his Office His name Paul His Office an Apostle This is further amplified 1. From the Authour of his Office Jesus Christ Jesus because of the Beneficium conveyed to us by him Christ because of the Officium undertaken by him 2. From the Manner how or impulsive Cause By the will of God In the Inscription there is also mention of a Companion or Person conjoyned with Paul not to dictate this Epistle but as an approver of it who is described from his name Timothy and from his relation a Brother In the next place we have the Subject to whom this Epistle is directed and that is either more special the Church of God described by its local situation at Corinth Or else more generally with the place where they live All the Saints which are in all Achaia The Verse divided into these parts will afford several Observations And 1. Let us consider the Author instrumental for the Spirit of God is the principal described by his name Paul and in that briefly consider his Name and his Person what he was His name is Paul so constantly in his Epistles but in the History of his life in the Acts of the Apostles he was constantly called Saul till Chap. 13. In the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now concerning his name the conjectures of learned men are divers Beza thinketh Saul and Paul to be the same name with a different dialect Others say he had two names and they are different Chrysostom thinketh Christ did in an immediate manner give him this name thereby making Paul his servant in a peculiar manner Imposition of names being a demonstration of dominion Thus he altered Abrahams and Jacobs names Others they say it was in an humane way he was named Paul either because of the conversion of Sergius Paulus mentioned Acts 13. the Proconsul who out of indeared affection to Paul would have him called by his name or as Austin thinketh Paul assumed it himself as signifying one that is little to shew his modesty he calling himself the least of all the Apostles But Scâ—ligers conjecture seemeth most probable That when the Jews were brought in subjection to the Romans they had commonly two names one of their own Nation and another Roman to ingratiate themselves and also for more familiar converse and therefore Saul is not called Paul till upon the setting him apart to preach unto the Gentiles But this is not so great a matter as the consideration of his person and his life what he was and by the history of his life which he himself also makes often mention of he was a cruel and bloudy persecutor of the Church of Christ being mad against the Saints and haling them before the high Priest never satisfying his wolvish disposition against the sheep of Christ At last he is converted in a miraculous and wonderfull way and of a persecutor made an eminent Apostle of Jesus Christ So that we may with greater wonder say Is Paul amongst the Apostles then they did once Is Saul amongst the Prophets Here is a wolf made a lamb a vulture become a dove a Bramble made a Mirtle-tree This work of Gods grace in making such a change upon Paul may justly be esteemed as wonderfull a work as those miracles that were wrought upon mens bodies though it were the resurrection from the dead Observe That God may and doth sometimes take of the greatest sinners and make them eminent instruments of his glory The worst of men sometimes his grace maketh to be the best of men we need go no further than these very Corinthians to whom Paul writeth Acts 18. God tells Paul He had much people in that City and yet of all the places in the world you would think the preaching of the Gospel would never have done good there but God even in this wilderness did make to himself a pleasant garden Paul might have wrote this Paul once the greatest of sinners to the Corinthians the greatest of sinners To open this let us take notice of Paul his sinnes his work of grace and his serviceableness after his conversion For his sins how great they were he himself doth aggravate them sufficiently insomuch that he saith he was the chiefest of all sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. In what sense Paul could say this truly is disputed for it 's plain he was not a greater sinner than such who sinned the sin against the holy Ghost Some therefore restrain it to converted sinners as if Paul meant he was the greatest sinner that ever was converted Others understand it thus that he was in the number of the greatest one of the chiefest and that seemeth most genuine He was a blasphemer a persecuter the blood sighes and groans of many Christians would witness against him And although he saith he did this in ignorance yet that did not excuse him for he confesseth himself a blasphemer and a persecuter for all that for this ignorance was vincible it was affected and wilfull he had means to the contrary Behold then here a worse sinner than Mary Magdalen out of whom seven Devils were cast for her sinnes were carnal and bodily but Paul's sinnes were spiritual and seated principally in his soul so that as the Devils are spiritual wickednesses thus was Paul and because he was thus corrupted in his spirit his disease was the more incurable For If the eye be dark how great is that darkness The prophane gross sinner he is easily convinced he is presently apprehensive of his evil but where sinfullness hath possessed the vital parts of the soul the mind and the heart what hope can remain for such an one This made our Saviour say The Publicans and Harlots entered the Kingdom of Heaven above the Pharisees Now Paul he was a Pharisee and most zealous above others for the tradition of his fathers and therefore thought his wilde zeal to be true love to God A man then so great a sinner and yet so self-confident that he had all the disadvantages in the world yet is converted and that when he had for some while lived in such a way being habituated and rooted in it For as some think he was converted about the thirtieth year of his age 2. The work of grace was admirable and wonderfull Twice the Apostle himself relateth it while he was in the way breathing out threatnings to the Church of God even in this his wicked posture He was striken to the ground and a glorious light shone round about him That as they say of some lightning it melteth the sword while it doth not hurt the scabbard at all Thus Paul's body not being any way hurt in this miraculous Vision his soul was wonderfully melted and changed insomuch that he crieth out Lord what wilt thou have me to do This instance of Paul's conversion is an hammer to beat down the Arminian Doctrine here they labour and sweat to give a clear answer Some
ordinary Pastours succeed the Apostles in what they had as ordinary viz. to preach the Word and dispense the Sacraments Lastly Though thus admirably qualified yet they did not convert all before them But many resisted their Doctrine many grew enemies and opposite to them Insomuch that all but John were put to violent deaths It 's then no wonder if ordinary Pastors do not reform a whole Congregation if they be hated and opposed for can they expect to be better than the Apostles Do not then think with your selves if we had such as the Apostles to preach to us immediately called of God and that could confirme their Doctrine by miracles then we would presently submit This is but deceit and hypocrisie And certainly though the Apostles be taken from us yet we have their Doctrine Paul speaketh by his Epistles to us still We need not with Austin wish to hear Paul preaching SERM. V. The Divine Call of Church-Officers is clearly to be knowne and faithfully to be improved What advantages will follow upon a true Call both to the Officers themselves and the People 2 COR. 1. 1. Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ c. VVE have considered Paul under the second adjunct attributed to him viz. his Apostleship Paul an Apostle whereupon we treated on the Office of the Apostles We proceed to a second Observation For whereas Paul doth therefore mention his Call to that glorious Office thereby to be received with greater reverence and authority as also to encourage himself against those false Apostles who used their utmost endeavour to bring him into reproach with the Corinthians We may thence observe this That it is of great consequence both to the Ministers of God and the people to be fully informed of that Divine Call which the Officers of the Church have towards them That they who preach may be able to say We come in the Name of the Lord to you It is not we that have obtruded our selves but God that hath invested us with this Office over you And they also who hear may say We esteem of you as the stewards of God we receive you as Embassadors from the Lord to us To pursue this first Consider that there are many large disputes both in old and later writers about the Call of Church-officers As the truth it self is subject to many difficulties So the perverse disputes of men have made it more intricate and intangled onely this we may observe That the several parties which are in Religion that hold any Ministry or such an Office at all and that by Divine Institution for some deny such an Institution they still monopolize and appropriate the Call to themselves with them onely is the true Church with them only are the true Officers of the Church And no doubt that way of Religion which can say with them only is the true Call and the true Church-officers and the right administration of Ordinances doth infinitely excell all other waies For Gods promise and success doth accompany only his own Officers and his own Ordinances As the people of God will not hear a stranger but flee from him so neither will God go along with such strangers It 's only to his Apostles and their Successours that he promiseth to be with to the end of the world Therefore that Church who can upon just grounds say that with us are the true Officers with us are Christs institutions punctually observed no doubt but with them is Christ present and with them is the Kingdom of Heaven This was the great advantage Abijah pleaded in his Remonstrance against Jeroboam who had devised a new Ministry and a new worship 2 Chron. 13. 9 10 11. Where he pleads That in Jerusalem was the true succession of Priests and there was the charge of God kept and that therefore God himself was with them To have therefore a true Call is of so great concernment that all pretend to it The Papist chargeth the Protestant That their Ministers have no true Call The Protestant returneth the same charge to them The Brownist he saith neither Papist nor Protestant have true Calls Yea and the Protestants themselves because of their different opinions in Church-Government have also different opinions about the Call of Church-officers So that it being of such consequence no wonder if the Devil keep up this controveesie as much as may be in the Church especially if he pursue this designe to make the world believe That the faithfull Ministers of God have no true Call for this is to strike at the very root of all Hence it is also That in the several ages of the Church there have been false Prophets and false Apostles Yea our Saviour Mat. 26. saith There will be also false Christs and the Apostle saith The Devil transformeth himself into an angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. But my intent is not at this time to dispute the Nature of a Ministers Call and how you may discern it from false Calls when you may conclude the Minister you live under hath a true Call For all this will be more properly handled towards the the end of this Epistle when the Apostle is compelled to plead his Call against those that questioned it In the second place It 's not enough to plead a Call and that a true one unless there be also a faithfull improving of it unless the Office be executed according to the institution of it Paul doth not glory in the meer Title and Office of an Apostleship but supposeth also his faithfull dispensation of it Yea he was so carefull herein that he professeth He knew nothing by himself viz. of negligent and ill administration in this Office 1 Cor. 4. 2. Yea he saith That he kept his body lest while he preached to others he himself should become a reprobate 1 Cor. 9. 27. Judas was an Apostle yet he had little cause to boast in that Office seeing he was a Devil at the same time Grant therefore that some may make it clear that they have a Call from God yet if they are not faithfull and diligent therein the greater will be their condemnation be Suppose the Pope could prove which yet he can never do that he doth succeed Peter and that in Universal Jurisdiction yet if he did not succeed likewise Peter in his Doctrine in his diligence and life he were inexcusable and well did the Painter draw Peter with too red a colour as blushing at the enormities of his Successours So that two things go to make a compleat Officer in the Church his Divine Call and his faithfull administration thereof and this later is necessary because without diligence therein he cannot expect that promise and assistance of God which otherwise would be communicated unto him These things premised let us consider what are the great practical concernments which will follow those who have a true Call of God And First For the Officers themselves there are these encouragements 1.
