THE CONTENT OF A WAYFARING MAN AND THE ACCOMPT OF A MINISTERS REMOVALL TWO SERMONS The one preached at the Morning Lecture in the Citie of London the other more enlarged in another Congregation BY J. F. M. A. Nihil tibi aequè proficiet ad temperantiam omnium rerum q. à .n frequens cogitatio brevis aevi hujur incerti Hieron ad Hâ—liod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in 1 Tim. Hom. 17. LONDON Printed by Matthew Simmons 1648. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN LORD ROBERTS Baron of TRURO All increase of lasting Honour and Felicity Right Honorable THis hasty undrest Birth being forced out of doores by the importunity of divers godly Ministers and Friends begges a covering from your Honours Name whose merits are so well known unto the world in those publick imployments to which you have been ingaged as if I should attempt to adde any lustre I should but light a Candle to the Sunne and shadow that beauty which an abler pensill hath lately drawn Master Samuel Bolton in his Epist Dedic to his Arraignment of Errour I had not adventured upon the Acumen of your wisdome and parts for patronage of this infirm labour had not your accustomed candor prompted me with afavourable excuse of this honest ambitiion partly from that wel-known love your Honour bears to learning piety partly from the coÌ„stant experience of your abundant favours of which I desire in this smal monument to perpetuate the acknowledgements and partly from the subject of the first ensuing discourse which may be not unsuitable to your affection of a coÌ„templative retirednes and a contentive sweetnes in your self-injoyments your Honour not aspiring great things for your selfe in Jacobs day of small things most nobly disdaining to make your Morsels fat out of the publick wants although your losses may be as great as some others Heroick Sir I trust neither of these Sermons will be unsavoury to your goodnesse though both unworthy your learning The first Sermon presents you the felicity of an humble content and peaceable retirednesse a Discourse not unseasonable in times so full of trouble and uncertaintie as ours are The second discovers the lawfull ends and unkind provocations of a Ministers removall yeelding both an Apologie for the Minister and an Alarm to the people whatsoever they are Hope which is the Mother of Boldnesse and Mistresse of Endeavour hath brought them unto your hands to do some service to the Church of God and to your Honour wherein if they shall 〈◊〉 so happy it will both Comfort and Crowne him who is servant to both In all Gospel duties intirely obliged JOHN FATHERS THE CONTENT OF A WAYFARING MAN OR Jeremies Cottage in the Wildernesse JEREM. 9.2 O that I had in the Wildernesse a lodging place of wayfaring men that I might leave my people and goe from them Or thus Oh that I had the Cottage of a Wayfaring man in the Wildernesse WE have here Jeremies Content and Jeremies Account His Content was moderate He aspired no great things for himselfe nor Bishops Lands nor Deanes Houses A Cottage was his Content and his Content was sutable to his Condition His Condition was a Wayfaring-man Non lequitur de diversoriis quae trant in pagis urbibus sed de diversoriis deserti quemadmodum videhimus ubi per sylvas longum est molestum iter tuguria quaedam componisi fortè deprehensus fuerit viater tenebris noctis ut possit latere sub tecto scil nè sub die cubet Calv. in Loc. and the Cottage of a Wayfaring-man was his Content onely a hole to hide his head in a storm and to afford him a nights lodging in his Way And that in no stately Citie where perhaps a small Cottage may be of more value then a large Farm in the Countrey But the Cottage of a wayfaring-man in the wildernesse And Wildernesse whether you take it literally for a place smaâ—y inhabited as that wildernesse wherein the Priests had 6 Cities or for a place not at all inhabited as that to which Jeremies wild Asse was used or figuratively for a rude and untaught people as Wildernesse doth often signifie in holy Scriptures Either way it suits very well with Jeremies Content who desired to enjoy himselfe in a peaceable retirednesse which he could not in a tumultuous Citie and probably as he had better hopes of the safety of his person amongst wilde beasts then wicked men so of the successe of his Ministery amongst a rude and ignorant people in the wildernesse then amongst those whose knowledge did puffe them up in Jerusalem For so we find Jeremies Account why he desired the Cottage of a wayfaring-man in the wildernesse That I might leave my people and goe from them My people His they were though they were so bad Jeremy you will yeeld was an able painfull faithfull couragious Minister who feared not the frownes of Kings nor Princes Fetters nor Dungeon for the faithfull discharge of his Ministery and yet so good as he was he was unhappily matcht with a bad people and so bad they were as that he did desire to leave them and yet not leave them without leave from God or love to them Not without leave from God for these words we must not conceive to fall at randum from Jeremy as if he were hurried away from his people by passion or discontent but as he sayes Chap. 11. v. 20. Vnto thee O Lord have I revealed my cause And Chap. 20. 