in their own nature but also the sweetness of the conveyance like pure and chrystal-water running through a channel of Gold or pipe of Silver to us So much for that And so much may be spoken of the first Branch of this Negative Proposition in the Censure of the simple neglect or refusal of the Doctrine of Christ Whosoever transgresseth The second is of unworthy recession in Apostacy or departure from it and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever deserts and forsakes the Truth of Christ which he hath formerly imbraced there is a censure also upon him It is much not to receive it and not to entertain it there where it is offer'd but to part with it and to cast it away this is very gross and hainous indeed and such as admits of no excuse such an one he has no portion in God at all Therefore it is that the Scripture still so much calls for this continuing and condemns the contrary Joh. 8.31 If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed c. So Col. 1.23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard c. And Joh. 15.7 If ye abide in me and my words abide in you ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be given you Still this abiding in Christ and in his Doctrine is that which is very much urg'd and prest upon us And so here in the Text He that abides not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God This it may be further explain'd and extended to two Heads First As to matter of Faith and Judgment He that abide not in this Doctrine to believe it Secondly As to matter of Life and Conversation He that abides not in this Doctrine to practise it Here is a Censure upon both of these and the one follows upon the other First As to matter of Judgment Here 's a Censure upon declining in this for any that have formerly imbraced Christ and his Doctrine to depart from it thus it is a business of great danger to them and does exclude them from interest in God himself This is such a sense as agrees very well with the Context and the scope of this present Epistle which is to confirm the Elect Lady and her Children in the received Truth and to arm them against the attempts of Seducers which did indeavour or at least were ready to withdraw them from it For many deceivers are entred into the world c. ver 7. Now therefore says he Look to your selves that we lose not the things which we have wrought namely by your Apostacy and departure And he subjoyns a double Motive the one taken from the Apostle and the rest of the Ministers labouring for them that they might neither lose their labour nor yet their recompence but that they might receive a full reward And the other taken from the condition of those themselves that do thus decline and waver in the Faith and that is that they have not God which what it is we have already heard Therefore we may not think this to be a matter of indifferency to us how we stand in our judgments and opinions but be sure to be right here and to be stedfast in them We may not let go such a precious jewel as Truth is but hold it and preserve it all we can especially the Truths of Christ and such Doctrines as do immediately refer to his tender of himself to us God accounts of us not so much according to our first beginnings as our proceedings to this purpose We are then made partakers of Christ and so consequently of God if we hold the beginning of our faith stedfast to the end and only then as the Apostle himself concludes in Heb. 3.14 This should make us so much the more wary and watchful over our selves especially in such times and days wherein the pillars of Religion are shaken and the fundamentals of the Doctrine of Christ are very much destroy'd By how much the more they are so by others by so much the carefuller should we be our selves that they be not so in us we should endeavour to keep our judgments sound in such things as these are and to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering as it is in Heb. 10.23 To be rooted and grounded in Christ and stablished in the faith as we have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving as it is in Col. 2.7 But secondly As this may be extended to matter of judgment so likewise to matter of practice This is a further abiding in Christs Doctrine which all those that neglect to do they come also under the former Censure A man may in some sort abide in Christs Doctrine so as to give assent and credence to it and yet not abide in it so as to improve it and to live answerable to it Therefore this must be taken in likewise together with the other then do we indeed abide in it when it abides in us and has an influence and efficacy upon us when we are transform'd and chang'd and wrought into the power of it which if it be not so with us all the other will be but to little purpose nay indeed we cannot expect to have the other in us Men are no further sure of sound and orthodox Judgments than they have holy and gracious hearts and sanctified and reformed lives and conversations and they delivered into that form of doctrine which is delivered unto them as we find that Expression used by the Apostle Paul according to the Original Text Rom. 6.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Then we abide in the Doctrine of Christ when we abide in such ways as are suitable and conformable to this Doctrine and do that which this Doctrine teacheth which is to live gracious and holy lives as the Apostle tells us Tit. 2.11 12. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world When therefore any shall cease to do this they forsake the Doctrine of Christ let their judgments be what they will be Whiles they profess they know God yet in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate as it is said of the defiled and unbelieving in Tit. 1.15 And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the Negative Proposition Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God The second is laid down in the Affirmative which I shall upon the point but name unto you because it has much of the former in it in these words He that abideth in the Doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son The sum of all is this That he that hath not both hath neither and he
All these things are in the hands of God and so the Power to get Wealth by them Thirdly The power of Success It is he that gives this likewise when all things are prepared in the Means as much as can be yet there is a further Blessing which is required for the perfecting of them And this is also from God himself It is the Blessing of the Lord that makes Rich and adds no Sorrow with it as Solomon tells us Prov. 10.22 This is that which is absolutely requisite and necessary hereunto so that ther 's no Power of being Rich without it or devidedly from it Except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it Except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vain It is vain for you to rise early to sit up late to eate the Bread of sorrow c. Psal 27.1.2 What ever Course any may take to be Rich it is to no purpose without the Blessing of God And this Blessing of God it will make Rich where ther 's little else besides How many men are in the world who can give little account of their Estates but onely this that God has been pleased in his Providence to make a little go a great way with them and to increase them before they were aware as Jacob said once to Laban Gen. 31.42 Except the God of my Father the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had been with me surely thou hadst now sent me away Empty Yea have sown much and bring in little Hag. 1.6 Fourthly and lastly It is God that gives thee Power to get Wealth that is that gives thee Grace and makes thy Gettings to be lawful to thee When we have mention here made of a Power to get Wealth we must not understand it of an unlimited Power but a restraind Not of a Power which is per fas et nefas Either by hook or Crook but of a Power which is subordinate to the Commandment and will of God and which is agreeable to the Rules of his word Take your Thieves and Robbers and Oppressors and such persons as these and they seem to have a Power to get Wealth such as it is but it is not a Power of Gods giving and bestowing upon them but of their own taking to themselves It is not a Power of Donation but a Power of Vsurpation A Power which God may be said to suffer rather then to give and so it is not the Power which is here meant in the Text. But the Power which is here intended is an orderly and regular Power and consistent with the principles of Religion To get Wealth in Gods way and according to his allowance and approbation this is power to get Wealth indeed And this also together with all the former is the gift of God which he bestows upon those which are his People Secondly Exclusively When it is said here That He gives this power this as I said is to be taken not onely Emphatically but Exclusively and so there are these Intimations in it First That Wealth and Riches and great Estates they are not matters of mere accident and Casualty and Chance but that ther 's a special hand of Providence in them Indeed such things as these they are commonly called Bona Fortunae the goods of Fortune but it were a great deale better and more proper to call them rather Bona Providentiae the goods of Providence which indeed they are being such as are bestowed and ordered according to divine Dispensation The Silver is mine and the Gold is mine saith the Lord. Hagg. 2.8 And as it is his to the owning of it so it is his also to the Disposing The poor and the Rich meet together and the Lord is the maker of them both as Solomon tells us Prov. 22.2 Secondly It is not from our Selves neither that we do any time come to be Rich and to increase in Wealth It is the gift of God This is the very scope of the Text as we may see in the words immediately preceding in vers 17. of this Chapter Take heed thou say not in thy Heart my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this Wealth but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God This was the miscarriage of Ephraim Hos 12.8 Ephraim said I am become Rich I have found me out Substance c. He attributed his Riches to himself and to his own finding out And so Habb 1.16 They Sacrifice unto their own Net and burn Incense unto their own Dragg Because by them their portion is fat and their Meat is plenteous Indeed the Scripture sometimes tells us that the Diligent hand maketh rich and so it does But it is still in a Subordination to the good hand and blessing of God himself that is supposed to go along with it otherwise all the diligence in the World will never be able to effect it and all the hands in the World will never be able to reach it Therefore we see sometimes even by Experience that it proves otherwise That those who take never so much pains and waite never so many Occasions and leave no Stone un-turn'd for the procuring of Wealth to themselves yet they do not always light upon it because it pleases God himself to deny it unto them Thirdly It is not from other men neither It is Exclusive to them Parents and Friends and Progenitors and such as these Indeed Solomon tells us in one place That Houses and Riches are the Inheritance of Fathers Prov. 19.14 But this must be understood so far as they are able to make them which is not absolutely but with its Restriction How many have there been in the World who though they have had great Estates left them by others yet not withstanding have been poore themselves and have not known either how to Increase or how to keep that which has been left them These and the like Considerations do evidence and make it good unto us which we have here now before us That it is God that giveth men power to get Wealth and that Exclusively We have seen how he does it Emphatically he is not wanting in doing it we have seen also how he does it Exclusively Ther 's none to purpose that does it but he Let us take in one Inlargement and Amplification more to the former and that 's Comprehensively for this likewise is implyed in the Text and very proper and pertinent to our Purpose That which is here in our English Translation rendred to get is in the Hebrew Bible to do or to work Le-gnasoth Chayl And this has somewhat more in it than as yet we have spoke unto we may reduce it to two heads Especially First He gives thee Power to keep it and Secondly He gives thee Power to use it both of these must be taken in and added as belonging to the former First To keep it The Lord thy God gives the Power to do this Alas To how many Casualties and
That thou wouldst keep me Jabez when he would now be freed and preserved from approaching dangers and evils which hung over his head he goes to the right person for the effecting of it and that is God himself As all kind of evils of punishment is ordered and disposed of by God No evil at all in the City that the Lord hath not done sayes the Prophet so all evil of the same nature likewise is to be removed and prevented by God or else it cannot be done unto thee at all As it is he that must inlarge our coast and He whose hand must be with us so it is He also that must keep us from evil and preserve us if ever we be kept All other means besides without Him are in vain and to no purpose at all This shews us what to think of such persons as have other shelters to defend themselves by which as the Prophet Esay speaks of them have made a Covenant with Death and with Hell are at an agreement that say when the overflowing scourge shall pass thorow it shall not come unto them for they have made lyes their refuge and under falshood they have hid themselves such as these shall not prosper in that way wherein they flatter themselves Their Covenant shall be dis-anulled and their agreement shall not stand c. There can be no hope or confidence for them but onely in God alone who has these things in His own disposing This does not exclude the use of means on our behalf which in their place are to be used by us we may not thrust our selves upon evil or carelesly fall into it and think it enough for us to desire God to keep us from it This is to tempt his providence rather then any thing else No but with indeavour on our part to betake our selves humbly to God and to rest and relye upon Him for it as Jabez here does I might here also take notice of the word which in the Hebrew Text is very Emphatical Gnazthea Hand of strength and activity or helping thereunto but I pass over that And so much of the Request That thou wouldst keep me from evil The second is the Amplification of it in these words That it may not grieve me Here was in his Name Jabez which as I have shewn signifies forrowful but he would not willingly have grief in his hands His mother bare him in sorrow in the verse before the Text but he desired not to live in sorrow From evil that it may not grieve me Mark here how he expesses himself in these present words before us He does not desire absolutely and wholly to be kept from evil That almost as the world commonly goes might seem to be a kind of petition but he desires to be kept from the trouble and vexation of it it is not from evil that it may not touch me but from evil that it may not grieve me It is not to be delivered from the Condition but onely to be delivered from the Affection This is that which we may accordingly desire of the Lord in such cases as these are That if he shall bring us at any time into sorrowful and sad conditions yet at least that he would keep us from sorrowful and sad hearts This is that which seems strange to Nature but Grace does very easily apprehend it God can suffer us to fall into evil and yet keep us from the Grief of the evil God can give a man a comfortable spirit in a sad and sorrowful estate and oftentimes does And this is that which Jabez rather then fail would obtain in this place so far forth as conveniently might be that he might be kept from evil but if not from evil wholly yet from evil at least in the sad effects and consequents of of it from evil that it might not grieve Him Thus for the better opening and unfolding of it to us may be taken with these following explications First He desired to be kept from grief That is from the Extremity of the Affliction so as to sink or to overwhelm his spirit Jabez could not imagine to have evil and not to have grief with it but hoped not to have it in the excess and violence of it And this he desired that though God in his Providence should afflict him yet he would not afflict him beyond his strength or lay upon him more then he could well and patiently indure This is that which we are subject unto if God doe not prevent us from it to be cast down upon every occasion and to be discouraged and put out of heart almost upon the smallest affliction and therefore is there need of prayer to God to support us and uphold us to this purpose and to keep us within bounds This is one thing which Jabez here intended Secondly When he desires to be kept from grief that is from the sinfulness of Grief and that inordinancy and distemper of minds which we are commonly subject unto through our corruption in such conditions Lord keep me from evil that it may not Grieve me That is that I may not be fretful in it that I may not be sinful under it that I may not be offensive by it That it may not grieve me nor I may not grieve thee nor thy holy Spirit occasionally from it This is the main and principal desire of every good Christian in such cases as these and where God is pleased at any time to doe this for us it is that which may very well satisfie us and quiet us and give us contentment whatsoever he does else besides A man's spirit it will help his infirmities as Solomon speaks and if our mindes be once well in us all things else shall be well with us what is it that we would to care for more And thus now we have also the third particular whereof this Prayer of Jabez is made up to wit for a Blessing in reference to his Protection and Personal Preservation That thou wouldst keep me in evil And so likewise we have done with the first General part of the Text viz. The Vow or Prayer it self both in the General Proposition of it at large as also in the particular explication of it in the several branches The Second is an Account of the Answer or Return which is made unto this Prayer That we have in these words And God granted him that which he requested which words may be looked upon by us two manner of wayes Either first of all in their common and general notion as they doe include in them God's manner of dealing in his answer of prayer at large Or Secondly in their restrained particular notion as they doe point out to us God's answer of prayer in these particulars which are here mentioned before us and which Jabez here beg'd at God's hands First To take them and to look upon them a little in the General God granted him that which he requested what 's the meaning of that
