Blood of Christ that you may grow thereby I commend you to the Word of God's Grace Acts 20.32 5. Make conscience of all your thoughts and words Do not entertain vain and unprofitable meditations especially beware of Ungodly Athiestical Envious Repining Quarelsom Impure thoughts God sees them and is angry at them The Lord knows the thoughts of man when they are vanity Psal 94.11 He will call us to an account for them in the Day of Reckoning he will Judge the secrets of men Rom. 2.17 and then every private and close thing shall be brought to light whether it be good or wether it be evil Eccl. 12. ult Entertain holy and profitable conceptions Carry something every day in your minds that is worth thinking of when you are at leasure and out of imployment Let some Experience Promise Threatning or some Obscure place of Scripture which hath been explained to you or some profitable part of Scripture-Story be treasured up in your minds that so you may not be at a loss how to imploy your thoughts when you have any vacant hours Sin many times enters in by the thoughts beware therefore of and silence sinful conceptions and imaginations lest they produce sinful actions And so make conscience of your words beware of idle frothy wanton expressions for of every such we must give account Let not your communication be such as that it should corrupt the manners of those you converse with David was careful of his words Psal 39.1 I will take heed to my wayes that I sin not with my tongue I conclude this with that in Ephes 4.31 5.4 Let all Bitterness and Anger Wrath Clamour and Evil-speaking be put away from among you as becometh Saints and Filthyness and Foolish talking and Scurrilous jestings which are not convenient 6. Be and continue to be good in evil times In times of prophaness be you holy by how much others are worse by so much be you the better It 's Noahs commendation that he was upright in his generation Gen. 6.9 now the generation in which he lived was very wicked Lot was pure in an impure Sodom Say as Joshua Chap. 24.15 Chuse you whom you will serve but I and my house will serve the Lord So let us say let others prophane Sabbaths we will sanctifie them let others despise Prayer we will call upon God as long as we live Be not stumbled because you see the way of holiness every where spoken against Fire burns the hotest in winter nights let your zeal for God's Honour appear when others are Luke-warm and Cold. Do not think the worst of holiness because contemned by wicked men they are fools and are not competent judges Who thinks the worse of himself because a fool laughs at him Gold is gold still though thrown into the dirt by a mad-man so Religion is Precious and Honourable still though mad-men throw dirt upon it 7. Let your life be a walking with God Manifest Holiness and Piety in every turn of your lives Be holy in all manner of conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every turn manifest Holiness in every calling in every condition in prosperity in adversity in every relation when you are single before you change your condition and whilst you are in a married state A Christian may shew much of Piety in all these circumstances Be holy not only at sometimes but alwayes 8. Live the Life of Faith Gal. 2.19 the Life of Faith is an excellent Life it gives God the glory of all his Attributes of his Wisdom Goodness Faithfulness Power c. It 's a comfortable life Believing we have joy unspeakable and full of glory It keeps the soul from sinking under wants and troubles Faith as I may so say holds life and soul together If you live not the life of Faith ye cannot live see how much there is of unbelief so much there is of death yea unbelief is sometimes a promoter of temporal death That which the Apostle saith of worldly sorrow that it worketh death even natural death the same I may say of unbelief that it doth in it self hasten death for whilst infidelity and distrust prevails sadness discontent vexation repining and murmuring and fear prevails and all these are enemies even to the body of a Christian Moreover if we live by sence we shall lose much of our spiritual life your Graces and your Comforts will dye your Love Hope Joy and Delight in God will decay yea all Religion will decrease and grow faint Faith is the life of all Graces and Duties Sence and Reason is many times at its wits ends we know not what to do but Faith is never at a loss But our eyes are towards thee there is Faith in the former expression was the language of Sense Faith realizeth seeming impossibilities and presentiates things afar of Heb. 11.1 Act Faith for every thing wanting for your selves or for the Church Do you want pardon of sin is conscience burdened with the guilt of your corruptions act Faith upon such Promises as these Isa 1.18 Though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be white as Snow though they be like Crimson they shall be as Wool and in Hos 14.4 Do you want Righteousness to make you amiable in God's Eyes live upon that Promise in Jer. 23.6 He shall be called The Lord our Righteousness and that in 1 Cor. 1.30 Do you want purging Grace would you feign be washt from the filth and pollution of your lusts Plead such a Promise as that in Ezek. 36.25 I will sprinkle you with clean water that ye may be clean from all your filthiness will I cleanse you Do you desire persevering Grace and are you fearful of falling away urge that place in Jude 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling c. and John 10.28 29. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish my Father is greater than all and none shall pluck them out of my hands Live by Faith for Counsel when you are in the dark and cannot see your way clear Isa 42.16 I will make darkness light before them and crooked things streight For provision when in straits for security and preservation in a time of danger from Isa 33.16 His place of defence shall be the Munition of Rocks Bread shall be given him his Waters shall be sure And so for the Church Live by Faith for the restoring of a faithful Ministry from Jer. 3.15 I will give them Pastors after my own heart which shall feed them with knowledge and understanding For the restoring of an instituted Worship Mal. 1.11 In every place Incense shall be brought and a pure offering Mal. 3.3 I will purifie the sons of Levi and they shall offer to the Lord a pure Offering in righteousness Believe for the returning of God to his Church and People after his seeming departure and forgetting them Isa 49.14 15 16. Yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee
have Tribulation but be of good Comfort As you should be humble in Prosperity so quiet and chearful in Adversity Carry an even frame in each state Let your Moderation be known unto all men even in bearing Afflictions Be not overmuch cast down with any trouble Let the Enemy see that you have been with God by the Gladness of your Countenance You 'l discredit Religion by too much drooping Let not others say You serve a hard Master God that knows all things knows what condition is best for you and how to deal with you Rejoyce in the Lord alwayes Though Adversity and the Wicked may intermeddle with your outward comforts and take them away yet let them see you have inward Joyes with which they cannot intermeddle nor take away 13. Esteem and approve Time as a precious Commodity Husband Opportunities for Soul-Advantage When you have spare hours improve them in Reading Meditation and Prayer Redeem Time from sleep your callings and recreations in order to Heaven Men usually work sleep and recreate more than necessity calls for and then cry out they have no time for holy Exercises Oh what would damned spirits give for two or three of those hours which we throw away Oh how would they spend them would they sleep play or work them away Nay how would they Pray Read and Repent more in one hour than we do in many Brethren the time is short your work is much you have God to honour your Relations to watch over your own Evidences to make clear O then redeem precious Time do not throw it away Ephes 5.16 15. Contend earnestly for the Faith Jude 3. Maintain fundamental Truths I do not mean that you should fall a wrangling with every one you meet The Apostle indeed takes notice of some men that place their Religion in fightings of Words in conflicting with the Air in janglings and disputings about things they understand not 1 Tim. 1.5 6. Some place their Religion in being of this and that Opinion and indeed they are meer Opinionists Our meaning is this When the Enemies of the Church labour to root up the necessary and very foundation Truths of Christianity that we should stick to them As Paul he did earnestly contend for the Doctrine of Christ being the Messiah against the Jews He maintained the Doctrine of the Resurrection against the Saduces The Doctrine of Justification by Christ's Righteousness against the Teachers of the Law He doth strongly and vehemently maintain Divine Worship against the idolatrous worship of the Athenians And so should we contend opportunely and wisely with tongues and lives Contend against Justification by Works against Idolatry rather than God's Honour should be given to dumb Idols give your honour to the Dust Consider fundamental yea every Truth hath been confirmed by no less than Miracles preserved in a miraculous way and sealed in the Blood both of Christ and of Martyrs Never then sell the Truth but buy it 16. Get longing Desires after the Enjoyment of God in Heaven Let your hearts be often sending sighs thither Long till you be at home Groan earnestly till mortality be clothed with Immortality 2 Cor. 5.1 2. Say as he When shall I come and appear before God Long till you be in Heaven that so you may have constant Communion with God's Angels and Saints that ye may be wholly freed from sin and made perfect in Holiness Let your Conversation be in Heawhilst you are on Earth To this end get more acquaintance with Heaven Study till you be convinced that it is and what it is Understand what that Happiness is that Saints enjoy there When you have got minds informed and hearts affected with it often muse and meditate of it This heavenly Conversation is very sweet it will comfort us when we are never so sad Well may the soul say Now I am full of sin O but then no sin I am now sold under sin O but then I shall be free Now I dishonour God but then I shall honour him altogether Now I am in continual fear of falling into sin but then I shall be past all danger Now I am in continual sorrow but then all tears shall be wip'd away Now I am kept in bondage through fear of death but then there shall be living and no more Death and so no more fears of it Moreover this would teach us to understand the World When we do experimentally taste Heavens Joyes we shall despise Earths Pleasures when we seriously think of that Friendship and Communion we shall have with Friends in Heaven even God Christ Angels and Saints it will wean us from Friends on Earth and make us more willing to leave them And when we think of Heavens Honour we shall undervalue the honours and scorn the contempt we meet with in this world Get now and then upon the top of Pisgah and solace your selves with a view of the Heavenly Canaan Having now given you an account of those main Duties and Counsels that relate more immediately to God and your souls I shall briefly give you the sum of those Counsels I have to leave you about things that relate more nearly to you and others with whom you converse and have to do The first is this 1. Discharge domestical Duties Study and perform the Duties that every Relation calls for Act as Christian Parents and Christian Masters towards your Children and Servants bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord call on them to reâ—d the Scriptures frequently that even of Children they be acquainted with that which will make them wise to Salvation keep them to a form of sound words 2 Tim. 1.13 hold them to the Principles of Religion Catechisms are called A Form of sound words because they keep the Judgment and Affections sound they help to discern betwixt Truth and Error fit and prepare for hearing of the Word preached and for the receiving of the Lord's Supper For want of this we may observe notorious ignorance in grown youth and old men also For want of this how many that are Fathers in years are meer Children in understanding Again pray with and for your Children and Servants and set them to pray by themselves for this end give them time convenient do not so much forward them in your service as to hinder them from serving God your Servants have God to acknowledge honour and serve as well as you they have sins to be pardoned corruptions to be subdued Graces to beg wants to be supplied and souls to be saved as well as you and will you make them throw their souls over-board to secure your goods And so study to carry as Christians in every other Relation Carry as Christian Husbands and Christian Wives are directed and ought to do that the Gospel of Christ be not blamed upon your account And so you that are Children and Servants as you expect your Parents and Masters should discharge their duties towards you so it is expected you should