12. Vnto thee O Lord have I opened my cause He seeks to God for a place of remove and would remove as the Israelites in the wildernesse at Gods command Not without love to them for though he did leave them yet hee would not leave to pray for them to pray in teares and teares in abundance and that abundance not sufficient to content his love but that he wishes for more O that my head were full of waters and mine eyes a fountain of teares that I might weep day and night for the captivity of the daughter of my people verse 1. of this Chapter For so you must joyn that verse to this and you have then and there a double account of Jeremies option for a Cottage in the wildernesse Seeing his preaching could doe no good in Jerusalem he was desirous to retire himselfe to prayer and to pray in teares as Jeremy did retirednesse is best Foreseeing their Captivity he was unwilling to see it and therefore desired to enjoy himself in a peaceable retirednesse rather then to live in Jerusalem with fire over his head O that I had the Cottage of a Wayfaring man in the wildernesse that I might leave my people and go from them I have now given you the Analysis of the Text and you see there is much in it and I have little time I shall endeavour as well as I can to contract much into little and shall confine my selfe to the two generall heads of the Text Jeremiahs Content
Word Yea but his Ministery was of heavie things yea and he would not abate one syllable of his message Jerem. 36.32 though he saw the Kings wrath the Nobles frowns and the stinking Dungeon before him But what say you then to Isaiah He was a man for these times he was stiled the Evangelicall Prophet Sam. 19.2.27 and as David spake of Abimaaz He is a good man and bringeth good tidings His prophesies were for the most part Gospel he did mysteriously and sweetly hold forth Jesus Christ and yet if you will beleeve him he had as little comfort amongst his people as other Mininisters might have amongst theirs I have laboured in vaine saith he and spent my strength for nothing Isai 49.4 But what speak I of the servant the Lord it is of whom this prophesie speaks as appeares by that which followes verse 6. Acts 13.47 I will also give thee for a light of the Gentiles and for salvation unto the ends of the earth Which words the Apostle Paul in his Sermon at Antioch 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Pet. 2.22 Matth. 22.16 Luke 20.21 bringeth home unto that admirable piece of that great mystery of Godlinesse Christ preached unto the Gentiles And now for Christ the Sunne saw never any mans life more inoffensive then his His Doctrine was with authority he was a Teacher sent from God and taught the word of God truly his greatest opposites being his witnesses and yet it is the succeslesnesse of his owne Ministery unto the circumcision of which himself by the Prophet complaineth I have laboured in vain I spent my strength for nothing Of him also the Divine Evangelist testifieth that He came unto his own and his own received him not John 1.11 It is more then manifest he gave that blessing to the Ministery of the Apostles which he with-held from his owne There were more converted at one Sermon of Peter then wee can read of by Christ in all his life time such was our Lords condescention to honour his Ordinances in his servants more then in himselfe Now by two or three witnesses truths may be established but if for further confirmation you desire reasons why a good Minister may be ill matcht with a bad people and the fault not his may you please to consider these Reason 1 1. Mininisters may say as Jacob Are we in Gods stead who hath with-held from us the fruit of our Ministery whose prerogative alone it is to make the sterill heart fruitfull Gen. 30.2 1 Cor. 3.7 and to beget the new creature in the barren conscience the labour is our worke the blessing is his 2. Our spirituall Seed is not alwayes visible some may lie under the clods A remnant may return though the generality be stark naught Isaiah 10.22 3. What if the Lord be pleased to send his Ezekiels to a rebellious House that will not heare them Gods glory is never the lesse Ezek. 2.3 Isai 15.11 Ezek. 2.5 though ours be under foot His Word doth the work for which hee sends it and if the people know no more yet this they shall know that the Lord hath sent a Prophet amongst them He was not wanting to their good in outward means if by not improving them they had not been wanting unto their owne Give me leave now to make some short application of this point and I have two words to say to People to Minister Vse 1 1. To the People and let me beseech you good people do not lay