as David when banished from the publick Ordinances lamented it more than banishment from his own house and land and native countrey Thus they cryed out with him As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so pant our souls after thee O God You see then it 's a duty to be of a Church Hence because a Church is a company we are diligently to attend to what is our duty as we are a Church and this you had need hear of often For you must know you are under a two-fold consideration One Absolute as a private and single person and so you have several duties to attend unto 2. Relative as you are a member of a Church or part of such a Society and so there are choice and special duties Your solemn Church-duties such as hearing praying and all other publick worship are to be preferred above all private He can never be a good Christian that is not a good member of that Church he is of As in Politicks it's acknowledged he cannot be bonus vir which is not bonus civis not a good man that is not a good Citizen Now certainly here is a wonderfull neglect and general fault in all our Congregations we attend not to our Church-duties to our Church-communion what God doth require of us as a Society as a spiritual Company there would not be that neglecting of the Assemblies those wicked and ungodly meetings to be drunk to be carnally merry and jolly which are directly contrary to Church-meetings Nothing doth so resemble Heaven as the Church Assemblies spiritually performed and to such meetings God hath promised his more peculiar presence and assistance But of this more in its time In the next place there is added in the Doctrinal Description That it is a Company of persons called of God by the preaching of the Word Wherein are considerable the Efficient Cause and the Instrumental The Efficient is God Called by God And first In that they are said to be called by God This implieth these things 1. That it 's the meer goodness and grace of God that makes a people to be a Church Therefore they are thus named Ecclesia The Grecians called their Assemblies so because of some humane Authority gathering them together but the people of God are called a Church because God calls them So that as there is a difference between a garden and a wilderness the one is naturally so but the other is planted by art and industry nature doth not of it self especially since mans fall bring forth gardens and choice flowers but there is great art and culture required thereunto Thus it is with the Church men are made the Church by Gods grace but they are the world of themselves The world and the Church are two opposites God makes the one and is present in a special manner there but sinne and Satan make and rule in the other When the Psalmist said It is he that hath made us not we our selves we are the sheep of his pasture Calvin understands it of their Church making it was the goodness and power of God that made them so Hence it is that it is often compared to and called the Kingdom of Heaven because it's original is from Heaven and their Laws and Ordinances are heavenly Thus you see to be made a Church is not by our humane will and power as men make themselves Cities and Corporations but by a special grace of God 2. When therefore we are said to be called by God that doth necessarily suppose a terminus from which we are called It 's a company of persons called out from the world wherein once they were Hence the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. doth oppose the world and the Church together and the world is said to be without God then when he gathers a Church He calls them out of the world as Lot was called out of Sodom which was ready to be destroyed with fire and brimstone or as a man is called out from an house that is ready to fall into its fulnes and this it is that makes it to be such an admirable priviledge and blessedness to be of the Church For the world is sure to perish is sure to be damned there is no abiding therein as if an Israelite had continued in an Aegyptians house when the destroying Angel passed by he was sure to be killed Thus there is no way but of damnation in the world without this Ark of the Church every one must necessarily perish But this is that which should make all our hearts ake and tremble at to consider That though the Church be called out of the world yet it 's almost degenerated into the world again Look over the face and conversation of all Churches Are they not become the world Is not a garden made a wilderness Is not the lusts the prophaneness the ignorance the impieties that are in the world to be found in the Church like wise And what hath been the sad occasion of so many to say Our Congregations are no Churches that a man cannot with a good conscience stay amongst you or have communion with you Is it not because of the universalimpiety they see amongst us As if the Church of God which is like the Ark in other things were in this also that all kind of things unclean as well as clean swine as well as sheep vultures as well as doves were to be taken into it We see as it hath been Gods work to turn the world into Churches so it hath been the Devils work to turn the Churches into the world again But wo be to the wicked man that is so in the Church of God God will be sure to punish you A nettle or weed in the garden is sure to be plucked up whereas in the wilderness it may grow and never be medled with SERM XIII Concerning the Efficient Instrumental Formal and Final Cause of a Church 2 COR. 1. 1. To the Church at Corinth VVE are describing the nature of a particular visible Church and in that have discussed the Efficient Cause with the manner of his efficiency expressed in those words Called of God what is implied in that hath been examined only there remaineth a necessary distinction to be attended unto of Gods call that it is two-fold either External only or External and Internal also or an Effectual and Ineffectual Calling For though this distinction be hated by some men yet the Scripture is very clear That there are many called who yet are not chosen and when he saith called it is not meant only actively on Gods part as some were called but yet refused and would not so much as outwardly profess obedience but called is to be understood passively on mans part so that he giveth some outward conformity to Gods call There is an external reception and submission to it but yet there is no true inward sanctification Insomuch that some who are called the children of the Kingdom shall be cast forth and they
writeth to them as if all were Gentiles as Chap. 12. 2. Ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away to dumb Idols c. Hence the same Author saith That it was one Church collected of all the believers in that place Licet esse potuerint in eadem civitate distinctae ut it a dicam parochiae As for the notion of a learned man That the Jewish believers and Gentile believers did make two distinct Churches and had two distinct Bishops which he thinketh would salve some seeming contradictions in Ecclesiastical History that being of an heterogeneous nature to my purpose I passe it by Thus also the Church of Jerusalem is called a Church which yet by many probable Arguments seemeth to be more than one Neither may we think that Christ hath invested one single Congregation ordinarily with all Church power For that president and example of a Councel or Synod mentioned Act. 15. doth inform That there are to be Synods not only by way of advice but by power and that over particular Churches We proceed to the next thing considerable in this description of the Church and that is the efficient Cause the Church of God This distinguisheth the Church from all civil and meer political Assemblies For though the Earth be the Lords and the fulness thereof yet the Church is the Lords in a more peculiar and appropriated manner Sometimes the Church is named absolutely without any addition as when Paul is said to persecute the Church Sometimes it 's restrained to the place Thus the Church of Ephesus the Church of Laodicea but most commonly it is the Church of God or the Church of Christ Sometimes both are put together as 1 Thes 1. 1. To the Church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in Jesus Christ So also 2 Thess 1. 1. And certainly if so be the Apostle considering us meerly as creatures maketh use of and sanctifieth that of the Poet For we are his off-spring how much more is it true of us as members of a Church Observe That a Church is Gods people in a more peculiar and special manner Though he be the God of the world yet in a more special manner he is a God of his Church The consideration of this truth may tend much to our spiritual edification For if we are of God how much should it humble us to see any thing amongst us that is of sin or the Devil Is ignorance or prophaneness of God so are humane superstitions of God But to open this let us consider what is implied in this when a Church is said to be the Church of God First therefore this sheweth That a Church is a supernatural Society it 's spiritual company of men So that a Church is not like a civil Corporation or like Kingdoms and Commonwealths which are by meer humane Institution and agreement though Magistracy it self it be of God but are supernatural and therefore it 's called the Kingdom of Heaven and Jerusalem which is from above so the Church is called Gal. 4. 26. even while it is here on Earth before it is triumphant in Heaven Now the Church is a supernatural Society many wayes in which respect it may be called the Church of God in a more eminent manner For in respect of its Efficient so God alone is the author of it called therefore Ecclesia because God by his Word calls them from their Heathenish Idolatries and practises making of them a Church Thus the people of Corinth when they were securely indulging themselves in all manner of impieties having no thoughts or desires to be a Church God by Paul calls them to be one Even as God by his breath caused the dry bones to gather together and to live or as at the day of Judgment God by the voice of an Arch-angel will raise the dead in the grave who have no life or sense in them Thus it 's the Lord that made Churches every where in the preaching of the Gospel It was the gracious work of God that found us out in Britain and made a Church to himself so that we are loca inaccessa to the grace of God and his Spirit though to humane power It is true indeed God is the God of the world he created Heaven and Earth with all therein yet though God did thus immediately create the world at first we do not say the creatures therein are Gods grace or that they have a supernatural being For it 's not enough to make a thing grace or supernatural that God doth immediately create it but that his power be in a peculiar and extraordinary manner and that for supernatural effects and ends Oh therefore how greatly should we be affected with the grace and power of God in creating to himself a Church out of the world He might have no more made a Church here or there in the Earth then he did in Hell and he that at first planted a curious Garden and put man therein is much more wonderfull in making of a Church to himself yet how bruitish and earthly are we We can bless God for the world and the comforts thereof that the Earth brings forth food for us that we have the Air to breath in the glorious Sunne to be a daily light to us yet we are not thus affected with Church-mercies and Church-ordinances David indeed upon the former consideration cried out Lord what is man that thou art thus mindfull of him c But we may much rather from these supernatural respects Secondly It 's supernatural in respect of the purchase given for them the price paid to make them the Lords For you must know upon Adams fall all mankind was excommunicated unchurched as it were and therefore cast out from Paradise and Gods gracious presence and hence it is that we are said naturally to be without God yea the Devil is said to be the god of the world Thus untill God makes us a Church we are under the power of Satan wholly and therefore to be cast out of the Church is to be delivered to Satan Thus then being fallen off from the Lord and now become the Devils in whom he reigneth we could not be purchased from this thraldom but by the death of Christ and therefore we are called the Church of Christ as well as of God because though conquered by Gods Spirit yet we are bought by his bloud and this the Apostle urgeth That therefore we are none of our own but are to live to him We are to be his peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 15. Thus it cost more to be Gods Church then to be the world at first for he spake and it was made but here Christ died and so it was purchased What a powerfull ingagement is this for all of a Church to walk holily What did Christ die that you should wallow in the filth of your sins What will you deny the Lord that bought you If thou wilt be ignorant and prophane
true Saints in gifts and graces despise and contemn such as are below them to judge them no Saints or not godly at all That there is such a disposition even in grown Saints appeareth Rom. 14. where the Apostle giveth several Rules to strong Christians especially That they judge not or despise him that is weak and one reason amongst others is Because God hath received him If therefore he be one whom God hath received for whom Christ died though subject to many weaknesses and infirmities take heed of contemning him Such a supercilious censorious spirit is farre from the Spirit of Christ who when he saw one not farre from the Kingdom of Heaven though not yet in it yet it 's said He loved him and encouraged him Hence in the second place This real Saintship is alwayes growing and ought to be more and more proficient continually It is an high delusion to dream of such a perfection that they are above Ordinances that they are of so full a stature in grace that one cubit cannot be added to them This is to let the Devil get thee up to the pinacle of the Temple and then to throw thee headlong into hell yet such sad delusions have been on some that coming to the Sacrament they have said They have had as perfect love as Christ himself But this is against the continual current of the Scripture which presseth to grow in grace to bring forth more fruit And 1 Cor. 7. to perfect holinesse in the fear of God Paul himself though a Gyant to us Dwarfs yet Phil. 3. Accounted not himself to have apprehended but forgat what was behind and pressed forward to the mark Cloppenburge a learned man thinketh That even Christ himself did feed and nourish his soul by meditating on Gods Word and that in the use of the Sacraments his faith was more confirmed for to go through that work of redemption for us This may seem hard to affirm of Christ who had the Spirit without measure But it is very true of every Saint on Earth though never so exalted and enabled by grace that he needeth the Ordinances that he is to perfect and fill up that vacuity and emptiness which is in him so that he may say with Ignatius when going to be sacrificed for the truth Nune incipio esse Christianus I do even now begin to be a Christian to be a Saint I am but a babe yet I am but a beginner yet Thirdly This Church-Saintship therefore doth consist with many imperfections and weaknesses so that we need a constant and daily remission of sinne through the bloud of Christ This is greatly to be observed because some have dreamed of such a perfection in this life that if not alway yet for some time we may be without any sinne at all and therefore they tell us of Saints in the Church which need no pardon or forgiveness as if to be a Saint in the Church and a Saint in Heaven were all one but our Saviour in directing all to pray for the forgivenesse of sin I say all that are to pray are