Beauty and Festivity they will at last appear in all their filthy Rags and menstruous Garments clothed with Shame and covered with confusion of Face His enemies saith God of David will I clothe with shame Psal 132.18 Much more those that dye in their enmity to himself Their Names are written in the Earth and will be blotted out from under Heaven Deut. 29.20 They shall not be written among the living in Jerusalem but registred among the dead as those that are Eternally forgotten of God Instead of confessing him he will profess He never knew them Mat. 7.23 He will be ashamed of them before his Father and before all his Angels as they were of him and of his words before men Mark 8.38 A Figurative Speech and spoken of Christ after the manner of men for our capacity Not that Christ shall then be subject to any shame or be affected with it but that he shall so carry himself towards such as have been ashamed of him ashamed to own his Truth and engage to fight in his Cause as men are wont to do towards those of whose company and acquaintance they are ashamed that is to say That he will not acknowledg them for his Saints Servants or Soldiers but utterly refuse reject and cast them off as wicked and reprobate They who now deny to fight under his Banner or professing so to do shall yield to the Enemy be overcome and recover not rise not by true Repentance these will Christ deny before his Father and before all Men and Angels Vse 2. Here is yet further Encouragement to all to strive to Overcome Whose heart can sink into discouragement whose Faith can fail that reads and duely considers the sweet Cordials in this Text You shall be clothed with white Raiment by Christ's own hand it shall be put upon you White inwardly as well as outwardly Not like the Pharisees whited Sepulchres outwardly beautiful but within full of rottenness and dead mens bones but as the King's Daughter All glorious within Psal 45. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like a Lily of the field Mat. 6.29 The most splendid and gorgeous Robes of the greatest Monarch are not to be compared unto this clothing This is the best Robe spoken of Luke 15. which the Father commanded to be brought forth and put upon his returning Son who by Repentance and converting Grace overcame all his former vicious and evil Conversation This is durable Raiment God did miraculously preserve the Garments of the Israelites from waxing old Deut. 8.4 But they were otherwise the worse for the wearing as we say of all other Garments But this clothing waxeth not old is as fresh upon the Overcomer after he hath worn it Thousands of Years as it was the first day it was put put upon him The rich man we read of in the Gospel was clothed with Purple Luke 16.19 But Overcomers with Cloth of Gold Her clothing is of wrought Gold Psal 45.13 Yea far more precious than Gold that perishes He that yields to his Lusts and other Enemies rejects this raiment and does like him we read of Luk. 8.27 that wore no clothes and would suffer none to be put upon him Is it not great encouragement then that is here promised that none shall be so well arraid as the Overcomer When that man was cured of his Madness he sate at Jesus feet clothed and in his right mind vers 35. None come rightly to themselves but will fight couragiously and strive to be victorious since their Rags and poor Apparel here they many times wear shall be converted into such rich clothing And so what a sweet Promise is it that follows I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life When some came to Christ rejoycing that they wrought Miracles and particularly cast out Devils in his Name he corrects them as mistaking the true ground of Joy and points them to the right Rejoyce not in this that the Spirits are subject to you but rather rejoyce in this that your Names are written in Heaven Luk. 10.20 out of the reach of all your Enemies they can never cast a blot upon them Here they blot them with Reproaches and vile Aspersions as Joseph's Mistress did him Here they blot out excommonucate and cast out their Names as vile and odious but still they remain written in Heaven and shall be had in everlasting Remembrance So to be confessed by Christ at last before God Angels and Men when others shall be discarded with a Discedite a me nescio vos Depart from me I know you not What Favour and Comfort will it give Overcomers Having therefore these Promises let nothing daunt or dismay us nothing is more unbeseeming the Royal Spirit of a Christian Say not the Devil is so malicious the World so ensnaring the Heart so deceitful our Attempts against them so fruitless we shall one day perish by our Enemies hand Is this the language of Heaven Are these the words of Faith Is this the voice of the Scripture and not rather the whisperings of the Old Serpent The fruit of slavish Fear and Unbelief Is not the voice of