really safely serviceably satisfyingly He must needs have all that hath the haver of all He is by faith in Christ Heir of the World Yea they are in actual possession of all things when they are in want of all things Having nothing and yet possessing all things 15. It is a House of the easiest rent the chiefage to be paid is not so much as a Pepper Corn all that 's required is thankful acknowledgment and invocation which are pointed out by termes of the Law Sacrifices Prayers and Vows Offer unto God thanks-giving and pay thy vows unto the most High and call upon me in the Day of trouble Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Yes that I do and that practically and continually Hear it and know it for your good What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the Cup of Salvation I will solemnly and thankfully acknowledge him a phrase taken from the custome observed in thanks-giving after which they made a place wherein the Father of the Family took a Cup in his hand and used a certain form of blessing and having drank and caused the Cup to go round to all the rest And I will call upon the Name of the Lord I will pay my Vows unto the Lord. I will offer the Sacrifice of thanks giving every Day will I bless thee and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever God is willing we should have the comfort of his blessings but he will have the glory of them My glory will I not give to another We must give him the glory which we do when we give him the praise and thanks Whoso offereth praise glorifyeth me The Shepwards returned praising and glorifying God The Samaritan that was heal'd turned back and with a loud Voice glorified God giving thanks For his healing now his thanks must not only be vocal but vital and cordial Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart the Life and Conversation also must be rightly ordered The best livers are the best thanks-givers To him that disposeth his way aright will I shew the salvation of God He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God And lest any should think it difficult and grievous to do all this let these Scriptures be consulted 1 John 5. 3. Pro. 21. 15. Phil. 1. 29. 2. 13. Math. 11. 30. Ezek. 36. 26 27. 16. Who ever dwells in this House shall be sure not to want an Earthly House to dwell in with all provision and furniture convenient He that gives the greater will not deny the less Thus our blessed Saviour reasoneth Is not the Life more than Meat and the Body than Rayment God out of his Power and Goodness having granted unto Man his Beeing which is the greater will not deny him the lesser which is the preservation thereof And the Apostle He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all How shall he not with him also freely give us all things Object The Son of God himself when on Earth had not where to lay his head Those Worthies mentioned in that little Book of Martyrs wanted houses Wandering about in Sheep-Skins and Goat-Skins in Deserts and in Mountains and in Dens and Caves of the Earth Saint Paul describing the condition of himself and his fellows saith Even unto this present Hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place Now the Disciple is not above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. And who will be so arrogant as to think himself better or better privileged than those of whom the World was not worthy or that Holy Apostle Answ Touching our Saviour as he was Voluntary poor to enrich us Ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich He sorrowed that we might rejoyce dyed that we might live So he would be houseless that none of his might want a House 1. As for those other Worthies God did indeed exercise their faith and patience Yet 2. their Dens and Caves were better to them than any Earthly Palaces having God's gracious presence with them which was better to them than ten Houses as Elkanah to Hannah Am not I better to thee than Ten Sons Though Paul had no House of his own yet those that had willingly received him into theirs Lydia did so If ye have judged me faithful unto the Lord come into my house and abide there and she constrained us So did Publius the Chief Man of the Island receive him and his Company and lodged them Three Days courteously And Paul dwelt two whole Years in his own hired House Thus God provided for Elijah and Elisha and thus he provided for his Gospel-Ministers who have not been suffered to live in their own Houses 17. They that dwell in this House here are sure of an Heavenly House hereafter We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 18. While they are here they are or may be sure no evil shall befall them Because thou hast made the Lord even the most High thy Habitation there shall no evil befall thee See parallel promises Psal 121. 7. Pro. 12. 21. 19. 23. Eccl. 85. By evil is not meant moral evil sin and iniquity Evil of fault or crime for the holiest are not free from this while on this side Heaven There is not a just Man on Earth that doth good and sinneth not Who can say I have made my Heart clean I am free from my sin If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us if we say we have not sinned we make God a lyar and his word is not in us in many things we offend all Nor are injuries and wrongs from Men intended in which sense evil is sometimes taken for none are more subject to these than the Houshold of God nor the matter of any other poenal evil sent by God as indeed all such evils are for these befall as well the Righteous as the wicked All things come alike to all there is one event to the Righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not As is the good so is the sinner as he that sweareth so he that feareth an Oath As the evil partake of common blessings with good Men so the good of
