cannot be granted for Christ is so farre from being unwilling that he desires to come in for he hath knockt at many a proud heart Behold I stand at the doore and knock if any man heare my voyce and open unto me I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me Rev. 3.20 And in other places he saith Forsake thy sins and corruptions and receive thy owne salvation and be not under the rule of sinne and those base lusts Cant. 5.2 Open my love my dove my undefiled Surely if the doore were open he would come in nay himselfe saith so professedly as in that place aforenamed Oh hee hath knocked many a time at the heart of a poore wretch and said If any man will open to me I will come in If any He that promiseth to come in if the doore were open there is no unwillingnesse on his part but in the humbled soule there are no more lets for he hath thrown away sin in himselfe and said I love you not I regard you not let the Lord Iesus come and rule in this same broken heart of mine Thus gather up all If it be the end of God the Fathers sending Christ and the scope of Christs comming and if the glory of his grace bee much more advanced this way and if there be no hinderances then immediately expect him hee commeth suddenly Vse 1 Great comfort to each humbled soule Vse 1. The uses are manifold First it is a ground of marvellous comfort to every humbled soule let not stubborne and rebellious wretches that say Wee will not have this man rule over us let not such I say meddle with this comfort To you I have nothing to say now hereafter I shall say something to you to your cost But all you soules that are willing to give way to Christ Iesus and to breake open doore for Christ and all you that have any evidence of this work I say all you broken hearts goe your way with comfort Christ will comfort you nay hee will meet you at home Me thinks this is enough to comfort the heart of any in the world Then let what can befall us the Lord Christ will come suddenly But some will say Quest. Many are my sins that lie hard upon me and my aâ—ominations come in like troups and all the old train band of loosenesse and vanity they are come in against me and all the sins that I have committed the guilt of them yet remaines and I cannot get strength against them but still they prevaile for my conscience is not quieted but my old sins flie in my face Answ But are your hearts thus perplexed with the sight of sin and with the expectation of the misery of them as in truth there is much cause to lament Art thou thus broken hearted and thus perplexed And canst thou say Were my heart rid of my sinnes I should bee comforted Then I say notwithstanding all thy sins if the Lord see thee humbled he seeth not thy sinnes hee will come and comfort thee let all thy sinnes come and rise up in armes against thee the Lord Christ will come suddenly and then mercy will come to pardon and grace will come to succour thee against thy sin Quest But what will the Lord come into this wretched vile corrupt heart of mine What will Iesus Christ come into this Temple Indeed he may come to such a man that is humbled but he will never come to such a wretch as I am I have sinned thus and thus Answ See what the Text saith Apoc. 3.2 Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man will heare and open he doth not say I stand at the doore of a Nobleman but at every base adultererer and drunken wretch If the drunkard and the adulterer will open the Lord will come in and sanctifie him and take possession of him and rule in him and cleanse him from all his lusts and corruptions Though thy lusts and abominations be many that will not hinder him And as there is admirable comfort against sin so there is admirable comfort against all misery He knowes nothing that knowes not that all the Christian world is in an uprore and that the enemy doth worke abroad But though you doe not see these you may see the world opposing and the Divell temptting and the wicked casting reproach upon all hands and your hearts begin to bee daunted and say I would professe Religion but my father would be discontented and shame and disgrace will come in amaine and misery and persecution will come notwithstanding the Lord Iesus Christ is comming into those soules of â—ours For if you bee soundly humbled Christ comes suddenly and then come what can come in all troubles Christ will comfort you and in all weaknesses Christ will strengthen you yea he will let the spirit of glory rest upon you here and glorifie you with himselfe for ever hereafter In all wants there is comfort though friends and meanes and all go yet Christ comes and the further thy friends go from thee the nearer will Christ come to thee Eccles 10.19 Let your soules be herein refreshed for ever Mony as the Proverb is answers all A man will change honour and leave his place for money and we use to say Money will doe it If you want honour money will buy it and whatsoever the world can doe money can doe And hereupon it is that the rich man saith I have it by me if he wants a house hee hath money that will buy it You that are humbled goe your wayes and eat your meat with glad hearts the Lord accept of you the God of comfort refresh your hearts yet more against these troublesome times Luke 12.32 It is the speach of Christ to his disciples Feare not little flocke it is your fathers will to give you a kingdome If a broken and humbled soule goe into prison Christ wil goe to all the prisons in Christendome but he will find him out and there he will comfort him If the humbled soule goe into the Indies Christ will bee there with him nay if it were possible for the humbled soule to goe downe to hell the Lord Christ would come into him for wheresoever he is Christ will be Feare not be not dismaied Christ is thine you have not onely a Kingdome but a Christ and he answers to all Christ is the God of all comfort and the father of all mercy thou hast many wants and weaknesses and Christ is the God of all mercies from him comes every good and perfect gift and he will comfort thee Wheresoever thou art Christ will looke in if thou art banished he will wander up and downe all wildernesses but hee will find thee and save thee for ever If we be not comforted it is a shame for us considering what wonderful priviledges we have in Christ Vse 2 Vse 2. The second use is for examination and triall They are of a
