see Brethren together in Vnity All very lovely and amiable c. That which is written without upon the â—alls of your Porch let it be especially ingraven upon the Tables of your Hearts viz. Concordila nutrit Amorem What 's Heaven hereafter but a dwelling together in Vnity Let us begin it and Anticipate it to our selves by dwelling so here These words here in the Text as they lie before us in this present Psalm they seem to be uttered not onely Dogmatically but Narratively not onely as of somewhat to be but as of somewhat which was so indeed in the event And answerably let me beg of you that it may be applyed to your particular persons and your particular Societyes that it may be said occasionally from the seeing and observing of you Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is in good earnest for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity And you should do it so much the rather as your Example will be ready and likely to provoke many others besides to the like Conversation God having honoured your selves to be the prime and chief Company of the City that which is herein done by you will have an influence upon all other Societies who by your love and concord and Unity and Christian agreement will unite in love amongst themselves And thus it shall indeed prove according to the words of the Text. Like the precious Ointment which was poured upon the head of Aaron and ran down upon the skirts of his Garments or like the dew of Hermon and that descended upon the Mountains of Sion where the Lord will command his Blessing even life for ever more So much may serve for this time and for this Text. SERMON XXVII Psal 139.18 When I awake I am still with thee It is the Great advantage of a Christian which he has above other men that he has his Friends alwayes about him And if the fault be not his own need never to be absent from them In the Friendship and converse of the world we use to say Friends must part and those which have the delight and satisfaction in one anothers Society they must be content to leave it and to be taken off from it But this is the Priviledge of a Believer that undertakes Communion with God that it is possible for him alwayes with Him Again in Humane Converse and Society we know it is ordinary for Friends to dream that they are in Company with one another But when they awake they are a great way off But a Christian that converses with God and has his thoughts fasten'd upon Him When he awakes he is still with him which is that which is here exhibited to us in the Example of the Prophet David THe Explication of this Text in hand does very much depend upon the true and right Notion of one main and principal Term which is considerable in it And that is the word awake which does admit of a Various Interpretation and may be taken especially three manner of wayes In the Natural sense In the Moral sense and in the Mystical First Awaking is sometimes yea most commonly taken in the Natural signification for the recovery from Bodily sleep as Gen. 28.16 it is said of Jacob that he awoke out of his sleep And the like is said also of Sampson in Judg. 16.14 That he awaked in the like manner Secondly Awaking is sometimes also taken Morally as it signifies a recovery from sin Thus it is frequently taken in Scripture as Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the Dead and Christ shall give the light 1 Cor. 15.34 Awake to righteousness and sin not And in Rom. 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer then when we believed And 2 Tim. 2.26 That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Divel that they may awake Thirdly Awaking is sometimes also taken in a Mystical signification for the recovery out of a state of Affliction and especially out of a state of Death Thus our Saviour of Lazarus Joh. 11.11 Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awaken him out of sleep which though the Disciples understood of Natural rest as it is there signified yet Jesus meant it of his death as it is there also exprest As Death is a kind of Sleep so is the Resurrection a kind of awaking inanswerableness unto it now we may take this word here in the Text in either of these significations but I shall chiefly fasten upon the former as that which is most genuine and proper and with that will I now begin by taking it in the Natural signification When I awake sayes David that is when I cease from sleep and bodily rest I am still with thee Now there are two things which this holy man does here especially intimate and declare unto us The one is his Disposition and the other is his Priviledge His Disposition in order to Duty and what was required of him And his Priviledge in order to reward and what was vouchsafed unto him we may look upon either of them First Take it as to his Disposition and so there is this in it That it is the care and Indeavour of a Good and Gracius heart when he awakes to be still with God When I awake I am still with thee It is Davids Profession of himself as a Representative of all other good Men. Now it is requisite we should explain what is meant by being with God and how far forth a Christian when he awakes is said to be with him There is some Obscurity both in the Time design'd as also in the state it self which is fasten'd upon it How it is said When I awake And how it is said I am still with thee First For the Time Designed When I awake This may be taken two manner of wayes Hypothetically or Emphatically First It may be taken Hypothetically or Indifferently When I awake that is when I am not asleep and so hindred by the necessities of Nature As if he had said thus There is no time that I doe not injoy thee but when I doe not injoy my self And so it sounds as much as this That a good Christian is continually with God upon all occasions A Godly man is careful to be with God in every performance and in every condition Quando is as much as Quandocunque When that is whensoever A Christian whatever he is doing that is not sinful he is still with God In Solitariness in Company in the Duties of Religion in the works of his Calling yea in his seasonable Refreshments and Recreations when he awakes he is still with God And this again according to a twofold Explication First Dispositive in regard of his Habitual inclination Look as it is with Lovers who bear a strong Affection to each other they are said to be with one another wheresoever they are Anima non est
to understand them and to know the meaning and intent of them that is to say for which cause and reason God is pleased to send and inflict them that so they may make a right use of them this they do not see which it concerns them to do To know the times and seasons thus namely in reference to God's judgments Thirdly The duties and engagement of the times it becomes us likewise to know these and it concerns us to study them to know what Israel ought to do as it is there exprest For there is a particular duty and carriage and behaviour and conversation which is proper to such a particular time which in another time is not so convenient Every thing is beautiful in its season as the Scripture tells us and that which may be a sin at one time it may be a duty at another according to the several circumstances and appurtenances which it may be clothed withal which it concerns all wise and prudent Christians to be advised of and lay to heart In Rom. 12.11 We find this advice given by the Apostle to the believing Romans and in them to all other Christians Not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord but according to some translations it is serving the time which is not to be understood by us of a base and unworthy complyance with the sins and corruptions of the time but of a careful and discreet consideration of the necessities and conditions of the time which are very much to sway and regulate those actions which are to be done by us This is to be supposed and taken for granted and laid for a rule That we may never do any thing which in its own nature is unlawful or against the word of God There 's no time for sin no not the least sin that is neither may we at all indulge our selves in it so as to frame our selves to it But for those things which are of a middle nature and in themselves consider'd indifferent there 's another account to be given of them and the time of performances here 's considerable as of very great influence both as to the honour and glory of God and as to the good and advantage of God's people And thus we have seen in what respect it may be pertinent for us to know the times and seasons whether in a natural sense or a civil sense or a spiritual sense and religious But the sense in which it is impertinent and whereof we now speak is suitable to the occasion of the Text and as we hinted before as to the time of mens particular deaths the change and alteration of affairs in Kingdoms or States the end and consummation of the world and the time of Christ's coming to judgment such times and seasons as these it is not for you to know that is it is not proper for you it is not your business nor belonging unto you Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but revealed things belong unto us and to our children for ever Deut. 30.20 Secondly It is not for you that is it is not profitable for you it is not your interest or advantage For men to know the times and seasons in this last sense as I have now explained it 's no way useful or beneficial to them neither is it any matter whether they know them and whether the time of their own particular end or of the end of the world It might please as a matter of speculation and so there are divers that busy themselves about it for the discovery of it but it cannot profit in a way of instruction neither does it tend to any true or real edification There 's no considerable advantage which can be thought to come by it nay indeed there is rather much of the contrary it is prejudicial and inconvenient Partly as it would be perplexing and distracting and partly as it would be apt to retard us and take men off from their duty and doing of such things as at present are required of them Thirdly It is not for you that is it is not possible for you it is not within your reach or compass or which you are able to attain unto The time and season of the end of the world and for Christ's coming to judgment it is not in your power to know nor comprehensible by you This agrees with that which follows in the close of the verse which we handled before where it is said that the Father hath put it in his own power and so out of the power of any other besides This agrees with that which our Saviour himself hath in another place likewise declared to this purpose in Mark 13.32 But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven neither the Son but the Father Where there are three sorts of persons excluded from the knowledg of this time Men and Angels and the Son that is Christ himself The latter whereof especially seems to carry some difficulty with it which I shall briefly resolve how Christ who is said in another place to know all things Joh. 21.17 yet is said in this place not to know the day and hour of the last judgment And it is so much the more considerable forasmuch as it is he himself who is appointed to be the Judg as we have it in Acts 17.31 God hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordain'd This man is no other than Jesus Christ who is God and Man both Now that he who was to be the Judg should not know the time of the judgment seems to be a little incongruous and yet notwithstanding it is here intimated as if he did not know the day For the right explication we must consider in what sense this is spoken and we may reduce it to a threefold head First to the subject of this knowledg Secondly to the means of it Thirdly to the manner of it According to either of these he may be said to know it well First Take it as to the subject of this knowledg The Son knoweth not that day and hour But how consider'd namely not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man forasmuch as Christ doth sustain in himself both natures the Godhead and the Manhood therefore by a communication of properties what belongs but only to one nature it is attributed to the whole person As therefore Christ is said to dye not as he was God but as he was Man because the Manhood only is capable of mortality so Christ is said to be ignorant as he was the Son of Man not as he was the Son of God because the Manhood only is capable of ignorance And as he is said to know all things because he was God so on the other side not to know some things because he was Man And so some of the ancients carry it He that knew it as he was God and
as he had it in the Promises so he had it likewise in the Performance and the accomplishment of that promise to him as we may see in 2 Tim. 4 16 17. All men forsook me but the Lord stood by me and strongthned me There was the Lord in the top of the Ladder In the Multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my Soul in Psal 94. vers 29. And so much of the First reference of this Passage as it respects the Ladder it self in the full Latitude and extent of it whether of Christ or of the Church or Jacob. The Second Reference is to the Motion of the Angels that passed upon it The Lord stood above them also as ordering and guiding and disposing and governing of them The Angels as Great as they are yet they are still but Creatures and at the Command of God himself who is the Lord and Creator of them And so the Scripture testefies of them in Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkening to the Voice of the Lord. It was a great Comfort and Advantage to Jacob that he had the Angels to waite upon him in this his present Condition to ascend and descend upon his Ladder Oh but this was the main of all that God himself stood above it for the ordering and regulating of them The greatest means of Comfort without God are altogether uncomfortable and helps which have no help in them it is he who alone give virtue and Efficacy to any Creature and that makes it advantagious in him and without which it can do us no good nor benefit us at all be it in its own Nature never so excellent This was that which was the Glory of this Vision and that put an Eminency upon it which as I may say is a Ladder it self and consisting of its several steps and gradations in it and neither of them could be wel spared Here 's the Ladder and the Angels and the Lord. If Jacob had not seen the Ladder as a pledge unto him of the happiness of his Conveyance he would have been at some loss within himself If he had seen the Ladder and had not seen the Angels ascending and descending upon it he would have been to seek still And if further had seen the Angels upon it and had not seen the Lord stand above it he would have been very miserable for all this This is that which is the excellency of Angels that they are the Angels of God and this is the good that comes by them That the Lord stands above them This is true and holds good not onely of Angels Properly but of Angels Metaphorically not onely of Angels by Nature but also of Angels by Service and imployment which are the Pastors and Ministers of the Church who have sometimes this appellation of Angels fastned upon them and are