correcting and allaying the fits of discontentment arising now and then even in the hearts of the children of God from some present sad dispensations or pressing wants Abraham the father of the faithful Gen. 15.2 said What availeth all that I have seing I am childless Godly Rachel was discontent with her own barrenness and envyed her sister Leah Asaph had a sharp fit of discontentment with the great prosperity of the wicked and the great adversity of the godly Psal 73.13 And Jonah was absurd and most unreasonable in his fretting and orping at the removing of the Gourd which he himself never planted so we see even the godly sometimes have their own repinings of heart when God in his unblameable providence sometime removes what himself freely gave whereas they should be thankful to his rich and free bounty for the former loan and submissive to his wisdom and soveraignty in removing what he himself gave Therefore consider 1. Such fretting discontentment doth not become thy profession thou dost profess thy self a child of God and should a wise and kindly child take the pett at the allowance of his wise and loving Father Doth it not become thee rather to say as thy elder Brother said before thee Joh. 18.11 The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it 2. Thy fretting discontentment is a questioning of the wisdom of God who knows well what is best for his own children of the justice of God who is righteous in all his wayes of the soveraignty of God who may dispose of his creatures at his own pleasure and wisdom Eccles 7.14 God also hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him The wise God in his various providence sets prosperity at one time against adversity and contrariwise as upon the earth there is oftentimes a valley and an hill joyned together And consider thy discontentment is a questioning the love of God who not only chasteneth but even sometime scourgeth his own children Heb. 12.6 3. Look unto Christ and this will cure thy fretting canker of discontentment Art thou in poverty fret not but look to him who being rich became poor for us his ordinary fare was barley loaves and a few fishes and he had not whereon to lay his head Art thou reproached and disgraced unjustly by men do not thou fret and repine against providence nor faint as one that could not live but in the popular air Look unto Christ who endured such contradiction of sinners Heb. 12.3 He was called a Samaritan a deceiver a phanatick or phrantick Mark 3.21 and a complyer with Beelzebub Mat. 12. Vse 3. For exhortation to be content with thy present condition till God in his good providence by means of his own appointment call thee to a better and more prosperous condition 1 Cor. 7.20 21. Because 1. God increaseth his gifts and graces to contented and thankful man as unto Abraham content with Ishmael he gave an Isaac and to Solomon content with the gift of wisdom for ruling the people he gave abundance of riches also 2. Contentment with the things a man hath for the present makes him to possess himself in patience and to prevail over his masterful passions Luke 21.19 In your patience possess ye your souls But discontentment and repining doth so distract and distemper the spirit that some malcontents turn hypochondriack and stupid like Nabal and others turn mad and furious like Nebuchadnezzar raging against every thing they meet with in the course of their life 3. Contentment with little preserves a man from many snares and temptations a man content with glad and honest poverty is not easily entangled with the bait of unlawful gain and a man content with a low degree or place is not easily tempted with the wages of unrighteousness unto the way of Balaam VERSE VIII IX And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain c. THe fourth evidence of true and sincere conversion to the Christian faith is peaceable-mindedness and an harmless conversation In the dayes of this great change foretold by the Prophet men who before their conversion by the Gospel to faith in Jesus Christ were bitter and cruel to all with whom they conversed and were to them like asps and cockatrices shall be new creatures and so harmless that other Christians like sucking or weaned children though weak and without power to defend themselves shall not be hurt by them and these Christians that were converted before them they shall live without any annoyance from them for after their conversion as it is said in the Text They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain that is in the Christian Church so called in allusion to mount Sion where was the Temple of Jerusalem which was the place of the solemn Assemblies for the worship of God for the Psalmist speaking of the Messias and his kingdom resembleth the Christian Church by mount Sion Psal 2.6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion If any man from the prophesies of an Altar and Sacrifices to be in the dayes of the Gospel Isa 19.19 Mal. 1.11 would infer there shall be Altars and external Sacrifices under the Gospel he may as well alledge that the worship under the Gospel shall be upon a mountain from this place and from Isai 2.2 All that can be concluded from these allusions unto the worship under the Law is this that the object of Worship will be one and the same both under the Law and under the Gospel in respect of substance but not in respect of some circumstances and Ceremonies which were to endure under the Law untill the time of Reformation by Jesus Christ Heb. 9.10 The Christian Church is compared to mount Sion 1. This mount was a Fort of the Jebusites at first but afterward taken by David and inhabited by him So by nature our understandings wills and affections are strong holds for errour disobedience and sinful lusts untill Christ the Son of David subdue them by the power of his Word and Spirit 2 Cor. 10.4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2. Mount Sion was a place pleasant and delectable for situation so the Lord delighteth in his Church and people Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people Therefore they are called his Spouse Hos 2.19 his Treasure Psal 135.4 and his Jewels Mal. 3.17 3. Although mount Sion was high and visible yet sometimes it was over-clouded with a mist so the true Church is not alike visible at all times as may be known from Elias his sad complaint 1
