after the freenesse of grace in Christ yet the poore soule will ever be lingring after this Light looke as it is with a great torch carry it out of one roome into another by-roome and though the torch be gone yet it will leave such a glimmering so that a man may follow the torch so it is with the soule truly humbled it hath received the testimony of the Spirit though the torch the glory of the testimony of this witnesse goeth aside a little in temptation yet the Lord leaves such a kind of glimmering or inkling of goodnes that the soule looks after the lampe light in this kinde and followeth it for ever Ionah 2.4 Ionah was there stubborne with the Lord he was sent to Ninive he goes to Tarshish wel God sends a whirlewind after him and tosseth him into the sea and sent also a great Whale an unruly ferry-man to carry him to land Now being in the belly of the Whale hee begins to apprehend himselfe and then is joyfull and there he made a question of Gods everlasting love but yet when he was in the belly of hell and mountaines of water went over him yet marke how the holy man behaveth himselfe I will still looke towards thy holy presence He had some illuminations of Gods goodnesse in Christ and howsoever the glory therof was eclipsed yet there was some glimmering left behinde But now the flashes of the Hypocrite they are sudden the lightning of Gods love that is in his minde but it passes thorow the soule suddenly and leaves it in the same hazard ignorance and at a losse as formerly for howsoever an hypocrite may have a glimmering and a kinde of flash and take notice of the powers of the world to come yet it comes like lightning suddenly come suddenly gone and it draweth the minde for the while and the understanding for the present but in conclusion the soule is where it was before when this flash is gone and the lightning is over it is just at the same losse and danger it was before Differ 3 From this authority of the Spirit it is of great authority and of marvellous powerful command so that the whole frame of the soule comes to be ordered and the heart comes to be framed sutable and agreeable thereon Looke as it is with a mighty streame all the lesser streames runne that way so it is with the blessed streame of this evidence of truth what the Spirit of God lets into the minde of the Saints it carries all with it and beares all before it and makes the whole streame of the soule be answerable thereunto Take notice between the vision Saint Paul had and which Balaam had God let in a light into Balaams soule What wilt thou curse Iacob Oh the glory that I will bestow upon them This made his teeth water at the goodnesse of the Lord and he saith Let mee die the death of the righteous Numb 24.2 the Text useth the phrase The Spirit of God was upon Balaam the meaning is he intimated the happie condition of the Saints of the Lord and in stead of cursing he blessed them though this cursed Witch Balaam had this common enlightning to know the excellencie of the condition yet his heart was never the better was covetous and malicious still towards Iacob But looke Acts 26.19 Saint Paul saith hee was not disobedient to the vision as who should say The blessed truth that was revealed to me the voyce that spake to me from heaven my minde was framed thereby and answerably disposed thereunto and I submitted and came in at the voyce of the Lord. Hence the phrase in Scripture They that know thee will trust in thee as who should say Grounded knowledge brings in confidence So Ioh. 4.10 Christ saith Hadst thou knowne me it is not every knowledge that will doe the deed a man may talke of grace but hadst thou understood better the evidence thou shouldest have asked grace and received it this is the reason of Iobs speech when God takes a man in hand he will command a man to returne fron iniquitie there is a commanding power in the obedience of truth the Lord lets in a commanding power and turnes the heart from sin and makes it yeeld to the obedience of God Whereas the light of the hypocrite is like lightning in the evening a flash and away and leaves no heat behinde it The Sunne doth not only give light but it leaves a heat behind it so it is with the Spirit of God when the sunshine of the heavenly light comes into the heart it leaves a heat of holy affections behinde it framing and disposing the heart of a man to be at the call and command of God Observe when wee lay forth arguments before men and convince their consciences that their course is nought notwithstanding whatsoever we can speake they returne to their wicked speeches and base practices their lives are as wicked their tongues as prophane as ever but when the Spirit of God will take those arguments we propound out of Scripture and make knowne those troubles to the understanding it communicates unto thee and them that power to the soule that it comes to be disposed thereunto Differ 4 The testimony of the Spirit goes upon very good ground it is a wise Spirit and a Spirit of truth and therefore goes wisely to worke Now Hypocrites they beare up their hearts with admirable evidence of Gods love but aske them what reasons they have for it what arguments to maintaine it they have nothing at all to say this is an undoubted argument of a besotted befooled hypocrite Come to your ancient people and enquire of them in the time of their sicknesse aske them if ever they were perswaded of Gods favour they say they thanke God they never doubted of it they reply they were worse than Reprobates if they should but they have no ground at all to confirme this this is an undoubted argument of a soule that never had any sound evidence of Gods love for where the Spirit comes it goes upon good ground Vse 2 Direction and Exhortation hence wee learne what course wee must take what path wee must tread in what meanes we must use to get this notice and gaine this evidence of Gods love to our soules learne the ground get the witnesse of Gods Spirit get but the Spirit to seale it and all is thine It was the speech of Sampson when he propounded a Riddle to the Philistines they knew not how to answer it because they understood it not before he had told his wife and shee them then they related the Riddle to them hee confesseth their answer to be good But saith he had you not plowed with my Heifer you could not have expounded my Riddle I use the same comparison for our purpose use Gods meanes if you would know Gods minde take counsell of him that is privie Counceller of Heaven would you be perswaded of Gods love and affection
and never rest till you get this blessed grace of faith that you may bee happy by it for ever Sort. 3 The third sort which we will meddle withall and discover that have no part in this saving faith are the meere civilized and seemingly judicious professors such as beare up themselves marvellous comfortably upon their owne wisedome and judgement howsoever these have a name yet it is but a name and no more and for this man that we may discover him and that he may know himselfe we will doe it in three things First I will shew him in his fashion Secondly wherein his falsenesse doth appeare and wherein he falls short Thirdly wherein hee discovers himselfe to fall short First he is a man that will deale very honestly and fairely betweene man and man hee is not scandalous in his practices hee is a man of good parts and deepe understanding and deepe reach if you will beleeve him and he exceeds the most nay even the best in his private paines he is very studious and reads much and can remember well and can expresse himselfe marvellous well and so will carry all before him nay this man is so lifted up in his imagination that hee could almost undertake to teach Ministers how to preach if any man out of weaknesse would condescend to him but if you follow him home to his family there he prayes but once a weeke and if misery and sorrow and affliction come then haply hee can pray twice unlesse some carnall base friend come into his family which haply would scorne him and his profession then he prayes once and scarcely that because hee would not offend his friend and hence it is that poore people make this man an oracle and this mans words and judgement and determinations they are of great weight and if a poore soule which can dive deeply into his owne heart comes and questions his faith and to make some doubt of his graces all is in an uproare presently what say they such a man have no faith the Lord be mercifull to us then if a man of such judgement and parts hath no faith then what shall become of us this mans words cast the ballance any way and his words are of great weight amongst the vulgar sort of people and hence it is that the poore ignorant creatures beare up themselves upon this mans judgement and say they for a man to pray twice a day it is not required and it is more than is needfull and if a man have a minde to stay at home may hee not read the Word in his owne house and get as much good by it as by going to Church wiser than wee thinke so and if it were not so doe you thinke such a man would professe it a man of parts and good judgement and many times Gods owne servants out of the sight of their owne weaknesse and the discouragements of their owne heart and when they see themselves so farre outbidden by their parts then they have such a one in a high account and preferre him above themselves by many degrees now see the guise of this man hence it is that this man falls in love with himselfe and is lifted up into a fooles paradise and he begins to admire at himselfe and for any matter of faith hee doth not question it what a man of such wisedome and such understanding what not he faith he makes no question hee cannot misse of faith and so he goes away comfortably and contentedly thus you see the faith of this man Secondly wee come to view and to see where he falls short now you see him Oh that the Lord would make him see himselfe and brethren observe thus much few of these men are ever brought home by the powerfull preaching of the Gospell and the reason is because their owne wisedome is beyond the ministery of the Word and they say such a Minister is a good Scholer but had hee that wisedome and those parts and the like thus they reare up bulwarkes against the Word of truth that it sinkes not into their hearts therefore to make this man knowne to himselfe observe thus much in the generall the basenesse of this mans faith for it is no better but that he is deluded that he cannot see it it discovers it selfe thus it is bred in his bookes and in his judgement and goes no further and it is far from saving faith therefore that the inditement may lie cleare and that we may outbid him in his booke learning and all know thus much the maine ground of this mans mistake may be discovered thus there are two things in the nature of faith First illumination Secondly application as wee tearme it illumination not onely is when a man hath the common rumours and intimations of the truths of God in the Gospell and knowes the reason of the texts and the meaning of the scriptures this the reprobate may have and this he hath but there is also an operation of the Spirit upon the affections and then there comes an application wherein the soule goes out to the promise and takes that for his good which is thereunto appointed now observe this judicious man hee hath a generall apprehension of the truths of the Gospell but as for that speciall working upon the will and to enter in upon the promises of God and to have the sap and sweet of these and to goe out to Christ and to take all from Christ he is a stranger to this and it goes beyond all his booke learning and hence it is that when the Minister comes to handle these points he saith the Minister was something confused to day and the reason why he faith so it is because hee did not understand them these men are ignorant in the spirituall turnings of the heart Iohn 3.8 9. when Christ came to teach Nicodemus he was at a losse and thought that Christ spoke without booke therefore Christ reads the lecture againe and saith I speake of the spirituall worke that which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the Spirit is Spirit Oh saith he how can these things be he could not gainsay Christ and yet because hee could not understand it therefore hee would not yeeld so it is with this man it befalls this man as it is with some wise Lawyer hee reads over a mans writings and the leases and hee rehearseth the tenour upon which the lands are holden and what right the man hath to them hee layes open all the questions of the law and he reads his name in the will and yet he never reads his owne name there nor any right that he hath to them Just so it is with this judicious professor he is able to dispute of the maine points of the Gospell and shewes that others have right to them and he reads the writings but never comes to partake of them himselfe as it was with the wise men that came to inquire for Christ
treasures of his mercy in the Lord Jesus If a man have no eye hee cannot see if hee have an eye and have no object nor colours before him hee cannot see first therefore the Lord gives an eye to the humbled heart and when hee hath given him an eye then hee layes colours before him that hee may see and looke and fall in love with the treasures of mercy and compassion 2 Cor. 3. the foure last verses the Text saith The vaile of blindnesse is taken from our minds and then the faithfull Soule beholds as in a glasse all the grace and mercy and compassion that God layeth before him in Christ the humbled sinner hath now gotten an eye and some spirituall eye-sight that the Lord hath brought within his view all the riches and treasures of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Soule saith oh that mercy and grace and pardon were mine Oh that my sinnes were done away The Lord saith I will refresh them that are heavy laden Oh that I had that refreshing saith the Soule You shall have rest saith God Oh that I had rest too saith the soule Now the Soule beginneth to looke after the mercie and compassion which is laid before it Passage 3 The Spirit of the Lord doth witnesse or certifie throughly and effectually to the Soule that this mercy belongs to him that is the upshot of the notice God gives to the Soule The third stroke of the Spirit strikes through the bargaine and makes the understanding close with that grace and mercy set forth unto it and without this the Soule of an humble broken hearted sinner hath no ground to goe upon Beleeving in Scripture is called comming Now no man can goe without some ground now this is the ground without which the Soule hath no bottome to beare it up either to come to Christ or perswade it selfe of mercy in Christ What good doth it doe any hungry stomacke to heare that there is a great deale of cheere and dainties provided for such and such men what is it to him if he have them not Take a begger that hath a thousand pound told before him hee may apprehend the summe of so much gold and so much silver but what is that all to mee saith he if in the meane time I die and starve It falls out in this case with a broken hearted sinner as with a prodigall childe the prodigall he hath spent his meanes and abused his Father the prodigall hath now much need the famine is in the land and poverty is befalne him and hee knowes there was meat enough and cloaths enough in his Fathers house but alas hee can expect no kindnesse from his Father but only his heavy displeasure if any man should say goe to your Father hee will give you a portion of a hundred pounds againe doe you thinke the prodigall would beleeve this no no he would answer thus haply my Father will imprison mee or send a Sergeant to arrest mee or an executioner to take away my life it is my Father that I have offended my portion I have spent and his anger I have incensed and what will hee receive mee no I will never beleeve it Indeed had I beene a good husband I might have had his favour and increased my estate but I have lost his favour my owne estate patrimony and all but if a man should come and tell him now that he heard his Father say so and bring a certificate under his Fathers hand that it was so this would draw him into some hope that his Father meant well towards him so it is with the sinner when he is apprehensive of all his rebellions that hee hath heaped up against Gods mercy and spirit and grace by his declining from the truth If a man should tell such a soule goe to God he will give you a pension of a hundred thousand pounds a yeere that is hee will give you abundance of mercy and compassion the Soule cannot beleeve it but thinkes what I mercy no no blessed are they that walke humbly before God and conforme their lives answerable to Gods word let them take it but the truth is it is mercy I have opposed it is grace that I have rejected no mercy no grace for mee you cannot wooe the soule to be perswaded for to thinke that there is mercy for him But if God send a messenger from heaven or if under the hand of his spirit that hee doth accept of him and will doe good to him and passe by all former sinnes and shew favour to him this makes the soule grow into some hope this is the ground whereupon the soule goeth to the Lord. This the Lord performeth to the soule That which David prayes for Psalm 35.3 the Prophet was not contented that there was salvation in Gods hand hee knew that God had a world of mercy and salvation and pardon lying by him but David prayes to God Say unto my soule thou art my salvation testifie it speake it home Lord once more plainly effectually and sensibly there is salvation with thee Paul was saved and Abraham was saved but what is that to mee say unto my soule thy sinnes shall be pardoned thine iniquities shall be forgiven thy person accepted Quest But now the question growes on But how shall a man discover this testification and this witnessing of the spirit to the heart of a humble broken hearted sinner that these things are so Answ This third worke of the spirit makes knowne it selfe in three particulars Partic. 1 The spirit doth evidence to the soule broken and humbled That the soule hath an interest in this mercy that it was appointed for it and he hath to meddle with it in reason we may observe that a witnesse in a cause doth marvellously cleare it if he be wise and judicious and the thing that before was doubtfull comes now to be apparant as now in a point of Law two men contend for land now if an ancient wise man of some place is called before the Judge at the Assises and hee beares witnesse upon his knowledge that such Lands have beene in the possession of such a generation or family for the space of many yeares this is a speciall testification that this man being of that generation he hath interest to these lands So it is with the witnesse of Gods Spirit there is a controversie betweene Satan and the soule the soule saith oh that grace and compassion might be bestowed on mee why saith Satan dost thou conceive of any mercy or grace and Salvation marke thy rebellions against thy Saviour marke the wretched distempers of thy heart and the filthy abhominations of thy life dost thou thinke of mercy Here is the controversie whether an humble sinner hath title to or interest in the mercy of God Now the Spirit of God comming in that casts the cause and makes it evident if such a poore heart have interest and may meddle and make challenge to mercy and salvation because
the word and the seed of the promise which is sowne in our hearts by the vertue of the seed and the Spirit of grace accompanying that seed wee have power to receive Christ and the Spirit of Christ and so to become the Sonnes of God This is the reason of that phrase in Scripture We are not children of the flesh but of the promise also of this in Gal. 3. last verse We are made heires by the promise it makes us heires that is looke whatever ground or hope or hold of eternall life and glory blessednesse you hold it by the vertue of the promise all is by a promise grace and goodnesse is communicated to us by a promise this is our life and all our hold therefore the Gospell is made to be the testament of Jesus Christ as by ones last will and testament a man leaves his goods and lands to his posteritie so the Lord Jesus Christ out of his free good will leaveth one legacie of mercie and grace and pardon and strength to all humble broken hearted spirits Galath 3.15 though it be but a mans covenant saith hee when it is confirmed no man doth abrogate it but if a man seale it and confirme it with his bloud then it is fully established no man will no man can disanull it So Christ leaves a Legacie of mercie to you and of favour and compassion to all broken hearted sinners by promise and therefore it is established nay it is the last promise the last Legacie and Testament therefore the promise no man can alter Ioh. 1.14 He doth not leave peace then as the world doth they wish it but cannot give it they wish it but cannot bestow it but Christ leaves a legacie of mercie and peace behind him nay he hath ratified it by his bloud and he will make it good to the soule for ever Partic. 3 The witnesse makes the soule yeeld unto what the spirit hath witnessed As the witnesses in open court in a matter of law they make the case cleare and evident the Jury they take it the Judge observes it you all know how the case goes the witnesse sufficient c. So when the witnesse of Gods Spirit comes bringing the hand of God the Father and the hand of the Sonne touching Gods acceptance it casts the cause clearely Now this judgement of the sinner yeelds and cannot but close and submit it selfe unto the truth this is the meaning of that phrase before the text they shall be taught of God they shall not only learne but they shall be taught they shall have their lesson without booke they shall be made to learne and therefore the tenor of the covenant is this I will write my Law in their inward parts and they shall all know mee from the highest to the least observe the 2 Pet. 1.3 it is a place of marvellous difficultie this I take to be the meaning there is enough to satisfie any man according to his divine power he hath given unto us all things that is the Lord by his almighty divine power hath given unto us all things either appertaining to this present life here or eternall life hereafter But how comes this to passe that God doth this the Text saith It is through knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and vertue the word in the originall is through their acknowledgement of him that hath called us The soule doth not onely barely know that this is grace and mercy in Christ the eye of the understanding is not only opened but hee now comes to acknowledge the same and subscribeth thereby thereunto God saith I will save thy soule I will be thy God the soule saith It is true Lord I will deny it no more I will gain-say it no longer In a word then gather up the point if it be so that the Spirit by the witnesse thereof doth discover the interest we have in grace if it doth ratifie the interest which it doth discover nay if it makes the judgement yeeld to what it hath ratified it certifies effectually and undeniably the truths of grace and mercy thus prepared and ratified to the soule and the soule saith I confesse it Lord and closeth therewith Quest Why may some say if this bee so how then comes it to passe that many of Gods deare children how comes it that many humble hearted creatures never knew they were called never had any speciall intimation of Gods favour they cannot say in truth they are the Lords Answ I speake of him that hath had the work of preparation fully and substantially upon his soule I speake this that no scrambling hypocrite nor sinfull wretch may come and scramble for comfort and so goe away and deceive himselfe in this kind know therefore for answer thereunto There is a double knowledge the first is this A naked simple apprehension of a truth a meere closure of a mans minde with a naked plaine truth revealed so that the judgement saith it is so Secondly there is a reflecting act when a man lookes over his understanding and labours to discerne the worke thereof not only apprehending what was laid before him but when he doth apprehend that he doth apprehend when he knowes that he doth know it marke that place for wee will carry Scripture with us 1 Ioh. 2.3 Hereby we know that we know him saith the Text if wee keepe his Commandements A man may know a thing and yet not know that he doth know so then it is cleare every Saint of God hath the first knowledge that is every man that is truly called in truth doth apprehend and undoubtedly close with the worke of the Spirit making knowne unto him the mercie of Christ many may worke and most men doe the second worke they doe not know that they know the Scripture saith that the Devill himselfe rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience that is he casts in a seed of errour and delusion and corruption into the hearts of wicked men and by his delusions they entertaine those errours embrace base courses Now not one among a thousand can say that the Devill doth thus this is done by vertue of Satan and yet he doth not see it nay there is a veile of Satan upon the soule there is a seed of Satan in the soule and the soule closeth with it and yet hee apprehends it not so every faithfull soule is ruled by Gods Spirit and the seed of Gods Spirit is flung into his minde and closeth therewith but hee cannot discerne the worke of the Spirit working upon him the one governed by Satan the other enlightned by the Spirit but neither can apprehend nor know what they doe know in this kinde Reas 1 Because onely the Spirit of the Lord knowes the Lords minde it is only privie to Gods counsels and it only understands the secrets of Gods love and therefore it only can reveale them and communicate them Matth. 11.27 Now because the holy Spirit proceedeth from
