Lesson That such and so great is the indispensable need that we have of the Lord Jesus Christ that without him we are undone for ever In the 53d verse of this exeellent Chapter Verily verily I say unto you except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you He speaks there of eating of his flesh and drinking his blood in a spiritual manner You know there are many desires of the Soul that may be dispenced with but hunger is a desire that must be satisfied unless you have bread for your sustenance the body dies so unless you have Jesus Christ for your spiritual sustenance your Souls die and drop down into Hell for ever for look as the union of the Body with the Soul is the life of the Body so the union of the Soul with Jesus Christ is the life of the Soul O hearken to this thou that art yet in a natural and unregenerate estate uncalled unconverted that never was yet transplanted from off the old rotten stock of Adam and replanted into the true Vine the Lord Jesus Christ if thou livest in this estate and diest in this estate thou art undone for ever the poorest worm that crawls upon the ground is in a better condition than thou art in Acts 26.27 Believest thou the Prophets said St. Paul to King Agrippa I know that thou believest Believest thou this Doctrine say I to thee that art yet uncalled unconverted I know thou believest it not for if thou didst believe it thou couldest not rest contented in a Christless condition for one week no not for one day but wouldest by prayers and tears and supplications cry out Lord Jesus give me thy self whatever thou denyest me give me thy self though I be as poor as Job upon the Dunghil But we cannot perswade men that the danger of a natural estate and condition is so great as indeed it is but the Lord convince you and perswade you of it A second Doctrinal Inference that may be hence deduced is this If Jesus Christ be the living bread then it follows the vanity and emptiness and insufficiency of all Creature-accommodations is exceeding great name what you will of these outward accommodations that the World do so greedily gape after whether Riches or Honours or Pleasures or goodly brave Buildings this and that alas we may say of them they are not bread Isa 55.2 Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread Your money that is your precious opportunities your time that is your money to make your Markets for Eternity with for Moments are the Markets for Eternity Wherefore do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Alas alas these outward things they are neither satisfactory nor permanent they are not satisfactory for Solomon tells us that He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with encrease Eccles 5.10 As soom may you hope to fill a Chest with Wisdom and Knowledg as to fill a Soul which is a spiritual substance with temporal things And as these outward things are are satisfactory so neither are they permanent or lasting 1 Cor. 6.13 Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall deslroy both it and them Look as the belly devours the meat so the worms at last shall devour the belly and so both meat and belly perish together But if you can but once get this spiritual bread the Lord Christ you shall never perish Alas alas consider your own folly and brutishness in seeking for satisfaction here below where none is to be found your bread without Christ is but gravel in your throats your moral Vertues without Christ are but glittering sins your bodies without Christ are but dust and ashes dust that will drop down into the Grave and ashes that are fitted for the Furnace of hell-Hell-fire your Souls without Christ are but the Devils Palace your lives without Christ is but the service of sin and your deaths without Christ will be nothing else but the wages of sin Oh who would rest then in a Christless condition Who would sit down contented with these poor transitory shadowy comforts A third Lesson we may learn by way of Inference is this If Jesus Christ be the living bread then our main end and errand in coming to the Lords Table is not to feed the Body but to feed the Soul 1 Cor. 11.21 What have you not Houses to eat and to drink in saith the Apostle So that it is not the end of your coming to the Lords Table therefore you eat but a little piece of Bread and drink but a little draught of Wine to put you in mind that it is not the Body that you come to feed but you come to feed the Soul and therefore you should labour to get a preparation suitable to that spiritual bread that you are to taste of But what is that you will say I answer There should be something done before your coming and something done in the Administration of the Elements and something done after the receiving of the Elements First There should be something done before you come Oh beg a blessing upon your spiritual bread Man lives not by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God Matth. 4.4 I may apply it thus Your Souls will not live by this Sacramental Bread but by the Word of Gods blessing If God will bless this spiritual food to you your Souls shall live On therefore beg the Blessing of God upon this Heavenly Bread Secondly And then there is something to be done while you are eating this Bread you should get your hearts all on fire with love to this blessed Redeemer that was contented to be made bread to be prepared food as I told you even now to be threshed and winnowed and ground and bak'd and scorch'd in the Oven of his Fathers Wrath Oh how should your hearts be all on a flame with Love as the two Disciples were going to Emaus As Jesus Christ brake bread and gave it to them and opened to them the Scriptures their hearts did burn within them Luke 24.32 they were as it were all on a fire So should it be with you when you come to the Lords Table you should have your meditations wholly taken up with that which is the life of the Sacrament even the death of our Saviour let not your hearts be roving and wandering about watch them narrowly you will hardly keep them close to a duty two Minutes without great watching Thirdly There is something to be done after when you have eaten of this living bread that is to be exceeding thankful study to walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing That 's the first Use of Information The second Vse is of Exhortation Is Jesus Christ that living bread that gives eternal life to all those that have a
