or longings after it such as these they do shew themselves to be very far from spiritual thirst which is here offered unto us Thirst it is a desire with some earnestness and vehemency and unsatiableness which is in it as David Oh that one would give me of the water of Bethlehem to drink when he longed for it And Sampson though otherwise a strong man he was ready to die and perish for thirst even so is there likewise the same proportionable impetuousness in Grace as that nothing will satisfie it but a greater measure and degree of it self and of Christ himself who is the giver of it As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God Psal 42.1 2. And so Psal 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is Where thirsting is explain'd by longing as pertinent to it And so I have done also with the second General part of the Text which is the Invitation of access or seasonable Application in these words And let him that is athirst come The third and last is the Intimation of acceptance or grateful entertainment in those And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Wherein again we have three Branches more First The benefit mentioned and that is the water of life Secondly The persons to whom this benefit is offered and that is whosoever will Thirdly The offer it self let him take of it freely For the first The benefit here mentioned it is the water of life whereby we are in a word to understand the Grace of Christ according to the full latitude and extent of it whether the Grace of Justification in the pardon and forgiveness of sin or the Grace of Sanctification in the purging and washing away of sin or the Grace of Assurance in the comfort and peace of conscience either of these are implied in this expression which we have here before us and indeed all together This water of life it is the Grace of Christ with all the appurtenances that belong unto it and means that make way for it and effects which are consequent of it It is Grace and Glory both Grace as it tends to Glory and Glory as it follows upon Grace The gift of God is eternal life both in the end and in the means and this is the water of life which is here offered and propounded unto us for our receiving of it Thus it is if we take it generally and at large But if we take it more particularly and as limited and restrained so the Scripture it self is herein its own best interpreter as we have it plainly declared unto us in Joh. 7.38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water This says St. John he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified So then according to this reckoning the water of life should be nothing else but the Spirit of God in the Gifts and Graces of it which indeed not excluding the other is that which is here chiefly and principally to be understood by us That reconciliation which is purchased by Christ but received and applied by Faith which is a fruit and work of the Spirit and Holy Ghost in us as all other Graces are besides and so fitly and properly exprest by living water There are two words in this Metaphor to be observed and taken notice of by us the Principal and the Accessary the Principal that is water the accessary that is the water of life and the Grace of Christ it holds its resemblance and correspondency to both First It has a resemblance to water and accordingly is compared hereunto both in this Text and other places of Scripture in regard of that Analogy and proportion which it bears thereunto in sundry particulars Look what water is as to the necessities and supplies of our humane and natural life the same is the Grace of Christ as to our Divine and Spiritual We may take it in these following instances as a taste of the rest First For purifying and cleansing Water it is eminent for that and so is the Grace of Christ for the taking away of the several spots and defilements and pollutions of sin Thus Eph. 5.25 26. it is said of Christ that he gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word So Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water The Grace of Christ is a spiritual Bath wherein the whole man of a Christian both outward and inward is purified and cleansed Secondly For cooling and refrigeration and quenching of thirst it is compared to water for that likewise This Grace of Christ as abating the heat of lust and allaying the terrors of conscience and extinguishing of the fiery darts of the devil as the Apostle calls them Thirdly For increase and fructification Water it makes plants to grow and flourish and sprout up and so does the Grace of God such persons as are endued with it They shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches shall spread and their beauty shall be as the Olive-tree and their smell as Lebanon as it s in Hos 14.5 Fourthly and lastly Grace is compared to water in its manner of operation as namely that it so runs as that it is always joyn'd unto its Principle Sic fluit ut semper sit conjunct a suo principio It is an Observation upon it out of Austin and so Grace in a Christian it so flows as that it always knits and conjoyns him to Christ Of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace as the Evangelist has it John 1.16 And then the ascent of it is answerable to the descent of it even so is it likewise with Grace which as it first of all comes from God so it carries us up again to him That 's the first part of this resemblance as Grace is compared to water for the Principal The second is as it is compared to the water of life for the accessary and the advancement of it Thus it is frequently call'd in Scripture living water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This it is by way of Eminency as that which does tend to life in the scope and drift of it as also does end in life as the effect and that which follows upon it Indeed every thing which belongs to salvation it is usually in Scripture exprest and fet forth by life The word of life and the bread of life and the crown of life c. And so here now the
knowest that I love thee so of any thing else In our sighings and groanings and lispings out of Prayer unto him that he searcheth the hearts and knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit as the Apostle signifies Rom. 8.26 All my desire is before thee says David and my groaning is not hid from thee Psal 38.9 What a great comfort was this to David and so when he had a mind to build God a Temple God saw that it was in his heart and commended and recorded him for it as if it had been actually accomplished by him 1 King 2 18. Whereas it was in thine heart to build an House unto my Name thou didst well that it was in thine heart God judgeth of his Actions by his Affections and so he will do of any others where they are real and sincere accept of the will for the deed and that which we would do in the uprightness and integrity of our spirits to account as done by us And so likewise as to the thing it self so to the manner Though there may be failings in some particular circumstances yet the Lord tryeth the hearts and judgeth of his Servants according to the Habitual Frame and Disposstion of Spirit which is in them There is much comfort in this And so much may be spoken of the First Notion in which Trying may be taken namely in a way of Discovery and Manifestation The Lord tryeth the heart namely So. The Second is in a way of Purification He tries them that is he purges them and removes their Corruptions from them This is another thing which is observeable in him and exhibited also in Scripture thus Mal. 3.2 3. He shall sit as a refiner and purifyer of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver And this not excluding the former seems principally to be here intended in this Text as may appear by the force of the Comparison which is used for the Illustration of it The Lord undertakes the purging of the hearts of those which belong unto him and removing of their Corruptions from them Thus also Zach. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tryed they shall call on my name This the Lord delights to do upon sundry consisiderations First Out of love to themselves that he may make them Vessels of Honour God has a special regard to their betterment and amendment in it as the Gold-Smith has to his Gold which we shewed out of the former words Secondly In reference to their Works That they may bring forth more fruit Joh. 18.2 And that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness Mal. 2.3 An untryed that is an unpurified heart cannot present any thing acceptable to God nor do any thing which is well pleasing in his sight Vnto the pure all things are pure all things are pure but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled as it is in Tit. 1.18 And then Thirdly For the sake of others also there is much good which comes likewise to them The Tryals of some of God's Servants make very much for the Improvement of the rest As we may see indivers examples of the Saints if we look into the Book of God This is first Matter of due Thank fulness and Acknowledgment from us We have great cause to bless God who is pleased to take such courses with us not to suffer our Rust to eat into us or our Dross to adhere and stick close to us over-long without some purging of it away from us Where we learn also to submit to his Skill and Wisdom in this particular The Clay may not say to the Potter What dost thou nor yet the Gold and Silver his Refiner If God will please at any time to try us and purge away our Iniquities from us we must leave it to his Holy Providence by what ways to do it for us as he shall judge most fitting and expedient whether by his Word or by his Rod by Mercies or Crosses by the fire or any other way It is enough for us that God will purifie us but which way he should do it whether in this or in that this we must freely commit to himself to determine for us Therefore we may farther here add for this purpose That as there is an indefiniteness in the Object so likewise in the Act As it is Hearts indefinitely so it is Try indefinitely also neither limiting it to the Fining Pot or to the Furnace not to one more than to another Secondly As this is matter of Thank fulness so it is moreover matter of Enquiry We should try how far forth this Tryal hath past upon us and hath had effect in us that we may be pure Metal to Christ and he may take some delight in us which otherwise he will not do And more especially after those means of Tryal which God hath been pleased to use towards us and as I mentioned before let us see what we are after these when we have been in the Fining Pot and in the Furnace how much better we are for them It is an Examination which may well become us whether our hearts or no for our particular have come under these meltings of God here implyed If they have they will run out so much the more in obedience to him as in the place before cited Zach. 13.9 I will try them as Gold is tryed and they shall call upon my Name Where there is Liquatio Metalli as we may so speak the melting and overflowing of the Metal This Gold being tryed it does run out in calling upon God and owning him for theirs And so much for this But in the first sense as it has an Emphasis of Proportion The Second is an Emphasis of Exception But the Lord tryeth the hearts As restraining the skill of the Refiner in this particular he may be able to refine his Silver and Gold and try and discover those Metals Oh! but he cannot try the heart This is so deep a bottom as there is no Creature can dive into it nay not even the Devil himself unless there where we open the door unto him There is no outward means whatsoever which in the simple use of them can better the Inward Man As not the Refinings so neither the Offerings of Gold and Silver will better the heart in any measure In matters of the World men can sometimes extend their skill inwardly as Physicians now and then to the detecting and likewise curing of inward Diseases But in spiritual things here we are at a loss and are mistaken if we expect any thing from them where by the way we have condemned the Superstitious Conceits of Papists and such like in this matter Thirdly This does further carry in it an Emphasis of Appropriation But the Lord tryeth the hearts that is the
world that I should bear witness to the truth Joh. 18.37 Even so may every one say besides For this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should live according to the truth The consideration of this Point may be thus far useful to us First to teach us where especially to spend our chiefest thoughts and endeavours And that is upon this one thing which is so needful and necessary for us as we have heard it is We see here where to begin and fasten our studies First to take care of necessaries before we take care of superfluities It 's mens practice in other matters and it should be more especially so here in this We count him to be a mad-man in reference to the world who looks after flowers and pictures and musick and such things as these and in the mean time suffers himself to starve and want bread Even such a kind of mad-man is he who spends all his thoughts and time upon these outward things here below and in the mean time neglects Heaven and the salvation of his own soul Such a mad-man was he in the Gospel Luke 12.20 who laid up much goods for many years but never thought what would become of this and therefore God calls him fool for it as he very well might and tells him his following doom Thou fool this night thy soul shall be taken away from thee and then whose shall these things be which thou hast provided Certainly if there be but one thing necessary it is the greatest folly and madness that can be to neglect that of all other and such as we should especially take heed that we be not guilty of it And yet if we look abroad into the world how many shall we find to be guilty in this particular and how few careful of the contrary It is a sad and woful thing to consider what a general Atheism abounds almost in every place men live as if they had no souls to save or as if there were no such thing as salvation belonging unto them Religion is the least of their care or those things which may any way tend to the promoting of it Instead of being the one thing necessary it is with them the one thing superfluous and they think there 's the least need of it of any thing else in the World therefore it is that they so much slight it and contemn it and scoff at it and at those which do any thing mind it or regard it and look after it which themselves neglect to do That time which men should spend upon their souls they spend upon their lusts and upon their vanities and such things as tend to their utter ruine and eternal destruction So far are they from minding those things which are of better and higher concernment Well There 's a time a coming when things will appear in another kind of view than now they do when this one thing needful will appear to be needful indeed And our Saviour will justify and make good this his sentence and declaration about it when Grace shall be esteemed above all the world besides and those accounted the wisest persons who have got the greatest stock of it aforehand and have treasured it up unto themselves and therefore we should accordingly be perswaded to think and judg of it As there 's a truth in the Doctrine it self that this one thing is needful so we should for our part be convinced of the necessity of it in our own minds that from thence we may be drawn to pursue it and follow after it The reason why most men do no more regard these things than indeed they do is because they do not think them to be so needful as indeed they are They think there 's no such great matter in them as Ministers and Preachers would perswade Who hath believed our report Now therefore this is that which in the first place we should work our selves unto an apprehension of the necessity of Religion The way hereunto is first of all to get a spiritual savour and relish and appetite in us what makes men to think meat to be needful but because their stomachs call for it from them and their mouths crave it at their hands as Solomon speaks And so what is that which makes men to think Grace to be necessary It is because they have gracious dispositions in them which accordingly we must labour for This will make us with the Prophet David to think the word of God to be to us as our necessary and appointed food He that has a principle of spiritual life in him he can no more be without the Ordinances and means of spiritual nourishment than he that has natural life in him can be without bread and natural food The one will be as needful as the other with such persons as are proportionably affected and disposed unto them there being the same ground and reason for either and so likewise which is pertinent hereunto look upon things in their order and connexion and subordination and in reference to their particular ends See how Grace and Glory are linked and tied together and subordinate and subservient to each other how a man must have another kind of life when this life is gone and so we shall see how this one thing is needful and shall be perswaded the more to seek after it Secondly Labour to be convinced of the vanity and insufficiency of the creature This will make us to think one thing necessary that is Religion and nothing else For it may be we think it necessary but other things as necessary as that and this divides our cares about it Nay but nothing to speak of is needful and necessary but this as will appear from the vanity of the creature All these things here below they perish in their using The world passeth away and both the lust and the fashions of it as we have it from the testimony of two Apostles together in Scripture The creature in some conditions especially can do us no good at all at least which is able to satisfy us and give us content It cannot pacify a disquiet conscience it cannot heal a broken heart or a wounded spirit it cannot settle a mind troubled and perplext with the sight of sin This nothing can do but the Blood of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience and the testimony of God's love in them applyed by his Spirit which in part makes up this one thing here in the Text. Thirdly Get our hearts freed from those lusts and corruptions which are in them and are apt to prevail over them that 's another way to make us to mind this one thing necessary What was that which made Martha here in this Scripture to neglect the word of Christ why it was because she was a little too much addicted to the world and her secular affairs And so what was that which made the young rich man in the Gospel to despise
to disquiet where mens Hearts and Consciences shall tell them that they have been wanting and failing in those performances which the Lord has expected from them this will go near to sadden and trouble them and deprive them of that inward comfort which they should otherwise have Especially if we shall add hereunto where these have been the motions and suggestions of Gods Spirit inclining and provoking thereunto then the neglect is so much the greater and consequently the disquietness will be the more It 's bad enough for us to Sin against a bare command and to neglect our Duty there where God has given us a General rule for the performance of it but now further to sin against an Excitement and Motion and invitation of Gods Spirit this has a further aggravation in it Fourthly For the getting and preserving of this peace whereof we speak there must be a daily and continual renewing of our Covenant made with God Often reckoning we use to say makes long Friends and so certainly t is here in this particular The way to keep up our peace with God is frequently to make up the Breaches and divisions which may fall between us by speedy Humiliation and Repentance and turning to Him We should not let the Sun to go down upon any difference betwixt God and us but out of hand close it up and that as soon as we discern it and apprehend it and are made sensible of it Take heed that the Heart do not ranckle or fester under the guilt of any Sin or neglect which at any time may lie upon it These and the like Courses are to be taken for the procuring and preserving of a Quietness and Peaceableness in us and we shall put these Directions in Practise that we may procure and preserve it so indeed It is a pictiful thing to consider what strangers many people are to this Business we speak off how few there are which know what belongs to true Peace such a peace as is of Gods giving which passes all understanding which the World is not able to give and which will afford a man comfort which all the world cannot take away The most sort of persons that are regard it not attend it not consider it not we are all for an outward peace and I do not speak against it I would we had it upon good Conditions but who is there almost that looks after inward peace and Tranquillity of Conscience which consists in forgiveness of Sin Reconciliation with God and the assurance of his love and favour made over and confirm'd to the Soul Alas these are things which people may talk off and these are things which people may hear off but most people know not what they mean nor what belongs unto them And this may be the first Application Secondly Seeing this is so That no condition shall be troublesome to that person which is in favour and peace with God We see then here Beloved the happy estate of the children of God in the midst of all those outward prejudices and disparagements which they lye under Happy are the People which are in such a case yea happy are the people whose God is the Lord. We see here who are in the best condition in these sad and distracting times It is not those which have the greatest abundance of these outward comforts and injoyments but which have most of this inward peace It is not he which hath the most Wealth but he that hath the most Grace He is the freest from trouble who has the greatest quietness given him from God even there where he has least from men our happiness it is not so much from without us If we have calm and quiet spirits we may make a shift to do well enough even in troubled and perplext estates And this is the blessed condition of the children of God which should make us so much the more in love with the Generation of Gods people and with Godliness and Religion Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her pathes are peace as it is said of spiritual wisdom Prov. 3.17 Beloved there is not that esteem of Religion and the estate of a Christian as indeed it is fitting there should be Men do not apprehend or consider what a noble Condition it is nor improve it to that height of Comfort and Contentation as it were possible for them and that 's the reason that there are so low thoughts many times of those which are the professors and true imbracers of it whereas indeed upon the proof and experiment there is nothing of so comfortable a Consideration as this is not onely in reference to Heaven and the Comforts of a better life but also in reference to the World and our being and abode here in our Pilgrimage upon Earth Godliness it has not onely the comforts of the End but likewise of the Way It has it's reward and Happiness in it so far forth as it carryes us on with comfort through all the troubles of this present Life When he gives Quietness who then can make Trouble We may understand it by taking trouble in a temporal signification When the Lord gives inward Quietness a man shall suffer no great inconvenience from outward trouble No condition in regard of the world shall come amiss unto him And that 's the First Explication Secondly We may also take it thus When he gives Quietness none then can make trouble That is Where God gives Spiritual peace and Tranquillity of Conscience none shall then be able to cause any disturbance or perplexity in it none can possibly take away the peace of that Soul which is at peace with God This we have plainly signified to us in Rom. 8.33.34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even c. This we may see made good in all the several particulars which we may conceive as any way capable to cause disturbance First Not Satan He shall not be able to make trouble where God will give peace Satan is a mighty stickler to disturb the peace of Gods people and to weaken their confidence and assurance of his love and he takes all advantages and opportunities that may be to this purpose especially in the hour of Death and the day of Tryal c. A foul pudder he makes oftentimes in this regard but yet where God will acquit and give quietness all is in vain Christ has spoyled Principalities and Powers Colos 2.15 And he has destroyed the Devil himself Heb. 2.14.15 The Accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before our God Day and Night and they have overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 12.10.11 The blood of Christ sprinkled upon the Conscience discharges from the accusations of Satan neither is he able to do any hurt where the Lord will obsolve As for
the chief Plaintiff and party wrong'd by this transgression of Davids Secondly When God will give peace and quietness none can there make trouble because as he is the onely plaintiff so he is the best evidence and witness which can come in and testifie either for or against us Though a man have a quarrel against another and that deservedly which he may justly fasten upon him yet if he have no body to witness on his side the party accused will do well enough for all this especially if there be a strong witness and evidence on his side that is accused Now thus it is here with us in this particular business whiles God himself is reconciled unto us there is no witness which can come in against us of any worth or validity which might be able to cause trouble to us And besides we have a special witness on our side which does bear down all and that 's the witness of the Holy Ghost in Rom. 8 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God He that is a swift witness against others Mal. 3.5 shall be a swift witness for us This is like the witness of a Prince Teste mcipso which where ever it comes there 's no further question to be made of the thing as Chrysostom speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It puts the matter out of all doubt where this is exhibited All the clamors and accusations of Satan of evil men or of mis-giving spirit are not able to bear down this witness and testimony of the Holy Ghost in the heart when he will give quietness in this manner who can make trouble Thirdly He is also the Judge in whom the power of condemning and absolving does wholly lye when the Plaintiff hath done his part and when the witnesses have done theirs yet notwithstanding the Judge be a mans friend and will shew him some special curtesie and favour in such a cause he will do well for all this Now this is further the state and condition of such a person as is in good terms with God He has the Judge his friend to acquit him and absolve him and set him free so that none shall be able to trouble him Rom. 3.26 That he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus To him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousnes Rom. 4.5 And Rom. 8 30. Whom he called them he also justified and ver 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth In all which places we see how God himself takes upon him to justifie and absolve and quit from condemnation The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Lawgiver the Lord is our King he will save us as it is Isa 33.22 Lastly It is he also who hath the power as of giving the sentence so of suspending the execution He hath power to cast into hell to save or destroy all these things are in his hands So that now if he will give this same spiritual quietness none in the world can make trouble This Point for the use of it is very comfortable to the children of God in all their spiritual assaults and temptations which they are subject unto that what ever may indeavour to disturb them yet nothing shall have power over them or prevail to an absolute trouble or molestation of them A child of God may set that peace and comfort which he has in his own heart and conscience against all the sollicitations and disquietings of the whole world besides when he gives quietness who then can make trouble as against a Nation so against a man onely And so much may suffice of the first Branch of the Proposition in this second Reference in matter of peace I come now to the second In matter of trouble And when he hides his face who then can behold him who can behold him That is who can behold him comfortably so as to have any sweetness or refreshment from him This no man can have when God will hide his face Thou hidest thy face sayes David and I was troubled in Psal 30.7 For the better opening of this Point and Truth before us we must know that Gods hiding of his face as we here speak of it from a particular Person may be consider'd two manner of wayes and so we shall find it taken in Scripture and common experirience either Privatively for a meer substraction or withdrawing of the light of his countenance or positively for some evident expression and manifestation of his wrath and displeasure now either of these when God does it is full of trouble First though that be the least when he does but withdraw the light of his Countenance and that sweet communication of himself which he does sometimes afford to his children then he hides his face There 's the darkness of an Ecclipse as well as the darkness of a Night And there is a sadness from the want of Gods smilings as well as from the making of His frowns and the knitting of his brows against us And this former is that which we now speak unto as a matter of disquiet We shall find how it was thus to the Spouse in the Canticles when her beloved was gone from her which is a parable to set forth unto us the condition of Christian in this particular The case is ill with him when God does but hide his face from him there is a great deal of darknesse and deadnesse upon his soul in such an estate as upon the earth when the Sun is Eclipst and 't is that which every good heart will be easily sensible and apprehensive of As the child does not onely cry when the Nurse or Mother strikes it but as well when she hides her self from it even so is it with a child of God in this particular He does not mourn onely under terrors of Conscience and the immediate expressions of Gods anger but as well under deadness of spirit and the loss of the sense of Gods favour when there is not that sweet intercourse and familiarity betwixt God and his heart as there hath been in former times Thus it was with the Prophet David Psal 51.12 He was not satisfied with bare salvation but he calls for the joy of salvation and he was not satisfied with holy Spirit but he desires the free spirit also This arises Partly from Affection as bearing a special love to God and desires a reflection of his love back again They that love another delight to be loved by them and to have some assurance of this love to them There 's nothing more troublesome amongst lovers then not to be sensible of each others affections and so it is likewise with the soul which bears a true love to God There 's an holy jealousie which is wrought in it c. Secondly It arises from experience and the former sense of this comfortable condition They