overtaken with some grosse sin this builds up the partition wall that Christ cannot be discerned as it was with David Psal 51.10 where hee saith Create in mee a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me hee was even to begin the world new againe And it is Gods wise dealing with his owne servants for God will not brooke sinne in his owne servants and they must know if they will have him to dwell in them they must not give way to any base sinne if they doe hee will withdraw himselfe from them not that God forsakes finally whom hee loved once but hee will take away the sense and apprehension of his presence that though he is there yet the soule shall not see it And also when they give way to some secret distemper and are at truce with some infirmitie and they will be parlying with it and meddle too much with it it is just with the Lord and ordinary to withdraw the presence of his grace from such a mans soule If a Christian be overtaken somewhat more than ordinary with a peevish spirit or if he be something too eager for the world so that hee grow cold in holy duties and is in danger to lie and dissemble for his gaine it is just with God that this man should scramble for his comfort and welter up and downe without any evidence of Gods love And also though a Christian commit not sinne outwardly yet if hee give leave to any sinne and beat truce with it though they seeme to hate it and yet let their meditations runne upon it and parley with some secret imagination c. it is just with God to hide himselfe from them And others there are that live with men and see their evils and yet will not reprove them I have knowne many of those to have gone out all their dayes without any comfort And it is no marvell though they cannot see Christ because they themselves build up the partition-wall betweene Christ and them the Lord Iesus Christ is not able to brooke it that hee is thus sleighted and neglected and that any sinfull base distemper should bee attended to to keepe company with it rather than with Christ Christ Iesus distastes it infinitely and therefore withdrawes the apprehension of his presence from such a person The second cause why the Lord hides himselfe is when the faithfull servants of God begin to grow carelesse and luskish to holy duties and because God hath made knowne his good will to them therefore they begin to grow carelesse and secure When the Lord seeth this that they doe abuse his favour so that now they begin to grow secure and heartlesse and to slag and to grow sluggish it is just with the Lord to eâ—strange himselfe from that soule and it is just that that soule should find himselfe lost that hee may quicken up himselfe When Christians grow cold in prayer and carelesse in holy duties the Lord taketh away the light of his favour and hee leaves those sluggish hearts to themselves nay God is forced even against his will and mind even for the good of those Christians to take away the comfort of his presence so that now they begin to thinke they never had grace If the Lord did not thus they would never mend their pace nor quicken up themselves to any holy duties And this is the reason why many lie downe in sorrow and thinke they never had any grace at all the Lord seeth it and perceives it that unlesse he should bring them to this extreme hazzard they would never be drawne out from that desperate securitie but by this meanes in the end God makes them find their hearts and tongues againe and makes them consider from whence they are fallen Oh saith the Lord mercy is as good when you have it as when you want it the time was when you filled heaven and earth with your prayers and you could pray earnestly and you could give the Lord no rest you prized opportunities and now you have many opportunities and slight them It is just with God when we begin to be thus tongue-tied and to be secure and to thinke all is wel now the Lord hath humbled our soules and pardoned our sinnes and shewed us his favour for a time to leave those soules of yours though he save you in the end to send you a hell upon earth that so you may strive to receive that mercy and comfort which formerly you had and now have sleighted Thus hee dealt with the Church in Cant. 5.2 3. when Christ knocked at the doore and said Open to mee my sister my love my dove my undefiled for my head is filled with dew and my lockes with the drops of the night she made answer in this manner I have put off my coat how shall I put it on I have washed my feet how shall I defile them Now when Christ withdrew himselfe then shee found her feet againe and followed Christ with much labour from place to place and could not be content till she had found him And so it was with the holy Prophet Psal 30.6 I said in my prosperitie I shal never be removed but when he saw God going away from him see how he bestirres himselfe 2 