if we have any faith in him faith will work by love Gal. 5. 6. The soul may reason and discourse thus with itself Do I believe Christ Jesus did thus willingly give himself for my soul how can I be backward in God's service and hang off from him O let me live to Christ who loved me and gave himself for me Gal. 2. 20. What shall I be more backward to do for God than Christ was to die for me To go to the Throne of Grace than Christ Jesus was to go the Cross Can I hang off from such pleasing Noble Service when Jesus Christ my Lord refus'd not the hard work of my Redemption If his Will was in it certainly so should be yours Doct. 3. The third Point That these free-will-offerings are accepted with God They shall come with Rams speaking of the conversion of the Gentiles in terms proper to the old legal dispensation and they shall come with acceptance Isa. 6. 7. And Mal. 3. 4. Then shall the offering of Iudah and Ierusalem be pleasant unto the Lord. Upon what grounds and what way our acceptance with God is brought about our works in themselves cannot please God they are accepted not as merits but as testimonies of thankfulness 1. Our persons are by Christ reconciled to God and in worship he delights This is the proper importance of laying the Peace-offering upon the top of the Burnt offering Lev. 3. 10. 2. Our infirmities are cover'd with his Righteousness for Christ is the Propitiation the Mercy-seat that interposeth between the Law and God's gracious Audience We come to the Throne of Grace when we come to God in and by him Heb. 4. 16. 3. By his intercession our duties are commended to God As Aaron was to stand before the Lord with his Plate upon his forehead wherein was writ Holiness to the Lord why That he might bear the iniquity of the people that they might be accepted of the Lord. All our acceptance comes from Christ's intercession and alas our Prayers and Praises are unsavoury Eruptations Belches of the Flesh as they come from us a great deal of infirmity we mingle with them we mingle Brimstone with our Incense and Sweet Spices therefore provoke the Lord to abhor and despise us but there 's an Angel stands by the Altar that perfumes all our Prayers and Praises How should this encourage us against the slightings of the world and discouragements of our own hearts and look after the testimony of our acceptance with God Doct. 4. The fourth Point That this gracious acceptance must be sought and valu'd as a great blessing Psal 19. 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord. And it must be valu'd as a great blessing if we consider either who the Lord is or what we are or what it is we go to him for If we consider who the Lord is God all sufficient that standeth in no need of what we can do that cannot be profited by us he is of so great a Majesty that his honour is rather lessned than greatned by any thing we can do the great-Author of all blessings all our offerings come from himself first of thine own have we given thee And if we consider what we are poor impotent sinful Creatures will God take an offering at our hands And if we consider what we do nothing but imperfection there is more of us in it of our fleshly part in any thing we do yet that these things should be accepted with God SERMON CXIX PSAL. CXIX VER 109. My soul is continually in my hand yet do I not forget thy law IN this Verse and the next David asserts his Integrity against two sorts of Temptations and ways of Assault the Violence and Craft of his Enemies Their Violence in this Verse My soul is in my hand And their Craft in the next Verse They laid snares for me And yet still his heart is upright with God In this Verse observe 1 David's condition My soul is continually in my hand 2 His constancy and perseverance notwithstanding that condition Yet do I not forget thy law First Let me speak of the condition he was now in in that Expression My soul is continually in my hand The soul in the hand is a Phrase often us'd in Scripture it is said of Iephthah Judg. 12. 13. I put my life in my hands and passed over against the children of Ammon So Job 13. 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand And when David went to encounter Goliah 1 Sam. 17. 5. it is said He put his life in his hand and slew the Philistines In exposing our selves to any hazard and dangers in any great attempt it is call'd the putting our life in our hand And the Witch of Endor when she ventur'd against a Law to please Saul and so had exposed her life this form of speech is used concerning her 1 Sam. 28. 21. I have put my life in my hand Briefly then By Soul is meant Life and this is said to be in his hand I go in danger of my life day by day as if he should say I have my Soul ready divorc'd when God calls for it it not only notes liableness to danger but resolution and courage to encounter it In a sense we always carry our Souls in our hands our life hangs by a single thread which is soon fretted asunder and therefore we should every day be praying that it may not be taken from us as the Souls of wicked men are Iob 27. 8. Luke 12. 20. but yielded up and resign'd to God But more especially is the Expression verifi'd when we walk in the midst of dangers and in a thousand deaths my soul is in my hand that is I am expos'd to dangers that threaten my life every day Secondly Here 's his Affection to God's Word notwithstanding this condition Yet do I not forget thy law There is a twofold remembrance of things Notional and Affective and so there 's a twofold forgetfulness 1 Notional We forget the Word when the notion of things written therein are either wholly or in part vanish'd out of our minds 2 Affectively We are said to forget the Word of God when though we still retain the Notion yet we are not answerably affected do not act according thereunto and this is that which is understood here I do not forget thy Law Law is taken generally for any part of the Word of God and implies the Word of Promise as well as the Word of Command As for instance 1. If we interpret it of the Promise the sense will be this I do not forget thy Law that is I take no discouragements from my dangers to let fall my trust as if there were no Providence no God to take care of those that walk closely with him Heb. 12. 5. when they fainted they are said to have forgotten the consolation which spake unto
Children then we have other thoughts 'T is more easy to speak of Trouble than to bear it We reade of Iesus Christ that he learned by experience Heb. 5. 8. He had an actual experience by the things he suffered and he saith now is my soul troubled John 12. 27. There is a vast difference between the most exact apprehension in the Judgment and the experimental feeling of it in the Senses the one may be without so much vexation as the other will produce Though Christ understood perfectly what his Sufferings should be and had resolved upon them yet when he came to feel it his very righteous Soul was under perplexity as a glass of pure Water may be tossed and shaken Affliction is another thing to present sense and feeling than it is to guess and imagination Much more doth it hold good in us for we have not such a perfect foresight of Sufferings as Christ had We suppose they may be avoided or shifted off one way or other I speak this that we may not depend upon our present Resolutions when out of trouble but labour to be more prepared than usually we are that when trouble cometh upon us we may glorify God Consider 3. This acknowledgment must be the real language of our Hearts and not by word of mouth onely thus we must give unto God the praise of his Truth and Righteousness We tip our Tongues with good words and learn such modesty in our language as to say God is just and do not rave against his Providence in wild and bold Speeches but justice and faithfulness must be acknowledged not with the Tongue so much as with the Heart 'T is the language of the Heart which God looketh after When the Soul keepeth silence to God and a due and suitable impression is left upon it of his Justice by a meek and humble submission Mica 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord for I have sinned against him When God is angry and chastiseth for sin we must stoop humbly under his afflicting Hand bear it patiently and submissively for the Rod is dipped in our own guilt that stoppeth our Mouths and checketh repinings so seeing his faithfulness it maketh us accept the punishment of our iniquities Levit. 26. 41. that is yield to it as a man would to a bitter Potion or a medicinal preparative for his Health so to afflict is as a means to get rid of Sin which would be the bane of the Soul Consider 4. 'T is not enough to acknowledge justice but we must also acknowledge faithfulness not onely his just severity in the punishments of the Wicked but his fidelity and love in the correction of his Children 't is not enough that we justify God and forbear to murmur against his afflicting us but we must see his love and faithfulness in it and that he performeth his Covenant-love His Wisdome and Justice that suppresseth Murmurings his Love and Faithfulness that giveth Hope and Comfort and Courage the one concerneth the Honour of God he righteth himself by his just Judgments the other concerneth our benefit and eternal Welfare Faithfulness is to us and for our good Pharaoh could own Justice Exod. 9. 27. The Lord is righteous but I and my people are wicked But 't is an higher thing to own Faithfulness that supposeth Faith as the other doth Conviction Guilt will sooner fly in our faces and extort from us an acknowledgement of God's Justice than we can own the grace of the New Covenant especially when carnal sense and smart seemeth to speak the contrary The sight of his Justice checketh murmurings the sight of his Faithfulness fainting and discouragement God's Dispensations are just with respect to the Sentence of the Law faithfull with respect to the Promises of the Gospel in short the cause of all Affliction is Sin therefore Justice must be acknowledged their end is Repentance and therefore Faithfulness the end is not destruction and ruine so they might be acts of Justice as upon the Wicked but that we may be fit to receive the Promises such to whom God will perform the promise of eternal Life and so acts of Faithfulness Consider 5. Faith must fix this as a ground not once to be questioned much less to be doubted of or denied that God is just upright and faithfull in all his dealings though weak Man be not able to conceive the reasons of them His Justice may be dark as when he permitteth us to the will of wicked men who afflict us without a cause and lay on without any mercy and pity and God seemeth to befriend their Cause at least doth not restrain them nor give check to their fury we are apt to be tempted to thoughts of rigour and injustice in God's Dispensations but we must consider not mens dealing but God's 't is unjust as to men but we have no cause to be angry with God and complain of God as if he did not doe right No though we do not see the reason of it yet 't is just God's Iudgments are a great deep we should believe the Righteousness and Goodness of God in the general Psal. 36. 7. before we can find it out The People of God have maintained their Principle when they have been puzled and imbrangled in interpreting God's Providence Ier. 12. 1. Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee and Psal. 73. 1. Yet God is good to Israel In all such cases 't is best to acknowledge our own ignorance and rather accuse our selves of blindness than God of injustice This is a fixed truth that God is righteous though we cannot so clearly make it out And sometimes we are tempted to doubt of his Fidelity and Truth when we feel nothing but the smart of the Rod the benefit is future not an object of Sense but Faith and it must be evident to Faith before 't is evident to Feeling Heb. 12. 11. No affliction for the present seemeth joyous but grievous but afterwards it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness When all is sharp and hard to Sense Faith can see all is for our profit for our good Here is nothing repugnant to God's Truth nothing but what is necessary to make good his Truth Faith must determine it to be when Sense will not find it so God's Works are misexpounded when we go altogether by present Sense whether internal or external many times we know not what God is about to doe as Christ told Peter John 13. 7. What I doe thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter That which the Lord is doing tendeth not to ruine and wrath though through our ignorance and mistake we so interpret it Alas no wonder we are in the dark when we so judge of his Work who is wonderfull in counsel and excellent in working who will not always satisfy our sense and curiosity but chooseth such a way as will most suit his intent But ever in all such cases Faith must determine that God is
Psal. 94. 15. Iudgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it Sometimes they are asunder Earthly Judges may refuse the justice of righteousness a Judg may suspend the act of his own judgment but they shall not long be severed God will bring forth his righteous Judgment Zach. 8. 17. These things I hate saith the Lord. And then in regard of his Providence God will not be unmindful of his promise Psal. 9. 7 8 9. He hath prepared his Throne for judgment and he shall judge the world in righteousness he shall minister judgment to his people in uprightness Courts of Justice among men are not always open they have Term-time but God is always ready to hear Paintiffs They make Complaints amongst men and they are delayed so much and so long that they are discouraged But we have a friend that is always ready to hear Psal. 48. 10. Thy right hand is full of righteousness for defending his people and punishing his enemies Use 3. To press us to acknowledge this Justice of God that he governeth all things righteously especially when you are under his mighty hand The Lord takes it ill when you question any of his Providences Ezek. 18. 25. Are not my ways equal He will be clear when he judgeth Psal. 51. 4. God will be justified in all that he hath done or shall do for the punishment of sin and therefore when the hand of God is upon you take heed you do not reproach God When his hand is smart and heavy upon you remember affliction opens the eyes of the worst men Nebuchadnezzar that knew no God but himself no happiness but in pleasing his own humour yet when he was whipped and scourged hear him speak Dan. 4. 37. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven all whose works are truth and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase Pharaoh Exod. 2 27. The Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked These Acknowledgments and Confessions come from wicked men as Water out of a Still forced by the fire But if affliction opens the eyes of wicked men surely when we are under Gods afflicting hand we should give him the glory of his Justice and acknowledge that he is clear in all that he brings upon us He takes it ill when we murmure and tax his Judgment Mic. 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me And Lam. 1. 18. The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandment And when we submissively stoop and accept of the punishment of our sin after he hath been provoked then God will plead for us Lev. 26. 41. When we stoop humbly under Gods correcting hand and bear it patiently and say God is just in all this then it will succeed well Observe the Justice of God especially his remarkable Judgments upon others The Church is brought in acknowledging of it Rev. 15. 3. Iust and true are thy ways thou King of Saints And Rev. 19. 3. True and righteous are his Iudgments Not that we should sit Crowners upon other mens souls and judge their spiritual condition and misinterpret Providence I look upon it as a great sin of a faction and perverse humors But clearly when mens sins are so great that the Judgments of God have overtaken them we ought to say Iust and true art thou O Lord and just in all thy Iudgments I might shew here is much to keep the Children of God in awe the Lord is a righteous God though they have found mercy and taken sanctuary at his Grace the Lord is impartial in his Justice God that did not spare the Angels when they sinned nor his Son when he was a Sinner by imputation will not spare you though you are the dearly Beloved of his soul Prov. 11. 31. The sinful courses of Gods Children occasion bitterness enough they never venture upon sin but with great loss If Paul give way to a little pride God will humble him If any give way to sin their Pilgrimage will be made uncomfortable Gods hand may be smart and dismal Eli for negligence and indulgence there 's the Ark of God taken his two Sons slain in battel his Daughter in Law dies he himself breaks his Neck O the wonderful Tragedies that sin works in the houses of the Children of God! And David when he intermedled with forbidden fruit was driven from his Palace his Concubines defiled his own Son slain a great many calamities did light upon him Therefore the Children of God have cause to fear for the Lord is a just God and they will find it so here upon earth he hath reserved liberty to visit their iniquity with Rods and their transgression with Scourges I might press you to imitate Gods righteousness 1 Iohn 2. 29. If ye know that he is righteous ye know that every one that doth righteousness is born of God You have a righteous God and here 's the thing you should copy out SERMON CLV PSAL. CXIX VER 138. Thy Testimonies which thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful IN the former Verse the Prophet had spoken of the righteousness of God now God is essentially righteous and therefore all that proceedeth from him is righteous A Carpenter that hath a Rule without him and a Line to measure his work by may sometimes hit and sometimes miss but if you could suppose a Carpenter the motion of whose hand were his Rule he could never chop amiss So must we conceive of God his Act is his Rule Holiness is his Essence not a superadded quality his righteousness is himself therefore from this righteous God there proceedeth nothing but righteousness and from this faithful God nothing but faith He discovereth his Nature both in the Acts of his Providence and the Institutions of his Word We cannot reason so concerning men that because they are righteous nothing cometh from them but what is righteous because righteousness is not their nature but an adventitious quality therefore good men may make ill Laws for though they be meant for good they may be deceived And sometimes wicked men may make good Laws to ingratiate themselves and for the interest of their affairs but God being essentially necessarily good holy and righteous his Laws are also good holy and true Thy Testimonies which thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful In the Words observe I. That there is a Revelation of Gods Will in his Word Thy Testimonies II. The Authority wherewith his Revelation is backed Which thou hast commanded III. The intrinsick worth and excellency of these Testimonies it is double They are 1. Righteous 2. Very faithful In the Hebrew righteousness and faithfulness that is very right and very faithful the one word is referred to the Agenda in Religion the other to the Credenda they are worthy to be obeyed
work a great change in us A Christian should and in some measure doth carry an equal mind in all Conditions and keep the same pace whither he goeth up-hill or down-hill and have his heart fixed in God whatever falleth out Psal. 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. But alas we are much discomposed oftentimes especially at the first onset by our outward estate when under great Afflictions it puts a damp upon our spirits and we cannot serve God so chearfully Levit. 10. 19. And Aaron said unto Moses Behold this day have they offered their sin-offering and their burnt-offering before the Lord and such things have befallen me and if I had eaten the sin-offering to day should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord. So Hezekiah it is said of him 2 Chron. 32. 25. When Hezekiah was sick unto death and he prayed unto the Lord and he gave him a sign that Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done unto him for his heart was lifted up We are too apt to be dejected and cast down with worldly Troubles or exalted and puffed up with worldly Comforts and both bring on deadness upon the Heart both worldly sorrow and carnal complacency It is not requisite that a Child of God should be without all sense of his condition and it cannot be supposed that this sense should always be kept within bounds and under the Coercion and Government of Grace considering our weakness and therefore a Christian receiveth some Taint from the changes he passes thorow as the water doth from the soil through which it runneth He is sometimes in Credit sometimes in Disgrace sometime Rich sometimes Poor sometimes sick and in Pain at other times in Health and firm Constitution of Body Now though it argueth small strength to faint in ordinary Afflictions Prov. 24. 10. and a light spirit to be puffed up like a bubble with every slight blast yet when Troubles are heavy and pressing Gods best servants have been ready to dye and faint and in a full estate it is hard to keep down carnal rejoycing By both the freedom of following Gods service chearfully may often be interrupted 4 Because we sin away our life and strength and by our careless walking contract deadness and hardness of Heart The Mind like the Eye is soon offended and out of Temper we forfeit the quickning influences of his Spirit upon which the activity of Grace dependeth To correct our sinful rashness and to teach us more Watchfulness and Caution God withdraweth Phil. 2. 12 13. Be the sin a sin of Commission especially if grievous and hainous as David found a shrewd abatement of Life and Vigor after his foul sin Psal. 51. 11 12. Or a sin of Omission when we neglect God or serve him slightly if we give way to deadness Isa. 64. 6. rest in the work wrought and are more willing to get a Duty over than to perform it with any Life and Vigor God suspends his quickning If you do not mind the work why should God quicken you in it 3. Reason Is taken from the Nature of Gods Dispensation They do often and earnestly ask quickning because God giveth out by degrees and would keep us in constant dependance In him we live move 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and have our being Act. 17. 28. both as Creatures and new Creatures There is a constant Concurrence of his motions and influences by their beings and operations God will indear his Grace to us by bringing us daily under new debt and therefore he doth not give us all our stock and portion in our hands lest we neglect him as the Prodigal did his Father By multiplyed and renewed Acts of Grace he doth more commend his love to us every day he must quicken us and in every Duty If so much Rain fell in a day as would suffice the Earth for seven years the Commerce between the Air and the Earth would cease Or if a man could eat so much at one meal as to go in the strength of it all his Life there would be no ground to pray for daily bread therefore God doth dispence his Assistances so as you must still wait upon him and be calling to him He keepeth Grace in his own hand that he may often hear from us Doctrine II. The main Argument which Gods Children have to plead in Prayer is his own favour and loving-kindness I shall shew I. That this is a Modest Humble and Pious Argument II. This is a Comfortable and Incouraging Argument I. 'T is a Modest Argument and 't were good if we could learn this modesty of David He was one much in Prayer diligent in keeping Gods Statutes abundant in all Acts of Devotion spent nights in Meditation and yet after all this placeth all his hopes in the Mercy and Loving-kindness of God and desireth onely to be heard according to mercy But in us there is a secret carnal notion of God as if he were our Debtor if we act for him or suffer any thing for him we carry it as if God were obliged to us Isa. 58. Wherefore have we fasted c. We cannot be at a Fast give a little Alms or make a Prayer but we think we have merited much at Gods hands Oh this is against all reason Alas what profit can we be to God Iob 35. 6 7 8. God is above the injuries and benefits of the Creature what miss had he of Angels and Men in those innumerable Ages of duration that went before any Created Being And as it is against Reason so it is against all the declarations God hath made of himself to us Ezek. 36. 32. Not for your sakes do I this saith the Lord of Hosts Be ashamed and confounded for your own wayes So Tit. 3. 4 5 6. But after that the kindness and love of God our saviour towards man appeared not by works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our saviour In short no worth in us or Righteousness of ours is that Merit and Righteousness by vertue of which we are accepted with God Our Works and Righteousness are not that Condition by which we receive and apply this Merit that 's Faith No Works or Merit are a motive or the first inducing Cause to move God to give us that Faith but all is from his Loving-kindness and readiness to do good to the Creatures Again 'T is contrary to the practice of the Saints and Children of God who though never so Holy and never so good yet still they plead Mercy and this by direction from him who knoweth what plea is fittest for Creatures to use to God Luk. 17. 10. As it is not the merit of one part of the Earth that it lyeth nearer the Sun than another onely the Creator would
time that is 't is high time the business of your lives hath been too long neglected It is such another expression as 1 Pet. 4. 3. The time past is enough to have wrought the will of the Gentiles c. God hath been too long kept out of his right and we out of our happiness The night is coming upon us and will you not begin your days work 6. This is the reason of affliction we are so backward in this work that we need be whipt unto it Hos. 5. 15. I will go and return to my place saith God till they acknowledg their offence and seek my face God knows that want is a spur to a lazy creature and therefore doth God break in upon men and scourge them as with scorpions that they may bethink themselves and look after God Use 2. For Direction If you would seek God 1. Seek him early Prov. 8. 32. Blessed are they that seek me early We cannot soon enough go about this work Seek him when God is nigh when the Spirit is nigh Isa. 55. 6. Call upon the Lord while he is near There are certain seasons which you cannot easily get again such times when God doth deal more pressingly with you when the word bears in upon the heart and when God is near unto us David like a quick Echo returns upon God Ps. 27. 8. Seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek It would be a great loss not to obey present impulses and invitations and not make use of the advantages which God puts into our hands 2. Seek him daily Psal. 105. 4. Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore That is from day to day you must be seeking the face of God in the strength of God Every hour we need his direction protection strength and we are in danger to lose him if we do not continue the search 3. Seek him unweariedly and do not give over your seeking until you find God Wrestle through discouragements though former endeavours have been in vain yet still we should continue seeking after God We have that command to inforce us to it Luk. 5. 5. We have toiled all night howbeit at thy command c. Though we do not presently find yet we must not cast off all endeavours In spiritual things many times a man hears and goes away with nothing but when he comes to meditate upon it and work it upon the heart then he finds the face of God and the strength of God Therefore you must not give over your seeking 4. Seek him in Christ. God will only be found in a Mediator Heb. 7. 25. Those are accepted that come to God by him Guilty creatures cannot enjoy God immediately And in Christ God is more familiar with us Hos. 3. 5. They shall seek the Lord their God and David their King None can seek him rightly but those that seek him in Christ. It is uncomfortable to think of God out of Christ. As the Historian saith of Themistocles when he sought the favour of the King he snatched up the Kings Son and so came and mediated for his grace and favour Let us take the Son of God in the arms of our faith and present him to God the Father and seek his face his strength 5. God can only be sought by the help of his own spirit As our access to God we have it by Christ so we have it by the Spirit Ephes. 2. 18. For through him we both have an access by one spirit unto the Father As Christ gives us the leave so the Spirit gives us the help Bernard speaks fitly to this purpose None can be aforehand with God we cannot seek him till we find him in some sense he will be sought that he may be found and he is found that he may be sought It is his preventing grace which makes us restless in the use of means and when we are brought home to God when we seek after God it is by his own grace The Spouse was listless and careless until she could take God by the scent of his own grace When he put his singer upon the handle of the Lock and dropt myrrh by the sweet and powerful influences of his grace she was carried on in seeking after God Thus much for the first part of the duty seek Now the manner With the whole heart Doct. Whoever would seek God aright they must seek him with their whole heart Here I shall enquire 1. What doth this imply 2. Why God will be sought with the whole heart 1. What doth this imply It implys sincerity and integrity for it is not to be taken in the legal sense with respect to absolute perfection but in opposition to deceit Ier. 3. 10. Iudah has not turned to me with her whole heart but feignedly saith the Lord. It is spoken of the time of Iosiah's Reformation many men whirled about with the times and were forced by Preternatural motions The Father of Spirits above all things requireth the Spirit and he that is the searcher and judg of the heart requireth the heart should be consecrated to him Integrity opposeth partiality There are indeed two things in this expression the whole heart it notes extention of parts and intention of degrees 1. The extention of parts with the Understanding Will and Affections Some seek God with a piece of their hearts to explain it either in the work of Faith or Love In the work of Faith as Act. 8. 37. If thou believest with all thine heart There is a believing with a piece and a believing with all the heart There is an unactive knowledg a naked assent which may be real yet it is not a true faith the Devil may have this Luk. 4. 34. the Devil makes an Orthodox confession there Thou art Iesus the Son of the living God This is only a conviction upon the understanding without any bent upon the heart It is not enough to own Christ to be the true Messiah but we must embrace him put our whole trust in him There may be an assent join'd with some sense and conscience and some vanishing sweetness and taste by the reasonableness of Salvation by Christ Heb. 6. 4. but this is not believing with all the heart it is but a taste a lighter work upon the affections and therefore bringeth in little experience There may be some assent such as may engage to profession and partial reformation but the whole heart is not subdued to God Then do we believe with the whole heart when the heart is warmed with the things we know and assent to when there is a full and free consent to take Christ upon Gods terms to all the uses and purposes for which God hath appointed him 1 Chron. 28. 9. Know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind When there is an effective and an affective knowledg when we cannot only discourse of God and Christ
to the sutableness and proportion which it carrieth to our necessities and desires The Cock in the Fable preferred a Barley-corn before a Jewel the Barley-corn is more sutable to its natural appetite So believers have not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God 2 Cor. 2. 12. therefore the way of Gods Testimonies is more sutable and proportionable to that nature which they have Their wealth and worldly things they indeed sute with the sensitive nature but that is kept under therefore the prevalent inclination is to the word more than to the world 2. There is nothing in the enjoyment of worldly things but they have it more amply in the exactest and sincerest way of enjoyment by the word and walking in the way of its precepts Satans baits whereby he leads men to sin are Pleasure and Profit when bonum honestum the good of Honesty and Duty is declined there remains nothing but bonum utile and jucundum the good of Pleasure and Profit If we be moved with these things it is good to look there where we may have them at the highest rate and in the most sincere manner Now it is the word of God believed and obeyed which yieldeth us the greatest profit and the greatest You have both in one Verse Psal. 19. 10. More to be desired are they than gold yea than much fine gold sweeter also than the honey and the honey-comb Because of the Profit it is compared to Gold and because of the Sweetness and Pleasure we have by it 't is compared to Honey 1. The word of God will truly enrich a man and make us happy The difference between Gods people and others doth not lye in this that the one seeketh after Riches the other not they both seek to enrich themselves only the one seeketh after false and the other true riches as they are called Luk. 16. 11. and so differ from one another as we and the Indians do who reckon their wealth by their Wampenpeage or shells of fishes as we do ours by Gold and Silver the one hath little worth but what their Fancies put upon it the other hath a value in nature or to speak in a more home comparison Counters glass Beads and painted Toys please Children more than Jewels and things of greater price yea than Land of Inheritance or whatever when we come to mans estate we value and is of use to us for the supply of present necessities So worldly men preferring their kind of wealth before holiness and the influences of Grace they do but cry up Bawbles before Jewels To evidence this and that we may beat the world with their own notions and so the better defeat the temptation let us consider what is the true Riches 1. What is indeed true Riches 2. Why these are the true Riches I. What is indeed Riches 1. Gracious Experiences or Testimonies of the Favour of God He is a rich man indeed that hath many of these So it is said Rom. 10. 12. God is rich to all that call upon him it is meant actively not passively it only noteth that God doth give out plentiful experiences of his grace 2. Knowledge Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all wisdom Col. 3. 16. And the Apostle mentions the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ Col. 2. 2. this is a treasure indeed that cannot be valued and he is a very poor soul that wants it 3. Faith Jam 2. 5. Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith He is a rich man that is emptied of himself that he may be filled with God 4. Good works 1 Tim. 6. 10. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded c. but rich in good works Oh miserable man that hath nothing to reckon upon but his Money and his Bags so much by the year and makes it all his business to live plentifully in the world laying up nothing for Heaven and is not rich in gracious Experiences Knowledg Faith and Good works which are a Christians Riches II. Why are these the true Riches 1. That is true Riches which maketh the man more valuable which gives an intrinsick worth to him which Wealth doth not that is without us we would not judg of an Horse by the richness of his Saddle and the gawdiness of his Trappings and is man a reasonable creature to be esteemed by his Moneys and Lands or by his Graces and Moral perfections 2. That is Riches which puts an esteem upon us in the eyes of God and the holy Angels who are best able to judg One barbarous Indian may esteem another the more he hath of his shells and trisles but you would count him never the richer that should bring home a whole Ships lading of these things Luk. 12. 20. Such a fool is he that heapeth up treasure to himself and is not rich towards God that hath not of that sort of Riches which God esteemeth We are bound for a Countrey where Riches are of no value Grace only goeth currant in the other world 3. That is Riches which steads us in our greatest extremities When we come to dye the Riches of this world prove false comforts for they forsake a man when he hath most need of comfort In the hour of death when the poor shiftless naked soul is stripped of all and we can carry away nothing in our hands Grace lyeth near the heart to comfort us 'T is said by a voice from Heaven of those that dye in the Lord their works follow them their wealth doth not Our Graces continue with us to all Eternity 4. That is the true Riches which will supply all our necessities and bear our expences to Heaven Wealth doth not this but Grace Mar. 6. 33. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and all these things shall be added 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Heaven and earth are laid at the feet of Godliness 5. That is true Riches which will give us a title to the best Inheritance The word of God is able to inrich a man more than all the Riches of the World because it is able to bring a man to an everlasting Kingdom All this is spoken because there is an evil desire that possesseth the whole world they are vehemently carried after riches and as they are encreased so are they delighted but saith David My delight is to encrease in knowledg and grace if I get more life more victory over lusts more readiness for Gods service this comforts me to the heart Now how do you measure your thriving by worldly or spiritual encrease 2. Here is the true delight Spiritual delight in spiritual objects far exceedeth all the joy that we can take in worldly
otherwise yet they are proud if they have never submitted to God with brokenness of heart seeking his pardon and favour There are many which are facile to men and yet full of contumacy and stoutness of stomach against God They can stoop to the poorest worm and court their favour but yet deal insolently with their Maker But if men were perswaded of the truth of Gods being they would sooner be convinced of the naughtiness of their hearts by comparing their carriage to God and men Many there are that are tender of wounding the reputation of men yet dishonour God and are never troubled Many that look upon it as an uncomely thing to despise their neighbour to deal hotly with an Underling and vaunt it yet never made conscience of submitting themselves to God who is their undoubted Superior Men count it part of humility and good manners to yield to those that are over them and to pay them all kind of respect and subjection yet they never care to seek the favour of God and humble themselves seriously for their offences against him You take it ill in the world when people of mean quality insult over you when such times fall out as the base rise up against the honourable what are you to God Poor base worms will you contend with your Maker do you count it to be a heavy disorder and a strange inversion of all states and conditions that men of mean and low fortunes should brave it over you and sway things in the world and how ill may God take it that you stout it out against him There 's a greater distance between him and you than between you and your fellow-creatures therefore if it be grievous to you what a hainous offence is it to stand out against God USE 1. It instructs us what is the way to reduce and bring home sinners to God by breaking their pride or as the expression is Job 33. 17. by hiding pride from man by which is meant taking away pride for that which is taken away is hidden or cannot be seen As the hiding of sin is the taking away sin so the hiding of pride is the cure of it 1. By humble and broken-hearted addresses to God for his pardon and his grace There is no way to cure the pride of unregeneracy but by brokenness of heart Come and put your mouths in the dust and acknowledg that you have too long stood it out against God As the Nobles of the King of Assyria came with Ropes about their necks and submitted themselves so Jer. 31. 9. They shall return with weeping and with supplications This is the way to come out of your sins to go and bemoan the stubbornness and pride of your hearts as Ephraim bemoaned himself and smote upon his thigh and complained of his obstinacy Ier. 31. 18. Christians first or last God will bring you to this if you do not stoop voluntarily you shall by force if your hearts be not broken by the power of his grace they shall be broken in pieces by the power of his Providence Rom. 14. 11. As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me God hath sworn As I live now in every Oath there is an implicite imprecation that is if this be not done then let this befall me So there is an implicite imprecation in that Oath Count me not a living God if I do not make the creature stoop If you stand it out against the power of his word can you stand it out against the power of Christ when he comes in glory Ezek. 22. 14. Can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee O! how will your faces gather blackness and darkness in that day 2. Yield up your selves to be governed by his will and pleasure It is not enough to come weary and heavy laden not only to be sensible of the burden of sin and beg for pardon but we must take Christs yoke Mat. 11. 29. Nature sticks at this a proud heart is loth to come under the yoke We would tast of the sweetness of mercy but cannot endure the bonds and restraints of duty as Ephraim would tread out the Corn but was loth to break the clods Hos. 10. 11. the prophet alludes to the manner among the Iews their fashion was to tread out or thresh out their Corn by the feet of beasts and the Ox his mouth was not to be muzled it was easie work and afforded abundance of food Deut. 25. 4. We would have Comfort but not Duty 3. We must constantly cherish an humble frame of spirit if we would maintain communion with God Mic. 6. 8. not only walk with God but humble thy self to walk with God why he is a great Soveraign and he will be exactly observed and constantly depended upon and if you slip you must bewail your failings and from first to last all must be ascribed to grace Doct. 2. These proud are cursed Or Those that obstinately and impenitently continue in their sins they are under a curse 1. I shall open the nature of this Curse 2. Shew how impenitent sinners come under this Curse First The nature and quality of this Curse or what is that Curse which lyes upon all wicked men That will best be understood by considering that Scripture wherein the tenor of the Law is described Deut. 27. 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them And Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one which continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them Where there is considerable the duty which the Law exacteth and then the penalty which the Law inflicteth 1. The duty which the Law exacteth Every one must continue in the words of this law to do it An innocent holy nature that 's presupposed for it is said the person must continue It doth not consider man as lapsed or fallen or as having already broken with God And then he must continue in all things there 's an universal a perfect obedience that is indispensibly required while we are in our natural condition And then the perpetuity he must hold out to the last if he fail in one point he is gone All this is indispensibly exacted of all them that live under the tenor of this Covenant he that doth them shall live in them and the soul that sinneth shall dye There is required perpetual perfect personal obedience What will you do if this Covenant lye upon you as it doth upon all men in their natural condition If God call you to a punctual account of the most inoffensive day that ever you past over what will become of you If thou O Lord shalt mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal. 130. 3. better never have been born than be liable to that judgment O therefore when the Law shall take a sinner by the throat and say Pay me that which thou owest what
trouble it is good to divert them to some other matter But every diversion will not become Saints it must be an holy diversion Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. The case was the same with that of the Text when the Throne of iniquity frameth mischief by a Law as you shall see here when he had many perplexed thoughts about the abuse of power against himself But now where lay his ease in diversion Would every diversion suit his purpose No Thy Comforts of Gods allowance of Gods providing comforts proper to Saints Wicked men in trouble run to their pot and pipe and games and sports and merry company and so defeat the providence rather than improve it but David who was Gods servant must have Gods comforts So elsewhere when his thoughts were troubled about the power of the wicked I went into the sanctuary there I understood their end Psal. 73. 17. He goeth to divert his mind by the use of Gods Ordinances and so came to be setled against the temptation 2. Among all sorts of holy divertisements none is of such use as Gods word There is matter enough to take up our thoughts and allay our cares and fears and to swallow up our sorrows and griefs to direct us in all straits In brief there is comfort there and counsel there 1. Comfort whilst the word teacheth us to look off from men to God from Providence to the Covenant from things temporal to things eternal from men to God as Moses feared not the wrath of the King when he saw him that is invisible Heb. 11. 27. and Eccles. 5. 8. If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perversion of Iudgment and Iustice in a Province marvel not at the matter for he that is higher than the highest regardeth and there be higher than they There is an higher Judg that sitteth in heaven and if he pass sentence for us when they pass sentence against us we need to be the less troubled If he give us the pardon of sins and the testimony of a good conscience it is no matter what men say against us Psal. 40. 4. Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor such as turn aside to lyes Is not God able to bear you out in his work From Providence to the Covenant Providence is a very riddle we shall not know what to make of it till we gather principles of faith from the Covenant Heb. 13. 5. He hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee God over-rules all for good Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things work together for good to those that love God to those that are the called according to his purpose From things temporal to eternal 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. For our light affliction that is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Rom. 8. 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us A Feather or a Straw against a Talent a man would be ashamed to compare them together 2. For Counsel A Christian should not be troubled so much about what he should suffer as what he should do that he may do nothing unseemly to his calling and hopes but be kept blameless to the heavenly kingdom Now the word of God will teach him how to carry himself in dangers to pray for persecutors fire is not quenched with fire nor evil overcome with evil how to keep our selves from unlawful shifts and means how to avoid revenge lying flattering yielding against Conscience or waxing weary of well-doing that we may not fight against Satan or his Instruments by their own weapons for so we shall be easily overcome The wicked shall not be so wise to contrive the mischief as a Saint instructed by the word is how to carry himself under it Psal. 119. 98. Through thy commandments thou hast made me wiser than my enemies Malice and Policy shall not teach them to persecute as Gods word to carry your selves in the trouble 3. The word must not be slightly read but our hearts must be exercised in the meditation of it A cursory reading doth not work upon us so much as serious thoughts In all studies Meditation is both the Mother and Nurse of knowledg and so it is of godliness without which we do but know Truths by rote and hearsay and talk one after another like Parrots but when a Truth is chafed into the heart by deep inculcative thoughts then it worketh with us and we feel the power of it Musing maketh the fire burn ponderous thoughts are the bellows that blow it up Eggs come to be quickned by sitting abrood upon them In a sanctifi'd heart the seeds of Comfort by Meditation come to maturity by constant Meditation our affections are quickned this turneth the Promises into marrow Psal. 63. 5 6. My soul shall be filled as with marrow and fatness when I meditate on thee in the night-watches It giveth more than a vanishing taste which hypocrites have USE 1. In all your troubles learn this method to cure them by gracious means Prayer or Meditation By meditation on the word of God that will tell you that we are born to trouble and therefore we should no more think strange to see Gods children molested here than to see a showr of rain fall after a sun-shine or that the night should succeed the day 1 Pet. 4. 12. Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial as though some strange thing happened unto you It were strange if otherwise as if a man were told that his journey lay through a rough stony Countrey and should pass over a smooth Carpet-way Our way-mark is many tribulations Acts 14. 22. Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of Heaven God had one Son without sin none without the Cross. 2. That afflictions though in themselves they are legal punishments fruits of sin yet by the Grace of God they are medicinal to his people 1 Cor. 11. 32. When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world 3. We never advance more in Christianity than under the Cross Heb. 12. 10. They verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Psal. 119. 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes 4. Rather undergo the greatest calamities than commit the smallest sin Heb. 11. 25. Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season 5. That all crosses are
word as it is an excellent Doctrine suited to mans necessities as the stony ground received the word with joy Mat. 13. 20. certainly he hath yet a purer gladness than meerly that man that is vers'd in natural studies O but when a man can reflect upon the promises as having an interest in them that delight which flows from faith and is accompanied with such a certainty surely that 's a more pure delight than the other and doth more ravish the heart they have more intimate and spiritual joy than others have 5. It is a joy that ends well Carnal rejoycing makes way for sorrow the end of that mirth is heaviness Prov. 14. 13. It is a poor forced thing saith Cooper A man in a burning Fever is eased no longer by drinking strong drink than while he is drinking of it for then it seems to cool him but presently it encreaseth his heat so when men seek ease and comfort in troubles from outward external things though they seem to mitigate their heaviness for the present yet they encrease it the more afterward 6. It is not a joy that perverts the heart Carnal comforts the more we use them the more we are ensnared by them Eccles. 2. 2. I have said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it For what serious and sober use doth carnal rejoycing serve There is no profit by it but much hurt and danger therefore Solomon preferreth sorrow before it Eccles. 7. 3. Sorrow is better than laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better But now the more of this delight we have the more we delight our selves in the word of God the more we love God the better the heart is 7. It is a delight that overcomes the sense of our affliction and all the evils that do befall us and therefore it is said of the heirs of promise that they have strong consolation Heb. 6. 18. The strength is seen by the effects therefore it is strong because it supports and revives notwithstanding troubles It establisheth the heart notwithstanding all the floods and storms of temptations that light upon it 1 Thes. 1. 6. it is said of them that they received the word with much affliction and joy in the Holy Ghost Secondly How do we find it in the word His testimonies are my delight The word requires this joy in troubles and the word ministers it to the soul. It requires this joy Jam. 1. 2. Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations We are not only with patience to submit to Gods will but also to rejoyce in it So Mat. 5. 12. When men persecute and revile you and say all manner of evil against you falsly for my name sake rejoyce and be exceeding glad Many times when other ways of persecution cease yet there is reviling Those that have no strength and power to do other injuries yet have such weapons of malice always in readiness Some being not good Christians themselves will defame those that are so that so when they cannot reach them in practice they may depress them by censure when they cannot go so high as they they may bring them as low as themselves by detraction Nowthough this be a great evil we should bear it not heavily but cheerfully rejoyce and be exceeding glad in hope of the promises Rom. 5. 3. We glory in tribulation A true believer that hath received the word of God as the rule of his life and guide of his hopes he can not only be patient but cheerful glory in his tribulation A carnal man is not so comfortable in his best estate as he is at his worst Again it gives us matter and ground of joy God speaks a great deal of comfort to an afflicted spirit It was one end why the Scriptures were penn'd Rom. 15. 4. that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope And Heb. 12. 5. Have you forgotten the consolation that speaks to you as children The great drift of the word is to provide matter of comfort and that in our worst estate But now what are the usual comforts that may occasion this delight and joy in the Holy Ghost in the midst of deep affliction 1. The Scripture gives us ground of comfort from the Author of our afflictions who is our Father and never manifests the comfort of adoption so much as then when we are under chastning Heb. 12. 5. The consolation that speaks to you as children And Joh. 18. 11. The cup which my father hath put into my hands shall I not drink it It is a bitter Cup but it is from a Father not from a Judg or an Enemy Nothing but good can come from him who is love and goodness it self nothing but what is useful from a Father whose affection is not to be measured by the bitterness of the dispensation but by his aims what he intends If God should let us alone to follow our own ways it were an argument we were none of his children 2. The necessity of afflictions 1 Pet. 1. 6. Ye are for a season in trouble if need be Before the Corn be ripened it needs all kind of weathers and therefore the Husband-man is as glad of showers as sun-shine because they both conduce to fruitfulness We need all kind of dispensations and cannot well be without the many troubles that do befall us 3. The nature and use of affliction it is a medicine not a poyson it works out the remainders of sin Isa. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquity of Iacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Afflictions are useful and help to mortification It is a file to get off our rust a flayl wherewith we are thresht that our husk may flye off a fire to purge and eat out our dross He verily for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness Heb. 12. 10. If God take away any outward comforts from us and give us graces instead of them it 's a blessed exchange if he strip us of our garments and clothe us with his own Royal Robe as holiness is God himself is glorious in holiness now that we may be partakers of his holiness surely that 's for our profit 4. For the manner of God's afflicting it is in measure Isa. 27. 8. In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east-wind So Jer. 46. 28. Fear thou not O Iacob my servant saith the Lord c. So 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above measure His conduct is very gentle as Iacob drove on as the little ones were able to bear Gen. 33. so doth God with a great deal of moderation measure out sufferings in a due proportion not to our offences only but our strength as a father in correcting his children regards their weakness as well as their wantonness laying
