Heavenly Merchandise, Sermon (3 of 3)
3. Every Truth tends to empty and abase man. The infinite Wisdom of God, having contrived the advancement of the Salvation of Man in such a way, as that the whole honour of it should entirely redound to his own great Name, hath thereupon so ordered the way of bringing it about, as that there shall not any room at all be left for man to croud in any thing that may be an occasion for his boasting, or leave him the least place to be seen, or any thing of himself to be taken notice of in the management of this whole affair: Man by the Fall (though it hath given him no Cause at all for it) is become an exceeding proud creature, and is very loth to be brought to shrink up to nothing in himself; and this makes him always ready to hearken after any thing which may blow him up with self conceitedness; such things therefore that tell him he is some body, and would make his condition something better than it really is, less dependent upon God, and more self sufficient, do wondefully tickle his fancy: But such notions as these are, are directly contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture Doctrine: That Doctrine therefore, which makes discovery of Mans Guilt, Misery, Impotency, and represents him to himself, a creature every way depending upon the Soveraign Grace of God, for his whole Salvation, that so God may be acknowledged to be all in all, is consonant to the mind of God in the Scriptures; whereas that which dares to pluck any one flower out of his Royal Diadem, and devest him of any part of his Prerogative, rather than man should lose the priviledge of being considerable in his own Salvation, is directy against the Truth. He that is acquainted with the Book of God cannot but acknowledge that the whole current of the Word of God carries on the design of making Fallen Man very low and vile; that no Flesh might glory in any thing of their own, but that he who glories might glory in the Lord only, Jer. 9. 23, 24.
4. Every Truth leads to Jesus Christ: that great and comprehensive Truth: All the Truths of Fallen Mans Religion are summed up in the Law and the Gospel: That Christ was the great end and scope of the Law, is in so many words affirmed, Rom. 10. 4 For Christ is the end of the Law, for Righteousness to every one that believeth; and that the Gospel wholly centers in him is therein manifest, because it is the Gospel of, or concerning Christ; and the abstract of it is Faith in, & Salvation by him; hence when he sent forth his Disciples to Preach it, he gave them that for their Text, Mark. 16. 16. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believes not shall be damned. Paul therefore, who to prove his fidelity in the course of his Ministry among the Ephesians, laid down that assertion, Acts 20. 20. I kept back nothing that was profitable to you; doth yet solemnly avouch that to his Corinthians, to whom he had been alike faithful in his Preaching, 1 Cor. 2. 2. I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him Crncified: and if we put these two together, we may safely conclude, that he who faithfully and fully Preacheth Christ Crucified, Preacheth all the Truth which is profitable to the souls of men. Examine therefore every Doctrine, and enquire, how doth this tend to lead men home to Christ, how doth this center and rest in him? how doth it direct and lead me to fix my whole Salvation entirely upon him? and if there be no such tendency as this is in it, but contrariewise it leads you away to some other thing, and derogates from, or divides his honour, and will not yield him to be the only Saviour, it is a Doctrine of Devils, and comes not from above, but from him who is a Lyar from the beginning, and the Father of such.
5. All Truth tends to make us more spiritual and holy. Purity is an inseparable property of the Truth, Psal. 29. 8, 9. The Commandement of the Lord is pure, enlightning the eyes: the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever. Filthiness and Defilement is proper to all error; every falshood is inpure. Truth must needs be it self holy, because it hath for its author, the most immaculate Being; it proceeds from that God who is holiness it self and as it is holy in it self, it likewise tends to make all them so who embrace it cordially: and therefore obeying the Truth, is said to purify the Soul, 1 Pet. 1. 22. Seeing you have purified p…ur Souls in obeying the Truth: hence that of our Saviour, John 15. 3. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. There is no Scripture Truth, but it either directs to, or encourageth Holiness, or diswades from Sin and Uncleanness: and therefore whatsoever Doctrine savours of the Lust of the Elesh, or gives a latitude to men to live as they list, & bolsters them up in their impurities, is contradictory to the Truth, and destructive to the souls of men: and if we shall well apply and rightly improve these few Characters thus laid down, we shall have a good help to find out the treasure which we seek, and not be cheated in it, which is the second general Direction.
3. Ask the price, and boggle not at it, but resolve to give it, he that only looks upon a commodity which he hath before him, or it may be speaks something in its commendation, but doth not go so far as to cheapen it, that man hath no intention to buy it: or if he doth make enquiry after the price, and when it is told him, he snuffs at it, and finds fault with it, it shews that he hath but a little mind to be at cost for the having it: and here in general, let me leave these things with you as Truths to be believed, viz.
1. That if ever you come to be owners of the Truth, it will cost you something; for though it is not to be denied, that every one that hath it, obtains it without money, and without price, yet notwithstanding he that so offers it, tells us withal, that we must buy it, Isa. 45. 1. Come buy without money and without price. Though we have nothing to give for it, that can in any way obscure the freeness of Gods Grace in bestowing of it upon us, as being never able, out of all our store to make up a valuable price for it; yet there is something that we must lay down in order to our being made partakers in it which is (in mens account) money's worth.
2. That God, who alone hath the Truth to sell, and can only make a sure conveyance of it to us, hath set a stated marketprice upon it: God doth not first make the offers of it, to draw men in, and afterwards when they are engaged, come and tell them how much they must give for it; but he deals openly with them, and as he hath determinant within himself what it shall certainly cost every one that hath it, so in the sending it out in Gospel Tenders, he hath fairly written the price upon it, so that every one may be able to read it, Prov. 2. begin. If thou criest after knowledge, &c. if thou searchest her as Silver, &c.
3. Hence it is a vain thing for you ever to think to beat down the Market. God is not like unto many men, who have their reserves and abatements, and may be in time brought to take half so much for a Commodity as they did at the first ask for it, rather than lose a good Customer: He is of one mind; He hath positively set the price, and he will never go from it; it is to no purpose at all to use words and arguments with him, who is not to be moved from what he hath determined: if, when you hear what the Truth must cost you, if God and you drive a Bargain, you do find fault with it, and cry out, it is abundantly to hard, if you take a disgust and go away from him, refusing to come to his terms, He matters it not. He hath declared his wonderful good will to the Children of men, in that he hath made the offers of it freely unto them, but yet he will not so undervalue the Truth, as to suffer himself to be beaten down in his just demands, or vouchsafe to trade with such men as would go about to cast the disparagement upon him of being an hard Dealer; he is under no necessity, he wants not our Custom, all our cost enricheth not him at all: if we go away and never buy of him he is never the poorer; its we only who shall be the losers in the winding up: as on the other hand, if we buy, ours will be the great profit; so true is that in Prov. 9. 12. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thy self, but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt hear it.
