Sail by his compass Be good Husbands and wisely careful to lay in provision for every condition The wise man sends the Sluggard to the Pismire Go to the Pismire thou Sluggard learn her waies and be wise she prepares in summer before the Winter when there wil neither be means nor meat to be got nor season to get it Be we so careful In peace provide for war in prosperity for want in health for Sickness This was Jobs care When his Paths were Buttered and his Breasts ran ful of Milk he then Feared and expected Lay in reversion of Prayers for Children as in that Fundamental Prayer of Solomon he provides for every occasion If thy people shal be carried Captive and in the Enemies Land if Pestilence c. Then what Prayer is made by thy people c. So lay thou in reversion of prayers for such times and streits Thus we have done with the general scope of the verse we come now to the particulars observed therein And 1. To the Parties described 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those whom thou hast given me Observe from hence this point Viz All beleevers are given unto Christ by God the Father Doct. Our Savior presents the persons of the Saints both here and often yea constantly and almost continually in the foregoing part of this Chapter to God the Father under this notion and consideration rather than any other As GIVEN by the Father As that which hath the most perswading and prevailing power with the Father readily to hear and willingly to grant any Prayer or petition that should be made in their behalfs and freely and aboundantly to give and bless al means that shal be desired for their good and welfare For which end and purpose God gave them to Christ he also prayes for them and both Father and Son stand ingaged to provide for their everlasting happiness As though our Savior should have said It is not the condition of thine enemies I now present before thee nor the cause of Strangers righteous Father that I desire to recommend to thy Majesty but it is for Thine own whom thou hast Given and over whose Good thou hast Given me Charge For them and for their good it is that I pray and therefore I cannot but speed for both For the Explication of the Doctrine two Questions are to be considered and the meaning of that Phrase opened and then the Truth wil be evident 1. What this giving is 2. How God the Father is said to give To the First I answer three Things All which being distinctly attended wil open the Nature of this Work and make it easie to the Understanding of the meanest 1. Giving the Soul to Christ is not properly the Act of Election though several Interpreters of savory Judgment do so think and speak but I suppose their meaning must be further extended or else their words wil not be able to abide an exact examination by the Rule of Truth But it is a Consequent which follows it an effect which certainly and infallibly flows therefrom and of this the expressions of Scripture wil give in evident proof REASON It 's usually joyned with Election and made distinct therefrom John 17.6 Thine they were and thou gavest them me Verse 9. I pray not for the World but for them that thou hast given me for they are thine Where the former of these Phrases and Expressions imply Election the other a disâ—inct and differing thing therefrom They are God the Fathers by Election made Christs by Gift and Donation Yea the one is used by out Savior as a Reason and Ground of the other I have prayed for those that thou hast given me for they are thine properly so termed Beside the very Nature of the Phrase and the manner of the Speech wil not easily bear such a converting being harsh to the ear and hardly suitable to sense to be elected to Christ as we say to be given to Christ which if giving were electing properly might truly be so expressed which neither the Nature of the thing nor the Construction of the words wil easily admit 2. This Giving is not the Act of Beleeving by which the Soul is carried by the Power of God â—nto Christ but the Scripâ—ure is pregnant and the Dispute undeniable John 6.37 All that the Father hath given me come unto me and those that come unto me I will in no wise cast away Coming we know is Beleeving John 6.35 I am the Bread of Eternal Life he that cometh to me shall never hunger If it be demanded what is that Coming He answers in the words immediately following He that beleeveth in me shall never thirst Coming then being Beleeving our Savior making this Giving of God the Father to go before it without which the Soul wil never come or beleeve it cannot be it 3. This Giving is the Work of the Father upon the Soul in Vocation which goes before the Infusion of Faith makes way for the working of Faith by Christ and receiving it from him and which being there the soul never fails to beleeve and come for that is the force of our Saviors Dispute John 6.36 where he gives the reason why many did not beleeve Ye also have seen me and belâ—eve not What might be the cause thereof since their Abilities were as great and their Excellencies as many which they might have improved to that purpose before many other Our Savior sets down the immediate root and rise of this distinction and separation Those that the Father hath given me those will come shall beleeveâ— where that is not coming wil not be The manner of this Dispensation we shal speak to in the next Question and that is How in God the Father said to give us to Christ Quest 2. as intimating somthing peculiar herein and appropriated