Post by Admin on Oct 26, 2024 22:14:09 GMT -5
THE APPLICATION THAT I shall make of the whole, shall be by way of
Information and Conviction.
Direction and Exhortation.
1. By way of Information and Conviction. Learn from what hath been said,
1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever.
2. That where there is but little power over the World, there is but little Faith.
1. Every Captive to the World is an unbeliever; without Christ, and in the
state of damnation: Oh think not light of your worldliness, ’tis a death token
upon you, and such as marks you up with those that perish; that this is
certainly so, that every worldling is an unbeliever and unconverted, I shall
1. Can that man be a believer, who is a lover of the world more than a
lover of God? Art thou a believer who lovest not? Canst thou say thou
lovest God, when the better part of thine heart is with the world? Will this
CHAP VII. – Use 1: The application made of the whole.
be accepted, when thou canst only say, Lord, I bring thee half mine heart,
and but the least half neither; here ’tis divided, let the world I pray thee
have the first choice, and take thou all that the world leaves? Give me leave
first to mind my earthly things, and next to these, God shall be regarded?
Speak Conscience, will God accept such a gift? Such a little piece of a soul,
when the main is bestowed on another? Will God say, Surely this is my
Child, surely this is my Servant, next to the world he loves me best of all?
Do ye think he will? What saith the Scripture? Mat. 10:37. He that loveth
Father or Mother more than me, is not worthy of me; he that loveth Son or
Daughter more than me, is unworthy of me. Find, if you can, a more
convincing argument of an unbeliever, then that of the Apostle, 2 Tim. 3:4.
A lover of pleasure more than a lover of God.
He that loveth the world more than God, is none of his; that cannot be
denied. And art thou not the man? Dost thou love God as thou lovest the
world? Let thy life speak; what seekest thou? Whom servest thou? Where
dost thou bestow thy self? In whom dost thou bless thyself? What is the
chief pleasure and comfort of thy life? Is God he? Is it God whom thou
seekest, and servest, and blessest thyself in? Does not thine heart know that
thy Mammon is the God whom thou servest? That thou lovest to be rich,
and to prosper in the world, more than ever thou lovedst to be holy and
righteous before God.
Dost thou love God? Where are thy labors of love? What hast thou done
for God ever since thou wert born? Where are thy fruits thou hast brought
forth unto the Lord? Hast thou been serving God all thy days, and yet hast
nothing to show of all that thou hast done? Thou hast something to show for
thy serving the world; this house thou hast gotten, or that Farm, or these
Sheep and Oxen, or this stock of money; something thou hast to show, to
prove thee a servant of the world; but hast thou been serving God all thy
time, and hast nothing to show for it? Sure Brethren, worldly men are either
very fools, or very false to themselves, if they do not condemn themselves
here. I confess I have done little for God all my time; I have been busy for
this world, but I confess I have but loitered, and neglected the things of the
other world. I must never lie for the matter, mine own Conscience tells me
’tis thus.
Foolish soul, Hast thou served the world more than God, and canst thou
yet make thyself believe, thou lovest God more than the world? To say thou
lovest God above all, though thou hast but little sought or served him; is to
say, I love him above all, but I care not much for him; if another man
should have said so, would not thine own heart have laughed at him for a
fool, or condemned him for a liar?
Tremble Worldling, and hear this first evidence against thee; thy whole
life tells thee thou lovest the world more than thou lovest God; and God
himself tells thee, that he that loveth the world more than God, is none of
his.
2. Is he a believer that is not come to Christ? Coming to Christ, and
believing in Christ are the same, Joh. 6:35. Art thou come unto Christ?
Whence art thou come? From the world? What, and yet thine heart still in
the world? Art thou come to Christ, who art still where thou wert, when
thou wert without Christ? Canst thou be here and there too? Deceive not
thyself, thou mayst as well be at once in heaven and hell, as thine heart be
in Christ, and in the world.
Are Christ and the world friends? Are God and Mammon become but one
Master? Are the two kingdoms united, and may the same persons at once be
subjects of them both?
Hath Christ ever said, be mine, and then stay where thou art? List thy
name under me for a Disciple, and then go and serve the world still? Be
proud, be covetous, be sensual, be in all things as the men of this world are,
only be my Disciple?
Is not the renouncing of the world, included in our coming to Christ?
Doth not he that saith to thee, Come, first say, depart? And is not thy
coming to Christ, in the very nature of it, a departing from the world, thy
choosing of him, a refusing of it? When Christ and the world are offered to
thy choice, canst thou choose both? Must thou not necessarily take to the
one, and let the other go?
And hast thou renounced the world, who art still a worldling? What hast
thou renounced of it? Or how far forth hast thou renounced it? Is it not thy
treasure still? Is it not thy Lord still? Is not this it which thou still takest, as
thy governor and reward.
Doest thou love it as thy God, and serve it as thy God, and hold it fast as
thy God, and yet hast thou renounced it? Does everyone that knows thee
point with the finger at thee, there goes an earthworm, there goes a
Mammonist, there lives a true drudge to the world, and wilt thou yet say, I
have done with the world?
Is thy lust, and thine appetite after more, as greedy, and insatiable as ever?
Is thy love, and delight, and rest in what thou hast, as great as ever? Is it so
hard to get anything out of thine hand for God, so that that little which
comes, must be wrung as so many drops of blood from thine heart? Art thou
so pinching and sparing, that scarce any without thine own belly is ever the
better for thee, and hast thou yet renounced the world.
Art thou so crucified, and vexed, and tormented, when thou art crossed or
miscarriest in any little of thy worldly interest, and canst thou yet say, I am
crucified to the world?
Can the world make thee lie, and dissemble, and play the knave, when tis
for thy advantage; can it command thy conscience, and thy religion, and thy
hopes, to do obeisance to it; can it keep thee out of thy closet, out of the
Church; must prayers and sabbaths and sermons and Sacraments be
neglected, when the world hath any business for thee, and hath it still so
much business for thee, that thou canst scarce have one prayer or one
Sabbath clear of its encroachment? Doth it follow thee into thy closet, and
follow thee into the congregation, and so fill thine head and take away thine
heart, that thou canst make nothing of thy religion? Or whatsoever
transactions there have been sometimes betwixt the Lord and thy Soul, doth
the World still meet thee at the door and make all void and null? Hath it
held thee in such ignorance, and Atheism, that under all the means of
knowledge and grace, thou still livest without God in the World, and canst
thou yet say thou hast shaken off its yoke.
Stand worldling and hear this farther evidence; Thy greediness, thy
penuriousness, thy lying and defrauding, thy neglected duties, thy neglected
sabbaths thy neglected Soul and all upon the Worlds account, these will tell
thee thou hast not renounced the World, and that will convict thee, that thou
art not come unto Christ, nor hast be lieved on him.
3. Is he a believer who hath [absolutely] chosen this world, and hath only
[conditionally] chosen Christ? Who will first seek his own things, and in the
second place, the things of Christ? Who will model his Christianity into a
consistency with his carnal interest? Is he a believer who will have both if it
may be, Christ and this World too, but if he cannot have both, will let Christ
go? Is he a Christian that says, I will serve Christ though it cost me nothing,
I will be for him when I have nothing else to do, he shall have all my spare
hours, if that will content him? Is this to give Christ the preeminence, or is
he a Christian, that will take in Christ to be an underling to the world?
