iniquities prevailed against him Psal 65.3 When St. Paul cried out Who shall deliver me from this body of death And another time when he could say I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me 2. A second dispensation of Grace is that which I called quickening grace An influx of the spirit of grace upon the soul by which the soul in all its spiritual conversation is made more free and lively that it maketh haste and delayeth not to keep the Lord's Commandments It findeth an inlarged heart and runneth the way of the Lords Commandments that this proceedeth from an influx of grace is plain David prayeth unto the Lord that he would quicken him in the way of his Commandments Quicken me in thy way Psal 119.37 It is as manifest upon the experience of all Christians that God distributeth this influence of this grace unequally neither the like measures unto all Christians nor to the same Christians at all times Hence are the complaints of Christians of the dulness and deadness and straitness of their hearts they indeed through grace keep on in the Lords ways and are kept from Apostacy they return not with the Dog to the vomit but they move heavily the wheels of their Charots are taken off they almost force themselves to duties of Communion with God and do not find a freedom to them and a delight and sweetness in them but are secretly saying within themselves When will the Sabbath be done When will the duty be over it is no pleasure to them to serve the Lord when-as at other times their souls are full of spiritual life they are longing for Sabbaths and for times of prayer 3. Lastly There are also dispensations of consolatory grace these are the influences of the Spirit of God upon the soul by which the soul is refreshed and comforted in the apprehensions of the love of God These admit of a variety of degrees as they arise in the soul either 1. From the view of the souls own sincerity and its ability to apprehend its interest in the promises and to apply the Scripture unto it self Or 2. From some more extraordinary witnessings and sealings of the holy Spirit who you know is called the Comforter and who as the Apostle speaketh witnesseth together with our spirits that we are the children of God Now the sadness and dejections of some Christians spirits over others and of the same Christians Spirits at some times more than others is a sufficient evidence of the inequality of these distributions There was a time when David himself cried out When wilt thou comfort me Psal 119.82 as much as at other times he triumphed and made his boast in God and from hence now you may understand the nature of what we call Desertions God never leaves nor forsakes his people so as he doth not supply them with influences of Grace sufficient to uphold the Union betwixt Christ and their souls nor doth he deny such influences to any soul that believeth in Christ But God may and doth often withdraw himself as to the gradual manifestations of himself to them in such dispensations of grace whereby he strengtheneth them against sin or unto duty or whereby he quickneth them and maketh them free and lively in his Service or finally such whereby he comforteth them with the apprehensions or assurances of his love in Christ Now these varieties being observable in matter of fact in the dispensations of Divine grace even to Gods own children My next work must be to shew you the reasonableness of the motions of Divine Providence in this unequal distribution and to proportion some answer to these following Questions 1. Quest Why God suffereth some more than others to be tempted and to fall by temptation yea some of his own people 2. Quest Whence it is that some of the children of God find much more strength unto spiritual duty than others find and the same children of God at some time find more strength than they do at others times 3. Quest Whence it is that some godly persons find more freedom and liveliness in the service of God than others do and the same persons find more liveliness and freedom at one time than they do at another 4. Quest Whence it is that some Christians are more full of spiritual joy and consolations than others are To these which properly relate to the varieties before observed Two more may also be added 5. Quest Whence it is that godly persons who are all informed by the same spirit of truth have such different apprehensions of the things of God one from another and that some times in very momentous points 6. Quest Lastly Whence it is that some Christians grow faster in grace than others do 1. Quest Why God suffereth some yea some of his own dear servants to be more tempted than others yea and when he knoweth that they will fall That it is so is past all dispute Satan obtained leave of God to tempt Job and Christ told Peter that he had desired to winnow him like wheat he tempted David to number the people The Text saith that Satan stood up against Israel and we know that Satan prevailed against all these And it is expresly said concerning Hezekiah that God left him to his temptations 2 Chron. 32.31 And we see it in daily experience that some of the people of God are both much more buffetted by Satans temptations and overcome by them than others are wanting strength to say get thee behind me Satan 1. In the first place I do think much of this is founded or at least highly advantaged from nature Concerning temptations which are à carne from the flesh when a man is only drawn away by his own lust There is nothing more certain than that divers persons have more strong inclinations and dispositions to some sins than unto others and there needeth a more eminent assistance of Divine grace to restrain such lusts in such souls and although it be true concerning such temptations as are impressions or suggestions from Satan that they are not natural but preternatural yet one soul may have a more natural aptitude to receive them either from its complexion and constitution or from its disease and distemperature under which it may at some time labour more than another and this may by one and that a great cause For God is not always nor ordinarily pleased to work miraculously It is usually said of Melancholy that it is balneum diaboli a melancholick temper state or constitution of body is a temper very receptive of impressions and suggestions from the Devil Now I say where a man is naturally more complexionated to some sins or where any persons are from their complexion or from some bodily distemper more apt to receive such kind of impressions it cannot be expected but that they should fall oftner into such temptations and be troubled more with them and by them than other Christians who have not those natural disadvantages and
which then hindered his being revealed and would let until he should be taken away The Roman Empire hindered nor is that hinderance yet taken away 'T is true there is but a stump of that Empire remaining in Germany Spain France England many other great boughs are lop'd off it but most of them kept their Antichristian favour though they changed their temporal Lords and set up for and by themselves as to temporal subjection and dominion You see and hear how fierce the French the Spaniards the Portugals c. the house of Austria are for the Romish Religion 'T is true England hath broke that yoke off its neck so hath Holland the Gospel hath got a great foot in Germany France Denmark Poland Sweden Hungary but yet the Devil hath a large Chappel in most of those places It is the National Religion of France Spain Portugal Italy the Imperial Proper-territories God is fitting the circumstances of the World much to his promised Work of destroying this Antichrist with the spirit of his mouth with the brightness of his coming England is fallen off Holland is fallen off a great part of Switzerland many Cities and Territories in Germany Sweden and Denmark great numbers in France God is by degrees doing his work and a great deal is done within the space of a hundred and fifty years last past for it is no longer since Luther began to shake his Throne but yet the circumstances of the World do not look as if it