Sermon 6

1 John 5:12. He that has the Son, has life, and he that has not the Son, has not life.

It now remains that we come to show, what it is to have the Son by a spirit of prayer, but of this we shall have further occasion to speak in the 14, 15, and 16 verses, and therefore we shall leave it now, and speak to it then.

You may remember we said, there was three notes to discern whether we had the Son [reconstructed: or no].

The first was, if we desired not Christ for his benefits, but chiefly for himself.

The second was, if we have received the spirit of the Son.

We now come to speak of a third sign, a point more easy to be gathered than the former, but though most common, yet not to be neglected; but being well applied, will be of special use to the edification, and salvation of the hearers, for every truth in his place, is divine and precious.

And therefore the next note is this: He that has the Son, he has him not only for a Savior, but for his Lord and the Prince. A point which upon sundry occasions has been touched, but now to speak of it more fully.

There is no man that has the Son, but as he has him for his Savior so he has him for his Prince (Acts 3:3). Him has God exalted with his right hand, whom they slew, a Prince and a Savior; so that he that has Christ, has him, not only as a Savior, but as a Prince; to whoever he is a Savior, to them he is also become a Prince, it were a wonderful dishonor to him to save them whom he does not rule; to save them from the power of the grave, and to leave them still in their sins, and unbroken off from their evil ways, it were much dishonor to him: It is a dishonor to parents to have children, and to have them untaught and unmannerly: And God has given the life blood of his own Son to purchase us to himself, and therefore he would not only save us, but rule us, or else we shall never have him for our Savior. So that here is two points to be opened.

Point 1. First, he that has the Son, has him for his Savior.

Point 2. Secondly, he that has the Son, has him also for his Lord.

It is a usual saying, every man would have Christ for a Savior, but rare are those, that will have him for their Ruler and Governor. But though the saying be true in respect of the common conceit of men, yet in truth I say, they are but rare Christians that will have him for a Savior, so far off are they from desiring him as their Lord.

For two things there be that go to the having of Christ for a Savior.

First, he that will have Christ for a Savior, must look up to him for salvation in all his ways, and distresses, we have other Saviors, but not him, if we look for salvation elsewhere (Isaiah 40:22): Look to me all you ends of the earth, and be you saved, there is no God nor Savior besides me, and therefore look to me, and be you saved. So that if a man will have God for his Savior, he must look to him from one end of the earth to the other, we are at the utmost corner of the earth, and if we will be saved we must look up to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, as David looked towards the Temple at Jerusalem for salvation, so they who look towards the Lord Jesus for salvation, may be saved in whatever place they are, wait for salvation, from him, and long for salvation by him, and look not to any means, but so far as they are guided and ordered by him, and in whatever distresses you are, whether in conscience or in distress, through bodily sickness, or penury, or imprisonment, yet look to me, and be you saved.

You may read the like in Isaiah 8:17: "I will wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the house of Israel, and will look for him." The prophet at that time saw the church and commonwealth of Israel much distempered, and in much distress, both in regard of sin and misery. Now for him to look for, or expect such princes as might reform it in the commonwealth, or such priests as might reform things amiss in the church, it had been a vain thing, for they were all bent to backsliding, till the wrath of God burst out, and took hold upon them. But though there was no hope in any of the princes, nor priests, yet "I will wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the house of Jacob, and will look for him." Though God suffer all things to go to wrack and ruin, yet I will wait for him, and look for salvation from him, and by him. So that suppose God should hide his face from any soul of us, that we lie in darkness and in the shadow of death, or if we should see ourselves in distress of the outward man, or see church or commonwealth in many sinful distempers — it is not now for a man to look about him, here or there for help and succor, but to the holy one of Israel. And this is indeed to have him for a Savior: he that has him for a Savior waits for him in all distresses. So Isaiah 17:7: the time will come when God will gather his people to him, as the gleanings of berries, when they shall be left like the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches, says the Lord. Now, at that time shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the holy one of Israel. Which shows you that those who are God's gleaned ones from the world, that are brought on to fellowship with Christ in the election and salvation — these are they who look to their Maker, and their eyes are to him, the holy one of Israel. And so God is said to be, not because he is so in himself, but because he makes Israel his holy one, and therefore his eyes have respect to him. You know in the cast of an eye we show respect; when the creature looks after this and that in the world, and fastens and sets his eye upon anything there, he has no respect to the holy one of Israel, but to the creature only. But when the creature, being conscious of his own insufficiency to help itself by any means it itself can use, has respect to the holy God that makes Israel holy, and is acknowledged of Israel to be holy — this is indeed to have God for our Savior, and so he is to all such as are gathered together to him.

