effectually that is it doth not consummate nor accomplish any perfect worke but onely in those that beleeve in the rest it proves but an abortion and withers in the blade Secondly with love and readinesse of minde without despising or rejecting it No man can bee saved who doth not receive the truth in love who doth not receive it as the primitive Saints did with gladnesse and readinesse of minde as Eli though from the hand of Samuel a Child as David though from the hand of Abigail a woman as the Galatians though from the hand of Paul an infirme and persecuted Apostle For herein is our homage to Christ the more apparent when we suffer a little childe to lead us Thirdly with meeknesse and submission of heart reverencing and yeelding unto it in all things Wresting shifting evading perverting the word is as great an indignity unto Christ as altering interlining or rasing a patent which the King hath drawen with his owne royall hand is an offence against him Patience and effectuall obedience even in affliction is an argument that a man esteemes the word to bee indeed Gods owne word and so receives it Hee onely who putteth off the old man the corrupt deceitfull lusts of his former conversation and is renewed in the Spirit of his minde is the man that hath heard and been taught by Christ that hath received the Truth in him Againe in as much as the Gospell is the Rod of Christs owne strength or the instrument of his arme who hath beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed and the instrument is no further operative or effectuall than according to the measure of that impressed vertue which it receiveth from the superior cause therefore wee should learne alwayes to repaire unto Christ for the successe of his word For he onely is the teacher of mens hearts and the author of their faith To him onely it belongeth to call men out of their graves and to quicken whom hee will Wee have nothing but the ministerie he keepeth the power in his own hands that men might learne to waite upon him and to have to doe with him who onely can send a blessing with his word and teach his people to profit thereby Another ground of the power of the word is that it is sent from God The Lord shall send forth the Rod of thy strength From which particular likewise wee may note some usefull observations as First that Gods appointment and ordination is that which gives being life majesty and successe to his owne word authority boldnesse and protection to his servants When hee sendeth his word hee will make it prosper When Moses disputed against his going down into Egypt to deliver his brethren sometimes alleaging his owne unfitnesse and infirmity sometimes the unbeliefe of the people this was still the warrant with which God encouraged him I will bee with thee I have sent thee doe not I make mans mouth I will bee with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say I was no Prophet neither was I a Prophets Sonne saith Amos but I was an heardsman a gatherer of sycamore fruit And the Lord tooke me as I followed the flock and said unto mee Goe prophecie unto my people Israel And this made him peremptory in his office to prophecie against the idolatry of the Kings Court and against the flattery of the Priest of Bethel And this made the Apostles bold though otherwise unlearned and ignorant men to stand against the learned councill of Priests and Doctors of the Law Wee ought to obey God rather than men Vpon which Grave was the advice of Gamaliel If this counsell or worke bee of men it will come to nought But if it bee of God yee cannot overthrow it lest haply yee bee found even to fight against God For to withstand the power or progresse of the Gospell is to set a mans face against God himselfe Secondly in as much as the Gospell is sent forth by God that is revealed and published out of Sion wee may observe That Evangelicall learning came not into the world by humane discovery or observation but it is utterly above the compasse of all reason or naturall disquisition neither men nor Angels ever knew it but by divine revelation And therfore the Apostle every where calleth it a Mystery a great and a hidden Mystery which was kept secret since the world began There is a Naturall Theologie without the world gathered out of the workes of God out of the resolution of causes and effects into their first originals and out of the Law of nature written in the heart But there is no naturall Christianity Nature is so farre from finding it out by her owne inquiries that shee cannot yeeld unto it when it is revealed without a Spirit of faith to assist it The Iewes stumbled at it as dishonorable to their Law and the Gentiles derided it as absurd in their Philosophy It was a Hidden and secret wisedome the execution and publication whereof was committed onely to Christ. In God it was an Eternall Gospell for Christ was a lambe slaine from before the foundations of the world namely in the predeterminate