for I have sinned against thee We should use the outward means ordained by God for healing our souls such as are the hearing of the Gospel receiving the holy Sacrament of the holy Supper and daily Prayer these are through Gods blessing strengthning and healing Ordinances but we must not rest on the outward performances or on the abilities of the Minister thereof as if there were any Intrinsecal vertue in them for healing a sick and fainting Soul The Word was preached by Christ himself and yet no healing followed Matth. 23.37 Luke 19.42 The Sacrament of Baptism was ministred by Philip the Evangelist to Simon Magus and yet there was no healing of that gall of iniquity in his heart when a people look too much to the instruments who preach the Word or minister the Sacraments it provokes our jealousie God many times to withhold assistance from the Ministers and a blessing from the outward means to the people for all these outward Ordinances are but empty cisterns till they be filled by an influence of power and life from himself Joh. 6.63 It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing The outward Ordinance without the Lords special presence and blessing is like the staff of Elisha in the hand of Gehazi they do not quicken a dead soul nor awake the sleepy and secure soul 2 Kings 4.31 Therefore inusing the outward means for healing our souls we should go by Prayer to the great Physician himself that by his Spirit he would go along with the outward Ordinances If thou go to him thou needest not despare of healing for in his own due time he will heal all that come to him Jer. 17.14 Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed There is no soul-disease incureable to him though in it there were a complication of infirmities and distempers Isai 1.16 18. Wash ye make you clean put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow c. Though thy sins were inveterat through custom from thy child-hood like the Lunatick child Mark 9.21 Though incurable through all the counsel of friends like the disease of that sick woman Luke 8.43 Therefore come your selves to him and let parents bring their stubborn children in their prayers to Him the great Physician who can heal perverse spirits and make crooked things straight even when parents and friends has despared of their recovery from their soul-distempers and evil wayes In all distempers and wounds of spirit from outward grievous afflictions come to this Soveraign Physician though creatures neither can nor will heal thee yet he will come near to the afflicted who under affliction bodily are most afflicted in their spirit for their sins Psal 27.10 Jer. 30.17 Hos 2.14 I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak comfortably unto her When the godly are in a desolat and wildernesse-like condition and few or none to comfort then the Lord in an acceptable time comes in to the soul with comfort all the moral Instruments of our comfort and healing are but as an Apprentice who can do nothing without their masters secret information and direction therefore the broken-hearted would come to Jesus Christ who had a calling from the Father Luke 4.18 to bind up and heal the broken in heart he healed Inveterat bodily diseases as one of twelve years one of eighteen and one of thirty eight years for the comfort of all poor humbled sinners who formerly have accustomed themselves to do evil He is a skilful Physician to apply several Medicines for healing several diseases He has Corrosives to awake these who are in a spiritual Lethargy even the spirit of burning and judgement Isai 4.4 He has sharp afflictions as a scourge to tame and daunt proud and vain men who are in a spiritual Phrency and distempered with an heady conceit of their own righteousness Job 36.8 9. If they be bound in fetters and be holden in cords of affliction then he sheweth them their work and their transgressions that they have exceeded He has Lenatives and Restauratives to poor fainting Souls even the sweet promises of the Gospel Isa 57.11 Matth. 5.3 4. Matth. 11.28 Though this great Physician the Lord Jesus Christ in the Humane Nature be locally in Heaven yet he can heal broken hearts on earth by the vertue and presence of his Spirit through the power of hiâ— Intercession at the Fathers right hand 1 Joh. 2.1 2. If any man sin we have an Aduocat with the Father Jesus Christ the Righâ—eous and he is the Propitiation for our sins He healed the Centurions sick servant at a distance Matth. 