Apostle Peter declares it of him in 2. Pet. 2.7.8 Now this is that which we may here observe to be the Temper of the Prophet David in this present Scripture and Psalm which we have now before us The Scope whereof being nothing else but to declare and protest against the Sinfulness of wicked and prophane Athestical persons this he does in sundry particulars as we may observe n the preceeding verses And here now in this verse which I have read he shuts up all with a serious inquiry into the Cause of so much Wickedness in them with the Aggravations of it Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart c. IN the Text it self there are two General parts considerable First A Question propounded Secondly The Ground or occasion which is given for the propounding of this Question The Question that we have in these words Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God The occasion of it that we have in these He hath said c. We begin with the first of these parts viz. The Question or Expostulation Wherefore doth the c. Wherein again two particulars more First Somewhat which is implyed And Secondly Somewhat which is Exprest That which is implyed is this That the wicked doth contemn God The thing it self in General which he is charged withall and that which is exprest is this That he hath no Cause or Ground to do so The Absurdity and Unreasonableness of it Wherefore does he do it First For that which is here implyed the thing it self which is laid as a charge The wicked does contemn God This is not to be understood of one wicked man alone either this man or that but of the whole Race and Company and Generation of wicked men in the world in all times and ages and places and distinctions of it by taking the word Collectively Wicked men they do very much Scorn and Slight and Despise even the great God himself This is the Point which we have here now before us This is a very great and heavy charge which is laid upon such Persons but it is such as even the same God Himself who is so concern'd in it lays upon them And therefore can be no other then Truth There are three manner of ways especially for the Illustration of this point unto us wherein wicked men may be said to contemn God In his Ordinances in his Providences and in his Servants First In his Ordinances they contemn him and despise him there his Word and his Sacraments and his Sabbaths and such things as these Those that neglect and undervalue these they do no less then contemn God The word of God when men come not at it or profit not by it or yield not to it it comes within the compass of this Censure especially the last which I have now named The not yielding unto it Disobedience to the Commands of God is a Contempt of the Person of God and so is taken and Interpreted by Him He so reckons and esteems of it when men shall fully understand Gods pleasure in such and such particulars Either as restraining them from such and such Courses or requiring of them such and such Performances and yet shall walk contrary hereunto It is a fearful and horrible despising of the Majesty of God we know how we count it amongst men and in the affairs of the World In Masters towards their Servants in Magistrates towards their Subjects in Parents towards their Children and the like The wilful refusing of their Commands is esteemed for Contempt and it holds betwixt God and man more especially It is a slighting of that Soveraiguty and Authority which God hath over them and setting light by it And so as for the more express Commands of God which he has laid down in his word so for the Motions of his Spirit in the Heart and suggestions to the Conscience this belongs to the same Head likewise Every motion of Gods Spirit which is discern'd and yet resisted and suppressed by us it amounts to the resisting and slighting of God Himself and shews what Entertainment we would be ready to give to his own Person if he were more visibly resident amongst us that we may so much the more take heed of such Miscarriages And so as for the word of God so for the Sacraments There is a Contemning of God in them likewise when we neglect to partake of them or are careless as to the manner of our partaking Baptism when we rather wholly omit it or too long defer it or make it onely a matter of fashion and Custom and complement and formality and not improving of it to those ends for which it was first intended It is a contemning and a disposing of the great love and goodness of God in the Justification of it and providing it for our sakes And the Lords Supper when we come Carelesly to it not discerning our selves not discerning the Lords Body but Eating and Drinking unworthily it is a Contemning of such a Divine Ordinance as that indeed is It is a saying that the Table of the Lord is Contemptable and so a profaning of God Himself Who yet will be Sanctifyed in all those that draw near unto him in Malach. 1.7.12 and Levit. 10.3 Again for the Sabbath which is another Ordinance of God and keeps up the life of all the rest The Lords day when people shall make nothing of this to Sanctify it and keep it Holy whom do they Contemn in such cases What onely Men and Magistrates and Ministers and good Lawes no but even God Himself I cannot stand to insist upon all particulars ye may inlarge them in your own Meditations but take it in what ever you will of this Nature whether Gods word and Contemn or Gods Sacrament and Divine Institutions and Gods Sabbath and times of Worshiping and Serving of Him That Disrespect which is given at any time to these or any of them it does reflect upon God himself and does redound to his disesteem in those which are guilty of it and that 's one explication of it wherein wicked men do contemn God they contemn God in his Ordinances in his Word and Sacraments and Sabbaths Secondly In his Providences they contemn him also here they take no notice of God in his Dealings and Dispensations in the World whether in a way of Favour or Wrath. For Favour they slight him in his Mercies and for Wrath they regard him not in his Judgements and so each way contemn him First Take it as to his Mercies they do contemn and despise God here Thus Esay 26.10 Let Favour be shown to the Wicked yet will he not learn Righteousness in the Land of Vprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord. So Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the Riches of his goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance Gods goodness and Favour is much extended towards Wicked men
Congregation of evil doers but also every particular person that shall ingage Himself in evil ways and there is nothing which shall stand in his way as an Obstacle or Impediment hereunto He is resolved and determined to do it without any Gainsaying or Contradiction wound them he will And that 's the Second thing considerable to wit the Evil in General threatned and that 's wounding The Third is the part wherein and that 's here exprest to be the Head This is not Exclusive but Specificative it is not the Head so as if no where else besides but the Head as therein Especially As for obstinate Sinners they have many wounds inflicted upon them in other respects As First In their Good Names they have a wound oftentimes in them Prov. 6 33. A wound and a Dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away Those that go on wilfully in base and unworthy Courses they do hereby much desparage themselves in point of Reputation this is somewhat and that which is to be minded by them The very Heathen man could say Puto cum perisse c. I think he is lost and quite undon that has no regard to his good Name and Estimation This is the Lot of a Foolish Bold Presumptuous Sinner that refuses to be reclaimed he lies under a Reproach and Contempt He has a wound and a blast oftentimes in his Credit an Account in the world Secondly A wound in his Estate that does also many times from Hence lie a bleeding Idleness it is clothed with Rags as Solomon speaks Prov. 23.21 And he that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man Prov. 21.19 Loose and Licentious Courses they are such as bring men to Beggery and want which as an Armed man comes upon them Thirdly A wound in their Consciences which is the great wound of all This is another which God does inflict upon them As St. Peters Auditors Acts 2.37 When they heard these things namely their Guiltiness of such and such Sinns they were prick't in their Hearts That 's a wound which is not easily Cured or made up A wounded Spirit says Solomon who can bear This is that which is attendant upon Sins especially from the Continuance in it it does very much lay wast the Conscience and make holes and furrows in it All these wounds does God inflict upon his Enemies as it pleases him which are not to be Excluded But that which is here specified is in the Head and hairy Scalp God does especially wound them there This for the opening of it to us does denote three things to us according to the different notion which the Head does carry in it First In their Intellectuals takes away their Brains from them Secondly In their Vitals takes away their Life from them Thirdly In their Principalities and Eminencies takes away their Glory from them First I say In their Intellectuals takes away their Brains from them God infatuates wicked men besots them and spoyles them of their wits He confounds the wisdom of the Wise and brings to nothing the Vnderstandings of the Prudent c. 1 Cor. 1.19 Such a wound as this it was that which was inflicted upon Nebuchadnazar when his Vnderstanding was taken away from him Dan. 4.34 And when he was turned to eat grass like the Ox. This God does with many such Persons bereeves them of their Vnderstandings or if he does not doe it in a natural way yet he does at least in a Spiritual gives them up to a blind mind and to a seared Conscience and to a reprobate sense which is one of the Greatest Evils and Judgments that may be Thus it is recorded of the Heathens Rom. 1.28 That as they did not like to retain God in their knowledg God gave them over to a Reprobate mind c. Those that go on in Sin they many times come to such a pass as not to discern it or judg of it especially such as this Sin may be which they are guilty off which sometimes may so much the more stupify them and take away their Understanding This is one way wherein God wounds those which are his Enemies in the Head And we cannot wonder at it if we do but consider how they use their Heads oftentimes against Himself which they do by a double practise First In the contriving of Sin And Secondly In the defending of it Wicked men they use their Heads against God to each of these purposes and therefore does he wound them in them First As to the contriving of Sin they do many times abuse their Heads thus in being witty to invent and devise evil attempts the Brain of an Ungodly person is very fruitful in this particular he is still musing and plotting and casting about some evil or other never well but when he is taken up in such Devises as these are And therefore does God meet with him in them he disappoints the devises of the Crafty c. Secondly As to the defending of it this is another thing wherein men use their Heads and imploy their wits to strain an excuse of Sin a justifying and a maintaining of it such Heads as have evil Hearts joyn'd with them they labour all that may be to make Sin as little odious as they can to palliaâ—â—â—t and extenuate it and to put the appearance of Virtue upon it thus they use their Heads 〈◊〉 and accordingly does God punish them for it by wounding them in their Intellectuals and takes away their wit from them Secondly In their Vitals he takes away their Life from them The Head as it is the Seat of Reason and Vnderstanding so likewise of Sense and Motion it has all the Senses in it in a more full and perfect measure and degree then any other parts of the Body now therefore when it is said here that God will wound the Head of his Enemies we have hereby signifyed that he will destroy their Life He will give them a mortal wound so as to extinguish them and take them away out of the World This is that which he will do and which he threatens to do here in this place when he says that he will wound their Head And it is sutable likewise to other places besides where God does threaten as much against them Look through the whole Scripture and ye shall find it the currant Doctrin of it that God will wound the head of his Enemies thus Thus he did with Pharaoh with Senacherib with Herod and such as these Examples are frequent to this purpose Nor there are two principles which do ingage him and move him hereunto The one is his own Glory the other is his Churches good First His own Glory in the Vindication of his Justice upon evil men and so prevent Atheism in the word If God should suffer wicked men to go on without Controul they would be ready to think that there were no God at all but now when he punishes them he does here convince them so
Condition of all created Comforts whatsoever But now the Lord God he is like the Sun which has light in Great Abundance and what it has it has onely in it self And this now makes very much for our Satisfaction and Contentment in Him yea and that in opposition also to the Creatures and that Comfort and Happiness which we expect from him when the Sun is once up there is no want or miss of the Stars and so where God will please to inlarge himself to the Soul of any poor Christian he has Enough and sufficency in that respect We know what is said of Heaven Revelat. 21.23 The City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof The same is true in a proportion even here in this present life according to Gods Gracious Importment of himself to any soul so is it better able to sustain under the want of other things But Secondly Seeing the Lord God is a Sun we should then hence learn to rejoyce in that light and Comfort which he does impart and which we receive from him We should still desire that the light of his Countenance may shine upon us more and more and nothing should be more greivous to us then the with drawing of this from us When the Sun is at any time darkned it causes sadness in the minds of men we see what a stir people make but about a common and ordinary Eclipse of the Sun in the Firmanent which is natural and certain and necessary and such as is Expected What Fancies possesses the minds of ignorant and simple persons in that regard and what sad and dismal Events they do project to themselves hereupon Oh but what is it then to have an Eclipse of this Sun in the Text which is here commended unto us for God Himself to hide his face from us and to carry himself strangely towards us and to desert us and leave us to our selves to cast us into dark Conditions of doubting and fear and distrustfulness and Horrour of Spirit this is that which is most sad and grievous of any thing else and so should be accounted by us especially those which has had any glimps and expressions of this his favour manifested unto them the more brightly that this Sun hath shown into any ones Heart the more does it concern them to be affected with the withdrawings of it and that as now the half of the Saints and Servants of God they know what belongs to such things as these are and understand what they mean These which are in their natural Condition which live in a state of continual Ignorance and Darkness they scoff and mock at such points as these are and think them to be altogether needless but those which are Savory Christians apprehend them and are sensible of them and lay them to Heart As an Eclipse it is a great deal more dreadful then an whole Night and yet a Night in it self considered simply is more then that It is more in regard of the darkness which is in a greater Degree and it is more in regard of the time which is of greater Continuance onely here 's the difference that an Eclipse we speak of the Sun it s always in the day which being a diversion from the common and ordinary course of it makes it so much the more to be observed even so it is here in this particular Take an Unregenerate Person with whom t is Night always and that knows no other Condition then that is this Sun it may be absent from him and he never regards it but now a Christian which is a Child of Light and a Child of the Day as the Apostle Paul expresses it We are not of the Light nor of Darkness 1 Thes 5.5 Such an one as this is to have the Sun though but for some time withdrawn from him it is very grievous and tedious to him Well we should all Labour and indeavour to have the fulness of this Metaphor made good and confirm'd unto us that God is a Sun that we may find him so for our own particulars and that influence which he has upon our Hearts as we shall have occasion to speak more anon and do nothing on our parts which may cause any Suspension or Intermission or Interruption of his favour and the sense of it to us We should be affraid not onely of an Eclipse of this Sun but also of any Cloudings of it by any Fogs or Mists or Damps which do at any time arise out of our Earthly and carnal Hearts we should study as near as may be that our Day it may be clear and bright and Sun-shine not onely to have some imperfect glimmerings and sparklings of Light to us but the Sun in its full strength and splender Our Graces glittering our Evidences sure our Consciences full of Comfort our Hearts in a full and constant apprehension of Gods love to us and inlarged in our love to him that so it may be with us which Solomon speaks of a Righteous person Prov. 4.18 The Path of the Just is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day And that 's the first part of the Resemblance whereby God is set forth unto us The Lord God is a Sun The second Resemblance is of a shield that is of another thing whereby God does set forth himself unto us and we have it in other places of Scripture we have it once before in this Psal the 9th vers of it Behold our God our Shield It was that which God promised to Abraham and upon that account exprest Himself to Him Fear not Abraham I am thy sheild and thine Exceeding great reward Gen. 15.1 So Psal 115.9.10 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield And Prov. 30.5 Every word of God is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him Under which expression we have signified unto us Gods Protection and Preservation of his People from those dangers which they are subject unto he will not onely be a Sun unto them to fill them with all Comfort but will likewise be a shield unto them to keep them from all Evil this is that which he is here in the second place set forth by as remarkable in him The Lord God is a sheild Indeed other things in Scripture are sometimes styled by this Name and that also in a Metaphoricall Acception as Magistrates they are called sheilds Psal 47.9 Cypri terrae The sheilds of the Earth which are said there do belong to God Forasmuch as it is their Place and Office to preserve and protect the Innocent from any wrong or injury which may be offered them therefore they are called shields unto them so likewise Faith is called a shield Eph. 6.16 Above all taking the sheild of Faith But all this is still in reference to this shield
arising from it to them much more then is it so to true Christians in the exercise of the Graces of the Spirit These must have needs a great deal of comfort and so indeed they have which makes their lives full of sweetness in the midst of many outward crosses and difficulties which they here meet withal To instance in some few particulars for the clearing of the Point unto you In Faith The Exercise of that Grace what a great deal of sweetness is there in this whereby a Christian has somewhat to stay and support and hold up himself in the greatest discouragements When all the world is disquieted and knows not which way to turn it self then does a Believer quiet himself in God and his interest in Him He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord like a man who is on the top of a Rock that the waves are not able to reach him even so is it with a Christian who is led to the Rock that is higher then himself In the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him Psal 32.6 Yea though he be in the midst of the waters yet he makes a shift to hold up his head As we see it was with David himself in that great affliction at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 He comforted himself in the Lord. He had experience of this himself and accordingly he commends it to others to delight in that Psal 17.4 And so the Prophet Isaiah shews us a view of comfort from hence in the saddest conditions Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God This for the exercise of Faith And so again for the Exercise of Patience which is a principal sprig of faith How much sweetness is there also in this An impatient Person is a burden to himself and the more he struggles with any evil the more he intangles himself with it and findes a greater bitterness in it whereas by a quiet submission to it and patience under the hand of God it becomes so much themore easier Levius sit patientia quicquid corrigere est nefas And so for meekness and love and peace how much sweetness in that A quarrelsom person is a burden as it were to himself he has no quietness in his own breast but is like the raging Sea which casts up mire and dirt but where there 's Love and Unity and Agreement there 's a sweet calmness and tranquillity of mind So for Repentance and Godly sorrow there is a joy which is mingled with it and which flowes from it The more we mourn for sin the more true comfort in our own heart The jolliness of sinners it has sometimes a bitterness with it but the quiet of penitent persons is not without some mixture of a great deal of comfort attending upon it Last of all To add no more in this kind The practise of Mortification in the subduing and restraining of lusts it has a great deal of delightfulness in it also The Delight of sin is nothing to the delight of holy restraint when a man has grappled with any strong Temptation resisted any violent lust denyed himself in a sinful allurement what a contentment does from hence now come in and flow into the heart which another is unsensible off This is the misery of any sin yielded to or any temptation closed withal that besides the guilt which it brings upon the conscience it leaves an unfavoriness upon the spirit it does not onely smart but foul which is very displeasing but now on the otherside the resistance of it is not onely peaceable but pleasant It is a great comfort to him that does it And that 's the second Explication There 's a sweetness in the exercise of Grace in all the several kinds of it Thirdly There 's a great pleasingness likewise in all the Duties and Exercises of Religion whatsoever they be As for instance First in Prayer and a daily and continued ejaculation and communion with God in this performance What a great deal of Solace does a gracious heart find to it self here when upon all occasions it can unbosom it self to God and draw near to him for any thing which it wants and stands in needs of lay open all its complaints and express its desires and send up all its groans It is impossible to express the contentment which the soul findes in such a performance The crying Abba Father and the sweet returns of Gods Spirit upon the heart back again how do they ravish it and lift it up to heaven We know what is recorded of Hannah 1 Sam. 1.18 That when she had prayed she was no more sad but was satisfied and well-contented with her condition David had great peace and comfort in this performance when nothing else could quiet him besides And so Job My friends sayes he spake freely against me but my soul powred forth complaints unto God Prayer is a very comfortable Duty not onely in regard of the effects and consequents and benefits which come by it but also from the very thing it self Not onely in that it is a means to obtain great things from him but likewise that it is a work wherein we injoy communion with him wherein there 's intercourse betwixt God and us As it is betwixt friend and friend the very discourse which they have one with another is pleasing and delightful though the things which they discourse about may be but ordinary affairs Even so betwixt a Christian and God Though the things which sometimes he asks at Gods hands be but common matters as pertaining to the things of this life yet the fellowship and holy Society which the heart hath with God in the Duty is reward enough to him that is exercised and imployed in it Prayer it is a kind of Ascension of the mind to God as it uses commonly to be describ'd and in that regard very delightfull That 's the first Duty the Duty of Prayer Secondly The Reading of the Scriptures There 's a great deal of sweetness likewise in that David speaking of the word of God sayes 't is to him as his appointed food that he rejoyces in it more then in great Riches That Gods Testimonies are his delight and his Counfellors and that the word of God is sweeter to him then the honey or the honey-comb and such like expressions as these We shall read in the Chronicles of the Martyrs what contentment some of them took in Pauls Epistles and if they could get but a leaf or two of the Bible they made account of it as a very great Treasure The sweetness of Prayer is that therein we speak to God and the sweetness of Reading is that therein we have God speaking to us and revealing his mind unto us we have here a satisfaction of us in a double