so denominated we may apply it even to them also by way of Analogy The Pulpit it is as I may so call it Jacobs Ladder that reaches from Earth to Heaven It has its footing on Earth for we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels But the top of it is in Heaven for we bring with us the glad tidings of Salvation The Angels of God they ascend and descend upon it in the exercise of their minesteriall Imployment But it is the Lord that must stand above it and give virtue and Efficacy to it or else all is in vain and to no purpose It is he that must give us Assistance and it is he that must give us Success and a blessing upon all our undertakings or else it will go but very ill with us nor with you neither If thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence as Moses said in the like case Exod. 33.25 Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye beleived even as the Lord gave to every man I have Planted and Apollos has watered but it is God that gave the Increase as the Apostles speaks 1 Cor. 3.5 And so I have done with this first General part of the Text which is the Vision it self in the three several Branches of it The erection of the Ladder The Motion of the Angels and the Superintendency of God himself The Second is the Provocation of Attention or the Proposal of this Spectacle to view in the word BEHOLD which is now breifly to be dispatch'd by us This though it be first in the Text yet it is last in our handling of it as it is also in the Nature of the thing For first of all the sight is prepared before the Spectators are call'd into the vewing of it And so here this word Behold as it lies in the Text is very Emphaticall and more then ordinary in other Scriptures where also sometimes we meet with it as we may observe in the Multis lications of it for we have it here under a Threefold Repetition the more to awaken our attention to it Behold Behold Behold Behold the Ladder and behold the Angels and behold the Lord. All are to be Beheld by us And the Viewing and beholding of them all will serve as the Application of all that heitherto has been delivered about them There are divers sorts of Looking and beholding which are here required of us in order to this Spectacle before us First So behold it with an Eye of Wonderment and Admiration as a very Great and Glorious Mistery especially so far forth as it concerns Christ himself Here 's that which calls for special heed and attention from us we heard before how the very Angels themselves looked upon it with Astonishment and how much more then should then Sons of Men who are themselves so deeply Interested and concern'd in it There 's nothing which belongs to Christ but it is worth the beholding and has commonly the Provocation of it affix'd unto it Behold a Prophet Behold a Virgin Behold the Lamb of God still behold when there 's Speech of Christ and so here Forasmuch as he is pleased thus to offer and Exhibit himself to our view we should not take off our Eyes from him but fasten them upon him Look upon him in both his Natures and look upon him in all his Offices as they are laid before us It is that which is here required and expected from us This Vision it was not onely for Jacob but also for us and it does very much belong unto us This Ladder is still standing even to this present day and is not removed or taken down but we may look upon it Not in a Dream but waking nor in the Shaddow onely but in the Substance We all now may with open face Behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord c. as it is 2 Cor. 3.18 Secondly With an eye of Faith we are to behold it so also as improving it to our own great Comfort and Consolation in the greatest Troubles and perplexities that may befall us
spoken of thee O thou City of God It is spoken of the Church The Land of Vprightness Secondly It is a word of Forecast or Providence He Cares for it that is he Looks after it and inquires into the State of it so indeed the word here used in the Text does properly signify The Hebrew word is Darash which signifies properly to seek or inquire But it is here Translated Care by a Metonymy of the Cause for the Effect as it is also Psal 142.4 Because those things which men do care for they are Commonly inquisitive about them and desirous to learn and to understand how it faires with them thus it is now with God towards his Church he cares for it so as he he is mindful of the State and condition of it and accordingly does order and dispose of things sutable and agreeable thereunto He Cast's about what may be best and most Convenient for it and answerably does bring it about Thirdly It is a word of Sollicitude and Perplexity He cares for it that is he is Anxious about it This is not properly incident to the Lord who is not capable of such Passions as those are from his Transcendency but yet he is pleased now and then to take them upon himself and accordingly they are attributed to him as spoken after the manner of men Thus he grieves and fears and cares for his People His Bowelsyearn his Heart is turned within him his Repentings are Kindled together as it is in Hose 11. vers 8. Ther 's no man can express more Assection in any thing whereof he is Sollicitous as to the welfare of it then God does express towards his Church as there is Occasion for it It is the Land which the Lord cares for in the full Extent and Latitude of Care Whether of Respect or of Forecast or of Sollicitue Now as ther 's a threefold Expression of the care of God for his Church so there is a threefold Account also which may be given to us of this Care as from whence it does proceed in him And we may take it briefly thus First From his Relation Secondly From his Covenant Thirdly From his Interest First From his Relation The Church it is the Land which the Lord God careth for because it is the Land which he does properly take for his own All Lands are God's upon the account of common Creation the whole Earth and the fulness of it Yea but the Church is his Land by special purchase and Redemption and so he takes care of it more particularly in that Respect It is the Property of Good husbands to care for their own Land what ever Land they care for besides And ther 's no such Good husbands as God in all particulars What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it Esa 5.4 It is his Vineyard and therefore he will take care of it to do all that may influence it He that cares not for his Own says the Apostle he is worse then an Insidel Now God will never be charged with this miscarriage He cares for his Church from his Relation Secondly From his Covenant It is the Land that he cares for upon this Consideration also Because he has bound and ingaged himself hereto Those that promise to take care of any whether Person or things they are concern'd to do so for their Ingagement though there be nothing else besides in it And so is God to do for his Church whether he has made a Covenant with all to this Purpose It was so with God Especially as to this People of Israel and in particular as to this Land of Canaan so it is also to the whole Church in General and to that Land which hath his Church in it He takes Care of it from his Covenant with it Thirdly From his Interest and more peculiar Concernment The Lord takes care of his Church as that which he receives the greatest Benefit and Advantage from any other besides not in a strict Sense but in a qualified and as he is pleased to account it God cannot be profited by Man nor by any thing which comes from him in a precise acception But yet so far forth as any places doe more advance his Worship and Name and Honour so far forthe he reckons himself to be advantaged by them And as they are careful of him so is he careful of them also by way of requital and compensation We see how it is amongst men they do not so much care for the Barren Wilderness and for that Land which is Fruitless and unprofitable but for that rather which makes good Returns unto them And so likewise does God himself The Land that the Lord God cares for is like the Land of Canaan it self which flowed with Milk and Hony This likewise the Church of God does as we may so express it therefore he careth for it The use of this Point to our selves comes to this purpose First as it serves to inform us and to satisfy us in the Truth of this point which we have now before us that we believe it and be perswaded of it It is that which we are ready sometimes to doubt of and to call in question whether God cares for his Church or no. Especially according to the Circumstances wherein it may be as Gideon sometimes reason'd with the Angel Judg. 6.13 If the Lord be with us why then is all this befaln us And so if the Lord take care of us why is it thus and thus with us This is that which we are now and then ready to reason and argue with our selves The Troubles of the Church cause the Church sometimes to question Gods care of it yea sometimes to Conclude against it and to determine the Contrary as Sion sometimes did The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Esay 49.14 Well but for all that this Truth holds good notwithstanding concerning the Church That it is the Land which the Lord cares for This Proposition which we are now upon it hath both an Inclusive Emphasis and an Exclusive It has an Inclusive Emphasis in it as it does signify that God does indeed take care of his Church and Land An Exclusive Emphasis as it does signify that he does take care of it both in the Denyal of others care for it and in his own Denyal of Care for others First I say It has an Inclusive Emphasis as it does signify how God does indeed take care of it He careth for it God has a common and ordinary care which he does exercise about all his Creatures as he is the maker and Governour of them to keep them and preserve them in that Being which he hath bestowed upon them but this is not all which he expresses towards his Church He has another manner of Care for that then this comes to And he does manifest another kind of Love and Affection and tenderness towards it in his caring for it In being a
not in the things themselves driven further from salvation it self and the tendencies to it Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked Deut. 32.15 what are these now blessings No they are curses rather they are blessings turn'd into curses Mal. 2.2 And they make the condition of those which are in this case to be very sad and fearful The goodness of God should lead us to repentance and his mercy should provoke us to obedience and his love should constrain us to Duty and the better he is to us in his providence over us the better should we be to him in our observance of Him when we make another improvement of them so as to turn his grace into wantonness and to be so much the more confident in evil we go contrary to his gracious purpose and end in the blessing of them and doe not injoy them in love Lastly God blesses indeed when he blesses us with spiritual and eternal blessings in Grace and Glory The former Explications which I have given of this present phrase in the Text have refer'd to Temporal Blessings in regard of the manner of bestowing them These here now before us and which I speak of at this present time are of an higher strain and condition for the Nature and kinde of them This is true whether we take it in reference to whole Nations or else to particular Persons For whole Nations see Psal 144. ver ult where the Psalmist had reckon'd up many other blessings besides That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth that our Daughters may be as corner stones c. That our Garners may be full affording all manner of store c. and plenty upon all with this conclusion Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord makes the last to referre to all the rest And so as for Nations so for Persons these are the Great Blessings of all as may appear by that acknowledgment of the Apostle in Eph. 1.3 Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly places in Christ We are ready to think with our selves that God never blesses us indeed but then when he bestows upon us a great measure of these outward Comforts The Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and such things as these yea but what Grace has he wrought in our Hearts what assurance of his love and favour towards us what hopes and beginnings of Heaven has he bestowed upon us These are Blessings indeed and such as are cheifly to be looked after by us and to be put into the prime of our desires and wishes which we make for our selves And thus we have seen the Explications of this phrase and Expression in this Text. Oh that thou wouldest bless me c. Now the Improvement of all this to our selves in a way of Application is accordingly with Jabez to indeavour our selves hereunto we should desire not onely that God would bless us but likewise that he would bless us indeed that blessing he would be sure to bless us and not onely give us blessings in shew but also in Reality For which purpose to use all good means and to be sure to be in such a posture and Condition as do tend hereunto The Scripture does sometimes hint unto us some Qualifications as Advantagious herein and promoting of us As to instance in one or two Obedience and the practise of Self-denyal This we may observe more Especially in Abraham who because he was willing to offer up his Son Isaac upon Gods Command God took it so well at his hands that he blest him and had never done blessing him as he expresses it of him in Genes 22.16.17 By my self have I Sworn saith the Lord that in blessing I will bless thee and Multiplying I will Multiply thee c. Because Abraham obeyed God God would bless Abraham Secondly Sincerity and Uprightness when we serve God indeed hee 'l bless us indeed when we give him the truth of our Performance he will give us the truth of his Blessings And there is no better way for us to procure and obtain the end then by practising and pursuing of the other This is that we should be careful of in the Duties and Exercise of Religion which we undertake 1 Joh. 3.18 My little Children let us not love in word neither in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth And so Thirdly Zeal and Fervency and Intention in that which we go about It is said of Elias that he prayed Earnestly He pray'd in Praying and as he pray'd in Praying so God blest in Blessing As he pray'd indeed so God blest him indeed This is the ready way to it and the course which is to be observed by us in all the Ordinances of Religion in particular in this now in hand The Sacrament of the Lords Supper Christ deals really with us in it his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed and accordingly should we be careful indeed to pertake of them that so we may be blest indeed in our application to them let us not content our selves with the mere shadow and shell and outside of Religion and Performances but take all the care we can for the Substance and Marrow of them and to receive that Benefit by them which is intended in them we should go from this Spiritual performance with more Spiritual strength then before with more Heart and Life and Comfort and Heavenly ingagement These are the Ends and proper Grounds of our Coming if we come as we should do not out of mere Custom and Fashion but out of Love and as sensible of the Benefits we should labour to perform these Holy Duties and all such as these are with more Eagerness and Intention of Spirit Pray in Praying and Hear in Hearing and Receive in Receiving that so God may Answer in Answering and Give in Giving and Bless in Blessing which is the sum and height of all One thing more before Heave this passage in the Consideration of it as a Prayer And that is the vehemency and intention which Jabez here Expresses in it It is not simply bless me but Oh that thou wouldest bless me for the greater Expression of his Affection and Earnestness in the thing desired And here observe two things more which are pertinent hereunto First The Person for whom Jabez was thus Earnest and importunate and that was for Himself That thou wouldest Bless me Secondly The matter in which Jabez was thus Earnest and importunate And that was the Blessing of him in his outward man as may appear by the particulars that follow which we shall come to in this place from which of these there is somewhat which we may observe to our selves First We see here how exceedingly Earnest and Sollicitous we are ready to be in our own particular Case and Condition when Jabez was here to pray for himself Oh