to himself The Lord Christ is to be considered as God-Man assuming our Nature Answ when by voluntary Dispensation he put himself into the place oâ— Mediator becomes our Surety undertakes the great Work of our Redemption and so as himself peaks is less than the Father John 14.28 The Father is greater than I. And therfore in the transacting of this great Work by mutual agreement may truly be said to have us given to him not to give us to himself And this the Father doth on this manner 1. The Father being the Party properly and directly offended le ts in his heavy displeasure into the heart of the sinner and forceth him to feel the bitterness of his sin in that unsufferable and unâ—voidable manner that takes off and eats out al the former seeming sweetness the soul hath found therein and by the almighty and unresistable power of his blessed Spirit divorceth him from the embracings of those base Lusts and plucks him by his almighty hand from under the power of those prevailing distempers that have taken place that so the soul may be for another which while it was wedded to its former Corruptions and
under the Soveraignty and Authority thereof it was utterly impossible as being against the Principles of Reason and the Nature of Grace and the Covenant of Truth which the Lord hath left in his Word This ye shal find most plain in the very express words of our Savior when he discovers this Work John 17.6 I have manifested thy Name to the Men which thou gavest me out of the World He gets them out of the hand of the World from the lust of the eyes and lusts of the Flesh and the Pride of Life 1 John 2.16 For that is al which is in the World and from al these whether the vanity of the Creature with which our Eye and Sences are taken from without or the sensual filth and dunghil steams of noysom distempers which arise of our own Concupiscence or whether it be Pride and overweening Self-confidence which ariseth and issues out of al. this is al that is in the World and from al these the Father gains the Souls of those men he gives unto his Son For they had given away themselves unto these Lusts of the World and that must be repealed before this could be tendred afresh And here again by the way ye may observe That this Giving cannot be the Act of Electing for that is an eminent Act and remains in Gods Breast and Bosom and goes not out This is called a Transient Act is an Act which passeth upon the Creature That is without respect and consideration of Mans being much less the being of Sin as ye have fully heard But this supposeth a man in the World that is under the power of the Vanity thereof if he must be given out of the World 2. God the Father doth actually deliver up the Soul into the hand of Jesus commends it to his keeping to rule him in the Kingdom of Grace while here he remains in this World and to bring him to Glory hereafter He gives the Soul and our Savior takes it and undertakes for it as his Charge according to the terms of the Covenant and Agreement made between the Father and him The Expression of Calvin is pat and pleasant God the Father causeth the Soul to pass into the Care and Custody of the Lord Jesus leaves him in the power and possession of his Son Jesus as the Second Adam the Head of the Covenant of Grace that he may see him redeemed As the First Adam neglected the Covenant and destroyed himself and his Posterity There was a Parly and Consultation held between the Father and the Lord Jesus touching the Salvation of his Elect and the Agreement fully transacted and passed But now it comes to be put into Execution and he gives them into the hand of Christ The Soul comes into Christs presence and Christ comes to speech with it Behold the party I wil have redeemed and the Lord takes him as his Charge and provides for him both to bring him to himself and so to Life and Salvation which he hath purchased and possesseth and can communicate The Soul as yet consents not nor hath the powerful impression of Gods Grace come home to the heart God gives the Soul the Soul doth not yet give up it self but God giving to Christ as his charge put and passing under his care He undertakes to get the good wil of the Soul and to bring it to himself and through himself to Life and Glory 3. When the Father hath thus delivered the Soul unto the care of Christ he then gives Christ to the Soul reveals the Lord Jesus as the Surety and Savior that hath covenanted with the Father and hath purchased al from the Father for him so that there is nothing that can stand betwixt Mercy and him This Christ and Mercy so provided and intended for his good is now rendered and given to him Behold thy Savior who is the Head of the Covenant of Grace who hath purchased and procured by the Fathers Appointment al good for thee and can and wil communicate al good to thee This leaves a mighty impression of the sweet of the good upon the Soul Thus God tendring Christ and through him mercy as he that hath covenanted with the Father and undertaken for the soul commended to his care by the Father This tender of a Christ and of Mercy in him makes the Soul take it this offering of Christ as one to whom he was before given to save works the heart to receive Christ and that is beleeving which is thus wrought as ye see by the giving of the Soul to Christ Because Christ gave himself and Mercy to the Soul therefore the Soul comes to him But because the Soul was given to Christ and his care he gave himself and mercy to it Therefore the Soul was given to Christ therefore it comes and beleeves If God the Father had not given the Soul to Christ he ad never taken care of him never given himself to them they never received him nor good from him Hence Beleeving is said to be Receiving and receiving we know as a Co-relative is the cause of giving REASON 2. 