gone as come like a flash of lighting in the air like the stony ground whose fruit was no sooner ripe then rotten or like the grass upon the house top which the Psalmist speaks of which withereth afore it groweth up And then last of all 5. Try your thoughts by the effects which they work in you Do your thoughts of Gods presence purity and holiness make you to tremble and afraid to sin thoughts of his mercy and patience lead you to repentance the thoughts of his power and all-sufficiency work you to a close even and uniform walking with God the thoughts of heaven wean you from the earth the thoughts of the vanity of life fit you for death Do the thoughts of the instability and uncertainty of temporal things edge and quicken your desire after eternal things Are your meditations driven to that issue which Davids were to make you turn your feet unto Gods Testimonies to have respect to his Ordinances to his Ways and Precepts Are your thoughts thus improved are your thoughts improved to such holy ends purposes as these are I beseech you when you come home to commune with your own hearts endeavor to conclude somewhat of your estate and condition by your thoughts And so much of this Use and for this time I proceed unto the fourth last Use of this Point and that shall be for Exhortation 4. Is it so that it is and should be the practice of all them that truly fear God to meditate diligently upon God and the things of God This Doctrine then calls upon all the true fearers of God to be much in meditating and thinking upon his Name And here for the performance and better performance of this great and necessary duty I shall lay down before you in the first place some Motives Secondly some Means and thirdly some Rules or Directions I begin with the Motives and the first shall be taken from the necessity of the duty 'T is necessary in a double consideration 1. in regard of God 2. in regard of our selves 1. In regard of God he requires and commands the duty See what God saith to Joshua Josh 1.8 This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein One would think it should rather have been said This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy heart but thou shalt c. of if not so then thus This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt speak of it day and night Meditation is too high a Muse for the mouth But Beloved because there ought to be much meditation about the Law of God before a word of it comes out of the mouth therefore the Lord saith This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night The meaning of it is this As often as thou shalt speak thou shalt meditate thou shalt not speak rashly it shall not be the work of thy tongue alone but of thy minde and tongue together Now as in this text the Lord requires holy conference of which I shall speak God willing in the next Point so doth he likewise require holy meditation Thou shalt meditate therein This carries with it the full force of a command So again Prov. 6.20 21. My son keep thy fathers commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother binde them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck The phrase of speech is borrowed from Garments or Jewels The meaning of it is Lay them up as safe in your thoughts tie them as fast to your hearts by holy meditation as men do their clothes nay as they do their chains and jewels to their bodies or else deal with them by frequent meditating upon them as men do by those things which they set down in their book or table that so they may keep a precise memorandum of them The like injunction you finde given Phil 4.8 the text which I alledged in the confirmation of this Point So again 1 Tim. 4.15 saith Paul there to Timothy Meditate upon these things give thyself wholly to them that thy profitting may appear to all What things why the things of God and bis Gospel So then this duty is necessary in respect of Gods positive and peremptory command Secondly this duty is necessary in respect of God because 't is he that indued us with reasonable souls with thinking faculties 't is he that hath given us an ability this way I mean an ability or faculty to think or meditate The Apostle tells us Acts 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being 'T is in God that we move I and that with the motions of our mindes no less then with the motions of our bodies in him i. e. by and through him through his power and goodness that we are acted and moved in our minds 2 Cor. 3.5 Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God The Apostle you see instanceth in this very duty of thinking and of holy meditation 'T is not in our own power to think much less to think a good thought all our sufficiency this way is from God Now then if it be God as you hear that hath put into us thinking faculties 't is needful then that we should return them back upon him again by thinking seriously and industriously upon his Name Nay you shall finde that upon this very ground because God hath given us our spirits our souls and the several faculties of them therefore we are to glorifie him with them This is evident 2 Cor. 6.20 the later part of the verse Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirits which are Gods q. d. your spirits as well as