all fulness with marrow What is Wines on the Lees what are all earthly royal dainties to these rich graces and Divine special favours and blessings offered and bestowed and participated of in the Sacraments At which sumptuous and delicious banquet every worthy receiver that has made due preparation by self examination is or should be much affected and ravished As the Divine Poet was who thus expresseth himself First as to the manner of Importation and submission Herb. H. Com. Not in rich Ornament or fine Aray Nor in a Wedge of Gold Thou who for me wast sold To me dost now thy self convey For so thou should'st without me stil have been Leaving within me Sin But by the way of nourishment strength Thou creepest into my Breast Making thy Way my Rest And thy small quantities my length Which spread their Forces into every part Meeting Sins force and art Yet can these not get over to my Soul Leaping the Wall that parts Our Souls and fleshly Hearts But as the out-works they may controll My Rebel-flesh and carrying thy Name Affright both sin and shame Only thy grace which with these Elements comes Knoweth the ready way And hath the Privy Key Op'ning the Souls most subtile Roomes While those to Spirits refin'd at Door attend Dispatches from their Friend Give me my Captive Soul or take My Body also thither Another life like this will make Them both to be together Before that Sin turn'd Flesh to stone And all our Lump to leaven A fervent sigh might well have blown Our innocent Earth to Heaven For sure when Adam did not know To sin or sin to smother He might to Heav'n from Paradise go As from one Room to another Thou hast restor'd us to this ease By this thy Heavenly blood Which I can go to when I please And leave the Earth to their food When he was pleased to go to this Heavenly Banquet and he was so pleased as oft as might be and so should every godly Christian hear him warbling this Divine Rapture Idem the Banquet Welcome sweet and sacred cheer Welcome deer With me in me live and dwell For thy neatness passeth sight Thy delight Passeth Tongue to taste or tell O what sweetness from the Bowl Fills my Soul Such as is and makes Divine Is some Star fled from the Sphere Melted there As we Sugar melt in Wine Or hath sweetness in the Bread Made a head To subdue the smell of Sin Flow'rs and gums and powders giving All their living Lest the Enemy should win Doubtless neither Star nor Flower Hath the Power Such a sweetness to impart Only God who gives perfumes Flesh assumes And with it perfumes my heart But as Pomanders and sweet Wood Still are good Yet being bruised are better sented God to shew how far his love Could improve Here as broken is presented c. Let the wonder of this pitty Be my ditty And take up my lines and life Hearken under pain of Death Hands and breath Strive in this and love the strife Nor found he this food beyond all degrees of comparison nourishing and strengthning but he feeleth it also most effectually healing Physick as appeares by what he speaks to his pratling Conscience which call'd every fair look sowl every sweet Dish sower If thou persist I will tell thee That I have Physick to expell thee And the Receipt shall be My Saviours Blood when ever at his board I do but taste it straight it cleanseth me And leaves thee not a Word No not a Tooth or Nail to scratch And at my actions carp or catch Here is therefore no such provision of food no such sumptuous fair in any House as this Solomon's so much admired was as Husks yea and stark hunger compared to this and each of the Houshold fares alike And they have both Dinner and Supper every Day of the same delicates that which Matthew calls a Dinner Luke calls a Supper And they are called upon to feed heartrly Eat O Friends Drink yea drink abnndantly O well-beloved Nor are there any such fellow-Commoners to Dine and Sup with any where as here These are all Noble Honourable Persons The choicest and most excellent Kings and Priests A chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a peculiar People Yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Dines and Sups with them Mephibosheth thought it no small honour that David set him among them that did eat at his own Table How great honour must it then be to sit at Christs Table who is David's Lord And to increase their comfort they have assurance of the same Session with him in the Kingdome of Glory I appoint you saith he a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed me that ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdome Nor are there any such servitures in any House as in this to wit the Holy Angels Are they not all Ministering Spirits sent forth to Minister for them who shall he Heirs of Salvation There are that make them both Cooks and Butlers that dress and dish up and bring in the provision of this continual Feast attend at Table and Minister Cups of Consolation And moreover wait upon every Member of this Family when they go abroad about the works of their Callings and in all the changes of their life who have care of them besides this common attendance a peculiar Guardian of Angels from their new birth at least as some probably gather from sundry Scriptures Nor are there any such Vessels in any House to serve up the Meat and Drink in as are in this The Dishes Spoons Covers and Bowles belonging to the Sanctuary were all of pure Gold so were all the Vessels of the pure Table All the drinking Vessels of King Solomon were of Gold and all the Vessels of the House of the forrest of Lebanon were of pure Gold At that Royal Feast which Ahasuerus made to all his Princes and Servants That lasted an hundred and fourscore Days They gave them Drink in Vessels of Gold The Vessels of this House wherein the Saints dwell and wherein they have their Meat and Drink served up are much more precious than the Gold that perisheth which is corruptible how pure soever even great and precious promises in which are contained all the choicest Viands that Earth and Heaven can yield both for the nourishment of Soul and Body For Godliness is profitable for all things having the promise of the Life that now is and that which is to come Nor are there any such Seats to rest both Souls and Bodies on in taking repast in any House as in this Kings have had their Seats for themselves and by them for their Children and Favorites on which they sate down to eat meat they were terrestrial these coelestial places We read of the great King sitting at his Table with his Spouse