nature he might be a merciful and faithful High-priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people and that 's set down in Verse 17. And the ground of this Assertion the Apostle lays down in the words of the Text which I have now read unto you For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted So then the Text contains in it a singular benefit and advantage that believers have by Christs temptations namely a sanctified use of temptations and a gracious support under temptations For the clearing of this you must know all that ever our Lord and Saviour did here upon earth as Mediator was done not for himself alone but was done for us and for our good For example He took our flesh in the womb of a Virgin that he might sanctifie our nature He was born of a woman that he might sanctifie our birth He suffered in the flesh that he might sanctifie our sufferings He was buried in a grave that he might sweeten and perfume the grave that he might make the grave as a bed of spices He rose again from the dead that he might assure us that we shall be raised by his power 1 Cor. 6.14 And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power And he was tempted that he might be able to succour us when we are tempted Let me first open the words to you and then draw out the Doctrine I intend to pitch upon I shall dispatch this Text in one Sermon For in that he himself hath suffered The Lord Jesus Christ suffered indeed He was a great sufferer nay the greatest sufferer that you read of in the whole book of God He suffered in his Circumcision when he was but eight days old he condâ—scended to that painful Ceremony that painful Sacrament He suffered a painful pilgrimage for three and thirty years together and although he was heir of all things all the Kingdoms of the world were his yet he had not a house to hide his head in The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head Mat. 8.20 He suffered by Satan when he was led into the Wilderness to be tempted for forty days together which was a greater abasement to the Son of God than if the greatest Empress in the world should be solicited in her chastity by the basest Scullion that ever was Oh how did Satan hurry the body of our dear Lord and Saviour first to the pinacle of the Temple then he hurried it to a Mountain and carried it from one place to another Oh that the precious body of Jesus Christ should be thus basely used by a Vassal by a cursed Fiend by a cursed creature So he suffered by Satan And he suffered by men he suffered the contradiction of sinners he suffered himself to be reviled scorned reproached blasphemeed when they said Say we not well Thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Joh. 8.48 And he is mad and hath a Devil why hear ye him Joh. 10.20 He suffered on the Cross a shameful painful and cursed death He suffered in his body but most of all he suffered in his soul when he said My soul is heavy unto death is girt about with death Joh. 12.27 Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say He speaks as if he had been non-plust My soul is so troubled says he that I know not what to say I know not what to do So you see the Lord Jesus Christ he suffered Further the Text says he suffered being tempted Jesus Christ you know was tempted by Satan for forty days together and he was tempted by his Enemies the Pharises they required a sign of him tempting of him Luk. 11.16 Then he was tempted by the Herodians when they came with that captious question Shall we give tribute to Caesar or shall we not Mat. 22.17 18. Christ answered them Why tempt ye me ye hypocrites He was temptted by one of his Disciples Peter says he to him Master spare thy self and do not go up to Jerusalem insomuch that Christ sharply reproved him and said to him Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not the things that be of God but those that be of men Mat. 16.22 23. And he was tempted even by his own dear Father when his Father hid his face from him when he seemingly did forsake him when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Mat. 27.46 So you see that our Saviour suffered and our Saviour was tempted And why was he tempted that he might succour them that are tempted saye the Text. Why may some say did the sufferings and temptations of Jesus Christ add any thing to his ability to succour his tempted Servants which he had not before To this I answer You must know he had an ability of Power which was irresistable he had an ability of Power as he was God but the Apostle speaks here of an ability of Compassion or of an ability of Experience as he was man as he says in the like case Heb. 5.8 He learned obedience by the things which he suffered How did he learn it he learnt it experimentally So here by his suffering and temptations he learnt to succour them that are tempted he learnt compassion by his temptations How did he learn compassion he learnt it experimentally for now he hath learned by experience to know the kinds of temptations to know the wounds that temptations make in the soul of a poor sinner and to know the proper means and medicines for the curing of temptations so that if you ask But why was the Lord Jesus Christ tempted I answer he was tempted for these three ends especially First That he might teach us this Lesson If Satan was so bold with him that was the dear Son of God he will be much more bold in tempting us poor creatures If he was so bold with the Master much more will he be bold with the Servants If he were so bold with the Captain of our salvation much more will he be bold with his Soldiers If he were so bold in tempting him who was the King of glory a pure and spotless Saviour a Lamb without spot and blemish in whose mouth could be found no guile 1 Pet. 2.22 Oh he will be much more bold with us that are poor sinful creatures that have such impure and defiled natures How abominable and filthy is man Job 15.16 When the Devil came to tempt our Lord and Saviour he found nothing in him he found no matter to work upon he found no corruption on which he might fasten his temptation Joh. 14.30 The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me All the temptations of Satan upon our Saviour were but like the jogging of pure and clean water in a Chrystal glass where
