the land of Canaan which was a type of Christs Church which he should conquer unto himselfe if any people accepted of the peace which they were first to proclaime they were to become tributaries and servants unto Israel So it is said of Salomon whose peaceable kingdome was a type of Christs after his many victories that he bond-service upon all the nations about Israel and that those princes with whom he held correspondence brought unto him presents as testimonies of his greatnesse and wisedome So when the wise men the first fruits of the Gentiles after Christ exhibited came to submit unto his kingdome they opened their treasure and presented him with gifts gold frankincense and myrrh Againe Monetarum leges valores the authorizing and valuations of publike coines belong unto the prince onely it is his image and inscription alone which maketh them currant Even so unto Christ onely doth belong the power of stamping and creating as it were new ordinances in his Church nothing is with God nor should be currant with us which hath not his image or expresse authority upon it Neither can any man falsify or corrupt any constitution of his without notable contempt against his royall prerogative Againe Iudicium or potestas judiciaria a power of judging the persons and causes of men is a peculiar royalty the administration whereof is from the prince as the fountaine of all humane equitie under God deposited in the hands of inferiour officers who are as it were the mouth of the prince to publish the lawes and to execute those acts of justice and peace which principally belong to his owne sacred breast And so Christ saith of himselfe The Father hath committed all judgement unto the Sonne and hath given him authority to execute judgement Againe Ius vitae necis A power to pardon condemned persons and deliver them from the terrour of the Lawes sentence is a transcendent mercie a gemme which can shine only from the diadems of Princes Now unto Christ likewise belongeth in his Church a power to forgive sinnes it is the most sacred roialty of this prince of peace not onely to suspend but for ever to revoke and as it were annihilate the sentence of malediction under which every man is borne There are likewise Ornamenta Regia regall Ornaments a Crowne a Throne a Scepter and the like Thus we finde the Romanes were wont to send to those forraine kings with whom they were in league as testimonies and confirmations of their dignity scipionem eburneum togam pictam sellam curulem an ivorie scepter a roiall robe and a chaire of state And the like honours wee finde in the Scriptures belonging unto Christ that hee was crowned with glory and honour and that hee had a Throne and righteous scepter belonging to his kingdome Thus we have seene in severall particulars how Christ hath his Royalties belonging to his kingdome Some principall of them we finde in this place A throne a scepter ambassadours armies for the right dispensing of his sacred power We will first consider the words and then raise such observations as shall offer themselves First what is meant by the Rod of Christs Strength or his Strong Rod It notes a thing which a man may leane upon or lay the whole weight of his body on in his wearinesse But being spoken of Christs kingdome wee take it for a scepter or rod of majestie I will not hold you with the variety of acceptions in Expositors Some take it for the branch that groweth out of that roote of Iesse Some for the wood of the crosse Some for the body of Christ borne of a Virgin Some for the kingdome of Christs power taking the signe for the thing signified Some for the power of his mightie workes and preaching That of the body and of the crosse of Christ except by them wee understand the vertue of Christ crucified I conceive to be not so pertinent to the purpose of the Prophet The rest agree in one But for the more distinct understanding of the words wee may consider out of the holy Scriptures what things were sent out of Sion And we finde there two things First the word of the Lord or his holy Gospell The Law shall proceed out of Sion and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem Mic. 4.2 Secondly the spirit of the Lord which was first sent unto Sion for at Hierusalem the Apostles were to wait for the promise of the Father Act. 1.4 and from thence was shed abroad into the world upon al flesh Act. 2.17 and both these are the power or strength of Christ. His word a Gospell of power unto salvation Rom. 1.16 2 Cor. 4.7.10.4 and his spirit a spirit of power 1 Cor. 2.4 2 Tim. 1.7 which is therefore called the finger and the arme of the Lord Luk. 11.20 Matt. 12.28 Esai 53.1 so by the Rod is meant the Gospell and the Spirit of Christ. Secondly what is meant by Gods sending this Rod of Christs strength It notes the manifestation of the Gospell we knew it not before it was sent The donation of the Gospell we had it not before it was sent the invitations