formerly No but his Light is greater his eyes are open'd and now he sees more clearly what sinne is When the Sunne shines and its rayes come in what a number of motes do we discover which before we saw not Not as if the Sunne-beames made them or the Sunne raised the dust no there are here as many motes and as much dust flying about as if the Sunne shined here What 's the matter then Why this the Sunne discovers them to us So that here 's the point Our sinnes in our souls are as motes in the ayre and are not more than they were before conversion but we cannot see them till the glorious beams of Gods Spirit shine upon us The sight of sinne and of the danger that comes by it is the work of Gods Spirit The Spirit discovers sinne unto us John 16.8 When the Spirit cometh he shall convince the world of sinne the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit shall convince them and the same word is used Heb. 11.1 where Faith is said to be the evidence of things not seene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heretofore we had a slight imagination of our sinnes but to have our mouth stopped and to be convinced is not a work of flesh and blood but of Gods Spirit Rom. 3.19 Till we are awakened by his Spirit we cannot see nor feele the mountains and heaps of sinnes that lie upon our souls Thou art dead in sinne Rom. 8. Thou art in bondage and to know it is a work of the Spirit not of nature The spirit of bondage what is that Why however we are all bondmen untill the Son hath made us free in a woful estate slaves to sinne and Satan yet till Gods Spirit convince us and shew it us and make us know it we sleep secure are not afraid but think our selves the freest men in the world and see not this to be a time of need This therfore is the first preparative when God brings his people by Mount Sinai Heb. 12.18 For you are not come unto the Mountain that may be touch't and that burned by fire nor unto the blacknesse and darkness and tempest so Gal. 4. Mount Sinai is made a figure of the Law which begets bondage Not that Mount which might be touch't and that burnt with fire where was the sound of the Trumpet and voice of words such a sound as never before was heard nor never will be till one day we shall hear the same The sound of the Trumpet which sounded at the delivery of the Law Exod. 19.19 where it is described for when the voice of the Trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder that Moses heard it was such a noise a great noise at first but it grew higher and and higher and at last it came to that heighth that it was almost incomprehensible then Moses spake And what spake he The Holy Ghost sets not down what he spake in that place Look in Heb. 12.21 So terrible was the voice that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Such a kind of lightning and loud voice this was the Lord commands such a voice as this Esay 58.1 Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins When God shall sound with the voice of the Trumpet of his holy Word of his Law and shew thee that thou art a trayterous Rebel and that there is an Execution gone out against thee body and goods when God sounds thus to the deaf ear of a carnal man then cometh the spirit of bondage of necessity on him which shews that we have a time of need The Law must have this operation before thou comest to the Throne of grace None will flie to the City of Refuge till the revenger of blood be hard at his heels Nor any to Christ till he sees his want Thus the Lord makes us know our need by turning the edge of his Axe towards us Offenders when they are brought to the bar at Westminster for Treason have the edge of the Axe turned from them but when they have received the sentence of condemnation and are carried back to the Tower the edge of the Axe is turned towards them Thus is it here The Law turns the edge of Gods Axe towards us and therefore it 's said of St. Peters hearers Acts 2.38 That they were pricked to the heart The Law puts the point of Gods sword to our very brests as it were and brings us to see that we stand in great need of heaven This is the first preparative when God enlightens our minds to see our dangerous estate and then there must of necessity follow fear and desire to be rid of this condition for the will and affections alwayes follow the temper of the minde And hence when a man hath a false perswasion that he is in a good case that he is safe and well what works it but pride presumption confidence and security So on the contrary contrary effects must follow If a man be in health and jollity and on a sudden be proclaimed a Traytor that he must lose his life and goods is it possible it should be thus and he not wrought on nor have any alteration So when news comes from the Law that thou art a dead man and everlastingly must perish the Law then works wrath that is it manifests unto us the wrath of God When it is thus there follows a shaking and a trembling and it 's impossible but with Moses thou shouldst exceedingly quake and tremble 2. For all this there is a Throne of grace erected God hath not forgotten to be merciful though thy sins be never so great This is the next preparative for faith namely the discovery and acknowledgement of the Gospel of Christ Jesus We see in Ezra 10.2 We have trespassed against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of the Land yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing we have trespassed What then must we be the subjects of Gods wrath No Yet notwithstanding though we have committed this great offence there is hope in Israel concerning this thing What though we have provoked God to indignation must we be the matter for his wrath to work on No There is balme in Gilead Jer. 8. ult Is there no balme in Gilead Is there no Physitian there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered What though then we are sick to death yet there is an help in time of need And this knowledge of the people that there is a Throne of grace is the first comfort comes to a miserable and sinful soul. A man that hath a deadly disease though the Physitian do him no good which he hath made use of yet this he comforts himself in when he sees a Physician that hath cured the same disease he sees then there is some hope Thus it is with a sinful soul. When the
upon our selves with false glasses because there is naturally in every one self-love and in these last and worst times men are apt to think better of themselves then they deserve If there be any beginning of goodnesse in them they think all is well when there is no danger in the world then being but half Christians He thinks that if he hath escaped the outward pollutions of the world through lust and be not so bad as formerly he hath been and not so bad as many men in the world are therefore he is well enough whereas his end proves worse then his beginning This superficial repentance is but like the washing of a hog the outside is onely wash't the swinish nature is not taken a way There may be in this man some outward abstaining from the common grosse sins of the world or those which he himself was subject unto but his disposition to sin is the same his nature is nothing changed there is no renovation no casting in a new mould which must be in us For it is not a little reforming will serve the turn no nor all the morality in the world nor all the common graces of Gods Spirit nor the outward change of the life they will not do unlesse we are quickned and have a new life wrought in us unlesse there be a supernatural working of Gods Spirit we can never enter into Heaven Therefore in this case it behooves every man to prove his own work Gal. 6. A thing men are hardly drawn unto to be exact examiners of themselves Coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Heathen himself could say to know a mans self is a heavenly saying and it 's an heavenly thing indeed if we have an heavenly Master to teach us The Devil taught Socrates a lesson that brought him from the study of natural to moral Philosophy whereby he knew himself yet the Devil knew morality could never teach him the lesson indeed All the morality in the world cannot teach a man to escape Hell we must have a better instructer herein then the Devil or our selves the Lord of Heaven must do it if ever we will be brought to know our selves aright St. Paul was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel one of the learnedst Doctors of the Pharisees and yet he could not teach him this When he studied the law he thought himself unblameable but coming to an higher and better Master he knows that in him that is in his flesh dwells no good thing Rom. 7. By self examination a man may finde mâ—ny faults in himself but to find that which the Apostle afterwards found in himself to see the flesh a rottenness the sink of iniquity that is within him and to find himself so bad as indeed he is unlesse it please the Lord to open his eyes and to teach him he can never attain it Now we come to this place of the Apostle wherein we see the true glasse of our selves the Spirit knows what we are better then our selves and the Spirit shews us that every man of us either was or is such as we are here set down to be We are first natural before we can be spiritual there is not a man but hath been or is yet a natural man and tâ—â—â—efore see we the large description of a natural man before he is quickned before God which is rich in mercy enlivens him being dead in sins and saves him by grace in Christ. Thus is it with us all and thus must it be and we shall never be fit for grace till we know our selves thus far till we know our selves as far out of frame as the Spirit of truth declares us to be In this place of Scripture consider we 1. Who this carnal man is what they are which the Apostle speaks of to be dead in sins and that walk after the course of the world led by the Devil and have their conversation after the flesh children of wrath These are big words and heavy things Consider therefore first the subject of whom this is spoken Then follows the Pâ—aedicate or 2. What thâ— till newes is which he delivers of them We begin with the first 1. Who they are of whom this is spoken and that is you You hath he quickned who were dead and ye in the words following that in times past walked after the course of the world and in the third verse more particularly Among whom we had our conversation also in times past He speaks now in the first person as before in the second so that the subject is we and ye all Not a man in this Congregation but is or was as bad as the Holy Ghost here makes him But 2. To come to that which is delivered of him he is one not quickned dead in sins no better then nature made him that corrupt nature which he hath from Adam till he is thus spiritually enlivened Now he 's described 1. By the quality of his person 2. By his company Even as others Thou mayst think thy self better then another man but thou art no better never a barrel the better herring as we say