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
signifies 408 Counsel Listning to good counsel a threefold Argument of VVisdom 224 How far the counsels of God may be known how not 258 Means tending to the knowing of Gods counsels 258 Company The danger arising by bad Company 368 Cities Why God often sends greater judgments on them than other places 401 D Despise The ways wherein God is despised 114 119 Whence despising of God springs 116 The danger of despising God 117 Dregs What they signifie 135 Death Comfort against it 192 Sinful in three cases to desire it 413 Discord The evil of it implied 197 198 Whence it springs 222 Delight What in Christians God delights in 208 The properties of Gods delighting in his people 209 Signs of Gods delighting in us 211 The ground of it or what it is 220 A threefold delight respecting Religion 221 Doubtings Whence they arise 211 Day The Sabbath a pleasant day 218 Day of the Lord taken three ways 412 A threefold wicked desiring a day of the Lord or death 412 The day of Judgment desirable on a threefold account 416 Darkness What it signifies in Scripture 352 Day of the Lord darkness to wicked men with the ground thereof 41 Day of the Lord darkness and not light threefold Emphasis in it 148 Devouring What signified by it 379 Despair Motive to a despairing sinner to hope 385 The evil of despair 385 386 Whence it springs 386 E Eye Look on Christ with a fourfold eye 7 Gods Eye what it signifies 20 Gods Eye hath three properties 21 Examples Bad their evil 46 Examination Why we should be much in self-examination 245 England See Nation Deliverance from Gun-powder-treason a great Mercy 52 62 Error Prejudicial to the soul 303 394 377 On the right and on the left hand what 302 Ezekiel Why called the son of man 401 Feasts The evils oft attending them 79 When laudable 78 Faith Incouragements to it 150 Fruitfulness Arguments to it 189 Fear The advantages of holy fear 212 Forgetfulness Of God opened in four particulars 287 Formality See Hypocrite It s consistency with prophaneness 345 The dreadful evil of it 375 Setting of the face its different notion 402 G God His standing What 6 His face What 84 140 What the hiding of his face implied 85 96 VVhy resembled to the Sun 151 How to know he is our God 111 VVhat his being our God implies 111 God speaks to the hearts of men three ways 138 298 To seek Gods face VVhat 141 His wings VVhat 149 The ways wherein despised See despise God See forward Grace or Holiness See Godliness VVhy God will certainly perfect it 113 Whence indisposition and averseness unto it springs 384 A Christians duty disposition and priviledg to grow in it 306 Motives to recover decaying grace 306 307 A threefold difference between saving-grave and meer morality 308 Helps to recover decaying and strengthen weak grace 309 God What kind of shield he is 153 Gods comforts What 165 Why called the most high 183 Gods right hand What 183 Gods songs in the night What 202 Gods counsel how taken 253 What Gods saying signifies 278 A double object of Gods guidance 301 Godliness See Grace The gain of Godliness 224 Guide How to discern between the guidance or dictates of Gods Spirit and the spirit of delusion 303 H Hearing The right hearer 139 300 Why many get no good by hearing the word Preacked 139 140 385 Heart The speaking of the heart What 119 Gods trying it What 245 How taken 252 How a grieved heart eases it self 362 Discovery of a tender heart 365 Humbling Humbling considerations 251 253 392 Head What it signifies in Scripture 124 127 Head and tail how taken 273 Hypocrite See Professor See Formality Terror to Hypocrites 246 Condemned by God and often by conscience described 347 348 371 Its odiousness 347 Its danger 349 Hell How taken 282 How to escape it 288 Heathens What to think of those who never heard of Christ 287 I Inheritance Implies three things 50 Justification Why no condumnation to justified persons 95 Infancy Mercy vouchsafed in it See Mercy Judgments When God will pour them upon a people 133 Pouring out Judgments What Ibid Why God sometimes brings great Judgments upon his own people Ibid Dregy judgments What 135 How Christians foresee them 363 Who most like to be secured and who to be exposed under publick judgments 409 410 411 Joy When holy 177 Infirmities Whence they flow 178 Men have their especial infirmities 179 Wherein infirmity consists Ibid Impenitency See Presumption The evil of it 268 Ignorance Several sorts of it supplied 383 K Knowledg THe difference between saving and meerly notional Knowledg 148 L Loving-kindness Of God taken two ways 143 146 The excellency of Gods loving-kindness 144 Love How to keep our selves in the love of God 146 M Gospel-Ministers WHy called Angels 7 Caution to them 280 402 386 362 Direction to them 404 405 366 Ministerial Qualifications 399 A sad judgment to be deprived of their persons 403 Magistrates Why compared to a head 272 Mercy Outward when given in mercy 33 Outward Mercies in themselves good things 36 40 Mercies attending our Births See Births Mercies attending Infancy See Infancy The especial mercies of God 146 295 The extent of pardoning mercy 295 Meditation Whence holy meditation proceeds 170 311 Its objects 172 Helps to it 173 175 How taken 174 Its excellency above other duties 175 Motives to it 176 See its excellency When right 364 Melancholy The evil of it in a Christian more than others 220 Mind Express'd in Scripture by bowels the reason of it 360 Why a Christian minds heaven and heavenly things 311 Marriage Touching mixt ours 368 N Touching Natural ability 294 295 397 Nation Wherein a Nations strength lies 378 A Nations gray hairs or the fore-runners of a Nations period 382 O Orphans Gods care of them 110 Obedience The properties of true obedience implied 141 Prayer AGainst praying to Angels and Saints departed 25 137 Why God oft answers prayer in kind 42 When answer of prayer in kind is done in love 43 Special seasons of prayer 138 204 Acceptable prayer 177 The power of it 213 A pleasant comfortable duty 217 Neglect of it a great evil 356 Presumption See Impenitency Whence it springs 28 98 123 263 264 350 One branch of it 348 350 Caution to presumptuous sinners 305 Peace The excellency of peace with God 96 How to get and keep pease with God 92 281 A threefold peace 221 276 279 Christian peace considered as a grace and as a priviledg 277 On what a sinners peace is grounded 278 Parents Mothers if able ought to unrse their children 109 Patents duty towards children 110 248 Promises How God makes good temporal promises implied 158 Preaching What power God puts forth in it 299 Providence How far we may and how far not know its events 258 260 Pride In Habit and naked Shoulders and Breasts reproved 265 Pardon The extent of pardoning mercy 295 God pardons repeated
Apostle Peter declares it of him in 2. Pet. 2.7.8 Now this is that which we may here observe to be the Temper of the Prophet David in this present Scripture and Psalm which we have now before us The Scope whereof being nothing else but to declare and protest against the Sinfulness of wicked and prophane Athestical persons this he does in sundry particulars as we may observe n the preceeding verses And here now in this verse which I have read he shuts up all with a serious inquiry into the Cause of so much Wickedness in them with the Aggravations of it Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart c. IN the Text it self there are two General parts considerable First A Question propounded Secondly The Ground or occasion which is given for the propounding of this Question The Question that we have in these words Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God The occasion of it that we have in these He hath said c. We begin with the first of these parts viz. The Question or Expostulation Wherefore doth the c. Wherein again two particulars more First Somewhat which is implyed And Secondly Somewhat which is Exprest That which is implyed is this That the wicked doth contemn God The thing it self in General which he is charged withall and that which is exprest is this That he hath no Cause or Ground to do so The Absurdity and Unreasonableness of it Wherefore does he do it First For that which is here implyed the thing it self which is laid as a charge The wicked does contemn God This is not to be understood of one wicked man alone either this man or that but of the whole Race and Company and Generation of wicked men in the world in all times and ages and places and distinctions of it by taking the word Collectively Wicked men they do very much Scorn and Slight and Despise even the great God himself This is the Point which we have here now before us This is a very great and heavy charge which is laid upon such Persons but it is such as even the same God Himself who is so concern'd in it lays upon them And therefore can be no other then Truth There are three manner of ways especially for the Illustration of this point unto us wherein wicked men may be said to contemn God In his Ordinances in his Providences and in his Servants First In his Ordinances they contemn him and despise him there his Word and his Sacraments and his Sabbaths and such things as these Those that neglect and undervalue these they do no less then contemn God The word of God when men come not at it or profit not by it or yield not to it it comes within the compass of this Censure especially the last which I have now named The not yielding unto it Disobedience to the Commands of God is a Contempt of the Person of God and so is taken and Interpreted by Him He so reckons and esteems of it when men shall fully understand Gods pleasure in such and such particulars Either as restraining them from such and such Courses or requiring of them such and such Performances and yet shall walk contrary hereunto It is a fearful and horrible despising of the Majesty of God we know how we count it amongst men and in the affairs of the World In Masters towards their Servants in Magistrates towards their Subjects in Parents towards their Children and the like The wilful refusing of their Commands is esteemed for Contempt and it holds betwixt God and man more especially It is a slighting of that Soveraiguty and Authority which God hath over them and setting light by it And so as for the more express Commands of God which he has laid down in his word so for the Motions of his Spirit in the Heart and suggestions to the Conscience this belongs to the same Head likewise Every motion of Gods Spirit which is discern'd and yet resisted and suppressed by us it amounts to the resisting and slighting of God Himself and shews what Entertainment we would be ready to give to his own Person if he were more visibly resident amongst us that we may so much the more take heed of such Miscarriages And so as for the word of God so for the Sacraments There is a Contemning of God in them likewise when we neglect to partake of them or are careless as to the manner of our partaking Baptism when we rather wholly omit it or too long defer it or make it onely a matter of fashion and Custom and complement and formality and not improving of it to those ends for which it was first intended It is a contemning and a disposing of the great love and goodness of God in the Justification of it and providing it for our sakes And the Lords Supper when we come Carelesly to it not discerning our selves not discerning the Lords Body but Eating and Drinking unworthily it is a Contemning of such a Divine Ordinance as that indeed is It is a saying that the Table of the Lord is Contemptable and so a profaning of God Himself Who yet will be Sanctifyed in all those that draw near unto him in Malach. 1.7.12 and Levit. 10.3 Again for the Sabbath which is another Ordinance of God and keeps up the life of all the rest The Lords day when people shall make nothing of this to Sanctify it and keep it Holy whom do they Contemn in such cases What onely Men and Magistrates and Ministers and good Lawes no but even God Himself I cannot stand to insist upon all particulars ye may inlarge them in your own Meditations but take it in what ever you will of this Nature whether Gods word and Contemn or Gods Sacrament and Divine Institutions and Gods Sabbath and times of Worshiping and Serving of Him That Disrespect which is given at any time to these or any of them it does reflect upon God himself and does redound to his disesteem in those which are guilty of it and that 's one explication of it wherein wicked men do contemn God they contemn God in his Ordinances in his Word and Sacraments and Sabbaths Secondly In his Providences they contemn him also here they take no notice of God in his Dealings and Dispensations in the World whether in a way of Favour or Wrath. For Favour they slight him in his Mercies and for Wrath they regard him not in his Judgements and so each way contemn him First Take it as to his Mercies they do contemn and despise God here Thus Esay 26.10 Let Favour be shown to the Wicked yet will he not learn Righteousness in the Land of Vprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord. So 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 Gods goodness and Favour is much extended towards Wicked men
Thus 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye are an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Every good Christian he hath great interest in Heaven and can very much prevail with God through Christ in his approaches to the Throne of Grace And we have frequent instances and examples of it both in Scripture and in daily experience Secondly As to the keeping of themselves from the pollutions and defilements of the world The Priests they were prohibited the touching of those things which were unclean and so are Christians careful to keep themselves unspotted of the world Thirdly As to the teaching and instructing of others in the Communion of Saints The Priests lips should preserve knowledg Mal. 2.7 And so should every Christian also in his way and within his compass Parents and Masters of Families should be thus far Priests in them as with Abraham to teach their children and their housholds after them Gen. 18.19 c. Fourthly As to the offering up of themselves to God they must be Priests in this respect also The Priests they were used and imployed in the killing of beasts so should Christians be in slaying of their lusts and unruly affections And then the High-Priest especially he entered into the Sanctum Sanctorum so should every Christian have his heart always towards the Holy of Holies c. Lastly The Priests they still blest the people so would the mouths of Christians do others with whom they converse 1 Pet. 3.9 not railing but contrarily blessing c. The sum of all comes to this namely to raise the esteem and opinion of Gods people in the world and from hence to set an high price and valuation upon them The world it commonly looks upon the Saints and Servants of God as a base and contemptible generation but see here what names and titles the Spirit of God in Scripture puts upon them namely of Kings and Priests which have the greatest Dignity and Excellency in them of any other whatsoever These they are so to God and the Father howsoever they be to any other that is not only to his service but likewise to his Approbation The Father is here named as the first in order and fountain of the Godhead though the whole Trinity be included and intended in it So much for that And then there is this Use also of it in the close of the verse To him be Glory for ever and ever c. And so I have done also with the third and last Description of Christ in the execution of his Offices And hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father Now to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen SERMON XLVIII Revel 22.17 And the Spirit and the Bride say Come This Text which I have now read unto you is a further improvement of that Scripture which was handled by us the last day and does contain somewhat in it as additional and accumulative thereunto For there we had propounded to us but only the hope and expectation of Christians as those which looked for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from Heaven out of that place of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians Chap. 3. ver 20. And here we have exhibited to us their desire and earnest importunity so that he comes not before he is welcome and he is not more certainly expected than he is gladly and joyfully entertained For the Spirit and the Bride say Come That is the Church by the secret suggestion and instigation of the Holy Ghost towards her does invite him and call for him and hasten him towards his second Appearing This is the scope and drift of the Text. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Persons mentioned Secondly The action which is attributed unto these Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Spirit and the Bride The action which is attributed to these Persons that is a calling after Christ they say to him Come We begin with the former viz. the Persons mentioned The Spirit and the Bride By the Spirit we are here to understand the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God which is called the Spirit by way of Excellency the third Person in the blessed Trinity And by the Bride we are to understand either the Church of God in general or every faithful and believing soul which is a member of Christ in particular These are the Persons here that speak And we must take them in a mutual reference and connexion of one with another The Spirit speaks in the Bride and the Bride speaks from and by the Spirit And so they both speak together and have the same action ascribed unto them First Here 's mention made of the Spirit and that as considerable of us under a twofold notion First Of his Presence and secondly of his Influence Of his Presence as join'd with the Bride of his Influence as assistant unto her and helping and enabling of her First Here 's the Spirits presence the Spirit and the Bride they are joined both together to signifie and intimate unto us that special residence which the Holy Ghost hath in all true Believers where-ever there is the Bride there 's the Spirit that is where-ever there is any true Christian there 's the Holy Ghost abiding in him And so the Scripture sets it in sundry places of it as 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you And so Chap. 6. v. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you So again Ephes 2.22 In whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit The Spirit of God resides both in the whole Church at large as also in every particular Believer as the soul is in the whole Body and also in every particular member Therefore we may accordingly know whether we are espoused to Christ or no upon this account and consideration If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Because where ever there is the Spouse there 's the Spirit It holds both as a discovery of Churches and as a discovery of Persons As a discovery of Churches to distinguish the true from the false and as a discovery of persons to distinguish the sound from the Hypocritical Again as it is distinguishing so it is also comforting It is a great satisfaction to the Church in the present withdrawing and absentation of Christ from her that his Spirit is yet with her that he does not leave her altogether destitute in an orphan-like or fatherless condition as himself hath sometime exprest it Joh. 14.18 but that he does provide for the supply of her I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive as it is also there in that Chapter And again Chap. 16.