those burthens on your Ministers shoulders which belong unto your own It is one of the damnable stratagems of Hell to keep the people from profitablenesse under the Ministery of the Word by misrepresenting unto them the causes of their unprofitablenesse and it is one of the mighty methods of Satan to perswade them to charge the causes any where then where they ought upon their own hearts Yet one word more good people beare and I pray beare with your Ministers complainings under your unprofitablenesse for surely their discomforts are exceeding great not as you give out for their went of outward comforts For without all question God will never leave a godly Minister unprovided for If he straghten him in one place he will make room for him in another But because Gods glory and your soules are dearer unto them then their lives Moses for the glory of Gods name Exod. 32.32 Rom. 9.3 was contented to have his owne blotted out of the book of life and Paul for the salvation of many was prest in zeale to have parted with his own Nay beloved I will speak a bold word and a true your soules are much dearer unto your Ministers then they are unto your selves For did you bestow but halfe those paines and cares about your own soules which they bestow upon yours how good how much better would they be How prodigall are many of the sonnes of Adam to barter away the pretious purchase of Christs blood for an Apple their Birth-right for a messe of pottage their soules upon every slight temptation when it costs their Minister many a night watches many a painfull swets many a carefull thoughts and heavy Ephialts to recover the spoile out of the strong mans hands again Vse 2 To my fellow-labourers in the Gospel such as doe see their seed and travell of their soule whose lot is fallen unto them in a faire ground and they have a good Congregation Faelices nimium bona si sua norint I would have them to blesse God much for this rich mercy who have cast their lot amongst a people reverently affected unto their Ministery And I would perswade them with all tendernesse of spirit and condescension to blow up every sparke of good which they see amongst their people A word more I have to my fellow-sufferers who are discomfortably matcht with an unkinde and untractable people though their comfort be lesse then others yet their reward may not for our reward is not according to our successe but according to our labours I have laboured in vaine I have spent my strength for nothing saith Christ saith Esay But my Judgement is with the Lord and my work with the most High Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorified The clouds doe kindly serve divine providence in dropping down their fatnesse though the earth be not fruitfull and the Sunne in giving out his influences though the clay be hardned should wee cast our pearles before swine Which doe not onely refuse our pearles but rend our persons Our pearles are not the lesse precious nor our kindnesse the lesse acceptable unto Jesus Christ for whose sake wee both labour and suffer I remember a passage between Christ and Peter Luke 5.4 5. Christ coming into Peters ship to preach after he had don his Sermon bad Peter to cast out his net into the Sea for a draught of fish why Sir saith Peter I have fisht all night and have caught nothing neverthelesse
Is not truth almost banished under pretence of truth And Religion disgraced under shew of Religion Compare Ezek. 10.2 with 11.7 Zech. 13.6 Thus have I been wounded saith Christ in the house of my friends Turkes and Infidels sinne singly they professe themselves Christs enemies and they are so but this is Duplex multiplex iniquitas a complicated compound of iniquity 1. To injure the Lord Jesus who seeks our eternall welfare 2. To doe it under shew of friendship 3. Against knowledge and against some sense of love for both these must be in profession 6. Did London did England did two Nations ever enter into such solemne Covenants as have been lately not onely published in our Cities but hung up in our Churches as inviolable records of our ingagements and as standing Witnesses against our revolts And hath not London hath not England have not the two Nations sinned not onely against but with their Covenants Serving our lusts and not our God by them The Greeke word that signifies Oath or Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 includo unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 septum vel ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terminus is derived from a word which signifies also an hedge or bound and we have not onely broken our hedge our bound but even laid it flat to the ground whereby Gods wrath breaks in every where upon us and he is inforced to unsheath his sword againe The avenger of his Covenant And now let London lay all these provocations and aggravations together and see if there be not cause enough for their Jeremies to wish for cottages in the wildernesse that they