1. Because they are the Fathers own and therefore he hath most right and reason to dispose of them and to give them away as he sees sit when it wil be most seasonable to procure the good and comfort therof This is the ground our Savior goes upon Thine they were and thou gavest c. Each man hath most to do with that which is his proper right Now the Father had set his heart upon them before the World and appointed them to be Vessels of Mercy in his everlasting purpose and therefore it 's but equal that he should order al things for the accomplishment of the Counsel of his own Will and the performance of his Soveraign good Pleasure without controul John 6. I came not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this is the will of him that sent me That I should lose none that he hath given me It 's sit that God should do his own Will whose Will is the absolute First-Cause of all things that are done 2. As Gods own Right so their own proper and peculiar good is hereby especially if not only procured For had not God the Father given them to his Son he would not nay I may truly say he never could have given Grace and Mercy or Good to them in a righteous way preserving the Right and Honor of his Justice and so the Glory of himself For had not Christ taken the care and charge of us the Justice of God would never have suffered him to have shewed us Mercy we should never have been fitted nor enabled to receive Mercy For we having wronged his Justice and provoked his Anger by reason of our Transgressions his Justice would have stood offended and his Displeasure incensed against us by reason thereof Nay he did give a Commission to our sins under the hand of Divine Justice to take vengeance
thy great work in Heaven to keep me in the world and bring me to Heaven What wil you do to honor this Christ who hath thus honored you how should you indeavor to serve him in Earth who indeed serves you in Heaven He provides for your safety and comfort provide you for his Glory He stands betwixt you and your Harms against al sins Devils Temptations stand you between him and his wrongs that may be done to him Before we pass from this verse one thing more may be shortly handled and that taken from the consideration of the Time When these persons shall beleeve for whom our Savior here prayes and that is cleerly discovered to continue until the end of the world those who yet were not in the world and those who should beleeve even at the end of the world for these now our Savior praies Hence Our Savior hath a speciall care for those that shal beleeve on him Doct. even in the worst condition of their Unbeleef So the text gives in undeniable evidence even before many had any being in Nature and when some were and others should be brought into the world and had neither mind to know God nor Heart to seek after Christ or to pray for themselves Yet here ye see our Savior takes in al those now within the compass of his prayer and care to provide for them and to contrive all for their good when they neither did nor could care for him or for themselves therefore its plain Our Savior cares for such who shal beleeve in him when they are in the depth of their unbeleef and his prayer is then working for their good when they intend no good unto themselves Our Savior when they were in the heat of that hellish villany in blaspheming and killing the Lord of life even then he intends life to them procures and purchaseth life for them Luk. 23 34. Father forgive them they know not what they do This prayer it was that wrought more than Peters preaching when his spirit was warmed with the Love of Jesus and the Blood of a dying Savior ran fresh now in al the Veins of his Heart and the power and vertue of it was mighty upon the consciences of Peters Hearers such as had before been Crucifyers of the Lord of life It then took place and prevailed mightily Isa 57.18 I have seen his waies c though he see not himself See this made good in some particulars as 1. In the several degrees of it 2. The Reason and 3. The Use This care and the vertue of this prayer of our Savior will appear thus in five Particulars Hence 1. It is that the Lord contrives means in the waies of his Providence for the bringing of these men into the world so that the Parents and Predecessors of such though happily desperately wicked and forlorn shal yet have their stock and posterity continued in the world because they shal bring these into the world who shal beleeve And therefore it is the patience of God is extended towards many a wicked parent nay to the whole stock and Linage of vile and loose men not for their sakes but the sakes and cause of some that shal come of them whom the Lord Christ doth purpose to bring to himself Math. 24.22 Had not God shortned those daies no flesh had been saved but for his Elects sake the Lord shortned those daies i.e. The generation of the Jews now rejecting and most Hellishly blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ had so provoked the Eyes of the Lord That should he in Justice have proceeded against them and executed his righteous Judgments either as the Nature of their sins deserved or