This is vividly expressed in the example of good Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:3): he sought the Lord, and in the audience of the people he made a solemn prayer to God, and concludes with this, in the latter end of the twelfth verse: We know not what to say or to do, but our eyes are to you. Now this having our eyes upon him in time of distress, whether of war, or pestilence, or famine, or anguish of conscience, or poverty, and yet we have our eyes toward the Holy One of Israel; we know not what to do, and our power will not reach us any help without God's blessing, no not in outward things, but our eyes are to him; this argues, that surely Jehoshaphat had the Lord for his Savior, because he had such respect to him. Notable is that expression (Psalm 121:1): I will lift up my eyes to the hills, from where comes my help; it comes even from the Lord. The Lord dwelt upon mount Zion, and mount Moriah; there he manifested himself in his ordinances, and therefore he put not his confidence in the valleys and pits of the city, but in him that dwells in the hills, and looks for salvation from there, as he expounds himself in the next words: My help comes even from the Lord. So then, if so be that we do indeed look up to the Lord for salvation, and for help and preservation, and deliverance, and restoring of any comfort we have been deprived of; sometimes justly, and sometimes unjustly; whatever our condition be, if in all our distresses we can look up to him, and our hearts wait for salvation wholly from him. This argues, that we have him for our Savior, because we have such respect to him, and elsewhere we look not, though we may use lawful means, yet our eyes are not upon the means, but we look a great deal further, and no further expect deliverance from any means than we see the Holy One of Israel, the God of our salvation, expressing and revealing himself in the means. And to add this one instance more of Jonah (Chapter 4): one that went away from God, and was unwilling to be directed by God, and therefore he was overwhelmed in the sea, because he would not be ruled, and bowed to the will of the Lord Jesus, and therefore God sent forth the most unruly creature that God has, set aside the devils in hell, and it may be they have a hand in it too, in raising the horrible tempest that raged against them; and when Jonah was cast out, the most unruly creature, a whale, meets with this unruly prophet of God, and swallowed him up, that he thought himself in the belly of hell. Now when God had in some measure broken his heart, and in the whale's belly begins to consider how unrulily he had dealt with God, and said (Chapter 4), he said, I am cast out of your sight, yet will I look again toward your holy temple; implying, that though he had been most unruly, and of a good man, the most of all you read of; yet when he saw God for his unruliness meet him with such afflictions, yet when he said, he was cast out of his sight: yet, I will look again toward your holy temple. How could he tell which way the temple stood when he was in the whale's belly? Yet his heart was toward the temple, which was a type of Christ; he in his heart had respect to the place where the temple stood, and therein he showed his respect to Christ, and so having respect to him, he had him as his Savior, most unruly Jonah; yet he having respect to Christ as his Savior, he is delivered and saved; so that you see, he that has Christ as a Son, he has him as a Savior; and those that have him for a Savior, they wait on him, and only look for salvation from him.

There is a second duty for every man to perform, that has Christ for his Savior, and that is, he does not only look for salvation from him, when he stands in need of it, as we daily do; for, salvation is deliverance out of danger, and preservation in a good estate, and he looks for all salvation from him (Psalm 3, last verse). Salvation belongs to God, and though many means may be used, yet it is the Lord and his mercy, and blessing, that saves and delivers, and nothing else, and God's servants they know it.