8. And the Son of that Noble man Joh. 4.51 at a distance also As the Sun in the Firmament though at a distance from the Earth doth quicken and revive the Creatures by the influence of light and heat so the Sun of Righteousness the Lord Jesus Christ doth by the influences of his Spirit and Vertue quicken and revive a soul fainting under the burden of sin 2. The Patient under Gods Cure is the broken in heart or wounded in spirit The broken heart is called also in Scripture a contrite spirit Ps 51.13 Is 57.15 When the heart that was sometime whole and hard like a stone is broken into pieces like a grain bruised between the upper and nether milstone so the heart of a truly humbled sinner is crushed between the sense of divine justice displeased with its sins and the sense of divine love manifested in the Gospel it is called a bruised spirit Isa 42.3 When the heart is bruised and bowed down so with the burden of many and manifold sins that from the deep sense of greif and shame for them they have not the confidence to look up to God Psal 40.12 Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up c. It is called a wounded spirit Prov. 18.14 because the Lord of hosts provoked by our sins doth justly wound the guilty conscience with pain that the wounded spirit can get no rest Psal 38.3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin It is called a soft and tender heart sensible of the danger and vileness of sin Josiah his heart was tender and humbled at the hearing of the Law 2 Chron. 34.27 A rent heart Joel 2.12 When the love of sin is emptied out of the heart by repentance as water out of a rent vessel and it is called an heart of flesh plyable and yeelding to walk in the commandments of God Ezek. 36.26 27. The necessity of a broken heart is evident from the text because it is the broken heart only that God healeth 1. God taketh speci-notice of the broken in heart Psal 56.8 Ezek. 9.4 2. He preserveth the broken in heart in the midst of common calamities Psal 34.18 Ezek. 9.4
is not enough that an object to be seen in a due distance be set before the eye unless the same be inabled to see it for blind men see not what is set before them so it is not enough that the object of faith be set before us in the Word unless the eye of our understanding be opened to perceive it 2. The Lord makes us by the inward illumination of the Spirit and by the light of his Word to discern and put a difference between temptations and duties as for example when it is born in upon the spirit of an unlettered and unqualified man in these our days to preach the Gospel a spiritual-discerning privat Christian looks upon it as a temptation from the Spirit of errour and not upon it as a duty because he knows and discerns by the Spirit of the Lord from the holy Word 1 Tim. 2. and Tit. 1.9 The Minister of the Gospel should be a man able to teach and to convince the gain-sayers 3. The Spirit of the Lord makes us to discern between sin and duty Abâ—shai through want of this gift of spiritual discerning thought it a duty incumbent on David to kill Saul because God in a providence by appearance had cast his enemy into his hand but holy David by the Spirit of God discerned it to be a sin if he should make such use of that opportunity and he looked upon it rather as an occasion to try his loyalty to King Saul and to stop the mouths of calumniators who spake of him as an enemy to the King 4. He makes us to discern the opportunities of speaking and doing things in due season it was the Lord that put it in the heart of Jacob to seek the blessing in time for soon after he went out from his father Isaac his brother Esau came in Gen. 27.30 It was the Lord who put it in the heart of Abigail both for her own and Davids good to meet David in the way before he came to the house of Nabal 1 Sam. 25.5 He makes us to discern our own spiritual estate that we are under the banner of his love and makes us by a reflex act to know the saving graces of the Spirit bestowed upon us 1 Cor. 2.12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God 5. He gives us the gift of wisdom and discerning matters civil and moral He gave sagacity unto David to smell out Joabs subtilty and to perceive his hand in suborning the woman of Tekoa 2 Sam. 14.19 He made Solomon in his sagacity to discern between the true and counterfeit mother by the affection of the one and the unnaturalness of the other Thus God put it in the heart of King James of blessed memory to smell out the Powder-plot and horrid treason Anno Dom. 1605. from a word in an unsubscribed Letter by one of the Conspirators to the Lord Mont-eagle desiring him to keep himself out of the Parliament-house on such a day whereon there would be a sudden clap or blast which the King by an act of special discerning given him of God did presage was to be by Powder and so after a narrow search the Plot was discovered and through Gods gracious providence and the Kings sagacity was disappointed 6. God gives the gift of skill unto men both in their publick and privat imployments as the spirit of Government to Rulers whether supreme or subordinat and also to men for their privat imployments Isa 28.26 Vse 1. This should humble us under the sense of our own silliness and want of knowledge of many things that we may and should know in respect of the many means given to instruct us in things that differ and also to humble us when we compare our knowledge with others who know much more than we though we have had the same or greater opportunities for learning Socrates upon a time shewing the universal Mapp of the World to that vocky young man Alcibiades said unto him Look there and see how little your parcel of ground is in like-manner the knowledge of any particular person is very little in comparison of that vast and universal knowledge men would have had if they had continued in that first estate of primitive integrity Vse 2. To convince many in this generation of petulant and luxuriant spirits or the wits as they are called who are of quick understanding in many curious and unnecessar speculations which the Apostle calls the Raveries of a sick and distempered mind 1 Tim. 6.4 and yet how slow and dull are they to discern and take up the necessar and fundamental truths of Religion Of such men we may speak in the words of Eliphaz Job 15.2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind How many are quick and sagacious in their worldly matters and no man is able to over-reach them but they have little or no understanding in the great bargain of Salvation to these I may say as our blessed Lord said to the Pharisees This ye should have done and not left the other undone Vse 3. As thou wouldst have the gift of spiritual discerning 1. Pray to the Father of lights to open the eyes of thine understanding Psal 119.18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law 2. Labour diligently to keep thine heart pure from carnal lusts which as gross vapours many times obscure the judgement that it cannot discern spiritual matters in the right colours but oftentimes the judgement is miscarried to a wrong sentence by a deceived heart The intemperat person discerns not the evil of intemperance nor the incontinent the evil of his unclean ways because these vile lusts do distemper their judgement The worldly-minded man discerns not the excellency of things heavenly because his heart is not purged from the love of the world and his surfeit of worldly cares obstructs the smelling and rellishing of things heavenly to his taste 3. Beware of curiosity in desiring to know things unnecessar or secret which God hath reserved to himself Deut. 29.29 for it is just with God when men misimploy the quickness of their natural understanding many times so to blunt their understanding in order to supernatural truths that they become more dull and incapable even than many others whom they despised as silly ignorants As the sharper the edge of the new polished Knife be if it be used to cut hard Metalls especially at first it becomes so blunt that it cannot cut such things as are soft and more easie to cut even by these who had not such a sharp edge as themselves seemed to have had Observ 2. Our blessed Lord is quick of understanding he has a piercing eye to discern the hearts of all his subjects Heb. 4.13 All things are naked in his eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as blemishes and bruises are
Kings 19.14 And in the time of Athanasius the world groaned under Arianism and many sound believers were forced to hide themselves in caves and there to worship God 4. Mount Sion was firm and unmoveable so the Christian Church through the presence and protection of the Lord Jesus Christ will continue and endure even to the end of the world Mat. 16.18 Mat. 28.20 Quest It may be asked at what time this prophesie of so great peace and outward prosperity in the Christian Church was fulfilled Ans 1. That universal peace in the Roman Empire at the birth of our blessed Lord in the dayes of Augustus Cesar cannot be the peace spoken of here for that was before the preaching of the Gospel unto the Gentiles but the peace spoken of here is an effect of the Gospel preached and believed amongst them 2. This Prophesie was fulfilled in part even in the times of the holy Apostles when persecutors who sometime like wolves had scattered the flock of Jesus Christ were converted to the Christian faith and became like lambs of a meek and harmless disposition as was seen in Paul and also in the sometime malicious Priests Acts 6.7 and many of the multitude being sometime like boars enraged against Christ and his Disciples were by the power of the Gospel tamed and became of a peaceable spirit and conversation giving up themselves to be directed and guided by the Apostles in time coming Acts 2.37 38. 3. Many learned Divines think this Prophesie began to be fulfilled Anno Dom. 311. in the time of the Emperour Constantine the Great under whose happy reign there was an open and peaceable profession of the Christian Religion and freedom in a great part from the Heathen persecution at which time as many of them think was the beginning of the thousand years spoken of Rev. 20.3 during which time Satan or the Dragon was bound and restrained in a great measure from the former manner of persecution and they think these thousand years did expire Anno Dom. 1310. at the rising of the Ottoman Family among the Turks at which time Asia was overspread with Mahometism and soon after in the year 1415. Constantinople was taken by the Turkish Emperour Mahomet and the famous Temple of Sophia there was turned to Mahometan worship 4. This prophesie is fulfilled in part daily when some ungodly men who in former time hated the Church and the communion of Saints are by the preaching of the Gospel converted unto the believing of the truth unto the love of God and his holy Commandments and unto the sincere love of all Saints 5. Lastly It is probable as many learned men think who yet are not for the opinion of the Millenaries this prophesie shall be more visibly fulfilled at the incoming of the fulness of the Gentiles and at the national conversion of the Jews Because these great and frequent wars amongst Christians of one Nation against another and sometimes civil wars in one Nation among themselves are a great stumbling-block unto their conversion but