practice and pattern of Gods Saints the grace and mercy which God hath vouchsafed to them in Christ not being only for their own salvation but also for others instruction For this cause saith the Apostle I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting For a pattern 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a compleat Image in whom men might view as most lively drawn forth the exceeding abundant grace of Christ in receiving to mercy so cruel a Persecutor of his Church and so horrid a Blasphemer of his Truth that so humble Penitents being more invited with the riches of Christs mercy and merits then discourag'd with the hainousness of their own pollution and guilt might believe on Christ the Saviour of the World unto everlasting life Indeed we soonest convince by argumen s drawn from our own experience Ps 27 13 14. Ps 34.11 Thus we make it an ordinary Medium and Method of perswasion to one in sickness saving Make use of such a Physitian for when I was taken with the like desperate disease he administred to me safe Physick and by Gods blessing hath wrought upon me an unexpected cure Luk. 22 32. Thus S. Paul converted David repenting Peter restored and others of Gods holy and now blessed Ones they seem to comfort and raise the dejected Sinner and relapsed Saint with arguments drawn from their own experience Why vain man dost thou delay to seek cure for thy wounds healing for thy sickness Take a Physitian upon our recommendation of whose grace and goodness of whose ability and skill we our selves have had so long and so large an experience and let not the distemper of thy disease make thee despair of cure our filthiness hath been as great as thine yet the blood of Christ hath cleansed us our wounds as deep as thine yet his balm hath cured us our souls as fainting as thine yet his grace hath revived us Do thou then exercise faith and repentance according to our example and thou shalt partake of grace and salvation according to our experience 3. Observe the most soveraign and sacred Restorative left us by Christ a worthy partaking the blessed Eucharist What can be a more divine Cordial to the fainting soul what more soveraign remedy to a wounded Conscience then the Covenant of Grace firmly seal'd the merits of Christs death really exhibited and the earnest of the heavenly inheritance visibly convey'd The whole sum of that Tremendum Mysterium that dreadful mysterie as the Antients call it the blessed Eucharist it is this the Communion of the body and blood of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 in which Communion our Lord Jesus Christ powres forth h himself in the abundance of his mercy and riches of his merits He communicates himself as the Treasury of all Goodness the Fulness of all Graces Joh. 1.16 the Fountain of all Blessedness Wherefore then O thou afflicted soul having raised thy faith and renewed thy repentance attend the sacred solemnity of the blessed Eucharist thereby to have thy pardon seal'd thy weakness strengthened thy Corruptions subdued thy Peace of Conscience restored thy Joy of the Spirit enlarged and thine assurance of Gods love confirmed The Objections answered Here several Objections are made by the distrustful and doubting souls 1. Obj. Against the immutability of Gods love and stability Obj. 1 of his Covenant That sure God is not bound to perform the Promise when man neglects to fulfill the Condition and therefore though God do not forsake us yet we leaving him he may justly cast us off and reject us Ans True yet know concerning the faithful whom God hath received into his Covenant of grace Answ as he hath obliged himself never to depart from them so likewise to communicate that grace whereby he is ready to support and sustain them that they shall not totally and finally fall away from him Jer. 32.40 Heb. 8.10.12 And hereby it is that their backslidings though many yet are not perpetual but that fear God puts into their hearts doth restore them and that love he bears unto their persons doth accept them Wherefore as the house and ground stands firm though to distempered brains they seem to totter so the grace and covenant of God stands unmoveable though to distrustful hearts they seem to waver Lippientibus singularis lucerna numerosa est says Tertullian A fit allusion here As to a weak eye the candle which is single seems to have a double light so to a weak faith the Covenant of God which bears a single truth seems to carry a double sense So that notwithstanding all the doubtful Quaere's of a troubled heart and distrustful mind this remains as the surest and safest comfort of Gods children that He who is their Father is unchangeable in his love and constant in his promise 2. Obj. Against the merit of Christs passion and the benefit of his Obj. 2 intercession Some languishing and dejected soul may be so far from making the former testimonies of Gods love to be an encouragement for his rising that the thoughts thereof the more deject and cast him down and the merits of Christs passion with the vertue of his intercession are so far from administring him comfort that through despair they increase his sorrow and horror of soul Objecting that of the Apostle when he says Heb. 10.26 If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin and if so what will avail us Christs passion and intercession Answ To explain the true meaning of this Scripture is to repel the force of this objection Wherefore know Ans that if we examine the circumstances of this Text it will plainly appear that by sin here the Apostle doth mean the sin of Apostacie forsaking Christ and falling away to Judaisme a sin frequently committed in those times and sharply reproved in this Epistle And that this is meant of the sin of Apostacie the very Greek word does hint it somewhat to us which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word which denotes a defect on and falling away and that being as the Apostle expresseth it after the receiving the truth it can be rightly interpreted of none other sin but that of Apostacie And indeed the Apostle here speaks after the manner of the Hebrews with whom Apostacie was called sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As a fall ng away to Idolatry then with the Hebrews so falling away to Judaism with the Apostle is peculiarly called sin as indeed the sin most hateful and abominable And to them that thus sin by Apostacie v. 29. there remains no more sacrifice for their attonement for that they have counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing and have done despight to the Spirit of grace Yet more plaâ—n They who denied their Christian profession and fell off to Judaism could
Christian will reject the Scriptures authority and no man that is a peaceable man will despise the Churches judgment And therefore from this confidence and encouragement that I stand here before Christians of sober and peaceable minds I shall go on to speak for them who cannot speak for themselves our tender Infants pleading their right to Baptism from the words of my Text in which our Saviour gives Commission and Instructions to his Apostles saying Go ye disciple all Nations Baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. Explic. 3. The particular Instructions given by our Saviour to his Apostles for the exercising their Commission viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptising and Teaching 1. Baptising which Baptism is instituted as to the form of its administration to be in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Wherefore we have here two things especially to insist upon 1. The Institution 2. The Administration of Baptism both applied unto Infants 1. Baptisms Institution In the Explication whereof we shall consider the original and use of Baptism together with its benefits and effects Know then to make Disciples by Baptism was ordinary among the Jews and nothing more commonly known in Scripture then the Baptism of John And as the Baptism of John denotes his authority and doctrine so the baptized of John must signifie the Disciples which submitted to his doctrine and authority in his Baptism Now as John made Disciples so Christ sends his Apostles and his Ministers to make Disciples too and what by teaching no but by baptising though not without teaching so John and so the Jews made Disciples So that as before the Flood there was a Rainbow in the Clouds which after by a divine appointment becomes the sign and seal of a promise Gen. 9.12 13 c. Thus Baptism was before Christ ordinary but by his sacred Institution made the sign and seal of his Covenant onely observe it is not baptising meerly but baptising in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which is Christs Institution To be thus baptized then is to be discipled and therefore did the Ancients call Baptism sometimes Sacramentum initiationis the Sacrament of our initiation and admittance into Christs School sometimes Ecclesiae janua the door whereby we enter the Communion of the Church sometimes Investitura Christianismi the badge and livery of Christs service sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Key of Christs Kingdom Mark 10.14 for so says our Saviour to little children belongs the Kingdom of God and how then do they enter this Kingdom John 3.5 but in being born again of Water and of the Spirit that is by Baptism so saith our Saviour expresly Joh. 3.5 Now if we enquire into the original use of Baptism we finde it as a Ceremony though not as a Sacrament of greatest antiquity in the Church Gen. 7. deriving its original from Noahs flood when the sinful world was purged with the Water of a deluge But because without shedding of blood there is no remission Heb. 9.22 therefore God separating a people peculiar to himself he constitutes them a Sacrament of initiation and that Sacrament is Circumcision to signifie that his Covenant of Grace and Peace was established in the blood of the Mediator Now in the Church of the Jews whilst Circumcision was the Covenanting Seal Baptism was the purifying Ceremony yea the Females of the Jews not being capable of Circumcision were initiated by Baptism and the Proselyte Parents with their children were adopted into the Family of the Church admitted into holy Communion with the Jews by Baptism as well as by Circumcision And that Baptism was in our Saviours time a known Ceremony of initiating into Mysterious Institutions and Religious Discipline appears as by the Jews Talmud and other Traditions so by the sacred Scriptures especially in that quaere which our Saviour proposes to the chief Priests and Elders concerning John Matth 21.25 Whether his Baptism was from Heaven or of Men Had there not been Baptisms from men known among the Jews either the question had been vain or the answer easie Besides the Jews wondred not at the use of Baptism but why John baptized he denying himself to be Christ John 1.25 Elias or that Prophet Now the way being prepared by John in his Ministry closing the Law and ushering in the Gospel our Saviour changeth some of the Jewish Ceremonies into Gospel Sacraments That Ecclesiastical Rite of the Postcaenium when in the close of the Passover the Master of the House did distribute Bread and Wine unto his Family this Christ by an holy Institution converts into the blessed Sacrament of his last Supper Likewise that Ceremony of initiating Proselytes he converts into an holy Sacrament of initiating Disciples even by Baptism For so it is said of Jesus that John 4.1 He made and baptized more Disciples then John he made and baptized spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of Emphasis and Explication he made and made them by Baptism even by solemn institution and admission into his School John 3.2 as a great Doctor and Teacher come from God so esteemed of by his followers thus admitted and instituted to be his Disciples Look then as it was the custom of the Jews to baptize Parents and their Infants when discipled unto Moses so must it be the practice of the Church to baptize Parents and their Infants when discipled unto Christ For that Baptism being commonly known and discipling by Baptism too when our Saviour gives in Commission Disciple all Nations Baptising them his command is to be observed according to the common usage and known practice of discipling and baptising even as to the persons in general he not expressing much less exempting any in particular To close then If some Prince should give out his Royal Grant to make a City free would any be so imprudent as to think the Royal Grant did not intend the children as well as the Parents And because the children are not exprest would any be so vain Justin Instit l. 1. Acts 22.28 as to say they are excluded Seeing it is the known manner of conferring liberty to give it to the Parents and their children And the like is to be said of the liberty of the Gospel by discipling Joh 8 36. Gal. 5.1 which consists in the promises and priviledges contained in the sacred Charter and Royal Patent of the Covenant of Grace which is sealed by Baptism Having then given you the grounds of Infants Baptism so plain and permanent so reasonable and inviolable even that interest they have in the Covenant of Grace that right they have in the Communion of the Church and that hold they have in the Institution of Christ To all this Let me now adde the practice of the Apostles to which we
access of languishing souls to his Throne of Grace yea this blessed Sacrament is the very Mercy-seat of our God where Jesus Christ is exhibited to the Father as the propitiation and atonement for the faithful Rom. 3.3 § 12. Where then there is faith and repentance it is not our failing that shall make Gods truth to fail not our defects which shall make his promises of none effect no though justice exact justice doth require a perfection of our obedience yet mercy indulgent mercy will vouchsafe acceptance through Christ through Christ in whom mercy and truth are met together Psal 85 10. on purpose that righteousness and peace may kiss each other even in him our blessed Mediator in him do meet all the paths of God in which he brings salvation to his Church and those paths are now become beaten roads right viae Regiae the King of Heavens high-waies in which we have our passage from sin and death to righteousness and life from guilt and misery to holiness and glory and these paths of our God what are they but his Mercy and Truth in Christ Jesus § 13. But O my soul that the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth it is to them that keep his Covenant and his testimonies seeing then thou hast broken his Covenant and transgrest his Testimonies how canst thou expect the acceptance of mercy and the blessings of truth True I have sinned and through my sin mine obedience is become imperfect but what is not the Covenant of my God a Covenant of Grace Jam. 2.13 where mercy rejoyceth yea triumpheth against judgment yea is not the Covenant of my God that Covenant made with Abraham confirmed by Christ and sealed by this holy Sacrament a part of which Covenant is the remission of sins if so then shall faith and repentance be accepted through Christ and all my imperfections made up with the righteousness of his most perfect obedience § 14. Indeed were our obedience perfect what need should we have of Christ to justifie and save us though Truth and Justice then may blame and condemn our failings in the keeping of Gods testimonies yet grace and mercy go before to vail all with the robe of Christs righteousness to a pardoning our infirmities Psal 89.14 an accepting our persons and a rewarding our services though we cannot then keep the Covenant and Testimonies of our God in an Angelical purity yet may we do it in an Evangelical sinceritie though not in a full perfection yet in a sincere endeavor of holy obedience Phil. 3.12 13 14 and blessed is that soul which shall witness the saving comfort of this sacred doctrine that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep even thus keep his Covenant and his Testimonies Vers 11. For thy name sake O Lord pardon mine iniquitie for it is great § 1. THe very best of Gods Saints do not so perfectly keep the Covenant and Testimonies of their God but that in thoughts of his Covenant they may well have a sense of their sin in the meditation of his Testimonies they may well have an apprehension of their transgressions and this is that which put David here upon this emphatical ejaculation of fervent prayer For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great § 2. Thou Lord not only art good and gracious but thou wilt also be so acknowledged so declared yea as such worshipped and adored that thy name then be not dishonored let me though a sinner be accepted pardon mine iniquity that it be not said thou ever rejectedst a poor penitent and thereby lose the glory of thy name whose name is merciful A merciful clemency is a royal vertue Exod. 34.5 6. and honorable in every Soveraign Majesty thou then O Lord Psal 24 5 8. who art the King of Glory make this thy holy Sacrament to be the broad Seal to my pardon and this for thy names sake even for thy mercy sake by which thou art as well known as any man can be by his own name § 3. I plead not Lord my merits who am less then the least of thy mercies and as I look not upon my merit so nor do thou look upon my demerit as I do not view my worthiness so nor do thou view my unworthiness but thou who art called the God of mercy be unto me what thou art called make good the glory of thine own name in being merciful unto my sin of which I cannot say as Lot of Zoar is it not a little one no it is great Gen 19.20 for that it is against thee so great a God and so good to me Great for that my place my office my calling is great the Sun the higher it is the less it seems but my sins the higher I am the greater they are even in thine and others eyes § 4. Great for that my knowledge of thee and thy waies is great I knew thy will and yet did it not my conscience check'd me and yet I obeyed not thy Spirit moved me and yet I yeelded not Mine iniquity is great for that I have greatly multiplied and increased it so that it is become great in quality and in quantity great in weight and in number very heinous very numerous yea the number of my sins is numberless those I know and confess are few in comparison of what are unknown and hidden from me Psal 19.12 § 5. Yet further mine iniquity is great for that mine apprehension of it is so great that I know more ill by my self then by any other each man best feels his own burden and the burden of my sins is such as is too heavy for me to bear Lastly mine iniquity is great for that it is such a debt as I am no way able in the least part to make satisfaction And even a little debt is great to him who hath nothing to pay Wherefore O Lord hide not thy great mercy from me who hide not my great sins from thee and the greater is the guilt of my sin the greater shall be the glory of thy mercy to pardon it let it be the glory of thy mercy then to pass by mine offences so shall the greatness of my sins make the glory of thy mercies more conspicuous for that where sin hath abounded there grace doth much more abound Rom. 5.20 § 6. And thus though I went against mine own knowledge in sinning yet do not thou Lord go against thine own nature in punishing who hast promised if we beleeve and repent thou wilt forgive and now 1 Cor. 10.12 as my sins teach them that stand to take heed least they fall so let thy pardon of my sins teach them that are faln upon their repentance not to doubt of thy mercy and forgiveness which mercy and forgiveness do thou seal unto my soul and to each humble penitent through Jesus Christ in a return of peace unto our consciences by
