PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes — Volume 3
Richard Sibbes · 388,516 words · 401 reading sections
Section 241
To let you see that wo stand in need of a second grace, and of a third grace, and of a fourth grace, that we need continual building up. Reason 1. First, look vithi)i, ivhat opposition iJicre is to saving goodness uitldn ! Avhat rebellion of lusts ! what ignorance, and blindness, and dark- ness, and indisposition ! wh…
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The strongest Christians are most desirous of strength. Who have you that doth most hunger after the means of salvation ? Surely those that have the greatest measure of grace, because with gi-ace the capacity of the soul is enlarged to receive more. The soul is so framed by God that the more it hath, the more it hunger…
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The ground of it is this, as Austin, as I said, defines predestination well, it is a destinating and ordaining to a supernatural end, to everlasting salva- tion in the world to come, and a preparing of all means to that end.* Why, now as it is a grace that God pulls out some men to an eternal estate of salvation in hea…
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33G COMMENTARY ON minister to be a grace, as St Paul saith here, I intended you a * second grace,' that is, to speak gracious things to you ? I shall know it, if by that gracious means, by those gracious speeches, God distil into me a spirit to improve them to gracious purposes. As indeed, God turns all to a graciou…
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Therefore we should upon all good occasions speak gracious things. Divine truths, they will have a wondrous eflicacy. If men would set on it, and be more fruitful in this kind, they should have occasion to bless God. But, alas ! the life of a Christian is little known in the world. We have but naked, shallow conceits o…
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But I do but touch it by the way : because this whole verse is but a pas- sage to another thing. Therefore I come to the seventeenth verse. VERSE 17. * When I therefore ivas thr(s minded (to come vnto you), did I use lightness ? or the thinys that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with vw there sho…
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Quest. How sliall wc anu ourselves against this suspicion, and the fruit of it ? How shall wc carry ourselves against this disposition of men among whom we live ? Ans. I answer briefly, first, lahour for innocenqj, that if they will speak maliciously, yet they may speak falsely. Saith St Ambrose, ' Et nobis mahis,' Se…
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1. Liyhtness or inconstancy. 2. Purposing or deliberating according to the flesh. 3. And then inconstancy in his s^^eeches, that they should be ' Yea, yea, Nay nay. The point that I observe from the first concerning lightness is, that Doct. Erery Christian, especially ministers and public men, should labour by all …
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2. But now consider it as it is in religion, lightness comes out of the disposition of the mind. (1.) Incomideration ofttimes is the fjround, when we do not see the cir- cumstances of a thing that we promise or purpose. You know there is nothing comes to action, but it is beset with circumstances. There are 2 CORINTH…
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Therefore this should have made them thought well of St Paul. His affection was not changed to them, but the business was changed, as we shall see after. Other things let* him. So a good man, his honest resolu- tion should not change. His aim to serve God and his countiy, and to deserve well of mankind, this should be …
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You see in Ps. ii. how the Psalmist there insults over those that threaten to do this and that. ' Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing, &c., against the Lord, and against his Anointed ?' As if they would swallow up the church, and Christ the anointed : why do they do this and that ? God that sit…
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And hereupon wicked men are called ' the world.' Why the world ? Be- cause they are led with the things of the world, with the guise and fashion of the world. A man, in the language of the Scripture, is termed by that which he cleaves to ; therefore if the heart and soul cleave to the flesh, and the things of the fles…
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Again, we may learn fi'om hence, that ' Obs. A ground of lightness is to purpose things according to the flesh. To purpose according to carnal reason, and affection, it is a ground of lightness. For mark the reason of it, when a man is carried in his delibe- rations by carnal respects, this will be for my profit, thi…
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850 COMMENTARY ON bis aims, and yet bo will not. If a man bave power, and yet doth not revenge bimsolf, be consults not witb llesb and blood ; for be might be re- venged if be would. So I say, when there is something that might sway us another way, and yet notwithstanding out of mere conscience, and better rules, we w…
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But, alas ! the scope of the world is contrary ! Instead of bringing the soul into captivity to God's truth, to be led by him, to have no thoughts, no aims contrary to God's will, they make God's truth a captive and pri- soner to their own base afiections ; as St Paul saith, Rom. i. 18, ' They hold the truth,' they wit…