to pray so doth plainly confute this And the Apostle John saith That if we say we have no sinne in us we deceive our selves and indeed we sinne in saying so And this is the more to be observed because the dear children of God think this title of Saint too glorious and great to apply to themselves who are compassed about with such infirmities How can I be called a Saint and yet so dull so sluggish so froward earthly and often disordered in heart But you are to know that though Saints yet we are not to be justified by our Saintship we need the imputed righteousness of Christ to cover the imperfections of our Saintship yea some have not lost their Saintship and yet have fallen into foul sins for a season David Peter and others did not cease to be Saints in those sad falls though their holiness was drawn inward and as the juice of the Tree in the Winter was hid in the root under ground but these Suns were not alwayes in an eclipse at last they did recover to their greater advantage in holiness and to be a pillar of salt to all other Saints Nor to be high-minded but fear Fourthly To be a Saint is a denomination from our conformity to the will of God as a rule of our lives So that if you ask What is it to be a Saint It is to be one born again by the Spirit of God making the word of God to be the rule of all his actions So that Gods Word must try whether thou art a Saint or no not thy own thoughts or the applause of others can make thee a Saint but thy life regulated by Gods Word The Papists cry up their Saint Francis whom they equallize to Christ in many things but his Saintship must be tried not by his voluntary poverty or strict observance of humane traditions but by a consonancy to Gods Word Thus who ever is cried up for a Saint still we must examine How doth the Word and his life agree Is he as it were a walking Bible Doth he will what that wils and nill what that nilleth And this further also may inform us That we are not to make a man a Saint because of a particular opinion in some way of Church-Government as if none could be Saints but of such an opinion For the word Saint denoteth One made holy by the Image of God restored in him though he may differ from another Saint in a Church-way For although it be our duty to study out the mind and will of Christ concerning Church-order and with his Institutions only we may expect his gracious presence yet such is the corruption and weakness upon the understandings of the best that though Gods Spirit will lead them into all necessary truth yet they may fail in some accessories and so one Saint may differ from another yea and write against another though such things do prove as Calvin said of Melancihons difference from him Pessimi exempli of very evil example and confirm the adversaries of godliness in their dangerous prejudices against it These things thus laid down let us consider Why all the fore-mentioned steps of a Church-Saint are nothing without the latter To be a Saint by the outward Covenant by dedication to God by outward profession and vocation Yea to be a Saint having some works of Gods Spirit on us unless we be born of God and so have holy Natures holy affections and an holy conversation it 's to be like the foolish Virgiâ—s who have lamps and those lighted but want oyl Let us therefore consider What may provoke us to be Saints indeed And 1. What matter of shame and reproach is it to have the name of a Saint only and nothing else Thy life not the life of a Saint thy words thy actions not the expressions of a Saint Is not this ridiculous even as
Father being able to say with the Church I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine And Cant. 8. 10. I was in his eyes as one that found favour or peace being conducted from one room of consolation unto another As therefore thou desirest to answer the Law of God in holiness and a godly walking so conform thy self to the Gospel by a peaceable and joyfull disposition The Apostle saith Rom. 10. 15. How welcome are the feet of those who preâ—ch the Gospel of peace And certainly there cannot be any truth in the world more precious and welcome to this indebted prisoner of sinne who groaneth under the burden of it then this year of Jubilee this year of peace and of a general releasment Matth. 10. 6. Our Saviour instructs his Disciples as they did go from house to house preaching the Kingdom of Heaven if they did meet with a Sonne of peace Peace should rest upon that house Oh that in our Gospel-Sermons we did meet with these sonnes of peace those hearers of peace that so it might rest upon them How can you be under the hot beams of this Sunne of righteousness displayed in the Gospel and yet be so chill and frozen with fear and unbelief How can ye be in the shop of this precious ointment and you not be full of the sweet savour of it Though the Antinomian abuse this precious Doctrine crying down the preaching of the Law and make all that do it to be legal Preachers Shall we therefore cry down a Gospel-disposition Neither of these is to be preached to the prejudice of the other SERM. XXVI A further Discovery of the Nature of true Gospel-Peace with the Effects of it and some Directions how to attain it 2 COR. 1. 2. And Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ WE are treating upon this admirable and unspeakable priviledge of Peace from God It is a Peace from God and it is a Peace with God You have heard several particulars going to the constitution of it there yet remain more In the next place therefore This peace here prayed for is a peace in heavenly considerations because our persons are justified our sinnes are forgiven therefore we have peace As Rom. 5. 1. there is an external worldly peace which the natural men of the world only desire let them live in peace and security let them have the good things of this world with the peaceable enjoying of them this is the utmost of their desire they think this is enough We see this notably Ezek. 13. 10 16. where the people desire such Prophets only that will prophesie of peace to them Peace is so loved that therefore wicked men do so extreamly hate the faithfull Messengers of God because they proclaim no peace to them they enform them of Gods wrath and vengeance against such now this cutteth them to the very heart They delight only in such peacemongers that though they go on in all wickedness and prophaneness yet you must tell them all is well sow pillows under their elbows that they may lie down in security Men that desire to sleep love not to hear any noise but the Peace in the Text is not bred from such base and low materials When the wicked man is deprived of his pleasure his profits then all his peace is gone but the godly doth many times partake in the most powerfull manner of this peace when they are in the most afflicted and wretched estate because this peace is within and upon spiritual grounds And therefore when the godly many times have most of outward troubles they do richly abound with this spiritual inward peace Hence it is that a gracious spiritual heart doth only prize it and pray for it The natural man not perceiving these things which must be spiritually discerned Secondly Whereas a godly mans trouble may arise several wayes this peace hath a proper antidote and cure in all these respects from what causes a godly mans disquietnesse and fears may arise from the contrary will his peace As for example a godly man is very frequently disturbed because of the sense of Gods anger for sinne because he is not reconciled such and such iniquities have provoked God to hide his face and this filleth him with all bitterness he will not be called Naomi but Marah but when this peace of God possesseth the soul then all these dark thoughts do presently flie away as when the Sunne ariseth the night is dispelled So that when thou thinkest of God and art troubled Thy meditation of him is not as Davids sweet but bitter this wholly ariseth from want of this peace for that will confirm and settle the soul in all references to God that will represent him to be a gracious reconciled Father Again A mans trouble may arise in his soul from the temptations and oppositions of Satan who when he cannot hinder Gods people in the exercise of their graces will in respect of their comforts So that as the Spirit of God is the Comforter one great work of his being to assure to enable to call God Father So the Devil he is the prince of darkness and he counter-works Gods Spirit As that is an holy Spirit sanctifying his people so he is an unclean spirit provoking to all sinne Again as Gods Spirit doth comfort and convince us of Christs righteousnesse being the Spirit of Adoption within us to deliver us from spiritual bondage and thraldome So the Devil he worketh oppositely to all this he filleth the heart with sad and unbelieving suggestions he endeavours to divide between God and us to make us afraid of him as being that severe Judge who will not in any wise be reconciled Thus he would perswade us that it is with us as it is with him and that there is no more hope for comfort and salvation for us than for him But this peace of God doth abundantly fortifie against this temptation also where this peace is the Devil doth not find the house swept and garnished but fortified and secured against him so that he cannot have any entrance This is the blessed effect of this spiritual peace that it overcometh the Devil he commonly entreth into the good tender heart by unbelief by fears by propounding doubtfull and anxious scruples and then draweth us into a wilderness farre off from God But this peace from God doth easily quench all his fiery-darts doth presently stop his assaults and maketh him not care for coming to us to graple with us while we have this spiritual armoury on In the third place Our disquietnesse doth many times arise from the reliques of original corruption within us The godly they find many sad discoveries and workings of the root of corruption within them They find that their hearts are not in such an uniform and heavenly way as they desire they often come short of what they endeavour after And seeing themselves thus foiled often by their lusts they begin to be full of
though it be thy duty to humble thy self for sinne to confess and bewail thy iniquities yet it is also a duty To rejoyce in the Lord alwayes and till the heart be fitted by this joy thou canst nor bless God with that hearty affection as thou oughtst to do Psal 103. David saith Blesse the Lord O my soul and all within thee praise his holy Name All within thee You see to praise God is heart-work as well as lip-work all within us must move and be affected Thy heart cannot boil over as the Psalmist sometimes expresseth it unless this fire of joy doth inflame it Oh then know that a grieving disquieted soul cannot bless God it hinders you from that duty which the Apostle presseth Col. 3. 16. Admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts What an Heaven is such an heart where there are these spiritual hymns and psalms But alas how often is thy heart like an howling wilderness where the cries and dolefull sounds of unbelieving and distrustfull fears do torment thee Sixthly To blesse God there is required faith and a resting of the soul upon God as a reconciled Father Alas can the damned in hell bless God Could Cain or Judas bless God By no means because there is no faith there is no resting upon God as a Father Hence you see the Apostle addeth The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of all mercies To cursed and condemned sinners God is not a Father of mercies but of vengeance and fury a God of dreadfull judgments who is said to be angry with the wicked all the day long Hence David doth so often in the Psalms exercise those appropriating and applying acts of faith My God and my Tower my strong help and defence It was his faith that made him so thankfull For what is it to hear of Christ and all spiritual mercies by him if faith doth not apply them and make them my own And then we are stirred up to give God thanks for them insomuch that faith hath the greatest influence into our thankfulness Seventhly Faith of adherence is not enough to make the heart so throughly and affectionately thankefull as it should be unlesse also there be as some call it faith of evidence or a good and true perswasion that God is our God It 's the reflecting acts of the soul whereby it knoweth and is assured that God hath pardoned my sinne and hath forgiveth my iniquities that are like oil to the lamp of this duty David in some Psalms dependeth upon God and so many times the choisest of Gods servants they are supported to rest on him to build their hopes on Christ but then wanting this assurance not feeling this love of God shed abroad in their souls hence they are not fervent and zealous in these duties of blessing and thanksgiving as they ought to be Do you not see many of Gods people more forward to duties of humiliation and mourning more attending to self-debasement and self-abhorrency then they are to faith joy and blessing of God the one they are constantly in the other unless provoked and forced as it were they seldom accomplish Now this ought not to be so we are to rejoyce as well as tremble we are to put both together we are to bless God for pardon of sinne as well as confess sinne we are to rejoyce in giving of thanks as well as to humble our souls in acknowledging of our sinfulness Thou often saist Lord pity me Lord shew mercy to me but how seldom dost thou say O Lord I bless thee For thy mercy endureth for ever My heart hath been full of sorrow for sinne and now it is full of joy for the pardon of it I have prayed that my corruptions may be subdued and I bless God that prayer is graciously answered If you winne a mercy by prayer and do not wear it by praise you greatly offend God SERM. XXX Of Praising God and that for all but especially for spiritual Mercies 2 COR. 1. 3. Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ c. FRom the method that Paul useth here and in the beginning of most of his other Epistles we have observed the Duty that lieth upon all the people of God to bē carefull and conscientious in this duty of blessing and praising of God which is as the legal ointment for the High-priest compounded of choice and sweet ingredients It 's an Angelical work to blesse God There remain further particulars that are constituent of this comfortable and profitable duty As First The heart that is duly fitted to praise God though it be thankefull for every mercy even the least mercy yet it keeps an order in its thankesgiving according to the dignity of its objects so that it praiseth God chiefly and principally for spiritual mercies and then secondarily for temporal mercies And this argueth the difficulty of this duty and that also only the regenerate and spiritual man can in a Scripture-way blesse God for he only doth preferre heavenly things above earthly When the Psalmist had spoken of outward mercies to a people Psal 144. 12 13 15. great mercies in sons and daughters rich abundance and plenty he corrects all at last Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. So that you see all the outward desirable mercies that are are but in a subordination to Gods favour When thou art breaking forth after this manner I bless God for my children for my health for my outward contents Oh but above all Lord that I have any spiritual mercy that thou hast loved my soul converted me to thy self saved me from the evil wayes of the world in this my soul is overwhelmed So then as we see it is in matter of Petition Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven Thus it is also in Thanksgiving whatsoever heavenly mercy God hath bestowed on thee bless God for that in the first place Thus the Apostle doth praise God in a most divine manner Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Insomuch that this may be a good Touchstone of the truth of grace in thee whether thy soul be most affected and enlarged towards God for soul-mercies that thou canst truly say O Lord in that thou hast made me in a saving manner to know thee in that thou hast revealed thy Son to me I do more rejoyce in this and bless thee for it then if thou hadst given me all the glory of the world Doest thou see a natural worldly man boast in his riches in his birth in his greatness above others and knoweth nothing at all of Gods favour and spiritual mercy to his soul This is like a beast that is crowned with Garlands but yet prepared for the slaughter Canst thou say O Lord I judge all the outward mercies I have to be but husks and empty