disturbs not that which preserves the quiet of the house the peace of the soul that which does extinguish not that which does inflame our charity that which is a servile not that which is a filial fear To fear because we have sinned against God as an avenging Iudge this servile fear love quiet casts out of doors but not to sin because we fear offending God as a gracious Father this filial fear it is so far from being cast out that it is loves dearest inmate the one mutually sustaining the other so that we may well pray as the Church hath well taught us Collect second Sund af Trin. Lord make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy name § 7. However then the external profession of the truly religious may be imitated by that artificial sanctity of the formal hypocrite yet who is' t that can draw out the lineaments of life sense and motion Who can counterfeit the internal forms and active principles of grace secrets not visible to the eye but sensible to the soul from whence we draw an infallible argument of Gods blessing to say with David The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant § 8. The second Medium the manifestations of his love He will shew them his Covenant 1 Cor. 2.14 the natural man knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God and no wonder for he is blind at least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.9 as St. Peter speaks non procul videns one sand-blind that cannot see a far off the good things of Gods Covenant and grace they are deep and in their depth have too much of misterious darkness they are high and in their height have too much of glorious brightness for the purblind eye of the earthly soul and carnal man to search and apprehend And O the refreshings of divine love to the truely penitent when God by his word discovers their sin then by his spirit he withal manifests his grace he shews them his Covenant even life and salvation by Jesus Christ And by this we may know whether the discovery of sin be a temptation or an humiliation whether it be from Satan to tempt to despair or from God to humble in repentance § 9. The spirit of grace and truth laies open sin in the soul as a careful Chyrurgeon doth a wound in the body in a warm room among tender friends and with suppleing remedies his end not being to torture but to heal not to make soar but to make whole but now the spirit of error and wickedness laies open sin as the mischeivous murderer does the wound in the open air and the soul drawn away from Christ and his promises on purpose to torment and kill not to cure and save The promises priviledges and blessings then of Gods Covenant they are not known in their saving truth but by the humble soul even by those who fear the Lord for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Sept. to them the Lord will declare and make known his Covenant even his Covenant of Crace in which are concentred all the promises of the Gospel and this Covenant he will shew to them that fear him especially in that which is the firm foundation of their comforts as to the immutability of his love and the stability of his promise § 10. First The immutability of his love the grace and love of God as the Agent is not founded upon any motives or reasons in man as the object as if merit or worth in man did either beget or continue favor and love in God Rom. 4.5 Rom. 5.10 Ephes 2.5 Rom. 3.24 no he justifies us when ungodly he reconciles us when enemies he quickens us when dead and therefore must it be that we are freely justified and so eternally saved by his grace through the redemption that is in Iesus Christ Now if when enemies by wicked works Col. 1.21 we were reconciled by the death of Christ if when dead in sins we were were quickened by the Spirit of grace how much more being quickened being reconciled shall our infirmities be pardoned our falls repaired our persons accepted and our services rewarded If when we were enemies Gods grace did prevent us to make us his children how much more being Gods children shall the same grace preserve us from becoming his enemies § 11. The love of God in his Covenant of grace Jer. 31.3 it is an everlasting love which everlasting love sure cannot end in an eternal hate So that though we are unworthy yet does he continue gracious though we deserve his wrath yet will he bestow his love his love unchangeable like himself for God is love and as Mal. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed § 12. 2. The stability of his promise In Jer. 32.40 God tells us he will make an everlasting Covenant with his people And how is â—t everlasting why says God I will not turn away from them to do them good But though God be immutable in his grace unchangeable in his love and so constant in his promise yet what if his people through humane frailty fall from him and so make void the Covenant of the Almighty To this God himself gives answer v. 40. for the comfort of all the faithful I will put my fear into their hearts saith the Lord that they shall not depart from me Thus does God give the promise and strengthens man to the condition of his Covenant so that they who are begotten to a lively hope by Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.5 are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation And thus our holiness depends upon Gods promise not Gods promise upon our holiness Deus facit ut nos faciamus quae praecepit nos non facimus ut ille faciat quae promisit so S. Aug. God makes us to do what he hath commanded we do not make God to do what he hath promised But as remission of sins is from his grace even his gracious favor accepting so is the obedience of faith from his grace too even the grace of his Spirit sanctifying § 13. So that all our comfort of soul and peace of conscience is firmly fixt upon this sure Basis this firm foundation the immutability of Gods love and the stability of his promise For so Heb. 6.17 God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel and in that his love he confirm'd it by an oath And wherefore Was it to make his obligation more firm No but to make our consolation more full For so v. 18. it was that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation Gods covenant is not made the more firm or sure by oath then by promise for that his truth as his nature it is without variableness or shadow of turning
Jam. 1.17 And it is not any thing that can add to its immutability for as to infinity in respect of extension so to immutability in respect of firmness there can be no accession of parts nor addition of degrees § 14. Wherefore as mans oath adds not to the truth of his word so nor Gods oath to the certainty of his promise So that meerly to shew unto the faithful Heb. 6.17 the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel he confirmed it by an oath which was for the greater testimony of his love in the stronger assurance of our faith being fixt upon the firm stability of his promise from which stability of pâ—omise we draw an infallible argument to prove the blessing of God upon them that fear him He will shew them his covenant Who is it now that feareth the Lord and in that fear approacheth a communion with Christ in his ordinance his holy Sacrament that God may now acquaint him with his Covenant in the manifestations of his love let him first see to this that he be acquainted with his secret in the operations of his grace § 15. And here that we rest not on moral principles or on a formal sanctity do we examine the operations of grace in a real holiness such as meer morality cannot reach nor formal hypocrisie counterfeit See we then what is the secret of the Lord with them that fear him in the operations of grace 1. In respect of their contritions and humiliations 2. In respect of their hungrings and thirstings after righteousness 3. In respect of their holy purposes and godly resolutions 4. In respect of their earnest prayers and fervent supplications 5. In respect of their humble assurance of Gods love and acceptance through Christ § 16. 1. Their contritions and humiliations in which their sight and sense of sin is not only in respect of the general corruption of their nature but also the particular and more enormous transgressions of their life yea they view sin not so much in its horror of guilt Psal 14.3 Col. 1 21. Eph. 2 12. Isa 59.2 as in its pollution of filth not so much as exposing to wrath and hell as setting at enmity with God and estranging the soul from Christ And thus doth Christs grace work upon their hearts with the Laws threatnings tempered with the Gospels promises thereby bruising and breaking them in contritions of soul mollifying and melting them in languishings of spirit Oh this the secret of the Lord these the operations of grace in Contritions and Humiliations § 17. 2. In hungrings and thirstings after righteousness which arise in the soul from faith in the promises of Christ those of Justification by his Blood and those of Sanctification by his Spirit yea that knowledg of God and of Christ which they had formerly being speculative now becomes practical and they find those Scriptures true in experience and trial which before they viewed only in fancy and notion Psal 27.4 So that nothing appears more beautiful to their souâ—s then the worship and service of their God nothing more joyous then communion with Christ and fellowship with his Saints And therefore do they breath forth their longings after righteousness with holy David Oh that our ways were made so direct Psal 119 5. that we might keep thy statutes And as they have no comfort in their souls till God speaks peace unto their consciences so nor have they quiet in their consciences till God give further grace unto their souls that grace of sanctification whereby they may perfect holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 § 18. 3. Holy purposes and godly resolutions which resolutions of their souls are conformable to the admonition of the Apostle Act. 11.23 even with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord. And whereas the purposes of the Hypocrite they are ab extra from without from Gods judgments or mans perswasions their holy purposes they are ab infra from within from the sense of Gods mercy and Christs love which does so powerfully affâ—ct their souls that they are with David at a Juravi I have sworne Ps 119.166 and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgments They make it their solemn vow and sincere resolution to observe the Law of their God and the precepts of their Redeemer And according to the sincerity of their holy resolutions so do they order the integrity of their holy obedience even in an universal and impartial respect to all Gods commandments not allowing not approving yea Ps 119.6 not excusing or indulging themselves in the commission of the least evil of which their conscience is convinc'd that it is a sin against their just and holy God their good and gracious Father § 19. 4. Earnest prayers and fervent supplications How many oh how many are the deep sighs how many the mournful groans how many the secret wishes how many the pantings and longings which they feel in their souls as so many ebullitions of grace so many breathings of the Spirit And all these oft-times before they can in affiance of faith gain wing in prayer to present and enlarge themselves in supplications before the Throne of grace In which supplications they are not more earnest and importunate for justification then they are for sanctification for remission of sins then for newness of life yea they sue with as much fervency and importunity for holiness as for happiness for grace as for glory § 20. 5. Their humble assurance of Gods love and acceptance through Christ And for this know that the Spirit of supplication which gives them words to put up their prayer unto God through Christ the same Spirit doth often bring back word unto their souls that their prayer so put up is accepted whereby with David they taste and see that is Ps 34 8. experimentally find and feel that the Lord is God receiving even whilst they are praying an answer of their prayers returned into their bosom by a secret contentation of soul wrought by a sweet illapse of the Spirit And thus their souls become even transported with a divine joy and heavenly delight the spiritual communion they obtain with God through Christ in humble prayer being an earnest of that eternal communion they expect with God and with Christ in the heavenly presence Joh 17.24 Of which eternal communion and heavenly presence this blessed Eucharist is the Sacramental seals and pledge confirming unto us the truth and comfort of this doctrine and Text That the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant Vers 15. Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net § 1. HIs guards are strong his fence is sure whose salvation is Christ which salvation is communicated to us in the promises of grace exhibited in the ministry of the Word and more plentifully conveyed yea more effectually confirmed in
wages of iniquity 2 Pet. 2.15 to curse Israel he tempts Judas with horrid treason to betray his Master Luk. 22.2 3. he tempts Annanias Act. 5.3 4. with cursed sacriledge to alineate to his own use what he had dedicated to Gods service Thus also when he sees the heart set upon ambition Numb 16.1 he tempts Corah with desperate rebellion he tempts Absolon with unnatural treason 2 Sam. 15.10 he tempts Arrius with blasphemous Heresie he tempts Julian with horrid Apostacy § 16. But now on the contrary as an Arrow shot against a Rock may be broken but cannot enter thus temptation to the soul it shall be repell'd where no lust is within to give admittance Wherefore though Satan tempt our Saviour yet are the darts of his temptations shot in vain He finds nothing in him Joh. 14.30 nothing in Christ of carnal or earthly affection whereon his temptation might fasten it self In us then it is the treacherous correspondencie of the flesh with Satan and the World which betrays our souls to their assaults So that to fortifie the soul against their sinful temptations the surest means is to mortifie the flesh in its corrupt affections Rom. 8.13 § 17. Now when the solemnity of the holy Eucharist is celebrated Job 1.6 it is a day when the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord and we may be sure Satan will also come among them not only to accuse every unworthy Receiver but even to tempt the worthiest that receives tempt him with wandring and worldly thoughts with flat and dull affections yea it may be with spiritual pride with formal hypocrisie or impure imaginations Wherefore it will be a second Case seasonably proposed How we may best attend this sacred solemnity that we be not entangled in Satans net Answer By having our eyes ever towards the Lord our souls fixt and intent upon Christ in the sufferings of his Passion the power of his Resurrection the glory of his Ascension and the benefit of his Intercession And this with the enlargements of contrition of faith of love of prayer and of praises § 18. This a fit exercise for the whole solemnity of Administring but especially in the very act of receiving when the Minister comes towards thee O thou devoted soul with the Sacramental pledges of Christs body and blood raise thy self in this or the like ejaculation of fervent prayer O my Jesus thou boundless mercy and glorious purity by thy Spirit pierce into every faculty of my soul cleanse out every corner of my heart and so sanctifie and enlarge me that I may become a fit temple an holy habitation for thee the Lord of life and Prince of glory This done when the sacred bread is administred to thee with a Take eat the body of our Lord Jesus Christ then in thy silent meditations by a commemoration of faith behold Christ in the garden Luk. 22.44 and see him in his anguish of soul and agony of blood prest under the weight of mans sin and Gods wrath This being over behold him betrayed by Judas apprehended by the Jews and dragged away to the High-Priests palace where Mat. 26 67. in thy commemorations of faith behold him spit upon blindfolded and buffeted and after that hurried away to Pilate's Judgment-hall where being falsely accused see him unjustly condemned and after he is scourged with whips Mat. 27.2.11 crown'd with thorns and sceptred with a reed mock'd and despightfully used behold him in thy meditations bearing his cross till he faints under it § 19. At last coming to Mount Calvary see his limbs stretcht and violently distorted his hands and feet digg'd and bor'd and at length his precious body nail'd to his Cross where fix thy meditations of faith in an exercise of contrition and love that as S. Paul thou mayest become crucified with Christ Gal. 2.20 and with good Ignatius in a Pathos of devotion cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh my love and therein my life my joy my Jesus he is crucified And in this melting extasie of contrition and love continue till the Cup be presented thee with a Drink this the blood of our Lord Lord Jesus Christ which thou receiving as from Christ in an awful and devout reverence in a renewed contrition of heart and devotion of love renew thy meditations of faith and in them whilst thou beholdest thy Saviour hanging upon his Cross seeing thou canst not conceive his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his unknown sufferings as the Greek Church calls them seeing thou canst not conceive the Sea of sorrows which overwhelmed his soul see oh see those Rivers of blood which overflowed his body And life flowing out with the blood see him seal a Consummatum est to his Passion and our Redemption with a giving up the ghost § 20. And here say within thy self Who is it in a challenge to the Law and Sin and Satan who is it that condemns seeing it is Christ that dyed Rom. 8.34 my Surety my Saviour who thus offers up himself a sacrifice for my sins And therefore presenting thy self in the presence of thy God and his holy Angels raise thy soul in this apprehension of faith That whatsoever is the guilt of Sin the accusation of Satan or the curse of the Law all is taken away cancelled and abolish'd by the merit of Christs passion And therefore in thy meditation of holy faith send forth this ejaculation of fervent prayer Look down oh look down heavenly Father from thy celestial sanctuary and behold the sacred Hoast the death the passion of my crucified Saviour whose blood of sprinkling speaks better things then that of Abel's even things of grace and mercy of pardon and peace Eph. 4 8. Col. 2.15 § 21. And here from the Passion of thy Saviour proceed in thy meditations of faith to his Ressurection and behold him leading Captivity captive triumphing gloriously over sin and Satan death and hell From his Resurrection follow him to his Ascension and raised by faith Heb. 7.25 behold him at the right hand of the Father in glory where He ever lives to make intercession for us And therefore presenting thy self before the Throne of grace powre out thy soul in prayer in the mediation of Christ Jesus that God would make good to thee the institution of this holy Sacrament as the seal of his Covenant of grace giving thee a communion with the Lord Jesus in all his benefits that so the pardon of thy sins being sealed a supply of grace exhibited and the earnest of glory confirmed thy whole man may be further sanctified and eternally blessed And now let the close of all be lauds and praises even Halleluiah salvation be unto our God and unto the Lamb for ever Rev. 7.10 Vers 16 17. Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted The troubles of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of
that in holding faith and a good conscience though I lose all things else I have enough if I save my soul and in deserting faith and a good conscience if I lose my soul I have nothing though I save all things else But further O keep my soul yet not so properly mine as in a more peculiar right of propriety thine thine O blessed Jesu by right of donation from thy Father who hath made thee Lord and Christ and hath given me to thee Act 2.36 Eph. 1.22 as thou art Head over all things unto thy Church Thine by right of purchase thou having bought us with a price and given thy self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom in kind 2 Tim. 2.6 even thine own soul and body to redeem unto thy self the souls and bodies of the faithful § 18. Further thine by right of conquest in which thou hast made us free from the law of sin and of death having for our sake Rom 8.2 and in our name spoil'd principalities and powers Col. 2 1◠triumphing over them Further yet thine by right of Covenant in which thou hast promised thy self to be our God and we to be thy people Lastly Heb. 8.10 thine by right of Communion for that all we are and all we have are from thy fulness our life our love our joy our holiness our happiness all is in thee and from thee Thus I am thine my body thine my soul thine thine in the nearest relation in the strictest union and in the dearest affection True it is all is thine the Devils are thine thy vassals the wicked are thine thy prisoners the Angels are thine thy subjects the Creatures are thine thy servants But only the sanctified are thine thy brethren thy members yea the faithful are thy treasure thy jewels thy jewels of ornament and delight Thus oh thus keep my soul as one of thy jewels a part of thy treasure § 19. 3. Deliver me The propriety Christ hath in us is a strong engagement of his care over us as it is with his children in general 1 Tim. 3.15 Cant. 4.8 so with each of his chosen in particular Though Christs Church be full of enemies yet seeing it is his own house he will raise and repair it though it be black yet seeing it is his own Spouse he will pitty and cherish it Isa 5.4 though it bring forth wild grapes yet being his own Vine he will fence and prune it though it wander from his truth 1 Pet. 5.2 yet because it is his own Flock he will watch and gather it This then is the argument of faith which the devout soul makes unto Christ Because I am thy purchase O do thou Lord preserve me because I am of thy houshold do thou provide for me Ps 119.94 because I am one of thine whom thou ownest O keep my soul and deliver me Deliver me not only from the conquest but also from the conflict of sin For that Conflictus licet non fit damnabilis quia non perficit iniquitatem miserabilis tamen quia non habet pacem Aug. de nupt concupisc l. 2. c. 2. Though our conflict with our lusts is not damnable because the act of sin is not perfected yet is it miserable because the peace of the soul is disturbed § 20. This very conflict with sin it was which put S. Paul to his exclamation Rom. 17.24 Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Which complaint he answers with this profession I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord for that the grace of Christ doth weaken the strength the blood of Christ doth pardon the guilt and the glory of Christ shall annihilate the being of sin In renascentibus remittitur S. Aug. contra Jul. l. 6. c. 16. in proficientibus minuitur in resurgentibus tollitur Sin in justification through Christ is remitted in sanctification by Christ is weakened and in glorification with Christ shall be destroyed in which glorification the deliverance of Christs Church and chosen is perfected and till that perfecting be accomplish'd this will be the continued complaint and mournful prayer of Gods holiest Saints Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with a cruel hatred O keep my soul and deliver me § 21. Thus being in conflict then with our lusts how may we best order our lives as to the safety and peace of our souls I answer in several rules of direction 1. Be we the more fervent the more importunate in our prayers by how much our lusts are the more eager the more vehement in their desires For this we have S. Pauls example for our imitation 2 Cor. 12.9 when he proportions the vehemencie of his devotion to the violence of his temptation and by how much the Messenger of Satan doth the more furiously reiterate his buffetings by so much the Apostle of the Gentiles doth the more zealously renew his prayers and at length he receives this comfortable answer to his sorrowful complaint My grace is sufficient for thee sufficient to pardon thy guilt sufficient to cure thy wound sufficient to strengthen thy weakness sufficient to perfect thy deliverance § 22. 2. Entertain we no parley no treaty with our lusts have no commerce or company with them silence their suggestions or if they will needs be suggesting give them not the ear lest they make that the passage to the heart Qui deliberant desciverunt so Tacit. We betray our selves to sin whensoever we treat with our lusts conference with them is the way to be ensnared by them We must flie sin as a serpent not let in the head lest it draw in its body not yield to the first motion lest we be engaged in its full commission § 23. 3. Set we up the Law of the Spirit and life in our hearts Rom. 8.2 and by how much the Law of Sin will be stirring in our thoughts by so much the more let this royal law of Christs spirit life bear sway in our souls And to that end especially now in the solemnity of the blessed Eucharist renew we our purposes our vows our covenants renew we our self-denial our total resignation thereby to obtain a further quickening in grace a further strengthening of the inward man Joh. 1.16 and all by a nearer communion with Christ in his fulness Thus this holy Sacrament shall seal unto our hearts the comfort of this assurance that God so considers our enemies which are many and hate us with a cruel hatred that He will keep our souls and deliver us Vers 20. part and v. 21. Let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee § 1. THE Creatures were made subject to change by the law of their creation which mutability hath been much improved by the sin of man whose guilt
