his mouth and walk in the way that is pointed out by his Word and Spirit you shall have enough to direct you in all your ways 2. It doth warn us of all our dangers It doth not only in the general call upon us to watch Mat. 13. 37. and walk circumspectly Eph. 5. 15. but it discovers all those deceits particularly whereby we may be surprized diverted and turned out of the way There are snares in Prosperity snares in Adversity Temptations you meet with in praying trading eating drinking in your publick undertakings and in your private converse it shews your danger in all your ways before you feel the smart of them therefore give up your selves to God's direction reading hearing meditating believing and practising read hear it often then the deceits of Satan will be laid open and the snares of your own hearts Christians an exact Rule is of little use if you do not consult it Gal. 6. 16. Peace and mercy be upon all them that walk according to this Rule That order their conversations exactly the word signifies that try their work as a Carpenter doth by his square they examine their actions by the Word of God what they are now a doing therefore consult with it often then meditate of it ponder it seriously 2 Tim. 2. 7. Consider what I say and the Lord give thee understanding in all things If we would have understanding by the Word there must be consideration Man hath a discursive faculty to debate things with himself Why this is my duty what would become of me if I slep out of God's way here 's danger and a snare What if I should run into it now it is laid before me And then believe it surely Heb. 4. 2. The Word profited not not being mixed with faith in them that heard it Believe God upon his Word without making tryal You hear much of living by sense and by saith living by faith is when we bear up upon the bare Word of God and encourage our selves in the Lord but living by sense is a trying whether it be so or no as they that will not believe Hell shall feel Hell and they that will not believe the Word of God shall smart for it Heb 11. 7. Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear prepared an Ark. It may be there were no preparations to the accomplishment of the Curse and Judgment the Word threatned it 's a thing not seen yet he prepared an Ark. When a man is walking in an unjust course all things prosper for awhile the misery the Word threatens is unseen Ay but if you would grow wiser by the Word than men can by Experience you must look to the end of things Psal. 73. 17. I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I their end And then practise it diligently A young Practiser hath more understanding than an ancient Notionallist Psal. 111. 10. A good understanding have all they that do his commandments It is not they that are able to speak of things and savor what the Word requires but they that do what they hear and discourse of Gregory saith We know no more than we practise and we practise as we know these two always go together The Word doth us no good unless there be a ready obedience therefore this is wisdom when we give up our selves to God's direction whatever it cost us in the world Doct. 2. That young ones may have many times more of this wisdom than those that are ancient Divers instances there are Ioseph was very young sold into Egypt about 17 years of age and when he was in Egypt Psal. 105. 22. He taught his Senators wisdom speaking of the Senators of Egypt With how much modesty did he carry himself when his Mistriss laid that snare Isaac was young and permitted himself to be offered to God as a Sacrifice Samuel was wise betimes 1 Sam. 2. 26. It is said The child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men From his Infancy he was dedicated to God and God gives him wisdom to walk so that he was in favor with God and men yea God reveals himself to Samuel when he did not to Eli. David when he was but 15 years of age fought with the Lion and Bear and somewhile after that with Goliah when he was a ruddy youth Iosiah when he was but eight years old administred the Kingdom before he was twelve sets upon serious Reformation Ieremiah was sanctified from the womb Ier. 1. 5. And Iohn the Baptist leapt in his Mother's womb Luke 1. 35. In the 32d of Iâ—…b the Ancients Iob's Friends are spoken of pleading their Cause wise young Elihu brings wiser words and better arguments than those that came to comfort Iob. Solomon asked wisdom of God when he was young Daniel and his Companions those four children as they are called Dan. 1. 17 18. it is said The Lord filled them with wisdom above all the ancient Chaldeans And Timothy the Apostle speaks of his youth and bids him flee youthful lusts he was young yet very knowing and set over the Church of God Our Lord Iesus at 12 years old puzled the Doctors In Ecclesiastical Stories we read of one at 15 years of age dyed with great constancy for Religion in the midst of sundry tortures Ignatius pleads the cause of the Bishop when he was but a very youth but a man powerful in doctrine and of great wisdom and therefore he saith He would have them not look to his appearing youth but to the age of his mind to his wisdom before God And he saith There are many that have nothing to shew for their age but wrinckles and gray hairs So there are many young ones in whom there is an excellent spirit and in all Ages there are instances given of youth of whom it may be said That they are wise beyond their years For the Reasons why many times young ones may have more wisdom than those that are aged God doth so 1. That he might shew the freedom and sovereignty of his grace He is not bound to years nor to the ordinary course of nature but can work according to his own pleasure and give a greater measure of knowledge and understanding to those that are young and otherwise green than he will to those that are of great age and more experience in the world You have this reason rendred Iob 32. 7 8 9. I said days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom There 's the ordinary course But there is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Great men are not always wise neither do the aged understand judgment Though all men have reason and a spirit yet the Spirit of God is a wind that blows where he lists Those that exceed others in time may come behind them in grace He gives a greater measure many times of grace and knowledge to shew his
what is to come yet fear of punish ment alone sheweth you are slaves and only love your selves the Devils fear and tremble but do not love You may fear a thing though you hate it So far as the heart is affected with the fear of Hell 't is good 3. There are very good and sound Principles yet do not always argue Grace as when duties are done out of the urgings of an enlightened Conscience this may be without the bent of a renewed heart but yet the principle is sound for the first thing that influenceth a man is to consider himself a Creature and so to look upon himself as bound to obey his Creator I shall illustrate it by the Apostles words in another case I must preach the Gospel and wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9. 16. 17. Whether I do it willingly or unwillingly yet a Dispensation is committed to me So saith the Soul whether I be fitted to do God service or no God must be obeyed but because Gods precept is invested with a Sanction of Threatnings and Rewards here comes in the fear of Hell and the hopes of heaven The Lord hath commanded me to fly from Hell this is a good principle So the hope of Heaven Heb. 11. 26. 't is a sound principle a man may be gracious or he may not Many have a liking to Heaven and Eternal Life as 't is a state of happiness not of likness to God where 't is not alone 't is a very sound principle but as 't is it may sometimes be the sign of a renewed man and sometimes not 4. There are rare and excellent Principles when we Act out of thankfulness to God when we consider the Lords goodness that might have required Duty out of meer Soveraignty he hath laid the Foundation of it in the bloud of his own Son 1 Ioh. 4. 29. When we love him out of the sense of his love to us in Christ And when the grace of God that hath appeared teacheth us to deny ungodliness Tit. 2. 11. when the Mercies of God melt us Rom. 12. 1. when there are no intreaties so powerful as that of Love Again another principle that is rare and excellent is when the Glory of God doth season us in our whole Course that it may be to the praise of his glorious grace 1 Cor. 10. 31. Another is Complacency in the Work for the Works sake When we love the Law because it is pure when I see it will ennoble me and make me like God when I love God and his wayes when nothing but so noble imployment doth ingage me to his service and service to God is the sweetest life in the World SERMON CLVIII PSALM CXIX VER 141. I am Small and Despised yet do I not forget thy Precepts HEre David proveth the Truth of his former Assertion that seeing the Word of God was so Pure he loved it for its own sake and that he did not Court Religion for the portion that he should have with it but for it self Some are meer Mercenaries no longer then they are bribed by some Worldly profit they have no respect for God and his Wayes The Man of God was of another Temper if God would bestow any thing on him well if not he would love his Word still yea when it brought him apparent Loss Meanness and Contempt yet this could not make any divorce between his Heart and the Word I am small and despised c. In the Words we have 1. David's Condition 2. David's Carriage under that Condition His Condition might have been a Snare to him yet still he keepeth up his Affection 1. His Condition is set forth by two Notions the one of which implyeth the other Gods Providence I am small God had reduced him to streights the other Mans Treatment of him and despised the one sheweth what he was really in himself the other what he was in the opinion of others Mean in himself and Contemptible in the eye of others The Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the younger and set at nought Therefore the Greek Interpreters suppose it relateth to the story when God bids Samuel to anoint one of the Sons of Iesse to be King and the elder Children were brought forth who were Taller and more likely too and they said of them surely the Lords Anointed is before him and when Samuel enquired for another they told him 1 Sam. 16. 