4. Hence your great business is to satisfie your selves in the infinite worth of the Truth, that so you may be perswaded chearfully to come up to Gods terms, and drive this happy Bargain. The want of this information and consequent satisfaction is the great reason why there are so many triflers, and so few buyers, among the number of those who come to the Ordinances. There is nothing that makes men to be more irresolute in a Bargain, holding them off, and continuing them in suspense, than a fear of being overreached, and this fear is for the most part occasioned, because they have not gotten an insight into the true worth of the thing: but could you feel the Truth in its native colours, and be able to discern its glorious excellencies, you would be discharged of any such fears in this concern, and be satisfied that it never can be bought to dear; that if it should cost you never so much, yet the possession of it would pay for all, and reimburse you again with infinite advantage and usury. Be therefore much and frequent in meditating of those commendations which were given it in the former Use, and in the motives of this, and labour to get so deep impression upon your minds by them, as may put you beyond all hesitancy, and bring you plumply to draw up this Resolve; That Truth you must have upon any terms; that if you put it away from you, when God is pleased to bring to you, you are enemies to your own Souls; but if you accept it on Gods terms, you are made men for ever: And let this conclusion put you upon it to do, as he in the Parable, Mat. 13. 44. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a Treasure hid in a Field, the which when a man hath found he hideth, and for joy thereof, goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that Field.
But I shall endeavour a little more particularly to apply this Direction; and here let me say, that if ever you would come to be owners and possessors of the Truth, there are two things to be done; consider and practise accordingly.
1. It will cost you hard labour and great pains to obtain it. It is true, all our pains will signifie nothing, without a Divine blessing to crown them with success: but this blessing is not given out to the idle and negligent, but only to such as are up and doing. If we shall look no farther than an head purchase, which is the least and most easily gotten, yet it is certain that a clear understanding and right conception of the form of sound words, and skeam of saving Truths, which is to be gathered up out of the Sacred writings of the Book of God, is not gotten without a great deal of sweat and travail; how much more then will it stand a man in to make an heart purchase of it? It costs a man a double Prenticeship, and many a weary day, and waking night to reach to be Master of those hand maid Truths, which are the Servants of Religion, and are called the liberal Sciences: how long time then, and how much labour must it stand him in to get the mistriss of these, I mean the saving Truths of Religion? and the difficulty of getting a right acquaintance with these, will appear to be far more than what concerns the other, if we shall consider;
1. That we are all of us by nature meer strangers, to the Truth; that is spoken of all natural men, Rom. 3. 17. The way of peace have they not known. As to other inferior Truths, though there are none that are born Artists in them, yet there are such common Principles, and natural powers in us, as are able to grasp them, and receive them in by teaching or instruction; there is an inbred or congenerate ability to receive these notions, and the reasons of them, provided we have one skilled to inform us, and hence they are gotten with the more ease, because there is in our Soul a receptivity of them, or a passive principle that can entertain them: But as to these Divine Truths, we are not only without them actually, or habitually, but are also incapable of them in our natural estate, 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. For though there are some Relicks of the old Law or Covenant left upon the Consciences of the Children of men; yet for those Truths which are truly Evangelical and Saving, there is not to be found the least footstep of them in us by nature; yea, they do indeed transcendently surpass the comprehension of all our natural reasonings: so that there must be a change wrought in our very powers or faculties before we can be capable of them.
2. That we are exceeding dull and hard of hearing and learning these things: there may be not only a capacity in a man, but a great deal of promptness to imbibe other Doctrines; a commendable docility, apt to take in the notions of the precepts of them, and make them ours as fast as they are told us: but as for the things of God, and the everlasting concerns of our immortal Souls, the case is far otherwise with us there: the Ox and the Asse are in their kind more docile than we are, Isai. 1. 3. The Ox knows knows his owner, and the Asse his Masters crib, but Israel doth not know. When a great deal of time, and pains, and patience hath been bestowed upon us, and all condescention to treat us in our own language, and help us by little and little, yet it is but a poor pittance that we arrive unto: what a blockhead did our Saviour Christ find Nicodemus to be in those things, though he was a Master in Israel, and one who by his Office ought himself to have instructed others in the knowledg of them? Joh. 3. beginning: and how doth he up-braid Philip after he had been so many years in his School? Joh. 14. 8, 9. Have I been so long time with you: and hast thou not known me, Philip? and the Apostle his Hebrews, Chap. 5. 11, 12. Ye are dull of hearing: for when for the time ye ought to be Teachers, ye have need that one teach you again what be the first Principles of the Oracles of God. Nay,
3. That we are naturally built upon contrary Principles, and hereupon are averse and opposite to the Truth, We have suckt in lies from the Cradle, and are greatly in love with them; it is one of the hardest things in the World, to get false Opinions, that have been suited to mens Fansies, and drunk down with abundance of delight, rooted out again, and rejected by the man; and yet this must needs be done in order to the bringing of them to, and building of them upon the Truth. If mans heart were no more but Rasa Tabula, a fair and clean piece of Parchment, that had nothing at all inscribed upon it; if it stood in an equipoise to entertain any thing that might be first offered to it, it were then no great or difficult matter to fill it with the curious ingravings of the Truth: but whereas it is a book blotted and blurred and all over deeply graven with Fleshly Sentiments, which must all be erased and taken away before any thing can be done to purpose of this nature, it speaks it a very great work, the very clearing and smoothing of the Table, by which it may be fitted and prepared to take the Impression of the Truth, requires abundance of pains, and yet this must of necessity be done in this work; 2 Cor. 10. 5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledg of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Hence therefore if you will purchase the Truth, it is requisite:
1: To be constant in the use of the means that are appointed to this end. God hath written his mind unto us in the Holy Scriptures, but we must be sure to read it there, if ever we intend to come by the knowledge of it: he hath also set up his Holy Ordinances; and in them hath appointed his Ambassadors to present men with the mysterious Truths of the Gospel; but if we have a desire to get any good by such an advantage as this, we must come to them, yea, we must wait at the posts of his doors, such the blessing is pronounced upon. Prov. 8. 34. which waiting implies constancy. The Truth is too bulky a thing to be all set to view at once or displayed in one Ordinance, it is therefore given Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept, here a little, and there a little: Some Truths at one time, some it another, and therefore if we would miss none, we must come continually: Truth is bound up in several bails (there are divers heads to which the points of Religion are reduced) and if we would have the advantage of seeing all, we must come when they are opened, Hos. 6. 3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord.