to take away his mercies that is the effects of his mercy not the attribute of mercy This you must diligently attend to because the effects of Gods mercy are more and less but the attribute in God cannot be so God is not more or less mercifull neither doth Mercy as an attribute oppose Justice as an attribute but the effects of Gods Mercy may be and are contrary to the effects of his Justice 3. We must distinguish between Gods general mercy and his special His general mercy is extended to all the creatures The whole world is full of his mercies Psal 33. 5. So his mercy is said to be over all his works Would the world subsist for a moment when the Inhabitants thereof are so full of rebellion against God were it not for his mercy All that we see we hear we taste we feel is nothing but mercy His special mercy is to rational creatures men and Angels and that again is two-fold More special and most special More special is the vouchsafing of the Gospel and means of grace both to the wicked and the good This Kingdom of Heaven is set open for both But then there is the most special mercy and that is vouchsafed only to the elect by which means they are converted justified and shall be glorified and of this it is the Apostle speaks Rom. 9. 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy Thus much may suffice for the Doctrinal information about this truth Let us in the next place take notice what is comprehended in this expression Father of mercies For this is a box of ointment to be opened and bestowed upon poor souls and while this glory of God doth pass by we can see but the back parts of it First When he is said to be the Father of mercies this implieth That he only giveth mercies and receiveth none So that as the father giveth being to the child but receiveth nothing of the child Thus God he is the Father of mercies because he is absolutely sufficient in himself he needeth nothing from any because then there would be a superiour to God And this consideration may greatly aggravate the glorious Nature of God in being mercifull in that he himself is like the Sun giving light but receiving none at all We cannot say of Angels they are the Fathers of mercies because though they be ministring spirits to serve us An Angel was sent to comfort Christ yet they need mercy as well as we The river needs the spring but the spring is the last and needeth not the river and so Angels and men they need mercy every way but God he needeth none only he is the giver of all It being more blessed to give than to receive even in this sense Secondly When he is called the Father of mercies it implieth The voluntariness and readiness in God to it Psal 103. Like as a father pitieth his children c. We do not intreat or hire a father to pity a miserable child his own bowels perswade him to it Now this is much more in God For as the Psalmist argueth He that made the eye shall not he see So he that giveth bowels and pity to parents shall not he much rather be mercifull So that as it is for holiness if all the holiness of men and Angels were put together it would be but a drop to what is in God So if all the mercy and all the compassions of all the fathers and mothers in the world were joyned together it would be nothing to God Oh what dishonour doth thy unbelieving fearfull heart do to this mercifull Father Thou thinkest he hath but the mercy of a man thou judgest of his bowels according to thy own no Gods mercie is as much above thy sinnes and miseries as his Essence is above thy being O nomen misericordia sub quo nemini desperandum But of that more presently Only when he is called a Father of mercies that denoteth the readiness in God and willingness in him and this is remarkable in Gods mercies over what is in mans our mercy is many times because the object miserable is of our own flesh and nature with us It moveth the heart to see one of the same nature with us to be thus miserable but God he is infinitly above man he hath no communion in nature with us and yet he is merciful Again Mercy amongst men is often because we have been under such miseries ourselves They that have the pain of the stone commiserate those that are in the like manner troubled because they know what it is Thus many eminent Ministers of the Gospel are exercised with soul-temptations and desertions that they may know how to mourn with bleeding bowels over those that are so tempted Thus the mercy of Christ as Mediator differs from the mercy of God as absolutely considered For he was tempted like us in all things sinne only excepted Heb. 4. 15. and the reason of this the Apostle giveth That he might be touched with a feeling of our infirmities Christ knoweth what the meaning is of every groan and every sigh that comes from a child in darkness crying out Why hath my God forsaken me Thus Christ as Mediator is mercifull in another way then God is yet this advanceth still the mercy of God that whereas his blessed and perfect Nature cannot know experimentally what it is to be miserable what it is to need mercy yet for all that his breasts are full and no womon is in greater pain to be eased of her burden then God to bestow his mercies Thirdly In that he is a Father of mercies a Father there is implied That he doth lay our misery to heart For although he cannot be passionately affected as man nor is sensible of our infirmities as Christ was yet this doth not hinder but that our misery is taken notice of as really so as to be succoured by him as if it were in the most compassionate Father that is That expression of God concerning the Israelites miseries under bondage is remarkable Exod. 2. 24 25. He heard their groaning he remembred his Covenant he looked upon his children he had respect or knew them See here ears eyes memory and mind all are affected with their trouble So Isa 63. 9. it is said In all their afflictions he was afflicted As then anger against wicked men though in God it be not the ebulsition of bloud about the heart or accompanied with a pale countenance yet it is more really and dreadfull in God than in man Therefore better have all the men of the world angry with thee than God So it is in his mercy in him mercy though it have not humane concomitants yet it 's more real operative and efficacious than all the mercifull fathers in the world is and thou hadst better have God shew mercy to thee than all the men of the world For In the fourth place when he is said to be the Father of mercies there
That spiritual comfort comes alone from God is plain because the Spirit of God is called the Comforter We cannot have one drop of heavenly consolation till Gods Spirit infuse it into us If the children of God could have comfort when they will would they walk so disconsolately and cry out of their dark troubled souls as they do but then even earthly comfort to take delight in the lawfull contentments God doth allow us to take delight and joy in these corporal mercies this is also from God Eccles 2. 24 26. Eccles 3. 13. Eccles 5. 18. You see the Wiseman affirmeth it often That a man cannot take any joy or delight even in those lawfull things unless it be given him of God All comfort then of all sorts ariseth from him But let us consider the way or manner of Gods comforting For as it is a great and profitable Question to examine How God doth convert and sanctifie so also how he doth comfort And First You must lay this foundation That God doth comfort two wayes either immediately when he doth by himself work upon the soul Or mediately when he comforteth by such means as he hath appointed thereunto Let us then in the next place consider What are those immediate workings of God upon the soul whereby he maketh the heart joyfull For David Psal 4. saith God had put more joy into his heart then any man can have in the abundance of all temporal mercies And First Therefore God doth comfort by illuminating and opening the understanding and opening the understanding to know and see the grounds and reasons of comfort And certainly this is of great conducement to have the heart comforted when the understanding is rightly convinced of the grounds of comfort For as the dark night is apt to beget fears and terrours so darkness in the understanding is a great cause of all that terrour and disconsolateness which Gods own children may many times lie under So that as God in conversion and humiliation for sinne begins with conviction upon the heart so also in consolation and comfort The great impediment to a godly mans comfort is want of spiritual knowledge and conviction about the causes of comfort As it was with Hagar in the wilderness she sate weeping for her child and gave over all as desperate till God opened her eyes and made her see a fountain Thus the broken heart judgeth it self in a wilderness destitute of all comfort seeth nothing but matter of despair and damnation till God enlighten the understanding about comfortgrounds in the Gospel As for example when the Spirit of God enlightens us to receive comfort it giveth us the eye salve 1. To look upon Christ revealed in the Gospel as the full cause and ground of all our comfort as well as on sinne Generally the people of God in the first workings of the soul look upon nothing but their sins behold nothing but sinne but God will not let them alone in this agony he enlightens them further that they shall see Christ as well as sinne the Gospel as well as the Law he giveth them eyes to behold the brazen Serpent when stung Hence the Spirit of God John 16. 9 10. doth not only convince of sinne but of righteousness also The Devil he indeed moveth in those troubled waters of thy soul and would keep thee off from Christ as the Disciples did the blind man but the Spirit of God will not leave the soul in these wounds in these straits but doth carry him up from the mount of cursing to the mount of blessing And certainly the wise men could not more rejoyce to see the starre than the godly heart doth to behold Christ after the storms and tempests in his soul Hence the Apostle Gal. 1. calleth it The revealing of the Sonne in him This then we are inabled to do by God not only to know sinne in the terrour and sting of it but also Christ in his fulness and excellency How was Paul affected with this 2 Cor. 2. 1. I desire to know nothing but Christ crucified This therefore is a special work of God to make us look with both eyes to make thee see sinne as well as Christ and Christ as well as sin 2. As God doth convince the soul of Christ what a full and glorious Saviour he is so also in the second place Of our duty to receive him and to lay hold on him And this is a further step to comfort when God doth so farre open the eyes as to see not only a full and sufficient Christ but also that it 's a duty in particular to apply this Christ and to rest upon him for comfort and salvation This is a further discovery still Paul said Gal. 2. Who gave himself for me and loved me And Thomas said My God and my Lord. It is one of the blessed truths discovered in the Reformation out of Popery That it is not our duty to believe in the general onely that Christ is a Saviour but to rest on him also for the pardon of my sinnes That this is the Faith that justifieth That this is most acceptable and precious unto God That unbelief not only in the general but as it faileth in this particular in not applying in not appropriating Christ to the soul is that which will damn a man Oh then what blessed and comfortable light is that which God bringeth into the soul when he shall make thee see that though a sinner though burdened though unworthy yet it 's thy duty to go to Christ to be eased That he commands thee with that woman not only to touch the hem of his garments but to lay hold on Christ himself This particular faith is that which the soul is hardly convinced of Though others may draw nigh to Christ yet may I But he cometh at last to be perswaded of this truth 3. God comforts by enlightning the mind that a comfortable joyfull life arising from peace with God is a most acceptable thing to God that it brings honour and glory to God and that on the other side to walk heavily and in a dejected manner is to dishonour and reproach God That God doth not only look to our gracious walking but also to our comfortable walking and that we demonstrate the Kingdom of Heaven to be begun in us in joy as well as in mortification Rom. 14. 17. The Kingdom of God is righteousnesse and joy in the holy Ghost You see Joy as well as Righteousnesse The children of God they are not quickly perswaded of this they think such as they are may not walk comfortably It 's not for them to rejoyce but at last they come to see that they were sinfully kept up by slavish fears and servile dejections that the Kingdome of God requireth Consolation as well as Sanctification Thus you see the first general way how God comforteth viz. by enlightning the mind Secondly and principally God comforteth By preparing and fashioning the heart by making it