of the Gospell we were without God in the world and strangers from the Covenant of promise before it was sent The Commission of the Dispensers of the Gospell they have their patent from heaven they are not to speake untill they be sent Thirdly what is meant by sending it out of Sion It is put in Opposition to mount Sina from whence the Law was sometimes sent with thunders and fire and much terrour unto the people of Israel Ye are not come saith the Apostle unto the mount that burned with fire nor unto blacknesse and darknesse and tempest c. but yee are come unto mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels and to Iesus the Mediator of the new Covenant c. Heb. 12.18.24 and the Apostle elsewhere sheweth us the meaning of this Allegoricall opposition betweene Sina and Sion betweene Sarah and Hagar namely the two covenants of the Law and of Grace or of bondage and liberty Gal. 4.24 25. Sion was the place whither the tribes resorted to worship the Lord the place towards which that people praied the place of Gods mercifull residence amongst them the beauty of holines the place upon which first the gift of the holy Ghost was powred forth and in which the Gospell was first of all preached after Christs Ascension We may take it by a Synechdoche for the whole Church of the Jewes unto whom the Lord first revealed his Covenant of Grace in Christ Act. 3.26 Act. 13.46 Rom. 2.10 Rule Thou that is Thou shalt rule which is a usuall forme to put the Imperative for the future Indicative It is not a command which hath relation unto any service but it is a promise a commission a dignity conferred
estate which shall be tendred unto them To admire adore and greedily embrace any termes of peace and reconciliation which shall be offered them To submit unto the righteousnesse and with all willing and meeke affection to bend the heart to the Scepter of Christ and to whatsoever forme of judicature and spirituall government he shall please to erect therein And this magnifies the strength of this Rod of Christs Kingdome that it maketh men yeeld upon any termes when we see the little stone grow into a mightie mountaine and eat into all the Kingdomes of the world when wee see Emperours and Princes submit their necks and scepters to a doctrine at first every where spoken against and that upon the words of a few despicable peâ—sons and that such a doctrine too as is diametrally contrary to the naturall constitution of the hearts of men and teacheth nothing but selfe-deniall and this for hope of reward from one whom they never saw and whom if they had seene they should have found by a naturall eye no beauty in him for which hee should bee desired and this reward too what-ever it be deferred for a long time and in the interim no ground of assurance to expect it but onely faith in himselfe that promiseth it and in the meane time a world of afflictions for his names sake How can we think that a world of wise and of great men should give eare most willingly unto such termes as these if there were not a demonstrative and constraining evidence of truth and goodnesse therein able to stop the mouths and to answer the objections of all gain sayers Of this point I have spoken more copiously upon another Scripture Secondly there is a Conviction unto condemnation of those who stand out against this saving power of the Gospell and Spirit of grace driving them from all their strong holds and constraining them perforce to acknowledge the truth which they doe not love Thus wee finde our Saviour disputing with the Jewes till no man was able to answer him a word and as he did so himselfe so hee promised that his messengers should doe so too I will give you a mouth and wisdome which all your adversaries shall not be able to gain-say nor resist And this promise wee finde made good the enemies of Steven were not able to resist the Spirit by which hee spake And Apollos mightily convinced the Jews shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ And this the Apostle numbreth amongst the qualifications of a Bishop that he should be able by sound doctrine to convince the gain-sayers and to stop the mouthes of those unruly deceivers whose businesse it is to subvert men for this is the excellent vertue of Gods Word that it concludeth or shutteth men in and leaveth not any gap or evasion of corrupted reason unanswered or unprevented Thus wee finde how the Prophets in their ministery did still drive the Jewes from their shifts and presse them with Dilemma's the inconveniences whereof they could on no side escape either there must be a fault in you or else in God who rebuketh you but now what iniquity saith the Lord have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me Have I beene a wildernesse unto Israel or a land of darknesse wherefore say my people we are lords we will come no more unto thee O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against mee I raised up