useful and helpful to any part of the City as occasion is but specially for the benefit of those parishes in which they are We must as some Shop-keepers drive a trade a far off beyond the Seas but be sure not to be idle in our shops at home We must mind others at the Throne of grace but be sure to remember our own people He that starveth his family is not likely to feast his Neighbours Secondly By a fiducial expectation of good or by faith we commend our business to a friend when we cast on him the care of it and trust him with it Ministers commend their friends and affairs to God by beseeching his favour towards them and believing that he will be tender of them We have many cares and fears about our dear friends whom we do love and whom we must leave but faith easeth our hearts by committing them into safer hands The burden of all the Churches lay on Paul and surely t was heavy enough to have broken his back had he not learned the art of faith by which he removed it to stronger shoulders Cast thy burden on the Lord and he shall sustain thee Psa 55.22 Here is our charge and our discharge Our Charge is to cast our burden on the Lord and our Discharge He will sustain thee The Apostle prayeth God for the grace given to the Philippians and prayeth to God for its increase I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine making request with joy 1 Phil. 3.4 5. But mark how he enliveneth his prayer by the soul of faith knowing that without it t would be but a dead Corps Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ vers 6. Our prayers for our people will be to little purpose if faith be not joyned with them There are indeed many blessings in the womb of prayer but without the Midwifery of faith it will never be delivered Whatsoever ye ask in my name beleiving ye shall receive Prayer is the Key that openeth Gods Treasury but Faith is the hand which takes out and receives of his infinite bounty Prayer must have a promise or else t is a Vessel without a bottom and that promise must have faith or else the Vessel lyeth still and cannot stir at all When a full gale of faith fills the sails then the Vessel of prayer launcheth fourth most hopefully and returnest with its riches fraught When God had acquainted Abraham with his intention to destroy Sodom Abraham sensible of his Nephews danger commends him to God by prayer and by faith Gen. 18.23 now mark the issue God remembred Abraham and brought Lot out of Sodom Gen. 19.29 Abrahams prayer hit the mark at which it aimed but t is because the eye of faith leveld the Arrow Faith honours God by committing to him so great a trust as the inestimable fouls of his people and God honours faith by being true to his trust and answering fully his chosens and suppliants faith The Children of Judah prevailed because they relyed on the Lord God of their Fathers faith engaged God in the combate and therefore they could not but conquer 2 Cron. 13. He that prayeth for himself and not for others is fitly compared to an Hedghog who laps himself within his own soft down and turns his brissels to all the World beside And he that prayeth for others without reliance on God through Christ for audience works at the labour in vain and like Penelope undoeth by night all that he wrought in the day The truth is we lye to God in prayer if we do not rely on him after prayer So then for the Preacher to commend his brethren or friends to God is in brief thus much To open their cases and conditions to God in prayer earnestly begging the releif of their indigencies and beleiving that through Christ he will supply all their necessities In the next place I come to the Reasons why the Pastor must commend his brethren and friends to God And they shall be drawn from these three heads From God from the World and from the Brethren themselves Gods propriety in them the Worlds enmity against them and their own impotency do all require that they should be commended to Gods care and charge I shall now shew the necessity of commending them to God that its the greatest good will appear in the Vse because he is the most able loving and faithful friend First In regard of God his propriety in them None so fit to take care of the Child as its Father A brute will venture its self and encounter with that which is much stronger in defence of her own the fearful Hen which hath nothing but flight to secure her self from the Dog will yet hazard a duel against the Kite to protect her little Chickens The blessed Jesus gives this ground why he commends his Chrch to God I pray for them I pray not for the World but for them which thou hast given me out of the World for they are thine Joh. 17.9 I pray not for strangers nor enemies to thee but for thine own people thine one family for them thou hast chosen called loved For they are thine thy jewels thy portion thy temple thy children Men in a flame will venture far to secure their own jewels Nabath would hazard lose his life rather then part with his own portion What cost will some be at and what care will they take to keep their own houses in good repair David would have died that his own Son might have lived Propriety is a sufficient ground for special protection God doth by a general providence take care of all his creatures because of his general propriety in them because they are his creature He feeds the young Ravens and satisfies the hunger of the Sparrows He is upon this account the preserver of man and beast but his special providence is exercised about them in whom he hath a special propriety The Saints are his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peculiar people therefore he hath over them a peculiar protection Hence his peculiar care is compared to a Bird flying over the Nest where her young ones are Isa 31.5 He abhors him as an infidel who doth not provide for his own surely then he will take care of his own himself Aristotle saith Propriety is the ground of all the toyl and labor in the World If all things were common every one would be careless but because it s their own ground therefore they Dung and Plow and Sow it because it is their own wealth therefore they work hard to increase it God hath a propriety in his people they are his by Election The new creature was conceived in Gods eternal purpose before he was born they are his by redemption he paid an infinite price for them They are his by regeneration begotten by him and born of