evil he would not do that he did As these impetuous lusts are a burden so the deadness barrenness and hardness of his heart Oh often doth he cry out of his soul as like the mountains of Gilboa on whom no dew doth fall like a parched and dried wilderness and he knoweth not how to come out of it yet even in these sad perplexed thoughts God comes in with comfort when his heart affords none when all within riseth up against him yet as it was with Paul his complaints shall be turned into praises I thank God in Jesus Christ A third Soul-tribulation may be from Satans temptations He is called the tempter he is said to have his fiery darts he hath his buffetings We see how fiercely he assaulted Christ himself and as for the incestuous person by Satans devices he was almost swallowed up with sorrow And indeed what horrid suggestions of blasphemy self-murder and whatsoever is most terrible and amazing will not he assault the godly soul with if God bind him not up Well doth the Scripture compare him to a a roaring Lion what can a poor Lamb do if he fall upon it And truly no more could the poor humbled sinner stand before all the temptations and oppositions of Satan if Gods grace did not interpose yet even in this hellish darkness when the soul is apt to judge its condition like those that are damned in hell when he is ready to conclude God hath forsaken him for ever that the express signs and characters of a cast-away are upon him as he thinketh yet of this Whales-belly from the mouth of hell God doth raise him and give him comfort yea many times those have the greatest comforts that have the greatest exercises of this kind and therefore the Lord did leave them in this black night that the day might be the sweeter and more welcome Lastly The Souls-trouble may arise from the breaches it hath made by Apostasie and falling into great sins after it hath known God And these commonly do give a mortal blow to all our former comfort You see it in David Psal 51. when he complaineth of his broken bones praying to have joy restored to him Some have thought that David never had such comfort again as formerly Certainly the godly in such fals sinne hainously because of the experience they have of Gods favour and the bitterness of sinne therefore for them to revolt from God is an high aggravation As if the Prodigal son after he had been entertained in his Fathers house and feasted with the fatted calf should have gone to his husks again how intollerable would that have been Well but for all this this sad condition of a gradual Apostate and revolter is not without ground of comfort when truly humbled and debased before God Doth not God speak graciously Jer. 3. 22. Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings And see how this mercifull offer is imbraced Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God She pleadeth her interest and right to God howsoever Thus also God promiseth Hos 14. 4. I le heal their backsliding So that although when the conscience hath been the second time bruised when thou hast been twice as it were in the new birth thou must look for greater pains and agonies yet God can and doth comfort such also Peter speaks of joy unspeakable and full of glory which the people of God have though he had greatly revolted from Christ his master So that manna may be had in this wilderness also The second kind of troubles are outward and these are also innumerable Act. 14. 22. We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of Heaven We must expect like Christ to be men of sorrows for we are to suffer with him if we will reign with him Now two sorts of troubles there are in which God will give comfort and in them all troubles are comprehended 1. There are troubles such as we bring upon our selves by our own folly and sins We have provoked God to be angry and to take away many outward mercies from us Now because our sins and our iniquities have done all this therefore it is that we may justly expect that God will deny all comfort We might think it is true when we suffer for Gods sake when we are persecuted for righteousness sake then Christ will take us into his wine-sellar and bid us Drink abundantly But it is my vile heart my proud heart my loose and negligent walking that hath brought all this evil upon me and what comfort then can I expect from God But even in this condition such is the grace and mercy of God that although our sins have brought evil upon us yet if humbled under them and bewailing of them we shall find God for to comfort us When David Psal 4. had that overflowing joy which he saith God put into his heart more than all harvest joy yet he was at that time in very sad exigencies pursued by his son and driven out of Jerusalem and this God threatned as the fruit of his sinne but behold all this God giveth him comfort And the truth is when humbled for our sinnes then the nature of these afflictions are altered they become paternal and medicinal chastisements they are arguments of Gods love to us we may rejoyce in them as testimonies thereof for so Heb. 12. and Rev. 3. it is said Whom God loveth he chasteneth God makes as the Physician an excellent antidote of that which is poison and so the fruit of thy sins becometh great matter of thankfulness as David acknowledged when he said Out of very thankefulness thou hast afflicted me And as for the second kind of afflictions which are only for the exercise of graces when we are persecuted not for the evil in us but the good appearing as the case of the Martyrs was then God giveth us comfort with full measure pressed down and yet flowing over witness the Apostles who went away rejoycing because they were accounted worthy to suffer all things for Christs sake The Martyrs also had more joy in their troubles then ever they had in their prosperity and it is of those tribulations the Scripture speaketh of Indeed some Philosophers have essayed upon such a comfort as Epicurus said If a wise man were burnt in Phalaris his Bull he would say Dulce est ad me nihil pertinet This is a sweet thing and doth not at all hurt me But these were Book sayings No Philosophers ever endured misery for their Sects as Christians have done for the truth of Christ But you may say What is that by which God comforts his people in all their tribulations Hath the Scripture any higher grounds than Philosophy Philosophy is called animi medicina and as there were several Sects of them so they had different principles to comfort for there was no theam treated on more by them than this only some principles were contrary to others for some
which yet David in every Psalm almost though never so cast down doth in some degrees and sparks as it were discover but here is nothing but disconsolateness yet this Heman was a godly man a Penman of some Psalms yea he was accounted one of the most eminent wise men that lived in that age for 1 King 4. 30 31. Solomons wisdom is said to exceed all others yea four wise men are instanced whom Solomon did surpass and this Heman was one Whereas then we are apt to judge such as want the sense of Gods comfort and go in a disconsolate manner fools and melancholly such as will go out of their wits You see here a godly man and one of the wisest men in Solomons times yet afflicted with the terrors of the Lord and can obtain no comfort This then being laid down as a foundation let us consider what is to be said to the doubt To answer the Objection you must know in what sense this is a doctrinal truth That God comforteth his in all their troubles and to that purpose observe these particulars 1. That comfort especially when we are sensibly affected and enlarged therewith is not of the essence of grace nor is it absolutely necessary to salvation It is indeed for the benè esse and is like oil to the wheels it doth wonderfully quicken and expedite the soul in wayes of holiness but yet a man may be in the state of grace and may have an unquestionable claim to Heaven yet for all that be destitute of such sensible comfort for these consolations do commonly flow from assurance of Gods grace and the sense of his love shed abroad in their hearts Now it is not this assurance that doth justifie us but it supposeth us justified already we may rest on Christ we may believe on him and yet want this faith of evidence as some call it while we have the faith of adherence and dependance Seeing therefore that this comfort is not an inseparable quality from a godly man we must then understand the promises of God for comfort as we do of other things which are separable from true grace God promiseth health outward peace long life yea of all outward mercies godliness hath a promise but yet the godly do not alwayes partake of these there are many of them sick weak poor and distressed though under such promises And the reason is because these are not necessary to salvation They are not required as Christ and grace is for then no godly man should be without them yea they may be an impediment an hinderance and therefore it 's a mercy sometimes when God denieth them Thus it is in regard of our comforts it is for our good to be sometimes without them God in much mercy suffereth his people to be in darknesse and to have no light So that you may no more wonder to see them sometimes without joy then to see them sometimes without the outward mercies of the world Yet you must understand when I thus compare these soul-consolations to bodily ones that I make them not of the same nature with temporal outward mercies as if they were no more spiritual than wealth or health are No I do not compare them in their nature but in their property of separability they neither are of the essence of grace nor of absolute necessity to salvation and herein they are alike otherwise these consolations they are spiritual mercies seated in the soul and have intimate connexion with the graces of Gods Spirit Gerson calls them Gratiae gratis datae and indeed they are the gifts of Gods Spirit and are highly to be prized yet as degrees in grace are of Gods Spirit but not necessary to salvation the truth of grace is but not every degree of grace for then no godly man could be saved that is weak in faith and in other graces Thus it is with this comfort in some respect They are gifts of God they are wrought by his Spirit yet so as that they do not necessarily accompany our salvation and in this sense you must understand the Doctrine 2. There is a two-fold joy which I may call a direct and reflex one The one is when we are carried with delight to that which is holy and good The other is when we know and feel that we are thus carried out joy is a fruit of faith 1 Pet. 1. 8. In whom believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable Now as faith acteth two wayes so also doth joy Faith acteth directly by going directly to Christ and then faith acts reflexly by looking upon this that I do rest on Christ Thus there is a joy that doth directly go to God and Christ by way of delight and enlargement being thus apprehended by faith Of such a joy in holy things Solomon speaketh Prov. 21. 15. The Prophet Isaiah also Chap. 64. 5. And then there is a joy flowing from the apprehension of this that we do delight in holy things For a man may rejoyce to find he can rejoyce in what is good a man may be comforted in finding that Christ and heavenly objects are matter of delight to him Now as it is with those two acts of faith the former which is the direct one that is absolutely necessary by that we are justified by that Christ is made ours by that we are in him and he in us but the latter is not of the same necessity It is no where said If ye know that ye do believe and if ye be assured that ye do believe but if ye do believe then ye shall be saved It would be sad with many of Gods children if none were justified but he that knoweth he believeth Thus it is also for joy joy in its direct acts it 's a necessary grace It is our duty to rejoyce in God and heavenly things as well as love them And indeed there cannot be any grace of love but there is also the grace of joy Hence Gal. 5. joy is made the fruit of the Spirit with other graces And Rom. 14. The Kingdom of Heaven is said to consist in righteousness and in joy in the holy Ghost So that there is a joy which being a grace is part of the new creature and there cannot be godliness without it as is our love so is our joy But then there is joy as a priviledge which as you heard ariseth from the knowledge of our being in the state of grace and this is communicable at Gods pleasure Those that have the most of Gods grace may for a time have the least of it in sense as we see in Christ himself So that we are to distinguish between joy as a grace and joy as a priviledge It 's of the latter the Doctrine is to be understood 3. Yet further The joy that Gods people partake of may be considered either as seated in the soul or as in the sensitive part The one is rational and spiritual The other is sensitive and corporeal For the
rest which are more practical and searching if we go no further we may have some good entertainment in the world Si diâ—idio Christoessemus contenti facilè transigeremus omnia said Calvin on a particular occasion Or again If men take up the whole profession of Christ but upon politick and carnal ends to hold Christ and his advantages to be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Naziaâ—zen said such will not be put to suffering As the great heathenish Pleader Syâ—… for Romans Idolatry to the Emperours when pressed to be a Christian said Fac me Episcopum Romanum ero Christianus Make me Bishop of Rome and I will be a Christian Thus when men think to serve Christ and Mammon all this while they will not suffer Yea therefore they take up the profession of Christ it may be that they may not suffer As in Mordechai's time when the Jews had power given to slay their enemies many became Jews for fear so they may Christians also And lastly If they have not grosse carnal ends and so be dissembling hypocrites as Simon Magus was and Julian for a while as some think of him that he was never conscientiously but politiquely a Christian to please his Uncle and so obtain the Empire at last yet if they do own Christ in a formal customary general way only they may escape sufferings But to follow Christ exactly powerfully precisely and singularly against the fashion of the world to get the Kingdom of Heaven by violence to put out his right eye and to cut off his right hand he that will be thus a Christian indeed he shall have sufferings enough and that not only from the world but even from such who professe Christ in Name but deny him in Power What is more ordinary then to see a titular and nominal Christian to hate and abhor a reall lively and powerfull Christian and only because he is more strict and forward in the waies of Christ then he is Thus then you must understand the Doctrine of one Who is a Christian in Power as well as in Name of one who doth not divide Christ but taketh all of him of one who is not a flatterer but a Friend to him That saith to Christ as Ruth to Naomi I will not leave thee but where thou livest I will live One that accounteth Christ a Pearl and sells all parts with all his lusts his pleasures and advantages to have Christ Such an one as this can no more be free from sufferings in this world then a Dove be quiet among Hawks or a Lamb among Wolves To understand this consider First That the sufferings for Christs sake are as various and as extensive as any comforts we have that we may be deprived off So that it 's a fundamental qualification in every Disciple of Christ to love him before Father or Mother yea life it self For if Christ be not preferred before the dearest comforts we have one time or other we shall be endangered to betray Christ and rather deny him then suffer for him which is a most dreadfull condition I mean it is very terrible to be in the number of those whose hearts are so glewed to these earthly things that they cannot suffer for Christ they cannot part with all when he calls for it But the Disciple of Christ must be prepared to suffer in any thing and at any time Sometimes the sufferings are more extream and grievous sometimes lesse and more easie The former is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10. 32. and 1 Pet. 4. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The greater are imprisonment or banishments or death it self And commonly death for Christ hath not been a meer ordinary death but accompanied with those torments and exquisite pains that could be invented Insomuch that if you look over all Histories you cannot find any such terrible and barbarous sufferings as the people of God have been put upon And truly there is no godly man but he is to have a fundamental qualification for this There are also lesser sufferings which though called so comparatively to greater yet in themselves are very bitter and grievous Such are reproaches scoffs and derisions Heb. 11. they are called cruel mockings 1 Pet. 4. 14. when he had spoken before of a fiery tryal then he mentioneth reproaching for Christs sake Ismael is said to persecute Isaac yet the Scripture called that playing with him It was in scoffs and mocks that this persecution was therefore thou art a persecutor by the tongue as well as the hand though thou dost not cast in prison Though thou dost not bring wood and kindle the fire at the stake yet thy flouts thy derisions thy mockings these are a persecution and the godly in these suffer for Christ I shall instance in one thing more and that is their Names and Repute in this Christians have wonderfully suffered Christ was traduced for an Impostor for one that had a Devil and doing the Miracles he did by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils Paul was calumniated for a seditious and turbulent person Athanasius for an Adulterer These false calumnies put the Ancients upon their Apologeticals as Tertullian and Athenagorus Wicked men do first impose lyes and slanders upon those who fear God and when they have thus made them odious then they think they do deserve any punishment What abominable lyes have the Papists forged and broached about Luther and Calvin Yea still experience confirmeth it that whosoever will live godly prophane and ungodly persons will divulge a thousand false reports concerning them And herein they must look to suffer and not be troubled for it The Stars are never the lesse glorious though Astronomers have given ugly names to them the Bear and the Draggons tayl c. Thus we see that he who will be Christs Disciple must be above riches honours liberty a good Name yea above life it self saying to Christ as they to David Thou art worth ten thousand of us Secondly Although it is the portion of all the Members of Christ to be sufferers for him yet at sometime the storm is more terrible then at others Sometimes we hear the Church complaining that they were as sheep for the slaughter killed all the day long but at other times God gave more respite Who hath not heard of the ten persecutions not that there were not farre more then ten but because they were most general and commanded by the will of those who then had power So that suffering times are various according to Gods dispensation He maketh the most bitter storm many times to be but short As in Queen Maries dayes after which came a long calm and Halcyon daies Nubecula est said Athanasius of his troubles It is a little storm it will quickly be over But although those publique times of suffering be not alwaies yet it is very hard if ever to see one that liveth godly not to suffer from those that are evil
