hood he should do any thing which was unworthy so long as he feared God there was no cause why they should fear him for this fear of God would restrain Him And that 's the first Grace here spoken of them as the Grace of Gods Acceptance the Grace of Fear The second is the Grace of Hope or Faith of those that hope in his mercy As the Lord takes pleasure in the former so in this likewise He delights in his Servants more especially as they give greater Testimonies of their Faith and Dependance upon him The more that any cleave unto Him the more doth he take care of them and pleasure in them Thus Psal 33.18 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy where we have both expressions of the Text joyn'd together and both to one and the same purpose as to Gods delight in such persons That which we are now speaking to is the latter of them That special respect which God bears to such persons as do by Faith cast themselves upon him and leave themselves to Him They are such as he is exceedingly pleased withal and does prize and esteem above any other The Reason of it is this because they are such as doe mos advance Him of any besides Faith it gives glory to God And therefore will he incourage those who do abound in it and who are most in the reall practise and exercise of it They are such as honour him in his Truth in his Power and in his Mercy which is the Prime of all And those that honour Him He will Honour Therefore let this teach us still to Act it and to draw it forth as much as we are able let us not cast away our Confidence which hath so great recompence of Reward as we see that it hath let us nourish and cherish this Heavenly Hope in us as much as we can which will carry us above all dejections and discouragements whatsoever Let us resolve and cry out with the Psalmist why art thou cast down oh my soul and why art thou disquieted within me Hope thou in God And so I have done with the Text in the first Acception of it as it may be taken Absolutely and Emphatically and in the simple Proposition as expressing Gods real Delight in such and such Persons The second is by taking it Comparatively and in Opposition to other Persons or Things And this as it refers to the verse immediately going before There we find it exprest thus He delighteth not in the strength of the horse He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man And then it follows presently in this verse The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him and that hope in his Mercy The scope and meaning whereof is this That God does not so much stand upon or accept of Humane and Natural means so as to assist and cooperate with them for his Churches Deliverance as He does delight rather to assist the Faith and Prayer of his Servants when they are void of all External Incouragements An humble standing in awe of God and a faithfull Dependance upon him and an Importunate seeking to Him it is a great deal more effectual to Deliverance then all earthly or Humane Assistance This is the Drift of this Passage and Expression which we have here before us And it is the same with that in the Scripture above mention'd which comes to one and the same effect Psal 33.16 17 18. There 's no King saved by the Multitude of an host A mighty man is not delivered by his much strength An horse is a vain thing for safety â—â—ither shall he deliver any by his great strength Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his Mercy where the Opposition is still made betwixt carnal means and spiritual and the latter advanced above the former Reliance upon God is a great deal surer then reliance upon Men. It is is usual and frequent with the Scripture to put the greatest Disparagement upon those Creatures which men are apt themselves most to trust in and to advance and cry up above all other And thus it does here in these Texts which we have now before us An horse if it be considered simply in it self it is a very useful and profitable Creature and especially in the Battel which it is in a special manner fitted and prepared for but yet without Gods concurrence with it and assistance of it it is of no force or efficacy at all Prov. 21.31 The horse is prepared against the day of battel but safety or victory is of the Lord. And here He takes no delight in the strength of an horse In which expression by a Synecdochical speech is signified the insufficiency of all Humane Refuges whatsoever and the efficacy and prevailing and sufficency of Faith it self before them Wisdom sayes the Preacher it is better then strength Eccl. 9.16 And again Wisdom it is better then weapons of war Eccl. 9.18 And in both he means Spiritual wisdom especially which is the wisdom that is from above This is better then all the strength in the world and is able both to stand out against it and to prevail over it We shall find this to be verified and made good by Divers Instances and Examples in Scripture where the Saints and Servants of God by the strength and Power of Faith and Prayer have been able to do more then all their enemies by all their Carnal and External Advantages whatsoever Thus it was with the Iraelites when they were pursued by Pharaoh and the Egyptians They had a great deal of outward strengh and advantage against them of Horses and Chariots and the like But what did these come to in the Conclusion and in regard of the Event See in Exod. 15.21 Sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously The horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea According to that again in another place in Isa 21.3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God and their Horses flesh and not spirit when the Lord shall stretch out his hand both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is holpen shall fall down and they shall all fall together There 's no strength against the strength of Israel So we may see it in Jabin and Sisera Who had Nine hundred Chariots of Iron with which they came against Israel but the Lord discomfited them and all their Hoste with the Edge of the Sword before Barak Judg. 4.15.16 And it is said there was not a man of them left So the Horses and Chariots which the King of Syria sent against Elisha 2 Kings 6.14 We know what they came to in Conclusion and how little they preailed against Him The Faith of the Prophet it procured a greater strength then that which was opposite unto Him The Mountain being full of Horses and Chariots of Fire round about Elisha So likewise Hezekiah in
the case of Senacheribs invading Him he spake Comfortably to his Souldiers about him saying be strong and Courageous be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria nor for all the Multitude that is with him for there be more with us then with him With him is an Arm of Flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our Battels 2 Chro. 32.7 Thus has the Lord still had more delight in those that have feared Him and that have hoped in his Mercy then he has had in all Humane Helps and Refuges and Advantages whatsoever And there 's a threefold Account which may be given hereof unto us First For the greater Confusion and Astonishment of those who are his Enemies There 's nothing which God does more delight in then to Crush the pride of man and to frustrate him of his Carnal Expectations now because that men do commonly trust and rely upon such things as these Horses and men and the like The strength of the one and the legs of the other as it is here exprest therefore does the Lord so much the rather and of purpose defeat and disappoint them and in that wherein they deal proudly does chuse to be above them Pride and Presumption and self Confidence and earnal Relyance is a thing so hateful and odious to God wheresoever he fins it that he will suffer or indure it But will chuse the weak things of the world to confound the strong 1 Cor. 1.27 He will make men to renounce all their Confidence in the Arm of flesh as the Church there seems to do in Hosea 14.3 Ashur shall not save us we will not ride upon Horses neither will we say any more to the work of our hands ye are our God for in thee the Fatherless find Mercy Secondly As for the Confusion of his Enemies so also the Incouragement of his own Servants that more readily close with him and with greater chearfulness commit themselves to Him in the greatest straits and exigences that may be that they may have somewhat to bottom upon even then when all outward helps fail them and give them the slip for this reason will God the rather own them in such cases as these are when they are armed with Faith and Patience and Hope and such Graces as these the Principle and Spiritual Armour of God rather then when accommodated with all other meanes besides Thirdly For the greater Advancement of his own Honour and Gloy There is nothing which God does more delight in or indeed has cause to delight in then the magnifying and advancing of Himself now this he does in nothing more then in owning of the Necessities of his People who fly unto him by Prayer and depend upon him by Faith and that especially when they are shut of all other Helps and means besides His power is most seen in their weakness and his strength in their Infirmities and his Assistance in their want and deprivation of all other Advantages And therefore because it is so does he delight to put it forth and evert it yea and sometimes refuses the Addition of outward Helps unto them as we see it was with Gideon as to the Midianites The Lord said unto him the people that are with thee are too many to give into their hands least Israel Vaunt themselves against me saying mine own hand hath saved me Judg. 7. vers 2. The Consideration of this Point may be thus far improved First As a word of Direction and Councel to the Servants of God to teach them what Especially to look after and to fortify in themselves and that is such Graces as these are which are here mentioned in the Text. These are the Churches best Weapons and Preparations which she can make to her self and which will stand here more instead then all others besides as is here intimated to us It is not so much how far she is provided in other respects and Considerations as how far in this These are of use against Temporal Enemies and these are of use also against Spiritual for which reason there is cause that we should get them and take them to our selves Put on the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the Wyles of the Devil for we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood onely but against Principalities against Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this world against Spiritual Wickedness in high places in Ephes 6.10.11 And again in vers 13. of the same Chap. Take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the Evil day and having done all to stand These are armes which are liked and approved of by God himself who has the approaching and accepting of them he delights not so much in the others as is signified in the foregoing Scripture but these are such wherein he takes pleasure and in them that wear them Secondly Here 's a word of Consolation to the Church in her greatest Distresses which sometime she may fall into and under the snares and Insultations of her Enemies who are apt sometimes to judg of her according to outward Supplies and either to esteem of her or to despise her as she abounds or is defective in these but let her see here what is her greatest and cheifest security and that which must be most of use unto her in the Evil Day where man despises God has there in greatest regard and takes cheifest pleasure in her Thirdly Which is the General Scope and Drift of the whole Psalm and so of this part of it amongst the rest here is that which should inlarge our hearts in Praise and Thanksgiving to God for his Providence and care over his Church as it is here exprest unto us Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises to our God for it is pleasant and â—â—â—se is comely As it is so in other regards so for this also which is here mentioned before us That takes pleasure in those that fear him and in those that hope in his Mercy This is brought in here in the Text not onely as a matter of Information but likewise of Celebration not onely as that which is to be be known but also acknowledged There are three things here propounded at once which are matter of due acknowledgment to us First That there is Mercy for us Secondly That there is occasion given us of hoping in this Mercy And Thirdly That our hope in it is so pleasing and acceptable to God himself First That there is Mercy for us and that God is a God of Mercy and Compassion he is to be praised and acknowledged for this that God deals not with us in a way of Rigor and strict Justice but in a way of Mercy and Love It is matter of just Acknowledgment the Scripture and the Psalmist especially is full of it's praises of God for them Secondly That there is administred to us occasion of hoping in
seemed to be guilty of and to be charged withal from God himself But they are reducible to two main heads The one is in the denial of their address And the other is in the discontinuance of it The denial of their address was this That they would not simply come unto God The discontinuance of their address was this That they would no more come unto him First Their simple denial of address We will not come unto thee There was a great matter of iniquity and miscarriage in them as to this That they refused to do thus First their disrespect and want of due affection to God The want of address is usually interpreted the want of observance And so it is in men to God when they come not at him it is a sign they do not love him nor regard him so as they should do This is that which is justly chargable upon all profane and atheistical persons that live without God in the world that never call upon him never pray unto him never exercise any communion with him it is an argument that they have not any respect or affection for him for if they had they would have more delight in his company and converse with him than commonly they have We will not come unto thee It had the guilt of disrespect Secondly their ingratitude and unthankfulness God had done very much for them he had not been a barren wilderness to them and yet they would not come unto him God charges them also with this God deserves to be sought to for himself and those excellencies which are in his own Blessed Majesty one would come unto him for this though there were nothing else But now when moreover we shall consider the good things which he does for us and which we daily receive from him this is a further engagement upon us and makes the sin to be so much the greater when we neglect to do so And this was the case of this people which made the Lord so much to wonder at them and to be offended with them For a child not to come at his Father or a servant at his Master upon the account of his meer relation it is a thing which is not justifiable but not to come to them when they are used kindly by them and when they receive so many courtesies from them this is very abominable God's mercies should be great provocations of our attendance upon him Thirdly their stubbornness and obstinacy We would not come unto thee No not even then when thou callest us and envitest us this sets it on a little more You know how ill Ahasuerus took it when he call'd for Vashti to come to him and she refused And how may the Lord then take it when his people refuse to come to him upon his invitation when he calls to them in the ministry of his Word in the dispensations of his Providence in the voice of his Spirit speaking not only to their ears but also to their hearts and consciences and for all that they hold off from him How can he possibly take this well at their hands and not be avenged upon them for it And that 's the First thing here considerable to wit Their denial of address The Second is their discontinuance of address We will come no more unto thee This is another thing wherewith they are charged and there are two things further included in this First their self-sufficiency and confidence in their own present condition Secondly their apostacy and declining and falling off from God and their former carriage First Here was their self-sufficiency and carnal confidence they said We are Lords that is we are able now to shift for our selves and so we will come no longer to thee for supplies from thee This is the temper and disposition of most kind of people besides As long as they think they can any thing subsist without God they never care for coming unto him Thus it was here with these Israelites God had heaped many mercies upon them and blest them on every side And this was the use which they now made of it even to neglect him so much the more that had done thus much for them To forsake the Fountain of living waters and to seek to themselves broken and empty Cisterns which would hold no water as he tells them in the 12th verse of this present Chapter Thus as it was with the Prodigal in the Gospel who so long as he was any thing well abroad never cared to come home to his Father's house Even so is it also with many more As it was with the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3.17 18. Which said she was full and encreased with goods and had need of nothing not knowing that she was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and had need to come to Christ and to buy of him Gold and white Rayment and Ointment and such things as these The temper and disposition in God's people is that which oftentimes provokes him to take such a course with them as he does for the bringing of them home to him And that is to exercise them with various crosses and afflictions to convince them of their own insufficiency and of their necessary dependance upon him Thus he speaks of his Church there in Hosea in chap. 2. ver 6 7. That he would hedg up her way with thorns and make a wall that she should not find her paths Then shall she say I will go and return to my first Husband for then it was better with me than now God would make her come again unto him though she thought to have come to him no more as being able to shift well enough without him Oh 't is good for every one to live in a constant dependance upon God and to see their need and necessity of him in whom they live move and have their being They that do otherwise God will take some course or other whereby to reduce them and to bring them again unto him as without whom they cannot be able to subsist or hold out That 's the first thing implyed in this expression No more to wit their self-sufficiency Though formerly we came to thee when we had some need of thee yet now we are able to shift for our selves The Second is their Apostacy and falling off from God This was another thing which he took so ill from them that though they had come to him heretofore yet now they would do so no longer This was that which was most odious to God of any thing else a cooling of their affections towards him and an intermission of their servings of him as it is in any other besides It is that as I have shewn you of late which God did so much lay to the charge of the Galatians and reproach them for it That having begun in the Spirit they should end in the Flesh that is that having formerly come to him they should now in the words of the Text
's a calling of them to an account for their desire What end have you for it Secondly it is a discovering to them the fruitlesness of their desire What good have you by it The former in the notion of an Expostulation The latter of a Conviction First To look upon it in the former notion and that is by way of Expostulation What end have you for it or in it namely in this desire of yours for the coming of the day of the Lord. The Prophet Amos here calls them to an account for this desire which was in them From whence there 's this general truth to be observed by us That our desires should be still such as are rational and well-grounded in us Those that desire any thing they should know for what end they desire it or else it should not be desired by them To what end is it for you says the Lord here to this people namely when he speaks here of something which was desired by them The reason of it is this Because we are rational our selves at least in our principles we are so as men but we 〈◊〉 â—o more especially as Christians and therefore should every thing be rational that comes from us Loose and unreasonable desires do not become reasonable creatures Those who have light in their understandings by nature and this also elevated and enlarged by Grace for the guiding and directing of them they should be very much ordered and regulated in this particular Therefore let us by the way learn from hence a good rule for our practice to this purpose We may not think that we may desire what we please indefinitely or without any restraint that quicquid libet licet that whatever we have a mind to it may be pursued by us no but we must rather first see what ground and reason we have in us for such desires and restrain and bound our selves by such arguments and considerations as these In all inordinacy of appetite or desires which rises up in us put to our selves this question which the Prophet Amos puts to this people To what end is it for you to desire it And this will be an happy means for the ordering and regulating of it Our desires and affections and inclinations they are such things as for which we are accountable both to God and our selves So much for that as this passage carries in it the force of an Expostulation To what end is it for you i.e. To what end is this desire for you The Second is as it has the force of a Conviction To what end is it for you that is To what end is this day for you which you seem to desire There 's no good or advantage at all which can come to such as you by it by laying an emphasis especially upon the persons And so there 's this in it That the day of the Lord however it may prove to others yet it is no way desirable of wicked and ungodly people and such persons as live in their sins For you says the Prophet that walk in ways of sinfulness and opposition and rebellion against God for you to desire that day wherein he will call all men to account for that which hath been done by them here The day of Judgment and the second coming of Christ it is very sad and ridiculous in you This will the better appear unto us by considering what those things are which do especially make this day desirable of those who do rationally desire it the Saints and Servants of God We may reduce them to three Heads First as it is a day of Absolution Secondly as it is a day of Redemption And Thirdly as it is a day of Salvation for each of these it is to all good Christians and Believers First It is a day of Absolution wherein they shall be quitted and discharged of any thing which shall be laid against them Christ who is their Judge shall be also their Advocate and plead their cause for them and pass a sentence of discharge upon them Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect in that day This now makes it ery desirable to those who have an interest in it But wicked people have not this interest it belongs not to them They have no share in pardon or absolution and consequently have no ground to wish for that day when absolution shall be granted which themselves have no share or interest in No more than Malefactors have cause to wish for the day of Assizes and the coming of the Judge to sit upon them which being duly considered makes nothing at all indeed for them Secondly As it is a day of Redemption it is to God's children desirable so and they are call'd upon in that respect to desire it Luke 21.28 Lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh The day of the Lord is such a day as this is wherein those who are true Believers shall be redeemed from all those evils which here they were encompast withal And especially from the greatest evil of all which is the evil of sin which did here so much trouble and disturb them and makes them to cry out with the Apostle Oh wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death This day it is desirable of God's children in reference to this as a blessed day indeed unto them when as the fetters and shackles of sin shall be knocked off from them But now as for carnal and profane persons To what end is it for them to desire it What should they desire the day of the Lord that do not care for the fear of the Lord What should they desire that day which is a day of redemption from sin whose desire all their life-time is rather to continue in sin and to have all advantages and opportunities afforded them for the committing and following of sin Thirdly As it is a day of Salvation and the accomplishment of universal happiness it is upon this account also desirable of the Servants of God The day wherein God himself shall be glorified in his Saints because indeed the day wherein his Saints shall be glorified by him But what 's this now to those which walk in ways of sinfulness and impenitency What have they to do to desire to be glorified by God that do not care for glorifying of God Or what have they to do to partake of the life of Glory that are strangers to the life of Grace or to what purpose should they desire the end that despise the means and the ways that tend to that end So much for that And so I have done also with the Second General Part of the Text which is the convincing Expostulation laid down in these words To what end is it for you The Third and last is the express conclusion or determination in these The day of the Lord is darkness and not light which is to be understood by us of the day of death and
within their own line Secret things belong to God and revealed to us and to our children as Moses tells the Israelites in Deut. 29.29 Lastly Sometimes in a way of Discipline to correct some miscarriage in them or to prevent it for time to come whether pride or security or carnal confidence or whatever it be The Lord was afraid of Paul lest he should be too much exalted in himself through the abundance of the revelations and therfore when he had discovered great matters to him and made him hear unspeakable words which it was not possible or lawful for a man to utter he sent him a thoâ—n in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet him lest he should be exalted above measure as himself gives an account of it 2 Cor. 12.7 So ill is God pleased with such distempers as these in his people as that either he keeps such discoveries wholly from them or else does very much allay and qualify them to them but usually the former and that whereof we now speak Those who are light-headed they do best to be kept in the dark And so as to these spiritual dispensations when men shall abuse that knowledg which God bestows upon them to arrogancy and wantonness and conceitedness and despising of others God does in such cases as these are restrain them from knowing more and perhaps sometimes of such things which otherwise it would concern them to know He leaves them in these cases to themselves and to the vanity of their own imaginations that so they may by experience see what it is to abuse his loving kindness and to turn his Grace into wantonness Sometimes God in judgment surprises men and brings upon them evils unawares because they would not know the time of their own visitation when they might have known it nor seasonably see when his band was lifted up against them as the Prophet speaks Thus we see the manifold account of this Point and Observation before us That even the servants of God do not presently see what he does The consideration of this Point is thus far useful to us as from hence to satisfy and inform us in this particular That we may not think either of our selves or others more highly than we ought to think as the Apostle advises We see what little ground any have too peremptorily to take upon them the fore-telling of future events or to conclude of things afore-hand which is the prerogative of God alone and of such as are more immediately inspired by him We must be wary and cautious in such matters as these are and keep within our own compass Remember still that of our Saviour which I mention'd before It is not for you to know the times c. Indeed there is a knowledg of the times which is both possible and commendable for us as it is recorded of the children of Issachar 1 Chron. 12.32 That they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do That it concerns every Christian to know in his place and capacity so to understand the genius and frame of the times in which he lives as to order his life accordingly and so to be able to foresee the inclinations of them as whereby to steer his Christian course but as for absolute determining of them or of what will be done in them this is a thing which is to be left alone to God himself and is a matter of delay and expectation What I do thou knowest not now That 's the First General viz. The Simple Proposition wherein our Saviour denies in Peter a perfect knowledg of what he did The Second is the Additional Qualification of the foregoing Proposition But thou shalt know hereafter This is that which is here signified by Christ to Peter upon this particular occasion And it holds good as well as the former in regard of God's general Providence That though his Servants do not presently apprehend or understand what is done by him yet in time they shall In this passage there are two distinct Branches First the discovery it self Thou shalt know it And Secondly the time of this discovery It is future Thou shalt know it hereafter First Here 's the discovery it self Thou shalt know it Though God's actions are for a while in the dark and are not presently made known yet there will a time come for the clearing and evidencing of them and they shall be seen what they are and laid open This is an high piece of Grace and condescension in him For as God is absolute in his actions themselves and may do what he pleases so he is absolute also as to the approving of his actions and may choose whether or no he will discover them He need give no account of his matters as Elihu speaks in Job 33.13 He needs not but yet he does for all that At least he will do at one time or other so that his people may know them This will he do to sundry purposes and according to several explications in which we may take it First He will discover them in the justice and equity and uprightness of them What I do thou shalt know hereafter that is Thou shalt know that I have been just and righteous in doing of it That the Judge of all the World has done no more than that which is equal Bold and presumptuous persons are apt now and then to challenge God in this particular and to bring him to their tribunal for that which he does whether in regard of themselves or others to think that God's dispensations are very unjust and unequal The Prophet Jeremiah himself though otherwise a good man was once upon that Point in Jer. 12.1 Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments or let me reason the case with thee as the words will bear it Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are they happy that deal very treacherously Habakkuk he was upon the like expostulations in Hab. 2.13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he And so 't is with many others besides who are ready to quarrel at God's Providence and to think he deals unequally with them But he will one day shew the contrary he will manifest that there was very great cause for what he did that he was just in all his ways and righteous in all his works In Ezek. 18.29 The House of Israel said The way of the Lord is not equal But what says God to them again Oh House of Israel Are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal There 's none which are apt sooner to complain of God than those who are obnoxious to him nor there 's none which are so ready to think that he deals worse with them than those that deal worst with him Those which are
the course of this present Text and Scripture which we have now read unto you where the Apostle gives us an account of the deliverance of him with his company from a great danger which happened unto them and therein expresses his thankefulness and holy rejoicing as also gives us an hint of expectation of further deliverance from the like dangers that might happen unto them and therein expresses his hope and most holy faith Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust also c. This passage it relates to a story which we meet withal in Act. 19.29 30. which we may read at our leisure though I suppose that most of us are already sufficiently skilled in it and acquainted with it So that I need not now rehearse it or declare it unto you IN this present Verse before us we have three General Parts considerable of us First The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Secondly The signification of a Deliverance present Thirdly The prognostication of a Deliverance to come The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a Death The signification of a Deliverance present And doth deliver us The Prognostication of a Deliverance to come In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Here 's all that we can possibly desire for all the limits and periods of time whether past or present or future This Deliverance it is extended to each here 's matter of thankfulness and matter of joy-fulness and matter of hope We begin in order with the first viz. The Commemoration of the Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a death Wherein again we may take notice of two Particulars more First the terms of the Deliverance or the evil it self delivered from and that is here exprest to be so great a death Secondly the Deliverance it self or the time for the vouchsafing of it Who hath delivered us First We have here the terms of the Deliverance or the thing delivered from so great a death For the evil it self death and for the aggravation of it a great death it is a deliverance from both Chrysostom together with some others gives it in the Plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so great deaths And indeed there are more deaths than one which God does undertake to deliver his servants from and from which he delivered St. Paul with his Brethren and Companions amongst the rest And which it may not be amiss for our selves at this time by the way to take notice of though I shall insist chiefly upon that which is here chiefly intended and is most agreeable both to the scope of the Text and the present occasion First From spiritual death the death of sin that 's a very great death it puts a man into a state of death not only as exposing to wrath and future condemnation but likewise as disabling to the actions of Grace and Holiness alienating us and depriving us of that life of God which should be in us Ephes 4.18 For as there is a life of grace distinguisht from the life of glory so there 's likewise a death of sin distinguisht from the death of condemnation And this death of sin it is such as is to be numbered among great deaths and the deliverance from it reckoned among great deliverances Indeed it is not always counted so at least by the generality of the world they for the most part are ready to make nothing of it a light and small matter as for the death of the body do all they can to shun that but as for this body of death which the Apostle Paul so much complain'd of and blest God for deliverance from it this is such a thing as they are little troubled or solicitous about Well but every good Christian who has the eyes of his understanding inlightned and his heart truly sanctified with grace he looks upon this as a very grievous and fearful death and accordingly blesses Gods for his deliverance and redempton from it Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 25. Secondly Eternal death the death of wrath and condemnation that 's another great death also and such as follows likewise upon the former without recovery from it He that 's finally dead in sin he shall be certainly dead in judgment the death of sentence and condemnation follows upon the death of spirit and disposition This God has also delivered us from He hath delivered us from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 And we are saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 This is a great death among other Considerations in this respect forasmuch as it required so great a death for the expiating of it which was the death of no other than of the Son of God himself who therefore tasted of this death for the kind of it that he might free us from it We are reconciled unto God says the Apostle by the death of his Son What a sweet and blessed Saviour have we that cares not how great a death he dyes himself that so he might free us from death for whom he dyed We should take all occasions that may be to celebrate our deliverance from this which I am therefore so much the willinger to mention upon this phrase which I now here meet withal in the Text though it is not that which I desire to insist or stand upon I come to that which is more pertinent The third and that which is here particularly aim'd at is Temporal Death which though it be the least Death of all compared with the former yet it is great considered simply in it self and so much the greater according to the several circumstances and aggravations which it may be cloathed withal Which we may take in these following particulars First From the nature and kind of it A violent Death not a natural This is a great death and so consequently a great mercy to be delivered from it to be kept from accidents and casualties and mischances which we are subject unto when the Candle is not put out but goes out when our life is not taken away from us but ends of it self This is a Temporal Blessing and such as when it is granted to the Children of God is granted in love and answerably to be looked upon by them as a merciful dispensation which they are to be thankful for As for wicked men it is threatned as a judgment upon them Joh 27.20 That a Tempest shall steal them away and a storm shall hurl them out of their places and they shall lye down and not be gathered and such was this God thrusts them and turns them out of doors like a company of disorderly persons whom he will no longer have patience with but now as for the godly and righteous there 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair and kindly death which so far forth as they have an
Divines 3d Edition inlarged fol. A Discourse of the Two Covenants of Works and Grace by William Strong fol. Morning Exercise against Popery Practical Divinity of the Papists Destructive to Religion and mens Souls Mystery of Saving-Grace and a Discourse of Temptation by Tho. Froysell Present State of New England An Exposition on the Five first Chapters of the Revelation of St. John by Charles Phelpes The Revival of Grace by Henry Hurst SEVERAL SELECT SERMONS upon Various Texts Sermon I. Gen. 28.12 13. And behold a Ladder set upon the Earth and the top of it reached unto Heaven and behold c. There is commonly so much Weakness and Tenderness even in the best of The Servants of God is those Troubles and Perplexities that in this World happen unto them as that all the Means that may be is little enough for the Supporting and comforting them in such Conditions And accordingly is God himself for the most part careful to Supply them and to express Himself towards theâ— An Instance whereof we have here in this Scripture which we have now before us in the Example of the Patriarch Jacob in his Journey from Beersheba to Haran It was a Journey that was undertaken by him with a great deal of Difficulty and uncomfortable Reflexion And yet he received a great deal of Comfort from God in it and Incouragement to it God appeared to him by Night in a Dream while he was upon his way and strengthned and confirmed his Faith in it by a twofold Dispensation a Vision and an Oracle wherein he applyed himself to the Accommodation of both of his Senses his sight and his hearing In the Vision he came home to his Eye and confirmed his Faith by That And in the Oracle he came home to his Eare and confirmed his Faith by That likewise Our Business at this present time is with the First of these wayes of Confirmation as presented to his sight by the Vision in the words which I have now read unto you And behold a Ladder set upon the Earth c. IN the Text it self there are two General parts considerable First The Vision or Spectacle propounded Secondly The Incitement or Provocation of Attention thereunto The Vision or Spectacle it self that we have in the whole body of the Text as the main Scope and substance of it Of a Ladder with the Circumstance of it The Excitement or Provocation of Attention that we have in the word Behold interwoven throughly We begin with the First as more principal viz. The Vision or Spectacle propounded And that as it lies here before us is consisting of three Branches First of a Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven Secondly of Angels ascending and descending upon this Ladder Thirdly of God himself standing above it The First Part or Branch of this Vision is of a Ladder set upon the Earth and the top of it extending to Heaven This is considerable of us not onely in the words but in the Scope not in the letter onely but in the Mistery which is signified by it and intended in it And indeed this Especially for our Edification where Inquiry is to be made by us what this indeed is and what is to be understood by it Now this we may take according to a twofold Explication Either that which is Primary and Principal Or that which is secundary and Subordinate The Primary and Principal Notion of this Ladder here in the Text is as it refers to Christ The Secundary and Subordinate notion is as it refers to the Church of Christ and to every particular Part and Member of him First We will look upon it in the Primary and principal Notion and Consideration of it as it refers to Christ himself who iâ— chiefly intended in it and to be understood by it as even out Saviour himself gives us an hint of it in Joh. 1.51 Verily Verily I say unto you Hereafter ye shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending upon the Son of Man where he alludes to this Vision of the Text of Jacob's Ladder as is acknowledged by the Generality of Interpreters both Ancient and Modern Now Christ is very fitly resembled by this Ladder here of Jacob in a twofold Consideration especially First upon the account of his Nature and Secondly upon the account of his Offices Upon the account of his Nature First of all which are two his Godhead and his Manhood According to his Manhood so he hath in him the Foot of the Ladder which is set upon Earth According to his Godhead so he hath in him the Top of the Ladder which reacheth up unto Heaven And so the Scripture still expresses him and represents him unto us in the Union and Conjunction of these two Natures both together as of Heaven and Earth Thus John 1.14 The word was made Flesh and dwelt among us 2. Tim. 3.16 Great is the Mistery of Godliness God was Manifested in the Flesh Col. 2.9 In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead Bodily Christ he is perfect God and perfect Man both And it was very requisite and necessary that he should be so It was requisite that he should be Man and so have his footing upon Earth Partly that he might be capable of Suffering and dying for us which otherwise he could not be and partly that he might make satisfaction in the same Nature that had offended that there might be a sutableness and Conformity betwixt the Head and the Members That he who Sanctifyes and they who are Sanctifyed might be of one Nature the Head and the Members both alike And that accordingly he might have a Sympathy and Fellow-feeling of affection towards them And thenit was requisite also that he should be God That he might know our wants and Necessities and that accordingly he might Supply them and make them up that he might satisfy the wrath of God for us and indure the Punishment which was due to our Sins without sinking under it That he might both preserve us from the greatest Evil and bestow upon us the greatest god also And that 's one account of this Resemblance of Christ to Jacobs Ladder Namely from the Consideration of his Nature The Second is from the Consideration of his Office as he is the Mediator of the Church And that in all the kinds and Perfections and accomplishments of it He is thus far also capable of this Resemblance which we have here before us As he is King and Priest and Prophet First Take him in his Kingly Office and it holds good in that Consideration That he reacheth from Earth to Heaven Thus Matth. 28 18. All Power is given unto him both in Heaven and in Earth Take him as to Earth and he is her King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19 16. He is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Revel 2 5. He can give Laws to binde the Consciences of Men Yea of the greatest Monarches and Potentates in the world who stand in
Imployments in the scattering of their Temptations in the satisfying of their Objections As the Angels were instrumental to the removing of the Stone from the Sepulchre so they are many times instrumental in removal of Scruples out of the mind And as the Devils have power now and then for the injection of evil Imaginations so have the Angels also power to desperse them and to take them away But that which is cheifly to our purpose and most agreeable to he scope of the Text is the Ministry of the Angels for the Custody and preservation of God's Servants which is very full and Eminent in them These Angels do always behold the face of God in Heaven and that to this end as to be Commanded and set on work by him for the safety and security of them The Angels of the Lord incamp about them that fear him and deliver them Psal 34.7 And so I have done also with the second Branch of the Vision which is exhibited to us here in the Text consisting in the Activity of the Angels The Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Ladder The Third is the Super-Intendency of God himself in these words And the Lord stood above it and thus it carries a reference with it to both the former to the Latter and to the Motion of the Angels which passed upon it It refers to them both First It refers to the Ladder and that in the full extent of it whether of Christ or the Church or Jacob. The Lord stands above it with respect to either Explication First Take it in reference to Christ who is the Ladder in the first and principal Nation and conception of it so the Lord stands above it whereby is declared unto us thus much That though as the Son of God Christ be every way equal to the Father yet considered as Mediator he is less and inferiour to him The Father is greater then I in that place which we lately opened Joh. 14.28 Look upon the whole work of our Redemption and the Mediatorship of Christ and we shall find it to be all transacted by the Power and Authority of God himself who was principal in it if he came into the World he was sent by God God hath sent his Son into the World Joh. 3.16 And the Father hath Sanctified and sent him Joh. 10.36 If he was appointed to the work of the Mediatorship it was the Father that appointed him Him hath God the Father sealed in Joh. 6.27 When he was baptized it was the Father that approved him and gave Testimony unto him This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3.7 When he was Crucified and put to Death it was God the Father that exposed him He was delivered by the Determinate Council and foreknowledge of God in Act. 2.23 When he was brought again from the Dead it was the Father that raised him Him hath God raised up having loosed the pains of Death because it was not posible that he should be held of it Act. 2.24 Thus is the whole Contrivance of this Ladder for the framing of it and rearing of it and fastning of it it was wholly from God And this as it refers to Christ himself Again Secondly Take it in reference to the Church this Ladder in the second Notion of it and so the Lord stands above it there also What ever it be that happens to the Church it happens to it by the disposal of the Lord who does order all events and Conditions whatsoever unto it The Dispensations of Providence are different and full of Varieties in several times and ages of the World Some they fall out in one kind and some they fall out in another but the Lord he is above them all and over-rules them as himself pleaseth And still which is the comfort of all for the good of the Church The eyes of the Lord run too and fro through the whole Earth to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose hearts are perfect towards him as the Prophet tell us 2 Chro. 16 9. There is a Double advantage which does arise from an high Posture and more eminent standing The one is the Advantage of Inspection and overlooking And the other is the Advantage of Influence and overruling those that stand above others they may see what is done by them And those that stand above others they may usually either hinder or prevent them And both of these Advantages are here intimated to be in God toward the Church while it is said that he stands above it First of Inspection and over-looking He sees how it is at any time with it He that is higher then the highest Observes and there be higher than they Eccl. 5.8 I have seen I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt And then Secondly the Advantage of Influence and over-ruling Our God is in Heaven and he doth whatsoever he pleaseth in Psal 115. vers 3. And Psal 135 vers 6. Thus it refers to the Church Thirdly Take it in reference to Jacob for his particular as we must also take it as the next and occasional and more immediate sense though not the principal and it hath a truth in it so likewise that the Lord stood above it hereby to signify that special care which God had of his Servant at this particular time Poor Jacob was now at this time in a very sad and comfortless condition as to outward circumstances He was driven away for his life from a cruel Brother to a cruel Unkle he had left his Fathers house and was now to seek entertainment abroad and he had the difficulties of a tedious Journey upon him The Ground for his Bed the Stones for his Pillow the Heavens for his Cannopy He was all alone and had no body neare him to administer comfort unto him See here now it pleased the Lord in his Goodness to provide for him and to express himself towards him by sending him a guard of Angels to defend and protect him and by being himself in a special manner present with him and comforting him and strengthning him and upholding him in the way in which he went This is God's usual manner and dealing with his Servants to own them and to draw near unto them in their Greatest Extremities Jacob the harder he lay the sweeter he slept And the less incouragement that he met with from Earth the more had he from Heaven This is that which we may still observe as the Lot and happyness of God's people to have it thus with them God visits them in their greatest Solitariness and helps them in their greatst Distress Fear not Jacob I am with thee be not dismayed I am thy God I will strengthen the yea I will help thee c. Esay 41.10 It is true both of Jacob Mistically and of Jacob Personally And so to Paul Act 18.10 Be not afraid for I am with thee and no man shall set upon thee to hurt thee And
as he had it in the Promises so he had it likewise in the Performance and the accomplishment of that promise to him as we may see in 2 Tim. 4 16 17. All men forsook me but the Lord stood by me and strongthned me There was the Lord in the top of the Ladder In the Multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my Soul in Psal 94. vers 29. And so much of the First reference of this Passage as it respects the Ladder it self in the full Latitude and extent of it whether of Christ or of the Church or Jacob. The Second Reference is to the Motion of the Angels that passed upon it The Lord stood above them also as ordering and guiding and disposing and governing of them The Angels as Great as they are yet they are still but Creatures and at the Command of God himself who is the Lord and Creator of them And so the Scripture testefies of them in Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkening to the Voice of the Lord. It was a great Comfort and Advantage to Jacob that he had the Angels to waite upon him in this his present Condition to ascend and descend upon his Ladder Oh but this was the main of all that God himself stood above it for the ordering and regulating of them The greatest means of Comfort without God are altogether uncomfortable and helps which have no help in them it is he who alone give virtue and Efficacy to any Creature and that makes it advantagious in him and without which it can do us no good nor benefit us at all be it in its own Nature never so excellent This was that which was the Glory of this Vision and that put an Eminency upon it which as I may say is a Ladder it self and consisting of its several steps and gradations in it and neither of them could be wel spared Here 's the Ladder and the Angels and the Lord. If Jacob had not seen the Ladder as a pledge unto him of the happiness of his Conveyance he would have been at some loss within himself If he had seen the Ladder and had not seen the Angels ascending and descending upon it he would have been to seek still And if further had seen the Angels upon it and had not seen the Lord stand above it he would have been very miserable for all this This is that which is the excellency of Angels that they are the Angels of God and this is the good that comes by them That the Lord stands above them This is true and holds good not onely of Angels Properly but of Angels Metaphorically not onely of Angels by Nature but also of Angels by Service and imployment which are the Pastors and Ministers of the Church who have sometimes this appellation of Angels fastned upon them and are so denominated we may apply it even to them also by way of Analogy The Pulpit it is as I may so call it Jacobs Ladder that reaches from Earth to Heaven It has its footing on Earth for we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels But the top of it is in Heaven for we bring with us the glad tidings of Salvation The Angels of God they ascend and descend upon it in the exercise of their minesteriall Imployment But it is the Lord that must stand above it and give virtue and Efficacy to it or else all is in vain and to no purpose It is he that must give us Assistance and it is he that must give us Success and a blessing upon all our undertakings or else it will go but very ill with us nor with you neither If thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence as Moses said in the like case Exod. 33.25 Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye beleived even as the Lord gave to every man I have Planted and Apollos has watered but it is God that gave the Increase as the Apostles speaks 1 Cor. 3.5 And so I have done with this first General part of the Text which is the Vision it self in the three several Branches of it The erection of the Ladder The Motion of the Angels and the Superintendency of God himself The Second is the Provocation of Attention or the Proposal of this Spectacle to view in the word BEHOLD which is now breifly to be dispatch'd by us This though it be first in the Text yet it is last in our handling of it as it is also in the Nature of the thing For first of all the sight is prepared before the Spectators are call'd into the vewing of it And so here this word Behold as it lies in the Text is very Emphaticall and more then ordinary in other Scriptures where also sometimes we meet with it as we may observe in the Multis lications of it for we have it here under a Threefold Repetition the more to awaken our attention to it Behold Behold Behold Behold the Ladder and behold the Angels and behold the Lord. All are to be Beheld by us And the Viewing and beholding of them all will serve as the Application of all that heitherto has been delivered about them There are divers sorts of Looking and beholding which are here required of us in order to this Spectacle before us First So behold it with an Eye of Wonderment and Admiration as a very Great and Glorious Mistery especially so far forth as it concerns Christ himself Here 's that which calls for special heed and attention from us we heard before how the very Angels themselves looked upon it with Astonishment and how much more then should then Sons of Men who are themselves so deeply Interested and concern'd in it There 's nothing which belongs to Christ but it is worth the beholding and has commonly the Provocation of it affix'd unto it Behold a Prophet Behold a Virgin Behold the Lamb of God still behold when there 's Speech of Christ and so here Forasmuch as he is pleased thus to offer and Exhibit himself to our view we should not take off our Eyes from him but fasten them upon him Look upon him in both his Natures and look upon him in all his Offices as they are laid before us It is that which is here required and expected from us This Vision it was not onely for Jacob but also for us and it does very much belong unto us This Ladder is still standing even to this present day and is not removed or taken down but we may look upon it Not in a Dream but waking nor in the Shaddow onely but in the Substance We all now may with open face Behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord c. as it is 2 Cor. 3.18 Secondly With an eye of Faith we are to behold it so also as improving it to our own great Comfort and Consolation in the greatest Troubles and perplexities that may befall us
does also require of us When any thing is to be done by us or for us that we be sure to call upon God himself for the Prospering of it to us Prov. 3.5.6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy Pathes when we neglect to seek to God in Prayers we are so far-forth said to forget him and to be unmindful of him but when we pray to him then we remember him and it concerns us so to do A good Christan should go about nothing Especially of any Consequence or Concernment but he should be sure still to remember to seek to God for his Assistance in it and Blessing upon it Lastly And more especially as the sense and meaning of this place in point of Thankfulness and acknowledgement we are then said to remember God when we owne him in all the Mercies which we injoy from him when we do not onely as the brute Beasts take such things as are convenient for us but together with them look up to the Hand which bestows them upon us This is truely and indeed to remember him to be thank ful to him and of we ought to do Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God thus and thus Especially This is the proper Scope and drift of this present Scripture before us as we may see by the very Context and Coherence of it In vers 10.11 c. of this Chapter When thou hast Eaten and art full thou shalt Bless the Lord thy God for the good Land which he hath given thee Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments and his Judgments c. Because indeed it is that which we are Naturally and Commonly too Prone and subject unto When we have received Mercies from God not to Consider from whom we have received them and so as it becomes us to return thanks for them therefore does the Lord himself remember us and put us in minde of it that we should be careful to do it as some kind of remembrance of himself Now this point thus Explain'd unto us calls for our Answerable Observation and performance of it we should be careful all of us to remember the Lord our God where me thinks in the very words themselves there are two Arguments couch'd and imply'd for the inferring of it upon us The one is from the word of Sovereignty that he is the Lord God And the other is from the word of Propriety that he is our God Each of these they do in a special manner call for our remembrance of him First From his Soveraignty that he is the Lord we should remember him for that and accordingly yeild all respect and Acknowledgement to him Great and Eminent Persons they are such usually as are remembred by us who ever are else now therefore the Lord for his Greatness though there were nothing else in it it does require it and call for it at our hands Secondly From the word of Propriety and that Interest which he has in us and we in Him Thy God This latter joyn'd with the former makes it Compleat in Deut. 28.58 We find this Expression there used That thou mayest fear this Glorious and fearful name THE LORD THY GOD. What he says there of Fearing him we may say of remembring him that also upon the same Ground and for the same Reason and in particular for our Relation to him Relations they are such as of all others should be remembred by us and if we have any good Nature in us they commonly are so and how much then does it become us to remember the Lord our God that ownes us and takes us for his and whom we our selves have own'd surely it concerns us to remember Him of any other besides And that also in all Conditions whatsoever we may light into and the better so much the more As it is intimated here in this Scripture When thou art full and art Prosperous c. Then remember the Lord thy God Prosperity it often makes men forgetful both of themselves and others yea which is so much the more Abominable often times even of God himself But it is that which it should not do We should remember the Lord our God in Prosperity and in the full Injoyment of all things Yea then Especially as the Author and Bestower of all these things which we injoy upon us To set home this point so much the more Effectually upon us and to perswade us to the practise of this Duty let us Consider this with our selves First The Great need which we have of God's remembring of us and of thinking upon us There 's a time a coming when we shall all be desirous of it and seeking for it Remember me O my God for good and think upon me which was the prayer of Nehemiah It will be likewise in time all our prayers and there will be cause for it Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdome And when I my self desire to come into it likewise There are certain Times and Seasons which are incident and Happening to us wherein God's remembrance of us will be of great Concernment and consequence to us And that a great deale more then all the world besides Now as we desire that he should remember us then let us remember him now And take the first occasion and opportunity for the doing of it which in his Providence is afforded unto us Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth as the Preacher advises Before the evil days come c. Eccle. 12. There are many who think sometimes of remembring of God but it is then when as their memory is lost to every thing else when their senses and memories fail them and are departed from them then they think they will remember God and have some thoughts of him But alas it is many times too late to do it then If ever we will remember him to purpose we must remember him before And that so much the rather as we shall desire then that he would remember us Secondly Let us Consider the great Evil of Forgetfulness of him It is that which we find in Scripture to be very much threatned and punished by God This was the great Sin of the Israelites and which was so much laid to their Charge which God Plagued them and punished them so much for That they forgat the works of the Lord and remembered not the things which he had done for them As we may see at large in the 78. Psal And so also the Prophet Esay says in Esay 17.10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy Salvation and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy strength therefore thou shalt plant pleasant Plants and shalt set it with strange slips There is nothing which God does take worse from his People then to be forgotten and neglected by them And therefore accordingly does so bemoane it
purpose Such as those they should account themselves not Owners merely but Stewards whom God hath betrusted with such Opportunities as whereby others might be the better for them This is that which they should be so much more effectually perswaded unto from the Examples which are set before them The Commemoration of our several Benefactors is not onely an acknowledgment of the good things which have been done by them but also a Provocation to our selves likewise to do the same or the like as God inables us from the Consideration of their Example going before us As those who are accountable to God not for Rules onely but also for Examples And to Incourage us so much the more herein let us Consider that there is nothing lost by it What ever is done in this kind it is not cast away but Sown and accordingly it shall have a Plentiful Crop and Harvest returned for it God will be in no man's Debt whosoeve he be but whosoever layes out any thing in Obedience to his Commandement he shall receive a full Recompence of it in the accomplishment also of his promise Lastly Ther 's another Remembrance which we may yet further make of God to this Purpose It is God that gives thee power to get Wealth and it is God that gives thee power to loose it and to want it and to be content to be without it The power of Patience and the power of Contentment is of God And indeed it is as Great a Power which is as requisite to the one as to the other to this as to that To be able to say with Holy Job The Lord giveth and the Lord takeeth Blessed be the name of the Lord to be so far sensible of the Reality of all these things here below as of the Reality of better things above to be willing to descend and to come down from a Great Estate without murmuring without Repining without Impatience and Discontent This is also the Gift of God St. Paul had learn'd to want as well as to abound Ther 's an art and Mistery in that also Which is much both to be desired and imbraced And accordingly as any do by Faith waite upon Him for it shall they have this Benefit and Experience of it And so I have done also with the Second General part of the Text as with the whole Text it self Thou shalt Remember the Lord c. SERMON III. Deuter. 11.12 A Land which the Lord thy God careth for The Eyes of the Lord thy God are upon it from the beginning of the Year even to the End of the Year It is a part of the Geat love and kindness of God towards his People not onely to be careful to provide good things forthem but also to give them some assurance of the Goodness of those things which he provides before he bestows them That so they may have them as it were in Hope before in Injoyment and in Expectation before in Fruition Partly thereby to Incourage them in the Customes of their present Obedience And partly thereby also to Satisfy them in the meanness of their present Condition And this is that which we may observe to have to do here in this present Scripture with the People of Israel in reserence to the Land of Canaan which he had provided for them and promised to bring them unto He raises their Hearts and Spirits and Affections and desires after it by giving them beforehand a Comfortable Description of it And this Text which I have now read unto you is a part of this Description Being an Account which is given by Moses of this Land of Promise not onely as the Proper Inheritance of the Children of Isarel but also as a Tipe and Figure of the whole Church of God in all Ages and Generations of the World c. THis Text which we have now before us is an Account which is given by Moses of the Land of Canaan that Land which was a long time promised and at last bestowed upon the Children of Israel not onely as their proper Inheritance but also as a Tipe and Figure of the whole Church of God in all Ages and Generations of the World So that what was true of that Considered in the Literal sense is true of this also in the Mystical and Spiritual Which is that which we shall now principally take notice of at this present time Forasmuch as the bare Letters of it contains in it either very little or no matter at all or at the best that which is but short and Impertinent It is here represented to us under the Notion of a Double Advantage which may serve to make up to us the parts of the Text. First From the Interst which it hath in God's Affection The Land which the Lord thy God careth for Secondly From the Interest which it hath in God's Inspection The Eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it from c. This is Considerable in the Church of God and such a Land wherein the Church does at any time Continue and Reside We begin with the first of these Parts Namely the Interest which such a Land as this is hath in Gods Affections The Land which the Lord thy God careth for This is true not onely of the Land of Canaan which then was and Considered in the proper sense of it but also of any other Land together with it which is the Place and Residence of the Church and Ordinances and People of God This is Reductively and Interpretatively and Proportionably the Land which the Lord thy God careth for When it is said here that he careth for it this word Care it may admit of a threefold Explication First as a word of Respect He cares for it that is he regards it Secondly as a word of Providence He cares for it that is he looks after it and takes care for it Thirdly as a word of Solicitude He cares for it i. e. is Anxious about it First As a word of Respect The Church of God and such a Land where the Church resides God cares for it that is he regards it and has an Esteem for it It 's Precious and of great Account with him Therefore he is pleased sometimes in Scripture to put such names and Titles as these upon it which do import as much in it of his Portion and Inheritance and Jewels and peculiar Treasure c. Which are such things as in the Course of the World People do commonly care for and set an high value upon them This does God in reference to his Church The Lord Regards and Esteems his Church above all other Lands and Nations in the whole World besides Thus in Psal 132.13.14 The Lord hath chosen Zion he hath defended it for his Habitation This says he This is my Rest for ever Here will I dwell for I have desired it And so again Psal 87.2.3 The Lord loveth the Gates of Zion more then all the Dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are
spoken of thee O thou City of God It is spoken of the Church The Land of Vprightness Secondly It is a word of Forecast or Providence He Cares for it that is he Looks after it and inquires into the State of it so indeed the word here used in the Text does properly signify The Hebrew word is Darash which signifies properly to seek or inquire But it is here Translated Care by a Metonymy of the Cause for the Effect as it is also Psal 142.4 Because those things which men do care for they are Commonly inquisitive about them and desirous to learn and to understand how it faires with them thus it is now with God towards his Church he cares for it so as he he is mindful of the State and condition of it and accordingly does order and dispose of things sutable and agreeable thereunto He Cast's about what may be best and most Convenient for it and answerably does bring it about Thirdly It is a word of Sollicitude and Perplexity He cares for it that is he is Anxious about it This is not properly incident to the Lord who is not capable of such Passions as those are from his Transcendency but yet he is pleased now and then to take them upon himself and accordingly they are attributed to him as spoken after the manner of men Thus he grieves and fears and cares for his People His Bowelsyearn his Heart is turned within him his Repentings are Kindled together as it is in Hose 11. vers 8. Ther 's no man can express more Assection in any thing whereof he is Sollicitous as to the welfare of it then God does express towards his Church as there is Occasion for it It is the Land which the Lord cares for in the full Extent and Latitude of Care Whether of Respect or of Forecast or of Sollicitue Now as ther 's a threefold Expression of the care of God for his Church so there is a threefold Account also which may be given to us of this Care as from whence it does proceed in him And we may take it briefly thus First From his Relation Secondly From his Covenant Thirdly From his Interest First From his Relation The Church it is the Land which the Lord God careth for because it is the Land which he does properly take for his own All Lands are God's upon the account of common Creation the whole Earth and the fulness of it Yea but the Church is his Land by special purchase and Redemption and so he takes care of it more particularly in that Respect It is the Property of Good husbands to care for their own Land what ever Land they care for besides And ther 's no such Good husbands as God in all particulars What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it Esa 5.4 It is his Vineyard and therefore he will take care of it to do all that may influence it He that cares not for his Own says the Apostle he is worse then an Insidel Now God will never be charged with this miscarriage He cares for his Church from his Relation Secondly From his Covenant It is the Land that he cares for upon this Consideration also Because he has bound and ingaged himself hereto Those that promise to take care of any whether Person or things they are concern'd to do so for their Ingagement though there be nothing else besides in it And so is God to do for his Church whether he has made a Covenant with all to this Purpose It was so with God Especially as to this People of Israel and in particular as to this Land of Canaan so it is also to the whole Church in General and to that Land which hath his Church in it He takes Care of it from his Covenant with it Thirdly From his Interest and more peculiar Concernment The Lord takes care of his Church as that which he receives the greatest Benefit and Advantage from any other besides not in a strict Sense but in a qualified and as he is pleased to account it God cannot be profited by Man nor by any thing which comes from him in a precise acception But yet so far forth as any places doe more advance his Worship and Name and Honour so far forthe he reckons himself to be advantaged by them And as they are careful of him so is he careful of them also by way of requital and compensation We see how it is amongst men they do not so much care for the Barren Wilderness and for that Land which is Fruitless and unprofitable but for that rather which makes good Returns unto them And so likewise does God himself The Land that the Lord God cares for is like the Land of Canaan it self which flowed with Milk and Hony This likewise the Church of God does as we may so express it therefore he careth for it The use of this Point to our selves comes to this purpose First as it serves to inform us and to satisfy us in the Truth of this point which we have now before us that we believe it and be perswaded of it It is that which we are ready sometimes to doubt of and to call in question whether God cares for his Church or no. Especially according to the Circumstances wherein it may be as Gideon sometimes reason'd with the Angel Judg. 6.13 If the Lord be with us why then is all this befaln us And so if the Lord take care of us why is it thus and thus with us This is that which we are now and then ready to reason and argue with our selves The Troubles of the Church cause the Church sometimes to question Gods care of it yea sometimes to Conclude against it and to determine the Contrary as Sion sometimes did The Lord hath forsaken me and my God hath forgotten me Esay 49.14 Well but for all that this Truth holds good notwithstanding concerning the Church That it is the Land which the Lord cares for This Proposition which we are now upon it hath both an Inclusive Emphasis and an Exclusive It has an Inclusive Emphasis in it as it does signify that God does indeed take care of his Church and Land An Exclusive Emphasis as it does signify that he does take care of it both in the Denyal of others care for it and in his own Denyal of Care for others First I say It has an Inclusive Emphasis as it does signify how God does indeed take care of it He careth for it God has a common and ordinary care which he does exercise about all his Creatures as he is the maker and Governour of them to keep them and preserve them in that Being which he hath bestowed upon them but this is not all which he expresses towards his Church He has another manner of Care for that then this comes to And he does manifest another kind of Love and Affection and tenderness towards it in his caring for it In being a
Son and Sheild unto it Bestowing Grace and Glory upon it and witholding no good thing from it as the Psalmist signifies to us in Psal 84.12 And so the Apostle Peter expresses it According as his Divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 Gods Care for his Church is seen in providing all things necessary and convenient for it and in Sanctifying all Passages and Events whatsoever unto it And this is the Inclusive Emphasis Now for the Exclusive That 's considerable also and that according to a twofold Explication First In caring for it when none else cares for it besides Secondly in caring for it when he cares for none else besides as to any special or tender Care of them First I say God cares for his Church and Land Exclusively when as none else almost cares for it This is that which sometimes happens and falls out in the World That the Church of God it has but very few friends that care for it or regard it It is the Land that many Persons care not for Those that are Concern'd to care for it from their Places from their Callings from their Ingagements from their Opportunities yet many times are at a point in this matter they care not what becomes of it whether it sink or swim so they may but injoy their Lusts and their Pleasures and their Vanities and their Worldly Accommodations it s all one to them what may happen or fall out in this particular Scilicet is superis labor est ea Cura peculi Whose will may take care of the Church for all them like Gallio they care for none of these things Yea but is there no care taken of it in such Circumstances as these yes There is one that mindes and regards it for all that The Church is the Land which the Lord thy God careth for And that 's sure to be very well cared for which is cared for by him The Church and every part and member of it as David speaks in the name of the rest Psal 142.3.4.5 When my Spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge sailed me No man cared for my soul I cried unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my Portion in the Land of the living Thus God cares for his Church Exclusively even when others do not care for it Secondly He cares for his Church Exclusively when he does not so much care for others This is also here intended in the Text The Land which the Lord thy God cares for Signanter with a special mark of Distinction upon it as the special Priviledge of it There is a common Care as I said which God has for other Places and People yea but this is that which he cares for more Especially and upon the point for none else It is the unhappinest of wicked Places and Nations that God cares not at all for them They are such as he does not minde what befals them but his Church is Deare unto him and accordingly he Expresses himself about it That he sets it as a Seal upon his Heart as a Signet upon his Arm. That he graves it upon the palmes of his hands and the walls of it are continually before him That he keeps it as the apple of his Eye and hides it under the shadow of his Wings All expressions of his great love and Providence of it He hath not delt so with every Nation It is the Land that he cares for Exclusively What does this in the next place come to but to teach us therefore to labour that our selves may come within this compass of being the Land which the Lord our God cares for we of this Land and Nation for our own particular It is that which the time has been tht we have had as great a share in it as any Land whatsoever besides under Heaven Even to the Observation and Admiration and Emulation of all other Lands besides in the World Ther 's no Land under Heaven which might be so properly said to be the Land which the Lord our God hath car'd for then we have been in regard of the Variety of Blessings in all sorts which God hath been pleased to heap upon us Blessings of Heaven from above and Blessings of the Earth from beneath Peace and Health and Plenty and Wealth and Honour and Prosperity in all respects as to Worldly and Temporal matters to say nothing of Spiritual and Divine and Heavenly which are chief of all Now how far does it concern us to indeavour that it may still fall out to be thus with us And that the Lord may not any way remit of his Ancient care of us and for us The onely way hereto is to be sure to Care for him for if we do not he will not care for us If we do not care for his Honour he will not care for our welfare and if it be an indifferent thing with us what becomes of his Worship and Services and Glory and Power and Ordinances it will be as indifferent a thing with him what becomes of our Peace and Happiness and Wealth and Plenty and Prosperity And he that has before Cared for us he will not now care for us at all nay he will now care for us so much the less as he has formerly and hitherto car'd for us and we have been no more sensible of it or thankful for it as we have Neglected his Care and abused his love and turn'd his Grace into Wantonness We hear what the Prophet Azariah said to Asa and the men of Judah 2 Chro. 15.2 And it is applyable to our selves The Lord is with you while ye are with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you Therefore let us look to it and Consider how it is with us in this particular And further know for this purpose that it will be a great deale worse for us for God to take off his care then to have denyed it Forasmuch as all Declensions have commonly their Aggravations with them And when God remit of his Care he does commonly bring in his anger and wrath in the place of it so that instead of caring for a land he does commonly contrive against it Instead of watching over it for Good he watches over it for Evil. He frames Evil against them and devises a Device against them as he threatens the People in Jer. 18 11. And as he has formerly brought all good things upon them so he will hereafter bring all Evil things upon them till he hath destroyed them from their good Land as Joshua tells the Israelites Josh 23.15 This is that which we should Especially look after to ingage God's constant care for us by walking faithfully and carefully
before him Take care that it may not be an indifferent thing with God what becomes of us for if it be so we shall prove to be but in a very sad and lamentable Condition Woe unto them sayes the Lord when I depart from them Hos 9.12 And so likewise when he care not for them For when ever it proves to be so they are from hence exposed to all kind of Evils and mischeifs which they are any way capable of whether from Satan the great Enemy of all who from hence will have advantage against them or from any other Enemies and Adversaries whatsoever besides God's Care for a Land is that which is the greatest Safegard and Security to it and on the other side the with-holding of this Care is the greatst Misery and Unhappiness of it as that which is indeed the Ground and occasion of all other Miseries and Calmityes besides Therefore I beseech ye let us take heed of forfeiting Gods care for us by any uncomely Carriage or behaviour towards him and study rather to be such as he may take special pleasure and Delight in and may be acceptable and well pleasing in his sight That he may continue still to be amongst us and to bless us and to follow us with his Blessings from one Age and Generation to another That we may be a People all Righteous and which shall inherit the Land for ever The Branch of his Planting the work of his hands that we may be Glorified as it is in Esay 60.21 And so now I have done with the first General part of the Text which is the Interest this Land here had in God's Affection exprest to us in these words The Land which the Lord thy God Careth for The Second is the Interest which it hath in God's Inspection in these words The Eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it from the beginning of c. Wherein again we have two Branches more First The Priviledge it self and that is of being under the Eyes of God the Eyes of the Lord thy God are upon it Secondly The Continuation of this Priviledge and that is exprest in two words more First In the word of Perpetuity and that is always Secondly In the words of Extent From the Beginning of the year to the End of the year First Wee 'l take notice of the Former viz. The Priviledge it self here mentioned And that is of being under God's Eye The Eyes of the Lord thy God are upon it We use to say Vbi amor ibi Oculus That where the Heart is the Eye is also And so it happens to be here in this present place where it having been said of this Land that it was the Land which the Lord Cared for it follows presently hereupon that his Eyes were upon it as an Effect and Demonstraion of that Care God hath no Eyes properly no more then he hath Care but this is spoken after the manner of Men and accordingly is now at this time to be understood by us as denoting Especially that Providence which he hath over his Church Thus Psal 33.18 Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and upon them that hope in his Mercy And in Psal 34.15 It is said That the Eyes of the Lord are upon the Righteous And the same is likewise quoted and repeated by the Apostle Peter in 2 Pet. 3.12 Thus it may for orders sake be reduced to sundry Particulars by way of Explication First An Eye of Observation that 's one which God hath upon his Church he does mark and mind and take notice of the State and Condition in which it is His Eyes are upon it to observe it Ther 's nothing which can befal the Church but God is Sensible and Apprehensive of it and sees what it is in Psal 16.14 Thou hast seen for thou beholdest Mischief and spite to requite it with thine hand And Exod. 3.7 I have surely seen the Afflictions of my People which are in Egypt and I know their Sorrows It is a great satisfaction in Affiction to be regarded and taken notice of in it Now this is that which the Church does pertake off in all the Evils that happen unto it yea thugh sometimes they may be carried with the greatest subtilty and secrecy that may be yet his Eyes are upon it for all that for he has piercing and searching Eyes and therefore sometimes compared to a flame of fire for the Clearness which is in them His Eyes behold and his Eye-lids try the Children of men as itis in Psal 114. Though men may think sometimes they do not and say as those Atheists sometimes did The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it How doth God know Can he judge through the dark Clouds c ye he sees for all that and will shew and declare that he does see He has an Eye upon his Church that is first of all an Eye of Observation Secondly An Eye of Compassion He has an Eye upon it to pity it and to Comfort it in the State in which it is Ther 's no Evil which befals the Church but God looks upon it as in a manner his owne and is accordingly affected with it when no other Eye besides pitties it as himself expresses it himself does it We know with what Compassion our Blessed Saviour looked upon Jerusalem when he came near it and wept over it his Eyes they were weeping Eyes which he did cast towards it and so they are proportionably the same towards his Church still where ever it is while he layes to heart the Afflictions which are upon them Thirdly An Eye of Direction a Teaching Eye God has such an Eye as this which he does sometimes vouchsafe his Church Ther 's a great matter in the Eye to such a purpose as this is and it is here considerable of us as we have it in Psal 32.8 I will Instruct thee and teach thee in the way in which thou shalt go I will guide thee by mine Eye Christ looked upon Peter and Admonished him His very Eyes was a Document to Him Gods Providences they are Teaching Providences to those who observe them and that know how to make use of them in every particular whether prosperous or otherwise Fourthly An Eye of Protection and Preservation and Authority His Eyes are upon his Land so as to maintain it and to bestow himself for it Thus we have it expresly 2. Chro. 16.9 The Eyes of the Lord run too and fro through the whole Earth or through the whole Land to shem himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him God does not look onely to look but to Act answerably to his looks and his Hands they follow his Eyes in this particular And that in all kind of Actions wherein they may seem to stand in need of them For the preventing of Evil that it may not touch them for the restraining of Evil that it may