and that under two heads 1. They are to remember how Truths have been delivered to them and Ordinances dispensed amongst them 2. How and after what manner they have received and imbraced the Truths and Ordinances of God First It is the duty of Christians to remember how the Word of God hath been preached and Ordinances dispensed to them and that in these four particulars 1. Christians should remember how plainly and in what simplicity of the Gospel of Christ the Word Sacraments and other Ordinances have been dispensed how close and home the Word of God hath been brought to their hearts and consciences This the Apostle Paul often minds those of to whom he writes and this as a means to keep them from being taken with flourishes external pomp and empâ—â— things in Religion 1 Cor. 2. five first verses As if he had said to them as I may say to you You have not been fed with gingling expressions meer flourishes of Rhetorick or empty speculations but with plain and wholsom Truths you have had Ordinances not in the dress of mens inventions but in the simplicity of the Gospel 2 Cor. 2.17 4.2 Paul was very jealous lest men should be drawn from the simplicity of Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 3. So that I say the remembrance of the plainness and simplicity in which the Gospel hath been dispensed among men will be a means to keep them from being taken with a meer outside Religion and way of Worship 2. It is the duty of Christians to remember how purely you have received and heard with what purity the Word Sacraments and other Ordinances have been delivered and dispensed without the mixtures of mens inventions how you have received the sincere milk of the Word without sophistication and Sacraments without any of the sinful additions of mens own devising Thus you have received them in the Scriptures thus Christ and his Apostles delivered them and so have faithful Ministers their successors endeavoured to do 1 Cor. 11.23 24. That which I have received of the Lord I have delivered unto you Paul though an Apostle added nothing of his own head 2 Cor. 2.17 and 2 Cor. 4.2 Oh Christians it is your duty to remember this and will be a means to make you in love with and adhere to pure Ordinances and fortifie you against all sophistications of them when you see men corrupting of them or adding to them 3. It is the duty of Christians to remember how powerfully they have received and heard with what power the Word hath been preached and Ordinances dispensed among you not so as to tickle your ears and please your fancies but to reach your hearts come home to â—nd work upon your consciences how the Gospel came to you not in word but in power 1 Thess 1.5 commending it self to your consciences as the Apostle phraseth it 2 Cor. 4.2 Hath not the speech and preaching of the faithful Ministers of Christ among you in some measure been as Paul saith his was not with enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and in power 1 Cor. 2.4 Have not you found the weapons of your spiritual warfare such as Paul mentions 2 Cor. 10.4 5. even mighty through God Oh! Christians should never forget this but continually remember it all their dayes 4. It is the duty of Christians to remember how plentifully they have received and heard in what great plenty they have enjoyed the Word and Ordinances of God Oh Christians you should remember what dews yea showers of heavenly Manna God hath rained about your tents ye have not been straitned in God If you be straitned it is in your selves even in your own bowels The heart and mouth of God yea and the hearts and mouths of God's Ministers they have been opened and enlarged to you 2 Cor. 6.11 12. You have had the Word in season and out of season the Word frequently preached and Sacraments frequently administred you have had line upon line and precept upon precept Christians should remember how much planting and watering they have had You should remember Christians what great pains cost and charges God hath been at with your souls to bring you home to himself at the first and to make and keep you lively and fruitful ever since O keep this for ever in your minds as a means to make you lively and fruitful Secondly It is the duty of Christians to remember as how Truths and Ordinances have been dispensed so also how and after what manner they have been heard received and imbraced by them This will be a means to keep the heart lively and to keep from degenerating into deadness and formality in Religion and in the Service of God And this in several particulars 1. It is the duty of Christians and a means to keep and recover them from deadness to remember how seriously with what seriousness of spirit they attended on the Service of God and holy duties at their first entertaining of them Christians at first are wont to wait on Ordinances as matters of great weight and moment yea as matters of life and death to read hear pray meditate receive Sacraments as for their very lives and as if every one were the last they should enjoy So those hearers of Christ received the Word Luke 10.48 they hung upon his lips received the Word as the Word of God Christians this should be remembred by you especially when you grow slighty and formal you should say to your souls It was not wont to be thus with me I was not wont to hear play receive Sacraments in this formal manner This remembring how you have received will be a means to keep your hearts lively and to cure you of spiritual deadness 2. Christians should remember how they have received and heard namely with what high estimations and appreciations of the Word and Ordinances you heard and received them how highly you prized the Word and the Dispensers of it how you ran after them as those who see the Sun but one half of the year are ready to run after it and even to adore it upon its first approach Did you not esteem the Ambassadors of Christ even as the Angels of God How beautiful were the feet of them that bring glad-tydings Were you not ready to do as those Galatians Gal. 4.15 When at any time you seel your estimations to abate of the Word Ordinances and Ministers of Christ Oh then remember how you have received say to your hearts Are Ordinances worse than they were Is there any change in the Word or rather am not I grown worse Is not the change in my own wretched heart The remembrance of this will be a means both to keep and recover you from deadness 3. It is the duty of Christians to remember with what lively affections they heard and received the Word and Ordinances of God the difficulties they were ready to break through to enjoy them the fight of afflictions they were ready to
commendation that great hath been the incouragement we have found among you from God from you and from our Honourable Patron From God in his remarkable Providence in bringing us first among you in vouchsafing his Gracious Presence to and with us since and in giving in some considerable fruit of our weak unworthy labours for we may say that a great door and effectual hath been opened though of late there have been many adversaries And great hath been the encouragement we have received from you also from your great affection to us and especially from your ready entertainment of our Labours and forward and chearful submission to the Ordinances of Christ that have been dispensed among you which though it cannot but add much to our grief in parting from you yet it is no small addition to our comfort also We have also received much encouragement and many undeserved respects from the honourable Patron of this Place for all which we heartily bless God and no less heartily pray that God would recompence his and your respects to us a thousand fold into his and your bosomes And I trust we can in sincerity say for our selves that we have not sought yours but You and that it is not the loss of our places and outward accommodations that trouble us but the loss of our opportunities of serveing our God your precious and immortal souls in the work of the Gospel It grievs us to think of the shares and temptations you may meet with for when the Shepherds are smitten the Sheep are like to be scattered If God shall send such among you as wil in the main be faithful to God and your souls it will afford much hearts-ease to us and satisfaction to our spirits We have for above eleven years preached to you by our publick labours God now calls us and many others to preach to you by our silence And the very silence of so many Ministers if blessed by the Lord may prove the most powerful and effectual Sermon to People that they have had This speaks Gods displeasure this bids both us and you look into our and your hearts and wayes what it is that hath provoked God to send upon us this sad dispensation The silence of Ministers calls aloud on us all to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God It bids us repent of our sins the causes of Gods Judgments It calls on you to prize and improve Ministers and Ordinances better if God shall continue restore or further afford them to you Yea Ministers silence should cause People to speak the more and louder to God in prayer for the continuance and restoring of Ministers and Ordinances to them When you do not hear so much and often from God in preaching let God hear the more and oftner from you in prayer Ply the Throne of Grace Give God no rest till he make Jerusalem a Praise in the earth And as our silence should make you speak the more to God so also the more and oftner one unto another in holy conference to provoke to love and to good works And I beseech you Brethren pray for us What ever God may do with us or whithersoever we may be driven we shall carry you in our hearts and when and while we remember our selves to God we shall never forget you but present you and your souls concernments daily unto God at the Throne of Grace in our prayers And we earnestly beg this of you as that you would remember what we have spoken to you in the Name of the Lord so that you would remember us to God and let us have a room and share in your hearts and prayers When you get into a corner to pour out your hearts before God carry us to God upon your hearts Do not forget us but lift up a prayer to God for us your we hope we may say faithfull though weak unworthy Ministers who have laboured among you in the Word and Doctrine I shall say no more but conclude with these two Scriptures the one Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those that are sanctified The other Scripture is that request of Paul to and prayr for the Hebrews Heb. 13.18 19 20 21. Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly But I beseech you the rather to do this that I may be restored to you the sooner Now the God of Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that Great Shepherd of the Sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ To whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON III. Phil. 2.12 Wherefore my beloved as ye have alwayes obeyed not as in my presence onely but now much more in my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling BEloved I am now it seems to bid you Farewell and I rejoice I have this one opportunity more of preaching to you Though it is sad to think of parting if my poor pains might have been any way profitable amongst you yet I cannot wonder that here the course of my publick Ministry is stopt When I first came to you I expected to have dwelt in silence and to have been free among the dead long ere this day Now this is like to be the last Sermon I shall ever preach to you here my hearts desire and earnest prayer to God is That more good may be done by this one than hath been done by many Sermons past That if you that see me this day should see me here no more yet you might have cause to bless God for what you shall now hear even while you have a day to live The words of a dying friend are wont to make a deep impression so should the words of a departing Minister Beloved I am confident that both you and I must give an account of this dayes Work to the Judge of all the World Wherefore I would be so serious even in all I say unto you as if I were immediately to give up my account to God and I desire and beseech you in the fear of God and for the love you ow to your own souls that you would as seriously attend to what shall be spoken This Exhortation of the Apostle even now read unto you depends on and is inferred from what goes before as appears from the Illative Wherefore The Apostle having spoken of the humiliation and obedidience of Christ as he was obedient unto death v. 8. and of his glorious exaltation that followed thereupon he presseth these believers to obedience and continuance therein from Christ's example and the blessed end thereof viz. their own Salvation Note The Life of Christ is a Christians Copy An exact an
