the seed that fell among thorns is expounded of them that are choaked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life It betraies them to idleness as you may see it did Sodom Ezek. 16. 49. Common experience tells us that is the mother and nurse of all impietie God knowing this oft as a wise Physitian opens a vein to prevent a disease cuts short his own people as to their portion in this world lets them bloud in their estates and honours to prevent in them those sins which the wicked mans abundance solicites and betrays him to 3. As it imbitters every affliction and makes death more terrible O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at rest in his possessions to a man that hath nothing to vex him hath prosperitie in all things O death acceptable is thy sentence to the needy Ecclesiasticus 4. 1 2. which place though I dare not adopt into Scripture yet I dare take it for a certain truth Affliction disquiets him and death terrifies him he is building Tabernacles here and enlarging his barns and hugging his present enjoyments in this life quam solùm suam vitam putant qui aeternam desperant saith Augustine upon my Text. And truely they must needs tremble to part with their portion in this life who despair of getting any portion in another 4. As it encreaseth his wo and undoes his soul to eternitie The prosperitie of fools shall destroy them saith the Wise-man Prov. 1. 32. The abuse of his earthly portion will render him the more inexcusable Rom. 2. 4. at the last day and how sad is it to treasure up the world and wrath together As it is comfortable for Christians to consider that all their afflictions here will encrease their future glory when every tear they have here wept shall turn into a pearl to beautifie and enrich their crown so it is miserable to think how the wicked mans present prosperitie shall afterward encrease his misery That 's a terrible place Revel 18. 7. How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her the very remembrance of which will be part of hell to him How will that strike him to the very heart Luke 16. 25. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things c and that 's the last account I shall give you of this mans miserie who hath his portion onely here VI. Consider the miserable portion such a man shall have in another life which Scripture acquaints us with Psal 11. 6. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup and 't is parabolically expressed in Mat. 24. 51. He shall be cut asunder his portion appointed him c. then shall he wish he had gone without a portion in this world then shall many an unjust Ahab curse the day that ever he had any thing to do with a Naboth's vine-yard Then shall many an Ananias Sapphira curse the day in which they enriched themselves by Sacriledge when those hands shall burn in eternal flames which here fingred that fewel which should have kept the fire alive upon the Altar Then shall an unjust Felix curse his bribes and oppressours their extortion covetous worldlings their usurie and cunning Merchants their gains their cheats and over-reaches in trading And how miserable do you conceive their case to be when many a Dives who here is arrayed in purple and silk shall there lye down clothed and enwrapped in flames when many who here inhabit the stateliest palaces shall there dwell with everlasting burnings Isa 33. 14. when many who here fare deliciously every day shall then with Dives call for and that in vain too a drop of cold water Luke 16. 24. when many who here chaunt to the sound of the viol as in Amos 6. 5. that take the timbrel and the harp and rejoyce at the sound of the Organ as Job describes them chap. 21. 12. shall have no other musick but the weepings and howlings and gnashing of teeth of damned wretches This miserable portion of wicked men is that which Scripture oft suggests to us as the account of God's providence in dealing them out a portion of the world here and as a means of conquering all distrustfull repinings to this Job refers us chap. 21. 30. The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath and David Psal 37. 35 36. I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree yet he passed away and lo he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found David overcame his temptation when he went into the Sanctuary and understood the end of these men Psal 73. 17. that God had set them in slipperie places and so being the higher they were in danger of the greater fall verse 18 19. and that their present happiness was but as a dream verse 20. short and deceitfull Give me leave to allude to that place Genes 48. 13 14. when Jacob was to bless Josephs sons Joseph set Ephraim on his left hand and Manasseh on the right but Jacob on the contrary laid his right hand on Ephraim and his left on Manasseh many who are here set on the right hand of the world enriched with the greatest blessings it can afford shall at the last day be set on Gods left hand and be dispatched with that sentence Go ye cursed Matth. 25. 41. and those whom the world sets on her left as scorned and contemned shall be found amongst those on Gods right hand who shall receive the blessing and the kingdome of their Father vers 34. I hope this is sufficient to clear up the providence of God and to demonstrate the miserie of wicked men having onely a portion in this life I beg leave to illustrate all with a relation out of profound Bradwardine and so I shall conclude â—radw l. 1. c. â—1 this doctrinal part The relation is of a certain Hermite who was tempted to blasphemy as conceiving the judgements of God unjust in that he saw the wicked prosper and the righteous afflicted in which distrust there appeared an Angel sent from God to him in the shape of a man bespeaking him thus Follow me saith he and thou shalt see the hidden judgements of God whom the Hermite obeying followed to the house of a very religious man who received them with much courtesie all night they departing the next morning the Angel took away a cup which the good man much affected and gave it to a very wicked man with whom they lodged the next night the third night they were received by a very godly man whose servant the Angel in the morning drowned in the well the fourth night being entertained courteously by a very religious host the Angel slew his childe at which the Hermite much wondring desired to