supported him in that great distress On the contrary under less temptations and troubles if God do not support a man he will fall see it in Ahitophel because his counsel was not accepted God not supporting him under this light trouble he goes and hangs himself For the use of this If this be one way of Gods hearing our prayers when he strengthens us with strength in our souls Then call your selves to an account whether God hath strengthned your souls yea or no here is divers of you that have been made partakers of a strengthening Ordinance this day namely the Lords Supper which the Lord Jesus hath appointed for your spiritual confirmation and corroboration Now will it not nearly concern you to ask your own souls this question Hath God strengthened you with strength in your souls It may be you will say to me how shall we do to know it Answer me but these four or five questions and you may know it First tell me What are you in the time of troubles and temptations for what a man is in tryals that is the man Can you live in a time of straits fears doubts and dangers as the strength of a ship is tryed in the time of a storm if she can live in a storm then you may say she is a strong ship the strength of a Castle is tryed in the time of battel if it can endure the roaring Cannon then its a strong Castle now if you can keep your standing in a time of danger this argues you have received spiritual strength in your souls Secondly Can you bear variety of conditions without fainting can you pass through good report and ill report through honour and dishonour through a prosperous estate and decayed estate can you pass through these with an equal temper and frame of spirit as you are not puft up with prosperity so you are not too much cast down with adversity Saint Paul had this strength I have learnt saith he in what estate soever I am therewith to be content Thirdly Can you cleave close to Jesus Christ without weariness constantly if you be off and on if your way be uneven it 's a token you have little strength Fourthly Are you able to do duties in a spiritual manner the spiritual performance of holy duties argues the receiving of some spiritual strength By these and the like questions you may know whether you have received some of this spiritual strength yea or no. A second use I shall make it is by way of Exhortation Oh labour to read this Text experimentally read it I say so as your own hearts may make a commentary on it Oh Lord thou hast answered me Lord I can speak by experience I was as weak as water but thou hast strengthened me with strength in my soul Whatever was written aforetime was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope This instance of David was written for your imitation and consolation O labour for this spiritual strength To press you to attain it I shall use but this one motive Consider the great need you have of this spiritual strength at all times but especially in times of general fears and dangers then you have special need of it In what regard may be you will say do we need so much strength in our souls I will tell you in these four respects especially or on this fourfold account First In regard of Duties that are to be performed Secondly In regard of Afflictions that are to be endured Thirdly In regard of the Enemies that are to be encountered Fourthly In regard of the danger of Apostacy that is to be prevented First You have great need of this spiritual strength in regard of the Duties that are to be performed Oh a Christian hath much work lying upon his hands in reference to eternity a great work it is to provide oyl in your Lamps grace in your hearts a great work it is to get the hazzard of eternity over to get an interest in Jesus Christ and to get an assurance of that interest A great work it is for you to make your calling and election sure sure to your own souls to be working out your salvation with fear and trembling a great work it is for you to be pondering the paths of your feet to keep your hearts above all keepings to be building up your selves in your most holy faith These are very great works It is the language of the Apostle Saint Jude verse 20 of his Epistle But ye beloved building up your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost and to be pressing forward towards the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil. 3.14 Nay a Christian hath yet a harder work than this to do for a Christian is to do that work that crosses his own carnal and corrupt will There are some difficult duties of Christianity that are to be performed as denying of our selves a hard duty the crossing of our carnal and corrupt Affections a hard duty the mortifying of a beloved Lust a very hard duty the plucking out of a right eye the cutting off of a right hand a parting with a sin that is as dear as our right hand and our right eye a difficult duty so for a man to be crucifying the flesh with the Affections and Lusts thereof to be contemning the world to trample upon the pleasures the flatteries the blandishments of it for a man to love his enemies to pray for them that persecute him to do good to them that despitefully use him How is it possible for a man to do all this work a difficult work this work which so much crosses his own carnal and corrupt frame if he have not a considerable portion of spiritual strength A weak Christian alas is offended with every thing he is ready to stumble at every straw every duty is a burthen to him every command of Christ seems grievous to him every yoke of Christ he is not able to take upon his neck it may be he may have some flashes of good desires now and then as Baalam had Oh that I might die the death of the righteous It may be he may have some good purposes and resolutions as Saul had 1 Sam. 26.21 Return my son David for I will no more do thee harm because my soul was precious in thine eyes this days But all his purposes came to nothing Nay may be sometimes he may have some endeavours faint feeble endeavours in the way of grace just like the third ground in the Parable which wanted root it brought forth indeed a blade but it brought forth the Text says nothing to perfection If a man be a weak Christian alas it is very little that he can do in the business of Eternity You have great need of strength therefore in this regard Secondly You have great need of strength in regard of the Afflictions Temptations Troubles and