modesty by the woful experience of his false heart answers not to the degree of love but only that he loved Christ 4. It is possible that many Christians may hate Christ as much as we doâ— the memory of those Jews that crucified him albeit we be strongly perswaded that if we were called to formal trial we would rather dye than openly deny him or his Gospel Do we from our hearts detest the mention of Annas Caiaphas Judas and that rabble which conspired the death of the Lord of life In like manner did those Jews abhor the memory of Korah Dathan Abiram and the rest of those that rebelled against Moses Do our spirits rise in indignation against them that stoned Stephen persecuted the Apostles forbiding them to Preach to the Gentiles that they might be saved 1 Thes 2.16 With no less displeasure were they moved against the memory of Ahab and Jezebel and those though their own Princes who slew the Lord's Prophets Matt. 23.30 If we had been in the dayes of our Fathers c. The name of Abraham they had in high esteem he being the prime person of their Progenitors with whom God Almighty made that glorious Covenant wherein they had the priviledges of the First-Born The memory of Moses was amongst them very precious with whom God was pleased to talk face to face who received the lively Oracles to give unto them Acts 7.38 To have upbraided the softest spirit in that Rebellious people with treachery or disloyalty against the Messias when he should be revealed would as much have moved his choler as to tell some forward professor amongst us he would betray his Lord were he now on the earth for half the money that Judas did yet these men brake first in their love to Abraham so our Saviour telleth them John 8.39 then in their fidelity to Moses John 5.45 46. and the Prophets Matt. 23.35 No marvel then if they took offence at our Saviours life his carriage and conversation amongst them and afforded him such entertainment as they did Let not then Hypocrisie deceive us by suggesting these or the like suppositions they are the words of Dr. Jackson if we should be urged by the Turk or Jew to deny him we would sooner dy the death he did then do it or were he present in person to exhort us to such duties as his Messengers enjoyn us we should sure be as forward as any man living to do them these or the like imaginations do but foretoken our need of that apology and argue our inclination to use it though alas it cannot stead any in that day of tryal Lord when saw we thee naked or an hungred When in the Pulpit or preaching in our streets deterring us from evil and exhorting us unto good Much more to this purpose see in Dr. Jackson of Justifying Faith That we may not therefore deceive our selves with vain pretences of love let us try the sincerity of it and weigh it in the ballance of the Sanctuary Notes of sincere love to Christ. 1. The first shall be that which you have in Psal 97.10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil Lovers have enemies and friends in common Gen. 12.3 I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee God will be a Friend to Abrahams friends an Enemy to his enemies Who love Christ unfeignedly hate sin which he hateth Rev. 2.6 Sin is evil the greatest of evils The work of the Devil which Christ came into the world purposely to destroy 1 John 3.8 If thou art a friend to sin any way of wickedness If thou love Ignorance superstition If thou love a false oath Zech. 8.17 If thou love flaggons of wine Hos 3.1 If thou delightest in scorning Prov. 1.22 if thou make a mock at sin Prov. 14.9 If thou hate knowledge despise duty scoff and scorn at Holiness which Christ commandeth thou lovest him not If thou regard iniquity in thy own heart if thou allow of it in thy children thy friends if thou plead for sin undertake the patronage and defence of it thou proclamest thy enmity and hostility to Jesus Christ But if thou hate and abhor the way of lying Psal 119.163 If thou hate every evil way Psal 119.128 in thy self first then in others as he that hates a Toad hates it most in his own bosome as saith D. Sibbs if thy hatred of it be universal against the whole kind if thy hatred be rooted irreconcilable so as there is no appeasing of it but by the crucifying and abolishing of thy hated corruptions this is right hatred of sin which argueth thy conversion to be sound and thy self an unfeigned lover of Jesus Christ Note 2. Who love Christ in sincerity love what ever hath relation to him As 1. His House and Worship there performed Saints love Communion with Christ love to be where he is The Lord loveth the gates of Zion his People love the threshold of the Sanctuary Psal 120.14 Thy servants take pleasure in her stones they favour the dust thereof Psal 26.8 Lord I have loved the habitation of thy House and the place where thy Honour dwelleth Psal 122.1 I was glad when they said Let us go up to the House of the Lord. Our feet shall stand in thy gates O Jerusalem 2. Saints dearly love the Truth and Word of the Lord. As their voice is sweet to him in prayer Cant. 2.14 So his voice in his Word is sweet to them Psal 119.103 How sweet are thy words unto my tast Yea sweeter then honey to my mouth vers 72. The Law of thy mouth is dearer to me then thousands of Gold and Silver The very reproofs of Christ are precious to them Psal 141.5 Our love to Christ is not right if we be impatient of admonition if we cannot endure reproof for sin but swell against it it is a sign we love sin which cannot consist with unfeigned love to Christ 3. His Messengers are welcom their feet beautiful Rom. 10.14 Because they are the servants of Christ and shew us the way of savation therefore we have them in reputation Phil. 2.29 Because they are over us in the Lord and admonish us therfore we esteem them highly in love for their works sake 1 Thes 5.13 But if we repine stomach or maligne his Embassadors taxing our crimes though in sharpest terms or if we neglect to examine our hearts and consciences at their request or instance it is a sure token our perswasions of Faith and love unto him are but fancies that we are still in the gall of bitterness enemies as cruel to him as these Jews were c. Dr. Jackson 4. His Day the Lords Day Rev. 1.10 is to all sincere lovers of Christ a joyful Day a Day of delight Isa 58.13 On this Day Christ appeared to his Disciples after his Resurrection upon this Day he still appeareth to his People making neer approaches to their souls in his blessed Ordinances teaching them inlightning them comforting their hearts
God undervaluing a Pearl of such price trampling under foot a Jewel more worth than the Gold of Ophir How long O ye simple worldlings will ye love simplicity How long will ye rise early set up late eate the bread of carefulness and all to load your selves with the thick clay of the world the dust and dung of the Earth and in the mean time neglect Saving-Grace Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not Isa 55.2 It is chiefly for this that the Wisdom of God chargeth worldlings with folly who yet applaud themselves for the only wise men Luke 12.20 21. So is he i. e. a fool like the rich man in the Text that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich to God Hearken I beseech you ye despisers and abusers of the Grace of God be convinced of the worth of that ye so neglect 1. God himself is stiled The God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5.10 The God of Hope Rom. 15.13 The God of Patience Rom. 15.5 He it is that sanctifieth justifieth pardoneth iniquity transgression and sin 2. It is Grace which God reserveth as a portion for his Children his peculiar People his best Friends 2 Cor. 12.9 My Grace is sufficient for thee James 2.5 Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in Faith Abraham gave gifts to the Sons of the Concubines but the Inheritance he reserved for Isaac So God gives the Earth to the Children of men earthly blessings Psal 115.16 but Grace and the good things of Heaven are his Childrens portion Esau had the fat of the Earth but Jacob the Dew of Heaven 3. It is Grace which Saints desire long for labour for above all things and are satisfied with Psal 4.6 Lord lift up the Light of thy Countenance upon us this is better than abundance of Corn and Wine Psal 63.5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness 4. Grace is the end of every Ordinance The Word is called The Word of Faith The Word of Grace Rom. 10.8 Acts 20.32 The Ministry is The Ministry of Reconciliation 2 Cor. 5.18 The Gospel is The Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.8 The Dispensation of the Grace of God Ephes 3.2 Prayer is a coming to the Throne of Grace for this end That we may find Grace Heb. 4. ult The Sacraments in their right use do seal and confirm Grace Rom. 4.11 5. It is Grace which Satan chiefly aimeth to rob Christians of by tempting to sin he seeketh to withdraw us from Grace He tempted Job to drive him from his integrity He desired to sift Peter that his Faith might fail him Luke 22.31 He walketh about seeking whom he may devour by spoiling them of God's Grace By all which appears the excellency of Grace the greater is their sin who undervalue it The third Use is of Comfort for the poor and needy Christians who are troubled at their outward wants Hearken O thou poor soul art thou afflicted at thy poverty nakedness sickness yet art rich in Grace is not that better than gold health beauty strength friends favour of Great Ones O be thankful say as Mat. 11.25 Father I thank thee c. the lot is fallen to thee in a goodly place thou hast a pleasant heritage I am sure thou wouldst not change conditions with the wealthiest healthfullest beautifullest graceless person in the world Others have the nether springs of earthly riches thou hast the upper Springs of heavenly Treasures Others have the blessings of God's left hand the fulness of this world thou hast Benjamins Portion a double Blessing even the Blessing of the Right hand the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation Say as Psal 116.12 Last Use is of Exhortation 1. To graceless persons That they would above all things labour after Grace Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth i. e. not so much as for that which endureth Motives 1. Grace is most excellent There is an â—ttractive vertue in things of worth If carnal eyes were but opened to see the Excellency of Grace Mirabiles sui excitaret amores It would ravish the soul in desires after it But Grace's Beauty is internal so is not discerned but with spiritual eyes The Kings Daughter is all glorious within Psal 45.13 Our Life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 1. That which maketh the possessours of it excel that is truly excellent The Righteous is more excellent than his neighbour What makes him so but Grace as much as the brightest day excels the darkest night the star a cloud heaven earth so much a gracious Christian excels a graceless person 2. Grace prepares and fitteth for Glory so do not riches they often hinder Coelum non capit magna onera Portantes God many times strips his People of riches lest the love of them should retard or hinder them in their heavenly Journey Mark 10.23 How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God! Which in the following verse our Saviour explains thus How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! implying It is hard to have riches and not to trust in tâ—â—m 3. A third excellency of Grace is Iâ— satisfies as well as sanctifies the heart It fills the soul with content in the absence of created comforts I have enough saith Jacob now Joseph is alive I have enough saith a gracious soul now God is reconciled now Christ is mine Thy favour is better than life Psal 63.3 4. The benefit comfort of Grace is eternal the riches of Grace are durable Prov. 8.18 Other riches perish Eccles 5.14 they accompany their owners but to the grave at furthest there they leave them whereas Grace accompanieth the soul in death and after death to all eternity 2d Mot. From the necessity of Grace Bread is necessary to this life Grace is much more to life eternal Without it the best sacrifices are not accepted Prov. 21.27 Without it we cannot withstand our enemies 1 Pet. 5.9 Whom resist stedfast in the Faith Without it we shall not be able to bear the Cross ye have need of patience Heb. 10.36 By Faith the Saints endured affliction were tortured had tryal of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment Heb. 11.25 35 36. Without Grace we can neither suffer nor obey the will of God not go on comfortably in a Christian course Heb. 11.8 By Faith Abraham obeyed In a word without it we cannot be saved John 13.8 Except I wash thee thou hast no part in me Christ came by water and blood by water to regenerate by blood to justifie Sâ— Dr. Sibbs 3. It is possible for them that have no Grace with care and diligence to obtain it It is the priviledge of New-Testament-times to be seasons of more plentiful Grace than were the Old-Testament-times for so is that place to be understood John 7.38 The holy Ghost was not yet
is the singular goodness of God to his People in blessing them where no hope is and his remarkable Judgement upon the Wicked their Oppressors in making void their great hopes and frustrating their wicked works by making his Church the true Palm-tree Quae sub pondere crescit The more load you lay on the less they feel it Nay instead of groaning under it they grow under it So that it seems that Promise made to the Church Mat. 16.18 The gates of Hell shall not prevail is a meiosis They shall not only not prevail against it but it shall even prevail against them That Promise in Mark 10.30 is not made good only to the Children of God in their comforts but even to the Church of God in its Children an hundred fold with persecution I know not what power there is in sufferings over the spirits of men but I believe it may be said of some Martyrs as of Sampson that he killed so that they have converted more at their death than in their lives The Book of Martyrs is not wanting in examples of that kind And as their sufferings work by way of affecting so their courage and constancy in suffering work by way of convincing convinces the very Adversary of the goodness and righteousness of their cause All men will wonder and judge it a strong delusion indeed if men should adventure to dye for Humour or Fancy However though the way how it comes to pass is not so clear yet the thing is undeniable And when we have done our best to find out the reasons of it yet the Hand the extraordinary Hand of God must be owned and confessed to be in it 2. That the afflictions that are upon a Believer do alwayes fall out to his advantage 1. To the advantage of his comforts Tribulation doth at some distance work Hope Rom. 5.3 4. Now Hope is accompanied with great Consolation Believers are bidden to rejoyce when they are made partakers of Christs sufferings 1 Pet. 4.13 And to count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations Jam. 1.2 And sure I am the Children of God have found by experience that as God hath encreased their Afflictions so he hath sensibly multiplied their Comforts which sayes Dr. Preston somewherâ— is the meaning of that Promise Mark 10.30 they shall receive an hundred fold with Persecutions