of your sonnes for Prophets and of your young men for Nazarites Is it not even thus O yee children of Israel Here the Scripture useth that figure which is called by the Rhetoritians Communicatio a debating and deliberation with the adverse party an evidencing of a cause so cleerely as that at last a man can challenge the adversary himselfe to make such a determination as himselfe shall in reason judge the merits of the cause to require How shall I pardon thee for this and how shall I doe for the daughters of my people Set me in a way determine the controversie your selves and I will stand to the issue which your owne consciences shall make O inhabitants of Ierusalem and men of Iudah judge I pray you betweene me and my Vineyard that is doe you your selves undertake the deciding of your owne cause When a band of armed men came against Christ to attach him and at the pronouncing but of two words I am he fell all downe backward to the earth we must needs confesse that there was some mightie power and evidence of Majesty in him that uttered them what thinke wee can he doe when hee raigneth and judgeth the world who did let out so much power when he was to die and to be judged by the world Now Christ raigneth and judgeth the world by his Word and that more mightily after his ascending up on high and therefore he promiseth his Apostles that they should doe greater workes than himselfe had done When I shall see a man armed with scorne against Christ in his Word standing proudly upon the defence of his owne wayes by his owne wisdome and wrapping up himselfe in the mud of his owne carnall reasonings by a few postulata and deductions from Gods Word to bee enforced to stoppe his owne mouth to be condemned by his owne witnesse to betray his owne succours and to bee shut up in a prison without barres when I shall force such a man by the mighty penetration and invincible evidence of Gods Word to see in his owne conscience a hand subscribing to the truth which condemnes him and belying all those delusions which he had fram'd to deceive himselfe withall who can deny but that the rod of Gods mouth is indeed Virga virtutis a rod of strength an iron rod able to deale with all humane reasonings as a hammer with a potsherd which though to the hand of a man it may feele as hard as a rocke yet is too brittle to endure the blow of an iron rod Strange it is to observe how boldly men venture on sinnes under the names of custome or fashions or some other pretences of corrupted reason contrary to the cleere and literal evidence of holy Scriptures the most immediate and grammaticall sense whereof is ever soundest where there doth not some apparant and unavoidable errour in doctrine or mischiefe in manners follow thereupon Men will justifie the cause of the wicked for reward and by dexterity of wit put a better colour upon a worser businesse as hath beene observed of Protagoras and Carneades and yet the Lord saith expressely Thou shalt not speake in a cause to wrest judgement thou shalt keepe thee far from a false matter for God whom thou oughtest to imitate will not justifie the wicked Men will follow the sinfull fashions of the world in strange apparell in prodigious haire in lustfull and unprofitable expence of that pretious
moment of time upon the abuse or right improvement whereof dependeth the severall issues of their eternall condition though the Lord say expresly Bee not conformed to this world they that walke according to the course of the world walke according to the Prince of the power of the aire The Lord will punish all such as are clothed with strange apparell who take up the fashions of idolaters or other nations or other sexes as that place is differently expounded Nature it selfe teacheth that it is a shame for a man to weare long haire nay Nature it selfe taught that honest Heathen to stand at defiance with the sinnes of his age and not comply with the course of the world upon that slight apologie as if the commonnesse had taken away the illnesse that which committed by one would have been a sin being imitated after a multitude were but a fashion To conclude this particular The Apostle is peremptory Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor effeminate nor covetous nor theeves nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdome of God and the consciences of many men who yet will never yeeld to the conclusion cannot choose but subsume as the Apostle goes on such are some of we nay and such we will be too But now if we should bespeake these men in the word of the Prophet Produce your cause saith the Lord bring forth your strong reasons saith the King of Iacob they should finde at the last their reasons to be like themselves vanity and lighter than nothing that the Word of the Lord will at last prevaile and sweepe away all their refuge of lyes Secondly the power of the Word towards wicked men is seene in Affrighting of them there is a