built up in the holy faith strenghned in the truth quickned in holiness and in a word through faith be brought unto salvation as is intimated in that of our Saviour John 20. 31. These things are written that you might believe and that believing you might have life But a little more particularly these are concerned in the search of Scripture 1. Those that are ignorant to be informed and inlightned This is one use of Scripture to be profitable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for instruction 2. Tim. 3. 16. and the Apostle elsewhere tells us that whatsoever was written afore was written for our learning Rom. 15. 4. and this is it for which David so much extols the Law and word of God both in Psal 19. and 119. so frequently confessing that by these commandments he was made wiser then his enemies verse 98. that he had more understanding then his teachers verse 99. and so in many other particulars 2. The more learned and knowing Christians to be quickned and established None are so learned but may be scholars in the school of Christ none but may be further informed or by oft searching the Scripture be more strengthned and confirmed Desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. 2. Grow in grace and grow in knowledge 2 Pet. 3. 18. The word of God is not only seed to beget Christians but milk to strengthen and nourish them The want of the word is compared to a famine Amos 8. 11. In a famine when men have not a daily and constant supply of bread the strength and activity of their bodies decay and languish so will it be in the soul without a daily supply of this Manna this bread which comes down from heaven the Scriptures or word of God there will be a decay in knowledge and a languishing in our graces The most knowing Christian must search the Scripture to have his affections to Gospel-mysteries quickned and enflamed his faith established and his memorie quickned what the Apostle saith of his writing to the Philippians Phil. 3. 1. To write the same things for you it is safe and no less safe for the most knowing Christian still to be reading the same things again and again 3. Those that are distressed Christians to be comforted It was one end of writing the Scripture that we through patience of the Scripture might have hope Rom. 15. 4. and therefore must be one end of our searching them and David by experience found this true in Psal 19. 8. where he saies The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart and very frequently in Psal 119. as that the word was his comfort in his affliction verse 50. that Gods statutes were his songs in the house of his pilgrimage verse 54. that the law was his delight verse 92. and so in many other places much to the same effect And indeed here may we meet with supporting comforts suitable to every condition Here are examples of the patience and comforts of the Saints in the like cases Art thou in want and povertie Consider Daniel preferring his course fare of bread and water before the kings portion Dan. 1. Art thou under reproach and affliction for Christ Consider the Apostles rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ Acts 5. 4. Art thou called to the fiery trial Consider the three children untouched in the midst of the furnace Art thou despoiled of goods and children Consider Job upon the dunghil S. Chrysostom writing to Cyriacus the Bishop then in banishment tells him how he was comforted in the like case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If the Empress saith he will banish me let her Châ—ys ep 125. my comfort is the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof If she will saw me asunder she may I fare no worse then the Prophet Isaiah If she will cast me into the sea I have the the example of Jonah If she will cast me into the fierie furnace so were the three children cast If she will cast me to wilde beasts so was Daniel cast into the den of lions c. Besides all these encouraging examples how many gracious promises are there upon record which are full breasts of consolation as it is in Isai 66. 11. a metaphor saith A Lapide upon that place taken from crying children who are quieted by the breast so are perplexed Consciences by the promises I have read of a woman that was much disquieted in conscience even to despair endeavouring to be her own executioner but was comforted with that place Isai 57. 15. For thus saith the high and loftie one that inhabiteth eternitie whose name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of an humble and contrite spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones And of another man who being ready to dye Lord saith he I challenge thee by that promise Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavie laden and I will give you rest and so was comforted Here is a word of season to him that is weary as in Isai 50. 4. 4. The tempted Christian for strength against the onsets of Satan Here a Christian may meet with that armour by which he may quench the fierie darts of Satan Ephes 6. 