were like to be a work we should see in our age nor it may be our childrens children Methinks the Scripture looks as if that man of sin should die a natural death not a violent one I mean that that Religion should be loathed out of the World not fought out of it God will consume it with the Spirit of his mouth and with the brightness of his coming Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord I tell you but my judgment that before the fall of Antichrist you must yet see a greater falling off from Popery by the Princes of other Nations and their people The Worlds circumstances do not yet seem fitted to that great Work God may work Miracles in the case but I know no ground we have to expect them I am very confident that Antichrist is in his wane much past his full declining every day and therefore the fears of some that that ridiculous Religion should again over-spread England or Holland or any other reformed Church do not much afflict me I take that for granted that Babylon is falling but when we shall hear that joyful sound Babylon is fallen Babylon is fallen that I cannot tell you but in the general I think we must first see the World otherwise circumstanced than it is 2. By this observation of the motions of Providence you shall also understand much of Gods set time as to shewing mercy to your own particular soul viz. when your bodily or spiritual circumstances are fitted for the desired mercy 1. I say first when your bodily circumstances are fitted to it There is nothing more evident than the dependance of our minds upon our bodies and the influence that some bodily distempers especially have upon our souls and minds now although it be true that God can work miraculously and by light can break through a darkness be it never so thick and ravish a Soul with unspeakable joy and peace though at that time it be yoked to a dark cloudy melancholick disturbed body yet God useth not to work Miracles ordinarily but to move in a more ordinary course of Providence by the use and application of means that are proper so that as it is seldom but God useth the disorders and disturbances of the body to influence and afflict the mind and to be at least an adjuvant cause when he will trouble a Soul so he usually restoreth health and a better constitution of body when he intends to restore peace and quiet and a composure of spirit I say ordinarily he doth so And hence again in the next place 3. We by giving attendance to this Observation may learn our duty in reference to the use of Means so as to use what is proper to its season for there is great wisdom to be used in apportioning means For Example as to the bringing down of Antichrist if Gods time be not come the means are not girding our swords upon our thighs c. I question whether that will ever be a Mean proper to be used in that case but endeavouring by all means possible to loath the World of Popish superstitions and ceremonies and all the idolatry of that Synagogue and of all the cheats they put upon the World and alienate the hearts of people from them So for calling the Jews the means to be used is not inciting them to get into a body and heading them c. but to convince them of their errours to endeavour the sweetning of their spirits the enlightning their minds with the knowledg of the truth of the Gospel and reconciling them to the Christian Religion and shewing them the Examples of an holy life and conversation So in case of particular Souls where the discomposure of the mind is originated in or further advantaged by bodily distempers which is a thing very frequently happening I do not take it to be the duty of a Christian meerly to pray and hear but also to use natural means proper for the abating of these distempers yet not this without Prayer and use of Ordinances both for the blessing of God upon such means and for the further influences of his supernatural grace for God fitteth the circumstances of the person that is to receive the mercy to the desired mercy when he intendeth the bestowing of it as well as the circumstances of the World to the mercy which in his set-time he intendeth for his Church so as I say this observing of this method of Providence duly attended to addeth spiritual Wisdom to a Christian as in discerning of Gods time for mercy so also in directing him to his duty as to proper means to be used by him in the way of his duty in order to the obtaining of the mercy teaching him to know what Israel ought to do what a good Christian ought to do under the circumstances under which God hath brought him 2. By an attendance to this working of Providence you shall understand much of the loving-kindness of the Lord very much of the goodness and love of God to Nations and Churches is seen in this his fitting of the worlds circumstances to his designs before he produceth them as his designs are effected without tumult and bloodshed which otherwise through mens opposition to it would not be avoided With how much bloodshed in all humane probability must the Children of Israel have first came out of Egypt then out of Babylon had not God fitted the circumstances of the world to those designs of his Providence
devouring fires for number and greatness not to be parallel'd God make us to understand his Rod and how many ways he is as a moth unto England secretly and gradually and almost irreparably devouring and destroying us This maketh our days full of the cry of the poor God grant we be not also full of such as stop their ears at the cry of the poor either giving nothing or in no proportion to relieve them I wish we could consider and remember that Text and think what may be our portion and do as we would be done by and remember God often punisheth this uncharitableness in its kind Men of hard-hearts in prosperity ordinarily meet with hard-hearts in their adversity with what measure they mete to others it is meted unto them again The Apostle Gal. 6.1 perswadeth the restoring of a brother fallen in the spirit of meekness and useth this Topick Considering thy self lest thou also be tempted And to the Hebrews he speakes To remember them that are bound as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being your selves in the body Heb. 13.2 There 's much in those words Lest thou also be tempted and those as being your selves in the body In cases of true charity Christians as they should consider other things so they should consider that they themselves are in the body they may lose their estates their health their limbs they are not in Heaven yet they are in the world and they are in the body they are not meerly spirits invulnerable impenetrable Men should think my house may be fired and all I have lost in an hour or two I may lose my eyes my limbs as this poor creature hath I am in the body So in those words there 's a great Emphasis Lest thou also be tempted Tempted sometimes signifies as much as afflicted though indeed in that Text it seems to signifie sollicited to sin and overcome God saith the Apostle for thy rigid dealing with thy brother over-born with a temptation to sin may suffer the Devil to give thee a foil would'st thou in such a case be roughly dealt with thy self With what measure men mete to others God measureth to them again Let me say to you take heed of omitting your duty in a charitable act lest thou also comest to be so afflicted as to need others charity and when thou art so God should repay thee in thy own kind so straiten mens hearts towards thee that from persons from whom thou mightest have expected pounds thou hast not so many pence think with thy self how such a thing would please you Let me here give you two rules which I think your Reasons will all concur with 1. It is a foolish thing for any person in circumstances of mortality so to govern himself in his conversation as if he were not subject to the common accidents of that state The Apostle saith of Elijah That he was a man subject to like passions with other men The Apostle speaks of humane weaknesses sinful infirmities and God considereth that and gives us allowances for it and therefore though Job had many ill fits of impatience when the