his gracious presence alone which gives success to every enterprize His blessing can turn not onely Water into Wine temporal mercies into spiritual benefits but even poison into wholsom food every stone thrown at you by your enemies into a precious stone he can cause the wrath of men as the hunter useth the rage of the Dogs for his own ends to work not onely for his praise but also for your profit as a wise Governour meeting with opposite factions in a state while each studieth and striveth to undermine the other serveth his own ends and secureth his own interest by both The wise and powerful God while wicked men plots against his people makes them to conspire for his people The worlds actings are against the Saints intentionally in regard of the malice of their hearts but they are for the Saints eventually in regard of Gods over-ruling hand That Knife which wicked men endeavour to thrust into some vital part of the beleiver to kill him doth but light upon some imposthume and thereby tend to his cure The scorching Sun of persecution doth but ripen him for a glorious harvest Now to this God who can blow upon all his enemies plots and they perish who can breath with his spirit upon his peoples actions and they prosper who can cause all his providences to tend to your spiritual profit and eternal peace I commend you and my prayer shall be Psa 20.2 3 4. The Lord hear you in the day of trouble and the name of the God of Jacob defend you send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you out of Zion grant you according to your hearts gracious desires and fulfil all your counsels For your further comfort know that this God to whom ye are commended is an able friend a loving friend and faithful friend and therefore it is the greatest good I can do for you First God is the most able Friend To have a friend at Court is a great courtesie because such a one can command much but what is it then to have God for your friend who can command all things God is able to do more for you then you can ask or think He is thirty times called Almighty in Job He can do above all expressions beyond all apprehensions What cannot he do for you who made the whole World of nothing and hangs the massy earth upon nothing He is able to defend you from whatsoever is hurtful There is a Dialogue between an Heathen and a Jew after the Jews return from Captivity all Nations round about them being enemies to them The Heathen asked the Jew how he and his country men could hope for any safety because saith he every one of you is a silly sheep compassed about with fifty Wolves I but saith the Jew we are kept by such a Shepheard as can kill all those Wolves when he pleaseth God can with a breath a puff blast all the plots of his enemies and cause their persons to perish how happy are they then who have him for their strong hold The Egyptians had an Idol called Baalzephon Lord of the watch Tower whose Office was to fright such fugitive Jews as fled from their Masters but it seems he was a sleep when the Israelites marcht out of Egypt in a full body God is pleased to call himself the watchmen of his people but he is such a watchman as neither slumbereth or taketh those short sleeps by day nor sleepeth or hath any long sleep by night his eyes never close all his thoughts are waking thoughts for the good of his people If enemies come before them He is the Lord of Hosts If behind them he is their rere-ward It was said of the Palladium in Troy that whilst that Image remained there the City was impregnable and that till the Greeks found out a stratagem to steal that Idol away they could not take it Whatever fancy there was in that this is a truth that God is the defence of a people and while he is present they are safe Are your dangers bodily he can bear off those blows No evil can arrest you without leave from this King Al his Servants are Courtiers and thereby priviledged persons He can make an hedge about your selves your houses and all that ye have as about Job 1. and 10. and then neither men not Devils can make a gap for any to enter and injure you Hesiod speaks of thirty thousand Demy-Gods that were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Keepers of men The true God keepeth his in a Pavilion as a Prince his Favourite from the mischeif of others envy and malice Psa 31.20 If afflictions be near he will not be far off He ventures his fortune in the same bottom with his people When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee and through the waters it shall not come nigh thee Isa 43.2 If the Church be a burning bush it will not be consumed because God is in it As it is safe in the fire so also in the Water though it be a Vessel as that wherein the Disciples were sailing in a rough Sea tost up and down with tempestuous winds and boystrous Waves nay filled almost with waters and ready to sink yet there is no fear because Christ is in it for though he seem to sleep waiting onely for a fit opportunity to manifest and magnifie his power yet when the storm comes he will be sure to awake and with his word of command to cause a calm The Church as Hierom saith of Arcturus semper versatur nunquam mergitur is much tossed but never drowned God is in the midst of her she shall never be moved he shall defend her and that right early God is said to ride on the Heavens for his peoples help Deu. 33.26 27. That is either he will come speedily as the heavens move swiftly for his peoples deliverance he will not delay till it be too late but prevent them with his love Or he hath power and will command all his creatures to be serviceable to his Churches safety he rideth on the Heavens for thy help As a man that rides on an horse can command it or turn it and wind it with a curb and bit which way he pleaseth so can the Omnipotent God command the Heavens and all their Host for his peoples help Though enemies come with open mouth to swallow the Church up quickly yet she will be gravel in their teeth and should they ever take her down as the Whale did Jonah yet God will force them to vomit her up again and make them find by woful experience that she is too hard a morsel for the strongest persecutors stomachs to digest Are your fears spiritual God is able to be your defence It s probable your suspicions are great that you shall fall off or fall away The World is a slippery place but he is able to keep you from falling Jude v. 4. We are apt to fall on the right hand by its
in such good hands as Gods and that the publique faith of Heaven is ingaged for the payment of all your bonds For be confident he who will not suffer a Lyer to enter Heaven will much less suffer a lye to enter his own heart faithful is he that hath promised and also will do it 1 Thes 5.24 Thus my dearly Beloved I commend you to the favour and affection power and protection care and benediction of this God who is so able so loving and so faithful a friend But as I desire and shall endeavour by faith and prayer to commend you to God so I cannot but hope and I beg it of all amongst you that have any interest at the throne of grace that ye would commend me to God I beseech you for the Lord Jesus Christs sake that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me Rom. 15.30 Before I conclude as I have commended you to God so let me commend you to and commend to you the Word of his grace Julius Cesar being forced to swim for his life held his Commentary in one hand above water and swam to land with the other Without question you have more cause to value the word of Gods grace The law breatheth forth a cold blast a northwind of threatning but the Gospel sendeth forth a warm gale a Southwind of promises grace of all Gods attributes must not be neglected love can least endure to be slighted O let me beseech you for the Lords sake for your souls sake to value the Gospel Alas what are ye without it but condemned Malefactors every moment liable to be called forth and hung up as monuments of Gods fury in Hell If ever poor creature in fear every moment of being fetcht out of the Prison and carried to the