17 David overcame Goliah with a stone out of the brook and Christ Satan not by his omnipotencie as he might but by a Scriptum est It is written If Satan assault thee this spiritual Goliah take one stone out of this brook a plain text of Scripture thou mayst conquer and triumph over him He enters the lists disarmed that is ignorant of the Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostom Doth Satan Chrysost Hom. â—n Coloss set upon thee by force Here is the spiritual panoply the whole armour of God especially the sword of the Spirit of which we may say as he of the sword of Goliah There is none like it Or doth he more cunningly endeavour to circumvent thee by his wiles and subtleties here thou mayst be so instructed that thou shalt not as the Apostle saith be ignorant of his devices 2 Cor. 2. 11. that so you may easily countermine his plots As he tempts to sin perhaps upon that suggestion that It is a little one but Scripture will tell thee Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin that is of every sin and the least is death He bids thee Do what others do but the Scripture saith Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil Exod. 23. 2. He bids Put of thy repentance thou mayst repent afterward but the Scripture saith Esau found no place for repentance afterward although he sought it with tears He tells you You shall gain by sin but the Scripture tells you that this seeming gain will prove a real loss Matth. 16. 26. Or that these sins are full of pleasure but the Scripture
profit If the Pharisees be offended with the person of Christ they profit not by but deride his doctrine 3. Because hereby he forfeits those gifts by which he should be able to profit by his preaching As he sinks into profaneness so also into shallowness of apprehension weakness of judgement slipperiness of memory unruliness of passion prejudice against the truth and the like Add to this Gods judicial with-drawments oftentimes of his gifts and the knowledge of his truth from those who abuse the one and hold the other in unrighteousness God as the Apostle tells us gives them over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to an irrational sottishness of minde Rom. 1. 28. John 7. 17. Holiness of conversation is the most effectual and compendious way to encrease our gifts for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal 25. 14. whereas it is not probable he should know much of the minde of God who wilfully neglects to practise it As when it is said of Elie's sons 1 Sam. 2. 12. that they were sons of Belial there follows they knew not the Lord. Sin obscures the undeerstanding and corrupts principles and forfeits our gifts and then they are little like to profit 4. A bad example is more prevalent to corrupt and mislead men then good counsel is to profit and advantage them Suadet loquentis vita non oratio Life-oratory is the most powerfull Seneca gives the Scneca ep 6. reason Homines magis credunt oculis quà m auribus Men believe what they see more then what they hear And they who give their doctrine the lie in their lives are not like to perswade others to credit it When those whom the Apostle exhorts to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5. 3. the examples of the slock lead the sheep of Christ astray by their lives Observe what God chargeth the Prophets of Jerusalem with Jer. 23. 15. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets Behold I will feed them with worm-wood and make them drink the water of gall for from the Prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land and Mal. 2. 8. Ye are departed out of the way ye have caused many to stumble at the Law When these stars are erratick no wonder if those who walk by their guidance wander If the salt want savour no wonder if the people be not seasoned with knowledge and grace A godly Minister is a daily preacher while his life is a standing reproof to sin and an argument of piety Sermo tuus in exemple tuo videbitur sic non solùm praeceptor veri Senec. ep 20. sed testis eris It is said of Christ that he was a Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 24. 19. mighty in deed as well as in word S. Paul who so oft exhorts other to mortification brings his own body into subjection and himself runs as an example to provoke his Corinthians so to run that they might obtain 1 Cor. 9. 24 25 26 27. How beautifull are the feet of those that preach the Gospel of peace Rom. 10. 15. Their feet their walking not their tongues onely their speaking I shall end this with Pauls advice to Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 16. Take heed to thy self and unto thy doctrine We must do both as ever we expect savingly to profit either our selves or them that hear us I shall end all with a double Application First To the Ministers that they should endeavour so to preach that they may profit not barely that they might please for delect are Lib. 4. c. 12. de doct Christ 1 Cor. 9. 16. suavitatis docere necessitatis saith Austine necessity is laid upon you yea woe too if you preach it not to profit by it Preach to profit I. In conformitie to the examples of Christ and his Apostles that ye may write after their copy Christ came not to seek his own glory John 8. 50. and I receive not honour from men saith he John 5. 41. Christ makes it the badge of a false prophet to seek himself and his own glory John 7. 18. Christ's message and work was to call sinners to repentance to seek to save what was lost to binde up Matth. 9. 13. Isa 6. 1. broken hearts to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening the prison to them that are bound And the Apostles trod in their Masters steps take the one example of S. Paul who laboured more abundantly then all the rest of the Apostles and all to the profit of the Churches I have kept back nothing which might be profitable to you saith he to the Church of Ephesus Acts 20. 