the Parent wrapt up in another Skin O the care the cost the pity the tenderness the pains the fears they have exprest for you It 's worse than Heathenish ingratitude not to return Love for Love This filial Love is not only in it self a duty but to be the root or spring of all your other dutys to them Thirdly Obedience to their commands is due to them by the Lords strict and special command Eph. 6.1 Children obey your Parents in the Lord for this is right Honour thy Father and thy Mother which is the first Commandment with promise Filial obedience is not only founded upon the positive Law of God but also upon the Law of nature For though the subjection of Servants to Masters came in by sin yet the subjection of Children to Parents is due to them by natural right therefore saith the Apostle this is right i. e. right both according to natural and positive Law However this subjection and obedience is not absolute and universal God hath not devested himself of his own authority to cloath a Parent with it Your obedience to them must be in the Lord i. e. in such things as they require you to do in the Lords authority In things consonant to that divine and holy will to which they as well as you must be subject and therein you must obey them Yea even the wickedness of a Parent exempts not from obedience where his command is not so Nor on the other side must the holiness of a Parent sway you where his Commands and Gods are opposite In the former case the Canonists have determined that the command must be distinguisht from the person In the latter it 's a good rule My Parents must be loved but my God must be preferred Yield your selves therefore chearfully to obey all that which they lawfully enjoin and take heed that black character fixed on the Heathens who know not God be not found upon you disobedient to Parents Rom. 1.30 Remember your disobedience to their just commands rises higher much higher than an affront to their persons and authority it 's disobedience to God himself whose commands second and strengthen theirs upon you Fourthly Submission to their Discipline and rebukes is also your duty Heb. 12.9 We had Fathers of our flesh that corrected us and we gave them reverence Parents ought not to abuse their authority Cruelty in them is a great sin but wrath and rebellion in a Child against his Parents is monstrous It 's storied of Aelian that having been abroad at his return his Father asked him what he had Learned since he went from him he answered you will know shortly I have learned to bear your anger quietly and submit to what you please to inflict Two considerations should especially mould others into the like frame especially to their godly Parents The end for which and the manner in which they manifest their anger to their Children Their end is to save your souls from Hell They judge it better for you to hear the voice of their anger than the terrible voice of the wrath of God To feel their hand than his They know if you fall into the hands of the living God you will be handled in another manner And for the manner in which they rebuke and chasten it is with grief in their hearts and tears in their eyes Alas it 's no delight to them to cross vex or afflict you Were it not meer conscience of their duty to God and tender love to your souls they would neither chide nor smite And when they do how do they afflict themselves in afflicting you When their faces are full of anger their bowels are full of compassion for you and you have no more reason to blame them for what they do than if they cry out and violently snatch at you when they see you ready to fall from the top of a Rock Fifthly Faithfulness to all their interests is due to them by the natural and positive Law of God What in you lies you are bound to promote not waste and scatter their substance To assist not to defraud them Who so robbeth his Father or Mother and saith it is no transgression the same is the companion of a destroyer Prov. 28.24 This saith one as far excells your wronging another as parricide is a greater crime than man-slaughter or as Reubens incest was beyond common fornication God never meant you should grow up about your Parents as suckers about a Tree to impoverish the root But for a Child out of a covetousness after what his Parents have secretly to wish their death is a sin so monstrous as should not be once named much less found among persons professing Christianity To desire their death from whom you had your life is unnatural wickedness to dispose of their Goods much more of your selves without their consent is ordinarily the greatest injustice to them Children are obliged to defend the Estates and persons of their Parents with the hazard of their own As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so are Children of the youth Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them They shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemy in the gates Psal. 127.5 Sixthly And more especially requital of all that love care and pains they have been at for you is your duty so far as God enables you and those things are requitable 1 Tim. 5.4 Let them learn to shew piety at home and to requite their Parents The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifies to play the Stork to imitate that creature of whom it 's said that the young do tenderly feed the old ones when they are no longer able to fly abroad and provide for themselves Hence those that want bowels of natural affection to their Relations are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.30 worse than Storks O 't is a shame that Birds and Beasts should shew more tenderness to their Dams than Children to their Parents It 's a saying frequent among the Jews a Child should rather labour at the Mill than suffer his Parents to want And to the same sence is that other saying your Parents must be supplyed by you if you have it if not you ought to beg for them rather than see them perish It was both the comfort and honour of Ioseph that God made him an instrument of so much succour and comfort to his aged Father and distressed family Gen. 47.13 And you are also to know that what you do for them is not in the way of an alms or common Charity For the Apostle saith it is but your requiting them and that 's Justice not Charity And it can never be a full requital Indeed the Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 12.14 That Parents lay up for their Children and not Children for the Parents and so they ought but sure if providence blast them and bless you an honourable
themselves towards their Parents according to the Laws of Nature and Grace Christ was not only subject and obedient to his Parents whilst he lived but manifested his tender care even whilst he hanged in the torments of Death upon the Cross. Then saith he to the Disciple Behold thy Mother The words contain an affectionate recommendation of his distressed Mother to the care of a dear Disciple a bosom friend wherein let us consider the design manner and season of this recommendation First The design and end of it which doubtless was to manifest his tender respects and care for his Mother who was now in a most distressed comfortless state For now was Simeons Prophesie Luk. 2.35 fulfilled in the trouble and anguish that fill'd her soul. Yea a sword also shall pierce through thine own soul that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed Her soul was pierced for him both as she was his Mother and as she was a Mystical member of him her head her Lord. And therefore he commends her to the beloved Disciple that lay in his bosom saying Behold thy Mother i. e. let her be to thee as thine own Mother Let thy love to me be now manifested in thy tender care for her Secondly The manner of his recommending her is both affectionate and mutual It 's very affectionate and moving Behold thy Mother q. d. Iohn I am now dying leaving all humane society and relations And entring into a new State where neither the dutys of natural relations are exercised nor the pleasures and comforts of them enjoyed It 's a state of dominion over Angels and men not of subjection and obedience this I now leave to thee Upon thee do I devolve both the honour aud duty of being in my stead and room to her as to all dear and tender care over her Iohn Behold thy Mother and as it 's affectionate so it 's mutual verse 26. And to his Mother he said Woman behold thy Son not Mother but Woman intimating not only the change of state and condition with him but also the bequest he was making of her to the Disciple with whom she was to live as a Mother with a Son And all this he designs as a pattern to others Thirdly The season or time when his care for his Mother so eminently manifested it self was when his departure was at hand and he could no longer be a comfort to her by his bodily presence yea his love and care then manifested themselves when he was full of anguish to the very brim both in his soul and body yet all