Sam. 22.7 Oh saith hee I cried to thee O Lord in the time of my trouble Then he could pray and heare againe and recount Gods former goodnesse and performe his former duties Simile I have seene the father deale so with the child when the father is going on in his journey if the child will not go on but stands gaping upon vanitie and when the father calls he comes not the onely way is this the father steps aside behind a bush and then the child runnes and cries and if he gets his father againe hee forsakes all his trifles and walkes on faster and more cheerefully with his father than ever So when the Lord Iesus Christ sometimes makes knowne himselfe to us and would carry us on in a Christian course cheerefully we are playing with trifles and grow carelesse and cold and worldly and remisse in prayer and dead-hearted the onely way to quicken us up is to hide himselfe and to make us give our selves for lost and then they that could scarcely pray once a weeke now will pray three or foure times aday Thirdly and lastly the Lord doth hide himselfe in his infinite wisedome and fatherly care by way of prevention that his servants and children might not fall into some evill Hee will not bestow the sense and sweetnesse of his favour upon them lest they should bee proud thereof and pranke up themselves in regard of their priviledges and bee carried with contempt of the weaknesse of their fellow brethren nay if they had that which they desired there were no living with them therefore the Lord in his care and goodnesse is faine to hold them to hard-meat and to keepe them to a spare diet Hee seeth it
and hee is not able to stoope to it nor to be framed by it These men deale with Christ as men that entertain a neighbour liberally to this end that he will look to his owne grounds onely and not intrench upon his for to have him a Land-lord or Commander over him and to bee in dependance upon him this he cannot beare But the Saints of God doe the second they entertaine Christ as a Land-lord but the other onely as a neighbour Let these men know that all those that are not with Christ are against him though a man stand still and doe nothing and love not warre because he would bee in peace let him I say know that all the wrong that is done by others if he be not a helper against it the Lord will require it at his hands as if he had done it himself as in that place Curse ye Merosh Judg 5.23 because she came not to the helpe of the Lord against the mightie as if a man did say I am loath to meddle before I am called to it But I say thou art called the Gospel was persecuted and thou wouldst not stir therefore the Lord will deale with thee as he did with that luke-warme Church in the Revelation the Lord will spue thee out of his mouth luke-warmnesse is loathsome to the stomacke therefore appeare in your colours what you are that you may be knowne either a Saint or a Divell lukewarme water goes against the stomacke and the Lord abhors such lukewarme tame fooles Hypocrites enemies of Christ 3. The third ranke of those that love not Christ are the fawning hypocrites that will fawne upon the Lord Jesus that make admirable faire weather and professe marvellous affectionate love unto him and will speake for a good cause and hazzard himselfe in it and when all is done he is an inward hater of Christ Of this sort I take Saul to bee 1 Sam. 15.13 the Lord gave a commandement to goe and kil all the Amalekites who when he saw Samuel comming toward him saith Blessed bee thou of the Lord here marke the tricke of an hypocrite I have performed the commandement of the Lord and therefore blessed be God that I see thee that I may give up my account unto thee But saith he What meaneth then this bleating of the sheepe in mine eares and the lowing of the oxen which I heare I need not speake for the bleatings of the sheepe shew that Saul is an hypocrite These men may be discovered by these two passages They doe not desire to give contentment to Jesus Christ but to themselves and withall they lift up their own glory with Christ Foure sorts of hypocrites Of this ranke there are foure sorts The wrangling hypocrite The whining hypocrite The vaine-glorious hypocrite The presumptuous hypocrite The first sort is the wrangling hypocrite I know many men that will professe they are at your command to serve you and to doe what they shall be commanded and they shall thinke themselves happy to be imployed by you and yet in conclusion they intend no such matter They desire to live no longer to do nothing but that which may promote the honour of the Lord Jesus and if they did not think to honour him by this or that they would not doe it but if it come to this that a man must leave his profits or livings or honours for Christ he will not say expressely he will not do it and that hee will not part with his honours and profits for Christ but yet he will stand to quarrell and say It is not fit to doe it and there is no command for it It is admirable to see and to conceive the vileness and basenesse that is in the spirits of these men for when the duty is revealed and enjoyned they will search far and neer to make it no duty they will rake the Divels skull and invent some new shifts to prove that it is not needfull to be done that so they may avoid the doing of it as it is amongst some that follow the fashions of the times though they pretend to doe things comely and to keep close to the Word yet if a new fashion come up though never so absurd they will forget their promise and plead for it not questioning what is lawfull but what most pleases their humour But observe this in thy