holiness all our glory and happiness Wherefore O my God Isa 44 2. Isa 26.13 Psal 48.14 Deut. 32.30.31 Isa 63.16 in thee do I trust in thee as a Creator to sustain me as a Lord to govern me as a Guide to direct me as a Rock to defend me as a Father to succor me All which relations thou hast taken upon thee in a merciful regard to my weakness and wants that thou mightest the more manifestly declare thy goodness and love which goodness and love now seal unto my soul by a Communion with thee in the Lord Jesus § 16. But how may we best strengthen our trust in God that we faint not in these dayes of trial Ans We strengthen our trust by renewing our resignation and when can we more seasonably renew our resignation Gal. 3 1. 1 Cor. 11.26 Eph. 2.18 then at our receiving the blessed Sacrament in which we have exhibited the fulness of Christs merits as the propitiatory sacrifice and attonement for our souls by whom we have access unto the Father to receive a blessing of pardon and of peace of life and salvation from him Do we then in all humble devotion make this sincere resignation at the Table of the Lord even offer and present unto God from our hearts as we profess with our tongues offer and present our selves our souls and bodies as a reasonable holy and lively sacrifice unto him Rom. 12.1 casting our selves upon him in the mercy and truth of his promise in the wisdom and power of his providence § 17. And upon this total resignation he seals us this assurance that he will exercise those his properties imploy those his attributes for our comfort and protection for our support and salvation and this beyond what our wits can design our wishes can desire or our thoughts conceive And let not any penitent though languishing soul be discouraged from this holy Sacrament of the Eucharist there to renew his resignation Jer. 23.6 and strengthen his trust for that here we have set forth Christ our righteousness and that name imprinted on him which was proclaimed before Moses Exod. 34.6 7. The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Ps 9.10 This that name of God whereof David speaks saying They Lord that know thy name will trust in thee Yea this is that Solomon speaks of Pr. 18.10 when he says The name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe safe from the guilt of Sin from the rage of Satan and from the fear of Hell § 18. Wherefore for the instruction and comfort of the dejected we will spell every letter of this Name we will view every turret in this Tower The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth c. Here then art thou frighted O thou languishing soul art thou frighted at the vast armies of thy lusts and the potent powers of hell which come against thee why here 's thy refuge thy tower the Lord the Lord Jehovah the mighty God the Lord of hosts he will defend thee he will deliver thee True says the dejected Penitent I question not his power but his will Why hear then he is the Lord merciful as the Lord to assure thee he is able so merciful to give thee as full an assurance that he is willing Ah! but I am so wretched and so worth-less a creature that I have nothing to move his mercy Why yes sure for misery is the object of mercy and besides thy God as he is merciful so he is gracious his riches of mercy are free not expecting merit to move but faith to receive § 19. Ah! but God hath been often rejected by me how shall I then be accepted of him Why know his name will still answer thy moans as he is gracious to receive freely so he is long-suffering to wait patiently even that he may be gracious Ah! Jer. 30.18 but my sins are numerous and hainous great in number and in weight Why but he who is long-suffering in patience to bear is also abundant in goodness to pardon Ay! but I have been false unto God often very often returning and yet as often revolting I have broken my resolutions my vows my covenants and how then shall I hope for pardon Why though thou hast been unfaithful unto God yet will God be faithful unto thee as he is abundant in goodness to forgive thy sin so is he abundant also in truth to make good his promise his promise of grace and salvation to the believing Penitent § 20. Oh! but my hainous guilt strikes terror into my wounded conscience I have sinned wilfully presumptuously with many aggravating circumstances of guilt and of horror Why but see his Name and see it written too upon his Saints A God forgiving iniquity transgression and sin sins of all sorts and sizes of all kinds and degrees the most hainous and the most numerous Ay but this is mercy vouchsafed but few Yes it is mercy vouchsafed to thousands and a mercy not exhausted but still renewed He hath a whole treasure full of it and as a treasure he keeps it He keeps mercy for thousands § 21. And here thâ—s treasury is open in this blessed Sacrament come and receive of this mercy of thy God this pardoning this healing this comforting this saving mercy of thy God dispensed by the bountiful hand of thy Jesus who with that mercy gives his merits his benefits his spirit his whole fulness his whole self Joh. 1.16 Wherefore rouse up thy soul to receive the bounty of thy God and of thy Saviour with an humble a thankful and a devout heart And amongst other parts of thy devotion remember Davids petition Let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee Verse 21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee § 1. SIn and shame guilt and punishment they are inseparable in their conjunction unless a timely repentance sue out a divorce and the blood of Christ make the separation In the prosecution of sin nothing more hardens in impenitence then the prosperous success of impiety And in the execution of punishment nothing more confounds with shame then the unexpected disappointment of hope for instance when sacrilegious men have enrich'd themselves with the Churches spoils and raised themselves upon her ruines going on for a while successfully in their wickedness They think God altogether such an one as themselves one that approves of their sin Psal 50.21 in prospering their designs and hereby they become hardned in their impiety not willing to take the bitter pil of penitence and godly sorrow whilst they are chewing the sweet morsel of profit and worldly gain But oh when they think to digest the morsel they have swallowed when they think to enjoy the Houses and Lands they have
is an everlasting love Jer. 31 3. a love that will not end in hatred This is that God himself tels us by the Prophet I am the Lord I change not Mal. 3.6 therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed 2. The stability of Gods Covenant God tells us he will make an everlasting Covenant with his people And how is it everlasting Jer. 32 40. Why says God I will not turn from them to do them good This Covenant of Grace declared by the Prophets and confirm'd by Christ was long before made to Abraham Gen. 22.16 The sum of which Covenant the Apostle gives us Heb. 6. where he tells us that when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater Heb. 6.13 14. he sware by himself saying Surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee Surely the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Erasmus and the Vulgar render nisi unless Unless blessing I shall bless thee and multiplying I shall multiply thee And so indeed it is right the usual manner and form of an execratory Oath among the Hebrews the sense which is depending upon this expression being implied by the Figure Aposiopesis So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nisi benedicens benedixero tibi as if the Lord had said Unless blessing I shall bless thee and multiplying I shall multiply thee let me not be accounted God that is let me not be accounted faithful and true And thus because God could swear by no greater He sware by himself Now this being the form of Gods Covenant by way of an oath what is the substance and matter of it Why this Blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee Which gemination of words is to signifie a cumulation of Gods blessings And thus our former Translation may be a good Gloss which reads these words thus I will abundantly bless thee and multiply thee marvellously Which promise was made good to Isaac and the Jews in temporal blessings and an earthly inheritance the Types and Figures of Christ and the faithful to whom this promise is made good in spiritual graces and an heavenly kingdom And therefore this Covenant made unto Abraham Ps 105 10 is call'd an everlasting Covenant which it could not be if not extended to the times of the Gospel in respect of those spiritual graces and heavenly blessings bestowed upon Christ and by him upon his body the Church Now it is said that God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel Heb. 6.17 confirm'd it by an oath And wherefore this Was it to make his obligation more firm No but to make our consolation the more sure v. 18. it was that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation By two immutable things his promise and his oath in which it was impossible for God to lye to lye that is to revoke or recall his word whereby man might be disappointed of his hope Now we must know Gods covenant is not made the more firm or sure by oath then by promise for Gods truth as his nature is without any variableness or shadow of change Jam. 1.17 and it is not any thing that can possibly add to its immutability As to infinity in respect of extension so unto immutability in respect of firmness there can be no accession of parts or addition of degrees Wherefore as mans oath adds not to the truth of his word so nor Gods oath to the certainty of his promise and therefore meerly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel he confirm'd it by an oath Which was for the greater testimony of his grace in the stronger assurance of our faith being fixt upon the firm stability of his Covenant 1 Joh. 2.1 3. The merit of Christs passion and benefit of his intercession both which we are directed to by S. John My little children these things I write unto you that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins He is the propitiation for our sins in the merit of his passion and he is our Advocate with the Father in the office of his intercession In the merit of Christs passion it is that he became our ransom 1 Tim. 2.6 and so we saved by his death and in the benefit of Christs intercession it is Rom. 5 10. that we are said to be saved by his life for that he lives to make intercession for us So that as the end and purpose of Christs passion was our redemption so the very end and purpose of Christs intercession is our salvation And thus is Christ become our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Great High-Priest Heb. 4.14 Heb. 2 17. Heb. 3.1 whose proper and peculiar office it is to make attonement for his people and therefore Christ can no more reject a penitent sinner then he can deny himself an alsufficient Saviour Wherefore see S. Pauls confident challenge that he makes Rom. 8 34. Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Who is it that condemneth since it is Christ that died for us redeeming us with the price of his blood Oh what filth will not this Fountain cleanse what wound will not this Balm cure what guilt will not this merit expiate But further yet who is he that condemneth since it is Christ who not only died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rather who is risen again having by his almighty power led captivity captive and triumphed over Satan the Law Eph. 4 8. Heb. 8 1. Ps 110.1 and Sin even death the grave and hell and is set down at Gods right hand until he make all his enemies his footstool Yet is not this all Who is it that condemneth since it is Christ who not only died rose again and is set down at the right hand of God but who also makes intercession for us This the Complement of all Consider we must if we will rouse and raise our faith consider we must the price of Christs blood in his passion the power of his might in his resurrection and the glory of his Regal dignity in his session at Gods right hand yet above all consider Christ being our Advocate with the Father his intecession in his Priestly office and then have we the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 7 25. our Saviours saving us unto the uttermost even in that he lives to make intercession for us Hereby it is that he is able to save us to the uttermost whether it be in perpetuum as the Vulgar or in plenum as Erasmus whether it be for perpetuity of time or fulness of measure Christ is
Anabaptists subtleties with which we find him to puzzle some of his eminent opposers In that the Apostle says then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The unbelieving husband hath been sanctified by the wife and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The unbelieving wife hath been sanctified by the husband the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being in the Praeter-tense hath been sanctified the Apostle speaks of what had been experienc'd that the wife had been a means to sanctifie the unbelieving husband and the husband of sanctifying the unbelieving wife in their converting to the faith of Christ A good reason this why the believer should not separate from the unbelieving upon this hope of gaining him or her unto the Church And this interpretation is apt to what the Apostle subjoins to confirm his judgment and opinion v. 16. What knowest thou O wife whether thou shalt save thy husband or what knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy wife Which saving answers so pat to the former sanctifying that to be sanctified seems plainly to be a converting to the faith and so bringing in to the communion of the Church in respect of which communion says the Apostle your children are holy which otherwise were unclean Act. 10.14 And that this is so S. Peter's Vision will resolve us where by unclean is meant not fit to be received into the communion of the Church and so by holy opposite to unclean must be interpreted one already received or fitted to be received into the Churches communion So that from these three Arguments 1. That Infants of believing parents were members of the visible Church under the Jews and that this priviledge is not repealed 2. That our Lord and Saviour hath testified that to such Infants belongs the kingdom of God 3. That S. Paul hath asserted it of all such Infants that they are holy From these three arguments the surest and soundest we can fix upon to plead the Infants cause against the Anabaptists from these I say I may make my infallible inference of holy truth That the Infants of believing parents have a right and interest in the communion of the Church as the Disciples of Christ This I have been the more large in because I intend this my sure foundation whereon according to the method of my Text to build the structure of Infants baptism according to our Saviours commission and instruction Go disciple all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. 2 Having proved that Infants of believing parents as Disciples of Christ have a right and interest in the communion of the Church I shall now give you the ground and reason of that interest and right which ground and reason is this most sure and firm Their being parties in the same Covenant of grace with their parents upon which Covenant of Grace is founded the Communion of the Church and therefore they who are parties in that Covenant must needs be partakers of this Communion And that children are parties in Covenant with their Parents is most plain from the express words of the Covenant first made with Abraham Gen. 17 7. I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant to be a God unto thee and to thy Seed after thee and that this thy Seed after thee doth relate to the Infant posterity of all Believers as well as of Abraham is not onely evident from the Seal of the Covenant-Circumcision Deut. 29.10 11. but also from that renewing of the Covenant to Israel where are present before the Lord to enter into his Covenant not onely the men of Israel but also their wives and their little ones Now this same Covenant which God made with Abraham Jere. 31.31 and established with Israel we finde renewed by the Prophet which is therefore called the New Covenant and as renewed by the Prophet so published and declared by the Apostle Indeed God had told Abraham Heb. 8.10 that he did establish with him an Everlasting Covenant and such as is the Covenant such must be the Communion both Everlasting and therefore Infants admitted in the Jewish Church must not be excluded the Christian And further That children of believing Parents do retain their interest in the Covenant of Grace is confirmed by the doctrine of St. Peter in that his powerful Sermon where he tells the Jews Acts 2.38 39. The promise is to them and to their children as if the Apostle had said Now God hath remembred his Covenant unto Abraham and performed it he hath sent that blessed Seed the promised Messiah in whom all Nations of the Earth are blessed Deprive not then your selves of the Blessing of Grace and Life through obstinacy and unbelief for according to the tenor of the Covenant so runs the promise of the Gospel To you and to your children And that what is here said unto the Jews does also reach the Gentiles and what is spoken to those then present does extend to all that shall come after is fully implied if not plainly exprest in that the Apostle addes And to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call Which clause As many as the Lord our God shall call no ways excludes Infants they being called in their Parents And observe the Apostles argument is purposely framed in a regard to that benefit which their children should receive under the Gospels administration of the Covenant by Baptism And if this sense be not purposely intended children will seem but needlesly exprest But the Adversaries urge None but Believers ever had Object or shall have a right to the Covenant of Grace I answer True Answ none but Believers ever had or shall have a right in themselves yet this excludes not Infants for it is the Parents right who is a believer that brings in the infant by vertue of the promise Herein then is the ground of error that men imagine we affirm the childs right to the blessing of the promise is in himself as a child whereas it is in the believing parent who conveys the right in this relation to the infant that it is his child his to whom God hath oblig'd himself by the promise of his covenant that he will be his God and the God of his seed Indeed it is worth our observing that in the right manner of entring covenant with God no parent can enter single but he must stipulate for himself and his children And this is plain both from the condition on mans part and the promise on God's On God's part the promise runs to us and our children that he will be our God and on our part the condition runs from us and our children that we will be his people That as by vertue of the promise God makes it his act of grace that the seed of the godly be blessed so by vertue of the
