any good God takes notice of it Daviâ— after hâ— had repented of that foule sinne and was sharply corrected for it as indeed he was David was a good man for all that hee served God in his Generation But to give you an item by the way however God passed by the sinne in David and accounted him after his repentance a good man yet he must be sharply corrected for it Let no man therefore presume upon this that God will iudge him by the tenour of his life and therefore hee will commit particular enormities oh no! it cost David deare for besides his heart-smart in his owne particular God made his heart bleed it cost him many a salt tear besides that it was punished in his posteritie God raysed up his own bowels to take armes against him hee made him wish a thousand times that he had not so offended God It is ill trying conclusions with God though God afterwards pardon us and turne all to good yet it shall cost us deare first Though God will bring us to heaven yet if we will venture upon sinnes against conscience and take libertie to offend God he will take sharp courses with us yet it shall not preiudice our salvation you see those sins of David after he had repented was corrected for them they were forgotten and David in regard of the course of his life served God his life was a service of God notwithstanding some particular actions These things may be usefull to the best of us all therefore I observe them in generall from Gods manner of mentioning David here with honour and passing by his infirmities To come more particularly to the words Then David after he had served in his Generation the will of God c. THe words are a short Epitome of the life and death of the blessed man David First I will speak of his life and then of his death In his life there are these two parts First the time in which he lived when this service was done In his Generation And then the manner of his carriage in that time of his generation It was a service of God He served God And this service of God is set down by the obiect of it God By the rule of his worship the will of God Hee served God but how as he had revealed his will to him not at randome God will be served according to his own will And then here is the act he served So here is the proper obiect of worship God in whom all our service is terminate whatsoever we do it must rest in him if we do good works to men it must be for Gods sake we must serve God in it Then here is the proper rule carrying us to that obiect his Will And then it must be a service it must be done in obedience to God David in his Generation served the will or counsell of God as the Word is For his death we shall speak of it after First for the time In his generation Generation in the Scripture signifies a succession of men one after another as you have it in Matth. 1. from such a one to such a one so many generations so many successions You know in the Latine tongue seculum is taken for an age or generation the space of an hundred years though Moses shut up the life of man in a shorter time Succession of one man after another is a generation Generation sometimes in a generall sense is taken for all of one kinde The generation of Noah and the generation of the righteous that is all of that kinde without restraining it to succession But most commonly it is the consideration of men from succession of them having the tearm from the way whereby we enter into the world that is by generation therefore the succession of men from one to another is called Generation Now here Generation implies both the times and the persons The persons of men are a severall generation and the time wherein they live is a generation and both are here included David in his Generation among the age of men and in the time wherin he lived â—erved God The meaning of the place is clear The points considerable here are First of all that there is a generation a succession of men one after another Secondly that every man hath his particular generation Daviâ— had his generation wherin he served the Lord. Thirdly that he served God in his Generation that is the whole time of his Generation yet with this limitation he served God only in his generation while he was here before he came to heaven In heaven there is a kinde of service but it is not by way of work but of reward We must serve God in our generation here If ever we look to reap herafter we must sow now David served God in his generation First of all There is a generation a succession of men Particular men go off the stage but the species the kinde is eternall kinds of things continue forever Man dies noâ— but Paul and Peteâ— and David die there is a succession of particular men It is with men as it is with the waves of the sea one wave goes away and another comes after It is with men as it is with trees for men are compared in Scripture to trees trees of righteousnesse and man take him in his nature is like a tree the Poet could say to that purpose it is with men as with trees some leaves fall off in Autumne and others come in their place the next spring so it is with men they have their severall Generations there is an Autumne a decay and there is a spring of them there is a succession of Generations To teach us this lesson that our time being short here every man hath his generation one Generation goeth away and another commeth as the Scripture saith wee must be laid to our Fathers and otherr must stand up in our place Rise up Iosua for Moses my servant is dead saith the Lord one servant of God dies and another rises There bee many that must act their parts in this world therefore some must go off the stage that others may come on therefore while we have time here let us be sure to do good before we be takeÌ„ away suddenly we know not how soon and there be no more generation Here there will be a succession of generations till wee all meet in heaven then there wil be no succession there shal be no more death but as the Apostle saith we shal be for ever with the Lord. And it should teach us likewise considering that in regard of our being and naturall condition in the world there are severall successions generation after generation that now we are here and presently after no more seen in the world to make sure an eternall generation to be borne anew of the immortall seed that never dies as Saint Peter saith that tends to