this makes him not in the least unmindful of so dear a relation Hence the Doctrinal Note is DOCT. That Christs tender care of his Mother even in the time of his greatest distress is an excellent pattern for all gratious Children to the end of the world There are three great foundations or bonds of relation on which all family government depends Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants The Lord hath planted in the souls of men affections sutable to these relations and to his people he hath given grace to regulate those affections appointed dutys to exercise those graces and seasons to discharge those dutys So that as in the motion of a wheel every spoke takes its turn and bears a stress in every manner in the whole round of a Christians conversation like affection grace and duty at one season or other comes to be exercised But yet grace hath not so far prevailed in the sanctification of any mans affections but that there will be excesses or defects in the exercise of them towards our relations yea and in this the most eminent Saints have been eminently defective But the pattern I set before you this day is a perfect pattern As the Church finds him the best of Husbands so to his Parents he was the best of Sons and being the best and most perfect is therefore the rule and measure of all others Christ knew how those corruptions we draw from our Parents are returned in their bitter fruits upon them again to the wounding of their very hearts and therefore it pleased him to commend obedience and love to Parents in his own example to us It was anciently a Proverb among the Heathen in sola Sparta expedit senescere It 's good to be an old man or woman only in Sparta The ground of it was the strict Laws that were among the Spartans to punish the rebellions and disobedience of Children to their aged Parents And shall it not be good to be an old Father or Mother in England where the Gospel of Christ is Preached and such an argument as this now set before you urged an argument which the Heathen world was never acquainted with Shall Parents here be forced to complain with the Eagle in the Fable that they are smitten to the heart by an arrow winged with their own Feathers Or as a Tree rived in pieces by the wedges that were made of its own body God forbid To prevent such sad occasions of Complaints as these I desire all that sustain the relation of Children into whose hands providence shall cast this discourse seriously to ponder this example of Christ proposed for their imitation in this point Wherein we shall first consider what dutys belong to the relation of Children secondly how Christs example enforces those dutys and then sutably apply it First Let us examine what dutys pertain to the relation of Children And they are as truly as commonly branched out into the following particulars First Fear and Reverence are due from Children to their Parents by the express command of God Lev. 19.3 Ye shall fear every man his Mother and his Father The Holy Ghost purposely inverts the order and puts the Mother first because she by reason of her blandishments and fond indulgence is most subject to the irreverence and contempt of Children God hath cloathed Parents with his authority They are instrusted by God with and are accountable to him for the souls and bodys of their Children And he expects that you reverence them although in respect of outward estate or honour you be never so much above them Ioseph though Lord of Egypt bowed down before his aged Father with his face to the earth Gen. 48.12 Solomon the most magnificent and glorious King that ever sway'd a Scepter when his Mother came to speak with him for Adonijah he rose up to meet her and bowed himself to her and caused a seat to be set for the Kings Mother and set her upon his right hand 1 King 2.19 Secondly Dear and tender Love is due from Children to their Parents And to shew how strong and dear that love ought to be it 's joined with the Love you have for your own lives As appears in that injunction to deny both for Christs sake Matth. 10.37 The bonds of nature are strong and strict betwixt Parents and Children What is a Child but a piece of
House The next day Mr. Goodman the Minister of the Parish meeting the young man walking about his ground asked him how he did he answered very well but before the Minister was gone far from him his bowels fell out which he carried in his hands got to his house sent for Mr. Goodman bitterly bewailed his sin against his Father and so died And Dr. Taylor in his great exemplar tells us of another that upon discontent with his Father wisht the House might be on fire if ever he came any more into his Fathers House Afterwards coming in it was fired indeed and this wicked Son only consumed I could multiply instances of this nature for indeed the Righteous Judgement of God hath multiplied them But this only for a taste Thirdly Heathens will rise up in Judgement against you and condemn you They never had such precepts nor presidents as you and yet some of the better natured Heathens would have rather chosen death than to do as you do You remember the story of Croesus his dumb son whose dear affections could make him speak when he saw Croesus in danger though he never spake before yet then he could cry out O do not kill my Father But what speak I of Heathens the Stork in the heavens yea the Beasts of the earth will condemn the disobedience of Children Fourthly These are sins inconsistent with the true fear of God in whomsoever they are found That a man is indeed which he is in his family and among his relations He that is a bad child can never be a good Christian. Either bring testimonials of your godliness from your relations or it may be well suspected to be no better than counterfeit Never talk of your obedience to God whilst your disobedience to the just commands of Parents gives you the lie Fifthly A parting time is coming when death will break up the family and when that time comes Oh how bitter will the remembrance of these things be When you shall see a Father or a Mother lying by the wall what a cut will it be to remember your miscarriages and evils They are gone out of your reach you cannot now if you would give them any satisfaction for what you have done against them but oh how bitter will the remembrance of these things be at such a time Surely this will be more insupportable to you than their death if the Lord open your eyes and give you repentance and if not then Sixthly What a terrible thing will it be to have a Father or Mother come in as witnesses against you at Christs Bar As well as they loved you and as dear as you were to them in this world they must give evidence against you then Now what a fearful thing is it for you but to imagine your Parents to come before the Lord and say Lord I have given this child many hundred reproofs for sin I have counselled perswaded and used all means to reclaim him but in vain he was a child of disobedience nothing could work upon him What think you of this Inference 2. Have you such a pattern of obedience and tender love to Parents then children imitate your pattern as it becomes Christians and take Christ for your example Whatsoever your Parents be see that you carry it towards them becoming such as profess Christ. First If your Parents be godly O beware of grieving them by any unbecoming carriage Art thou a Christian indeed thou wilt then reckon thy self obliged in a double bond both of grace and nature to them O what a mercy would some children esteem it if they had Parents that feared the Lord as you have Secondly If they be carnal walk circumspectly in the most precise and punctual discharge of your Duties for how knowest thou O Child but hereby thou maist win thy Parents Wouldst thou but humbly and seriously intreat and perswade them to mind the waies of holiness speaking to them at fit seasons with all imaginable humility and reverence Insinuating your advice to duties or trouble for their evils rather by relating some pertinent History or proposing some excellent example leaving their own Consciences to draw the conclusion and make applicaâ—ion than to do it your selves it 's possible they may ponder your words in their hearts as Mary did Christs Luk. 2.49 51. And would you but back all this with your earnest cries to Heaven for them and your own daily example that they may have nothing from your selves to retort upon you and thus wait with patience for the desired effect O what blessed instruments might you be of their everlasting good Inference 3. To conclude let those that have such Children as fear the Lord and endeavour to imitate Christ in those daies account them a singular treasure and heritage from the Lord and give them all due incouragement to their duties How many have no Children at all but are as a dry tree And how many have such as are worse than none The very reproaches and break-hearts of their Parents that bring down their hoary heads with sorrow