What are the terms on which Christ is offered? Hath he given thee leave
to make thine own terms? Or must thou not stand to his? What are Christ's
terms, but that thou take him absolutely, that is purely on his own terms
without putting in any of thine. Dost thou understand what his conditions
are? Is it only, that he shall be second in the kingdom? That he shall be
obeyed in all things provided the world do not contradict it? Is this
Christianity, that the world should be suffered to give check to the authority
and interest of Christ?
And is not this all thy Christianity? Thou sayest indeed, thou hast chosen
Christ absolutely; God forbid that I should prefer anything before Christ,
that I should mind anything more than Christ; I mind the World, tis true,
and I ought so to do; but Christ hath my heart, and I had rather lose all that
ever I have, then at last be found out of Christ.
But consider; thou mayst best judge of thine heart by thy life; as I said
before, so I demand of thee again, whither does the course of thy life
mainly bend? What art thou doing all the year round? What proportion hath
Christ of thy daily care and labor? Speak truth; would not thine heart tell
thee thou liest, if thou say, thou art more earnestly and more constantly
caring for the things of Christ, then of the world?
Again, thou mayst best Judge of thy choice by observing thy critical
hours. How is it ordinarily with thee, when Christ and the World stand in
competition? When it comes to be a case, that one of the two must be
neglected, which of the two then use to carry thee?
Thou knowest thou hast often neglected Christ for the world; thou
knowest that thy businesses, or thy pleasures, or thy companions have often
lost thee a prayer, or a Sabbath, or a sermon; thou wouldst have prayed
oftener, or heard oftener, but thou couldst not have leisure: thou knowest it
hath been too often thus: and consider if it be not commonly thus. How
seldom is it that thou canst remember, that thou hast carried thyself as a
Christian, to thy loss; that thou hast followed Christ in any duties, when
thou knewest it would have been more to thy profit, to have put Christ off to
another time. Many a time have thy gains, or thy friends, or thy pleasures,
lost thee thy conscience, but how often couldst thou ever say, My
conscience hath lost me a friend, my conscience hath lost me a good
bargain? Whatever Christ hath at any time called thee to, If thou couldst
say, it is not for mine ease, it is not for my credit, it is not for my safety to
hearken, hath not this been counted argument enough to hold thee back, and
excuse sufficient to save thee from blame?
And wilt thou yet say, thou hast chosen Christ absolutely? Or canst thou
think thyself a true believer, who hast chosen him only conditionally? Is
this the Christianity on which thou wilt venture thy Soul, I will be for Christ
as far as the world, and this flesh, or (which is all one) as far as the Devil
will give me leave?
I have known some poor ignorant wretches, whom when I have been
pressing to a serious minding of God, and their eternal concernment, they
have answered me, why I do, as far as God will give me leave; No, no
wretch, thou mistakest, tis only as far as the Devil will give thee leave; and
this is the common case of Worldlings; thou that wilt be a Christian no
farther than the World will give thee leave, wilt be such, no farther than the
Devil will give thee leave; and sure thou that wilt be a Christian no farther
than the Devil will give thee leave, when he will give thee leave, thou shalt
to Heaven.
Wanton, when wilt thou be chaste?
When my flesh will give me leave.
Drunkard, when wilt thou be sober?
When my companions will give me leave.
Earthworm, when wilt thou to Christ?
When the World will give me leave: how much of Christianity wilt thou take up? What the world will
allow me: how much is that? As much as please the Devil. But when wilt
thou to Heaven then? Why when the flesh and the World and the Devil are
all agreed to send me thither.
Stand Worldling, this once more stand, and hear thy whole evidence;
Thou art a lover of the world more than a lover of God; thou art not come
unto Christ; or if thou seem to be come, thou hast accepted of him only on
condition, that though thou be his Disciple, yet thou mayst still continue a
servant to this world. Surely if the God of this world, who hath blinded thy
mind, that thou believe not, had not so blinded thee, that thou canst not see
thine unbelief, thine own heart would condemn thee, and thine own hand
would subscribe thy sentence; and this is thy sentence, That thou art yet
under the dominion, and therefore under the damnation of the world; Thy
soul abideth in death, and the wrath of God abideth on thee.
Thou art a man of this world, thou hast taken thy portion in this life, and
art like to have no better than thou hast chosen: If thy day run out thus, thy
word at last will be that which was the rich man's, Luke 16. Son, remember
thou hast received thy good things. Oh what's the meaning of that word?
Why this is the meaning of it, thou hast all the good that thou art like to
have forever; an end, an end is come upon all thy comforts, the Sun is set
upon all thy good days, not one good day, not one merry hour more forever
and ever; thou hast had thy day, henceforth nothing remains to thee, but an
eternal night, the blackness of darkness forever; thy temporal joys are
swallowed up of everlasting sorrows, thy honors are expired into
everlasting contempt, thy riches have taken wings, and now thy poverty is
come upon thee as an armed man, which thou shalt not escape. All this is
included in this word, which will be thy word, Thou hast received thy good
things.
What eyes have ye, O ye sons of the earth, if you do not yet see? What
hearts have you, if you do not yet tremble? The Lord be merciful to me, if
these things be so, what's like to become of me? I have spun a fair thread;
Oh I have coveted an evil covetousness, I have been busy in gathering dirt,
and building my Nest, and providing for my young, but whither is my soul
taking her flight? If the rest of my days be as the days that are past, (and
God knows whether after so long an Apprentice I may ever go out free) if
the rest of my days be as the days that are past, what remains but a fearful
expectation of wrath and fiery indignation, which will devour me forever? I
have kindled a fire, and compassed myself about with sparks, and after I
have walked a while in the light of my fire, and of the sparks that I have
kindled, this shall I have of the hand of the most High, I shall lie down in
sorrow.
O ye worldlings, shake up out of your stupendous security; will you yet
receive the Word of the Lord, and suffer yourselves to be convinced? Will
you yet believe yourselves to be unbelievers? What say you? Do you not
believe that Worldlings are unbelievers? Can you have any other thought
but you are Worldlings?
Open your eyes upon all your ways, view the whole course of your life,
what it hath been from your first time until now, and let Conscience speak
freely.
If these two things might stick in your hearts, that you are Worldlings, and
that Worldlings have no part in Christ, then there were hope, that you would
accept of those counsels which I shall give you from the Lord, in order to
your escape, after I have first urged the second word of Conviction.
2. That where there is but little power over the world, there is but little
Faith. As the first Conviction will overthrow the Faith of some, and prove it
a mere nullity, so this will call in question the confidence of others, and at
least take them some degrees lower.