7. That there remaineth the youngest and he keepeth sheep then when he was but an Youth and a despised stripling his heart was with God and God favoured him Or else they refer it to the time when Eliab his eldest Brother despised him 1 Sam. 17. 28. Others think this was verified when the Elders of Israel forsook him and clave to Absalom rather I think it generally to any Afflicted Condition when he was little in Estate and Reputation rather than in years elsewhere so is this word small taken Amos 7. 2 5. Iacob is small by whom shall he arise When his Condition was helpless and hopeless and Interest inconsiderable in the World So here I am small and despised I am looked upon as a man of no Value and Interest 2. Davids Carriage under this Condition Yet do I not forget thy Precepts First here is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 less is said more is intended I do earnestly remember them Again a man may be said to remember or forget two wayes Notionally or Affectively Notionally a man forgets when the Notions of things formerly known are quite vanished out of our Minds Affectively when though he retaineth the notions yet he is not answerably affected he doth not act suitably So 't is taken here and implyeth as much as I am stedfast in the profession of this Truth as they say in a like Case Psal. 44. 17. We have not forgotten thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant not parted with any point of Truth or neglected and dispensed with any part of Duty Precepts is put for the whole word of God I do not forget thy Word the Comforts and Duties of it None do so far forget God and his Precepts as those that make defection from him The sum of all is My mean and despicable Condition doth not make a breach upon my Constancy but still I keep the Credit of being a Faithful Servant to thee His Temptation was double his Faithfulness had made him small God seemeth to forget us in our low Estate yet we should not forget him and had made him despised though we lose esteem with men by sticking to the Word of God yet the Word of God should lose no esteem with us Doctrine They that love God may be reduced to a Mean Low and Afflicted Condition I am small saith David The Lord seeth it meet for divers reasons 1. That they may know their happiness is not in this World and so the more long for Heaven and delight in Heavenly things Psal. 17. 14 15. From men
thing observable from hence is the necessity of directing grace Oh that my ways were directed I shall first premise some Distinctions 1. There is a general direction and a particular direction 1 The general direction is in the word there God hath declared his mind in his statutes He hath shewed thee O man what is good Micah 6. 8. 2 A particular direction by his Spirit who doth order and direct us how to apply the rule to all our ways Isa. 58. 11. The Lord shall guide thee continually Now this particular direction is either to our general choice Psal. 16. 7. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel It is the work of God only to teach us how to apply the rule so as to chuse him for our portion Or secondly as to acts and orderly exercise of any particular grace so 2 Thes. 3. 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Or thirdly as to the management of our Civil actions as the pillar of the Cloud went before the Israelites in their Journeys so doth God still guide his people in all their affairs both as to duty and success As to Duty Prov. 3. 6. In all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths Ask his counsel leave and blessing in doubtful things ask his counsel in clear cases ask his leave Shall I go up or not and then ask his blessing As to Success Prov. 16. 9. A mans heart deviseth his way but the Lord directeth his steps Events cross expectation we cannot foresee the event of things in the course of a mans life what is expedient and what not Prov. 20. 24. Mans goings are of the Lord how can a man then understand his own way We purpose and determine many things rightly and according to rule but God disposeth of all events Rom. 1. 10. Making request if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you God brought Paul to Rome by a way he little thought of Therefore we need to call God to counsel and to enquire of the Oracle in all matters that concern Family Commonwealth or Church We need a guide Ier. 10. 23. O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself neither is it in man that walketh to direct his steps Affairs do not depend on our policy or integrity but on the Divine Providence who ordereth every step to give such success as he pleaseth II. Distinction There is a Literal direction and an effectual direction 1. The Literal direction is by that speculative knowledg that we get by the Word Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path Sufficient not only for general courses but particular actions 2. The effectual direction is by the Holy Ghost applying the Word and bending the hearts to the obedience of it Isa. 61. 8. I will direct their work in truth and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them That is I will so shew them their way as to work their hearts to the sincere obedience of it Now to give you the Reason for the necessity of this Direction Three things prove it 1. The blindness of our minds We are wise in generals but know not how to apply the rule to particular cases The Heathens were vain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their imaginations Rom. 1. 21. And the same is true of us Christians though we have a clearer knowledg of God and the way how he will be served and glorified yet to suit it to particular cases how dark are we A Dial may be well set yet if the Sun shine not upon it we cannot tell the time of the day The Scriptures are sufficient to make us wise but without the light of the Spirit how do we grope at noon-day 2. The forgetfulness of our Memories We need a Monitor to stir up in us diligence watchfulness and earnest endeavours Isa. 30. 21. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying This is the way walk ye in it When ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left The cares and businesses of the world do often drive the sense of our duty out of our minds One great end of Gods Spirit is to put us in remembrance to revive truths upon us in their season A Ship though never so well rigged needs a Pilot we need a good guide to put us in mind of our duty 3. The obstinacy of our hearts so that we need every moment to enforce the Authority of God upon us and to perswade us to what is right and good The Spirits light is so directive that it is also perswasive there needs not only counsel but efficacy and power We have boisterous lusts and wandring hearts we need not only to be conducted but governed We have hearts that love to wander Jer. 14. 10. We are sheep that need a shepherd for no creature is more apt to stray Psal. 95. 10. It is a people that do err in their hearts not only ignorant but perverse not in mind only apt to err but love to err Thus you see the necessity of this direction Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes The USES Well then give the Lord this honour of being your continual guide Psal. 48. 14. For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide even unto death You do not own him as a God unless you make him your guide Psal. 73. 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory In vain do you hope for eternal life else Therefore 1. Commit your selves to the tuition of his Grace a man is to chuse God for a guide as well as to take him for a Lord to ask his counsel as well as submit to his Commandments Ier. 3. 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me My father thou art the guide of my youth 2. Depend upon him in every action The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord all his particular actions Rom. 8. 26. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered 3. Seek his Counsel out of a desire to follow it Ioh. 7. 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Still walk according to light received and it will increase upon you Such as make conscience of known truth shall know more He that cometh with a subjected mind and fixed resolution to receive and obey shall have a discerning spirit God answereth men according to the fidelity of their own hearts SERMON VII PSAL. CXIX 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments THE Psalmist had prayed for direction to keep Gods Commandments here
of neither have entred into the heart of man to conceive Therefore the word hath a notable instrumentality that way 3. The Doctrine of the Scripture holds out the remedy and means of cleansing Christs blood which is not only an argument or motive to move us to it So it is urged 1 Pet. 1. 18. Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable c. It presseth holiness upon this argument why God hath been at great cost to bring it about therefore we must not content our selves with some smooth morality which might have been whether Christ had been yea or no. Again the word propounds it as a purchase whereby grace is procured for us so it is said 1 Ioh. 1. 7. He hath purchased the spirit to bless us and turn us from our sins And it exciteth faith to apply and improve this remedy and so conveyeth the power of God into the soul Act. 15. 9. Purifying their hearts by faith 2. The manner how the word is applied and made use of If he take heed thereunto according to thy word This implieth a studying of the word and the tendency and importance of it which is necessary if the young man would have benefit by it David calleth the statutes of God the men of his counsel Young men that are taken with other books if they neglect the word of God that book that should do the cure upon the heart and mind they are with all their knowledg miserable Psal. 1. 2. His delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night If men would grow wise to Salvation and get any skill in the practice of godliness they must be much in this blessed book of God which is given us for direction 1 Ioh. 2. 14. I have written unto you young men because ye are strong and the word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one It is not a slight acquaintance with the word that will make a young man so successful as to defeat the temptations of Satan and be too hard for his own lust it is not a little notional irradiation but to have the word dwell in you and abide in you richly The way to destroy ill weeds is to plant good herbs that are contrary We suck in carnal principles with our milk and therefore we are said to speak lies from the womb A kind of a riddle before we are able to speak we speak lyes namely as we are prone to error and all manner of carnal fancies by the natural temper and frame of our hearts Isa. 58. 2. And therefore from our very tender and Infant-age we should be acquainted with the word of God 2 Tim. 3. 15. And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures It may be children by reading the word get nothing but a little memorative knowledg but yet it is good to plant the field of the memory in time they will soak into the judgment and conscience and thence into the heart and affections 2. It implieth a care and watchfulness over our hearts and ways that our will and actions be conformed to the word This must be the young mans daily prayer and care that there be a conformity between his will and the word that he may be a walking Bible Christs living Epistle copy out the word in his life that the truths of it may appear plainly in his conversation All that I have said issueth it self into three Points 1. That the great Duty of Youth assoon as they come to the full use of reason is to enquire and study how they may cleanse their hearts and ways from sin 2. That the Word of God is the only rule sufficient and effectual to accomplish this work 3. If we would have this efficacy there is required much care and watchfulness that we come to the direction of the Word in every tittle not a loose and unattentive reflection upon the Word careless inconsiderateness but a taking heed thereunto Now why in youth and as soon as we come to the use of reason we should mind the work of cleansing our way 1. Consider how reasonable this is It is fit that God should have our first and our best It is fit he should have our first because he minded us before we were born His love to us is an eternal and an everlasting love and shall we put off God to old age shall we thrust him into a corner Surely God that loved us so early it is but reason he should have our first and also our best for we have all from him Under the Law the first-fruits was Gods to shew the first and best was his portion All the Sacrifices that were offered to him they were in their strength and young Levit. 2. 14. And if thou offer a meat-offering of thy first-fruits unto the Lord thou shalt offer for the meat-offering of thy first-fruits green ears of corn dried by the fire even corn beaten out of full ears God would not stay till ripened God will not be long kept out of his portion Youth it is our best time Mal. 1. 13. when they brought a weak and sickly offering should I accept this of your hand saith the Lord The health strength quickness of spirit and vigour is in youth Shall our health and strength be for the Devils use and shall we put off God with the dregs of time Shall Satan feast upon the flower of our youth and fresh time and God only have the scraps and fragments of the Devils Table When wit is dulled the ears heavy the body weak and affections are spent is this a fit present for God 2. Consider the necessity of it 1. Because of the heat of youth the passions and lusts are very strong 2 Tim. 2. 22. Fly also youthful lusts Men are most incident in that age to pride and self-conceit to strong affections inordinate and excessive love of liberty 1 Tim. 3. 6. Not a Novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil A man may make tame fierce creatures Lyons and Tygers and the fury of youth needs to be tempered and bridled by the word It is much for the glory of Grace that this heat and violence is broken when the subject is least of all disposed and prepared 2. Because none are tempted so much as they Children cannot be serviceable to the Devil and old men are spent and have chosen their way but youths who have a sharpness of understanding and the stoutest and most stirring spirits the Devil loveth to make use of such 1 Joh. 2. 13. I write unto you young men because ye have overcome the wicked one They are most assaulted but it is for the honour of grace when they overcome when their fervency and strength is employed not in satisfying lusts but in the service of God and fighting against Satan Therefore
〈◊〉 unmixed milk The more natural the milk is and without any mixture the more kindly to a gracious appetite To mix it with Sugar and the luscious strains of a humane wit doth but disguise it and hide it from a spiritual tast But to mix it with Lime as Hierome saith of Hereticks makes it baneful and noxious Thus he speaks of his faithfulness as a Prophet a publick Teacher in the Church 2. As to the extent all the Judgments of thy mouth without adding or diminishing No part of Gods counsel must be forborn either out of fear or favour Our work is not to look what will please or displease but what is commanded Acts 20. 27. I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God If it be the counsel of God let it succeed how it will it must be spoken so David here all the judgments of thy mouth 3. David may be considered as a private Christian and so I would declare all the judgments of thy mouth in a way of conference and gracious discourse This is the sense I shall manage The Consideration I shall insist upon is this Doct. It concerns all that fear God to declare upon meet occasions the Iudgments of his mouth How in the way of publick teaching shall every one that hath knowledg and parts teach I answer No there are some separate for that work Act. 13. 2. Separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them Paul and Barnabas were gifted and called by the Spirit yet were to be solemnly authorized by Prophets and Teachers at Antioch by Officers of the Church Was it not enough they were called by the Holy Ghost What can man add more There must be Order in the Church though they were called yet they were to be ordained and to have a solemn Commission It is true all Christians are Prophets yet they are not to invade the Office Ministerial As they are also all Kings yet they are not to usurp the Magistracy or to disturb the Ruler in his Government If Christians would but meditate more and see how much they have to do to preach to their own hearts if they would but regard the unquestionable duty that they owe to their Families more this itch of publick preaching would be much abated and many other confusions and disorders among us would be prevented and they would sooner find the Lords blessing upon interchangeable discourse gracious conferences than this affectation of Sermoning and set-discourses Well then we are to declare the Judgments of his mouth not by way of publick teaching but by way of private conference edifying others and glorifying God by the knowledg and experience that we have First In our own Families Secondly In our Converses 1. In our own Families in training up children and servants in the way of the Lord and inculcating the Doctrine of God upon them This is a commanded duty as you may see Deut. 6. 6 7. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart What then and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up Morning and evening rising up and lying down at home and abroad they should be instructing their Families When the word of God is in the heart thus it will break out And ch 11. 19. you have the same again This is a duty God reckoneth upon that you will not omit such a necessary piece of service Gen. 18. 19. I know Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. God promiseth himself that from Abraham and his Family he should have respect God hath made many great promises to Abraham as he doth now to all believers but if you would have him bring upon you that which he hath spoken you must not disappoint him The seasoning of youth betimes in your Families is a very great advantage The Family is the Seminary of the Church and State and usually those that are bred ill in the Family they prove ill when they come abroad A fault in the first concoction is not mended in the second and therefore here you should be declaring the mind and counsel of God to them Many that afterwards prove eminent Instruments of Gods glory will bless you for it to all Eternity It is the best love you can express to your children when you take care to season them with the best things A husband is charged to love his wife how shall he express this love Eph. 5. 25 26. Even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it c. I suppose the degree is not only commended for a Pattern but the kind it must be such a love as Christ bore to his Church He gave himself for her that he might sanctifie her It must be such a love as tends to sanctification It is a poor kind of love Parents express to their Children in providing great Estates and Portions for them or bringing them up in Trades that they may thrive in the world but when you train them up for Heaven there 's the best love Prov. 4. 3 4. For I was my fathers son he was the Darling tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother And wherein was that love exprest He taught me also and said unto me Let thine heart retain my words keep my commandments and live So for servants it is not enough to provide bodily maintenance for them so we do for the beasts if we would use their strength and service but we are to instruct them according to our Talents and that 's the best love we can shew to provide for their souls 2. In our Converses speaking of God and of his word in all companies instructing the ignorant warning and quickning the negligent encouraging the good casting out some savoury discourse wherever we come So Psal. 37. 30. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and his tongue talketh of judgment A good man studieth in his speeches to glorifie God to edifie those he speaks to I will declare thy judgments saith David Wise and gracious discourse drops from him So Cant. 4. 11. Thy lips O my Spouse drop as the honey-comb honey and milk are under thy tongue The passages of that Song are to be understood in a spiritual sense now the lips and the tongue being Instruments of speech and milk and honey things by which the word is exprest I suppose it is meant of a conference and because the word of God is compared to milk and honey-comb it shews that their conference should be gracious and edifying this is that which drops from a sanctified mouth For the Reasons of this 1. I shall argue from the interest which God hath in the lips and tongue and therefore they
