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A89411 Several works of Mr. Iohn Murcot, that eminent and godly preacher of the Word, lately of a Church of Christ at Dublin in Ireland. Containing, I. Circumspect walking, on Eph. 5.15,16. II. The parable of the ten virgins, on Mat. 25. from ver. 1. to ver. 14. III. The sun of righteousness hath healing in his wings for sinners, on Mal. 4.2. IV. Christs willingness to receive humble sinners, on John 6.37. Together with his life and death. Published by Mr. Winter, Mr. Chambers, Mr. Eaton, Mr. Carryl, and Mr. Manton. With alphabetical tables, and a table of the Scriptures explained throughout the whole. Murcot, John, 1625-1654.; Winter, Samuel, 1596?-1665.; Chambers, Robert, minister in Dublin.; Eaton, Samuel, 1506?-1665.; Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677.; Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673.; J. G. 1657 (1657) Wing M3083; Thomason E911_1; ESTC R202939 754,107 852

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argument whereby the grace of Christ is as highly advanced as by any other whatsoever that he should therefore increase the strength of his poor weak children that they may draw more strongly from him and their hearts more enlarged to receive more abundantly from his fulness as a strong child will draw harder and harder still the arms of the trees as they grow stronger and stronger so they suck more juice from the root still to feed them and carry them on Now I say this is sweet to the soul and it may be a character also of our growth if we do grow in grace indeed we shall grow up into him we shall find a greater drawing of our hearts after him still and suck more strongly from him This the first Secondly another thing comprehended under this growing up into Christ may be this that all our growth is to his honour it ends in him who alone is exalted by it it is the honour of the head when the members grow and become by the communication of the animal spirits more vigorous and active and fit for the discharge of their several works this is the glory of the head this may be understood two waies First it is the end of the thing it self finis operis the thing doth much advance him when others behold such a fulness of strength and power flowing forth from Jesus Christ upon the members to see the members of a body languid and weak and withered it is not for the honour of the head specially if generally so though there may be also particular causes as obstructions and the like but these are not so visible What an honour is it to Christ to see a poor soul th 〈…〉 now is as weak as water like the poor man in the Gospel Lord help my unbelief that ere long through the supply of grace from Christ is able to say My Lord and my God to see a poor soul lie languishing under a lust and not be able to stir and yet ere long able to triumph over it to see a poor soul that ere while was cleaving to the ground and to the dust could not get up the heart and now after a while upon Eagles wings running without weariness and walking without faintness is not this to the honour of Christ But secondly It must be so intended by us else our growth is not right in the end our end in desires of and Gods end in working we must look to the end Brethren we desire strength against this and that corruption to wax more valiant in this fight to conquer to triumph over them we would have such a measure of knowledge such a measure of faith but what is our end is Christ the end in all this is it that we may more advance him Ah that soul that indeed groweth into Christ Brethren groweth downward into the root can be content to be any thing to be nothing that his blessed Saviour may be advanced so it was with John Ah so with David if the Lord will lay me aside and I must not build him a Temple but my son must do it it is the Lord why should I not submit So if Moses must not bring them into Canaan he is contented O he would not have Joshua in another case envy for his sake he wished all the Lords people were Prophets God would have the greater glory when the Lord of●ered to make of him a greater people O what then wilt thou do to thy great name the enemies will say then that thou broughtest them out to destroy them he had rather die and perish and be nothing then God should be dishonoured O dear friends let this be considered if we grow we grow up into him I say it may serve for a piece of tryal though delivered in this place I would have my whole discourse as applicatory as may be Sixthly In a true growth we must know there is an uniformity as you know one member groweth in the body as well as another if it be a true growth where some of the members receive no nourishment but all the growth is found in the root this is a disease and not the effect of the principle of life within them as you see it in the Rickets a disease now ordinarily known by that name but this uniformity is two-fold First in respect of the Church And secondly of each particular member thereof in regard of the graces of the Spirit which are growing in them First then for the Church of Christ there is an uniform growth there that is to say the Lord Jesus doth not communicate his sap and vigour and vertue so