transcending excellency he makes account may challenge the utmost extent and height of our endeavours and his zeal for his servants good which the Scripture often mentioneth and we more often reap the benefit of he expects should warm our hearts and set them on a flame for him and therefore cannot endure that this fire should go out upon the altar nay that it should but cool and therefore it is that he so loathes lukewarmness that the Church of Laodicea to whom if she prove zealous and repent Rev. 3. 19. he will come in and sup with v. 20. if she continue lukewarm he will even spue out of his mouth v. 16. as tepida are vomitoria and that signifieth both a loathing aversation and an utter rejection for God forbid that the Holy one of Israel should Valefit Philosoph Sacra cap. 90. return to his vomit No he had rather have them quite cold than thus lukewarm v. 15. it being more dishonourable to him the key-cold never having been made partakers or sensible of his Divine Rayes which it seems had been darted on these lukewarm ones and had in some measure warmed them but yet so as that Either they never rose higher to be warm at heart indeed but stayed at an indifferency like Israel halting between two opinions and so never came up fully to him Or if sometimes more heated yet now grown cool again in their affections to him like the man in the law who after marriage found some blemish in his wife for which he less loved her Either Both of which are blasphemously derogatory and dishonourable to his infinite Divine excellency as though either he Were not incomparably good so as any thing else might come in competition with him and so they were in doubt whether they should not wrong themselves by accepting him Or that either since they knew him he was grown worse than he was or than they sometimes thought and therefore their affections grow cooler to him which is the next step to the going far from him and rejecting him as unworthy of them Jer. 2. 5 31. So justly provoking and therefore so highly displeasing is the want of zeal to God which inferreth the presence of it the more highly grateful to him and this the more in that it is so ungrateful to ungodly men nimis vehementes impetus odere cives Dogs will be sure to bark at those that pass by them with more speed than ordinary nor can wild beasts more indure the fire than a profane heart zeal in professors Their fervour doth inflame the others rage as much as the red cloath doth the Elephant At the first appearance of such a fire kindling tanquam ad commune incendium extinguendum they presently cry out with them Acts 21. 28. Men of Israel Help The whole Parish is called out as it were to quench a common scare-fire But by its being so displeasing to them you may well understand how pleasing it is to God for it cannot be bad that Nero dislikes and it 's best which he dislikes most And so from this and the former Considerations we may gather how truly valuable zeal in it self is that Paul might well put it into his inventory of those things which made him somebody in the World 2. Which leads to the second particular propounded that zeal in matters of Religion being of this remark we are naturally very subject so to please our selves in it as to think we are pleasing to God by it and so to rest in it and like the Idolater Isa 44. 16. merrily to say Aha I am warm I have seen the fire So our Paul some while pleased and satisfied himself in his fiery persecution of the Church when he verily thought that he ought to do Acts 26. 9. many things against the Name of Jesus as they who killed his servants thought that in so doing they did God service John 16. 2. Where there is warmth we conclude there is life and every feverish heat we take to be natural and kindly nay oftentimes the fire of hell for heavens warmth and influence And so not only with the Priests of Cybele and other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the Heathens the Sibyls the Jewish Zealots and many of our Enthusiasts but it may be many a hot-headed phansie yea or inflamed lust sometimes if but pretending to Religion is that which many please themselves in as the Coruscations of some Divine Flame and whilst in their cursings and blasphemings their tongues are set on James 3. 6. fire from hell they account them as representations of the Apostles fiery cloven tongues and as some place the element of fire next to Acts 2. 3. heaven so they in these fiery raptures conceit themselves with Elijah to be caught up to heaven in a fiery Chariot Some such self-pleasing 2. King 2. 11. dream I doubt our Paul formerly had when he was in the Paroxysm of his high fever and heats against the Church of Christ and that he merited much of his Countrymen the Jews yea of God himself for his great zeal of that Religion which he knew he had sometimes instituted But after he was once converted humbled and caught up into the third heaven he there learnt another lesson so that we find him here in the Text of another mind His zeal indeed was yet continued but now so turned out of the former Channel that That his former zeal he now finds instead of commending him to God had very much provoked him so that he accounts it loss and dung that he might gain Christ whom by it he had so fiercely persecuted which leads to The third thing propounded and principally intended That it is not even a Religious zeal that as to our acceptance with God we should please our selves with so as to rest in but we must renounce all confidence in it that we may win Christ and that upon several accounts For this zeal may be and often is 1. Ill pitched as to the object and so it 's fire but besides the hearth and so instead of promoting our peace and salvation may do a great deal of mischief both to our selves and others As 1. If it be about trifles or matters of less moment and so prove a blaze in the straw which oft sets the house on fire Such was the Pharisees zeal the heat whereof was spent and evaporated in tithing of mint anise and cumin the Papists in the quisquiliae Matth. 23. 23. and trash of their Ceremonies and much of many of ours in sorry minims and punctilioes in which we break our arm in throwing a feather with our whole strength as usually it falls out that what is wanting of the substantialness of the matter is made up by the impetuousness of our passion But would a wise man lay his whole weight on a rush or should the furnace be heated seven times hotter to burn a straw or dare we think God to be as unwise as we