Gallows did esteem a pardon sure I am ye have cause to prize the Gospel O sirs how had all of us at this day been shut up under the Laws curse in the Dungeon of endless wrath and misery had not the Gospel opened the prison doors knockt off our shackles and set our souls at liberty I commend the word of his grace to you under a fourfold consideration First To purifie your affections I know ye want grace now the word of grace can beget grace and increase grace It s the usual pipe through which grace may be conveyed into the vessels of your hearts The Laws of men may reform your actions but t is the Gospel of God which can renew your affections Some Poets speak of Musicians that by the force of their musick can make stones leap into Walls and tame beasts be they never so savage The word of Gods grace will do much more t will turn stones into Children of Abraham t will change an heart of stone into an heart of flesh t will tame Lyons and turn them into Lambs Isa 11.4 5 6. It hath made the very hearts of them to bleed whose hands were imbrued in the blood of the Redeemer Let your endeavour be that this word of grace may come with power to your souls that you may not onely hear it but savour it and not onely read it but rellish it O my friends the lack of this is the undoing of thousands What is the reason that some who seemed very fair for Heaven fall away fouly and as some Marriners boast can sail with all winds to what Haven soever they blow truely this the Gospel though sometimes it conquered their outworks never surprised the royal Fort of their hearts though it darted in some light yet it was never received in the love of it O therefore let me beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 Ah how sad will it be for you if your hearts be like rocks on which the dews of grace falling make no impression as the Apricock Tree leaneth on the wall but is rooted in the earth so many seem to lean on Christ but are rooted in their lusts the word of grace abused is the condemnation If grace be your enemy ye have no friend in Heaven or Earth The fruits of no Trees ripen so fast the sins of no men grow so great as of them that stand constantly in the sunshine of the Gospel If the Gospel be not a morning star to you a forerunner of an eternal day by ushering in the Sun of righteousness upon you it will be an evening star to you bringing on you an everlasting night of death and darkness As the Ocean landeth some vessels safely at their happy ports when it sinketh others so the word of Gods grace will either be a savour of life unto life or a savour of death unto death 2. To be the rule of your conversations Your whole race must be regular and there is no such rule to walk or work by as the word of his grace As many as walk according to this rule Gal. 6.16 that is according to the Gospel It containeth not onely promises for your consolation but also precepts for your conversations therefore it s called a royal Law Jam. 2.8 A Law because it is to be the canon of our lives the Law delivered on Mount Sinai is by Christ adopted into the Family of the Gospel A royal Law because given us by God the King of the World who hath Soveraignty and Dominion over all and therefore power to command what he pleaseth The word of his grace is a royal Law because the Kings high-way out of which road none may wander under the penalty of Rebellion Indeed the Gospel is a Law of liberty but not a Law of licentiousness Jam. 1.25 It freeth us from the curse but not from the commands of the law A true Christian is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without law but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the law to Christ 1 Cor. 9.21 Look therefore to this Royal law Expound it and comment on it in your lives Let it be your rule for faith The Gospel is the onely Creed he that beleiveth this is a true beleiver As the Word Christ is the personal foundation so the Word of Christ is the Doctrinal foundation for every Christian to build on Ephes 2.19 20. This we beleive saith Tertullian when we first beleive that we ought to beleive nothing beyond the Scriptures Paul proves himself a true beleiver because he beleived all things written in the Law and Prophets Act. 24.14 Make it your rule for worship To serve God according to your own inventions or mens prescriptions is Rebellion and dis-service As the Moth eats out the Garment and the Rust the Iron so doth an Apochryphal worship in time eat out an Evangelical worship Mat 15.7 All worship of God without warrant is like private coyning mony high Treason against the King of Heaven God though men durst not charged Jeroboam with this crime He offered upon the Altar which he had made in the moneth which he had devised of his own heart 1 King 12.33
to give you an inheritance amongst all them that are sanctified HVmane Histories have been valued at such an high price that they have been dedicated to the most honourable persons as worthy of their serious perusual Plinies natural History to Vespatian Our English History to King James the small Treatise which Paulus Jovius wrote De Rebus Turcicis unto the great and mighty Emperour Charls the fifth scarce any National piece but its presented into the hands of the Prince Surely Divine Histories then such as this Treatise The Acts of the Apostles which contain the Heroick acts of the Lords worthies in their combats with and conquests over not onely men and the world but sin and Satan deserve the eye and ear and hearts of a Noble Theophilus of great and small of all men whatsoever The former part of the new Testament contains the great mistery of Christ the Head of his Church This book of the Acts contains the glorious History the Church the body of Christ In the beginning of the book some particulars are mentioned of all the Apostles to Chap. 13. but it treats most largely of Pauls trials and travails in regard that as his conversion was most miraculous so his conversation was most illustrious In this twentieth Chapter we have this famous Apostle in his fourth peregrination arriving at Miletus a City upon the borders of Jonia and Caesaria close by the shore of the Egean Sea and sending thence for and speaking to the Ephesian Elders In his speech we may observe these four parts First His Vindication of himself Ministers are bound not onely to look to their Consciences but also to their Credits Naturalists tell us if the Load-stone be rub'd with Garlick it loseth its vertue When the name of a Minister is contemptible his Doctrine will be the less acceptable The Apostle vindicateth himself 1. As to the Integrity of his life ye know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons serving the Lord with all humility and with many tears verse 18. and 19. 