will be with thee and through the Waters they shall not overflow thee and through the fire it shall not burn thee neither shall the flame kindle upon thee for I am the Lord thy God I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Blessed be the Poor for theirs is the Kingdome of God Blessed are ye that hunger now for you shall be filled Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh All things shall work together for good to them that love God If there be a willing mind it is accepted according to what a Man hath with a thousand more This is the Musick that David desired to hear which he calls joy and gladness Such Musick and Dancing there is to it in this House every moment and frequently an expression of spiritual joy and jollity in Psalmes and Hymns and spiritual Songs makeing melody in the Heart unto the Lord. And as for Treasures of Gold and Silver there is not one of this House which hath not alway plenty of both Though many of them many a time may say as Peter did Silver and Gold have I none First they have that which is a thousand times better The Word of God which they justly claim as their Heritage for ever Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever as my true Soveraign and peculiar good which I hold from thee as a Child of thy grace The Law of thy Mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver More to be desired than Gold yea than much fine Gold And in that word they have bonds which made by solvent Men are esteemed every whit as good as the sums therein specified Divine Promises One shall suffice for all Thou shalt lay up Gold as Dust and the Gold of Ophir as the Stones of the Brook yea the Almighty shall be thy Gold and thou shalt have plenty of Silver There are a World of goods more wherewith this House is stored the worth whereof is unvaluable the smallest quantity whereof being a thousand times more worth than a thousand such Worlds as this Visible one is The Lord the Lord God gracious merciful long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth The Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord thy right Hand is full of Righteousness Touching the Almighty he is excellent in Power and in Judgment and in plenty of Justice Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his glory Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy unto all them that call upon thee the Voice of the Lord is full of Majesty And O the fulness of God manifested in the Flesh We beheld his Glory the Glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Of his fulness have we all received With him is plenteous Redemption 7. This is a living House other Houses are made of dead Materials Wood and Stone most of them of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust which are crushed before the Moth. God the Father hath life in himself and he hath given to the Son to have life in himself and to be the cause and giver of life of the life of nature to all Men and of grace and godliness to sinful Men and of comfort to sorrowful Men and of Resurrection to dead Men and of Glory to godly Men. It is God in whom we live and move and have our Beeing and he it is that maintains our life O bless our God ye People and make the voice of his praise to be heard which holdeth our Soul in Life Watching continually to prevent them that seek after it and lay snares for it Men that are Princes Life-Guards are fain sometimes to sleep cannot watch always and Men that dwell in costly Houses are fain to watch their Houses Know this saith our Saviour that if the good Man of the House had known in what Watch the Thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his House to be broken up But this House watcheth over all that dwell in it that no hurt be at any time done them He that keepeth thee will not slumber saith the Psalmist speaking to himself who dwelt in the secret place of the most High in the spirit Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep This is a new House alwayes new and so needs no repair it is not subject as all other Houses are to age and decay Though some old things are better than new No Man having drunk old Wine straight-way desireth new for he saith the old is better They sacrificed to new Gods that came newly up Yet generally new things are best and so accounted both things of Gods making Behold I make all things new I create new Heavens and a new Earth I will make a new Covenant A new Heart will I give you and a new spirit will I give you thou shalt be called by a new Name which the Mouth of the Lord shall Name And so of Mens Garments and all manner of Utensils when and while new are most set by Especially Houses both themselves live and lodge in and also Out-houses when they are over old they pull them down and build new ones This House is never old but as new at this day as it was when the first holy Man had his habitation in it as full of lustre and glory ten thousand times more glorious than that Palace of the Sun which the Poet describes and it must needs be so because every Inhabitant is not only glorious made so by it but glory it self Upon all the Glory shall be a defence By Glory are meant the Saints of God the abstract put for the concrete to note their eminent shining surpassing transcendent excellency though in this life they are compassed about with many infirmities which makes their glory less conspicuous They are all glorious within Now do but note what kind of defence what manner of covering this House is promised to be to all those glorious ones that dwell in it namely like that of the Israelites when they went out of Egypt The Lord went before them by Day to lead them in a Pillar of a Cloud in the way and by Night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light It shall be though not so visibly conspicuous yet as illustrious and miraculous and that against all manner of evils heat and rain and for all times Day and Night There shall be a Tabernacle for a shaddow in the Day-time from the heat and for a place of refuge from storme and from Rain God hath been ever such a house of defence to all his holy ones is now and ever shall be World without