be said that the people of God do communicate with Christ in some measure as with his priestly and Kingly Office so with his Prophetical as if they were able to know the mind of God in many things yet we must take heed that such a principle doth not draw us into spiritual delusions For nothing is more ordinary even to a godly man then to take his strong affections and vehement conjectures for impulses and inspirations from God Paul in this trouble did absolutely conclude He should die he had past this sentence upon himself but God had determined otherwise I shall handle this truth more generally than the Text doth intend yet including that also And First Herein the heart of a good man doth deceive him in that he is ready to give such advise to others sometimes which he may apprehend is of God and yet it ariseth from humane perswasion only Those that are godly are constantly and judiciously to examine what is humane and what is divine in them what cometh from God and what from their own spirits Sad and miserable have the deceits of many been in this case No wonder it may be so with a godly man For it hath sometimes fared thus with those who besides the spirit of sanctification have also been endowed with prophetical illumination Nathan 1 Chron. 17. 2. bid David do all that was in his heart when he purposed to build an house to God but we see afterwards God did forbid it It is true there were in the Old Testament false prophets who did wittingly and willingly sinne pretending they had a word from God when it was only a lying spirit in them but of such we speak not Yea we read of a true Prophet of the Lord yet pretending a word from God when he did wilfully dissemble all that while 1 King 13. 18. For when a Prophet had command from God not to eat or drink in his journey This other Prophet perswadeth him to eat saying An Angel of God spake to him for that purpose Here was a great temptation to the former Prophet to eat it could not but work some scruples in him So that from this instance Divines do argue That it is lawfull for a man to goe against scruples But because the Prophet did not but was perswaded against Gods former command therefore he was severely punished But this instance is not fully to my purpose onely from that example we may see That the corruption in man inclineth him to make pretences from God to get the more credit Even as in Paul's time some pretended the Spirit and Revelations about the day of judgement But the example of Nathan is wholly to our purpose and therefore all that fear God are to pray for an exact judgement to discern between things that differ and that more in our selves than others For such is our self-love that we are difficultly brought to know the truth As a sensible object put immediately upon the sense hindereth it in its operations We see Paul very imitable in this thing 1 Cor. 7. in answering that case about marriage which the Corinthians had propounded to him Hence vers 10. 12. how carefull is he to distinguish between that which he had from the Lord directly and was his expressed will and what he advised as a faithfull Officer in the Church Not I but the Lord saith he Hence he concludeth his Discourse in a most humble and modest manner calling it his judgement onely adding I think also that I have the Spirit of God Though you must know that in all this Paul was acted infallibly by the Spirit he speaketh not as an humane Authour in this thing Secondly The godly are deceived when they have some prepossessed principles of errour in them and then think Gods dispensations are to abet and countenance them This hath commonly caused great mistakes whereby men have thought they had Gods approbation to their deceits We see this plainly in the Disciples this false principle they had imbibed that the Messiah would come as a temporal and external King to vindicate their Nation from all the bondage they were under Therefore when Christ speaketh of his Kingdome and his Glory when he speaketh of being exalted they apply all consonantly to their false principles Upon this mistake the sons of Zebedee come to ask Christ for the chiefest places of honour in his Kingdom and upon Christs Ascension in Heaven Act. 1. 6. when he had for fourty dayes together been speaking of the Kingdom of God to them Then they asked him Wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdome of Israel Here you see how much even the Apostles the first fruits as it were of the Spirit were decived But what was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what was the deceitfull foundation in this building Even a carnal and an erroneous perswasion about the temporal dignity and honour of Christ Take then much heed that the first concoction be not nought that there be not Laesum principium some principle received that thou must not so much as question the truth of it and then according to this thou makest many false and erroneous conjectures about Gods proceedings to thee Thirdly Then the godly are very apt to be deceived about Gods wayes to themselves or others when they judge of God after outward and humane appearance When they expect that God should do as some high and mighty Monarch of the world would do We see hom Samuel a man so highly proficient in the fear of God and all integrity yet when he came to choose out the man God had designed for the Kingdom how quickly he mistook and was at a loss 1 Sam. 16. 6 7. For when Eliab came into his presence he said Surely the Lords anointed is here But then observe how God did reprove his humane judgement when he said to Samuel Look not upon his high stature for the Lord seeth not as man seeth adding also the ground of it because man judgeth by outward appearance but God judgeth the heart It is true the godly have this promise that many things shall be manifested to them which to others the Lord will not reveal Psal 25. 14. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Hence we have that notable expression to Abraham by God when he was purposed to destroy Sodome Gen. 18. 17. Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I will do and one reason is because he will command his children and his houshold to keep the way of the Lord. We have likewise a very comfortable expression which our Saviour useth to his Disciples John 15. 15. Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things I have heard of my Father I have made known to you From this it is that some eminently godly men have been endowed with a prophetical spirit and have used much boldness in prayer to
right testimony of conscience within them they have seared stupid consciences or they have deluded ones that make them trust in other things then Christs blood Do not most men rest in this that their conscience telleth them they are baptized they are made partakers of the Ordinances of God and this is all the witness they have But the Apostle Peter layeth an Axe to the root of this 1 Pet. 3. 21. Baptisme saveth but then by a rhetorical correction addeth Not the putting away of the filth of the body but an answer of a good conscience It is generally thought to be an allusion to a Covenant or contract for so Baptism is wherein the person is asked Do you take God for your God Renounce the Devil and all the lusts of the flesh Now if a man can unseignedly and with a good conscience answer that he keepeth to baptismal ingagements this will save SERM. LXXXVII A Believer may be assured of the Uprightness of his Heart in the Performance of Duties What is required to such an Assurance 2 COR. 1. 12. That in simplicity and godly sincerity THe third part of the Text as it stands divided cometh under our consideration and that is the Declaration in particular of what was spoken in the General The General was The testimony of his conscience Now he sheweth the Specials wherein this is manifested and that is set down Positively and Negatively and Oppositely 1. Positively In simplicity c. 2. Negatively Not with fleshly wisdome 3. Oppositely But by the grace of God Before we come to the particulars and open the Greek words we must take notice of the certainty and sure knowledge Paul had of his sincerity For how could Paul glory and rejoyce in his sincerity if he did not know it yea so know it that his conscience with the Spirit of God did witness it to him And therefore this is one of those places that is brought in the controversie between Papists and us about the certainty of our being in the state of grace which Bellarmine indeed would enervate But his labour is in vain For what can be clearer then that Paul had a certain knowledge of his upright heart seeing he did make this publick testimony of it and take so much joy therein Neither doth Paul in this pretend to any extraordinary revelation as if he had some peculiar priviledge in this above others as when he was rapt up into the third Heavens but he avoucheth the testimony of his conscience which must be in an ordinary way From this we observe That a Believer may have a certain knowledge not only that he performeth those gracious duties God requireth but that he doth them with an upright and sincere heart Paul did not only know that he was diligent in preaching of the Gospel that he was faithfull in dispensing of the word of God but also that all this was done with faithfull and sincere respects We do not only know that we believe that we repent but that we do these things in the uprightnesse of our souls Bellarmine urgeth this much Though we do discharge the duties God requireth yet how can we know that we do them with an whole heart with a sincere spirit Many hypocrites say they are sure Yea saith he among the Protestants one is assured of his way and another of another Sect but we are assured that they are all deluded So that he concludeth Seeing all the Hereticks of this age boast of this certainty yet saith he even in their opinion many are deceived and in ours all are But we are to walk by the Scripture-light in this case And indeed this being a truth the knowledge whereof is obtained both by Scripture and experience the savoury work of grace and sense of Christs Spirit dwelling in us doth more to perswade of this truth then voluminous controversies This Question is best answered by diligent prayer and an heavenly life and therefore practical experimental Christians can speak more to this point then the most learned speculative Doctors unless they have a gracious broken heart as well as a learned profound head That a believer may be assured of the truth of grace appeareth by several examples and general assertions of Scriptures Examples as Hezekiah Remember O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart 2 King 20. 3. In Job who though under sad temptations both from God and his dear friends who charged upon him hypocrisie yet he would never let go the perswasion of his integrity David how often doth he professe his love of God with all his heart Peter when Christ asked him again and again he answered Thou knowest Lord I love thee John 21. 17. As for those places which affirm this truth I shall name one or two John 14. 17. Ye know the Spirit for he dwels with you and shall be in you And vers 20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you What is clearer then As where the Sunne is there is light to see it so where the Spirit of God dwelleth and worketh in a man there is an evident discovery of it 2 Cor. 2. 11 12. What man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man within even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God that we might know the things freely given to us of God By this we see that as the soul by its rational powers doth discover and feel the workings of reason and understanding within it self so also by those supernatural principles of grace infused into it it is able to discern and feel the divine and heavenly motions of a supernatural life within him The first Epistle of John doth in many places speak of this knowledge whereby we perceive that God is in us and we in him But I intend not to enlarge on this subject Let us explain this truth and consider What is required to cause this certain knowledge in us that we are sincere and in a state of grace and so by consequent that we are justified elected and shall assuredly be saved And First There is required A firm assent and faith of the truth of Gods promises which are in the general revealed in the Word as such as these He that believeth hath passed from death to life By faith we have remission of sinnes through the blood of Christ Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of Heaven The promises also to such as do confesse and forsake their sinnes we are strongly to assure our souls of Yea not only the promises but the whole truths revealed in Gods word we are firmly to assent to by a vigorous faith For the lively actings of faith to its general objects do wonderfully conduce to the application of it to particular and special objects As men of quick animal actions are thereby more enabled to rational for seeing what is in