of those gracious promises which God hath made to poore humbled sinners Now if we be not able to cast the sense and meaning of the promise it is like an uncertaine sound though the witnesse bee good and plaine yet I cannot be comforted thereby 2 Cor. 6.16 17. This is the language of the Spirit Now let a poore humble hearted soule come and lay his heart levell to the promise one saith it is true if it were so with mee then God would be my God that promise is made to them that touch no uncleane thing but I am defiled with sins and abominations and carried aside by them therefore no share in this promise Now the meaning of the testimony is mistaken the witnesse is as good as can be and will cast the cause on your side but you understand not the meaning of the witnesse therefore we will spell the words what is it to touch no uncleane thing it is not to bee lightly acquainted with it therefore art thou content to sue out a bill of divorce to all thy sins how ever heretofore thou wert married to them yet now thou art resolved to bed with them no more art thou contented God should make knowne what ever is amisse in thy soule and subdue every distemper that is the meaning of the promise and if it be thus with thee the promise belongs to thee Meanes 4 Labour to keepe the promise by you for ever and have a readie recourse thereunto upon all occasions forget not the promise be not a stranger to it be not unacquainted be not unaccustomed to have daily trading with the promise which is so profitable to us Prov. 3.3 marke what counsell God gives by wisdome Let not mercy and truth forsake thee mercy and truth will forsake a man Satan would plucke them away but suffer them not saith the Text to depart from thy soule Iob 22.21 so the originall hath it have a daily intercourse to the promise meditate therein and muse thereupon see thou looke a ready way and have recourse to the Lord upon all occasions Motive 1 To perswade us to use these meanes is this because this most concernes our good if a man had all the good things the world could afford and his hearts desire if he had friends to respect him wealth to enrich him and honour to promote him yet if the Lord should send this heavie Message into his conscience God will curse those blessings and dam thy soule and person that newes from heaven of Gods indignation would take away the sweetnesse of all the comforts of this life but had a man good tidings from heaven were the Lord pleased to give notice of his love and mercie in Jesus Christ it would support us in whatsoever miseries or troubles should befall us nay when our owne hearts and consciences tell us hard tidings these evils thou hast committed and they will be thy plague and for this thou shalt be damned and frie in hell this is ill newes but this will beare up a mans heart if hee can but looke up to heaven and take good tidings and notice of Gods favour this will joy and refresh a mans soule Motive 2 As this most concernes us so Satan is most cunning to deprive us of the same if hee can stop any intelligence and take away any evidence of Gods love and mercie to the soule this is that Satan labours for for if the heart gets evidence this way and have notice under the hand of the Spirit what love what joy what power and vertue will be in the soule what courage and undauntednesse will be in the heart to walke in the wayes of godlinesse then learne from the Devill himselfe he labours to keepe from you what will doe you most good therefore be you as carefull to get this notice of Gods love to your soules from the Spirit in the promise as Satan is to hinder you from the same Vse 3 Instruction Hence I conclude that the poorest humbled sinner of the meanâ—st capacity doth know more of spirituall truths concerning grace and salvation and Gods love in Christ than the most wise and learned in the world that are not humbled In a word take the meanest Saint that ever breathed on the earth and the greatest scholler for outward parts and learning and reach and policie the meanest ignorant soule that is almost a naturall foole that soule knowes and understands more of grace and mercy in Christ than all the wisest and learnedst in the world than all the greatest schollers and most pompous Cardinals these were never humbled How doe I conclude this why thus if Gods spirit onely give notice of this favor to the humble then all other bee their parts what they will bee God doth not informe them the humble are informed they not instructed therefore the other know not what they cannot conceive As suppose one dull blocke and a quicke wit are both set to one trade yet if the dullard had an expert master and did beat into him the skill of the trade and the quicke spirit was with a master that could not teach him his trade wee see that the dull blocke is more wise in his trade than the other so it is here they have the Lord for their master Vse 4 To shew us the certainty of the assurance of faith if the spirit of God gives notice and certifie a thing it must needs be certaine and hence it is that the assurance of faith must needs bee infallible and undeniable in those that have it I ground it thus That which commeth from the notice of the spirit is most undeniable but the assurance thereof commeth from the notice of the spirit that faith is most undeniable hence commeth those triumphs I know my Redeemer liveth I am perswaded that neither height nor depth c. shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ The worke of God upon the understanding we have spoken of at large now wee come to the worke of God upon the affections as the understanding apprehendeth the truth of the promise so the heart looketh at the goodnesse of the promise Now therefore the Lord he must teach all the affections to come unto the promise and the first affection that commeth next in order is the affection of hope Doctrine The Doctrine is this The holy Spirit of the Father doth stir the heart of an humbled and inlightned sinner to hope for the goodnesse of the Lord The Lord calleth all the affections come joy come desire come love but the first voyce is to hope only observe this passage it must come from a heart humbled and inlightned for nothing commeth to the heart to be affected but onely by the head and understanding therefore before the soule can hope the heart must bee humbled and inlightned humbled in regard of preparation and inlightned in regard of the certification of Gods goodnesse Secondly it must be stirred up to doe it the spirit
THE SOVLES VOCATION OR EFFECTVAL Calling to CHRIST By T. H. 2 PETER 1.3 Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glorie and vertue LONDON Printed by Iohn Haviland for Andrew Crooke and are to be sold at the Black Beare in S. Pauls Church-yard 1638. A TABLE OF THE Contents out of JOHN Doctrine I. THe soule humbled and inlightened must learne the fulnesse of the mercie of God that there is fulnesse of sufficiencie of mercie with him p. 37 Use I. Looke only to Gods mercie after that thou hast learned the lesson of contrition and humiliation p. 43 Doctrine II. That the teaching of the heart effectually is the proper taske and worke of God p. 49 Reason Because the worke is an almightie worke p. 50 Use I. It is of admirable comfort to all weake silly feeble minded creatures p. 51 Use II. If it be the worke of God then goe to him p. 52 Use III. Doth the Father teach then acknowledge you have it as from God p. 57 Doctrine III. That the word of the Gospell and the worke 〈◊〉 â—â—irit goe both together p. 62 The manner how the Word and Spirit goe together p. 63 Reason I. Because the Lord would have all use the meanes p. 65 Reason II. Because the Lord would not have men be couzened by their owne fancies p. 65 Reason III. Because the Lord would have all to bee watchfull and carefull in not losing their comfort p. 60 Use I. Instruction to teach us the worth of the Gospell above all other things in the world for it is accompâ—nied with the Spirit and it brings salvation with it p. 65 Use II. For triall hence a man may know whether wee have a spirituall heart or no. p. 67 Use III. Direction hence we may observe the ground why many of Gods faithfull people understand not that they have the Spirit of God p. 68 Use IIII. Terrour wee may see the hopelesse condition of those men that live under the Gospell c. p. 69 Use V. Exhortation you are to submit to the Word of the Lord. p. 70 The meanes to submit are three p. 71 Doctrine IIII. 〈…〉 Spiâ—â—â— of the Lord gives speciall notice of Gods acceptance to the soule truly humbled p. 72 The manner how the Spirit doth it is in three passages p. 74 Reason I. Because onely the Spirit of the Lord knowes the Lords minde p. 88 Reason II. Because the Spirit onely can breake thorow all those â—â—â—sts and clouds of ignorance and blindnesse that are in the mindes to oppose this worke p. 90 Those hindrances are of two sorts p. 91 Use I. Is of triall to examine your selves whether Gods Spirit hath given you speciall notice of Gods acceptance p. 94 The speciall notice of the Spirit from all other is to be tried and differenced by foure particulars p. 95 Use II. It is an use of direction to teach you what meanes you must use to get the notice and evidence of Gods love to your owne soules p. 101 The meanes to get the witnesse of the Spirit are foure Ibid. 1. You must labour to bee such a one to whom the Spirit doth belong p. 102 2. You must not hearken to carnall reason of your owne hearts p. 103 3. You must labour to understand the language of the Spirit p. 105 4. You must labour to keepe the promise by you for ever p. 107 The Motives to this are two Ibid. Use III. Instruction to teach you that the humbled sinner of meanest capacitie doth know more of grace and salvation and Gods love in Christ than the most wise and learned in the world that are not humbled p. 108 Use IIII. It is to shew the certaintie of the assurance of faith p. 109 Now we come next in order to shew how that the Lord must teach all the affections to come unto the promise and the first affection is the affection of hope p. 110 Doctrine V. The holy Spirit of the Father doth stir the heart of an humbled and inlightened sinner to hope for the goodnesse of the Lord. Ibid. Reason I. Why the Lord doth in the next place proceed to stir up hope is because it is the fittest facultie of the soule to wait upon mercy p. 112 The manner how God doth stirre up the heart of an humble broken hearted sinner to hope is in three passages p. 113 1 The Lord doth sweetly perswade the heart that a mans sinnes are pardonable p. 113 2 The Lord doth sweetly perswade the soule that all his sinnes shall be pardoned p. 118 3 The Lord letteth in some rellish into the soule of the sweetnesse of his love ibid. Use I. Reproofe of two sorts of persons first of those that despaire secondly of those that presume p. 119 The hainousnesse of the sin of desperation is set forth in two particulars 1 As io is most injurious to God p. 120 2 As it is most dangerous to the soule p. 121 The sinne of presumption of carnall Hypocrites is set forth p. 123 The grounds of the unreasonable hopes of carnall Hypocrites are five 1 The ignorants hope that the Lord that made him will not damne him p. 125 2 Another hopeth that God is his God because of his prospertie in outward things ibid. 3 Another hopes he shall be saved because he hath had an hell of affliction in this life ibid. 4 Another hopes for salvation in regard they enjoy the means of salvation p. 127 5 Another hopes he shall be saved because there is mercy enough in God to save him p. 129 Use II. An use of consolation to every poore broken hearted sinner canst thou but looke to God and hope I say thy condition is good p. 133 There are foure signes to know the true grounded hope of the Saints from all false and flashy hopes of Hypocrites The first signe of true hope is that true hope hath a peculiar certainty in it p. 135 The second signe is this that a true grounded hope is of great power and strength to hold the soule to the truth of the promise p. 137 The third signe is this that the excellency of this hope doth overshadow all the hopes in the world that can be offered propounded desired p. 139 The fourth signe is this a true grounded hope alwayes lendeth supply and succour when all the rest of a mans abilities doe faile in his owne sense and apprehension p. 140 Use III. Of exhortation to beseech every one to labour for this true and grounded hope p. 143. The Motives to stirre you up to seeke this hope are these three 1 Because there is nothing more usefull than this grace of hope p. 143 2 Because nothing is more needfull to the soule than this true hope p. 144 3 Because by this true hope the hearts of the Saints are kept both in love to God and in obedience unto him p. 145 The Meanes to attaine this true grounded Hope are these three 1 You must labour to cast out all carnall sensualitie p.
145 2 You must labour to be much acquainted with the precious promises of God p. 146 3 You must maintaine in the heart a deepe and serious acknowledgement of that supreme authoritie of the Lord to doe what hee will and how hee will according unto his owne good pleasure p. 148 Doctrine VI. The Spirit of the Lord quickneth the desire of an humble and enlightned sinner to long for the riches of his mercy in Christ p. 150 The reason why desire commeth next in order and the manner how God the Father doth quicken up the desires of the soule to long for mercy are p. 152 Use I. It is an use of strong consolation to stay the hearts of poore sinners in the midst of their infirmities canst thou but finde thy smoking desire thy condition is then good p. 156. The signes of sound desires are these three 1 Signe of a sound desire is this that as the desire is so the endevour will be p. 157 2 Signe of a sound desire is this he that truly desires mercy and grace desireth Christ for himselfe 158. 3 Signe of a sound desire is this the soule that truly desires mercy is ready to receive it with thankfulnesse and will entertaine the meanes and messenger that may bring home Christ and mercy to his soule p. 159 Use II. It is of reproofe to all them that yet have not these true and sincere desires after grace and salvation wrought in them p. 160 There are three sorts and rankes of professours and hypocrites whose desires are unsound the Lazy Hypocrite Stage Hypocrite Terrified Hypocrite p. 161 There are foure sorts of lazy professors and lazy Hypocrites that are void of these sound and sincere hopes 1 Sort of lazy Hypocrites are such who when they enjoy the means of salvation yet they esteeme not thy blessing they prize not the meanes p. 164 2 Sort of lazy Hypocrites are such who when God hath taken away and deprived them of the ordinary meanes of grace and salvation they are well contented to be without the same they sit downe very well satisfied p. 166 3 Sort of lazy Hypocrites are such who when they have the meanes of grace and salvation are content to use them and if they want the meanes will seeke out for them but yet are not carefull to prevent those inconveniences which hinder them by receiving benefit from the meanes p. 168 4 Sort of lazy Hypocrites are those who though they heare the duties commanded yet they neglect all duties commands p. 169 There are two sorts of stage Hypocrites that are void of these sound and sincere desires p. 172 The first sort of stage Hypocrites are such as will take up so much of Christ and the Gospell as may stand with their credit and with their estate p. 173 The second sort of stage Hypocrites are such that will use all Gods ordinances but will part with nothing and will suffer nothing for the Lord Iesus p. 175 The third sort that are void of sound and sincere desires are the terrified Hypocrites p. 177 The signes of a terrified Hypocrite are two 1 He will be lingering and hankering after some corruption p. 178 2 The terrified Hypocrite he will slight and slubber over small sinnes and small corruptions p. 178 How farre this terrified Hypocrite will goe and what he may doe vid. p. 179 Use III. Is of Exhortation wherein you are intreated in the bowels of the Lord Iesus to long and desire after the Lord Iesus Christ p. 191 Means I. The Means are foure the first is this be acquainted thorowly with thy owne necessities and wants with that nothingnesse and emptinesse in thy selfe p. 192 Means II. The second is consider the necessitie after grace and goodnesse it is no matter of complement and indifferencie p. 197 Means III. The third is labour to spread forth the excellencie of all the beautie and surpassing glory that is in the promises of God p. 198 Means IV. The fourth is thou must know that it is not in thy power to bring thy heart to desire grace p. 199 Doctrine VII The Spirit of the Lord kindles in an humbled heart and inlightned sinner love and joy to entertaine and rejoyce in the riches of his mercy p. 205 The opening of the Doctrine consists in 3. passages Passage I. Is this that this love and joy is no where else to be found but in an heart humbled and inlightned p. 205 Passage II. Is this that the love and joy is enkindled by the Spirit of the Father p. 206. Passage III. Is this that the love and joy being kindled they may entertaine and rejoyce in the riches of Gods mercy p. 207 Reason I. Of the point is this because that love and joy doe follow desire p. 209 The Spirit of the Father doth enkindle the love and joy in these three particulars p. 217 Particular I. Is this God the Father by the Spirit doth let in some sweetnesse and rellish of his love into the soule that doth warme the heart p. 221 Particular II. Is this that the freenesse of Gods love doth enkindle a love in the soule p. 222 Particular III. Is this that as the sweetnesse did warme it the freenesse kindles it so the greatnesse of the sweetnesse of this love doth set the soule in a flame p. 224 Use I. It is an use of instruction to enforme you that there is no sufficiencie in a naturall heart to be carried to the Lord Iesus Christ or to the worke of grace p. 226 Use II. Iâ— is an use of consolation to stay and refresh the hearts of those that have received the gracious worke p. 233 Use III. It is an use of triall to examine your selves whether your love and joy be sound true and sincere and how it doth differ from the fained wilde and hypocriticall love in the world p. 237 The soundnesse of true love from counterfeit Hypocriticall love appeareth in these five trialls Triall I. Is this observe the root and rise of thy love ibid. Triall II. Is this observe if thou entertainest thy Saviour as a Saviour that is as a King p. 242 Triall III. Is this thou must observe if thou labourest to give contentment to Christ p. 244 Triall IV. Observe whether thy heart doth rejoyce to see the happinesse of the thing you love p. 251 Triall V. Is this it is the nature of true love to covet nearer union with the thing beloved p. 254 Use IV. It is of repose to all those upon whom this worke of love and joy in Christ was never wrought p. 261 Most men have not this love to God but hatred against him p. 263 The persons that doe not love the Lord Iesus Christ they are referred to three ranks p. 266 Sort I. Are such as are open enemeis to Christ and who these are are largely described in p. 267 Sort II. Are those glozing Neuters that halt betweene two opinions p. 273 Sort III. Are those fawning Hypocrites that are faire
will make with the house of Israel I write my lawes in their hearts and they shall not need to be taught Men must know God and beleeve in the Lord. Now as the Lord requires this as the condition of the covenant so the Lord will work this in them as he requires this of them Iohn 1.12 the text saith To them that beleeve he gave them power to be the sonnes of God Now if a man will beleeve he shall be saved Now then hee makes a man beleeve that he may be a sonne This is the second passage whereby the soule of a sinner comes to be cheered or that there is not onely abundance of sufficiency in the Lord Jesus Christ but that mercy as it is able to doe him good so it will make him partaker of the good The third particular is this That as mercy hath all good and will make us partakers of what it hath so also it will dispose of us and of that it bestoweth upon us Mercy will not onely have a sinner but it will rule and order that grace it hath bestowed upon the soule For if mercy purchase a soule at so high a rate as the blood of the Lord Jesus it is right that the soule purchased by grace and supplyed with grace that mercy should dispose it for the honour of God You are not your owne saith the Apostle but bought with a price therefore you must glorifie the Lord in body and soule Nay it is not onely right that mercy should doe it but reason and beneficiall to the soule that mercy should doe thus Nay I say unlesse that mercy should rule a man he had not beene able to give full content to the soule If the Lord should leave any poore soule to the destiny of his owne heart and the malice of Satan hee would runne to ruine presently he is not able to supply his owne wants and to dispose of his owne spirit and employ aright his owne soule For if Adam in his innocency had a stocke in his owne hands fell and perished then if mercy should put a man into the same estate that Adam was a man should bring himselfe into the same misery that Adam was brought into but there is that fulnesse of that mercy that is in Christ that it wil bestow all good needfull for me so also it will dispose of that good in me so that Satan shall never prevaile the world shall never overcome nor my corruptions beare sway in me but the Lord shall rule me for ever and this is the fulnesse of Gods mercy Gather up the point then that we may see what wee must learne There is sufficiency in mercy to supply all wants nay there is ability in mercy to communicate that it hath and we stand in need of Nay mercy will preserve us and that it giveth to us against all oppositions that can befall thee This is the lesson that the soule must learne that it may be able in some measure to see the way and learne the path that leadeth to everlasting happinesse This is the first lesson that the soule must learne of God the Father Vset For the use of this Is this the lesson the soule must learne then looke wisely upon it and when this comes upon thee and sorrow assailes thee heavily doe not looke into the blacke booke of conscience and thinke there to finde supply neither looke into the booke of the privileges and performances and thinke to finde power out of thy owne sufficiency Looke not on thy sinnes to pore upon them whereby thou shalt be discouraged neither look into thy owne sufficiency thinking thereby to procure any thing to thy selfe These are but lessons of the lower forme It is true thou must see thy sinnes and sorrow for them but this is for the lower forme and thou must get this lesson beforehand and when thou hast gotten this lesson of contrition and humiliation looke onely to Gods mercy and the riches of his grace and be sure as you take out this lesson take it not out by halves for then you wrong mercy and your selves too if you thinke that bare workes will serve and that is all No no mercy will rule you therefore take all the lesson out and then the heart will be cheered and thy soule in some measure enabled to come on to the Lord and will see some glimpses of consolation from the Spirit Quest 2 We see the lesson what must be learned now we must see the reason why the Lord must teach this lesson Answ I answer It is not appropriated to the Father alone for the Father teaches not alone but the Sonne and the holy Ghost teach too But why then doth the Text give it to the Father Here I answer directly because the Father was directly offended with the sinne of man 1 Iohn 1.7 If wee sinne wee have an advocate with the Father namely the Lord Jesus Christ to plead for us with the Father He doth not say wee take an advocate with an advocate that doth not plead with himselfe the reason is God the Father was directly offended though all the persons in the Trinity were offended yet the Father more directly Now he that is directly offended favour and mercy must come from him to the party that doth offend and that is the reason why Christ especially cast this upon the Father Take a creditor that hath money or creditors that are bankrupts now this is no meanes to helpe and succour these men but it lyeth upon the creditor that oweth the debt for he onely it is must come to forgive the debts for it is here God the Father being directly offended by the sonne of man therefore from him in the first place must proceed the pardon and mercy to the sonne of man Hence it comes to passe that the text saith the Father must teach this lesson Quest 3 The third question is this After what manner doth the Lord teach the soule Christ speakes now of the worke of the Spirit and that you may not be mistaken know this that the worke of the Spirit doth alwayes goe with and is communicated by the word therefore if the question be After what manner doth God teach the soule to spell out this lecture of mercy and pardon Answ I answer brieflâ— The Lord teacheth the soule by his Spirit I told you that before that not only the Father but the Sonne and holy Ghost also teacheth the Father from himselfe the Son from the Father and the holy Ghost from both Therefore understand what I say the Spirit of the Lord doth not onely in the generall make known Gods mercy but doth in particular with strength of evidence present to the broken hearted sinner the right of the freenesse of Gods grace to the soule nay it holds those speciall considerations to the heart and prefenâ—eth the heart with them not onely so but in the second place the Spirit doth forcibly soke in the reâ—â—ish of that grace