ask Gods leave in prayer and observe the bent of our hearts after prayer 4. The word of God teacheth a man when he understandeth his duty and hath Gods leave to submit the event to God and that easeth the heart because he may be sure of success comfort and support Psal. 37. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass And Prov. 16. 3. Commit thy work unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established It easeth us of a great deal of trouble and care so that when a man hath brought his affections to submit to whatever God should determine in point of success when he hath moderated and calm'd his spirit that he is resolved to bear the event whatever it be this easeth the soul of a deal of trouble Thus you see how we may make the statutes of God to be the men of our counsel USE 1. What a singular mercy is it that God hath given us the Scripture where we have counsel upon all occasions how to manage our affairs prudently bear afflictions comfortably and with composed hearts to get through all events and dangers that we meet with in our passage to heaven We should have groped up and down as the Sodomites for Lot's dore if we had not this rule of faith and obedience It is a Rule that teacheth us how to think well for it reacheth to the thoughts to speak well for it giveth a law to all our words to do well in all our civil actions and trading how to keep a good conscience and approve our selves to God how in natural actions eating drinking to season them with Gods fear and religious actions how we may pray and worship how to govern our selves our own hearts and affections to converse with others in all relations as Fathers Children Masters Servants Magistrates Ministers People and how to hold communion with God all which are demonstrations of the sufficiency of the Scripture for our direction and what reason there is that we should take the testimonies of God to be the men of our counsel USE 2. For reproof to those that turn the back upon Gods Counsels Who are those 1. Such as neglect the general duties of Christianity as Faith and Repentance God hath given us counsel what to do in order to eternal life and we regard it not The great quarrel between God and sinners is about the neglect of this counsel which he hath given them for their souls good Pro. 1. 25. They set at nought all my counsel and v. 30. They would none of my counsel O! when your friends have advised you and you despise it and take another course it troubleth them You know how heinously Achitophel took it when his counsel was despised Equals when their counsel is despised take it very ill much more Superiors when they give counsel The entreaty and advice of a Superior carrieth the force of a command So it is here with God it is called counsel not as if it were an arbitrary thing whether we did regard it or no but because of Gods mild condescension when men are in danger of perishing for ever the Lord gives us counsel You are in a miserable estate he is pleased to tell you how to come out of your misery the word of God therefore is called the counsel of God It is sad when we shall reject the counsel of God Luk. 7. 30. They rejected the counsel of God against themselves There 's two sentences they rejected the counsel of God and it was against themselves it was to their own loss and destruction God Ioseth nothing when we despise his counsel but you lose all your eternal happiness This is so great an evil that God punisheth it with it self When men will not take Gods counsel then it is the most dreadful Judgment he can lay upon us to give us up to our own counsel Psal. 81. 11. O what a heavy judgment was it to be given up to the counsels of their own heart 2. It reproves such as do not consult with Gods word about their affairs but meerly live as they are acted by their own lusts or walk at all adventures so the expression in the marginal reading is Lev. 26. 21. It is as the action falls they do not care whether it please God or be the rule of their duty yea or no. These are far from the temper of Gods children It is sad in persons much more in Nations when men run head-long upon all manner of disorders against right and honesty it tends to ruin Deut. 32. 28. They are a Nation void of counsel neither is there any understanding in them 3. Such as go flatly against the counsel of God and to gratifie their own interest pervert all that is just and honest Psal. 107. 11. They rebelled against the word of the Lord and contemned the counsel of the Most High These do but expose themselves to speedy ruin Job 18. 7. Bildad said of the wicked His own counsel shall cast him down They need no other means to ruin them than their own brutish course When men dare break the commandment of God without any relâ—…tancy to gratifie a worldly interest though for the present no evil comes of it yet afterwards they shall smart Prov. 19. 20. Hear counsel and receive instruction that thou mayest be wise for thy latter end Consider what it will come to afterwards when thou comest to dye then you will wish O that I had taken Gods counsel that I had not gone with such a daring spirit against the plain counsel of Gods word 4. Such as pretend to ask counsel from the word but it is according to the Idol of their own hearts that come with their own conclusions and preconceptions and prejudices against Gods counsel Ezek. 14. 3 4. Son of man these have set up their idols in their heart c. Men will come and pretend to ask Gods counsel and leave upon their undertakings when they are resolved upon a wicked enterprise before then God must be called upon and sought to and so they make Gods Ordinance a Lacquey meerly to be a covert to their evil practices as those in Jer. 42. that came to the Prophet and they were prepossest and had their resolutions aforehand USE 3. To press us to this consulting with the word of God to make the testimonies of the Lord the men of our counsel There are many qualifications and tempers of heart necessary 1. Fear of God Psal. 25. 12. What man is he that feareth the Lord him will he teach the way that he shall chuse He that is in doubt and perplexed and would have counsel from Gods word who is the man that is like to have it He that feareth the Lord. There is a great sutableness between the qualification and the promise partly he that fears God hath a greater awe of the word than others have and is loth to do any thing contrary to Gods
done and especially is this found by experience when great trouble comes upon us by reason of sin There is some sin at the bottom God will bring out and until they come to clearness and openness with God the Lord still continues the trouble they are kept roaring and do not come to their peace Iob 33. 26 27. When a man is under trouble and the sense of sin doth not fasten on the heart he is not prepared for deliverance but when it comes to this I have sinned and it profits me not then God sends an Interpreter one among a thousand to shew unto man his uprightness 3. It prevents Satans accusations and Gods judgments It is no profit to cover our sins for either Satan will declare them or God find us out and enter into judgment with us It prevents Satan as an Accuser and God as a Judg. 1. It prevents Satan as an Accuser Let us not tarry till our adversary accuse There is one that will accuse you if you do not accuse your selves He that 's a tempter is also an accuser of the brethren Now Confession puts Satan out of office When we have sued out our pardon Satan is not an accuser so much as a slanderer Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect The Informer comes too late when the guilty person hath accused himself and sued out his pardon And 2. It prevents God as a Iudg. It is all known to God Psal. 69. 5. O God! thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee It is a folly to conceal that which cannot be hid God knows them how God may be said to know things two ways Either simply with respect to the perfection of his nature and so he knows all things or by virtue of his office and so God knows things judicially as Judg of the world he takes knowledg of it so as to punish it unless you confess it But in this kind of knowledg he loves to be prevented he will not know it as a Judg if we confess it when there is process against sin in our own consciences 1 Cor. 11. 31. If we judg our selves we shall not be judged When we accuse and judg our selves then God's work is prevented God is contented if we will accuse arraign judg and condemn our selves then he will not take knowledg of our sins as a Judg. The end of God's judging is Execution and punishment but the end of our judging is that we may obtain pardon Now consider whether you will stand at the bar of Christ not as a Saviour but as a Judg or you will judg your selves in your own heart Better sit as Judg upon your own heart than God should sit as Judg upon you therefore deal plainly and openly with him Thus I have explained what it is to declare our wavs it is an act of dependence to take God's leave blessing counsel along with us an act of friendship as to lay open our case to God and an act of brokenness of heart as declaring our sins and temptations For the reasons why if we would speed with God we should unfeignedly lay open our case before him 1. It argueth sincerity A hypocrite will pray but will not thus sincerely open his heart to God Psal. 32. 1. Blessed is he in whose spirit there is no guile No guile it hath a limited sense with respect to the matter of confession that doth not deal deceitfully with God but plainly and openly declares his case Many ways men may be guilty of guile of spirit in confession of sin either when they content themselves with general or slight acknowledgments as thus We are all sinners but they do not declare their ways Generals are but notions and as particular persons are lost in a crowd so sins lye hid in common acknowledgments Or else men take up the empty forms of others You shall see in Numb 19. the waters of purification wherewith a man had been cleansed if another touched it he became unclean Confessions are like those waters whereby one hath cleansed himself Now to take up others Confessions and the forms of others without the same affection feeling and brokenness of heart doth but defile us the more when the heart doth not prescribe to the tongue but the tongue to the heart or else men make some acknowledgments to God but do not uncover their privy sore they are loth to draw forth the state of their hearts into the notice and view of conscience This guile of spirit may be sometimes in God's children Moses had a privy sore which he was loth to disclose and therefore when God would have sent him into Egypt he pleads other things insufficiency want of elocution that he was a stammerer that he had not utterance I but his carnal fear was the main therefore see how God touches his privy sore Exod. 4. 19. Arise Moses go into Egypt the men that sought thy life are dead Why Moses never pleaded that he mentions other things that were true that he was a man of slow speech and his brother Aaron was fitter but he never pleads carnal fear but the Lord knew what was at the bottom So it is with Christians many times we will confess this and that which is a truth and we may humble our selves for it I but there 's a privy-sore yet kept secret Therefore this open-dealing with God is very necessary to lay open before God whatever we know of our state and way for then God will be nigh to us Out of self-love men spare themselves and will not judg and condemn themselves therefore they deny excuse extenuate or hypocritically confess O! I am a sinner and the like but do not come openly 2. It argueth somewhat of the spirit of adoption to put in the bill of our complaint to our heavenly Father to draw up an Indictment against our selves to judg that 's irksome but to put in a bill of complaint to a Friend or Father that savours of more ingenuity To tell God all our mind notes freedom and familiarity not such as is bold rude nor a dress of words but such as is grave serious proceeding from an inward sense of God and hope of his mercy 1 Joh. 3. 21. If our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God then we can deal with him as one friend with another and acquaint him with all our griefs and wants A man had need walk exactly that would maintain his freedom with God There is a freedom as men may call it such as is bold rude and wretchless in words only but that which proceeds from confidence in God and his mercy that 's a fruit of close walking we cannot have it in our hearts without it 3. It is the way to make us serious and affected with our condition When we open our whole heart to God then we shall be more earnest for a remedy we content our selves with some transient
a poor little hearsay Knowledg availeth not They abhor themselves when they have more intimate acquaintance none so confident as a young Professor that knoweth a few Truths but in a weak and imperfect manner the more we know indeed the more sensible we are of our ignorance how liable to this mistake and that that we dare not trust our selves for an hour 4. Because of the profit that cometh by knowledg All grace from first to last cometh in by the understanding God in the work of grace followeth the order which he hath established in Nature Reason and Judgment is to go before the will and therefore when the work of Grace is first begun in us it beginneth in the Understanding Renewed in knowledg Col. 3. 10. So the encrease of grace 2 Pet. 1. 12. Grace be multiplied unto you through the knowledg of God and of Iesus Christ our Lord. As the beginning is by light so is all the gradual progress of the spiritual life strength to bear afflictions strength in conflicts is by powerful reasons yea the perfect change that is made in us in glory is by the vision of God We shall see him as he is and shall be like him If we had more knowledg of God and his ways we should trust him more fear him more love him more Trust him Psal. 9. 10. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee If God were more known he would be better trusted 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have believed I dare trust him with my soul. More feared 3 Joh. 11. Beloved follow not that which is evil but that which is good He that doth good is of God he that doth evil hath not seen God Right thoughts of God would not let us sin so freely one Truth or other would fall upon us and give check to the temptation as feared so loved more The more explicite thoughts we have of his excellency the more are our hearts drawn out to him Joh. 4. 10. If thou knewest the gift c. Christ would not lye by as a neglected thing if he were more known in all his worth and excellency USE The first Use is to press you to get Knowledg and look upon it as a singular Grace if the Lord will give you to understand and apply the comfort and direction of his Holy Word Joh. 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 that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you To be taught the mind of God is a greater act of friendship than if God should give a man all the treasures of the world To make himself known so as you may love him fear him trust him When we can apply this for our comfort O then cry for knowledg lift up thy voice for understanding seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures Prov. 2. 3 4. Go to God and be earnest with him Lord make me to understand the way of thy precepts We can walk in the ways of sin without a Teacher but we cannot walk in the ways of God And cry lift up thy voice We are earnest for quickning and enlargement but be earnest also for understanding Now a large prayer without endeavours is nothing worth Dig in the Mines of knowledg search into the Scripture do not gather up a few scattered notions but look into the bowels Silver doth not lye in the surface of the earth but deep in the bottom of it and will cost much labour and digging to come at it If we would have any good stock of knowledg which will prevent vain thoughts carnal discourse abundance of heart-perplexing scruples and doubts and much darkness and uncomfortableness of spirit it will cost us some labour and pains The more knowledg we have the more are we established against error 2 Pet. 3. 17. Ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own stedfastness The more you have of this divine saving knowledg the greater check upon sin Psal. 119. 11. I have hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee One Truth or another will rise up in defiance of the Temptation The greater impulsion to duty the more of the Law of God the more it urgeth the conscience Prov. 6. 22. It maketh us more useful in all our Relations 1 Pet. 3. 7. Husbands Dwell with them according to knowledg c. Parents Eph. 6. 4. Fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Friends Rom. 15. 14. And I my self also am perswaded of you my brethren that ye also are full of goodness filled with all knowledg able also to admonish one another Magistrates that they may discern Christs Interest Psal. 2. 10. Be wise now therefore O Kings be instructed ye Iudges of the earth When Solomon asked Wisdom the thing pleased the Lord. And lastly More comfortable in our selves that they may comfort and build up one another whenever they meet together USE 2. To press you to grow in knowledg None have such confidence and rejoycing in God as those that have a clear sight and understanding of his will revealed in his word Let your knowledg 1. Be more comprehensive At first our thoughts run in a narrow channel There are certain general Truths absolutely necessary to salvation as concerning our misery by sin and the sufficiency of Christ to help us but if we might rest in these why hath God given us so copious a Rule The general sort of Christians content themselves to see with others eyes get the knowledg of a few truths and look no farther why then hath God given so large a Rule Fundamentals are few believe them live well and you shall be saved This is the Religion of most This is as if a man in building should only be careful to lay a good foundation no matter for roof windows walls If a man should untile your house and tell you the foundation standeth the main butteresses are safe you would not like of it A man is bound according to his capacity and opportunity to know all Scripture the consequences of every Truth God may and doth accept of our imperfect knowledg but not when men are negligent and do not use the means To be willingly ignorant of the lesser ways of God is a sin VVe should labour to know all that God hath revealed 2. More distinct why Truths are best known in their frame and dependance as Gods works of Creation when viewed singly and apart every days work was good but when viewed alltogether in their correspondence and mutual proportion to each other were very good Gen. 1. 31. So all Truths of God take them singly are good but
only rejoyce in things for a season Iohn 6. 35. There are many that look for all their vertue and their experience from their notions in Religion Thus they run from doctrine to doctrine from way to way so remain unmortified Thirdly Take heed of the first decays and look often into the state of your hearts A man that never casts up his estate is undone insensibly therefore look often into the state of your hearts whether you encrease in your affections to God in the power of holiness or whether you go backward It is the Devil's policy when once we are declining to humble us further and further still as a stone that runs down the hill therefore take heed look to the first declinings A gap once made in the conscience grows wider and wider every day and the first declinings are the cause of all the rest Evil is best stopt in the beginning And therefore when you begin to be cold careless in the profession of godliness and not to have the like savour as you were wont to have take heed A heavy body moving downward still gets more strength it goes down and moves faster still O therefore stay at first The first remitting of your watch and spiritual fervor is that which is the cause of all the mischief that comes upon many so that they are given up to vile affections and lying errors It is easier to crush the egg than kill the serpent He that keeps his house in constant repair prevents the fall of it therefore look to your hearts still Our first declinings though never so small are very dangerous Pliny speaks of the Lioness lib. 8. cap. 16. first she brings forth five Lions then four then three then two then one and forever afterward is barren Thus we first begin to remit of our diligence in holy things and are not so frequent in acts of communion then this and that goes off till we have but little left us and then all is gone and men grow worse and worse I may resemble it to Nebuchadnezzar's Image the head of gold the breasts of silver the thighs of brass the feet of iron and clay still worse and worse So men are imbasing by degrees and fall off from God and their savour of the ways of God Fourthly Often review your first grounds and compare them with your after-experiences and what fresh tasts you had then of the love of God to your souls Heb. 3. 14. We are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end The first rejoycing of faith the sweet sense that you had O how precious was Christ to you then when first you came out of your fears Revive this upon your heart this will stir you up to be faithful to God When the love of Christ was fresh upon your hearts your motions were earnest Many begin like a Tree full of blossoms give great hope of fruit We should labour to keep up this affection and that a cursed satiety may not creep upon us USE 2. If those that have chosen the way of God and begin to conform their practice ought with all constancy to persevere then it reproveth 1. Those that take up Religion only by way of essay to try how it will suit with them they do not intirely and by a resolute fixed purpose give up themselves to the Lord. You should resolve upon all hazards Not take up Religion for a walk but for a journey Not like going to sea for pleasure if they see a storm coming presently to shore again but for a voyage to ride out all weathers Thus you should do stick to the ways of God and at first make God a good allowance that neither tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword nor any thing may separate you from Christ Rom. 8. 35. We should count all charges and resolve upon the worst 2. It reproves Aguish Christians whose purity and devotion comes upon them by fits Hos. 6. 4. Their righteousness is as the morning-dew The morning-dew that cannot endure the rising sun it is soon wasted and spent when the sun ariseth with his heat and strength whereas our righteousness should not be like the morning-dew but like the morning-light 3. It reproves them that are only swayed by temporal advantages that are off and on As the Samaritans when the Iews were favoured by Alexander and other Princes then they would deny the Temple that was upon Mount Gerizim and say that they were brethren to the Iews but when the Iews were in danger then they would disclaim them Thus many are swayed by temporal advantages either intending or omitting the conscience of their duty as they are favoured by men But we are to stick to God's testimonies II. Let us come to David's prayer O Lord put me not to shame It is in the nature of a deprecation or a prayer for the prevention of evil The evil deprecated is shame By shame some understand the reproaches of wicked men Lord let me not suffer their reproach for I have stuck unto thy testimonies A man that doth not stick to God's testimonies that is not zealous and constant will be put to shame before God and man and made a scorn by them and lie under great reproach therefore Lord prevent this reproach These reproaches are grievous to be born It is against the spirit of man to be contemned especially when he doth well But certainly this cannot be meant he would not so earnestly deprecate this I should think at least not in such an expression O Lord put me not to shame He speaks of such a shame wherein God had a great hand It is true God may suffer this in his Providence Well then this shame may be supposed to result either from his sin or from his sufferings First From sin I have stuck unto thy testimonies O suffer me not to fall into any such sinful course as may expose me to shame and make me become a reproach to Religion Observe Doct. The fruit of sin is shame Shame is a trouble of mind about such evils as tend to our infamy and disgrace Loss of life is matter of fear loss of goods is matter of grief and sorrow but loss of name and credit is matter of shame and therefore it is a trouble of mind that doth arise about such evils as tend to our infamy and disgrace Now this infamy and disgrace is the proper fruit of sin To prove it by Scripture Reason and Experience To prove it by Scripture Shame entred into the world by sin though they were naked yet till they had sinned they were not asham'd Gen. 2. 25. with Gen. 3. 10. there was verecundia an awful Majesty or an holy bashfulness in innocency but not pudor A fear of reproach and infamy that came in by the fall To prove it by Reason There are two things in sin folly and filthiness and both cause shame it is an
in general may be applied to this Particular of Reproaches Now what is Gods aim and end in Afflictions in general to try purge and make white Dan. 11. 35. or as it is Deut. 8. 10. To humble thee and prove thee and do thee good at the latter end Let us take that Method here is Gods end First To humble thee Carnal men may shout at Rovers but many times we find our selves pricked at heart Slanders may revive the sense of guilt They may intend harm but you should receive good by this as by every affliction Plutarch in his excellent Treatise of profiting by a mans Enemies illustrates it by this comparison of Iason who had an Imposthume let out by the Dart of his Enemy They may fling Darts at random and intend harm but you shall get good by it Surely there is some special cause when the Lord permits this when Vollies of Reproaches shall follow one after another therefore he suffers others to judge you to awaken you to self-judging mind this and you will be no losers by Reproaches Well enter into your own hearts search them throughly see what it is God aims at whether there be any way of wickedness in you that hitherto you have not discovered and when you come to see this sink of sin then your enemies do but help to humble you Many times the voice of a Slanderer may do that which the voice of a Preacher cannot do And the truth is there is such a wantonness such a presumptuous headiness in the Professors of Religion that the Word cannot reclaim them they are so radicated in certain sins and therefore God will follow you with sharp Reproaches of his Enemies and doth at this time to call you to a more serious judging your selves to see your factious headyness which certainly doth predominate among Gods Professing People There are many sins to which this sharp kind of affliction is proper and therefore God gives out this grievous Dispensation to lay open his People to bitter Reproaches and Slanders I will tell you some of the sins My business is not now to state what is the great sin that God is Judging among his People but to help every one in particular to look to our selves for that I do not conceive to be so fit to be spoken here 1. Pride There is a twofold Pride Pride in mind which is called self-conceit and Pride in Affections which is called vain-glory Now there is no such effectual cure as Reproaches for either of these 1. To speak of the Pride in Mind Self-conceit We are very apt to be puft up for our doing and suffering for God poor empty Bladders are soon puft up and think our selves somebody if there be but a little self-denyal as Peter said Master we have left all and followed thee he was conceited of what he had left for Christ. What had he left a Net a Fisher-boat it was a great All indeed Mat. 19. 27. We are easily puffed up if we suffer a little for God and the Lord Intrencheth us in our Worldly Conveniencies for Self-conceit may grow out of Self-denyal Too too often we find it so Pride is a Sin that grows out of Mortification of other Sins it lives in us while we live in the Body therefore 1 Iohn 2. 16. it is called Pride of Life And some compare it to a shirt that Garment is last put off it is the most inward and nearest to the Soul and out of the Conquest of other sins there ariseth Pride Now if we have been too self-conceited the Lord will humble us either by permitting us to fall into such Scandals as may remember us of our Frailty and what unworthy weak Creatures we are in our selves sometimes by taking off the restraints of his Grace and of his Spirit and permitting us to fall Austin is bold in saying it is profitable for proud men to fall sometimes into open sin that they may know and understand themselves He speaks it upon the occasion of Peter when he was boasting of his own strength though all men leave thee yet will not I how foully did he fall I but at other times God useth a more merciful Dispensation for he doth not let his people fall into those grievous falls but upon great provocation But usually at other times he lets loose the tongues of virulent men to lessen us in our own Opinion and in the Opinion of the World Now how innocent soever we be of the Crimes charged upon us yet in all these cases we must look upward and inward Upward this is not without God he is at the end of causes he could blast these tongues and stay and stop them at his pleasure the Lord can keep us from the strife of tongues Psal. 31. 20. But now when he permits this his hand must be owned look upward Mic. 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him At such a time God spits in the faces of his People and puts us to shame and therefore we should look upward and see the hand of God in all this And look inward there you will see such a sink of sin as deserves this and much more and therefore a sense of our sinfulness in other things should make us more submissive to the Lords correcting hand we must see the hand of God for if we do not look to that we will be drawn to sin into reviling for reviling and exasperation for exasperation Many times our Graces do us as much hurt as our sins Self-conceit the Lord will mortify one way or other 2. For Vain-glory the other sort of Pride valuing Esteem too much and our Credit in the World and pleasing our selves in the Opinion others have of us We would usurp Gods Throne and Reign in the hearts of men therefore we are so touchy Having set a high value upon our selves we are troubled when others will not come up to our price Pride is one of the oldest Enemies that ever God had it was born in Heaven in the Breasts of the Fallen Angels but God tumbled them presently out of Heaven assoon as Pride got into the heart Now when his Children harbour it the Lord hath a quarrel with them and therefore for giving entertainment to Pride he will lay us low enough 2 Cor. 12. 7. Lest I should be exalted above measure there was given to me a thorn in the flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me There is a great deal of do what this thorn in the flesh is Some will have it to be some trouble or sickness Most probably so but it takes in many afflictive evils for verse 10. he mentioneth Reproaches Paul was too apt to be proud The Lord made him an eminent Instrument by his Faith he had abundance of Revelations But God will prick the Bladder he doth it with Thorns and he calls it his Infirmity Necessities Reproaches Infirmitie by that I mean some reigning sickness But
is Grace which noteth the free bounty of God and excludeth all Means on the Creatures part Grace doth all gratis freely though there be no precedent Debt or Obligation or hope of Recompence whereby any thing can accrue to God His External Motive is our Misery his Internal Motive his own Grace Angels that never sinned are saved meerly out of Grace Men that were once miserable are saved not only out of Grace but out of Mercy 3. The next Notion is Long-Suffering or Slowness to Anger The Lord is not easily overcome by the wrongs or sins of the Creature he doth not only pity our Misery that is Mercy and do us good for nothing that is Grace but beareth long with our Infirmities that is slowness to Anger Certainly he is easily appeased and is hardly drawn to punish Men are ready to Anger slow to Mercy quickly inflamed and hardly appeased but it is quite the contrary with God It is good to observe the Difference between God and Man Man cannot make any thing of a suddain but destroyeth it in an instant When men are to make any thing they are long about it as building an house is a long work but plucking it down and undermining it is done in a short time but God is quick in making slow in destroying he made the World in six days he could have done it in a moment were it not that he would give us a Pattern of Labour and Order in all things now it hath continued for six thousand years and upwards as some account such is his long-suffering how many of us has God born with for ten twenty thirty years from childhood to grey hairs from the Cradle to the Grave the Angels were not indured in their sinful state but immdiately cast into Hell 4. Kindness and Bounty he is plenteous in goodness God is good and doth good his Communications to the Creature are free and full as the Sun giveth out Light and the Fountain water Thus you see reason why Mercies are plurally expressed 2. The Frequency of it Lam. 3. 23. His Mercies are new every morning that is renewed those that concern the Body and Soul not only merciful in saving once or twice but every day pardoneth our new sins and giveth to his repenting Children new Comforts There is a Throne of Grace open every day not once a year Heb. 4. 16. as it was to the High Priest under the Law The Golden Scepter is daily held out the Fountain is ever open not stopt up nor drawn dry God keepeth not Terms but keepeth a Court of Audience and every day we may come and sue out our Pardon and take out the comforts we stand in need of 3. The Variety of our Necessities both by reason of Misery and Sin so that not Mercy but Mercies will do us good We have not one Sin but many not one Misery but many therefore Mercies are needful for us 1. Our Miseries are many danger way-layeth us on every side therefore the Mercy of God is said to compass us about Psal. 32. 10. He that trusteth in the Lord Mercy shall compass him about On which side soever Temptation and Trouble maketh the assault Mercy is ready to make the defence Many are the Troubles of the Righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of them all Psal. 34. 19. Their troubles are many from Gods own hand Satans Temptations Malice of the wicked world therefore let thy mercies come to me 2. Our sins so many Provocations Transgressions from the Womb Isa. 48. 8. After Grace received we have our failings there remains much venom and evil of sin Psal. 51. 1 2. Have mercy upon me according to the greatness of thy mercy according to the multitude of thy tender mercy blot out my Transgressions where great sins great mercies many sins many mercies In that one fact how many ways did he sin No great sin can be committed alone but one evil act draweth on another as Links in a 〈◊〉 Adultery Blood and this by a King whose duty it was to punish it in others the more above the stroke of mans Justice the more liable to Gods This when he had many wives of his own a Crime committed out of want is not so heinous as that committed out of wantonness he took the poor mans one Ewe Lamb when he had many Flocks and Herds This was done not suddenly and in the heat of passion but in cool blood plotting his opportunities abusing Uriah his simplicity and sincerity to his own destruction his honesty in not returning to his House should have been a check upon David he maketh him drunk drew Ioab into the Conspiracy and Confederacy of his guilt many perished with Uriah in the attempt upon Rabbah 4. The many favours to be bestowed upon us as Food Cloathing Protection Liberty in our service and after all Eternal Life therefore Mercies which giveth us all things necessary to Life and Godliness 2 Pet. 1. 4. 2. The Effect Thy Salvation brought about in Gods way and upon Gods terms In temporal safety we must wait for Gods salvation such as God giveth God alloweth better be miserable than be saved upon other terms many would be safe from troubles but they would take their own way and so turn aside to crooked paths Those Martyrs spoken of in the Hebrews Chap. 11. 35. would not accept deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection to wince under trouble and fling off the burden ere it be taken off by God without any sin of ours otherwise we break Prison get out by the Window not by the Door we must take up our Cross as long as God will please to have us bear it David saith Thy Salvation 3. The warrant and ground of his expectation according to thy Word Gods mercy is to be expected according to the tenour of the Promise How is that 1. No temporal Blessing is absolutely to be expected for God hath reserved the liberty of trying and chastising his Children in outward things the Covenant is to be understood with the exception of the Cross and we can have no temporal benefit by it but as it is useful for us Psal. 89. 32 38. I will visit their Transgression with a Rod and their Iniquity with Stripes Nevertheless my Loving Kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail God will use medicinal Discipline though not satisfie his Justice upon them 2. The Qualification of the Promise must be regarded by those that would have benefit by it Gods Covenant is made with his people 't is a mutual stipulation many would have comfort we plead promises of safety with God but forget promises of Obedience to him as Ephraim would tread out the Corn but not break the Clods Hosea 10. 11. There was food Deut. 25. 4. Thou shalt not muzzle the Ox which treadeth out the Corn. We mind our own Interest more than Gods Honour 3. A Word of Promise calleth for Faith and
of kings Prov. 8. 15 16. By me kings reign and princes decree justice by me princes rule and nobles and all the judges of the earth And as they hold it in dependence on him they must use it in subordination to him God who is the Beginning must also be the End of their Government They are not Officers of Men but Ministers of God from whom they have their Authority and therefore must rule for God and seek his Glory 2. That they may be carried through their Cares and Fears and Snares and may know what Reward to expect from the Absolute Sovereign who is the great Patron of Humane Societies It is trust and dependence upon God that maketh good Magistrates 2 Kings 18. 5. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Iudah nor any that went before him Oh it is a blessed thing when they can go to God for Direction and depend upon God for Success Great are the Cares and Fears which belong to a Governour and who can ease him of this Burthen but the Lord who hath shewed in his Word how far he is to be trusted It is not Carnal Policy which helpeth them out in their work but trust in God in their high Calling Whosoever will improve his Power for God will meet with many discouragements now that which supports his heart in his work is this holy trust Prov. 29. 25. The fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe Every Publick Calling hath its Snares and Temptations from the fears of Men. A Minister if he doth not trust God to bear him out in his Work he will do nothing with that Courage which becometh a Minister but comply with the Lusts of Men grow luke-warm and prostitute the Ordinances for handfuls of Barley and pieces of Bread and Family-conveniencies The Magistracy is a higher Calling which is more obnoxious to Temptations from the different Humours of Men who are to be governed nothing will carry a Man through it but this holy Courage and dependence on God The fear of Man brought a snare to Ieroboam that he perverted the Worship of God 1 Kings 12. 30. And this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan. So Iehu so others for their Cares But he that trusts in God in his discharge of this publick Office though many difficulties interpose finds the blessed experience of the Psalmist verified In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. 3. As to Success and Acceptance Obedience to God makes them a double Blessing to the People as Governours as Holy As they have the natural Image of God in Dominion and Authority 1 Cor. 11. 7. Forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God which must be reverenced and respected not resisted so the spiritual Image of God in Holiness the People doubly see God in their Rulers And besides it bringeth down God's Blessings while they command and the People obey in the Lord 2 Kings 18. 7. And the Lord was with him and he prospered whithersoever he went forth Good Magistrates are usually more prosperous than good Men in a private condition because they are given as a Publick Blessing Use 1. Is to inform us That Religion hath a great influence on the welfare of Humane Societies for it equally respects Governours and Governed carving out their respective Duties to them causing the one to rule well and the other to obey for conscience sake The Testimonies of the Lord prescribe the Duty of Rulers 2 Sam. 23. 3. He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God There is a word belonging to either Table Iustice to the second Fear of God to the first Now all this Duty is best learned out of God's Testimonies For the Governed it interposeth express Rules for their Obedience Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers and 1 Pet. 2. 15. For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men There are many Arguments why we should reverence Magistrates They bear God's Image Psal. 82. 6. I have said ye are Gods visible Representators of his Authority and Dominion over the Creatures because of their Majesty largeness of Command and Empire and because of their Use they are exalted supra alios above others in their Authority but propter alios for others in their Use and Benefit But the supreme Reason is the Will of God The Magistrate was then an enemy to Religion when this Commandment was given forth even then when that part of the World in which the Church was seated was under the Command of Nero whose universal wickedness and particular cruelty against the Christians might tempt them to disobedience and scorn of his Authority then God said Obey not for fear of wrath but conscience sake then Fear God Honour the King for so is the will of God Now let Atheists and Antiscripturists or the enemies of those who profess to live by Scripture think if they can that the Christian Religion doth not befriend Humane Societies or doth contain dangerous Principles to Government Use 2. It sheweth us what to pray for for our Princes and Governours even a wise and an understanding Heart and a Spirit of the Fear of the Lord that they may Rule for God and take his Blessing along with them in all their Affairs 2. Doct. That God's Testimonies are so excellent that we should not be afraid nor ashamed to own them before any sort of men in the world for David saith I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed 1. Observe Here are two things supposed which might shut his mouth and obstruct the confidence and boldness of his Profession Fear and Shame Fear represents danger in owning the ways of God Shame representeth Mockage Scorn and Contempt Fear considereth our Superiours and Governourrs we fear them that have Power and Authority in their hands Shame may arise not onely from the consideration of Superiours but Inferiours and Equals also Fear respects the danger of the Party professing Shame the Cause or Matter professed Therefore of the two to be ashamed of the ways of God doth more destroy Godliness than to be afraid to own them for then it is a sign we are not so soundly convinced and deeply possessed of the Goodness of them for Pudor est conscientia turpitudinis It is a consciousness of something that is base Look as on the contrary to be ashamed of Sin doth more wound it to the heart than to be afraid of Sin Many a Man is apprehensive of the danger of Sin who yet doth not hate it in his heart but onely abstaineth out of the fear of Punishment But when he is ashamed of Sin then he beginneth to hate Sin as Sin In Conversion
of our Interest in Eternal Life They differ in Effects Peace is an Approbation for the present Joy in the holy Ghost a pledge and beginning of that endless Joy we shall have hereafter 2 Cor. 1. 22. Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts And Rom. 8. 23. We our selves also who have the first-fruits of the spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body Both together shew that there is no such solid Comfort as in the obedience of God's Commandments certainly more than in all the Pleasures of Sin yea more than in all the Enjoyments of the World whoever have proved them both will find it so Many have proved the Pleasures of Sin but never yet found what comfort is in mourning for Sin Many have proved the Comforts of the World but never yet proved what is the Joy of a good Conscience and the sweet Pleasure of a godly Conversation 2. There is a particular Experience when born out in the Confession of Truth in the time of tryal A Man that out of love to God's Commands hath endured Troubles and Tryals and hath overcome Temptations will see more cause to love these Commandments and to encrease his Obedience to them than ever before in ordinary Temptations Psal. 19. 11. Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is a great reward When they see that Divine Truth is like to bear out it self and Man that doth confess it in such cases they feel the excellency of God's Truth and the Power of God sustaining them that confess it therefore embrace heartily the Lord's Commands and take pleasure in his Ways The Lord appealeth to this Experience Micah 2. 7. Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly Have not you found the Fruit answerable Therefore the Children of God value and esteem and look upon them as the greatest Means of their Safety and Comfort 6. Because of their love to God they have a value for every thing which cometh from God and leadeth to him Common Mercies point to their Author and their main end is to draw our Affections to him and enable us in his Service but these are apt to be a snare and are used as an Occasion to the Flesh But here is a greater Impression of God on his Word and Laws their use is more eminent to direct us to God therefore are valued above ordinary Comforts Iob 23. 12. I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food They are his Commandments therefore dear to us who hath obliged us so much in Christ whose Love they believe and have felt The Word is wholly appointed to maintain the Life of Grace in us Use 1. Is to shew us how to bring our hearts to the obedience of God's Commands 1. Love them if we would keep them Nothing is hard to Love An Esteem will quicken us to the Obedience of them 2. Delight in them for then all goeth on easily Delight sweetneth every thing though in themselves toilsom or tedious as Fowling Hunting Fishing Delight never mindeth Difficulties The reason why the Commands are grievous is want of Love and Delight Use 2. Sheweth of what kind our Obedience must be free and unconstrained when we are not forced to our Duty but do willingly delight in it and the Law that prescribeth it and do bewail our daily failings Many doe some external Works of Obedience but not with an inward delight but out of custom or compulsion God never hath our Heart till he hath our Delight till we willingly abstain from what may displease him and chearfully practise what he requireth of us when it is grateful to obey and all Pleasures to this are nothing worth SERMON LIV. PSAL. CXIX 48. My hands also will I lift up to thy commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes IN the Morning we opened one Profession of David's Respect to the Word of God now follows another He would employ all his Faculties about the Commandments of God which is his last Argument His Mind for here is Meditation promised his Heart for here is Love asserted his Tongue for that is his original Request which occasioned all these Professions and here his Hands his Life My hands also will I lift up c. Observe 1. The Ground or Cause of his Respect to the Commandments of God in that Clause Which I have loved 2. A double Effect I will lift up my hands to thy commandments and I will meditate in thy statutes 1. Lifting up the Palms or Hands is a Phrase of various use 1. For Praying Psal. 28. 2. Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee when I lift up my hands towards thy holy oracle Lam. 2. 19. Lift up thy hands towards him for the life of thy young children c. Hab. 3. 10. The deep uttered his voice and lift up his hands on high Thence the Apostle 1 Tim. 2. 8. I will therefore that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting 2. For Blessing others Aaron lift up his hands towards the people and blessed them Or for Praising or Blessing God Psal. 134. 2. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. So Psal. 63. 4. Thus will I bless thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy name 3. For Swearing or Vowing Gen. 22. 14. I have lift up my hand to the most high God that is sworn So Rev. 10. 5. The Angel lift up his hand and swore So of God Psal. 106. 26. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness that is swore they should not enter into his rest 4. For setting about any Action especially of weight Gen. 41. 22. Without thee shall no man lift up his hand that is attempt or do any thing So Psal. 10. 12. Arise O Lord lift up thine hand forget not the poor that is Set to thine active hand for their assistance So Heb. 12. 12. Lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees that is Set actively and vigorously about the Christian Task To this Rank may be also referred what is said Mat. 6. 3. Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth The Hand is the Instrument of Action Now all these Sences might be applied to the present Place 1. Praying for God's Grace to perform them 2. Blessing God as we do for our daily food giving thanks for them 3. Vowing or promising under an Oath a constant Obedience to them But the Commandments are not the proper Object to which the Acts of Praying Blessing Swearing are directed but God It is not I will lift up my hand to God but thy commandments We ought indeed to bless God and praise God for the Blessings we receive by his