Mortification in them This General work of the new creature is necessary to all the actions of new obedience in us whether as to the doing of that which is good or the abstaining from that which is evil in that manner as it ought to be abstained from Therefore this must be laid as a ground-work and foundation to us in this particular and the reason why many fail in it is for want of this What 's the cause that many think with themselves oh they will certainly abstain from such sins and yet fall again in with them why it is because they never throughly hated them nor had their spirits set against them Therefore look first of all to that Secondly Stop the beginnings as we desire not to go on in trespasses let us not at first venture upon them for it is like the letting out of waters as Solomon speaks of strife which a man knows not where it will end He that will give himself liberty to begin he shall go on whether he will or no. Therefore take heed of the very first entrance and initiation in evil for these will draw on more with them take heed of the occasions of sin and of the edges and branches and brinks of spiritual danger as we love our own souls and the salvation of them See that we hate even the garment spotted with the flesh Thirdly Have daily and continual and fresh and actual apprehensions in us of the filthiness and dangerousness of it It is not some habitual prejudices against sin which will secure us from it unless we do also actually consider and reflect upon it and have things green in our memory especially at such time as temptations shall offer themselves here we must set one against the other The remembrance of the evil against the strength of the allurement and provocation to it As a man that thinks there is danger in such a way he will be sure to decline it Lastly Beg the assistance of Gods Spirit and fetch power still from Christ and be careful to walk in wayes well-pleasing to Him It is Gods enemies as I shewed before which go on in their Trespasses When men will be sinful they shall be so and the more that they give way to corruption the more it shall abound in them but it concerns all good Christians to have that nearer watch over themselves as that the Lord may not be provoked to give them over hereunto but to keep and restrain them from it This for helps and directions What remains to us but that we be careful to put them in practise as we have occasion for them we have as inpart hinted before many curbs and restraints upon us The Counsels of friends the Admonitions of the Ministery the Danger set before us and experience of Gods Judgements upon others in such and such evil courses Now if we will go on for all this we are in a most desperate condition indeed For this purpose we must further know thus much that nothing less will serve our turn then real and through amendment and reformation and turning to God and turning from our evil wayes It is not all the promises we can make all the fair pretences to betterment or all the counterfeit expressions of relenting whether in words or tears or the like as some will sometimes reach so far unto No as long as they still go on in their sins these will nothing avail them As if a man has some disease upon him Gout or stone or the like let him use all the Physick that may be yet if he goes on in the use of that dyet which feeds those evil humours in him which are the grounds and causes of his Distempers he will never be freed from it so long as he lives even so is it here to this purpose in Spirituals while men go on in their Trespasses and favour and allow themselves in them all the Duties and Exercises of Religion which are acted and performed by them will in this Case be but in vain unto them Perseverance in Duty is no Protection or Priviledg to any with perseverance in Sin but the one hinders the other That goes on still in his Trespasses This if we please may be further taken by us in a narrower and more restrain'd Sense then as yet we have taken it not so at large for all kind of Sins wherein it holds as a very good Caution but in particular for that sin of Enmity and opposition of the Church of God God will wound the head of his Enemies and the Hairy Scalp of such an one as goes on still in his Trespasses That is who notwithstanding Gods frustrating and disappointing of God in his Assaults which he makes upon it does yet attempt further against it such an one as goes on here God will certainly be avenged upon him Thus was it with Balah and Balant as to the cursing of Israel who though they saw they did but labour in vain yet still went on in their Trespasses And thus now the point will be thus that as all obstinate Sinners in General so all pertinacious Enemies the Church in particular shall especially be punished and destroyed if they are not careful what they can to prevent it Thus Esay 8.9.10 Associate your selves O ye People Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces c. And wee see it in Pharoah and the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites how going on in it they were overthrown by it God thinks it enough at first for his Enemies to disappoint them but then afterwards when they are not diverted by it he thinks fit to destroy them and to punish them so much the more Therefore let all those which are such be hereby restrained and taken off from it Saul Sau why persecutest thou me says Christ to Him when he was going to Damascus with letters against the Church It is in vain for thee to kick against the Pricks As who should say if thou goest on thou art lost and undone by it God will be sure to have the better of his Enemies let them take what course they please against Him What a madness then is it for mens malice so far to transport them as to go on for all this that those they know labour to no purpose because no Weapon that 's firm'd against the Church shall ever prosper yet they cannot but persist in such attempts as these are as many do and will by no means be taken off from it To set whom all this the more Effectually there is a particle in the beginning of the Text which we translate but but according to the Hebrew it is surely Ak which has a good Emphasis in it to put it out of doubt with us that we might not make any question of it The Spirit of God does meet with mens Infidelity in this regard who do not so easily believe it and give Credit to it but think they may go on and proceed for all that
Conscience and more immediate Impressions upon the Heart God does oftentimes so apply Himself to the Soul and Spirit of a Beleiver by inlarging it and filling it with his Grace and raising up holy motions and desires in it as from whence he may be said to bespeak as it were Communion with Himself and to say seek thou my face He knocks at the door of our Hearts and says open unto me This by the Prophet David is called a preparing of the Heart in Psal 10.17 Lor thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine Ear to hear Thirdly In the Dispensations of Providence and the things which God does in the World and especially to our selves here he calls to us for our seeking of his face as to instance in two or three particulars more especially above the rest First In any special business or Imployment which he puts upon us this is a sure rule That where God calls a man to any more eminent Services especially which is of more publique Concernment he does then more especially call him to seek first of all his favour towards him and acceptance of him Forasmuch as all Assistance and success comes from Him and it is he that must give a Blessing to every thing that is undertaken by us It is a very dangerous and hazzardous matter for a man to go about any busines of great importance in a state of difference and estrangement from God for then he will be ready to blast and to cross that work unto him We are apt sometimes to beg Gods Assistance but we should first of all beg his Favour which is the ground and foundation of all Assistance and Success whatsoever and without which we can never expect it Thou saydst seek my face In case of any special undertakings Secondly In case of some special outward trouble and calamity God herein sayes seek ye my face Forasmuch as this is oftentimes his very end in the sending of it He does it to bring men to Himself Because in affliction men are then apt to run God when he slew them they sought Him as it is said of the Israelits And in their affliction they will seek me early Hos 5.25 Lord in trouble they have visited thee they have poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them Isa 26.16 And it becomes us so far forth to close and to comply with Gods ends to us in this particular Thirdly In Spiritual Desertions and the withdrawings of Gods Countenance from the soul when God hides his face from us He does then more especially call upon us to seek his face As when the mother hides her self she then puts the child upon looking for her and seeking after her even so is it here A constant and continued enjoyment of Gods countenance shining upon his servants is apt now and then through their corruption to make them a little more remiss but withdrawings of it quickens them to attendance and dependance upon them as it is in Isa 8.17 I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the House of Jacob and will look for him Fourth In the Desertions of Friends when they shall at any time fail us or leave us and be taken away from us God then sayes to us more particularly seek ye my face when either they fail in their affections as not continuing still to be friends or when they fail in their Persons as not continuing still in the world but it may be removed and taken away out of it In either of these cases and conditions does God more especially call his servants to the perfeiting of their friendship with himself and the getting of a greater evidence of his Love and favours towards them First When they fail in their Affections as not continuing still to be friends for there 's an uncertainty in all these things There 's many a man loves to day and hates to morrow and of a Friend turns to be an enemy The Love of the world it is no Foundation for any to build on in regard of the inconstancy of it Now here 's a special call to closer intimacy and acquaintance with God Acquaint thy self now with Him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee when a mans ways please the Lord he will make his enemies to be at peace with Him Prov. 16.7 Therefore now seek His face whose love is unchageable whose Purpose is immutable whose Affection is alwayes the same This is one thing which calls us hereunto And so secondly As in the failing of Affections so also in the failing of Persons when friends are removed and taken out of the world and ye see their face no more why then seek ye His face who never fails but abides for ever even from one Generation to another Lastly In the hour of death and at the Time of Dissolution when men are themselves going out of the world it concerns them then especially to seek the face of God and it should qualifie the thoughts of Death unto them being such as belongs to God to think that they shall now injoy it as David I will behold thy face in righeousness when I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness Psal 17.15 And so Psal 16.11 In thy presence is fullness of Joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Thus have we seen in what respects and cases God does especially call unto us to seek His face And so I have done with the first General part of the Text which is Gods invitation Thou saidest seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek The second is David's Answer to this Invitation of Gods as to the Acceptance and entertainment of it Thy face Lord will I seek Where before we come to speak of the main point which is here considerable of us here is somewhat to be taken notice of by us by way of Preparation As first Observe this That the Heart of a Cristian it is the Reflexion of the law of God Look what the Lord in his word does injoyn and Command to be performed that the Soul and Spirit of a Believer and regenerate Person so far forth as he is regenerate does incline and tend unto Thou saydst seek my face there was the tenor of Gods Command And thy face Lord will I seek there was the temper of Davids Spirit So Psal 40.7.8 I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my Heart And this is the difference betwixt a child of God and another person take another man and his heart rises and rebels against the word and love of God and he wishes there were no such thing as that is But a good Christian he has an agreeableness to it and from thence a Complyance with it it is as the wax answering the Seal A second Observation is this That a good and a gracious heart is carryed on to the doing
averse unto from the consideration of his own insufficiency Now go sayes he and I will be with thy mouth and will teach thee what thou shalt say But that was but onely common grace as to the gift of Elocution God will give us also sanctifying grace as to the Duties and exercise of Religion which he does require of us also In any deadness of spirit which is upon us in any indispositions to good duties in any weakness as to the performance of them there is grace and power in Christ and his Spirit which he does communicate to his servants answerable hereunto And so for all relations likewise whether in Family or Church or Commonwealth this is the comfort of a Christian that the Lord will give grace especially as I said before where he hath given it already in the Principle Look where God hath given grace in the General that is the grace of Conversion and Regeneration there he will likewise give grace in the particular that is grace agreeable to the several occasions which we have at any time afforded unto us for the exercise of it and to the duties which he does require at our hands to be perform'd by us Thirdly Suffering grace for the Afflictions which he layes upon us the Lord will give grace likewise here It is that which does sometimes startle the best of the servants of God to think how they shall be inabled to graple and wrestle with the cross when they look about them in the world and see what a sea of evils does in a manner incompass them they are ready to faint in themselves and to think they shall never be able to undergo them and bustle thorough them well but see now here what God hath provided for their comfort and incouragement namely a supply of his grace There 's no Affliction which God layes upon his servants but he does in some measure inable them to bear it and not onely to bear it simply in a common and ordinary manner out of the strength of Nature and common principles as Heathen and such men as these but after a special and peculiar manner as Christians from a spirit of faith with patience and comfort yea and sometimes joy it self to the special honour and credit of Religion and of that grace which God hath given in reference thereunto Thus will God send grace in the increase and augmentation of it But yet for our better understanding and improvement of this point still in hand we must know that there are certain Qualifications which are required as special conditions in those persons whom God will bestow a greater Measure and Degree of grace upon then as yet He hath given unto them First That they be such as are humble This is that which the Scripture does especially point out to us as requisite in this business as Psal 25.9 The meek will he guide in judgement and the meek will he teach his way so Jam. 4.6 He giveth more Grace wherefore He saith God resisteth the proud and giveth grace unto the humble Those which are proud and conceited of their own strength and perfection God doth oftentimes suspend and withdraw his grace from them gives them up for a while at least to the power and prevalency of Satan and leaves them to themselves that so thereby he may humble them and debase them in their own thoughts and awaken them out of that presumption and security in which they are But for those that are sensible of their weaknesses and do mourn and groan under their wants such as these He inlarges himself unto them He fills the hungry with good things but the rich he sends empty away Therefore that is one qualification considerable as to the improvement of Grace in us viz. humility and lowliness of mind Secondly Those that are believing and do exercise faith in those promises which God hath made to this purpose whatever good God bestows upon us He conveyes it to us through the hands of Faith and so amongst the rest he does with this here of his grace The Lord will give it but we must still fetch it and draw it from Him we must come boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.16 And so Heb. 12.28 Let us have Grace How shall we have it what is this in our own power no but let us labour for it and indeavour after it and beg it at the hands of God Ask and it shall be given you we have cause to be incouraged in doing so forasmuch as we are likely so well to speed in so doing He that believes shall be established Faith is such a grace as hooks in all other Graces to it self Thirdly There is here required an using of these Graces which we have received use Grace and have it the more we do improve that grace which we do already partake of the more shall we increase in the addition of more graces unto us To him that hath shall be given which does not hold in nature to grace but in a less degree of grace to a greater There are some that would have it so that the use of Nature and Free-will profitably does ingage God to give his sanctifying grace to those that do so but that we had no ground to assert neither do we affirm it but rather this That those which use those beginnings of saving grace so as they ought God will bestow a greater measure upon them And so now ye have the first gift which is here mentioned as a part of Gods bestowing The Lord will Grace The second is Glory The Lord will give Glory this is distinct from grace in the proper notion of it though in some places it is made equivalent to it and synonymous with it so as by Glory to understand Grace as 2 Cor. 3.18 From Glory to Glory that is from grace to grace The grace of Christ which is revealed in the Gospel being full of glory has the name of glory put upon it but here in the Text it is a distinct Head Understanding by glory that blessed and happy Estate and Condition of the Saints in Heaven yet in some sort even begun and initiated here below in this present life So then by glory we are to understand the fruit and reward of grace or the consequents attendant upon it This the Lord will give and he will give it two manner of wayes according to a twofold Explication First Here in this life present in the pledges and anticipations of Glory in the first fruits of the Spirit and those beginnings which a Christian does partake of here in this world not onely in grace but in comfort These are glory in kind though not in Degree they are of the same nature with it though not reaching to the perfections of it and so therfore have the name of glory very fitly put thereupon This we find mention made of in 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom
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