2. We must add diligence and attention unto this constancy, if we will make any work of it. It is not enough to be frequent in our coming to the means, but we must take a great deal of pain with our selves when we do come, Isa. 15. 3. Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear and your Souls shall live: and this is an hard work, which requires labour. It calls for a wakeful body: God doth nor ordinarily in these days reveal his mind to his people in dreams, to be sure not in his house where they are called to hear him speaking to them: It would be a rediculous thing to find men sleeping in the market place and at market; and yet how many such sights doth this heavenly mart present us withal? as if men expected visions instead of instructions; and there must also be an attentive ear, and that accompanied with a mind intent upon the present business: he that brings his body to the House of God, and leaves his heart behind him, or sends it abroad from thence, to be wandring in the corners of the earth, and roving after vain objects, is like to make but a poor purchase of it, and might ever as well have tarried away, for any benefit that is like to accrue to him by coming: the purchase of the Truth requires the intense activity of the whole Soul about it, Psal. 110. 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee.
3. We must joyn earnest prayer to all the rest: & that not only that God would keep us from the danger of being mistaken, and embracing of a Lye for the Truth, (as was hinted under the former direction) but also that we may come to the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus: God is the father of Lights, and from him is every good and perfect gift communicated unto the children of men; it is he alone; by the influences of his Spirit, that must open our blind eyes, and enlighten our darkness: all our own endeavours, in reading hearing, conferring, meditating, absolutely depend upon his blessing for good success, and except he come in with his illuminating grace we still remain under our natural blindness; this therefore is the earnest request that Paul puts up in prayer for his Ephesians upon their accounts, chap. 1. 16, &c. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. may give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of him, &c. and this is the direction given by James, chap. 1. 5. If any among you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
4. We must add meditation unto prayer: It is not all our hearing will profit us, though we should attend constantly on Ordinances, in season and out of season, if we go away and think no more of the things that have been told us: the way to make the Truth ours, is by getting it fixt in our hearts, and that is not done without serious musing upon it: Truth that is heard at an Ordinance, and is not afterwards taken and digested by meditation, is like meat which is eaten, and presently vomited up again, which affords us no nourishment: like the seed which was sown by the high way-side, that was suddenly pickt up by the Fowls of Heaven, and lay not long enough to take any rooting. Meditation is that whereby we take possession of the Truth, and enrich our Understandings; it was by this that David got the start of his Teachers; Psal. 119. 99. I have more Understanding than all my Teachers, for thy Testimonies are my Meditation. Thinking hearers are like to be the most profitable Hearers of the Word of God.
5. We must not rest satisfied in measures obtained, but restlesly pursue after more: that which is a vice, and deserves a sharp reproof in the worlds trading, is a commendable vertue in this kind of Merchandize; viz. the more we have, the more to crave: and by the purchase of every parcel of Truth, to have our spiritual appetite whet up to a greater sharpness and eagerness to be adding to our purchase: it's a worthy frame of Spirit in him that hath Truth in quest, not to be contented with a little portion of it, but to be using all endeavours, to lay field to field, till there be no room in the earth. I mean, to be buying up of Truth as long as there is any to be sold, and studiously to engross it all; and not to think himself rich enough, as long as he knows but in part, though he may have gotten a great deal more than many of his fellow Christians: this is Peters counsel, 2 Pet. 3. 18. grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and Paul professeth it to be his practice, Phil. 3. 12, 13, 14. Not that I have already obtained, &c. leaving the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto the things which are before, I press to the mark. It is a sordid spirit in spiritual things, to covet no more Truth than what will bearly serve our turn as we suppose; and if we think we have gotten some of the main and fundamental Truths, to neglect the rest; and if Gods Servants are desirous to proceed further, and lead us up to those things which are more deep and mysterious, we presently cry out, these things are beyond our reach, and say, give us milk, and let them that can bear it be fed with strong meat; and care not at all for being told any thing more than what we think we know already; as if heavens wealth were not as desirable as earths, or we might be burdened with too much store of this precious and heavenly treasure: But the Truth is, we are too generally a lazy generation, that are loth to be at the pains that the purchase of these Truths will cost us.
2. There is also something that you must part withal for the sake of the truth, if you resolve to have it: and it is that which every natural man placeth a very high esteem upon, and accounts to be of great worth, which therefore makes so many break off, and not drive a through bargain; but you can never be savingly possest of the Truth till you have forgone it: And here,
1. There are some things which you must actually part with upon this score: you must lay them down, and lose all claim and title to them, viz.
1. All your own carnal conceits, and fleshly wisdom: there is naturally in the children of men an high and over-weaning opinion which they have taken up of themselves, and their own understandings, then which there is not a greater opposite or enemy to saving wisdom, and the Truth will never find room to be entertained in such an heart, as long as that is there abiding: it sets it self directly against the Truth, and endeavours to perswade the man that he hath no need at all of it, but that he hath a sufficient light within, knowledge enough of his own to direct his steps, and lead him right: yea, and besides that, it raiseth in him prejudices against the Truth, and seeks how to render it suspected of falshood. He that will buy this wisdom that is from above, must first let go that which is from below, which is earthly, sensual, devilish; and must become a fool in his own sense and acknowledgment, 1 Cor. 3. 18. Let him that thinks himself wise, become a fool, that he may be wise; and truly this is an hard saying, and cannot readily be born by men of great natural Parts, and rich acquired endowments; it is a debasing thing, and that which Flesh and Blood cannot well resent, but looks upon with reluctancy, to come out of all, to come back after such a progress as they have made, and begin again at their A B C, in the Spirits School: and without question, this is not the least of the stumbling blocks that lie in such mens way, and makes it a sad truth, that not many wise men of this world are made savingly wise unto God.