to the grave If God have given you the blessing of godly Children you can never be sufficiently sensible of or thankful for such a favour O that ever God should honour you to bring forth Children for Heaven What a comfort must this be to you what ever other troubles you meet with abroad when you come home among godly relations that are careful to sweeten your own family to you by their obedience Especially what a comfort is it when you come to die that you leave them within the Covenant Entitled to Christ and so need not be anxious how it shall be with them when you are gone Take heed of discouraging or damping such Children from whom so much glory is like to rise to God and so much comfort to your selves Thus let Christs pattern be improved who went before you in such eminent holiness in all his relations and left you an example that you should follow in his steps The THIRTY SECOND SERMON LUK. XXIII XLIII And Iesus said unto him verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise IN this Scripture you have the third excellent saying of Christ upon the Cross expressing the riches of free grace to the penitent Thief A man that had spent his life in wickedness and for his wickedness was now to lose his life His practice had been vile and profane but now his heart was broken for it he proves a Convert yea the first fruits of the blood of the Cross. In the former verse he manifests his faith Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom In this Christ manifests his pardon and gratious acceptance of him verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise In which Promise are considerable the Matter of it the Person to whom it is made the Time set for its Performance and the Confirmation of it for his
say to you of this place You are a people that were born under and bred up with the Gospel It hath been your singular priviledge above many Towns and Parishes in England to enjoy more than 60 years together an able and fruitful Gospel Ministry among you The dews of Heaven lay upon you as it did upon Gideons Fleece when the ground was dry in other places about you You have been richly watered with Gospel showers You with Capernaum have been exalted to Heaven in the means of Grace And it must be owned to your praise that you testified more respect to the Gospel than many other places have done and treated Christs Ambassadors with more civility whilst they prophesied in Sackcloth than some other places did These things are praise worthy in you But all this and much more than this amounts not to that which Jesus Christ expects from you and which in his name I would now perswade you to and oh that I the least and unworthiest of all the Messengers of Christ to you might indeed prevail with all that are Christless among you 1. to answer the long continued calls of God to you by a through and sound Conversion that the long suffering of God may be your salvation and you may not receive all this grace of God in vain O that the damned might never be set a wondering to see a people of your advantages for Heaven sinking as much below many of themselves in misery as you now are above them in means and mercy Dear friends my hearts desire and prayer to God for you is that you may be saved Oh that I knew how to engage this whole Town to Jesus Christ and make fast the marriage knot betwixt him and you albeit after that I should presently go to the place of silence and see man no more with the Inhabitants of the World Ah sirs methinks I see the Lord Jesus laying the merciful hand of an holy violence upon you methinks he calls to you as the Angel to Lot saying arise lest ye be consumed and while he lingred the men laid hold upon his hand the Lord being merciful unto him And they brought him without the City and said escape for thy life stay not in all the plain escape to the Mountain lest thou be consumed Gen. 19.15 How often to allude to this hath Jesus Christ in like manner laid hold upon you in the Preaching of the Gospel and will you not fly for refuge to him Will you rather be consumed than endeavour an escape A beast will not be driven into the fire and will not you be kept out The merciful Lord Jesus by his admirable patience and bounty hath convinced you how loath he is to leave or loose you To this day his arms are stretched forth to gather you and will you not be gathered Alas for my poor neighbours Must so many of them perish at last what shall I do for the daughter of my people Lord by what Arguments shall they be perswaded to be happy what will win them effectually to thy Christ they have many of them escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour They are a people that love thine Ordinances they take delight in approaching to God thou hast beautified many of them with lovely and obliging tempers and dispositions Thus far they are come there they stick and beyond this no power but thine can move them O thou to whose hand this work is and must be left put forth thy saving power and reveal thine arm for their salvation thou hast glorified thy name in many among them Lord glorifie it again 2. My next request is that you will all be perswaded whether converted or unconverted to set up all the duties of Religion in your families and govern your Children and Servants as men that must give an account to God for them in the great day O that there were not a prayerless Family in this Town How little will your Tables differ from a manger where beasts feed together if God be not owned and acknowledged there in your eating and drinking And how can you expect blessings should dwell in your Tabernacles if God be not called upon there Say not you want time for it or that your necessities will not allow it for had you been more careful of those duties it 's like you had not been exposed to such necessities besides you can find time to be idle you can waste a part of every day vainly Why could not that time be redeemed for God Moreover you will not deny but the success of all your affairs at home and abroad depends upon the blessing of God and if so think you it is not the right way even to temporal prosperity to engage his presence and blessing with you in whose hand your all is Say not your Children and servants are ignorant of God and therefore you cannot comfortably joyn with them in those duties For the neglect of these duties is the cause of their ignorance and it is not like they will be better till you use Gods means to make them so Besides prayer is a part of natural worship and the vilest among men are bound to pray else the neglect of it were none of their sin O let not a duty upon which so many and great blessings hang fall to the ground upon such silly not to say wicked pretences to shift it off Remember death will shortly break up all your families and disband them and who then think you will have most comfort in beholding their dead The day of account also hastens and then who will have the most comfortable appearing before the just and holy God Set up I beseech you the ancient and comfortable duties of reading the Scriptures singing of Psalms and Prayer in all your dwelling places and do all these conscientiously as men that have to do with God and try the Lord herewith if he will not return in a way of mercy to you and restore even your outward prosperity to you again How ever to be sure far greater encouragements than that lye before you to oblige you to your duties 3. More especially I have a few things to say to you that have attended on the Ministry or are under my oversight in a more particular manner and then I have done And First I cannot but with deep resentments observe to you the goodness of our God yea the riches of his goodness Who freely gave Jesus Christ out of his own bosom for us and hath not withheld his spirit Ordinances and Ministers to reveal and apply him to us Here 's love that wants an Epithete to match it Who engaged my heart upon this transcendent subject in the course of my Ministry among you A subject which Angels study and admire as well as we Who so signally protected and overshadowed our Assembly in those dayes of trouble wherein these truths were delivered to you You then sate down under