condition the godly make it their duty of obedience that their children be given up unto God and tutour'd to fear him Thus apparent it is that our infant-children have an interest in the covenant of grace for that the tenor of the covenant in promise and condition so takes in the children with the parents that the parents cannot covenant either excluding or not including their children This then remains as a firm ground and sure reason of infants being parties in the communion of the Church that they are parties in the covenant of grace And thus we have done with the second particular of the Text the Apostles Commission Disciple all nations Where we have shewed you what it is to disciple and who they are that are to be discipled What it is to disciple even to receive into Church communion and Who they are that are to be discipled and receiv'd into the communion of the Church evâ—n all Nations as many as believe and the believing parents bringing in with them their infant-children We proceed to Application Applic. 1. Do we here sharply reprove and seriously admonish those who deny Infants Church communion whereby as much as in them lies they do separate them from Christ and as it were pluck them out of his arms offering them greater injury then to dash them against the stones Know ye not vain men that either Infants are Christs disciples and servants or the Devils pupils and slaves That they are Christs disciples and servants you loudly deny That they are the Devils pupils and slaves you are loth to declare Can you then tell us a medium 2 Cor. 6.14 15. No sure for what communion hath light and darkness Christ and Belial Certainly to deny Infants Church-communion is to deprive us of all sound hope of their salvation For where can we find a sacred promise and therefore how can we have any found hope of any being saved that are not of the Church the Church the treasury of Christs promises and blessings to which God is said to adde such as shall be saved Act. 2 47. not saved without the Church but in being added to the Church so that without her communion we know no salvation On how do the Anabaptists in cutting off Infants from the Church how do they like those which in their heat cut off a tribe from Israel Judg. 20 21. And though with Benjamin this be the youngest tribe yet it is not the least the Infant age making up a chief part of the body of Christ For this Oh that our Brethren would with Israel sit down and weep yet at length repenting of their indiscreet and blind if not malicious and proud zeal drenching themselves with a baptism of tears for denying the Church the baptism of Infants 2. Comfort we those parents whose children God shall please to pass ab utero ad uterum from the womb to the grave yea that shall make their grave in the womb the place of conception the place of dissolution Here O ye afflicted parents mourning over the untimely deaths of your tender babes know ye that our Lord Jesus Christ owns your Infants as parties in the Covenant of grace and thereby partakers of his fulness in a communion with his Church And though they have not the seal they have the promise yea though not the outward sign as to the visible ministration yet the inward grace as to the invisible dispensation Though they have not actual baptism yet they have intentional in voto parentum Ecclesiae Eph. 1.22 23. in that desire and devotion of their parents and the Church which is accepted of God to account them as Disciples of Christ who took upon him the several states of humane being was conceived and lay in the womb was born and nurs'd up an Infant did grow up to youth and manhood Mat. 18.3 And thus did he take upon himself every age that he might sanctifie every age unto himself Even he when an Infant was Head of the Church that Infants might be members of that Church whereof He is Head 3. See we to our duty as Disciples of Christ and this by imitating our pattern even little children without which our Saviour is express we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven Except ye be converted and become as little children How is this why by self-denial in being harmless without malice innocent without guile humble without haughtiness contented without murmurings Yea in this imitate we our pattern as children submitting our understanding and judgment unto God Ps 131.3 in the mysteries of his grace and the truth of his promises Submit we our wills and affections unto him in the precepts of his Word and the dispensations of his Providence Yea further as Infants and tender Babes ordered by the Nurses hand in the day and by the same hand got to bed at night do neither question nor quarrel at the time or place or manner of their disposal but quietly fall asleep in the Nurses lap Ps 131 3. Thus O that we could with David we an our affections from the world that we might become as Children resigning up our selves to our heavenly Father submitting with all contentedness of humility and faith to the order of his wisdom and providence whether for day or for night for life or for death And when we go to bed and hasten to the grave O that we could fall asleep in Christs lap depart this life in his arms in his love as being of the number of his Disciples by vertue of his Commission here given his Apostles Go ye Disciple all Nations c. THE THIRD SERMON UPON Matth. 28. V. 19. and part of the 20. Go ye Disciple all Nations Baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. THough they are not the dictates of men Introduction nor the definitions of Councils no nor the Revelations of Angels but the Word of God and of Christ into which we make the ultimate resolution of our Faith yet sure I am in Controversies of Religion we have most reason next Christ to trust his Spouse his Church Universal and next her or rather with her our Mother this Church National Whose judgment and practise is most Orthodox and Religious in that great question and dispute of our present times the doctrine and duty of Infants Baptism And to justifie the judgment and practise of our Church into whose communion we have been baptised when Infants I shall keep me to the matter and method I have begun in giving you the evidence of divine Reason the authority of sacred Scripture and the consent of the Universal Church Remembring that sure rule of St. Austines Aug. de Trin. l 4 c. 6. Contra rationem nemo sobrius contra Scripturam nemo Christianus contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit No man that is a sober man will oppose reasons evidence no man that is a
Church of God before Circumcision the Faith of the Parents and the Promise of the Covenant was the Salvation of Infants then when there was no Seal So is it now the Salvation of those who die without the Seal it being most agreeable to the grace and goodness of the Almighty Ut qui alienâ culpâ cecidit alienâ fide refurgat That he who fell by anothers fault might rise again by anothers Faith And as in the Catechumens of old those who were designed to Baptism if any of them died unbaptized their intention of minde and desire of will was in the judgment of the Church interpretativè as the actual Performance And thus we determine in the case of Infants who have votum parentum Ecclesiae the desire of their Parents and of the Church God accepts the will for the deed Thirdly What the Judgment of the Church is as to the state Quest 3 of those children which die before Baptism being children of Anabaptists I answer We can plead no excuse for the Parents Answ though we have some good hope of the Infants which hope is mixt with fear as being raised from a judgment of Charity not any infallible proof nor indeed any very probable argument of verity Children are in a state of Salvation baptized but we cannot say they are so without Baptism except the case of necessity be pleaded and the reason is because God the free-dispenser of his grace hath by Positive Law made this the condition of his promise That we shall continue in our selves and in our children the initiating Seal of his Covenant I will be thy God and the God of thy Seed Gen. 17.9 10. saith the Lord unto Abraham and therefore Thou shalt keep my Covenant thou and thy seed after thee in their Generations every man-childe among you shall be circumcised And the like obligation our Saviour makes as to Baptism when he says Except a man be born of Water John 3.5 and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God If then there be no Salvation without the Covenant of Grace and that Parents are to Covenant for their children what firm hope can there be of those Infants whom their Parents exclude from Promise and condition of the Covenant We certainly know that very often the Parents guilâ— hath deprived their posterity of the whole Gospels Ministry witness the Nations from whom God hath removed his Candlestick And sure Rev. 2.5 if the Parents contempt of Gods Ordinances hath deprived whole Nations of the comfort of the Gospels Ministry it is justly to be feared though not positively to be determined That the contempt which Anabaptist Parents cast upon Infants Baptism may deprive their children of the benefit of the Covenants promise especially considering That by Schism they are separate from the Church of Christ into which there is no ordinary way of entrance and admission but by Baptism according to our Saviours Commission and Instruction to his Apostles Go ye disciple all Nations baptising them c. 1. Applic. We have here Beloved to answer the Anabaptists grand Quaere Where have ye any Gospel precept for Infants Baptism And withal to establish your Judgments and Faith against all their oppositions and clamors Wherefore we thus prove Gospel Precept in that Christ gives in Commission Disciple all Nations baptising them Now Infants are a part of the Nations capable of discipling and no where excepted from Baptism therefore needs must Baptism extend unto Infants Again it is our Saviours express precept Mark 10.14 Suffer little children to come unto me but children have no way of coming to Christ in which we can suffer or hinder them but by Baptism and therefore Baptism is ordained for children Now back those precepts of Christ with the practise of the Apostles and the Universal Church together with the Grounds and Reasons of that practise and those precepts even childrens discipleship and Church Communion founded upon their interest in the Covenant of Grace And doing this I dare with confidence assert you have Infants Baptism so firmly founded and fixt as not all the wind and storms of the Anabaptists subtlety or fury can overturn it 2. We will answer the Objections of the Adversaries who press us with these Arguments That Infants have not Faith that they are not capable of teaching and not liable to precept These the chief Objections to which we return our particular Replies Object 1 First They have not Faith And our Saviour is express He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved Mark 16.16 thereby intimating That he alone is to be baptized who doth believe Answ I answer to this He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved our Saviour addes But he that believeth not shall be damned Where a not having Faith excludes Infants from being saved as much as from being baptized So that if we count them capable of Salvation we must count them â—â—pable of Baptism if capable of being admitted into the Church Triumphant then capable of being received into the Church Militant I suppose then no man will imagine Faith of any more necessity to Baptism then it is to Salvation so that if Infants may be saved without Faith infallibly it follows they may be baptized without Faith that is actual Faith in themselves not in their Parents for the Parents Faith avails to the Infants Baptism and credit in alterâ— qui peccavit in altero he believes in another Acts 2.39 who sinned in another And children baptized are reckoned in the number of the faithful though not propter fidem Sacramenti yet propter Sacramentum fidei though not because of the Faith of the Sacrament yet because of the Sacrament of Faith so St. Augustine very frequently Besides Infants they are indeed non-believers but not unbelievers Now it is infidelity Positive not Negative which excludes from Baptism that infidelity which opposeth or denyeth the Faith not a meer carentia fidei want of Faith in a subject not capable of believing Faith then and Repentance too they are not necessary as to the susception of Baptism but as to the persons baptized not necessary as to the susception of Baptism This is apparent from that of our Saviours being baptized who is the Author of Faith Heb. 12.2 and needed not any Repentance but Repentance and Faith they are necessary as to some persons to be baptized even in whom there are false principles of an adulterate Religion and erroneous perswasions together with actual enormities of a sinful life These these must be put off by a sincere Repentance and actual Faith as being contrary and a direct obex and hinderance to the effects and state of Baptism Faith and Repentance then they are not essentially but accidentally necessary to Baptism not absolutely requisit and to all as not to Infants but conditionally and to some as to the adult Acts 2.38 Acts 8.37 to whom all those particulars are to be
embraces of thy love and comforts of thy Spirit unto thee that thy thorns may be my crown thy blood my balsom thy curse my blessing thy death my life Coloss 3.3 thy cross my triumph Thus is my life hid with Christ in God and if so then where should be my soul but where is my life And therefore unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul § 4. I lift up my soul unto thee at thy Table who hast been thy self lift up for me on thy Cross thou hast been lift up for me in a propitiatory sacrifice and therefore I here offer my self to thee in a gratulatory oblation Is◠53.10 thou madest thy soul an offering for sin and here I make my soul an offering of thankfulness In this Eucharist then accept my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mine oblation of praise and thanksgiving in which O Lord it is that I lift up my soul unto thee § 5. Unto thee O Lord thy flesh thy blood not unto the outward elements the bread the wine unto thee and thy fulness as the inward grace not unto thee and their use as the outward sign My soul dwells not on those earthly symbols but by them as by a ladder it ascends and lifts up it self unto thy heavenly riches And thus whilst my body feeds on consecrated food oh let my soul be filled with thy consecrating fulness whilst my body tastes their wholsom sweetness let my soul be satisfied with thy saving goodness And to this end it is that unto thee O Lord I lift up my soul § 6. Unto thee O Lord Oh make good thy name of Lord unto me as Lord rebuke Satan and restrain all earthly and carnal affections that they do not once dare to whisper a temptation to my soul a distraction to my thoughts whilst I am in communion with thee in prayer at thine holy ordinance Do thou as Lord rule me by thy grace govern me by thy Spirit defend me by thy power and crown me with thy salvation Thou Lord the Preserver of heaven and earth thou openest thine hand Psal 145.16 and satisfiest the desire of every living thing Oh open now thine hand thy bosom thy bounty thy love and satisfie the desires of my longing soul which I here lift up unto thee § 7. Thou Lord givest bread to man from the earth thou gavest Manna to Israel from heaven give oh give thy self unto me in this Sacrament as the true bread the heavenly Manna the life-giving food of thy Church Thou Lord art now reigning in heaven oh do thou now also set up thy throne in my heart Thou art exalted in heavenly glory oh manifest thy self in thy gracious presence In thy heavenly glory thou art the joy of holy Angels and blessed Saints in thy gracious presence be thou now the reviving of devout souls and humble Penitents O my love my joy my Jesus my Lord be thou present with me in thy Sacrament present more then by inspiration and make me present with thee and that more then by meditation even lift up my soul unto thee in a spiritual real and eternal communion § 8. Oh how does this blessed Sacrament add wings to devout souls and wrap them up with S. Paul unto the third heaven 2 Cor. 1◠2 in an extasie of contemplation and love And what shall my soul now lie groveling on the earth hiding it self with Saul amongst the stuff 1 Sam. 10.22 clogg'd and deprest with worldly thoughts with earthly and carnal affections No it may not it must not Christ is risen Col. 3.1 and therefore sursum corda my heart my spirit that shall rise too and seek those things which are above even unto thee O Lord my Jesus do I lift up my soul § 9. My soul but how shall I call it mine seeing it is thine thine by purchase thine having bought it with thy blood yea is it not thy Spouse whom thou hast wedded to thy self by thy Spirit through faith And is not this holy Sacrament the Marriage-feast If so sure then my Jesus I was lost in my self till found in thee and therefore my soul is now and not till now truly mine in being wholly thine so that I can say with confidence I lift up my soul unto thee § 10. I lift up Oh the load of my sins the burden of my flesh so heavy that I cannot of my self lift up my head how shall I then lift up my soul Wherefore O my Savior do thou add thy strength to my weakness thy supporting grace to my fainting spirit and then I will run after thee and lift up not onely my hands but my heart not onely my eies but my soul unto thee § 11. My soul For it is not indeed the eye or the tongue or the hand or the knee but the soul which makes the acceptable service in prayer and praises unto God the devotion of the soul that is the very soul of devotion Wherefore that I may present my self a living sacrifice at Christs table Rom. 12.1 my best part shall be my first oblation and therefore in the very preparation and entrance of this sacred solemnity See O see unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul Vers 2 3. O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed let not mine enemies triumph over me yea let none that wait on thee be ashamed let them be ashamed which transgress without cause § 1. O My God I trust in thee c. My prayer O Lord is founded upon faith my faith upon thy promises so that because thou art my God therefore I trust in thee yea because I trust in thee therefore thou art my God My God otherwise O Christ thou wert not my Jesus but O my Jesus who savest me by thy blood Gal. 3 1. in this thy Sacrament thou art set forth crucified and I behold thy wounds from whence by the hand of faith I pluck forth these comfortable words of life My Lord and my God Joh. 20 28. § 2. My God mine for thou hast partook of my humane nature 2 Pet. 1 4. and thou hast made me to partake of thy divine nature thou hast taken upon thee my flesh and thou hast communicated unto me of thy Spirit yea in this thy Sacrament thou communicates body and blood flesh and spirit thy whole Manhood yea thy very Godhead too thy whole self as Mediator therefore thou art my God and I trust in thee § 3. I trust in thee to make good my right to the Covenant of Grace to make good my claim to the heavenly inheritance yea even to make good my communion with thee in all thy fulness a communion so firm that the Bread and Wine I eat and drink is not more really my food then thou my Jesus in whom I beleeve and trust art my God And for this so great a blessing of thy love for this so great a benefit of thy grace it is
of wickedness and under the most signal judgments of thy displeasure men plead signal testimonies of thine acceptance even in what thy soul hates thy Word condemns and thy wrath pursues § 4. Whilst I see Covenants and Engagements entred with a seeming zeal but broken with open perjurie whilst I see Sacriledge possess yea demolish thy Temples and yet Hypocrisie pretend a propagating thy Gospel whilst I see injustice in the seat of Judgment Profaneness invade Devotion and Violence suppress what is sacred and religious sure these waies of the world are none other then the waies of deceit and lead into the chambers of death But thy waies Prov. 6 27. O Lord are waies of truth and lead in the paths of life wherefore shew me thy waies and teach me thy paths Psal 16.11 § 5. Do thou shew me and do thou teach me While others take upon them to shew me thy waies they teach me to throw off the sacred Order thou hast establishe in thy Church as wicked and antichristian they teach me to desert thy publick Worship as Popery and Superstition yea they teach me Heresie and pretend it is thy Word they teach me Blasphemie and pretend it is saving Doctrine they teach me Schism and pretend it is the Communion of Saints they teach me to prophane thine Ordinances Joh. 4 24. and pretend it is to worship thee in Spirit Wherefore do thou thou Lord shew me do thou teach me as shew me thy waies in thy Word so teach me thy paths by thy Spirit yea lead me in thy truth and teach me make me to learn by practising let the experiences thou givest me of thy sanctifying grace confirm my soul in the sincere profession of thy saving truth § 6. But O my Jesus behold me here another poor Bartimaeus so blind that to shew me thy waies thou must not only point them out but also give me eyes to see Yea I here present my self at thy Table as another impotent Cripple in the Temple Act 3 2â— so that to lead â—e in thy truth thou must not onely go before me but give me feet also to run after thee And that thou my Jesus who art the same yesterday today and for ever wilt now by a miraculous power of thy grace and truth Heb. 13 8. even cure my spiritual lameness and ignorant blindness this is the ground of my hopes thy Promises this is my encouragementâ— thy Sacrament in which Sacrament and Promises thou art exhibited unto my soul as the God of my salvation In thy word thou hast given the promise and in thy Sacrament that promise is sealed that thou wilt save me from the pathes of death and lead me in the way of everlasting life and so faithful art thou who hast promised that safer it is for my soul to be as low as Hell with a promise Heb. 10.23 then to be as high as Heaven without it though as low as hell yet would hope bear me up and though as high as heaven yet would presumption throw me down Jer. 17.5 1 King 13.4 § 7. Thou O God who art my trust art my salvation my trust is not in the arm of flesh that like Jeroboams hand doth suddenly wither my trust is not in humane power or policie that I see by daily experiments Jon. 4 7. proves like Jonas Gourd when the Sun beats hottest when trouble and disâ—â—ess is the the greatest then doth it vanish and come to nothing what then is my trust Truly Lord my trust is even in thee Psa 146.5 6. who hast made heaven and earth whose Wisdom will find out the way and Power effect the means of my salvation notwithstanding all the present difficulties and seeming impossibilities of deliverance § 8. Yea thou O Lord my joy my Jesus thou art the God of my salvation Oh transcendent love Oh rich mercy Oh incomprehensible goodness the God of my salvation Blessed Saviour had the efficacie of thy merits extended no further to the race of mankind then mine own self yet wouldst thou glory and make me rejoyce in being the God of my salvation And Oh firm salvation which is founded upon the Grace Wisdom Power and Faithfulness of my God! in all which attributes my God my Jesus communicates himself unto me in this his Ordinance sealing me the salvation of my God and giving me a communion with the God of my salvation in this holy Sacrament § 9. O how willingly could my soul dwel upon this Mount and build Tabernacles for this contemplation of my Saviours love how do I behold him through faith communicating himself unto me in all his fulness Which fulness is in his Church and in his chosen as the soul is in the body and in the members whole in the whole and whole in every part So that though he gives salvation unto all yet does he communicate himself unto my soul in that fulness of his merits and grace as if I were saved alone And Oh that my soul could imitate my Savior Oh that my heart might return like love in giving my self my whole self unto my Jesus even in that fervor of affection and ravishment of spirit as if I alone were wholly to possess him joying in him and enjoyed by h m as the one and onely God of my salvation § 10. Seeing then thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day so that If I find not present comfort in thy blessed Sacrament yet on thee will I wait the husbandman doth not sow his seed and reap his crop in a day wherefore if thou art pleased to defer thy salvation for the trial of my faith and love yet on thee will I wait in a constant use of those sacred means thou hast ordained and the continued practise of those holy duties thou hast enjoyned and though this be all my daies Oh let not my faith faint seeing I cannot wait too long for the grace I so much desire and which am assured I shall at last obtain Matth â—24 23. seeing he who indures to the end shall be saved § 11. On thee do I wait on thee whose hand of bountie whose bo om of love yea whose bowels of mercy are not onely opened but inlarged to all humble penitents on thee do I wait wait to hear the secret voice of thy Spirit speaking peace unto my conscience wait to feel the reviving vâ—gor of thy grace quickning mine obedience wait to see the subduing power of thy holy Spirit quelling my rebellious sin wait to feel the chearing vertue of thy heavenly comforts refreshing my fainting soul for all these thy blessings O thou God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day All the day being never so satisfied with thy goodness as not more eagerly to long after thy heavenly fuâ—ness wherefore now refresh my faintings quench not my desires but the more freely thou gives let me the more eagerly covet the more