that in the very forefront I light on is Aarons Frontlet in the Text. Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it like the ingraving of a signet sanctitas Jehovae or sanctum Domino Holiness to the Lord. For the literal sense as meant of Aaron I find no difficulty some would who doubt whether both words were ingraven on this golden plate or the word Jehova only But P. Fagius rightly concludes for both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holiness to the Lord both ingraven to let Aaron know what God was and what he should be especially in his holy Ministrations God was holy and he would have him so especially when he came before him For the mystical signification as applied to Christ the High-Priest 1 Pet. 1. 19. John 1. 29. of our profession it agrees fully That spotless Lamb took away the sins of the world who had none of his own so full of holiness he that on his very fore-head all might have read this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holiness to the Lord. For such an High-Priest it became us to have who was holy and harmless and separate from sinners Hebr. 7. 26. And therefore passing by both these the moral application of it especially to Ministers and partly to all Christians will be the subject of my present discourse Which that it may be more orderly give me leave in this Aarons Frontlet out of this and the adjacent verses to observe and handle these particulars 1. Quid what 's expressed and required and that 's Holiness 2. Vbi where it 's to be sought and seen on his very forehead and the forefront of his miter vers 37 38. 3. Quomodo how ingraven there with the ingraving of a signet 4. The Finis cui to whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all this to the Lord. 5. The Finis cujus for what cause that the peoples holy gifts might be accepted and the iniquity of them pardoned vers 38. And of these now briefly 1. The thing here ingraven on the Priest in the Law and required of the Preacher of the Gospel is especially and above all Holiness Not outward riches and greatness they to us but like wings A Sanctus Valerius in the Church of God is a better man than a Valerius Maximus to the Ostrich which she cannot fly with but only flutter and get the faster away By these we only get to outgo other men but by themselves they do not help us to fly up to heaven our selves or to carry others along with us No nor so much inward gifts of Learning and such like abilities though such polishing necessary to the Priest yet it 's not it but Holiness that 's here ingraven in his Crown Knowledge without Grace Learning in the head without Holiness in the forehead is but like a precious stone in a Toad's head or like flowers stuck about a dead body which will not fully keep it from smelling the less half by much of a Minister's accomplishment And therefore they that have it only at best are but like a ship ballasted only on one side that thereby sinks the sooner Or like David's messengers their 2 Sam. 10. priestly garment which should be talaris is cut off by the middle to their greater shame And yet well were it if many were not seen daily go so half naked and yet not ashamed of it The Mathematicians observe that a man that compasseth the earth his head goeth many thousand miles more than his feet but in ascent to heaven the feet would have the greater journey I so it is whilst we rather go about to compass the earth than to get up to heaven our heads outgo our feet our knowledge our practice but yet in the Church of God although there be sixty Queens and eighty Concubines and Virgins without number yet his Love and Dove is his undefiled one and she is but one Cant. 6. 8. And therefore I envy you not your sixty-Queens and eighty Concubines and Virgins without number your numerous numberless perfections of Arts and Tongues had you skill in as many Languages as ever Mithridates could speak or in as many Authors as Ptolomy's library could hold had you the life and strength of Paul or the eloquence of Apollo's preaching had you Chrysostom's tongue or Austin's pen had you all the perfections that could be named or thought of I should not be like profane Porphyrie who accounted it pity that such an accomplished man as Paul was should be cast away upon our Religion nor like profane parents in our days that think much to offer to the Lord a male any that have strength of body or mind but the halt and the blind the impotent of body and Mal. 1. it may be more in mind Cripples and blocks whom they know not what else to do with are they which they think fittest to bestow on the Ministry but cursed deceivers at length learn not to envy God your choisest jewels for the ornament of his Sanctuary for can they be better bestowed Much less brethren and Gospel-Bezaleels do I envy you your rarest endowments and perfections if you will please but with him to employ them in the helping up of Gods Sanctuary I envy you not all your such like Queens and Concubines and Virgins only upon this double condition first that you commit not folly with them and still that your undefiled one be your love and dove that whatever other engravings you have otherwhere about you yet that holiness be as here engraven on your crown on your heart and fore-head ingraven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Holiness to the Lord. Holiness But what is that In general a sequestring and setting either person or thing apart for God whether from common or profane use and in both respects be we holy that bear the vessels of the Lord Isa 52. 