into the heart and by the over-piercing worke doth leave some dint of supernaturall and spirituall vertue on the heart The Spirit doth not onely with truth bring home the evidence to the heart but it iâ— stâ—ll whispering and calling and making knowne the same and forcibly soketh in the rellish of the freenesse of Gods grace and leaveth a dint of supernaturall vertue upon the soule We will expresse the points because it is somewhat difficult and is the scope of that place 2 Tim. 1.7 The Lord hath not given you the spirit of feare but of a sound minde The spirit of feare is the spirit of bondage in humiliation contrition When the Spirit sheweth a man his sinnes and sheweth him that he is in bondage and in fetters le ts him get out how he can this is the spirit of feare and of bondage In the second place there is the spirit of power But what is this spirit of power You must imagine this spirit of power doth not intimate any particular grace but as it were the sinewes and strength of the worke of the Spirit conveying it selfe through the frame of the heart and this I terme to bee the effectuall worke of the Spirit of God When the soule is humbled the Lord sweetly communicates into the soule a supernaturall and spirituall vertue Lastly as it is in nature take a knife if it be rubbed on a Loadstone it will draw iron unto it now it cannot doe that because it is a knife but because it is rubbed on a stone and receives vertue there from So it is with a heart humbled it is a fit subject for the grace of God to worke upon the love of God is like the loadstone and if the heart he rubbed thereupon and affected with the sweetnesse thereof it will bee able to close with that mercy and come to that mercy and goe to God from whence that mercy comes Quest 4 What is the behaviour of the soule when it hath learned this lesson from the Lord Answ I answer When these two things meet together in the soule then it hath learned this lesson The first is this when the soule having heard of that plentifull redemption that is in Christ as also having apprehended the revelation thereof it commeth to close with the worke of the Spirit revealing presenting and offering grace to the heart nay it comes to give entertainment to he riches of that mercy revealed to the soule There is in the mercy of God and in the blessed truth of the promises a great excellency Now when this is so plentifully brought home to the heart that it breakes through all oppositions which may hinder the worke of the Spirit upon the soule when it is brought home by the spirit of God and the heart gives way and closes with it so that there is nothing betweene that and the soule this I take to be the first frame of the soule that beginnes to learne this lesson it beginnes to close to the truth to give way to the sweetnesse that is in it and bids adieu to all delight and sinnes and whatsoever may be a hindrance unto it from receiving of this grace into the soule This is the first passage The second with which I will conclude is this that as the soule closeth with that mercy and welcommeth it and the heart is content to take up mercy upon those termes so in the second place there is an impression and disposition left upon the soule that it is framed and disposed there is a kinde of print which the soule hath with it so that as the mercy of God is revealed to the soule and communicated to the soule so there is a kind of impression frame and print which the heart retaineth and hath wrought upon it by this grace and free favour of God made knowne therefore that phrase Rom. 6.17 is a marvellous patterne to our purpose the Text saith they were delivered to this forme of doctrine Looke as it is with a seale if the seale be set to the wax and leave an impression just so many letters upon the wax as in the seale then it is wholly sealed So the Spirit of God through Christ in the promises doth reveale al the freenesse and grace of mercy in Christ Now when the Spirit doth leave an impression on the soule that man is delivered into the truth I conclude all in Acts 26.18 when Saul was sent to preach to the Gentiles the Text saith he was but to bring them out of darknesse into light mark when the Lord doth come to worke effectually upon the soule he brings men from under the power of darknesse whereas the understanding was darke and blinded when the Spirit comes it turnes it from the darknesse and power of sinne unto the power of light and grace Lastly the power of the heart doth these two things for not onely some of the heart must bee brought to God but the whole heart therefore in the precious promises of grace and savation there is fulnesse of all good to draw all the faculties of the soule unto the Lord and therefore the faithfulnesse and the truth of God is mainly revealed in the promises now that fits the understanding and makes it looke to God for pardon for power and mercy As the promise is a true word so it is a good word this answers all the will and affections there is a possibility in mercy to save a man hope expects it but then the soule must looke onely to Christ for mercy desire long for it for that there is a certainty that a man shall have mercy if he can desire it love doth welcome and delight in it nay the soule doth say The Lord hath said thou must be saved nay thou must looke to Christ for mercy it is no where else to be had nay if thou dost desire it thou shalt have it and then the Lord determines the point it is done mercy is thine and then the will addes full consent and sayes Amen Lord let it be as thou hast said Gather them up briefly When the Spirit of God doth so cleerly present mercy to the soule and doth leave by the over-powring worke thereof a supernaturall worke upon the soule that the spirit closeth therewith and receives the print and impression thereof now the lesson is fully learned this may suffice for the opening of the severall things now therefore we will addresse our selves to gather the doctrines out of the Text. And first for the generall in that the Father is said to teach Doct. That the teaching of the heart effectually is the proper taske and worke of God It is not you that can teach your selves neither can all the meanes and friends under heaven doe it no it is the work onely of the Father All these meanes and ministers are usefull but God is the chiefe master and all these are but underling ushers to convey the minde of God unto us but the master is God himselfe
dead letter It is true the Lord can worke above meanes we know also God can appoint other meanes for to call the soule but it is not our meaning we must not looke for revelations and dreames as a company of phantasticall braines doe but in common course Gods Spirit goes with the Gospell and that is the ordinary meanes whereby the soule comes to be called God can make the ayre nourish a man but he doth not If a man should expect to be fed by miracle hee himselfe would be a miracle Gal. 3.2 for there goes a spirituall power with it it raiseth the dead in sinne to life it is a living word and the word discovers also the secrets of mens thoughts Now that word which raiseth the dead and discovers the secrets of mens hearts it must needs have a marvellous power with it and accompanying of it For the opening of it observe two things first the manner secondly the reasons Point 1 After what manner doth the word and Spirit goe together and you must know I do not mean that the Spirit is in the word no otherwise than in all other things but in a more speciall manner and that conceive in three things First the Lord hath ordained and set apart the preaching of the word hee hath sanctified it and set it apart to call the soule Looke as it is with the brazen Serpent God appointed it to heale those that were stung now if 500. men should have made another Serpent it could not have healed one man though they had lookt their eyes out of their heads So it is with the Gospell there is no other usuall meanes to call the soule Hence it is casted the word of the Gospell Now if five hundred men make five hundred Gospels besides this they could never convert or comfort one soule Or as it is with a mint if a mint master coyne money it will goe currant but if twenty other coine money though the stampe were as good yet it is but counterfeit coine so it is here 1 Cor. 1.21 Let a man study all the arts and tongues that can be devised he never shall nay hee never can know one drop of Gods mercy and goodnesse in Christ Why but how then may a man know it saith the Text by the foolishnesse of preaching that is wicked men count it foolishnesse The Lord doth appropriate the saving worke of his Spirit to goe with the ordinance not that God is tyed to any meanes but he tyeth himselfe to this meanes Why doth not aire nourish all as well as meat because onely God hath set meat apart for this purpose Hence this Gospell is called the power of God to salvation because the power of God ordinarily and in common course appears therein the waters of life and salvation run only in the chanell of the Gospell There are golden mines of grace but they are onely to be found in the climates of the Gospell Nay observe this when all arguments prevaile not with corruption to perswade the heart to goe to God one Text of Scripture will stand a man in stead above all humane learning and inventions because the Spirit goes forth in this and none else God doth undoubtedly as he will when he will and how he will give successe to his ordinance Isay 55.10 11. The word of the Lord doth ever accomplish that for which it is sent For it is true many a man is called after the word is delivered a long time Why is that it sokes into the soule as the snow in December sokes into the earth but the fruit of it is not seene untill May. The word is a savour of life unto life it is a living savour of death to death it is a poison a deadly savour and though it hardens some yet the worke goes forward Reason 1 Because the Lord would not have any carelesse of his owne glorie and our good as he will humble the soule that he may doe good to it so hee will make him use the meanes If a gentleman should go after a begger with an almes how proud would he be and rather thinke himselfe a master than a begger So if God should follow us with mercy we would rather goe from him but he hath laid mercy in the myne of the Gospell that wee may dig for comfort in the cisterne of the Gospell that we may draw all our consolation from thence Reason 2 Because may not be cozened by our owne fancies the Lord to prevent all inconveniences and conceits of Eatonists and Familists that thinke they have the power of the Spirit in themselves whereas Gods Spirit goes alwaies with the word 1 Iohn 4.1 Every Minister preaches with a spirit some out of the spirit of envie some out of the spirit of sinceritie some heares out of the spirit of love some with the spirit of malice to carpe at the Minister try therefore the spirits and if they hold not with the word they are naught Reason 3 That we may be watchfull and carefull lest we lose the comfort that we have lightly come lightly goe got with little paine lost with lesse care therefore the Lord will make us seeke unto the meanes Vse 1 Instruction to teach us the worth of the Gospel above all other things in the world for it is accompanied with the Spirit and it brings salvation with it What if a man had all the wealth what if hee had all the policie in the world and wanted this hee were but a foole What if one were able to dive deepe into the secrets of nature to know the motions of starres and yet know nothing belongs to his peace what availes it what if a man could speak with the tongues of men and Angels yet without this he is a novice in knowledge Why doe we value a myne but because of the gold in it and the cabinet but because of the pearle in it oh this is that pearle wee sell all for 2 Cor. 2.1 2. Vse 2 For triall a man may know whether we have a spirituall heart or no Iudg. 19. he that hath not the Spirit is a fleshly sensuall man Wouldest thou know whether thou art carnall or spirituall this doctrine tells thee How came the Spirit If thou hast it it ever came with the Gospell therfore see now how thy soule stands affected with the Gospell and so it stands affected to the Spirit If thou wilt none of the Gospell thou wilt misse of the Spirit then Christ will none of thee Now reason with your owne soules Why unlesse I take the Spirit woe be to mee I may owne my selfe Christ will never owne me Is it so that I will not suffer the word to prevaile with mee remember the time will come that you must dye as well as your neighbours and then you will say Lord Jesus forgive my sins Lord Jesus receive my soule then Christ will say Away be gone you are none of mine I know you not Any man whether noble or
honourable let him be what he will be and let his parts be what they will if he hath not the Spirit hee is none of Christs his you are to whom you obey but pride and covetousnesse you obey and malice and spleene you obey you are therefore none of Christs Pride will say This heart is mine Lord I have domineered over it and I will torment it Corruptions will say Wee have owned this soule and wee will damne it You that heretofore have made a tush at the word this wind shakes no corne and these words breake no bones thinke what you have done little do you think you have opposed the Spirit Acts 7.5 what resist the Spirit Oh thinke of this Why what shall I say by what spirit wilt thou be sanctified by what spirit wilt thou be saved Can thy owne spirit save thee no the Spirit of God must save thee and have you resisted that Spirit me thinks it is enough to sinke any soule under heaven Hereafter therefore thinke this with thy selfe were hee but a man that speakes yet I ought not to despise him but that is not all there goeth Gods Spirit with the word and shall I despise it the Lord keepe me from this there is but one step betweene this and that unpardonable sinne against the holy Ghost onely adding malice to thy rage thou opposest thy Father haply the Son mediates for thee thou despisest the Sonne haply the holy Ghost pleads for the but if thou opposest the Spirit none can succour thee therefore looke to it Vse 3 Direction Hence we may observe the ground why many of Gods faithfull people understand not that they have the Spirit of God nor yet the increase of it they looke not to the promise by which it is conveyed but to corruption by which it is hindred you listen not to the verdict of the Gospell Let every one ask this great question How may I know when the Spirit is in me That you know it not the fault is your owne look into the word It is with a poore soule as with little children the childe in the night being hungry seekes for the dug but if he doth not lay hold of it he gets no good bâ— it so thou hast been a long time musling about a dry chip and hast got no comfort Be sure therefore to lay hold upon the promise hold it and thy spirit shall be filled with marrow and fatnesse If there be marrow in a bone thou must breake it before thou canst get any out So it is with the promises they are full of sweetnesse but you must chew them breake them and bestow thy heart on them An Alchimist that distils oyle doth draw out the spirit of metalls but it is by distillation so it is with the promises they are excellent metall there is a great deale of comfort in them but if you will have benefit by them you must distill them by meditation Obt. I but some soules may say We have done thus often but yet returne as emptie as before Answ I answer You should have staid longer upon the promise it must not bee at your carving and disposing in reason a man must swallow his pills and eat his cordials but wee should doe the contrarie we should chew the promises and that is done by meditating on them but we swallow the precious promises of Christ that should comfort us therefore chew them if you desire comfort over and over againe eat these daily and you shall finde much comfort and consolation therein and benefit thereby Vse 4 Terrour we may see the hopelesse condition of those men that live under the Gospell and their hearts are not wrought upon them If the Spirit of God and the Gospell of God will not worke upon thee if thou hast the eye of a man about thee thou maist see thy wofull and lamentable condition If a bungling servant cannot tell how to hew a peece of wood for a building it is no marvell but if it be such a peece that the master Carpenter cannot make it fit for the building then it is good for nothing but to be burned So it is here with the soule if the Spirit of God can doe thee no good who can if we a companie of bunglers cannot doe it no marvell but if our master Christ if he takes a stubborne sturdie heart in hand and cannot doe it it is fit to bee damned Is not that man miserably ignorant that wisedome it selfe cannot make wise is not he sicke of sinne whom the Gospell cannot cure 1 Cor. 4.3 I desire those whose conscience to this day accuse them that yet they are blinde and those that brave it out and say Shall I feare the face of a man no no I scorne it I beseech you let me deale with you doe not brave it out so for it is the greatest miserie under the Sunne for thou dost as good as to say thou wilt not have the word of God to worke upon thee Iames 1.21 The word of God is able to save thee and to sanctifie thee and art thou yet polluted and defiled Oh take heed of it goe and be moue thy soule to the Lord and say Good Lord such a drunkard thou hast met with such a proud heart thou hast humbled and such a stubborne heart thou hast pluckt upon his knees and if drunkards be humbled if the ignorant be instructed then what a cursed heart have I that was loose and vile and base and profane before and so I am now I tell thee what can you thinke of your selves if the Spirit goe with the word and thou mocke at it thy condition is lamentable Vse 5 Exhortation Then you are to be intreated in the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ when ever you heare the word of the Lord and the Gospell of God you must come trembling and submit to that good word Exod. 23. When ever the word of the Lord is revealed the Spirit of God blessed for ever is there accompanying of it therefore good reason the creature should submit to the Creator Wee speake not a word for our selves we preach the good word of the Lord and how ever our selves have spoken this if you oppose it know it that it is the Lords word therefore when you heare the word doe what you will with us onely submit to the word of the Lord doe what you please with us as Ieremy saith onely embrace the word of the Lord. It is Gods word therefore take heed of opposing and gainsaying it labour to awe your soules to settle all distempers wipe out all carping and cavilling at the word as they presse in upon thee Obt. But how shall we bring our soules to doe this Answ By considering these two or three meanes Labour not onely to have thy soule convicted that the holy Ghost is there accompanying the word as it doth or else how could it reveale thy sinnes but also perswade thy heart that it is so apprehend the power
it hath beene prepared for them from the beginning of the world to this very day Now this gives a light into the businesse the evidence is sure that this man hath title to all the riches and compassion of the Lord Jesus Acts. 2.39 Every poore creature thinkes that God thinkes so of him as hee thinkes of himselfe and hee thinkes God intends marvellous grievous things against him and if there be any judgement denounced or any plague revealed the soule sits and sincks and thinkes with himselfe thus I wretch the Lord spake to mee and intended mee the Lord threatned mee and denounced judgement against mee and one day he will bring all these plagues upon mee all shall be made good upon this wretched heart of mine one day whereas the Spirit of the Lord judgeth otherwise and God meanes well towards him and intends good to all you that have beene broken for your sins and there is witnesse of it in heaven and it shall be made good to your owne consciences Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners broken abased vile wretched carnall sinners doe not thinke hee will keepe any old reckonings in minde Christ came into the world only to succour sinfull humbled wretches hee only came to call sinners not your proud haughty justiciaries that trust in their owne performances no but miserable vile broken abased sinners therefore now here is some ground and light come in that wee have to doe with mercy Psalm 80.3 Cause thy face to shine upon mee If a man be in a deepe darke dungeon he cannot tell when it is light hee may aske is it light but else hee cannot tell But an humbled sinner is like a man standing full upon the Sunne rising this face of Gods mercy shines full upon him the Lord lets in the inclination of his kindnesse and makes knowne the surenesse of his favour in the Lord Jesus Christ now the soule hath some apprehension that he hath to doe with mercy Partic. 2 The Spirit doth ratifie that interest as the soule now hath as intended towards him and prepared for him hee makes it good to the heart and establisheth it and makes it sure to the soule This is the nature of a witnesse if it be sufficient as the Lord provides That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall bee established so it is with the testimony or testification of Gods Spirit for the Spirit doth not beare witnesse alone but the Father from heaven and the Sonne in heaven doth joyne witnesse with the Spirit and the court is in heaven where this controversie must be scanned and now the Spirit doth by witnesse promise that all this mercy shall be made good and given the humbled heart shall be made possessor thereof hence it is that the soule comes to be deeply setled herein for God cannot deny himselfe nor his promise this is the maine ground and tenour whereupon wee hold everlasting happinesse you know in men of great estate if their lease had beene naught and their tenour false this staggers them deeply therfore every man labours to make his tenour as good as hee can thinke on it the maintainer of all this good that a Saint of God hath all his hope of life and salvation hangs upon the maine hold the free promise of the Lord the certaine faithfull promise of the Lord in through Jesus Christ by the testimony of the Spirit you that are sanctified by Christ know nothing unlesse you know how to live by a promise in some measure Now this promise is not only a bare word of God and a bare intimation of some will and intendment of good but it is a kind of ingagement when the Lord doth lay his truth to pawne here is good surety for a poore humbled soule it shall undoubtedly be bestowed upon him he doth not only intend well unto him hee doth not only prepare mercy for him but now he ties binds himselfe so that he cannot goe back you see now this is the bottome to beare up the truth when the Lord doth please to ingage himselfe to a broken hearted sinner that hee shall be made to beleeve and made to live by his beleeving I beseech you take notice of it this is the tenour and covenant of God with a broken sinner hee calls him graciously and then promises to bestow mercy upon him 2. Cor. 6.18 Come out from among them what then what shall I forsake all my old companions shall I renounce all commodities that I have coveted all the honour in the world which I have affected Yes saith the Lord come out from them all abandon them lose all riches and be impoverished lose all honour and be abased ah but what shall wee get by it why then I will be your God that is I will ingage my selfe and passe over the title of all my mercy and goodnesse and compassion and all that I have you shall have all is yours and what then You shall bee my people marke that hee is obliged to a poore humbled heart as if he had said I will be your God and supply your wants and work graciously for you as it was with Abraham the Father of the faithfull so it must be with the faithfull servants of God Gen. 12.3 Now what there is promised to Abraham he promiseth to all his children to all the faithfull it is thus with thee that is thou must bid adue to thy country and friends and though thou livest with thy Father yet thou hatest his base courses and though thou livest with thy friends yet thou hatest their wicked practices and thou hast forsaken thy god pride and thy god covetousnesse and thy god drunkennesse and the like thou knowest God will blesse thee he hath bound himselfe and cannot goe backe this is the ground of the speech 1 Iohn 2.25 Eternall life is the thing there promised but how can wee intitle ourselves in this the text saith this is the promise he hath promised that is he did freely and frankly and of himselfe and out of his owne good will ingage himselfe to give and bestow this promise upon us here is the root and ground of all his promise This is the difference betweene the first and second covenant God did covenant with Adam that he should live upon the ground that he should doe Now because the covenant of eternall life depended upon doing it was not certaine to him and his posterity but lost it but our eternall life dependeth upon the promise of God and therefore it is sure because God cannot faile cannot change his promise cannot be altred if we observe the conditions eternall life is sure unto a broken hearted sinner hence come all those phrases in this kind Wee are called children of the promise what is that why the very promise of God makes us children wee are begotten and made the Sonnes of God he is called in Esay The everlasting Father hee hath begotten us by
the Father and the Sonne he can nay he doth make knowne the Counsels of both and so removes all objections and cleares all cavils it is a point of consideration to you that are weake ones satisfaction is by the meanes of Christ the Sonne layeth downe the price and doth satisfie the Spirit doth certifie it unto the soule that the Son hath satisfied for the neglect of what God ever required at our hands and for the committing of what ever God hath forbidden now the soule is fully satisfied As for example Take a creditor to whom the debtor oweth money haply the debtor is arrested for his not paying the debt the surety he comes and layes downe the debt now the debtor is unacquainted with this unlesse there be a messenger that brings a certificat under the hand of the creditour that he is paid and the surety hath discharged the debt and hee is quitted when he heares this his heart is fully quieted So here the Lord Jesus is the Surety the Father is the Creditour our soules are the debt now the Spirit of God he is the Messenger and he brings under the hand of God of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ an acquittance to our soules that what ever sinnes wee have committed are pardoned through Christ and this fully contents the soule Marke 1 Cor. 2.10 yea the deepe things of God as who should say how can you tell that Gods minde is towards us and that hee will pardon why these are secrets aye but the Spirit of the Lord knowes and searcheth the deepe things of God that which eye never saw that which the Angels in heaven cannot tell you that which all the men in the world cannot reveale unto you without God be with them that your names are written in the Booke of Life you shall bee accepted these are deepe things but the Spirit reveales them This is the first Reason the Spirit onely knowes the minde therefore it only can give notice thereof unto the soule Reas 2 The Spirit only can break thorow al those mists and clouds of ignorance and blindnesse that are in our minds which oppose this worke nay it can beare downe all those distempers and discouragements which make us unfit and unable to receive the evidence of Gods love and goodnesse in the Lord Jesus Christ for these two things are in the heart of a sinner that marvellously oppose the evidence of Gods favour unto the soule Hindr. 1 That every man hath a veile of ignorance over his heart 2 Cor. 3.15 Now the veile of ignorance no hand can rend it none can remove it but only the Spirit of God The god of the world blindes the eyes of the wicked why then it must be the Spirit of God the Spirit of another world I meane the Spirit of Christ that must open the eyes and take away the veiles and clouds and mists that the god of the world casts before the eye Hindr. 2 Are desperate discouragements when a poore sinner is plunged in the apprehension of all the evill which he hath committed and in the aggravation of all those sins whereby God hath beene dishonoured when the soule observes this hee thinkes and sayes This proud heart will never be humbled this unregenerate heart will never be sanctified the Lord never intends good to my soule it is impossible that so many corrections so long continued should ever be pardoned here the soule sinkes downe in desperate discouragements now there is none but the Spirit of God that can let a light into the soule there is none but the hand of the Lord that can rend and pluck and pull a poore fainting despairing dying sinking heart under the burthen of his manifold abominations none but the Almighty hand of an Almighty God can doe this when it is night all the candles in the world cannot take away the darknesse so all the meanes of grace and salvation all the candle-light of the Ministery they are all good helps but the darknesse of the night will not be gone before the Sun of Righteousnesse arise in our hearts Hence it comes to passe that it is a very difficult matter to give comfort to a poore distressed soule Psal 40.1 Marke what a coâ—le there is to give comfort all the world cannot comfort them and perswade them I shall one day perish say they I shall one day goe downe to hell let all the Ministers under heaven say what they will Comfort yee comfort yee saith the Lord as who should say they will not be comforted they will not thinke nor be resolved of it I mercy and I comfort it is a likely matter it will never be it never can be I shall never see that day will the Lord pardon me I doe not thinke it I cannot beleeve it God is a just God and a righteous God and I am a vile wicked wretch it is mercy that I have despised and trampled under my feet and I mercy no certainly there is no such matter this makes the Lord have such a doe Comfort yee comfort yee the third time and yet they will receive none We Ministers of the Gospell observe by experience that we meet with some soules that are gone to the bottome of hell sometimes by their distempers and wee make knowne the promises propound arguments lay downe reasons but nothing takes place nothing prevailes all is presently forgotten and you had as good say nothing all is forgotten therefore none but Gods Spirit can doe it hee must come from heaven and say Comfort yee comfort yee my people let me therefore speake to you that are Ministers you doe well to labour to give comfort to a poore fainting soule but alwayes say Comfort Lord say unto this poore soule thou art his salvation Lord speake comfort and say to such a one his sinnes shall be pardoned mercy shall bee bestowed upon him his iniquities are forgiven it is that wee observe in the policie of Satan Satan hath two Policies Policie 1 First if he can hee will keepe a man that hee shall never see his sins therefore hee labours to doe away all plagues and judgements from the apprehension of the soule and therefore when the Minister comes home to the conscience and saith What you have heaven what proud and profane and oppose God and his ordinances and you goe to heaven No no such matter marke what the Devill suggests take thy pleasure it is but halfe an houres work when you lie upon your death-bed if you can but then cry to God for mercy and for forgivenes it is enough this is the first Policie to keepe a man from seeing his sins and thus the soule is content to carry hel-gates on his backe and a thousand abominations and is never troubled Well haply the Lord enlightens the soule of such a sinner and sets his sinnes before him and saith here are thy sins and for these thy sins thou shalt be sent packing to hell now he cannot look off
