of people elected and called out from the world to be partakers of the Priviledges of Jesus Christ The people of the Jews the seed of Jacob were the Church of God as the seed of such an one And this typified the Church that should be after a company that are taken out of the world to partake of the priviledges of Jesus Christ Canst thou say that thou art of the Church The word that we translate Church is a company that is called out from the world Canst thou ever tell of a work of God separating thee from the world that when thou wentest according to the world God gave thee a mighty call that made a separation between thee and the world For it is said so of the seed of Jacob Numb 23.9 From the tops of the rocks I saw him and beheld him lo the people shall dwell alone they shall not be reckoned among the Nations they shall be separated from the nations All the seed of Jacob are called out of the world they are separated from them by a mighty work of God to partake of Christ and be a member of him And upon this such an one mightily longs after all the outward priviledges of the Church to enjoy all the outward ordinances of Christ after his way those that are of the seed of Jacob they prize the excellency of Jacob as the greatest excellency their hearts are towards it and they rejoyce in that above all the excellency in the world If you ask what this excellency of Jacob is It is the joyning of Gods people in the way of ordinances and duties of Gods worship in the purity of them This in Scripture is called the excellency of Jacob Psal 47.4 He shall chuse our inheritance for us the excellency of Jacob whom he loved It is an excellent Scripture O it is a blessed thing to give all to God to let God chuse our inheritance What is our inheritance The excellency of Jacob whom he loved What was that The worship of God and his ordinances joyning with the people of God in the way of his ordinances in his temple those were the things that were the ordinances of God in those times those are called the excellency of Jacob and so it is now the excellency of a people to enjoy Gods ordinancies You have another expression to the same purpose And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah an inheritour of my mountain and mine elect shall inherit it and my servants shall dwell there Isaiah 65.9 What is the mountain of God Gods Ordinances in his Church I will bring a seed out of Jacob and Judah and they shall inherit my moantain So that the greatest inheritance of the seed of Jacob is the mountain of the Lord communion with the Church of God and his ordinances if you be of the seed of Jacob your hearts prize and rejoyce in this and that you have in Psal 24. vers 3 4 5. you shall find how the seed of Jacob prize the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob. It is so in the book but the particle O is not in the originall and therefore it may be read thus That seek the face of Jacob it may be read in the Genitive case as well as in the Vocative This is the generation of them that seek him even of Jacob and then he turns to God that seek thy face but because his heart was full of this of seeking Gods face though he intend to mention what generation it was the generation of Jacob he puts in that before the generation of Jacob that seek thy face that is this is the generation that so prize God in his ordinances and account it such a blessing of God that joyn themselves to the Church of God and set up his ordinances and wayes this is the blessed generation these are those that seek God truly We seek not God truly unlesse we seek him in his own wayes unlesse we seek him in all his ordinances we cannot comfort our souls that we seek him in truth For as in the way of obedience we cannot have comfort in our obedience that it is true except it be universall to all Gods commandments so we cannot have comfort in our seeking that it is true except it be in all his ordinances and wayes therefore we must be of the generation of them that seek the face of the Church that seek thy face O Jacob. So it follows in that place lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors that the King of glory may come in Where should the King of glory come but into his Church Who is the King of glory The Lord strong and almighty still the Church is called on to entertain Christ in his glory so this is spoken of the Church Thus you may know whether you be of the seed of Jacob. Again if you be the seed of Jacob you have the inheritance of Jacob and account it your inheritance What was Jacobs inheritance Deuter. 33.2 The Lord came from Sinai and from his right hand came a fiery law The law of God is a fiery law yet in verse 4. Moses commanded us a law even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. So that though the law be a fiery law a strict law a severe law yet it is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. If you be of the congregation of Jacob you account the law of God to be part of your inheritance not onely to be that which you are bound to that you must obey whether you will or no but you rejoyce in the law of God as your inheritance For my part I know not a more sure note of a gracious heart then this one that rejoyceth in Gods law as his inheritance as you know what expressions David hath he rejoyced in it more then in Gold and Silver more then in the honey and the honey-comb It is one thing to obey Gods Law and another to rejoyce in it as an inheritance If thou be of the seed of Jacob thou hast the inheritance of the seed of Jacob. Another is he that is of the seed of Jacob is faithfull in the place that God hath set him Jacob in serving of Laban Gen. 31.6 though he were churlish he professeth that withall his power he served his father It is an excellent text for servants you would fain have time to seek God and God forbid but there should be some time allowed the poorest and meanest servant to seek God alone But art thou of the seed of Jacob then be like