spirit of bondage and a savour of death aswell as a spirit of life and libertie which goeth along with the Word Guilt is an inseparable consequent of sinne and feare of the manifestation of guilt If the heart be once convinced of this it will presently faint and tremble even at the shaking of a leafe at the wagging of a mans owne conscience how much more at the voice of the Lord which shaketh mountaines and maketh the strong foundations of the earth to tremble If I should see a prisoner at the barre passe sentence upon his Judge and the Judge thereupon surpriz'd with trembling and forced to subscribe and acknowledge the doome I could not but stand amaz'd at so inverted a proceeding yet in the Scripture wee finde presidents for it Micatah a prisoner pronouncing death unto Ahab a King Ieremie a prisoner pronouncing captivitie unto Zedekiah a King Paul in his chain preaching of judgment unto Felix in his robes and making his owne Judge to tremble It is not for want of strength in the Word or because there is stoutnesse in the hearts of men to stand out against it that all the wicked of the world do not tremble at it but meerly their ignorance of the power evidence thereof The Devils are stronger and more stubborne creatures than any man can be yet because of their full illumination and that invincible conviction of their consciences from the power of the Word they beleeve and tremble at it Though men were as hard as rocks the Word is a hammer which can breake them though as sharp as thornes and briars the Word is a fire which can devour and torment them though as strong as kingdomes and nations the Word is able to root them up and to pull them downe though as fierce as Dragons and Lions the Word is able to trample upon them and to chaine them up Thirdly the power of the Word is seene towards wicked men in that it doth judge them Sonne of man wilt thou judge wilt thou judge the bloudy Citie saith the Lord yea thou shalt shew them their abominations To note that when wicked men are made to see their filthinesse in the Word they have therby the wrath of God as it were seal'd upon them He that rejecteth mee the Word which I have spoken the same shall judge him at the last day saith our Saviour And if all prophecie saith the Apostle and there come in one that beleeveth not or one unlearned he is convinced of all hee is judged of all and the secrets of his heart are made manifest Nay the Word doth in some sort execute death and judgement upon wicked men Therefore it is said that the Lord would smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips would slay the wicked And againe I have hewed them by the Prophets I have slaine them by the words of my mouth And therefore the Word of the Lord is called fury by the Prophet to note that when wrath fury is powred out upon a land they are the effects of Gods Word If a pestilence devoure a city and a sword come and gleane after it it is the Word only which flayes they are but the instruments which are as it were actuated and applied by the Word of God to their severall services Therefore it is that the Prophet saith that wise men see the voice of God and heare his rod. A rod is properly to be seene and a voice to bee heard but here is a transposition and as it were a communication of properties betweene the Word of God and his punishments to note that towards wicked men there is a judging and tormenting vertue in the Word For judgement saith our Saviour am I come into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blinde If it be here objected that Christ saith of himselfe The Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them and that he came not to condemne the world but that the world through him might bee saved I answer that there are two events of Christs comming and by consequence of his Gospell The one principall and by him intended the other accidentall and occasionall growing out of the ill disposition of the subject unto whom he was sent The maine and essentiall businesse of the Gospell is to declare salvation and to set open unto men a doore of escape from the wrath to come but when men wilfully stand out and neglect so great salvation then secondarily doth Christ prove unto those men a stone of offence and the Gospell a savour of death unto death as that potion which was intended for a cure by the Physitian may upon occasion of the indisposednesse of the body and stubborne radication of the disease hasten a mans end sooner than the disease it selfe would have done So that to the wicked the Word of God is a two-edged sword indeed an edge in the Law and an edge in the Gospell they are on every side beset with condemnation if they goe to the Law that cannot save them because they have broken it