God than to speak a Word in season and to give every one his proper Portion which of right does belong unto him And in particular as to the Tenders of Peace and Comfort and Consolation that they may not be layed hold on by such as have no Right thereunto And this is that which we may find here to be observed by the Prophet Isaiah in this present Scripture Who having in some Verses before declared God's kindness to Broken and Contrite and Humble and Penitent Persons in healing them and leading and comforting them aad in creating Peace for them does here in this Verse which I have now read very carefully exempt all others from the benefit of such Happy Privileges as these indeed are And signifies that howsoever it may be with such Persons as these are yet those who are otherwise affected have no Interest in them There is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God This Sentence is very Authentick and for the greater Weight and Efficacy of it we find it to be twice mentioned and repeated by the Prophet Isaiah here in this Book to signifie how much his Heart and Spirit was in it in Chap. 48.20 and in Chap. 57.21 this place which we have now before us IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Report it self And Secondly The Author or Maker of this Report The Report it self that is expressed in these words There is no peace to the wicked The Author or Original of this Report that is in these Saith my God We begin in order with the first of these Parts viz. The Report it self There is no peace to the wicked Wherein again two Branches more First The Persons mentioned Secondly The Condition of those Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Wicked The Condition of these Persons is that there is no Peace unto them First To speak of the Persons which are here mentioned and they are the Wicked Wicked is a large Word and of great extent and accordingly deserves to be explained by us how it is understood here in this place We may take it if we please according to these following Explications First Open and Prophane Atheists Such as live in all manner of Sins of what kind and degree soever Drunkards Swearers Whore-masters Blasphemers and the like such as give themselves over to Lasciviousness to commit all Vncleanness with greediness which are not ashamed of their Miscarriages but rather boast and glory in their Shame Profess and make a Trade of Evil and declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not as the Prophet elsewhere speaks of them Such as these are plainly the Wicked and so acknowledged in all men's Apprehensions and so do very properly come under this Censure in the Text as having no Peace unto them They have nothing to do with Peace nor it with them Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes as it is expresly declared of them Rom. 3.17 Secondly Close Hipocrites who carry it fairly and smoothly to the World but yet do give themselves liberty in secret and hidden Abominations Which hide iniquity under their tongue and keep it still within their mouths as Job speaks Which have a form of Godliness but deny the Power of it Which profess Religion hear the Word receive the Sacrament partake of the Ordinances and in the mean time together with it have their unlawful and unwarrantable Excursions their private Haunts their secret Fraude their sinful Retirements Such Persons as these whatever they may think of themselves or others may think of them yet they are no better than the Wicked and come within the number of those Persons which are here mentioned in the Text. Thirdly In one word All Carnal and Vnregenerate Persons which are as yet in the State of Nature not converted or effectually called and brought home to God nor having his Grace wrought in their Hearts They are in a sense of Latitude the Wicked and so looked upon in God's Account Whosoever aro not the Righteous they are the Wicked there is no Mean between them Whosoever are not the Children of God and born of him they are for the present the Children of the Devil and belong to him as the Apostle John seems to carry it in the third Chapter of his first Epistle Those who are Strangers to God are enemies and have no share in true peace being so far forth in the very gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity As Simon Peter said of Simon Magus Act. 8.23 And so much may be spoken of the first Branch in this first General viz. The Persons mentioned The Wicked The Second is The Condition which is here expressed of these Persons And that is that there is no peace unto them There is no peace to the wicked When it is said There is no peace to such Persons we are to take it in the fullest Signification And that is twofold Whether of a State of Peace or of a Spirit of Peace No Peace that is no Peace of Condition And No Peace that is no Peace of Mind Either or both of these are to be understood by this Expression First Take it as to the State or Condition There is no peace to the wicked in this sence There is a Difference and Variance betwixt them and all others else whatsoever with whom Peace is desirable First As to God himself which is the Main and Chief of all and who is the God of Peace There is no Peace to them with him But as they are Enemies to him so is he to them so remaining and does bid Defiance to them and does fight against them As there is no Agreement between them in their Dispositions they are altogether unlike to God and he to them So much also following thereupon as there is no Agreement neither in their Affections but Enmity and hatefulness rather Indeed we must add this by way of Concession and further Explication First That God does often times for a long time spare and forbear them and does not presently proceed to the inflicting of his Judgments and Punishments upon them The Lord does exercise a great deal of Patience and Long-suffering towards Wicked Men not suddainly taking the advantage of their Miscarriages and Provocations of him But yet this does not argue him to be therefore at Peace with them or they with him For though he doth not punish them presently yet he punishes them at last and in due time shews the sad Effects of his Wrath and Displeasure against them which he inflicts upon them God's Forbearance of punishing of Wicked Men is so far from being an Argument of his Favour and Good Will towards them as that indeed it is rather an Argument of the contrary It is not an Effect of Peace but a Symptom of Wrath. He forbears for a while that so afterwards he may more heavily fall upon them
of Christ and of God But that because of these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience In Rev. 22.8 that They have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone That is no other than that as it is here expressed in the Text they are turned into Hell There are none that live and continue in such Sins as these are whose end is destruction Phil. 3.10 howsoever they may flatter themselves with hopes of the contrary that can expect any other lot to befall them than such as this How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her It was said of the Whore of Babylon Rev. 18.7 And holds true of all other Whores and sinful Persons in any kind or condition whatsoever By how much the more that the heart of any People is drowned and swallowed up in Lust and Carnal Pleasure by so much the more are they from thence exposed to Hellish Torments and Tortures which shall accordingly light upon them This is a thing which is no way to be doubted or called in question as having the Word of God it self clear for it And there are few but are ready in mind to acknowledge it and seem at least to be perswaded of it But Secondly That is not all Not only Open and Scandalous Sinners but also close and secret Hypocrites and Formalists who have a Form of Godliness but deny the Power thereof These come into this number also of those that are wicked and so consequently that are turned into Hell The Scripture takes a special notice and observation of those and fastens a special Character upon them to this purpose as we have divers Instances of it thus Psal 125.4 The Lord will do good to those that are good and to them that are upright in their hearts But as for them that turn aside to their wicked ways that is to say Hypocrites and Double Dealers the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity that is reckon them in the number of Wicked Persons and accordingly deal with them In Matth. 23.15 The Hypocrites they are made to be Children of Hell as all one with them And Matth. 24.52 it is said of the Unfaithful Steward that His Lord shall come in a day when he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Where the Portion of Hypocrites is made to be The Description of Hell as that which is in a special manner appointed unto them Thirdly Which carries yet a little farther and enlarges this Name a little wider All Carnal and Unregenerate Persons whosoever are yet remaining and abiding in the State of Nature and not converted and brought home to Christ These are moreover the Wicked in the sense of the Text and have answerably the Doom of the Text falling upon them as being liable to be turned into Hell The Scripture is clear for this also as we have it in Joh. 3.3 from the mouth even of Christ himself in his discoursing with Nicodemus Verily Verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God What is it to be born again That is to have a new Nature and Principles put into him over what he hath brought into the World This is here to be supposed and taken for granted that as the Apostle Paul expresly tells us We are all by nature the children of wrath Ephes 2.3 I was born in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me saith the Prophet David of himself Psal 51.5 And it is applicable to all other Persons whosoever they are The whole frame of the thoughts of every man's heart by nature is evil and only evil continually Gen. 6.5 From whence so considered there is no Agreement betwixt God and him or Communion betwixt them For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness or what communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. 6.14 this is that which makes God and Man Enemies and exposes Man for his particular to the Judgment of God and draws down all his Wrath and Vengeance upon him in the Demerit of it for there is no unclean thing or that defileth which can enter into that holy place Rev. 21.27 Therefore there must be a Change and Alteration wrought before any one come thither And they must be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light and begotten again to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Now there is nothing less than this which will serve the turn to bring men to Heaven and so consequently to keep them from Hell That which we call Good Nature if it be not moreover sanctified and renewed by Grace it is but Bad Nature still and Nature Corrupt and sodenounces such Persons as are the Subjects of it to be Wicked Persons notwithstanding all that seeming Comliness and Amiableness which may be in them Take Civility and Morallity and Ingenuity and such Principles and Dispositions as those of Temperance and Sobriety and Justice and Liberality and the like Although in themselves simply considered they are very noble and honourable Quallifications and such as had never more need to be extolled than in such times as these are wherein there is so much failing and decaying of them yet for all that they are not enough of themselves alone to bring men to Salvation If Men have no more but these they may go to Hell for all these And this is clear from the Passage of our blessed Saviour himself in Matth. 5.20 Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees it was as to outward appearance very perfect and exact Righteousness especially some amongst them above the rest As we may see in the Apostle Paul himself when he was of that Profession He was touching the Righteousness which was in the Law blameless as he says of himself Philip. 3.6 But yet when he came to be converted and to become a Christain he durst not stand to it as he again delcares of himself in the eighth and ninth Verses of that Chapter No more have any others besides cause to trust or to rely hereupon as which will 〈◊〉 serve them Men may have fair and civil outward Carriages and Deportments in regard of the World and yet have naughty and desperate hearts full of Pride and Envy and Malice and Rebellion of Spirit Now such as these they are wicked Persons also in the Language of the Text and Children of Hell it self These are such as the World does sometimes very much abound with who under the Visage of common Civility and External smoothness of Conversation are Great Haters and Opposers and Despisers of the Power of Godliness and of those who are the true
but the Thought and the Practise in Thought And so we may see by our Saviours Sermon upon the Mount where undertaking the Exposition of the Law he carries the Breach of it not to the outward Acts only but also to the Thoughts Secondly The Thoughts of men are the proper Issue and Emanation of their Souls and so for that reason more especially to be rectifyed in them There 's nothing so much a man as his Mind Nor there is nothing so much of a mans Mind as his Thoughts that do spring from it Look therefore how much a man is to be judged of so much is he to be judged of by his Thoughts Thirdly The Thoughts are such as whereto the Gospel and Ministery of the Word does especially and in a singular manner extend it self Heb. 4.12 The word of God is powerfull and quick and sharper than any two-edged Sword peircing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart And so 2 Cor. 10.5 Bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Now so far forth as the Ministery does extend so far does Religion extend and the ordering and framing of a Christian Fourthly and Lastly God himself is a Searcher and Trier of the Thoughts and Inward man And therefore is regard to be had still to them Look how far he hath an Influence so far accordingly should we have a Care and Respect to our selves Now thus he has to the Thoughts and Cogitations and therefore he is usually described by such a Title as this is of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That searcheth the heart and tryeth the reins Men may sometimes ghess and conjecture but God he has absolute and certain knowledge He knows what is in man as was said of Christ All this shews how Religion does reach it self and extend to the Thoughts This therefore meets with the conceits of such Persons as confine it only to the Outward man who think that Thoughts are free as they express it and that they may think what they please without any care to give any account of it First It is not so The unrighteous man must forsake his Thoughts Not only his evil wicked ways whereby he is odious and abominable to men but also his Evil Affections wherein God Himself takes notice of him If ye shall ask now in particular what those Thoughts are which an unrighteous man is to forsake I Answer in a word all such as are proper and peculiar to a man in the state of Nature To a carnal and unregenerate Person precisely so taken who is here Emphatically called as I hinted before a man of Iniquity such an one as the Scripture tells us his Thoughts are wholly Evil Gen. 6.5 Col jetser The whole Frame of the Thoughts of the heart of man is only Evil and that continually And 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing that is good as of our selves c. Now these Evil thoughts which we now speak of an which accordingly are to be forsaken they may be ranked into three sorts especially 1. As to matter of Opinion 2. Of Contemplation 3. Of Designs First As to matter of Opinion Take a man in his natural Condition and he has many strange conceits in his head whilst he so remains as it is said concerning the Gentiles Rom. 1.21 They became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned Even so is it with such Persons They bring Religion oftentimes to their Carnal and Corrupt Reason and confine it to that But now Converting Grace where it comes it overthrows them all Casting down Imaginations c. 2 Cor. 10.5 To instance in some few particulars First The Thoughts of sin when a man 's converted he forsakes these and it concerns him to do so Take a man in his Natural Condition and he many times makes nothing of Sin He thinks it a very trifle and bauble and there 's no great matter in it why a man should trouble himself for it He thinks that there is no great hurt which can come to him by it Nay he thinks it the greatest delight and contentment that may be Fools make a mock of Sin and it is a sport unto them to do evil as Solomon tells us Yea but when God opens their eyes and begins a little to awaken Conscience and to reduce them and bring them home to himself then they come to be of another mind and it concerns them to be so To look upon Sin as the basest and vilest thing in the world and as carrying the greatest evil and malignity in it in the midst of all the appearing pleasures and contentments of it It alters a mans thoughts of Sin So again also his Thoughts of Grace and Godliness and Godly men When a man is in his Vnregenerate State he has low Thoughts and Conceits of Goodness and of those who are the followers of it Thinks Religion to be an empty business and strictness and exactness of Conversation to be meer folly and Godly men themselves to be so many Fools and Idiots That it is in vain to serve God and no profit to walk mournfulty before him as they said of it in Malach. 