I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Secondly Thou mayst know it by that spiritual strife and combat and conflict that is in thee certainly there will be a conflict in thy soul because there are two contrary principles there put water to water or fire to fire and there is no conflict but put water and fire together and there will be a great conflict So corruption will not strive with corruption but where there is Grace and corruption in one soul there will be a combat and conflict the Flesh will lust against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh Gal. 5.17 Thirdly Thou mayst know thou hast life in thee by thy spiritual crying thou wilt cry out for deliverance from danger and evil O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Thou wilt make this the chief subject of thy suit and supplication to God from day to day O that once I might be freed from a base whorish backsliding-heart that continually is departing from God Fourthly If thou hast life certainly that grace thou hast though it be but weak though it be but little though it be but as a spark yet it shall prevail against corruption for wherever the Lord Christ enters into the soul to dwell there he comes like a Conquerour and he brings forth Judgment unto victory Matth. 12.20 That is his Government shall be victorious over all the opposition of sin and Satan Grace like oyl will be uppermost if there be but a spark of Grace in thy heart it shall not be quenched but it shall rather increase more and more and at last shall grow up into a flame as the fire of the Lord that came upon Elijahs offering 1 Kings 18.38 consumed the burnt-sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench Grace is a fire that comes down from Heaven though there be but a little spark of it at first yet by little and little it will lick up all the water of our corruptions and consume our sins Grace will grow stronger and stronger and corruption weaker and weaker That is the first symptom of an infirmity If there be spiritual life in the soul but if there be not spiritual life there is no infirmity Secondly The second Sign or Symptom of an infirmity is this That may be said to be an infirmity when some particular action crosses the main intention of the heart If thine eye be single if thy heart be upright if the Byas and bent of thy soul be towards God then all the obliquity or all the swervings in thy life are but lookt upon as infirmities For example A good Archer that is handling his Bow may-be his eye is right and his aim is right but through the weakness of his hand or the distemper of his Bow he may miss the Mark that is an infirmity So here if thy eye be right towards Gods Commandments if thy intention be to please God if the bent and byas of thy soul be God-ward not sin-ward then all the rest of the obliquity or swervings that are in thy actions are lookt upon but as infirmities As a Traveller for example in his journey if he set his face the right way and he be enquiring the way and willing to follow the way or if when he goeth out of the way he check himself though he may miss of the way through ignorance or may be seduced by some that told him wrong yet that may be said to be but an infirmity So here when thou canst set thy face towards Heaven as the children of Israel and Judah are described Jer. 50.5 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward saying Come let us joyn our selves to the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be forgotten When a man thus sets his face towards Heaven then his wandrings out of the way if they be beside the intention of his purpose and mind are lookt upon but as infirmities David was out of his way when in a fury he would be avenged on Nabal for his churlishness when he said God do so to me and more also if I cut not off Nabal and every one that belongs to his Family yet when Abigail a wise Woman comes and tells him he was out of his way how glad was he and stops his course and said Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging my self with my own hand 1 Sam. 25.32 33. See the difference between the sin of Judas and the sin of Peter Judas you know he sinned with deliberation and his intention was stark naught his intention and purpose of betraying his Master was to inrich himself he was a Thief and nibled money out of his Masters Bag therefore his intention was naught But on the contrary look on Peter when he thrice denyed his Master it was a great sin too but it was without his intention or purpose certainly Peter had no intention at all to deny his Master but it fared with him as a man that is writing with his Pen in his hand and writing a straight Line but it may be some body comes and joggs him on the Elbow so he makes a crooked line against his will Or as a man that is shooting at a Mark but some body comes and joggs his Elbow and makes his Arrow to go awry thus was it with Peter This is the second Sign or Symptome of an infirmity Thirdly That is an Infirmity when a mans judgment is kept sound and upright that he does not approve of any sin when no sin hath any allowance or approbation in his heart this was the fruit of John Baptist his Preaching Isa 40.4 Every Valley shall be exalted and every Mountain and Hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain that is those that are converted by John Baptists preaching they would not look on crooked things as plain or plain things as crooked that is they would not defend or justifie themselves in sin but look upon sin as sin and duty as duty and they would not look upon the ways of God as crooked but straight they were indeed crooked to them before because their judgment was not sound but now they look upon them as straight and all his ways to be equal ways A child of God will be sure to commend that duty which yet he cannot practise and he will be sure to condemn that sin into which yet he often slips and falls and that because his judgment is right duty will be duty in his eye and sin will be sin in his eye though through infirmity he may fail in the one and fall into the