you had what gifts and enlargements you had what not what remarkable external duties you have done for God but with what sincerity and singlenesse of heart all this hath been performed Therefore meditate on this lesson as it were every day be studying of it to know all the practical mysteries about it And as the Husbandman before he can sow his ground with corn must cut up the roots and bushes which are in the way so do thou That thou mayest the better set thy self upon this duty of pressing after sure knowledge in this great matter remove first All those impediments and hinderances that keep thee from exercising thy self therein and they are these First A self-fulnesse and presumptuous security that thou art already in a good estate This is the condemnation and eternal ruine of many a mans soul he will not so much as put it to the Question Whether he be in a state of grace and salvation or no he will not so much as entertain one doubt about it No this is the way to bring him in despair by this means he may have trouble and disquietness of conscience he cannot live so jollily and securely as he doth Therefore whatsoever Gods word or the Ministry speaketh though never so terribly about the deceitfulness of mans heart that we delude our selves taking that which is like grace for true grace they matter it not they will perswade themselves that their souls are in a good estate and none in the world shall make them question it Of all the men in the world such secure confident spirits have the most cause to doubt and fear Never to doubt or search into thy heart and to compare thy self with the Rule is a very ill signe To take all for granted thus concerning thy soul and never to commune with thy own heart is a great argument that thou art rotten in the foundation Doth not the Wiseman observe it as a general Rule Prov. 16. 2. The wayes of a man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord pondereth the heart Though thou sayest with the Church of Laodicea Thou art rich cloathed and wantest nothing yet God knoweth thou art poor cursed and miserable God knoweth otherwise by thee then thou doest We charge it upon the Church of Rome that she is incurable because of this principle she holdeth That she cannot erre For if she would yeeld that if she would grant happily for so many years they have been grosly deceived then there would be some principles to proceed upon to reform them So it is if we meet with a man that confesseth his heart is deceitfull his condition may be very miserable though he hath applauded himself thus many years if I may be found out not to have laid a good foundation about the work of grace I would gladly be convinced of it It is the great desire of my soul not to be deceived about the nature of grace in me There are fearfull and sad instances of hypocrites and temporary believers therefore I would gladly be informed Whether I came not too short as yet Whether there be not a more excellent way then I have attained unto This man is not farre from the Kingdom of Heaven this man is in a way to be secured But the self-righteous man that supposeth himself good it is the first principle with him that he will never suffer to be questioned this man is remediless as to humane appearance Such a presumptuous man in practicals is like an Heretick in doctrinals and so after the first and second admonition we may even reject knowing that he doth willingly damne himselfe Be sure then to take heed of this rock at which so many have split themselves A second cause that must be removed is A prophane carelesse spirit whereby men do not at all matter their souls nor in what relation they do stand in towards God If their bodies be well if their worldly affairs prosper then they say Soul take thy ease But as for their spiritual condition whether God be reconciled or an enemy whether yet they have been ever taken off that natural and cursed estate they were born in they never look after it Oh foolish and brutish man If the Spirit of God shall once convince thee of thy sinfull and dangerous estate of the curses of the Law which may fall upon thee every moment then thou maist have no rest day or night till thou obtainest some assurance herein The third cause is The over-greedinesse and importunate minding of our earthly businesses We rise with the world in our heart and go to bed with it in our heart so that we never set time apart seriously to think how it is with us Hence come those constant delayes and procrastinations promising our selves we will after such and such businesses are over set our selves to the examination of our wayes but still the work is not done our dayes passe away our hearts grow more hardned and indisposed every day till at last death unexpectedly seizeth upon us and then we would gladly have oil when it is too late then with Esai we cry out for a blessing with tears and bitterness but we come too late How comfortable on the other side is it for a godly man dying to say his soul hath been set in order long before he hath not his evidences now to seeke The knowing of his heart hath beene all his study in his life time Satan can object no new thing which he hath not already thought upon Lastly There is another cause in the other extream which is to be removed if we would arrive to this certainty and that is To shake off all despairing and discouraging thoughts as so many vipers fastened upon thee This valley must be exalted as well as the other mountains levelled Paper too much wetted as well as foul receiveth no characters So the heart sinfully dejected and disquieted is indisposed for assurance as well as the presumptuous one For this reason we need the Spirit of God to seal us and to confirm us yea we need Gods Spirit more in this work of confirmation then of illumination Darkness and ignorance is sooner removed out of the mind than unbelief and diffidence out of the heart Do ye not see it thus often with the children of God who are very tender in respect of illumination are very quick and Eagle-eyed in respect of conviction are wonderfully ingenuous to find out all the secret pollution and guile of their souls But then for assurance and confirmation in the grace and favour of God towards them they are exceedingly fearfull and very weak Therefore the believer must look upon slavish and disquieting fears as adversaries to his peace as well as presumptuous and secure thoughts These impediments being thus rolled out of the way the next thing he hath to do is to awe his foul with those Commands of God that require us to get a certain knowledge of
all things to all men for that is to save one not to save but rather destroy others he did not sinfully comply with mens sinnes but he did prudently accommodate himself to mens weaknesses not defiling himself thereby that to he might 〈◊〉 them out of their weaknesses Lastly The grace of God acknowledged by Paul is The successe he had in his ministerial labours For though Paul was inabled to doe many miracles to cure many diseased bodies yet he could not open the eyes or change the heart of any one man whensoever therefore an effectual door was opened to him in any place this was Gods work not Paul's 1 Cor. 3. For though Paul planted and Apollo watered yet it is God that giveth the increase Alas it is not for a Minister to thinke his parts his gifts his learning his diligent and zealous preaching shall bring men off from their wicked wayes For though the Minister is to do his duty yet his successe is of Gods grace onely And therefore wonder not if Paul triumph over all the learned and potent enemies of the Gospel if Paul's contemptiblenesse overcome the Grecians wisdome and excellency for it 's not Paul but the grace of God with him that doth these wondrous things Use of Admonition to us who are the Ministers of God as we would have our studies our labours our ministerial imployments have successe to goe out of our parts and studies and to importune the grace of God more Thou art apt to thinke such expressions such moving compassionate exhortations such quick and penetrating arguments will make men leave all their sinnes and follow Christ but looke up to Gods grace more and take heed of any thing that may provoke God to withwithdraw his gracious presence from thy studies and ministeriall labours Use 2. Of Instruction Whence it is that the faithfull Ministry of God hath been upheld in all ages when the Governours of the world have frowned on them when endeavours have been to root it out as a bitter plant not to be endured when they themselves have been poor and weak having neither outward greatnesse or earthly policy to maintaine them This is wholly from the grace of God As the Arke was not overwhelmed in the waters though it had no Pilot to guide it because God took care of it SERM. XCVII Of a Good and Godly Conversation in the World 2 COR. 1. 12. We have had our conversation in the world WE are come now to the thing testified it self which is this We have had our conversation in the world So that herein is expressed the ground of his comfort and that in two particulars 1. It was his conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used to signifie the way as the Scripture calleth it or the life and constant customary practice of man Sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to it not that it can be our conversation unlesse it be universal and every where so But for further aggravation as 1 Pet. 1. 15. But as he that hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation If a man be holy at some times or in some fits but not constantly he doth not resemble God for God is holy in all his wayes In every action and all times God doth manifest his holinesse he is a God and changeth not is alwayes like himself Thus it ought to be with the godly No company no condition no temptations should make them change that holy way of life they are to exercise themselves in Hence also 2 Pet. 3. 11. we have it rendred in the plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What manner of persons ought we to be in godly conversations signifying that the day of judgement powerfully believed would have a strong influence upon every thought word or action that there cannot be any kind of godlinesse though never so contrary to flesh and blood but we should be thereby provoked to the accomplishment thereof Varinus maketh the synonimous words to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is our perpetual exercise and life as it were Indeed there is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendered conversation Phil. 3. 20. and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Act. 23. 1. as also Philip. 1. 27. Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Philip. 3. 20. is observed to signifie rather our freedome and prerogative which we have as Citizens of Jerusalem Our priviledges are in that spiritual corporation which indeed doth also by consequence denote that our lives and conversations ought to be answerable to such glorious advantages The second word expressive is In the world It is not at one place or in some company onely that Paul doth thus sincerely behave himself but in the world every where in all places where he cometh Locum non animum he may change his place and his company but never his godly life Whereas then we see Paul gathering his comfort not from some particular actions done at some time or in some place but from the whole carriage and constant deportment of himself We may observe That it is not so much some good actions done at some times as the universall carriage of our selves in holy things that doth bring solid comfort This Doctrine is of special use For who will not be godly Who may not be thought to belong to the Kingdome of Heaven If you look upon them in some fits while under some dangers while some sudden pangs are upon them but God will judge thee not according to these particulars but the whole course of thy life It is true sometimes thou hast prayed sometimes thy heart hath been smitten under the guilt of thy sinnes but how quickly have these passed over again These are not thy daily exercise The harmony of thy life is not holy and godly There are innumerable instances of men who in some streights and imminent dangers have appeared penitent and reformed but all hath been forced and compelled as it were their constant habitual inclination was otherwise Did not Pharaoh in some extremities cry out He had sinned and desired Moses to pray for him Did not Ahab under Gods judgements humble himself in sackcloth Yea was it not the complaint of the Prophets concerning the people of the Israel That in their tribulations they did call upon God But then afterwards would return to their proper course again Psalm 78. 34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him they returned and enquired early after God These words declare much activity and solicitude in them for a while at least to become reconciled with God But then what followeth They did flatter with their mouth for their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant And before at vers 8. they are said To be a generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit was not stedfast
thy faith that doth not make thee watch and pray against this day Why doest thou not with Hierome thinke that every moment thou hearest that Trumpet sounding in thy eares Arise and come to judgement Oh be diligent in doing the Lord For blessed is that sarvant whom his Master shall finde him so doing Whereas if thou art doing the Devils worke he will at that day come and demand thee he is mine I challenge him for my owne though I never died for him though I was never crucified for him yet he obeyed me rather than Christ therefore I require my owne Call then to any of the creatures and thy friends and see if they can helpe thee when God shall say Depart ye cursed Will any say Lord he shall not goe I will deliver him I will rescue him I will make an atonement for him No but he must for ever perish and none can help him SERM. CVI. Of the Encouragements a Minister hath from the hopes of doing good to a people 2 COR. 1. 15. And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before that you might have a second benefit AT this Verse the Apostle taketh an happy occasion for a transition to his Apology or defence against that crime charged upon him by the false Teachers Non saltat saith Cajetan he doth not leap falling upon this matter abruptly but the transition is very genuine Paul it seemeth had promised to come to those Corinthians but for weighty reasons he deferred his coming hitherto The false Teachers they waiting for all advantages to calumniate him did upon this accuse him with levity and inconstancy that with him was yea and nay that he did purpose according to carnal respects accommodating himself to time and outward advantages Now the Apostle is very zealous and vehement in vindicating of himself herein It is true Piscator doth begin this Apologetical Discourse at the 12th Ver. but it seemeth more genuine to make the beginning of it at this verse Estius doth well observe that while Paul was speaking in the commendation and praise of his Conversation he did use the plural number joyning others with him to avoid envy but when he cometh to this Apologetical part being charged with a heynous crime he useth the singular Number and speaketh of himself onely In the words we may take notice First Of Pauls Resolution 2. The Motive of it 3. The Time 4. The End And 5. The Manner how it was to be executed In the Verse following his Resolution is set down in these words I was minded to come unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifieth such a Resolution and purpose that was made upon good advice and deliberation It was not a rash suddain or presumptuous Decree but made upon good grounds though afterwards he had cause to change his minde From this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some say the word Bulla is derived as being his wise decree and purpose but seldome is there either wisdome or righteousness therein 2. There is the motive in this confidence viz. which was mentioned before of their mutual rejoycing in one another whereby he was perswaded that he might do much good amongst them we have spoken of the word already This he speaketh to shew that the motive of his coming to them was wholly out of love and desire to do them good 3. The Time when and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before some make it a trajection as if it did belong to his mind and purpose he had before determined others to his coming to him as if this coming should have been long before but there is no great matter in either construction though Beza and Grotius go the former way If you say Did the Apostle then change his mind did he alter his purpose if so would not this call in question all his Apostolical Doctrine To this we are to answer in the prosecution of his Apology at the 23d verse he there plainly telleth them what was the cause that made him forbear his comming not any levity or inconstancy in him but their sinfulness It was that he might not execute that Apostolicall severity amongst them as they deserved of which in its time Lastly There is the End of his coming which is wholly spiritual That you might have a second benefit It was for their good not his own Let us consider the Motive in this confidence of your kindness and love as also of my doing good to you I purposed to come to you Observe That where a Faithfull Minister hath good hopes and confidence of doing good to a people there is great encouragement of abiding with such Thus it was with these very Corinthians God in a Vision to Paul Act. 18. 