owne soule do not thinke to quarrell with thy selfe about duties which the Lord requires at thy hands But art thou in good earnest content that the Word should be true as God would have it and to have that accounted naught which God saith is naught It is certaine many will say it for shame but they have an inward league between them and some sin they will not have that lawfull that they may not doe and they will not have that to be sinne which God saith is sinne that they may commit it with quiet ease and liberty striving more to content their owne hearts and the fashion then Christ They must content their liberty they will not be imprisoned and therefore will give full content to a spirit that desires freedome These never had this fire of love to Christ kindled in their hearts Now before I come to the next give me leave to unmaske this hypocrite and to dogge him to his owne doore and for this end First I will shew what this pretence of love to Christ is Secondly I will shew the prankes that hee hath to cover his hypocrisie withall and when both these are opened it will appeare that he onely intends to wrangle and that he hath not this true love of Jesus Christ For first he wil joyne side with Christ in the generall in the common nay when it cōes to the particular case wherin his heart withdrawes yet therein also he wil vow openly that he doth nothing but what his conscience tels him is fit to be done and that which his judgement is fully satisfied in Alas poore conscience he hath couzened thee before or else curbed and charmed thee by saying I am resolved that it is not so therefore conscience you must be of my side yet conscience replies You should not do this or that let the Lord have the glory and take you the shame that all may be warned for ever Thus it was with the old Prophet 1 Ki. 13.18 when he came to couzen the young Prophet he said I am a Prophet also as thou art an Angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord saying bring him back with thee into thine house And thus it is with this wretched hypocrite in his pretence of love unto Christ it is cleare in his conscience he dares not do any thing against the Lord Jesus and in his judgement and in his conscience he thinkes so and so hee hath peace at home but let him goe with his peace Again he will talke marvellously of Gods honour and of the promoting of the Gospel the
naughty spirit who endure not broken spirits Doth Christ come suddenly into the heart truely humbled and prepared Let us trie then and take a taste of the spirits of such men that are not able to beare nor endure the presence of poore broken hearted sinners If the servant will not lie for the masters advantage and if the child leaue his base courses and will not give a carnall father content according to his mind marke how their spirits rise against such men their hearts rise with marvellous desperate indignation against such men they cannot thinke of them with any quiet they cannot brook the sight of them if it be a servant never so loose and vile hee is regarded but the humble child is trampled upon and they say to him You had best goe to your holy brethren and to the company of such and such precise ones This is the undoubted argument of a gracelesse spirit either Christ erres or else thou art out of the way either Christ is to be blamed for his practice or thou Doth he come to such as are humbled and art thou weary of them Thou art a gracelesse soule and an enemy to the Lord of life When the people of Israel began to speake of going into the wildernesse to sacrifice to the Lord their God they did stinke and were abominable in the eyes of Pharaoh and the Egyptians indeed the Egyptians did alwayes dislike them Exod. 5.21 but now they were an abomination to them This was nothing else but a type Pharaoh is the Devill and this Egyptian servitude is our spirituall bondage under sinne How doth thy heart stand towards these poore soules Art thou carried with indignation against them It is an argument of a heart void of grace and that thou art an Egyptian to this day therefore the Lord will requite thee in thy owne kind and that thou art now weary of their society and art not able to live with them and art loath to be seene amongst them and darest not shew thy selfe to come within the compasse of a broken heart lest thy drunkken companions revile thee for the same and say art turned a Puritan now will you bee of their company and then thou swearest thou knowest them not This is a shrewd signe thou shalt never enioy the company of those poore Saints in glory Vse 3 The third use is a ground of instruction and we hence learne how to make choice of our companions Chuse the broken-hearted for companions Learne of our Saviour the broken hearted sinners are the best for society in the world and therefore reioyce thou in their company Let us not thinke much to come to such as Christ comes to let us not thinke that the basenesse of their persons or the meannesse of their estates will be any cause for us why we should discard or disdaine their company Be sure that thy soule bee farre from this carnall distemper Happily thy carnall friend will say Thou wilt disgrace thy person to keepe company with such as those are Make answer for thy selfe and against their face and say They are my betters yea the Lord Iesus Christ blessed for ever keeps company with them and shall not I doe it too The Lord Iesus desires no better company and shall I goe any further If he bee a sound broken hearted sinner it s no matter what his condition be As the Apostle Saint Iohn saith That you also may have fellowship