'T is excellent when the Pastor can appeal to the consciences of his people for the purity of his conversation Holy Ministers are called Angels Rev. 2. but unholy ones are degenerated into Devils have I not chosen you twelve and one of you is a Devil 2. As to his fidelity in his Doctrine And how I have kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have shewed you and have taught you publiquely and from house to house vers 20. The Steward is faithful who distributeth to every person under his charge their proper and peculiar portion Melch. Ad. The symbole of Wolfius will become every Preacher Pietate labore By a sacred life and sedulous labour he will best declare his love to his people Ministers must be stars by the influence of their lips feeding by the regular motion of their lives confirming and by the light of both directing many Paul magnified his Office why should others debase it Secondly His Exortation to them As he taught them before by his pattern so now by his Precepts take heed to the flocks over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers vers 28. Take heed that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Toti sitis addicti totis animis ad hereatis let all your care and study be for your own and peoples welfare and prosperity like good Shepheards work and watch night and day for the good of your sheep This counsel the Apostle urgeth upon a threefold ground 1. From the person who committed to them this charge take heed to the flocks over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers It concerns you to be true to your trust when t is committed to you by the Spirit of God That unfaithfulness which is but felony against the charge of a subject may be Treason when 't is against the Charge of a Soveraign O 't is ill trifling with the most high Gods trust 2. From the price paid for them To feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his blood verse 28. Things of the greatest cost call for our greatest care souls are infinitely precious and therefore deserve our utmost pains If God thought them worth his blood we may well esteem them worth our tears and sweat 3. From the Peril their flock was in verse 29 30 31. For I know that after my departing shall greivous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them therefore watch c. If Wolves will watch to devour shepheards must watch to defend the sheep Those Commanders who are intrusted with a Garrison when they are sure to have their quarters beaten up had need to be ever upon their guard Thirdly His Prediction of his future sufferings 1. Propounded And now behold I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing what shall befal me there saving that the holy Ghost witnesseth that in every City bonds and afflictions abide me verse 22 23. Christians of all men must bear their Crosses Ministers of all Christians must look to undergo miserie And the more good a Minister hath the more evil he must expect The fuller the Tree is laden the more cudgels will be thrown at it the most fruitful meadows hear oftenest in the year of the Syth Pious and laborious Paul was the chief Butt against which men and Devils shot 2. Amplified From the liberty it thereby denyed them of ever seeing Paul again And now behold I know that ye all amongst whom I have gone Preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more verse 25. Sad news to honest hearts upon a double ground partly their lack of him he had told them of Wolves entering in among them now at such a time for the flock to be without a guide when the storm arose for the Vessell to be without a Pilot when the Souldiers were to engage in hot service with enemies for their expert Commander to be wanting must needs be woful That the Nurse should be taken away before the children could go alone did much affect and afflict their spirits Partly their love to him As Paul was a Religious person and as he was probably their spiritual parent who had begotten them brought them up in the nurture of the Lord and upon all occasions advised and assisted them they could not but love him in an high degree and therefore much lament his loss Fourthly His Valediction to those Ephesian Elders in the words of the Text And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance amongst all them which are sanctified verse 32. before he had given them a command from God and now he commends them to God The words contain the legacy which Paul bequeaths to his Christian friends
hath his Factors in all parts of the world trading for him at the throne of Grace That the Gospel is the word of Gods Grace And to Observ 4 the word of his Grace The word Grace is taken in Scripture 1. For favour or good will Grace be with you And so Col. 1.2 Grace be unto you 2. For the effects and fruits thereof Jude v. 4. Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness The Gospel in both respects is fitly termed the Word of his Grace 1. Because it containeth the Infinite grace and favour of the most high God to Sinners The Law speaks in effect mans bottomless misery but the Gospel speaks Gods boundless mercy the Law is a Court of Justice but the Gospel a Throne of Grace Grace sits as Commander in cheif in the Gospel and as Ahashuerus to Hester holdeth out the golden Scepter of Mercy for poor condemned persons to touch with the hand of faith and live The sum of the Gospel is comprehended in a song of that Angelical Quire Glory to God in the highest peace on earth and good will towards men the substance and body of Gods love to man was never dissected and laid open to the view of mortals till the Gospel was preached Before it ran as a river under ground but in the Gospel it bursts forth and sheweth it self to refresh us with its pleasant streams the Law is as it were a warrant under heavens hand and seal for mans execution but the Gospel like the Dove comes flying swiftly to prevent it with the Olive branch of peace and pardon in its mouth Ephes 1.5 2 Tim. 1.9 Rom 3.24 1 Pet. 3.7 Chusing-grace Calling-grace Justifying-grace and Glorifying-grace are all discovered in the Gospel and therefore it may well be called the word of his grace 2. Because the Gospel is the effect and fruit of Gods grace or good will to men Philosophers observe that dew never falleth in stormy tempestuous weather the dropping of the dew of the Gospel on parched scorched hearts is a sign and fruit of serene calm heavens that our parts of the world like Gideons fleece should be wet with this dew when other parts are dry this is meerly from Grace I have caused it to rain on one City and not upon another Amos 4.7 this rain of the Gospel which cooleth heat melloweth the hearts and cleanseth the unholy goeth by Coasts Psa 147.19 20. 