3.14 And in Job 21.15 Thus it was with Paul himself before his Conversion Act. 26.9 I verily thought with my self says he that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazzareth And so our Saviour tells his Disciples that there were some who would think that they should do God service to kill them Joh. 16.2 These are the Thoughts which men are subject unto in their Natural Estate But now in Conversion they must be all un-thought and laid aside So again farther For his Thoughts of God himself he must forsake these also and think otherwise of him What Thoughts have men commonly of God in such a Condition Surely such as are very strange and irregular and that in reference to any of his Attributes whether one or other Wee 'l but instance these two amongst the rest His Justice and His Mercy They have very sinister Apprehensions here sometimes they question his Justice and think he has little of that in him Think him to be an indulgent God and one that will let them do as they list without Controul as it is in Psal 50.21 Thou thinkest that I was altogether such an one as thy self God speaks there to an unrighteous Person who presumed upon his Patience towards him but withall he tells him that in the Event he should find it otherwise But I will reprove thee and will set thy sins in order before thine eyes So again on the other side for Gods Mercy there is sometimes in another extream now and then questioning of that and a thinking that it is no purpose for them to repent and be better for it shall notwithstanding be as bad with them for time
and see what we are according to our care and indeavour in this particular If we shall go from day to day and never care to improve in Grace and the strengthning of our inward man but rather by wilfull neglect and carelesness weaken it and diminish from it this does too palpably discover that we are not that which we ought to be in Christianity For if we we we should find this disposition working in us to abound more and more as the Apostle Paul speaks to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 4.1 we should still find our selves getting up in spiritual strength Look as it is with a man which is in part cured and recovered out of some bodily distemper by how much the disease weakens the man strenthens as that looses of its power so he gains and gets more in his Even so it is also with that person which is brought out of his natural condition when the sinfull corruption of nature is healed in him Look how that does any thing decay so does Grace flourish in him and increase As it was in those two opposites for the Kingdom Saul and David David waxed stronger and stronger and the house of Saul waxt weaker 2 Sam. 3.1 Even so is it likewise here As Grace weakens so corruption does more and more increase and as Grace encreases so does Corruption loose of its strength These two they are like a pair of ballances when the one goes up the other is sure to go down and so contrarily That heart which has the work of Grace truly and indeed wrought in it it will be desirous and indeavouring after improvement and settlement of it self Let none therefore plead weakness and justifie and allow themselves in such a condition as that is for it is not sutable to a Christian temper The best Christians that are they may have weaknesses in them but they do not content themselves with those weaknesses They have so much strength in them as to be sensible and apprehensive of their weakness and so much Grace in them as to labour as soon as may be to come out of it and to gather strength And where we find it otherwise with our selves we have cause to bewail our selves and to be truly humbled for it As for those which have no strength at all they do not care for the renewing of strength nay indeed they cannot they are uncapable of it The renewing of strength does suppose the having of some strength allready to be renewed Carnal and natural men which have no work of Grace in their hearts nor the Spirit of Christ stirring in them they are not weak but dead and so uncapable of getting more strength The Impotency of corrupt Nature it is not weakness but wickedness and so to be accounted but where there 's weakness there is in part some strength which is mingled with it and where there is this strength there 's an indeavour to work out that weakness and to recover after some former abatings and diminishings of Grace in it self That 's the second particular viz. A Christians Disposition joyn'd with his Duty They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength that 's their Inclination The Third is their Priviledge what they may do or does indeed actually befall them They shall renew their strength that is This happiness belongs unto them This is their state and condition And this indeed seems to be the proper sense and meaning of the Text to express thus much to us wherein the Spirit of God shewes us the difference between these and others in a way of opposition The youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength The word which is here rendred Renew is in the Hebrew Text. Jachalifu which signifies properly they exchange it commut abunt vires that is they shall have another kind of strength bestowed upon them then that which they formerly had For there is a double kind of change to be observed and taken notice of by us There 's a change in Quality of the worse for the better And there 's a change in Quantity of the less for the Greater Now both of these Changes are in a Christian as to spiritual strength First They have a change in Quality Another sort and kind of strength then what they had before Conversion And Secondly A change in Quantity more strength then at their first Conversion First I say there 's a change in Quality They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength that is they shall have a new kind of strength bestowed upon them over what they had before Conversion as Caleb had another Spirit and Saul another heart For we must know that even before Conversion in natural and unregenerate persons there is a kind of strength which does appear in them and that also in reference to Religion and the Duties of it but it is not such a strength as is here meant in this present Text nor yet such as any are to satisfie and to rest themselves contented withal To explain it a little unto you ye may take it in these particulars First There 's the strength of temper and natural Constitution Secondly There 's the strength of Custome and Religious Education Thirdly There 's the strength of Civility and Moral principles Each of these kinds of strength there are and that also before Conversion First I say There 's the strength of Temper and natural Constitution this is such as may go very far and a man may be able both to do and suffer very much by it This is that which does for the most part extend it self to the outside and form of Religion and in those performances which belong to that Men by a natural strength may be very much in them whether a strength of bodily frame or a strength of Natural parts but it is not this which is sufficient and yet it is that which many rest themselves in and are contented withal The strength of Wit and Reason and Vnderstanding and Memory and the like whiles their heart and will and Affections have no saving work at all upon them Secondly There 's the strength of Custom and Religious Education This it will go very far likewise many which have been piously Educated and brought up and accustomed to such and such Performances they through Vse and Exercise contract some kind of strength to themselves for the doing of them and become strong in the outward bulk of Religion This was such a strength as was in Joash whiles his Uncle Jebojada liv'd He did that which was good and right in the sight of the Lord though afterwards he departed from it And so 't is also with many others besides They have nothing which does so much act them and put them forward to any thing which is good but as it is that which they have been alwayes used and accustom'd unto Thirdly There 's the strength of
Civility and Moral Principles This was the strength which was in Paul before his Conversion He seem'd to have much strength in him and so in a sense he had for we see what a strict man he was and how unblameably as himself sayes he liv'd and profited in the Jewes Religion above many of his equals in his own Nation But what was the reason of it and how came it to be thus with him why it was because he had taken it by Tradition from his Fathers He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees one that was brought up amongst them that sate at the feet of Gamaliel a great Rabbi and Doctor of the Law and from hence came to do so many things which belong'd thereunto Thus this strength in all these wayes as I have shewen is incident to a man before Grace and Conversion wrought in his heart but this is not that which will serve the turn They that wait upon the Lord shall change that is they shall have another bestowed upon them and such as will be more usefull to them In stead of this more Natural and Moral and Customary strength They shall have a super-natural and spiritual given unto them This is different and surpassing the other First In regard of it's Original as comming from the Holy Ghost which is the worker of it He strengthens with might by his Spirit Eph. 3.16 And by his Spirit not onely in his common works but also in his special and peculiar This strength it proceeds from the Spirit of God as Sanctifying Then Secondly It differs in the Subject for the former strength is onely in the outward this is in the inward man and the inwards of that inward I pray God sanctify your whole Soul and Spirit 1. Thes 5.23 Thirdly It differs in the Effects for this Spiritual and Supernatural strength it is able to do greater matters then the other can do helping a man to deny himself to overcome the world to mortify Lusts and Corruptions c. So much for the change in Quality The Second is a change in quantity and degree this is further the priveledge of good Christians that they shall through Gods Grace grow stronger and stronger If by some mischance they do abate in their Spiritual strength yet they shall recover and repair it again They shall renew their strength This for the better illustrating of it to us may be laid open in two particulars First In the Cases wherein And Secondly In the means whereby each of these are Considerable to this purpose for a Christians renewing of his strength First The cases wherein There are some cases and conditions especially wherein a Christian has most need of having his strength renew'd unto him and in such cases as these does God graciously renew them here As First Against a new Service which is to be done by him Every new performance it does in a manner call for a new strength to the Effecting of it which it is not easily done without Especially if it be of any Consequence or Importance Now therefore does the Lord of his Goodness herein give us some proportionable strength as the Apostles when Christ sent them abroad into the work of the Ministry it was not a common strength which would serve their turn and therefore he tells them that they shall have strength from above Tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem untill ye he indewed with power from on High Luke 24.49 The like strength does God vouchsafe to his servants in a measure and degree proportionable in any service which he designs them where he renews their work he does also renew their strength Secondly Against some new Temptation and Conflict with Satan The Lord does here renew their strength and they passively renew it to themselves God does in some manner fit and inable them to enter the Lists and Combate with so potent an Enemy Thus we see in the Example of Job how mightily did God renew his strength when as Satan opposed him and set upon Him And so in the Example of Peter Luke 22.32 Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you and to winnow you as Wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren So again also in the Example of Paul when he prayed so earnestly to God to be delivered from the buffetings of Satan God told him this that his Grace was sufficient for Him and his strength was made perfect in his weakness As he increased his Temptations so proportionably he renewed his strength Thirdly Against some new Tryal and affliction from God himself As the Affliction abounds so does the Consolation and as the suffering so the strength God lays no more upon his servants then he inables them to indure but gives them strength inabling them to bear it As we see in the Martyrs and Holy men of old what great things they suffered This it was not from strength innate or inbred but from strength given and renewed Thus we see what Case and Conditions this Priviledge does hold good to Gods Servants which wait upon him Now Secondly For the means or wayes whereby we may take them thus Christians they do renew their Spiritual strength in these observations First In the renewing of their Repentance as Sin it weakens us so Repentance it recovers our strength it puts us in statu quo brings us back to our former Condition By true and unfained Humiliation for any strength which has been lost by us through any defect we do get up that strength again in us which accordingly is a very good course in such a case to be taken by us when we find our Spiritual strength to be decayed bewaile it and lament it before God with sadness and bitterness of Spirit while Christians do thus they do hence very much profit and benefit themselves in this particular Secondly In renewing of their Covenant as by bewayling what is past so by Solemn purposes and ingagement of themselves for time to come as long as men are at an indifferency whether they should leave their lusts or no so long their Iusts prevaile upon them and as long as men hang off from good purposes and are not fully resolved about them so long do they contract more impotency and indisposition to them But now Absoluteness and Peremptoriness of Ingagement this does convey some strength unto them while we are strong in our Resolutions we come from hence to be strong in our Performances and to be more fitted and inabled for them Thirdly In the renewing of their Obedience Look by what we lose our strength by the contrary to that we recover it and get it again now we lose it many times by the doing of that which is Evil and by the omission of that which is good therefore by that which is opposite and contrary hereunto we must restore it Hence 't is Christs counsel to the Church of Ephesus which had lost her first love and