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' That uith me there should he yea, yea, and nay, nay.' This sets down the manner of inconstancy, the forai of it, ' yea, yea,' to be on the affirma- tive part once ; and then ' nay, nay,' the negative ; to be of one mind, and peremptory in it, and then to be of another mind, and peremptory in that. This is the issue o…
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To come to the point itself. This declining of inconstancy, of ' yea, yea,' ' nay, nay,' it came in St Paul from hatred of inconstancy and falsehood. For ' yea ' and ' nay,' when a man is of one mind and another, it comes from one of these two gi'ounds in a carnal man : Either because he is inconstant, that he is now …
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VERSE 18. ' As God is true, onr ivord to you was not yea and nay.' The apostle in the fonner verse having laboured to clear himself from the imputation of lightness and inconstancy, that he did not come to them as he had promised ; and from an imputation likewise of policy for himself, that he did purpose things accor…
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Nathan, as he was a man, gave David Uberty to build the temple. He was overshot in it something. But then he goes to God, and consults with him, whether he should or no ; and then Nathan gives Davdd another advice.* So the prophets and apostles, as men, they might be alterable without sin. For God will allow men to be…
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* As God is true.' The apostle here seals it with an oath. "What is an oath ? An oath is a religious calhng of God to witness, or to be a judge in doubtful things. It is in doubtful things a caUing of God to be a witness of the truth we speak, and to be a revenger if we speak not true. It is to call God to wit- ness…
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And St Paul saw a disposition in them to suspect the truth of God, as indeed, we are proner to believe the lies of our own hearts, and the sugges- tions of Satan, and the counsel of politicians, of carnal friends, than to be- lieve God himself. Therefore, partly for the indisposition in us ; and partly for the great ex…
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In the time of ease and prosperity, it is easy to think, God is merciful, and Christ died ; but in the time of temptation, all is little enough to shore and prop up the faith of a drooping Christian. Therefore God, out of heavenly wisdom, and love to us, hath appointed these ordinances for the strengthening of our fait…
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Ans. But the answer is easy. God is true in all these ; for God's pro- mises that come from his truth, they are either absolute or conditional. The absolute are those that have nothing annexed to them, but shall cer- tainly be. As God would have sent Christ without all conditions, Christ should have come without all pe…
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And so in the relation of a Father, he is a true Father, he corrects when time serves, he rewards and encourageth when time serves, he gives an in- heritance to his children, and hath pity and compassion on his children when time serves. He is a true Father. Other fathers do this and that out of passion, not out of tru…
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Use 3. Again, hence for our judgment we learn this truth, that the word of God hath the same gi*ound of truth as God himself. Therefore it is the judge of all controversies. Of all things questionable in religion, the word of God is judge ; because it is not ' yea and nay, but yea,' and ' it is true, as God is true.' A…
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And likewise again, if God's word be not ' yea and nay,' that is, not in- constant, then whatsoever is inconstant, and thwarts itself in contradic- tions, is not God's word. Popery is full of inconstancy, full of contradic- tions to itself. 1. First, besides inconstancy, and uncertainty, it is full of contradictions :…
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2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 18. 367 in heaven at one time distinctly should hear many thousands that put up their petitions at once ? Can a man that is but a capable creature, though glorified, as Peter or Mary, &c., distinctly consider a thousand petitions that are made ? They cannot. How then can they think that a c…
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Let us therefore examine ourselves what power and efficacy the word hath. It is a word that changeth and altei'eth the whole man. It trans- forms the whole man. It is a word of life. If we find it hath so altered and changed us, we can from experience say it is ' yea.' And likewise from particular promises. If we obse…
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VERSE 19. * For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached amoncj you by us, hy me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him is yea.' In the words the apostle shews in particular what he preached among them, and we have in them these particulars briefly to be unfolded : First, That Christ Jesu…
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2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 19. 371 Christian religion you have taken on you. Naturally men love to hear flashes, wittj' conceits, and moral points wittily unfolded ; but all these in the largest extent do but civilize men. It must be Christ unfolded, and God's love, and mercy, and wisdom in him reconciling mercy and …