their Enemies intended and out of their power and rage could easily have accomplished it there had not been one Jew left alive to propagate their posterity or name or Nation But the Lord had an Eye to his Elect that should come of these in the last Age of the world after so many Ages and generations past when their dead Bones shal live and the Redeemer shal come out of Sion and turn Jacob from iniquity then all Israel shal be saved So the Apostle Rom. 11.28 Hated for their sins sake but beloved for their Fathers sake i.e. For Abraham with whom through Christ the covenant of the Gospel was made to him and to his Seed i.e. To al the faithful whether Jew or Gentile but with the Jew first and then with the Graecian For this calling and covenant being everlasting is without repentance and wil assuredly take place in the season thereof when it shal be most sutable to shew forth free grace 2. The Lord even so provides that such means in an ordinary way of Providence may be sent continued and dispensed to such who never had a thought of them enquired after them or had a Heart to entertain them when they are offered Upon this ground the Lord appoints and incourageth the Apostle Act. 18.9 10. Speak and hold not thy Tongue Speak plainly and fully fear no mans frowns regard no mans favors no man shal do thee harm for I have people in this City Thus the Spirit stopped the passage into Bithynia for when they assayed the Spirit suffered them not Act. 16.7 But Christ sends post by an express in a Vision to Paul A man of Macedonia appeares with this Petition in his Hand subscribed by the Hearts of the messengers Come into Macedonia and help us And when they came the Issue shewes their Errand A poor Woman a Purple-seller and a Stubborn and Rebellious spirited Jailour was all the Markets he made But this is the Lords manner if there be but one Grain of Corn in many heapes of Chaff he wil never leave winnowing rather than lose it send he wil Messenger after Messenger until he hath gathered that into his barn Onesimus a Runnagate from his Master without the reach of government of Gospel God coops him up in Prison and casts Paul thither also that so he may come to the speech of him 3. He keeps them by his restraining Grace and some strong hand of Providence sometimes from grosser sins I say some of those that shal beleeve from some loathsome and hainous evil but alwaies from falling into that sin against the Holy Ghost because that is a Disease which admits no Remedy a Dungeon of that depth from whence there is no deliverance beyond the reach of the work of Redemption as that which comes not within the compass of mercy and the Riches of the compassion of the Almighty The Lord hath passed the sentence and that most Peremptory and shews the deadly Malignity of that evil by way of difference from all others Math. 12.31 Wherefore I say unto you all manner of sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come i.e. There is no Hope It here cannot be pardoned and at the great
prepare a place True there be Mansions enough but how hard to come at them He answers I wil come and bring you to my self USE 4. Of Instruction If God give Glory to Christ how unreasonable is it for us sinful wretches to deny our Savior his own his due If the Father give it we should be ready and careful ever to acknowledg it We do not the work of Angels but the work of God himself And this is the Scope of the Father in al his Counsel and therefore it should be ours He turns the Trade this way The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son that all men might honor the Son as they honor the Father John 5.22 23. As great Princes when they wil advance any Person whom they purpose to make a Favorite they so contrive that all business must come through his hand that al may eye him honor him and have dependance upon him So it is with the Father Christ is his Favorite he hath so ordered it that al must come through his hand al from the Father by him al through him returned to the Father So the Father professeth Phil. 2.10 11. He hath given him a Name above all Names that at his Name all might bow As therefore the Father determined mined so we resolve I have both glorified him and will glorifie him John 11.28 There were Three things as ye have read before in the words 1 The Parties for whom Christ praies such as the Father had given him 2 What he praies for That they might be where he is 3 The end of this their being with Christ That they might see the Glory which the Father had given him Before we could come at the Second of these there was one Point which was supposed and taken for granted which makes way for al those that follow namely That Christ was in Heaven and did enjoy the fulness of Glory there given him of the Father and of both these that is both the Parts of the Point 1. That Christ is in Heaven 2. That he is possessed of the fulness of Glory by gift from the Father at his right hand both as Second Person and as Mediator God and Man Redeemer of the World we have fully written And before we can proceed to the Second Thing which was formerly propounded and wherein the pith of the Prayer of our Savior appears containing the main thing petitioned we shal be enforced to take in the last clause of the Verse as being nothing else but an amplification of the former Doctrine and laies out unto us the cause and reason whence it comes that the Father gave and Christ received this so great Glory The first Original from