and so here again Jeremy had his Trumpet which was extrordinarily sounded in his ear as a forerunner of Judgment But secondly which I rather incline to in an extraordinary application to his mind and understanding God did now by the Spirit of Prophesie which this holy man was endued withall assure him of some grievous War which was now towards his People which he was as verily perswaded of as if he had heard the very sound of the Trumpet and alarm of War it self This was Gods manner of dealing with the Prophets he did thus communicate and dispenfe himself to them so as to acquaint them aforehad with the things which he would bring to pass in the world of any special importance as Amos 3.7 Surely the Lord will do nothing but he reveals his secrets to his servants the Prophets that is nothing which is of any great concernment as to the state and condition of his People nothing of that but he will acquaint his Prophets with it And so much of the first particular in this second General the Report it self the sound of the Trumpet the Alarm The second is the conveyance of it to the Prophet and that is by his Soul Thou hast heard O my Soul How is his Soul said to have heard it As we may conceive it briefly thus according to these explications First Originally as in forming the Organs of the body When the Ear hears it is the Soul hears as conveying its faculty by that particular part and member 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the mind sees and the mind hears and all things else without that are blind and deaf it was the saying of Epicharmus So then if as I hinted before we shall suppose Jeremy to have heard some sound of a Trumpet in the air and to have discern'd it by his bodily ear yet his Soul might be said to hear as having the faculty of that sense in it whose outward organ or instrument is the body and outward man Secondly The Soul immediately as being that which had particular communion with God in these impartments This was the singular priviledge of the Prophets to partake of these immediate and extraordinary communications of God to them which we in these days have now no warrant to expect for our selves Indeed God does oftentimes very graciously reveal himself to his Servants in a way of spiritual communion with them wherein he does likewise give them very strange hints oftentimes of his Providential Dispensations but these Prophetical inspirations were more peculiar both to those times and persons and so not to be expected now Thirdly The Soul Emphatically That 's spoken indeed which is spoken to the Soul and that is heard indeed which is heard with the Soul Thus was it here in the Text thus did God speak and Jeremy hear it 's well when these two go together both in speaker and hearer In these it did two things 1. God's Excellency 2. Man's Duty First I say here 's God's Excellency he speaks to this as for us which are Ministers we can go no further than the ear it is God that must speak to the heart that must work upon the mind that must perswade the Soul and when he pleases so to do he does it effectually Secondly Here 's Man's Duty in Jeremy's practise My soul hath heard that it should be with us we should hear with all our Souls when we come to such Dispensations as these are which we are now about how is that namely attentively cheerfully intelligently obedientially and so as to practise what we hear And so we have also the second Particular which is the Conveyance of all this to the Propher The third and last is the Improvement the use which the Prophet Jeremy makes of this report heard by him that is signified in the word Because which we must look upon as knitting both parts of the Text together and so carrying as it were back again to the former There is somewhat which we may observe in general and somewhat more immediately and in particular from the words themselves First observe in general thus much That then it is with us as it should be when our meditations have an influence upon our affections when what we hear with our ear or think upon in our minds it sinks down into our bowels and hearts when we are inwardly wrought upon by the good instructions which are administred to us Thus it was here with the Prophet Jeremy in this Text his soul Beard the sound of the Trumpet and his bowels were stirred and moved in him he had special revelations and he had hereupon answerable affections This was the property and disposition of a well-temper'd Soul indeed The Reason of it is this Because this is the end and aim which it tends unto every Divine Truth in the Understanding it is ordained for some betterment of the Will and Affections which are to be wrought upon by it We do not therefore reach the scope of it till we find it to have this effect upon us From hence then we should take account of our selves and see how it is with us VVe should not at any time satisfie our selves in any measure of Divine Illumination without some answerable and proportionable affection VVhen we have heard observe how we rellish And when our Judgments are inlightened consider how our bowels are moved and stirred and wrought upon in us And so in Fasting afflict our souls Again further Here 's also by the way an Item for Teachers to endeavour to work their Doctrines upon their hearts and those discoveries which God makes to them in reference to the instruction of the people to bring them down to their own spiritual improvement and advancement in the work of grace As we have here greater Revelation so from it we should have better Affection But Secondly To come more close to the particular Jeremy cries out of his bowels here he had heard the sound of the Trumpet c. These bowels I told you before were in general his Affections but I did not tell you which they were VVe may take them in these specifications First Anger Jeremy he was moved with this he was displeased when he considered the refractoriness and obstinacy of this people whom he spoke to that nothing would serve their turn but utter destruction that they should so cast away themselves as they did by their wilful provocations of God's Majesty to bring such sweeping Judgments upon them as this was There is nothing which is more apt to stir the zealand impatience of Teachers than when they see that all their Teaching and Admonishing comes to no good that people will still be that which they will be even to the utter undoing of themselves both bodies and souls Secondly Fear That was another part of these bowel The good Prohet had very strong apprehensions of this Judgment which was threatned and he was much troubled in himself as not knowing the full extent
remoteness this is in such as are wholly and universally depriv'd of all the Ordinances and spiritual Dispensations This is the case of the Heathens and of such as live out of the pales of the Church These are far from the Kingdom of God and accordingly are signified and described in Scripture by this expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We shall find it twice together in one Chapter Eph. 2.13 Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the bloOd of Jesus Far off i. e. Gentiles and Pagans So ver 17. He came and preach'd peace to you which were afar off and to them that are nigh To them that were nigh that is to the Jews a people joyn'd to God by special covenant And to you which were afar off that is the Gentiles which were in a state of separation from him his Ordinances and Covenant and Salvation This is the state and condition of the Heathen such people as have not heard of the Gospel they are at a distance from the Kingdom of God Neither can we upon grounds of Scripture give them any hope so remaining of eternal life What God may do by his Prerogative with some particulars among them we do not dispute nor enquire it is a secret within his own breast which we meddle not withal but in an ordinary way of proceeding and according to that course which he has prescribed and set down in his word we cannot expect it Acts 4.12 Neither is there Salvation in any other c. Gal. 3.8 In thee shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed And Eph. 2.12 Without Christ and having no hope are joyn'd together Therefore let us take heed of all such Doctrines and opinions as those are which are too favourable to them in this particular as there are too many which now abound in these days who have inlarged the bounds of Salvation so far as to reach even to Heathens and such persons as never heard of Christ who can find room in Heaven for Aristotle and Plato and Seneca and such as these This is more then we have warrant for in all the Scriptures where we meet not with any thing assuring or intimating so much unto us Besides that it is not our business to trouble our selves about it That which lies upon us is to make use of such Authors as these are in a way of Scholastical improvement and to get what we can from them for the inlargement of our natural abilities but as for their final condition to leave that to an higher hand Not to be wiser than God or to have more pitty than is in him who knows what to do with his creatures without our counsel or instruction And especially bless his name that he has been pleased to put our selves into a better condition that whereas we were once afar of we of this Land and Nation as barbarous Heathens as any God has made known his Gospel to us and brought us within the limits of his Church I say we should bless him for it and labour to walk worthy of it and answerable to it and the more by prizing such a mercy as this is We should take heed whiles we think to advance common Grace that we do not diminish from peculiar and disparage that and whiles we go about to save the Heathens we do not in the mean time lose our selves So much for that The remoteness from the means which is Absolute in such persons as live out of the pales and compass of the Church Secondly There 's a Comparative remoteness which we may by the way also take notice of in such who live within the bounds of the Church and the compass of Christian Common wealths and yet have little or none of the Gospel sounding in their ears It is the case of many at this day in some dark corners of the land where saving only the name and notion of it people live in a condition little different even from Pagans and Heathens themselves This is a thing which is not so deeply thought of as it ought to be which makes it to be so much the more sad and miserable in it self We have great cause to bewail it and where we have any occasion or opportunity afforded unto us for our own particulars to remedy it that so others may be brought unto the same nearness together with our selves Besides all this there 's a remoteness voluntary and contracted in those which are near the means and yet never the nearer which put the word of God from them as it is said of those obstinate Jews Acts 13 46. which enjoy the Gospel and are never the better by it yea 't is well if they be not the worse more harden'd and confirm'd in evil These mens case is worse than the others But so much of the first Explication in which any be said to be far from the Kingdom of God Namely in regard of the means of Grace in the Ordinances and Ministerial Dispensations The second is in regard of the Terms namely the state in which they are at present compared with the state in which they stand in opposition unto As there are many which are far from the Kingdom of God that is from Grace and eternal Salvation as being destitute of those outward means which are requisite in order to that condition so there are many which are likewise far from the Kingdom of God as being destitute of those personal qualifications considerable and desirable in themselves in order to that condition likewise This I call a remoteness of terms forasmuch as these two will never meet or come together so remaining Whether we take it for a remoteness of principles that is such a frame of spirit as does not suit with the temper of a Christian or whether we take it for a remoteness of conversation that is such a tract and course of life as does not suit with an heavenly condition Those which are under either of these distances they are far from the Kingdom of God We 'll for brevities sake joyn them both together because the one refers to the other And here there are divers sorts of persons which we may consider as at a very great distance in this behalf We 'll reduce them to three ranks especially First all notoriously wicked and profane and licentious persons Drunkards and Whoremasters and Swearers and Profaners of the Sabbath such persons as live in idleness and all manner of debaucheries these are far from the Kingdom of God with a witness There 's no coming for these to Heaven at all whiles they continue in this wretched estate and it will cost them a great deal of pains to bring them out of it For this the Scripture's clear in sundry places Gal. 5.21 Having spoken of the works of the flesh of the which I tell you before as I have also told you in times past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Eph. 5.6 Let no man
said of our Blessed Saviour Heb. 2.17 18. That in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest And that forasmuch as himself had suffered being tempted he was better able to succour those that were tempted and accordingly could not but be touch'd with the feeling of our infirmities chap. 4. â—5 In like manner it is likely to be with others so far forth as they communicate in such conditions being hence inabled to have compassion or reasonably to bear with those which are in them for that themselves also are compast with infirmities There 's two things at once in this expression in the Text First that one man's evil is another man's danger he is liable and exposed to it Secondly that one man's evil is another man's interest he is employed and concerned in it So were the rest of the Disciples in this attempt which was made upon Peter and therefore not only thee in the singular but you also in the plural So much for that But to come more closely to the thing it self here intended To have you This word you in the Text it may admit of a thee-fold gradation according to which it may be explained and understood by us First you Believers rather than other men Secondly you eminent Believers rather than other Christians Thirdly you Apostles or Ministers rather than other eminent Believers Satan in the laying of his temptations hath emphatically desired you You he hath desired First you Believers rather than other men Satan's aim is especially at such to get them As for wicked and ungodly persons who are yet in their unregenerate condition he has them already They are said to be in the snares of the Devil and he knows them to be so so that he does not much trouble himself about them All his care about such is but to keep them in that wretched condition in which they are It is not to have them so much as to hold them that they may not recover themselves out of his snare and get loose from him for which purpose he does what he can to keep them from the means of Salvation or else to frustrate those means unto them But his chiefest plots are against those which are Believers and which have Grace wrought in their hearts he desires especially to lay hold on them and to draw them into his nets This he aims at both in himself and in his instruments as ye may see in Elymas the Sorcerer Acts 13.9 10. Who when Sergius Paulus the Deputy of the Countrey had been wrought upon by the Ministery of St. Paul this wicked Fellow endeavoured to corrupt him and to turn him from the Faith But he has the brand of a child of the Devil put upon him by the Apostle for it there in that place O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all Righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord Those that go about to tempt and to pervert those which are good they are so far forth the children of the Devil whose work and property and disposition it is so to do as much as he can and who makes it his great employment And there are two considerations especially which do lay ground to this practice in him First that absolute antipathy and hatred and contrariety which is in him to Goodness it self yea to God himself who is the chiefest good The Devil because he hates Goodness it self therefore he assaults it where ever he finds it And because he hates God himself therefore he hates also his Image in those in whom it is and would deface it as much as he is able Because all true Believers they have the likeness of God stamp'd upon them and do in a sort partake of his nature therefore it is that Satan does so much malign them and set himself against them and does labour what he can to super-stamp his own likeness upon them Secondly It proceeds from that Envy and Pride which is in him The Devil takes it in scorn that a creature which is below him in creation should be above him in condition and therefore he endeavours to supplant him and bring him down Take any Christian as he is a man so he is of an inferior make to Satan whose nature is Angelical Now for such an one to be advanced above him which he is by Grace and the work of the new creature this it is very grievous and irksome unto him and therefore out of meer envy and malice and pride does he endeavour what he is able against them From hence we may therefore learn where to rank such persons as these are Those that hate Goodness in others and envy them and malice them for it we see from whom they come and to what stock they belong as their proper pedigree even to no other than Satan himself And so the Scripture it self tells us 1 Joh. 3 1â— It is said of Cain that he was of that wicked one namely the Devil and slew his Brother And wherefore slew he him Because his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous To hate or corrupt Goodness in others it is a Satanical and Diabolical disposition That 's one part of the Gradation here in the Tex you Believers rather than other men The Second is you eminent Believers rather than other Christians Peter and the rest of his companions as they were Christians so they were of the highest form and rank of Christians And to such as these does our Saviour here speak concerning Satan's attempts He hath desired you You whose Faith is strongest whose Zeal is hottest whose Patience is greatest whose Graces are more illustrious and eminent and conspicuous to have you especially This is the manner of Satan to cast his sticks most at those trees which are fullest of fruit where he spies more Grace than ordinary there especially to lay his chiefest assaults We need go no further for an instance than our Blessed Saviour himself though he was frustrated there yet we see he was so bold as to venture it even to set upon him and to try what he could do with him And so for those which are his Members of more eminent Graces he does the like with them also as we see in divers examples in Scripture in Job and David and Paul and here this Peter himself all eminent persons There 's a double reason for it which does encourage him to it First it is the greater Victory and Secondly it is the greater Advantage he does more both in it and by it It is the greater Victory First to conquer such as these For mean and ordinary Christians to lay them on their backs he thinks that 's no great honour or renown unto him but now to vanquish those which are Champions and to pull down those which are Pillars and to scatter those which are principal Christians this it