2. You must renounce all your worldly lusts too, if you would be savingly possest of the Truth. Not but that it is to be confessed, that men may be Orthodox in Principles, and vicious in their life; a poysonous Toad may have ae Jewel in his head of great worth; men may have great attainments in Theoretical Divinity, and Christ may advise his Hearers to do as the Pharisees say, though he together admonisht them to beware of following their deeds: but so to know God in his Son Jesus Christ as is Life Eternal; which is indeed the only profitable purchasing of the Truth, is inconsistent with the harbouring and maintaining of fleshly lusts: the Truth can find no suitable lodgings in a soul that is wedded to his concupiscence; nay such is the nature of Divine Truth, that where it comes into the soul indeed, it will certainly shine down the works of darkness, and the same word of Truth that doth effectually turn men from darkness to light, doth at the same time turn them from Sin to God, hence they are put to gether as inseparable fruits and effects of the Gospel, where it comes with a saving efficacy, Acts 26. 18. To open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; and we find Paul arguing from their learning, of the Truth, to the mortifying of their lusts, Eph. 4. 21, 22. If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the Truth is in Jesus, … ye put off concerning the former conversation, the Old-man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Besides, every Fleshly Lust is a Lye, and they are called lies, in the Scripture, Psal. 40. 4. Nor such as turn aside to lies, i. e. to sinful and deceitful-lusts: and … every such lust entertained in the heart, must needs keep out the contrary Truth from taking up a room in the soul; and he that will engage himself to defend and plead for any foolish and hurtful lust, of what kind soever, must in so doing set himself against the Truth, and whether such an one be in any likely way to buy it, let any man judge.
2. And there are other things which you must part with in affection for the Truths sake, and that is all whatsoever is precious and delightful to you in this world. Love to the Truth, or our receiving of it in the love of it, is our entring upon the possession of it, and the strongest evidence of an indisputable title unto it; but it is not every pretended love that is so, but it must be such as undervalues every other thing in comparison with the Truth. I know that God doth not always call men actually to part with and cast away all these things, Houses, Lands, Relations, and going away from the company and comfort of them, turn desolate Hermits, and dwell in solitary caves void of all humane converse, that they may enjoy the fellowship and friendship of the Truth, as if Truth dwelt only in a willderness, & were no where to be met with but in caves and deserts; the good things of this life are Gods common favours, and he hath engaged them to such as fear him, so far as shall best serve to his own glory and their advantage, Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is, and if God gives, his people ought with thankfulness to receive these favours; but still he requires absolutely of us, that we withdraw our affections from them to such a degree, as to be at all times in a chearful readiness, either to let them go one after the other by retail, or all at once by whole sale, for Truths sake, if there be occasion for it. Neither is this a lesson to be learned afterwards, or by those that have been a great while trained in Truths School, and have attained to be of the uppermost forms of her Scholars; that have made a great proficiency in the learning of it: but it is one of the entrance articles, it is a law of the School, and to be complied with upon admission; it is one of the conditions of Discipleship, Mat. 16. 24. If any man will be my Disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross and follow me, Luke 14. 26. If any man come unto me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my Disciple: i. e. if he doth not set a less and lower esteem upon them, than upon the Truth and ways of Christ; and there is great reason for it; because he that buys the Truth, buys together with it the hatred of Men and Devils; and although God is often pleased to curb in their rage, and to tie up their mouths, so as that they cannot devour his people, yet this is ever to be expected, that Truth and Persecution will go together; and God many times doth (for holy ends) permit Persecution to extend it self to the depriving his people of all these things: and therefore he who doth not buy the Truth with such a supposal, and accordingly is so provided for it, as not to be prejudiced at all these changes, had better to sit still and let it alone:
This may suffice for the Third Direction.
4. Finally, If you will buy the Truth, buy it Now, use no delays in the business. There is now a fair advantage in your hands, Truths Shop stands open all the day long; there is many a spiritual Market set open to you on the Lords dayes, and on other frequent occasions; it is now a day of Grace with you, and (I pray) let it not slip: God himself offers to you the Truth, and intreats of you to buy it, and bids you, that if you have any purpose so to do, you will do it quickly, to day, while the Market lasts, and a price is in your hands; and to urge this advice, give me leave to offer these things to your serious thoughts.
1. Truths Market will certainly be over with every one of us in a little while, and then there will be no buying of it, though you should never so much desire it. There was a time when the Prophet made that sad complaint concerning Jerusalem, Lam. 2. 9. The Law is no more, her Prophets, also find no vision from the Lord. And whither we may live to see the doors of Gods house shut up, and publick Worship interdicted, is with Him alone to determine, who hath put the times and seasons into his own power; But this is certain, that there is none of us all shall long enjoy a season to be purchasing of this heavenly wisdom in; there will a time come, and it may be before we think of it, when our feet shall carry us no more to those places, where God hath been wont to come and reveal himself to the Children of men: unless therefore you are resolved to be for ever without it, buy the Truth NOW. It is a solemn counsel and caution which the wise man gives upon this account, Eccles. 9. 10. Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledg, nor wisdom in the Grave whether thou goest. There are no Lectures of wisdom preached to the Congregation of the dead: and it is a solemn consideration to be thought upon, to consider, how seldom (if ever) there is an assembly met in this place on such an occasion, but there is some one or other of the company, that must come hither no more, but before another opportunity comes about, are lockt up in silence, and laid out of the reach of soul saving means: and which of us all that stand before God at this time, can tell but that we are hearing of the last Sermon, and shall never again have one more offer of the Truth made unto us? and why will you dy fools? will not Repentance then come to late?