his sins but the Word reveales them and the Spirit settles them thou maist take thy pleasures and live in thy sins but the end will be bitter for all these sins God will visit thee God will execute judgement upon thee then the soule trieth his heart examines his paths and begins to pore on his corruptions when Satan sees this he labours to draw him away and sends drunken companions unto him that they may take his minde off from his sins Policie 2 But if Satan cannot keepe him from seeing his sins then he shall see nothing but sin before hee was frolicke and braved it out and kickt mercie into the kennell and he would doe what he list Ministers tell mee of grace no no I will follow my course now it is otherwise with him he can see nothing but iudgements and plagues and corruptions and so sinks downe in discouragements as therefore there is nothing that can pursue a sinner and make him see his sins but God so there is none but the Spirit that can let downe a cord of mercy and draw a poore sinner out from the bottome of hell so the Spirit knowes the secrets of God if the Spirit once settles these things upon the soule and takes away all hinderances that doe oppose the evidence of Gods favour then the Spirit must only certifie Gods love and mercy and goodnesse to the soule of an humble broken hearted sinner Vset Triall will you put your selves upon triall will you over-see whether you ever had any notice of Gods acceptance observe then the author of it whence and of whom you had it this will discover the truth of it when we mistrust good newes from a farre Country we use to say it is good indeed but is it certaine whence had you it had you a letter from beyond sea or heard you from some Noble man that heard the letter read then it is certaine So there be glad tidings of peace and mercy there is good newes from heaven God hath pardoned vile sinners God saves millions of men good newes but if your hearts perswade you for certain doe you thinke so or doe others tell you so is it nothing but idle ale-house talke hath Gods Spirit sealed it doth God say to thy soule thou art his servant he thy King thou his son he thy Father if it be so thou maist pawne thy life on it trust to it the notice is good If a malefactor were condemned and a rogue that hath beene burnt in the hand who goes up and downe with a passe suppose the one to forge his pardon the other to counterfeit his passe A wise man he knowes and understands the falsenesse of the partie and he shall never get any good by it hee will stop the rogue with the passe in his hand and hang the traytor with his pardon about his neck So it is here wee are all malefactors and poore rogues running up and downe the face of the earth and we are walking and looking after another Country now what must be our passe the evidence of the Spirit thou that saist thou doubtest not of Gods mercy and the pardon of thy sins under whose seale hast thou this pardon did it come from a right Office and from a right Seale then it is good else the Lord will stop thee with thy passe in thy hand and hang thee with thy pardon about thy necke Quest But then you will say how may wee discerne the notice of the Spirit of the Lord from another notice and how may the Saints of God discerne it Triall 1 Differs in these three particulars First in the specialitie of it it is an evidence that comes home particularly to the soule Looke as it is in the conveyance of lands and leases by joynt inheritance therein haply the lease was made before the man had a childe now if afterwards he have halfe a dozen children every one in particular hath a title to it interest in that land as though they were mentioned in particular So the Gospell propounds grace and mercy to all humbled soules broken hearted sinners are mâ—de joynt heires and inheritors of everlasting mercy you that will come out of your sinfull courses and will touch no uncleane thing thou hast particular interest in Gods mercy as if thou wert called by name Robert or Richard c. Now mark al the notice and evidence that any hypocrite under heaven hath of the freenesse of Gods mercy is this hee hath only some common inkling and heare-say of salvation they are within the hearing of the promises made to others and they either not rightly apprehend or else mis-applying the sense and meaning of the promise to themselves they cosen their soules and never have any particular evidence of the truth of it to their soules by the worke of the Spirit there is haply an expectation among the prisoners in Newgate that there wil be a pardon come cut at the end of the Parliament and some man passeth by and saith there is a pardon for Newgate The prisoners that heare this it makes them rejoyce but when the Parliament comes out there is a pardon only for such persons for such facts of such a quality and nature and so haply he that rejoyced so much in the consideration of a pardon hath nothing to doe with it now the generall heare-say will doe no good but the particulâ—r evidence so it is betweene a cunning Hypocrite and a childe of God when an Hypocrite hath beene driven to extreme horrour for his sins then he lookes out for mercy his heart is terrified and his soule perplexed and he heares there is abundance of mercy in Christ and Christ came to save sinners the Hypocrite is delighted with this in the generall this is only overly and common he over-heares a promise and so quiets himselfe therein but when it comes to the triall God came to save sinners but what sinners humble broken hearted sinners But the Hypocrite is not such an one therefore it belongs not to him Differ 2 The second difference of the Spirit is such that it can hardly be rased out of the soule the testimony of the Spirit brought home to the soule cannot bee taken away for when the Spirit witnesseth to the soule it leaves the light upon the minde of an humbled sinner that will never be plucked off but hee will turne his eye towards it while the world lasts This evidence that is brought home and cast in by the Spirit it is so unexpected and so pleasing and so incomparably strong and wonderfull and withall so unconceiveable excellent that an humbled sinner when once he sees the glimpse and inckling thereof it will ever be prying and looking that way nay in the most desperate discouragements that can befall and in the greatest desertions that can betide the soule nay notwithstanding all those subtilties of temptations that Satan hurries into the soule to make a man at a losse and to make him leave looking
towards you will you know how your case shall goe at the last day would you know if your name is written in the Book of life if you would why then know the way to obtaine it seeke it of the Spirit of the Lord for he searcheth the chiefe things of God consider what our Saviour tels you Luke 11.12 Why then must this Spirit only certifie the pardon of sin Why looke up to heaven then and plead thus with him Lord I am a father and give my childe what hee wants and if I see him in need I releeve him why I need thy Spirit Lord I beg it thou hast promised it Lord give that Spirit to the soule of thy servant and let it restifie to my conscience that thou art reconciled to me Object But how shall we get the Spirit home to a man in this case Answ The meanes are two Meanes 1 Thou must labour to be such a one to whom the Spirit belongs Labour to be an humble hearted sinner and then the Lord will send his Spirit and give notice to thee of his acceptance for the Lord doth not passe over his comfort or mercie or compassion to any soule in the world but onely to those that are broken hearted before God there is no mercy for thee that art stubborne no compassion for thee that art stout hearted wouldest thou have the Spirit make a lye for thee and come from Heaven to make a new Scripture to bring a loose stubborne drunkard or adulterer to heaven it will not bee so it cannot bee so never thinke to bring the Spirit of the Lord and make him speake mercy to thee when it belongs not to thee 1 King 14.1 2 c. Doe not thinke to complain it with the Lord Jesus and put the finger in the eye weep a few teares and say I confesse my rebellions are sinful I am sory for my sins and will repent me of my sins the Spirit wil say Come out thou proud wretched hypocrite doest thou feigne thy selfe to be an humble broken hearted sinner doe not I know thy reservations doe not I know thy by-wayes and back-doores Come out thou proud wretch and sturdy hypocrite I am sent to thee with heavie tidings you may cozen man but you cannot deceive God therefore never thinke he will give grace and mercy unto thee unlesse thou be fitted for it Meanes 2 Be sure you harken not to your carnall cavils of reason nor to the clamours of a corrupt heart nor to the bawlings of Satan all which stop and hinder the testimony of the Spirit and with their loud cries drowne the voyce of the Spirit that it cannot be heard It is a fashion amongst Lawyers at Assises or Sessions when in their Courts there comes in a wise judicious witnesse and the Lawyers plead a base cause they feare him and therefore before he can speak out his tale one speaks and another speakes and so hinders this that hee cannot bee understood then the man saith hee came for a witnesse and not thus to be disturbed then the Judge commands silence and then hee hath liberty to discover what he knowes and then the case is cleare so it is with the soule and carnall reason and the Devill The triall is whether a man hath any interest in Christ or no. Now the Spirit of the Lord working graciously upon the heart would bring in a faire testimony of Gods grace to the soule but when the soule commeth to a faithfull Minister to tell him how God hath wrought upon him and met with him and how he was burthened with his sins Oh saith Satan you were burthened with your sins but you returned to them againe then the soule saith he was humbled for his sinnes yet the goodnesse of God was never sealed to him aye saith Satan but you continue in your sins still aye saith the soule I am weary of these sins aye and you are weary of labouring against them too saith Satan Thus the soule is tyred by carnall reasons temptations of Satan now let the evidence of the Spirit bee never so plaine he cannot perceive it be watchfull therefore in this case if you heare what feare or feeling or suspition saith feeling saith I find nothing feare saith it will never be suspition imagineth I shall never see that day but now command silence to every one to feare suspition feeling and unworthinesse and say now speake blessed Spirit then you will see the case cast presently It is said of Abraham he considered not Sarahs barren wombe for imagine Abraham had thus reasoned I never had childe for mee to beare a childe it is against nature shall a man that never begat beget a childe in his old age I will never beleeve it If hee had done thus for ought I know though hee had lived unto this time hee should never have had a childe but he never considered of any of these things and therefore the Promise was accomplished Therefore be sure not to hearken what failings feare and doubt and corruption saith for they will be ever against thee there is no mercy from corruption no grace from feare and suspition but consider not your dead barren wretched hearts but attend upon Gods promise and you shall finde Gods Spirit witnesse unto you the acceptance of your persons before God Object But you will say may not a man consider of his sins and attend to the corruptions of our owne hearts Answ I answer a man may nay must in a fit time after a right manner to a good end for he that never seeth his sins can never be humbled for them but this consideration only fits us for mercie and can never get assurance of any interest in mercie The consideration of our sins will give us notice of these three particulars 1. It gives us notice of our owne vilenesse and basenesse the laying these upon the soule it is a maine meanes to breake the heart and bruife a filthy stubborne soule It gives us notice of the emptinesse and infirmity of all outward parts and gifts and meanes and helpes to doe us any good It will make us see the absolute necessity of a Saviour and of the great worke of redemption which Christ hath wrought for us nay it will drive us out of our selves and force us to fall at the foot-stoole of Gods mercy that so wee may gaine Gods favour to us but it is impossible that the consideration of my sins should certifie mee of my interest in Gods mercy Meanes 3 Labour to bee informed and to understand aright the language of the Spirit Looke as it is with a poore man in the Court a wise witnesse comes in and speakes plainly but it will doe the poore man no good to heare the witnesse unlesse he understand it so though we heare the Spirit and doe not understand the language of the Spirit it is as if we never heard it Now the language of the Spirit is nothing else but the tenour
or the creature wait Acts 1.9 wilt thou now restore the kingdome to Israel it is not for you to know the times and the seasons as who should say hands off meddle with that you have to doe withall it is for you to wait it is for you to expect mercie it is not for you to know so I would have you to doe when you begin to wrangle and to say how long Lord when Lord and why not now Lord and why not I Lord why checke thy owne heart and say it is not for me to know it is for me to be humble and to be abased and to wait for mercy but it is not for me to know the time Thus much concerning Hope Now followeth next Desire JOHN 6.45 Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me c. IN this great worke of vocation there are two things considerable First the call on Gods part by the preaching of the Gospell Secondly the gracious answer to Gods call Now as all the soule departed from God so it must bee all brought backe againe to God Therefore first the understanding is enlightned and that gives notice to the soule that mercy is intended towards it then hope expects that mercy and then desire wanders about from ordinance to ordinance and longs for that mercy Doctrine The Doctrine then which ariseth hence is this that The Spirit of the Lord quickens the desire of an humble and inlightned sinner to long for the riches of his mercy in Christ For the right conceiving of this Doctrine three passages are to be understood First that this desire is in the heart humbled and inlightned if either of these two be wanting this desire cannot grow there Secondly this desire is quickned by the Spirit for though the soule bee humbled and made nothing and be content to be at Gods disposall yet it is not able through any principle of life which it hath of it selfe to bee carried to any such supernaturall worke as this desire is therefore the Spirit must quicken and move the heart thus humbled and inlightned to long for the riches of Gods mercy and this desire is called the lifting up of the heart after the good it wants As the Infant cannot go without the hand of the Father so a poore sinner in himselfe considered is as an Infant and not able to lift up himselfe to this desire any further than the Lord inables him by his grace and spirit The bowle is fit to runne yet it can runne no longer than the strength of the hand sticks upon it So the humble in lightned soule is fit to come to Christ yet it will not nay it cannot stir further than the hand of the Spirit moves it Note Let every poore broken hearted sinner take notice of it for this will informe you of a strange kinde of truth remember this you must not thinke to bring desire with you to the promise but receive desire from the promise It is a vaine thing to thinke that if the oares be in the boat the boat must needs goe indeed the oare will move the boat but the hand of the Ferri-man must first move the oare The soule is like the oare and unlesse the hand of the Spirit moves our desire it cannot move towards the Lord. Lastly the Doctrine saith the spirit quickens up the heart to long for the riches of Gods mercy the desires of the wicked are flashy lazy and feeble and come to nothing But even as the longing desire of a woman with childe will not leave her till her life doth leave her so the desires which the promise workes will never leave the soule till it be possessed of the thing it desires Our Saviour saith Matth. 12.20 A bruised reed shall he not breake and that smoaking flax shall hee not quench Now wee all know that flax will not smoake unlesse the sparkles come to it but when the sparkles have taken the flax then it doth smoake and will not leave till it come to a flame The soule is like the flax and it will never smoake in desire towards the Lord till the Lord by his Spirit in the promise doth strike fire upon it the Lord must first strike fire by the promise upon the soule before it can ever flame in a desire towards the Lord and when it doth once smoake in a holy desire the Lord will not let it faile before he brings it to a perfect flame and before it bee possessed of Christ and mercy which it longs for Reason The reason of this order of Gods worke why desire comes next after hope is this because desire is that other affection which serves the great commandresse of the soule the will for these affections are as hand-maids to serve the will The will saith I will have this or that good and therefore hope wait you for it and desire long you after it Hope is the furthest and greatest reach of the soule for when the soule is doubting and quarrelling and saith will the Lord doe good to such an unworthy wretch as I am yes saith the mind inlightned mercy is intended towards thee then hope goeth out to wait and looke for this mercy Now when the soule hath waited a long time and yet this mercy comes not and he marvels at it and saith the Lord hath said the weary soule shall bee refreshed Oh where are all those precious promises then the will sends out desire to meet with that good which will not yet come and so desire goeth wandring from one ordinance to another till it bring Christ home to the soule As a gentleman doth when he expects some noble personage hee sends out a man to wait in such a place and bring him word whether he seeth him or no afterwards when he returnes and saith he seeth him not the gentleman sends out another messenger to meet him afarre off and so likewise to bring him and give him entertainment So it is with the soule of a poore sinner in this case Quest. Now how doth the Lord by that promise quicken up this desire Ans I answer the cordials that God lets in and the motives that make the soule wander towards God are three or thus There are three speciall considerations of good in the promise that doe effectually worke upon the heart to bring desires after Motive 1 First there is a peculiar good in the promise that is sutable to all the wants of the soule there is a salve for every sore Esay 61.1.2 Art thou a dead soule goe to the promise there is quickning for thee Art thou a weake soule goe to the promise there is grace to make thee strong Art thou a damned lost soule goe to the promise there is salvation to save thee Art thou a polluted soule goe to the promise there is grace to purge thee Doe you see your sinnes and feele the burthen of them Oh away to the promise there is abundance of comfort in
rather bee banished than terrified rather imprisoned than tormented yet onely seekes his owne ease not a Christ all this while And therefore experience hath taught us this that many after a great deale of terrour and horrour of heart when the pang is over have returned and beene as vile and as base and as sinfull nay haply worse than ever they were before the reason is they have gotten their desire now and they care for no more they have gotten their ease and quiet now and as for Christ and grace and holinesse they care no more for them because they have no more use of them Nay to goe further observe it this poore creature may in his owne sense and feeling apprehend and thinke that he doth renounce all sinne truly and that he puts the highest esteeme and greatest account upon the Lord Jesus Christ above all things in the world if hee looke into his owne apprehension he may thinke he doth thus and yet the union and league betweene sinne and his soule was never broken all this may bee in sense and feeling and an honest Minister if he be not very wise in charitie will judge so as shall appeare by this instance Take water seething hot though in nature it is the coldest of all elements yet while it continueth on the fire it growes so hot that a man shall feele no cold at all in it but yet there is a principle of cold remaining in it as the Philosopher conceives for plucke the fire from the water or the water from the fire and it will returne to coldnesse againe and freeze the sooner because when it is taken from the fire it beats out the heat with the more violence Now the reason why the cold was there and yet not perceived was because the fiercenesse of the heat did over-master it and made it retire and not expresse it selfe in outward appearance So it is with this terrified hypocrite in these pangs of extremitie and horrours of conscience when the soule is possessed with the fierce indignation of the Almightie when the flashes of everlasting vengeance seize upon the heart of a sinner this takes off the pleasure delight and content which the heart had in sinne though the soule love it and the heart embrace it and the spirit close with it yet he can find and feele in his owne apprehension no pleasure at all in sinne nor no sweetnesse in his lusts by reason of the domineering vengeance of the Lord which takes off all the pleasantnesse that was in it before And therefore the adulterer that hath his dalliances every morning if God let the flames of his vengeance once into his soule as hee hath flamed in lust all his sweetnesse and delight in sin will vanish away in his owne apprehension but yet his soule cleaves to his base lusts still and his heart is knit to them and the league and combination betweene sinne and his soule was never broken and parted So that by this we may see why a sinner in his owne apprehension may thinke hee hath no delight in sinne and yet there is a league betweene sinne and the soule still and this Hypocrite may thus continue all the while the sound of the stroke is upon him If haply his affections be stirring after some sinne then saith conscience You remember what was done before you remember what you did such and such a time would you fain be in hell againe I will arrest you for this one day saith conscience and so his soule flieth off from his cursed distempers not that the union between sinne and his soule is broken but onely his corruptions for the present are abated for acting By this time you see the reason why I entred upon this point which was this to undermine the bottome that beares up the soules of many carnall men in the world and to cut off all pleas and to raze the foundation of all carnall confidence under heaven therefore I beseech you marke it you will say this is marvellous hard these truths are marvellous terrible Quest. But some may say What doe you thinke that all those which will not come under the power of the Gospell that enjoy it Doe you thinke that all that will not seeke out for the Gospell that want it Do you think that all those who are not carefull to prevent those inconveniences which may hinder them from the benefit of the Gospell Doe you thinke that every man that is informed and convinced of a duty and will not take it up hath no desire after godlinesse Doe you thinke if a man will not part with all and be content to bee vile and base for Christ that hee hath no desire after Christ Doe you thinke a man may take up all duties for his owne ease and seeke Christ in them Ans Beloved I speake not my owne thoughts but it is cleare out of the Word of God that none of all these sorts of persons ever yet attained a true longing desire after the Lord Jesus Christ You told mee in the beginning if I could prove this you would yeeld the day therefore take these truths home to your soules and reason and parly soundly and thoroughly with your owne hearts after this manner Why how farre am I from heaven If the Lord hath not yet opened mine eyes and humbled my heart and enlarged my soule If I never yet had a longing after a Saviour what not desire heaven how then can I dreame or thinke that God will shew mercie to my soule in the pardon of my sinnes If no desire no Christ no desire no Heaven but I have no desire therefore no Heaven no Christ no happinesse The Lord settle these things upon your soules that you may never give quiet to your hearts nor rest to your soules till you finde this sound desire wrought in you Beloved what will you doe for heaven if you cannot so much as desire to come to Heaven and Happinesse Quest But here some will say this is a very strict course this is a very narrow passage indeed let us see how we may not bee couzened in our condition nor deceived by resting in our performances c. Ans I referre my answer to these three conclusions Conclusion 1 First thou must know that the remainders of those distempers that a man should rest upon the merit of duties performed are such remainders of sinne as will sticke to us and remaine with us so long as we live on the face of the earth But when once the Spirit of the Lord takes possession of the soule it counterworkes and digs deeper than these distempers for the good Spirit of the Lord that seizeth upon the heart truly humbled goeth betweene sinne and home it goeth betweene sin and the soule continually and makes a greater evill appeare in the soule than is the evill of punishment and makes knowne a greater good to the heart than ease and the removall of the outward plague and horrour The