20. he was affectionately desirous of his Thessalonians and he tells his Corinthians more then 1 Thess 2. 8. once of this that he was made all things to all men that he might 1 Cor. 9. 22. save some that he did not seek his own profit but the profit of many 1 Cor. 10. 33 that they may be saved and again I seek not yours but you The care 2 Cor. 12. 14 2 Cor. 11. 28 he had of the Churches he reckons as the greatest of his labours and to name no more how desirous was he of the good of the Philippians that he could rejoyce in being offered as a sacrifice upon the service of their faith Phil. 2. 27. II. To gain and uphold the repute of preaching and the ministers in the hearts of the people Nothing doth this more effectually then plain and profitable preaching The Apostle speakes to this fully 1 Cor. 14. 25. Learned preaching may beget such an admiratition in the people as they may cry you up for a Scholar and quaint preaching may get you the elogiums of an oratour but of the powerfull and convicting preaching of a Christian they will say God is in you 1 Cor. 14. 25 of a truth though such is the ingratitude of many in these days that they are ready to cast durt in the face of that ministery by which unless wilfully blinde they cannot but observe thousands and confess themselves if at all profited and converted III. Because this is the very designe of your office the end of your ministerial gifts and abilities The manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withall 1 Cor. 12. 7. And the Apostle speaking of these gifts which Christ when he ascended gave to the Pastours of his Church Ephes 4. 8 11. tells you the use and end of them verse 12 it is for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ And S. Paul tells his Corinthians that his authority was given him for edification 2 Cor. 10. 8. Those titles whereby Scripture sets out the Ministers and their office speak this They are embassadours 2 Cor. 5. 20. that engages them to negotiate the peoples reconciliation to God Angels Rev. 1. 20. and you know they are ministring spirits sent forth to Minister for
at vers 11. and therefore we must not quarrel with the wisdome of God in it 2. the end for which God hath designed this variety viz. our profit at vers 7. there are not the meanest gifts but an humble self-denying Christian may make use of and profit by 2. This prejudice reflects dishouourably upon God and takes his glory and gives it to the instruments God will have the glory of his power and mercy to be magnified and therefore sometimes uses the meanest gifts to the greatest ends As this advanced his glory at the first that the Gospel should be propounded by such inconsiderable persons as a few fisher-men God consulted his glory when he put this heavenly treasure in earthen vessels 2 Cor. 4. 7. Look not on glittering of the sword but to the hand that weilds it look up from men to God as S. Peter spake to the men of Israel Act. 3. 12. concerning the cure wrought upon the lame man Why gaze ye on us it was not we but God God often uses feeble instruments that himself may have the greater glory and layes aside great parts when men begin to glory too much in them The same truth is John 3. 8. preached by all and the Spirit bloweth where he listeth 3. Perhaps he denies his abilities for thy good He could be Seraphicall and in the clouds but he stoops and descends to thy capacity and denies himself that he may gain thee S. Paul was wrapt up into the third heaven and could speak with tongues more then all 1 Cor. 14. 18. and yet desired to speak rather to edification Judge charitably it is likely the Minister denyes his excellency as desirous that thou shouldst be brought in love with the naked truth of the Gospel and not with the dresse it comes in that the Gospel may come by its own power and efficacy upon thy soul therefore he studies a familiar plainness 4. The abler thy Preacher is if thou profit not so much the more by him the greater will be thy condemnation Satisfie not thy self therefore with this that thou livest under an able Minister men may affect this more for their credit then aiming thereby atttheir profit nor let this exalt thee in contempt of others thy account will be the greater and if thou profitest not so much the more very sad How sad will it be for Jerusalem who had Christ preaching amongst them yet refused and rejected him and those against whom the Apostles shaked of the dust of their feet for the not-entertaining of the Gospel and for you Brethren who enjoy as much of Gospel-light as ever appeared upon the world if you shall be found unprofitable at that day when many who have lived under less means shall be found improved suitable to the means they lived under and so consequently rewarded and you who have been under the richest dews of heaven be found unfruitfull you shall be dispatched with the unprofitable servant Matth. 25. 30. Take you and cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth Away then with these prejudices which must needs make the word unprofitable while one quarrels with the method another with the expression a third with the matter a fourth with the delivery the word is like to profit little Seventhly The seventh ground is hardness of heart That natural hardness which is in every one of us much hinders the working of the word of God in us that heart of stone resists the divine impressions of the word and therefore God when he promises to write his Law in our hearts he first promises to take away this heart of stone Ezek. 36. 