hand of God was heavy upon him yet God saith Behold the patience of Job We are all of us also subject to the same sufferings and the Apostle from this Topick comforteth his Corinthians in those first and furious times of the Gospel 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but what is common to men Now I say there is nothing more foolish than for any of us in our conversation to govern our selves as if we were not so but out of the gun shot of the chastising Providence of God Our bodies are subject to death to sicknesses to old age and impotencies our estates are exposed to the fire to the thief to the merciless soldier to the oppressor Now for a man in his conversation to govern himself so as if he were never to dye as if he were never to be sick as if it were not possible that a fire should devour his pleasant things that he or his should not be brought to straits is no better than folly and madness 2. It is as foolish a thing for a man to promise himself that in case of such accidents others should be kinder to him than he hath been to others in the same circumstances We cannot so much as fancy such a thing without supposing them better-natured or more gracious either of which is at best a reproach to our selves And this is but reasonable for us to think although we consider not the influence of God in the case who hath told us That he who stoppeth his ear against the cry of the poor he also shall cry and not be heard and hath the hearts of all men in his hand and can easily shut them up in judgment against the cries of those who have sinfully stopped their ears against the cries of those who have cried to them in their distress Hence it follows that it is but reasonable for us in these cases thus to conclude I have now a fair estate but it is subject to decay a fire may consume it in a moment soldiers may devour it either in my or my childrens days I have now an healthy body sound and perfect limbs I may grow sickly lose my limbs my senses and be brought into the condition of a receiver who am now a giver Why should I think that any should consider me or mine in such circumstances more than I consider others Let me therefore do unto others as I would have others do unto me I have no reason to look that it should be meted to me again better measure then I measure unto others But I have dwelt too long upon this first shewing you how the Providence of God doth often retaliate hard heartedness by suffering the hearts of others to harden against men in straits who have stop't their ears against the cries of others to them in distress 2. But there are other kinds of uncharitableness which God doth ordinarily repay in their kind Those are acts bearing the highest opposition to charity tending to the utter ruin and destruction of their brethren such as murthers cruelties and barbarous and inhumane usage of others We shall find in the old Law that God in divers cases established a law of Retaliation If any mischief followed such a striking a woman with child as caused a miscarriage God ordained they should give eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burning for burning wound for wound stripe for stripe Exod. 21.23 24 25. and in the case of a false witness there was such a law Deut. 19.16 17 18 19 20 21. which you may read at your leisure It was Gods will that a witness who had testified falsly against any man if he were once found a false witness should suffer the very same thing that the other should have suffered So that throughout all the Jewish period the
men and heads of several idolatrie Jeroboam he brought in the worshipping of the true God by Calves set up at Dan and Bethel and Ahab who brought in the worshipping of Baal both of them very wicked men and God proceeded to execute vengeance slowly upon them but when it came it was a dreadful vengeance Of Jeroboams house none but a little Son came to the grave in peace For Ahab himself you know he was slain in a battel his queen was thrown headlong out of a window and her brains dashed out and the dogs licked her blood his second Son was slain by Jehu seventy more of his Sons were slain by the command of Jehu It were easie to give you infinite instances out of story but I leave it to your experimental observation Mark any person whom you see exemplarily wicked yet God is patient with him a long time and observe what havock God makes with him and his posterity when he beginneth to reckon with him And indeed it seems very reasonable if you consider 1. That by reason of Gods slowness to punish the sinner his sins are multiplied and aggravated to an exceeding great number and degree It was Solomons observation which we shall see verified in our daily experience Eccl. 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil The iniquity of the Amorites had not been full if God had not been so patient with them This makes them as the Apostle speaks treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God Now the righteous God rendring to every man according to his work must proportion his judgements to peoples sinnings The more their sins are the greater shall his wrath be 2. The more patience is abused the more means of grace are lost the greater alwayes is divine vengeance Now where God proceedeth slowly to vengeance there he exerciseth most patience There patience is most abused there more space and time for repentance is lost there is most despising of the riches of divine goodness forbearance and long-suffering Et laesa patientia fit furor abused patience turns into fury It maketh a patient and long-suffering God cry out by his Prophet Ah! I will ease me of mine enemies and avenge me of my adversaries him that knoweth not how to give up Ephraim to set him as Admah and Zeboim two of the Cities whom he so dreadfully destroyed by fire and brimstone It maketh God who is a Lamb in his own nature to transform himself into a Lion a Leopard a Bare rob'd of her whelps O it is a dreadful thing to abuse much divine patience Now where the providence of God hath appeared slow in punishing sinners there must much patience have been shewn And it must have been abused too if a sinner continues hard-hearted and impenitent I have given space saith God to repent of her fornication and she repented not Rev. 2.21 22. Behold I will cast her into a Bed c. into great tribulation and I will kill her children with death Besides that God seldom exerciseth patience long with sinners but he gives them also other means of grace and they are abused and slighted Noah preached to the old world saith God My Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man and I need not tell you how dreadfully God threatneth Corazin Bethsaida and Capernaum for their abusing the means of grace they had had above other places The like might be proved concerning the providence of God in the distributions of rewards the slower the motion of Providence is in the giving them the greater ordinarily the rewards are It was a great while before Abraham had a Son but when he had him it proved to be one that was a great blessing both to his Fathers family and to the world Rebeccah went twenty years without Children Gen. 25.20 26. but then twins struggle in her womb and she brings forth two great Princes and one of them who was to be the head of the only people God had upon the earth Rachel was for some years barren Gen. 29.31 c. 30. v. 1. when God gave her a Child it was Joseph who proved such an eminent blessing to his Fathers house The Wife of Manoah was barren Jud. 13.2 she bringeth forth Samson Hannah 1 Sam. 1. was barren she bringeth forth Samuel Elizabeth was barren she brings forth John the Baptist Thus you see it as to the blessing of Children It was a long time before God brought the seed of Jacob his servant out of their difficulties but when he did he brought them into Canaan the Land which the Lord cared for upon which his eyes were from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof a land which flowed with Milk and Hony There was a great time betwixt Josephs dream and his exaltation in Egypt There were eight years betwixt Davids Vnction and