There are some Professors who have a name among the first three of the
Worthies of our Lord; have the site and the aspect of stars of the first
magnitude, and are ranked among the chief of Saints; who have risen high
in the easier and sweeter, but less significant parts of Religion; who have
gotten the language, and tasted, as they imagine, of the milk and honey of
Canaan, and learned much of the more pleasing manners of that good Land;
who seem to be of the more intimate acquaintance of the sublimer spirit,
and power of the Gospel, and to be much elevated in the spirituality of their
notions and duties, above the attainments of vulgar Christians; and hence
are grown up in their own and others apprehensions, to be as the Cedars of
the Lord among the lower shrubs; whom yet if we inquire into, about those
severer points, of mortification, self-denial, and crucifixion to the world,
possibly they may be found in these things as low as the least of Saints: The
faith of these, if it prove to be the faith of God's Elect at all, yet sure it will
be found to be by many degrees less then it appears; must yet for the real spirit of faith and holiness, come behind the littles ones of the flock? Where there is but
little power over the world,
there is but little faith.
In order to the managing, and carrying home this Conviction, consider, that,
1. According to the truth or falsehood of our faith, so are we either
Conquerors, or Captives to the world.
2. According to the proportion of our faith, so will this victory over the
world be more complete or imperfect.
1. According to the truth or falsehood of our faith, so are we either
Conquerors, or Captives to the world. Every unbeliever is a Captive, every
believer is a Conqueror of the world; both these have been already proved.
Faith is our choosing and laying hold on another portion; our resigning
ourselves to the dominion of another Lord: the world is gone, when it may
no longer be our Ruler or reward.
Faith changes the heart, Act. 15:9, it kills the Spirit of this World, and that
other Spirit that rises up in its room, is this Spirit of faith. By faith Christ is
formed upon the heart, the old Soul is made new, renewed after the image
of God in righteousness and true holiness: this new Soul is suited to a new
treasure; earthly things wax old, and old things pass away, when the soul is
made new: ’tis argument enough that thou art an unbeliever, and an enemy
to the Cross of Christ, that thou still mindest earthly things, Philip. 3:19.
2. According to the proportion of our faith, so will this victory over the
world be more complete or imperfect. We may best take the height and
degree of our faith, by observing the elevation of our spirits above the earth:
a low and earthly spirit, whatever show it makes, is but of little faith: Faith
hath a general influence upon every grace and lust; as to the nourishing of
the one, so to the withering of the other; lust and the world run parallel;
where one is, there you shall find the other, on the Throne, or at the
footstool: Faith lays lust in the dirt, and the world ever falls with it: Faith is
our arm, and according as this arm grows stronger, so is the blow it gives to
our Enemy, more mortal. The power of God is revealed in us from faith to
faith; there is a more abundant communication, and a more vigorous
exerting of this Divine Power where faith is grown; where we are but of
little strength, its certain we are but weak in faith; and where our adversary
is so strong, ’tis argument enough that we are weak.
Growth in grace is then proved to be most real, when ’tis most equal and
universal; ’tis an imperfection in Nature where one member outgrows the
rest; as grace and peace, so grace and grace have their due proportions each
to other: great peace, and little grace, will make it questionable, whether
that peace be peace; something of one grace, and nothing of another, will
make it as doubtful, whether that grace be grace; high in knowledge, and
low in love; strong in confidence, and loose in conscience; hot in affection,
and cold in practice; in the solaces of the spirit, and yet walking in the flesh:
Behold a Christian, like Nebuchadnezzar's Image, the head of gold, the feet
of iron and clay;
It is strange to observe what contradictions some Professors of
Christianity are; they are what they are not, they are not what they are:
whilst they would be the great reconcilers of flesh and spirit, of earth and
heaven, and make the serving of God and their own bellies, the same
service, behold how they are divided from themselves; they love God, and
love him not; they serve God, and serve him not; this they may do as well
as love God, and this present world.
Oh how different are many of us from ourselves; our practices from our
principles, our doings from our sayings; and yet how little differing from
others: you pray as others do not, you hear as others do not, you swear not
as others, you curse not as others; but do you not covet as others? Are you
not carnal as others? Consider your ways, who more intent upon their
present commodity, who more hot upon the chase of an earthly inheritance,
then some of those who profess to have laid up their treasure in heaven?
Are there none to be sound, who pretend to the greatest confidence of
Divine Love, to the highest pitch of Spirituality and Divine Communion;
who seem to pant after the Lord, and breath out their souls in their warm
and passionate duties, and yet are eaten out, and swallowed up of the cares
of this life?
It is an amazing thing to consider, what a strange degree of earthliness is
to be found among such; what insatiable hunger, what indefatigable labor
after an increase of their estates? How little respect to soul or conscience,
where their gain is concerned? How ordinarily dispensing with lying,
promise breaking, and almost any unrighteousness, when ’tis for their
advantage? How many grains must there be allowed them, e're charity itself
can judge them honest?
And where is all bestowed that is thus gotten in? How little goes out for
God, or any of his? How many hypocritical bemoaning’s of the hard case of
the poor, to one liberal alms? Some gather only that they may lay up, others
that they may have to spend upon their lusts, to build them houses, and
furnish their tables, to trim their carcasses, to please their eye, or their
palates; and all this either justified and allowed, or at least made up with
some such hypocritical complaints, Woe is me this world is too hard for me,
O it eats up my time, O it steals away mine heart; how am I overcharged,
how is my soul even choked within me, what shall I do to help it? And
when the complaint is thus made, the matter is mended; now a good
Christian, now ease, and joy, and confidence returns; and then on again the
same course.
Brethren be serious; consider yourselves, feel your own pulses, view your
own faces, and ways, observe your hearts, see where their daily walks are;
may you not find them ten times walking to and fro through the earth, to
once or twice casting a look towards heaven?
What are their daily tasks? What is the work you every day put them
upon? Instead of those higher and nobler Offices of Vessels of Honor,
waiting before the Throne of God, standing in his Courts, bearing his Name,
beholding his Face, setting forth his Praises; have not our hearts been made,
hewers of wood, and drawers of water, carriers of burdens, servers of tables,
purveyors for the flesh, caterers for the appetite, servants to the back and
the belly, the great traders and merchants of the earth, to buy in provision
for lust? Worthy employment for immortal Souls; as if the utensils of the
Temple, the golden altar, the golden table, the candlesticks, the bowls and
the basons, all of beaten gold, should have been fetched out and set up in a
blind Inn or a dirty alehouse, for the service and the pleasure of every
drunken companion,
Have not your Souls, none of you, been thus dealt withal? Are not these
your heart-works? When anything is to be done for God, the body must do
that; the body must to the closet, the tongue must pray, the ear must hear,
the eye must read, but the Soul must stay abroad; when any thing is to be
done for the other world, that must be but bodily exercise, but when this
flesh must be served, that's the heart-work, that's work for the Soul. If these
Souls could be seen with bodily eyes, a man that goes into the field, or into
a fair, or to a feast, might see a hundred Souls more there than bodies; and
he that went into the congregation of the Lord, if there were never so great a
throng, may be, he might see but a few hearts in the company.
Christians consider, is this your faith? Is this your victory over the world?
Is this to be mortified? Is this to be crucified with Christ? Or to have your
conversation in Heaven? Or can you think yourselves believers, especially
of so high a form, when so earthly and carnal?