your bodies are Gods therefore glorifie him in your spirits And can we better glorifie God in and with our spirits then by frequent thinking upon his Name Nay Thirdly consider that God will account with us for our thoughts we must one day be as responsible or answerable to God for our thoughts and meditations as for any other things or talents whatsoever Eccles 12.14 At that day of revelation for so the day of account is sometimes called in Scripture we shall be made like a transparent pellucid and diaphanous body and all shall be laid naked and open the books of Gods Omniscience and mans Conscience shall be opened thy secretest thoughts thy most reserved retired and sequestred meditations shall be as legible in thy forehead as if they were written with the most glittering sun-beams upon a wall of Chrystal Not only mens words and actions but their thoughts are all in print in Heaven and God will in that day read them aloud in the ears of all the World although no heart in the earth be privy to them but
another Which duty is illustrated or set forth two ways 1. In the circumstances of it 2. In the matter and substance of it In the circumstances and they are two 1. Of Time 2. Of Persons Of time Then Then they c. Of persons They were such as feared the Lord and thought upon his Name as you see in the beginning and conclusion of vers 16. And then the duty is illustrated in the matter and substance of it and that was frequent mutual conference they spake often one to another Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another So much of the first general branch the second is a mercy returned and that is twofold First Gods gracious acceptation 1. In that for the present he regarded and respected what they did The Lord hearkned and heard it 2. In that for the future he registred or recorded it And a book of remembrance was written before him Secondly His righteous remuneration or retribution 1. Of mercy to his people which reflects 1. Upon their persons 2. Upon their performances Upon their persons which he will 1. Own They shall be mine saith the Lord. 2. Honour In that day when I make up my jewels Secondly This mercy respects their performances in passing by the weaknesses defects and failings of them I will spare them as a man c. And then lastly you have Gods just and righteous retribution of judgement unto his enemies vers 18. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not And thus you have likewise briefly heard both the Division and Subdivision of the Text. There is yet one thing more which I must wade thorow before I proceed on to the Doctrine and that is Explication Now that I may make way unto the Doctrine the sooner I shall open the 16 verse onely and the two other verses when I come to the handling of them Well then first of the 16 verse Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name In the Hebrew we read it thus Az nidhbaru jirra Jehovah ish El raganaha Then they fearing God spake often man or every man to his neighbour or companion For though the Hebrew word for spake in the conjugation Kal notes a bare speaking yet in the conjugation Niphal sermonis continuationem seu frequentationem significat it signifies the continuation or frequencie of their speaking one to another they did not do it onely once or twice but they did it often Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Those few names that had not defiled their garments in so foul a season but had kept themselves unspoâ—ted of the world they spake often c. Some render the text Tunc vastati sunt timentes Domini sc ab impiis atheis impunè eos invadentibus i. e. Then were those that feared the Lord wasted and destroyed viz. by those atheists who fell from fierce words to bloudy blows And the reason of this version or reading is because the word dibhi in the text in the conjugation Pihel is rendered to kill or to destroy But I conceive that this is far fet and nothing so agreeable unto the minde of the holy Ghost as our Translation is For 1. 'T is not dibberu in Pihel but nidhberu in Niphal Besides this reading is not so answerable to the following words I but you will ask me What did these men fearing the Lord speak when they spake so often one to another Stock in his Exposition upon Malachi and some others think the words following to be theirs and not God's words who they say speaking not until the 17 verse in comforting one another they said The Lord hearkned and heard c. But for my part I rather incline to those who tell us that the Prophet hath not in express words declared what these men fearing the Lord spake one to another onely in telling us that they spake one to another and by opposing them to the ungodly of that time it must be supposed that they spake good and gracious things they stood up to stickle for God to stop the mouth of Blasphemy and to establish one another in the perswasion of Gods holy Truth and constant care of his own children Those wicked ones did not speak so much against God against his providence and government as they did for God in defence of his providence and government And this they did for mutual strengthening and confirmation that that which was haply halting might not be turned out of the way but healed rather that they might confirm each