3. Because the Gospel is the usual means of begeting grace As Manna fell about the Isrealites tents with the dew so grace is distilled and dropt down with the Gospel Many of the Jews heard the thunders of Sinai the threatnings of the Law and were not moved but the Baptist wins their children with the songs of Sion the promises of the Gospel Received ye the Spirit by the preaching of the law or the hearing of faith The ice which is hardened by the cold is melted with the Sun When the murderers of our Saviour heard the Gospel they were pricked to the heart Acts 2.37 The hard flint is broken upon the soft pillow That the Gospel is effectual not onely for conversion Observ 5 but also for edification Which is able to build you up The Gospel doth not only bring forth souls to Christ but likewise build up souls in Christ the natural childe is nourished when in the world by the same seed by a further concoction turned into milk by which it was conceived in the womb the spiritual child is begotten by the Gospel I have begotten you through my Gospel and built up by the same 1 Pet. 2.2 As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby That the word of Gods grace can carry men to glory Observ 6 And to give you an inheritance It doth like Moses lead the Saints out of Egypt deliver him from bondage to his lusts conduct him through the Wilderness of the World and also like Joshua bring him into Canaan the land of promise It s called the grace of God which bringeth salvation Tit. 2.11 It bringeth salvation to man and it bringeth man to salvation Obser 7 That Heaven is an inheritance And to give you an inheritance An inheritance is an estate left or given by the Father to his Son and heir Saints are all Gods Sons and his Sons are all first born and so Heirs Gods natural Son is his natural Heir but his adopted Sons are his adopted Heirs and so have an inheritance given them by their Father Others have inheritances by their births Saints have theirs by their new births Their inheritance is incomparable it s the same which the natural Heir hath joynt heirs with Christ Earthly possessions are to it less then nothing Their right to it is indefeasible An inheritance reserved for us in Heaven 1 Pet. 1.3 they can never be deprived of it either by others cruelty nor their own carelesness for t is in Gods keeping reserved for us Obser 8 That the inheritance of Heaven is onely for them that are Holy Among all them that are sanctified None but the Children of God such as are born again are heirs of this inheritance All that are saved must be sanctified The inheritance is undefiled and so must all the inhabitants be If a carnal unsanctified person ever enter into that Royal Pallace he must first make the Gospel a Lye Rev. 2â— ult and God a Lyer And into it can in no wise enter any thing that is defiled or unclean All that are there are admitted into Gods immediate service and will so great a King be served in unclean vessels dirty feet are not for Royal presence Chambers The Doctrine which I intend to prosecute and which will include the substance of the verse is this The Doctrine That the greatest good a Pastor can do for his Brethren whom he must leave is to commend them to God And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace I shall speak principally to the fountain of their being and bliss their recommendation to God and in the close of the Sermon briefly touch the Channel of the Gospel which he hath cut out as the means of conveying his blessings to the Children of men I say again That its the duty and the greatest good a Minister can do for his friends whom he must leave to commend them to God The Apostle had a great love to and tender respect for the Brethren but how doth he manifest it by commending them to God That its the practice duty and greatest kindness of Chistians to commit their friends to God is visible in the Scriptures Paul and Barnabas when they came to Derbe commended the Brethren to the Lord on whom they beleived Acts 14.23 But especially when Parents leave their Children they commit them to the care of some faithful person When Old Jacob was to dye he commends his Children to the living God Gen. 48.15 16. and 49. before Moses left the
Israelites in his Swan-like Song Deut. Chap. 32 and 33. he doth not onely command them Gods precept but also commend them to Gods protection Our blessed Saviour who is an unparralled pattern and president being to depart out of the world and go to the Father would not leave his Disciples fatherless He knew the hearts of his servants were heavy that their Master was to be taken from their head alas what can the Chicken do when the Hen under whose wings they used to be cluckt and cherished was kild therefore he commends them to God as the greatest good which his boundless love could do for them And now I am no more in the the World but these are in the World and I come to thee Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the World but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil c. Joh. 17.11 to 16. How affectionately how pathetically doth he intreat his Father to take the care and charge of them Father keep them Holy Father keep them as if he could never speak it enough How many Arguments doth he use to perswade and prevail with his Father to be the guide and guardian of his Children Father I must leave them O do thou love and keep them that they may not be left alone Father I beg not their immediate translation to glory but onely their preservation in an estate of grace I desire not that they should be kept from the evil of affliction but only from the evil in affliction and shall I be denyed The World hates them for thy sake and what will become of them if thou wilt not help them In the Explication of the Text I shall shew 1. What it is for a Minister to commend his friends to God or how this is done 2. Why it s a Ministers duty and the greatest good a Pastor can do for them from whom he must part is to commend them to God First How a Minister can commend his brethren and friends to God This is done two ways namely by Prayer and by Faith 1. By a cordial supplication to God or by prayer the departing parent appointeth his Executor to be careful of and faithful to his children and so commendeth them to him but the departing Pastor intreateth God to be gracious to and mindful of his people As by preaching the Minister commends God to his peoples acceptation so by prayer he commends his people to Gods benediction The principal part of the Priests Office under the Law was to offer sacrifice and to pray for the people Aaron must bear the names of the children of Israel before the Lord. And the main work of us Ministers of the Gospel is to stand betwixt God and our people by giving precepts from God to them and by putting up prayers to God for them Aaron this wise shall ye bless the people saying unto them The Lord bless shee and keep thee Numb 6.23 We bless them when we beg of God to bless them God blesseth imperatorie by commanding a blessing on men There the Lord commanded his blessing even life for evermore Psal 133.3 Ministers bless impetratorie by commending them to Gods blessing Gods blessing is operative his benedicere est benefacere our blessing is optative onely we wish the blessing and that 's all but God can work the blessing The Apostle Paul usually made prayer the Alpha and Omega the preface and ending of all his Epistles If we observe it well we shall finde that each of them is sented with this sweet perfume Rom. 1.9 and 15.13 and 16.24 1 Cor 1.3 4. and 16.23 2 Cor 1.2 3. and ult ult Gal 1.3 and 6. ult Ephes 1.2 3 15 to 20. and 6.23 24. Phil 1.2 3 4 9 10 11. and 4. ult Col 1.2 3 and 4. ult 1 Thess 1.2 and 3.10 and 5 ult 2 Thess chap 1 and 2 and 2 16 and ult ult 1 Tim 1 2 and ult ult 2 Tim 1 2 and ult ult Tit 1 4 and 3 ult Philemon vers 4 Heb 13 21 22. Prayer was his salutation and prayer was his conclusion nay as some persons of quality seal all their letters with their coats of Arms so the holy Apostle all his Epistles with prayer for the persons to whom he wrote and gives us leave to look on all as forged where this mark was missing The salutation of Paul with mine own hand which is the token in euery Epistle so I write The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen 2 Thess 3.17 18. All Christians must pray for others its their general calling in part Among the Persians he that offered sacrifice prayed for all his Countrymen saith Herodotus lib 1. 