their Impressions and Reflections upon the Night Secondly Lye down with God in the Evening That which we think of last we shall be ready to think of first and as we conclude the foregoing day so we are likely to begin the following Therefore it should be our care as much as may be to have God and the things of God in our thoughts when we set our selves to rest A Godly soul should fall asleep in Gods arms like a child in the mothers lap it should be sung and lull'd asleep with those songs of the night which I before mentioned to you And this will make him the sitter for Converse with God the next day after When I awake sayes David I am still with thee that is as I said I am yet with thee Namely Habitually and in preparation of mind which is mainly here intended Though sleep does for a while interrupt me yet it does not altogether indispose me to Communion with thee This is the happiness of a Christian that is carefull to lye down with God that he findes his work still as he left it and is in the same disposition when he rises as he was at night when he laid to rest As a man that windes up his watch over night he finds it going the next morning so is it also as I may say with a Christian that winds up his heart This is a good Observation to be remembred especially in the evening afore the Sabbath Thirdly Observe God in the Morning A man that would be with God when he wakes must observe how God is with him We shall find sometimes that God himself doth awaken us and does desire communion with us as the Scripture it self doth inform us Thbs Isa 50.4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the Learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary he wakeneth morning by morning wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned There are certain holy Motions and Excitements of God to the Heart as a Master that calls up his Schollar to the learning of his Book Now it concerns us to listen unto them It is our weakness when we neglect to do so That God speaks once ye twice but man perceives it not as Elihu complains in Job in Chap. 33.14 15. c. We should hear when God speakes as old Eli to young Samuel in God's calling of him And thus we see also how we may attain to this Blessed Condition which is here commended unto us For the pressing and further inforcing of this point upon us and a close of it for this time let us be perswaded and advised to take heed of three things First That we think it not Arbitrary Secondly That we think it not Impossible And Thirdly Not Superfluous First Let us not think it to be Arbitrary when we press such a performance as this It is that which many are apt to do who think it is good Counsel but that they may follow it or leave it as they please as a matter of Indifferency No but ye are not to think so It is a Duty which God requires of you It may be you will say yes of Scholars and Ministers who are Speculative and Contemplative Persons but other men have other things to think off and to busie their thoughts withall Nay but indefinitely of all Ranks and Conditions of men those that are not Schollars yet they are Christians and must walk accordingly in the ways of Christianity Every one a Soul to serve and a God to serve and an Heaven to purchase and an Hell to shun and an account to make and therefore let none exempt themselves from that which is so absolutely required and expected from them Secondly Let us not think it impossible for that 's another obstruction to Indeavour It is true it is somewhat difficult as all other good things are but yet it is in a decree Feeble and which Gods servants through his Assistance have in some proportion attained unto and do dayly and Continually still attain A Christian has in some sort a kind of Power over his thoughts which another has not Thirdly Do not think it Superfluous men that are unacquainted with Religion they many times look upon such points as those as meer nicities and fansies and speculations which have no reality in them but those who are exercised Christians have experience of them and accordingly it concerns us to be for our particulars that we may walk in the fear of the Lord and in the Comforts of the Holy Ghost Indeed there is a kind of Monkish Devotion which goes abroad sometimes in the World which is full of high flown Raptures and empty speculation which reach no further then the Fancy and the Brain but the Religion of a good Christian is Spiritual and reaches to the Heart and has a bottom and foundation for it and this is that which here in this Discourse is commended unto us And so I have done with the First sense which may be put upon this Awakening here in the Text as it may be taken in the Natural signification which is cheifly here intended when I awake i. e. awake from sleep and Bodily rest Now there are two more behind which I will but onely name and Conclude The one is by taking it Morally when I awake that is awake from Sin Thus a Christian is never from God but when he is overtaken with some Spiritual Distemper when he is awake that is he has Grace active and vigorous in him he is then and so far forth carefull to draw near to God The other is by taking it Mysticall when I shall awake that is from the sleep of Death I shall then be still with thee The generall and final Resurrection it gives the servants of God a perpetual and indissoluble Conjunction with God so as never to part from Him Thus David Psal 17.15 As for me I will behold thy face in Righteousness when I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness And so Paul when he had discoursed of this to wit the last Resurrection of the Saints he says so shall we ever be with the Lord. They are now with him in their Souls but they shall then be with him Soul and Body for ever and ever So much for that and so also of this present Text. When I awake I am still with thee SERMON XXVIII Psal 147.11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy There is nothing which God is more willing that his people should beleive concerning Him then his favour and good will towards them as he bears a special Love and Affection to them in his own Breast and takes a great deal of Camplacency and Contentment in them so he desires that they should apprehend it and be themselves perswaded of it for their own particulars for which purpose he takes all occasion that may be for the expressing of it to them and
Furnace This we may be sure and take notice of for our instruction we are not born Christians but made so Christiani Non nasciuntur sed siunt It is not a business of Nature but a business of Art Nor of Humane Art neither but Divine as we shall see more hereafter out of the following words of the Text The Lord tryeth the hearts And therefore this may discover to us the vanity of all such persons as have other conceits of it which think to be Gold and Silver as they come out of the impure Earth without refining in their pure Naturals No it will not be If we have no other Principles in us than which we brought with us into the World we shall never be Currant Coin in God's Account no such as he will one day take or accept from us But he will reject us and cast us away at the Great Day and time of Payment Therefore I say let us here take notice of our Conditions in this particular and see what we are Take the best of us by nature and there we are nothing but Dross no Gold nor Silver at all in us but such as is counterfeit And take us when Grace has refined us and we have many gross and drossy Intermixtures still adhering to us which will not be removed but by those means which God has sanctified and set apart for such a purpose a these here before us in the Text. These are here under a Double Specification The Fining Pot and the Furnace which have their answerable Preparations even in Spirituals The Fining Pot that is the Word of God And the Furnace that is the Rod of God Either of these does the Lord as he sees sitting take an occasion to purifie his Servants by First By his Word he desires to begin with that The word of the Lord tryed him Psal 105.29 And so it does many more besides This it has a Special Vertue through the power of God's Spirit joyning with it to reform and better the heart and to purge away its dross from it Heb. 4.12 For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart This it will shew a man his Corruption of Nature and discover to him the wickedness which is in his heart As we have divers instances hereof in the Disciples that went to Emmaus Did not our hearts burn within us And St. Peter's Converts When they heard it they wee pricked at their hearts And so the Jayâ—oâ— and divers others to whom the Word of God has been instead of a Fining Pot to separate their Corruption from them as to discover it to them Secondly By Affliction that is his Furnace Isa 58.10 I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction Affliction is God's Furnace wherein he purges and purifies his Gold and takes away the dross of it And accordingly does the Scripture represent it Therefore it is called the Fiery Tryal which is to try us 1 Pet. 4.12 And the tryal of our faith which is much more precious than the gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire c. 1 Pet. 1.7 Therefore we should so look upon it and be perswaded of it and of God's Intendments in the imposing of it The Furnace it is not for the hurt of the Gold but for the advantage to make it more pure and useful and precious to form it in some Vessel of Service and Honour sit for the Master's use and so are Troubles and Afflictions to the people of God which should make them the more patiently to bear them when he lays them upon them It is true that this is an harsh Doctrine to Flesh and Blood and we are all ready to shrink at it but Grace it will close with it so far forth as it is prevailing in any measure in us And so it should We should look upon the Furnace not so much in the heat of it but in the improvement the end of setting it up and the effect which follows upon it and then we shall be satisfied exceedingly by it as the Apostle intimates to us Heb. 12.11 There is no chastisement which for the present is joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it brings forth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness to those which are excercised thereby This is that which we should look upon such Dispensations as these in the love and Wisdom of God which does appoint them and the blessed and happy Fruit which does arise from them And further labor also to be bettered by every hand of God upon us that so therein we may close with his gracious Ends If God casts us into the Furnace to come out of it better then we went in be sure of that otherwise it will be so much the worse for us Yea if we be true Gold indeed it will be so with us Corruption it is hardened by Affliction but Grace it is refined Take a man that has a wicked heart and crosses they do not make him better but make him worse more impatient and obstinate and Rebellious and standing out against God and contesting with him like that wretched Jehoram 2 Kings 6 ult But a man that hath a true work of Grace wrought upon his Spirit he will be so much the better more wary of himself more compassionate to others more meek and humble tractable and obedient and thankfull These things will follow with it But so much for this as also of the First General in the Text viz. The Propsition The Fining pot c. The Second follows which is the Reddition But the Lord Tryeth c. According to the usual manner of Speech it should not be but but so But we will take it as lies before us where this Adversative Particle hath a Threefold Emphasis in it First an Emphasis of Proportion Secondly an Emphasis of Exception Thirdly an Emphasis of Designment or of Appropriation An Emphasis of Proportion First by taking but for so And so it signifies thus much unto us that the Lord is no less able or carefull to try the hearts of the Sons of men then the Goldsmith is his Silver and Gold As that does the one so does this also the other so the Lord tryeth the hearts When we speak of Gods trying of the heart it may be taken two manner of ways Either first of all in a way of Discovery or Secondly in a way of Purification He tries them to make known what is in them and he tries them to remove that which is corrupt and amiss from them to each purposes he tries them First In a way of Discovery He tries them so as to discern them and make known what they are This the Lord does and this he is said to do in Scripture not only here but elsewhere Thus Exod. 16.4 I
Lord alone and none but He. This is his Prerogative and that as to both Explications of Tryal whether by Discovery or Reformation If we take it by way of Discovery as the Lord says so he does it alone that is infallibly and effectually It is his Title to be The Searcher and Tryer of the heart and he hath taken it upon him as that which he means to perform This does not exclude others absolutely and in subordination to him It is that which some others may do and it is that which others ought to do according as they are called thereunto to try and sift the hearts and spirits of other men and to discern what they are whether in order to converse with them that so they may get no hurt from them or in order to their further benefit and instruction There may be use of it likewise so But First None can try the heart thus Authoritatively And Secondly None can try it thus effectually and infallibly and with so much success Not so Authoritatively any because none hath that power over it The Heart and Conscience of a a Christian is in subjection to none but him that made it Not so Infallibly neither because none have that piercing insight into it Men when all is done they can but guess and conjecture and imagine and make supposition But the Lord he knows the Heart in every winding and turning of it yea even The thoughts of it afar off as the Psalmist expresses it in Psal 139.2 This teaches us accordingly to go to him for the discovery both of our own hearts and others as to whom it does belong When we would try our own private hearts a Duty which I mentioned before we see here how to do it most successfully and that is by taking in God to help us herein as David himself gives us a pattern in that Psalm Psal 139.23 24. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting Know that is make me to know thee for my particular And so as for our selves so for others when we would know what is in them Let us take this course also to seek direction from him As the Disciples when they were to chuse a new Apostle and had cast Lots between Justus and Matthias They prayed and said Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew which of these thou hast chosen Act. 2.24 Again further Seeing this is God's Prerogative to try and judge the heart let us hence learn not to incroach upon it and to assume it to our selves by passing rash and peremptory judgment upon any Take heed of that we may discern but we may not absolutely determine being the Property of God alone This is urged by the Apostle Paul himself and in his own case 1 Cor. 4.4 5. He that judgeth me is the Lord Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts It is the propriety and peculiarity of God to try the heart by way of Discovery It is his again also by way of Reformation As none can try it that is know it but He so none can try it that is purge it but He neither He alone can take away the iniquities and defilements and pollutions of it which cleave unto it It is He alone which can take away the heart of Stone and gives a new heart of Flesh It is His Grace alone which is stronger than Sin and Corruption which is in us Therefore this should teach us to have our eyes still fixed upon him When at any time we come to the Ordinances and to be made partakers of the Word the Fining Pot as it were for Silver and which it self is as Silver refined and tryed in the Furnace See here where our Expectations would be fastened not so much upon the instruments as upon God himself who is the Worker of it Alas we are but Bringers of things together it is he who gives efficacy to them Who is Paul and who is Apollo but ministers by whom ye believed 1 Cor. 3.5 We are to do what in us lies and to commend the efficacy and success unto him And so as Ministers for their People so Parents for their Children There is many a Godly Parent which does earnestly desire the Conversion of his Child and the changing of his evil heart Now we see who must do it when all comes to all Not that it must be cast upon him so as to neglect other helps There must be the Refinings of good Education which is a very great conducement hereunto but this it must not be rested in without Addresses made to the Lord. And to conclude Where any do partake of any cleansings in their own hearts let them see here to whom to give the Honour and Glory of them even to Him who hath wrought them in them O Lord says Jeremy I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10.23 No it belongs to Him and let him therefore be acknowledged for it We are said sometimes to purifie our selves but it is still meant in the strength of his Grace assisting us and concurring with us Whom therefore we must bless and praise for it Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Nome give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake Psal 115.1 That is the third Emphasis here signified which is an Emphasis of Appropriation The Lord that is the Lord alone tryeth the hearts So much for that So I have done with the Second General Part of the Text which is the Reddition in the Comparison And so much also of the whole Text it self SERMON XXXIII Prov. 17.3 There are many devices in a mans heart nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand There is nothing which is more desireable in the Course of this present Life then to know what to trust to Uncertainty is many times more grievous than Disappointment and to doubt how things will fall out more Perplexing oftentimes then Miscarriage it self And therefore such places of Scripture deserve of all others besides as most usefull and profitable both to be studyed and handled by us especially in such times as these are in which we we are as do anything serve to satisfie and settle us in this Particular In the Number whereof is this Text which I have here made choice of at this time with Gods assistance to speak unto from the mouth and Pen of Solomon who had a double advantage upon him for such a purpose as this The one as he was a Wise man and had much humane Sagacity in him The other as he was a Good man and did partake of the works of Grace in his heart which after all the disputeings about