Lord alone and none but He. This is his Prerogative and that as to both Explications of Tryal whether by Discovery or Reformation If we take it by way of Discovery as the Lord says so he does it alone that is infallibly and effectually It is his Title to be The Searcher and Tryer of the heart and he hath taken it upon him as that which he means to perform This does not exclude others absolutely and in subordination to him It is that which some others may do and it is that which others ought to do according as they are called thereunto to try and sift the hearts and spirits of other men and to discern what they are whether in order to converse with them that so they may get no hurt from them or in order to their further benefit and instruction There may be use of it likewise so But First None can try the heart thus Authoritatively And Secondly None can try it thus effectually and infallibly and with so much success Not so Authoritatively any because none hath that power over it The Heart and Conscience of a a Christian is in subjection to none but him that made it Not so Infallibly neither because none have that piercing insight into it Men when all is done they can but guess and conjecture and imagine and make supposition But the Lord he knows the Heart in every winding and turning of it yea even The thoughts of it afar off as the Psalmist expresses it in Psal 139.2 This teaches us accordingly to go to him for the discovery both of our own hearts and others as to whom it does belong When we would try our own private hearts a Duty which I mentioned before we see here how to do it most successfully and that is by taking in God to help us herein as David himself gives us a pattern in that Psalm Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Know that is make me to know thee for my particular And so as for our selves so for others when we would know what is in them Let us take this course also to seek direction from him As the Disciples when they were to chuse a new Apostle and had cast Lots between Justus and Matthias They prayed and said Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew which of these thou hast chosen Act. 2.24 Again further Seeing this is God's Prerogative to try and judge the heart let us hence learn not to incroach upon it and to assume it to our selves by passing rash and peremptory judgment upon any Take heed of that we may discern but we may not absolutely determine being the Property of God alone This is urged by the Apostle Paul himself and in his own case 1 Cor. 4.4 5. He that judgeth me is the Lord Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts It is the propriety and peculiarity of God to try the heart by way of Discovery It is his again also by way of Reformation As none can try it that is know it but He so none can try it that is purge it but He neither He alone can take away the iniquities and defilements and pollutions of it which cleave unto it It is He alone which can take away the heart of Stone and gives a new heart of Flesh It is His Grace alone which is stronger than Sin and Corruption which is in us Therefore this should teach us to have our eyes still fixed upon him When at any time we come to the Ordinances and to be made partakers of the Word the Fining Pot as it were for Silver and which it self is as Silver refined and tryed in the Furnace See here where our Expectations would be fastened not so much upon the instruments as upon God himself who is the Worker of it Alas we are but Bringers of things together it is he who gives efficacy to them Who is Paul and who is Apollo but ministers by whom ye believed 1 Cor. 3.5 We are to do what in us lies and to commend the efficacy and success unto him And so as Ministers for their People so Parents for their Children There is many a Godly Parent which does earnestly desire the Conversion of his Child and the changing of his evil heart Now we see who must do it when all comes to all Not that it must be cast upon him so as to neglect other helps There must be the Refinings of good Education which is a very great conducement hereunto but this it must not be rested in without Addresses made to the Lord. And to conclude Where any do partake of any cleansings in their own hearts let them see here to whom to give the Honour and Glory of them even to Him who hath wrought them in them O Lord says Jeremy I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10.23 No it belongs to Him and let him therefore be acknowledged for it We are said sometimes to purifie our selves but it is still meant in the strength of his Grace assisting us and concurring with us Whom therefore we must bless and praise for it Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Nome give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake Psal 115.1 That is the third Emphasis here signified which is an Emphasis of Appropriation The Lord that is the Lord alone tryeth the hearts So much for that So I have done with the Second General Part of the Text which is the Reddition in the Comparison And so much also of the whole Text it self SERMON XXXIII Prov. 17.3 There are many devices in a mans heart nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand There is nothing which is more desireable in the Course of this present Life then to know what to trust to Uncertainty is many times more grievous than Disappointment and to doubt how things will fall out more Perplexing oftentimes then Miscarriage it self And therefore such places of Scripture deserve of all others besides as most usefull and profitable both to be studyed and handled by us especially in such times as these are in which we we are as do anything serve to satisfie and settle us in this Particular In the Number whereof is this Text which I have here made choice of at this time with Gods assistance to speak unto from the mouth and Pen of Solomon who had a double advantage upon him for such a purpose as this The one as he was a Wise man and had much humane Sagacity in him The other as he was a Good man and did partake of the works of Grace in his heart which after all the disputeings about
and by himself Thirdly In man Eminently i. e. in the best man that is First In Man that is in whole Mankind by taking it Collectively It is as I in part hinted and signified before annext unto the Nature of Man now since his fall to abound with vain and Foolish Devices When ye name a Man ye name such an one as is full of such Fancies and conceits and extravagancies as these are Thus in Psal 14.2 which is again repeated and so confirmed by the Apostle in Rom 3.10 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God They are all gone aside they are altogether become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Secondly In man Distributively and Particularly taking them one by one There are some things which are agreeable to mans Nature which yet are not found in every person in whom that nature is Yea but this of vain thoughts and unprofitable Contrivance is so either more or less This have I found counting one by one to find out the account Eccles 7.27 And what did he find out Loe he found this that God made man righteous And not he only but they also that is man in his distrustfullness found out many inventions and many Devices One man has oftentimes many Devices Thirdly In man Eminently That is in the best man that is one way or other It is not onely be-lev adham but be-lev ish here in the Text which has a more Emphatical signification with it and is usually taken in a sense of excellency and advancement Indeed in such men as these they are with a great deal of restraint and qualification but yet even in them they are at least by fits and turns even in men otherwise of the greatest perfection whether for wisdom or learning or Power or even Piety it self The Lord knoweth the Thoughts of the Wise that they are but vain 1 Cor. 3.20 And not onely of wise to the World but sometimes even of better Principles when they swerve and depart from them As we gave you an instance before in David himself And so it has been with many others of the same Principles with him That 's the subject of those Devices in General namely Man The particular Subject or Seat of them is here expressed to be the Heart Many devices in the heart of man But how comes he to say so Devices seem rather to belong to the Head than to the Heart How are they then said to be in this There is a various Account which may be given of this Expression Devices in the Heart First As taken Synecdochically The Heart being put for the whole Mind and Soul as it is very often and frequently taken especially in the Hebrew Language The Denomination is taken from that part which is most eminent and transcendent above the rest The Vnderstanding and Will and Affections and Conscience and Memory all is the Heart and so commonly called Which because it is so therefore the Devices of a man are said to be in his Heart in this general Construction Secondly In the Heart Originally as the Spring and Fountain of all What ever a man does or devices it comes first from the Heart which is Generale Principium A man's heart deviseth his way as Solomon speaks Prov. 16.9 which is so both in Good and in Evil. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts says our Saviour in Mark 7.21 which is true of thoughts in the full Latitude and Extent of them whether in matter of Opinion or Contrivance First In matter of opinion if ye take it so Men's devices they here proceed from their hearts All these Fancies and Conceits and Whimseys and Errors in matters of Religion which many people take up withal they take their rise first from their heart As a foul and distempered Stomach sends up noysome Vapours into the Brain and disturbs that even so it is also here If men had better hearts they would have better heads than for the most part they have at least in regard of the use and improvement of them It would make them more to attend unto the Truth and it would make them better to relish it and close with it and to yield and submit unto it Whereas now the Corruptions of their hearts restrains them and holds them off from it It is the Goodness of Doctrines which men stick at as well as the Truth of them Nay those Points which considered as Truths they cannot but in some manner hearken and listen unto for the strength and concretion of their Judgments yet as holy they cannot away withal from the corruptions and perverseness of their Hearts which either keep them back from attending to the Reasons which make for them or else incline them contrary to Concretion to detain the Truth in Unrighteousness The way to make many Persons to be Sound and Orthodox Divines is indeed as much as may be to make them real and wary Christians especially in such Points of Divinity which are of the Substance and Marrow of Christianity where the Experiences of their own Hearts will be a sufficient Instruction to them And they will not need that any one should teach them but as the Anointing it self will teach them which is a Truth and no Lye and that also abiding in them So also Secondly In matter of Contrivance and Design It holds here likewise that men's Devices are according to their Hearts Those who have naughty and rotten hearts they have commonly answerable Speculations and their Projects are suitable thereunto The liberal man deviseth liberal things agreeable to the frame of his spirit but the heart of the wicked worketh iniquity as the Prophet Isaiah tells us in Isa 32.7 8. So Psal 36.4 it is said of a mischievous person that He deviseth mischief upon his bed and setteth himself in a way that is not good And it is the Account which is given concerning an ungodly man in Prov. 6.14 who is there called a Naughty Person Adham Belijagnot and Ish Aven that Frowardness is in his heart and he deviseth mischief continually He deviseth it and he deviseth it continually because his heart carries him to it which is a constant and continued Principle that does always abide in him Therefore from hence we may take some account of our selves what we are according to the Reflection As man's heart is so is he and as a man's devices are so is his heart So that we may judge of the one by the other of the Spring and Fountain by the Stream which issues from it They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they which are after the spirit the things of the spirit as the Apostle Paul has it in Rom. 8.5 6. Take a man in his Natural Condition and State of Unregeneracy and he devises nothing but that which may either nourish or at least gratifie and agree with such a
establishing of his own Counsels Thus it was said to be as concerning the Betraying of Christ He was delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God Act. 2.23 Though it was also by the wicked plottings and contriving of Men. And again Act. 4.27 28. Against this holy Child Jesus were Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people gathered together To do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done Their malice did but further God's design So the Egyptians and Pharaoh for the diminishing and destroying of the Israelites The more they conspired to lessen them and thought they did wisely in doing so the more their number multiplyed and increased And so Haman instead of destroying the Jews he confirmed their Peace and Liberties to them so much the more I might be infinite in Examples in this kind wherein God has over-ruled Men's Devices by the Accomplishments of his own Purposes And the more that they have had their Will the more at last has he come to have had his occasionally from it But To shut up all which hath been spoken with a Word of Application and to conclude These Points thus opened unto us may be drawn forth in a Various Improvement First As matter of Conviction to all such persons as walk contrary hereunto And they are of two sorts especially First That Device without God And Secondly That Device aginst Him That Devise without him first They herein come to be censured and so to be awakened Alas it is but a vain and foolish thing for them so to do as neglecting that which is principally to be looked after by them for the prospering of their Counsels to them that they may be successful Woe be to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that come with a covering but not by my spirit that they may add sin to sin as it is in Isa 30.1 That advice of Solomon is rather better which he gives unto us in Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Secondly As which devise without God so also which devise against him These are far more vile than the other and their case is desperate for Did ever any man harden himself against God and prosper as Job expostulates Job 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks in Act. 9.5 Surely there is no wisdom nor conscience nor understanding against the Lord in Prov. 21.30 Therefore the Church of God has sometimes upon this Account triumphed over her greatest Enemies whether for Wisdom or Power as we have a notable place to this purpose Isa 8.9 10. Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces and give ear O ye of far Countries Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to naught speak the word and it shall not stand for Immanuel or God is with us In which excellent portion of Scripture the Spirit of God seems to come home to the disposition and practice of men to this purpose in all particulars Men are apt to think with themselves that if they cannot obtain a thing one way they may haply do it another if they cannot do it at this time they may haply do it hereafter if they cannot do it themselves yet they may perhaps do it if they take in other if they cannot do it upon the suddain yet they may do it upon deliberation advice and consultation Well but here is signified that none of these things shall prevail Not Combination not Strength not Counsel nor all these matters reiterated and repeated again If there be a mistake in the End all the means are frustrate that lead and carry unto it But Secondly Here is likewise a Word of comfort to the Church it self and to every true member of it Here is the Encouragement and Security of a good Christian and that in all Varieties and Changes and Uncertainties and Revolutions that are in the World Whosoever belongs to God he may be sure it shall go well with him for his particular because The counsel of the Lord shall stand We know saith the Apostle that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose We know not what things shall be nor we know not what time shall be But what ever either times or things happen to be we know they shall all be for the good of Gods People to the best for them that own him and are saved by him Those who are the called of his Purpose his Purposes shall be sure to be establisht to them and for them There is none besides in the world who can have this promised to them Eccles 8.12 Though a sinner c. Yet I know it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the sinner c. It is the Blessed and Happy Privilege of all those that are in Covenant with God that God does nothing in the World but he does it for there sakes and they have a share and interest in the Good and Benefit of it both because they are mainly and principally intended in it as also have hearts in themselves to improve it to their own Advantage All the paths of the Lord are mercy and Truth to them that keep his Covenants and his Testimonies So that the Firmness of his Counsel is by Consequent likewise the firmness of their Conditions Lastly Here 's a Word of Direction how to carry and behave our selves in answerableness to these Truths here propounded and premised Seeing after all the Devices of Man the Counsel of the Lord shall stand as we have all this while heard there are therefore three things especially which do lye upon us to be done by us in reference and order to this Counsel First To be carefull to know it Secondly To be carefull to own it Thirdly To be carefull to improve it and to have recourse unto it First To endeavour to know it let us be carefull of that To know it How can we do that Who hath known the mind of the Lord Or who hath been of his Counsel says the Prophet first and then the Apostle And so it is true in regard of an absolute knowledge and discovery of it His ways are unsearchable and his Judgments are past finding out His way is in the Sea and his path in the great Waters and his footsteps are not known There is a depth in the riches both of the Wisdom and knowledge of God as the Scripture tells us But yet so far as he reveals it us we may be acquainted with it and it concerns us so to be Be
thee He sheweth his word unto Jacob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel Psal 147.19 It is spoken as a great Priviledge and Mercy towards them And so it is for God to give us his word to acquaint us with his divine Will and Truth in all the Parts of it there is more in it than we are always aware of or do indeed seriously consider and lay to heart There is more in it then in the injoying of any outward or temporal Blessing whatsoever which yet notwithstanding we do commonly more take notice of And so does the Prophet seem to imply here in the Text. These Words in the foregoing Verses are according to some Translations rendred thus Thy rains shall be no more kept back and thine eyes shall see thy rain then it follows And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee According to which Exposition the sense seems to be this That he would not only give them temporal Blessings but also that he would heap upon them Spiritual That he would not only give them rain upon their fields which they were now sensible of as being a great while kept from them as it has been of late from us But likewise that he would give them rain upon their hearts and the showres of Heavenly Doctrine falling upon them he leads them from the one to the other that so thereby he might the more ease their Affections in it Now this word It is here Emphatically said to be behind them A word behind thee Davarme acharika Wherein the Lord does as it were compare himself to a Shepherd that puts his Sheep before him Or to a School-master that will have his Schollers in his sight that so he may the better regulate them and keep them in order To open it a little unto us It seems to carry a various Notion in it First it is a pursuing and overtaking Word a Word that follows us and comes at our heels There are many people in the World which think to escape the Lashes of the Word in the Terrors and Threatnings of it by shunning it and running away from it But the Word it is a Word behind them for all that They cannot run so fast from that as that runs fast after them and persecutes them to their very Doors and comes home to them in their very Bosoms through the power and efficacy of it It makes Hue and Cry after them when they think most of all to avoid it Thus Heb. 4.12 The word of God is quick and powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Where God is pleased at any time to set home his Word by his Spirit and to give Wings and Legs unto it as he can and often times does it will follow men and pursue them to the uttermost so that they shall not escape And though it meets not with them at one time yet it will be sure to meet with them at another Ye shall have some kind of people sometimes which are afraid to hear such kind of Preachers which deal closely and roundly with them or such kind of Doctrines which do come close to their Hearts and Consciences because they would not be troubled and molested and interrupted in their sins but they are met withal sooner or later now and then before they are aware especially if God have any pleasure or delight in them or any intent towards them for Good He will not leave them so but his word shall find them out in their greatest shunning and avoidings of it That 's one thing which it is so called A word behind thee i.e. A pursuing and overtaking word Secondly A word behind thee that is a Revoking and Recalling Word A word of Restraint when any are going on headlong in the ways and courses of sin without any heed or regard at all This word it comes behind them and fetches them back As Paul when he was riding Post to Damasous with Letters against the Church he heard a word behind him saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Act. 9.4 The word of God it serves to this purpose to curb men and to put a check upon them in all their loose and exorbitant courses and to recall them in all their extravagancies Like the Shepherds whistle that does call back the straying sheep from its wandring from the flock It is said of Christ that he can have compassion on the ignorant and on them which are out of the way Heb. 5.2 And this Compassion he does manifest in the revoking and reducing of them and bring them right again It is a main End and Intent of the Ministery To recover men out of the snare of the Devil who are taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 And it is a mercy to enjoy it to such a purpose as this is Thirdly a word behind thee that is An Impulsive and Provoking Word A word that puts thee forward that furthers thee and promotes thee in thy way There 's a great deal of slackness and sluggishness oftentimes in Christians from whence they are more remiss and negligent in their Duties than it becomes them to be For which cause they have need of some body to excite them and to put them on Now the Ministery of the Word it is here exhibited and represented to us under this Notion likewise It is a word behind thee So as there where thou keepest behind to set thee on going This it is in the several Doctrines and Instructions of it where it shews our several Duties and the things that God requires at our hands which so lay as we see we cannot for shame be neglectfull of them Thus in all these considerations is the Word of God a Word behind us And this for the Opportunity it self Now the Second thing is the closing with it Thine ears shall hear it Though the word be behind us yet we must not put it Behind us we must take heed of that we find a censure laid upon this in Psal 50.17 Seeing thou hatest Instruction and casteth my words behind thee It is the Character of a Wicked person and such an one as God will can to an account Therefore t is added here Thine ears shall hear this word God must not only provide a Word but he must likewise provide Ears or else there will no good at all come of it let his word be what it will be This is that therefore which he does here graciously undertake for his people Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee which is not only to be understood of the advantage and opportunity it self but likewise as well of the improvement and closing with it This Hearing it is to be understood Emphatically cum effectu without which the Blessing is not full and compleat Look as meat is not a perfect Blessing except there be a
mouth to receive it an appetite to be carryed to it and a stomach to entertain and digestit Even so the Word of God is not a perfect blessing neither except there be an Ear to hearken to it a spiritual taste to relish it and an heart to receive and digest it and to close and comply with it Now this is that which God does here in this place I say promise to his People when he says Their ears shall hear Not only a simple Partaking of the word Preacht but also an attendance upon it and obedience to it Hearing in the Language of Scripture being put for Obeying without which it is all in vain This was that Hearing which was in Lydia Act. 16.14 whose heart the Lord opened unto the things which were spoken by Paul The Things were spoken by Paul There was the word behind her Aud she attended to those things which were spoken There were her Ears hearing this word and both together made it to be a perfect and compleat blessing to her as it is also to any one else Let us therefore accordingly indeavour to find this made good in ourselves That we be hearers of that word which God does afford and vouchsafe untous And that not only with our outward ears although it were well if some would do that but also moreover with our inward affections and attentions to that which we hear seeing God follows us day after day and time after time with these advantages and opportunities which he offers unto us let not us be so far neglectfull either of him or of our own good as to divert our minds from them Considering what Solomon hath told us to this purppse Prov. 28.9 He that turns away his ear from hearing the Law even his Prayers shall be an abomination And so much of these words in their first Acceptation as they may be taken properly and in the Letter Thine Ears shall hear a word behind thee As relating to the Word of the Ministery and the Continuance of such opportunities as theâ—e are The Second is as they may be taken Metaphorically as relating to the word within us The inward Motions and Suggestions of the Spirit and the Dictates thereof This may be very well meant hereby likewise and as the other is not excluded So perhaps this is principally intended here in this place when it is said Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee speaking Gods Spirit speaking to our Spirit This is such as God does vouchsafe in his Church as well as the other As they have the word sounding in their Ears So they have the Spirit also whispering in their Consciences and stirring and moving in their Hearts Those that live in the Bosom of the Church within the pales and compass of it they have many such advantages and opportunities as these are which are vouchsafed and afforded unto them This as well as the former is very fitly called a word behind thee not only in all these respects which I mentioned in reference thereunto as a word pursuing recalling and provoking All which it is but also which we may moreover here take notice of in these two regards First In regard of the Privacy and Secrecy of it Look as that which is behind us we do not so easily see and discern no more do we many times so readily perceive such motions as these are God speaks once yea twice but man perceives it not as it is in Job 33.14 Hence it is called a secret word Davar laat Job 15.11 Are the Consolations of God small with thee or is there any secret word with thee And a stollen word as it is in the Hebrew Text Davar jegunnav Job 4.12 Now a word was secretly brought unto us and mine ear received a little thereof Whereby are signified the secret whisperings and murmurings of the Spirit of God in us Secondly As it is a word behind us in regard of the Seâ—resie and privateness of it Likewise in regard of the Proximity and Nearness The word is nigh thec as it said in another case It is but looking behind us and we have it It accompanies us and goes along with us as the shaddow with the Body That 's another thing here considerable and that in this expression of being behind Here 's the Constancy of these motions which God follows his People withall without intermission They are never free and exempt from them but they are still about them and stirring them where ever they are and whatever they are doing upon all occasions as I shall shew more anon in the following part and close of the Text. Behold I stand at the door and knock as it is in Revel 3.20 He stands which is a Posture of Perseverance This is a very great Favour as well as the Former It is not only a mercy that God gives us his word without us in the Dispensations of the Ministery but likewise his word without us in the Dispensations of the Ministery But likewise his word within us in the Dispensations of his Spirit And this is that which he annexes and joyns together with that in the promise of it This we find mention made of here in some other places of Scripture likewise These Dictates and Suggestions of the Spirit 1 Joh. 2.20 Ye have an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all things So again in ver 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and teacheth you all things So Joh. 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance c. Again Joh. 16.13 When the Spirit of Faith is come he will guide you into all truth c. Still there 's mention of these Suggestions of the Spirit The Use which we are to make of it is accordingly to bless God for it that affords these things unto us We see here the happiness of being brought forth within the compass of the Church where such means as these are vouchsafed and we should acknowledge Gods Goodness to us in this particular for though there be the stirrings of Conscience sometimes even in Civil Men in Heathens and such as these are yet these Motions of the Holy Ghost they are more proper and peculiar to the Church where there is the Ministers and Ordinances and Means of Grace in the Dispensation of them And we should not think it a small matter for our selves to enjoy them Next to God's giving of his Son to us is his giving of his Spirit and his continual Application of himself to our Hearts and Consciences But so much for that I have done now with the first General which is the Monitor here signified unto us in these words thine ears shall hear a word behind thee Understood either properly of the Word of the Ministry or metaphorically of the Suggestion of the Spirit I come now to the Second which is the matter