to one as to spend it on him and leave another without but every wild Olive grafted into the Olive either visible or invsible Church the visible there is meant in that place of the Apostle in whom the whole body being c. they receive accordingly either the common influences of the Spirit with the Ordinances whereby they grow up in that which we call common grace and one as well as another there is none sure but thriveth more or less Secondly for the invisible there is none so grafted but he groweth he is one Spirit with the Lord and therefore sure must needs grow that hath a continual supply of the Spirit as the Apostle in that forecited place the Lord Jesus in his invisible body hath no withered arm nor legs whatever there be in the visible whatever dead and drie sticks may cleave to the visible Olive there is none so cleaveth to the invisible it is impossible a soul should hold the head and hold inward communion and fellowship with him and yet not to grow but this is but for the Church which thus uniformly groweth one member as well as another Now secondly for particular members they also grow and that uniformly also grow not in one grace only or in this grace or that grace nor in another no but they grow uniformly that a man should be all faith and no love it is impossible or all love and no knowledge it cannot be there must be an uniformity in growth if right that were more like a wen and its growth then growth of the body you would not esteem that a growth that a man should grow all in the eye and it should become as big as the body almost so that he could see wonderfully but in the mean time the rest of the parts are as small as when they were born grow in one grace and grow in every grace grow in sincerity and grow in humility grow in faith and grow in love grow in all A timpany a growth of one member more then all the rest is monstrous and so it would be in grace Now though through defect or super fluity in natural causes there may be a monstrosity in a birth or growth yet it cannot be in respect of Christ who doth alike extend his influence to the growth and increase
of one as well as another grace which he hath begotten in the soul so that if a man find he thinketh he groweth in faith and thinketh he groweth in love and yet grow not in zeal for the glory of God groweth not in tenderness of heart and plyableness to his will this is not a right growth Alas how many of us then do not grow in grace indeed Seventhly Though there be an uniformity in growth yet we must not so understand it that every member groweth in the same measure with another and yet may grow also in its due proportion and so also in respect of graces there may be somewhat of truth in it but to speak the more distinctly First consider the members of the Church of Christ and our selves if we be such indeed though all the members of the Church of Christ do grow yet they do not grow all alike in the same measure the Apostle saith according to the effectual working in the measure of every part so that you see each part hath a measure every member hath not the same relation the same office in the body and so doth not require the same measure of strength or the same quantity or greatness Yea if it have a greater quantity then is meet it is a burthen and an hindrance as if the joynt of a finger should grow as much as the joynt of a mans knee would it not be monstrous and yet both joynts grow but each according to its proportion so that they grow all ●que but not ●qualite● one as well as another but not one as much as another uniformiter and yet difformiter if every finger were as big as an arm what an hand would there be holding no proportion to the body though the rest grow this over-groweth its proportion It is true every child of God is not a David nor a Paul nor is every one called to those great undertakings that they were the more eminent places in the body of Christ we have the more we must look to it that we grow If a man be a Magistrate or a Minister I tell you Brethren it is not enough that they be as other men in grace and yet alas then what disproportion do some of us make in the body of Jesus Christ that stand in that relation to the body and yet O how do other members over-grow us Brethren they are not to be blamed for their growing so fast but we for our growing no fa 〈…〉 er nor any more proportionable to our relations for a Magistrate to have no more courage nor zeal then another man that is not called so to put it forth is unsuitable and so for wisdom and knowledge and so for Ministers are we as arms in the body and have scarce the strength of a little finger O how can we work for Christ do the works of our conditions if you see some eminent as blessed be his name there are eminent and have their measure of growth to their condition you should be followers of them follow after as hard as you can therefore Ministers should be ensamples to the flock in faith in puriry in holiness 1 Tim. 4. 