not in the things themselves driven further from salvation it self and the tendencies to it Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked Deut. 32.15 what are these now blessings No they are curses rather they are blessings turn'd into curses Mal. 2.2 And they make the condition of those which are in this case to be very sad and fearful The goodness of God should lead us to repentance and his mercy should provoke us to obedience and his love should constrain us to Duty and the better he is to us in his providence over us the better should we be to him in our observance of Him when we make another improvement of them so as to turn his grace into wantonness and to be so much the more confident in evil we go contrary to his gracious purpose and end in the blessing of them and doe not injoy them in love Lastly God blesses indeed when he blesses us with spiritual and eternal blessings in Grace and Glory The former Explications which I have given of this present phrase in the Text have refer'd to Temporal Blessings in regard of the manner of bestowing them These here now before us and which I speak of at this present time are of an higher strain and condition for the Nature and kinde of them This is true whether we take it in reference to whole Nations or else to particular Persons For whole Nations see Psal 144. ver ult where the Psalmist had reckon'd up many other blessings besides That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth that our Daughters may be as corner stones c. That our Garners may be full affording all manner of store c. and plenty upon all with this conclusion Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord makes the last to referre to all the rest And so as for Nations so for Persons these are the Great Blessings of all as may appear by that acknowledgment of the Apostle in Eph. 1.3 Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly places in Christ We are ready to think with our selves that God never blesses us indeed but then when he bestows upon us a great measure of these outward Comforts The Corn and the Wine and the Oyl and such things as these yea but what Grace has he wrought in our Hearts what assurance of his love and favour towards us what hopes and beginnings of Heaven has he bestowed upon us These are Blessings indeed and such as are cheifly to be looked after by us and to be put into the prime of our desires and wishes which we make for our selves And thus we have seen the Explications of this phrase and Expression in this Text. Oh that thou wouldest bless me c. Now the Improvement of all this to our selves in a way of Application is accordingly with Jabez to indeavour our selves hereunto we should desire not onely that God would bless us but likewise that he would bless us indeed that blessing he would be sure to bless us and not onely give us blessings in shew but also in Reality For which purpose to use all good means and to be sure to be in such a posture and Condition as do tend hereunto The Scripture does sometimes hint unto us some Qualifications as Advantagious herein and promoting of us As to instance in one or two Obedience and the practise of Self-denyal This we may observe more Especially in Abraham who because he was willing to offer up his Son Isaac upon Gods Command God took it so well at his hands that he blest him and had never done blessing him as he expresses it of him in Genes 22.16.17 By my self have I Sworn saith the Lord that in blessing I will bless thee and Multiplying I will Multiply thee c. Because Abraham obeyed God God would bless Abraham Secondly Sincerity and Uprightness when we serve God indeed hee 'l bless us indeed when we give him the truth of our Performance he will give us the truth of his Blessings And there is no better way for us to procure and obtain the end then by practising and pursuing of the other This is that we should be careful of in the Duties and Exercise of Religion which we undertake 1 Joh. 3.18 My little Children let us not love in word neither in Tongue but in Deed and in Truth And so Thirdly Zeal and Fervency and Intention in that which we go about It is said of Elias that he prayed Earnestly He pray'd in Praying and as he pray'd in Praying so God blest in Blessing As he pray'd indeed so God blest him indeed This is the ready way to it and the course which is to be observed by us in all the Ordinances of Religion in particular in this now in hand The Sacrament of the Lords Supper Christ deals really with us in it his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed and accordingly should we be careful indeed to pertake of them that so we may be blest indeed in our application to them let us not content our selves with the mere shadow and shell and outside of Religion and Performances but take all the care we can for the Substance and Marrow of them and to receive that Benefit by them which is intended in them we should go from this Spiritual performance with more Spiritual strength then before with more Heart and Life and Comfort and Heavenly ingagement These are the Ends and proper Grounds of our Coming if we come as we should do not out of mere Custom and Fashion but out of Love and as sensible of the Benefits we should labour to perform these Holy Duties and all such as these are with more Eagerness and Intention of Spirit Pray in Praying and Hear in Hearing and Receive in Receiving that so God may Answer in Answering and Give in Giving and Bless in Blessing which is the sum and height of all One thing more before Heave this passage in the Consideration of it as a Prayer And that is the vehemency and intention which Jabez here Expresses in it It is not simply bless me but Oh that thou wouldest bless me for the greater Expression of his Affection and Earnestness in the thing desired And here observe two things more which are pertinent hereunto First The Person for whom Jabez was thus Earnest and importunate and that was for Himself That thou wouldest Bless me Secondly The matter in which Jabez was thus Earnest and importunate And that was the Blessing of him in his outward man as may appear by the particulars that follow which we shall come to in this place from which of these there is somewhat which we may observe to our selves First We see here how exceedingly Earnest and Sollicitous we are ready to be in our own particular Case and Condition when Jabez was here to pray for himself Oh
young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them and beareth them so the Lord alone did lead him c. There is a wonderful great tenderness which God expresses to his people so that when men are most cruel against them He himself is most merciful to them and expresses the greatest kindness towards them That 's for the first Expression here used in reference to their deliverance He hath taken you The second is Hath brought you and this as well as the other hath a double force in it First an Emphasis of Power brought you forth with a strong hand Secondly An Emphasis of Solemnity Brought you forth with a stretched out Arm. First There is power in it Bring you forth That is forced you forth whether your enemies would or no. Thus did God to Israel He made Pharaoh and the Egyptians to give them up whether they would or not yea as the Apostle tells us He would tells us he therefore for this purpose raised them up that he might shew his power in them Rom. 9.17 There 's no standing against the Lord when he has a mind to deliver His people He will bring them forth maugre all opposition in despite of all the powers either of Earth or Hell it self Secondly There 's also solemnity in it He brought them forth i. e. in triumph As with a strong-hand so with a stretched-out arm as the Scripture also expresses it Deut. 5.15 Stand still saith Moses and ye shall see the salvation of the Lord Exod. 14.13 Yea and not onely you shall see it but likewise others Psal 98.23 The Lord hath made known His salvation his righteousness hath He openly shewed in the sight of the Heathen He hath remembred His mercy and truth c. And all the ends of the Earth have seen the salvation of our God Now from both these expressions together Hath taken you and hath brought you forth we see the thing it self sufficiently declared unto us that God did at last deliver His people out of this Captivity under which they were He removed his shoulder from the burden and his hands were delivered from the pots as it is in Psal 81.6 8 13. Though ye have lien among the pots c. And so he does likewise with many more with them Though God suffers His servants sometimes to fall into the hand of their enemies yet he does at length free them from them This he doth upon divers considerations First out of His own bowels and compassion He will not alwayes chide neither keepeth He his anger for ever Psal 103.9 And Isa 57.16 He will not contend for ever neither will he be alwayes wroth for the spirit should fail before Him and the souls which he had made Secondly Out of respect to his People least they should be discouraged and provoked to evil Psal 125.3 The rod of the ungodly shall not lye upon the lot of the Righteous least the righteous put forth their hand unto iniquity The Lord will not too much draw out the corruptions and infirmities of His servants And then Thirdly Out of Regard to the enemies least they should insult Deut. 32 26 27. I said I would scatter them into Corners c. were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy least their adversaries should behave themselves strangely c. Let this therefore be the use which we make of it to our selves First to Expect it whereas yet it is not Secondly To acknowledge it and to improve it there where it is First I say to expect it where it is not It is that which God will do it is that which he has already done to our hands in this example before us we are ready when we fall into any trouble to think that we shall never come out of it and that there is no redemption from it well but see here the contrary in this instance of the Israelites brought out of Egypt and delivered from the Iron-furnace which though it threatned them with perpetual bondage yet we see at last had an end and consummation of it God took them and brought them forth Secondly As where it is not yet we should yet expect it so where it is we should improve it and that to several purposes First to thankfulness in acknowledging it The Spirit of God by Moses does often put them in mind of this Deliverance to draw thankfulness from them And if God's mercies have not this efficacy upon us we are then indeed very unworthy of them Secondly To Obedience which is the best expression of thankfulness Thus this Deliverance likewise is urged there in Jer. 11.4 For obeying the words of the Covenant which God commanded their fathers when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt from the Iron-furnace Thirdly To Dependence upon God and prevailing with him against another time That He which hath done so much for them already would be still pleased to do more As we find Solomon using that Argument in 1 King 8.52 For they be thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt c. And so much may suffice to have spoken of the first General part of the Text viz. The Deliverance it self The second is the End or Consequent of this Deliverance and that we have in these words To be unto him a People of Inheritance as ye are this day In which passage we have again two particulars First The Design it self And Secondly The Amplification of it The Design it self To be unto him a people of inheritance The Amplification of it As ye are this day I begin with the first viz. The Design it self To be unto Him a people of Inheritance This is that which God aymed at concerning Israel Now this may again admit of a double Interpretation Either so as for Him to be their Inheritance or else so as for them to be His. The Scripture makes mention of either in sundry places First For Him to be theirs This is the Priviledge of God's People That the Lord himself is their portion and Inheritance and so expresses Himself to be to them Thus Psal 16.5 David speaking of himself The Lord is the portion of mine Inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest the Lot And so of Levi it is said That the Lord is his Inheritance Deut. 10.9 And the Church Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my Portion c. This is a great comfort to the Godly and to those which are most destitute amongst them to live upon the power of this truth what though they have none of the great Inheritance of the world yet as long as they have a portion in God they have that which may abundantly satisfie them and keep them from dejection forasmuch as from henceforth no good thing shall be wanting unto them He that overcometh shall inherit all things How so It follows in the next words And I will be his God c. Rev. 21.7 He that hath God for his God shall inherit all things he shall have a sufficient
His providence He brought them into it yet He thought it not fitting to leave them in it but at last takes and brings them forth Secondly He does not onely bring them out of an evil estate but He brings them into a good And Thirdly Not onely into a good as concern'd their bodies but as concern'd their souls yea bestowed the greatest good possibly upon them which was Himself to be an Inheritance to them and they to Him Again further we have here also Secondly His thoughts afore-hand for them And His gracious ends in His dealings with them which is still to draw them nearer to Himself That 's the end of Deliverance on God's part whether General or particular whether National or Personal whether to an whole Land and State in common or to any private person in particular still to make them so much the better that He may engage them so much the more unto Him and to have hereafter the better service from them Now as it is the end on God's part so it should answerably be the effect on ours which we should labour to find in our selves That every mercy and Deliverance whatsoever it do so much the more tye us and engage us to God in a constancy of obedience to His Commands and in the doing of those things which are well-pleasing in his sight So much for that As also for the Text it self Now it remains for a close of all that I should bring the Text and the Occasion in a Parallel one to the other and shew you how they sute and agree both together which is not difficult for me to do from that near correspondency which is in them First For the Terms of Deliverance There 's a manifest Correspondence in this In particular from the Iron-Furnace In General from Egypt as it is here exprest unto us They both of them represent the Danger from whence we were delivered First From the Iron-Furnace for so I may fitly call and that almost in the very letter it self the preparations which were made for the execution of this wicked undertaking in the blowing up of the Parliament-house by the Conspirators of this Day The six and thirty barrels of Gun-powder and the several Crowes of Iron together with Pitch and other matter for that purpose do sufficiently declare it to be an Iron-Furnace indeed which God preserv'd us and deliver'd us from as He did the three children in Daniel after a strange and miraculous manner And how many other Furnaces of Iron which would have followed to be heated upon it as it was before in the Marian Persecutions wherein c. it is not hard for us to conjecture wherein not Bricks but Christians were burnt in great multitudes of them Then as for Egypt in General as it is here exprest in the Text so in the occasion it was a Deliverance from that also For what is Rome but spiritual Egypt in Revel 11.8 where those which are under the Government and Tyranny of it are kept in darkness worse then Egyptian and made to serve under the Popish Pharaoh with hard bondage and rigor as the children of Israel in Egypt Exod. 7.14 In Popery there 's a Captivity not onely of men's bodies but of their souls and that to Idolatry and all manner of superstition as bad as the Egyptian calves which is the worst and sorest bondage of all This was the danger which we were now in from this Hellish Conspiracy It was not onely a Design upon our persons but as well and chiefly upon our Religion and the bringing of a contrary one amongst us and so the Deliverance was so much the greater upon that consideration And to be recorded by us we should count those the greatest dangers to our souls And those to be the greatest Deliverance which are preservations from those dangers such was this present Secondly For the Authour of it It was God himself The Lord took us c. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side may England say c. It is true there were means and instruments which were imployd about it but it was God that was the main discoverer and actor for us Thirdly For the Manner of effecting it Consider the corresponding there also He took us and brought us out With a great deal of Affection and Approbation With a great deal of Power and Exultation He took us not out properly buâ— from By preventing us from being taken by our Enemies Took us as he took Lot out of Sodom who preserved them from that sad destruction so did the Lord with us in this Nation Whom He hath laid a special claim unto and challenged an interest in He did it Eminently Gloriously Conspicuously To the terrour and amazement of the Enemy and the Admiration and Astonishment of all Beholders Then they said amongst the Heathen The Lord hath done great things for them And we may Echo again to them The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoice Now what was the issue and consequence of all this to our selves First That from hence we were a People There 's somewhat and a great matter in that which if This Conspiracy had taken place we should not have been in all likelihood and probability not so much as a People or a miserable People if any at all For what is it that which makes a People It is not so many heads of men and of persons jumbled together but under Rule and Government and an orderly subordination of one to another Now if the Parliament had been blown up with Gunpowder as it was now intended to have been what had become of all this How would every thing have run into ruine and confusion it self as the proper effect of it The very life and being of a People are the Lawes and Ordinances of it whether Civil or Sacred The Civil to make it a Nation The Sacred to make it a Church whiles these shall at any time be demolished and cast to the Ground That People ceases to be a People at least to be the People of God and ye may write Lo-ammi upon it yea and Lo-ruhamah to No people nor yet no pitty Hos 1.8 9. If the Foundations be destroyed what can the righteous doe And these Lawes and Ordinances are the Foundations whether Temporal or Spiritual For this is your Wisdom and Vnderstanding in the sight of the Nations c. as it is in this very Chapter the 6. and 7. verses of it That 's one benefit of this Deliverance That from hence we remain'd a people when time was which else we had not done Secondly God's people more especially A people of Inheritance to the Lord His own peculiar and injoying of many other mercies and favours from Him This Deliverance from the Powder-Plot did intitle us to many other favours and Deliverances besides which he and our Progenitors have injoy'd as the fruits and consequents of it Thirdly There is one word more which is yet behind
we say Lead us not into Temptation That is doe not in thy providence administer occasions of Sin unto us from whence we might be intangled with it whereas on the other side God threatens wicked men that he will lay a Stumbling-block before them and that they shall fall upon them Jer. 6.21 It is that which he oftentimes does in the way of his Providence which is the reason why many persons doe miscarry so as they do God lets loose Satan upon them and suffers him to present such and such objects and occasions to them which meeting with that habitual Corruption which is prevailing in them causes them to stumble and fall and ruine themselves But now for his Saints and Servants he does in a special manner watch over them to preserve them when he is said to keep their feet Secondly As by preventing of the Occasions of of Sin so by fortifying and strengthning the Heart and mind against closing with them so that although occasions be administred yet they shall have no power or efficacy upon them thus he kept the feet of Peter Luk. 22.32 Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you and to sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not And thus he kept the feet of Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 When he had the messenger of Satan to buffit him and prayed thrice that is often that it might be take away from him he had this answer returned unto him That Gods Grace was sufficient for him as it had been said God would not be wanting to him in the keeping and preserving of him from being overcome with that Temptation and so he does with divers others besides partly by Executing and stirring up in them those Graces which he hath already wrought partly by administring new strength unto them There are four Graces amongst the rest which are especially conducing hereunto First of all The Grace of Fear and Spiritual Watchfulness Blessed is the man says Solomon that feareth always Those which are confident and presumptious they do of all others soonest miscarry but God by stirring up in his Servants an holy tenderness and jealousie over themselves does by this means very much scare them who by fearing least they should Sin do come to avoid Sinning it self Secondly The Grace of Faith that 's another supporter likewise It is the sheild whereby we quench all the fiery darts of the Devil And Gods people in the use of this are much arm'd against Spiritual Assaults Faith it lays hold upon all the promises of Assistance and Strengthning and Confirmation which God has made to his Servants Such as this now here in the Text and hereby does preserve all such persons as are the subjects of it therefore it is said 1 Pet. 1.5 We are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation By the power of God as the Principal And by Faith as the Instrumental improving that power which is in God and drawing it forth according to the preset occasion and Necessities in which we are And this Faith still wrought and Excited and strenghthned by him that he may still have the Glory of all And that 's the second Explication God keeps the Feet of his Saints not onely by preventing them from the occasions but likewise by preserving them from closing and complying with them and yeilding and giving way unto them Thirdly Gods keeps the feet of his Saints from progress and proceedings in Sin when they fall or slip he holds them up from falling further Thus Psal 94.18 When I said my foot slippeth thy Mercy O Lord held me up This is another great Expression of Gods goodness to his Servants that he does not suffer them to run into the same Excess of riot with other men That though for reasons best known to himself as to humble them and to shew them what is within them he may perhaps suffer them now and then to fall into Sin yet he does Graciously keep them from the Degrees and Extremities of them Hence it is said 1 Joh. 3.9 That he that is born of God does not commit Sin What not Sin at all no That 's not the meaning of it for he had said in the first chap. vers 8. If we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves But not Sin in that height with that greediness in that measure and manner and circumstance as others do Though they may begin yet God lets them not go on and proceed in it but puts a stop and restraint upon them that they go no further He keeps them back from presumptuous Sins that they may not have Dominion over them as David prayes for himself in Psal 19. vers 12. Lastly He keeps the feet of his Saints from Relapse and Returning to Sin again He suffers them not like the Dog to return again to their former Vomit nor like the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire This he undertakes for them Thus says David of a Righteous man Psal 27.24 Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand As Paul Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Keep them as in a Garrison as the word in the Original Text properly signifies The proper Improvement of this point thus explain'd to our selves is a word of special Comfort and Incouragement to the Servants of God as being interested in a very great Privilege which does belong unto them What a wonderful Mercy is this that God will keep our Feet from falling as David speaks of Himself Psal 116.8 That he prevents us and keep us from Sin Especially considering the many Dangers and Snares and Hazards whereunto we are daily exposed It is a Comfort to the Servants of God as to matter of imployment In great Services and Undertakings whether in Majesty or Ministry whether in the Church or the Common wealth in regard whereof they may happily now and then be suspicious of themselves and jealous of their own Hearts as many Godly men now and then are A good Christian when he is called to some great and special Service he does not so much think with Himself how shall I go through it without trouble but how shall I go through it without Sin This is that which most sticks upon his Spirit How shall I avoid the Snares the Temptations the Sins the manifold Miscarriages which this my Place or Work or Imployment is by reason of humane Corruption compast withall now here 's that which may satisfy him He will keep the feet of his Saints Those which keep close to Him he will strengthen and inable them for the services whereunto he calls them and likewise from the infirmities which they are subject unto in these services So likewise as for matter of Imployment so for matter of Condition whether Riches or Poverty Prosperity or Affliction and the like These are many
Wisdom and strength he hath Counsel and Vnderstanding as it is in Job 12.13 And this strength of his he does purposely improve against those which are his Enemies as it follows in the next vers to the Text vers 10. of this Chapter The Adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to peeces c. These words By strength shall no man prevail being taken in reference to the Wicked And the Second Clause in the verse where 't is said The Wicked shall be silent in Darkness It may hold good in a double way of Explication First As to the saving of themselves And Secondly As to the offending of others the Saints and Servants of God which are better then themselves Their strength it shall not prevail in them to either purpose First As to the saving of themselves it shall not serve them for that but they shall certainly and irrecoverably be destroyed God will be sure to be avenged upon all those which are Evil doers and they shall not Escape none shall deliver them out of his hand As we have it at large exprest unto us in Amos 2. vers 14.15.16 The Flight shall perish from the Swift and the Strength shall not strengthen his Force neither shall the Mighty deliver himself neither shall he stand that handleth the Bow and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself neither shall he that Rideth the Horse deliver Himself and he that is Couragious among the Mighty shall flee away naked in that day saith the Lord. Where the Prophets cuts of hope of Escape from wicked men in the greatest Advantages which seem to be upon them This is matter of great Awakening and Astonishment to all wicked men and may teach them to look about them to Consider what ever it be which they look upon as their strength and Excellency that it is not that which will secure them against Divine Vengance but it will pursue them and overtake them notwithstanding so that they shall not Escape And therefore hence to be perswaded to Repentance and Reformation and amendment of life There is no way whereby to prevail upon God but by his own strength that is by strength which is Communicated from Him the strength of Faith and Prayer and Supplications and Turning to him For any way else it will not do But Secondly As this holds in their insufficiency as to the saving of themselves so likewise as to the offending of others by making those words the wicked shall be silent in Darkness an Expression of their Weakness and inability of attempts upon the Church they shall not know here what to do nor what to say against the people of God but shall be as those which are Amased and Astonish't and Damp't and put to Silence in themselves This the Holy Ghost here amplifies by adding this Clause to it For by strength shall no man prevail If the matter went by outward strength always Gods people might perhaps go by the worse and their Adversaries might prevail against them and insult and triumph over them but this it does not do There is Greater strength which is Acting and Moving and stirring for them and such as the other is unable to resist This it hath a double Improvement which does follow from it First Of Confusion to the Wicked and those which are the Churches Enemies whilst they shall consider that all their attempts and undertakings are in vain to this purpose and that they shall not prevail in them There 's nothing which does usually more confound men then unlikelyhood of success in that which they set their hands unto This is the Case and Condition of such as these towards the Servants of God as it is in Psal 129.1.2.3.4 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel say many a time have they afflicted me from my youth but they have not prevailed against me The Plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows The righteous Lord hath Cut asunder the Cords of the Wicked So Esay 8.9.10 Associate your selves O ye people and give ear O ye of all Nations gird your selves and ye shall be broken in peices gird your selves and ye shall be broken in peices take Council together and it shall come to nought speak the word and it shall not stand for God is with us Thus seems Emanuel God with us in our Nature and so with the Persons he shall disappoint you Secondly This is a matter of Confusion and Discouragement to the Enemy so of Comfort and Consolation to the Church The people of God are oftentimes as Agur says of the Conyes a feeble folk such as have no strength in them yea but they make their nest in the Rock even the Rock of Ages in which is Everlasting strength as the Prophet speaks Esay 26.4 And this is that which may support them in all the Assaults which are made upon them whether Corporal or Spiritual thus as on the one hand The Lord shall keep the feet of his Saints so also on the other hand That the wicked shall be silent in Darkness aad that by strength shall no man prevail This is that which we have here made good unto us in this present Occasion with the Circumstances of it Here 's an Instance of what hath hitherto been deliver'd in all Particulars both as to the different State and Condition of different Persons and the same Account which is given of Each As for the different State and Condition of different Persons we have that here in both the Branches of it Both as to the keeping of the feet of the Saints and as to the Wicked's Silence in Darkness The former in God's Gracious Preservation of those who were then the Members of both Houses of Parliament and in them of the whole State and Church of God in this Nation from the Effects of that Hellish Conspiracy of the Gunpowder Treason attempted by the Papists against them in the year 1605 on the first day of November A Providence which is never to be forgotten by us in this Kingdom but to be transmitted to all Posterity we may here say with a witness that God hath kept the feet of his Saints in that he hath not suffered them to be takeniâ— the Snare of the Wicked Our Soul is Escaped as a Bird out of the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and we are delivered as the Psalmist speaks in the like case of Israel Psal 124.7 Thus it Concerns us not onely barely to take notice of but to take notice of with Advantage and Improvement and that Especially to a threefold particular First To Thankfulness and Acknowledgment of the Great Mercy and goodness of God to us in this particular I say of his Goodness to us for our particular Persons who are interested and concern'd in it either as these who had it taken effect might either have not been or have been destroyed and so thereby prevented from those Mercies which have been
punishments of the sword that ye may know there is a judgement Wrath not onely of men but also as it seems there to be implyed of God himself as proceeding from his righteous judgement when the Lord is angry he sends the sword into such a Country for the punishment of it They chose new Gods then was there war in the gates Iudg. 5.8 Namely as a punishment of their Idolatry All these evils proceed from hence mens sinning against God As for example in the Israelites dividing from the rest of their brethren this thing is said to be of the Lord. The same may be also said in like manner of all others besides they do relate and refer to him Now therefore if He will give quietness surely none can be able to make trouble in this regard All the Armies and Forces which are abroad through the whole world they doe as I may say serve in this sense under his command and therefore if he will but disband them there must needs be peace and quietness presently out of hand without more adoe That 's the first Branch of this first proposition when God will give a Kingdom quietness none shall be able any way to disturb it Secondly Let us take notice of the other And when he hides his face who then can behold him This hiding of the face in this place is differently expounded by Interpreters I shall present to you that which is most probable and fasten upon what I conceive most agreeable to the scope of this Scripture First there are some which here by Gods face do understand the wayes of his providence and so they make the sense this when God will walk in a secret way for the disposing of things in a Kingdom there is no discerning of him this is that which we may sometimes observe in our own experience That the Lord is pleased now and then to go before us in the works of his providence after a more clear and conspicuous manner so that we may easily see and perceive and apprehend what he is doing in the world He writes it in great Characters and Capital letters as we may so express it that whosoever runs may read it as the Prophet speaks Again at other times he carries things after a more hidden manner His wayes are in the deepes and His Counsels are unsearchable and His judgements past finding out and now in such a case as this is none can behold him thus we have it in Psal 74.9 We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long It pleases the Lord sometimes so to order things and dispose of them that the wisest and holiest man in a kingdom cannot tell what to say to them Those which have most acquaintance with God which have greatest interest in him and which are most familiarly used unto him they are sometimes ready to be puzzled and stagger'd at some dispensations and they lay their hands upon their mouthes in a way of astonishment and admiration That 's one meaning of these words But Secondly another meaning of them is this by taking Gods face here for the visible expressions of his love and favour to any Kingdom or Nation When he hides his face from any people that is when he withdraws the pledges of his goodness from them who then can indeed behold him That is who can indure before him who is able to stand in his presence with any comfort or contentment at all And according to this interpretation we have this truth from it That when the Lord is indeed angry and displeased with any kingdom or nation that Kingdom or Nation is in a very sad and lamentable condition When he hides his face who then can behold him Psal 76.6 Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry And Nahum 1.6 Who can stand before his indignation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger His fury is poured out like fire and the riches are thrown down by him And Psal 90.11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath And many such places there are to signifie the sadness of Gods displeasure This may be further explain'd and laid open to us in these following particulars as demonstrations of it First when God is angry with a people he takes them short in those outward comforts which they have formerly been partakers off as we find in that expression used in 2 King 10.32 In those dayes the Lord began to cut Israel short He takes away that former peace and plenty and abundance which they have sometimes injoy'd this in a sense is an hiding of his face forasmuch as every comfort is in its place a beam of Gods countenance It is God that puts comfort into the creatures and that makes them comfortable to us Now the Lord when he is displeased with a Nation he oftimes does deprive them of these as he threatens his own people of Israel in Hos 2.9 Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and I will recover my wooll and my flax c. I will recover it Mark the expression as who should say he had let them have it hitherto in a manner before he was aware and they had stollen it as it were from him against his will but he would fetch all back again from them Secondly As he takes away these comforts so also which is the consequent of it he sends Judgments and plagues in stead of them which are quite opposite and contrary to them These he hath divers sorts of as ye may see in Deut. 28. which he threatens to the children of Israel upon supposition of their disobedience Cursing and vexation and rebuke in all that they set their hand unto ver 20. c. And so his three evil arrows which he mentions in other places likewise Sword Famine and Pestilence c. They are such as are effects and testimonies of Gods wrath and displeasure against a Nation and especially and above all the sword that judgment which is now upon us it is a principal expression of his wrath when the enemies roar in the midst of the Congregations and set up their Ensigns for signs as it is in Psal 74.4 Thirdly He also sometimes layes upon them spiritual judgements which are the greatest judgements of all He takes away his Gospel and his Ministers and his Ordinances He remove's the Candlestick out of its place as we have lately shewn out of another Scripture This is the true hiding of his face indeed there being nothing wherein he does more appear and shew himself then in such dispensations as these are The Gospel it is the glass which represents to us the face of Jesus Christ and wherein we see the glory of the Lord when therefore God takes away this at any time from any
People or Nation who then uncover'd can behold him In all these particular respects do we see the sad condition of that Nation which God is angry and displeased withal To proceed to the Application of these two Branches both together wee l joyn them both in one and wee 'l make this improvement of them First we may here take notice of the sad condition which is upon our selves in this Kingdom at this present time from whom the Lord does in a more especial manner as we may say hide his face and so as we cannot behold him in that manner as we have formerly done This calls us to a serious search and inquiry and examination of of our hearts and humbling of our selves before God upon these occasions It is that which we should be very much affected with and lay to heart we are apt to be somewhat affected with the evils and calamities themselves as they pinch upon our senses and are cross to flesh and blood but that which should chiefly trouble us is the displeasure of an angry God and the withdrawing of his countenance from us Though we wanted our peace and prosperity and the plenty of former times yet if still in the mean time the Lord himself were well pleased with us we might be able to make a shift for all this But now that he frowns upon us and expresses himself as angry with us this is the great mischief and misery of all when he hides his face who then can behold him This is the sting of any affliction the wrath of God mingled with it As on the otherside it is the sweetness of any blessing to apprehend it as a pledge of Gods love And thus amongst our selves which is the worse as God will not be intreated by us he will not hear Moses nor Jeremy for us Isa 33.7 Secondly We are taught from these points to make our peace especially with God If when he gives quietness none can make trouble and when He hides his face none can behold him then certainly it is the safest way for us to make our peace and reconcilement with him yea and to begin with him first I do not deny but that other means both may and ought to be used as there are now other means on foot at this present time amongst our selves but we must not rest and depend upon these means nor make these our onely refuge and supportment in such conditions as these are No but rather betake our selves to the Lord who is the great peace maker of all And that upon these considerations which may serve as incouragements hereunto First Peace with God is the most General and comprehensive peace it takes into an agreement all enemies and adversaries that are If a man make peace with one enemy and as soon as ever he hath done with him there 's another falls presently upon his back he hath but little quietness for all this Now thus is it with that Kingdom or Nation which does not make peace with God it may be they may make a league with that enemy which at present does trouble and afflict them and as soon as they have done with him there 's another falls immediately upon them This is likely to be the case with us if we should take such a course as this Suppose we should make up the breach and difference which is betwixt our selves and in the mean time suffer the controversie to be dependent which is betwixt our selves and the Lord what are we helpt and advantaged by the matter when as soon as we had done a Forrein enemy would be ready for us as the Lord threatens his people by the Prophet Isa 7.18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermot part of the rivers of Egypt and for the Bee that is in the land of Assyria That is he shall fetch a Forrein power for the affliction and punishing of them even so the Lord might doe with us in this condition French Spaniard Turk if need were these would be quickly at hand upon us if the Lord were not at peace with us But now on the otherside having peace with him we shall have peace with all others else besides As Eliphas speaks to this purpose in Job 5.23 Thou shalt be in League with the Stones of the Field and the Beasts of the Field shall be at peace with thee And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace c. Secondly Peace with God is peace upon the best terms and Conditions that may be that 's a desireable peace which has true peace indeed in it Now such is that peace which any Kingdom has with God it has all the Qualifications and Conditions of a worthy peace in it as to instance in some one or two Particulars First It 's a Religious peace it 's a peace with the injoyment of a good Conscience in the making of it it 's possible to make peace with men so as therein to wound men's Souls and Consciences This is a miserable peace indeed and such as is a great deale worse then the Cruellest war but now when we are at peace with God we preserve inviolable yea indeed we cannot preserve this so without making this Secondly It is a Free-peace it is a Peace which has the greatest Liberty in it that may be The Gibeonites made peace with the Israelites but they became Bondmen and Slaves and so is it with all those which are at Peace with Satan and at an agreement with Hell and so sometimes those which are in Confederacy and League with wicked men but that People which makes peace with God shall have abundance of Freedom Thirdly It is a Sincere and Hearty peace there is no fraud or deceit in it In peace betwixt men and men there is many times a great deal of falshood and Treachery and perfidious dealing as it is said of him in the Psalmes He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him he hath broken his Covenant The words of his mouth were smoother then Butter but war was in his Heart his words were softer then Oyle yet were they drawn Swords Psal 55.20.21 vers This is often in humane peace but in the peace which is made with God there is no fear of all these if we keep faithful to God he will keep faithful to us and to his Covenant of peace with us Thus we see what incouragement we have to incline to such a peace as this is well that which now lies chiefly upon us is to indeavour after it so to order and dispose of our matters as that God may be Graciously pleased to be reconciled with the Kingdom wherein we live and to vouchsafe peace unto us where it will not be amiss for us to lay down some rules and observations as may herein be helpful to us where in I shall apply my self to such as do seem to
lie within the compass and reach of every particular person amongst us Every Christian may thus far be a Statesman and it becomes him so to be and every private Person may in this sense much dispose of the Kingdom as to that peace which we are to procure to the Kingdom in General which as I Conceive may be brought about in a likely way by these means and ways viz. First By every ones Lamenting and Bewailing of his own private Sins and the abominations of the Land wherein he lives every Sin unrepented off is a quarrel which God has against the Kingdom and for which he threatens the Destruction of it And therefore the way to reconcilement is Mourning and Humiliation for it this is the counsell which the Lord gives by his Prophet in Zeph. 2.1.2 c. Gather your selves together yea gather your selves together O Nation not desired and before the decree bring forth before the day pass at the Chaff before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you c. This gathering of our selves here together is not so much a gathering of our Persons as it is indeed a gathering of our thoughts and recollecting of matters with our selves to consider how things are with us neither does it imply this onely but also doing it with some Affection so as to be grieved and afflicted in our selves where we are conscious that we have done any thing amiss this is one way and means to procure Atonement and Reconciliation betwixt God and the Kingdom wherein we are Secondly This is not all but further there is required Amendment and Reformation for time to come Humiliation without Reformation is of no Efficacy or avayl at all as being indeed but false and Counterfeit and such as consequently is unaccepted of God The Prophet Esay has given us an item to this purpose in Esay 32.17.81 The work of Righteousness shall be peace and the Effect of Righteousness Quietness and assurance for ever And my People shall dwell in a peaceable Habitation and in sure Dwellings and in quiet resting Places See here the work of Righteousness is peace So 2 Chro. 7.14 If my People shall humble themselves and Pray c. And turn from their Evil ways then will I be Merciful to their Iniquities and heal their Land Mark turn from their Evil ways Thirdly Intercession and Supplication and Prayer we should all here improve that interest which we have in God to this purpose That he would be pleased not onely to be reconciled to our own Persons in particular but also to the whole Land in General whereunto we belong Pray for the peace of Jerusalem as the Prophet David calls upon us to do and for the peace of it in the first place with Heaven that the Lord himself may have no Controversie against it ye which are the Lords Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he has broken down the Partition-wall and reconciled himself to us Certainly this is such a Business as may well deserve our greatest Importunity and wrastling with God that may be And that 's the Second use of this point seeing when he gives Quietness c. Therefore to teach us all to be diligent in the use of all those means whereby God may be reconciled with the Land and kingdom wherein we live Thirdly This gives us an account of the present Evils and troubles which are amongst us from whence they proceed namely from hence that God himself is angry with us and hath hidden his face from us we are subject to fasten our Eyes onely upon Second and External Causes to say t is this thing and t is that thing and to think of any thing rather then of that which we should be most sensible off but this is the true ground and reason of all because the Lord himself is at variance and at difference with us as 't is exprest concerning Israel in Deut. 32.30 How should one chase a Thousand and two put ten Thousand to flight except their Rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up And so Esay 42.24.25 Who gave Jacob for a spoyl and Israel to the Robbers Did not the Lord he against whom we have sinned for they would not walk in his ways neither were they obedient unto his Law Therefore he hath powred upon them the fury of his anger and the strength of Battel and it hath set him on fire round about c. Let us therefore here be advised of the true cause of so many troubles amongst us A Disease when it is found out in the cause of it it is half cured And so here this is the way to make us look after God and to put in practise that former Duty which I urged of seeking peace with him when we shall consider that all the Evil which is upon us it does arise from his difference with us as indeed it does It 's true he makes use of Instruments but these Instruments they are carryed on by his Providence and he has the ordering and regulating of them It is because God is angry with us that he suffers so many Divisions amongst us and that he permits us to sheath our Swords in the Bowels one of another as we do now in this Land and Kingdom And therefore let us still carry it as high as this and take notice of the true ground and Original of all Fourthly It carryes a word of Comfort in respect of our present Condition and the Calamities which are now upon us as it signifies thus much unto us that they are disposed off by an higher hand then the hand of our Enemies and so consequently that it is not in their Power to continue them to us There are no doubt dayly Plots and Conspiracies by those which are ill-wishers to Sion for the Continuing and advancing those Broyles and Differences which are amongst us and for the hindering of all means which may tend to peace and accommodation of things to us but here 's now the Comfort of all that these things are not in their Power but are over-ruled by God himself When he gives Quietness who then can make Trouble If the Lord notwithstanding all this will but speak a word of Peace to his People all Counsel and desirs to the contrary shall be sure to come to nought you know how it was with our Saviour sayling in the Ship with his Disciples when there was a great Tempest arose in the Sea insomuch that the Ship which they were in was almost ready to be sunk and cast away As soon as ever he once arose and rebuked the Winds and the Sea it is said there was a great Calm Matth. 8.26 Mark there was not onely a stilling of the Tempest that the Winds and Sea and Waves were not so Violent and Boisterous as they were before but on the otherside there was a great Calm a quite opposit and contrary Condition Thus did Christ in those Tempests of Water and how
to disquiet where mens Hearts and Consciences shall tell them that they have been wanting and failing in those performances which the Lord has expected from them this will go near to sadden and trouble them and deprive them of that inward comfort which they should otherwise have Especially if we shall add hereunto where these have been the motions and suggestions of Gods Spirit inclining and provoking thereunto then the neglect is so much the greater and consequently the disquietness will be the more It 's bad enough for us to Sin against a bare command and to neglect our Duty there where God has given us a General rule for the performance of it but now further to sin against an Excitement and Motion and invitation of Gods Spirit this has a further aggravation in it Fourthly For the getting and preserving of this peace whereof we speak there must be a daily and continual renewing of our Covenant made with God Often reckoning we use to say makes long Friends and so certainly t is here in this particular The way to keep up our peace with God is frequently to make up the Breaches and divisions which may fall between us by speedy Humiliation and Repentance and turning to Him We should not let the Sun to go down upon any difference betwixt God and us but out of hand close it up and that as soon as we discern it and apprehend it and are made sensible of it Take heed that the Heart do not ranckle or fester under the guilt of any Sin or neglect which at any time may lie upon it These and the like Courses are to be taken for the procuring and preserving of a Quietness and Peaceableness in us and we shall put these Directions in Practise that we may procure and preserve it so indeed It is a pictiful thing to consider what strangers many people are to this Business we speak off how few there are which know what belongs to true Peace such a peace as is of Gods giving which passes all understanding which the World is not able to give and which will afford a man comfort which all the world cannot take away The most sort of persons that are regard it not attend it not consider it not we are all for an outward peace and I do not speak against it I would we had it upon good Conditions but who is there almost that looks after inward peace and Tranquillity of Conscience which consists in forgiveness of Sin Reconciliation with God and the assurance of his love and favour made over and confirm'd to the Soul Alas these are things which people may talk off and these are things which people may hear off but most people know not what they mean nor what belongs unto them And this may be the first Application Secondly Seeing this is so That no condition shall be troublesome to that person which is in favour and peace with God We see then here Beloved the happy estate of the children of God in the midst of all those outward prejudices and disparagements which they lye under Happy are the People which are in such a case yea happy are the people whose God is the Lord. We see here who are in the best condition in these sad and distracting times It is not those which have the greatest abundance of these outward comforts and injoyments but which have most of this inward peace It is not he which hath the most Wealth but he that hath the most Grace He is the freest from trouble who has the greatest quietness given him from God even there where he has least from men our happiness it is not so much from without us If we have calm and quiet spirits we may make a shift to do well enough even in troubled and perplext estates And this is the blessed condition of the children of God which should make us so much the more in love with the Generation of Gods people and with Godliness and Religion Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her pathes are peace as it is said of spiritual wisdom Prov. 3.17 Beloved there is not that esteem of Religion and the estate of a Christian as indeed it is fitting there should be Men do not apprehend or consider what a noble Condition it is nor improve it to that height of Comfort and Contentation as it were possible for them and that 's the reason that there are so low thoughts many times of those which are the professors and true imbracers of it whereas indeed upon the proof and experiment there is nothing of so comfortable a Consideration as this is not onely in reference to Heaven and the Comforts of a better life but also in reference to the World and our being and abode here in our Pilgrimage upon Earth Godliness it has not onely the comforts of the End but likewise of the Way It has it's reward and Happiness in it so far forth as it carryes us on with comfort through all the troubles of this present Life When he gives Quietness who then can make Trouble We may understand it by taking trouble in a temporal signification When the Lord gives inward Quietness a man shall suffer no great inconvenience from outward trouble No condition in regard of the world shall come amiss unto him And that 's the First Explication Secondly We may also take it thus When he gives Quietness none then can make trouble That is Where God gives Spiritual peace and Tranquillity of Conscience none shall then be able to cause any disturbance or perplexity in it none can possibly take away the peace of that Soul which is at peace with God This we have plainly signified to us in Rom. 8.33.34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even c. This we may see made good in all the several particulars which we may conceive as any way capable to cause disturbance First Not Satan He shall not be able to make trouble where God will give peace Satan is a mighty stickler to disturb the peace of Gods people and to weaken their confidence and assurance of his love and he takes all advantages and opportunities that may be to this purpose especially in the hour of Death and the day of Tryal c. A foul pudder he makes oftentimes in this regard but yet where God will acquit and give quietness all is in vain Christ has spoyled Principalities and Powers Colos 2.15 And he has destroyed the Devil himself Heb. 2.14.15 The Accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before our God Day and Night and they have overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 12.10.11 The blood of Christ sprinkled upon the Conscience discharges from the accusations of Satan neither is he able to do any hurt where the Lord will obsolve As for
which know not what it is to have they know not what it is to want nor to be deprived of that which they might have And this is the great difference betwixt the children of God and others when we speak of such things as these to carnal persons which never knew what these things meant we seem to speak very riddles and mysteries and fables to them The greatest part of people in the world are not troubled with such a thing as this is Gods strangenesse and hiding his face from them because they never yet were acquainted with his presence and familiarity and drawing near unto them but those which are acquainted with the one are affected with the other Those which know what it is to injoy God and to have him comfortably shining upon them they quickly feel what it is to want him and to have him hide his face from them This should therefore teach us still to keep our selves in such a State of Soul as that God may take delight in us and be continually pleased to impart himself unto us in the most comfortable expressions of his love and favour towards us we should resign and submit our selves to the blessed guidance of his holy Spirit and let him be all in all to us be affraid of doing any thing which may offend so sweet a friend and companion as he is especially that I may still drive it to the season in such times as these are wherein if ever God's countenance were precious now it is when is there more sweetness in friends and the mutuall injoyment of one another then there is in sad conditions Friends are then friends indeed and the delight which they have one in another is doubled to them Beloved when God hides his face from us in the greatest outward Prosperity that the World can possibly cast upon us we are but in a very ill-case when 't is so with us but what is it then when other things shall be taken away to to have trouble from without and trouble from within to this is sad to purpose when Boys shall fall out with one another and their Father frown upon them to this is c. Secondly This hiding of God's face may be taken in a more rigorous Construction not onely for the withdrawing of his Countenance but likewise for the Manifestation of his wrath this is terrible as to an whole Nation so likewise to a man also This is that which some of Gods dearest servants have sometimes been exrcised withal God has not onely carryed himself as a stranger but moreover as an enemy to them Thus he did to David when he complain'd of the broken bones Psal 51.8 And thus he did to Heman when he complain'd of Gods terrours upon him Psal 88.15 And thus he did to Job when he complain'd of the arrowes of the Almighty in Job 6. ver 4. When God hides his face in this manner who then can behold him indeed This is a resemblance of Hell upon earth when God expresses himself thus to any soul as sometimes he does In such a case as this is none can help but God himself It is not all the outward comforts in the world which are able to give a man comfort in such a condition No nor spiritual comforts neither any further then it pleases God to concurr with them and breath upon them not the Word not the Sacraments not Ministers not Christian Friends Nothing can support that soul which lyes under the wrath of the Almighty but onely the hand that wounded it Indeed we are to use the means but not to rest and rely on them There is the tongue of the Learned to speak a word in due season to the weary soul and God hath honoured his servants in Ministery to be Ambassadors of peace and reconcilement in such cases as these are But it must be he himself that must give quietness if ever we have it I create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is a far off and to him that is near saith the Lord and I will heal him Isa 57.19 It is the fruit of the Lips but it is God himself which must Create it therefore the word is doubled peace peace It is not enough to be peace in our mouthes except it be also peace in his we extract and draw out the promises but t is God himself that sets them on If he be resolved to hide his face there is no beholding of him This should teach us to stand in awe of this great and terrible God who would not fear thee O King of Nation It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the ever living God For our God is a consuming Fire who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring Fire Who amongst us shall dwell with the everlasting Burnings Do but lay these things together and think of them when ye are tempted at any time to Sin Sins against Knowledge and Sins against Conference and Sins against Conviction Sins against Vows and Prayers and Covenants and Resolutions to the Contrary if nothing else will work upon you yet at least think this with your selves what it is for God himself to hide his face from you not onely by withdrawing his Countenance and the expressions of his Special favour but also by setting his Countenance against you and filling your Souls with horror and perplexity of Spirit And thus now I have done with these words in their Second reference and so also with the whole verse it self When he gives Quietness c. And when he hides his face who c. Whether it be against a Nation or against a man onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XIV 2 Kings 7.2 Then a Lord on whose hand the King leaned answered the man of God and said behold if the Lord would make Windows in Heaven might this thing be And he said behold thou shalt see it with thine Eyes but shalt not Eate thereof There 's no Sin whatsoever that hath more of Ingratitude in it then Unbelief which returns Evil for Good and where God is most Gracious to us makes us to be most Undutiful to Him The Lord in giving us his Promises intends our Comfort and Incouragement while we in the Questioning of those Promises detract from his Honour and Glory which is the unworthiest thing that may be and such as accordingly calls for the greatest Wrath and Indignation An Instance whereof we have here in this Scripture which we have now before us and the Connexions of it There was now at this time a very sad and grievous Famin in the City of Samaria the Lord out of his Goodness to them sends them by his Prophet Elisha a blessed and comfortable Message of their relief and speedy Deliverance from this fore Affliction This instead of being received and entertained with Thankfulness and Submission as indeed it ought to have been is rather repulsed with Scorn and Disdain and an Opprobrious inquiry by a Stander-by
while they live here in the World Especially in his Patience towards them and Long-suffering and Forbearance of them in that he does not presently take advantage against them but heaps many comforts upon them thereby to lead them and draw them to Himself but they commonly make but an ill use and Improvement of it by being from hence so much the more harden'd and confirm'd in Sin they despise that Goodness which they should Imbrace and the Author of it as so much the greater Aggravation of Wickedness and Sinfulness in them The Mercies which God bestows upon the Publique and so upon themselves in commonwith others and the mercies which God bestows upon them in private for their own particulars each of these are misimprov'd by them as it is said concerning the Israelites Jeshuron waxed fat and kicked and when God fed them with Quayles and Manna gave them drink and water out of the Rock delivered them out of the hands of their Enemies by a strong hand and a stretched out arm yet they forgot the works of the Lord and all the wonders that he had wrought for them which he took as a contemning of himself Thus Esay 5.12 The Harp and Viol the Tabret and the Pipe and the Wine are in their Feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord nor the Opperation of his hands Whether in Judgments or if we will also in Mercy the great things which his hands have wrought for them And so Psal 28.5 There is the like expression Because they regarded not the works of the Lord nor the Opperation of their hands he shall destroy them and not build them up Again as in the Providences of Mercy so likewise in the Providences of Judgment wicked men they contemn God here also in that while his hand is lifted up they will not see neither any thing better'd or reformed by it as it is said of them in Esay 9.13 This People turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts And the Prophet Jeremiah to the like purpose Jer. 5.3 Thou hast stricken them but they have not grieved thou hast consumed them but they have not received Correction they have made their faces harder then a Rock they have refused to return When people shall come to this pass as to be inncorrigible under Gods Afflicting hand and Chastising of them it is a Contemning of him in a way of his Judgments which is the case of many Persons When Gods Judgments are either threatned but not Executed or Executed but with some Intermission or Mitigation of them this makes some kind of Natures to slight him and despise him in them Thus we know it was with Pharoah He that first asked who is the Lord when he sent a Messuage to him to let go his People and so contemn'd him as concerning his Commands when afterwards he was followed with Gods plagues and had any respite of them he still persisted and contemn'd him in his Judgments And that is the Second Explication of this Observation The Third and last is in his Servants and those which belong unto him We know how in the affairs of the world Contempt it does oftentimes proceed and Express it self in this not onely as to mens person but as to their Relations Thus are Parents contemned in their Children Masters in their Servants Princes in their Ambassadors and the like And thus is God also contemned in those that have Relations to him He that despiseth the poor says Solomon he reproaches his maker Those that contemn the poor members of Christ they contemn Christ himself and so he will account them to have done at the last day when he shall come to Judgment as much as they have done it to any of his little ones he will reckon it as done unto himself as he there professes in Matth. 25.45 Men may think when they slight and wrong and oppress any of the poor members of Christ that this Injury and contempt reaches no further then a Company of poor and Helpless men Oh but there is somewhat more in it if it be duly considered it reaches even God Himself who is despised in their Despisings and accordingly will take it to Himself at another day As in all their Afflictions he is Afflicted and Sympathised with them in their Sufferings so in all their Contemnings he is Contemned and Sympathised with them in their Despisings Those that Despise the members of Christ they Despise Christ Himself And so as for the Members of Christ so likewise for the Ministers of Christ which is another consideration of his servants It holds here also when these come to us in the Name of Christ and by authority from him and we shall contemn them in the discharge of their office it reaches to Christ He that despises you sayes he despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10.16 And 1 Thes 4.8 He therefore that despiseth not man but God who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit What are we sayes Moses to the Isaelites that ye murmur against us your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord Exod. 16.8 And again the Lord to Samuel when they rejected him for ruling over them They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that is not onely thee but me and me in thee 1 Sam. 8.7 Thus we see in all these particulars and according to these various explications how wicked men do contemn God as a thing which is manifest by experience In his Ordinances in his Providences and in his Servants Now it would he further inquired whence this does proceed in them Because it seems some what strange that indeed it should be so what may we then conceive to be the Ground or occasion of it Surely there is a twofold Ground which may be assign'd of it as is usually observable in other Contumelies in the world The one as proceeding from Pride and the other from Ignorance These two taken together are the grounds and occasions of this contempt First It proceeds from Pride This hath a common and usual influence upon Contempt Those that do too much pride and over-value themselves they are apt to contemn others and sometimes better then themselves and so it is here The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts in the fourth verse of this Psalm Through the pride of his countenance that is indeed through the pride of his heart which doth usually express and manifest it self in the Countenance This is that which makes him not to seek after God but to neglect him because he thinks with himself that he can do well enough without him Self-sufficiency it disposes men to pride and so consequently to contemptuousness Those that apprehend themselves independent are scornfull and whiles they think they can subsist of themselves they subject to despise others yea sometimes even God himself
no God will do it and surely he will do it this that in it But what will he do He will wound the head of his Enemiss what 's that why not onely his Enemies in the Head as we have hitherto handled it but likewise as we may further Explain it The principal of them He will wound the head of his Enemies that is he will wound the chief of his Enemies that 's another Explication which we may very well fasten hereupon according to that also in another place Psal 110 6. He shall wound the Heads ever many Countryes And Hab. 3.13 Thou woundest the Head This may be reduced to three Heads especially First To Satan Secondly To Antichrist Thirdly To all other potent Enemies whatsoever First Satan God will wound his Head it is the course which is threatned upon Him from the very beginning Gen. 3.15 Semu mulieris conterit caput Serpentis The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head That is Christ shall break the head of the Devil This was promised to our first Parents in Paradise and it is that which we shall find to be made good to our selves So Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly And Luke 10.18 I beheld Satan like Lighting fall from Heaven This is that which the Scripture sayes of Him Secondly Antichrist It says as much of him also in 2 Thes 2.3 The man of Sin is there Emphatically called the Son of Perdition And expresly vers 8. Whom the Lord shall Consume with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his Comming Thirdly All other Potent Enemies whatsoever The Rulers Princes and Governous of the World Thus again Psal 110.5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath So Psal 2.2.3.4 And here in this present Psalm vers 11.12 The Lord gave the word great was the Company of those that published it Kings of the Army did flee apace and She that tarried at home divided the spoyl The use of all this is Comfort to the Church of God that we being delivered from all our Enemies c. So much for that Exposition and so also for the whole Text. But God shall c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XVIII Psal 75.8 For the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them This Text which I have now read unto you is a very terrible Text which Carries a great deal of Terrour and affrightment and Consternation with it even in the very first Proposal of it but yet Couch'd and vayled under such terms and Expressions and Metaphors and allusive Resemblances as doe allay and Mollify it to us It is in one word an Account of the Severity of Gods Dispensations in the Dispising of these inferiour matters and affairs here below The Psalmist had in the verse before told us of Gods absolute Power and Soveraignty in the Ruling and Governing of the World that he is the Judg of all who Changes the Hours and Seasons as Daniel speaks Dan. 2.21 And takes upon him to remove and settle as he pleases he putteth down one and setteth up another in the 7th vers of this Psalm Now here in the Text he does amplify and prosecute this Argument which he had mentioned and propounded by taking men off from opposing or contradicting that truth which he had there promised from the Consideration of the danger which is consequent and insuing thereupon For in the hand c. IN this present Verse before us to give the full view of it we have a lively description and amplification of the Judgements of God upon the world which are here set forth unto us under a threefold representation of them First In their preparation Secondly In their Execution And Thirdly in their Participation The Preparation of them that we have in those words In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red c. The Execution of them that we have in those words He poureth out of the same The Participation of them that is in these words But the draggs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them We begin in order with the first viz. The Preparation of these Judgements For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture Wherein again we may take notice of three particulars more First The Vessel and that is a cup. Secondly The liquor and that is red wine full of mixture Thirdly The Preparer and Orderer and Disposer and Qualifier of it and that is God himself This cup of red wine and full of mixture it is in the hand of the Lord. First I say Here 's the vessel and that is a cup. This is one thing whereby the Judgements of God in Scripture both here and in other places are described and represented unto us It is Calix es poculum Indignationis Isa 51.17 The cup of fury And ver 28. The cup of trembling and Ezek. 23.33 The cup of astonishment and many such expressions as these are This it is among other reasons especially for this as hereby signifying the collection and gathering together of his punishments all in one that as in a cup you have the liquor united and incompast in such a space so is it likewise with the Judgements of God they are a great while gathering together and then they serve to make up a cup from the fullness and completeness of them God distributes these his sorrows not by drops only but cups To speak more distinctly of it and to open this Metaphor so much the better unto us By this Cup or Vessel of reception we may understand whatsoever it is which is the means and conveyance and derivation of any evil unto us For as there are divers evils and calamities in the world which our natures are subject unto so there are accordingly divers conveyances and transmissions of these evils to our hands since they come to us in one way and some they come to us in another and they are but the expression as we see it was with holy Job There were the Sabeans and the Chaldeans and the Fire and the wind from the wilderness All these were so many cups wherein the Lord gave him to drink of the waters of bitterness affliction And so he does with many others He hath his several conveyances to his purpose some he afflicts in their bodies and some in their spirits and some in estates and some in their relations All of them are but cups of displeasure and that they are They doe serve for this end and intent to be the means and instruments of their afflictions Indeed t is true these cups are of different sizes and capacities as I may so
Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Jesus spake unto him have I been so long time and yet hast thou not know me Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then shew us the Father And Apostle Paul in the 2 Cor. 4.6 God who Commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give the light of the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ Secondly To seek the face of God is to seek the presence of God this follows upon the former as when we know a man we desire to have his Company if he be such an one as we approve off and may be useful to us even so it is here Besides Gods Common and General Presence which extends to all sorts of Persons there 's a special and Gracious presence which is peculiar to his People and is accordingly sought after by them which is here called his face This is desireable of us in reference to two things especially The Creatures and the Ordinances First To seek the presence of Christ in the Creatures and the Comforts which are conveyed by them without which they are not truly Comfortable It is not the things themselves which we partake off that are able to chear and refresh us unless it pleases God Himself to appear in them and with them It is his presence which is the Happiness and Blessedness of every Condition and that puts a liveliness and chearfulness into every Comfort It is the Face of God that puts a Comfortableness into the face of Friends the face of Friends is very pleasing and Delightful one to another as Iron sharpens Iron as Solomon tells us but it is Gods face that makes it to be so as joyning with them and so it is as to any other Comfort or Refreshment besides Therefore seek his presence in the Creatures that 's the first Secondly Seek his face in the Ordinances and the Duties and Exercises of Religion This is that which we should cheifly look after we should not come to such matters as these are onely out of fashion and custom and formallity but to injoy communion with God in them thus David in Psal 63.1 2. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is To see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary There are many that come to the Sanctuary and to the Publick Assemblies of Gods people but it is to seek for other faces it is not to seek for the face of God they come hither onely to stare and gaze and look about them to look upon this face and to look upon that to see and be seen This is an high profanation of the Ordinance of God and a perverting it from the proper end and intendment of it but we see here what is the main scope of every Gracious and Religious soul in such approaches as these are Thy face Lord will I seek that I may have sellowship and converse with thee in thine own ordinance as we have it expressely in the 4th ver of this present Psalm One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire into His Temple In the word in the Sacraments in all the Ordinances to have the presence of God that 's the second Explication to seek the face of God that is to seek the presence of God Thirdly To seek the face of God that is to seek the favour of God Men commonly shew their Affection in their Countenance and therefore the one is put for the other And so here thus Psal 24.6 This is the Generation of them that seek thee of them that seek thy face O God of Jacob so Psal 105.4 Seek the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore And Psal 4.6 There be many that will say Who will shew us any good Lord lift up the light of thy Countenance upon us and Gods Gracious favour and countenance is that which it concerns us above all other things to seek after First That we may walk more serviceably and do that which God requires of us with greater intention It is the Masters countenance which puts a nimbleness into the servants work and makes it to come off the more freely and readily from him Assurance it hath a great influence upon obedience and in that respect to be pursued by us Secondly That we may walk more chearfully and have more peace and comfort in our selves Psal 30.5 In his favour is life yea his Loving-kindness is better then life as it is in Psal 63.3 Look as the face of the Sun puts a clearness and liveliness into every thing which before was dead and disconsolate so does the face and gracious presence of God into the hearts of his poor servants which were before as it were in a dead and a dark condition It quickens them and raises them and revives them and puts life into them This is that which makes an Heaven upon Earth as the contrary is no better then Hell That 's Hell where God withdraws his Gracious presence That 's Heaven where he is pleased to shew his face Thirdly That we may walk more Profitably and beneficially towards others the more that we are sensible of Gods Favour to our slves the better shall we be able to comfort and chear up our Brethren and to comfort them with the Comfors wherewith we are comforted of God Therefore above all things we should pursue it and seek after it we see how desirous men are usually of the favour of great ones many seek the Rulers favour or the face of the Ruler as the words run in the Text Pene mashal But every mans Judgment cometh from the Lord Prov. 29.6 And therefore there is reason to seek his favour above any one else Therefore says St. Paul do we labour or are ambitious to be accepted of Him Because we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ We should seek for Gods favour now that we may injoy it hereafter when we shall most stand in need of it Thi is that which concludes and comprehends every thing in it It is the most compendious way to Happiness that is in the Word our usual manner and practise is to pitch upon some particular comfort which we have a mind unto as Riches or Health or Peace or some such things as those let us but seek the Favour of God and we shall have all these things in it to the bargain And that 's the Third Explication to seek his face i. e. to seek his favour Fourthly and Lastly To seek the face of God that is to pray and call upon Him If we look into Scripture we shall finde how the work