What think you of those Jews, of whom the Lord speaks, Ezek. 33:31.
They come unto thee as the people cometh, they sit before thee as my
people; they hear thy words, but they will not do them, with their mouth
they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. Are
these the people of God, all whose religion is to come to hear, and to pray?
To have a mouth full of God, a mouth full of love, and a heart full of
covetousness?
Give me leave to interpose a word or two to the carrying on the former
conviction, as to many professors of religion, in order whereto let us a little
consider that Scripture, Philip. 3:18,19. Where the Apostle speaks of a sort
of professors much of this earthly make, and he speaks with tears in his
eyes. Many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is
destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who
mind earthly things.
In the former part of the chapter you may observe how,
1. He gives an account of himself, and his own Christianity: and this in
these particulars.
1. He set such a high rate on Christ, and an interest in his righteousness,
that in comparison hereof, he counted all things else but loss and dung: let
this gain be loss, this earth be dung, trodden underfoot as dung, cast out as
dung, so I may win Christ and be found in him.
2. He unites interest in Christ, with conformity to Christ: they lie both
together in the same heart, and his Soul is making out after both in the same
breath. That I may win Christ and be found in him; and that I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable to his death. He would not only rejoice in Christ,
he would not only live in Christ, but be dead with Christ; and then be raised
with Christ above these earthly things: he would have his interest in the
death and resurrection of Christ, witnessed by fellowship with him in both,
by the power of his death and resurrection, made manifest in him: he would
that both the death of Jesus, and the life of Jesus, be made manifest in his
mortal flesh.
3. He sets his face, and bends his whole course towards the obtaining of
Christ: I follow after: I press towards the mark: and this not in his prayers
only, but in his whole practice, this one thing I do: this one is all: whatever I
am doing, this I am doing, I have nothing else to do, nothing else to do,
nothing else to seek, but this interest and conformity to Christ.
4. He turns his back upon all things else: forgetting those things that are
behind: that is, not only his pharisaical righteousness, and his external
privileges, to which this especially refers, but much more, all carnal and
earthly things, v. 8. Yea doubtless I count all things but loss: he leaves all
behind; first he sets his feet upon them, and treads them into dung, and then
he turns his back upon them, and leaves them all behind; and henceforth his
whole conversation is heavenward, v. 20, our conversation is in Heaven. Lo
this is the man who is bold to say of himself, Galat. 6:14. The World is
crucified unto me, and I unto the World.
2. He proposes himself as a pattern to all believers, v. 15,17. Let us be
thus minded: I have told you my mind, come let's be all of one mind, and be
ye followers together of me: let your heart be as my heart, let your
conversation be as my conversation: my conversation is in Heaven, come
along and there let yours be also.
3. He points with the finger at some among them, who though they
professed Christ with them, and worshiped God with them, and walked with
them, yet they walked not after them: and sets this brand upon them, They
are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God
is their belly, who mind earthly things.
Here are the men and their censure; here is their mark and their brand;
their mark or description, whose God is their belly, who mind earthly
things; their brand and their doom, the enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction.
Professor, is thy face like the faces of these? Is thy heart, and thy way as
the heart of these? So shall the judgment be: You say as the Apostle, v. 3.
We are the circumcision, we are Christ's, we worship God in the Spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. But yet have
you not fellowship with the flesh? Do you not walk after the flesh? Even
whilst you pretend to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to worship God in the
Spirit?
Oh how many such marked and branded Disciples, may we find among
us! Whom while their lusts have marked, for belly-gods and earthly
minded, the word hath branded for enemies, and vessels of destruction:
whilst the Devil hath branded, and the World hath branded the whole
generation of the Saints, for a proud, deceitful, earthly, self-seeking
generation, Christ hath set this brand on thee, earthly sensual devilish.
Oh brethren, if we could speak of these with the heart of the Apostle, we
should with his tears also; we should speak weeping, that they are the
enemies of the Cross of Christ; the wounds, and the sores, and the scabs, the
shame and the reproach of the profession of the Gospel: good had it been
for the Gospel, if never a good word of it had ever proceeded out of such
mouths; and better had it been for such souls, if they had never known, nor
so much as heard of the Gospel of Christ.
Friends, if you do not yet fall a weeping for yourselves, for your
hypocrisy, your carnality; for yourself-seeking, and self-deceiving, my soul
weep thou in secret for them: Oh that mine head were waters, and mine
eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for you, till either
this earth be thrown out of your hearts, or the name of Christ out of your
mouths: O for more of the Gospel, or for less; for more of the power, or
nothing of the name; for more of its holiness, or less of its hopes, and
boastings; come ye and be crucified to this world, or talk no more of the
Cross of Christ.
Oh how many enemies hath the Cross of Christ made him! Oh how few
friends have the severities of Christ left him? Are those the friends of
Christ, who are the enemies of his Cross? Are you the friends of Christ,
who are the intimates of the world? Will professing, and praying, and
hearing, baptize such into the name of Disciples? If lying, and promise
breaking, if serving of bellies and satiating of appetites, if pride, fullness of
bread, and abundance of idleness, or abundance of labor, a little tipped over
with a silver tongue, be the marks of Disciples, we may find them walking
on every side, whole Towns, whole Countries of them: if these may be
reckoned for the seed, how great a herd would the little flock become? If
those Swine that are rooting in the earth, or wallowing in the mire, must go
all for Lambs; if these Sensualists, and earth-creepers must all be thrown
into the number; if the wise of the world, Politicians and Projectors, must
all pass under the same name, to what a bulk would the Body of Christ
swell? But if all these, these speckled and spotted, must be set aside as none
of the sheep, oh what a small parcel will there then be left: If of earth-
worms and Epicures it must be said, these are not they, the next word may
almost be, where are they to be found?
But be not deceived, God is not mocked; as you sow, so shall you also
reap; your sowing to the flesh, even while you boast of the spirit, is
conviction enough whose you are, and what your end will be, whose end is
destruction.
Ob. But I mean not for all this, to cast away my confidence; God forbid
that I should think, that I have professed in vain, that I have heard, and
prayed, and believed all this while in vain; I know whom I have believed, I
feel that I love God, and I am persuaded that nothing shall separate me from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; whatever corruptions I
have, yet the spirit witnesses with my spirit, that I am the Child of God, I
am sealed by that holy spirit unto the day of Redemption, and I will not cast
away my confidence.
Sol. The meaning of all these good words may be no more but this, you
will hold your Opinion against the greatest evidence of Scripture and
Reason: For what is that which thou callest the witness and the seal of the
spirit, but an Opinion of thine own; a voice within thee, or a strong
persuasion of thine own heart, that thou art of God? Which because it is
attested by some gifts of the spirit, and some affectionate workings of thine
heart, at times, heavenward; thou takest to be the voice of the Divine Spirit,
though it be never so contradictory to the Word of God; and so wilt hold thy
confidence, notwithstanding what the Word speaks to the contrary.
But that thou mayst no longer thus deceive thy self, know and consider,
That the Spirit witnesses and seals in this double way,By being the mark of the Lord upon us.