12. an example to believe in word in conversation in faith in purity c. But alas Brethren may we not rather some of us take examples therein how weak is our faith yet I say where there are such of eminency and thou canst not reach them yet be not discouraged because thou canst not get so much light as the eye hath be not discouraged it is required there more then in another nor so much strength as an arm a leg when thou art it may be but as a little finger only there may be a proportion yea I will tell you Brethren pitty us pray for us Magistrates and Ministers for I do verily believe there are none fall so much short of our proportion of growth in grace according to our relations as we do But this is but the first And then secondly for the graces in every believer now the measure of every grace its growth as I think is much more hard to determine whether all graces do grow according to the proportion of the growth of any one of them that is to say whether love to God and zeal to his glory do grow according to the measure of every mans faith and so patience according to the measure of his faith indeed I am at a stand here if that one habit of grace did beget another faith did beget love it would be the more clear because then according to the strength of the causes the effect would be a strong cause a strong effect the habits of grace in us being not voluntary agents but I take it for granted that the efficient cause of all grace one as well as another is the same Spirit of the Father and the Son it is the supply of the Spirit as the Apostle calls it whereby we grow in any grace now the Spirit of God being a most free agent is not tyed up by a necessity of nature to work alike upon the same heart to the increase of every grace though he do work to the growth of every grace yet whether he doth equally work to the increase of them all So that what proportion of grace a Believer hath in one grace he hath the same proportion of strength in another is doubtful specially since the Lord who works in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure knoweth what tryals he hath for every one of us some in one kind some in another some greater tryals for their faith and some for their self-denyal and some for their love may accordingly work but this is not so much material if we can find we grow in every grace of the Spirit whether we do grow alike in the measure of love as in the measure of faith or zeal or spiritualness as it will be very hard to judge considering how hard it is to judge of the strength of our habits by their acts which may accidentally be inter 〈…〉 itted and interrupted and considering whatever knowledge we have at the best of the faculties of our souls and their workings and so of the habits of grace in them So I take it 〈◊〉 is not so much considerable if we could come to know it only if we be sure we grow in all and that we grow according to the measure proportionable to our condition or relation to the body this the seventh Eighthly and 〈…〉 stly that I shall speak to the opening the nature of this growth in grace growth here hath no determined 〈◊〉 until death until we come actually to the spirits of just men made perfect in nature there is a determinate time for growth in quantity which is properly growth about thirty years the causes of it I leave School-men to dispute it is not so proper for us in this place in nature there is in this life yea haply
daub and heal them deceitfully get it skinned over a little and so the world will do it building and planting and marrying and drinking and pastimes these may skin over the wound but it heals not and miserable is the condition of poor creatures so deluded but now they that are taught of God and learn they learn this effectually and practically that there is nothing in the creature that can do it Fourthly They learn this also that though all the world be but as a cloud without rain when the soul is a fire a Well without water a broken Cistern that leaks out all a Torrent a Brook that is dried up when the soul is parched and burnt up with the scorching heat of the displeasure of God O when the Lord setteth a soul in his sight and looks upon him as a consuming fire with his eyes as a flaming fire ready with a sight of him to devour him and he cannot get out of his sight O now the world all their comforts will not skreen them from his eyes but what will only the Lord Jesus he can be a cooling shadow to shadow us from this scorching heat and this the Spirit of the Lord perswadeth the soul we all of us will talk of it O Jesus Christ is our help and hope and look for salvation in no other but in him it is grown now so cus●omary a thing among us that it is in every mans mouth but to how few hath the Lord spoken this to our hearts that thus it is Fifthly Again another thing that we are taught of God before we come to Jesus Christ is this that he is willing to let out of his oyntments to heal he is willing to expend that precious balm of Gilead upon us else the soul will never come to him it is that that keepeth off many a soul a long time the Spirit of the Lord perswadeth the poor soul that though he hath been an enemy to Jesus Christ and grieved him and torn his wounds and rent his flesh with horrid oaths and blasphemies trampled his blood under foot have been never so horrid a transgressor yet he perswadeth him that the Lord Jesus is willing to receive sinners without exception if they come to him Suppose there was a Physitian whose skill were