But there is a second duty in having Christ for a Savior; and that is, in looking up to Christ, and cleaving to him, and not only desiring salvation from him, from all our distresses, but salvation also from all our sins; and he that has Christ for a Savior, he would be saved from all his sins, as well as from all his miseries (Acts 5:31). God has appointed him a Prince, and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins; there is therefore this salvation to be had in Christ, not only deliverance out of the hands of dangers, but from the hands of all our sins and rebellions, and to be saved from them, by turning from them, and repenting of them; and we desire not only forgiveness of them, but salvation from them, to be saved from our stubborn spirits, and saved out of our covetousness, and wantonness, and worldliness, and carnal vanity of heart and life that we are subject to; to be saved from the vain fashions, and in all these we look for salvation from Christ; we desire to be saved not only from all our distresses, but especially from the sinful distempers of our souls. It is a notable Psalm, Psalm 130:1: If you, Lord, should mark iniquity, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in his word do I hope; my soul waits for the Lord, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel wait for the Lord, for with him is mercy and plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities (verse 7, 8). And he is therefore called Jesus (Matthew 1:21). And notable is that expression (Hosea 14:2): Take away all our iniquities, and receive us graciously, so will we give you thanks. Thus they desire salvation from all their iniquities, and not so much salvation in the pardon of all their iniquities, for there is more in it than forgiveness of sin, but a turning them from them; they desire both pardoning, and healing, and God so understood them, as appears by verse 4. God answers them, that he would pardon them, and heal them; he will remove them all away from them, not a hoof be left behind, but all taken away. There is a generation of men that are marvelously unwilling to yield to this, so that you see it is an ordinary thing for men to say, they have Christ for a Savior, but it is a rare thing to be so indeed; you know how affectionate our Savior's speech is (Matthew 23:37): O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you under my wing of salvation, but [reconstructed: you] would not be gathered? The body of the Church of God, though some was gathered, yet others of them would not be gathered; and if it was thus with Jerusalem, it is no wonder if you read the like of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:9): We would have healed Babylon, but she would not be healed. God sent his Church, and kept it there seventy years among them, that some of them at least might embrace the salvation of God, but she would not be healed; we have used the best means we could to heal her, but it will not be, she will not be healed of us, and therefore let us be going home again. God would not send his Church among them for nothing, but he looks for some fruits among them, but since either none were gathered, or so few, as that they were not a considerable number, therefore God will send his people home again, when they say, Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us; then God will take no further pains (Psalm 2:3). It is a notable place that in Jeremiah 2:25: God calls upon his people most affectionately that they would be healed, but they snuff up their iniquities as the wind, and like wild ass colts, would be at liberty, and take pleasure in their running at random; and God said, Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirsting after such vanities, but you say desperately, There is no hope, I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. What a marvelous speech is this in God's own servants, when God would withhold them from running for salvation elsewhere, and from such other sins as they thirsted after; no, there is no hope but the course they had taken they would take, and no means should save or draw them from their haunts; so that you see it is no easy matter for a man to be willing to be saved by Christ, and though many would be saved by him, yet few there be that would look for all salvation from Christ, and are not willing to be saved from all their sins, but are willing to keep some sins still alive in their souls; are they not ready in their hearts to say as they said (Matthew 8:29): Are you come to torment us before the time? It was when Christ came to save two men from the possession of a Legion of Devils, the men spoke it, though the Devils acted it in them; so when Christ comes to bring salvation, it is a torment to our souls; the two witnesses vexed men, and they came but to save men; it is a torment to men to have sin pulled out of their souls, as you read (Acts 16:19). When the Apostles had cast out of the maid the spirit of divination, when their masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they were in a rage, and caused them to be stoned, and left them for dead; now when men take it ill that they should be saved, or are loath that their children, or servants should be saved, take it ill that they dare no more lie and swear, and cheat, and buy and sell on the Sabbath day, and such and such a gain is thereby lost, and this they cannot endure; it is a dangerous sign of an ill heart, and therefore however it is a usual saying, that every man will have Christ for a Savior; and yet if in truth we consider it, I assure you in plain English, we will not be saved; that is our resolution when it comes to the point.

It is a use of trial that we are upon in this discourse, and therefore to proceed to the next part of the point: those that have Christ for a Savior, they have him also for a Prince (Acts 5:31). God has appointed him for a Prince and a Savior; if you will have him for a Savior, you must have him for a Prince; resign up yourselves, you and yours, to be guided and governed by the Lord Jesus, though you have never so many strong oppositions, yet it must be so (Isaiah 9:6). To us a Child is given, to us a Son is born; how shall I know that Christ is born for me, and this Son is given to me? Why by this: the government shall be upon his shoulders; if the Son be given you, then you are wholly governed by him; and if you are so, then he is born and given to you, and you shall call his name Wonderful. If you can behold a wonderful glorious majesty in Christ, and he to whom he is given, they shall acknowledge him their Counselor, the Prince of their peace; and to whoever he is given, the government of him is upon their shoulders; know therefore whether he be your governor or no.