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There are four things that the apostle speaks of, which includes all, 1 Cor. i. 30. ' Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.' Christ Jesus is all in all. If we be ignorant, he is our ' wisdom ; ' if we want righteousness and holiness to stand befor…
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Doct. 4. Evangelical doctrine now is most certain. Something I spake of it before in the former vei*se, but I have reserved Bomething to speak of it now. The Son of God preached by St Paul, with the consent of these blessed men, it was not ' yea and nay,' it was not un- constant. Evangelical truth is not yea and nay ;…
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Ans. I answer, God speaks indeed in his church by his Spirit and by his word ; but his speaking by his word is the cause of his speaking in 2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 19. 375 the church. For what is the church but begotten by the seed of the word ? How is the church a church but by the word ? Therefore, he speaks fi…
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If we conjiire the papists, they are silent, they dare say nothing. Dare they say their doctrine is nearer apostolical than ours ? They dare not say but ours is nearer. Why, then, our church is built upon the founda- tion of the apostles. Why so ? All the churches since have been built upon one foundation, because ther…
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The affirmatives that we hold, and they hold too, we say they are con- stant from the apostles' time ; they have been in all ages maintained and affirmed. Our positive points that we ground out of St Paul, and out of the Scrip- tures : we seek the ' old way,' and the ' best way,' as Jeremiah adviseth us, Jer. vi. 16. …
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Atis. I answer, no doubt but many of them are saved. How comes that to pass ? They revei'se their false grounds, and stick to those positive truths that they and we hold together ; they reject their own works, and help of saints, and go to Christ only ; for, as I said, popery is full of con- tradictions. Now a papist, …
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Hereupon likewise, if it be the constant nature of truth alway to be believed ; hereupon it comes to cross another thing, their dispensation. No man can dispense with God's law ; truth is truth indispensable. Laws divine and natural are indispensable, because they are alike in all things. Reason is reason in Turkey as …
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Ask another. What do you mean to live so loosely and carelessly ? Why will you stand thus ? Will you be content to die so ? Perhaps he doth not know sound doctrine, or if he do, it is confusedly ; he doth not build on that rock, on that foundation. Oh ! let us labour to build stronger and stronger on the truth. Our bu…
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The truths we are to deliver out of the words are these : First of all we must know, that since the fall of man it hath pleased the di\ane nature, the three persons in Trinity, to stahlish a coven%.nt of fp-ace, and so of salvation in Jesus Christ ; and to make him a second princij^le, a second Adam, hy whom mankind i…
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Therefore, even from this we see how God loves us, that not only he hath an inward love in his breast, and doth good to us, but he manifests it by word. He would have us, as I said, live by faith, and stablish ourselves in hope. Faith and hope are two graces altogether from promises. If there were no promise there cou…
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Especially since the fall. Leave the consideration of Christ, and this may be a reason. Consider us since the fall, as we are in the mass of corrup- tion, are we fit objects for God's love ? Are we not fuel for consuming tire ? Is not he a ' consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29, and we stubble for his wrath ? Is not our natur…
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Use. It is a point we should often think of, and seriously consider of ; 2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 20. 887 for it doth wondrously stablish our hearts. Doth God love me, and doth he do good to me abstracted from Christ, myself alone ? No ; for then, alas ! I should fly from his presence ; but he looks upon me, and c…
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He himself is the first promise that runs along in all the Scripture ; and all the promises of Christ are ' yea ; ' for whatsoever was promised of Christ before he came, it was fulfilled when he came. For all types were ful- filled in him, and all prophecies, and all promises, they were all accom- plished in him. I. A…
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III. And not only so, hut all the prerof/atives and good things that come by Christ are ' yea.' They are undoubted in Christ, and they were ' yea' be- fore he was. He profited before he was. He was ' yea' to Adam. Be- cause, however he that was the seed of the woman came not till the latter end of the world, till four …
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Use. It is a comfortable iirii/ to stiidi/ Christ tJiis ivay ; to see him fore- told in the Old Testament, and to see the accomplishment in the New ; to parallel the Old and New Testament. It is an excellent way of studying the gospel. For we know men are delighted to know divers things at once. When a man's knowledge …