this blessed Sacrament § 7. In the close observe the strange yet strong argument of faith and repentance Pardon mine iniquity for it is great what does the humble penitent pray and plead for pardon from the heinousness of the offence and the multitude of the sins yea and an inforcing plea it is too when uttered from a broken heart and contrite spirit for that then even then is God most affected with mercy when he sees man most afflicted with misery This cry then of the humble penitent unto God pardon my iniquity for it is great is like that of the languishing patient unto the Phisitian help me for I am dangerously sick this we are sure the greater the sense of sin the greater the sincerity of repentance where then there is true penitence it will be a good argument to pray as David here does For thy name sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great Vers 12 13 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse His soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth § 1. OH the water-floods of ungodliness which over-flow the world as another deluge in a general apostacy from truth and righteousness yet who is it that fears drowning who is it that in sense of sin and remorse of soul fears humbly and contritely fears the just wrath and vengeance of God Many there are in deed who plead for Reformation and pretend the fear of the Lord but what do they but cast out Devils by Beelzebub cast out prodigality by covetousness superstition by prophaneness Popery by Atheism and the like Yea as the Psalmist speaks whilst the vilest of men are exalted exalted to Moses Chair and Aarons Altar needs must it follow that the wicked walk on every side Psal 12.8 ambulant in circuitu as the vulgar Translation reads it they walk about in a circle pursuing their worldly interest they tread a large circumference of sins of which Hell it self is the Center § 2. See their character from the pen of an Apostle Rom. 3.13 Their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceipt the poison of Asps is under their lips And what is the true orginal as well as the high aggravation of all this wickedness what but that vers 18. There is no fear of God before their eyes So that in wonder at the rarity of a person truely religious we may well say Quis ille vir What man is he that feareth the Lord But it is not onely the rarity but more especially the excellency of the truly religious that David here in devout meditations so much admires § 3. He had said vers 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies and now reflecting upon himself he seems to make this the meaning of his here registred meditation Oh how does my conscience accuse me and my sin testifie against me that mine iniquity is great so that though all the waies of God be mercy and truth Vers 10. yet seeing it is to them that keep his covenant and his testimonies I cannot find comfort in his promises whilst I continue in my sins I cannot joy in his mercy whilst I languish in my guilt but as for him who hath God always before his face to over-aw his soul from trangressing his commands Psal 4 4. thereby injoying him in his love and the light of his countenance thereby preserving intire his claim to the promises of grace and life his hope of glory and blessedness Oh the excellencie and greatness Oh the beauty and loveliness Oh the bliss and happiness of such a soul of such a Saint O quis ille vir what a man is he he who thus feareth the Lord § 4. Whilst others fear those who kill the body the truly religious fears him who can kill both body and soul Mat. 10.28 and kill not only as wicked oppressors per modum potentiae by way of power but as a righteous Judge per modum justitiae by way of justice Many there are obstinately wicked who yet fear when they have offended struck with the horror of their guilt but it is the devoutly religious who fear to offend struck with the hatred of the sin It is one thing to fear because we have sinned another thing not to sin because we fear The former is oftentimes from the earth earthly the latter is alwaies from heaven heavenly the former does arise oft-times from the love of our selves the latter only from the love of God Cant 5.5 § 5. Fear is the Spouses myrrh which when it is lest we offend like the myrrh flowing of its own inclination it is much the better but when it is because we have offended like the myrrh of the second flowing which comes not without incision some smart and anguish upon the soul the former is the preservative the latter is the plaister the former prevents the malady the latter helps to the cure Of both we may say by way of excellencie though of the former in the greater excellencie What man is he that thus feareth the Lord Feareth for what why not so much for his judgments as his mercies To fear him for his judgments that is servile to fear him for his mercies that is true filial fear When his Judgments of wrath are upon us Isa 26.9 Psal 90.11 who is it that will not fear It was of old Thereafter as a man feareth so is thy displeasure But now the tables are turn'd and it is the direct contrary Thereafter as is thy displeasure so is mans fear § 6. Gods judgments and mans fear unless it be with those desperately wicked who are even fearless of Gods judgments they keep pace If he severely inflict his wrath then a seemingly devout fear is upon us but if he take off his rod we presently cast off our fear whereas the devout and truly pious soul will say as the Psalmist does Psal 130.4 There is mercy wâ—th thee O Lord therefore shalt thou be feared Indeed to the Godly all the ways of God are mercy so that we cannot tread the path of holiness but we must set foot in the way of mercy especially when we come to Gods house and approach the Lords table there there the Lord receives us into Covenant confirming to us his grace both the grace of Justification in the remission of sins and the grace of Sanctification by the spirit of holiness yea here he communicates the fulness of his benefits the riches of his blessings the sweetness of his love here he strengthens us in spiritual life and gives us the pledge of eternal glory And who is it that will not fear lest by unworthiness he deprive himself of all this mercy or by unthankfulness sin against all this love § 7. What man is he then that feareth the Lord that feareth to be absent
from this holy Table this blessed Sacrament yet feareth to come unprepared to it That man shall be as blessed in his coming as he is rare to find Blessed shall he be 1. in the sacred knowledg of Christs will Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 2. Blessed shall he be in the quiet peace of a good conscience his soul shall dwell at ease 3. Blessed he shall be in the present comfort of an hopeful progenie his seed shall inherit the earth § 8. 1. Blessed in the knowledg of Christs will him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose He that feareth the Lord let him in this Sacrament commit his way unto the Lord Psal 37.5 as for the blessings of his Providence so for the instruction of his Spirit and the guidance of his hand that so the way which he shall walk may not be so much of his own as of Gods choice and not so much of his election as of Gods approbation So shall the Lord teach him in the way not only direct him to find it in the knowledg of his Word but also enable him to walk in it in a conformity to his will sanctifying him throughout the understanding to discern the will to embrace the affections to pursue the whole man to act what is holy and just and good § 9. And thus we know then which is the right way amidst the many now Cross-paths of Heresie and Schism we know which is the right way of truth and holiness not that which we devise but which God doth choose for it is God alone who must prescribe the rule by which we are to square our lives the form by which we are to order his Worship And therefore the Church from the beginning hath still worshipp'd God according to Divine revelation not humane discretion acknowledging as one true God so one true manner of Worship of which God himself is the Author the Author in his Word his Word of truth the glass of his Divinity from which Word declared in his holy Gospel and by his Spirit conveyed in the blessed Sacrament he that feareth the Lord shall be taught in the way that he shall choose to the making him blessed in the saving knowledg of his sacred will § 10. 2. Blessed in the quiet peace of a good conscience His soul shall dwell at ease His soul happily he may with S. Paul Gal. 6.17 bear in his body the marks of the Lord Iesus in his sufferings for his name his person imprisoned his estate seised his name defamed yet his soul enjoys its peace its ease its rest And when the World shall curse and condemn O the blessed peace of that mans soul whose conscience in the name of God shall acquit and absolve Sweet peace the peculiar blessing of the truly sanctified yea the special benefit of this blessed Sacrament which as it seals the Covenant of grace so of peace in a perfect reconciliation with God by Christ § 11. In this peace of conscience sure we are to find ease of soul yea pernoctabit anima the soul shall dwell or lodge all night in rest all the night of the Churches distress the dark and doleful night of heresies and schisms of oppression and violence the soul that is at peace with God being instructed in his truth and sanctified with his grace shall have its light in darkness its easeful rest of spiritual comforts amidst the tumultuous changes of temporal troubles Yea pernoctabit in bono when with others either their designs of mischief or their horror of guilt shall keep them waking the holy innocence of him that feareth the Lord shall have its bed of rest § 12. And it is not worldly calamity that shall so dismay his soul as to fright him from the profession of a true faith no the holy fear of God shall destroy all such sinful fears of men even as Moses's Serpent devoured all those Serpents of the Magicians efficit timor Dei ut caetera non possint timeri the fear of God hath this good effect that it makes other things not to be feared so that the soul of him who feareth the Lord doth dwell as in rest so in goodness as in peace so in patience till this moment of time be swallowed up in the fulness of eternity and he change his earthly dwelling for an heavenly Mansion and his spiritual peace for an everlasting blessedness And when he that feareth the Lord shall be translated to that eternal bliss of which spiritual peace is the earnest and the blessed Sacrament the pledge that God whom he feared shall take care of his children that they by the blessing of his Providence as his seed shall inherit the earth which is the third blessedness the present comfort of an hopeful progeny § 13. His seed so near and dear are children especially good children to their parents that they are their very seed as if themselves were but as chaff or straw without them and to them as well as unto the Parents belong the promises for so saith God to Abraham Act. 2.39 Gen. 17.7 I will be thy God and the God of thy seed after thee true it is temporal promises were the reward of legal obedience but now spiritual and eternal mercies are the incouragements of our Evangelical righteousness yea Canaan being a type of Heaven the temporal promises under the Law were the typical figures of those spiritual blessings given us in promise under the Gospel So that though the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Psal 112.2 yet may a righteous generation lose the inheritance of their fathers their just possessions by unjust violence and this without breach of this promise that the seed of those who fear the Lord shall inherit the earth § 14. For that to inherit the earth as spoken of Canaan in the type doth represent us the Evangelical promise of inheriting Heaven as the thing typified of which heavenly inheritance they cannot be deprived by an earthly violence who are the righteous seed of him who feares the Lord Thus have we seen the blessedness of him that feareth the Lord blessed in the saving knowledge of Christs sacred will in the quiet peace of a good conscience and in the present comfort of a hopeful progeny all which is implied when David here says VVhat man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall chuse his soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth § 15. To sum up all then what man is he that feareth the Lord that feareth lest he offend and feareth till he obtain pardon of his offences And therefore now that mercy comes down from heaven in this blessed Sacrament and rests upon this Ordinance as a sacred Mercy-seat he does not with Adam in the garden withdraw and hide himself in a distrustful fear but as Aaron in the Temple Gen. 3.6 he draws near in an
awful reverence with the incense of prayer Exod. 30.6 7. to be received to mercy and obtain attonement for his sin § 16. Blessed shall this man be blessed in his imployments abroad and in his retirements at home in himself and in his issue blessed in his imployments abroad for that whereas the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10.23 when he is in a strait and knows not what to chuse the Lord shall guide him in his choyce and put upon him a good course so that whatsoever he taketh in hand it shall prosper Prosper psal 1.3 if not to his temporal advantage yet to his spiritual benefit in respect of which spiritual benefit it is that Rom. 8.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things work together for good for good to them that love and to them that fear God § 17 And as thus blessed in his imployments abroad so secondly in his retirements at home when his soul drawn abroad by worldly affairs and publick imployments shall retire home into his own breast in his reflective self-examining meditations how does it then dwell at ease within his own doors no Shrew there to bate him no accusing guilt like a hellish fury to vex and disquiet him but all is still and at rest in the quiet peace of a good conscience Yea further blessed not onely in himself but also in his Issue in his Children those pledges of love and hopes of his family whom with diligent care he instructs to the possession of the best intail the fear of the Lord not so much solicitous that as his children they may possess his temporal estate as that being Gods children they may be joynt possessors with him of the heavenly inheritance of which heavenly inheritance as Canaan was the type so are the promises of the Gospel the conveyances the Sacrament of the Eucharist the seal and the Spirit of Grace the sure earnest and pledge Vers 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant § 1. HEre we have Davids Argument to prove Gods blessing upon them that fear him and he makes use of a twofold medium The first from the operations of his grace The second from the manifestations of his love 1. The operations of his grace â—he secret of the Lord is with them that fear him 2. The manifestations of his love He will shew them his Covenant 1. Medium Davids Argument drawn from the operations of Gods grace the secret of the Lord c. the secret even that St. Peter calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden man of the heart The new man regenerate by the spirit of grace Which new birth is set forth unto us in Scripture by the womb and dew of the morning the birth of the regenerate Psal 110.3 like that of the morning dew it is heavenly and secret the vapor exhaled by the Sun is of an earthly substance which by a celestial operation is changed into an airy dew thus the earthly minds of natural men raised and renewed by the power of grace are converted into a spiritual frame and heavenly temper § 2. Further the birth of the dew is secret and undiscerned when it is faln we see what it is but know not how it is made thus the new man we discern when it is formed but cannot discover the point of time or manner of action when and how it is wrought As of our natural generation so much more of our spiritual regeneration Psal 139.14 We are fearfully and wonderfully made the womb is not so secret a Work-House of nature for the generation of the body as the heart is of grace for the regeneration of the soul § 3. The effectual vocation whereby we are called unto Christ it is vocatione altâ So St. Aug. by a secret and deep call which speaks to the heart of the most desperate sinner in that Is 30.21 there saith God of the Christian Convert Thou shalt hear a voyce behinde thee saying this is the way walk in it a voyce behind thee not onely to denote unto us Gods indulgent mercy that when we flâ—e and even turn our backs upon him he then calls unto us to turn unto him but a voyce behind thee to shew that the call of the Spirit is secret and undiscerned Joh. 3.8 Thus the voluntary breathings and free accesses of the Spirit unto the soul in the operations of grace as they are actively powerful so are they indisernably secret which secret operations of grace that they infallibly and inseparably accompany the fear of the Lord will appear by a short view of those Theological Vertues Faith Hope and Charity the very vital parts of the new man § 4. Observe we then how the Antients compare our Christian hope to the Shop and Store-house of blood the Liver and therefore Clemens of Alexandria calls hope very aptly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the blood of faith which carrieth the very life of Religion in it so that as hope wasteth so faith decaies and religion it self faints Now if Faith be the Heart and Hope the Liver of the new man then is Fear metaphorically the Lungs which with a gentle breath of awfulness and reverence fans and cools them both keeping Faith and Hope in an healthful temper which otherwise would soon have their heats and heights to the indangering the eternal welfare of the whole man For that too sad experience tels us how many by denying the Saints can sin and so excluding fear have been by Satan cast down headlong from the high top of presumption into the lowest pit of despair § 5. Yea how many puft up with the fancied conceit of their fellowship with Christ forget that he is their Lord 1 Joh. 1.3 and so casting off their awful fear become so far transported with the Gospels priviledges that they lay themselves open to Satans temptations especially the temptations most dangerous and destructive spiritual pride and a careless security Wheras that Rabbinical note may be well worth our Christian observation upon Gen. 31.42 where Jacob calls the Lord the God of Abraham then deceased but the fear of Isaac then surviving to shew that whilst we live we ought to fear and though we stand lest we fall for the way to be secure of mercy is to beware of security and to confirm our hope of possessing do we still nourish our fear of losing Heaven for certain it is an holy fear is well consisting with a firm hope which holy fear as well as hope of future blessedness is a good means to be blessed § 6. And as thus the fear of the Lord is accompanied with Faith and Hope so also with Love True it is St. John he tells us perfect love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 casteth out fear foras ejicit 1 Joh. 4.18 casteth it out of doors but it is that fear which