of red well coloured earth to a lump of flesh it is a wondrous conjunction But there is a more supernaturall conjunction of man when all of us sinners as we are are knit to Christ our head and head and members make one Christ here is a wondrous conjunction Saint Paul calls it a mystery Ephes. 5. these conjunctions in us are wonderfull But now to goe higher in Christ there are more wonderfull conjunctions for the greatest and the meanest to joyne together for God and man to come together the Lord of all and a servant and such a servant as should be under a curse for the highest of all to come to the deepest abasement for there was no abasement ever so deepe as Christs was in a double regard First none ever went so low as he for hee suffered the wrath of God and bore upon him the sins of us all none ever was so low And then in another respect his abasement was greatest because hee descended from the highest top of glory and for him to be man to be a servant to be a curse to suffer the wrath of God to be the lowest of all Lord whether dost thou descend here is a wonder in these conjunctions Next to Christs abasement was Adams because he was the most excellent being in the state of innocencie and carrying the image of God and being familiar with God for him presently to come into that fearefull condition it was the greatest abasement because it was from the greatest dignity that made the abasement of Christ so great for Lordship to submit to service for God to be man the blessed God to become a curse heere is matter of wonder indeed In Christ againe there was a conjunction of perfect body perfect soule and perfect God and all make one Christ In the Trinity there is a conjunction of three persons in one nature that is a wondrous conjunction but it belongs not to our present purpose here you see there is matter of wonder in the person that Christ should be a servant There is matter of wonder likewise in that from whence he is a servant whence comes it that Christ is a servant It is from the wondrous love of God and the wondrous love of Christ to be so abased it was wondrous love in God to give him to us to be so abased and the wondrous misery we were in that we could not otherwise be freed from for such was the pride of man that he being man would exalt himselfe to bee like God God became man he became a servant to expiate our pride in Adam so that it is wondrous in the spring of it There was no such love as Christs to become a servant there was no such misery as we were in out of which we were delivered by this abasement of Christ becomming a servant so it is wondrous in that regard springing from the infinite love and mercy of God which is greater in the worke of Redemption and Reconciliation then in the Creation of the world for the distance betweene nothing and something was lesse then the distance betweene sin and happinesse For nothing adds no opposition but to be in a sinfull state there is opposition therefore it was greater love and mercy for God when wee were sinfull and so obnoxious to eternall destruction to make us of sinners not onely men but to make us happie to make us heires of heaven out of a sinfull and cursed estate then to make us of nothing something to make us men in Adam for there God prevailed over nothing but here his mercy triumphed over that which is opposite to God over sinfullnesse and cursednesse To shew that the creature cannot be so low but there is somewhat in God above the misery of the creature his mercy shall triumph over the basest estate where hee will shew mercy therefore there is mercy above all mercy and love above all love in that Christ was a servant Thirdly it is wondrous in regard of the fruit we have by this service of Christ the worke of our Redemption to be translated from the kingdome of Satan to the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God to be brought out of darkenesse into marveilous light it is marveilous matter of wonder the good wee have by this abasement of Christ Behold what love the Father hath shewed us that wee should be called the sonnes of God Now all this comes from Christs being a servant our liberty comes from his service and slavery our life from his death our adoption and sonship and all comes from his abasement therefore it is a matter of wonderment for the great things we have by it O the depth O the depth saith Saint Paul here are all dimensions in this excellent worke that Christ hath wrought by his abasement by his incarnation and taking upon him the forme of a servant and dying for us here is the height and breadth and length and depth of the love of God in Christ O the riches of Gods mercie the Apostles they stand in a wonder and admiration of this and indeed if any thing be to be admired it is Christ that wondrous conjunction the wondrous love that wrought it and the wondrous fruit we have by it It is the basenesse of our nature we can wonder at shallow things there cannot be a foolery but there will be many about it presently and stand admiring every emptie idle thing that the nature of man is carried away with whereas indeed there is nothing worthy of admiration but the wonderfull love of God O how wonderfull are thy workes saith David of the works of Creation Psal. 8. the worke of Creation and of providence whereby God guides the world are wonderfull and the Psalmist cries out of the folly of men that do not regard the worke of the Lord Psal. 107. Fooles regard not this The workes of the Lord are worthy to bee considered they are knowne of all that delight in them Psal. 111. but if these things bee so wonderfull and to bee regarded and delighted in alas what is all the worke of redemption Great is the mysterie of godlinesse God manifested in the flesh c. there are mysteries matters of admiration but carnall men thinke these triviall matters they can heare matters of more rarity and when they speake of these things alas they are too wise to wonder tush they know the Gospell well enough whereas indeed as wee see here they are things that deserve the admiration of Angels and as they deserve it so the Angels prie into these excellent secrets in Jesus Christ. Christ was a servant by office and by condition we must not rest in this base condition for he took upon him the forme of a servant that he might be an excellent servant there is both basenesse and excellencie in the word servant for his humiliation was a degree of his exaltation and a part of his advancement if wee regard his