26 27. One thing in the stonie heart is impenitrableness and this makes men threatning-proof and judgement-proof they tremble not at the one nor are broken by the other And this especially when the soul comes to be hardned by custome in sin the seed you know which fell on this ground perished Hardned Pharaoh slighted all Moses's messages and remains hard under varietie of Gods judgements both threatned and inflicted Observe the exhortation of the Apostle Heb. 3. 13. To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as if he had said If once your heart be hardned it will be to little purpose to exhort A hard heart may be moved by the word of God but still remain and afterward message of God but still remain and afterward grow more obdurate Pharaoh is a sad example whom every message of God hardned more As rain may wet a stone outwardly but still it retains it's innate hardness so it is possible a hard heart may seem outwardly to melt into some tears the effect perhaps of a mans natural temper and constitution yet remain hard and unbroken as it was with those in the Prophet Jerem. 5. 3. Thou hast smitten them yet they have not grieved c. Notwithstanding the varietie of Gods providences the Prophets solicitations to return they remained hard The Scripture calls this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 11. 8. the spirit of slumber so deep and dead a slumber that the threatnings of the word cannot raise or awaken them out of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaks of the Ephesians in chap. 4. 19. they feel no impressions of the word upon them nay it makes them to rage against it as the Jews did Acts 7. 51. Ye do alwaies resist the holy Ghost that is speaking by the Prophets and Apostles as appears verse 32. The hard earth must be broken up e're your seed will thrive in it so must the hard heart that the seed of Gods word may take rooting in it The word is the instrument of the Spirit to break up the heart and therefore compared to a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces Jerem. 23. 29. and till this be done there can be no profiting by the word Josiah was of a tender heart and so melted at the word of God in 2 Chron. 34. 27. so must all be who intend savingly to profit by the word There is indeed a hardness of heart which excludes all possibilitie of profiting by the word I mean when God seals up men judicially under unprofitableness for their former resisting and opposing the word of God Of which I understand that place John 12. 40. He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their heart that they should not see c. This was Pharaoh's case when he had hardned himself God at last hardned him so that he refused the messages of God to him by Moses till he was utterly ruined when mens consciences as the Apostle saith are cauterized and seared they grow insensible under the word of God and the shinings of the Gospel as the Sun the clay more hardens them as it fared with the Jews Ezek. 2. 4. for all his oft speaking unto them they were impudent or as it is in the margin Hard of face Eighthly The eighth ground is unbelief This
did not presently discharge himself of Jerusalem but after many calls and warnings and wilful contempt of all these How oft would I have gathered thee and thou wouldst not Matth. 23. 37. He warns Ephesus to repent before he takes away the candlestick Rev. 2. 5. Let us then improve this time of patience and the Gospel while we enjoy it lest through the hardness of our heart under it we treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2. 5. The fifth General ground of unprofitable hearing is in respect of Satan who doth what he can to make the word unprofitable several ways and devices Satan hath to compass this end Sometimes he is at your elbow jogging you asleep that men sleep away a Sermon sometimes he steals away the word you have received which our Saviour expresseth by the seed that fell by the ways side Matth. 13. 4 and 19. otherwhile he presents your thoughts with the glory and greatness of the world and so they are wandring and distracted sometimes begetting prejudices in your hearts against the word or the preacher of it and so disaffecting you to the truth preached sometimes suggesting suitable motions and temptations to steal away your hearts from the word as to the voluptuous mans pleasure to the ambitious man honours so suiting their corruptions and by that they prove careless to profit by the word And the truth is the more powerfull the word is the more the devil opposes it and the more the light of the Gospel hath appeared the more hath Satan sent out the smoke of the bottomless pit to obscure it and therefore though the multitude of heresies errours which abound among us be real matter of a lamentation as being a sign that the devil hath set his cloven foot amongst us yet I cannot but from hence conclude there is agreater power of Gospel-light which the devil thus endeavours to extinguish it appears that the sun is up that these locusts swarm so If now you ask me why the devil so much opposes the word and Gospel I answer I. Because himself hath no share in it he is fallen irrecoverablely from God and as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he endeavours to bring others into the same destruction with himself he envied mans estate in paradise and thought to have ruined him but perceiving man by a second covenant in a possibility of a better state then that he more envies his recovery which the Gospel discovers and conveies as being the Gospel of reconciliation and therefore he endeavours to make this ineffectual II. Because it is a means to ruin and demolish his kingdome The word of God is mighty to throw down Satans strong holds 2 Cor. 5. 10. whereby he keeps possession of the soul As the walls of Jericho fell down at the noise of rams horns so at the sound of the Gospel the walls of Satan fall down Some stones out of this brook will conquer our Goliah this sword of the Spirit conquers Satan Ephes 6. 