a poore miserable creature commend my love commend my mercy to such a poore soule and tell him though hee hath beene an enemy to me yet I am a friend to him tell him though he hath beene a traitor to mee I have beene a good King to him he hath beene a rebell to mee but tell him I have beene a good God to him commend my love to him and let him know that all his sinnes are done away for the Lord Jesus died for sinners when they were sinners This is the argument of Saint Iohn If God so loved us as that he gave his onely begotten Sonne for us how ought wee to love one another I collect from hence But how then ought we to love God himselfe It was this that kindled the frozen heart of Saul he had a heart almost as cold as ice and yet this did worke upon him Marke what the text saith When David had taken Saul on the hip 1 Sam. 24.19 and had him at advantage and might have taken away his life and yet would not when hee saw that David was so kinde and would doe him no hurt David knew Saul persecuted him and desired to kill him hee was the most profest enemy he had and was the onely man that stood betweene him and the kingdome Now when David had him in his hands and spared him this kindnesse of David wrought even upon the heart of a Saul and kindled a kinde of love in him as the text saith Thou art more righteous than I for thou hast rewarded mee good and I have rewarded thee evill and thou hast shewed this day that thou hast dealt well with me forasmuch as when the Lord had delivered mee into thine hands thou killedst me not for if a man finde an enemy will hee let him goe well away wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day So that wee see a Saul is warned and his love is kindled towards David for his kindnesse So when the soule considers what is the Lord thus gracious to me who ever found an enemy and slew him not Had it not beene just with the Lord to take advantage against me Had it not beene just that I which lived in sinne should have perished for my sinne Had it not beene just that I which loved my corruption should have perished for my corruptions But that the Lord should finde an enemy and not slay him nay that the Lord should finde an enemy and send his Sonne to save him is wonderfull Let my soule for ever love that God and rejoyce in that mercy this would work almost upon a Devill If the soule had but the sap and sweetnesse of this it could not but warme the heart of an humbled sinner and kindle in him an abundant love to God who hath beene so loving to him Particular 3 Lastly the greatnesse of the sweetnesse of the mercy of God this inflames the soule the sweetnesse warmes it the freenesse kindles it and when the greatnesse meets with these it sets the soule all in a burning flame This is the ground the Apostle presseth to the Ephesians he desireth that they may be rooted in love that is stablished with mighty strong love how shall that be Why the text saith comprehending with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge as who should say can you but once comprehend the unmeasurable dimensions of Gods love and goodnesse this will kindle and inflame your hearts with admirable love to the Lord Jesus When the sinner thinkes thus with himselfe I that have done all that I could against so good a God that my heart even bleeds to thinke of it there was no name under Heaven I tore in peeces but Gods Name his wounds and heart and life I have torne all nay there was no command in the world that my soule so much despised as the command of the Lord Jesus There was no spirit that ever spake to me which I so much resisted as the Spirit of the Lord. Oh how many sweet motions hath the Lord let into my soule that he might plucke mee from my base courses and sinfull practices but I have flowen in the face of his blessed Spirit If I had lien in a dungeon and had beene plagued with torments all my life time yea though I had another world of misery to live in it is infinite mercy so the Lord would passe by these base dealings and pardon these rebellions of mine But that God should send his Sonne to love mee so incomparably so unconceivably that I could not hate him so much as he loved me I could not so exceed in unkindnesse towards him as he hath exceeded in kindnesse towards mee Oh the height of this mercy beyond my desire Oh the breadth of this mercy without all bounds Oh the length of this mercy beyond all times Oh the depth of this mercy beneath all miseries Were my eyes made of love I could nothing but weepe love were my tongue made of love I could nothing but talke love were my hands made of love I could nothing but worke love and all too little for that God that hath loved mee so admirably so unmeasurably What shall I love if I love not the Lord I love all things but I love God above all things Psal 18.1 I love thee dearly O Lord my strength saith David this is the last particular whereby the soule comes to bee all on a flame and hath a burning affection towards the Lord Almighty Vse 1 We come now to the application of the point that so wee may reape some good to our soules thereby First then it is a ground of instruction which I desire to presse unto you because it is both seasonable and profitable From the former Doctrine therefore wee collect and conclude undeniably that there is no sufficiency in a naturall heart to be carried to the Lord Jesus Christ or to the worke of grace wee have not this before God doth give it unto us nay we cannot move towards God or be carried in the least kind to love or delight in him further than the Lord will carry us himselfe and beare up our hearts by the hand of his Spirit It is true and wee finde it by wofull experience it is in our power to love the world it is in our power to delight in our lusts Nay being but naturall men it cannot be but that we should love our selves and love our honour and our ease and profit and applause in the world There is enough of this foolish wild-fire there is enough of this carnall selfe-love in every mans heart But to love the Lord Jesus Christ and to have a heart inlarged with joy to him this is a worke of grace which groweth not in our gardens there is not one sparke of this holy fire and spiritual delight in our hearts Nay we cannot buy it nor borrow it
