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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49589	The wedding-supper as it was handled out of the fourteen first verses of the 22. chapter of Matthew, in sundry exercises in Tavistock in Devon. Wherein the offer of salvation, both to Jews and Gentiles, is noted: and divers plain and pithy doctrines observed, and applied. Being the effect of twelve sermons preached by Thomas Larkham, the oppressed pastor of the despised Church of Christ there.	Larkham, Thomas, 1602-1669.; Cross, Thomas, fl. 1632-1682, engraver.	1652 (1652)	Wing L442; ESTC R222016	113,881	272

And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works Here are two Books Gods Book of Science or Prescience he knoweth all things long before The other is the book of conscience this is our own book this will stop every mans mouth that is out of Christ He was speechless saith the Text. The Commission or warrant for his execution which also includes the sentence of condemnation follows in the next verses in which we have the sentence ver 13. The ground or reason ver 14. In the Sentence we have Circumstances and the Substance The Circumstances are three 1. The party commissionating the King 2. The party commissionated the servants 3. The time Then For the better handling of these particulars I crave your prayers And so much for this time The end of the 12. verse The ninth Sermon Matth. 22. ver 13.14 Then the King said to the Servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth for many are called but few are chosen I Have finished as you may remember the examination and conviction of this unworthy Guest and false-hearted Professour out of the foregoing verses I ended my last Sermon with the division of these two verses now again read unto you I will not repeat what hath been delivered but proceed to that which remains to be spoken out of these verses The party that gives the Commission for the execution of this faulty person is said to be the King that is Almighty God who had vouchsafed the means of Grace to the Gentiles But this poor wretch among others abusing it he gives a Commission of another nature There was a time when this King was all white but now he is all red I have shewed you out of the foregoing verses that God woes the world in the preaching of the Gospel Go tell them that were bidden I have prepared my dinner c. You have heard of Tamberlains colours he was wont to display and his behaviour and dealing with places upon refusall of his offer of mercy Friends the Lord holds out to you the white flag of mercy he hath bid me tell you that his Justice is satisfied his vvrath is appeased in Christ if you will not come in if you will not submit he hath you see in this Text other colours to display Xerxes wept over his Army in consideration of their Mortality O that I could compassionate these hundreds that sit here this day Sirs a thousand to one but some of you will be damned or else you will escape better then ever so many people met together did in this World consider seriously what I say But I come to observe some poins of Doctrine The first is Doct. As God hath power and will to bestow and afford the means of Grace so also to punish the abuse thereof any way Any way I say My meaning is whither by a Swinelike carelesness or which is worse by a doglike barking at the Gospel and biting the Messengers or an Hypocritical closing with the Church God will punish the abuse of the offers of Grace I say any way with severity Gen. 6.7 And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the Earth c. God did strive with the old World 120. years it will not be ruled the People were diobedient When the long suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah 1 Pet. 3.20 Ye know they were drowned and are now Spirits in prison As the Lord had a time to offer Grace and Mercy by Noah so he had a time to plague the refusers of it The Lord suffered Lot to live a while among the Sodomites and surely he was not idle he was a righteous man they vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawfull deeds Then saith the Lord because the cry of Sodom and Gomorra is great 2 Pet. 2.8 Gen. 18.20.21 and because their sin is very grievous I will go down now and see whither they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know What 's the conclusion the Lord did destroy them He caused fire and brimstone to come down from Heaven and he overthrew those four Cities of the plain Gen. 19.24.25 Sodom Gomorra Admah and Zeboim So for Jerusalem you may read Luke 13. ver 34.35 Prophets were sent to them and Apostles and Christ himself was among them he would have gathered her children together as a Hen doth gather her brood under her wings they would not They killed the prophets and stoned them that were sent among them What followeth Behold your house is left unto you desolate c. And so cap. 19.43.44 Thine Enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation He that may and will not when he will he shall not O that you would read sometime even this very day Prov. 1. from the 20. verse unto the 32. I am loth to spend so much time now in reading those verses The summ is Wisdom crieth woeth useth many arguments but cannot be heard is disregarded You shall find there what followeth O sad expression I will saith God laugh at your calamitie and mock when your fear cometh God is just as well as mercifull Vse 1 Is it so that God which said erewhile Go ye out and fetch in all go tell them my son is dead and risen again tell them that if they will come away while my white flag is abroad they shall have mercy is now become so severe upon the abuse of his mercy then foolish if not mad are they that do not consider this that do not believe it that do so set and settle themselves daily to abuse the means of Grace Some by taking no notice at all thereof Others by making profession a cloak for their knavery Others by undervaluing it Others by having the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons Others by biting at and devouring what in them lies the honourable Professors of Religion and Ministers of the Gospel O where shall I begin and when shall I make an end I have much to say it may be you will be angry t is no matter hear me howsoever Let me speak though ye strike me afterward I will labour to pluck you out by the ears from your miserable condition though ye be angry with me for it It is better fear and so also anger a knave then kill him You think God will go in