other against those great and grievous temptations which lay in their way It followeth And the Lord hearkned and heard it Did they whisper so in one anothers ear that no ear else heard them No the Lord hearkned and heard it the Lord listened as it were at the key-hole he was under the window The word jachebil in the Original he hearkned comes from a root which signifies to attend and lift up the ear Gestus est diligenter auscultantis 't is the gesture of one that hearkneth diligently and so the word is taken Isai 52.3 the later part of the verse i. e. They shall diligently hearken Nay the word imports not onely attention of body but attention of minde as when a man listeneth as for life and makes hard shift to hear all thus the Lord hearkned and heard the Lord did diligently observe what they said and what they did nothing drops from them but the Lord attentively regards it Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it And a book of remembrance was written before him In the Hebrew we read it thus And there was written a book of memory before his face We read in Scripture of a threefold book of God The first is a book of his resolved Decree of this we read Exod. 32.32 Saith Moses there Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin and if not blot me I pray thee out of thy book which thou hast written So Psal 69.28 So in many other texts where by book we are to understand the book of Gods Decree or Pre-ordination Secondly there is a book of Gods acted Providence Psal 139.16 Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written c. i. e. in thy book of providence Now this later is but a transcript or copie of the former Those huge original volumes of love and blessings which he hath laid up in his heart for his own people those also of wrath and judgment which he hath laid up there against his enemies from all eternity those volumes I say of love or wrath are writing out every day by the hand and
pen of Providence But then thirdly there is a book of love and of remembrance Psal 56.8 Thou tellest my wanderings put thou my tears into thy bottle are they not in thy book i. e. in thy book of remembrance And this latter Beloved is the book spoken of here in my text Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him Liber monumenti A Book of Acts and Monuments so some render it in allusion unto the custom of Kings Esth 2.23 latter part And it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king Tamerlain that warlike Scythian of whom you read in the Turkish History had always by him a catalogue of the names and good deserts of his servants which he daily perused and whom he duely rewarded not needing by them or by any others in their behalf to be put in remembrance Thus Beloved God if I may so speak files up the prayers of his servants puts all their speeches as well as practices upon record that he may make all honourable mention of them at the last day in the General Assembly of heaven Liber Commentarii a book of Commentaries so Junius renders it where God doth as it were descant and comment upon all the holy and gracious speeches and practices of his people You must not understand it so as if God had any such Memorial-book as if he stood in need of it or were subject to forgetfulness no but 't is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of men who have books to help their memories God will no more forget the savoury religious discourses of his people then a man doth that which he hath recorded in his book lying before him A book of remembrance was written before him before his face If we speak but a word for God we shall hear of it again God takes it and pens it down he sets it down presently all was kept upon record As when they who do not fear the Lord speak one to another when wicked men plot against the righteous or conspire against the holy ways of God God hearkneth and heareth and there is a book of remembrance kept of it let them whisper as softly as they can God can hear and will record all their malicious speeches all their evil devices and contrivements whether against himself or against his servants so on the other side when they that feared the Lord spake often one to another in the justification of his ways in the vindication of his providence the Lord hearkned and heard and a book of remembrance was written before him Of the two 't is better exprest by a book then by words for that which is written is more durable and permanent whereas things spoken many times vanish and are blown away in the air and come to nothing Well then in the last place we will consider in whose behalf this book of remembrance was written it was you see for them that feared the Lord and thought upon his Name For them that feared the Lord of that character of the godly spake something but even now and that though upon his Name a word or two onely of this epithet or character The word in the Origina◠here used is derived from a word which signifies not simply or barely to think but to set the head and heart on work about that which we think upon It carries the intention of the mind with it And that thought upon his Name i. e. that had God before their eyes that minded his glory that thought upon his Commandments to do them those are the persons for