counsell decree of his father but revealed it was not till the dispensation of the fulnesse of time wherein he gathered together in one all things in Christ. The purpose and ordination of it was eternall but the preaching and manifestation of it reserved untill the time of Christs solemne inauguration into his Kingdome and of the obstinacy of the Iewes upon whose defection the Gentiles were called in Which might teach us to adore the unsearchablenesse of Gods judgements unto former ages of the world whom hee suffered to walke in their owne wayes and to live in times of utter ignorance destitute of any knowledge of the Gospell or of any naturall parts or abilities to finde it out For if these things bee true First that without the knowledge of Christ there is no salvation This is eternall life to know thee and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifye many Secondly that Christ cannot bee knowen by naturall but Evangelicall and revealed light The naturall man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerend The light shined in darknesse and the darknesse was so thick and fixed that it did not let in the light nor apprehend it Thirdly that this light was at the first sent onely unto the Iewes as to the first borne-people excepting onely some particular extraordinary dispensations and priviledges to some few first fruits and preludes of the Gentiles He sheweth his word unto Iacob his statutes and his judgements unto Israel Hee hath not dealt so with any nation Hee hath not afforded the meanes of salvation ordinarily unto any other people the world by wisedome knew him not Fourthly that this severall
Wee have a Holy Catholick Church gathered together by the Scepter of his Kingdome and holding in the parts thereof a blessed and beautifull Communion of Saints The Lord shall send forth the Rod of thy strength out of Sion Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holinesse from the wombe of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth Wee have the last Iudgment for all his enemies must bee put under his feete which is the Apostles argument to prove the end of all things 1 Cor. 15.25 and there is the day of his wrath wherein he shall accomplish that judgment over the heathen and that victorie over the Kings of the earth who take counsell and bandie themselves against him which he doth here in his word beginne We have the Remission of sinnes comprised in his Priesthood for hee was to offer Sacrifice for the remission of sinnes and to put away sinne by the Sacrifice of himselfe Eph. 1.7 He. 9.26 Wee have the Resurrection of the Bodie because he must subdue all his enemies under his feete and the last enemie to bee subdued is death as the Apostle argues out of this Psalme 1 Cor. 15.25 26. And lastly wee haue life everlasting in the everlasting merit and vertue of his Priesthood Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek and in his sitting at the right hand of God whither he is gone as our forerunner and to prepare a place for us Heb. 6.20 Ioh. 14.2 and therefore the Apostle from his sitting there and living ever inferreth the perfection and certaintie of our salvation Rom. 6.8.11 Rom. 8.17 Eph. 2.6 Col. 3.1 2 3 4. 1 Cor. 15.49 Phil. 3.20 21. 1 Thess. 4.14 Heb. 7 25. 1 Ioh. 3.2 The Summe then of the whole Psalme without any curious or artificiall Analysis wherein every man according to his owne conceite and method will varie from other is this The Ordination of Christ unto his Kingdome together with the dignitie and vertue thereof v. 1. The Scepter or Instrument of that Kingly power v. 2. The strength and successe of both in recovering maugre all the malice of enemies a Kingdome of willing subjects and those in multitudes unto himselfe v. 2 3. The Consecration of him unto that everlasting Priesthood by the vertue merit whereof he purchased this Kingdome to himselfe v. 4. The Conquest over all his strongest and most numerous adversaries v. 5 6. The proofe of all and the way of effecting it in his sufferings and exaltation Hee shall gather a Church and hee shall confound his enemies because for that end he hath finished broken through all the sufferings which hee was to drinke of and hath lifted up his head againe Vers. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole Here the Holy Ghost beginnes with the Kingdome of Christ which hee describeth and magnifieth â— By his unction and obsignation thereunto The Word or Decree of his Father The Lord said 2 By the Greatnesse of his person in himselfe and yet neernesse in bloud and nature unto us My Lord. 3 By the Glorie power and heavenlinesse of this his Kingdome for in the administration thereof he sitteth at the right hand of his Father Sit thou at my right hand 4 By the Continuance and Victories thereof Vntill I make thy foes thy footstoole The Lord said Some read it certainly or assuredly said by reason of the affinity which the originall word hath with Amen from which it differs onely in the transposition of the same radicall letters Which would afford this observation by the way That all which Gods saies of or to his Sonne is very faithfull true For which cause the Gospell is by speciall Emphasis called The Word of Truth Eph. 1.13 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A faithfull saying worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 Or most worthy to be beleeved and embraced For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being applied unto the Gospell signifie Ioh. 1.12 Ioh. 3.33 Act. 17.11 Being opposite unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 13.46 But the principall thing here to bee noted is The Decree appointment Sanctification and sealing of Christ unto his Regall Office For the Word of God in the Scripture signifies his Blessing Power Pâ—easure Ordination Man liveth not by bread alone but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God Matth. 4.4 That is by that command which the creatures have received from God to nourish by that Benediction and Sanctification which maketh every Creature of God good unto us 1 Tim. 4.5 Gods saying is ever doing something his words are operative and carry an unction and authoritie along with them Whence we may note That Christs Kingdome belongs to him not by usurpation intrusion or violence but legally by order decree investiture from his Father All Kings raigne by Gods providence but not alwayes by his approbation They have set up Kings but not by mee they have made Princes and I knew it not Amos 8.4 But Christ is a King both by the providence and by the Good will and immediate Consecration of his Father He loveth him hath given all things into his hand Ioh. 3.35 He judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to his Sonne Ioh. 5.22 That is hath entrusted him with the oeconomie and actuall administration of that power in the Church which originally belonged unto himselfe He hath made him to be Lord and Christ Act. 2.36 Hee hath ordained him to bee Iudge of quicke and dead Act. 10.42 Hee hath appointed him over his owne house Heb. 3.2.6 He hath crowned him put all things in subjection under his feete Heb. 2.7 8. Hee hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name Phil. 2.9 Therefore hee calleth him My King set up by him upon his owne holy hill and that in the vertue of a solemne decree Psal. 2.6 7. But wee must here distinguish betweene Regnum naturale Christs naturall Kingdom which belongeth unto him as God coessentiall and coeternall with his Father and Regnum oeconomicum his Dispensatory Kingdom as he is Christ the Mediator which was his not by Nature but by Donation and unction from his Father that hee might be the Head of his Church a Prince of Peace a King of Righteousnesse unto his people In which respect he had conferr'd upon him all such meete qualifications as might fit him for the dispensation of this Kingdome 1 God prepared him a Bodie or a Humane nature Heb. 10.5 and by the grace of personall and Hypostaticaâ—l union caused the Godhead to dwell Bodily in him Col. 2.9 2 He anointed him with a fulnesse of his Spirit not such a fulnesse as Iohn Baptist and Stephen had Luk. 1.15 Act. 7.55 which was still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulnesse of a measure or vessel a
beleeve his kingdome of glory and salvation but they shall be made subject to the sword of his wrath and that without any hope of escape or power of opposition for God himselfe shall do it immediatly by his owne mighty power Hee will interpose his owne hand and magnifie the glory of his owne strength in the just confusion of wicked men So the Apostle saith that The Lord will shew his wrath and make his power knowne in the vessels fitted for destruction Rom. 9.22 Two meanes the Apostle sheweth shall be used in the destruction of the wicked to effect it The presence or countenance and the glorious power of the Lord 2 Thes. 1.9 The very terrour of his face and the dreadfull Majesty of his presence shall slay the wicked The kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe captaines and the mighty men those who all their life time were themselves terrible and had beene acquainted with terrours shall then begge of the mountaines and rockes to fall upon them and to hide them from the Face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe Revel 6.15 16. Esai 2.10 whence that usuall expression of Gods resolution to destroy a people I will set my face against them O then how sore shall the condemnation of wicked men bee when therein the Lord purposeth to declare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the glorious strength of his owne almighty arme Here when the Lord punisheth a people he onely sheweth how much strength and edge he can put into the Creatures to execute his displeasure But the extreme terrour of the last day shall be this that men shall fall immediatly into the hands of God himselfe