might leave their people and goe from them Yea will London be entreated to see how many faithfull Jeremy's have been provoked already to leave the Citie who are now retired into their cottages to pray for those to whom their preaching could doe no good And as Solon when Athens was taken by Pisistratus hung up his Speare and Target at the Citie-gates with this Protestation Oh Athens I have ayded thee both in word and deed so may those faithfull Ministers say that have left you Oh London wee have done what wee could to warne thee of thy sinnes and of those judgements which are like to follow them Shall I have leave to tell you of above fortie Churches in this Citie that are or were lately empty and many more from which godly grave and Orthodoxe Ministers have been forced to remove through want of maintenance or through other discouragements I would lay before you but one motive to quicken the bitter sense of this Even the mischievous consequence of it And I will give it you in a Scripture instance You shall reade in the 2 of Chronicles the 28. ver 24. That in Ahaz time in Jerusalem which is Londons paralel the doores of the Lords house were shut and Altars set up in every corner of the Citie And what followed Why grosse apostafie in the people and shortly after utter desolation of the Citie Surely there is no Omen so sad of Londons hastning misery as their unkinde provocations of the departure of their godly Ministry I need not tell you what followed Noahs entring into the Arke or Lots departure out of Sodom or what the Protestants in Queen Mary's dayes acknowledged that those Marian-dayes were the just issues of their disdaine of godly Ministers in King Edwards dayes but this remember that the dust of your Ministers departure shall rise up as a testimony against you and where Christs Ambassadours of peace are forced to depart Compare Ezek. 9.3 with 1◠9 their peace departs with them The glory of God did not long stay on the Citie when once it was departed from the Sanctuary If the candles are put out the shops are all shut up Interpres what that means Isa 9.19 If the Land be darkened and t is darkned with a witnesse when the Sun of righteousnesse withdraws his Gospel light the people shall shortly be for fuell to the fire of Gods wrath Vse 2 I have yet a word of Counsell to leave behinde mee before I goe unto my cottage And first unto my brother Jeremy who desires a cottage in the wildernesse I would desire him heedfully to write after his Copie here to see that he hath lawfull ends and warrantable grounds to leave his people I need not repeat Jeremy's ends or his peoples provocations againe Two things onely I have in advice from Jeremy in Jerusalem to Jereremy in England which I noted in the analysis of the Text. 1. That he leave not his people without leave from God Nor 2. Without love to them 1. Not without leave from God Jeremy doth not let fall these words at Randum or in passion but in dolour of his spirit as elsewhere he sayes he commends his way unto God Jerem. 20.12 Vnto thee O Lord have I opened my cause If all mens wayes are in Gods dispose his Ministers are all wayes Sometime Paul is ordered to stay at Corinth when he is willing to remove Sometime to remove from Jerusalem when he is willing to stay alwayes he waites upon the Lords call to direct all his wayes Non omnes possumus esse Caesares wee cannot all be Assembly men Some must be Country-men all cannot live in the Cities some must goe abroad into the Villages All are not appointed to great places some unto small some have their pallaces others their cottages Wheresoever our lot shall fall wee must see that we have a divine call to warrant our way and then if wee have little wee must be contented because it is our portion If wee have more wee must be more thankfull because it is above our deservings Whether wee have more or lesse we must be both contented and thankfull Because it is Gods will Let our lot fall unto us in a faire ground or a foule wee must both contentedly and thankfully submit our way unto Gods dispose onely for more peace and comfort and for better successe of his Ministry is Jeremy's desire O that I had the cottage of a wayfaring-man in the Wildernesse that I might leave my people and goe from them 2. As Jeremy would not leave his people without leave from God so not without love to them although he could receive no love from them for though he did leave them yet he will not leave to pray for them and to pray in teares and teares in abundance and that abundance not yet enough to expresse his love but he wishes for more in the verse before my Text O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of teares that I might weep day night for the slaine of the daughter of my people Ministers may preach plausibly but with Jeremy to mourn in searet is the tryall of their sincerity And for such a people as Jeremy had is a tryall indeed 2 Cor. 12.15 Paul spends and is spent both in praying and