whence this so great and unconceivable Glory proceeds It is from the Love of the Father towards our Savior his blessed Son And that Love is not of yesterday nor of late or in this last Age of the World occasioned but it issues out of his antient and everlasting Lover wherewith he imbraced the Lord Jesus before the World was and that not only finished and brought to perfection but before the first corner stone before the Foundation thereof was laid I wil not give way to any curious Speculation but I beleeve it 's true and I suppose it 's suitable to the meaning of the words That the Father laid the Foundation of the Love of his Son in his own heart and thoughts in order of Nature before in his everlasting purpose he laid out in his contrivement the first Pillars and Principles upon which the World was founded He understands himself directly al other Quatenus sui imaginem gerunt So Wisdom seems to speak Prov. 8.22 He possessed me in the beginning of his way before his Works of old The first beginning of Gods way is to understand himself But we shal content our selves with that which is taken up with the currant and common consent of al. And then we have two Points 1. The Father loved his Son from everlasting before the Foundation of the World And this we handled formerly in the foregoing verse 23. 2. That which is of fresh Consideration unto which we shal speak a few words very briefly is the force of Argument or Reason here laid forth viz. The everlasting love wherewith the Father embraced his Son is the first cause why he gave him everlasting Glory The Eternal Glory of Christ is a Gift of the Eternal Love of the Father In grows out of this root it issues firstly out of this Fountain Hither our Saviors thoughts arise and here he rests This is the Crown of Glory and the Diadem in the Crown and the lustre and shine of that is The Love of the Father To this our Savior ascends and in this he satisfies himself and he would lead al his as afterwards we shal see Had not the Father given him glory out of his love glory it self would never have given our Savior content Nay Heaven and glory it self had not been worth the loving nor having unless the love of God were in them That is the quintessence of al. We shal open shortly two things 1. What we must understand this love to be 2. How this love is the cause of this glory For the right discovery and discerning of this love that we may come as neer the mind of our Savior and the meaning of the text as we may we shal with warines in some doubtful Seas sound and cast several passages that we may find where the Channel lies 1. It cannot then be taken for the spiritual and special fruits and effects of Gods love which the Lord dispenseth to his according to the good pleasure of his wil of which the Apostle speaks Rom. 5.5 The love of God is shed abroad in our Hearts This rather looks at the fountain that those streames for which Jude Prayes Grace Peace and Love be multiplied Jude 2. For this love is from eternity so are not those fruits and expressions because they are put forth in time Beside the glory of our Savior is one of those fruits which are here said to Issue from that love And I suppose it doth vertually and summarily include those spiritual expressions which makes way for it 2. Somtime the love of God is put by a Figurative speech for Election as that in Rom. 9.13 Jacob have I Loved that is Elected or set apart to be the subject of the expressions of his love And this also seems not to fit the place in hand For it goes somwhat against the grain of the phrase The love in the former and following words in the verse before and after leads us to another apprehension and looks another way Beside the aim of our Savior and his expression would perswade one to think that he eyes somthing in the Father which in a peculiar manner relates to him Not that which equally and indifferently belongs to the Holy Spirit and himself also as that purpose of
is our Father Jesus saith unto them If ye were Abrahams Children ye would do Abrahams works but ye seek to kill me and this did not Abraham But ye do the deeds of their Father They could not conceive what he meant And therefore stil reply We are not born of Fornication we have one Father even God Our Savior again returnes an undeniable evidence If ye were of God ye would love me for I came from God nor came I of my self but God sent me But because al these were Riddles he speaks out and shews them the Root of their wretchedness Verse 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil and the lusts of your Father ye wil do He was a murderer and abode not in the truth and what he saies of one he saies of al sins in the like case When he speaks a lie he speaks of his own for he is the Father of lies As God is the first cause of truth and goodness and from his fulness al the beams and streams of truth are derived to any who share therein So Satan is the first cause of falshood and wickedness and therefore called The Wicked one And from him al wickedness is derived And hence ungodly men are called The Seed of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 They are said to be of that Wicked one 1 Joh. 3.11 Cain was of that Wicked one Put in way of opposition To be born of God This I take to be the meaning of those Phrases and texts which hence receive their explication as belonging I conceive properly to this place Joh. 8.23 When our Savior would shew the distance and great disagreement between