if they goe to the Gospell that will not save them because they have contemned it Fourthly the power of the Word towards wicked men is seene in this that it doth ripen their sins and make them so much the more sinfull and so much the sooner fill up their measure If I had not come saith Christ and spoken unto them they had had no sinne but now they have no cloke for their sinne A tree which is fastned unto a wall in which the heat of the Sunne is more permanent and united will bring forth ripe fruit before the ordinary season so a people upon whom the light of the Gospell hath constantly shined and which doth often drinke in the raine which falleth upon it must needs bring forth Summer-fruit sinnes speedily ripe and therefore be so much the neerer unto cursing There is but a yeare betweene such a tree and the fire we shall never finde that the sinnes of Israel and of Juda for which they were at any time plagued with captivitie were so long in ripening as the sinnes of the Canaanites upon whom there did no light shine The Land had rest sometimes fortie yeeres and sometimes fourescore yeeres but we never finde that they were suffered to provoke the Lord to his face foure hundred yeeres together We finde when to Ninive he sent a Prophet to reveale unto them the guilt and merit of their sinnes he then set them a very short time in which they should either forsake or ripen them Yet fortie dayes and Ninive shall be destroyed Fifthly the power of the Word towards wicked men is seene even in the rage and madnesse which it excites in them It is a signe that a man hath to doe with a strong enemie when he buckleth on all his harnesse and calleth together all his strength for opposition When I see a river without any sensible noise or motion I am ready to esteeme it a standing poole but when I looke further and there observe what huge engines it carrieth about and what weighty bodies it rouleth before it I then beleeve a strength in it which I did not see so when I see the Word of Christ rouze up the rage and lusts of men and force them to set up against it strong holds and high imaginations even the wisedome and strength of the gates of â—ell to keepe it out I must needs then conclude that it is indeed Virga virtutis a Rod of strength The most calme and devout hypocrites in the world have by the power of this word beene put out of their demure temper and mightily transported with outrage and bitternesse against the majesty thereof One time filled with wrath another time filled with madnesse another time filled with envie and indignation another time filled with contradiction and blasphemie another time cut to the heart and like reprobates in hell gnashing with their teeth Such a searching power and such an extreme contrariety there is in the Gospell to the lusts of men that if it doe not subdue it will wonderfully swell them up till it distemper even the grave prudent men of the world with those brutish and uncomely affections of rage and fury and drive disputers from their arguments unto stonds Sin cannot endure to be disquieted much lesse to be shut in and encompassed with the curses of Gods word Therefore as a hunted beast in an extremity of distresse will turne backe and put to its utmost strength to be revenged on the pursuers and to save its life so wicked men to save their lusts will let out all their rage and open all their sluces of pride and malice to withstand that holy truth which doth so closely pursue them Thus as beggarly masters deale with their servants or bankrupts with their creditors when they should pay them their monie which they are unable to doe they then picke quarrels and create pretences to with-hold it or as froward men in suits of law when their cause failes endeavour to piece it out with rage and passion so doe wicked men deale with God in his word when they should pay him that service which he therein requireth of them and which they have neither will nor power to doe when he produceth his cause and entreth into controversie with them convincing them in the court of their owne consciences so that they are not able to stand out they have then no other refuge left but either to submit which they will in no wise endure or to flye into the face of the word and withstand it with malice when they cannot with reason Till men can be perswaded to lay apart all filthinesse and superfluity of naughtinesse they will never receive the engraffed word with meeknesse For till then it is a binding word which sealeth their guilt and condemnation upon them Lastly the mighty power of the word towards wicked men is seene in altering them in their semiperswasions and semiconversions unto goodnesse in restraining them from those lusts which they dearely love and in forcing them to those externall conformities which have no inward principles to support them The humiliation of Ahab the observation of Herod the incomplete perswasion of Agrippa the forc'd obedience and flatteries of the dissembling Iewes the essaies and offers of hypocrites towards religion the velleities and hankerings of unresolved wills after Christ are notable