hidden life that is he was not knowne what hee was that so hee might worke our salvation so let us bee content to bee hidden men A true Christian is hidden to the world till the time of manifestation comes when the time came Christ then gloriously discovered what hee was so wee shall bee discovered what wee are in the meane time let us be carefull to doe our duty that may please the Spirit of God and satisfie our owne conscience and leave all the rest to God Let us meditate in the feare of God upon these directions for the guidance of our lives in this particular FINIS GODS INQVISITION In two Sermons By the late Reverend and Learned Divine RICHARD SIBS Doctor in Divinity Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge and sometimes Preacher at GRAYES INNE GEN 18.21 I will goe downe now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know PSAL. 14.3 They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one LONDON Printed by G.M. for Nicholas Bourne and Rapha Harford MDCXXXIX GODS INQVISITION IERE 8.6 7. I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickednesse saying what have I done every one turnâ—d to his course as the horse rusheth into the battell Yea the storke in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. VPON the sinnes of people it hath beene alway Gods course to send his Prophets to warne them before hand and afterwards upon that to observe how they profit by that warning and thereupon he takes occasion to proceed answerably God usually exerciseth a great deale of patience ere he strikes he made the world in six daies but he is six thousand yeares in destroying it In this verse after the holy Prophet had menaced the judgement of God upon them there is set downe what use they made of it Alas They spake not aright no man repented him of his wickednesse saying what have I done And least they should object how doe you know this He saith here it is upon inquisition I hearkened and heard So the words containe Gods inquisition or enquiry and then Gods evidence upon that inquiry together with a complaint His enquiry I hearkened and heard For we must apply these words to God there is the same phrase Mal. 3.16 The Lord hearkned and heard and a Booke of remembrance was written before him so here I hearkened and heard here is the enquiry Then secondly the evidence upon the enquiry They spake not aright And thirdly the complaint upon that evidence set downe First positively They repented not of their wickednesse which is amplified 1. From the generality of this their impenitency No man repented him and 2. From the cause of it want of consideration they did not say what have I done If they had called themselves to account concerning what they had done certainely they would have repented 2. Comparatively They turned to their course as the horse rusheth into the battell Lastly superlatively preferring the skill of the poore Storkes and Cranes and the Turtle and Swallow before the judgement of his senselesse and stupid people The Storke in the heavens knoweth her appointed time and the Turtle the Crane and the Swallow But my people know not the judgement of the Lord. This is the summe of the words First of Gods enquiry I hearkened and heard Ere Sodome was destroyed The Lord came downe to see whether there were such cause or no. God is most just he will see cause for his judgements He hath no delight in punishing When hee judgeth it is not out of his Soveraignty but out of his justice he doth it not as a Soveraigne Lord but as a just judge Now a judge must doe all upon inquisition and evidence therefore saith he I hearkened and heard Where by the way the gods of the earth to whom he hath communicated his name should learne hence not to be rash in their judgements but to have sound evidence before they passe sentence I hearkened and heard To hearken is more then to heare to apply ones selfe with some affection to heare a thing God is all eare as he is all eye hee hath an eare every where he hath an eare in our hearts he heares what wee thinke what we desire hee sees all the secret corners of our hearts therefore when he saith here I hearkened and heard it is by way of condescending to our capacity We may learne hence briefly That God hath an eare and an eye to our carriage and dispositions to our speeches and courses If we had one alway at our backs that would enforme such a man and such a man what we say one that should booke our words and after lay them to our charge it would make us carefull of our words Now though we be nevâ—r so much alone there are two alwaies that heare us God hearkens and heares and Gods deputy in us conscience hearkens and heares God bookes it and conscience bookes it As God hath a book wherein he wrote us before all worlds and the booke of his providence for our bones and all things that concerne us So he hath a booke for our workes and words Mal. 3.16 They that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a booke of remembrance was written before him c. So here I hearkened and heard God and conscience note and observe every thing This doth impose upon us the duty of carefull and reverent walking with God Would we speake carelesly or ill of any man if hee heard us When we slight a man we say wee care not if he heard us himselfe But shall wee slight God so Shall we sweare and lye and blaspheme and say we care not though God heare us that will lay every thing to our charge not onely words but thoughts We shall give an account for every idle word and for every idle thought and shall we not regard it It is from the horrible prophanenesse of the poysonfull rebellious heart of man that men doe not consider these things God hearkens and heares hee is at our studies hee is at our windowes hee heares us in our chambers when wee are in company when we meete together when we take liberty to censure and detract when wee sweare and revile What if men heare not yet conscience heares and God heares and when God shall lay open the booke of conscience and lay before a man all his naughty speeches and wicked works what will become of him then for not making use of this principle that God hearkens and heares God sees now with what minds and affections we come about this businesse whether it bee formally to put off God to make it
his wrath he will bee too good for them the Divell will be too good for them hell will be too good for them conscience will teare them in pieces and the judgement of God will seize on them The way of wicked men is a wretched a desperate and dangerous course thou art stubborne against God and he is so against thee he will doe to thee as thou doest to him Who are we are wee stronger then God Carelesse atheisticall persons thinke they are tush they can wind out well enough but they will finde it otherwise Doe wee provoke the Lord to jealousy are wee stronger then he saith the Apostle let us lay this to heart We see heere againe how sinne hath cleane defaced the Image of God in man Man being in honour hee would become like God he was weary of his subordination hee would be absolute and because he would be like God God made him like the beast and it is worse to be like the beast then to be a beast for the beast in his owne condition followes the instinct of nature but to be like a beast is for a man to unman himselfe to degrade himselfe to a baser condition then God made him in and when a man doth this hee is either in malice like the Divell or in licentiousnesse as the beast is he is alway like the Divell or a beast till hee be a new creature And that our nature is come to this we are beholding to our owne yeelding to Sathan and his counsell wee rush as the horse into the battell therefore let us beware of this Bee yee not as the horse and mule c. saith David Psal. 32.9 Who would not labour to be in a better condition to be a new creature to be changed by the powerfull ordinances and Spirit of God so much for that briefly come wee now to the last clause Yea the Storke in the Heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. Here is another expression comparative or rather superlative hee compares them to the Storke and Turtle the Crane and Swallow and prefers these poore creatures in wisedome and providence as going before men But my people know not the judgement of the Lord There needes no great explication of the wordes Iudgement is directive or corrective The directive is the Law of God setting downe Gods judicious course This you shall doe or if you doe not this you shall be punished When we obey not Gods directive course we meete with his corrective for judgement is the stablishing of judgement judgement of correction is the stablishing of judgement of direction Gods Lawes must be performed they are not skare-crowes if wee avoid the one wee shall runne into the other if we doe not meete him in the judgement of his directive law wee must be met with in his law corrective if we be good men or destructive if we be bad men Now here J take it he meanes especially the judgement of correction the time of visitation it was a dangerous time as it is now among us they were already under severall heavy judgements as famine c. wee see in the next verse there was no vines no grapes c. all failed And besides a farre heavier judgement was ready to come upon them they were ready to be carried into Babylon and they knew not the judgement of the Lord. They knew not that is they did not make use of it for in divinitie thinges are not known when they are not affected God knoweth all things but when hee doth not affect and delight in us he is said not to know us so wee are said not to know when vve doe not affect and make use of things They know not the judgement of the Lord. They were not ignorant hee had told them of vengeance he had told them that they should be carried into captivity but they made not that use they should of it therefore they are said not to knovv it So the old world it is said they did not knovv of the flood certainely Noah had told them of it but vvhen they made not a right use of it but went on brutishly they knevv it not Jt is all one not to knovv it at all and not to make use of it Wicked men thinke they knovv God and they knovv religion vvell enough I but what use do they make of it in their particular course that which vve doe not use vve doe not knovv in religion Jf ill be discovered and be not avoided by thee thou art a brutish sencelesse creature thou dost not know it and so thou shalt be dealt with They know not the judgement of the Lord that is They vvill not knovv it it was affected ignorance The words being thus unfolded here first vve see That God confounds the proud disposition of wicked men by poore silly creatures the Crane the Turtle the Swallow and the like What their wisedome is we see by experience in winter to fly from hard and cold parts to those where there is a Spring They are here in the moderate season and when the Summer is gone they goe to a more moderate aire where they may live better For the life is the chiefe good of such poore creatures and their happinesse being determined in their life they labour to keepe that they have an instinct put in them by God to preserve their being by remooving from place to place and to use that that may keepe life Now man is made for a better life and there be dangers concerning the soule in another world yet he is not so wise for his soule and his best being as the poore creatures are to preserve their being by the instinct of nature When sharpe weather comes they avoid it and goe where a better season is and a better temper of the aire but man when Gods judgements are threatned and sent on him and God would have him part with his sinfull courses and is ready to fire him and to force him out of them yet he is not so carefull as the creatures He will rather perish and die and rot in his sinnes and settle upon his dregs then alter his course so he is more sottish then the silly creatures he will not goe into a better estate to the heate to the Sunne-beames to warme him he will not seeke for the favour of God to be cherished with the assurance of his love as the poore creature goeth to the Sunne to warme it till it be over hot for it Man should know what is good and what is evill the new creature doth so for with the change of nature there is a divine wisedome put into the soule of a Christian that teacheth him what is good and what is evill that he may be carefull to avoide the evill that he may discerne of things that differ that he
may say this is good for my soule and all the world shall not scoffe me out of that that I know to be good with their prophane jesting they shall not drive me from that is good for courses that are ill they shall not draw me with all their allurements I know what belongs to the good of my soule better then so It should be thus vvith Christians to be vvise for their spirituall being as the poore creatures the Storke and the Crane and the Turtle are to preserve their poore life here with as much comfort as they can God takes out of the booke of nature things usefull to insert them into his divine booke because now no man shall be ashamed to learne of the creatures Now since the fall man must learne of the poore creatures and such a dunce is man it is well for him if he can learne of the Ant and Crane and Turtle and therefore doth God take lessons out of the booke of nature and put them into his booke to teach us to furnish our selves with divine mysteries and instructions from the creatures And indeed a gratious heart will make use of every thing and have his thoughts raised with them As the Prophet Ieremy here he shames them by the example of the creatures But of this by the way The thing most materiall with which I will end is this That God after long patience hath judgements to come on people and it should be the part of people to know when the judgement is comming There is a season when God will forbeare no longer in this world They know not the judgement of the Lord the meaning is not in hell though that may come in that is implyed in all but they know not the judgement of the Lord that is they know not the judgements that are comming When judgements are comming God opens the hearts and understandings of his people to know them as there is an instinct in the creatures to know when there will be hard weather But how shall we know when a judgement is neare hand By comparing the sinnes with the judgements if there be such sinnes that such judgements are threatned for then as the thred followeth the needle and the shadow the body so those judgements follow such and such courses For God hath knit and linked these together all the power in the world and hell cannot unlinke them sin and judgement judgement either correcting us to amendment or confounding us to perdition God therefore having threatned in the Scriptures such judgements to such sinnes if we live in such and such sins we may looke for such judgements Thus a wise man by laying things together the sins with the judgements though he cannot tell the particular yet he may know that some heavy judgement is at hand Againe there is a nearer way to know a judgement when it hath ceazed on us in part already he that is not brutish and sottish and drunke with cares and sensuality must needs know a judgement when it is already inflicted when part of the house is on fire Wee see judgement hath ceazed now on the places where we live and therefore we cannot be ignorant of it Againe we may know it by the example of others God keepes his old walks Therefore it is said As it was in the daies of Noah so shall it be when the Sonne of man comes they were eating and drinking and marrying and knew not till the stood came and tooke them away God will be like himselfe if sinners be like themselves he will not change if they change not but will deale alike with them in his judgements as he hath dealt with others What ground have we to hope for immunity more then others We may rather expect it lesse because we have their examples and so they wanted those examples to teach them which wee have In Ieremy 7.12 saith God Consider looke to Shilo and see what I did there so will I doe to you So likewise the judgements on Hierusalem are a fearefull spectacle for us These and other examples may helpe us to judge of our condition in regard of approaching judgements Againe generall security is a great signe of some judgement comming Jn the daies of Noah there was a generall sensuall security notwithstanding the Prophet fore-told them of the deluge they were eating c. and knew not till the flood came and tooke them away So likewise if we eate and drinke and marry and build and be negligent and carelesse of making our peace with God especially when warning is given us it is a signe that some judgement either personall on our selves or generally on the place we live in will come upon us there is never more cause of feare then when there is least feare The reason is want of feare springs from infidelity for Faith stirrs up Fearefullnesse and care to please GOD By Faith Noah mooved with feare or reverence builded the Arke it proceeds from infidelity not to bee afraid when there is cause Againe where there is no feare there is no care So the roote of the want of feare is infidelity and the spring that comes from it is carelesnesse which alwaies goes before destruction When men care not what becomes of them if God be pleased so it is if judgement come so it is the care is taken When men thus say peace peace then commeth destruction It is a terrible thing for a State or a Citty or a particular person to be carelesse for the life of a Christian it is a watching as well as a warring condition he must be alway on his guard therefore hee must not bee carelesse and say peace where God speakes no peace Againe vve may know that some judgement is comming by the universality and generality of sinne vvhen it spreads over all When there is a generall infection of sinne vve may vvell feare the infection of the aire sinne hath infected the soules of men therefore no vvonder if God in the plague have a hand in infecting their bodies We see here before the Prophet threatned this destruction there was a generality of sinne In the 10. verse of this Chapter he cryes out against the covetousnesse and false-dealing of the Priests and Prophets and men of all estates And so also Chap. 5. verse 4. The poore they were naught they were poore in grace and goodnesse as well as in condition Then saith he I will see if there bee any goodnesse in the great ones I will get me to the great men verse 5. they have knowne the way of the Lord and the judgement of their God but they have broken the yoke and burst the bonds When poore and rich great and small when all are sottish and brutish when all flesh had corrupted their waies as it was before the flood then judgement must needs come surely generality of sinne makes vvay for generality of judgement as the
might satisfie the just wrath of God foâ— our sinnes and so reconcile God and us together he hath made God and us friends so that this that God is with us it is grounded upon an excellent and sound botâ—omâ— upon the Incarnation of our blessed Saviour that for this very end that God might be with us was God with us that is he was God and man to bring God and man together he was God and man in one to bring God and man that were at contrary termes to termes of reconciliation to recollect and bring us backe againe to God from whence we fell So the reason why God the Father Sonne and Holy-Ghost are with us it is because Christ the second Person God and man is with us or else there could be no such sweet termes as these are you see how it is founded Christ took our nature and advanced and inriched it Now hee having taken our nature and our persons to be one with him how neere are Christ and we together There is one common spirit in him and us one common Father I goe to my Father and your Father to my God and your God There is one common Kingdome and inheritance wee are fellow-heires with him oh how neere is Christ to us our soules are not so neere our bodies as Christ is to us and God in Christ. So you see this that God is with us it is founded upon an excellent wonderfull comfortable mysterie This I suppose is cleare therefore I come to that I intend further to enlarge that is the comfort built upon this ground If God be with us Who shall be against us One would think this a strange question for a Christian no sooner comes to be one with Christ and so to be reconciled to God but he hath against him all the powers of hell and then he hath the whole world against him presently Satans Kingdome and then hee hath an enemy that is worst of all that stirres up strife and rebellion and contention even in his owne heart his owne flesh So that we may say who is not against a Christian If God be with us all else but God will side against us There are two grand sides in the world to which all belong there is Gods side and those that are his and there is another side that is Satans and those that are his two Kingdomes two seeds two contrary dispositions that pursue one another till all the one be in hell Satan and all his seed together the Devill and all that fight under his banner that are led with his malignant poyson-full spirit though it may be they cannot doe more hurt or doe not out of politicke respects though they have poyson-full hearts yet these never leave contending till they be in hell and the other never leave till they be in heaven together Christ makes it his prayer My will is that where I am they may be also and his will must be performed so that he need not aske the question If God be with us who shall be against us there will be enow against us It is true but in what sense are they against us and how farre are they against us They are thus farre against us in their wit in their plots and policies in their wills they would devoure all if they could they are against us in their indeavours they doe what they can against the Church and people of God They are against us in their prevailing likewise their indeavours are not idle but prevayle very farre over Gods people even to insolency Where is now their God as it is oft in the Psalmes and to the dejection of Gods people The Lord hath forsaken me The Lord hath forgotten me Gods people are brought very low to the pits brinke the pit almost shuts her mouth upon them So you see they are against them many wayes God gives a great length to their tether And many reasons God hath to let them prevaile both to draw out their malice the more and then to shew his people their corruptions the more and then to exercise their graces in wayting and for the just confusion of their enemies at the latter end and for the sweet comfort of his children at the end when God sees the fittest time to meet with the enemies that they might have sweet experience of Gods seasonable care how ever God put off a long time for some respects so you see they may prevayle a long time Yet who can be against us in this sense that is to prevayle altogether who shall be against us so farre as to have their will in the issue They prevayle a great way what doe they intend not to prevayle over the persons of Gods Church and people but the cause which in spite of Satan and his instruments and all must stand invincible to the end of the world They intend likewise to prevayle over the courage of Gods people that they cannot neither for Saint Paul saith after in this Chapter In all these things we are more then conquerours that is abundant conquerours a strange high terme But in some sense we are more then conquerours for if we consider what weake persons Gods children are what strong enemies they have and what weake meanes they prevayle with in the sight of the world to flesh and blood that such persons should prevayle over such enemies by such weake meanes as they doe in this respect they are more then conquerours So he may say Who can be against us that is to have their wills to overthrow the cause of Christ and the courage of Gods children they may prevayle in this or that particular but at the last all their plots and counsels shall proove abortive and bring forth a lie All is but to magnifie Gods power the more in letting them goe so farre and then to dash all their molds and plots Gods children they have the Devill and all his company the world and the flesh but there is God the Father Sonne and Holy-Ghost for them the blessed Trinity that are able to blow away the other three and all the strength and support they have whatsoever Who shall be against us It is not a question of doubting or inquisition to learne any thing but it is a question of triumph he doth as it were cast a bancke and bid defiance to all enemies whatsoever Who shall be against us Let them stand out Satan and the world and all Satans supports let them doe their worst There is a strange confidence which is seated in the hearts of Gods children that they dare thus dare hell and earth and all infernall powers they set God so high in their hearts that they dare say with a spirit of confidence Who shall be against us The meaning is not who shall be against us to take away our lives or liberties c. As the speech is they may kill us but they cannot hurt us the worst they can doe is
their course of life to such false principles and rules from cherishing athiesticall doubts of Gods providence and the like It is farre otherwise with Gods children there are conflicts in them but there is a recovery they check them presently they have Gods spirit and the seed of grace in them that is never extinct The way of recovery is to enter into Gods Sanctuary for wee must not give liberty to our selves to languish in such a course to look to present things too much but look into Gods book and there wee shall see what is threatned to such and such ill courses and what promises are made to good courses and then apply Gods truth to the example see how God hath met with wicked men in their ruffe and advanced his children when they were at the lowest when they were even at the brink of despaire Examples in this kind are pregnant and cleare throughout the Scripture The Lord saith It shall go well with the righteous and it shall not go well with the wicked Let him escape a thousand times Doubtlesse there is a reward for the godly Let us look in the book of God upon the predictions and see the verefying of those predictions in the examples that act the rules and bring them to the view let us see the truthes in the examples This entring into Gods Sancturary it is the way to free us from dangerous scandalls and to overcome dangerous conflicts for the conclusions of the Sanctuary are cleane contrary to sensible carnall reason Carnall reason faith such a one is a happy man sure he is in great favour God loves him oh but the Sanctuary saith it shall never go well with such a mam Carnall reason would say of Dives oh a happy man but the Sanctuary saith he had his good here and Lazarus had his ill here Carnall reason saith is there any providence that rules in the earth is there a God in heaven that suffers these things to go so confusedly I but the word of God the Sanctuary saith there is a providence that rules all things sweetly and that all things are beautifull in their time We must not look upon things in their confusion but knit things Mark the end mark the end of the righteous man Psalme 37. Look upon Ioseph in prison here is a horrible scandall for where was Gods providence to watch over a poore young man but see him after the second man in the Kingdome Look on Lazarus at the rich mans doore and there is scandall but see him after in Abrahams bosom If wee see Christ arraigned before Pilate and crucified on the Crosse here is a scandall that innocencie it selfe should be wronged but stay awhile see him at the right hand of God ruling principalities and powers subjecting all things under his feet Thus the Sanctuary teacheth us to knit one thing to another and not brokenly to look upon things present according to the dreams of mens devices but to look upon the catastrophe winding up of the tragedy Not to look on the present conflict but to go to the Sanctuary and see the end of all see how God directs all things to a sweet end All the wayes of God to his children are mercy and truth though they seeme never so full of anger and displeasure Thus you see Gods children are in conflict oft times and sometimes they are foyled in the conflict yet by way of recovery they go into the Sanctuary and there they have spirituall eye salve they have another manner of judgement of things than flesh and blood hath Againe we see when he went into the Sanctuary the very sight of faith makes him draw near to God Somtimes God represents heavenly truths to the eye of sense in the examples of his justice Wee see sometimes wicked men brought on the stage God blesseth such a sight of faith and such examples to bring his children nearer to him as we see immediatly before the text thou wilt destroy all that go awhoring from thee and then it followes It is good for mee to draw neare to God So that the spirit of God in us and our spirits sanctified by the spirit takes advantage when wee enter into the Sanctuary and sees the divers ends of good and bad to draw us close to God Indeed that is one reason why God suffers different conditions of men to bee in the world not so much to shew his justice to the wicked as that his children seeing of his justice and his mercy and the manifestation and discovery of his providence in ordering his justice towards wicked men it may make them cleave to his mercy more give a lustre to his mercie It is good for me to cleave to the Lord I see what will become of all others The next that followes upon this that Gods children thus conflicting and going into the Sanctuary and seeing the end of all there They goe a contrary course to the World They swim against the streame As we say of the starrs and Plannets they have a motion of their owne contrary to that rapt motion whereby they are carried and whirled about in foure and twenty houres from East to West they have a creeping motion and period of their owne as the Moone hath a motion of her owne backward from West to East that makes every moneth and the Sunne hath a â—everall motion from the rapt motion hee is caried with that he goes about in a yeare So Gods children they live and converse and are carried with the same motion as the world is they live among men and converse as men doe but notwithstanding they have a contrary motion of their owne which they are directed and carried to by the Spirit of God as here the holy Prophet saith It is good for mee to draw neare to God As if he should say for other men be they great or small be they of what condition they will let them take what course they will and let them see how they can justifie their course and take what benefit they can let them reape as they sow I doe not matter much what course they take I will looke to my selfe as for me I am sure this is my best course to draw neare to God So the sanctified spirit of a holy man hee looks not to the stream of the times what be the currents and opinions and courses of rising to preferment of getting riches or attaining to an imaginary present happinesse here but hee hath other thoughts hee hath another judgement of things and therefore goes contrary to the worlds course Heare Saint Paul Phillip 3. saith he there All men seek their owne I cannot speak of it without weeping whose end is damnation whose belly is their God who mind earthly things But what doth Saint Paul when other men seek their owne and are carried after private ends oh saith he our conversation is in heaven from whence
his life was not unfruitfully and wickedly spent but he served the Counsell of God that had planted and placed him there in the world for that purpose Why hath God planted us here in the Paradise of the Church that we should not bee barren trees or bring forth ill fruit but that wee should serve him and bee fruitfull in our places This word service is a harsh word and such a thing as proud spirits could never digest Why did the Divells fall they would be in a state independent and not under others they would have their owne courses and therefore the Scripture saith they kept not their owne standing God set them in one course and they swelled and would not keep it The particular is not set downe in Scripture but they kept not their owne standing Neither the Divell who is a proud creature nor men led with the spirit of the Divell can indure service every man would be a God to himselfe to be guyded by his owne lewd will and lusts and God knowes they are blind guides and we shall know it to our cost if wee have not a better guide when the will of God is revealed therefore wee must have a care to serve it Now to serve implies two things especially an action and a reference of that action to the will of another that is service as I said before to do a thing and to do in obedience for if a man do never so many things if it be not in obedience to the will of another it is no service he serves himselfe so to serve God is when we know the will of God to do accordingly and to do it because it is the will of God then it is service or else it is a work indeed done but no service or obedience All obedience is with looking to the will and pleasure of another that hath authority to direct us and then we serve the revealed will of God when the whole inward and outward man is fashioned and framed to that when there is a measuring of both together as when wee obey the directions when wee tremble at the threatnings when wee imitate the examples of holy writ when we are raised up with the comforts when answerable to every divine truth there is an answerable disposition of soule when there is a sweet harmony betweene Gods truth and our inward and outward man Rom. 6. We must be cast into the mold of the word as a thing when it is molded in another frame it carries the print of the frame or mold so wee serve the will and word of God when we are molded answerable to that will Now more particularly this service of the will of God It is either immediate inward service of the will of God or outward service Inward service is the obedience of the first Commandement when upon the konwledge of God wee set him up in our soules and cleave to him in our affections of trust and joy and love and delight to give him the supremacie of all these then we serve him with inward worwip and service and this indeed is to set the Crowne upon Gods head and to make him King and God in our hearts he must have the prime of our inward service when we love God above all and feare him above all and delight in him above all cleave to him when all things else faile us this is the immediate service of God in our hearts when wee give God his owne in our hearts Hence comes all other service whatsoever or else it is but the eye-service that is not enlivened with the inward worship of God Now besides this inward there is a service of God that comes from this inward service which is of the outward man that is when we pray to God and that requires our words when we praise God in thanksgiving when we come to heare the word and to receive the Sacrament and so all outward holy actions are the service of God and are drawne from the inward immediate worship of God that I spake of before Besides these which come more immediatly from a sanctified spirit there is a service of God that is the obedience of the second Table when we do good to men with an eye to serve God as we say there is an elicite proper service of God a cōmanded service of God cultus imperatus All duties to men are a service of God when wee do them as commanded of God as because I love God therfore I honour my parents and Magistrates and therfore I will not commit adultery as Ioseph shall I do this and offend God So the Scripture alleageth reasons out of the first Table when wee are tempted to sinnes against the second Table and then the duties of the second Table are a worship and service of God when they are commanded by the first And this is the difference betweene a meere formall man and a Christian in his outward performances a Civil man is altogether for the second Table but hee hath not his rise from the first hee gives every man his due c. but it is not in obedience to God because God hath commanded him to do it but because he sees it is a deformed thing to bee unjust out of the light of nature hee condemnes the sinne but not out of religious respects it is not a service of God all this while I but when it is from love to God when that great command thou shalt love God above all sets him upon this then all the duties hee performes to man are a service of the will of God for God commands them Even the basest works are a service of God when they are done in obedience to God as Saint Paul tels them in Collos. 3. and Ephes. 6. the poore servant serves the Lord Christ when a poore servant is at his work imployed in the businesse of man poore common things yet hee serves the Lord all the while For God hath set him in that calling and he doth the second Table in obedience to the first and he serves men those that are his governors with an eye to the great Governour and Master that is above all that will reward them for their poore service however their Master reward them Ephes. 6. This is to serve the will of God then to yeeld to him the immediate service of the soule and the outward expressions of it and to go thorow all other duties as they spring from the first then wee are molded as I said before answerable to the word of God To apply this to our blessed man David and then to make use of it to our selves Thus did David serve the will of God in his time for you may see what he was hee is anatomised and laid open to our eyes in the Psalmes you may see his care of serving God in his 〈…〉 See how he cleaved to God in his 〈◊〉 in Psal.