Even as others thou art not so alone but as bad as the worst not a man more evil in his nature then thou art When thou goest to hell perhaps some difference there may be in your several punishments according to your several acts of rebellion but yet you shall all come short of the glory of God And for matter of quickning you are all alike 1. First then concerning their quality And this is declared 1. By their general disposition they are dead in trespasses and sins Dead and therefore unable and indisposed to the works of a spiritual living man Besides not onely indisposed and unable thereto but dead in trespasses and sins He lies rotting in his own filth like a rotten carkasse and stinkking carrion in the nostrils of the Almighty so loathsome is he all which is drawn from original sin Not onely dis-enabled to any good but prone to all sin and iniquity 2. By his particular conversation And that appeares in the verse following Where in times past ye walked How Not according to the word and will of God not according to his rule but they walked after three other wicked rules A dead man then hath his walk you see a strange thing in the dead but who directs him in his course these three the world the flesh and the Devil the worst guides that may be yet if we look to the conversation of a natural man we see these are his Pilots which are here set down 1. The World Where in times past ye walked after the course of the world He swims along with the stream of the world Nor will he be singular not such a precise one as some few are but do as the world doth run amain whither that carries him See the state of a natural man He 's apt to be brought into the slavery of the world This
so foul a sight that it would make us out of our wits as it were to behold it A man that is but natural cannot imagine what a black Devil there is within him But though he seeth it not yet he that hath eyes like a flame of fire Rev. 1.14 seeth our stains and spots Our Saviour shewes the filthinesse of the heart by that which proceeds out of the mouth Mat. 15.18 Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart And v. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts c. Observe Of all evils we account evil thoughts the least This we think strange what thoughts defile a man what so light a matter as a thought Can they make any impression Yes and defile a man too leaving such a spot behind them which nothing but the hot blood of Christ can wash away So many evil thoughts so many blasphemies so many filthy things come from the heart every one being a new defilement and pollution that a man is made so nasty by it and filthy that he cannot believe that it is so bad with him as indeed it is The Apostle having shewn the Corinthians their former life and exhorted them against it 1 Cor. 6. goes on cap. 7. v. 1. Let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit Mark then there is a double filthinesse a filthinesse of the flesh and a filthinesse of the spirit The filthinesse of the flesh that every one acknowledgeth to be filthy carnality Fornication and Adultery c. These bestial lusts every one knowes to be unclean But then there is a filth of the Spirit too and such are evil thoughts They are the filth of the Spirit Corruptio optimi est pessima The corruption which cleaves to the best thing is worst The soul is the Best thing the most noble thing the filthinesse which cleaves to it therefore must needs be the greatest Fleshly filthiness as Adultery is filthy but contemplative Adultery to dwell thereon is worse however such a man may be pure from the filth of the flesh yet if he delight himself in filthy thoughts his spirit is abominable in the sight of God there is a stain by every one of thy impure thoughts left behind However an actual sin be far greater then the sin of a thought yet if that be but once committed and these are frequently in thee if thou alway lie tumbling in the suds of thy filthy thoughts thy continuing therein makes thy sin more abominable then Davids outward act which he but once committed So that we see there is a filthinesse of the spirit as well as the flesh In James 1.21 we have a word sets out the filthinesse of it which is Superfluity Lay apart saith he all filthinesse and superfluity of naughtinesse First it 's expressed by the name of filthinesse â—hewing there 's nothing so defiles a man as sin Then 't is call'd superfluity of naughtinesse But what is there any naughtinesse to be born with and what exceeds that is it superfluity No that 's not the meaning of the place By superfluity is meant the excrements of sin Excrements are the refuse of meat when the good nourishment is taken away from it And 't is as if the Apostle had said Lay aside filthy nasty or excrementitious sin The word was used in the Ceremonies of the Jewes and thereby we may see what was taught concerning sin Deut. 23.12 13. Thou shalt have a place without the camp whither thou shalt goe c. Though the comparison be homely yet it shews the filthinesse of the sin that it is as a very excrement Thou shalt have a paddle and it shall be that when thou wilt ease thy self thou shalt dig therewith c. and thou shalâ— cover that which cometh from thee But what did God care for these things No it was to teach them a higher matter As the reason following implies For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the Camp God would thereby shew them that those things at which every man stoppeth his nose are not so filthy to man as sin is unto God So that you see how the case stands with a sinful man sin defiles him it pollutes him 2. And then in the next place It makes Gods soul to hate and abhor him It 's true some sins there are that every man imagineth to be shameful and filthy but we see all sin is so to God 't is filâ—hinesse of flesh and spirit A man may hate carnality fleshly filthinesse peradventure also he may hate covetousnesse but pride and prodigality that he may get as he thinks credit by that he cannot maintain the reputation of a Gentleman without them A miserable thing that a man should account that a garnish of the soule which doth defile and pollute it If a man should take the excrements of a beast to adorn himself would not we think him an ass Well when we thus defile our selves by sin God cannot endure us he is forced to turn from us he abhors us And that 's the next woe 2. When thou hast made thy self such a black soul such a dunghill such a sty then God must be gone he cannot endure to dwell there It stands not with his honour and with the purity of his nature to dwell in such a polluted heart there must now be a divorce Holinesse becomes his house for ever His delight is in the Saints He is King of the Saints he will not be in a sty When thou hast thus polluted and defiled thy soul God and thee must presently part God puts thee off and thou puttest God off too We read in that place before alledged Eph. 2 12· that before they knew Christ they were without God in the world c. Atheists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in cap. 4. v. 18. Having your understanding darkned and being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them The presence of God is the life of our soules and we having through sin and ignorance banish't God we become strangers until the time of our ingrafting into Christ we are aliens to the life of God whereupon comes a mutual kind of abhorring one another God abhors us and we vile and filthy wretches abhor God again There is enmity betwixt God and us and between all that belongs to God and all that belongs to us There 's an enmity betwixt God and us and observe the expression of it Levit. 26.15 If you shall despise my statutes or if your soules shall abhor my judgments so that you will not doe my commandements c. See here how we begin to abhor God and then for judgment on such persons v. 30. My soul shall abhor you We are not behind hand with God in this abhorring Zach. 11.8 My soul loathed them and their soul abhorred me When we begin to abhor God Gods soul also abhors us When a man hath such a polluted soul he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the variety of the curses belonging unto a man unreconciled are so many that the ample book of God cannot contain them Deut. 28.61 All the curses which are not written c. We read v. 27. The Lord shall smite thee with the botch of Egypt and with Emralds and with a scab and with itch See the diversities of plagues All these are made parts of the curse The very itch and scab is a part of the payment of Gods wrath in hell Lev. 26.26 I will send a sword amongst you which shall avenge the quarrel of my Covenant the sword which shall destroy you that when you shall hear of war of the coming of the sword which the children of God need not fear all is alike unto them it shall be to avenge the quarrel of Gods Covenant The Book of God comprehends not all the curses that are to light on the wicked And therefore we find in Zachary a Book a great Folio-book every side whereof was full of curses Cap. 5.2 He said unto me what seest thou And I said I see a flying roll the length whereof is 20 cubits and the breadth thereof is 10 cubits Here 's a big Book indeed but mark what is in it Sure it is not for nought that the Holy Ghost sets down the dimensions of it there is something questionlesse in it the length thereof is 20 cubits and the breadth 10 cubits a huge volume Nor is it a Book but a Roll so that the crassitude goeth into the compasse and this is written thick within and without and is full of curses against sin Now for the dimensions of it compare this place with 1 Kings 6.3 and you shall find them the very dimensions of Solomons Porch A great place where the people were wont to come for the hearing of the Word and not onely in that time but it was continued to the time of Christ and the Apostles For we read how our Saviour walked in Solomons Porch and the Apostles were in Solomons Porch Acts 5. So large then was this Roll that it agreed in length and breadth with Solomons Porch and so many curses were written in it as were able to come in at the Church door It is as if we should see a huge book now coming in at the Church-door that should fill it up Such a thing was presented unto him and it was a Roll full of curses and all these curses shall come on those that obey not all the Commandements all shall come upon them and overtake them Cursed shalt thou be in the City and cursed shalt thou be in the field cursed in thy basket and in thy store cursed when thou comest in and when thou goest forth Deut. 28. Till a man come to receive the Promises till he come to be a son of blessing till he be in Christ he is beset so with curses that if he lie down to sleep there is a curse on his pillow if he put his money in his cofer he lays up a curse with it which as rust eats it out and cankers it if he beget a child he is accursed there 's a curse against his person and his goods and all that belongs unto him there 's still a curse over his