God quite contrary Doth not he say I will pour clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your Iniquities and from all your Idols I will cleanse you The God of Peace shall tread down Sathan under your feet shortly Rom. 16.20 That whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world 1 Joh. 5.4 Has he said it and shall it not come to pass Is not he faithful that hath promised Why then should we be faint-hearted Why should we suffer our Fears to disanimate and dispirit us Let us not be like those unbelieving timerous Spies who said Canaan was a good Land but there were Anakims Giants and by bringing an evil report disheartned the people and were shut out by God Josh 6. But let us all beg a Caleb-like Spirit whereby we may follow God fully as he did Numb 14.24 and our Enemies shall not stand before us Give a Soldier Courage and you give him all But take away his Heart and then he is almost dead before he strike a stroak It is a Seal to his Overthrow and a great advantage to the Enemy This evil of Unbelief and slavishness of Spirit doth us more hurt than all our Enemies can do When Saul was afraid he had not a heart to strike a stroke but went to the Witch c. 1 Sam 28.4 5. Were we valiant to the Battle God would say as he did of old to Joshua and Israel Your enemies shall not be able to stand before you Observe therefore the language of their enemies I know the Lord will give you the Land for your terrour is fallen upon us say they and all the Inhabitants of the Land faint because of you Assoon as we heard these things our hearts did melt neither did there remain any more Courage in any man because of you Josh 2 9-11 We cannot
will be who have no better things than these who get no spiritual conquests over the enemies of their Souls their end will be eternal expulsion and exclusion from the Paradise of God As God sent forth and drove out Adam from the Garden of Eden whether by his word of command or by forcible strength is not material never to return thither again Gen. 3.23 24. so will he drive away all the wicked like chaff and scatter them like smoke that they never enter in the celestial Paradise And as God set an Angel with a flaming Sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life that Adam might not eat of it having by his sin lost his right unto it so whosoever is finally overcome by Sin Satan and the World living and dying under the full power and dominion of these enemies the flaming Sword of Divine justice will for ever keep them out of the Paradise of God and from eating of the Tree of Life that grows there Oh! that men would believe this report and in time labour to prevent it Vse 2. This Doctrine is a ground of strong consolation to all overcomers 1. They shall enjoy the heavenly Paradise where are far greater delights than in the Garden of Eden Eden was earthly this is heavenly The Serpent got into Eden Satan that old Serpent can never wind himself into the heavenly Paradise In Eden our first Parents sinned and broke covenant with God in Heaven they have an impossibility of falling Adam was driven out from the Garden of Eden but none are expelled from the Paradise above 2. They shalâ—â—â—at of the Tree of Life feed upon Christ there this is the Paradise of Paradise the Heaven of Heaven it self Psal 73.25 Whom have I in Heaven but thee says that holy David This was the living Cordial Christ gave the penitent Thief in his dying hour Luke 23.43 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise To have Christ be with us here though in affliction in prison is an inestimable good and precious favour but to be with Christ is best of all This may sweeten your Christian warfare if you consider how much this Tree excels that in Eden that was material this spiritual that grew out of the Earth this grew in God's Bosom and was from Heaven that Tree had no life in it self more then any other of the Trees of the Garden but should have continued life to Adam if he had not sinned during the Divine pleasure meerly by God's institution but Christ hath life in himself and quickens whom he will Adam never eat of that Tree of life all true â—lievers shall partake of this Theâ—â— was a flaming-sword to keep all from coming to that Tree in Eden but here will be no obstruction nor any cause of separation from Christ That Tree of old is long since perished and that Garden destroyed but these abide fresh and glorious for ever Methinks the serious consideration of these things might allay the bitterness of present troubles Exod. 15.25 when the waters were bitter so that the Children of Israel could not drink of them Moses took a Tree which the Lord had shewed him and cast it into the waters and they became sweet The most bitter waters of affliction may be sweetned by Faith acted on Christs love in them Whom the Lord loves he rebukes and chastens They all come through