when this stumbling-block shall be removed out of the way by a more universal peace amongst Christians themselves then shall the Jews dispersed now thorow the world amongst Christians joyn themselves to the Christian Church as it is prophesied Isa 2.4 Mic. 4.3 Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more This universal peace in all probability will not be untill the Gospel be preached unto many nations that are yet in heathenism according to the prophesie Isa 19.23 24. at which time the incalling of the fulness of the Gentiles and peace amongst themselves at least more than in former times will be a motive blessed of God for the inbringing of the nation of the Jews unto the Christian Church for it is said In that day shall there be an high way out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians shall come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians in that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria even a blessing in the midst of the land Although the Christian Religion was planted in Assyria in the times of the Apostles for there was a Church then in Babylon 1 Pet. 5.13 and also a Church was planted in Egypt in Alexandria by the Evangelist Mark yet afterwards and at this day Assyria and Egypt are overspred with Mahometism But this text of Isaiah speaketh of restoring the Christian Religion to them before the incoming of the Jewâ— and that after their conversion to the Christian faith Israel shall be for a third companion in a Christian communion with them in the same Spiritual blessings It is true there will be still untill the consummation of the World some wicked and malicious men within the visible Church as tares mixed with the wheat untill the day of final separation but it is probable the chief Rulers themselves being converted to the Christian Faith shall be so over-ruled by the power of divine grace that they will not hurt nor destroy in all the holy mountain of the Lord and Inferiors who are malicious shall be so overawed by the wise and powerful providence of God and also restrained by Rulers fearing God that they shall not be able to destroy in all the holy mountain That the incalling of the fulness of the Gentils will go before the incoming of the Jews appears from Isa 60.16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles and shalt suck the breast of kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer the mighty one of Jacob. In these words the Prophet foretelleth that the Jewish Nation shall receive the doctrine of the Gospel from the Church of the Gentiles converted to the Christian Faith before them and the Apostle saith Rom. 11.25 Blindness in part is hapned to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Therefore it is more than probable that the incalling of the fulness of the Gentiles shall preceed the incoming of the Jewish Nation unto the Christian Faith for although some particular persons in the times of the Apostles and also afterward received the Christian Faith yet the incoming of the body of the Jewish Nation was and is a mystery which God is his own good time will explain by bringing them into the communion of the Christian Church Oserv Men truly converted to the Christian Faith will forsake their former malice and bitter dispotion to hurt and harm others and will labour to be of a peaceable disposition and conversation this is evident from vers 8 and 9. It is evident also from the happy change which we may observe in true converts recorded in the Word of God as in the Ephesians amongst whom sometime there were men like wild beasts with whom Paul had an unpeaceable and fighting life 1 Cor. 15.32 but after their conversion to the Christian Faith there was a great change in them
to them that repent and believe the Promise as the sight of a Corner-stone is very comfortable to a weary person sinking under an heavy burden as the sight of the brazen serpent in the wilderness was most comfortable to those who were stung with the fire serpents In like manner the Lord Jesus Christ the true Manna is sweet and precious to Believers 1 Pet. 2.7 He is sweet in the Promises sweet in the first-fruits of eternal life when by the holy Spirit he sheds abroad his love like precious oyntment in our hearts when he gives peace to our Consciences and joy to our hearts in the hope of Salvation but the heart cannot conceive how sweet and comfortable this true Manna will be in Heaven when we shall be filled with the full and everlasting Fruits of his glory then shall we say as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons glory It was true that was told me on Earth by the Ministers of the Gospel but the half was not told me of that I do now see and enjoy in Heaven 3. They gathered the Manna in the morning so by Faith bring in Christ the true Manna early to feed and refresh thy soul acquaint your selves in time with him for he will not make new acquaintance at his second coming with any who neglected to come to him in this their day He will say to the foolish and sloathful Virgins Depart from me I know you not Mat. 25. Bring Spiritual hunger with you it is a sauce to provoke appetite after Christ the true and hid Manna Joh. 6.27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed Bring Faith with you for by it we seed on Christ and draw vertue from him for our spiritual nourishment and preservation unto eternal life Joh. 6.35 And Jesus said unto them I am the bread of life He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thrist 4. God ordained a Pot full of Manna to