of faith But now What the holy Ghost signifies by this what is it to live by faith That is a thing that may be more difficult to be understood and if it please God that I can but cleer it to you out of the Word that you may see wherein the true living by faith doth consist when I have opened this I wil not doubt but so many as are Gods People wil say this is my very condition but as for others they wil say every body talks of living by faith one man makes living by faith only to be a fancy in his own head that God wil do this and that for him without any warrant from the Word another it may be fancies that live how he lists if he hope but to go to Heaven when he goes out of the world then he lives by faith But living by faith is substantial I shal now set my self by the Lords help to clear to you what the holy Ghost signifies when he saith that the life of Gods people in this world they live it by faith and to this end I must premise these two things but to make way The first is That our Lord Jesus who is our Head our spiritual mystical Head he hath not only an Al-sufficiency for al his people for every one that beleeveth til they come to glory but he hath a full purpose in his heart never to be wanting of supply unto his called ones a full unchangeable purpose to supply them with whatsoever is needful to bring them to glory That is the first thing I lay down as a foundation to lead you to know what it is to live by faith there is an all sufficiency in Christ our Head yea a ful purpose and resolution unchangeable to supply to all his people whatsoever they can need in any condition til he hath brought them to glory That is the first thing no body wil doubt this the Scripture is so ful to it The Second thing is more immediate and closer to my purpose and it is this That Jesus Christ hath not only this determinate purpose in his heart but he hath in his Word declared and manifested al that he will do for his people and expect from his people til they come into Heaven mark that is In his Word hath he declared Promises which hold out al the good that Christ means to do for his people not only general promises for pardon of sin to bring them to Heaven but promises for every condition that can be he hath declared what he means to do and which way he wil do it He hath there likewise declared what his will is for al the duties that his people are to perform iâ— the way of obedience he wil never expect from them in al their life time any thing but what in his Word he hath set down And thirdly In the same Word he hath not only laid down Promises what he wil do and precepts what they must do but Directions that hold out both arguments to stir them up and waies that they should take al these hath he laid down in his Word al the means either to attain strength to do duties or to accomplish the benefit of any Promise in his Word he hath laid down al his mind and that is called his will concerning us that is the will of God concerning us Now these three things premised the purpose of Christ to do all that he will do and expect the declaration of all this in his Word These two taken for granted now in the third place which is my Doctrine and which wil make you understand what the living by faith is The Grace of Faith wrought in us by the Spirit of God and acted in us by the Spirit of God it immediately hath its whol application to the Word Good Friends hearken I say the grace of faith is the work of the Spirit in us and is excited and stirred up to work by the Spirit the Spirits proper and immediate work is to deal with the will of Christ revealed in his Word it looks not at Heaven immediately it looks not to Christ immediately but it looks at God and Christ and Heaven mediately through the Word In the Word there saith sees all the good things promised that in its life time it shal stand in need of in the Word it seeth the injunction of al those duties that the renewed soul should be conversant about or be exercised in in the Word and in the Word only he seeth the Methods the Counsels the arguments the Directions that are to be attended upon for the enjoyment of all that which is in Christs purpose to do for us Now mark The grace of faith stirred up by the Spirit of God to look to the Word in every thing in the right way and the Lord by his invisible and secret work making the things held out in the Word effectual to the soul by this act of faith in the whol course of our life applying