evidences of the power and majesty which is in the Gospell If I should see a millstone in the ayre not falling constantly and swiftly downe but swag and waver and floate about in a kinde of unresolved motion as if it were in a deliberation which way to goe one while yeelding to its owne weight another while lingering and by fits attempting to ascend how could I sufficiently wonder at that secret vertue and those strange impressions which did retardate the naturall descent of so weightie a body so when I see men who still retaine the principles of their owne corrupt nature which carry them with as strong an impulsion to sinne and hell as a millstone is moved unto its Center hanker notwithstanding after goodnesse and when they yeeld unto their lusts doe it not without much hesitancy and conflict of a naturall conscience I must needes acknowledge a mighty strength in that word which setteth bounds to the raging of so proud a sea From hence then the Messengers of Christ who are entrusted with the dispensation of this Rod of strength may be instructed how to behave themselves in that ministery Few men wil lose any thing of that power which is given them for every thing in its kinde doth affect power Now Christ hath committed unto us the custody of his owne power and therefore we ought to manage it as a word of power able alone by it selfe without the contemperations of humane fancies or the superstruction of humane opinions to worke mightily to the Salvation of those that beleeve and to the conviction of gaine-sayers Our Commission is to
spirits senses which are in the head are there placed as in a Watch-tower or Councell-chamber to consult and provide for the good of the whole the eye seeth the eare heareth the tongue speaketh the fancie worketh the memory retaineth for the welfare of the other members and they have all the same care one for another Fourthly He is our Advocate and Mediatour he is the onely practicer in the court of heaven and therefore he must needs be full of the businesses of his Church It is his office to dispatch the affaires of those that come unto him and crave his favour and intercession to debate their causes and he is both faithfull and mercifull in his place and besides furnished with such an unmeasurable unction of Spirit and vast abilities to transact all the businesses of his Church that whosoever commeth unto him for his counsell and intercession hee will in no wise cast them out or refuse their cause And this is one great assurance we may take comfort in that be our matters never so foule and unexcusable in themselves yet the very entertaining him of our counsell and the leaning upon his wisdome power fidelity and mercy to expedite our businesses to compassionate our estate and to rescue us from our owne demerits doth as it were alter the propertie of the cause and produce a cleane contrary issue to that which the evidence of the thing in triall would of it selfe have created And as we may observe that men of extraordinary abilities in the Law delight to wrestle with some difficult businesse and to shew their learning in clearing matters of greatest intricacie and perplexitie before so doth Christ esteeme himselfe most honoured and the vertue and wisedome of his Crosse magnified when in cases of sorest extremitie of most hideous guilt of most blacke and uncomfortable darknesse of soule which pose not onely the presumptions but the hope faith conjectures thoughts contrivances which the hearts of men can even in wishes make to themselves for mercy they doe yet trust him whose thoughts are infinitely above their thoughts and whose wayes above their wayes who is there among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darknesse and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God When the soule can goe unto Christ with such complaints and acknowledgements as these Lord when I examine my cause by mine owne conscience and judgement of it I cannot but give it over as utterly desperate and beyond cure my bones are dried my hope is cut off I am utterly lost my sins and my sorrowes are so heavie that they have broken my spirit all to peeces and there is no sound part in me But Lord I beleeve that thou knowest a way to make dead bones live that thy thoughts and waies are above mine that thou knowest thine owne thoughts of peace and mercy though I cannot comprehend them that thy riches are unsearchable that thy love is above humane knowledge that thy peace passeth all created understandings that though I am the greatest of all sinners and feele enough in my selfe to sinke me as low as Iudas into hell yet thou hast not left me without patternes of all long-suffering of thy royall power in enduring and in forgiving sinnes And now Lord though thou afford me no light though thou beset me with terrours though thou make me to possesse the sinnes of my youth yet I still desire to feare thy name to walke in thy way