way that it is so it appears by the Psalme that Christ especially is meant the text saith I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the middest of the congregation will I praise thee It is the promise of Christ to declare the name of his father to his Church and people and in the middest of the congregation he shall praise God Mark it in Heb. 2.12 the Apostle applies it to the saints joyned together saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the middest of the Church will I sing praise unto thee This was after Christ had been in the flesh yet the Apostle applies this to the Church in the middest of the Church will I sing praise unto thee This they gather hence that Christ he delights in being with his people when they are joyntly together because of the solemne worship of God that is tendered to God by them and he joynes with them in it as a delightfull work as they are together to praise God Christ is praising him as they worship Christ is worshiping Now every saint of God hath the spirit of Christ in him and so he delights in the society of the saints on this ground because there is worshiping of God and God is praised solemnly among them If there be any in the world wherein God hath solemne worship it cannot but grieve a gracious heart that he is not with them his heart is with them he delights to be with them especially in such a work as that it grieves him that he cannot be there It is a note of an Interpreter that I have met with upon Isaiah 6. where the Angles cry Holy holy holy Lord of Hosts the Prophet cryes Woe unto me for I am undone c. saith he upon this ground because he could not joyn with those blessed creatures and so magnifie and praise and worship God that he through his sinfulnesse was not able to joyn with them he cryes Woe is me I am undone So when any gracious heart doth but hear that there is a people in the world that are precious ones the excellent on earth that joyn in the worship of God and honour God in his own way and enjoy communion with God and I cannot joyn with them woe to me that there should be any let or hinderance that I cannot come and joyn with them for my heart is there my delight is in the saints when they are joyntly together because Gods solemne worship is there But thirdly my delight is in the saints joyntly in regard of the wonderfull delight God hath in them A gracious heart must needs delight in them because God himself takes so much delight in them but especially when they are joyntly together There are speciall expressions in Scripture of Gods taking delight in the sains joyntly as in Zephany Zeph. 3.17 the Lord thy God in the middest of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing What expressions are here of Gods delighting in his people The Lord thy God will rejoyce he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will love he will rest in his love and joy and joy over thee with singing And in Isaiah you shall find that the Church is called Hephzebah Gods delight it is a wondrous delight that God hath in his saints There are wonderfull expressions in Scripture for the manifesting of Gods delight even to admiration especially in the Church joyntly together They are such expressions as we could not think or invent as namely that he calls his people his portion his pleasant portion Deut. 32.9 God calls them his inheritance the lot of his inheritance Jer. 12.7 he calls them the dearly beloved of his soul Exod. 19.5 he calls them his peculiar treasure God hath treasures in the world the creatures that are called the good treasures of the Lord Deut. 28. but this people are called his peculiar treasure there is a particularity There is another kind of excellency in the people of Gods delight then in all other creatures they are his common treasure but his people are his peculiar treasure God calls them his glory The house of his glory Isa 46.13 The crown of his glory Isa 60.7 he calls them the Throne of his glory Isa 62.3 in severall places that I cannot stand on His glory the House of his glory the Crown of his glory the Throne of his glory He calls them the royall Diadem he calls them his ornament an ornament set in Majesty and glory There are these expressions and more I might name of Gods delighting in his people Therefore if God delight in them and finde satisfaction much more ' should we Christ speaks of his Church O my sister my spouse my heart is ravished with thee It is a strange expression for Christ himself to be ravished with his people It is an expression beseeming the Church to have said so to Christ but for Christ to say so to the Church it is wonderfull And again My love my dove my undefiled one Cant. 2. and at that very time when the Church was in a state of security that Christ should call her his love his dove his undefiled all to expresse the abundance of delight in his people Well if God have such delight in them much more should the saints Again if we consider further the presence of God among his people it is another argument why the saints of God should take so much delight in other saints especially when they are joyned together because God is present there The Lord is here is the name of all their assemblies The Lord dwells and hath his tabernacle in Sion It is a strange expression concerning the presence of God in that he makes his people his habitation As the people of God call God their habitation so God calls his Church his habitation God dwels in Sion Ps 90. Would you not delight to keep house with God Where Gods people are God keeps house and we should long to have it our own house and not come as strangers A man may come as a stranger and take a bit and be refreshed in a family but it is not his house But now Gods people when they go tootthers of the saints they see God there and they have that house for their house It is called as I told you the house of his glory that house that God desires to dwell in he hath a mighty love to that house to dwell among his people In Psal 132. there are many great and excellent expressions For the Lord hath chosen Zion he hath desired it for his habitation Psal 132.13 14. God desires Zion what is Zion but onely his saints and people joyned together Zion was a type of the Church so now all the saints of God together are Zion Now God hath a desire to this habitation God dwels in the high and holy place the highest heaven is Gods habitation
