PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Complete Works of Thomas Manton — Volume 20
Thomas Manton · 329,200 words · 330 reading sections
Section 301
VER. 2.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 467 ances we see him, but darkly, as in a glass : 'His kingdom cometh not with observation,' Luke xvii. 20. It was not set up as other kingdoms are, with warlike preparations and visible power and glory ; his people were hated, scorned, reproached, but then he shall appear himself in …
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3. It is not a general belief, but a particular confidence : ' I know that my Kedeemer liveth ; ' and here, that we shall be like him ; he speaketh upon the supposition that we are God's children. Now to make this evident, we must have more than a word of promise ; we must have the spirit of holiness opening the eyes o…
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3. A holy conversation, and suitable walking : 1 Peter iv. 14, 15, 'As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts of your ignorance : but as he that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.' A sincere endeavour of keeping all your Father's commands, and devot…
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many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you : I go to pre- pare' a place for you.' His disciples, that were intimately acquainted with him, knew his fidelity, that he told them all things as they really were, and would never flatter them into a vain hope. AH his disciples that live now may be confident of i…
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2. The necessity of this hope, which is twofold — [1.] To support us under our difficulties ; how else could we subsist under the manifold troubles of the present life ? Hope is compared in scripture to two things — a helmet and an anchor. Both signify the great use and service of it, as to the encountering our presen…
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VER. 3.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 475 wines served in large goblets of gold. I am loath to rake further in this puddle. In all this do you hear, christians, the voice of a beast or a man ? With these baits of wantonness and carnal pleasure he sought to inveigle the minds of his followers. This is a hope fit to make br…
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(2.) God hath promised to purify the souls of his people : Ezek. xxxvi. 25, ' I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness.' God giveth the Holy Spirit to cleanse us, to abide in us as a living spring : though the waters of the fountain be muddy, yet the living spring worketh its…
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[1.] Fleshly lusts. Some run into excess of riot, polluting them- selves with gluttony, drunkenness, uncleanness, and do not keep their xressels in sanctification and honour. Now these that are all for sensual satisfactions, or fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, are wholly strangers to such a hope. Is that soul clarifi…
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4. Out of gratitude since God hath advanced us to so great a privilege : ' Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God ! ' Hath God put such honour upon us that we should be his children, provided such a blessed estate for us hereafter, and shall not we prepare …
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But let me a little more closely show how everything in religion obligeth us to the purifying ourselves yet more and more. VER. 3.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 481 1. With respect to the God, whom we serve in the Spirit, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. [1.] Our God is pure : Hab. i. 13, ' He is of purer eyes than to behol…
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[3.] If you look to God the Spirit, still the argument returneth upon you with the more force and efficacy ; the Spirit is to make up the match between us and our Redeemer, and to bring us to Christ, as Christ to bring us to God. Now the Spirit is a holy Spirit : Eph. i. 13, 'Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of prom…
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[2.] Prayer ; it is to a holy God we pray, and from whom we expect our answer. Now a holy God expects they should be a holy people 484 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. V. that are thus familiar with him, and beginning the acquaintance whieb shall be perfected in heaven : 1 Tim. ii. 8, ' Lifting up holy hands, without w…
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[3.] Love will set us a-purifying. Love to God begets hatred of sin : Ps. xcvii. 10, ' Ye that love the Lord hate evil.' The one is as natural to the new nature as the other ; and the one is inferred out of the other. Now where there is a hatred of sin, there will be an exter- mination of it ; not a scratching at the f…
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2. Let it be an increasing growing purity, that every day we may be more holy and undefiled : 2 Cor. iii. 18, ' Changed into the image and likeness of Christ, from glory to glory.' God having appointed us to be like his Son, fits us by degrees ; and Christ by his Spirit is sanctifying and cleansing us more and more, th…
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SERMON VI. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law ; for sin is a transgression of the law. — 1 John iii. 4. In the words we have a new argument to persuade to holiness. He had reasoned before from the dignity of our adoption ; now from the indignity or base nature of sin, which is an act of rebellion and…