Condition of all created Comforts whatsoever But now the Lord God he is like the Sun which has light in Great Abundance and what it has it has onely in it self And this now makes very much for our Satisfaction and Contentment in Him yea and that in opposition also to the Creatures and that Comfort and Happiness which we expect from him when the Sun is once up there is no want or miss of the Stars and so where God will please to inlarge himself to the Soul of any poor Christian he has Enough and sufficency in that respect We know what is said of Heaven Revelat. 21.23 The City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the Glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof The same is true in a proportion even here in this present life according to Gods Gracious Importment of himself to any soul so is it better able to sustain under the want of other things But Secondly Seeing the Lord God is a Sun we should then hence learn to rejoyce in that light and Comfort which he does impart and which we receive from him We should still desire that the light of his Countenance may shine upon us more and more and nothing should be more greivous to us then the with drawing of this from us When the Sun is at any time darkned it causes sadness in the minds of men we see what a stir people make but about a common and ordinary Eclipse of the Sun in the Firmanent which is natural and certain and necessary and such as is Expected What Fancies possesses the minds of ignorant and simple persons in that regard and what sad and dismal Events they do project to themselves hereupon Oh but what is it then to have an Eclipse of this Sun in the Text which is here commended unto us for God Himself to hide his face from us and to carry himself strangely towards us and to desert us and leave us to our selves to cast us into dark Conditions of doubting and fear and distrustfulness and Horrour of Spirit this is that which is most sad and grievous of any thing else and so should be accounted by us especially those which has had any glimps and expressions of this his favour manifested unto them the more brightly that this Sun hath shown into any ones Heart the more does it concern them to be affected with the withdrawings of it and that as now the half of the Saints and Servants of God they know what belongs to such things as these are and understand what they mean These which are in their natural Condition which live in a state of continual Ignorance and Darkness they scoff and mock at such points as these are and think them to be altogether needless but those which are Savory Christians apprehend them and are sensible of them and lay them to Heart As an Eclipse it is a great deal more dreadful then an whole Night and yet a Night in it self considered simply is more then that It is more in regard of the darkness which is in a greater Degree and it is more in regard of the time which is of greater Continuance onely here 's the difference that an Eclipse we speak of the Sun it s always in the day which being a diversion from the common and ordinary course of it makes it so much the more to be observed even so it is here in this particular Take an Unregenerate Person with whom t is Night always and that knows no other Condition then that is this Sun it may be absent from him and he never regards it but now a Christian which is a Child of Light and a Child of the Day as the Apostle Paul expresses it We are not of the Light nor of Darkness 1 Thes 5.5 Such an one as this is to have the Sun though but for some time withdrawn from him it is very grievous and tedious to him Well we should all Labour and indeavour to have the fulness of this Metaphor made good and confirm'd unto us that God is a Sun that we may find him so for our own particulars and that influence which he has upon our Hearts as we shall have occasion to speak more anon and do nothing on our parts which may cause any Suspension or Intermission or Interruption of his favour and the sense of it to us We should be affraid not onely of an Eclipse of this Sun but also of any Cloudings of it by any Fogs or Mists or Damps which do at any time arise out of our Earthly and carnal Hearts we should study as near as may be that our Day it may be clear and bright and Sun-shine not onely to have some imperfect glimmerings and sparklings of Light to us but the Sun in its full strength and splender Our Graces glittering our Evidences sure our Consciences full of Comfort our Hearts in a full and constant apprehension of Gods love to us and inlarged in our love to him that so it may be with us which Solomon speaks of a Righteous person Prov. 4.18 The Path of the Just is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day And that 's the first part of the Resemblance whereby God is set forth unto us The Lord God is a Sun The second Resemblance is of a shield that is of another thing whereby God does set forth himself unto us and we have it in other places of Scripture we have it once before in this Psal the 9th vers of it Behold our God our Shield It was that which God promised to Abraham and upon that account exprest Himself to Him Fear not Abraham I am thy sheild and thine Exceeding great reward Gen. 15.1 So Psal 115.9.10 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is their help and their shield And Prov. 30.5 Every word of God is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him Under which expression we have signified unto us Gods Protection and Preservation of his People from those dangers which they are subject unto he will not onely be a Sun unto them to fill them with all Comfort but will likewise be a shield unto them to keep them from all Evil this is that which he is here in the second place set forth by as remarkable in him The Lord God is a sheild Indeed other things in Scripture are sometimes styled by this Name and that also in a Metaphoricall Acception as Magistrates they are called sheilds Psal 47.9 Cypri terrae The sheilds of the Earth which are said there do belong to God Forasmuch as it is their Place and Office to preserve and protect the Innocent from any wrong or injury which may be offered them therefore they are called shields unto them so likewise Faith is called a shield Eph. 6.16 Above all taking the sheild of Faith But all this is still in reference to this shield
upon these Gifts as they are here presented to us in the Text three manner of ways First In their Distinction Secondly In their Connexion And Thirdly in their Order In their Distinction Grace considered by it self and Glory by it self In their Connexion Grace and Glory united and put both together In their Order Grace going before and Glory following after For the First To look upon them distinctly here that which does first offer it self to us is Grace The Lord will give Grace and Glory Grace is a large word which does comprehend many things under it but we will here in this place confine it as the Holy Ghost Himself seems to do and understand it especially of the Grace of Sanctification This is that amongst the rest and more particularly which God promises here to give And we must know whom he means as the persons to whom he will give it namely to those which have it already To him that hath shall be given It is true that God will also give Grace to those that want it to all those that belong to the Election of Grace but are not as yet effectually called God will bestow Grace upon them and he has Grace in store for them and so he will give Grace i. e. the first beginning c. But that 's not that which is here intended so much in this present Scripture No but rather the Improvements of Grace to those in whom it is already For we must still remember that all these Expressions in this Text they do properly belong to the people of God and to none but them To them he is a Sun to them he is a Shield to them he will give Grace c. Now when it is said that he will thus give Grace to such as these for time to come we may take it according to the notion of a double Improvement First Perseverance in that Grace which already they do partake off And Secondly Inlargement and an Addition and further Augmentation of that which they have received First The Lord will give Grace to them that fear him that is the Grace of Establishment and Perseverance This is one kind of Grace which God will give and that in order also to Sanctification He will inable us to sustain and hold out and continue still to the end in the Grace which we have received Where he has once wrought Grace in the Heart hee 'l preserve it and keep it still alive there where he hath wrought it And it is that which he has promised and ingaged Himself to do for us I will put my Fear into their Hearts that they shall not depart from me It is a Branch of the Covenant of Grace which God makes with his people that he will not onely sanctify them and change their Natures with his saving Grace but that he will likewise keep this Grace in them This Seed it shall abide and remain in those which are his Children and be a constant principle in them Indeed it may admit of Variations for the Expressions of it which may prove sometimes to be more and sometimes to be less but for the thing it self it shall be always the same A Christian shall be like an Oak whose Substance is in him when his leaves fall Esay 6.13 When the Branch of Grace may decline yet the Substance and truth of it shall remain yet this so as to be the Gift of God in all this Here 's the Ground of all I mean of this Grace of Perseverance and Continuance in the Faith because God gives it it is from Grace that we hold out in Grace which otherwise we should not do it is not from our own Stability but from the Goodness and power of God towards us And that 's the first Explication The Lord will give Grace that is the Grace of Perseverance and Establishment where he hath begun it Secondly The Grace of Increase and Inlargement The Lord will give Grace that is he will give more grace He will give a greater measure of grace in addition to that which he has given Thus Phil. 1.6 He that has begun a good work in you will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ He giveth more grace as it is in Jam. 4.6 in the world men are never contented but are still desirous of more This is that which is promised here that is more grace This may be drawn out by us according to the several improvements and specifications of it As first of all The Lord will give grace that is he will give conquering Grace for the subduing of lusts and Corruptions and for the resisting of speritual Conflicts and Temptations This suites very well with that which we had before about a shield and Gods resemblance to that He does bear a proportion to it in nothing more then he does in this particular by inabling his servants to quench the fiery darts of the Devil This was the grace which He gave to Peter Luk. 22.31 Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you and to winnow you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not this was the Grace which he gave to Paul when the Messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him 2 Cor. 12.9 My Grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness And this is the Grace he will likewise give to the rest of his servants He will tread Satan under their feet He will subdue their iniquities for them He will every day more and more exterpate and work out those remainders of corruption which are yet in their hearts And it is that which those which are Gods children may expect and depend upon him for If there be any one which hath any strong lust which is too hard and difficult for him which he cannot overcome let him remember this truth here before us that God will give Grace and let him improve it and make use of it to this purpose There 's no sin or corruption whatsoever which is too hard for the grace of God which the Spirit of Christ cannot master and vanquish in us yea eject and thoroughly dispossess and cast out of the heart Therefore we should with courage set upon the resisting of Temptations If we indeavour God will give grace and glory Secondly Quickening and strengthening grace for the performance of our Duties The Lord will gives such grace as this Grace for our several Callings Relations places and services which do belong unto us This is another branch of this Bounty in God which is commended to us and which is very sweet and comfortable in the consideration of it It is a very great incouragement as to the undertaking of any special business or imployment which God does call us to that he will give grace for it He will give us the grace and assistance and special inablement It was that which he promised Moses when he call'd him forth to the work of the Ministery which he was very
Christ so they have likewise interest in that Affection which might incline the Heart of him that has these things in his own disposing to bestow these good things upon them whatsoever they be The Lord bears that render love and respect to those which are his Children as that he thinks nothing in the world too good for them This is another Consideration and which carries a great deal of weight in it If Gods Children do want any thing which they may conceive and apprehend to be fortheir good it is not for want of any love or Affection of God himself towards them that they may assure themselves of and conclude upon it they have his Heart and his good-will towards them in their greatest restraints and such as is ready to bestow any thing upon them He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Rom. 8.32 Thirdly There is no good thing whatsoever which the Children of God can desire which God is not able to bestow upon them in regard of Himself He which is Goodness it self and the Fountain and Treasure of Goodness he has all good things at his Command and in his own Power As there 's a Title and an Affection so there 's an Estate too as the Ground and Foundation of this Bounty whereof we now speak to be bestowed upon them The Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the World and they that dwell therein Psal 24. vers 1. So then if Gods Children do want as they Imagin any good thing as it is not for want of love in God so it is not for want of Power in them neither he withholds no good thing from them out of any impotency in himself to bestow it But then Fourthly and Lastly As to the matter of Actual performance God does withhold no good thing from those that fear Him in the event it self but does indeed bestow it upon them and does here by this passage in the Text ingage himself to as much for them No good thing will be c. This must again be taken with these Explications First There is no good thing which God does withhold from all his Children take it absolutely and specificatively in regard of the things themselves There are some of the Children of God which do partake of every good thing in kind in one rank or degree or other as some of them have Riches and some of them have none and some Health c. Secondly There 's no good thing whatsoever which God does withhold from any of his Children either in the formality or Equivalency of it Let it be truly good and he does not withhold it or if he does withhold it in the kind yet he does withhold it in the Analogy and proportion and Equalness of it First I say let it be truly good and he does not withhold it so much as in kind as Health and Riches and Friends and Honours make this but out that it is indeed good for any Child of God now to have them and he shall be sure not to want them God will never withhold them from him that he may be sure But now to make this good ye must know there are divers things concerning it First It must be a sutable Good that which is good in it self and considered simple in it own Nature is not always good for thee in thy particular Condition and God has a special heed and regard to that This we must needs distinguish both for the Vindicating of this present Text which we have now in hand as also the Providence of God to his Children in this particular There are many which when they hear this point God will withhold no good thing from his Children Except against it as a false Proposition because many of the Servants of God are deficient in such and such particulars Nay but soft that 's a very unsound and inconsistant kind of Reasoning for that which is good in it self is not so good for such and such persons because not so sutable to them nor agreeable to them in those Circumstances which are upon them that are here to be attended to That Greatness of Estate or that Health of Body or that height of Place which it may be thou hast a mind to and thinkest to be very good as it may be perhaps in it self yet it is not so good for thee in thy particular and therefore upon that account is withheld from thee that onely is good which is sutable to such a subject c. Secondly Which is seasonable and in it's time God does not absolutely withhold but onely delay good things to his Children he will give them but not yet till they are in some manner sitted and qualified for them Every thing is beautiful in it's season the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as men count slack And then Thirdly also Which may best conduce to and consist with their Eternal Salvation when these outward good things are likely to be any Hinderances to the Salvation of Gods people God does in these cases deny them to them and withhold them from them which yet properly is no withholding in good earnest for as much as his main end and design which he has about them is to save them and bring them to Heaven Thus when any thing is absolutely good for them God does give it them and that also in kind But then further if not in kind in proportion and Equivalency that he does at least He gives them the sweetness and comfort of all these things in the denyal of themselves this we may see in that Expression in Mark 10.29.30 Where those that leave Houses and Bretheren and Sisters and Lands c. For Christs sake and the Gospel are said to receive them again here in this time even with Persecution How can that be possible Namely in the Analogy and Equivalence though not in the things themselves There 's all these in the Comfort of them which they partake off though not in the particular That 's another Explication of this point unto you and so you have the Blessing it self No good thing withheld The next with which I end is the Persons to whom this is promised that walk uprightly this has two things in it First It shews the Persons in what Condition for the General and that is the Children of God who are described by this Pariphrasis of such as walk uprightly Secondly It shews the Persons under what Qualifications for the particular and that is of Exact-Walkers And in this latter Sense are we to take it Especially It is not the Children of God any ways consider'd which can expect this bounty from God but as approving themselves unto him Those which walk any thing carelesly and Remisly neglect their Spiritual Watch venter upon Temptations at random c. They may miss of many a good thing which is otherwise provided for
Contentment in it Oh how great is thy Goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.19 The Lord is Good a strong hold in the day of Trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Nahum 1.7 It was a great Comfort to think of that because from a Good God nothing can come but good and that which is like to Himself And then the Wisdome of God to meditate on that also that he is great in Counsell c. and the Scripture proclaimes him that he can foresee all Events and discern all Hearts and search into the secret corners of the Soul That there is nothing hid from his Eyes c. That he confounds the wisdom of the Wise and brings to nothing the understanding of the Prudent as it is said of him This is that which affords matter of satisfaction to that Soul that does duly Contemplate it And so Lastly To add no more at this Time the Truth and Faithfulness of God the God that keeps Covenant and Mercy that is true to all his Promises and that performes what ever he undertakes It is very pleasing to think on this and thus is the Meditation of him sweet in reference to his Attributes which is the first Explication of it to us Secondly The word of God which is a part of Himself the Meditation on that is sweet also It is said of a Good man That his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night namely for the delight of it Psal 1.2 So Psal 19.8.20 The Statues of the Lord are right rejoycing the Heart the Commandments of the Lord are pure inlightning the Eyes more are they to be desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold sweeter then Honey and the Honey-Comb How much sweetness is there wrapt up in a Promise and to be drawn out of it by a serious Meditation especially fitting to the present State and Condition which at any time we are in here it must needs be very sweet indeed and so it is and the Servants of God have found it so upon their own Experiene'd promises of Pardon of Assistance of Deliverance and such as these they are all of them very sweet If we look into Scripture we shall find variety of Gracious Intimations suted to particular Conditions now these they cannot but be very Comfortable to those that are in them in Sickness in Poverty in Captivity in Temptation and the like and we cannot better provide for our own Comfort and Contentation in them then by thinking and meditating upon them in our own minds and where we are not furnished with particulars yet at least to close with the Generals which have a miraculous sweetness in them also I mean such promises as are made to Gods Children at large that God will give his Spirit to them that ask it That no good thing will he withhold from tehm that walk uprightly that he will never leave them nor forsake them That all things shall work together for good to them that love him It is unexpressible how much sweetness there is in the Meditation upon these Truths which are Exhibited to us in Scripture being set home by the Spirit of God Himself which must be taken in as pertinent hereupon Thirdly The works of God the Meditation on them also it is very sweet and that in all kinds As First His works of Creation to consider of them as they are all very good and beautiful considered in their Nature and kind so is the Contemplation on them is also remarkable As Psal 8.1 c. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the Earth c. When I Consider thy Heavens the work of thy singers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained c. And so for this present Psalm which we have now before us the Hundred and fourth all throughout of it a meditation upon the works of Gods Creation which the Psalmist pleases Himself in and which he blesses God for So Secondly The works of Providence how sweet is it to meditate on these also to reflect upon all Ages and to consider what great things God has done for his Church and People in them What Mercies he has bestowed upon them what Deliverances he has wrought for them and that also sometimes after what a strange and miraculous manner It is very delightful to think of it This has satisfied and comforted Gods Servants when they have been in great Temptations and Trouble and perplexity of Spirit as for instance the Psalmist Himself Psal 77.7 Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Hath God forgotten to be Gracious c. And I said this is mine Infirmity well but what was that which holp him and relieved Him in it He adds presently hereupon I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy doings Meditation on the works of Gods Providence it was here sweet unto Him Thirdly The works of Redemption how sweet is it likewise to meditate on these To meditate upon God in Christ By whom he has reconciled himself to the world forgiving them their Trespasses as the Apostle Paul expresses it in the 2 Cor. 5.18 This is the sweet Meditation of all and without which we cannot meditate upon God without any true Comsort or Contentment The thoughts of God out of Christ they are not sweet but dreadfull and terrible Thy Heart shall meditate Terrour whosoever thou art that meditatest on him thus Deus Absolitus as Luther called it God considered absolutely and in Himself there 's no comming near him here so much as in our very thoughts and Meditations No but God manifested in the flesh taking our Nature upon him the Mediator God and Man together This is that which affords unto us the most Comfortable matter of Meditation Especially if we shall take him in his full Latitude and Extent and as he is of God made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption c. 1. Cor. 1. vers 30. Take Christ in all his Offices of King and Priest and Prophet and how sweet then is the Meditation of him Of a King to subdue our Enemies and to Govern and order our selves of a Priest to reconcile us to his Father and to make both Satisfaction and Intercession for us of a Prophet to reconcile unto us the whole will and mind of God all these are sweet things to think on And so as the Offices of Christ so his Graces which are likewise Emanations from Himself they are all very sweet and lovely there is not a work of the new Creature in us but it is very lovely and amiable in it self and the reflexion upon it also very delightful When a Christian by the help of the Spirit shall be
by us First Take it in the first sense according to our last English Translation and as we have handled it all this while for Divine Contemplation The Meditation on God is sweet And the sweetness of it should stir us up to the putting of it in Practise We have very great cause to be careful what we Meditate and pitch upon in our thoughts which are of great Importance and Concernment to us and that as they are a very great Discovery of the Frame and Temper of our hearts as I in part hinted before There 's nothing which does more shew what men like then their Meditations Flittering and Transitory Thoughts which do pass through the mind but do not stick they are not such an infallible discovery because they may not have that Tincture and impression of the soul upon them But Meditations they have much of the Will in them and are carried with more deliberation attending upon them And therefore it concerns us to look to them and to see what they be in us and of this nature that we now speak of we should cherish in our selves as much as may be these Holy and heavenly Meditations which are of God and things belonging to Him as we have hitherto declared as being such as He takes special notice and observation of in us He declares to man what 's his Thoughts Mah secho that is what 's his Meditation his fixed and settled thoughts as the Prophet tells us in Amos 4.13 And therefore we should take care that they may be such thoughts as be approvable to him How far are those from such as these as Meditate nothing but that which is evil and the accomplishment of their base lusts Their filthiness and their ambition and their covetousness and their revenge and the like which devise mischief upon their beds and set themselves in a way that is not good as the Psalmist speaks Psal 36.4 Oh there are abundance of such Meditations as these are in the world which are of the Devil and not of God nor can we say that these are sweet Oh no in any true notion of sweetness indeed they are for the present sweet to a naughty and corrupt heart which seems to take great delight in them But they will be bitterness in the latter end like the sweetness to a distemper'd palate As for our selves we should all labour to be wedded to good and holy Meditations and to have our souls fixed and fasten'd upon heavenly and Divine Objects we should not think our thoughts to be free but be careful where they are pitch'd even upon God and Christ and Heaven and the glory to be revealed The Benefit hereof will be this that it will keep us in a right course and regulate our whole Conversation For as mens thoughts are so are their lives and their Affections are for the most part answerable to their Contemplations I have set the Lord alwayes before me sayes the Psalmist and what then Therefore I shall not be moved Meditation upon God will keep us from swarving from him This is that which we should do at all times especially as we have the larger and greater opportunities for it In our Solitariness in our Retirements when we are withdrawn and alone by our selves Oh then to meditate upon God and his Free-Grace and love in Christ the Covenant of Grace and the like these are fitting thoughts for us when we are freed from our hard and worldly Distractions and which the Servants of God have still upon occasion taken up to themselves They have been careful still to improve such opportunities as these are Thus the Prophet David for an instance he gives us Counsel to this purpose Psal 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not Commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still And as he Counsell'd it so also he Practised it Psal 63.6 When I remember thee upon my bed and Meditate on thee in the night-watches And again Psal 119.148 Mine eyes prevent the Night-watches that I Meditate upon thy Word And Psal 139.18 How precious are thy thoughts to me O God how great is the Sum of them If I should count them they are more in number then the sand when I awake I am still with thee Thy thoughts that is indeed the thoughts of thee by taking it not subjectively but rather Objectively The Thoughts which David did conceive in himself concerning God by Meditating and Contemplating upon him they were very precious to him and he found a great deal of sweetness and Contentment in them from whence he took all occasion that might be for the exercising of them and that even at Midnight it self and when deprived of his Natural rest With my soul have I desired thee in the night season Isa 26.9 To set home this still a little further let us consider this with our selves That this Duty of Meditation it will out-last all other Duties and performances of Christianity besides and will stick longest by us There are many other performances besides which a Christian by many accidents and occasions may be taken off from by sickness by Age by Exile by imprisonment and the like Oh but he cannot be taken from that He cannot it may be alwayes read hear or confer or frequent the Publick Assemblies Oh but he can Meditate alwayes and have his thoughts imploy'd about God when his tongue cannot express it self to Him His Meditation of Him shall yet be sweet That which is said of the heart it self in a way of Nature that it is primum vivens ultimum moriens The first part that lives and the last part that dyes the same may be said of Meditation in a way of Grace It is the first Duty and Performance that appears and the last duty that remains in us it survives and out-lives all the rest Now this that we may do the more successefully it will be our wisdom to attend upon such means as are Introductive and preparatory hereunto such as are reading and hearing of the word These are such as do dispose to Meditation and without which it oftentimes proves either unprofitable or erroneous This was that which Gods servants still observ'd in such performances as these are as David and Joshua and Timothy such as these the latter of them especially in 1 Tim. 4.13 14. First give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrine and then Meditate upon these things And so much of the first Notion of this word which is here used in the Text as it denotes Divine Contemplation and Meditation on the things of God there 's a great deal of sweetness first in this The second is as it denotes Converse and Communion with God in Prayer for so the Hebrew word is sometimes taken and so some have interpreted it Gen. 24.63 which some read to pray and thus here My Converse and Communion with God is very sweet namely in Prayer and my addresses to Him Prayer is nothing else but a familiar Colloquy
in himself especially as revealed in his Son but we are then said to rejoyce in him when as by a Spirit of Faith we do improve him and make use of him for our Comfort and Consolation But Secondly By way of Reflexion we are then said to be glad in the Lord when we rejoyce in our Interest in Him and relation to Him when we resolve to make God our Happiness and greatest Contentment and to reckon of our selves accordingly as we have likely so to do This being glad in the Lord is opposed to being glad in the Creature as the Meditation of the Lord to a Meditation upon other things This is the Sum here of Davids Resolution and Expression of Himself in this particular that whereas Earthly and Worldly persons they had for the most part worldly Reflexions which were most pleasing and delightful to them his Meditation upon God should be the sweetest and whereas they also had many worldly Jollityes he would be glad and rejoyce in the Lord as most able to rejoyce in Him Which is that also which should be the studdy and indeavour of all other Christians and of our selves in particular amongst the rest So much for that to wit of Davids Exaltation joyned to his Contemplation and so of the whole Text before us My Meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. SERMON XXIV Psal 77.10 And I said this is mine Infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High The State and Condition of a Christian whilst he lives here below hath it's Vncertainties and Varieties with it not onely in reference to the world and the Concernments of this Natural Life but likewise in reference to Heaven and the hopes and Expectations of a better not onely as to his dealings with Men but to his Converse and Communion with God There are the Ebbings and Flowings of Grace and there are the Falling and Rising of Corruption which are by turns observable in Him as we may see here in this Instance and Example which we have here before us The Prophet David Himself who may serve as a Representation of all other Christians besides in this Particular how ever he was at other times a man fiull of Faith and Assurance yet he had now at this time a sit of Destrustfulness upon him and began to call in question the Love and Affection and Faithfulness of God Himself to him But yet through the Goodness of God he does at last work Himself out of it and he tells us here how he did it Then I said this is mine Infirmity but I will c. In the Text it self there are two General parts considerable First The Discovery of the Disease Secondly The Application of the Remedy The Discovery of the Disease that we have in these words Then I said this is mine Infirmity The Application or Resolution upon the Remedy that we have in these But I will remember the years c. We begin with the former viz. The Discovery of the Disease Then I said this is c. Wherein again we have two branches more First The simple Proposition This is mine Infirmity Secondly The Rersonal Keflexion I said this is c. It was in the thing it self and it was also in the Psalmist's own Observation First Take it simply in the Proposition and in the thing it self This is mine Infirmity wherein there are divers points included and Exhibited to us we will take them as they lie before us First We see here how the Saints and Servants of God themselves they have their Infirmities My Infirmity says David who was an Holy man a man after Gods own Heart as the Scripture sometimes describes him yet he had his weakness and Infirmities with him and so also have all others besides his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his often Infirmities as it is recorded of him 1 Tim. 5.23 But also Spiritual and Mental The weaknesses and Infirmities of the Soul and inward man they are those which are here mentioned in this place these are such as the Children of God have even in the Holiest and Exactest of them as it is here implyed The Ground of it is this First The reliques and remainders of the Old man still abiding in them where the Root is remaining there will be Fruit answerable to it according to the Propositions of it Now thus it is here in this particular the Children of God they are Flesh as well as Spirit and so farforth as they are Flesh there will be somewhat proceeding from them which shall savor of it The Flesh lusts against the Spirit as well as the Spirit against the Flesh as the Apostle tells us Gal. 5.17 Secondly Grace is wrought Imperfectly in them while they are here in this world so much there is of the Flesh so much the more there is to cause Infirmities and so much the less as there is of the Spirit so much the less on the otherside to prevent them I can do all things says the Apostle Paul through Christ that strengthens me A Christian is so far free from Infirmity as it pleases Christ to strengthen him but this is not absolutely and perfectly while he remains here in thi world Neither as to habitual Grace nor Auxiliary Neither as to the working of the Principles which is but in a weak measure and degree nor as to the Concurrance with the Opperations which are various and different in them also and at the best but very imperfect Therefore this teaches us to esteem of men as men not to think of them above that which is written as the Apostle advises nor to accept more from them then is indeed in them not to look for a Perfection in this Life from the best that are for it is not to be found As no man should think of himself more highly then he ought to think so neither should he think so of other men but so to Honour their Graces as withall to make account of their Infirmities The one to be pursued and imitated while the other is to be shunn'd and avoyded even David he had his Infirmities That is the First Secondly As good men have their Infirmities so commonly they have some one more especially which they are addicted and inclined unto As they have Corruption in them at large so this Corruption more particularly and especially which they are incumbred withall This is mine Infirmity says the Psalmist by way of Appropriation Original Corruption it does not run out alike in all but has it's varieties and diversities of Improvement in some after one manner and in others after another As we see it is in the Body though all men are in regard of their Nature subject to all kind of Diseases yet all do not alike partake of them some are more inclinable to one and some to another Even so is it also in the Soul and inward man every Christian has his Infirmities This should teach every
persons as mind their Health they will take a sickness in the first risings and beginnings of it Even so also in regard of the Soul such persons as mind their Salvation they will in like manner resist their sins and temptations in the very first beginning Now therefore accordingly should we learn this piece of spiritual wisdom and Prudence our selves even to indeavour our spiritual recovery upon the first apprehensions of Distemper Let not Satan take possession of our souls let not vain thoughts lodge in us let us not continue in sin nor suffer it at any time to continue in us but exterminate it and dispossess it and discard it as soon as may be And apply our selves to such courses as may free us and deliver us from it The first grace is to see our Infirmities but the next grace is to remove them and shake them off as soon as we can as the Psalmist here did This is mine infirmity But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High And thus much of the scope in General Now to come more Closely to the words themselves in particular I will remember the years c. The words in the Hebrew Text are Shenoth Jemin Gneljon which I find to be variously rendred and translated by Interpreters I shall not trouble you with them all at this present time but onely take notice of two of them which I conceive are the Principle and most comprehensive the one is of our Oldest English Translation and the other of our last and Newest the Former reads the words thus The right hand of the most High can change all this the latter reads the words thus as we have it now before us I will remember the years of c. The main Ground of this Variation is the different Exposition of the Hebrew word Shenoth which may be translated either to change from the Verb in the Infinitive mood or else may be translated yeares from the Noun in the Plurall Number This hath given the occasion to this difference and variety of Translation but the sense is very good and agreeable which way soever we take it and such as contains in it matter for our special Instruction First Take it according to the former Translation as it does Exhibit to us the Power of God The right hand of the Lord can change all this This was that whereby David did support himself in his present Affliction which we had mentioned in the beginning of the Psalm that the Lord was able to change and alter this his Condition to him and that for the better Mutatio Dextrae Excelsi There is a change in the right hand of the most High Though God himself be unchangeable considered in his own Essence yet his works and Providences and Dispensations have a variety in them and all such as do perfect and Accomplish his most unchangeable Purpose and Decree which he has set down with himself God does never less change his mind then when he does most change his Carriage and Practise and outward Administrations as being able from Contrary means to bring about the same Gracious Ends and Effects which he hath appointed to accomplish so that this Expression hath no Repugnancy or Inconsistency with it at all but is freely to be admitted by us and to be improved as t is here by the Psalmist This is the great Comfort of the Church and of every Person who is a member of it that let their present State and Condition be never so troublesome and Calamitous and full of Affliction yet the Lord is able to qualify it and mitigate it to them yea to mend it and better it for them and they may say in the words here before us The right hand of the Lord can change all this Where for the better amplifying and Illustrating of this present Passage unto us we may take notice of two words in it which are very Significant and Emphaticall The one is in that God is here called the most High And the other is that there is mention made of his Right hand It is not said God can do it no more but so but the most High and with his right Hand The one is an Expression of Eminency which carries an Advantage with that And the other is an Expression of Strength which carries an advantage with that likeness First There is the Advantage of Eminency in that God is called the most High because Height it has the Opportunity of Prospect he that stands Higher then others he has the advantage of overlooking them and beholding them and of seeing what they do and so is able to order and to manage his affairs accordingly with greater success Now thus is God the Lord he is the most High God and so he is said to dwell on High frequently in Scripture from whence he has the better Inspection to behold the things which are done both in Heaven and Earth and likewise the greater Influence as to the ruling and disposing of them Secondly There 's the Advantage of Strength in that there is mention made of his right hand which is a word of Power The right hand of the Lord doth Valiantly the right hand of the Lord brings mighty things to pass Prov. 118.15.16 And so Psal 89.13 Thou hast a mighty Arm strong is thine hand and high is thy right hand Gods right hand it is a strong hand and does great things in the world But more particularly as pertinent to the Text David does Comfort himself in this Power and strength of God and this right hand of the most High As to the Business of Change and Alteration The right hand of the most High can change all this And here again it has a double Reference or respect with it The one in order to his Condition And the other in order to his Mind as also the word Infirmity mentioned in the former part of the verse it may have a double sense with it either as it denotes his outward State or temper of Body or as it denotes his inward Disposition and frame of Soul This is mine Infirmity but God can change that that is He can renounce this present Distress which is upon me or again This is my Infirmity but God can change that that is he can remove the present Disturbance which is upon me he can heal the Infirmities of my Spirit Gods Power it extends to both First As to the Infirmities of his Condition and the present State in which he now was Take it so and here he Comforts and pleases Himself that as bad as it was now with Him God was able to better it to him Here 's my Sickness but there 's my Physitian This is my Infirmity but there 's a Power to Deliver me from it even the right hand of God This is a great Satisfaction to Gods Servants in the worst Conditions that there is Hope and Help for them in God when they know not how to help
themselves yet they knew that He can help them and redress all unto them There is a change in the right hand of the most High And that again with a double Amplification and Inlargement of it to us as implyed in the right Hand First He can do it Effectually as the right Hand is an Expression of Ability And Secondly He can do it readily as the right Hand is an Expression of Slight First Powerfully and Effectually he can do it so we have great and Sundry Instances of it how God has delivered his People out of the sadest and most desperate Condition in which they have been and that by his great and Almighty Power He has raised from the Grave He has made the Dead bones to live he has turned the shadow of Death into the Morning as the Scripture Expresses it in Amos 5.8 There 's nothing which has been able to resist him or to stand in his way when he would work deliverance to his People Secondly Readily and Easily and Speedily he can do it so likewise That 's also signified in the right hand which is not onely in a word of Power but a word of Facility that which a man does with his right hand he does it promptly and with a great deal of Ease and therefore we call it Dexterity in our ordinary Language and Expressions Now thus is the Lord as to the Salvation of his Servants and to the relief and Comfort of them he is ready and dextrous at it and can do it with the turn of an hand so expert is he in it The right hand of the Lord can change this Namely the Infirmity of his Condition That 's the First Again Secondly For the Infirmity of his Spirit he can change that also David was now as we have heard under a great Temptation of mind and Spiritual Distemper which was upon Him which was grievous to him and whereof he here Complains now he herein Comforts Himself that God was able to take it away from him Who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thy Diseases not onely Corporal but Spiritual Those Invincible Infirmities and Corruptions which the Servants of God are troubled withall and groan under while they are here in the world in this vayl of Flesh the right hand of God it can scatter them and remove them and take them away from them And it is a very great Comfort to them to think with themselves that it can so as it was here in the Text to the Psalmist in this present Distress and Perplexity and trouble in which he now was He does sustain Himself from Gods Power and the Consideration of what God would do The right hand of the Lord can change all this And that 's the first Reading of the words according to our oldest Translation Now further Secondly For this last here before us that 's this I will Remember the years of the right hand of the most High where the word remember is borrowed from the next-following verse to supply the sense of this as otherwise being not in the Text. Now here the Prophet David fetches a ground of Comfort from Gods Practise as before he did from his Power There from what God could doe Here from what he had done already in former Times and Ages and Generations He was resolved to reflect upon this as a relief to him in his present infirmity This is a very good and ready and expedient course to be taken by the Servants of God in any perplexity To look back upon Gods former dealings either with themselves or others of his people To remember the years of the c. That is to remember and bring to mind the great things which God has done for them in Generations which are past To consider the days of old the years of Ancient times as it is also in the fifth verse of this Psalm Now there were two things especially which David here did reflect upon to this purpose for the satisfying and quieting of his Spirit The one was Gods dealings with his people formerly as to point of seeming Desertion and outward Discouragement and the other was Gods dealings with his people formerly as to seasonable recovery and final acknowledgement To each of these purposes would he remember the years of the right hand of the most High and each of them were a relief unto them First It was a relief to his Spirit and a kind of healing of that present infirmity and distemper which was now upon him to consider how God had done with his people in former Times and Ages as to seeming Desertion This was some kind of help unto him that so he might see that he was no worse dealt with than the Saints of God in all seasons of the world That the same Afflictions were accomplish'd in them which were now in him when men think they are the onely persons that have such and such evils befall them it is a great discouragement to them but when they shall see that it is the common lot of others and has been Gods manner in all Ages this is now some ease to their minds Secondly It was a relief to him likewise to remember Gods dealings of old in regard of mercy That though he has afflicted his Servants for a while yet at last he has refreshed them and appeared graciously for them though he hath torn them yet he hath healed them though he has smitten them yet he has bound them up though he has slain them yet he has received them and raised them up and made them live in his sight Though he has for a time seemed to forsake them and reject them and to take no notice of them yet he has at last in Conclusion looked upon them and returned unto them It is a very great Comfort to consider Gods former dealings in such matters as these Christians they should live upon the Experience of Gods Goodness in days which are past when they have no sense of it for the time which is present And there is very good Ground to do so because God is still the same yesterday and to day and for ever He has the same Love to his people still as ever the same Wisdom to advise them and the same Power to be active for them and he will therefore change their Conditions because he does not change Himself as I intimated once before I the Lord change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not Consumed Malach. 3.6 And again It is of the Lords Mercy that we are not Consumed because his Compassions fail not Lam. 3.22 Therefore let us Comfort our selves and one another with such kind of thoughts and words as these are as the Psalmist does here before us Let us never question or doubt of Gods Affection or Faithfulness to his people but be fully perswaded of it and if our present Conditions incline to the discourageing of us let us look back upon Gods dealings which are past and remember the years of
not some Light ones onely but such as were very Irksome and hard to be born That is Chastening me sore First I say in this Expression we have the Frequency and Reiteration of these Chastenings even again and again This is one thing which God is pleased sometimes to do with his Children when he has Chastened them once to return to it and Chasten them a fresh and to renew his Chastenings to them When Sin is repeated Punishment is repeated likewise and when we return to our Transgressions God himself returns to his Corrections and Chastisements of us as is most requisite and Convenient for us Look as it is with Physitians in regard of the Body when the same Distemper comes again they give the same Physick to remove it and to take it away even so does the great Physitian in reference to the Soul Relapses into Sin will cause Relapses into Sickness or into any other trouble for Sin which it is a ground and occasion of The one follows upon the other in Gods most wise and prudent Dispensations Secondly Here 's the Multitude of Corrections He hath Chastened me in Chastening that is he hath sent one Affliction upon another this is another thing here observable in Gods proceedings towards the Sons of men one Deep calls to another Psal 42.7 Deep calleth unto Deep at the noise of thy water-spouts all thy Waves and thy Billowes are gone over me And so Job in Job 16.14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant Thus did the Lord with that Holy man he had Messenger upon Messenger of Evil tidings which hapned unto Him of the Chaldeans and Sabeans c. Thou renewest thy Witnesses against me and Increasest thine Indignation upon me in Job 10.17 Thirdly Here 's the Greiviousness of the Correction Repition implies Intention and so here he hath Chastened me in Chastening that is He hath Chastened me sore as our own Translation here gives it Thus God oftentimes does likewise he layes heavy Afflictions upon his People Thus the Church complains to God Psal 44.19 Thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadows of Death And Psal 80.5 Thou feedest them with the Bread of Tears and givest them Tears to drink in great measure Job The arrows of the Almighty were in him Heman His wrath lay hard upon him Paul He was Prest above measure and so of the rest And there 's very good cause for it God sees it to be necessary for us oftentimes to deal thus with us as simply to Chasten us so now and then to Chasten us sore and that especially that Patience may have its perfect work in us and that the Cure may be throughly wrought in us For strong Humours require strong Physick to purge them out Where Corruption is deeply rooted in the Heart there it is not a light or small matter which will serve the turn to work it out No but there must be a great deal of stir and adoe which is to be made with it The Use which we should make of it is therefore from hence to learn to understand the Providences of God in this particular to be satisfied in them and prepared for them we are apt to think our troubles to be such as none were ever before us see here how it is with David Chastened me sore And as I said there is cause for it that God may be clear when he Judges there are some Natures and Dispositions which a small or light Correction will doe no good upon him but they are apt to despise it and therefore God sees it necessary to deal more severely with them and to take a sharper Course to mend them And so I have done with the first General part of the Text which is the Condition it self The Lord hath Chastened me sore c. The Second is the Qualification of this Condition But he hath not given me over to Death which words are to be considered of us two manner of ways First in their Connexion with the words that went before And Secondly In their absolute Consideration as taken alone by themselves First In their Connexion and so I say they are a Qualification of those that went before and they serve to shew unto us the manner of Gods dealings with his people which is to mitigate his Afflictions of them and to Correct them still in measure he Chastens them but does not undoe them Thus 2 Cor. 6.9 As Dying but behold we live As Chastened but not kild And so 2 Cor. 4.8.9 Troubled on every side but not Distressed Perplexed but not in Dispair Persecuted but not forsaken Cast down but not destroyed And 1 Cor. 10.13 God is Faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able but will with the Temptation find a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Though he cause Grief yet will he have Compassion according to the Multitude of his Mercies Lam. 3.32 And so here now in this present Scripture Though he Chastens yet he gives not over unto Death The reason of it is this because Gods Ayme and Intent is not Destruction but Reformation which Death doth hinder and prevent the opportunities of unto us Though it is true that even in Death it self God can work much to this purpose as to the Changeing and bettering of the Heart yet for the outward Life and Conversation and the reforming of that this by Death is taken away Secondly As God does thus mitigate his Corrections in Wisdome so also in Mercy because he is a Gracious God and he continues still so to be without alteration Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords Mercies that we are not Consumed because his Compassions fail not They are new every Morning great is thy Faithfulness And Malach. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not Consumed The Lord is full of very much tenderness in this particular as it is related Concerning the Israelites that though they carried themselves perversely towards him Yet he being full of Compassion forgave them their Iniquities and destroyed them not Yea many a times turned he his Anger away and did not suffer his whole Indignation to arise for he remembred that they were but Flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again Psal 78.38 39. And Psal 102.13.14 Like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him for he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but Dust in Psal 103.13.14 And again Esay 57.16 I will not contend for Ever neither will I be always wrath for the Spirit would fail before me and the Souls which I have made God stands very much upon this to prevent Discouragement in his Servants This should therefore First of all teach us to acknowledg Gods Goodness in this respect and to praise him for it as David Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy
greater Guilt upon them and a secret Curse also cleaving to them for their abuse and perverting of thess Mercies And so much of the thing it self here signified for the main Gods Deliverance and preservation of David He hath not c. Now we may further here take notice of the Phrase and Expression which is here used He hath not given me over to Death It is not simply he hath not killed me or taken away my life from me though that be principally intended But he hath not given me over to Death This is true of the Servants of God even there where Death seases upon them yet they are not under the power of it It does not at last prevail upon them which holds true in a twofold regard First Not under the Curse of it it being sanctified to them for their Good Death to the servants of God is a Conquered Enemy it is a Serpent without a sting O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory The sting of Death is Sin the strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God who hath given us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ as St. Paul in his Heavenly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15.55.56 God hath not given his Children over to Death but rather hath given Death over to his Children therefore Death is said to be theirs not they to be Death's 1 Cor. 3.21.22 All things are yours and amongst the rest even Death it self Death is under the power of the Church and in a sort at her Command forher Benefit and Advantage as an Entrance for her into Eternal Glory To me to live is Christ and to Die is gain says the Blessed Apostle of Himself Phil. 1.21 Which is true also of any other Beleiver Christ has redeemed us from Death as it is a Curse the Saints they are not under that Secondly As the Saints are not under the Curse of Death so neither under the Contrivances of it and so in that respect not given over to it as being at last made partakers of a blessed and Joyful Resurrection As our blessed Saviour Christ Himself who seems also to be tipified in this Psalm it is noted of him Acts 2.24 That God raised him up from the Dead having loosed the pains of Death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it As it was not possible for him so neither is it possible for any of his Members it was not possible for him to be detained many days Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy one to see Corruption For it is not possible for his Members to be absolutely and always detained but shall at last be loosed from it As Death had no dominion over him so neither over them This Corruption shall put on Incorruption and this Mortal shall put on Immortality and Death it self shall be swallowed up into Victory as the Apostle has it 1 Cor. 15.45 This is a point of singular Comfort to the Children of God and that which may satisfy them in the thoughts and Meditation of their Mortality that though they may and shall die at last yet they shall not be given over to Death It shall not tyrannize nor Dominear over them Indeed it is the Happy advantage of people that they are given over to no Evil whatsoever whether Spiritual or Temporal neither to the Evil of Sin nor to the Evil of Punishment though they be Capable and sensible of both and liable to them First Not to the Evil of Sin and Satan not given over to that As for wicked and ungodly persons it is their Misey to be so Satan rules in them God gives them over to sinful Courses as it is noted of the Gentiles thrice together in one Chapter the First of the Romans God gave them over He gave them over to Vncleanness and he gave them over to vile Affections and he gave them over to a reprobate Mind still he gave them over But he does not so with his own servants though for just and holy reasons he suffers them to be troubled with Sins while they live here below in the world yet he does not give them over to it Sin shall not raign in their mortal Bodies Iniquity shall not have Dominion over tkem nor presumptuous Sins especially shall not prevail upon them nor given over to the Evil of sin No nor Secondly To the Evil of Punishment neither not given over to that and in particular to this of Death As for wicked men and such as are none of Gods Children It is said they are like Sheep laid in the Grave and Death shall feed on them Psal 49.14 Death shall feed on them that is have it's fill and glut of them and shall do what it list unto them Yea but with the servants of God it shall be otherwise as David there makes the opposition in his own Person but God will redeem my Soul from the power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah He was not given over to the power of Death And as not of Death Temporal so especially not of Eternal neither God did not give him over to this of any other whatsoever could be thought off God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.9 God will be sure to keep his Children from this and does order all things to them in reference hereunto even Corrections and Afflictions themselves as I in part hinted before Chastens them here that he may not Damn them hereafter so that the Connexion holds very well here in this sense which we have now before us The Lord hath Chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to Death as a Mercy consequent to this his Chastening and Correcting of me And so we have done with both the parts of the Text The Condition and the Qualification of that Condition to him in this whole verse The Lord hath Chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to Death SERMON XXVI Psal 133.1 Behold how Good and Pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity It is the great advantage of Vertue that it carries it's Evidence within it self whereby it becomes lovely and amiable in the eyes of all that observe it and behold it and take notice of it And as other Vertues and Graces besides so amongst the rest the Grace of Love and peaceableness and Unity and brotherly concord It is such as is very eminent and illustrious and which commends it self to all mens Consciences in the sight of God This is that which is here exhibited to us in this present Scripture before us in the Testimony of the Prophet David wherein we have a lively representation set before us of the Benefit of the Communion of Saints which is a main and Principle Article of our Belief and Christian Faith And so an argument very sutable and agreeable to the present occasion of our Assembling and coming
and then between them fratrum Concordia rara est It is a piece of that misery and unhappiness which mans Nature by reason of his fall and transgression and departure from God is so sadly degenerated into that it should be thus with him Thus Cain and Abel Isaac and Ishmael Jacob and Esau Joseph and those who were his Brethren we know what sad differences there were between them Now the Contrary is that which in this place is here commended unto us That those brethren should be unanimously affected Secondly Brethren in a Civil sense by Custom Contract or Imployment or Civil Association which is that which does more properly belong to your selves these are likewise Brethren and have Peace and Love and Unity charged upon them That they do Unite and agree together Indeed as in the former there are now and then differences here also those who are of the same Art and Trade and Profession They do not always so well sute and correspond one with another as it becomes them to doe These have their strifes and contentions But Brethren these things ought not so to be as the Apostle James speaks Jam. 3.10 There 's a great deal of sweet love and concord and agreement which is required betwixt these and it is that for which such Meetings and Assemblies as these are which we are gathered together at this time were at the first instituted and appointed as for other Considerations besides in reference to your Trade and Merchandise So especially and above all for the continuance and increase of Love They are not onely matters of Complement or formality but of Friendly Improvement Thirdly Brethren in a Spiritual sense from the Principles and Considerations of Piety and Christian Religion these are again Brethren That profess the same Faith that worship the same God that are members of the same Head that expect the same Heaven and Salvation and future Inheritance There are none who have a better Title to this Appellation of Brethren then such and consequently none who have Peace and Vnity more required of them even in that consideration likewise Such Brethren as these are they should especially live together in Vnity And the Scripture is especially inviting them and perswading them and calling them hereunto as most sutable and agreeable to the Principles of their Religion it self as I shewed before unto you Thus Eph. 4.3 When the Apostle had premised this Counsel and Exhortation unto them That they should indeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace He adds these things presently as a Motive and Argument for it There is one Body and one Spirit even as ye are call'd in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Al which are Considerations taken from the very Nature of Christianity it self and from their Interest in it This was that which was the great Praise and Commendation of the Primitive Christians as St. Luke takes notice of it in them That the multitude of them that beleived they were of one Heart and of one Soul Acts 4.32 What a lovely thing was this And so afterwards in succeeding times also The unity of Christians was so famous that they were known by this Discription a people that agree amongst themselves and their very Enemies took notice of it so as to commend and applaud them for it being that which their very Religion and Profession carried them unto And so it does Christianity it is Spiritual Fraternity and upon that account ingages to Vnity and Concord and Correspondency and mutuall Agreement and that more then any other else besides And that 's the second particular to the Subjects of this Vnity here mentioned Namely Brethren and that in all the several Notions and Denominations of it whether of Nature or Civility or Religion The Third and Last is the Exercise or Improvement or Manifestation of this Vnity and that is in dwelling together For Brethren to dwell together in Vnity There are two words at once and both of them very significant the one is the word together and the other is the word Dwelling each of which have their proper Force and Emphasis with them and do belong to this Vnity which is here mentioned and commended in Brethren First We may take notice of the Former to wit the word Together This is much intended in the Text as appears by the word which is added to it in the Original though not exprest in our English Translation and it is Gam which signifies Even Gam jachadh even together and so it is a word of Society and mutual Converse They that dwell together they come together and they meet together that 's one thing which is implied in it as pertinent here unto Vnity it is much exprest in Communion and Sociableness of Conversation and as exprest in it so likewise preserved by it and nourished and kept up from it Those that forbear to meet in their Persons they do not so easily meet in their Affections nor in their Hearts one with another whereas that it is a very great Help and Meanes and Conducement to this It makes Friends and Christians so much the better to understand one another and to be accepted with each others Dispositions to know one anothers Natures and to discern one anothers Graces and to be sensible of one anothers Perfections and so consequently to receive the more Comfort and Benefit one from another There is a very great Advantage in such Occasions and Opportunities as these are both for the doing and receiving of Good As Iron sharpeneth Iron so a man sharpeneth the Countenance of his Friend Prov. 27.17 Therefore in Heb. 10.24.25 When the Apostle had premised this Exhortation That we should consider one another to provoke to Love and good Works he presently adds and infers upon it as belonging unto it not forsaking the Assembly of our selves together as the manner of some is Because so doing is a very great Hinderance and Impediment to such performances yea indeed a cutting off all Occasions and Opportunities for them not onely such Assemblings as are of sacred and religious Constitution but likewise which are Common and Civil which do very well go together as they do now in your own present Practise and comming together at this present time Now these are so much the more desireable and Commendable when they are in Peace and Love not onely when there is a Concurrance of Persons but a Concurrance of Hearts and those which are in the same place are of the same mind This is that which is Expresly noted of the Apostles and the Diciples who were met together on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.1 That they were all with one accord in one place and not onely in one place Horses and Beasts may be so they may sometimes stand together but in one place with one accord This was that which
see Brethren together in Vnity All very lovely and amiable c. That which is written without upon the â—alls of your Porch let it be especially ingraven upon the Tables of your Hearts viz. Concordila nutrit Amorem What 's Heaven hereafter but a dwelling together in Vnity Let us begin it and Anticipate it to our selves by dwelling so here These words here in the Text as they lie before us in this present Psalm they seem to be uttered not onely Dogmatically but Narratively not onely as of somewhat to be but as of somewhat which was so indeed in the event And answerably let me beg of you that it may be applyed to your particular persons and your particular Societyes that it may be said occasionally from the seeing and observing of you Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is in good earnest for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity And you should do it so much the rather as your Example will be ready and likely to provoke many others besides to the like Conversation God having honoured your selves to be the prime and chief Company of the City that which is herein done by you will have an influence upon all other Societies who by your love and concord and Unity and Christian agreement will unite in love amongst themselves And thus it shall indeed prove according to the words of the Text. Like the precious Ointment which was poured upon the head of Aaron and ran down upon the skirts of his Garments or like the dew of Hermon and that descended upon the Mountains of Sion where the Lord will command his Blessing even life for ever more So much may serve for this time and for this Text. SERMON XXVII Psal 139.18 When I awake I am still with thee It is the Great advantage of a Christian which he has above other men that he has his Friends alwayes about him And if the fault be not his own need never to be absent from them In the Friendship and converse of the world we use to say Friends must part and those which have the delight and satisfaction in one anothers Society they must be content to leave it and to be taken off from it But this is the Priviledge of a Believer that undertakes Communion with God that it is possible for him alwayes with Him Again in Humane Converse and Society we know it is ordinary for Friends to dream that they are in Company with one another But when they awake they are a great way off But a Christian that converses with God and has his thoughts fasten'd upon Him When he awakes he is still with him which is that which is here exhibited to us in the Example of the Prophet David THe Explication of this Text in hand does very much depend upon the true and right Notion of one main and principal Term which is considerable in it And that is the word awake which does admit of a Various Interpretation and may be taken especially three manner of wayes In the Natural sense In the Moral sense and in the Mystical First Awaking is sometimes yea most commonly taken in the Natural signification for the recovery from Bodily sleep as Gen. 28.16 it is said of Jacob that he awoke out of his sleep And the like is said also of Sampson in Judg. 16.14 That he awaked in the like manner Secondly Awaking is sometimes also taken Morally as it signifies a recovery from sin Thus it is frequently taken in Scripture as Eph. 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the Dead and Christ shall give the light 1 Cor. 15.34 Awake to righteousness and sin not And in Rom. 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer then when we believed And 2 Tim. 2.26 That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Divel that they may awake Thirdly Awaking is sometimes also taken in a Mystical signification for the recovery out of a state of Affliction and especially out of a state of Death Thus our Saviour of Lazarus Joh. 11.11 Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awaken him out of sleep which though the Disciples understood of Natural rest as it is there signified yet Jesus meant it of his death as it is there also exprest As Death is a kind of Sleep so is the Resurrection a kind of awaking inanswerableness unto it now we may take this word here in the Text in either of these significations but I shall chiefly fasten upon the former as that which is most genuine and proper and with that will I now begin by taking it in the Natural signification When I awake sayes David that is when I cease from sleep and bodily rest I am still with thee Now there are two things which this holy man does here especially intimate and declare unto us The one is his Disposition and the other is his Priviledge His Disposition in order to Duty and what was required of him And his Priviledge in order to reward and what was vouchsafed unto him we may look upon either of them First Take it as to his Disposition and so there is this in it That it is the care and Indeavour of a Good and Gracius heart when he awakes to be still with God When I awake I am still with thee It is Davids Profession of himself as a Representative of all other good Men. Now it is requisite we should explain what is meant by being with God and how far forth a Christian when he awakes is said to be with him There is some Obscurity both in the Time design'd as also in the state it self which is fasten'd upon it How it is said When I awake And how it is said I am still with thee First For the Time Designed When I awake This may be taken two manner of wayes Hypothetically or Emphatically First It may be taken Hypothetically or Indifferently When I awake that is when I am not asleep and so hindred by the necessities of Nature As if he had said thus There is no time that I doe not injoy thee but when I doe not injoy my self And so it sounds as much as this That a good Christian is continually with God upon all occasions A Godly man is careful to be with God in every performance and in every condition Quando is as much as Quandocunque When that is whensoever A Christian whatever he is doing that is not sinful he is still with God In Solitariness in Company in the Duties of Religion in the works of his Calling yea in his seasonable Refreshments and Recreations when he awakes he is still with God And this again according to a twofold Explication First Dispositive in regard of his Habitual inclination Look as it is with Lovers who bear a strong Affection to each other they are said to be with one another wheresoever they are Anima non est
in Out Cryes in Robberies in Fires and the like in what ever Calamities we can think off as tending upon the Night How Comfortable I say is this to a Beleiving Soul in such cases as these are to be with God still when he awakes This is the priviledg which belongs to such Persons as we have it further declared unto us in Psal 91.5 Where speaking to a man that maintaines Communion with God and that dwels in the secret of the most High he has this Expression about him Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by Night nor for the Arrow that flieth by day Nor for the Pestilence that walketh in Darkness Nor for the Destruction that wasteth at noon day A thousand shall sall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand But it shall not come nigh thee Hence he says again of himself Psal 23.4 Though I should walk in the Valley of the shadaw of Death I will fear no Evil for thou art with me Thy Rod and thy Staff they Comfort me In the Valley of the shadow of Death that is as we may explain it in the Night For as Sleep is the shadow of Death so is the Night the Valley of that Shadow When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet Be not afraid of sudden fear neither of the Desolation of the Wicked when it cometh For the Lord shall be thy Confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken Secondly It quickens to Duty This waking with God in the Morning it keeps the heart in an holy frame and temper all the day after It makes us so much the fitter for those holy Exercises which are to be performed by us Yea indeed for any thing The Duties of our or ordinary Callings and Common and Domestick affairs they come off much the roundlier from us as we make Introductions to them by Communion first with God Thirdly It prevents from sin and Temptation at the least the prevalencies of it when a man shall neglect God at any time in the opening and Begining of the Day God many gives him over to the Power and malice of Satan and the Corruption of his own heart in the following part of it But now when he shall close with him betimes He will be watchful over him to preserve him And the Peace of God which passeth understanding shall keep his heart and mind through Christ Jesus Phil. 4.7 And thus we see the several Priviledges and Benefits that do attend upon this Practise The Vse of all comes to this even to excite us and provoke us and perswade us hereunto all that may be as that which is not onely our Duty but also our Advantage and confirmed to us by the Practise and Experience of all the Saints we should be much in this heavenly course of retiring to God upon all occasions and specially when we first awake to be still with Him in all the sences which I have now given of it We should wake our selves and also wake him as the Scripture sometimes advises us and gives us an Example in the Person of the Church Awake Lord why sleepest thou Arise cast us not off for ever as it is in Psal 44.23 I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem which shall not hold their peace day nor night Ye which are the Lords Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth Isa 62.6 7. Whatever we be mindfull else of in any of our Addresses to God we should be still mindfull of the Good of the Church and put himself in mind of it not give sleep to our eyes nor slumber to our eye-lids till he have in some sort prevailed with him for it There 's a special Emphasis in the words if ye observe them and take notice of them in that it is sayd I am still with thee which denotes Continuance and Perseverance It is not enough to have sudden flashes and stirrings of good thoughts in us when we awake in the Night or in the Morning or at any other time of Contemplation No but we must abide and fasten upon them I am still with thee that is as the word properly signifies I am yet with thee Gnoâ—hi gnimal Yet and yet and yet Like Friends that are like to depart and leave one another I am so with thee as that I know not how to get from thee we should please and delight our selves in such a blessed course as this is And that I say especially in the Morning and upon our first Awakening as indeed all the day long we should be still sucking and drawing from Him In set and limited times of Duty there may be sometimes if we look not better to it much of Custom and Formality and the doing of things as a tush c. But the keeping of the heart in a continued frame of Piety and inclinations towards God is most satisfactory and acceptable and hath a better Evidence with it Though the other likewise in its place is not to be neglected And as on all other dayes whatsoever so on the Lords day more especially we should be carefull to wake with God Then we should still with him and with him indeed As our Blessed Lord himself rose in the Morning of it whereby he did in some manner sanctifie it and set it apart for us so should we then be careful especially to rise in our thoughts and affections and meditations As he then awaked from Death so should we at such times especially awake both from sleep and sin and be watchfull in all the Duties of Religion Awake my Glory awake psaltery and harp I my self will awake right early Psal 57.8 Read Psal 92. to this purpose which is a Psalm penn'd for this occasion It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto his Name O most High To shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night Vpon an instrument of ten strings and upon the psaltery upon the harp with solemn sound For thou Lord hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep A brutish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this c. Now if ye shall ask how we may attain to this blessed Condition whereof we now speak when we awake to be thus still with God I answer briefly in the Observation of these following Directions as pertinent hereunto First Walk with God in the day The Duties of Religion are link'd and chain'd together and come off more easily in the Conjunctive performance of each other Thus Reading and Hearing and Meditation and Communion of Saints Conscionably and Religiously perform'd do so much the better dispose to more immediate Communion with God And the Actions of the Day have
of them And what ever they do for Him it is pleasing and acceptable to him As for wicked men God loathes all that comes from them He does not take it kindly at their hands but rather quarrels and findes fault with it and excepts against it as we find often in Scripture Should I accept this from you Mal. 1.13 And who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts Isa 1.12 He takes no pleasure in fools as it is Eccles 5.4 But for His Servants He is pleased to imploy them and He is pleased also with their Imployment Thus we see how in all these respects and Considerations which we have now mentioned the Lord takes pleasure in those that are his In their Persons and in their Graces and their Prayers and all their Services All which together make it up that He takes pleasure in them themselves as is here declared Now for the amplifying and further illustrating of this present Point before us This Delight which God takes in his people is considerable in these following Circumstances 1. As Free 2. As Lasting 3. As Operative and Efficacious First of all It is Free and Originated in Himself The Reason why men doe Delight and take pleasure in one another it is for the most part from some excellency in the Object moving them and inclining them thereunto from some sutableness to the Person delighted in and the Person that does Delight in him But in Gods delighting in His people there 's no such matter It is all here of Free Grace and Favour His taking Pleasure it does proceed from his Good-pleasure And there 's no other Account which can be given of it but His own Will As Deut. 7.7 8. The Lord loved you because He loved you that is His love it is best resolved into Himself as the proper cause and spring of it This is a very great Inlargement and Amplification of it unto us We count it a great piece of Favour especially in Great Persons to own Worth where they find it and to Delight in men there where they have somewhat amiable and delightful in them But to delight in any of their own accord and purely from the Goodness of their own nature without any thing worthy in the Person this is reckon'd a great Favour indeed why this is the case of Gods Delight and pleasure-taking in his servants It is there where they have nothing to move him or provoke him to it at least but what he himself first puts into them They are Comely with his Comeliness which he hath put upon them and from thence amiable to Him Secondly This Complacency and delight which God takes in his people it is lasting and Continuing As for the pleasure of men it is very uncertain and mutable they may delight in one at one time and disrelish him again at another as there are frequent experiences of it But the delight which God takes in his servants it is of a fixed and continued Nature and whom he loves he loves to the end The gists and calling of God are without Repentance This proceeds not onely from the Vnchangeableness which is in Himself but also from the Consideration of that Person through whom he is pleased with them and does accept of them this as I shewed before is Jesus Christ the Son of his Love forasmuch as God's love to Beleivers it is laid and founded in Christ therefore so long as he delights and takes pleasure in Christ he will do so in them also and his love can no more fail to them then to Christ Himself in whom he loves them Thirdly This Delight of God's it is Operative and Efficacious it is such as makes us to delight in God again and so it is mutual and Reciprocall Men they do sometimes delight and take pleasure in such kind of Persons as do not again delight in them but with God now it is otherwise where he is pleased at any time to fasten his Love and Affection upon any person he does cause him to make answerable returns in some degree of love unto him We love him says St. John because he first loved us not only as meriting it for us but as working it in us and not onely as the motive of our Love but also as the Efficient Therefore from hence by the way may we make a discovery to our selves of Gods delight in our selves namely according to this answerable Effect which it hath upon our own Hearts If so be he delights in us we shall also delight in Him and we may know the one by the other Those that shall say unto God depart from us for we desire not the knowledg of thy ways Those that care not to approach to God nor to injoy any Communion with him they may from thence very easily conclude that God does not delight in them forasmuch as this Delight it is operative and Efficacious And those are the several Amplifications of this Delight which is here mentioned to us Now this point thus illustrated to us it may be fruitful in sundry Inferences and deductions which may be drawn from it by way of Improvement and Application First In a way of Comfort and Consolation to the servants of God here 's matter of great Incouragement to them that God himself does take pleasure in in them and thus it is so in sundry respects First In point of Honour it is a great Dignity and Advancement to them We know in the affaires of the world that every one is so far Honourable as he is respected by persons of Honour those who have men of Quality to own them and to take delight in them they have so far forth a great deal of Excellency and Renown put upon them Now thus it is with all those who are true Beleivers and members of Christ they have the great God of Heaven and Earth himself takeing pleasure in them which is the highest Promotion of them Since thou wast precious in my sight thou wast Honourable because I have loved thee says God to Israel in Esay 43.4 And so it hold good of every Christian and Beleiver whatsoever He is so far forth Honourable as he is in favour with God Himself as well-pleased with Him Secondly In point of Safety it holds good in that respect likewise because God delights in his servants he will therefore protect them every one is Chary of that wherein they take pleasure for the keeping and preserving of it and as near as he can will not suffer any Evil to befall it Why thus now it is with God to his people He that toucheth them toucheth the Apple of their Eye as he has exprest it about them Zach. 2.8 So Esay 27.3 Speaking of his Vineyard that is his Church I the Lord do keep it I will water it every moment least any hurt it I will keep it Night and Day Men care not what becomes of the Wilderness of dry and barren Ground because they have no pleasure