other Fourthly He that sins through infirmity will still keep his conjugal love to Jesus Christ and although some failings in him may work a kind of estrangement between Christ and his soul yet notwithstanding his heart will still cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ and this appears thus Because he will chuse no other Husband he will chuse no other Saviour for all this but he would rejoyce with all his heart if he might be but reconciled to Jesus Christ though there hath been some unkindness between Christ and him He says I will return to my first Husband for then was it better with me than now Hos 2.7 and he is grieved for the unevenness of his carriage towards so sweet a Husband us he hath been to him If there be such a disposition in you to hold fast your conjugal love to Jesus Christ and still keep close to him though there may be some unkindness yet thou pitchest on no other Husband certainly this is but an infirmity But says the poor soul Can that be an infirmity that cleaves to me all my days that I have been vext and perplext with twenty thirty years together I answer Possibly there may be such infirmities cleave to Gods children As for example some deadness in duties dulness and deadness in hearing the Word it may be slipperiness of memory or forgetfulness of the words we have heard or it may be some strong corruption which is like a thorn in the flesh which the Lord Jesus hath left in thee to humble thee and to make thee base in thy own eyes all thy days But it may be then you will object and say How then will this stand with the Doctrine you delivered even now you made it a mark or token of spiritual life That Grace will prevail against corruption that the Government of the Lord Jesus Christ would be victorious I answer True Grace will be victorious at last but I do not say it will be all at once but it will be by degrees and it is some kind of victory and conquest over corruption when it is subdued though it be not quite extinguished if it be weakned and abated though it be not destroyed when a man can feelingly cry out of it as the Apostle did O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death and he breaks out and says thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Rom. 7.25 Secondly I answer God sometimes works by contraries God is carrying on the work of Grace in his Children when corruptions seem to be thriving and growing when God means to give his Children victory he suffers them to be foyled first the work of Grace in the heart sometimes goes backwards that it may go forwards As the Seed that is sown in the Field it rots in the ground before it springs and grows Sometimes you must know that God will strengthen us by our very slippings he will have us learn to stand by our very falls and bruises he will have us to be strengthened by our weaknesses and infirmities he will have us to be deep-rooted by our shakings Our infirmities are the keepers of our Graces it makes us look more carefully to our own standings it is good therefore to observe the methods and manner of Gods dealing with our souls and to learn to live by faith be acting of faith in the business of our infirmities for as I have often told you The life of faith is in the use of faith so much as we use faith so much we live by it it is good for a man to live by faith in point of his infirmities and to say when I am foyled I shall have victory when I fall I shall arise when I am weak I am strong as the Church said Micah 7.8 Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Thus you have the explication of the point what an Infirmity is and what are the causes of it and what are the signs and symptoms of it For the use of the point 1. For Consolation 2. For Caution 3. For Exhortation First For Consolation because that is the principal use of the Text And O that I could speak not only to the ears but to the heart of any poor doubting drooping dejected soul O that this Doctrine might be as a box of ointment to comfort such an one to refresh him O that I eould but drop in some Consolation into any poor bruised soul that hears me this day that such an one might lift up those hands that hang down and feeble knees that tremble Isa 35.3 And this is the comfort I have to tender to thee That the Lord will not reject thee for an infirmity He carries his Lambs in his Arms and gathers them in his bosom poor weak ones he carries them in his bosom when it may be the Leg is broken and they are not able to go he gently leads those with young in all their fears doubts and disquietments about their Condition he hath a tender care of his Lambs of his weak ones If thou art but one of Christ Lambs know thus much for thy comfort that he hath a care of the poorest Lamb that is in his Flock if thou art a Plant in his Vineyard know that he hath a care of the tenderest Plant never was it known that a merciful and compassionate Father cast off a child because of his weakness many times it may be when the child is so sick and weak that it is not able to speak but only to say Father it may be it cannot speak out then the Bowels of the Father yearns towards him the more the weaker the child is and unable to speak the more his compassions are rowling towards him O let not our unbelief make Jesus Christ unnatural Do we think that Jesus Christ has less compassion toward his Lambs than Jacob had Jacob was such a Shepherd that he had such a tender care of his Lambs that says he if you over-drive the flocks the lambs will die and do you think that Jesus Christ is less sollicitous for the good of his But alas says the poor soul my infirmities discourage me they weaken my assurance and rob me of my peace and comfort I answer true it is infirmities do so but they should not do so and that they may not do so take these three or four Considerations First Consider in every infirmity as there is something against God so there is something also from God There is something against God that is true because our infirmities are not suitable to the holiness and strictness of his Law and therefore we should strive against them with prayer and care and watchfulness But as there is something against God so there is something also from God It may be he le ts loose those infirmities upon thee even like a Messenger of Satan to buffet thee to humble