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Doct, He that liveth in a course of sin forfeits the privileges of adoption offered to him, and maketh himself guilty before God as a breaker of the law : In pursuing this point, I shall do three things — 1. Show that all mankind is under the law of God, which still re- maineth in force as an inviolable rule of right…
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[4.] Christ merited regeneration, or the spirit of holiness, that all new creatures might voluntarily keep this law, though not in absolute perfeotion, yet in new sincere obedience : Titus iii. 5, 6, ' He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he hath shed on us through Jesus …
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[9.] That Christ came not to dissolve our obligation to God, or ever intended it, but to promote it rather. Not to dissolve it : if he came de jure to free us from obedience to the law, it is to make us gods ; for no creature is sui juris, his own to dispose of; it is impossible any created thing can be without a law, …
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2. By committing what God hath forbidden, or breaking through the restraints God hath laid upon us, in worshipping idols, or satisfying our revenge, or fulfilling our lusts. The first sin was eating the for- bidden fruit ; and the decalogue consists rather of prohibitions than precepts, to meet with the corrupt nature …
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496 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. VI. it into onr hearts. And on our part there is repentance, or a hitter dislike of sin, with which is a purpose of new obedience, or of forbear- ing the evil which the law forbiddeth, and doing the good which the law requireth ; a returning to the allegiance we owe our sovereign Lor…
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2. The tenor of his life is for God ; his course is a course of godli- ness ; but in a natural man, his course is a course of sin, and he doth not avoid those failings which he might avoid if he were sincerely willing. Men are determined by their walk, whether it be after the flesh or after the Spirit, Rom. viii. 1. Th…
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1. There is folly in it, as it is a deviation from the best rule which the divine wisdom hath given unto us. If we should only look upon the law as a bare direction or counsel given us by one that is wiser than we, to slight it is a contempt of the wisdom of God, as if he knew not how to govern the world, and what is m…
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V£R. 4.] SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 501 to cross the will of God? You might reason as the centurion, Mat. viii. 9, 'I am a man under authority, and I have others under me.' Take either part, and consider yourselves in your subjection to men that are above you, or in your carriage to those under you, and you may shame yo…
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5. It is a contempt of God's holiness and purity, as if he were indif- ferent to good and evil, and stood not upon his law, whether men broke it or kept it, and would not call them to an account, and judge them for it. Whereas God standeth punctually and precisely upon his law ; the least point is dearer unto him than …
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8. It is a questioning, if not a flat denial of God's omnisciency and omnipresence, as if he did not see or regard the actions of men, since we dare do that in the presence of God which we would scarce do before a little child. Ahasuerus said, Esther vii. 8, ' Will he force the queen also before me in the house ? ' Sha…
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506 SERMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. [SeR. VII. their course, as that light things should move upwards, and heavy bodies downward ; but there are other things that happen for the most part, though not always, as for men to use the right hand and not the left ; so there are some things which have such an eminent holiness and r…
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10. It is a disorder in nature, or a breach in the moral order and harmony of the world, whilst man, the most excellent of all visible creatures, is so perverted and depraved, like the chief string to an instrument broken and out of tune. God hath appointed all creatures their work and service, and the chiefest part of…
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13. It is a contempt of all those means by which God useth to enforce his laws, and quicken the sense of our duty upon our hearts ; such are the strivings and pressing motions of his Spirit, Gen. vi. 3. The Spirit warneth us of our danger when we are running into sin, and VER. 4.] SEIIMONS UPON 1 JOHN III. 509 when w…
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3. How just is God in appointing eternal punishment as the fruit and reward of sin ! Consider, first, it is an eternal God and an eternal happiness that is despised by the sinner; and for what base things, and for what a vile price do men hazard the favour of God, and forfeit the hopes of the life to come? Heb. xii. 16…
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512 SJHlMONS UPON 1 JOHN in. [Ser. VII. 6. The necessity of persevering in the gospel-estate by new obedience, and a continual dependence on the grace of the Redeemer. First, New obedience : God's people cannot be too watchful against sin, against the least sin ; for it is a breach of our Father's commandments, which …
567 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1870); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.