Christ every rod of affliction is gathered off this Tree of Life by a Fathers hand A few leaves of this Tree put into the cup of affliction takes away the bitterness thereof and turns it into a cup of consolation yea a cup of salvation to all believers Oh that you would comfort your selves and one another with these things If any object and say I fear I shall never overcome but my sin and the world will conquer me the Devil will at last prevail and I shall one day perish at their hands Let such a Soul know and believe that what is spoken to Dan for his encouragement Gen. 49.19 is for its comfort in all its wars and combats with these enemies A troop shall overcome him but he shall overcome at the last A man that wrestles or fights with his enemy may be foiled and worded at first and yet recover himself and get the victory in the end Peter was worsted at first in the combat yet gets up again and conquers all opposition Acts 4.19 He that is thrown down by his enemy and lies still in and under his fall not striving to rise and recover himself this man is fully overcome but thus it is not with any true believer Let none such be discouraged though never so weak but remember that of Solomon Eccles 9.11 The race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong only believe and ye shall see the Glory of God the glorious wisdom and power of God working out your Victory When some brought an ill report upon the promised Land Num. 13.17 28 29 30. and weakened the hands and hearts of the people by telling them of the walled Cities and the Children of Anak and other things to discourage them from fighting Caleb a man of excellent Faith and Courage stilled the people before Moses and said Let us go up and possess it for we are well able to overcome it This was he that afterwards God brought into the Land Numb 14.24 being a man of another Spirit and followed the Lord fully when the other died in the Wilderness and never came thether Heb. 3. ult and the Scripture saith they could not enter in because of unbelief O let all take heed of an evil heart of unbelief and the day is yours believe you shall overcome and you shall surely overcome 1 Joh. 5.4 This is the Victory whereby every one that is born of God overcometh the World the Devil and their Corruptions even their Faith 1 Tim. 6.12 Fight the good fight of Faith says the Apostle to Timothy above all take the shield of Faith Eph. 6.16 this overcomes all before it Even Christ himself yields to this Thus he speaks to the Spouse Cant. 6.5 Turn away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me he yields himself conquered to the Faith of his people and much more will it overcome the Enemies Gen. 32.28 when Jacob had prevailed over the Angel he soon saw a Victory over his Brother Esaus wrath Gen. 33.10 Oh! that you would stir up Faith all things are possible to him that believeth the Lord encrease our Faith To conclude Vse 3. Let us be exhorted to courage and confidence to this holy war for you fight not as uncertain of Victory not as those that beat the air Let nothing here below hinder us 2 Tim. 2.4 no man that warreth entangleth himself in the affairs of this Life but strives to please him that hath chosen him to be a Souldier If a Soulder be in Garison he may work on his Trade yet so as to be
I have read of a Tyrant who devised that Torment to keep a living man in his Coffin and feed him till by his own filth he bred Worms and those Worms fed upon him till he died by them A sad Judgment it was fell upon Herod to be eaten up of Worms Acts 12.23 But what is it then to have a worm gnaw upon the Soul This is that Christ speaks of This is nothing but the tormenting acts of Conscience termed a Worm 1. Because as a Worm is bred out of the Putrefaction of the subject in which it is so is this there is much filth of sin in the Conscience by which the Mind and Conscience is defiled Titus 1.15 inwardly full of rottenness and all uncleanness as the Pharisees were Mat. 23. and this may easily breed Worms 2. Because as Worms gnaw upon a man so will a man's Conscience gnaw upon him when he shall think what offers of Grade and Salvation he had and neglected them what Motions of the Spirit in the Word and under the Rod he had and quenched and resisted all and would suffer nothing to prevail how near he came to the Kingdom and yet fell short and is shut out Thus will the Worm of Conscience gnaw upon men to their unexpressible Grief and Vexation 6. The Fire will burn and torment them I am tormented in this flame saies one in Hell Luke 16.23 24. The horror of Hell is set out by Fire a Lake of Fire Fire and Brimstone and a burning Tempest Psal 11.6 Whether material Fire or not is not material but such as will torment Soul and Body beyond the hottest fire that men can make for the breath of the Lord as a River of Brimstone will kindle it The fire