17. When Christ had sent out his seventy disciples to preach the effect of it was that Satan fell like lightning out of heaven Luke 10. 18. that is that power and dominion he exercised before in the world This was one end for which God sent Paul to the Gentiles Acts 26. 17 18. Hence it is that Satan employs all his subtilty and strength against it for where the word comes in power the devil is a looser by it he looseth a subject of his kingdome who by the word is brought from under his obedience While men remain his subjects he lets them alone quietyly all is in peace while the strong man keeps the house but when the Gospel comes to bring his subjects to the obedience of God then he raiseth all the force he can against it by himself and wicked men He hath the possession of our corrupt hearts and therefore will not submit to a dis-possession without much resistance The Gospel brings us from under Satans power by a pure conquest for he will not deliver his right and possession upon terms The devil looks upon it as his interest to oppose the Gospel to uphold and secure his ovvn kingdome Observe vvhat the Apostle suys expressely to this 2 Cor 4. 4. The God of this world hath blinded the eyes of them lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine unto them vvhen the Gospel shines in his full lustre the devil endeavours to blinde men vvith wilfull unbelief that they see it not The ultimate end that Satan aims at in this is the ruine of their souls and therefore in order to it is carefull that they come not to the knovvledge of the truth without which is no salvation 1 Tim. 2. 4. vvhich he knovvs they cannot do vvithout the shining of the light of the Gospel into their hearts and therefore endeavours to hinder it vvhat he can The Prince of darkness rules in dark ignorant souls holds them by those chains of darkness and endeavours to shut their eyes lest by the light of the Gospel they should discover the delusions by which he hath held them captive and so these should be taken from under his obedience as in the day we discover the vanity of our night-phantasies dreams and imaginations In a vvord Satan looseth where the word profiteth therefore he doth all he can to oppose it To conclude with these brief directions by the use of which we may become hearers with profit I. Go to the word as the word and for the word So thou meetest with the wholesome word of God regard not the dress it comes in Bonorum ingeniorum insignis est indoles in verbis verum amare non Aug. de doct Christ lib. 4. cap. 11. verba Augustin Say thou Lord here I come to thy word nothing else will satisfie me not huskes but bread in my fathers house 2. Come to the word as the means of salvation Were men convinced throughly of this that their salvation was concerned in the word they would certainly be more careful to profit They who are soundly taught and instructed by the word of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens observes they mount up to heaven as on eagles wings Think with thy self every Sermon thou comest to Now I come to further my salvation my soul is concerned in this Ordinance this Sermon will be but like Vriah's letter to me a message of death if I profit not by it did men come with these resolutions they could not but go away with profit I shall conclude therefore with that of the Prophet Esay 55. 3. Incline your eare and come unto me hear but remember so to hear as to profit by your hearing and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David FINIS THE SEVERITIE AND IMPARTIALITIE OF DIVINE JUSTICE A Sermon preached before the JUDGES at the Assise at Cambridge July 25. An. Dom. 1654. By JOHN FROST B.
his devotions was solicited to pardon a Malefactour condemned to die he as willing to shake off such an unseasonable importunitie granted the request but Psal 106. 3. suddenly meeting with that passage of the Psalmist Blessed are they that keep judgement and be that doth righteousness at all times recalled the Malefactour and revoked his former grant of mercie upon this reason Principem qui punire potest crimen nec punit non minùs coram Deo reum esse quà m si id ipse perpetrâsset that Prince or Magistrate which can and will not punish sin is in the judgement and sight of God as guiltie of it as if he had commited it There are no men in the world more guiltie of other mens sins then Ministers and Magistrates the first by not reproving the other by not punishing 3. In faithfulness to the offendour to him that doth wrong the Magistrate by punishing him may do him a real courtesie as certainly they did the thief who condemned him to the same Cross with our Saviour and his receiving punishment by the hand of the Magistrate may be a means of his repentance for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Plutarch and so prevent his receiving it from the just hand of God Magistrates in Scripture are oft called Fathers as Pater patriae among the Romans and we know what Solomon saith of them Prov. 13. 24. He that spareth his rod hateth his son and severitie and justice against the sin may oft in the event prove mercie to the sinner but however He that doth wrong shall receive c. 4. In order to the common and publick securitie that by one mans punishment others may fear to sin Which is the account Moses gives of Gods appointment of capital punishments under the judicial law as the seducer from the true worship of God was by Gods command to be stoned Deut. 13. 10. and the end is expressed verse 11. that all Israel might hear and fear and do no more such wickedness And the false witness to be punished Deut. 19. 