whom a book of remembrance was written before the Lord. And thus have I at length finished the Coherence the Division and Explication of the text Before I proceed to open the subsequent verses I shall enquire what Observations may be made upon and Deductions gathered from this 16 verse which I have already opened And here first of all I shall take into consideration the connexive or copulative particle Then in the beginning of the verse THEN they that foared the Lord c. Then When Why in those looser and more degenerated times when men were arrived to that height of impudency and profaness as to say it was to no purpose to serve God then when their black mouthes were swoln big with their blasphemies THEN they that feared the Lord spake often one to another they spake of God and for God they then stood up in the vindication of his ways and administrations So that Beloved from hence I shall note this Point namely That the servants of God must labour to shew themselves best in the worst times When others were most against God and contrary unto him then must they be most stirring and active for God most diligent and careful in his business Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another In the prosecution of which Point I shall order my Method in this fashion 1. I shall confirm the Point by precept 2. Commend this duty from the constant practice of the people of God in all Ages 3. Clear it up upon some grounds and rational considerations And then lastly make some improvement of it unto our selves I shall proceed upon these several Heads so far as the ordinary time will permit beginning with those express precepts which are scattered up and down in the Scriptures to this very purpose We will content our selves with three or four The one is Exod. 23.2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil Some whereof are set down by way of negation some by way of affirmation The way to hell is broad and much beaten Per viam publicam non ingredere was one of Pythagoras his precepts Do not do as the most do lest thou be undone for ever Argumentum turpissimum turba saith Seneca An Argument from the multitude is not argumentative Nay you see there is here in this text a special restraint put upon it Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil And the Reason is because man is so apt to be led by many the heart is ready to flatter it self into an opinion that God will not be very angry when a practice is grown common this is the course of the world this is the way of most men surely there is no great danger in it Well now saith God Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil A second text to this purpose you have Prov. 1.10 11 and following verses My son if sinners entice thee consent thou not c. q.d. Do not close in or comply with them And again Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to this world He doth not say Live not in the world we must live here until God call us hence neither doth he say Use not the world for 't is impossible but that whiles we live here we must use the world though we are cautioned to
ΘεόÏοβοι ΘεόÏιλοι GODS FEARERS ARE GODS FAVOURITES OR AN Encouragement To fear GOD IN The worst TIMES Delivered in several Sermons by that eminent Servant of Christ Nath. Tucker late Preacher of the Gospel in Portsmouth Eccles 8.12 Surely I know it shall be well with them that fear God that fear before him Timor praesens securitatem generat sempiternam August in Psal Timenti Dominum bene erit in extremis Bern. de Tim. Dei London Printed by J.C. for Dorman Newman at the Kings Armes in the Poultry next to Grocers-Ally 1662. To the Christian READER IT was the saying of Abraham to Abimelech Gen. 20.11 Because I thought surely the fear of God is not in this place they will slay me for my wifes sake Where the Fear of GOD is wanting what Evil will not Men commit Where this Bank is broken down the Floods of all manner of Wickedness will flow over Hence it is That in our Age many turn Atheists run to all manner of Excess of Riot play the Apostates grow faint-hearted in the Cause of God are afraid of Men and as the Burgundians once were afraid all the Reeds they saw had been Launces so these fear every thing they see yea their own shadows and all this is for want of the Fear of God Meritò omnia timet qui illum non timet It is therefore very proper Work for us to press after this Fear It is called Janitor Animae The Porter to keep out the Soul's Foes and to let in the Soul's Friends It is Principium Praecipuum Sapientiae The Beginning and Perfection of Wisdom therefore fit to be pursued after Remember that speech of the Lord concerning Israel Deut. 5.29 O that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me Shall God wish it and shall not men press after it yet such is our averseness to that which is good that Precept upon Precept and Line upon Line will scarce perswade us The Reverend Author of this ensuing Tract hath taken great paines to promote that which the Lord doth so pathetically wish for Read diligently therefore what is here written and thou mayst gain much by it Here thou wilt finde some Discoveries of this Fear some Motives to press after it and some Helps to obtain it all handled in a most affectionate and melting manner and that a Blessing may go along with this Discourse in order to thy eternal Benefit is the desire of Thy souls well-wisher Richard Kentish April 13. 