a delightfull work as they are together to praise God Christ is praising him as they worship Christ is worshipping 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 worshipping of God and God is praised solemnly among them If there be any place in the world wherein God hath solemne worship it cannot be grieve a gracious heart that he is not with them for 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 jointly together because Gods solemne worship is there But thirdly my delight is in the Saints jointly 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 jointly together There are speciall expressions in Scripture of Gods taking delight in the Saints jointly 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 Hephzibah Gods delight Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken neither shall thy Land any more be termed Desolate but thou shalt be called Hephzi bah and thy land Beulah for the Lord delighteth in thee and thy land shall be married Isaiah 62.4 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 jointly together They are such expressions as we could not think or invent as namely that he calls his people his portion his pleasant portion for the Lords portion is his people Iacob is the lot of his inheritance Deut. 32.9 God calls them his inheritance the lot of his inheritance Ier. 12.7 he calls them the dearly beloved of his soul Exod. 19.5 he calls them his peculiar treasure Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people God hath treasures in the world the creatures that are called the good treasures of the Lord Deut. 28. but his 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 I will glorifie the house of my glory I will place salvation in Zion for my glory Isa 46.13 The crown of his glory Isa 60.7 he calls them the Throne of his glory Isa 62.3 Thou shalt be a Crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royall diadeem in the hand of thy God 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 Diadeem he calls them his ornament an ornament set in Majesty and glory There are the expressions and more I might name of Gods delighting in his people Therefore if God delight in them and find satisfaction much more should we Christs 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 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 dwells in Sion Psal 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 to others 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 Psalm 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 dwells in the high and holy place the highest heaven is God habitation but though God have such a house in heaven yet he is not as it were contented with that house but he desires another house he hath a desire to Zion to be his habitation and the house where his honour dwelleth You know a Prince may have some houses of meaner
is enough in the want of all if Esau should strip him of all he had yet he had all in God Now one that is of the seed of Iacob in the time of want as some of you may be plundered and then all is gone you say no if thou be of the seed of Iacob if thou have God thou hast all There is such a promise He that overcometh shall inherit all things How is that and I will be his God Revel 21.7 Therefore whatsoever thou wantest if God be thine if thou be Gods child thou hast all Further one of the seed of Iacob is one of the Church of God for all Iacobs posterity was so therefore the blessing in Ruth is The Lord blesse thee like Rachel and Leah which two did build up the house of Israel Why is it not the Lord blesse thee as Rebeccah or Sarah but as Rachel Leah It was a blessing upon a marriage condition the reason is because from Rachel and Leah came onely those that were of the Church that were members of the Church of God but there came others from Rebeccah of Sarah came onely Isaac but Abrahams posterity was otherwise And that Church that was then was but a type of that which should be after that is of a company of people elected and called out from the world to be partakers of the Priviledges of Iesus Christ The people of the Iews the seed of Iacob 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 Iesus 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 Iacob Numb 23.9 From the tops of the rocks I saw him and from the hills I behold him lo the people shall dwell alone they shall not be reckoned among the Nations All the seed of Iacob 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 Iacob they prize the excellency of Iacob 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 Iacob 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 Iacob Psal 47.4 He shall chuse our inheritance for us the excellency of Iacob 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 Iacob 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 Iacob 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 Iacob and out of Iudah 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 Iacob and Iudah and they shall inherit my mountain So that the greatest inheritance of the seed of Iacob is the mountain of the Lord communion with the Church of God and his ordinances if you be of the seed of Iacob your hearts prize and rejoyce in this and that you have in Psalm 24. vers 3 4 5. you shall find how the seed of Iacob prize the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances Who shall ascend in to 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 Iacob 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 Iacob 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 Iacob 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 Iacob he puts in that before the generation of Iacob that seek thy face that is this is the generation that so prise 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 Iacob 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 allmighty 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 Iacob Again if you be the seed of Iacob you have the inheritance of Iacob account it your inheritance What was Iacobs 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 Iacob So that though the law be a fiery law a strict law a severe law