himself delivered from the chains of sin the bondage of Satan the powers of darkness and the flames of hell who in the peace of his conscience can see himself made partaker of the merits of Christs death and the benefits of his intercession can see himself admitted into a covenant of grace with the Lord of life and King of glory received into favor with the God of heaven and earth and so as to be made his child and entituled to the kingdom and the glory of his onely Son Which of us can conceive that has not felt what is the comfort of those thoughts of those meditations in that sweet peace of conscience which the faithful have being reconciled unto God through Christ in the remission of their sins § 20. Let us now joyn together the penitent sinner and the devout Saint in this one exhortation that they approach the Table of the Lord with a secret affliction of soul and that being raised by faith and enlarged by prayer 1 A secret affliction of soul in this consideration that their sins have been the cause of Christs sufferings Luk. 23.21 The Jews cried out of Christ crucifie him crucifie him such was the greatness of their malice that if possible they would have had him twice crucified but yet is not their desire too unhappily fulfilled they crucifying him once with their hands and we even we crucifying him again by our sins Who art thou then that comes to Christ without floods of tears when he comes to thee in streams of blood Who art thou who canst worthily meditate on his wounded body without a wounded soul or view his pierced side without a pierced heart in which our Saviour gives us our true devotion bespeaking us as well as the daughters of Jerusalem Weep not for me but for your selves weep not for me or my sufferings Luk. 23.28 in a fruitless compassion but weep for your selves and your sins in an hearty contrition § 21. Thus affected with contrition 2 Let our hearts be raised by faith that so whatsoever is our affliction and pain we may find an healing vertue in the blood of Christ which is this Sacramental administration is none other then Gileads balm to cure Hermons dew to refresh and Aarons ointment to revive all wounded distressed and drooping souls And as we approach this holy Ordinance with hearts raised by faith So 3 Hearts enlarged in prayer and such prayer as by the paths of its devotion may speak the anguish of our affliction as in the sence of our grosser enormities so of our humane infirmities that so for every sinful distemper in us we may receive an healing vertue from Christ and in our prayers for our selves forget we not the afflictions of the Church the calamities of the Nation and seeing our God pursues us with his judgments send we forth legationem lachrymarum in the language of St. Ambrose send we forth an Ambassage of tears to sue for peace And doubt we not but received into the Court of Heaven they shall have their access to the throne of grace and obtain a gracious audience if not for a publick deliverance yet for our particular salvation having our remission of sins and our peace of conscience confirmed unto our souls by his blessed Sacrament as the seal of grace and the pledge of glory to which glory he preserve us by his mercy who hath purchast it by his merits Jesus Christ the Righteous Amen Vers 19. and part of the 20. Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with a cruel hatred O keep my soul and deliver me § 1. WHat confidence and comfort can there be in pardon of sin when there is not a conscience and care to prevent sin upon humiliation indeed sin forgiven becomes stingless toothless sin the venome and guilt removed but after humiliation sin reacted becomes the most deeply wounding the most closely gnawing sin more wounding then the Serpent more gnawing then the worm Wherefore holy David here having made it his complaint unto God in prayer vers 18. Look upon my affliction and pain and forgive all my sins knowing the number and force eying the multitude and rage of his spiritual enemies his sinful lusts he joyns to that fervent prayer this further petition Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with a cruel hatred O keep my soul and deliver me § 2. To give the sence of our present interpretation together with the sum of our intended discourse take it in this paraphrase upon the words Consider mine enemies and thine enemies O God are mine thy greatest enemy is sin and my greatest enemies then must be my lusts Oh consider those mine enemies for they are many a whole host warring against my soul they besiege me closely and assault me fiercely they hate and fight against thy good spirit in me and to hate that is to hate me and the good of my soul yea their hate is cruel it is a tyrannous hatred though I never willingly suffer them to rule over me yet too too often they over-rule me Rom. 6.12 Though I never let them command me as a King yet they often compel me as a Tyrant Now Lord whereas many in the daies of trial and of trouble beseech thee to keep their bodies their estates their bodies from imprisonment their estates from spoil to me sin is worse then bonds then beggery yea then death then hell wherefore I beseech thee to keep my soul the salvation of it is dearest of more price then all the world Matth. 16.26 my good name my health my life my friends my estate all may be lost and I safe But oh my soul is my self to cast away it is to cast away me to keep it is to deliver me O then keep my soul and deliver me § 3. Observe in the words two general parts the Subject and the method of Davids prayer The Subject with its description and the method in its gradation 1 The Subject with its description Davids enemies described from the greatness of their number they are many and the violence of their hate it is cruel for they are many and they hate me with a cruel hatred 2. The Method in its gradation which gradation hath its three steps Consider mine enemies Keep my soul and Deliver me § 4. 1. The Subject with its description Davids enemies described from the greatness of their number they are many consider mine enemies for they are many No man may resolve his sins into any other original then his own lusts as for Satan though it be he that tempts it 's we that act and therefore when we commit any wickedness and sin against God though it be by Satans instigation our tongues may not smite him but our hearts must smite our selves as Davids did in 2 Sam. 24.10 We may not accuse the tempter but our selves who let in the temptation Non diabolus voluntatem delinquendi imponit
God gracious and merciful accept me in thy Beloved even Jesus Christ in whom alone thou art well pleased and for his sake let me not go from before thee without a blessing a blessing of pardon and of peace a blessing of thy Spirit and of thy grace a blessing of thy favor and of thy love in the Lord Jesus Thus Lord say of me Thou hast blessed me and that I shall be blessed for ever Amen Amen Here rising up and making thine humble adoration before the Throne ot Glory say Halleluiah Salvation be unto our God and to the Lamb for ever Amen Halleluiah 4. After all this if thy foul thoughts shall yet continue or renew their assaults as it may be they will for a time let them pass like lightening and so though they suddenly startle yet let them not long discontent thy soul for this slighting is the best resisting and thou shalt sooner be quit of them by a pious neglect then by an eager opposition Like angry Bees such are foul and blasphemous thoughts Isa 30.15 Ps 118.12 they are better avoided in passing by then in beating off This Direction is well attested by the experience of a Minister of Christ with whom I have had intimate acquaintance who being devoutly employed in the ministration of the holy Eucharist Satan to disturb his devotion and thereby disquiet his soul assaults him with the sudden suggestion of foul thoughts He startled with their appearance in so sacred an action began a contest of holy indignation which contest heightened their rage and the more entangled his soul In this secret trouble he observes how busie the Flies were in that hot season about the Cup which he was administring and that he in prudence as well as piety was regardless of their buzzing and kept himself intent upon the holy service This became presently his instruction from thence raising this sudden Meditation Sure Satan envies the sweet comforts of my soul in communion with my Jesus and therefore sends these busie Thoughts to suck up their sweetness which if I strive to beat off they do but the more disturb my soul I will therefore do with Satans suggestions as with the Flies pass them by in a silent contempt not think to drive them away by a forcible opposition And he thus resolv'd they soon vanish'd keeping his heart fixt upon his God and his eye intent upon the present Solemnity 5. And lastly O thou afflicted soul do wth thy God when assaulted with frightful thoughts as children do with their parents when they behold any frightful thing even cling closer and hold faster to him And doubt not when Satan sees that what he intends to drive thee from thy God draws thee neerer to him he will soon cease the violence of his temptations And when the Devil hath left thee Mat. 4.11 Isa 63.9 Mal 3.1 Angels will come and minister unto thee especially the Angel of the Covenant Christ Jesus he shall revive and glad thy soul with the quickening graces and chearing comforts of his Spirit CHAP. III. The Souls Conflict from some late Relapses into Sin AS Physicians make a soveraign Antidote of the Vipers flesh to destroy its poison Heb. 2.17 18. Heb. 4.15 16. so doth Christ a saving Medicine of Satans temptations to defeat his malice Christ being tempted even to sanctifie our temptations and to be himself at once our refuge and our pattern that as we are guarded by his power so we may be instructed by his example Mat. 4.4.7.10 Eph. 6.17 Jam. 4.7 And what is the instruction but that of spiritual wisdom and holy resolution in opposing the Word of God to the wiles of Satan and so resisting till he flie from us And when Satan is beat back in his temptations oh how do the comforts of Christs Spirit return upon our souls to quicken strengthen and establish them Whensoever then we hear the mournful complaints of languishing souls upon Relapses into sin Job 13.24 Job 14.17 Ps 43 2. that God accounts them his enemies seals up their transgressions and casts them off They are the passionate Expressions of a distrustful impatience Satan by his suggestions so aggravating their guilt and heightening their provocation Luk. 5.31 1 Joh. 1.7 that thereby the soul becomes wholly fixt upon the disease eying neither the Physician not his remedy neither Christ nor his blood Yea the soul becomes so overburdened with its debt that it views neither the Surety Heb. 7.22 Joh. 1.16 Luk. 24.47 Joh 3.16.34 nor his sufficiencie neither Jesus nor his fulness both which are presented to the Penitent in the Promises In this distress of soul hear the Words of Complaint yea hear the deep and mournful lamentations of the relapsed Saint plung'd in the sink of sin and sunk in the mire of uncleanness The Words of Complaint Oh woe is me how is the Crown fallen from my head How is all my joy and comfort fled from my soul How are my sins and my sorrows together increased Oh my backslidings from my God! Oh my sinful departings from my Saviour Wretched man how have I forsaken my first love cast off my former zeal and by my sinful Apostacie quenched yea griev'd the Spirit of my God So that whereas before I did delight in his serviâ—e I now shame and fear to come into his presence whereas before his Spirit did enlarge my heart with comforts now my sin doth fill my soul with horrors Oh what shall I do I have abused the mercy of my God despised his love profan'd his holiness and offended his Majesty And what hope of pardon from an abused mercy What hope of favor from a despised love What hope of Communion with a profan'd Holiness What hope of acceptance with an offended Majesty These the Words of Complaint And now to set open a safe Harbor for the humble and penitent not to set up a vain shelter for the profane and presumptuous Observe The Grounds of Comfort 1. The immutability of Gods love The grace and love of God as the Agent is not founded upon any motives or reasons in man as the Object as if merit or worth in man did either beget or continue favor or love in God No He justifies us when ungodly Rom. 4.5 Rom. 5.10 Eph. 2.6 Rom. 3.24 He reconciles us when enemies He quickens us when dead And therefore needs must it be that we are freely justified and so eternally saved by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Now if when enemies by wicked works we were reconciled by the death of Christ if when dead in trespasses and sins we were quickened by the Spirit of Grace how much more being reconciled being quickened shall our persons be accepted our sins pardon'd and our falls repair'd So that as by the operation of his Spirit we are regenerated so by the power of the same Spirit we shall be restored The love wherewith God loveth us in Christ it
is the mind distracted with contrary opinions still restless and uncertain Whereas if the judgment be cleer the purposes will be resolute Dâ—â— 3.17 18. and where the purposes are resolute there the soul is at rest Ps 112.7 If then we would not change in these times of Changes then fix we upon him who is unchangeable For as Quicksilver so is the heart and soul of man still moving rolling and unsetled Jam. 1.6 till a spirit of constancie in the faith from God does fix and fasten it Men unsetled in faith will be unquiet in their thoughts and therefore keep faith Act. 24.16 but with a good conscience too that of S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Conscience void of offence toward God and toward men For where the Conscience is not pure it cannot be pacified It is as proper for sin to raise doubts and fears as for rotten flesh to breed worms Jon. 1 11 12. or a corrupt sink to send forth noisom vapors Yea sure I am the storm will not be laid whilst Jonah is in the ship nor the troubles of conscience ceased whilst guilt is in the soul Beware then above all things that thou yield not to sins commission to avoid the trouble of Satans temptation For what were this but to sink the ship to avoid the storm or to yield the Fort because of hard duty Jam. 4 7. 2. Resist Satan and let thy resistance be arm'd with fortitude fortified with constancie and constant in obedience To strengthen thy fortitude take in by faith the might wisdom goodness mercy truth and faithfulness of thy God take in by faith the power merits victory and triumph the passion resurrection and ascension of thy Jesus Thus thus strengthen thy fortitude And to fortifie thy constancie Rev. 2.10 2 Tim. 7 8. see the Crown to him that overcometh see the reward of life blessedness and glory to him who is faithful unto death That Satan is restless let that make thee watchful that he is malicious let that make thee resolute and as he renews his assaults with rage and subtiety so do thou renew thy prayers with fervor and importunity and fear not but that as Christ hath overcome Satan for thee so he will also overcome Satan in thee Rom. 8.37 and by a communion with him in his victory and triumph make thee more then conqueror through him that loved thee Thus art thou fortified in thy Constancie But thou must be also constant in thine obedience knowing this that we stand obliged to the performance of holy duties though God should never vouchsafe us the enlargements of divine comforts The gracious manifestations of Gods love they are the priviledge of some devout souls not the propriety of every sincere heart Isa 50.10 they are Gods bounty not mans right and therefore to be disposed of in a free act of goodness as to the gift and measure and in a fit order of wisdom as to the time and manner of bestowing Do we then our duties of obedience Ps 27 14. Joh. 5.2 c. Mal. 3.1 and in those holy duties wait upon God for his enlargements of comfort Lie still O thou distressed soul lie still at the Pool of Bethesda attend God in his Ordinances the Angel of the Covenant will descend yea he is descended the waters are troubled And know then it is his method first to trouble and then to cure first to afflict and then to comfort on purpose to make us prize the grace whereby we are comforted and cur'd and to hate the sin whereby we become troubled and afflicted Thus in all the tedious toil of our continued temptations resist we Satan having that resistance arm'd with fortitude fortified with constancie and constant in obedience 3. Stay thy self upon some promise of thy God And if thou search the sacred treasury of the holy Scriptures there is no Affliction which thou mayst not suit with a Promise which Promise do thou convert into prayer and press God in an humble importunity for the performance Only remember that though thy prayer be importunate yet thy soul be not impatient let Davids practice be thy pattern and his success thine encouragement We hear him complain how he is weary with his groaning and his soul even fainting in him with long waiting for his God My soul is sore vexed Ps 6.3.6 but thou O Lord how long O divine Aposiopesis At once he breathes and stops that breath he complains and checks that complaint his desires are hot which yet he gently cools with the awfulness of Gods majesty and silently reproves his own haste not Gods delay his own rashness not Gods forgetfulness And see the event of his devout prayer accompanied with an humble reverence The Lord hears the voice of his weeping and graciously grants his supplication v. 8 9. Such is Gods wisdom and goodness that he does but delay to grant till it be a fit time to give Nazarat 2. adv Euuoâ— So that with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speaks it is a mercy to hold back his mercies and a favor to defer his loving kindness for that hereby the faithful become the better fitted to receive his blessings and to keep them their hands more pure their hearts more thankful that being the more thankfully received which is the more difficultly obtained and that the more diligently kept which is the more thankfully receiv'd Wherefore O thou languishing and distressed soul who stayest thy self upon the promises of thy God made unto thee in Christ as thou convert'st it into prayer so wait for its performance with patience Yea as the Prophet speaks of its vision Though it tarry wait for it Hab. 2.3 S. Aug. med 41. for it will surely come Veniet Redemptor tuus quia bonus est nec tardabit quia pius est Thy Redeemer will come for he is gracious and he will not stay his coming too long for he is holy holy in his faithfulness and truth making good his word his promise upon which he hath caused thee to hope Though for the present then Ps 119.49 such is the violence and continuance of thy temptation that thou hast luctam luctnosam a sorrowful combat yet be constant in thy prayer and patience and through faith in the promise thou shalt have laetam victoriam a joyful conquest Objections answered Obj. 1 Obj. 1. Alas the promises we have in Scripture they are general whereas the promise to Israel of deliverance from Egypt and from Babylon the promise to David of establishing his throne and kingdom and other the promises to the Saints and servants of God in Scripture they were given them in particular And thus if I had some particular promise of deliverance out of my particular distress I could then quiet my soul in a patient waiting for the salvation of my God being assured that if the Laws of Medes and Persians Dan. 6.8 much more