2. Your trifling will give God the provocation to pack up his precious wares and be gone. Should a Merchant come among a people, and bring along with him the richest and most necessary Goods (such as men cannot do without, and such as no other hath to sell) and offer them to people at the easiest rates, so that every one, even the poorest, might be able to buy them, if he had a mind to it; and when he hath opened, and set them to view, yea, and given sufficient notice to all, bidding them to come; and now, though a great many pretended Customers do come to see them, and his Shop be full of such, yet here is one that stares up and down, and never so much as minds the Commodities; there are others smiling, and saying, this man hath gotten an excellent faculty in commending his own Wares; here are some huffing, and protesting that they can see no such excellency in them, as they were commended for, they are dull unsightly things which have no gloss upon them: others cry out, we lookt for something new, but these are nothing but a company of old worn things, and what service can we expect from them? and here and there is one that speaks in their commendation, professeth the things are good, and begins to cheapen them, but as soon as ever he hears the price, cries out it is an hard penniworth, and if he is resoved to hold them up so high, he must even keep them for him; and it may be once in a great while there is one or two that doth come and buy would not this man thus conclude within himself, and say, I see this is no place for me to vend my Merchandize in, this people have no occasion for it, I do but lose my labour and time in waiting for custom here; and will therefore pack it up, and carry it away to some other place where I may find better acceptance, and more encouragement; and truly I am very much out in my observations if this be not too much New-England's case, in respect of the Truth: There is no need for me to tell you what and how many awful Tokens there are amongst us of God's being threatning to depart from us: it is a Subject that hath been much and often discoursed of, and great enquiry there hath been made after the provocation; and there is no doubt to be made of it, but that the Pride, Vanity, Profaneness, Earthly-mindedness, Contention, &c. of a professing People, have been highly provoking to the great God, whose Name hath been dishonoured, and wayes evil spoken of by reason of these things: but yet I am fully perswaded, that the root of all these, and that which God hath principally to article against us for, is this, That the Truth hath been a drug among us; the Gospel of Truth hath been wofully contemned: There hath been a long day wherein we have had the free enjoyment of it, but hath not the Lord been all day long stretching out his hand to a gain saying and disobedient people! there have been indeed a great many boglers, but a few buyers; many that have made fair offers as if they would have done something this way, but when it came to the upshot, they have fallen off again; and may not God say unto us as Christ did in a like case to those Jews, Mat. 21. 43. The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a Nation bringing forth the Fruits thereof. And let me say, God seems to be now in greater haste than ordinary, let us be the more wary of putting him upon it.
3. Consider that buying is the only way for you to continue and keep this Market up: if the Merchant comes to a place, and there finds full and free vent for his Wares, he hath his desire, and this will oblige him to fix his abode there, and not to think of a removal; and if there were more of love to the Truth among us, if there were more buying the Truth, and living by the Truth practised, God would never take it away from us: I am fully perswaded, that if the Gospel and Ordinances of Jesus Christ were better prized, and the great Truths of the Word of God more carefully improved; if we were more solicitous to acquaint our selves with God, and diligent to make use of that acquaintance to the promoting of holiness in our hearts and lives; that whatever other trials God might exercise the graces of his people withal, we should never want the clear and precious dispensations of the Gospel among us: Our Saviour Christ intimated thus much to them, when he gave that as the reason why these things were hidden from them, Luke 19. 42. If thou hadst known even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! yea Paul and Barnabas render that as the very reason why they went from the Jews, and turned to the Gentiles, Acts 13. 16. Seeing ye put the Word of God from you, and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life, to we turn to the Gentiles: yea, when God always in the Scripture, gives this to be the great provocation for which he cometh out at any time against a Professing people in the way of his Judgments, especially to turn them out of his house, it plainly speaks thus much, viz. that if it had not been for this, that His Word was slighted, and his Truth trampled upon, they had never felt the fierceness of his indignation in such a way, as to be stript of the light, and left without people and vision.
4. Consider also that if you now buy, you shall then have something to live on, when others must starve: how soon a Famine of the Truth (that worst of famines) may come upon us, we do not know; there was a time when God threatned it to the people of Israel, Amos 8. 21. behold the days come, faith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the Land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and there is great reason why a people should be afraid of it, there where fulness hath begotten loathing, and plenty hath produced carelesness: where men have put greatest slights upon these best things, and grown weary of them: and if such a time doth come, it will be known who husbanded the harvest, who took the opportunity of the market time to buy provision, and furnish themselves against … time of need; then Truth (how low soever it is now esteemed) will be of worth, the vision will be precious, and men shall seek or it in vain, as the Prophet follows it in verse 12. They shall wander from Sea to Sea, and from the North even to the East, and they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it. When the Merchant hath trust up his fardels and is gone, it is then no time for any to buy of him, they that did it not in the proper season, must now suffer the want whatever it be. But when it is so, that all trading is ceased, and every market is shut up, then that happy soul that had the wisdom and grace to get Truth his own, in the season wherein it was to be had, and hath laid it up in his heart as a precious treasure, shall have the comfort of it indeed. The Truth that is only deposited in the publick store of Ordinances, and set to sale in them, may be taken away from us, the market may be stopt, the doors of Gods House may be shut up: but he that hath gotten the Truth lockt up in the secret cabinet of his soul, can never be robbed of it, nor yet be hindred from using and improving it for his spiritual refreshing and comfort; in the darkest hours of oppression; take therefore your opportunity, and whilst you may, secure this, and you shall be happy. This may suffice for the first branch of the Exhortation; a few words to the second shall shut up this discourse.
2. Let it be a word of advice to such as have already bought the Truth; be you advised to hold it fast, and never sell it again. It may possibly be accounted superfluous to say much here by way of advice; in as much as those that have only entertained a notion of Truth in their heads, have not driven a through bargain for it; and therefore are not concerned in this, but are to be sent to the former exhortation: and they that have indeed received it into their hearts, will, can never relinquish it any more, it being a saving work wrought in them, by the Spirit of God, whose gifts are unrepentable: But let me answer to this, that God works by means, and that not only in bringing men over to the Truth, but also in his keeping of them in it: no man is so resolved, but if he should be lest to himself, he might easily be beaten out of those resolutions: strong corruptions within, abetted by an hour of sore Temptation from abroad, oftentimes shakes the weak faith of a Christian, and makes him to stagger in his Profession: feeble knees had need to be strengthned, and hands that hang down to be lifted up: and God is wont to do this for his people in the use of means; and therefore the Gospel Ordinances are as well appointed for the perfecting of the Saints, as for the converting of Sinners; how much therefore of the Scripture shall we find to be spent in cautions, counsels and encouragements upon this account.
The summe then of the Exhortation is: That you labour to be confirmed in an unchangeable resolution, to maintain the Truth both in heart and profession, in despite of all Temptations that may endeavour to draw you to part with it; what are the Temptations, which any of us may be assaulted by, and to what an height they may arise, is at the dispose of him who sits upon the circuit of the Heaven; there have been sore ones that many of Gods faithful ones have encountred withal; and we dwell in a world where they may be expected, nor have we any charter that gives us special immunity from meeting the like.