11. 1. We Ministers should be holy as separated to the Lord from worldly employments not as though I approved the slow-bellied Romish Monkery of our dayes or yet condemned the Monks of old for having honest callings to be employed in or least of all found fault with St. Paul for tent-making Acts 18. 3. and Working with his own hands 1 Cor. 4. 12. Idleness is unlawful in all And Pauls particular case to avoid scandal made his course in that kind both holy and commendable But yet this notwithstanding this first part of holiness required calls for 1. a sequestration from such homely and sordid imployments as will make our selves and Ministry contemptible St. Jerom saith that sacerdos in foro is as bad an eye-sore as Mercator in Templo both to be whipt out A Minister and a Market-man are not unisons It 's not spade or mattock but the sword of the spirit that must be seen in our hands which is that we should both work and fight with It had been shameful if true that which Litprandus avoucheth of the Bishops Apud Baron Anno 968. Num. 11. c. of
other disorder had brought him into some dangerous disease which yet through his skill and care and pains were now cured Friend let this fair scape be a fair warning to you that you never play the like wanton lest you come to be in a worse case and then meet not with so easie a Cure but it may prove to be utterly incurable The two things implied will afford two Observations and the two other injoyned will fitly serve for a double Application And the first Note from the first thing implied is this That Doct. 1 after healing Mercy we are in great danger without better care taken to sin again as before if not worse than ever For you may be assured that our Saviour's Caveat was no idle word Sin no more to this recovered sinner was a Watch word that spake his danger of a new Surprise An Item that told him that if he looked not to it he was likely to run into a further Arrear even after his old Debt was paid and he had a new Stock to set up with And to this purpose observe in this Instance these three particulars First That Christ contents not himself with his first healing Visit But seeth that he had need of a second meeting with to prevent an after-clap As the Apostles whom they at first converted they after visited and confirmed Acts 14. 21 22. 15. 32. 36. 41. Secondly And this after-meeting and second dose of Spiritual Physick he gave him in the Temple though he were then it's likely in a good mind and hopefully in a good way Thirdly And this Item and advice sin no more beset on both sides with very forcible Arguments to make it more effectual Before it you have Beneficium acceptum he is put in mind of the Benefit received to make his Ingenuity blush Behold thou art made whole sin no more After it is set Futurum judicium a worse mischief that 's likely to follow upon his second miscarriage that so he might tremble and fear and do no more so presumptuously Sin not lest a worse thing come unto thee All which three hold forth thus much to us 1. That after Christ hath in mercy visited us we have need that a second time he should meet with us As Manoah after the first message by the Angel that he should have a Child desired that he might come again the second time and tell them how they should order it Judg. 13. 8 12. After we are raised up and set on our Legs we have need to be taught how we should walk to prevent an after-stumble Psal 40. 2. After a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after a Cordial to recover from a former Qualm an Antidote to fortifie us against an after-Poyson 2. And this before we distemper our selves after our Recovery when in a most hopeful way to a perfect Cure Christ after our most comfortable up-risings need again visit us further to instruct and direct us though he find us in the Temple though in never so good a temper and posture 3. And then he had need deal more seriously with us as here by representing both the Mercies we have received and the return of Judgments which upon fresh miscarriages we may fear on every side to keep us in and all this because as we have it in the Doctrine we are then very subject to break out When God hath tied us with thickest Cords of Love then most petulantly to break asunder all Bonds of Obedience Thus not only Pharaoh upon every respite grows more hard and Tyre after seventy years Captivity returns to her former Hire Isa 23. 17. as though they had been delivered only to do all abominations Jer. 7. 10. The Mad-man unbound that he might be free to do the more Mischief But even Jacob's Sons when reconciled to their Brother are in danger to fall out among themselves Gen. 45. 24. Lot when snatcht as a brand out of Sodom's burning then scorcht with unnatural flames Gen. 19. David when at ease plays the wanton 2 Sam. 11. Vzziah when become strong grows stiff 2 Chron. 26. 16. And Hezekiah when miraculously recovered and some think of the Plague that swelling being down his Heart begins to swell he grows Proud and rendred not according to the Benefit done unto him 2 Chron. 32. 