And two things there be in having Christ for our Prince, to open them plainly to you.

First, when you resign up yourselves, to be wholly ruled by him in all your paths, so as that you lean not to yourselves, not so much as in one thought, but all your thoughts stand in subjection to his will (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to cast down every high imagination, and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. God leaves us not one thought free, nor are we willing to have our thoughts free (Proverbs 12:15). The thoughts of the righteous are right; that is, they come from a right rule, the Word of God, and aim at a right end, the glory of God; not a man that has his part in the Lord Jesus but his thoughts are right.

Object. You say, But who has his thoughts so rectified and set upon the Lord Jesus; but he has many vain, and covetous, and proud, and stubborn thoughts? Who can say, I have kept my heart clean? Who can say, that every thought in him is subdued to the obedience of Christ?

Answ. It is true that you object, for (Jeremiah 4:14) it is a complaint, and an earnest speech; O Jerusalem, wash your heart from your wickedness that you may be saved, how long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? So that you see a man that would have salvation by Christ, he must be content to subject all his thoughts to Christ, and not leave one vain thought to lodge within him. It is true, Satan may cause them to flutter in his mind, but he must give them no entertainment; it is one thing to have a sturdy beggar that comes to the door, to rush into my house before I be aware, and enforce; and another thing to bid him welcome, and to bid him stay and lodge there all night, and to make provision for him. So it may be there is many a proud rebellious thought rushes in, and calls for this and that, and will be served in this and that, and every faculty, and part, and member must bestir itself to satisfy such a thought, and all must be as this thought will, and sometimes scares all the house, puts the whole man to agitation to consider what to do, to give it content. Yet they who have Christ for their Savior, they will look to him for salvation from such sturdy thoughts as these be, they will not suffer them to lodge there, but get them out again, and are not at quiet, but the whole man is disturbed till they be dislodged, and cast out again. So they who have the Lord Jesus for their Savior, they must not give lodging to a vain thought, much less to a malicious, and proud, and desolate thought, or any other wicked thought whatever. It is true indeed, there is no Christian man but he will have vain thoughts come in upon him, but you shall observe this difference.

First, a man that has not Christ for his Prince, he has not one good thought comes in his mind, or if it does, he does not give it lodging there; all, or every imagination of his heart is evil, and that continually; the original is (Omne figmentum) the whole frame of a man's heart; the bent and scope of his thoughts, the whole suggestion of them first and last, not a good thought comes in him. Many a man will say, it is very fitting, and proper it should be so, that one day we should turn home to God, but not to give entertainment to him at this time, but let him come another time, and then he shall have lodging; and so we deal with all good thoughts, that God suggests into our hearts. We like good thoughts well, and sometimes we are loath to give them offense, but yet are not willing to give them entertainment, but are more willing to be shut of them, and to turn them out of doors. But a godly man, if a good motion come into him, it is most welcome to his soul, and he entertains it with the gladness of his spirit; he sees it is of God his heavenly Father, and he lodges it in his heart, and conscience, and affection, and rejoices in it, and desires after it, and cherishes it, and is loath to part with such thoughts when he is gotten into such a good frame.