By being the light of the Lord in us, whereby we come to discern the
mark of the Lord upon us.
Information and Conviction.
Direction and Exhortation.
1. By way of Information and Conviction. Learn from what hath been said,
1. That every Captive to the World is an unbeliever.
2. That where there is but little power over the World, there is but little Faith.
1. Every Captive to the World is an unbeliever; without Christ, and in the
state of damnation: Oh think not light of your worldliness, ’tis a death token
upon you, and such as marks you up with those that perish; that this is
certainly so, that every worldling is an unbeliever and unconverted, I shall
1. Can that man be a believer, who is a lover of the world more than a
lover of God? Art thou a believer who lovest not? Canst thou say thou
lovest God, when the better part of thine heart is with the world? Will this
CHAP VII. – Use 1: The application made of the whole.
be accepted, when thou canst only say, Lord, I bring thee half mine heart,
and but the least half neither; here ’tis divided, let the world I pray thee
have the first choice, and take thou all that the world leaves? Give me leave
first to mind my earthly things, and next to these, God shall be regarded?
Speak Conscience, will God accept such a gift? Such a little piece of a soul,
when the main is bestowed on another? Will God say, Surely this is my
Child, surely this is my Servant, next to the world he loves me best of all?
Do ye think he will? What saith the Scripture? Mat. 10:37. He that loveth
Father or Mother more than me, is not worthy of me; he that loveth Son or
Daughter more than me, is unworthy of me. Find, if you can, a more
convincing argument of an unbeliever, then that of the Apostle, 2 Tim. 3:4.
A lover of pleasure more than a lover of God.
He that loveth the world more than God, is none of his; that cannot be
denied. And art thou not the man? Dost thou love God as thou lovest the
world? Let thy life speak; what seekest thou? Whom servest thou? Where
dost thou bestow thy self? In whom dost thou bless thyself? What is the
chief pleasure and comfort of thy life? Is God he? Is it God whom thou
seekest, and servest, and blessest thyself in? Does not thine heart know that
thy Mammon is the God whom thou servest? That thou lovest to be rich,
and to prosper in the world, more than ever thou lovedst to be holy and
righteous before God.
Dost thou love God? Where are thy labors of love? What hast thou done
for God ever since thou wert born? Where are thy fruits thou hast brought
forth unto the Lord? Hast thou been serving God all thy days, and yet hast
nothing to show of all that thou hast done? Thou hast something to show for
thy serving the world; this house thou hast gotten, or that Farm, or these
Sheep and Oxen, or this stock of money; something thou hast to show, to
prove thee a servant of the world; but hast thou been serving God all thy
time, and hast nothing to show for it? Sure Brethren, worldly men are either
very fools, or very false to themselves, if they do not condemn themselves
here. I confess I have done little for God all my time; I have been busy for
this world, but I confess I have but loitered, and neglected the things of the
other world. I must never lie for the matter, mine own Conscience tells me
’tis thus.
Foolish soul, Hast thou served the world more than God, and canst thou
yet make thyself believe, thou lovest God more than the world? To say thou
lovest God above all, though thou hast but little sought or served him; is to
say, I love him above all, but I care not much for him; if another man
should have said so, would not thine own heart have laughed at him for a
fool, or condemned him for a liar?
Tremble Worldling, and hear this first evidence against thee; thy whole
life tells thee thou lovest the world more than thou lovest God; and God
himself tells thee, that he that loveth the world more than God, is none of
his.
2. Is he a believer that is not come to Christ? Coming to Christ, and
believing in Christ are the same, Joh. 6:35. Art thou come unto Christ?
Whence art thou come? From the world? What, and yet thine heart still in
the world? Art thou come to Christ, who art still where thou wert, when
thou wert without Christ? Canst thou be here and there too? Deceive not
thyself, thou mayst as well be at once in heaven and hell, as thine heart be
in Christ, and in the world.
Are Christ and the world friends? Are God and Mammon become but one
Master? Are the two kingdoms united, and may the same persons at once be
subjects of them both?
Hath Christ ever said, be mine, and then stay where thou art? List thy
name under me for a Disciple, and then go and serve the world still? Be
proud, be covetous, be sensual, be in all things as the men of this world are,
only be my Disciple?
Is not the renouncing of the world, included in our coming to Christ?
Doth not he that saith to thee, Come, first say, depart? And is not thy
coming to Christ, in the very nature of it, a departing from the world, thy
choosing of him, a refusing of it? When Christ and the world are offered to
thy choice, canst thou choose both? Must thou not necessarily take to the
one, and let the other go?
And hast thou renounced the world, who art still a worldling? What hast
thou renounced of it? Or how far forth hast thou renounced it? Is it not thy
treasure still? Is it not thy Lord still? Is not this it which thou still takest, as
thy governor and reward.
Doest thou love it as thy God, and serve it as thy God, and hold it fast as
thy God, and yet hast thou renounced it? Does everyone that knows thee
point with the finger at thee, there goes an earthworm, there goes a
Mammonist, there lives a true drudge to the world, and wilt thou yet say, I
have done with the world?
Is thy lust, and thine appetite after more, as greedy, and insatiable as ever?
Is thy love, and delight, and rest in what thou hast, as great as ever? Is it so
hard to get anything out of thine hand for God, so that that little which
comes, must be wrung as so many drops of blood from thine heart? Art thou
so pinching and sparing, that scarce any without thine own belly is ever the
better for thee, and hast thou yet renounced the world.
Art thou so crucified, and vexed, and tormented, when thou art crossed or
miscarriest in any little of thy worldly interest, and canst thou yet say, I am
crucified to the world?
Can the world make thee lie, and dissemble, and play the knave, when tis
for thy advantage; can it command thy conscience, and thy religion, and thy
hopes, to do obeisance to it; can it keep thee out of thy closet, out of the
Church; must prayers and sabbaths and sermons and Sacraments be
neglected, when the world hath any business for thee, and hath it still so
much business for thee, that thou canst scarce have one prayer or one
Sabbath clear of its encroachment? Doth it follow thee into thy closet, and
follow thee into the congregation, and so fill thine head and take away thine
heart, that thou canst make nothing of thy religion? Or whatsoever
transactions there have been sometimes betwixt the Lord and thy Soul, doth
the World still meet thee at the door and make all void and null? Hath it
held thee in such ignorance, and Atheism, that under all the means of
knowledge and grace, thou still livest without God in the World, and canst
thou yet say thou hast shaken off its yoke.
Stand worldling and hear this farther evidence; Thy greediness, thy
penuriousness, thy lying and defrauding, thy neglected duties, thy neglected
sabbaths thy neglected Soul and all upon the Worlds account, these will tell
thee thou hast not renounced the World, and that will convict thee, that thou
art not come unto Christ, nor hast be lieved on him.
3. Is he a believer who hath [absolutely] chosen this world, and hath only
[conditionally] chosen Christ? Who will first seek his own things, and in the
second place, the things of Christ? Who will model his Christianity into a
consistency with his carnal interest? Is he a believer who will have both if it
may be, Christ and this World too, but if he cannot have both, will let Christ
go? Is he a Christian that says, I will serve Christ though it cost me nothing,
I will be for him when I have nothing else to do, he shall have all my spare
hours, if that will content him? Is this to give Christ the preeminence, or is
he a Christian, that will take in Christ to be an underling to the world?