i. e. the more their Tryals abound the more their Comforts shall abound It is ordinary with our gracious God to make up outward and temporal losses with inward and spiritual supplies and to recompence outward trouble and affliction with inward refreshings and consolations He usually appeareth most to his People when the world and the good things thereof are least in sight Though he may seem to speak roughly to them many times by his providences as Joseph to his brethren yet at the same time he puts corn into their sacks comfort into their souls yea and that so much the more comfort too 2 Cor. 1.5 as the sufferings of Chrâ—st abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ 2. To the advantage of their Graces These God exerciseth confirmeth and enlargeth by afflictions Tribulation worketh Patience Patience Experience Experience Hope Rom. 5.3 by this lust comes to be purged out Psa 116.67 Temptations resisted Sin prevented Duty performed Earth despised Heaven desired Self denied and Christ Exalted The enemies of God's People hack and hew them by oppression reproaches persecutions Why this doth but furbish their Graces square and fit them to be a spiritual building unto God The Devil tempts them to destroy and damn them And hereby they are brought nearer to God set upon the greater watchfulness gain the better experience and are brought into an higher esteem of the blood of Christ Afflictions do one way or other fall out to the advantage of a Believers Graces 3. To the advantage of their Glory Though God do not properly reward men for their suffering yet happily it may be said he will reward according to their sufferings If we suffer with Christ we shall reign with him saith the Scripture and it seems that according to degrees of sufferings God will give degrees of Glory What shall we have says Peter that have suffered such things that have forsaken all and followed thee verily says our Saviour every one that hath forsaken houses c. shall receive an hundred-fold and shall inherit everlasting life but ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Matt. 19.27 28 29. It will not repent thee Christian of thy low mean despised afflicted condition in the world when every affliction thou hast suffered for Christ shall be as a Sparkling-Jewel to give a luster to thy Crown of Glory Doubtless if there be degrees of Glory as we have reason to conclude there are Gods suffering Servants and amongst them especially his Martyrs shall sit down in the chiefest Mansions and the highest Rooms in the Kingdom 3. That the sufferings of Gods Ministers in the general do many times fall out to the furtherane of the Gospel Here are two things that I might speak to 1. Afflictions make them the better Christians It may be that through great intentness upon publick administrations and constant cares and pains in feeding the Flock the Shepherds may sometimes have neglected themselves and the state of their own souls It may be they may not have studyed their own hearts nor attended the particular concernments of their own souls so as they might have done as though one should say in Solomons words whether it be the direct meaning of them I do not say Cant. 1.6 They have made me keeper of the Vineyard but mine own Vineyard have I not kept And it may seem good to God by afflictions to bring them home to set them a task to do in their own hearts to quicken them to the study of their own souls 2. Affliction makes them the better Ministers And that will be for the advantage of the Gospel No such Ministers as they that are train'd up in the school of affliction It was meet says the Apostle that the Captain of our salvation should be made perfect through sufferings Heb. 2.10 And indeed to allude to that even these Captains in the Church-militant even our Ministers are much perfected and qualified for their work by sufferings How shall he be touched with a feeling of the infirmities of others who is not tempted as they are to allude to the Apostle Heb. 4.15 Spiritual afflictions conflicts temptation do excellently qualifie a Minister of the Gospel and enable him to comfort the afflicted succour the tempted strengthen the weak answer objections resolve doubts and to rescue from Satan those that are taken captive by him And troubles from without these do also through the blessing of God and the Spirit of God sanctifying them make the better Ministers too Who can instruct unto Faith and Patience and Hope better than they whose condition in the world hath
one glimpse thereof in the Transfiguration put Peter in a trance Christ ascended to be glorified 3. It was expedient for us that Christ should ascend Obj. O but how can these things be how much better had it been for us to have had Christs bodily presence still on Earth What a deal of good did he by his Life Doctrine Miracles Compassion on the Poor Blind Diseased that cryed for help for themselves children and servants Lord hadst thou been here my brother had not dyed said Martha So may poor desolate souls say Lord hadst thou been on Earth still this evil and that storm had not come upon the Church or particular members of it Expedient Christ go O leave us not Answ In general Saddest providences and most terrible things whereby God answereth his People often carry a great deal of sweetness and comfort in them which we through ignorance and unbelief hardly discern Christians often loose much by poring on present or imminent evils and not looking to the sweet Result and glorious issue thereof We walk too much by sence and too little eye by Faith the things that are not seen Thus the Disciples were loth to hear that Christ must be put to death When he was buryed We trusted say two of them Luke 24.21 it had been he that should have redeemed Israel Their Faith was low not considering that he came to give his Life a Ransome for many Such fools so slow of heart are we to believe Thus when Christ told the Disciples I go my way to him that sent me They asked him not whither goest thou and therefore sorrow filled their hearts John 16.5 6 7. they did not look to the sweet Fruit which they should reap of his Departure they would have found cause of joy had they seriously considered that Christ went to his Father and their Father to his God and their God But particularly You have Christ's Word for it which should silence all objections and questioning thoughts John 16.7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away There were four Expediencies of Christ's Ascension in respect of us 1. It was expedient for us that Christ should ascend that he might in our nature as our Head and Surety take possession of Heaven for us Heb. 6.20 Whither the fore-runner is for us entred even Jesus He had purchased the Inheritance and paid the price and he went to have seizen and possession for us John 14.2 I go to prepare a place for you 2. Christ's Ascension was expedient for us that he might intercede for us in Heaven and now appear in the Presence of God for us Heb. 9.24 and that we might have that consolation 1 Joh. 2.2 If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And Heb. 7.25 He ever liveth to make intercession We have a constant and skilful faithful Sollicitor in the Court of Heaven pleading our cause Is the Church militant oppressed Jesus the Angel of the Covenant pleadeth How long Lord wilt thou be angry Zech. 1.12 and he is answered with good and comfortable words I am returned with Mercies to Jerusalem as it follows ver 16. The Lord Christ standeth as with a golden Censer having much Incense which he offereth with the Prayers of Saints on the Golden Altar before the Throne the Smoak of which Incense with the Prayers of the Saints ascendeth before God out of the Angels Hand When his People pray on Earth He as their Sollicitor procureth a Grant in Heaven which he sometimes sendeth down by a swift Messenger So he did to Daniel and Cornelius So that now being ascended Believers may triumph Who shall condemn It is Christ that died is risen again is at the Right Hand of God who also maketh intercession for us 3. It was expedient for us that Christ should ascend that he might send the Spirit the Comforter Joh. 16.7 If I go away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him to you The sending of the Spiriâ— to lead Believers into Truth to convince the World to help Believers Infirmities to quicken to comfort to stablish them and to abide with them to the end of the World is the fruit of Christs Ascension 4. Christ's Ascension was expedient to assure us that he hath fully satisfied Justice for the sins of his Elect and left nothing undone of the great Work which he undertook Heb. 9.12 By his own Blood he entred once into the holy Place having obtained Eternal Redemption for us His sitting at the Right Hand of God is an evidence that he hath obtained for us Eternal Redemption In his Ascension he triumphed over all Enemies He had spoiled Principalities spoiled them of their Prey having rescued his Elect spoiled them of their Dominion and Power over his Sheep He had cast out the Prince of this World the Accuser of the Brethren and He made shew of them openly Col. 2.15 Christ having overcome Death and Hell declareth his Conquest in ascending as a Conqueror into Heaven Take the Application in four Particulars briefly 1. Christ is gone to Heaven Be not deceived by false christ's Such shall come Mat. 24.24 O remember he is not here but ascended as he told his Disciples Seek not then a bodily presence in the Sacrament The Heavens must contain him Acts 3.21 The Martyrs who burned at the Stake not for ceremonies c. as some would have it but for denying Transubstantiation or the bodily Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper however now-a-dayes some bespatter them had a sure Foundation to build on The Scripture makes it plain that Christ's Body is in Heaven 2. Christ is gone into Heaven Christians let your hearts be there Seek those things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Col. 3.1 Why do ye grovel on Earth when Christ your best Friend is in Heaven What on Earth can satisfie or what is to be desired when Christ is gone Well may Believers desire with the Apostle Phil. 1â— 23 to be dissolved and be with Christ which is far better 3. Let us prepare for Christ's Coming from Heaven Phil. 3.20 Behold He cometh quickly in like manner as he ascended but more gloriously attended more manifest every eye shall see him Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find watching Luke 12.37 We are left to trade with talents our Lord will come and reckon with us Mat. 25.19 Be ready for the Son of Man cometh in an hour when ye think not Luke 12.40 O let us watch 4. Lastly Be comforted Christ our Fore-runner is in Heaven He is gone but he went about our business This providence of Christ's departing looketh with a bitter aspect it is doleful to consider Christ is Gone But as Jacob's Spirit revived when he knew Joseph was alive so it is exceeding comfortable for drooping distressed souls to consider Christ hath taken possession of a
I leave you all in the Arms of Jesus Christ Shall I leave any of you wedded to your sins and lusts Shall I leave any of you glued to the world and not espoused to one Husband even Jesus Christ Shall my liberty to preach Christ to you cease before you can all say of him My Beloved is mine and I am his O that if it were the will of God it might not be so Brethren my hearts desire and prayer for you is that you may be saved My earnest request and suit to you this day is that you will come to Jesus Christ and be married to him for ever Have pity upon me cryeth sorrowful Job in another case Have pity upon me O ye my friends the Hand of the Lord hath touched me Have pity upon me O my People have pity upon your afflicted grieved dying Pastor And this is the pity I crave at your hands that you would none of you rest in a Christless condition but expect Blessings and Blessedness only through Christ that whether I come again to you or be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye prize and love Christ fervently that ye obey him sincerely constantly and universally having respect to all his Commandments that ye set a high estimation and stick close to his Truths that ye abhor Evil and account Gospel-administrations glorious that ye stand fast in the Faith and abound in every Grace Unum erat c. said Monica to her son Augustine It was one thing for which I desired to live a little longer that I might see thee a Christian ere I dye So say I to you this day whose cheeks I see bedewed with tears If my heart deceive me not I desire my Natural and Civil life a little longer that I might see you Israelites indeed and grown in Grace I seek not yours but you O my Flock I labour not to draw you after me but after Christ So far am I from murmuring at this sad providence exercising me this day that I bless God who bringeth good out of evil that hath given so many of his Ministers opportunity and hearts to confute those Scandals cast on them by unstable souls of being Hirelings Baals Priests greedy Dogs Balaams loving the wages of unrighteousness Diotrephes and loving preheminence preaching for filthy lucre supposing Gain to be Godliness c. from whom men ought to withdraw themselves Let such as are guilty answer as they can Let Baal plead for himself We are sure that the Judgment of God is according to Truth against them that commit such things That God who hath so far rouled away our Reproach can in his due time make our Righteousness shine forth as the noon day Only my Beloved let me not have cause to take up such sad complaints of you that I have bestowed on you labour in vain that I have piped and ye have not danced that I have mourned and ye have not lamented that ye have not believed my report