so great and his store of Medicines so inexhaustible and soveraign and his heart so large as that he proclaimeth to all that whosoever is wounded though never so desperately whosoever is sick unto the death one of the Stone another of the Gout another of the plague I will cure you all O then if poor creatures did believe this were perswaded of it they would come and not before O saith one mine is a plague sore and it is past cure mine is an hereditary disease saith another and so far gone I cannot be cured they come not and perish O mine is such a disease it will cost more pains and charge then I think he will be willing to be at to cure and therefore he cometh not to him and so perisheth just so it is in this case except the Lord do secretly insinuate it into the soul how willingly the Lord Jesus writ it upon his Spirit and that the Lord Jesus is willing to receive to heal to save the soul that will not come to him but thus much for these things which in the order of nature go before a coming to Christ now for the acts wherein it formally consist First then when the heart is thus made sensible of what is in himself working to death and what is not in himself nor in any other creature to save then I say there is from the teaching of the heart how able and willing the Lord Jesus is there ariseth a desire in the soul after the Jesus Christ not as if this did flow or were produced by the former apprehensions of a mans own necessities of Christ and of the fulness in him as a fountain and the openness of the fountain which is sealed to none that come for alas one grace though never so habitual and deeply rooted cannot produce another no not faith it self produce love but the Spirit which works faith works love in our hearts also much less then can a conviction be the cause of a conviction or a turning unto the Lord Jesus but it is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus when he hath so opened the eyes of an Hagar to see the fountain opened that was near her before but she saw it not and let us see that our bottle is dryed up and all other hopes in the creature perished then I say the Spirit inclineth the Will to come to Jesus Christ then he works sweetly though strongly an inclination a desire after him It is not in these things as in nature an ordinary providence concurring with the actings of the creature according to their necessities When Hagar saw the fountain she needs no further perswasion to go unto it her necessity was a cord strong enough to draw her yea a weight a spring to carry her swiftly to it but alas when we see the bottles dryed see that the creatures say it is not in us to be had and see there is a fountain opened yet such is the waywardness of our hearts yea such the enmity in our hearts against the Lord Jesus though the streams of his love toward us were as strong as death that we will not yet come to him we had rather sit down as you see some sullen creatures taken from their damms will rather perish then receive food at the hand of man such an indisposition and aversness to man there is and so it is in this case except the Lord Jesus come in by another act of his Spirit and bow the will and make us desirous of himself O then when this act of power is put forth the soul beginneth to long to desire after Jesus Christ O that I had him O that I might but have a sight of him then there is getting upon the tree by a low Zacheus then there is an ascending in this Ordinance and that Ordinance and everywhere the desire of the soul is for Jesus Christ this is a coming for the affections are to the soul as the feet to the body that which carryeth the soul in and out in all to this object or from that object O then when shall I come and appear before him Secondly In this coming to Christ is included a passing all other stands and rests on this side Jesus Christ many a poor soul cometh near to Christ and to the Kingdom of God and yet falls short of him as an arrow not drawn up to the head falls short of the mark and there it sticks where it fastens goeth no further So here some upon their convictions the discovery of their conditions run to this Ordinance to that to this duty to that as things that of themselves as performances should give rest to them and
Silver tryed and purified seven times that is to say his Promise therefore he concludeth That the Lord will keep them he will preserve them for ever and so pretious so confirmed by miracles that all other truth scarce deserveth the name of truth in comparison of it either it is not so pure but hath some dross or else not so pretious O they are pretious Promises indeed as the soul knoweth right-well when he cometh to stand in need of a Promise and the sweetness of it he sucks out and it letteth down the sweetness of it upon the soul but take a parallel Scripture to shew that Gospel is called the truth The Apostle speaks plainly For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel and again to the Ephesians In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise So that this is the truth then the knowledge whereof shall make us free where the Spirit of Christ is there is liberty that is clear as you heard before Now how is the Spirit given but by the