it also here with Peter who fell from the third story in a spiritual sense by his threefold denial his spiritual life was still abiding in him though he seemed to be as dead This may serve to comfort and establish the hearts of God's servants in such cases There are many of the servants of God who are apt sometimes to question their standing and continuance in Grace especially in times of great affliction and temptation which they shall never be able to hold out but shall quite fall away And Satan himself sometimes does endeavour to press this upon them Well but they may here be well satisfied from this present passage and promise before us where it is signified of Peter and so consequently of all other Believers that when Satan shall desire to have them and to sift them their Faith shall not fail This Point is not to be improved by us to security and presumption of spirit but to watchfulness and use of the means Because we hear that our Faith shall not fail therefore to endeavour that it may not fail As indeed where-ever God intends the one he works the other God never preserves any Christian from having his Faith to fail in him but he does withal stir up in him endeavours for the strengthening and confirming of his Faith as much as he can and so as from whence he may assure himself that God will indeed bestow it upon him And so much may suffice to have been spoken of these words consider'd absolutely in themselves and as signifying to us the safety of Peter's condition which was such that his Faith should not fail The Second is to consider them respectively and in their dependance upon the words before and so as signifying to us the cause of Peter's safety Because Christ himself prayeth for them I says he have prayed for thee that thy Faith may not fail And so there is this in it that the stability of a Christian does much depend upon Christ's Intercession therefore it is that a Believer's Faith shall not fail because Christ interposeth for him This is expresly signified to us in that Prayer of Christ at large in Joh. 17.11 Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are one When the stability of a Christian is said to depend upon the Prayers of Christ this is exclusive of any vertue or merit of their own The perseverance of a Believer is not so much from any thing within him as rather from somewhat without him not from his own personal excellency but from the Grace and goodness of God himself From God's Covenant and from God's promise and from God's purpose and amongst the rest as here from Christ's Prayer The consideration of this Doctrine is very much still for the comfort of Believers as to this particular They may from hence in the use of good means be very confident and perswaded of their perseverance because they have Christ praying for them And there are two things in this that make for them The one is as I said First The acceptance which Christ is sure to have with his Father To have one to petition in our behalf who himself were in no great favour that were no great booty to us But now here is our advantage in this matter when we have Christ himself praying for us that we have one praying for us who is sure to be accepted In Joh. 12.41 42. Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I knew that thou hearest me always In Matth. 3.17 This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased And Eph. 1.6 He is said to have made us accepted in the Beloved As long as Christ is beloved and as long as we are accepted in Christ so long we may assure our selves that Christ's Prayers shall be available for us and in particular efficacious to establish us Secondly As there is Christ's acceptance so the constancy of his interceding for us If Christ should only pray for us sometimes we might seem to be no longer upon sure terms than such time as he prayed for us But now he ever liveth to make intercession for us And he is daily at God's right-hand pleading for us so that no sooner are we ready to stumble but he is as ready at hand to help us up Because he does not fail in praying we do not fail neither in standing The Use of all comes to this That therefore First we acknowledg the great love of Christ to us and the great benefit which we receive by him We see how much we are beholding to Christ that so we may still labour to be acquainted with him and to be incorporated into him and to depend upon him Beloved we have need of Christ not only in reference to eternal salvation and to bring us to Heaven at last but also in reference to our present sustentation and support in this present life here below not only for the justification of our persons and delivering us from the wrath to come but also for the sanctification of our nature and the continual influence of Grace upon our hearts whiles we live here in the world Christ is and should be all in all unto us as being both the Author and Finisher of our Faith What a blessed thing is it to be under Christ's Regiment to be within the door c. For where Faith once is it shall be perfected Again We learn from hence to walk worthy of this love of Christ to us Christ prays for us that we may be kept from temptations and the prevalencies of them Let us take heed of sinning against Christ and in particular against these Prayers of his which he makes for us by putting our selves upon ways of temptation and voluntarily exposing our selves to the mischief and advantages of our enemy for hereby we shall provoke him to withdraw his intercession from us and to give us up to his malice and will as he desires to have us So much of these words consider'd respectively and in connexion with those that went before and so exhibiting to us the cause of a Christian's stability For a close of all Let us here in the general take notice what it is that the care of Christ does especially extend to about his people as exprest in his praying for them and that is their spiritual good and the welfare of their inward man Christ has the chiefest regard to that that their Faith may not fail As for other matters to wit the things of this present life Though the servants of God are even here also under a special Providence and Godliness has the promise of it to them as the Apostle speaks yet this is not the main business which he takes care of concerning them as not the main business which concerns them no but these spiritual improvements and the establishment of Grace in them here The Lord can dispence sometimes with our outward man and
a gracious and a savourly spirit which has these things in the experience of them in it self That which others dispute a Christian feels which is the best Argument that can be brought in the world and most convincing of any other besides Non est disputandum de gustu There is no Argument can be brought against it But it must needs be acknowledged by all those that apply themselves to it The Errors in such Points as these are but the objections of a carnal heart and therefore the best way to confute them is to get the heart establish'd with grace which is the best decider and determiner of such Contrarieties as we now speak of This as it is necessary for all other Christians so especially for us who are Ministers and who are entrusted with the Mysteries of Christ as Stewards of them It concerns us especially to get some sense and experience of them and to have them wrought and rivited into our hearts that so we may say to our Auditors as our Saviour does here to Nicodemus in the following verse in this Chapter Verily verily I say unto thee We speak that we do know and we testifie that we have seen as being that which is like to carry the greatest efficacy and authority with it We being never so likely to perswade that to others which we have not first of all perswaded to our selves Thus shall we by the manifestation of the truth commend our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God as it is in 2 Cor. 4.2 And so I have done with the third part of the Resemblance which is of the Spirit compared to the Wind in the Intricacy and Mysteriousness of it as to its proceedings and so with this whole Verse before us The wind bloweth c. SERMON XIII JOH 8.30 31. As he spake these words many believed on him Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed Our Blessed Lord and Saviour as it was still his care and practice to go about doing good so he still met with resistance and contradiction and opposition in that good which be undertook to do A clear instance whereof we have here in this present Chapter which we have now at this present time before us Where as we shall find through the whole current of it the perverse and obstinate Jews did still thwart him and quarrel with him about every thing almost that came from him There was nothing which he could utter though never so savoury and divine but they had somewhat to except against it and to censure in it whereby they turn'd that discourse which he ntended at first but for a Sermon at last to be a Controversy and Disputation and a satisfaction of them so far as they would be satisfied by him in those objections which they put unto him But yet for all this he had at last the better of them especially of some amongst them as faithful endeavors shall in conclusion find acceptance and success His Doctrine at the length it does touch them and prevails upon them And this verse which I have now read unto you is a Narration of this success As he spake these words many believed on him c. IN the Text it self we have two General Parts observable First The success of Christ's Doctrine upon those which were made partakers of it And Secondly The occasion of this success The success of it that we have in these words Many believed on him The occasion in these As he spake c. We begin with the first viz. The success of the Doctrine of Christ Many believed on him Wherein again three particulars more First the success it self and that was Faith they believed Secondly the nature of this Faith and that was justifying they believed on him Thirdly the subjects of it and they were many For the First the success it self that was Faith They believed Christ Preached and the Jews believed upon his Preaching There was a blessed and happy issue and success which followed upon his Ministry even to conversion it self And he which performed the one vouchsafed the other that so he might not labour in vain From whence we may note thus much That the Ministry of the word where it comes in the power of it shall be more or less always effectual There 's no Preaching but there shall be some Believing Our Saviour Christ as he was a pattern of the former so he made his Hearers and instance of the latter And we shall find it so in other places of Scripture where still some or other have been the better for the Ministry amongst them Though it is true a great many have been unfruitful and hardened no good at all wrought upon them yet other have been converted and brought home As Acts 28.24 Some believed the things which were spoken and others believed not So Acts 17.32 Some mocked others said we will hear thee again of this matter Rom. 11.7 The Election hath obtained though the rest were hardened This God will have to be upon these considerations First for the honour of his Gospel that that may not be altogether despised and undervalued Therefore there shall be some which shall embrace it and give entertainment unto it Though the Gospel have an excellency in it self independently upon the esteems of men yet God will further so far honour it as to make men to accept of it and while some oppose it yet others shall bear witness unto it by believing of it Secondly For the encouragement of the Ministers that they may not be disheartened in their labours if there should be no success at all they would think their labour to be in vain and would be very much taken off from it Now God delights in the encouragement of his Servants Thirdly For the accomplishment of his Election Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Where God propounds such an end to himself he will order all things tending to that end Now there is a people of Election and so consequently a people of Conversion This should therefore teach us which are Ministers to be diligent and constant in our work for we shall at last reap some fruit of our labours if not in some yet in others Either by gaining those which are yet in the state of Nature or else by confirming those which are already in the state of Grace either of which are very good works and sufficient recompence of all our pains This is sure That God's word shall not be in vain Isa 55.10 God never sends his Gospel any where but there is some good or other that comes on it and some or other are converted by it and brought home in that place where it is though not presently discern'd And that 's the first particular The success of Christ's Ministry it self which was the work of Faith in the Hearers The Second is the nature of this
sure and his counsel it must needs stand and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance Such Points and Doctrines as these do we meet withall in Scripture which all hang together and have a dependance one upon another and concur to the making good of this Conclusion which we have here now before us All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me The improvement which we may make of this Point to our selves is manifold and various First we see here against the Arminians that Election it is peremptory and irreversible there is no deseating or frustrating of it for whosoever is given shall come Christ shall lose none of those which are câ—nferr'd upon him but they shall be certainly and without all doubt brought home unto him Not onely Glory but Grace it is the fruit and effect of Gods Decree and accordingly shall be sure to obtain its effect in us Therefore we see how may which have for a long time gone on in sinful courses yet at last they have been wrought upon and reduced Why how has this come bout namely as the fruit of Gods good-will and purpose concerning them Thus Ephes 1.4 5. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will And Rom. 8.28 The called according to his purpose Secondly we have here also an account of the continuance still of the world and the procrastination of the day of Judgment which is namely for this reason that so those who are clected may have a time and season to be converted that all which the Father has given Christ may by this means come in unto him This is plainly signisied unto us by the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance Not any that is not any of his Elect whom he hath appointed and set apart to salvation these he is not willing they should perish for want of space and time of repentance and conversion to God but that they should have a full and large opportunity in this particular afforded unto them that 's the meaning of it Thirdly We learn from hence likewise how to make our Calling and Election sure which the Apostle Peter does advise us unto and that is by making sure our closing with the conditions of the Gospel We may know whether we are given unto Christ by considering whether or no we are come to him forasmuch as all which are given to him they come If any of us shall hang off from him and resuse to close with him we cannot for the present conclude that we are in the number of his Elect Children which is known to us no otherwise than by the effects of our Conversion and turning to him and by these is known certainly Whosoever of us can find in his heart a willingness to accept of Christ we may be sure that we are given unto Christ and that we are in the number of those which shall hereafter be saved by Christ But against this which hath been said may be objected that which our Saviour himself has of Judas Joh. 17.12 Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of is them lost but the son of perdition The son of perdition is given to Christ and yet lost therefore all which are given to him do not come or at least come in good earnest but in such a sort as they may depart from him again which is as good as nothing What shall we say to his To this we answer That we must here distinguish of being given to Christ There is a giving to him to be a Member and there is a giving to him to be a Minister Those which are given to Christ in the first sense they shall certainly stick by him and cleave unto him and never depart but those which are given to him onely in the second sense they may be lost and fall away from him Now in the number of this last was Judas he was given to Christ for an Aposile one of his Family and external Society but as a Believer so he was not given He was not a vessel of Election but a son of perdition and being so he might very well be lost and so he was though given to Christ According to that of the Apostle John also in another place 1 Joh. 2.19 They went out from us speaking of seducers and false teachers which were externally joyned to the Church because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have no doubt continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us So much for that Point by taking the words in a way of Latitude All that are Elected shall be Converted Secondly They may be likewise taken in a way of Restriction All that the Father hath given me as excluding any other besides from this Condition There 's none can come to Christ but those which are given to Christ Take notice of this Thus expresly in Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him c. And 2 Cor. 3.5 Our sufficiency is of God And Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Would we know the true ground and reason of it why none can come to Christ but those whom God does give to come to him we may take it thus First because all others they are quite ignorant of him without the knowledge of Christ there 's no coming to Christ The fick man dares not go to that Physician whom he does not know Now Christ he is unknown to the world and none is able to reveal him to it but God alone Matth. 11.27 No man knoweth the Son but the Father And because no man does so therefore either he must reveal him or none will come to him This is clear from the reply of Christ himself to Simon Peter there in that place Matth. 16.16 17. when Peter had made there a glorious confession of him Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Jesus answered and said unto him Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven There is naturally a blindness in mens minds and understandings whence they know not Christ unless the Father reveal him And then secondly there 's a perversness also in their Wills and their Affections that though they know him yet they hang off from him Light is come into the world men loved darkness rather than light c. Joh. 3.19 To make men come to