25. The story of Israel both under their Judges and Kings at large sheweth what a back-sliding People they were how ready then most to forget their Duty when God had remembred them in Mercy and as soon as ever delivered from their Enemies Tyranny to relapse into their former Idolatry After they had rest they did evil again before thee saith Nehemiah Chap. 9. 28. No sooner got out of Egypt and through the Sea but they fall a murmuring and tempting and going a Whoring from God in the Wilderness When brought back afterward from Babylon if not what returning to Idolatry yet what closing with Idolaters What strange Marriages what grasping of the World and robbing of God what building of their own Houses and neglecting of God's did the Prophets that then lived complain of And after all this is come upon us seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our Iniquities deserve and hast given us such a deliverance as this Should we again break thy Commandments Saith blushing Ezra Chap. 9. 13 14. That question saith they should not but implieth they did And after Christ though for a time in those best Times when the Churches had rest they were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied Acts 9. 31. yet afterwards when in Constantine's time Persecution ceased then Superstition and Ambition and Covetousness increased the Voice from Heaven then cried Venenum in Ecclesiam When the Enemy left off to wound from without the old Serpent began to poyson within which proved more dangerous In this Case 1. Former sins are wont to be relapsed into What this Man's sin in the Text was is not certain but though thirty eight years before committed yet our Saviour's Caveat to him intimates might long after be returned to with the Dog to his vomit before cast up and the Sow when washed to her wallowing again in the mire After one fit of the Gout and Stone the Man is very subject to be sick again of the same Disease as Israel upon every new deliverance to their old Idolatry the River damm'd up for a time but as soon as it hath its free course returns to its former Channel It 's the besotted Drunkard's Catch VVhen I shall awake I will seek it yet again Prov. 23. 35. As bad Ground when well manured brings forth the same Weeds but more rank than formerly and it may be some new ones beside For 2. So secondly as old sins are usually returned to so oft-times new ones are de novo fallen into Nadab and Abihu when newly put into their Office offer
The Scripture saith so and we by too sad and frequent Experience find it so On Gods part with whom no Evil dwells 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Bazil speaks Smoak and ill Savours drive not Doves and Bees more away than our lothsome Pollutions do the Holy God In Scripture we find that it makes him forsake Jer. 23. 33. and depart from us Hos 9. 12. even quite cuts off his Soul from us Luxata est anima mea a te Jer. 6. 8. Insomuch that the Holy Ghost makes account that whilst we go on in our sins it 's our meaning and intention at least Intentio operis if not operantis that we should have God gone from us according to that Ezek. 8. 6. Son of Man seest thou the Abominations that the House of Israel committeth that I should go far from my Sanctuary As he plainly saith that he would have that Guest gone who entertaineth him with that which he knoweth his Stomach riseth at only to look on So blessed a Guest is God that he thinks he deserves a better Welcome and therefore makes haste away from such an unkind Entertainment That for his part And for ours it makes the Estrangement mutual as God saith Zech. 11. 8. My Soul loathed them and their Soul also abhorred me Sets us as far from God as it doth God from us For Instance it makes us 1. Unfit that we may not Unfit for the Begger with his Rags and Filth to press into a King's Presence-Chamber But more unfit for the more polluted Soul to come near before those purer Eyes that cannot endure to look on such Filthiness A Miriam if leprous her Father spits in her face and thrusts her out of the Camp Numb 12. 14. We cannot stand before thee because of this Ezra 9. 15. 2. Guilty that we dare not draw near Makes Adam hide himself from God in the Bushes as an unhappy Child when in fault from his angry Father's presence 3. Weak lame and blind nay quite out dead that we cannot And therefore they that were dead in Trespasses and Sins must be quickened Ephes 2. 1. If ever they that were afar off come to be made nigh by the Blood of Christ ver 13. 4. Peevish and froward that we will not We are Lords we will come no more at thee Jer. 2. 31. And therefore our Saviour imputes it to the Jews perverse Will that they do not come unto him that they might have life John 5. 40. There is not more in God that by reason of our sin we fear than what naturally we dislike and hate we fear his Power and Wrath and that makes us run from him We loath his Holiness and Righteousness and commanding Authority and that makes us more averse and sets us off further from him Great Sins like violent Blasts blow us far from God on the sudden and lesser sins by little and little work us off more insensibly as it is with a Ship whose fest is loosed every Wave puts off a little more from the Shore till it hath quite lost the sight of Land and is at last sunk in the depth of the Sea * With God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zech. 13. 1. A defiled Soul is like a Woman put away for her uncleanness or as a Man thrust out of the Camp for his Leprosie If ever therefore we would indeed draw near to God we must put away a perverse Lip Prov. 4. 24. for God cannot endure to come near so stinking a Breath And listen to that Counsel which Zophar gives to Job Chap. 11. 