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When God is become man, and was mortal, why should we doubt that man being mortal should be immortal ? Is not the greater performed already ? Is it not a greater matter for God to become man, and to die in our nature, than for we that are mortal to become immortal by Christ ? Why^should we not expect that which is to c…
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W^hat a comfort is this, that we may go to God in Christ, and claim the promises boldly; because we see out of the love he bears to .Christ, he loves us, and hath made us promises in him, and as verily as he loves him, so he loves us, and will perform all his gracious promises to us ? If we lay fast hold on Christ, I s…
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Again, there are promises not only propounded conditionally, of grace and comfort, hit of outward thim/s. All outward things are promised con- ditionally, as thus : God hath promised protection from contagious sick- nesses, from war, and troubles. General promises there are of protection everywhere. ' God will be a hid…
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Alas ! what is a man out of Christ ? As a man in a storm, that hath no clothes to hide his nakedness, to cover him from the violence of the storm : as a man in a tempest, that is out of a house to hide him : as a stone out of the foundation, that is scattered here and there as neglected : as a branch out of the vine, o…
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I speak this, to commend the estate of a believing, repentant Christian, to make you in love with it. In all the changes and varieties in this world, a Christian hath somewhat to take to. And likewise in all the dangers of this life, he hath a rock to go to, a hiding-place. God hath chambers of providence, as it is, Is…
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2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 20. 399 his being rich, his being in favour with such or such, what are they ? Fad- ing beings that fail, and himself with them. He stands on the ice. They shp and he sHps with them. What are all beings in death, if a man have not a more stable being in Jesus Christ. Quest. What comfort is…
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So there is this to encourage a man, there is God's command, and his sweet invitation, ' Come unto me.' And add to that his beseeching, ' We are ambassadors in Christ's name, to beseech j'ou to be reconciled to God,' 2 Cor. V. 20, to come to Christ, to come out of the state of nature, and out of the curse of God that y…
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You have a promise of sufficiency of gifts. ' If any man lack wisdom, let him ask it of God,' James i. 5. If any man lack wisdom, to manage his aliairs, to bear crosses and afflictions, let him ask it of God ; a rich promise in that kind. And so, art thou doubtfnl for the time to come what shall befall thee ? God in C…
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2 COEINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 20. 403 Aye, but when we have done, there are so many imperfections cleave to that we do, that they discourage us. Why, look, the promise is ' yea and amen ' for acceptance, ' a cup of cold water is accepted,' Mat. x. 42. Offer that thou doest in the mediation of Christ, God will pardon tha…
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Men are very atheists in this point ; for they are more careful a great deal to leave them rich, to leave them great, than to leave them good ; and so they leave them a little goods perhaps, but they leave the curse and vengeance of God with it. I beseech you, therefore, enlarge this comfort, that the promises of God c…
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And then Christ, what relation hath he taken on him ? He is our husband. What a world of promises is there in that ? What can a loving husband deny his spouse, that he hath given himself for ? He hath taken upon him to be our head. What want of influence can there be from such a head, that hath taken all upon him for …
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He promised Abraham a child, but his body was dead in a manner first, and Sarah's womb. He promised Joseph to raise him up so high ; but alas ! the iron entered into his soul first. He promised that Christ should come, but all was desperate fii'st, ' The sceptre was departed from Judah,' Gen. 2 CORINTHIANS CHAP, I, VK…
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Shall we have certain j)romises, and shall we u-arer and Rtafiger? There- fore let us complain, Lord, thy promises are sure and certain as thou hast said, what is the reason I cannot build on them ? Oh my unfaithful heart ! Let us condemn our unbelieving, our lying hearts, that call the truth of God into question, and …
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Let us every day take these promises to be cordials in these dangerous times ; and then come life, come death, all shall be welcome. Why ? Be- cause we are in Christ, and have embraced the promises and Christ ; and all in Christ is ' yea and amen :' it shall go well with us. What a wondrous comfortable life would a Chr…
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2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 20. 411 Lord endures for ever.' How doth the word of the Lord endure for ever ? St John expounds it, 1 John ii. 17. A true Christian endures for ever by the word of the Lord. He that believes in the word, he endm-es for ever, because his comforts endure forever ; they are ' yea and amen.' H…
1,033 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1862); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.