that ye will not come to Christ that ye might have life that I come in my Fathers Name an Embassador in Christs stead and ye receive not my Message but if another come in his own name him ye will receive that ye are easily perverted marvelous soon shaken See Gal. 1.6 7 8 9. and your minds corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ to fall in love with will-worship and empty things of mans devising but will not be converted nor fall in love with Christ nor take his yoke upon you Good People add not thus to my affliction but let me have joy of you that I may say Ye are my Crown and Rejoycing Now I live seeing my Peoples souls are alive and prosper and have their hearts established with Grace so as they cleave with purpose of heart unto God escaping the temptations and pollutions of the world and running like the River Arethusa through the salt Sea yet keep their sweetness and the Word of God abideth richly in them Monica Leapid for joy at Augustine's conversion Cumulatius c. My God hath done abundantly for me that I see thee his Servant So let me have cause to rejoyce and say My God hath granted my desire letting me see you that were serving divers lusts serving the Lord Christ and you that were dead in sin spiritually alive and you that were Swearers fearing an Oath and you that were lost found And you that were haters of Holiness following Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Sirs think not that Angels or some from the dead should ever come to invite you to Christ and testifie these things neither may you expect Christ himself in bodily presence to preach to you when he was on earth He went about doing good calling sinners Come unto me Follow me If any man will be my Disciple let him follow me but now his work is in Heaven where he is about his Peoples Business pleading their Cause Nay you may not expect me to be preaching to you any longer but once more I am here tendering to you Jesus Christ I come a wooing in behalf of my Lord and Master who was dead and is alive and behold he liveth for evermore In his Name who was preaching of old by his Spirit in Noahs time to souls that by their obstinacy and disobedience are in prison in Hell 1 Pet. 3.19 I come to tell you that Except you Repent ye shall all likewise perish and except you believe ye shall be damn'd Mark 16.16 that unless you obey Christ ye will fall short of eternal Salvation and if ye have not the Son ye have not Life I come to tell you of your poverty and blindness of your nakedness misery without Christ that all your hope will perish unless it be built on Christ the Corner-stone and that you can obtain no Blessing but through Christ 'T is recorded that the dead that Sampson slew at his death were more than they whom he slew in his life To allude to it O that this my dying Sermon might shake the rotten pillars on which souls have built their hopes of Heaven short of Christ that more sins might be mortified and more souls quickened and converted than ever by any Sermon in the course of my Ministry that now at the end of the liberty of my publick Ministry you might all be the seals thereof being pricked to the heart and feeling the weapons of our warfare mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Joseph's Brethren thought evil against him but God meant it for good to save much People alive And O that this sad breach betwixt us this day might occasion some poor souls to say Periissem nisi periissem I had been undone if I had not been undone The smiting of the Shepherd and scattering of the Sheep was
the occasion of a Sermon that enlightened me quickened me This breach brought me to Christ acquainted me with my necessity of interest in Christ I am not of the temper of that Emperour who said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when I dye let the Earth be burned But O that my Civil Death might minister occasion of your Spiritual and Eternal Life O that this divorcing day betwixt you and me might be the day of your Espousals to Christ Dying David bespeaketh Solomon I go the way of all the Earth Keep the charge of the Lord thy God that thou mayest prosper 1 Kings 2.1 2 3 4. My loving People I am this day going the way of all that will live godly in Christ Jesus the way of tribulation I charge you keep the Lord's way as you expect any blessing and prosperity look for them only through Christ the Way the Truth and the Life I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge both quick and dead as the Apostle when his time of departure was at hand charged Timothy that ye rest not without Interest in Christ and I leave this Sermon as Joshua did the Pillar as a Memorial that I admonished and besought you to come to Christ and become his Servants O let not the Word I have spoken to keep my self pure from your blood condemn you in the day of Christ You cannot plead We were not bidden to the Wedding-Feast we were not called to Christ No if you be found out of Christ at that great day how will it torture you to consider How have we hated Instruction and have not obeyed the voice of our Teachers In vain may you wish O that we had the day of Grace once again Domine cur non modo c. said Augustine at his conversion Lord why not now an end of my filthiness So say I to you Why not now a parting with sin and closing with Christ Take these Considerations or Motives 1. The Lord Christ calleth you whilst we are testifying these things to you Whilst Noah was preparing the Ark Christ was preaching See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh from Heaven 2. Others who have had as great hindrances as you have followed Christ at his Call James and John Mat. 4 22. left the ship and their father immediatly and followed Christ neither enjoyments not imployments nor relations could hinder them Zacheus a rich man of low stature in a great press yea of a wicked Sect a Publican great obstacles yet he breaketh through all he runs and climeth to see Jesus If you come not to Christ you will be inexcusable 3. Let the Loveliness of Christ draw you he is the Rose of Sharon the Lilly of the Valley the bright and morning Star the Sun of Righteousness chiefest among ten thousands and altogether lovely O let his Fulness and Perfections win your hearts and attract your affections 4. Let the Love of Christ constrain you his condescending and dying for you to save you from everlasting death Will not such bonds of Love hold you 5. The Lord taketh exact notice how long your Teachers are labouring with you what means you have and what fruit appeareth These three years have I come seeking fruit Luke 13.7 6. You must shortly appear before the Judge to give account how you have profited by all the Sermons and Lectures you have heard c. 7. Now is the Ax laid at your roots Judgment begining at the house of God your Teachers ready to be removed into corners possibly you may go from Sea to Sea and not find that refreshing food for your souls nor those advantages which you have had Now therefore what mean you O sleepers are you set on fire round about and not lay it to heart Let the time past of your life suffice you to have been servants of sin It is high time for you to awake out of sleep and to follow Christ 8. If you will not come this day what if the Lord should write you Christless and swear in his wrath You shall never enter into his Rest nor tast of his Supper saying I would have purged you and ye were not purged never be purged dye in your sins he that is filthy let him be filthy still 9. Christ is willing to be yours if you will be his he will not reject you if you come you have as fair Encouragement to come as ever any had 10. They are very fair terms propounded Is it not fit you serve him if you expect him to save you that you obey him if you hope for his Salvation Had he bidden you do some great thing should you not have done it how much more when he requireth nothing but what is your reasonable service befitting you as his Creatures They are fair terms Repent and be conuerted that your sins may be blotted out Come to me and find rest Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved Be faithful unto death and obtain the Crown of Life 11. And lastly Let your necessity drive you to Christ Is there but one Ark in the world to save you from drowning but one City of refuge to keep off Vengance from you O hie thither apace Is there but one day-Star to shine into your hearts but one Son of Righteousness with Healing under his wings but one Sacrifice for sin accepted But one Mediator betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus O get interest in Him Oh! why do any of you linger and not hasten to this Zoar when Fire and Brimstone are so nigh so certain to all that reject Christ Oh! why do you draw back when drawing back is unto Perdition Know my Brethren these things as much concern you as ever any souls in the world what need have you of Christ to be your Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption without Him you are cursed captivated and condemned John 3.18.36 without Christ ye are deaf and dead poor and polluted and have no title to Heaven to the Promises nor any thing but sin and its wages Death Nay if you obey not whilest Christ calleth Come unto me you must with honour hear that other voice Depart ye cursed Those mine enemies that would not that I should rule over them bring forth and slay them before me Let me hint to you on what terms you must be in your coming to Christ 1. You must be divorced from your sins make sure you take off the heads of your dearest lusts 2. Disclaim all other Saviours besides Christ renounce confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 rest not in your outward priviledges nor performances but when you have done all you can say We are unprofitable servants 3. Rest not in a bare notion of Christ take heed lest you sit down with Fancy instead of Faith 4. Take a whole Christ Christ to rule you to teach to sanctifie you as well as save you 5. Give your selves wholly to Christ without reserve give him your ear open to his
by shall have 3. Who are meant by You ye shall have 4. What is meant by In the world 1. What is meant by Tribulation The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek word signifieth Tribulation Affliction trouble distress whether by loss of estate liberty c. It signifieth any sort of tribulation or affliction that is for ones casting down Mat. 24.21 1 Cor. 7.28 Acts 14.22 2ly The Syriack word is Aulzono it cometh of the root Alaz which signifieth he hath forced constrained as in Gal. 6.12 And so this word is used for Oppression Persecution And the same word is used 2 Thess 1.6 And so here as appears from the scope of Christ's discourse 2. What is meant by Shall have The word in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the theam is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall have being the future tense implyeth that the suffering was to come It is not you have had but shall have tribulation This you are sure and certain of And so the Syriack how e l koun there shall be to you it shall come 3. Who are meant by You doth it imply that the Apostles and they only should have tribulation in the world or are we to understand it of Christians or Christ's Disciples in general I answer This discourse is principally to the Disciples yet with relation to all Christians that will be stedfast or constant in the Christian Faith Matth. 28.19 20. And lo I am with you alwayes c. i. e. with you whilst you live and with the Ministers that shall succeed you in this work to the end of the world And so in this chapter from ver 22. to 28. is hinted that Christ will by his Spirit give comfort and a spirit of prayer and gracious answers and though the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit were proper to the Apostles yet these belong to the Church in common and to Christians in all ages 2. Christ assureth his Disciples yea all that should be his Disciples hereafter as Mat. 16.24 that they should meet with the cross and so adviseth all that resolve to be his Disciples beforehand to prepare for sufferings As in Luke 14.25 to the end And so the Apostles Acts 14.22 2 Tim. 2.12 So that all that will be sincerely godly however they may now be free from yet they shall have tribulation 4. What is meant by In the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for this world in opposition to the world or life to come as John 12.25 and 2 Cor. 1.12 In the world is a limitation it is to last only whilst Christians are upon Earth it ceaseth when they leave the world 1 Pet. 1.6 Now for a season ye are in heaviness Now. And it is said of the Saints 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God c. And so the Apostle Phil. 1.23 and Rev. 21.4 God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away After a Christian hath passed over this life all his Afflictions and Tribulations are over It is but in the world that is the time and date of them Again In the world you shall have It is not all the time you are in the world though sometimes the tribulations of the Faithful begin at their conversion and continue till their death yet more ordinarily they are but as storms Revel 2.10 Yet this is certain in the world Christians shall have tribulation though when and how long it is not for us to know aforehand as Christ told his Disciples Acts 1.7 The times and seasons are in God's power Secondly The Reasons why 1. Because there is an enmity in the world against Piety and Holiness ever hath been and will be and that is the ground of Persecution and of Christians Tribulation Gal. 4.29 As the world hated Christ John 15.18 19. The world as it is taken for the irregenerate 1 John 5.19 So every irregenerate man Rom. 8.7 And this is the ground of their tribulation in the world 2. In the world they have Tribulation for the tryal of their Graces As all Job's were for his tryal And indeed Hypocrites and sincere Christians cannot be discovered assunder but by persecutions and tribulations as in Rev. 2.10 and that is the reason that the Devil and wicked men may prove Liars for though God hath sufficiently confuted them yet are they ready to say as Job 1.9 10 11. Doth Job fear God for nought c. and Job 2.4 5. 