Christ there must not be onely an enlightning of their understandings but likewise a drawing of their hearts And this is the work of God alone also It is He onely who can so frame mens spirits as that they shall be willing to come off to Christs terms and to take upon him his own Conditions in which he is offered unto them Therefore let us learn from hence to give him the honour and glory of all and to acknowledge his free grace and goodness in this particular If any of us have been brought home to Christ and perswaded to close with him we see from whence it hath been so not from the power of Nature but from the free grace and goodness of God As all which the Father hath given Christ shall come to him so none shall come to him but those whom the Father hath given him There are some other points which by the by might be gathered from these words as First From the word Come we may take notice How all men by Nature are distant from Christ they are remote and separate from him Therefore when they are Regenerated and Converted they are said to come unto him and they never come to him to purpose till they come so till they come in a way of closing and compliance with him Secondly From the word Given I might observe also this That all men are in the hands of God to be disposed of by him as he pleases whether to Salvation or else to Destruction those whom he will to save and those again whom he will to pass by and leave in a state of death and damnation Because no man can give that which is not his own and proper to him to give But these I do but onely name unto you not intending to insist upon them as being not such as are chiefly propounded So much may serve for the first General viz. An account of the Comers to Christ All that the Father hath given me The second which I mainly drive at is Christs entertainment of those that come unto him Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out This is Christs gracious promise to all those that come unto him And there are two things implied in it as the parts and branches of it First Admission or Reception he will not cast them out that is he will not keep them out but he will receive them and take them into friendship and familiarity with himself Secondly Custody or Preservation he will not cast them out that is he will not drive them out but he will keep them and make much of them and preserve them that they shall no depart or fall away from him First I say in this expression we have intimated Christs Admission or Reception of those that come to him he will take them into friendship and familiarity with himself Whosoever they be that leave their sins to close with Christ they shall be sure to be welcome to Christ he will not shut the door upon them but will very readily and heartily entertain them This is one thing which we may here take notice of and it may be cleared and made good unto us from all the Gracious Evangelical Invitations wherein he does call upon poor sinners to come unto him and does promise to deal thus with them Mat. 11.28 29. Come unto me all ye that labour c. So Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts c. So Ezek. 33.11 Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel In all which places and the like there is a tender of peace and reconcilement upon condition of mens returning and coming in And this is that which is here offered to us in like manner in this present Text. Thus it is as we may take notice of it indefinitely and universally none excepted Let him that is athirst come c. Rev. 22.17 There 's no condition whatsoever of those that come which does exclude them from acceptance though never so improbable That which seems to make most against it is the greatness of mens sins themselves but this is no obstruction hereunto if it be rightly considered It is not the greatest sins that is being repented of which does debar men from Gods mercy in Christ that it should not be extended unto them This the Scripture does declare unto us Isa 1.18 Come now and let us reason together c. Paul says of himself 1 Tim. 1.15 that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners c. The chiefest sinners they are capable of salvation by Christ whosoever they be and the Apostle Paul himself was an instance and example of this dispensation as he also signifies there in that place in the Verse immediately following For this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them that should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting Forasmuch as what he did for Paul he is ready likewise to do for all others which are in the same terms and circumstances with him The Use of this Point seves as an encouragement therefore to all men to embrace the Conditions of the Gospel and to close with Christ What can be said more to perswade them than this that they may be sure to be accepted Him that comes I will in no wise cast out Do but come and there 's no question to be made of it There 's no other condition but that which is required of them Indeed we must still know and remember what this coming is that we may not be mistaken where the meanning is not only this that we repair to Christ for salvation desiring him to pardon and to redeem us but that we do resign and give up our selves to him and forsake our former evil ways which we have at any time heretofore walked in and given our selves to If we do so we may expect mercy from him and there 's nothing which can possibly hinder us whatsoever it be First not the nature of the sins themselves committed by us It is not that which God stands upon Paul a Elasphemer and Persecuter Manasseh a Sorcerer and Murtherer Mary Magdalen an unclean person the Jaylor a barbarous enemy of the Apostles Matthew a Publican and Extortioner yet all of these upon their repentance and confession were accepted with God Therefore we must not make this to be a plea and excuse for our standing out against the Gospel in the offers and proposals of it if we do so we shall forsake our own mercy and be guilty of a far greater sin than any of those which have been now named as this sin of unbelief indeed is If we look into the Scripture throughout in all the bulk and volume of it we shall never be able to find out one place or shadow of it wherein the greatness of the sins themselves simply considered is made to be an
we find the truth of it in our own experience When we give God the honour of his Providence he will give us the comfort of it and make good all that to us in the event which we before by a Spirit of Faith did expect from him There 's nothing lost by self-resignation and submission to God in any thing whether inward or outward together with the appurtenances of them Nay we cannot engage God more than by seriousness in this particular And if we are not satisfied with that which God does for us here and this small pittance of time here in the world which indeed is but very narrow and short yet let us think of the advantages which he has for us in eternity and in the extent of our being He has there and then scope enough for the gratifying of us Hereafter if we take it in this sense 〈◊〉 I shewed before it might be taken it has enough in it to make us amends and to compensate all our expectations God will justify himself at the length that we may be sure of and it is enough for us that he will so though he should not do it so soon as we might desire or look for it from him and expect it at his hands This Text which we are now upon it serves so prevent a double distemper in us both our Curiosity and our Impatience Our Curiosity in the First Part What I do thou knowest not now no nor art not able to know it therefore do not too curiously and affectedly pry into it as being a thing above thy reach It is a wise and safe ignorance to know no more than God will have us to know Our Impatience in the Second Part But thou shalt know it hereafter Therefore be not too forward nor hasty nor eager for the present be content to stay God's leasure and time for the discovery of it which is always the best I will hut up all with the words of the wise man Solomon Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all shine heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths SERMON XVII JOH 14.27 Let not your Heart be troubled neither let it be afraid There is nothing more necessary for a Christian than a Calmness and Tranquillity of Mind And there is nothing more conducing hereunto than the Principles of Christianity it self Especially drawn forth into Exercise and Improvement of Religion as it is good for many other things besides so amongst the rest to keep up the Heart and to preserve the Spirit from Dejection Not onely to bring us to Heaven and to lodge us safely there but likewise to sustain us upon Earth and to carry us with the greatest Grace and Comfort and Facility and Contentment in the mean time through the World Therefore in these times of cruelty and distraction which are now upon us in regard of what may happen to us from future Events we cannot better provide for our selves and our own Security and Contentation than by recourse to such helps and means as these are especially as exhibited and tender'd in the Word of God and the Ministery and Dispensation of it which will still be that which it is after all our thoughts about it And for which purpose I have made choice of this Text which I have now read unto you being the last Advice and Counsel of our Blessed Lord and Saviour and given by him to his Disciples upon the saddest occasion that ever befell them in this World which was his own Departure from them Though the occasion was very lamentable and remarkable and their Condition very sad yet he would not have them to be discouraged or put out of Heart for it but to hold up and to be contented notwithstanding Let not your Heart be troubled neither let it be afraid IN the Text it self there are three General Parts considerable First a Christians Disposition Secondly a Christians Duty Thirdly A Christians Security or Happiness or Priviledge The Disposition of Christians That is to be very much troubled and full of fears The Duty of Christians that is not to be troubled or to have fears prevail upon them The Priviledge or Security of Christians is to have Christ taking care for the prevention of fear and trouble in them First For a Christians Disposition it is this to be very much troubled and full of fears This is here implyed and supposed in this Caution of our Saviour which he gives to his Disciples whiles he wishes them that their Heart might not be troubled he does intimate that it was subject to be troubled as when Joseph admonishes his Brethren that they would not fall out by the way he does signifie his suspicion that they were likely to fall out by the way And indeed this is the Case of the best of Gods Servants that are Even the Disciples of Christ Himself they were not free from it but very apt and subject unto it Especially now upon his removal and departure from them to be very full of sollicitude and distraction And the like disposition upon occasion has also discover'd it self in divers others of God's People beside Now there 's a various Ground which may be given hereof unto us why God's Servants here in this life are subject to inordinate Troubles and Fear and Anxiety in them First from the Reliques of Corruption Secondly from the strength of Temptation Thirdly from the weakness of Grace First From the Reliques of Corruption It is sin which is the cause of Trouble not only in the Condition but in the Spirit And this is that which Gods Servants have in them as still cleaving and adhering to them They have corruption and so have distraction as attendant and consequent thereupon And especially such sins and corruptions as do more immediately tend hereunto as diffidence and distrust and worldymindedness and inordinate affection to these things here below These where-ever they are they will cause trouble and fear And they are in part even in the best of Gods Servants There 's a double kind of Trouble which the Servants of God are subject to here in this World There 's the trouble of State and the trouble of Mind The former is not that which we now speak of as being not matter of Sin but of Affliction But the latter is that which our Discourse tends unto and which our Saviour here intends in this place now before us This is that which God's Children are prone to from the Corruption which is remaining in them They are apt to be much troubled in their Spirit from any thing which falls cross unto them And that because they are Flesh and Blood and have sin still more or less cleaving unto them Secondly As from the remainders of corruption so also from the strength of Temptation and the violence of Spiritual Assaults which are made upon them Satan he is an Enemy to them and loves to make his
in their natural condition they are such as being out of Christ are therefore without Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is separated from Christ as we find this expression used of the Ephesians before their conversion Ephes 2.12 that they were at that time without Christ c Now for such as these we have accordingly also shewn how they are able to do nothing As the branch cannot bring forth any fruit in the course of Nature where it is separated from the Vine so the Soul cannot bring forth any fruit neither in the course of Grace where it is separated from Christ The second sense or notion of the words is that which is to be handled by us by God's assistance at this present time which is to shew that without Christ that is without influence from him and dependance upon him we are able to do no good neither in a spiritual and supernatural way as may conduce to salvation All our strength and ability as to the doing of any thing of this nature is to be fetch'd and drawn from Christ For the better and more distinct opening of which Point of Doctrine unto us we may take notice of three things especially which are requisite to any Christian performance each of which we do and must receive from Christ as tending to the accomplishment of it First a Spiritual life as the general grand work and foundation Secondly a Spiritual power slowing from this Spiritual life and answering to that particular Duty for the kind of it which God does require of us And thirdly a Spiritual activity or operation for the reducing of this Spiritual power into particular action of life As it is to explain it to you by a resemblance in Natural Motion There are three things which do make up this to us There 's the principle of Natural life there 's the Locom-motive faculty founded in this life and there 's the Walk it self which is produced and effected by this Faculty And as each of these are from God as the Author of Nature so each of the other are from Christ as the Fountain of Grace First There is a Principle of Spiritual life as the general Ground-work and Foundation of every Spiritual good work that comes from us Look as a man that is naturally dead cannot do any thing which belongs to Nature so a man which is spiritually dead also he can do nothing which belongs to Grace because Actus non excedit vires suae potentiae the Act cannot go beyond the Principle as we use to speak Now this Principle of Spiritual life we do derive wholly from Christ as the Branches derive life from the Root and the Members from the Head In which respect we are said not so much to live our selves as Christ is said to live in us in Gal. 2.20 Look as the First Adam was the Spring and Root of Natural life to all his Posterity so is the Second Adam the Spring and Root of Spiritual life to all his Members Therefore unless Christ by his Spirit do first change our hearts from that state of Spiritual death and corruption which we are in by Nature and put a contrary and better Principle of Spiritual life and holiness into us we can never be able to do any thing considerable to the purpose This I have in part declared already in our former Exercise and therefore shall not insist upon it now But secondly besides this Spiritual life whereby a Christian is qualified in general for the bringing forth of the works of new obedience namely the