Now I say therefore, this is a difference: a carnal man never gives entertainment to a good thought, nor do his thoughts ever aim at good ends, they never go higher than himself, and therefore never could a good thought find lodging in him; out again it is thrust, sometimes somewhat courteously, sometimes discourteously, but however there it must not lodge, there is a world of matter to quench and damp it, and to use means to be shut of it. But it is not so with a true Christian: he entertains Christ as his Prince, and he will have every thought in him to be set upon him; if a wicked thought come into a carnal man's heart it is natural to him, it takes place, and is suffered to lodge there, anger rests with him all night, and he suffers the sun to go down upon his wrath (Ephesians 4:26-27). The Devil lodges there, and there he may rest, and he never takes pains to be cleansed of those evil thoughts, and he cares not how long they are there. But if a godly man have a wicked thought come upon him, he stirs up all the faculties of his soul, and the graces of the Spirit against it, and does what he can to expel and banish it, and if he cannot prevail, then he will call for aid from his Prince, from Heaven, and will acquaint his dear Christian friends with it, and say: I am troubled with such thoughts of malice, and pride, and vanity, that I know not in the world what to do, they lie down with me, and they rise up with me, and therefore entreat their help. And as they look to Christian friends, so will they especially call to the Prince of their salvation, to save them from their vain thoughts, and much more from these wicked speeches, from these things they are most careful to be delivered. And therefore they stand not devising plots against their Prince, but he will tell him, that such wicked rebellious thoughts devise mischief against him, and therefore he craves help against them. So did David in the like case (Psalm 139:33): Search me, and know my heart, and see if there be any way of wickedness in me. As if he had sent to heaven for a privy search, he would not have any one thought within him, but he would that God should know it, and therefore desires, that God would try and search, and know his thoughts. He was not like them of whom you read (Isaiah 29:15), that dig deep to hide their counsels from the Lord: but a child of God would have God to be well acquainted with his thoughts. See if there be any way of wickedness in me, any wicked thought or vain affection in my heart, I have labored to find, and to cast them out what I can, but there may be many more that I know not, but search and try you me, and lead me in the way that I shall go.

Good thoughts are of everlasting use, and of everlasting duration, and they will continue to everlasting life, God's ways are everlasting ways, lead me in the way everlasting. Thus a man has every thought brought into subjection, though evil thoughts may come rushing in, yet he will not give them entertainment but complains of them to Christ, and such a man has the Lord Jesus for his Prince. For he is not a Prince that only governs the outward man, as earthly princes do, who can take no hold of what we think, but God takes notice of our thoughts.

And you may apply what I say of thoughts, to words and actions, and so make use of it to all.

There be many men, that never think a good thought, but let wicked thoughts rest in them, can be wanton and unclean, etc., whatever it be that makes a thoroughfare in the heart, let it there lodge, let it come and go as it will. And that is part of the meaning of the highway-side ground: it keeps, and is, a thoroughfare to all beasts, to all sorts of travelers, to thieves and robbers, takes no notice of them, lets them come and go and stay as they please. Then we have not Christ for our Governor, we do not put the government of our thoughts, and actions upon his shoulders, and are not in subjection to him, but cast his cords from us (Psalm 2:3), and say we will not have this man to reign over us (Luke 19:22). What, are not our thoughts free? and are not our tongues our own (Psalm 12:4)? David takes them for atheists that say their tongues are their own. He prays that God would keep his lips (Psalm 119). Only God's people would have all that is in them bowed to the obedience of God's will. Some men there be that will not have God to rule over them, so marvelous is the profaneness of our hearts while we are carnal, that we who should be servants to God, we are not ashamed to make him a servant to us, we were never subject to any man, nor do we mean so to be — Pharaoh-like: Who is the Lord? I know not who he is. Notable is that you read (Isaiah [reconstructed: 43:24]): besides that, I had no service from you, you have made me to serve, with, or under, your sins. See the desperate spirits of the hearts of the sinful sons of men, they draw in God to serve them, and he complains, that he is pressed under their sins, as a cart is pressed under sheaves. Men load the patience of God, and lay upon him one bundle of wickedness after another; they lay so much wickedness upon him, till the patience of God will bear no longer. As long as ever he will bear, and suffer us to live in this world, we will load him with sheaves upon sheaves, load the very majesty of God, and his long sufferance, and make use of his Providence many times to serve our own lusts. We will do that which is wicked in God's sight, because we can do it, and because God has given us means to do it. We can maintain our pride and covetousness, and God gives us these gifts, and these liberties, and we will make God to serve with them, and here is a double service put upon God.

