No Power But of God, Part 2
Thoſe that have the enjoyment of their Reſtoration, may be known by their Converſation.
THere be many men and women th… will give their aſſent and conſent … the foregoing truth, That the Lord Chr… hath done many and wonderful thing yea ſuch things, that eye hath not ſeen, e… hath not heard, neither, ſay they, hath it ent… into the heart of men to conceive or underſtand, … comprehend them. Nay, they can tell you… large ſtory of the bleſſed ſtate of the Sain… after death, how they ſhall be for ever in t… preſence of the Lord their God; In wh… preſence there is fulneſſe of joy, and pleaſu… at his right hand for evermore; then ſorrow a… ſighing ſhall flye away, and then the Lord …o… …pe away all tears from their eyes; and there …ill be no more death, neither ſorrow, or …rying …ither ſhall there be any pain.
But, O man, whoſoever thou art that …th thus ſpeak of the joyes of heaven, doſt …ou ſee thy own intereſt in theſe mercies? …ſt thou ſee thy ſelf to be a childe of this …ther of mercies? canſt thou ſay, My ſpirit …th rejoyce in God my Saviour? canſt thou …y with Thomas, My Lord, and my God? or …oſt thou ſuppoſe it to be ſo, as the Church …ev. 3. 17.
O conſider, moſt do deceive themſelves, …inking they be ſomething when they are …othing: nay let me tell thee, moſt of the …ith, hope and aſſurance, that men have …ken up, is not the faith, hope, and aſſu…ance of the Goſpel of Chriſt: It will not and thee in ſtead in the time of need. There …e many will come to Chriſt at the laſt day, …ying, Lord, Lord, open to us, for we have eat & …unk in thy preſence, Luke 13. 25, 26, 27. but …e ſhall ſay, I tell you I know ye not whence you …re. Why call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the …ings that I ſay?
O if thou art a ſervant of Chriſt indeed, …hen it is thy meat and drinke to do his …ill.
Doth the Lord love thee? what evidence haſt thou of his love in thy ſoule? doth h… Spirit witneſſe with thy ſpirit that tho… art his? or haſt thou that white ſtone wit… in thee, that hath a name that none can re… but thy ſelfe? how ſhall I and others kno… that the Lord loveth thee, and that tho… haſt this evidence of his love in thee, unle… I ſee thee walk as one of thoſe? Gal. 5. 25. … thou doeſt live in the Spirit, then walk … the Spirit; if thou ſay thatthou doeſt wa… in the Spirit, then thou doeſt not fulfill th… luſt of the fleſh, Gal. 5. 16. How ſhall I kno… that thou art one of the diſciples of Chr… but by thy love to Chriſt and his peop… Joh. 13. 35.
Now, O man, wherein doth thy love … Chriſt appear? what doſt thou do for him… Again, wherein doth thy love to his peop… appear? 1 Joh. 5. 1. Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him alſo that is begotten of hi… if thou ſayeſt that thou doſt love them, ask thee whether that love of thine be ſu… a love as Chriſt requireth, Joh. 13. 34. Do… thou love them as Chriſt doth love the… with a free and an univerſal and conſta… love? Again, doeſt thou know God? if tho… doeſt not, then he will come in flaming fi… taking vengeance againſt thee, 2 Theſſ. 1. 8.
If thou ſay that thou doeſt know him; … thee, how doth it appear? 1 Joh. 2. 4. He …t ſaith he doth know him, and keepeth not his …mandements, is a liar.
If thou ſay, But I look upon my ſelfe as a …dly man, and others do account me very …lous and religious! But I ſay again, why …en do ſo many unſavoury ſpeeches pro…d out of thy mouth? Jam. 1. 26 If any man …ong you ſeem to be religious, and bridleth not … tongue; mark that man, his religion is …ne.
If thou object again, Oh but I am ac…unted a very wiſe man, and a knowing …n! But I ſay again, as in Jam. 3. 13. Who … wiſe man among you, and indued with know…ge, let him ſhew out of a good converſation his …rks with meekneſſe of wiſdom. Doth thy …verſation evidence to me thy regenera…on? Thou art a tree; how ſhall I know thee …t by thy fruit, Matth. 12. 33.
If thou art grafted in the true Vine, why …eſt thou bring forth wilde grapes? Iſa. …4.