Jabez simple Prayer and Request it self and that is That thou wouldst keep me from evil Namely whatsoever might be annoying or afflicting unto him whether in body or goods or good Name or whatsoever else This is that which the nature of man is ready upon all occasions to decline and to shift off as much as it can the suffering of evil It is tedious to flesh and blood to think of Affliction and the Cross and therefore desires if it be possible to be dispenst withal for it And this desire no question in it self is warrantable and lawful It is agreeable not to Nature Corrupted but to Nature Created God has himself in our very Creation placed such Affections and Dispositions in us as to cause us to run from evil Yea we see how our Saviour himself did warrant this desire in us and gave us an allowance of it in His own Person and Particular Example When he desired if it were possible that the cup might pass from Him as an expression of Humane Affection This is that which is accordingly allowable in our selves also We may lawfully and warrantably desire to be kept from sicknesses and oppressions and the calamities of the times and places which at any times we live in This is no other than very reasonable and sutable to our nature onely I must put in some Additions by way of restraint for the Explanation of this Business First when I say we may lawfully desire to be kept from evil we must not understand it absolutely and indefinitely and upon any terms but still with submission to the good will and pleasure of God so as may stand with his honour and glory and the good and salvation of our own souls and upon no other considerations at all There are some cases in which our sufferings may much tend to the advancement of Gods truth and the justifying of Him in the world and to decline and run from evil is in a manner to deny Him now here it may not be done Again There are some cases wherein Afflictions may be profitable to our selves and for God absolutely to keep us from them might be perhaps in the issue of it to destroy and undoe our own souls we have need sometimes though we think not so of such dispensations as these are as well as of any thing else as so much Physick to work out our corruptions and spiritual diseases now therefore here to say keep me from evil is in effect to say bring us into it No but rather thus Lord if it seem good unto thee if it may stand with thine own good pleasure If I may honour and glorifie thee as much in another way then I beseech thee to keep me and preserve me from this evil that threatens me Secondly When I say we may lawfully desire to be kept from evil we must not understand it of any manner and way and means for the accomplishment of it we must no desire much less indeavour to be kept from Affliction by Transgression to be kept from the evil of punishment by the evil of sin this is to go out of a less evil into a greater which is a very bad and bootless exchange There are two many now and then which are of that temper and disposition of mind that Elihu charges upon Job how truly I doe not say in Job 36 21. To choose iniquity rather then affliction so they may escape outward trouble and calamity and distress in the world they care not what sins and miscarriages and enormities they fall into lying and falshood and backsliding and denying of the truth This is a very sad and fearful condition which we ought to take heed of Jabez here desired that God would be pleased to keep him from evil but it was still in a good way and by such means as were lawfull to be used and undertaken by him we must take it with this restriction upon it This Prayer of Jabez being thus explain'd there are two Observations which are plainly included in it and do result from it First That preservation from evil and misery here in this world is a very great Priviledge and favour and blessing indeed to those who are the subjects of it Secondly That the blessing of this blessing is in the hands of God First I say It is a Favour and Priviledge to be kept from evil here in the world This appears by the reference of it here in the Text where Jabez reckons amongst those things which are blessings indeed when he desired that God in Blessing would bless him he puts in this as appertaining to this blessing and as a part of it First It is so in the nature of the thing it self and as all men are ready to acknowledge it as very pleasing to flesh and blood to the which no Affliction at present is joyous but grievous as the Apostle speaks Look how far ease and quiet and rest and peace is a blessing so far forth is it a blessing also to be kept from evil Secondly That 's not all but moreover in other respects as in the next place that hereby we are so much the freer for the service of God and chearfulness and alacrity in it Those that are prest under many evils they cannot so attend upon the Lord without distraction as they desire to doe they cannot serve him with that freedom as they desire to do All the strength and grace they have is little enough for the supportment of them under the present Affliction but as for any thing else they have hardly any leasure or Ability thereunto How difficulty and hardly do those which are tormented with sickness or prest and pinch't with want attend upon the exercises of Religion and other duties which are required of them whereas those which are kept from such evils they have great advantages and opportunities to this purpose and more occasions for the praising of God Thirdly In reference also to others as an occasion being helpful to them which cannot so easily be done when men are in grief and trouble themselves An afflicted person is oftentimes a helpless person whereas those which are more at liberty have more Opportunities and Abilities in this respect What does this teach us but from hence as many as partake of this mercy to acknowledge it and to be thankfull for it and accordingly to improve it There are some whom God is pleased now and then to be very gracious to in this particular that whiles he brings others into evils yet he does free and exempt them This is not to be slighted or disregarded but to be looked upon as a very great favour and mercy towards them We may see here by Jabez his Importunity what to think of the thing it self and how to esteem it And that 's the first Observation which is here intimated and implyed in this Expression The thing it self is a mercy The second is this That the bestowing of this mercy is from God
upon himself First He is the Refiner and we are the Metal Mal. 3.4 He shall sit as a Refiner and purifier of silver and shall purifie the sons of Levi c. Secondly He is the Potter and we are the clay Isa 64.8 And He casts us into the fire that so he may make us vessels of honour and that He may prevent us from being cast into a worse fire hereafter He casts us into the furnace of iron that He may preserve us from the furnace of brimstone and of the bottomless pit and we should not repine at it especially if we be right gold which as Solomon tells us is ordained hereunto Prov. 17.3 Again Secondly We should be careful to find Afflictions to have this efficacy upon us to wit of purging and refining of us Those whom God hath been pleased at any time to cast into this Iron Furnace whether in the Terrours of Conscience and the scorchings of God's wrath in them or the wrackings of sickness or any trouble or Calamity whatsoever to see that they be the better for them and come like gold out of the fire for if they be not the better they 'l be the worse and so for the most part they are The furnace it hath a different efficacy upon the gold and upon the chaff The chaff that it burns up but he gold that it purges If we be naught and unprofitable Afflictions will then consume us if we be good they will then refine us God thinks fitting thus to have it both for His own greater honour and glory and for the greater good and welfare of the Church it self in the close and conclusion to subdue her corruptions to exercise her Graces and to prepare her for the Happiness and Felicity of her future condition which He will at last bring her to the Church Militant it makes way for the Church Triumphant and that Blessed and glorious Time wherein Death shall be swallowed up into Victory And the Lord God shall wipe away all tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people shall be take away from off all the earth c. as it is in Isa 25.8 Therefore let none please themselves in there escape out of them without this work upon them There are many which have been in the furnace of sickness and other afflictions and God has brought them out of them and they are now ready to think with themselves that the worst is past and they may now live as they list but let them take heed of so doing for God can bring them into it again if they look not to it and if He does it will be so much the worse for them in as much as the furnace will be new heated so much the hotter for them And therefore let us look to it In all the afflictions that befall us whether National or Personal to see that we be still the better and more refined from Gods Visitations of us If we be not I say we are the worse and so we shall prove as Physick if it cures not it kills This is the nature and condition of Affliction And so we may observe it in daily and continual experience Those Persons when afflictions do not mollifie and reduce to a better temper of spirit it does commonly make them the more obstinate and hardened and confirm'd in evil Let us therefore examine and call our selves to an account in this particular It is that whereby we may very much judge and take an estimate of God's love and favour to us and may know whether Afflictions come to us in love or no. So I have done wit the first particular in this first General viz. The Terms of Israel's Deliverance which God vouchsafed unto them In General Egypt a place of Exile and Idolatry In particular the Iron-furnace A condition of hard and lasting Affliction The second is the Authour of their Deliverance and that 's exprest here to be God himself The Lord The spirit of God was not content to intimate their Deliverance simply but with this reference and inlargement of it hereby shewing us who it is that is chiefly active in such things as these are who ever may be the subordinate Instruments it is God alone who is the main deliverer of his people Thus Psal 3.8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord thy blessing is upon thy people So Jon. 2.9 Salvation is of the Lord c. Thus it must needs be so upon a double account First It is he alone hath the bowels it is he alone that hath the strength Deliverance of others out of trouble it is an act of pitty and compassion Now none but onely God has so much of this in them towards the Church we shall see in the book of the Lamentations how she complaining of the want of regard and commiseration in others towards her but this God hath in him abundance Secondly None but He hath the strength The Adversaries of the Church are potent and therefore need to have one of power and might to deal with them And this is God Himself The Almighty and All-sufficient Therefore still let Him be both repaired to as also acknowledged in such providences and dispensations as these are So much for that which is the second thing The Authour of this Deliverance The Lord. The third and last is the manner of it This we have exprest in two words Taken you brought you forth Though one might have served the turn for the signification of the Deliverance it self yet two are made use of to make it so much the more Emphatical And accordingly we will speak distinctly of them The First word is hath taken you Lakach And this it caries a double Emphasis in it First An Emphasis of Appropriation And Secondly An Emphasis of affection He hath taken you i. e. laid claim unto you and taken you i. e. laid hold upon you First an Emphasis of Appropriation Taken you That is laid claim unto you As a man that seizes upon that which is his own when it is in the hand of strangers Thus did the Lord with his people of Israel He took them thus from the Iron Furnace as who should say they were not servants to the Egyptians but servants to Him He had the sole right in them this is that which God has promised that he will doe Mal. 3.17 And they shall be mine saith the Lord in that day when I make up my Jewels c. God may sometimes in His providence suffer enemies and wicked men to tyrannize over his people and to hold them in their possession but yet he will at last manifest his own interest in them and shew that they are such whom he has appropriated unto Himself Secondly As there is it in an Emphasis of Appropriation so likewise an Emphasis of Affection He hath taken you that is with a great deal of tenderness and regard unto you Thus Deut. 32.11 As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her
People or Nation who then uncover'd can behold him In all these particular respects do we see the sad condition of that Nation which God is angry and displeased withal To proceed to the Application of these two Branches both together wee l joyn them both in one and wee 'l make this improvement of them First we may here take notice of the sad condition which is upon our selves in this Kingdom at this present time from whom the Lord does in a more especial manner as we may say hide his face and so as we cannot behold him in that manner as we have formerly done This calls us to a serious search and inquiry and examination of of our hearts and humbling of our selves before God upon these occasions It is that which we should be very much affected with and lay to heart we are apt to be somewhat affected with the evils and calamities themselves as they pinch upon our senses and are cross to flesh and blood but that which should chiefly trouble us is the displeasure of an angry God and the withdrawing of his countenance from us Though we wanted our peace and prosperity and the plenty of former times yet if still in the mean time the Lord himself were well pleased with us we might be able to make a shift for all this But now that he frowns upon us and expresses himself as angry with us this is the great mischief and misery of all when he hides his face who then can behold him This is the sting of any affliction the wrath of God mingled with it As on the otherside it is the sweetness of any blessing to apprehend it as a pledge of Gods love And thus amongst our selves which is the worse as God will not be intreated by us he will not hear Moses nor Jeremy for us Isa 33.7 Secondly We are taught from these points to make our peace especially with God If when he gives quietness none can make trouble and when He hides his face none can behold him then certainly it is the safest way for us to make our peace and reconcilement with him yea and to begin with him first I do not deny but that other means both may and ought to be used as there are now other means on foot at this present time amongst our selves but we must not rest and depend upon these means nor make these our onely refuge and supportment in such conditions as these are No but rather betake our selves to the Lord who is the great peace maker of all And that upon these considerations which may serve as incouragements hereunto First Peace with God is the most General and comprehensive peace it takes into an agreement all enemies and adversaries that are If a man make peace with one enemy and as soon as ever he hath done with him there 's another falls presently upon his back he hath but little quietness for all this Now thus is it with that Kingdom or Nation which does not make peace with God it may be they may make a league with that enemy which at present does trouble and afflict them and as soon as they have done with him there 's another falls immediately upon them This is likely to be the case with us if we should take such a course as this Suppose we should make up the breach and difference which is betwixt our selves and in the mean time suffer the controversie to be dependent which is betwixt our selves and the Lord what are we helpt and advantaged by the matter when as soon as we had done a Forrein enemy would be ready for us as the Lord threatens his people by the Prophet Isa 7.18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermot part of the rivers of Egypt and for the Bee that is in the land of Assyria That is he shall fetch a Forrein power for the affliction and punishing of them even so the Lord might doe with us in this condition French Spaniard Turk if need were these would be quickly at hand upon us if the Lord were not at peace with us But now on the otherside having peace with him we shall have peace with all others else besides As Eliphas speaks to this purpose in Job 5.23 Thou shalt be in League with the Stones of the Field and the Beasts of the Field shall be at peace with thee And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace c. Secondly Peace with God is peace upon the best terms and Conditions that may be that 's a desireable peace which has true peace indeed in it Now such is that peace which any Kingdom has with God it has all the Qualifications and Conditions of a worthy peace in it as to instance in some one or two Particulars First It 's a Religious peace it 's a peace with the injoyment of a good Conscience in the making of it it 's possible to make peace with men so as therein to wound men's Souls and Consciences This is a miserable peace indeed and such as is a great deale worse then the Cruellest war but now when we are at peace with God we preserve inviolable yea indeed we cannot preserve this so without making this Secondly It is a Free-peace it is a Peace which has the greatest Liberty in it that may be The Gibeonites made peace with the Israelites but they became Bondmen and Slaves and so is it with all those which are at Peace with Satan and at an agreement with Hell and so sometimes those which are in Confederacy and League with wicked men but that People which makes peace with God shall have abundance of Freedom Thirdly It is a Sincere and Hearty peace there is no fraud or deceit in it In peace betwixt men and men there is many times a great deal of falshood and Treachery and perfidious dealing as it is said of him in the Psalmes He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him he hath broken his Covenant The words of his mouth were smoother then Butter but war was in his Heart his words were softer then Oyle yet were they drawn Swords Psal 55.20.21 vers This is often in humane peace but in the peace which is made with God there is no fear of all these if we keep faithful to God he will keep faithful to us and to his Covenant of peace with us Thus we see what incouragement we have to incline to such a peace as this is well that which now lies chiefly upon us is to indeavour after it so to order and dispose of our matters as that God may be Graciously pleased to be reconciled with the Kingdom wherein we live and to vouchsafe peace unto us where it will not be amiss for us to lay down some rules and observations as may herein be helpful to us where in I shall apply my self to such as do seem to
Judgments are right and that in Faithfulness thou hast Afflicted me For indeed he does wonderfully moderate Himself in these his Corrections He punishes us less then our Iniquities deserves as Ezra makes Confession in Ezra 9.13 And although we do not always think so yet he always Corrects us in measure as himself declares unto us in Scripture thus in Esay 27.8 speaking concerning his Vineyard that is his Church In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth his rough Winds in the day of his East-winds And Jer. 30.11 I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations whether I have scattered thee yet I will not make a full end of thee but I will Correct thee in measure and will not altogether leave thee Vnpunished Mark how these two are very happily joyned together I will not altogether leave thee unpunished and yet I will correct the in measure God will not leave his people altogether unpunished that he may the better rule them and keep them in awe and yet he will punish them and correct in measure that so he may keep them from Discouragement and Dispondency and dejection of Spirit Therefore I say let us observe Gods dealings in this particular and acknowledg his goodness in them It should teach us to entertain good thoughts of God and to look for such dealings from him as for time past it should draw out our thankfulness and so for time present it should strengthen our Patience and so for time to come incourage our Faith and Hope and Expectation That he that hath delivered will deliver and though he may Chasten sore yet will still mitigate his Chastenings to us that they shall not altogether overwhelm us and swallow us up but that we shall finde relief in them Indeed we cannot always expect it in the letter of the Text as to an absolute Freedom from Dissolution for that must come and will come at last after all our preservations from it upon such and such particular occasions Recovery is at the best but a Repreive and so must be accounted by us and what ever Evils we do escape there 's no escape of this comming to Death but yet under this phrase here we have signified Gods General inclination for the mitigating of his Corrections to us And therefore Secondly it teaches us also Bowels and Compassions in our selves in imitation of this goodness of God There are some kind of people in the world whom nothing will serve their turn but absolute ruine and destruction Like those two fierce Disciples in the Gospel presently calling for fire from Heaven or like the children of Edom in the Psalm concerning Jerusalem Raze it raze it to the foundation down with it down with it to the ground yea but these are taught better here from the Example of God himself who does hold and restrain his hand in the chastisements and corrections of his people This is still his manner of dealings especially where there 's any hope of proficiency for time to come He will not there presently make an utter end but spare them in much mercy As in Isa 65.8 When the new wine is found in the cluster oh destroy it not for there 's a blessing in it so will I doe for my servants sake c. And so much may be spoken of these words consider'd in their connexion The first part of the verse with the second as qualifying of it Now Secondly let us look upon them in their absolute consideration the latter clause of the verse distinctly and alone by it self He hath not given me over unto death We see here how God does graciously preserve his servants from Death and destruction he keeps and maintains their lives This David often makes mention of in other places of the Psalms besides As Psal 30.3 Oh Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the Grave Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the Pit So Psal 116.8 Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling This the Lord is pleased to doe upon sundry considerations First out of his Goodness and Mercy and Love unto them thus David sets it forth in that place Psal 116.5 6. Gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is mercifull And what follows hereupon The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me So in verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints And Psal 72.14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight It is not an indifferent matter with God the death of his Servants neither does he lightly take away their lives but where there 's good cause and reason for it and in order to some greater good to them Secondly Because he hath work and service for them to do In death no man shall praise thee and who shall give thee thanks in the pit Psal 6.5 And Again Isa 38.18 19. The Grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee The living the living he shall praise thee As long as God has any work for any man to do so long he is sure to live and abide in the world Here 's a double goodness of God manifested to us First In designing us to service and the work it self And Secondly In preâ—erving our lives that so we may serve him and doe the work he has design'd us to This should so much the more incourage us in fruitfulness before him we cannot take a more expedient way to prolong our lives than by doing as much good as we can in them Useless and unprofitable persons which live idly and out of any imployment they doe but stand in the room of those which would do better then themselves and they provoke God oftentimes in Judgement to remove them and to take them away As the barren Figtree in the Gospel it was cut down that it might not cumber the ground But those that are active and serviceable they are a great delight and content to him and he takes a great deal of delight in thinking upon them as himself also expresses it in Malach. 3.16 17. They shall be mine sayes the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him A man loves all his children as children and from his Relation to them Oh but those who are of his Trade and which work to him those he loves and tenders more especially and would be lothest to part with them of any other besides and so is it here with God his sons that serve him their death is more precious with him of all the rest neither will he easily give them over to it Not that he simply needs any work or service of ours who when we have done all we can are at the best but unprofitable
Civility and Moral Principles This was the strength which was in Paul before his Conversion He seem'd to have much strength in him and so in a sense he had for we see what a strict man he was and how unblameably as himself sayes he liv'd and profited in the Jewes Religion above many of his equals in his own Nation But what was the reason of it and how came it to be thus with him why it was because he had taken it by Tradition from his Fathers He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees one that was brought up amongst them that sate at the feet of Gamaliel a great Rabbi and Doctor of the Law and from hence came to do so many things which belong'd thereunto Thus this strength in all these wayes as I have shewen is incident to a man before Grace and Conversion wrought in his heart but this is not that which will serve the turn They that wait upon the Lord shall change that is they shall have another bestowed upon them and such as will be more usefull to them In stead of this more Natural and Moral and Customary strength They shall have a super-natural and spiritual given unto them This is different and surpassing the other First In regard of it's Original as comming from the Holy Ghost which is the worker of it He strengthens with might by his Spirit Eph. 3.16 And by his Spirit not onely in his common works but also in his special and peculiar This strength it proceeds from the Spirit of God as Sanctifying Then Secondly It differs in the Subject for the former strength is onely in the outward this is in the inward man and the inwards of that inward I pray God sanctify your whole Soul and Spirit 1. Thes 5.23 Thirdly It differs in the Effects for this Spiritual and Supernatural strength it is able to do greater matters then the other can do helping a man to deny himself to overcome the world to mortify Lusts and Corruptions c. So much for the change in Quality The Second is a change in quantity and degree this is further the priveledge of good Christians that they shall through Gods Grace grow stronger and stronger If by some mischance they do abate in their Spiritual strength yet they shall recover and repair it again They shall renew their strength This for the better illustrating of it to us may be laid open in two particulars First In the Cases wherein And Secondly In the means whereby each of these are Considerable to this purpose for a Christians renewing of his strength First The cases wherein There are some cases and conditions especially wherein a Christian has most need of having his strength renew'd unto him and in such cases as these does God graciously renew them here As First Against a new Service which is to be done by him Every new performance it does in a manner call for a new strength to the Effecting of it which it is not easily done without Especially if it be of any Consequence or Importance Now therefore does the Lord of his Goodness herein give us some proportionable strength as the Apostles when Christ sent them abroad into the work of the Ministry it was not a common strength which would serve their turn and therefore he tells them that they shall have strength from above Tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem untill ye he indewed with power from on High Luke 24.49 The like strength does God vouchsafe to his servants in a measure and degree proportionable in any service which he designs them where he renews their work he does also renew their strength Secondly Against some new Temptation and Conflict with Satan The Lord does here renew their strength and they passively renew it to themselves God does in some manner fit and inable them to enter the Lists and Combate with so potent an Enemy Thus we see in the Example of Job how mightily did God renew his strength when as Satan opposed him and set upon Him And so in the Example of Peter Luke 22.32 Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you and to winnow you as Wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren So again also in the Example of Paul when he prayed so earnestly to God to be delivered from the buffetings of Satan God told him this that his Grace was sufficient for Him and his strength was made perfect in his weakness As he increased his Temptations so proportionably he renewed his strength Thirdly Against some new Tryal and affliction from God himself As the Affliction abounds so does the Consolation and as the suffering so the strength God lays no more upon his servants then he inables them to indure but gives them strength inabling them to bear it As we see in the Martyrs and Holy men of old what great things they suffered This it was not from strength innate or inbred but from strength given and renewed Thus we see what Case and Conditions this Priviledge does hold good to Gods Servants which wait upon him Now Secondly For the means or wayes whereby we may take them thus Christians they do renew their Spiritual strength in these observations First In the renewing of their Repentance as Sin it weakens us so Repentance it recovers our strength it puts us in statu quo brings us back to our former Condition By true and unfained Humiliation for any strength which has been lost by us through any defect we do get up that strength again in us which accordingly is a very good course in such a case to be taken by us when we find our Spiritual strength to be decayed bewaile it and lament it before God with sadness and bitterness of Spirit while Christians do thus they do hence very much profit and benefit themselves in this particular Secondly In renewing of their Covenant as by bewayling what is past so by Solemn purposes and ingagement of themselves for time to come as long as men are at an indifferency whether they should leave their lusts or no so long their Iusts prevaile upon them and as long as men hang off from good purposes and are not fully resolved about them so long do they contract more impotency and indisposition to them But now Absoluteness and Peremptoriness of Ingagement this does convey some strength unto them while we are strong in our Resolutions we come from hence to be strong in our Performances and to be more fitted and inabled for them Thirdly In the renewing of their Obedience Look by what we lose our strength by the contrary to that we recover it and get it again now we lose it many times by the doing of that which is Evil and by the omission of that which is good therefore by that which is opposite and contrary hereunto we must restore it Hence 't is Christs counsel to the Church of Ephesus which had lost her first love and
nore unto thee judge ye also of the equity of that And now this to bring all to some use is very applyable to our own condition of this Land and Nation To whom these words of the Text may be very well sitted and suited in all particulars And therefore O Generation see ye the word of the Lord. Let us think and consider with our selves how God has been pleased to carry himself to us from one Generation to another Has he been indeed a wilderness to us or a land of darkness Let us but a little look back and reflect upon the mercies of this very day as I mentioned it to you in the forenoon and had occasion as I then told you I had to do from a Sermon given to that purpose The seventeenth day of November which laid the ground work and foundation of so many mercies unto us which followed upon it In the breaking forth of the Gospel amongst us and many other blessings besides which we have enjoyed with it Peace and Plenty and Prosperity and Honour and Renown We have been a wonder to all Nations round about us for the great and remarkable favours which God hath been pleased from time to time to heap upon us Then they said amongst the Heathen the Lord hath done great things for them The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce Psal 126.2 But have we made answerable returns to God's goodness and loving-kindness towards us Let us but see and consider that a little and seriously think of it What improvement have we made of the Gospel which we have so long time enjoyed to faithfulness and fruitfulness and heavenliness and holiness of conversation God has not been a wilderness to us have not we been so to him He has not been a land of darkness to us neither as opposite to the light of knowledg and information the darkness of error and ignorance nor as opposite to the light of comfort and consolation the darkness of misery and affliction God has been light unto us and in him is no darkness at all But whether have we walked in the light and not in darkness in reference to him This were worth the due scrutiny and enquiry by us Have we not wax'd proud and wanton and secure and presumptuous under all his dispensations towards us And so trusted to our own present welfare as that we have in a manner despised him and said with these people in the Text here before us We are Lords we will come no more unto thee Certainly the great abominations which do now in these days abound and increase still amongst us they do speak no less of us Well if it be thus with us we have great cause to be affected with it and to lay it to heart as that which is most absurd and unreasonable as it is here presented to us And to close at last with God's excitements and invitations of us to repentance and amendment of life This is that which we have an example of given us in this very people here before us the people as we may see in the following Chapter Jer. 3.22 Who when God had first himself said thus unto them Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backsliding they presently make this answer and return unto him again Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God And so much may serve for this time SERMON XLIII JER 4.19 My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very heart my heart maketh a noise in me I cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard O my Soul the sound of the Trumpet the alarm of War This Text in the first reading or hearing of it one would be ready almost to think to be the speech of some travelling woman which were now in pain to be delivered and bringing forth a child into the world or which had miscarried through some fright or evil accident which had hapned unto her for it carries with it such expressions as are suitable to such conditions of bowels working and heart panting and spirit fainting and tongue crying aloud But yet if we look into the Context the Connexion and Coherence of it we shall find no such matter which makes it to be a business of so much the more wonderment and admiration so that we may justly upon occasion of it take up that inquiry of this very Prophet Jeremy himself in another place of his Prophecy and use the same words with him there in chap 30.6 Ask now and see whether a man doth travel with child wherefore do I see a man with his hands upon his loins like a woman in travel and his face turn'd into paleness And if we shall so ask we shall easily have an answer given us That so it is indeed and has cause to be so Here 's the Prophet himself travelling with the miseries and calamities of his people which now like so many pangs and throws came upon him and drew forth this bemoaning from him which he does express so much the rather that so he might draw on them to the same affections and dispositions with him who were now wholly swollen up with security and presumption and carnal confidence in their present condition not considering the sad and grievous estate which now they were in It is a Scripture which follows very pertinently upon that which we lately handled the last Sabbath day in this place and this time of the day for which cause I have fastned upon it that so though we change our Texts for the more variety and edification yet we might still hold our argument and keep to the main business it self which we drive at in this performance of awakening you and preparing you for God's judgments which hang over your heads and are threaten'd against you if we have eyes and hearts to see it and to be affected with it IN the Text it self we have two General Parts considerable of us First the Prophets Complaint or Lamentation it self Secondly the ground or occasion of this his Lamentation His Complaint or Lamentation that we have laid down in those words My bowels my bowels c. The Ground or Occasion of it in those Because thou hast heard O my Soul c. We begin with the first viz. his Complaint it self wherein again we have these particulars further observable First the parts affected Secondly the grief of those parts Thirdly the passage or vent of that grief The parts affected are described or exprest two manner of ways First in their simple proposition Secondly in their additional reduplication Their simple Proposition My bowels my heart Their additional Reduplication My bowels my bowels my heart my heart The grief of these parts is amplified from a double consideration First from the quality of it my heart is pained Secondly from the effect of it my heart makes a noise The passage or vent of this grief is again two ways considerable First as a matter of choice in
mouth were smoother than butter but war is in his heart And Ezek. 33.31 With their mouth they shew much love but their heart goeth after their covetousness More expresly as it is noted of the Pharisees Matth. 23.28 They outwardly appear righteous unto men but within they are full of hypocrisy and iniquity Now all such as these they are here censured by this present expression which we have now before us as being abominable in the sight of God The Lord abhors this double dealing in Religion with an heart and an heart and an heart as to outward manifestation good and commendable but as to reality and inward affection naught and unsound Hypocrites and liars they shall have their portion in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone And therefore let all such as are so look to themselves If there be any that now hear us whose consciences tell them that their inward thoughts and affections and private carriages are wicked and unwarrantable whiles their outward pretences and appearances are fair and commendable let all such know that God is not mocked that though they may deceive men and such as themselves perhaps are yet they cannot deceive him who will one day discover them and reveal them and make them known and shew what they are who will turn their cake for them and put their inside outward in the view and sight and appearance of all the world both Angels and men That 's one thing signified in this phrase and metaphor here used as it is an expression of hypocrisy Secondly It is an expression of neutrality and indifferency in Religion When men know not what to hold or to betake themselves to but are compounded as it were of several mixtures this is a cake not turn'd This was the condition of this people they neither wholly embraced the Idols and abominations of the Heathen nor yet kept the true worship of God entire and pure amongst them but were a medly betwixt them both neither flesh nor fish a linsy-woolsy as we may so express it This is that which the Prophet blames in them Thus Rev. 3.15 It is laid to the charge of the Church of Laodicea that they were luke-warm neither hot nor cold Such were those Israelites in Ahab's time which halted betwixt the Lord and Baal 1 King 18.21 And those Nations which the King of Assyria placed in the Cities of Samaria they feared the Lord and served their own Gods 2 Kin. 17 33. And those Jews in Zephaniah's time which worship'd and swear by the Lord and swear by Malcham Zeph. 1.5 And so all ther else besides who have not a constancy and certainty of religious Principles in them such as these they all come both within the compass of this present expression and this prophetical censure too Now the Lord cannot endure such kind of persons as these are which have no bottom nor foundation in Religion which are to seek what to fasten on and what profession to take upon themselves as being indifferent to any It was in part here the case of Ephraim and is in like manner the condition of many other people besides That they would joyn those things together which are of themselves incompatible which will not consist or hold together Such are those which in matter of Faith would reconcile Popery and Protestantism together In matter of worship God and Baal in matter of affection God and Mammon in matter of practice and life and conversation Christ and Belial These things they will not hold neither are they such as God himself can away with His soul abhors them As Rev. 3.16 So then because thou art luke-warm and neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of my mouth And the reason of it is this because he is a jealous God as the Scripture expresses it He cannot abide to have any joyn'd with himself but to be absolute and entire and alone without any mixture Nec Regna socium ferre nec tedoe sciunt The Bed and the Throne will admit of no Competitors Forasmuch then as God is both of these to his People their King and their Husband too therefore he will not endure to have any other joyn'd with himself What shall we think then of those which are for a general and universal toleration of all Religions which would have every one to do that which seems best in his own eyes without restraint which are for a Meshmash and Galemaufery of all Sects and Opinions and Professions jumbled together Are not these come to Ephraim's temper here in the Text of a Cake not turn'd which are partly bak'd and partly leven Yes out of doubt they are and accordingly if they look not to it may expect Ephraim's judgment of which more anon That 's the second thing impli'd in this Metaphor here in the Text of an unturn'd Cake It is an expression of Neutrality in Religion Thirdly It is an expression of Deficiency and Imperfection in Religion and it may be extended to the whole work of Conversion and entertainment of Religion it self He that is but an half-converted Christian that has not a thorough-work of Grace wrought in his heart such an one he is a Cake not turn'd When a man shall onely have a work upon his understanding to discover to him his miserable condition so as it may terrifie him and affright him and astonish him but no work at all upon his will and affections so as to close with Christ upon his conditions here the work is done but by halves The spirit of Bondage onely and not the spirit of Adoption following upon it This is the state and condition of many which go no farther than Judas his repentance which have some convictions and that 's all they rest there and come not up to a full closing and complying with the Gospel they are not willing to part with their lusts nor their beloved sins which they still nourish in themselves and so are lost It is the undoing of thousands of souls this which we speak of that they are content to be somewhat in Religion but nothing to purpose as Agrippa he was almost a Christian but he was not one altogether so it is with many other besides they are perswaded and convinced in their judgments that somewhat is to be done by them but they are not willing to do that which they should For methods sake we will reduce them to these following heads First which proceed to meer notion and speculation in Religion but not to practise and operation This is one cake which is not turned There are many which have strong brains but weak hearts so far as Religion is a matter of understanding and discourse so far they are pretty good at it they are able it may be to go through all the points of it to reason and argue about it but yet in the mean time they have no savour or rellish of it so far as it may any thing tend to the changing and reforming of
them so far they cannot away with it but do depart from it This is the reason why they many times apostatize and fall away because as the stony ground in the Gospel they want root which as long as they do such things will not stay with them especially in any time of trouble or persecution arising for the Word A speculative Christian is a very uncertain Christian such an one of whom there is no hold but who does presently start aside from that way in which he is These are such as the world does frequently swarm and abound withall which know God but care not to fear him nor to have their affections towards him answerable to their knowledge of him Secondly Purpose and Resolution without Practlse that 's another cake not turn'd There are many which promise and purpose and resolve and profess much but they perform little When they lie upon their beds of sickness or are in any distress of conscience Oh what great matters they will do all on the sudden but when it comes to the practise and performance here they fail Such a kind of Cake was Pharaoh when the Plagues of God were upon him Oh then he would let the people go yea that he would but when they were off him he then return'd to his wonted humour again and was as bad if not worse as ever he was before This is that now which we are to be careful of good purposes are good and such as we are to cherish in our selves all that may be but we are not to rest and satisfic our selves in them but to proceed to the practise of that good which we resolve upon Thirdly The practise of some things but the neglect and omission of others that 's another of the same nature As Herod he heard John Baptist gladly and it is said he did many things but he did not all nor did not care to do them here was a cake not turn'd and such are many more else they do limit and restrain and confine themselves in matter of Religion in point of Faith they are willing to believe God in some things but not in others to trust him for their Souls but not to trust him for their outward man to trust him for themselves but not to trust him for their children and posterity In point of obedience they will to do some things but not others abstain from some sin but not abstain from all perform some duties but omit the rest pray in the morning but not in the evening come to Church some part of the day but not the other serve God so far forth as may consist with their own humours and distempers but when it comes to cross these here they take their leave of him As Naaman The Lord be merciful to me in this they must be dispenst with in it Now this not excluding the former seems to be that which is here principally intended the partial and imperfect Reformation which was in Ephraim whether as considerable in the whole State and Nation or in private particular persons which were members of it that they did not turn to the Lord with all their heart which is the very proper and direct constitution of these very times in which we live we are content to amend somewhat to reform in some particulars but for others to favour our selves Now we must know that this will not serve the turn in our dealings with God he will have all or none at all Thou that abhorrest idols dost thou commit sacriledge as it is in Rom. 2.22 and so it may be said of any other like course besides which is suitable and agreeable thereunto This Cake which is but half-baked it is such as God cannot away with his stomack loathes and abhors it And that 's another Explication Lastly It is an expression of Extravagancy and the following of two extremes A Cake wich is not turn'd it has not onely the notion of a defect and imperfection in it but likewise of a double miscarriage on either hand it is not onely partly good and partly evil but indeed it is strictly neither for it is burnt on one side and dough on the other And here is now another description to us of the state of many people in reference to Religion that have this temper and disposition in them some are crusted into ignorance and others crumbled into schism and great factions and variety of opinions to be still in some extreme or other which they do tend and incline unto and know no mean between Some are scorch'd with new-fangledness and others are dough with profaneness and they cannot avoid the one unless they fall into the other either fond and conceited in Religion or else have no Religion in them at all Better be absolute Heathens than such kind of Christians as are neither hot nor cold That therefore which lies upon us is to take care of our selves in these particulars which we have now mention'd we should labour to be through-Christians in all the points and parts of Christianity to serve God with all our minds and with all our Soul and with all our heart and with all our strength to be that which we profess to be sincerely and resolutely and in good earnest and to some purpose indeed This is that which is here required of us And to set it on the more effectually upon us let us consider thus much that hereby we shall the better provide for our own happiness for he which is but half-converted shall be but half-saved that is in truth not saved at all So much for that to wit the words as an amplification of their sin Ephraim is a Cake not turned The second is as it is an aggravation of their punishment Ephraim is a Cake not turn'd it shews that sad condition which this people were now in in regard of their Enemies who were ready presently to swallow and devour them Look as a man which is throughly hungry he is so impatient of further delay as that he snatches a Cake from the hearth before it be baked even so does the Prophet here signifie that Israel's Enemies should do with them they should be so eager and fierce upon them and greedy after them as that they should snap them up all on a sudden without any warning This is another sense and explication which we may well fasten upon this Expression Yet I shall not insist upon it as adhereing rather to that which we named and handled before Ephraim is a Cake not turn'd in regard of Judgment which shall suddenly follow and surprize them and it shews as I said the impatience of their adversaties in setting upon them which will not stay nor give them any respite before they destroy them The Syrians before and the Philistines behind and they shall devour Israel with open mouth as it is in Isa 9.12 that is suddenly and totally without mercy For the better and fuller explicating of this present passage unto us
wickedness saving What have I done Every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel The horse and the war-horse especially which is there meant it hath a great deal of fierceness and impetuousness with it whereby when it discerns the battel though afar-off as Job speaks it rushes into it Eagerly with a great deal of vehemence and desperately with a great deal of resolution and dangerously with a great deal of hazard as rushing upon the Pikes and Guns Even so in like manner do wicked men rush upon evil courses and the ways of sin They are herein like the horse and mule which have no understanding and their sins are pleasing to them as the battel is to such kind of creatures as the horse is Secondly This obstinacy and perversness in sin it is grounded upon security and presumption Because as yet they find no hurt by their sins but scape well enough with them therefore they are resolv'd upon them As Eccl. 8.11 Because sentence against an evil doer is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil If God should strike men dead presently in their wickedness this it may be would a little affrighten them But now whiles he spares them and lets them alone and does nothing as yet unto them this heartens them and encourages them in evil Thirdly It does proceed from the power which Satan has over them The Devil he is said to be the Spirit that works in the children of disobedience Eph. 2.2 And certainly so he does in a great many persons Those who will not have Christ and his Spirit to reign with them they are oftentimes in just judgment given up to the Spirit of Satan by whom they are taken captive at his will And he hurries them and carries them on headlong to all manner of evil whatsoever Thus it is said of Judas that the Devil entred into him And thus 't is said of Ananias that Satan had filled his heart And thus Elymas the Sorcerer he is said to be a child of the Devil Now those which are such it is no wonder if they be thus bent upon sin as being such in whom Satan himself rules Fourthly Infidelity and unbelief because they are not perswaded of the truth of those things which they hear and read in the word concerning the vileness of such courses and the danger which they involve them in They think these things are but scare-crows and bug bears to fright children which have no truth or reality in them And therefore it is that they are no more affected with them so as to bear their evil ways Lastly The reason here in the Text and that is a desperate frame of spirit because they think there is no hope no hope that they should be better having so long been accustomed to evil Nor no hope if so-be they were better yet that God would be gracious to them and preserve them from ruine and destruction This is that among other things which makes them thus vile and incorrigible And that 's one thing and the main here considerable viz. Their obstinacy and perversness The Second thing is their conspiracy and combination We will every one c. It seems it was a set plot and design amongst them against the Lord and his Prophet even one and all If some few of them had resolved to do so it had been bad enough so and a very great evil that But it seems they were well agreed and they were so joyntly it was every one without exception Sin is always so much the worse as it is any thing the more general and universal It is not an excuse as some sometimes are ready to make it but rather an advancement and aggravation as shewing the malignity to be so much the greater and more improved And thus it was here Thirdly Here was their wilful transgression and sin even against knowledg for they do plainly acknowledg their ways to be evil and yet for all that they do resolve and purpose to persist in it notwithstanding We will every one do the imagination of his evil heart It is not we will do what we think in our judgment to be best Jeremy You think our ways to be evil and therefore would have us to refrain them but we are of another mind and therefore will continue still in them But you and we are both agreed in one that our ways are evil and yet notwithstanding we are determined to go on in them still though never so bad This is a fearful case indeed And thus much of the words consider'd simply and absolutely as they be in themselves Now further Secondly We may look upon them in their reflexion as coming from this people and that is they said it All that do so do not say so but it seems they said so and are so recorded here to have done This may be understood by us two manner of ways either in their words or in their actions either expresly and totidem verbis with open mouth or implicitly and interpretatively and by consequence in that which was done by them First Expresly and in so many words They were not ashamed to do this to say and declare and to profess to all the world that they were resolved whatever was said to them to persist and to go on in their wickedness Thus Psal 12.3 We read of the tongue that speaketh perverse things And ver 4. Who have said with our tongue we will prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us So Mal. 3.13 14. Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord ye have said it is in vain to serve God c. And Job 21.14 They say unto God depart from us c. It is a sad thing when it comes to this yet sometimes we may observe it to do so So much impudence there is upon men's spirits as that they blush not to proclaim their wickedness with open mouth And that 's one sense of the expression Secondly It may be understood implicitly and interpretatively and by way of consequence They said it namely practically and effectively in that which they did and which was acted by them They said to the Prophet there was no hope i. e. they so behaved themselves as he could conceive no hope of them that they would ever be better And they said We will walk after our own devices c. i. e. they did still continue and persist in them without amendment and reformation and did give occasion to believe that they were resolved to do so still even for time to come This is the nature and quality of all perverse and obstinate sinners such as live in any course of sin without repentance though warn'd and admonish'd of it They do as good as say that they are purposed to do so continually And in the words of this present Text that they will every one do the c. Therefore accordingly let
be betrayed who should sooner bestir himself than the Watchman and Governour of it Why thus it is now with those who are Ministers and Pastors of the Church They are Fathers they are Shepherds they are Spiritual Watchmen and what not to work them and to ingage them hereunto This very expression in the Text carries an Argument with it wherein they are called Dressers of the Vineyard who are much concerned in the safety of Those Trees that belong unto it as a piece of their own handy-work Men are usually chary of plants of their own watering of Trees of their own setting and of any thing which hath been matter of labour and pains unto themselves destroy it not for there is a blessing in it Isa 65.8 It was God's Argument which he used to Jonah That he had pity on the gourd which he had not laboured for nor made it to grow and how much more did it then concern him to have pity on Nineveh Surely as people are specially and principally the workmanship of the Lord Ye are God's husbandry Ye are God's building 1 Cor. 3.9 so they are also in part and subordinately the work of the Ministers also I have planted and Apollo hath watered as it is in the sixth verse also of that chapter You know how it is sometimes with Nurses and Servants who have taken a great deal of pains about the Child they are very chary and tender of it and bear a special affection to it And when Parents are about sometimes to correct it why they step in presently to save it and take it out of the Mother's hand that she may not deal so sharply with it They plead for it and promise for it and give their word for it and are very earnest in its behalf to keep it and preserve it from the Rod. Why thus now likewise is it with faithful Teachers and Ministers of the Church of Christ They are Nurses as it were to God's people and have the bowels of Nurses towards them as the Apostle Paul expresses it of them in 2 Thes 2.7 And so accordingly do save their children from the stroke of God's anger upon them by interceding for them This it first of all shews us how that Ministers are not the worst members of any Nation or State whatsoever especially such as are faithful and conscionable in the discharge of their places no but they are special savers and preservers of the Lord's flock They do not only serve to instruct God's people but to protect them not only to shew them their duty but to keep off their ruine They are shadows against the heat They are coverts from the storm They are Advocates and Pleaders and Interceders with God for his people upon occasion of any evil or mischief which is near unto them of Sword of Restilence of Fire of Famine and the like Such as these they stand in the gap they make up the breach they wrestle and tug and contend with God for their people that he would be gracious to them and they many times fare the better for their prayers in such respects This accordingly calls for answerable carriage towards them for the farther incouragement of them in such Offices as these are not to slight them not to grieve them not to do any thing which may lessen or take off their affections towards them for while they do so they do ill consult with their own safety and preservation We know how ill David took it from the hands of Nabal that when he had been a great safeguard and protection to him and all his family that they were not hurt nor mist any thing as long as he was conversant amongst them but was a Wall to them both by day and by night yet that base and ungrateful Carle he thought much of a little refreshment to be given to him and his souldiers which we know how dear it had also likely to have cost him even to the destruction of himself and all his houshold These who are preservers of others have need to be kindly used and entreated by them upon all occasions It is a sad thing for people to have them rising up against them which should rather speak for them When Moses shall come to that pass as to say Respect not their offering I have not taken one Ass from them nor done them any hurt and yet they deal thus with me in Num. 16.15 When Jeremy shall come to that pass as to say Remember Lord that I stood before thee to speak good for them and to turn away thy wrath from them and yet thou knowest how they carry it to me in Jer. 18.20 23. Thus it has been sometimes in the world and very sad whenever it has been so as that which is unsuitable and agreeable to that which is required and and may be expected from them Secondly Here 's an Item also for Ministers and those who are by their place Vine-dressers in a spiritual sense to teach them what is required and expected from them likewise and that is to put on such bowels as these are upon themselves and to draw them out upon all occasions Ministers are not only to labour for Ministerial Abilities but also for Pastoral Affections nor only to endeavour to keep their people from Eternal Destruction by teaching and admonishing of them but also as much as they may to keep them also from Temporal Destruction by praying and pleading for them and by being earnest and importunate with God for the diverting of Judgments from them Because a Faithful Ministry it is a business of great security in the improvement of it to those places in which it is Again further it also shews what we should be especially our selves for our own particular Those that must plead for others they had need themselves to be in very good terms of favour and speculation and not to have too much business chargable upon them A Minister had need of all others to walk most closely with God to perfect his communion with him to keep his heart most upright before him and to approve his waies unto him not only for his own salvation and the good of his own soul in particular but also for the preservation of his people and the keeping off of danger from them that so he may with a great deal more freedom and boldness and liberty of spirit come to God and speak in their behalf How shall a Minister ever confidently desire that God would be pleased to let alone his people when as the Lord hath it may be much adoe even to let him alone himself and not to destroy him Therefore it concerns us especially of all others to be men of good Acceptation men of desires or greatly beloved as it is said of the Prophet Daniel for his particular Dan. 9.23 And so much may suffice to have been spoken of the first particular in this first General to wit the matter of the Petition or Request which is
humility and subjection Lastly She heard his word This is not to be taken as meant only of outward hearing but with all inward and special qualifications as First Attention She attended to the things which were spoken as is said of Lydia Secondly Delight She had a sweet savour and relish of them and complacency in them Thirdly Reposition She retain'd them and laid them up in her heart As Mary the Mother of Christ She laid up all these things in her heart not a forgetful hearer Jam. 1.25 And thus much for the carriage of Mary the Sister of Martha So much for that The Second is Martha's carriage her self which was very different from it But Martha c. In which verse we have again two things observable First her own behaviour for her own particular she was cumbred about much serving And Secondly her censure of her Sister yea of Christ himself about it Lord doest thou not care that my Sister hath left me to serve alone c. First I say Here is her own behaviour for her own particular She was cumbred about much serving that is in the friendly entertainment of Christ's person She saw such a worthy Guest as this was now come to her house and all her thoughts and care was taken up how to give them the best welcome that she was any ways able to do This simply considered in it self was no fault or miscarriage in her but rather an argument and token of her good affection But accordingly as it is here qualified in her so it had somewhat which was vicious in it First Luxury and excess She was too large in her entertainments It may be she provided more than was fitting for such a time This is that which many are to blame and faulty in they think they cannot make their friends welcome except they load them and cloy them with variety of dishes I do not deny but that God does vouchsafe us now and then a more liberal use of the creatures than at other times but yet there is a reason and moderation in all especially according to the condition of the times wherein we live which do call for more restraint and abatement than others do as we may see in Isa 22.12 13 14. This might be one miscarriage in this good woman She was excessive in regard of the measure And therefore some when Christ afterwards says One thing is necessary they interpret it one dish but that 's a little too gross Secondly Curiosity for the manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She was cumbred about it She was too punctual and curious and exact in her preparations that she thought nothing good enough It may be to a too much undervaluing of the creatures themselves and unthankfulness for them which many now and then are too too guilty of likewise and it is a very great fault in them But Thirdly Which we shall see more afterwards There was a turbulency and unquietness of spirit This is that which is too often seen in many persons in such performances they do too much distract themselves and others about them and there are divers grounds of it Sometimes it proceeds from unskilfulness as those things which people have no skill in they are troublesome to them to go about them Sometime it proceeds from unaccustomedness as those things which they are not used to they are disquieting when they undertake them But more especially it does arise from a weakness and impotency of mind as we shall see more hereafter As it is the disposition of many people that they can do nothing but they are presently troubled and distracted about it this was the fault of this Martha And so much for her own behavior The Second thing here considerable is the censure of her Sister's carriage yea upon the point of Christ himself wherein also there were many weaknesses and infirmities involved at once As First There was a spice of pride and vain-gloriousness in her obsequiousness Lord doest thou not care that my Sister hath left me to serve alone As who should say Doest thou not take notice of how much pains I take to entertain thee Whiles she finds fault with her Sister she does implicitly commend her self which is often-times the end of such speeches This good woman had a little tincture of ostentation and boasting in her mingled with her entertainment of Christ which is apt to cleave now and then to the best that are it is a worm which too often breeds in this sweet wood A kind of pride in well-doing especially there where there is an excellency and singular eminency above other persons as here it was She saw she outstript her sister in this service and now she would needs be commended for it This we may toke notice of here not to justify such kind of affections where-ever they are but to shew the weakness and frailty of our nature in this particular And that those which are any thing more or less guilty of it may accordingly both be humbled for it and strive against it The remedies of this distemper are these First a reslexion upon our weaknesses and failings other ways Secondly a consideration that all we do is a due debt Thirdly that others may be better in other respects c. That 's the first Secondly Here was a spice of envy and censoriousness of her Sister's forwardness in Religion Lord doest thou not take care that my Sister c. Here was a quarrelling and contending with her Sister as one weakness brings in another From pride comes contention Prov. 13.10 And this is joyn'd with envy and censure and emmulation She would needs be thought the best of the two and she pleased her self in her own good performances and hence falls upon her Sister This is another infirmity which is oftentimes seen too much in those which are otherwise good a kind of envying and emmulating of others This we shall find in the Disciples of Christ themselves Our Saviour had much ado sometimes with them they were ready ever and anon to go together by the ears in this business And so with all Censoriousness Martha which here followed her business and houshold-affairs she censures Mary her Sister which attended upon the Doctrine of Christ And this is that which we shall often-times find and observe in the World that those which are great Husbands or Housewives and are taken up in such kind of employments they are very forward to pass their censure and verdict upon the hearers of the word and those which do much attend upon special means I know very well there may be an unseasonableness even in this but yet it is not so often as sometimes it is conceived to be And where there 's one neglects the world for the looking after their souls there are hundreds which loose their souls for attending too much upon the world And that 's a second infirmity here observable Thirdly Here was a spice also of impiety in interrupting the good
we do not live answerably unto Those whose lives are cross to their Doctrine they pull down that with one hand which they seem to build up with another and those which destroy that which they build as well as those which build that which they destroy they do thereby make themselves to be Transgressors Gal. 2.18 This they are guilty in which shew and shew and shew much by their proposals but shew little or nothing by their examples which discourse of the excellent way but do not walk in that way themselves In the last place and so to conclude one word here more from the connexion and conjunction of these two parts of the Text here both together Covet earnestly the best gifts and withall I yet shew unto you a more excellent way We see here that these two are consistent and do hold together very well Parts and Grace both A man may be a good Christian and withal a good Scholar too a man may be a good Scholar and withal a good Christian too This the Apostle does here suppose and take for granted whiles he superinduces the one upon the other yet I shew unto you It is not Tamen as if there were some disparity but Adhuc as implying an agreement This takes off the conceits of all such as do imagine these two to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and inconsistent together that if men be good Christians they must needs be dullards and dunces Again That if they be good Scholars they cannot be godly men This is a fond and foolish imagination and is quite stricken off by this concomitancy and connexion which we meet withal in this present Text. Indeed I must withal add this That these two in regard of the event are oftentimes separated from each others more than might be wish't There are many of great abilities for Learning which yet have but graceless hearts and again there are as many of very gracious qualifications which ye have no great depth of Learning or Scholarship in them but yet these two principles in themselves they do not simply and absolutely cross or thwart one another but may very well meet and sometimes do in one and the same subject The better gifts do oftentimes fall into the more excellent way This is a good incouragement to us for the following and prosecution of either both of parts and grace too The possibility of their division and separation fo one from the others calls us to an holy jealousie and watchfulness over our selves and may serve t humble and abase us And the possibility of their consistency and conjunction of one with another calls us to an holy zeal and intention in our selves and may serve to comfort and incourage us It is not the having of either alone which does excuse or discharge us from indeavour after either in the conjunction And thus now as briefly as I could have I dispatcht with Gods gracious assistance this whole Text. Covet earnestly the best gifts and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way SERMON XXXIII 2 Cor. 5.11 Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men but we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences There is nothing which does so much justifie the importunities of a faithful Monitor as the conseration of the present danger The approach of the enemy makes for the alarm of the Watchman and the increasing of the distemper calls for the advice of the Physician and as it is thus in temporal so is it likewise in spiritual dispensations where the danger that people are in in regard of their souls and the strictness of that account which they are one day to make to God of them lays a ground for our special excitements and awakenings in the work of our Ministry that they may not be thought to be needless and superfluous and without any cause but very requisite and to very good purpose This is the scope of this Text which we have now before us in connexion with that whichwe handled the last day out of the verse preceding In the Verse immediately going before the 1 st Verse of this Chapter the Apostle Paul had there declared that we must all appear before the judgment-feat of Christ c. And from hence in this Verse which we have in hand does he shew what reason he had to be so earnest with those whom he dealt with in provoking them to a regard of themselves Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men c. In this Verse we have an account given us of the Ministerial dispensations and that as laid down especially in two distinct branches which may serve to make up to us the parts of the Text First In reference to the performance And Secondly In reference to the acceptance The performance that we have in these words Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men The acceptance that we have in these but we are made manifest c. We begin in order with the first viz. The Ministerial performance wherein again two Branches more First The work it self and that is to perswade men Secondly The ground and principle of this working or the motive that puts them upon it Knowing the terror of the Lord. Before we come to speak of these parts distinctly and by themselves it is requisite that we should first of all look upon them in their connexion and reference to one another wherein we have a double account given us of the Apostle Paul and the rest of his Brethren as to the work of their Ministry First An account of their knowledg what they did with that and that was by improving of it to the good of others Secondly An account of their practice what put them upon that and that was that knowledg which they did partake of in their own persons First Here 's an account of their knowledg what they did with that that 's in these words we perswade men we know he terror of the Lord. And this knowledg we do not keep to our selves or lock it up in our own breasts no but we bring it forth and impart it and communicate it to others that they may know it as well as our selves as we know so also we persade and as we learn so likewise we teach And indeed this is one thing which lies upon such kind of persons as these are those whom God has at any time furnished with more than ordinary knowledg and insight into the things of Gods it concerns them not to keep it to themselves to conceal it or to hide their talent in a Napkin but to improve it and to make discovery of it according to the place and calling in which God has set them and the abilities which he has bestowed upon them Every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man which is an housholder that bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the nature of the children of God that they hate more sin than they can rectifie they could wish many things to be otherwise than themselves can make them Well but when all comes to all they can mourn and bewail them that they are no better And this for Grief which is inwardly conceived in such cases and is represented here by this word of sighing The second is which is outwardly exprest and declared by crying and there is use also sometimes of this Crying abominations they call for crying dispositions not onely for sighing but for roaring not onely for secret weeping but for open complaints Men are sometimes and in some cases call'd to testifie and to declare against the common abominations according to the circumstances especially which they may be in and the places which are sustain'd by them Here they can do no less than manifest their abhorrency of them Thus the Lord to the Prophet Isaiah concerning the sins and abominations of the times in which he liv'd Cry aloud says he and spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins in Isa 58.1 And this for the expressions of Sorrow viz. Sighing and Crying The second is the occasion of these Expressions and that is the abominations that are committed Hatognevoth There are no sins whatsoever that are to be allowed or indulged though the least and smallest that are But the greater that any sins are the more are they to be abhorred by us when it once comes to abominations here we are especially to proceed against them and to bewail them all that may be as being such as carry the greatest guilt and consequently the greatest danger with them The Scripture still sets a mark upon abominations as such things as are chiefly to be lamented as in the Chapter preceding verse 17. Hast thou seen this O son of man Is it not a light thing to the house of Judith that they commit the abominations which they commit here So Jer. 6.15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations It was a great offence not to beashamed there where-ever it had been besides So Mic. 6.10 Are there yet the treasures of wickeaness in the house of the wicked and the scant measure which is abominable That which is abominable it should especially be abominated by us The third thing is the Extent of the Commission both in the word of Vniversality All and of Place in the midst of the City This shews how far these abominations had spread and what footing they had got amongst them as matter of just bewailing and lamentation to them When sin is once come to this pass it is so much the more grievous when it is got into the midst and into the heart as it were of the City then it is sad indeed we count it so in regard of Judgment We think it a sad thing here for the Plague to be in the midst of the City and as it were in the very heart of it this is dreadful and terrible Oh! but what is it then for wick edness and abomination to be so as it is here exprest And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the Persons mentioned in those words That sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof The second is the special care or regard which is had of them in those words Go and set a mark upon the foreheads of them that c. Whereas there are such persons as these now and then to be found in the world that do sigh c. so we see how there is a special mark by Gods appointment fastned upon them who are thus affected This mark to speak distinctly of it is of two sorts First it is a mark of Observation And secondly it is a mark of Preservation It is a mark of dignity and special respect and it is a mark of safety and special security which is vouchsafed to such persons First It is a mark of Honour and Observation such persons as these are they are highly esteemed and accounted of by God himself In times of common sins and calamities the Lord has a special regard to mens spirits and takes notice how they are affected and those whom he finds to lay either of these two to their hearts he has a great respect for them to mark them in their foreheads or place of eminency or observation But secondly and more to our purpose as it is a mark of Observation so it is a mark of Preservation likewise and that especially it is such a mark as whereby God does distinguish them from other persons in the execution of his Judgments which he does graciously exempt them from We shall find still all along in Scripture how as any persons have had any thing more of this temper and disposition in them so they have been more secured by God from publick calamities God has still taken care of his own Servants when he has most severely proceeded against others Thus when the Aegyptians were destroyed in their First-born there was bloud sprinkled upon the posts of the Israelites for their security that he that destroyed the other might not touch them Heb. 11.28 And Rev. 7.3 there was a charge given to the Angels that neither the earth nor the sea nor the trees should be any thing hurt till such time as the servants of God were sealed in their fore-heads And here in this present Text before us a special charge is given to the Destroyer not to burt any man upon whom was the mark c. And who were they namely such as mourned and took on for the common abominations Such as these God has a special regard to in such cases to keep and preserve them A notable instance whereof we have in Josiah 2 Chron. 54.27 where it is said that because his heart was tender and he humbled himself before God and rent his clothes and wept before him therefore he should not see all the evil which God would bring upon the place where he was and upon the inhabitants thereof God preserv'd him because he sigh'd and cri'd for all those abominations c. Now the Reason of Gods Indulgence to such persons as are thus affected is especially upon this account First Because they are such as do more especially honour God and glorifie him both in his Attributes and Providence and those that honour him he will honour and he will also protect In Mal. 3.16 17. when a company of profane wretches took no notice of any thing at all Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another namely in the bewailing of such profaneness And what was the issue of it The Lord hearkned and heard and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that
day when I shall make up my jewels And I will spare them as a manspareth his own son that serveth him Then ye shall return and discern betwixt the righeous and the wicked betwixt him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Discern betwixt them namely in regard of my different dealings with them those that are different from other men in their carriage and behaviour towards God he will be also different in his carriage towards them over what he is towards other men Secondly Such as these they do close and comply with him in the way of his Judgments therefore he will be more gracious to them They come off to him in those ends which he propounds to himself in his visitations and so prevent him and save him a labour The reason why God at any time sends any plagues and punishments upon any people it is in reference to the abominations which are done amongst them Wicked and Atheistical persons which are besotted and given up to an hard and reprobate heart they look upon such things as these are as onely matters of chance and casualty or at the most but of common providence and so are little affected with them But those that are the Children of God and that understand any thing in Religion they know there is somewhat more in it and accordingly consider it and that is in reference to sin and to work men to a detestation of it and mourning for it Now therefore those that do so of themselves they do so far forth make it needless and superfluous with them they that cry before correction they shall not need to cry after it or to cry in it and they that of themselves do sigh and mourn for the common abominations they shall not need to be afflicted thereby to make them mourn And God loves not at all to afflict more than needs must The consideration of this point shews us therefore what is to be done by our selves at this present time and upon these occasions Now that Gods judgments are abroad in the Land and abroad in the City now that the Destroyer is gone forth with his Commission as we see he is amongst us we see here what is the best course to be taken by us to preserve our selves from this common desolation namely by sighing and crying for the abominations that are committed amongst us This is the way if any at all to have a mark set upon our foreheads by way of distinction Gods Tokens in this sense is the way to prevent his Tokens in another If we be careful and diligent so to order and dispose our selves towards him he may bestow this special favour upon us There are divers sorts of persons in the world which come short of this duty and practise of sighing and crying for these abominations which we may briefly take notice of by way of Illustration First Those that practsse them and do rather add unto them Those that make the abominations are far enough from mourning for them and so consequently far enough from this priviledge here mentioned in the Text of having a mark set upon them Therefore in this sighing and crying is included mending and reforming It is not enough for any in these cases onely to cry out upon others and to seem to bewail the wickedness which is done in the land or done in the City and in the mean time to allow or nourish the same or like wickedness in themselves But it implies an absolute hatred and loathing of those things in their own hearts He that truly and sincerely bewails and laments others abominations he is careful to suppress his own and as much as may be to withdraw and abstain from them Whosoever they be that do otherwise they fall short both of the Duty and of the Mercy of the Duty of sighing and crying and of the Mercy of being preserv'd and exempted from judgment and destruction in reference thereunto as is here declared of such persons Secondly such as some also there are that do encourage others in wickedness and not only not restrain them but rather countenance them and further them in it These are also very far from this performance yea indeed quite opposite to it and so instead of receiving a mark of preservation upon their foreheads may rather expect to receive a mark of vengeance and destruction upon their Persons Thirdly which is a lower degree of it which do not lay the sins and abominatins to their heart which are not humbled for them which it concerns them and becomes them to be And this is that which we are now at this time from the Text more especially to conform to As we desire that our selves may be hid and secured in the day of Gods anger that we may be kept and preserved from destruction it behoves us secretly to lay to heart both our own and others provocations and to make our peace with God in Christ As we desire that God should not judge us it concerns us to judge our selves And that we may do it so much the more effectually take notice of these following directions First Labour to discern and to take notice of the abominations themselves they that will sigh and cry for them they must first know what they are and it is not difficult for us to do that if we do but open our eyes Indeed they are so various and infinitely many as that it is hard to sum them up but yet withall they are so obvious and notorious as that it is an easie matter to observe them and to be sensible of them As to instance in some few of them The abominable Adultery and Uncleanness that is in the Land the strange and unnatural Lusts Swearing Drunkenness Injustice Formality Hatred of the very power of Religion and almost the very name of it contempt of the Gospel and Ministry gross Ingratitude and Hypocrisie and which is the heighth of all an Impudency and Shamelesness in sin a daring of God to his very face and in a manner bidding him to do his worst as not caring for it Never was more wickedness in England than has been in these few latter years Assembling themselves by troops in the harlots houses As fed horses in the morning every one neighing after his neighbours wife as it is in Jer. 5.8 And these things not onely not lamented but rather rejoyced in and made a matter of saughter and merriment than any thing else as if there were no great matter in them Now Shall not I visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my Soul be avenged on such a Nation as this is Can we think to go clear and scot-free amongst so many calamities and are we not nearly concerned to observe them and to take notice of them But secondly As we are to discern these things that so we may the better lament them so we must look upon them in their aggravations and the circumstances that do attend them not