so shall all the just they shall shine as the Sun every glorified Saint by the reflection not onely of their mind but if their ocular body upon one another by a mutuall reciprocation of their beams every one shall shine in every one The glory of the soul shall transfuse it self and redound to the body Saint Paul in effect speaks as much as it is sowen a naturall body it riseth a spirituall body As the soul here is swallowed up of the body to the body as it were shall be swallowed up of the soul in a word both soul and body shall be turned into glory and the glory shall be to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight FINIS THE RIGHTEOUS MANS REFVGE Ieremiah 33.3 Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great mighty things which thou knowest not THe Prophet Ieremiah in this the foregoing Chapter layes down sundry and eminent mercies that he intends for the good of his elect people notwithstanding their provoking of God by their severall relapses sundry backslidings though their enemies also did threaten them with utter desolation and that they should be desolate without man and without inhabitant and without beast yet the voice of joy and the voice of gladnesse the voice of the Bridegroom the voice of the Bride the voice of them that shall say praise the LORD of hosts for the Lord is good for his mercy endureth for ever this voice shall be to the inhabitants of Ierusalem But by what means shall these mercies be bestowed on then in this Text he tells them where ever they are afflicted or in any great distresse call unto me and I will answer thee And as Christ in the Gospell having the book of the Prophet Esaias delivered unto him when he was in the Synagogue read apart of it then closed the book and began his sermon to the people this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears Luke 4.21 So may I say of this Text that we have out of this Prophecy read unto you Behold this day hath the Lord fullfilled this word of his in our ears before our eyes And therefore is it that we are all here this day met before the Lord that we may witness unto this his good word and promise Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not In the two last Verses of this Chapter the Lord promiseth to establish a Covenant with David and raise up a deliverance to the seed of Iacob and cause them to return out of their captivities he will have mercy on them That which he saith to his people he speaks it plainly and openly I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth The heathen Gods did speak darkly and ambiguously to their worshippers that they knew not what to make of their words but I have not done so to you saith God They would have you worship them but they cannot help you when you have so done it is not so with me Thus saith the Lord if my Covenant be not with day and night and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth then will I cast away the seed of Iacob that is the Church of God the Saints You will say Why are the people of God called the seed of Iacob rather then the seed of Abraham or the seed of Isaac the seed of Iacob The reasons may be these two First because that all Iacobs posterity were the Church of God all Iacobs children the Patriarchs were every one of the Church All that came from Abraham were not so Ishmael was not so All that came from Isaac were not so Esau was not But all Iacobs children were therefore speaking of the people of God of the Church that should be to the end of the world they are said here to be the seed of Iacob rather then the seed of Abraham or of Isaac Then secondly the seed of Iacòb because the Lord is here speaking of the blessing of his seed namely in the hearing of their prayers Call unto me and I will answer thee Now because Iacob was the most eminent in prayer though Abraham and Isaac no question were mighty with God in prayer yet the Scripture doth not put such an eminency either upon Abraham or Isaac for prayer as upon Iacob You have the most eminent expression for prayer that ever was spoken of any man never the like Gen. 32.28 And he said thy name shall be called no more Iacob but Israel for as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed O how eminent was he in prayer Therefore it is rather said the seed of Iacob then of Abraham or Isaac But you will say then they should rather have been called the seed of Israel for his name of Israel was given him upon his prevailing with God We must not be too inquisitive These names are used promiscuously But this is one reason that is given and it seemeth to have probability with it In Scripture when God speaks of the Church in a low condition he puts the name of Iacob on them rather then Israel Fear not thou worm Iacob and it follows ye men of Israel Isa 41.14 He puts them in mind of their low condition by this name rather then Israel Fear not thou worm Iacob For before Iacobs name was changed ye know what a low condition and what streights he was in So here the Lord speaking of his Churches deliverance out of distress he calls them the seed of Iacob that they might see how by their prayers they were brought from their streights as Iacob was brought from his streights by prayer When he was Iacob before he was Israel he was in great streights so shall the Church be till they seek God Call unto me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not That is first I did require it of them and my requiring did prevail with them I did not exhort them to it or require it and my words fell to the ground and they did not call unto me but what I required of them was effected in them When God speaks to a people and they do not what he requires his word may seem to be slighted there being no efficacy in his words to prevail But saith God Call unto mee and I will answer thee that is I called not on my people to call unto me and they went their own way but what I spake to them prevailed with them and in them and they did that which I required This is a blessed thing that we do that which the Lord requires of us to be done That is the first observation Secondly call unto me and I will answer thee that is I did not onely command but I did promise to answer them They calling unto me in a right manner by