his Law and Grace which are means in the nearest vicinity with our End Psal. 37. 4. Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart Phil. 4. 4. Rejoyce in the Lord always and again I say rejoyce 3. Delight if not right set of all the affections it is apt to degenerate We have a liberty to delight in earthly things the affection is allowed the excess is forbidden Thou maist delight in the Wise of thy youth in thy Children Estate in the Provisions heaped upon thee by the indulgence of Gods Providence Pleasure is the sawce of life to better digest our sorrows It is allowed us but it must be well guarded We are most apt to surfeit of pleasant things and to miscarry by sweet affections Sorrow is afflictive and painful and will in time wear away of it self Pleasure is ingrained in our natures born and bred with us and therefore though we may delight in the moderate use of the refreshments of the present life in Estate Honour Reputation yet we should take heed of excess that our hearts be not overjoyed and too much taken up about these things Carnal joy is the drunkenness of the mind it besotteth us maketh us unmindful of God weakens our esteem of his favour and blessing it chaineth us to present things Pleasure is the great Witch and Sorceress that inchants with the love of the world maketh us unmindful of the Countrey whence we came and whither we are a going therefore we should be jealous of our delight and how we bestow it USE 3. To exhort us to this delight in Gods Statutes or this spiritual rejoycing 1. Here is no danger of exceeding the greatest excesses here are most praise-worthy In other things we must exercise it with jealousie feed with fear rejoyce as if we rejoyced not a man may easily go beyond his bounds when he rejoyceth in the creature but here enlarge thy heart as much as is possible and take thy fill of pleasure Cant. 5. 1. Eat O friends drink yea drink abundantly O beloved This is ebrietas quae nos castos facit chast Flagons Eph. 5. 18. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be ye fill'd with the Spirit 2. We shall never be ashamed of these joys 2 Cor. 1. 12. Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience c. All carnal joys have a turpitude affixed to them and therefore affect to lye hid under a vail of secresie The world would cry shame of him that would say of his bags or his dishes Here is my joy as much as men affect these things yet they desire to conceal them from the knowledg of others 3. We shall be never weary of these joys The delights of the senses become nauseous and troublesome our natural dispositions become weary and importunate a man must have shift and change pleasures refreshed with other pleasures But these delights add perfection to Nature therefore when fully enjoyed they delight most A good conscience is a continual feast a dish we are never weary of The blessed spirits in heaven are never weary of beholding the face of God God is new and fresh every moment to them The contemplation of such excellent objects doth not overcharge and weaken the spirits but doth raise and fortifie them It is true the corporeal powers being weak may be tired in such an employment as much reading is a weariness to the flesh but the object doth not grow distastful as in carnal things How shall we get it 1. Get a suitableness to the word Every man's delights are as his principles Rom. 8. 5. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit A man is much discovered by his savour and relish of things All creatures must have suitable food There must be a sutableness between the Faculty and the Object spiritual things are spiritually discerned 2. Be in a condition to delight in the word A guilty soul readeth its own doom there it revealeth themselves to themselves accuseth and condemneth them As Ahab said of Micajah He prophesieth evil against me and therefore could not endure to hear him Joh. 3. 20. Every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved 3. Purge the heart from carnal distempers lust envy covetousness love of pleasures these are Diseases that need other diet than the word Such persons must have other solaces they cater for the flesh to please the senses An earthly heart will not delight in spiritual things Doct. It standeth Gods children upon to see that they do not forget the word I. What is it to forget the word A man may remember or forget two ways Notionally and Affectively 1. Notionally when the notions of things formerly known are either altogether or in part worn out Jam. 1. 25. He is like one that looks his natural face in a glass but goeth away and straightway forgetteth what manner of person he was 2. Affectively when though he still retain the notions yet he is not answerably affected nor doth act according thereunto Thus the Butler did not remember Ioseph that is did not pity him Thus God is said not to remember the sins of them that repent when he doth not punish them and to forget the afflictions of his people when he doth not deliver them and we are said to forget God Psal. 106. 21. when we do not obey him and to forget his word when we do not remember his commandments to do them Psal. 103. 18. In this place both are intended the Notional and Practical remembrance II. The Reasons why we should not forget his word 1. Meditation will fail else A barren lean soul is unfit to enlarge it self in holy thoughts shall never grow rich in the spiritual understanding Col. 3. 6. Let the word of God dwell in you richly in all knowledg c. Men of small substance grow rich by continual saving and holding together what they have gotten but if they spend it as fast as they get it they cannot be rich Luk. 2. 19. Mary kept all these sayings and pondered them in her heart 2. Delectation will grow cold unless the memory be rubbed up ever and anon When they fainted under affliction the cause is intimated Heb. 12. 5. Have ye forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children Distrust in straits is from the same source Mar. 8. 13. They remembred not the miracle of the loaves for their hearts were hardened Ye see and hear and do not remember David was under great discomfort till he remembred the years of the right hand of the Most High Psal. 77. 10. Lament 3. 21. This I recall to mind therefore I have hope 3. Practice and conscience of obedience will grow more remiss Nothing keepeth the heart in a holy tenderness so much as a presence of the truth and when
confirmed 2. Love to God increased 3. Hope made more lively Now these Providences of God suited to his Word comforted David had more power and force to confirm and increase these Graces then all their Atheistical Scoffs to shake them for he concluded from these Instances that though the Wicked flourish they shall perish and though the Godly be afflicted they shall be rewarded and so his Faith and Hope and Love to God and Adherence to his Wayes was much incouraged Comfort is sometimes spoken of in Scripture as an Impression of the Comforting Spirit sometimes as a result from an Act of our Meditation as here I comforted my self These things are not contrary but subordinate It is our Duty to meditate on God's Word and Providence and God blesseth it by the Influence of his Grace and the Spirit may be said to comfort us and we also may be said to comfort our selves Doctr. That the Remembrance of Gods former dealings with his People and their Enemies in all Ages is a great Relief in distress The Man of God is here represented as lying under the Scorns and Oppressions of the Wicked What did he doe to relieve himself I remembred thy Iudgments of old and have comforted my self So elsewhere this was his Practice Psal. 77. 5. I considered the days of old the years of ancient times again in the 11 and 12 Verses I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy works of old I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy doings Yet again Psal. 143. 5. I remember the days of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on the works of thy hands Thus did David often consider with what Equity and Righteousness with what Power and Goodness God carried on the work of his Providence toward his People of old The like he presseth on others Psal. 105. 5. Remember the marvellous works which he hath done his wonders and the Iudgments of his mouth Surely it is our Duty and it will be our Comfort and Reliefe I shall dispatch the Point in these Considerations 1. That there is a Righteous God that governeth the World All things are not hurled up and down by Chance as if the Benefit we receive were onely a good hit and the Misery a meer misfortune No all things are ordered by a Powerfull Wise and Just God his Word doth not onely discover this to us but his Works Psal. 58. 11. So that a man shall say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous verily there is a God that judgeth the Earth That is many times there are such Providences that all that behold them shall see and say that Godliness and Holiness are matters of Advantage and Benefit in this World abstracted from the Rewards to come and so an infallible Evidence that the World is not governed by Chance but administred by an Almighty All-wise and most Just Providence So elsewhere Psalm 9. 16. The Lord is known by the Iudgments which he executeth By some eminent Instances God sheweth himself to be the Judge of the World and keepeth a Petty Sessions before the day of General Assizes Upon this account the Saints beg the Lord to take off the Vaile from his Providence and to appear in protecting and delivering his Children and punishing their Adversaries Psalm 94. 1 2. O thou Iudge of the Earth shew thy self He is the Supreme Governour of the World to whom it belongeth to doe right 2. This Righteous God hath made a Law according to which he will govern and established it as the Rule of Commerce between him and his Creatures The Precept is the Rule of our Duty the Sanction is the Rule of his Proceedings so that by this Law we know what we must doe and what we may expect from him Man is not made to be lawless and ungoverned but hath a Conscience of Good and Evil for without the knowledge of God's Will we cannot obey him nor can we know his Will unless it be some way or other revealed No Man in his wits can expect that God should speak to us immediately and by Oracle we cannot endure his Voice nor can we see him and live Therefore he revealed his Mind by the Light of Nature and by Scripture which giveth us a clearer and more perfect Knowledge of his Will Certainly those that live under that Dispensation must expect that God will deale with them according to the Tenour of it The Apostle telleth us Rom. 2. 12. As many as have sinned without the Law shall perish without the Law and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law God hath been explicite and clear with them to tell them what they should doe and what they should expect 3. In the Course of his Dispensations he hath shewed from the beginning of the World unto this day that he is not unmindfull of this Law that the observance of this Rule bringeth suitable Blessings and the Violation of it the threatned Judgments Rom. 1. 18. The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men The Impious and the Unrighteous are breakers of either Table and the Wrath of God is denounced and executed upon both if there be any notorious Violation of either For in the day of God's Patience he is not quick and severe upon the World Heb. 2. 2. every Transgression and Disobedience received a just Recompence of Reward thereby his Word is owned Execution we say is the Life of the Law it is but Words without it and can neither be a ground of sufficient Hope in the Promises nor Fear in the Comminations When Punishments are inflicted it striketh a greater terrour when the Offenders are punished the Observers rewarded then it is a sure Rule of Commerce between us and God 4. That the Remembrance of the most Illustrious Examples of his Justice Power and Goodness should comfort us though we do not perfectly feel the Effects of his Righteous Government 1. I will prove we are apt to suspect God's Righteous Administrations when we see not the Effects of it when the Godly are oppressed with divers Calamities and the Wicked live a life of pomp and ease flourishing in Prosperity and Power according to their own hearts desire they are apt to think that God taketh no care of Worldly Affairs or were indifferent to Good and Evil as those profane Atheists Mal. 2. 17. Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in him or where is the God of Iudgment as if God took pleasure in Wicked men and were no impartial Judge or had no Providence at all or hand in the Government of the World Temptations to Atheism begin ordinarily at the matter of God's Providence First Men carve out a Providence of their own that God loveth none but whom he dealeth kindly with in the matters of the World and if his Dispensations be cross to their apprehensions
in Affection and Estimation Alas the best of us are scarce dark shadows of his Goodness 4. God's Goodness is the Life of our Faith and Trust so long as the Goodness of God endureth for ever we have no cause to be discouraged If we want Direction in the Text 't is said Thou art good and dost good teach me thy Statutes If we want Support and Deliverance Nahum 1. 7. The Lord is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him In every streight the People of God find him to be a good God When we feel the burthen of Sin and fear God's Wrath Psalm 86. 5. The Lord is good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy to all them that call upon him David when his old Sins troubled him the Sins of his Youth Psalm 25. 7. Remember not the Sins of my youth nor my Transgressions according to thy Mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord. When his Enemies consulted his Ruine Psalm 52. 1. Why boastest thou thy self in mischief O mighty Man the goodness of God endureth continually They cannot take away the Goodness of God from you whatever they plot or purpose against you Thus may Faith triumph in all Distresses upon the sense of the Goodness of God In the Agonies of Death the Goodness of God will be your Support Non sic vixi ut pudeat me inter vos vivere nec mori timeo quia bonum habeo Dominum We have a good Master who will not see his Servants unrewarded the Goodness of God and his readiness to be gracious to every one that cometh to him is the Fountain of the Saints Hope Strength and Consolation 5. The Goodness of God is the great Motive and Invitation to Repentance Rom. 2. 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance How so God is good but not to those that continue in their Sins Psalm 68. 19 20 21. Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with Benefits even the God of our Salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of Salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death But God shall wound the head of his Enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his Trespasses If Goodness be despised it will be turned into Fury How great soever the Riches of the Lords Bounty and Grace offered in Christ are yet an impenitent Sinner will not escape unpunished God is good oh come try and see how good he will be to you if you will turn and submit to him There is Hope offered and Goodness hath waited to save you so that now you may seek his Favour with hope to speed While he sits upon the Throne of Grace and alloweth the Plea of the New Covenant do not stand off against Mercies God hath laid out the Riches of his gracious Goodness upon a design to save lost sinners and will you turn back upon him and despise all his Goodness provided for you in Christ In point of gratitude the least kindness done men melteth them as coals of fire The Borrower is servant to the Lender God hath not only lent us but given us all that we have therefore it should break our Hearts with sorrow and remorse that we should offend a God so Good so Bountifull so Mercifull The odiousness of sin doth most appear in the unkindness of it that infinite Goodness hath been abused and infinite Goodness despised and that you are willing to lose your part in infinite Goodness rather than not satisfie some base lust or look after some trifling vanity Saul wept at the thoughts of David's kindness 1 Sam. 24. 16. Every man will condemn the wrongs done to one that hath done us no evil but much Good and will you sin against God who is so Good in himself so Good to all his Creatures and so Good to you and waiteth to be better and more gracious and return evil for all his good and requite his Love with nothing but unkindness and Provocation Oh be ashamed of all these things What heart is that that can offend and so willingly offend so good a God Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you by the Mercies of God there is Argument and Endearment enough in that that ye present your bodies a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable Service that ye consecrate dedicate your selves to his glory address your selves chearfully to his Service Let the Soul be warmed into an earnest resolution to please him for the future lest you make Goodness your Enemy and Justice take up the quarrel of abused Grace 6. The Goodness of God is the great Argument to move us to Love God If he be Good he is worthy to be Loved and that with a superlative Love for God is both the Object and the Measure of Love a less Good should be loved less and a greater Good more All that is not God is but a finite and limited Good and must be loved accordingly God only is Infinite and Eternal and therefore he is to be loved of all and above all with our chiefest and most worthy Love by preferring his Glory above all things that are dear to us and being content for his sake to part with all that we have in the world But if any lower thing prevail with us we prefer it before God and so contemn his Goodness in comparison of it If the object of Love be Good none so properly deserveth our Love as God For 1. He is Originally Good the Fountain of all Good therefore if we leave God for the deceitfull vanities of this present life we leave The Fountain of Living waters for a broken Cistern Jer. 2. 13. The Creatures are but dry pits and broken Cisterns 2. He is Summum Bonum the Chiefest Good Other things what good they have they have it from him therefore it is infinitely better and greater in him than in them all the Good that is in the Creature is but a Spark of what is in God If we find any good there it is not to detain our Affections but to lead us to the greater Good not to hold us from him but to lead us to him as the Streams lead to the Fountain and the steps of a Ladder are not to stand still upon but that we may ascend higher There is Goodness in the creature but mixed with Imperfection the Good is to draw to him the Imperfection to drive us off from the Creature 3. He is Infinitely Good Other things may busie us and vex us but they cannot satisfie us this alone sufficeth for health wealth peace protection grace glory Necessities that are not satisfied in God are but Fancies and the desires that are hurried out after them apart from God are not to be satisfied but mortified If we have not enough in God it is not
of Balaam that he caused Balak to lay a stumbling block before the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication This was the Plot to send some beautiful Women of Midian to wander about the Camp of Israel to tempt their lusty Youth and martial Men first to Uncleanness and then to Idolatry that so God might be provoked against them A Plot so full of refined Malice that it can hardly be parallel'd Thus the Devil and his Instruments play their part sufficiently to divide God's People to prejudice their Rulers yea to disaffect God himself II. Plots to discourage and suppress Religion So there are many ways which wicked Men take who can name them all I shall only instance in two Policies of Iulian the Apostate the most refined Instrument the Devil used either for Wit or Malice two ways especially did he seek to undermine Religion 1. One was to forbid the use of Schools to the Christians and suppress Humane Learning To make a people irreligious the way is to make them ignorant discourage Learning and Piety will not be long in fashion not able long to maintain itself in the dark Men will adore any fancy This was like Nahash his condition to Iabesh Gilead Put out their right eye God's two famous Instruments who wrote most both of the Old and New Testament Paul and Moses were both excellently skill'd in secular Learning 2. Another was to put none to death for Religion but to oppress them with all manner of vexations and discouragements To put them to death he apprehended to be glorious but sometimes banished them Towns As Athanasius deprived them of all Offices Civil and Military wasted them with burdensom Levies and Exactions Let us make them poor saith he scoffingly for it is a hard matter for the Rich to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Devil doth his work more cleverly and handsomly when Christians are not called out to the Fire and Gibbet but are wasted by lingring Inconveniences and loss of Priviledges III. Plots to introduce Persecution 1. Defamation Infamy is the Forerunner of more Trouble and the Showers of Slander are but Presages of grievous Storms of Persecution The Devil is first a Lyar and then a Murtherer Iohn 8. 44. When the Children of God are represented as Criminal they are more easily destroyed 'T was a fashion in the primitive Persecutions to invest Christians with a Bears skin and then to bait them as Bears And 't is an usual practice of Satan and his Instruments to blast the repute of Religious persons to cloath them with the Livery of Reproach and then prosecute them as Offenders Psal. 5. 9. Their throat is an open sepulchre The Slanders of the wicked are preparatives to Death as the Sepulchre when opened is prepared to receive the dead Carkass Men first slander and then molest The Devil is afraid to meddle with unstained innocency A good report is a great security against open violence 2. To destroy the Church under the pretence of the Church as the Beast in the Revelations pushed with the horns of the Lamb Rev. 13. 11. 'T was a Proverb All Evil began in the Name of the Lord In Nomine Domini incipit omne malum And it hath been a false pretended Zeal for the Church that hath of later years raised and fomented all or most of the Persecutions of Christians 3. To destroy Christians upon the pretence of Civil Quarrels and Laws and to disguise Hatred against Religion under a pretence of Publick Peace Kill you as well as cast you out of the Synagogue Dan. 6. 4. The Persian Noblemen sought to find occasion against Daniel because of the kingdom though they find none 4. To make way for Errors and Falshoods so many Pits do the wicked dig to beguile unwary and unstable Souls sometimes by more than ordinary pretences of Love Meekness and Sweetness They come to you in sheeps cloathing saith our Lord but inwardly are ravening wolves Mat. 7. 15. Sheeps cloathing that is all for love and kindness and so steal away the hearts of the people as Absolom by his submission and servile Flattery And then by debasing opposing and crying down a faithful Ministry Demosthenes's Fable of the Wolves agreeing with the sheep in lusu would send away their Dogs Now thus they do by questioning their calling as the false Teachers did Pauls And we have been so long Unministring one another that all Ministry is hated in the hearts of many an Anti-Ministerial spirit Sometimes by decrying Maintenance The Lamp is starved when not supplied with Oil. Some to gain credit and entrance and to disgrace Paul and the true Evangelick Ministers whose Poverty needed a supply will take no Maintenance therefore Paul saith 2 Cor. 11. 12. That wherein they glory we might be as they but there is no end of raking in this Puddle 2dly Private Persons Cain against Abel drew him into the Field disputed with him about God and Providence and the World to come Gen. 4. The Princes of Darius against Daniel Dan. 6. the Kingdom was but newly subdued by the Medes This would try the affection of his Subjects no request to be made to God or Man for 30 days The Medes and Persians were wont to ascribe Divine Honours to their Kings as Brissonius proveth The report of this Reverence would be glorious Religion was at stake therefore Daniel would venture the Lyons Den. Iudas his Treason against Christ Luke 22. 3. The Devil entred into Iudas The Iews laying in wait for Paul Acts 23. 12 13 14. Certain Iews banded together and bound themselves under a curse or oath of execration that they would not eat or drink till they had killed Paul And they were more than forty that had made this conspiracy And this they would do with the consent of the chief Priests as he was coming to the Sanedrim A Parallel in the Fifth of November So Iezabel's Plot against Naboth for his Vineyard makes use of God's Name and Worship to bring it about 1 Kings 21. 8 9 10. But I must stop being carried beyond my first intention plotted Mischiefs are an ancient practice Use of all How much are we obliged to God's Providence who doth not only defend us against open violence but secret Machinations 'T is the Lord taketh the wise in their own craftiness and disappointeth the counsels of wicked men against his people Iob 5. 12. Many things are contrived against us in the dark that we know not and see not but the eye of the Lord watcheth for us Isa. 8. 10. Take counsel together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us Second Point That these Plots usually begin in Pride For David saith here The proud have digged pits for me Therefore it is Pride that puts Men upon designs of mischief and ruine to others Pride sheweth itself in the envy of Superiors contention with Equals or the disdain of
would desire to know more of God therefore the Word is dear and precious to them because it discovers so much of God Hosea 6. 3. This is their property they follow on to know the Lord. They do not content themselves with their first and infant Notions but aspire to know him more and more for their love fear and trust and all doth depend upon the knowledge of God If we had more knowledge of God we should love him more and trust him more Psal. 9. 10. They that know thy Name will put their trust in thee We know God but as men born blind know the fire they know there is such a thing as fire for they feel it warm them but what it is they know not so that there is a God we know but what he is we know little and indeed we can never search him out to perfection a finite creature can never fully comprehend that which is infinite The Saints are following on to know the Lord they desire to know more and more and there is no such means to discover God to them as this way 2 The use of the Word is to convert the soul and to bring it home to God Psal. 19. 7. The Law of God is perfect converting the soul. There is the perfection of God's Word it is God's instrument for converting of souls or turning of them back to him again For Conversion take it in its whole latitude compriseth this to humble us to cleanse us to bind up our broken hearts because of all these uses the children of God love his Word It serves 1. To humble us for sin Ier. 23. 29. Is not my Word like as a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces He appeals to it as things that we may find by experience that the Word of God is not only a hammer to break but a fire to melt As a batter'd Vessel when it is to be new form'd must be melted that it may be capable of this new form so no such way to melt the heart and make it capable of God's pâ—…pose as the Word of God no such thing to break the heart no such terrors and agonies like those the Word works and to melt the heart to make it pliable to God's use no such thing as the Word of God to affect us for sin for sin as it is a breach of God's Law or an offence to God 2. It hath this use to cleanse the heart and subdue it to the obedience of Christ Psal. 119. 9. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy Word Young men who more stubborn and boistrous than they that are carried on with great strength and fervor in the very heat of their rebellion against God Well the Word of God can cleanse the heart of a young man As Plato saith of Youth That it is such a Beast as will not easily come to hand Now for cicurating and taming this Beast for the captivating those rebellious affections in youth and cleansing and working out the filthiness that is in us nothing like the Word and it is by these spiritual weapons that every thought is brought into captivity to Christ 2 Cor. 10. and then as it is obstinate the power of the Word breaks the force of our lusts 3. For comforting and binding up the broken hearted Humane wisdom and eloquence can do nothing to purpose this way but when God by the Word reveals to a man his righteousness then his flesh shall come again as a childs he shall return to the days of his youth Iob 33. 25. Though a man before did walk up and down as a Ghost was as it were a walking Skeleton and his marrow was suck'd out of his bones by the terrors of the Lord that were upon him yet when he hath Godâ—…s Word to shew under God's hand for his pardon this brings his comfort his flesh shall revive he shall return fresher than a child and shall return to the days of his youth his strength joy and comfort shall come again therefore O how they love the Law because they have felt in their heart it must be God's Word for that which wounds must also heal 3 To make us perfect as well as to begin the work 2 Tim. 3. 17. it is said The Word of God is able to make the man of God perfect throughly furnished to all good works so that in this perfection there are three Uses for which the Word serves 1. For building up in Faith or increasing in internal Grace The Word of God is not only for Novices but for grown persons that there may be a continual dropping into the lamps as it was in the Vision of Zechariah Acts 20. 32. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified It is not enough to lay a foundation but there must be a building up Now what is that which builds us up The word of his grace that is God's blessing upon the reading and hearing the Word for the Apostle speaks it when he was taking leave of the Ephesians I commend you to God and the word of his grace that is the word of grace sent among them by their ordinary Officers continued to them blessing the reading and hearing the Word by their ordinary Officers there would be no need of Paul the room should be supplied Habits of grace must still be maintained by fresh influences and they always come into us by the Word of God therefore after we are converted and born again the Word is useful that we may grow thereby 2 Pet. 2. 2. 2. To direct our practice that 's one use the Word serves for so it is said 2 Pet. 1. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place In this state of ignorance wherein we are for that 's figured by those words in a dark place sure it is a great blessing to have a light shining to us that we may not wander and fall into the snares wherewith we are encompassed We are apt to forget and mistake our way we are very forgetful and our way is narrow hardly found and hardly kept and Satan is full of wiles and deceits like an ignis fatuus ready to lead us out of the way therefore we had need have a sure guide and a sure light Psal. 119. 105. Thy word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths It is a light not only to our paths for the choice of our general way but for all our steps to direct us in all our ways 3. To comfort us in all conditions under our crosses confusions and difficulties we have all from the Word of God Psal. 119. 50. This is my comfort in my affliction for thy Word hath
his Misery notwithstanding sin And so the giving of Christ to be the Saviour of the World Tit. 3. 4. But after the loving-kindness of God our Saviour to mankind appeared his Man-kindness this was pity to us above the Angels no remedy was plotted for them And then his peculiar Mercy is to his Elect in Christ so the Lord saith Rom. 9. 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy This is again seen either in the first Grace or bestowing that upon us or in all the subsequent Grace that we stand in need of 1. The first Grace is Pardoning all our past sin or receiving us into a state of Favour upon our Repentance so 't is made the motive Ioel 2. 13. Turn unto the Lord for he is merciful Penitent sinners will find him so to be The Apostle saith 1 Tim. 1. 13. But I obtained mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was overwhelmed in mercy So also in giving us an heart to Repent and turn unto him 1 Pet. 1. 3. we were unworthy and miserable sinners could not help ourselves and then his eye pitied us and his handsaved us by his preventing grace he brought us home to himself 2. In all the subsequent Grace that we stand in need of so the Objects of his Mercy must have a qualification such as fear God Psal. 103. 12. Such as love him and keep his Commandments Exod. 20. 6. That walk according to the Rule of his Word exactly Gal. 6. 16. To the Merciful Matth. 5. 7. For to the Unmerciful God will not shew himself Merciful Iam. 2. 13. but to those that are thus qualified he reneweth his pardoning mercy in taking away the guilt of our daily failings Psal. 25. 7. His sanctifying mercy by freeing them more and more from the dominion of Sin Rom. 6. 14. His preserving mercy by delivering them from Afflictions so far as it is convenient Psal. 119. 41. Let thy mercies come unto me O Lord even thy salvation according to thy Word Lam. 3. 22. It is of the Lords mercy we are not consumed because his compassions fail not His rewarding mercy Iude 21. Looking for the mercy of God unto eternal Life So Psal. 62. 12. Also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his work He will graciously Accept Reward and Crown every sincere and faithful Servant of his when they have done their work Sincerity and faithfulness shall be accepted and rewarded when Infirmities and Weaknesses shall be pardoned and covered Secondly Let me now open the two Adjuncts of his Mercy 1. 'T is Tender Mercy Luk. 1. 78. Through the tender mercy of our God The word signifieth Bowels as when you see a poor miserable Creature your Bowels work within you especially if you be related to him Misericordia complectitur affectum effectum Let us take the nearest Relation If you be a Father we need not much intreat a Father to pity a poor helpless Child his own Bowels will perswade him to it Psal. 103. 13. Like as a father pitieth his Children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him Or if you think passions in Females more vehement take the relation of a Mother as Hagar was affected to Ishmael when the water was spent in the Bottle she sate over against the Child and lift up her Voice and wept Gen. 21. 16. God will take the Affections of a Mother as Isa. 49. 15. Can a woman forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea she may forget yet will I not forget thee 'T is passionately set out by the Prophet if all the Compassions of all Fathers and Mothers were joined together 't were nothing to God he is the Father of Mercies he is Pitiful and Merciful Iam. 5. 11. 't is true there is in God no Sickness or trouble of Mind no Commotion but there is Pity and tender Love though no Perturbation which will not stand with the perfection of his Nature that is he layeth to heart and taketh notice of our Misery The tenderness of God may be known by the Compassion which Christ had in the dayes of his Flesh for he was the express Image of his Fathers Person now we read Matth. 9. 36. When he saw the multitude he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were as sheep scattered abroad that had no shepherd Their Teachers did not do their duty to them in any profitable way this wrought upon Christ heart when he saw the Multitude So when he saw many sick and under noisom Diseases Matth. 14. 14. when they followed him he pitied them and helped them So Matth. 15. 37. Iesus had compassion on the multitude when they continued with him three dayes and had nothing to eat The Care of mans welfare lieth near unto Christ's heart before the Disciples took notice of it he taketh notice of the Peoples Necessities and is affected with it he would not send them away fasting The two Blind men when they feelingly layed out their Miseries Matth. 20. 34. Iesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes So Luk. 7. 13. The Widow of Naim lamented her only Son the Lord saw her and had compassion on her and said unto her weep not This for a taste what a tender heart Christ had and in heaven he is still a Merciful High-Priest he came down on Purpose to acquaint himself with our Greifs and Sorrows Surely he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and Gods Pity though it hath no Trouble with it is real operative and efficacious 2. His Tender Mercy is seen in his readiness to hear and help and come in to the Cry of his People if they be but any thing humble and profitable in their Afflictions Isa. 58. 10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the noon day Luk. 15. 20. And he arose and came to his father but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him When the Son was coming the Father run to meet him Isa. 65. 2 4. Before they call I will answer as if God could not tarry to hear the Prayer made Psal. 32. 5. I said I would confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin Ier. 31. 19 20. Surely after I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Is Ephraim my dear son is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. The first relentings of the Creature work upon the Bowels of Gods Mercy when we do but conceive a
freedom and sovereignty 2. Sometimes to manifest the power of his grace both in the person that is endued with it and the power of his grace upon others As to the person himself in whom this wisdom is found when they are young the Lord doth shew he can subdue them by his Spirit and make their prejudices vanish enlarge their understanding and over-rule their heart 1 Iohn 2. 14. I write to you young men because ye are strong and the Word of God abideth in you and ye have overcome the wicked one In that slippery Age when Lusts were boistrous Temptations most violent and they usually uncircumspect and head-strong and give up themselves to an ungoverned licence yet then can God subdue their hearts and make them stand out against the snares of the Devil And then with respect to others when by the foolish he will confound the wisdom of the wise and blast the pride of man and cast down all conceit in external priviledges and give young ones a more excellent spirit than the aged as the Apostle intimates such a thing 1 Cor. 1. 26. Not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty And our Lord Mat. 11. 25 26. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Usually God will do so when he will punish the unfaithfulness of those that are in publick place and office The Law shall perish from the Priest and Counsel from the Ancient God will not take the usual way and course but will give his Spirit and graces of his Spirit to them and deny it to those that should be Builders Now what Use shall we make of this There may be an Abuse of such a Point as this and there may be a very good Use. To prevent the Abuse 1 This is not to be taken so but that there should be reverence shewed to the aged Job 32. 4 5 6. Elihu had waited till Iob's Friends had spoken because they were elder than he It is an abuse of men of a proud persuasion of their own knowledge and learning to despise the aged especially when they also have a competent measure of the same Spirit The Scripture speaks of Paul the aged certainly there is a reverence due to gray hairs And it argues a great disorder when the Staff of Government is broken and the established Order is overturned when a child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient Isa. 3. 5. And young men shall peark up to the despising of their Elders Deut. 28. And 2. this is not to be applied so to prejudice the general case of consulting with the Ancients which was Rehoboam's sin though God sometimes giveth wisdom to young men yet the usual course is that Iob 32. 7. I said days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom Certainly those that are old they are freer from passions bettered by use and experience and long continuance in study have more advantages to add to their knowledge therefore usually though the bodily eyes be dim the understanding may be most clear and sharp Use 2. The Use in general is twofold That young men should not be discouraged nor despised 1. Not discouraged We use to say youth for strength and age for wisdom but if they apply their hearts to Religion and the study of God's will and with knowledge join practice they may profit and so as they may be a means to shame those that are elder while they come behind them in many gracious endowments They are not to be discouraged as if it were too soon for them to enter into a strict course or grow eminent therein for God may glorifie himself in their Sobriety Temperance Chastity Zeal Courage and the setting their strong and eager spirits against sin it is a mighty honour to God Psal. 8. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies c. The graces of God in young ones do mightily turn to the praise of his glorious grace and God is admired in them and it is an honour and comfort to you also Eph. 1. 12. In Christ before me it is a just upbraiding to elder people that lie longer in sin 2. Nor yet should youth be despised 1 Tim. 4. 12. Let no man despise thy youth God's gifts should not be despised in any nor stir up rancor God may speak by them as he spoke by Samuel and to Samuel when he spoke not to old Eli. Having premised this let me come to apply it particularly though briefly it conduceth then 1. To the encouragement of youth to betake themselves to the ways of God O consider let us begin with God betimes do not spend your youth in vanity but in a serious mortified course This is your sharp and active time when your spirits are fresh therefore if your Watch is set right now you may understand more than the Ancients Give up your hearts to a religious course let not the Devil feast upon the flower of your youth and God be put off with the fragments and scraps of Satan's Table while you are young take in with God it 's a great honour to God and it will be an honour and advantage to you Mat. 11. 15 16. When the Children cry Hosanna to the Son of David and the Pharisees reproved him for it Christ approves of it saying Have ye never read Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise When young ones take kindly it is a great blessing therefore is judgment hanging over this Nation that youth is so degenerated whereas formerly they were addicted to Religion now they are addicted to all manner of lusts and vanity Then it would be an honour and comfort to you the sooner we begin with God the more we glorifie God and the more praise to God Eph. 1. 12. That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. They that get into Christ above others they glorifie Grace above others Rom. 16. 7. They were in Christ before me He that first gets into Christ he hath the advantage of others Seniority in Grace is a preferment as well as in Nature And then it is a great advantage Eccles. 12. 1. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth When we begin betimes with God we have more opportunity of serving and enjoying God than others have A man should bear the yoke in his youth Lam. 3. If the bent of our inclinations were set right in our youth it would prevent much and hinder the growth of sin Though a man cannot plant Grace in his heart that 's the Lord's own work yet it keeps sin in and prevents inveterate custom
for they will grow upon us and therefore it makes for the encouragement of you that they should sooner begin with God 2. It makes for the encouragement of those that have the Education of Youth as Masters of Families Parents and the like Do not say it is too soon for them to learn No Age is too soon for God 2 Tim. 3. 5. Thou hast from thy Infancy learned the Scriptures When we suck in Religion with our milk it 's a great advantage those things we keep with us that we learn young Prov. 22. 6. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it When the new Vessel is seasoned with this precious liquor it will keep the taste tender Twigs are bent this way when they are as Wax capable of any impression Use 3. Caution for young ones If young men should obtain this benefit to grow wiser than the Ancients notwithstanding this yet they should learn to shew reverence to the aged Iob 32. 4 5 6. And then to ascribe it to God saith he ver 8. There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding It is not the sharpness of our wit but the inspiration of his Grace he is the Author of all this wisdom that is wrought in us Use 4. To humble the Aged that have not made conscience of their time and ways and therefore are more blockish than many Children Isa. 65. 20. There shall be no more an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days Old men that are ignorant of the mysteries of Faith after they have long sate under the Word of God and have many advantages to improve their youth Heb. 5. 12. When for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat In this sense God is said to take away the understanding of the Aged that is by a just judgment for their unfruitfulness and unprofitableness under the means of Grace They that are much younger than you are wise in comparison of you when they excel you for ripeness in wisdom for solidness and setledness in manners in a course of godliness Those old men that draw near to the Grave before they have consider'd either the end wherefore they came into the world or the state into which they shall be translated when they go out of it those are Children of 100 years old that have nothing to reckon Age by but wrinckles and gray hairs Doct. 3. That the way to increase in spiritual understanding is to be studious in practical holiness The Word that will give you understanding will keep you out of all snares sufficiently direct you to true happiness But how shall we get it refer it to practice practise what you know and you shall know more it must needs be so 1. Because these are such as have God's Promise Iohn 7. 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self They that make conscience of their ways season their course in the fear of God that take Gods direction with them God will tell them they shall know what doctrine is of God 2. They have a greater clearness of mind and understanding therefore must needs discern holy things why because they are freed from the clouds of lust and passion which do insensibly blind and make them stay in generals Mat. 5. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Saith Nazianzene Where there is purity there 's brightness where there 's a pure heart there 's a great deal more clearness in the understanding Reason and Fancy are dark unless a Man have a command over his Passions and Affections over his Passions of Anger Fear Grief and over his Affections of Love and Joy and Appetite towards sensual delights unless he be able to govern these things he will never truly discern the mind of God for the seasoning his course in living a holy life that of the Apostle is notable 2 Pet. 1. 5. Add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance unless they be able to govern their affections in the use of worldly delights pleasures and profits they will never have this practical knowledge and therefore the only way to know divine things as Nazianzene well observes is conscientiously to keep the Commandments of God If you would know the Will of God do not spend your time in heaping up Notions but framing your heart to obedience governing your affections by the fear of God and suiting your hearts to the Word of God Alas Those that seek knowledge out of ambition curiosity and vain ostentation and lie under the power of vile affections get but very little true spiritual light they may have the understanding of Teachers but not the understanding to season them and guide them in their communion with God 3. The more we practise the more Religion is exemplifi'd and made sensible so that we come to understand more of the sweetness of it and on the other hand the more of difficulty is in it when there is nothing but bare Notions and naked apprehensions There we have a double advantage an exact Rule and more experience of the sweetness of Religion Prov. 3. 17. All her ways are ways of pleasantness When we practise what we know then we come to know the sweetness of entertaining communion with the Lord and they know more of the difficulty of Religion they know where their hearts are more averse and more in danger whereas others that soar aloft in Notions and idle and lofty speculations have not this experience 4. They that practise study things with more affection than others mightily help their understanding The more piety and zeal any man hath the more will the Lord bless his Studies Paul profited in the Iewish Religion above many of his Equals why Gal. 1. 14. Being more exceedingly zealous of the tradition of my Fathers A man that hath a zeal in any thing will profit more than others so he that hath a zeal for the things of God profits above others A blunt Iron if red hot will pierce through an Inch-board sooner than a cold Tool though never so sharp so those that have blunt parts in comparison of others yet if they have zeal and good affections they will pierce deep into the mysteries of Religion they that have sharper parts want the fire of zeal 5. The more fruitful any Grace is the more doth it abound with us and therefore when your knowledge is fruitful you will find it increased by laying out your Talents Col. 1. 10. Be fruitful in every good work always increasing in the knowledge of God First he presseth knowledge in order to practice then he presseth