Spirit of God undermines these distempers and corruptions the corruption of the soule would faine have ease but the Spirit saith there is a better good than ease that saith horrour is terrible but the Spirit saith sinne is more miserable Looke as it is with a good Cordiall it will worke out a distemper though it lie long in the heart of a man yet it will drive it away at length So it is with the almightie worke of Gods Spirit which possesseth the heart of the soule truly humbled I would faine expresse my selfe more fully You must know that these shifts of spirit and privy prankes of heart whereby the Devill windes himselfe in upon a terrified conscience they are the last cast the maine hold of Satan he is now driven into his trenâ—hes and therefore he will play fast and loose a long time and discover desperate subtilties Originall corruption is like a fountaine now a fountaine hath many Conduits some nearer some further but if there bee any water in the Fountaine the neerest Conduit will have it soonest So if there be any originall corruption as there is in all it will be sure to bee seene in this Conduit of selfe-ease and selfe-confidence in horrour to bee avoyded and duty to bee performed The Naturalist observes the heart is the last that dies therefore though the eyes bee dimme and the tongue falters and the hands bee feeble yet the pulse of the heart will goe still so long as there is any life there So it is here the pulse of originall corruption will bee seene in these base distempers of spirit which cleave unto us whilest wee live in this world but they are still undermined and opposed by the Spirit of God Conclusion 2 Secondly judge not thy selfe in time of extremity and horrour of Spirit by the not stirring and not moving of thy affections to sinne Doe not thinke thy estate good because thou findest not this neither judge thy condition ill because thou findest some corruption stirring at such times for that is the false ground of an Hypocrite he judgeth the water to be meerly hot because he can feele no cold he thinkes hee hath no love to sinne because hee cannot feele that hee hath any affection to it in the time of horrour but he is deceived for the act of sinne may be overpowred when the union betweene sin and the soule still remaines As for example a poore Saint of God may have Gods Spirit and yet never perceive it because the Spirit may sometimes either suspend his action or else the action may be over-clouded by the distemper So it is here Satan may rule in the hearts of the children of disobedience and cast in the seeds of base corruptions and build holds of distempers and the poore soule not understand the same Quest But how shall a man judge himselfe in such times Ans I answer In such times labour to see how thy minde is inlightned to see the beauty of holinesse and how thy understanding comes to prize the excellency of goodnesse for it selfe how thy heart stands bent to entertaine all the truth and goodnesse of God made knowne unto thee And marke what now I say if thou desirest holinesse for it selfe and the bent of thy heart is after holinesse so that thou canst not bee content to bee eased by holines unles thou beest possessed overpowred by holinesse and the vertue thereof If it be thus with thee judge thy selfe by this means Suffer mee to expresse my selfe after this manner that every one may understand Conceive two women the one sicke the other in love both desire the Physitian the sicke desires the Physitian to bee healed by him the other desires him not so much to be healed but shee is desirous to be married to him So it is with the soule that is carried in a kinde of love and affection to godlinesse hee would not have Christ onely to heale him but he would be married to Christ that hee may enjoy the God of all pardoning that he may enjoy the God of all purging and purifying Take notice of it sometimes men in times of sicknesse use that for physicke which in the time of health they used for common diet So a gracious and holy heart in the time of terrour and vexation of conscience will embrace holinesse not for physicke sake onely to be healed by it but for diet sake to live by holinesse that hee might take possession of holinesse and that holinesse might take possession of him this is the best judgement the soule hath in time of extremity for marke some passages of this nature It is possible out of selfe-love for the preservation of a mans selfe to desire ease and quietnesse but hee cares not by whom if God or Christ or Holinesse or Prayer will ease him let them doe it and all this may bee for meere selfe-love not for any love of Christ or holinesse at all But to have the soule carried with desire to a supernaturall good to holinesse in the beauty thereof that it may enjoy it and be possessed of it corrupt nature cannot corrupt nature will not come to this it is the Spirit of the Lord onely that can enable a man to doe it Suffer mee to expresse a passage or two this way the extremity of Gods indignation is a farre greater evill than all the good things in the world can be comfortable it is a farre greater evill than any thing here below better to bee in beggery better to bee in prison better to bee persecuted than to be tormented than to be set upon a continuall wracke by the horrour of conscience Now as the indignation of the Lord is a far greater punishment than these so the ease from this is a greater good than can proceed from the things here below the ease is answerably good as the indignation is evill A wicked man would have ease for his sinnes therefore his sinnes are a greater good than his ease But a gratious heart desires holinesse beyond ease and sin and all though hee were in the greatest extremity I expresse it thus A gratious heart if he had all the ease in the world if hee had not holinesse hee could not bee satisfied and if he had holinesse though hee had not ease hee would bee contented I say had a gracious heart ease and quiet and yet had a vile and polluted soule if his old distempers were still remaining and his old corruptions still continuing he would complaine and say I have ease and quiet now but my heart is as bad as ever If hee had ease and not holinesse he could not bee satisfied if hee were of a right stampe and if hee had holinesse and more power against sinne and the presence of Christ prevailing with him and purging him from corruptions he would blesse Gods Name that is the second Conclusion 3 The third conclusion is this doe not content your selves in this that you see a need of a Saviour
a matter of complement and indifferencie No no I may call it the very wheeles of faith upon which faith is carried for all this while faith is a sowing into the soule Looke as it is with a waggon knocke off the wheeles and all lyes in the dust so take away this desire and faith is in the dust the tenour of all the promises run upon this the thirstie they are invited the hungrie they shall be satisfied nay not onely so but observe further the necessity of this when desire comes all good workes goe forward and our hearts are not only set upon the dutie but the dutie is crowned and credited by this desire It is like the mill damme the fuller the damme is the faster the mill goes so get but desire and all will goe forward the more desire the more paines in seeking after grace this gives a crowne and a credit to all our actions thou prayest haply halfe an houre it is not thy tongue that the Lord accepts but thy desire thou performest many duties outwardly God cares not for that he lookes only at thy desire to approve thy selfe to God in those duties this is the thing that gives credit to all our actions Meanes 3 The third meanes is this labour to spread forth the excellencie of all the beautie and surpassing glorie that is in the promises of God Looke wisely daily and judiciously upon them as occasion serves and when thou seest that admirable and incomparable vertue and beautie that is in Christ and in the precious promises and canst but view them in their proper colours Oh they will even ravish thee and quicken up thy desire If a man carry a packe of never so rich commodities and never opens them no man will have a desire to buy Or if a man have a cabinet full of never so precious jewels if he doe not unlocke it no man will be stirred with a desire after them Even so it is with the promises all those unsearchable riches that are in the Lord Jesus and all the comforts both of this life and that which is to come they are all shut up in the promises Now set open the Gospell and unlock the cabbinet of the promises and then the soule will earnestly desire the same I tell you God is a God of comfort and all the promises are yea and Amen in the Lord Jesus Christ read them daily and examine the excellencie and beautie therein that so thy heart may be brought to prize them and the comfort arising thence Thy soule is discouraged there is mercie to comfort thou wantest grace there is grace to quicken thee See the worth thereof more fully Luke 24. When Christ came and walked with the two disciples that were travelling towards Emaus Luke 24.32 opened Did not our hearts burne within us say they while he opened the Scriptures the Latine word signifieth to burne with desire But how came this they did not talke a word and away but the Lord Jesus Christ opened the Scriptures to them the riches of grace and salvation were unlocked and by Christ opened and then their hearts burned againe with desire Oh that Christ and that mercie and that pardon c. So view thou the promises of Christ and grace and salvation you doe not see the value and riches that are therein but if you will but talke and conferre about them your hearts will burne with desire doe not cast an eye and be gone doe not looke over a promise and away no wonder though your hearts are not affected because the excellent things therein contained are not opened and propounded to you Meanes 4 In the fourth and last place after all this thou must know that it is not in thy power to bring thy heart to desire grace thou canst not hammer out a desire upon thine owne anvill digge thy owne pit and hew thy owne rock as long as thou wilt that is a worke out of thy abilitie and strength Nay let all the Angels in heaven and all the Ministers on earth provoke thee yet if the hand of the Lord be wanting thou shalt not lift up thy heart nor step one step towards heaven therefore I beseech you marke and acknowledge this and goe to him who is onely able to worke this desire in thy soule It is the complaint of Christians and they mourne under it and it is a great miserie Oh they are troubled because they cannot fetch a good desire from their owne soules and one falls another sinkes and a third shakes and they are overwhelmed with discouragement And their complaint is this What a wretched heart have I Object Grace No no the world I can desire the life of my childe I long for that nay every trifling profit and pleasure my soule covets it and I say with Rachel Let me have honour or else I dye But I cannot buckle my heart nor worke this vile nature of mine to bee carried after and long for the unconceivable unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ And will the Lord shew mercie to me Shall I attaine any favour either here or hereafter Answ Marke the deceit in this case desires grow not in your garden they spring not from the root of your abilities you cannot frame your soules nor order your spirits to desire Christ no struggle while thy eyes sinke in thy head and thy tongue falters when thou prayest and yet thou shalt not procure any longing desire after Christ whiles the world stands desire comes from the quickning vertue of the spirit Therefore seeke to God and confesse In truth Lord I cannot it is not in my power I have not any sufficiencie to frame my heart to this desire I expect it not from my selfe it is not this vile and sinfull soule it is not this wicked base wayward heart of mine that can lift up it selfe it is earthly and heavie but it is thou O Lord from whom come all our desires it is thou that must worke it it is thou that hast promised it good Lord quicken thou this soule and inlarge this heart of mine thou only art the God of this desire none of thy Saints that ever panted after and longed for thy mercie David himselfe had it not in his owne power and sufficiencie it must come from thy power and thy promise and thy grace and blessing Now good Lord worke this in the heart of thy poore servant I would faine have a desire Lord from heaven thus hale downe a desire from the Lord and from the promise for there only you must have it this is the course whereby you may partake of this desire from the hand of the Lord. When the Church was lazie and sluggish and would not rise Cant. 5.4 the hands of her beloved dropped mirrhe upon the handle of the doore and this raised and pulled up the heart of the spouse and she lingred after him and followed him and pursued him and her heart was quickned and inlarged to
a phrase taken from a man which makes love to a partie so the truth of God makes love to many a man it makes love to thy naughtie and corrupt heart and would plucke thee away from these things here below and would draw thee from thy base haunts and filthy lusts and sinfull courses and it would wooe and winne thy soule to take place in it that it may shew comfort to it the truth of God makes love to the world and the world will none of the truth Christ came to the world and the world received him not they were so farre from seeking a Saviour and comming to him that they would not receive a Saviour when hee came unto them Therefore know thou hast a heart that can hate the Lord Jesus Christ but thou hast not a heart to love him thou hast not a heart that can delight in his good Spirit thou hast not a heart that can take content in his rich grace The second reason why I presse this point is this I would discover the disorderly dealing of many poore Saints of God wâ—th their owne soules Many a poore childe of God labours extremely and takes great paines to worke his soule and bring his heart to love Christ he falls out with himselfe because he cannot love God and he is ready to curse himselfe hee cannot get his heart up to heaven where is more riches than is in the best riches of the world where is more honour than in the greatest honour upon earth where is more pleasure than in the greatest delight here below they labour and can finde no good successe they take paines but their worke doth not succeed prosperously the reason is this they doe not begin at the right end they worke the wrong way goe to the sea of love and goe to the sunne of righteousnesse and to the beames of Gods mercie which onely can worke thy heart to love God and delight in him doe not goe to thy cold earthly frozen heart and thinke to fetch love from thence thinke not to bring love to the promise but looke to receive love from the promise but it is the love of God towards thee that must draw love from thee to God againe It was the speech of Christ when he was to send the Comforter to his Disciples Iohn 16.14 He shall receive of mine saith the text and give it unto you marke the phrase all graces and all spirituall abilities are Christs goe thy wayes therefore and presse the Lord Jesus with this promise of his and say The truth is Lord the heart to love thee and delight in thee is thine and thou hast said thy Spirit shall take of thine and give to us therefore give to us of thine Lord that thou mayst receive of thine from us Our hearts cannot love nor delight in thy Majestie but it must come from thee give it to us therefore Lord that wee may give thee of thine owne Vse 2 The second thing I gather from this doctrine is this namely strong comfort and consolation to stay and refresh the hearts of those that have received this gracious worke What ever thy weaknesse be it skils not Is thy love in truth Is thy joy sound it is enough thy soule may bee comforted in that the Lord hath bestowed this gracious worke upon thee in any measure if thy love be in truth it will carry thee through all occasions in this pilgrimage of thine and bring thee to everlasting happinesse it is a ground of admirable refreshing to the soule that findes in his heart this love and delight in God The text telleth us a man by nature cannot doe this Therefore if thou hast this goe thy way cleare thy soule and blesse God for it and make much of it and say Thou hast more than all carnall men than all cunning hypocrites under heaven can have pretend what they will and professe what they please thou that hast the love of God in any measure though in much weaknesse thou hast more than they all This may refresh the hearts of many of you poore ones though haply many other things goe ill with you yet this appeares in the younglings of Christ though they cannot doe any thing for their Father yet they can love him it is a loving childe we say it can love the Father though it can doe nothing for him so you poore weake Christians that have small meanes little abilities haply thy understanding is not so deepe to fadome the mysteries of life and salvation thy tongue is not so glib to talke so freely and conferre so comfortably of heavenly things thou canst not be enlarged in holy duties thy understanding is marvellous blinde thy memory marvellous weake thy parts exceeding feeble so that thou art even ashamed of thy selfe and of what thou hast and dost But I aske thee this question Canst thou love Christ and reioyce in the Lord Jesus mee thinkes many a poore soule replies Yes I blesse the Lord that is all I have to uphold my heart withall I thinke all the profits and pleasures and friends in the world cannot draw my love from Christ it is my delight to love him and rejoyce in him Goe thy wayes then and the God of heaven go with thee this sparke is a sparke of that immortall Spirit of the Father which will never dye it is a worke of grace which will never leave thee it is a badge it is the cognizance and the proper liverie which the Lord Jesus Christ gives only to his Saints there was never a hypocrite under heaven that ever wore this God intended it not for them but those and onely those which the Lord hath effectually called and will glorifie with himselfe hereafter weare this and therefore thou that wantest all yet hast this comfort thy selfe with this in the want of all and say I love the Lord and the Lord knowes it and my soule knowes that I love the Lord Jesus I can say but little for Christ my understanding is weake I conceive not my memorie is weake I retaine not but yet the Lord knowes I love him and delight in him Yea and know thou it too and comfort thy selfe therein the Apostle provoâ—es us to love one another Iohn 4.7 because love comes from God now if the love to the brethren comes from God because wee see Gods image in them then the love of God hath a much more expresse worke in it therefore reason thus with your selves The time was that this wretched vile carnall worldly heart of mine could finde no relish in the promise I could not bring this naughtie soule of mine to entertaine the Gospell of grace nor the Spirit of grace but they were tedious and irksome to my soule but the Lord blessed be his name hath beene pleased to helpe me so that I can doe that which I never could doe I finde the Lords promise and goodnesse much more comfortable to me than all the corne and wine
that is if father and mother stand betweene thee and Christ if they would be married to thy soule hate and abhorre them love them so farre as they lead to a Saviour but when they step into the place of a Saviour abominate and hate them Difference betweene a sound and false heart in the entertainment of Christ This I take to bee the difference betweene a sound and false heart in the entertainment of the Lord Jesus a sound heart entertaines a Saviour as a favourite entertaines a Prince he comes into his house and disposes and orders every thing as he sees fit what he will is done and no more but now an in keeper hee entertaines him that comes next he will take any mans money and give welcome to any man for he loves the gaine of all but loves the person of none so a gracious soule entertaines Christ as a Prince all give attendance to the Lord and all the courtiers are welcome because they are serviceable to his Majestie but if a man be an enemy to his Majesty he will rather imprison him than entertaine him he will rather punish him than welcome him but now an hypocrite entertaines the Lord Jesus as a stranger into an inne if honour or profits or riches come first they are first served all are welcome they and Christ and Christ and they but loves not Christ but he loves himselfe in all Triall 3 Thirdly he that truly loves Christ labours to give contentment to Christ for love alwayes gives contentment to the thing beloved so it must bee with every Christian heart that is truly humbled and hath this affection kindled beseeming our Saviour the soule that thus entertaines him is studiously carefull and marvellous watchfull lest it doe any thing that may grieve the Lord Jesus and discontent his Spirit and send the good Spirit of the Lord sad or in any dislike to Heaven it is carefull lest the Lord Iesus should bee displeased with him and offended at him or goe away in anger and displeasure the heart feares lest hee should doe any thing that may cause this and it would be almost death to him if hee should doe this Marke the guise and behaviour of the Spouse she never left seeking of her beloved till she had found him Cant. 3.7 and when she had found him shee layes hold of him and when she hath done so she brings him home and when hee was there shee gives charge to all the house I charge you O ye daughters of Ierusalem by the Roes and the Hindes of the field that you stirre not up nor awake my love till he please Look as it is when men of great place come into a mans house there is a great charge warning given see there be no noyse about such a place lest such a man be raised before his time What basenesse is this that wee should have our hearts inlarged to any thing but Christ A good heart wil do as the spouse did here when the soul hath received the Spirit of a Saviour found the mercy of a Saviour it keeps watch ward within it selfe and gives peremptory charge to all in the family I charge you profits and pleasure and riches and honour and all the things of this life love and joy and all the faculties of the soule it gives them warning I charge you that you stirre not I charge you that you grieve not I charge you that you disquiet not the Spirit of the Lord let there bee no motion but entertaine it no command but obey it no advice but receive it thus the soule gives peremptory charge not to grieve the Spirit of the Lord or to doe any thing that may distaste it See this in Lot who when he had received the two Angels into his house the cursed Sodomites came to the doore and thought to abuse his strangers Now marke it I beseech you Lot could be content that rather any hurt or distaste should befall himselfe than them therefore observe how he pleads with those base people Lot went out unto them and shut the doores after him and said Gen. 19.8 I pray you brethren doe not so wickedly Behold now I have two daughters which have not knowne man let me bring them out unto you and do to them as is good in your eyes onely to these men doe nothing for therefore came they under the shadow of my roofe This was kinde honorable entertainment As Lot deale with the Angels so a loving heart will deale with the Lord Iesus let my soule bee wounded saith the loving heart but let not Gods Spirit be grieved let my honour bee laid in the dust but let not God be dishonoured let temptations oppositions persecutions and disgrace befall mee but let Gods glory be advanced The soule is willing and content to beare any thing but it will doe nothing against Christ it will doe nothing against the Gospell of the Lord Iesus The soule saith you may doe what you will with me my life and honour and wealth is in your hands but to the Lord doe no harme blaspheme not his Name resist not his Spirit doe no dishonour to his Gospell doe not contemne his grace what ever betides me This is the frame of the soule that truly loves Christ They that entertaine Persons which they highly respect are inquisitive of those that appertaine unto them to know what their minde is what likes your master and what takes he most contentment in this they doe that they may prevent him with a kindnesse though he aske not for it what ever will best content him they seeke for it and what ever will distaste him they labour to avoid it So a gracious loving soule never satisfieth it selfe but labours to give content to the Lord Iesus that hee may have his will onely Therefore such a soule will come to a faithfull Minister and aske him how must I order my family What shall I doe in regard of my selfe and children How may I please the Lord better And how may I entertaine the Lords Spirit better What duty is to be performed What service is to bee discharged What course is to bee taken that I may please Christ You are acquainted with Christ you know what will content him I pray you tell me how I may pray so and performe duties so that nothing may distaste him or be offensive unto him This I take to bee the difference betweene an honest sincere heart which entertaines Christ as beseemes him and a naughty hypocriticall spirit that would fawne upon Christ Iesus this is the difference betweene faithfull true love and joy and dissembling love and joy There is the same ods betweene them which is betweene a man that entertaines a servant and another that entertaines a noble friend or a King into his family A man entertains a servant that he may please him Simile and not that hee may please his servant he seeth he is wise to order his