Coronation in Hebron More instances might be given but it is no more than we shall ordinarily observe in the motions of divine providence the slower the mercy cometh the fuller it is and greater blessing when it cometh Gods people have ordinarily their greatest peace and comforts after their longest and greatest trials and afflictions The reasonableness of this motion of divine Providence appeareth in this that look as in punishing of sinners where Providence moveth slowly it usually hath a great heap of sins to reckon with men for so here it hath great faith and patience to reward in this case Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience saith the Apostle Rom. 5. where there is long tribulation there must be the exercise of much faith much patience much hope and this brings forth much experience Gods greatest rewards of joy and peace in the inward man of eternal life glory and happiness come after much waiting The Apostle telleth us Heb. 10.36 You have need of Patience that after you have done the will of God you might receive the promise The receiving of the promise then is after much patience in doing the will of God and Rom. 2.6 7. The Apostle tells us that God will render unto every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life But I have been large enough in the confirmation of this observation I proceed to some application of it Vse 1. In the first place What can strike a greater trembling into the loins of sinners than this I shewed you before that the punishment of a resolved impenitent sinner is certain and constant As well may he promise himself that he shall not dye as that he shall not be turned into Hell and at last hear that dreadful sentence depart from me ye cursed into everlasting burnings it is constant though he is not sensible of it yet God is angry with him every day he every day groweth worse and worse more
sin in the world hath infinitely magnified his own goodness It is the saying of a very ingenious Author Satis usui sunt scelera si artem peritiam divinae beneficentiae provocant Sin is of use enough to God in the business of his glory if by it the act and skill of the Divine Goodness and Bounty be made appear to the world the goodness and mercy of God is that Attribute of his which above all others he hath made choice of to glorify himself in and by it is that in which he delighteth which is above all his works Now without the permission of sin yea of the aboundings of sin it had been impossible that Divine Goodness and Bounty should have been so commended to the world Let me open this a little 1. Christs coming and dying for sinners was the greatest act of love that was ever shewed to the children of men What greater love could the eternal Father shew than to give his Son out of his own bosom to be a sacrifice for sins God so loved the world saith John 3 Chap. 16. that he gave his only begotten son Moralists make a question about taking the true measures of the magis and minus of love whether the greatness of love be to be measured from the affliction intention and self-denial of the party loving or the benefit redounding to the person beloved but measure which way you will it was the greatest love on the Fathers side and the greatest that Christ could shew for greater love than this hath no man shewed John 15. and herein God commends his love towards us Rom. 5.8 Besides the inhabitation of the spirit was a benefit of Christs death an effect of his purchase And what greater love could be shewed on the part of the Holy Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ than for it to come down and to dwell in the heart of a poor creature for the person of a believer to be made the temple of the Holy Ghost the receptacle of the Spirit of Grace Now if there had been no sin no sinners in the world what room had there been for a Saviour what needed one to have turned away iniquity from Jacob to have been wounded for our iniquities bruised for our transgressions He dyed for our sins saith the Apostle How could the love of the eternal Father in sending his Son or the love of the Son in taking upon him our nature and dying for us or the love of the Holy Spirit in sanctifying us and renewing us and dwelling in us been manifested to the world If a strong man had not kept the house what need had there been of a stronger than he to have come and dispossessed him All the love of the Father Son and Holy Ghost magnified in the business of mans Redemption and the whole Oeconomy of a Gospel-salvation had been conceal'd and not known to the world 2. Again How could the love of God in the conversion of sinners in the pardon of their sins in their justification the sense they oft have of his love have been manifested to the world What need were there of any pardon if no sins were permitted where were the aboundings of grace in pardoning if there were no aboundings of sin What love of God could be seen in the conversion of sinners if no sinners were permitted in the world How should God magnify his grace by saying to any soul Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee if he did not suffer sins to be committed Thus you see the greatness of Divine Goodness and Mercy could never have been declared to the world but for the motions of Providence in the permission of sins and sinners yea and of the aboundings of them 3. Did not the Actual Providence of God thus permit sin and much sin in the world How should the long-suffering and patience of God be magnified in the world This also is a piece of Gods Name and such a one by which he designeth to make himself glorious he stileth himself Exod. 34.6 Gracious merciful long-suffering slow to anger and Numb 14.18 The Lord is long-suffering and full of tender compassion Now sin and sinners are the objects about which the long-sufferance of God is exercised He endured with much long-suffering saith the Apostle Rom. 9.22 vessels of wrath fitted for destruction How often do we find this in our own experience when we hear wretches blaspheming God and daring Divine Justice how often are we ready to say and it is a good reflexion O what a patient God do we serve which of us would endure such affronts and defiances as God endureth every day The aboundings of sin in the world make the considerate part of the inhabitants of it admire and adore the long-suffering and patience of God 3. The wisdom of God is also wonderfully magnified by Gods permission of sin The Apostle calleth God the only wise God None so wise as God is and the wisdom of God is eminently magnified by his permission of sin One great business of wisdom is to make an Election of the best end but this is not that which I am here speaking to God hath fixed his end it is his own glory and as I have often told you he can aim at no other end than himself and his own glory But next to a good Election of an end wisdom is eminently seen in the choice and conduct of means in order to a proposed end but herein is the heighth of wisdom to be able to make use of the most unlikely means and make them to serve our purpose It is a point I have touched something largely upon in my former discourses upon this Argument and therefore I shall not here enlarge upon it To bring a not-being into a being to make a thing out of nothing argueth an infinite power though there be aliquid materiae something of a matter yet if there be nihilum subjecti no aptitude in the matter to produce an effect of that nature as when God took the rib of a man and made of it a woman this argued also an omnipotent infinite power But yet methinks for God to produce his glory out of the aboundings of sin argueth yet something more if not of power yet of wisdom to make the wrath of men to praise him and the lyes of men to glorify him O how doth this commend the infinite wisdom of an only wise God! Sin all sin is quite opposite and repugnant to the glory of God it speaks the great Wisdom of God to bring out his glory from it Thus God hath glory by accident from the permission and sufferance of sin in the world 4. But let me further shew how God is further glorified by reason of the aboundings of sin in the manifestation of his Justice his Punitive and Vindicative Justice Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted
and patience to them in his waiting upon them all the days of their life giving them his Gospel sending them his Ministers beseeching them to be reconciled unto God knocking by his Spirit at the doors of their hearts Thus the merciful God extendeth his goodness unto all sinners a long time he declareth that he desireth not the death of any sinner but is willing that all should be saved by coming to the acknowledgment of the truth The vile sinner through the pride of his heart will not seek after God but vexeth grieveth resisteth his holy Spirit from time to time refuseth to repent and to turn unto God defieth him mocketh at the tenders of Divine grace thus he liveth thus he dieth yet hath heard of and knoweth the threatnings of eternal destruction he looketh upon them as bug-bear things not to fright such men as he is but children only he drinks he swears he curseth and blasphemeth God lyes breaketh Sabbaths he will venture it Who is that God that shall restrain the lusts of his heart He will try whether there be such an Hell such an eternal destruction yea or no. What do we talk of mercy after this to such a bold defier of the Divine Majesty What kind of being must we fancy the eternal God if we should imagine him to have one drop of mercy for such a contemner and defier of Divine goodness Surely he that made this man will have no mercy on him he that formed him can shew him no favour without a dethroning himself and making himself the contempt of his creature This every sinner doth one more openly and boldly another more secretly and tacitly Every fool if he doth not speak it with his tongue yet saith in his heart there is no God Whiles vain man talks of mercy in God in this case I am afraid he fancieth mercy in God to be a passion as it is in us which necessarily stirs to compassionate every object of misery Alas it is no such thing it is nothing else but the good will of God to do good to sinners if they will be made partakers of his goodness The same will moveth and that justly too otherwise after this life the red flag is then held out The last grains of sand in the glass of mercy are dropt out when this life is determined There is no more sacrifice for sin remaining but a dreadful looking for of Judgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries He that despised Moses law died without mercy of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy who have trodden under foot the blood of the Son of God and have counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified as an unholy thing Heb. 10.26 27. These men have done despight to the Spirit of Grace and we know who hath said vengeance is mine and I will repay it I will recompense saith the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people I conclude then with the Apostle in that place It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God There is a time for all things and as it is so with men so it is with God There is a time for mercy that is the time of this life and there must be a time for the execution of Justice when God shall declare his righteousness upon sinners who have despised his goodness and patience that is the time after this life The inch of Candle is out when the sinners life is expired no more coming to the waters and buying then what before was offered without money and without price Mercy hath done its utmost as to such sinners no more mercy is to be found in God for them no more compassion in that God who is full of mercy and tender compassion Nor shall we need at all to stumble at this for to oblige Magistrates to be always pitiful to them that are in misery though they have been the causes of it to themselves and have brought themselves into misery by the highest contempts of Authority and Government yea and of the clemency and patience of the Magistrate were quickly to prostitute all Government and to expose those that manage it to the basest contempt and scorn imaginable and if the Princes and Judges of the earth and Generals of Armies upon the prospect of this see a necessity of setting limits to their bowels of compassion and no one judgeth them either unjust or cruel in so doing why may not the same be allowed to the holy and righteous God But I have spoken enough to convince those who observe the principles of justice allowed in the practice of all States and Governments with the general observation of the wiser sort in the world That God is neither cruel nor unrighteous in punishing with an eternal destruction those that know not God and obey not his Gospel although their time and pleasure of sinning hath born no proportion either to the time or degree of their torments I shall apply it but in a word or two 1. The first To sinners who are yet impenitent who have not yet by repentance and faith saved themselves from this wrath to come 2. The second to those who through grace have saved themselves from this wrath Vse 1. To the first I shall only speak after the great Apostle of the Gentiles We knowing the terrors of the Lord perswade you 1. Not to stand disputing with God about the justice and equity of his ways 2. While your time lasteth to save your selves from these eternal burnings from this worm which never dieth this fire which never goeth out 1. Dispute not then Divine Justice as to the eternal Destruction of sinners You see if you do you will fall in judgement though you should be tried by the common laws of men by the customs and practices of all Nations Flatter not your selves that whatever your Ministers tell you the goodness and mercy of God will not allow him to see his creatures eternally tormented or that the justice of God cannot allow him to punish the sinnings of a few hours or years with an eternity of torments What have they to do with mercy who have out-sinned their days and years of mercy and despised the long-suffering patience and forbearance of God that for twenty thirty forty years together was leading them to repentance and waiting for their conversion and turning to him who had a day and time of repentance but repented not an eternal life and happiness offered them but refused it and have judged themselves unworthy of eternal life O let all sinners cease disputing Divine Justice and presuming upon I know not what mercy in God and let them to day while it is called to day not harden their hearts but study to save themselves from this wrath that is to come Let me but offer you one or two Meditations 1. Consider with your selves how often you have deserved this eternal destruction from the presence of
may observe the Saints too shooting out upon their afflictions O how many of them have we seen shot out in humility in faith in patience in heavenly-mindedness and contempt of the world c. It is a saying of Salvian upon this Argument Ideo Sancti viri sunt infirmiores quia si fortes fuerint vix Sancti esse poterint Saints saith he are therefore weak because it is an hard thing to be strong and Saints too we may say it is hard to be rich in Gold and Silver and rich in grace too to be great in the world and great with God too to have an healthy body and an healthy Soul too It is true there is not an absolute inconsistency betwixt worldly presperity and grace Job and Abraham were rich Joseph and Daniel were both honourable and had great places Our Saviour doth not say that it is simply impossible for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God but he saith It is easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God Let the word be understood of the beast called a Camel or for a Cable-rope and by the Eye of a Needle whether you understand what we call so or a gate a little gate in Hierusalem which some say had that name It is not simply impossible for a Camel or a Cable rope to pass through the Eye of a Needle it is a thing may be done if you cut the one into pieces small enough or sufficiently untwist the other but it asks a great deal of labour it must be done with a great deal of difficulty There are three