14. If iniquity be in thy hand put it far away and say unto it Get thee hence as it is Isa 30. 22. or as 2 Sam. 20. 20. Far be it far be it from me The Loadstone draws not the Iron when rusty nor were the Virgins admitted to Ahasuerus his Company till after a twelve-months perfuming and purifying Esther 2. 12. The like course God prescribes for our nearer approaches So the Apostle Jam. 4. 8. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you But mark what follows Cleanse your hands and purifie your hearts Till then God stands off at a distance from the lothsom sinner Isa 1. 10 to 16. But do but wash and make you clean and then come now and let us reason together v. 16 18. If we would draw near to God we must leave our sins behind us But for positive means and helps 2 Positive 1. There is a drawing near to God in Place and Office to Magistrates Jer. 30. 21. and so Ministers Numb 16. 9. are said to come near to God as menial Servants are near to a King who daily stand before him and minister unto him But I insist not on this only let me hence take occasion to mind such whom it concerns as of their Advantage so of their Engagement that Ministers and Scholars who by their Calling and Employment have the honour and benefit of a nearer standing to God would by it labour for the happiness of a saving Approach that they never make good that blunt if not profane saying The nearer the Church the further from God that the more like to God we are in Knowledg we come not nearer to the Devil in Malice and Wickedness The Eye in Heaven and the Heart in Hell what a real Soloecism They of old were wont to sacrifice in their high Places as taking the advantage of the Ground to be nearer Heaven It were well that from our higher standing our Souls could take a better rise for an higher flight to get the nearer to God It 's good not more profitable than seemly for me a Minister a Scholar to draw near to God 2. There is also a drawing near to God in Profession according to that Jer. 12. 2. Thou art near in their Mouth but far from their Reins Pity that the Heart should be so far from the Tongue and yet farther from God Christ desireth to lie next the Heart though he would also have the Mouth kiss him in an outward Profession 3. There is also a drawing near to God in his Ordinances Psal 65. 4. 2 Chron. 29. 31. Mihi vero accedere ad cultum Dei bonum est so the Chaldee They are the Bed of Love it was called the Ark of his Presence Israel met with him at the door of the Tabernacle and he spake with them from the Mercy-Seat David accounts himself driven from God when banished from his Courts and therefore he faints and longs for them and him together Psal 84. 2. Nor is God more absent now from Gospel Ordinances in which Christ and his Spirit are more fully and comfortably present Christ is there present in the midst of his Servants and the happy Soul that finds there the powerful impressions of God upon it reports that he is amongst them of a truth 1 Cor. 14. 25. As on the contrary the woful experience of our
on the tops of Paris or Ocila First the Extremities of the Church may be so great that nothing under Heaven or less than God can rescue it Experience proves it is so 2. The good pleasure of God is such that on purpose he will have it so As for Instance For Time though Christ's Disciples be in a Tempest yet he Mat. 14. 25. stayeth till the fourth and last Watch that they are toiled out with Rowing and faint with Waiting that so he may say It Mark 6. 48. is I. For Pressure and Danger not till the Case be in a manner desperate the Ship now covered with Waves and now Conclamatum est when they cry out Lord save us we perish or as the Church Lam. 3. 54. Waters flowed over mine Head then I said I am cut off For Persons most weak and helpless He is the Orphan's Father and the Widow's Judg Psal 68. 5. That is said with an Emphasis Judg. 5. 11. The Righteous Acts of the Lord towards the Inhabitants of his Villages in Israel They most subject to be made a Prey Ezek. 38. 11. If he be a Safeguard it 's especially to his poor open unfenced Villages And there if his Spouse be a Flower it 's not one that 's planted and preserved in the Garden by Man's care but Ego sum flos campi Lilium convallium Cant. 2. 1. the Flower of the Field and the Lilly of the Valleys exposed to every Hand to pluck and every Foot to tread on all to make out the truth in hand Quod non humanâ industriâ sed solâ Divinà benignitate caeli influentiâ floreat as Pineda observes They say It 's a Royalty at Sea to joyn with In Job 12. 4. the weakest I am sure it 's the Royal Bounty of Heaven that God chuseth to help the weakest And that in the last place for present Condition when they are at the weakest When he seeth their power gone and there is none shut up or left Deut. 32. 36. When the Physicians had drained the Woman's Purse and not stopped her bloody Issue Mark 5. 26. and now given her over as a desperate Patient and a Beggar together then is she fittest to be our Saviour's Cure And when the Disciples themselves could not cast out the Devil then bring him to me saith Christ Mat. 17. 17. Who meeteth with the Man when the Jews had cast him out John 9. 35. Takes up David when Father and Mother had cast him off Psal 27. 10. is a Strength to the Poor and Needy but it 's added and that in his distress A Refuge from the Storm but then especially when the Blast of the terrible ones is as a Storm against the Wall Isa 25. 4. That heals Simon Peter's Wive's Mother in the Paroxism of a Fever and height of a Fit Cum duplicantur lateres c. Makes Day break a little after it hath been darkest and brings to an happy Birth by the sharpest Throw In a word that takes Extremities for fittest Opportunities for him to come in with most seasonable Mercies and Deliverances that it may be said What hath God wrought Numb 23. 