19 20. That those which remain may no more commit any such evil amongst you That which is a punishment to one becomes a terrour to all Besides punishments are necessarie for the protection of weak and unarmed innocencie to which Magistrates are or should be a refuge and shelter and which is chief for the securitie and defence of the Laws which would be every villains scorn and derision if they were not hedged in with thorns as I may say and secured by punishments For though the most ingenuous principle of obedience be love yet the most common principle is fear and those who will not for conscience sake as the Apostle commands Rom. 13. 5. conform to the Laws yet will for wraths sake for fear of punishment and many whom Religion will not Policie will oblige to obedience God sees it necessarie to secure his own Laws by annexing punishments to them mans corrupt nature is become now servile and with those in Psal 2. 3. would think of breaking all bands in sunder and casting away the cords of Gods commands from them did they not fear as it follows there v. 9. to be bruised with the rod of iron Many keep Gods Laws more out of fear of Hell then out of any love to Holiness and much more invalid will any humane Laws be without punishments annexed If men could promise themselves securitie from the punishment which the Law threatens they would quickly indulge themselves the libertie of violating what the Law commands I like not indeed Draco's Laws which were so cruel that they were said to be written in bloud not with ink nor approve of Caligula's decrees which were termed furores non judicia and surely capital punishments should then onely be inflicted when the Laws cannot be secured nor the publick safetie and peace preserved without them But without some punishment neither can be safe the Magistrates authoritie would be contemned and the Laws like Cobwebs swept down by every hand and therefore those same men I mean the Socinians and others who inveigh against all punishments especially if capital as a breach of charitie charge the Laws too as a violation of Christian libertie these are timely to be looked too Magistrates in Scripture are called Physitians it is a cruel pitie in a Physitian to Isa 3. 6 7. spare an ounce or two of corrupt bloud and thereby endanger the health of the whole bodie A Gangren'd member must be cut off that the whole be not corrupted immedicabile vulnus ense rescindendum est Nè pars sincera trahatur so must a corrupt member of the Common-wealth and however this may seem crueltie to the Offendour yet I am sure it is mercie and pitie to the Publick which can oft no otherwaies be secured and preserved from danger By this time I hope you see the Magistrates right to punish them who do wrong but lest the great Nimrods of the world might here take sanctuarie and because of their own power or policie or of the Magistrates cowardize or partialitie they may hope to escape the stroke of the civil sword and so be encouraged to tyrannize and wrong others let them know they shall certainly receive at the hand of God for what ever wrong they do c. that brings me to the II. The indispensabilitie of divine justice A truth very necessarie to be demonstrated because though the worst of Atheists fear it a clap of thunder strikes a Caligula under his bed as fearing the stroke of a revenging justice and a discourse of it strikes a cruel Felix into a fit of trembling yet many would go for Christians who do not believe it or at least do not express the power of such a perswasion in their lives Would there be so many mightie Nimrods hunters after their neighbours estates and lives so many unjust Ahabs and the like if they really believed they should receive for that wrong they do from the hand of an indispensable impartial justice Truth is men must offer violence to the principles of natural conscience in which there are strong impressions of this truth as being that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that judgement of God which the Apostle saith the Heathen though given over to a reprobate sense had a Rom. 1. 28 32. knowledge of before they can cast off all thoughts and jealousies of a revenging justice but few live under the actual belief of it the fear of it scares them but the belief of it doth not reclaim them Truth is most men have many carnal prejudices against it as to do thus is the mode of the world and I shall escape as well as others and not to do it will cross my gain and profit and that which indeed is the chief and makes most Atheists is present prosperitie they can do wrong and yet thrive and prosper and this makes many think God rather likes and approves of the sin then intends to punish
curiositie II. Not the presumptuous searcher of Scripture who would measure all Scripture-mysteries by his own reason and apprehension and neglecting learning of his Christian dutie presumes to examine and thinks to comprehend Gods secret councels and where the Apostle is put to his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he question 's not but he can fathom He is searching more what God decreed from enternitie then what himself ought to do in time It was a good saying of Seneca Nusquam verecundiores esse debemus quà m cùm de Deo agitur Modesty never becomes us better then when we speak of God especially when we seach into his Actings and Councels which it is modesty and pietie to admire boldness and presumption to search too much into which the Apostle calls An intruding into those things he hath not seen vainly puft up by his fleshly minde Coloss 2. 