3dly They are in Tribulation because they stand in need of it 1 Pet. 1.6 especially when they grow proud sensual and their hearts are lifted up as Psal 30.6 7. So when David had committed murder c. 2 Sam. 12.10 11. God keeps as it were a stricter hand over him than before 2 Sam. 24. As we say of children that correction is sometimes as necessary as food so is Tribulation for God's Children Fourthly because it is for their good As Frost and Snow is seasonable in winter profitable for the Corn killing the Weeds so is Tribulation Jer. 24.5 Like these good Figs so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah whom I have sent out of this place into the Land of the Caldeans for their good As all things shall so afflictions do work together for good Rom. 8.28 Psal 119.67 And the Faithfull should never be in Tribulation but that God aims at their good 1. To work them to humiliation and repentance as in 2 Chron. 7.13 14. Deut. 8.2 3 16. so this is God's end to break our proud spirits to work us to humiliation for sin and to a hatred forsaking of it as a main cause of all our troubtes And is not this more for our good than if we should be let alone in our sins 2. Again for the increase of patience experience hope as Rom. 5.3 4 5. And to keep us in obedience to keep us up in duty afflictions make Christians more watchful Psal 119.71 And indeed for practical Godliness the Church flourished most under the ten Persecutions and what tendeth to this is clearly for a Christians good 3. Again it is for their good to wean them from the world to draw out their desires after Heaven Nature doth encline us to love and like the world and constant prosperity doth encrease our love of it as seems to be implyed in Psal 62.10 If Riches encrease set not your hearts upon them But now tribulation weaneth our affections from the world helpeth to raise them unto things above according to our duty Col. 3.2 maketh us with the Apostle Phil. 1.23 desire to depart and to be with Christ 4. Again it for their good as it doth further their assurance and hope of Glory For a Christian may doubt of his
Tokens into the midst of Egypt upon Pharoah and upon all his Servants Why did he smite great Nations and slay mighty Kings Sion King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan and all the Kings of Canaan Psal 135.8 9 10 11. Was it not because he had chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure ver 4. And again I gave Egypt for thy ransom Ethiopia and Sheba for thee Since thou hast been precious in my sight thou hast been honourable and I have loved thee therefore I will give men for thee and people for thy life Isa 43.3 4. God in his Love thinks nothing too good nothing too great to be done for his Church and People He not only gives famous Kings and potent Nations up to ruine for his Peoples temporal deliverance but in the stupendiousness of his Love hath given his Son for their eternal Salvation John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and in and by him hath made a full compleat and abundant provision all things needful for your Salvation He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 The faithful apprehension and application of this Love will steel you against all sufferings and make you Reproach-proof and Persecution-proof that you shall not be ashamed of a despised Gospel a reproached Religion and a persecuted Christ and Hope maketh not ashamed because the Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts Rom. 5.5 This Love will comfort you against all temptations concerning sin in doubtings concerning Gods presence perseverance in Faith and assurance of Salvation I am perswaded saith the Apostle that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jâ—sus our Lord Rom. 8.38 39. To these add the dearness strength constancy and inviolableness of God's Lewe unto his Children dearer than a mothers to her swâ—â—etest babe Isa 49.15 stronger than the mountains Isa 54.19 more constant than the courses of Heaven Jâ—r 31.35 36. 33.20 21. it is as sure as God him self is sure Psal 89.34 35. And for a People to be committed to such a Love is ground of security and comfort When Ministers are taken from you this will â—bide with you 2. To commit you to God is to commit you to the tenderest mercy Mercy is the best refuge to the miserable Whither shall the malefactor flee for pardon but to the mercy of his Prince whither shall the captive go for safety but to the mercy of his Conqueror The pity of an armed Conqueror is better safety than the flinty-heartednes of a naked captive Compassion unarms the Armed blunts sharpened swords enfeebles the strong and sinewy arms when an astorgy arms the unarmed sharpens the sword addes strength to weak arms and blocks up all wayes and means of securiâ—y and comfort A man's pity subdues him when the valour policy strength and weapons of his enemies cannot conquer him and makes him a security to his adversary This encouraged Benhadad to humble himself to Ahab whom and his Kingdom he had twice before attempted to destroy by two formidable Armies Behold we have heard that the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings let us we pray thee put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our heads and go out to the King of Israel peradventure he will save thy life and it was so 1 Kings 20.31 c. And shall the Kings of Israel have mercy to save their enemies and shall not the KING of the Kings of Israel have mercy on his Children Mercy makes the tender heart partaker of the misery of him that is distressed Misericordia quasi miseria cordi it translates the misery of another into the heart of the merciful and enclines them to relieve and succour them It is pity that makes you to bind up the wounds of the wounded to wash Lazarus his sores to cloath the naked to feed the hungry to refresh the thirsty Now the God to whom I leave you is the God of pity and Father of mercies 2 Cor. 1.3 all the pity and compassion in the creatures is derived from him and were it all contracted into one yet it were but a drop to his Ocean and as the mercifulness of tender Parents causeth them to pitty their sick Children so God like a tender Father pitties them that fear him Psal 103.10 yea he sympathizeth with them in all their sufferings accounting their sufferings his Are they reproached so is he are they persecuted so is he are they imprisoned banished tormented put to cruel deaths he accounts it as done to himself and whatsoever Satan doth to you in tempting you to sin to dispair in buffeting you filling your hearts with heaviness your mouths with sighs and complaints your eyes with showers of tears he takes it as done to himself In all their afflictions he was afflicted Isa 63.9 And as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we from our own suffering learn more to pitty others in the like distresse so Christ's experiences of the worlds hatred and persecution of Satans rage and temptation doth cause Christ to pitty his suffering Members more We have not an high Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all things tempted as we are yet without sin and in that himself suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 4.15 chap. 2.18 Here is a rise of Compassion according to the degree of suffering How do the screechings of a sick Child the deep sighs and groans of a sick tormented Child make the bowels of the Parents roul within them and melt their affections into tears The Harlot whose the living Child was could not endure to suffer and see her Babe to be cut asunder but denied and acquitted her interest in him because her bowels yearned towards him 1 Kings 3.26 God's Pitty to his People is the most intensive when their Afflictions are the most increased His soul was grieved for the Misery of his People Israel Judg. 10.16 It grieves God to see his lie laden with Iron-fetters to lye in long and loathsome Imprisonments under cruel Tortures and Tormenting Deaths When you are buffeted with Satan bewailing your sins and miseries God's Bowels of Compassion are moved towards you Jer. 31.18 19 20. Surely I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised c. After I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Thus Ephraim bemoaned himself and God heard him and marked his expressions weighed the sorrow and burden of his spirit and pittieth him Is Ephraim my dear
a great energy 1. This is to commit you to the Captain of the Church The Church is compared to an Army with Banners and Christ is the Captain General of that Army John 5.13 14 this Captain is wise and pollitick to find out and disappoint the cruel Stratagems and bloody Designs of his Churches Enemies Psal 33. He bringeth the Counsel of the Heathens to naught and maketh the Devices of the People of none effect He is prudent in managing all the Affairs and Concernments of the Church and orders them for his Peoples advantage because He is Wonderful in Counsel and Excellent in working Isa 28.29 As the Captain of his Church He goes before them in all their dangers He a bates the Fury of the Adversary he blunts the Sword he will make way for his People to follow him through the greatest difficulties He stops the mouths of hungry Lyons cooleth a Fiery-furnace makes a Jordan and a red Sea passable He hath tasted of every cup hath taken away the Poyson of it and makes it medicinal and sweet in the issue hence called The Leader and Commander of his People Isa 55.4 As your Captain he will succour you with new supplies of Strength and Courage in all your combatings with Corruptions Temptations and Satan and restore you when you are near vanquished his Grace is sufficient for you 2 Cor. 12. As your Captain he encourageth you by his Word Isa 41.13 14 15. Mat. 10.28 Luke 12.32 John 14.27 Rev. 2.10 by his Example Heb. 12.1 2 3. by promise of Reward that the Dunghil of your sufferings through perseverance and uprightness shall be turned into a Throne of Glory Be thou faithful unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 3.10 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my Throne even as I overcame and am sate down with my Father on his Throne Rev. 3.21 As our Captain he conquers all our Eenemies Sin Satan the World and crowns us with Victory Rom. 8.37 We are more than Conquerors through Christ that loved us And hence the Apostle triumphs O Death were is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law but thanks be to God that giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. 2. He is the King of his Church Psal 2.6 called the King of Saints Rev. 15.3 stilled the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 As King he will effectually call you and all others that belong to the Election of Grace into a state of Salvation Thy People shall be a willing People in the day of thy Power Psal 110.3 He will redeem you from the Thraldom of Sin and Satans Vassalage turning Darkness to Light from the Power of Satan to the Power of God Acts 26.18 Kings are the Refuge of their distressed Subjects like the Tree in Nebuchadnezzars Vision in whose branches the Birds builded their nests and under whose shadows the Beasts rested and secured themselves Dan. 4.12 So God is the great Refuge of his Church of his People Thy Name is a strong Tower and the Righteous fly thereunto and are safe Prov. 18.10 If you will be true Christians you must expect to meet with stormy and windy dayes within you and by corruption without you by wicked men and infernal Spiâ—its expect to be persecuted pursued with temptations stung with sin and buffeted by Satan but here is your Refuge Isa 32.2 A man shall be an hiding place from the wind and a covert from the storm and the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land This King of the the Church is glorious in Power fearful in Praises doing Wonders He is the Sole Soveraign of the three Kingdoms Heaven Earth and Hell and governs all the Creatures therein and disposeth their actions according to his will He stills the raging Sea turning the storm into a calm and limits the foaming and furious waves so far shalt thou go and no further He binds up the four Angels at the River Euphrates and looseth them at his pleasure and limits their rage i. e. He binds up and looseth and limits the Turkish Fury for an hour for a day for a month for a year which like mighty Seas break out and bear down before it mighty Nations and Kingdoms drowning them in the Floods of hostile Invasions and Miseries Rev. 9.14 15. This King binds up the Devil in the Chains of his Power and Providence that he cannot tempt you touch an hair of your head nor a Swine of your herd unless God give him leave and if he give him leave yet he limits for duration of time and measure so that your enemies shall neither sooner nor longer nor more afflict you than God gives them leave This King will subdue and conquer his Churches Enemies He will break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters vessel Psal 2.9 He will strike through Kings in the day of his wrath Psal 110. they shall be before him as Dust before the Wind as Briars Thorns Stubble before the Fire Isa 27.4 This King is wonderfully rich and multiplies great Gifts and Priviledges upon his Church and People He is a Sun and Shield he will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from you if ye live uprightly Psal 84.11 12. He will abundantly recompence all you works losses sufferings for him with an incorruptible Crown of Glory 1 Pet. 1.4 In a word in the day of his glorious Royalty when he comes to judge the World he will wipe off all the soot and blackness of Reproach and Sufferings and invest with an admirable Glory shining like the Sun in the Firmament 3. Jesus Christ is his Churches Shepherd Isa 40.11 He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd And God promiseth that he will set one Shepherd over them and he shall feed them even his servant David i. e. Christ of the Seed of David Ezek. 34.23 And Christ assureth us that he is the good Shepherd John 10.11 14 16. What a Shepherd is to his Sheep the same is Christ to his Church he will provide Pasture for his People He maketh me saith David to lye down in green Pastures and leads me beside the still Waters Psal 23. These green Pastures and still waters are Gospel Ordinances where his People feed and drink The variety of Ordinances shew the variety of feeding the richness and fulness of the Ordinances shew the plentifulness of feeding Here is Milk for Babes Wine for the Faint Water for the Scorched strong Meat for strong Christians Isa 55.1 2. He hath provided his Body and Blood to feast and feed you to Life Eternal He knows the number of his Sheep and their particular persons from other men John 10.14 I am the good Shepherd and know my Sheep The Foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them