with us 1 Iohn 1.3 Why may some say what great matter is that The Apostle saith our fellowship is no small matter for it is with God the Father and with Iesus Christ There is never a poore soule though hee goe barely and fare meanely but if his heart bee truely humbled his fellowship is with Iesus Christ which is no little matter Zech. 8.23 when the Lord had honoured the Iewes there came many citizens to them and took hold of the skirt of a Iew and said We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you So doe thou Dost thou see a broken hearted man lay hold on his skirts dwell in that house if thou canst and say I will liue with thee for ever God is with thee nay the Lord is in thee yea the company of an humbled soule is even a corner of heaven here upon earth It is so in truth and therefore let it be so in your judgements What is it to be in heaven Wee shall be ever with the Lord this is to be in heaven 1 Thes 4.17 Is this to be in heaven Then wheresoever thou art thou art with Christ thou art in heaven Whensoever thou art in the company of a broken hearted sinner thou art with Christ and therefore in heaven and whensoever thou commest into their company Christ Iesus will give thee the meeting Your fashionmungers count it a matter of credit to have Court fashions this is the Court fashion and the Court is where Christ our Lord and King is Christ dwels in such a house and in such a heart and therefore as thou dost hope to be with Christ for ever rejoyce to be with such persons this is the onely way that a man must take to chuse his company Doe good to all neighbours and all Christians and hope well of all but reioyce especially in those whose hearts are truely broken in the sight and presence of the Lord. Vse 4 4. It is a ground of thankfulnesse to all that are truely humbled before God Be thankfull for this great respect of Christ to thy poore soule Thus you ought to have your hearts stored with thankfulnesse nay to stand and wonder at the goodnesse and kindnesse of God I would have a man spend all his time this way When the Lord Iesus hath gone through many Countries and passed by many rich and honourable and great ones of the world and that he should looke in at a poore family and knocke at a poore mans doore and that hee should looke in at a poore wretched heart of a wife or of a child this is marvellous mercy If a great person especially a Prince or Monarch did looke into a poore mans house or come to visit a man in prison what would the world say Oh the like was never heard of the King himselfe in his owne person lighted there and staid there and went into the dungeon and conferred with him a great while Men would bee besides themselves if they had this favour from the King In Luke 1.43 when Mary was with child of the Lord and came to visit Elizabeth shee said to Mary Whence is this to mee that the mother of my Lord should come to mee I see no ground nor reason for this there is no worth on my part that I should looke for such favour Now if shee were so ravished with the presence of Mary the mother of Christ what maist thou bee then in regard of the presence of Christ himselfe that is come to lodge in thy
what thou wouldst have not after thy owne unworthinesse nor the kindnesse which others doe enjoy better than thy selfe murmuring that thou art not worthy whereas thou art not fitted that God should do any thing for thee This mis-judging many times carries the heart with a speciall mistaking against the Lord as it is with a poore creature that hath had the meanes but not received the like comfort and mercy thereby that others have see how the heart reasons saying Others have such and such assistance in the meane time God leaves me and such and such have evidence of his favour but God regards not me had I but such power against corruptions and such evidence of Gods love and favour as God hath given to such and such Christians farre younger than I I seeke and pray and intreat and have not and with that the heart is carried with a secret heart-burning against the Lord this breeds a secret kinde of wrangling and quarrelling and withdrawing from the Lord. Therefore labour thou to still those distempers and to rectifie thy selfe and to judge as thou oughtest Judge not thy selfe by what others have and by what thou deservest but say Blessed be God I am not as I might have been and blessed be God I am not as I have deserved for then I had either beene upon the chaine with felons or upon the gallowes with theeves and robbers or in the Ale-house at my abominations for my nature is prone to it as well as others I confesse I am not so holy as I ought to be but blessed be that mercy in Jesus Christ that I am as I am I have not what others have and yet it is a wonder that I have any thing at all at the hands of the Lord so unthankefull and dead-hearted as I am others are meeke and patient and heavenly and painfull and therefore it is a wonder that I have any thing at all Goe thy way and bee contented with the Lords goodnesse and quarrell no more and mis-judge the Lords kindnesse no more Thus you see the hindrances removed now there is a way made that the soule may come to some termes of love with God Meanes 2. 