they that have goodly Houses with superfluity how they may yet have more wealth and honour The mind of Man being like the Hors-leech which hath two Daughters crying give give the two Forks in the Tongue of that blood-sucker setting forth the two passions in the mind of Man the one a burning desire of getting beyond measure the other an unquietness through sense of want when more than enough is gotten and like those four things that are never satisfyed the Grave a barren Womb the Earth that is not filled with Water and the Fire and they that are building are apt to be in earnest expectation that they shall be well and warm in those new Nests I think this one consideration needful to be suggested to them all namely what power God's grace useth to have in all them that dwell in him to take off their hearts from minding earthly things in that manner they used to do before they were in God namely though not to forsake the World quite and give over worldly business and spend their whole time in private Devotions nor having found this House and Treasure to cast away their wordly Goods For Religion bindeth Men and Women to be good Husbands to seek to preserve and encrease their estates that God hath given them yet to make them willing to part with Houses and Lands and whatsoever is dearest to them in the World if they cannot hold them with Gods favour To lose all things and count them but dung in comparison of it This made God's people in the Ten Tribes to leave their dwellings and possessions and to come to Hierusalem where God was purely worshipped This made Moses to leave Pharaoh's Court and to joyn himself to God's afflicted despised Church and to moderate their affections to use them with more sobriety and indifferency It being all one to them whether they had little or much I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and suffer need Yea so to take up their hearts as to be more careless and forgetful of these things than they were formerly For they having found a better House and a better Treasure There their hearts must needs be most if not altogether Nor can the heart be divided between the love of God and the World But one of them will and must have all No Man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon Love not the World neither the things that are in the World If any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him THE FIFTH SERMON THe second Sort of Spiritual duties incumbent upon you who have assurance that the Lord is your Habitation is in reference to Persons 1. Those who were the efficient cause of this your superlative Happiness both principle and instrumental The principle are the three sacred Persons of the glorious Deity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost 1. Admire the goodness of God in electing you to this happiness Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath chosen us in Him before the Foundation of the World and in conferring upon you by the grace of Adoption the right of inheriting his Light here and hereafter Giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God 2. The love of God the Son which passeth knowledge who purchased for us this dwelling place with the price of his blood The blood of God Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich When he was in the possession of a perfect Happiness and Glory in his Divine Nature that he might bring you into the same possession He took upon him your Nature with all its miseries wants and obligements to gain you the Treasures of God's Grace Righteousness and Eternal Life in Him here and with Him hereafter He would be without a House where to lay his head and without any civil propriety of Earthly Goods and without any peace or rest in the World that you might have a resting place in God and a spiritual right to all this and actual enjoyment of as much as needs and is good for you 3. The powerful Operation of the Holy Ghost in imprinting upon your Souls those Divine Graces which are certain signs and tokens of your real interest in and present possession of this super-coelestial Mansion and witnessing with your spirits that you are truly Gods Children and being such shall abide in the House for ever for so Sons do To provoke and quicken you the more to thanksgiving for this inestimiable happiness Consider how infinitely you are bound to these Three Persons above innumerable others whom God the Father did not choose to have their dwelling in him and whom the Holy Ghost never wrought upon to accept this as he hath upon you There are who would perswade you otherwise that is that God the Father hath in his decree of Election done no more for you than he hath for other Men whom he from Eternity choose to be partakers of his happiness conditionally that is if they would as you have done accept it offered to them as it was to you because he fore-saw that you would receive Christ into your hearts by faith he therfore determined to receive you into himself to make you eternally happy because he fore-saw others would not he therefore passed them by and rejected them and decreed to damn them for he loves all Men equally desires and wills the Conversion and Salvation of every Man alike unfeignedly and earnestly that God the Son manifested in the World who came in the World to save sinners dyed for all without difference intended to give himself a ransom for all and every one equally that the efficacy of the Holy Ghost and his Cooperation accompanying the Word calling Men out of the state of nature into the state of Grace is only by moral perswasion and that it is in the power of every Mans free-will to accept or reject this grace These are plausible but pernicious Errors against which I shall bring a few Scriptures to antidote and fortifie your judgments and establish them in the contrary truths 1. Touching the Decrees of God the Father's predestination the Scripture makes it absolute definite and irrevocable So as the number of the Elect can neither be increased or diminished The Foundation of the Lord standeth sure