be broken they will not bend Rough Trees must be hewn with Axes so old Sinners must find rough dealing at conversion If you would come home to God comfortably come quickly and early The sooner you begin the more sweetness you will find All God's Wayes afford Pleasantness and in all his Paths there is Peace 2. Having delivered the Counsels that concern you all in general let me now direct my speech to the Regenerate in particular To you whom the Word of God hath been the Power of God to Salvation I would commed these things that they may be kept in remembrance II. COUNSEL 1. Be very thankful for any good which God hath wrought in you by the means of Grace God is takeing away in some measure the pure and powerful dispensation of his Ordinances and this is matter of sorrow O but God hath made them advantagious to your souls already and this is matter of praise 1 Thess 1.3 5. Give thanks to God seeing the Gospel hath come to you not in word only but in the power of the holy Ghost You then that can experience a new Light in your minds Conviction in your conscience a change in your wills and holiness in your affections and union with Christ give God the praise It had been a misery indeed if God had taken us away from Ministers or Ministers from us before we had got any good by them Those amongst you that are ignorant hard-hearted unbelieving sinners have reason to be grieved at the very heart The Sun of the Gospel is eclipsing and you are not yet enlightened by it the fire is putting out before your souls be warmed It is a sad sign those are in the number of the sons of perdition from whom the clear Gospel is hid 2 Cor. 4.3 If the Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost The Child unborn cannot midwife it self into the world when the Mother is dead but there is hopes that an Infant that is born may be nourished up even unto a perfect man Why Brethren unconverted persons are unborn and if Faithful Ministers and Ordinances should be altogether taken from you both Father and Mother dye and then who shall make you partakers of the new Birth But now you that are born again you will be able in some measure to feed your selves the meat is before you in the Scriptures and the holy Ghost will help you to feed on it If there should not be a succession of Pastors amongst you your condition may be sad but it is safe if you should dye without the continuance of Ordinances having a part in the Resurrection from sin to a new Nature and holiness of life the second Death shall have no dominion over you If you live longer you have former Experiences former Truths former Promises old Store to live on You have the granary of Experiences and of the Scriptures to maintain you in spiritual Life if there should come a Famine of publick Ordinances God hath not dealt with every soul as with yours Two or three of you have lived under the same Ministry have sit and heard together in the same Seats yea one of you is taken the other is left Say then with a thankful heart as Christ Why hast thou revealed thy self to me and not to others Even so Father because it seems good in thy sight Mat. 11.25 2. Walk humbly before God in a sence of your insufficency to good and proness to evil Mic. 6.8 walk humbly with thy God Never walk securely ever be jealous of your deceitful hearts Take heed of falling into sin though at present you stand Ever live under the sence of that truth that the heart is deceitful above all things and madly wicked What Master that knows the deceitfulness of a Servant would trust him too far and so who that hath had frequent experience of the falsness of his heart would put too much confidence in it for the future Ever keep low thoughts of your selves live continually in dependance upon God for strength to perform duties to subdue corruptions resist temptations and to bear afflictions Paul prayed thrice i. e. often when he had a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to buffet him 3. Beware of every sin have and express godly sorrow for it break off every iniquity by repentance Beware especially of and keep your selves from your iniquities Psal 18.23 Cut off your right hand and pluck out your right-eye-sins Mat. 5.29 God hates it Jer. 44.4 it grieves him They rebelled and vexed his Spirit it will grieve you also 1 Pet. 2.11 and wars against the soul i. e. against the Peace and Tranquilty of your minds every sin contracts guilt and guilt creats trouble It 's impossible a Christian should walk comfortably whilst he showes any liking to any sin Sin doth especially prejudice us as to Prayer both before in and after Prayer it shuts our eyes that we dare not lift them up to Heaven O my God I blush and am ashamed to look up Ezra 9.6 It stops our mouths that we cannot speak and manacles our hands and contracts our hearts that we cannot lift them up to God If we would lift up hearts and hands in Prayer without doubting we must lift up holy hands 1 Tim. 2.8 Sin makes a Christian act like an enemy towards God and to think God is justly turned to be his enemy and who can with any heart ask any favour from an enemy If we would draw near to God in full assurance of Faith we must come with an heart sprinkled from a guilty and defiled conscience and our lives washed with pure water Heb. 10.22 Again the least sin smiled upon puts us back in our Christian course it weakens Faith takes away our Courage disheartens us from doing our very duty How canst thou reprove another with courage saith conscience when thou thy self knowest thou standest in need of reproof well than exercise daily repentance for daily failings sue out a pardon every day and get one Seal more added to your Pardon daily you have as much need to pray for daily forgiveness as for daily bread 4. Grow in Grace 2 Pet. 3.18 Make progress in holiness take heed of decaying beware lest God's Ministers lose the things they have wrought upon and amongst you 2 Ep. John ver 8. Increase your knowledge Follow on to know the Lord let your repentings for sin be kindled go from one degree of Faith to another let your love to God abound more and more The more Grace you have the more you will glorify God the fitter you will be to do him service the more able to bear affliction a little Grace is not enough to bear great Trials and the more Grace the fitter for Glory yea and very probably the more Glory To this end continue in the use of those means that uphold and encrease Grace Ex eisdem nutrimus ex quibus constamus Feed upon the Milk of God's Word and the
have Israel gathered to Mispah when he prayes for them 1 Sam 7.5 Gather your selves together c. Zeph. 2.1 Sanctifie a Fast Call a Solemn Assemblie Joel 2.14 Christ gives order to his Disciples to continue together embodied sending out their Supplications Acts 1.4 14. and you see the Spirit came down upon them when assembled Acts 2.1 2. The Law was given upon the day of the Assemblie Deut. 9.10 and 10.4 and 18.16 Peter was thrown into a Meeting though a private Meeting Acts 12.11 God gives his special Boons of Favour to his People in Assemblies 3. In these Solemn Assemblies it is that men are set on work The Gospel like the rising Sun it calls up men to work men cannot be at rest in their sloth where God hath his Labourers Light if it be not powerful enough to direct it will afflict if it do not awaken them it will trouble their rest The Witnesses are Tormenters where they are not Saviours but now when the light is gone then may the People keep holy-day as some render that Text Feriabitur Populus Where no Vision is Prov. 29.18 Markets will be full of persons standing idle at all hours because there is none to hire them Now should not this adde weight to such a cross as this to make it break our hearts Did the Silver-Smiths make such a cry when they thought ere long they should have no work Acts 19.25 26 28. And â—â—all the loss of Spiritual Imployments be over looked 3. In the want of Assemblies we are deprived of our most cheering refreshments This loss draws our Table empties our Cup burns up our Pastures stops our Wells dries up our fresh Springs There is a fatness in God's House There are Rivers of Pleasures Psal 36.8 David calls the Altar of God his exceeding joy Psal 43.3 4. It is in the House of Prayer that God makes his People joyful Isa 56.7 8. there God makes his People not only to eat but makes them feasts of fat things Isa 25.6 O what a Feast of fat things is the Supper of the Lord wherein we have opportunity to thrust our hands into the Side of Christ to feel what work sin hath made there and what a warm Heart he hath and full of good-will to sinners O what a want of those comfortable Innes as I may call them and refreshing baiting Places in Heavens Road that have been to us as Bethel was to Jacob All that is left when our Assemblies are gone is uncomfortable when Nebuzaradan burnt the Temple he left but it was but the poor of the Land so when God takes down his Tent amongst us there may be some Mercies left behind but they are but poor things all that is in our houses is but lean when we want the fatness of God's House all that we see is uncomfortable when we cannot see our signs they are but shadows of Mercies that remain when our signs are gone fulness of bread and scarcity of the Word hath little satisfaction in it for when the Ordinances go the satifying and sanctifying Mercies are gone brown Bread and Gospel is better fare than Dainties and no Gospel This want turns our Wine into water and our Bread into stones What is a well-furnished house without windows and light what is a ceiled house if Gods House lie waste what are garners full of all manner of store if we have not the treasure that is in earthen vessels Happy is that People whose God is the LORD Psal 144.12 13 14. Now where God is a Peoples God He will set his Sanctuary in the midst of them and his Tabernacle shall be with them as in Ezek. 37.26 27. We are as it were without God if without the Ordinances of God Ordinances are as it were the life of a Land the Land of Canaan is in an especial manner in Scripture called the Land of the living as some think in regard of the Ordinances Moller on Psal 27.13 A Land dyes when the Ordinances go the soul of a Kingdom is gone the People live as it were among the Tombs and should not this make our houses houses of mourning What a cry in Egypt when death was in every house Should not the Mourners go about the streets when the Life of our lives is gone should the Word of Life depart unlamented 4. In the want of Assemblies we are deprived of our richest Ornaments These are our Crowns Rev. 12.1 Lam. 5.16 The Crown is fallen from our head We may in this case say as Job Chap. 19.9 Thou hast stripped me of my glory and taken my Crown from off my head The Ark is called the glory of Israel and the same thing is called Glory and Assembly Isa 4.5 Good Order which is a beautiful thing will not long stay after God's Ordinances are gone Church and State like those Twins laugh and cry live and dye together Righteousness which exalts a Nation is at the threshold when Religion is out of doors Civil Assemblies will cease to be Thrones of Judgment when Solemn Assemblies cease to be Thrones of Glory The custome of England hath made the way to the Bench by the Church that they that are to give charges to men may first receive their charge from God It was at Jerusalem where the Temple was that the Thrones of Judgment were Psal 122.5 It is the Grace of God bringing Salvation that teacheth men Piety Sobriety and Righteousness What can be expected when that disappeares but impiety intemprance and unrighteousness 2 Tit. 11 12. Now cannot a Maid forget her Ornaments and can we forget ours When God hath made us naked as the margent in your Bibles renders the word Prov. 29.18 should we not put on sackcloth And lastly I may adde We with them lose our strongest Muniments The Ark was strength Psal 78.61 1 Chron. 16.11 God is terrible out of his holy Places Psal 68.35 When our Ordinances are gone we are as Sampson with his locks cut even weak as others The Christian Regiments that could joyn in Prayer that were a Church as well as a Band they were called Thundring Regiments How may it be said of Assemblies as of Zion in Psal 76.3 There brake he the Arrows of the Bow the Shield and the Sword and the Battel It was Moses hands that beat the Amalakites We may cry after the Solemn Assemblies when they are going as Elisha after Elijah My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof There is a Defence upon Assemblies and with them that goes There are not a few places to be found that have soon tumbled into their graves after the removal of their Ministers by death as Hippo and Heidelberg c. Is the bough cutting on which we stand is our Defence departing from us and shall not we mourn Thus much of this Reason Now cast up all this together and see whether the sum that stands at the foot should not be written with tears Reas 2. Because Reproach is the
