The Saints Qualification, Sermon 8
THE EIGHTH SERMON VPONUPON THE NEW CREATVRE.
2 COR. 5.17.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, let him be a new Creature.
GOD hath planted in every man selfe-love,Mot. 2. If you be united with him, you shall be free from all evill, and enjoy all good. every man seekes his owne happinesse.
Two things every man would have, they would be freed from all evill, and enjoy all good things; if they could finde these in Christ, men would be perswaded to come in. Now we can assure you that both these you shall finde in Christ, you shall by him be freed from all evil, and be compassed about with mercy on every side: First, I say, you shall be freed from all evill, for what Christ saith to all his Disciples, Luke 10. You shall tread on Serpents and Scorpions, and all the power of the Enemie, and nothing shall hurt you, may be applied to all the Saints, though there be many hurtfull things in the world, yet nothing shall hurt them. It is true indeed, they may have to doe with Serpents and Scorpions, that is, evill things may fall upon them, as well as upon others; you see the same condition fals to all, yet it shall not hurt them; according to that in Luke 1.74. That we being delivered from our enemies, is that, we may serve him without feare: Mark that, you shall be delivered from all your enemies, if you will come in, that is, there shall not an enemie in the world be able to doe you hurt, and you shall live without feare, that is, the great advantage you shall have, as if he should say, other men feare a thousand things, they feare death, they feare sicknesse, they feare losse of friends and good name; but when a man is one in Christ, he shal be delivered from all his Enemies, he shall serve the Lord without feare, because nothing is able to hurt him; for what could hurt him? Either it must be the Devill or men, or some other Creature, but none of these can hurt him. Is not God the Governour of the house; Is he not the Master, Is not he able to rate the Mastives from flying in the face of any of his friends that come to him, yea, he is able to doe it, and none but the Master of the house is able to do it: None can keep the Creatures from hurting of you, but he that hath the command of all the Creatures, therefore if you will come in, nothing shall hurt you, he is a Buckler and a Shield to compasse you round about: He will be your strong fortresse, into which no Creature shall be able to shoot an arrow.
But besides this, you shall have all things else that you can desire, The Lord himselfe shall bee your habitation, from generation to generation, Psal. 90.1. That is, you shall dwell in the Lord, and you shall not dwell in him for a fit, as we doe in our houses of clay, but for ever, and looke what an house doth, that doth he, he will keepe you safe, and defend you from evill, he is an house that it shall not raine thorow, and such an house he is, as will goe with you whithersoever you goe, he is our habitation from generation to generation; yea, an house as will not onelyonly defend you, but refresh you with all manner of comforts, for houses are made for delight, as well as for defence. Whatsoever you want, he will helpe you to; If you be sicke, he is able to heale you; if you be weake, he is able to strengthen you; if hungry, to satisfie you; whatsoever condition you are in, he is able to furnish you; if you need any service from any Creature in heaven or earth, he will give command to all the Creatures to wait on you: In a word, every man that comes to Christ shall be like a Spouse, whom her husband hath placed in a… house well stored with abundance of all things that her heart can wish, and all this you shall have if you will come in.
But because Generals move not so much, we will come a little to Particulars,In particular, consider. and will insist upon these two, as the only things that can move us to come in.
1Mans misery out of Christ.First, the miseries, hurts, and inconveniences you are exposed to, out of him.
2Mans happinesse by being in Christ.And secondly, the happinesse you shall have by being ingrafted in him, and married to him. If you were to perswade a woman to marry such a man, you know these are the two Arguments which must winne her. If you marry no… you will bee undone, you know you are in debt, and the debts bee debts which you are not able to pay; and, if you cannot pay them, you are sure to be cast into Prison, and to lye in that Prison till you have paid the utmost farthing, this is your condition if you will refuse. Againe, on the other side if you will take him, you shall have a husband that shall make you rich, that will pay all your debts for you, and make you honourable, you shall want nothing. If you will take an husband whom you may love, take Christ, for whatsoever is amiable is in him. These two serious considerations will make her come in, and be willing to marry and to take him for her husband. And so it is with us, if we consider what we are out of Christ, and what we shall have by him, it will move us to take him. You know, it moved the Prodigall sonne, he saw that if he lived out from his Fathers house, he must needs perish, hee could not get huskes to live by. Againe, if he would goe home, there was bread enough, his fathers servants living there in plenty, and these two moved him to resolve to come home.