himself and the wretched and ungodly Jews he speaks Ye are from beneath I am from above Ye are of this world I am not of this world Joh. 17.14 I have given them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not of this world even as I am not of this world Here we have the Wel-head of hatred because they are not of the world And we see that this agrees to Christ as to them and to them by means of Christ that as he speaks els where Joh. 8.28 He can do nothing but what he sees his Father do Joh. 14.10 The words that I speak I speak not of my self but the Father that dwelleth in me As the first person dwels in the second he is thus from the Father and works from the Father So his Saints and faithful are of and from the Father by him Whereas the wicked They are of the world That is their dispositions which are corrupt they issue firstly from Saâ—an who cast's in his Seed of rebellion into their hearts according to which they are framed And upon this ground he is called the God of the world As he is firstly evil and cannot but be evil and al evil is from him that is in the world For by his wickedness al the world and wicked comes to be tainted and by the leaven of his wickedness defiled Their minds so far as erronious are made up of his delusions Their hearts as they are stuborne and ungodly are made up of his rebellions 2. Consider the next immediate cause by which they are acted this also wil evidence the strength and distance of their opposition and that in the greatest extremity And this you shal find most pregnantly 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are graciously given us of God So that there is a spirit of the world which blinds mens minds and minds which the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ cannot shine upon them nor the power of any savory truth or good come neer them or work upon them but they stop the passage against al do most desperately and resolutely oppose al. And that is perverted mutability set on or set a going by the provoking and cursing power of the Law the malignity of Satan having leave and somtime command from God to wind up the wickedness of mens spirits to the highest strain of the activity of evil When God said who wil go and deceive Ahab Satan answers I wil. The Lord asks how I wil saies he Be a lying Spirit in the mouth of the fals Prophets q. d. It was in his power if God would give leave to act their minds and Tongues as one man to speak and perswade unto deceiptful waies which would undoubtedly bring to ruin And this is the meaning of those two Phrases Eph. 2.2 Men are said to walk according to the course of the world one Spirit and guise in them al. If it be asked what that is he adds According to the Prince of the Air the Spirit that now worketh c. When the Prince of the Air by his impulsions and suggestions draws out the distempers of the ungodly to the utmost activity And this is noted in the next words They fulfilled the wils of the Flesh and of the mind what a corrupt heart and Vain Head would carry a man unto He must needs go whom the Devil drives This is called the wil of the Gentiles that is what men left to the corruption of their Natures would wil. Contrarily The Holy Ghost takes ful possession of our Savior and from Christ dwels in the hearts of his Saints by which they are strengthened Eph. 3.16 Strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man So that there is 1. The inner man which is Grace 2. Strengthened in this 3. By the might of his Spirit So led by the Spirit Rom. 8.15 yea not only strengthen and lead but mightily and actively works in his when they are quickened to work the Works of God Col. 1. last I strove but it is according to the working of Christ and that is mightily therefore Stephen said They could not resist the Spirit by which he spake Acts 6. As the Prince of Darkness by his Impulsions draws out the Activity of Corruption in the strength of it So the Prince of Light and Grace the Lord Christ is greater than he that is in the World and carries the Faithful by an invincible Power 3. Look at them in the main ends at which they aim in al their Operations and Proceedings Our Savior came not to do his own wil or seek his own but to do the wil and seek the Glory of the Father Therefore the Scope of his whol Work it is to break the Head of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 To destroy the works of the Devil 1 John 3.8 To deliver from the present evil world Gal. 1.4 And al the Saints are of the same Heart follow his Colors and Command When the Devil and the World the Prince of this World and the Children of this World they set themselves in al their Contrivements plottings practices to destroy the Glory of God the Kingdom of God and Christ and set up the Kingdom of darkness and