Sinners will at last take Effect and end in sad Chastisements and they that would not believe their danger are made to feel it Now his Promises will have their effect as well as his Threatnings Micah 2. 7. Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly The Word of God doth not onely speak good but doe good The Words saying of good is indeed doing of good The Performance is so certain that when it is said it may be accounted done We are apt to despise the Word of God as an empty sound no it produceth notable Effects in the World The Sentences that are there whether of Mercy or Judgment are Decrees given forth by the great Judge of the World whereupon Execution is to follow as is foretold Now when we see it done and can compare the Lords Word and Work together it is a mighty support to our Faith whether it be in our or in former Ages For you see the Word is not a vain Scare-crow in its Threatnings nor do we build Castles in the Aire when we do depend upon its promises The Judgments of his Mouth will be the Judgments of his Hand and Providence is a real comment upon and proof of the Truth of his Word 4. God's Judgments of old or his wonderfull Works were never intended onely for the benefit of that Age in which they were done but the benefit of all those who should hear of them by any credible means whatsoever Surely God never intended they should be buried in dark Oblivion but that after-Ages may be the better for the remembrance of them Witness these Scriptures Psal. 145. 4. One generation shall praise thy works unto another and remember thy mighty Acts. Joel 1. 3. Tell your Children of it and let your Children tell their Children and their Children another generation So Psal. 78. 3 4 5 6 7. That which we have heard and known and our Fathers have told us we will not hide them from their Children shewing the generations to come the praises of the Lord and his wonderfull works which he hath done for he established a testimony in Iacob and appointed a Law in Israel which he commanded our Fathers that they should make them known to their Children that the generation to come might know them even the Children to come which should be born who should arise and declare to their Children that they may set their hope in God and not forget the works of the Lord but keep his Commandments and might not be as their Fathers c. from all which places and many more I observe 1. That we should tell Generations to come what we have found of God in our time and that we should use all ways and means to transmit the Knowledge of God's notable and wondrous Providences for his People to Posterity 2. That this Report of God's former Works is a special means of Edification for therefore God would have them recorded and told for the special benefit of the Ages following 3. And more particularly that this is a great means and help of Faith For in one of the places it is said that they may set their Faith and Hope in God and from all we may conclude that by remembring God's Judgments of old we may be much comforted as in remembring God's Works when the Church was first reformed in Luther's time the delivering of England from the Spanish Invasion Gun-powder-Treason c. for the confirming our Faith and Confidence in God All God's Judgments that were done in the days of our Fore-fathers and in all Generations if they come to our Knowledge by a true Report or Record are of use to warn us and comfort us yea the bringing Israel out of Egypt and Babylon or any notable Work done since the beginning of the World till now The Use is to press us to take this Course as one Remedy to comfort us in our distresses In distresses of Conscience the Bloud of Christ is the onely cure But in Temptations arising from the Scorn and Insultation of Enemies remember what God hath done for his People of old and let his Providence support our Faith Psal 23. 4. thy rod and thy staff comfort me Pedum pastorale for the protection and guiding of the Sheep and driving away the Wolf the Rod and Staff are the Instruments of the Shepherd More particularly consider 1. What is to be observed and remembred All the eminent Passages of God's Providence when acts of Power have been seasonably interposed for the rescue of his People Judgments of all kind publick universal private and personal our own Experiences 2 Cor. 1. 10. Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us The Experiences of others not in one but in every Age for in every Place and Age God delighteth to leave a Monument of his Righteousness and all is for the Consolation and Instruction of the Church Judgments in our time Judgments in former times blow off the dust from old Mercies and the Inscription of them will be a kind of Prophecy to your Faith but especially cast your eye often upon the Lords manner of dealing with his Saints in Scripture their Consolations and Deliverances received after trouble partly because the Word of God is a rich Store-house of these Instances and Examples and partly because of the Infallibility of the Record where things are delivered to us with so much simplicity and Truth partly also because of the Manner and Ends in which and for which they are recorded But if I would have recourse to Scripture should I not rather make use of the Promises Answ. We must not set one part of Scripture against another but Examples do mightily help us to believe Promises as they are a pledge of the Justice Faithfulness Care and Love of God towards his People and I know not by what secret force and influence invite us to hope for what God hath done for other of his Servants 2. How they must be considered Seriously as every thing that cometh from God a slight Consideration will not draw forth the profitable Use of them when they are looked on cursorily or lightly passed by the impression of God upon his Works cannot be discerned therefore they must be well considered with all their Circumstances Psal. 143. 2. David sufficed not to say I remember thy works of old but I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands Psal. 77. 12. I remember thy works of old I will meditate also of all thy works and surely this should be a delightfull Exercise to the Children of God as it is for the Son of a noble and princely Father to reade the Chronicles where his Fathers Acts are recorded or the famous Atchievements of his Ancestors Psal. 111. 2. The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein Some works of God have a large Impression of his Power and
thy words Keeping God's word notes an exact and tender respect when a Man keeps it as a Jewel as a precious Treasure that it may not be hazarded or keeps it as the Apple of his Eye Prov. 7. 2. The Eye is soon offended with the least dust so when we are chary of the word of God loth to offend God in any thing then are we said to keep his Word Two Points lye clear in the Text. 1. That God alone is the Godly Man's Portion 2. That those which have chosen God for their Portion will manifest it by a fixed Resolution and strict care of Obedience It must needs be so if God be his Portion his great business will be to keep in with him Doct. 1. That God alone is the Godly Mans Portion This will appear by Scripture and by Reason By Scripture Psalm 16. 5. The Lord is the Portion of mine Inheritance and of my Cup. There 's a double Metaphor first an Allusion to the shares of the Land of Canaan so God is the Portion of mine Ineritance saith David and an Allusion to the manner of a Feast where every Man had his allowance of Meat set by his Cup but Snares and Brimstone is said to be the Portion of a wicked Mans Cup. As every Man had his allowance set by his Flaggon of Wine specially in a solemn Feast so God is the Portion of my Cup. So Psalm 73. 26. The Lord is the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever when my Flesh and my Heart faileth that is when my Body yields to the decay of Nature yea when all our Courage seems to be lost born down by difficulties that we endure in the Flesh God is a Portion that will never fail 2. To give some Reasons of it It will appear to be so 1. By considering what is requisite to a Mans Portion 2. Why a Godly Man looks upon God under this Notion I. If a Man were left to his free choice what he would choose to take for his Portion not what is his Portion in his strait when he can have no better but if he were left to his free choice 1. He would require that it be something good or apprehended to be so 2. That it be something to which he hath a Title and Interest to which he can lay claim or is in possession or expectation of according to right 3. He would choose that which is suitable to the capacities necessities and desires of him whose Portion it is 4. That it be sufficient to supply all his Wants so as he may live upon it 5. That it be such a thing wherein he may finde satisfaction and acquiescence so that he needs seek no more and ask no more 6. Such a thing wherein he may take complacency and great delight where he may be well pleased and rejoyced Now all these things are to be found in God and with good reason the Saints make this choice and say Thou art my Portion O Lord. First That which is to be chosen for our Portion must be God There is none good but one and that is God Matth. 19. 17. It is Christs own Proposition He is Good of himself Good in himself yea Good it Self There is no good above Him besides Him or beyond him But if any thing else be Good it is either from him or with him But that I may more distinctly speak to this 1. God is Primitively and Originally Good the Creature is but derivatively Good He is Good of himself which nothing else is the Fountain Good and therefore is called the Fountain of living Waters Ier. 2. 13. The Creatures are but dry Pits or broken Cisterns Other things what good they have it is of Him God must needs be infinitely Better and Greater then they for all things which are Good they have it from God 2. God is the chiefest Good and other things are onely Good in subordination All Creature goodness is but a stricture of that perfect Good which is in God and therefore if we finde any Good in them that should lead us to the greater Good even to the Creator Who would leave the Substance to follow the Shadow or desire the Picture to the dishonour and neglect of the Person whom it Represents Certainly so they do that run after the Creature and neglect God that seek happiness in sublunary enjoyments to the wrong and neglect of God That small Good which the Creatures have is not to hold us on them but to lead us to him as the Streams will direct us to the Fountain and the steps of the Ladder are not to stand still upon but to ascend higher If your Affections be detained in the Creature you set the Creature in Gods stead you pervert it from its natural use which is to set forth the invisible things of God his Excellency his Goodness his God-head and his Power to do you good and to send you to Him that made them But how usually doth that which should carry us to God divert and detain us from him If a Prince should wooe a Virgin by a Messenger and She should leave him and cleave to the Messenger and those He sent as Spokesmen and Servants this were an extream folly By the beauty and sweetness of the Creatures God's end is to draw us to himself as the chiefest Good for that which we love in other things is but a shadow and an obscure resemblance of that which is in Him There is sweetness in the Creature mixt with imperfection the sweetness is to draw us to God but the imperfection is to drive us from setting our hearts on them There is somewhat good in them look up to the Creator but there is vanity and vexation of Spirit and this is to drive us off from these sublunary things 3. He is infinitely Good In this Portion one hath not the less because another enjoys it with him Here is a sharing without division a partaking without prejudice of a Copartner for every Man hath his Portion whole and intire it is no less to us because others enjoy it too We straiten others in worldly things so much as we are enlarged our selves for these things are finite and cannot be divided but they must be lessened and therefore are not large enough But this Good is infinite and sufficeth the whole World and every one possesseth it entire As the same Speech may be heard of all yet no Man heareth less because another heareth it with him Or as the same Sun shines upon all I have not the less light because it shines upon an other as well as me So God is all in all if there be any difference the more we possess him the better As in a Quire of Voices every one is not onely solaced with his own Voice but with the harmony of those that sing in Consort with him worldly Inheritance is lessened by a multitude of Coheirs In outward estates many a fair Stream is drawn dry or
Thirdly That which a man would make his Portion if he were free to choose it should be a proper and suitable Good our own Good The heart of man aims at not onely bonum Good in common but also bonum congruum a suitable fitting Good Every Element moveth to its own place and every living Creature desires Food proper to it self so man is not onely carried to Good but Good that suits to his Capacity and Necessity the Soul being a Spirit must have a Spiritual Good Indeed as it acts in the Body and accommodates it self with the Necessities of the Body and seeks the Good of the Body so it may be carried out to Honours Pleasures and Profits for these are the conveniencies of the bodily life but as it is a Spirit and can live apart from the Body it must have something above these a spiritual Object and as it is Immortal it must have an Immortal Good Now for a spiritual Immortal Good do we grope and feel about until we finde it and then there 's a great deal of satisfaction Acts 17. 27. That they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and finde him So we are groping and feeling about as the blinde Sodomites did for Lots door for some Good that may suit the Capacity of our Souls we were made for God and therefore cannot have full contentment without God But I speak not now of man as man but suppose him to have a new Nature put into him that carries him after satisfaction we are made partakers of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. It is called so because it comes from God and tends to Him Now there must be something suitable to this Nature pleasure is when those things are enjoyed that suit with us when the Object and the Faculty are suited when every Appetite hath a fit dyet to feed upon then a marvellous deal of Pleasure and Contentment results from thence Rom. 8. 5. They that are after the Flesh do minde the things of the Flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit All things seek a suitable Good Now they that are after the Spirit that have a new spiritual Divine Nature put into them renewed Souls they must have an Object proper and therefore must have something above the concernments of the Body and above the fleshly Nature for every thing delights in that which is suitable as a Fish in the Stream and an Ox to lick up the Grass and Man must have a suitable Good as a rational Being but as a spiritual being must have another Good Grace restores us to the inclinations of Nature when it was innocent therefore the Soul that came from God must center in God and it cannot be quiet without him Fourthly That which a man would make his Portion it must be sufficient to supply all his wants that he may have enough to live upon Now saith the Lord I am God Alsufficient Gen. 17. 1. Sufficient for the necessities of this Life and that which is to come He is the Fountain of all Blessings Spiritual Temporal Eternal not onely their Power for ever but their Portion for ever satisfied with him now and in the Life to come Psal. 142. 5. Thou art my Portion O Lord in the Land of the Living They expect all from Him not onely Peace and Righteousness Grace and Glory but Food Maintenance Defence to bear them out in his Work The Creature is but Gods Instrument or as an empty Pipe unless God flow in by it If God help them not the Creature â—…annot help them These are Streams that have Water onely so long as the Spring fills them Well then here is a Portion that is every way sufficient All other Portions are accompanied with a want but this alone sufficeth all Some things give Health Wealth O but not Peace Some things give Peace but not Honour But God is all to us Health Wealth Peace Honour Grace and Glory All things are yours because you are Christ's and Christ is God's so runs the Christian Charter there is omne bonum in summo bono all things in the chiefest Good So Rev. 21. 7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things how so for I will be his God He that hath God hath him that hath Power and Command of all things and therefore shall inherit all things for I will be his God And that 's the reason of the Apostles Riddle 2 Cor. 6. 10. As having nothing yet possessing all things that is all things in God when they have nothing in the Creature Many times they are kept barâ—… and low but God carries the Purse for them all things are at his dispose and we are kept more bare and low that we may be sensible of the strange Supplies of his Providence Alas without him in the midst of our Sufficiencies we may be in straits Fifthly That a man would choose that for his Portion wherein he may be contented satisfied and sit down as having enough Now this is onely in God When we choose other things for our Portion still our Sore runs upon us there are some crannies and vacuities of Soul that are to be filled up if we could satisfy our Affections we cannot satisfy our Consciences nothing can content the desires of the Soul but God himself other things may busy us and vex us but cannot satisfy us All things are vanity and vexation of Spirit If a man would make a critical search as Solomon did he set himself to see what Pleasures and Honours would doe to content the Heart of Man and what Riches and Learning would doe he had a large Estate and Heart and so was in a capacity to try all things to see if he could extract Satisfaction from them yet he concludes all is vanity and vexation of Spirit Whosoever will follow this Course will come home with Disappointment But in this Portion there 's Contentment we need no more but God and there is nothing besides him worth our desire Necessities that are not supplied by him are but fancies it is want of Grace if we want any thing else when we have God for our Portion Psal. 17. 14. From the men of the world which have their Portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid Treasure A Carnal man's Happiness is patched up with a great many Creatures they must have dainty Fare costly Apparel this and that and still their Sore runs upon them they have a fulness of all things and yet they are not filled But now saith David As for me I will behold thy Face in Righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy Likeness Though God do not make out himself in that Latitude and Fulness as he will hereafter yet at present to have Communion with God is enough I shall be filled There are some desires that are working after God but they will be filled hereafter It is true we are not now perfect but
higher points when taught unto them they discern and know the differences of things to be understood God's Blessing doth accompany use and frequent exercise and make it effectual to this end by degrees we come to a solidness 5. Sense and Experience doth much increase judgment when smarted for our folly tasted the sweetness of conversing with God in Christ 1 Pet. 2. 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious Optima demonstratio est à sensibus Col. 1. 6. Which bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you since the day you heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth God is not taught by experience to whose Knowledge all things are present and at all times and before all times but we are God is fain to teach us by Bryars and Thorns as Gideon taught the men of Succoth 6. Avoid the Enemies to it or hindrances of it I shall name two 1. A passionate or wilfull addictedness to any Carnal things Most men live by Sense Will and Passion whereby they enthrall that Wisdome which they have and keep it in unrighteousness Perit omne judicium cùm res transit in affectum Truth is a Prisoner to their sinfull Passions and Affections rejecting all thoughts of their future Happiness A man cannot be wise to Salvation and passionately addicted to any temporal Interest 2. Pride that maketh us either rash or presumptuous either not using a due consideration or not humble enough to subject our Minds to it Besides we cast off God's Assistance The humble and meek will he guide in Iudgment the meek will he teach his way Psal. 25. 9. Men that lean on their own understandings reject him Prov. 3. 5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths SERMON LXXV PSAL. CXIX 66. For I have believed thy Commandments THIS latter Clause may be considered absolutely or relatively in it self or as it containeth a Reason of the foregoing Petition First Absolutely These words deserve a little consideration because Believing is here suited with an unusual Object had it been for I have believed thy Promises or obeyed thy Commandments the sense of the Clause had been more obvious to every vulgar Apprehension to believe Commandments sounds as harsh to a common Ear as to see with the Ear and hear with the Eye But for all this the Commandments are the Object and of them he saith not I have obeyed but I have believed To take off the seeming asperity of the Phrase some Interpreters conceive that Commandments is put for the Word in general and so Promises are included yea they think principally intended those Promises which encouraged him to hope for God's help in all necessary things such as good Judgment and Knowledge are But this Interpretation would divert us from the weight and force of these significant words Therefore 1. Certainly there is a Faith in the Commandments as well as in the Promises as I shall fully prove by and by 2. The one is as necessary as the other for as the Promises are not esteemed embraced and improved unless they are believed to be of God so neither are the Precepts they do not sway the Conscience as the other do nor incline the Affections but as they are believed to be Divine 3. The Faith of the one must be as lively as the other as the Promises are not believed with a lively Faith unless they draw off the heart from Carnal vanities to seek that Happiness which they offer to us so the Precepts are not believed rightly unless we be fully resolved to acquiesce in them as the onely Rule to guide us in the obtaining that Happiness and to adhere to them and obey them As the Kings Laws are not kept as soon as they are believed to be the Kings Laws unless also upon the consideration of his Authority and Power we subject our selves to them So this believing noteth a ready alacrity to hear God's Voice and obey it and to govern our Hearts and Actions according to his Counsel and Direction in the Word Doct. That the Commandments of God must be believed as well as his Promises Or The Precepts of Sanctity and Holiness bind the Conscience to obey God as well as the Promises bind us to trust in God 1. What we must believe concerning the Commandments 2. The Necessity of believing them if we would be happy 3. The Utility and Profit I. What we must believe concerning the Commandments 1. That they have God for their Authour that we may take our Duty immediately out of his hand that these Commands are his Commands The expressions of his commanding and legislative Will whereby our Duty is determined and bound upon us that is a matter of Faith not a matter of Sense We were not present at the giving of the Law as being past but we ought to be affected with it as if we were present or had heard the Thundrings of mount Sinai or had them now delivered to us by Oracle or immediate Voice from Heaven God doth once for all give the World sensible and sufficient satisfaction and then he requireth Faith See Heb. 2. 2 3 4. For if the word spoken by Angels was stedfast and every transgression and disobedience obtained a just recompence of reward How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his own will The Apostle compareth the first promulgation of the Law and the first publication of the Gospel After ages did not hear the sounding of the dreadfull Trumpet nor see the flaming smoaking Mountain were not conscious to all those Circumstances of Terrour and Majesty with which the Law was given yet it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stedfast Word God owned it in his Providence the Punishment of Transgressors is proof of God's authorizing the Doctrine So we were not present when the Miracles by which the Gospel-law was confirmed were wrought yet there is a constant evidence that these things were once done and God still owneth it in his Providence therefore we must receive the Gospel-law as the Sovereign will and pleasure of our Law-giver as if we had seen him in person doing these Wonders heard him with our own Ears It is not onely those that were present at Mount Sinai that were bound but all their Posterity God giveth arguments of Sense once for all This belief is the more required of us as to Precepts and Commandments because they are more evident by natural Light Rom. 2. 14 15. For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves Which shew the
stedfast in his Covenant Many have a little forced Religion in their Extremities but it weareth off with their Trouble Sin is but suspended for a while and the Devil chained up they are very good under the Rod they are frighted to it but after the Deliverance cometh the more prophane It is true many may begin with God in their Troubles and their Necessities drive them to the Throne of Grace and Christ had never heard of many if Feavours and Palsies and Possessions and Blindness Deafness and Dumbness had not brought them unto him thanks to the Disease but if a course of Godliness begin upon these occasions and continue afterwards God will accept it He is willing to receive us upon any terms Men will say you come to me in your Extremity but he doth not upbraid us provided we will come so as to abide with him and will not turn the back upon him when our turn is served if you doe so take heed God hath other Judgments to reach you as Iohn said Matth. 3. 11 12. He that cometh after me is mightier than I whose shoos I am not worthy to bear He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire Whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire So that which cometh after is mightier than that which went before the last Judgment is the heaviest The Ax is laid to the root of the Tree therefore every Tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Matth. 3. 10. He will not onely lop off the Branches but strike at the Root as the Sodomites that escaped the Sword of Chedorlaomer perished by Fire from Heaven The Israelites that were not drowned in the Red Sea were stung to death by Fiery Serpents As if a man did flee from a Lyon and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a Serpent bit him Amos 5. 19. When you avoid one Judgment you may meet another and find a stroke where you think your selves most secure Use 1. Let us consider these things that we may profit by all the Chastenings of the Lord. It is now a time of Affliction both as to publick Judgments and as to the private Condition of many of the People of God we have been long straying from God from our Duty from one another it was high time for the Lord to take his Rod in his hand and to scourge us home again Upon these Three Nations there is somewhat of God's Three great Judgments War Pestilence and Famine they are all dreadfull The Pestilence is such a Judgment as turneth Populous Cities into Desers and Solitudes in a short time then one cannot help another Riches and Honour profit nothing then and Friends and Kinsfolks stand afar off Many die without any spiritual Helps In War what Destructions and Slaughters expence of Bloud and Treasure In Famine you feel your selves to die without a Disease know not where to have fuel to allay and feed the fire which Nature hath kindled in your Bodies But blessed be God all these are in moderation Pestilence doth not ragingly spread the War is at a distance the Famine onely a scarcity Before God stirreth up all his Wrath he observeth what we doe with these beginnings Besides the People of God are involved in an heap of Miseries on all hands the oppressed dejected Party burthened with jealousies and ready to be haled to Prison and put under restraint Holy men sometimes have personal Afflictions added to the publick Calamities Ieremy was cast into the Dungeon when the City was besieged The Chaff and Grain both are threshed together but the Grain is besides ground in the Mill and baked in the Oven Besides who thinks of his strayings and returning with a more severe Resolution to his Duty If we would profit by Afflictions we must avoid both the faulty extreams Heb. 12. 5. My Son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Slighting and Fainting must be avoided 1. Let us not slight them When we bear them with a stupid senseless mind surely that hindereth all Profit None can endure to have their Anger despised no more than their Love a Father is displeased when his Child slights his Correction That we may not slight it let us consider 1. Their Authour God We think them fortuitous from chance but they do not rise out of the dust Job 5. 6. Whoever be the Instruments or whatever be the means the Wise God hath the whole ordering of it He is the first Cause He is to be sought to He is to be appeased if we would stop Evil at the Fountain head for all Creatures willingly or unwillingly obey him and are subject to his Empire and Government Amos 3. 6. Is there any evil in the City and I have not done it saith the Lord Isa. 45. 7. I form the Light and create Darkness I make Peace and create Evil I the Lord doe all these things Job 1. 21. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away 2. The meritorious Cause is Sin Lamentat 3. 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his Sin that first brought Mischief into the World and still continueth it God never afflicts without a cause either we need it or we deserve it Micah 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him untill he plead my cause and execute Iudgment for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his Righteousness We should search for the particular Sins that provoke God to afflict us for while we onely speak of Sin in general we do but inveigh against a Notion and personate a Mourning but those we can charge upon our selves are most proper and powerfull to break the heart 3. The end is our Repentance and Amendment to correct Sin past or prevent Sin to come 1. For Correction to make us more penitent for Sin past We being in a lower sphere of understanding know things better by their Effects than their Nature Ier. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy backslidings shall reprove thee know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord of Hosts Moral Evil is represented to us by natural Evil Pain sheweth what Sin is 2. For prevention of Sin for time to come The Smart should make us cautious and watchfull against Sin Ioshua 22. 17 18. Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us from which we are not cleansed to this day although there was a Plague in the Congregation of the Lord but that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord And it will be seeing ye rebel to
together and find their own perswasions of the love power mercy and wisdome of God backed with the experience and testimony of others 't is a mutual strength and support to us and therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 12. That I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith of you and me When we converse with them that can speak not by hearsay onely but experience of the power of the blood of Christ in purifying their Consciences and his Spirit to sanctifie their hearts 't is a mighty prop 2 Cor. 1. 4. And that we may comfort others with the comforts wherewith we are comforted of God Report of a report is a cold thing not valued but a report of what we witness and experience our selves comes warmly upon our hearts Nay many times it may fall out that people of less knowledge but more feeling experience may abundantly confim the more knowing and excite them to a greater mindfulness of God and heavenly things But alas the meetings of carnal Persons what is it to this It may be they will fill your ears with stories of Hawking and Hunting the best Wine and delicious meats of Honours and Purchases in the World all which tend but to increase the gust of the flesh and the carnal favour which is banefull to us or else with idle stories the clatter of vanity which are impertinent to our great end or else about the World thriving in the World nothing about those high and excellent and necessary things of the grace of God in Christ and the truth of the promises and the glory of the world to come Psal. 37. 30 31. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment the Law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide and the mouth of the righteous is as choice silver they have a sense of better things but alas from others you hear nothing but unsavory vanity which is as different from the discourse of the Children of God as the melody of a Bird from the grunting of a Hog or Swine SERMON LXXXIII PSAL. CXIX 75. I know O Lord that thy Iudgments are right and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me WE have need all to prepare for afflictions for we are to take up our Cross daily now to help you to a right Carriage under them these words well considered will be of some use to you they are the confession of an humble Soul abundantly satisfied with Gods dispensations In them observe 1. A general truth or point of Doctrine concerning the equity of Gods Judgments thy Iudgments O Lord are right 2. A particular application or accommodation of this truth to Davids case and person in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me 3. His sure and firm perswasion of both I know Let us explain these branches and parts of the Text as they are laid forth 1. The generall truth the Lords Judgments are right In which proposition there is the Subject and the Predicate The Subject or things spoken are the Lords Judgments The word is often put in this Psalm and elsewhere for Gods Statutes or precepts or righteous Laws and in this sense some take it here and make out the sense thus Lord I know that thy Iudgments viz. thy Precepts are holy just and good and this perswasion is not lessened in me though thou hast sharply afflicted me I have as great a value and esteem for thy Word as ever But rather by the Lords Judgments are meant the passages of his Providence as the latter clause sheweth those judiciall dispensations whereby he doth punish the wicked or correct his Children And let it not seem strange that the troubles and afflictions of the Godly should be called Judgments for though there be no vindictive wrath in them yet they are called so upon a double reason partly because they are acts of Gods holy Justice correcting and humbling his people for sin according to the Sentence of his word thus it is said 1 Pet. 4. 17. That Iudgment shall begin at the house of God where the Trials and Troubles of the Godly are plainly called Judgments And partly because the Lord judiciously measureth and directeth them as the state of his Children requireth and their strength will bear so 't is said Ier. 10. 24. Correct me but in Iudgment The first Notion implyeth Gods Justice the second his Wisdome And mark 't is said distinctly in the Text thy Iudgments O Lord his enemies might unjustly persecute him but thy Iudgments so far as the Lord hath a hand in it all was just and right this is the Subject or thing spoken of Secondly Here is the predicate or what is said of it are right the Heb. Tsedec the Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are righteousness it self thy dispensations are wholly made up of perfect Justice how smart soever they be they are right as to the Cause right as to the measure right as to the end The first of these respects concerneth Gods Justice the two other his Wisdome First right as to the Cause they never exceed the value of their Impulsive Iob 34. 23. He will not lay upon man more than is right that he should enter into judgment with him God never afflicteth his People above their desert nor gives any just occasion to commence a Sute against his Providence Secondly right as to the Measure not above the strength of the Patient In his own Peoples Afflictions it is so Isa. 27. 8. In measure when it shouteth forth thou wilt debate it he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind God dealeth with his own with much moderation meting out their Sufferings in due proportion So Ier. 30. 11. I will correct thee in measure Thirdly right as to their end and use God knoweth how to strike in the right Vein and to suit his Providence to the purpose for which it is appointed the kind of the Affliction is to be considered as well as the Measure the Lord chuseth that Rod which is most likely to doe his work Paul had a Thorn in the Flesh that he might not be exalted above measure 2 Cor. 12. 7. he was a man inured to dangers and troubles from without these were familiar to him therefore he could the better bear them but God would humble him by some pain in the Flesh which should sit near and close 2. The particular Accommodation of it to David in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Pray mark in the general Case he observeth Justice in his own faithfulness The Book called Midrash Tillim referreth these words to David's flight from Absalom when he went to Mount Olivet weeping 't was an ill time then with David he had no security then for his Life being driven from his house and home He went up Mount Olivet going and weeping 2 Sam. 15. 30. then when so great and â—…sore trouble was upon him then he saith I know that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me Mark
is a sure effect of great arrogancy and pride They think they may do what they please They have no changes Therefore they fear not God and put forth their hands against such as be at peace with them Psal. 55. 19 20. whilest they go on prosperously and undisturbedly they cannot abstain from violence and oppression This is certainly Pride for it is a lifting up the heart above God and against God and without God And they do not consider his Providence who alternately lifts up and casts down that Adversity may not be without a Cordial nor Prosperity without a Curb and Bridle But when men sit fast and are well at ease they are apt to be insolent and scornful Riches and worldly greatness maketh men insolent and despisers of others and care not what burdens they impose upon them they are intrenched within a mass of wealth and power and greatness and so think none can call them to an account Solomon speaketh of two sorts of people Prov. 18. 10 11. The Name of the Lord is a strong tower the righteous runneth into it and is safe The rich mans wealth is his strong city and as an high wall in his own conceit Every man is as his trust is For as the Psalmist speaketh of Idols in general They that trust in Idols are like unto them so it is true of spiritual Idols If a man trust in vain things his heart groweth vain proud and insolent promiseth him an uninterrupted course of felicity from poor perishing things that come and go at God's pleasure If a man trust in God then he is kept holy humble carried on with a noble and divine Spirit and findeth more safety than another that hath all the strength and power of the world to support and back him The Name of the Lord is a real Refuge but wealth and honour and worldly greatness is but an imaginary Refuge He that hath nothing but the Name of the Lord to trust in Worldlings think he buildeth Castles in the Air but the Godly knoweth that Worldlings indeed build Castles in the Air while they look big and and think their greatness shall bear them out Alas Wealth is but a Wall and a strong Tower in their own conceit not really so but this puffeth them up and they are quite other men when they are at top than what they were when they were under 3. Because they affect a life of Pomp and Ease and carnal Greatness and so despise the Affliction and Meanness and Simplicity of the People of God The false Church hath usually the advantage of worldly Power and external Glory and the true Church is known by the Divine Power Gifts and Graces and the lustre of Holiness Psal. 45. 13. The kings daughter is glorious within is found out by Faith Love Patience Sobriety Heavenly-mindedness Humility Purity and the like rather than by a splendid appearance And holiness becomes God's house Psal. 93. 5. rather than Gold and Silver and costly Furniture The false Church vaunts it self in costly Temples Officers richly endowed with Temporal Revenues and a pompous attendance And so the simplicity of the Gospel is corrupted and turned into a worldly Domination As for instance The Church of Rome boasts of her Grandeur and Magnificence and upbraids the Reformed with their abject condition Ministris eorum nihil vilius saith Campian They can tell of the pompous Inauguration of their Popes their stately Train of Cardinals Lordly Prelates whereas the poor Ministers of the Gospel live hardly and precariously Whereas indeed the glory of the true Church doth not make a fair shew in the flesh is not external corporeal and visible but internal incorporeal and invisible Cant. 1. 5. And like its Head Jesus Christ who to appearance was humble poor and afflicted but in him were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge yea the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily External splendor pleaseth the flesh and is not a sign of Virtue so much as Pride Luke 16. 19. What shall become of the Primitive Church for the first 300 years if outward greatness be a mark of it Naz. Orat. Con. Aroc The World is with them but the Faith with us they have pure Gold but we pure Doctrine So â—…ilary against Auxentius Unum moneo cavete Antichristum male enim vos parietum amor cepit male Ecclesiam Dei in tectis artificiisque veneramini male sub iis pacis nomen ingeritis anne ambiguum est in iis Antichristum cessurum Montes mihi Sylvoe Lacus Carceres Voragines sunt tutiores in iis enim Prophetoe aut manentes aut demersi Dei Spiritu prophetabant Well because of their affectation of worldly greatness they are called proud and so it is taken Mal. 3. 15. Ye call the proud happy And because of this they hate and molest the People of God because there is a contrary spirit They hear Christ's voice Mat. 11. 29. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly They hate them because they contemn that Felicity which they affect and so put a scorn on their way 1 Pet. 4. 4. think it strange that you run not with them into the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 4. They are called proud because of their insolent carriage towards the Lord's People partly in their Laws and Injunctions requiring to give them more Honour Respect and Obedience than in Conscience can be afforded them as Haman would have Mordecai to devote himself to him after the manner of the Persians Esther 3. 5. The man though a Favourite was an Amalekite one that came of that stock whose remembrance God would have to be blotted out Exod. 17. 14. And possibly more worship and honour was required than was due to a man God had forbidden to give divine honour to any but himself now according to the custom of Persia these honours did somewhat savor of divine worship vide Brisson pag. 10 11 12 13 14 with the 18th So Ieroboam would have his Calves worshipped 1 Kings 12. 32. And yet all that complied with him therein are charged for walking so willingly after the Commandment Hosea 5. 11. We dare not offend God to please men the good Levites are commended 2 Chron. 11. 14. So it was Pride in Nebuchad-nezzar to command all men to bow before his image Dan. 3. 15 16. God's Prerogative must not be incroached upon there is a superior Sovereign Partly in vexing molesting and oppressing them at their pleasure the formal Christian hateth the spiritual Gal. 4. 29. Now this cometh from their Pride Psal. 10. 2. The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor Would not have their lazy course upbraided and disgraced by the seriousness and strictness of others they malign what they cannot imitate And 't is carried on by their Pride or abuse of Power God counteth it Pride Psal. 12. 5. For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy the Lord will arise to deliver him and
6. Though the Lord be high yet he hath a respect to the lowly and the proud he knoweth afar off Partly as he is the Portion of the afflicted and oppressed Psal. 140. 12. I know the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor When Satan stirreth up his Instruments to hate those whom the Lord loveth the Lord will stir up his power to protect and defend them So Psal. 10. 14. Thou hast seen it for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand the poor committeth himself to thee thou art the helper of the fatherless When they have layed forth their desires poured forth their heart before the Lord they quiet themselves 'T is God's office practice nature to relieve poor helpless Creatures that commit themselves to his custody 3. Innocency giveth confidence in Prayer when we are molested and troubled without a cause The testimony of Conscience giveth boldness towards God and men 2 Cor. 1. 12. and Heb. 13. 18. Pray for us for we trust we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly If God's Children would carry it more holily and meekly they might cut off occasion from them that desire occasion and in their addresses to God experience more humble confidence But is not this a revengeful Prayer Answ. No First Because directly they pray for their own deliverance that they may more freely serve God by consequence Indeed by God's shewing mercy to his People the pride of wicked ones is suppressed Psal. 119. 134. Secondly As it concerneth his Enemies he expresseth it in mild terms That they may be ashamed that is disappointed their counsels hopes machinations and endeavors And therefore it is not against the Persons of his Enemies but their Plots and Enterprises and shame and disappointment may do them good They think to bring in the total suppression of God's People that would harden them in their sins Therefore God's People desire he would not let their innocency be trampled upon but they disappointed that the Proud may be ashamed in the failing of their attempts Thirdly The Prayers of the Faithful for the overthrow of the Wicked are a kind of Prophecies so that in praying David doth in effect foretell that such as dealt perversly should be ashamed as a good cause will not always be oppressed Isa. 66. 5. But he shall appear to your joy but they shall be ashamed They met with despiteful usage at the hand of their Brethren for their loyalty and fidelity to God Fourthly Saints have a liberty to imprecate vengeance but such as must be used sparingly and with great caution Psal. 71. 13. Let them be confounded and consumed who are adversaries to my soul. Malicious Enemies may be expresly prayed against SERMON LXXXVII PSAL. CXIX VER 78 79. But I will meditate in thy precepts Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies WE now come to David's Resolution But I will meditate in thy precepts The word Precepts is not taken strictly but largely for the whole Word of God DOCT. It is a blessed thing when the Molestations we meet with in the World do excite us to a more diligent study of the Word of God and a greater mindfulness of spiritual and heavenly things I. I shall shew what advantages we have by God's Word and Precepts for the staying and bettering of our hearts II. How this cometh by deep and serious meditation III. How Afflictions and Troubles in the Flesh do quicken us to it 1 In the Word of God there are notable Comforts and Supports as also clear directions how to carry our selves in every condition I shall shew what good thoughts do become as a ground of comfort and support and direction 1. That God hath a fatherly care over us Be once persuaded of that and Trouble will not be so grievous and hard to be born This our Saviour opposeth to worldly cares and fears Matth. 6. 32. Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of these things And Luke 12. 32. Fear not little flock it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom There are two Notions and they are both Christian which are the great support of the heart under any Trouble Adoption and particular Providence The Heirs of Promise are cared for in their Non-age And by the way once be persuaded of this and it will allay our distrustful cares Carking and shifting is a reproach to your heavenly Father as if your Child should beg or filch God knoweth our wants is able to relieve them willing to supply us this God is my Father 2. That the humble Soul which casts it self into the arms of God's Providence shall either have a full and final deliverance or present support Isa. 40. 31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength To wait on the Lord is with patience and tranquility of spirit to expect the performance of the Promises Now these shall have what they wait for or a supply of strength yet enabling them to bear up or hold out when they seem to be clean spent Psal. 123. 2. Behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master and the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until he have mercy upon us 'T was in a time when they were filled with the contempt of the Proud let us be patiently submissive to God's dispensations there is hope of help 3. That God doth wonderfully disappoint the designs of wicked men Psal. 37. 12 13. The wicked plotteth against the just and guasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming Haman's Plot was destroyed so was the Conspiracy of them that would have killed Paul There is no wisdom nor counsel nor understanding against the Lord Prov. 21. 30. What is God now a doing in Heaven but defending his own Kingdom Psal. 2. Wherefore doth Christ sit at his right hand but to promote the affairs of his Church and to blast the devices of the wicked Mat. 18. The gates of hell shall never prevail against it 4. That the Proud are near a fall Prov. 16. 5. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord Though hand join in hand they shall not go unpunished Sometimes they seem to be supported by such combined Interests so woven in the Laws and Constitutions of a Nation but who can keep up him whom God will pull down Pride is a sure note and forerunner of destruction Prov. 16. 18. Prov. 15. 25. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud but he will establish the border of the widow Weak and oppressed Innocence standeth upon surer terms than the Proud though they excel in Wealth and Opulency 5. That God will never leave us wholly destitute and to difficulties insupportable Heb. 13. 5. I will never leave thee