To speak more particularly, there are two ways, or two sorts of Temptations by which they who have bought the Truth may be endangered, viz. either of being colloagued or else affrighted out of it: In the former of these we are invited by the worlds honours, profits, and pleasures, which look upon us with a smiling countenance, and bespeak us in an insinuating dialect: in the latter we are seared with the Cross and Persecution, looking grim and ghastly upon us, and speaking in Thunder and Lightning to us: The one makes an offer to us of something in exchange for it, and would fain perswade us to believe that we shall be no losers by the bargain: the other tries all it can to discourage us from the keeping of it, and urge us to believe it our wisdom to part with it as soon as we can, and how great a folly it will be in us to resolve to maintain it, with these innumerable hazards and encumbrances that are the certain appendices of it: Now one of these two Temptations do (for the most part) make discovery of those that have made but a slghtly purchase, and bought the Truth no further than in an outward professsion; and they are plainly and fully charactarized to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, the one in the stony, the other in the thorny ground, mentioned in that Parable, Math. 13. The former of these did (at the first preaching of it) receive the Truth with a great deal of seeming joy, but it was but an outside and flashy joy, which wanted good …, and it therein manifested it self to be so because when the Sun of Persecution rose high, and beat hot upon it, all withered, which was because it had no depth, verse 20, 21. The latter took some deeper impression, but together with it there grew up thorny cares, and deceitful pleasures, and they choaked all, verse 22, 23. and it is very certain, that if men can either be perswaded that they may put off the Truth to some considerable advantage, or that they cannot maintain it without some notable loss, they are prepared to make this unhappy bargain, to sell the Truth; I shall therefore essay to speak something which may afford suitable help for your establishment against the prevalency of both these Temptations, and that only in some few words of advice.
1. Endeavour to make sure and … title to the Truth. Man is a dependant creature, and every one would willingly … something which they may live upon, and whereunto they may safely trust: and that which is the great engagement upon men to stand by a thing, hold it fast, and utterly refuse to let it go, is (together with a perswasion in their minds of the excellency and worth of it) an apprehension of an interest which they have in it; and ever the more confident a man is in this particular, the more resolute may we expect that he will be: A man may enjoy a goodly inheritance, be in the possession of it, and be exceedingly unwilling to be put out of it; and yet notwithstanding, if he suspect the validity of his deeds and evidences, and be afraid that he shall never be able to make good his title to it in Law; and may so be put to a great deal of trouble and expense, and lose all at last, this very suspicion will make him very cold in the defending of it, and put him upon the temptation to forgo it at some considerable disadvantage: many are in their judgments perswaded of the inestimable value of this Jewel, Truth; and how happy a portion they have gotten who are the true owners of it, but they are withal afraid lest they have but deceived themselves, and have not driven a through and full Bargain for it, they are doubtful whither the evidence they can produce for their title to it, will stand good; and in the mean while, to think of suffering the loss of all the outward advantages of the delights of this world, and to undergo the troubles and hazards of persecution in standing by it (and how far they may extend they know not) and after all this to be dispossest of the Truth too, this looks sadly upon them, and these fears do many times make them to faint, and draw back, at least put them to such stands that they know not what to do: and without question, it must needs be a fearful thing to lose credit, liberty, estate, ease and life too for the Truth, and lose the Truth at last, and the Soul by that loss, which is a possible case: That you may avoid being reduced to such a Dilemma, and prevent this distress, your work is not to rest till you see the Deeds signed, sealed and delivered; to follow that advice, 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure, and if once you can say securely with Paul, You know whom you have trusted, you may well build that upon it which he doth, For this cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, 2 Tim. 1. 12. if you are but well satisfied in that, that you do not labour at uncertainties, that the Truth is really yours, and shall without sail recompence you all your cost, with infinite interest; let the expense in maintaining of it be never so much, this will certainly put life into your resolutions, and make you stand your ground without flinching, entertaining with an holy scorn all the essayes or offers which can be made, either to cog or wrest the Truth out of your hands:
2. Beware of being ashamed to own, or perswaded through fear to suppress the profession of the Truth. It is none of the least of the devices of Satan: and lessons which he hath throughly instructed his instruments in, to cast an odium and obloquy upon the Truth, and the serious professors of it; and it is grounded upon this presumption, that if they can once obtain to make it infamous, they shall then with little difficulty draw men away from it, meerly to avoid that scandal which they shall otherwise expose themselves unto, by the open profession of it. It is not seldom that the Truth comes to be quite out of credit among the generality of men, when the Prophets complaint is verified, Isai. 59. 14, 15. Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter, yea Truth faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: when matters so stand in the World, that nothing shall expose a man to so much opprobry and contempt as the lively profession of it; when a man's … shall be more secure, and out of danger, in the commission of all manner of debaucheries, than in the sober asserting of such a Profession; and such men as do so profess, shall be so strangely charactarized, and represented to the World as more dangerous to the civil interests, and more pernicious enemies to the peace and safety of man kind than the most profane and profligate men: when openly to own and assert the Truth, shall expose a man to be the ridicle of the world and scorn of the generation: such things as these there have been many of the people of God that have been experienced witnesses of: and now when it is so, the greatest number of men that have sometimes made a profession, may be ready to withdraw, and think it to be a great deal more safe for them to suppress it, and keep in the Truth: they may be loth to lay themselves open, and to have their persons vilified, and names bespatered with all reproachful reflections: and when they have given way to such a shame as this is, it will readily put them upon dissembling, and that they may shore up their reputation, they make bold to imprison the Truth, to shrink in from it, and leave it alone to plead for it self; … their own conferences, (which would else give them woful girds, and lead them a disquiet life) with supposing that if they do not openly abjure it, but embrace and lodg it in their hearts, and keep them true to it, such a course as this, is safest for the times; and sufficient for their own security: But let us know that all Truth is practical, and God requires also of us that we let the world know that it is our hope; and therefore the Apostle Peter gives that advice to Gods people in respect of such times as are under consideration, 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be ready always to give an answer unto every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and with fear. He that is ashamed to make a profession of the Truth, is ashamed of the Truth, and he that is ashamed of the Truth, is ashamed of Jesus Christ, who is Truth it self; and if he be thus ashamed of Christ, Christ will be as much ashamed of him in that day wherein it would be his only interest and happiness to be acknowledged by him, Mark. 8. 38. & we may take it for granted, that that man who is ashamed of the Truth, hath at least made half a sale of it.