he turn not he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready he hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors Psal. 7.12 This laies the blood of every man that perishes in his enmity to Christ at his own door And vindicates the righteousness of God in the severest strokes of wrath upon them This also will be a cutting thought to their hearts eternally I might once have had pardon and I refused it The Gospel-Trumpet sounded a parly Fair and gratious terms were offered but I rejected them Inference 3. Is there mercy with God and forgiveness even for his worst enemies upon their submission how unlike to God then are all implacable spirits Some there are that cannot bring their hearts to forgive an enemy to whom revenge is sweeter than life 1 Sam. 24.16 If a man find his enemy will he let him go This is Hell-fire a fire that never goeth out how little do such poor creatures consider if God should deal by them as they do by others what words could express the misery of their condition It 's a sad sin and a sad sign a character of a wretched state whereever it appears Those that have found mercy should be ready to shew mercy and they that expect mercy themselves should not deny it others This brings us upon the third and last observation viz. DOCT. 3. That to forgive enemies and beg forgiveness for them is the true character and property of the Christian spirit Thus did Christ Father forgive them And thus did Stephen in imitation of Christ. Act. 7.59 60. And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Iesus receive my spirit and he kneeled down and cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sin to their charge This suits with the rule of Christ Matth. 5.44 45. But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which dâ—spightfully use you and persecute you That ye may be the children of God your Father which is in Heaven Here I shall first open the nature of this duty and shew you what a forgiving spirit is and then the excellency of it how well it becomes all that call themselves Christians First Let us enquire what this Christian forgiveness is And that the nature of it may the better appear I shall shew you both what it is not and what it is First It consists not in a stoical insensibility of wrongs and injuries God hath not made men as insensible stupid blocks that have no sence or feeling of what is done to them Nor hath he made a Law inconsistent with their very natures that are to be governed by it But allows us a tender sense of natural evils though he will not allow us to revenge them by moral evils Nay the more deep and tender our resentments of wrongs and injuries are the more excellent is our forgiveness of them so that a forgiving spirit doth not exclude sense of injuries but the sense of injuries graces the forgiveness of them Secondly Christian forgiveness is not a politick concealment of our wrath and revenge because it will be a reproach to discover it or because we want opportunity to vent it This is carnal policy not Christian meekness So far from being the mark of a gratiâ—us spirit that it 's apparently the sign of a vile nature It is not Christianity to repose but depose injuries Thirdly Nor is it that moral vertue for which we are beholding to an easier and better nature and the help of moral rules and documents There are certain vertues attainable without the change of nature which they call Homilitical vertues because they greatly adorn and beautifie nature such as temperance patience justice c. these are of singular use to conserve peace and order in the world And without them as one aptly speaks the world would soon break up and its civil scocieties disband But yet though these are the ornaments of nature they do not argue the change of nature All graces in the exercise of them involve a respect to God And for the being of them they are not by natural acquisition but supernatural infusion Fourthly and Lastly Christian forgiveness is not an â—injurious giving up of our rights and properties to the Lusts of every one that hath a mind to invade them No these we may lawfully defend and preserve and are bound so to do though if we cannot defend them legally we must not avenge our wrongs unchristianly This is not Christian forgiveness But then positively It is a Christian lenity or gentleness of mind not retaining but freely passing by the injuries done to us in obedience to the command of God It is a lenity or gentleness of mind The grace of God demulces the angry stomach calms the tumultuous passions new-moulds our sowr spirits and makes them benign gentle and easie to be intreated Gal. 5.22 The fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness c. This gratious lenity inclines the Christian to pass by injuries so to pass them by as neither to retain them revengefully in the mind or requite them when we have opportunity with the hand Yea and that freely not by constraint because we cannot avenge our selves but willingly We abhor to do it when we can So that as a carnal heart thinks revenge its glory the gratious heart is content that forgiveness should be his glory I will be even with him saith nature I will be above him saith grace It is his glory to pass over transgression Prov. 19.11 And this it doth in obedience to the command of God their own nature inclines them another way The spirit that is in us lusteth to envy but he giveth more grace James 4.5 It lusteth to revenge but the fear of God represses those motions Such considerations as these God hath forbidden me Yea and God hath forgiven me as well as forbidden me prevail upon him when nature urges to revenge the wrong Be kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.32 This is forgiveness in a Christian sense Secondly And that this is excellent and singularly becoming the profession of Christ is evident In as much as This speaks your Religion excellent that can mould your hearts into that heavenly frame to which they are so averse yea contrarily disposed by nature It is the glory of Pagan morality that it can abscondere vitia hide and cover mens lusts and passions But the glory of Christianity lies in this that it can abscindâ—re vitia not hide but destroy and really mortifie the Lusts of nature Would Christians but live up to the excellent principles of their Religion Christianity shall be no more out-vied by heathenish morality The greatest Christian shall be no more challenged to imitate Socrates if he can We
shall utterly Spoil that proud boast that the faith of Christians is out-done by the infidelity of Heathens O Christians yield not the day to Heathens Let all the world see the true greatness heavenliness and excellency of your represented pattern and by true mortification of your corrupt natures enforce an acknowledgement from the world that a greater than Socrates is here He that is really a meek humble patient heavenly Christian wins this glory to his Religion that it can do more than all other principles and rules in the world In nothing were the most accomplished Heathens more defective than in this forgiving of injuries It was a thing they could not understand or if they did could never bring their hearts to it witness that rule of their great Tully It is the first office of Iustice saith he to hurt no man except first provoked by an injury The addition of that exception spoiled his excellent rule But now Christianity teaches and some Christians have attained it to receive evil and return good 1 Cor. 4.12 13. Being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we intreat This certainly is that meekness wrought in us by the wisdom that is from above Iam. 3.17 This makes a man sit sure in the Consciences of others who with Saul must acknowledge when they see themselves so out-done thou art more righteous than I 1 Sam. 24.16 17. had we been so injured and had such opportunities to revenge them we should never have passed them by as these men did This impresses and stamps the very image of God upon the Creature and makes us like our heavenly Father who doth good to his enemies and sends down showrs of outward blessings upon them that pour out floods of wickedness daily to provoke him Matth. 5.44 45. In a word this Christian temper of spirit gives a man the true possession and enjoyment of himself So that our breasts shall be as the pacifique Sea smooth and pleasant when others are as the raging Sea foaming and casting up mire and dirt Inference 1. Hence we clearly infer that Christian Religion exalted in its power is the greatest friend to the peace and tranquillity of States and Kingdoms Nothing is more opposite to the true Christian spirit than implacable fierceness strife revenge tumults and uproars It teaches men to do good and receive evil to receive evil and return good The wisdom that is from above is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie and the fruit of Righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace Jam. 3.17 18. The Church is a Dove for meekness Cant. 6.9 When the world grows full of strife Christians then grow weary of the world and sigh out the Psalmists request Oh that I had the wings of a Dove that I might flee away and be at rest Strigelius desired to die that he might be freed ab implacabilibus odiis theologorum from the implacable strifes of contending Divines The rule by which they are to walk is If it be possible as much us lyeth in you live peaceably with all men Dearly beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay it saith the Lord Rom. 12.18 19. It is not Religion but Lusts that make the world so unquiet Iam. 4.1 2. Not godliness but wickedness that makes men bite and devour one another One of the first effects of the Gospel is to civilize those