to wait upon thy counsell I know there is not in men or Angels so much wisdome compassion or fidelity as in thee and therefore if I must perish I will perish at thy feet I will starve under thy table I will be turned away and rejected by thee who hast promised to cast away none that come unto thee I have tried all wayes and I here resolve to rest and to looke no further thou that hast kept such a sinner as I am out of hell thus long canst by the same power keep me out for ever upon thy wisdome and compassion who canst make dried bones to flourish like an herbe and broken bones to rejoyce and sing I cast the whole weight of my guilty spirit into thy bosome I emptie all the feares cares and requests of my distracted and sinking soule I say when a man can thus powre out himselfe uâ—to Christ he esteemeth the price and power of his bloud most highly honoured when men beleeve in him against reason and above hope and beyond the experience or apprehensions they have of mercy for Christ loveth to shew the greatnesse of his skill in the salvation of a Manasse a Mary Magdalen a crucified Theefe a persecutour and injurious blasphemer in giving life unto them that nailed him to his Crosse the more desperate the disease the more honourable the cure Fifthly He is our Purchaser our Proprietary wee belong unto him by grant from the Father Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me and by payment from him unto the Father yee are bought with a price There is no good that concernes the Church that he hath not fully paid for with his owne pretious bloud And Christ will not die in vaine he will take order for the accomplishing of that redemption which himselfe hath merited And this is the greatest argument of his care and fidelitie that he is not as a servant but as a Lord and his care is over His owne house An ordinary advocate is faithfull onely ratione officii because the dutie of his office requireth it but the businesses which he manageth come not close unto his heart because he hath no personall interest in them but Christ is faithfull not as Moses or a servant onely but ratione Dominii as Lord in his owne house so that the affaires of the Church concerne him in as neere a right as they concerne the Church her selfe so that in his office of intercession hee pleadeth his owne causes with his Father and in the miscarriages of them himselfe should lose that which was infinitely more pretious than any thing in the world besides even the price and merit of his owne bloud These are the grounds of the great care of Christ towards his people And from hence we should learne faith and dependence on Christ in all our necessities because we are under the protection and provision of him who careth for us and is able to helpe us A right judgement of God in Christ and in his Gospell of salvation will wonderfully strengthen the faith of men Paul was not ashamed of persecutions because he knew whom he had beleeved hee doubted neither of his care or power and therefore hee committed the keeping of his soule unto him against the last day and therefore when all forsooke him he stood to the truth because the Lord forsooke him not The reason why men
to the wayes of grace as there is in any The consideration whereof may justly humble us in our reflexion upon our selves whom neither the promises of heaven can allure nor the bloud and passions of Christ perswade nor the flames of hell affright from our sinnes till the Lord by the sweet and gracious power of his holy â—â—irit subdue and conquer the soule unto himselfe If a man should rise from the dead and truly relate unto the conscience the woefull and everlasting horrors of hell if a mans naturall capacity were made as wide to apprehend the wrath fury and vengeance of a provoked God the foulenesse guilt and venome of a soule fuller of sins than the heavens of stars as the most intelligent divels of hell doe conceive them If an Archangell or Seraphim should be sent from heaven to reveale unto the soule of a naturall man the infinite glory of Gods presence the full pleasures of his right hand the admirable beauty of his wayes the intimate conformity and resemblance between his divine nature in himselfe the Image of his holinesse in the creature the unsearchable and bottomlesse love of Christ in his Incarnation and sufferings the endlesse incomprehensible vertue pretiousnesse of his bloud and prayers yet so desperately evill is the heart of man that if after all this God should not afford the blessed operation and concurrence of his owne gratious Spirit the revelation of his own arme and power upon the soule to set on those instrumentall causes it would be invincible by any evidence which all the cries and flames of hell which all the armies and hosts of heaven were able to beget There is no might or power able to snatch a man out of the hands of his sin but onely Gods Spirit Notable are the expressions which the