standing Thesis follow it and let your thoughts run whither it will lead you A Theme of the Spirit 's setting is better than one of our own chusing 4. Record the choicer of them We may have occasion to look back upon them another time either as grounds of comfort in some hour of temptation or directions in some sudden emergency but constantly as persuasive engagements to our necessary duty Thus they may lye by us for further use as money in our purse Since Mary kept and ponder'd the short sayings of our Saviour in her heart †Luk. 2.14 51. committing and fitting them as it were in her common-place book why should not we also preserve the whispers of that Spirit who receives from the same mouth and hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hâ—â—ych what he both speaks and shews to us It is pity the dust and filings of choicer metals which may one time be melted down into a mass should be lost in a heap of drossy thoughts If we do not remember them but like children are taken with their novelty more than their substance and like John Baptist's hearers rejoyce in their light only for a season †Joh. 5.35 it will discourage the Spirit from sending any more and then our hearts will be empty and we know who stands ready to clap in his hellish swarms and legions But howsoever we do God will record our good thoughts as our excusers if we improve them as our accusers if we reject them and as He took notice how often He had appear'd to Solomon †1 Kin. 11.9 so He will take notice how often His Spirit hath appeared to us and write down every motion whereby we have been solicited that they may be witnesses of his endeavours for our good and our own wilfulness 5. Back them with Ejaculations Let our hearts be ready to attend every injection from Heaven with a motion to it since 't is ingratitude to receive a present without returning an acknowledgment to the Benefactor As God turns His thoughts of us into promises so let us turn our thoughts of Him into prayers and since his regards of us are darted in beams upon us let them be reflected back upon Him in thankfulness for the gift and earnestness both for the continuance and encrease of such impressions as David prayed that God would not take his holy Spirit from him †Psa 51.11 which had inspired him with his penitential resolutions To what purpose doth the Holy Ghost descend upon us but to declare to us the things which are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 And is it fit for us to hear such a declaration without a quick suitable reflection Since the Comforter is to bring to our remembrance †Joh. 14.26 what Christ both spake and did it must be for the same end for which they were both spoken and acted by him which was to bring us to a near converse with God Therefore when the Spirit renews in our minds a Gospel-truth let us turn it into a present plea and be God's remembrancers of His own promises as the Spirit is our remembrancer of Divine Truths We need not doubt some rich fruit of the application at such a season since without question the impressions the Spirit stamps upon us are as much according to God's will †Rom. 8.27 as the intercessions he makes for us Therefore when any holy thought doth advance it self in our Souls the most grateful reception we can bestow upon it will be to suffer our hearts to be immediately fired by it and imitate with a glowing devotion the Royal Prophet in that form he hath drawn up to our hands O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel our fathers keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy servant and prepare my heart unto thee †1 Chron. 29.18 This will be an encouragement to God to send more such guests into our hearts And by an affectionate entertainment of them we shall gain both a habit of thinking well and a stock too A DISCOURSE OF THE CHURCHES STABILITY Psalm 87.5 And of Sion it shall be said This and that man was born in her and the Highest himself shall establish her THE Author of this Psalm and the time when it was penn'd are uncertain Some think it was compos'd after the return of the Jews from Babylon upon the Erection of the second Temple and designed to be sung in their constant Publick Assemblies Others think it was compos'd by David when he brought the Ark to Sion as the Repository for it till the Building of the Temple wherein it might honourably rest It seems whoever was the Author to be Ecstatical The Penman breaks out into a holy rapture and admiration of the firmness and stability of the Church 'T is also Prophetical of the Christian Church of the glory of it the largeness of its bounds and perpetual duration The Jews ridiculously interpret it of literal Jerusalem in regard of the excellency of its Climate the goodness of the air being seated in the middle or navel of the earth and the seat and spring of all the wise men accounting all fools that were to be