9 Pray one for another Jam 5. But it s the particular calling of a Minister We must give our selves to prayer it must be the element in which we breath and live He is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee Gen 20.7 Prophets of all men must be frequent at prayer But there are some persons which Ministers must in a special manner commend to God in their prayers namely the people which God hath committed to their special charge A good House-keeper will releive and help his neighbours and strangers but he hath a greater regard and more tender respect for his children and those of his own Family Our prayers like Sir Francis Drakes ship must incompass the whole World even all in the land of the living that have not sinned the sin unto death I will that supplications and prayers be made for all men 1 Tim 2.1 The higher a man is the further he seeth and the richer a man is the more he releiveth the higher a man is in holiness the further he seeth into others indigencies and the richer he is in grace the more he by prayer begs the releif of their necessities But in the wide earth our eye must principally be on Gods vineyard to water that with our tears and to beg the influence of heaven for the refreshing and ripening the fruits thereof Praying always with all prayers for all Saints Ephes 6.18 the tongue may well pray for the other members of the same body Christ hath taught us this in that Prayer of prayers as a Father calleth it Our Father Father speaketh our faith in God Our enjoyneth charity to our Brethren but in this vineyard our love and labour must be specially for that part of it which is committed to our trust Of all debts Specialties must first be paid Prayer is a debt God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you saith Samuel and and in regard of our particular parishes a Bond a specially We are bound to thank God always for you 2 Thess 1.3 The Ministers prayers as well as his parts are the common stock of the parish in which all have a share Or as the Buckets which hang up in the Churches at London they are
him They are his by promise I entred into covenant with thee and thou becamest mine I will be their God and they shall be my people Now because they are his therefore they go to him for protection I am thine save me Psa 119.94 and therefore he affords them his special and gracious presence Israel is holiness to the Lord the first fruits of his increase all that devour him shall offend evil shall befall them Jer. 2.3 None can wrong God in any thing that is his at an easie rate Secondly The worlds enmity against them The sheep need some Dogs to defend them that have so many Wolves to devour them They who have many and mighty enemies surely want some faithful able friend this was another ground why Christ commended his Disciples to God I have given them thy word and the World hath hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the World Joh. 17.14 Father keep thy Children for they are surrounded with a wicked World whose tender mercies are cruelties Alas what shall become of thy lambs who are ever amongst roaring ravenous lyons if thou shouldst not protect them The old enmity between the Serpent and the Woman is not yet neither ever will be worn out There are natural antipathies between some creatures for which little reason can be given As between the Lyon and the Cock the Elephant and Boar the Cammel and Horse The Serpent saith Aristotle will rather flie into the fire then come near the boughs of a wild Ash but there is a greater antipathy between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent An unjust man is abomination to the just and he that is upright in his way is abomination to the wicked Prov. 29 ult The Eagle saith the Philosopher hath continually enmity with the Dragon and Serpent Saints are Eagles they have enmity with the Serpentine brood but it is odium offencionis they hate wicked mens sins but not their persons They loath the poison but not the cup in which it is As tender Physitians they hate the noisom disease but pity the patient thus the unjust man is abomination to the just but the wicked hate the godly odio inimicitiae with a hatred of perfect enmity wishing evil to their persons and working it to the utmost of their power They that are born after the flesh persecute them that are born after the spirit their rage is so great that were their power answerable to their malice they would cut Israel off from being a people that the name thereof might be had no more in remembrance Indeed every Christian may say as David They hated me without a cause the World hath no just cause to hate and curse the people of God but there is a reason of all their rage and wrath enmity and cruelty against the Saints and that is because they are Saints Wherefore did Cain imbrue his hands in his own Brothers blood Because his own works were evil and his brothers righteous 1 Joh 3.12 The light is burdensom and greivous to Owls and Bats and all night Birds the light of a Saints holiness is offensive to sinners that are used onely to the deeds of darkness nay the greater the light the more painful to their sore eyes Swine cannot endure sweet odours Those that are unclean and delight to wallow in the mire of vice hate the fragrant purfumes of grace The pleasant smell of Spikenard is poisonous to them Horse-flies are kild with Oyntments Now if Saints fight with enemies that are more politique and powerful then themselves they must be conducted by one that is strong indeed or they will be forced to leave the field Besides it is an engagement to God to help his people because for his sake the world hates them A Prince counts it a dishour to forsake him who hath ventured his life and lost his limbs in his cause and quarrel Thirdly Their own Impotentcy They are not able to take care of themselves and therefore must be commended to another In the Civil Law there is provision made for out-casts there are some Hospitals to entertain them By the common law if parents die there are Officers appointed to take care of poor fatherless Children With God the fatherless find mercy Hos 14.3 Those that are Orphans want a Guardian Children which cannot go alone need their Mothers helping hand The strongest Christian is but a child and except God hold him by his right hand will every day get many falls and knocks The greatest Saint is but a glass without a bottom which cannot stand any longer then it is held Hence they are compared to anew born infant which is both polluted and ready to perish if nonetake care of it Ezek. 16.5 If beleivers dangers be temporal their defence must be the Almighty and eternal God or they are foild We have no strength but our eyes are unto thee saith 2 Cron. 20.12 They cannot do the ordinary actions of nature without his assistance who is the God of all grace in him we live and move and have our beings Act. 17.14 They live in him and move by him as they have their beings from him If the fountain fail the streams