work of Grace and Conversion wrought in him by the Spirit of Christ there is moreover a Spiritual power slowing from this Spiritual life whereby a Christian being renewed by Grace hath some ability communicated unto him for the doing of such and such Duties as in particular in such and such cases are required of him And this is another thing which we do receive also from Christ without whom we are able to do nothing Of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace Joh. 1.16 that is answerable to grace in Christ grace in us We know that besides the common principle of Regeneration in general there are several habits of grace in particular according to the several kinds and distributions of them which have each of them their several abilities and qualifications belonging unto them as Faith enabling us to believe Love enabling us to embrace Patience enabling us to endure and so of the rest Now these particular Graces in specie as well as the work of Grace in general are communicated unto us from Christ and upon his account who is the Treasury and Storehouse of all Grace whatsoever for us It is true indeed that it is God in Scripture who is proclaimed to be the God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 but we must understand it still of God in Christ and in the mediation of the New Covenant out of which and out of whom God hath no intercourse at all with us nor we with him This is our state and condition now in the Covenant of Grace and a blessed state and condition it is that all our Grace and Comfort and Ability it is originated and founded in Christ who having taken our Nature upon himself and therein satisfied the Justice of God and being by Faith apprehended by us and united and made one with us is from hence a fit person for the conveying of all Grace unto us which we have need of and occasion for in the whole course of our lives Therefore it is profitable for us to understand and to take notice of the right method which is here in this particular used with us and wherein we come to be made partakers of this grace whereof we now speak and that 's this That the Spirit of God first of all sanctifies the Humane Nature of Christ and from thence sanctifies us who are Members of him The same Spirit that sanctified that blessed mass of his Body in the Womb of the Virgin and the same Spirit that sanctified his whole Nature both of Body and Soul which is now in Heaven the same Spirit does now also sanctifie his Mystical Body which abides still on earth and which is made partaker of Grace by communication and derivation from him As the Oyl which was upon the head of Aaron it ran down to the skirts of his garments which were upon him so the Spirit which is upon the Head of Christ and which he is said to have received without measure it runs down upon all Believers and they have it no otherwise than as he conveys it and transmits it unto them We see then here in what sense we are said to do all things by Christ and without him to have power to do nothing namely so far forth as he gives us grace for the doing of them The Faculties of the Soul are three the Vnderstanding and Will and Affections and such as these but the sanctifying of all
for our own use and improvement And first let us here take notice of the corrupt nature which is in man to be abased and humbled for it The world in the wisdom of God by wisdom knew not God what a perverse world was this now in the mean time that made no better use of those helps which were afforded unto it for its furtherance in knowledg Here were two special helps which though in some respects we have disparaged and diminished from them yet in other respects do remain intire and they are the wisdom of God on the one part and the wisdom of man on the other The wisdom of God in the Creatures for the Book and opportunity of teaching and the wisdom of man in the mind for the skill and opportunity of learning Both of these taken together they leave the world without excuse There are two special cases wherein we pity rather than blame such persons as are destitute of learning The one is when they want Books and the other is when they want parts those which have no very excellent pregnancy of parts or quickness of wit in themselves yet may know with the help of a good Library they make a shift to get some competent knowledg Again those which have no great store of Books yet if they have quick and nimble parts they are able to beat things out of themselves if they will set themselves to it and they carry as it were a Library about them in that respect But now where both these meet together surely here 's a very great advantage and opportunity indeed and it 's a sign of very great laziness and negligence to be a dunce here Why this is now the case with the world for the knowledg of God Here 's Books enough the Library of the Creature which is here called the wisdom of God And here 's parts enough even the wisdom of the world and yet the world for all this it knows not God What a stark and staring shame is this and how much to be abhorred But here we see the corruption of our nature which we have hence cause to abhor and bewail And that may be the first Application Secondly Seeing the world by wisdom knew not God let us then labour to find somewhat more in us than worldly wisdom let us not rest our selves in tha kind of knowledg which we may have and still be ignorant of God but labour and endeavour with our selves to reach to an higher pitch and perfection than consists barely in these inferior speculations what is it for us to have skill in every thing else if we have not skill in Religion an saving of our own souls What is it for us to make good others evidences for earth if we cannot make good our own evidences for Heaven I beseech ye let us seriously think of such matters a these are Humane wisdom and Divine they are not inconsistent as I have shewn in the nature of the things themselves but yet they are many times inconsistent in the subject in which they severally are and do not always meet together in one and the same person and that is because they are excellencies of a different nature As ye know in Professions which are independant upon each other there may be skill in the one where there is not skill in the other so also here Thirdly Let those who know God and have this worldly wisdom see what cause they have to bless God and to acknowledg his goodness to them those which are at once both men of parts and men of grace and piety also let them here knovv hovv they came by each and especially by the latte of them to vvit the knovvledg of God in Christ Flesh and blood has not taught it them It vvas not their vvit which made them that vvhich they are but the free grace and goodness of God unto them vvhich carried them into an higher strain of spirit And again for those who desire this wisdom let them learn hence to vail and cover the other and lay it down in order to the other where it makes any opposition and resistance yea where they have formerly too much stood upon it shew their remorse and repentance for this folly by another course as those in the Acts which were converted they renounced their curious arts witchcraft and sorcery and the like and brought their books and burnt them before all men Act. 19.19 Yet to conclude let me add one thing more and that 's this That though humane wit does not give Grace of it self yet it does sometimes forward the means of Grace and accordingly is to be improved by us As the Star occasionally led the wise men to Christ Mat. 2. Again though Parts make us not good at first yet when we are good they are good helps to make us better and more useful in the exercise of piety and so likewise are we conscionably to use them And thus now I have done with the first General Part in this Verse viz. The worlds neglect and miss-improvement of the opportunities of knowledg in these words The world by wisdom knew not God Now the second is the supply of this defect by a new kind of dispensation to them After that c. it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching c. But of this God willing we shall speak in the next Sermon SERMON XXVII 1 Cor. 1.21 It pleased God by the foolishness of Preaching to save them that believe There 's no greater hinderance and impediment to the receiving and entertaining of Christ and of the Gospel which is the Doctrine of Christ than a too high and over-weening conceit and opinion of mens own wisdom Those which have more Wit than Grace and especially if they be proud of that Wit they are commonly too wise to be instructed and so consequently too wise to be saved Therefore the Apostle Paul that he might deal more effectually with the Corinthians which had high thoughts in this particular and might bring them into a temper sit for the receiving of Evangelical Truths he does labour in the first place to qualifie these conceits in them to lay them low in themselves and the apprehensions of their own carnal excellencies and to discover unto them the power and efficacy of the means of Salvation which they were otherwise apt to contemn pulling down strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledg of God and bringing into captivity every thought unto the obedience of Christ as it is in 2 Cor. 10.4 5. This is his special work in a great part of this Epistle and the next And in particular in this parcel of it which I have now again at this time read unto you in ver 21. of this Chapter and so forward He nullifies the wisdom of the world on the one side and he advances the wisdom of God on the other which he opposes thereunto OUR business this day is in
or matter of conceit but such as has a bottom with it when we become true Christians Christ is formed and framed in us Look as there 's a great deal of difference betwixt a Tympany or Mole or false conception and a true birth so is there likewise a great deal of difference betwixt a meer formal professor and a true believer for the former hath only as it were the picture and shadow of Christ upon him the other hath Christ formed in him So that as Christ sometimes replied upon his Disciples when they took him for a Ghost or Spirit Luk. 24.39 Behold says he my hands and my feet handle me and see for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me to have Even so may a true Christian say to any one that shall question his condition and take him for a meer image or counterfeit in Religion Behold and see if it be not thus and thus with me He has flesh and bones as it were appearing in him there 's Christ in all his lineaments to be seen upon him and Grace it enters as we may so speak into the substance of him He is in deed and good earnest that which he makes shew of and seems to be We are created in Christ Jesus unto good works as it is in Ephes 2.10 Therefore let us according hereunto examine and search our selves see what truth of Religion there is in us There 's many which have a bare outward profession and title but that is all they have a form of godliness as form is taken for outward appearance but they have not Godliness formed in them as form is taken for the inward substance Grace it is not thoroughly rooted and incorporated into them which is here implied that it ought to be Now as long as it is so with them they cannot be that which they should be whiles Christ is said to be formed hereby is denoted the substantiality of Religion Secondly The enlargement and spreading of it as running all along which I intimated before through the whole man He that is a true Christian he has every part sanctified in him he which has not he is no better than a monster Christ has somewhat of every thing in him eyes and ears and tongue and heart and all The Apostle Paul elsewhere expresses as much unto us Rom. 6.19 For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness Your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity there 's the old man formed in them and defiling every part of them your members servants to righteousness and holiness there 's the forming of Christ So 1 Thes 5.23 Sanctifie youwholly c. Thirdly Here 's also Activity and Operation Till Christ be formed in you that is till you be animated by Christ as producing the actions of spiritual life in you Whosoever is a true Christian he has Christ living and acting in him more or less and he brings forth answerable fruits unto Christ There 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a supply of the spirit of Christ Phil. 1.19 which does actuate him and put him forward Religion is an inward business Christ in those which are his members does exert and draw forth Grace in them Lastly Here 's also permanency and inherence whiles Christ is said to be formed in us hereby is signified our constant abode and continuance in him and his in us that as the forms of things they are unseparable and unremovable from the things themselves which they are forms unto so is Christ and the Grace of Christ from the heart of a Christian and he cannot sin with a total Apostasie or falling away from Christ because the feed of God remaineth in him as the Apostle John tells us 1 Joh. 3.9 This is the difference now betwixt true and sound Christians and other men Take a worldly person and he is joined to Christ by common profession as bearing his name upon him but he is not knit and united to Christ by faith Christ has no settlement or foundation in him but for a true believer he is as it were bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh He is incorporated and ingrafted into him and formed in him And because he is so therefore he is sure never to depart or to fall away from him From all which considered by the way it will appear unto us whence all those mistakes proceed which are sometimes in the world concerning the Doctrine of Perseverance and the Saints standing or falling in point of Grace it is from hence that the nature of true Grace and Conversion is not rightly either understood or at least considered and thought upon which if it were it would soon put an end to such-like disputes as these are and of it self determine them to us As long as men shall look upon Religion as a thing meerly taken up it is no wonder that they should conclude a departure and falling away from it but when they shall consider that it is setled and rooted here they will not easily yield to a possibility of losing of it whatever is natural it is constant and permanent in the subjects of it and so it is â—ere with Grace which is as it were a second nature you may as soon separate light from the Sun or heat from the fire or life from the soul as you may do Grace from a Christian heart in which it is wrought and riveted and imprinted and transformed into it Thus you see how many things are at once included in this expression of Christs being formed in us But here it may be further demanded how far forth and in what manner this is done in what respects did the Apostle undestand that Christ should be formed in these Galatians and so consequently in all other Christians To this I answer in two especially First In respect of the Doctrine of Christ that they should be moulded and formed into that And secondly in respect of the Spirit of Christ that they should be also wrought upon and fashioned by that First In respect of Christs Doctrine that they should be moulded and formed into that this is one manner of way in which Christ was to be formed in them For this was that now which they were in a great measure departed from they had forsaken the Doctrine of Christ through the seducement of the false Teachers amongst them and were returned to the Law of Moses which they did expect Justification from Now the Apostle would have them to be formed and reformed in this particular He would have them to be well setled and confirmed in Evangelical Truths and the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ This was that in the first place which we may here conceive as commended unto them so it concerns us to be in like manner who profess our selves Christians to be well acquainted and instructed and grounded in all the Articles