23. That it may be proclaimed to all that Salvation is of the Lord when his blessing is upon his People that when none else can the Lord Jehovah Psal 3. ult in the Text both can and will save his People command and rather than fail as it becomes a Jehovah create deliverance And all this 1. To stamp an Impress of spiritual and eternal Salvation even Vse on our Temporal deliverances that as it 's the same Saviour and saving Love that effects both so in the one we may have a Glimps Representation and Specimen of the other And hence thou shalt be put into such Circumstances and Exigences that thou shalt see plainly that it was God only that saved thy Body or outward Estate the more to mind thee that it was he only that saved thy Soul And if my case sometimes were such that when all others gave me over he himself saved me from Sickness and Death then it was none but He alone that saved me from Sin and Hell that Christ only trod the Winepress alone and there was none with him and that when he looked and there was none to help and wondered that there was none to uphold then his own Arm brought Salvation to us And when Levite and Priest left us then our good Samaritan relieved us Isa 63. 3 5. 2. And therefore secondly To let us know how for both Salvations we are more beholden to one God than all the World besides when in our greatest straits it's He always especially and at sometimes only saves us Others never can without him But he often-times doth without them Be we never so much beholden to other Friends and Creatures for greatest Deliverances yet then even in and for them we are infinitely more beholden to God If the Inhabitants of Jerusalem be my strength it 's in the Lord of Hosts their God Zech. 12. 5. Though others may be Instruments yet he only is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 5. 9. the Author of Salvation And therefore the Sword of the Lord and of Gideon Judg. 7. 20. is but like Caesare Bibulo Consulibus God is the Figure and Gideon is but the Cypher The one but the Sword the other the Arm that smites with it My Physician may Curare valetudinem but it 's my God that works the Cure Counsellers may advise for us and Souldiers may fight for us but it 's God that saves us As they confess We have wrought no Deliverance in the Earth but thy dead Men shall live Isa 26. 18 19. We may Sow and Plant but Heaven's Shine and Showers give the increase For else if the Heaven be Brass the Earth will be Iron When others are and do most Christ even then is All in all Col. 3. 11. and if he be All then all without him are just nothing When others do most it 's all in and from God and He then doth more But sometimes it must needs be God's Salvation only and he do all because all else are and can do nothing When I am in close Prison the best Friend cannot come when in a Pest-House he dare not when on a Death-Bed and I am bidding good night and adieu to all my Physician gives me over and some Friends take leave of me others it may be stand by me and weep over me but cannot help me Oh now none but Christ none but Christ It 's none else but the Living God alone who in that dying Hour can relieve me In a word think what is possible and withal what is certain It is possible that in a more violent way the Man may be stript as naked as ever Job was of all his outward Estate That the Town or City may be so straitly round about begirt that none may come in or go out and only Restat iter caelo
The whole Land as God sometimes Threatens in the Prophets may come to its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be utterly emptied Isa 24. 1 2. Jer. 9. 10 11. Nauclerus and spoiled emptied of Man Woman and Child as Rome was sometimes by Totilas or as the Prophet threatens Israel no Man to pass through no Voice of the Cattel heard Both Fowls of the Heaven and the Beasts fled Nothing of all that we had to comfort us left But Zion left as a Cottage in a Vineyard Isa 1. 8. and a Lodg in a Garden of Cucumbers all alone forlorn and desolate Like a lone Lamb in a waste Wilderness Hos 4. 16. as a Beacon on the top of a Mountain and as an Ensign on a Hill Isa 30. 17. This possibly I do not say probably may be And on the other side in an ordinary natural Course it 's certain these outward Supports and Comforts will not abide by us always The Flower will fade the Shadow will decline and the Sun set When we are now to leave the World if not before Friends Estates Honours Health Life it self will leave us It 's God and his Salvation only that must then relieve us And is not the good Samaritan then the Neighbour that comes in to us when Priest and Levite pass away from us And am not I more beholden to God than all the World who then stands by me and saves me when all the best Comforts and Confidences I have in the World have cast me off and left me 3. And as upon this account we are more beholden to God than all the World so truly upon it too we owe more to Him than to all the World besides More Fear and Love and Service and Praise even our whole selves to God only who whether with or without any else is our alone Saviour It 's all Reason and Self-love would teach us it to be fearful Fear to offend and careful to please him at all times who sometime or other may be able to pleasure us when none else can That Physician of all others I should be most loth to displease who only can cure that sore Disease that I am subject to and should I not then be much more afraid to offend God who alone can be my help in all these Maladies which none else can Heal or at least without him are Physicians of no value It 's not wisdom to provoke a Man when we know not how soon we may be in his Lurch and lie at his Mercy Friend how safe soever thy present Condition is yet at best thou art always in Misericordia Domini especially in some more eminent dangers it 's manifest that God only can or doth help thee and how then do the Tyrians crouch to an offended Herod when their Countrey is nourished by his And how do they cry Abrek bow the Knee before Joseph when without him none might lift up Hand or Foot in all Egypt Gen. 41. 