places where it comes and settle order and peace among men How great a mistake and evil then is it to cry out when Atheism and irreligion have broken the civil peace this is the fruit of Religion this is the effect of the Gospel Happy would it be if Religion did more obtain in all Nations It is the greatest friend in the world to their tranquillity and prosperity Inference 2. How dangerous a thing is it to abuse and wrong meek and forgiving Christians Their patience and easiness to forgive often invites injury and encourages vile spirits to insult and trample upon them but if men would seriously consider it there 's nothing in the world should more scare and afright them from such practices than this You may abuse and wrong them they must not avenge themselves nor repay evil for evil true but because they do not the Lord will even the Lord to whom they commit the matter and he will do it to purpose except ye repent Be patient therefore Brethren unto the coming of the Lord Jam. 5.7 will ye stand to that Issue Had you rather indeed have to do with God than with men When the Jews put Christ to death he committed himself to him that judgeth Righteously 1 Pet. 2.22 23. And did that people get any thing by that Did not the Lord severely avenge the blood of Christ on them and their Children Yea do not they and their Children groan under the doleful effects of it to this day If God undertakes as he alwaies doth the cause of his abused meek and peaceable people he will be sure to avenge it seven fold more than they could His little finger will be heavier than their loins You will get nothing by that Inference 3. Lastly Let us all imitate our pattern Christ and labour for meek forgiving spirits I shall only propose two inducements to it The honour of Christ and your own peace Two dear things indeed to a Christian. His glory is more than your life and all that you enjoy in this world O do not expose it to the scorn and derision of his enemies Let them not say how is Christ a Lamb when his followers are Lyons How is the Church a Dove that smites and scratches like a bird of prey Consult also the quiet of your own spirits What is life worth without the comfort of life What comfort can you have in all that you do possess in the world as long as you have not the possession of your own souls If your spirits be full of tumult and revenge the spirit of Christ will grow a stranger to you That Dove delights in clean and quiet breasts O then imitate Christ in this excellency also The THIRTY FIRST SERMON JOH XIX XXVII Then saith He to the Disciple Behold thy Mother WE now pass to the consideration of the second memorable and instructive Word of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross contain'd in this Scripture Wherein he hath left us an excellent pattern for the discharge of our relative Dutys It may be well said the Gospel makes the best Husbands and Wives the best Parents and Children the best Masters and Servants in the world seeing it furnishes them with the most excellent precepts and proposes the best patterns Here we have the pattern of Jesus Christ presented to all gratious Children for their imitation teaching them how to acquit
illumination Ier. 31.34 Gratious softness and tenderness of heart Ezek. 11.19 The awful dread and fear of God Ier. 32.40 The Copy or transcript of his Laws on your hearts in gratious correspondent principles Ier. 31.33 These things speak you the Children of the Covenant the persons on whom all these great things are settled Inference 2. To conclude it is the indispensible duty of all on whom Christ hath settled such mercies to admire his Love and walk answerably to it First Admire the Love of Christ. O how intense and ardent was the Love of Jesus who designed for you such an inheritance with such a settlement of it upon you These are the mercies with which his Love had travailed big from eternity and now he sees the travail of his soul and you also have seen somewhat of it this day Before this Love let all the Saints fall down astonished-humbly professing that they owe themselves and all they are or shall be worth to eternity to this Love Secondly And be sure you walk becoming persons for whom Christ hath done such great things Comfort your selves under present abasures with your spiritual priviledges Iam. 2.5 And let all your rejoycing be in Christ and what you have in him whilst others are blessing themselves in vanity Thus we have finished the state of Christs humiliation and thence proceed to the second state of his Exaltation HAving finished what I designed to speak to about the work of Redemption so far as it was carried on by Christ in his humbled state we shall now view that blessed work as it is further advanced and perfected in his State of Exaltation The whole of that work was not to be finished on earth in a state of suffering and abasure therefore the Apostle makes his Exaltation in order to the finishing of the remainder of his work so necessary a part of his Priesthood that without it he could not have been a Priest Heb. 8.4 If he were on earth he should not be a Priest i. e. if he should have continued alwaies here and had not been raised again from the dead and taken up into glory he could not have been a compleat and perfect Priest For look as it was not enough for the sacrifice to be slain without and his blood left there but after it was shed without it must be carried within the vail into the most holy place before the Lord Heb. 9.7 So it was not sufficient that Christ shed his own blood on earth except he carry it before the Lord into heaven and there perform his intercession work for us Moreover God the Father stood engaged in a solemn Covenant to reward him for his deep humiliation with a most glorious and illustrious advancement Isa. 49.5 6 7. And how God as it became him made this good to Christ the Apostle very clearly expresses it Phil. 2.9 Yea Justice required it should be so For how could our surety be detained in the prison of the Grave when the debt for which he was imprisoned was by him fully discharged so that the Law of God must acknowledge it self to be fully satisfied in all its claims and demands His Resurrection from the dead was therefore but his discharge or acquittance upon full payment Which could not in Justice be denyed him And indeed God the Father lost nothing by it for there never was a more glorious manifestation made of the name of God to the World than was made in that work Therefore it 's said Phil. 2.11 Speaking of one of the designs of Christs Exaltation it was saith the Apostle That every Tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father O how is the Love of God to poor sinners illustriously yea astonishingly displayed in Christs Exaltation When to shew the Complacency and delight which he took in our recovery he hath openly declared to the world that his exalting Christ to all that glory such as no meer creature ever was or can be exalted to was bestowed upon him as a reward for that work that most grateful work of our Redemption Phil. 2.9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him there is an Emphatical Pleonasmus in that word our English is too flat to deliver out the elegancy of the Original it is Super-Exaltation The Seriack renders it he hath multiplyed his Sublimity The Arabick he hath heightened him with an height Iustin he hath famously exalted him Higher he cannot raise him a greater Argument of his high satisfaction and content in the recovery of poor sinners cannot be given For this therefore God the Father shall have glory and honour ascribed to him in Heaven to all Eternity Now this singular Exaltation of Jesus Christ as it properly respects his humane nature which alone is capable of advancement for in respect of his divine nature he never ceased to be the most high So it was done to him as a common person and as the head of all believers their representative in this as well as in his other works God therein shewing what in due time he intends to do with the persons of his Elect after they in Conformity to Christ have suffered a while What ever God the Father intendeth to do in us or for us he hath first done it to the person of our representative Iesus Christ. And this if you observe the Scriptures carry in very clear and plain expressions through all the degrees and steps of Christs Exaltation viz. his Resurrection Ascension Session at the right hand of God And returning to Iudge the World Of which I purpose to speak distinctly in the following Sermons He rose from the Dead as a common person Col. 3.1 If ye then be risen with Christ saith the Apostle so that the Saints have Communion and fellowship with him in his Resurrection He Ascended into Heaven as a common person for so it 's said in Eph. 2.6 He hath raised us up or exalted us together with Christ. He sits at Gods right hand as a common person for so it follows in the next clause and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Iesus We sit there in our representative And when he shall come again to Judge the World the Saints shall come with him So it is Prophesied Zech. 14.6 The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee And as they shall come with Christ from Heaven so they shall sit on Thrones with him judging by way of suffrage They shall be assessors with the Judge 1 Cor. 6.2 This deserves a special remark that all this honour is given to Christ as our head and representative for thence results abundance of comfort to the people oâ— God Carry it therefore along with you in your thoughts throughout the whole of Christs advancement Think when you shall hear that Christ is risen from the dead and is in all that glory and authority in Heaven How sure the salvation of his Redeemed is For if