head The creditor in this world by the Laws of the Realm may choose whether he will have his debtors person seâ—zed on or his goods and chattels But not so here this writ is executed against his person and goods and all that belongs unto him So that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God If this be the condition of a wicked man that his very blessings be curses what a woful case is it There 's nothing till he be reconciled to Christ but hath a curse at the end of it Consider that one place in the Prophesie of Malachy where the very blessings are accurs'd not onely when God sends on him the itch or botch or scab or sword but in blessings cap. 2.2 he 's accursed If you will not hear and if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name saith the Lord I will even send a curse upon you But how See how this curse is threatned I will curse your very blessings yea I have cursed them already because you doe not lay it to heart Mark is it not a great blessing that God yet affords the Word that we yet enjoy it but if we come to hear but formally to hear it onely and lay it not to heart God curseth this blessing yea I have cursed it already saith the Lord. When thou prayest in hypocrisie thy prayer is a curse to thee If thou receive the Sacrament unworthily the cup of blessing is a cup of poyson a cup of cursing to thee Stay not therefore one hour longer quietly in this cursed condition but fly unto Christ for life blessing run to this City of refuge for otherwise there is a curse at the end of every outward thing that thou enjoyest I have cursed these blessings already It is as sure as if already pass't on thee What a woful thing then is it think you to be liable to the curse of God! 2. But what 's become of the soul now why if thou didst but see the cursed soul that thou carriest in thy body it would amaze thee These outward curses are but flea bitings to the blow that is given to the soul of an unregenerate man that deadnesse of spirit that is within didst thou but see the curse of God that rests upon the soul of this man even while he is above ground it would even astonish thee 1. Consider there are two kinds of blows that God gives unto the soul of an unregenerate man The one is a terrible blow The other which is the worst of the two is an insensible blow The sensible blow is when God lets the conscience out and makes it fly into the face of a man when the conscience shall come and terribly accuse a man for whâ—t he hath done This blow is not so usual as the insensible blow but this insensible is fâ—r more heavy But as it falls out that as in this world sometimes before the glory in heaven the Saints of God have here a glimpse of heaven and certain communion with God and Christ certain love tokens a white stone a new name in graven which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it And this is the tâ—stimony of a good conscience which is hidden joyes Privy intercourse is between Christ and them secret kisses And as Gods children doe as it were meet with a heaven upon earth sometimes and are as we read of Paul caught up into the third heaven which to them is more then all the things in the world besides So the wicked have sometimes flashes of hell in their consciences If you had but seen men in the case that I have seen them in you would say they had an hell within them they would desire
and feet But that which he shed in the garden in the cold winter time when he shed great drops great clots of blood thickest blood that pierc'd his garment and ran down upon the ground Consider how much blood he lost when he was whipped and lashed when the spear came to the very Pericardium thus let us weigh his torments and it will be a means to make us much affected with his sufferings for us But this is not all there is another thing yet in the blood this was but the outward part of his sufferings Yet some there are who are against Christs sufferings in his soul If it were so say they then something either in the sacrifices of the old Testament or in the new Testament should signifie it What ever such persons object against it I am sure there was as much in the sacrifices of the old Testament as could possibly be in a Type to signifie it Now that I may make this to appear know that in every sacrifice there were two parts or two things considerable and those were the Body and the Blood the whole was to be made a sacrifice viz. both Body and blood the body was to be burned the blood to be poured forth Now nothing in a beast can signifie the sufferings of Christ in soul better then the pouring out of the blood Lev. 17.11 The blood was the life and this is that which had a relation to the soul and was therefore as in the same place appears poured out as an attonement for the soul And to this in our common prayers there is an allusion viz. Grant us gracious Lord so to eat the flesh of thy dear son Jesus Christ and to drink his blood that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body and our souls washed through his most precious blood And in Isa. 53.12 The Metaphor holds He poured out his soul unto death for us So that whatever some have fondly thought its evident and manifest that Christ suffered both in soul and body both soul and body were made an offering for sin who knew no sin I should have gone further but the time cuts me off FINIS HEB. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly ùnto the throne of grace that we may obtaine mercy and finde grace to help in time of need IN handling heretofore the Doctrine of the conversion of a sinner I declar'd and shew'd you what mans misery was and what that great hope of mercy is that the Lord proposeth to the greatest sinner in the world I shew'd unto you the means whereby we may be made partakers of Christ and that was by the grace of faith which doth let fall all other things in a mans self and comes with an open and empty hand to lay hold on Christ and fill it self with him I shew'd you also the acts of Faith as it justifies And now because it is a point of high moment wherein all our comfort stands and in which it lies I thought good to resume it all again so farre as may concerne our practice that we may see what the work of Gods Spirit is from the first to the last in the conversion of a sinner from the corruptions and pollutions of the flesh in which he wallowed and to this purpose have I chosen this place of Scripture wherein we are encouraged by Gods blessed Word that what ever we are though accursed and the greatest sinners in the world and that whatever we want we should come to Gods throne of grace And we are to think that whatever sinnes are or have been committed and though our sinnes are never so great yet that they are not so great as the infinitenesse of Gods mercy especially having such not only an Intercessor but Advocate to plead the right of our cause so that Christ comes and he pleads payment and that however our debts are great and we runne farre in score yet he is our ransome and therefore now Gods justice being satisfied why should not his mercy have place and free course This is the great comfort that a Christian hath that he may come freely and boldly to God because he comes but as for an acquittance of what is already paid As a debtor will appear boldly before his creditor when he knows his debt is discharg'd he will not then be afraid to look him in the face Now we may come and say Blessed Father the debt is paid I pray give me pardon of my sinnes give me my acquittance And this is that boldnesse and accesse spoken of Rom. 5.2 In whom we have accesse by faith Now that I may not spend too much time needlesly come we to the ground and matter in the words Wherein there is 1. A preparative for grace 2. The act it self whereby we are made partakers of the grace of God First the preparatives are two The law and the Gospel and wrought by them The first preparative 1. Wrought by the Law The Law works in a time of great need this is the first preparative for a man to be brought to see he stands in great need of Gods mercy and Christs blood so that the sinner cries out Lord I stand in great want of mercy His eyes being thus opened he is no longer a stranger at home but he sees the case is wondrous hard with him so that he concludes Unlesse God be merciful unto me in Christ I am lost and undone for ever This is the first preparative and till we come to it we can never approach the throne of grace The second is 2. Wrought by the Gospel I see I stand in great need but by this second preparative we see a Throne of grace set up and that addes comfort unto me If God had onely a throne and seat of Justice I were utterly undone I see my debt is extreme great but the Gospel reveals unto me that God of his infinite mercy hath erected a Throne of grace a City of refuge that finding my self in need my soul may flie unto And now to fit us for this Gods blessed Spirit works by his Word to open unto us the Law and our wants to enlighten our understandings that we stand in great need to win our affection and open the Gospel and its comforts Therefore first for the time of need the Law reveals unto us our woful condition to be born in sin as the Pharisee said and yet not able to see it Every man may say in generalities I am a sinner yet to say and know himself to be such a sinner as indeed he is to stand in such need that he cannot do This one would think to be a matter of sence but unlesse Gods Spirit open our eyes we can never see our selvs to be such sinners as we are or else what is the reason that the child of God cries out more against his sinne and the weight thereof after his conversion than he did before What are his sinnes greater or more than they were