of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace was terrible being seven times hotter than ordinary Dan. 3. The Fire God rained from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah was very grievous Gen. 19. The Fire that burnt down the chief City of this Nation in 1666 was fierce and furious the Fire that will burn down the World at the last Day will be more dreadful yet but the Fire of Hell will be more terrible than all the rest 7. Despair will greatly afflict them they will be there without hope of escaping from under all the former evils To be in a Valley of Achor and see no door of Hope to be in a stormy Sea and have no Anchor of Hope to stay upon must needs make a mans case desperate In Hell all Hope is cut off which makes the heart to break Every man on this side Hell is a man of Hope To him that is joyned to all the living there is Hope Eccles 9.4 But in Hell there is no out-let of Hope the Hypocrites Hope perisheth Job 8.14 This will wound more cruelly than the Devil can do Hope deferred makes the heart sick but Hope utterly destroyed will make the heart break In Hell the Hypocrites Hope shall perish and the Cobweb Hopes of wicked men will be swept down and be as the giving up of the Ghost Here if men be in great Afflictions and under the guilt of great Transgressions there is upon their putting their mouths in the dust Hope in Israel concerning these matters but there is no Hope that Sin will be pardoned or Miseries be removed Spes alit Agricolas The Husbandman plows in Hope and soweth in Hope Here men pray in hope and hear and weep in Hope but in Hell their Cries and Tears are hopeless Seas of Tears will not quench one spark of the fire and this Despair links and torments them beyond expression 8. The place in which they suffer these things will yet aggravate their Misery 'T is called a Pit a Pit without water a bottomless Pit Rev. 9.1 Joseph's Pit Jeremie's Dungeon Paul's Prison and Bonner's Cole-house were pleasant and delightful places compared with this The worst place on Earth is infinitely better than the best place in Hell To live in Bridewel or in Bedlam is very grievous but these are places of Pleasure when this is spoken of 9. The company yet encreaseth the vexation Good-company is a great comfort in trouble and misery It is such a relief as hath made some even to forget their sorrow But here the Devil and his Angels and all the wicked wretches that ever were on earth and lived and died such shall be the company of hell Not one good person among them It will raise the happiness of Heaven that not one wicked person shall be there not an Hypocrite among them and it will no less aggravate the Misery of Hell that none but such are there It was a grief of mind to Rebecca to be among the Daughters of Heth Gen. 27. ult The filthy company and ways of the Sodomites were a vexation to the Soul of just and righteous Lot 2 Pet. 2.7 8. David when forced to dwell in Mesech cries Wo is me How will they lament in Hell where damned Devils will be their Society and these Companions their cruel Tormentors So they are called Mat. 18.24 The Devils are great Tormentors of the Bodies and Souls of men It was the Saying of a good man I had rather endure all the Torments men can devise than see the Devil with my bodily eyes What a miserable case will theirs in Hell be who shall both see and feel them their cruel Tormentors who will have no Pity shew no Mercy will not spare but cruciate and afflict as much as they are able 10. The Eternity of all the former Evils doth and will aggravate the Misery of them in Hell they are punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord and shall never see his face with comfort 2 Thes 1. They rise to everlasting shame and contempt Dan. 12.2 Their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched Mark 9. called Everlasting Fire everlasting Burnings the vengeance of eternal fire Mat. 25. Esay 33. Jude 7. The blackness of darkness for ever Jude 7. All this is without mitigation intermission or cessation O! who can bear it If they in Hell might have ease but one hour in a thousand years it were some comfort but there the smoak of their Torment ascendeth up for ever and ever and they have no rest night nor day If after Ten thousand years a man might be taken up out of Torments the hopes of that would support but there they must lye in the scorching flames of God's Wrath for ever O who can endure unquenchable Fire Did we consider what an Eternity of Torment is to live ever dying and yet never dye to be in a Circle of Sorrow that knows no End in Variety and Extremity of Pains that have no Period but after a man hath been under these Torments as many Ages as many Millions of Ages as there have been Moments or Minutes since the Creation he is as far from coming out as he was in the first moment he went in O how inconceivable dreadful will this be Now
Demas Julian and many others were But these were rotten Posts not real Pillars and therefore were easily broken when the burden of Temptation was laid upon them Hypocrisie will end in Apostacy They went out from us because they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out from us that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us saies the Apostle 1 Joh. 2.19 Here we see Many are in the Visible Church who are not of the Church Mystical and these will manifest themselves at one time or other what they are Some were troubled to see so many forsake the Church but he would not have them marvel at it for if they had been of us they would have continued with us They were not right and sound if they had they would never have done so They now discover they were none of us and so are the better avoided We lose nothing by their departure The Corn loseth nothing when the Chaff is gone but is the purer nor the Body when bad Humours are worn away but is the more sound and healthful but yet every one that is upright shall so far overcome as to continue his station in the Mystical Body of Christ A true Believer may be so far worsted in a particular Combat as to be cast out of the Church by a Sentence of Excommunication and that deservedly which was the case of the Incestuous Corinthian 1 Cor. 5. Yet was not he totally and finally overcome by the Enemy but was recovered by Repentance and restored to the Communion of the Church again and went no more out Judas went out and Demas forsook the Truth and Servants of Christ but we find nothing of their Recovery and rising again by Godly Sorrow Where there is no Root there is no lasting Fruit some hasty Blossoms but they are soon nipt and quickly fall off They are true sincere Christians that are persevering to the end Sampson pulled down the Pillars of Dagon's Temple and the house fell and all therein were slain Judg. 16.29 But all the Powers of Earth and Hell combin'd shall not be able to destroy the Temple of God nor utterly break one Pillar thereof God gave his People charge to break down the Pillars that the Idolaters had set up Deut. 12.5 But Believers are Pillars of God's setting up and none shall destroy any one of them 'T is true if left to themselves they are like to Sampson when God was departed from him but as others easily conquered by the assaults of their Enemies as Peter resolved to be more firm and constant than all men Though all forsake thee yet will not I saies he Yet how easily and quickly was he overcome to deny his Lord and Master But being upheld by the stronger Pillars of God's Almghty Power and immutable Covenant they are not so totally routed and vanquished as never to recover but are renewed in their Life and Strength as Peter was And as a Bone that hath been broken and once well set again is stronger than ever so they gather strength by their Falls and are confirmed in the truth and ways of God unto the end This is the first thing here promised to Overcomers The Second follows Bran. 2. Christ will give to such not only to be Pillars in his Temple but excellent Names shall be by him written upon them The Pillars in Solomon's Temple had very significant Names engraven upon them but these here promised are much more excellent The Text mentions three I will write upon him saith Christ the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God and my new Name Of these briefly 1. Christ will write upon the Overcomer the Name of his God Some carry the sense thus He shall be acknowledged to belong unto God As things written upon Pillars are made visible and legible to all or as things openly marked declare their Title and shew whose they are So Christ will set Marks and Characters of God's Image upon them that are Victorious such as shall extort and force this acknowledgment even from their very Enemies who will he convinced in their Consciences and clearly see that they are the Servants and People of God When Professors are overcome by their Corruptions Pride Worldliness Passion Uncharitableness Injustice and Unrighteousness in their dealings Unfaithfulness in their words and promises then the world writes other Names upon them then they are called Hypocrites Dissemblers Formalists a people that make Religion but a cover for Vice a cloak for Covetousness and for Maliciousness seem better but are worse than mere civil and moral men O say they we had rather trust or deal with just honest men though they make not such shews of Religion than with many great Professors who for a pretence make long Prayers as the Pharisees did but none more unjust and false than they they will say or do almost any thing to wrong and defraud another to over-reach and go beyond another Oh! that these things were not too justly and truly spoken of too many that are called Christians and Church-Members Pudet haec opprobria nobis On the contrary when any get Victory over these Epidemical Evils and manifest it by a constant acting in a contradiction to such sinful waies then men will say Ay these are the people of God indeed if there be any Saints upon Earth these are such If all Professors were such as these we would be among them our selves Oh! how desirable is it to see the day come that is prophesied of Isa 60.14 when all they that have afflicted and despised the people of God shall bow themselves down at the soles of their feet and call them the City of the Lord the Zion of the Holy One of Israel They are Overcomers that must hasten the fulfilling of this That which God promised to put his Name in Solomon's Temple 1 Kings 8. is made good to them Christ will write his Fathers Name on their Foreheads He also promiseth to write upon him the Name of the City of his God even the new Jerusalem which cometh down from God out of Heaven There is a threefold Jerusalem Terrestrial Celestial and Mystical 1. The terrestrial or earthly Jerusalem called the City of David The City of the great King c. Isa 22.4 Psal 48.2 This City was once one of the Wonders of the World as the Gold among the Metals so was Jerusalem among the Cities Here the famous Temple was built here was the Ark of the Testimony and the Tables of the Covenant the sacred Vestments the Priests wore and it was the Seat of the great King even God dwelt there In Salem that is Jerusalem was his Tabernacle and his Dwelling-place in Sion Psal 76.1 2. 2. There is the Celestial or Heavenly Jerusalem called a City God hath prepared for Believers a City Heb. 11.16 Of this some understand that Psal 87.3 Glorious things are
be Baptized to come to the Lord's Table to be able to give an account of the Lord's Prayer Creed and Ten Commandments to such I may say as Christ did to the Pharisees These things you ought to have done but not leave the other undone God did appoint these things that men should have a Form of Godliness but we must not take the Skin for the Body nor the Shadow for Substance For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision avails any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Galat 6.15 Think not to say within your selves We have Abraham to our Father Do not think that because you are educated in the Protestant Religion under the means of Grace that therefore you are born of God If any shall ask How shall I discern my new Birth I answer 1. If your greatest work be to get the old Adam dissolved in your hearts to get a proud heart to stoop and the old Nature changed this is to obtain the whole in some sense 2. If this Heart ascribe all to God and nothing to our selves we are God's Workmanship what is Paul what is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye believed 1 Cor. 3. It was God in the Ordinance that did the work They that cry up men and means and forget to magnifie the Free Grace of God shew it is not right 3. It makes us of a compassionate Temper to them that are out of the way of God Be gentle and meek unto all men for we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient deceived serving divers Lusts and Pleasures Tit. 3.2 3. 4. We shall find an indelible Memory is imprinted upon this work Not that all men can say what was the Time Place Sermon when where and by which this work was done for many are brought up under Godly Parents and free from all scandalous Sins this work steals in upon some such they know not when nor how But they can say Such they were in the times of their Unregeneracy so foolish and ignorant so opposite and averse to what is good so careless and regardless of God and their Souls but now through Grace they see and are ashamed of their former Blindness they are reconciled in some measure both in Judgment and Affections to that and to those that are good They desire to mind chiefly the one thing needful God may sanctifie some even from the Womb but there is something daily to be put away in all that are Regenerate and though they cannot tell the first time yet they can say it is often done they do not turn to God once but more and more they have a great deal to do still 4. There is always going with it a Spirit of Prayer it begins and ends with Abba Father Prayer is the first thing in a Christian and the last thing Because ye are Sons he hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying Abba Father Galat. 4.6 None of God's Children are still-born Behold he prays saies Christ of Paul Act. 9.11 Let us by such things as those try our Regeneration If we find we are indeed born of God we overcome and Overcomers inherit these Promises Thus much in General More particularly If the War be rightly managed we may be sure we shall prevail and conquer all our Enemies As for instance 1. If all our Faculties in their rank and file do fight against them The Scripture tells us The Stars in their Courses fought against Sisera Judg. 5.20 Do the several Faculties of our Souls in their place and order wage war against Sin In unsound hearts one Faculty fights against a Lust another contends for it Herod's Conscience fought against the motion Herodias made of cutting off John Baptist's Head his Affections ran counter to his Conscience this was no true Spiritual War When both are against it that Soul will be a Conqueror in the end 2. If the War continues Fire and Water will fight when they meet and can never be reconciled the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these two are contrary each to other Contraries will ever be contending If our Combat be thus managed it is a good sign God will in due time give us Victory Let such encourge themselves in expectation of it Let none say The Canaanite is still in the Land and who may call himself an Overcomer So long as it does Gravitare lye hard and heavy upon thee as a thing out of its proper place and make thee cry out as Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me thou art an Overcomer in God's account To this purpose the Original word in all these Texts before us is very observable it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to him that Overcometh as we read it but to him that is Overcoming to him that is Praying Striving Wrestling Fighting against these Enemies to him that is in an Overcoming Posture though the Enemy be not quite out of the field to him shall these great Comforts in the Promises be given by Jesus Christ If there be a Nolle peccatum a bent of heart against Corruption and Temptation thou persuest them to Death and wouldst be glad of an utter extirpation of them then God accepts the Will for the Deed and reckons thee a Conqueror Though the Damsel under the Law was abused yet if she made the utmost resistance she was able and cried out and there was none to help her she was accounted Innocent and Guiltless because she was forced and not free and voluntary in it Whatsoever is born of God Overcometh it 's not said Whosoever but Whatsoever The person may be in particular Battles worsted by the Enemy yet the principle is a Conqueror in the end and will prevail for it never yields but makes implacable Opposition cries out to Heaven for help and is on this account esteemed an Overcomer And therefore though we are still assaulted yet it is that we may be exercised that we may stand upon our Guard and watch and pray continually we must keep our Armour upon us and not be secure for then the Enemy gets advantage against us Our Enemies are like to that famous General Marcellus of whom it is said he was never quiet Nec Victor nec victus neither a Conqueror nor Conquered Let it be enough to know they are and shall be subdued effectually in due time Above all things despair not of Victory when we find them turbulent and rebellious Many Creatures struggle most when dying The Devil rageth most when he is about to be cast out Mark 9.15 16. No Believer so overcomes here as to say He shall meet with no further Assaults Our contendings are not to empty a Pit that is more easily done but to dry up a Spring and Fountain which is very difficult if possible in this case but Corruption will be bubbling and Temptations springing And though a man hath overcome a Fit of Sickness yet
please the Enemies better than to say We shall never overcome them for then they pluck up their Spirits and hope the day shall be theirs and God is much displeased and what if he should say It shall be as we speak we shall never get Victory Oh! Let us not provoke him to leave us to the power of our Adversaries Christ was wont to say According to your Faith so be it unto you And he is of the same mind still Oh provoke him not to say According to your Fears according to your Unbelief so be it unto you Only believe and we shall see the Glory of God as Christ said to Martha Joh. 11.40 Lift up your hands that hang down and your feeble knees and know that the Battle is not to the strong Though the Enemy be strong and you weak yet exercise but Faith upon the Mighty God and the day is yours The Difficulties and Dangers should rather animate and raise the Spirit and Faith of a Christian than discourage Alexander in a great difficulty would say Hoc est periculum par animo Alexandri Here 's a danger or a difficulty fit for the Spirit and Courage of Alexander to encounter with Have not Christians reason then to be courageous and when great and hard Service appears and called to engage in the heat of the Battle to say Here is a piece of Service fit for Believers to go through These are Dangers and Difficulties for true Christians who go out against the Enemy as David did against Goliah in the Name and Strength of the Lord Be strong in the Lord and in the Power of his Might and the Victory is yours Methinks Believers should do as of old Eleazar did who fought till his hand clave unto his Sword and the Lord wrought a great Victory that day 2 Sam 23.9 10. Let not Faith be asleep in a dead Habit a Giant may be overcome asleep Sampson was conquered by the Philistines being asleep on Delilahs Lap. Sin and Satan get great advantages upon secure Souls Let none be discouraged saying The Enemy rise afresh upon us let us look to the Captain of our Salvation for a fresh Supply of his Spirit and we shall prevail I conclude with Joab's encouraging words to his Soldiers Be of good Courage and let us play the men for our People and for the Cities of our God and let the Lord do that which seemeth him good 2 Sam. 10.12 So I say Let us be of good Courage in this Cause of God and our Souls and leave the issue unto God who will bring us off Conquerors and cause us to inherit the good of these Promises in the Text. SERMON VI. REV. III. 12. Him that Overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and he shall go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God which is new Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new Name EVery Promise is a Breast of Consolation from whence the Soldiers of Christ may draw fresh Auxiliaries in all their faintings and decays such supplies of strength and life as will revive their weak and weary spirits as will recruit and renew their souls unto the holy War in which they are engaged The holy Scriptures are sincere milk but the Promises are flos lactis as one saith the cream the purest of all There is a story of a fight between Hercules and Terrae-filius who sought to destroy each other This Terrae-filius when he was faint and weary would cast himself down upon the Earth and having lain a little while recovered and was fresh for the combate and so Overcame his Enemy A humble reliance upon a believing improvement of the Promises is a singular way of renewing strength a never-failing means of Victory over our Spiritual Adversaries As God gives us in his word Line upon Line Precept upon Precept so here he sets down Promise upon Promise for our encouragement to go on fighting till he bring forth Judgment unto Victory Five of those we have already spoken somthing to Behold here another presented to our Consideration in this Text It is firstly directed to the Church in Philadelphia a City in Lydia or in Mysia or Eolia seated in a dangerous place therefore not populous yet a Church planted there and very famous It is observed that Smyrna and this Philadelphia were the only Churches of all the seven which Christ records nothing against as Laodicea was the only Church of the seven which he mentions nothing commendable in Concerning this of Philadelphia Christ gives testimony of the present good that was in her vers 8. I know thy works thou hast kept my Word and hast not denied my Name By the word and name of Christ we are to understand that whole Truth whereby God in Christ had revealed himself and his Will to his Church Soundness of Doctrine Purity of Worship and Holiness of Conversation were the things she held fast After this he gives her assurance Goodness and Mercy should follow her vers 9.10 Behold I will make them that are of the Synagogue of Satan to come and worship before thee c. I will make them reverence thee as one belov'd of me I will both subdue thy disguised Adversaries and preserve thee under all those trials which are coming upon the world Then he proceeds to exhort unto duty To Hold fast that which she had the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to hold strongly put to thy utmost strength and keep vigorously what thou hast Many motives he useth to perswade to this as 1. His intended speedy coming Behold I come quickly whether he means in a way of trial as he had intimated before vers 10. as some think or in a way of mercy to moderate the trial or in a way of Judicature to call to an account and reward every man according to his works as others it is not material for on every of these accounts it is an excellent motive and should prevail with Christians to hold fast the good they have 2. Lest they lose their Crown whether her present Crown the honour this Church had got by keeping close to the Word Worship of Christ hitherto or the future Crown of life and glory in Heaven the Argument is powerful 3. Christ useth further sweet Promises of high and glorious things to all that perseveringly overcome in the Words of this Text The sum of which take in this Doctrine Doct. Overcomers shall be made Pillars in the Temple of God that shall go no more out and excellent Names shall be written upon them by Jesus Christ For thus he himself promiseth to do here in these words To open this in two Branches Bran. 1. Christ will make Overcomers Pillars in his House that shall go no more out Three things seem chiefly intended in this Promise viz. Stability Beauty and Perpetuity 1.