this Mercy and that we are inabled so to do it is that which every one cannot do even there where there is Mercy fitted and prepared and provided for him go praise God for that Thirdly That God accepts of this Hope from us and is so well pleased with it in us we have cause to praise him likewise for this to say the Lord be magnified as who rejoyces in the Prosperity so takes pleasure in the Graces of his Servants and that even at such times as he neglects the great thins of the World and in a sort despises them That the Bones of the mighty are oftentimes broken while they that stumbled are girt with strength as Hannah in her Song expresses it 1 Samuel 2.4 And so I have done with these words as in their absolute Consideration so in their Comparative and so with the whole Text it self The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his Mercy SERMON XXIX Prov. 3.17 Her wayes are wayes of Pleasantness and all her paths are Peace It is the Nature and Disposition of Artists and those which are of any Mystery or Profession as much as they can to extoll and advance that Profession which they are off and to Commend it to the Consideration of others As Paul of the Ministry of the Gentiles I magnifie mine own Office Rom. 11.13 Every one is ready to magnifie that way which he takes up to Himself above all others whatsover and this as it is observable in other things so amongst the rest especially in Religion and the wayes of Godliness Those which are the Professors of this they desire as much as may be to Commend it and set it forth to the view of other men Wisdom is justified of her Children as our Saviour tells us Thus we may observe it to be here in this Scripture which we have now before us in the Example of the wise man Solomon who being a Son of Wisdome and of special Wisdom especially that is Grace and Holiness and Religion which he here speaks off does in divers Chapters together applaud it and praise it all he can that so thereby he may invite others unto it IN these words we have described unto us the Excellency of Godliness and Religion in two particulars which may serve to make up unto us the parts of the Text. First From it's Pleasure and delight Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness Secondly From it's Tranquility and Quiet And all her paths are peace We begin First of all with the former to wit the description of Godliness from the pleasure and delight which is in it The wayes of Godliness and Religion are exceeding pleasing and delightful wayes they carry a great deal of sweetness and Contentment and pleasantness in them This is the point which is here exhibited unto us and it dâ—â—â— appear out of other places of Scripture likewise as Psal 36.8 David speaking of the Church and members of it sayes That they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Gods House and that he would make them to drink of the Rivers of his pleasures And Psal 118.15 The voyce of joy and Salvaton is sayd to be in the Tabernacles of the Righteousness So Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the Vpright in Heart Esay 51.11 The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their Head they shall obtain gladness and joy and Sorrow and Mourning shall flee away Esay 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness where you see they are both joyned together And Galat. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is joy Now this Truth it may be further amplyfied and made good to us in sundry particulars which do prove and confirm it unto us There is a great deal of pleasure in Religion in sundry respects Wee 'l take them in that order as they do offer and present themselves to our thoughts As First of all In the work of Grace and Regeneration wrought in the heart All the several Graces of the Spirit and the habits of Sanctification which are in us they do reflect very sweetly upon us and there is a great deal of delight and Contentment to the Soul which does see them in it self Take a man which is full of Lusts and Corruptions which bear sway in him and he is a loathsome and abominable Creature sometimes even in his own Apprehensions A wicked and ungodly man he is in some manner odious to himself and is overcome as I may say now and then even with his own stench like a man which is in filthy Rags and torn and uncomely Garments he does not like himself in them But now on the otherside a good Christian which has the Grace of the Spirit of God in him and the work of the New Creature in his Soul he is so far forth pleasing to himself Grace is a very sweet and odoriferous Qualification as it casts a sweet savor into the Nostrils of all others that stand by it so especially as I may say into the Nostrils of all those that partake of it That Soul which is indued with it is like one that has roll'd himself in a Bed of Spices who is all over sweet and delightful I might set it forth to you in all the resemblances of Comfort and Contentment look whatever it be which in the discovery and discerning of it does usually afford delight to our selves the same may be applyed to the Graces of Gods Spirit and the sanctifying Qualities which are in us not onely as odoures and sweet spices to the smell it 's pleasing to be sensible of them But likewise further as Treasures of Gold and Silver there are many which much delight in them The Rich man when he looks in to his Coffers how much contentment does he take in them even there where others deride him and laughed at him Populus mei sibilat c. Yea but now a Godly man recounting the Graces which are in him has more true comfort and content by far And that 's the First particular wherein Godliness proves so delightful In the work of Regeneration and the habits of the Spirit of God in us Secondly As there 's a sweetness in reflecting upon Grace in the having of it so especially in the Exercise of it Every Grace the more it is improveed carries a delight and pleasurableness in it in what kind soever Therefore the Psalmist tells us that in keeping of Gods Commandments there is great Reward Mark not onely for the keeping but in the keeping be-shomran Psal 19.11 There 's Praemium ante Praemium A reward before the reward even in the thing it self Sutable to the nature of the Grace is the Exhibition of the comfort yea the very Heathen and Moralists themselves so far forth as they exercised vertue and practised that natural goodness which was in them they had some kind of comfort and contentment
arising from it to them much more then is it so to true Christians in the exercise of the Graces of the Spirit These must have needs a great deal of comfort and so indeed they have which makes their lives full of sweetness in the midst of many outward crosses and difficulties which they here meet withal To instance in some few particulars for the clearing of the Point unto you In Faith The Exercise of that Grace what a great deal of sweetness is there in this whereby a Christian has somewhat to stay and support and hold up himself in the greatest discouragements When all the world is disquieted and knows not which way to turn it self then does a Believer quiet himself in God and his interest in Him He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord like a man who is on the top of a Rock that the waves are not able to reach him even so is it with a Christian who is led to the Rock that is higher then himself In the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him Psal 32.6 Yea though he be in the midst of the waters yet he makes a shift to hold up his head As we see it was with David himself in that great affliction at Ziklag 1 Sam. 30.6 He comforted himself in the Lord. He had experience of this himself and accordingly he commends it to others to delight in that Psal 17.4 And so the Prophet Isaiah shews us a view of comfort from hence in the saddest conditions Isa 50.10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord that obeyeth the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God This for the exercise of Faith And so again for the Exercise of Patience which is a principal sprig of faith How much sweetness is there also in this An impatient Person is a burden to himself and the more he struggles with any evil the more he intangles himself with it and findes a greater bitterness in it whereas by a quiet submission to it and patience under the hand of God it becomes so much themore easier Levius sit patientia quicquid corrigere est nefas And so for meekness and love and peace how much sweetness in that A quarrelsom person is a burden as it were to himself he has no quietness in his own breast but is like the raging Sea which casts up mire and dirt but where there 's Love and Unity and Agreement there 's a sweet calmness and tranquillity of mind So for Repentance and Godly sorrow there is a joy which is mingled with it and which flowes from it The more we mourn for sin the more true comfort in our own heart The jolliness of sinners it has sometimes a bitterness with it but the quiet of penitent persons is not without some mixture of a great deal of comfort attending upon it Last of all To add no more in this kind The practise of Mortification in the subduing and restraining of lusts it has a great deal of delightfulness in it also The Delight of sin is nothing to the delight of holy restraint when a man has grappled with any strong Temptation resisted any violent lust denyed himself in a sinful allurement what a contentment does from hence now come in and flow into the heart which another is unsensible off This is the misery of any sin yielded to or any temptation closed withal that besides the guilt which it brings upon the conscience it leaves an unfavoriness upon the spirit it does not onely smart but foul which is very displeasing but now on the otherside the resistance of it is not onely peaceable but pleasant It is a great comfort to him that does it And that 's the second Explication There 's a sweetness in the exercise of Grace in all the several kinds of it Thirdly There 's a great pleasingness likewise in all the Duties and Exercises of Religion whatsoever they be As for instance First in Prayer and a daily and continued ejaculation and communion with God in this performance What a great deal of Solace does a gracious heart find to it self here when upon all occasions it can unbosom it self to God and draw near to him for any thing which it wants and stands in needs of lay open all its complaints and express its desires and send up all its groans It is impossible to express the contentment which the soul findes in such a performance The crying Abba Father and the sweet returns of Gods Spirit upon the heart back again how do they ravish it and lift it up to heaven We know what is recorded of Hannah 1 Sam. 1.18 That when she had prayed she was no more sad but was satisfied and well-contented with her condition David had great peace and comfort in this performance when nothing else could quiet him besides And so Job My friends sayes he spake freely against me but my soul powred forth complaints unto God Prayer is a very comfortable Duty not onely in regard of the effects and consequents and benefits which come by it but also from the very thing it self Not onely in that it is a means to obtain great things from him but likewise that it is a work wherein we injoy communion with him wherein there 's intercourse betwixt God and us As it is betwixt friend and friend the very discourse which they have one with another is pleasing and delightful though the things which they discourse about may be but ordinary affairs Even so betwixt a Christian and God Though the things which sometimes he asks at Gods hands be but common matters as pertaining to the things of this life yet the fellowship and holy Society which the heart hath with God in the Duty is reward enough to him that is exercised and imployed in it Prayer it is a kind of Ascension of the mind to God as it uses commonly to be describ'd and in that regard very delightfull That 's the first Duty the Duty of Prayer Secondly The Reading of the Scriptures There 's a great deal of sweetness likewise in that David speaking of the word of God sayes 't is to him as his appointed food that he rejoyces in it more then in great Riches That Gods Testimonies are his delight and his Counfellors and that the word of God is sweeter to him then the honey or the honey-comb and such like expressions as these We shall read in the Chronicles of the Martyrs what contentment some of them took in Pauls Epistles and if they could get but a leaf or two of the Bible they made account of it as a very great Treasure The sweetness of Prayer is that therein we speak to God and the sweetness of Reading is that therein we have God speaking to us and revealing his mind unto us we have here a satisfaction of us in a double
sence a comforting of us in Distresses a companion for us in solitariness and loneliness and what not If there be so much contentment in other Authors how much more is there in the book of God which is the chief Book of all It is the want of Experience and Tryal of such performanees as these are which makes any to be ignorant of the Delight and sweetness which is in them Those which have tasted of honey they know the sweetness of honey And so those which have tasted of Gods word they know the Excellency and Comfortableness which is in it and will desire it again and again Thirdly The Communion of Saints how pleasant likewise is this That holy Conference and Discourse which Christians have one with another in provoking one another to love and good works in quickning one anothers graces in Communicating one anothers Experiences in the inlarging of one anothers Comforts As Iron sharpens iron so does the heart of man here his friend It is the begining even of Heaven it self and a pledge of that perfect contentment which the Saints shall have hereafter in that place which should stir us up so much the more to the practise of it We see how it was with the Disciples in the first Plantations of the Christian Church Acts 2.46 They continued daily with one accord in Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of bread from house in house and did their meat with gladness and singleness of heart They did eat their meat with gladness namely in regard of the delight which they had one with another Fourthly The Communion which Christ and the Saints both take at the Lords Table There is a great deal of Contentment here also How does the soul of a Christian feast it self with these Royal and heavenly Preparations Here Christ spreads His Table as it were for us sets before us His Milk and His Wine and His Honey and His Oyl and all that may be to give us refreshment A conscientious Christian who uses these things as he ought not Formally not Customarily but in obedience and dependance upon God He findes a great deal of Comfort in them which another does not find As Jonathan when he had tasted of the honey in 1 Sam. 14.27 It is said his eyes were enlightned by it and he was cheared and revived in his spirit and more strengthned for the pursuit of the Philistims even so is it with a Godly soul in its partaking of these Comfortable dainties this spiritual honey and Oyle he becomes more inlighten'd in his judgement more quicken'd and inlarged in his Affections and so much the more fitted to incounter with all his spiritual enemies whereas those which abstain from that grow weary and faint as the people did there in that place that abstained from the tasting of the honey There 's no Epicure has such pleasure in his Corporal dainties as a good Christian has in these Spiritual which he does by faith apply himself to and in an holy manner partake off Lastly In a word Take the whole Sabbath together The sanctifying of the Lords day in all the several performances of it and the mixture of the one with the another how much sweetness is there in it The Scripture tells us of some that make the Sabbath a delight as there are others which make it a burden Isa 58.13 14. Amos 8.5 This is the different Disposition of Persons in the world though some snuff at the Ordinances yet others take Contentment in them A Godly man he rejoyces when the Sabbath is come it is the best day to him in all the week in regard of that satiety of soul which he meets with in it He is hereby taken off from the world and the distracting imployments of it He is set upon thoughts of God and Heaven and Salvation and the life to come such thoughts as have some kind of a satisfactoriness and pleasingness in them And the very change and intercourse of Duty is not without its delight herein also sometimes Prayers and sometimes Hearing and sometimes Meditating and sometimes Conferring and sometimes Reading and sometimes Singing How graciously has God provided for our weakness in this particular while our Natures are so desirous of Varity that no one duty might be tedious to us we have many Duties to imploy our selves in and to exercise our selves with And that 's a Third Explication of the Pleasantness which is in Godlyness viz. from the Duties and Exercises of Religion Now the point thus Explain'd unto us may be fruitful in these following Applications Namely First As it serves to confute the fond conceit of men of the World which they have concerning Godliness and the ways of Piety There are many which are of this opinion that Religion is a Melancholly Condition that it makes men pensive and sad and has no pleasure nor delight in it at all and hence they come to be discouraged from the following and professing of it and are apt to discourage others likewise from following it to But this proceeds from a plain mistake and Ignorance and erroniousness of Judgment in them for indeed it is quite contrary as 't is here exprest to us in this Text. Her wayes are wayes of Pleasantness There 's a great deal of sweet delight and refreshment in the wayes of Godliness to those which walk in them and what ever is pleasant in any ways the same is to be found here in these First Godly Prospects they are one thing which make a way pleasant green Fields and flowing Rivers and the like to walk by such wayes as these it carries a great deal of pleasure and delight with it why thus now does the Spirit of God in Scripture set forth to us the wayes of Religion Psal 23.2.3 He makes me to lie down in green Pastures he leads me besides the still Waters he restoreth my Soul he leadeth me in the paths of Righteousness for his name sake Where the latter is an Explication of the former The green Pastures and still Waters are no others then the paths of Righteousness and the Ordinances which lead thereunto Secondly Another pleasantness of wayes consists in their Lightsomeness to walk in dark wayes in Holes and Woods and the like it carries no pleasure at all in it He that walkes in Darkness he knoweth not whether he goeth sayes the Apostle and from thence can have no pleasure in his walk such are the wayes of Sin and Wickedness no comfort at all in them Who leaves the paths of Vprightness to walk in the wayes of Darkness Pro. 2.13 But the wayes of Grace are otherwise Light is sown for the Righteous as it is in the place before used And joy for the Vpright in heart Thirdly Another Pleasantness of the way is much taken from the Company Comes facundus in via per rehiculo est Why this now is the advantage of Goodness there 's good Company in this way Prov. 2.20 That thou mayest walk in the way
Confutation to all such persons Secondly As a word of Censure and Reproof to Children themselves who are the children of Wisdom and that in these particulars First In that they do no more rejoyce and delight themselves in these wayes then they do no more draw out the sweetness and pleasurableness and contentment which is in them by applying themselves to them It is a great disparagement to those which are good when as having such wayes as these to walk in they at any time turn from them and walk in wayes contrary hereunto Would we not count him a very strange man who when he might walk in pleasant Orchards would choose to walk in unsavory places c. Why such is the fondness of those which are Godly when they cease to walk in the wayes of Righteousness and divert to sin They are upon the point altogether as vain Thus did David and Peter and Solomon and others of the Saints and servants of God in Scripture Again Secondly Gods Children are here to be reproved as sometimes for walking out of these wyes so sometimes also for not walking answerable to them when they cause an ill report upon Religion through their sadness and pensiveness of Spirit It is true indeed there are occasions of sadness which do sometimes offer themselves from the world yea very often too many of Gods servants but they should labour that these things do not urge them and press them down but help to Comfort themselves from Religion against all worldly Discontentment that may be In the Third and last place here is a word of Tryal to set us a searching how it is with our selves seeing it is so indeed that Religion and the way of it is so full of Pleasure let us then consider with our selves whether we make it or think it to be so for our own particular where that we may not deceive our selves We must know that there 's a divers kind of pleasure or delight which men may possibly have in Religion and the exercises of Piety as viz. First A Carnal Delight when men delight in Religion not simply but as it brings them in some Benefit and Advantage Thus those that came to the hearing of Christ in John 6.26 They sought him not for the Miracles but for the Loaves These they love not the Lord Jesus but their own Bellies as it in Rom. 16.18 These they count gain to be Godliness as it in 1 Tim. 6.5 Thus when people shall love to come to the Ordinances onely out of an Affection of the Credit of Godliness because such do so before them of whom they would be well esteem'd this is a Corrupt and Carnal Delight it is to make the wayes of Godliness to be subservant to their own Lusts Secondly There is a Natural Delight in the wayes of Religion which is not properly Sinful but yet it is not sufficient nor enough for a Christian to have There is such a Comeliness and Gravity and Decency in the Exercise of Piety as does take with a mans real Principles And in the Scripture and word of God there is somewhat which may be pleasing to the fancy of a mear Natural man There 's the Story and there 's the Language and there 's the Rethorick and such things as these men may delight in the Duties of Religion as they are a part of good Education out of Custom and such things as they have been brought up and used unto now though this I say be not a sinfull Delight yet it is not that which we should rest in we may take pleasure in the Ordinances thus and yet come short of that delight which should be in us and such as a good Christian does labour to find in himself Neither of these two delights which I have now named will serve the turn Therefore the Third is a Spiritual which we delight in the wayes of Religion and the exercises and duties of Piety out of a savour and relish of them and an inward Principle in our selves carrying us to them When we close with the word of God in all the branches and parts of it Exhortation or Comfort or Reproof as being fitted in some sort unto them This is the true Delight indeed and such as none can have but those which are truly Religious and this as great a discovery of our Condition as any thing else whereby we may take account of our selves The Children of God the relish and take pleasure in the wayes of Goodness others may stumble upon them sometimes but then they are out of their Element they are never well while they are out of them but the Godly It is their proper Course and Motion which is most agreeable to them Let us therefore in this thing examine and search our selves as concerning our Deight c. And so much of the First Particular from whence Religion is commended to us and that is from the pleasure which is in it Her wayes are wayes of Pleasantness The Second is taken from it's Quietness And all her paths are peace There are many a fair and pleasant way in the world which yet is not without a great deal of hazard and danger to those that walk in it but this is the excellency of Religion that it is pleasant and peaceable both And of this latter are we now here to consider how Religion is a Business of Peace and does carry peace along with it This it does in a threefold Explications First With God the peace of Reconciliation Secondly With our selves the peace of Assurance Thirdly With one another the peace of Communion First With God the peace of Reconciliation Religion it brings us to this It is the first and main errand of the Gospel next to Glory to God that it brings peace on Earth and good will towards men And the embracement and Entertainment of the Gospel does make us actually partakers of the peace Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ c. sayes the Apostle Rom. 5.1 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace Peace Peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee the peace of Reconciliation and the peace of Assurance both Esay 26.3 This is the misery of all ungodly Persons that there 's an Enmity betwixt God and them and they are hatefull one to another the Lord has a quarrell and Controversie with them this he has with all men by Nature but now Religion takes up this quarrel and the paths of Spiritual Wisdom they are the paths of Peace thus namely in regard of God himself Let him take hold of my strength and he shall make peace with me Esay 27.5 Religion it is the way of peace in regard of God as namely it teaches us how God and we may become friends and likewise as walking in those wayes we do more strengthen our selves in this his Friendship and confirm his love to us for the better and holier we are the more does God
for the fitness of this Person to commend our Works and Affairs unto in his Book De Patientia Satis idoneus patientiae sequester est Deus si injuriam deposueris penes eum ultor est si damnum reslitutor est si dolorem medicus est God is a sufficient Depositary of patience to thee If thou committest thy Wrongs to him he is an Avenger if thy Losses to him he is a Repairer if thy Diseases to him he is a Recoverer and so forth In all conditions and upon all occasions he is ready to hear thy complaints and to take thy supplications This shews what good cause we have to commit our Works unto him I might take occasion hence also to amplifie it from all his Relations wherein he stands with us And thus we see what good ground there is here for this Exprecton and Motion in the Text to Commit our Works to the Lord as the Term and Point this Action which it is directed unto and the Person which this Commitment and Deposition is charged withal Now further To open this still unto us we are not to take this only Specificative but also Exclusive whereby it is said here Commit thy works to the Lord. It seems to carry this sense with it that we do so commit them to him as upon the point to none else besides So that moreover there are these intimations included in it and with it First To the Lord and not to thine own self Whilst we are bid to commit our Works unto God we are thereby implicitely forbidden Self-confidence and Presumption in any thing which belongs unto us As for instance our own Wit and Counsel and Understanding Thus Prov. 3.5 Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not to thine own understanding It is a dangerous thing for us to lean to our own Understanding which is apt many times to fail us and give us the slip Carnal Policy and the Wisdom of the World such things as these they do many times prove but broken Reeds And so as for Wit so Wealth and Strength and Power such things as these it is but ill trusting and confideing in them Secondly To the Lord and not to other men There is ill committing of our Works to such also The Scripture has shewed us how ill it is for us so to do by setting a Character upon them Psal 62.9 Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of sigh degree are a lye being layed in the ballance they are altogether lighter than vanity Thirdly To the Lord and not to Fortune and Chance There are many which do blindly commit their Works and their Ways unto this which is as good as nothing at all Now it becomes not Christians so to do we should rest and relye upon God and commend our selves to His Gracious Providence which is the surest Shelter and Refuge for us that may be And thus we have seen this Point opened and enlarged in all its several Particulars Now what remains to our selves for the Use and Application of it but to perform it and to put it into practise Seeing the Spirit of God thus enforces it upon us let not us be wanting to it or negligent in it let us not deprive our selves of so much comfort and quietness as may accrew to us hereby as we shall hear afterwards only that we may do it the more effectually let us consider what Qualifications do belong to the right doing of it This Committing then which is here spoken of First It is an Act if Interest and of Persons in Covenant with God Those which are Enemies or Strangers to God they cannot commit their Affairs unto him for as much as this is an Action of special Intimacy and Acquaintance Will men trust their Jewels and Treasure or their Secrets and private Counsels with men whom they never saw before in all their lives No they will not do it nor if they should they would not do it with prudence and discretion because it were possible for them to be frustrated and disappointed And so is it here in our Addresses to God Ceatainly we can trust nothing with him except we are first acquainted with him our selves No man can commit his Works to God who has not first committed his Soul to God and given up his Person to his owning None can commit his Works in a way of Dependence who has not committed his heart and soul to God in a way of Obedience who has not resigned and given up himself to God as wholly his Therefore let us be sure to look to this as very pertinent hereunto And know for this purpose where this is done the other will follow and may very well do so because that God himself in such cases does take special care of us when we once enter into Covenant with God and because it is the blessed and happy privilege which comes to us by being God's Children He is not only the God of our Persons but he is also the God of our Performances and of our Conditions and all that comes from us He undertakes to work all our Works in us and for us not only those Works which do immediately refer to our Salvation but also even those Works which are of common and ordinary Concernment And though he may sometimes be helpful to others in them also yet they cannot so well trust him for them Persons which are out of Covenant they cannot commit their Works to the Lord which is first of all an Act of Interest Secondly As it is an Act of interest so it is also an Act of favour I mean of favour in a passive sense A man may be in Covenant with God for the General Acceptation of his Person and Justification in the sight of God and yet lie in terms of particuar distaste and displeasure from him Now this is a great Obstruction of this committing of our Works unto him That Man which has done any thing whereby he has taken off God's Countenance from him and caused him to look angerly upon him he is much hindred and has hindred himself from the kindly performance of this duty which does not only imply Interest and Acquaintance but likewise Friendship and Good Will betwixt God and the Soul of a Christian We may see it in the Example even of the Holy Man David himself who having offended God by his sins had not that freedom of access unto him nor delight in him as sometimes he had had Eccles 7.26 He that pleaseth God shall not be taken by her Oh we should by all means be careful to keep in good terms with God and to have all things right betwixt him and us not only from the sweetness which is contained in the state and condition it self but also for the blessed effects and consequents which do issue from it And especially this amongst the rest of liberty and opportunity for committing and commending of our Works and Affairs unto him Thirdly This business
ought to have done And therefore I may have my Thoughts troubled and disquieted in my self For Answer hereunto thus much If it be such a Failing in us as is voluntary and Observed and Discerned in us then we ought not to question Gods Providence but rather be humbled in our selves for it and making up the breach betwixt God and our selves in that particular apply our selves to him with so much the more eagerness and intention If it be such as is secret and not discerned only feared and suspected in our selves God is not a Captious Master one that makes advantage of every thing against us but accepts of our Desires and Endeavours to do that which is pleasing in his sight Therefore let not this Discourage us so as to promote Distraction in us but let our Thoughts still be Establisht and remember still to have them Establisht upon this Ground to wit The Committing of our Works to the Lord. We must put these two Clauses in their Connexion There are many their minds are quiet oftentimes and free from any great trouble which is the Ground and Foundation of it Security may attend any Presumption and Apprehension of Danger and it may be the present injoyment of some outward help This is that which supports them but ours should be a dependance upon God And this for the matter of Duty The Second is the Matter of Priviledge And thy Thoughts shall be Established Thus is that we think when any thing troubles our Thoughts to work it out by our Thoughts themselves But alas that is no way which is consequent and following hereupon That man which in a Right manner does commit his works to the Lord he has from hence a blessed quietness and security of mind happens unto him When we follow God with Faith He follows us with Comfort and abundantly recompensesour Trust and Relyance upon him into our own Bosoms Being Justified by Faith we have Peace with God c. Rom. 5.1 Faith is a satisfying Grace and it has this Issue and Effect with it as proper and peculiar to it that quiets and settles the heart of that person who is the Subject of it Hannah when she had prayed to the Lord it is said Her Countenance thereupon was no more Sad 1 Sam. 1.18 so abundantly was she satisfyed in her self upon that Performance And so shall we likewise be in the practise of it It will comfort us and quiet us and satisfie us upon all occasions whatsoever See what the Prophet David observes to this purpose concerning a Good and Godly man Psal 112.7 8. He shall not be afraid of evil tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is Established he shall not be afraid until he see his desire upon his Enemies It is doubled again and again for the certainty and confirmation of it to put it out of doubt And thus much of the first Explication Thy Thoughts that is the Workings and Agitations of the Mind it self The Second is the Result of these workings of the Mind in the things themselves Thy Thoughts shall be Establisht That is indeed thy purposes and Contrivances and Works themselves wherewithal thy Thoughts are imployed They shall be Establisht that is Prospered unto thee And so we shall have the Sence clear and plain Commit thy Works unto the Lord and those Works shall be Establisht The Prospering and Establishing of a mans Works it has always been counted a great advantage it is that which the Prophet David Prays for in the behalf of the Church Psal 90.17 Let the Beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and Establish thou the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands Establish thou it This is that now which is promised to trusting and relying upon God and this Committing of our Works unto him thy Thoughts i.e. thy Works c. Let us learn then here the way which leads and directs us hereunto As we all desire to have Establisht Thoughts and Establisht Works as all men naturally do so let us take that course which does properly lead unto it Let us commit our selves and our Works and our ways and all that belongs unto us to the Gracious Providence of God that so we may have a Blessed Sabbath and Tranquillity in our minds and have all our affairs succeed unto us And especially let us be carefull to do it whose Thoughts and Works meet together in a more special and peculiar manner That is whose Works lie in our Thoughts it concerns us to do it more than ordinary and above any other else besides As we ever desire to have our studies blest and to have any good and Fruit to come of them so let us be especially carefull to commit them still to the Lord. Commit them to him as the End of them and the Scope which they are directed unto When we make our selves the End of them we cannot expect so to prosper in them But when we make him the aim of all he will return it graciously upon us And commit them to him as the Helper of them and as he that must give them Life to them without whose assistance all is in vain The Preparations of the heart are of man but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord Prov. 16.1 And commit them to him as the Blesser of them and as he that must give success unto them without which they come to nought What 's the reason that many Schollars they take a great deal of pains in their Studies and many has no good comes of it All their learning is lost unto them in regard of any good they do with it or Comfort which they can take in it it is because they are neglectfull and failing in this present performance of Committing their Works to the Lord. To Conclude Let us by the way take notice of the great Happiness and Felicity of a Christian in all his ways He is secure and safe having Committed himself to God and so need not to fear any thing Quam securus dormit sues Chrysologus qui Deum meruit habere custodem quam nescit curas quam depacit auxores Oh how securely does that man sleep who has got the Lord to be his keeper How void of cares How free from troubles c. Let it make us in love with Religion and Christianity and the exercise of Godliness which does contain so much excellency and advantage within the bowels of it Let us not lay our happiness and contentment in the world and the comforts thereof nor our confidence in any outward subsistence but rather in such things as these which have a bottom and foundation in them even the Attributes and Perfections and Promises of God Himself But so much also for that namely The Second General Part of the Text in the inforcement of the Duty required And so likewise as breifly as could be of the whole Verse it self Commit c. SERMON XXXII Prov. 17.3 The
Fining Pot is for Silver and the Furnace for Gold but the Lord tryeth the Hearts Those things which we look upon as matter of Greatest Consequence we think we have need to exercise the Greatest Care and Caution about them Hence it is that in Civil Affairs and Businesses of our ordinary Concern our Gold and Silver and Coin And such things as these they do not usually pass us without some tryal and probation of them We have our Touch-Stone for the discovery of the Truth of them and our Ballance for the discovery of the Weight of them and our Furnace for the separating of the Dross Neither does it less behove us to be wary in Spiritual Matters where by how much the greater is our Concernment by so much the more dangerous is our Miscarriage and the better the things themselves are in their own nature the worse will it be for us to mistake about them For this reason does the Spirit of God in this Scripture which we have now before us lead us from the one to the other and from the care which is used about our Metals carry us to the care of our Minds yea God himself his care for us The Fining Pot is for Silver and the Furnace for Gold but the Lord tryeth the Hearts THe Text is a Parabolical Description of God's Almighty Power and Wisdom for the discovery and Reformation of the closest and subtilest and perfectest thing in the World which is the Heart of Man set forth by a Similitude taken from things of ordinary use amongst us The refining of Silver and the purging and purifying of Gold The words they do at the first hearing carry in them the form of an Opposition but they have indeed the force of a Comparison wherein the Lord 's dealing with the hearts and spirits of men as to the tryal of them is resembled and illustrated by the Gold-Smith's dealing with his Silver and Gold And we may in the for Order's sake take notice of these two general Parts the Proposition the Reddition The Proposition in the first part The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold The Reddition in the latter But the Lord tryeth the hearts We begin with the First viz. The Proposition in these words The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for Gold but the Lord tryeth the hearts Wherein two things more First The Metals mentioned and they are Silver and Gold Secondly The Instruments which are made use of in reference to them and they are the Fining Pot and the Furnace Each of these have their proportionable resemblance First For the Metals here mentioned we have Silver and Gold which hold analogy and correspondency with the hearts of the Sons of Men which follows afterwards in the Text they are set out very properly and fitly by these expressions and that especially in regard of the price and value of them we know that these are for the most part of greatest esteem of any thing else What ever is of Account in the World it is commonly set forth by these two Silver and Gold as ye may see in divers instances The Excellency of Seasonable Language it is like apples of gold in pictures of silver Prov. 25.11 The several Gifts and Graces of the Church Borders of Gold with Studs of Silver The Return of the Churches Captivity Wings of Silver and Feathers of Gold Psal 68.13 Sacred and substantial Doctrine is called Gold and Silver and Precious Stones 1 Cor. 2.12 And so here the hearts of men silver and gold This it is true of all men's hearts whatsoever considered at large in the natural consideration of them being of a finer and purer frame than the rest of the Creatures But it is tue of those who are gracious and regenerate especially above the rest The tongue of the just is as choice silver whilst the heart of the wicked is nothing worth Prov. 10.20 Good men they are like Gold and Silver in sundry regards First From the Solidity and Substantialness of their Principles They are such as have some strength in them Take some men in the World and consider them in reference to Religion and they have no bottom nor weight in them at all they are flashy and empty Christians who have nothing at all in them but Profession But the Saints and Servants of God they are solid and substantial which makes them so much the better to persist and to hold out to the end They are like Gold and Silver thus which are the solidest Metals of any other Secondly From the Purity and Sincerity of their Conversation They have not those Mixtures and Adulterations which many others have There are divers which as God calls them by his Prophet Jeremy Jer. 6. ult Reprobate silver Their silver is become â—roâ— Isa 1.22 If they have any seeming good in them it is daubed and very much defiled little of that plain-heartedness and simplicity of Christ which the Scripture here commends unto us But for Good Christians this is their Character that they are pure and undefiled in their way Psal 119.2 Thirdly From the Splendor of their Example Gold and Silver they are such Metals as which does carry the greatest lustre in them of any other besides And so do good Christians They shine like lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom they live And Their light so shines before men as that they seeing their good works are hence provoked to glorifie their Father which is in heaven And so much briefly of the first Particular in this first General viz. The Metals here mentioned Silver and Gold The Second is the Instruments which are made use of in reference to them and they are the Fining Pot and the Furnace Whereby is signified to us the state and condition of the best men that are Their hearts are like Gold and Silver but it is like Gold and Silver in the Ore which has a great deal of Dross mingled with it and must be separated from it by God's Instruments of Purification which he has appointed for such a purpose as this is There is nothing almost in nature which is presented to us with that perfection but that it is a fit Subject for Art and Skill to work it self upon Even the best Metals that are they are not right till such time as they are refined nor the most precious Stones that are they do not attain to their splendor till they be polished And if it be so in Naturals it is so in Spirituals more especially Take those persons which for the present are the best and holyest that are and look upon them in massa corrupta in the principles of their unregenerate condition and there is little or no loveliness in them in the midst of the best natural Parts and Qualifications Besides we are all by nature the Children of Wrath and Bond-slaves of Sin till God puts us into his Fining Pot and his
will rain bread from heaven that I may prove them whether they will walk in my Law or not Exod. 20.20 God is come to prove you that his fear may be before your faces that ye sin not Deut. 8.2 He proved them to know what was in their hearts c. And Deut. 13.24 The Lord our God proveth you c. This although it be spoken after the manner of men yet it is not so to be understood by us There 's a great deal of difference betwixt Gods Tryings and mens for men when they try they use some means for the discovery of that to them which they knew not before and for the knowing of that more fully perfectly which they knew but in Part But with God it is not so He is ignorant of nothing and therefore cannot in this sense be said to try But when he tries us it is to discover and make known our selves to our selves that what we as yet know not he may manifest and discover to us Tentat Deus ut ipse hominem inveniat sed ut homo se inveniat as Austin calls God he therefore tries not that he may find out man but that man may find out himself and be sensible of his own condition Now for this kind of Tryal to wit by way of discovery there is a double time and season of it First of all sometimes even now in this time of the World He takes occasion to discover many persons both to others and to themselves To themselves in their own Consciences And to others in the open view and beholding of them thus 2 Tim. 3.8 9. They shall proceed no farther for their folly shall be made manifest to all men so 1 Tim. 5.24 25. Some mens sins are open before hand c. God makes tryal both of mens Graces and of their Sins even in this present time And he has divers ways to do it according to his different Providence and Dispensations to us in the World Sometimes by his Mercies and sometimes by his Judgements sometimes by his dealings with themselves and sometimes by his dealings with others sometimes by his inlarging himself to them and sometimes by withdrawing of himself from them There are not more persons to be Tryed then there are various and different ways for the Tryal of them and discovery of what is in them But Secondly As here in this World so especially in the World to come and in the day of Christs second comming The day of Discovery or Revolution Rom. 2.8 And 1 Cor. 3.13 Every mans work shall be manifested for the day shall declare it and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is That 's a special time and season for this purpose indeed And those which may scapethe test now yet then they shall be sure to undergo it and be subject to it God will bring every secret thing to light and every work whether it be good or bad Eccl. 12.14 The improvement which we may make of this Point comes to this namely from hence to teach us so much the rather to try our selves The Lord will try us either sooner or later Therefore let us look to our own hearts and try them It is that which does of course follow upon it as a necessary inference We must prove our selves that so we may be approved As Schollars that must say to their Masters will first say to themselves It is a peice of wisdom so to do that we may not be surprised and overtaken before we are aware Let as search and try our ways and turn unto the Lord our God Lam. 3.40 Try our Graces what strength and weight there is in them and try our actions what goodness and sincerity there is in them And so much the rather as we may the better be able to suffer this tryal we speak of And that especially upon any special occasion which is administred unto us whether of Service or Comfort and Affliction Either of these do call for this especial work of self-examination and tryal here commended unto us from the Lords trying of us To set home this Point more effectually we may take noâ—ce of the word which is here mentioned and that is the Heart The Lord tryeth the Hearts And we have two things in it First It is an Emphatical Expression And Secondly It is an Indefinite Expression It is an emphatical Expression The Hearts as that which is principally to be looked after And it is an indefinite Expression The Hearts that is of all men whosoever they are without exception First Take it Emphatically The Lord tryeth the heart as that which is principally to be looked after as the main and first moving Wheel for so it is God looks at that which is the chiefest and most to be regarded and that is the Heart If that be right all will be right with it eye and ear and tongue and hands and all other parts they all conform to this so that he has reason to try this God looks after that most which Man looks after least For man looketh after the appearance but the Lord looketh after the heart as the Lord himself told Samuel 1 Sam. 16.7 This is the General Principle which carries on all the rest That we are what we are in our hearts whether in respect to God or Men whether ye take the heart for the vigor of it the life and spirit of the performance or whether ye take the heart for the truth of it the sincerity and reality of the performance it is this which is all in all for which reason God tryeth the heart The Heart Emphatically But Secondly The Hearts indefinitely universally and without exception Here is none which can escape this Scrutiny neither high nor low rich nor poor wise nor unwise whatsoever All men's hearts must come to the Touch-stone and undergo this Tryal of God upon them He comes within men's private Closets and Cabinets though never so much retired He searcheth the hearts and tryeth the reins as it is often said of him in Scripture This is a matter of awaking to all dissembling and hypocritical persons whosoever they are whose hearts are not perfect with God in the midst of all pretences to him that God will at last find them out and discover what they are And though they may lye hid to men and carry a fair shew to them yet he will not be deceived by them as our blessed Saviour tells the Pharisees Luk. 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God And so as a matter of Terror and Astonishment to those which are evil so of Comfort and Encouragement also to those which are good There is great satisfaction in this that the Lord tryeth the hearts in as much as they can appeal to him for his Vindication of them As Peter Lord thou knowest all things thou
As thinking how he himself does counterplot them So Psal 37.12 13. The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming namely as he himself has set it and decreed it to be Thus it makes very much as for the satisfaction of the People of God so for the dejection of their Enemies When men shall at any time plot and consult and think no body does so besides they may perhaps now and then gain more freely and currantly in it But when they shall be advised that their Counsels are matched and that by as wise as themselves this does sometimes a little startle them and force them to it Now this is the case here in this particular In all the Plots and Devices and Consulations which any take against the Church of Christ God himself has a Plot with them and a Plot beyond them which may very much fright and amuse them and be a Check and Restraint upon them As they plot so he plots too and that also with very great preheminence and advantage over them and against them And that in this respect especially in that he is himself privy to them and acquainted with them we may conceive of different Parties plotting and contriving together and yet neither of them understanding or knowing of one another's designs which if they did might be prevented by them But this is the case now with God's contriving compared with Men's That he knows all their Devices but they in the mean time know none of his As the King of Israel in the story compared with the King of Syria He knew the things which he plotted and designed in his Privy Chamber from the suggestion of the Prophet Elisha which signified it to him from the Lord. The great Wits and Head-pieces of the World they are apt often times to scorn and despise the people of God as men of a low reach and shallow and narrow Apprehension Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge says the Psalmist Psal 14.6 Because the Lord is his refuge as if He were no refuge at all when as indeed he is the best that is and that also as to matter of Counsel This was David's Comfort and Support in regard of Achitophel who at first did a little startle him when he heard he sat in Counsel against him But then he encouraged himself in the Lord his God who he knew was ready to joyn for him O Lord I pray thee turn the counsel of Achitophel into foolishness 2 Sam. 15.31 And the Lord at last did so according to his Prayer and Request as it follows in Chap. 17.24 The Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Achitophel to the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom And that is the first Emphasis namely Copulative Man's Devices do not exclude God's Counsels But as the one has his for his part so the other has his for his The second Emphasis is Discretive Though man hath his Devices yet God hath and will have his Yea and Adversative likewise Gods Counsel is here set in Opposition to Mans Devices So that let man do all he can do yet the Lord will be sure to prevail and to have the better at last As mans Devices cannot exclude him so they cannot frustrate him nor disappoint him neither This we may see in sundry Examples which the Scripture does afford unto us to this purpose where notwithstanding the several Projects and Designs which have been on foot in the World especially against the poor Church and people of God Gods Counsel hath stood notwithstanding In Pharoahs advising against the Israelites In Haman consulting against the Jews In the Scribes and Pharises Conspiring against Christ In the Jews laying wait for Paul Gods Purpose and Decree and Counsel it has stood and held good in all these and many more besides And because that has stood they have not been able to stand with it or to stand before it There is a various opposition which if we please we may here take notice of in these very words of the Text in the several Parts of it setone against another First of God against Man The Devices they are Mans the Counsel that 's the Lords And there is a very great distance and difference of these two one from the other as much as of Light and Darkness of Strength and Weakness of Wisdom and Folly it self The Prophet Esaiah from the Lord himself seems to make the Antithesis and Opposition Esaia 55.7 8 9. Let the wicked for sake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughs c. For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts And that 's the first Opposition Secondly Of Counsel against Devices As for the purposes and resolutions of man and the things which he designs to himself they are but as it were tricks and devices at least which is Terminus Deminitivus an expression of some disparagement and diminution in it Yea But the thoughts of God they are serious and solid Counsels which have very much weight and worth contained in them Thy Counsels of old are faithfullness and Truth Esai 25.1 Thirdly Of Counsel in the singular against thoughts and devices in the plural One Hint and Intimation of Gods it is able to nullifie and evacuate all the Plots and Projects of men though never so many and multiplyed together Gods Counsel is uniform mens various c. Lastly Of Counsel standing against Devices only in the heart As for the heart of Men especially of Men of the World there is a World of Devices in them If ye would but as I said anatomize and rip them up ye should see multitudes of them in them of Lust and Malice and Revenge as I hinted before As moses expresses it of the Egyptians concerning the Israelites Exod. 13.9 The Enemy said I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my sword my hand shall destroy them Here now were Devices in the heart but they went no futher except perhaps to the mouth They did not stand For what follows in the next Verse Thou didst blow with thy wind the sea covered them they sank as lead in the mighty waters The Third and last Emphasis is Illative Because Man hath his Devices therefore God the rather has his God's Counsel is furthermore promoted from Man's Devices This is another thing considerable and not impertinent also to the Text So far is Man from hindering and preventing of God in his purposes by any thing which is contrived by him as that he advances him so much the more and makes his Counsel to be the sooner effected God serves himself of Man's Devices for the
establishing of his own Counsels Thus it was said to be as concerning the Betraying of Christ He was delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God Act. 2.23 Though it was also by the wicked plottings and contriving of Men. And again Act. 4.27 28. Against this holy Child Jesus were Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people gathered together To do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done Their malice did but further God's design So the Egyptians and Pharaoh for the diminishing and destroying of the Israelites The more they conspired to lessen them and thought they did wisely in doing so the more their number multiplyed and increased And so Haman instead of destroying the Jews he confirmed their Peace and Liberties to them so much the more I might be infinite in Examples in this kind wherein God has over-ruled Men's Devices by the Accomplishments of his own Purposes And the more that they have had their Will the more at last has he come to have had his occasionally from it But To shut up all which hath been spoken with a Word of Application and to conclude These Points thus opened unto us may be drawn forth in a Various Improvement First As matter of Conviction to all such persons as walk contrary hereunto And they are of two sorts especially First That Device without God And Secondly That Device aginst Him That Devise without him first They herein come to be censured and so to be awakened Alas it is but a vain and foolish thing for them so to do as neglecting that which is principally to be looked after by them for the prospering of their Counsels to them that they may be successful Woe be to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that come with a covering but not by my spirit that they may add sin to sin as it is in Isa 30.1 That advice of Solomon is rather better which he gives unto us in Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Secondly As which devise without God so also which devise against him These are far more vile than the other and their case is desperate for Did ever any man harden himself against God and prosper as Job expostulates Job 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks in Act. 9.5 Surely there is no wisdom nor conscience nor understanding against the Lord in Prov. 21.30 Therefore the Church of God has sometimes upon this Account triumphed over her greatest Enemies whether for Wisdom or Power as we have a notable place to this purpose Isa 8.9 10. Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces and give ear O ye of far Countries Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to naught speak the word and it shall not stand for Immanuel or God is with us In which excellent portion of Scripture the Spirit of God seems to come home to the disposition and practice of men to this purpose in all particulars Men are apt to think with themselves that if they cannot obtain a thing one way they may haply do it another if they cannot do it at this time they may haply do it hereafter if they cannot do it themselves yet they may perhaps do it if they take in other if they cannot do it upon the suddain yet they may do it upon deliberation advice and consultation Well but here is signified that none of these things shall prevail Not Combination not Strength not Counsel nor all these matters reiterated and repeated again If there be a mistake in the End all the means are frustrate that lead and carry unto it But Secondly Here is likewise a Word of comfort to the Church it self and to every true member of it Here is the Encouragement and Security of a good Christian and that in all Varieties and Changes and Uncertainties and Revolutions that are in the World Whosoever belongs to God he may be sure it shall go well with him for his particular because The counsel of the Lord shall stand We know saith the Apostle that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose We know not what things shall be nor we know not what time shall be But what ever either times or things happen to be we know they shall all be for the good of Gods People to the best for them that own him and are saved by him Those who are the called of his Purpose his Purposes shall be sure to be establisht to them and for them There is none besides in the world who can have this promised to them Eccles 8.12 Though a sinner c. Yet I know it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the sinner c. It is the Blessed and Happy Privilege of all those that are in Covenant with God that God does nothing in the World but he does it for there sakes and they have a share and interest in the Good and Benefit of it both because they are mainly and principally intended in it as also have hearts in themselves to improve it to their own Advantage All the paths of the Lord are mercy and Truth to them that keep his Covenants and his Testimonies So that the Firmness of his Counsel is by Consequent likewise the firmness of their Conditions Lastly Here 's a Word of Direction how to carry and behave our selves in answerableness to these Truths here propounded and premised Seeing after all the Devices of Man the Counsel of the Lord shall stand as we have all this while heard there are therefore three things especially which do lye upon us to be done by us in reference and order to this Counsel First To be carefull to know it Secondly To be carefull to own it Thirdly To be carefull to improve it and to have recourse unto it First To endeavour to know it let us be carefull of that To know it How can we do that Who hath known the mind of the Lord Or who hath been of his Counsel says the Prophet first and then the Apostle And so it is true in regard of an absolute knowledge and discovery of it His ways are unsearchable and his Judgments are past finding out His way is in the Sea and his path in the great Waters and his footsteps are not known There is a depth in the riches both of the Wisdom and knowledge of God as the Scripture tells us But yet so far as he reveals it us we may be acquainted with it and it concerns us so to be Be
not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is as the Apostle exhorts us Ephes 5.17 His Doctrinal Will and his Preceptive Will that both may and ought to be understood by us Yea and his Providential Will to in part it may sometimes be conjectured at by us which we are not to be wholly ignorant of but to attend unto it as it may be also hinted in that place by reflecting upon the verse before Redeeming the time because the days are evil wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding c. We cannot know the Counsel of God as to particular and determinate dispensations till he reveals it and discovers it in the event but we may somwhat know it in the General scope and drift of it long before from those things which are any thing pertinent and preparative thereunto and his manner of dealing and carriage in former days and times of the World At least which does most concern us we may know it so far forth as belongs to our Duty and the things which are to be done by us As it is said of the Children of Issachar that were men that had understanding of the Times to know what Israel ought to do This is that which all Christians are capable of And accordingly should be indeavoured after by our selves Though we cannot know what God will do yet we know what our selves should do in order to his several doings This is obtained divers ways First By an Holy Fear and Reverence of the Majesty of God What man is he that feareth the Lord him will he teach in the way that he shall chose whether we take it of the Lord or of Himself Psal 25.12 what to believe and what to practise The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him ver 14. Secondly By Humility and Meekness of Spirit Proud and self-conceited persons who are wise enough as they think without God He will not impart his Counsel to them they are too full of the Contrivances and Devices of their own hearts No the meek he will guide in Judgement and the meek he will teach his way Psal 25.9 Thirdly By a constant course of Communion with God Those who are much in Gods Company they know much of his Counsel and much of his Mind we have the mind of Christ 2 Cor. 2.16 He was the friend of God and God acquainted him with the Condition of Sodom The Disciple of the Bosom had the Priviledge of being acquainted with Christs secrets and was therefore put upon it to enquire Secondly When we know Gods Counsel be carefull to acknowledge it Do not resist or stand out against it but meekly close with it It is a dangerous thing to do it though ignorantly and for want of apprehension Whatever is owned of God himself it should be owned of us Because that which is owned of God it is sure to be esablished by him It was the Conclusion of Gamalial in the Counsel Acts 5.38 If this Counsel or this work be of men it will come to nought But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happly ye be found to fight against God The thing proceedeth from the Lord we cannot speak to thee either good or bad as Laban and Bethuel about Rebecca Gen. 40.50 And as the Friends of Paul about him after much importunity with him when we saw he would not be perswaded we ceased saying The will of the Lord be done Act. 21.14 There 's mans Devices and there 's Gods Counsel in those Devices The Former is not always to be owned The latter is where t is at any time discernable of us And we should rest and acquiesce in it If we let God have his will it will be so much the better for us If we do not he will have it whether we will or no. Last of all seeing his Counsel shall stand therefore improve it and make use of it and have recourse with it We should hence learn to resolve with God and to take him into consultation with us without whom all our devices will come to nothing The word here used for Devices does signifie properly reckonings or accounts which are no farther authentick then as the Lord gives allowance to them what is other then so it is a reckoning without a mans host as we use to speak It is man purposes but God disposes Therefore as was hinted before in all our ways acknowledge him It is our great happiness and advantage that we may have God to be of Counsel in our behalf whose Counsel shall stand and let us be sure to hold our selves to that which is best for us Even the best of Gods servants themselves they have not so much advantage from the determinations of their own minds though inlightned by the spirit of God as they have by God himself determining and resolving for them His Counsel for us is more than his Counsel to us or his Counsel in us Because this latter is imperfect and mingled with much ignorance and perverseness and unsettledness of our own whereas the other is pure and perfect and absolute and free from exception Which should make us both to have recourse to it and to depend upon it as that which is our greatest Comfort and Security and our best hold being Gods Counsel shall stand therefore from hence cast away all sollicitous and distracting fears Be carefull for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplications let your Request be made known to God And the Peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus And thus I have done also with the Second General part of the Text which is the Qualification of the former Assertion and so with the whole Verse it self There are many devices c. SERMON XXXIV Prov. 22.3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished As it is a part of Goodness and Condescention in God to give warning before he strikes and proceeds to Punishment so it is a part of Wisdom and Prudence in God's People to take warning and admonition from him in his Alarms of them Whereby they may the better escape those Punishments that are threatned by him And this is that which we may here observe in the Scripture which we have now before us IN the Text it self we have two general parts considerable of us First The Specification of the Persons Secondly the different Account which is given of them The Persons specified they are the Godly and the Wicked expressed under those two Titles of Prudent and Simple The Account which is differently given of them is observable in the several parts referring to each Of the Prudent in two Particulars his Fore-cast it self together with his Improvement of it he fore-seeth the evil and hideth himself And the Simple in two more his sinful Security toether with the ill success of that likewise The simple pass on and are punished
which is here used in the Future Tense Va-Jakreth He will cut off Where whilst it is said here that He will there are three things at once which are included in this Expression First As a Word of Premonition Secondly As a Word of Procrastination Thirdly As a Word of Resolution First As a Word of Premonition Take notice of that We see here how God does not usually surprize men or come upon them before they are aware if the fault be not their own but he gives them warning before he destroys them and proceeds to a final and utter desolation of them He tells them He will do it before he does it indeed He does so in the way of his Providence by many turns and passages thereof which do bespeak such things unto them if they would but observe them Their Destruction in the Previous Causes and Simptoms and Tendances to it before there is Destruction in the Event it self and Absolute Accomplishment of it And so he does it also as I hinted before in the mouths of his Prophets and Ministers who threaten it and give warning of it And also in the hearts and spirits of men themselves Which should therefore teach us to hasten it and to give heed unto it Despise not God's Gracious Hints and Admonitions of Judgment before hand for fear lest we be overtaken with them before we are as it was with those in the days of Noah in the Deluge of Waters And as it were with those in Sodom and Gomorrah in the Destruction of Fire and Brimstone The word Will is a word of Premonition that is the first Secondly He will It is a Word of Procrastination It is a Speech of Delay and present Forbearance God cuts off impenitent Sinners but he does not do it presently but after some temperate Indulgence towards them As he gives them warning so consequently he gives them time if they will make a right Use and Improvement of it Thus we know he did with the old World Gen. 6.3 The Lord said my Spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years God is slow to Anger and consequently slow to Judgment Which his Work but his strange Work his Act but his strange Act. This is a Ground likewise for our slowness to the provoking of him If God be so slow to punish we should be as slow to sin and not abuse his Long-suffering and Patience in this particular but rather hereby be lead to Repentance which is the proper use and improvement of it as it is in 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 But yet Thirdly It is a Word of Resolution It is that which he hath fully purposed and determined to do in Conclusion God will not be always Willing he will be at last Doing and reducing his Will into Act and absolute Execution Which is that which is here further intimated in this Expression He will do it and none shall hinder him and keep him from it Thus Job 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him and who will say unto him what doest thou And so in Job 23.13 He is in one mind who can turn him and what his soul designeth that he doth He will in regard of his Vnchangeableness None can alter him from his Purpose And He will in regard of his Powerfulness None can restrain him of his Purpose For who hath resisted his Will This is here especially to be understood after all means which he hath used for reclaiming them and all to no purpose As long as there is any hope of Repentance and Amendment and Resignation of People's Lives so long God seems to be in some doubting and disputing with himself whether he had best to destroy them or no How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim my heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together Hos 11.8 But when they once prove to be incorrigible and past hope of being any thing better then he comes to I will and that as a word of Peremptoriness and full Resolution And this for the Nature of the Judgment The Lord will cut off The Third is The Subject of it or the People involved in it and that is Israel If it had been from Egypt or Assyria or Edom such Nations as were not only Strangers but Enemies to God the matter had not been so great For the Lord to cut off such as those it might have appeared to be no great wonder For If a man find his Enemy will he let him go well away says Saul himself to David 2 Sam. 24.19 But for Israel which was God's own special and peculiar People and whom himself had made choice of above all other Nations of the World For the Lord to cut off such as those this was strange and remarkable Yet this is that which we may here observe and take notice of in this present Scripture The Lord will out off from Israel his vineyard his inheritance his pleasant plant his peouliar treasure He will not spare or indulge these but in these Circumstances will cut them off This is the sad Nature and Condition of Sin that it does frustrate all kinds of Privileges which any People are capable of as to the exempting them from God's Afflicting Hand If Israel shall provoke God by their Impenitency and Obstinacy against him even Israel shall be punished and cut off by him He will not forbear even such as those in such conditions Nay sometimes he will proceed so much the rather and the sooner against them Judgment shall begin at the house of God as it is in 1 Pet. 4.17 And you only have I known says God of all the families of the earth therefore I will be sure to punish you for your iniquities in Amos 3.2 Therefore let none bear themselves up by such things as these as to hearten them and encourage them in sinning as to cry with them in Jeremy Templum Domini The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are those Jer. 7 4. that is to trust to their mere relation which they stand in to God as Members of the Visible Church and Partakers of the Outward Means and Ordinances and such like things as these for these will not defend them in their sinning against Gods Visitations nor Destructions of them The Lord will cut off from Israel c. That is the first Particular in this second General viz. The Denunciation of the Judgment The Second is the Extent of it and that we have expressed to us in a double Metaphor the one from the nature of the Head and Tail and the other from the nature of a Tree in the Branches and Roots Both of them coming to
two Eminent Divisions and Ranks of People as we have alrerdy heard that is High and Low Rich and Poor Great and Small Magistrates and People Nor neither of these in these circumstances shall be exempted from Destruction and Desolation Those which are Great and High their Eminency shall not secure them but rather expose them And those which are Mean and Low their obscurity shall not hide them but also unvail them wherein the Lord does very much pervert the vain conceits of many persons in this particular For as great Persons depend upon their Greatness as thinking that that will shelter them and keep off danger from them So mean persons do sometimes trust to their Meanness as thinking that there shall be no notice taken of them The rush thinks to scape whiles the Branch is cut off yea but if these be otherwise then they should be they shall both of them go to it The wicked which are poor sometime there 's great wickedness amongst them I mean the common and ordinary Beggers which live without God in the world all which as the rush which are wicked none are here exempted And so for Persons in Places and Government and Authority which are the Head and the Branch if they still be naught and wicked and Atheistical so as instead of punishing sin to commit it instead of being examples of virtue to be patterns of vice instead of being a terror to evil works to be a terror to good they cannot think to escape neither in the time of Gods general Judgment and Destruction and not to be overwhelmed with it In a word when Governours shall be the Rulers of Sodom and Governours shall be the People of Gomorrah as the Prophet calls those of Israel in Esaiah 1.10 What can be looked for and expected by each but even ruine and destruction it self The Lord shall cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush That 's the Second thing to wit the Extent The Third and Last with which I will end is the Season or time of Execution and that is here exprest to be in one day There 's two things at once in it First it is tempus definitum and Secondly it is tempus contractum It is a day in regard of the certainty of it as that which is set and fixt And it is one day in regard of the suddenness as that which is speedy and soon accomplisht First It is exprest by a Day this time for the execution of Gods final and destructive Judgment It is that which he has set and appointed to all impenitent and incorrigible sinners Not so much a day in the ordinary account of it in so many hours but a time and particular season There 's a particular day for such a Peoples particular Visitation as the Scripture sometimes expresses it It is said of wicked men that the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that are coming upon them make hast Deut. 33.35 And again the wicked his day is a coming in Psal 37.13 Look as there is a day of respit and favor and indulgence in regard of Mercy This day as it is said to Jerusalem so on the other side there is a day of Wrath and Vengeance in regard of Judgment Secondly It is one day in regard of the suddenness and quickness of execution of Judgment This is that which God threatens to wicked Persons when he hath given them the warning of many days and they are not moved or reformed by them to destroy them and cut them off in one day that is very speedily and with great dispatch so as not to be very long and tedious about it He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy Prov. 29.1 And Psal 64.7 God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded In one day that is at one time and with one destruction As Caligula wisht that the People of Rome had all but one neck that he might cut them off at once so does God threaten here to do with Israel as provoked by their wickedness even to destroy them altogether and in one moment as Abishai said to David of Saul that he would smite him to the Earth at once and would not smite him the second time 1 Sam. 26.8 And as the Lord threatens in Nahum 1.9 That he would make an utter end Affliction should not rise up the second time As the Lord threatens Babylon That in one hour should her Judgment come Rev. 18.10 The Consideration of all these things laid together comes to this to teach us to reflect upon our selves for our own particular ourselves of this Nation in General and our selves in this City in Special To consider how it is or may be with us if we go on to provoke God by our Impenitency and hardness of heart and continue in sin by our Oaths and Drunkenness and Uncleanness and Atheism and Profaness Let us not flatter and indulge our selves or bear our selves up upon Gods former goodness to us and patience with us and forbearance of us which will make but so much the more in conclusion against us as having turned his grace into wantonness and his having suffered so much mercy and loving-kindness which we have been partakers of We cannot be dearer to God than was his ancient people of Israel and yet we see here what he threatens to them in such cases as these were Therefore let us not be high-minded but fear for as the Apostle Paul argues to the Romans If God spared not the natural Branches but in this case cut off them neither will he also spare us but if we mend not and reform our ways even we also shall be cut off We cannot but observe and take notice except we are very blind and stupid indeed of the Judgments of God which are upon us and do farther threaten us for our sins We see how many amongst us in all places both in City and Country are cut off by those raging diseases which are amongst us How God punishes us in our bowels and smites us in our inward parts and takes away divers from us of all sorts and ranks and conditions Head and Tail Branch and Rush Yea and smites also very quickly in one day God does not only herein deal with the poor and meaner sort of People as at other times but even with the richer and greater It is observed by some that there are more of those who have been snatcht away by these late distempers than were in the late Plague and Pestilence which was amongst us Nor he does not only take away the aged and ancient and decripit but even infants and children and young and strong men as if he did indeed intend a general and universal Destruction of us SERMON XXXVI Esaiah 57.21 There is no Peace saith my God to the Wicked There is nothing more necessary for a Preacher and a Dispenser of the Word of
God than to speak a Word in season and to give every one his proper Portion which of right does belong unto him And in particular as to the Tenders of Peace and Comfort and Consolation that they may not be layed hold on by such as have no Right thereunto And this is that which we may find here to be observed by the Prophet Isaiah in this present Scripture Who having in some Verses before declared God's kindness to Broken and Contrite and Humble and Penitent Persons in healing them and leading and comforting them aad in creating Peace for them does here in this Verse which I have now read very carefully exempt all others from the benefit of such Happy Privileges as these indeed are And signifies that howsoever it may be with such Persons as these are yet those who are otherwise affected have no Interest in them There is no Peace to the Wicked saith my God This Sentence is very Authentick and for the greater Weight and Efficacy of it we find it to be twice mentioned and repeated by the Prophet Isaiah here in this Book to signifie how much his Heart and Spirit was in it in Chap. 48.20 and in Chap. 57.21 this place which we have now before us IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Report it self And Secondly The Author or Maker of this Report The Report it self that is expressed in these words There is no peace to the wicked The Author or Original of this Report that is in these Saith my God We begin in order with the first of these Parts viz. The Report it self There is no peace to the wicked Wherein again two Branches more First The Persons mentioned Secondly The Condition of those Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Wicked The Condition of these Persons is that there is no Peace unto them First To speak of the Persons which are here mentioned and they are the Wicked Wicked is a large Word and of great extent and accordingly deserves to be explained by us how it is understood here in this place We may take it if we please according to these following Explications First Open and Prophane Atheists Such as live in all manner of Sins of what kind and degree soever Drunkards Swearers Whore-masters Blasphemers and the like such as give themselves over to Lasciviousness to commit all Vncleanness with greediness which are not ashamed of their Miscarriages but rather boast and glory in their Shame Profess and make a Trade of Evil and declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not as the Prophet elsewhere speaks of them Such as these are plainly the Wicked and so acknowledged in all men's Apprehensions and so do very properly come under this Censure in the Text as having no Peace unto them They have nothing to do with Peace nor it with them Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes as it is expresly declared of them Rom. 3.17 Secondly Close Hipocrites who carry it fairly and smoothly to the World but yet do give themselves liberty in secret and hidden Abominations Which hide iniquity under their tongue and keep it still within their mouths as Job speaks Which have a form of Godliness but deny the Power of it Which profess Religion hear the Word receive the Sacrament partake of the Ordinances and in the mean time together with it have their unlawful and unwarrantable Excursions their private Haunts their secret Fraude their sinful Retirements Such Persons as these whatever they may think of themselves or others may think of them yet they are no better than the Wicked and come within the number of those Persons which are here mentioned in the Text. Thirdly In one word All Carnal and Vnregenerate Persons which are as yet in the State of Nature not converted or effectually called and brought home to God nor having his Grace wrought in their Hearts They are in a sense of Latitude the Wicked and so looked upon in God's Account Whosoever aro not the Righteous they are the Wicked there is no Mean between them Whosoever are not the Children of God and born of him they are for the present the Children of the Devil and belong to him as the Apostle John seems to carry it in the third Chapter of his first Epistle Those who are Strangers to God are enemies and have no share in true peace being so far forth in the very gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity As Simon Peter said of Simon Magus Act. 8.23 And so much may be spoken of the first Branch in this first General viz. The Persons mentioned The Wicked The Second is The Condition which is here expressed of these Persons And that is that there is no peace unto them There is no peace to the wicked When it is said There is no peace to such Persons we are to take it in the fullest Signification And that is twofold Whether of a State of Peace or of a Spirit of Peace No Peace that is no Peace of Condition And No Peace that is no Peace of Mind Either or both of these are to be understood by this Expression First Take it as to the State or Condition There is no peace to the wicked in this sence There is a Difference and Variance betwixt them and all others else whatsoever with whom Peace is desirable First As to God himself which is the Main and Chief of all and who is the God of Peace There is no Peace to them with him But as they are Enemies to him so is he to them so remaining and does bid Defiance to them and does fight against them As there is no Agreement between them in their Dispositions they are altogether unlike to God and he to them So much also following thereupon as there is no Agreement neither in their Affections but Enmity and hatefulness rather Indeed we must add this by way of Concession and further Explication First That God does often times for a long time spare and forbear them and does not presently proceed to the inflicting of his Judgments and Punishments upon them The Lord does exercise a great deal of Patience and Long-suffering towards Wicked Men not suddainly taking the advantage of their Miscarriages and Provocations of him But yet this does not argue him to be therefore at Peace with them or they with him For though he doth not punish them presently yet he punishes them at last and in due time shews the sad Effects of his Wrath and Displeasure against them which he inflicts upon them God's Forbearance of punishing of Wicked Men is so far from being an Argument of his Favour and Good Will towards them as that indeed it is rather an Argument of the contrary It is not an Effect of Peace but a Symptom of Wrath. He forbears for a while that so afterwards he may more heavily fall upon them