seemed to be guilty of and to be charged withal from God himself But they are reducible to two main heads The one is in the denial of their address And the other is in the discontinuance of it The denial of their address was this That they would not simply come unto God The discontinuance of their address was this That they would no more come unto him First Their simple denial of address We will not come unto thee There was a great matter of iniquity and miscarriage in them as to this That they refused to do thus First their disrespect and want of due affection to God The want of address is usually interpreted the want of observance And so it is in men to God when they come not at him it is a sign they do not love him nor regard him so as they should do This is that which is justly chargable upon all profane and atheistical persons that live without God in the world that never call upon him never pray unto him never exercise any communion with him it is an argument that they have not any respect or affection for him for if they had they would have more delight in his company and converse with him than commonly they have We will not come unto thee It had the guilt of disrespect Secondly their ingratitude and unthankfulness God had done very much for them he had not been a barren wilderness to them and yet they would not come unto him God charges them also with this God deserves to be sought to for himself and those excellencies which are in his own Blessed Majesty one would come unto him for this though there were nothing else But now when moreover we shall consider the good things which he does for us and which we daily receive from him this is a further engagement upon us and makes the sin to be so much the greater when we neglect to do so And this was the case of this people which made the Lord so much to wonder at them and to be offended with them For a child not to come at his Father or a servant at his Master upon the account of his meer relation it is a thing which is not justifiable but not to come to them when they are used kindly by them and when they receive so many courtesies from them this is very abominable God's mercies should be great provocations of our attendance upon him Thirdly their stubbornness and obstinacy We would not come unto thee No not even then when thou callest us and envitest us this sets it on a little more You know how ill Ahasuerus took it when he call'd for Vashti to come to him and she refused And how may the Lord then take it when his people refuse to come to him upon his invitation when he calls to them in the ministry of his Word in the dispensations of his Providence in the voice of his Spirit speaking not only to their ears but also to their hearts and consciences and for all that they hold off from him How can he possibly take this well at their hands and not be avenged upon them for it And that 's the First thing here considerable to wit Their denial of address The Second is their discontinuance of address We will come no more unto thee This is another thing wherewith they are charged and there are two things further included in this First their self-sufficiency and confidence in their own present condition Secondly their apostacy and declining and falling off from God and their former carriage First Here was their self-sufficiency and carnal confidence they said We are Lords that is we are able now to shift for our selves and so we will come no longer to thee for supplies from thee This is the temper and disposition of most kind of people besides As long as they think they can any thing subsist without God they never care for coming unto him Thus it was here with these Israelites God had heaped many mercies upon them and blest them on every side And this was the use which they now made of it even to neglect him so much the more that had done thus much for them To forsake the Fountain of living waters and to seek to themselves broken and empty Cisterns which would hold no water as he tells them in the 12th verse of this present Chapter Thus as it was with the Prodigal in the Gospel who so long as he was any thing well abroad never cared to come home to his Father's house Even so is it also with many more As it was with the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3.17 18. Which said she was full and encreased with goods and had need of nothing not knowing that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and had need to come to Christ and to buy of him Gold and white Rayment and Ointment and such things as these The temper and disposition in God's people is that which oftentimes provokes him to take such a course with them as he does for the bringing of them home to him And that is to exercise them with various crosses and afflictions to convince them of their own insufficiency and of their necessary dependance upon him Thus he speaks of his Church there in Hosea in chap. 2. ver 6 7. That he would hedg up her way with thorns and make a wall that she should not find her paths Then shall she say I will go and return to my first Husband for then it was better with me than now God would make her come again unto him though she thought to have come to him no more as being able to shift well enough without him Oh 't is good for every one to live in a constant dependance upon God and to see their need and necessity of him in whom they live move and have their being They that do otherwise God will take some course or other whereby to reduce them and to bring them again unto him as without whom they cannot be able to subsist or hold out That 's the first thing implyed in this expression No more to wit their self-sufficiency Though formerly we came to thee when we had some need of thee yet now we are able to shift for our selves The Second is their Apostacy and falling off from God This was another thing which he took so ill from them that though they had come to him heretofore yet now they would do so no longer This was that which was most odious to God of any thing else a cooling of their affections towards him and an intermission of their servings of him as it is in any other besides It is that as I have shewn you of late which God did so much lay to the charge of the Galatians and reproach them for it That having begun in the Spirit they should end in the Flesh that is that having formerly come to him they should now in the words of the Text
and called us with an holy calling Our holy calling calls us to holiness Fourthly Our Sanctification there 's an argument likewise from that Rom. 8.12 Brethren we are debters not to the flesh to live after the flesh And Eph. 4.23 24. Ye have put on the new man which is created in c. And Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained Our Sanctification does engage us to a strict kind of life in both the parts of it First as to our mortification and so it is urged by the Apostle Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin And so ver 11. Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin c. Secondly our vivification and spiritual quickening Col. 3.1 2. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth That is conform not your selves to the world Lastly to add no more at this time Our Justificaion likewise that lies as a restraint upon us also Being justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 and Tit. 3.7 Especially if we shall take in with it the seal of the Holy Ghost upon our consciences Eph. 4.30 Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Upon all these grounds and considerations have we it evidenced and cleared unto us how unreasonable a thing it is for God's people to mingle themselves with the corruptions of men of the world As contrary and unsuitable to their Election Redemption Vocation Sanctification Justification and Obsignation of all to them by the Spirit of God in their hearts and consciences Now therefore all these things considered we see here how blame-worthy those are which none of these arguments do prevail and work upon to perswade them in this particular What a shame is it for those which are Christians and profess themselves to be so to be as vain in their conversation as others when as the Lord has made so wide a difference and distinction and separation betwixt them as he has done in his dispenfations towards them For Ephraim to mix himself with the people let all those think of this who are led away either with the errors of the times in matter of Doctrine or with the miscarriages of them in matter of practice which cannot hear of any new-fangled opinion but they are ready to follow it let such as these I say consider how unsuitably they walk to Religion and their Christian profession The Lord took it very ill from Ephraim of all others that he should be tainted and defiled with the abominations of the Heathen and so will he likewise proportionably do from all others besides which are in the same condition with them He will not suffer them to go unpunished but will avenge their iniquities and miscarriages upon their own heads This is signified to us in the second sense which may be put upon these words not only as a complaint but a threatening As if the Prophet had said Ephraim shall be mingled among the people that is he shall have the same kind of judgment and punishment executed upon him that others have look as God punishes the Heathen so he will likewise punish Israel he will make no difference betwixt one and t'other And this it follows pertinently upon the other The like judgments are consequent upon the like sins For God is a just God and is no respecter of persons and his justice engages him hereunto And therefore he does upon this consideration deal thus with his people to take them off from these ungodly mixtures As Rev. 18.4 Speaking there of Babylon Come out of her my people that ye be not partkers of her sins and that ye receive not her plagues Implying thus much that as long as she was the one she must expect likewise to be the other If Ephraim will mingle himself with the people in regard of sin God will mingle Ephraim with the people in regard of punishment Now acccordingly should this argument affect us and work upon us It is true if we have any spiritual wisdom or ingenuity in us we might be disswaded from this sinful mixture as it does drive away the Spirit of God from dwelling in us and as the contrary does move him to receive us According to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty This if there be nothing else in it I say might take us off from this compliance and ungodly conjunction But moreover there is this considerable with it even the punishment that is attendant upon it which is an involution in common judgment But so much of the first Branch to wit Ephraim's unhappy mixtures He hath mingled himself with the people The Second is their indifferent temper Ephraim a cake not turn'd Now this as well as the former may admit of a double exposition The one as an amplification of their sin and the other as an aggravation of their punishment It may carry both senses in it according to a different application which may be made of it First Take it as an amplification of their sin we will begin with that first Ephraim is a cake not turn'd Thus it follows as an illustration of the former He hath mingled himself among the people They were ready to boast of themselves that they were the people of God that they had circumcision and the worship of God amongst them whereby they were distinguisht from other Nations and that therefore they were not so bad as perhaps they might be conceived to be To this the Prophet answers by way of anticipation to them that they were a cake not turn'd which was baked but on one side that is of an imperfect and indifferent temper in Religion They had somewhat which was good amongst them but they did not come up to that exactness which was required of them This it is such an expression as may be applyed to divers sorts of persons and has divers miscarriages in it As First it is an expression of hypocrisie and false-heartedness in Religion When people shall be good in profession and outward appearance but naughty and corrupt in their hearts their outside fair and specious but their inside unclean and odious the cleanest part uppermost the foulest underneath Here 's a cake not turn'd This is the temper and condition of too many persons in the world which have it thus with them And the Scripture does reckon them up to us Isa 29.13 This people draw near unto me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me So Psal 55.21 The words of his
no hope c. which is differently rendred by Interpreters we shall take notice of that which is most probable our own Translators give it according to the Reading which I have made of it Desperatio est No hope Now this may be explicated by us according to a threefold reference which may be made of it for it seems to respect three sorts of persons either first themselves or secondly the Prophet or thirdly God Themselves thus There is no hope i. e. there is no hope of us our lusts do so far take with us and prevail with us that there is no hope we should ever get the mastery or victory over them The Prophet thus There is no hope i. e. there is no hope in regard of thee and thy Ministery amongst us thou maist for thy part put up thy pipes and hold thy tongue and save thy breath and spare thy pains for we tell thee thus much thou art not likely to do any good upon us God himself thus There is no hope i. e. no hope of favour from him though we should haply change our course and amend our lives and reform our ways as he desires us to do yet we should be still where we are there is no likelihood or probability that we should be ever the better for it or that he notwithstanding all this would shew any mercy to us or divert his judgments from us This word and expression before us it has the force and emphasis of all these senses with it First in reference to themselves to begin with that There is no hope in regard of us that we should ever get the better of those lusts and corruptions in us or that we should ever return to God we have no heart or mind at all to it nay we are utterly averse from it and find our spirits and inclinations against it with despair in this point of our selves as to our amendment and and reformation This is the state and condition of many Persons and People in the world that they are desperate in this regard And there are two things which do make up this unto them and seem to be involv'd in this distemper First an absolute indisposition and aversness to all kind of good Secondly an absolute thraldom and subjection to all kind of evil First an indisposition and aversness to good There is no hope as if they had said We have no heart or affection in us at all to God and to his ways we cannot love him or close with him Thus the Chaldee Paraphrase expounds it Aversi sumus a cultu tuo We are averse from thy Worship and all Religion And another Translation Expectoratum est We are heartless and our minds are off from them This is the sad condition which many sinners are brought unto to have their hearts quite taken off from all that is good and to have no savour or relish or sense of Religion in them yea sometimes though they have formerly made some shew and profession of it This is the complaint of these people here of themselves upon their own experience they know not what 's the matter with them but they wish the Almighty to depart from them for they desire not the knowledge of his ways Job 21.11 This distemper it hath sundry grounds and causes of it from whence it proceeds as First A neglect and intermission of the Duties and Exercises of Religion or of the powerful and fervent acting and performing of them Christian and Religious Exercises they are great means to keep up the heart in a gracious and holy frame and to dispose the Soul to God in a blessed course of communion with him But now when these are intermitted or are carelesly and negligently per formed without any life or power or zeal there does from thence for the most part grow a deadness and awkness upon the mind and listnesness to that which is good men from hence grow strangers to God and he to them and as strangers in regard of communion so likewise in regard of affection and spirit which may dispose thereunto So dangerous a thing it is for any to be guilty in this particular of neglecting Prayer or neglecting Hearing or neglecting the search of their hearts Meditation and communion with Saints and such things as these are This neglect it breeds aversness Secondly A persisting and wallowing in some base and filthy course of life This it doth also wonderfully take off mens hearts from God and all favour of goodness that they have no contentment nor delight in it or in those things which tend unto it Hos 4.11 it is said That whoredom and wine and new wine they take away the heart Fornication and Drunkenness and such courses as those are which are more scandalous and notoricus they make sad impressions upon the Soul in this particular they do enervate it and take away the strength and sinews of it A lustful heart will always be an unsavoury heart so far forth as lust is predominant and prevailing in it We may see it even in David himself who whilst he lay under those grievous miscarriages his heart was very much taken off from God and he found a wonderful alteration in him over what he was before which made him so to pray for the creating of a clean heart and the renewal of a right spirit in him and the bestowing of a free spirit upon him Psal 51.10 Thirdly A walking contrary to light and knowledge and conviction and the dictates of Conscience a quenching of the motions of Gods Spirit and suggestions to the heart This does very much take off the heart also and cause a flatness of spirit upon it For it is a grieving of the Spirit of God himself and it provokes him to withdraw his help and assistance which being done there can be no good temper expected in any whatsoever Lastly Worldliness and too deep an implunging in earthly and secular affairs Those whole hearts are full of the world they are for the most part empty of God and of such thoughts and affections and dispositions as do tend unto him There is a great deal of danger in such a course as this is Ye cannot serve God and Mammon both at once These and the like are the occasions of this heartlesness and indisposition to God which is one thing here considerable Another thing here impli'd is a thraldom and subjection to evil from whence men come to despair of ever getting the mastery of their lusts and the corruptions which are in them There are some kind of people in the world their sins and and impieties do at the present so prevail upon them as that they are quite out of hope of ever getting the better of them they now begin to lay down the buckler and to think it is in vain for them to resist them and to set themselves against them they say There is no hope This is that which in a special manner seems to be intended here
following explications c. First It is defective in the Principle from whence it doth proceed Pharisaical Righteousness is not enough to bring a man to Heaven because it hath not a sufficient ground and foundation for it and that is a changed and renewed heart The Tree must be good before the fruit can be good that comes from it as our Saviour himself has told us Now this Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees it was such a Righteousness as did issue from such persons as had none of this change wrought in them And so may likewise do from any others of the same stamp with them Therefore of it self it is ineffectual to bring men into the Kingdom of God Wheresoever there is not Regeneration there cannot be Salvation and whatever falls short of the one falls consequently short of the other Now this is that which is here observable of us as to this particular Men may abound in all the outward duties both of piety and justice and yet remain in their natural estate and unconverted And so 't is defective in the Principle There are divers false and sinister Principles which Pharisaical Righteousness may proced from which are far short of the New Creature and the work of saving grace in the heart As 1. first of all the want of Temptation and pravation to evil The reason why many are not so bad as otherwise they would be is because they have not those instigations in them to evil as some others have It is not because they are in themselves any thing better but because that evil which is in them is not drawn out as possibly it might be were these persons in such company had such Arguments propounded to them and such perswasions fastened upon them as others have they would be as bad as others are should God but let Satan loose upon them and expose them to his fiery darts we know not what would become of them no more than of any others besides whom perhaps they most disdain Secondly The want of opportunity and occasion to be afforded unto them We use to say that opportunity makes a Thief And so it does any other sins besides that we can think of The reason why many persons do no more mischief than they do is because they have not those means and advantages for it but are outwardly restrained from it As good men do not alwaies that good which they would do for want of an opportunity so evil men do not that evil But this does not therefore make them to be any thing better in themselves it being no thanks to any man to abstain from that evil which he has not ability to commit Impotency is not Innocency nor want of opportunity Grace Thirdly Natural Ingenuity and the principles of moral honesty these are such as go very far to the producing of this Pharisaical Righteousness There are many who by the common light of Nature and the dictates thereof are convinced that such sins are to be avoided and such duties are to be practised who yet in the mean time do retain evil hearts in themselves loving even that evil which they abstain from and hating the good which they do The Pharisees they did all things to be seen of men Matth. 23.5 Lastly Self-love in fear of shame and punishment and the like this is that which hath an influence upon them and makes them to be that which they are The Laws of Men are such as prevail upon many persons more than the Laws of God and the fear of Men more than the fear of God It is not renewing Grace but restraining that keeps them in order and which is productive of Righteousness in them which is one ground of the defectiveness and insufficiency of it the principle from whence it proceeds But secondly As it is defective in it from its Principles so it is defective also from its Concomitants and the consistencies of it A man may be much in the outward duties of Religion and yet for all that favour himself in the basest and vilest lusts pride and malice and envy and covetousness and hatred both of goodness it self and those which are good The Scribes and Pharisees they were the greatest enemies to Christ and his Doctrine and that sometimes a great deal more than some persons of a more loose conversation such persons as these think both to cover and also to excuse their secret and inwad abominations by outward and glorious practices which are seen in the eyes of the world Thirdly This Pharisaical Righteousness it is also defective in regard of its Effects in that it does not reach to these things which are desirable in it As first it is such as do not satisfie the Justice of God That Righteousness which does not satisfie God's Justice it cannot bring a man to Heaven because notwithstanding that Righteousness he is liable to eternal condemnation Where the Debt is not paid the Debter cannot be discharged All a man's external Righteousness it will never make a satisfaction to God's Justice neither to God's Preceptive Justice in commanding nor to God's Vindictive Justice in punishing This Righteousness it falls short of both and so consequently makes him that hath nothing else in him to fall short of Eternal Life and Salvation First God's Preceptive Justice in commanding it does not satisfie that For God's Law and Command it reaches farther than this not only to the outward man but to the inward not only to the body but to the heart not only to the matter or subsance of the action but to the manner and circumstances the latter whereof this Righteousness whereof we now speak does not reach or attain to not to the Law in the Spirituality of it and as our Blessed Saviour here expounds and interprets it in the present chapter Secondly For God's Vindictive Justice in punishing it does not satisfie that neither All that a man can do in a way of obedience cannot satisfie or make amends for what he has not done or done otherwise than he should do in a way of Transgression Pharisaical Righteousness it is no way expiatory of sin and therefore no way productive of Salvation Secondly As it does not satisfie the Justice of God so neither does it satisfie the clamours of conscience and so it is defective in that of conscience that is if conscience awakened and thoroughly inlightened Indeed some kind of consciences and according to the circumstances which they may be in this Righteousness it does abundantly satisfie and give contentment unto them There are a great many of people in the world with that Pharisee which I before mentioned in the Gospel who sit down very confidently with such a Riheousness as this is and think their state and condition to be very good occasionally from it But alas it is such kind of persons as know no better who never had sin set home upon their hearts nor their consciences ever enlightened to see the wretchedness of their