be kept in remembrance of his special providence toward them in the wilderness that from the remembrance of it they should praise him and by Faith depend on him and his care in time-coming so lay thou up in thy memory any experience of refreshment at any time by the Word or Sacrament and depend on him for time-coming in all thy wants spiritual or bodily when thou findest any faintness or failing of Spirit and no liveliness in thy soul for the time then remember thou bygone experience of former refreshment Our Lord saith to you as to his Disciples Mat. 16.8 9. O ye of little faith why reason ye among your selves do ye not yet understand neither remember the five Loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets ye took up c. Remember ye not the former experience ye have had of spiritual refreshment by the holy ordinances of God Then say thou to thy disquieted Soul as Psal 42.6 O my God my soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Mizar And resolve thou and conclude as the Prophet doth vers 11. Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God Seeing our blessed Lord is the Truth in his lips was never found guile truth and faithfulness cleaveth to his reins as a girdle Isa 11.5 In all thy doubts of acceptance into his favour or perseverance in his favour I speak to thee who art humbled under thy sins and in thy fear and unbelief standest aloof from him consider he is the Truth and hath promised acceptance to all who wearied of their sins come unto him Joh. 6.37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wayes cast out And as he hath promised acceptance so he hath promised the grace of perseverance Joh. 10.27.28 My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand Object I cannot deny my own sense for I am weary of sin and yet I find no sensible rest and quietness to my soul notwithstanding the promise of rest Ans 1. Consider well the ground of thy weariness that thou be not wearied only of sin as it carrieth along with it a burden of wrath and punishment thus Cain was wearied when he said my punishment is heavier then I can bear but also that thou be wearied of it as an unclean and vile thing as it is an offence against thy gracious God then if thou be thus wearied come to Christ the precious corner-stone laid in Sion and although thou get not rest to thy sense as thou wouldest yet make not haste to depart from waiting on him he that believeth shall not make haste Isa 28.16 wait on and adhere to the promise made to all who cast their burden upon Christ the precious corner-stone laid in Sion because those who rest on his promise and on him in whom all the promises are yea and amen shall not be ashamed of their hope 1 Pet. 2.6 Wherefore it is contained in the Scripture behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone Elect Precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded 2. Consider there is a fourfold rest 1. The rest or acquiescence of faith to the faithful promise of God as a debtor hath some rest in his mind when the Creditor promiseth to forgive him the debt although he hath not yet gotten his acquittance and discharge 2. There is a rest in hope of the thing promised though there be some commotion in the Spirit through weakness of Faith untill the promise be performed to their sense this rest is like unto some rest the ship that was formerly tossed with the waves has now at Anchor although not without some agitation and commotion 3. There is a rest and peace in the soul from the full assurance of Faith when the heart is perswaded by the holy Spirit and a lively faith resting on Jesus Christ that their sins are forgiven them and that they are reconciled in the blood of Jesus Christ such an assurance had Paul Rom. 8.38 39. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This rest is like the quietness a great debtor has in his spirit after he hath received his discharge out of the hand of his creditor 4. There is the rest of vision and fruition in Heaven when we shall ee and enjoy God and be satisfied to the ull with that fulness of joy and with those pleasures
shall the innocent Cautioner be wounded and sore distressed and shall not the Principal debtor be wounded with sorrow for the debt he himself contracted shall our spotless Cautioner suffer shame and reproach and shall not our hearts be broken with grief and shame for our sins which put the innocent Lamb of God to open reproach Psal 22.6 7. Psal 69.20 7. Pray to God for a soft and broken heart it is promised in the New Covenant Ezek. 36.26 27. Pray for the influence and insuperable operation of the grace of God upon thy hard heart that thou may know in thy self what is the exceeding greatness of his power to them who believe according to the working of his mighty power c. Ephes 1.19 The influence of his overpowering and overcoming grace will be as Aqua-fortis to cut and divide an heart of iron we are like little children within the house that can shut the door of the heart upon our selves but cannot open it Therefore we must cry to him who both opens the dark understanding Luk. 24.45 and also the heart and affections Act. 16.14 that he would open our hard hearts by his preveening grace and by his subsequent grace he would keep them open and enlarge them by love toward himself and his holy Commandments 3. The cure of the broken in heart he healeth them and bindeth up their wounds God healeth these that are of a broken heart with sorrow under great afflictions upon their persons or outward estate Hos 6.1 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 The Lord healeth these that are thus wounded by giving them patience and strength in the inner-man to bear the visitation of the Lord in the day of their trouble Psal 138.3 In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthendst me with strength in my soul Sometimes he comforts them with inward peace and joy that exceeds the pain they have from outward tribulation 2 Cor. 1.4 5. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation c For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ and sometimes by delivering them in their greatest extremity 2 Cor. 1.9 10. But we had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God which raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us The Lord healeth also in a more special manner those whose hearts are broken with sorrow for their sins This is the healing we should desire most as David did in the time of his great sickness Psal 41.4 I said Lord be merciful unto me heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Our greatest care should be of soul-health 1. Because our care should be greater to have the soul healed than the body or outward estate This was David's first and greatest desire in the time of sore sickness Ps 39.8 13. he first prayes for deliverance from his sins and then with submission for deliverance from his bodily disease Deliver me from all my transgressions O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more The soul is more precious than the body as men are more careful to have an Apostem in the inward and noble parts healed than a scratch in the skin of the body so our first and greatest care should be to have the diseases of our souls healed 2. If the spirit be healed and if a man have peace with God and his own conscience he will be able patiently to bear the infirmities of the body But a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 As a man having an Ulcer in his back is much disquieted even with a little burden but if the back be sound and whole he can walk quietly under a great burden So when there is no health nor peace in the conscience a very small affliction doth disquiet and perplex our hearts but when we have inward health and peace in the conscience we are able through the Lord who strengtheneth us to walk patiently and quietly under a great affliction Psal 23.4 Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Psal 138.7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble thou wilt revive me 3. Unlese ye have a care of your souls-healing in this life there is no coming to perfect soul-health and salvation in Heaven as the Lepers under the Law were not admitted into publick meetings till first they were cleansed and healed so no unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem Rev. 21.27 That we may the better understand what this soul-healing is and how the cure is performed we would consider that sin in Scripture is compared oftentimes to sickness Isai 1.5 and in many places to leprosie 1. In bodily sickness there is a privation and want of health so in sin there is want of Original Righteousness which was the sound constitution of man in the state of innocency 2. In bodily sickness there is a collision of humours like contrary waves making a commotion in the body so in our corrupt hearts there is a contrariety of unruly lusts one desiring this visible and sensual good and another lust carried after another sinful object 3. In sickness there is consumption and a tendency unto death unless it be preveened so in sin there is a tendency unto eternal death unless it be preveened by the pardon of our sins in the blood of Christ 4. In sickness bodily men oftentimes become weaker and weaker so unless they be restored by sanctification sinners grow worse and worse 2 Tim 3.13 Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Therefore by healing is meant specially these two 1. The forgiving of sin to these who are broken in heart with sorrow for it Isa 33.24 And the inhabitant shall not say I am sick to wit unto the second death the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity 2. The sanctifying of a broken-hearted man and healing him by degrees from in-dwelling corruption which many times over-mastered him these two acts of soul-healing are set down Psal 103.3 Bless the Lord who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases By the remission of sin the soul is healed and recovered from a state of guiltiness and obligation to punishment eternal and by sanctification it is recovered from pineing away in iniquity The impediments of soul-healing are 1. Waywardness and frowardness of men who cannot endure to have their wounds touched and ript up by the word of reproof Prov. 1.30 31. They would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices They cannot