things in which the felicity of the Soul lieth 1. In its favour with God 2. In its conformation to God 3. In its beatifical vision of God I shall shew you that some of those things which we call evils have an influence upon all these 1. They do indeed none of them merit the love and favour of God but they are testimonies and indications of this love and this is eminently true of such as are sufferings for the name of Christ the Apostle speaketh of Afflictions in general whom he loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Child whom he receiveth Christ saith particularly of the sufferings of his people for him They shall turn unto you for a testimony Luk. 21.13 And the blessed Apostle 2 Thes 1.5 saith of them that they are manifest tokens of the righteous judgment of God that saith he you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which you suffer It is a saying of Salvian Quis tam profundi Cordis c. He means who is so shallow as to think that the rewards of the Saints are carnes fortitudines abundance of the good things of this life the love of God saith he is seen in higher things than these and in things of a quite different nature from these It is a passage of Augustine Surgunt procellae hujus stagni vides malos florere bonos laborare tentatio est fluctus est dicit anima tua O Deus Deus Haeccine est justitiae tua ut mali floreant boni laborent Deus tibi respondet Haeccine est fides tua Haeccine tibi promisi aut ad hoc factus es Christanus ut in saculo floreres Aug. in Psal 25. The storms saith he of this Pit arise you see sinners flourish and Saints in adversity this is a temptation it is a wave and your Soul says O God! O God! Is this thy Justice That Sinners should prosper and thy Saints should be oppressed God answereth thee is this thy faith wert thou made a Christian for this that thou shouldest flourish in this life It was the rich glutton in the Gospel who had his good things in this life Gods Lazarus had evil things far be it from us saith Salvian to think that an Argument of Gods neglect of us which is an Argument of Gods further love to us 2. Doth the happiness of a Soul lie in its conformation to God to the image of his Son as the Apostle speaketh Afflictions highly conduce to this end 1. This is peculiarly true of such Afflictions as a Christian suffers for the gospel and for the name of the Lord Jesus and therefore the Apostle triumpheth in this 1 Phil. 20. That Christ should be magnified in his body whether by life or death and therefore speaks of his sufferings of this nature as the matter of his expectation his hope his boldness and what he was confident he should not be ashamed of and he prayeth for a fellowship with Christ in his sufferings Phil. 3.12 Ignatius is reported after all his sufferings to have said Now I begin to be a disciple Now saith Anthony Person a Martyr of our own Nation I am dressed like a Souldier of Christ when he had put some of the straw that was prepared to kindle the wood which was to burn him on the top of his Head 2. But All sorts of afflictions have an influence upon the Soul to make it more like to the Lord Jesus Christ Sufferings in the flesh for Christs sake make us conformable to Christs flesh to Christ in his state of humiliation to Christ upon the Cross but all the Afflictions of the Saints conduce to make them like unto the Lord Jesus Christ in his holiness and purity that now belongeth unto Christ and is inseparable from him in his estate of glory and exaltation in that he died he died once and but once and shall hang on the Cross no more wear a Crown of thorns no more but his purity and holiness that is essential to him now the Afflictions of Gods people make them like unto Christ in this This is an argument which I have had occasion before to touch upon and therefore I shall be the shorter in it now 1. They wonderfully conduce to take the hearts of the people of God off from the Earth and to six them upon Heaven Poverty takes off the heart from the love of riches and delivereth it from an evil covetousness sickness weaneth the Soul from the love of this life Now holiness lieth so much in the Sequestration of the heart from the world that in Greek an holy man signifies a man that is not earthly it is an hard thing for a man to be possessed of much of the Earth and not to have his heart buried in it it is true we should rejoyce as if we rejoyced not and possess as if we possessed not but this is an hard saying to flesh and blood Who is there almost who can hear who can learn it how rare is that Soul which liveth in the full fruition of the things of this life that can yet keep his heart loose from them and sequestred for God Prosperity plenty a great affluence of the good things of this life are as birdlime to a Souls wings and keep it from mounting up to God
Lord of life It is a dispensation that hath often put the servants of God into unseemly passions James and John would have had fire come down from Heaven as in Elijahs time to have destroyed the Samaritans Peter was out of patience to see the Informer come with a company with Swords and Staves to take his Master and in his passion draweth a Sword and with it cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest David himself when God offered him the choice of three Judgments desired rather to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men I say it is and hath often been a very sore temptation advantaged partly from Nature partly from some Religious reflections That which in humane nature advantageth this temptation is 1. The disdain every man naturally hath to suffer an injury from one beneath himself when Gideon would have had his Son Jether have fallen upon those two Eastern Princes Zeba and Zalmuna they said rise thou up and fall upon us men have a natural disdain and scorn to suffer from their inferiours we see it in every days experience Now although every child of God is low in his own eyes and in honour preferreth every Saint before himself yet as St. Paul sometimes magnified his office against the false Apostles and counterfeits of his age though he judged himself the least of the Apostles and unworthy of that great Name so they cannot but magnifie themselves in comparison of open profane miscreants that are the scum and off scouring of the place in which they live such as are common drunkards lyars swearers Sabbath-breakers and guilty of other debaucheries the very scabs of the body politick and spots of the Assemblies to which they are united 2. Every man naturally hath a regret at the receiving of injuries from those from whom he hath deserved no such thing Now the People of God are persons of innocence who have done no wrong to their worst Enemies they have loved their Enemies prayed for them been ready to do any offices of love to them and know not how to bear an injury from those to whom they have done no wrong This was that which troubled Davids Spirit Psal 35.12 13. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my Soul but as for me when they were sick my cloathing was sackcloath I humbled my Soul with fasting and my prayer returned into my own bosom I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourned for my mother But in mine adversity they rejoyced and gathered themselves together yea the abjects gathered themselves together against me and I knew it not yea they did tear me and ceased not with hypocritical mockers at feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth Lord how long wilt thou look on Rescue my Soul from their destructions 2. This temptation is likewise advantaged from some Religious reflections 1. From a reflection upon the purity and holiness of God O Lord saith our Prophet in my Text thou art of purer Eyes then to behold iniquity How a just and pure and holy God should look on and hold his peace to see a company of vile wretches tearing and devouring his own people this is a knowledg at first view too wonderful for them 2. From a reflexion upon the promises and threatnings of God they look into the holy word of God and find that full of promises of good to Gods People of threatnings of wrath and vengeance to wicked men instead of this they see vile men building up Palaces to themselves upon their ruins and adorning themselves with their Ornaments the houses of the profane furnished and adorned with that which is not theirs instead of the wicked mans preparing garments and the just mans putting them on as Job speaketh they see good and righteous men preparing garments and leud and ungodly men put them on they see the spoil of such as fear the Lord in the tents of leud and ungodly men 3. From a reflexion upon the Decrees of God O Lord saith our Prophet thou hast ordained them for destruction O mighty God thou hast established them for correction they consider leud and wicked men as men whom God by a fixed act of his Will hath ordained to judgment as persons who by the established counsel of God are to be destroyed and they cannot expound the Providence of God into a consistency with his eternal purpose when they see them not only live prosper and grow old but also live by the death of such as fear God and build their nests on high with feathers which they have plucked from their wings From these and other causes ariseth this trouble and coil in the spirits of Gods people Fluctus est Tentatio est as Augustine saith it is a great wave a great temptation and trouble and even Gods own people here are ready to think they see a knot in the thred of providence a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence in the even ways of the Lords dealing Let me indeavour in a few words to unty this knot to remove this stone Four or five things I shall speak one or other of which or all together will make this way of the Lord plain to every sober and understanding Christian 1. How is God to his people more hard or unrighteous in such a dispensation than he was to the son of his dearest love Our blessed Lord hath taught us That the Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord it is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master and the Servant as his Lord Matt. 10.24 25. 'T is true the chief Informer against our Lord was one of his hoshold Judas but he was a son of perdition the only ill member of all the 12. Who were his witnesses but a company of perjured wretches who could not agree in their testimony Who mockt him and scourged him Herod a monster for all manner of wickedness Who were they that spit upon him that cried out crucifie him crucifie him that gave him Gall and Vinegar to drink were they not the abjects of the people Thou art not able to conceive of Gods righteousness in giving thee over and thy estate over to a Renegado an apostate from his former profession to wretches who make no conscience what they say what they swear what they do How was he righteous in giving over the Son of his love to such wretches We are never so like to our Lord and Master as when we are betrayed by a Judas informed against and testified against by false and perjured wretches mockt and abused by the abjects and off scouring of the people If God might be a just and righteous God in suffering these things to be done to the green tree surely he may suffer them to be done unto us who are dry trees Thou art troubled that God should suffer profane scoffers to call thee
a power to do with his own what he pleaseth and if Grace were not for Gods own it would be no Grace yet we are too too much like Children who considering not their Fathers power and Prerogative nor it may be their own demerits and their own unworthiness to receive such a favour nor possibly their incapacity to receive injoy or use it Yet because they are Children as well as their Brethren and Sisters know not how to brook it that their Father should appear more kind to any of them than he is to them Let me therefore attempt the vindication of God in the inequality of these dispensations and that you may know in what order to follow me I shall lay down this method 1. First I will shew you wherein this inequality lieth 2. Secondly I will endeavour to shew you the reasonableness of the motions of Divine Providence in making this unequal distribution 3. Lastly I shall make some Application of it practically 1. Let us first enquire wherein this inequality lieth In the general It lieth not in any influxes and dispensations of grace necessary in order to the Salvation of their souls There is an union betwixt Christ and every believer in this union lieth the spiritual life of a Christian as the natural life lieth in the union which is betwixt the soul and the body so the spiritual life lieth in the union betwixt the soul and Christ and as the union betwixt the soul and body is preserved and maintained by bodily nourishment blessed be God in order to that end so the spiritual union betwixt the soul and Christ must also be maintained by a spiritual aliment this aliment or nourishment is the influx of the spirit of grace for though Ordinances be external means yet Ordinances signifie nothing without the influx of the spirit upon them and in them Now for such an influence of grace as is necessary to uphold the spiritual life of the believers to keep the soul and its beloved together God giveth it to every believer Whom he loveth he loveth to the end for if this were not so there were a possibility of a total Apostacy and of the intercision of a state of Justification This would infer a mutability in the counsels and purposes of God and subject the gifts and calling of God to repentance For let Jesuites and Arminians say what they will their fictitious purpose and councel of God to love those that are believers will not salve this sore for according to this Doctrine a man may be a believer and in favour with God this month and an unbeliever and out of favour with God the next month and so God may love and hate the same person a thousand times in his life-time and whether this be consistent with the unchangeableness of God let any one judg who understandeth any thing of common sense We therefore stand fixed in this that God neither is nor ever will be wanting to any soul as to those influxes of Divine grace which are necessary to maintain the union and spiritual life of the soul and by the way this well considered might much tend to satisfie a soul dissatisfied at Gods unequal distributions of special grace which although they are exceedingly sweet and of high advantage to gracious souls yet are such as are not of the necessaries of Salvation but only gradual manifestations and such as are spiritual accomodations and advantages to it in its way to Heaven but this is enough to have spoken to this question Negatively I come now to speak nore Positively In the general they are such only as respect the porro esse or the advantages of spiritual life Now what they are comes next into our enquiry They are I think reducible to Three heads the influences of 1. Strengthening 2. Quickning 3. Consolatory grace That there are such influences and that all have not a like measures of them no nor the same soul at all times is so obvious to the experience of all Christians that little need be said of it 1. For strengthening grace I can do all things saith the Apostle through Christ that strengtheneth me It is that which the Apostle prayeth for in the behalf of the Ephesians Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inward-man And thus Christ telleth us John 15. Without me you can do nothing Now the Object of this influx of grace is duty or sin and temptation to it 1. Duty I can do all things saith Paul through Christ that strengtheneth me Christians duty is various and lieth in such motions of the inward and of the outward man both in doing and suffering as God hath any-where in his Word required of us Strengthening grace with respect unto duty is nothing else but the graeious influence of Christ Phil. 1.3.14 2 Tim. 4.7 and the Spirit of Christ upon the soul by which the Soul is made more able both to do and suffer the will of God Now that there is a great variety and unequal dispensation of this influence of Divine grace both to different souls and to the same soul at different times is so obvious as would be perfectly needless