Thirdly May a man come near to Heaven and yet come short of it O then take heed of these two sins Slothfulness and Apostacy Take heed of Slothfulness Be not slothful in business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord Rom. 12.11 The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force Matth. 11.12 Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure set to the work with all your might put your whole strength to the work shake off all drowsiness and dulness And then take heed of Apotacy this makes many that come near to Heaven to come short of Heaven because they do not hold out to the end He that endures to the 〈◊〉 shall be saved blessed are they who notwithstanding all difficulties and discouragements that they meet with in Heavens way are resolved to hold out to the end and in the end Thus I have dispatcht the first Doctrine That it is possible for many that profess the Truth and are confident that they are in a State of Grace and seem to come near to Heaven and yet for all that to come short of Heaven Now I come to the second Doctrine in this last Branch of my Text from these words Come short of it And the Doctrine is this To come short of eternal Rest is such an unvaluable and unconceivable and irrecover able loss that it is to be trembled at by all sorts of persons whatsoever It is a loss to be trembled at by all those that have not quite lost their sense and feeling For the confirmation of this truth there are these two Queries I shall speak to First What it is to come short of this eternal Rest Secondly How it may appear that this coming short of Heaven is such an unvaluable irrecoverable and unconceivable loss For the first What it is to come short of this eternal rest What is it Oh! God grant that neither you nor I nor any soul here present may ever experimentally know what it is to come short of Gods eternal rest let me shew you what it is that you may avoid this dreadful danger The Original word here used is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it signifies to come too late just as those five foolish Virgins that had no oyl in their Lamps they came and knockt Lord Lord said they open to us but the door of Mercy was shut they came too late Matth. 25.10 11. It signifies likewise to fail of that which a man expects Heb. 12.15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God Or it signifies this for a man to miss the Gole or Prize that he runs for and so it is a Metaphor from runners in a Race if they be heavy or lumpish or careless they lose the Prize they miss the Gole So Christians that are secure and careless and slothful and mind every thing more than that one thing that is necessary they come too late they fail of Grace and Glory they miss the Gole they lose the Prize they are deprived of that eternal happiness they expected this is to come short of this eternal Rest Second It may be demanded How will it appear that this coming short of eternal Rest is such an unvaluable unconceivable and irrevocable loss that it is to be trembled at I answer It will appear by these three reasons They that come short of Heaven they lose 1. The Presence Of God in eternal happiness They that come short of Heaven they lose 2. The Favour Of God in eternal happiness They that come short of Heaven they lose 3. The Fruition Of God in eternal happiness First They that come short of this Eternal Rest they lose the presence of God how great how unconceivably great this loss is it passeth my skill to tell you But conceive it thus David tells us in Psalm 16. ult In his presence is fulness of joy and at his right hand are pleasures for evermore Now if in the presence of God be the fulness of joy then certainly in the want of his presence is the fulness of misery If at his right hand are pleasures for evermore then certainly at his left hand is wo and misery and calamity for evermore even such misery as the Prophet Ezekiel speaks of Ezek. 2. ult A roll of a book was written within and without lamentations and mourning and wo And it stands with reason it should be so for if God be light then a separation from God must needs be darkness If God be life then a separation from God must needs be death If God be the fountain of Bliss then the separation from him must needs be the possession of all misery and wo and calamity and distress that can possibly be expressed or conceived This punishment of loss in the opinion of all Divines doth incomparably torment the soul more than all the punishment and tortures and torments of Hell-fire Nay the loss of that heavenly and unconceivable Joy the loss of one hours communion with the crowned Saints in glory the loss of one glimpse of the glorified Body of Jesus Christ is a greater and far more and considerable loss than the loss of all the Kingdoms of the World besides I know that carnal men have very carnal conceits of Heaven and happiness because they look usually upon heaven and spiritual things with carnal eyes but if they did but look upon them with such an eye as Moses did Heb. 11.27 By the eye of Faith he saw him that was invisible if they would not look upon things that are seen but upon things that are not seen For the things that arn seen are themporal but the things that are not seen are spiritual and eternal as saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4.18 If they could but look upon them with spiritual eyes then they would acknowledg that a thousand thousand rendings of the body from the soul are far less than one rending of the soul from God It was the speech of one Nicostratus a curious Painter to one that admired at him for looking so wishfully upon a curious Picture Oh said he if thou hadst but my eyes thou wouldst admire what I admire so may I say to men that will not now believe that the loss of Gods presence is such a loss hadst thou but spiritual eyes thou wouldst acknowledg the truth of what I now say That the loss of Gods presence is such a loss as can never never be sufficiently bewailed no not with tears of blood It was the speech of Chrysostom and it was a savoury speech I had rather endure a thousand Hells than to hear that one dreadful sentence Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And suitable to this was the speech of Augustine I could be contented to endure the torments of Hell for a while so I might but see the glorified body of Jesus Christ in Heaven for you know what our Saviour saith Father I will that they also whom thou