Principle from whence they came in them or the Manner which is observed by them or the End which puts them upon them besides the manifold Corruption which is mingled by them Thirdly The Opinion of Others and the good esteem which they have of them This is another Foundation to them but as weak as any of the rest as being subject to a great deal of Mistake and false Apprehension and often times failing of truth Thus Wicked Men have no Peace in the midst of all the false Glosses and Apprehensions of Peace which are upon them as being such as in time do but deceive them And So Now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is The Report it self expressed to us in these words There is no peace to the wicked The Second is The Author or Maker of this Report that we have in these words Saith my God Where again two words more First The Word of Eminency And Secondly The Word of Propriety The Word of Eminency God The Word of Propriety My God First For the Word of Eminency God It is he that says it Thus saith the Lord as we have it also in the parallel Scripture Isa 48.22 It is fastened upon him It is a matter of great consequence and importance in any report or tidings whatsoever who it is that is the first Author and Raiser of it the Original from whom it proceeds Now this as to the present business in hand is God himself which carries the greater weight with it and makes it to be so much the more observable to those to whom it is brought Men are apt for the most part when they hear of such tidings as these are The Denunciation of God's Judgments against Sins and sinful Persons to think that this is nothing else but the Conceit and Device of Men and that which they framed to themselves spoken sometimes out of Envy and Hatred and Ill Will and the like But have no other ' Bottom for them Now in opposition hereunto is it here said saith my God And so frequently also in other places The Lord hath said it and The Lord hath spoken it This is the word and burthen of the Lord. It is that which God hath said in all the Kinds and Specifications of Saying He hath said it that is He hath decreed it It is a word of Counsel God that doth not change And He hath said it that is He has declared it It is a word of Truth God that cannot lie And He hath said it that is he hath effected it It is a word of Power God that cannot miscarry There are all these Sayings in it for the further Illustration of it to us First He hath said it that is he hath decreed it It is a word of Counsel God that does not change He hath past this Irrevocable Sentence upon all wicked persons so remaining that there shall be no peace unto them Neither Peace of State nor Peace of Mind neither Peace with his own Majesty nor Peace with other men and Creatures nor Peace with themselves and their own Consciences It is the sad and fatal Doom which is fallen upon them and belonging unto them Secondly He hath said it that is He hath declared it It is a word of Truth God that cannot nor will not lye Men they many times speak as they would have it whether the thing be true or false speak out of Humour and Fancy and Prejudice and such things as those speak by Rote and by Guess and by Conjecture and by Mis-report Yea but whereby now it is God that says it there is no fear of any of these in it And he hath said it fully and at large he hath abundantly declared it he hath said it by his Spirit in the Conscience and he hath said it by his Spirit in the Scripture We cannot turn a Leaf in the Book of God but we find such a Truth as this is written even in Capitol Letters so that he that runs may read it Thirdly He hath said it that is He hath effected it It is a word of Power It is God that cannot miscarry that sits in Heaven and does whatsoever he pleases He hath said it in the voice of his Providence and the things which he does in the World These do in conclusion speak thus much that There is no Peace to wicked men Whatever they may say to themselves in their own private Imaginations or whatever others may say to them or for them in a way of flattering and soothing up of them yet the Lord he hath every way said it that there is no peace belonging unto them And his saying is more than the saying of all the rest of the World besides So much for the Word of Eminence which is here exhibited and that is God The Second is A word of Propriety which is My Saith my God This is added by the Prophet Isaiah to make it still so much the more Emphatical and fuller of Weight and that as some account of his own knowledge of it to be so For whilst he had said that God himself said it it might perhaps by some have been demanded how he came so well to know it To this he answers It is my God the God whom I serve as his Minister the Prophet of the Lord and the God whom I have Communion withal as his Servant the Beloved of the Lord It is he that hath said it by me and to me Those who are God's Servants and who have more intimate Acquaintance with him they have the discovery of many Truths unto them which are concealed from other Persons The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him to shew them his Covenant Psal 25.14 And The Lord God will do nothing but he will reveal his secrets to his servant 's the Prophets Amos 3.7 And thus we have both parts of the Text layed open before us both in the Report it self and the Author of it There is no peace to the wicked saith my God That which remains now behind is the Improvement of both these Truths in a word of Profitable Application And there is very good Use which may be made of both by us First It serves to awaken all wicked and ungodly persons and to make them sensible of the Condition in which they are it is that which they always are not neither do they see how it is with them as being apt very often to speak Peace to their own Souls where there is but little cause for it But we see here the Censure which the Holy Ghost himself gives of them and the Doom which he passes upon them whilst he says There is no peace unto them Not Peace in any way or kind or respect whatsoever The word Peace is commonly taken two manner of ways both in the Generical sence and in the Specifical According to the Generical sence so it does denote all kind of Good at large which especially in the Hebrew
Language is expressed by the name of Peace According to the Specifical sence So it does denote in particular a Tranquility whether of Mind or Condition as we have formerly explained it Now which way soever we take it it is here denyed to wicked men as not belonging unto them And in the later Exception more directly And this is true also whether we take it upon a National Account or upon a Personal First Take it upon a National No peace to the wicked here as that which may be matter of Amazement and Astonishment to them We know how sensible we have been of late of the Miseries and Extremities of War and so consequently how desirous of Peace and glad for it But alas if we go on in our Wickedness as there is little appearance to the contrary all the Peace which at present we enjoy will signifie but very little unto us or nothing at all For either the same Evil will break out again or else some other as bad or worse will come in the stead of it Where there is not Peace in the Foundation of it there can never be Peace in the Superstructure And where there is War in the Causes of it there will be at last War in the Consequents What is the Foundation of Peace It is as I said before Righteousness and Justice and Piety and the Fear of God What is the Cause of War It is Sin and Wickedness and Prophaneness and Debauchery of Conversation This the Apostle James has expresly declared unto us Jam. 4.1 From whence come wars and fightings among you come they not from hence even from your lusts that war in your members Lust is the Cause of War both in reference to Man and to God In reference to Man as managing it and in reference to God as provoking it Therefore it is that God sends War upon People for the Wickedness and Sinfulness which is amongst them And accordingly Peace can no further be expected by them than this Wickedness is removed from them But Secondly Take it also upon a Personal Account And so No peace to the wicked Neither so as a Judgment upon them Where God vouchsafes Peace to a Nation yet if such and such particular Persons be wicked and sinful in that â—â—tion it shall be no Peace to them Look as in matter of common and publick Judgments God is able to secure and preserve his Servants in the midst of General Calamities So that though they be Judgments to others yet they shall cease to be Judgments to them So likewise in matter of common and publick Mercies God is able to declare and exclude his Enemies So that though they be Mercies to others yet they shall not be Mercies to them There shall be no peace to the wicked even then when there is Peace to all men else which are round about them Peace is no Peace unto them because it tends to the further hardening and confirming of them in their sinful Courses makes them more secure and presumptuous and so a great deal nearer to Ruin and Destruction than ever before This is the fruit of it to them This therefore in the Second place and as a further Improvement of this present Observation by us serves to shew us the difference betwixt the Wicked and the Righteous betwixt those which are the Children of God and those which are not As for those who are God's Children and such as fear him there is great peace belonging unto them For as much as they are the Children of God they are consequently the Children of Peace which is their proper Portion and Inheritance And so the Scripture it self signifies to us in other places Thus Psal 119.165 Great peace have they which love thy Law and nothing 〈◊〉 â—â—end them So Isa 54.15 Speaking to the true Church of God All thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of thy children Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 And Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee This is the Condition of the Saints and Servants of God But now as for the Wicked they have nothing at all to do with Peace as the Scripture sometimes expresses it in 2 King 10.18 19. And the reason of it is that which is given concerning Jerusalem Because they know not the things that belong anto their Peace therefore is Peace hidden from them and they become Strangers to it This will appear to be so especially in the time of any Trouble or Affliction which happens unto them or in the Hour of Death and Dissolution Then there will be a difference and distinction betwixt true Peace and False betwixt that which is real and sincere and betwixt that which is feigned and counterfeit When it will be no longer time for any only to put a good face upon matters to put the best side outwards when their Consciences within them upbraid them and fly in their faces as they will be ready to do at such times Therefore Thirdly Let Men take heed of flattering either themselves or others in this particular especially those who are Ministers and by their Office Publishers of Peace Let them take heed of crying Peace Peace where there is no Peace and healing the Daughter of God's People lightly and sowing of pillows under their elbows as the Scripture expresses it Where they see any to be wicked let them take heed of speaking Peace unto them in such a condition for there 〈◊〉 Peace for them And God himself as we shewed before has put another kind of Message into their mouths as it is here in the Text There is no peace to them saith my God And where God speaks not Peace to any yea rather speaks the contrary there is no Peace to be spoken by them And here by the way also we have a Discharge of all faithful Monitors whether Ministers or others from that Envy and Hatred and Reproach which is cast upon them for the performance of their Duties in this Particular When Ministers and the Servants of God come and tell men of their wicked Courses and declare God's Judgments against their Sins Men are apt hereupon to lay Load and Imputation upon the Messengers as if the fault and mischief were theirs As Ahab calling Micaiah I hate him because he never prophesied good unto me But see here now what is our Warrant and Apology in this Particular Namely it is Thus saith the Lord There is no peace to the wicked saith my God We speak not of our selves in this particular but we speak from him who says it himself and commands us likewise to say it from him and in his Name As Balaam sometime said to Balack though he did not every way observe it We cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord our God to say less or more Numb 22.18 Fourthly Here is a Remedy
that horrible Dungeon which in Scripture is represented by utter darkness blackness of darkness everlasting darkness weeping and and wailing gnashing of Teeth the worm that never dyeth and the fire that never goes out That such a thing as this indeed is very clear from sundry places of Scripture which we must deny if we do not grant we cannot acknowledge the Scriptures and not acknowledge such a thing as Hell which is so abundantly declared in it Thus in Matth. 5.22 we read of Hell fire in Matth. 10.28 of the Destroying of Body and Soul 〈◊〉 Hell In Matth. 23.33 of the Damnation of Hell c. Thus to speak distinctly of it does consist of two Branches which do constitute it and make it up The one is that which we call the Punishment of Loss and the other is that which we call the Punishment of Sense The Punishment of Loss First of all to take notice of that Now that is an Eternal privation of the Blessed and glorious presence of God and of all the Joy and Comfort and happiness that is attending thereupon Look how much sweetness and incomparable contentment there is in the constant vision and fruition of God whom to know is Life Eternal so much answerable misery there must needs be in the Exclusion and Exemption from it Every thing being so much grievous in the disappointment as it is comfortable in the injoyment We see how it is here in the World and in the affairs of this present Life where people are crost of any thing which is amiable or desirable of them it proves a very great trouble and vexation to them It consumes them and eats them up with greif And how much more has it cause thus to do in such a thing as this is whereof we now speak to be for ever deprived of the choicest and highest good which is to be found in God himself and in the injoyment of him To be deprived of God and to be deprived of Christ and of Glorious Fellowship and Communion with him Thus we find it exprest 2 Thes 1.9 who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power where these words from the presence of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they may be taken two manner of ways either Effective or Terminative Either as denoting the cause of their punishment from whence it is produced or as denoting the matter of their punishment wherein it does consist If we take it Effective that is as the cause of their Punishment from whence it is produced so they are punished from the presence of the Lord that is his Presence who shall then appear in Glory and Soveraign power for the condemning of them shall be a Terror and Astonishment to them The very beholding of a Christ as their Judge and perfect Enemy shall be an horror and amazement to them as the inletter of all Misery upon them But then again if we take it Terminative or Objective as the matter whereof there Punishment does consist so they are punished from the presence of the Lord that is they are punished in a banishment from this prescence which being duly considered is a very great punishment indeed And so as for the presence of God himself and the Glorious fellowship of Christ so the Fellowship and Communion of all the Blessed and Glorious Angels and Saints to be deprived of this likewise This pertains to this punishment of Loss and has a great deal of misery in it If People are so much affected as they commonly are here below with the loss of natural and secular friends here Parents of their Children Children of their Parents c. What will it be for them to be deprived of their Blessed Company and Society in Heaven whose company will then be so much sweeter and free from those infirmities and disparagements which it is here sometimes mingled with all Certainly the loss of them in such a case as this is must needs be very great and unvaluable The Punishment of loss here mentioned is farther aggravated from a Threefold Consideration First From the Possibility of preventing it if there had been care taken about it Every Loss is so much the more punishing as it proceeds from a mans own default Where men have Losses fall upon them inevitably and unavoidably and which they could not help they do bear them so much the more patiently and with the greater ease and satisfaction But where they shall think thus with themselves I have deprived my self of such an advantage through mine own carelesness and neglect yea perhaps by my own wilfullness and perverseness here it must needs very much cut them and go to their very heart Why thus t is now here in the Loss of Heaven and the Deprivation of Gods Glorious presence and eternal injoyment of him It is that which men have brought upon themselves by their own miscarriage Light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light in Joh. 3.19 And ye will not come unto me that ye might have life said Christ Joh. 5.46 How often would I have gathered thy Children as an hen gathereth her Chickens and ye would not Luk. 13.34 Secondly The Occasion of this Loss and the way of falling into it there 's a special aggravation from that also If a man chance to sustain some loss but have somewhat by it which is equivalent to it and which may make it up it is not commonly so greivous or burthensome to him but for a man to lose a Pearl for a Pebble or a Kingdom for a meer trifle this is very sad and lamentable indeed Why thus now is the case in this particular which is People depriving themselves of Heaven for the injoyment of their base Lusts excludes themselves from the injoyment of God for the pursute of the vanities of this World and the pleasures of Sin which are but for a season What a poor and sorry thing is this Especially then when they shall come seriously to consider it and in good earnest to reflect upon it Oh what an anguish of soul and perplexity must this needs prove unto them 3. The beholding of others to injoy that happiness which themselves are deprived of There 's a vexation likewise in that as we have it exprest unto us in Luk. 13.28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out To see themselves thrust out whiles those were put in this it tormented them especially such as these might be according to such and such circumstances considerable in it It may be such who were meaner than themselves here in this World such whom they had scorned and despised and trampled on and abused and wronged To see such as these now to be exalted and advanced above them this is that which must needs eat into them And
Professors and Embracers of it Now shall we exempt such Persons as these from being Wicked Men or from being liable to Eternal Damnation Or shall such as these think to flee from the Wrath to come Surely no in no wise they are as deeply engaged in it as any other and are as certainly inovlved in it Therefore Let none flatter themselves in this Particular or think ever the better of themselves in such Circumstances for they have no cause so to do For they are notwithstanding wicked Persons as they are here termed And accordingly shall have the Portion of the Wicked to happen unto them which is to be cast into utter darkness and to have their part in that lake which burns with fire and brimstone For this purpose consider thus much That God looks at the inward frame and temper of their Spirits more than any thing else which is considerable in that And if that be not such as it should be he has no reckoning or esteem of them as such who are little better herein than the Devil himself Take the Devil himself and If he were to live here in Humane Shape upon Earth he would not be a common Drunkard or Swearer or Whore-master or Ranting Person but would in a manner scorn such kind of Brutish and Swinish Sins as those as which would not be so much for his advantage No but he would be rather a secret Envyer and Underminer of the Power of Religion he would oppose and hinder Goodness and Piety all he could he would Scoff and Mock at Christianity and the Principles of it and do his utmost indeavour to draw men from the entertaining of it All this and the like he would do in a fair outward and civil conversation And whiles many others do no more then so and in a manner do as much How can they do other than fall into the condemnation of the Devil which is here mentioned that is To depart into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Therefore though we have Civility and would have others to have it also and to be conscionable in the practise of all the Duties that belong unto it as they are laid down in the Second Table of the Law Yet we would have men to rest or content themselves in such a state as this is without somewhat else added unto it of Repentance and Humility and Self-denyal and Faith in Christ A new and gracious frame and temper of heart causing them to hate all kind of sin considered as sin and for the forsaking of it and to apply themselves to every thing which is Good for Goodness sake To be renewed in the spirit of their minds as the Scipture expresses it To take this part which we are now upon in the full Notion and Latitude of it concerning such Persons as are wicked and shall be turned into Hell we are to take in this as in a special manner belonging hereunto and as principally intended in it namely The Sin of Vnbelief and Disobedience to the Gospel of Christ. Such as are guilty of such Sins as these are the Main and Chief Sinners which are here spoken of as exposed and given up to this Punishment This is the Condemnation says our Blessed Saviour That light is come into the world and that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Joh. 3.19 And so the Apostle Peter seems to declare unto us in that his quick and convincing Question and Expostulation 1 Pet 4.17 If Judgment begin with us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of Christ And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Where by the Ungodly and Sinner he seems to intend more especially such as he had said were disobedient to the Gospel These being such as do in a special manner deserve such names to be put upon them These shall not be able to appear at the General Day of Account with any Confidence or Boldness in themselves Therefore though other Sinners are as we have shewn before included in this Expression of Wicked Persons and so consequently liable to the Judgment which is here passed upon them Yet these are more especially intended above the rest as being mainly concerned in it Vnbelief it is the great Damning Sin because all other Sins besides that do especially damn in the strength of that as giving an Actual Force and Efficacy unto them especially where it is joyned with slighting and contemning of the Mercies and Ordinances and Opportunities of Salvation Here it is damning indeed and puts those who are guilty of it into the lowest place of Hell This our Saviour intimates to us in the Case of Corazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum those Cities wherein most of his mighty Works had been done with little success as to the Improvement of them That it should be more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for them Matth. 11.22 The Tyrians rnd Sidonians and Sodomites they were great and grievous Sinners They were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly as the Scripture tells us Gen. 13.10 But yet these people which repulsed the Gospel and refused to comply with that they were wickeder and greater Sinners than those and are threatned with a hotter place in Hell as belonging unto them And so much may suffice to have been spoken of the Persons here adjudged and condemned in their Comprehensive Representation expressed in that word The Wicked as reduced to three Ranks especially that is Open and Scandalous Sinners Close and Reserved Hipocrites Carnal and Vnregenerate Persons The Second is as they are laid down Emphatically in these Words And all the Nations that forget God Wherein again two Particulars more First The Subjects of the Punishment here mentioned and they are all the Nations Secondly They Guilt which is fastened upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of that Punishment and that is forgetting of God For the First The Subjects of this Punishment here mentioned They are all Nations Those if they prove to be wicked they shall not escape the Judgment of God Neither their Wealth nor Strength nor Power nor Multitude shall in this life be and security to them Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing saith the Psalmist Thou shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to peices like a Potter vessel Psal 21.9 In Jer. 25.17 It is said That all the Nations were made to drink of the cup of Gods fury And in other places we also read of the Destruction and Desolation of all Nations So as these as well as particular persons are concerned and involved in it And there 's a twofold Ground for it The one is the Great and Almighty Power of God And the other is the Great and Vehement Importunity of sin First Gods Peace and Omnipotency When we consider what the Lord himself is in his
own infinite Majesty and Glory what are all Nations and Kingdoms of the World Surely as the Prophet Isaiah speaks of it Isa 40.21 Behold the Nations are as the drop of a bucket and are accounted as the small dust of the ballance Behold he taketh up the Isles as a very little thing The Lord is high above all Nations and his Glory above the Heavens Psal 113.4 He encreaseth the Nations and destroyeth them he enlargeth the Nations and straitneth them again Job 12.23 Who smote great Nations and slew mighty Kings Psal 135.10 Secondly The Importunity of Sin and Guilt that makes for this likewise Nahum 1.12 Though they be quiet and likewise many yet thus shall they be cut down when he shall pass through says the Lord there by his Prophet because their Sins call for Vengeance As we see it was with the Sodomites and tâ—â— Cities round about them whilst the Cry of their Wickedness ascended and came up to Heaven in their committing of Fornication and going after strange Flesh it is said That even they suffered the vengeance of eternal fire And so the Cananites and the rest of the Nations which opposed and fought against Gods People we hear what a quick and speedy riddance the Lord made of them for it in their Universal overthrow and ruine and destruction And so he is ready to do with many more in the like circumstances Who would not fear thee O King of Nations as it is in Jer. 10.7 What cause have all the People and Kingdoms of the Earth to tremble before this great God who is able thus to crush them in peices and to destroy them even in Hell it self if they provoke him as he here threatens them We should here learn to satisfie our selves in this great Mystery both of Prudence and Religion It seems to be a strange thing to reason that God should damn whole Nations And therefore such Persons as make Reason to be the Rule of Faith they do much doubt of it and call it into Question For which purpose they have found out salvation even for the Heathen that know not God nor ever heard word of Christ But we see here how the Scripture it self expresses it self in this particular whereby it tells us that whole Nations shall be turned into Hell That so we may not be wiser or mercifuller than God himself But submit our own reason and the Dictates of our own understanding to his Discoveries and Proposals And in the mean time bless God our selves if he hath exempted us out of the number of those Nations which shall be thus dealt withal by a more peculiar manifestation and dispensation of himself unto us Thus for the Subjects here mentioned in reference to this Punishment All the Nations The Second is the guilt which is fustned upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of this Punishment and that is Forgetting of God This now does a little qualifie it and restrain it and take it in It is not all Nations Absolutely and Indefinitely and without exception howsoever qualified but under this Notion of Impiety God does not in this case proceed in a way of Soveraignty but in a way of Justice It is true he might if he pleased do the former forasmuch as all the Nations of the World they are his own Creatures and the Workmanship of his own hands therefore if he saw good he might deal with them as the Potter with his vessel And no man might say unto them what dost thou But he has thought fitting to take another course than this with them and that is by proceeding upon the account of their own guilt as it is here declared unto us Therefore this Punishment and Destruction it is here limited and restrained to Sinners And so we find it to be also in other places as Psal 79.6 Pour out thine indignation upon the Heathen that have not known thee and upon the Kingdoms that have not called upon thy name Not upon the Heathen considered Absolutely nor upon the Kingdoms considered Indefinitely But upon those Heathens and Kingdoms which have not known God Nor called upon him And so likewise here in the Text All the Nations that forget God This is a Particular Character whereby a wicked People are distinguisht viz. Forgetfullness of God as that which carries the very root of all wickedness in it For hence it is that any Persons do make so bold with God as commonly they do by offending him and rebelling against him because indeed they are such as do forget him and think not of him This forgetfulness of God which wicked men are thus guilty of to explain it a little to you it extends to Sundry Particulars First To the Essence of God They forget God that is they forget that there is a God They have heard of it it may be and have seen Habitual Notions of it yea but in such and such cases and circumstances they do it or reflect upon it They do not Actually mind or consider it which makes them so to carry it as if indeed they did not beleive it Secondly To the Nature of God They forget God that is they forget who or what manner of one God is They forget him in his Properties and Attributes and such Expressions of him as whereby he has revealed and made himself known In his Holiness and Justice and Power and Omniscience and Omnipresence and the like In these they do not remember him but plainly forget him Wicked Men they frame to themselves such a God as is suitable to themselves and their own Fancies and Imaginations As he tells that wicked Man in the Psalm 50.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self As if that which pleased them it were pleasing to him also Thirdly To the Word of God They forget God that is They forget what God does command or commend unto them They forget his Instructions and they forget his Injunctions and so in that respect they forget God himself for as much as he accounts himself interested and concerned in such things as these are as a Prince in his Laws David resolved with himself that he would never forget God's Precepts But this is that which such Persons as these do continually though they may seem to remember God Notionally yet they forget him Practically And though they profess that they know him yet in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 Lastly To the Providence of God They forget God that is They forget what God has done and brought to pass in the World As it is charged upon the Israelites that they forgat the works of the Lord aad the wonders that he had shewed them Psal 78.11 His Works of Mercy they forgat them They remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the Enemy Psal 78.42 They forgat God their Saviour which had done great things for them in Egypt Psal 106.21 And
to come But such Thoughts as these are also to be scattered Let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts Namely first of all as to matter of Opinion in particular about Sin about Grace about God Secondly As to matter of Contemplation He must forsake his Thoughts here also Take a Natural and Carnal man and where are all his Thoughts What is that which his mind does most run on And is most employed and exercised about Yea even then when it should be best imployed on the Lords day and such times as these Why surely it is all upon the World and the things of the World God is not in all his Thoughts as it is said of him Psal 10.4 Seldom ever thinks of Religion and Eternity and the saving of the Soul But vain and Foolish Thoughts do possess him and take up his mind and dwell with him Now such as these if ever he be right must be left and forsaken by him as in the place before cited Jer. 4.14 Thirdly As to matter of Contrivance and Design He must forsake his Thoughts here also Wicked men as they are full of Vain Meditations so they are commonly full of Sinfull Devices And they are still laying a train for future Wickedness in themselves Making provision for the flesh to fulfill the Lusts thereof and studying to do all the mischief that possible they can They shut their eyes to devise froward things Prov. 16.30 They sleep not except they do mischeif and their sleep is taken away from them except they cause some to fall Prov. 4.16 Now such as these in Conversion are likewise to be forsaken by them When a man comes once to be a Christian he has other plots and designs than he had before which is to honor God in that place wherein he has set him To save his own Soul to save the Soul of others to advance and promote Religion and the Church and Truth of God in the World whereby his other evil designs are disperst and driven away from him that 's the Second thing here required of a wicked man as in reference to his Course to forsake his way So in reference to his mind to forsake his Thoughts And this for the first Branch of the Counsel as it contains in it the Act of Conversion The Second is the Act of Conversion in these words And let him return to the Lord our God This is the nature of true Repentance it is a turning from Sin to God and so it is here exhibited to us There are two things breifly which are here considerable of us in this Expression First The Motion And Secondly The Term of the Motion The Motion that 's Returning The Term of it that 's the Lord our God First For the Motion it self that 's Returning Sin it puts us out of our way It is a Deviation and departing from God And Repentance that reduces us and brings us into our way again which is that which is to be indeavoured by us This is that which does naturally and necessarily follow hereupon That upon discovery of our wandrings and mistakes we should be perswaded to return And there 's two things at once in it First That we go no farther in this present way And Secondly That we enter upon another way and contrary to the former in us First We must go no farther in this in the present evil way that 's imply'd in returning As Paul when he was passing to Damascus with Letters against the Church of Christ his journey was stopt when Christ met him by the way so it must be with every sinner that will repent of his Course of sin he must make no farther progress in it but put a stop to himself True Repentance is wholly inconsistent with any purpose of farther sinning against God But Secondly There must be also a comming back into another way Repentance it does not only put a man to a stand but it sets him in his right way As a man in a Journey that sees himself mistaken he does not only stay in the place where he is and goes no farther on but he comes back all the way he has gone hitherto and sets himself in the right path Even so it is here in these Spiritual Aberrations as Paul upon his Conversion he did not only give over persecuting the Gospel but he falls to the preaching of it and expresses himself actually for it Thus for the Motion it self which is here required of us and that is Returning Now the Second is The Term of the Motion And that we have expressed here unto us two manner of ways First In the Simple Proposition and that is the Lord God Secondly In the Emphatical Reduplication and that is The Lord our God First Take it Simply To the Lord. The Returnings of our Repentance must be to Him I will return and go to my Father says the Prodigal Child And so God himself seems to call for it from us Jer. 4.2 If thou wilt return O Israel saith the Lord return unto me There are many people sometimes who turn out of one false way into another who will not leave their sins or vanities which they have been guilty of but only exchange them They think to reform and to amend extreams by extreams Prodigality by Covetuousness Profaneness by Superstition Oppression by Licentiousness and so of the rest This is not to turn to God but to turn to Satan who from hence makes an advantage of them and before they are aware has his will and ends upon them But Secondly Take it in the Emphatical Reduplication so 't is to the Lord our God This has the force of an Argument with it Our God that is our God whom we have owned and taken for ours our God in Covenant I will return to my former Husband says the Church there in Hos 2.7 So here our God that is so related to us and who has done so much hitherto for us And then also we may take it as spoken upon the Prophets own experience of Gods Goodness c. So much also for the Act of Conversion Let him return to the Lord and to our God And so now I have done with the first General part of the Text which is the Counsel or Precept or invitation which is here made to Repentance and turning to God in both the Branches it it Let the wicked c. The Second is the Promise or Argument to inforce this Counsel and Invitation And that is taken from Gods readiness to the forgiveness of sin upon that Condition which is here again laid down two manner of ways First In the Absolute Proposition And Secondly In the Additional Amplication The Absolute Proposition is in these words And he will have mercy upon him The Additional Amplification is in these And he will abundantly pardon First To speak of the former viz. The Absolute Proposition And he will have mercy upon him And so there is this in it as observable from it
behind us saying This is the way walk ye in it when we turn either to the right hand or to the left But now farther if we please we may take these words a little more at large as I in part hinted before When ye turn to the right hand or to the left not as touching it of two extreams but in reference to all the passages of our lives whatsoever they be When ye turn to the right hand or to the left that is whatsoever place ye are in whatever business ye are about whatever condition befalls you ye shall have the hints of the Word and Spirit of God assistant to you This is the promise which is made to the Saints and Servants of God And it is made not only here in this Text but also in divers other places besides as Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass So Prov. 3.6 In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy pathes So again in Prov. 16.3 Commit thy Works unto the Lord and thy Thoughts shall be Established This Disposition in God towards his People is founded on his Affection to them He loves them and therefore he Counsels them and cannot abide to see them miscarry Love it is full of direction of the party which it is placed upon and will not suffer him to go out of his way And so it is with God to us This is a great Comfort and Incouragement to us and should quicken us especially in his service wherein especially we are sure to have him to guide us and go before us and be assistant unto us And that in the darkness of this World wherein we walk If a man have a bad way yet if he have a good guide it is some Comfort to him This is the Lord to his Servants He teaches them to go taking them by the hand as it in Hos 11.3 Oh how much should we be affected herewith Especially in this Age and Time wherin we live In which we have so many Labarynths and uncertainties that a great many do not know what to do nor what way to betake themselves to We have so many humours and conceits amongst us that we know not almost what to believe nor what to practise It is the case and condition of many people that they are at a nonplus and almost at their wits ends in this particular Well in all these uncertainties and distractions Here 's the Comfort and Incouragement of Gods servants which do not provoke him to do otherwise with them from some default or miscarriage in them in which case it may be suspended to them That they shall hear a word behind them saying this is the way walk in it when they turn c. But here it may partinently be demanded How this word shall be discerned and known because there 's a great deal of deceit and mistake in the particulars many taking that to be the word and spirit of God which is no more but their own foolish fancy and the suggestions and intimation of the Devil joyning with their own corrupt hearts It is the condition of many people now in these present days and never more than now it is For this There are divers Touchstones and discoveries of it which we will briefly instance in First Let this within thee be regulated by the word without thee And the motions and suggestions of the Spirit examined by the Rule of the Scripture and the written word of God to the Law and the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isa 8.20 God never speaks in the Conscience contrary to what he speaks in the Scripture for he is unchangeable and cannot deny himself If therefore we have any motions in us which are cross and opposite hereunto we have very greet cause to suspect them as coming to us from another hand yea to abandon them and to bid defiance to them For which as the Wind does not sit at the same time in two contrary corners North and South so neither does the Spirit breath in two contrary motions Good and Evil. The motions of the spirit are always suitable and agreeable to it self Secondly They are also orderly and regular They keep men within the compass of their Callings and the spheres and the place which God has set them in Motions either from mens own Spirits or the spirit of Satan acting in them they are many times out of course they carry them above their line and make them to stretch themselves beyond their measure as the Apostle speaks But those which come from God and the suggestions and inclinations of his spirit they confine them and keep them within bounds They order them and frame them and keep them within bounds suitable to their several stations and Relations and Conditions and Circumstances in the world which they have regard and heed unto So likewise which we may refer hereunto they are agreeable also to the law of Nature and Civility and ingenuity in us Therefore such motions as cross these they are not such as come from Gods spirit but from the spirit of the Devil when any are carried to such acts as are against Civility and common modesty it self Thirdly They are also mild and gentle and seasonable They are not ordinarily violent raptures but such as leave a man in a right apprehension of what he does and reflexion upon it A man knows where he is and what he does while he is followed with them which in the motions of Satan is otherwise Fourthly They are discernable also from their Effects and the ends which they tend unto all the hints and motions of Gods spirit they still tend to make us better and to carry us nearer to himself one way or other they serve to promote Piety and Holiness in us and to better us especially and above all in our Inward man whereas those which are contrary and do serve to weaken Grace in us they have another spring for them Lastly In all these Cases the Spirit commonly brings his own Conviction and Evidence with him And as he says This is the way walk ye in it so he does likewise manifest that it is he that says it from whence the Soul of a Christian may be assured that he is not mistaken or deluded in it Look as those which had the Spirit of Prophesy they did by the same light know both the truth of the things themselves which they prophesied about as also that it was from God that message which they delivered even so is it with those also still which have any motions of the Spirit of God in them they do at one and the same time know both the things themselves which they are moved unto as also the Authour and Original of them But so much for that In these hints and suggestions of the Spirit this voice behinde us may be discovered by
meaning whereof was no more but this hereby to commend unto them an Evenness and Intireness and Sincerity of Conversation in the whole course of their Lives so to follow the wages of Vertue as to declare the paths of Vice and so to affect that which was commendable as to avoid that only which was sinful and contrary to his Divine Commands There being nothing more usual among Hypocrites than to mingle and jumble and confound these two one with another for their own Advantage as covering and palliating their wickedness with some pretences and appearances of goodness This was that which was the Temper of these people the people of the Jews whom this Prophet Jeremy had to deal withall here in this Chapter They enjoyed the Ordinances amongst them and did in some sort attend upon them and approach unto them and from hence they gave themselves Liberty in their sinful and abominable courses crying The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord are these c. THE Text is nothing else but God's Expostulation with the Jews for that Great Guilt which was upon them and it is reducible to two heads whereof it consists First Their Abominable Hypocrisie And Secondly Their Notorious Stupidity Their Hypocrisie that is in these words Will ye steal murther c And come and stand before me c Their Stupidity in these And say We are delivered to commit all these c. We begin with the first of these viz. The Hypocrisie of these Jews which consists in the mixture and conjuncture of their Prophaneness and Formality together Their Prophaneness in theft and murther and adultery and perjury c. And their Formality in coming and standing before God in his House c. That whiles they were guilty of the former yet they did so confidently apply themselves to the latter Now the words may be consider'd of us two manner of waies Either first of all in their Absolute and Positive sense as is imply'd or secondly in their Interrogatory and Expostulatory sense as is exprest First Take them positively and absolutely as is here implyed This Question it hath an Assertion involved and included in it Will ye do thus and thus that is indeed ye do so and so it hath the form of an Accusation which the Prophet Jeremy by Direction from God does charge this people withall that they were guilty of these and these Miscarriages of Prophaneness and Impiety in their Breach and Transgression of both of the Tables of the Lew of the second Table in stealing and murthering and whoring and of the first Table in perjury and superstition and idolatry of formality in resting themselves satisfied in the external acts and performances of God's worship in coming to Church and presenting themselves before God and nothing else of Hypocrisie or if ye will of Presumption in the mixture of these two together My purpose at this time is not to speak of these Crimes in their Distinction but rather in their Conjunction which is the proper scope and drift of the Text. The mixture of the prophaneness and formality one with the other as it was here in this people And so again there are two things which are here considerable of us First Their Consistency they are such as may go together it is that which is possible Secondly Their Concomitancy they are such as do go together it is that which is usual Both of these are here implyed First To look upon them in their Consistency they are such as do very well sute and agree together prophaneness and formality It is possible for these two to meet in the same subjects and persons Men may steal and murther and commit adultery and play such pranks as these and yet come and stand before God in his house c. And men may stand before God in his house yet be guilty of such crimes as these are This is taken for granted ab esse ad posse valet consequentia That which is it is clear it may be And the reason of it is this because the bare external works of Religion have no influence at all upon the heart for the changing and altering of it or making of it better There is no man that is absolutely secure from any acts of sin and impiety though never so vile any further than there is a restraint upon his heart and inward man Where the heart is unmortified the life is there very much exposed and the conversation capable of pollution Now outward acts and performances of Religion simply considered they never reach to this A man's heart may be what it will be for all these as false and deceitful and unclean as ever it was and whiles it is so they are easily consistent and agreeing with such kind of practices and abominations Again on the other side neither do those corrupt affections which do tend to such wicked practices restrain these religious duties as to the external performance It is no way any hinderance or impediment from theevishness or revengefulness or lasciviousness now and then to go to Church and to appear in the Publick Assemblies Nay there are too many who now and then take occasion from their meeting in such places as these are to further and promote their opportunities for such kind of practices who therefore come and stand before God in his house that they may steal and murther and commit adultery with the better advantage They make the frequenting of the Ordinances an occasion for the satisfying of the lusts so that we see plainly there 's a consistency It is possible for those two to go together But further secondly there is also a Concomitancy as it was here in these people before us It is very usual and ordinary to be so that those who are the one are the other It is no rare or strange business for men which are never so prophane yet to be now and then in the outward Duties of Religion for those who for the general are of leud and vicious lives yet at least for some time to be conversant in Religious performances so far forth as they shall extend no further than the outward man And there 's a double Ground for it which may be assign'd as an Account of it the one is thereby to blind the eyes of men and the other is thereby to stop the mouth of conscience First To blind mens eyes there 's oftentimes that in it The out-side of Religion it hath a kind of speciousness with it and makes a glorious shew in the sight of the world And thus it doth oftentimes incourage some kind of people to come off unto it that so they may the better lye hid under those great and manifold enormities which they are guilty of in the course of their lives that they may sin with the greater freedom and liberty otherwise they will be now and then in those External Devotions Secondly To stop the mouth of their own consciences
which would be apt and ready otherwise to fly in their faces Those who are guilty of great sins they have now and then sad remembrances of them in their own souls Even Natural conscience is so far active and effectual as that it oftentimes very much afflicts such persons as are deep in transgression Now that this may be a little allayed and pacified in them they think it the best way for them to turn into such kind of Duties as these are Men do naturally affect a slight and easie Religion such as will cost them no great pains or labour with their own hearts and if they can but reach to this they are well satisfied and contented in themselves and sit down abundantly pleased They are willing to do any thing which they may do with the keeping of their lusts and the enjoying of their corrupt Affections that so they may have some kind of quietness and tranquillity in their own minds Now thus because it is obtained in some sort in these meer outward performances therefore do they so much the rather apply themselves to them The consideration of these Points both together the consistency and concomitancy of prophaneness and formality with one another is therefore useful to the right apprehension of mens state and condition in Grace that they may not mistake themselves in this particular as to think the case is presently good with them according to their conversation or abundance in such matters as these are Alas if there be nothing else which they can approve themselves for but this they are but in a sad and miserable condition That Religion which is consistent with the indulgence of base lusts and corruptions in the heart is but a poor Religion indeed This is that which is observable in Popery in a special manner where if they can bring themselves off to some outward and corporal services and performances in the Worship of God this is that which serves their turn whiles in the mean time they allow themselves in secret and inward lusts which also break forth into open abominations And every man by nature has somewhat of this rooted in him Men had rather do any thing than once deny themselves and cross and contradict the byas of their base and corrupt inclinations Oh this goes to their very heart and they cannot indure it They may sometimes come to Church and hear the Word and receive the Sacrament in a formal and customary manner and this breaks no bones if ye go no further than so They may do all this and when they come home return to their wonted wickedness and leudness as is here exprest in the Text and therefore they can comply with such things as these are But to give God their hearts and to serve him in Spirit and Truth and to cross themselves in those sins which are nearest and dearest to them this is that which is difficult for them and they cannot indure to hear of it Here they go away sorrowful as it was with that rich man in the Gospel when Christ put him upon a Duty of self-denial and inward obedience And so much may be spoken of these words in their positive and absolute consideration as they have an implicit Assertion in them for so they have and so also some Translators express it Will ye do so and so that is ye will do so at the same time both steal and kill and commit adultery c. And you withall come and stand in my house Propâ—◠〈◊〉 and formality they are consistent and conâ—◠〈◊〉 one another they are 〈◊〉 as may very 〈…〉 in this thing and they are such as do very much concur in the person Now the second and next view of these words is in their sense of expostulation as our last Translation here renders it and most agreeably to the Hebrew Text Will ye steal and murther c. And come and stand before me in this house c where the Lord calls this people to an account for their mixture of these two both together How whiles they allur'd themselves in the one they practised the other whiles they were guilty of so great and so many notorious Miscarriages How together with them they did joyn these semblances and appearances of Devotion And this Question or Expostulation it hath a double Emphasis or respect with it First How can ye do so in regard of your selves as to your own satisfaction And Secondly How can ye do so in regard of Me as to My content First How in regard of your selves How can ye satisfie your own Minds and Consciences with such kind of doings Can ye think but in your own hearts that this is a thing fitting and convenient The Lord here seems to appeal to their own Judgments in this particular as he does also in other places of Scripture This is the great unhappiness of prophane Hypocrites and Formalists that they are in a manner condemned of themselves and their own consciences many times tell them that their actions are otherwise than they should be when they consider seriously of them they cannot but conclude against them and acknowledg them to be very unreasonable And therefore does the Lord himself in such cases upon these terms proceed with them as he does here with this people of the Jews Will ye steal and kill c And come and stand before me c That is can ye satisfie your selves in so doing Their Actions though as I shewed before they were consistent yet they were incongruous though they were such as were done together yet they were not such as did hold together but as the legs of the lame were unequal There was a repugnancy in them as themselves could not deny That 's that which is here signified and accordingly it is that which may be done to any other in the like cases whether in the exercise of the Ministry or in private and Christian Admonition we may herein appeal to mens consciences in this particular who if they will deal indifferently and impartially cannot justifie their own proceedings Hypocrites whiles they hope to please others yet they inwardly displease themselves as doing that which is not warrantable or allowable even in their own Judgments And that 's one Emphasis of this expression How can ye do so in regard of your selves How can ye please and satisfie your own minds in this wretched mixture and conjunction But then Secondly which is chiefly considerable how can ye think to please Me or not rather highly to displease Me and to provoke me by such waies as these are The Lord does here by this expression not only argue with them but reprove them and express his displeasure against them that they should carry it thus towards him And there are two things especially which he seems here to tax and challenge them for To speak distinctly of it First he taxes them for their Formality in that they thought to please him with their bare external performances And
and yet to draw near to God in his Services and Religious Performances it is a matter of very high aggravation Therefore it is that we shall find God not onely here in this Text but also in divers others besides to contest with them for it as Isa 1.11 12. To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord c. When ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands Incense is an abomination I cannot away with it your feasts and your sabbaths c. they are a trouble unto me I cannot bear them And so Isa 66.3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man c. He that burneth incense as if he blest an idol c. So again Psal 50.16 17. Vnto the wicked saith God What hast thou to do to declare my statutes or to take my covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest instruction and castests my words behind thee The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord especially if he bring it with an evilmind The Lord will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him This is that which he hath said Levit. 10.3 Therefore in that place before in Esay he bids them wash them make them clean put away the evil of their doings from before their eyes ere they presumed to come into his presence To open this passage a little further and to speak distinctly of it This Question here in the conjunction of both parts together Will ye steal and murther c and yet will ye come and stand c It hath a two-fold intimation with it the one as an aggravation of their sinfulness and the other as an aggravation of their danger Will ye do it that is Will ye be so vile as to do it And Will ye do it that is Will ye be so bold as to do it There is each of these which is here intimated and intended in this Expostulation First Here 's an aggravation of their sinfulness Will ye do it that is Will ye be so vile There is a great deal of vileness and wickedness and sinfulness in such courses as these are for men to come into the presence of God and to draw near to him in Religious Performances whiles they allow themselves in their sinful lusts there 's irreverence and contempt of God and an argument of low conceits and apprehensions of him That men first think that any thing is good enough for him and then that they think that he will be content with any thing and easily put off with it there 's a trespassing upon God in his Majesty and there is a suspition of God in his Wisdom than which two taken together what can be more vile or abominable First There is a trespass upon God in his Majesty there 's irreverence and contempt of him that 's most clear and evident The higher apprehensions that men have of any one's person the more regardful are they of their carriage when they come before him If a man shall come into the presence of a Prince and carry himself rudely before him it is a sign he has no very great thoughts or esteems of him for if he had he would carry it otherwise to him And so it is here as to the presence of God when men shall come before him with base and false and naughty and deceitful hearts it is an argument they do not much regard him but think that any carriage indeed is good enough for him Secondly It is a trespass also upon his Wisdom and that strictness and severity that is in him they think he 'll be pleas'd with any thing and that any thing will serve his turn they think to flatter him and to satisfie him with some fair pretences and that 's all They think that he does not see and take notice of that naughtiness which is in them all this while they think he approves of it and so makes him a partaker with themselves And therefore the Lord in such cases he does commonly deal with them upon this point by shewing them that they are exceedingly mistaken in so imagining as we may see in Mal. 1.7 9. Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar and ye say Wherein have we polluted thee In that ye say The table of the Lord is contemptible And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice is it not evil And if ye offer the lame and sick is it not evil Offer it now unto thy governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of hosts Take but any man whatsoever and let one give him onely fair words and complements and some outward good carriage and yet in the mean time endeavour to ruine him and destroy him and undermine him and will he take it well from him What is it for any one to stand bare in the presence of a Governour and yet in the mean time to break his Laws and to have no regard to the Precepts or Edicts which are set forth by him And so is it here as to God for men to approach to his Ordinances and yet to despise his Commandments to come into his House and yet to steal and kill c. What is this but to juggle with him and to question his Wisdom if they think he can be satisfi'd with it Should I accept this at your hands No saith God I will not it is a great mistake to conceive it I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts c. Therefore secondly as here is an hint and intimation of greater sins in this Question Will ye do it that is will ye be so vile so there is likewise an intimation of greater danger Will ye do it that is Dare ye be so bold do ye consider the hazard which ye run upon in so doing There is certanly a great deal of hazard and danger in such ways as these For men to allow themselves in wicked courses and yet to please themselves in the outward performance of Religious Exercises it is a very great venture in them There are three sorts of Judgments which are commonly consequent and following hereupon namely Spiritual and Temporal and Eternal We may take notice of them all First Spiritual Judgments there is oftentimes an infliction of these upon such occasions When men come to the Ordinances in their sins they are from hence now and then more hardned and confirm'd in them than they were before and their lusts do for the most part gain and get ground upon them their fraud and their malice and their uncleanness and such as these they are so much the more improved unto them Look as meat to a stomach that is foul it destroys it but in a stomach that is clean it nourishes it so the Ordinances when men come to them with good affections they strengthen their Graces but when they come with deceitful hearts they increase their corruptions Secondly Temporal Judgments in sicknesses
and diseases and plagues and corporal death Those that receive the Sacrament unworthily they are said to eat and drink judgment to themselves that is in part temporal judgment We shall find if we look into Scripture many sad proofs and instances of this unto us wherein as people have been any thing more formal and hypocritical in Gods Service he has exercised them and follow'd them with many grievous temporal calamities which for this cause he has inflicted upon them Thirdly and last of all Eternal the vengeance of eternal fire and everlasting destruction Damnation as some render that place 1 Cor. 11. It is that which hereupon they deserve and which without repentance they likewise shall suffer The Lord will not hold them guiltless that thus take his name in vain but will give them their portion with the hypocrites in the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone Thus we see how much danger there is in it as well as sinfulness and therefore danger because sinfulness The greater sin has always the greater danger attending it What 's the use of all this to our selves but even the Question of the Text it self Will ye now be any of you guilty in this particular shall any man now dare to presume in this kind as we have now exprest Oh far be it from us let them not so much trespass upon God and abuse his patience nor yet so much venture themselves by provoking of his indignation and the fierceness of his wrath against them And so now I have done with the first Branch of these peoples wickedness which God does argue and expostulate with them for viz. their abominable hypocrisie in the conjunction of these two both together Will ye steal and murther c. and yet will ye come c The second is their stupidity or carnality in these words And say We are delivered to commit all these abominations There are divers Translations which I find to be made of these words The Septuagint reads the words thus and so does the Arabick and say We have withdrawn or abstained from all these abominations and so it signifies their impudence in denying their manifest wickedness and notorious profaneness which is that which a great many people are also guilty of Though they be never so manifestly wicked yet they will not acknowledge it or be brought to the confession of it The Syriack renders them thus Deliver us because we have abstain'd from all these abominations which makes it more impudent still not onely to deny their notorious and manifest guilt but likewise to plead their innocency as meritorious of their preservation But there are three Translations which I shall especially fasten upon The first is that of the Chaldee Paraphrase We are delivered though c. which agrees both with Geneva and our Old English Translation The second that of St. Hierom and the Vulgar Latin We are delivered because c The third and last is that of our own last and newest English Translation which we have now before us which reads it that we may or 't is lawful to commit c. First Here was their security and insensibleness of their present condition in regard of sin We are delivered though c. whereby they would make their iniquities to be no hinderance at all to their preservation they might be delivered for all them and for all that the Prophets did menace and threaten against them for them their abominations should do them no hurt This was the first step and degree of carnality in them and it is that which accordingly the Lord does by his Prophet here call them to account for It is that which is oftentimes observable abroad in the world that men imagine as if their wickedness would bring no very great trouble or inconvenience unto them but that they shall scape well enough with it let them be as vile and bad as they can be steal and murther and commit adultery and swear falsly and what not yet that they shall evade for all this No evil shall overtake them or happen unto them They have made a covenant with death and with hell they are at an agreement as the Prophet Esay speaks They say When the over-flowing scourge shall pass through yet that it shall not come unto them as having made lies their refuge and under falshood hid themselves Isa 28.15 There is a various ground of this security and presumption in the hearts of many people First a false conceit in them of the mercy and indulgence of God they think that God is not so severe a punisher of sin as indeed he is or as he is said and proclaimed to be and as long as they do so they are well enough in their own apprehensions Tush the Lord does not see it nor the God of Jacob regards it as it is in Psal 9.7 Secondly A freedom and preservation from Judgment and Punishment at the present They are delivered and therefore they shall be Judgment is not executed speedily and therefore it shall not be at all This is commonly mens humour and disposition to go by sense and to make that to be a rule unto them either for fear or hope where they feel some evil at present there they think they shall feel it still and when they do not as yet feel it they never think they shall feel it at all And so it is here Because judgment is not executed speedily therefore the hearts of the sons of men c. as I have lately shewed Thirdly Carnal refuges and reliances they think they shall be delivered because they think it is impossible they should be punished they think they are Judgment-proof and that all that can be done unto them shall be no way able to offend them or be disquieting of them This is the true account of such security Now the Lord by this Expostulation does seem to check them for it and to shew them the vanity of such thoughts as these are Do ye say so that is Ye are mistaken in saying so it is an error and misconceit in you and which in conclusion you 'll find to be so And that 's the first thing here impli'd viz. their Security according to that reading of the words We are delivered though we have committed all these c. The second is their Stupidity according to the reading of it thus We are delivered because c. Here is a further step and degree of the wickedness of these rebellious people and which is observable in many more not onely to think they shall receive no hurt by their sins but also that they shall have good for them that the more they abound in abominations the more they shall abound in deliverances and that God multiplies their mercies so much the rather as they multiply their transgressions Thus we find it in another place of this present Prophesie as in Jer. 44.16 When we burnt incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out our drink-offerings
to her we had then plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil that is We were delivered because we had committed all these abominations Our iniquities make for our peace and comfort and are advantageous unto us This is that desperateness of spirit which many people in the just judgment of God are sometimes given up unto That they shall put their mercies and deliverances and preservations upon the score of their sins This proceeds from that self-love and flattery which is in mens hearts from whence they are ready to think too well of their own ways and of those things which are done by themselves and to be so far from condemning as to be rather applauding of themselves for them And this is that also which the Lord does here censure and tax in this people even their stupidity in this particular As if a Patient should conclude his taking of Poison to be the way and means for his recovery and the occasion of his restoring to health than which there can be nothing more absurd and repugnant and contradictory Thirdly and lastly Here is also their Incorrigibleness and Persistence in evil or if ye will rather their Ingratitude and perverse improvement of Gods deliverances and preservations of them And this according to this our English Translation which we have here before us We are delivered to commit all these abominations to commit them that is as an opportunity for the more free commission of them And thus now this word Say it is not to be taken so much in the mouth as in the mind or rather in the practise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Scholiast has it men say it even then when they are silent because their works and actions declare it Thus did this People in the Text they did carry themselves so leudly and abominably upon their deliverances as if God had delivered them on purpose that they might commit such abominations their practise it did plainly intimate and declare as much to the world Now this again is another thing which is taxed and censured by the Prophet Jeremy yea even by the Lord himself through his Prophesie Will ye say so indeed that is Will ye carry and behave your selves so as if indeed it were so What a fearful thing is this Those which are naught after afflictions and deliverances they are commonly the worst of all and are in the greater danger of punishment and judgment than any other besides And there is a double reason for it First because it is Means perverted And secondly because it is Mercy abused either of which are very pernicious First Means perverted Afflictions and deliverances from them they are Gods Spiritual Physick and Means which he has instituted to make men better and to draw them nearer to himself now when these shall drive them farther from him it must needs be exceeding bad as Physick when it is perverted it tends more to the destruction of the Patient Secondly Mercy abused Gods goodness it leads men to repentance and his love it constrains them to duty This it does in the nature of the thing it self and according to his own appointment and institution and intention in it Now when this shall be turned into wantonness and a further progress and self-indulgence in sin it soon comes to be more exasperating and provoking and exciting to punishment This were well to be thought of by all such persons as are partakers of any mercies and deliverances whatsoever in one kind or other and in particular as the season now hints it from sicknesses and diseases and distempers that they would now recall themselves from their former sins and miscarriages and iniquities which they have heretofore been guilty of and not think that they have now an opportunity to return to their former wickednesses with as much earnestness and greediness as before to think that they are restored to their health that they may be restored to their lusts to their malice and wantonness and luxury and uncleanness and idolatry and such as these as are here mention'd in the Text for if they do so God will bring his judgments again upon them either in the same or far worse degrees and make them at last effectually and in good earnest to know that they are not delivered to commit all these abominations SERMON XLII JEREM. 2.23 O Generation see ye the Word of the Lord Have I been a Wilderness unto Israel a Land of Darkness Wherefore say my people We are Lords we will come no more unto thee It is a part of great Condescension in God towards his people in his doings and dealings with them that whereas he might justly if he pleased without any more ado proceed to the punishing of them for their miscarriages towards him yet he chuses rather first of all to expostulate and plead the case with them and to convince them of the unreasonableness of these courses which are taken by them that so if it were possible he might in a manner shame them out of them This is that which we find him here to do in this Scripture which I have now read unto you which consists partly of an Implicit Protestation of his own Innocency and good carriage to them partly also of an express conceit of their perverseness and ill carriage to him O ye Generation c. IN the Text it self there are three general parts considerable First A Demand And Secondly An Expostulation Thirdly An Invitation to the view and consideration of both The Demand that we have in these words Have I been a Wilderness to Israel a Land of Darkness The Expostulation in these Wherefore say my people we are Lords we will come no more unto thee The Invitation to the view of each in these Oye Generation see ye the Word of the Lord. We begin with the first of these parts viz. The Demand Have I been a Wilderness to Israel in which for the better understanding of it seems to carry a fourfold force or emphasis with it First It hath the force of a Remonstrance or Protestation of Self acquitting or Justification Have I been a Wilderness to Israel that is I have not been a Wilderness unto them Secondly It hath the force of a Remembrance or seasonable Intimation Have I been a Wilderness unto them Nay I have rather been the quite contrary I have indeed been a Paradise Thirdly It hath the force of a Reproach or implicit Exprobration Have I been a Wilderness to Israel as indeed Israel has been rather to me And last of all it hath the force of an Appeal or Provocation to themselves and their own Consciences Have I been a Wilderness to Israel that is let Israel themselves speak what they know and think in this particular First I say it hath the force of a Remonstrance or Protestation of a Self-acquitting or Justification Have I been a Wilderness unto Israel c that is I have not been either of these unto them Here
come to him no more Thus we find it recorded in the Gospel concerning divers that came to Christ that they served him just thus Joh. 6.66 From that time many of his Disciples went back and walk'd no more with him This must needs be very grievous and displeasing to him because it is such as casts a reproach upon his service and makes it to be ill thought of in the world As when a servant shall run away from his Master and come no more unto him especially there where he is well used and hath all the encouragement given him that can be this carries a great deal of disparagement and ignominy with it Even so is it here in mens carriage to God in this particular when they shall absolutely take their leaves of him and resolve to make no further addresses to him this is the height of miscarriage in them which therefore all those that fear God should be very cautious of being guilty in themselves And so much of the first particular considerable in this First General to wit the things themselves which God does charge these people withal in their assertion and resolution The Second is the censure which he passes upon them in the proper word of expostulation wherefore He charges them in it with unreasonableness and as such as they were able to give no good account for it in themselves And there are two things again in this First to signify that it was without reason They had no cause at all for it Secondly to signify that it was against reason They had very much cause to the contrary each of these are in this word Wherefore First to signify that it was without reason They had no cause at all for it that they should carry it thus towards God so as to withdraw and to depart from him for he had give them no occasion nor provocation at all We know how we reckon it amongst men and in the affairs of the world For people to be strange there where there is no occasion given them of strangeness it carries some uncouthness with it and puts them sometimes to their plunges and musings and thoughts in themselves who are the objects of it To study and find out a ground and reason for it from whence it should proceed Even so as we may say was it here with God in respect of his people he cannot devise what should be the cause of this their strange minds Wherefore to signify it is without reason But Secondly Wherefore also to signify it was against reason There was all the reason that might be to the contrary First their relation My people For strangers not to come at me were no strange thing but for relations to do so it is strange The more claim we make unto God the more observant should we be of him The Lord does still very frequently in Scripture lay a great emphasis upon that My people my people have committed two great evils my people have forgotten me c. And here my people came not unto me and say too that they will not what an unnatural thing is that Secondly The great things which they have received from me and which I have done for them It is strange in regard of that also and very unreasonable Every kindness is a strong engagement every courtesy is an obligation to duty The love and favour of God it is of a constraining and of a compelling nature and yet for all that it did not work or prevail here What a monstrous and prodigious thing was this contrary to all sense and reason and apprehension and imagination whatsoever There 's nothing which can be said to justify it or be a pretence and colour for it And so I have done also with the Second General Part of the Text which is the Ezpostulation Wherefore say my people we are Lords we will come no more unto thee The Third and last is the invitation to the view and consideration of both which we have prefixt in the beginning of the verse by way of introduction but I have reserv'd it rather to be handled in the conclusion as the fittest place for it in reference to our handling in these words O ye Generation see ye the Word of the Lord. By Generation here he means the people of the times in which the Prophet at that time lived And it has a kind of reflexion with it upon the sinfulness and wretchedness of it As who should say into what an age and time are we fallen And so we find our Saviour himself sometimes to use it and his Apostles with him A sinful and an adulterous Generation a crooked and perverse Generation a Generation of vipers and of evil-doers and the like Still they took notice of the temper of the Age and Generation in which they were and so is it requisite likewise upon occasion for others to do the same with them But that which is chiefly here observable is that which this Generation is invited unto namely to see the word of the Lord. One would have thought it should rather have been hear it for that 's the sense which is receptive of words rather than seeing But the Holy Ghost knew what he said and accordingly was pleased to make choice of such an expression as was most emphatical and agreeable to his purpose And so says rather see it as that which had the greatest efficacy and influence with it upon the mind Segnius irritant animum demissa per aurem quam quae sunt ocuâ—is subjecta So then see it that is understand it consider it mind it and attend unto it They had heard the word of the Lord often enough with their outward ears but that had done no good at all upon them they were little the better for that So then now therefore he calls upon them to see it that is in a special manner to take notice of it And which seems also to be included in it to judg of it and to consider the weightiness and seriousness of it That there was some ground and reason and cause for that which he said There are many words which are sometimes spoken by men especially in their anger and wrath which would not so well endure the test or examination of them which they would be ashamed that others should see them in the sense whereof we now speak Yea but these words of God were not such he cares not who hears them and he desires that every one may see them and be witnesses of them especially those who were themselves more particularly concerned in them Hear ye the word of the Lord. And it has a respect to a twofold Branch whereunto it is to be referr'd First the word of the Lord as it did respect his own justification Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of darkness judge ye of the truth of that Secondly as it did respect Israel's condemnation Wherefore say my people we are Lords we will come no