Mr. Coverdale well translates filii non negantes such as will keep touch with me and will answer their Covenant engagements And again surely thou wilt fear me thou wilt receive instruction And shall not all this engage you to God What! neither the antient and bountiful love of God in contriving your Redemption from eternity nor the bounty of God in rewarding all and every piece of service you have done for him Nor yet the pleasure he takes in your obedience and upright walking Nor the incouraging promises he hath made thereto nor yet his confident expectations of such a life from you whom he hath so many waies obliged and endeared to himself will you forget your antient friend Contemn his rewards take no delight or care to please him Slight his promises and deceive and fail his expectations Be astonished O ye Heavens at this And be horribly afraid Consider how God the Father hath fastned this five fold cord upon your Souls and shew your selves Christians yea to use the Prophets words Esa. 46.8 Remember this and shew your selves men Secondly You are yet farther engaged to this precise and holy life by what the Son hath done for you is not this pure and holy life the very aim and next end of his death Did he not shed his blood to redeem you from your vain conversations 1 Pet. 1.18 Was not this the design of all his sufferings that being delivered out of the hands of your enemies you might serve him in righteousness and holiness all the daies of your life Luk. 1.74 75. And is not the Apostles inference 2 Cor. 5.14 15. highly reasonable if one dyed for all then were all dead and that he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that dyed for them Did Christ only buy your Persons and not your services also No no who ever hath thy time thy strength or any part of either I can assure thee Christian that Christ hath paid for it and thou givest away what is none of thine own to give Every moment of thy time is his Every Talent whether of grace or nature is his And dost thou defraud him of his own Oh how liberal are you of your pretious words and hours as if Christ had never made a purchase of them Oh think of this when thy life runs muddy and â—oul When the fountain of corruption flows out at thy tongue in idle frothy discourses or at thy hand in sinful unwarrantable actions doth this become the redeemed of the Lord Did Christ come from the bosom of his Father for this Did he groan sweat bleed endure the Cross and lay down his life for this Was he so well pleased with all his sorrows and sufferings his pangs and agonies upon the account of that satisfaction he should have in seeing the travail of his Soul Isa. 53.11 as if he had said Welcome Death welcome Agonies welcome the bitter cup and heavy burthen I chearfully submit to all this These are travailing pangs indeed but I shall see a beautiful birth at last These throws and Agonies shall bring forth many lively Children to God I shall have joy in them and glory from them to all Eternity This blood of mine these sufferings of mine shall purchase to me the Persons Duties Services and obedience of many thousands that will Love me and Honour me Serve me and Obey me with their Souls and Bodies which are mine And doth not this engage you to look to your lives and keep them pure Is not every one of Christs wounds a mouth open to plead for more holiness more service and more fruit from you Oh what will engage you if this will not But Thirdly This is not all as a man when he weigheth a thing casteth in weight after weight till the scales are counterpoised so doth God cast in engagement after engagement and argument upon argument till thy heart Christian be weighed up and won to this heavenly life And therefore as Elihu said to Iob cap. 36.22 Suffer me a little and I will shew thee what I have yet to speak on Gods behalf Some Arguments have already been urged on the behalf of the Father and Son for purity and cleanness of life and next I have something to plead on the behalf of the Spirit I plead now on his behalf who hath so many times helped you to plead for your selves with God He that hath so often refreshed quickened and comforted you he will be quenched grieved and displeased by an impure loose and careless conversation and what will you do then Who shall comfort you when the Comforter is departed from you When he that should releive your souls is far off Oh grieve not the holy Spirit of God by which you are sealed to the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 There is nothing grieves him more than impure practices For he is a holy Spirit And look as water damps and quenches the fire so doth sin quench the Spirit 1 Thes. 5.19 Will you quench the warm affections and burning desires which he hath kindled in your bosoms if you do it is a question whether ever you may recover them again to your dying day the Spirit hath a delicate Sence It is the most tender thing in the whole world He feels the least touch of sin and is grieved when thy corruptions within are stirred by temptations and break out to the defiling of thy life then is the holy Spirit of God as it were made sad and heavy within thee As that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 4.30 may be rendred For thereby thou both resistest his motions whereby in the way of a loving constraint he would lead and guide thee in the way of thy Duty yea thou not only resistest his motions but crossest his grand design which is to purge and sanctifie thee wholly and build thee up more and more to the perfection of holiness And when thou thus forsakest his conduct and crossest his design in thy soul then doth he usually with-draw as a man that is grieved by the unkindness of his friend He draws in the beams of his evidencing and quickning grace Packs up all his divine Cordials and saith as it were to this unkind and disingenious Soul Hast thou thus requited me for all the favours and kindnesses thou hast received from me Have I quickened thee when thou wast dead in transgressions did I descend upon thee in the Preaching of the Gospel and communicate life even the life of God to thee leaving others in the state of the Dead Have I shed forth such rich influences of grace and comfort upon thee Comforting thee in all thy troubles helping thee in all thy duties satisfying thee in all thy doubts and perplexities of soul saving thee and pulling thee back from so many destructive temptations and dangers What had been thy condition if I had not come unto thee Could the Word have converted thee without me
Could ministers could Angels have done that for the which I did And when I had quickned thee and made thee a living soul what couldst thou have done without my exciting and assisting grace Couldst thou go on in the way of Duty if I had not led thee How wouldst thou have waded through the deeps of spiritual troubles if I had not born thee up Whither had the Temptations of Satan and thine own corruptions carried thee before this day if I had not stood thy friend and come in for thy rescue in the time of need Did I ever fail thee in thy extremities Did I ever leave thee in thy dangers Have I not been tender over thee and faithful to thee And now for which of all these kindnesses dost thou thus wrong and abuse me Why hast thou wounded me thus by thy unkindness Ah thou hast requited my Love And now thou hast eat the fruit of thy doings Let the light now be darkness Thy Songs turned into howlings The joy of thine heart the light of thine eyes the health of thy countenance even the face of thy God and the joy of salvation be hid from thee This is the fruit of careless and loose walking To this sad issue it will bring thee at last and when it is come to this thou shalt go to Ordinances and Duties and find no good in them no life quickning comfort there When thy heart which was wont to be enlarged and flowing shall be clung up and dry when thou shalt kneel down before the Lord and cry as Elisha when with the mantle of Elijah he smote the water Where is the Lord God of Elijah So thou where is the God of Prayer Where is the God of Duties But there is no answer when like Sampson thou shalt go forth and shake thy self as