against the mighty It is nothing for a man to say I did not such a thing and I was loth to put my finger in the fire before I was called I tell thee thou wert called to it such a man such a Minister that saw the Gospell lie at the stake and had not a heart to grieve for it and a hand to succour it hee is guiltie thereof the Lord will spew such newâ—ets out of hiâ— mouth Revel 3.16 I would thou wert either hot or cold because thou art neither therefore I will spew thee out of my mouth that is either openly prophane or soundly sincere be something appeare in your colours either a Saint that may be saved or else a Devil that may bee damned otherwise the Lord will vomit you out of his mouth cold water is best digested and a mans stomacke by hot water is least offended but luke warme water is most loathsome so the Lord hates and abhors a luke-warme Laodicean foole that is of no side because â—he is not sincere hearted of any side Ranke 3 The third and last sort is your fawning Hypocrite who pretends extraordinary zeale for Christ and expresseth outwardly much love to goodnesse and will speake for a good cause and hazard himselfe therein and yet when he hath done all and shewed himselfe a friend to Christ in profession hee proves in conclusion a most bitter enemy Saul was just such a fawning Hypocrite God commanded him to goe against the Amalekites 1 Sam. 15.3 and destroy all Now Saul pretends great matters what he would doe and what he had done for the Lord and when Samuel came to meet him Saul said Blessed be thou of the Lord I have performed the Commandement of the Lord as if he had said I am glad you are here that I may give up my account I have done what the Lord enjoyned me to doe and am glad that I may approve my heart unto thee herein but Samuel presently convinced him and said What means then this bleating of sheepe in mine eares and this lowing of Oxen which I heare As who should say hast thou done the commandement of the Lord No though I were silent yet the lowing of Oxen and the bleating of Sheepe can testifie that Saul is an hypocrite and a dissembler and hath not discharged nor performed the duty God commanded him he bade kill all but thou hast saved some But leaving these I come a little to discover divers other sorts of Hypocrites amongst us and they may bee ranked into foure sorts First there is a whining Hypocrite Secondly the wrangling Hypocrite Thirdly the glorious Hypocrite and fourthly the presumptuous Hypocrite I shall hardly peruse any of these at this time I will onely touch the second a little which I thinke to bee seasonable and that is the wrangling hypocrite There are a company of wretched men in the world that fawn and flatter and pretend to doe great kindnesses and they professe they are at your command to serve you to doe what you will and performe what you please but trie them and prove them and you shall finde it otherwise they will not openly professe that they will not doe the thing but when all comes to all they pretend these and these inconveniences will follow if they should doe it they will not professely say they will not doe the kindnesse but they will make a plea that they ought not that they should not doe it and it is against reason that you should require it so these Hypocrites they resolve to live no longer they resolve that they would not enjoy any thing in this world they would not bee any thing or doe any thing but onely so farre as the Lord Iesus may be honoured and his Gospell promoted If they thinke they should promote the Gospell of Christ more another way than this they would not undertake it but when it comes to this passe that a man must leave his honour and livings and profits which so neerly concerne him for Christ then his tricke is this hee doth not professe â—y say I will have pleasure or profit and not Christ but he will wrangle with Christ and stand upon tearmes with God and say hee ought not to doe this it is not fit he should doe it there is no command for the thing Beloved it is admirable to observe the spirit of these men when the word comes cleere to them when the duty is revealed and required at their hands Oh how they will search farre and neere to invent arguments to make it no duty and turne over all bookes and as he spake wittily rake the Devils skull that so they may have some shift not to doe that which they ought It is a pretty trick to bee observed amongst great men that follow the fashion First they resolve to conforme themselves to the Word of God revealed but when the fashion comes up they will plead for that too and now the question is not what they must doe but what they will doe for all fashions must bee lawfull because they are resolved to use them I will propound one truth onely to these men observe it in thine owne soule doe not thinke to wrangle out the truth and to quarrell with the Gospell or to make any pretence against that way which God hath chalked out before thee and against any duty God commands thee But art thou in good earnest content that that should bee true which God will have to bee true Art thou willing those things should bee naught which the Word of God saith are naught Men may talke what they will but they have their reservations still and there is a league betweene them and their base courses which they will not bee convinced of There is a secret way of sinning which they will not leave but plead for it that their Conscience may not flie in their faces and that they may not goe professely against the evidence of the truth Beloved these men give no contentment to Christ but to their owne corrupt hearts One gives content to the fashion and weares that another gives content to his libertie hee will not bee hazarded Therefore hee will do any thing rather than he will be undone now this man loves freedome and not the truth of Jesus Christ hee will not suffer imprisonment for it This gracious worke of the Spirit was never wrought in these mens hearts JOHN 6.45 Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto mee WE are now come to the worke of the will which is the great wheele as it were the great commander of the soule we are now come to the chamber of presence the former affections I told you they were but as handmaids to usher in Christ and the promises The minde saith I have seene Christ hope saith I have waited desire I have longed love and joy say that is here which wee have received and entertained here is that which will supply all wants that