soon are dryed up If God denieth his influence man droppeth into earth Inesse est de essentia creaturae Inherence is essential to the creature When spiritual perils overtake them they cannot hold out without Gods protection When Hezekiah was left but a little in his own hands how much doth he discover the pride of his own heart Though Peter seemed so resolute and valiant a Captain as to go before all the Apostles in courage yet when Christ did but for an hour or two withdraw how shamefully doth he flye back like a Coward the weak breath of a Maid bloweth down the strong Castle of his confidence If God do but depart from Sampson his strength departs also and the Philistines may make what pastime with him they please The holiest man is no match for a Devil If our God leave us our defence is departed from us and the uncircumcised one will make sport with us indeed All our power for sacred performances is wholly from another Not that we are sufficient of our selves to think any thing 2 Cor. 3.5 To think we suppose is an easie thing but unless God help it is too hard for us God gave Israel their Manna every day or they could not have subsisted God must give us fresh supplies of his spirit in every duty or they cannot be rightly performed The greatest fulness of a Christian is not the fulness of a fountain but of a vessel which because always is letting out must be always taking in The Conduit which is continually running must be always receiving from the River The Christians disbursements are great and constant therefore such must his incomes from God be or he will quickly prove a bankrupt Habitual grace it self lieth as water at the
10. When this fence is removed the vineyard is quicky destroyed When David would pray his worst against the Churches enemies what doth he beg Let them be confounded Psal 12.5 or disappointed in all their designs this is much to conceive with sorrow and to have hard labour and then to bring forth nothing Let them be as the grass upon the house top which withereth before it be grown up vers 6. Let them perish speedily suddenly and irrecoverably this is more The former was bad that they should take much pains to no purpose but this is worse that their pieces that they discharge against others should not onely miss their mark but recoil upon themselves But all this and much more vers ult which the Psalmist addeth as an amplification of the latter Neither let them that go by say The blessing of the Lord be upon you this is worst of all David knew that if they were out of Gods care they should be under his curse and then they should be miserable indeed As an eclipse of the Sun darkens the Creation though the other lights of Heaven shine never so brightly so whatsoever comforts any man enjoyeth if God be wanting he is miserably woful It s Seneca's observation of Alexander He overcame the Persians but he slew Calistines he conquered to the Ocean but he slew Calistines c. That the slaughter of his friend drew a black line over all his honourable enterprizes and as too much shadow to a picture sullied the glory of them It may be said of some men they have large estates but no God they have high preferments but no God they have excellent parts and natural accomplishments but no God This want of a God gives a dash to all the other and like Copris turns all their wine be it never so rich into ink and blackness On the other side the fruition of God is the greatest favour As some write of the Christal that what stone soever it toucheth it puts a lustre and loveliness on it So whomsoever God approcheth to he puts beauty and glory on the soul Because the witness of an Adversary is a double testimony Let Balaam who as some write of a toad had a pearl in his head though his body was poysonous give in his evidence How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel Numb 24.5 He speaks both by way of interrogation and admiration their tents were so comely and their tabernacles so lovely that their very enemy was affected and ravished with them But whence came Israel to be such a well marshalled army that he who came to fight against them thinks them beyond all compare nay doth himself admire their postures and order their glory and gallantry Why from the presence of their Lord General The Lord their God is with them the shout of a King is amongst them The new temple which the spirit of God describeth so exactly in its various dimensions and curious perfections such as should never have parallel hath all its glorious priviledges from Gods gracious presence The name of that City from that day shall be the Lord is there Ezek. ult and ult It is observable Exod. 33.1 2 3 4. that God seemeth to make Israel a very gracious offer And the Lord said unto Moses Depart and go up hence thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt unto a land flowing with milk and honey And I will send an Angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hitite and the Perizite for I will not go up in the midst of thee for thou art a stiff-necked people lest I consume thee in the way yet mark how the people take this bountiful tender And when the people heard these evil tidings they mourned and no man did put on his ornaments vers 4. What evil tidings were here 1. To have an Angel their guide and guardian I will send an Angel before thee surely that nurse would have been very tender of his Lords Son his first born 2. To have all their enemies conquered and I will drive out the Canaanite might not Israel march along without fear when God had engaged that all their foes should be thrown at their feet 3. To be conducted to the goodliest country under the cope of Heaven To a land flowing with milk and hony to a place that was the paradice of the earth and the fittest to be the type of Heaven would not thousands have valued such a promise at an high price What was there in all this which called for mourning that the Israelites take it so heavily and lay it so much to heart Truly this the want of Gods presence which could not be made up by all these priviledges therefore Moses prays If thy presence go not with us carry us not hence Lord it s better to be in an howling barren wilderness with thy presence then in Canaan without thee T is not a glorious Angels being our Captain which can give us true comfort t is not the casting down our enemies that can lift us up in glory t is not the pleasant land flowing with milk and honey that can please us without thy presence if thou leave us all our Isaacks do they promise us never so much joy or laughter are Benonis Sons of our sorrows and Ichabods the glory the honour the happiness is departed from Israel if thy presence go not with us carry us not hence But here is the priviledge of Saints they have Gods presence My presence shall go with you and I will give you rest Thirdly Here is comfort for Christians they are commended to the living Gods care The Apostle had little to give his sorrowful friends but he would speak for them to that King who was able and willing to give them all things And indeed this was his greatest charity By bodily almes he had opened his own purse but by commending them to God he opened heavens Treasury Pauls prayers were more worth to them then the Empire of the whole world The Apostle was a right courtier he observed his Princes will and drew up his petitions according to his pleasure and therefore knew they should be prevalent Joab did not doubt of success when he set the woman of Tekoah a work for that which David desired more then himself Beloved friends I esteem it my duty and priviledge that I may write after the Apostles pious copy ye are the people to which I was first called to be a Pastor though opportunity hath sometimes been offered for greater preferment yet I still waved all thoughts of leaving my first love and removal to any other Parish I have been amongst you these eleven years and cannot wholly complain that I have spent my strength in vain and laboured in vain some have acknowledged that they are the seals of my Ministry Others that God hath made me instrumental for their increase in grace Gods