little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but 〈◊〉 everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee 〈…〉 Lord thy redeemer Isa 54.7 8. Application Therefore it serves exceedingly for the encouragement of the godly our afflictions are but for a moment do but set against your present Affliction the glory that it brings after and against light afflictions a weight of glory and against momentary affliction eternal glory and what comparison is there between them none at all but 3. I come quickly It may be taken in a way of Judicature I come to call men to account to return to every man according to their works therefore see that you hold fast what you have received and continue constant to the end and you shall be sure to receive a rich and Royal Reward Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every one according as his works shall be Rev. 22.12 Heb. 10.37 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Be patient therefore brethren stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draws nigh Jam. 5.8 But here it may be objected Our Saviour spake this above sixteen hundred years ago The coming of the Lord draws nigh And yet he is not come to Judgment To this I Answer A thousand years in Gods account is but as one day we count moments long because we are but poor short spirited creatures But God that is of an eternal duration he counts a thousand years but a very small moment all that space of time should be small to them that know the greatness of Eternity Do but think of Eternity and alas a thousand of years are but as a moment But observe here when our Saviour speaks of coming to Judgment he fixeth a Behold before it Behold I come quickly it teacheth us this Doctrine Doct. Christs coming to judgment is a matter of infinite concernment and requires our most serious consideration Behold Consider what I say I am coming to judgment There will therefore be a day of Judgment that is certain this is called the great day in ver 6 of the Epistle of Saint Jude and in 2 Tim. 4.8 That day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of eminency and it is called a day of Judgment because then every one shall receive a final sentence either of absolution or condemnation But why is this a matter of so great concernment I answer because Eternity depends upon it it will be a final determination to every soul to an everlasting and unchangeable condition of endless bliss or wo O this Eternity it swallows up all our thoughts if it were seriously considered it were enough to make the most prophane and profligate sinner to turn the strictest Saint that ever trod upon earth Therefore to make some Use of this Live in a continual expectation of Christs coming But some will say This day of Judgment cannot be so sudden for the Jews are not yet called and Antichrist is not yet come down I answer and O that this Answer might sink into your hearts Though the world should continue a thousand years yet there is a particular Judgment as well as a general every mans deaths-day is every mans dooms-day It is appointed for all men once to die and after that the judgment As soon as the Soul departs out of the body then it is judged the Soul is judged then either to Heaven or Hell therefore thy day of death will be the Judgment-day to thee when ever it falls though it falls this week before the next Oh that you and I could be affected as Jerom was Whether I eat or drink or whatever I do methinks I hear the Trumpet sound in my ears Arise ye dead and come to Judgment Therefore let your whole lives be a continual Preparation for that great day get those graces that may present you without spot or blot before Gods Tribunal Get 1. The precious grace of Faith for that puts on the Royal Robe of Christs righteousness and in that Robe you will stand undaunted 2. Get Repentance from dead works be purifying your selves more and more as he is pure Repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the day of refreshing shall come Act. 3.19 3. Get a Christian and constant care and diligence in your general and particular callings Blessed is the man whom his Lord shall find so doing This is the first Motive drawn from the suddenness of our Saviours coming I come quickly Another Motive and of that a few words and I have done That no man take thy Crown The danger of losing the Crown But here it may be demanded What is meant by Crown I answer Either the Crown of Gospel-Ministry or else the Crown of eternal Life First God honoured this Church with a very glorious Ministry so that the very Adversaries the seeming Jews did worship that is did submit themselves to this Church and acknowledg Her to be beloved of God God honoured this Church with a very glorious Ministry Then it may be meant of the Crown of life as Mr Perkins well observes upon the Text Rev. 2.10 I will give thee a Crown of life But here it may be demanded Can the Crown of Life be lost To this I Answer In the visible Church there are Hypocrites as well as sincere Christians Now Hypocrites may lose the Crown because they never had a title to it they never had a title to the Crown of Glory a man must have an interest in grace before he can have a title to the Crown of glory For others that have grace begun in their hearts you must know such cautions as these are are to quicken them 2 John 8 Look well to your selves that we lose not those things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward Heb. 12.15 Beware lest any of you fall short of the grace of God Or it may be such cautions are put in to let you see that if you are left to your selves you would let go grace and lose glory and all To shut up all If a Gospel-Ministry be a Crown Oh that you and I would learn to prize a Gospel-Ministry more than we have done it may be God will teach you to know the worth of it by the want of it hold it fast remember God can give the Gospel to another Nation that may be will bring forth better fruit than we have done and when the Gospel is gone our glory is gone then we may say The Glory the Glory is departed from England But then 2. If there be a Crown of glory laid up for them that do hold out then receive that Exhortation a Text I opened in many Sermons on Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of entring into his rest any of you should seem to come short of it Therefore take hold of God by Faith Be much in prayer be much in wrestling
