1 Cor. 3.9 10. Christ knew the necessity that the Infants of his Family had of such Nurses and he knew what numbers of such weak ones there would be in comparison of the strong or else he had never appointed the strong to such an Office And having appointed it he will keep up the honour of his Officers and will send you his Alms your food your Physick your Pardon your Priviledges by their hands If you be drawn by Seducers to forsake or neglect the Ministry of Christs Officers you forsake or neglect your helps and mercies you refuse his Grace you are like Infants that scorn their Nurses help and like Subjects who reject all the Officers of the King and like the Chickens that forsake the Hen you forsake the School and Church of Christ and may expect to be quickly catcht up by the Devil as straglers that have no defence or guide 2. Yet is there great difference between one Minister or Pastor and another as much as between Physicians Lawyers or men of any other function And there being no case in the world that you are so much concerned to be careful in as the instructing and conduct and safety of your souls you have exceeding great reason to take heed whom you choose to commit the care and conduct of your Souls to It is not enough to say that He is a true Ordained Minister and that his administrations are not nullities no more than to say of an ignorant Physician or Cowardly Captain that he hath a valid License or Commission when for all that if you trust him it may cost you your lives Nor is it a wise mans answer to say that God giveth his Grace by the worst as soon as by the best and by the weakest as soon as by the strongest and therefore I need not be so careful in my choice For though God have not confined the working of his Spirit to the most excellent means yet ordinarily he worketh according to the means he useth And this both Scripture Reason and daily experience fully prove God worketh rationally on man as man that is as a rational free agent by Moral operation and not by a meer Physical injection of his Grace When we see the man that is made wise unto Salvation by meer infusion of Wisdom without a Teacher or the study of the Word of God or when we see God work by his Word as by a charm that a few words shall convert a man though the speaker or hearer understood them not then we may hearken to this conceit And then we may think that a Heretick may as well teach you the truth as the Orthodox or a Schismatick teach you Unity and Peace as well as a Catholick peaceable Pastor or a man that is ignorant of the mysteries of Regeneration and holy Communion with God may best teach you that which he knoweth not himself and an enemy to Piety and Charity may teach you to be Pious and Charitable as well as any other But I need not say much more of this for all parties would never so strive to have such Ministers as they like and to put out such as they dislike if they thought not that the difference between Ministers and Ministers were very great See therefore that the Guide whom you choose for your Souls be 1. Judicious for an injudicious man may pervert the Scripture and lead you into Error and Heresie and sin before you are aware As an unskilful Coachman may soon overturn you or an unskilful Waterman may drown you yea though he be a zealous fervent Preacher yet if he be injudicious he may ignorantly give you Poison in your food as the experience of this age hath lamentably proved 2. See if possible that he be an experienced man that knoweth by experience on himself not only what it is to be regenerate and sanctified and made a new Creature but also how all the combate between the Spirit and the Flesh is to be managed and what are the methods and stratagems of the tempter and what are the chief helps and defensatives of the Soul and how they are all to be used For it is not harder to be a Judicious Physician or Lawyer or Souldier without experience than a judicious Pastor And therefore the Holy Ghost commandeth that he be not a novice or raw unexperienced Christian 1 Tim. 3.6 3. See that he be Humble for if he be puft up with pride he falleth into the condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim. 3.6 And then he will either scorn the labour of the Ministry as a drudgery to preach in season and out of season to beseech and exhort and stoop to the poorest of the flock or else he will speak perverse things to draw away Disciples after him Acts 20.30 or he will as Diotrephes reject the Brethren as loving himself to have the preheminence 3 John 9 10. and will Oversee the Church by constraint for filthy lucre as being a Lord over Gods heritage 1 Pet. 5.2 3. See Doctor Hammond on the Text. 4. See that he be Holy in his life for though this be not essential to his Office yet the unholy are unexperienced yea and have a secret enmity in their hearts against that Holiness which they should daily Preach and will usually be shewing it in their close disgracing discouraging speeches against that serious Piety which they should promote And they will neglect most of the personal care of their Flock and will unpreach by their lives the good which they Preach by their tongues and harden and embolden the people in their sins and make them believe that they believe not what they Preach themselves Choose not an enemy of Holiness to lead you in the way of holiness a way that he never went himself nor an enemy of Christ to conduct you in the Christian warfare when he is a servant of the Devil the world and flesh against whom you fight 5. See that he be of a Heavenly mind or else his Doctrine will be unsavoury and dry and he will be Preaching some speculations or barren Controversies instead of Heavenly edifying truth 6. See that he be faithful and diligent in his Ministry as one that knoweth the worth of Souls and will not sell them or betray them to the Devil for filthy lucre or his fleshly ends nor make Merchandise of them as desiring rather theirs than them and preferring the Fleece before the safety of the Flock But one that imitateth the pattern Acts 20. and in meekness instructeth those that are opposers 2 Tim. 2.25 26. 2 Pet. 2.3 1 Cor. 4.2 Rom. 16.17 18. 1 Pet. 5.3 4. 2 Cor. 12.14 7. See that he be a Lively serious Preacher for all will be little enough to keep up a lively seriousness in such dull and frozen hearts as ours A cold Preacher with cold hearts is like to make cold work He that speaks senslesly and sleepily about such matters as Heaven and Hell doth by the manner of his
affability and what not did think with himself How happy a man were I if I could but dwell in this mans house which at last he procured but ere long went away His friend meeting him asked him how he came so quickly to forsake his happiness Did not his Master prove as was reported He answered Yes and better than report could make him or I could ever have believed But though my Master was so good my Mistris was so unreasonable and clamorous and cruel that she would beat us and pull us by the hair and throw scalding water upon us and there was no living with her So Faith I hope is the Master in your hearts And that is as good as can be well believed But the Flesh is Mistris which should be but a servant And that maketh such troublesome work with some of you that some quiet natured Infidels are less vexatious companions than you Nay and I wonder if you can be very confident of your own sincerity as long as such fleshly vices and headstrong passions do keep up the power of a Mistris in you I wonder if you do not fear lest as a woman said I will call my Husband Lord with Sarah if I may have my will fulfilled so Grace and Faith should have no more than the Regent Titles while your flesh hath so much of its will fulfilled I know too many cheat themselves into comfort with the false opinion that because they have a party in them that striveth against their sins it is a certain sign that they have the Spirit and are sanctified though the flesh even in the main doth get the Victory And I know that many have sincerity indeed who yet have many a foil by boisterous passions and fleshly inclinations But I am sure till you know which party is predominant and truly beareth the governing sway you can never know whether you are sincere As once a servant when his Master and Mistris were fighting answered one at the door who desired to speak with the Master of the house You must stay till I see who gets the better before I can tell you who is Master of the house So truly I fear the conflict is so hard with many Christians between the Spirit and the Flesh and holdeth so long in a doubtful state and sense and passion and unbelief and pride and worldliness and selfishness prevail so much that they may stay themselves a great while before they can be well resolved which is Master For to prosecute my similitude in Innocent man spiritual Reason was absolutely Master and Fleshly sense was an obsequious Servant though yet it had an appetite which needed Government and restraint In Wicked men the Fleshly sense and appetite is Master and Reason is a Servant Though Reason and the motions of the Spirit may make some resistance In Strong Christians Spiritual Reason is Master and the Fleshly sense and appetite is a Servant but a boisterous and rebellious Servant tamed according to the degrees of Grace and spiritual Victory Like a Horse that is broken and well ridden but oft needeth the spur and oft the Reins So that a Paul may cry out O wretched man c. In a weak Christian the Spirit is Master but the Flesh is Mistris and is not kept in the servitude which it was made for as it ought And therefore his life is blemished with scandals and his Soul with many foul corruptions He is a trouble to himself and others The good which he doth is done with much reluctancy and weakness and the evil which he forbeareth is oftentimes very hardly forborn His Flesh hath so much power left that he is usually uncertain of his own sincerity and yet too patient both with his sin and his uncertainty And he is many times a greater troubler of the Church than many moderate unbelievers The Hypocrite or all-most-Christian hath the Flesh for his Master as other wicked men but Reason and the commoner Grace of the Spirit may be as Mistris with him And may have so much power and respect above a state of utter servitude as may delude him into a confident conceit that Grace hath the Victory and that he is truly spiritual When yet the Supremacy is exercised by the Flesh. He that hath an ear to hear let him hear To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life He shall not be hurt of the second death He shall eat of the hidden Manna He shall have power over the Nations I will give him the Morning-Star I will confess him before my Father and the Angels He shà ll be à Pillar in the Temple of God and go out no more I will grant to him to sit with me in my Throne Rev. 2.7 11 17 26 28. and 3.5 12 21. 1665. THE CONTENTS THe Text opened What it is to Receive Christ. The nature of Justifying Faith in its three essential acts How to know that we have received Christ. What it is to walk in him What to be Rooted to be grounded and built up c. The Doctrine of the necessity of weak Christians seeking stability Confirmation and increase of Grace What Confirmation is in the Understanding Will Affections and in the Life Twenty Motives to convince weak Christians of the great need of growth and Confirmation A Lamentation for the Weaknesses of Christians in their Knowledg in their Practice in publick Worship in inward Grace in outward obedience about known Duties Confession Reproof c. their uncharitableness backbiting pride c. Ten more Considerations to convince them that it is not trifling but Great things which God requireth at their hands Twenty Directions for Confirmation and increase of Grace DIRECTIONS TO THE CONVERTED For their establishment growth and perseverance Col. 2.6 7. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and stablished in the Faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving AS Ministers are called in Gods Word the Fathers of those that are converted by their Ministry 1 Cor. 4.14 15. so are they likened thus far to the Mothers that they travail as in birth of their peoples Souls till Christ be formed in them Gal. 4.19 And as Christ saith John 16.21 A Woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come but as soon as she is delivered of the Child she remembreth no more the anguish for joy that a man is born into the World So while we are seeking and hoping for your Conversion and are as in travail of you till you are born again not only our labour but much more our fears of you and cares for you and compassion of you in your danger and misery doth make the time seem very long to us and O what happy men should we think our selves if all or the most of our people were converted And when we see but now and then one come home we remember no more the
Every sentence is good for somthing All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works 2 Tim. 3.16 17. Not a word is without its usefulness 5. Moreover you must grow not only in knowing the usefulness of truths but also in knowing how to use them that you may have the benefit of that worth that is in them Many a man knows what use a workmans tools are for that yet knows not how himself to use them And many a one knows the use and vertue of herbs and drugs that knows not how to make a medicine of them and compound and apply them There is much skill to be used in knowing the seasons of application and the measure and what is fit for one and what for another that we may make that necessary variation which diversity of conditions do require As it is a work of skill in the Pastors of the Church to divide the word of God aright and speak a word in season to the weary and give the children their meat in due season 2 Tim. 2.15 Isa. 50.4 Mat. 24.45 So is it also a work of skill to do this for your selves to know what Scripture it is that doth concern you and when and in what measure to apply it and in what order and with what advantages or correctives to use it as may be most for your own good You may grow in this skill as long as you live even in understanding how to use the same truths which you have long known O what excellent Christians should we be if we had but this holy skill and hearts to use it We have the whole armour of God to put on and use but all the matter is how to use it The same sword of the spirit in the hand of a strong and skilful Christian may do very much which in the hand of a young unskilful Christian will do very little and next to nothing A young raw Physician may know the same medicines as an able experienced Physician doth but the great difference lieth in the skil to use them This is it that must make you rich in grace when you increase in the skilful use of truths 6. Moreover your understandings may be much advanced by knowing the same truths more experimentally than you did before I mean such truths as are capable of experimental knowledge Experience giveth us a far more satisfactory manner of knowledge than others have that have no such experience To know by hearsay is like the knowing of a Countrey in a Map and to know by experience is like the knowing of the same Countrey by sight An experienced Navigator or Soldier or Physician or Governour hath another manner of knowledge than the most learned can have without experience even a knowledge that confirmeth a man and makes him confident Thus may you daily increase in knowledge about the same points that you knew long ago When you have tasted and seen that the Lord is gracious Psal. 34.8 1 Pet. 2.3 you will know him more experimentally than you did before when you have tasted the sweetness of the promise and of pardon of sin and peace with God and the hopes of glory you will have a more experimental knowledge of the riches of grace than you had before And when you have lived a while in communion with Christ and the Saints and walked a while with God in a heavenly conversation and maintained your integrity and kept your selves unspotted of the world you will then know the nature and worth of holiness by a knowledge more experimental and satisfactory than before And this is confirmation and growth in knowledge 7. Moreover you must labor to grow in a higher estimation of the same truths which you knew before And this will be a consequent of the forementioned acts A child that findeth a jewel may set by it for the shining beauty when yet he may value it many thousand pounds below its worth You see so much wisdom and goodness in God the first hour of your new life as causeth you to prefer him before the world and you see so much necessity of a Saviour so much love and mercy in Jesus Christ as draweth up your hearts to him and you see so much certainty and glorious excellency of the life to come that makes you value it even more than your lives But yet there is in all these such an unsearchable treasure that you can never value them neer their worth for all that thou hast seen of God and Christ and Glory there is a thousand times more excellency in them yet to be discerned For all the beauty thou hast seen in holiness it is a thousand fold more beautiful than ever thou didst apprehend it for all the evil thou hast seen in sin it is a thousand fold worse than ever thou didst perceive it to be So that if you should live a thousand years you might still be growing in your estimation of those things which you knew the first day of your true conversion For the deeper you dig into this precious Mine the greater riches will still appear to you There is an Ocean of excellency in one Article of your belief and you will never find the banks or bottom till you come to heaven and then you will find that it had neither banks nor bottom And thus I have shewed you what confirmation growth is needful for your understandings even about the very same truths which at first you knew And now I shall add 8. You must also labour to understand more truths for number than at the first you understood and to reach to as much of the revealed will of God as you can and not to stop in the meer essentials For all divine revelations are precious and of great use and none must be neglected And the knowledge of many other truths is of some necessity to our clear understanding of the essentials and also to our holding them fast and practising them Secret things belong to God but things revealed to us and to our children Deut. 29.29 But here I must give you this further advice 1. That you proceed in due order from the fundamental points to those that lye next them do not overpass the points of next necessity and weight and go to higher and less needful matters before you are ready for them 2. And also see that you receive all following truths that are taught you as flowing from the foundation and conjoyned with it Disorderly proceedings have unspeakably wrong'd the souls of many thousands when they are presently upon controversies and smaller matters before they understand abundance of more necessary things that must be first understood This course doth make them lose their labour and worse it deceiveth the understanding instead of informing it and thereupon it perverts the will it self and turns
men to an heretical proud or perverse frame of spirit and then it must needs mislead their practises and cause them like deluded men to be zealous in doing mischief while they think they are doing good In common matters you can see that you must learn and do things in their due order or else you will but make fools of your selves Will you go to the top of the stairs or ladder without beginning at the lower steps Will you sow your ground before you manure or plow it or can you reap before you sow it Will you ride your colt before you break him Will your rear an house before you frame it Or will you teach your children Hebrew and Greek and Latine before they learn English or to read the hardest books before they learn the easiest or can they read before they learn to spell or know their letters No more can you learn the difficult controversies in divinity as about the exposition of obscure Prophesies or doctrinal doubts till you have taken up before you those many great and necessary truths that lye between It would make a wise man pity them and be ashamed to hear them when young raw self-conceited Professors will fall into confident expositions of Daniel the Revelations or the Canticles or such like or into disputes about free-will or predestination or about the many controversies of the times when alas they are ignorant of a hundred truths about the Covenants Justification and the like which must be known before they can reach the rest By this much that I have said already you may understand that though we should reach as far as we can in knowing all necessary revealed truths yet the principal part of your growth in knowledge when once you are converted consisteth not in knowing more than you knew before as to the number of truths but in knowing better the very same fundamental truths which you knew at first This is the principal thing that I would here teach you Abundance are deluded by not understanding this you see here you have seven several things in which you must daily grow in knowledge about the same truths which you first received 1. You must see better and sounder reasons and evidences for the fundamental truths than you saw at first or more such evidences than you did then perceive 2. You must grow to a clearer sight or apprehension of those same evidences 3. You must see truths more methodically all as it were at one view and all in their due proportion and place as the members of a well composed body and how they grow together and what strength one truth affords to another 4. You must see every truth more practically than before and know what use it is of for your hearts and lives and what you must do with it 5. You must learn more skill in the using of these truths when you know what they are good for and must be better able to manage them on your selves and others 6. You must know more experimentally than you did at first 7. You must grow into a higher esteem of truths All this you have to do besides your growing in the number of truths And I must tell you that as it was these Essentials of Christianity that were the instrumental causes of your first Conversion and were more needful and useful to you then than ten thousand others So it is the very same points that you must alwayes live upon and the Confirmation and growth of your Souls in these will be more useful to you than the adding of ten thousand more truths which yet you know not And therefore take this advice as you love your peace and growth Neglect not to know more but bestow many and many hours in labouring to know Better the great truths which you have received for one hour that you bestow in seeking to know more Truths which you know not Believe it this is the safe and thriving way You know already that God is All-sufficient and infinitely wise and good and powerful And you know not perhaps the nature of free Will or of Gods Decrees of Election and Reprobation or a hundred the like points True knowledg of any of the revealed things of God is very desirable But yet I must tell you that you are fourty times more defective here in your knowledg of that of God which you do know than of the other which you know not that is the want of more Degrees of this necessary knowledg is more dangerous to your Souls than the total want of the less necessary knowledg And the addition of more Degrees to the more needful parts of knowledg will strengthen and enrich you more than the knowing of less necessary things which you knew not before at all You know Christ Crucified already but perhaps you know not certain Controversies about Church-Government or the definitions and distinctions of many matters in Divinity It will be a greater growth now to your knowledg to know a little more of Christ Crucified whom you know already than to know these lesser matters which you know not yet at all If you had already a hundred pound in Gold and not a penny of Silver it will more enrich you to have another purse full of Gold than a purse full of Silver Trading in the richest Commodities is liker to raise men to great estates than trading for matters of a smaller rate They that go to the Indies for Gold and Pearl may be rich if they get but little in quantity When he may be poor that brings home Ships laded with the greatest store of poor Commodity That man that hath a double measure of the knowledg of God in Christ and the clearest and deepest and most effectual apprehensions of the Riches of Grace and the Glory to come and yet never heard of most of the Questions in Scotus or Ockam or Aquinas's sums is far richer in knowledg and a much wiser man than he that hath those Controversies at his fingers ends and yet hath but half his clearness and solidity of the knowledg of God and Christ of Grace and Glory There is enough in some One of the Articles of your Faith in One of Gods Attributes in One of Christs benefits in One of the Spirits Graces to hold you study all your lives and afford you still an increase of knowledg To know God the Father Son and Spirit and their relations to you and operations for you and your Duties to them and the way of Communion with them is that knowledg in which you must still be growing till it be perfected by the celestial beatifical Vision Those be not the wisest men that can answer most questions but those that have the fullest intellectual reception of the infinite Wisdom You will confess that he is a wiser man that hath Wisdom to get and Rule a Kingdom than he that hath wit enough to talk of a hundred trivial matters which the other is ignorant of That 's
baits of and what is the manner in which he spreadeth his nets He seeth alwaies some snares before him And what company soever he is in or what business soever he is about he walketh as among snares which are visible to his sight And it is part of his business continually to avoid them He liveth in a continual watch and warfare He can resist much stronger and subtill temptations than the weak can do He is allwayes armed and knoweth what are the special remedies against each particular snare and sin Eph. 6. 2 Cor. 2.11 Prov. 1.17 And he carrieth always his antidotes about him as one that liveth in an infectious world and in the midst of a froward and perverse generation from which he is charged to save himself Phil. 2.15 Act. 2.40 2. And the weak Christian is a souldier in the army of Christ and is engaged in striving against sin Heb. 12.4 And really taketh the flesh and world as well as the Devil to be his enemies and doth not only strive but conquer in the main But yet alas how poorly is he armed How unskilfully doth he manage his Christian armour How often is he soild and wounded How many a temptation is he much unacquainted with And how many a snare doth lie before him which he never did observe And oft he is overcome in particular temptations when he never perceiveth it but thinks that he hath conquered 3. But the Hypocrite is fast ensnared when he gloryeth most of his integrity and is deceived by his own heart and thinketh he is something when he is nothing Gal. 6.3 Luk. 18.20 21 22 23. When he is thanking God that he is not as other men he is rejoycing in his dreams and sacrificing for the victory which he never obtained Luk. 18.11 He is led by Satan captive at his will when he is boasting of his uprightness and hath a beam of coveteousness or pride or cruelty in his own eye while he is reviling or censuring another for the mote of some difference about a ceremony or tolerable opinion And usually such grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Mat. 7.3 4 5. 2 Tim. 3.13 XXVIII 1. A Christian indeed is one that hath deliberately counted what it may cost him to follow Christ and to save his soul and knowing that suffering with Christ is the way to our reigning with him he hath fully consented to the terms of Christ He hath read Luk. 14.26 27 33. and findeth that bearing the Cross and forsaking all is necessary to those that will be Christs disciples And accordingly in resolution he hath forsaken all and looketh not for a smooth and easie way to heaven He considereth that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution and that through many tribulations we must enter into heaven And therefore he taketh it not for a strange or unexpected thing if the fiery trial come upon him He doth not wonder at the unrighteousness of the world as if he expected reason or honesty justice or truth or mercy in the enemies of Christ and the instruments of Satan He will not bring his action against the Devil for unjust afflicting him He will rather turn the other cheek to him that smiteth him than he will hinder the good of any soul by seeking right much less will he exercise unjust revenge Though where government is exercised for truth and righteousness he will not refuse to make use of the justice of it to punish iniquity and discourage evil doers yet this is for God and the common good and for the suppression of sin much more than for himself Suffering doth not surprise him as a thing unlooked for He hath been long preparing for it and it findeth him garrison'd in the love of Christ Yea though his flesh will be as the flesh of others sensible of the smart and his mind is not senseless of the sufferings of his body yet it is some pleasure and satisfaction to his soul to find himself in the common way to heaven and to see the predictions of Christ fulfilled and to feel himself so far conform to Jesus Christ his head and to trace the footsteps of a humbled Redeemer in the way before him As Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh so doth the Christian arm himself with the same mind 1 Pet. 4.1 He rejoyceth that he is made partaker of the sufferings of Christ that when his glory shall be revealed he may also be partaker of the exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4.12 13. yea he taketh the reproach of Christ for a treasure yea a greater treasure than Riches or mens favours can afford Heb. 11.25 26. For he knoweth if he be reproached for the name or sake of Christ he is happy For thereby he glorifieth that God whom the enemy doth blaspheme and so the spirit of God and of glory resteth on him 1 Pet. 4.14 He liveth and suffereth as one that from his heart believeth that they are blessed that are persecuted for righteousness sake for great is their reward in heaven And they are blessed when men shall revile them and persecute them and say all manner of evil against them falsly for Christs sake In this they Rejoyce and are exceeding glad as knowing that herein they are followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promise Mat. 5.10 11 12. Heb. 6.12 If he be offered upon the sacrifice and service of the saith of Gods elect he can rejoyce in it as having greater good than evil Phil. 2.17 He can suffer the loss of all things and account them dung that he may win Christ and be found in him and know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death Phil. 3.8 9 10. Not out of surliness and pride doth he rejoyce in sufferings as some do that they may carry the reputation of holy and undaunted men and seem to be far better and constanter than others When pride maketh men suffer they are partly the Devils martyrs though the cause be never so good Though it is much more ordinary for pride to make men suffer rejoycingly in an ill cause than in a good the Devil having more power on his own ground than on Christs But it is the Love of Christ and the belief of the reward and the humble neglect of the mortified flesh and the contempt of the conquered world that maketh the Christian suffer with so much joy For he seeth that the Judge is at the door And what torments the wicked are preparing for themselves And that as certainly as there is a God that governeth the world and that in Righteousness so certainly are his eyes upon the Righteous and his face is set against them that do evil 1 Pet. 3.12 and though sinners do evil an hundred times and scape unpunished till their dayes be prolonged yet vengeance will overtake them in due time and it shall be well with them that
fear the Lord and that he keepeth all the tears of his servants till the reckoning day And if judgement begin at the house of God and the righteous be saved through so much suffering and labour what then shall be their end that obey not the Gospel and where shall the ungodly and sinner appear 1 Pet. 4.17 18. Eccl. 8.12 Prov. 11.31 13.6 Psal. 56.8 Deut. 32.35 Jam. 5.9 2. And the weak Christian is one that will forsake all for the sake of Christ and suffer with him that he may be glorified with him and will take his treasure in heaven for all Luk. 14.26 33. Luk. 18.22 But he doth it not with that easiness and alacrity and joy as the confirmed Christian doth He hearkens more to the flesh which saith favour thy self suffering is much more grievous to him And sometimes he is wavering before he can bring himself fully to resolve and let go all Mat. 16.22 3. But the seeming Christian looketh not for much suffering He reads of it in the Gospel but he saw no probability of it and never believed that he should be called to it in any notable degree He thought it probable that he might well escape it And therefore though he agreed verbally to take Christ for better and worse and to follow him through sufferings he thought he would never put him to it And indeed his heart is secretly resolved that he will never be undone in the world for Christ Some reparable loss he may undergo but he will not let go life and all He will still be religious and hope for heaven But he will make himself believe and others if he can that the Truth lieth on the safer side and not on the suffering side and that it is but for their own conceits and scrupulosity that other men suffer who go beyond him and that many good men are of his opinion and therefore he may be good also in the same opinion though he would never have been of that opinion if it had not been necessary to his escaping of sufferings what flourish soever he maketh for a time when persecution ariseth he is offended and withereth Mat. 13.21 6. Unless he be so deeply engaged among the suffering party that he cannot come off without perpetual reproach and then perhaps Pride will make him suffer more than the belief of heaven oâ— the love of Christ could do And all this is because his very belief is unrooted and unsound and he hath secretly at the heart a fear that if he should suffer death for Christ he should be a loser by him and he would not reward him according to his promise with everlasting life Heb. 3.12 XXIX 1. A Christian indeed is one that followeth not Christ for company nor holdeth his belief in trust upon the credit of any in the world and therefore he would stick to Christ if all that he knoweth or converseth with should forsake him If the Rulers of the Earth should change their religion and turn against Christ he would not forsake him If the multitude of the people turn against him nay if the professors of Godliness should fall off yet would he stand his ground and be still the same If the learnedest men and the Pastors of the Church should turn from Christ he would not forsake him Yea if his nearest relations and friends or even that Minister that was the means of his conversion should change their minds and forsake the truth and turn from Christ or a holy life he would yet be constant and be still the same And what Peter resolved on he would truly practise Mat. 26 33 35. Though all men should be offended because of thee yet would not I be offended Though I should die with thee yet will I not deny thee And if he thought himself as Elias did left alone yet would he not how the knee to Baal Rom. 11.3 If he hear that this eminent Minister falleth off one day and the other another day till all be gone yet still the foundation of God standeth sure he falleth not because he is built upon the rock Mat. 7.22 23. His heart saith Alas whither shall I go if I go from Christ Is there any other that hath the word and spirit of eternal life Can I be a gainer if I lose my soul Joh. 6.67 68. Mat. 16.26 He useth his Teachers to bring him that light and evidence of truth which dwelleth in him when they are gone And therefore though they fall away he falleth not with them 2. And the weakest Christian believeth with a Divine faith of his own and dependeth more on God than man But yet if he should be put to so great a tryal as to see all the Pastors and Christians that he knoweth change their minds I know not what he would do For though God will uphold all his own whom he will save yet he doth it by means and outward helps together with his internal grace and keepeth them from temptations when he will deliver them from the evil And therefore it is a doubt whether there be not degrees of grace so weak as would fail in case the strongest temptations were permitted to assault them A strong man can stand and go of himself but an infant must be carried and the same and sick must have others to support them The weak Christian falleth if his Teacher or most esteemed company fall If they run into an error sect or schisme he keeps them company He groweth cold if he have not warming company He forgeteth himself and letteth loose his sense and passion if he have not some to watch over him and warn him No man should refuse the help of others that can have it and the best have need of all Gods means But the weak Christian needeth them much more than the strong and is much less able to stand without them Luk. 22.32 Gal. 2.11 12 13 14. 3. But the seeming Christian is built upon the sand and therefore cannot stand a storm He is a Christian more for company or he credit of man or the interest that others have in him or the encouragement of the times than from a firm Belief and love of Christ and therefore falleth when his props are gone Mat. 7.24 XXX 1. A strong Christian can digest the hardest Truths and the hardest works of Providence He seeth more of the reason and evidence of truths than others And he hath usually a more comprehensive knowledge and can reconcile those truths which short sighted persons suspect to be inconsistent and contradictory And when he cannot reconcile them he knoweth they are reconcileable For he hath laid his foundation well and then he reduceth other truths to that and buildeth them on it And so he doth by the hardest Providences Whoever is high or low whoever prospereth or is afflicted however humane affairs are carried and all things seem to go against the Church and cause of Christ he knoweth yet that God is good to Israel Psal.
Earth or Hell can undo him He is more carefull of his duty to his Prince his Parents his Pastor or his Master than of theirs to him he is much more unwilling to be disobedient to them in any lawfull thing or to dishonour them than to be oppressed or unjustly afflicted or abused by them And all this is because he knoweth that sin is worse than present suffering and that he is not to answer for other mens sins but for his own nor shall he be condemned for the sins of any but himself And that many millions are condemned for wronging others but no one for being wronged by others 1 Pet. 4 12 13 14 15 16. Matth. 5.10 11 12. 1 Pet. 2.13 15 16 17. 2. And the weak Christian is of the same mind in the main but with so much imperfection that he is much more frequent in censuring others and complaining of their wrongs and finding fault with them and aggravating all that is said or done against himself when he is hardly made so sensible of as great miscarriages in himself as having much more uncharitableness partiality and selfishness than a confirmed Christian hath There are few things which weakness of Grace doth more ordinarily appear in than this partiality and selfishness in judging of the faults or duties of others and of his own How apt are not only Hypocrites but weak Christians to aggravate all that is done against them and to extenuate or justifie all that they do against another O what a noyse they make of it if they think that any one hath wronged them defamed them disparaged them or incroached on their right If God himself be blasphemed or abused they can more patiently bear it and make not so great a matter of it Who heareth of such angry complaints on Gods behalf as on mens own Of such passionate invectives such sharp prosecutions against those that wrong both God and mens Souls as against those that wrong a selfish person And usually every man seemeth to wrong him who keepeth from him any thing which he would have or saith any thing of him which is displeasing to him Go to the Assizes and Courts of Justice look into the Prisons and enquire whether it be Zeal for God or for mens selves which is the Plaintiff and Prosecutor and whether it be for wronging God or them that all the stirre is made Men are ready to say God is sufficient to right himself As if he were not the Original and the End of Laws and Government and Magistrates were not his Officers to promote obedience to Him in the World At this time how universal is mens complaint against their Governors how common are the cryes of the poor and sufferers of the greatness of their burdens miseries and wants But how few lament the sins against Government which this Land hath been sadly guilty of The Pastors complain of the Peoples contempt The People complain of the Pastors insufficiency and lives The Master complaineth how hard it is to get good Servants that will mind their business and profit as if it were their own Servants complain of their Masters for over-labouring them or using them too hardly Landlords say that their Tenants cheat them And Tenants say that their Landlords oppress and grind them But if you were Christians indeed the commonest and saddest complaints would be against your selves I am not so good a Ruler so peaceable a Subject so good a Landlord so good a Tenant so good a Master so good a Servant as I ought to be Your Rulers sin your Subjects sin your Landlords sin your Tenants sin your Masters sin your Servants sin shall not be charged upon you in Judgement nor condemn you but your own sin How much more therefore should you fear and feel and complain of your own than of theirs 3. As for the seeming Christian I have told you already that selfishness is his nature and predominant constitution And according to self-interest he judgeth of almost all things of the faults and duties of others and himself And therefore no man seemeth honest or innocent to him who displeaseth him and is against his wordly interest Cross him about Mine and Thine and he will beknave the honestest man alive and call his ancient friend his enemy But of his dealings with them he is not so scrupulous nor so censorious of himself XXXV 1. A Christian indeed is much taken up in the Government of his Thoughts and hath them so much ordinarily in obedience that God and his service and the matters of his salvation have that precedency in them and his eye is fixed on his end and duty And his thoughts refuse not to serve him for any work of God to which he calleth them He suffereth them not to be the in-lets or agents for Pride or Lust or Envy or Voluptuousness or to contrive iniquity But if any such sparks from Hell are cast into his thoughts he presently laboureth to extinguish them If they intrude he letteth them not lodge or dwell there And though he cannot keep out all disorder or vanity or inordinate delights yet is it his endeavour and he leaveth not his heart in any thing to it self 2. The weak Christian also maketh conscience of his thoughts and alloweth them not to be the in-lets or servants of any reigning sin But alas how imperfectly doth he govern them what a deal of vanity and confusion is in them how carelesly doth he watch them how remisly doth he rebuke them excite them and command them how oft are they defiled with impurity and uncharitableness And how little doth he repent of this or endeavour to reform it And little serviceable are his thoughts to any high and heavenly work in comparison of the confirmed Christian 3. And the seeming Christian is very little employed about his Thoughts but leaveth them to be the servants of his pride and worldlyness or sensuality or some reigning sin Psal. 10.4 Matth. 15.19 1 Cor. 3.20 Isa. 55.7 Jer. 4.14 and 6.19 XXXVI 1. A Christian indeed is much employed in the Government of his passions and hath so far mastered them as that they prevail not to pervert his Judgement nor to discompose his heart so farre as to interrupt much his communion with God nor to ensnare his heart to any Creature nor to breed any fixed uncharitableness or malice in him nor to cause his tongue to speak things injurious to God or Man to curse or swear or rail or lie nor yet to cause him to hurt and injure any in his heart But when passion would be inordinate either in delights or desires or anger or grief or fear or hope he flyeth to his helps to suppress and govern them Though fear is more out of mans power than the rest and therefore ordinarily hath less of sin He knoweth that Christ hath blessed the meek Matth. 5.5 and bid us learn of him to be meek and lowly Matth. 11.28 29. And that a meek and quiet spirit is
and a bad servant when his filthy interest requireth it and yet thinketh himself a good Christian for all that For all men being faulty it is easie to find a pretence from all men that he doth abuse to cover the injury of his abuse Cain Cham Eli Absalom Judas c. are sad examples of this XLVIII 1. A Christian indeed is the best subject whether his Prince be good or bad Though by infidel and ungodly Rulers he be oft mistaken for the worst He obeyeth not his Rulers only for his own ends but in obedience to God and not only for fear of punishment but for conscience sake He looketh on them in their relations as the Officers of God and armed with his authority and therefore obeyeth God in them He permitteth not dishonourable thoughts of them in his heart much less dare he speak dishonourably of them Exod. 12. Prov. 24.21 1 Pet. 2.13 17. Prov. 8.15 Act. 23.4 5. Eccles. 10 4 20. He knoweth that every soul must be subject to the higher powers and not resist and that there is no power but of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and he that resisteth shall receive to himself damnation Rom. 13.1 2 3 4 5 6. Therefore in all things lawfull he obeyeth them And though he must not nor will not obey them against God yet will he suffer patiently when he is wronged by them and not only forbear resistance by arms or violence but also all reproachfull words as knowing that the righting of himself is not so necessary to the publick order and good as the honour of his Rulers is Vsurpers may probably charge him to be a Traitor and seditious and rebellious because he dare not approve of their Vsurpations and when several are contending for the Government and in a litigious Title the Lawyers mislead him when the controversie is only among them and belongs to their profession its possible he may mistake as well as the Lawyers and take him to have the better Title that hath the worse But in Divinity he knoweth there is no controversie whether every soul must be subject to the highest power so far as he can know it And that prayers and patience are the Subjects arms and Religion is so far from being a warrant to resist that it plainly forbiddeth disobedience and resistance and none are more obliged to submission and quietness than Christians are The spirit of Christianity is not of this world Their Kingdom and their Hopes are not of this world And therefore they contend not for dignities and rule much less by resisting or rebelling against their lawfull Governours But they are resolved to obey God and secure their everlasting portion and bear all the injuries which they meet with in the way especially from those whom God hath set over them There is no Doctrine that ever was received in the world so far from be friending seditions and rebellion as the Doctrine of Christ nor any people in the world so loyal as Christians while Christianity retained its genuine simplicity till proud domineering worldly men for carnal ends pretended themselves to be Christians and perverted the Doctrine of Christ to make it warp to their ambitious ends suffering seemeth not so great a matter to a holy mortified heavenly mind as to tempt him to hazard his salvation to resist it No man is so likely to be true to Kings as he that believeth that his salvation lieth on it by the ordinance of God Rom. 13.3 And Princes that are wise and just do alwaies discern that the best Christians are their best subjects Though those that are unbelieving and ungodly themselves have ever hated them as the greatest troublers of the Earth And it hath ever been the practice of the Enemies of Christ and Godliness to do all they can to engage the Rulers of the Earth against them and to perswade them that the most godly Christians are persons of disloyal and unquiet minds and by vexing and persecuting them they do their worst to make them such as they falsly called them Even Christ himself was crucified as an enemy to Caesar and Pilate driven to it by the noise of them that cryed out that if he let them go he was not Caesars friend Joh. 19.12 They first tempted him with the question whether it were lawfull to give tribute unto Caesar Matth. 22.17 Luke 20.22 And though they could this way take no hold of him yet this was the first article of his accusation Luke 23.2 we have found this fellow perverting the Nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. And how loyal would those rebellious Jews seem when they thought it the only way to engage the Roman Power against Christ Then they cry out We have no King but Caesar Joh. 19.15 And this was the common accusation against the Christians both by Jews and Gentiles The language of the Jews you may hear from Tertullus Acts 24.5 We have found this man a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarens And at Thessalonica Acts 17.6 7. the charge against them was that they turned the world upside down and did all contrary to the decrees of Caesar. And thus the best Christians have by such been slandered from age to age because the Devil and his instruments know not how sufficiently to molest them except they engage the Rulers against them But yet all this doth not conquer the patience and loyalty of confirmed Christians They are wiser than that wise man that Solomon faith Oppression maketh mad Eccles. 7.7 If usurpers or malicious lyars shall a thousand times call them rebellious and seditious it shall not drive them from their due subjection They can patiently follow their Lord and the ancient Christians in the enduring of such slanders and suffering as enemies to Caesar so they do but scape the sin and be not such as malice calleth them They had rather die as reputed enemies to Government than to be such indeed They prefer subjection before the reputation of it For they look not for their reward from Princes but from God If they can preserve their innocency they can bear the defamation of their names being satisfied in the hopes of the joyfull day of the Judgement of Christ which will fully justifie them and set all strait Indeed they know that a state of subjection is easier and safer than places of command and that it is easier to obey than govern And so far are they from envying mens greatness and from desiring dominions that they pity the tempted and dangerous and troublesome state of those in power and are thankful to God for their quieter and safer station They heartily pray for Kings and all that are in Authority not that by their favour they may rise to places of wealth and honour but that under them they may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
mind and in the same judgement Phil. 2 1 2 3 4. If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same Love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others Ephes. 1.2 3 4 5 6 7. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness with long suffering forbearing one another in love endeavouring to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace There is one body and one spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Read also Ephes. 4.12 13 14 15 16. 1 Cor. 12. throughout He looketh at uncharitableness and divisions with more abhorrence than weak Christians do at drunkenness or whoredom or such other hainous sin He feareth such dreadfull warnings as Acts 20.29 30. For I know this that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them And he cannot slight such a vehement exhortation as Rom. 16.17 18. Now I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Therefore he is so far from being a divider himself that when he seeth any one making divisions among Christians he looketh on him as on one that is flashing and mangling the body of his dearest friend or as on one that is setting fire on his house and therefore doth all that he can to quench it As knowing the confusion and calamity to which it tendeth He is of a Christian and therefore of a truly Catholick spirit that is He maketh not himself a member of a divided Party or a Sect He regardeth the interest and welfare of the body the universal Church above the interest or prosperity of any party whatsoever And he will do nothing for a party which is injurious to the whole or to the Christian cause The very names of Sects and Parties are displeasing to him And he could wish that there were no name but that of Christians among us save only the necessary names of the criminal such as that of the Nicolaitans Rev. 2.6.15 By which those that are to be avoided by Christians must be known Christianity is confined to so narrow a compass in the world that he is unwilling to contract it yet into a narrower The greatest party of divided Christians whether it be the Greeks or Papists is too small a body for him to take for the Catholick or Universal Church He admireth at the blindness and cruelty of faction that can make men damn all the rest of the Church for the interest of their proper sect and take all those as no Christians that are better Christians than themselves Especially the Papists who unchurch all the Church of Christ except their Sect and make it as necessary to salvation to be a subject of the Pope as to be a Christian and when by their great corruption and abuses of Christianity they have more need of charitable censures themselves than almost any sort of Christians yet are they the boldest condemners of all others The confirmed Christian can difference between the strong and weak the sound and unsound members of the Church without dismembring any and without unwarrantable separations from any He will worship God in the purest manner he can and locally joyn with those Assemblies where all things considered he may most honour God and receive most edification and will not sin for communion with any He will sufficiently difference between a holy orderly Assembly and a corrupt disordered one and between an able faithfull Pastor and an ignorant or worldly hireling And he desireth that the Pastors of the Church may make that due separation by the holy Discipline of Christ which may prevent the peoples disorderly separation But for all this he will not deny his presence upon just occasion to any Christian Congregation that worshipeth God in truth though with many modal imperfections so be it they impose no sin upon him as necessary to his communion with them Nor will he deny the spiritual communion of faith and Love to those that he holdeth not local communion with He knoweth that all our worship of God is sinfully imperfect and that it is a dividing principle to hold that we may joyn with none that worship God in a faulty manner for then we must joyn with none on earth He knoweth that his presence in the worship of God is no sign of his approbation of all the failings of Pastors or people in their personal or modal imperfections as long as he joyneth not in a worship so corrupt as to be it self unacceptable to God While men who are all imperfect and corrupt are the worshippers the manner of their worship will be such as they in some degree imperfect and corrupt The solid Christian hath his eye upon all the Churches in the world in the determining of such questions He considereth what worship is offered to God in the Churches of the several parties of Christians the Greeks Armenians Abassines Lutherans c. as well as what is done in the Country where he liveth and he considereth whether God disown and reject the worship of almost all the Churches in the world or not For he dare no further reject them than God rejecteth them nor will he voluntarily separate from those Assemblies where the presence of Christ in his Spirit and acceptance yet remaineth And his fuller acquaintance with the gracious nature office and tenderness of Christ together with greater Love to his Brethren doth cause him in this to judge more gently than young censorious Christians do And his humble acquaintance with his own infirmities maketh him the more compassionate to others If he should think that God would reject all that order not and word not their prayers aright he would be afraid of being rejected himself who is still conscious of greater faultiness in his own prayers than a meer defect in words and order even of a great defectiveness in that faith and desire and love and zeal and reverence which should be manifested in prayer Though he be more apprehensive than others of the
man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carryed about with every wind of Doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lye in wait to deceive but speaking the truth in Love may grow up into him in all things which is the Head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the Edifying of it self in love Here you see the children are apt to be carryed into dividing parties And that they are aptest to be Proud and that way to miscarry see 1 Tim. 3.6 Not a novice or raw young Christian lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil And then followeth the effect Act. 20.30 Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away Disciples after them I would not have you groundlesly accuse any Christian with a charge of Pride But I must tell you that the childish Pride of apparel is a petty business in comparison of that Pride which many in sordid attire have manifested who in their ignorance do rage and foam out words of falshood and reproach against Christs Ministers and Servants as if they were all fools or impious in comparison of them speaking evil of that which they never understood The lifting up the Heart above the people of the Lord in the Pride of supposed Holiness is incomparably worse than Pride of Learning honour greatness wit or wealth Nay it hath oft been to me a matter of wonder to observe how little all those plain and urgent Texts of Scripture which cry down Division do work upon many of the younger Christians who yet are as quickly toucht as any with a Text that speaketh against prophaneness and lukewarmness In a word they are often of the temper of James and John when they would fain have had Christ have revenged himself on his opposers by fire from Heaven They know not what manner of Spirit they are of Luk. 9.55 They think verily that it is a holy zeal for God when it is the boiling of passion pride and selfishness They feel not the sense of such words as Christs Joh. 17.20 21 22 23 24. I pray also for them who shall believe on me through their word that they All may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the World may believe that thou hast sent me c. 3. And as for the seeming Christians in this they are of several sorts When their carnal interest lyeth in complyance with the Major part and stronger side then no men do more cry up Vnity and Obedience what a noise do many thousand Papist-Prelates Jesuites and Fryers make with these two words throughout the world Vnity and Obedience unto them upon their terms do signifie Principally their worldly greatness wealth and power But if the Hypocrite be engaged in point of honour or other carnal interest on the suffering side or be out of hope of any advantage in the common rode then no man is so much for separation and singularity as he For he must needs be noted for some body in the world and this is the chief way that he findeth to accomplish it And so being lifted up with pride be falleth into the Condemnation of the Devil and becomes a firebrand in the Church LIII 1. A Christian indeed is not only zealous for the Unity and Concord of Believers but he seeketh it on the right terms and in the way that is fitest to attain it Vnity Peace and Concord are like Piety and Honesty things so unquestionably good that there are scarce any men of reason and common sobriety that ever were heard to oppose them Directly and for themselves And therefore all that are enemies to them are yet pretenders to them and oppose them 1. In their causes only 2. Or covertly and under some other name Every man would have Vnity Concord and Peace in his own way and upon his own terms But if the right terms had been understood and consented to as sufficient the Christian world had not lain so many hundred years in the sin and shame and ruines as it hath done And the cause of all is that Christians indeed that have clear confirmed judgements and strength of grace are very few and for number and strength unable to perswade or overrule the weak the passionate and the falsehearted worldly hypocritical multitude who bear down all the counsels and endeavours of the wise The judicious faithful Christian knoweth that there are three degrees or sorts of Christian Communion which have their several terms 1. The universal-church Communion which all Christians as such must hold among themselves 2. Particular Church-communion which those that are conjoyned for personal Communion in Worship do hold under the same Pastors and among themselves 3. The extraordinary intimate communion that some Christians hold together who are bosome friends or are specially able and fit to be helpful and comfortable to each other The last concerneth not our present business we must hold Church-communion with many that are unfit to be our bosome friends and that have no eminency of parts or piety or any strong-perswading evidence of sincerity But the terms of Catholick Communion he knoweth are such as these 1. They must be such as were the terms of Church Communion in the dayes of the Apostles 2. They must be such as are plainly and certainly expressed in the holy Scriptures 3. And such as the Vniversal Church hath in some ages since been actually agreed in 4. And those points are likest to be such which all the differing parties of Christians are agreed in as Necessary to Communion to this day so we call not those Christians that deny the essentials of Christianity 5. Every man in the former ages of the Church was admitted to this Catholick Church-communion who in the Baptismal Vow or Covenant gave up himself to God the Father Son and Holy Ghost as his Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier his Owner Governour and Father renouncing the flesh the world and the Devil And more particularly as man hath an Vnderstanding a Will and an executive power which must all be sanctified to God so the Creed was the particular Rule for the Credenda or things to be Believed and the Lords Prayer for the Petenda or things to be Willed Loved and Desired and the Ten Commandments for the agenda or things to be done so that to Consent to these Rules particularly and to all the Holy Scriptures implicitly and generally was the thing then required to Catholick Communion The belief of the doctrine being necessary for the sanctifying of the heart and life the Belief of so much is of Necessity without which the Heart cannot be sanctified or
purified and zealous of good works Tit. 2.14 He called you a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him that hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light ye are as lively stones built up a spiritual house an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 2.5 9. You are born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 1 Pet. 1.23 and are made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light God hath delivered you from the power of darkness and translated you into the Kingdom of his dear Son in whom you have redemption through his bloud the remission of sins Col. 1.12 13 14. The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children then Heirs Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ Rom. 8.16 17. All things shall work together for your good He that spared not his own Son but gave him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Vers. 28.32 Nothing but the illuminated Soul can discern the riches of the glory of Gods inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the work of his mighty power Eph. 1.18 19. When we were dead in sins he hath quickned us together with Christ and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his kindness towards us through Jesus Christ. He hath brough us nigh that were far off so that by one spirit we have access to the Father by Christ and are now no more strangers and forreigners but fellow Citizens of the Saints and of the houshold of God Eph. 2.5 6 7 13 17 18 19. We are members of the body of Christ we are come to Mount Zion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Heb. 12.22 23 24. Brethren shall the Lord speak all this and more than this in the Scripture of your Glory and will you not prove your selves glorious and study to make good this precious word Doth he say The righteous is more excellent than his Neighbour Prov. 12.26 and will you not study to shew your selves more excellent indeed Shall all these high things be spoken of you and will you live so far below them all What a hainous wrong is this to God He sticks not in boasting of you to call you his jewells Mal. 3.17 and tells the world he will make them one day discern the difference between the Righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not verse 18. He tells the World that his coming in Judgment will be to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in them that believe 2 Thess. 1.10 It 's openly Professed by the Apostle John We know that we are of God and the whole World lyeth in wickedâ—â—â—â— 1 John 5.19 He challengeth any to condemn you or lay any thing to your charge professing that it is he that justifieth you casting the Saints into admiration by his love What shall we say to these things if God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 He challengeth Tribulation Distress Persecution Famine or Nakedness Peril or Sword to separate you if they can from the Love of God He challengeth Death and Life Angels Principalities and Powers things present and things to come height and depth or any other Creature to separate you if they are able from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.35 37 38 39. Shall the Lord of Heaven thus make his boast of you to all the World and will you not make good his boasting Yea I must tell you he will see that it be made good to a word and if you be not careful of it your selves and it be not made good in you then you are not the people that God thus boasteth of He tells the greatest Persecutors to their faces that the meek the humble little ones of his Flock have their Angels beholding the face of God in Heaven Matth. 18.10 and that at the great and dreadful day of Judgment they shall be set at his right hand as his Sheep with a Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom when others are set at his left hand as Goats with a Go ye cursed into everlasting Fire Matth. 25. He tells the world that he that receiveth a Converted man that is become as a little Child receiveth Christ himself and that whoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in him it were better for him that a Milstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the Sea Matth. 18.3 4 5 6. Mark 9.42 Luke 17.2 O Sirs must God be thus wonderfully tender of you and will you not now be very tender of his interest and your duty Shall he thus difference you from all the rest of the world and will you not study to declare the difference The ungodly even gnash the teeth at Ministers and Scriptures and Christ himself for making such a difference between them and you and will you not let them see that it is not without cause I intreat you I require you in the Name of God see that you answer these high commendations and shew us that God hath not boasted of you beyond your worth 9. Consider this as the highest Motive of all God doth not only magnify you and boast of you but also he hath made you the living Images of his blessed self his Son Jesus Christ his Spirit and his holy Word and so he hath exposed himself his Son his Spirit and his Word to be censured by the World according to your lives The express Image of the Fathers person is the Son Heb. 1.3 The Son is declared to the World by the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost hath endited the Holy Scriptures which therefore bear the Image of Father Son and Holy Ghost This holy Word both Law and Promise is written on your hearts and put into your inner parts by the sâ—me spirit 2 Cor. 3.3 Heb. 8.13 and 10.16 So that as God hath imprinted his holy nature in the Scripture so hath he made this word the Seal to imprint again his Image on your hearts And you know that common eyes can better discern the Image in the Wax than on the Seal Though I know that the hardness of the Wax or somthing lying between or the imperfect application may cause an imperfection in the Image on the
Wax when yet the Image on the Seal is perfect And therefore the World hath no just cause to censure God or Christ or the Spirit or the Word to be imperfect because that you are so But yet they will do it and their temptation is great O Sirs how would your Prince take it of you or how would your poorest friend take it of you if you should hang forth a deformed picture of them to the view of all that shall pass by and should represent them as blind or leprous or lame wanting a leg or an arm or an eye Would they not say that you unworthily exposed them to scorn So if you will take on you to be the living Images of God of Christ of the Spirit and the Word and yet will be blind and worldly and passionate and proud and untruly and obstinate or lazy and negligent and little differing from those that bear the Image of the Devil what do you but Proclaim that the Image of God and of Satan and the World do little differ and that God is thus unrighteous and unholy as you are 10. Lastly Consider That the faithful servants of Christ are few and therefore if those few dishonour him and prove not fast to him what do you but provoke him to forsake all the World and make an end of all the Sons of men It is but a little flock to whom he will give the Kingdom Luke 12.32 It is but a few from whom God expecteth any great matter And shall those few prove deceitful to him It must be you or none that must honour the Gospel You or none that must be exemplary to the World and shall it be none at all Shall all the Workmanship of God abuse him Shall he have no honour from any inferiour Creature How can you then expect that he should preserve the World For will he be at so much care to keep up a World to dishonour and abuse him If the turning of mens hearts prevent it not he would come and smite the earth with a Curse Mal. 4.6 For the Land that beareth Thorns and Bryars is rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned Heb. 6.7 8. If therefore Israel play the Harlot yet let not Judah sin Hos. 4.15 If the Vessels of wrath prepared to destruction will be blind and sensual and filthy still yet let pollution be far from the sanctified Such were some of you but ye are washed ye are sanctified ye are justified 1 Cor. 6.11 O let the Lord be magnified in his Saints Blot not out his Image Receive not his impressions defectively and by the halves Let the Name of the most holy one be written in your very foreheads O that you would be so tender of the honour of the Lord and shine forth so brightly in Holyness and Righteousness that he that runs might read whose servants you are and know the Image Superscription of God upon the face of your conversations that as clearly as light is seen in and from the Sun and the power and wisdom and goodness of God is seen in the frame of the Creation and of Scripture so might the same shine forth in you that you might be Holy as God is Holy 1 Pet. 1.16 and perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect Matth. 5.48 that they that would know God may see him in his Saints where his Image is or should be so lively and discernable And they that cannot read and understand the Scripture or the works of Creation or disposing-Providence may read and understand the holy and heavenly representations of your lives Men are apt to look after Images of the Godhead because they are carnal and far from God O you that are appointed to bear his Image see that you so represent him to the eyes of the world as may be to his glory and not to his dishonour and take not the Name of God in vain It is so desirable for God and for the Church and for your own peace and happiness that Christians should grow up to a ripeness in Grace and be rooted built up confirmed and abound according to my Text that it hath drawn out from me all these words of exhortation thereunto Though one would think that to men of such holy Principles and experience it should be more than needs But if all will but serve to awaken the weak to a diligent progress I shall be glad and have my end The great matter that I intended when I began this discourse is yet behind and that is the giving you such Directions as may tend to your Confirmation and perseverance Which I shall now proceed to But I intreat every Reader that hath any spark of Grace in his Soul that he will resolve to put these Directions in practice and turn them not off with a bare perusal or approbation Let me reap but thus much fruit of all my foregoing Exhortations and I shall not think my labour lost XX. DIRECTIONS FOR CONFIRMATION In a state of Grace DIRECT I. Be sure that the Foundation be well laid both in your Heads and Hearts or else you can never attain to Confirmation nor be savingly built up TO this end you must know what the Foundation is and how it must be soundly laid The Foundation hath two parts or respects according to the faculties of the Soul where it must be laid The first is the Truth of the Doctrine and Matter and the second is the Goodness of it As True the Foundation is laid in our Understandings as Good it is laid in the Will Concerning both these we must therefore first consider of the matter of the Foundation and then of the Manner how that must be received or laid And the Foundation is that matter or object of our Faith and Hope and Love which is Essential to a Christian that is to the Christian saving Faith hope and love This hath been alwayes contained in our Baptism because Baptizing us is making us visible Christians or the solemn entrance into the state of Christianity As therefore we are Baptized into the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost renouncing the Flesh the World and the Devil so the doing of this unfeignedly without equivocation according to the Scripture sense of the words is the Essence of Christianity or the right laying of the Foundation So that the Foundation-Principal or Fundamental Matter is God the Father Son and Holy Ghost The Secondary Foundation or Fundamental Doctrine is those Scripture Propositions that express our Faith in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost When we name the three persons as the object of the Christian Faith we express names of Relation which contain both the persons nature and Offices or undertaken works Without either of which God were not God and Christ were not Christ and the Holy Ghost were not in the sense of our Articles of Faith the Holy Ghost As we must therfore believe that there is One only God So we must