Sweet and Soul-Persuading Inducements Leading Unto Christ, Chapter 18
CHAP. XVIII. Declaring the miſery of naturall Man without Hope.
THe fourth Alienation declaring naturall and carnall mans miſery, is an Alienation from Hope. Without hope: The hope of ſalvation by Chriſt, from this hope man in his corrupt and carnall eſtate is eſtranged. Hope is a grace inclining and diſpoſing a regenerate and beleeving ſoule with aſſurance and patience to expect and wait for the accompliſhment of ſuch good things as God in Chriſt hath promiſed, and faith apprehendeth. Gird up (ſaith Saint Peter) the loynes of your minds,1 Pet. 1.13. be ſober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the Revelation of Jeſus Chriſt, all grace is diſpenſed through Chriſt, the full communication hereof is reſerved till Chriſts ſecond comming, and hope waits for the receiving of it in and through Chriſt: The cauſe efficient of this hope is God, the Author and giver of all good, it is not a worke of nature, but of grace, not of man, but of God. Bleſſed be the God and Father of our Lord Ieſus Chriſt, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us againe to a lively hope by the reſurrection of Ieſus Chriſt from the dead. Wherein you have the Author of this hope, God, a gracious and loving Father in Chriſt; the moving cauſe, the mercy of God; the antecedent, regeneration; the foundation, prop or pillar of it, Chriſt riſen from the dead, the full accompliſher of mans welfare; the inward inſtrumentall cauſe,Heb. 11.1. or root of hope, is a lively and ſaving faith; Faith is the ground of things hoped for; the object of this hope is God in Chriſt, all good things flowing from the grace of God in Chriſt to the ſoule of man; therefore is Chriſt called the hope of glory, Col. 1.27.and we are bidden to hope for grace by Chriſt. The Seate or Subject of Chriſtian hope is a regenerate and renewed heart, therefore termed the hope of the godly: Of this hope carnall men are deſtitute, having no hope, no hope of ſalvation; the Gentiles before Chriſt was preached to them, having no promiſe of life, no Mediator between God and them, had no hope of ſalvation. Carnall men under the Goſpell, being no children of God by regeneration, no members, no partakers of Chriſt by faith, having no intereſt in Gods covenant of life and peace, no title to Gods promiſe of grace by Chriſt, they have no hope Whence you ſee, That,
Doct.Corrupt and carnall man hath no true and aſſured hope of ſalvation. There is no hope of that mans ſalvation that continues corrupt and carnall; there is no ſalvation in that eſtate: In Pauls ſhipping towards Rome, when neither Sunne nor Starres for many dayes appeared,Acts 27.20. and no ſmall tempeſt lay on them, all hope that they ſhould be ſaved was then taken away. When neither Sun nor Star, neither Chriſt nor any ſaving grace appeare in the ſoule of man; and when the conſcience of carnall man works like a tempeſt within him, then however he flattered himſelfe in the houre of his ſpirituall ſlumber, and promiſed ſalvation to himſelfe; yet now all hope of being ſaved is taken away; now he ſees he is in the ſtate of damnation;Acts 8.21, 23 Pſal. 119.155. Iſa. 30.1. now he ſees, as Peter told Simon Magus, that he is in the gall of bitterneſſe, and in the bond of iniquity, and that he hath no part nor lot in Chriſt; but is, as the Pſalmiſt ſaith, farre from ſalvation, farre from the knowledge, faith, hope and ſence of ſalvation; they looke not to the holy One of Iſrael; they looke not unto God as to their King to command them, as to their Counſellor to guide them, as to their Phyſician to heale them, as their rocke to ſupport them; their hope is not in him, their expectation is not from him; their eſtate who live under the power of corruption, is no eſtate of Chriſtian hope, but of deſperation, having no ground to hope or look for ſalvation by Chriſt: For,
Groūds hereof. 1. Vncapableneſſe.1. The carnall man is uncapable of Chriſtian hope. Hope is a heavenly gueſt, and dwels not in an uncleane and unregenerate heart; the carnall ſoule is an empty houſe, wherein dwelleth no good thing, Rom. 7.18.no ſaying gift, and grace of God; He that is not of God cannot hope in God; he that is not in Chriſt, cannot expect and wait for ſalvation by Chriſt; the carnall man is dead in ſinne; the corporally dead have no more any humane hope, their breath goeth out of their noſtrils, Pſal. 14.4.and as their thoughts, ſo their hopes periſh, the ſpiritually dead have no ſpirituall hopes, where there is no life of grace, there is no hope in Chriſt; the carnall man is blinde, and cannot diſcerne Chriſt, he is ignorant of Chriſt, he knowes not the things belonging to his peace, and how can he hope in Chriſt whom he knowes not; the carnall man is proud, he truſts in himſelfe, in his owne abilities, in his owne worth, in his owne duties, and therefore cannot hope in Chriſt; No man hath or can have a lively hope in Chriſt but he that is begotten againe by the reſurrection of Christ.1 Pet. 1.3. 2. Want of inſtrumentall cauſe.