What are the terms on which Christ is offered? Hath he given thee leave
to make thine own terms? Or must thou not stand to his? What are Christ's
terms, but that thou take him absolutely, that is purely on his own terms
without putting in any of thine. Dost thou understand what his conditions
are? Is it only, that he shall be second in the kingdom? That he shall be
obeyed in all things provided the world do not contradict it? Is this
Christianity, that the world should be suffered to give check to the authority
and interest of Christ?
And is not this all thy Christianity? Thou sayest indeed, thou hast chosen
Christ absolutely; God forbid that I should prefer anything before Christ,
that I should mind anything more than Christ; I mind the World, tis true,
and I ought so to do; but Christ hath my heart, and I had rather lose all that
ever I have, then at last be found out of Christ.
But consider; thou mayst best judge of thine heart by thy life; as I said
before, so I demand of thee again, whither does the course of thy life
mainly bend? What art thou doing all the year round? What proportion hath
Christ of thy daily care and labor? Speak truth; would not thine heart tell
thee thou liest, if thou say, thou art more earnestly and more constantly
caring for the things of Christ, then of the world?
Again, thou mayst best Judge of thy choice by observing thy critical
hours. How is it ordinarily with thee, when Christ and the World stand in
competition? When it comes to be a case, that one of the two must be
neglected, which of the two then use to carry thee?
Thou knowest thou hast often neglected Christ for the world; thou
knowest that thy businesses, or thy pleasures, or thy companions have often
lost thee a prayer, or a Sabbath, or a sermon; thou wouldst have prayed
oftener, or heard oftener, but thou couldst not have leisure: thou knowest it
hath been too often thus: and consider if it be not commonly thus. How
seldom is it that thou canst remember, that thou hast carried thyself as a
Christian, to thy loss; that thou hast followed Christ in any duties, when
thou knewest it would have been more to thy profit, to have put Christ off to
another time. Many a time have thy gains, or thy friends, or thy pleasures,
lost thee thy conscience, but how often couldst thou ever say, My
conscience hath lost me a friend, my conscience hath lost me a good
bargain? Whatever Christ hath at any time called thee to, If thou couldst
say, it is not for mine ease, it is not for my credit, it is not for my safety to
hearken, hath not this been counted argument enough to hold thee back, and
excuse sufficient to save thee from blame?
And wilt thou yet say, thou hast chosen Christ absolutely? Or canst thou
think thyself a true believer, who hast chosen him only conditionally? Is
this the Christianity on which thou wilt venture thy Soul, I will be for Christ
as far as the world, and this flesh, or (which is all one) as far as the Devil
will give me leave?
I have known some poor ignorant wretches, whom when I have been
pressing to a serious minding of God, and their eternal concernment, they
have answered me, why I do, as far as God will give me leave; No, no
wretch, thou mistakest, tis only as far as the Devil will give thee leave; and
this is the common case of Worldlings; thou that wilt be a Christian no
farther than the World will give thee leave, wilt be such, no farther than the
Devil will give thee leave; and sure thou that wilt be a Christian no farther
than the Devil will give thee leave, when he will give thee leave, thou shalt
to Heaven.
Wanton, when wilt thou be chaste?
When my flesh will give me leave.
Drunkard, when wilt thou be sober?
When my companions will give me leave.
Earthworm, when wilt thou to Christ?
When the World will give me leave: how much of Christianity wilt thou take up? What the world will
allow me: how much is that? As much as please the Devil. But when wilt
thou to Heaven then? Why when the flesh and the World and the Devil are
all agreed to send me thither.
Stand Worldling, this once more stand, and hear thy whole evidence;
Thou art a lover of the world more than a lover of God; thou art not come
unto Christ; or if thou seem to be come, thou hast accepted of him only on
condition, that though thou be his Disciple, yet thou mayst still continue a
servant to this world. Surely if the God of this world, who hath blinded thy
mind, that thou believe not, had not so blinded thee, that thou canst not see
thine unbelief, thine own heart would condemn thee, and thine own hand
would subscribe thy sentence; and this is thy sentence, That thou art yet
under the dominion, and therefore under the damnation of the world; Thy
soul abideth in death, and the wrath of God abideth on thee.
Thou art a man of this world, thou hast taken thy portion in this life, and
art like to have no better than thou hast chosen: If thy day run out thus, thy
word at last will be that which was the rich man's, Luke 16. Son, remember
thou hast received thy good things. Oh what's the meaning of that word?
Why this is the meaning of it, thou hast all the good that thou art like to
have forever; an end, an end is come upon all thy comforts, the Sun is set
upon all thy good days, not one good day, not one merry hour more forever
and ever; thou hast had thy day, henceforth nothing remains to thee, but an
eternal night, the blackness of darkness forever; thy temporal joys are
swallowed up of everlasting sorrows, thy honors are expired into
everlasting contempt, thy riches have taken wings, and now thy poverty is
come upon thee as an armed man, which thou shalt not escape. All this is
included in this word, which will be thy word, Thou hast received thy good
things.
What eyes have ye, O ye sons of the earth, if you do not yet see? What
hearts have you, if you do not yet tremble? The Lord be merciful to me, if
these things be so, what's like to become of me? I have spun a fair thread;
Oh I have coveted an evil covetousness, I have been busy in gathering dirt,
and building my Nest, and providing for my young, but whither is my soul
taking her flight? If the rest of my days be as the days that are past, (and
God knows whether after so long an Apprentice I may ever go out free) if
the rest of my days be as the days that are past, what remains but a fearful
expectation of wrath and fiery indignation, which will devour me forever? I
have kindled a fire, and compassed myself about with sparks, and after I
have walked a while in the light of my fire, and of the sparks that I have
kindled, this shall I have of the hand of the most High, I shall lie down in
sorrow.
O ye worldlings, shake up out of your stupendous security; will you yet
receive the Word of the Lord, and suffer yourselves to be convinced? Will
you yet believe yourselves to be unbelievers? What say you? Do you not
believe that Worldlings are unbelievers? Can you have any other thought
but you are Worldlings?
Open your eyes upon all your ways, view the whole course of your life,
what it hath been from your first time until now, and let Conscience speak
freely.
If these two things might stick in your hearts, that you are Worldlings, and
that Worldlings have no part in Christ, then there were hope, that you would
accept of those counsels which I shall give you from the Lord, in order to
your escape, after I have first urged the second word of Conviction.
2. That where there is but little power over the world, there is but little
Faith. As the first Conviction will overthrow the Faith of some, and prove it
a mere nullity, so this will call in question the confidence of others, and at
least take them some degrees lower.