also of that consequent truth viz. That if he be cursed that continueth not in every thing that is written in the book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. then much more to have an invitation an offer of Christ and not to regard it of which more shall be said in due place It is an unworthy part to see Christ scorned and rejected and his word slighted and his blood trampled on and not to be moved with it not to weep with Paul Philip. 3 18. that the cross of Christ hath Enemies But to be actors in this Tragedy must needs be most hideous and abominable Vse 2 In the next place you invited Guests may come boldly being bidden And you may be of good comfort when ever God makes a feast to his Church he will have you in his remembrance His old Chapmen shall have the first sight of his new stuff I do not mean that we must look for New Doctrines but fuller discoveries of the old faith which was once delivered to the Saints but hath a while been in Captivity in Babylon Vse 3 And now if this mercy be vouchsafed in any sort be bold to take out the utmost of it And be thankfull for this priviledge and improve it to your advantage For the greater the priviledge the greater the mercy Mot. the greater will our judgement be if we do not improve it Beloved it will be easier for Pagans then for Christians I mean so called and for those poor holes that have scarce a good Sermon in a year then for such as have much of God in this kind if their thankfulness and obedience be not answerable Quest Quest But how should a People or a person improve this Priviledge Answ I answer By coming at the first call not to delay nor put off lest God should swear once against you should fall a sealing you and searing you So much of the first the parties invited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 call the called ones The parties imployed in the work are next to be taken notice of And sent forth his servants That is such as were Gods Servants in speciall This word is excellently joyned with another in the 3. chap. of Amos ver 7. The words there are Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the Prophets Here you see Prophets are called the Lords Servants So Ministers also 2 Tim. 2.24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive c. And that it is to be understood of teachers is evident out of the following vers 25. vers In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves c. Well then the Lesson hence to be learned is Doct. That Gods speciall servants Prophets Apostles Ministers are his ordinary Instruments to call men to the Weddding supper That is in plain English to preach and teach Luke the other Evangelist that records this Parable sets this punctually down cap. 14.17 and in many other verses besides in the Parable And the Reason is because they are fittest for this employment It is not for the Masters dignity to go himself neither yet that such be imployed as have no relation to him or no Commission from him but Servants entertained put apart or separated unto the Gospel of God Rom. 1.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now to make a man fit for this service it is best that he be called by Gods Grace or to the state of Grace himself Yet is it not so absolutely necessary as to conclude every one that is a lawfull Minister is certainly a gratious man A man may be sanctified to his calling that is not sanctified savingly in his person But this is absolutely necessary that these Servants be fitted for their work that is that Teachers of others be first taught themselves Now these teachings of God are of two sorts the one extraordinary and immediate So Amos 7.14.15 I was neither Prophet nor son of a Prophet c. And the Lord said unto me go Prophesie unto my People Israel The other way is by the means and Ministry of man Now where revelation is wanting this kind of teaching and learning is necessary There are and have ben foor sorts of Teachers in the World 1. Some taught by God and not by men 2. Some taught of men and not of God 3. Some taught by God through the means of men 4. Others bold Bayards that never were taught either by God or men And yet many there are that take upon them to teach and interpret Scripture that are poorly fitted that cannot be said to abide in the things that they have learned 2 Tim. 3.14 But because the matter is of great weight in these speaking times as they Phrase it I will a little stay upon it for satisfaction to such as are desirous of it First therefore you must know that every one that taketh upon him to be a servant of the Lord in this work of preaching must be taught one way or another And therefore they are to be blamed that take upon them to be teachers of the Gospel and were never taught by revelation or by any ordinary way Secondly They must teach what they have learned they therefore are to be blamed that deliver opinions which they never learned from the Scriptures or any Ministry Thirdly That it is most orderly that Gospel-Preachers be ordained and put apart by men acccording to rule for Preaching Fourthly That yet in times and places where there is a common corruption of Doctrine or a common abuse of the office of teaching and neglecting of ordaining Godly as well as learned men there sometimes men Godly competently learned by an instinct as it were for a time may teach and preach and find the Lord with them But all must take heed of nulling offices and officers and also of refusing when they may orderly have an outward call to accept of it For although God upon great changes doth dispence with some things about his Church for a time as he did with circumcision in the Wilderness Yet the first opportunities must be taken of returning to the exact rules of the Word for preaching and other Church-Ordinances But I return whence I digressed to shew you that not all but Some special servants of the Lord are made use of for this work of winning People to Christ in the way of publike teaching For otherwise all are to improve their interests and to be as we may say coadjutors to the Gospel-Teachers Vse 1 Now the first use shall be to let us know that it is a great unhappiness to be without these servants of Christ and that such are not like to be Christs Guests that want them Miserable are those towns and villages that are without faithfully-Preaching-Ministers And wo to such as live under blind guides Mat. 15.14 They are in danger both Priests and People of falling into the ditch Vse 2 And then it is a happiness and blessing to enjoy these Servants of the Lord and