6.32 15.32 29.24 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul But he that walks exactly by the Rule of God's Commands is wise for his own good in all respects He is wise for his soul wherein a man 's own chiefest good doth consist Prov. 19.16 He that kâ—epeth the Commandment keepeth his own soul Yea but may the wicked think if they are wisest for their souls we are wisest for our bodies Nay but the Godly are wisest for their bodies also for while they live they make their bodies thâ— Temples of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 they so provide that after death at the Resurrection their bodies are raised incorruptible glorious powerful and spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. Phil. 3.21 whereas the bodies of the ungodly while they live are but as a cage of unclean birds and after death shall be raised to everlasting shame and torment Dan. 12.2 Furthermore the Goâ—ly Man is wisest both for this life and also for the life that is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 I might yet add many other particulars wherein it will appear that a Godly Man is wisest for himself He keeps himself safest Prov. 10.9 3.23 c. He makes himself richest Psal 112.3 Prov. 3.16 8.18 22.4 He advanceâ—h himself highest Prov. 3.16 and the other forecited places He lives longest Prov. 9.10 11. Now therefore my Brethren if you have regard to your souls or bodies to this life or that which is to come to your safety wealth honour or life and would act the parts of truly wise men in all respects then see that you walk circumspectly and exactly 2. Again as he that walks most exactly appears to be the wisest man in doing that which iâ— best for him self so also in that he doth best for his Relations his Family his Friends his Neighbours his Country his Posterity do all fare the better for his goodness Potiphars house fared the better for Josephs sake Gen. 39.2 3. All Egypt for Jacobs sake Gen. 45.5 Davids posterity for Davids sake And Sodom Gomorrah should have fared the better for ten righteous Persons sake if they could have been found there Gen. 18.32 3. He that walks most exactly is the wisest Man because he doth that which is most pleasing to God Certainly if there be any wisdom in a Subjects pleasing his Prince a Son his Father a Servant his Master there is much more wisdom in a Creatures pleasing his Creator I am necessitated to be very brief but I know these things will not be received by many without the opposition of several Objections and therefore I must needs save a little room for the answering of those Objections if not to the satisfaction and silencing of the carnal Objectors yet for the establishment of the minds of the weak Object 1. But do not these persons that live so exactly cut themselves short by their preciseness of much of that pleasure and profit which they might otherwise receive and what wisdom is there in that Answ 1. It is true that they do abridge themselves of much of that which the men of the world call pleasure and profit they dare not drink and game and be wanton and cozen and cheat or devote themselves to the cares of the world as others do 2. But that which the world calls pleasure and profit is not so to them They find no joy in those fleshly delights which worldlings pretend do yeeld them so much pleasure and that profit which is got by unlawful means they ever account the greatest loss Take Solomon for an instance hereof Eccles 2. from the 1st to the 12th ver He gave himself for experiment sake to Mirth and Wine he made great Works and built Houses and planted Vineyards and Gardens and Orchards he made Pools and got him Servants in abundance and Flocks and Herds of all sorts of Cattel he gathered Silver and Gold and other precious Treasures he gat Men-singers and Women-singers and all the Delights of the Sons of Men as Musical Instruments and that of all sorts and when he had done he looked back upon all and writes this Motto upon them Vanity of vanities all is vanity and vexation of spirit 3. Nay thirdly these persons of all the men in the world do enjoy the only true Pleasure and Profit and that is the Pleasure and Profit which they have in and by their living precisely and exactly Godliness is their gain Grace their riches the Service of God their pleasure and the Favour of God their honour and life These are the things wherein alone they delight themselves and wherewith they are enriched to Eternity As for the things of this life if their godliness bring them in but little yet withal it makes that little to be better to them than the treasures of many wicked Psal 37.16 Object 2. But do they not by their Preciseness create to themselves a sad and melancholy life And what wisdom is there in that Answ 1. Men are much mistaken in this censure Because the Godly do not mingle themselves with their carnal pleasures therefore they look upon them but as a lump of melancholy flesh But his Joy is a kind of joy which a stranger intermeddles not withal The men of the world understand it not and therefore they think there is no such thing But 2. If the Godly have sorrow at any time it doth not arise from their preciseness but because they are not so precise and exact as they should and would be but evermore the more circumspectly and exactly they walk the more full of Peace Comfort and Joy they are 3. A Godly mans sadness is but in order to the attaining of a more true Comfort and full Joy by removing sin which obstructs and hinders his comfort Though weeping endure for a night yet Joy comes in the morning and that so much the more abundantly Hence his sadness is a blessed sadness because it ends in everlasting joy but the mirth of the wicked is a cursed mirth because it ends in everlasting horrour Psal 37.37 38. Obj. 3. But do they not make themselves the Scorn of the World by their Preciseness and what wisdom is there in that Answ 1. It is not for want of Ignorance that the men of the world scorn at their preciseness Alas poor creatures Did they but know how little hurt they do them and how much hurt they do themselves by that scorning did they but know how they provoke the great God by scorning at his Servants and Service and how sad an account they shall give at the last day and how much better it would have been for them to have been precise themselves they would never make such a scorn of preciseness as they do Had the very Children that mocked the Prophet 2 Kin. 2.23 24. known of the Bear durst they have done it Had the Jews foreseen the wrath of God breaking out against them without remedy durst they have mocked as they
thereby taken away from the evil to come And then 3. The shortning of this life doth but the sooner bring them to a Life of Glory in Heaven Indeed if their condition were the same with the condition of the ungodly if they lost Heaven and Earth the lives of their souls and bodies together If their death were an eternal death and the end of their temporal miseries the beginning of eternal torments it were a very sad argument but the case is not so bad Whatever they lose for Christ in this world shall be recompensed a thousandfold in the world to come with eternal Life Now lay all these things together and consider that this strictness or preciseness is commanded by God and is most sutable to the Rules of Christianity And dost thou profess thy self a Christan a Disciple of Christ a Servant of God and one that lives in hope of everlasting Life and hast thou not yet learn'd to forsake all deny thy self take up thy cross and follow Christ Certainly if thou be a Christian indeed and hast received that Wisdom which is from above none of these things will move thee neither wilt thou count thy life so dear to thee as for the saving it to forsake the holy Commandment Having now vindicated this Truth from those Objections that might seem to weaken it I proceed to give a brief hint what use may be made of it Use 1. If they that live most exactly are the wisest men then it is so far from being a shame to live exactly Psal 119.6 that it tends much to the justification and commendation of those that so order their conversations And certainly the world is much mistaken in their censure and judgment concerning them They think it strange that all do not run to the same excess of riot with them 1 Pet. 4.4 and speak evil of them as fools and mad men because they willingly forgo the pleasures and advantages of this present life for things future and invisible but the end will make it sufficiently to appear who are the fools and who are the wise men Therefore 2. Be exhorted and perswaded to exercise this piece of wisdom Wisdom it is and that of the best sort for it is Divine and Heavenly Wisdom So the Apostle tells us Jam. 3.17 That Wisdom which is pure and full of good fruits comes from above it is saving Wisdom In 2 Tim. 3.15 the Apostle tells us that the Scriptures are able to make a man wise to Salvation in as much as they were given by God to make men pefect throughly furnished unto all good works Labour then for this Scripture-Wisdom and search for it as for hid treasures it alone shall abide and the good fruits thereof remain with thee to Eternity when all other wisdom in the world shall perish and by its fall shall ruine the owners and professors thereof I have now finished the third Observation I must use much more brevity in those which remain and so I pass to the fourth which is this Doct. 4. That then especially in evil times we have much need of spiritual wisdom for the circumspect and exact ordering of our conversations Thus the Apostles Argument runs Walk circumspectly and redeem time because the dayes are evil This is a duty at all times but especially in evil times it is both a Duty and an Advantage That we may understand what is meant by evil times or Dayes we must know that there are two sorts of evil First The evil of sin whereof Devils and men are the only authors Secondly The evil of punishment or misery in this sence it is used in Jer. 17.17 18. Amos 6.3 and though sin be the meritorious cause of this evil and Devils and Men yea and good Angels also are made use as instruments of it yet God takes it upon himself as the Author thereof Amos 3.6 Thus the Times or Dayes are evil First When they are sinful Times such times as our Saviour foretold Mat. 24.11 12. When false prophets should arise and deceive many When iniquity should abound and the love of many should wax cold Secondly The Dayes are evil when they are full of trouble and misery These evil Dayes of both sorts are either 1. Common by reason of that sin and misery which are incident to every mans life Eccles 12.1 in respect whereof Jacob told Pharoah that the dayes of his life had been few and evil Gen 47.9 2. Or special When both sin and trouble do abound in more than ordinary measure Again these evil Dayes are either 1. General When both sin and misery do more than ordinarily abound in the World or in a Kingdom 2. Or particular When a man 's own particular life hath been extraordinarily full of sin and trouble The Apostle in the Text doth principally respect the special and general sinfulness and troublesomness of the times but in what kind soever the dayes are evil the evilness of them is an argument for circumspect walking and exact ordering of our conversations For if the Times be sinful 1. In sinful Times there is much liberty and encouragement to sin The Multitude run to sin the stream goes that way and it is an easy thing to go along with the stream but it is certain that the stream will carry a man to perdition So that if we would not perish in sinful times we must strive against the stream by circumspect walking These are those perillous Times from the authors whereof the Apostle warns Timothy to turn away 2 Tim. 3.1 2 3 4 5 6. 2. In Sinful Times there are many temptations and enticements to sin in which respect the Apostle calls such dayes evil dayes and therefore adviseth at such times especially to put on the whole Armour of God that we may be able to stand and keep our selves unspotted from the pollutions of the world Ephes 6.13 If the Times be evil in respect of the trouble and misery that attends them Then 1. In Times of Trouble and Misery a man hath most need to get and keep peace of conscience Oh! it is a sad thing for a man to be lost as much with storms of guilt within as with waves of trouble without But there is no getting or keeping true peace of conscience without circumspect and exact walking The fruit of Righteousness is sown in peace Jam. 3.18 2. In Troublesome Times a man had most need to get and keep the love and favour of God and thereby an interest in the Promises of this life or if those be forfeited yet to be sure of an interest in the Promises of the Life to come But this cannot be done without circumspect walking for it is only Godliness that hath the promises of the life that now is and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Use How preposterous and foolish a course is it then for any man to think to secure himself from the evil of the times by complying with the times to comply with the evil