You will say,Object. what are those evils in particulars that we must needs fall into, if we come not in to Christ, and what good shall wee get by him?
To this end,Answ. I will name such arguments as are used in Scripture for this purpose, for you know that the businesse of Christ himselfe, and his Apostles was onelyonly to bring men unto him, and therefore we will open such arguments as we finde there, as briefly as we can.
And first,If you beleeve, you shall be saved; if not, you shall be damned. you have this for one maine motive to bring men in, Marke 16 16. If you will beleeve and be baptized, you shall be saved, if you will not beleeve, you shall be damned: Goe, saith Christ, into all the world, preach the Gospell to every Creature. What shall we say when thou hast given us commission? saith he, no more but this, Goe to all the world, Tell them if they will come in and be united to mee, if they will take me for their husband Lore, they shall be saved, use that for a motive on the one side, and on the other side tell them, if they will not come in, they shall be damned: And this you shall finde was practised, Matth. 3. Iohn tels them, If you will come in and repent, you shall have the Kingdome: That is, if you will leave your sinnes, if you will be married to the Lord, if you will be divorced from all other husbands, and turne from all your evill wayes, you shall have a kingdom, that is, you shall be saved; but if you will not, what then? The Axe is laid to the root of the tree, and you shall be cut downe. So, we see, when the Apostle Paul came to do this businesse with Felix, to have brought him to Christ, if he could, what course takes he? he tels him of his miseries out of Christ, Reasoning of Temperance, Righteousnesse, and Iudgement to come; he told him what Sobriety, and Righteousnesse, and Temperance was, in another manner than ever any Morallist had done: Now the Endictment being not enough without the Sentence, hee addes the Iudgement to come. And it is, as if he had said; Thou seest how short thou art of that Temperance and Righteousnesse, that even naturall conscience requires of every man, and thou must know, there is a Iudgement to come, though thou perhaps feelest it not for the present, yet there is a damnation and wrath reserved for thee; thereby shewing the misery he was in, if he came not home to Christ; and that is partly set downe, and is probable, the other was not omitted, though it be not expressed there. And so Peter dealt with them, Act. 2. He shewed them their misery; and so the Lord dealt with the Gaoler, he teacheth him to see what case he was in, and upon the sight of tha… to enquire after salvation. As indeed the thing that brings men into Christ, is to make them sensible of salvation and damnation, and when the Gaoler came to this, to thinke of salvation, Sirs, what shall I doe to be saved? That was it that made him willing to doe any thing, whatsoever Paul appointed him to doe; for now he had a sense of the wrath of God, a sense of those terrours, he began to see the Almighty Power of God, he began to have his heart smitten with the apprehension of Iudgement, and when he was smitten with that he began to enquire after salvation, and his heart thus prepared with these two motives, the feare of salvation and damnation, he was fit to come in, then saith the Apostle, Beleeve and thou shalt be saved: So I say, that is one motive, if you will not come in, you shall be damned, if you will, you shall be saved.
But now we have another businesse to make men regard these. One would thinke that men should not need much perswasion to tell them of damnation, that great evill, and of salvation, to be a thing that much concernes them, but there is that deadnesse in the heart of man, that it regards neither. Therefore, let me say a word or two, to shew that these two bee matters of great moment:Salvation and Damnation, are matters of great moment. First, this Salvation and Damnation chiefly concernes you all, other things are but trifles in comparison thereof, because Salvation and Damnation belong to the Soule.1They belong to the soule. It is the Soule that is to be saved, or to be damned. Now the Soule of man is a mans owne selfe; other things are but the out-side, as it were, and that is the reason that Christ saith, What matters, it if you win the whole world, and lose your owne soule: As if he should have said, Thy Soule is thy selfe; therefore to win other things and to lose that, it is great folly; what is it to save the ship, and lose the fraught? To save the shooe, and lose the foot, to save the cloaths, and to have the body destroyed? So, what is it to thee, to have thy body, thy estate, and name, and all outward conveniences right, and such as thou wouldest have them to be, and thy Soule that dwels within, thy Soule which is thy selfe, for those doe but cloath the Soule and wait on it, when this is lost, what are all these? Therefore, if there be any wisdome in the world, it is wisdome certainely to regard that, and if there be any folly in the world, it is to neglect that, because that is all in all to a man. If newes come to a man, your friends are lost, your goods are lost, you are wronged in your name; Suppose he had as many messengers of ill tidings, as Iob had, yet when a man considers seriously, this is but a rending of the cloaths, but the tearing of the sheath, but the breaking downe of the house, as it were, but the man is whole and safe, as long as the soule is safe, as long as salvation is sure, as long as a man is free from damnation, all is nothing: Therefore to a wise-man, that will consider things seriously, there is no motive to this, if you will not come into Christ, you shall be damned, if you will, you shall be saved.