2. When the soule hath beene thus ordered we must labour to bee throughly acquainted with the beauty and sweetnesse of Christ in the promise that this may provoke our soules to love the Lord and to rejoyce in him When these hindrances are removed there is way made for the promise to come and meet with the soule these breed-bates are sent out of towne and now there may be some possibility of love and this is the next way to worke and draw our hearts to Christ and to kindle in us these affections of love and joy The soule that is loosened from all the causes of jarres and dissentions betweene Christ and him that soule is ready to match with the promise and to bestow it selfe in love upon Christ In a marriage a man must know the party first and the portion and understand both or else he can love neither so thou must see the beauty and excellency of the promise before thou canst love the Lord Jesus As it is in the baser affections the covetous man seeth a good bargaine before hee loves it so that it is the eye that makes the bargaine as one well observes so thou must looke wisely upon the promises and be able to know them and this will make thee love them as in Psal 91.14 Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath knowne my Name How came he to love the name of the Lord because he knew him as it is Cant. 1.2 when the name of our Saviour was as an ointment powred forth then did the virgins love him this name is the graces of our Saviour revealed and communicated to us and Cant. 4.9 see what our Saviour saith My sister my spouse thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chaine of thy necke this is by way of comparison from the lesse to the greater the Spouse of Christ is the Church of Christ and by eye and neck is meant nothing else but the beauty of his grace in the heart truely humbled now the Lord Jesus Christ lookes upon these graces and loves them and is ravished with the fight of them Now if the worke of grace in the heart of a poore sinner ravished the heart of Christ who is the God of all grace then much more if our hearts could but see one finger of the excellency that is in Christ they would bee ravished with earnest love and kindled with violence towards him There are three things that ought mainely to bee respected in the promise that we may eye and apprehend and that our hearts may be kindled with love to the Lord and these three worke love any where First the worth of the party in himselfe Secondly the desert of the party Thirdly the readinesse of the party in himselfe to seeke our good Three things in Christ to make us love him So it is with the Lord Jesus first he is worthy of our love in himselfe considered Secondly he hath deserved it Thirdly he seekes our love Thou that dwellest in a poore cottage wilt hardly beleeve this but I say he seekes thy love First Christ is worthy in himselfe I wonder that the Lord Jesus Christ will suffer himselfe to be beloved by such wretches as wee are if wee had a thousand hearts to bestow upon him we were never able to love him sufficiently for as Nehemiah said Nehem. 9.5 The name of the Lord is above all praise and as the name of God is above all praise that wee can give him so the name of the Lord is above all the love that we can bestow upon him Will you let out your love and affections as wee use to say in the market it is a good penny worth it is worth more money than you shall pay for it so if you will lay out all the affections that you have you may lay them out here and that with good advantage too What would you have you may have enough for your money Wouldst thou have beauty then thy Saviour is beautifull Psal 45.2 Thou art fairer than the children of men yea he is full of grace nay the Spouse Cant. 5.10 saith My beloved is the cheife of ten thousand and in the 16. verse Hee is altogether lovely hee is a very beautifull husband There is no beauty in the world but it hath its blemish nor no day so faire but it hath its clouds but the Lord Jesus Christ is altogether love if beauty will please thee he is altogether excellent Would you have strength Psal 45.3 hee is all strength A wife would not have a cowardly husband therefore the Text saith Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O most mighty ride on prosperously so that Kings are slaine and people shall fall
of the next ditch must containe and content them till their dying day Yet to such as these the proposition of Habakkuk extendeth it selfe If the persons and causes be alike the joy also shall bee alike I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation If Christ be come into the house and by him salvation who shall forbid them to bee comfortable as Zacheus and the Jaylor I will rejoyce in the Lord or because of the Lord Bajehova and so in the next clause Baelohi God is left unto me when all else is taken away still I I have a God to take comfort in And First he is greater matter of comfort than any of those things can be of sorrow and dejection for those are finite evils but God an infinite good Secondly he is higher than they all my comfort lies out of the reach of all enemies and all adversities Psal 46.1 Thirdly he is nearer than any of them a very present refuge in the time of trouble Losses and crosses goe neere to the heart and to the quick but God is nearer Fourthly he is Jehova in whom I rejoyce hath his being of himselfe and gives being to all the creatures and preserves it so long as him pleaseth Therefore by his benefit I shall subsist when all the secundary meanes of maintenance are intercepted Matth. 