There are some Professors who have a name among the first three of the
Worthies of our Lord; have the site and the aspect of stars of the first
magnitude, and are ranked among the chief of Saints; who have risen high
in the easier and sweeter, but less significant parts of Religion; who have
gotten the language, and tasted, as they imagine, of the milk and honey of
Canaan, and learned much of the more pleasing manners of that good Land;
who seem to be of the more intimate acquaintance of the sublimer spirit,
and power of the Gospel, and to be much elevated in the spirituality of their
notions and duties, above the attainments of vulgar Christians; and hence
are grown up in their own and others apprehensions, to be as the Cedars of
the Lord among the lower shrubs; whom yet if we inquire into, about those
severer points, of mortification, self-denial, and crucifixion to the world,
possibly they may be found in these things as low as the least of Saints: The
faith of these, if it prove to be the faith of God's Elect at all, yet sure it will
be found to be by many degrees less then it appears; must yet for the real spirit of faith and holiness, come behind the littles ones of the flock? Where there is but
little power over the world,
there is but little faith.
In order to the managing, and carrying home this Conviction, consider, that,
1. According to the truth or falsehood of our faith, so are we either
Conquerors, or Captives to the world.
2. According to the proportion of our faith, so will this victory over the
world be more complete or imperfect.
1. According to the truth or falsehood of our faith, so are we either
Conquerors, or Captives to the world. Every unbeliever is a Captive, every
believer is a Conqueror of the world; both these have been already proved.
Faith is our choosing and laying hold on another portion; our resigning
ourselves to the dominion of another Lord: the world is gone, when it may
no longer be our Ruler or reward.
Faith changes the heart, Act. 15:9, it kills the Spirit of this World, and that
other Spirit that rises up in its room, is this Spirit of faith. By faith Christ is
formed upon the heart, the old Soul is made new, renewed after the image
of God in righteousness and true holiness: this new Soul is suited to a new
treasure; earthly things wax old, and old things pass away, when the soul is
made new: ’tis argument enough that thou art an unbeliever, and an enemy
to the Cross of Christ, that thou still mindest earthly things, Philip. 3:19.
2. According to the proportion of our faith, so will this victory over the
world be more complete or imperfect. We may best take the height and
degree of our faith, by observing the elevation of our spirits above the earth:
a low and earthly spirit, whatever show it makes, is but of little faith: Faith
hath a general influence upon every grace and lust; as to the nourishing of
the one, so to the withering of the other; lust and the world run parallel;
where one is, there you shall find the other, on the Throne, or at the
footstool: Faith lays lust in the dirt, and the world ever falls with it: Faith is
our arm, and according as this arm grows stronger, so is the blow it gives to
our Enemy, more mortal. The power of God is revealed in us from faith to
faith; there is a more abundant communication, and a more vigorous
exerting of this Divine Power where faith is grown; where we are but of
little strength, its certain we are but weak in faith; and where our adversary
is so strong, ’tis argument enough that we are weak.
Growth in grace is then proved to be most real, when ’tis most equal and
universal; ’tis an imperfection in Nature where one member outgrows the
rest; as grace and peace, so grace and grace have their due proportions each
to other: great peace, and little grace, will make it questionable, whether
that peace be peace; something of one grace, and nothing of another, will
make it as doubtful, whether that grace be grace; high in knowledge, and
low in love; strong in confidence, and loose in conscience; hot in affection,
and cold in practice; in the solaces of the spirit, and yet walking in the flesh:
Behold a Christian, like Nebuchadnezzar's Image, the head of gold, the feet
of iron and clay;
It is strange to observe what contradictions some Professors of
Christianity are; they are what they are not, they are not what they are:
whilst they would be the great reconcilers of flesh and spirit, of earth and
heaven, and make the serving of God and their own bellies, the same
service, behold how they are divided from themselves; they love God, and
love him not; they serve God, and serve him not; this they may do as well
as love God, and this present world.
Oh how different are many of us from ourselves; our practices from our
principles, our doings from our sayings; and yet how little differing from
others: you pray as others do not, you hear as others do not, you swear not
as others, you curse not as others; but do you not covet as others? Are you
not carnal as others? Consider your ways, who more intent upon their
present commodity, who more hot upon the chase of an earthly inheritance,
then some of those who profess to have laid up their treasure in heaven?
Are there none to be sound, who pretend to the greatest confidence of
Divine Love, to the highest pitch of Spirituality and Divine Communion;
who seem to pant after the Lord, and breath out their souls in their warm
and passionate duties, and yet are eaten out, and swallowed up of the cares
of this life?
It is an amazing thing to consider, what a strange degree of earthliness is
to be found among such; what insatiable hunger, what indefatigable labor
after an increase of their estates? How little respect to soul or conscience,
where their gain is concerned? How ordinarily dispensing with lying,
promise breaking, and almost any unrighteousness, when ’tis for their
advantage? How many grains must there be allowed them, e're charity itself
can judge them honest?
And where is all bestowed that is thus gotten in? How little goes out for
God, or any of his? How many hypocritical bemoaning’s of the hard case of
the poor, to one liberal alms? Some gather only that they may lay up, others
that they may have to spend upon their lusts, to build them houses, and
furnish their tables, to trim their carcasses, to please their eye, or their
palates; and all this either justified and allowed, or at least made up with
some such hypocritical complaints, Woe is me this world is too hard for me,
O it eats up my time, O it steals away mine heart; how am I overcharged,
how is my soul even choked within me, what shall I do to help it? And
when the complaint is thus made, the matter is mended; now a good
Christian, now ease, and joy, and confidence returns; and then on again the
same course.
Brethren be serious; consider yourselves, feel your own pulses, view your
own faces, and ways, observe your hearts, see where their daily walks are;
may you not find them ten times walking to and fro through the earth, to
once or twice casting a look towards heaven?
What are their daily tasks? What is the work you every day put them
upon? Instead of those higher and nobler Offices of Vessels of Honor,
waiting before the Throne of God, standing in his Courts, bearing his Name,
beholding his Face, setting forth his Praises; have not our hearts been made,
hewers of wood, and drawers of water, carriers of burdens, servers of tables,
purveyors for the flesh, caterers for the appetite, servants to the back and
the belly, the great traders and merchants of the earth, to buy in provision
for lust? Worthy employment for immortal Souls; as if the utensils of the
Temple, the golden altar, the golden table, the candlesticks, the bowls and
the basons, all of beaten gold, should have been fetched out and set up in a
blind Inn or a dirty alehouse, for the service and the pleasure of every
drunken companion,
Have not your Souls, none of you, been thus dealt withal? Are not these
your heart-works? When anything is to be done for God, the body must do
that; the body must to the closet, the tongue must pray, the ear must hear,
the eye must read, but the Soul must stay abroad; when any thing is to be
done for the other world, that must be but bodily exercise, but when this
flesh must be served, that's the heart-work, that's work for the Soul. If these
Souls could be seen with bodily eyes, a man that goes into the field, or into
a fair, or to a feast, might see a hundred Souls more there than bodies; and
he that went into the congregation of the Lord, if there were never so great a
throng, may be, he might see but a few hearts in the company.
Christians consider, is this your faith? Is this your victory over the world?
Is this to be mortified? Is this to be crucified with Christ? Or to have your
conversation in Heaven? Or can you think yourselves believers, especially
of so high a form, when so earthly and carnal?
What think you of those Jews, of whom the Lord speaks, Ezek. 33:31.