But let me adde this more, Salvation and Damnation continues for ever: Take all other things,2They continue for ever. even the best, and worst things in the world, they are soone blowne over, and, as you know, of no continuance; but Salvation is a thing that abides for ever. And this is a thing you regard much in smaller matters; take any good thing, if it will last but a day or two, you regard it not, but as things are of more durance, so you set a greater price on them. Why will you not minde this then? If you come in to Christ, you shall be saved, you shall have eternall life. But, now comes in the other, If you will not, you shall be damned, and that remains for ever: Remember, saith the Wise-man, the daies of darknesse, for they are many, that is, infinite; and this should worke on a man that damnation shall be perpetuall. Take a man now, when hee is fallen into any misery, and see what it is that comforts him, you shall finde nothing comforts a man in misery but hope; for, if there be no hope (as we say) the heart would breake: But, now come to this, of damnation there will be no end, there is no hope there; when a man is in misery, hee lookes about him, and begins to thinke, Is there any evasion? If he finde there is none, he begins then to think, yea, but is there any comfort to mingle with it? No. But what kind of misery is it? It may be by one misery I shall be freed from another, this doth moderate it, but if all kind of miseries come, that a man hath no way in the world to evade them, not any thing to mitigate them; this is that, that swallowes up the Soule, and this over-whelmes it with griefe; and this is the condition of a man subject to damnation. Now, I say, this briefe argument we are to use; If you will not come in, you shall be damned, if you will come in, you shall be saved. Well, perhaps all this will not worke upon you, then we have this to say to you, Our commission extends no further; if this will not move you, you are not to be wrought on by us, but we must leave you to your selves, and to your owne wayes, to goe on and perish, and receive your Portion with those that are hardned through unbeliefe, whose end is damnation, and your bloud shall be upon your own heads, for that is all our Commission to propound these two to you. It must be Gods work to make your hearts sensible of these things, we can but propound Objects: And so much for the first, Hee that comes in shall bee saved, hee that doth not shall be damned.
Mot. 3. Your thirst shall be satisfied and healed.The third Motive, I take from Iohn 4.10. when the Lord had that converse with the woman of Samaria, what saith he to cause her to come in? Woman, if thou hadst asked of me, I would have given thee the water of life: He that drinkes of this water shall thirst againe, but he that drinkes of the water that I shall give him, shal thirst no more, but it shall be in him a Well springing up to everlasting life: So that is the Argument, if you will come in to Christ, you shall thirst no more, but you shall have your thirst satisfied, and you shall have water given you, which will be water of life.
What is that?Quest.
That is,Answ. If you will come in to Christ, two things you shall have by it: First, your thirst that you had before, that disease of thirst, that every man living is subject to, untill hee be in Christ, that shall be healed; that is, every man hath many things he thirsts after; as take every naturall man, he thirsts after credite, and wealth, and honour, and life, after a thousand things, which the nature of man is sensible of: Well, saith Christ, this thirst shall be healed in you, if you come in to me.
How shall it be healed?Quest.
By breeding in you a right thirst,Answ. by bringing the soule into health, as it were; It is, as if he had said, I will reveale things to you, which you shall prize above all these, when you shall see their preciousnesse, and the need you stand in of them: for these two things make thirst, then the other, Christ heales it in you: As, take every man that is regenerate, to whom God hath revealed better things, Even such as the eye hath not seene, nor the eare heard, neither hath entred into the heart of any naturall man. I say, the heart sets so by these things, it so magnifies them, that they take up his heart altogether, that he no more thirsts after other things, but his desires grow remisse in them, though they were all taken away, he could be content, he hath better things, there is a true thirst come in, which hath cured the false thirst, as the true Serpents devoured the false.
Object.But, you will say, we finde not this experience, doe not regenerate men thirst after these things as well as others.