This being an accident we must have a subject for it Now there is a certaine kind of people that have supernatural workings some that are drawn up and down with every wind of Doctrine these are they that have this cold and temporary faith temporary because in the end it discovers it self to be a thing not constant and permanent We read in John 11.26 That they that are born of God never see death shall never perish eternally but yet we must know withal that there may be conceptions that will never come to the birth to a right and perfect delivery And thus it may be in the soul of a man there may be conceptions that will never come to a ripe birth but let a man be borne of God and come to perfection of birth and the case is cleare he shall never see death He that liveth and believeth in me shall not see death And this is made a point of faith Believest thou this There is another thing called conception and that is certain dispositions to a birth that come not to full perfection True a child that is borne and liveth is as perfectly alive as he that liveth an hundred years yet I say there are conceptions that come not to a birth Now the faith that justifies is a living faith there is a certaine kind of dead faith this is a feigned that an unfeigned faith The life that I now live I live by the faith of the Sonne of God Dost thou think a dead faith can make a living soule It 's against reason A man cannot live by a dead thing not by a dead faith Now a dead faith there is A faith that doth not work is a dead faith Jam. 2.22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works and by his works was faith made perfect for verse 26. As the body without the spirit is dead or without breath is dead so faith without works is dead also See how the Apostle compares it as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also The Apostle makes not faith the form of works as the soul is the forme of the man but as the body without the spirit is dead so that faith that worketh not that hath no tokens of life is dead but then doth not the other word strike home Faith wrought with his works It seems here is not as the Papists say fides informis and works make it up as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it Compare this with the other places of the Scripture 2 Cor. 12.9 where the Apostle pray'd to God that the messenger of Satan might be removed from him and he said unto him My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weaknesse What does our weaknesse make Gods strength more perfect to which nothing can be added No it is My strength and the perfection of it is made known in the weaknesse of the meanes that I made use of for the delivery of mans soul from death So here the excellency and perfection of our faith is made known by works when I see that it is not an idle but a working faith then I say it is made perfect by the work when it is a dead faith that puts not a man on work never believe that will make a living soul. In St. Judes Epistle ver 20. it hath another Epithite viz. the most holy faith not holy only but most holy That faith which must bring a man to God the holy of holies must be most holy It 's said that God dwells in our hearts by faith Now God and faith dwelling in a heart together that heart must needs be pure and cleane Faith makes the heart pure It were a most dishonourable thing to entertaine God in a sty a filthy and unclean heart but if faith dwell there it makes a fit house for the habitation of the King of Saints therefore it purifieth the heart Well then doest thou think thy sinnes are forgiven thee and that thou hast a strong faith and yet art as prophane and as filthy as ever How can it be It is a most holy faith that justifieth it is not a faith that will suffer a man to lie on a dunghill or in the gutter with the hog There may be a faith which is somewhat like this but it is but temporary and cometh short of it But now there is another thing which distinguishes it it is the peculiar work of faith In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but the new creature Gal. 6.15 and againe Gal. 5.6 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but faith which worketh by love It 's twice set down Now what is a new creature why he that hath such a faith as works by love not a dead faith but a faith that works but how does it work it not only abstaines from evil and does some good acts which a temporary may do but it s such a faith as works by love The love of God constraines him and he so loveth God as that he hates evil for Gods sake the other does it not out of love to God all the love he hath is self-love he serves his own turn on God rather than hath any true love to serve him Now that we may the better distinguish between these two I shall endeavour to shew you how farre one may go farther than the other I know not a more difficult point then this nor a case more to be cut by a thread then this it being a point of conscience therefore First I declared unto you the nature of faith How God first works the will and the deed and that there is a hungring and thirsting after Christ. First I say there is a will and desire to be made partaker of Christ and his righteousnesse then there is the deed too We are not only wishers and woulders but do actually approach unto the Throne of grace and there lay hold on Christ touch the golden Scepter which he holdeth out unto us but Object Now you will ask Is there not an earnest and good desire in a temporary faith a desire unfeign'd Sol. Yes there may be for a time a greater and more vehement desire in a temporary then in a true believer then in the elect themselves all their life Object Where 's the difference then I thought all had been well with me when I had such a desire as I could scarce be at rest till it were accomplished Sol. I answer beloved It is a hard matter to tell you the difference but you must consider 1. From whence this desire flowes whether it come from an accidental cause as if by accident my heart be made more soft and I more sensible of my condition or whether my nature be changed to give you an instance in iron when iron is put into the forge it is softened and as soon as it 's taken forth we say 't is time to strike while
enough to cry Lord be merciful to me If thou neglectest him here he will cry quittance with thee on thy death-bed Nor do I speak this of my self no. Look what Wisedome faith Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out mine hand and no man regarded but set at nought all my counâ—el and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh Pro. 1.24 25 26. As if he had said you refused me on my day I call'd cry'd unto you but you set at nought my words and rejected my counsel and were wiser then I therefore will I laugh at your destruction when you are in miserie I will mock and deride in stead of succouring A terrible thing will it be when in stead of hearing our cries to answer them he shall deride us and laugh at our folly and madness And in the 28. verse Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not finde me See what folly then it is to let slip this time This is the acceptable day Esay 55. Seek the Lord while he may be found call on him while he is near When a man refuses Gods day God will not hear his prayer all his sighs and sobs his groanes and cries shall not prevail Esay 66. I will choose their delusions and will bring their feares upon them because when I called none did answer when I spake they did not hear When men will needs be choosers of what God would not have God will have his choise too and it shall be that which will be displeasing to them I will choose their delusions and will bring their feares upon them Heb. 4.7 Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David to day after so long a time as it is said to day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts THe last day I entred on the opening of the place and shew'd How the Lord had proposed a limited time for our conversion unto him in which we should hear and obey his voice We shew'd farther how it was Satans policie to make men seem wiser then God that when God proposes a certain time and limits us a day wherin he will be found we will not have his but our own True say we God calls on us and it 's fit and convenient to hearken unto him but yet I le stay for a more seasonable opportunity There is nothing provokes God so much against us as when we will thus scorn that acceptable time he hath proposed Nor can there be a greater hinderance to repentance then to stop our eares at his counsels and to suffer him to call and cry unto us so long and yet to abuse his patience by a foolish neglect It accuses us of rebellion and high presumption on such infirm grounds to put from us the day of salvation Folly it is in the highest degree to trust on the future when as in our own hands we have neither space nor grace for such a businesse God is the Lord and owner of them both and will not part with his Prerogative Go to you that say to day or to morrow we will return unto the Lord. You adde to presumption both folly and rebellion Jezabel had space to repent yet she repented not for she had not the grace that without this will not benefit Seeing then these are not in your power harden not your hearts as in the provocation Nor offer despight unto the Holy Ghost by whom you are sealed to the day of redemption If we embrace not Gods day we despise the riches of his goodnesse long suffering and patience Rom. 2. Despisest thou the riches of Gods grace not knowing that the long-suffering of God leadeth to repentance There can be no higher presumption then this to bid defiance to the Spirit of God Nor can there be greater contempt of mercy then to set light of the time of our repentance and returning unto God making that the greatest argument of our delay which God uses to draw us to him God gives us space that we may repent and we repent not because he gives us space He gives us life that with fear and trembling we may set about the businesse of salvation and we through strong delusions put from us the proffers of his grace as if they were unseasonably offer'd What madnesse is it to frustrate the Almighty of his ends and purposes The Lord is not slack touching his promise It 's a great stop and hindrance to our progesse in goodnesse and the work of repentance when we distrust God and take him not at his word He sends abroad his Embassadors who proclame This is the accepted time this is the day of salvation to day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts yet we put this day from us and say hereafter is a more acceptable time I have this delight this pleasure to take first in the world I am not so weaned from it as I would be As if God would take it well from our hands that we should then return to him when there is no remedy I le fiâ—st use all the pleasure the world affords me and then Lord have mercy on me will serve the turn This is the very stifling of the beginnings and proceedings of Christianity Let this be well and speedily weigh'd as we tender our good and comfort Obj. But may some say what needs this haste may we not use leisure soft and fair goes far Sol. True soft and fair goes far if a man goes fairly in the way In this case though thou go but softly thou mayst come to thy journeys end but the doubt remains stil there is a question whether thou art in the way or not Happy are we if we are although we can but halt limp on in this way although this should be no ground for us to content our selves therewith We must not trifle in the wayes of holinesse It 's that concernes our life and must be seriously thought on and that speedily too Agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him God is thine adversary unlesse thou agree with him speedily his patience will break forth into fury Kisse the Son lest he be angry and thou perish from the right way Thou hast no assurance of thy life thou mayst be snapt off whilst thou thinkest it time enough to repent and return As long as we go out of the way of repentance we are in the way to hell and the farther a man goes in a wrong way the nearer is he to hell and the greater ado to return back and iâ— this regard soft and fair may goe far but 't is far out of the way far in the way to perdition and destruction As long as we are out of the right way to heaven and happinesse we are in the path that leads directly to the chambers of death