3. Take heed that you do not part with any one Truth. It is a vain and foolish thing for us to let one go, and yet think to keep the rest: if once you begin to be bartering here, it will be an easy matter to buy you out of the whole stock; for let men palliate and excuse things as cunningly as they will, yet this will prove certain, that by the same reason that a man may be prevailed upon to give his consent in the alienation of any one, let it be supposed to be the least Truth in the whole system of Theology, that man will in time be wrought upon to sell all others which he hath pretended to: There are some men who think that if they do but keep to the fundamentals, and stand by them, there is less danger though they part with such as are Circumstantials: They applaud their own prudence, that they have taken up a resolution to keep Truth enough to be saved by at last, and that they will (if need be) stand in the defence of, and for all the rest, if they renounce and disclaim them, for their present profit or security, to keep themselves in an whole skin, and make the less disturbance in the places they live in, there will be no such great harm in it: and when once the Devil hath gotten this hold of men, he thinks that be hath gotten enough to undo, bankrupt and ruine them: Nay this is his own trick, or way which he himself hath contrived to take with men as the most likely to whedle them out of their Religion. The Devil knows well enough, that such men as have made a great Profession are not to be perswaded to stop into the depth of Apostasie at one stride, that they … not sell Truth and Religion all in one sale: and hence he accomodates the Temptations that he useth with them to the best advantage, to which purpose he in the first place begin to cheapen some Truth which he supposeth they set the least by, and do not account to be so momentous as they do some others; and if either by Flatteries or Menaces, by fair promises, or … threatnings, he can but bring them up to a consent to deny such a Truth, and profess against it, his most difficult talk is over, and all the rest is gotten with more ease.
The Devil hath learnt more wit at length than to ask men to throw themselves down from the pinacle of the Temple prostrate at his feet, at a leap, the very sight and apprehension whereof would appear amazing and frightful; but he hath gotten fair and easie winding stairs, where a man shall neither see back from whence he came, nor forward whither he is going; and hath also many a Landing where he may stand still and breath; and thus by slow paces and easie degrees he draws men insensibly away from the Truth: And how many Professors have so been brought to make shipwreck of their Faith? Hence Hells Factors and Cheats would fain perswade men to hearken to them, and say, alas! these are but poor niceties, disputable points, matters of no great moment whether you believe them or no: they are things too small and inconsequential to disquiet the Church with, or deprive themselves of favour and preferment for: But it is very notorious, that men who have suffered their Consciences so to be bribed, and have against the light of them, hearkened to the alluring invitations that have been thus proposed to them, have not made any long time of it, ere they have been deserters, and not staying there, grown to be zealous Persecutors of Religion; except God hath in mercy to their souls awakened and reclaimed them. Know this then that as small a matter as it may look to be, and how high soever the cunning of Seducers may perswade you to make of it, yet he that abandons one known Truth, though it look to be of the least size, is a step to the most fearful Apostasie, and if you are once stept into the way of it, you are under the greatest probability of being lost for ever:
Now for your help to the practise of these duties, take these two words of Advice.
1. Be perswaded to believe what losers you shall be, if you shall exchange the Truth for any worldly things whatsoever. Men that do buy and sell do aim at some advantage by it, or else they had as good sit still and spare themselves the trouble; but if you should let go any one Truth for all that is to be gotten in the World, you would not only be no gainers, but inexpressible losers: thus to do would be nothing less or better than to sell a substance for a shadow, an enduring substance for a flying shadow: compare the highest offers that the world is able to make, with the Truth, and see how incomparably they fell short of having the worth and good in them which that hath: is it wealth, it tempts you with? (and so poor Demas was fooled out of his Religion) why they are but the Treasures of Egypt, and the reproach of Christ is greater Riches than all these, Heb. 11. 26. Gold it self is but perishing dust, Truth is an everlasting Treasure. Are they earthly pleasures and carnal delights? Afflicted Truth is upon a mature deliberation to be chosen before them: as being more eligible, Heb. 11. 25. thus to part with it, is to give undefiled Delights and everlasting, for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season. Is it favour and respect in the World? it is to exchange the love of the eternal God, for the good will of dying men, and to put your selves under their character, Joh. 12. 43 they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. In a word, put them all together, and make the most of them you possibly can, and they will amount but to a fading felicity, upon which you shall never settle; but keep the Truth, and it shall crown you with immortality and eternal life.
2. Beware of being frighted by the apprehension of the hazards which the preserving of the Truth may expose you unto: They are unto Flesh and Blood terrible and scaring things, but to a rightly informed and spiritual judgment they are but bug-bears and scare-crows: they cannot of themselves make a divorce between you and the Truth; and as long as they cannot do that, they can do you no real harm; the Apostle Peter seeks to quiet the Spirits of those he writes unto with such a consideration, 1 Pet. 3. 12. and who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? they might readily reply, Devils will, and the enemies of God and goodness will the rather do it for this; Peter knew all this, but he would have you to understand that it is out of their reach, that though they would, yet they cannot do it: do you but keep the Truth and that will keep you; it will be a Garison that can never be subdued. There is indeed an evil in these things, and therefore it is lawful to desire (if it may stand with divine counsel) that they may be kept from us; but whither they shall or no is with him who knows what is best; and this is sufficient for us, that the God of Truth hath engaged his Word and Faithfulness to turn it unto good in the operation; and you may safely trust him with it, for he is able to do it. Be not slavishly afraid; what saith the wise man, Prov. 29. 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whosoever trusteth in the Lord shall be safe. They are poor revenges that the World can wreak upon us, and therefore, in the judgment of our Saviour Christ, not worthy of a Christian fear, Mat. 10. 28. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. When the three Children were threatned with a fiery Furnace, they thought it not a thing worth the answering, Dan. 3. 16. O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter: the proud King thought to have scared them into a ly, but he was greatly mistaken; the fear of God, and love of the Truth, had put them beyond such puny fears.
Now for your furtherance, let me add a few special Rules, which may help to strengthen you to this great duty, viz.
1. See that you do not place your hopes for happiness in this life or the things of it. That is it which makes these Doctrines which represent the Worlds grandure as contemptible, and the afflictions of it as scarce regardable, to seem Paradoxes to us, because we confine mans happiness too much to this present time. The Apostle saw how incompatible these two were, to be a Christian, and to ty up ones hopes to this life, when he laid down that conclusion. 1 Cor. 15. 19. If our hope in Christ were for this life only, we were of all men most miserable. If we think it an undoing thing, either to be without the delights, or to suffer the afflictions of this World, it will be no hard matter to make us put off the Truth as a cumbersome Commodity; yea, as that the keeping whereof will endanger our ruine. And that is the reason why carnal men account resolved Christians to be the veriest Fools in nature.
He must have his hopes fixed no where short of Heaven, who will stand by his Purchase of the Truth against all the assaults that he may undergo for it upon Earth.