life long no good be done yet you may take that Comfort your Master did Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the Eyes of the Lord. And in the Verse before I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength in naught in vain Yet surely my Judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God God knoweth with what uprightness I have done his work and therefore I know he will Crown me with Glory though my labour hath been lost as to the most part of the People THE SIXTH SERMON THe next sort of Persons in reference to whom Duty lies upon you are Christian Societies Assemblies that profess the Christian Religion and joyn together in the worship of the true God These are called Churches and of these there are two sorts false and true and your duty is to separate from those and hold fellowship with these Three things are required to the constituting of true Churches 1. That the Word of God and Doctrine of Salvation be truly taught in them ye are of the houshold of God and are built upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets upon this Rock this truth confessed by thee I will build my Church the Church is God's Register that keeps his Records faithfully the Pillar and ground of Truth where the Doctrine of the Law and Gospel is truly taught God dwells with that People and Salvation may be there had 2. That there be Pastors and Ministers lawfully called How shall they preach except they be sent pray the Lord of the Harvest that he will send sorth Labourers into his Harvest Christ hath given his Ministry to his own Church 3. That the People receive and embrace the Doctrine and Religion of Christ and submit to and joyn together in the Worship of God Then they that gladly received the Word were Baptized and they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship in breaking of Bread and Prayers Hereby may be discerned which are false Churches and which true The Roman Political Church as the Constitution of it is false and of Man's Invention Obj. They have the Apostles Creed the Books of Canonical Scripture and Baptisme Answ They acknowledge the Creed in profession and word but overthrow much of the sense by their superadded Articles and false expositions They retain the words of Scripture though in much not the sense of the Holy Ghost nor can Baptism though for substance according to the first Institution prove them a true Church more than Circumcision could Samaria to be so or a Seal pulled from the Writing and set to the bare paper A Thief may shew a true Man's Purse but that proves him not to be a true Man and they overthrow inward Baptisme the life of that Sacrament imputed righteousness and holiness which in Gods Church must go together with the outward Element 2dly As Papists they have no true Ministers the Romish Priest as such is no Minister of Christ not only because of the Anti-Christian Doctrines which he teacheth overthrowing the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles but also in that he offereth Christ a real Sacrifice for quick and dead wherein chiefly stands his Office and because as a Papist-Priest he receives his very Power from the Pope whose Office is not of Christ Qu. Why then should not one Baptized by a Mass Priest be Rebaptized Answ Because the action of a lawful Calling done by one that is not lawfully called is not a nullity the Ministry is lawful though as corrupted by them is bad 3dly Their People oppose God's true Worship and live in palpable Idolatry and profess themselves the Members of a usurping trayterous head the Pope Obj. Anti-Christ sitteth in the Temple of God therefore the Church of Rome is God's Church Answ In the Popish Church there is the hidden Church of God mingled as a little Wheat with much Chaff as a little Gold with much Dross So that though the Church of God be where Anti-Christ sitteth yet the Church whereof he is Head is no Church of God for there are no means there to beget or preserve spiritual life whether we regard Doctrine or Worship To speak plainly it is a part of the Universal Visible Church of Christians so far as they profess Christianity acknowledge Christ their Head but it is the Visible Society of Trayterous Usurpers so far as they profess the Pope to be their Head just as if a Traytor should make himself Deputy of Ireland against the King's will and all the People believe he is so and so profess themselves Subjects to the King as their Soveraign and to him as his Deputy Here it is a true Kingdome as it is still under the King and yet a Kingdom of Traytors or Rebels Secundum quid or so far as they adhere to the Usurping Deputy against the King's command From this Church therefore which is spiritual Babylon the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth no Spouse of Christ but a Strumpet no House of God but an Habitation of Devils once indeed a famous Church but now dead and buryed and as is the Mother so is the Daughters God's People are bound to separate Come out of her my people and yet not from such therein who mean well in the general and secretly discent from her damnable Corruptions is this Obligation of Separation upon you Rom. 18. 4. Much less ought you to separate from Churches which have made separation from Rome as the reformed Protestant Churches in France Germany and other Countreys and these of Great Britain and Ireland have done in whose Congregations is found truth of Doctrine a lawful Ministry and a People professing the true Religion submitting to and joyning together in the true Worship of God I am not ignorant that many of you whose Habitation I question not but the Lord is who have your Habitations in all the several Countries of this Kingdom have drunkin a deep prejudice against all the Parochical Congregations whereof you are legal Members and where all you were baptized and thereby were made the Members of Christ the Children of God and Heires of his Kingdome I fear some of you will startle at these expressions found in the Common-Prayer-Book But if you consult the Holy Scripture you will finde them warranted in a Sacramental sense and your prejudice hath so far wrought upon you that you have forsaken the assembling of your selves together with your Neighbours in the publick Meeting Places I know with whom I am dealing Persons that have a comfortable assurance that they dwell in God and therefore are willing to hear any thing that may tend to the increase of their comfort and unwilling to retain any errour in their judgments or practice that may defile and dishonour their dwelling place or cause it to be evil spoken of by them that are without whose mouthes you know your absenting your selves from all the Solemn Assemblies open wide to cast a scandal upon your