fiat per Analogiam as St. Chrysostom speaks And so much may be spoken of this passage here before us as it does denote an essential perfection Till Christ be formed in you that is till you be true members of Christ supposing them as yet unconverted and in the state of nature The second is as it does denote a Gradual perfection Till Christ be formed in you that is till ye be exact and compleat Christians supposing them in the way to conversion though not fully reacht unto it And here there are two things especially considerable of us the one is the different sort and rank of Christians the other is the manner of proceeding in conversion and the work of Grace in them First For the sort and rank of Christians we see here that it is doubled the one is formed such as have the work of Grace perfected in them and are absolutely regenerate the other unformed which have Grace begun and sown as it were in them but not yet come up to its maturity and perfection of the former sort were the believing Romans to whom the Apostle gives this testimony that they were full of all goodness filled with all knowledg able also to admonish one another Rom. 15.14 Of the latter sort were these present Galatians to whom the Apostle here at present writes and some others with them which we meet withal in Scripture as Cornelius before the Apostle Peter preached unto him and Lydia before the preaching of Paul and Apollos till Aquila and Priscilla took him to them and instructed him in the way of God more perfectly Act. 18.26 and the Scribe which was not far from the Kingdom of God Mark 12.34 All these they were Christians and had the Truth of Religion in them though they had not Christ so fully formed in them This Observation is requisite and useful to us to a twofold purpose First To order our censures and secondly to order our endeavours To order our censures First That we do not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax nor nip the early buddings and beginnings of goodness in any which some are over-forward to do no but all we can to cherish and encourage goodness in any though it may be they have not yet attained to such a pitch and degree of it for they may be towardly and coming on to Religion they may be Christians in the mould and upon the wheels though not wholly finisht and wrought off And it is our duty in that regard to be very tender of them to own them and that good which is in them as it is said of the new wine in the cluster Destroy it not for there is a blessing in it Isa 65.8 We may be accurate but not captious discerning but not discouraging Secondly As it serves to order our Censures so likewise our Endavours where we see any as yet not formed do our best that in us lyes to form them and make them better as Aquila and Priscilla loco praedicto Thus Paul here with these Galatians We should help forward such births as these are and compleat them to them It is an honourable and a noble work for any so to do and has a great reward attending upon it That 's the first Point here considerable viz. the double sort and rank of Christians formed and unformed The second is the manner and carriage of conversion and the bringing men home to God which is as it were by certain steps and degrees As the Infant in the womb it is first an Embrio before a perfect child even so it is here there are preparatory work before consummating and there are the working and actings of some Graces in us before others As in nature we first live the life of Vegetation then of Sense and afterwards of Reason so here first ther 's sight of misery and then there 's desire of Christ and after this a closing with him and imbracing of him Therefore we should no expect or look for perfection all at once but stay and wait Gods leisure in the use of all those good means which he has appointed for us hereunto Till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledg of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ as it is Ephes 4.13 And so now I have done with these words considered absolutely Vntill Christ be formed in you Now further secondly We may look upon them Relatively and in their connexion with those which went before Of whom I travel in birth till Christ c. And here there are divers Points which if we had time we might insist upon I 'le now in these straits but only name one or two of them to you First Here 's the scope and efficacy of the Ministry and that is Conversion and Regeneration to beget men to Christ and to form him in them This is the End for which God hath bestowed these gifts and endowments upon his servants as is exprest in Eph. 4.12 For the perfecting of the Saints to polish them and lick them over again The Ministry is not only for the founding of a Christian but for the forming of it This is that which puts a dignity upon it after all disparagements what greater honour can there be than to be instrumental in the gaining of souls and adding to the body of Christ This was that which the Apostle Paul boasted of and gloried in above any thing else We should like loving children help forward our parents travel not like Ephraim Hos 13.13 stay long in the place c. Secondly We see here the main drift and end of a faithful Minister and Pastor which he does propound to himself and that is the doing of good to the soulsof those with whom he has to deal He does not think he has done his work till Christ be formed in them He does not preach meerly to preach but to do good by his preaching and convert his hearers It is not only to make them civil but to make them godly as neer as he can and nothing less Indeed perhaps he does not always obtain it he may lose his labour as to the event it self take a great deal of pains even the pains as of a woman in travel spiritually and see little fruit issuing from it but yet he desires it and endeavours after it and it is that which in his own thoughts he does chiefly aim at and propound to himself This shews how far it concens people themselves to comply with such desires in this as to help forward their own birth Hos 13.10 And further we see here what not only Ministers and those which are spiritual Parents but mothers and those which are natural should look after in those they travel withal namely that Christ himself may be formed in their children as that holy woman we spake of before St. Austin's Mother when they have travelled with them once to this purpose
their eyes and may take away the rebuke of his people from off all the earth that there may be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor any more pain which is the condition consequent to Christs appearing as we have it Rev. 21.4 Alas this present world it has a great deal of trouble annext unto it and commonly the Servants of God have the greatest share and part in it and therefore we cannot wonder that they should so desire the coming of Christ which makes for their release and discharge from these Calamities And therefore it has such Titles and Appellations fastned upon it as whereby it is exprest unto us it is call'd the Regeneration When the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory Matth. 19.28 It is call'd the time of refreshing and restitution of all things Act. 3.19 21. It is call'd the time of the glorious liberty of the Children of God in Rom. 8.21 And last of all it is call'd Emphatically the day of redemption in Ephes 4.30 And God's Children are upon that account call'd upon to lift up their heads even by Christ himself When these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh in Luk. 21.28 Can we wonder to see Prisoners desirous of being releaed from their Bonds or Captives to be redeemed from their captivity and in that regard longing for their coming which should do it for them No more can we wonder to see Christians upon that account desirous of Christs appearance which has this benefit ensuing upon it The world in which they are being a place of great Bondage and Captivity That 's the first Consideration He comes to put a period to this world both to sin and likewise to affliction Secondly This desire of the Church as to Christs coming it is founded upon a respect to her self and her own immediate advantage which hereby is much furthered and promoted and so is very much concerned in it First In the helping of her infirmities and the removal of her weaknesses from her As there is the wickedness of the world in regard whereof the coming of Christ is desirable to put an end unto it as we shewed in the former particular so there is the weakness of the Church which does make for it also as we may take notice in this even the best of God's Servants they have distempers hanging about them and cleaving unto them and the best things that are whiles they live here below in the flesh they are vitiated and corrupted unto them they cannot now serve God with that purity and fervency and liberty and freedom from distraction as they desire to do But Satan he is apt to disturb them and to interpose and mingle himself with the best things which are done by them This is that which is very grievous and troublesom to a gracious heart which by Christs coming shall be freed from these distempers Secondly As to the increase of their Graces and the perfecting of Holiness in them they desire it for this also Those Graces of the Spirit of God which the children of God in this world do partake of but in an imperfect degree they shall then be compleated to them when Christ shall come in his Glory When that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.10 There shall be Grace without the mixture of sin and Grace in the fullest latitude and extent of Grace Thirdly As to nearer and closer union to Christ and communion with him The Church as I hinted before in this present life is no more but contracted she is to be married in the world to come therefore she desires Christs coming for the perfecting of her Espousals and as the approach of the day of marriage which is to be consummate in Heaven that 's the time whereunto this is reserved Ye are dead says the Apostle Paul and your life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory Col. 3.34 And so the Apostle John 1 Joh. 3.2 Beloved we are now the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him for we shall see him as he is The state of this present world is a state of distance and remoteness from Christ as the Scripture expresses it While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord For we walk by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.6 7. But the day of Judgment and the Resurrection that 's a time when we shall be brought nearer to him and come into the full enjoyment and fruition of him And this is that which makes the Church to cry come as longing and waiting for this We know how it is in the world Friends and especially Spouses they are not satisfied in one anothers Affections without the enjoyment of one anothers Persons and society and converse with one another and so it is also with the Spouse of Chrise and her Beloved He says come to her and she says to recompence and requite him come to him also as we may see at large declared unto us in the Book of the Canticles which was especially pen'd to this purpose First Christ says come to her in his wooings and invitations of her to communion with himself Cant. 2.11 Arise my love my fair one and come away and she says also come to him upon the same terms and conditions likewise Make hasts my beloved and be thou like a young roe or hart upon the mountains of spices Cant. 8.11 Fourthly In order to the Body for the perfection and consummation of that also she crys come also with regard to this The souls of Believers in Heaven they do cry come also as well as these on Earth and the Church Triumphant as well as the Church Militant And that upon this present consideration That there may be a speedy re-uniting of soul and body together Thuogh the spirits of just men have an union to Christ already in part even in the state of separation from the body yet this does not satisfie them and content them without the Glory of the Lody too And there is still a natural inclination of the soul to its own body for the perfection of the person which makes it accordingly desirous of the second coming of Christ and day of Resurrection Thus we see how the Church desires Christs second coming in reference to her self which is the second consideration Thirdly In reference also to others that they may partake of the same happiness with her self For the perfecting of the Saints and for the compleating of the Body of Christ She desires that Christ would hasten to bring in the number of his Elect. There are many persons and people that for the present remain unconverted who yet do belong to
the Election of Grace Now therefore come Lord Jesus and make way for thy last coming by this preparation Whiles the Church desires Christ would come she supposes other things as antecedent and preparatory hereunto before the full accomplishment of that coming and so in desiring his coming it self she does implicitly desire all those things which make way for it and which are sure to be there when he does come and such is this which we now speak of the hastening of the number of Converts and the bringing in the full number of the Elect. We are to take this Prayer in the full latitude and extent and comprehensiveness of it and so as including this in it amongst the rest which is in a special manner considerable of us as pertinent to this purpose Those that are good themselves they desire that as many others as may be may be good with them besides themselves and partake of the same happiness that they do partake of Therefore come in reference to this for the Conversion of the Jews and for the accomplishment of the fulness of the Gentiles which whensoever thou meanest to come are both of them sure to be effected aforehand And then further which is also pertinent hereunto for the speedier meeting of all the Saints together which have ever been in the world from they very first beginning of it As Christians desire to have a full enjoyment of Christ himself which is the main and chiefest of all so they desire likewise to have an enjoyment one of another Now this is that which shall follow upon Christs coming there shall be a general and universal meeting and gathering together of all the Members of Christ in all ages and generations whatsoever He shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe at that day 2 Thes 1.10 Christian friends they are now separated and scattered one from another some in this place fo the world and some in another some are yet remaining alive and others are taken away by death but then when Christ shall come to judgment they shall all meet and never part When they shall meet the Lord in the air they shall likewise meet one with another The ascending of Believers to Christ it shall not be personal only but collective in a body and community and in a way of mutual society and communication And so the Scripture it self seems to carry it as 2 Cor. 4.14 He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you With you not only as to your conditions but also as to your persons not only as to the likeness and participation of the same blessed state and heavenly life but likewise as to the enjoyment and possession of the same blessed place and heavenly communion we and you shall be present together And so in 2 Thes 2.1 We beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him Mark the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our own gathering together the one inferring the other When our Lord Jesus Christ shall once come all his Members shall be then gathered together both to him and one another Heb. 12.22 Tou are come unto Mount Sion the city of the living God c. This will be a blessed and glorious time when-ever it shall happen and his coming so much the more desirable and to be longed after in this particular Especially if we shall further add the circumstances and qualifications that shall attend it which shall be with al lthe sweetness and amiableness and loveliness that can possibly be imagined The Servants of God here in the world they do not meet many times when they do meet though they come together in their persons yet they do not always come together in their affections through the reliques of corruption which is in them and the imperfection of Grace There are oftentimes many jealousies and prejudices and censures and misconstructions amongst them which makes even the Communion of Saints it self to be less pleasing and acceptable But now when Christ himself shall come all these evils shall be taken away and removed there shall be a perfect accord and agreement and correspondency of one with another and a perfect delight and contentment and complacency of one in another And therefore in this regard also does the Church here say Come that is come to reconcile us and unite us and to make us friends one with another which here in this present world and before thou doest come we are so much averse to This is a third account of this Prayer and Petition here before us in this present Text. Fourthly For the execution of justice and vengeance upon wicked and ungodly men and especially such persons as do please themselves in their present impunity which grow bold and impudent in sinning occasionally from God's temporary indulgence and sparing of them who because judgment is not executed speedily therefore have their hearts fully set in them to do evil as the Preacher speaks which think they may speak what they list their tongues are their own and think they may do what they list and no body restrain them because that vengeance does not presently fall upon them Come and come in reference to those come to assert thy Soveraignty to manifest thy Power to make good thy Truth to testifie thy just Wrath and Indignation and severity against sin Come as thou hast threatned to do with ten thousand of thy Saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly amongst men of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him as it is Jude 14 15. This is another reference which we may conceive of in this Word of Invitation The Church desires that Christ would come for the destruction of Antichrist and of all her implacable Adversaries and Enemies whatsoever This shall be effected when-ever Christ does come That wicked one and Man of sin with all his adherents for so we must take it the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming as the Apostle Paul tells us 2 Thes 2.8 and his coming is desirable for it The servants of God are thus far impatient in the delay of God's just executions and therefore hasten them and call for them and seem to be weary of Gods forbearance Thus Rev. 6.9 10 11. The souls under the Altar that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony that they held and they cryed with a loud voice How long O Lord holy and true doest thou not judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth and white robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them That they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and