First we load his patience, and forbearance, by our continuance in sin; but besides that, we abuse the very gifts of God, as our wealth, and good parts of nature, and our common graces: And (by your leave) the very saving graces of God's spirit, we will not stick to abuse them against God; And is not this much rebellion, that we should make God to serve such a wearisome service, he is provoked every day, and weary to suffer us in a sinful course one day to an end; but when day after day, and year after year we lay load upon God's patience: and if he will suffer us long so he may; and if we do set God at liberty from his drudgery, it must be at the last gasp, and he shall be our Ruler then, if he will. Wonder not therefore if sometime God say, Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23). And that is in a double respect.

First, As you see a witch gives her soul to the Devil, that she may have her mind fulfilled for her lifetime; so a rebel deals with the devil, to have his own lusts fulfilled, he makes a covenant with Hell and with the Devil, he is at an agreement, he knows he does wickedly, but to serve his own turn, he is content to do it.

But secondly, As a witch will have the Devil to wait upon her, so at last she will wait upon the Devil, so it is in this case: The Devil must serve a witch all her lifetime, and she will serve the Devil at her death: Far more monstrous, is this wickedness in this kind, we will have God to serve us all our lifetime, and when death comes, we will do God this favor, we will serve him then: As a witch deals with the Devil, so do we with God, he shall supply our occasions, and we will make use of his bounty to serve ourselves, but at last gasp God shall rule us, to do him all the service we can, and give him all good words — there is great and plenteous mercy to be found in him, and now we will do him all the honor we can. And will God be thus served, think you? Do you think to put him off, as witches put off the Devil, will he (think you) take your service then? Consider of it, This is to make God our Prince, when we give up ourselves to serve him.

There is a second thing, wherein the having of Christ for a Prince does stand: And it requires, that you do all your service to him, as to a Prince, it should all be princely service, such as becomes a Prince (Malachi 1:8). When you bring that which is torn or lame, offer it to your Prince, and see if he will accept it. Implying, that God is a Prince, and if a Prince, then where is his princely service, if you will serve him, serve him of the best of that you have: God looks for no more but what you have; but when you come and offer him a lame and peremptory sacrifice, and be loath to come off with the fat and strength of your affections, and are loath to crucify your dearest lusts, then you deal not with God, as with a Prince, you offer him such a sacrifice as is loathsome to him: God curses such deceivers who have in their flock a male, and sacrifice to the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great King, says the Lord of Hosts; to pretend him to be a Prince, and yet to serve him like a peasant, this God curses; God accepts Abel's sacrifice, because he brought the fattest and best of the flock to sacrifice (Genesis 4). When we bring the strength of our hearts, the fat of our strength, this God accepts, and then we offer to him as to a Prince.

Notable was that speech of David (2 Samuel 24:24): I will not offer to God, a sacrifice of that which will cost me nothing. A man offered royally to the king; I give them all freely to you; As a king, he gave to the king: If a man give to a king, he must give of the best he has, behold all are yours. And as if David should say; If you will be so bountiful to me, shall not I much more that am a king, give like a king, to the King of Kings? We must give our best strength, the best we have of anything to God. I and my household will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15), All is little enough to give to God; make it a point of our service in our best duties, this God looks for, we should do it the best we can; If we would have him for a Prince, and as to a Prince, we should freely part with all.

And therefore to conclude this point, know, that this point is the principal sum of the Gospel, and this duty is of great necessity; And let us therefore sum it up together, and lay it to our own hearts: You would know whether you have life or no; if you have life, you have Christ. How will you know that? Ask then your hearts this question; Has God exalted Christ to be a Prince, and a Savior to you? Consider, if you have Christ for a Savior and a Prince, And if you so have him, then you have the Son; and if you have the Son, you have life: And therefore meditate upon this seriously, do you find your hearts looking to Christ for salvation, in whatever distresses you are in? Some will say I am in distress, and anguish of soul, comfortless in my spirit and troubled with fear of God's wrath, and sense of the torment of Hell. Another man says, I am in distress through bodily weakness, and sickness; another says, I am in distress through great poverty; another in debts; another is in distress through the great untowardness of wife, and children, and servants, these be deep and great distresses; yet consider, Christ is a Savior, from all distresses, God has not limited his salvation to this, and that, but it reaches all the evils we are subject to; then where does your heart look, and upon whom do you wait for salvation? If your heart tell you, that in the midst of all these desertions you look for salvation from the Lord Jesus, and your eyes are to him, and you do find your spirit willing to wait for salvation from him; then you have him for your Savior, and he will save and redeem you from them all, and it is an evident argument we have him for a Savior.