excellencies and transcendent perfections of God So this especially of sublimity that he is most high This did David I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart I will sing praise to thy Name O thou most high I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness and will sing praises to the most high As he did himself so he stirreth up all others to do so O clap your hands all People shout unto God with the voice of Tryumph for the Lord most high is terrible he is a great King over the Earth Let the Saints sing aloud upon their Beds Let the high praises of God be in their Mouth And this he tells us is a good thing at all times especially on the Sabbath Dayes It is a good thing to sing praises unto thy holy Name O most High His Universal Regiment is to be acknowledged This matter is by the Decree of the Watchers and the demand by the Word of the holy One to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the Kingdome of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he will and setteth up over it the basest of Men. 2. His wonderful humility and condescention The Lord is high above all Nations and his glory above the Heavens Who is like the Lord our God who is most High who humbleth himself to behold the things that are done in the Heaven and in the Earth He doth not disdain from his High Seat of Glory to provide for all Creatures both Terrestrial and Coelestial He hath a gracious and loving care of vile Wormes and grievous sinners yea vouchsafes to make their hearts if humbled and contrite for their sins his dwelling place For thus saith the High and lofty One that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is high and holy I dwell in the high and holy Places with him also that is of an humble and contrite Spirit The humility of the Son of the most high God being the same in substance with him and equal in power and glory condescended to match with a Maid of our Family that had neither beauty nor dowry A greater condescention than if the greatest Emperor on Earth should marry the poorest and most deformed Virgin upon Earth assuming a humane Nature with his Divine Person In all things like unto Man excepting sin and in that nature to suffer poverty hunger thirst weariness and other humiliations even unto Death Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of no reputation Annihilated himself and brought himself as it were to nothing Took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the habit of Men And being found in fashion as a Man he humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the Cross 3. Consider the exceeding high honour he hath done you to be Servants in such a House to himself whom you have made your House by choosing him and cleaving to him Nebucadnezar could not desire a higher honour for the Three Worthies whom he saw walking in the midst of the Fire than to call them Servants of the most high God Nor the Angel that appeared to Daniel in the Vision of the Four Beasts and interpreted it to him for the Subjects of God's Kingdom than to call them Saints of the most high Yea the Angels themselves glory in this title I am thy fellow-servant and of thy Brethren And James stiles himself not the Lords Brother but the Servant of the Lord. And God himself Moses not King in Jesuran but my Servant My Servant Moses 2. In Prayers I will cry unto God most high Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights We are commanded to pray to God as being above in Heaven to teach us among many other things that our Prayers should be sent forth with such fervencies that they may reach and pierce Heaven where God is to cry as David did O my God I cry in the Day time in the day time and in the Night season He heard my cry My most earnest desires in Prayer arising from feeling and fear of misery And so did Moses Wherefore cryest thou unto me God seeming to chide him for so doing but it was not for his fervent praying but for his fearing and fainting his Faith beginning to fail and to let him know that he was more ready to hear than he to pray 2. Learn humility of the most high God Be ye followers of God as dear Children Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another So if God have condescended unto us we ought to do the like to our Inferiours there being infinitely more distance and disproportion between God and us than there is between us were we the highest Princes on Earth and they poorest Beggars For they are all our Brethren Have we not all one Father hath not one God created us Be not therefore high-minded but condescend to Men of low Estate And learn of me saith the Son of the most High for I am meek and lowly in heart Lowliness of mind will make you high with God and meekness of word shall make you sink into the hearts of Men. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus You that are higher than others in gifts wealth or dignity disdain them not but demean your selves humbly toward them and honour shall uphold you 3. Take heed of provoking the most High or of contemning his Counsels least you provoke your selves to the confusion of your own Faces as the Israelites did of whom it is said That they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the Wilderness Yea they tempted and provoked the most high God kept not his testimonies They contemned the Counsel of the most High Therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help 4. If you have provoked him to anger against you as David did when Satan provoked him to number the People enquire and desire to know the true means to appease him and to be reconciled unto him Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow my self before the High God And turn ye to him with all your heart to him I say and not as Ephraim of whom it is said They returned but not to the most High Renew your purposes and resolutions and vowes of more wary walking for the future and when upon your humiliation and reformation he is returned unto you with mercies offer unto him thanks giving and pay your vowes unto the most High 5. Comfort your selves against all the injustice and disorders of the World and against all the Plots and Conspiracies of wicked Men against the Church and People of God Marvel not at it but look higher and expect seasonable relief