They come unto thee as the people cometh, they sit before thee as my
people; they hear thy words, but they will not do them, with their mouth
they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. Are
these the people of God, all whose religion is to come to hear, and to pray?
To have a mouth full of God, a mouth full of love, and a heart full of
covetousness?
Give me leave to interpose a word or two to the carrying on the former
conviction, as to many professors of religion, in order whereto let us a little
consider that Scripture, Philip. 3:18,19. Where the Apostle speaks of a sort
of professors much of this earthly make, and he speaks with tears in his
eyes. Many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is
destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame, who
mind earthly things.
In the former part of the chapter you may observe how,
1. He gives an account of himself, and his own Christianity: and this in
these particulars.
1. He set such a high rate on Christ, and an interest in his righteousness,
that in comparison hereof, he counted all things else but loss and dung: let
this gain be loss, this earth be dung, trodden underfoot as dung, cast out as
dung, so I may win Christ and be found in him.
2. He unites interest in Christ, with conformity to Christ: they lie both
together in the same heart, and his Soul is making out after both in the same
breath. That I may win Christ and be found in him; and that I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable to his death. He would not only rejoice in Christ,
he would not only live in Christ, but be dead with Christ; and then be raised
with Christ above these earthly things: he would have his interest in the
death and resurrection of Christ, witnessed by fellowship with him in both,
by the power of his death and resurrection, made manifest in him: he would
that both the death of Jesus, and the life of Jesus, be made manifest in his
mortal flesh.
3. He sets his face, and bends his whole course towards the obtaining of
Christ: I follow after: I press towards the mark: and this not in his prayers
only, but in his whole practice, this one thing I do: this one is all: whatever I
am doing, this I am doing, I have nothing else to do, nothing else to do,
nothing else to seek, but this interest and conformity to Christ.
4. He turns his back upon all things else: forgetting those things that are
behind: that is, not only his pharisaical righteousness, and his external
privileges, to which this especially refers, but much more, all carnal and
earthly things, v. 8. Yea doubtless I count all things but loss: he leaves all
behind; first he sets his feet upon them, and treads them into dung, and then
he turns his back upon them, and leaves them all behind; and henceforth his
whole conversation is heavenward, v. 20, our conversation is in Heaven. Lo
this is the man who is bold to say of himself, Galat. 6:14. The World is
crucified unto me, and I unto the World.
2. He proposes himself as a pattern to all believers, v. 15,17. Let us be
thus minded: I have told you my mind, come let's be all of one mind, and be
ye followers together of me: let your heart be as my heart, let your
conversation be as my conversation: my conversation is in Heaven, come
along and there let yours be also.
3. He points with the finger at some among them, who though they
professed Christ with them, and worshiped God with them, and walked with
them, yet they walked not after them: and sets this brand upon them, They
are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God
is their belly, who mind earthly things.
Here are the men and their censure; here is their mark and their brand;
their mark or description, whose God is their belly, who mind earthly
things; their brand and their doom, the enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction.
Professor, is thy face like the faces of these? Is thy heart, and thy way as
the heart of these? So shall the judgment be: You say as the Apostle, v. 3.
We are the circumcision, we are Christ's, we worship God in the Spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. But yet have
you not fellowship with the flesh? Do you not walk after the flesh? Even
whilst you pretend to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to worship God in the
Spirit?
Oh how many such marked and branded Disciples, may we find among
us! Whom while their lusts have marked, for belly-gods and earthly
minded, the word hath branded for enemies, and vessels of destruction:
whilst the Devil hath branded, and the World hath branded the whole
generation of the Saints, for a proud, deceitful, earthly, self-seeking
generation, Christ hath set this brand on thee, earthly sensual devilish.
Oh brethren, if we could speak of these with the heart of the Apostle, we
should with his tears also; we should speak weeping, that they are the
enemies of the Cross of Christ; the wounds, and the sores, and the scabs, the
shame and the reproach of the profession of the Gospel: good had it been
for the Gospel, if never a good word of it had ever proceeded out of such
mouths; and better had it been for such souls, if they had never known, nor
so much as heard of the Gospel of Christ.
Friends, if you do not yet fall a weeping for yourselves, for your
hypocrisy, your carnality; for yourself-seeking, and self-deceiving, my soul
weep thou in secret for them: Oh that mine head were waters, and mine
eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for you, till either
this earth be thrown out of your hearts, or the name of Christ out of your
mouths: O for more of the Gospel, or for less; for more of the power, or
nothing of the name; for more of its holiness, or less of its hopes, and
boastings; come ye and be crucified to this world, or talk no more of the
Cross of Christ.
Oh how many enemies hath the Cross of Christ made him! Oh how few
friends have the severities of Christ left him? Are those the friends of
Christ, who are the enemies of his Cross? Are you the friends of Christ,
who are the intimates of the world? Will professing, and praying, and
hearing, baptize such into the name of Disciples? If lying, and promise
breaking, if serving of bellies and satiating of appetites, if pride, fullness of
bread, and abundance of idleness, or abundance of labor, a little tipped over
with a silver tongue, be the marks of Disciples, we may find them walking
on every side, whole Towns, whole Countries of them: if these may be
reckoned for the seed, how great a herd would the little flock become? If
those Swine that are rooting in the earth, or wallowing in the mire, must go
all for Lambs; if these Sensualists, and earth-creepers must all be thrown
into the number; if the wise of the world, Politicians and Projectors, must
all pass under the same name, to what a bulk would the Body of Christ
swell? But if all these, these speckled and spotted, must be set aside as none
of the sheep, oh what a small parcel will there then be left: If of earth-
worms and Epicures it must be said, these are not they, the next word may
almost be, where are they to be found?
But be not deceived, God is not mocked; as you sow, so shall you also
reap; your sowing to the flesh, even while you boast of the spirit, is
conviction enough whose you are, and what your end will be, whose end is
destruction.
Ob. But I mean not for all this, to cast away my confidence; God forbid
that I should think, that I have professed in vain, that I have heard, and
prayed, and believed all this while in vain; I know whom I have believed, I
feel that I love God, and I am persuaded that nothing shall separate me from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord; whatever corruptions I
have, yet the spirit witnesses with my spirit, that I am the Child of God, I
am sealed by that holy spirit unto the day of Redemption, and I will not cast
away my confidence.
Sol. The meaning of all these good words may be no more but this, you
will hold your Opinion against the greatest evidence of Scripture and
Reason: For what is that which thou callest the witness and the seal of the
spirit, but an Opinion of thine own; a voice within thee, or a strong
persuasion of thine own heart, that thou art of God? Which because it is
attested by some gifts of the spirit, and some affectionate workings of thine
heart, at times, heavenward; thou takest to be the voice of the Divine Spirit,
though it be never so contradictory to the Word of God; and so wilt hold thy
confidence, notwithstanding what the Word speaks to the contrary.
But that thou mayst no longer thus deceive thy self, know and consider,
That the Spirit witnesses and seals in this double way,By being the mark of the Lord upon us.
By being the light of the Lord in us, whereby we come to discern the
mark of the Lord upon us.