but be sure to carry away the Victory If the Devil assault you resist him till he flee from you Are you persecuted troubled and afflicted maintain a Christian Courage and Magnanimity bear all with an invincible Patience and suffer the utmost rather than do what is dishonourable what may offend God or wound your own Conscience Doth the wind of false Doctrine blow from all quarters let us take heed that we be not carried away therewith let us search for the Truth and never suffer Lyes and Falshoods to have any Impression upon us And that other Errors may not find entrance let us shut out that great and gross one and the Mother of many viz. That it is no matter what Men think or believe that Opinions are not dangerous for the Apostle tells us That there are some Heresies damnable All Truths are not to be alike accounted of nor are all Errors dangerous But certainly some Truths are of such importance and are delivered with such evidence that to deny or question them is to resist God and question his Veracity and there are some Errors which debauch the Understanding as much as Vice doth the Heart and the one doth alienate from God as well as the other If we be tempted to mingle our Devotions with Idolatry and Superstition that the Worship of God may be splendid and magnificent let us not yield for God is not to be Worshipped with that which pleaseth him not nor must we study to Honour him by ways which he has forbidden Neither out of a pretext of shunning this let us be carried to the other extreme of Indecency Irreverence and of a nasty Familiarity Whatever be in vogue among others let us both in publick and in private keep up that Worship which is grave serious and deliberate which is suitable to the Majesty of God and proper to beget in us great and worthy thoughts of him which kindleth our Love to him heighteneth our Reverence and Esteem for him which instructs us in his Will and quickeneth our Obedience to his Commands Finally and particularly let us with all care escape the Pollution that is in the World thorow Lust let us stave off Vice and withstand the wicked Practices of this Age we live in and study to be found the Children of God without all rebuke even in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation whatever be the practices of others let us make it our business to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of the Son of God If we do not strive to overcome in this last particular our Victory in the rest will be to little purpose What will it avail us to stand out against Persecutions to resist Errour and Heresies Idolatry and Superstition if we be Slaves to Lust and suffer Sin or any manner of Impiety to reign in us All our Zeal for Christ's Kingdom without will profit us nothing if we do not set it up within us Though we Prophesie in Christ's Name and in his Name cast out Devils and in his Name do many wondrous Works yet if we do the works of Iniquity he will say to us in that day Depart from me I never knew you Thus you have seen your task and what as Christians is required of you Your task indeed is great but your Assistances are as great and if you resolve to acquit your selves well you must be active and diligent There is no place for Idleness or Loitering You have much to do but however do not despond for there shall be strength given you from above He that is with you is greater than any that can be against you If you have the heart be ready and willing God will enable you to overcome the greatest Goliah of the Philistines And if at any time you should faint look unto Iesus the author and finisher of your Faith let his Example direct and encourage you and as he did also look unto the Recompence of Reward consider what shall be done to you if you overcome You shall not be so meanly rewarded as they were who obtained the Mastery in Olympick Games who only got Crowns of Flowers Laurels and Myrtles nor yet as the Romans when they returned Victorious over their Enemies who only had the Honour of a days Solemnity and Triumph nor is it a Crown of Gold which shall be bestowed on you which is the greatest reward to be expected in this World but it is a Crown of Life Glory and Righteousness I have fought a good fight saith St. Paul I have finished my course and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness Nothing is reckoned more August and glorious than a Crown some have been at great Pains and have run many Hazards to win one But there is no Crown so glorious as this which awaits us in the other World The splendor of it is represented by the Whiteness of the Stone in the Text Its Excellency and Magnificence by the weight thereof and its Duration and Continuance by the firmness of it Be ye therefore stedfast and immoveable and abounding always in the work of the Lord Forasmuch as you see that your labour is not in vain And unto him who is able to make you overcome and who has promised thus to reward you if you do overcome be Glory Honour and Praise for Ever and Ever Amen SERMON X. On LUKE VI. 46. Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say THE Name of Lord is not only a title of Honour but it implies Dominion and Authority so that to call one Lord is to acknowledge him Superiour and to profess Subjection to him Christ is called Lord by David Psal. cx And is almost always design'd so in Scripture This Name is due to him both by vertue of his Nature and Office so that to call Iesus Lord is to receive and Acknowledge him for the Son of God the Messias or Christ and the Saviour of the World For these Reasons he is our Lord and is called so in Scripture and they do not understand what they say who do not mean these things when they call Iesus Lord. By the things which Christ saith is to be understood the whole Doctrine of Christ as it respects both Faith and Manners A true Disciple will receive whatever his Lord saith and will own all that his Authority is concerned in But he is disobedient and rejects his Authority who rejects either the Truths required to be believed or the things commanded to be done To do then what Jesus saith is to frame both the inward Temper and Sentiments of our heart and our outward Conversation according to the Doctrine of Christ it is to receive by a Sincere Faith all the Truths revealed by him and to make Conscience of observing what he has commanded The Credenda or things to be believed are
hid from us till the event declare them and then we are forced to approve and applaud what before we were ready to condemn As Fines Imprisonments and other Punishments are necessary to a Common-Wealth so Calamities Troubles and Afflictions are now necessary to the World By them God keeps up his Authority defends his Laws curbs Sin prevents some from going astray and reclaims others who have already erred from the ways of his Commandments Hereby he exercises his Peoples Virtue Integrity Faith Patience and other Graces and makes them to acquire the Growth Stature Vigour and Understanding of perfect Men which they would not do if softness and ease and plenty were always indulged them As Winds serve to purifie the Air and Frost and Snow and Rain to moisten and fatten the Earth that it may be fruitful so God sendeth Calamities and Afflictions that they who are barren may be made to bear fruit and that others may bring forth more fruit If an ignorant and unskilful Person saw a Gardiner pruning his Trees and lopping off the Branches with Axes and Knives he would perhaps suspect him of madness or think he intended the destruction of the Garden Whereas he thereby prevents their overgrowing and undoing one another and renders his Garden both more comely and more profitable So God by Afflictions prunes his People he keeps down those Corruptions and Disorders which otherwise would break out amongst them and disposeth them to bear proper fruit in their season It is good for me that I was afflicted said David The Psalmist was once tempted to think that God was unkind to his Church and People because he afflicted them But on second thoughts he checks himself and concludes that truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart That is such dealing with his People do not prove that he has no kindness for them For he is still good to them and their Afflictions testifie it and such as are of a clean heart shall certainly find it so Now seeing these things are so let us not complain of the present Providence of God let us not murmur against nor bear impatiently those Evils which are upon us For we have truly sinned against God and he doth justly punish us whatever may be said of many of the Instruments of our Trouble and Calamity I must not flatter you certainly our Princes our Nobles and Great Ones the Pastors and People and all Ranks amongst us have corrupted themselves and done wickedly and therefore God hath justly brought Evil upon our Land And they who have smarted by this Revolution have suffered justly at the hands of God Let us therefore humble our selves before him acknowledge our Offence and the Justice and Righteousness of his Judgments and then he will be ready to plead our Cause I beseech you in the words of Hosea O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast faln by thine iniquity take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the Calves of our Lips and then we shall hear him saying I will heal your backsliding I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from him And as he saith in another place Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up And as this is the only proper Advice for our selves so I would advise those to whom the present times seem a little more favourable I mean our Brethren of the Presbyterian Party whom I call Brethren though their usage and treatment of us have shewed them Enemies seeing they have overthrown the Church and treated her Bishops and Priests with Contumely and Reproach I say I would advise them not to be over vain and confident for they know not what a day may bring forth To rejoice at our Affliction and to insult over our Misery doth not favour much of Religion to which they make so high pretences And unless they could chain their present State by irreversible Decrees there is as little Prudence as Religion in despising us thus and trampling so much upon us For it may come to pass that they may yet be forced to seek shelter under the Shadow of our Vine They know it is not long since another Party I mean those of the Roman Communion boasted and bragged and aimed too at more than was fit or meet or what Discretion would have required which brought on their Ruine and which has occasioned their Loss of that Peace which otherwise they might and would have enjoyed Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall I believe that thou shalt arise O Lord and have mercy upon Zion when the time to favour her when the set time is come Though our Case were more desperate in the Eyes of the World yet I would not despair tho' we were at a lower pass and had fewer Friends I yet would not let go my Hope for God is able to do for us above what we can ask or think It is true we have provoked the Lord and tho' he leave us we cannot complain But we know also that our God is merciful and with him is plenteous Redemption He will not cast off for ever Therefore they who are his people should still hope in him And we are his People as much for any thing I know as any other Christians in the World can pretend to be for the Church of Scotland is a sound Member of the Holy Catholick Church professing the same Faith that the Churches in the most ancient and purest Ages did and hath the same Ministry and Government even that very Ministry and Government which in those times were thought necessary to the being of a Church and in and under that Ministry we also have the holy Sacraments purely administred by which we are bound to God by a Covenant which is more solemn and sacred than any of Man's inventing can be If therefore we return to the Lord and acknowledge our Offences he will have Mercy upon us and surely visit us with his Salvation For we are his Zion a part of his Catholick Church or peculiar People and he will not always be angry with us We may take up this Hope both by our own Experience and the Experience of others Have we not fallen heretofore And have we not risen again Have we not seen the Church invaded her Essential Order and Subordination demolished her Pastors exiled her Temples profaned her Beauty defac'd And have we not seen all these repair'd and restor'd again Is there any thing impossible unto God Can he not suddenly alter the securest State and put a stop to the most violent Career ANNO 58 and 59 neither King nor Royal Family durst be owned and then it was a capital Crime to pray for them And yet you all know that within a Year or
not be able to escape and though they shall cry I will not hearken unto them They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord but they shall not find him he hath withdrawn himself from them Wherefore as the Apostle enjoins Let us exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned with the deceitfulness of sin You that are stricken in Age will I hope readily acknowledge That it is time if ever for you to seek the Lord and mind the business of your Salvation for your time is near spent your Sun is ready to set and your Day is almost at an end The Husband-man useth to be busie when the Season is almost at a close especially if at first he has loitered and been idle And you that are young have no less Reason to fall to work quickly for though by the Course of Nature you may live a considerable time yet you know that Course may and has been often interrupted and none knows how soon this may befall him Wherefore let neither young nor old give Sleep to their Eyes or Slumber to their Eye-lids but let both young and old seek and labour with all Diligence To day saith the Holy Ghost if ye will hear harden not your hearts But to go on In the last place we have here an Encouragement to what is called for proposed from the Certainty of the Success He will come and rain Righteousness upon you In worldly things Men often seek and labour but do not obtain what they would be at But saith the Lord I said not unto the house of Iacob seek ye me in vain He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him He is sometime found of them that seek him not and therefore it is not to be doubted but he will be found of those who seek him aright and in due time It is true he is not always presently found but though he hide himself for a while he will not do it for ever and therefore we ought not to be weary but to wait patiently till we find him whom our Soul loveth Seek saith the Text till he come which requires Constancy in seeking There is need of patience to them that have done the will of God that they may receive the promise It is childish and unreasonable Peevishness to fret because we are not presently answered to desist from our Work because we do not instantly reap the Fruit thereof They make too great haste to their Doom who conclude themselves forsaken and reprobate because presently they find not God's Presence and the gracious Tokens thereof What is delayed is not denied God knoweth his Hour and waiteth till it come and so should we he putteth off to try our Faith and Constancy to exercise our Patience to quicken our Desires Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until he receive the early and latter rain Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Jam. v. 7. Now what is the Lord to do when he comes He will saith the Text rain Righteousness upon you The Allusion to Husbandry is still continued all know how necessary Rain is to the Husbandman without it he labours and sows to no Purpose But if the Heavens rain upon him his Labours prosper he sees the Fruit thereof eats and is satisfied The Dew of Heaven is no less necessary to our spiritual Husbandry it also depends entirely on the Blessing of God without that all our labour is in vain Without me saith Christ ye can do nothing But as God giveth Rain and Snow from Heaven to water the Earth to make it bring forth and bud that it may give Seed to the Sower and Bread to the Eater so in spiritual Blessings he will not be wanting to those who are not wanting to themselves To those who would sow in Righteousness and labour to break up their fallow Ground and seek him to bless their Labours he will come and rain down Righteousness upon them that is his Grace and Spirit shall fall down like the Rain upon them whereby they may encrease and abound in all Truth and Righteousness Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be satisfied This is the heritage of the Servants of the Lord and their Righteousness is of me saith the Lord. But tho' our Righteousness be of God it should not make us supersede our Labours and Endeavours We must not as one saith lie loitering in the Ditch waiting till Omnipotence pull us out It 's God who causeth the Grass to grow and Herb for the Service of Man are therefore the Labours of the Husband-man useless Put thy self in the way of Grace and Grace shall be given thee Up and bestirr thy self commit thy way unto the Lord trust in him and he shall bring forth thy Righteousness as the Light and thy Iudgment as the Noon day Psal. xxxvii 56. But secondly Some understand these Words of Christ and not without Reason for he that cometh or is to come and will come are his frequent Titles in the Scripture St. Iohn the Baptist asked if he was the Christ under this Designation Mat. xi 3. And the main end of his coming was to teach and give Righteousness He is called the Lord our Righteousness Who sheweth the way of Righteousness who worketh it in us and who by the Merits of his own Righteousness hath obtained for all true Believers that their honest and sincere tho' imperfect Righteousness should be accepted of God as perfect and that they should be dealt with by him as if they were perfectly and compleatly righteous As it is written in the Old and applied by the Apostle in the New Testament Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness and he was made sin or a Sin offering for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him that is that we heartily believing in him and as Believers heartily and sincerely obeying of him might be reputed as perfectly righteous in the Eyes of God through the Merits of his Blood who was perfectly and compleatly righteous without spot or blemish Here then is a Promise of Christ and the Benefits of him as a Saviour that they who are truly sanctified with inherent Righteousness have it imputed to them through the Merits of Christ for perfect and compleat Righteousness tho' it is not so but defective and short of that absolute Perfection which the Law requires as it is written Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Fear not little flock
it is your Father's will to give you a Kingdom A Kingdom of more Glory than all the Kingdoms of the World and it is a Kingdom which shall never end This is the Reward which God will certainly bestow on his righteous Servants and Children of which Reward some make the raining Righteousness in the Text a Promise for they take Righteousness to be the Reward of it as in the following Verse Iniquity is taken for the Punishment thereof But whether that be the main intent of the Words certainly it may be comprehended in them for the Fruits and Effects of Righteousness are always given where it self is given Holiness and the glorious Reward of it cannot be disjoined so that he who has the one is sure of the other The Wicked cannot inherit Glory nor can the Righteous be excluded Instead therefore of perplexing our selves what shall come of us whether we shall go to Heaven let us chearfully do our Duty and heartily endeavour to be righteous in the sight of God for hereby we may be assured of eternal Life The one is the Earnest and Pledge of the other Hitherto I have handled and applied the Text with a respect to Mens private and personal state But as was said in the beginning the Prophet delivered this Advice with a regard to the publick state of his People both Civil and Ecclesiastick And so it proposes the true Way and Method of preventing and removing publick Calamities and Disasters from Church and State which is to put away Sin and Wickedness and to encourage and promote Piety and Godliness As the Prophet forewarns them of very sad and heavy Judgments so all along he plainly inculcates the cause thereof viz. Their Pride and Wantonness the neglect of God and of his Worship and a gross contempt of and disobedience to his Righteous Laws For this cause he told them they were to be so exemplarily punished and that nothing could save them from utter Ruin or procure the lengthning of their Tranquillity but the ceasing from Sin and the doing that which is right in the sight of God Both the Preservation and Ruin of Kingdoms and publick States is of God and he is moved to the one or the other according as they are righteous or wicked For as Solomon saith Righteousness exalteth a Nation but sin is a reproach to any people which Maxim of the Wise Man is clearly exemplified in Sacred History and was wisely observed in relation to the Iews in the person of Achior the Captain of the Sons of Ammon for in the Speech which he is said to have made to Olofernes he told him That whilest they sinned not before their God they prospered because the God that hateth iniquity was with them but when they departed from the way which he appointed them they were destroyed in many sore Battels and were led Captives into a Land that was not theirs and the Temple of their God was cast to the Ground and their Cities were taken by the Enemies From which wise Observation he concluded as wisely his Advice to the same Olofernes Now therefore my Lord and Governour if there be any Errour in this People and they sin against their God let us consider that this shall be their ruin and let us go up and we shall overcome them But if there be no iniquity in their Nation let my Lord pass by lest their Lord defend them and their God be for them and we become a reproach before all the world Righteousness is the greatest Security of a People it is the strongest Bond of Union amongst themselves and will defend the Frontiers better than Garisons or Armies can do For it secureth the Protection of the Almighty who can defeat the strongest and most numerous Forces and who when a man's ways please the Lord maketh his enemies to be at peace with him If therefore we have any concernment for the Church and State whereof we are Members if we would have God to do good to our Zion and to build up the walls of our Ierusalem if we would have him to settle Peace within their Walls and Prosperity within their Palaces let every one of us return from the Evil of our ways let us seek God with all our heart retrieve true Piety and true Religion and by the works of real Righteousness study to please God If we do this then his Heart will be towards us and his Delight will be in us then we shall become his Pleasant Vineyard which he will fence and plant out of which he will gather the Stones and in which he will build a Tower for himself he will cherish our Church and State and do all that can be desired for their Beauty Order and Peace But if instead of the pleasant Grapes of Righteousness we yield the sowre Grapes of Iniquity if instead of Judgment God see Oppression if instead of Righteousness he hear a cry if instead of the sweet smelling savour of a Christian Conversation we send forth the noisom and stinking scent of Sin and Impiety Ungodliness and worldly Lusts then he will utterly abandon us I will tell you what he will then do to his Vineyard I will saith the Lord take away the hedge thereof and it shall be eaten up and break the wall thereof and it shall be trodden down And I will lay it waste It shall not be pruned nor digged but there shall come up briars and thorns I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it Isa. v. 5. Our Land will always be made to mourn so long as Sin and Iniquity abound in it Publick Peace and Prosperity cannot be expected till there be a return of Righteousness of true and solid Piety Till that appear we need not look for good Let us therefore seek the Lord and by fervent and effectual Prayers beseech him to give Repentance unto all People and to Rain down true Righteousness upon all Ranks and Orders of Men that it may be well with every one of us and with the Land we live in For then our case should be happy and then both Sion and Ierusalem would have reason to rejoice for the Lord then would strengthen the bars of their gates he would bless the people within them make peace in their borders and fill them with the finest of the wheat Now unto him that is able to do this for us unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only Wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen SERMON XIII Preach'd at St. Giles Church in EDINBURGH On October 16. 1687. HOSEA V. 13 14 15. When Ephraim saw his sickness and Iudah saw his wound then went Ephraim to the Assyrian and sent to King Iareb yet could he not heal you nor cure you of your wound For I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the house of Iudah I even I will tear and go away I will take away and none shall