see what is this Salvation which is here spoken of Salvation in Scripture hath divers acceptations it 's put 1. For that temporal Deliverance which God giveth or hath promised to give to his People So 't is taken Exod. 14. 13. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord that he will shew you to day That is the wonderful deliverance which he will work for you So Lament 3. 26. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Meaning by Salvation their recovery out of Captivity 'T was their duty to wait for this deliverance and though it were long first yet having a Promise they were to keep up their Hope 2. For the Exhibition of Christ in the Flesh. Psal. 98. 2 3. The Lord hath made known his salvation his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen He hath remembred his mercy and truth to the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God Clearly that Psalm containeth a Prediction of the setting up of Christ's Kingdom and a bringing of the Gentile World into subjection to it which was first to be offered to the People of the Iews and from thence to be carried on throughout all the Regions of the World So old Simeon expresseth himself Luke 2. 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Meaning thereby Christ actually exhibited or born in the flesh which was the beginning of the Kingdom of the Messiah 3. For the Benefits which we have by Christ on this side Heaven as the pardon of Sin and the renovation of our Natures these are called Salvation as Mat. 1. 21. He shall save his people from their sins And Tit. 3. 5. He hath saved us by washing in the laver of regeneration And in the Old Testament Psal. 51. 12. Restore unto us the joy of thy salvation That is the joy which we have because God hath freed us from our sins 4. For Everlasting Life Heb. 5. 9. He is become the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him And 1 Pet. 1. 9. Receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls Meaning thereby our final Reward The Text is applicable to all these But 1 most simply we must expound it of Salvation in the first sense because the drift of the Man of God in this Octonary is to shew how he was affected since God heard him not at the first cry or as soon as he prayed for deliverance Though he prayed for deliverance yet the help promised and hoped for was delayed so long till he was ready to faint and had fainted altogether but that the Promise revived and kept up his hopes 2 If these words be supposed to be spoken by the Church and in Her Name they fitly represent the longings of the Old Testament Fathers after Christ's coming in the Flesh. For as David expresseth himself here so doth old Iacob Gen. 49. 18. I have waited for thy salvation O Lord. That speech cometh in there by way of interruption for as he was blessing his Children he turneth to the Lord desiring his salvation by Christ of which Samson belonging to the Tribe of Dan the Tribe which he was then blessing was a special Type So 't is said of Abraham John 8. 56. Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad Abraham knowing him to be the true Messiah did earnestly desire to see that day and to his great contentment got a sight of it by Faith 't was a sweet and blessed sight to him So Luke 10. 24. Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them That is David a King and other Prophets longed for this day So Heb. 11. 13. Having seen the promises afar off they were persuaded of them and embraced them Oh! they hugged the promises saying These will one day yield a Saviour to the world So 't is said of all the serious Believers of the Old Testament Luke 2. 25. That they waited for the consolation of Israel That is for the Redemption of the World by the blood of Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon which follow'd the calling of the Gentiles and the setting up of the Kingdom of God in the World These things the Saints longed for waited for and because the Lord suspended the exhibition of them till the fulness of time and did not presently satisfie their desires they might be said to faint but the Promise kept up their Faith in waiting and confidence I cannot wholly exclude this sense because the Salvation promised at the coming of the Messiah was the greatest and common to all the faithful They had many discouragements in expecting it from the wickedness and calamities of that people from whom as concerning the Flesh Christ was to descend But though they were ready to faint they did not give over the hope of that Salvation having God's word for it and the remembrance of it kept afoot by the Sacrifices and Types of the Law 3 Since Christ hath appeared in the Flesh and hath wrought Salvation for us we must wait and long and look for that part of Salvation which is yet to be performed as the deliverance of the Church from divers Troubles the freedom of particular Believers from their doubts and fears and finally our eternal Salvation which shall be compleated at Christ's second coming All that have the first-fruits of the Spirit are groaning for this and hoping for this Rom. 8. 23 24 25. We are to desire Heaven yet patiently to stay God's time for here is fainting and hoping or as the Apostle saith hastening to and yet waiting for the coming of the Lord 2 Pet. 3. 12. one is the effect of Desire the other of Hope Desire hastening and Hope waiting These things being cleared let us first apply the words to Temporal Deliverance Observe I. DOCT. The Afflictions of God's People may be long and grievous before any Comfort and Deliverance cometh For the Affliction continued so long upon David that his Soul even fainted There are three Agents in the Afflictions of the Saints 1. GOD. 2. SATAN 3. WICKED MEN. 1. God hath many wise Reasons why he doth not give Audience or a gracious Answer at the first call First Because he will try our Faith to see if we can depend upon him when it cometh to an extremity Thus by silence and rebukes Christ tryed the Woman of Canaan that her Faith might appear the more gloriously Mat. 15. 28. Then Iesus answered and said unto her O woman great is thy faith And by extremities he still tryeth his children Our graces are never exercised to the life till we are near the point of death that 's Faith which can then depend
the good of their souls returning friendly words for railing and evil speaking feeding and cloathing them when hungry thirsty or naked desiring pardon and grace This is our Rule but how few Christians comply with it and conquer their unruly Passions no rather justifie them by the greatness of their temptations and if they be kept from retaliating of injuries that 's rare Most have too great a coldness and indifference for enemies Prov. 24. 29. I will do so to him as he hath done to me I will render to the man according to his work This is to take the work out of God's hands to review the arrogance of Adam Be as Gods Generally Men are vindictive and transported with uncomely Passions when wronged by Men. 2 Sam. 16. 9. Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king let me go over I pray thee and take off his head This was the ruffling humor of Abishai But David was in a calmer cooler frame and temper of spirit no God bid him curse Many a man can bear afflictions but not injuries No Man is troubled at a showr of rain but if one cast a bucket or bason of water upon us we shall not let it pass if it be in the power of our hands without revenge 3. Using indirect means for our Relief 'T is better to pine away in affliction than to be freed from it by sin to be as a bottle in the smoke than to forget our duty Therefore no trouble should drive us to sin or to use sinful means for our escape though worn out with expectation let our duty hold our hands from evil Whatever our trouble be from the hand of God or Men we have no reason to go to the Devil to ease us of it as Saul goeth to the Witch of Endor 1 Sam. 28. 7. Seek me out a woman that hath a familiar spirit And to the Devil we go when we use bad means Carnal shifts are very natural to us and when we cannot trust God and depend upon him we presently are apt to take some indirect course of our own Affliction is often compared to a Prison and the sorrows which accompany it to Fetters and Chains Now God that puts us into Prison can only help us out again for he is the Governor and Judge of the world Now to use carnal shifts is an attempt to break Prison We are not able to hold out till God send an happy issue but take some carnal course of our own if the heart be not the better resolved thus it will be The Devil will make an advantage of our afflictions if he can he tempted Christ when he was hungry Mat. 4. 3. so he tempteth us when he seeth us needy disgraced reproached trampled under foot No though our Estate be low and the Fountain of our supplies be dryed up though our credit be smutched and blacked with slander and reproach though we be cast out as useless things as an old withered skin bottle counted unfit to hold Wine yet we must not forget God's Precepts We need not take a sinful course for the vindication of our credit from unjust reproaches Isa. 51. 7. Hearken unto me ye that know righteousness the people in whose heart is my law fear ye not the reproach of men neither be afraid of their revilings You that make reckoning of keeping close to my word that have my Law not only in your heads but in your hearts God hath his times to vindicate you you need not distrust the Providence of God under streights When Iacob was low he tells Laban My righteousness shall answer for me Gen. 30. 33. The hand of God will help us and reward honest labors without our being false or unfaithful to men We need not make a foul retreat in the day of tryal nor shift for our selves by complying with the lusts of Men nor wax weary of our duty as quite discouraged and disheartned Heb. 12. 3. as we are apt to do when troubles are grievous and long continued 4. Another Evil is desponding and distrustful thoughts of God David after all his experiences was surprized with these kind of thoughts 1 Sam. 27. 1. I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul He had a particular promise and assurance of the Kingdom and had seen much of God's care over him and yet after all this David doubteth of the Word of God and bewrayed his weakness of faith and affiance in him who had watched over him and delivered him out of many great and imminent dangers in a marvellous manner when there was less appearance of hope than now 1 Sam. 22. 5. So Psal. 31. 22. I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cryed unto thee God hath no more care and thought of me than if I were not This was said at the very time when deliverance was a coming Here David yielded a little to foolish haste and lost the stayedness of his faith So Psal. 77. 7 8. Will the Lord cast off for ever will he be favourable no more Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for evermore Questions to appearance full of despair and despondency yet there is some Faith couched under them Will the Lord cast off It implieth the soul cannot endure to be thrust from him Will he be favourable no more It implieth some former experience and desire of new proof Is his mercy clean gone I have deserved all this but God is merciful Will not Mercy help To appearance indeed Despair carrieth it from Faith That 's upmost 5. Questioning our Interest in God meerly because of the Cross. Our Lord hath taught us to say My God in the bitterest Agonies but few learn this Lesson Iudg. 6. 13. If God be with us why is all this befaln us As if they were never exercised with trouble who have God with them Sometimes we question the love of God because we have no afflictions and anon because we have nothing but afflictions as if God were not the God of the Vallies as well as of the Mountains and his love did change with our outward condition and worldly prosperity were a mark of grace which when lost our evidence were gone How hardly soever God dealeth with his People yet he loveth them Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth So Rev. 3. 19. As many as I love I rebuke and chasten A Father is a Father when he smileth and when he frowneth he may have love in his heart when a Rod in his hand And we have no reason to question our Adoption meerly because we are put under the correction and discipline of the Family 6. Not only despairing thoughts do arise but Atheistical thoughts as if there were no God no Providence no distinction between good and evil and it were in vain to serve him Psal. 73. 13. I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in
easily diverted and control'd by other and higher desires and you can be satisfi'd and take up with something beneath Christ and Christ is not the precious and onely one of your souls you have not that impression which amounts to a hearty work 2 Another impression is a thorow hatred of Sin and serious watchfulness and striving against it when you seek to cast it out of your soul with indignation Hos. 14. 8. To hate every false way Psal. 119. 104. when you are continually groaning under it Rom. 7. 24. and seek to weaken it more and more for they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof Gal. 5. 24. This is a sensible impression left upon the soul. 3 A lively diligence in the spiritual life Though you cannot tell how God brought you in yet if you keep up a lively diligence in serving God and with the Twelve Tribes instantly serving God day and night Acts 26. 7. and you are always working out your own salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2. 12. and you are hard at work for God If this holy care be the constant business and drift of your Lives you have the Effect of this Conversion though the first impression of it be not so sensible SERMON XCIX PSAL. CXIX VER 94. I am thine save me For I have sought thy precepts IN these words you have 1 David's Plea I am thine 2 His Request Save me 3 His Argument to make good his Plea I have sought thy precepts His Plea is taken from God's interest in him I am thine His Request is for safety to be saved either from wrath to come or from temporal danger rather the latter for he seeth trouble lie in wait for him therefore save me And then the evidence of that interest which may serve as an argument to set on the Request I have sought thy precepts Let me speak of these in their order and first of David's Plea I am thine Doct. 1. That God hath a special People in the world whom he will own for his David as one of this number saith to God I am thine By a common right of Creation all things are Gods 1 Chron. 29. 11. Heaven and earth is thine and all that is therein He made all and therefore by a just right he is Lord of all Psal. 24. 1. The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof Now as to this general right God is no more bound to one than to another there is no great priviledge in this to be Gods in this sense for so are the Cattel upon a thousand hills As we are his by Creation we cannot say with David I am thine save me for he that made them will not save them if they have no other title and interest in him Isa. 23. 11. Thus by Creation all things are Gods But more especially men Ezek. 18. 4. All souls are mine God hath a peculiar interest in the reasonable creatures as their Maker Governor and Judge And yet further his Church are his by general Profession all the Members of the visible Church may say Lord We are thine and that is some kind of Plea for their safety and protection Isa. 63. 19. We are thine thou never bearest rule over them they were not called by thy name So may all the Members of the visible Church speak to God yet more particularly there is a remnant in the world that are his by a nearer interest and they are the Saints or New Creatures who are his peculiar People Tit. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the World else they are but as the lumber of the house but these are his treasure a man is more chary of his treasure than of his lumber yea they are his jewels Mal. 3. 17. precious and dear to him and of special interest in his heart and affection they are the first-fruits of his creatures Jam. 1. 18. The first-fruits were the Lord's Portion Now these God doth peculiarly take to be his Portion and his and valueth them more than all the world besides Let us see the grounds of his special interest in them wherefore are they his He hath elected them before all the world Iohn 17. 6. Thine they were and them thou gavest me They were his by eternal election and choice and they are purchased and bought by Christ therefore called a purchased People bought them with a price 1 Cor. 6. 19 20. and upon this ground they are said to be Christs 1 Cor. 3. 23. Now as they are Christs and Gods by Purchase they are also his by Conquest and Rescue from Satan Prisoners in War belong to the Conqueror Luke 11. 21. The strong man that holdeth captive the carnal part of the world they are his Goods but the stronger than he shall come and bind him and take away his Goods They were Satans but by rescue and conquest the Prey falls to Christ Col. 1. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son Once more They are his by effectual calling and work of his grace Eph. 2. 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works c. So the Title is changed by the right of the New Creation Again They are his by Covenant we chuse him to be our God and the Lord chuseth us to be his peculiar People Hos. 2. 23. They acquiesce in him as their all sufficient Portion and surrender and give up themselves to his use and service This is that which is chiefly intended nere namely That we are his by contract and resignation for so David saith Lord I am thine All this doth abundantly make good God hath a special People in the world whom he will own for his The grace by which we are inclined to resign up our selves to God that slows from Election through the Redemption of Christ by sanctification of the Spirit but the Grounds Reasons and Motives for which we dedicate our selves to God they are his right in us by Creation and Redemption it is but fit God should have what he hath made and bought we are his Creatures his Purchase therefore we are his USE I. For Tryal Are we of the number of God's peculiar People As David said to the Egyptian To whom belongest thou Whence art thou 1 Sam. 30. 13. So if the Question should be put to you Whence are you To whom do you belong Can you answer Lord I am thine I belong to thee If it be so then 1. When did you solemnly dedicate your selves to him If you be Gods can you remember when you first took your Oath of Allegiance to him There is a solemn time of avouching one another when God avouched you to be his People and you avouched God to be your God Deut. 26. 17 18. Thou hast avouched this day the Lord to be thy God and to walk in his ways and keep his statutes and his commandments and judgments and
Devil they do the action which God hath required but their aim is that which gratifies Satan There are others that have a good aim but a bad action these make the Devil serve God as if God could not provide for his own glory well enough without their sin therefore if it be an evil way refrain it though you think you may bring good out of it Saul he would be offering Sacrifice an unwarrantable action for him to invade the Priestly office 1 Sam. 13. 13 14. He was loth to go to Battel until he had sacrificed and would not tarry till Samuel came what then see what Samuel saith Thou hast done foolishly thou hast not kept the Commandment of the Lord thy God which he commanded thee Here was a good aim but a bad action and you see how severe judgment fell upon him I say he forfeited his Kingdom by doing an undue action though for a good end Uzzah he put forth his hand to stay the Ark which was an undue circumstance he had a good aim in it that the Ark of God might not be shaken that it might not fall and be shatered in pieces and the mysteries of their Religion prostituted 2 Sam. 6. 7. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and God smote him there for his error and he dyed Many think to bear out themselves by good intentions they are drawn into an evil way they hope to bring things to a better pass It is dangerous to step out of God's way God's ends can best be brought about by God's way The judgments of the Lord upon these nations have been mainly for unwarrantable actions upon good intentions and though usually we have committed one sin to help another yet there hath been a pretence of a good intention a good aim 7. We are not only to avoid such sins as seem to lie remote from our temper and course of our business and interest but from our own special sins those sins which suit better with our condition constitution calling employment Psal 18. 23. I was upright before thee and kept my self from mine iniquity Every man hath his iniquity as every man hath his particular temper so he hath his particular sins and if he belong to God he hath his particular graces The Saints have their particular graces Timothy for abstinence and temperance Iob for patience Abraham for faith therefore stiled the Father of the faithful Moses was eminent for meekness so there are particular sins men are passionate worldly voluptuous ambitious and as the channel is cut so corrupt nature finds a vent and passage Isa. 53. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way We are all out of the way but every man hath a particular way of sin Look as in the natural body every man hath all the faculties of a man yet some this facultie more vigorous and lively than other some for memory judgment invention quickness of wit so it is as to particular fins Now these should be most resisted and most opposed by us The Scripture requires of us Matth. 5. 19. To cut off our right hand and pluck out our right eye these if they be not watched they will run into scandal our particular sins make us dishonour God dishonour our profession and become a reproach to the Gospel It is notable when our Saviour disswaded from giving scandal Matth. 18. 8 9. He revives those sentences of cutting off the right hand and plucking out the right eye These sins will make you a dishonour to the Gospel if you do not watch over them 8. There are the sins of the times wherein we live Vitium seculi Indeed it is hard to keep our ground in a great flood when a stream is strong it is ready to carry us away but he that would be punctual with God should keep from the sins of the times Peter dissembled with the Jews and the Godly Jews fell a dissembling of their Religion in so much that Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation Gal. 2. 13. When sin seems to be authorized by a general practice it concerns you to stand at a distance to have nothing to do there Noah was an upright man feared God and served him in a corrupt age Gen. 6. 9. They are dead fishes that are carried away with the stream We are not to walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the course of this world Eph. 2. 2. but to walk according to the Rule Gal. 6. 16. In many ages there are certain sins until light disprove them and the Lord clears up his will that men run into and are carried away by violence of the stream while the stream runs that way in their age but this will be no excuse you are to be upright and not carryed away by Vitium seculi the evil way of the times 9. We are not only to refrain our feet from evil but from all the occasions and appearances of evil and not to stand so much as within the scent of a temptation as Crows and Ravens when they are beaten away from the carrion will stand within the scent We are to stand at a great distance from all that seems to tend to sin not only from evil but the appearance of it 1 Thes 5. 22. Sin should be so hateful to us that the very picture of it should be abhorred Many times some sins are the occasion of others as covetousness is occasioned by distrust there certainly we are to avoid occasions as well as sins themselves I but if the thing be lawful and we know our weakness we should not easily ride into the Devil's quarters and run into the mouth of a temptation Look as Solomon in that particular sin adviseth the young man Prov. 5. 8. Remove thy way far from her and come not nigh the door of her house He would not have the young man venture upon the occasion And God's strictness to the Nazarite is very notable Numb 6. 3 4. As he was to drink no wine or strong drink so no vineger of wine or vineger of strong drink nor drink any liquor of grapes nor eat moist grapes or dried and afterwards he was not so much as to eat neither the husk nor kernel of the grape Thus God would have us stand at a distance this was a typical figure to shew at how great a distance we should stand from sin and refrain our selves from all evil as the Apostle saith hate the garments spotted with the flesh Jude v. 23. An allusion to those that touched an unclean thing Rushing upon snares and occasions of evil we hazard the surprisal of our souls As Caesar said of his wife oportet Coesaris uxorem non solum castam esse c. she should not only be chast but free from all suspicion so God will have his people to be void of suspicion and to be clear and innocent from all kind of transgressions Thus you see
their hearts to chuse him for their Portion and to make his Will their only Rule and obey and serve him whatever it cost them They have such a taste of this sweetness as doth engage their hearts to a close and constant adherence to Christ. Carnal men have only a naked knowledge of these things weak and uneffectual notions and apprehensions about them and if the sublimity reasonableness and suitableness of these truths to soul necessities cause any taste it is but slight slender and unsufficient So indeed Temporaries and Hypocrites are said to taste the heavenly gift the good Word of God and powers of the world to come Heb. 6. 4. They have some languishing apprehensions but they do not so taste them as to relish and feed upon them They do not relish Christ himself but only some benefit which they hope to get by him upon slight and easie terms have not such experience and sweetness of God in Christ as that their souls should constantly cleave to him It may be their fancy may be pleased a little in a supposition and possibility of salvation by Christ or in some general thought of those large promises and great offers which God makes in the Gospel not as it enforceth duty and subjection to God well then it differs from a bare understanding of the goodness of God's ways 2. This constitutes a difference sometimes between a renewed man and himself as to some things his inward senses are not always alike quick and lively he is still like-minded as he was but yet not alike affected his sight is not so clear nor taste so acute nor his feeling so tender though he hath the same thoughts of things he had before yet his spiritual sense is benummed and is not at all times affected alike while he keeps his spiritual eye clear from the clouds of Lust and Passion he is otherwise affected with things to come than he is when his eye is blinded with inordinate passion and love to present things and while he keeps his taste how sweet and welcome is this to his soul the remembrance of Christ and salvation by him And so while he keeps his heart tender he is sensible of the least stirring of sin and is humbled for it and the least impulsion of grace to be thankful for it Those Instructions Reproofs Consolations which at sometimes either wound or revive their spirits at other times do not move them at all their senses are benummed not kept fresh and lively And thus in the general I have proved That there is such a thing as spiritual taste 2 Secondly What is this spiritual sense It is an impression left upon our hearts which gives us an ability to relish and savor spiritual things but it cannot be known by description so much as by these two questions 1. The use of it what doth this taste serve for 2. What are the requisites that we may have such a taste and relish of divine and spiritual things 1 What doth this taste serve for There is a threefold use of them 1. To discern things good and wholsom from things noxious and hurtful to the soul that 's the use of spiritual sense in general to discern things good and evil Heb. 5. 14. Iob 6. 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue Cannot my taste discern perverse things God hath given all sensitive Creatures a taste whereby they may distinguish between things pleasant or bitter sweet or sowr wholsom or unwholsom savory or unsavory that they may chuse what is convenient to nature so the new Creature hath a taste to know things things contrary to the new nature and things that will keep it in life Iob 12. 11. Doth not the ear try words and the mouth taste his meat or as it is more plain Iob 34. 3. For the ear trieth words as the mouth tasteth meat Spiritual taste distinguisheth between what is salubrious and profitable to us that which is the pure Word milk agreeable to the new nature and what is frothy garnish'd out with the pomp of Eloquence it is tasteless to a gracious soul if it suiteth not with the interests of the new nature they have a faculty within them whereby they distinguish between Mens inventions and God's message A Man of spiritual taste when reason is restored to its use he comes to a doctrine and many times smells the Man saith he This is not the breast-milk that must nourish me the pure milk of the Word by which I must grow in strength and stature and if he finds any thing of God he owns God he discerns what is humane and what is divine 2. The use of this taste is also to refresh and comfort the soul in the sweetness of spiritual things Cant. 2. 3. I sate down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste The taste of Christ's Fruit in the comforts of Redemption the Fruit that grows there is sweet and pleasant to the new nature when the love of God to sinners in Christ is not only heard but believed not only believed but tasted it ravisâ—…ieth and transports the soul with sweet delight and content that excels all the pleasures of the world 3. It serves for this use to preserve the vitality of grace that is to keep it alive and in action Omnis vita gustu duciter every life hath its food and the food must be tasted this grace quickneth us to look after that food it keeps the new creature free for its operations helps it to grow 1 Pet. 2. 3. As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious The truths of the Gospel are as necessary and natural for the cherishing and strengthning the spiritual life as the milk of the Mother is to the new born Babe and taste is necessary that we may relish it They that have a taste have an appetite and they delight in the Word more than in any other thing whereas those that have no taste or appetite grow not up to any strength they thrive not 2 What is requisite to cause this taste 1. Something about the object 2. Something about the faculty 1. Something about the Object which is the Word of God eating or taking into the mouth that 's necessary before tasting for the tongue is the instrument of taste the outward part of the tongue that serves for meats the inward part towards the root for drink so for this spiritual taste there is required eating or taking in the Object therefore we read often of eating the Word of God Ier. 15. 16. Thy Word was sweet and I did eat it And Ezek. 3. 3. We read of eating the Roll it is interpreted spiritually I did eat it then follows his taste it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness So Rev. 10. 10. I took the little book and eat it and it was in my mouth as sweet as
I am afflicted very sore O Lord quicken me Doct. We must not give over Prayer though our afflictions be never so great and heavy Why because 1. Nothing is too hard for God he hath ways of his own to save and preserve his People when we are at a loss This was the glory of Abraham's Faith that he accounted God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead Heb. 11. 19. difficult cases are fit for God to deal in to shew his Divine Power When means have spent their allowance then is it time to try what God can do Psal. 142. 4 5. I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee O Lord I said Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living When all things fail God faileth not 2. We must still pray Faith must express something above sense or else living by Faith and living by sense cannot be distinguished In desperate cases then is the glory of Faith seen Iob 13. 15. Though he should kill me yet I will trust in him In defiance of all discouragement we should come and profess our dependance upon God Use. To condemn those that despond and give over all treaty with God as soon as any difficulty doth arise whereas this should sharpen Prayer rather than discourage us This is man's temper when troubles are little and small then to neglect God when great then to distrust God A little head-ach will not send us to the Physician nor the scratch of a Pin to the Chyrurgion So if our troubles be little they do not move us to seek after God but we are secure and careless but when our troubles are smart sore and pressing then we are discouraged and give over all hopes so hard a matter is it to bring Man to God to keep an even frame neither to slight the hand of God nor to faint under it as we have direction to avoid both Extremes Heb. 12. 5. to cherish a due sense of our troubles with a regular confidence in God That he prays you have seen Now what he prays for He doth not say deliver me but quicken me Doct. Strength and Support under Afflictions is a great Blessing to be sought from God and acknowledged as a Favor as well as Deliverance 1. You shall see this is promised as a Favor Isa. 40. 31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength That is shall not faint nor be weary but mount up as it were with wings as Eagles they shall have a new supply of grace enabling them to bear and hold out till the deliverance cometh They that wait upon the Lord do not always see the end of their troubles but are quickned comforted and strengthned in them they shall renew their strength 2. This is accepted by the Saints with thanksgiving and valued by them as a special answer of prayer they value it more than temporal deliverance itself many times as 2 Cor. 12. 9 10. Paul prays for the removal of the thorn in the flesh thrice when God only gives him this answer My grace is sufficient for thee saith Paul then I 'll rejoice in mine infirmities so I might have strength and support in grievous weaknesses reproaches and afflictions whatever they be So Psal. 138. 3. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthnedst me with strength in my soul. That 's noted as a special answer of Prayer How did he hear him with strength in my soul. Though he did not give him deliverance he gave him support so that was acknowledged as a very great mercy 3. There are many Cases wherein we cannot expect temporal deliverance then we must only go for quickning and support when by a lingring disease we are drawing down to the chambers of death and our outward strength is clean spent and gone then have we support that 's a great mercy Psal. 73. 26. when strength fail and heart fail God is the strengtâ—… of my heart and portion for ever That is to have his heart quickned by God in the languishing of a mortal disease So 2 Cor. 4. 16. Though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day There are many troubles that cannot be avoided and therefore we are then to be earnest with God for spiritual strength Use. Well then you see upon what occasion we should go for grace rather than for temporal deliverance we should pray from the new nature not deliver me but quicken me and if the Lord should suspend deliverance why that will be our strength in time of trouble Psal. 37. 39. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in the time of trouble But more particularly let us take notice of this Request Quicken me saith he Doct. Quickning Grace must be asked of God 1. What is quickning 2. Why asked of God 1 First What is this quickning Quickning in Scripture is put for two things 1. For Regeneration or the first infusion of the life of grace as Ephes. 2. 5. And you that were dead in trespasses and sins hath he quickned That is infused life or making to live a new life 2. It is put for the renewed excitations of God's grace God's breathing upon his own work God that begins life in our souls carries on this life and actuates it Now this kind of quickning is twofold spoken of in this Psalm there is quickning in duties and quickning in afflictions quickning in duties that 's opposite to deadness of spirit quickning in affliction that 's opposite to faintness 1 Quickning in duties that 's opposite to that deadness of spirit which creeps upon us now and then and is occasioned either by our negligence or by our carnal liberty that deadness of spirit that doth hinder the activity of grace 1. By our negligence and sloathfulness in the spiritual life when we do not stir up our selves Isa. 64. 6. There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee When Men grow careless and neglectful in their souls An Instrument though never so well in tune yet if hang up and laid by soon grows out of order so when our hearts are neglected when they are not under a constant exercise of grace a deadness creeps upon us Wells are the sweeter for the draining Our graces they are more fresh and lively the more they are kept a work otherwise they lose their vitality A Key rusts that is seldom turned in the Lock and therefore negligence is a cause of this deadness 2 Tim. 1. 6. Stir up the gift that is in thee We must blow up the ashes There needs blowing if we would keep in the fire we grow dead and lukewarm and cold in the spiritual life for want of exercise 2. This deadness is occasioned by carnal liberty Psal. 119. 37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me
matter how comes this deadness upon me Isa. 63. 17. Why hast thou caused us to err from thy ways and hardned our heart from thy fear Enquirew hatâ—…s the cause of this deadness that grows upon me that you may humble your selves under the mighty hand of God The Argument only is behind According to thy Word David when he begs for quickning he is encouraged so to do by a promise The question is where this promise should be Some think it was that general promise of the Law If thou do these things thou shalt live in them Lev. 17. 5. And that from thence David drew this particular conclusion that God would give life to his people But rather it was some other promise some word of God he had to bear him out in this request We see he hath made many promises to us of sanctifying our affliction Isa. 27. 9. The fruit of all shall be the taking away of sin of bettering and improving us by it Heb. 2. 11. of moderating our affliction that he will stay his rough wind in the day of the east-wind Isa. 27. 8. That he will lay no more upon us than he will enable us to bear 1 Cor. 10. 13. He hath promised he will moderate our affliction so that we shall not be tempted above our strength He hath promised he will deliver us from it that the Rod of the wicked shall not always rest on the back of the righteous Psal. 105. 3. That he will be with us in it and never fail us Heb. 13. 5. Now I argue thus If the People of God could stay their hearts upon God's Word when they had but such obscure hints to work upon that we do not know where the promise lies Ah how should our hearts be stay'd upon God when we have so many promises When the Scriptures are enlarged for the comfort and enlarging of our Faith surely we should say now as Paul when he got a word Acts 27. 25. I believe God I may expect God will do thus for me when his Word speaks it everywhere Then you may expostulate with God I have thy Word for it Lord as she when she shewed him the jewel ring and staff whose are these so we may cast in God his promises whose are these according to thy Word And mark David that was punctual with God I have sworn and I will perform it and quicken me according to thy Word Sincere hearts may plead Promises with God Isa. 38. 3 Lord remember I have walked before thee with an upright heart These may look up and wait upon God for deliverance SERMON CXVIII PSAL. CXIX VER 108. Accept I beseech thee the free-will-offering of my mouth O Lord and teach me thy judgments IN this Verse two things are asked of God God's Acceptance then secondly Instruction First He begs Acceptation Therein take notice 1 Of the matter object or thing that he would have to be accepted The free-will-offerings of my mouth 2 The manner of asking this Acceptation Accept I beseech thee O Lord. In the former you may observe the general nature of the thing and then the particular kind they were free-will-offerings and yet more express they were free-will-offerings of his hands not legal sacrifices but spiritual services free-will-offerings of his mouth implying praises our praises of God are called the calves of our lips Hos. 14. 2. rendred there by the Septuagint the fruit of our lips and accordingly translated by the Apostle Heb. 13. 15. The fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name He was in deep affliction wandering up and down the Desart he was disabled to offer up to God any other sacrifice therefore he desires God would accept the free-will-offerings of his mouth he had nothing else to bring him Secondly He begs of God instruction in his way Teach me thy judgments By Misphalim judgments are meant both God's Statutes and God's Providences If you take them in the former sense for God's Statutes so he begs grace to excite direct and assist him in a course of sincere obedience to God practically to walk according to God's Will If you understand it in the latter sense only for the accomplishment of what God had spoken in his Word for God's Providence for his corrective dispensation Teach me he begs understanding and profiting by them I shall begin with his first Request which offereth four Observations 1. That God's people have their spiritual offerings 2. That these spiritual offerings must be free-will-offerings 3. That these free-will-offerings are graciously accepted by God 4. That this gracious acceptance must be earnestly sought and valued as a great blessing I beseech thee accept c. Doct. 1. First That God's People have their spiritual offerings I shall give the sense of this Point in five Propositions 1 That all God's People are made Priests to God for every offering supposeth a Priest so it is said Rev. 1. 6. That Christ Iesus hath made us Kings and Priests All Christians they have a Communion with Christ in all his Offices whatever Christ was that certainly they are in some measure and degree Now Christ was King Priest and Prophet and so is every Christian in a spiritual sense a King Priest and Prophet for they have their anointing their unction from the Holy One and he communicates with them in his Offices So also they do resemble the Priesthood under the Law in 1 Pet. 2. 5. they are called a holy Priesthood to offer sacrifices to God And 1 Pet. 2. 9. they are called a royal Priesthood They are a holy Priesthood like the sons of Aaron who were separated from the People to minister before the Lord and they are a Royal Priesthood in conformity to the Priesthood of Melchisedec who was King of Salem and also Priest of the Most High God There is a mighty conformity between what is done by every Christian and the Solemnities and Rites used by the Priests under the Law The Priests of the Law were separated from the rest of the People so are all God's People from the rest of the World The Priests of the Law were to be anointed with holy oil Exod. 28. 41. so all Christians they receive an unction from the holy one 1 John 2. 20. By the holy oil was figured the holy Spirit which was the Unction of the Holy One. by which they are made fit and ready to perform those duties which are acceptable to God After the Priest was thus generally prepar'd by the anointing to their services before they went to offer they were to wash in the great Laver which stood in the Sanctuary door Exod. 29. 4. Lev. 8. 4 5. So every Christian is to be washed in the great Laver of Regeneration Tit. 3. 5. And when they are regenerated born again purged and cleansed from their sins then they are Priests to offer Sacrifices to God for till this be done none of their offerings are acceptable to him For they that are in the flesh â—…annot
David that which I esteem to be my happiness this is as Lands Goods Treasures to me dearer and nearer than all temporal things whatsoever Look as a Believer in the duty part of Religion takes the Precepts for his Councellor so David saith Psal. 119. 24. Thy testimonies also are my delight and my Councellors or the men of my Council Answerably in the happy part they are my heritage and the rejoycing of my Soul 't is my wealth my treasure my chief Estate Every man is known by the choice of his portion now David was not taken up with any worldly thing so as to make that his heritage or account it his solid happiness wherein his Soul could find complacency and contentment 2. It signifies to make it our work to get and keep up an interest in Gods testimonies this is to take them for our heritage Esteem is manifested by prosecution That which is our chiefest work that shews us what we take to be our heritage What is it to grow great in the World to shine in pomp to flow in pleasure or to get and maintain an interest in the Covenant What do we seek first Is it the Kingdom of God and his righteousness Mat. 6. 33. The main care is to make sure an interest in the Covenant to get a right and propriety in it 3. To hold all by this tenure Heritage is a Childs tenure we do not come to this right by our own purchase but as Heirs of Christ not by our own merits but by adoption God making us Children and joint-Heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 17. and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and joint-Heirs with Christ. Adam's tenure was that of a Servant the Blessings that he expected from God by virtue of the Covenant of Works he looked upon them as wages of obedience but now we take the Promises as an heritage as a right devolved upon us as Heirs of Christ because Believers are called the Seed of Christ and upon the account of that are possessed of the priviledges of the Covenant Isai. 53. 10. He shall see his Seed and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands This is a heritage purchased for us before we were born before we had done either good or evil and we have the right and title of Sons Ioh. 1. 12. He hath given us this priviledge to be the Sons of God Whatever we receive we receive it from God as a Childs portion 4. Heritage signifies actual use and possession and living upon them and so I have taken thy testimonies for my heritage that is I mean to live upon them and fetch all my Comforts thence A Believers interest is not an imaginary thing We do enjoy somewhat by virtue of the promises It is true our full fruition is suspended till hereafter but we begin here The testimonies of the Lord they are of present use in the present life therefore we are said to be Heirs according to the hope of eternal life Tit. 3. 7. God doth not take us to Heaven presently upon our spiritual nativity our new birth it pleaseth God to exercise us for a while in our nonage under Tutors and Governours and to make us differ little from Servants but for the present we have maintenance we live by Faith Gal. 2. 20. We live upon our heritage and fetch thence not only peace and righteousness and grace but meat drink and cloathing protection and defence So that to take Gods testimonies for our heritage is to live upon them as far as the present state will permit to fetch out all our supplies from the Covenant otherwise we should make the promises to be but a conceit and imagination if they did not afford present support A Believer doth not live upon outward supplies only but upon the Covenant not upon meat and drink food and rayment but he fetcheth all from the Covenant by the exercise of Faith and so these things are sanctified to him So that to take them as our heritage is to make them the grounds of our future hopes and the Storehouse from whence we receive our present supply And this is that which is called living by Faith fetching all our supports and supplies out of the promises Gal. 2. 20. All that I live in the flesh so in the Original I live by the Faith of the Son of God Thirdly For the Reasons Why it is the property of Believers to take the testimony of God for their heritage Before I come to that first I must shew what kind of heritage it is Secondly how Believers only and no others can take them for their heritage 1. What kind of heritage it is It is a heritage which exceeds all others in three particulars 't is full 't is sure 't is lasting therefore we must pitch upon it for our solid happiness 1. It 's a full heritage and nothing can be added to the compleatness of our portion for in the promises here 's God Heaven Earth Providences Ordinances all made ours and all inward Comforts and Graces they are a part of our portion and what can a Soul desire more Here 's God made over to us the great Blessing of the Covenant is I am thy God Other men say and they will think it a great matter when they can say this Kingdom is mine this Lordship is mine this House these Fields are mine but a Believer can say this God this Christ this Holy Spirit is mine Alas Riches and Honour and worldly Greatness are poor things to a God made ours in Covenant Nay mark the Emphasis God is not only ours but ours as an heritage Psal. 16. 5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance they may claim a title to God and enjoy the possession of God as freely as a man would do his own inheritance I say they have as sure a right to God and all that he is and can do as a Man can have to the patrimony whereunto he is born And as the Lord is theirs so Heaven and Earth are both theirs Heaven is theirs Let a Believer be never so despicable in the World yet he is an Heir apparent to the Kingdome of Heaven Iames 2. 15. Though it may be you are poor persons nothing to live upon poor Apprentites nothing to set up withal yet God hath chosen the poor of this world to be Heirs of a Kingdom Poor Believers are but Princes in disguise Princes in a foreign Countrey and under a veil they have a large patrimony it lies indeed in an unknown Land to the World 't is in Terra incognita to them but Believers know what an ample portion God hath laid up for them Heirs of a Kingdome If that be not enough take that other Expression Rom. 8. 17. Heirs Co-heirs with Christ Christ as Mediator and we as Members of his Body possess the same God one Father one Husband one Estate we dwell together live together where he is we are Besides God and Heaven there is
not of they have all in God You account him a richer man that hath much Land and a thousand pounds in Bonds than he that hath only a hundred pounds in ready money so a Child of God that hath one promise is richer than all the world he hath Bonds and his Debtor cannot fail him Let me tell you a man may not only live by faith but he may grow rich by faith You read of living by faith Gal. 2. 20. this is that which supports and keeps up a Believer in heart and life This will not only keep Body and Soul together but help us to grow rich Use 2. For Examination You have heard much what it is to have an heritage in the testimonies of the Lord O but who is the man try your selves Let me propound a few plain Questions 1. Were you ever chased out of your selves in the sense of the insufficiency of your worldly portion and the curse due to you Are you driven out of your selves Heb. 6. 18. There 's a comfortable place God willing to shew unto the Heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation O who are these Heirs of promise If we could find out that we are sure there 's enough in God there they are named who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us There is none ever took the testimony of the Lord for their portion but they came first to take hold of it as men in danger ready to sink and perish and be undone Our first address is to take Sanctuary in the Covenant to flee to Christ represented there as a City of refuge that we may be safe It is an allusion to a man which fled from the avenger of blood when taken out of the City of refuge under the Law he was to dye without remedy so a poor soul that first takes hold of the Covenant runs for sanctuary there first before he comes to take possession of the comforts of it 2. What do you take to be your 〈◊〉 and your great work Do you make it your main care to keep up your interest in the promises the great business you drive on you would â—…it down in as your work and employment What do you wait upon as your great project and design in the world Mary chose the better part Luke 10. 42. do you make this to â—…e your choice your work and business you drive on that you may be possest of the whole land of promise and enjoy eternal life and clear up your Right and Title to Heaven 1 Tim. 6. 19. Laying up in store a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold of eternal life 3. Are you very chary of your interest O you would not hazard it upon such easie terms this is that all your happiness depends upon what shall I break with God for such a trifle Are you afraid to lose your Inheritance by sin as a man his Treasure by theft Are you careful and wary in this kind that you may not hazard your interest 1 Kin. 21. 3. said Nâ—…oth God forbid that I should sell mine inheritance Mark there was a King would traffick with him and that inheritance was but a poor Vineyard of the Earth but it was that which was descended from his father now God forbid I should sell it Thus will be the disposition of Gods Children O here lies my all my happiness my daily supplies from God God forbid that upon every trifle and carnal satisfaction I should break with God It was a great prophaneness in Esau Heb. 12. 16. who for one morsel of meat sold his Birth-right It is an argument that God is little valued or the Covenant and Testimony of the Lord when you can part with them for a Mess of Pottage when the consolations of God are so cheap and you can part with them for a little temporal satisfaction and sell your part in Christ at a very easie rate 4. What respect do you bear to the promises of God Do you often meditate upon them Have you recourse to them in straits Do you keep them up as the choicest things upon your heart upon which all your comfort depends as a man would keep the Key safe which opens to all his treasure Do you carry the promises as a bundle of Myrrh in your bosome Because this is the Key that gives you admission to the Blessings promised A man will keep his Bonds chary and will be often looking over them and considering them so are you meditating upon the promises Are they the rejoycing and delight of your Souls Do you keep them near and dear to you When alone do your hearts run upon them For a man may know his heritage by his musing and imagination When Nebuchadnezzar was alone Is not this great Babel which I have built for the honour of my Majesty He was thinking of his large Territories So if you have taken the testimonies of the Lord for your heritage your heart will be running upon them O what a happiness is it for God to be my God and my interest cleared up in eternal life and the great things of the Covenant Many times the flesh interposeth Psal. 144. 15. Happy is that people that is in such a case You will be admiring carnal excellency sometimes but then you will check your Souls Yea rather happy is that people whose God is the Lord. 5. If the testimonies of the Lord be your heritage then you will live upon them and make them the Storehouse from whence you fetch all your supplies as righteousness peace comfort and spiritual strength nay all your outward maintenance This will be comfort in straits strength in Duty provision for your Families There are two sorts of the Children of God either those that are in prosperity or those that are in want and both live on the Covenant A Child of God that hath a plentiful affluence of outward comforts yet he doth live upon God 1 Tim. 4. 5. To them that believe for every thing is sanctified by the word and prayer Though God hath supplied them with mercy yet they have their right all comforts and blessings owe their rise from the promise I take them immediately out of Gods hand from a God in covenant with me and so I use the Blessing and praise God otherwise if you look only to present supplies you live by sense not by faith Every one is to say Give us this day our daily Bread to fetch out his supplies from God every day rich men as well others when you see you have a right and liberty by Christ so Gods leave and Gods blessing go along with all by this means rich men live upon the Covenant I but chiefly in want the word quickned and strengthened him when he was in distress and want of all
it is seen in overcoming the terrours of the Lord Death Hell Judgment to come the fears and doubts of our own Conscience it will not only swallow up the sense of poverty disgrace and affliction but will bear us out in life and death they have a joy that will help them to do and suffer the will of the Lord. When once they have tasted the Comforts of Gods presence other things will go down easie I might press you to look after this rejoycing of heart It makes much for the Glory of God for the Honour of our Portion that we do not repent us of our choice that we bear up chearfully And it is of abundant profit The joy of the Lord is a Christians strength it bears him out in doing for God To this purpose you should beware of sin that 's a clouding darkning thing men or Angels cannot keep their hearts comfortable that sin against God sin takes away all joy peace and the whole strength of men and an Angel cannot make the Conscience of a Sinner rejoyce therefore the Children of God must take heed that they do not allow sin In Act. 9. 31. They walked in the fear of God and comfort of the Holy Ghost Usually these two go together and the oil of Grace makes way for the oil of gladness and usually obedience concurrs to the establishing of our joy Above all look after Communion with God for he is the fountain of joy and the more Communion we have with him the more we rejoyce The more Communion in Prayer 1 Sam. 1. 6. when Hannah prayed she was no more sad Prayer hath a pacifying Virtue in it And then in the use of the Seals for these are assuring Ordinances now the more we revive the grounds of assurance the stronger the consolation that appears Heb. 6. 18. Act. 8. 39. The Eunuch when he was baptized went away rejoycing When a man hath an inheritance made over to him past in Court all things done the Title not to be made void then he goes and rejoyceth so when the promises have been confirmed by a solemn ratification it makes joy Then Meditation and Thanksgiving keep this joy alive Thanksgiving gives vent and Meditation that maintains it SERMON CXXIII PSAL. CXIX VER 112. I have inclined my heart to perform thy Statutes always to the end DAvid did not only feast his Soul with Comforts but also minded duty and service In the former Verse he had professed his comfort and joy resulting from an interest in the promise now he expresses the bent of his heart to Gods Statutes Ephraim is represented as an Heifer that is taught that would tread out the Corn but not break the Clods 'T is a fault in Christians when they only delight to hear of priviledges but entertain coldly inforcements of duty and obedience David was of another temper first he said I have taken thy testimonies for an heritage and then I have inclined my heart to perform thy Statutes always to the end In which Words you have all the requisites of Gods service I. The principle of obedience I have inclined my heart II. The Matter of obedience Thy Statutes III. The Mâ—…ner of doing 1. accurately to perform 2. the universality and uniformity always 3. constantly to the end I. That which the Psalmist bringeth in evidence for himself is The frame of his heart he beginneth there not with eyes or hands or feet but my heart Secondly This heart is spoken of as inclined poised and set to shew his proneness and readiness to serve God not compelled but inclined The heart of man is set between two Objects Corruption inclineth it one way and Grace another the law of sin on the one side and the law of Grace on the other when the Scales are cast on Graces side then the heart is inclined to Gods Statutes Now he saith I have inclined 't is the work of Gods Spirit to incline and bend our hearts as David expresseth himself vers 36. But 't is not unusual in Scripture to ascribe to us what God worketh in us because of our subservient endeavours to Grace as we pursue the work of God Certum est nos facere quod facimus sed Deus facit ut faciamus saith Augustine It is our duty to incline our hearts to Gods Law which naturally hang sin-ward but 't is Gods work God beginneth by his preventing Grace and the Soul obeyeth the impression left upon it Turn me and I shall be turned Ier. 31. 18. Yea he still followeth us with his subsequent and cooperating Grace we do but act under him I inclined my heart after thou hadst filled it with thy spirit when I felt the motions of thy Grace my consent followed preventing Grace made me willing and subsequent Grace that I should not will in vain Now what was his heart inclined to To perform thy Statutes not to understand them only or to talk of them but inclined to perform them to go through with the Work that is the Notion of performing Rom. 7. 18. how to perform we render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by it to be compleat in Gods Will to do his utmost therein this not by fits and starts but always a continual care and conscience to walk in Gods Law not suffering our selves for any respect to be turned out of the way Many have good motions by starts temporize a little their goodness is like the Morning Dew 't is thus not for a time but to the end an holy inclination while the fit lasteth is no such great matter this was to the last Some stop in the middle of the Journey or faint before they come to the Goal but David held out to the last Or this is brought as an evidence of his sincerity the Summ is a bent of heart carrying him out to perform whatsoever God doth command all the days of his life I shall speak of what is most material and observe this Point Doct. They that would sincerely and throughly obey God must have an heart inclined to his Statutes Here I shall shew 1. What is this heart inclined 2. The necessity of it 1. What is this heart inclined God expects the heart in all the service that we do him Prov. 23. 26. My Son give me thy heart not the ear or the eyes or the tongue but the heart the most considerable thing in man in his heart 't is terminus actionum ad intra and fons actionum ad extra 'T is the bound of those actions that look inward the senses report to the fancy that to the mind and the mind counsels the heart Prov. 2. 10. if wisedom enter upon thy heart 'T is also the well-spring of those actions that look outward to the life Prov. 4. 23. Matth. 15. 19. You have both these in one place Let thy heart keep my Precepts let thine heart receive my words Prov. 4. 4. In taking in we end with the heart the Statutes of God they are never well
sincerely with him 5. It directeth us how to expect this blessing in what manner only in the way and manner that it is promised Zeph. 3. 3. Seek righteousness seek meekness it may be you shall be hid not absolutely but as referring it to Gods will There is the keeping of the outward man and the keeping of the inward man As to the outward man all things come alike to all the Christian is safe whatever becomes of the man the Lord will keep him to his heavenly Kingdome 2 Tim. 4. 17 18. That which the Christian desires mainly to be kept is his Soul that he may not miscarry and blemish his profession and dishonour God and do any thing that is unseemly I say we cannot absolutely expect temporal safety The righteous are liable to many troubles therefore in temporal things God will not always keep off the temporal stroke but leave us to many uncertainties or at least hold us in doubt about it that we may trust his goodness When we trust God we must trust all his Attributes not only his Power that he is able to preserve but his Goodness that he will do that which is best that there may be a submission and referring of all things to his will as David 2 Sam. 15. 26. If he say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do unto me as seemeth good unto him God will certainly make good his promise but this trust lies not in an absolute certainty of success However this should not discourage us from making God our refuge because better promises are sure enough and Gods keeping us in suspence about other things is no evidence he will not afford them to us it is his usual course and few instances can be given to the contrary to have a special regard to his trusting Servants and to hide them secretly They that know his name will find it that he never hath forsaken them that put their trust in him Psal. 9. 10. It is the only sure way to be safe whereas to perplex our souls with distrust even about these outward things that 's the way to bring ruine and mischief upon our selves or turn aside to crooked paths Well then you see what respect the word hath to this priviledge that God is a shield and a hiding place The word discovers God under these notions the word invites and encourageth us to put God to this use the word assures us of the Divine protection it directeth us to the qualification of the persons that shall enjoy this priviledge they that can trust God and walk uprightly with him and it directeth us to expect the blessing not with absolute confidence but leaving it to God III. The third thing I am to do is to shew this word must be applied by Faith I hope in thy word Hope is not strictly taken here but for faith or a certain expectation of the blessing promised What doth Faith do here Why the use of Faith is 1. To quiet the heart in waiting Gods leisure Psal. 33. 20. Our soul waiteth for the Lord he is our help and our shield If God be our help and shield then faith is quietly to wait the Lords leisure till he sends deliverance the word must bear up our hearts and we must be contented to tarry his time Isai. 28. 16. He that believeth shall not make hast will not out-run God 2. In fortifying the heart against the present difficulties that when all visible helps and interests are cut off yet we may encourage our selves in the Lord. When they were wandring in the wilderness and had neither house nor home then Moses the man of God pens that Psalm and how doth he begin it Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all Generations Psal. 90. 1. What was wanting in sense they saw was made up in the alsufficiency of God And so here 's the use of Faith when in defiance of all difficulties we can see an alsufficiency in God to counterballance that which is wanting in sense So doth David Psal. 3. 3. Lord saith he thou art my shield and glory and the lifter up of my head Look to that Psalm it was penned when David was driven from his Palace Royal by Absolom when he was in danger God was his shield when his Kingdom and Honour were laid in the dust God was his Glory when he was under sorrow and shame and enemies insulting over him when the people rose against him and he was in great dejection of spirit God was the lifter up of his head This is getting under the Covert of this shield or compass of this hiding place 3. The use of Faith is to quicken us to go on cheerfully in our duty and with a quiet heart resting upon Gods love power and truth so David Psal. 131. 5. Into thy hands I commit my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth David was then in great danger the Net was laid for him as he saith in the former verse and when he was likely to perish what doth he do he casts all his cares upon God and trusts him with his life Into thy hands I commit my spirit that is his life safety c. Use 1. Admire the goodness of God who will be all things to his people if we want a house he will be our dwelling place if we want a covert he will be our shield our hiding place whatever we want God will supply it There 's a notable expression Psal. 91. 9. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most high thy habitation Mark that double Notion a habitation is the place of our abode in time of peace a refuge the place of our retreat in a time of war Be it peace or war God will be all in all he will be a fountain of blessing to us in a time of peace he will be our habitation there where we have our sweetest comforts and then in time when dangers and difficulties are abroad God will be a refuge and a place of retreat to our souls Use 2. To perswade us to contentation in a time of trouble Though we have not a Palace yet if we have but a hiding place though our condition be not so commodious as we do desire yet if God will vouchsafe a little liberty in our service we must be content if he will give us a little safety though not plenty for here is not our full reward And therefore it is well we can make this use of God to be our shield and hiding place though we have not that ample condition which a carnal heart would fancy God never undertook in his Covenant to maintain us at such a rate nor thus to enlarge our portion if he will vouchsafe a little security and safety to us during the time of our pilgrimage we must be content Use 3. This should more encourage us against the evil of sin since God assures us of protection and
is lawful and right 't is in the Margin Do judgment and justice Now when this is attribured to publick persons judgment signifieth due order in trying and finding out the state of a Cause and justice the giving out sentence on that tryal and judgment or causing justice to be executed for righting the wronged and punishing the wrong-doer When to private men the one implies the direction of Conscience the other the rectitude of our actions By judgment we discern between right and wrong and by justice doing things justly according to the Rule Thus 't is said Psal. 106. 3. Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doth righteousness at all times There is another Notion of these two words which I had almost forgotten First Judgment seemeth to be opposite to rigour and extremity and seemeth to import equitable carriage mixed with mercy and moderation in exacting our own from others Certainly so Judgment is sometimes taken Ier. 10. 24. O Lord correct me but with judgment not in thine anger lest thou bring me to nothing Secondly Justice is just and faithful dealing in and about those things which we owe to others or are employed about or are intrusted with by others Doctr. It is a comely property in Gods Children and very comfortable to them to do judgment and justice 1. It is an excellent property First Because by it we are made like God Righteousness is part of Gods Image and herein we do most resemble his perfection Psal. 145. 5. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works There is a perfect holiness in his Nature and a condecency in all his actions Therefore 't is God-like in us when our Natures are sanctified and all our actions are righteous and holy It is said Ephes. 4. 54. That the new man is created after God in righteonsness and â—…rue holiness according to the pattern of God much like to him they that are most so are most like him Natural Conscience doth homage to the Image of God Mark 6. 20. And Herod feared Iohn knowing he was a just man Secondly 'T is acceptable and pleasing to God The just man is an object of Gods complacency Prov. 15. 9. The Lord loveth him that followeth after righteousnes God loveth all his Creatures â—…th a general love but with a special love those that bear his Image He doth not love men because they are rich and mighty fair and beautiful valiant and strong but as holy and just It is said Prov. 21. 3. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice God hath required both and we should make Conscience of both but yet the one is better than the other though the one be a Duty of the First Table the other of the Second because Moral and Substantial Duties are better than Ceremonial internal before external and Duties evident by natural light before things of positive institution It appeareth in this that God doth accept of Moral Duties without Ceremonial Observances For in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Acts 10. 35. but Ceremonial Observances without Moral Duties are of no account in Gods sight he still rejecteth their Offerings when they neglect justice not thousands of Rams and Rivers of Oil but to shew mercy and to do justly Mic. 6. 7 8. this is good Again he dispenseth with the Ceremonials and the Externals of Religion when they come in competition with Moral Duties even of the Second Table as David's eating the shew-bread when he was an hungry Matth. 12. 5. Well then how right and punctual soever we be in other things unleâ—… we shew mercy and do justice we are not accepted with God though zealous for and against Ceremonies of the stricter party in Religion 'T is true we cannot say they are better than faith and love and the fear of God and hope in his Grace for these are the substantial Duties of the First Table And compare Substantials with Substantials de ordine modus First Table Duties are more weighty But compare Internals of the Second with Externals of the First Moral Duties of the Second with the Ceremonies of the First natural and evident with the merely positive and instituted these latter are more weighty Give to God what is God's and to men what is mens Thirdly Because it â—…itteth for Communion with God When you are just and righteous you may call for and look for such blessings as you stand in need of for the righteous have an easie access to him and are sure of audience Psal. 17. 15. But as for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I cannot behold the face of Saul he will not see my face but this comforts me that I can behold thy face Lord thou wilt look upon me and be gracious to me and hear my prayers Otherwise God will not hear the unjust as he saith he would not accept of their Peace-Offerings till judgment ran down as a River and righteousness as a mighty Stream Amos 5. 23 24. and rejects the Jewish Fasts Isai. 58. because they did not loose the oppressed c. On the other side he hath assured the protection of his Providence to him that is just Isai. 33. 15 16. He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly â—…e that despiseth the gain of oppression and shaketh his hands from holding of Bribes that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks bread shall be given him and his water shall be sure God will minister to him sure Comforts and sure supplies They that walk in a continual course of righteousness and just dealing of all sorts shall be as safe as if in a Fort impregnable not to be taken by any force and sufficiently furnished with store of provisions to hold out any Siege an high craggy place is such Bread and Water are tokens of God's full and final deliverance Isai 51. 1. Hearken unto me ye that follow after righteousness None must look to be thus qualified but the righteous Fourthly It is so suitable to the new Nature as Fruits to such a Tree What is works meet for repentance Acts 26. 20. That they should repent and turn to God and do works meet for repentance And bring forth fâ—…uits meet for repentance Matth. 3. 8. They are the kindly products of faith in Christ and repentance towards God 'T is as unâ—…uitable to those that are gracious to be unjust as that the Egg of a Crow should drop from a Hen or venomous Berries should grow upon a choise Vine That Grace that is put into our hearts which maketh us submissive and dutiful to God doth also make us kind and harmless to men These things are required of us as the fruits of true faith and repentance Isai 1. 16 17. Wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings
our Cause as his own Psal. 9. 4. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause and in his own time and manner will shew it to the world and justifie us against our enemies Oh how should our hearts rejoyce in this that he will be the party responsible make our Cause his own and be liable to the Suit as a Debtor is to the Creditor He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye Zach. 2. 8. He that despiseth you despiseth me Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts 9. 4. And Isai. 63. 8. And he said Surely they are my people Children that will not lye so he was their Saviour Fifthly God is a sufficient Surety Here we may consider two things The satisfaction of Christ and The power of Gods Providence in respect of both which he is a Pledge and Surety every way sufficient for our comfort safety and deliverance 1. I would not leave out Christs satisfaction though it lye not so full in this Text for as God hath a hand in all our sufferings and all our affairs are determined in an higher Court this satisfaction is necessary to answer the Controversy and Quarrel of Gods Justice against us Thus Christ the Second Person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Surety Heb. 7. 22. Christ is the surety of a better testament There is a double sort of Surety by way of caution and satisfaction as Sureties in case of Debt and Sureties for good behaviour the one for what is past the other for what is to come The example of the one we have in Paul for Onesimus Phil. 18. If he hath wronged or owed thee ought put it upon my account I Paul have written it with mine own hand and I will repay it An example of the other we have in Iudah for Benjamin Gen. 43. 9. I will be Surety for him at mine hand shalt thou require him if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee then let me bear the blame for ever In both these respects Christ is a Surety he is our Surety as a Surety undertaketh for another to pay his debt and he is our Surety as he hath undertaken that his redeemed ones shall keep Gods Laws be carried safe to Heaven Of his Suretiship by way of caution we speak now Though Theodoret understand that in the Text undertake for me that I shall keep thy Laws but 't is more proper to consider the Speech as it referreth to the payment of our debt by virtue of this Suretiship Solomon hath assured us Prov. 11. 15. that he that is Surety for another shall smart for it or be broken and bruised The same word is used concerning Christ Isai. 53. 10. he was our Surety and was bruised and broken suffered what we should have suffered we have a right to appear to Gods Justice but our Surety having made a full satisfaction for us God will not exact the Debt twice of the Surety and the Principal When the Ram was taken Isaac was let go Iob 33. 24. Deliver him from going down to the pit for I have found a ransom Well then as our punishment is a due Debt to Gods Justice the Lord Christ undertaketh or is become a Surety for us not only our Advocate to plead our Cause but our Surety to pay our Debt from a Judge become a party and bound to pay what we owe Isai. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs 2. The power of Gods Providence If God undertake for us his Bail is sufficient none of our enemies can resist his Almighty power surely he is able to deal with our enemies Isai. 23. 4. Who would set the briers and thorns against me in battel they are matter to feed the fire not to quench it He rescueth us just as going to prison If he put himself a pledge between us and our enemies he will defeat all their oppositions and machinations against us and stand between us and danger as an able Bail or Surety doth between the Creditor and poor Debtor Well then Suretiship as it noteth our necessity so Gods engagement and his ability and faithfulness to do what he undertaketh We must set God against the enemies Isai. 51. 13. And forgettest the Lord thy Maker he hath stretched forth the Heavens and laid the foundation of the Earth and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressour as if he were ready to destroy and where is the fury of the oppressour Dan. 3. 17. Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery Furnace We have the Almighty to be our Saviour and Protector why are you afraid of a man God against man is great odds if we had Faith to see it man is mortal God is immortal man is a poor weak Creature but God is Almighty what is he not able to do for us Surely he will not leave his friends in the lurch his power is such that he is able to keep us safe and sound II. The Reasons Why we have leave and encouragement to desire God to interpose 1. From Gods Covenant where in the general there is a mutual engaging to be each others In our several capacities we engage to stand by God and owne his Cause and God is engaged to stand by us We make over our selves Bodies Souls Interests all to God God quantus quantus est as great as he is is all ours therefore if he be ours we may pray him to appear for us and owne us in our distress and trouble Our friend is a friend in distress A gracious heart by virtue of this mutual and interchangeable Indenture appears for God and taketh his Cause though never so hated as its own The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me Psal. 6. 9. We are his Witnesses Isai. 43. 10. Surely it is too high a word for the Creature but God taketh our Cause as his is Surety for us by virtue of the general tenour of the Covenant he is our God jure venit in auxilium nostrum his Covenant engageth him to undertake for us More particularly God undertaketh to defend and maintain his people as to be a rewarder so to be a defender Gen. 15. 1. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward And Psal. 84. 11. For the Lord is a Sun and a shield This defence is sometimes expressed with respect to the violence of assaults in the world by the Notion of a shield So with respect to the process of the Law by the Notion of a Surety Isai. 52. 3. we have the term of a Redeemer So that we have leave to pray him to fulfil his Covenant Engagement 2. Gods affection is such that he will refuse no office that may be for his peoples comfort We are often disswaded from Suretiship especially for strangers by the wise man by great vehemency and instance Prov. 6. 1 2. My son if thou be surety for thy friend if thou hast stricken thy hand
with a stranger thou art snared with the words of thy mouth Prov. 11. 15. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it Prov. 17. 18. A man void of understanding striketh hands and becometh surety in the presence of his friend Prov. 20. 16. Take his Garment that is surety for a stranger Prov. 22. 26 27. Be not thou one of them that strike hands or of them that are sureties for debts if thou hast nothing to pay why should he take the bed from under thee And in other places Our pity is stirred towards a man that is like to be undone and ruined therefore there is such disswading from suretiship and hath not God a greater pity over the afflictions of his people He pities the afflictions of them that suffer most justly yea far below their desert Iudg. 10. 16. His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel 2 Kings 14. 26. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter for there was not any shut up nor any left nor any helper for Israel How much more will he pity them that are unjustly oppressed of men Acts 7. 34. I have seen the afflictions of my people which is in Egypt and have heard their groanings and am come down to deliver them His bowels worketh God loveth his people better than they love themselves fide-jube Domine pro servo 3. Our relation to him I am thy servant and I know thou art a good Master and he is our Sovereign Lord and therefore hath undertaken to provide for us the master was to be the servants Patronus God hath found us work and he will find us defence This is the Argument of the Text Be Surety for thy Servant We are employed in his work engaged in his Cause If a rich man set a poor man at work as to dig such a Ditch if he be afterward troubled for it the rich man is concerned to bear him out Psal. 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy Handmaid Whilest we are engaged about our masters business and in his work he is engaged to protect us and bear us out in it 4. Our very running to him and committing our selves into his hands is an engaging God Psal. 86. 2. Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee Psal. 10. 14. The poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the helper of the fatherless Employ God and find him work he will not fail to do what he is entrusted with Psal. 57. 1. Be merciful unto me O God be merciful unto me for my soul trusteth in thee yea in the shadow of thy wing will I make my refuge until these calamities be over-past God taketh it well that we should make bold with him in this kind and tell him how we trust him and expect relief from him Nothing is so dishonourable to God nor vexatious to us as the disappointment of trust An ingenuous man will not fail his friend that doth trust and rely upon him much less will a faithful God fail those that look to him and depend upon him for help Use Is advice to us what we should do in our deep distresses and troubles when able to do nothing for our selves God will be Surety that is make our Cause his own 1. As your matters depend in an higher Court and with respect to your own guilt and sin which hath cast you into these troubles acknowledge your debt but look upon Christ as your Surety who gave himself a ransome for us The Controversie between God and us must be taken up by submission on our parts for God is an enemy that cannot be overcome but must be reconciled The way is not to persist in the Contest and stand it out but beg terms of peace for Christs sake 2 Chron. 6. 38 39. If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul then hear thou from the Heavens even from thy dwelling place their prayers and supplications and maintain their Cause and forgive thy people which have sinned against thee Job 5. 8. I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my Cause 2. As your danger lyeth with men acknowledge your impotency but consider who is your Surety and will take your part against the instruments that have had a hand in your trouble First God who hath such a pity over his suffering servants is ready ever to do them good Psal. 35. 1. Plead my Cause O Lord with them that strive with me fight against them that fight against me He is in such full relation and so fast bound to them that they may not be weary and impatient and swallowed up of despair he will interpose God seeth our sufferings heareth our groans suffereth together with us and is afflicted in all our afflictions believe it assuredly that he will take the matter into his own hand and be the party responsible Psal. 140. 12. I know that the Lord will maintain the Cause of the afflicted and the right of the poor Wo be to them that would not have God for their party joined in the Cause of the afflicted God hath given assurance of his protection not by words only but by deeds Prov. 22. 23. The Lord will plead their Cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them He hath past his word and he will do it Prov. 23. 11. For their redeemer is mighty he shall plead their Cause with thee 'T is his title Isai. 51. 22. Thus saith thy Lord the Lord and thy God that pleadeth the Cause of his people not by a verbal or local but a real and active Plea Ezek. 38. 22. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and the people that are with him an overflowing rain and great hail-stones fire and brimstone And Isai. 40. 8. He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me let us stand together who is mine adversary let him come near to me that is let him join issue with me commence his Suit in Law We should be confident upon Gods undertaking Ier. 50. 34. Their redeemer is strong the Lord of Host is his name he shall thoroughly plead their Cause that he may give rest to the land 'T is a great ease in affliction to commit our Cause unto God and put our affairs into his hand 2. God who hath such power we need not fear any opposite if God be our Surety Psal. 27. 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid Psal. 46. 1 2. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will not we fear though the Earth be removed and the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea a resolution to adhere to God and his truth
their riches denying them the liberty of their service because 't is in the power of their hands or taking advantage of their low Condition to run over them or making an advantage of their necessity and want of skill Hos. 12. 7. He is a merchant the ballance of deceit is in his hand he loveth to oppress or prejudice their testimony to the truth by our credit and esteem in the Church rendering them so weak or wicked factious or foolish as not to be regarded 2. This is a grievous evil it is so in it self and may be specially aggravated as to Cases First 'T is grievous in it self as 't is so odious to God as being a perversion of the end of his Providence Those that excel in any quality are appointed for the protection and support of the weak and indigent God gave them their Wealth and Parts and Power and Credit and Greatness to the end they might comfort counsel defend and do good to those that want these things Now when they make no other use of their power than Lions and Bears do to mischief others by it they do evil because 't is in the power of their hands Mic. 2. 1. Power if men have not a great tenderness of Conscience and fear of God is an unweildy wilful thing degenerates into oppression Isai. 10. 14 15. There was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped Shall the Axe boast it self against him that heweth therewith or shall the Saw magnifie it self against him that shaketh it as if the Rod should shake it self against them that lift it up or as if the Staff should lift up it self as if it were no Wood. Therefore he went on to oppress and tyrannize in the world because none durst to oppose him Power needs much ballance to temper and allay it Secondly 'T is so offensive to his people and burthensome to them Eccl. 7. 7. Oppression keth a wise man mad it shaketh and discomposeth those of the best temper makes them pray and weep and cry before the Lord Eccl. 4. 1. So I returned and considered all the oppressions under the Sun and beheld the tears of such as are oppressed When you lay such heavy loads upon them that they are not able to bear it but cry to God to right them Thirdly The evil it self Oppression 'T is not only theft but murther These expressions we have Isai. 3. 14 15. Ye have eaten up the Vineyard The spoil of the poor is in your houses What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces and grind the faces of the poor that is Cause them by your hard usage to pine away So Mic. 3. 1 2 3. And I said Hear I pray you O Heads of Iacob and ye Princes of the house of Israel Is it not for you to know Iudgment who hate the good and love the evil who pluck off their skin and their flesh from off their bones Who also eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them and they break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the Pot and as flesh within the Caldron 'T is in Gods account humane Butchery and Murder beyond simple Slaughter as they make them dye a lingering death 2. 'T is especially aggravated if they be Gods Servants oppressed for Religion Psal. 12. 5. For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needy Now will I arise saith the Lord I will set them in safety from him that puffeth at him The proud Persecutor doth little think of the Godly that any power he hath can do any thing to help him therefore mocketh at all his hopes therefore when God hath exercised the Godly for a while he will arise c. I say the sin is aggravated by the innocency the holiness the usefulness of the party oppressed when fitted to glorifie God and do service to the Publick and disabled to the prejudice of both 3. 'T is the highest impiety to fetch power and advantage from any Ordinance of God to commit it Iohn 19. 10 11. Then said Pilate unto him Speakest thou not unto me Knowest thou not that I have power to crucifie thee and have power to release thee Iesus answered Thou couldest have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin Courts of Justice that should be Sanctuaries and places of refuge to opprest innocency they make Slaughter Houses and Shops of Cruelty When pretexts of Laws and Justice are used to colour the oppression and persecution of innocent useful persons this makes it more odious in the sight of God Use 1. O pity the oppressed Iob 6. 14. To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty The men of Keilah thought of delivering up David because they feared not God 1 Sam. 23. 11 12. But men have no fear of God but too much fear of men When God is angry God will suffer none to help Psal. 88. 18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness Job 12. 5. He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease Sensuality will make us forget the afflictions of others Amos 6. 4 5 6. They lye upon Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the lambs out of the flock and Calves out of the midst of the Stall that chant to the sound of the viol and invent to themselves instruments of musick like David that drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments but they are not grieved for the afflictions of Ioseph Scruples of Conscience through difference in Religion Iohn 4. 9. How is it that thou being a Iew askest water of me Therefore we should pity others we have Gods example 2 Cor. 7. 6. God that comforteth those that are cast down Use 2. Keep from oppression let us be far from this sin Samuel professeth his innocency 1 Sam. 12. 3 4. Behold here I am witness against me before the Lord and his Anointed Whose Ox have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received a bribe to blind mine eyes therewith And they said Thou hast not defrauded nor oppressed us Motives 1. God will right the wrongs of the oppressed Prov. 22. 22 23. Rob not the poor because he is poor neither oppress the afflicted in the Gate for the Lord will plead their Cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them Prov. 23. 11. For their Redeemer is mighty he shall plead their Cause with thee It belongeth to him as supream Judge and mighty Potentate Eccl. 5. 8. If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent perverting of Iudgment and Iustice in a Province marvel not at the matter for he that is
against troubles Besides maintenance there is protection in the promise If we had Faith to believe this it would effectually quiet our minds in all our necessities and streights and perplexities Man can do much bring them low even to a morsel of bread we need not much desire the best things of the world nor fear the worst need not be covetous nor fearful Where Faith is in any life and strength it moderateth our desires and fears 'T is an ill part of a Believer to hang the head II. Second Point from that Clause David's eyes were to Gods salvation That Gods word being past his people do and must wait for the accomplishment of it The lifting up of the eyes implies three things Faith Hope and Patience all which do make up the Duty of waiting for help and relief from God 1. The lifting up the eyes implies Faith and confident perswasion that God is ready and willing to help us 2 Chron. 20. 12. But our eyes are unto thee Psal. 123. 1 2. Unto thee I lift mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the Heavens The very lifting up of the bodily eye towards Heaven is an expression of this inward trust so David in effect saith From thee Lord I expect relief and the fulfilling of thy promises So that there is Faith in it that Faith which is the evidence of things not seen How great soever the darkness of our calamities be though the Clouds of present troubles thicken about us and hide the Lords care and loving kindness from us yet Faith must look through all to his power and constancy of truth and love The eye of Faith is a clear piercing Eagle eye Heb. 11. 27. Moses endured as seeing him that was invisible A man is very short-sighted before 2 Pet. 1. 9. He that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off can only skill in the things of sense and reason see a danger near him as Beasts or a bait while 't is before him a Brute thinketh of no other or else goeth by probabilities as it seeth things by the light of reason in their causes But Faith seeth things afar off in the promises Heb. 11. 13. at a greater distance than the eye of Nature can reach to take it either for the eye of the body or the mind Faith will draw comfort not only from what is invisible at present but not to come for a long time 't is future as well as invisible its supports lye in the other world and are yet to come 2. There is hope in it for what a man hopeth for he will look for it if he can see it a coming The earnest expectation of the Creature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. 19. the stretching forth of the head Iudg. 5. 28. They looked out at the window and cried through the Lattice Why is his Chariot so long a coming So by spiritual hope there is a lifting up of the eyes or a looking out for what God hath promised or an intent observing all together Our conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for a Saviour Phil. 3. 20. Faith keepeth the eye of the mind fixed upon the promise and is ever looking out for deliverance Psal. 121. 1 2. I will lift mine eyes to the Hills from whence cometh my help my help cometh from the Lord which made Heaven and Earth Thence they look and wait for succour it must come out of Heaven to them They see it they can spy a Cloud a coming that which a man careth not for he doth not look for David saith I will pray and look up Psal. 5. 3. Hope hath expectation of the thing or object hoped for 3. There is patience in it in persevering and keeping on our looking till mercy come With faith and ardency in expecting Gods help Looking and waiting is to be conjoined notwithstanding difficulties till it procure deliverance Psal. 123. 2. Our eyes wait on the Lord who will have mercy on us This lifting up of the eyes doth not imply a glance or once looking to Heaven but that we keep looking till God doth help Isai. 8. 17. I will wait on the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Iacob and I will look for him There is a constant depending and patient attending upon God notwithstanding the present tokens of his wrath and displeasure As a man withdraweth himself from a party and will not be seen of him nor spoken to by him but the resolute Suitor tarrieth to meet and speak with him So Mic. 7. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation My God will hear me Not give over upon every discouragement as a Merchant doth not discontinue trading for every loss at Sea Certainly 't is not faith and hope unless we can endure and bear out Natural courage will bear out for a while but not long A little touch breaketh a bubble and a sleight natural expectation is soon discouraged but to hope against hope to pray when God forbids praying to keep waiting when we have not only difficulties in the World but seeming disappointments from Heaven it self when the promise and Christ seem to be parting from you and refuse you yet then to say I will not let thee go until thou bless me as Iacob said to the Angel Gen. 32. 25 26. when God saith let me alone Use. Let us turn our selves towards God for help and have our eyes on him and keep them there Psal. 141. 8. But mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute Let us not give way to discouragements though God delay us so long till all our carnal provisions are spent no Meal in the Barrel nor Oil in the Cruise and we are brought to the last Morsel of Bread though brought to complain for pity to them that will shew none but pour Vinegar into our Wounds yea till our spiritual provisions be spent faith will hold out no longer hope can do us no service patience lost and clear gone we fall a questioning Gods love and care I say Though we grow weary let us strive against it acquaint God with it renew Faith in the word of promise There is an holy obstinacy in believing To get this eye of Faith 1. There is need of the Spirits enlightening Nature is short-sighted 2 Pet. 1. 9. A man cannot look into the other world till his eyes be opened by the Spirit of God Ephes. 1. 17 18. The Father of Glory give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints There needs spiritual eye-salve to get this piercing eye to look through the Curtain of the Clouds 2. When your eye is opened you must keep your eye clear from the suffusions of lust
not the device of mans brain So none understand by their proper skill and invention There are such knots as cannot be untyed and loosed but by imploring the help of the Spirit Use 1. To press us to be often with God for this teaching and make it our great request to him A gracious heart would fain learn the right way to Heaven Psal. 43. 3. O send out thy light and thy truth Directionâ—… how to carry our selves is a great Blessing 2. The blindness of our understandings should make us more earnest with God We are apt to mistake our way through the natural weakness of our understandings especially when lusts and interests interpose Ier. 10. 23. Lord the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps As Man understandeth not events so easily mistaketh present Duties 3. Our present estate The world is a dark place 2 Pet. 1. 19. compared with the light of Glory 't is but like a light that shineth out of a Room where a Candle is and a Room where a Candle is not seen the glimmerings of the Anti-Chamber of eternity Our own reason the counsel and example of others will easily misguide us So the more we depend upon God the more he will undertake to teach us Prov. 5. 6. Those that make their own bosomes their Oracle God is disengaged from being their Guide they need him not but the snares they run into will soon shew them how much they need him 4. How unapt we are to see Conclusions in the promises and to apply general Rules to particular Cases and times which most Christians cannot do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their inferences Rom. 1. 21. Are vain in their imaginations have their foolish hearts darkened 5. To bind all upon the heart and to lye under the Conscience of our Duty maketh the difficulty the greater many imprison the truth in unrighteousness Well then beg the constant direction and illumination of Gods holy Spirit cast your selves upon him in the sense of your weakness and see if he will refuse you say I am blind and ignorant Lord guide me 'T is dangerous to be left in any part of our Duty to our selves II. If we consider the words with respect to the Context And first the remoter Context where David speaketh like a man under trouble and oppression verses 121 122. Let not the proud oppress me c. Lord shew me what to do in this time of my oppression Doctr. Direction how to carry our selves in trouble till the deliverance cometh is a great mercy and should be earnestly sought of God Reasons 1. From the parties oppressing They that oppress watch for our halting as Ieremiah complained Ier. 20. 10. They accused the Prophet unto the Ruler and so to work his ruine if they could find him tripping in any thing Now when we are watched we need special direction that God would teach us to walk warily and safely Psal. 27. 11. Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies Or those which observe me they watch to get some advantage therefore that they may have no advantage against us we should not trust to our own single wisdom 2. Because the danger of sin is a greater inconvenience than the danger of trouble In times of tryals and troubles we are in danger of soul-losing and sinning as well as bodily danger therefore we have need to beg wisdom of God to carry it well under trouble because we are so apt to miscarry unless God guide us continually in our dark condition and take us by the hand and help us over our stumbling Blocks There are many sins incident to our condition First Uncomely passion and unadvised speeches therefore David prayeth in his trouble Psal. 141. 3. Set a watch before my mouth keep the door of my lips In our oppression we are under a temptation to hurt our own Cause by unadvised and passionate speeches when we have too great a sense of the temptation something or other breaketh out to Gods dishonour Secondly Some indirect course to come out of trouble Psal. 125. 3. Men that make haste out of trouble carve for themselves break prison before they are brought out Necessity is an ill Counseller and will soon tempt us to some evil way for our own ease some sinful compliance or confederacy The Devil tempted Christ when he was an hungry Matth. 4. 3. hoping to work upon his necessity Thirdly Private revenge or meeting injury with injuries We are apt to retaliate 2 Sam. 16. 9. Why should this dead Dog curse my Lord the King let me go over I pray thee and take off his head Revenge is soon up No man is troubled if a shower of Rain falleth upon us but if any cast a Bucket or Bason of Water upon us we are in a rage presently We can better bear any trouble from God than injuries from men Oppression maketh a wise man mad A revengeful spirit is contrary to our heavenly Calling Fourthly Waxing weary of our Duty and quite tired and discouraged in Gods service Heb. 12. 3. Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners lest you be weary and faint in your minds Weariness and fainting belong properly to the Body and they differ gradually weariness is a lesser and fainting a higher degree of deficiency as when a man laboureth hungers or travelleth it abateth his strength and abateth the active powers or toileth the Spirits the principle of motion And from the Body 't is translated to the Mind to a less or higher degree of defection and is thus When troubles are many and long continued then we begin to grow faint and wax weary of the faith and service of Christ and sink under the burthen 'T is the Devils design to make us weary and tire us out in the service of God Fifthly Another evil is despairing and distrustful thoughts of God David after all his experiences of God though he had conducted him up and down 1 Sam. 27. 1. I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul He had a particular promise and assurance of the Kingdom and had seen much of Gods care over him yet after all this David doubteth of the Word of God Psal. 31. 22. I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou heardest me As if he should say God hath no care of me nor thoughts of me and at that instant deliverance was coming Sixthly Questioning our interest in God by reason of the Cross. Our Lord hath taught us to say My God my God in the bitterest agonies when he was upon the Cross but few learn this Lesson Iudg. 6. 23. If God be with us why hath all this evil befallen us Sometimes we question the love of God because we have no affliction and anon because we have nothing but affliction as if God were not the God of the Valleys as well as of the Mountains
the course of second Causes when things are fortified and backed with a strong interest to reason 't will be a long time 'T is not so long as sense would make it though we count the years the winter is over and the spring is come and yet we are not saved and can say 't is thus long yet this is not long in comparison of eternity 2 Cor. 4. 17. 'T is not long to faith for to the eye of faith things future and afar off are present Heb. 11. 1. Not long to love Gen. 29. 20. seven years are as a few days they that believe an eternity and have any love to God will say 't is short But a short Walk is a long Journey to the sick and weak the impatience of our flesh makes it seem long 4. When the time is come God will make speedy work Isai. 60. 22. The Lord will hasten it in his time Luke 18. 9. Shall not God avenge his own Elect Rev. 18. 7. Her plagues shall come in one day Isai. 66. 8. A Nation born in a day All these places shew and 't is a comfort to us that no difficulty shall hinder when the season calls for it He that produced Heaven and Earth at once what cannot he do We are dismayed when we consider an evil party fortified with combined interests strength of opposite factions force of Laws and worldly powers but God can make a Nation be born in one day 'T will be quick work when God once begins III. Third Consideration This time is usually when the impiety and insolency of wicked men is come to an height Indeed there are other notes as when his peoples hearts are prepared to receive and improve deliverance when Gods Glory calleth for it But this is the season mentioned in the Text therefore I shall shew you 1. That this is a season 2. Enquire when iniquity is come to an height 3. Why then God doth usually interpose 1. That this is a season Gen. 15. 16. The sins of the Amorites are not yet full God shewed his patience to that wicked people till the measure of their sins were filled up So wrath came upon the persecuting Jews when they had filled up the measure of their fathers Matth. 23. 32. While the enemies Cup is a filling God delayeth and we must wait So Dan. 8. 23. When the transgressors are come to the full Once more Ioel 3. 13. Put ye in the Sickle for the Harvest is ripe come get ye down for the Press is full the Fatts overflow for their wickedness is great The Lord compares sinners to a field of ripe Corn ready to be cut full Fatts and Wine-presses to be trod out When sin is ripe the execution of vengeance will not be long forborn 2. When doth iniquity come to an height I answer Their iniquities may be considered as to the two branches of it their rebellion and disobedience to God and their injuries and vexation of the Saints First Their disobedience and contempt of God First When this is general All orders and ranks of persons have corrupted their way as the Sodomites compassed the house Gen. 19 4. both young and old all the people from every Quarter Usually in making a judgment upon the state of a people you will find it thus If any part be right it keeps off the judgment from the rest if a zealous Magistracy though a corrupt people or an unsavoury Ministry and a praying mourning people God holds his hand and will not proceed to judgment They are the Salt of the Earth Matth. 5. 13. And Isai. 6. 13. The holy seed shall be the substance thereof But when all join in one in a neglect of God and common enmity to his ways then I say the Judg of the Earth will do his work then wrath breaketh out Secondly When it groweth impudent and outragious as if they would obliterate and extinguish the Law of God or take away all force and authority from it by their perverse actions and pernicious examples They do not obliquely and under the shew of divers pretences break Gods Laws but openly set themselves against him and break a Commandment without any shame Isai. 3. 9. They declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not yea they glory in their shame Phil. 3. 19. as if they would out-face Heaven and Religion at once and all honesty and ingenuity by their debaucheries Bold-fac'd sin doth not go long unpunished Thirdly Desperate incorrigibleness All remedies are unprofitable and hope of amendment taken away Ier. 6. 3. Ezek. 24. 13. When God would have purged them they would not be purged He tryeth them with several conditions he hath a love for them as they are his Creatures Judgments and Mercies they had yet they are no Changelings but go on as wicked as ever God tryeth Key after Key one Providence after another yet not a whit the better or wiser but are like men that have slept still abuse his patience and defeat all the methods of his Grace shew the same corruption they did before Fourthly When they run into unnatural sins and the corruption of humane Society is endangered Levit. 18. 27 28. For all these abominations have the men of the land done c. When men are so wicked and filthy that a man needs to be a Criminal to be acceptable to them they think it strange that others run not into the same excess of riot 1 Pet. 4. 4. Certainly then God needeth to strike in that vertue may be upheld in some kind of reputation Secondly Their violence and vexation of the Saints 'T was Bede's observation Odium in Religionis Professores c. that hatred of the Professors of Religion was that undid his Countrey God is angry when his people are wronged the world is kept up for their sakes Were it not for the Elect to be gathered time would be no more for their sakes Kingdoms and Churches are preserved they are the staff and stay the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel God is tender of them as the Apple of his Eye therefore when they are wronged and men are not only evil themselves but haters of those that are good and do not only break Gods Laws themselves but would force others to do so God will hold no longer as their violence encreaseth so doth their ruine hasten Rev. 12. 12. When they abuse their power to such an end though God may bear with them for a time till they have done their work yet he will reckon with them Zech. 1. 15. I am sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease for I was a little displeased and they helped forward the affliction God will not forget his relation to his sinning people and will not suffer them to be abused out of measure When they would destroy and root out whom God would only correct and purge 't is a sign of their approaching ruine Now these things should be considered by us to a good end not to feed an
Psal. 17. 14 15. From men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life whose bellies thou fillest with thy hid treasures they are full of Children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Christ gave his Purse to Iudas but his Spirit to the other Disciples But God deserteth them his people complain of it Isai. 49. 14. But Zion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Yea Christ himself Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Answ. 1. There is a distinct consideration of Christ for he was to bear our sorrows Isai. 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows to be forsaken for a while that we might be received for ever 2. Gods people are mistaken the Saints complain without a cause Sense maketh lyes of God Psal. 31. 22. For I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou hearest the voice of my supplication when I cryed unto thee Psal. 77. 9 10. Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies And I said This is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most high The Disciples had Christ near them when they knew it not Luke 24. 16. Their eyes were holden that they could not know him 3. Though they are forsaken for while yet not for ever Isai. 54. 7 8. For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercy will I gather thee In a little wrath I have hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Use. Do not say God is a hard master When the compute is rightly made and you trace his Providence through all the passages of your lives there is more good than evil Iacob giveth an account of his life Gen. 48. 15 16. God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads So may others say Doctr. 2. Gods accustomed goodness and gracious dispensations to his people throughout all Ages should encourage us in waiting upon him and praying to him This emboldneth me that all thy servants in all Ages have found thee gracious and merciful unto them 1. From Gods unchangeableness He will not leave his old wont he is where he was at first Isai. 59. 1. Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that he cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear Mal. 3. 6. For I am the Lord I change not therefore ye sons of Iacob are not consumed He is the same that ever he was 2. All his people stand upon the same terms therefore what he will do for one he will do for another Gods love is the same he is alike affected to all his Children his Saints now are as dear to him as ever Psal. 149. 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation They have the same Covenant it is a common Charter Acts 2. 39. For the promise is unto you and to your Children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call The same Redeemer 2 Cor. 1. 2. To them that are sanctified in Christ Iesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Iesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours Rom. 3. 22. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference One hath not a more worthy Christ than another Faith is as acceptable as ever 2 Pet. 1. 1. To them that have obtained like precious faith They are interested in the same priviledges promises gifts and rewards Use. 1. Examples and instances of Gods mercy should confirm us It is not agreeable to Gods nature and practice to forsake his people or to be deaf to their prayers Psal. 22. 4 5. Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted in thee and thou didst deliver them they cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded None of his people ever sought him in vain From the beginning of the world to this day God hath been gracious Psal. 9. 10. For they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee No Age can give an instance to the contrary therefore mark the usual dealings of God with his Children what was said to them was for the establishment of our comfort and hope Rom. 4. 23 24. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Iesus our Lord from the dead compared with Gen. 15. 6. And he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness Gods Word is a Book of Precedents as a Painters Master-piece is hung out to invite custome 2 Let us be sure we be of this number If there be Conformity to them in affection there will be in consolation if in Grace then in priviledges Psal. 145. 18 19 20. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth He shall fulfil the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them The Lord preserveth all them that love him Doctr. 3. We should beg the favour of Gods people Common things should not satisfie a Child of God He must have what is peculiar to the Saints Psal. 106. 4 5. Remember me O Lord with the favour thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation that I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance Nothing will satisfie the people of God but his special love they have a new Nature that must be pleased a great noble and Divine end to be promoted which is to enjoy God the Creatures serve not for that Common men are put off with common mercies these they may have and perish Use. Let us be of this temper Men commonly think that God looketh upon those whom he blesseth with a large encrease of temporal things that he is merciful to those that never see evil nor feel pain or want David was not of this mind he would have God deal with him as with his Friends and Favourites he leaveth it to God how to express his mercy who only knoweth what is best for us only he beggeth the fruits of his special love The heart is earthly and worldly when spiritual things
God values his happiness by Gods friendship not by his worldly prosperity and is miserable by Gods absence and by the causes thereof his sin and offence done to God Nay his loving kindness is not only life but better than life A man may be weary of life it self but never of the love of God Many have complained of life as a burthen and wished for the day of death but none have complained of the love of God as a burthen All the world without this cannot make a man happy What will it profit us if the whole world smile upon us and God frown and be angry with us All the Candles in the World cannot make it Day nay all the Stars shining together cannot dispel the darkness of the Night nor make it Day unless the Sun shines so whatever comforts we have of a higher or lower nature they cannot make it day with a gracious heart unless Gods face shine upon us for he can blast all in an instant A Prisoner is never the more secure though his Fellows and Companions applaud him and tell him his Cause is good and that he shall escape when he that is Judge condemns him Though we have the good word of all the world yet if the Lord speak not peace to our Souls and shine not upon our Consciences what will the good word of the world do 2 Cor. 10. 18. He is approved whom the Lord commendeth A sense of Gods love in Christ is the sweetest thing that ever we felt and is able to sweeten the bitterest Cup that ever Believer drank of Rom. 5. 3. We glory in tribulation It will be a blessed thing when we cannot only bear tribulations but rejoyce in them but how come we to rejoyce in them Why because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us so he goes on If we would know the value of things the best way is to know what is our greatest comfort and our greatest trouble in distress For when we are drunk with worldly prosperity and happiness we are incompetent Judges of the worth of things but when God rebukes a man for sin what 's our greatest trouble then That we may take heed of providing sorrow to our selves another time then we find sin and transgression the greatest burthen when any notable affliction is upon us Iob 36. 9. and what will be your greatest comfort then for then your comforts are put to the proof One evidence of an interest in Christ a little sense of the love of God how precious is it Psal. 94. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. His thoughts were intangled and interwoven one with another as Branches of a crooked Tree for so the word signifies there when his thoughts were thus intricate and perplext then thy comforts delight my soul. O then what should we labour for but to be most clear in this that God loves us This will be our greatest comfort and rejoycing in all conditions 'T is good for us in prosperity then our comforts are sweet and in adversity and deep affliction to see God is not angry with us Though we feel some smart of his afflicting hand yet his heart is with us 2. They deal with God as worldly men do with sensible things for as others live by sense so they by faith Now worldly men are cheered with the good will of men and troubled with the displeasure of men upon whom they depend The down-look of Ahasuerus confounded Haman and put him to great trouble He was afraid Esth. 7. 8. Absolom professes 'twere better for him to be banished than to live in Ierusalem and not see the Kings face 2 Sam. 14. 32. Surely it is death to Gods Children to want his face and favour upon whom they depend Their business lies mainly with God and their dependance and hope and comfort is in God they live by faith Poor Worldings walk by sense therefore their souls run out upon other comforts in the smiling face of some great Potentate or some friend of the World this is their life peace and joy But they that live by faith see him that is invisible and value their happiness by his favour and misery by his displeasure 3. The Children of God have tasted the sweetness of it therefore they know it by experience The best demonstration of any thing is from sense Description cannot give me such a demonstration as when I taste and feel it my self 1 Pet. 2. 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious They have an experimental feeling of that which others know only by guess and hear-say Carnal men know no other good but that of the Creature The Spouse did so languish after her Beloved being sick of love when her desires were disappointed it made her faint Cant. 5. 6. They that have not seen and known him know not what to make of those spiritual and lively affections that carry us out after the favour of God with such earnestness and importunity but they that have tasted and know what their Beloved is their hearts are more excited and stirred up towards him Iohn 4. 10. If thou knewest the gift of God c. You would more admire the favour of God if you knew it especially by experience you would find it is a better good than ever you have yet tasted Use. Is this our temper and frame of our hearts Can we live contentedly and satisfiedly with the light of his Countenance A Child of God may be without the light of his Countenance but cannot live contentedly without it Are we troubled about it ever seeking after it Surely this is the disposition of the Children of God they are ever seeking after the favour of God I shall press to this by this Argument 1. God bespeaks it from you Psal. 27. 8. Thou saidest Seek ye my face There 's a Dialogue between God and a gracious heart The Lord saith Seek he saith it in his Word and speaks by the injection of holy thoughts by the inspiration of his Grace and the renewed heart like a quick Echo takes hold of this Lord thy face will I seek Psal. 106. 4. You should ever be seeking after God in his Ordinances seek his favour and face 2. The new Nature enclines and carries the soul to God it came from God and carries the soul to God again The Spirit of the World doth wholly encline us to the World They that are after the Flesh do mind the things of the Flesh and the Spirit of God doth encline us to God and therefore the people of God will value his favour above all things else David speaks in his own name and in the name of all that were like-minded with himself he speaks of all the Children of God in opposition to the many the brutish ones that were for sensual satisfaction Psal. 4. 6. Many say Who will shew us any good But
that scoff at the Mourners in Zion they count it melancholy and mopishness to be so often and seriously humbling themselves before the Lord. The world deals perversely with the people of God they provoke their sorrow and then upbraid them with it You should bear them company mourn with them pine in consort with those Doves of the Valleys Better be a Mourner than a Mocker and Scoffer Others there are that yet can make a shift to hold out some profession of Religion yet can delight in the company of prophane carnal persons Would a man willingly put himself upon occasions of grief Are you like Lot whose soul was vexed day by day Do but consider how much your temper differs from theirs David saith Psal. 119. 115. Depart from me ye evil Doers Others there are that by censures and bitter invectives seek to make the Sinner rather than the sin more odious This is to exercise malice and pride not Christian affection We should not censure but mourn Tears flow from charity censures from pride and by this means you lose a duty for a sin which is a sad exchange Others again are apt to laugh at them and to make sport with the sins of others but do not mourn This is a vile abuse and yet we are many times guilty of it Men laugh at drunkenness and make the slips of others matter of boasting and vain talk This should rather set our hearts a bleeding and mourning He were a monster rather than a man that could see a man take a fall even to the breaking of his back or neck and turn it into a jest or a man wound himself and he make a sport of it And shall we be more kind to the bodies than to the souls of men Oh consider the danger of these practices as much as in him lyeth he hath put himself into Hell and wilt thou laugh at it Use 2. Is Tryal Are we so tenderly affected I know every one is not of a like tender constitution and cannot weep rivers of tears but tell me or rather tell God I cite thy Conscience to make answer to God When thou didst ever go aside into thy Closet or some secret place to lay to heart the dishonour done to God or the affronts put upon his Grace Do not tell me thou hast declaimed against the sin of the times that thou hast not cried up a confederacy with them that cry up a confederacy against God There may be somewhat of faction and interest and obstinacy in those things but when hast thou mourned and wept sore in secret places Do not tell me that thou hast joyned in publick Fasts Hasty and transient sighs do not wound the heart Hast thou ever done it in secret or hast thou often done it It may be thou hast resented injuries and spread them before God and so there is a spirit of self-love and revenge that breaths into thy prayers Men will be hot in their own cause but what hast thou done in this Duty 'T is a plain question and therefore I hope it will have the more force upon the Conscience True zeal for injuries done to God would ease it self by tears rather than anger True Penitents will not satisfie themselves only with publick humiliation to which Law custome and example may draw them but will make conscience of this Duty in their Families yea in secret where no eye seeth them but Gods mourn apart Zech. 12. 12 13 14. and bring home publick provocations to their own doors Ier. 11. 17. Use 3. Is to exhort you to get this practice and to get this disposition of the Saints 1. There is a great deal of need to practise it now whether we look upon the sins or dangers of the Nation the sins such horrid blasphemies and reproaches cast upon Gods Servants his Ways Truths Doctrines according to godliness I think in the wisest judgment that a man can make never was there such a dangerous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and temper of any Nation as of ours at this time Never were sins boiled up to such an height and consistency as now such snarling at reformation that was hopefully begun Now sin walketh in the Streets with a bold face drunkenness swearing and prophaneness seem to triumph and with the more pretence because the stricter sort have so much dishonoured God and Religion Church-affairs are much out of order And for our dangers we hear again of wars and rumours of wars and God knoweth what may be the issue and effect of them Acts 13. 41. Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your days a work which ye will in no wise believe though a man should tell you of them The danger of a Nation doth not lye in outward probabilities so much as in the threatnings of the word He alludeth to the horrible devastation of Iudea by the Chaldeans and applyeth it to the despising of the Gospel Would any believe that the Temple and City should be destroyed and the people of God carried captive that not one should remain yet this came In the time of Noah when they abounded in all things who would have thought of a Flood Many would say as that Nobleman If the Windows of Heaven were opened how could this be Who would have believed the horrible dissolution by the Romans or thirty years agone that which is now faln out in Germany Never think that our Armies and Forces are so strong as to withstand the threatnings of the Gospel for our horrible contempt God may blow upon all these props in an instant Therefore weep and mourn for the pride and rebellion of the Daughter of your people So for our private place What sins are there among us Some have withstood the ways of God though they have had convictions yet held out against them Some are prophane many defects in all Orders Paul was mightily troubled because the Church of Corinth was so much out of order he bewailed it with many tears 2 Cor. 2. 4. Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears So may I speak and you think of these things 't is time to mourn By way of motive consider First This is the best way to enter our protestation and dissent against the iniquity of the times When we cannot help a thing 't is good to retract it and commit it by tears to God for then it shall not be laid to our charge When the Corinthians mourned for incest committed among them and sorrowed with a godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 13. Ye are verily clear in this matter many of them did not only not approve but abhor that foul act before but they were not clear till they mourned and purged the Church from the imputation So you are not clear till you have done this Duty Secondly God may take occasion to punish you from their sins We are all Fuel fit for the burning Gods dispensation is not unrighteous as
mans holiness consists in loving God therefore his holiness need to be tryed whether it be a sincere love to God Psal. 44. 17. All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant There 's a tryal of love A man of strength seeks a fit Adversary to deal withal It is no tryal to a man of strength and courage that he can bear down a Child If we would try our strength fortitude sincerity and courage we had need be exposed to difficulty sometimes as the skill of a Pilot is seen in a Storm and Tempest and a valiant Souldier's in a Battel Verberat nos lacerat nos Iehovah patimur non est saevitia certamen est Sen. Doth the Lord scourge us doth he break us and tear us in all our concernments in pieces bear it it is not cruelty it is a tryal Religion must cost us something else it is worth nothing It will give you no comfort till it be tryed and therefore there 's a necessity that we should be tryed 4. Afflictions have their profit and use and conduce to our good Heb. 12. 11. It yields Grace and comfort to us it is the fruit of righteousness and the peaceable fruit of righteousness that is that righteousness which brings peace Outward troubles occasion an encrease of inward blessings Outward things are but shadows of better If God deny the shadow and give us the substance have we cause to murmure If God do deny the Picture but give the thing it self hath that man cause to complain If we have not abundance yet if we grow rich in faith rich in grace Iames 2. 5. we have no cause to repine against God Though we flow not in ease and plenty yet if we have a full tide of spiritual consolation if we have no respect in the world yet if we have the favour of God we have no reason to complain Levi had no portion among his Brethren but God was his portion So it is here good men have comfort and support at least in all their troubles they may be accounted miserable but they are not so especially if we consider that a great part of their goodness lies in their mortification and contempt of the world So that to a man that is as God would have him to be that which is a misery to others is none to him for his affections are weaned Therefore if we have an encrease of Grace and spiritual comfort we have no reason to quarrel against Gods Providence 5. Good men are but in part good and it is fit their carnal part should be chastised that while there are remainders of sin there should be some trouble that God should burn and cut here that he might spare hereafter that we should be judged of God and not condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11. 32. It is better that we should have our troubles than all our consolations here and nothing but Hell and misery in the world to come Use 1. Information If God be righteous then all that comes from him is righteous His word and his works Modus operandi sequitur modum essendi Righteous art thou O Lord and then Upright are thy judgments God acts according to his Being It is true a man may be just and yet all that proceeds from him may not always be just Why He is not essentially just but God being essentially just all that he does or says is just also A mans actions are one thing and his rule another A Carpenter that hath a Line without him may sometimes chop besides his Line but a man whose hand is his own Line can never chop amiss So a mans rule is without him his righteousness is one thing his nature another he may swerve and be just But God's act is his rule his righteousness is himself therefore whatever he does is just and righteous Men may be deceived but God deceiveth none and is deceived by none 1. His Word and every part of his Word is just it is in all things right commanding those things which natural Justice exacteth and forbidding those things which have a natural sinfulness and turpitude in them God is just and all his Judgments are just the way he hath set down for the justifying of Sinners and receiving them are just and righteous Rom. 3. 26. And the way he hath set down for the sanctifying of men to guide men in holiness it is a just Law Rom. 7. 12. The Commandment is holy just and good becoming such a pure nature to give and having nothing of exorbitancy or irregularity 2. The way God hath prescribed for saving such as follow this way of sanctification is just The righteous Judg will give a Crown of righteousness in that day 2 Tim. 4. 8. And the way for punishing such eternally as do despise eternal mercies is just they have received a just recompence of reward especially those that neglect so great salvation Heb. 2. 3. Gods Law flows from his righteous nature and it is a Copy of his righteousness therefore it becometh those that confess God to be righteous to acknowledge his Laws such and to live according to them 3. His works God hath his Judgments for those that do not accept the way of righteousness prescribed by him Psal. 145. 17. The Lord is just in all his ways and holy in all his works We are too busie in interpreting wrongs to others but when it lights upon us we do not acknowledge it Neh. 9. 33. Thou art just in all that is brought upon us c. Nay if thy hand be never so smart upon us Lord thou art righteous in all The only way to suppress murmuring and silence disputes and rebuke the Waves and Winds of discontent that toss the soul to and fro is to remember all Gods ways are just and true God taketh it ill when we question any of his works Are not my ways equal saith the Lord Ezek. 18. 25. When we thus acknowledge the dispensations of God to ourselves we may with profit observe them or others that we may applaud his proceedings Rev. 15. 3. Great and marvellous are thy works just and true are thy ways O King of Saints So Rev. 19. 2. For true and righteous are his judgments for he hath judged the great Whore which did corrupt the Earth with her fornications There is no hurt done and they are confirmed in his promises and the rule set down in the Scripture not afflicted but on just grounds 'T is good to observe this in all his dispensations Use 2. If God be a righteous God and all his Judgments right this is terrour to wicked men that securely wallow in the pleasures of sin without remorse and trouble Go on in the way of your own hearts give satisfaction to your senses please your eye withhold not your heart from any comfort you delight in but remember for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment As cold water
worthy to be believed The Summ is God hath his Testimonies extant their Authority is inviolable and their Justice and Truth immutable Some read Praecepisti Iustitiam Testimoniorum tuorum fidem valde Thou hast highly charged and earnestly commanded the righteousness and faithfulness of thy Testimonies as referring to our Duty But most Translations agree with ours Our duty indeed may be inferred but I shall not make it the formal interpretation of the place In the Texture of the Words in the Hebrew these Attributes are given to the Word it self Doctr. They that would profit by the word or rule of faith and manners which God hath commanded them to observe should look upon it as righteous and very faithful So did David here and elsewhere Psal. 19. 9. The Iudgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether I shall make good the Point by these Considerations Prop. 1. That our faith and obedience must be well-grounded or else they will have no firmness and stability The want of a foundation is the cause of many a ruinous Building Men carry on a fair and lofty Structure of profession but when the Winds of boisterous temptations are let loose upon them all is blown down because they build upon the Sand and not upon the Rock They take up this profession without sound evidence and conviction in their Consciences and so they are not grounded or setled in the faith Col. 1. 23. not rooted and grounded in love Ephes. 3. 7. They take up Religion sleightly not looking into the reasons of it upon Tradition or vulgar esteem they are not undoubtedly perswaded that it is the very truth of God The good Seed withered that fell upon the stony ground because there was no depth of Earth Matth. 13. 5. no considerable strength of soil to feed faith Prop. 2. Faith and obedience cannot be well-grounded but on such a Doctrine as is true and righteous for who can depend on that which is not true or who can obey that which is not righteous Truth is the only sure foundation for faith to build upon and righteousness for practice Faith considereth truth Ephes. 1. 13. In whom ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation And that righteousness is that which bindeth to practice we may gather from Psal. 119. 128. Therefore I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right and I hate every false way The Word commandeth nothing but what is just and righteous Prop. 3. This true and righteous Doctrine must be backed with a strong and powerful Authority not only recommended to us but strictly and severely enjoyned for two reasons First Because otherwise it will not be observed and regarded but be lookt upon not as a binding Law but as an arbitrary direction There is difference between a Law and a Rule A bare Rule may only serve to inform our understandings or to give direction but a Law is a binding Rule a Rule with a strong Obligation The Word of God is not his counsel and advice to us only but his Law that men may examine and regard it with more care and diligence God hath interposed his authority Psal. 1. â—…9 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently And in the Text Thy Testimonies which thou hast commanded God hath commanded us to believe all truths revealed to obey all duties required and if God commandeth there is good reason why he should be obeyed Secondly Divine authority is one means to evidence the righteousness and truth of what is to be believed and obeyed The righteousness for if God who is my Superior and hath a full right to govern me according to his own pleasure doth command me any thing it is best that I should obey it without reply and contradiction yea though I see not the reason of it Acts 17. 28. For in him we live and move and have our being All Creatures have their Being not only from him but in him and therefore sometimes God giveth no other account of his Law but this I am the Lord Lev. 22. 2 3. Speak unto Aaron and to his Sons that they separate themselves from the holy things of the Children of Israel and that they prophane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me I am the Lord. Say unto them Whosoever he be of all your Seed among your Generations that goeth unto the holy things which the Children of Israel hallow unto the Lord having his uncleanness upon him that soul shall be cut off from my presence I am the Lord. Therefore it gives rules of practice to be embraced with all the heart as holy just and good Gods authority is founded upon the total dependance of all Creatures upon him and upon his infallible Wisdom Truth and Goodness by which he hath right to prescribe all Points of Faith to be believed and assented to upon his own testimony without contradiction 1 Iohn 5. 9. If we receive the testimony of man the testimony of God is greater A man that would not deceive us we believe him upon his word though he may be deceived himself but God doth not deceive nor can he be deceived by the holy God nothing can be given but what is holy and good and thereupon I am to receive it Prop. 4. This Divine authority truth and righteousness is only to be found in Gods Testimonies which he hath commanded or in Gods Word First There is a God-like authority speaking there and commanding that which it becometh none but God to command who is the universal King and Sovereign For it speaketh to the whole World without respect of persons to King and Beggar rich and poor Male and Female without reservation of Honour or distinction of Degrees The Word looketh on them as standing before God on the same level Iob 34. 19. He accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regarded the rich more than the poor for they all are the work of his hands And speaketh to them indifferently and equally Exod. 20. 3. Thou shalt have no other Gods but me Which is not the voice of any limited and bounded Power but of that which is supreme transcendent and absolute And by these Laws he bindeth the Conscience and the immortal souls of men Psal. 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. Men may give Laws to the words and actions because they can take cognizance of them but the Word giveth Laws to the thoughts Isai. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts Matth. 5. 28. Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart And the internal motions and affections of the heart how we should love and fear and joy and mourn 1 Cor. 7. 30. They that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not Of these things God can only take notice the power
the Creature in appointing him such a law God hath the greatest Right and Authority to Command Isa. 33. 22. The Lord is our Iudge and our Law-giver 2. That there is not only direction given to us but an Obligation laid upon us There is this difference between a Law and a Rule a bare Rule is for Information a Law for Obligation So herein the Word of God agrees with a law 't is not only the result of Gods Wisdom but the effect of his Legislative Will He would not only help and instruct the Creature in his Duty but oblige him by his Authority Decretum necessitatem facit exhortatio liberam voluntatem excitat saith the Canonist Exhortation and Advice properly serveth to quicken one that is free but a decree and a law imposeth a force a necessity upon him So Hierom lib. 2. contra Iovin Ubi consilium datur operantis arbitrium est ubi praeceptum necessitas servitutis A Counsel and a Precept differ a Precept respects Subjects a Counsel Friends The scriptures are not only Gods Counsel but his Precept There is a Coactive power in his laws God hath not left the Creature at liberty to comply with his Directions if he please but hath left a strict charge upon him 3. Every law hath a sanction otherwise it were but an Arbitrary Direction the Authority might be Contemned unless it hath a sanction that is confirmed by Rewards and Punishments so hath God given his law under the highest penalties Mar. 16. 16. He that Believeth shall be saved and he that Believeth not shall be damned Gal. 6. 8. If ye sow to the Flesh of the Flesh ye shall reap Corruption Rom. 8. 13. If ye live after the Flesh ye shall die God telleth them what will come of it and commandeth them to abstain as they will answer it to God at their utmost peril The Obligation of a law first inferreth a fault that is Contempt of Authority so doth Gods as 't is his law and so will infer a fault in us to break it And as we reject his Counsel it inferreth Punishment and the greater Punishment the more we know of Gods law Rom. 2. 9. Tribulation Wrath and Anguish upon every soul that doeth evil upon the Iew first and also upon the Gentile Why the Iew first They knew Gods Mind more Clearly 4. A sanction supposeth a Judge who will take an account whether his law be broken or kept otherwise all the Promises and Threatnings were in vain The law that is the Rule of our Obedience is the Rule of his Process so the Word of God hath this in common with other laws therefore God hath appointed a Judge and a Judgment-day wherein he will judge the World in Righteousness by the Man whom he hath appointed and 2 Thes. 1. 8. He will come in flaming fire to render Vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the Gospel According to the law they have been under Gentiles Christians they must all appear before the Lord to give an account how they have observed Gods law Now in patience he beareth with men yet sometimes interposeth by particular Judgments but then they shall receive their final Doom 2. Let us see wherein they differ from ordinary laws among Men. 1. Man in his laws doth not debate matters with his Subjects but barely injoyneth and interposeth Authority but God condescendeth to the Infirmities of Man and cometh down from the Throne of his Sovereignty and reasoneth and perswadeth and prayeth Men that they will not forsake their own Mercies but yield Obedience to his laws which he convinceth them are for their good Isa. 46. 8. Remember this shew your selves Men bring it to mind again ye Transgressors Isa. 1. 18. Let us reason together saith the Lord. God is pleased to stoop to sorry Creatures to argue with them and make them Judges in their own Cause Micah 6. 2 3. he will plead with Israel O my People what have I done unto thee And wherein have I wearied thee Testifie against me He will plead with Israel about the equity of his laws whether they are not for their good 'T is a lessening of Authority for Princes to Court their Subjects they Command them but God will Beseech and Expostulate and Argue with his People 2 Cor. 5. 20. He draws with the Cords of a Man sweetly alluring their hearts to him 2 The laws of God bind the Conscience and the Immortal Souls of Men the laws of Men only bind the Behaviour of the outward Man they cannot order the Heart God takes notice of a wanton glance of an unclean thought a carnal motion Matth. 5. 28. Mens Words and Actions are liable to the laws of Men they cannot know the Thoughts but the law of God falls upon the Counsels of the Heart Rom. 7. 14. For I know that the law is Spiritual but I am Carnal Heb. 4. 12. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart 3 The law of God Immutably and Indispensibly bindeth all men without distinction no man beggeth exemption here because of their condition there is no Immunity and Freedom from Gods Law Men may grant Immunity from their laws 1 Sam. 17. 25. He will make his fathers house free in Israel Mens laws are compared to spiders Webs the lesser flies are intangled great ones break through God doth not exempt any Creature from Duty to him but speaketh Impartially to all 4 Mens laws do more propend to Punishment than they do to reward For Robbers and Manslayers Death is appointed but the innocent subject hath only this reward that he doth his Duty and escapeth these Punishments In very few cases doth the law Promise Rewards the inflicting of Punishments is its proper work because its use is to restrain Evil but Gods law propoundeth Punishments equal to the Rewards Eternal life on the one hand as well as Eternal death on the other Deut. 30. 15. See I have set before thee this day Life and good Death and evil because the use of Gods law is to guide men to their Happiness This should be much observed 't is legis candor the Equity and Condescension of Mans law to speak of a Reward it commands many things forbids many things but still under a penalty that 's the great design of mans Power in very few cases doth it invite men to their Duty by a Reward only in such cases when every good man would not do his Duty 'T is more exact and vigilant in its proper and natural work of punishing the disobedient that wickedness should not go unpunished the common Peace requireth that but that good should be rewarded there is no humane necessity Humane laws were not invented to reward Good but prevent Evil. Use. Let us humble our selves that we bear so little respect to Gods Word that we so boldly break it and are so little affected with our breaches of it do we indeed consider that this is Gods law The greatest
2. It must not be on forreign Reasons And then it must be Universal otherwise it is but like Herod who heard Iohn gladly and did many things c. Mark 6. 20. It must be deeply rooted otherwise it is but like the seed which fell on the Stony ground which received the Word with joy but dureth but for a while Matth. 13. 20. 1. Use. To shew how far they are from the Temper of Gods Children whose Delight is in Sin or the Pleasures of the Flesh. These have dreggy muddy Souls Their hearts are on sports plays merry-meetings These desires are soon cloyed leave a bitterness in the Soul till we contemn them we are never fit for an Holy Life See Gregory de Valentia 2. Use. Have we this Delight The Sincerity may be discerned 1. By the Extent It is extended to all the parts of the Word delight in the Promises and Precepts To be partial in the Law Hypocrites can well allow Mal. 2. 9. 2. It will be discerned by the Effects of it You will often Consult with it Psal. 119. 24. Thy Testimonies are my delight and my Counsellors 3. It will be a perpetual Delight Iob. 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he always call upon God You will own it in Affliction as in the Text. Many will delight in Gods Word when Prosperity accompanieth it but not in Trouble and Anguish You will delight in Obedience and in the way of his Testimonies not talk of it but do it The young Man's delight in Dinah made him Circumcise himself Gen. 34. 19. Lastly Compare it with your delight in things Sensible Temporal and Corporeal If it be sincere and cordial it will not onely equal but surmount these Verse 72. The Law of thy Mouth is better to me than thousands of Gold and Silver And Verse 162. I rejoyce in thy Word as one that findeth great Spoil Spiritual good is greater than Corporal our conjunction with it is more intimate greater and firmer The part gratified is more Noble the Soul than the Body it will make these dye that the other may live 3. Use. Let us be exhorted to do what we can for the begetting encreasing and cherishing this delight in our hearts If you love God you cannot but love his word which is so perfect a representation of him If you love Holiness you must needs delight in the Word this is the rule of it If you love Life and Happiness you must needs delight in the Word this is the way that leadeth us to so Blessed and Glorious an Estate If you love Christ you will love the Word which offereth him to you If you love the new Nature you will delight in the Word which is the Seed of it If you would speed in Prayer Ver. 77. Let thy tender Mercies come unto me for thy Law is my Delight If you would be supported in Affliction Verse 92. Unless thy Law had been my Delight I should then have perished in mine Affliction 4. Doctrine In the days of our Trouble and Anguish Gods Word will be a great delight and comfort to us Such a Comfort as will overcome the bitterness of our Affliction So saith David here When all Comforts have spent their Virtue then Gods Word will be a Comfort to us Here I shall shew First What Comfort the Word holds out to us Secondly Why Afflictions do not diminish it First What Comforts it holds forth 1. The Priviledges of the Afflicted Rom. 5. 1 2. We glory in Tribulations knowing that Tribulation worketh Patience Such may rejoyce in Tribulations Miseries are unstinged his Rods are not signs of his Anger They are in the favour of God and his heart is with them however his hand be smart upon them The Habitude and Nature of Afflictions is altered in themselves they are the Punishments of Sin and so their Natural tendency is to Despair and Bondage God seemeth to put the Old Covenant in suit against unbelieving sinners but now they are Tryals Preventions Medicines to Believers that proceed from love and are designed for their good 2. The Word holdeth forth the Blessedness of an other World 2 Cor. 4. 17 18. Our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Hope is not afrighted by Affliction but worketh Before Corn be ripened it needeth all kind of Weathers The Husbandman is glad of showers as well as sun-shine Rainy Weather is Troublesome but the season requireth it 3. It assureth us of what is acceptable to God Micah 6. 8. He hath shewed thee O Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God So it yieldeth comfort through the Conscience of our Duty and chearfull reflections on afflicted Innocency are not these Gods wayes which we desire to walk in and for which we are troubled 4. The Word hath notable Precepts that ease the Heart Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving let your Requests be made known unto God 1 Peter 5. 7. Casting all your Care upon him for he careth for you Proverbs 16. 3. Commit thy Works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be Established It biddeth us cast all our Cares upon God and commit our selves to the Guidance of his Providence 5. It giveth us many Promises of Gods being with us and strengthning and delivering us and giving us a gracious Issue out of all our Troubles 1 Corinthians 10. 13. God is Faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able But will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Now it is a great ease to the Soul to fly to these Promises which are made to his Afflicted Servants 6. It breedeth Faith which fixeth the Heart Psalm 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. It breedeth Fortitude or cleaving to God under the greatest Trials 2 Samuel 6. 22. And Psalm 44. 17 18. Now this becometh a Testimony and Proof of our Love to God and so bringeth Comfort It breedeth Obedience and the doing of good leaveth a Pleasure behind it After Sin a sting remaineth Romans 2. 14 15. It breedeth Waiting and Patience when all Hope is cut off Micah 7. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation When such Trouble is on us as no end appeareth of it Most mens Comfort holdeth out but whilst there is hope of turning the Stream of things They are not satisfied in their Duty nor comforted with Promises but born up with Hopes of Success Secondly Why Afflictions do rather increase than diminish this 1. They drive us to these Comforts Man liveth by sense more than by Faith when he hath any thing about him but his sorrows drive him to God
thou hast shut thy door pray to thy Father which is in Secret c. We have more inlargement there because we represent our own Case to God Mourn apart Ier. 13. 17. My Soul shall weep in Secret places We are flat cold loose careless in private strive to speak with the same power life holiness in private as you would in publick 4. What you would be in Prayer you must be out of Prayer Prov. 26. 7. The Legs of the lame are not equal so is a Parable in the mouth of a Fool. As the legs of the Lame one doth not answer another They are devout all of a fire in their Prayers but neglectful of God in their Conversations Eph. 6. 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit watching thereunto with all perseverance Prov. 28. 9. He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be an abomination He doth not live his Prayers We must live in the same frame 5. You must pray as affectionately for Heavenly as you would for Earthly things A Carnal Mans Mind and Heart is upon Worldly things and Spiritual things lye by contrary to Matth. 6. 33. where we are bid First to seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof c. And Psal. 27. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple They have no savour for other requests but can find tender affections for safety ease sloth other Petitions do but bear these Company there is their business with God if God will give these things we will give a discharge for other things So that their prayers do not come from Grace but Nature Thanks to his natural Necessities for all the Affections he hath in Prayer 6. We must not onely have our Flashes and good Moods So Balaam Numb 23. 10. Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his So those Ioh. 6. 34. Then said they unto him Lord evermore give us this bread Strange strivings for the present but it is onely for Priviledges 'T is vanishing Iob 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty Will he alwaies call upon God They would have Heaven without Holiness Pardon of sin rather than power against it or a new heart He will pray when he seeth his Time as men take strong-waters in a Pang he hath a praying fit upon him in Adversity not in Prosperity Hosea 5. 15. In their Affliction they will seek me early 7. As you Pray to God so you must intirely Trust him Iames 1. 6 7. Let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the Sea driven with the Wind and tossed A Carnal Man wavereth he would fain have help from God but his heart runneth upon other things Hosea 7. 11. Ephraim is like a silly Dove without Heart they Call to Aegypt they Go to Assyria Their Hearts are for seeking to other Refuges however they call to God among the rest Ahaz would not ask a sign that would engage him to depend upon God and keep him from running to other shifts Sometimes he thinketh Prayer will do it and by and by desponds dareth not trust God upon his Prayers he knoweth not what course to take whither to shift for himself or to tarry Gods leisure But one that commits all to God is fixed Psal. 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil Tydings his Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. He is freed from Anxious Cares SERMON CLXIII PSALM CXIX VER 145. I Cryed with my whole Heart hear me O Lord I will keep thy Statutes SEcondly Here is the Petition Hear me or as it is in the Heb. Answer me not in Words but Deeds Doctrine Gods Children when they pray are earnest for an Answer To give you some Instances Psal. 85. 8. I will hear what God the Lord will speak A Gracious Heart doth not make Prayer a vain babling or an empty prattle but a Gracious Exercise that will in time get an Answer and obtain a good return or blessing from the Lord. Therefore they are listening and hearkening after News from Heaven if they can hear any thing from God how he receiveth their Prayers and what he will do for them Micah 7. 7. Therefore I will look unto the Lord I will wait for the God of my Salvation My God will hear me They are not only waiting but observing and watching what cometh in upon prayer for they are certain 't is not breath poured out into the Air but a petition commended to their God who hath promised to hear them So Hab. 2. 1. I will stand upon my Watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what he will say to me He compareth himself to a Watchman that is spying abroad if he can get any intelligence of any approaching Comfort So Psal. 5. 3. I will pray and look up as Elijah if he could spy a Cloud any preparation towards Mercy Reasons 1. Because they dare not take Gods Name in Vain as all do that pray cursorily and never regard what cometh of it like foolish Boys that knock at a door in wantonness but have no business and therefore will not stay till somebody cometh to open the door 'T is a great sin to take Gods Name in Vain in any Act of Worship much more in Prayer Now all do so that go about this duty as a task not as a means to do their Souls good or to obtain Blessings from God when I hear meerly that I may hear or receive the Lords Supper and rest in the act of receiving Every Ordinance must be gone about in Faith and Obedience expecting the ends of the Duty as well as being imployed in the Acts of it If you do it in good earnest and with respect to Gods institution you must do so All the Ordinances come under a fourfold Notion as Duties as Priviledges as Means as Talents As Duties injoyned and a part of our homage and Obedience to God this will breed an awe upon our Conscience to keep us to a due and constant observance of them 't is not a matter Arbitrary but our necessary Duty As Priviledges this keepeth us from weariness that we may not consider them as a burdensome task As Means of our growth and improvement that notion is necessary that we may not rest in the work wrought but look after the Grace dispensed thereby As Talents for which we must give an account which will quicken us to more earnest diligence in the Improvement Some do not look upon them as Duties and so neglect them Others not as Priviledges and so do not prize them are not Joyful in the house of Prayer Others not as Means and so rest in the bare performance without looking after the fruits to
to plead and standeth to judge his people He will bring matters under a Review and will powerfully shew himself against their Oppressors To this pleading Iob alludeth when he saith Iob 23. 6. Will he plead against me with his great power if he should use his Almighty and Invincible power against me he would easily ruine me So Ezek. 38. 22. I will plead against him with Pestilence and with Blood against Gog and Magog that is the Sythians Turks and Tartars So that you see that God's pleading is not by speaking or by Word of Mouth but by the Veugeance of his Providence against those that wrong his people So against Babylon Ier. 51. 36. Thus saith the Lord Behold I will plead thy cause and take vengeance for thee But that this is a mixt act of Patron and Judge see Micah 7. 9. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute Iudgment for me he will bring me forth to the light and I shall behold his Righteousness When Gods People provoke him to anger by their sins he casteth them into Troubles and then their Adversaries are Chief and their Cause is much darkned and obscured all this while God is pleading against them but it is not the Enemies Quarrel but his own Vindication of abused Mercy and Goodness but when once the controversie is taken up between God and them by their Submission and clearing his Justice and imploring his Mercy then God will plead their Cause and take their part against the instruments of his Vengeance and clear their righteous cause who only sought their own ends in afflicting them when God hath exercised their Humility and Patience he will thus do and how I pray you will he plead for them the Text saith there by executing Judgment for them that is by putting his sentence in Execution and then will restore to them their wonted priviledges and own them in the publick view of all and make manifest they are his he will bring them forth to the Light and they shall see his Righteousness 3. The Effect of God's pleading which is the clearing of God's people and the convincing of their Adversaries which God doth partly by the Eminency and Notableness of the Providences whereby he delivereth his people and the markes of his Favour put upon them Nehem. 6. 16. And it came to pass that when all our Enemies heard thereof and all the Heathen that were about us saw these things they were much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God Their own Judgments were convinced of their folly in opposing the Iews the extraordinary success shewed the hand of God was in it by such incredible and remarkable occurrences doth God bring about their deliverance So Micah 7. 10. When God shall plead her cause then she that is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me where is the Lord thy God mine eyes shall behold her now shall she be trodden dâ—…wil as the mire of the streets Those who mocked her Faith should be confounded at the sight of her Deliverance Thus God delights to make the happiness of his people Conspicuous So Rev. 3. 9. Behold I will make them which are of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews and are not but do lie behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee He will make their Enemies to know that he hath loved them and ask them forgiveness for the wrongs and outrages done to them Partly by the Convictions of his Spirit undeceiving the World and reproving them for the hatred and malice against his People Ioh. 16. 8. The Comforter when he is come shall reprove the world of Sin of Righteousness and of Iudgment The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Comfort but Convince or Reprove put them to silence so as they shall not in Reason gainsay The Object the World the Unconverted if not the Reprobate The things whereof Convinced of Sin and Righteousness and Judgment of the Truth of Christs Person and Doctrine This was spoken for the Comfort of the Disciples who were to go abroad and beat the Devil out of his Territories by the Doctrine of the Cross that were weak men destitute of all Worldly sufficiencies and Props and Aids Their Master suffered as a seducer their Doctrine cross to mens carnal Interests for them in this manner to venture upon the raging World was a heavy discouraging thing Now the Spirit should come and convince the opposing World so far that some terrified before brought to Evangelical Repentance Acts 2. 37. Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart soon desire to share in their great Priviledge Acts 8. 18 19. And when Simon saw that through laying on the Apostles hands the holy Ghost was given he offered them money saying Give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost but he was yet in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Some almost perswaded Acts 26. 28. Then Agrippa said unto Paul almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian. Some forced to magnifie them who did not joyn with them Acts 5. 13. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them but the people magnified them Some would have worshipped them being yet Pagans Acts 14. 11 13. And when the people saw what Paul had done they lift up their voices saying in the speech of Lycaonia the Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men Then the Priests of Iupiter which was before their City brought Oxen and Garlands to the gates and would have done sacrifice with the people Others bridled that were afraid to meddle with them Acts 5. 34 35. Then stood there up one in the Council a Pharisee named Gamaliel a Doctor of Law had in reputation among all the people and commanded to put the Apostles forth a little space and said unto them Ye men of Israel take heed to your selves what ye intend to do as touching these men That Christ that Messias that Righteous Person one able to Vanquish the Devil thus without any visible force and with mere Spiritual Weapons by this conviction of the Spirit did the Lord subdue the World to the owning and receiving Christs Kingdom at least not go on in an high hand to oppose it God cleared Christ as righteous and Lord. II. The Necessity of this pleading 1. Because the People of God are often in such a Condition that none will plead their Cause unless the Lord plead it and therefore we are driven to him as our Judge and Patron God's design is not to gain the World by Pomp and Force but by spiritual Evidence and Power and therefore as to Externals it is often worse with his People than with others for the World is upon their Tryal and
therefore though God will give sufficient means of Conviction yet not always such evident marks of his Favour to the best Cause in Temporal things as that mere sense shall lead them to embrace it No he will onely set a good Cause a-foot and then suffer it to be exposed to the hatred of the World and sometimes to be over-born as to any Temporal Interest it can get that the mere Evidence and Love of Truth may gain men and not any secular motives All the countenance and owning God will give to it is by infusing Courage and Constancy to his Servants to suffer for it and so they overcome by the blood of the Lamb and not loving their Lives to the Death Rev. 12. 11. he speaketh of such a time when the Church seemeth weakest like a poor woman Travelling and her Enemies seem strongest like a great Red Dragon ready to devour the Child assoon as born Now though at such a time the Church is overcoming and the Devil and his Instruments are but pulling down their own Throne and establishing Christs while they are shedding the Blood of his Saints Yet none of this appeareth and is visibly to be seen Though suffering be a sealing and ratifying of the Truth yet to the Worlds eye it seemeth a suppressing and over-bearing of it Therefore few will own such a despised hated persecuted way and the difficulty is the greater when there is much of Gods Truth owned by the persecuting side and the contest is not about the main of Christianity but some lesser Truths and so the opposition is more disguised then certainly it may be said Isa. 59. 4. None calleth for Iustice nor any pleadeth for Truth all half Friends are discouraged therefore nothing is left the people of God but their Prayers Lord plead my cause David in the Text appealeth to Gods Judgment when he was deserted by men burdened by prejudices oppressed by mans wrong Judgment So often Gods People are not able to defend themselves and few in the World will own them or be Advocates for them then God will take their cause in hand In the Civil Law if a man could not get an Advocate metu adversarii the Judge was to appoint him one to plead for him So God taketh notice of his Peoples Condition Ier. 30. 13. There is none to plead thy cause that thou mayst be bound up Often among men none can or dareth undertake the defence and patronage of oppressed Right 2. Though we have a good Cause and hopeful Instruments yet we cannot plead it with any effect till God shew himself from heaven Nay though the Cause be never so right and just and Instruments and Means hopeful yet it requireth God's power to keep it a-foot For the justice of the Cause must not be relyed on nor probable means rested in but God must have the Trust of the Cause and the Glory of maintaining it otherwise by our own ill managing or by some secret and unseen opposition it will Miscarry Psal. 9. 4. Thou â—…st maintained my right and my cause thou satest in the Throne judging right This is a work wherein God will be seen while it is in agitation or under decision God will have the Trust and when it is over he will have all the Glory III. What Hopes or Grounds there are to expect that God will plead the Cause of his People 1. He can 2. He will Infinite Power and infinite Justice can do it 1. He can The Lord is able he that pleadeth our Cause hath infinite Power Prov. 23. 11. Their Redeemer is mighty he shall plead their cause with thee It is easie to bear down a few afflicted Creatures that have no strength or heart to oppose being in bonds and under oppression but there is a mighty God who when he pleadeth any ones cause he will do it to the purpose really and effectually delivering them for whom he pleadeth Ier. 50. 34. Their Redeemer is strong the Lord of Hosts is his name he will throughly plead their Cause that he may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon 2. He will Considering 1. Their Relation to God 2. God's Relation to them and to the whole World 1. Because of their Relation to him the Dominus the Lord whom they had chosen was to be their Patronus they that have put themselves under Gods Protection and are faithful to him keeping close to his Word he will plead their cause and manage it as his own Isa. 51. 22. Thus saith thy Lord the Lord and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling even the dregs of the cup of my fary thou shalt no more drink it again He being their Soveraign Lord had undertaken to protect his Servants he counteth the wrongs done to them done to himself Acts 9. 4. Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Especially since molested for his Truth 2. Because of his Relation to them he is the Supream Potentate and the righteous Judge of the World and so bound by his office to defend the weak and innocent when oppressed Psal. 146. 7. He executeth judgment for the opppressed those that should maintain Right upon Earth and punish Wrongs are often prevaricators but the Judge of all the Earth will do Right he is an impartial Judge and will maintain the cause of his People Prov. 22. 22 23. Rob not the poor because he is poor neither oppress the afflicted in the gate For the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them Though no Relation to him yet if poor if afflicted if destitute of humane help the Lord taketh himself to be the Patron of all such much more his People Use. I. To rebuke our Fears and Mis-giving of Heart When we see the best men go to the Walls and to be made objects of Scorn and Spight we are apt to say as the Church doth in the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 40. 27. My way is â—…id from the Lord and my judgment is passed over from my God that is in effect that God doth wholly neglect them and will not plead their Cause Oh no! he knoweth what strife there is between us and our Adversaries and how good our Cause is and how much he is concerned in it onely we must wait his leisure and bear his Indignation until he plead True submission to God ought to prescribe no day to him but referr all to his Will Use. II. Let us commit our Cause to the Lord as the expression is Iob 5. 8. I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my cause who is the Friend and Advocate of the Afflicted and hath promised to be so and to keep us from the hand of the wicked and the mouth of the wicked from their hand and violence so far as it shall be for his Glory Isa. 49. 25. I will contend with him that contendeth with thee and I
and sinless Purity for so it is wholly unsuitable to them what should a carnal sensual heart do with heaven or how should they desire it that hate the Company of God the Communion of Saints the Image of God God maketh meet Col. 1. 12. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light There is jus haereditarium jus aptitudinale though they do not desire to be saved for it they would love holiness more Partly because those conceits that they have of the adjuncts of Salvation and that happiness and personal Contentment which results to them they do not practically esteem it as to value it above the delights of the flesh and the Vanities of the World and they do not think it worthy the pursuit but for the interests of the bodily Life cast off all care of it Heb. 12. 16. As Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright Mar. 22. 5. They made light of it and went their wayes one to his Farm another to his Merchandise Use. I. It informeth us of two things 1. That wicked Men are the Authors of their own Ruine Salvation doth not fly from them but they fly from it they are far from the Law and therefore is Salvation far from them They will not take the course to be saved for they care not for God and his Statutes it is but just ut qui male vivit male pereat that they which despise Salvation should never see it 2. That the wicked buy the pleasures of sin at a dear rate since they defraud their own Souls of Salvation thereby Their loss you have in the Text Salvation is far from them and their gain is nothing but a little Temporal satisfaction and are these things worthy to be compared what is it maketh you wicked but the ease and sloth of the Flesh and the love of some carnal delight And are you contented to Perish for this Whoredom from God Use. II. Let it Exhort us to believe and improve this Truth for if men did surely believe it there would not be so many wicked men as there are neither would they dare to lye in sin as long as they do O! consider if the wicked have no part nor portion in the Salvation offered nor any jot of Gods Favour belonging to them the wicked should not flatter themselves with presumptuous hopes but break off their sins by Repentance 1. Gods Mercy will not help you though he be a God of Salvation yet he will not save the impenitent and such as go on still in their Trespasses Psal. 68. 19 20 21. Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits even the God of our salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death But God shall wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his Trespasses You must not fancy a God all honey and sweetness and that his Mercy should be exercised to the wrong of his Justice the Lord will not spare the abusers of Grace whoever he spareth Deut. 29. 19 20. And it shall come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that if he bless himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of my heart to add drunkenness to thirst the Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his Iealousie shall smoke against that man and all the curses that are written in this book shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under Heaven 2. No Doctrine preached in the Church will bear you out not Law for that discovereth both Sin and the Curse Convinceth of sin Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knowledge of sin what is sin and who is the sinner that bindeth you over to the curse Gal. 3. 10. For as many as are of the law are under the curse for it is written Cursed is every one that continneth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them The Gospel that sheweth a Remedy against sin but upon Gods Terms that first with broken hearts we sue out our Pardon 1 Ioh. 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrightcousness Sin must be condemned confessed before pardoned And then that in the way of Holiness we should seek Salvation and Eternal Life The Way and End must not be separated Rom. 6. 22. We must have our fruit unto holiness if we would have our end to be eternal life The pure and undefiled have only part in this salvation but it is far from the wicked Christ disclaims the unholy and unsanctified Mar. 7. 23. Depart from me ye that work iniquity You may as well expect the way to the West should bring you Eastward as to walk in the wayes of sin and hope to come to Heaven at last to think God will save us and suffer us to walk in our own ways or that this undefiled Inheritance shall be bestowed on dirty sinners this had been pleasing to flesh and blood but it is the Devils Covenant not Gods that Article you shall be saved and yet live in your sins is foisted in by Satan that false Deceiver to flatter men with vain Conceits 3. Do you hope of Repentance hereafter But in the mean time ye run a desperate hazard to leave the Soul at pawn in Satans hands it is not easie work to get it out again who would Poison himself upon a presumption that before it cometh to his heart he shall meet with an Antidote Judicial hardness is layed on them that withstand seasons of Grace Isa. 55. 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Prov. 1. 24 25 26. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsels and would none of my reproofs I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh None of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper Luk. 14. 24. 4. The Heart is more hardened the longer you continue in this Course Heb. 3. 13. But exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Inveterate Diseases are seldom cured a tree that hath long stood and begun to wither is unfit to be Transplanted Ier. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil 5. There is a stint and measure as to Nations Gen. 15. 16. The iniquity of the Ammorites is not yet full Persons Vessels of Mercy Vessels of Dishonour Rom. 9. 22 23. What if God willing to shew his
his Misery notwithstanding sin And so the giving of Christ to be the Saviour of the World Tit. 3. 4. But after the loving-kindness of God our Saviour to mankind appeared his Man-kindness this was pity to us above the Angels no remedy was plotted for them And then his peculiar Mercy is to his Elect in Christ so the Lord saith Rom. 9. 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy This is again seen either in the first Grace or bestowing that upon us or in all the subsequent Grace that we stand in need of 1. The first Grace is Pardoning all our past sin or receiving us into a state of Favour upon our Repentance so 't is made the motive Ioel 2. 13. Turn unto the Lord for he is merciful Penitent sinners will find him so to be The Apostle saith 1 Tim. 1. 13. But I obtained mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was overwhelmed in mercy So also in giving us an heart to Repent and turn unto him 1 Pet. 1. 3. we were unworthy and miserable sinners could not help ourselves and then his eye pitied us and his handsaved us by his preventing grace he brought us home to himself 2. In all the subsequent Grace that we stand in need of so the Objects of his Mercy must have a qualification such as fear God Psal. 103. 12. Such as love him and keep his Commandments Exod. 20. 6. That walk according to the Rule of his Word exactly Gal. 6. 16. To the Merciful Matth. 5. 7. For to the Unmerciful God will not shew himself Merciful Iam. 2. 13. but to those that are thus qualified he reneweth his pardoning mercy in taking away the guilt of our daily failings Psal. 25. 7. His sanctifying mercy by freeing them more and more from the dominion of Sin Rom. 6. 14. His preserving mercy by delivering them from Afflictions so far as it is convenient Psal. 119. 41. Let thy mercies come unto me O Lord even thy salvation according to thy Word Lam. 3. 22. It is of the Lords mercy we are not consumed because his compassions fail not His rewarding mercy Iude 21. Looking for the mercy of God unto eternal Life So Psal. 62. 12. Also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his work He will graciously Accept Reward and Crown every sincere and faithful Servant of his when they have done their work Sincerity and faithfulness shall be accepted and rewarded when Infirmities and Weaknesses shall be pardoned and covered Secondly Let me now open the two Adjuncts of his Mercy 1. 'T is Tender Mercy Luk. 1. 78. Through the tender mercy of our God The word signifieth Bowels as when you see a poor miserable Creature your Bowels work within you especially if you be related to him Misericordia complectitur affectum effectum Let us take the nearest Relation If you be a Father we need not much intreat a Father to pity a poor helpless Child his own Bowels will perswade him to it Psal. 103. 13. Like as a father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Or if you think passions in Females more vehement take the relation of a Mother as Hagar was affected to Ishmael when the water was spent in the Bottle she sate over against the Child and lift up her Voice and wept Gen. 21. 16. God will take the Affections of a Mother as Isa. 49. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea she may forget yet will I not forget thee 'T is passionately set out by the Prophet if all the Compassions of all Fathers and Mothers were joined together 't were nothing to God he is the Father of Mercies he is Pitiful and Merciful Iam. 5. 11. 't is true there is in God no Sickness or trouble of Mind no Commotion but there is Pity and tender Love though no Perturbation which will not stand with the perfection of his Nature that is he layeth to heart and taketh notice of our Misery The tenderness of God may be known by the Compassion which Christ had in the dayes of his Flesh for he was the express Image of his Fathers Person now we read Matth. 9. 36. When he saw the multitude he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were as sheep scattered abroad that had no shepherd Their Teachers did not do their duty to them in any profitable way this wrought upon Christ heart when he saw the Multitude So when he saw many sick and under noisom Diseases Matth. 14. 14. when they followed him he pitied them and helped them So Matth. 15. 37. Iesus had compassion on the multitude when they continued with him three dayes and had nothing to eat The Care of mans welfare lieth near unto Christ's heart before the Disciples took notice of it he taketh notice of the Peoples Necessities and is affected with it he would not send them away fasting The two Blind men when they feelingly layed out their Miseries Matth. 20. 34. Iesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes So Luk. 7. 13. The Widow of Naim lamented her only Son the Lord saw her and had compassion on her and said unto her weep not This for a taste what a tender heart Christ had and in heaven he is still a Merciful High-Priest he came down on Purpose to acquaint himself with our Greifs and Sorrows Surely he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and Gods Pity though it hath no Trouble with it is real operative and efficacious 2. His Tender Mercy is seen in his readiness to hear and help and come in to the Cry of his People if they be but any thing humble and profitable in their Afflictions Isa. 58. 10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day Luk. 15. 20. And he arose and came to his father but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him When the Son was coming the Father run to meet him Isa. 65. 2 4. Before they call I will answer as if God could not tarry to hear the Prayer made Psal. 32. 5. I said I would confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Ier. 31. 19 20. Surely after I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. The first relentings of the Creature work upon the Bowels of Gods Mercy when we do but conceive a
powerful to Convert from one Religion to another from one state to another 1. From one Religion to another have any of the nations changed their gods Ier. 2. 11. there needs much ado to bring men from a false Religion wherein they have been brought up how vain and foolish soever it be yet this power the Word hath Though the Doctrine of a Crucified Christ were so distastful partly as now drawing men from their old Temples and Altars and Ceremonies wherein they were educated especially as incredible offering Life by one that died and partly as contrary to the carnal Gust as requiring Duties distastful to flesh and blood and ingaging in Troubles and Persecutions yet it prevailed 2. Converting men from a state of Nature to a state of Grace so that they are as it were born To bring men to hate what they naturally love and love what we naturally hate 't is hard to alter the nature of things Isa. 11. 6. To quicken the Dead to purifie the Unclean confirm the Weak to meeken the Proud and Passionate Oh who would not reverence such a Word such a Law and Doctrine as can do all this yet this and much more hath the Word done 3. It s Authority Eccl. 8. 3 4. Where the word of a King is there is power or Authority to back it how is it where God's is We reckon not of the words of a private Person though never so wise Eccl. 9. 14 15 16. The poor mans wisdom is despised and his words are not heard Where the command of a King cometh it cometh with Authority for he hath power to back it and to avenge himself on whosoever shall contradict it but wise counsel where there is no Authority to enforce it is little regarded but now with God is Soveraign Majesty and in his Word wherein Sentence is pronounced concerning every Person and Action according to which Judgment doth proceed and will be executed 2. Reason is taken from the matter of the Word 't is direction about our Everlasting concernments Deut. 32. 46 47. Set your hearts unto all the things which I command you this day for it is not a vain thing it is your life In a matter of Life and death a man cannot be too exact and nice yea in the obedience or disobedience of the Word Life or Death Eternal is concerned yea in every action morally considered the Word telleth you what is the Merit of it and what will be the Event or an evil or a good estate Man would fain know his destiny whether happy or miserable here you may know whether you shall live for ever with God Man in his Laws doth not Threaten or Promise beyond his Power his Power reacheth to mens outward Estate and no further and is only limited to the bounds of the present Life therefore the sanction of their Laws are never extended beyond the Promises or Threats of present and outward Good to give or take away mens Liberty Wealth Estate Life at most But God Threatneth everlasting Fire Matth. 25. 41. Promiseth an Inheritance Immortal 1 Pet. 1. 4. As God commandeth inward Holiness Righteousness Love so Eternal Rewards and Eternal Penalties things that concern us more nearly than Estates Liberties Peace yea our Lives themselves 3. Reason Because of the profit of standing in Awe of the Word 1. It fortifieth us and preserveth us in such Temptations as arise from the Fear of Man where there is a Reverence and Awfulness of Gods Word the greater Awe overcometh the less In such a Temptation a Man may miscarry two ways by Distrust of God and Disobedience to him The one is the Cause of the other Now that we may not distrust him 't is good to set Fear against Fear God against the Creature Ier. 1. 8. Be not afraid of their face for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the Lord. His powerful Protection should incourage us against their wrathful disposition Isa. 51. 12 13. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die and the son of man that shall be as grass and forgettest the Lord thy Maker The Immortal and Almighty God is able to bear us out a due sense of the Power of the Almighty checketh the Fear of Men. Or by Disobedience we dishonour him certainly a gracious heart feareth more to offend God than to fall into any Temporal inconvenience Isa. 8. 12 13. Neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid but sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and dread 1 Pet. 3. 14 15. But if ye suffer for righteousness sake happy are ye and be not afraid of their terrour but sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts But let him be your Fear and your Dread Be afraid to offend so Holy a Majesty the Countenance of Princes is very awful unto Men but the Fear of Gods Wrath should overcome the fear of Mans Displeasure even of the Greatest Heb. 11. 27. He feared not the wrath of the king because he saw him that was invisible 2. It maketh a man sincere When a Man standeth in Awe of the Word he obeyeth in Presence and Absence Phil. 2. 12. and avoideth secret as well as open Sins Gen. 39. 9. Sins of Thought as well as in Deed. Heart-sins which the Laws of Men cannot take hold of but the Fear of God is in stead of all Laws 2 Cor. 1. 12. Conscience is to them more than shame of men Something without keepeth back wickedmen but something within the Godly Abners question was not good how shall I hold up my face to thy brother Ioah 2 Sam. 2. 22. he should have said how shall I hold up my face to the Lord thy God Though an upright man might do wickedly uncontrouled of man and no body seeth him or punisheth him yet Reverence of God and his Word restraineth him 3. It maketh a man punctual and exact when afraid to do any thing contrary to Gods revealed Will 't is Universal and 't is Powerful 'T is Universal the Soul that maketh Conscience of the Word is more thorough in Obedience there will be failings but for the main his Heart is sound with God and lesser failings are retracted by Repentance Psal. 141. 1 2. And Powerful stand in Awe and sin not Psal. 4. 4. this will cause us to stop in an evil Course on the remembrance of our Duty as Davids Heart smote him when he cut off the Lap of Sauls Garment Some think the Text then verified my heart standeth in Awe of thy Word a Commandment was in his way Use. I. Is to shew us what frame of Spirit they are under who despise the Word 1. All do so who Deliberately and Voluntarily prefer their own Will before the Will of God 2 Sam. 12. 9. Wherefore hast thou sinned in despising the commandment They obeyed their own inclination whatever the Word saith to the contrary Despising the commandment is the root of all Sin as Formality of wilful
respect to the end now if they do not make the Everlasting injoyment of God their end the Scriptures are of little use to them a trouble rather than a comfort because they disturb them in pursuing their lusts but a man that would injoy God get to his Holy Hill is apprehensive of the benefit 2. They are not affected with their wants and therefore esteem not the Word For the great benefit of the Word is to teach us a remedy for sin and misery now they that mind not the misery and danger in which they stand go on carelesly and despise the Word of God Prov. 22. 3. A prudent man forseeth the Evil and hideth himself but the simple passe on and are punished They little think of the evil which is near them and so slight the Counsel of God Secondly Those that will not believe them that find sweetness in it as if all were phantastical and imaginary Are the wisest and most serious part of mankind deceived And hath the carnal fool only the wit to discern the mistake Surely in all reason it should be otherwise These tell us of those delights and transports of soul in meditating on the Promises in purifying their Hearts by the Precepts and though a stranger intermedleth not with their Joyes yet surely these find them All that is spiritual and supernatural is suspected by those who are drowned in matters of sense Iohn 12. 29. A voice from Heaven is Thunder the motions of the Spirit fumes of Wine Acts 3. 13. Joy in the Holy Ghost but a fancy c. Thirdly Them that count it an Alphabetary knowledge fit for beginners David was no Novice yet he rejoyced in the Word as one that found great spoil the more conversant he was in these Holy Writings the more he delighted in them No 'T is not only Childrens meat there is not only Milk there but strong Meat also Heb. 5. 14. 'T is our Rule to walk by till our blessedness be perfected The continual store-house of our comforts Rom. 15. 4. 'T is the continual means of growing into Communion with God in Christ. Use. II. To exhort us to delight in the Word of God 'T is the work and mark of a Blessed man Psal. 1. 2. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he Meditate day and night As far as the necessities of the present life will bear it they are still getting more Knowledge of true Blessedness and the way that leadeth to the Injoyment of it This is their business and pleasing Study His work is to form his heart to a sincere uniform impartial obedience and as he doth increase in Godliness by the help of the Word his soul is more satisfyed all the joyes of the World to this are nothing to him Are your Hearts thus set to know the Lord and his revealed Will and the way of Life SERMON CLXXVII PSALM CXIX VER 163. I hate and abhor lying but thy law do I love IN this Verse the Man of God sheweth his Affection to the Word by the Hatred of those things which are contrary to the Word Observe here First Affection set against Affection Secondly Object against Object First Affection against Affection Hatred against Love Love and Hatred are natural Affections which are good or evil according to the Objects to which they are applyed Place Love on the World Sin and Vanity and nothing worse place Hatred on God Religion Holiness and it soon proveth an hellish thing But now set them upon their proper objects and they express a gracious Constitution of Soul let us hate Evil and love Good Amos 5. 15. and all is well Man needeth affections of Aversation as well as Choice and Pursuit Hatred hath its use as well as Love Love was made for God and things that belong to God and Hatred for Sin 't was put into us that at the first appearance sense or imagination of Evil we might retire our selves and fly from it and is any thing so evil as sin so contrary to God so baneful to the Soul The office of Love is to adhere and cleave to God and whatever will bring us to the injoyment of him and the office of hatred is that we may truly and sincerely turn from all evil with Detestation according to the nature and degree of evil that is in it The Emphasis of the Text is notable I hate and abhor it must be a thorough Hatred which David Psal. 139. 22. calleth a perfect hatred Secondly Here is Object set against Object As Love is opposed to Hatred so the Law to Lying for the Word of God is Truth and requireth truth of all that submit to it pure sincerity and simplicity Some render the word more generally the Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I hate and abominate iniquity other Translations render it not so they expound it so that one kind is put for all the rest and fitly for every sin is a falsehood and often called in this Psalm a false way and a lye and will fail and beguile all them who are delighted with it and the purport and drift is that we should admit omit commit nothing which is contrary to the Word of God which is the great object of an holy mans Love The Points are three Doctrine I. They that love the word of God must hate sin Doctrine II. That a slight hatred of a sinful course is not enough but we must hate and abhor it Doctrine III. That among other sins we must hate falshood and lying and all kind of frauds and deceits For the first Point Doct. I. They that love the Word of God must hate sin This implyeth four things 1. That our Love must be demonstrated by such effects otherwise it is but pretended if we do not avoid what it forbiddeth for our love to God and his VVord is mostly seen in Obedience and dutiful Subjection to him and it for Gods Love is a Love of Bounty our Love is a Love of Duty he is said to love us when he blesseth us and bestoweth on us the effects of his special Grace and Favour we are said to love him when we obey him These Propositions are clear in Scripture That our love to God is tryed by our love to the VVord And our love to the VVord by our hatred of Sin Ioh. 14. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me And Verse 23. If any man love me he will keep my words On the contrary our Enmity to God and his VVord is determined by our love to Sin Enmity to God Col. 1. 21. Enemies in your minds by evil works To his VVord Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is not subject to the Law neither indeed can be Habitual sin argueth a Malice or Hatred of God and his holy Law and actual Sin an actual Hatred 'T is finis operis if not operantis whether a man thinketh so or no 't is the intent of the
thereby glorified and praised given us to this End and Purpose to bless God Iam. 3. 9. As our Understanding was given us to know God and think on him so our Speech to speak of God to declare his excellent Perfections and to stir up others to praise him with us 4. Holiness the Fruit of it for as Iob said the sides of the Poor blessed him Iob 31. 20. so must our Lives praise God 1 Pet. 2. 9. sheweth forth his Vertues not in Word only but in Works Our Lives must be a constant Hymn to God though we should be silent We remember the Lords Excellencies that we may imitate them and express them to the Life the Children of God serve only for this Use to represent God to the World as the Image in the Glass representeth the Person that looketh in it So Isa. 40. 21. This people have I formed for my self they shall shew forth my praise The Impression of all the Divine Attributes and Perfections must be left upon us and Copied out by us plainly represented in our Wisdom Purity Faithfulness and Godliness Secondly The Motives Because there is no part of Gods Worship to which we are more indisposed Self-Love will put us upon Prayers and Supplications but Love of God upon Praises We are inclined to the one by our own Necessities but we need to be stirred up to the other by pressing Arguments I will only mention those which are heaped up together in one place Psal. 147. 1. Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comly 1. It is Good and Profitable a piece of service acceptable in Gods sight Psal. 50. 23. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me 'T is a part of that spiritual Worship required under the Gospel beyond all the sacrifices of the Law in other Duties we expect something from God but in this we bestow something on him All Gods Praises are a Believers advantage every Attribute is his store-house This is my beloved and my friend Cant. 5. 16. And Psal. 135. 5. For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all Gods Yea 't is Profitable as 't is Acceptable Psal. 67. 5 6 7. Let all the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our God shall bless us God shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear him Pliny telleth us of a Fountain that would rise and swell and overflow at their playing of a Pipe or Flute and when they ceased would stop again The Fountain of Mercy riseth and swelleth and overfloweth with new supplies of Mercy when we praise and acknowledge the old 2. 'T is Pleasant and Delightful full of sweet Refreshment he that knoweth not this work is pleasant is unacquainted with it for this Ravishing Transporting Joy is matter of Experience When is the gracious heart more delighted then when it Feasts with God All acts of Obedience have a pleasure accompanying them especially acts of Worship being the Nobler part of the Spiritual Life and among them Praise Psal. 135. 3. Sing praises unto his name for it is good and pleasant 'T is our Duty in Heaven to Praise God when we are in our highest Felicity therefore this is a work wherein we should rejoyce to be employ'd 'T is our Reward rather than our Work the Heaven that we have upon Earth and nothing so sit to chear up the Spirit as to remember what a God we have in Christ the very nature of it hath allurement enough to a gracious Heart Psal. 92. 4. For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works when God blesseth our Meditations of his Works with gladness 3. 'T is Comely and Honourable to be about the Imployment of Angels to be Heralds to Proclaim the Lords Glory nothing so comely for us as Creatures who have our whole Being from him As new Creatures we are set apart to be to the praise of his glorious Grace in Christ Eph. 1. 12. It beareth all men as a debt which they owe to God though the wicked have no power to perform it Indeed the new Song doth ill become the old Heart but when there is an Obligation and a Capacity then it is comely indeed it becometh them to pay and God to receive it from them Psal. 33. 1. Praise is comely for the upright All are bound to Praise God yet none will do it cheerfully and acceptably save the Godly They have Obligations above all People in the World they have a Capacity and an Heart to do it and from them God most expecteth it Secondly The Continuance that we should never cease Praising God David saith here seven times a day which is the number of Perfection and elsewhere you shall find equivalent Expressions Psal. 34. 1. I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually in my mouth So Heb. 13. 15. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually giving thanks unto his name So Eph. 5. 20. Giving thanks always unto God for all things What is the meaning of these extensive Particles Continually Alwayes and at all Times I Answer 't is not to be understood as if we were without intermission to be imployed in the actual exercise of formal and distinct Thanksgiving no there are other necessary Duties which sometimes must divert us from it but the meaning is 1. That there is continual occasion of Praising God God is continually Beneficial to us Blessing and Delivering his People every day and by new Mercies giveth new Matter of Praise and Thanksgiving and there are some standing Mercies which should never be forgotten but be remembred before God every day as Redemption by Christ with all the abundant Benefits and therefore the Gospel-Church is represented by four Beasts or four living weights together with four and twenty Elders who rest not day and night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Rev. 4. 8. This is spoken to shew that matter doth still continue of Lauding and Blessing God and David saith Psal. 71. 8. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thine honour all the day There is no moment of time wherein we are not obliged to Praise and Glorifie God 2. This must be understood of the preparation of the heart without intermission we must cherish that disposition of heart which is necessary for it an habit of thankfulness an heart deeply affected with the Lords Excellencies and Mercies should ever be found in us and never laid aside the Instrument must be kept in Tune though it be not alwayes played upon David saith Psal. 57. 7. My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise There must be a prepared heart or a fixed purpose to Praise the Lord a renewed sense of Gods Favour and fresh experience of his Goodness to us do draw forth this preparation into Act yet
If we did not think Gods Eye a Fancy and fond Conceit we would at least walk more humbly It would trouble us exceedingly if men had a Window into our Hearts in a time of Prayer why not because God seeth How watchful are we not to incur the penalty of mans Law but offences against God are lightly passed over With what Copiousness and flowings of Language will men inlarge themselves in Prayer when in Company and how sleight and overly in Closet Duties if not wholy neglective of them which is in effect to say our heavenly Father seeth not in secret SERM. CLXXXIV PSALM CXIX VER 171. My Lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy Statutes IN the two former Verses he had prayed First For an increase of saving Knowledge Verse 169. Secondly For Deliverance out of his Trouble Ver. 170. He reinforceth his Request by a promise of Thankfulness if he could get a gracious Answer to that My lips shall utter praise c. In the Words we have First A Resolution of Praise My lips shall utter praise Secondly The Reason and Occasion of it when thou hast taught me thy Statutes First A Resolution of Praise The word for uttereth praise signifieth that praise should break from him as water boileth and bubbleth up out of a Fountain Indeed words come from the abundance of the heart Matth. 12. 34. either from the plenty of spiritual Knowledge Ioh. 4. 38. as a Fountain yieldeth water so his knowledge breaketh out into praises or from the plenty of spiritual Affection rather from the great esteem of the benefit or fulness of Joy at the thought of it 't is a great Priviledge to be delivered from Blindness and Ignorance To you 't is given to know the misteries of the Kingdom of God Matth. 13. 11. Now they that have a spiritual gust and taste are so affected with it that they cannot be enough thankful for it and 't is notable that this thankfulness is promised upon granting the first request Doctrine Divine Illumination is so great a gift that all who are made partakers of it are especially obliged to praise and thanksgiving This will appear by these Considerations I. That upon the receipt of every Mercy we should Praise God there is an equity in it for this is Gods pact and agreement with us Psal. 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me We are forward in supplications but backward in gratulations all the Lepers could beg health but one returned to give glory to God Luk. 17. 18. Self-love puts us upon Prayers but the love of God upon Praises Now we should be as much affected or rather more in the receiving mercies as we were in asking mercies because before we knew it only by guess and imagination but then by actual feeling and experience of the Comfort of it Therefore to seek and not to praise is to be loving to our selves II. Those that have received most from God are most bound to honour him and praise him for the Return must carry some proportion with the Receipt 2 Chron. 32. 25. Hezekiah rendred not according to the benefit done unto him Not according to the kind only good and not evil for good but according to the degree Great Mercies require great Acknowledgements she loved much to whom much was forgiven her and she loved little to whom little Luk. 7. 47. More sins pardoned more mercies received God expecteth more Love more Praise more Thanksgiving And Luk. 12. 48. For unto whomsoever much is given of him much shall be required and to whom men commit much of him will they ask the more Christ pleadeth the equity from the practice of men the more helps the more work and service we expect he should come sooner who rideth on horseback than he that cometh on foot so the more light and knowledge God vouchsafeth the more Honour and Glory he expecteth from us III. That we should praise God especially for spiritual benefits Usually those are overlooked but they deserve the greatest acknowledgment these are discriminating and come from special Love Corn Wine and Oyl are bestowed upon the World but Knowledge and Grace upon his Saints these are the favour of his peculiar People Psal. 106. 4. Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest to thy people O visit me with thy Salvation To have the Favourites Mercy is more than to have a common Mercy Protection is the benefit of every subject but intimate and near admission is the priviledge of special Favourites Love and Hatred cannot be known by the things before us Eccl. 9. 1 2 3. Christ gave his Spirit to the good Disciples the keeping of the purse to Iudas 1. Partly Because these concern the better part the inward man 2 Cor. 4. 16. He doth us more favour that healeth a wound in the Body than he that soweth up a rent in the Garment is not the body more than Raiment the Soul more than the Body and the Soul as furnished with Grace more than the Soul only as furnished with natural gifts and endowments 2. And partly Because these are brought about with more ado than temporal favours God as a Creator and merciful upholder of all his Creatures doth bestow temporal Blessings upon the ungodly World even upon heathens who never heard of Christ yet saving Grace he bestoweth only as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Eph. 1. 3. with respect to the Merit of Christ who was to purchase these blessings before he could obtain them 3. And partly Because they are pledges of Eternal Blessings and the beginning of our Eternal Well-being Ioh. 6. 27. These and eternal Blessedness are so linked together that they cannot be separated Rom. 8. 29 30. For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformable to the Image of his Son that he might be the first fruits among many brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified And Phil. 1. 6. Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Iesus Christ. 4. Partly Because these incline and fit the heart for Praise and Thanksgiving the one giveth occasion to Praise God the other an heart to Praise God outward mercies give the occasion to praise God these the diisposition other mercies the motives these the preparations these dispose the heart to it Psal. 119. 7. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I have learned thy righteous Iudgments here they dispose the Lip and open the Mouth Psal. 51. 15. O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise The work of grace doth set our lips wide open in the magnifying and praising of God Grace is the matter of Gods praise and also giveth a ready Will to praise
prayer because we have not the Mercy presently p. 912 913 Awful frame of heart means to get it p. 1002 Fraud and cruelty certain prognosticks of Ruine p. 565 Free-will-offerings must be given to God p. 723 724 Friendship 1. Sinful 2. Civil 3. Religious p. 433 434 Friendship in having all good things Common p. 851 Friendship tryed most valuable p. 418 Friendship of God our security p. 642 237 Fretting of Spirit cured by Thanksgiving p. 421 Fruit of Gods Word is everlasting p. 620 Fruit Holy of Affliction better than deliverance p. 592 470 It must be believed and waited for p. 486 Fruits of Mourning for other mens sins p. 933 Fruition more than expectation p. 787 Fugitives as well as exiles all are by Nature-p 953 Fulness of God not exhausted by giving-p 448 Fulness of Christ and our own wants considered the Means to awaken holy Desires p. 310 G. GAin in Christ more than loss in the World p. 416 Generation one receives the promises that are made good to another p. 580 All Generations have the same Common promises made good to them p. 580 One Generation should report to another what they have found of Gods Faithfulness in making good the promises p. 580 581 344 345 Saints are a generation of such as seek God p. 922 57 58 59 Ghuessing at the World to come is not perswasion of it p. 890 Gifts of God an Argument to seek for more p. 497 Gift of Prayer not so much as the grace p. 903 Giving our selves to God is a debt it is to gain our selves p. 608. It alters the Nature as well as the Use of our selves p. 608 Glory of God is the end of the Grace of God p. 939 1062 Glory not to be given to the Instrument but the chief Agent p. 649 Glory of God seen in his Peoples Deliverance p. 868 Glorifying God 1. By Subjection 2. By Dependance p. 586 Exhortation to Glorifie God p. 1062. Motives ibid. None shall glorifie God in Heaven that do not glorifie God on Earth p. 1095. Two Reasons why we are to aim at Gods Glory above all things p. 1097 God the best Master he doth good to his servants p. 442 443 444. God the first Cause last end cheifest good p. 1 383 He only makes blessed and shews who is so p. 3 Living to him what it denotes p. 6 He writes his Law in the heart p. 10 He will not be our God unless we make him our Guide p. 10 God blessed in himself and needs nothing to add to his blessedness p. 71 He is willing to Communicate his blessedness p. 71 470 471 God's love to us is Bounty ours to him Duty p. 421 God engages to be 1. An Advocate 2. A Redeemer 3. A Fountain of Life to his People p. 972 God is eternal what that is how proved to be so By Scripture 2. By Reason p. 567 384 Gods Wisdom Power Mercy are Eternal p. 568 He sheweth himself Eternal 1. As a Governour 2. As a Benefactor-p 569 God is true 1. In Promises 2. Precepts 3. Threatnings p. 578 God considered 1. As our absolute Lord. 2. As our Governour and Judge p. 934 God is to be feared 1. For his Mercies 2. His Judgments p. 810 Vid. Goodness of God Vid. Power of God Vid. Wisdom of God God bears much affection to Man as his Creature p. 497 Mercy is 1. Natural 2. Pleasing to God p. 319 320 Godly Men continually in danger in respect 1. Of the Soul 2. The body p. 764 The more others despise the more godly men prize Gods ways p. 862 Godly man described by two properties 1. Fear of God 2. Knowledge of his Word p. 527 Fellowship with the Godly a great happiness p. 527 Gold put for all Worldly Comforts and Profits p. 861 Reproof to them that prefer Gold before Gods Word p. 493 Good-men and bad-men exercise one another p. 863 Good the chiefest good should be sought with our chiefest care love delight p. 13 We should desire deliverance no further then as good for us p. 823 Good brought out of evil by God p. 424 824 Cheifest good and last end should influence all our Actions p. 777 Good God is good of himself and doth good to us p. 470 He doth good to his Servants why p. 442 443 It becomes them that have to do with God to have a deep sense of his goodness p. 470 Vid. Do good Goodness 1. Temporal 2. Spiritual 3. Eternal p. 825 Goodness in God threefold 1. Natural 2. Moral 3. Beneficial p. 470 471 Goodness of God to his Creatures ground of hoping for spiritual Mercies p. 438 Goodness of God manifested 1. In Creation 2. Redemption 3. Providence p. 472 368 369 370 438 Gospel called a Testimony because therein God hath Testified how a sinner may be pardoned c. p. 8 The Gospel offers life now and hereafter will Accuse for refusal of it p. 9 It teaches us how we may be blessed in the enjoyment of God p. 72 Gospel reveals eternal Life Nature hath some guesses at it the Law some shadows of it p. 571 Gospel sheweth that we are lyable to eternal Misery p. 572 Government of God encourages to Commit our selves to his protection p. 806 Government of God Moral and Natural p. 585 Natural government either ordinary or extraordinary p. 586 Government of God natural extends to all Creatures 1. Caelestial bodies 2. Angels 3. Winds Seas c. 4. Diseases c. p. 586 Daily Grace necessary on many accounts p. 915 916 917 918 Great grace needful because we know not how long Trials may last p. 837 Vid. Covenant of Grace Grace habitual and actual p. 778 241 242 243 Quest. Whether real Grace can make men proud p. 521 Grace turns Punishments into medicines for sin p. 147 462. It must be always working p. 339 One Act of Grace makes way for another p. 246 461 It is but weak in the best p. 835 Grace preventing grace p. 15. Grace discovers it self where it is p. 19 20 Supporting Grace p. 788. Grace preventing working and co-working p. 181 Grace preventing gives To Will Grace assisting to Do p. 29. God does All in the work of Grace p. 221 241 242 All Grace as to kinds infused at once p. 35 All Grace comes in by the understanding p. 172 Grace confirming as necessary as Converting p. 778 Grace justifying takes away the condemning power Grace sanctifying the Reigning power Grace glorifying the very being of Sin p. 681 682 Qualifications of those that sue for Grace p. 499 Gracious Souls find more joy in Gods way than in all Worldly things p. 83 They take occasions to employ themselves in holy things p. 931 932 Gratitude the bond of duty to the fallen creature p. 421 Grief at the violation of Gods Law a sign of true Zeal p. 854 348 Grief worldly causeth Death p. 590 It must not be smothered p. 158 Grieve not the spirit p. 1107 Groans of the Spirit distinguished from the eructations of
give the increase will never make the corn grow therefore I 'le hold my hand and take the other sleep It is God sends the wind therefore I will not put forth the sails that 's no good inference For further arguments see vers the 25th where the question is handled whether we are to do duties in case of deadness It is a most commendable thing to work notwithstanding indispositions There is more faith in it Gods love is glorified when you can cast your selves into his arms then when he seems to shut up himself from your prayers and to suspend the influences of his grace Esther had great confidence to venture when no golden Scepter was held forth so when we have no sensible comfort then to venture and cast our selves upon God And it argues more faith in the power of God As Abrahams faith was commended that he could believe against hope so when all is dead yet you will see what God will do for the quickning and enlarging of the soul. Then there is more obedience in it No duty so commendable as that which is recovered out of the hands of difficulty when in the face of temptation we can venture to go to God And there 's humility in it when we can look upon our selves as bound though God be free I must wait upon him in the use of means though I have a dead heart Thirdly The subsequent operation of the Saints they that are acted by God act under him Then will I run the way of thy Commandments First Mark he resolveth then I will run He doth not say then I should run but will run as binding his soul by a resolution and his resolution by a solemn promise Then I will run the way of thy Commandments Here I might take occasion to speak of the good of binding the heart and being resolved in a course of godliness It is good to engage us to come to God to keep to God and to be hearty in his service 1. This is that which engageth us to come to God because of our selves we are off and on hanging between Heaven and Hell and have many loose and wavering thoughts until we come to a firm purpose and determination and that engageth the heart Ier. 30. 21. Who is this that engageth his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord Before we come to this engagement there are several things 1 A simple and bare conceit of the ways of God or of the goodness of holiness this will not bring us to God some general approbation of his ways Many will say God is good to Israel Psal. 73. 1. but the heart never comes off kindly to choose God till the judgment determines It is good for me to draw nigh to God v. 28. This puts an end to many anxious traverses debates and delays in the soul. 2 There are weak and wavering purposes and faint attempts in the soul that end but in wishes which are soon broken off but we are never converted and throughly brought to God till there be a full and fixed purpose Act. 11. 23. He exhorted them all that with full purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. When it comes to a plenary thorough purpose of heart then grace hath wrought upon us 2. As it will bring us to come to God so it causeth us to keep to God He that is unresolved is never constant Iam. 1. 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways There is in us a changeable heart a rebelling nature that meeting with temptations from without unless there be a fixed purpose alas we shall be unstable in all our ways All good wishes and faint purposes come to nothing but we shall give out at every assault But when we are firmly and habitually resolved Satan is discouraged This bindeth our holy purposes like hemming of the garment that keepeth it from ravelling out Whilst we are thinking and deliberating what to do we lye open to temptations the Devil hath some hope of us but when the bent of our hearts is set another way and the Devil sees we are firmly resolved and have holy purposes he is discouraged This was that which made Daniel so couragious and resolute in Gods service Dan. 1. 8. He purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat 3. By resolution we are quickned to more diligence and seriousness Good purposes are the root of good works and without the root there 's no fruit to be expected A true and inward purpose will not let us be idle but still urging and soliciting us to that which is good then we make a business of Religion whereas otherwise we make but a sport and recreation that is mind it only by the by But now One thing have I desired and that will I seek after Psal. 27. 4. When the heart is set upon a thing we follow it close whatever we neglect Whereas otherwise we are very lazy careless and do it as if we did it not this makes us diligent earnest careful to maintain Communion between God and us Use. Well then do you thus resolve and engage your hearts to walk with God And for your direction 1. Let it be the resolution of the heart rather than the tongue Ier. 30. 21. Who is this that engageth his heart And Act. 11. 23. He exhorted them with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord. Our resolution is not to be determined and judged of so much by the course of our language as by the bent of our heart Empty promises signifie nothing unless they are the result of the hearts determination Deut. 5. 29 30. The people hath said well saith God all that the Lord hath said we will do O that they had such a heart within them Otherwise the duty hath no root unless it be a fixed determination of the soul. 2. Let it not be a weak broken but full resolution Cold wishes are easily overcome by the love of the world Act. 26. 28. Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian. That will not do unless we be altogether Carnal men though they are not converted yet they have a kind of half-turn they have good wishes on a sudden upon a lively Sermon they would but they will not There needs a strong bent of heart Bad purposes are more easily resolved and performed than good Satan the world and the flesh do not hinder but further them So that good resolutions need to be throughly made 1 Chron. 22. 19. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God When the heart is fixed by a persevering durable purpose grace possesses it 3. Let it not be a rash but a serious resolution all difficulties being well weighed In a fit or pang of devotion men will resolve for God but it is soon gone Josh. 24. 19 20. We will serve the Lord for he is our God and Ioshua said Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is
an holy God he is a jealous God that is do you consider what you say when you have weighty reasons and considerations to bear you up you are more likely to hold Sit down and count the charges if you resolve for God see what it is like to cost you and consider where it is likely to fail what difficulties you are most likely to meet withall what lusts are most apt to break your purpose 4 It must be a through absolute and peremptory resolution what ever it cost you resolve to part with all for the pearl of price Matth. 13. 46 47. and take Christ for better for worse A marriage may be almost made but there is one Article they stick at and it is broken off so some are at the very point giving up themselves to God but there is one Article they stick at it is not an absolute resolution 5. Let it be a present and not a future resolution Psal. 27. 8. When thou saidst seek ye my face like a quick echo he returns upon God Thy face Lord will I seek As soon as you hear God's voice before the heart grow cold again it is good to resolve for afterwards it is but a cheat to put off importunity of conscience for the present 6. Let it be a resolution made in a sense of your own insufficiency and with dependence upon Christ not in a confidence of your own strength Peter went forth in a confidence of his own resolution Though all men forsake thee yet will not I but how soon did he miscarry Resolve in God's strength Psal. 119. 8. I will walk in the way of thy statutes O forsake me not utterly If God forsake you all comes to nothing therefore in and by God's strength resolve for God Secondly The matter of the Resolution the way of thy commandments Which we may consider either simply and absolutely in it self or with respect to the resolution With respect to the resolution observe the matter is good he resolves upon Some will resolve upon a course of sin as they Acts 23. 12. that bound themselves under a curse to kill Paul In this case a vow is a bond of iniquity Many will bind themselves never to forgive their neighbour such an offence Again the matter is necessary It is contrary to Christian liberty needlesly to bind our selves where God hath left us free Many will in some indifferent things bind themselves make rash and unnecessary vows as to play no more at such a game drink no more in such a house or company Alas what doth this do to cure the heart This is but like the stopping of one leak in a ruinous ship that is ready to fall in pieces Resolution is for the weighty things of Christianity or cleaving to God in a course of obedience not for some by-matters Resolve on the most necessary work Again this Resolution is propounded universally indefinitely in the way of God's commandments whatever shall appear to be the will of God When our consent is bounded with reservations we do not come up to the mind of God and that will bring you but half way to heaven He that is half holy half religious will be but half saved Paul gives God a blank and bids him write his terms in Acts 9. 6. Lord what wilt thou have me to do so we must submit our selves to all the ways of God without exception Thus we may consider it as it falls under a resolution the way of thy commandments But consider the expression absolutely why are the commandments called a way 1. There 's an end for which man was appointed and that was to seek after true happiness All desire to be happy by an inclination of nature for hereunto were we appointed by God Many say who will shew us any good Psal. 4. 6. but mens practice is contrary they live as if their end were to be miserable 2. This true happiness lieth in the enjoyment of God that 's the great end of reasonable creatures Angels and men actively to glorifie God and to enjoy him other creatures were made to glorifie him objectively but not to enjoy him 3. For the compassing this end there 's a way for every end is attained by the means What is this way God's commandments Eccles. 12. 13. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man That was the result of Solomon's critical search in and about the ways of true happiness he found that a constant uniform universal obedience was the only way to true happiness 4. The Commands of God are Legal and Evangelical they are both to be regarded 1. The Evangelical commands come first into consideration by the fallen creature there the great command is to believe in Christ Ioh. 6. 29. 1 Ioh. 3. 23. To believe in Christ is the only way to the Father Then 2 the Moral Law that 's the Rule of our duty without which we can never be saved Rom. 10. 14. USE Well then let me press you to Consideration and Resolution 1. Consideration that we may think of our end and think of our way and may not go on as beasts without any recollection Luke 15. 17. We never come to our selves till we consider the end why we were born and why God sent us into the world Whence am I why do I live here To delight my self in the creature to wallow in pleasures or to look after communion with God We live but as Beasts not as men till we return and remember our Creator in the enjoyment of whom is our only happiness Then 2 come to Resolution there 's intentio electio consensus and imperium all these should be fixed after we have considered for what am I made what 's the way I am to walk The first act of the soul is intentio that belongs to the last end surely this must be my scope that God may be my portion The next act is electio or choice that belongs to the means now the great means is Christ Jesus he is the way to the Father O let me chuse him that I may enjoy God for my portion The next act is consensus the will and understanding together there 's a consent to the terms notwithstanding all the conditions upon which these means are to be had yet there 's a full consent of the will to use them so a consent to take Christ upon his own terms After this there 's imperium a command for an industrious prosecution this shall be my business this I 'le look after there should be a decree in our souls for God God is my scope Christ my way I must take him I will go about this work walk in this way that I may at length enjoy him 4ly The last Circumstance is the manner I will run the way c. By running is meant chearful ready and zealous observance of Gods precepts It is not go or walk but run They that would come to their journeys end
may discern much of faithfulness in their Afflictions this will appear to you by these Considerations 1. In the Covenant of Grace God hath promised to bestow upon his People real and principal Mercies those are promised absolutely other things conditionally God doth not break his Covenant if he doth not give us temporal Happiness because that is not absolutely promised but onely so far forth as it may be good for us but eternal Life is promised without any such exception unto the Heirs of promise Eternal Promises and Threatnings being of things absolutely good or evil are therefore absolute and peremptory the Righteous shall not fail of the Reward nor the Wicked escape the Punishment but temporal Promises and Threatnings being of things not simply good or evil are reserved to be dispensed according to God's Wisdome and good pleasure in reference and subordination to eternal Happiness It is true 't is sad 1 Tim. 4. 8. That godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come but with this reference that the less give place to the greater if the Promises of this life may hinder us in looking after the Promises of the life to come God may take the liberty of the Cross and withhold these things and disappoint us of our worldly hope A man lying under the guilt of Sin may many times enjoy worldly Comforts to the envy of God's Children and one of God's Children may be greatly afflicted and distressed in the World for in all these Dispensations God looketh to his end which is to make us eternally happy 2. This being God's end he is obliged in point of fidelity to use all the means that conduce thereunto that he may attain his eternal purpose in bringing his holy ones to glory Rom. 8. 28. All things shall work together for good to them that love God Good what good it may be temporal so it falls out sometimes a man's temporal good is promoted by his temporal loss Gen. 50. 20. Ye thought evil against me but God meant it for good they sold their Brother a slave but God meant him to be a great Potentate in Egypt It may be spiritual good Psal. 119. 71. 'T is good for me that I have been afflicted but to be sure eternal good to bring about his eternal purpose of making them everlastingly happy And in this sense the Apostle saith all things are yours 1 Cor. 3. 22. Ordinances Providences Life Death all dispensed with a respect to their final Happiness or eternal Benefit not onely Ordinances to work internal Grace but Providences as an external help and means for God having set his end he will prosecute it congruously and as it may agree with man's nature by external Providences as well as internal Grace see Psal. 125. 3. The rod of the wicked shall not always rest upon the back of the righteous God hath power enough to give them grace to bear it though the Rod had continued and can keep his People from iniquity though the Rod be upon them but he considereth the imbecillity of man's nature which is apt to tire under long Afflictions and therefore not onely giveth more Grace but takes off the Temptation He could humble Paul without a Thorn in the Flesh 2 Cor. 12. 7. but he will use a congruous means 3. Among these means Afflictions yea sharp Afflictions are some of those things which our need and profit requireth they are needfull to weaken and mortify Sin Isa. 27. 9. By this shall the iniquity of Iacob be purged to increase and quicken Grace Heb. 12. 10. But he chasteneth us for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Without this Discipline we should forget God and our selves therefore that we may return to God he afflicts us Hos. 5. 6. In their afflictions they will seek me early and come to our selves Luke 15. 17. The Prodigal came to himself Afflictions are necessary for us upon the former Suppositions namely that God hath ingaged himself to perfect Grace where it is begun and to use all means which may conduce to our eternal welfare that we may not miscarry and come short of our great hopes 1 Cor. 11. 32. When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world The carnal reprobate World are left to a looser and larger Discipline Brambles are not pruned when Vines are New Creatures require a more close inspection than others do Self-confidence and spiritual Security is apt to grow upon them therefore to mortify our Self-confidence to awaken us out of spiritual sleep we need to be afflicted and also to quicken and rouse up a spirit of Prayer We grow cold and flat and ask mercies for forms sake Isa. 26. 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them And that we may be quickened to a greater mindfulness of heavenly things the best of us when we get a carnal Pillow under our heads are apt to sleep secure God will not let us alone to our ruine but afflicts us that we may be refined from the dreggs of the Flesh and that our gust and relish of heavenly things may be recovered and that we may be quickened to a greater diligence in the heavenly Life Look as earthly Parents are not faithfull to their Childrens Souls when they live at large and omit that Correction which is necessary for them Prov. 29. 15. The rod and reproof give wisdome but a Child left to himself bringeth his Mother to shame The Mother is mentioned because they are usually more fond and indulgent and spare many times and marr the Child but our heavenly Father will not be unfaithfull who is so wise that he will not be blinded by any passion hath such a perfect love and does so fixedly design our eternal welfare that he rebuketh that he may reform and reformeth that he may save 4. God's faithfulness about the Affliction is twofold in bringing on the Affliction and guiding the Affliction 1. In bringing on the Affliction both as to the time and kind when our need requireth and such as may doe the work 1 Pet. 1. 6. Ye are in heaviness for a season if need be When some Distemper was apt to grow upon us and we were straggling from our Duty Psal. 119. 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray Some disappointment and check we meet with in a way of Sin which is a notable help in the spiritual Life where God giveth an heart to improve it 2. As to guiding the Affliction both to measure and continuance that it may doe us good and not harm 1 Cor. 10. 13. God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able to bear but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Violent Temptations are not permitted where the Lord seeth us weak and infirm as Iacob drove
as the little ones were able to bear so when the Temptation continued is like to doe us hurt either God will remove it 2 Thess. 3. 3. Faithfull is the Lord who will establish and keep you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the evil the persecutions of unreasonable men are there intended or else support them under it 2 Cor. 12. 9. My grace is sufficient for thee Use 1. Is to check and reprove divers evils which are apt to grow upon our Spirits in our Troubles 1. Murmuring and repining thoughts against God's Providence Why should we murmur and complain since we justly suffer what we suffer and 't is the Lord's condescention that he will make some good use of these Sufferings to our eternal Happiness that we may be capable of everlasting Consolation His Justice should stop Murmurings Lament 3. 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins If he complain he can complain of none but himself that evil choice he hath made for his own Soul which it may be he would never have thought of but upon this occasion His Punishment here carrieth no proportion with his Offence 't is Punishment in the singular number Sins in the plural one Punishment for many acts of Sin and a living man on this side Hell what 's this to everlasting Torments Life cannot be without many Blessings to accompany it while living we may see an end of this misery or have time to escape those eternal Torments which are far worse The form of the words sheweth why we should thus expostulate with our selves Wherefore doth a living man complain why do we complain God hath not cut us off from the land of the living nor cast us into Hell 't is the punishment of Sin and 't is far less than we have deserved Again the Faithfulness of God checketh Murmurings God knoweth what way to take with us to bring us to glory therefore trust your selves in God's hands and let him take his own methods Commit your souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithfull Creatour 1 Pet. 4. 19. He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he is a Creatour he doth not love to destroy the work of his hands as he is faithfull in his Covenant he will take the best and safest course to bring you to Heaven 2. Let it check immoderate sorrow and uncomely dejection of spirit he is just in the Afflictions of his People but yet so that he is also faithfull he is a Father when he beateth and indulgeth when he smiles and when he frowns Afflictions do not make void our Adoption they rather increase our confidence of it Heb. 12. 5. Whatever we doe upon other reasons we should not suspect his Love because of our Afflictions God's strokes do not make void his Promises nor doth he retract his gift of Pardon when he chastiseth Mere Crosses and Troubles are not an argument of God's Displeasure but acts of his Faithfulness so that we have reason to give thanks for his Discipline rather than question his Love In the book of Iob 't is made a mark of his Love as in those words which are so frequent Iob 7. 17 18. Lord What is man that thou art mindfull of him that thou chastisest him every morning and tryest him every moment We are not onely beneath his Anger but unworthy of his Care as if a Prince should take upon him to forme the manners of a Beggers Child 't is a condescension that the great God should deal with us and suit his Providences for our good 3. This should check our fears and cares his Judgments are right and full of faithfulness he will bear us through all our Tryals and make an advantage of them and perfect that Grace which he hath begun and finally bring us to eternal Glory The Lords faithfulness in keeping Promises is often propounded as a strong Pillar of the Saints Confidence 1 Cor. 1. 9. Faithfull is God by whom ye are called 1 Thess. 5. 24. Faithfull is he that calleth you who also will doe it He dispenseth all things with respect to our eternal welfare But I am afraid of my self I have provoked the Lord to leave me to my self but the Lord will pardon weaknesses when they are confessed 1 Iohn 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is just and faithfull to forgive them speaking to reconciled Believers and when we fall the Lord hath ways and means to raise us up again that we perish not by checks of Conscience 2 Sam. 24. 10. And David's heart smote him when he had numbred the people Psal. 119. 59. I thought on my ways c. by the Word as Nathan roused up David Thou art the man God that foresaw all things hath ordered them so that nothing shall cross his eternal Purpose and Promise made to us in Christ. Use 2. Let us acknowledge God's Justice and Faithfulness in all things that befall us for Motives consider 1. 'T is much for the honour of God Psal. 51. 4. that under the Cross we should have good thoughts of God and clear him in all that he saith and doth see love in his rebukes 2. 'T is for our profit 't is the best way to obtain Grace to bear Afflictions or to get deliverance out of them When God hath humbled his People exercised their Grace he will restore to them their wonted Priviledges he waiteth for the Creatures humbling Levit. 26. 41 42. For means 1. You must be one in Covenant with God for to them the Dispensations of God come marked not onely with Justice as to all but Faithfulness Psal. 25. 10. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his Covenant 2. You must examine your selves the Lord complains of the neglect of this that when they were in Affliction they would not consider Ier. 8. 6. No man said What have I done If you would consider you would see cause enough to justify God Lament 3. 39 40. Wherefore doth a living man complain Let us search and try our ways and turn to the Lord. 3. You must observe Providence and your hearts must be awake and attend to it Psal. 107. 43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Eccles. 7. 14. In the day of adversity consider 4. You must be such as value not your happiness by the increase or decrease of worldly Comforts but by the increase or decrease of Grace in your Souls 2 Cor. 4. 16. For this cause we faint not because though our outward man perish yet our inward man is renewed day by day If you value your selves by your outward Condition you will still be imbrangled you should more highly esteem of and be more solicitous about the welfare of your Souls in a time of Affliction than of all things else in the world and you will more easily submit and more wisely consider of his doing and the better understand
evil humour or to encrease our hatred and exasperation against a party whom it may be we hate too much already with a carnal hatred but to a good purpose partly that we may not be too consident of carnal ease too soon God will it may be have the enemies Cup yet fuller and that they shall appear more in their own colours And so our tryals may be greater We know not the bounds of the Lords patience We that are apt to extenuate our own sins are apt to aggravate the sins of others look upon them in the Glass of passion and cry too soon it is time But of this by and by And partly that we may see the greatness of our transgressions by which we have provoked the Lord to give us up into the hands of such men as blaspheme his Name every day Isai. 52. 5. Our sins were full in our kind in the abuse of Gods truth and worship and though not such moral wickedness yet a great deal of spiritual wickedness And God is more quick and severe upon us and will not bear that in a professing people that he beareth in others Iudgment begins at the house of God 1 Pet. 4. 17. The Cup of trembling goes round and his own people drink first and our staggering is not yet over in time they shall pledge us God beareth with Balaam though he tempted him again and again when he would not bear with the young Prophet whom the Lyon slew He bore with the Philistines a long time e're they were plagned We feel the smart of the Rod sooner Zech. 12. Yet 't is apparent our kind of sins were grown to a ripeness our selfseeking factions turbulency unquietness under Government abuse of Christian liberty uncharitable Divisions among our selves vexing one another vain opinions sleighting Gods Ministers and Ordinances And partly that we may be humbled for their sins It should be a grief to us to see men break Gods Laws to see men outdare Heaven David fasted for his enemies Psal. 35. 14 15 16. and Psal. 119. 136. Rivers of tears run down mine eyes because men keep not thy Law because God is so much dishonoured humane Nature so much corrupted If more of this spirit were stirring it were the better for us And partly that we may fear our selves We are bound up in the same Community and when God judgeth them how shall we escape The Jews have a Proverb That two dry Sticks may set a green one on fire The meaning is The godly man may fall in the common calamity Wheat is plucked up with the Tares God saith in Deut. 7. 22. That they should not destroy all the Canâ—…anites lest the beasts of the field should encrease upon them The safety of his people are involved in the safety of their sinning and persecuting enemies A Hedg of Thorns may serve for a fence to a Garden of Roses and all the relief we have is the Lord can make a distinction 2 Pet. 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the day of Iudgment to be punished 3. Why doth God take this time First For his own Glory His Justice is more discovered when men have filled up their measure Psal. 51. 4. That thou mayest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest It justifieth Gods proceedings and maketh us the more inexcusable So also his power 't is Gods time to send help and remedy when all things are gone to utter confusion when things are at the most desperate pass Psal. 124. 3 4 5. in our low estate then is God seen Secondly Hereby Gods work upon Mount Zion is promoted His people are humbled when their Adversaries are chief and rage against them Psal. 123. 4. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with contempt of the proud When things come to extremity their prayers are quickened Psal. 130. 1. Out of the depths I cryed unto thee O Lord. They are fitted to prize mercy Psal. 102. 13 14. They that thought it no great matter to have a standing Temple delight in the dust of a ruinous heap Then Shepherds Tents look lovely we set a higher rate on despised Ordinances In short they are waiting and praying and humbling their souls before God IV. Fourth Consideration When a flood of wickedness is thus broken out we may mind God of the deliverance of his people But what needs that Doth not God know his seasons and will not he exactly observe them In the Answer I shall shew you Why and How 1. Why Because First God loveth to be awakened by the prayers of his people and when he hath a mind to work he sets the spirit of prayer awork Ier. 29. 11 12. I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you So thus and thus will I do Ezek. 36. 37. Yet for this will I be enquired of by the house of Israel We are to give a lift by our prayers 't is a time of finding Psal. 32. 6. Secondly He hath put an office upon us God acts the part of a Judg we as Sollicitors and Remembrancers Isai. 62. 6 7. I have set Watchmen upon thy Walls O Ierusalem which shall never hold their peace night nor day Ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he make Ierusalem a praise in the Earth We are to put God in mind so that we but do our duty 2. How The principle and manner must be right First The principle be sure it be not the impatiency of the Flesh or love to our own ease or a mere tediousness and irksomeness of the Cross be sure it be not passion and a principle of revenge but a desire of promoting his honour and vindicating his glory David doth not say how troublesome they were to himself but they make void thy Law as if he had said Lord if my own interest were only concerned I would not open my mouth nor ever call upon thee to revenge my private quarrels but it is my zeal for thy Honour and Ordinances not that I have received injury but thy worship is corrupted work else what will become of thy Name and poor people Offences done against God should grieve us more than our own injuries and we should rather regard the general interest of Religion than any personal offence done to us There is often a carnal spirit breathing in our prayers and our zeal is fleshly the people of God beat it back Psal. 115. 1. Not unto us not unto us but unto thy Name give glory And Psal. 74. 10. O Lord how long shall the adversary reproach and the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever The godly can endure their own troubles better than
they can bear the open dishonouring and blaspheming of God This is the true sense but because the heart is deceitful First Be sure your Cause be good your Adversaries evil that ye may say Psal. 74. 22. Arise O Lord plead thine own Cause 'T is not for your sins but your sins but your righteousness the hatred is not against the body Indeed they pretend some little faults 'T is as if a Leper should hate a man because he hath some pimples in his face Something they would lay to their charge Secondly That we use all means with God and Men to reclaim them praying for them Matth. 6. 44. Pray for them that despightfully use you Mourning for their sins Ier. 23. 19. My soul shall weep in secret for your pride Heaping Coals of fire upon their heads by all acts of kindness condescending to them as far as possibly we can Rom. 12. 18. These arts become his Kingdome that is not to be planted by force but consent them that would have the zeal of God not of a party Thirdly Be sure your principle be zeal for Gods Glory not a desire to establish your own interest and to see revenge on a party that differeth from you Luke 9. 54 55. You know not what spirit you are of Religious affections overset us and fleshly zeal puts on a holy spiritual Guise and Mask and we think 't is for the honour of Christ. Fourthly Not against particular persons but the opposite faction to godliness In general destroy all the enemies of Christ c. Secondly For the manner How We must seek to God first with submission not prescribing to God nor making a snare to our selves We that have short and revengeful Spirits cannot judge aright of Gods patience which is infinite out of fleshliness and affection to our own ease And so our times Iohn 7. 6. your time is always ready if none of these be yet we are limited Creatures and great is the wisdom of God and his power admirable it doth not belong to us to guide the affairs of the world Psal. 78. 41. We must not prescribe opportunity to him fixing times Besides that it argueth a spirit too much addicted to and eying of temporal happiness It doth much unsettle us and harden others The Devil maketh advantage of our disappointment Therefore not only when it seemeth seasonable to us we may seek to him for deliverance Once more there are other things concurr besides the enemies ripeness for Judgment preparing his peoples hearts fitting those instruments for his work therefore all is left to Gods will and let him take his time Use of all is to teach us how to behave our selves in these times with patience and yet with hope and waiting 'T is the time of Iacob's trouble but there will be a time of deliverance Ier. 30. 7. With patience God will have a time to chastise his people We must bear it patiently it will make Crosses sit easie they may be greater and longer than our joys Psal. 90. 15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil Secondly With hope let us expect it Certainly it will not exceed the time limited by God That time is not long Isai. 13. 22. Her time is near to come and her days shall not be prolonged Ezek. 12. 21. to 28. And the word of the Lord came unto me saying Son of man what is that Proverb that ye have in the land of Israel saying The days are prolonged and every vision faileth Tell them therefore Thus saith the Lord I will make this Proverb to cease and they shall no more use it as a Proverb in Israel but say unto them The days are at hand and the effect of every vision for there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel for I am the Lord. I will speak and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass it shall be no more prolonged Faith should see it as present approaching and then let us wait his leisure minding God in prayer SERMON CXXXIX PSAL. CXIX VER 127. Therefore I love thy Commandments above Gold yea above fine Gold IN the Words we have I. A Note of inference Therefore II. The Duty inferred I love thy Commandments III. The degree of that love Above Gold amplified by the repetition with some advantage in the expression Yea above fine Gold III. Gold by a Senechdoche is put for all worldly things the comforts and profits of this life as in many other places as Psal. 19. 10. More to be desired are they than Gold yea than much fine Gold sweeter also than Honey and the Honey Comb. The two Bastard Goods with which the World is inchanted are pleasure and profit Old people are all for profit young people are all for pleasure Now both these truly so called are found in the Word of God So in Prov. 8. 10 11. Receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choise gold for Wisdom is better than Rubies and all the things that are to be desired are not to be compared to it So Prov. 8. 19. My fruit is better than gold yea than fine gold and my revenues than choise silver So Prov. 3. 14. For the merchandise thereof is better than gold and the gain thereof than fine gold So Prov. 16. 16. How much better is it to get Wisdom than Gold and to get Understanding rather to be chosen than silver This Comparison is used so often for two Reasons 1. Because it is more prized in the World All things that have a goodness in them have a certain Bait suitable to the several Appetites of men but in most mens opinions Gold seemeth chiefly to be desired partly for its beauty but chiefly for its use it being the great instrument of Commerce that doth all things in the world The corruption of mans heart addeth a greater price to it and therefore is the thirst of it so unsatisfied Now the Word and that wisdom and godliness which it teacheth is far above Gold and fine Gold 2. Because it is the usual temptation to draw off men from the love and study and obedience of the Word Babylon's abominations are offered to the world in a golden Cup Rev. 17. 4. And the Woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour and decked with Gold and precious Stones and Pearls having a golden Cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication Preferments are the Baits of that black Religion True Christianity consists in sound Graces Pseudo-Christianity in pomp and state and worldly advantages and the Apostle telleth us 1 Tim. 6. 10. That the love of money is the root of all evil which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith Therefore doth the spirit of God so often compare spiritual things to Gold and here David preferreth his love to the Word before Worldlings love to
draw us to the same Fountain of Grace for Pardon and Life to our selves These Examples do more than the Doctrinal declaration because they do not onely shew that Mercy and Grace may be had but that it hath been attained unto by those who in all respects did judge themselves and were really unworthy of it as unable to lay hold of it and to make good use of it afterwards as we our selves The Ice is broken the Ford ridden before us therefore we may venture our Salvation and Acceptance with God upon the same Grace 3 His former love to our selves At first he took us with all our faults and betrothed us unto himself in Loving-kindness and tender Mercy Hosea 2. 19. and therefore he will still do us good freely and bountifully And so we may answer all Objections from Gods wonted goodness towards us When he hath entred into Covenant with us out of his Love and Bounty we may well expect that upon the same terms he should keep Covenant The continuance is more easily believed and asked than the beginning and first grant Psal. 36. 10. O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee and thy righteousness to the upright in heart When by Experience we have found what it can do for unworthy creatures we may the better expect it should help us upon all occasions 4. The End why God exerciseth it which is his Glory even the glory of his Grace and Loving-kindness That that might be acknowledged and exemplified by those that are partakers of it even to be altogether glorious Eph. 1. 6. To the praise of his glorious grace wherein he hath accepted us in the beloved That it may be owned and esteemed as free and liberal and working of its own accord We only cross Gods End when we do not plead it admire it and esteem it highly and improve it for our Comfort for this is Gods End in the whole business of our Salvation from first to last that Men and Angels might be excited to set forth the praises of his rich Mercy and free Grace And here is a new incouragement to ask gracious supplies of God according to his Loving-kindness or upon the account of that Attribute even that his Grace may be more esteemed and exalted in our hearts Psal. 109. 21. But do thou for me O God the Lord for thy names-sake because thy mercy is good deliver thou me It concerneth him in point of his chief honour and glory to do good to his People that he may be known and owned to be a good and a gracious or loving God Use Well then If this be the great plea of the Saints 1. Let us meditate often of the Loving-kindness of God of his pitying and pardoning and lovingly intreating poor sinful and broken-hearted creatures that come to him This should be our daily Meditation bonum est primum potentissimum nomen Dei saith Damascene It is the first-born and chiefest name of God We cannot conceive of God by any thing that concerneth us so much as his Goodness by that we know him and for that we love him We admire him with Reverence for his other Titles but this doth first insinuate with us and command our respect to him The first Temptation that ever was in the World was to weaken the conceit of his Goodness in the heart of the creature as if God were envious harsh and sowre in his restraints still it is a great Temptation yet God is good to Israel Psal. 73. 1. Oh let us fortifie our Hearts with frequent thoughts of his Goodness and Loving-kindness As we should do this every day so especially upon the Sabbath day Psal. 92. 2. I will shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night We should do this with all the advantage we can use more especially when we are in his presence conversing with him and ministring before him Psal. 48. 9. We have thought of thy loving-kindness O God in the midst of thy Temple We should often and seriously think when we come to God surely now we have to do with a loving and gracious God whether we wait upon him in Prayer or the Word or Sacraments if any prayer to make or comfort to expect 2. Observe the fruits and effects of it and value them They that are Students in Providence shall not seek long before they find God to be a God full of loving-kindness and tender Mercy Psal. 107. Whoso is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. Few regard it or look after it but they that do pry into the course of his dealings shall not be without many instances of Gods love and free favour to them now when you have found it out value it Psal. 63. 3. Because thy loving-kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee You shall have rich experiences such as will fill you with joy unspeakable and glorious to be esteemed above all comforts whatsoever 3. Praise God for it This should be a lively motive to praise him Psal. 138. 2. I will worship towards thy Temple and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness and for thy truth These two are the cause of all we have 't is without any deserving of ours only because we have to do with a gracious and faithful God Isa. 63. 7. I will mention the loving-kindness of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us and the great goodness towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving-kindness The Prophet speaketh as if he could never find words enough or pregnant enough to express his sense of Gods gracious dealing so bountifully had he dealt with his People 4. Let us improve this loving-kindness and readiness of Gods Mercy to help penitent Supplicants 1. In a way of Trust the least degree of which is enough to keep the sinner from running away from him how grievous soever his offences and demerits be yet come to him say as David Psal. 51. 1. Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving-kindness according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions Yea make it a ground of confidence and support Psal. 69. 16. Hear me O Lord for thy loving-kindness is good turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies 2. In a way of Fear that we may not interrupt the sense of it or stop the current of his good will Psal. 26. 3. Thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth 'T is the ground of all our Confidence lose not that the Lord taketh notice of them that trust in his goodness Nahum 1. 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him There is one word yet undiscussed According to thy Iudgment Some
by Iudgment understand Wisdom and Prudence the Word will sometimes bear that sense Micah 3. 8. But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of Iudgment c. As we say a man of Judgment for an Understanding Person In this sense According to thy Iudgment will be As thou thinkest fit but surely Iudgment here is to be understood in the notion of his Covenant or the Rule according to which he judgeth of men for it is one of the Terms by which the word is expressed Iudgement is sometimes put for the Covenant of Works or his strict renumerative Justice David declineth it under this notion Psal. 143. 2. Enter not into Iudgment with thy servant O Lord. And this is called by the Apostle Iudgment without Mercy Iam. 2. 13. Sometimes for the Covenant of Grace and free promises of God or that merciful right which he hath established between him and his People wherein God acteth as an Absolving and Pardoning Judge Of this see verse 132. And of this the Prophet speaketh Isa. 1. 27. Zion shall be redeemed with Iudgment that is by his Mercy promised according to his Judgment David desireth to be Quickned From thence observe Doctrine III. That Gods Mercy and Loving-kindness manifested and impledged in the Promises of the Gospel doth notably incourage us to ask help from him You have heard what incouragment we have by the Loving-kindness of God Now what we have over and above that by his Iudgment I. Quickning and Enlivening Grace is promised in the new Covenant 1. In General From the general undertaking of the Covenant The Covenant of Grace differeth from all other Covenants in the World because every thing that is required therein is also promised and therefore 't is called The Promise Gal. 3. 18. because God hath promised both the Reward and the Condition Faith and Perseverance therein as well as Righteousness Pardon and Life The new Heart to bring us into the Covenant and the continual assistance of Grace to keep us in that Covenant And so it differs from the usual Covenants that pass between man and man Among men each Party undertaketh for and looketh after his own part of the Covenant but leaveth the other to look to his Duty and his part of the ingagement But here the Duties required of us are undertaken for by him that requireth them No man filleth his Neighbours hand with any thing to pay his Rent to him or enableth him to do what he hath covenanted to do But God filleth our hand with a stock yea more than a stock of Habitual Grace with Actual Influences to draw forth habits into Act and doth with strength so far enable us to perform every commanded Duty that in the performance thereof we may be accepted Ezek. 36. 26 27. God owneth there not onely the Principles of Acting but also the Excitement of these Principles yea the very Act it self He hath undertaken to infuse the Principle and stir up the Acts and Exercise of it I will cause you to walk in my Statutes So Ier. 32. 39 40. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and of their children after them and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Besides Converting Grace superadded influences It differeth from the Covenant of Works that had more of a Law and less of a Promise there was a promise of Reward to the Obeyer but no promise of giving Obedience God indeed gave Adam a stock of Habitual Grace but no promise of Assisting Grace There Man was to keep the Covenant here in effect the Covenant keepeth us Ier. 32. 40. And indeed therein lyeth the exceeding graciousness of the Covenant of Grace that God undertaketh for both parties and worketh in his people all that is required for entring into and keeping this Covenant with him 2. In Particular This part of actual influence which is more especially called Quickning is promised in the Covenant of Grace for the Covenant concerneth mainly the Life of Grace the care of which he hath taken into his own hands not to lay it down till it be perfected in the life of Glory And therefore alloweth his Children to repair to him when their life is any way enfeebled or decayed So that besides that the general undertaking of his Covenant will warrant such a plea his particular promises of Preserving and Restoring our Life will embolden us to ask quickning For with respect to his Judgment or Covenant-ingagement God is called The God of our life Psal. 42. 8. And The strength of our life Psal. 27. 1. The care of life Bodily Spiritual and Everlasting lyeth upon him By vertue of the Covenant he hath undertaken to keep it feed it renew it in all the decays of it till we be possessed of the Life of Glory II. The Advantage we have from this Promise We have a double Argument not onely from Gods Mercy but his Truth Both which do assure us that God is not onely easie to be intreated but bound and tyed by his own free condescension His Loving-kindness sheweth that he may do it for us his Judgment that in some part he will do it He is not onely inclined but obliged which is a new ground of Hope His Promise in the New Covenant inferreth a debt of Favour though not of Justice when God hath bound himself by promise both his Mercy and Fidelity are concerned to do us good We have not onely the freeness of Gods love to incourage us but the certainty of his help ingaged in the Promise God inviteth men to him by his Grace and ingageth his Truth to do them good The Nature of God is one incouragement he is wonderful ready to do good but in his Covenant he hath established a right to Believers to seek his Mercy so that all is made more sure and comfortable to us Use. Is to encourage the People of God when they miss his help in the Spiritual Life to lay open their Case to God The thought of strict Justice striketh us dumb there is no claiming by that Covenant but the remembrance of this Merciful Right or Judgment should open our Mouthes in Prayer and loosen our Tongues in acquainting God with our case Lord I want that Life and Quickning which thy promises seem to speak of You may do it with the more confidence for these Reasons First Consider the Tenour of this Judgment or the Terms thereof The mildness of the Court in which you plead 't is not a Covenant of Justice but of Favour in it Grace taketh the Throne not Justice The Judge is Christ The Law according to which Judgment is given is the Gospel our Plea is Grace not Merit The Persons allowed to plead are penitent Sinners Yea they are not