1658. AN EPISTLE To the READER Christian Reader ALthough my Approbation can add little weight to the worth of this ensuing Treatise yet being desired to shew kindness to the Dead in giving a true Testimony to this Posthumous Piece I could not refuse to perform such an Office of Love as by the Rule of Love we are all obliged unto This therefore I may truely say That having over-viewed it I finde nothing in it but that which is sound holy and wholesome fit to inform the Judgement and to raise holy Resolutions and Affections in the Hearts of the Readers fweetly breathing forth Piety in every Passage of it so that whosoever will give it the reading over which will quickly be done shall have cause not to think his Time mis-spent But if his Heart be in a right Disposition he shall finde it hereby more stirred with desire to get to be amongst the number of those true Fearers of God for whom a loving Record and a Book of Merciful Remembrance shall be written for their shelter in evil Times that they may finde Mercy in the evil day for which times our good God fit and prepare us all Farewel Tho. Whitfeld MAL. 3.16 17 18. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare him as a man spareth his own son that serveth him Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not I Must first give you some light into the context and then come unto the words of the text Then they that feared the Lord. The particle az Then in the front of the text carries us back to the consideration of the coherence The godly here having this character given them They that feared the Lord were as it seems reserved to those last and loosest times of the Jewish Church after the return from Babylon where the seventy years captivity had not much reformed or amended the major part of the Jews Gods correcting hand had lain a long time sore heavie upon them but God had not his end upon this untoward generation these unsanctified persons grew worse and worse with afflictions witness their blasphemous words before my text where they stand stouting it out with the Lord of hosts vers 13. Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord yet ye say What have we spoken so much against thee They stick not to charge God with deep oscitancy and neglect of his best servants vers 14. as if they should reap no fruit from the service of God as if all their labour were in vain yea indeed they tax God of flat iniquity and most unequal administrations vers 15. And now we call the proud happie yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered As if they had said Surely there is no reward for the righteous verily there is not a God that doth judge in the earth the proud who tempt God and trample upon his people they are not onely not punished but even prefer'd and advanced for their labour either things are not ordered by a divine providence but left at random let run at sixes and sevens or else there is not an even or equal hand held over the sons of men but partiality and unrighteousness found in God Thus these miscreants in their madness set their mouthes against heaven and spared not despitefully to spit their venom in the face of God himself At the hearing of which horrid and abhorred blasphemies the godly of these times are much affected they met often about it and not without a great deal of good conference Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Then when Why whiles the wicked did blaspheme and belch out their impieties against God even at that instant and juncture of time they that feared the Lord spake often one to another Thus briefly of the Coherence The whole text may be divided into these two main or general branches 1. A duty performed 2. A mercy returned upon the performance of it The duty performed lies in the beginning of the text even in these words Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to
use the world as though we used it not but Be not conformed unto this world The word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Accommodate not your selves to the world so Erasmus reads it Fashion not your selves to the world so Beza But in ours and some other Translations Conform not c. As a Player is fashioned to the gesture and words either of drunkenness or adultery when he acteth them on the scaffold that is the true notation of the word Be not conformed to this world i.e. Do not make the manners of the world the rule of your life let not your corrupt mindes which will carry you after a corrupt world prevail with you Now these are the precepts which are laid down by way of Negation I shall give you two that are set down by way of Affirmation Acts 2.43 saith Peter there Save your selves from this untoward generation i.e. from the corrupt society of unbelievers And again 2 Cor. 6.17 Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord q.d. Do not comply with the corruptions of the world let all these go whatever you lose or suffer for it Thus much for the precepts In the second place I shall commend this duty unto you from the constant practice of the people of God even in all ages See an instance of it 1. in