who hath said Vengeance belongeth unto me and I will recompence Heb. 10.30 31. And therefore the Apostle useth this expostulation against Idolaters Doe we provoke the Lord to jelousie Are we stronger than he 1 Cor. 10.22 Dare we meete the Lord in his fury doe we provoke him to powre out All his wrath Psal. 78.38 He will at last stir up all his wrath against the vessels that are fitted for it And for that cause he will punish them himselfe For there is no Creature able to bring all Gods wrath unto another there is no vessell able to hold all Gods displeasure The Apostle telleth us that wee have to doe with God in his Word Heb. 4.13 but herein he useth the ministery of weake men so that his Majesty is cover'd and wicked men have a veile upon their hearts that they cannot see God in his Word When thy hand is lifted up namely in the threatnings and predictions of wrath out of the word they will not see for it is a worke of faith to receive the word as Gods word and therein before-hand to see his power and to heare his rod Mic. 6.9 Other men belye the Lord and say it is not he But though they will not acknowledge that they have to doe with God in his word though they will not see when his hand is lifted up in the preparations of his wrath yet they shall see and know that they have to doe with him in his judgements when his hand falleth downe againe in the execution of his wrath So the Lord expostulateth with them Ezek. 22.14 Can thine heart endure or thine hands bee strong in the dayes that I shall deale with thee The Prophet Esay resolves that question The sinners in Sion are affraid fearefulnesse hath surprised the hypocrites namely a fearefull looking for of judgement and fiery indignation as the Apostle speakes Heb. 10.27 Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Esai 33.14 that is in the words of another Prophet Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fiercenesse of his anger His fury is powred out like fire and the rockes are throwne downe by him Nahum 1.6 Confirmations of this point we may take from these considerations First the quarrell with sinners is Gods owne the controversie his owne the injuries and indignities have beene done to himselfe and his owne sonne the challenges have beene sent unto himselfe and his owne Spirit And therefore no marvell if hee take the matter into his owne hands and the quarrell so immediatly reflecting upon him if he be provoked to revenge it by his owne immediate power Secondly revenge is his royalty and peculiar prerogative Deut. 32.35.41 from whence the Apostle inferres That it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.30 31. And there are these arguments of fearefulnesse in it First it shall be in Iudgement without mercy Iam. 2.13 there shall be no mixture of any sweetnesse in the cup of Gods displeasure but all poison and bitternesse there shall not bee affoorded a drop of water to a lake of fire a minute of eafe to an eternity of torment Secondly it shall be in fury without compassion In humane judgements where the law of the state will not suffer a Judge to acquit or shew mercy yet the law of nature will force him to cōpassionate grieve for the malefactor whom he must condemne There is no Judge so senselesse of anothers miserie nor so destitute of humane affections as to pronounce a sentence of condemnation with laughter But the Lord will condemne his enemies in vengeance without any pittie I will laugh saith the Lord at your calamity I will mocke when your feare commeth Prov. 1.26 Thirdly it shall bee in revenge and recompence in reward and proportion that is in a full and everlasting detestation of wicked men the weight whereof shall peradventure lye heavier upon them than all the other torments which they are to suffer when they shall looke on themselves as scorned and abhorred exiles from the favour and presence of him that made them For as the wicked did here hate God and set their hearts and their courses against him in suo aeterno in all that time which God permitted them to sinne in so God will hate wicked men and set his face and fury against them in suo aeterno too as long as he shall be Judge of the world Thirdly this may be seene in the inchoations of hell in wicked men upon the earth When the doore of the conscience is opened and that sin which lay there asleepe before riseth up like an enraged Lion to fly upon the soule when the Lord suffers some flashes of his glittering sword to breake in like lightening upon the Spirit and to amaze a sinner with the pledges and first fruits of hell when he melteth the stout hearts of men and grindeth them unto powder what is all this but the secret touch of Gods owne finger upon the conscience For there is no creature in the world whose ministerie the heart doth discerne in the estuations and invisible workings of a guilty and unquiet spirit Fourthly the torments of wicked angels
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