and Comfort and Mercy and lead men to Heaven in a mild and meek and gentle way To this I Reply What would you have us apply a Plaister where there is no sore Would you have us apply a Cordial where they are not sick Would you have us pour in the Oil where there is no wound God himself pours not in the Oil of Mercy but into a broken Vessel Isa 61.1 The Lord knows we delight not in preaching any terrible Doctrines to you if you were but fitted for mercy but if you are not fitted for Mercy then as the pricking Needle makes way for the sewing of the Cloth together so this kind of Preaching convincing and humbling the Sinner makes way for the bringing of Christ and the Soul together and therefore you may well bear with it A second Instruction that we may learn from hence is this It serves to let us see what the reason is that there are so few Believers so few converted and convinced O Ministers cannot speak of this scarce without watery eyes Truly heretofore three thousand were converted at one Sermon but now there is scarce one that is converted with three thousand Sermons O whence is it that the work of Conversion is almost at an end in England in London It is rare to hear of a Soul converted we hear of many that are perverted that are led into by-paths of Error and Heresie and Blasphemy and Schism but it is a rare matter to hear of one converted they are but few that see the need they have of Christ that prize him that believe in him that obey him that constantly cleave to him but most men are very well contented to be in a natural condition they are secure and quiet without Christ but what is the Reason Because they do not see the need they have of Christ for if they did but see the need they have of him they would say They may better want light than want Jesus Christ who is the Light and by whom they may have the Light of Life John 8.12 They may better want Bread for their bodies than the Lord Jesus Christ who is the bread and spiritual food of the Soul I am the Bread of Life John 6. If they did but see the need they have of him doubtless they would close with him but why do not they see the need that they have of him The Reason is Because they are not humbled they were never yet stricken with the sense of sin they never yet saw the inside of themselves they never with the Jaylor in the Text were afrighted amazed stricken down in the sense of sin Oh this is the misery of all miseries which Ministers have most cause to complain of that men are not fitted enough for Jesus Christ they are not lost enough in themselves for a Saviour Hos 14.3 With thee the fatherless find mercy Were we more hopeless helpless and fatherless we should find more mercy from the hand of Jesus Christ O that God would awaken and shake some sin-sleeping Soul this day Oh that this Doctrine thus opened might be as a Thunderbolt to let some of you see the inside of your selves O poor Sinner thou hast an insupportable burden of sin and guilt lying on thy Soul ready to press thee down to Hell and yet thou feelest it not thou hast the wrath of God hanging over thy head by the twined thred of a short life which it may be thou mayst not be free from one year nay perhaps not one month but thou seest it not if thou didst but see it then thou wouldst cry out as he did in Bosworth field A Horse a Horse a Kingdom for a Horse so thou wouldst cry out None but Christ nothing but Christ ten thousand Worlds for Christ The second Use of Exhortation And I have but two Exhortations to tender to you First I beseech you and exhort you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ whose poor Messenger I am that you would labour to be convinced of the necessity of humiliation believe it be perswaded of it be convinced of it that thou must be broken if ever thou wouldst have Jesus Christ to bind thee up thou must be sick of sin if ever thou wouldst have Jesus Christ to heal thee thou must be dejected and cast down if ever thou wouldst have Jesus Christ to comfort thee if God therefore do not open thine eyes and awaken thy Conscience and touch thy heart I do pronounce against thee that there is no Christ no Heaven no Pardon no Peace no Comfort no Salvation for thee Oh the miserable deplorable condition of all you that were never yet humbled you that never yet were convinced of sin you that never tasted the bitterness of sin you that never felt the burden of sin that never yet complained with the Apostle Rom. 7 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Some derive the word from a man that is troubled with the stone in the bladder O wretched man that I am O miserable is the condition that you are in you that never yet felt sin to be sin that have not felt the burden of it nor tasted the bitterness of it you are not fit to come to Jesus Christ you are out of his Commission for he is sent to the humble and broken hearted Sinner Isa 61. It may be thou knowest what sin is and Christ is and Grace is notionally but there is a great deal of difference between knowing and inward feeling wretched was thy condition if thou didst but feel it but a thousand times more wretched it is because thou feelest it not My second Exhortation to you is this If so be sound humiliation be a necessary Antecedent to Faith and Salvation then use the utmost of your endeavours that you may be humbled broken and bruised Sinners that you may be put into a capacity to close with a Saviour Now because I know this is but a harsh Exhortation give me leave to sweeten it with these three Considerations First Remember that the promises of Grace and Mercy are made to all humbled Sinners Levit. 26.41 If then their uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled and they accept of the punishment of their iniquities then will I remember my Covenant with Jacob and also my Covenant with Isaac and also my Covenant with Abraham will I remember and I will remember the Land Secondly Consider God never looks with so much mercy and compassion on any as those that are most humbled Jer. 31.18 20 When Ephraim bemoaned himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoke I have been proud and stout and stubborn under all thy Rods Turn thou me and I shall be turned Surely after I was turned I repented after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded Now in the 20 verse you have God bemoaning Ephraim Is Ephraim my dear