towards Zion a cup of poison and a stone of stumbling when he had spoken of all the bulwarks that God had made and all the goodnesse and mercy that he had shewed to his people and the malice and wrath of his enemies he saith This God is our God even for ever as if he had said The Lord did provide for his people in Egypt and overthrew proud Pharaoh that set himselfe up against God and this God is our God when thou art in the wildernesse this God is thy God when thou art in persecution this God is thy God and the God of all thus he stores up while the season lasts And as thou must observe what God doth to others Note this so labour to treasure up thine owne experiences 2 Tim. 4.18 He hath delivered us and hee doth and will deliver us saith the Apostle and the Prophet David saith I remember thy judgements of old O well fare a good old store I remember saith he how thou didst rebuke Abimelech and overthrow Nimrod and Nebuchadnezar and Achitophel Oh it is admirable to consider these things I received comfort saith he God will overthrow every enemy and this is store for thy faith to worke upon Psal 89.49 Where are thy former mercies David is afore hand with God now he is not come to buy food just at the time of famine but it is laid up before hand Rule 2 We must lay it in abundantly lay in promises of all kindes you had better leave than lack How to lay in matter for our faith and it is the wisdome of a man to have somewhat to spare and to have an overplus aforehand that a man may not live feebly and poorely and be at his wits end at every turne and knowes not which way to shift for himselfe and have no bread in his house I meane no provision of promises by him Isay 42.23 Whose is wise let him heare for after times as if hee had said You must not only lay in promises just for the present but store them for afterwards as the chapman saith I shall want this at such a time and so the husbandman saith I shall have occasion for this or that at such a time and therefore they get aforehand O that God would give us these hearts it is good as we may so say to keepe promises in pickle that wee may spend them at leasure 1 Kings 17.6 7 8 9. Iezebel had threatned to kill Eliah but shee mist of her worke for shee was slaine her selfe and he went to heaven and never died at all the text saith Hee went and hid himselfe by the brooke Kerith and when all victuals failed the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening and when all that failed too the Lord said unto him Arise get thee to Sareptha I have commanded a widow there to sustaine thee 1 King 18.4 Obadiah hid a hundred of the Prophets of the Lord by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water and in another place the text saith In the dayes of famine thou shalt have enough these precious promises will be good meat in Lent when haply thou shall sit under an hollow tree and creep among the bushes then three or foure of these promises will give a man a good meale of comfort therefore store them up for they will doe you no harme and when you are driven from house and friends and all and God takes away the Gospell from us which God of his mercy prevent Amen and give us hearts to speake to him that he may prevent it onely your wisdome will be this to get all promises for this and a better life for the getting of grace and the preserving in grace and not only to pray by a promise but to live by a promise and trade by it and to enjoy all that you have by a promise if you will have comfort in it therefore be sure that you sort the promises aright every promise is not for every purpose but each promise suits for each occasion and therefore suit them all imagine a man wants comfort and strength against sinne why then that promise will not fit them wherein the Lord saith Hee will be with them in six troubles and deliver them in seven that for a temporall deliverance he doth not want that but power against his corruptions Againe if a man feare that he shall not hold out in perseverance now that promise doth not sit wherein the Lord saith Hee will pardon all his sinnes and cast them all as a milstone into the bottome of the sea this is not for perseverance in grace if thou seekest for succour there thy hand is in the wrong box but that promise is for this purpose wherein God saith I will knit them to mee with an everlasting love and I will write my lawes in their inward parts that they shall never depart from me any more So there are promises for deliverances in trouble and for comfort in affliction and in a word Gods infinite free grace is scattered in so many promises according to so many necessities and severall occasions that is all healing and saving vertue is in God so he dispenseth it to so many drops and severall promises therefore we must doe with the promises as the Apothecarie doth with his drugs he puts Bezar stone into one and Studdine that if the body be weake and low then your Bezar stone is good for him and so for the rest so that as the Apothecary hath all drugs so he hath sorted them all so deale you with the promise and word have the command of God to owne thee and the promise of God to comfort thee and that thou maist sit thine owne soule let it be a suitable promise suppose thou findest thy heart proud and stubborne then thou maist not looke upon mercy and pardon but looke upon the justice of God and how hee lookes upon the proud afarre off hee gives grace to the humble but resisteth the proud here is studdy for thee to pull downe thy proud heart and when thou findest thy heart full of venome and malice against the Ministers of God now that Bezars stone doth not fit thee therefore apply this Hee that hates his brother in his heart is a man-slayer and no man-slayer shall enter into the kingdome of God and he that hates his brother is a childe of the Devill these are vomits that fit thee Rule 3 Lastly we must lay them up that we may have them at hand To lay up the promises bring your provision home and leave it not in the market it is a folly for a man to say I have as good provision as can bee but I have it not here Colos 3.16 Let the Word of God dwell in you plenteously and richly in all wisdome First observe the plenty of our provision it must not be scantie but richly and wisely and it must dwell in you