found in other parts 't is true others were not wise with a wisdom to Salvation they were not instructed in the high Mysteries of Religion by God as those People were But was there not Learning among the Greeks Wisdom among the Chaldeans and a ripeness in Mechanick Arts among the Tyrians which lived in the same Climate with the Jews It can by no means be understood of the material Jerusalem and Sion that was ruin'd by the Babylonians and tho re-edified yet afterwards subverted by the Romans and the remainders of it at this day become a Stable for Mahomet and the bringing in those Nations mention'd v. 4. overthrows any such interpretation which never were inrol'd in the registers of Sion nor became Votaries to the true Religion while the walls of that place were standing in their glory Sion was the place whence the Law was to come Mich. 4.2 a Law of another nature than that which was uttered with Thunders from Mount Sinai Sion was the place where the Throne of Christ was to be settled where he was to be crowned King Psal 2.6 and where he was to manage the Scepter and rule in the midst of his enemies Psal 110.2 and therefore 't is here celebrated as the figure of the Christian Church of that City which Abraham expected whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11.10 And the Christian Church is particularly called by this name of Mount Sion Heb. 12.21 And Believers are called the Sons of Sion Joel 2.23 The Psalmist speaks 1. Of the great love the Lord bears to Sion v. 2. 2. Of the glory of the Promises made to her v. 3. 3. Of the confluence of new Inhabitants to her v. 4. 4. Of the Duration and Establishment of
her v. 5. v. 1. His Foundation The Foundation of God i. e. That which God hath founded that Jerusalem which is of God's building is seated in the holy Mountain the City was built before Joshuah conquered Canaan But God is said to be the Founder of it in regard of that peculiar glory to which it was designed to be the rest of his Ark the place of his Worship the Throne of the Types of the Messiah the Seat whence the Evangelick Law was to be publisht to all Nations and the Messiah revealed as the Redeemer and Ruler of the World In the holy Mountains Jerusalem was seated upon high Mountains The Palace of the Kings was built upon Sion and the Temple the House of the Most High was built upon Moriah and encompast with Mountains round about Psal 125.2 an emblem of the strength and stability of the Church * Daillé Melange part 2. page 354. Holy Mountains not that there was any inherent holiness in them more than in the other Mountains of the Earth or that they were naturally more beautiful and stately than other Mountains but because they were separated for the Worship and Service of God and had been ennobled by the performance of a Worship there before the building of the Temple It was upon Moriah that Isaac was designed for a Sacrifice and the most signal act of obedience performed to God by the Father of the Faithful It was there also that David appeased the wrath of God by Sacrifice after it had issued out upon the People in a Plague for the numbring of them And the very name Moriah hath something sacred in it it signifying either God teaching or God manifested which name might be given it by God with respect to the manifestation of Christ who was to come during the standing of the second Temple v. 2. The Lord loves the Gates of Sion By Gates in Scripture is meant the strength or wisdom or justice of a place Gates were the Magazines of Arms and the places of Judicature He had manifested his love to her in chusing that City before all the Cities of Israel and Judah wherein to place his Name and have his Worship celebrated and that place in Jerusalem particularly where his Law should be given by the Spirit to the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost and to apply it to the Gospel-Church it signifies the special respect God bears to her above all the Rites Observancies and Ceremonies of the Judaick Institution It was in this Gospel-Church the true Sion that he desired to dwell and will remain for ever Psal 68.17 Which is a Prophetick Psalm of the Gospel-times and the Ascension of Christ 1. The Stability of the Church is here asserted * Geierus in loc The Church is not built upon the Sand which may fall with a Storm nor upon the Waters that may float with the waves nor spread out as a Tent in the Desert that may be taken up and carried away to another place but upon a Mountain not to be removed * Psal 125.1 Mount Sion cannot be removed 't is built upon a Rock the Rock of Ages upon a Mountain which is not shatter'd by waves or shaken by storms upon Christ who hath the strength of many Mountains in himself 2. The necessity of holiness in a Church What though the Church be a Mountain for strength and eminency have the honour and priviledg of Sacraments and be the Ark of the Oracles of God 't is not established unless it be a holy Mountain Holiness is the only becoming thing in the House of God as it is consecrated to the glory of God so it must be exercis'd in things pertaining to the glory of God As the Foundation is holy so ought the Superstructure to be There was no filth in the framing it there must be no filth in the continuance of it v. 3. He speaks with some kind of astonishment of the glorious things spoken of her or promised to her and concludes it with a note of attention or a mark of eminency Selah * v. 