at other times but thy strength is gone then tell me what thou hast done in resisting quenching and grieving the holy Spirit of God by impure and offensive practices And thus you see what engagements lie upon you from the Spirit also to walk uprightly and keep the issues of life pure I could willingly have enlarged my self upon this last branch but that I find a Judicious hand hath lately improved this Argument to which I shall refer the Reader Thus God hath obliged you to circumspect and holy lives Secondly You are under great engagements to keep your lives pure even from your selves as well as from your God As God hath bound you to purity of conversation so you have bound your selves And there are several things in you and done by you which wonderfully increase and strengthen your Obligations to practical holiness First Your clearer illumination is a strong bond upon your souls Eph. 5.8 Ye were sometimes darkness but now ye are light in the Lord walk as Children of the light You cannot pretend or plead ignorance of your Duty You stand convinced in your own consciences before God that this is your unquestionable Duty Christians will you not all yield to this I know you readily yield it We live indeed in a contentious disputing Age. In other things our opinions are different One Christian is of this Judgement another of that but doth he deserve the name of a Christian that dare once question this truth In this we all meet and close in oneness of mind and Judgement that it is our indisputable Duty to live pure strict and clean lives The grace of God which hath appeared to you hath taught you this truth clearly and convincingly 2 Tit. 11.12 You have received how you ought to walk and to please God 1 Thes. 4.1 Well then this being yielded the inference is plain and undeniable that you cannot walk as others in the vanity of their minds but you must offer violence to your own light You cannot suffer the corruptions of your hearts to break forth into practice but you must slight and put by the notices and rebukes of your own consciences Iam. 4.17 He that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Yea sin with a witness Aggravated sin Sin of a deeper tincture than that of the ignorant Heathens Sin that sadly wastes and violates conscience Certainly who ever hath you have no cloak for your sin Light and Lust strugling together great light and strong lusts these make the soul a troubled Sea that cannot rest Oh but when masterless Lusts over-bears Conscience this impresses horror upon the soul. This brake Davids heart Psal. 51.6 Thou hast put knowledge in my inner parts q. d. Ah Lord I went against the rebukes of conscience to the commission of this sin I had a watchful light set up within me I knew it was sin My light endeavoured lovingly to restrain me and I thrust it aside Besides what pleasure in sin can you have Indeed such as for want of light know not what they do or such whose consciences are seared and past feeling they may seek a littâ—e pleasure such as it is out of sin but what content or pleasure can you have so long as your light is ever breaking in upon you and smiting you for what you do This greatly increases your obligation to a precise holy life Again Secondly You are professors of holiness You have given in your names to Christ to be his Disciples and by this your engagement to a life of holiness are yet further strengthened 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity The name of Christ is called upon you and it 's a worthy name Jam. 2.7 It 's called upon you as the name of the Husband is called upon his Wife Isa. 4.1 Let thy name be called upon us Or as the name of a Father is called upon his Child Gen. 48.16 Let my name be called on them and the name of my Fathers Well then you bear the name of Christ as his Spouses or Children and will you not live sutably to your name Every place and relation every title of honour and dignity hath its decorum and becomingness Oh how will that worthy name of Christ be blasphemed through you If you adorn it not with becoming deportments Better you had never profest any thing than to set your selves by your profession in the eye and observation of the world and then to pour contempt on Jesus Christ by your scandalous conversations before the Chams of the world who will laugh at it I remember it was a Memento given to one of his name by Alexander Recordare nominis Allexandri Remember said he thy name Alexander and do nothing unworthy of that name O that 's a heavy charge Rom. 2.24 Through you is the name of God blasphemed among the Heathens Unhappy man that ever thou shouldst be a reproach to Christ. The herd of wicked men they are ignota capita men of no note or observation They may sin and sin again drink swear and tumble in all uncleanness and it passes away silently the world
47. Dying Parents presented with a pattern p. 262 263. Dignity of Christ proclaimed and defended by one of his greatest enemies p. 358. The Doctrine of Christ the most excellent doctrine p. 3 4 5. It s knowledge sufficient to our salvation p. 7. Doctrines what the proper test of them p. 107. Duties even the best need Christs Sacrifice to procure their acceptance p. 1â—8 Duties of Children to their Parents in six particulars opened p. 420 421. E. EMpty they that are full of grace may be empty of the Creature p. 244 245. Ends of Christs death are principally four what they are opened at large from p. 523. ad 540. Enemies of Christ objects of pity p. 406. They that continue so perish inexcusably p. 410. Enemy how dreadful an enemy God is p. 533 534. Enemies of Saints not to be feared p. 583 584. Engage when men first engage in a way of sin they know not where they shall stop p. 306. How dangerous to Engage against persons or wayes till satisfied they are wicked p. 406. Entertainment of Christ in Heaven most magnificent and glorious p. 566. Errors about the Messiah which blinded the Iews in his day p. 403 404. Six Errors about the Hypostaticat Vnion p. 58 59. Esteem of Christ for believers great p. 35. Evening to find mercy in the Evening of our life how great a mercy p. 444. Evidences five Evidences of our Resurrection to eternal life p. 558 559. Evidences that Christ hath compleated and finished Redemption work p. 482 483. Exaltation of Christ how he is to be considered therein p. 540. What were the grounds of it p. 540. What the Comforts resulting from it p. 541. F. FAith the necessity of it to pardon and peace p. 135 136. It s power to thaw and melt the heart p. 335. Heart melting acts of faith p. 336. How it appears that Faith is a rarity in the World p. 338. Faith the proper instrument to raise affections p. 339. Father how astonishing his love was in giving Christ for us p. 42 43. How strongly he willed our Salvation ibid. Fear of Creatures how expelled p. 218. Forgetfulness of Christ foreseen by him p. 275. What an evil to forget Christ. p. 275. Forgiveness with God for the worst of sinners demonstrated p. 348 349. To Forgive Enemies and beg forgiveness for them is Christ like p. 411 412. What fraternal Forgiveness is not p. 411 412. What it is p. 412 413. The excellencies of it p. 413. Forgiveness is with God for such as persecute Christ and his wayes ignorantly p. 407. What divine Forgiveness is p. 407. four Arguments to prove the possibility of Forgiveness to the penitent sinner p. 408 409. The certainty of pardon for humbled sinners p. 409. Forerunner in what sense Christ is so p. 565. Forsake God may for a time forsake his dearest Children p. 449. A two-fold admonition for such a time p. 460 461. Foundation what cause all possessors have to examine it p. 332 333. Friend Christ betrayed by a pretended Friend p. 297. Future state of happiness or misery after this life evinced by five Arguments p. 433 434 435. G. GEthsemane what it signifies and where that Garden is Scituate p. 282. Gift Christ the best gift that ever God gave p. 39 40. Given how Christ was given by the Father p. 40 41. How the Giving of Christ was the highest manifestation of the Fathers love p. 42 43. God What hand he hath about sin p. 342. Gospel falsly charged as the cause of discord p. 404. Government of Christ how sad and dangerous to refuse it p. 202. Our great concernment to understand whose Government we are under p. 203. Grace one drop of it better than a Sea of gifts p. 308. Grave a believer carries six incomparable priviledges with him to the grave and what they are p. 518. Great and learned men greatest enemies to Christ. p. 316. H. HAnd of God what it is p. 492.577 Happiness of Saints objective subjective and formal what and how they differ p. 185 186. Heart of Christ heavy at his death should make ours the lighter when we dye p. 293. Hardness of Heart how dangerous a symptome p. 338. Brokenness of heart how great a mercy p. 339. Heaven will be surprizingly glorious to believers p. 439 440. Hell the terrour of it p. 472. Holiness of God the rule and pattern of our Holiness in