But if in our dangers and distresses we look to this and that means, and to this and that friend, and sometimes put ourselves to flight from pestilence, and famine (though in some cases we lawfully may) if you do only consider lawful means, and use them according to God's will, and for God's honor, then you wait upon God for salvation, else not; If you look to him which hides his face from the house of Israel; if God hide his face from church and commonwealth, and yet our eyes are towards him, and we know not what to do, for our consciences, and liberty, and estates, and health, and peace, etc. But our eyes are to Christ, such a look at Christ is a saving and healing look; and as they were saved and healed by looking at the brazen Serpent (Numbers 21:9), so truly the Son of Man is exalted, that whoever looks for salvation from him should receive it, though they be not yet come to the full persuasion that the Lord is their God, as they shall in time come to; but if they look with a wistful sad look at him, and rest not satisfied till salvation come, this makes him their Savior; Look to me, and be you saved. But if we look to friends, and means, and our own hands, and doings, then no hope of salvation from him.

There is this difference between the cony and the hare, the cony is a thing not strong, yet reckoned among the wise people; when they hear the noise of a dog, they run to their rock and shroud themselves, and so are safe; whereas the wild hare has no help but her heels, she runs through fields and pastures, runs every way, but has no protection, but her heels, and is of all creatures most destitute: So if we run to the Lord Jesus for deliverance from all our evils, he will spread a wing of preservation over us; but if we run to any creature we can have no rest, nor peace, and then it argues we have no Christ, because no Savior; and no Savior, because we look not to him. And if you look to him to save you from your miseries, and not from your sins, you have him not as a Savior; you would be excused in this and that, spare me but here only; Felix would be spared in his Delilah, but if you would be spared, in any sin excused for, nor parting with any iniquity, then you have not Christ for your Savior; Remember what our Savior said to the man (John 5:6): Would you be made whole? He said, Indeed Lord, and he was healed. So this is the point, Will you be made whole? If God so far turn the stream of our hearts, that unfeignedly we would be made whole, not a member in our bodies but we would have it healed; we would not have an unclean lust in our souls, but we would be perfectly made whole; would we be saved from all our sins? Then we have him for our Savior; and there is not a sin in us but we shall be healed of it, and this is life, to look to Christ for universal salvation.

And so consider, have you Christ for a Prince? Are your hearts willing to subject every thought to him? You say, you are somewhat unwilling to it, but does not the Apostle say: every thought must be brought into subjection to the gospel of Christ, into captivity; and were it not better to be free, and voluntary. It is true, God's people know that when they were first brought on to God, they were carried captive, and drawn (John 6:44); but afterwards they find the service of Christ to be perfect freedom, and therefore how do you look at your thoughts, for I principally take notice of them. Are you not willing that a vain thought should lodge within you? Thoughts of pride, and of revenge come into your heart, but what entertainment do you give them? Does Satan when he comes find your house fit for his purpose? If you give these guests such entertainment, then you have not Christ for your Prince, but if they come like stubborn rebels into your house, and they disturb you, and you call to your friends to help you, and you cry out to your Prince in Heaven for a private search to be made, to find them out, and would not have any one wicked thought to rest in your heart, then you have Christ for your Prince, but if you give them willing entertainment, and lodge them next your heart, and fatten and feed yourself in such thoughts of wrath, and lust, and hug them in your bosom, then your heart stands in rebellion against God; If these rebellious lusts be your friendly companions, then God is not at peace with you; but if you are burdened with them, as soldiers come into the houses of men that live in the Palatinate, and they are forced to entertain them, but if you would cast them out, then you have Christ for your Prince; But if you refuse his government, and your thoughts are your own, and you will have God to serve your turn, and you burden his patience with one wicked course after another, and you make use of God's patience to the sinful provocation of his wrath; and you deal with God as witches do with the Devil, he shall serve you now, and you will serve him when you die. Consider what sacrifice you offer to God, anything is good enough for God, and the ways of his grace is a burden to you, then you have him not for your Prince. Now in the name and fear of God, consider what has been said, every one take his portion, and the Lord give you a good understanding in all things.