trusting too much to Earthly Contentments Psal 30.6.7 I said in my prosperity I shal never be moved Lord by thy favor thou hast made my mountain to stand strong Thou did'st hide thy Face and I was troubled When we turne our Eyes and hearts to the world God turns away his gracious respect he expressed towards us He wil make his presence welcome or he wil withdraw Math. 23.38 Ye shal see me no more til ye shal say blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord. And therefore our Savior settles himself in this Math. 11.25 I thank thee O Father because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.16 2. Beware of Resistance of the Truth when it is made known If ye wil not have his word to direct you ye shal not have the knowledg of his Mercy that may support and refresh you When the spirit of truth comes to lead us into al truth then it shal take of Christs and shew to us Joh. 16. and Joh. 17.8 I have given them thy word and they have Received it and they have known that thou hast sent me This receiving wil let in this knowing Revel 3.20 If any wil open I will come and Sup with him 1 Joh. 2.24 If the word that ye have heard abide in you ye also shal continue in the Son and in the Father so Verse 27. 3. Take heed of Sleighting and making little account of any of the Commandements of the Lord Presume not to neglect the least or tamper with any sinful distemper or give way to infirmities or passions So Jonah 2.8 He that trusteth in Lying vanities for saketh his own Mercy That is the mind of the context Joh. 14.23 If any man love me be wil keep my words and my Father wil love him and we wil come unto him and make our abode with him And Verse 21. I will manifest my self to him that is keep him in his purity keep him in his power as we keep liquors that they loose none of their life they drink lively and quick as when new put up 3. Collection The Faithful should increase in the knowledg and right apprehension of this Name of Gods Fatherly mercy and it is their own fault if they do it not for els they might For where can there be any cause of none Proficiency found but in our selves Christ hath undertaken the work and who more able than he who is the Wisdom of the Father and came out of his Bosom and therefore is able to make known those Bosom secrets of Gods Fatherly Love which never did see Sun and reveal them Yea he is as willing as able and ready to communicate these unknown depths of Gods indeared affections Yea you that are faithful you have experience of his sufficiency this way you have a pawn in your hand a real proof of what he hath done when you were at the worst not only unskilful but uncapable of his knowledg Yea he hath made you know the things belonging to your Peace when ye never sought after nor inquired for him And he is the same that ever he was and professeth he wil make it known there is no fault nor want in Christ But you are wanting to him and your selves and play the Trevants in this are laze and heedless to learn that which is so carefully so constantly taught you If a Scholler had the choicest and ablest man for his parts most diligent in his place to be his â—â—acher yet if he came not on in his learning but stood at a stay every man would conclude there is no want of sufficiency or Faithfulness in the Master he might have grown and many have come on under him but the cause and fault is in his own heedlessness Object But alas my person is mean my infirmities so many my parts so Poor I am a very Dullard heavy headed long before I can attain a little but am never likely to come to any great matter Answ There is no one excepted not one excluded that is faithful He hath given thee knowledg he can as wel add to what he hath given and he wil do it Thy weakness cannnot hinder his Faithfulness who hath promised Yea he is ready and professeth his willingness that he wil make thee know Nay he is unweariable to teach notwithstanding al thy unteachableness to learn He hath given thee a mind to know and he wil increase that knowledg and make him dayly more known that thou mayest dayly increase Isa 48.17 I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go And Chap. 42.16 I wil lead the Blind by a way that they knew not c. This I wil do unto them and not forsake them 4. Collection We here see the Reason why after many Prayers made many pains improved by diligence and endeavor of the dear Servants of the Lord that men might see and savingly and experimentally know the precious Name of Fatherly Mercy yet after al many are at so great a loss and know so little find almost nothing of the sweetnesâ— which is to be had out of this Name that Christ wil make known and would make known to them Truly we do not go to the right door and we receive not the dole Christ is the way to lead us to the Father and we miss the way and so attain not to our end Christ is said to be the Light Isa 49.6 He is given as a Light unto the Gentiles In him was the Promise of Life and that is the Light of men to lead them by the hand to the Love of God the Father and the Faithful Performance of the Covenant And we follow not that Light but we compass our selves about with our own Sparks and follow the light of our own Fire the carnal conceivings and contrivements of our own Carnal Reason and stay not upon the Name of God and therfore it is we lie down in Sorrow Isa 50.11 Christ bids us learn of him Matth. 11.29 Buy of him Rev. 3.18 And we learn of our own Delusions and Discouragements we learn of the wrong Master go to the wrong Shop buy of our own Abilities make Tradings of our own We should not look to our own Grace but to Christ first to quicken our Grace 5. Collection Here is matter of Abasment of heart and holy fear in both which we ought to walk before the Lord. 1. Ground of Abasement Not to boast of any measure of enlightening or Assurance which at any time we do partake of as though by any sufficiency of ours or improvement of any Ability of our own we had attained thereunto There is never a spark of this Fire but it is from Heaven not one Beam of holy Light but it comes from this Sun The entrance continuance perfection al is from him he is the Author and