4.4 Man lives not by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Fifthly he is the God of my salvation that is he saves my body and naturall life whether I have meanes or no meanes it is he that strikes the maine stroke in my preservation by an Hebraisme oft called The God of salvation and this not only temporally for the body but spiritually and eternally for the soule And then the argument is easie He that doth the greater will doe the lesse too God that saves us from hell the Divell will save us from starving and the like miseries Jehova that became the Lord Jesus to us when we had no strength will never sticke with us for trifles in comparison This sweet and blessed name meets him that reads the Text in the Originall Baelohi jishgni which Saint Jerome translates in God my Jesus or Saviour just as the Virgin sang Luke 1 47. De civit Dei l. 18. c. 32. My spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour and Saint Austine preferres the using of this nomen amicius dulcius before the Septuagints Deo salutari meo Certaine it is that by Christ only we have interest in God and can rejoyce in him There is no salvation in any other Act. 4.12 nor any other name given under heaven by wich wee can be saved And in him doe all true Christians triumph Phil. 3.3 not in the righteousnesse of the Law nor in any legall and carnall priviledges And wee have ample cause to rejoyce in him even in the greatest failing of naturall comforts and greatest desolations that can come upon us Although the fig-tree blossome not c. Although there be another drought another and ten years one after another and a greater mortality of pestilence and the sword too with all the mischiefes that accompany it Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation In greatest wants true Christians have cause enough to rejoyce in God Doctr. However the world goes for comforts of nature yet in Christ wee have full cause to rejoyce and so should stirre up our selves to doe See Psal 42.5 7 8 9 10 11. and 73.25 26 27 28. Dying Jacob lifted up himselfe by thinking on the salvation which God had wrought for him Gen. 49.18 Job stript of all praised God as when hee had all about him Moses seeing him that is invisible feared not the wrath of the King Micaiah having seene God in a vision was nothing daunted at the presence of two glorious Kings The three children beleeving in God regarded neither NebuchadneZZars anger nor the furnace extraordinarily heated So the Apostles Acts 4. and 5. and the Martyrs in severall histories of the Church Reason 1 Eccles 1.2 One reason whereof may be taken from the vanity of the creature Vanity of vanities vanity of vanities saith the Preacher all is vanity and vexation of spirit They are good comforts of nature where they may be had and a good man will make them so many encouragements in the way of grace But God never appointed them to be part of the Saints portion Gen. 15.1 No I am thy portion thy buckler and great reward and so the Christian makes account Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my portion saith my soule therefore will I hope in him And he sets no such high price upon wine oyle or other comforts as that without them he should not rejoyce in his God So he either parts with them the more easily or wants them the more joyfully Reason 2 The other is taken from the superabundant excellencie of the Creator Both in respect of his Attributes on which whiles a Christian meditates hee shall ever finde something to set against his particular maladie with a large over-plus of comfort And in respect of his Workes both of Creation and Providence and this both for preservation and gubernation Psal 92.4 5. Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy worke I will triumph in the workes of thy hands O Lord how great are thy workes and thy thoughts are very deepe And these very evils drought dearth warre c. are they not by Gods permission and limited how long they shall continue and ordered to a good end Rom. 8.28 And in respect of his Ordinances The Word is our song in the house of our pilgrimage and the joyfull tidings of our salvation The Sacrament is a marriage supper of the great King for his onely Sonne Eate O friends drink yea drink abundantly Cant. 5.1 Psal 84.1 O beloved And the Tabernacles of God are amiable the onely joy of David And in respect of his unspeakable benefits in and by Christ that one word Salvation is an epitome of all blessings it comprehends the causes means effects and perpetuitie of our blessednesse and absolute overthrow of the enemies and specially the immediate authour of salvation which is Christ It would aske an houres discourse and more to tell in particular what ample cause we have to rejoyce in Christ that if we had nothing left us but naked Christ in naked Christ we should have Peace and Joy enough John 16.33 Christ at the worst and poorest is a rich treasure Quod cunque Deo indignum est mihi expedit Tert. Whatsoever became him not as God is expedient and profitable unto us even his shamefull accursed death And if his death be so joyous and blissfull what shall his resurrection be his ascension session at the right hand of his Father and intercession for us with all the gracious execution of his Kingly and Propheticall