the unquenchable fire He loves them as his own Son Joh. 17.26 27. Who can tell the love God bears to his Son the same love he bears to his Saints His name is love his nature is love his Son is the token of his love his Spirit is the earnest of his love the Gospel his love letter Hence it is that they are so happy who are committed to Gods keeping because he is so loving a Guardian All the while that his people suffer he doth sympathize and he will support them As a tender father he proportions the burden to the strength of his childrens back He doth like a Lutanist to use Chrysostoms similitude who will not let the strings of his Instrument be too slack lest they mar the musick nor suffer them to be too hard screwed up lest they break He who taught the Husbandman to use several instruments for the threshing of several sorts of grain and not to turn the cart wheel about upon the Cummin Isa 28.25 will certainly himself not suffer his people to be afflicted aboue what they are able 2 Cor. 10.13 His love will set all his other Attributes at work for his peoples good His Wisdom will contrive his Power will act and his Faithfulness will perform whatsoever he promiseth for the comfort of his Church and all because he loveth them What would not David have done for Absolom whom he affecteth so dearly when Absolom rebelled against him and sought his life his heart relented towards Absolom out of love What a charge doth he give his Captains concerning him Deal gently for my sake with the young-man even with Absolom What will not God do for his chosen whom he loveth when they wander and run from him he followeth after and wooeth them For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and smote him I hid me and was wroth and he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart Mark Here is a childe in a great crime his Father corrects him and instead of kissing the rod he kicks at the hand that holds it He went on frowardly in the way of his own heart Well what is the fruit of this frowardness you might expect greater severity upon such contumacy surely if few stripes will do no good many must be laid on or if the rod will not do the ax might be used But lo what love doth I have seen his ways and will heal him I will lead him also and restore comforts to him and to his mourners Isa 57.17 18 19. Well though he be undutiful yet he is my child I will throw away my rods and draw him with the cords of love though he freez under the nipping frosts yet he will thaw under my warm beams 13. He is the most Faithful friend He is constant in his love Some are able and loving also for a time but their love like a candle though it burn a little in a closs room and calm weather is easily blown out by a stormy wind If a Christian be called to the cross he is like the Deer that is shot by the herd pushed out of their company but God is a lasting yea an everlasting friend his love like the Sun can never be abated much less extinguished by the greatest tempest but is always going forth in its full strength A brother is born for adversity A friend loveth at all times Prov. 17.16 Such a friend is God who when few men will never fails to appear for his suffering servants 2 Tim. 4.16 17. Basil ventured very far for a persecuted friend and being blamed for it answered Ego aliter amare non didici I have learned not to love otherwise The Antients pictured friendship in the shape of a fair young man bare headed with his breast open meanly apparelled with this inscription on his cloaths To live and to dye with you and this on his Forehead Summer and Winter and with this on his heart Prope longè far and near God is such a friend as will never disown or deny his people In the furnace the three children shall have his presence where ever he is absent When men are mutable and appear as Tertullian saith of the Peacock all in changeable colours use their friends as we do Sun-dials look no longer on them nor regard them then the Sun shineth on them God is a faithful creator 1. Pet. 4.19 will be sure to mind the house that he hath built and that most of all when it s out of repair and ready to fall Bucholcerus upon his friends going to Court to teach the Prince Electors children told him I will give you one piece of counsel which may do you good whilst you live His friend hearkned to him I commend saith he to you the faith of Devils Take heed whom you trust Indeed there are many men like ponds clear at the top and mud at the bottom fair in their tongues but foul in their hearts The greatest mens words are often like dead mens shoes he may go barefoot that trusteth to them But O what a faithful friend is God who never faileth his he is such a Physician as will be sure to visit his Patients often when sick although he may pass by their doors when they be well He is faithful to his promise his Word is the truth Col. 1.5 His Church is the Pillar of truth not to bear it up but to hold it out 1 Tim. 3. his Sacraments the seals of truth he himself is the Lord God of truth Psal 34.5 Who feares to be deceived when truth promiseth He keeps his promise to a word Quis falli tâ—… m at cum promittâ—t veritas Aug. confes lib. 11. cap. 1. Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that there hath not one good thing failed of all that the Lord promiseth Josh 23.14 The birth of the promise will answer their conception and they bring forth in full feature and glory God is usually better but never in the least worse then his word In sacra scriptura non solum bonitas est quod praecipitur faelicitas quod promittitur sed etiam veritas quod dicitur Hugo His promise is equivalent to possession He keeps touch with his people in the time of performance to a day The self same day Israel marched out of Egypt Ex. 2.4 The four hundred and thirty years were that very day expired nay to a night Dan. 5.30 In that night was Belshazer the King of the Chaldeans slain When the big-bellied promise had gone its full time the seventy years being then expired it could not stay till morning for its delivery but fell in labour that very night and was safe delivered The promises are the flowers of which the cordial Julips are made which refresh you in fainting hours but as Gods love is the root upon which they grow so his faithfulness is the hand that must bring them to you T is your happiness that your riches lye