nore unto thee judge ye also of the equity of that And now this to bring all to some use is very applyable to our own condition of this Land and Nation To whom these words of the Text may be very well sitted and suited in all particulars And therefore O Generation see ye the word of the Lord. Let us think and consider with our selves how God has been pleased to carry himself to us from one Generation to another Has he been indeed a wilderness to us or a land of darkness Let us but a little look back and reflect upon the mercies of this very day as I mentioned it to you in the forenoon and had occasion as I then told you I had to do from a Sermon given to that purpose The seventeenth day of November which laid the ground work and foundation of so many mercies unto us which followed upon it In the breaking forth of the Gospel amongst us and many other blessings besides which we have enjoyed with it Peace and Plenty and Prosperity and Honour and Renown We have been a wonder to all Nations round about us for the great and remarkable favours which God hath been pleased from time to time to heap upon us Then they said amongst the Heathen the Lord hath done great things for them The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce Psal 126.2 But have we made answerable returns to God's goodness and loving-kindness towards us Let us but see and consider that a little and seriously think of it What improvement have we made of the Gospel which we have so long time enjoyed to faithfulness and fruitfulness and heavenliness and holiness of conversation God has not been a wilderness to us have not we been so to him He has not been a land of darkness to us neither as opposite to the light of knowledg and information the darkness of error and ignorance nor as opposite to the light of comfort and consolation the darkness of misery and affliction God has been light unto us and in him is no darkness at all But whether have we walked in the light and not in darkness in reference to him This were worth the due scrutiny and enquiry by us Have we not wax'd proud and wanton and secure and presumptuous under all his dispensations towards us And so trusted to our own present welfare as that we have in a manner despised him and said with these people in the Text here before us We are Lords we will come no more unto thee Certainly the great abominations which do now in these days abound and increase still amongst us they do speak no less of us Well if it be thus with us we have great cause to be affected with it and to lay it to heart as that which is most absurd and unreasonable as it is here presented to us And to close at last with God's excitements and invitations of us to repentance and amendment of life This is that which we have an example of given us in this very people here before us the people as we may see in the following Chapter Jer. 3.22 Who when God had first himself said thus unto them Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backsliding they presently make this answer and return unto him again Behold we come unto thee for thou art the Lord our God And so much may serve for this time SERMON XLIII JER 4.19 My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very heart my heart maketh a noise in me I cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard O my Soul the sound of the Trumpet the alarm of War This Text in the first reading or hearing of it one would be ready almost to think to be the speech of some travelling woman which were now in pain to be delivered and bringing forth a child into the world or which had miscarried through some fright or evil accident which had hapned unto her for it carries with it such expressions as are suitable to such conditions of bowels working and heart panting and spirit fainting and tongue crying aloud But yet if we look into the Context the Connexion and Coherence of it we shall find no such matter which makes it to be a business of so much the more wonderment and admiration so that we may justly upon occasion of it take up that inquiry of this very Prophet Jeremy himself in another place of his Prophecy and use the same words with him there in chap 30.6 Ask now and see whether a man doth travel with child wherefore do I see a man with his hands upon his loins like a woman in travel and his face turn'd into paleness And if we shall so ask we shall easily have an answer given us That so it is indeed and has cause to be so Here 's the Prophet himself travelling with the miseries and calamities of his people which now like so many pangs and throws came upon him and drew forth this bemoaning from him which he does express so much the rather that so he might draw on them to the same affections and dispositions with him who were now wholly swollen up with security and presumption and carnal confidence in their present condition not considering the sad and grievous estate which now they were in It is a Scripture which follows very pertinently upon that which we lately handled the last Sabbath day in this place and this time of the day for which cause I have fastned upon it that so though we change our Texts for the more variety and edification yet we might still hold our argument and keep to the main business it self which we drive at in this performance of awakening you and preparing you for God's judgments which hang over your heads and are threaten'd against you if we have eyes and hearts to see it and to be affected with it IN the Text it self we have two General Parts considerable of us First the Prophets Complaint or Lamentation it self Secondly the ground or occasion of this his Lamentation His Complaint or Lamentation that we have laid down in those words My bowels my bowels c. The Ground or Occasion of it in those Because thou hast heard O my Soul c. We begin with the first viz. his Complaint it self wherein again we have these particulars further observable First the parts affected Secondly the grief of those parts Thirdly the passage or vent of that grief The parts affected are described or exprest two manner of ways First in their simple proposition Secondly in their additional reduplication Their simple Proposition My bowels my heart Their additional Reduplication My bowels my bowels my heart my heart The grief of these parts is amplified from a double consideration First from the quality of it my heart is pained Secondly from the effect of it my heart makes a noise The passage or vent of this grief is again two ways considerable First as a matter of choice in
of of speaking And the Prophet Jeremy might say very well he could not hold his peace if we consider him but as a Prophet and Minister I cannot hold my peace that is I cannot but publish it and declare it and divulge it and make it known Therefore we see here what little reason there is to be offended with the servants of God upon such occasions as these are when those which are Prophets and Ministers do threaten and foretell Judgments to come and give some hints and symptoms of it aforehand we have no cause to be angry with them for it or to blame them for so doing for it is that which they many times cannot help nor hinder in themselves they are forced and put upon it out of obedience to God respect to themselves and their own peace affection to you and for your preservation They should deal very unworthily if they should here now hold their peace They speak and speak they must they are called and invited unto it and forced and constrained unto it There 's both a Providence and a Spirit guiding and inclining them in this particular which they cannot well decline It is a thing which is not of it self very pleasing unto them no more than it was to the Prophet Jeremy when it made his very heart ake and his bowels to roar within him The Ministers of God they do not very much delight in such messages as these are they had rather a great deal come with other words in their mouths with the words of comfort and peace and joy and consolation but it is your occasion and the condition which you are in that do enforce them and put them upon it whether they will or no. Therefore I say let us be patient under such hints and intimations as these are Those who are the Lords Watchmen they cannot here hold their peace and it becomes them to speak in this matter indeed I must also add this that they are to do it with a great deal of modesty and tenderness and ingenuity not too peremptorily taking upon them the determination of times and seasons or other circumstances which are mysteries which God has reserved in his own breast but for the general hints and motives themselves they may and must declare them according to the proportion of God's discovery and manifestation to themselves I cannot hold my peace i. e. I cannot hold my declaration as the Prophet here did That 's the first thing as it was a speech of Discovery or Publication The second is the Speech of Complaint I cannot hold my peace that is I cannot chuse but must bewail it the grief which he had conceived inwardly it did now outwardly vent forth it self as wind in the bowels of the Earth if it be kept in it will cause Earthquakes and terrestrial commotions and those siery exhalations that are drawn upward and are above in the Air if they be straitned they will cause Thunders and Tempests so passions and perplexive affections in the minds if they be restrained and curbed and kept in they will cause vexation and trouble of spirit within Those therefore in whom they are they think it the best and safest way to ease themselves of them by some outward expression And so did the Prophet here in the Text. There are divers vents which are used to this purpose weeping sighing complaining The heart in any kind of grief or extremity which is upon it does for the most part case it self in one of these three particulars But that which we have here now before us at this present time is the last of these three which I have named to wit of speaking I cannot hold my peace This Prophet Jeremy's Anguish was now so intolerable with him as that it drew him forth into complaints and bemoanings both of his own passion and also of the occasion of it Sometimes grief is so great as that it makes men that they cannot speak Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent Sometimes again it is so great as that it makes men that they cannot hold their peace and forbear speaking And this was Jeremy's case in this Scripture I cannot hold my peace meerly from the extremity of sorrow which is in my heart It is the case of many more besides poor souls especially in these times wherein we live of want and penury and necessity that though modesty will hardly let them speak as being ashamed to discover their condition yet extremity will hardly let them be silent as being unable to conceal their condition through the grievousness of it Where-ever we meet with such persons we should be tenderly affected towards them and where they cannot but speak we should not but hear them speaking to us where they have mouths we should have ears yea hands for the relieving of them according as it pleases God to inable us hereunto But that only by the way That 's the second Explication of it When the Prophet sayes he cannot but speak that is to say by way of complaint as Job 7.11 And so I have done with the Third Particular the passage or vent as likewise with the first General in the Text The Prophet's Lamentation My bowels my bowels I am pained at my very heart my heart makes a noise within me I cannot hold my peace Now there follows Secondly The ground or occasion of it in the next words Because thou hast heard O my soul the sound of the Trumpet and the Alarum of War Great and grievous complaints they have some ground and foundation for them especially according to the persons from whom they come Wise and well tempered men they do not use to make moan without cause especially in that manner as is here exprest Now the ground and occasion of the Prophet Jeremy's thus complaining is here before us Because thou hast heard c. In which passage for methods sake and more distinct handling of it we may take notice of three particulars First The Tydings or Report it self Secondly The conveyance of it to the Prophet Thirdly His Improvement which he makes of it The Tydings or Report it self that ye have in these words The sound of the Trumpet the Alarum of of War The conveyance of these Tydings to the Prophet Thou hast heard O my soul The Improvement in the Connexion Because thou hast heard c. First For the Tydings or Report it self it is the sound of the Trumpet and Alarum of War This was that which was presented unto him where it will be worth our time a little to inquire what we are to understand by these expressions And here I must premise thus much that this is not to be understood literally of the Trumpet properly so called in a military Acceptation the Trumpet of War whereof as yet there was no sound at this time in the Land when the Prophet Jeremy thus exprest himself Indeed it was not as we shall hear far off from them they were very near unto
and so here again Jeremy had his Trumpet which was extrordinarily sounded in his ear as a forerunner of Judgment But secondly which I rather incline to in an extraordinary application to his mind and understanding God did now by the Spirit of Prophesie which this holy man was endued withall assure him of some grievous War which was now towards his People which he was as verily perswaded of as if he had heard the very sound of the Trumpet and alarm of War it self This was Gods manner of dealing with the Prophets he did thus communicate and dispenfe himself to them so as to acquaint them aforehad with the things which he would bring to pass in the world of any special importance as Amos 3.7 Surely the Lord will do nothing but he reveals his secrets to his servants the Prophets that is nothing which is of any great concernment as to the state and condition of his People nothing of that but he will acquaint his Prophets with it And so much of the first particular in this second General the Report it self the sound of the Trumpet the Alarm The second is the conveyance of it to the Prophet and that is by his Soul Thou hast heard O my Soul How is his Soul said to have heard it As we may conceive it briefly thus according to these explications First Originally as in forming the Organs of the body When the Ear hears it is the Soul hears as conveying its faculty by that particular part and member 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the mind sees and the mind hears and all things else without that are blind and deaf it was the saying of Epicharmus So then if as I hinted before we shall suppose Jeremy to have heard some sound of a Trumpet in the air and to have discern'd it by his bodily ear yet his Soul might be said to hear as having the faculty of that sense in it whose outward organ or instrument is the body and outward man Secondly The Soul immediately as being that which had particular communion with God in these impartments This was the singular priviledge of the Prophets to partake of these immediate and extraordinary communications of God to them which we in these days have now no warrant to expect for our selves Indeed God does oftentimes very graciously reveal himself to his Servants in a way of spiritual communion with them wherein he does likewise give them very strange hints oftentimes of his Providential Dispensations but these Prophetical inspirations were more peculiar both to those times and persons and so not to be expected now Thirdly The Soul Emphatically That 's spoken indeed which is spoken to the Soul and that is heard indeed which is heard with the Soul Thus was it here in the Text thus did God speak and Jeremy hear it 's well when these two go together both in speaker and hearer In these it did two things 1. God's Excellency 2. Man's Duty First I say here 's God's Excellency he speaks to this as for us which are Ministers we can go no further than the ear it is God that must speak to the heart that must work upon the mind that must perswade the Soul and when he pleases so to do he does it effectually Secondly Here 's Man's Duty in Jeremy's practise My soul hath heard that it should be with us we should hear with all our Souls when we come to such Dispensations as these are which we are now about how is that namely attentively cheerfully intelligently obedientially and so as to practise what we hear And so we have also the second Particular which is the Conveyance of all this to the Propher The third and last is the Improvement the use which the Prophet Jeremy makes of this report heard by him that is signified in the word Because which we must look upon as knitting both parts of the Text together and so carrying as it were back again to the former There is somewhat which we may observe in general and somewhat more immediately and in particular from the words themselves First observe in general thus much That then it is with us as it should be when our meditations have an influence upon our affections when what we hear with our ear or think upon in our minds it sinks down into our bowels and hearts when we are inwardly wrought upon by the good instructions which are administred to us Thus it was here with the Prophet Jeremy in this Text his soul Beard the sound of the Trumpet and his bowels were stirred and moved in him he had special revelations and he had hereupon answerable affections This was the property and disposition of a well-temper'd Soul indeed The Reason of it is this Because this is the end and aim which it tends unto every Divine Truth in the Understanding it is ordained for some betterment of the Will and Affections which are to be wrought upon by it We do not therefore reach the scope of it till we find it to have this effect upon us From hence then we should take account of our selves and see how it is with us VVe should not at any time satisfie our selves in any measure of Divine Illumination without some answerable and proportionable affection VVhen we have heard observe how we rellish And when our Judgments are inlightened consider how our bowels are moved and stirred and wrought upon in us And so in Fasting afflict our souls Again further Here 's also by the way an Item for Teachers to endeavour to work their Doctrines upon their hearts and those discoveries which God makes to them in reference to the instruction of the people to bring them down to their own spiritual improvement and advancement in the work of grace As we have here greater Revelation so from it we should have better Affection But Secondly To come more close to the particular Jeremy cries out of his bowels here he had heard the sound of the Trumpet c. These bowels I told you before were in general his Affections but I did not tell you which they were VVe may take them in these specifications First Anger Jeremy he was moved with this he was displeased when he considered the refractoriness and obstinacy of this people whom he spoke to that nothing would serve their turn but utter destruction that they should so cast away themselves as they did by their wilful provocations of God's Majesty to bring such sweeping Judgments upon them as this was There is nothing which is more apt to stir the zealand impatience of Teachers than when they see that all their Teaching and Admonishing comes to no good that people will still be that which they will be even to the utter undoing of themselves both bodies and souls Secondly Fear That was another part of these bowel The good Prohet had very strong apprehensions of this Judgment which was threatned and he was much troubled in himself as not knowing the full extent
are said to be briars and thorns and a rebellious house Ezek. 3.6 Briars and thorns there is no touching or handling of them And so were they in cap. 33.32 They come unto thee as the people cometh c. and they hear thy words but do them not There are divers Fortifications to this purpose which men raise to themselves to hold out against the workings of the Ministery that it shall have no force or efficacy upon them First Pride and Self-conceitedness that 's a great hinderance and impediment thereunto Jer. 44.2 Then spake Azariah c. and all the proud men saying to Jeremiah Thou speakest falsly Pride it is a great obstruction to effectual working upon the heart therefore St. James advises that wereceive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save our souls in Jam. 1.21 And the Promise of instruction is made to meek persons especially in Psal 25.9 The meek he will guide in judgment and the meek he will teach his way Secondly Another Fortification is Carnal confidence Men by cavillings and wranglings against the Word and the Ministery of it think thereby to make it void The preaching of the Gospel it is foolishness to men of the world and they think themselves too witty for it In Acts 13.45 They spake against the things which were spoken by Paul contradicting and blaspheming The Ministry it is to deal with strong-holds and imaginations or reasonings as the word properly signifies in 2 Cor. 10.5 Thus in the learned Greeks Thirdly Prosperity and outward Welfare and security from thence that 's another encouragement Thus it was with them there in that place Jer. 44.17 18. What was that which encouraged them in their opposition against the word which was preached unto them and the going on in their sinful courses Why then say they we had plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil But since we left off c. we have wanted c. When men shall thrive for the present in evil courses and ways it is a very great encouragement to them in them and does fortify them against all those which shall go about to take them off from them The consideration of this Point may serve to give us a very good account of the little good which is many times done in the Ministry as to the success of it It is because that people are so much hardened against it so that let the Prophets say what they please yet they are resolv'd to do what they list and do as good as tell them that they are not likely to prevail any thing with them as indeed they are not But yet this for all that ought not to take them off from their work though these would discourage them yet they are not to be discouraged by them but to do their best notwithstanding to win them and work them and bring them home to God because the work is not theirs but his who is able to conquer and subdue the stoutest heart and to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Thou shalt speak my words unto them whether they will hear or whether they will not hear Ezek. 3.7 In the mean time we may take notice of the desperateness of such a condition Those Patients that are resolved with themselves against all means and helps of recovery are most irrecoverable of any other And such kind of persons are these And so much also of the second reference of this expression There is no hope as it may be carried to the Prophet Jeremiah no hope in regard of thee The Third is in reference to God himself There is no hope i. e. there is no likelihood that if we should turn and amend our ways yet that God would be merciful to us and divert his wrath from us This is another sense of this expression And it does serve to discover to us another piece of sad distemper which is in wicked men even absolutely to despair of the mercy and goodness of God upon the conditions of repentance and so consequently to conclude that it is in vain to return unto him and to make their ways and their doings good as he had advised them and invited them to do in the verse before the Text. Thus it was with wicked Cain My iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven Gen. 4.13 And so many others besides They despair of the Grace of God in Christ and call it into question This they come to do thus partly First from the suggestions and temptations of Satan who does intimate as much unto them The Devil knows that if he can work men once to this he shall sufficiently prevail with them for if all endeavours to the contrary be vain and to no purpose then they had as good still follow their lusts This is that which he makes them to believe and thereby does most effectually work upon them Secondly it proceeds also partly from the infidelity which is in their hearts A naughty and corrupt heart as it abounds with many other lusts and corruptions besides so amongst the rest with unbelief and a doubting of the truth of God revealed and made known in his word It hearkens herein to Satan rather than to God as it did at first in the first temptation Thirdly for a measuring of God by themselves Despair it is a fruit of carnal reason and proceeds from that And therefore God to cure it does call men to right reason and the actings of that Isa 1.18 Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wooll If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the good of the Land And again Isa 55.7 8 c. Let the wicked forsake his way and let him return to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him c. For my thoughts are not your thoughts nor my ways c. That which we learn from hence our selves is to beware of such a frame of spirit as this is which is most dangerous and pernicious of all other as that which is both most against our selves and against God likewise and so must needs be very bad and to be avoided First against our selves in two things both in point of Grace and of Comfort In point of Grace as it is most obstructive to that and does lay open the way to the greatest wickedness that can be thought of For whereas hope of avoiding punishment by keeping from evil courses is a great restraint upon man's spirit where this hope shall be taken off by despairing of the goodness of God there is a gap open to all licentiousness and profaneness as following and consequent thereupon Then in point of Comfort it is much against our selves there for those that despair of mercy can be filled with nothing else but horrour and astonishment of soul They must needs live
wickedness saving What have I done Every one turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battel The horse and the war-horse especially which is there meant it hath a great deal of fierceness and impetuousness with it whereby when it discerns the battel though afar-off as Job speaks it rushes into it Eagerly with a great deal of vehemence and desperately with a great deal of resolution and dangerously with a great deal of hazard as rushing upon the Pikes and Guns Even so in like manner do wicked men rush upon evil courses and the ways of sin They are herein like the horse and mule which have no understanding and their sins are pleasing to them as the battel is to such kind of creatures as the horse is Secondly This obstinacy and perversness in sin it is grounded upon security and presumption Because as yet they find no hurt by their sins but scape well enough with them therefore they are resolv'd upon them As Eccl. 8.11 Because sentence against an evil doer is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil If God should strike men dead presently in their wickedness this it may be would a little affrighten them But now whiles he spares them and lets them alone and does nothing as yet unto them this heartens them and encourages them in evil Thirdly It does proceed from the power which Satan has over them The Devil he is said to be the Spirit that works in the children of disobedience Eph. 2.2 And certainly so he does in a great many persons Those who will not have Christ and his Spirit to reign with them they are oftentimes in just judgment given up to the Spirit of Satan by whom they are taken captive at his will And he hurries them and carries them on headlong to all manner of evil whatsoever Thus it is said of Judas that the Devil entred into him And thus 't is said of Ananias that Satan had filled his heart And thus Elymas the Sorcerer he is said to be a child of the Devil Now those which are such it is no wonder if they be thus bent upon sin as being such in whom Satan himself rules Fourthly Infidelity and unbelief because they are not perswaded of the truth of those things which they hear and read in the word concerning the vileness of such courses and the danger which they involve them in They think these things are but scare-crows and bug bears to fright children which have no truth or reality in them And therefore it is that they are no more affected with them so as to bear their evil ways Lastly The reason here in the Text and that is a desperate frame of spirit because they think there is no hope no hope that they should be better having so long been accustomed to evil Nor no hope if so-be they were better yet that God would be gracious to them and preserve them from ruine and destruction This is that among other things which makes them thus vile and incorrigible And that 's one thing and the main here considerable viz. Their obstinacy and perversness The Second thing is their conspiracy and combination We will every one c. It seems it was a set plot and design amongst them against the Lord and his Prophet even one and all If some few of them had resolved to do so it had been bad enough so and a very great evil that But it seems they were well agreed and they were so joyntly it was every one without exception Sin is always so much the worse as it is any thing the more general and universal It is not an excuse as some sometimes are ready to make it but rather an advancement and aggravation as shewing the malignity to be so much the greater and more improved And thus it was here Thirdly Here was their wilful transgression and sin even against knowledg for they do plainly acknowledg their ways to be evil and yet for all that they do resolve and purpose to persist in it notwithstanding We will every one do the imagination of his evil heart It is not we will do what we think in our judgment to be best Jeremy You think our ways to be evil and therefore would have us to refrain them but we are of another mind and therefore will continue still in them But you and we are both agreed in one that our ways are evil and yet notwithstanding we are determined to go on in them still though never so bad This is a fearful case indeed And thus much of the words consider'd simply and absolutely as they be in themselves Now further Secondly We may look upon them in their reflexion as coming from this people and that is they said it All that do so do not say so but it seems they said so and are so recorded here to have done This may be understood by us two manner of ways either in their words or in their actions either expresly and totidem verbis with open mouth or implicitly and interpretatively and by consequence in that which was done by them First Expresly and in so many words They were not ashamed to do this to say and declare and to profess to all the world that they were resolved whatever was said to them to persist and to go on in their wickedness Thus Psal 12.3 We read of the tongue that speaketh perverse things And ver 4. Who have said with our tongue we will prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us So Mal. 3.13 14. Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord ye have said it is in vain to serve God c. And Job 21.14 They say unto God depart from us c. It is a sad thing when it comes to this yet sometimes we may observe it to do so So much impudence there is upon men's spirits as that they blush not to proclaim their wickedness with open mouth And that 's one sense of the expression Secondly It may be understood implicitly and interpretatively and by way of consequence They said it namely practically and effectively in that which they did and which was acted by them They said to the Prophet there was no hope i. e. they so behaved themselves as he could conceive no hope of them that they would ever be better And they said We will walk after our own devices c. i. e. they did still continue and persist in them without amendment and reformation and did give occasion to believe that they were resolved to do so still even for time to come This is the nature and quality of all perverse and obstinate sinners such as live in any course of sin without repentance though warn'd and admonish'd of it They do as good as say that they are purposed to do so continually And in the words of this present Text that they will every one do the c. Therefore accordingly let
and mourning or them and lamenting over them That 's the second emphasis in this expression Thirdly It is a note of displeasure and indignation So it is used also sometimes in Scripture Thus Jer. 21.10 I have set my face against this City for evil and not for good So Ezek. 25.2 Set thy face against the Ammonites And Ezek. 28.21 Set thy face against Zidon and prophecy against it And Ezek. 29.2 Set thy face against Pharaoh c. So here now Set thy face towards Jerusalem that is as expressing thy displeasure and distaste against it This is another thing which does also very well become those which are Ministers to testify against sin in their very countenance where they see any thing which is unworthy or unfitting to be done by any even to discountenance it and frown upon it and discourage it all that may be This is that which is here commanded Ezekiel And so much may be spoken of the first clause of judgment which is here specified to be denounced namely in reference to the City Set thy face towards Jerusalem the State Civil The Second is in reference to the Church or State Ecclesiastical And drop thy word towards the holy places This it respects the Temple which is exprest by the plural number in regard of the chief and principal parts of it Here 's God's judgment denounced against this the Lord's Sanctuary Now this as well as the former has two things considerable in it The place which is aim'd at and that is the place of holiness the Temple and house of God Secondly the carriage which is required of the Prophet towards it and that is to drop his word upon it and drop towards the holy places For the first the place it is the Church and house of God Here 's God's vengeance threaten'd against that as to the destruction of it This is worse than the former by how much spirituals are better than temporals and any prejudice to our souls worse than to our outward estates yet this is that which God here threatens by his Prophet Ezekiel when he will have him to proclaim against the Sanctuary It is a judgment in spirituals The Sanctuary here in this Text must be taken in the full extent and latitude of it and then it does imply three things in it which are here threaten'd First the place Secondly the persons Thirdly the performances The place that was the Temple The persons they were the Priests and Ministers in it The performances they were the Ordinances All these have their several judgment and punishment denounced against them in this dropping upon the holy places First Here 's a threatening of the place the Temple it self which was afterwards verified and made good in the destruction and rendition of that Not one stone left upon another as our Saviour likewise speaks of it God threatens to take away that visible token of his presence from amongst them which was one step of this punishment Secondly Here 's a threatening of the persons the Priests and Ministers there 's an heavy judgment belonging to them sorasmuch as they had corrupted themselves and others with them It is a judgment upon the Church of God when God's wrath is any thing poured upon those which are Ministers about it and employed in the services of it The Temple and Sanctuary suffer in this dispensation As to instance in some particulars First In the removing of their persons When God shall once begin to do this as in Isa 3.2 The Lord there threatens to take away the Prophet This was a great judgment when those which are Watchmen and should give warning of the dangers which are approaching are taken from any people this is a great evil to them As Psal 74.9 We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long It is that which God has done very lately amongst our selves many Ministers in divers places of the Land have been taken away which certainly is a very sad affliction if it be thoroughly consider'd and which has more evil attending it than it self Secondly the taking off their hearts and affections that 's another thing A discouraging of them in their spirits that 's in effect as bad as the other and in some respects worse if it be duly laid to heart when they shall not have that freedom and cheerfulness and alacrity in their work and employment as formerly they have had Thirdly the restraining of their Gifts or the exercise and improvement of them As Acts 16.7 The Spirit suffered them not These and the like are a judgment upon the Sanctuary in respect of the persons the Prophets the Priests and Ministers In the third place in reference to the performances The Ordinances and Ministerial dispensations God drops upon the Sanctuary when he threatens to suspend these as oftentimes he does when he sends a famine of his word as he speaks in Amos chap. 8. ver 11. I will send a famine of hearing of the words of the Lord This is a very great evil and none like it and it is that which the Lord is sometimes provoked unto Especially when his Ordinances are neglected and laid aside when there 's no heed or regard unto them in such cases as these does God remove them and otherwise bestow them neither is there any thing here which shall stand in the way of his judgments It might seem a strange kind of business that God's wrath should be upon the holy places of all other places besides For what should exempt from judgment if holiness could not nay but even this will not suffice or serve the turn where sin once gets into them It is not holiness of profession which is able to make amends for unholiness of conversation These holy places are called so in regard of their dedication the use which they were at first appointed and ordained unto but now being employed to another purpose we see here what 's their destiny which is even to be destroyed When Bethel shall once be turned into Beth-aven the house of God into the house of sin and vanity there can nothing else now be expected but misery and ruine and destruction attending thereupon nay here rather than any-where else Let this be the use then which we make of this observation not to trust and rest our selves in such refuges as these are not in the strength of our Walls or our Towers or warlike preparations sor God sâ—ts his face against Jerusalem which was a great and fenced City even the City of the Great King as it is sometimes calâ—ed No nor yet to trust in our Temples that is to say in our profession of Religion To cry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are we as they did in Jer. 7.4 For see here how God's wrath 's upon the Sanctuary and the holy places It will be no booty to us to keep us from
begin in order with the first viz. the Persons mentioned those that sigh and cry c. from whence we may observe thus much That such persons there are that do so and it is their duty so to do even to sigh and cry for the abominations all of them that are done in the midst of the City We read of divers in Scripture which have been noted for this disposition in them Thus it is said of just Lot that he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing vext his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds as it is in 2 Pet. 2.7 8. David he beheld the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not Gods word Psal 119.158 and rivers of water ran down his eyes because they kept not his law in verse 136. of the same Psalm Jeremy his soul wept in secret places for their pride c. Jer. 13.17 And Paul his spirit was stirred in him at Athens when he saw the City to be wholly given to idolatry Acts 17.16 Thus have the Servants of God been still affected with the abominations of the places and people whom they have lived withall and amongst whom they have at any time converst And this it hath proceeded thus in them upon divers and sundry considerations First out of their inward hatred and antipathy even to sin it self The children of God being born again and become new creatures and having grace in their hearts they cannot but abhor any thing which is opposite and contrary hereunto from that new nature and spirit which is in them Look as on the other side wicked men they are troubled at the slourishing of Religion where they see any to improve in goodness and to be any thing more forward in piety their hearts and spirits rise as it were against them and boil in them from the devilish disposition which is in them and hatred even of goodness it self So here those that fear the Lord they are as much troubled at the improvements of sin from that work of Regeneration which is in their hearts Secondly Out of love to God and a tenderness of his honour and glory Where abominations are at any time committed there God is exceedingly dishonour'd his Laws are slighted his Attributes are question'd his Name is blasphem'd Now those that are good themselves they have a great regard hereunto Those that are Gods children they are very jealous of Gods honour as any other children besides are of the honour of their earthly Parents and so accordingly they cannot but grieve when there is any trespass at any time upon it Those that areotherwise they shew but little love and affection which they bear unto him Thirdly Out of respect to themselves and their own advantage The more sin there is abroad the more are all men concerned in it not evil men but good who are from hence in so much the greater danger and that in a twofold respect both as to matter of defilement and of punishment They are more in danger from hence to be polluted and they are more in danger from hence to be afflicted and this makes them to be so much troubled at it First In order to Defilement they are more in danger from hence to be polluted Great and reigning sins and abominations are usually great temptations which do hazard the souls of many persons that converse amongst them and therefore there is cause to be grieved for them What is it that which makes men now so troubled to hear of the spreading of certain sicknesses and diseases Why it is because they think that themselves may haply come to feel them and to be infected with them that which befalls others they think at last it may light upon them And so is it likewise with gracious persons as to spiritual distempers when they hear of such corruptions and wickedness which are abroad in the world they are therefore much afflicted with them because they fear lest they themselves should be any thing defiled from them they are jealous of their own hearts in case of the prevailing of such sins and so do grieve and mourn for and under them And this they do it in order to defilement as being in danger to be polluted Secondly In order also to Punishment as being in danger to be afflicted Common and publick abominations they beget common and publick plagues and judgments which follow thereupon This those that are wise and prudent Christians know and discern well enough Evil men understand not judgment but they that seek the Lord understand all things says Solomon Prov. 28.5 Fools make a mock of sin and those that are wicked and ungodly they are commonly hardned and secure in the midst of the greatest wickednesses that are commited Because they do not suffer for them presently therefore they think they shall not suffer at all Yea but the children of God they are otherwise perswaded they know that sin will sooner or later come to a reckoning and when they see it to increase in the world they foresee the judgments that attend it and therefore tremble at the sight of it as knowing that God is so much the more provoked by it and so will at length proceed to the punishment of it There are two things in the increase of sin and the spreading of more nauseous abominations which to this purpose do very much affect the children and servants of God the one is they are conscious of Gods anger and displeasure in the cause of them And the other is as they are prognosticks of Gods wrath and judgment in the effects First I say as they ar consequents of his anger and displeasure for so they are There is nothing which is more redious to Gods children than the anger and displeasure of God Now reigning abominations they are a symptom and discovery of that they are a sign that God is very much offended with those places and persons where he suffers them and permits them to be in them and gives them up to them We many times make light of it but believe it for any people to be given up to more notorious wickedness is the greatest argument of Gods anger that can be and in that regard a special ground for mercy to those that are good As it is a sign of God's anger against a person to be given up to strong and strange lusts An whore is a deep ditch and he that is abhorred of God shall fall into it so it is a sign of Gods anger against a Nation when he gives them up to more eminent sins and abominations in any kind whatsoever And so there is very great cause to grieve at it But secondly As those raging abominations they are the consequents of Gods anger in the causes of them so they are the Prognosticks of Gods wrath in the effects they do as good as foretell some judgment ere long to be brought upon
the nature of the children of God that they hate more sin than they can rectifie they could wish many things to be otherwise than themselves can make them Well but when all comes to all they can mourn and bewail them that they are no better And this for Grief which is inwardly conceived in such cases and is represented here by this word of sighing The second is which is outwardly exprest and declared by crying and there is use also sometimes of this Crying abominations they call for crying dispositions not onely for sighing but for roaring not onely for secret weeping but for open complaints Men are sometimes and in some cases call'd to testifie and to declare against the common abominations according to the circumstances especially which they may be in and the places which are sustain'd by them Here they can do no less than manifest their abhorrency of them Thus the Lord to the Prophet Isaiah concerning the sins and abominations of the times in which he liv'd Cry aloud says he and spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and shew my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins in Isa 58.1 And this for the expressions of Sorrow viz. Sighing and Crying The second is the occasion of these Expressions and that is the abominations that are committed Hatognevoth There are no sins whatsoever that are to be allowed or indulged though the least and smallest that are But the greater that any sins are the more are they to be abhorred by us when it once comes to abominations here we are especially to proceed against them and to bewail them all that may be as being such as carry the greatest guilt and consequently the greatest danger with them The Scripture still sets a mark upon abominations as such things as are chiefly to be lamented as in the Chapter preceding verse 17. Hast thou seen this O son of man Is it not a light thing to the house of Judith that they commit the abominations which they commit here So Jer. 6.15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abominations It was a great offence not to beashamed there where-ever it had been besides So Mic. 6.10 Are there yet the treasures of wickeaness in the house of the wicked and the scant measure which is abominable That which is abominable it should especially be abominated by us The third thing is the Extent of the Commission both in the word of Vniversality All and of Place in the midst of the City This shews how far these abominations had spread and what footing they had got amongst them as matter of just bewailing and lamentation to them When sin is once come to this pass it is so much the more grievous when it is got into the midst and into the heart as it were of the City then it is sad indeed we count it so in regard of Judgment We think it a sad thing here for the Plague to be in the midst of the City and as it were in the very heart of it this is dreadful and terrible Oh! but what is it then for wick edness and abomination to be so as it is here exprest And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the Persons mentioned in those words That sigh and that cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof The second is the special care or regard which is had of them in those words Go and set a mark upon the foreheads of them that c. Whereas there are such persons as these now and then to be found in the world that do sigh c. so we see how there is a special mark by Gods appointment fastned upon them who are thus affected This mark to speak distinctly of it is of two sorts First it is a mark of Observation And secondly it is a mark of Preservation It is a mark of dignity and special respect and it is a mark of safety and special security which is vouchsafed to such persons First It is a mark of Honour and Observation such persons as these are they are highly esteemed and accounted of by God himself In times of common sins and calamities the Lord has a special regard to mens spirits and takes notice how they are affected and those whom he finds to lay either of these two to their hearts he has a great respect for them to mark them in their foreheads or place of eminency or observation But secondly and more to our purpose as it is a mark of Observation so it is a mark of Preservation likewise and that especially it is such a mark as whereby God does distinguish them from other persons in the execution of his Judgments which he does graciously exempt them from We shall find still all along in Scripture how as any persons have had any thing more of this temper and disposition in them so they have been more secured by God from publick calamities God has still taken care of his own Servants when he has most severely proceeded against others Thus when the Aegyptians were destroyed in their First-born there was bloud sprinkled upon the posts of the Israelites for their security that he that destroyed the other might not touch them Heb. 11.28 And Rev. 7.3 there was a charge given to the Angels that neither the earth nor the sea nor the trees should be any thing hurt till such time as the servants of God were sealed in their fore-heads And here in this present Text before us a special charge is given to the Destroyer not to burt any man upon whom was the mark c. And who were they namely such as mourned and took on for the common abominations Such as these God has a special regard to in such cases to keep and preserve them A notable instance whereof we have in Josiah 2 Chron. 54.27 where it is said that because his heart was tender and he humbled himself before God and rent his clothes and wept before him therefore he should not see all the evil which God would bring upon the place where he was and upon the inhabitants thereof God preserv'd him because he sigh'd and cri'd for all those abominations c. Now the Reason of Gods Indulgence to such persons as are thus affected is especially upon this account First Because they are such as do more especially honour God and glorifie him both in his Attributes and Providence and those that honour him he will honour and he will also protect In Mal. 3.16 17. when a company of profane wretches took no notice of any thing at all Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another namely in the bewailing of such profaneness And what was the issue of it The Lord hearkned and heard and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name And they shall be mine saith the Lord of hosts in that
onely see that such things are done but also see the great evil in doing them and the mischief that will likely follow upon them Thirdly Let us get into our hearts the love of God and a tenderness of his Honour We that love the Lord hate evil says the Psalmist in Psal 97.10 The more we take delight in him the more we shall lament any thing that is opposite and contrary to him as I in part hinted before Those that can see sin and not bewail it or 〈◊〉 affected with it they shew that they have not the love of God in them as our Saviour says of the Jews Joh. 5.42 The way then to attain to the one is to labour for the other That we may cry for these abominations get in us this love of God To perswade us so much the rather hereunto let us but consider the great benefit which hereby is likely to come to us as it is here set before us Even to have a mark set upon our foreheads and to be kept from the stroke of the destroying Angel in the midst of Jerusalem We would all of us fain be priviledged and secured in these dangerous times of infection and common contagion Now therefore let us not neglect the means and course which God has prescribed for it let us every one humble our selves seriously in his sight because of our own and others sins and do all we can for the amendment and reforming of our lives If we will not do it now when will we do it Now that the wrath of God is from Heaven revealed against us and does vent it self as we see it does amongst us Oh Beloved I beseech you by all means let us now labour to get an interest in Christ and to be reconciled to God through him that so he may set his mark of favour and protection upon us in the evil day and may say These are mine whom I own and take especial care of Especially that he may mark us out for salvation and eternal life what-ever becomes of us here The foundation of the Lord standeth sure and he knows them that are his and will know them effectually and distinctly own them from all other men It is a sad and miserable case for any one to be out of Christ at any time even in the best and healthfullest times that are and when the Land is clearest and freest from judgments or the appearances of them But what to be out of Christ now and not to have his stamp and impression upon us at such a time as this is in a plague and a time of common mortality What a fearful what a desperate thing is this Who that rightly considers of any thing would wilfully suffer himself to continue in such a condition No but rather make all the haste that may be to know him and to close with him and to lie down before him Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish out of the way If his wrath be kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that trust in him Psal 2.12 As for this business of mourning and lamenting of sin in particular we have so much the greater cause to apply our selves to it as God is willing to accept it at our hands Who would not then be safe where a little crying yea sighing would save him being done in truth and sincerity as it is here intimated that it will do Had we not better cry for sin than cry for punishment Cry by way of prevenâ—â—on than cry then when-as all the crying we can make will do us no good Oh let us learn to be wise betime and to close with the first occasions and opportunities of mercy Where we cannot do what we would do let us do what we can There are many abominations abroad in the world that it may be we cannot remove them yea but yet for all that we can bewail them we can lament them and mourn for them and that at least is required of us and to be performed by us It is the great goodness of God to his poor servants that he takes delight in the reality of their affections and good desires where they have nothing more in their power and counts them not so much by what they are as what they would be Where they strive against sin they would be Where they strive against sin they want it where they hate it they are free from it where they grieve and mourn for it they are freed from the imputations of it And why should we not then all that may be endeavour to nourish and cherish such affections as these in our hearts Seeing God himself has such regard to the persons in whom they are we our selvâ—â— should not be wanting to them in these occasions which are now upon us but desire the Lord himself who alone is able to do it to bestow them and work them in us who bestows the spirit of mourning and lamentation upon whom he pleases So much may satisfie to have spoken of the second General part of the Text and so of the whole Text it self in the words which I have now explained Go through the midst of the City c. and set a mark upon the forehead of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof SERMON L. AMOS 5.18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord To what end is it for you The day of the Lord is darkness and not light It is the manner and practice of carnal and presumptuous persons either to expect an absolute freedom and exemption from the judgments of God for coming upon them or else at least very much to mitigate and extenuate those judgments to themselves for their suffering of them That is either to nullify the day of the Lord in hope to escape it or else to mollify the day of the Lord in hope to endure it Now accordingly does there a double work lye upon the Servants of God the Prophets and Ministers of the Church in the course of their Ministry in order to the suppressing and subduing of this presumption in them The one is to declare the certainty of this day as unavoidable And the other is to declare the misery of this day as unsupportable The former was that which we have had exhibited to us the last day out of these words of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail c. and they shall not escape it There we have the day of the Lord in its certainty and unavoidableness The latter is that which we have now before us at this present time in the words of the Prophet Amos to the people of Israel Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord To what end is it for you The day of the Lord is darkness and not light And here now we have the day of the Lord
judgment This passage may be looked upon by us as it lies here in the Text two manner of ways First in the general proposition of it as it stands in it self Secondly in the particular scope of it in reference to that which went before and the persons to whom it is directed First Take it simply and absolutely as it lies in it self and in the general proposition which is here exprest in a twofold representation First in the Affirmative what it is and that is that it is darkness Secondly in the Negative what it is not and that is that it is not light First To speak of the former and that is the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness Thus we find it to be called in some other places besides as Joel 2.1 2. The day of the Lord cometh and is nigh at hand A day of darkness and of gloominess a day of clouds and of thick darkness And so also in Zeph. 1.15 A day of wasteness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess c. This is true of the day of the Lord in the full extent of it whether we take it of personal desolation the day of death or of national desolation the day of captivity or of general resurrection the day of judgment But still with this restriction as it referr'd to ungodly persons and to impenitent sinners with respect had to such as these are is this day that which it is said here to be But especially as I said does it refer to the day of death and final judgment which is here intended This is called a day of darkness that is to say a day of extreme misery and perplexity Darkness and light they do in the usual acception of Scripture where they are used metaphorically denote sorrow and gladness as it were easy to give instance of it and so here in this place amongst the rest Forasmuch as darkness does contain in it all kinds of sadness in which is fear and horror and solitariness and all kind of misery Such is this day of the Lord to the fore-mentioned persons not only dark in the conerete but also darkness even in the very abstract it self Take the unprofitable Servant and cast him into outer darkness Matth. 25.30 The ground hereof is this Because wicked men they are darkness themselves therefore is this day of the Lord darkness They are in the darkness of sin and ignorance whiles they live here in the world delight in works of darkness and which are opposite to the light of Grace and therefore go into a place of darkness and which is opposite to the light of Glory Their understandings are darkened and therefore their conditions are darkness also Being led and carried from one kind of darkness to another It is a day of darkness that is a day of fearfulness and terribleness and horror and consternation of mind There 's every thing terrible in it and adding to the astonishment of it The sound of the Trumpet the appearance of the Judge the opening of the Books the passing of the Sentence the dissolution of the whole frame of Heaven and earth the Sea and the waves roaring the Heavens passing away with a great noise the Elements melting with servent heat the Earth and all the works that are therein burâ—â— up the Sun darken'd the Moon withdrawing her light the Stars falling from Heaven and the powers of Heaven shaken What a terrible day must this be to such as are not provided for it that has all these concurrences in it That 's the first expression here considerable viz. the Affirmative The day of the Lord is darkness The Second is the additional Negative and that is that it is not light which is added for the greater emphasis of it Therefore we find it to be reiterated in the verse following darkness and not light even very dark and no brightness in it And it is agreeable in the like form of speech in reference to other matters which we meet withal in Scripture Thus Deut. 32.4 speaking of God A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he And Joh. 8.44 speaking of Satan He is a liar and there is no truth in him c. In 1 Joh. 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us In all which places and the like the Negative is joyned with the Affirmative to make it more emphatical and so here To take a more particular account of it It is said here darkness and not light as we may conceive for these reasons First by way of opposition darkness and not light that is it is not light but darkness as expressing the simple nature and condition of that day Take the word day and it does in the ordinary and common acception of it denote light Whensoever it begins to be light it begins to be day and whensoever it ceases to be light it ceases to be day as that which does give the proper notion and denomination unto it and which distinguishes the one from the other God called the light day and the darkness he called night Gen. 1.5 Yea but here now in the Text it is day and yet not light day and no light in it This by way of opposition Secondly By way of intension and to shew the greatness of this darkness It is dark and dark entirely without the mixture of any thing to qualify it or to take off from the severity of it without ease without comfort without direction or any good counsel which are such things as are sometimes exprest to us by the name of light This is the misery of Hell and of the judgment which passes upon wicked men that it is absolute and compleat and entire The wrath of God without mixture as the Scripture calls it that is without any mixture of favour or refreshment in it Take any day whatsoever here in the world whether in the proper sense or in the metaphorical and it is not so over-darkned with darkness but has some kind of glimmerings of light in it The day which is fullest of clouds the rainiest and most tempestuous day yet it partakes of some light And the day which is fullest of troubles the saddest and most disconsolate day it has some mixtures of refreshment in it likewise which do serve to allay it Yea but this day of the Lord here spoken of it has none of this it is darkness and no light it is sadness and no comfort Thirdly By way of perpetuity and continuation Darkness and no light that is darkness and always dark There are some days which though they may be dark for a while yet they do not abide and continue to be so but do at last overcome that The Sun it breaks through the clouds and the day recovers its light at last though perhaps it be long first ere it does it Yea but here it does not do so Dark and no light this is a continual and
endless darkness Lastly By way of extent or explication to shew unto us the full nature of this business wherein it does consist There are two Branches of the sentence of condemnation and which the judgment of the great day does extend unto The one is positive to the punishment of sense and the enduring of exquisite torments and so in that consideration it is called darkness The other is privative in the punishment of loss and expulsion from God's glorious presence and the comfort of his countenance and so in that consideration it is said to be no light And thus we have seen this passage in each expression of it both Affirmative and Negative darkness and not light And so much may be also spoken of it as consider'd simply and absolutely in its general Proposition We may further Secondly look upon it relatively and in its particular scope as directed more especially to the persons above mentioned who desired this day of the Lord. To these the Prophet Amos here declares that this day it is darkness and not light And here again in this reference it carries a threefold force or emphasis with it First an emphasis of Information to those which were ignorant and did not know that this day was Secondly an emphasis of Conviction to those which were obstinate and would not know what this day was Thirdly an emphasis of Astonishment to those which were desperate which knew it but laid aside the thoughts and considerations of it and would put it to the venture First I say This expression The day of the Lord is darkness and not light it has an emphasis of information to those who were ignorant and which did not know it as if he had said thus unto them You seem to desire the coming of the day of the Lord as if thereby you should get some great good to your selves but alas as the case stands with you you have no cause at all to do so for there will be no advantage from it to you The proper object of desire it is good and not evil it is light and not darkness But this day of the Lord as it is circumstanced it is that which is quite contrary it is evil and not good it is darkness and not light that ye may rightly understand it The world has other notions commonly of death and judgment than those which they should have but the Scripture and word of God is the best instructer of them in this particular and that gives them a true account and estimate of such things as these are if they will hearken unto it Secondly An emphasis of Conviction to those which were obstinate and would not know it Profane persons as I shewed before they laugh'd at those things thought there was no such thing indeed as the day of the Lord and therefore scoffingly and in scorn call'd for it Well let it come We would fain see this day that you speak of and threaten us withal Well says the Prophet to these ye have no great cause to be so full of this confidence and security if ye consider all for I can tell you there is somewhat more in this day than you are aware of there 's no playing or jesting with it This day of the Lord it is darkness and not light what ever you may think of it it is so and so you will find it The word of God is powerful sharper than a two-edged Sword and the threatenings of the word having the spirit of God going along with them and setting them home upon the conscience have an ability in them to conquer and confound the most impartial mockers Thirdly An emphasis of Astonishment to those which were desperate and though they knew and in some sort believed such a day as this was yet did not fear it but were hardened in their hearts against it To such as these the Prophet here declares the horridness and unsupportableness of it That though they may think they could grapple with it and hold out against the extremities of it yet in conclusion and when it comes to the trial they will find it to be too heavy for them and above their strength whether the day of common and publick calamity or the day of trial and general judgment Who may abide the day of his coming or who shall stand when he shall appear as it is Mal. 3.2 And again Rev. 6.16 17. They shall call to the mountains to hide them from the face of him that sitteth upon the Throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Take this day in reference to the Jews for their particular and it was full of astonishment in each acception whether we take it for the day of their Captivity or for the day of their Messias The day of their Captivity it was a doleful day unto them insomuch as the Prophet Jeremy made it the sole matter of his Book of Lamentations And the day of the Messias that was an heavy day like wise that it proved their final rejection for since that time they are mark'd out to the world for a persidious people and hardly known for a people The Vse of all to our selves and so to draw to a conclusion comes to this We have heard how the day of the Lord is darkness and not light that is terrible and full of horror in the whole latitude and extent of it whether we take it for the day of death and general judgment or whether we take it for the day of captivity and National visitation Now what remains but that accordingly we should be sensible and apprehensive of it in this representation and from thence to prevent the terribleness of it to our selves For this is the nature of such things as these are that the terribleness of them encreases with the security about them and the less grievous they are thought to be afore-hand the more heavy are they when they happen and come to pass And on the other side preparations for them do take off from the dreadfulness of them We should therefore labour to get a stock of Grace against such times as these are and in this day of the Lord's mercy and respite and intermission prepare for the day of his wrath and judgment and visitation We should labour and endeavour to make our peace with God in Christ who alone can take off the terribleness of that day from us and make it of a day of darkness to be a day of light We should cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light in the abandoning of all wicked and sinful courses and in the practice of all spiritual and heavenly Graces We should walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but putting on the Lord Jesus Christ and making no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof as
the Apostle advises us in Rom. 13.13 14. Take heed of having too easy and favourable thoughts and apprehensions of such things as these are of death and judgment and calamity as if they had no great matter in them for it will not appear to be so when they shall come in good earnest Wo unto you that in this sense desire that is diminish and despise and disregard the day of the Lord which is a kind of desire interpretatively as being next to it for you have no ground or cause for it The day of the Lord being dark and not light yea very dark and no brightness in it as it is here exprest And further here consider the great difference which is betwixt man and man in this particular for whiles this day of the Lord is said to be thus and thus it is still to be taken in a variety of Emphasis according to the variety of Persons which are concern'd in it The same day being occasionally and respectively either one or t'other unusquisque sibi est aut tenebrae aut lumen says St. Austin Every one is to himself either darkness or light Si pius lumen si impius tenebrae Those which are gracious and truly religious to such the day of the Lord whether in death or judgment it is a day of light and joy and of comfort in death as it translates them to Glory and in Judgment as it finishes Glory to them On the other side to those which are wicked and ungodly and profane and atheistical to them it is a day of darkness and horror As the cloud which we read of in Exod. 14.20 It was light to the Israelites whiles it was darkness at the same time to the Egyptians A direction to one and an obstruction to the t'other Where by the way take notice of the unhappiness of all wicked and ungodly persons in the perverting of those things which in themselves have the greatest excellency by making a contrary use and improvement of them There 's nothing which wicked men partake of but it 's either the worse for them or they for it The Word of the Lord and the Table of the Lord and the Temple of the Lord and the Day of the Lord. The Word of the Lord they make it reproachful and instead of the savour of life to them to be the savour of death The Table of the Lord they make it to be vain and contemptible and instead of discerning the Lord's body eat and drink to themselves their own damnation The Temple of the Lord they make it execrable and instead of the house of Prayer a den of thieves The Day of the Lord they make it terrible and instead of a day of light a day of darkness As they profane the day of the Lord as it is taken for a day of devotion so they contemn the day of the Lord as it is taken for a day of judgment and visitation So much for that and so much also of the whole Text. SEVERAL SELECT SERMONS Upon Various Texts out of the NEW TESTAMENT Sermon I. MATTHEW 5.20 That except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven It was that which was laid to the charge of our Blessed Saviour whilst he converst here upon Earth as is also since to some of his servants in conformity to him that whiles he preacht the Doctrine of the Gospel he did nullifie the vigour of the Law and the Precepts of it That which the Pharisees were more especially guilty of themselves which was to make the Commandment of God of none effect by their Traditions they most falsly and injuriously and unhappily object to Christ as if he came into the world for this purpose to destroy the Law and the Prophets Now therefore did it very much concern him to clear himself of this accusation which we find him to do in this present Scripture by shewing that he was so far from nullifying or destroying the Law as that he did so much the rather strengthen it and confirm it and further inforce it by the sense which he put upon it as leading men to a stricter and exacter observation of it than as yet they had been acquainted withall and this is the scope in particular of this Text which we have now in hand Our Saviour had for the general profest it in the 17th verse of this Chapter Think not saith he I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets I am not come to destroy but to fulfil Now in this verse before us he proves and demonstrates what he there profest For I say unto you That except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness c. IN the Text it self there are two general Parts First The Preface or Introduction Secondly The Doctrine or principal matter which is delivered in it The Introductory Preface that 's exprest in these words For I say unto you The Truth and Doctrine which is delivered in these words Except your Righteousness c. We shall a little invert the Order of these words in the handling and begin first of all with the second Branch of them as that which is principally intended and that is the Doctrine or Truth it self which is here propounded and delivered to us Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees c. Wherein we have a disparagement of the Righteousness of such and such persons in order to Eternal Salvation so as that these who do partake of no more but only that shall never partake of this The word Scribes is the name of an Office amongst the Jews who were noted especially for their Learning and Knowledge in the Law The word Pharisees that is the name of a Sect who were noted especially for their life and conversation Now the Righteousness of either or both together is here declared to be very defective And the point which arises from hence is briefly this That Pharisaical Righteousness is unsufficient to bring a man to Heaven If a man have no more Righteousness in him than of the Scribes and Pharisees he shall never enter into the Kingdom of God For the better opening of the present point unto us there are two things to be done by us First To shew what this Pharisaical Righteousness is and wherein it consists Secondly To shew the Defectiveness and Insufficiency of this Righteousness in reference to Eternal Salvation and what it is which makes it so to be as is here by our Blessed Saviour declared concerning it First What this Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was or is which is thus insufficient Now this may be reduced to these two heads either first the matter and substance of their Righteousness or secondly the manner and circumstances Their Righteousness it was observable and remarkable in either of these particulars but yet defective in each First For the matter and substance of their Righteousness it
speak of they provide not for the supplies of nature but rather for the supplies of lust nor yet for the superfluities of encouragement but rather for the superfluities of sin This is another piece of folly agreeable to them It 's a wonderful weakness in any when their care and endeavour and prosecution is too high above the thing for the Soul of man being a noble and excellent creature and of a sublime and heavenly nature the strength and intention of it should run out in things proportionable and which keep a correspondency with it self for a man to be serious and intent and earnest in re levi in a sleight and trivial business it 's an argument of a trivial mind it shews that the soul is not rais'd to that magnanimity whereunto it should be Why this is now the folly of all carnal minded persons they spend their labour in vain they trifle at business and they weary and turmoil themselves at play The Application of this to our selves may be to teach us to take heed of being any of this number whom God shall call fool For now that we have spoken concerning this Fool in the Gospel there is a great Question behind whether there be any more of them or no in the world For perhaps this is like him whom the Preacher speaks of in Ecclesiastes Eccles 4.8 There is one and there is not another Or it may be this is such a fool as Solomon was a wise man that there was never the like since him It may chance the whole kind of them was confined to this individual And what shall we say then Indeed this is the great business which we have such adoe to perswade men of and to bring their hearts to believe for they when they hear this story concerning this worldly rich man here in the Text are ready to speak more seriously than Job did of his friends wisdom no doubt but this is the fool and folly is dead with him But they have foolishness as well as he and are not inferiour to him yea who knows not such things as these This is the misery of all that Stulti plena sunt omnium we cannot stir out of doors but we continually meet with such mad men and fools as this men that neglect grace and happiness and salvation and communion with God and prefer trifles and bables and rattles before the eternal peace and welfare of their own precious and immortal souls I beseech ye suffer me to awaken you a little in this business and that from the consideration of that ignominy and reproach which lies upon it The name of a fool it is that which every one shuns and would by no means have cast upon him Though men do not care to be esteemed extraordinary wise yet they would not be counted fools this is a matte of the greatest and highest reproach Well if men would not be thought so let them be careful then not to be so And if we would not have the name let us take heed of that which may deserve it what 's that which deserves it I have told you all this while already This immoderate pursuit of the world and this carelesness and neglect of Heaven it is the greatest folly imaginable And remember still this which I intimated to you before that God himself reckons it folly which is the greatest prejudice of all Men they may commend it and men they may applaud it and men they may admire it as it is in Psal 49. v. 16. Men will praise thee when thou doest well to thy self That is when thou doest well to thy self in a carnal way no more but so then men will praise thee that is carnal and worldly men as thou thy self art Yea but what saies the Lord to all this This is a thing to be regarded It was the speech of our Saviour to the Pharisees in Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God And also it is the saying of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 10.18 It is not he that commendeth himself who is approved but he whom the Lord commendeth It is he alone which is approved Well men may haply please themselves with their own imaginations and conceits but when all 's done I believe he 'l be the grand fool which is a fool in God's account and that 's wisdom indeed which is wisdom in his esteem who is wisdom it self Religion 's beyond the censure of man's day Blessed be God that whatever the world counts of holiness it has yet approbation from him and whatever he thinks of earthliness it 's folly in his eyes It 's no matter what men reckon of us it 's no matter what we reckon of our selves let us approve our consciences to the Lord let us labour to be wise to salvation to apprehend the devices of Satan to faddom the depths and subtilties of our own sinful hearts Here is the mind which has wisdom Every wise man is ambitious still of the liking and of the good opinion of the wisest to be thought well of by them and should not we then especially study to be in favour and liking and acceptance with the only wise God Now alas what does he principally esteem of us for not for having so much wealth or learning or wit or birth or the like but having so much grace not for being rich to the world but for being rich to him and therefore should this be our principal endeavour This point as it should take upon all so especially upon men of learning and parts and a more noble and generous education There 's none should so contemn the world as those who have that about them which the world cannot bestow And there 's none should have more care of their souls than those whose souls are indued with a more excellent qualification Godliness it does well every where but especially in great parts and high places and ingenuous spirits because these have greater opportunities and may do a great deal more good or hurt with them and consequently receive either the greater condemnation or glory The wiser men are in a natural way the wiser they should be in a spiritual and the wiser men are for the world the wiser they should be for Heaven and their own everlasting happiness or else they do not sute and consist with themselves The Preacher in Ecclesiastes 10.1 speaking of wisdom and folly has this comparison That as dead Flies cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour A little folly it 's a disparagement to a wise man because as it is best agreeable so it is most discerned and discovered and taken notice of And if a little folly be so disgraceful what is then a great deal what is the greatest of all
what is the only folly to speak of that is in the world which is as I have hitherto shewn the neglect of a man 's own soul Neglect of a man's soul may some say yea but who is guilty of that is any man such a fool to do so that lives within the Church that is in the sound and noise of the Ordinances That comes to the hearing of the Word and partakes of the outward means of Salvation and Grace How can he be said to neglect his own soul that is careful to make use of these It is true he cannot be said so that makes use of them so as he should and is conscionable in them But it is an easie matter any man to rest himself contented in the means and yet to have none of that comfort and benefit which he should draw from them Nay let me add and put in this to the rest by way of aggravation that none do more prejudice their souls many times than such as these I mean them which have blessed opportunities and take not the advantages of them nor improve them to the utmost that enjoy the Means of Salvation but do not use them as the means from whence Salvation should be had that hear but hear carelesly that pray but pray superficially that come to the Lord's Table but partake of it without preparation or discerning the Lord's body These they do procure to themselves the greater damnation and so consequently do incur the censure of the greatest folly which do not so befall any man that is out of the reach of any comfort against his will that would have it but cannot no we rather pity and bemoan him But a man that will voluntarily deprive himself of it when it 's ready at his hand or neglects to use it as he should it is he which most properly deserves the name of any other The second general Observable is the disgraceful Compellation Thou Fool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was a round salutation fool at first word and especially to a man who was so well opinionated of himself Call an humble man fool and he thinks ye tell him no news he is ready himself to profess it before you can say it But this man here in the Text was one who applauded himself in his own projects and thought highly of that which he had done and yet the Lord calls him fool The Observation from hence may be this That wordly and carnal minded men which give themselves wholly to the earth and earthly meditations however they may think of themselves or however others may flatter them yet in truth in God's account and estimation they are no better than fools But God said unto him Thou Fool c. When we say that God saies it it is as much as if we said thus much that they are absolute fools indeed God's understanding it is the direct rule of Truth whatever he speaks he thinks and whatever he thinks it is so as he thinks it therefore God's appellatio non c. dicit ' Deus stulte quomodo homo dicit God calls not fool as man calls Austin makes it all one with reality Men may call fool in jest nay more they may call fool in passion and fury and unadvised anger there 's a great deal of rashness and ignorance and pride and prejudice in their calling fool because they are fools themselves And sometimes there is no great heed nor regard to be had unto it but for the great God himself to call fool he who is Wisdom and Truth I can tell ye 't is more than if all the men and Angels in the world had done it besides And it makes a man a fool eo nomine It was an excellent speech of Socrates an Heathen Philosopher which I cannot but name to the shame of many Christians It 's no matter how many call us but how one calls us Why thus now are all worldly men muck-worms and toilers in the earth they are fools in God's account and so ye shall find them set out divers times in Scripture We meet with one which has this name given him on purpose in 1 Sam. 25.25 Nabal is his name and folly is with him He was called fool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Indeed his manner and his carriage imported as much And so indeed are all other worldly men of the stamp with him The Scripture calls them fools O ye fools when will ye learn wisdom I said unto the fools deal not so foolishly O ye fools and blind and such phrases as these are we meet with them almost in every page and line And I need not stand heaping up instances and quotations unto you they do so often every where occur This they are among others which might be named upon a twofold consideration First Because they think themselves otherwise Rom. 1.22 Professing themselves to be wise they became fools Every man is so much a fool as he thinks himself a wise man for it is a part of wisdom to be sensible of a man 's own folly and to see when a man is at the best that he is then but imperfect Why thus it is with worldly-minded men they think themselves wonderful wise and that none are so wise as they The rich man's wealth saies Solomon is his strong Tower It is that which he betakes himself to and repairs to in any distress and wherein he principally glories Thus ye may see it was here with this man in this present Scripture Soul thou hast goods laid up fo thee for many years eat drink and be merry as if he should have said Thou hast provided well for one and therefore now mayest be quiet there 's no more for thee to look after This is the humour of such people they pride themselves in their worldly projects As we have it signified unto us in Psal 49.18 Whiles he lived he blest himself speaking of the wicked rich man he blest himself that is in his own thoughts and apprehensions and estimations It 's a wonderful thing to consider what a great deal of vanity and folly there is in the minds of many men in this particular How they applaud themselves in the abundance of their wealth and how scornfully they account of all other people that want it They think all men fools which go not that pernicious way which they with so much vehemency pursue and walk in It cannot be thought and imagin'd but that they now and then express it what low and undervaluing thoughts many carnal wretches in the world have of grace and of the waies of godliness and what fools they think them to be which are earnest and forward in those waies The greatest fools in their opinion that are in the world Well but see what God thinks of them now for their labour as it is in Psal 49.13 This their way is their folly though their posterity approve their saying Those which came after them may commend them because
they get some benefit by them but the truth of it is they walk in the way of folly and they are absolute direct fools And so much the rather as they think themselves to be wise men They may think the Ministers are fools which warn them and admonish them of their condition and they may think their Christian friends are fools which labour to bring them out of it But in plain terms the fool it lights upon them These are they which must have it because these are they which deserve it and that so much more as they would avoid it This man here in the Text he was not therefore a fool because he knew he had such an estate but because he applauded himself for it he was not therefore a fool because he overlook'd his grounds because he viewed his barns because he was careful of his business but because that herein he placed his greatest happiness and was puft with the conceits of it It was not his fault that he did secum habitare but that he did secum cogitare he did idolize himself in his own proud imagination This was the reason why God call'd him fool and this is a reason why all others which are like him are fools with him This is the first This is the condition of all unregenerate persons who are yet in the state of nature and out of Christ that they are not only miserable but they applaud themselves in their miserable condition with the Church of Laodicea they see not their own nakedness nor poverty nor folly they think themselves happy men when there 's no such matter This is folly indeed that we cannot perswade them otherwise but that they are in a very right way and course when they are tending to destruction If ye were blind says our Blessed Saviour to the Pharisees ye should then have no sin but now ye say we see therefore your sin remaineth He that trusts in his own heart says Solomon is a fool Prov. 28.26 And if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world let him become a fool that he may be wise says St. Paul 1 Cor. 3.18 The way not to be God's fool is first of all to be our own they which are fools in their own account are least fools in his and those which are not are contrary He that thinks himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself as it is in Gal. 6.3 which is the greatest deceit of all and the greatest folly Carnal minded men are fools because they think themselves wise professing themselves to be wise they become fools Rom. 1.22 Beloved It may seem to be a strange word unto you I beseech ye let us be once Christians I say you 'l think it somewhat strange but yet I say it again let us be once but true Christians we talk of it and we profess it and we make much ado about it but how many of us do attain to the reality of it Methinks it is no wonder for the sons and children of the earth for carnal and worldly minded men to be such fools as we have hitherto spoken of the greatest shame of all is that those which are the people of God should be now and then besotted and overtaken with such madness as this and yet 't is that which too often we see them appear Those which have title and interest in a better and more noble inheritance yet that they set their hearts and affections too eagerly upon these earthly things as if they had no other patrimony and portion but this to look after I am ashamed to speak of this point in a Christian Auditory It is one of the greatest dishonours and disgraces which we can cast upon Religion and yet it is that which we too often cast upon it as if that the promises of God were meet delusions as if the hopes of Heaven were meet speculations as if that Christianity it self were no more but an empty profession What might the very Heathens say or think of such courses as these It is true that God does not deny us a sober use of these things and a care and endeavour after them but he likes not this excess and over-greediness He likes not that it should hinder our care of that which is better He likes not that we should follow it with this unsatiableness and immoderation This is that which offends him and is grievous and disrelishing to him He reckons it folly And this is the Second General which I propounded out of these words The reproachful and disgraceful compellation Thou fool The Third General is the tidings and menacing news which is brought him This night thy Soul shall be taken away from thee Wherein we may briefly observe these following parts First here 's the designation of the punishment it self and that was the loss of his Soul Secondly here 's the illimitation of the executioners they and they indefinitely Thirdly here 's the manner of the execution they require it from thee Last of all the determination of the time this night First for the punishment It was not the loss of his Goods but the loss of his Soul God does not threaten him to pull down his Barns for him and to burn them but to take away his life Secondly he does not tell him who should do it neither but by an Hebraism leaves the thing indefinite they It 's no matter to thee who it may be these very goods of thine it may be thy barns it may be thy servants it may be thy friends Thirdly thou shalt not give up thy Soul unto them but they shall snatch it from thee they shall take it away by force Fourthly and lastly all this must be done This night It is not as Jeremiah to Hananiah Thou shalt dye this year nor is it not as Hosea of the revolting Israelites a month shall devour them nor is it not as the Lord to Adam thou shalt dye this day But different from all these it is this night This night in opposition to this day not at noon but for greater horror at night This night in opposition to another night not to morrow-night not the next night not the night after but this very night which follows thine applauding of thy self All these particulars are observable I cannot stand long upon them all I shall cull out the chief observations and they are these First that all a mans wealth is not able to preserve his life much less to save his soul Secondly that God takes away mens lives many times when they least suspect it Thirdly that mens lives lye open to infinite and innumerable hazards Fourthly that ungodly men their souls are taken from them by compulsion First I say all a mans wealth is not able to preserve his life This man here in the Text he had a great many of goods and houses and barns and such like possessions but all would not serve the turn to keep him alive
thee in the daies of thy youth and walk in the waies of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know that after all these things God shall bring thee to judgment Preached at Mr. Bacon 's Reading at Gray's-Inn SERMON IV. LUKE 13.8 9. And he answering said unto him Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig about it and dung it And if it bear fruit well and if not then after that thou shalt out it down Our blessed Lord and Saviour whiles he was conversant here upon earth was careful to apply himself to these persons whom he converst withall with the greatest Advantage that might be to their spiritual good not only by putting of them in mind of that which was to be done by them but also by calling them to an account of their Improvement of such Intimations And this is that which he does here in this Scripture which we have now before us where for the better and more effectual insinuating and working of his doctrine into them he does represent unto them spiritual Truths by common and ordinary resemblances and such kind of expressions as they were most familiarly acquainted withall These words are the speech of the Vine-dresser interceding with the Lord of the Vineyard in the behalf of his barren Fig-tree They are a Parable and so do carry somewhat more in them than is in the bare letter and sound The Exposition and Interpretation whereof is briefly this The Vine-dresser that 's the Minister The Vineyard that 's the Church The Lord of the Vineyard that 's God himself The barren Fig-tree that 's any fruitless and unprofitable soul within the vail of the Church or person or people which have not thriven under the Means of Grace and opportunities of being better which God hath been pleased at any time in his providence to afford unto them IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Vinedresser's Petition and Request it self which he here notes Lord let it alone this year also Secondly The Terms or Conditions which his Petition proceeds upon and these are twofold The one is taken from himself Till I shall dig about it and dung it and the other is taken from the Fig-tree upon the supposition either of Amendment or Incorrigibleness If it bear fruit well if not then after that thou shalt cut it down These are the parts of the Text. We begin with the first of these parts viz. the Vinedresser's Request and Petition it self wherein again observe two things more First The matter of the Request or the thing it self which is sued and petitioned for and that is mercy and forbearance towards it Lord let it alone Secondly The Determination of the Time for the exercise and continuance of this forbearance and this for one year more This year also First To speak of the former viz. The matter of the Request or the thing it self petitioned for and that is the forbearance of the Fig-tree Lord let it alone This was begg'd and begg'd by the Vine-dresser in the behalf of it From whence we may observe thus much That it is the special work of faithful Ministers and Pastors and Labourers in God's Vineyard to divert and keep off that wrath and vengeance and judgment which he threatens and which is near to their people Thus does the Vine-dresser here in the Text The Owner of the Fig-tree which was God himself He had threatned it with destruction as he justly might for it's great unfruitfulness after so long and continued expectation These three years I come seeking fruit on this Fig-tree and find none Cut it down why cumbreth it the ground Now comes in the Dresser of the Vineyard with this seasonable Motion and Request in the very nick of time Lord I beseech thee let it alone and for this once be more favourable to it This is that which belongs to Ministers and Pastors in regard of their Office not only to be the Conveyers of Instruction but also of Protection Nor only to defend from sin but also from punishment This is that which we shall observe and find all along in Scripture as Joel 1.13 when there was a Famine brought upon the Land the Vine dried up the Fig-tree languished the Pomegranate withered c. Who are there invited to bewail it and lament it and mourn under it why ye shall see it is the Dressers of the Vineyard And that which were so not in the literal sense but in a spiritual Gird up your selves and lament ye Priests Howl ye Ministers of the Altar Come lie all night in sackcloth ye Ministers of my God These were they who were called upon to be sensible of the present Judgment And so again in the second Chapter of the same Prophecy of the Prophet Joel and the 17th verse c. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the Altar and let them say Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach Wherefore c. So Isa 62.6 7. I have set watchmen upon thy walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night ye that make mention of the Lord as ye that are the Lord's Remembrancers keep not silence and give him no rest till he stablish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth This was the practice of Moses that faithful servant of the Lord and Governour of God's people still upon all occasions when God's anger was kindled against his people he comes in and intercedes for them and speaks in their behalf that the Lord would be pleased to spare them and forbear them and shew pity towards them This was the practice also of Samuel as we may see an instance of it 2 Sam. 12.29 When the Israelites had committed a great sin and God had exprest his displeasure against them for it they desire him to pray for them and he does not refuse it as thinking himself engaged to it upon the account of that Office and place which he sustained as a Prophet amongst them God for bid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you The ground hereof is this First Because Ministers are middle persons as it were betwixt God and the people They mediate and deal betwixt both as it is declared expresly of Moses Exod. 19. v. 1. He told God the words of the people and he told the people the words of God He is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee as God said of Abraham to Abimelech in Gen. 20.7 This is one thing which makes for this work to be performed by them and then which we may add hereunto the Affection which does belong unto them from this Relation This it makes for it also When a Child is in any danger who should sooner speak for it than the Father When a Sheep is ready to be swallowed up who should sooner interpose than the Shepherd When a City is ready to
year also This it proceeds upon these grounds First that speech love and affection which they bear unto them Hatred is all for destroying and that out of hand But love it is desirous of sparing and preserving of the party beloved as long as it can It was a sign of the great want of this in the Prophet Jonah when he would have the Ninevites presently destroy'd at the first dash what no more but so where there were so many thousand inhabitants in it What an unworthy disposition was this and far from those bowels which are desirable in the Lord's Prophets who are or should be better affected Secondly There is ground for this desire and request of Ministers in the behalf of their people from that hope which they are willing to conceive of their amendment and reformation Lord let them alone this year because it may be this year they 'l change and alter course It is true they have been unprofitable and unfruitful for these three years past but it may be in one more they 'l reform and grow a great deal better Do but try them that So that horeby is signified to us that hopefulness which it becomes those who are Pastors and have the care of souls to have in themselves in such cases not too easily to be dejected and discouraged and put out of heart where they find not that present effect of their ministery which they might wish or expect For if it come not one year yet it may haply come another and therefore let it alone This. Thirdly This disposition in Ministers proceeds out of respect to themselves and an holy jealousy and suspition which they may conceive of their own neglectfulness Lord let it alone one year more says the Vine-dresser here of the Fig-tree till I dig about it and dung it as who should say It may be Lord there may some fault lye in me for my particular It is true they are no better than they should be but I have not so fully discharg'd my duty towards them by putting them in mind of theirs by instruction exhortation reproof admonition c. I have not done all I might do nor I have not done all I would do Therefore spare them a little for this that I may at least have a further opportunity of doing them good and may be more advantage to them When the Fig-tree is once cut down the labour of the Vine-dresser ceases and comes to an end And though he would take more pains about it yet then it is too late therefore let it alone a while longer that so I may do my utmost and be no way wanting in that duty which is required of me And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is the Vine-dressers petition or request it self in these words Lord let it alone this year also The Second is the conditions which his petition proceeds upon and they are twofold The one is taken from himself Till I shall dig about it and dung it And the other is taken from the Fig-tree upon supposition either of amendment or incorrigibleness If it bear fruit well if not then after that thou shalt cut it down We begin first of all with the former viz. That which is taken from himself Till I shall dig c. Where there are two things observable of us First The Phrase or Expression Secondly The Doctrine or Notion which is contained under it and is exhibited to us from it For the First The Phrase or Expression We may here take notice of the nature and condition of a Ministers work and employment which because it is exprest to us by digging and dunging it is hereby signified to be a very difficult and laborious service Digging it is a work of some painfulness The unjust Steward could not dig when he was asham'd to beg Luke 16.2 Not only for want of skill but for love of ease because it had troublesomeness in it Such a business is the work of the Ministry if it be followed so as it ought to be and so is exprest And it is useful for us to take notice of it both Ministers and People that accordingly we may be affected and disposed in our selves concerning it Ministers that we may apply our selves with all industry and diligence to it as not thinking that any thing will serve our turn in the discharge of it No we must labour and â—oyl and dig and take a great deal of pains for the performance of our duty in this particular we deal in mysteries and in deep things the deep things of God which are not receiv'd without our much digging And so for People they should accordingly esteem of it There are many who think the work of the Ministry to be the easiest matter in the world and so it may be as some may make it but in it self and perform'd as it should be it is far otherwise and so should we esteem of it from this phrase and notion Now Secondly For the thing it self or notion Taking this passage in the scope and connexion of it there is so far hereby signified and intimated unto us the efficacy and advantage of the Ministry to such a purpose as is here exprest Till I shall dig about it and dung it as who should say that would do it This Fig-tree which had been hitherto barren the Vine-dresser made account that by his labour it would be made better Lord do not cut it down yet because there is not all done about it which might be From whence we may note thus much That the labour and pains of the Ministers is a means whereby God hath sanctified and appointed for the good and edification of the people If any thing do them good and make them to be that which they should be this is that which must do it Preaching and taking pains with them Where they are digg'd about and dung'd there 's at least some possibility of their amendment and reformation and that in time they may bear some fruit though as yet they have not done it This is also implied in this expression Look as it is sometimes in Vine-dressing and in the course of your ordinary husbandry there 's many a withered tree which has been ready to perish and dye which yet by the constant care and diligence of the Gardiner about it has been recovered and made to grow Even so it is also in the work of the Ministry and this spiritual husbandry there 's many a withered soul and there 's many a barren heart which one would have thought would never have come to any thing which yet by the care and industry of those who have been employ'd about it hath at last proved to be useful and hath brought forth abundance of fruit The reason hereof is this because the spirit of God goes along with his own Ordinance to make it effectual It is not so much our labour and industry consider'd simply in it self but
begin it and continue it with him in all conscionable obedience to him We are apt for the most part to please and flatter our selves with thoughts of security and indulgence To morrow shall be as this day and the next year shall be as the last and more abundantly But this is a matter of great uncertainty to us and it is fit should be so It is not for us to know the hour our selves but it is for us to prepare our selves for all times and seasons that may be and to endeavour to make the times so much the better and comfortable to us by our conformableness and fruitfulness under them Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig c. SERMON V. LUKE 10.38 Now it came to pass as they went that he entred into a certain Village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house Our Blessed Lord and Saviour who was the great Creator of Heaven and Earth was yet so far pleased to abase himself for our sakes as to have no place of dwelling and abode here upon earth Although he was the Son of the Carpenter yet he had no house built him of his own and that upon the same ground as he was willing to be the Son of the Carpenter which was a piece of his humiliation Foxes have holes and Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head But yet though he had none certain yet he had as many as he pleased at command and though he had ill entertainment from the World yet there were some whom he knew he could be acceptable and welcome unto Where-ever he had an heart he was sure not to want an house where there was ability and opportunity for it And thus here in this Scripture before us he takes up his lodging in the house of two godly and devout Women and Sisters Martha and Mary Wherein we have declared unto us a different frame of spirit in the entertainment of him It is a very pleasing and delightful Story and through the blessing of God upon our thoughts and meditations on it may prove as profitable THis whole Contexture of Scripture in the perfect view of it does contain in it especially two General Parts First Christ's Entertainment which he had in the place where he came And Secondly Christ's carriage and behaviour towards those which entertained him and to her especially which now received him into her house The former of these we have in the three first verses The latter in the two last and close of the Chapter We begin in order with the first the Entertainment which was here given to Christ which we have in the three first which we shall run over with as much expedition as possibly we can And we 'll take them as they lye before us forasmuch as Scriptures of this nature do require another kind of handling than others do Now it came to pass as they went that they entred c. In this we have two things observable First The nature of the place which Christ at this time turn'd into He entred into a certain Village Secondly The party that entertain'd him and took him in upon his entring into the Town A certain woman named Martha receiv'd him into her house To speak a word of the first the nature of the place He entred into a certain Village We see here that Christ did not only take care of Cities and great Towns and populous places where there was great resort of people coming to them and those it may be of quality and estate but also of poor Villages and mean places He had a special regard even to these for the exercise of his Ministry amongst them and the filling them with his heavenly doctrine And thus it does likewise become other Ministers also to bear after the example of Christ himself not only to affect such Auditories and to confine themselves to such kind of places which are more eminent in worldly considerations but also now and then where they are called thereto as there is occasion and opportunity afforded to turn aside into the Villages themselves Thus our Saviour Christ did here and thus we we find him also to have done in other places Jesus went about all the Cities and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom So Mark 6.6 He went round about the Villages teaching And Luke 17.12 He entred into a certain Village c. In Cantic 7.10 The Spouse invites her Beloved hereunto Came says she let us go forth into the Field let us lodge in the Villages This was the temper and disposition of Christ to condescend so far to such places as these are for the scattering of his heavenly Word and Doctrine amongst them And thus there is very good reason for other Ministers likewise to do upon occasion in divers regards First because here 's an opportunity of doing good as well as else-where There are souls to be saved in the Villages as well as in the great Cities And this is that which our work does chiefly and principally respect it is to convert men and bring men to Heaven and this is that which is indifferently to be regarded in one as well as in another All souls are in this sense equal they cost the same price one with another and we are accordingly to be tender and heedful of them Christ had compassion on the multitude when they were as sheep without a shepherd And this drew him abroad into the Villages a love to poor souls And we should labour to find the same gracious affections and dispositions in our selves Secondly There 's incouragement of a man's Ministry in these as well as in other places and sometimes more All Religion is not compast and comprehended within the walls of a City there are gracious souls in the Villages and Countrey-Towns yea often-times more of the sincerity and power of godliness indeed than there is in those places which are of higher education and so likewise a better and more cordial entertainment of the means themselves The full stomach loaths the honey-comb those which are at the well-head and enjoy the means of Grace in great abundance they are apt to scorn and despise those opportunities which are afforded unto them whereas others which are more straiten'd they have them in greater account And then Thirdly For a difference of gists and various improvements of those abilities which God pleases to dispense God bestows upon his servants in the Ministry sundry talents and those fitted to sundry dispositions and sundry places which call for a seasonable exercise and improvement of them Those which do well in one place they may not do so well in another and those which cannot so profitably be exercised and employed here else-where may do very well Now therefore that those which God has given in such and such a kind may accordingly be drawn forth there 's good ground for
Apostle Tit. 1.15 Things are better or worse to us as we are commonly our selves Now we are all by nature corrupt and stark nought So far forth are other things sanctified to us but so far forth as there are any reliques or remainders of corruption in us as there are in the best that are so far forth the best things that are are corrupted to us Secondly The nature of the things themselves as being least of all feared and suspected That 's another ground of this also where things are in their own nature lawful we do very readily venture upon them and are bold with them whereas other things stick a little with us No man surfeits of poison but of good and wholsome food and of that which is taken for granted to be no other than such as is good And so 't is also here in these matters We are satisfied in the matter and hence we come to exceed in the measure This should teach us to be so much the more watchful over our own hearts and to this purpose to beg assistance of God for the guiding and directing of us Take heed of our selves in things lawful Satan is there vigilant over us and we are apt soonest to be abused let us not rest upon the matter and nature of the things we are employed in but observe and take notice of our own hearts and affections in it and as I said desire God himself to watch over us We stand not by our own strength and are safe no further than a better hand keeps us than our own To speak more particularly to the present Point and business in the Text This work of Martha in her feasting and entertaining of Christ it is considerable under a double notion either as a part of her particular Calling as it was a piece of good housewifery in her and looking to the affairs of her Family or as a part of her general Calling as it was a piece of hospitality in her and kindness which she shewed to Christ And according to each of these there is somewhat observable from them From the First we learn thus much That men and women may sin and offend even in the pursuit of their lawful Calling Thus did Martha here This looking after houshold affairs it was a part of her Calling The Apostle in 1 Tim. 5.14 lays it down as a part of the duty which belongs to that Sex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to guide the house This in it self consider'd was very lawful and commendable in her yet in the managing and carriage of it there was a great abuse This offending in point of our Callings may be explain'd divers â—ays First when men have sinister aims and â—as in the following of them when men aim only at wealth and increase of their estates and not to do service by their Callings either â—â—â—he Church or Common-wealth or when they improve their Callings to bad and unwarrantable purposes Ministers when they preach false Doctrine Souldiers when they fight in bad causes Magistrates when they pervert righteous judgment c. Secondly When mens particular Callings prove hinderances and imediments to their general when men are so intent upon these that they are neglectful of those This is another miscarriage likewise this was the fault here in the Text and so it is of many others besides Their Callings intrench upon the Sabbaths and the Lord's day Their Callings hinder them from duties of Religion and Christianity both publick and private They cannot hear nor pray nor meditate nor do any thing of a Christain And what 's the excuse of all They have so much business in their particular Callings This is a very great abuse and miscarriage and so to be accounted That man which has not leisure to be saved he wants leisure indeed But of this we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter This may suffice for the present that that is a great offence in our Callings when they make us neglect our souls Thirdly when men undo their bodies and prejudice their health by them There are many so intent upon their Callings as that they wholly neglect their health This if it be any way tolerable it is in our Calling of the Ministery where yet also there must be a regard And this now leads us to the Second thing which is the last observable in this verse and that is Martha's sollicitude and distraction This was that which Christ did chiefly and principally tax in her which we may further consider in reference to the second notion also of her employment which we may take in with it as a part of her general Calling in the entertainment of Christ In a word this is the summ Martha's entertainment of Christ and giving this respect to him It was a very noble and honourable work and performance in her and such as undoubtedly proceeded from her special love and affection to him but this was that which was blamable in her that she was too anxious and sollicitous about it which we have exprest in three words First she was cumbred Secondly she was careful Thirdly she was troubled All expressing her distraction and all expressing her miscarriage in this business The Point we may take notice of is this That a Christian should have a free and quiet spirit and mind in those businesses which are undertaken by him whatsoever they are whether matters of his particular Calling or general he should still be careful to attend upon the Lord without distraction Martha is here censured because she was careful and troubled This is a temper ill-becoming a Christian It was the counsel of Christ to his Disciples that they should not be too carking and caring And Paul to the Philippians Be careful for nothing c. Phil. 4.6 First Distraction it does no way further or promote Which of you by taking care can add one cubit to his stature Mat. 6.27 Moderate care it furthereth so far forth as means conducing to such an end but anxiousness it does not further at all it carries no influence at all upon the producing of such and such effects Secondly Distraction it does very much hinder and put back both formally and demeritoriously forasmuch as it weakens the mind and makes it unfit for service and also moreover procures some displeasure from God himself It is that which is displeasing to God when we so far distrust his providence as to be inordinately careful and sollicitous about any thing we take in hand Thirdly Distraction it does contract a great deal of guilt with it It is very sinful in the nature of the thing and therefore to be avoided It 's a very vicious and inordinate affection as that which casts a disparagement upon his promises and care over his people This should teach us all we can to labour and strive against it It is that which ill-becomes a wise and prudent man and the Heathen Philosophers had great victory over themselves in this particular but it
Shulamite return return there 's a doubling still of the word The Spirit of God he speaks quick and he speaks often again and again where he would prevent from danger Thus it teaches us accordingly to submit to such quick and close admonitions as these are as we have need of them There are many that do not love to be startled they would fain go to Hell quietly without any disturbance or interruption and therefore abhor all such persons as deal roundly and tartly with them and would awaken them out of their natural condition Oh but we see there is sometimes cause for such dealings and we should not think much of them whether from Ministers in the way of their publick Ministery or from private Christians in the way of Christian converse and private admonition not to be offended with their rouzings and excitements of us which the state in which we may be in and the danger which is neer upon us may call for to be used to us That 's one intimation in this doubled and repeated expression viz. The greatness of the danger The Second is the security of the person warned Peter was not more in danger than he was insensible of his danger He thought the case to be well enough with him as he expresses it afterwards in verse 33 of this chap. Lord I am ready to go with thee both into prison and unto death He thought himself a jolly man and that he could do very great matters till it came to the trial was well perswaded of his own strength and of his ability to resist temptations Now therefore does our Saviour here awaken him out of this secure temper and disposition by this manner of expressing himself unto him As danger calls for excitement so especially there where it hath security with it As the Angel to Lot and his company when they took them and pulled them out of Sodom because of their lingring in it Even so is there need to be done with some souls from that presumption and security that possesses them Thirdly The affection of the Monitor or Person that gives the warning that 's also in the doubling of the appellation It is a sign Christ's heart was much in it and that he bore a singular love and respect to Peter in that he does thus passionately admonish him Love is full of sollicitude and carefulness for the party beloved and can never express it self as it thinks sufficiently about it for the welfare of it And this is seen in nothing more than in spiritual things It is a singular token of affection to give warning of spiritual dangers and hazards to the soul and of temptations which it is exposed unto This is that which Christ does here in the Text to the Apostle Peter and which he does also to the rest of his Servants by his Spirit still in their hearts He does secretly forewarn them of those evils which are neer unto them if-so-be they will take warning by him and that also with much importunity and vehemency as that which concerns them So much for that and so also of the First General in the Text viz. The person warned the Apostle Peter in these words repeated and doubled Simon Simon The Second is the matter of the admonition or the warning it self Behold Satan To say nothing of the word of attention Behold which yet might be inlarged upon There are two particulars here further considerable First the persons aim'd at and that is you Secondly the design upon them Satan hath desired to have you and to sift or winnow you as wheat For the First The persons aim'd at they are here said to be you He spake before to Peter in the singular Simon Simon now it is you in the plural To signify thus much unto us that there 's the same condition of all Believers as of one That which befalls one Christian it is incident to all the rest They have all the same dngers which they are exposed unto and enemies which do endeavour against them though they may not always have the like opportunity for the expressing of their enmity against them one as another Peter and the rest all alike The reason of it is this Because they all consist of the same natures and are acted by the same principles they all have the reliques of the same original corruption as yet in part abiding in them and they have all the same Spirit and work of Grace acting in them And so as to temptations they are all one and the same for the danger which they are liable unto Therefore it should work all to an holy jealousie and suspition of themselves and tenderness to others when we see any poor soul at any time exercised with Satan's temptations and it may be sometimes foyl'd with them let us not think that his case is peculiar and that we for our parts shall do well enough No but rather be so much the more watchful over our own hearts Be not high-minded but fear for that which befalls others if thou look'st not to it may befall thee And so it should teach us also bowels and compassion towards others under temptations not to be harsh with them and rigorous towards them and censorious of them but to use all kind of gentleness and tenderness to them considering that the case might be our own if God should permit it Thus the Apostle Paul improves it in his exhortation given to the Galatians Gal. 6.1 Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one with the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Which rule if it were more observ'd there would be a great deal of more Christian affection in the world than commonly there is Men look upon the temptations of others as if themselves were altogether exempt and freed from them whereas if they were in the same circumstances they would bewray the same infirmities and weaknesses that others do afore them that so they may carry the greater bowels and pitty towards them As it is an argument to remembrance of others in bonds and adversty as being your selves in the body and so ready to be bound with them Heb. 13.3 So it is an argument for compassion towards others under temptations as being your selves liable and exposed to the same condition and apt and ready to be tempted with them And indeed this is the reason why God is pleased many times to exercise sundry persons in this kind and to expose them now and then to temptations that so from hence he may teach them to be less harsh and rigorous to others in such conditions which when themselves are free they are oftentimes subject unto that they may preserve in themselves a sweet and amiable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and tenderness of spirit to the rest of their Brethren and that their moderation may be known to all men as the Apostle requires it should be Phil. 4.5 It is
said of our Blessed Saviour Heb. 2.17 18. That in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest And that forasmuch as himself had suffered being tempted he was better able to succour those that were tempted and accordingly could not but be touch'd with the feeling of our infirmities chap. 4. â—5 In like manner it is likely to be with others so far forth as they communicate in such conditions being hence inabled to have compassion or reasonably to bear with those which are in them for that themselves also are compast with infirmities There 's two things at once in this expression in the Text First that one man's evil is another man's danger he is liable and exposed to it Secondly that one man's evil is another man's interest he is employed and concerned in it So were the rest of the Disciples in this attempt which was made upon Peter and therefore not only thee in the singular but you also in the plural So much for that But to come more closely to the thing it self here intended To have you This word you in the Text it may admit of a thee-fold gradation according to which it may be explained and understood by us First you Believers rather than other men Secondly you eminent Believers rather than other Christians Thirdly you Apostles or Ministers rather than other eminent Believers Satan in the laying of his temptations hath emphatically desired you You he hath desired First you Believers rather than other men Satan's aim is especially at such to get them As for wicked and ungodly persons who are yet in their unregenerate condition he has them already They are said to be in the snares of the Devil and he knows them to be so so that he does not much trouble himself about them All his care about such is but to keep them in that wretched condition in which they are It is not to have them so much as to hold them that they may not recover themselves out of his snare and get loose from him for which purpose he does what he can to keep them from the means of Salvation or else to frustrate those means unto them But his chiefest plots are against those which are Believers and which have Grace wrought in their hearts he desires especially to lay hold on them and to draw them into his nets This he aims at both in himself and in his instruments as ye may see in Elymas the Sorcerer Acts 13.9 10. Who when Sergius Paulus the Deputy of the Countrey had been wrought upon by the Ministery of St. Paul this wicked Fellow endeavoured to corrupt him and to turn him from the Faith But he has the brand of a child of the Devil put upon him by the Apostle for it there in that place O full of all subtilty and all mischief thou child of the Devil thou enemy of all Righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord Those that go about to tempt and to pervert those which are good they are so far forth the children of the Devil whose work and property and disposition it is so to do as much as he can and who makes it his great employment And there are two considerations especially which do lay ground to this practice in him First that absolute antipathy and hatred and contrariety which is in him to Goodness it self yea to God himself who is the chiefest good The Devil because he hates Goodness it self therefore he assaults it where ever he finds it And because he hates God himself therefore he hates also his Image in those in whom it is and would deface it as much as he is able Because all true Believers they have the likeness of God stamp'd upon them and do in a sort partake of his nature therefore it is that Satan does so much malign them and set himself against them and does labour what he can to super-stamp his own likeness upon them Secondly It proceeds from that Envy and Pride which is in him The Devil takes it in scorn that a creature which is below him in creation should be above him in condition and therefore he endeavours to supplant him and bring him down Take any Christian as he is a man so he is of an inferior make to Satan whose nature is Angelical Now for such an one to be advanced above him which he is by Grace and the work of the new creature this it is very grievous and irksome unto him and therefore out of meer envy and malice and pride does he endeavour what he is able against them From hence we may therefore learn where to rank such persons as these are Those that hate Goodness in others and envy them and malice them for it we see from whom they come and to what stock they belong as their proper pedigree even to no other than Satan himself And so the Scripture it self tells us 1 Joh. 3 1â— It is said of Cain that he was of that wicked one namely the Devil and slew his Brother And wherefore slew he him Because his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous To hate or corrupt Goodness in others it is a Satanical and Diabolical disposition That 's one part of the Gradation here in the Tex you Believers rather than other men The Second is you eminent Believers rather than other Christians Peter and the rest of his companions as they were Christians so they were of the highest form and rank of Christians And to such as these does our Saviour here speak concerning Satan's attempts He hath desired you You whose Faith is strongest whose Zeal is hottest whose Patience is greatest whose Graces are more illustrious and eminent and conspicuous to have you especially This is the manner of Satan to cast his sticks most at those trees which are fullest of fruit where he spies more Grace than ordinary there especially to lay his chiefest assaults We need go no further for an instance than our Blessed Saviour himself though he was frustrated there yet we see he was so bold as to venture it even to set upon him and to try what he could do with him And so for those which are his Members of more eminent Graces he does the like with them also as we see in divers examples in Scripture in Job and David and Paul and here this Peter himself all eminent persons There 's a double reason for it which does encourage him to it First it is the greater Victory and Secondly it is the greater Advantage he does more both in it and by it It is the greater Victory First to conquer such as these For mean and ordinary Christians to lay them on their backs he thinks that 's no great honour or renown unto him but now to vanquish those which are Champions and to pull down those which are Pillars and to scatter those which are principal Christians this it
hindrance and impediment of the mercy of God neither have the servants of God upon this point been any thing disheartned from access unto him see it in David Psal 25.11 For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great Mark it is great therefore pardon it so far is he from refusing pardon upon this consideration as that upon this he does therefore desire it and that upon a double account in reference to himself and in reference to God in reference to himself pardon it because it is great and so I have more need of pardon in reference to God pardon it because it is great and so thou shall have the greater honour in pardoning of it To satissie us fully in this point we may consider thus much That the ground of Gods pardoning of sin or not pardoning it it is not the greatness or smalness of the sins but his own free grace and goodness considered in himself as Isa 43.24 25. Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins and wearied me with thine iniquities yet I am he that blotteth thy transgressions for my names sake It is for Gods names sake that he pardons sin and whilst he does so it is not the greatness of the sin which will keep him from it nay it is this which will rather put him upon it as delighting hereby so much the more to magnifie his bounty towards us So secondly as not the greatness of the sins in their nature or kind so neither the multiplications of them neither there is no hinderance from this God promises to heal even the apostasies and backslidings of his people and to love them freely Hos 14.4 And Jer. 3.1 Thou hast played the harlot with may lovers yet now return unto me saith the Lord. God has mercy even for the renewals of sin upon the renewing of our repentance and turning to him He is a great Physician which can cure great diseases and following relapses that so we may not despair in our accesses and our approaches to him Therefore let us not stand upon this as that which should keep us off from conversion and coming to Christ for of it self it is no hindrance at all It is not the sins themselves but the holding of them and making much of them which does make men uncapable of favour and mercy from God so long as they remain and continue in such a condition Again Thirdly it is not the want of such a measure or degree of Humiliation which does exclude neither There are many think they may not come to Christ and are sometimes taught so to think because they are not humbled in so deep and large a manner as some others are Now for this we must know that this is a very great mistake in them and it is contradicted by this present Text before us Him that cometh I will in no wise cast out When the Promise is made to the coming not to the preparations he that is so far humbled as to come he shall find grace and acceptance with Christ and may expect it and look for so much from him As for the preparatory work of Humiliation it is different in several persons according to their several tempers dispositions conversations and future employments That which we are principally to mind and to apply our selves to is the thing it self which is the sight of our own vileness and emptiness and insufficiency an apprehension of the necessity of Christ and grace by him a willingness to leave our sins and to close with Christ upon his own conditions Where these things are really and in good earnest wrought in us we need not much to trouble our selves about any thing else This is that which undoes many people in this particular in that they think to be accepted with Christ from somewhat in themselves the smalness of their sins and the greatness of their humiliation and their Legal performances Whereas alass this is not the matter nor that which God does so much look at The Lord does not pardon any sin because it is small but because he delights in pardon and because ercy pleases him Mic. 7.18 No the Lord does not pardon any sins because he has so much forrow and grief and trouble of spirit upon him which is a thing which God does not delight in but for his own Names sake out of the largeness and infiniteness of his Attributes as we hinted and intimated before And ye for all this we do not say with the Arminians that there is no Qualification at all required in us that God pardons an Adulterer or Murderer or Drunkard so remaining for that he does not do He forgives those that come to him but now such as these they do not come To say or think that any one may come to Christ in the allowance and approbation of his lusts and resolution to live still in them is to speak and hold those things which are contradictory the one to the other Look how far any man does favour and allow himself in any evil course so far does he withdraw from Christ and does forbear to come unto him and so in conclusion does expose himself to eternal ruine The great cause of that Errour which is in many in this respect is the mistake of the true nature of coming for many think this to be all the coming to Christ which is required to repair to him for mercy and forgivness and to desire to be saved by him Now this 't is true any may desire though never so vile and wicked and abhiminable They may come to Christ and desire him to save them yea but this is further the coming here spoken of and intended in this present Text to come to Christ and desire him to rule them to cast off those sinful affections and desies and complacencies which are in them and to be willing to have better hearts bestowed upon them Those that come to Christ thus it is no matter what they have been formerly he will in no wise cast them out This is the scope of the Gospel and that which in the preaching of the Gospel we are to make known and to press upon you That whosoever in this sense comes he may have grace and mercy by Christ and shall certainly be received by him without any denial And he that does not come thus he shall remain and die in his sins This is that which we are to believe about this Doctrin of our coming unto Christ. Therefore let us lay hold on it and make much of it and improve it all we can to our best use and advantage as it becomes us to do Take heed of that censure which our Saviour passes upon the Jews Ye will not come to me that ye might have life Joh. 5.40 Whilst it is so with us we can have nothing to say for our selves That man that chuses rather to hold his lusts and his base affections than to serve Christ though he might save his Soul
the surface of things but we do not dive into the bottom and foundation of them We see things sometimes in their beginnings but we do not see what they will be in the close and latter end and conclusion of them There 's a various account which may be given of this truth and observation to us as First from the intricacy and difficulty and perplexity of the things themselves God's ways themselves many times are very dark and obscure and mysterious As there is a mystery in the truths of Christ the mystery of the Faith and the mystery of Godliness as it is sometimes call'd in Scripture so there is a mystery in the actions of Christ likewise His Providence it has secrets in it His way is in the Sea and his path in the great waters and his footsteps are not known Ps 78.19 Oh the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who hath known the mind of the Lord says the Apostle Rom. 11.33 And the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 55.8 9. My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord For as the Heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts There 's an involution of one thing in another so that they do not presently appear what they are As in the Prophet Ezekiel there were the wheels within the wheels He does great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number Job 5.9 Secondly As there 's an intricacy in the things so there 's likewise a difficulty upon our understandings yea even the best that are they are but short-sighted in this particular And that according to a twofold principle First the dimness of natural reason and Secondly the imperfection of supernatural illumination Reason that 's blind And Grace that 's but weak and imperfectly wrought in us First There 's a dimness upon reason even in those who have the greatest measure and proportion of it from whence they are unable to reach the deep things of God either as to matter of Doctrine or Practice Worldly wisdom it counts the ways of God to be foolishness and such things as are inconsistent to themselves And Secondly As for Grace and the light of the Spirit of God himself it is but in such a measure and degree communicated to us from whence it might do this in us Therefore even holy persons such as Peter in the Text here was have been sometimes short in this particular and still are From a deficiency in their own understandings Thirdly This proceeds from special and Divine Dispensation God does of purpose order it that even his own Servants shall sometimes not be able to apprehend his own ways nor know what he does in the World And that for divers reasons also As First Because it may be they are not as yet capable of them nor sit to receive them Thus we know how in other places our Blessed Saviour forbore to discover some things to his Disciples because as yet they were not able to bear them as himself tells them Joh. 16.12 I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now It is a great part of wisdom in a Teacher to impart and communicate his notions answerably to the capacity of the Learner And so it is also with Christ in his dispensations As Paul to the Corinthians I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as to Babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able And so to the Hebrews Heb. 5.12 Of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered seeing ye are dull of hearing God's people whiles they are here in this world have neither heads nor hearts fit for some kind of discoveries not heads sit to apprehend them nor hearts fit to digest them If they be evil they would be apt too much to be dejected if they be good they would be apt too much to be exalted and lifted up They would be ready to bear neither so as they should do And therefore does God think it fitting in wisdom to keep them ignorant of them that so as yet they might not know them or be acquainted with them That 's one reason of this concealment because as yet they are not capable of them Secondly God will not have his people presently to know what he does that so hereby he may take occasion for the better exercise and improvement of their Faith and dependance upon himself The more at any time we see the less we do commonly believe Faith it is most vigorous and conspicuous in cases of obscurity and disappearance Now blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed as our Saviour speaks Joh. 20.19 It is no great thanks to trust God when we see all clear before us But in difficulties there 's the trial As Abraham Even against hope to believe in hope And as Job Though he slay me yet will I trust in him And as Paul We despaired even of life and yet trusted in the Living God which raises from the dead And as Habakkuk Although the Figtree blossom not nor fruit be in the Vine c. yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my Salvation This is enough for Christians to know that they have to deal with a Gracious and All-sufficient God to whem they may with a great deal of safety and considence commit themselves in the greatest outward uncertainties And so long as they can do so they need not be any further troubled in their own thoughts as concerning future events Yea God himself delights that it should be at this pass with them as whereby himself is so much the more honoured and advanced by them Abraham whiles he was strong in Faith he is said to give Glory to God and so indeed he did Rom. 4.20 Because he stagger'd not at the promise of God through unbelief He that believeth not he makes God a liar which amongst men is counted one of the highest pieces of dishonour But he that believeth he sets to his seal that God is true for which cause God is pleased so much in the improvement of Faith He comes to see of what credit and esteem he is with us where there is a failing of outward helps Thirdly The Servants of God do not always know what he does nor he will not have them to do so for the preferring of his own liberty and soveraignty amongst them that they may not by this means teach him and follow him and set limits unto him His ways as we said are unsearchable and he delights to have them be so for his own greater glory and renown It is fit for creatures to be in the condition of creatures and to keep
enough for the lodging of all his children so that none of them need to be excluded or shut out of doors there 's room not onely for one or two of them but for all the rest This is the scope of the Text as Interpreters generally carry it to meet with the jealousies and suspitions which were at this time in the Disciples as if when Christ now went to Heaven he went thither so to take up the place as to admit none there but himself No says he it is no such matter there 's room and there 's room and room enough for you all it is a large habitation there may be more besides my self taken into the confines of it and received into it This is the difference betwixt this present world and that which is to come Alas here below in the world we see what a straintness and narrowness there is oftentimes in peoples dwellings especially in such times as these are which are now fallen upon us how glad people are to croud and thrust themselves together and all little enough to make up a dwelling and an abode for them But in Heaven there 's all desirable enlargement no envying or repining at one another no hindring or obstructing of one another no troubling or molesting of one another but all the freedom and conveniency that may be Here in the world Gods Servants they are oftentimes to seek and destitute of a place of abode as the Apostle Paul says of himself and the rest of his Brethren 1 Cor. 4.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having no certain dwelling place which is no great matter perhaps for any thing that the world cares whether they have or no our Blessed Lord and Saviour himself whilst he remained here upon earth he had no fixed or determined habitation Foxes have holes says he and birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head Luke 9.38 And the Disciple is not better than his Master and the Servant than his Lord so that they may very well upon that account be contented with it Yea but now in his Fathers house there 's room both for himself and all his Servants which may be a comfort and encouragement to them and that even in the midst of the greatest straits which are now upon them It is but staying for a little time and the defect will be abundantly suppli'd and made up unto them And that 's one thing here impli'd in this expression to wit room or place of reception The second is Continuance or Duration that 's especially in the word Mansions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a word of abode and there are two things again here included First the continuance of the house and dwelling it self And secondly the continuance of the habitation and abode in it First the house or place it self that 's lasting and continuing it is a Mansion so forasmuch as it shall always abide and remain to be that which it is and so the Scripture does frequently exhibit it to us as Luke 16.9 That they may receive you into everlasting habitations that is into Heaven and more expresly 2 Cor. 5. 1. We have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Take the best and most desirable houses and habitations here in the world and after all that can be said concerning them for the glory and lustre of them stately built richly furnished pleasantly situated c. yet still they are but sading and perishing and decaying and mouldring away there 's vanity and transitoriness within them as the misery and unhappiness of them and of them that possess them and never more than in these days in which we live wherein time and experience does so much ratifie it and confirm it to us by sad and most lamentable demonstrations Yea but now this House which is from Heaven our Fathers house as our Saviour here stiles it it is of a more lasting and durable nature it is a Mansion and so ever continues We many times are ready to think so of our houses and cities here through the vanity of our own minds and the deceitfulness of our own hearts and the blindness and ignorance that is in us to imagine as if these were Mansions and everlasting habitations It is that which the Psalmist takes notice of in men that their inward thought is that their houses shall endure for ever and their dwelling-places to all generations and they call their lands after their own names But thâ—â— their way he says is folly though their posterity approve their sayings Psal 49.11.13 Yea but this house which we now speak of it does truly endure for ever and this dwelling-place it does abide to all generations indeed there 's no violence can be offer'd unto it nor no mischief light upon it nor can it be capable of any disparagement or diminution at all That 's the first thing here considerable the continuance of the place it self it is a Mansion But then again secondly here is impli'd also the continuance of abode and habitation in it There 's many an house which it self sometimes stands but the inhabitants and persons that belong to it are casheer'd and turn'd out of doors yea but it is not so now with this house in the Text. In my Fathers house there are many mansions that is there 's abode and continuance still in it so that those who take possession of it once they enjoy it for ever This is another Priviledge and Accommodation which is here included and considerable of us The Apostle Paul when he speaks of the condition of the Saints in Heaven says We shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 And St. John to the like purpose The world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever 1 Joh. 2.17 Christ says of his Sheep that he gives unto them eternal life so as they shall never perish neither shall any man be able to pluck them out of his hand Joh. 10.28 Take men that have the bravest and most glorious dwellings that can be thought of here in the world they must within a very little while quit them and remove out of them they must leave them and part with them And that 's one thing which does very much take off from them and does very much abate of the pleasurableness of them Yea but those dwellings which are above they are such as are a sure inheritance and a possession which cannot be lost or taken away from those who have interest in them They continue not onely in themselves but they also continue to those who are the Owners and Possessors of them This should make us so much the more ambitious after them and desirous of them There is sometimes a great desire in many people after sumptuous and magnificent Buildings but alas how long will they enjoy them then when they have obtain'd them If we will
Thirdly therefore There is his coming at the last day to judg the World This is the coming indeed which is here intended by him and is now to be taken notice of by us as a grand and principal Article of our Christian Faith This is that which we find to be declared by the Angels at the very instant of his Ascension Acts. 1.11 This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Come and come in like manner that is as really as conspicuously as gloriously Therefore it is usually exprest in Scripture by the name of his appearing When Christ who is our life shall appear Col. 3.4 Who shall judg the quick and dead at his appearing 2 Tim. 4.2 To them that look for him he shall appear the second time c. in Heb. 9.28 This coming and appearing of Christ after this manner is very requisite upon a very good account As namely for the fulfilling af all the testimonies which are made to this purpose It is that which Christ promises to us here in this Text and it is scatered as I have shewn already in sundry other places of Scripture now therefore it must needs be so that the Scripture may not be broken Forasmuch as no tittle of God's word shall ever be abolished or diminished or fall to the ground Then it follows also from the condition of wicked men who must be reckoned withal and brought to judgment We see here in the World how men carry it by living as they list What wrong and injustice and oppression and violence there is amongst them What looseness and profaneness and wickedness and all manner of impieties Now these things will not always hold thus however men think they will do so There will a day of account come at last and Christ himself will therefore come to call men to to this account and it is very requisite he should do so God hath appointed a day in which he will judg the World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained that is to say by Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul tells the men of Athens Acts 17.31 And therefore must this man come for the execution of this judgment thus ordained And then again also Christ will thus come for the accomplishment of his work of Redemption towards his Elect in the full effects and consequents of it That as he has redeemed their souls from sin so he may also redeem their bodies from corruption And as he is contracted already to them so he may further consummate and perfect his Marriage with them and as it is exprest afterwards in the Text which in its place we shall come unto that he may receive them and take them to himself These and the like considerations do enforce this second coming of Christ which is here signified to us This for the better amplifying of it to us is considerable in all the circumstances attending them First He will come visibly He will come so as to be seen Tha we had before hinted to us in the word appearing And it is sutable to some other places as Rev. 1.7 Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him even those that pierced him c. 2 Thef 1.7 The Lord Jesus shall be reveald from Heaven with his mighty Angels He shall come in state and he shall come in pomp and he shall come with great solemnity Jude ver 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgment upon all Thousand thousands stood before him and ten thousand times ten thousand ministred unto him the Judgment was set and the Books were opened Dan. 7.10 Secondly He will come unexpectedly He will come when people do not think of him or are aware of his coming Come perhaps before they do some of them desire or wish for his coming Behold I come as a thief says he And therefore blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame And so 1 Thess 5.2.3 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travel upon a woman with child and they shall not escape The certain time of Christ's second coming is unknown to us Matth. 24.36 Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven but my Father only Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come as it is accordingly enforced in the 42d verse of that Chapter Yet Thirdly He will come quickly too There 's that also signified in Scripture speaking of his coming In Rev. 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be And again in ver 20. to put it out of all doubt Surely I come quickly Here in the Text according to the Greek which is in the Original it is exprest in the present tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do come as if he were come already So ready is he to come and as it were near at hand The Lord is at hand Phil. 4.4 And the Judg standeth before the door as it is Jam. 5.8 9. And thus we see t is coming of Christ both in the thing it self and in the circumstances of it The consideration of this Point is thus far useful to us First as it is matter of great comfort and encouragement to us in our present estate and condition here in the world That which is the scope of the Text should be the use of the Doctrine which the Text does exhibit to us Now we see what that is namely to chear and satisfy the hearts of the Disciples upon Christ's going away from them And so it should be likewise with our selves here in our pilgrimage and in our or phanage as I may so call it It is true that Christ is gone but he is not lost because he is gone cum ammo revertendi with a mind and purpose of reurning again which is matter and ground of very good satisfaction to us To part with our friends absolutely so as never to meet with them more that has some kind of irksomeness with it and we know not well how to digest it but when they promise us to return again to us we do then more easily dismiss them Why this now here is the case betwixt our Blessed Saviour and his Disciples and in them towards all his children He goes away so as to come again It is not a final farewel but only a temporary retirement and withdrawing of himself And that as we have heard before out of the fore going verse for our benefit and advantage that he may prepare a place for us This is the end of his departure The end for which And the end in which The end for which it is so order'd
thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven Flesh and blood is no revealer of Christ nor of the Mysteries which belong unto him And so 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural man receives not the things of the spirit for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And so in the place before cited 1 Cor. 2.8 Which none of the Princes of the world knew The Princes of the world who are they these are not as I conceive only those which are properly so call'd earthly Kings and Potentates and the like for but few of them had an hand in the actual crucifying of Christ but by the Princes of the world we are to understand rather the great Rabbies and Doctors of the world which were as it were Princes for learning and humane knowledg which did Dominari in Scholis The Scribes and Pharisees the Philosophers and Naturalists and the like these were Principes seculi hujus and which notwithstanding were wholly ignorant of Christ So that we see how men may much abound in worldly wisdom and yet fall short of Evangelical knowledg First Because this Mystery of the Gospel it is a thing which is meerly dependant upon the will and counsel of God himself that which has its sole ground work and foundation in the wisdom of God that cannot be discovered or discerned by the meer wit and wisdom of man now thus it is with the Doctrine of the Gospel and the way to Salvation by Christ it is a thing purely dependant upon Gods Wisdom and Decree for the accomplishment and revelation of it Hence it is said in Scripture to be the Wisdom of God in a mystery and the hidden Wisdom which God had before the world ordained to our glory 1 Cor. 2.7 Again it is said to be hid in God Eph. 3.9 that is in the secret of his own purpose and eternal counsel This makes it to be such as is beyond the reach not only of the wisest men in the world but likewise without particular revelation of the Angels themselves Secondly As it is hid in God so it is also hid by God and that of purpose oftentimes from those which are otherwise the wisest men in the world thus we have it in that acknowledgment of our Saviours Mat. 11.25 I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes Even so O Father because it seemed good in thy sight God does think fitting sometimes in his infinite and unsearchable wisdom to conceal and hide from the great ones and Rabbies of the world those things as concerning Religion which yet he discovers to mean persons And so if we will we may apply the phrase in the Text in another sense than as yet we have taken it In the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God namely by taking this Wisdom of God Oeconomicè as well as Objectivè God did so order it dispense it in his Providence and unsearchable Wisdom that the world by all their wisdom should not attain to the right knowledg of him Thirdly The world by the strength of natural wisdom is not able to know God in Christ in regard of the disproportion betwixt the faculty and the object the knowledg of Christ being of a far different and contrary nature and condition hereunto We know that no faculty can act beyond its own sphere nor reach an object which is above it self As bodily eyes cannot see spiritual substances no more can wit and natural sagacity be able to reach the knowledg of God in Christ which is an object transcendent unto it The improvement of this Point to our selves is not as some would make it to be from hence to cast a reproach and disparagement upon Wit and Parts and humane learning simply considered it is not in the sense of the times at least of many foolish people in them to cry down Schools and Colledges and Universities and such places of Learning and Education as these are nor to diminish or take off from those which are eminent in such kind of perfections humane wisdom and wit and skill in Philosophy and sagacity they are singular gifts and endowments which proceed from God himself and God does highly honour those persons whom he does bestow them upon for which reason we are to honour them also and whosoever speaks against them they speak evil of the things which they know not as the Apostle speaks It may be requisite for us therefore to consider the right sense and meaning of these things that we may not mistake There 's a threefold disparagement especially if so be I may call it a disparagement which we do justly and most deservedly cast upon humane learning and the wisdom of the world First Comparative and Exclusive we do disparage it and diminish from it so Humane learning if we compare it with Divine and worldly wisdom with the wisdom from above here it is as good as nothing a very poor and mean business For a man to know all kind of things in the world and in the mean time to be ignorant of Christ and those things which concern his soul this knowledg will in effect profit him nothing and he is but a very Ignoramus There 's no comparison to be made betwixt them we see how the Apostle himself sets it when he speaks to this point Phil. 3.8 I count all things says he but dung and dross for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord c. Saint Paul was a very learned man and that in the Mysteries of humane learning a great and deep Scholar yet when he compared his knowledg here with the knowledg of Christ and the Gospel here he set it at a very low rate and so indeed it was to be set and is so still to be by all others whatsoever Thus far now we disparage humane wisdom as we do dross by setting it below Gold not absolutely but only by comparison And that 's the first Explication Secondly We do disparage Humane wisdom Vt fundamentum superbiae carnalis confidentiae as a ground or argument of pride and boasting and carnal confidence wit and learning and parts and the wisdom of the world they are very noble and excellent qualifications but yet they are such as none have cause to be proud of or lifted up with whosoever they are There 's no man who has any of these things in the greatest measure that can be who has any reason to swell in himself for the enjoyment of them If he considers either how he comes by them which is only by gift or if he considers how easily he may lose them and may have them taken away from him or if he considers how they are such gifts as may be bestowed even upon enemies and wicked men these are enough to
this that we should Preach of no other subject but only of the death of Christ for there are many other points besides which it is necessary for a Minister to speak of and for a Christian likewise to hear of But when we are commanded to Preach Christ crucified and to make this the object of our Ministry there are these things included and involved in this expression as to be understood by us First For the matter of our Preaching as I have already shewn that we are to preach this principally and to make people sensible of this point more especially above any other because the hinge of the Gospel turns upon this point and we are Ministers of the Gospel therefore to beat more upon this than any other Secondly For the order of our Preaching to do all in reference to this then we preach Christ crucified not only when we discourse of this Argument for the particular subject of it but likewise when we preach of such points as are introductive and preparatory hereunto or which are superstructed and founded hereupon When we shew men their own corruption by nature and the necessity which they have of a Saviour And when we teach men to live holy lives and to be crucified in their affections and lusts then we preach Christ crucified as well as when we discourse of the thing Thirdly For the manner of our Preaching we then Preach Christ crucified when we Preach Christ and the Doctrine of Christ in a grave and sober fashion this is clear by the opposition which the Apostle Paul himself there sets 1 Cor. 2.2 where he sets this Preaching of Christ crucified as opposite to the excellency of humane speech I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God For I de termined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified As who should say the one would not consist with the other They that profess themselves to be Preachers of Christ crucified they should abstain from all kind of looseness and affectation and flanting in their Preaching as a manner which does not agree with the matter Suppose now that any one were to paint a dying or crucified man would he paint him in a garment of colours or in a garment of black surely in the most grave and solemn attire that could be even so it should be likewise with us whiles we Preach Christ crucified we should endeavour to set him out after a crucified manner not in the wisdom of words lest we make the Cross of Christ of none effect but in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit which may have conviction and power with it And thus we see what it is to preach Christ crucified Again further Here 's that which may satisfie Ministers as for those things which oftentimes they are subject unto and that scorn and ignominy which is many times cast upon them it is but futable to the Doctrine it self which they teach namely Christ crucified and therefore it should satisfie them in it and make them more willing to endure and to bear with them whiles they Preach Christ crucified to be content to be crucified and to meet with the same entertainment which he did in the world The Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord. Besides The Doctrine it self is odious A stumbling-block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles as we shall hear God willing hereafter And therefore they must be needs odious that bring it and so for the most part they are as the Apostle professes of himself 1 Cor. 4.9 c. But then secondly Here 's somewhat not only for Ministers but people and not only for Preachers but hearers as first to teach them what Points and Doctrines they should chiefly affect and look afer We live in such an age at this present as tha the wholsome and savoury points of Religion are of no esteem with us but we loath them and are weary of them but we must have every day some new-nothing to be brought unto us we do not like this Doctrine of Christ crucified but must have somewhat else given us for our lusts as the Israelites for their bodily food Now here we are better instructed in this present passage of the Apostle wherein he tells us That he preached Christ crucified That which is the main object of the Ministers Preaching is the main of our hearing also And therefore let us take heed of this same itch which is abroad in the world in this kind I hope I shall not need to say much here in this place to this purpose but only this in a word First This is a cause why many people are so formal in Religion and have so little of the power of Godliness in them because they look rather after notions and speculations than solid Truths Their strength is according to their sustenance Secondly This is the cause of so many Errors and false Doctrines amongst us men first turn their ears from the truth and then are turned unto fables as it is in 2 Tim. 4.3 4. Thirdly This is the cause of so much strife and division amongst us because every one stands more for the devices of their own brains than they do for the Truths of Christ Now there 's this Use which may be made of this Point to all Christians namely that seeing Christ crucified is the chief Argument of a Ministers Preaching it should be also accordingly the chief rule of a Christians practice The Preaching of Christ crucified should teach us to be crucified with Christ that so the labours of the Ministers may be digested into our lives When we preach Christ crucified it is not only by way of narration to tell you that such a thing is done but it is rather by way of information to perswade and work upon you for living answerably hereunto And 't is not only to work upon mens fancies and to stir their passion a little for a while in a Frier-like manner but to mollifie and soften their hearts and to bring their spirits into a temper suitable hereunto This Doctrine of Christ crucified it should crucifie us more to sin to the world and to our own selves as we shall have occasion hereafter to show And as this Point should always take with us so especially should we now more meditate and think upon it as is that which is especially tendered and exhibited to us in the Sacrament which we have so often partak'd of The Sacrament of the Lords Supper it was instituted in remembrance of Christs death and to assure us of the great love of Christ to us in this particular This is not only to be thought of us at the very instant and time of receiving but upon all occasions all the days of our life which we are to regulate and to frame hereunto And so I have done with the Apostles Doctrine it self Christ crucified How farther this