but examine it in the circumstances and particulars of it So much of the first particular the thing it self in the simple proposition That he answer'd discreetly distincty intelligently prudently Now the second is Christ's Inserence upon it in the connexion of the words together When Jesus saw that he answer'd discreetly then he said Thou art not far c. Where we see that Christ's favourable censure was grounded upon the Scribe's suitable answer yet not as I hinted before upon his answer simply in the letter but in the circumstances Christ who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he heard his words so he likewise knew his affection and discerned with what mind he uttered them and accordingly does pass this verdict upon them So that we see that the Lord he hath a specialregard to this he looks not only to good words but to good principles and to good affections in the speaking of them which otherwise is no more than even the Devils themselves sometimes have attain'd at This man that which he said he did not say it meerly in course or in a piece of flattery only to close with Christ and to gain acceptance with him Sir you have spoken very learnedly only to commend the Preacher or to say as he said c. and there 's an end No but he spake out of his own judgment and sense and experience as having some feeling in his own heart and conscience of the truth of that which he spake This should teach us accordingly our selves to be in this manner affected not only to have sound understanding but likewise to have savoury spirits Our hearts inditing a good matter as well as our heads as it is in Psal 45.1 Eructantes boyling it forth of us as out of a Pot or Caldron that so out of the abundance of the heart the mouth may speak This will make us most acceptable to Christ and cause him to pass a most comfortable sentence upon us at another day of coming neer into his Kingdom Again Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God It might be also taken Prophetically and by way of Prediction not only as shewing what he was but what he should be and signifying by way of encouragement what now ere long should befall him as to the work of Grace in him But this I do not insist upon I only hint it as rather resting in that exposition of it which we have before mentioned and laid forth So much also for the Second General observable and so the whole Text. When Jesus saw that he answer'd discreetly he said unto him Thou art not far from the Kingdom of God SERMON III. LUXE 12.20 But God said unto him Thou Fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee c. This Text which I have now read unto you that you may so much the more carefully attend it it is the Word of God twice both reflexively by way of Narration as it is apt of holy Scripture and directly by mediate Examination as it is the speech of the Almighty with a worldly and covetous person It was spoken at first to a fool but wise men may learn by it and be taught a great deal from it for their own edification and comfort yea every one indeed upon the matter is so much the wiser as he hath the more learnt that lesson pointed out to us in these words wherein we have God's warning and awakening to look after that which is a business of the greatest consequence and importance in all the world the Salvation of our own precious and immortal Souls The History is Parabolical and doth necessarily imply no more than the possibility of that which is related but we conceive of it so for the present as done in reality And in the words themselves there are four parts IN the Text it self there are these four parts especially observable First The Introductory Preface But God said unto him Secondly The disgraceful Compellation Thou Fool. Thirdly The threatning Tidings This night thy Soul shall be required of thee Fourthly The Expostulatory Inference And then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided We begin with the first The Introductory Preface But God said unto him It was no great honour to this man simply consider'd that God vouchsafed to speak to him for so he did to his enemy Satan God's speaking to his children is very sweet and full of delight but to his adversaries its full of terrour Speak Lord saies Samuel for thy servant heareth Let not God speak to us say the Israelites lest we die There 's the speaking of love and familiarity and there 's the speaking of anger and dislike and such was this here in the Text It was an hard and an heavy speaking a word of cold comfort which God here administers to him and that we have further exhibited in the Discretive Conjunction 5 but it mars all and carries with it for further aggravation a double Emphasis First an Emphasis of Interruption And secondly an Emphasis of Opposition God spake to him and God spake to him at the same time when he spake to himself there 's God interrupting him and God spake to him and God spake to him contrary to that which he spake to himself there 's God opposing him First God interrupts him he speaks to him whiles he is speaking to himself This man was talking to himself as fools use to do and God comes in and disturbes him How it was that God did it it is not agreed upon by all Interpreters do a little vary concerning this speaking some understand it to be a speaking no more but by way of intention not as if God did express himself any way unto him but only did resolve about him A meer simple efficacious determination and appointment in his own Divine counsel concerning the state and condition of this person without any intimation given unto the person himself others understand it practically that here by God's speaking we are to understand some dangerous disease which was already begun upon the body of this rich man which was to him as the messenger of death and bespake death unto him and indeed every disease if it be thought on is a speaking from God and accordingly we shall hear it A third sort would have it to be understood by way of express signification but then they are divided in the name of it Some by the ministry of an Angel others by the mediation of a Prophet others which is most probable and whereunto I rather incline by a secret application to the conscience although I must tell ye I do very well also approve of that interpretation which makes it practical There was somewhat which God did externally in the way of his providence by inflicting some sickness or the like and occasionally from hence he spake more close to the conscience Thus God spake in the Text he opened the man's understanding to see the folly of his imaginations as also
him with the brightness of his coming And so he shall and all such persons as do adhere unto him The Spirit of Christ shall scatter the spirit of Antichrist and the wind of the Holy Spirit shall confound the wind of the evil Spirit and what ever is attempted by it This is a very comfortable point in all the assaults and temptations of Satan and his endeavours either against the Church in general or against any particular member of it Every Christian is thus far secure and in good condition as he has this Wind as I may so say for him which is sure to blow him nothing but good The Reason of it is this Because he is one that belongs to Christ and has an interest in him and so consequently has an interest in the Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ and so all the motions of it subordinate and subservient to him and disposed of according to his pleasure There are different and various winds which blow now and then both upon the Church and likewise upon the Soul but they are all ordered and regulated by him Therefore we find in the Canticles how it is Christ himself that stirs up his Spirit for the good of his Spouse Awake O North-wind and come thou South and blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out The Spirit it blows where it lists and it lists there where Christ lists too which is very satisfactory for all those that seek unto him And so I have done with the first part of the Text as to the resemblance betwixt the Spirit and the Wind in the work of Regeneration and that is the Quality of the Maker The Wind bloweth c. The Second is the Sensibleness of its effects in those words And thou hearest the sound thereof The wind it comes with a Sound and so does the Spirit of God It did so in its first coming of all when it came upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost There came suddenly a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting Acts 2.4 And so it is still to this present day in a proportion It has a sound and such as may be heard Now thus it is in a two fold consideration The one is the sound of it in the Ear and the other is the sound of it in the Conscience First There is the sound of the Spirit in the Ear and that is in the external Preaching of the Word and Ministerial Dispensation where this is performed as it should be it is no other than the sound of the Spirit and the voice of the Holy Ghost himself speaking to us Their sound is gone forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Rom. 10.18 This is such a sound as may be heard and it is a mercy to hear it and to be made partakers of it and that in regard of the virtue and benefit which by the blessing of God is conveyed by it for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God as the Apostle there tells us Rom. 10.17 Therefore accordingly we should prize it and esteem of it and apply our selves to it as that which is appointed for our good If we look upon Preaching onely as the work of men so there is but little in it and it may be rather matter of contempt in regard of the meanness of it But when we shall consider that it is the Ordinance of God and the voice and sound of the Spirit here 's that in it which commands our regard and attention to it And we should be glad of all opportunities which are at any time afforded unto us for the partaking of it that we may hear the sound of this wind blowing upon us That 's the first The sound in the Ear. But secondly that 's not all there is moreover the sound in the Conscience which is the main and chiefest of all This is that which comes home to the heart of a Christian for his conversion and the raising him from the death of sin under which he was held Like the voice of Christ to Lazarus when he bad him come forth of the grave This is that which is heard also by those persons whom it pleases God to vouchsafe it unto according to that of our blessed Saviour in Joh. 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Thus we shall find it was with the Disciples going to Emaus Luke 24.32 They said one to another Did not our bearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and whiles he opened to us the Scripture There was a special efficacy went with his word to the hearts of his hearers And so it was with St. Peter's Converts Acts 2.37 When they heard these words they were pricked at their hearts And the Jaylor Acts 16.33 he heard not onely the sound of the wind but the sound of the Spirit and this sound of it whereof we now speak in the heart-quake as well as the earth quake which he was sensible of upon that occasion And so it has been with many more and still is they daily hear this sound made unto them they have strong and strange impressions upon their hearts and spirits to this purpose which they cannot but hear in several kinds sometimes checking them for sin and sometimes restraining them from it sometimes exciting them to good and sometimes encouraging them in it The Spirit of God in their hearts and consciences deals diversly and variously with them and it is their duty and wisdom accordingly to attend unto him They that hear thus they shall hear that is they shall hear effectually as it is intimated in the place before cited And therefore it concerns us to regard it and to give heed unto it all that possible may be There are a great many people in the world who though this sound which we now speak of in both the branches of it be continually exhibited unto them and such as may be heard yet they do not or at least will not hear it who like the deaf Adder stop their ears and will not hear the voice of the charmers charm they never so wisely as the Prophet David speaks of them in Psal 68.4 5. Now what do such as these but as much as in themselves lies hinder their own conversion and regeneration and the work of grace in their hearts which is accomplished by such ways and means as these And besides after a great indignity and disrespect to the holy Ghost himself as the Apostle Paul signifies to us in 1 Thess 4.8 He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given us his holy Spirit Whose voice as it is sensible to be heard so it ought to be heard by us as we have occasion for it And so
known The knowledge of God by Christ is not onely in Christ himself but from him imported to us for our information There is neither envy in Christ nor neglect nor affectation of reservedness in this particular but free and open dealing with a great deal of alacrity indeed His declaration is not answerable and proportionable to his apprehension we may not imagine so for that is incongruous Christ does not declare so much of the Father as he knows because we are incapable of it but so much as is fitting for us and that we can receive he does discover He declares God himself and all such Truthes as lead us to further fellowship and communion with him Thirdly He hath declared him it is a word of Perspicuity He hath not onely barely and simply propounded him in a dark and obscure manner but he hath explicated him and revealed him unto us This is emphatically signified in the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an expression of manifestation and does imply a bringing of things to light which before were more hard and difficult to be understood And as the Criticks and Grammarians observe of it it is properly applied to Divine and Excellent matters whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does more properly belong and appertain to things vulgar and obvious This is that which Christ hath done for us as Philip sometime desired of him he hath shewn to us the Father he hath cleared to us the great Mysteries of our Salvation which were unknown unto us or which before were propounded but in a dark and enigmatical manner and with much obscurity This is the great excellency of the New Testament above the Old and of the time of the Gospel above the Law that the Vail is now taken away and we have things more clearly revealed unto us than were to them in former days There is the light of the knowledge of God now shining out unto us Christ hath cleared both the things themselves as also our minds and understandings for the conception of them and exhibited these things in reality which Moses gave an hint of but in Types and Legal adumbrations The consideration of this point makes much for our heed and attention to such things as these are and closing with them See that ye refuse not him that speaketh as it is Heb. 12.23 seeing Christ declares them let not us turn away from them we ought to give the more earnest heed unto them lest at any time we let them slip else we shall not escape if we neglect so great salvation as it is again Heb. 2.3 There is nothing which we can here plead by way of excuse and tergiversation but all the Arguments that may be to engage us Here is the knowledge of our Teacher himself here is his willingness to impart his knowledge to us and also his skill and ability for it that we may be partakers of it And so much may be spoken of this passage in its first notion to wit in its simple Proposition The second is in its Emphatical Appropriation He hath declared him that is upon the matter He alone This word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text it is not demonstrative onely but restrictive This declaring of the Father it is restrained and appropriated to the Son as more peculiarly belonging unto him to be done by him He has declared him that is he onely has declared him Therefore it is that he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word not onely upon the account of his Nature or Person but upon the account of his Office he is called so upon the account of the former in regard of His Eternal Generation because as Speech is the birth of the mind so is the Son of the Father And he is called so upon account of the latter in regard of His Ministerial Dispensation because as a man remembers the meaning of his heart by the words of his mouth so God revealeth his Word by his Son He is the Interpreter of the will of his Father and the Prophet and Teacher of his Church And both of the Titles whereby Christ is here in the Text described unto us do seem especially to qualifie him for this purpose Therefore he is fittest to declare God because he is His onely-begotten Son and therefore also he is fittest to declare him because he is in the bosom of the Father Thus Heb. 1.1 2. God c. hath now spoken to us by his Son That which is our business at this time is to consider how far forth this Action is here appropriated to Christ which we may take according to this ensuing explication First it is He Primarily and by His own Authority that does declare him others have been used as Instruments but they have done it by delegation from Him who has instituted them and appointed them hereunto they have done it by his appointment and they have done it by his ennablement who has directed them and assisted them in it The Son of God first made known to his Apostles all those things that he heard of his Father as we have it in Joh. 15.15 All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you And the same Son sent his Spirit to instruct them and to bring all those things to their remembrance which he had formerly taught them as we have it also in Joh. 14.26 And so Acts 1.7 8. Ye shall have power after that the holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me c. So is Christ Primarily though it be others Ministerially that do declare him Christ does it in his own Name but the Apostles and other Ministers in the Name of Christ Secondly It is he Perfectly and Infallibly Others unless such as were immediately inspired by him they were subject to human error and infirmity and they have now and then somewhat of themselves mixt in their declarations but Christ does it without all exception and so as there is no doubt or scruple or question at all to be made of it he does it so exactly Thirdly It is he that declares it effectually and with the best success He declares the Father and perswades our hearts to the receiving of him shews us the Truth and leads us and perswades us into it inlightens our understandings and inclines our wills opens our eyes and over-powers our consciences reveals God not onely to us but reveals him in us As God does likewise his Son according to the phrase which is there used to this purpose in Gal. 2.16 Thus we see how it is He and he alone that declares the Father unto us The sum of all may be drawn up to these Heads First from hence to take notice how much we are beholding to Christ We have heard of late of many singular benefits and advantages which we have by him let us now take in this to the rest in that by him we come to have a further
take which he Preaches is to be earnest especially with God to go along with it and to bless him in it otherwise he may lose all his labour Again further The life and conversation of the Preacher there 's great matter in that also There are many Doctrines sometimes delivered which if we consider them in their own nature and for the matte of the things themselves which are spoken they have a great deal of weight in them yet as coming from such and such mouths they lose that efficacy and vertue which is in them He that 's a loose and scandalous liver can never look to be a profitable and successful Preacher nor to have any good at all come by any Doctrine which at any time he delivers I say he cannot expect or look for it Perhaps he may do some good by chance and unawares as God in providence may order it but he cannot expect or look for it and that indeed because he takes the quite contrary way hereunto For who will ever believe that that man is serious and in good earnest whose Doctrine tends one way and his life quite carries another way Nay further let me add this also That it is a great matter as concerning the efficacy and success of a mans Doctrine and Ministry not only how he orders his life and outward conversation but also how he orders his heart and inward disposition It is a duty which much lyes upon us as we desire that any Truth we deliver should take with our Auditory to labour to bring our own hearts and consciences to a conformity to it There 's nothing which goes to the heart so much as that which comes from it And when the words of a Preacher are the expressions of his own experiences and impressions and the working of his spirit within him We imparted unto you not the Gospel of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us 1 Thes 2.8 Thus do we see how this difference lyes in the Preacher himself and that 's the first Consideration The second lies in the qualification of the hearers We use say Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis What ever is received it is received answerably to the modification of that which receives it And so is it indeed among other things with the Word and Truth of God it has a different and various effect according to a difference in the Hearers and a disposition in their hearts It is the Comparison which is used in this case by Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Look says he as it is at Tennis It is a plain and homely similitude but it serves to illustrate the thing As it is in playing of Ball 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It does not depend alone upon the skill of the first striker but also as well upon the taker to keep the Game up Though he which begins behave himself never so skilfully yet if the other do but bungle with him if he mind not or mark not the business there will nothing be done to any purpose because those imployments they are actions of mutual dependance and reciprocation Even so also for the transmission of the Gospel and Divine Truths though the Doctrine it self be delivered with all the care and endeavour that can be yet if it be not carefully received there will no success follow upon it Thus Heb. 4.3 The Gospel was Preached to them as well as unto us but the word Preached did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it This is set forth to us by the Parable in the Gospel where that which fell in the High-way had not the efficacy of that which was sown in the good Ground Non impotentia seminis sed vino telluris as Athanasius well expresses it not from the weakness of the seed but from a defect in the Earth it self where there is not a good capacity in the Hearer the Word Preached will be there of no effect Now an indisposition here may be laid forth as consisting in divers things which concur hereunto First Prejudice and forestallment of Opinion and Apprehension in regard of the Preacher where people have at any time sinister and wrong conceits of those tha teach them they can never so kindly entertain the Doctrine which is delivered by them as when a Patient does not fancy the Physitian the Physick will not likely do him good This was that which made the Word of God to be no more received in former times We see how it was with the very Apostles themselves and amongst the rest more particularly St. Paul how the prejudices against his Person were sometimes great impediments to his Doctrine and the progress of his Ministry amongst them And therefore it is most necessary thing for all kind of Hearers to take heed of this Not to be rash in admitting any misprisions in this regard as Satan is most ready to breed them so should we be the readier to avoid them And again which we may take in here also as prejudice in an ill sense so prejudging also in a good there may be a danger in that also when people come to the hearing of the Word with too much expectation from the Preachers too and as trusting to their Gifts and Abilities this may be a cause of not profiting likewise when we shall have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of Persons It comes hence to pass that we are many times frustrated and disappointed and are sent empty away c. as Naaman to Elisha he thought the man of God would have come down c. 2 King 1. Secondly Another Hindrance in the Hearers is a want of due fitting and preparing of themselves for the publick Ordinances We see in other matters how preparation goes before the thing it self in Physick there 's a preparing of the body beforehand ere the principal Physick be administred and in Diet there 's preparation by exercise before the receiving of the meat even so is it requisite to be here in Divine matters likewise in our coming to the Sacrament and in our coming to the Preaching of the Word as we desire to get profit by these Duties so we must prepare our selves for them when we come to such things as these are immediately from our worldly imployments with our minds and thoughts full of the world we cannot ordinarily receive so much advantage and benefit by them Intus prohibet alienum Thirdly Some reigning sin and lust which prevails upon the heart that 's another impediment likewise in the behalf of the Hearer Look as it is in the body if any man have any constant weakness or sickness and infirmity about him that sustenance which he receives it does not commonly thrive with him but rather feeds and strengthens his disease than any thing else even so is it also here for the soul where there 's any corruption which is