you the manner so let me minde you of the end of our Mission and Ministry even the good of your Souls and the chiefest good too that of Life and Salvation The office of the Magistrate intends the establishment of Peace the art of the Physitian the health of the Body the profession of the Lawyer the security of the Estate but the calling of the Minister the salvation of the Soul And therefore St. Paul admonisheth Timothy saying 1 Tim 4 16. Take heed unto thy self and unto the doctrine for in so doing thou shalt save thy self and them that hear thee He then that loves his Soul will prize the Ministry and bless God in making him a partaker of the peculiar priviledge of his vâ—sible Church the publick Ministration of his Word and Sacraments Which gracious privâ—ledge of his visible Church Oh! how near are we to the loosing of it Oh help help to prevent it by your Prayers and that which speaks louder then your Prayers the works of an holy Obedience And O how may God justly take away in wrath what men cast off in contempt the office of his Ministry Which sacred Office however slighted by men yet is it honored of God however esteemed of the world as a mean employment for what more contemptible a disdain 1 Tim. 3.2 then thou Priest yet is it stiled by the Apostle an excellent work And see some part of its excellency The Minister in publick Prayer he is the peoples mouth as their Orator unto God and in publick Preaching he is Gods mouth as his Ambassador unto the people and thus what honor on earth greater then this to have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen speaks Naz. Apolog. a Presidentship of Souls and a kinde of Mediatorship betwixt God and Men Behold we the Minister at the Altar and I will not say what Prince on his Throne but what Seraphim in Heaven is employed in a service of more dignity and honor then this to offer unto God the Commemorative Sacrifice of his Sons Body and Blood I might enlarge were it not that I stand before those I know or at least am willing to beleeve not defective in this duty the honorable and reverential esteems of the Gospels Ministry in its several orders and degrees owned by Gods holy Church though despised by men and the wicked world Onely this from the dignity of the Ministration and Office is aggravated the guilt of their usurpation and violence who either thrust themselves into so sacred a function or thrust out others from their lawful Ministry The name of an Ambassador Cicer. in Ver. Non modo inter seciorum jura sed etiam inter hostium tela incolume versetur it is of that reverence and regard that it may not be violated not onely among the rights of confederates but even the weapons of enemies And what are the Ambassadors of earthly Princes sacred and inviolable by the Law of Nations and shall the Ambassadors of the King of Heaven be silenced Numb 16. rejected imprisoned against the Law of God Corah Dathan and Abiram opening their mouths in mutiny against Moses and Aaron the earth opens her mouth in revenge and they sink down quick into the pit Uzziah 2 Chron. 26. King of Judah invading the Priests office he is sequestred from his regal Function being smitten with a Leprosie and so separated from his people And what was God more jealous for the Legal then he is for the Evangelical Ministration did he punish Kings invading the office of the Priest and will he acquit the people usurping the Function of the Minister No sure But know we that under the Law Gods judgments and blessings they were most-what corporal and temporal whereas his judgments and blessings under the Gospel they are most-what spiritual and eternal so that to be given up to a blindness of minde and a reprobate sense which seems to be the judgment of this Nation it is the most dreadful vengeance that can befal a people of which vengeance there can be no surer symptom then this horrid sin even through Schism Heresie Violence Prophaneness and Sacriledge to invade the Function corrupt the Doctrine abuse the Persons debase the honor and spoil the maintenance of that Ministry which Christ hath constituted and constituted here in his Mission and Commission of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go ye Disciple all Nations Baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. THE SECOND SERMON UPON Matth. 28. V. 19. and part of the 20. Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. Introduction WHilst I behold the Word and Ministry of Christ to to be amongst men as the Ark and Testament among the Philistines scornfully abus'd as in the Temple of Dagon 1 Sam. 5.2 rather then religiously reverenc'd as in the Church of God The sacred Scriptures the Evidences of our salvation not so much read in Devotion as wrested by Faction Malice or Pride being the venemous Spider which converts the wholsom sweetness of saving Truth into the deadly poison of destructive Heresie And as for the Sacramental Seals of Gods holy Covenant whilst I behold them either pluck'd off by the violent or defac'd by the foul hand of Schism and Profaneness so that a question it is Whether the profane neglecting or the unworthy receiving or the disorderly administring the blessed Sacraments bring greater guilt upon the Nation And no wonder then if our dearest blood hath been spilt in so large a profuseness seeing we have spilt Christs precious blood in so open a profaneness Oh! how how have men come to receive the bread and wine of the blessed Eucharist 1 Cor. 11.29 but have not discern'd Christs body and blood through their profane and unworthy participation And now how many oh too too many how do they go to receive Christs body and blood and alas discern not that it is meer bread and wine through an unlawful and Schismatical administration Of these two so horrid evils I cannot suddenly say which is the greater guilt And as for the Sacrament of Baptism whilst I behold Parents cruel to their tender Infants Joh. 3.5 denying them entrance into Christs kingdom and keeping from them the seal of the Covenant of grace out of which Covenant there is no salvation In which see the just judgment of the righteous God that they who in a blind zeal have been so cruel to their mother the Church to eat out her bowels by Schism they are given up to such a blindness of mind that they become cruel to their own children in not admitting them into the Churches bosom her holy communion by baptism And thus those very persons who did load our Church and Ministry with this reproach and scandal that we would bring up our children in the superstition of
in the Ceremonial ordinances being abolished the Gentiles are receiv'd into communion with the Jews Eph. 3.6 being made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-heirs of the same eternal inheritance heaven yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-members of the same mystical body the Church lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow-partakers of the same gracious promise that made to Abraham Gal. 3.8 when the Gospel was preached unto him that in his seed should all the nations of earth be blessed Thus we have done with the first particular what it is to disciple it is to receive into the communion of the Church 2. Who they are that are to be discipled who they are that are to be receiv'd into the Churches communion even of all Nations as many as believe and the believing Parents bringing in with them their Infant-children Of believing parents we have no doubt of the Infant-children is all the question Wherefore how come they to have any right to or share in the communion of the Church To resolve this grand Quaere I will first prove that Infants of believing parents they have a right and interest in the communion of the Church Secondly give you the reason of that interest and right First prove that Infants of believing parents have a right and interest in the communion of the Church from three Arguments 1. Because the Jews infants were members of the visible Church therefore are the Christians 2. Because our Saviour testifies that to them belongs the kingdom of God Mar. 10.14 1 Cor. 7.14 3. Because S. Paul affirms them to be holy 1. Arg. Because the Jews infants were members of the visible Church therefore are the Christians That infants were accounted members of Christs visible Church under the Law and before the Law if not from Adam as it is probable yet from Abraham as it is infallible Ger. 17.11 12. Circumcision the then initiating seal of Church-communion is our argument and proof invincible Now that infants should be within the communion of the Church under the Old Testament and not under the New under the Law and not under the Gospel is repugnant to Gods mercy and inconsistent with the Gospels fulness in the dispensations of grace Besides observe the state of Church-communion is not chang'd in its nature and essence by the access of the Gentiles For some of the natural branches being broken off Rom. 11.17 we of the wild Olive are ingraffed in and made to partake with them of the root and fatness of the good Olive-tree As with the Jews they and their children are broken off so with the Gentiles they and their children are graffed in yea with the natural branches the ingraffed Gentiles partake of the root and fatness of the Olive that is they partake with the Jews of the promises and priviledges of the Church of which priviledges this is a chief one That the infants of believing parents are members of the visible Church If it were not so the Jews children which were in Church-communion before their parents became Christians they should lose the priviledge they before enjoyed and become so far from being bettered in their estate by their parents believing in Christ come in the flesh that their estate is made very much worse And if this be so that children lose the benefit and blessing under the Gospel which they enjoyed under the Law shew us what guilt in infants forfeited it or what act of Christ repeal'd it Sure we are infants were members of the Jewish Church and that of our Saviour Mar. 10.14 Suffer little children to come unto me we shall hereafter prove confirms them members of the Christian To enlarge a little further When Jews and Gentiles are united we find in Scripture Eph. 2.14 it is by taking down the partition-wall not taking away the Churches communion If there were any change in this sure we are it were for the better not for the worse even such as might advance the grace and riches of the Gospel so that the Jews should not lose though the Gentiles gain not they have less priviledge though the Gentiles more in being one Church with them Wherefore that children should be in Church-communion before Christ's and not after Christ's coming in the flesh is so absurd a Tenent and opinion as deserves none other confutation then to be hist out of the Church Yet for your clearer satisfaction I thus plainly and fully argue the cause When the Jews were converted to the faith of Christ did their children which were before Church-members then cease to be of the Churches communion If so I ask what cast them out If the repealing of that priviledge give testimony of that repeal if the forfeiting that blessing give witness of that forfeiture On the contrary did the Infant-children of the believing Jews retain and shall not then the Infant-children of believing Gentiles receive this priviledge of the Churches communion Sure had it been the doctrine or practice of Christ or his Apostles to exclude Infants from the communion of the Church we should have heard on 't and that loudly too from the unbelieving Jews complaints and clamors though the Apostles pens and tongues had been ne'r so silent Yea doubtless had this so dearly priz'd this so long enjoy'd priviledge been either prohibited or omitted so great a change of so great a concernment would have had some special precept to warrant it or even amongst believers themselves some notable dispute if not disturbance rais'd about it 2. Arg. Our Saviours testifying that to little children belongs the kingdom of God And his testimony we have from S. Mark s Gospel Mar. 10.14 where we find some zealously devoted bringing young children unto Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sucking children Sure we are they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Suidas speaks of some children borne in arms for so it is implied in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adferebant non adducebant Apud Scap. in Lex graec they brought them in their arms not led them in their hands and Christ receives them as they brought them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He embraced them in his arms So that it is apparent beyond all contradiction they were little children very babes or infants v. 16. And these they bring to Christ as a great Prophet sent of God or the Messiah in whom they believed and to this end they bring them that he might bless them But the Apostles for what reason we know not they forbid them whose imprudent or sinful act moves our Saviour's just displeasure yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was much displeased saying Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not Where the negative command is the stronger enforcement of the affirmative precept Of both which if we enquire the reason our Saviour answers Of such is the kingdom of God that is they have a right and interest in the communion of the Church and the Covenant of grace
Ananias to lye unto the Holy Ghost Act 5.3 4. and in so doing thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Again we are said to be Temples of God and how Why in that the Spirit of God even the Holy Ghost who is God dwelleth in us One proof more 1 Cor. 3.16 where it is said The diversities of gifts the differences of administrations and the diversities of operations are all from the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. who is called God and Lord working all in all v. 11. yea even dividing to every man severally as he will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as a Minister of God according to anothers command but as the Author who is himself God according to his own will As then Christ proves his Divinity in that he communicates life Joh. 5.21 so from hence we prove the Divinity of the Holy Ghost that he distributes his gifts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as he will Secondly The Attributes of God As that he is eternal Heb 9.14 1 Cor. 2.10 Mar. 12.28 Is 139.7 that he is omniscient that he is omnipotent and that he is omnipresent And much of force there is in this argument of the Holy Ghost's omnipresence an argument not so easily evaded by the sophistical disputes of the Heretick The Holy Ghost in all the Saints of Christs Church is as the soul in all the members of mans body quickning actuating and ordering them so that as there is but one Body Eph. 4.4 so but one Spirit One and the same Holy Ghost then at one and the same time sanctifieth by his gracious presence and operation the Saints of God in heaven and in earth And how is this possible but to a person infinite and omnipresent Thirdly The Works of God As to him is attributed the Creation of the World the giving of Life the distribution of Grace the governing the Church and the Resurrection of the Dead yea by him was Christ conceiv'd in the womb anointed to his Ministry and rais'd from the grave Heb. 7.7 And upon S. Pauls argument which holds to be without all contradiction The less is blessed of the greater upon this argument must the humanity of Christ as Mediator be less in dignity then the Holy Ghost which could not be if the Holy Ghost were not God for that by vertue of the hypostatical union Christ Col. 1.15 as man is the the first-born of every creature Fourthly The Worship of God Adored he is in that Trisagion of the Churches Anthem Rev. 4.8 Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was Rom. 9.1 and is and is to come Attested he is as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Discerner of the heart and the Searcher of the Conscience Yea invocated he is in the form of Blessing for his spiritual communion and invocated he is in the form of Baptism 2 Cor. 13.14 for his power of regeneration And here review we the form of Baptism We are baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the name Bez. in loc that is invocato nomine says Beza by invocating the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost But this is too little for so full an Emphasis To be baptiz'd then into the name what is it but by Baptism to be obliged to the faith worship and obedience of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost For that Baptism being the seal of the Covenant of grace the Regius Character the Royal stamp of this seal is the name of the sacred Trinity so S. Augustine Wherefore as God in the Trinity of persons owns us to be his people so again do we as his people vow faith worship and obedience unto that sacred Trinity of persons as our God Here if I should ask those who now have rak'd up the long since buried Heresie of Macedonius what is their fear of affirming the Holy Ghost God Is it to assert many Gods how vain is this fear how false were that assertion For in the mysterie of the Trinity the distinction of the Persons does not multiply the Nature of the Godhead neither does the Unity of the Nature nullifie the Persons For the Father is God begetting the Son the Son is the same God begotten of the Father and the Holy Ghost is the same God proceeding from the Father and the Son So that each Person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manner of subsistence whereby the Godhead is distinguished not a part of the Godhead whereby the essence is divided And as to the procession of the Holy Ghost though true it is after the Orthodox Faith was determined and confirm'd by those Orthodox Fathers who in that Oecumenical Council of Constantinople call'd by the Emperor Theodosius did suppress the then spreading Heresie of Macedonius adding to the Nicene Creed what concerns more fully the Faith of the Holy Ghost that he is the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father c. Though after this there arose a great controversie betwixt the Greek and Latine Church concerning the Holy Ghost's procession the Grecians affirming it from the Father by the Son the Latines from the Father and the Son After a long time the controversie was composed in the Florentine Synod by the prudence piety and learning of good Bessarion the Crecians being satisfied by the Latines that the Filioque and the Son added to the Nicene Creed was taken from that of Athanasius as more fully exprest to declare the procession of the Holy Ghost But to return to the Administration of Baptism which is very aptly called by the Antients Sacramentum Fidei the Sacrament of Faith as admitting into the houshold of the faithful and being the Sacrament of Faith it is administred in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost as being the sum of our Faith To confess the faith of the Trinity the Antient Church did use their trina immersio a threefold immersion And again to confess the Unity they had but one immersion Greg. l. 1 ep 41. And therefore Gregory writes to Leander the Bishop that it was no matter of reproof whether Baptism was administred with once or with thrice dipping or sprinkling quoniam in tribus immersionibus Personarum trinitas in una potest Divinitatis singularitas designari In three immersions the Trinity of Persons and in one immersion the Unity of Essence may be confest and declared Yea when we say I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost in the name not in the names we profess the power majesty and authority of all the three Persons to be coequal and so in essence and unity co-eternal In those places where the Church useth three immersions or aspersions as at this day in many Countries the Church does there the first dipping or sprinkling is with a nominating the Father the second the Son the third
truth and holiness thou shalt recover the favour of thy God and renew thy communion with Christ a communion of grace and life conveyed and seal'd thee in thy Baptism Concerning which our Lord and Saviour gave in commission and instruction to his Apostles and in them to all the Ministers of his Gospel Go ye disciple all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost c. THE FIFTH SERMON UPON Matth. 28. V. 19. and part of the 20. Go ye Disciple all Nations Teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you GOD as he is Alpha so is he Omega too Introduction as he is the efficient so is he the final cause of all his Creatures especially of Angels and Men Rev. 1.11 endued with Understanding and Will who as they issue from God the product of his power so do they return to God the complement of their happiness And therefore whilst the Soul of Man winged with desires hovers over the surface of this Worlds changes like Noahs Dove Gen. 8.9 it findes no footing till it center its restless motions upon this sure Ark of the Almighties fruition But now what is the way which leads to his rest what the path of truth which conducts us safe to the Lord of Life whilst we all stand under one starry roof as Men as Christians our desires tend to the same Heaven yet we seek not to ascend by the same Ladder we all aim at the same Goal yet run not all in the same race In this we agree That God is our rest that happiness is our end yea that truth is the way and Christ is the Truth John 14.6 Yet when we come to the profession of the Truth and Faith of Christ how do we presently part hands and dividing our selves into several Sects we chuse to our selves several paths and all pretend the right way Now what is the reason of all our distraction and division but this That what God hath joyned men put asunder even the Authority of the Scriptures and the Doctrine of the Church Both which are established by Christ in the Commission and Instruction he here gives his Apostles Go ye disciple all Nations teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded you Having done with the former part of our Saviours Instruction the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our admitting into the School and Church of Christ by Baptism we proceed to the latter part the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our tutoring and training up by Doctrine which doctrine is prescribed as to the extent of its object to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded Here then as the subject matter of our ensuing discourse we will insist upon these two particulars First The object of our Faith the Word of God in which we have Whatsoever hath been commanded of Christ to be taught Secondly The means of communicating this object and preaching this Word the Ministry of the Church by which we are taught whatsoever Christ hath commanded Explic. 1. The object of our Faith the Word of God in which we have Whatsoever hath been commanded of Christ to be taught That there is a natural Theology we willingly acknowledge but that there can possibly be any natural Christianity we utterly deny and therefore that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.20 that which may be known of God in the visible things of the world it is not his infinite grace and love as a Redeemer but hi◠eternal power and Godhead as a Creator True it is then that a natural knowledge will serve us to understand the Creatures Dialect which loudly and plainly speaks the presence and power of a Deity but Psal 29 2. how to worship this Deity in a beauty of Holiness and so enjoy him in a communion of love must needs be the dictate of a supernatural Revelation especially and eminently called the Word of God Which Word of God the word of life and grace hath been delivered to the Church by the mouth of Moses and the Prophets of Christ and his Apostles registred and recorded in the several Books of the sacred Scriptures both of the Old Testament and of the New The Books of the Old Testament we receive transmitted to us from the Jews by an especial providence and divine appointment made faithful Registers and Bibliothists to the Christian Church for unto them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 But now under the New Testament Heb. 1.1 2. God who at sundry times and in divers manners 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in different measures of light and divers manners of revelation spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days in which the Church shall receive no more alteration or innovation from God as to the general form of his Worship and Truth but after this state follows eternity even in these last days God hath spoken unto us by his Son who being the onely begotten in the Bosom of the Father John 1.18 that is most intimately one with him not in a meer conjunction of love but in a near union of Nature and communion of Attributes he hath declared yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath by divine Revelation expounded the Mysteries of the Godhead in his Communications of Grace unto his Church The Service then of God in the Old Testament Heb 9.1 that of the first Tabernacle and worldly Sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sanctuary earthly and material this did stand in meats and drinks Vers 10. and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laid as a burden upon the Jews till the times of the New Testament the time of Reformation the coming of the Messiah who should reform the Ecclesiastical state by abolishing what was earthly and carnal and by establishing what is heavenly and spiritual So that now Joh. 4.24 now God being a Spirit they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth in Spirit that 's in opposition to the carnal Ordinances and in Truth that 's in opposition to the typical Sacrifices or in Spirit for the purity and in Truth for the sincerity of his Worship which must neither be Superstitious nor Hypocritical Having then shewed you where it is that we have the Word of God even in the Books of sacred Scriptures I shall proceed to describe this Word unto you in its inherent Attributes and its transient operations 1. In its inherent Attributes especially its full sufficiency and its self authority 1. It s full sufficiency The holy Scriptures they are the heavenly store-house from whence the Church of Christ is furnished with all spiritual provision of heavenly Doctrine whether it be of Faith or of manners They are the full treasury in which are laid up for the Church her inestimable riches of divine Promises and spiritual Blessings Profitable they are First