It is true, thou doeſt ſay that thou art …e of Chriſts: but then I ſay thou oughteſt … walk as he walked, 1 Joh. 2. 6. If Chriſt … thy King, where is thy ſubjection to his …ll? If Chriſt be thy Prophet to teach …ee, why art thou ſo ignorant? If he be thy Prieſt to offer ſacrifices for thee, wh… is thy faith to evidence thy truſt in hi… if thou ſayeſt that thou haſt faith, … doth it not appeare by thy workes? J… 2. 20.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, T… faith without works is dead? thou beleeveſt … there is one God, thou doeſt well; but the de… go thus far, Jam. 2. 19.
But I am the Lords ſervant, for I en… vour to forſake ſin.
But let me ask thee, O vain man, fr… what principle doſt thou endeavour leave ſinne? doeſt thou refraine from ſi… for fear of puniſhment or ſhame, or beca… thou wouldeſt avoid hell, or obtain heav… let me tell thee, the verieſt hypocrite in … world may do as much.
When thou art tempted to ſinne, d… thou with Joſeph ſay, How ſhall I do this th… and ſinne againſt my God? Gen. 39. 9. Or … doſt thou not rather in thy heart refra… ſinne upon that account as once Tamar d… 2 Sam. 13. 13. If I ſhould do this thing, ſa… Tamar, whither ſhall I cauſe my ſhame to g… Joſeph he refraines the evill, becauſe … might bring diſhonour to his God: Tam… ſhe endeavours to refraine the evill, becau… it might bring ſhame to her ſelfe. O ma… …hou wilt not deceive thy ſelfe, Examine …m what principle doth thy refraining …m ſinne ariſe; from nature, or from …ce? if from nature, then thou doſt no …re then any wicked man may do by the …provement of nature: but thou ſhouldeſt … Chriſt ſaith, Matth. 5. 44, 45, 46, 47. Love …e enemies, overcome evil with good, in do…g good for evill as Chriſt did; examine …ne inward man, is ſinne in thee as the …ne in the bladder, or as the wind in the …ly; thou hadſt rather, ten thouſand times …her it were out then in. Now when a …n is troubled with the ſtone in the blad…r with the in the blad…r, or overmuch oppreſt with wind in the …lly, he will ſeek to the Phyſitian, s troubled and …rt with that that is as dear to him as his …wne heart, to wit, gold and ſilver, to have …cured: Doeſt thou deal thus with the ſin … thy ſoule? d…eſt thou go to the ſpiri…al Phyſitian the Lord Jeſus Chriſt? and …ilt thou indeed part with that that is as …ar as thine own heart, to wit, thy belo…d ſinne? doeſt thou wait upon him in the …e of all Ordinances, without preferring …e before another? Doeſt thou ſeek the …ingdome of heaven, and the righteouſneſſe …ereof, in the firſt place? Shall, or is all …y worldly imployments brought into ſubordination to that? doth thy calli… as a Chriſtian take up its time in the … place? doth thy particular Calling w… upon thy general Calling as it ough… doeſt thou indeed live out of thy ſelfe up… God in the Spirit above the world? If … then the enjoyment of thy reſtoration evidenced by thy holy converſation.
But there be many that do boaſt of th… deliverance by Chriſt, and of their intereſt … Chriſt, and yet are ignorant of him, & ha… no part in him. See the Church of t… Laodiceans, Rev. 3. 17. Becauſe thou ſayeſt am rich, and increaſed with goods, and have n… of nothing, and knoweſt not that thou art wretch and poor, and blinde and naked. I dare boldly ſ… that this Text doth reach a quarter, if n… half of the profeſſors of religion at this da… Nay where is there one aſſembly free, th… can ſay they have never ſuch a man amo… them? can our Parliament in general f… they be free? can our Armies ſay the… be free? can Presbytery, Independenci… Anabaptiſme ſay they be free? Nay is an… City or Town free from men and wome… that are making their boaſt of God, and ye… they be like thoſe that are ſpoken of i… Rev. 3. 17. or at leaſt like thoſe Rom. 2. 17▪ Behold thou art a few and reſteſt in the Law, and …akeſt thy boaſt of God; and yet in the 23. verſe …d the 24. you may read at large what …retches they were.