a good disposition and perform such acceptable service as that God cannot chuse but grant them a pardon But think not all will be well if thou shalt shake hands with God at thy journeys end when thou hast not walked with him all the way Obj. But did not the thief repent at the last on the Crosse and why may not I on my death bed Sol. This is no good warrant for thy delay for Christ might work this miraculously for the glory of his Passion Trust not therefore on this nor content thy self with good intentions but set about the businesse in good earnest and presently Our death-beds will bring so many disadvantages as will make that time very unseasonable whether we respect 1. External hindrances such as are pangs and pains in thy body which must be undergone and thou shalt find it will be as much as thou well canst do to support thy self under them Every noise will then offend thee yea thou wil not be able to endure the speech of thy best friends When Moses came to the children of Israel and told them God had sent him to deliver them what acceptation found this comfortable message The Text saith Exod. 9.6 They hearkned not through anguish of their spirits See here the effects of anguish and grief Moses spake comfortably but by reason of their pains they hearkned not unto him they were indisposed to give attendance So shall it be with us on our death-beds through the anguish of our spirits we shall be unfit to meddlâ— with ought else especially when the paines of death are upon us the dread whereof is terrible how will it make us tremble when death shall come with that errand to cut off our soules from our bodies and put them into possession of hell unlesse we repent the sooner Now thou art in thy best strength consider what a terror it will be what a sad message it will bring when it comes not to cut off an arm or leg but soul from body Now then make thy peace with God but that these men are fooles they would through fear of death be all their life-time in bondage It 's the Apostles expression Heb. 2.15 The consideration hereof should never let us be at rest till we had made our peace with God it should make us break our recreations and sports The considerations of what will become of us should put us in an extasie Nor are these all our troubles besides these outward troubles when a man is to dispose of his wife and children house and lands so that he must needs be very unfit at this time for the work of repâ—ntance These things will cast so great a damp on his heart as that he shall be even cold in his seeking after peace with God 2. But suppose these outward hindrances are removed that neither pain of body nor fear of death seize on thee neither care of wife nor children houses nor lands distract thee but that thou mightst then set about it with all thy might though thou wert in the most penitent condition that might be to mans seeming yet where 's the change or new nature should follow thy contrition unlesse we see this in truth we can have but little comfort Shall I see a sinner run on in his ill courses till the day of his death and then set on this work I could not conclude therefore the safety of his soul because it 's the change of the affections not of the actions that God looks after for the fear of death may extort this repentance where the nature is not changed Take an example of a covetous man which dotes on his wealth more then any thing else in the world suppose him in a ship with all his riches about him a tempest comes and puts him in danger of losing all both life and goods in this strait he sticks not to cast out all his wealth so he may preserve his life and shall we therefore say he is not covetous No we will account him neverthelesse covetous for all this nor that he loved his goods the lesse but his life the more It 's so in this câ—se when an impenitent person is brought upon his death bed 〈…〉 to cry out in the bitternesse of his soul If God will but grant me life and spare me now I le never be a drunkard swearer or covetous person more Whence comes this Not from any change of his nature and loathing of what he formerly loved but because he cannot keep these and life together fear alters his disposition the terrors of the Almighty lying upon him I have my self seen many at such a time as this that have been so exceeding full of sorrow and penitent expressions that the standers by have even wished their souls to have been in the other souls cases and yet when God hath restored them they have fallen into their former courses again And why is this but because when repentance comes this way it alters only the outward actions for the present not the sinful dispositions things that are extracted from a man alter the outward appearance not the nature Therefore saith the Lord I le go and return to my place till they acknowledge their offence and seek my face In their affliction they will seek me early Hos. 5. last Mark when Gods hand is on them they will seek him and as in the 6. Chap. 1. v. say one to another Come let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up How penitent were they when Gods hand was on them but let it once be removed and hear how God presently complaines of them O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I do unto thee for your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Mark thy goodness is as a morning cloud such a goodness as is extorted that is as temporary as earthly dew Another considerable place we have in the Psal. 78.34 When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God Was not this a great conversion When they were in this dismal condition they were not troubled with cares for Wife or Children Houses or Lands how can we think but that these men died in peace that were in so good a humour yet see what followes verse 36. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouths and lied unto him with their tongues Besides consider the unworthiness of it I le forsake sin when sin forsakes me We leave it when we can keep it no longer Thank you for nothing may God say if you could you would sin longer this is that folly which deferring our repentance brings us to But to draw to a conclusion God hath set us a certain day and if we pass the time woe be to us For though he is full of mercy and patience yet patience hurt oftentimes
from his body those two loving companions that have so long dwelt together are now separated It takes thy soul from thy body This man doth not deliver up his spirit as we read of our Saviour Father into thy hands I commit my spirit or deliver their spirits as Stephen did But here it 's taken from them it 's much against his mind it 's a pulling of himself from himself This it doth 3. But then again when thou art thus pulled asunder what becomes of the parts separated 1. First The body as soon as the soul is taken from it hastens to corruption that must see corruption yea it becomes so full of corruption that thy dearest friend cannot then endure to come near unto thee When the soul is taken from the body it 's observed that of all carkasses that are mans is most loathsome none so odious as that Abraham loved Sarah well but when he comes to buy a monument for her see his expression Gen. 23 8. He communes with the men and saith if it be your mind to sell me the field that I might bury my dead out of my sight Though he loved her very well before yet now she must be buried out of his sight It is sown in dishonour and it 's the basest thing that can be Therefore when our Saviour was going near to the place where Lazarus lay his sister saith Lord come not near him for he smells Job 17.14 I have said to corruption thou art my father saith Job and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister As in the verse before The grave is my house I have made my bed in the darkness Here then he hath a new kindred and though before he had affinity with the greatest yet here he gets new affiniâ—y He saith to corruption thou art my father and to the worm thou art my mother and my sister The worm is our best kindred here the worm then is our best bed yea worms thy best covering as Esay 14.11 Thus is it thy Father thy mother and thy bed nay it is thy consumption and destroyer also Job 26. Thus is it with thy body it passeth to corruption that thy best or dearest friend cannot behold it or endure it 2. But alas what becomes of thy soul then Thy soul appears naked there 's no garment to defend it no Proctor appears to plead for it It is brought singly to the bar and there it must answer It is appointed for all men once to die But what then And after that to come to judgment Heb. 9.27 Eccles. 12.7 The body returns unto the earth from whence it was taken but the Spirit to God who gave it All mens spirits assoon as their bodies and souls are parted goe to God to be disposed of by him where they shall keep their everlasting residence Consider when thou hearest the bell rung out for a dead man if thou hadst but the wings of a dove to fly and couldst fly after him and appear with him before Gods Tribunal to see the account that he must give unto God for all things done in the flesh and when no account can be given what a state of misery and horrour wouldst thou see him in and this is a silent kind of judging The last day of judging shall be with great pomp and solemnity This is a matter closely carried between God and thy self but then thou must give an account of all that thou hast received And then when thou canst not give a good account then is thy talent taken from thee Why saith God I gave thee learning how didst thou use it I gave thee other gifts of mind how didst thou imploy them God hath given thee wisedome and wealth Moral vertues meeknesse and patience c. these are good things But mark whatsoever good things thou hadst in this world is now taken from thee If a man could but see the degrading of the soul he should see that those moral vertues in which his hope of comfort lay even these though they could never bring him to heaven yet they shall be taken from him As when a Knight is degraded First his sword is taken from him then comes one with a hatchet and chops off his golden spurs and then go Sr. Knave This is the degrading of the soul before the judgment is received the moral vertues are taken from him and then see what an ugly soule he hath he had hope before now he 's without hope he had some patience in this world but he made no good use of it and now his patience is taken from him And when thou shalt come to a place of torment and thy hope and patience be taken from thee what case wilt thou be in then Patience may stay a man up in trouble and hope may comfort a man up in torment but both these are taken away This is a thing we very seldome think but did we seriously consider of this first act of the Judgment before the sentence we would not be idle in this world 3. Then