holy Ghost every where useth to set forth this wretched condition of the heart by nature wilfulnesse and selfe-willednesse We will not hearken we will not have this man to raigne over us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many wils in one Rebellion and stubbornenesse stoutnesse of heart contestation with God and gain-saying his Word Impudence stiffenesse and hard-heartednesse mischievous profoundnes and deepe reasonings against the Law of God pertinacie resolvednesse and abiding in mischiefe they hold fast deceit obstinacie and selfe-obduration They have hardned their neckes that they might not heare Impotencie immoveablenesse and undocilenesse their heart is uncircumcised they cannot heare there is none that understandeth or seeketh after God scorne and slighting of the messages of the Lord where is his Word Where is the promise of his comming Incredulity and belying the Lord in his Word saying it is not he Who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed Wrestling resisting and fighting with the Word rejecting the counsell of God vexing and striving with his holy Spirit ye have alwayes resisted the holy Ghost Rage and fiercenesse of disordred affections despising of goodnesse trayterous heady and high-minded thoughts Brutishnes of immoderate lust the untamed madnesse of an enraged beast without any restraint of reason or moderation In one word a hell and gulfe of unsearchable mischiefe which is never satisfied It is impossible that any reasonable man duly considering all these difficulties should conceive such an heart as this to be overcome with meere morall perswasions or by any thing lesse than the mightie power of Gods owne grace To him therefore we should willingly acknowledge all our conversion and salvation So extremely impotent are we O Lord unto any good so utterly unprofitable and unmeet for our Masters use and yet so strongly hurried by the impulsion of our owne lust towards hell that no precipice nor danger no hope nor reward no man or Angell is able to stop us without thine owne immediate power and therefore Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name onely be attributed the glory of our conversion Againe by this consideration we should be provoked to stirre up and call together all our strength in the Lords service to recover our mispent time to use the more contention and violence for the kingdome of heaven when wee consider how abundant wee have beene in the workes of sinne in the pursuing of vast desires which had neither end nor hope in them O how happie a thing would it be if men could serve God with the same proportion of vigour and willingnesse of mind as they served Satan and themselves before I was never tired in that way I went on indefatigably towards hell like a swift Dromedary or an untamed heifer I pursued those evill desires which had vanity for their object and misery for their end no fruit but shame and no wages but death But in the service of Christ I have a price before mee an abiding Citie an enduring substance an immarcescible crowne to fix the highest of my thoughts upon I have the promises of Christ to strengthen me his Angels to guard his Spirit to lead his Word to illighten me In one word I have a soule to save and a God to honour And why should not I apply my power to serve him who did reach forth his owne power to convert me A long way I have to goe and I must doe it in a spanne of time so many temptations to overcome so many corruptions to shake off so many promises to beleeve so many precepts to obey so many mysteries to study so many workes to finish and so little time for all my weaknesses on one side my businesses on another mine enemies and my sinnes round about me take away so much that I have scarce any left to give to God And yet alas if I could serve God on earth as he is served in heaven if I had the strength of Angels and glorified Saints to doe his will it would come infinitely short of that good will of God in my redemption or of his power in my conversion If God should have said to all the Angels in heaven there is such a poore wretch posting with full strength towards hell goe stand in his way and drive him back againe all those glorious armies would have beene too few to blocke up the passageâ— betweene sin and heâ— without the concurrence of Gods owne Spirit and power they could have returned none other answer but this we have done all we can to perswade and turne him but he will not be turned If then the Lord did put to his owne power to save me great reason there is that I should set my weake and impotent faculties to honour him especially since hee hath beene pleased both to mingle with his service great joy liberty and tranquillity here and also to set before it a full a sure and a great reward for my further animation and encouragement thereunto The fourth thing observed in this Verse was the attire wherein Christs people should attend