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God No place enjoy'd an equal happiness with Jerusalem while it remained faithful to its Founder It maintain'd its standing in the midst of its enemies no weapon formed against it was able to prosper Heaven planted it and the dews of Heaven watered it it had a continual succession of Prophets the best Kings that ever were in the world swayed the Scepter in it it was blessed with more miraculous deliverances than any part of the Universe the Nations that loved it not yet feared its power and feared the displeasure of its Guardian It was here the Son of God delivered the Messages of Heaven by the order of his father It was here the spirit first filled the heads and hearts of the Apostles in order to the conversion of a world from Idolatry to the Scepter of God but more glorious things are spoken of the Spiritual Sion than of the material Jerusalem that had Christ in the flesh and the Gospel-Church hath Christ in the spirit he went from thence to heaven but he comes from heaven to visit them with his comforts he hath left the walls of Jerusalem in its ruins but he hath not he will not leave his Spiritual Sion fatherless and comfortless Joh. 14.18 his spirit abides for ever with his Church Glorious things are spoken of it when he pronounced it impregnable and that the gates of Hell the power and policy of all the Apostate Angels and their instruments should not prevail against her when he assured her he would be present with her not to the end of an age or two but till the period of time the consummation of the world priviledges that material Jerusalem could never boast of whatsoever countries have been applauded for secular excellencies or been famous for wisdom none can claym such elogies as Gospel Sion where God hath declared his will publisht himself a God of salvation placed the laws of heaven and poured out that wisdom which comes from above These are glorious things above humane expectations above humane desires The Glorious things mentioned of the Gospel-Church are in v. 4. where he speaks of the enlargement of her bounds the increase of her inhabitants and the numerous muster-rolls of those that shall list themselves in her service * I will make mention of Rahaâ— and Babylon to them that know me Behold Philistia and Tyre with Aethiopâ—â— this man was born there The time shall come when those nations that are most alienated from the profession of truth shall come under her wing and pay allegiance to her empire Strangers shall be brought into her bosom not only Philistia and Tyre nations upon her confines but Aegypt and Aethiopia nations more remote nations born and bred at a distance shall be registred as born from her womb and nurst in her lap distance of place shall not hinder the relation
an Arrow of God's wrath Pride lifts up it self against God's Laws and Soveraignty as much as this frame of spirit acknowledges and submits to him It was a temper contrary to this caused God to send Worms to banquet upon Herod Acts 12.23 He gave not God the glory He was not afflicted with the sin of the People nor reproved them for ascribing to him the honour of God A Soul-affliction for common sins is a bar to Judgments God revives the spirit of the humble Isa 57.15 They that share in the griefs of the Spirit shall not want the comforts of the Spirit God is concern'd in honour by virtue of his promise not to neglect those whom he hath promised to revive He dwells with the contrite spirit who more contrite than he that grieves for publick sins and Family sins and City sins as well as his own private Men do not use to fire their own houses much less God the house and heart which is dearer to him than either first or second Temple or local Heaven it self I might add 5. That such keep Covenant with God The Contract runs on God's part to be an Enemy to his Peoples Enemies Exod. 23.22 It must run on our parts to love that which God loves hate that which God hates grieve for that which grieves and dishonours him Who can do this by an unconcernedness Those that keep Covenant with God shall not fail of one tittle of it on God's part 7. Such also fear Gods Judgments and fear is a good means to prevent them The Old World feared not God's threatning of the Deluge and that came and swallowed them up The Sodomites feared not God's Judgments and