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thrusts them forth as it is Matt. 13.52 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you c. says St. John in 2 Joh. 1.3 But Secondly As here 's an acount of their knowledg what they did with that so here 's likewise an account of their practice what put them upon that For that 's another question which is sometimes put in such cases to those who are the servants of Christ What need ye to be so earnest and importunate and to make such a stir as ye do to persade men to this and that to look after their souls and to mind eternity and to have a regard to their future condition c What needs all this instruction and exhortation and admonition and threatning that comes from you Can't ye as well let men alone and be quiet and there 's an end No says he we cannot do so There 's very good reason for it why we should be thus earnest as we are to call upon men to leave their sins and to amend their ways and to reform their lives and that is Knowing the terror of the Lord. We cannot know that and not practice this Scientes ideo suademus there 's that also in Because we know therefore we perswade Where this knowledg as it here lies in the Text seems to carry a threefold force on Emphasis with it First As a word of discovery in opposition to ignorance knowing it that is being advised of it Secondly As a word of certainty in opposition to conjecture Knowing it that is being assured of it Thirdly As a word of consideration in opposition to forgerfulness or non attendency Knowing it that is being mindful of it The Apostle Paul and the rest of the Ministers upon the account of that knowledg which they had of the terror of the Lord in this threefold explication they were therefore thus diligent to deal with men for their hearkening unto them First Knowing it in a way of simple discovery in opposition to Ignorance Knowing it that is being advised of it it is a great advantage to any man that undertakes to speak of any thing or to perswade any other to it for himself to have an understanding of that which he speaks about to know what he says and whereof he affirms Those that are ignorant themselves will be but sorry Teachers of others So then the blind must lead the blind Teachers should be persons of knowledge 1 Tim 2.7 and those which are so will be ready to be so which St. Paul does seem to intimate and insinuate here in this place As if he had said thus much If we are ignorant we should be content to silent if we thought there would nothing come on it we should let men go on in their sins without interruption and say nothing at all to them of them let them sleep in an whole skin and go to Hell and our selves with them but as for us we know better we are not ignorant of this one thing That all men shall appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive according to that which he hath done in his body whether it be good or evil We are sensible of the thing it self the day of judgment and of the great danger which lies upon those which are neglectful of it And therefore we can't but speak of such things as these are Secondly Knowing in a way of certainty and in opposition to conjecture Knowing that is knowing perfectly of exactly fo as it is in 2 Thes 5.2 Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night c. There are many things which we have sometimes some kind of hint of but we are not altogether sure of them but only by guess we think they may be so but we are not sure they are so yea but now this business which the Apostle here speaks of was of another nature it was that which he knew that is it was that which he had a clear and manifest discovery of to him and therefore it was that he was so earnest about it For men to vent their meer fancies an conceits and speculations for Truths and to impose them upon others judgments and belief that may carry a great deal of weakness and imprudence in it to say no worse of it yea but St Paul here went upon a better ground and argument Therefore here it was as our blessed Saviour exprest himself sometimes to Nicodemus We speak that we do know and testifie that which we have seen and therefore ye are to receive our witness John 3.11 3. Knowing in a way of Consideration in opposition to forgetfulness or non-attendency There are many things which we know habitually which yet we do not know actually that is which we know but we do not remember or think of them and reflect upon them And the want of Knowledg thus is a great occasion of the neglect of our Duty in many things which are to be done by us But where this is it is a great help unto it and so it was here in this particular case with the Apostles in the discharge of their Ministry who because they did not only believe but also remember and frequently consider and meditate upon this terrour of the Lord in their own minds and spirits therefore consequently did so diligently commend it to the thoughts and hearts of Gods People and put them upon the study of it also And thus have we seen the full Emphasis of this word Knowing as it lyes here before us in the Text as a word of Intelligence as a word of Assurance as a word of Remembrance For a further account yet still of the practice of the Apostles here exprest in these words Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men We may take notice of a threefold Illustration which is observable and considerable in it First The principle or foundation whereupon it was laid Secondly The matter or argument which it was conversant about Thirdly The method or order for the carriage of it 1. The principle and foundation whereupon this practice of the Apostles in their perswading of men was laid and that was Knowlege knowing we perswade We never do any thing as we should do at least in that manner as we should do especially in the work of the Ministry till we hold our selves to this We then perswade most effectually when we perswade knowingly Thus in the beginning of this Chapter We know c. that we have a building of God an house c. 2. Here was the matter which this his perswasion was conversant about and that was of judgment to come a principal and fundamental point of Christian Religion as we find it to be declared in Heb. 6.2 This was that which he prest upon Christians and others in the course of his Ministry as we may observe in divers instances of it Thus when he preached at Athens to the Philosophers
Thes 1.5 This is that which becomes a servant of Christ as the best principle of all to work upon namely his own knowledg and experience of those things which he speaks of But of this we may have occasion to treat more anon out of the words themselves 2. As here 's an account of his practice from the principle of it so likewise from the matter and the thing it self which was handled by him which is by beginning with terror and laying judgment before them and the last judgment in particular This is the course which is taken by him for the more effectual progress of his Ministry to lay the ground-work and foundation in this And it so was likewise with him elsewhere Thus he dealt with the men of Athens Act. 17. 30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every-where to repent because he bath appointed a day in which be will judg he worlds So he began likewise with Felix Act. 24.25 He reasoned before him of righteousness and temperance and judgment of come So Heb. 6.2 Amongst the rest of the first Elements of Christain Religion we find there reckoned eternal judgment as that which is mainly and principally to be known and studied by a Christian as preparatory and introductory to many other Doctrines besides 3. We may likewise here take notice of the order and method which is observed by him in all this which is first of all informing himself and then instructing of others Here 's scientes prinsquaâ—â— suademus First Knowing and after that perswading There are some which invert this order Begin first with perswading and then come to knowing aftewards Which will be teachers before they are learners which will take upon them to instruct ere themselves are sufficiently instructed But this is not the Apostles method here in this place who begins at the right end and that which is most natural and probable to know before he makes known And thus much by way of preparation of these words in their dependance and connexion We come now closer to the parts themselves Where we have these two particulars considerable First The work it self and that is we perswade men Secondly The principle of this working or the Motive that put them upon it Knowing the terror of the Lord. We begin with the last first which is first in the order of the words as it is also in the nature of the thing and that is the nature or principle of working Knowing the terror of the Lord. Wherein again two particulars more First The object propounded and that is the terror of the Lord. Secondly The apprehension of this object in reference to the mind c. Knowing the terror of the Lord. The Vulgar Latine gives it Timorem Domini the fear of the Lord which is a little more mollified and restrained The Arabick Interpreter for fail puts them in both Timorem reverentiam Domini Terrorem takwi trabbi wa-hashaitiho Erasmus simpliciter terrorem which is also followed by our own Translators as best agreeing with the drift of the place which is that which we will now keep unto 1. I say here 's the Object propounded The terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was that which the Apostle knew and desired also to make known unto them for their edification and spiritual improvement It 's called the terror of the Lord emphatically and exclusively as hereby shutting out any other terror besides which does not so well consist with this for we must know that there are sometimes false terrors as well as true There are terrores Satanae as well as terrores Domini and these are very cautelously to be distinguish't one from the other The Devil as he has his false comforts and raptures and elevations so he has likewise his false fears and astonishments and dejections whereby he does sometimes depress and keep down the hearts of Gods People in his uncomfortable representations in his suggestions to despair in his dreadful prognostications and the like These are such kind of things as are very sad and terrible and which St. Paul also knew well enough and was sufficiently acquainted withal He was not ignorant of Satans devices whereby he labours to affright men and to take them off from doing of their duty and that work which does belong unto them through their too much attendance hereunto But he does not make any of these to be a ground for his ministerial perswasions no but the terror of the Lord those terrors which God himself makes and which are of his allowance and approbation What kind of terrors are those may it be here demanded Let us hear of them what they are and what is meant here by them in this expression which we here meet withal in the Text. For these there are divers kinds of them we may reduce them briefly to three heads which as I think will reach this phrase in the full extent and latitude of it 1. The terror of the Word in the threatnings and comminations of it wherein is revealed from Heaven the wrath of God against all unrighteousness as the Apostle speaks in Rom. 1.18 This is one terror of the Lord and a very great terror it is if it be duly considered there 's a mighty power in the work of God set on by the assistance of Gods Spirit for the terrifying of the most secure sinner and driving him out of that condition and presumption and stupidity of mind in which he lyes The Word of God is powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit c. Heb. 4.12 And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God c. says the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.4 This we see in Paul to Felix who whiles he Preach'd before him astonish'd him and caused him to tremble 2. The terror of Divine Impression upon the heart and conscience This is sometimes called in Scripture the terror of the Almighty which Joâ— and David Heman and such as these did sometimes partake of when God himself appears as an Enemy and does immedlately wrestle and conflict with the inwards of any poor soul and write bitter things against it This is likewise the terror of the Lord and such as does indeed carry a great deal of terribleness with it but yet that 's not all which is meant here in this place 3. The terror of Judgment and more especially of the day of Judgment that 's likewise the terror of the Lord and it is that which is also principally intended here in this present Scripture which relates to that which was mentioned in the verse immediately preceding We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive c. Now knowing the or as some that terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the demonstrative particle we do therefore perswade so that the terror of the Lord is as
much as the day of the Lord together with all the consequents and circumstances of it which does carry a great deal of fear and astonishment with it It does so and it deserves to do so in these respects First From the severity of the proceedings in the ordering and managing of it which shall be with a great deal of terror In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Is not this very terrible and a dispensation of much severity it cannot be denied And therefore those that think otherwise are mistaken and exceedingly deceived of that day it is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess c. Zeph. 1.15 And as it is so in it self so it is especially so to all wicked and ungodly persons to them it is the terror of the Lord with a witness from the guiltiness which is upon them This is that which properly gives this denomination unto it if we take it abstractly considered in it self or in reference to the Children of God so it shall not have such terror or dreudfulness in it those alone who are reconciled to God through Christ upon them it shall have another impression and another notion as it is the day of refreshment the day of redemption the day of restitution the day of recompence and reward The second is the Apprehension of this object in reference to the mind and understanding and that is knowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We see here upon what terms we proceed in Christianity and Religion not upon meerer fancies only and conjectures and bare probabilities but upon a certainty and good assurance Divinity it is a matter of Knowledg and it is the excellency of it that it is so elpecially compared with some other things in the world which are of another nature it stands upon good grounds as the bottom and foundation of it which is the Word of truth it self Thus 2 Pet. 1.16 We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his majesty c. And v. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place c. This is the Scripture and Word of God But how did Paul know this which he here speaks of this Terrour of the Lord and the accurateness of this judgment of Christ which he had before mentioned and here refers to He knew it divers ways First By immediate revelation and inspiration from God himself it was delivered to him from the Lord as he says elsewhere of other truths I have received from the Lord that which I have delivered unto you It pleased God from Heaven to inform him and to acquaint him with this Divine truth concerning the Judgment to come together with some circumstances which shall attend it which he does discover as a profound mystery in some other places And that which he had as it were even from Gods own mouth and intimation of that he might very well say that he knew it as here he does knowing it by revelation Secondly He knew it also by Discourse and collection of one thing from another There 's very good reason for it that there should be such a day as this is the day of Judgment and that God should call men to an account hereafter for that which they do now in the flesh It 's very agreeable to the justice of God a righteous thing with him as it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2 Thes 1.6 When we shall consider that little recompence or reward is give here below either to good or bad we may from hence very rationally conclude that there is another time and place for it which shall not escape it That which seems to make most against it with carnal and secure persons is the delay and procrastination of it because it is not presently therefore they conclude that it will not be at all as those mockers in Peter Where is the promise of his coming c. But as the Apostle there resolves it Gods slackness is only long-suffering Patientia est non negligentia as Austin to the same effect Non ille potentiam perdidit sed nos ad poenitentiam reservavit c. de Verb. Apost Ser. 20. Some read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the subjunctive and so make it a matter of counsel and exhortation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Oecumenius But I think we need not do that I shall rather take it as it is here offered in the Indicative It is an expression which carries a various emphasis in it Thirdly He knew it also by Experience and by some sense of it upon himself in his own heart he knew it thus As he was wrapt up into Paradise and carried unto the Third Heaven so he was likewise cited to Christs Tribunal and brought before his Judgment-seat in his own soul and consicence S. Paul did not speak of these things at random and loosely but he had some practical apprehensions of them from where he knew them and did therefore to much the more boldly and freely and confidently discourse of them to other men There 's no man that knows what sin is but he consequently knows what judgment is and by the sight of the one is lead to the preconception of the other forasuch as sin in the guilt and nature of it summons to Judgment This was the Apostles great advantage in this business which he discoursed about that he spoke of it from his own spirit with some kind of sense and feeling of it which is that which all other Ministers should labour and endeavour to do in the whole course of their Ministry and in the Doctrines which are delivered by them First to work and fasten and imprint them upon them own hearts and then from thence to commend them to their hearers with the greater efficacy and success that so even in this sense likewise as well as in regard of affection they may impart unto them not the Gospel of God only but also their own souls 1 Thes 2.8 as being sensible and really satisfied in that which they deliver And thus much of the first thing here considerable in this first General of the Ministerial performance viz. the Motive Knowing the terror c. The second is the Work it self We perswade men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where again four things more whereof two exprest and two implied First What. Secondly Whom Thirdly For what or what to Fourthly Upon what ground There 's the Act and the Object and the End or
from them thus it was here with Paul and the rest they were to be imployed by him in the work of the Ministry and he had business wherein to use them therefore he would save and deliver them God stands not in need of our service simply considered nor of any thing which can be done by us but yet so far forth as he is pleased of his free Graceto imploy us so far forth will he be careful to preserve us in order and reference hereunto In Mal. 3.17 it is spoken there of the children of God that a book of remembrance was written before him in their behalf and that he would spare them when he made up his Jewels as a man spares his own son that serves him There 's two arguments in one for Gods indulgence there mentioned First their relation his son and secondly their imployment that serves him a man will spare his son in reference to his bowels and he will spare his servant in reference to his work and the latter of these is that which is here exhibited unto us God takes a special care of his working servants This is a certain truth that as long as God has any work and business for any man to do for him so long he will keep and preserve him and deliver him from death and he may with confidence depend upon him for it which by the way teaches us how in some manner to preserve our lives and keep our selves from hazards and danger as we do any thing desire it namely by being careful to be exercised and well-imployed in the doing of that which God requires of us When we put our selves out of service we put our selves out of protection When we lay our selves aside as to our work we do in a manner hasten our end and ring our own passing-bell as I may so express it but when we are careful as much as we can to serve God in our generation and to be useful and profitable to the time and places wherein we live we do hereby very much provide for our own safety and preservation and in a manner engage God himself thereunto who is very tender of his working-servants as here of Paul The way to secure our lives is not so much to spare our selves to study our own ease to make much of one no he that saves his life so is most likely to lose it but rather accoding to that strength and ability which God affords unto us to do him all the service we can Thirdly God does further delight to frustrate the attempts of enemies and those that plot and conspire and contrive the death of his servants and for this cause will deliver them from it as here again 't was with Paul God fears the wrath of his Adversaries lest they should behave themselves strangely and say Our hand is high c. The consideration of this Point is a great encouragement to all those that fear God against the inordinate fear of death That the Lord has a special care of them and regard unto them in such dispensations at least so as to keep them from the evil and hurtfulness of it He hath delivered us from so great a death And this for the thing it self here propounded in the absolute consideration of it We may in the second place look upon it in the reflection as coming from the Apostle God had delivered him and he did not now let it pass without any notice taken of it but he observes it and likewise acknowledges it This is a duty which lyes upon us to take notice of those mercies and deliverances which God at any time has vouchsafed unto us thus does the Apostle here and also elsewhere and teaches us to do the same likewise He makes mention of mercies and deliverances which were past sometime since and not only makes mention of them but gives thanks for them it is not a bare and simple narration but with some acknowledgment annext unto it We would not have you ignorant says he of our trouble that came to us in Asia c. Why would he not have them ignorant of his trouble because he would have them thankful for his deliverance and to join with him in the blessing and praising of God for it who had so graciously shewn himself in his behalf Thankfulness and acknowledgment is the least which we can return upon God for deliverance and preservation This is that which we our selves are now called to this present day wherein we celebrate Gods goodness to us in our Deliverance from the Gunpowder-Treason a Deliverance which in regard of the thing it self was vouchsafed many years past five and forty years ago but the remembrance of it should be still green and fresh and flourishing with us We may very well express it in all the words of this present clause That God has delivered delivered us and from a great death First For the Person delivering it was God He that delivered Paul and his Company delivered us He that delivered them from the great danger in Asia the same has delivered us from the great danger in England He that raised from the dead as it is said in the verse before it is he that has kept and preserved from death here It was he that discovered the Plot. It was he that prevented it or otherwise we had been utterly destroyed and overwhelmed in it If the Lord had not been on our side may England now say if the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us It is true God had his means and instruments which he was pleased to imploy and improve in this business but the main of it must be resolved into himself It was he who delivered us c. Secondly For the Persons delivered we may add also us it is we which are delivered The deliverance of others has cause in its place to affect us and we ought to be very much taken with joy for it But when our selves are interested in any deliverance for our own particular this should more work upon us and so it was here There 's none of us all but had a share and propriety in it some of us in regard of our Persons and others of us in regard of our Relations either in our selves or else in our Friends and Country which should be dear unto us We were either delivered from death or from Non-entity which you will Those which were then born they were delivered in a way of preservation those which were not born then they were delivered in a way of anticipation So that the Deliverance comes home to our doors one way or other do what we can and he has delivered us Thirdly For the terms also of Deliverance so great a death so great as it is hard to express and declare how great it was it was great in the consideration of all or most of those several
this was not a great death indeed If we lose our lives yet if we can recover our souls our loss will not be so considerable And if we part with many other things which are near and dear unto us yet after all this if notwithstanding we can hold fast our faith and profession without wavering we may do pretty well But this was the mischief of these enemies that they did then hast to spoil us of these It was not so much other matters which they had an eye to life and liberty and estates though that were somewhat but even Grace and Truth Piety Salvation it self that we might not see our signs not there might not be a Prophet amongst us as the Psalmist speaks This was that which they principally aim'd at as it is said of the Adulteress that she hunts for the precious soul Prov. 6.26 even so it may be said of such as these And thus ye see how it was a great deliveran Fourthly Namely in regard of the extent both to the persons and cause Fifthly From the neerness and approximation of the danger It was great so also for it was even almot come to the execution of it we were even upon the very point and brim of destruction in this design as it was with Paul in this present Text indeed we thus sar differed from him that we knew not what danger we were in which he did we had not the sentence of death in our selves but we had the sentence of death in our conspiracies they had give in and past us for dead and had made as full account of it as might be they made no question at all of it but so it would be The plot discovered but the very night before God brought it to the very extremity it was seen in the minute he manifested himself graciously in our preservation when there was death at the very doors Thus it was here 6. It was great also in regard of the mischievousness of the contrivers it was carried with great wickedness as could be possibly imagined all the strength even of Hell it self here was ingratitude hypocrisie cruelty unnatural affection what not yea here was moreover which made it so much the more hainous the taking of the blessed Sacrament upon it consider that A setting of Gods Seal to their own wicked Counsels an eatin and drinking of damnation to themselves whiles they vowed and conspired and indeavoured destruction to others What an horrible and fearful thing was this to all the rest What wonder that they should make nothing of the death of others which made nothing of the blood of the Lord Lastly A great death in regard of what it should now be to all of us for our apprehension and acknowledgment we should make a great matter of it and so account it And for this purpose lay before us all the aggravations which I have now named to work it upon our selves Narrow capacities have commonly but streightened affections therefore let us help the one by inlarging the other let us labour to raise our hearts to a right frame and pitch of thankfulness this present day and all the days of our lives And let us not have these things only in our fancies and take them as rhetorical expressions but let us labour to get them into our affections and to have impressions of them upon our spirits let us look upon the greatness of this danger even at this distance and remoteness of it which in it self consider'd is still the same as it is with sins which are long ago committed and examine our hearts how indeed we are affected in this particular Whereby we may have some discovery of our selves what we are likely to befor future deliverances if God should vouchsafe them We are all ready to think with our selves that if God would now but give us peace and free us from those fears and distractions under which we lye and settle things quietly amongst us both in Church and State Oh how thankful we would then be to him for it Why what are we now at present for that which he has already done for us What are we for the deliverance of this day from the Gunpowder Treason He that will not be thankful for this he would not be thankful for that neither if God should please in his Providence to grant it He that will not pay the Arrears neither would he pay the new debt It is but the falseness and deceitfulness of our hearts that here cosens us and therefore let us look to our selves and quicken our felves more in this business to be sensible and apprehensive of it and to have answerable enlargements upon it And to the advantage take in all other mercies and deliverances besides with it whether national or personal as in a day of general humiliation we are to be humbled for personal miscarriages so in a day of general and publick Thanksgiving we are to acknowledg personal mercies and personal deliverances And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text And that is the commemoration of a deliverance past who deliver'd us from so great a death The second now follows and that is the signification of a deliverance present in these words And doth deliver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath delivered does deliver It is very fitly and properly put in the present tense and also indefinitely because it is that which is always in being or acting and never otherwise God is never out of this work of deliverance and preservation of us He delivers us daily look how many are the evils and dangers which we are subject unto so many are the deliverances which we partake of in the eating of our meat in the travelling on our way in the lying down on our beds in the going about in our imployments where-ever at any time we go or whatever at any time we are about we have still experiences given us of Gods gracious deliverance of us At home or abroad at work or at play a sleep or awake still in all and either of these does Goddeliver and we have good cause still to acknowledg it but we are to take it here in the Text and so likewise in the occasion in a more limited and restrained signification namely in reference to the business in hand and the particular danger now mentioned and remembred The Apostle here tells us how God had delivered him from the late danger in Asia and to amplisie and extend it further he adds also this That he does still deliver namely in a reference to that particular deliverance before spoken of He delivers with a respect had to that This may be made good unto us according to a twofold Explication First In the continuation of that deliverance which he has formerly given and vouchsafing a further fruit and benefit and efficacy of it Secondly In the multiplication or renewing of the like deliverance and vouchsafing other deliverances which are
and strengthen their faith and to take notice of such Dispensations as these to them we should not shut our eyes upon God's Providence in this particular but observe them and lay them to heart and be affected with them it is that which God expects from us in a suitableness to his dealings with us and that in the midst of many troubles which are upon us yet still see how God does deliver us So likewise for spiritual deliverances to apply it to that also God does here deliver after deliverances The vertue and efficacy of Christs Death which hath purchased deliverance for us it is extended beyond the time of his suffering to all following generations Now does Christ deliver us and now does he offer deliverance to us in such Ordinances as these are and now does his spirit strive with us and move us and incite us to good To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts c. which should move us also to take the present opportunity And so now I have done likewise with the second General part of the Text and that is the signification of a deliverance present exhibited to us in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And doeth deliver The third and last is the prognostication of a deliverance to come in these words In whom we trust also that he will yet deliver us We see here this excellent gradation how the Apostle proceeds from one thing to another from time past to time present and from time present to time to come What may we observe from hence Namely thus much That deliverances which are past are a very good ground for the hoping and expecting of deliverances to come or if ye will thus God that has delivered hitherto he will likewise deliver again Thus does Paul reason here he delivered us from the great danger in Asia and he will deliver us hereafter from others as occasion is afforded unto him and as we have for our part need of it Thus also in another place 2 Tim. 4.18 speaking of his deliverance from Nero I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work He infers one deliverance from another yea a general deliverance from a particular God had delivered him from that cruel Tyrant whom for his fierceness he calls a Lyon and from hence he concludes that he would deliver him from the suffering of any evil work besides for so we may understand it if we please not actively only but passively as from doing evil works himself so from suffering evil works from others in their attempts against him This was likewise the reasoning of David 1 Sam. 17.37 The Lord hath delivered me out of the paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear and be will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine So again Psal 22.4 Our Fathers trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them What does he suppose from hence why that accordingly he would deliver himself too This is the sweetest heavenly reasoning of the Saints and Servants of God even to argue thus with themselves and to draw deductions and conclusions of expectation from former experience What God will do from what he has done and that also upon weighty Considerations First His Ability and Power In men this is many times defective so that we cannot so happily conclude of the one from the other of future goodness from former because their power and opportunity may be gone and they may not be so able to do that which has been formerly done by them but now as for God there 's no such fear his strength and power is the same that ever it was and what he has been formerly he is able to do the same still his hand is not shortned that it cannot save nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear power and strength is his he is the rock of ages our Almighty God and mighty to save Ye know a spring or fountain it issues out streams continually in omne volubilis as you see water coming out of it to day so you expect it in like manner to morrow And why so why because it is a spring it has an indeficient sufficiency in it And this now is the Lord to his Servants he is a spring of preservations to them his Power is inexhaustible and so he is a Sun as he calls himself Psal 84.11 The Lord is a sun and shield a Sun which has light continually proceeding from it This is a very good Argument to reason froth as the three Children in the fiery furnace Dan. 3.17 The God whom we fear is able to deliver us And what follows thereupon and he will deliver us out of thine hand O king he is able and therefore he will in God it is a very good Argument in such cases as these are So to his Power we may joyn also his skill Those which do things by art and skill they can do them again wheras those which do them by chance and hap-hazard once is enough and sufficient for them Now the Lord he is a person of skill as men are for their parts skilful to destroy so is he for his part skilful to deliver And then further here is an Argument likewise from the greater to the less he that has done the one he can do the other too he that has delivered from so great a death he can much more deliver from a less or smaller danger where it happens unto us and that 's the first foundation of this Confidence viz. God's Ability and Power Secondly There is in God a perpetuity of affection too It is of the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Lam. 3.22 The Lord 's an unchangable God and therefore he will deliver for time to come as well as for time past I the Lord change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Mal. 3.6 there 's a great matter in that especially if we shall consider that himself is the original of the mercies and deliverances which he vouchsafes That he loves us freely and not so much for any thing in our selves If it were founded in us we had then little cause to expect it or to look for it because we for our part are ever and anon out of frame we are such as do continually provoke him and give him occasion very frequently to suspend his goodness towards us but the comfort is that lies in himself and in his own gracious nature and essence which is not subject to any kind of change or alteration at all Thirdly There is in God exactness and a desire to finish and perfect his own work now this he should not be able to do if together with deliverances which are past he should not join deliverances to come The deliverances of the Church of God though they are so many distinct actions consisting of distinct moments in a succession and
sure not to want it God does either actually and absolutely deliver from the evil or else so sanctifie and dispose his Providence towards them as that it shall be either as good or rather indeed better than the deliverance from the evil it self to them And this is that which may abundantly satisfie their minds both as to the truth of this Point as also as to contentation in a mean condition And thus now this Point may be improved to particular persons So likewise in the second place we may also carry it as more pertinent to the occasion to the Church and State in general and reason so for that He has delivered and does deliver and we trust that he will yet deliver us It is an observation which is sometimes made concerning some kind of men and persons that they are Homines boni pedis happy and successful men which prosper in whatsoever they undertake whom God does in a special manner delight to make the objects of his mercy and goodness as Jacob and Joseph c. Now as it is thus with private persons so we may conceive it to be so with whole Nations and people at large Thus 't is noted of Israel Happy art thou O Israel who is like unto thee O people saved by the Lord c. Deut. 33.29 the Epithet there given unto them And thus as it has been with Israel so we may observe it to have been with England with us of these fortunate Islands we have been the admiration of all the world for happiness and blessing never any Nation partaked of such mercies and deliverances as we have done It is true that God is not tyed to Countries nor places nor people any further than he is pleased to tye and engage himself out of his own free goodness and bounty But it is a great advantage if we do not forfeit it to be under such a Providence as this is and to be the ancient objects of Gods favour and miraculous dispensations yea which is now the improvement of this Doctrine in hand a great argument to trust and depend upon him for his goodness God has done many great and wonderful things for his people of this Land and Nation even of latter years and that within the cognizance and observation even of other people Then they said among the Heathen The Lord has done great things for them And we may eccho it back again unto them as the Church does there in that Psalm The Lord has done great things for us whereof we are glad But has he done all he means to do for us or which we may expect and look for from him sure I hope he has not but that he has more and greater blessings in store and reservation for us unless we by our unthankfulness frowardness wickedness and abuse of his blessings and mercies do for time to come deprive our selves of them surely if we do not very much provoke him God will not unravel that thread which has been of his own spinning which is the work of his own hands but will rather perfect that which concerns us as the Psalmist speaks It was good Logick that of Manoahs wife which she read to her Husband and as good Divinity in Judg. 13.23 If the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat offering at our hands neither would he have shewed us all these things nor would he as at this time have told us such things as these And it was as good also that of Hamans wife to him in Esth 6.13 If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt not prevail against him but shalt surely fall before him God does not do things all at once but by time and leisure and degrees he makes one thing a preparation to another and a ground and argument for the expectation of it and so as we may in a manner see his footsteps in it This is the Improvement which we are now to make of the mercy of this present day we do not sufficiently or as we should improve it when as we only take notice of it in it self but when-as we make it a ground and argument and reason for the expectation of more and further acts from him This is one of our standing mercies and deliverances which in our discouragements and faintings of heart we should still have recourse unto for the quickning and reviving of us and putting us in heart again He that has delivered us from the Gunpowder-Treason what will he not now do for us and what will he not deliver us from Which as in matter of humiliation it is good to reflect upon some special sin or the original corruption of nature which is the greatest and chiefest of all thereby to work us to repentance and contrition of spirit So likewise in matter of Thanksgiving it is good to reflect upon some special mercy and extraordinary providence of God towards us thereby to work our hearts to answerable thankfulness for all the rest This is the proper Application of this present Point both for the General and also the particular Some of us have been under great sicknesses and God has freed us from them and some of us in other great troubles and exigencies and God has brought us out of them What 's the use which we should now make of all to our selves but what the Apostle here dictates unto us and gives us a pattern of in his own example speaking of God Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust also that he will yet deliver us SERMON XXXV 2 Cor. 13.8 For we can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth There are two things especially which either are or ought to be in the care and principal study of every true Minister of Christ the one is the Truth of God and the other is the Church of God The Dignity and Authority of his Ministry and the souls and welfare of his people and these two in a mutual compliance and subordination of one to the other so to assert his ministerial authority as not to prejudice his peoples comfort and so to tender the peace of his people as that the Name of God and his Doctrine may not be blasphemed Now both of these very eminently concur in the practice of the Apostle Paul through the whole course of his Ministry and did more particularly shew themselves in him in the course of this present Epistle and Scripture which we have here before us Wherein he seems not so much to stand upon his own private honour and reputation as rather upon the improvement of the Corinthians and the Dignity and Authority of the Ordinances and Truths of Christ amongst them that they might receive no violation or diminution of them Not that we says he should appear approved but that ye may do that which is honest though we be as
of him that said Omnes patres sic ego non sic Abailardus by name All the Fathers say so and I say No. This selfishness and peremptoriness and conceitedness does not become Christians who are to be of a more modest temper in this Office and to suspect themselves rather than other men at least for the generality of them but yet for all that are they not neither to be born down by these against the plain Truths of the Scriptures and the experiences of a gracious heart but to hold out in the profession of the faith against the greatest Wits and Learning and Scholars in the world especially if we shall consider this in our selves That 's the first thing excluded in this passage and expression to wit the perfection of Parts and Understanding and natural Abilities though of an Angel himself The second is the perfection of Grace and Spiritual endowments that ye have in the Additional expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angelus de Coelo id est Angelus sanctus as Cajetan well from heaven an Angel from heaven that is an holy or heavenly Angel by taking it denominative Indeed if we speak strictly even the Devil himself is an Angel and an Angel from Heaven too Angelus è Coelo but it is è Coelo lapsus not è coelo missus an Angel fallen from heaven not an Angel sent from it or from it in a way of distance not in a way of derivation sent from it in a way of punishment not in a way of dispensation as having no lot or share or part at all now in it How art thou fallen from heaven O Lucifer son of the morning Isa 14.12 And I beheld Satan as lightening fall from heaven Luk. 10.18 The Angels which kept not their principality or first estate but left their own habitation reserved in chains of darkness c. Jude ver 9. But this does not come home to the Text which is to be taken of an Angel of light a glorious Angel which was very proper to be instanced in here by St. Paul forasmuch as he elsewhere tells us That Satan transforms himself into such a kind of Angel and his Ministers also like him into the Ministers of righteousness whose end shall therefore be according to their works 2 Cor. 11.14 15. We might add here one thing more an Angel from heaven not really but according to imagination whether of himself or others which only makes himself as an Angel or whom others take to be so with him c. such an one as this is cashiered And so now it will serve a little further to illustrate this Point unto us for if we speak but of natural Abilities and Qualifications the Endowments of Reason and Knowledg and Understanding here the Devils and evil Angels may come in as well for a share as any other and it may be you would easily grant that we should not hearken to such as these If the Devils and all the Angels from Hell with all their knowledg whether natural or acquisite in them should impose a new Gospel upon you you would think you should not give heed unto them well but what now o you think of the good Angels the Angels from Heaven The Apostle here resolves it no not they neither if we could suppose or imagine they might endeavour it they should not obtain it So that here now there is another collection and conclusion which we toucht not before and that is this That the greatest holiness is not to be made a patron of Error as learning may not prevail against the Truth so neither Grace in the abuse and misimprovement of it An Angel from Heaven Heaven in the proper notion of it does denote holiness and Grace though carnal persons do not for the most part so look upon it but have other conceits and apprehensions of it differing therefrom yet so it is and so also it does as I said here in this place Yet this grace or holiness whatever or in whomsoever it be may not bedrawn to the perverting of the Gospel There is a great respect to be had to godly men and it is not safe for any easily to withdraw from the common vote and consent of them in matters of Religion the more shame for those that do it because every one is best to be believed in his own art and way and profession and God does not usually leave them But yet for all that we may not build our faith upon these neither Because all that godly men say does not proceed from godliness in them but sometimes from another principle which with Grace is most agreeable to them We may therefore join these two both together of Learning and Goliness and both as insufficient to pervert us an to draw us from the Truth which is very well resolv'd by a grave and ancient Author tothis purpose Tertullian by name in his Book de prascriptionibus adversus Haereticos Quid ergo says he si Episcopus si Diaconus si Doctor si etiam Martyr lapsus a regulâ fuerit ideo haereses veritatem videbuntur obtinere What then says he though a Bishop though a Minister though a Doctor though a Martyr should swerve from the right rule shall therefore Heresies presently hereupon go for truth Ex personis probamus fidem an ex fide personas Do we from the persons judg of the Doctrine or from the Doctrine of the persons And again a little after in the same place Avolent quantum volent paleae levis sidei c. Let the chaff of light belief fly whither it will being blown about with every temptation but from thence there shall be so much the purer grain laid up in the Barn of the Lord so little efficacy did he give to mens persons for the drawing into Grace And yet this which should make us so much the more heedful of it is an occasion which the Devil does oftentimes make very great use of for the effecting of his own designs he takes advantage of the reputed goodness and holiness of such and such persons to wind others into such and such labyrinths whether of opinion or practise Are not such men of such a judgment Do not such men do thus and thus and why should you then stand out against it The Apostle Paul does here in one word sweep this away whiles he excludes not only himself and the rest of the Apostles from this priviledg but which is more even the Angels in Heaven whereby he would signifie thus much unto us that the sureness of their standing and abidingand perseveringin Grace is more questionable than the Truth of the Gospel and though neither of them in good earnest be possible either one or t'other yet of the two it is far more easie and likely that the good Angels should leave their habitation and fall away into the condition of Devils than that the Gospel of Christ should be nullified and degenerate into error God being more
despise not the chastening of the Lord c. Heb. 12.5 But to have his goodness and his mercy despised and to have his patience and long-suffering abused this is the worst of all Patientia laesa fit furor Patience when it is once abused it turns into fury and wrath And so will the Patience of God when it is exercised by the Provocations of men There 's a time a coming when Mercy will be worth the owning and will not be despised There are divers evils consequent upon this despising of the mercies of God First The removal and taking away of the mercies themselves When God bestows good things upon them and they make nothing of them or pervert them to a contrary use God does then justly deprive them of them and bestows them sometimes upon those which will better deserve them Thus Hos 2.8 9. She did not know that is consider that I gave her corn and wine and oyl and multiplied her silver and gold which they prepared for Baal And what then Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and I will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness There 's no better way to secure and to preserve any comfort to us which at any time we enjoy than by thankful and fruitful improving it to Gods glory and the doing of good with it whereas the contrary it does plainly forfeit and expose it to ruin and loss Secondly Vpon despising of Gods mercies there follows not only a removal of them but also a perverting of them and turning them to evil God as I said before is able to curse mens blessings and so oftentimes he does upon this account wherein he deals with them suitably to themselves For they do for their parts use his blessings to a contrary purpose and he does dispose his blessings to have a contrary issue to them that what is comfortable in its own nature shall be to them matter of disquiet Thirdly He does also hereupon inflict heavy judgments and absolute punishments when mercy will do no good he then takes another curse and proceeds to destruction especially where mercy is presumed on As Dent. 29.19 20. He that blesses himself in his heart and says He shall have peace although he does thus and thus the Lord will not spare him c. The Consideration of these things should make us therefore to be shy and careful in this particular Oh take heed of despising the riches of Gods goodness and patience And the greater mercies they are that God follows thee withal be so much the more tender of them because himself is more tender of them also and those are spiritual mercies and which concern our spiritual welfare do not neglect or despise them of any other besides the Gospel and Ordinances and Ministry and Dispensations of the Spirit the motions and stirrings and checkings of Conscience in the soul which I spake of before take heed of despising of these for it is a despising even of God himself and his goodness He that â—â—â—â—seth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10.16 And so 1 Thes 4.8 He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given us his holy Spirit says the Apostle to the Thessalonians There are many which are apt to think well themselves that when they reject the Ministry of the Word and slight such performances as these are that they despise but the pains and labours of some weak and frail man Oh but there 's more in it than so it is a despising of the Goodness of God even the riches of his Goodness as it is here exprest in the Text and of his chiefest goodness of all the riches of his grace which he most delights and takes pleasure in and would magnifie above all his works Before I pass this Head let me take notice of one thing more and that is the phrase and manner of expression Thon and thou O man by way of particular designation which shews the nature and property of the Ministry in the exercise of it which is to come home to mens particular consciences and to deal effectually with them in particular It is both an indefinite word and a restrained it is indefinite in regard of the Preacher but it is restrained in regard of the Hearer for the Ministers they cannot always know who are guilty of these and these miscarriages therefore they speak at random and in generalities they know not to whom But the Spirit of God in mens consciences brings it home to the particular persons of those which are concerned in it As St. Austin has it to this purpose Aures omnium pulso sed conscienties quorundam convenio c. I speak says he to al mens ears but I meet but with some mens consciences I do not say Thou such an one who art thus guilty amend thy self but whosoever in this auditory is thus guilty let him amend himself Publica est correctio sed peccata corrigit And so I have one with the first General Part of the Text which is the simple expostulation Despisest thou the riches of his Goodness and long-suffering c. The second is the aggravating amplification in these Not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Wherein again we have two Branches more First The truth asserted And secondly The truth questioned The truth asserted that 's on the Apostles part in these words The Goodness of God leadeth thee c. The truth questioned that 's on the Sinners part in these words Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance c. We begin with the former viz. The truth asserted The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Now this will require a little Explication from us how it is to be understood by us and it may be taken three manner of ways First Occasionally as it gives the opportunity Secondly Argumentatively as it gives the Motive and Ingagement Thirdly In a sense also effectively and operatively as it gives the very thing it self First I say Occasionally as it gives the opportunity the Goodness of God does so far forth lead to repentanceâ—â—â—s it affords time and space for repentance for so it does If God should deal strictly with men in rigour of justice and cut them off presently in their very sins they would then find no place for repentance But now his patience and long-suffering towards them is in this respect an advantage to them as a Creditor that spares his Debtor and does not instantly fall upon him he gives him time to pay his Debts which otherwise he could not do Thus does God with the sons of men by his indulgence and forbearance of them he does hereby give them respite for this that they may consider their ways that they may bethink themselves that they may return and make their peace with him in the blood of
thence matter of rejoycing but only such an one as upon tryal does approve it and give allowance unto it And so is that place also to be understood 1 Cor. 11.28 Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread c. What barely examine Is that all no but approve upon examination and even so all here Let every man prove his own work that is let every man so order it that upon due tryal he may approve it Where yet again further for the better understanding of this phrase This expression even in this sense also namely by way of approbation it is not to be taken only nor so much in reference to judgment but to practise when the Apostle says Let every man approve his own work his meaning is not this That he should absolutely think well of his work whatsoever it be whether good or bad for that many are forward enough unto of their own accord whereby they do now and then judg unrighteous judgment and besides it is not always in a mans power so to do Heman cannot approve what he pleases but the meaning of it is this That he should so manage and dispose of his actions as from whence he may have just cause and ground for the Approbation of them so that probare here in the Text it is as much as probatum facere to prove that is to make approved And so it is to be taken by a Metonymie of the effect for the cause because he that does any thing as he should do he does deserve and receive approbation therefore the doing of it in that manner it is expressed by approbation This now for the further illustration of this point unto us is considerable in two particular Branches First In reference to what And secondly in reference to whom we are to prove or to make our works to be approved we are to do it in the thing it self and we are to do it also in reference and order to such and such persons First In reference to what and for the thing it self Take it in three particulars more in which it is to be done by us for the matter of it for the manner of it and for the principle First We must approve our work in regard of the matter of it and the substance of the action it self This is necessarily to be premised as the very ground and foundation of all the rest that which is not a good work substantially it can never be made good by circumstances let them be the best that possibly can be A man may mar a good work by bad circumstances but he can never mend a bad work by good because Bonum oritur ex integris causis malum ex quolibet defectu It is a rule in Divinity that which is good must have all things concurring to make it good but that which is evil may be so but from some particular defect As a man is not a compleat man except he have all his parts but he is a lame man if he want but one limb This is that then which we say That that action which is materially evil it cannot be warranted or made good from any good which is concomitant with it or adhering unto it It is not the best end that any man can propound to himself which will justifie his action where it is sinful and unlawful in it self A man may not lye for God as Job speaks Job 13.7 Neither may we do evil that good may come thereof as the Apostle speaks Rom. 3.8 Indeed there were some that both thought so and said so of the Apostle that it was so with him but they wronged him in so doing as himself there declares it as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say no the damnation of such is just which so argue and reason and conclude and it 's such as will not hold water For this purpose we must know thus namely that there are some actions which are evil simply and intrinsecally and in their own nature there are others which are so only conditionally and in such and such cases but in their own nature and out of those cases are indifferent and neither good nor bad The latter of these actions according to the several conditions which may be upon them of circumstances which they may be cloathed withal may become good and warrantable but the former of these they cannot be warranted from any condition whatsoever but being evil formally are therefore so indispensably That 's the first Explication that work which is approved it must be approved for the matter and substance of the action it self Secondly It must be also approved for the carriage and manner of performance It is a good rule also of Nazianzene's to this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is good is not good except it be well done there 's a peculiar Modification which is proper to every action to be attended and observed by us and without which it cannot be accepted nor we in it This is appliable to all the particular exercises and duties of Religion Prayer Reading Hearing of the word and such as these where it is not enough for us to do these things simply in themselves which yet are not to be omitted by us but we must be careful to do them in such a manner and fashion as God does require Thirdly We must approve our work also for the Principle and Spirit from whence it does proceed and arise in us Prov. 21.27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord how much more when he brings it with wickedness or a wicked mind A wicked mind makes a good action to be abominable which is no further good than it has goodness for the Original of it This same spring and principle of our actions it hath a very great influence upon them for the Goodness and Approbation of them And thus much of the first Head namely in reference to what we are to prove or approve our work The second is in reference to Action and the persons which are to be regarded by us Now these are likewise of a threefold specification First To God Secondly To Man Thirdly To our selves First We must approve our work that is we must approve it to God that he may like it and be well-pleased with it This is that which the Servants of God have been careful still especially to do and it concerns them to do so and that especially upon these following Considerations First As he is one of the most exact and accurate judgment and best able to discern of our work what it is In all approbations of mens selves for any thing which is done by them they are commonly most careful to do it to such perfons as have most skill in it and are of greatest worth and dignity in themselves The approbation of one person of quality and that knows what belongs to a business is more than an
propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins And therefore let us accordingly improve it and make use of it Come and let us reason together saith the Lord Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be like crimson they shall be as wool Therefore we may here take notice of the indefiniteness of the expression in that it is here said our sins without any limitation hereby to signifie that none are excepted or excluded whatsoever they be Those that do truly repent and believe and lay hold upon the blood of Christ by faith they shall have remission and forgiveness of their sins without exception It is neither the number nor greatness of them shall be any impediment unto them Christs blood is of that efficacy as to take out all the stains of the soul though never so many There are many people who are apt especially in some cases to lay restraints upon the Graces of Christ so as to think it is available for some sins but not for others for smaller sins but not for greater But the Scripture makes no such restraint or limitation as this is Indeed for the sin against the Holy Ghost it is called the unpardonable sin and Christs blood does not wash away that not from any inefficacy or insufficiency simply in it self considered as his blood but rather from the incapacity of the sinner who is indisposed to receiving benefit by it because he tramples it under his feet Hence also we have ground of Incouragement in our access to the Throne of Grace and hope of our entrance into heaven at last There 's nothing which does more dishearten men in their coming into a great mans presence than guilt and obnoxiousness to him this makes them that they cannot with boldness ask any thing of him And so it is with men towards God Now by the blood of Christ this obstruction is taken off from them And they may come boldly into the presence of God expecting any thing from him And so the Apostle reasons in Heb. 10.19 c. Having therefore Brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail that is to say his flesh And having an high Priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water And so Heb. 4.16 Let us therefore come boldly c. Lastly Seeing we have so much benefit as we have heard by the Blood of Christs we should in a special manner take heed of sinning against it If the blood of Abel being wronged cried so fearfully and if the blood of Zacharias had revenge annext unto it what may we then think of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ surely those that trespass upon this shall not be innocent This is done divers ways and especially by neglecting the gracious offers and tenders of the Gospel and that mercy which is exhibited unto us in this Blood It is a great sinning against it and injury which is offered unto it and when it comes to the highth of it it is a counting of the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing So likewise returning to the lusts of our former ignorance it is a sinning against this Blood And therefore does the Apostle Peter upon this ground dehort us from it in 1 Pet. 1.14 19 c. As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by Tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot Who was fore-ordained c. To this we may add an unworthy receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Those that sin thus they sin against the Blood of Christ in which he has washed them from their sins And so the Apostle expresly tells us in 2 Cor. 11.27 Whosoever shall eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord unworthily he shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. And so much may be spoken of this passage in its absolute consideration as it is the expression of a Christians priviledg which is to be washed from his sins in Christs Blood Now further we may also look upon it Relatively and in connexion with the words before where it is said That he hath loved us And so it is an expression to us of Christs affection Christ hath herein indeed shewn that he hath loved us That he hath shed his blood for us Who loved us and gave himself for us c. Gal. 2.20 As it lyes here in the Text we may take it under several inlargements and amplifications degrees and proceedings of it First In his Death it self he shewed his love to us in that and that 's implied in his blood It was not only the blood of his finger but the blood of his heart his very life went with it It is the very Position of our Saviour himself in Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this That a man should lay down his life for his friends Now this is that which he has done for us and is hereby signified unto us He has laid down his life he has shed his very heart-blood for our sakes Thus Rom. 5.6 When we were without strength in due time Christ died for us And herein he is said to have commended his love unto us in the eighth verse of the same Chapter That 's a great proof of love when men are willing to part with that for any one which is dearest and most accountable now such of all other things is life and yet this did Christ part with for his Church The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep and this good shepherd is Christ as himself there tells us in Joh. 10.11 And so again in 1 Joh. 3.16 Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us Where we have two things observable of us First That Christ who there by the way is called God did lay down his life for us And secondly That his doing so was a special Argument of his love towards us as indeed it was That 's the first step of inlargement which is here considerable of us Secondly In the manner of his Death there was his love also in that And this likewise implied in the word blood which does denote some violence in it a cruel and painful death the death of the Cross and the blood of the Cross as it is called Col. 1.20 Phil. 2.8 This was that which Christ endured for us which made his love so much the more There are differences and several kinds of death wherein one exceeds another
Admonition or Instruction it self both absolutely propounded as also comparatively illustrated We ought to give the more earnest heed c. The second is the Inforcement of its observation by way of Argument and this is twofold First From the equity of it in the word of connexion therefore Secondly From the danger of the contrary in the close and conclusion of the verse Lest at any time we should fail or let them slip First Here 's an Argument from the equity of it which relates to what he had said before in the precedent Chapter wherein he had fully set forth the Dignity both of Christs Office and Person which the Doctrine of the Gospel does treat of and discourse about upon those promises he does infer this conclusion therefore To speak distinctly of it there are three special Arguments which this Exhortation is founded upon why we ought more abundantly to give heed to this Doctrine of the Gospel in comparison with the Doctr. of the Law First The Authority of the speaker and minister of it which is Christ the Son of God whereas the other was Angels and men Thus in v. 2. of this Chap. it is call'd the word spoken by Angels the Law Whereas the other to wit the Gospel is said to be first of all spoken by the Lord that is Christ himself And again Chap. 1. v. 1 2. God who at sundry times c. where the Apostle lays a very great stress upon this as to the Ministry of the Gospel that it is dispenst through the hans of Christ First For the Dignity of his Person so excellent simply in himself the more eminent the Person is that speaks to us the more cause and reason we have to heed the things which are spoken for the Persons sake it being a piece of great indignity to stop our ears to any one of worth speaking to us such an one is the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory and therefore see that ye refuse not him that speaketh as it followeth also in Heb. 12.25 But then secondly There 's not only his person but also his relation that 's another thing in it which the Apostle seems to stand upon and is to be refer'd hereunto There are many eminent persons considered simply in themselves but all their eminency it is within themselves and in the compass of those persons of theirs such as they are yea but this person now which speaks to us in the Ministry of the Gospel He is not only eminent for his person but also for his relation for he is the son of God himself and so much better than the Angels even in that consideration also For unto which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee c. Heb. 1.5 Then thirdly There is also his estate there 's a great matter in that likewise we respect men much according to that if a man speak to us which is a great heir who has many lands and possessions which belong to him we are apt to give heed unto him Now for this it is also observable in Christ who speaks to us in the Gospel for he is appointed heir of all things and hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than Angels The Apostle lays a force upon that in the place before cited which is thereforemuch considerable in this business Lastly His activity for us there 's much likewise in that We have great cause to respect a Benefactor one that has done us great courtesies and favours when he speaks to us he should be hearkened to by us Now this is also remarkable in Christ for he hath himself purged our sins and upon this account to manifest the certainty and and fulness of it is set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 So then that 's the first ground of this Attendance implied in this Therefore viz. the authority of the speaker The Lord Jesus Christ himself eminent for his 1. Person 2. for his relation 3. for his estate 4. for his activity for us The second is the excellency of the things themselves which are spoken of that 's another thing which calls for attention yea not only invites it but commands it If a man of worth shall speak to us yet if he shall not speak to us like to himself speak but of slight and trivial matters we regard him not for all that nor give heed unto him a speech is commendable not only from the speaker but the matter and in this the Gospel carries it likewise Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life say the Apostles Joh. 6.68 The Gospel it treats of such points as no other word does besides as containing very great and admirable mysteries in it which we have join'd all together there in one chain 1 Tim. 3.16 God manifested in the flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angelâ— preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the world received up unto glory What rare and admirable Doctrines and Dispensations these are such things as the very Angels desire to peep into 1 Pet. 1.12 If we look no further than the height and sublimity and transcendency of the points themselves they are such as may well command our heedfulness and attention to them even in that respect alone and nothing besides with it But then thirdly If we shall add to all this the circumstances attending upon it as the profitableness and advantagiousness of this Doctrine the interest which our selves have in it the sweetness which is in the observation of it this will now set it on so much the more and put an edg upon this therefore indeed to make it effectual to purpose let points be never so excellent considered simply in their own nature yet if they have not a tang of some profit or benefit in them there are some people which will never regard them What does a Merchant or Tradesman care for a discourse of Metaphysicks Very fine notions indeed and speculations which tickle the fancy yeâ— but they have no gain or profit in them Dic aliquid tandem de tribus capellis as he said speak somewhat which tends to our advantage Why this now is the commendation of the Gospel that it treats not only of things which are excellent but of things which are profitable for it is the ministration of righteousness the Doctrine of Reconciliation the glad tydings of peace There is life and immortality which is brought to light by it as the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Tim. 1.10 Look then as any would give heed when any thing is spoken of which has any profit in it in the like manner should they give heed to the Gospel which is a Doctrine so far esteemed even upon this consideration But then further there 's our own interest in it likewise that 's somewhat more profit if it belongs not to us is no such pleasing theme to hear of but
is there will the Heart be also What 's the reason that Earthly and worldly Persons all their thoughts are taken up about the world and worldly accommodations why it is because they place their chiefest contentment in such things as these are They think of that most which they most desire and most affect In like manner is it so on the otherside with the children of God Because they look upon God as their greatest and chiefest Good and most desire the injoyment of Him therefore it is that they thus think upon him And then properly to meditate on God as mine that 's that which makes my meditation of him to be sweet as that this House is mine this Land is mine c. That 's that which puts sweetness into it and so here c This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our Guide even unto Death Psal 48.14 And so this is my Beloved and this is my Friend c. Cant. 5. last vers And then Thirdly There is much also in their Imployment and the things which they are busied about Mens Imployments have a great influence upon their thoughts for the qualifying and ordering of them It is natural for men to think of their Business and of such things wherein they are most Conversant Now thus it is with Gods Servants in this particular they are much in divine Exercises Prayers and Reading and Hearing and such as these and therefore they are also much in divine with Meditation These Performances do suggest Holy thoughts and Meditations unto them and put them as it were before they are aware upon the Exercise and upon the practise of them Lastly From the Spirit of God that dwells and abides in them Gods Children they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which Inhabits them and takes up his special residence and Commoration in them And he is not in them to no purpose but he is a very fruitful and profitable Inhabitant who still puts them upon that which is Good and infuses Gracious thoughts into them Look as on the otherside the Devil the Spirit that rules in the Children of Disobedience he is filling them still with sinfull and evil thoughts and suggests corrupt things into them So here the Holy Ghost which is the Spirit that rules in the Children of God he does put them upon Holy Meditations and the thinking of that which is good and agreeable to Himself As he puts into them Gracious desires in reference to Prayer and teaches them what to Ask so he likewise puts into them Gracious thoughts in reference to Meditation and teaches them here what to Contemplate and so helps their Infirmities for them in this particular also Thus we see how it comes to pass in sundry respects that Gods Servants are much in the thoughts and Meditation of Him This shewes us the difference betwixt Gods Children and the men of the World As for worldly men they have this Reproach fasten'd upon them That God is not in all their thoughts Psal 10.4 No more he is not there are many men in the world that live without God in the world that pass from Day to Day without any thoughts at all of him as if there were no such one as he is or if they have some flitting thoughts of him they are not such as do stick with them and by them They do not indeed meditate upon him as is here mentioned in the Text this they are far from If ye could anatomize and rip up the Heart of a Carnal Person ye should see little of God in it but all of the world His Riches and Honours and Pleasures and Carnal Contentments as it is recorded of that worldling in the Gospel Luk. 12.17 It is said that he thought within him self and what did he think off Of his Lands and of his Fruits and his Possessions Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years c. This was that which he contemplated upon and that alone not a thought of God which past through Him till God Himself awakned him and so is it likewise with many more whereas this is the property of Gods Servants to be very much in the Meditation of Himself and to have their thoughts pitcht upon him as is here intimated of the Prophet David And this is the first Particular viz. The Performance implyed Divine Meditation The Second is the Qualification Exprest and that is Pleasantness or Sweetness My Meditation of him shall be sweet which passage as it lies before us in the Text is capable of a threefold Emphasis or Impression which may be fastend upon it First of an Assertion Secondly of a Resolution and Thirdly of a Petition of an Assertion as signifying what it was of a Resolution as declaring what it should be of a Petition as desiring what it might be First Take it as an Assertion and as signifying what it was The Meditation which a Christian Soul has of God it is very sweet and Comfortable this is that which is here intimated unto us Meditation is very pleasing of it self considered as an Imployment of the Soul which does naturally take delight in such reflexions but it is inlarged and further advanced from the quality and Condition of the Object which it is carried unto a delightful Argument makes a delightful Meditation Now thus it is here with a Christian to God while he meditates upon Him and that in his full Extent First The Attributes of God there 's a great deal of delight in thinking upon them in their several kinds and Varieties as for example First The Power of God how much sweetness is there in that to a Christian that shall seriously consider it and think upon it that God is Almighty and Alsufficient and can do whatsoever he pleases both in Heaven and Earth as the Scripture represents him This is that which the Servants of God have been very much affected withall when they have taken it into Consideration as from whence they have been very Hopeful concerning themselves That God is able to Kill and to make alive that God is able to Help and to cast down that God is able to raise even from the Dead and the like such thoughts as these have upon occasion much delighted Gods Servants Thus the three Worthies in Daniel which were cast into the Fiery Furnace The God whom we serve is able to deliver us It was a very Comfortable Meditation to them Dan. 3.17 So Abraham being fully perswaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform Rom. 4.21 And so Heb. 11.19 Accounting that God was able to raise up his Son Isaac from the Dead It was a very great Incouragement to him So Secondly The Goodness and Mercy of God there 's a great deal of sweetness in that also to be suck'd out by us in Meditation that the Lord is Gracious and Merciful and Long-suffering and Pittiful as we have lately had occasion to shew there is very much
the one as well as the other which shall accordingly and occasionally be inflicted upon them And that 's also the second Explication of this Passage as it refers to Estate Head and Tail that is Rich and Poor The Third and last is as it refers to Places or Authority and the want of it Head and Tail that is High and Low Governers and Governed Magistrates with Ministers People and those who are Subordinate and in Subjection to them First To speak of the former viz. The Head And this I say does especially denote Magistrates and Governours And so even the Holy Ghost himself seems to interpret it in the very next verse here in this Chapter The Ancient and Honourable he is the Head that is the Great ones and such as are in place of Publique Authority Ancient in regard of that Wisdom and Gravity which was required in them The Elders of the People and Honorable in regard of their Descent or Allyance or the Places themselves which they held in the Nature of them The State whether Politick or Ecclesiastick making up as it were one Body Look as other Persons have the Analogy and Proportion of other Members so are these very fitly called the Head and that in a Threefold respect First In regard of Eminency and Dignity The Head that is Superior and the Highest Part of the Body And so are such as these in the state Eccles 5.8 He that is higher than the highest regards it and there be higher than they Where Magistrates are called the Highest namely of Persons here in this World Though God himself who is the Soveraign Lord is higher than Magistrates Secondly In regard of Government and Direction The Head it guards the Body and orders it and disposes of it and so do such as these that is it is their place and Office so to do as proper unto them Thirdly In regard of Influence and Causality The Head it does communicate sense and life and motion to the rest of the Parts even so is it also the work of Magistrates to do to those which are committed unto them Peace and strength and safety and protection and all kind of welfare whatsoever which they are capable of it is to be fetcht and derived unto them from this well-head Fourthly In regard of Sympathy and Fellow-feeling All the greifs which are in the Body the head is sensible of them if there be but cold in the feet the effects of it do quickly strike up to the head Even so it is also with those who are true and right Magistrates indeed the sufferings and injuries and oppressions and greivances of the People they are such as do very much affect them Thus are Magistrates and Governours the head Now Secondly As for the other which is the Tail by this we are to understand those who in one place of Subjection and Inferiority such as are ruled and governed by them that 's the sense and meaning of it in this 14th verse which we have now before us where the word Tail is not to be taken as a word of Disparagement but onely of Distinction Head and Tail that is as I have said Magistrates and Subjects Governours and People under Rule and in Subjection unto them But in the verse which is next the Text viz. the 15th verse of this Chapter there we find another Character to be put upon it and another Application to be made of it And that in a way of reproach and disparagement where the Prophet that telleth lyes he is said to be the Tail By taking the word Tail in a Moral sense and in a sense of Diminution where that which we may observe by the way is breifly this That vertues or vices do give the true and real Denomination of Titles and Places It is not said that the Prophet which tells lyes is the Head nor it is not said that the Prophet simply and absolutely censidered is the Tail But the Prophet which telleth lyes he is the Tail This Tailship as I may so call it is not fastned upon the office but upon the person in the discharge of that Office The Prophet considered in his place and office at large he is the Head but the lying and deceiving Prophet he is the Tail Those who are sometime the Head in regard of the places which they do officiate they may in the mean time be the Tail in regard of the execution of those places when they shall carry themselves in them either negligently or else corruptly And it is not any outward dignity or advancement which may be put upon them which in such circumstances can exempt them from such a Nick-name as this is And so much of the First kind of Metaphor or Resemblance which is here used as taken from the nature of a Body in the distinct Parts of it The Head and the Tail The Second is that which is taken from the nature of a Tree or Plant The Branch and the Rush It was the conceit of the Philosopher that man was a tree turned upside-down His Head the Root his Breath the Stock his Arms and Legs the Branches And such is the Similitude which the Prophet Esaiah here seems to make in this present passage which we have now before us where he makes mention of the Branch and the Rush which is here now to be explained by us It is not said the Branch and the Root because the Lord reserv'd a Remnant which should be spared by him But the Branch and the Rush The Branch as an emblem of usefullness Persons of Parts and Imployment The Rush as a note of unfruitfullness idle and unprofitable Persons The Branch is a note of strength and solidity The Rush of weakness and inconstancy The Branch in like manner as the Head as a note of Supremacy the rush of Meanness Here 's the Metaphor and similitude doubled to note the uncertainty and undoubtedness of the thing This is the sum of all and which this whole discourse arises unto That in the Execution of Publique Judgments for the Impenitency and Incorrigibleness of a Nation Gods hand is indifferent and impartial He will spare no ranks or sorts or conditions of people at all But he will cut them off all indefinitely Head and Tail Branch and Rush as it is here exprest As Sampson in the Destruction of the Philistines whom it is said he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter Judg. 11.8 Look as Sin that is general and indefinite in the proceeding of that From the Crown of the Head to the sole of the Foot as the Prophet elsewhere expresses it Esaiah 1.6 And as all sorts and ranks of people do defile and corrupt themselves so shall Judgement proceed in the like proportion and indefiniteness likewise as the Lord threatens by the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 12.12 The sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the Land to the other end of the Land No flesh shall have Peace Mhere are but