Thes 1.5 This is that which becomes a servant of Christ as the best principle of all to work upon namely his own knowledg and experience of those things which he speaks of But of this we may have occasion to treat more anon out of the words themselves 2. As here 's an account of his practice from the principle of it so likewise from the matter and the thing it self which was handled by him which is by beginning with terror and laying judgment before them and the last judgment in particular This is the course which is taken by him for the more effectual progress of his Ministry to lay the ground-work and foundation in this And it so was likewise with him elsewhere Thus he dealt with the men of Athens Act. 17. 30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every-where to repent because he bath appointed a day in which be will judg he worlds So he began likewise with Felix Act. 24.25 He reasoned before him of righteousness and temperance and judgment of come So Heb. 6.2 Amongst the rest of the first Elements of Christain Religion we find there reckoned eternal judgment as that which is mainly and principally to be known and studied by a Christian as preparatory and introductory to many other Doctrines besides 3. We may likewise here take notice of the order and method which is observed by him in all this which is first of all informing himself and then instructing of others Here 's scientes prinsquaâ—â— suademus First Knowing and after that perswading There are some which invert this order Begin first with perswading and then come to knowing aftewards Which will be teachers before they are learners which will take upon them to instruct ere themselves are sufficiently instructed But this is not the Apostles method here in this place who begins at the right end and that which is most natural and probable to know before he makes known And thus much by way of preparation of these words in their dependance and connexion We come now closer to the parts themselves Where we have these two particulars considerable First The work it self and that is we perswade men Secondly The principle of this working or the Motive that put them upon it Knowing the terror of the Lord. We begin with the last first which is first in the order of the words as it is also in the nature of the thing and that is the nature or principle of working Knowing the terror of the Lord. Wherein again two particulars more First The object propounded and that is the terror of the Lord. Secondly The apprehension of this object in reference to the mind c. Knowing the terror of the Lord. The Vulgar Latine gives it Timorem Domini the fear of the Lord which is a little more mollified and restrained The Arabick Interpreter for fail puts them in both Timorem reverentiam Domini Terrorem takwi trabbi wa-hashaitiho Erasmus simpliciter terrorem which is also followed by our own Translators as best agreeing with the drift of the place which is that which we will now keep unto 1. I say here 's the Object propounded The terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was that which the Apostle knew and desired also to make known unto them for their edification and spiritual improvement It 's called the terror of the Lord emphatically and exclusively as hereby shutting out any other terror besides which does not so well consist with this for we must know that there are sometimes false terrors as well as true There are terrores Satanae as well as terrores Domini and these are very cautelously to be distinguish't one from the other The Devil as he has his false comforts and raptures and elevations so he has likewise his false fears and astonishments and dejections whereby he does sometimes depress and keep down the hearts of Gods People in his uncomfortable representations in his suggestions to despair in his dreadful prognostications and the like These are such kind of things as are very sad and terrible and which St. Paul also knew well enough and was sufficiently acquainted withal He was not ignorant of Satans devices whereby he labours to affright men and to take them off from doing of their duty and that work which does belong unto them through their too much attendance hereunto But he does not make any of these to be a ground for his ministerial perswasions no but the terror of the Lord those terrors which God himself makes and which are of his allowance and approbation What kind of terrors are those may it be here demanded Let us hear of them what they are and what is meant here by them in this expression which we here meet withal in the Text. For these there are divers kinds of them we may reduce them briefly to three heads which as I think will reach this phrase in the full extent and latitude of it 1. The terror of the Word in the threatnings and comminations of it wherein is revealed from Heaven the wrath of God against all unrighteousness as the Apostle speaks in Rom. 1.18 This is one terror of the Lord and a very great terror it is if it be duly considered there 's a mighty power in the work of God set on by the assistance of Gods Spirit for the terrifying of the most secure sinner and driving him out of that condition and presumption and stupidity of mind in which he lyes The Word of God is powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit c. Heb. 4.12 And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God c. says the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.4 This we see in Paul to Felix who whiles he Preach'd before him astonish'd him and caused him to tremble 2. The terror of Divine Impression upon the heart and conscience This is sometimes called in Scripture the terror of the Almighty which Joâ— and David Heman and such as these did sometimes partake of when God himself appears as an Enemy and does immedlately wrestle and conflict with the inwards of any poor soul and write bitter things against it This is likewise the terror of the Lord and such as does indeed carry a great deal of terribleness with it but yet that 's not all which is meant here in this place 3. The terror of Judgment and more especially of the day of Judgment that 's likewise the terror of the Lord and it is that which is also principally intended here in this present Scripture which relates to that which was mentioned in the verse immediately preceding We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive c. Now knowing the or as some that terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the demonstrative particle we do therefore perswade so that the terror of the Lord is as
the matter which the Act is exercised about and conversant in towards this object and the Argument whereby or whereupon we proceed in dealing with them First For the Act or what it is which is done it is perswading We perswade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is an expression which carries a various Emphasis First It is a word of endeavour we perswade that is we labour to do so Indeed if we speak of it as to the event so we do not always do it it is our misery and our great unhappiness that we cannot and more ours than any ones else Non suadebis etiamsi persuaseris as he said That that though we have as much cause and more than any others besides to perswade in that which we undertake to perswade men of yet we cannot so readily effect it men will not be perswaded by us even in such things as does concern them very nearly to be convinced and perswaded of Yet who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed we may complain with that Evangelical Prophet Isa 53.1 As for some other kind of persons that come with their fables and fancies and fopperies and delusions and Astrological Predictions these can perswade when they list to put an whole City into a fright for I know not what But we which bring news and tidings of the wrath of God against sin of judgment and eternal condemnation We which mention the terrour of the Lord yea and that upon knowledg too not meer guesses or conjectures but have good ground for that which we say We cannot stir men nor in the leaft manner perswade them they will not believe what we say as having any reality or certainty in it Well but for all that says the Apostle we perswade and so we do namely as I said in regard of our endeavour and application of our selves hereunto We in the execution of our Ministry do labour and study to perswade men if they will be perswaded by us and it is our duty so to do To do all that in us lies to convince men of that wretched condition which they are in by reason of sin and the danger which they are exposed unto for it This is that work which is proper to us and we do not go out of our way when we are conversant in it Secondly It is a word of mollification We perswade men we do not compel them Fides non cogenda sed suadenda It is a rule of ancient observation and it hath its truth in it according to a due explication and right apprehension which is in regard of the inward acts of the mind and the ultimate resolution of the understanding considered immediately Indeed there may be some kind of compulsion to the outward means and the attending upon them and likewise an use of such means extrinsecally as may cause men to set their understandings on work and to give heed to that which is spoken but directly and immediately to force it this is not agreeable to it as I may force a man to look though I cannot force him to see The work of the Ministry it is not a Physical work but a Moral and so is to be looked upon by us This sutes with the word that follows namely Men We perswade men men must be dealt withal as men and that is by perswasion Hos 11.4 I drew them with the cords of a man What are they namely sound and convincing arguments which might perswade and bring off their understandings to those things which were propounded unto them This is that which we are to do in the Ministry and which God himself likewise does in Regeneration and the conversion of a sinner he does here perswade Indeed when we speak of God he does so and somewhat else that we may not mistake he does not only propound arguments and barely offer such considerations to our understandings but he does likewise forcibly incline them and irresistibly bring them off to those things which he offers and propounds he draws us and makes us to run after him whereby he doth at the same time both preserve the faculties of the soul in that nature which is proper unto them and likewise maintain the efficacy and soveraignty of his own Grace But for us in the Ministry of the Word we do no more than only tender and exhibit such truths to the mind and leave it to God himself to inforce them and set them upon it It is not all the reason or argument in the world which is able to convince and perswade a man without the influence of the Spirit of God When therefore it is said here We perswade you must remember in what sense it is spoken namely by way of Preparation and proposition of such and such truths and arguments which in their own nature are apt so to do It is not in the power of all the Ministers nor men in the world to perswade the hearts and conscience properly and directly and absolutely in the strict sense and notion of the word No this is no work of ours but of God alone God shall perswade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem Gen. 9.27 The good old man his Father Noah the Preacher of Righteousness both by his Doctrine and likewise by his Life he had endeavoured it often but in vain and could not do it he could not perswade him by all the Logick and Rhetorick which he had used unto him there was no moving of him only by himself no but he leaves it to God to do it for him and commits it to his transaction as that which was most likely to succeed and to take effect And so must it be also with us which are Ministers as to our performances expect and desire that God may perswade by us but not to think that we of our selves shall be ever able to perswade We do but perswade almost as Paul sometimes did Agrippa Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian. It is God that must perswade altogether But yet thirdly this expression We perswade it is moreover a word of efficacy too and that likewise in reference to us in our dispensations though not in regard of the effect of our Ministry yet at least in regard of the performance and manner of ordering it so we perswade effectually when as namely we so handle the word in the preaching and publishing of it as that it may carry some life and power with it This was that which was observable in our Saviour He taught as one having authority and not as the Scribs Mat. 7.29 My speech and my preaching says he it was not with the enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and with power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God 1 Cor. 2.8 Not in enticing words or not in the perswading words
Again secondly which is another thing very considerable in it it is likewise a fruit and an effect of Christs Ascension and that expression and token of his love which he would leave behind him when he left the world as we may see in Eph. 4.8 When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men and what those are are afterwards exprest And for what end For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ The Ministry it is a fruit of Christs love And we are said to be manifest to him that is allowed and approved of by him in this respect so far forth as we do indeed partake of a Manifestation from him as the Ministerial Gifts are there intituled 1. Cor. 12.7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal But secondly That 's not all there 's another manifestation than all this which the Apostle seems to aim at in his present Text and that is not only a manifestation of calling and gifts which must likewise be premised that we be such whom God may approve of as fit to do him service in this work but likewise moreover a manifestation of performances as to the exercise and improvement of those gifts which God has bestowed We are manifest to God says the Apostle that is the Lord sees and knows our faithfulness and integrity in this business which is upon us and we are careful to approve our hearts and consciences to him above any thing else And the Apostle seems to make mention of this here in this place for a threefold purpose First as his duty in regard of his endeavour Secondly as his happiness in regard of his condition Thirdly as his comfort in regard of his reflexion First As his Duty in regard of his endeavour we are manifest to God and it is that which lyes upon us so to be we could not satisfie our selves if we did not do so Here 's that which is now the concernment of all those which are the Ministers of the Gospel to study and seek after this that they may be manifest and approved unto God As it is that which lyes upon all other Christians besides in the whole course of Christianity to labour and to be ambitions as the word properly signifies to be accepted of him as ye have it in the ninth verse of this present Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. so it does especially lye upon us which are Ministers in the work of our Ministery It is not so much how men may approve of us and how we may be manifest to them which yet is that which too many do mainly look after but how the Lord himself may approve us and we may be made manifest to them This is that which does principally concern us and the Apostle Paul does here intimate unto us making mention of it as his Duty Secondly He makes mention of it as his happiness or priviledg as it was his duty to endeavour it so it was likewise his happiness to obtain it and that 's another thing in it There are a great many people in the world which do strive and endeavour after that which they shall never partake of but St. Paul here did not so As he did desire to approve himself to God in his work of the Ministry so actually he did attain unto it and God did abundantly witness and testifie unto it he did even himself manifest this manifestation wherein the Apostle had a very great advantage over the false teachers which did so vaunt themselves as we may see in 2 Cor. 10.12 17 18. We dare not make our selves of the number or compare our selves with some that commend themselves c. And again He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. For not be that commendeth himself is approved but whom the Lord commendeth This was the Apostles excellency above them that he did not nor did not need to commend himself as one who was approved and commended by God himself The Lord bears witness to those which are his faithful servants as he did sometime to Moses Num. 12.7 My servant Moses is faithful in all mine house This was likewise the happiness and priviledg of Paul and of the rest of the Apostles Thirdly Here 's also his comfort and satisfaction of mind in the reflexion he is very well pleased in himself when he thinks upon it and he sets it against all the non-attendances and neglects and contempts of men What says he though we should not be taken notice of by men of the world that though they should not see or regard what is done by us Well but we are manifest to God for all that he sees us and knows what we are and with what sincerity we discharge this work and task which is now upon us And this is enough to content us this seems to be the main drift of the words here in this present Text. This it carries comfort in it according to either notion of the word manifestation which I toucht upon before Whether ye take it in a way of discovery or else in a way of approbation take it in either of these ways and it is comfortable to be made manifest to God Even then when there is a restraint of it as concerning manifestation to men that is either when men do not behold us and we are not manifest to them so or else when men do not regard us and we are not manifest unto them so In the want and denial of either of these manifestations is it comfortable to be manifest to God First I say in case of concealment and retiredness and disappearance which carries an opposition with it to the manifestation of knowledge and discovery it is a comfort to be made manifest to God and to be known to him where we are manifest no where else so it be not affected The world is very much for the most part for applause and a glorious outside to be admired and cried up and pointed at digito monsirari dicier hic est as the Pharisees that loved greetings and salutations in the market-place but a good heart can be satisfied in its appearance and discovery to God that he sees it in secret who will one day reward it in open As where there is guiltiness before God there is cause of shame and blushing though no eye of man bbehold it so on the other side where there is goodness before him there is cause of rejoicing and glorying though no man be privy unto it This was the case here of the Aposle in regard of the Corinthians As for the false Apostles and false Teachers they made a great noise amongst them and carried it with their outward pomp and magnificence and vain-glorious ostentations But this was St. Paul's comfort that God himself knew what he was and his own Conscience in reference to
tables of the heart Those souls and consciences which it has pleased God to bring home to himself by the labours of his servants in the Ministry they are a manifestation of the Ministry it self and an approbation of them in it insomuch as they need no other Testimony but that to be given unto him This is that which does advance God's Ordinance more than any thing else and makes it such as it is to wit the efficacy and success of it that it does effect such great matters as indeed it does Casts down imaginations to every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledg of God and brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 And so Act. 26.18 It is said to open mens eyes to turn them form darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God This efficacy of it we may take notice of in divers examples First In Christ himself when he Preached to those which were going to Emaus Did not our hearts burn within us when he opened to us the Scriptures Luk. 25.2 And so it has been likewise with his sevants in the Ministry As Peter Preaching to the Jews when they heard these things they were pricked in their hearts And so Lydia and the Jaylor in the Acts ye see how effectual the Apostle Paul's Ministry was to operate and work upon them he was made manifest in their consciences Thus is it likewise with many others besides if they would consider it and reflect upon it They might find how the Ministry has been ratified and confirmed even in their own hearts which if ever they had any good or any thing tending unto good wrought in them it has been occasionally from such means as these are which have been used unto them God has sanctified this Ordinance as a meants to beget faith in the heart and to draw men so much the nearer to Christ I have begotten you through the Gospel says this Apostle to these Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4.15 Thus are we manifest in your consciences in a way of efficacy The second is in a way of Conviction or Approbation We are made manifest in your consciences that is indeed we are made manifest to you your consciences do bear witness with us This is that which the Apostle here signifies and he understands it both in reference to Doctrine and Conversation which were both of them so powerful in them as that they had nothing to say against them but were even from their own consciences forced to own and acknowledg them and thereby to give testimony unto them This is now the advantage of all such as are careful to do their duty and to approve themselves first to God and to be made manifest to him that they shall have the consciences of men also closing and complying with them as the Apotle Paul here says to them We are made manifest in your consciences This was ture whether spoken of all the Corinthians at large or else of those only which were godly and faithful amongst them which were true Believers It was true of both as 2 Cor. 4.2 By manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God First of the Corinthians at large yea of those which were naught amongst them It was true of them that St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles were made manifest in their consciences and so are all good Ministers in the consciences of such-like men they are made manifest in them and they are made manifest to them so as they shall have nothing to say against them And so likewise were all good men in what rank or condition soever This is the priviledg of Goodness that it shall have mens consciences where it has not their affections Though they love it not yet they shall inwardly like it and in their hearts secretly approve it and set their seals unto it There 's many a man in the world whom when a Minister reproves that sin which he is guilty of in particular and lays open the vileness of it to him though he hates the reprover yet the reproof it self sticks by him he knows it to be so indeed as the Preacher tells him his heart says Amen unto it This is to be made manifest in the conscience And it is that I say which falls out in the consciences even of the worst men that are As Herod though he loved not Johm Baptist yet he reverenced him and in his heart did admire him This as much as any thing is a great incouragement to us in our work the work of the Ministry that where we keep to that which is our business we go upon sure grounds and though men perhaps in a bravery and because they will not seem to own their own miscarriages they may prehaps speak neglectfully and contemptibly of the business when any sin is laid close unto them yet we know we are made manifest to their consciences which do speak the same things unto them even in their own breasts which we do to their outward ears Those that believe not are convinced and judged the secrets of their hearts are made manifest and they will report God is in your of a truth 1 Cor. 14.24 25. But then secondly if ye take this your consciences a little more strictly restraining it to true Believers and those amongst these Corinthians which were faithful and godly persons then it was in full force and is the more clear and out of doubt that St. Paul and the rest were made manifest in their consciences indeed Howsoever others may think of us yet those which are faithful will approve us and close with us in these Dispensations There 's none which are the Ministers of Christ but they approve of the Ministers of Christ and subscribe to that which comes from them in the name of Christ more abundantly to you-wards 2 Cor. 9.11 12. In your consciences especially in whosoevers else besides If by consciences we mean mens hearts and affections and inward embracements so we do not look to be manisested Some kind of men such persons as live by their lusts and walk in vain and unwarrantable courses these will be sure to speak against Ministers because they speak against them and cross them and contradict them in their main purpose and design The Ministers of Satan will never love the Ministers of Christ we do not expect it nor we do desire it It is a thing not to be thought of or lookt for from them yea but those which have any work of Gods grace wrought in their hearts we are sure to have them to own us and to acknowledg us and to concur with us We are made manifest in your consciences says the Apostle that is in the consciences of you which are believing Corinthians And when I say here we and the Apostle before me I do not mean it so much of the persons as indeed of the calling or of the persons
in reference thereunto If we speak of the persons themselves they are not always such as in every thing can be approved of we are men subject to the like infirmities and affections with other men though it would very much become us to have as few of them as needs must and a great deal fewer of them than any other besides yet notwithstanding so it is with us through the corruptions of nature which is in us we have our faults as well as you and it may be sometimes the more for your sakes If you were that which you should be we should be better than we are God may perhaps humble us now and then for your defects But that 's not that which we stand upon now in this point it is not the persons so much as the office which I now plead for the calling and profession it self though that also subjected and terminated in such and such persons as it was here in the persons of St. Paul and the rest of the Ministers This it was made manifest in their Conscices at least of those which were godly and gracioso amongst them And so likewise will be to the end of the world as long as there are any which have any saving work in their hearts their Ministry shall be sure to find acceptance and approbation notwithstanding all opposition And so much of the first particular viz. the thing it self which is asserted We are made manifest in you c. The second is the word of Transition or Introduction I trust or hope We may take notice also of this and it carries a double notion in it first of Endeavour and Desire and secondly of Confidence and Expectation it was that which he wisht it might be and it was that which he was perswaded it was First There was his Desire in it as he wisht it might be he desired to approve his Ministry and himself in the execution of his Ministry to the hearts and consciences of those which were faithful that they might be sure to close with him This should likewise be the desire and ambition of all others besides to be made manifest in the consciences of those which are the people of God whether in regard of their Doctrine or their life to deliver such Truths as are made good in their experience and to lead such lives as are suitable and agreeable to their principles and the practise of them Those men that walk not in the ways of good men they may well think they step aside and so are opposite to our Doctrine Those Points and Doctrines in Divinity are very questionable and suspicious and do expose the teachers of them to a great deal of just censure and exception which do thwart and cross and contradict the common sense and feeling and experiments of those which are most godly and religious and have the work of saving Grace in their hearts such are those points in particular of Free-will of Universal Redemption of uncertainty of Salvation the resistibility of Conversion of falling from Grace of conditional Election and the like they are such as do not only swerve from the plain Doctrine of the Scriptures but likewise do very much fall short of the experiences of the servants of God who need no other arguments against them than what they find in their own hearts and consciences as fighting with them So those which are the teachers of them as therein they are not manifest to God so neither are they manifested in the consciences of godly men which it would well become them to be for their own greater satisfaction as well as others and which St. Paul here seemed so to desire Secondly As there was his Desire in it so there was also his confidence and Expectation I hope or trust that is I believe and make account of it It is a word of Triumphant expression as you have another of the like nature with it 1 Cor. 7.6 I think also c. The Apostle was perswaded of it that so it was with him That he was made manifest in their Consciences And this again he was upon a double motive or consideration First from his own Integrity And secondly from their Ingenuity He knew that himself did deserve and he knew likewise that they were of themselves ready to imbrace it First I say he knew his own integrity that himself did deserve it The best way for any one to expect to be made manifest to others is first to be made manifest to himself and that he may be approved of in others Consciences to be approved of first in his own They whos 's own hearts condemn and upon a just examination of them do bear witness against them they may be very well afraid of others and think that they will not have that opinion of them as perhaps they could desire they might have Secondly As the Apostle concluded it from his own integrity so likewise from the ingenuity of the persons which he had to deal withal If a man be never so upright and sincere in his own heart and never so careful to approve what he does to his own Conscience yet if he be to deal with captious persons and those which have a mind to wrangle and contest and pick a quarrel with him he shall never approve himself to those for all this But these Corinthians were not so especially those which were the gravest and godliest amongst them which the Apostle does here principally intend these they had other kind of minds and dispositions in them which was that which made him to be so confident and perswaded of them I trust we are made manifest in your consciences There 's an Emphasis in both of the words whether in consciences or in yours and accordingly we may take notice of it To your consciences not to your fancies to your consciences not to your humours to your consciences not to your lusts And then to your consciences not to the consciences of strangers to Religion to your consciences not to the consciences of enemies to Religion to your consciences not to the consciences of the false teachers and false Apostles amongst you which labour all they can to pervert and entice and corrupt you in your consciences we are made manifest and desire and rejoice so to be So much also for the second General SERMON XXXIV 2 Cor. 1.10 Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us There are two Graces especially which do serve very much to amplifie and enlarge Gods mercies towards us the one is the Grace of Thankfulness and spiritual joy and the other is the Grace of Faith and spiritual trust joy that enlarges them to others and disperses and scatters them abroad to those persons with whom we converse and faith that enlarges them to our selves and makes them so much the greater to our own minds and expectations Now each of these we may here take notice of in