Answ.I cannot deny it, they thirst after them too much, but yet this thirst is healed, for now they do not thirst after them, as things wherein their happinesse consists, their hear…s are in a good measure taken off them, they look on them with a right eye, and so their thirst is said to be a healed, not because the worke is perfect, but because it is in the way to be healed, and will be perfected. And so we must supply all the rest. Lusts are said to be mortified, not because they are fully dead, but because they are in the way of death, and will die perfectly; therefore we apply the name of mortification to them: So it is in other things, we say water is hot, though it have but little heat, and a thing is white, though it doe but begin to be white; and so we say a thing is healed, though it be but begun, and be not perfectly healed: Even so, in this case, every man that comes to Christ, his thirst is healed, he thirsts no more, because his soule is put into health: As if you should say to a dropsie man (for when his thirst is healed, his disease is cured) you shall have the thirst of an healthfull man, but this diseased thirst you shall have no more. So if you will come in to Christ, this may invite you, you shall thirst no more, you shall be put into that happy condition, that your strong lusts that were your thirst before, shall be healed in you.
And besides, another thing is, you shall not die; It is water of life that Christ gives, as if he had said, you may drinke this Well-water and thirst againe, and drinke againe, and thirst again, and then you die; this water will not give life; therefore he addes that word, Water of life; This water that I give you, shall make you live for ever, it shall give you eternall life. I am the living Bread that came downe from heaven, Iohn 6.he that eats of me shall not hunger, and he that beleeves in me shall not thirst, but shall live for ever. But this I prest in the other, and therefore I will not stand longer on it.
We will name a fourth Motive,Mot. 4. If you be united with Christ, all things shall worke together for your good, if not, for your hurt. that you find ordinarily in Scripture. If you come not in to Christ, all things shall worke together for your hurt, and if you take him, All shall worke together for your good: I say, if you doe not, all things shall worke together for your hurt. This is the misery of every man out of Christ, let him be in what condition he will, every thing owes him an ill turne, and will doe it one time or other: Prosperity is bad for him, that stayes him, and his afflictions come for hurt to him, they are like the lopping of a tree out of season, which tends to the destruction of the tree; but it is quite otherwise with the godly, they have afflictions, but they are in season, which makes the Tree grow better. Take the best things in the world, the very Word that is preached, the enlightnings and good motions they have from the Spirit, they all tend to the hurt of the wicked, for they encrease their comdemnation, every thing works together for their hurt whatsoever they enjoy: On the other side, if you wil come in, all things shal work together for your good, that is, they shall joyne together for your advantage, one thing shall be ready to helpe another, and nothing shall befall you, but it shall worke for your good, because when all is summed up, as whatsoever befals the wicked, puts them further from God: Againe, whatsoever befals a good man, it drives him nearer to God, and that is a sure rule, nothing doth good, but that which drawes us nearer to the fountaine of all good, and nothing doth hurt but that which drives us from God. Now, whatsoever befals a good man, it drawes him nearer to God: Sin, which of all other seemeth to doe him most hurt, yet it drives him nearer to God, because it makes him to empty himselfe, of himselfe more, it makes him see his owne misery more, and to prize IESUS CHRIST more, though they be in themselves poison, yet God turnes them into medicines, every thing workes for his good,1 Cor. 3.18. that is the meaning of that, All things are yours, Paul and Cephas, that is, every thing in the world (doe but serve God) life and death are for your advantage, that is, whatsoever is in life, life and all that belongs to it, is for your advantage, that you may grow rich in good workes, the longer you live the better: Againe, when death comes, with all the harbingers of it, it is for your good; Sicknesses, which are degrees thereof, they being but the staires by which we descend downe to the chambers of death, death and all the precedents of death, even all these petty deaths are for your advantage, yea, whatsoever is in the world is for your good; Things present, and things to come, are yours: Even as in the field, we say, every thing is for the Wheat, the stalke, the eare, the chaffe, the sowing, the plowing, the threshing, the winnowing, the barne and granary, every thing is for the wheat: So the Wheat that growes in this great field of the World, are only the Saints, and every thing in the World is for their advantage, Summer and Winter, Frost and Snow, wet and drie, that is, weale and woe, good and evill, affliction and prosperity, all is for the advantage of the Saints, their winnowings and temptations, all their threshings worke together for their good. And this you shall have by Christ, if you will come in to him, every thing shall owe you a good turne, you shall looke on nothing, but it is for you; All men, yea, the best of them, Paul and Apollo, and Cephas, are for your service, whatsoever gifts they have, they are all given for your use. Let this move you to come in; if you will not, how ever you may live in this world, and enjoy some sweetnesse with them, that have their Portion in this life, yet they shall doe you hurt, and in the latter end so you shall find it.
The end of the Eighth Sermon.