four particulars p. 80 81. Holiness is the Image and glory of God p. 535. Holiness the souls chief beauty ibid. Holiness the best evidence for Heaven p. 80. Holiness a spring of comfort in the way to Heaven p. 535. Awful Majesty in holiness p. 627. Holiness the discriminating mark p. 607. Holiness urged upon the redeemed by many great Arguments p. 602. ad finem Honour how Saints are engaged to honour Christ p. 233. Four special wayes of honouring Christ. p. 233 234. Hour The ninth hour what it was and how the day was divided by the Iews p. 447. Humiliation of Christ when it began and ended p. 454. I. A Dreadful Jar betwixt God and us evinced by Christs Mediation p. 86. Jealous what cause professours have to be so p. 377. Ignorance of Christ matter of humiliation p. 8. Natural Ignorance of men implyed in Christs Prophetical office p. 100. Ignorance the cause of enmity to Christ p. 402. Two sorts of ignorance ibid. Ignorant incouraged to wait on Christ on three grounds p. 121 122. Reasons why the Iews were Ignorant who Christ was though heard his Miracles p. 40. Illustrations of the Mystical Vnion p. 57. Imitation of Christ pressed p. 76 77. Implacable spirits opposite to Christ. p. 410. Importunity in prayer warrantable p. 261 262. Impossibility of salvation to them that know not Christ. p. 189 190. Impotency of man to reconcile himself p. 177. Infidelity how unreasonable p. 63 64. Infirmities of our nature tenderly sensed by Christ. p. 62. Ingratitude of the World to Christ how vile p. 242. Inheritance purchased by Christ what and how great p. 183 184. How needful to clear our title to this inheritance p. 191 192. Innocency of Saints will be vindicated p. 366. Institution of Ordinances Christs prerogative p. 266. Instruments used by Christ in governing the World p. 213. Intercession of Christ most valid p. 157. What Christs Intercession is p. 154 155. By what acts he performs it p. 156. Whether it be vocal or only efficacious p. 156. The potency of his intercession proved by divers considerations p. 158. Interposition of our selves betwixt Christ and his dishonour how reasonable what Jerome and Bernard said in the case p. 94 95. Interest in Christ our great concernment p. 558 559. Judas who and what he was p. 298. What the true motives that instigated him to that sin were p. 301. Judas his fearful end p. 302. Judgement committed to Christ p. 589. Evidences of a Judgement to come 590 591. What a great day it will be and why p. 592. The properties of it
maintenance is their due Even Christ himself took care for his Mother Secondly You have had a brief account of the duties of this Relation next let us consider how Christs Example who was so subject to them in his life Luk. 2.51 and so careful to provide at his death enforces all those duties upon Children especially upon gratious Children And this it doth two ways both as it hath the obliging power of a Law and as he himself will one day sit in Judgement to take an account how we have imitated him in these things First Christs example in this hath the force and power of a Law yea a Law of Love or a Law lovingly constraining you to an imitation of him If Christ himself will be your pattern If God will be pleased to take Relations like yours and go before you in the discharge of relative Duties Oh how much are you obliged to imitate him and tread in all his footsteps This was by him intended as a president or pattern to facilitate and direct your Duties Secondly He will come to take an account how you have answered the pattern of obedience and tender care he set before you in the days of his flesh What will the disobedient plead in that day He that heard the groans of an afflicted Father or Mother will now come to reckon with the disobedient Child for them And the glorious example of Christs own obedience and tenderness for his Relations will in that day condemn and aggravate silence and shame such wretched Children as shall stand guilty before his Bar. Inference 1. Hath Jesus Christ given such a famous pattern of obedience and tenderness to Parents Then there can be nothing of Christ in stubborn rebellious and careless Children that regard not the good or comfort of their Parents The Children of disobedience cannot be the Children of God If providence direct this to the hand of any that are so my hearts desire and Prayer for them is that the Lord would search their souls by it and discover their evils to them whilst they shall read the following Queries First Query Have you not been guilty of slighting your Parents by irreverent words or carriages the old man or woman To such I commend the consideration of that Scripture Prov. 30.17 Which methinks should be to them as the hand writing that appear'd upon the plaister of the Wall to Belteshazar The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother The Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the young Eagles shall eat it That is they shall be brought to an untimely end and the Birds of the air shall eat that eye that had never seen but for that Parent that was despised by it It may be you are vigorous and young they decayed and wrinkled with Age. But saith the Holy Ghost despise not thy Mother when she is old Prov. 23.22 Or when she is wrinkled as the Hebrew signifies It may be you are rich they poor owne and honour them in their poverty and despise them not God will requite it with his hand if you do Second Query Have you not been disobedient to the commands of Parents A Son of Belial is a Son of wrath if God give not Repentance to life Is not this the black brand set upon the Heathens Rom. 1.30 Have not many repented this upon a Ladder with an halter about their necks Woe to him that makes a Father or Mother complain as the Tree in the Fable that they are cloven assunder with the wedges that are cut out of their own bodies Third Query Have you not risen up rebelliously against and hated your Parents for chastening your bodies to save your souls from Hell Some Children saith one will not take that from a Parent which Beasts yea and salvage Beasts too Bears and Lions will take from their keepers What is this but to resist an Ordinance of God for your good And in rebelling against them to rebell against the Lord Well if they do not God will take the Rod into his own hand and him you shall not resist Fourth Query Have you not been unjust to your Parents and defrauded them First help to make them poor and then dispise them because they are poor O horrid wickedness What a complicated evil is this Thou art in the Language of Scripture a companion with destroyers Prov. 28.24 This is the worst of theft in Gods account You think you may make bold with them but how bold do you make with conscience and the command of God Fifth Query Are you not or have you not been ungrateful to Parents Leaving them to shift for themselves in those straights that you have helpt to bring them into Oh consider it Children this is an evil which God will surely avenge except ye repent What to be hardned against thine own flesh To be cruel to thine own Parents that with so much tenderness fed thee when else thou hadst perished I remember Luther gives us a story of one and oh that it might be a warning to all that hear it who having made over all he had to his Son reserving only a maintenance for himself at last his Son depised him and grudged him the very meat he eat and one day the Father coming in when the Son and his Wife were at dinner upon a Goose they shuffled the meat under the Table but see the remarkable vengeance of God upon this ungracious unnatural Son the Goose was turned into a monstrous Toad which seiz'd upon this vile wretch and kill'd him If any of you be guilty of these evils to humble you for them and reclaim you from them I desire these six Considerations may be lay'd to heart First That the effects of your obedience or disobedience will stick upon you and yours to many generations If you be obedient Children in the Lord both you and yours may reap the fruits of that your obedience in multitudes of sweet mercies for many generations So runs the Promise Eph. 6.23 Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou maist live long on the earth You know what an eye of favour God cast upon the Recabites for this Ier. 35.8 from the 14. to the 20. verse and as his blessings are by promise entailed on the obedient so his curse upon the disobedient Prov. 20.20 Whoso curseth his Father or his Mother his Lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness i. e. the Lamp of his life quencht by death yea say others and his soul also by the blackness of darkness in Hell Secondly Though other sins do this sin seldom escapes exemplary punishment even in this world Our English History tells us of a Yeoman of Leicestershire who had made over all he had to his Son to prefer him in marriage reserving only a bare maintenance at his Sons Table Afterward upon some discontent the Son bid his Father get out of his