pardon I have born chastisement I will not offend any more that which I see not teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more Confess thy sins with such an honest as well as broken heart and thou needest not fear but God will open the Door to thee and let thee see himself again He that keepeth his sins upon his conscience disguiseth and dissembleth them and doth not confess them to God and to Men also if need require it shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercy Let your sins be of what sort they will of ignorance infirmity presumption those three Parables of the lost Sheep and the lost Goat and of the Prodigal may give you ground of assured hope after such confession and supplication for a pardon that thou shalt not fail to receive it and the sense of it Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wool If convinced in your own Consciences you give glory to God by a free confession and fly to his mercy by faith and a lively conversion He will quickly cause you to feel by effect the forgiveness of your sins let them be never so grievous This is the Voice of the second of those general Laws I mentioned called the Law of Faith the Doctrine which offereth and promiseth remission of sins and salvation requiring only in order hereunto repentance and faith Repent ye and believe the Gospel The two great Gospel commands which you with whom I am dealing have been inabled by grace to yield obedience unto whereby you have made the Lord your Habitation Nevertheless they are duties which all the Days of your life you are bound to be doing To act both these graces every Day as there is occasion and there will be occasion for acting both while you have a Day to live to renew your repentance and to live by your faith as it is written The just shall live by his Faith The meaning is he shall live healthfully happily blessedly in which sence living is taken John 4. 51. 1 Sam. 10. 24. psal 38. 19. 1 Thes 3. 8. And that this is the Prophets meaning appeares from the scope and occasion of the words in the 1st Chap. he complains and expostulates in the beginning of the second the Lord answers the just shall have deliverance but it shall not be yet The Vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it shall speak and not lye though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry The Prophet might have objected and asked but how shall the afflicted Jewes be able to live in the mean season for Seventy Years together The Lord answers by a distinction the unjust puffes up himself with vain confidence But the just shall live by his Faith Whence it is evident that true Faith if well mannaged is able to keep a life yea to make him live healthfully and happily even in the worst and sadest times and to this conclusion these Scriptures give suffrage 2 Chr. 20. 20. Psal 27. 13. Dan. 6. 23. Esa 50 10. 26. 3. Heb. 10. 39. 2 Cor. 1. 24. And reasons grounded upon Scripture come in as Auxiliaries 1. From the Object of Faith namely the promises which are meet matter to maintain life Phil. 2. 16. John 6. 63. Jer. 15. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 2. Esay 55. 1. 12. 3. 66. 11. Cant. 2. 5. Job 15. 11. 2. From the Nature and Office of Faith which is to rest upon God's faithfulness for the performance of these promises it certifies and assures the Soul that all shall certainly be made good Psal 89. 34. Numb 23. 19. By this means saith gives a Christian actual present possession of all good things even in their absence Faith is the substance hoped for that is it gives substance to things that have no Beeing The evidence of things not seen that is that it both convinceth the judgment that such things must come to pass and it makes the mind conceive them really present Joh. 8. 56. 1 Cor. 10. 3. 3. From the fruits or if you will the Children and Daughters of Faith which are attendant on her and helpful to her in maintaining life namely hope which keeps the heart alive by expecting better when things are at the worst banisheth despair is compared to an Helmet and Anchor 2. Joy this is the juice of Faith the Souls strength banisheth sorrow eats up all Earthly griefs 3. Courage and boldness which expells fear 4. Love this makes bitter things sweet causing a cheerful willingness to suffer the hardest things for the sake of the party beloved 5. From a singular property and power that is in Faith to break through all difficulties leap over all carnal objections and remove all impediments Rom. 4. 18 22. Qu. How may we mannage our Faith so as to maintain this life of joy and comforts Ans Your care must be to make this sure not only that you are within the compass of God's special Covenant to them that are out of this belong no promises nothing but threatnings and curses but also that these special qualifications are in you which are annexed to particular promises the fruition whereof depends upon the practice of some choice part of obedience which if you neglect you do but presume and tempt God in making title and laying claim to them Compare Psal 91. 11 12. with Mat. 4. 6 7. 2. This done learn Four things concerning the promises 1. The matter which is supply of all good and deliverance from all evil 2. The kind or quality of them the principle promise indeed is absolute but all the rest are conditional these shall all be literally fulfilled for you so far forth as they may be subservient to that 3. The manner of propounding them some promises are expresly declared both general and special ones others are by consequence implyed in the examples or prayers of the faithful 4. The several wayes of God's performing his promises Sometimes he gives his People the very thing he promiseth Sometimes he denyeth that and gives them some thing equipollent proportionable instead of it or else that which he knows is far better for them 5. You must in every state of life when you finde need set your Faith on work both to fetch in provision out of the Word and to prepare it and to apply it 1. The way to bring in provision for the maintenance of life is by the memory whatsoever faith doth in the Soul it doth it by the help of this faculty Heb. 12 5 6. Forgetfulness is the cause of fainting in all time therefore of need when-ever you are brought to any streight that you can see no way of escape or means of relief but begin to faint and sink under