How do many boaſt of their gifts, arts, …nd parts, and enjoyments, calling o…hers that wait upon God in the uſe of Or…inances, Duty-mongers, Heaven-drivers, For…aliſts, and Legaliſts? theſe be the men that …ould come forth in the laſt dayes, as the …criptures ſpeak, 2 Tim. 3. 2. Covetous, boaſters, …oud, blaſphemers; but let them expect the …me doom as their elder brother received, …ct. 5. 36. For before thoſe dayes roſe up one …heudas, boaſting himſelfe to be ſome body, to …hom about foure hundred men joyned, who …e ſ…ain, and all as many as were deluded by him …ere ſcattered and brought to nought.
They have but a little member, it is true, …ut it boaſteth great things, Jam. 3. 5.
In a word, read the the ſecond of Peter, …e ſecond Chapter, from the firſt verſe to …e laſt, and there thou ſhalt have a whole …talogue of theſe new upſtart Wantons: …at Chapter doth ſpeak of
Firſt, their riſe.
Secondly, of their proſecution, and
Thirdly, of their miſerable end.
…nd all to forewarn us, upon whom the end of the world is almoſt come to be wear of their dangerous and deſperate princ… ples and practiſes; and yet theſe men wil… boaſt of their deliverance by Chriſt, and … their intereſt in Chriſt, and yet are ignorant of him, and have no part in him; an… to ſpeak after the manner of men, as … was the deſign of Chriſt to take away ſinn… in the ſight of God, and as it was his deſig… to take it out of the conſcience, that the… might be no more conſcience of ſinne, as … Heb. 10. ſo alſo it was the deſign of Chriſt … take away ſinne in the converſation, 1 Pe… 1. 15.
Now there be many men that will bo… of the former, that their finnes be done … way in their conſciences, when their co… verſation gives them the lye, for Chri… hath undertaken the latter as well as t… former, ſee 1 Joh. 3. 6. & 9. verſes.
Now he that nameth the name of Chri… ought to depart from ſin, 2 Tim. 2. 9. And … that ſaith, he abideth in him, ought ſo to walk Chriſt walked, 1 Joh. 2. 6. He that ſaith he know him and keepeth not his ſayings, is a liar, 1 Jo… 2. 4. Thoſe that are Chriſts, have crucified … fleſh with the affections and luſts, Gal. 5. 2. What profit is it unto a man if there be pr… miſed an immortal time, whereas he ha… …ne the works that bring death? and that …ere is promiſed us an everlaſting hope, …hereas our ſelves being moſt wicked are …ade vain? And that there are laid up for …dwellings of health and ſafety, whereas … have lived wickedly? And that the glory the moſt High is kept to defend them at have led a holy life, whereas we have …lked in the moſt wicked wayes of all? …d that there ſhould be ſhewed a Paradiſe …oſe fruit endureth for ever, fith we ſhall …t enter into it.
Oh friends, what are all the ſweet promi… in Scripture to thee and I, unleſſe we do … faith ſee our names in the promiſes? …hat are the general declarations, without …rticular applications? what will it availe to hear that God is gracious, and long…ffering, pardoning iniquity, tranſgreſſion …d finne, unleſſe by faith thou and I ſee …n to be ſo alſo to us?
What will it profit us to heare and read, …at ſorrow and ſighing ſhall flye away, and that tears ſhall be wiped from the eyes of his, and … there ſhall be no more ſorrow nor paine; …ereas thou and I have (it may be) neither …tience to wait, nor faith to beleeve our … intereſt in theſe things?
There be foure characters of a ſervant of Chriſt, that I lately received from a frien…
1. What is higheſt in thy judgement.
2. What is deareſt in thy affections.
3. What is ſtrongeſt in thy will.
4. What is the moſt conſtant thing thy reſolution.
So much ſhall ſerve at preſent to written of the temptations of the wor… fleſh, and the devil; and of the Armour Chriſt, wherewith a Chriſtian may defe… himſelfe, and conquer his enemies; and … of the power natural, and of the po… ſpiritual, which is our duty to impro… and all our remiſneſſe to be charged up our ſelves, and not upon God; and how ſerious conſideration of this, would be … bar to ſtop that blaſphemous princi… ſaying, God is the author of ſinne: Of our in the firſt Adam, and of our recovery by ſecond Adam, and how we may know th… that are reſtored; of Ordinances, how t… they be ſtill in force. Next I ſhall ſpe… of Faith; and then a few words to the … niſters. An Epiſtle to the world. Anot… to thoſe choſen out of the world. Of … deliverances of the Saints, and of their … ing too ſudden in expecting deliverances