that hastened the destroying Shower The Advice of the Angel upon the approach of Judgments is to fear God and give glory to him Rev. 14.7 And then follows another v. 8. with the news of Babylons fall Babylon is fallen is fallen The fall of Babylon is the preservation of his People 4. The Vse 1. Reproof for us Where is the man that hangs his harp upon the willows at the time the Temple of God is prophaned A head a Fountain of tears for Common sins is a commodity rare to be found even in hearts otherwise gracious The Mourners have been for number but a few like the gleanings of the Vintage but the Sinners in Sion for multitude like the weeds in fallow ground What multitudes of those that disparage God and trample upon his Soveraign Commands rend in pieces the very Law of Nature as well as the rights of Religion It were well if there were one to Six as was intimated in the beginning there might be in Jerusalem but we have reason to fear that one marker for the secret mourners would be too much for an hundred destroyers I do not question but there are some that sigh for the abominations they see and hear of that because they are dishonourable to God as well as injurious to themselves But who of us present here can say we have been deeply enough and graciously enough affected with them Certainly both you and I may bring a charge against our selves before the throne of God for this neglect that we have not been throwly humbled for frequently bewailed publick iniquities and spread them before God in secret If we are unconcern'd in common sins can we imagine God will leave us unconcern'd in common Judgments If we endeavour not to keep up the glory of God he will extract glory to himself out of our ashes If this frame be so little regarded among professors what shall we say to many others that have as little remorse for the stabs of Gods honour as they would have for the Tragedy of an East India Prince nay for the death of some inconsiderable fly that have resentments for wrongs done to themselves and sorrow at Command for any worldly loss but not one spark of regret for affronts offered to God In this cause their hearts are as dry as a heath in a parching Summer Who laments the tearing the name of God in pieces by execrable oaths Who bewails the impudent uncleanness boasted of by Concubines in the face of the Sun Who mourns for so many thousand foreheads bearing the mark of the beast and so many thousands more preparing to receive it It reproves then 1. Those that make a mock and sport of sin so far they are from mourning for it The wise man gives them the title of fools Prov. 14.9 fools make a mock at sin Which though it seems too low a Character for such abominable works yet in scripture it hath a greater import than in our Common discourse it signifies an Atheist Psal 14.1 Prodigious madness to make that our sport which is the dishonour of God the murderer of Christ the grief of the Spirit and the destruction of the Soul that which opens the flood-gates of wrath and brings famines plagues wars upon a people If mourning for others sins be an affection like that of Angels delighting in other sins is an affection like that of Devils He is at the greatest distance from Christ that looks pleasantly upon that which Christ could not regard without grief and anger God seems to seal up such to destruction as well as the mourners to preservation Isa 22.12 13. And in that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping and mourning to baldness and girding with Sackcloth and behold joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing Sheep eating flesh and drinking wine let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye they were ranters instead of mourners and God passes this sentence on them their iniquity shall not be purged from them till they dye If we carry our selves jollily at the sins of others we evidence that the concerns of God are of little concern to us that we have slight thoughts of his glory and cast it at the heels of our own passions 2. Those that make others sins the matter of invectives rather than of lamentations and bespatter the man without bewailing the sin We should consider common sins with affection to God and pity to the offenders with a desire that they may restore by a true conversion the glory they have robb'd God of by an accursed Rebellion While we hate the sin we should evidence that we love the man * Non nunquam faeâ—itâ—â—i in câ—lpam saevimus in hominem Prosper We must never love the wickedness nor hate the person We pity a sick man though we loath his Disease Sinners are miserable enough without our hatred and by hating them we make our selves more miserable by committing a fault against reason and nature and do them no good The more wicked any man is the more worthy of pity by how much the more his crime is our hatred God who is infinite purity hates mens sins