lastly he is put into an unchangeable estate So soon as ever death lays Gods Mace upon him he 's put into an estate of unchangeblenesse Such is the terriblenesse of it that now though he yell and groan and pour out rivers of teares there is no hope of change Consider now what a woful case this is If some friend of this mans should now come to him would he not tell him we have often been very merry together but didst thou but know the misery that I am in thou wouldst be troubled for me Half those teares that I now pour forth would have put me into another place had I taken the season but now it is too late Oh therefore doe thou make use of teares a little may doe it now hereafter it will be too late That 's the thing we should now come to speak of the second death But think not that I am able to speak of it now no that which is everlasting deserves an hour in speaking and an Age in thinking of it Therefore that everlasting torment horror and anguish which God hath reserved for those that make not their peace with him which is easily done God knows I shall speak of the next time REV. 21.8 Buâ—â—he fearful and unbelâ—â—â—â—ng and the abominable and murtherers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death THe last day I entred you know upon the miserable estate of an unreconciled sinâ—er at the time of his dissolution when his soule shall be taken from him and be presented naked before Christs Tribunal there to receive according to the works which he hath done in the flesh And I shew'd that the wofulnesse of that estate consisted in two acts done upon him The one before he comes to his place before he is thrust away from Gods presence into hell fire which I
precious faith that of the poorest Believer and the greatest Saint Now that we may come unto the point without any more going backwards In the words read there is the point of faith and a thing God confirms it withal a seal In whom also after that you believed you were sealed Faith is of it self a thing unsealed the sealing with the holy Spirit of Promise is a point beyond faith it s a point of feeling and not only of believing of Gods Word but a sensible feeling of the Spirit a believing in my soul accompanied with joy unspeakable and full of glory of which sealing we shall speak more hereafter Observe for the first 1. The Object of it In whom you trusted We speak of Faith now as it justifies as it apprehends Christ for its Object for otherwise Faith hath as large an Extent as all Gods Word Faith hath a hand to receive whatsoever God hath a mouth to speak What is the Object He in whom you trusted It is a wonder to see how many are deceived who make the forgiveness of sins to be the proper Object of faith A man may call as long as he lives for forgiveness of sins yet unless there be the first Act to lay hold on Christ in vain doth he expect forgiveness of sins Untill thou dost accept Christ for thy King and Saviour thou hast no promise We are never Children of the Promise till we are found in him The proper and immediate Object of Faith is first Christ and then God the Father by him for Faith must have Christ for its Object I must believe in none else but God in and through Christ. Now that this is so we may see in that famous place 1 Pet. 1.21 When he had spoken of the precious blood of Christ the Lamb without blemish he goes on and shews that he was manifested in those last times for you who by him do believe in God that raised up Christ from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God There is no true believing in God the Father but by the Son The proper Object of Hope and Faith is God and he that doth believe or hope or trust in any thing else there is Idolatry in it we believe in God by him so that the primary Object of Faith is Christ. Gal. 3.26 Ye are all the Children of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. What 's my Faith then If thou wilt be the Child of God receive hold Christ Jesus accept him for thy Saviour and for thy Lord He is the proper Object of thy Faith Again you must have Christ Jesus and him crucified that should be the highest knowledge in our account To know Christ and him crucified and by it to accept him Hereupon the Apostle to the Romans when he speaks of faith makes the Object of it Christ and Christ crucified Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his Righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Whatsoever then thou findest in Christ is an Object of thy Faith John 6. The point is He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood that is he who receiveth me and makes me as his meat and drink shall be partaker of me Compare this Rom. 3.25 with Rom. 5.9 for its worth comparing We are said to be justified by his blood Rom. 5.9 By faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 Now both these come to one and they resolve the point and clear the Question whether Faith in it self as a Vertue doth justifie or in respect of its Object surely it s in respect of the Object You that have skill in Phylosophy know that heat if considered as a quality its effects are not so great but considered as an instrument it transcends the sphere of its own activity it doth wonders for its the principle of generation and many other strange effects So here take faith as a Vertue and it s far short of love but consider it as an instrument whereby Christ is applyed and it transcends it works wonders beyond its proper sphere for the meanest thing it layes hold on is the Son of God He that hath the Son hath life c. Some would think this an hard kind of speech when we are justified by faith we are justified by Christ apprehended by faith and yet that place is cleer to be justified by his blood and faith in his blood becomes one faith As if a man should say I was cured by going to the Bath so faith comes unto me faith is the legs A man is not said properly to be cured by going to the Bath nor justified by coming to Christ by the legs of faith but the applying of the Bath the coming to Christ and applying his vertue to make him the Object of my faith this is the way to be justified As it is not the makeing and preparing of a plaister that cures but the applying it so that this concludes this point that the true Object of faith is Christ crucified and God the Father in and by him Here then is the point thou must not look for any comfort in faith till thou hast Christ and to think thou shalt ever have any benefit by God till thou hast Christ thou deceivest thy self It is impossible for a man to receive nourishment by his bread and drink till he partake of it in the substance so thou must partake of Christ before thou canst receive any nourishment by him Christ saith not thou must have forgiveness of sins or thou must have my Fathers favour but take my body and blood take me crucified Buy the field and the treasure is thine but thou hast nothing to do with the treasure till thou gettest the field This is preferment enough to have the Lords Promise to Abraham I am thy exceeding great reward I am my wel-beloveds and my wel-beloved is mine There is a spiritual match betwixt Christ and thee there are many who are matcht with Christ and yet know not how rich they are when a man reckons of what he shall get by Christ only when all his thoughts are on that he marrieth the portion and not the man thou must set thy love on Christs person and then having him all that he hath is thine how rich Christ is so rich art thou he must first be thine He that hath the Son hath life but the Son must first be had Is there any now in this congregation who is so hard-hearted as to refuse such a gift as this When God shall give thee his Son if thou wilt take him is there any so prophane as with Esau to sell his birth c. to pursue the poor pedling things of this life and refuse salvation so high a gift A gift which is not given to Angels they think it an honour to wait at the Lords Table they have not this precious food given to them they never
ignorance thou hast no feeling yet if thou consent thou art justified it s the consent makes the match If thou consent to the Father and take Christ the Son know it or know it not thou hast him though thou knowest not whether thy sins are forgiven yet as long as thou keepest thy hold all the Devils temptations shall never drive thee from him thou art justified and in a safe case though ignorance and other things in thee cause thee not to feel it if thou layest hold on him for his sake thou art apprehended Object Now then this is an easie matter you will say Sol. Not so easie a matter as you guess it to be It were easie indeed were there nothing but saying the word to make man and wife there are terms and conditions to be agreed upon God casts not his Son away he looks there shall be conditions on thy side he must be thy King and Head if thou wilt have him to be thy husband But what shall I get by him then saith the wife Get there is no end of thy getting All is thine Paul Apollos Cephas Life c. Thou art Christs and Christ is Gods Every man will take Christ thus for the better but there 's somewhat else in the match If thou wilt have him thou must take him for better for worse for richer for poorer Indeed there are precious things provided for you It s your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom you shall be Heirs with Christ but for the present while you are in the Church Militant you must take up your Cross you must not look for great things in this world In this world you must have tribulation you must deny your selves and your own Wills What would you have Christ the wife and you the husband No If you think so you mistake the match Christ must be the Husband and the Head and as the wife promises to obey her husband to stick to her husband in sickness and in health and to forsake all others so Christ asketh wilt thou have me if thou wilt thou must take me on these terms thou must take my Cross with me thou must deny thine own Will yea it may be thine own life also Let a Christian consider all these things these are the words and these are the benefits and then compare them together then if he can say I will have Christ howâ—ver for I shall be a saver by him I 'le take him withâ—ll faults I know I shall make a good bargain therefore I will have him on any terms come what will when a man can have his will so perpendicularly bent on Christ that he will have him though he leave his skin behind him there 's a true acceptation of him We must not here distinguish with the Schools about Velleities a general wishing and woulding and true desires after Christ Wishers and Woulders never thrive but there must be a resolution to follow Christ through thick and thin never to part with him a direct Will is here required And therefore Christ bids us consider before hand what it will cost us If any man come to me and hate not Father and mother wife and children and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Do not think that our Saviour here would discourage men