Gospel Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith which is that hearing of Faith by the Word of Truth the foregoing Verse even that which held forth a crucified Christ to them hearing of Faith not the rumour of Faith but hearing is such an hearing as whereby a man believeth and Faith by a Metonymie is put for the Word of Faith as the Gospel is called sometimes because Faith thereby is begotten now by this the Spirit is received and therefore liberty cometh and therefore the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit in that place of the Apostle because therewith the Spirit is given and ministred to poor creatures whereas the Law works Bondage and Wrath Therefore Jerusalem is free which is above that is to say the Church builded upon the Covenant of Grace is free is the Mother of us all but enough of this The Gospel is the outward instrumental cause Fifthly the inward instrumental cause or Con. as some will have it which I shall not now dispute that is faith whereby we close with this Covenant it is the Word of Faith and hearing of Faith that is to say of the Gospel so as to work Faith whereby the Spirit is given which brings liberty to the soul Alas many hear the Gospel of liberty which we preach and few do receive it few believe it for it appeareth by woful experience we are yet in bondage we have never gone forth to this day many of us though we have had as much preaching of the Gospel as any other Jerusalem that now is as the Apostle cals it was in bondage then though they had the Gospel preached among them a great while they believed not except the Spirit therein be conveyed the Gospel is but a dead letter as well as the Law and a deadly letter also and so much for the causes of this liberty or freedom which cometh by Jesus Christ The third thing under this head is the parts of this liberty or freedom which we shall consider two ways First Extensively in their latitude● And secondly Intensively in the degrees of each of these parts in its latitude But that we may the better understand it we must know that liberty is a relative and respecteth some bondage some imprisoning or shutting up from which this liberty is a deliverance ye shall go forth and therefore to set off the lustre of this glorious liberty it may not be amiss to run a parallel between them That there is such a bondage under which every poor creature without Christ is held we shall at present presuppose though afterward haply I shall come to prove it I would not here too far digress before we come to speak of the parts of the bondage to which the parts of liberty will be opposite and correspondent I shall say in a few words something to the Author of this Bondage and Tenure of it and but a word or two For the Author of this bondage under which poor creatures are without Christ altogether and in part also many times when they are under Christ and under Grace First Some part of it is to be ascribed to the Lord so far forth as it is meerly vindictive or an inflicting of a just penalty upon Sinners for sin so far we may ascribe it to God as will more plainly appear in the following Considerations The Law which genders to Bondage it is his Law and holy and just and good though it gender to Bondage nor will it follow because we are delivered form it therefore it was an evil in it self but only per accidens by reason of our corruption and so the Spirit of Bondage which in some is vindictive when he binds and hampers a Sinner with the cords of his sin haply never intending that he shall see through those terrors to his comfort this is from him and justly or else if it be in order to a settlement to a peace to an Adoption a Sonship through Christ as preparative to the receiving of Christ this is from him and so several other parts of it are from him under this Consideration Secondly But so far forth as any part of it is sinful there it is from Satan and from our own evil hearts for darkness cannot come from the light nor can any thing unclean come from that which is altogether pure no more then a clean thing can proceed from an unclean as the bondage under sin which more at large afterward we shall discuss Secondly For the tenure for being in bondage we are in bondage to some person properly to some thing improperly and by a kind of Prosopopeia we are said to be in such a bondage now there is some Tenure as I may say wherein they do hold us in bondage there are three or four tenures if I may so call them whereby we are thus held under Bondage until Jesus Christ come to set us free First A Sale Secondly By Birth Thirdly By Captivity or Conquest Fourthly By Tyranny and resignation of themselves up to such a vassallage but a word or two to each of them First then There is a Bondage by Captivity when People are taken Captives this is so common there is none can be ignorant of it What are the Turks Gally-slaves but the prey of their piracies all is fish that cometh to the net so it is in this case This is one Part of the Tenure we are taken captive by Satan even at his pleasure Of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage this is the military Law the Prisoners were ever the Conquerours slaves we have seen it but too evidently with our own eyes we have