43 44. To be sure there 's none in all the World that can lift up either Hand to desend us or Foot to make a step to relieve us without our Joseph our Jesus and help from him And therefore how should we bend the knees of our very Souls to him without least lifting up of Heel or Head against him O take heed of sinning with the Prodigal against Heaven for such Droughts may soon be which may quite dry up all Springs of Comfort that lie here in the Earth especially in the Land of Israel which hath few such as Hierom saith and drinks of the Rain of Heaven depends more of Heaven's Showrs than these lower earthly Springs as Moses tells us Deut. 11. 10 11. If Heaven therefore being angry should shut up its Treasures from us in Samnio Samnium Canaan would not be it self a Land flowing with Milk and Hony but as now it is a barren and burnt Wilderness And therefore fear we God much on whom we depend so much for safety and deliverance always chiefly and principally and at some times and in some cases only And let this also perswade us to love him above all who then sticks to us when all else fail us At my first Answer saith Love Psal 18. 1 2. Paul no Man stood with me but all forsook me notwithstanding the Lord stood with me 2 Tim. 4. 16 17. Such failing Brooks are other best Friends Job 6. who either through weakness or falseness then do least when we need and expect most Sub cultro liquit as the Proverb is But should not our hearts then lie close to the Fountain-head of Living-Waters which as those perennes Fontes retain an equal fulness in the driest Summer and in the wettest Winter and the only difference is that in the greatest heat they are coolest and so most refreshing Let Jacob have Rachel's love and self who rolls away the Stone for her Gen. 29. 10. that none other can And let the lost Prodigal think at last of returning home to a Father who will allow Childrens Bread when Luke 15. others cannot afford Husks With Men it 's equal that they should have most of our love whose bounty and kindness we most taste of And therefore it 's all reason that we should love God with all our Heart and Soul because he only in all our straits is our All-sufficient Saviour And upon that ground praise him too for whatever Salvation Praise and Deliverance we are at any time blest with Instruments may have their due but not so as to rob God of his And if Victories gained by the Souldiers valour be usually ascribed to the General as matter of his praise 2 Sam. 21. 22. who it may be only gave direction and sometimes not that how should the Captain of our Salvation Cui nihil ex istâ lande Centurio nihil praefectus nihil cohors c. who either immediately without the subserviency of any Instruments creates Salvation Isa 4. 5. or when Instruments do most he not only directs but assists and commands Deliverance Psal 44. 4. 71. 3. How should he that is the God of our Life Psal 42. 8. and the God of our Mercy Psal 59. 17. be the God of our Praise Psal 109. 1. It 's not the line cast out that saved thee from drowning but the friendly hand that cast it out and by it drew thee out of the deep Waters Isa 38. 17 19 20. Psal 44. 3. It 's not thy Meat that feeds thee nor thy Physick that cures thee nor thine own Sword or the greatest Champion's on Earth that defends thee It 's thy God that either with or without all these saveth thee And therefore what they maliciously said to the blind Man recovered against Christ Give God the praise for we know that this Man is a Sinner John 9. 24. Say we humbly and thankfully of and to Christ Lord we give thee the praise of these Salvations and Deliverances for these means which we
be lost they are lost for ever 1 Sam 9. 3 20. Psal 119 ult 1 Pet. 2. 25. Mat. 18. 11. Luke 14. 4 5. Saul's lost Asses may be again found and so the lost Sheep and such were the best of us in this Life may be also but Souls lost at Death will never be able afterward to find the way to Life nor will all the riches of the World be able to purchase then a Guide to it Indeed in the right improving of them for God and the Poor thou mayst be laying a good foundation as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6. 18 19. against time to come that when Death comes thou mayst lay hold of everlasting Life but the bare enjoying of them though it may set thee on higher ground amongst Men here below yet it will never be able to lift thee up to God's favour in Life or to Heaven in Death The gain of these things is the Devil's Bait and therefore he cast it out as his last device to take our Saviour with All this will I give thee c. Matth. 4. 9. and with which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he enticeth Men to the loss of James 1. 14. their Souls and so the same Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both Gain and Craft or Deceit because by gain he craftily deceives Men to their perdition And so his prime Scholar Simon Magus because as Solomon saith Mony answereth all Eccles 10. 16. Acts 8. 19. things would be chaffering with it for Spirituals but Peter gave him his Answer that his Mony was not current in God's Market but bade it perish with him so that it seems Ver. 20. he might perish for all it with it and if gain be all his Godliness all that his gain will be found to be loss at his 1 Tim. 6. 