Noah when the whole earth was corrupt before God he walked perfectly uprightly with God in his generation Gen. 7.1 Noah walked alone in a way different from a world of wicked people he was most sincere in the service of God in the darkest midnight of damned impiety 2. Abraham pull'd as a brand out of Ur of the Caldees where-ever he came he set up altars to God in the midst of Idolaters and makes open profession of his worship before the people of the land Gen. 12.6 7 8 So Joshua after him Josh 24.15 Do you what you will though you do generally universally serve other gods I and my house will serve the Lord. See this in Elijah who was zealous for the Lord God of hosts though alone and singular 1 King 19.10 I might tell you of Obadiah who seared the Lord greatly in a common defection 1 King 18. But come we unto the New Testament and let us see what practice of this duty we finde there I shall begin with Christ who is the original copie an infallible unerring example he was eaten up with the zeal of his Fathers house when it was polluted and profaned by all sorts Joh. 2.14 15 16 17. The Apostles after his departure resolved to obey God notwithstanding the menaces of the Councel Acts 4.19 20. Paul openly contesteth with the Gentiles at Athens about their fensless superstition Acts 17.22 Antipas held forth the Word of life even unto the death where Satans throne was Rev. 2.13 Polycarp that blessed Martyr of Jesus Christ who being commanded by the Tyrant to do sacrifice to the Idol returns this answer Eighty and odde years have I served my master Christ and he never deceived me and shall I now desert him God forbid me any such wickedness Octoginta sex annos ills servui c. It were easie to come lower and nearer our own times and to produce a whole cloud of such who held forth the Word of life by a bold and wise profession in the darkness of Popery But I will give you one onely instance more and then conclude it was Athanastus that notable champion of Christ who stood stoutly to the defence of the Truth when all the Christian world beside was turned Arrian Ille vâ—r totius orbis impetum sustinuit the whole world was set against Athanasius and Athanasius against the whole world And thus you have heard how the force-mentioned duty hath been practised by the servants of God I come to the Grounds of the Point If you look either upward or downward either to God or men you will finde Reason sufficient for the practice of this duty all which Reasons are grounded upon the text and shall be thence gathered I shall begin with the first The Reasons taken from God and they shall be these two 1. God doth exactly observe and graciously accept of such his servants as continue constant with him in corrupt and depraved times in a general defection or declension when sin is grown usual and almost epidemical then to adhere to the Truths Ways and Ordinances of God Oh how pleasing and acceptable is this unto God! The Lord hearkned and heard saith my Text God was much taken and affected with those sweet conferences those godly dialogues and discourses which dropt from the mouthes of the godly of those times he hearkned and heard it was melodious and delightful musick to his heavenly ears and he doth as it were apply his ears close he lays them near to their lips as loth to lose any part of their holy language The lord hearkned and heard 1 Pet. 3.12 saith the Apostle there The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers or as 't is in the Original His ears are unto or rather into their prayers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now what the Apostle there speaks of that individual or particular duty of Prayer is as true of their whole Christian practice not a prayer which the godly put up not a good work they do not a good word which they utter no not a good thought which they conceive but the Lords eyes are upon it and his ears open unto it he sets it all down in his Register or Note-book A book of remembrance was written But then 2. As the Lord doth graciously accept of this practice so will he plentifully reward it this labour of faith and love shall never be forgotten it shall not onely be entred or ingrossed in a book of remembrance but they they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts 1. They shall be mine i.e. I will not onely own them by a general right as my creatures but by a special peculiar and distinguishing title as my children my Saints and Servants such as have made a covenant with me by sacrifice I will be their God and they shall be my people I will look upon them as the top of my wealth and my most esteemed treasure as my Jewels whom I will keep safe in the golden Cabinet of my special providence and fatherly protection But this is not all I will spare them too as a man spareth his onely son that serveth him i.e. I will not cast them out or reject them for every small fault for every flaw or defect in their services I shall give them their allowance pass by and over-look their weaknesses How effectual me thinks might these Considerations be to provoke us to a holy contention in godliness when the times are never so bad and boisterous Hereby we shall please God hereby we shall procure good unto our selves And thus in brief of the first sort of