to spend any time in the proof of it neither do all souls find the same degrees of spiritual strength nor do the same souls find it at all times 2. Another Object about which strengthening grace is exercised is sin and motions and temptations to sin That which we call strengthening grace with reference to sin is a secret influx of the spirit of holiness by which the soul of a Christian findeth it self inabled to resist its inward motions to sin and to repel temptations from the World and the Devil St. James telleth us That every one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed This is that which Divines call tentationem à carne a temptation from the flesh besides we know that the evil spirit hath a power to make impressions and to offer suggessions to us and that either immediately or by wicked men and sinful instruments this is that which they call tentationem ab hoste a temptation from our grand Adversary and there is a temptation wherein both these concur this is that which they call a mixt temptation Now as to all It is our duty to resist and this is the fighting the good fight the maintaining that spiritual combate which the Scripture speaks of Now there is nothing more evident in matter of Fact amongst Christians than that some Christians are more strong and able to resist motions to sin of any nature than others they are more able to mortifie their members and the deeds of the body as the Apostle calls them Rom. 8. through the spirit Yea one and the same Christian doth not find the like degrees of this spiritual strength and ability at all times There was a time when David complained that
life and peace A carnal mind doth not onely bring a Soul to eternal death in the last issue of it but it puts a great death upon his Life and Peace I mean his Spiritual Life and Peace It is impossible that the Soul that is intangled in the businesses of the World in a more than ordinary manner should find his Soul either so free for or so strong in the performances of spiritual duty as that Soul who hath less of the cares and business or concerns of the world upon it The Soul of a Man is not infinite in its powers and cannot be with equal degrees of intention employed upon two different much less contrary things While we are in the world we must be conversing with the men of the world and handling the things of the world we must else as the Apostle speaks in the case of converse with sinners Go out of the world but the less the Soul is ingaged in them the less the Heart is set upon them and its intention and affections taken up with them therefore it will be more free as to its spiritual business and stronger in the performance of it Let every one therefore learn that excellent lesson of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.29 30. Let those that have Wives be as though they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as they that possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it 3. Thirdly Be diligent in waiting upon God in the institutions of his publick worship and consciencious in such attendance The Preaching of the Word of God is the great Ordinance of God for perfecting the Saints both as to their number by the work of Conversion and as to their graces by giving out further measures and manifestations of himself to his peoples Souls he createth the fruit of the Lips peace Christians therefore who wait for these influences are concerned to wait upon the Lord in his own way It was Gods ancient promise That wheresoever he recorded his name to dwell there be would meet his people and bless them And considering that although the blessing of Grace doth not depend upon the Instrument let Paul plant and Apollos Water God must give the increase and he that planteth is nothing nor he that watereth any thing yet God dealing with reasonable Souls useth to deal with them in reasonable wayes I do not think it enough for Christians to go to Church and hear Discourses out of Pulpits but to wait upon God under such Preaching of his Word as may appear and approve it self to them as having a rational tendency to the improvements of their Soul in Grace There are kinds of Preaching under which a Christian may sit long enough before he find his Soul quickened or strengthened or improved by them You may remember I gave you that as one reason why some receive more gradual manifestations of Divine Love than others because they have better means than others have or make a better use of means than others do I take a consciencious use of the more external means to lie much in three things 1. In a good election of them 2. In a sincere and diligent attendance upon them 3. In an after repetition of them to our selves and a more private application of them to our own hearts 1. I say first in a good election of them Though Preaching of the Word be the general means yet the Preacher and way of Preaching makes a vast difference in this means and the concurrence of God to all the purposes of Grace is upon experience found to be evidently more where the means appear in the eye of reason more proper If the Preacher ordinarily preacheth not to the understanding and capacity of the hearer or not to the conscience and hearts of hearers but fills up his time with other things impertinent to the Souls Spiritual Duty or wraps up his Duty in such Parables and Mysteries of Phraise and Abstruseness of Notions that the hearer can make nothing of it he can have little hope to profit by it and he will shew little conscience in attendance upon them Our Saviour you know gives this account why he spake to the Scribes and Pharisees and ordinary Jews in Parables but to his Disciples opened those Parables and spake more plainly and intelligibly Mat. 13.13 14. Therefore speak I to them in Parables because they in seeing see not and in hearing bear not neither do they understand and in them is fulfilled the Prophecy of the Prophet Isaias c. but v. 16. Blessed are your Eyes for they see and your Ears for they hear 2. Secondly In a sincere and diligent attendance upon them That Soul which will meet God in his Ordinances must in hearing hear he must go out with a design to meet God and he must hoc agere while he is waiting upon God Our Saviour asks his Disciples when they had been hearing John the Baptist What they went out for to to see It is a question we should all propound to our selves when we go to wait upon God in his Ordinances Now what doth my Soul go out for to do what is its end in this motion God ordinarily meeteth his People according to the sincerity of their designs which indeed maketh their attendances upon God seekings or not seekings of Gods Face 3. It lies in a practical application and whetting the Word hard upon our hearts and consciences This is the digesting of the Word this now is a piece of Holiness of great import to those that seek after the further manifestations of God and higher measures of Grace any growing whether it be in Faith or Love Nor is the Reading andPreaching of the Word onely to be attended but the Holy Sacraments also Baptism which we have generally received in our Infancy to be improved And the Sacrament of the Lords Supper to be conscienciously attended There is a great improvement to be made of Baptism in order to our Spiritual Strength and Vigour I have handled that in a particular Discourse in some of your hearing and must not now enlarge upon it it is our great error that we make no more use of our Baptism than we do The Apostle Rom. 6. draweth great arguments from it to strengthen us unto Holiness The Sacrament of the Lords Supper is called by the Apostle The Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ The meaning of that I do not understand if it doth not signifie That it is an Ordinance wherein if it be duly and conscienciously attended upon Christ doth communicate the vertue of his death Now I am sure all Christs manifestations to the Souls of his People are a part of that purchase It is true it doth not necessarily work these effects nor is God bound necessarily in this manner to concurre with it he is a free agent in all his effluxes of Divine