10. commanded him to stay at Corinth and not be afraid which he did a year and half longer then usually he did any where and the reason is Because there was much people in that City to be gathered to God Oh how rejoycing is it to a Faithfull Minister when he seeeth God hath converting work edifying work for him to do amongst such a people Thus you have also Paul resolved upon his tarrying at Ephesus 1 Cor. 16. 9. and why so A great and effectual door is opened to me He did see a likelihood of much spiritual good to be done and this made him willing to abide there To affect our hearts with this truth consider First That all people both by nature and custome have a door fast bolted against the entrance of the Word So that it is as great a miracle for Christ by the preaching of the Gospel to enter into the hearts of Hearers as it was when he came in to his Disciples the doors being shut yea here is a door upon a door a bolt upon a bolt There is first their native corruption and by this they are dead in sin So that our Preaching is like hooting into the ear of a dead man should not the spirit of God change and prepare the hearts of Hearers This is the inward door and then there is an outward door which is Custome and Continuance in sinning and this also hardeneth against the Ministry Therefore people are to tremble under this contrariety to their own spiritual good Remember that as you have a door shut now against the Gospel so God will one day have a door shut against you in the Kingdome of Heaven so that although you shall cry Lord Lord open to us yet it cannot be granted you Luke 13 25. As much intreating as we make to you now to receive the Lord Christ so much will you one day use that Christ would receive you Now we knock and cry and importune that you open the doors of your heart and then you shall howl and cry to Christ to open the doors and gates of Heaven Secondly Because men are thus shut up against the Word hence it is that neither any tractableness or supposed probity in any people nor
it is that in Heaven when our understandings shall be fully perfected then we shall not grow in knowledge we shall not imbrace errours and upon further illumination leave them So that whensoever God shall make such a change upon us that we are not to believe as we have done worship as we have done lived as we have done As we are to be thankfull unto God so we are to be humble in our selves because that ever any darknesse did take hold of us The Thomists among the Schoolmen give this for a reason why the good Angels proved constantly good and the evil Angels unchangeably evil Because say they Such is the perfection of the Angelical Nature that what it willeth it willeth immoveably it cannot alter again and therefore an evil Angel cannot repent I shall not justifie this reason but certainly we see it a glorious perfection in God that his understanding is infinite his will immutable so that he cannot know any new thing or will any new thing which he did not from eternity Yea the estate of the glorified Saints in Heaven is admirable in this particular that they are so confirmed by grace they are so perfectly enlightned and sanctified that they receive all truth at first and can never come to know more or better then they did at first admission into that glorious place Fourthly There is no man living though never so learned and so knowing but may still understand more In him there may be there will be Yeas and Nayes He will have cause to confesse he was in this errour once he misunderstood such and such Texts of Scripture formerly Doth not experience confirm this Hence are their retractations their recognitions and reviews of their works which they have put out with much judgement and deliberation So that we are not to wonder if the most excellent and learned men do sometimes say This I thought once and this was my judgement once but now I am better informed It is true the case of the Apostles and such as were divinely inspired of old is different from the most eminent holy and learned men that are in the Church for though after their first call by Christ they did retain some ignorance upon them yea did erre in some doctrinal points of great consequence yet after they received the holy Ghost in a full confirmation of them in their Office then they were made infallible so that in their preaching and writing they could not erre And therefore if there had been any Yea and Nay any contrariety in their Doctrine If any of them should have said Thus I thought once but it was my errour I am now of another mind this would have made us questioned their immediate call from God but all Pastors and Teachers that are to guide the Church they are not to expect such infallibility neither should people look for such assistance upon us but we are limitted to the Scripture as the Rule by which all spirits are to be tried If therefore any eminent Officer of the Church do build hay and stubble upon the foundation of precious stone and pearle wonder not at it Or if you see such afterwards more enlightned and to bewaile the hay and stubble they have built Let not this make you stagger so as to think with your selves what can we believe For they may erre in one thing as well as another and as they confesse they have taught false in one particular so it may be in all the rest and therefore we are not bound to believe them at all For In the fifth place You must distinguish between that which is fundamental in a word and that which is circa or supra fundamental The word of God containeth in it all things that are necessary to salvation but withall it hath many excellent conclusions that are deduceable from them It hath not onely the foundation stones but an excellent and glorious superstructure It hath not onely milk for the babe but strong meat for the adult person And although there be no truth revealed in the Scripture which when sufficiently proposed to us we ought to despise it being the truth of the holy Ghost and wilfully to oppose any known truth of Gods word though it be farre from the fundamentals is a very damnable sinne and rebellion against the Spirit of God yet for all that we must alwayes distinguish between the fundamentals and principles of Religion such as are named Heb. 6. and the conclusions by many mediums deduced from them between the seed and the crop between the essentials and the accessories For there is no godly man much lesse no godly Officer that is so farre left by God as to erre in fundamentals of salvation at least perpetually and therefore they have no Yea and Nay in them For they have the promise of God which is That the Spirit shall lead them into all truth John 16. 13. And they have also the anointing which will teach them all things 1 John 2. 27. where by all things is not meant Omne scibile Every thing that may be known for then they should know all the arts and all the tongues every one would be wiser than Solomon No nor all things in Religion not all things in faith and manners for that would contradict other places which say We know but in part 1 Cor. 3. and also That we are to grow in knowledge 2 Pet. 3. 18. but all things necessary to salvation They shall not want the knowledge of that thing the absence whereof will damn them It may be for a season they may be involved in some fundamental errour even as they may in regard of their lives fall into some grossimpieties that do for the present take away the present claim that they have to the Kingdom of Heaven but at last they shall be delivered because it 's not possible the elect should be deceived viz. totally and finally by the most deceiveable wayes of falshood that are Matth. 24. 24. Now the knowledge of this is necessary to obviate that Objection which you heard mentioned If the Ministers of the Gospel may be Yea and Nay in some things why not in all things If they erre in one thing why not in every thing This is not to be yeelded unto For they cannot erre in necessaries though they may in accessories They cannot lay any other foundation than what is laid yet they may build hay and stubble Therefore it 's sensless and irrational to argue from any errour or mistake the Ministers may have in some points of Religion that are problematical to those that are essential For in these later we are sure we are never deceived we may with Paul confidently say If an Angel from Heaven preach contrary to that Doctrine let him be accursed SERM. CXVIII A further Discovery of the sinfulnesse and reproach of Inconstancy especially in a Minister 2 COR. 1. 18. Our word toward you was not yea and nay WE are pursuing
this truth That inconstancy and contrariety in the Doctrine of Ministers is a very great reproach to them For the discovering whereof we have brought in some particulars and proceed upon the same account As First We must alwayes distinguish between constancy and pertinacy for these differ as much as light and darknesse though one may seem very like the other Insomuch that the rash wilfull pertinacy of some men in their wayes and opinions though never so false is gloried in by them as true constancy Never is sinne more ready to deceive us then when it cometh in truths mantle when the Devil appeareth like Samuel For then this lustre and glistering doth deceive us taking vice for vertue that we cannot be brought into any way of amendment But this we must resolve upon That constancy and pertinacy they differ as much as evil and good To be a constant man is a duty to be a pertinacious man is a sinne If you see a Papist or an Heretick that will endure the greatest torment ere he will be Yea and Nay as often it falleth out This man is not to be commended for constancy but condemned for his wilfulnesse and pertinacy So that among many other differences constancy and pertinacy are discriminated in their object for constancy hath alwayes that which is good and true for its object as the Apostle saith It is good to be zealously affected in a good thing Gal. 4. 18. so it is good to be constant and persevering in that which is a duty But then pertinacy is alwayes in that which is false and evil and therefore is commonly made to be a necessary concomitant of an heretical person Though he hold a grievous errour yet if he doth it not with pertinacy after frequent admonitions and convictions he is not judged an Heretick according to that known saying of Austins Errare possum Haereticus esse nolo The Apostle also supposeth wilfulnesse and refractorinesse in Tit. 3. 10. when he biddeth us Reject an heretick after the first and second admonition implying that thereby he hath fully discovered his pertinacy and so his incorrigibility If then in a sacred Oath wherein we solemnly call upon God as a witnesse when it is about a sinfull and ungodly thing it is our duty to break it It was Herod's sinne that he would fullfill his oath then how much more if thou art in an erroneous or in a sinfull and ungodly way to go on wilfully and wilt not change thy mind whatsoever cometh of it This pertinacy is also seen in wicked men who will not be reformed though the Ministry be never so potent and effectual though light penetrate never so secretly into their breasts yet like Balaam they go on desperately against the Angel of God with a sword in his hand and glory that they are no changelings whereas is to be of another mind were alwayes sinne their repentance would be a vice and not a virtue For what is that but to be of another mind to change our minds whether it be in doctrinal errours or practical impieties there must be a repentance a changing of our minds else we shall never enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Remember then this difference be a constant man not a pertinacious self-willed man The former's Yea yea and Nay nay in a good sense the later in a bad sense Solomon saith Bray a fool in a morter yet his foolishnesse will not depart from him Prov. 27. 22. What is he therefore to be commended because he will not be changed Yea this change from all evil of mind or life is so necessary that God hath appointed his Ministry for this end For this end he afflicteth and chastiseth that we should be men of other minds of other perswasions than we have been Arrianus's Epictetus hath a Chapter Lib. 2. cap. 15. against such who will contumaciously persist in what they have decreed and instanceth in a friend who had decreed to famish and starve himself and was hardly perswaded to the contrary meerly because he would be as good as his purpose whereas first we are to consider whether the thing decreed be good and right or no. Mad men have strength but they put it out in a furious way so erroneous and wicked men they will be the same they will not alter or change but this is in a sinfull and damnable way Oh that we could see many putting a Nay upon their former Yea To cry as he did Ego non sum ego for unlesse such do become changed they are sure to perish Secondly Then therefore is yea and nay so reproachfull when they are mutable from truth as well as errour as also from corrupt and light motives Some have an inconstancy and levity of mind they do not adhere long to any one thing These want solidity and weight and therefore are like feathers and straws that are blown up and down with every wind of Doctrine These are children wanting sound judgement and so are easily deluded Hence the Apostle exhorteth Ephes 4. 14. That we be not as children tossed up and down with every wind of Doctrine How many are there that do not adhere to the truths of God upon constant divine motives but light and corrupt whereby it cometh to passe that they have Annuam menstruam fidem They have a daily monethly and yearly faith and we may truly say of them what Maldonate by scorn deriding the division of faith given by Protestants Illis enim tot sunt fides quot sunt in lyrâ It is this unsetledness and inconstancy that maketh the Protestant Religion so reproached by Papists herein they boast by this they insinuate that you Protestants go from Religion to Religion from opinion to opinion and have no huc usque but change their perswasions as often as their fashions Now it must be granted that such giddinesse and inconstancy doth not consist with a sound faith and judgement Men may be very learned men and yet very unsetled in their judgement Who will not acknowledge that Grotius was to be honoured for his learning But his inconstancy was the dead flie in his box of ointment Hence Rivet relateth of him That when he was in prison some interceded with Prince Maurice for his liberty but the Prince denied and pointing to the weather-cock upon his house said En caput Grotii On the other side it was the commendation of John Baptist that he was not as a reed shaken with every wind When we have once tried all things and found out the truth then we are to hold it fast we are not to be alwayes enquiring and seeking this is perpetually to erre in the wildernesse and never come into Canaan Pray therefore to God against inconstancy and unsetlednesse in mind in matters of Religion such a temptation hath fallen so foully upon some that it hath even brought a distraction upon them It is a mercy to be setled upon the Rock to be rounded