from love Doth the God of love teach us hatred The phrase in the Hebrew is loving less as it is said Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated that is loved less If a man hath two wives one beloved and the other hated and they have born Children both the beloved and the hated By hated is not meant that the man hated one wife but less loved her then the other so if any man come to me and hate not father and mother and that is if he love not all less then me and that it is so we may see it expounded by our Saviour Mat. 10.37 He that loveth father or mother more then me is not worthy of me There Christ expounds it He that will follow Christ in calm weather and not in a storm is not worthy of him Luke 14.28 Which of you intending to build a Tower sitteâ—â— not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it What is that to the purpose See verse 33. So likewise wâ—osoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple It s a small matter to begin to be a Christian unless you consider what it will cost you Do you tâ—â—â—k it a small matter to be the Kings son think not on so great a business without consideration what it will cost you It will be the denying of your own wills You must be content to follow naked Christ nakedly follow him in his persecution and tribulation in his death and suffering if thou wilt be conformable to him in glory When this case comes it makes many draw back as the rich man in the Gospel when he must forsake all he drew back When troubles arise many are offended so when it comes to a point of parting they go back Now we come to speak one word of the sealing in the Text. After that ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise This sealing which is a point of feeling is a distinct thing of it self from faith no part of faith If I have faith I am sure of life though I never have the other these are two seals VVe put to our seals to the counter-part that is drawn betwixt God and us The first seal is our faith I have nothing but Gods VVord and indeed I have no feeling yet I venture my salvation and trust God upon his bare VVord I will pawn all upon it He that believeth saith John hath set to his seal that God is true If men doubt and trust God no further then they see him it is not faith But when God gives me a good word though I am in as much distress as ever yet I trust though it be contrary to all sense or outward seeming yet I put to my seal and trust him still Then comes Gods counter-part God being thus honoured that I believe his Word though contrary to all sense and feeling even his bare Word then God sets to his seal and now the Word comes to particularizing Before it was in general now it comes and singles out a man Say thou unto my soul that I am thy salvation Psalm 35.3 that is as I did apply the generality of Gods Word unto mine own case to bear me up against sense and feeling then comes the Spirit of God and not only delivers generalities but saith unto my soul I am thy salvation This is called in Scripture a manifestation when God manifests himself unto us as in Isa. 60.16 Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the brest of Kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer c. that
not nor begs so hard because he hath but little hope to attain any thing from him But I say let both these meet together first that the beggar is in great need then that he of whom he begs is very liberal it makes him beg hard but now cannot he pray without book Think not that I speak against praying by the book you are deceived if you think so but there must be words taken to us besides which perhaps a book will not yield us A beggars need will make him speak and he will not hide his sores but if he hath any sore more ugly or worse than another he will uncover it good Sir behold my woful and distressed case he layes all open to provoke pity So when thou comest before God in confession canst thou not finde out words to open thy self to Almighty God not one word whereby thou mayst unlap thy sores and beseech him to look on thee with an eye of pity I must not mince my sins but amplifie and aggravate them that God may be moved to pardon me till we do thus we cannot expect that God should forgive us A great ado there is about auricular confession but it s a meer bable It were better to cry out our sinnes at the high Crosse than to confesse in a Priests eare Thou whisperest in the Priests eare what if he never tell it or if he do art thou the better Come and poure out thy heart and soul before Almighty God confesse thy self to him as David did for that hath a promise made to it Psal. 51.4 Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mayst be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest Why so Why one main cause why we should confesse sinne is to justifie God When a sinner confesses I am a childe of wrath and of death if thou castest me into hell as justly thou mayst I have received but my due when a man does thus as the Kings Atturney may frame a Bill of Inditement against himself he justifies Almighty God Thus did David Against thee against thee c. Now when we have thus aggravated our misery comes the other part of begging to cry for mercy with earnestnesse and here 's the power of the Spirit It 's one thing for a man to pray and another thing for a man to say a prayer 'T is the easiest thing in the world to say a prayer but to pray and cry for mercy as David did in good earnest to wrestle with God to say Lord My life lies in it I will never give thee over I will not go with a denial this is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this is the work of Gods Spirit I named you a place in Jude ver 20. where the Apostle exhorts but ye beloved build up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost there 's the prayer of the faithful to pray in the Holy Ghost And in the Ephesians we read of an Armour provided for all the parts of a mans body yet all will not serve the turn unlesse prayer come in as the chief Ephes. 6.18 Praying alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance c. This is the prayer of faith that procures forgivenesse of sinnes we must pray in faith and in the Spirit that is the language which God understands He knoweth the meaning of the Spirit and knoweth none else but that Many men are wondrously deceived in that which they call the Spirit of prayer One thinks it is a faculty to set out ones desires in fair words shewing earnestnesse and speaking much in an extemporary prayer This we think commendable yet this is not the Spirit of prayer One that shall never come to heaven may be more ready in this than the childe of God for it is a matter of skill and exercise the Spirit of prayer is another thing The Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought the Spirit it self makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered Rom. 8.26 What shall we think then that the Holy Ghost groans or speaks in prayer No but it makes us groan and though we speak not a word yet it so enlarges our hearts as that we send up a volley of sighs and groans which fit the Throne of grace And this is the Spirit of prayer when with these sighs and groans I beg as it were for my life This is that ardent affection the Scripture speaks of A cold prayer will never get forgivenesse of sins it 's the prayer of faith which prevailes The prayer of the faithful availeth much if it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fervent In the Ancient Churches those that were possessed with an evil spirit were call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because that caught them up and made them do actions not sutable to their nature Prayer is a fire from heaven which if thou hast it will carry all heaven before it there is nothing in the world so strong as a Christian thus praying Prayers that are kindled with such a zeal are compared to Jacobs wrestling with the Angel Hos. 12.4 whereby he had power over the Angel The Prophet expounds what this wrastling was he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with him This is the wrestling with God when thou fillest heaven with thy sighs and sobs and bedewest thy couch with thy tears as David did and hast this resolution with Jacob I will not let thee go except thou blesse me God loves this kinde of boldnesse in a beggar that he will not go away without an answer As the poor Widow in the Parable that would not give over her suit so that the Judge though he feared not God nor cared for man by reason of her importunity granted her desire Mark the other thing in the Apostle he bids us pray with the Spirit and with perseverance and he that cometh thus hath a promise made to it He that calleth on the Name of the Lord shall be saved Call on me in the day of trouble and I will hear thee it 's set down fully Matth. 6.7 Ask and you shall have seek and you shall finde knock and it shall be opened unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened One would think this were idem per idem but it is not so He bids us ask and it shall be given seek and you shall finde c. There is a promise annexed to asking seeking and knocking but it is also proved by universal experience for every one that asketh c. It 's every mans case never any man did it yet that hath lost his labour in not attaining what he asked If thou hast it not yet thou shalt have it in the end it is so fair a petition to