5. last reckoning and then the Covetous who are most greedy of gain will be greatest losers as the Prophet pronounceth a Woe against such Hab. 2. 9. 3. Nor will the bare enjoying of outward Ordinances though more gainful make Death our gain which yet Men are too ready to phansy and promise to themselves Now know I saith Micah that the Lord will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest Judg. 17. 13. and it is a Plea which some even at Death and Judgment will knock boldly at the Gate of Heaven with to have it opened to them We have eaten and drank in thy presence and thou hast taught in our Streets Luke 13. 26. And to this day it 's a very short cut that some are ready to make from a Death-bed to Heaven they have been Baptized and by it Original sin was taken away from them and they have gone to Church to Prayer Sermon and Sacrament and if then at the point of Death they may have their actual sins taken off by Absolution and receive the Sacrament upon it for confirmation of it they make no question but they shall go bolt right up to Heaven and whatever their lives be Death will be their gain without all peradventure But Friend be not too hasty to reckon without your Host sit down a little and think seriously of these Scriptures Bodily exercise profiteth little 1 Tim. 4. 8. It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6. 63. Circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the Law but if thou beest a breaker of the Law thy Circumcision is made uncircumcision Rom. 2. 25. It 's not the bare having them but profiting by them in one sense if either in Life or Death thou wouldst be profited by them in another Indeed we read Rom. 3. 1 2. What advantage hath the Jew or what profit is there of Circumcision Much every way and chiefly because unto them were committed the Oracles of God saith Paul and so say I great is the gain that in Life and Death we get by them if we in Life gain saving-Grace and Souls-advantage by them but they will not be so if we live wickedly or but unfruitfully under them and so have our condemnation aggravated by them as some would gather out of Revel 14. those that will not be gathered in Grotius the Gospel's Harvest v. 15 16. will be pressed in the Vintage of God's Judgments v. 17 18. 4. Nor will outward Profession and a fair shew under those Ordinances which too many rest in and hope to gain Heaven by accrue to their advantage at Death and their last account then Paul could say Though I speak with the Tongues of Men and Angels and though I have the gift of Prophesy and Faith to remove Mountains and bestow all my goods on the Poor and have not true Charity it profiteth me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 1 2. And more near to my purpose that 's a sad question Job 27. 8. What is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained this and that and the repute with Men with Christians of more than ordinary proficiency in Grace and Holiness when God takes away his Soul Man thou wilt then be stript for we shall all be judged naked and then as Solomon saith in another case Prov. 23. 8. The Morsel thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words the hid corruption of thy Heart will then up and out to the loathing of both thy self and others and all those sweet words and pretences by which thou didst impose upon others and endeavouredst upon God also will be all lost and thou with them when thou shalt find that of the Apostle Rom. 2. 28 29. made good He is not a Jew who is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter whose praise is not of Men but of God Ravennae extat emblema ad picturam Phaenicis Securus moritur qui scit se morte renasci Mors ea non dici sed nova vita potest Expunctâ hâc morte ad immortalitatem venimus Cyprian de mortalitate S. 2. FINIS There are several literal Mistakes and some mispointings in the Hebrew words which the Candid and Learned Reader is desired to amend The other most material here follow PAge 3. Line 13. Read by p. 4. l. 3. r. notional p. 9. in the margent r. John the most Eagle-eyed Evangelist p. 21. l. 32. r. Michal p. 24. l. 8. dele self after him p. 32. l. 31. r. add some p. 81. l. ult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 88. l. 11. r. Josh 4. 18. p. 91. l. 17. r. lumber p. 112. marg r. legis sectam p. 122. l. 8. r. in Christ p. 182. l. 35. for God himself r. Godliness p. 183. l. 36. for cross r. crasse p. 224. l. 18. r. meant p. 230. l. 8. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 232. l. 9. r. adore him for p. 233. l. 13. r. could bestow p. 239. l. 38. for crimes r. aimes p. 247. l. 4. r. is terminus p. 378. l. 1. r. quid p. 403. l. 15. r. this p. 415. l. 8. dele why p. 441. l. 23. r. faedus p. 462. l. ult 463. l. 1. r. none before the guide p. 469. l. 30. r. persons p. 471. l. 15. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 474. l. 21. r. Anaxagoras p. 478. l. 35. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 489. l. 20. r. Rereward p. 511. marg l. 21. r. prima q. 105. p. 537. l. ult r. conflatus à Vulcano p. 538. l. 2. r. firmer p. 542. l. 34. r. there by p. 560. l. 23. r. main chance p. 561. l. 21. r. left p. 564. l. 1. after small insert But the King p. 566. l. 27. r. Abject l. 26. r. rescued p. 594. l. 35. r. the Psalmist saith p. 614. l. 25. after come add when it doth come l. 37. r. enjoying p. 652. l. ult dele of it p. 661. l. 26. r. Jesuates p. 666. l. 24. r. move p. 668. l. 12. after Gen. 30. 29. add But a Christian should say thus with himself p. 672. l. 8. r. inquam p. 678. l. 15. r. privatively p. 686. l. 12 for say r. answer P. 692. l. 31. r. enow