it be stirres it selfe to attaine neerer union with the Lord Jesus even when he seemes to absent his presence from the soule but we cannot prosecute that so that by this time then it doth appeare what it is to love the Lord trulâ— and wee have laid downe the triall whereby we may know whether wee have this love or no. Vse 3 The third use is a word of reproofe you have heard the ground of consolation already therefore when the pill is sugered I hope it will down the better Here then wee have a just ground of reprehension and it comes marvellous heavy as a witnesse to accuse many nay as a Judge to condemne many in the world this is sufficient to shake their hearts and to make their soules that live in the bosome of the Church almost to sinke in the consideration and sight of their owne miserable and fearfull condition upon whom this worke was never stamped in whose soules this grace of God was never yet kindled certaine it is such never loved the Lord nor ever rejoyced in Christ Woe to their soules therefore and beloved this is the condition of the greatest part of those that live in the Church and are counted professors among us they love not Christ they rejoyce not in him yet they will not bee perswaded of it therefore give a little attendance I beseech you to what I shall say This is the cunning that Satan hath to deceive poore soules withall because these holy affections are inward and retired as hope and desire and love and joy because I say they are secret things in the soule and doe not discover themselves outwardly to the view of the world further than the fruits thereof manifest the same Therefore men not knowing these affections themselves and not conceiving of the nature of them that is the cause that many leane upon the expectation of what they have in frame of heart though they want in the course of their lives this is that which every man almost doth challenge to himselfe as that whereby he will beare up his heart in time of trouble and cheere up his soule in the day of distresse Wicked men when every one cannot but see and behold their base courses and loath their sinfull practices nay when they themselves cannot but confesse their filthy behaviours c. Why they confesse they fall foully and they fall dayly and scandalously but that which heals all helps all is this they say it is true it is so with their lives but yet they love the Lord Jesus with all their hearts every vile varlet will say thus when hee hath sworne by a Saviour and torne his flesh in peeces his blessed body his blood his wounds and all yet when he hath done this he loves a sweet Saviour still Oh poore deluded miserable sinfull wretch that I may apply my selfe particularly to such a one I beseech you give mee leave to doe two things First I will make it good that most men have not this love of God Secondly I will plead the Inditement and then when I have laid out the Inditement and pleaded it and shewed who they are that have not this love of God the point will be cleere First it is sure and most certaine 1 Most in the world have no love to God but hatred against him that most in the world that live in the bosome of the Church have not their hearts carried in any love of God but in a hatred and desperate opposition against the Lord Jesus Christ In him was life and this life was the light of the world and the light shined in darknesse and the darknesse comprehended it not the meaning is this the Lord Jesus Christ was the life of the promise in him was life the promise of life was in Christ and that promise of life was a light to teach men the way to life and salvation but when this light of the promise of grace shined to the world the darke world comprehended it not they knew it not Christ came unto his owne Iohn 1.11 and his owne received him not There the Lord speakes of the Jewes that were his chosen people and his owne by covenant His owne by reason of the privileges and benefits and ordinances which he bestowed upon them His owne by profession they tooke the Name of Christ upon them Christ came not to heathens and pagans but to his owne and they received him not How many are there amongst us who professe the Name of the Lord Iesus and take up the Gospell of Christ and yet being Christians in profession will not entertaine the love of the Lord Iesus Christ which should make us Christians in dâ—ed Christ comes to many a mans doore and knocks and calls and intreats entrance but few will entertaine him when hee comes nay let mee say more my heart trembles to speake it nay my heart were it as it should be would grieve to thinke it Wicked men are so farre from prising Christ and loving the Lord Iesus that they hate him more than sinne nay I had almost said yet I am loth to speake it my heart shakes to thinke it but that I hope you are willing to heare the worst why then I will speake it and they are the words of the Scripture wicked men hate Christ more than the devill himselfe the Lord be merciful to such poor sinful creatures good Lord that ever men should be created by the Lord and enjoy mercy and meanes from the Lord and yet love sinne and the devill himselfe more than God Object But you will say are there any such is it possible that ever any man that breathed and received mercy from the Lord Iesus should deale so sinfully and unkindly with him why the devill would not doe it Answer I say to you as the Prophet said to Hazael in another case I know saith he the evill thou wilt doe to the children of Israel their strong holds wilt thou set on fire 2 King 8.12.13 and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword and wilt dash their children and rip up their women with childe but Hazael said what am I a dogge that I should doe this the Prophet told him the Lord hath shewed it unto me I know saith the Prophet the cruelty and venome of thy spirit though thou knowest it not So when I speake of these things men will bee ready to say what are there any such dogs to deale thus with the Lord Jesus I tell you the Lord knowes this and the Word seeth all thy venome and spight and hatred against Christ the Lord seeth and knoweth it Most men in their hearts doe hate Christ though they see it not beloved your hearts are more vile than you can conceive and more base than you can imagine the Word will make it cleere The greatest evill of all wee know is sinne the Devill is not to be loathed but for his sinne and the reason why he is
so loathsome is because hee is so sinfull Now marke what the text saith this is the condemnation Iohn 3.19 that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse more than the light the Lord revealed light that is Christ to the world but the world loved sin and the temptations of Satan and the corruptions of their owne hearts more than Christ and more than mercy that was tendered to them in the Lord Jesus it is cleere therefore it was so it will be so and it is so to this day Men love their base lusts and sinfull corruptions more than the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of his grace which he expresseth to their soules and consequently they love the delusions and suggestions of Satan more than the motions of Gods Spirit and the comfort thereof Thus now we have laid downe the Inditement let us also plead it a little wee see there be many in the Church that doe not loâ—e the Lord Jesus Christ but who are they of that we will now speake for when we lay the charge we must name the man the Inditement in generall is nothing we will therefore referre these men that love not Christ to three rankes The first are open enemies to Christ The second are the glozing newters of the world The third are the fawning Hypocrites that are faire in shew but false in heart all these are guilty of this Inditement wee will therefore plead it against them desiring the Lord to convince their consciences thereof Ranke 1 First for the former and they are open enemies to the Lord Jesus we will not spend much time here but stand longest there where is most need First therefore there are open enemies to Christ and they are many such as Isaiah speakes of ye stiffe necked and hardhearted ye have resisted the Spirit of the Lord Those which set their mouthes against Heaven and stand in open defiance against the Lord Iesus and against the power of his Grace and the worke of his Spirit in the hearts of his and in the ministery of the Word and these we referre to two heads Sort. 1 First such as are profest opposers of the evidence of the truth those whereof Christ spake the Housholder let out his Vineyard to Husbandmen Matth. 21.33 and when the time of the fruits drew neere hee sent his servants to the Husbandmen that he might receive the fruits of it and the Husbandmen tooke his servants and beat one and killed another and stoâ—â—â— another at last he sent his sonne and said surely they will reverence my sonne nay when hee came they all combined and conspired together and said this is the Heire come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours this was an intimation of the Scribes and Pharisees the Chuch was the Vineyard and it was let out to them and God sent his Prophets among them they persecuted them then hee sent his Disciples they stoned them and when his Sonne came they conspired against the Lord Iesus with one open mouth with one joynt endevour Come said they this is the Heire let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours And doe you thinke that the Scribes and Pharisees are dead and have left none of their cursed brood and generation behinde them I tell you beloved there are many persecutors of Christ and his Gospell to this day which are the leaders of the campe which stand in open defiance of the God of Heaven but if you aske mee what entertainment their lusts have among these men they find all welcome possible temptations whisper not occasions come not corruptions stirre not so soone be the company never so base the course never so vile the practice never so wicked but these miserable sinfull creatures give audience and attendance and acceptance and entertainment to these base courses nay they invite them and provide for them nay they bestow a great deale of cost for the entertainment of their lusts they seeke out occasions to commit their sinnes the adulterer goeth in the twi-light to meet his queanes and the drunkard goes to the Ale-house to meet with his base companions thus they invite their lusts and provide for their lusts this is that the Apostle disswades us from Rom. 13.14 make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof yet these men make provision for their base lusts their mindes are plotting and their endevours labouring to provide all courses that may give entertainment to their lusts therefore no marvell they finde such long continuance in their sinnes because they make such provision for them but now if you will observe how these men entertaine Christ you may discover it by these two passages Passage 1 First observe how they entertaine the power of Christs Spirit in the ministerie of the word and secondly how they entertaine the presence of our Saviour in the graces of his children First concerning the ministerie of the word if it be so that the ministery of the word comes powerfully home to the conscience and would open the eyes and awaken the heart of ungodly men and would plucke them from their sinnes Oh what an uproare there is and how doe men take up armes against the truth and beat off the power of the word that it may not prevaile with the heart and awaken them and that it may not rule in their lives Christ notes such as these for opposers of goodnesse Luke 19.27 Bring hither mine enemies that would not that I should reigne over them and slay them before my face the word would plucke the cup from the drunkards mouth and the adulterer from enjoying his dalliances with his mate but their hearts swell and they groane to be under that truth and under the rule thereof and to be swayed thereby nay they doe not only withdraw themselves from yeelding obedience to the holinesse of the word but they will not so much â—s acknowledge the truth of the word which the Devill himselfe did when Paul was preaching the grace of life and salvation the text saith Acts 16.17 The damsell that had the spirit of divination met him and the Devill said These men are the servants of the most high God which shew unto us the way of salvation the Devill acknowledged that this was the word and the very truth the Devill acknowledged these were the services which God commands and these were the duties which ought to be discharged but wicked men will not be perswaded of this they will not beleeve that they must be holy as he is holy neither will they beleeve that they must be pure as he is pure these men doe not give God so much honour as the Devill did but die out and say I will never be of that opinion all the world shall not perswade mee to it five hundred Ministers shall not make me thinke so Beâ—oved this is profest opposition and desperate hatred against the Lord not onely to withdraw â—he
burthened Christ will ease you and you that are thus lost Christ will finde you But now if a man will not set to his seale and if the soule doe not take all this to it selfe and enter possession of it in this kinde and seale and deliver as wee use to say it will never prove authenticall but when it is sealed and delivered then it is authenticall So when the soule makes an application of the promises to it selfe then it is authenticall and the soule feeds upon it and refresheth it selfe therewith for ever Secondly faith jogs the hand of God and sets Gods power on worke and makes way for the streame of Gods promise and providence that it may take place I say it makes ay for the worke of the promise that so whatsoever is good may flow in amaine upon the heart and be communicated to it as it is in other courses of providence When God sets up a course of providence in the â—se of means then in the use of those means as â—â—e ordinarily workes Now God will nourish a man if he will eat his meat and use the means appointed for his nourishment and hee that will take up the course that God hath appointed may expect a blessing so faith is the condition that God requires and the means that he hath appointed whereby he will convey all good to the soule and as all grace and mercy is conveyed from God through the promise so if wee will beleeve and lay our hearts to the promise wee are under the power of the promise to convey all grace and mercy to us As it is with a Pump or Well there is water enough in the Well but yet a man must draw and pump it up before hee can have any and when hee drawes then the water doth come So the Fountaine of all grace and goodnesse in Christ and the promise is the pump now faith must jog the promise before any grace can come this I take to be the reason of all those passages in Scripture where the Lord is said to give away himselfe to beleeving soules as Matth. 15.28 Oh woman great is thy faith bee it unto thee as thou wilt Christ gives her leave to goe to the treasure of mercy and grace and to take what she would he doth not say be it unto thee as I will but as thou wilt looke what health thou wilt have for thy daughter and what comfort for thy conscience goe and take it the Lord denies her nothing This is the meaning of that place Math. 9.29 Bee it unto you according to your faith not according to your wit or pride or strength or sturdy spirits as if a man would goe to Heaven and bee proud and stout hearted too no no there is no such matter not according to your parts and gifts but according to your faith Gen. 17.7 God makes a deed of gift to Abraham saying I will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee take all Abraham so that beleeving sets Gods grace a going and puts Gods power and providence forth for the good of the soule Now imagine the Lord did yet deny that soule that mercy which it seekes and begs and doth not answer the desire of the heart and let in that good and sweetnesse the beleeving soule expects from him what will faith doe then This is the third Act of faith in drawing vertue from Christ faith urgeth God with his owne word and presseth Gods promise and challengeth God on his faithfulnesse and truth not to be wanting unto him for the acceptation of his person and the pardon of his sinnes Faith enters into suit with God Psal 143.1 Heare my prayer Lord and in thy faithfulnesse answer me as if he had said I confesse I am base vile and sinfull and deserve â—o mercy therefore not in my worthinesse but in thy faithfulnesse answer me I cannot bee but â—ile and thou canst not bee but faithfull and if thou canst cease to be faithfull I am content to be miserable and so you may for he can as well cease to be faithfull as cease to bee God It is a â—aw-case betweene God and Iacob Gen. 22.10.11 see how he presseth God in a point Oh saith hee I know my brothers maliciousnesse and dogged spirit and I expect hard measure from him O Lord therefore remember thy servant for I feare my brother Esau and thou hast said thou wilt doe good to thy servant c. As a man that hath a good cause at the Assizes or Sessions though hee hath a great enemie one that over-powers him yet being confident that his cause is good will bring it about againe and will not rest till he hath an equall hearing So faith when the Lord frownes upon him yet the heart puts him in suit as it were and doth expostulate the cause with the Lord saying Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious and will he be no more intreated This expostulation of the soule that the heart presseth in upon God withall when it is upon a good ground it argues the pursuit of God that he will not leave till the Lord give that hee hath engaged himselfe to bestow Thus to gather up all faith goes out to the Lord Jesus Christ and layes hold upon him layes all the weight upon him drawes vertue from him as in all the former particulars The fifth and last thing wherein the great worke of resting consists is this faith leaves the soule with the promise and after all desires haply and all denials and all the discouragements of God and yet the soule seeth not the way of God but that God frownes upon him and though God comes not yet faith leaves the heart with God This is marvellous needfull and it must needs be the worke of faith for it is the maine tenour of the worke of the covenant of grace and the covenant of workes in the covenant of workes made with Adam when he said doe and live If Adam had done that hee should have received constant assistance and God would never have denied to helpe him but now in the covenant of grace because it must bee and is free and that a soule may and must know that it is onely the goodnesse of God to us therefore the Lord reserves this prerogative royall to himselfe that howsoever God will bestow what he hath promised yet hee reserves the time to himselfe and what time he will doe it and after what manner and by what means that is onely of Gods free will and hereupon the soule acknowledgeth that it is of Gods free grace as if the Lord should say it is mercy that I give and therefore it is according to my owne minde and I will take my owne time Now in this dead lift the power of faith is this it leaves the soule with the promise it takes up its standing there and saith I will goe to none other and I will seeke no further Esay 28.16 He that beleeves makes not
three it strikes three so the soule is thus led by the Spirit of God as Rom. 8.14 and then it obeyes God and doth every good duty and loves God above all and his neighbours as himselfe in truth and in uprightnesse so that the soule is stopped in humiliation and is turned in vocation it receives the poise in adoption and renovation in sanctification and it obeyes God in all things then the conclusion is this all these are saving workes and such as doe undoubtedly accompany salvation but all this while one is not another for two of these are wrought upon us that is preparation and vocation and these are by a passive worke the wheele workes because it is moved and in the other three the Lord conveyes his Spirit to us and mercifully workes the power of sanctification in us and makes us able to serve him and obey him Acts 26.18 Paul was sent to the Gentiles to open their eyes to turne them from the power of darknesse to God that they may receive forgivenesse of sinnes and an inheritance amongst them that are called and sanctified marke all the passages of it from darknesse and Sathan that is in preparation to God and to light that is in vocation and as Saint Peter saith Acts 3.19 Repent and be converted that yee maâ— receive the forgivenesse of sinnes repent there is preparation and bee converted there is vocation turned from Sathan and the power of the Devill that they may be under the power of the Lord Jesus and lye at his foot-stoole as a souldier is turned from such a captaine when hee is content to be under another so the soule is turned from sinne and is content to take presse money and to become a souldier of Iesus Christ Thirdly that he may receive forgivenesse of sinnes that is in justification and an inheritance among them that are sanctified that 's in sanctification all these are done by faith the scope of the holy Ghost there is to discover the frame of grace in the heart and therefore it is not to be understood of the nature of Sanctification but of the worke of it that a man should receive his sanctification by faith and yet is but sanctified in part these are contraries The fourth is onely the worke of sanctification and lastly from the question thus resolved from hence that question falls to the ground and from hence first a man may see it clearly that sanctification comes after justification and secondly whether repentance is before faith or whether repentance is before justification or justification before faith and repentance and thirdly whether there be any other instrument to beleeve in Christ but faith No there is no other for they all concurre by faith Thus much for the first use a word of confutation and information Vse 2 Secondly if it be so that faith is a resting upon God and a receiving of mercy from God then this is a word of terrour to all that still remaine in unbeleefe they are to see their sinne and misery by sinne their sinne is most hainous and their plagues are intolerable if it bee faith that brings a man to Christ and suits a man with all comforts from Christ then all you unbeleeving sinners let your soules shake in the apprehension of all these plagues of which you are guilty It is the misery that befalls poore creatures they are loth to be knowne to be drunkards or theeves or robbers because shame will come to them but not to beleeve the promise and to despise the Lord Jesus Christ you make nothing of this you draw the harrowes lightly after you you confesse this sinne and the other sinne and you doe welcome it but in the meane time no man lookes to his unbeleeving heart and yet this is the greatest sinne of all other and brings the greatest misery as Heb. 3.12 Take heed why what 's the matter For the Lord Jesus Christ his sake take heed lest there be in any of you an evill heart of unbeleefe to depart from the living God this unbeleefe makes you depart from the Lord God you will take heed of whoring and drunkennesse and you will say you are not so and so but I say thou hast an evill and unfaithfull heart and thou art a dead man and a miserable man and thou art gone from the Lord God the God of all happinesse and therefore thou art but a damned man This is the root and the worst of all take heed of an unbeleeving heart it departs away from the living God this is the nature and misery of this sinne What is the estate of the damned in Hell and this shall bee the sentence that is past against the wicked in that day when the Heavens shall melt and the Goats shall stand on the left hand and the Sheep on the right hand and when ye shall see all the Heavens on a flame and you shall heare that fearfull voyce saying arise you damned unbeleeving wretches stand forth and heare your doome what will bee your greatest misery in that day even this Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting flames this is the upshot of vengeance and the sharpest sentence would you not thinke this terrible if you did heare it Now therefore away thou varlet bee gone to Hell I doubt not but the very proudest wretch in hell would then be content to hang upon mercy before hee went to Hell and hee would beg that he might yet breathe to call after mercy If thou wouldest take heed of this sentence then take heed of an unbeleeving heart for by unbeleefe thou passest the sentence against thy selfe thou needest none other to condemne thee Oh therefore get you home and humble your selves in secret and say thus The Lord hath given mee a heart to see the evill of my heart I blesse the Lord thou hast kept my hand my eye my life but good Lord I never saw the horrible nature of sinne which will be my bane to this day I was never burthened with it Oh that I might now take heed of it what shall I say to mine owne heart depart thou wretch to Hell the Lord forbid Oh strive mightily with God and with your owne soules and rest not till you get some strength from Heaven and say if that voice should come againe Oh woe to mee for ever well my unbeleeving heart doth this and hath past the sentence upon mine owne soule you heare these and if you would but take home these truths they would make you stagger See what our Saviour saith Iohn 5.40 You will not come to mee that yee may have life but I know you that yee have not the love of God in you comming is beleeving is this sinne so heavy the Lord fasten it upon your hearts what shall any man goe away and say I will not beleeve there is such a generation whither will you goe If the world calls yee run if the devill calls ye goe presently but will you not
and it is ready to cousen the touch I meane of able judicious Christians but now this faith never came from the right place for if it were right it must come from the mine of mercie and from God and the worke of his Spirit from thence thou hast it if thy faith bee sound Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing the word faith is not in us it comes to us it is not wrought or purchased by our owne worthinesse or power the word is the conduit to convey it but the Spirit of the Lord Jesus is as the fountaine that sends it into the soule so that you must not thinke to have faith here first but hast thou found faith here first then it is not of the right but if the good Spirit of the Lord hath wrought upon thee if it be so then thy faith is right but some will say we heare the word diligently and we doe attend upon God in his ordinances and have wee not faith I answer hearing is the meanes to convey it but it is the Spirit of the Father that conveyes it by the meanes and that Spirit thou must receive by the meanes if ever thou have it there is the pitch of the point Object But how shall we know when the Spirit of God is pleased to worke this in our soules and to put it into our soules by hearing Ans There is all the difficultie and it is worth the while to consider sadly of it for I know the worke of Gods Spirit by the word in the soule by these particulars First the Spirit sheweth to the soule of a poore sinner that hee hath no faith nor no abilities 〈◊〉 worke it of himselfe this the word workes first but we are not yet at the bottome Secondly when the Spirit hath shewed thee that thou art an unfaithfull soule and that thou hast to power to worke it of thy selfe then the Spirit of the Lord by the word breathes upon the soule of a poore sinner and by the sweetnesse thereof overmasters and breakes downe all those secret cursed distempers of heart that brought under the soule and kept him in himselfe every man is brought in bed with his corruptions as Iob speakes namely thus The Spirit of God in the word drives the soule to a restlesse disquiet and makes him see that hâ—e must not stay here but hee must seeke out and goe from hence and seeke for another condition or else hee must perish for ever rest not here saith the Spirit you must bee gone and the soule saith If I rest here I am an undone man therefore hee will out and seeke for another condition Thirdly as the Spirit of God doth overpower those distempers and drives the soule to a restlesse condition till it looke out for a better condition so lastly the Spirit of God shewes that poore soule an impossibilitie of finding mercie but from God and therefore turnes the face and sets the frame of the heart that way to looke God-ward and to be for God and this is the meaning of that place Iohn 16.9 when the Spirit of God comes to bring faith and peace to the conscience the text saith Hee shall convince the world of sinne because they beleeved not on him this place implies two things First the Spirit of God sets downe all sinfull carnall pleas and pretences that the heart can make and perswades the heart that he is in a sinfull and most lamentable estate and condition and must change Secondly it convinceth the heart that there is good to be found in another and with that the heart is turned that way to looke towards a Saviour and to wait for him till mercie come from thence and then if thou canst say this to thy soule The truth is Lord I was an unbeleever and an unfaithfull creature and the Lord made mee see it and left me not there but by the power of his Spirit and the ministery of the word he drew me from thence and laid fast hold on me and left some remembrance of his indignation upon my soule and made me restlesse in myselfe and opened mine eyes to see a better way and said thou must goe on in another way and in a better way and so opened to me a glimpse of his mercie and goodnesse so that the foule is now comming on to God where this is it will never end but the Spirit of God will worke faith and faith is now comming home to the soule and the soule will come home to the flood oâ— conversion is nothing else but a setting of the soule for God as it is plaine in all the phrases of the Scripture this is the first triall Triall 2 Secondly if thou wilt judge thy faith whether it is true or noe doe thus faith makes choice wholly of Christ and resolves to match with Christ onely the meaning is this it chuseth Christ wholly for now the match is made up when once the soule comes to beleeve the preparation to the match was before in desire c. but now the match is made up and now the soule makes choice of Christ as he on whom he will bestow himselfe he chuseth Christ wholly and that you shall perceive thus when he is thus cald home by faith whatsoever it is that Christ brings the soule chuseth all of that whatsoever belongs to a Christ and is of Christ and in Christ he chuseth all Christ Christ is not only the Saviour of all his but hee is the God of all grace and hath grace to bestow upon the soules of all those that beleeve in him now faith chuseth the holinesse of a Christ and whatsoever grace is in Christ the soule chuseth that as much if not more than pâ—â—don of sinne and removing the guilt of sinnes there is the authority and rule of Christ and faith chuseth that and had rather to be under the government of Christ than under any other Scâ—pâ— in the world and faith chuseth the life of Christ whatsoever life Christ lives that life faith will chuse the woman is now content to conforme her selfe to the estate and condition of her husband she must not thinke to live as she list and to be in this place and that place and that fashion therefore thinke of it that thou didst never as yeâ— beleeve in a Christ except thou didst chuse the patience and holinesse and meeknesse of a Christ and the rule and life of Christ many Lords have ruled over us saith the text when thy cursed corruptions come and would rule thee if then thou art content to bee ruled by a Christ and to live and converse as he did this is an undoubted argument that thou chusest Christ aright nay thou must chuse the shame and disgraces and the crosse of Christ and the crowne of thornes too that is that whatsoever it is that comes with a Christ thou must make choice of it and say I will have Christ and all that comes with Christ as it is with a
before ever you can bee comforted as for this temporary beleever his eyes were never opened convictingly to see his sinnes and his heart was never burthened with them nor loosned from them that so the Lord Christ and his comforts might be setled upon therefore in Hosea 2.14 I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speake friendly to her and I will give her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for the doore of hope first in the wildernesse and then in Canaan first in sorrow then in comfort the valley of Achor is the valley of consternation and then the doore of hope this is the way toward Zion but this temporary hath invented a new way to Zion he doth as Ruffians doe they will goe in the â—oad way so farre as they finde good way but when they come into bad way they breake over hedges and finde a new way whether lawfull or unlawfull they care not so doth this man he takes his comfort as soone as ever it comes hee snatches at all the comforts of the Gospell and thinks they are all his owne and all on the sudden he is a forward professour at three or foure dayes warning and his heart snatcheth at every Sermon of mercie and he is as good a Christian by and by as many a poore soule which hath tugged hard for it many a yeare but his conscience was never awakened he never felt the burthen of his sinnes nor the wrath of God against him for his sinnes this temporary promises to himselfe nothing but ease and peace and prosperity therefore when sorrowes and troubles and miseries come he goes away with as much speed as he came like Ionahs gourd that came up suddenly and withered as suddenly so in the beginning of the yeare hee is a hot professour and before the fall of the leafe he is gone againe the wound of this man was this he wanted the worke of the law not onely that through-worke of the law which none shall have but such as have faith but also that legall worke of the law which should breake and hammer his heart this is the stonie ground-hearer he wanted depth of earth what that was wee shall dispute anon when occasion serves the meaning is thus much in the generall the plow which should have given earth and mould enough it was the sharp law which should have torne up his proud sturdy rebellious heart all in peeces but this man never had this worke and therefore his proud heart beat backe the worke of the promise that it never had roome in his heart comfort and consolation will never sticke nor abide upon a proud heart nor upon a stubborne and unbroken heart which was yet never broken for sinne plaisters may be made but they shall never finde ease and comfort by them as they desire you may goe away comforted and say God is mercifull and Christ is gracious and he came to save sinners and though our workes will not justifie us yet the Lord Jesus Christ will save us your plaister will not sticke thus he failes in the entrance to the promise Secondly he failes in his application of the promise for the ground upon which he goes or the cause and reason which carries him to roame after the promise it is onely the generall notice of mercie and of the salvation that God offers the glimpse and the shine whereof being let in upon the heart and passing by jogs the soule and so the heart snatcheth at it he comes to heare the abundance of mercie and the rich redemption and plentifull goodnesse of Christ to pardon all sinnes the sinne against the holy Ghost onely excepted and the freenesse of mercy to all sorts of sinners be they never so many for number never so vile for nature yea he heareth that there is a fountaine set open for all to wash in when he heares this hee saith that 's well then I may come to heaven too and there is some hope that I may receive mercie never considereth the condicions upon which God promiseth and bestoweth mercie whereas the man that is a true beleever hath not only a common kinde of apprehension of the mercie of God in Christ but he hath a particular application of it I will open it thus that every man may take something the temporarie hath a common hear-say of mercie and the common hear-say of mercie in the bare letter of them as that Jesus Christ came to save sinners it is in the bruit of it onely but the humbled soule hath it under the hand of the Spirit and the Spirit seales it and makes it good to him the promise of life slides and passeth by the temporary beleever but now the Spirit of God settles it and it takes a deep and a through impression in the heart of a beleever by application the Spirit of God only as it were jogs the heart of a temporarie beleever but he sets it on deeply upon the heart that is humbled and fitted for it as the Angell said unto Gideon The Lord is with thee thou valiant man so the Lord faith to every humbled soule not onely that the Lord is gracious and mercifull for thus he saith to the temporarie beleever but he is gracious and mercifull to thee and hee will speake peace and comfort to thee which hast spoken trouble and terrour to thine owne heart as in the 1 Cor. 2.12 Wee have not received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are given to us of God God not only gives us good things but he hath given his Spirit that we may know that it is he which hath given us these good things Thirdly and lastly this temporary beleever failes and fals shott upon this ground also I told you the soule is effectually perswaded to rest upon the free grace of God and to fall into the armes of his mercie now the temporary failes also in the worke of relying that which feeds his hope and stayes his heart is nothing else but the taste and present sweetnesse which he had in the promise he relyes upon the taste and sense which hee had by the sip of the promise and hence it is that when the taste is gone the sweetnesse of the present push is gone that then there comes trouble and sorrow more heavie and more able to vex him than all the other was to comfort him then hee begins to repent him of his match and thinkes that all his profession will not quit cost now when that taste and that comfort which he had failes him and sorrow and afflictions come and overpowers his sweetnesse and comfort then hee fals away but a man that hath true saving faith rests himselfe not upon the taste and sense of this good but upon the goodnesse of God in the promise and upon the all-sufficiency of God in the promise he seeth more good in the promise than in all the
grace for the Lord gives what he will when he will and after what manner he will therefore stint not God in his giving but wait when and what hee will bestow upon thee Thirdly know that thou restest upon thy owne duties and endevours and goest not out to God that blesseth both the meanes and thy endevours for thy good and that is the reason why thy heart is not enlarged and grace communicated the fault is thy owne because thou restest in thy performances and in the meanes and goest not to God that would have done more than all and wrought more than all these If I thinke and am perswaded I have power to goe out of my selfe in conceiving I have power and staying there I stay in my selfe when I thinke to goe out of my selfe it is a supernaturall worke and the same hand must bring us out of our selves that must bring us to Christ the same hand must pluck us out of our selves and sinnes that must bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ therefore if I thinke and through Satans delusion conceive that I have abilitie to goe out of my selfe I repose upon my owne abilitie when I profesly renounce my owne abilitie I maintaine a repose upon my owne abilitie when I renounce it I say I can doe nothing and yet rest upon that I can doe it is a point very profitable therefore marke what I say this is selfe deniall in truth when the soule knowes it hath nothing and therefore is over-powered by the almightie worke of Gods Spirit and is stopped as it were in so much that the soule of a sinner doth not looke to expect any power or any principle from it selfe or any creature or any dutie the soule of an humble sinner knowes he is a dead man in sinne hee cannot direct his owne wayes therefore when he is brought to deny himselfe it is by the almightie worke of Gods Spirit when the Lord drawes the soule that it lookes not inward it lookes not downward it lookes not to the creature it expects no principle from within no power from the meanes to performe any dutie when then I thinke with my selfe I have power and abilitie to goe out of my selfe then I say I have a power within me to doe something pleasing to God namely I can denie my selfe which is contrarie for to denie a mans selfe is to looke for no power or expect any power or sufficiencie from himselfe or from the creature to performe that God requires therefore wee must listen and looke onely to the voice of Christ he that cals us from darknesse must call us to the glorious light of himselfe we must as well listen to the voice that must pluck us out of our selves and expect power from Christ to pluck us out of our selves as wee must expect power from Christ to goe unto him the conclusion therefore is this I would have a sinner say and thinke with himselfe I expect no power Lord from my selfe I intend to wait upon the Lord that hides himselfe from the house of Israel and I will looke up I will use all meanes and improve all helpes I can but I will not looke to hearing from that to receive any thing I will not looke to the Minister from him to receive any thing but in these meanes of hearing and prayer and in the use of all ordinances I will looke up unto God that hides his face from his servant for the while and will looke up to that wisdome to be informed that is wiser than the wisdome of the meanes and I will looke up to that power to be strengthened that is stronger than the power of the meanes Habak 3.17 when he saw all began to faile though the fig-tree blossome not and the vine flourish not yet will I rejoyce in the Lord and stay my selfe upon the God of my salvation marke this when all meanes under heaven faile when the figge tree blossomes not when the vine flourisheth not when all means faile yet there is mercy with the Lord there is power and strength and sufficiency in the Lord to doe my soule good and say thou though my sinnes be great and exceeding great though my heart be hard and comes not under the power of Gods ordinances and the means of grace work not upon my soule yet I will looke up to the Lord and my eyes shal be towards him my eyes shall not bee inward to looke upon any thing in my selfe but my eyes shall looke upon to the Lord and expect all from him and thus much shall suffice for the second hinderance Object Hinderance 3 The third hinderance which hinders a poore sinner from comming to Christ is the want of sense and feeling and therefore the distressed sinner complaines I never knew what it was to have the assurance of Gods love I never received any sound sensible comfort unto my soule and shall I thinke that I have grace shall I thinke that my heart is fitted to receive that mercie which God hath promised to his Saints the Scripture reveales it not the Saints have found it that they which beleeve rejoyce in the Lord but I am a stranger to that joy and that is a stranger to me how can I thinke then that I have any interest to the promise or any faith whereby I may depend upon the promise Ans I answer this hinders not that thou maist not come unto God by beleeving and receive good from him therfore remember these 3. particulars First thou must not thinke to have joy and refreshment before thou goest to the promise but thinke to expect it when thou doest beleeve when thou doest chew and feed upon the promise and continuest so doing know that joy and sweet refreshment it is a fruit that comes from faith first beleeve and then have joy doe not thinke to have joy and then beleeve the heart is filled with peace and joy not before beleeving but by beleeving and after beleeving then rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious when faith is rooted in the heart and hath had many sun-shines of Gods favour upon it then expect those admirable ravishments and sweet consolations which the word speakes of and thou maist obtaine Secondly these joyes and sense and feeling are things which may be separated from faith a man may have a good faith and a strong faith and yet not have that comfort and sweet refreshment a sinner lookes for and desires a man may want sparkes and yet want neither life nor heat a tree may want leaves and yet not want sap so it is with those consolations faith may bee strong when a mans feeling may be nothing Restore to mee the joy of thy salvation saith David hee was justified and sanctified and had faith and yet had not this joy nay Iob had faith and yet he had no sense and feeling of Gods favour Thou makest me a bâ—â—â— to shoot as faith he and thine arrowes have drunke up my spirits and yet
him and undoe him as well as ten thousand therefore take order with all creditors that is the wisest way so it is with the soule that lies at the mercy of the Lord that is in so deepe arrerages that it cannot helpe it selfe the onely way is to take order with all occasions not onely answer judgement that it may not object against us but labour to still conscience that it may not accuse us but bee on our side and then all will bee on our side The want of this is the cause why new suits are made and new bills put up against the soule the want of satisfying conscience as experience teacheth us in cases of conscience take a poore sinner that hath all objections and cavils answered fully aske a poore distressed soule are these all the doubts you have and objections that you have yes and are they all answered aye have you any thing to object against the answers no therefore now doth conscience say it is a sinne to deny you have any grace here he stounds and staggers and demurs upon the matter and shakes his head and saith Alas I dare not say so nay I rather say the contrary marke how reasons were answered the bookes drawne the accounts made up and yet conscience is not satisfied but puts in a new plea therefore call a court and trace the businesse againe hath not God wrought this in you that though you are now and then captived by sin yet you say you are willing to be deterred from it willing that God should take possession of you and rule you is not this in your heart the soule saith I should deny the worke of Gods grace to say the contrary why then this is the worke of grace then it is against conscience to deny this therefore conscience give up your bill and cancell all this for I say hath not this man grace yea I affirme he hath let conscience be fully satisfied in this case and when conscience is brought on our side and speaks for us all the cavils that Satan casts and the heart makes conscience will cleare the heart and stands by a man and cleareth all these cavils 1 Iohn 3.12 For if our conscience condemne us not then have wee boldnesse before God the meaning is if our conscience acquit us and speake for us then we are bold before God I know the man he is yet alive that in the extremity of horrour of heart and desperate feare said that hee had sinned against the holy Ghost and therefore would make away himselfe now that which kept him from that wicked attempt was this his conscience told him before that at such a time his heart was sincere before the Lord and that restrained him from that attempt and sustained him against the fiery push of temptation and God afterward blest him with the assurance of his love and favour Rule 3 The third rule is this wee should strive mightily to have our hearts overpowred by the evidence of the truth which reason and conscience make good to us that it may quietly entertaine it and humbly and calmly welcome it that what reason saith and conscience concludes the heart may say Amen and set his seale to that and yeeld and subject it selfe to it This is the third thing and here we sticke for these three things are in the soule of a man that doth as it were maintaine opposition against the evidence of the Word and the verdict of God therein First reason objects secondly conscience accuseth and the heart that is the will gaine-saith the will of a man will not come under submission but it is still on the thwarting hand and wee finde it by experience in the course of temptation when a man hath attended all that can be when a man hath stilled conscience and that is brought on our side yet notwithstanding the heart out of a stubbornnesse not being fully mastered and out of a stoutnesse not fully conquered it gaine-sayes it and raiseth up new and keeps the old quarrells those old quarrels that have beene answered long agoe that a man would have thought they had beene dead long agoe a mans stout heart will bring those in afresh againe it is in this case with a poore sinner as it is with a man that hath a contentious adversary that delights in wrangling the case haply hath beene tried in all the courts in England at last it comes into the Chancery and there it is concluded against him and the decree passed so that now all the businesse is established the Lawyers have pleaded it the Judge determined it and the man is overthrown and therefore now in reason he should sit downe and yeeld but the wrangling party perswades him that hee will not yeeld but hee will goe to law againe and sell all he hath before hee will let let it goe thus therefore hee begins the suit againe and puts in the old plea till at last the Judge knowing the man casts off his plea and flings off his cause and puts him in prison How dare you against the court and the sentence set downe put in the old plea and trouble the court and the law in this nature so it is with the soule the heart of a gracious man humbled in some meaâ—ure and in truth could be content now and then to yeeld to the evidence of reason and verdict of conscience and the soule comes to bee cheered Blessed be God my estate is better than I thought but there is an old breed-bate and proud stout heart a sturdy selfe-wild heart and that begins to bring in the old plea and will maintaine the old quarrell though reason confuted them and conscience condemned the weaknesse thereof and they have beene answered from day to day yet against knowledge and conscience and truth and reason and all the sinner you shall finde out of his distemper of spirit will keep his old objections and maintaine his old cavils and if they were answered over night hee will have them againe in the morning whereas a man would have thought they would never have durst appeared before the evidence of the truth any more because the case was so fully answered and so fully satisfied therefore the wound is here labour therefore to cure it namely get thy heart so far awed get thy soule so far overpowerd with the soveraigne command royall authority of the truth that it may submit it selfe and yeeld to what ever word the Lord reveals to what ever truth the Lord discovers to the soule and beware especially that thou dost not out of a selfe-wild waywardnesse reject and refuse the evidence of the truth and the verdict that the Word passeth upon thy soule for thy everlasting good that because thou hast not comfort as thou wilt therefore thou wilt have none at all it is not so much because thou canst not receive the promise but because out of a waywardnesse of heart thou wilt not entertaine the promise that causeth
all this debate here lies the root of this bitternesse and the ground of this wretched estate wee will expresse our selves by practice hence it is 〈◊〉 when the Word hath beene cleerely discovered to the soule all objections are blowne away and reason is satisfied and conscience convinced yet aske the soule are you perswaded that God hath accepted of you in Christ and intended good unto you no all the world cannot make me beleeve it I cannot bee perswaded of it Ministers are mercifull and Christians are compassionate and they speake charitably and will not discourage me but did they see that which I see did they but know those weaknesses and take notice of those distempers that are in my heart they would never thinke it what I grace it is a thing I could never perswade my heart of nay I doubt I shall never bee perswaded of it I cannot thinke it all the world cannot make mee beleeve it reason is answered and the conscience is satisfied but the heart will not yeeld it is out of stubbornnes of soule that you will not take that mercy that God offers and that grace God propounds for your good and it is horrible it is hellish it is devillish pride If there be any such spirit in the congregation let them know it and take this home with them it is infinite pride But you will say Object How can that be I cannot thinke that they are broken hearted Christians and are overwhelmed with sorrow they are ever mourning and sinke downe in sorrow in this nature and therefore it cannot bee pride in this case what ever it bee Answ I say it is devillish pride against the Majestie of Heaven and that I will shew in two particulars For a man to follow his owne conceit and selfe wildnesse of spirit against the light of the truth against the force of reason against the testimony of conscience against the judgement of all faithfull Ministers out of the Word to bee above the Word and reason and conscience and to bee above the judgement of all Gods faithfull servants is not this infinite pride this is your condition just the Word hath cast you and reason and conscience have cast you and yet you will maintaine your owne conceits of that proud heart of yours I say againe this pride appeares in this That because we have not what we would and because we have it not in that measure we desire because we finde not that sweetnesse in grace that others have and we covet therefore we cast away all this is infinite pride to fling Gods favour in his face you have not this and that and God hath done nothing for you and never vouchsafed any good unto you it is wonderfull mercy that God hath not cast off that soule of thine because God will not follow your conceits and goe your way you will have no grace at all As it is with a Client that hath a suit in law hee hath the cause determined and the conveyance made and his estate setled by the verdict of the Judge but because his evidences and conveyances are not written in great Roman letters as he would have them he flings all away and saith they will not stand in law will not all the world count him a miserable foole this is your case you have no grace because you have not so much grace you have no zeale because you have not so hor zeale you have no humiliation because not so great humiliation this is nothing but pride and a world of pride therefore marke what I shall say labour to bring thy soule to this passe and to this humble submission and subjection to the truth of God take it as well a duty to receive comfort when God gives it as to entertaine duty of love when God requires it Answerably know it is a sinne to refuse mercy when God offers it and thou hast title thereunto It is as well a sinne though not so much a sin perswade thy heart of this and bring thy soule to yeeld to this And therefore learne this lesson you poore Saints of God that have beene pestered marvellously in this kinde and have beene enemies to your owne comfort labour to eye your owne soules when they begin to slide away from the authority of the truth when reasons are sound arguments cleere and conscience satisfied and yet the heart slides off from the Lord and from under the covert of Gods wings Reason thus This is the proud surly dogged way-ward disposition of my heart what would I have what can I desire is not the Word cleere are not reasons sound and is not conscience satisfied and shall I deny this and so wrong the glory of God and the worke of his blessed Spirit in my heart the Lord forbid but the heart pleads Must I eat my owne words and never cavill more and never complaine more and must I confesse I have grace when I never thought I had grace Answ Must you say so aye and blesse God you may say so and be thankfull for ever that thou mayest upon good grounds say thus and bring under these distempers of your soule and make them yeeld and submit to the blessed truth of God you had better a great deale crosse your owne humours than crosse the good Spirit of the Lord and grieve it Esay 7.13 when the Lord offered a great offer to Ahaz to aske a signe in heaven or in earth the text saith he cast off Gods kindnesse God bids him aske a signe hee saith I will not tempt God hee refused Gods kindnesse with marvellous stubbornnesse now marke what God answers Is it a small thing for thee not onely to grieve man but the good Spirit of the Lord so thinke you with your selves when the Lord bids you take comfort comfort yee comfort yee saith my God You that have beene wearied come and bee refreshed you that have beene lost shall be found the soule faith I dare not take it I will not entertaine it doe you thinke it a small thing not only to grieve man and the heart of a poore Minister but to grieve the Lord and his Spirit Iob 15.11 Seemes the consolation of the Lord a small thing unto you that God stoopes to your meannesse and condescends to your weaknesse and supports your hearts and restores comfort to your soules that you trample his kindnesse under your feet and make nothing of it take heed of it lest that stubborne soule of thine that now refuseth consolation when God offers it thou shalt creep upon thy hands and knees and eat thy flesh and beg one offer of grace which thou hast denied often Iohn 13.8 see how Christ doth schoole the humble pride of Peter for so I terme it our Saviour Christ rose from supper and bound himselfe with a towell and went to wash his Disciples feet but when he came to Peter he was very squamish he was loth Christ should stoope so low what wash my feet thou shalt
into foure of five degrees of it and so fits it to be marvellous cordiall so faith makes a sweet extract out of pride and the venome of sinne and corruption without this is the overpowring worke of faith at Phil. 1.14 For this I know that by the supply of the Spirit of Christ this shall turne to my good and salvation through your prayers To winde up the point let us consider all these motives and consider whether wee can move our hearts to labour for this grace would you not be glorious in all the graces of God as humility meeknesse and patience and have conquest over all your enemies and the basenesse of your owne hearts and would you not have a blessing upon what you enjoy and would you not have all worke for your good if these bee worth the having then get this grace of faith that having this you may have all Hee that hath faith let him goe on in it and hee that hath not faith let him know that hee never had any thing To this purpose it will be very seasonable to call upon our hearts upon all occasions when you finde your hearts hunting to settle upon these things here below and when you begin to view all the contentments of this life and to say this is great Babell and I have gotten friends and meanes c. then put the question to thy soule and say hast thou faith too thou hast friends to stand for thee and means to inrich thee but hast thou faith to save thy soule if thou hast not faith thou art a begger whatsoever thou hast nay often startle your secure and carelesse hearts and put this plea to your hearts and parly with them in this manner and say doe not many and most men want faith and why may not I want it and doe not many secke faith and doe not attaine it and what if I should misse it the Lord forbid it for then thou art an undone man for ever thou hast lost all thy labour Iohn 2.8 Looke to your selves saith the Apostle that you â—â—se not the things that you have wrought thy hearing and thy praying and all thy Sacraments and all means and whatsoever thou hast or dost thou hast lost all and thou art gone downe the streame nay misse of faith and all the means under heaven cannot releeve thee I tell thee if thou missest of faith thou missest of heaven and salvation nay I may speake it with reverence mercy it selfe cannot saye thee Christ will not nay Christ cannot save thee without faith for he hath sworne he shall never enter into his rest continuing without faith therefore call home your hearts and stirre up your soules and looke up to the Lord Jesus and reason in this manner and say as Paul to the Philippians saith To you it is given to beleeve Lord it is given to thy poore servants to beleeve thou gavest Manasses Paul and the Iayler power to beleeve I am a vile stubborne prophane wretch Lord give mee power also to beleeve whether thou wilt give me honour wealth riches or no I leave that to thy selfe but Lord deny not thy servant an humble broken and beleeving heart lest I perish and be undone for ever As Rachel said Give mee children or else I die so say thou Lord give mee faith or else I perish Lord I know all my labour cannot worke faith and all meanes under Heaven cannot give it but it is thou Lord that must doe it and as the text saith Many beleeved through grace Lord therefore through that grace of thine draw this heart to thee and keepe it with thee and make thy poore servant blessed for ever Thus much for the use of exhortation namely that we should get faith Now I come to the second part of exhortation and here wee are to endevour if God bee pleased to goe out with us to perswade the heart of those that be faithfull to live by faith the Lord brought thy unfaithfull heart to beleeve now then labour to husband this grace well and to improve it for thy best good and live by it It is a marvellous great shame to see those that are borne to faire meanes I meane the poore Saints of God that have a right and title to grace and Christ and yet to live at such an under rate I would have you to live above the world though thou hast not a coat to cover thee nor a house to put thy head in yet if thou hast faith thou art a rich man therefore husband thy estate well it is a shame I say to see them that they cannot husband that happy estate which they have they live as if they had it not so full of want so full of care and pride so weake and unable to master their sinnes whereas the fault is not in the power of faith nor the promise nor in the Lord for the Lord doth not grudge his people of comfort but would have them live cheerfully and have strong consolations and mighty assurance of Gods love And therefore the text saith Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and againe I say rejoyce and make your calling and election sure Heb. 6.18 God hath sworne that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible that God should lie wee might have strong consolations nay the Lord rejoyceth in the prosperity of his servants and therefore he hath provided mercifully and richly for you that you may rejoyce therefore wee doe the Lord and his promises a great deale of wrong and bring an ill report upon that grace and mercy of his when wee open the mouthes of the wicked and make them say Oh these precise people talke of quiet and contentment and joy in the holy Ghost there is great talking of these things but wee could never see it yet Oh brethren it is a great shame are the riches and revenues of faith so great that a christian may live like a man all his dayes Let all the drunkards and malitious wretches against God laugh and bee merry yet they cannot see one of those dayes that a poore Saint canâ— though he should lie in prison all his dayes Matthew 17.20 If a man had but faith as a graine of mustard-seed and should say to this mountaine goe hence it should be done whether this is spoken of justifying faith or no I will not now dispute but this I am sure of if you will resist the Devill he will flee from you and you may trample under all your lusts and corruptions this is the life of faith and this life may wee live and this life wee ought to live If a trades-man have a good estate put into his hand and have a faire stocke and quicke returnes if hee goes downe the winde and begin to decline and decay every man will say he wâ—â— left marvellous well but either he knew nor how to vse it because he wanted skill or else he arâ—â—ded not unto it and was carelesse another man would have lived
against reason sense and religion and all Now thy faith begins to wrastle with him and his dealings and conscience checks and thou wilt teare thine owne heart out of thine owne bosome brethren this will not doe it When a ship of a hundred tuns is upon ground the mariners may pull and tug their hearts out before they can get it goe O goe then and say it is not I that can be patient and put up a wrong be quiet and expect it not from hence let the heart lie still till the winde and tide and promise come and that will carry thee Rule 2 Bring the promise home to thy heart that the promise may bring thy heart to it I meane thus I told you before that the heart renounceth all abilities of it selfe as the first principle and saith it is in an impatient heart it is not here Lord downe be quiet and still goe thou to the promise and bring that first to thy soule and when the promise comes it will bring thy heart home to it I will tell you how you must goe to the promise and say thus It is not in mine owne power to quicken my selfe yet Lord this I know that there is sufficiencie in the promise to supply all my wants and there is authoritie in the promise to rule and order mee in all my courses therefore take the promise and reason thus I conclude that the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit is in the promise undeniably and undoubtedly and unspeakably accompanying in his manner as hee shall see fit This I say that the almighty Spirit of Christ doth really and continually accompany the promise for the good of his hence it is called the spirit of promise for there is an Almighty creating worke goes along with the promise and I reason thus that word that discernes the thoughts of the hearts of men that word must needs have the Almighty worke of Gods Spirit accompanying of it so far as God hath promised it not haply when thou seest fit but when God sees fit Hee doth it as a voluntary workman therefore thou considerest that there is an Almighty power and a fulnesse in the promise then lay that promise upon thine heart and know it and conclude it and looke for vertue from thence to draw thy soule to it again I have severall passages to expresse my selfe by it you may understand it Iacob would not beleeve that Ioseph was alive or if he were alive he had but little means was poore Gen. 45.26 27 28 29. but when he saw the Chariots that Ioseph had sent him then he beleeved and said I have enough Ioseph my son liveth the Chariots sent from Ioseph to Iacob brought Iacob to Ioseph so every beleeving soule is poore and feeble and dis-nabled to goe to God and to beleeve in the Lord Jesus Christ therefore looke thou unto the Chariots of Israel first and that will convey thee to the promise As it is with the miller first he pares the mill fitly and orders all the occasions thereof and when the stones are fit and laid to goe yet it will not goe till the sluce be pulled up and the water runs that drives the mill so the soule is humbled and lies levell with the Lord and his truth and is content to yeeld to his conditions but the soule of it selfe in it selfe cannot goe It hath not the principle of going but let downe the sluce of the promise and let that come to thy heart and it will bring thy soule home to the Lord. The promise must come to thee and make thee come to it It is not here Lord but in the promise bring that promise and set open the sluce and let the wind blow and it will convey thee comfortably as Luke 19.9 This day salvation is come to thy house not to the wals of thy house but to the men that are in the house they did not come to salvation but salvation came to them the Lord sent salvation to salute the house of Zacheus and that brought him to salvation this is the foiling of many poore beleevers O say they if I could beleeve then the promise did belong unto me but I dare not venture upon it but I say unto thee whomsoever thou art thou shalt never live by faith upon these termes thou must first let the promise come to thee and then it will carry thee unto it Rule 3 When the promise is thus come home and thou seest the sufficiency and authority of it then all thou hast to doe is this in the streame of that promise be carried and in the vertue thereof be conveyed home to the Father Luke 15.4 The Prodigall is said to be like a lost sheepe marke this for it concerneth you poore creatures The poore sheepe is wildered up and downe now in the mouth of the Lion and then in the briars and sometimes in the pit The text saith He leaveth the ninety nine to seeke that that is in comparison of what care he expresseth to the lost sheepe hee leaveth a man regenerate not carelesly but hee will not expresse so great love as to a poore lost man and though thou canst not find the way to Heaven yet hee will finde thee lie thou upon the shoulders of Christ as in the 5. verse of this Chapter when thou findest thy heart feeble and weake and thy selfe unable to beleeve then the Lord Jesus Christ brings the spirit of grace and that comes to seeke and Jesus Christ will lay that soule of thine upon his shoulders that is upon the riches of the freenesse of his grace therefore let thy heart bee transported by the power of that grace and by the vertue of that mercie that God hath made knowne unto thee for thy everlasting good when the chariots are come get thee up into them the Lord Jesus Christ is gone up to heaven and hee hath sent his chariots for thee therefore get thee up and say Lord take mee up with thee let the Lord convey thee by the power of his grace when the mariner hath sea roome enough hee cares for no more if hee can but observe the channell hee lookes not so much at his oare or any thing so he can observe the channell this channell is the full tide of the promise therefore lay thy selfe upon the promise and say Lord in the vertue of that grace and in the power of that Spirit carry mee and in the riches of that mercie of thine Lord convey the heart of this poore sinner and make mee happy with thy selfe for ever Passage 2 It is presumed that thy faith now is come to the promise now the skill is how hee may take and improve the good of the promise and receive all the incomes thereof There are two things especially observable First labour to husband the promises and to mannage them wisely when wee have them for our best advantage Secondly labour to live by the sweetnesse of the promises
what shall I doe What shall I doe unto thee Oh thou preserver of men and the broken hearted and terrified sinner craves that he may yet live in the sight of the Lord. And at last when the soule hath beene sufficiently humbled the Lord lets in his sweet voice of mercy and saith Thou art my sonne and thy sinnes are pardoned with that the soule catcheth at that mercy and saith mercy Lord and a sonne Lord pardon Lord and love Lord the soule is marvellous willing to heare of that consideration But it will not away from the Lord againe as they catched at the words of Ahab and said thy brother liveth so the soule saith beleevingly and â—eccho-like pardoned Lord accepted Lord love and mercy in Christ Lord the heart holds it selfe there It is the fashion of a drowning man when hee seeth himselfe going and sinking if any man come to helpe him when he hath taken hold hee will rather die than leave him hee holds for his life Just so it is with a drowning sinner that is tossed up and downe with the floods of Gods indignation He that formerly made nothing of all and a mock of Christ and thought hee might goe to heaven with all his lusts now the Lord opens his eyes and sets upon him and tosses him up and downe that the heart smites with it and hee seeth himselfe lost and going downe to the pit â—nd hee expects nothing but damnation and at â—ast the Lord lets in a record of mercie and the promise of grace and salvation when the soule â—eares hereof hee catcheth it greedily and knowes if that faile his soule must needs faile â—nd therefore he will never let it goe Act 3 The third act of resting is this it flings the waight of all its occasions and troubles upon Christ as the porter that is weary of his waight and hath no way to helpe himselfe but to be eased of his burden so when the soule hath fastned upon Christ it layes all the waight of all its guilt and power of corruptions upon the Lord Jesus Christ Christ hath promised to give ease and power to pardon and the soule now layes all upon him as Psal 35.7 Commit thy way to the Lord and trust in him commit thy way that is the waight of all thy occasions roule thy way upon the Lord as it is with a barrell that is tumbled up and downe the earth beares the waight of the barrell but some body moves it so the soule casts the waight of all its disgrace dishonour temptation and all upon Christ Esay 50 10. Hee that walkes in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon hiâ— God that is if any man be in extremes hopelesse in misery and seeth no helpe for himselfe neither in himselfe nor the creature and walkes in desperate discouragement and hath no light of comfort let him trust upon the name of the Lord and stay upon his God as when a man cannot goe of himselfe hee layes the waight of all his body on another so the soule goes to a Christ and layes all the waight of it selfe upon Christ and saith I have no comfort all my discomforts I lay upon Christ and I relie upon the Lord for comfort and consolation and when the soule hath thus leaned upon Christ it leaves it selfe there and sucks and drawes all the good that it needs from Christ Cant. 8.5 Who is this that commeth up from the wildernesse leaning upon her beloved the party comming is the Church the wildernesse is the troubles and vexations the Church meets withall and the beloved is the Lord Jesus Christ now the Church comes out of trouble and out of her selfe and leanes her selfe all upon her husband the Lord Jesus Christ she only walked with him but he bare all the burden for her and as the Jewes after their Passeover had their feet shod with sandals and staves in their hands the promise to the soule is like that staffe which did testifie the promise when we are going to the land of Canaan the promise of grace and mercy is the staffe which wee leane upon and it is not a broken staffe that will faile us but a strong staffe which a man may trust to and lay all the waight of life and happinesse upon it and the subduing of his sinnes also 1 Pet. â— 7 Cast all your care on him for he careth for you the originall is hurle your care upon the Lord as â—f a man should say suffer not your care to rebound backe againe but hurle it upon the Lord as a man doth with a ball when it rebounds hee beats it backe againe the Lord will not thanke you for carrying your cares and troubles about you but he requires you should hurle it upon the Lord for he careth for you All that faith would have the soule doe is this First that the soule should labour to finde out the meanes of grace Secondly that it should practice what it knowes Thirdly that it improve all meanes when it hath gotten them now that it may bee able to doe this faith layes all the weight of the worke and burden of the day upon the Lord Jesus Christ so that I shall know what I should doe or the Lord will pardon what I doe not know and either I shall be able to doe what I know or else God will accept of my poore endevours and either I shall finde successe in that I doe or else God will make me contented so that all the burden is gone therefore what if thou doest not know what thou shouldst doe seeing God will pardon thy ignorance and what if thou dost not that which thou knowest if God will pardon thee in it and what if thou hast not that successe thou desirest if God will accept of thee without it and therefore David chides his owne heart and rocks his owne soule asleepe where it was golling Psal 42. Why art thou cast downe O my soule c. I am banished from my house and from my friends and especially from the house of my God and have not I cause to be disquieted no hee had not but how shall I amend my selfe in all these troubles still trust in God for he is yet the helpe of my countenance and my God and I will yet give him praise as if he had said thou shalt not need to be distracted discouraged nor vexed inordinately still trust in God and cast all thy care upon him the faithfull soule viewes all his sinnes that he hath committed and all the miseries that are intended and inflicted and when it hath done all it conclude thus with it selfe and saith It is not in my power nay it is not my duty to determine of all these troubles I lay all the weight of my sinnes upon Christ to pardon them and all the weight of my corruptions to subdue them and then I know he will care for me that hath undertaken mercifully for
me all my care is to leane upon my Saviour and this is my comfort he will looke to me though I cannot doe it for my selfe Act 4 The fourth act of reposing the Spirit which makes it up is this and this indeed is the nature of faith it drawes vertue and derives power from the Lord Jesus Christ for succour and supply here is the especiall life of faith and it is the very words of Scripture or else I durst not speake so much of it but that the Scripture sayes it open in this manner faith findes all in the promise and fetcheth all from the promise that it needs as when a man hath provision of meat and money in his house if any man say to him where shall we have such and such things Oh saith he I will goe fetch them so it is with the nature of faith it goes for mercy and grace and comfort in Christ it knowes t is to bee had from him and therefore fetcheth all from him it drawes and suckes the sweetnesse of the promise as it was with the woman that had the bloudy issue Mat. 9.21 22. Oh saith she could I but touch the hem of his garment I should be whole and so she did and vertue came from him and shee was healed of all her grievances that lay upon her so it is with a faithfull soule that toucheth the Lord Jesus Christ it layes hold but a little on the promise and there is sap and vertue communicated to the beleeving heart whereby it comes to be helped and comforted in the way of God Esay 12.3 it is said With joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation the fountaine of salvation and all the waters of life and grace and mercy are in Christ now it is not enough to let downe the bucket into the well but it must bee drawen out also the waters of life are in Christ now it is not enough to come to and to looke to Christ but wee must draw the water of grace from Christ to our soule as Esay 66.11 They shall sucke and be satisfied with the brests of the consolation that they may milke out and be delighted with the abundance of her glorie the Church is compared to a childe and the brests are the promises of the Gospell now the elect must suck out and be satisfied with it and milke it out the word in the originall is exact upon the promise and oppresse the promise as the oppressoâ—â— grinds the face of a poore man and will have his goods what ever become of his wife and children so a man must wrest the promise for grace and power from the Lord Jesus Christ Ah beloved this is our misery we suffer abundance of milke to be in the promise and we are like wainly children that lye at the brest and will neither sucke nor be quiet so we suffer this to be in the promise and yet imploy not our selves to get it out and to sucke it out therefore brethren suffer not your faith to come to the promise and to lye at it but hale mercy from thence and with aâ— holy kinde of oppression exact upon it and get what good you may from it the Lord allowes it Quest But here it may bee asked how this is done how doth faith draw vertue from Christ Answ I answer It is an heavenly skill and yet marvellous hard and difficult Threefold Act. faith drawes vertue by a threefold act or faith improves the promise three wayes First faith doth appropriate the promise to it selfe and applies all that good and grace that is revealed offered in the Lord Jesus Christ home to it selfe the voices of faith in the Scripture are these my Lord and my God so Paul saith Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chiefe he would be sure to have a share in the mercy as if a man should say I will cut something before the dish goe away Psal 48.14 when the Lord had so much care of his Church and how terrible he was to the enemies and how mercifull to his people c. in the end the Church saith This God is our God and he will be our God even till death she doth appropriate God to her selfe and engrosseth God and saith our God is not as the Heathens god and there David would have God all his owne and saith whatsoever God hath done for any of his people how terrible for them and how mercifull to them the same God hee is to my soule and he will bee my God for ever and hence the Scripture saith Esay 55.1 Come buy and eat c. all these places are nothing else but the act of faith to come is to repaire to the promise and to buy is to take possession of it and to eat is nothing else but to embrace it for our good and comfort it is not enough for mee to goe to the market and stand looking on the commodity there but I must lay downe my money buy it and take possession of it and beare it home so the Lord saith Come to the waters buy wine and milke c. the Lord sets open the shop of grace and salvation every day where the Gospell is preached and therefore not only cheapen but come to the agreement and buy offer like chapmen and stand not hagling but say I will lay downe all my lusts and part with all for Christ and when yee have done thus take mercy and comfort it is yours you have bought it so that now the faithfull soule enters upon the promise as his owne as a man that comes to take possession of house and land as his owne so the faithfull soule reads of all that mercie in pardoning of sinne and all that God effects to save and all that mercy offered to the poore man out of whom the Lord cast seven Devils then the soule saith all that mercie is mine Manasses was an idolater and a monster yet the Lord humbled saved him and all that mercy is mine Paul a persecutour and an oppressour and yet the Lord opened his eyes pardoned his sinne and hee is now a glorified Saint in heaven c. all that mercie is mine hence I take that phrase to be Iohn 3.33 where faith is said to set its seale to the promise He that beleeveth hath set to his seale that God is true now observe that as it is amongst men in their agreements it is not enough that the articles are drawne and made but they must be sealed if they are only made wee use to say they want nothing but sealing now when they are sealed every than takes his owne and the bargaine is thorow Just so it is betweene the Lord and the soule the Articles of agreement whereby God passeth over his promise to a poore sinner are these If wee will part from our selves and our sinnes the Lord Jesus saith all this grace and mercy is yours you that are thus