18. III. Not the discoursive searcher who searches into Scripture onely that he may have matter of discourse not that he may have matter to practise and that perhaps scoffingly as that Apostate Julian who said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he had read understood and contemned the Scripture This is to read it onely as a historie or idlely and vainly jesting with the Scriptures and those searchers have Scripture at their tongues end but not at their hearts which our Saviour reproves here in these Jews who were great searchers of Scriptures verse 28. such who have Bibles in their houses but not the word of God dwelling richly in their hearts as the Apostle commands in Coloss 3. 16. Scripture-discourse is good if it be pious serious and to build up one another but Scripture-practise is better IV. Not the prejudiced opinionated searcher of Scripture who comes prepossessed with an opinion and so prejudiced against the truths of the Gospel and onely searcheth Scripture so far as will comply with and Patronize that opinion Men come possessed with some high notions and phantasies of their own and then they wrest the Scripture and make it stoop to those prepossessions and this is the reason why many men finde so little in Scripture that they finde it very hard to veil and submit their Speculations and Notions to the simplicitie of Gospel-truth V. Not the superstitious searcher of Scripture who rests in the opus operatum the work done such searchers were these Jews who were wont to number the letters in the old Testament and could tell you how oft every letter was used so carefull were they of the Bible that in an heap of books they would not suffer another book to lie on the top of a Bible and if any did by chance let it fall they were certainly punished for it so writes Brentius but this they Brentius in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost accounted their righteousness and thought to have life and happiness in the bare reading of the Scripture which was that for which Christ here blames them not that they searched but that they thought to have life by doing it though they neglected and persecuted Christ at verse 40. Plus aequo illis tribuistis saith Grotius They thought if they did enlarge their Phylacteries and read the Law so many times over they were secure of everlasting life VI. Not the careless and irreverent searcher of Scripture who sometimes runs over a few chapters of the Bible as the Papists mumble over their Ave-Maries without any reverent apprehensions of God the Authour of Scripture or minding the matter or mysterie of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost He does not say onely barely Read and know but Search the Scriptures VII Not the carnal secure searcher who comes to the reading of the Scriptures with a resolution to go on in his sins whatsoever the Scripture saith to the contrarie Let Scripture say what it will they will do what they list such as these can read the Promises of God yet remain unbelieving his Threatnings and not tremble his Judgements and with a proud Pharaoh grow harder by them his Commands yet neglect and disobey them that as Noah's unclean beasts in the Ark went in unclean and came out unclean so these come to the reading Scripture and hearing the Word and remain still secure in sin and hardned in their iniquitie as those in Jeremiah 44. 16 17. that told the Propher plainly As for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hear it VIII Not the the profane searcher of Scripture who searches the Scripture onely to finde what may seemingly be wrested to Patronize his licentious and wicked practises who makes use of Scripture to cover and excuse his wickedness as we read of those Heathens in 1 Maccab. 3. 28. that made diligent search into the book of the Law that they might print thereby the likeness of their Idols so many search the Scripture onely to find something that may favour a corrupt opinion or a licentious practise Thus Julian the Apostate robbed the Christians of all their goods and estates Patronzing that practise by Matth. 5. 3. Blessed are the poor c. not considering what followed and Chemnitius tell us of one who Chemn loc de paupertate reading that place Go and sell all that thou hast went and sold his Bible too saying jam plenè Christi mandato satisfeci And thus indeed do the Papists who never flee to the refuge of Traditions but when the Scriptures fail them And truly there hath been no erroneous principle or wicked practise but hath endeavoured to shrowd it self under protection of the Scriptures and by this means men have been engaged to wresting Scripture to their own and other mens destructions IX Not the partial quarrelsome searcher of Scripture who quarrels with and casts away all Scripture that makes against him and admits onely that which may suit with his corrupt doctrines Such searchers of Scriptures have Hereticks been in all ages Thus Arius wrested the eighth chapter of the Proverbs out of the Canon as speaking of the eternitie of Increated wisdome and so contradicted his blasphemy in denying the Divinitie of Christ It is that which Irenaeus notes as the Genius of all Hereticks Cùm ex scripturis Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 2. redarguuntur saith he in scripturarum redargutionem convertuntur If Scripture reprove their Heresie they will presently fall out and quarrel with Scripture So the Manichees of old rejected all the Old Testament and Cerinthus all the Gospels but Matthew and the Ebionites all the Epistles and so the Antinomians reject the Law as no part of Scripture or at leastwise not obliging them In a word what Epiphanius of old observed of the Gnosticks we may truely observe of the Hereticks of our times his words are very full and suite with our present Heresies When they finde any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epiphan hares 26. in the Scripture that may make against their opinion then they say That