clean himself who was to cleanse us and to be whole and perfect who was to heal us 2. That Serpent was not made of Gold but of Brass Jeroboams Calves were made of Gold Our Lords outward Garb and fashion before the world was without all show and pomp Isai 53.2 When we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him Luk. 17.20 The kingdom of God cometh not with observation The ordinances of men are oftentimes very specious in their out-side as were the Calves of Jeroboam but the Ordinances of God are simple without outward splendor as the holy Word preached in simplicity and the holy Sacraments administred in simple elements yet with them is great vertue and a blessing to believers The Word accompanied by the Spirit of God is the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 and worketh effâ—ctually in those that believe 1 Thes 2.13 The Sacrament of Baptism through the Spiâ—it is the Laver of Regeneration Acts 22.16 T it 3 5. and the Sacrament of the holy Supper is through the blessing of God the real and spiritual communion of the body and Blood of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 10.16 Jeroboam his Calves though of Gold did not heal any who worshipped them but there is much comfort and benefit to be had in the â—â—â—ple Ordinances of God much more than in all the specious and glistering inventions of men One old zealous Father at the Council of Nice prevailed more with that young Heathen Philosoph for his conversion to the Christian Faith even by speaking to him in the simplicity of the Gospel than all the learned Fathers could do by dispute and arguing 3. The occasion of making and lifting up the brazen Serpent was their great pain and danger in being deadly wounded by the fiery fleeing Serpents Numb 21. So the occasion both of the Incarnation of Christ and of his death upon the Cross was our sins wherewith we were wounded by the old Serpent and had been in pain for ever if Christ had not been Incarnat and died also for us he was wounded for our transgressions Isa 53.5 The consideration of this that our sins were the cause of the lifting up of Christ upon the Tree of the Cross should work in us these three penal affections 1. Grief and great sorrow for our bypast sins Zech. 12.10 David when he saw the innocent people destroyed by the Pestilence he was grieved at the heart and said 2 Sam. 24.17 Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these sheep what have they done So we may and should say in the grief of our hearts What hath the innocent Lamb of God done who was without spot and blameless But we have sinned and we have eaten the soâ—â— Grape and his teeth was set on edge we stretched out our hearts and hands to iniquity and his back was scourged for our offences 2. It should work in our consciences shame and self-indignation and we should afflict our spirits for our sins as Ephraim did Jer. 31.19 I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth 3. An active detestation of all sinâ—ul wayes for time coming as it is said Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Hos 14.8 Ephraim shall say what have I to do any more with idols 2. The place wherein the Serpent was lifted up was the wilderness even there did God provide a remedy where no means of humane help was to be had there was no antidotes to be found in the wilderness against the venom for preserving from that inflâ—mmation and extreme burning with pain So fallen man was in a wilderness-estate after he had sinned against God for in holy Scripture wilderness iâ— taken for a desolat condition Isai 35 6. In the wilderness shall waters break out that is plentiful refreshment by the Messias Isai 41.18 I will make the wilderness a pool of water When no remeed for healing man could be had from creatures the righteous Angels could not satisfie infinit Justice they being finit creatures no more than the payment of ten pounds can exhaust the debt of an hundred thousand pounds holy and righteous men cannot satisfie for themselves Psal 143.2 And enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Yet in such an extremity like a wilderness wherein no out-gate is seen the Lords own arm brought salvation to his people Isai 63.5 I looked and there was none to help and I wondered that there was none to uphold therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me and my fury it upheld me In this wilderness our blessed Lord was lifted up let us look by faith to him when at any time we are stung with the tongues of a viperous generation and back-biters who are like Dan an adder by the way in such a case look thou to Jesus Christ lifted up on the Cross mocked and reviled Heb. 12.3 Consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds In this world that is a wilderness of many Labyrinths and difficulties wherein many times we see no probable outgate Let us lean by faith and dependance on Christ crucified the Captain of our Salvation and he will at death lead us out of this wilderness into that Paradise that is above as it is said of the spouse in Cant. 8.5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved Rom. 8.39 Nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separat us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 3. As the Serpent was lifted up upon the Pole even so was Christ upon the Cross 1 Pet. 2 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree the word there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both to bear a burden as Matth. 4.6 The Angels will bear thee in their hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and also to take away Joh. 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So our blessed Lord took away our sins by bearing the burden of the punishment due to us and thereby making satisfaction to Divine Justice Isai 53.6 We have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the Iniquity of us all and vers 12 He was numbered with the transgressors and he bare the sins of many He was lifted up upon the Cross and died that kind of death to take away the curse of the moral Law threatned against us for our sins Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Although there be no proportion between a temporal curse or punishment and that eternal curse and punishment due to us for our sins