That which made the primitive Christians so steady in this practise was, they took their eyes off from Temporal, and fixt them upon Eternal things, 2 Cor. 4. ult. yea, this was it that made the antient Patriarchs to forsake all for the Truth, because they confessed themselves Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth, and looked for a City which hath Foundations.
2. Hence you must be much in the mortifying of fleshly lusts. So much of carnal concupiscence as there is in us, so much there is of enmity against the Truth; and hence, so much as there is of the activity and prevalency of it, so much danger there will be of our yielding to the Temptation offered us: these will be ever crying out, with Jobs Wise, how long wilt thou retain thine integrity? Curse God and Dye; and with Peter, Master save thy self, these are they which will be ever fighting against the Soul, and must therefore be abstamed from, 1 Pet. 2. 11. these be they which know no other happiness, but what is enjoyed in the pomps and pleasures of the world, and apprehend no other misery but what is suffered by the loss of these things, and being subjected to the trials of this life: if these therefore may be heard, and their pleadings be any whit regarded, we shall be but wavering Christians, and tossed to and fro with every wind of Temptations. If therefore you would not sell the Truth, be sure to subdue your lusts, bring them to the Cross of Christ, learn to deny your selves, labour to be crucified to the world, and get that crucified to you: beware then of feeding and pampering of them, of gratifying their desires, and giving them their scope, by pleading for, and defending of them in any of their exorbitancies: if you give them the reins now, they will be masters when an hour of trial shall come, and will carry you away to seek shelter under a lye, rather than expose your selves by standing your ground in maintainance of the Truth.
3. Hence also arm your selves to endure hardness; he that will resolve not to sell the Truth, and never go from that resolution, must expect (and accordingly prepare) to meet with a thousand hazards, and combate ten thousand difficulties in the preservation of it; Paul knows not in particular, what things shall befall him for the Truths sake, but this he is well aware of that bonds and afflictions do abide him. After that we have bought the Truth, and been at never so much cost for it, if Satan and wicked men may have their wills, they will never suffer us to enjoy the quiet possession of it, but do all they can to cast us out of this inheritance: and though it be not always actually so, yet there is ever great reason to expect that it may so be, that if we will not sell the Truth, we may dye for it: if Naboth will not part with his inheritance, he must part with his life, and this is an hard chapter to Flesh and Blood; nature relucts here, Skin for Skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life. They are not the tender and delicate, but the hardy and exercised Christians who are like to endure such a shock as this is, hence therefore the Apostle gives Timothy that advice, 2 Tim. 2. 3. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ; he is a man indeed, who when he sees all creature comforts going, his house rifled, his goods confiscated, his family dispersed, his person siezed and laid up in Irons, and his very life exposed to cruelty and rage, and all this for Truths sake; thou can with a chearful countenance, and undaunted soul, look upon all this, and say with Paul, none of these things move me, nor do I count my life to be dear, so I may but save the Truth, and we may live and die together: he who doth but read what this stood these Worthies of old in, recorded in Heb. 11. 3… &c. will say those were not tender chits, but hardy Souldiers of Jesus Christ.
4. Beware of being too much led by examples, he that will stand by the Truth must resolve, not only conditionally, but absolutely; not only to stand as long as this or that man whom he placeth great credit and confidence in, but he must resolve as Peter, though all men forsake thee, yet will not I. If we will truly obey this command of God, it must be no prejudice to us, if we see a thousand fall at our right hand, and ten thousand at our left, though great Stars should come tumbling down out of the Firmament, and those seemingly of the first magnitude: tho this should be brought as an argument against us, and thrown in our dish to upbraid us, yet we must not regard it, so as to be shaken in Spirit, but when many go away and walk no more with Christ, we must make the same answer that his Disciples did to him, when he askt them if they would go also, John 6. 68. Whither shall we go? thou onelyonly hast the words of Eternal Life; and it is no unusual thing for an hour of Temptation to present us with the ruines of many an Eminent Professor, who hath forsaken the truth, and embraced the world, these must be our monitors, and not our Presidents.
5. Beware of Carnal Confidence, and learn to be humble. It is Pauls advice, 1 Cor. 10. 12. Let him that thinketh he stands, take heed lest he fall; there is many a man that makes a great bluster with a Profession; and he sell the Truth? No not he: here is this or that man they are afraid of, (and it is to be hoped their Charity will engage them to pray for them) but for themselves they are fixt, and say as Peter, I be offended? no, tho all be offended, I will not; I deny thee? no, though I should dye with thee, I'le not deny thee; there are a great many such boasters, whom (it is to be feared) if tryals come indeed upon them, God will put to shame: It is the humble self-suspecting soul, that is like to keep his ground, and maintain the Truth, as his inheritance, with unshaken resolutions.
6. Hence be much in the exercise of faith and prayer; believe in Christ, and rely on his promise; Truths great rewards are in reversion, and received by saith; and our strength is not in our own hands but in Gods, and therefore to be sought for by earnest supplications: If God do not help us we shall fail, he only can carry us through; all that encouragement, support, comfort, and inward relief which is requisite to the making us stable and unmoveable, must come down from him who is the Father of lights; his Promise must be our strength, and his Spirit our assistor: and therefore let us study to be strong in the faith, and spirited unto Prayer, so shall we never be deserted of that help by which we stand.
7. Taste the sweet and contemplate the excellency of the reward which is laid up in the Truth: What David said of God, I may say of Truth, Psal. 34. 8. Oh taste and see that Truth is good: were our life more spiritual, our purposes would be more stable: one through savoury relish of the Truth, is enough to make us to resolve to lose all rather than that: and when we have gotten a gust of its incomparable preciousness, now let us contemplate these vast treasuries, that immense and eternal fountain of this goodness, which is contained in it, where there is enough to satisfie and fill the souls of the people of God for ever; that Kingdom and Crown, those glories and pleasures which the purchase of the truth gives us an indisputable title to; and let us oppose these things to the Temptations which assault us; and if we have any thing of Truth really implanted in us, this will be enough to conquer them all; and here is a work cut out for every one; you that have not already purchased, your business is to buy the Truth, and you that have so done, your care is not to fell it again; and in so doing, the Truth shall preserve us here from the harm of every evil; it shall conduct us so as that we shall not be in danger of losing our way; and it shall finally bring us to, and possess us of a Kingdom of Everlasting Glory.
FINIS.