one now that is of great use that all that is said in Scripture concerning Gods delight to be among his people and in Zion all were but to type out the excellent condition of Gods Church in the times of the Gospel The most of the expressions are of Gods delight among his people in the time of he law but know that all those expressions were but meer types and there is a great deal more in the Antitype there in the type therefore the saints of God joyned under the Gospell have abundance more of the glory of God of the presence of God and of priviledges then Zion had or Jerusalem could have because that was but a type of their happy condition under the time of the Gospel It is an observable place that we have in the Hebrews it is said concerning the state of the Church that the law had but a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10.1 and not the very image of the things It was not so much as an image observe a shadow is not so much as an image but an image is not so much as the thing it self but that was not an image but a shadow As a Painter that takes an image he draws first the dark shadow with a cole there is a great deal of difference between that shadow and the image in beauty so much difference there is between all the glory of God in the Church in the time of the law and that glory of God that is among his people in the time of the Gospel We may safely say there is the like difference between Gods manifesting of himself to his people then and now as between a dark shadow drawn with a cole in comparison of an image But mark it was but a shadow of the image that which we have now is but an image As there is not so much in a shadow as in the image so there is not so much in the image as in the thing it self The presence of God and all his goodnesse to his people and his glory to his people now it is but an image to that which shall be there shall be another presence of God another communication and revelation of God hereafter in another kind then there is now all that we have now is but an image of that which shall be all that was in the law was but a shadow of that image therefore we should have a great deal of delight in the saints Much might be said further for delighting in them now because they are those that we shall live for ever with in heaven Look to the saints especially together they are those that we shall live eternally together with in heaven therefore they are those that we should deligh in They are those that we shall be joyned with for ever in everlasting halelujahs before him that sits upon the throne and the Lamb. Look upon any saint though he be never so mean in gifts and abilities thou and he shall alway joy in the presence of God in glory Yea to be among Gods people is heaven it self they are not onely those that we shall be with in heaven but it is heaven Behold saith the Lord I create a new heaven and a new earth Isa 65.17 The state of the Church is called heaven For what is there in heaven but is here I might shew the resemblance of heaven and that which that is in heaven is here among us and therefore if heaven be a place to be delighted in the saints are Therefore have a high esteem of the saints close with them and come into as near communion as is possible If they be so excellent and to be delighted in then especially when they are joyned together labour all to come in and joyn with the saints in the nearest union that is possible in that fellowship wherein you may as near as can be have fellowship onely with them especially that have the appearance of such The mixture of our communion doth much hinder our delight Cast dirt into the fire and it will damp it so the mixture of ungodly ones their spots and blemishes hinder the delight of Gods people one in another But now to come among those that your hearts may close with that you have comfortable evidence that they are not meer talkers of religion and professours at large but that the image of God is on them O what closing is there with their hearts and what admirable good might we enjoy in the communion and society of them Therefore know that it is one of the greatest blessings that you are capable of in this world to have the nearest communion with the saints next to your immediate communion with God himself it is that which you should so â—steem and your hearts should work after Mark that text Psalme 36. what is said dour joyning with the people of God how excellent is thy loving kindnesse wherein appears the excellency They shall be satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house It is a fruit of the excellency of the loving kindnesse of God for people to be of Gods house and to partake of the fatnesse of it To have abundance of Gods creatures and to have an estate and friends it is a fruit of Gods kindnesse but to joyn with Gods people in a way of worship and in the nearest union it is a fruit of the excellent loving kindnesse of God to admiration How excellent is thy loving kindnesse it was so excellent that he was not able to expresse the excellency of it It is made in Scripture to be the proper inheritance even of the elect of God to enjoy communion with the people of God in the type it is a fruit of the very inheritance of the elect of God so as it is opposed to all the vanities of the world Mark what God saith by Isaiah Vanity shall take them away but he that putteth his trust in me shall possesse the land and shall inherit my holy mountain Now the mountain of God was but a type of Gods Church under the Gospel and what God intended to do to the Church Now saith he vanity shall take them away they seek vain things and they must have estates and houses and trading and they will suffer nothing for the enjoying of such priviledges but for those that be my own people they shall be in my holy mountain So in divers places the holy mountain of God is called the inheritance of the saints as the proper enjoying of it is the benefit of them those that enjoy it are the right heirs of God That was a speciall part of wisedome of the wise merchant when he had found the pearl to go and buy the field he was not content with the pearl but he buys the field now the field is the communion of saints the Church of God the saints joyned content themselves meerly with the knowing of Christ and hope you have part in Christ but buy the field and labour to enjoy