chap. 3.16 When I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voyce rottennesse entred into my bones and I trembled my selfe that I might rest in the day of trouble When wee teach joy in God amidst great calamities we teach not an Atheisticall Cyclopicall contempt of the judgements of God God forbid but to take off the edge sharpnesse of afflictions by the exercises of humiliation Even reckoning makes long friends which is true of God and his people If wee would judge our selves 1 Cor. 11.31 we should not be judged Thirdly be much and often in the dutie of prayer the Prophets course in this chapter vers 1. A prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet upon Sigionoth No stream of joy will run in a dry yeare but that which springs up from the mountaine of heaven If wee make our moane to our Father in heaven and get a comfortable answer from him that is comfort that will sticke by us and stay with us when wee have most need of it Joh. 16.24 Aske that your joy may be full Fourthly because Beggars must not be chusers nor may the holy One of Israel be limited therefore resolve to wait the Lords leasure till he have mercy upon you Psal 123.1 2. with Hab. 2.1 I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved Stay with God in his good wayes at last there will be a vision of comfort Hastinesse of spirit loseth many a comfortable returne of prayer He that beleeveth Isai 28.16 must not make haste Fifthly in seeing iniquity abound which thou canst not helpe and redresse yet be not senselesse but moane thy selfe the evill times before God by fasting and prayer Thus our Prophet made his moane Chap. 1.2 3 4. O Lord how long shall I cry and thou wilt not heare even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save why doest thou shew mee iniquitie c. They that mourned for the abominations of Jerusalem in the time of peace were marked in the foreheads in the time of trouble and desolation Ezek. 9.4 None shall have the victorie over sinne and the sad effects of it but hee that holds up the quarrell against it though in present he get but little ground both in himselfe and others Lastly in seeing the oppression of men which Solomon said Eccles 7.7 is apt to make a wise man mad look up to God complain to him and referre to him the righting of all iniuries So did our Prophet ch 1.12 Art thou not from everlasting O Lord my God mine holy One we shall not die O Lord thou hast ordained them for judgement and O mightie God thou hast established them for correction They are mighty but God is mightier than they and will pay them one day for all the desolations they have made on earth Downe shall come tumbling one day both the Chaire and Tower of Babylon and the whore that was drunken with the bloud of Saints Rev. 17.6 and of the Martyrs of Jesus Now they lay whole countries waste and desolate to establish their idolatrie and superstition The fig-tree blossomes not neither is fruit in the vines c. yet both these Churches in their miseries have cause to rejoyce in the God of their salvation and we for them If we ply him well in prayer we may yet see them reap in joy after their sowing in teares and as much rejoyce with Sion as ever we mourned for Sion And in the mean time Psal 73.1 at the very worst Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Ob. All this while you discourse of temporals which it may be easie to want and yet rejoyce still in the Lord but what say you to persecution to the broken heart to the terrors of God in the soule and other spirituall evils how can we now rejoyce in the Lord or joy in the God of our salvation Answ None of these may banish all ioy from the heart of a poore beleever Prov. 15.33 Before honour saith Solomon goeth humility and before consolation humiliation They that sow in teares shall reape in joy Psal 120.5 We will open this Text something largely and therein satisfie the objection the more fully It is to be understood 1. Of the Church in generall The common estate of Gods Church in this world is to bee under the Crosse and the end of that is the Crowne of ioy and glory A good issue there is of all the Saints trials So in this Psalme the Jewish Church had been seventy yeares in the hard captivitie of Babylon They hanged up their harpes at the willowes Psal 137.1 2 3. they wept at the remembrance of Sion their enemies flouted them and required songs in their heavinesse too grievous to last alwayes their God raiseth up a Cyrus for them who shall send them home to their own countrey and not send them empty but with great riches and encouragements and sooner or later the Church shall be rid of all tyrants and persecuters Antichrist Gog and Magog and every enemy 2. Of the particular members of the Church Each childe of God which is now under hatches and often forc'd to water his plants shall one day receive of the Lord double for all his sorrow and perplexitie as in instances First in the act of conversion unto God there is much fear sorrow both by the law condemning and especially by the Gospel aggravating sin to the height of heynousnesse The Christian is wearie heavie laden Mat. 5.3 4 11 28. poore in spirit mournfull ready to despaire But here Christ comprehends him and gives him faith to lay hold on his merit whereby hee is blessed and comfortable Math. 5.3 4. and godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 Secondly in the holy acts of renewing our repentance for example before a Sacrament in time of calamitie at the worke of the Ministery awaking and summoning the heart to make peace with God againe for relapses this costeth the Christian some paines and trouble of conscience and sometimes he is very low brought but all is for setling a stronger and firmer peace in his soule Psal 30.5 11. After a storme Christ ever brings a great calme into the heart Thirdly in mourning for the abhominations of the times This takes away the comfort that others have to the world-ward and macerates a Christian with vexing grieving sighing praying fasting but will procure the marke of deliverance in the evill day Ezek. 9.4 and joy with the Church and children of God for whom somtimes he vexed his righteous soule Esay 66.10 11. And saith our Saviour Ye shall weep Joh. 16.20 33. the world rejoyce but your sorrow shall be turned into joy in me you shal have peace Fourthly in enduring the afflictions of the Gospel or of the world shame