of the Day we are not of the Night nor of Darkness therefore let us not sleep as do others There is a twofold waking literal and metaphorical the former is sometimes a punishment Thou holdest mine Eyes waking It is alwayes a duty to with-hold your Eyes from immoderate and unseasonable sleep How long will thou sleep O sluggard when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep Too many Christians willingly suffer this Thief to steal away the best and feed upon the very fat of their time which are a shame to the House they live in It was thought in Austin's time to be an undecent thing for a Christian at any time of the Year to have the Sun beames finde him in Bed How early every Morning was David up at his Devotions My Voice shalt thou hear in the Morning O Lord. In the Morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee Awake up my Glory awake Psaltery and Harp I my self will awake early yea mine Eyes prevent the Night Watches that I might meditate on thy Word I have awaked of my self in the Night before I have been called upon by the Watchmen who give warning of the seasons of the Night Yea at Mid-night will I arise to give thanks unto thee This was ordinary for the Servants of this House to do their Master service as well by Night as Day Behold bless ye the Lord all ye Servants of the Lord which by Night stand in the House of the Lord. Nothing was more ordinary in Primitive times in the House of godly great Men than to have Vigils Paul says of himself that he was oft in voluntary fastings which he undertook to fit himself the better for Supplications and Prayer So oft in such Watchings It 's said of our blessed Saviour that He continued all Night in Prayer to God Come lye all Night in Sackcloth ye Ministers of my God David fasted and went in and lay all Night upon the Earth This was extraordinary literal watching for spiritual ends and for our imitation upon like occasions time allow'd to spend in sleep must sometimes be set apart for religious Duties And every Night of of our life when we are awake we must take care to spend piously â—is the Character of a godly Man His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night When I remember Thee upon my Bed and meditate on Thee in the Night Watches With my Soul have I desired Thee in the Night Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own Heart upon your Bed But it is the latter wakeing and watching which the Apostle chiefly intends when he saith let us not sleep as do others that is through carelesness slacking giving over acts of faith and piety or doing them listlesly or perfunctorily sluggishly or by being lull'd asleep and over-burthened by worldly desires cares or pleasures 't is an heedful observation of our selves in all things and a serious careful and diligent circumspection over all our thoughts words and ways that we may please God by doing his will and neither commit any sin nor omit any duty This Christian heedfulness is very frequently and earnestly urged upon God's People no duty more Take heed to thy self and keep thy Soul diligently take heed unto your selves lest ye forget the Covenant take diligent heed to do the Commandment and the Law take heed then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the House cometh at Evening or at Mid-night or at the Cock crowing or in the Morning lest coming suddenly he finde you sleeping and what I say unto you I say unto all Watch. This watchfulness must be in all things what Saint Paul saith unto Timothy who was as all Gospel-Ministers should be religious faithful Watch-men warning their People of spiritual dangers and enemies as God's Prophets of old were somewere then as too many are now careless Guids Watch-men in Name but not in truth wretched or rather wretchless and scarce Watch-men he saith to every private Christian Watch thou in all things Evil civil good Take heed how ye hear read pray give Almes How you do the works of your particular Calling and even natural actions eat drink play and watch over all the powers and parts both of your Souls and Bodies your outward Senses Eyes and Eares and tast and touch Job 31. 1. Mat. 5. 28. Psal 119. 37. Esay 33. 15. Pro. 23. 1 2 3. Your Tongues especially Psal 39. 1. 37. 30. Pro. 15. 4. 7. 23. 18. 20. 25. 11. 1 Cor. 15. 31. Jam. 3. 2. Mat. 12. 34-38 Psal 45. 1. Eph. 4. 29. Col. 4. 6. But above all your hearts must be watched over Pro. 4. 23. Heb. 3. 12. And you must watch especially against those sins that are most dangerous and whereto you are naturally most inclined Luk. 3. 12 13 14. 12. 15. The Pathes of your Feet must also be pondered Pro. 4. 26. And this must be in all places and at all times all the days of your lives Deut. 4. 9. Nor must you only watch over your selves but over your Brethren also Heb. 10. 24. 3. 13. Gen. 4. 9. Lev. 19. 17. A great many reasons may quicken you to this duty besides the many Precepts that press it in reference to your selves 1. The estate and condition wherein you stand 1. You are weak at best full of infirmities Mat. 26. 41. As they that have weak sickly Bodies observe a strickt Dyet so should you much more be careful and fearful whose Souls are so 1 Cor. 10. 12. Phil. 2. 12. Pro. 28. 14. 2. You are naturally drowsie and therefore had need to do as the Nightingal that is said to set her Brest against a Thorn to keep her self from sleeping Mat. 25. 5. Cant. 5. 2. Eph. 5. 14. The wise as well as foolish Virgins slept your hearts are naturally wicked and deceitful and desperatly wicked Jer. 17. 10. Psal 18. 57. Deut. 11. 16. Heb. 3. 12. 1. You are extreamly apt to relapse into your former condition Rev. 2. 5. Mat. 12. 45. 2 Pet. 2. 21 22. 2. You have many mighty and subtile and malicious and dangerous enemies Eph. 16. 12. 1 Pet. 5. 8. 3. Great are the benefits of this continual watchfulness You will hereby tame your Flesh The wildest Beasts are tamed by watching This will be a great furtherance to your Prayers and hereby you will be kept from being foiled by temptations Mat. 26. 41. 4. Great is the danger of neglecting this one Moment There is no sin but may be sowne in you while you sleep Mat. 13. 24. witness David 2 Sam. 11. and so you hazard your salvation Means enabling you to the performance of this duty are 1. Sobriety in the