backsliding and turning aside yet that the Lord he 's still the same and so continueth and does not alter his purpose concerning us which does abide for ever towards us I the Lord change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed in Malach. 3.6 And it is of the Lords Mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not Lam. 3.32 If our hope were onely in our own Counsel we were then in a very sad and miserable condition indeed we should be in Jeopardy every hour through the inconstancy and instability which is in us But now that is in Gods Counsel here we are in safe and sure hands which certainly keeps us up Now though we have many Devices and ways even to undo our selves if God should leave us and let us alone yet because his Counsel is immutable and unvariable and always one and the same without change or alteration therefore is our Eternal Condition accordingly immutable with it This does not lay ground to any as some would make it to do for security or neglect of the means but rather the contrary Because the same Counsel of God which does stand in reference to the End does stand also in reference to the means which lead and conduce to that end And as he has purposed immutably that such Persons shall come to Heave so he has likewise as immutably purposed that they shall do so by walking in those ways whereby Heaven is come unto As he has prepared it for us so he has prepared us for it and made us so meet to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints in light And thus of this Point as it refers to matter of Predestination and the concernments of the life to come It is true also in the Second place as it may be taken in reference to Providence and the Affairs of this Life present Here The counsel of the Lord shall also stand Which seems especially to be intended as the Scope and Drift of this Scripture now in hand What ever it is that God has purposed and Decreed and set down with himself either in Order to whole Nations in General or in order to private persons in particular that his Counsel is sure to stand and to hold good and that alone as we are here to understand it As for this That Gods Counsel is exercised about such things as these are I take it for granted as not to be questioned Not a Sparrow falls to the ground without the will of our Heavenly Father Yea the very hairs of our head are all numbred as our Blessed Saviour himself tells us Matth. 10.29 Much more is his Providence carryed to greater matters God may change his Dispensations but he never alters his Counsels that 's all one and the same But that which is now before us that what he appoints and purposes in these things it comes to pass And it is clear from variety of Experiences which do make it good unto us both in Scripture and dayly Observation When God has at any time manifested his purpose foretold it and declared it before-hand as he has sometimes been pleased to do by his Prophets that purpose and Counsel of his it hath still infallibly been accomplished and the Accomplishment of it made a proof of the truth of those Prophets which have fore-told it so certain a thing is it and beyond all Controversie or Exception We have a notable instance of it in the Relief of the Famine of Samaria which the Lord had fore-told by Elisha And the Lord upon whose hand the King leaned so much questioned as to say that if God would make windows in heaven it could not be yet it came to pass as the Man of God had spoken and that in all the circumstances of it So as to the repairing of Jericho what God purposed and declared concerning it we see was fulfilled and brought to pass and that exactly in the Attendants upon it if ye compare Josh 7.26 with 1 King 16.34 according to the Word of the Lord. So likewise as to the bringing of the Children of Israel out of Egypt God's Counsel held good to a very day as we may see in Exod. 12.41 It came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years even the self same day it came to pass it is twice repeated that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt And so many Examples more which I might easily instance if it were needful and time would give leave And so much may suffice to have spoken of the First Branch in the Second General viz. The Simple Assertion The counsel of the Lord shall stand whether we take it for his Truth and Doctrine or else his Purpose and Decree The Second is the Additional Opposition or Correction qualifying of it Which is indeed chiefly considerable of us in the word Nevertheless as relating to what was declared in the beginning of the Verse concerning the several Devices in Man's heart Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord shall stand Where for our better proceeding in it and understanding of it we may take notice that the Hebrew Conjunction Vav hear in the Text for so it is Va-anatsath it hath a threefold Emphasis with it as sometimes also in other places viz. Copulative and Discretive and Illative Copulative Both Man has his Devices and God has his Discretive Though Man has his Devices yet God has his Illative Because Man has his Devices therefore God has his Here is the Consistence of God's Counsels with Man's Here is the Resistance of God's Counsels against Man's Here is the Subsistence of God's Counsel from Man's Each of these are in this Expression First Here is the Consistence of God's Counsels with Man's by taking the word Copulatively for And As Man has his Devices so God also has his Counsels There is the one as well as the other Counsel or Devising is but improperly attributed to God who needs not such help as those are as Man indeed doth But yet in a sense it is fastened upon him and that by the Scripture it self which does oftentimes bring him under such expressions after the manner of men of Device and Counsel and the like Thus Jer. 18.11 Thus saith the Lord of hosts to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem behold I frame evil against you and devise a device against you Choshev The same word as in the Text. But that which I here take notice of about it is its Conjunction with the Devices of Man which the Scripture does elsewhere also declare as counterpoysing and balancing of them especially in reference to the Christians and People of God Thus Psal 2.2 The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed But then it follows in Vers 4. He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh the Lord will have them in derision I will declare the Decree Laugh why does he laugh
Christian to grow weak and so to continue to fall from his former strength and not to return to it again which is the condition of many in the world we for our parts should indeavour to be otherwise where we observe any decayes of spiritual strength in us there as soon as we can to renew it This it will neerly concern us to do upon these considerations First In point of Honour and that especially with God himself Spiritual weakness it is a disparagement especially if ye take it in the relapse and after some former degrees of strength It is no disgrace for a man to have a weak body That has no moral evil or inconvenience in it but to have a weak soul is very disgraceful For one that heretofore has been strong in spirit and in his inward man now to decline and grow weaker and continue so it is very dishonourable The excellency of dignity and the Excellency of strength they go both together and he that falls from the one he does with Reuben fall also from the other whiles he becomes as weak as water he shall not excell Gen. 49.2 Secondly As it concerns us in point of honour so likewise in point of Ease a weak Christian is so far forth a burden to himself as meeting with many difficulties which he cannot grapple withall but prove to hard for him There are many occurrences in a Christians life which do necessarily call for spiritual strength in him to the management of them which if he has not he will be sure to lye under them and to be overcome by them There are many Temptations to resist and many Afflictions to indure and many duties to perform All which are not done without strength nor without strength in some degree of it neither at least not done strongly and as they ought to be done by us weakness it will work like it self where the faculty is but indifferent the operations will be answerable thereunto it is so as in naturals so in spirituals Thirdly In point of safety there 's anothers consideration in that Those which are but spiritually weak they are exposed to sundry dangers to staggerings and fallings especially from the spiritual enemy who is still sure to apply himself to the weakest and to none more then to such as are so from any Apostasie or Declining where he can find an advantage against us here he will be sure to follow it and improve it to the utmost and that also to a further weakning of us still Besides that then we are under greater hazzards from God himself where we are weak with a weakness of imperfection weak in grace as children are weak there the Lord pitties and helps us He knows our frame and he considers what we are He relieves our infirmities for us But where we are weak with a weakness of Relapse through carelesness and neglect of our selves there the Lord doth oftentimes punish us and corrects us as being angry with us In regard therefore of the dangers which we stand in towards God it concerns us to renew our strength upon any seeming decay Lastly In point of comfort also it concerns us also for this A weak Christian will be an uncomfortable Christian he will not have so much liveliness and refreshment in his own spirit Because that Grace will not reflect with so much evidence upon him A man that hath but Grace in a weak measure though he has true Grace in him as well as he which has stronger yet he will not be able so easily to discerne it and consequently will not reap so much comfort and sweetness from it as otherwise he would Those that are but weak Christians and are content so to be it will be a very hard matter for them to discern and apprehend whether they be Christians or no and so they will be ready to go drooping and mourning all their lives long from this distemper All these things laid together should accordingly serve to work upon us and to perswade us to this duty in hand of recovering our strength there where 't is decayed in spiritual matters we see how it is with men in other matters in matters of the world If it be as to their outward man where they observe any decayes in themselves do all they can to repair them If it be in their Estates to make up their weakness there If it be in their bodies to heal their weaknesses there Men can no sooner find themselves weak and consuming in these particulars but they will use all the means possible that they can for their recovery in such conditions And why then should we not be as carefull and dilligent for our weak souls which do a great deal more nearly concern us and lye upon us then the other does Certainly it proceeds from that Atheism and Infidelity which is in our hearts and unsensibleness of these particulars But so much of the first explication Christians they are to renew their strength that is to repair it by way of recovery where it is impaired But Secondly That 's not all They are to do it also by way of increase and addition to it there where it is continued A Christian is not to content himself with any measure of strength which he has received but to labor still for more The more strength so much the better is it with us And therefore we should be carefull to improve it more and more yea we will do so if we be so as we should be as we shall now see in the point that follows So much for the Particular viz. A Christians Duty They shall renew their strength that is they ought to do it It is that which they are Commanded The Second is their Disposition They that wait upon the Lord they will renew their strength that is they will be ready and carefull so to do This is the temper of a good Christian to grow every day stronger and stronger Thus we have it in the words of Solomon Prov. 24.5 A wise man is strong yea a man of knowledge increaseth in strength There ye have it in the Proposition ye may take it likewise in the example for which we can have no better an instance than the Apostle Paul and such as he was 2 Cor. 4.16 For the which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward is renewed day by day Mark It is renewed and he says it is dayly renewed he gathers every day some strength or other A good Christian has still so much good Husbandry with him as repar are deper ditum to supply that which is lost Now as every day if we be not carefull we are apt to loose some strength or other according to the variety of occasions which are offered unto us in the world so if we do indeed mind our selves we will be diligent also to repair it and make it up We may therefore from hence now take some kind of account of our selves
and see what we are according to our care and indeavour in this particular If we shall go from day to day and never care to improve in Grace and the strengthning of our inward man but rather by wilfull neglect and carelesness weaken it and diminish from it this does too palpably discover that we are not that which we ought to be in Christianity For if we we we should find this disposition working in us to abound more and more as the Apostle Paul speaks to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 4.1 we should still find our selves getting up in spiritual strength Look as it is with a man which is in part cured and recovered out of some bodily distemper by how much the disease weakens the man strenthens as that looses of its power so he gains and gets more in his Even so it is also with that person which is brought out of his natural condition when the sinfull corruption of nature is healed in him Look how that does any thing decay so does Grace flourish in him and increase As it was in those two opposites for the Kingdom Saul and David David waxed stronger and stronger and the house of Saul waxt weaker 2 Sam. 3.1 Even so is it likewise here As Grace weakens so corruption does more and more increase and as Grace encreases so does Corruption loose of its strength These two they are like a pair of ballances when the one goes up the other is sure to go down and so contrarily That heart which has the work of Grace truly and indeed wrought in it it will be desirous and indeavouring after improvement and settlement of it self Let none therefore plead weakness and justifie and allow themselves in such a condition as that is for it is not sutable to a Christian temper The best Christians that are they may have weaknesses in them but they do not content themselves with those weaknesses They have so much strength in them as to be sensible and apprehensive of their weakness and so much Grace in them as to labour as soon as may be to come out of it and to gather strength And where we find it otherwise with our selves we have cause to bewail our selves and to be truly humbled for it As for those which have no strength at all they do not care for the renewing of strength nay indeed they cannot they are uncapable of it The renewing of strength does suppose the having of some strength allready to be renewed Carnal and natural men which have no work of Grace in their hearts nor the Spirit of Christ stirring in them they are not weak but dead and so uncapable of getting more strength The Impotency of corrupt Nature it is not weakness but wickedness and so to be accounted but where there 's weakness there is in part some strength which is mingled with it and where there is this strength there 's an indeavour to work out that weakness and to recover after some former abatings and diminishings of Grace in it self That 's the second particular viz. A Christians Disposition joyn'd with his Duty They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength that 's their Inclination The Third is their Priviledge what they may do or does indeed actually befall them They shall renew their strength that is This happiness belongs unto them This is their state and condition And this indeed seems to be the proper sense and meaning of the Text to express thus much to us wherein the Spirit of God shewes us the difference between these and others in a way of opposition The youths shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength The word which is here rendred Renew is in the Hebrew Text. Jachalifu which signifies properly they exchange it commut abunt vires that is they shall have another kind of strength bestowed upon them then that which they formerly had For there is a double kind of change to be observed and taken notice of by us There 's a change in Quality of the worse for the better And there 's a change in Quantity of the less for the Greater Now both of these Changes are in a Christian as to spiritual strength First They have a change in Quality Another sort and kind of strength then what they had before Conversion And Secondly A change in Quantity more strength then at their first Conversion First I say there 's a change in Quality They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength that is they shall have a new kind of strength bestowed upon them over what they had before Conversion as Caleb had another Spirit and Saul another heart For we must know that even before Conversion in natural and unregenerate persons there is a kind of strength which does appear in them and that also in reference to Religion and the Duties of it but it is not such a strength as is here meant in this present Text nor yet such as any are to satisfie and to rest themselves contented withal To explain it a little unto you ye may take it in these particulars First There 's the strength of temper and natural Constitution Secondly There 's the strength of Custome and Religious Education Thirdly There 's the strength of Civility and Moral principles Each of these kinds of strength there are and that also before Conversion First I say There 's the strength of Temper and natural Constitution this is such as may go very far and a man may be able both to do and suffer very much by it This is that which does for the most part extend it self to the outside and form of Religion and in those performances which belong to that Men by a natural strength may be very much in them whether a strength of bodily frame or a strength of Natural parts but it is not this which is sufficient and yet it is that which many rest themselves in and are contented withal The strength of Wit and Reason and Vnderstanding and Memory and the like whiles their heart and will and Affections have no saving work at all upon them Secondly There 's the strength of Custom and Religious Education This it will go very far likewise many which have been piously Educated and brought up and accustomed to such and such Performances they through Vse and Exercise contract some kind of strength to themselves for the doing of them and become strong in the outward bulk of Religion This was such a strength as was in Joash whiles his Uncle Jebojada liv'd He did that which was good and right in the sight of the Lord though afterwards he departed from it And so 't is also with many others besides They have nothing which does so much act them and put them forward to any thing which is good but as it is that which they have been alwayes used and accustom'd unto Thirdly There 's the strength of
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 called us with an holy calling Our holy calling calls us to holiness Fourthly Our Sanctification there 's an argument likewise from that Rom. 8.12 Brethren we are debters not to the flesh to live after the flesh And Eph. 4.23 24. Ye have put on the new man which is created in c. And Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained Our Sanctification does engage us to a strict kind of life in both the parts of it First as to our mortification and so it is urged by the Apostle Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin And so ver 11. Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin c. Secondly our vivification and spiritual quickening Col. 3.1 2. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth That is conform not your selves to the world Lastly to add no more at this time Our Justificaion likewise that lies as a restraint upon us also Being justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 and Tit. 3.7 Especially if we shall take in with it the seal of the Holy Ghost upon our consciences Eph. 4.30 Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Upon all these grounds and considerations have we it evidenced and cleared unto us how unreasonable a thing it is for God's people to mingle themselves with the corruptions of men of the world As contrary and unsuitable to their Election Redemption Vocation Sanctification Justification and Obsignation of all to them by the Spirit of God in their hearts and consciences Now therefore all these things considered we see here how blame-worthy those are which none of these arguments do prevail and work upon to perswade them in this particular What a shame is it for those which are Christians and profess themselves to be so to be as vain in their conversation as others when as the Lord has made so wide a difference and distinction and separation betwixt them as he has done in his dispenfations towards them For Ephraim to mix himself with the people let all those think of this who are led away either with the errors of the times in matter of Doctrine or with the miscarriages of them in matter of practice which cannot hear of any new-fangled opinion but they are ready to follow it let such as these I say consider how unsuitably they walk to Religion and their Christian profession The Lord took it very ill from Ephraim of all others that he should be tainted and defiled with the abominations of the Heathen and so will he likewise proportionably do from all others besides which are in the same condition with them He will not suffer them to go unpunished but will avenge their iniquities and miscarriages upon their own heads This is signified to us in the second sense which may be put upon these words not only as a complaint but a threatening As if the Prophet had said Ephraim shall be mingled among the people that is he shall have the same kind of judgment and punishment executed upon him that others have look as God punishes the Heathen so he will likewise punish Israel he will make no difference betwixt one and t'other And this it follows pertinently upon the other The like judgments are consequent upon the like sins For God is a just God and is no respecter of persons and his justice engages him hereunto And therefore he does upon this consideration deal thus with his people to take them off from these ungodly mixtures As Rev. 18.4 Speaking there of Babylon Come out of her my people that ye be not partkers of her sins and that ye receive not her plagues Implying thus much that as long as she was the one she must expect likewise to be the other If Ephraim will mingle himself with the people in regard of sin God will mingle Ephraim with the people in regard of punishment Now acccordingly should this argument affect us and work upon us It is true if we have any spiritual wisdom or ingenuity in us we might be disswaded from this sinful mixture as it does drive away the Spirit of God from dwelling in us and as the contrary does move him to receive us According to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty This if there be nothing else in it I say might take us off from this compliance and ungodly conjunction But moreover there is this considerable with it even the punishment that is attendant upon it which is an involution in common judgment But so much of the first Branch to wit Ephraim's unhappy mixtures He hath mingled himself with the people The Second is their indifferent temper Ephraim a cake not turn'd Now this as well as the former may admit of a double exposition The one as an amplification of their sin and the other as an aggravation of their punishment It may carry both senses in it according to a different application which may be made of it First Take it as an amplification of their sin we will begin with that first Ephraim is a cake not turn'd Thus it follows as an illustration of the former He hath mingled himself among the people They were ready to boast of themselves that they were the people of God that they had circumcision and the worship of God amongst them whereby they were distinguisht from other Nations and that therefore they were not so bad as perhaps they might be conceived to be To this the Prophet answers by way of anticipation to them that they were a cake not turn'd which was baked but on one side that is of an imperfect and indifferent temper in Religion They had somewhat which was good amongst them but they did not come up to that exactness which was required of them This it is such an expression as may be applyed to divers sorts of persons and has divers miscarriages in it As First it is an expression of hypocrisie and false-heartedness in Religion When people shall be good in profession and outward appearance but naughty and corrupt in their hearts their outside fair and specious but their inside unclean and odious the cleanest part uppermost the foulest underneath Here 's a cake not turn'd This is the temper and condition of too many persons in the world which have it thus with them And the Scripture does reckon them up to us Isa 29.13 This people draw near unto me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me So Psal 55.21 The words of his
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 condition and qualification which is is here looked after Those that can upon good grounds assure themselves that they are members of Christ even they are also prayed for by Christ He is a Saviour of his whole Body and so he is an Intercessor for it He prays for them himself and he â—enders their own prayers as acceptable to God the Father in his own name They have all of them this benefit by him high and low rich and poor learned and unlearned one as well as another It is ordinary in Scripture to apply the promises which are made to such a particular Christian so as to extend them to the whole company of Believers As the promise which is made to Joshua I will never leave thee nor forsake thee the Apostle to the Hebrews applies to all others for the strengthening and confirming of their Faith Be Be you content c. For he hath said I will never leave thee c. Heb. 13.5 And so the encouragement which David takes to himself The Lord is on my side c. the same Apostle extends to all Christians So that we may boldly say The Lord is my helper I will not fear what man can do unto me Heb. 13.6 And that 's the first Explication of this word Thee as it is a word of Qualification The Second is as it is a word of Restriction for so it is likewise It has a general notion in it as Peter was a Believer But it has a restrictive notion in it from other considerations And so we may look upon it First For thee i. e. for thee particularly I have prayed for thee So Christ though he prays for all Believers at large and consider'd in general yet it is not only a general Prayer which he makes for them but with respect had to every ones person and to every ones condition He prays not only for a Believer but for Peter that is for this Believer This is one thing which is intimated to us in this expression I have prayed for thee And it is agreeable to other expressions in Scripture as Isa 43.1 Fear not O Jacob c. I have called thee by name thou art mine In Joh. 1.48 Christ takes notice of Nathanael by name and tells him how he saw him when he was under the Fig-tree And Mary Magdalen he calls her by name Joh. 20.16 Jesus saith unto her Mary c. Christ has a special and particular care of every particular Christian and does commend his condition to God He takes notice of our particular persons and he takes notice of our particular conditions and of the particularities of those conditions There 's not an hair we have but he numbers it there 's not a bone we have but he keeps it there 's not a tear we shed but he bottles it there 's not a groan we make but he hears it there 's not a place or state in which we are but he regards it and takes notice of it There are two considerations which do lay ground to this Dispensation The one is the largeness and infiniteness of Christs knowledg Christ he knows the state and condition of every particular Christian and therefore accordingly does he more readily exhibit it and represent it to God This is a Point which makes much for the comfort still of the poor servants of Christ There are many of them which cannot perswade themselves that Christ has any regard to them at least for their particular What thinks a poor soul has Christ any thought of me yea even of thee though never so mean and despicable yet if a Believer he has a regard unto thee and to thee in particular Simon Simon behold I have prayed for thee He knows the persons of his servants he knows their conditions and he does tender them and signify them to his Father to be regarded by him Look as it was with the woman which had the Bloody Issue in the Gospel Christ singled her out in the croud and took notice of her more especially Even so he does also in the like proportion with any other of his servants This is a very great priviledg and advantage when a Christian shall think with himself in what-ever state and condition he may be now I have Christ taking notice of me and in particular praying for me and commending my condition to God And it is comfortable as in other respects so amongst the rest in mens forgetfulness There are many Bills and Petitions sometimes which are put up to the Ministers to be remembred which yet cannot always be thought of in all particulars amongst many we do afore we are aware of necessity leave out some Oh! but Christ still he leaves out none he prays for thee and he prays for thee and he prays for thee every one's case is remembred by Christ with all the several circumstances and apurtenances of it That 's one part of the Restriction I have prayed for thee i. e. for thee particularly Secondly For thee i. e. for thee especially As Christ in the making of his Prayer has regard to every one's person so withal has he regard to their condition and the more that their condition requires it their person has it So it was here now in the Text Our Saviour here expresses it about Peter rather than any other of his Disciples not as the Papists would have it for the dignity of his person but rather for the necessity of his condition He foresaw that Peter was now in greater danger as one that would shortly deny him and therefore he takes the greater care for him so he does also for others He has a respect to all his servants but as any one's condition is more grievous so is the respect of Christ more unto him As the Mother that loves all her Children but tends that most which is most sick and diseased And as a Physitian which minds all his Patients but him especially which is in greatest extremity and in greatest danger Even so does Christ here with Peter For thee who art likely to deny me and to forswear me and for the time in a manner to renounce me I have prayed for thee more especially because thou of all others doest seem most to stand in need of my Prayers Thirdly In a sense also for thee exclusively It has that restriction with it but not as excluding other Christians but only other men Christ prays for all Believers but he prays only for Believers for Believers and for them alone for thee and only for such as thou art This is exprest by our Saviour himself Joh. 17.9 I pray for them that is Believers I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me for they are mine Christ's Prayer it is denied to the world and appropriated only to his true Disciples such as Peter here was And so I prayed for thee exclusively Thus is thee a word of restriction and this we gather from the person prayed
bowels of compassion which the Scripture so much calls for there must be a yearning and bleeding for poor Souls and a restless unfeigned desire of their welfare and peace as we would ever do good unto them Thirdly A Spirit of Faith whereby we do believe our selves those things which we commend to others When we make Religion but a Complement and outward formality a thing onely to profess or discourse of we shall be but slight in the performance of those Duties which belong unto it and amongst the rest this of Christian Communion but when we look upon it as a thing in good earnest we shall then be more intent about it Well let all these things thus laid together both help and encourage us to this Duty whereof we now speak and which our Saviour here thus urges upon Peter at such time as himself should be converted Where though but one Duty is express'd yet another is also impli'd in it There are two things which this Scripture doth seem to press and inforce with it The one is The putting of our selves upon the strengthning of our Brethren as concerns the Active part of it And the other is The suffering of our selves to be strengthned by our Brethren as concerns that part which is Passive First As to the Active part of it That we put our selves upon the strengthning of others that 's that which is here express'd as a Duty which lies upon us and which accordingly we should make conscience to perform When thou art converted strengthen c. It is a Duty which belongs to all Christians in their places whosoever they be not Ministers onely but others Indeed it concerns Ministers more especially by Office to do it Ministerially but it does likewise concern other men which are private Christians in the Communion of Saints as that which does much belong thereunto It is that which God has in some sort fitted every one for and therefore should every one do and be quickned and provoked to do it There is no true Christian whatsoever but as through the Grace of God he is made to be good himself so also by the same Grace he is enabled to do good to others whereby he appears to be a true Member of the Body of Christ Now having such power and ability conferred upon him it is requisite to be improved by him Therefore this justly meets with the contrary neglect which is in many persons There are many which are very far from the strengthning and comforting of others in the conditions in which they are who can see their Brethren in danger of perishing and almost sinking under sin and sorrow and yet have never a word either of reviving or strengthning for them How little do such as these conform themselves to this counsel and command of Christ But secondly As we have our Duty here exprest as concerns the Active part of this Performance so we have also our duty implyed as concerns the Passive part of it likewise And as those who are themselves converted must be careful to strengthen their Brethren so those also which are their Brethren must be willing to be strengthened by them This it meets with another distemper which man's nature is subject unto There are many who are ready to fall and refuse to be strengthened And there are others who are ready to sink and refuse to be comforted Now such as these are to be here minded of their duty and especially stronger Christians in regard of weak ones not to refuse and disdain either counsel or comfort from them What thinks such a man shall I receive comfort and help from him who is so far inferior to me both in abilities and also in condition Yes even from him though otherwise never so mean God in wisdom and providence has so ordeâ—ed it and appointed it to be so for the mutual preservation of love and dependance betwixt Christian and Christian And Christians should in meekness and humility submit hereunto We see how it was with our Blessed Lord and Saviour himself when he was in his agony in the 43d verse of this very Chapter There appeared an Angel from Heaven strengthening him And our Blessed Lord and Saviour did not disdain the strengthening of an Angel which was so far inferior to him and shall any Christian though never so eminent disdain the strengthening of his fellow-Christian Oh! far be it from him No but let us all be willing as to do good to each other so to receive good from each other in this particular Let us not think to work out things by the strength of our own Graces or Parts or Wit but take in the help and assistance of others to further us to this purpose and honour the wisdom of God who hath thus graciously provided for us by laying up our comfort and establishment in the breasts and mouths of our Brethren And so much may be spoken of the First Point intimated in this Connexion to wit the enlargement of Personal Conversion to Brotherly Confirmation He that is converted himself he must withal strengthen his Brethren So much for that The Second is the Confinement of Brotherly Confirmation to Personal Conversion He that will strengthen his Brethren he must himself be first of all converted This we gather from the emphasis laid upon the word converted which is not altogether impertinent to our purpose That man who is himself out of frame and has temptations prevailing upon him he cannot do that good to others whom he associates and converses withal Peter till himself be converted he cannot confirm or strengthen his Brethren whether in Comfort or Grace When we say he cannot do it this holds good according to the notion of a threefold impossibility which is in it First in regard of the Performance Secondly in regard of the Acceptance Thirdly the Success First In regard of the Performance He cannot strengthen his Brethren in this respect who is himself unconverted especially if we take unconversion for a natural and unregenerate estate Though it holds true also of a state of declining and of spiritual distemper The reason of it is this because persons in such a condition they are devoid of those Graces which are requisite to such a performance Those that will strengthen and comfort others they must have some sense and feeling of a work of Grace upon their own hearts they must be full of love and bowels and pity as we hinted before Now such as these for the most part are not They have no sense of the bitterness of sin nor of the love of God nor affection to the souls of others Barrenness and self-love do ill dispose men to duties of communion now these are commonly predominant in such persons as these are Therefore David in the place before cited lays an emphasis upon this Establish me with thy free Spirit then will I teach c. Which is to be taken not only consequentially but also exclusively Then I will do
Lord and Saviour towards us And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is the Antecedent or Intermediate promise which Christ here makes to his Disciples upon his departure from them And that is that he will come again unto them The Second is the Subsequent or Ultimate promise in these words And will receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Where again there are two Branches considerable of us First the simple Intimation and Secondly the additional Amplification The Intimation that we have in these words I will receive you unto my self The Amplification that we have in these That where I am there ye may be also First To speak of the simple and absolute Intimation I will receive you to my self And this again he may be looked upon by us two manner of ways First in its connexion with that which went immediately before Secondly in its distinction as consider'd alone by it self First take it connexively and in conjunction with the preceding words I will come again and receive you to my self Here 's not only the descension but the condescension also of Christ that he was pleased thus graciously to express himself to his Beloved Disciples He does not say I 'll appoint you to come to me at such a time of your selves Nor he does not say I 'll send somebody else to bring you and convey you to me No but I 'll come and fetch you my self and bring you along with me What an high piece of favour was this if it be rightly and duly consider'd and laid to heart But it came from the same root of love which fetcht him and brought him down frm Heaven at first That love which made him to leave he bosome of his Father to take our nature upon him to be incarnae and become flesh and therein to suffer death for us with all the preparatories thereunto the same love caused him now likewise to be thus willing to come to us again as he promised here to do and for fureness sake himself to come for us This should accordingly work in us all suitableness and corespondency of affection First It should teach us the like meekness and humility one towards another upon all occasions We see how ill it becomes Christians oftentimes to stand too much upon terms to take state upon them or to decline the offices of love and respect to those which are their brethren When as our Blessed Lord and Saviour himself does thus tenderly cndescend to his poor Servants and Disciples as is here exprest This is the Use which we are to make of this Passage as the Scripture it self teaches us to make it Phil. 2.5 6. Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God and thinking it no robbery to be equal with God yet made himself of no reputation but took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of man c. As the humility of his Incarnation does commend humility unto us the humility of his first coming So the humility of his Assumption it does commend the same likewise to us even the humility of his second coming as it is here signified in the circumstances of it Secondly It teaches us also to decline no service for him nor to think any work too mean to undertake in his behalf We should not put off Christ wih others to do that which he requires of us but be willing rather to do it our selves as he is here for us Whiles the nature of things does so require it so long indeed he supplies us by his Spirit whom he sends to comfort us in his stead But as soon as ever he can with any convenience he takes care to come to us himself and thereby to bring us to Heaven Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel and afterwards shalt bring me to glory Psal 73.25 And so much may suffice to have been spoken of this Intimation consider'd in its connexion and in its conjunction with the words immediately preceding I will come again c. Now Secondly We may view it also in its distinction and as consider'd alone by it self I will receive you to my self Where again two things more First we shall look upon in the Negative and consider what is not said in it Secondly we shall look upon it in the Positive or Affirmative and consider what is Both of these are very proper to this Discourse First To look upon them Negatively by considering what is not here declared And that thus First our Saviour does not here say I will come again and stay with you He does not lay the point of their comfort in that particular There are some that would make it so In stead of carrying up the Saints to Christ would rather bring him down to them And therefore do very much urge his personal Reign here upon Earth as a mixt condition to him neither wholly in a state of Humiliation nor yet wholly in a state of Glory but paricipan of either which was the opinion of the ancient Chiliasts or Millenaries and is likewise the opinion of some others still in these days But the Scripture seems to hold forth no other coming to us than that which is joyned with the present Assumption of Believers into Heaven and their abiding with Christ in that place as is exprest here in the Text. The place that Christ prepared for his Disciples it was not Earth but Heaven And assoon as ever he comes again he will be sure to take them up into that place which he hath thus prepared And therefore is there no other place or abode remaining for them which is hereafter to be expected by them He will not come to live with them but he will take them to live with him Therefore he does not say neither That where you are I may be also but where I am you may be also Acts 3.21 It is said that the Heavens must receive him till the time of the restitution of all things Receive him that is retain him as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does also signify and is so to be understood there in that place And 2 Cor. 15.23 24. The coming of Christ and the end of all things are joyn'd together Therefore we should have our thoughts carried up higher than so It savours somewhat too much of a terrestrial and earthly spirit when we would rather so order it that Christ might stay here with us than that we might remove to him But this is not that which he does intend nor should we neither If we be risen with Christ we should seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Set our affections on things above and not on things on the earth Col. 3.12 And that 's one thing in this Negative Christ does not say I will come again and stay with you Nor yet
c. Thirdly There is also here considerable the relation of a Master and his Servants Servants they are to be with their Masters that so they may the better attend them and be serviceable to them And thus now are we also to Christ and for this purpose likewise to be with him As Christ himself also urged and carried it Joh. 12.26 If any man serve me let him follow me And where I am there shall also my Servant be If any man serve me him will my Father honour Thus in respect of all these relations Where Christ is there shall also be Christians The proper Use which we are to make of this Doctrine is that which the Scripture if self teaches us to make of it in the Apostle Paul's own advice 1 Thess 4.18 Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words Comfort your selves and comfort ye one another both are to be done by us And the one making way for t'other When we have first by prayer and meditation wrought these ruths into our own hears and suck'd out the comfort of them we shall from hence be so much the more inabled to comfort others with the comforts wherewith we our selves are comforted of God 2 Cor. 1.4 And there 's a great deal of comfort which may be drawn from such Points as these are Especially if we shall take this Passage in the full Tatitude and extent of it as it becomes us to take it Not only as to an identity of place but also as to an identity of condition which is likewise to be understood in it as belonging unto it That where I am there ye may be also And that as I am so ye shall be also Believers as they shall be in the same house as it were with Christ so they shall likewise be in the same estate which is a state of Glory and Bliss According to that of the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.2 We know that when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Christians they are predestinated to be conformable to the Image of Christ as in other things so also in this Therefore says the Apostle It is a righteous thing with God to give to you which are troubled rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven And when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe 1 Thess 2.7 Now what a comfort are such Points as these to a gracious and spiritual heart It is comfortable in all the roubles and pressures of this present life and the manifold sad conditions which God's children are in here in the World in Banishment in Imprisonment in Desolation in want of place of abode That there is a place prepared for them where they shall rest with Christ himself and fare even as he himself does It is comfortable as to present desertion and as to God's withdrawing of himself from his people and seeming as a stranger to them That there will a time one day come when they shall meet so together as never to be separated from each other They shal ever be with the Lord and he also ever with them So likewise As to the thoughts of death and dissolution it is comfortable here also That though body and soul be divided and severed from each other for a time yet they shall be both joyned together at last and both to Christ And we may reason from Christ to our selves By considering in what condition he is together with what we shall be in also in reference to him Therefore as he is risen from the Grave so likewise shall we As he is ascended up into Heaven so likewise shall we As he is in full glory and happiness both of Body and Soul so we in due time shall be likewise He shall change our vile bodies that they may be made like to his glorious body c. Those that are made like to Christ here in regard of Grace have his image of likeness upon them they shall be made like Christ also hereafter in regard of Glory being changed into the same image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 2.18 Last of all it is comfortable also in respect to Christian Friends in their departure here one from another that they shall at last be sure to meet together again and never part for their being always with Christ it does consequently infer their being also always one with another Besides they shall all be in the same place where Christ himself is And as the Members shall not be disjoyned from the Head so neither shall they be disjoyned from one another but be all of them together And so now I have done with this whole Verse in both the parts of it the intermediate Promise and Vltimate And if I go I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there c. SERMON XX. JOH 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Of the Equality of the Son of God with the Father we heard in part the last day out of that Scripture which was then at that time handled by us In this Scripture we have our Saviour instructing and informing us in the things of God who by how much the nearer he is to him the better is he accepted with him and so consequently the better able to acquaint us with him also in the midst of our own ignorance and incapacity And this is that which we have here offered unto us in this Verse which I have now read unto you No man hath seen God at any time c. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First a Defect premised Secondly a supply of this Defect propounded The Defect premised we have in these words No man hath seen God at any time The Supply of this Defect that we have in those The onely begotten Son who is in the bosome of the Father c. We begin with the first of those Parts viz. the Defect which is here premised No man hath seen c. This is agreeable to some other places of Scripture besides which have the same or like expressions in them In 1 Joh. 4.12 we have the same words expresly No man hath seen God at any time and in 1 Tim. 6.16 that which is equivalent where St. Paul speaking of God says He dwells in that light which no man can approach unto whom no man bath seen nor can see And in other places he is called the Invisible God This will require a little Explication from us because at the first hearing of it it seems to be repugnant and opposite to some others as declaring the contrary as if God indeed both might and had been seen Thus we read of Moses Exod. 33.11 that God spake with him face to face Panim elpanim and Num. 12.8 mouth to mouth Peh el peh a-mareeh apparently or visibly after
to understand them and to know the meaning and intent of them that is to say for which cause and reason God is pleased to send and inflict them that so they may make a right use of them this they do not see which it concerns them to do To know the times and seasons thus namely in reference to God's judgments Thirdly The duties and engagement of the times it becomes us likewise to know these and it concerns us to study them to know what Israel ought to do as it is there exprest For there is a particular duty and carriage and behaviour and conversation which is proper to such a particular time which in another time is not so convenient Every thing is beautiful in its season as the Scripture tells us and that which may be a sin at one time it may be a duty at another according to the several circumstances and appurtenances which it may be clothed withal which it concerns all wise and prudent Christians to be advised of and lay to heart In Rom. 12.11 We find this advice given by the Apostle to the believing Romans and in them to all other Christians Not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord but according to some translations it is serving the time which is not to be understood by us of a base and unworthy complyance with the sins and corruptions of the time but of a careful and discreet consideration of the necessities and conditions of the time which are very much to sway and regulate those actions which are to be done by us This is to be supposed and taken for granted and laid for a rule That we may never do any thing which in its own nature is unlawful or against the word of God There 's no time for sin no not the least sin that is neither may we at all indulge our selves in it so as to frame our selves to it But for those things which are of a middle nature and in themselves consider'd indifferent there 's another account to be given of them and the time of performances here 's considerable as of very great influence both as to the honour and glory of God and as to the good and advantage of God's people And thus we have seen in what respect it may be pertinent for us to know the times and seasons whether in a natural sense or a civil sense or a spiritual sense and religious But the sense in which it is impertinent and whereof we now speak is suitable to the occasion of the Text and as we hinted before as to the time of mens particular deaths the change and alteration of affairs in Kingdoms or States the end and consummation of the world and the time of Christ's coming to judgment such times and seasons as these it is not for you to know that is it is not proper for you it is not your business nor belonging unto you Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but revealed things belong unto us and to our children for ever Deut. 30.20 Secondly It is not for you that is it is not profitable for you it is not your interest or advantage For men to know the times and seasons in this last sense as I have now explained it 's no way useful or beneficial to them neither is it any matter whether they know them and whether the time of their own particular end or of the end of the world It might please as a matter of speculation and so there are divers that busy themselves about it for the discovery of it but it cannot profit in a way of instruction neither does it tend to any true or real edification There 's no considerable advantage which can be thought to come by it nay indeed there is rather much of the contrary it is prejudicial and inconvenient Partly as it would be perplexing and distracting and partly as it would be apt to retard us and take men off from their duty and doing of such things as at present are required of them Thirdly It is not for you that is it is not possible for you it is not within your reach or compass or which you are able to attain unto The time and season of the end of the world and for Christ's coming to judgment it is not in your power to know nor comprehensible by you This agrees with that which follows in the close of the verse which we handled before where it is said that the Father hath put it in his own power and so out of the power of any other besides This agrees with that which our Saviour himself hath in another place likewise declared to this purpose in Mark 13.32 But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven neither the Son but the Father Where there are three sorts of persons excluded from the knowledg of this time Men and Angels and the Son that is Christ himself The latter whereof especially seems to carry some difficulty with it which I shall briefly resolve how Christ who is said in another place to know all things Joh. 21.17 yet is said in this place not to know the day and hour of the last judgment And it is so much the more considerable forasmuch as it is he himself who is appointed to be the Judg as we have it in Acts 17.31 God hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordain'd This man is no other than Jesus Christ who is God and Man both Now that he who was to be the Judg should not know the time of the judgment seems to be a little incongruous and yet notwithstanding it is here intimated as if he did not know the day For the right explication we must consider in what sense this is spoken and we may reduce it to a threefold head First to the subject of this knowledg Secondly to the means of it Thirdly to the manner of it According to either of these he may be said to know it well First Take it as to the subject of this knowledg The Son knoweth not that day and hour But how consider'd namely not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man forasmuch as Christ doth sustain in himself both natures the Godhead and the Manhood therefore by a communication of properties what belongs but only to one nature it is attributed to the whole person As therefore Christ is said to dye not as he was God but as he was Man because the Manhood only is capable of mortality so Christ is said to be ignorant as he was the Son of Man not as he was the Son of God because the Manhood only is capable of ignorance And as he is said to know all things because he was God so on the other side not to know some things because he was Man And so some of the ancients carry it He that knew it as he was God and
God our rejoicing is this or our glorying the testimony of conscience So then that which was others mens misery was his glory The unhappiness of many men is this that they are manifest to God however they they carry it with men but for the Apostle Paul and such as he was it was his greatest rejoicing Again secondly It is comfortable likewise as in mens ignorance so likewise in their neglects by taking the word manifestation by way of allowance We are manifest to God says the Apostle that is we are approved of him this was that which comforted him even then when it was not so with him in regard of men This is another thing which is very comfortable and satisfactory to the Ministers of Christ in all that slighting and neglect and contempt which they suffer from the world especially in such days and times as these are in which we live Well we are manifest to God for all this let us be as low as we can be in the thoughts and apprehensions of men let them count us and call us what they please and cary themselves as they list toward us yet the foundation of God stands sure notwithstanding this And even in this sense likewise The Lord knoweth who are his God knows the works and labours and endeavours of his faithful servants as he sometimes speaks to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus And he knows them likewise affectionately which is that knowledg which we are here to understand They are manifest to him so as one day to be rewarded by him and to have a recompense return'd upon them for them According to that of the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 49.4 I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work or the reward of my work is with my God This is that which is very comfortable to us and ought to be so we are much to improve it and to be strengthened and encouraged by it As a servant if his master like him and commend him and be pleased with what he does he does not care what an hundred other men shall say of it or of himself about it We are manifest to God says the Apostle and he speaks it by way of encouragement And then withal ye may add one thing more to it by the way I 'le but touch it and that 's this To God not only as an approver but likewise to God as an avenger too we are manifest to God so not only as beholding our integrity and so accepting of us but likewise as beholding our wrongs and ill-handlings and avenging it upon others There 's no wrong or injury whatsoever which any of Christs servants suffer whether in their persons or their good names or in their estates or whatever it be but they are manifest to him in them and he will one day require it for them we are made manifest to God thus What is said of the oppressed in general is true of these amongst the rest in particular Thou hast seem it for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand The poor committeth himself to thee Thou art the helper of the fatherless Psal 10.14 Look but into Numb 12.2 8. and see how God takes notice but of an ill word spoken against Moses and calls the speakers of it Aaron and his sister Miriam to an account about it Wherefore were ye not afraid says he to speak against my servant Moses So tender is God of his servants as that he will not allow of an ill word spoken against them but will call to reckoning for it and how much more then for any thing else which is of greater consequence and concernment to them for any wronging or defrauding of them or restraining from them that which is theirs which too many now in these days in many places are guilty of this is manifest to him their labours here will cry and their crys will enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath Jam. 5.4 But so much for that And so you have the first part of this Acceptance as it refers to God But we are made manifest to God The second is as it refers to the Corinthians And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences This likewise as well as the other is added by way of Anticipation and to prevent and objection for here some might have been ready to have replied You talk how you are manifested to God and that you approve your selves to him please your selves with that your inward and secret goodness because you think here none can confute or contradict you well but what are you to the eyes of men and what satisfaction do you give to them This would a little be enquired into by you To this now he answers here thus much And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences Wherein again for methods sake take notice of two things more First the thing it self which he does assert and that is that we are made manifest in your Consciences Secondly the word of Transition or Introduction hereunto and that is I trust or hope so of it First For the thing it self We are made manifest in your Consciences Where for the better opening of this present passage unto us we must again distinguish of this word manifestation which here in this place may be taken again two manner of ways in which as yet we have not taken it the one is in a way of efficacy and the other is in a way of conviction We are manifest in your Consciences that is by that success which our Ministry hath found upon them And we are manifest in your Conscience that is by that approbation which our Ministry hath found with you Both these may be here understood First In a way of Efficacy from that success which our Ministry hath found upon them This is one way of manifestation The faith and graces of the Corinthians were a sufficient commendation and testimony to the Apostles Ministry This is that which he also signifies in other places as 1 Cor. 9.1 2 c. Am I not an Apostle am I not free have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord are not you my work in the Lord If I be not an Apostle to others yet doubtless I am to you for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. The seal of it How was that namely in regard of that efficacy which it hath upon them for their conversion And so again 2 Cor. 3.1 2. c. Do we begin again to commend our selves or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you of letters of commendation form you ye are our Epistle written in our hearts known and read of all men Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshy
to be seduced on the other be could not here well contain himself but does break forth again and again into these Rhetorical and Hyperbolical expressions as being all little enough to shew how much he was affected in this business Surely we have but very little zeal and spirit in us towards God and his Church if we can suffer his Truth to be diminisht or his servants to be imposed upon and deluded and not in the mean time in our several places bestir our selves in it Where further we may here observe and take notice of the Apostles Impartiality to this purpose his holy zeal was so fervent in him as that he spares no persons whatsoever which might seem to stand in his way whether Ministers or Angels themselves but lets his darts fly against either both one and t'other It is the observation of Theophylact upon the place In that he anathematizes Angels he thereby excludes and casts off all authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that he anathematizes himself all propriety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither consideration was available or of force with him to cause him to spare them Mens earnestness is much according to the matter which they are conversant about And indeed it became him so to be and so to do upon such an occasion if it had been only his own private cause which he had kept such a stir concerning it had been justly suspicious but now that it was God's and his Peoples here it was no more than was suitable to him and commendable in him He could not in this case speak too much for the expression of his affection about it and the promoting of it no more can any other do besides in the same circumstances with him And yet to see for the most part how little this rule is observed and practised in the world yea rather the contrary If there be any thing which concerns our selves our own credit or profit or ease or whatever it be we are up with it again and again and can never find the way out of it when we once begin to enter upon it but where God and his Truth is concerned whether Ministers or other Christians the Lord be merciful to us we are herein commonly more silent and remiss and indifferent and well contented than is indeed fitting and requisite for us to be That 's therefore the second Particular which is here observable of us viz. The Apostles Zeal in the Cause and Truth of Christ The third is his constancy and consistency of mind the Apostle would hereby shew that he did not utter these words rashly and unadvisedly before he was aware but considerately and upon due deliberation and therefore repeats them There are many which say that in an heat which they either do or have cause to repent of and to eat their own words therefore what they have said once they think not fitting to say again but it was not so here with St. Paul and he would shew that it was not so with him That it might appear that he spake out of judgment and consideration not out of heat and passion he does again return to it in a renewed inforcement of it As we said before so say I now again if any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed For the better opening of this passage unto you it may not be amiss for us to consider two things First How far this was not the same in the ninth verse which he said in the eighth and secondly how far it was for there is some kind of difference and agreement both at once in them First To take notice of the difference how far it was not the same in this which it was in that and for this there is a double alteration the one in the expression of the Preacher and the other in the expression of the Doctrine For the Preacher that is signified in the eighth verse We or an angel from heaven but in the ninth indefinitely If any one in the specification of neither Then as to the Doctrine in the eighth verse it is laid down under this phrase of that which we have preached discovering the Doctrine with a reference had to the Hearers these at the first view may seem to have some difference in them but such as will be easily reconciled forasmuch as the latter of them which is in the next place now to be considered is more full and comprehensive than the former and so consequently no recession or departure from it at all thus If any one is more than if we or an Angel in asmuch as it takes in even the Devils themselves into the number not excluding the other Then which ye have received is more than what we have preached because they might have more than himself which had preached unto them and that also of the true Ministers of Christ We see then how in effect it is the same in one verse which it is in the other and in the latter which it is in the former From whence the Apostles constancy and consistency is verified to us As we said before so say I now again And his Constancy in two Particulars First His constancy as to his Doctrine As we said before so say I now again that is as we preached before so I preach now again I am the same in the Truths which I delivered Secondly His constancy as to his censure As we said before so say I now again that is as we curst before so I curse now again I am the same in the threatning which I denounced Either of these senses may be very well fastened upon these words though as I conceive rather the latter First To take it in the first sense his constancy as to his Doctrine As we said before so say I now again that is as we preached before so I preach now again I am the same in the Truths which I have delivered And this again may admit of a twofold Explication either first the same for matter or else secondly the same for quality First The same for matter the same numerical and individual Truth yea and that it may be so rendred in the same or the like words and expressions There is good use sometimes for this so it be done as it should be for Preachers to inculcate the same Points and Doctrines in their Ministry at one time as at another and in the same kind of language we see how those two Epistles of St. Paul to the Ephesians and Colossians they are almost one and the same which does justly warrant such a course and practise as this is Not as it is the fashion especially of many of our new upstarts now-a-days to be always treating of one and the same argument and still upon the same song that if ye know who is the Preacher ye may guess what will be the Sermon before you hear it run about City and Country with two or
hundred applauses from other men Now this is the case betwixt God and us he is a Great and Holy God a God of Wisdom and Knowledg and that tryes every mans work of what nature and sort it is and therefore is there very good reason why we should approve out selves chiefly to him Secondly From our Relation to him as our Master and he that sets us on work Whom do servants that understand themselves or workmen that know what they do study chiefly to please in their work but those that imploy them Now this again is the case with us here betwixt our selves and God he is our Master that sets us all our businesses and imployments whiles we live in the world and therefore approve them to him Thirdly As it is he that must recompence us and give us our reward he is not only our task-master but our pay-master likewise and there 's a great matter in that We see this to be natural and frequent in mens dealings with men and one with another that let others find fault with their work as much as they please yet if he likes it that is to give them their wages they do not care nor weigh it a rush but are well satisfied with it and so it should be with us in regard of our dealings with God We should be careful to walk worthy of the Lord to all well-pleasing c. Col. 1.10 And then it is no matter what may happen unto us in other regards but we may be satisfied and quieted in our selves This as it concerns all kind of Christians at large so especially those who are Ministers and are Gods Servants in regard of their office and place which they sustain Alas If we speak of men a man will quickly be here at a loss what to do and he has the hardest task that can be of all other men task'd for one man approves one thing and another man approves the quite contrary so that he that observes this he shall never sin and he that regards the clouds shall never reap as the Preacher expresses it Eccles 11.4 Therefore it is the safest and surest way to look chiefly to God and to be ambitious of being accepted of Him For he is not approved that commends himself but whom the Lord commendeth 2 Cor. 10.18 But yet secondly As Christians must approve their work chiefly to God so in its place to men also Thus we have it in 2 Cor. 8.21 Providing things honest not only in the sight of the Lord but in the sight of men This was the Apostle Pauls care in regard of his own practise and he gives us a very good pattern and example for it in Act. 24.16 And herein do I exercise my self to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men This must be likewise the care of all other Christians besides to give no just ground or occasion of offence to other men from that which is done by them I say to give no ground or just occasion for if we speak of not-offending actually that 's not a thing within our own reach because it is not in any mans power to command another mans judgment and understanding I cannot make any man directly to approve what is done by me because I cannot put reason and light and apprehension into him but yet I may do it objectively and remotely in the action it self which accordingly is that which is to be regarded by all Christians There 's no man ought to do any thing but what may be and ought to be approved of and allowed of by all that observe is This is that which lyes upon us especially in this particular that if any one shall not approve of our actions it may be their fault and not ours not ours as doing any thing which we have no ground or warrant for but rather theirs as not fully apprehending our ground and warrant for it and so as returning upon them rather than on our selves In actions which are disputable and questionable betwixt one Christian and another there are these Rules which are briefly to be observed and regarded by them First That those that are strong do bear with the infirmities of the weak and not to please themselves Rom. 15.1 Christians ought not too rigorously to fasten their own sense and opinion upon others but rather to stay till God himself shall be pleased to reveal it unto them Philip. 3.15 Secondly Every one ought to be ready to give an account of his own practise it is a proud and surly humor in any to do things only because they will do them and never care to give any satisfaction to those that modestly require it of them which in Christianity they are bound to do as we are to be ready to give a reason of our hope so also of our performance We see how careful of this the People of God have still been in Scripture The Reubenites and Gadites and the half tribe of Manasses to satisfie the other Tribes of Israel in that which was done by them Josh 22.21 The Apostles and Elders and Brethren to give an account to the rest of the Churches about Circumcision and other matters in Controversie Act. 15.23 The Apostle Peter to approve himself to those of the Circumcision concerning his eating with the Gentiles Act. 11.4 Thus it has still been the endeavour of those who have been better affected than others not only to do that which they have conceived to be lawful in it self but likewise upon occasion to evidence and demonstrate their doing of it Thirdly Where Christians are forced to dissent from the rest of their Brethren they are bound very much to be affected with it and to lay it to heart though they do no more than they may do yet to be tenderly sensible of the occasion God does mutually humble his Servants in his Providences towards them whiles he suffers them to divide from each other in such particulars and it concerns each of them to improve it and to learn somewhat by it And so as for those who are good so for those which are evil likewise we are to approve our work to them also at least in the Negative that they may have nothing to say against it and where we have not the testimony of their mouths we may have at least of their consciences Thus 1 Pet. 2.15 For so is the will of God that with well-doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men And again chap. 3. ver 16. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil-doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good conversation in Chrift Whiles it is said that we must approve our work to men we must take it with a double limitation for the right understanding of it First That it be to mens Beasons not to their Humours Secondly That it be to mens graces not to their lusts First I say to mens reasons not to
as the former nor pressing or standing upon any thing so much as it is done by himself but rather as it is injoyn'd by Christ So did the Apostle Paul here in this present Text as in other places As many as walk by this rule There 's but one additional word more which I touch and have done which belongs to the qualification of the persons in the close of the Text And upon the Israel of God How does this now come in upon the former and what may be the meaning of it There be divers things which may be couch'd in it First We have here a General direction to be observed by us as to the ordering of our Prayers which is still in them to be mindful of the Church and People of God and the flourishing state and prosperity of that Hence 't is so often still in the Psalms But peace upon Israel an peace upon Israel and peace upon Israel Psal 125.5 Psal 128.6 Psal 131.3 Still Israel is sure to come in for a share in Blessing David could seldom make a Prayer to God upon any other occasion besides but he is still mindful in it of the Church and of the common welfare of Gods People If I forget thee c. Psal 137.5 Thus it should also be with us we should be much in our requests to God for that and for the peace of it forasmuch as it is our common concernment and in the peace thereof we our selves shall have peace As all the members and several parts of the natural body have a share in the health and welfare of that body Secondly In this Expression we have a description of the condition of true Christians which is to be such as prevail with God and are Princes with him as Israel signifies and as Israel was All Gods People they have Power with him and can obtain great things from him in their Petitions and Requests which they make to him They are the Lords remembrancers which give him no rest day nor night till he have establish'd and made Jerusalem a praise in the earth as it is in Isa 62.6 7. Thirdly And principally in this Expression we have a distinction of those which are the true People of God from pretenders and a secret oblique gird at some of the Jews in this particular who stood much upon their Parentage and Birth and Nation an the like that they were the seed of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so Israelites according to the flesh For this the Apostle here intimates to them what he does also in another place Rom. 9.6 That they are not all Israel which are of Israel the Israel of God that is the Israel which worships God and is accepted of him according to that in Phil. 3.3 We are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh And Rom. 2.28 29. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly c. but he is a Jew which is one inwardly c. The Israel of God are the same here in this Text with those whom in another place of this Epistle Gal. 3.7 He calls the children of Abraham by faith These he looks upon as most interested in this Blessing so that these words are not to be taken in opposition to the other but by way rather of Explication So much for that and also of this whole Text As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God SERMON XLIII 1 Thes 5.3 For when they shall say Peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape It is the account which the Preacher Solomon gives us of the nature of Man being corrupted now through his Fall that he knows not his own time But as the fishes that are taken in an evil net and as the birds that are caught in the snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them in Eccles 9.12 And it is the censure which the Prophet Jeremy passes to the like purpose upon the same kind of persons That the Stork in the Heaven knows her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the Lord Jer. 8.7 And this is also here signified to us in this Scripture which we have still before us where the Apostle Paul making mention of the day of Christ's coming to Judgment does represent it as a matter of surprisal and disappointment to the Sons of men 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 travail upon a woman with child c. Which latter verse especially is that which is to be handled by us at this present time as an inlargement and confirmation of the former which we spake to the day before IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable The supposition and the inference The supposition that is of the sin to wit security in these words When they say Peace and safety The inference that 's of the punishment to wit sudden destruction in these words Then sudden destruction cometh upon them c. We begin with the first of these parts viz. The supposition as pointing out the sin which is security in these words When they say Peace and safety Where it is supposed and taken for granted that there are some kind ofpersons in the world which do indeed speak so that say Peace and safety that is which do conclude upon absolute quite and freedom from evil as happening unto them And so indeed there are wicked and carnal people the Atheists and men of the world this is that which they do commonly say as is observable in them And this is that which is here supposed of them when we say that they say it this saying of theirs is to be taken in its full latitude and that according to a threefold Explication First They say it mentally they say it in their minds Secondly They say it verbally they say it in their mouths Thirdly They say it practically or really they say it in their lives and carriages and conversations All these manner of ways they say it First I say they say it mentally they say it in their minds Worldly men they do very much conclude and make account of their worldly prosperity and of the continuance of it to themselves Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling-places to all generations as the Psalmist speaks Psal 49.11 And again Psal 10.6 He hath said in his heart I shall not be moved for I shall never be in adversity And so for Babylon the Prophet Isaiah expresses himself thus to her Thou that art given to pleasure that dwellest carelesly that sayest
our faith without wavering for he is faithful that hath promised Heb. 10.23 Remember thy promise unto thy servant wherein thou hast caused me to hope says the Prophet David Psal 119.49 Where-ever we meet with a promise we have there ground of hope And what 's the reason of this namely because Christ is the faithful witness from whom all the promises of God do receive their establishment And therefore accordingly we should rest and rely hereupon and strengthen our faith from it Especially in cases of difficulty and obstruction which we do at any time meet with We should here make use of this property in Christ which is above all impediments whatsoever His faithfulness and his truth should be our shield and buckler as the Psalmist makes it Psal 91.4 This will hold when nothing else will and we shall not need to call it in question as St. Paul speaking of himself 2 Tim. 1.12 I am not ashamed for I know whom I have trusted c. That is to say such a person as will make god whatsoever he hath promised And so secondly As for promises so for threatnings he is the faithful witness here likewise and so we should look upon him There are many who are perhaps now and then willing to believe God in point of promises because they are comfortable things and such as they desire Et facile credimus quod volumus We believe that easily which we would have to be so But in point of threatning here they withdraw they think that God will not be so severe a punisher and revenger of sin as he hath threatned yes but he will be this also as well as the other Christ is a faithful witness in both and so at last he will prove Thus Joshua speaks to the Israelites in Josh 23.14 15. Ye know says he in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to pass unto you not one thing hath failed Therefore it shall come to pass that as all good things are come unto you which the Lord your God hath promised you so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil things c. Namely because there is the same Ground and Foundation of both which is his Truth and Faithfulness A second Use of this point may be to acquaint us with the blessed estate and condition of the Servants of God Those that are true Members of Christ they are happy persons because he is a faithful witness We judg of men commonly in the world according to their interests and relations and the persons that they have to deal withal Take men that have but little by them as to present injoyment and possession yet if they have the bonds and ingagements of such as are able and faithful we think them rich upon that account Why this now is the case and condition of true Christians Whatever they have at present here below they have much in reversion and expectation and that because they have an interest in Christ who will be sure not to fail them Therefore by the way it should teach us especially to look to this for our particulars There is nothing excellent in Christ which we are any thing better for any further than we are Members of him and such persons as belong unto him And so as to his faithfulness amongst the rest it is that which will do us no good without this but rather the contrary Take men that are as yet out of Christ in a carnal and unregenerate condition and Christ will be so far from being a faithful witness for them as that he will rather be a swift witness against them as he sometimes threatens to be in Mal. 3.5 But those that will have benefit by his faithfulness they must have first interest in his person Thirdly Seeing Christ is a faithful witness it should teach us also conformity to Christ in this particular that we may herein be like unto him whether Ministers or other Christians For Ministers especially forasmuch as we are witnesses by our places we should be faithful in the discharge of them as our Lord and Master was before us It is recorded in commendation of Moses that he was faithful in all his house as a servant Heb 3.5 and so should we be likewise It is the charge which the Apostle Paul gives to Timothy to this purpose 2 Tim. 2.2 The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who may be able to teach others also We should be faithful in the matter of our Doctrine in the impartiality of it in the manner of it in the ends of it and in every thing about it And so for other Christians likewise in their places and according to their conditions to be faithful witnesses likewise They should be ready upon all occasions to justifie the Truths of Religion and to bear witness unto them especially by a life and conversation suitable to them and savouring of them This is to conform to Christ himself in this property which is here fastned upon him And so I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the description of Christ taken from his Prophetical Office in those words Who is the faithful witness The second is taken from his Priestly in these And the first-begotten of the dead The Principal Actions of Christ's Priesthood consist in two Particulars The one is in dying for us and the other in rising again from the dead and making intercession for us and both of them are couch'd in this passage which we have here before us There are three distinct Points which are here observable of us though the last most to be insisted on as most agreeable to the scope of the place First That Christ was once dead Secondly That he rose again from the dead Thirdly That he was the first-begotten of the dead First Christ was once dead This is one thing which is here imply'd Thus 1 Cor. 15.3 I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ dyed for our sins according to the Scriptures And so Rom. 5.6 When we were without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly The Death of Christ is a special Article of our Christian Faith This was requisite in sundry regards First That thereby he might make satisfaction to God's Justice for our offences Heb. 9.22 Without shedding of blood there is no remission Christ by dying does ratifie that Covenant which God hath made with us to this purpose Heb. 9.15 For this cause is he the Mediator of the new Testament that by means of death for the redemption of transgressions they which were called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance c. Again That he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death
concerning her and the Church of Christ and every Member of it is known by this name both here and in other places of Scripture and especially in the Canticles She is called it is the Spouse and Bride of Christ Thus I say we find her to be called in sundry places as Isa 62.5 As the bridegroom rejoyceth over the bride so thy God rejoyceth over thee It is spoken of God's affection to his Church And in Rev. 21.2 I saw the holy City the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband And I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste Virgin to Christ says St. Paul of the Church of Corinth in 2 Cor. 11.2 There 's a special Covenant and Contract drawn betwixt Christ and every true Believer which does justly fasten this Title and Denomination of a Spouse upon him every faithful soul is Christ's Bride and accordingly it concerns him to reserve his affections for him and for him alone and for none but him There 's nothing more uncomely in a Spouse than to have her eyes and heart fastned upon any other besides her beloved and so there is nothing more uncomely for a Christian than to have his heart upon any other than Christ Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee says the Prophet David Psal 73.25 Whosoever is otherwise is not Christ's Spouse but an Adulteress is not the Bride but the Harlot Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the love of the world is enmity with God says St. James in Jam. 4.4 And that is the first notion of this expression The Bride as it is a word of Excellency in opposition to an Harlot The second is as it is a word of Extenuation in opposition to a married person Thus is the Church and every Christian-soul whiles it is here in the world she is a bride and not a wife it is but the Contract only in this world the marriage it is to be consummate in another viz. in Heaven Indeed in one place it is called the bride the Lambs wife Rev. 21.9 and both titles are joyned together but that is to be understood as signifying rather what she shall be than what she is already for as for the present she is no more but contracted and in that regard in an unperfect condition which makes her here in the Text so much to long for the perfection of it when she calls to Christ to come Indeed she is not far from it as seems also to be intimated in this expression again of a bride which is a person near to marriage though short of it and so seems to be in a middle condition betwixt a simple Spouse and a Wife for in a Wife the wedding-day is past and in a simple Spouse the wedding-day is not come but a Bride is a Spouse in the confines and borders of marriage A spouse upon the wedding-day and such an one in a sort is the Church in this latter age and period of the world It is not only a simple Spouse but a Bride in the approaches of conjugal solemnity It will not be over-long ere Christ and his Church which are now but as it were only contracted shall be fully and compleatly married and in the perfect enjoyment and fruition one of another And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the persons themselves here mentioned in Conjunction one with the other and they are the spirit and the bride The second is the Action which is here attributed to these persons and that is of calling after Christ they say unto him Come Here 's the speech that comes from these speakers Now this again as it lyes in the Text may admit of a twofold Emphasis or qualification which may be fastned upon it the one as it is a word of entertainment or contentation the other as it is a word of desire or invitation Come that is thou mayest come if thou so pleasest and shalt be welcom to me I am content and well-pleased with thy coming or come that is thou must come and there 's no remedy I am impatient and unsatisfied without thy coming There is each of these impressions in it First Take it in the first sense as it is a word of simple acceptance or admission and entertainment Come that is thou mayst come as signifying the Churches willingness and contentedness to have Christ come unto her upon his own offer and tender of himself and so it is a Relative expression Christ had in the verse before to wit the seventh verse of this Chapter said of himself Behold I come quickly Now hereupon says the Church to him Come that is thou hast leave and liberty to do so I am contented with it come if thou pleasest and welcom it has a passive or permissive Emphasis with it This is one step of grace and of sincere affection to Christ to reach even to this though it is true as we shall hear afterwards it is not all which is required of us nor which the true Spouse of Christ does for her particular attain unto yet somewhat and a great matter it is And accordingly that which all Christians should labour for and endeavour after to be willing for the coming of Christ at such time as he shall please to come when he shall say I come for them to answer And Lord come To have their hearts and affections so far weaned and loosned from this present world and the things of it as to admit of Christs coming to you This is one thing here considerable By this coming of Christ here we must still remember what coming is meant namely the second coming his coming to judgment with the preparatories of it to judgment whether particular or general though the General be that which is here principally to be understood by us Christ's coming to judg the quick and the dead at the last day This is that coming which the Spirit and the Bride here aim at when they say Come and this coming in the full latitude and extent and comprehensiveness of it is that first which every Christian does desire to submit unto and could be well content to have it accomplished A good and a gracious heart does not decline this coming of Christ or wish to be exempted from it but does very really and heartily and cordially close with it This is grounded upon another coming of Christ first which it has already submitted unto which is his coming in a way of Conversion and Regeneration Those that have first admitted of Christ in his Ordinances and the effectual work of Grace upon their hearts they will not stand out against this coming whereof we now speak but very readily yield unto it And this is the difference now betwixt the Children of God and other men As for wicked and ungodly persons they
All things disparaged in comparison of the one thing necessary 51 58 59 To chuse the one thing necessary an argument of four things 55 Natural ability See free-will and free-grace What it may what it cannot do 155 Pelaginas confuted 166 Natural condition A miserable condition 159 160 O Ordinances Touching those who are without Gospel-ordinances 9 Whence their efficacy arises 31 P Pharisee What their righteousness was 1 Touching Pharisaical righteousness See Rightousness Prodigies and signs 266 Punishments Degrees of punishments 4 Peace What peace Christs death obtains 275 What it implies 406 Patience Of God 29 Why God bears long Ibid Pride How it discovers it self 39 430 Proveing How taken 385 Prayer Satan sometimes prays 65 Comfort when we cannot pray See Comfort VVhy Christ prayed although he could do all things without it 72 Incouragement to it 446 Papist And Jew wherein a like 266 Transubstantiation 267 269 Against their Tradition 339 Perseverance True Christians shall persevere 76 87 369 See Grace Persevere in two things 103 Helps to it Ibid VVhence the opinion of falling away arises 369 Motives to it 408 Providence Our ignorance touching Providence twofold 111 The intricacies of Providence and the reason thereof 112 Not for us to foretell its future events 113 VVhat in Providence God will at last make manifest 114 The properties of Gods Providence Ibid. VVhen God will vindicate his Providence 115 Prophesie See Enthusiasts Not for its to foretell future events of Providence 174 213 Imagainary Revelations censured 337 Opposers of Christs prophetical office 436 Perswading How taken 305 Preaching How men come to count it foolishness 261 VVhat it is 261 337 VVhence its efficacy arises 261 VVhy it profits not without faith 263 Directions touching it 270 271 298 350 274 278 437 382 301 VVhat it is to preach Christ crucified 276 VVhence it becomes unprofitable 263 279 280 Parents Duty to their Children 266 R Pighteousness OF Scribeds and Pharisees what 12 Defectiveness of the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees 3 10 The Principles of Pharisaical righteousness 3 VVhy Pharisaical righteousness cannot bring to Heaven Ibid. Pharisaical righteousness in a sense worse than notorious sins 4 Civil righteousness commended 5 The righteousness exceeding that of Scribes and Pharisees Ibid. Moral righteousness not meritorious of saving-grave 11 Reproof How to be administred 41 46 The best of Christians ought to be reproved 41 Cautions to be observed in reproving a good man 42 Riches Their vanity 25 Resurrection VVhy Christ is so called 144 Religion The one thing necessary 47 Motives to diligence in it See Diligence VVhat required unto being acceptably religous 56 VVhence staggering in it arises Ibid. Religion justified 59 47 91 VVhat in it chiefly to be minded 296 Relations VVhence discord between nearest relations especially arises 53 Comfort under the loss of them 132 450 Reason The impotency of humane reason 90 91 112 173 254 255 259 269 How it discovers God 133 A check to the Contemners of it 269 Rehearsed In Scripture of the same words what it implies 341 Repentance How the goodness of God leads unto it how not 353 Reward Touching it 423 S Scribes Their office 1 Stumling-block 281 Satan Why he most tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why most of all be iempts Ministers 64 His winnowings what 67 Sincerity A double effect of it 101 Sinner In what respects a fool 19 His danger and misery in this life 24 426 His ignorance 90 Incouragement ot prosligate sinners to repent 108 His impotency 163 Different sinners have their different corruptions whence it is 265 Why God bestows many good things on them and bears long with them 347 How without God in the world 426 Spirit Of God why compared to wind 85 How to get its supplies 168 What it is to walk in it See Walk How it witnesseth the Truth of Scripture 435 Scepticism The danger of it 266 Scandal VVhat it is implied 281 Lords-Supper What eating and drinking damnation signifies 282 Sin An umprofitable thing in what respects 356 Whence men come to be ashamed of it 359 Its aggravations 422 Its heinous nature discovered 442 How men sin against the blood of Christ 443 Speaking A threefold speaking 411 Security The danger of it 416 417 Salvation A Christians certainty of it 433 In what sense it 's said a Child of God cannot sin 325 T Thoughts Vanity of them 18 The evil of distraction in them 45 50 Causes of distraction in them 45 52 Remedies against their distraction 45 52 Taking freely what it imports 458 Temptations Why Satan must tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why he most of all tempts Ministers 64 Support under Temptation 65 72 75 79 87 Walk against them 66 74 Why God suffers his to fall into them 73 How faith helps under them 75 Whence Christians come to recover out of them 78 The evil that comes by them 80 The good that comes by them 62 Time What knowledg of the times concerns us what not 113 130 171 What times it 's not fur us to know 169 Terrors Of the Lord what 303 Thirst spiritual what it implies 455 The excellency of spiritual thirst 456 Teason Gun-powder Treason 317 Truth How taken in Scripture 328 Toleration Against universal toleration 337 Tradition When equalized with Scripture condenned 339 V Vanity OF Thoughts See Thoughts Unity Among Christians 408 409 Bounded 409 Unbelief The hainousness of it 436 Voice of Christ in the Ministry the voice of the spirit in the conscience and the voice of the spirit in the Spouse to be heard 453 454 W Way Incourage any coming on in the Ways of God why 14 Word Ingemindation of words its end 41 60 World Take heed of worldly-mindedness See Mind Why continued 106 How taken in Scripture 152 Watch. Against temptation why 66 67 Motives to it 418 Work How Christ helps to the performance of a good work 164 Good works in what respects disparaged 156 Wisdom Humance in what respects disparaged 156 Walk To walk in the spirit what 372 373 What it implies 374 400 How walking in it secures against sin 380 Touching a Christians rule to walk by 403 404 Water of life what understood by it 456 What understood by Whosoever will let him take of the water of life Y Youth Motives to early Godliness 52 Good education a great blessing 266 Z Zeal How Christians come to decay in it 421 FINIS