2. The carnall man wants the instrumentall cauſe, and root of hope: Faith is the mother, and hope the daughter; Faith is the root, and hope the branch; Faith is the cauſe, and hope the effect; Faith apprehends the promiſe, and hope expects and waits for the thing promiſed;Heb. 11.1. therefore the Apoſtle termeth Faith the ground of hope: Now the carnall man beleeves not, he builds upon the ſand, and not upon the rocke; he is wedded to the world, and not to Chriſt; he confines himſelfe within himſelfe, and commeth not out of himſelfe to Chriſt; he bringeth forth his fruit unto himſelfe, and not unto Chriſt; he reſteth in the creature, in himſelfe, in ſome gift,Hoſ. 10.1. or duty of his owne; he takes not up his full and everlaſting reſt in Chriſt, and therefore beleeves not; and as where is no root, there is no branch, ſo where there is no faith, there is no hope.
3. The carnall man is alienated from the props, pillars, 3. Alienation from pillars of Hope.and ſupporters of Chriſtian hope; that is to ſay, the promiſe of God, the grace of God in Chriſt, and the merit of Chriſt: Theſe three ſupport, and beare up the hoping and waiting ſoule, as the three pillars bore up the hangings in the Tabernacle: Theſe three are like three Cities of Refuge, appointed by Moſes, to which the purſued malefactor betooke himſelfe; to theſe doth the guilty beleeving ſoule, purſued with the ſence of Gods diſpleaſure, the noiſe of his ſinne, and cry of his conſcience, betake himſelfe, hoping and expecting conſolation from them. Now to all theſe the carnall man is a ſtranger, they belong not to him, they are childrens bread, dogs may not taſte them, they are Doves wings, Owles and Ravens have no hiding place under them;Pſ. 50. 2 Cor. 6.1. Heb. … 4. He that hateth to be reformed, hath nothing to doe with Gods covenant; carnall men receive the grace of God in vaine, they embrace not the mercy of God in Chriſt tendred to them in the Goſpell, they reject it, they are no more changed, nor bettered by it, then the rocke by the raine, or the blinde by the Sunne, not being mingled with faith, it doth not profit them; the merit of Chriſt doth not advantage them, his righteouſneſſe doth not juſtifie them, his death doth not mortifie their luſts, his reſurrection doth not quicken their ſoules, his interceſſion doth not reconcile them unto God, his ranſome reſtores no ſpirituall freedome to them, and therefore they have no hope of ſalvation.
4. Eſtrangemēt from the way to ſalvation.4. The carnall man is a ſtranger to the way to ſalvation. There is a way of faith in Chriſt, Chriſt is the way, the truth, and the life, him the carnall man knowes not, he never ſtudied, never learned Chriſt, as the truth is in him; he knowes not Chriſt living in his ſoule, as he knows his ſoule living in his body; he knowes not Chriſt enlightening him, as the eye knowes the Sun, whoſe light is ſweet unto the eye; he knowes not Chriſt ruling and raigning within him, as the ſouldiers knew the Centurion commanding them, and they yeelding ready ſubjection to him; he knowes not Chriſt conquering and ſubduing Satan and his owne luſts, as the Iſraelites knew Joſhuah vanquiſhing and treading upon the necks of the Kings of Canaan; he knowes not Chriſt ſanctifying, and cleanſing his ſoule, as Naaman knew Jordan waſhing his leproſie from him; he knowes not Chriſt miniſtring the fulneſſe of God unto him, as the people of Egypt knew Joſeph miniſtring to them, and ſupplying their wants. Carnall man is very ignorant of Chriſt, far from ſweet acquaintance with him, and comfortable experience of his ſoule-ſaving miniſtrations: There is a way of ſpirituall poverty, and ſelf-denyall,Mica. 6. wherein a man walks humbly with his God, ceaſing from himſelfe, from his owne wiſedome, will, reaſon, purpoſe, and affection, abaſed below the duſt, in the apprehenſion of his owne uncleanneſſe, emptineſſe, and unworthineſſe, renouncing himſelfe, his owne gifts, abilities, and performances, going cleane out of himſelfe unto Chriſt; labouring to be found in Chriſt, and not in himſelfe,Phil. 3.10. making Chriſt all in all unto him, ſeeking his whole ſalvation from Chriſt, and proſtrating himſelfe with all that is his under Chriſt; this is a way in which the carnall man treads not, he is ſtill full of himſelfe, he dreames of a ſelf-ſufficiency at home, and looks not beyond himſelfe; he ſtayes in his legall righteouſneſſe, and is ſhamefully guilty of ſelf-love, and ſelf-ſeeking: There is a way of new obedience, and true holineſſe, in which the carnall man walks not; he wanders like an erring traveller from this path, and ſtumbles like the blinde;Iſa. 59.7. their feet (ſaith the Prophet) run to evill, and they make haſte to ſhed innocent bloud; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, waſting and deſtruction are in their paths, the way of peace they know not, and there is no iudgement in their goings, they have made them crooked paths, whoſoever goeth therein ſhall not know peace. He that runs not the race, hath no hope to obtaine the prize; he that fights not the battell, hath no hope to win the crowne; he that ſowes not his field, hath no hope to reape it, he that runs not the race of Gods Commandements, he that fights not Gods battels, hath no hope to win the prize, which is eternall life, nor yet to weare the crowne of glory: He that ſowes to the Spirit doth of the Spirit reape life everlaſting; Gal. 6.8.but he that ſowes to the fleſh doth of the fleſh reap destruction.