he oftentimes pretends to and present as a bait to many persons to catch tem and involve them in sin the fruit and profit and benefit which they shall receive by it but in conclusion it proves none at all as both the Scripture it self here testifies and the experience likewise of all men that deal with it can bear witness thereunto Thirdly Here 's that which on the contrary does advance the ways of goodness in opposition and contrariety hereunto Here 's the great difference now betwixt Sin and Grace betwixt walking in the ways of Holiness and walking in the ways of sin And this improvement we may the rather make of it because it seems to be that which is so chiefly intended by the Spirit of God in this Chapter viz. to compare these two both together and to shew the preheminence of the one above the other in this particular as we may see in the verses both before and after the Text When ye were the servants of sin says he ye were free from righteousness what fruit had ye then c. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life This is the difference betwixt them take any man whatsoever which imploys himself in the ways of vertue and godliness and he has a great deal of benefit and profit and advantage which does redound to him therefrom peace of Conscience and tranquillity of spirit and joy in the Holy Ghost which is glorious and unspeakable as the Apostle speaks Though a man should have no fruit of it at all from the world yet he has enough within the compass of it self and that satisfaction which it gives to the mind of him that is conversant therein Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour as it is said of this spiritual wisdom in Prov. 3.16 17. Whereas on the other side for sinful courses and the ways of wickedness and ungodliness this is all a man comes off with a reproachful imputation of unprofitableness that a man gets no benefit by it in all such labour as this is especially which he has under the Sun Nay further as a man has no benefit by it or from it or after it so neither has he indeed in it which is another thing to be taken notice of by us and pertinent to the illustration of this point What fruit had ye then and what fruit had ye in there 's an Emphasis and a force in that to meet with the fond conceits and apprehensions of many people abroad which though they have no good by their Sins at all after them yet do imagin that they have some good at least in them that then when they are imployed about them and are in the actings and commissions of them that then certainly they have some advantage by them nay but not so neither they are mistaken if they think so It is not what fruit have ye from these things but what fruit have ye in them It is not what fruit have ye now but what fruit had ye then not only now when the Sins over and the commission of it is past and you find the sad effects and consequents of it in your selves but then when it was in the very best and prime and activity of it not only now when you are converted and changed and altered and of another mind what fruit have ye now but even then when you were in your natural condition when you were most eager and bent upon Sin and thought your selves the happiest people in the world if you might but obtain an opportunity for the committing of it What fruit had ye and what fruit had ye then in such things as these are This is that which the Holy Ghost would here teach us the unsatisfactoriness which is in Sin even to that mind which is most intent upon it and most vehemently carried away with it the pleasure of Sin it is a false pleasure and the delight of it is a false delight and the contentment which seems to be in it no true contentment at all which when men seriously reflect upon and consider in good earnest with themselves as St. Paul bid the Romans here to do they do easily find and observe and accordingly are perswaded of it to be so indeed The acting and committing of Sin it has no true comfort in it but much of the contrary rather an the upon a twofold account First From the disconvenience of the object the unsuitableness and unagreeableness which is in Sin to the mind of man it self which though so far forth as it is depraved and corrupted does close well enough with it yet so far forth as it has any relicks or remainders of goodness at all in it so far forth is opposite to it This we may observe sometimes in the worst men that are except it be such as are given up to a reprobate sense and to and hard and obdurate heart through the just judgment of God I say otherwise the worst men almost that are they have somewhat in them which does contradict Sin through the Law of God written in their hearts and though their corruption does carry them headlong to it yet their better principles do set them against it not only those which are truly regenerated but even natural men themselves they have some common moral principles in them which at least to some kind of Sins do make them more or less indisposed so that whensoever they come to commit them yet they do them with some kind of abhorrency and reluctancy in themselves and because they do them so therefore they do them not with full delight neither can they have that contentment in them which they might be thought to have Secondly Another thing is the rising of Conscience it self and some implicite sense and apprehension of Gods wrath and judgment and vengeance against those Sins which are committed A man have no true contentment in sin in the commission of it because at the very same time that he does indeed act and commit it his Conscience does in some degree or other check him or it and cite him to Gods Tribunal and Judgment-seat in reference to it this is not done so fully and expresly in some persons and Sins where men are transported with violence to them but yet in some weaker measure it is in all which are not exceedingly hardened and given up to the lusts of their own hearts certainly in all others besides there are more or less such stirrings and girdings of Conscience as do much imbitter the sweetness of Sin in any act or kind whatsoever especially to such kind of persons which live under godly education or powerful Preaching or in good society such as these they cannot escape now an then such workings as these as a true account of this present point in
carkass and as a body without soul This for spiritual death And then for Eternal which is damnation it self that 's clearly the end of all such courses It is so demeritoriously to all who thereby ate made lyable thereunto In the day that thou eatest c. thou shalt surely dye and it is so actually to all such as by repentance and faith in Christ are not freed from the execution of this sentence This is the plain and constant Doctrine of the Scripture that the wages of sin are wages of damnation both as to poena damni the loss of Gods gracious Presence and poena sensus the enduring everlasting torment c. This is that which the Apostle still is so careful to perswade and fasten upon those to whom he writes in divers places Phil. 3.19 Whose end is damnation whose glory is in their shame c. and 1 Cor. 11.29 Drinketh damnation And 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God Be not deceived c. and Gal. 5.21 speaking of the works of the flesh Of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Therefore let us labour more to be perswaded of these things and have serlous apprehensions of them let us look upon sin in its colours and in the true shape and representation of it as that which has Death and Hell at the end of it that so we may the better be kept and preserved from it We should make use of this present Doctrine now in all suggestions and temptations to sin which we are at any time put upon Think not upon sin in the profit of it or in the pleasure of it which is but a meer fancy though it usually shews it self so but think of it in the end of it and in the concomitants of it and in the sad and pernicious effects which is death and damnation it self which though men perceive not presently yet at last they shall find to their cost if they take not better care to prevent it as the Apostle Peter speaks of them their judgment now of a long time lingers not and their damnation slumbers not Let us not look upon these things as words and notions and expressions as bug-bears to scare Children but as realities and unquestionable truths and let us labour to find the Power and Efficacy of them upon our own hearts It being better to hear of them than to feel them and to feel them now in the conscience by being affected and wrought upon by them than to feel them hereafter after another manner as all such shall which now make nothing of them let all which hath been said make us so much the more out of love with sin and if one argument alone will not do it let us take them all together as the Holy Ghost does here offer them to us Here 's a threesold Cord which theresore is not easily broken and if one or two should fail yet the other would make amends for the rest Those which have a mind to sin yet if it appears to be any prejudice to their profit that they get no good nor benefit by it it may be here they would be restrained Now for this consider says the Apostle that there 's no such sad fruit in it others there are which do not stand upon their prosit but their honour that goes near unto them and they are loth to forfeit their credit and reputation Now for this consider that these things bring shame whereof ye are now ashamed A third there are which are not moved yet They care neither for profit no honour so they may have their pleasure and safety and ease but their skin that a little affects them and their life goes to their heart and is very dear unto them all they have they would part with for this Now therefore consider here further that it is death and if there be any that stick not at this yet if they have any care but of their own souls consider further that it is damnation not only natural the death of the body but spriritual the death of the soul yea eternal the death of both and as wisdom speaks of her self Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul all that hate me love death There 's but one thing more which I will here name and so end We may here from this Text further take notice not only of the wretchedness of sin considered in the streams and actions of it but also the wretchedness of nature and an unregenerate nondition as the fountain and spring which these issue from Here 's not only a Censure upon the performances What fruit had ye in those things c. But here is also a Censure upon the state What fruit had ye then Then when ye were unregenerate then ye were in your natural condition then when ye were at the present unconverted and as yet not brought home to God What fruit had ye then Whatever has been said of sin it may be applied in this An unregenerate condition is an unfruitful condition a shameful condition a dead and mortal condition All the time that any man spends and lives only in that he does but lose his time and run further upon the score with God for a back-reckoning hereafter We are all by nature the children of wrath Ephes 2.3 What 's the improvement which is to be made of this point and observation But first for all those which are yet but in the state of nature to labour to bear it and to come out of it as soon as may be and not to content themselves with it Let us not think too well of nature and our condition from that as many persons are ready to do both for themselves and others For our selves if we have no better Principles in us than we brought with us at first into the world we are but in a sad an miserable condition although perhaps we should abound in some kind of outward and moral actions which might have some lustre and splendor upon them as the Heathem had What fruit had ye in those We may say it not only of those actions which are plain sins in their nature but in a sense also of those which for the matter of them are duties themselves yet not done in a right manner and from a right principle What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed The sacrifice of the wicked says Solomon is an abomination to the Lord how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind Prov. 21.27 All the time that a man remains unregenerate he is unprofitable as to matter of duty as well as provoking as to matter of sin and let us take heed of being too well perswaded of the Heathem Philosophers rather make our own salvation than destruction This is a great
he walked 1 John 2.6 And how was that why according to the Spirit the Spirit of Holiness which was in him and acted him all his whole life If it be objected that David and Peter and other of the Servants of God have sometimes turned aside to these lusts First I answer that in the strict sense they did not fulfil them which is with delight and perseverance in them without repentance Secondly That so far forth as they did any way fulfil their lusts so far forth they did decline walking after the spirit but walk c. Again Yet further We may take these words not only simply and emphatically but if we will also exclusively walking in the spirit it does prevent and restrain the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh and upon the point nothing else but that at least so effectually and powerfully as that does There 's nothing which doe so infallibly civilize men as Grace and true Religion and the Spirit of God and the Power of Godliness This is the best means of Mortification that is in the world there are other means which are also happily used now and then as good company and fear of punishment and avoiding of occasions and the like But there 's nothing like this the living in the exercise of Religion This it makes sure work and sets our lusts at the greatest distance from us that possibly may be the best remedy against sin is duty and the best help against lust is grace every sin of commission it has commonly a sin of omission going along with it or rather going before it as the ground and occasion of it whereupon it is laid If we were but more in doing what we should do we should be less in doing what we should not therefore walk in the spirit if ever ye desire to be kept from fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh And in the spirit again in the highest and sublimest notion of it the spirit not in the natural or moral Consideration of it only the spirit of that 's his reason or ingenuity and good nature and the like though that be not excluded neither but in the spirit especially and actually in the supernatural Consideration of it The spirit of a man that 's his grace and his spirit indued with a principle coming from above it is not parts that will keep men from lusts but gracious and holy affections it is not reason but reason sanctified which will here serve the turn abstract it from this and it is too weak and feeble a Principle for such a business as this we now speak of We shall find by certain observation that men of the highest reason have been sometimes of the strongest passion and none have been worse for their Morals than those which have been most eminent and admired for their Intellectuals This I add that we may rightly understand it what spirit and in what sense it is spoken of here in this place when we are required to walk in it that we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which I propounded in order to be considered and that is the Doctrine or matter it self which is here delivered and propounded unto us Walk c. The second which we find to be the first in the method of the Text is the Preface or Introduction to this Doctrine and that we have in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This then I say This is as it were the dore in the Text and that which makes entrance into it This is such an Introduction as we oftentimes meet withal in Scripture and where we meet with it it is commonly with some special force and impression upon it Here in this present Text we may look upon it as carrying a fourfold Emphasis in it First As a word of Authority I say it that is I charge it upon you and require you to observe what I say I say it by special warrant and command mand from God himself and therefore know what I say it is not hoc dico ego non Dominus this I say and not the Lord as it was sometimes in another place 1 Cor. 7.12 But hoc dico ego quia dominus this I say because the Lord he has said it and I say it from him A Minister whiles he speaks from God he may speak boldly that which he speaks without difficulty or hesitation As Paul to Philemon I may be bold in Christ to enjoyn thee that which is convenient Philem. ver 8. When we speak purely from our selves according to the dictates of our own fancies or passions or the like here our speech may be well intercepted and hindred in us but we speak by direction from God here I say his Authority And especially may this confidence and boldness further be used when-as the things which we speak have some footing and foundation in the hearts of those whom we speak to It is great matter of confidence to a Preacher when he has the soul and conscience of the hearer bearing witness to that which he says and can say as the Apostle also does in another place concerning his Epistles We write no other things than what you read or acknowledge and I trust ye shall acknowledg even to the end in 2 Cor. 1.13 And again chap. 4.2 By the manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God And again chap. 5. ver 11. We are manifest to God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences Thus was St. Paul also here in the matter of this present Text and therefore says I say that is boldly as a word of Authority and Command And so 't is a word of Constancy I say it again and again and therefore confidently Prov. 21.28 He that heareth speaketh constantly that is he that is sure Secondly I say it is a word of experience I say it sensibly and I say it feelingly and I say it upon mine own knowledge as finding the power and efficacy of this Truth upon mine own heart from whence I may so much the more fully and freely commend it to you Thus did St. Paul say it here and thus should we also which are Ministers endeavour to say what we say upon such occasions and in such matters as these then indeed a Preacher speaks to purpose when he speaks thus When we deliver spiritual Truths out of raised and spiritual affections and more as the workings of our hearts than as the workings and inlargements of our brains it is not enough for men to speak out of Books from the spirit of other men or to speak out of themselves only out of the strength of parts and wit and invention and such kind of abilities to say what can be said of a Text in a way of logical deduction and as fetching one thing out of another by a kind of rational distillation but to spin
have still cause to proceed in them and to persevere to the end Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace as it is spoken of spiritual wisdom Prov. 3.17 God is no hard master but does abundantly recompence all those that submit themselves to him that they may be still perswaded to keep with him his commandments are not grievous but in keeping of them is great reward Therefore those who do step aside here they do exceedingly degenerate they who swerve from this rule they do much hazard and indanger themselves and walk unworthy of that holy calling wherewith they are called By this expression in the future is shewen what they ought to do which are true Christians viz. to persevere Secondly What they will do here 's not only their duty but their disposition and the frame of spirit which is in them which is still to persevere at least for the main and substance of their Christian course Indeed there are many defects and failings even in the best that are and swervings from this rule here spoken of for the measure and degree of it Christians the more 's the pity do not so carefully set this rule before them nor yet walk by it as it becomes them to do But yet through the goodness of God to them and his Grace following of them they do for the principal keep themselves to it where men do truly walk by it once they will walk by it always and continue still so to do Again further To add one thing more as pertinent hereunto Hereby is exprest not only the disposition of the same persons in regard of themselves but also of different persons in regard of succession And it is for this reason as well as for the former exprest in the future as many as shall walk by this rule in reference to following ages to signifie thus much unto us that there will still be some always which will do so Christianity it is not a Principle which is confined only to one age of the world but will last as long as the world it self so long as the earth remains there will still be some which will walk in good ways and be acted by gracious and holy Principles in them look as there will be always a contrary Principle of wickedness and naughtiness and lust there will be always corrupt nature in the world and those which walk conrary to this rule so there will be on the other side a Principle of Goodness and such persons as do close with that This it makes for two purposes whereunto it may be improv'd First For the shame and confusion of all such as do at any time oppose it and set themselves against it it is in the heart and desire of many persons to banish goodness and conscientiousness and integrity out of the world if they were able to do it and all those which are followers of it that there should be none of them remaining in the earth Psal 83.3 4. But yet through the Goodness of God they shall not do so in the midst of all that exorbitancy and irregularity that is in the world there shall still be some that will walk by this rule mauger all the malice and temptations and oppositions even of of Hell it self Again further Here 's incouragement also to such as these are such as are themselves good and gracious that they shall not want company yea that when they are gone and dead in their graves there shall be still a Church in the world God will have some who shall serve and worship him and by their strict and holy Conversations bring honour unto him And thus have we seen how this expression in the future-tense does respect the Duty which is perseverance in good walking Secondly It does also respect the blessing and reward and recompence of this Duty which is the continuance of it to succeeding generations This Prayer for peace and mercy to all suh as walk'd by this rule is not only to be looked upon as extended to those times which the Apostle wrote in but to these also in which we live so long as we shall be careful for our parts to perform the condition we may likewise expect a share and interest in this Apostolical Benediction and shall find and feel the comfort I say and benefit of it Thus whatever was written aforehand it was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope as it is Rom. 15.4 And they are written for our consolation upon whom the ends of the world are come as it is 1 Cor. 10.11 Whosoever they be that shall believe themselves as true Christians they may expect the blessing of Christians as belonging unto them And that 's the second Emphasis of the words as they carry in them the notion of a Prayer or Apostolical Benediction The third and last is the notion of a compliance or friendly salutation as they are a testimony of good-will and respect and so they are to be looked upon not only in the words themselves but in the affection from whence they come There were now as I hinted in the beginning at this time some differences in the Church of Galatia whereof some were less material than others some they struck at the very foundation of Religion others did not and so some persons which were the subjects of these differences they were differently affected and carried in them for some erred out of wilfulness and the corruption of their own hearts and consciences others were but misled and seduced by them whose hearts were yet right for the main Now in reference to these latter especially does the Apostle add this Epiphonema As many as walk after this rule peace c. From whence we learn what is the Duty of all other Christians besides which are in consent for the main substance of Religion though joyn'd with some circumstantial differences to maintain peace and love and union one with another Circumcision and uncircumcision is here nothing in Christ Jesus but a new creature For the better opening and clearing of this point these words in the Text As many as walk after this rule c. are to be taken two manner of ways either indefinitely or exclusively First Indefinitely as extending to all which do so Secondly Exclusively as excepting all which do not whether from the promise or the prayer or the compliance First To take them indefinitely As many as walk after this rule let them in other respects and considerations be what they will be high or low rich or poor Jew or Gentile circumcision or uncircumcision of the same judgment or of different yet if they be such as do partake o the new creature and live up to it that is walk by this rule then peace and mercy be upon them This is the Apostles resolution and practise also here in this place which accordingly is to be followed by us It was the resolution of that