ask to have thy sinnes pardoned that God would be friends with thee and that Christ would make thee love him and that God would be thy God that God delights in it This is the point then Suppose God answer not presently yet knock still seek still that is perseverance the thing whereby it is distinguished from temporary asking The hypocrite will pray in a time of need and adversity but his prayer is not constant Job 27.10 Will the hypocrite alwayes call upon God If they come and seek God and he will not answer as Saul did they will try the Divel God would not answer Saul and he presently goes to the Divel It 's not so with Gods children they pray and pray and wait still they pray with the Spirit and with perseverance God deals not alwayes alike with his children but differently sometimes he answers presently sometimes he makes them wait his leisure Psal. 32.5 I said I would confess my sinne sayes David and my transgressions and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sinne so Dan. 9.21 When he set himself to seek God even while he was speaking and praying the man Gabriel appeared unto him and touch't him about the time of the evening Oblation Before the word was out of his mouth God was at his heart and presently sends him a dispatch The like we see in Esay 65.24 Mark what a promise there is It shall come to passe that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear This is a great encouragement but it may be God will not alwayes do this and what 's the reason Why he hath a wonderful great delight to be wrestled withall and to hear the words of his own Spirit nothing is more delightful to him than this when the Spirit is earnest and will not give over I will not let thee go unlesse thou blesse me It 's said in the Canticles honey is under the lips of the Church why so it's because there is no honey sweeter to the palate than spiritual prayer to God And therefore God delayes to answer thee because he would have more of it If the Musitians come and play at our doors or windows if we delight not in their Musick we throw them out money presently that they may be gone but if the Musick please us we forbear to give them money because we would keep them longer for we like the Musick So the Lord loves and delights in the sweet words of his children and therefore puts them off and answers them not presently Now Gods children let him deny them never so long yet they will never leave knocking and begging they will pray and they will wait still till they receive an answer Many will pray to God as prayer is a duty but few use it as a means to attain a blessing Those who come to God in the use of it as a means to attain what they would have they will pray and not give over they will expect an Answer and never give over petitioning till they receive it ROM 5.1 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. HAving declared unto you heretofore the nature of faith and that point which concernes the practice of it in our near approach unto God I am now come to shew unto you the fruits and benefits Christians receive from this Mother-grace and that the Apostle sets down in these words He sets down 1. The Mother-Grace Justification that whereas we were afarre off we are made near and of enemies made friends of God Then 2. There are the daughters or hand-maids of this grace For when we are justified by Faith then 1. We have peace with God that peace of conscience which passeth all understanding then 2. We have free accesse by faith unto the Throne of grace so that we need not look for any other Mediators Christ hath made way for us to God so that we may go boldly to the Throne of grace and find help at any time of need 3. There follows a joyful hope that a Christian hath by it a taste of Heaven before he come to enjoy it We rejoyce in hope saith the Apostle hope being as firme a thing as faith faith makes things absent as present hope hath patience with it and would have us wait We shall be sure of it but yet we must wait patiently 4. Not only rejoycing in hope but even that which spoils a natural mans joy as crosses troubles afflictions and these are made the matter of this mans joy not delectable objects only Not in time to come after afflictions but in afflictions so as that which spoils the joy of a natural man is fuel to kindle this mans joy Now concerning justification by faith though it be an ordinary point yet there is nothing more needs Explication than to know how a man shall be justified by Faith It 's easily spoken hardly explicated Therefore in this mother-Grace I shall shew you 1. What faith is that doth justifie And 2. What this justification is For it is not so easie a mattâ—â— neither 1. Concerning the nature of faith I have spoken sufficiently already wherein it consists but yet notwithstanding there is a certain thing as like this faith as may be and yet comes short of it Many there are who are like the foolish Virgins that thought they were well enough and thought they should come time enough So many think verily they have faith yea and perchance go with such a perswasion to their very graves and think they have grace and that they labour after Christ and lay hold on him and are free from worldly pollutions so as that they have a taste and relish of the joy of the world to come and yet are carried all this while in a fooles Paradise and think there is no feare of their safety never knowing that they are cast-awayes till they come to the gates of hell and find themselves by woful experience shut out of heaven And their case is woful that are thus deceived Know then that it is not every faith that justifies a man a man may have faith and yet not be justified The Faith that justifies is the Faith of Gods Elect Tit. 1.1 there is a faith that may belong to them that are not Gods elect but that faith does not justifie In the Epistle to Timothy that faith which justifies must be a Faith unfeign'd 1 Tim. 1.5 2 Tim. 1.5 Now here 's the skill of a Christian to try what that faith is which justifies him Now this justifying faith is not every work of Gods Spirit in a mans heart for there are supernatural operations of the Spirit in a mans heart that are but temporary that carry him not thorow and therefore are ineffectual but the end of this faith is the salvation of our soules We read in Scripture of Apostacy and falling back Now they cannot be Apostates that were never in the way of truth
great work or to a great deal of joy he first humbleth him the Prince of our salvation was consecrated by afflictions and we must be conformable unto Christ our Head when the stormes are past the Sea will continue raging for awhile and when you have turn'd the wheel round if you take away your hand it will go round it self for a time So when you are justified by faith the storme is over yet the roaring of the waves will continue it will be so with the children of God though there be a calme yet there will be some remainders of a storm Again they are in travaile and that is a painful thing My little children with whom I travail they have the pangs of the new birth and it is a good while before they can finde that quietnesse their heart doth long for Again God purposely doth though he be friends with them take away from them the sense of peace because he takes delight to finde that strength of faith Faith is manifest that way faith is most strong when there is least sense My God my God why hast thou forsaken me the lesse sense the faster the hold and God loves this at life that when he spurns and frowns he will not let go nor be put off let him kill me he shall kill me with Christ in my arms I will not let go my hold God cannot fail he hath given me his Word therefore I will not let go such astrong faith had Abraham contrary to reason Gods Word is true he gives me his Word and I will trust him So a childe of God will not be put off though God write bitter things against him he will not forgo him we have an excellent example in the woman of Canaan the end of it is O woman great is thy faith but how doth the greatnesse of it appear Lord have mercy upon me my daughter is grievously afflicted c. why not rather Lord have mercy on my daughter the reason is because she was afflicted in her daughters affliction by the way we may hereby understand the meaning of the Commandment where it is said he will visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him but why to the third and fourth generation because I may see the third and fourth generation and may see the judgment of God on them and may remember my sinne for which they are plagued the case is mine and not theirs only Lord have mercy upon me for my daughter is diseased I see my own sinne is punished by the judgment on her in my sight poor woman Christ will not hear her she might have been dash't out of countenance the Disciples were weary of her clamorous cryes and say Send her away for she troubleth us what saith Christ Is â—t fit to take the childrens bread and cast it unto dogs This was enough to dash her quite before she was discouraged by silence but to be called dog it were enough quite to discourage her but see the fruit of faith she seeks comfort out of that which would have undone another what am I dog a under the Table there I shall get a crumme others of the children that are better let them have the loaves I account my self happy if I may but get a crumb Oh woman great is thy faith this is great faith when it goes contrary to all sense That when God calls me dog when he spurns at me and frowns on me I will not be put off Faith is of the nature of the Vine if it have but the least hold on the wall it makes use of it and climbs higher and higher So out of the least thing that drops from her Saviours mouth she raiseth her faith higher so though we have this peace with God yet oft ofttimes he with-holds the notification of it to us 3. The last thing is to note the difference between the peace of a carnal and a spiritual man carnal peace is mixt with a great deal of presumption and pride but the more spiritual peace thou hast the more thou art dejected in thy self the more cast down see it in Ezekiel Ezek. 16.60 61 62 63. I will establish with thee an everlasting Covenant then shalt thou remember thy wayes and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy sisters thy elder and thy younger and I will give them unto thee for daughters but not by thy Covenant and I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that thou mayst remember and be confounded and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done saith the Lord when God is pacified yet they hold down their heads and are ashamed when a man knoweth that God hath pardoned his sins he is ashamed that he hath carried himself so wickedly against God of whose mercy he hath now such experience When God is pacified a man remembers his former sinnes and is confounded as it is Ezek. 36.31 Then shall you remember your own evil wayes and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations in that time when I am pacified toward you That which would work in a carnal man security and pride for he never thinks himself better then when there 's peace within will work in the the childe of God the Spirit of humiliation In the last Chapter of Job God had manifested himself wonderfully to Job and however before he had very sharp afflictions his sufferings in soul were next to the sufferings of Christ. I believe never any man suffered so much as Job did insomuch that the arrows of the Almighty stuck in him thou hast eaten up my flesh c. This was the case of Job and he stood upon termes of justification he wâ—sh't that God would dispute with him that God would either be the Opponent or the Answerer If God would answer he would oppose or if God would oppose he would answer God comes as he would have him and Job is not at that point that he was before when God draws nigh unto him he saith I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now my eye seeth thee Job 42.5 Well this may make thee a proud man and elevate thee no saith he now I abhorre my self in dust and ashes The nearer God draws unto us and the more merciful he is unto us by that light we the more discern our own abominations That which would make another man proud brings Job to the knowledge of his vilenesse Therefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes 3. Now another thing is Who is this peace-maker This I shall but touch We have peace with God But how through our Lord Jesus Christ he is our peace-maker and interposeth between his Fathers wrath and us Ephes. 2.14 For he is our