him the Head to the skirts of his clothing to the meanest of the faithful Which oil of grace as it heals our wounds so it cleanseth our natures and consecrates our persons thereby evidencing in a conformity to Christ in holiness that we have a communion with him in his fulness 2. How may we best confirm this our communion with him Quest 2 Answ We confirm our communion with Christ Answ by strengthening our faith in him For that faith it is by which as Christ exhibits and communicates himself unto us so do we in a reciprocal act adhere and wholly give up ourselves unto him so that the stronger is our faith the firmer is our union and by how much our union is more firm by so much is our communion the more full This this is that which gives faith its excellency as it is in other graces Theological and Moral even its object and its act its object Christ in the price he gives for satisfaction to Gods justice the purchase he makes of salvation to his chosen and the promises he tenders for application of both All which though secondarily indeed they are the objects of love and hope yet primarily and in a precedencie the objects of faith Those Officers are in highest honor who are nearest to the Kings person and thus is Faith a chief grace in dignity as being nearest in place to the person of Christ And as thus Faith hath its excellency from its object so from its act Rom. 3.25 and 5.1 whose peculiar office it is to be the instrument of justification and salvation in an applicatory act conveying the righteousness and life of Christ to the soul and person of the Believer Faith then it is which unites us unto Christ and gives us possession of him Eph. 3.17 who is therefore said to dwell in our hearts by faith Wherefore if we would confirm our communion we must strengthen our faith and how is this but by a frequent exercise of fervent prayer a devout meditation upon the Gospels promises and a worthy partaking the blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist yea all the duties of an holy obedience Thus even thus we confirm our communion with Christ in his fulness as our Head Applicat 1. By way of Expostulation the more forcibly to woe and win the soul to Christ Were it so O man that thou didst now possess all secular contentments in the greatest confluence of this Worlds fulness whether it be for riches honor pleasures or whatsoever worldly men and carnal minds count most precious yet how far are all these from sustaining the soul against the fears of an approaching death the terrors of an accusing guilt and the horrors of a future Judgment all which the truly penitent and faithful soul can happily calm and silence by vertue of that communion he hath in the righteousness and life of Christ The creature then is insufficient to make man happy seeing it is full of vanity and man is insufficient to make himself happy seeing he is full of sin Needs therefore must he be involved in an eternal guilt and misery unless Christ the Fountain of grace and happiness uniting us to himself by his Spirit doth give us a communion with him in his fulness And now O man that thou mayst be united to him and obtain a communion with him hear what is the command of thy God 1 Joh. 3.23 it is even this that thou believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ yea hear Christ himself in the Ministry of his Word lovingly inviting thee with a Come unto me Yet further he hath made the Ministry of his Word to be an embassage of peace in which he not only lovingly invites but more graciously intreats 2 Cor. 5.20 so says the Apostle As though God did intreat you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God And if now O man neither the command of thy God will awe thee nor the invitation of Christ move thee nor yet his intreaties prevail upon thee hear at last his pathetical expostulation by his Prophet Ezek. 18.30 31 32. if not to thy conversion yet to thy conviction O house of Israel repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God Wherefore turn your selves and live ye In the meditation of which words suppose you heard Beloved this expostulary Dialogue betwixt Christ and the Sinner Thus saith Christ See see O man I who am thy Judge proffer my self thine Advocate I against whom thou hast sinned proffer my self thy Saviour and therefore why wilt thou die The Sinner answers I die because the Law the Minister of death condemns me for my sin Ay but I who have satisfied the Law promise thee absolution upon repentance therefore why wilt thou die I die because I have made a league with hell and a covenant with death and my soul is so fast in fetters and in prison that I cannot come forth Ay but I have vanquish'd and triumph'd over death and hell and offer thee power to break that covenant and dissolve that league and so return and live and therefore yet why wilt thou die I die because I carry about with me a body of sin a law in my members which presseth me forwards into all impieties Ay but I bring thee a regenerating grace to make thee a new heart and a new spirit and therefore yet again why wilt thou die I die because I was of old ordained of God to this condemnation reprobated in his eternal decree Ay but O foolish and perverse soul I give thee my word my oath I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked And therefore search not my Decrees which are secret but see the truth of my Gospel revealed which tells thee that I came into the world to save sinners And therefore whilst I stretch forth mine arms flie not my embraces of love whilst I tender thee my grace resist not my Spirit And if yet thou continue thy rebellion I will not yet withdraw my compassion but shall still bespeak thee and all obstinate sinners in the Ministry of my word saying Why will ye die seeing I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth Wherefore turn your selves and live cast away from you all your transgressions and make you new hearts and new spirits so iniquity shall not be your ruine Now then O man be thou drawn from thy self unto Christ by a gracious resignation of a holy faith Cast off O cast off the sollicitations of thy dearest and closest corruptions the strongest temptations of the World and the Flesh and yield O yield up thy will unto Christs scepter captivate thy lusts to
with Gods displeasure Thus how often is it that God prepares man to become some excellent structure even when he seems to be turning him into a ruinous heap As men intending to repair seem to demolish the building they take away some beams but it is to put in stronger they stop up some lights but it is to make larger Thus is it with the faithful who are Gods building 1 Cor. 3 9. He removes their props of sense to fix the pillars of faith He darkens the light of their spiritual joys but it is to enlarge their fuller comforts The Rules of Direction 1. Search what root of bitterness it is that hath taken away the taste of all heavenly sweetness what guilt of sin that hath depriv'd thee of the comforts of the Spirit Enter the Court of thy Conscience where God hath set up his tribunal and hear what charge is there laid against thee Is it not some stubbornness of spirit some unrepented disobedience which God chastiseth with those rebukes of conscience and terrors of soul For commonly God deals with his backsliding Saints as a King with his rebellious Subjects when neither the proffers of grace nor the promises of pardon when neither the edicts of command nor the threatenings of wrath when neither gracious counsel nor a bearing patience can prevail then does God arm himself to the battel letting flie the arrows of his indignation into their soul Job 6.4 as Job complains The arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselvs in array against me This is certain upon all known experience that disobedience and impenitence they are the bitter springs of much spiritual distress And truly God need not go far for a rod to chastise our disobedience if he withdraw his comforting Spirit we shall soon find and feel our own will become an afflicting Spirit our own dreadful thoughts will be our sorest scourges 2. Is it not some spiritual lethargy of remisness and sloth that hath seised thine inward man If so no wonder if the Physitian of thy soul prescribe thee so sharp a medicine administer thee so strong a potion all being little enough to rouse thy drowsie spirits and quicken thy dead heart Holy performances whether in the Closet or in the Church they are not only debts we pay to Gods justice but also oblations we owe to Gods mercy Ps â—1 18 19. and therefore either wholly to omit them or slightly to slubber them over is not only unfaithfulness but also unthankfulness both the majesty and the mercy of God being despised and where his majesty and mercy is despised no wonder if his favor and presence be withheld 3. Is it not the want of reverence and godly fear And therefore by the rebukes of his Spirit God severely tutors thee to what he requires of thee to serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb 12.23 Heb. â— 16 God likes well that we come with boldness to the throne of grace yet a boldness of humble confidence not of a careless irreverence The awe of Majesty is much preserv'd by avoiding too much familiarity and therefore some Monarchs have withdrawn themselves from vulgar eyes to keep up the more sacred esteem and awe of their Soveraignty Thus God he deals with his Saints when much indulg'd they become wanton proud and irreverent God intermixeth Majesty with Mercy and tempers their favours with frowns he withholds his comfortable presence and awes their souls with secret rebukes that they may learn to put in practice what the Church gives in pattern even to walk in the fear of the Lord Act. 9 31. Phil. 2.12 and comfort of the Holy Ghost yea work out their salvation with fear and trembling This is indeed a sure Maxim that he who bears his spiritual afflictions with a distrustful impatience it is more then probable that he stains his devout enlargements with spiritual pride and pride and irreverence go together 4. Is it not thy heart playing false with thy God leaning in its affections too much to the world For that then God usually comes with bitterness to wean the soul when we are upon making the world our Home which should be our Inne when we are upon taking our rest in these earthly things then God brings on an evil day of temptation and trial upon us to discover how vain Earth is when Heaven is clouded how insufficient to sanctifie which cannot comfort When the soul will prove disloyal Jâ—m 4.4 and enter an adulterous league with the World then comes God with his Bill of Divorce that she may know what is the vanity and folly the guilt and curse of her falling off to such wretched beggerly and worthless lovers for that in a day of terrors the soul will know that there is none but Christ none but he that can bring comfort peace and safety Thus then search whether it be not some stubbornness and disobedience some lethargie of sloth some wantonness irreverence or spiritual pride some love of the world Search whether they are not these or some other enormous iniquities which have separated betwixt thee and thy God Isa 59.2 whether they are not these or some such hainous sins which have hid his face from thee and if so no wonder if he who does the works of the Devil find an Hell in his Conscience And to still the clamor and quench the flashes of this Hell observe the second Rule of Direction which follows 2. Confess and bewail thy sin in the deepest of humiliations The reason indeed oftentimes why God puts the soul to the rack it is because it will not confess it is so loth to leave that it is unwilling to acknowledg its sin But as there is no full discovery of sin without examination Prov. 28.13 so nor is there any full pardon of sin without confession Wherefore set thy sins in order before thee and if thy Conscience pleads guilty to none other impiety yet thine ignorance diffidence passion and impatience in thy trial of spiritual afflictions do bring guilt enough for the deepest of humiliations Job 40.4 Thus it was with Job he confesseth unto God saying I am vile what shall I answer I will lay my hand upon my mouth And humbly submitting to the justice of Gods plea Job 42.36 and the reproof of his conviction in the sense of his impatience and pride he abhors himself and repents in dust and ashes And after God gives testimony of his love in accepting a sacrifice from his hands Thus then having set thy sins in order before thee let their guilt affect thine heart with sorrow that sorrow affect thine eyes with tears and then in the anguish of thy soul do thou crouch and crawl to the Throne of Grace solliciting earnestly with strong cries the mercies of thy God through the merits of thy Saviour for the pardon of thy sin the peace
of thy soul and the comforts of his Spirit which pardon obtain'd peace restor'd comforts recover'd are all strengthened confirm'd and seal'd by servent prayer devout meditation and a worthy receiving the blessed Eucharist These these holy duties are the oil which keeps the lamp burning the sacred means ordain'd of God and Christ for the quickening of our graces and the enlarging of our comforts The Objections answered Obj. 1 Obj. 1. These Rules I have according to my best endevours observ'd and yet notwithstanding all Gospel-ministrations my wound ah my deep wound is not healed mine anguish my secret anguish is not abated Oh! sure my hope is perished from the Lord He hath cut me off Oh that I had never been born or that I had never liv'd to behold my wretchedness Answ Wo is me what shall I do Answ Do what thou sayest thou hast already done still endeavour that thy spiritual comforts may take their rise from thy penitential sorrows enquire still after God in Christ in the means of grace press near to him in his ordinances let no discouragements beat thee back Joh 6. â—7 Hear the promise of thy Jesus He that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out O the stay of faith and staff of the soul O divine word of grace O gracious promise of love He receives us into his bosom when we cast our selves into his arms He will sustain and hold fast He will in no wise cast off and forsake Heb. 13.5 Wherefore O thou afflicted soul though thou art forsaken of comfort yet do not lie down in despair nor sleep in sloth but let faith hold up thy hope and hope keep up thine obedience and do not rest quiet till finding thy God in Christ thou obtain a quiet rest And how shalt thou find God in Christ but in the application of the Gospels promises and in the exercise of holy duties Obj. 2. What tell you me of holy duties As Absalom said of Obj. 2 David so I say of Christ What are all these to me if I cannot see the Kings face What are the Ordinances and the Promises 2 Sam. 14.32 what are holy duties and religious performances These have no sweetness but when I can taste Christ in them they have no beauty but when I can behold Christ in them by his presence all my troubles would soon be dispersed and by his absence all comforts they are embitter'd Answ Christ is present with thee in all his ordinances Answ though thou seest him not He purposely hides his face to try thy love and permits thee to be tempted that thou mayst be approved approved as one of those who truly fear God obeying his voice Isa 50.10 though they walk in darkness and have no light It is no great matter to see the Child express much love when pleas'd with the Fathers smiles and chear'd with his embraces but if when the Father seems with frowns to put the Child from him and it then cling close to him it is a sure argument of dutiful affection Thus when the mind is raised the heart enlarg'd the soul ravish'd with the sweet delights of holiness and the divine manifestations of Gods love what great matter is it to be pious and faithful in his service But here 's the trial of grace here 's the proof of our faith our love our obedience if when God withdraws the light of his countenance we then seek him if when Christ seems to depart from us we then lay hold on him and not let him go but resolve though he kill us to trust in him though he chide us Joh 13.15 to call upon him and though he seem to reject us yet faithfully to serve and obey him But besides O thou afflicted soul in the holy Sacrament thou canst not miss of what thy soul longs after Christ and Christ in all his fulness Mat. 26.27 28. For hear how our Saviour in the ministration of this sacred ordinance he saith of the bread broken Eat this is my body and of the wine poured out Drink this is my blood whereby we are to believe in a firm assent of faith that our blessed Lord and Saviour hath appointed and ordain'd this holy Sacrament to be a most effectual means to convey and most sure seal to confirm the actual efficacie and merit of his body crucified and his blood shed So that the bread and wine do not only sacramentally represent but also really exhibit to each faithful though languishing soul whole Christ with all his benefits then which what can be more effectual to the repairing thy peace of conscience and the renewing thy comforts of the Spirit Obj. Obj. 3. I know not how nor what to do For besides my trouble of conscience and terror of soul I find such a stupifying dulness and amazed deadness upon my spirits that I cannot apply my self to any holy duties with a fixed Answ much less an enlarged heart Answ Apply thy self to some faithful Minister or some other experienc'd Saint of God For seeing the Mind under spiritual afflictions is as a bone out of joint Gal. 6 1. who is it that shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joint it again but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the spiritual man he who is acquainted with the motions methods and actings of the Spirit Yea seeing the afflicting of the soul is a breaking of the bones so with David Make me to hear of joy and goodness Ps 51.8 that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice We stand in need to be careful to make use of some skilful in Soul-chyrurgerie who may so help so heal the wound set right the bones that no splinters be left to fret the Patient no scruple to vex the Conscience Yea sure I am there is not so much danger to the body in the ill setting of a bone as there is to the soul in the unsound resolving of Conscience But further Let the faithful Minister or other experienc'd Saint that shall have to do with his clouded and dull as well as afflicted and troubled soul let him see well to it whether Melancholy hath not penn'd up the soul in its darksom cell whose adust humors are aptly call'd Balneum Diaboli the Devils Bath Melancholy distempers beget afflicting thoughts and afflicting thoughts beget melancholy distempers and thus is the poor soul whirl'd about in a circle and maze of disquiets and distractions which disquiets and distractions are the more increased by Satans malice and subtlety in that as some men do deceive others in a dark shop with false colours so does Satan deceive the soul in a dark body with false imaginations Act 4.36 Now here an Hippocrates is as proper as a Barnabas a Physitian as a Minister for that say what we can it will be with the soul in a melancholy body as with a candle in a dark lantern its light still dim and dismal and oh what terrors of strange imaginations and strong