blood of Christ hath that power and efficacy with it as to cleanse all such persons as are truly members of him from all their sins The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin as it is also 1 Joh. 1.7 For the better opening of this Point we must know that there is a double benefit which we do partake of from the Blood of Christ the one is the benefit of Justification as to the taking away of the guilt of sin and the other is the benefit of Sanctification as to the taking away of the power and dominion And each of these are here included in this expression First He hath washed us from our sins in his blood that is he hath freed us from the guilt of our sins in point of Justification Christs blood it is available to this purpose And so the Scripture signifies to us in sundry Texts of it as Ephes 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And Rom. 5.9 Being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him And Col. 1.20 He hath made peace through the blood of his Cross Where the pardon and forgiveness of our sins is still attributed to his blood Now there 's a twofold Ground which may be â—â—gn'd hereof unto us First The Dignity of the 〈◊〉 which he did sustain who was the Son of 〈◊〉 and so the blood even of God himself though not of the Godhead According to that in Act. 20.28 where it is said that God hath redeemed his Church with his own blood The blood of such an excellent person must needs be infinitely meritorious and have a wonderful efficacy with it for the taking away of any guilt whatsoever Secondly From the Relation to the Persons whom he does represent as it was the blood of him that was God so of him that was man likewise having taken our nature upon him and received it into the Union of his Divine Person and therefore it was so far forth our blood likewise and was as much as if we had shed it in our own persons because Christ was a publick person appointed by God in our behalf in the work of Redemption and stood upon the Cross in the room of all his Elect through Gods acceptation of him He bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors Isa 53. ult Thus hath he washed us from our sins that is from the guilt of them in point of Justification But secondly From the filth and stains of them also in point of Sanctification sin besides the guilt of it it leaves a stain and defilement behind it which does pollute the souls of such persons as are guilty of it Now the blood of Christ it washes off this also from that power and efficacy which is in it It not only pacifies but purges the Conscience And so the Scripture also expresses it as Heb. 9.11 14. If the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God The blood of Christ hath merited the Spirit of God for the sanctification of all his Elect and so is said to sanctifie them When it is said here That we are washed from our sins in Christs blood this must be taken by a synecdoche of the part for the whole By his blood we are not only to understand that blood of his which was shed upon the Cross but his whole Passion with all the circumstances and attendances upon it Yea indeed his whole obedience whether active or passive but his blood is here named as that which was indeed the complement and perfection of all the rest as also wherein the Legal Types are all accomplished as the Apostle intimates to us in Heb. 9.22 Almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission The Improvement of this Point to our selves may be drawn forth into a various Application First It may serve as a discovery to us of the grievous and heinous nature of sin which had need of such a remedy as this to be used for the removal of it We may see the greatness and desperateness of the disease in the nature and quality of the physick which is given for it and that is no other and no less than the precious blood of the Son of God himself Sin it is a bloody business and the Church she is Sponsa sanguinum she is a spouse of blood as Zipporah said once to Moses And we see upon what occasion she is so namely from sin Therefore we should hence learn to abhor it and to detest it and to be shy and afraid of it We know how it was with David in regard of the water of Bethlehem which was purchased for him but by the hazard of mens lives he would not drink it though he longed for it because it was the price of blood 2 Sam. 23.17 Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives Even so should we say when we are tempted to the commission of any sin Is not this the blood even of the Son of God himself which he was put to shed upon occasion of it There are many profane and atheistical persons in the world which make nothing at all of sin no not of the greatest and grossest that are think it but a trivial business and a matter of sport Fools make a mock of sin as Solomon tells us Now let such persons as these but consider with themselves what it cost as it is here exhibited to us that so accordingly they may rightly judg of it and be perswaded of it and accordingly be taken off from yielding unto it Suppose a man had such a disease or distemper upon him as nothing would cure but the heart-blood of some near relation would it not very nearly and closely affect him and how much then should men be affected with their sins which nothing else could expiate but the blood of Christ himself Secondly Here 's matter of comfort and encouragement also to the servants of God in all the troubles and upbraidings of Conscience and of Satan setting in with it that here 's a remedy and help for them Here 's a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness as it is Zach. 13.1 even the fountain of the blood of Christ which is able to cleanse us Therefore let us go to this fountain and let us bathe and wash our selves in this blood by the exercise of the Grace of Faith in us and let us not be discouraged Remember what the Apostle Paul tells us to this purpose Rom. 3.25 How that God hath set forth Christ to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins And therefore let us accordingly improve it and make use of it Come and let us reason together saith the Lord Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be like crimson they shall be as wool Therefore we may here take notice of the indefiniteness of the expression in that it is here said our sins without any limitation hereby to signifie that none are excepted or excluded whatsoever they be Those that do truly repent and believe and lay hold upon the blood of Christ by faith they shall have remission and forgiveness of their sins without exception It is neither the number nor greatness of them shall be any impediment unto them Christs blood is of that efficacy as to take out all the stains of the soul though never so many There are many people who are apt especially in some cases to lay restraints upon the Graces of Christ so as to think it is available for some sins but not for others for smaller sins but not for greater But the Scripture makes no such restraint or limitation as this is Indeed for the sin against the Holy Ghost it is called the unpardonable sin and Christs blood does not wash away that not from any inefficacy or insufficiency simply in it self considered as his blood but rather from the incapacity of the sinner who is indisposed to receiving benefit by it because he tramples it under his feet Hence also we have ground of Incouragement in our access to the Throne of Grace and hope of our entrance into heaven at last There 's nothing which does more dishearten men in their coming into a great mans presence than guilt and obnoxiousness to him this makes them that they cannot with boldness ask any thing of him And so it is with men towards God Now by the blood of Christ this obstruction is taken off from them And they may come boldly into the presence of God expecting any thing from him And so the Apostle reasons in Heb. 10.19 c. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And having an high Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water And so Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly c. Lastly Seeing we have so much benefit as we have heard by the Blood of Christs we should in a special manner take heed of sinning against it If the blood of Abel being wronged cried so fearfully and if the blood of Zacharias had revenge annext unto it what may we then think of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ surely those that trespass upon this shall not be innocent This is done divers ways and especially by neglecting the gracious offers and tenders of the Gospel and that mercy which is exhibited unto us in this Blood It is a great sinning against it and injury which is offered unto it and when it comes to the highth of it it is a counting of the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing So likewise returning to the lusts of our former ignorance it is a sinning against this Blood And therefore does the Apostle Peter upon this ground dehort us from it in 1 Pet. 1.14 19 c. As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by Tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Who was fore-ordained c. To this we may add an unworthy receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Those that sin thus they sin against the Blood of Christ in which he has washed them from their sins And so the Apostle expresly tells us in 2 Cor. 11.27 Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily he shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. And so much may be spoken of this passage in its absolute consideration as it is the expression of a Christians priviledg which is to be washed from his sins in Christs Blood Now further we may also look upon it Relatively and in connexion with the words before where it is said That he hath loved us And so it is an expression to us of Christs affection Christ hath herein indeed shewn that he hath loved us That he hath shed his blood for us Who loved us and gave himself for us c. Gal. 2.20 As it lyes here in the Text we may take it under several inlargements and amplifications degrees and proceedings of it First In his Death it self he shewed his love to us in that and that 's implied in his blood It was not only the blood of his finger but the blood of his heart his very life went with it It is the very Position of our Saviour himself in Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this That a man should lay down his life for his friends Now this is that which he has done for us and is hereby signified unto us He has laid down his life he has shed his very heart-blood for our sakes Thus Rom. 5.6 When we were without strength in due time Christ died for us And herein he is said to have commended his love unto us in the eighth verse of the same Chapter That 's a great proof of love when men are willing to part with that for any one which is dearest and most accountable now such of all other things is life and yet this did Christ part with for his Church The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep and this good shepherd is Christ as himself there tells us in Joh. 10.11 And so again in 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us Where we have two things observable of us First That Christ who there by the way is called God did lay down his life for us And secondly That his doing so was a special Argument of his love towards us as indeed it was That 's the first step of inlargement which is here considerable of us Secondly In the manner of his Death there was his love also in that And this likewise implied in the word blood which does denote some violence in it a cruel and painful death the death of the Cross and the blood of the Cross as it is called Col. 1.20 Phil. 2.8 This was that which Christ endured for us which made his love so much the more There are differences and several kinds of death wherein one exceeds another
their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled There is a ripeness and maturity of sin which calls for the execution of judgment till which time judgment is delayed and put off and for a season procrastinated and then he that shall come will come and will not tarry Lastly This desire of the Church to Christ's coming and hastning of it it hath a respect to Christ himself who in a manneris hereby also perfected for the Church in the fulness of its Members is the fulness also of Christ and so it is called in Ephes 1.23 The fulness of him that filleth all in all We must distinguish of Christ in his person and Christ in his office If we look upon Christ as God and as the second person in the Trinity so he is absolute and compleat in himself and capable of no addition or augmentation but if we look upon Christ as he is God-man the Mediator and Head of the Church so he is so far forth perfected as the Church it self is perfected and compleated in the number of Members And as himself also has finished and compleated all the works which do belong to his Mediatorship which is coming in Glory This is the only remainder of what 's behind and lest yet undone as to the full work of our Redemption and therefore does the Church very properly call for it and put him in mind of it out of her respect unto him This if not so to be taken as if Christ himself would not come otherwise for that he would though she should be silent and never call for him nor yet if she could properly hasten it or speed it before its time for that she cannot neither God has appointed a day wherein he will judg the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained as the Apostle tells us Act. 17.31 As he has appointed the man namely Christ so he has also appointed the day which we cannot name nor it does not belong unto us It is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Act. 1.7 But the Church prays for his coming as a testimony of her affection to him and as desiring thereby to put a respect upon him because in coming his Glory and Majesty shall be so much the more revealed and discovered And that 's the last account which may be here given of this Prayer and Petition When the Spirit and the Bride say Come namely out of respect to Christ The Vse of all to our selves serves to teach us to labout for such a frame of spirit as this is whereby we may in truth and sincerity come up to this requess and desire so as to pray and to pray heartily for the second coming of Christ and the appurtenances of it It is a request which is so much the more considerable as it is such as we are taught to make by Christ himself in that Prayer which he hath left unto us whereof one branch is this Thy Kingdom come As the Holy Ghost suggests it so Christ himself also commands it and requires it of us and accordingly we should all indeavour that it may be practised by us We should labor for the Considerations above-mentioned to say Come Lord Jesus come quickly as it follows afterwards in this Chapter Where when Christ promises it the Church presently apprehends it and returns upon him with desires answerable and suitable to so gracious an intimation For this purpose let us especially endeavour to have the Spirit of God Himself in us and to be filled with that For observe how it is said here in the Text The Spirit and the Bride say Come Nature that does not say it but rather reluctates against it and puts it off no but it is the Spirit that says it and we our selves say it to purpose so far forth as we are spiritual and act upon spiritual Grounds and Principles in the desires of it There are some kind of people who now and then in a discontent and when any thing crosses them then it may be they could wish for an end of the world and of their own lives with it But that may be perhaps from the flesh and not from the spirit and so to be suspected no but then it is so as should be when it proceeds from a work of the Holy Ghost and Spirit himself in us Now there are three ways especially whereby the Spirit of God does usually work such a desire as this in us and makes us in Truth and Reality to desire Christs second Coming First By discovering to us the vanity of all these things here below What is the reason that many people are so unwilling to think of another world It is because they think there is no other but this but place their happiness and contentment here in these poor outward things which if their hearts were taken off from it would be otherwise with them Now those whom God has a delight in he does by his Spirit convince them of the vanity and Transitoriness of this world Secondly By purging our consciences from any thing which may be burdensom to them and putting us upon duty and that work which is required of us in our present opportunities When Christians shall have this lye upon their spirits that either they have been sinful or unfruitful they cannot so easily wish for Christs coming either guilt or their work yet unfinished they are great pull-backs and retarders in this particular Now therefore does the Holy Ghost take order with them to both of these purposes by not suffering his servants to lye under the power of any known sin nor yet wilfully to omit and neglect any known Duty but to be sincere and fruitful both to such Christians as are so Christs coming will be the more acceptable to them Thirdly By manifesting unto them the Excellency which is in Christ himself and the blessed and glorious condition of God's People in another world together with their own interest and concernment in it When Christ had declared before that he was the bright and moring-star then the Spirit and the Bride say Come it is ignorance of Christ that makes men no more to breathe after him nor to be desirous of him Therefore the Spirit of God may rouse those desires in us he presents these Excellencies to us and gives us some glimpses and anticipations of that glorious condition which he has provided for us And then also which belongs hereunto vouchsafes some kind of assurance of our interest in this condition and that it belongs to us for our particular whereby the more to quicken our desires Excellency is nothing without propriety it is the Spouse of Christ alone which can with joy desire Christs coming When therefore the soul is convinced that it is so with it self that it is contracted and espoused to Christ and owned by him then the Spirit an the Bride say Come When we
signifies 408 Counsel Listning to good counsel a threefold Argument of VVisdom 224 How far the counsels of God may be known how not 258 Means tending to the knowing of Gods counsels 258 Company The danger arising by bad Company 368 Cities Why God often sends greater judgments on them than other places 401 D Despise The ways wherein God is despised 114 119 Whence despising of God springs 116 The danger of despising God 117 Dregs What they signifie 135 Death Comfort against it 192 Sinful in three cases to desire it 413 Discord The evil of it implied 197 198 Whence it springs 222 Delight What in Christians God delights in 208 The properties of Gods delighting in his people 209 Signs of Gods delighting in us 211 The ground of it or what it is 220 A threefold delight respecting Religion 221 Doubtings Whence they arise 211 Day The Sabbath a pleasant day 218 Day of the Lord taken three ways 412 A threefold wicked desiring a day of the Lord or death 412 The day of Judgment desirable on a threefold account 416 Darkness What it signifies in Scripture 352 Day of the Lord darkness to wicked men with the ground thereof 41 Day of the Lord darkness and not light threefold Emphasis in it 148 Devouring What signified by it 379 Despair Motive to a despairing sinner to hope 385 The evil of despair 385 386 Whence it springs 386 E Eye Look on Christ with a fourfold eye 7 Gods Eye what it signifies 20 Gods Eye hath three properties 21 Examples Bad their evil 46 Examination Why we should be much in self-examination 245 England See Nation Deliverance from Gun-powder-treason a great Mercy 52 62 Error Prejudicial to the soul 303 394 377 On the right and on the left hand what 302 Ezekiel Why called the son of man 401 Feasts The evils oft attending them 79 When laudable 78 Faith Incouragements to it 150 Fruitfulness Arguments to it 189 Fear The advantages of holy fear 212 Forgetfulness Of God opened in four particulars 287 Formality See Hypocrite It s consistency with prophaneness 345 The dreadful evil of it 375 Setting of the face its different notion 402 G God His standing What 6 His face What 84 140 What the hiding of his face implied 85 96 VVhy resembled to the Sun 151 How to know he is our God 111 VVhat his being our God implies 111 God speaks to the hearts of men three ways 138 298 To seek Gods face VVhat 141 His wings VVhat 149 The ways wherein despised See despise God See forward Grace or Holiness See Godliness VVhy God will certainly perfect it 113 Whence indisposition and averseness unto it springs 384 A Christians duty disposition and priviledg to grow in it 306 Motives to recover decaying grace 306 307 A threefold difference between saving-grave and meer morality 308 Helps to recover decaying and strengthen weak grace 309 God What kind of shield he is 153 Gods comforts What 165 Why called the most high 183 Gods right hand What 183 Gods songs in the night What 202 Gods counsel how taken 253 What Gods saying signifies 278 A double object of Gods guidance 301 Godliness See Grace The gain of Godliness 224 Guide How to discern between the guidance or dictates of Gods Spirit and the spirit of delusion 303 H Hearing The right hearer 139 300 Why many get no good by hearing the word Preacked 139 140 385 Heart The speaking of the heart What 119 Gods trying it What 245 How taken 252 How a grieved heart eases it self 362 Discovery of a tender heart 365 Humbling Humbling considerations 251 253 392 Head What it signifies in Scripture 124 127 Head and tail how taken 273 Hypocrite See Professor See Formality Terror to Hypocrites 246 Condemned by God and often by conscience described 347 348 371 Its odiousness 347 Its danger 349 Hell How taken 282 How to escape it 288 Heathens What to think of those who never heard of Christ 287 I Inheritance Implies three things 50 Justification Why no condumnation to justified persons 95 Infancy Mercy vouchsafed in it See Mercy Judgments When God will pour them upon a people 133 Pouring out Judgments What Ibid Why God sometimes brings great Judgments upon his own people Ibid Dregy judgments What 135 How Christians foresee them 363 Who most like to be secured and who to be exposed under publick judgments 409 410 411 Joy When holy 177 Infirmities Whence they flow 178 Men have their especial infirmities 179 Wherein infirmity consists Ibid Impenitency See Presumption The evil of it 268 Ignorance Several sorts of it supplied 383 K Knowledg THe difference between saving and meerly notional Knowledg 148 L Loving-kindness Of God taken two ways 143 146 The excellency of Gods loving-kindness 144 Love How to keep our selves in the love of God 146 M Gospel-Ministers WHy called Angels 7 Caution to them 280 402 386 362 Direction to them 404 405 366 Ministerial Qualifications 399 A sad judgment to be deprived of their persons 403 Magistrates Why compared to a head 272 Mercy Outward when given in mercy 33 Outward Mercies in themselves good things 36 40 Mercies attending our Births See Births Mercies attending Infancy See Infancy The especial mercies of God 146 295 The extent of pardoning mercy 295 Meditation Whence holy meditation proceeds 170 311 Its objects 172 Helps to it 173 175 How taken 174 Its excellency above other duties 175 Motives to it 176 See its excellency When right 364 Melancholy The evil of it in a Christian more than others 220 Mind Express'd in Scripture by bowels the reason of it 360 Why a Christian minds heaven and heavenly things 311 Marriage Touching mixt ours 368 N Touching Natural ability 294 295 397 Nation Wherein a Nations strength lies 378 A Nations gray hairs or the fore-runners of a Nations period 382 O Orphans Gods care of them 110 Obedience The properties of true obedience implied 141 Prayer AGainst praying to Angels and Saints departed 25 137 Why God oft answers prayer in kind 42 When answer of prayer in kind is done in love 43 Special seasons of prayer 138 204 Acceptable prayer 177 The power of it 213 A pleasant comfortable duty 217 Neglect of it a great evil 356 Presumption See Impenitency Whence it springs 28 98 123 263 264 350 One branch of it 348 350 Caution to presumptuous sinners 305 Peace The excellency of peace with God 96 How to get and keep pease with God 92 281 A threefold peace 221 276 279 Christian peace considered as a grace and as a priviledg 277 On what a sinners peace is grounded 278 Parents Mothers if able ought to unrse their children 109 Patents duty towards children 110 248 Promises How God makes good temporal promises implied 158 Preaching What power God puts forth in it 299 Providence How far we may and how far not know its events 258 260 Pride In Habit and naked Shoulders and Breasts reproved 265 Pardon The extent of pardoning mercy 295 God pardons repeated
God our rejoicing is this or our glorying the testimony of conscience So then that which was others mens misery was his glory The unhappiness of many men is this that they are manifest to God however they they carry it with men but for the Apostle Paul and such as he was it was his greatest rejoicing Again secondly It is comfortable likewise as in mens ignorance so likewise in their neglects by taking the word manifestation by way of allowance We are manifest to God says the Apostle that is we are approved of him this was that which comforted him even then when it was not so with him in regard of men This is another thing which is very comfortable and satisfactory to the Ministers of Christ in all that slighting and neglect and contempt which they suffer from the world especially in such days and times as these are in which we live Well we are manifest to God for all this let us be as low as we can be in the thoughts and apprehensions of men let them count us and call us what they please and cary themselves as they list toward us yet the foundation of God stands sure notwithstanding this And even in this sense likewise The Lord knoweth who are his God knows the works and labours and endeavours of his faithful servants as he sometimes speaks to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus And he knows them likewise affectionately which is that knowledg which we are here to understand They are manifest to him so as one day to be rewarded by him and to have a recompense return'd upon them for them According to that of the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 49.4 I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work or the reward of my work is with my God This is that which is very comfortable to us and ought to be so we are much to improve it and to be strengthened and encouraged by it As a servant if his master like him and commend him and be pleased with what he does he does not care what an hundred other men shall say of it or of himself about it We are manifest to God says the Apostle and he speaks it by way of encouragement And then withal ye may add one thing more to it by the way I 'le but touch it and that 's this To God not only as an approver but likewise to God as an avenger too we are manifest to God so not only as beholding our integrity and so accepting of us but likewise as beholding our wrongs and ill-handlings and avenging it upon others There 's no wrong or injury whatsoever which any of Christs servants suffer whether in their persons or their good names or in their estates or whatever it be but they are manifest to him in them and he will one day require it for them we are made manifest to God thus What is said of the oppressed in general is true of these amongst the rest in particular Thou hast seem it for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand The poor committeth himself to thee Thou art the helper of the fatherless Psal 10.14 Look but into Numb 12.2 8. and see how God takes notice but of an ill word spoken against Moses and calls the speakers of it Aaron and his sister Miriam to an account about it Wherefore were ye not afraid says he to speak against my servant Moses So tender is God of his servants as that he will not allow of an ill word spoken against them but will call to reckoning for it and how much more then for any thing else which is of greater consequence and concernment to them for any wronging or defrauding of them or restraining from them that which is theirs which too many now in these days in many places are guilty of this is manifest to him their labours here will cry and their crys will enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath Jam. 5.4 But so much for that And so you have the first part of this Acceptance as it refers to God But we are made manifest to God The second is as it refers to the Corinthians And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences This likewise as well as the other is added by way of Anticipation and to prevent and objection for here some might have been ready to have replied You talk how you are manifested to God and that you approve your selves to him please your selves with that your inward and secret goodness because you think here none can confute or contradict you well but what are you to the eyes of men and what satisfaction do you give to them This would a little be enquired into by you To this now he answers here thus much And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences Wherein again for methods sake take notice of two things more First the thing it self which he does assert and that is that we are made manifest in your Consciences Secondly the word of Transition or Introduction hereunto and that is I trust or hope so of it First For the thing it self We are made manifest in your Consciences Where for the better opening of this present passage unto us we must again distinguish of this word manifestation which here in this place may be taken again two manner of ways in which as yet we have not taken it the one is in a way of efficacy and the other is in a way of conviction We are manifest in your Consciences that is by that success which our Ministry hath found upon them And we are manifest in your Conscience that is by that approbation which our Ministry hath found with you Both these may be here understood First In a way of Efficacy from that success which our Ministry hath found upon them This is one way of manifestation The faith and graces of the Corinthians were a sufficient commendation and testimony to the Apostles Ministry This is that which he also signifies in other places as 1 Cor. 9.1 2 c. Am I not an Apostle am I not free have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord are not you my work in the Lord If I be not an Apostle to others yet doubtless I am to you for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. The seal of it How was that namely in regard of that efficacy which it hath upon them for their conversion And so again 2 Cor. 3.1 2. c. Do we begin again to commend our selves or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you of letters of commendation form you ye are our Epistle written in our hearts known and read of all men Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshy