of the Lord and the Lord is called by their names so he is called the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob c. so that it sâ—â—mes that there is as it were a certaine match betweene them a mutuall agreement and relation as there is betweene a husband and a wife a father and a sonne so if thou beest one who is married to Christ and hee hath changed thy heart and begotten thee anew by his word and art dedicated to his service as his Temple then thou art called by his Name And the only reason of this is because he hath chosen thee there is no other when hee cast his eyes upon all the earth he chose thee out to have his Name called on thee as it is said of the Temple at Ierusalem that he chose that place rather then any other to put his Name there and there is the same reason why his Name is called upon a whole Church as when he looked on Europe he chose out the reformed Churches to put his Name there and where the Lord puts his name there he dwels so as the one is put for the other either to say he chose a place to dwell in or that his name is called upon it they are all one There are two places where God dwelleth Isa. 57. 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit c. The highest heavens and the lowest hearts are Gods chiefest dwelling places He hath indeed other places he dwelleth elsewhere but in these two he manifesteth a peculiarity of his presence and that peculiarity is of the presence of his grace and comfort for he saith in the same vers to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones hee reveales himselfe to these and his secrets which are hid from all the rest and hee fills their hearts with joy and comfort If we be such as beare the Name of God then let us learne to be obedient unto him to give up our selves unto him for so much is intimated by this that we are called by his Name and therefore we are said in Scripture to bee baptized into the Name of Iesus Christ that is we doe by our baptisme professe thus much that we give our selves to his service for to beare his Name is to beare our owne names no more that is our owne natures no more A man that is called by the Name of the Lord is no more sui juris his owne man As a man that giveth himselfe to serve another how much hee serveth himselfe so much hee wrongeth that man And the reason why a wife leaves her owne name it is to shew that shee is to give up her selfe to the obedience of her husband shee is not mistresse of her selfe not free shee depends on her husband as the Ivie on the tree shee hath no root of her owne to rest on but dependeth on him So wee having taken the Name of the LORD upon us wee must thinke that wee are no longer free wee leave our owne names wee must have no more root of our selves but of the Lord we must have no will of our owne his will must be ours therefore yee that beare the Name of the Lord let it not bee in profession onely but doe that thing which the Name requireth that is follow no more your selves but follow GOD. A Wife before had the name of her father but when shee is married as she leaves that name so she leaves father and mother also to cleave to her husband if her Parents command one thing and her husband another shee leaves her father and mother and cleaves to her husband so as leaving father and mother implies leaving to beare affection to them in comparison to her husband and thus must you doe to Christ as you have it in Luke 14. 26. If thou wouldest bee matched to the Lord thou must be divorced from all things else in the world from every thing that is very neare and deare to thee father and mother sonnes and daughters are deare but you must hate them all for Christs sake or you can not be his Disciples yea he that is married to the Lord must hate and deny his owne soule when his owne soule desires one thing and Christ another he must deny it and be divorced from himselfe and take no roote from himselfe but from the Lord because he is able to sustaine him Wives are not bound to destroy themselves for their husbands but this bond is nearer therefore Ephes. 5. 31 32. this neere conjunction betweene man and wife is made but as a shadow of that betweene Christ and his Church who is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone verse 30. And as for this cause they leave father and mother as the Apostle sayes verse 31. so for this cause must wee leave all to cleave to Christ and bee subject to him as verse 24. that is our will must be subject to the Lords As if thou hast such a journey to go say yea but what sayes my husband to it thus Saint Iames teacheth us to speake Iam. 4. I will goe into such a City if God will so in other businesse say if the Lord will to whom I am married I will doe it else not and you have reason for it because Christ loves us as his Spouse and body by this union we are one flesh with him yea one spirit and no man hates his owne flesh saith the Apostle there though a man hath all the imperfections in his body that may be soares and biles c. yet he hates not his owne flesh but laboureth partly to cover those wounds and imperfections and to heale them if he can for it is his owne body So doth the Lord love you if you have taken him to bee your husband you have reason therefore never to forsake him And if any should object and say I am a sinfull wretch an unfit match for him Con sider that yet being his he will cover your imperfections with his righteousnesse as a man covers his sores from the view of others and he will wash you from your corruptions As if a man have a sore arme he doth not only cover it but also washeth it and heales it because it is a member of his So sayeth the Apostle there hee hath washed his Church with his owne bloud And this the Apostle S. Paul calleth a great mystery as if hee had said great things are now revealed therein to you and worth your considering why therefore should wee not give up our selves to him a Wife may object against her husband and say another ones husband is more wise more kind but thou canst say nothing against him Consider this and let it not only be as a notion in your heads but let it sink down
sinne not If a man stand in awe of the Lord he would be afraid of every sin he would be afraid of vaine thoughts to bee vaine in his speeches and to give way to the least wickednesse afraid of every inordinate affection hee would be afraid how hee spent the time from morning till night and how to give an account thereof afraid of recreations least he should sleepe too much or sleepe too little eate too much or eate too little as knowing all is but to whet the sithe to make him the fitter for his harvest worke and therefore would be afraid to forbeare refreshments too-much or to use them too little I beseech you therefore that are in Covenant with the Lord and nearest to him that know your selves to bee within the Covenant to consider this and learne to feare And to helpe you in this take two places of Scripture 1 Pet. 1. 7. If you call on the Father who judgeth without respect of persons according to every mans worke passe the time of your sojourning here in feare that is seeing you have such a Father that judgeth every person all his children he will certainely afflict you if you offend him Therefore feare to do it The other is Heb. 12. 28 29 Let us serve him with all reverence and godly feare for even our God is a consuming fire our God whom we worship is not made all of mercy he hath other Attributes joyned with them to you he is a consuming fire If you will not serve him with feare though not immediately to consume you utterly yet to afflict you and thereby to consume your lusts so as it is a dangerous thing to be negligent of him to meddle with him who is a consuming fire How sharply did God deale with David who was yet nearer him than any of us first he tooke away the child from him which to him was a sharpe affliction he being a tender Father and had a strong affection to his life as appeares by his fastings and the like hee had to Absolon who yet was a Rebell against him and then to have almost all the people to fall from him when he was an old King to have Concubines abused so openly and the sword never to depart from his house all these sate close to him went neare his soule besides his shame to have his sin discovered to all the world as appeares by Psal. 51. Have not wee cause then to spend oâ—r time in feare if hee dealt thus with David and doe not say that though he dealt thus with David offending of him that yet he will not doe thus with me for is he not a Father that judgeth all his sonnes and that without respect of persons as the Apostle saith Consider also what he did to Iacob and Rebecca for consulting and agreeing to get the blessing by a lye for though the thing shee went about was good and they had a warrant for it and their end was good yet they used ill meanes a lye But GOD met with them both for it Iacob was therefore put to live twenty yeares from his Mothers house whereas he should have staid Gods leisure and not have beene too hasty for the accomplishment of that promise for he that believeth doth not make haste and so God promiseth riches and all good things to his children as much as they can desire but they must not make haste that is their fault and when he was comming home againe what a feare was hee put to from Esau that lye of his being the cause of their falling out and how did Rebecca also for all that while want the comfort of a sonne shee loved and had none to live with but Esau And so Moses was dearer to God than any man upon earth hee never spake with any face to face as with him yet he would have slaine him in the Inne for not circumcising his Child and also because of that other sin at the waters of Meriba he chuseth an affliction for him wherein he most of all crossed his desires denying him to goe into the Land of Canaan it may bee some small affliction in shew as this seemed to be which yet pincheth sorely and some great affliction on the contrary in bulke to others that is not so to him that beares it And thus he also deales with Eli a zealous man would any of us were so in these dayes for when newes was brought that his sonnes were dead and many of the people slaine he was not so much troubled at that as that the Arke of the Lord was taken and this amazed him so as that he fell backward and brake his necke you see the holinesse of the man yet because he had preferred his sonnes before the Lord did not governe them well God did not onely thus take away his life and of his sonnes but the Priesthood also from his house for ever and have not wee all cause to feare then How did hee deale with the good Prophet that was slaine by a Lion his fault that he beleeved another mans word pretending that he had Gods Word when hee had Gods Word expresly given to himselfe this sinne was as the sin of Eve who beleeved the Divels word when she had Gods Word expresly and therefore let us when we have the Word of the Lord sticke close to it And so however hee deale with Gideon a worthy man reckoned up among those worthies Heb. 11. yet when he made an Ephod see what judgement fel upon his children Iudg. 9. and all his house was cut off These examples are usefull for you to consider that you might know and feare the Lord and the want of this is the cause of this remissnesse and loosnesse in our profession and that we doe not so consider our waies Saint Paul was an holy man and one that stood in neere termes with Iesus Christ yet feared exceedingly 2 Cor. 5. Wee knowing the terrour of the Lord perswade men And Iob that was very exact in his life which appeares by the 31. Chap. which Chapter is nothing else but an expression of the manner of his carriage which was very exact verse 23. he gives this as a reason the punishments of the Lord were a terrour to me and so in the 2. verse the reason why he would not give liberty to his eys to looke on a Maid was for that hee considered what portion then shall I have with the Almighty and this feare of the Lord is needfull at this time when God hath discovered himselfe to be angry with the Land which is not onely for the grosse sinnes of wicked men but the sinnes of the Saints also It is your coldnesse remissenesse and laxitude I have two grounds for it first in the Revel 2. because Ephesus was fallen from her first love therefore he would remove her Candlesticke that is the whole Church among them carry them into Captivity for I cannot see by the Candlesticke how only the Ministery should be
it is not bitter if a good conscience bee joyned with it for then it is heavie when it falls upon the shoulder out of joynt or upon the sore place and therefore S. Paul he cared not for death or the prison because he had a cleare conscience all his afflictions were nothing to him for he bare them with a whole shoulder sinne wounds the soule and then affliction dropped in causeth smart Hee frames their hearts to patience and so that keepes their spirit whole so as they possesse their soules and themselves as on the contrary impatience takes the soule off the hinges puts it out of it selfe but whilest a mans spirit is strong and it selfe it will beare its infirmities but when impatient it will beare nothing when therefore afflictions are thus mingled with prayers and repentance and a good conscience and patience it is easie to beare them and it is GOD mingles their cup thus And as CHRIST said shall not I drinke of the Cup which my Father hath mingled although the cup be bitter yet the ingredients he puts in it makes it sweete GOD mingles a cup to them in another manner then to others See how hee mingled a cup to Ahitophel it was no great thing in it selfe it was but that disparagement in the rejection of his counsell yet such an ingredient was put in such an apprehension by Gods providence for though God was not the author of it yet he suffered Sathan to doe it as that it brake his heart and he hanged himselfe See the contrary in David when Ziglag was burnt a great and suddaine affliction yet he bare it well for he had comfort from the Lord an ingredient with it which incouraged him in God and so when he fled before Absalom his owne sonne a great and bitter affliction yet he bare it with such a mind as if hee had beene in his bed asleepe as appeares by the third Psalme which was made upon that occasion when tenne thousand were encamped against him yet hee feared no more then if hee had had never an enemy in the world I will lay mee downe and sleepe c. Thirdly his compassion is shewen in bringing them through and giving them a good issue and comfortable fruit of all as appeares by that place of Zachary 13. 9. Hee carried them through the fire and fined them thereby as Gold led them out and caused them to lose nothing but their drosse or as the Wheat loseth nothing in the winnowing but the chaffe There is an excellent place for this purpose in Esay 27. 8. In measure in the branches thereof thou wilt debate with it so some reade it God promiseth in the former part that Israel should grow like a fruitfull tree and flourish and though he afflicted them yet it should not be so as he afflicteth others hath hee smitten him as he smote those that smote him no hee smote them in the root but him in the branches so as he should grow the more by it God compares himselfe to a man that loppeth his tree but medleth not with the root or body of the tree but with the branches onely and that just so farre as neede was and where they should bee cut and that in season and at the just time that it may grow the more for this is to doe it in measure and this is no more than necessary to make the tree shoot the more and it were spoyled if hee did not deale thus with it Now hee smites others at such a time as they are most unfit for it and that in the roote so as he causeth them to wither they are losers by it as appeares by that wicked King Ioram 2 Kings 6. 33. This evill is of the Lord and what should I wait on the Lord any longer and by that of Ahaz 2 Chron. 28. 22. c. Then in time of distresse Ahab yet trespassed more against the Lord this was that King Ahaz this was the end of that affliction But some good soule will object and say I doe not finde this fruit of my afflictions It may be thou dost not for the present but stay a little till God hath made an end and thou shalt see that affliction which thou thoughtest most sharpe and for which thou sawest no reason and by which for a while you saw you got no good yet when the Lord hath made an end and put all together then I say thou shalt finde thy worst takings thy worst condition profitable and usefull to thee in the time of Winter when the trees wither an unwise man would wonder to see such a spoile but when the Spring comes you know the benefit of it you should not have had such a Spring but for such a Winter And so those varieties of afflictions and crosses which God leades thee through those sins those puttings backe which wee thinke can no way bee advantageouâ— to us they ever in the end will bring forth a Spâ—â—â—g time for all things worke together for good Iudge not by one particular but stay till God hath put all together and thou shalt see it is for good Thence it is that Saint Iames would have us Iames 1. 2. When wee fall into divers temptations to count it exceeding great joy that is hee doth not say when you goe in step by step but when you are precipitated fall all on the suddaine and are pluhged into them so the word in the originall signifieth And secondly not into one but into all sorts into divers afflictions at once affliction in Estate Body Wife Children one upon the necke of another yet rejoyce and not onely so but bee exceeding glad as glad as a Merchant man is to see his Ships come from the Indies laden with riches and full of treasure so beneficiall should they be in the end Now except they did always bring home such treasure and proved not in the issue exceeding good and profitable he could not have desired them thus to rejoyce Now if you aske the reasons why it is so that God deales thus with his Children in afflictions I answer out of the text First sayes hee they are my people they are his owne and therefore hee is full of bowels of compassion towards them as a man is to his owne child because it is his Hosea 11. 8. thou art mine and I cannot deale with thee as with a stranger for my bowells are turned within me as it is there when it came to the casting away of his child he cannot do it So 1 Sam. 12. 22. The Lord will not forsake you for you are his people And so also 〈◊〉 7. 18. Who is a god like unto our God that pardâ—â—◠〈◊〉 iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of thine heritage there lies the reason they are a remnant they are chosen out of the rest of the world and to them hee is so mercifull as there is none
heart is hard still It may be so indeed and your heart not softned but yet this I say First for thy comfort that if thou continue doing this the Lord accepteth it but if thou dost it not thy bloud shall bee upon thine own head we require that thou shouldst only labour to doe it and the Lord will accept it though thou art not able to soften thine heart And secondly know for thy comfort also that God will joyne with thee if thou labour thus with thy heart and send the spirit of humiliation on thee as the Disciples though they rowed all night yet CHRIST came at the last so though thou toilest many dayes and makest no proficiency as thou thinkest yet know that God at length will come and help thee and that because he hath commanded thee to doe this he will not suffer you to be doing that alwayes in vaine which he commandeth and therefore hee will come but that you may have the more ground for this remember that you have many promises made of Gods helpe as in Luk 11. 13. If yee then being evill know how to give good gifts unto your chil dren c. You shall never alone of your selves bee able to soften your hearts without the Holy Ghost but continue knocking and the Lord will give you the Holy Ghost though you bee but strangers So that every man may come to God and say Lord thou hast made such a promise thou canst not goe from thy word and therefore deny me not and bee earnest with God and hee cannot deny thee The woman of Canaan was not a Iew yet shee having this ground that hee was the Messias she would not bee put off therefore doe thou so and thou shalt in the end finde that thy heart is softned and the longer thou waitest the greater measure thou shalt have of the spirit and when thou hast him hee shall humble thy heart as in Zach. 12. 10. I will poure upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications and they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for an onely sonne The people of Israel were here exhorted to mourne and to separate themselves and to doe it every family apart The businesse was the same that you are to doe every fast-day Now sayes GOD if you seeke me aright you must have the spirit and sayes GOD I will doe my part I will poure on you the spirit of bowells for so the word may be translated The meaning of it is this that when the Spirit of God is thus upon you you will bee tenderly affected to the Lord even as a mother toward her child then saith hee they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his only sonne and be in bitternesse for him that is you shall then remember your rebellions and the remembrance of them shal be bitter to your soules as bitter things are to your tast so it was with Iosiah the reason why his heart melted and he wept when he heard the booke of the Law read was because he had the spirit of bowells which every one of us should have So Iob Now I have seene thee I abhorre my selfe Iob 42. he was not thus before he was a holy man but this was a new worke for says he I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now my eye sees thee He was enlightened anew as it were the spirit shined into his heart with a new light I have beene in a myst all this while in comparison but now mine eye hath seene thee and I have an experimentall feeling of thee now I abhor my selfe It is a hard thing to abhorre a mans selfe thus which then a man doth when Gods Spirit with a new light enableth a man to see Gods love and kindnesse and his owne unkindnesse in their colours If the Lords Name be called upon us we should learne hence to keepe his Name faire to keepe it pure and unspotted As it was said of Saint Paul he was a chosen vessell to carry Gods Name and therefore it behooves them to take heed how it bee polluted by them or they give occasion that it be blasphemed for the evill committed by you reflects vpon the Name of the Lord. A small thing is a great matter in you one fly corrupts a box of oyntment but many flies in a barrell of Pitch or Tarre are counted nothing so many sinnes in a wicked man redound not so much to the dishonour of Gods Name as one in the Saints When a Saint doth a thing that is uncomely hee polluteth the Name of the Lord not that it can be polluted in it self but it seemes so to other men Before men are regenerate their sinnes are as blots upon a table before a Picture be drawne upon it which are not regarded of any but after it is drawne the least blot is seene of every one So it is when men are but strangers to God the sinnes which they commit reflect not to the disgrace of God but when Gods Image is renewed in a man then these sinnes are more taken notice of and cause the Name of God to be blasphemed of his enemies This should teach us not to be ashamed of God and the profession of his Name for shall the Lord not be ashamed of us as he shewes he is not when he is willing to put his Name upon us and shall we be ashamed of him it is an unreasonable and an unequall thing for a child to be ashamed of his father for a wife to bee ashamed of her husband and so for us to be ashamed of the Lord whose Name we beare This is the rather to bee spoken of because it is a fault very common amongst us that we doe not take notice of But the most will say we are not ashamed of religion but wee account it rather a glory to bee accounted Christians Give mee leave to examine you by these two Questions First are you not ashamed of the strictest ways of religion There is a common course of Religion that you need not be ashamed of because all are for it and commend it but yet there are some speciall acts of Religion that men cast shame upon such was that act of David when he daunced before the Arke which seemed absurd in Michals eyes for a King to doe yet he said I will be yes more vile some of the wayes of God give a more peculiar distaste to wicked men and there is a shame cast upon the power of Religion by reason that the multitude goeth another way Now what is singular that shame is cast upon as in any thing let the multitude have never so ill favoured a fashion it is no shame whereas if a few others weare a garment farre more
had thought to have gon off sooner but that the Supper of the Lord drawes neare which time is a day of reconciliation such as was that Feast the tenth day in the seventh moneth when the people all meeting together Aaron the Priest confessed their sins over the scape Goate which fled into the wildernesse which was a type of Christ taking away all our sins and the same is done and represented when we receive the Sacrament Now one condition required of the people at that time was that they should humble themselves and every soule that did not was to be cut off Levit. 23. 27. to the 30. verse and that letting goe of the scape Goate was at the same time as appeares Levit. 16. 20. to the 31. But to come to the point the Scripture is plentifull to prove it Iames 4. 6. God giveth grace to the humble sanctifying grace and also saving knowledge Psal. 25. He shewes his secrets unto the humble yea he dwelleth in such Esay 57. 15. he hath an especiall eye to such those eyes that runne through the whole earth fixe themselves on the humble man for good Esay 62. 2. other things have my hand made yet them he regards not in comparison To him will I looke that is humble he promiseth also to fill them with good things to give them preferment and honour to exalt the humble and meeke yea hee regards it so that when evill men have humbled themselves they have not gone away without some mercy as when Ahab humbled himselfe 2 Chron. 12. God promised he would not bring the evill in his dayes and the best of Gods children when they have not humbled themselves hee hath withdrawne his favour from them as he would not looke on David till he had humbled himselfe All the world cannot keep an humble man down nor all the props in the world cannot keep a proud man up And what are the reasons why God respecteth humble men so An humble man giveth God all the glory and him that honoureth mee saith GOD I will honour Now an humble man doth as Ioab did Ioab would not take the victory to himselfe but sent for David and it was the deepest policy that ever Ioab used and so the Apostles Acts 3. know that JESUS hath made this man whole and it is the humble mans wisedome in all actions not to set themselves up but to say no matter how I be regarded so God be glorified and God will honour such therefore CHRIST in his prayer makes this a ground of being glorifyed by God Iohn 17. I have glorified thee on earth now father glorifie me And so God will deale with his Saints in a proportion Humility keepes a man within his owne compasse but pride lifts a man up above his proportion it puts all out of joynt and breeds disorder and that bringeth destruction and therefore humility was defined by some of the Ancients to bee that which out of the knowledge of GOD and a mans selfe keepes a man to his owne bottome That whereas a proud man liftes up himselfe above his measure as a member in the body that swells takes up more roome then it should and are as bubbles in the water which should bee plaine and smooth but this brings all into its place againe gives the Creator his due and sets the creature where it should be and therefore God loves it It makes a man sociable and usefull and profitable to others a man would not have a stubborne horse that will not goe in the teame with his fellowes nor such high trees as overshadow others and will not suffer them to grow by them and bring forth no fruit themselves A man will not keepe a Cow or an Oxe that is still a pushing and such an one is a proud man it is but and onely the humble man that will live profitably amongst his neighbours and will not goe beyond his owne Tedder An humble man hath such a frame of heart as the LORD delights in for hee is fearefull to offend alwayes obedient ready to doe any service and is content with any wages loves much is abundant in thankfulnesse and cleaves fast to the LORD because hee hath no bottome of his owne and keepeth under his lusts because hee knowes the bitternesse of sinne resignes up his heart to the Lord to follow him in all things hee is a man of the Lords desires so it is said of Daniel when he had humbled himselfe Dan. 9. Such an one as the Lord would have and so it makes him fit for favour and when a man is fit for favour he shall bee sure to have it for God is not streight-handed to us Hath the LORD said it and that from heaven that if a man doe humble himselfe hee will forgive him Then this is a matter of great consolation when I can say from GOD to any one here that droopes that if thou doest and wilt humble thy selfe the LORD will forgive thee consider it this is newes from heaven Put the case to compare spirituall things with things which you are more sensible of that any of you had committed high treason against the King and thou hadst forfeited thy life and goods if any one should come from the King to thee and tel thee that if thou wouldest goe to him and humble thy selfe it should be pardoned And is not our case the same We are guilty of eternall death and have forfeited life and all when therefore GOD himselfe shall say If thou wilt humble thy selfe thy sinnes shall bee forgiven what comfort is it such a word as this should not be lost A man that knowes the bitternesse of sinne would waite and waite againe to gaine such a word as this from the LORDS mouth and would keepe it as his life It was not a light thing to get such a word as this from God none but a favourite could get it nay none but his Son and hee not but by his death if CHRIST had not provided this Charter for us every man should have dyed in his sinnes Now this we can and doe say from GOD through CHRIST that though your sinnes be great and you have fallen into them many a time and committed them with the worst of circumstances yet if thou humblest thy self thou shalt be forgiven so as thou mayst say I may challenge God of his promise and put this bond in suite and he cannot deny it This is a great matter if a man shall but seriously consider what it is to have this great God the Governor of the World to bee an enemy one would thinke they should thinke this Gospell good newes But you will say I doe yet neither know distinctly what it is to humble my selfe neither can I humble my selfe there is not a harder thing then it is Therefore I will shew it you once againe that you may know it for why should wee
not in so great a point turne it every way and mould it for your use and to your apprehensions as also that you may not thinke it harder then it is by which the Divell keeps many off Now you may know what it is by the expressions of those who have humbled themselves David having numbred the people when he humbled himselfe he said Lord I have sinned and done exceeding foolishly Iosiah his heart melted before the Lord. And Dan. 9. Lord we have done very wickedly c. and shame belongs to us hee was ashamed And Ioâ— when he humbled himselfe said Lord I abhor my selfe in dust and ashes And the Prodigall I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to bee called thy sonne And so they are said to bee weary and heavy laden Many other expressions there are but I will digest all into two heads to humble a mans selfe is but to bring his heart and minde unto these two acts Is out of a sence of a mans unworthinesse to say thus unto the Lord Oh Lord I haâ—e done exceeding wickedly and am worthy to be destroyed I have beene in the wrong way and done exceeding foolishly but thy wayes are righteous and thou art just yea I have dealt unthankfully and unequally with thee who hast beene so good to me That was it melted the heart of Iosiah and made Iob abhorre himselfe as vile as the dust I tread upon as ashes that are good for nothing or but as sackloth in which they used to humble themselves the worst of garments I am ashamed and confounded This is the first act which is a sence and an acknowledgement of our owne unworthinesse and vilenesse And the second a sight of a mans worthinesse to be destroyed unability to helpe himselfe and of the vanity of all things else A man must further say that I am not onely unworthy but guilty of death my sinnes will breake my backe I am not able to stand under them and I am utterly undone and when I looke upon all the props of my life my health and riches c. I see they are but vaine things reeds and feathers and as hollow ground whereon I can set no footing Therefore LORD bee thou a rocke to mee on whom I may pitch and build my selfe And that this sight of our owne unability is also necessary we see by that 1 Tim. 6. 17. Charge them that are rich that they bee not high minded nor trust in uncertaine riches they are both joyned together For so farre as a man doth trust in them he is high minded and the soule of man doth trust in them so long as it apprehends substance in them and that they are not vanity so farre the heart beares it selfe upon them and so is carelesse of the LORD and why else do afflictions humble men as Manasses but because a man then sees the emptinesse of all things it brings him to say with the Prodigall I die for hunger and these cannot feed mee and so to hold fast to the LORD which a man must needs doe when he hath but one thing to hold to Now when thou art wrought on so as to expresse this unfainedly this is it to humble thy selfe We should hence learne to strengthen our faith if we have done this if thou hast thus humbled thy selfe confessed thy sinnes taken up a full resolution to forsake them thou shalt have mercy according to that promise Prov. 28. 13. He that confesseth and for saketh shall have mercy But here we find those who have humbled themselves come in with two objections that hinder their comfort 1. That they cannot mourne for their sins 2 That they fall into the same sinnes againe and againe and that therefore they have not humbled themselves Now as we would not have the false deceived with false evidences so nor the true discomforted and therefore wee will answer these objections To the first If thou beest so farre convinced in thy Judgement of thy sin and misery and unability to helpe thy selfe as it hath turned the bent and rudder of thy will so as thou sayest I will goe and humble my selfe to my Father change my course confesse and forsake my sins though thy affections seeme to thee not stirred yet this is enough to translate thee into the estate of grace for I aske to what end is mourning and weeping required but to awaken a man to come home to God in this manner mentioned when therefore thou findest these effects thou maiest be sure thou hast the end of these and that is enough to save thee Suppose a man carries about him a deadly disease so as upon the discovery and knowledge of it he is content to part with all he hath to the Physicians and is wary of medling with any meate that will hurt him and increase it if he know this that it is deadly though he hath no sence of paine it is all one and there are some diseases you know wherein a man feeles not so much paine that yet are mortall it may make him as carefull to use the meanes and so is it here if the conviction of the sinfulnesse and deadlinesse of sinne worke those dispositions mentioned in thee then thou hast the end which mourning tends to and that is all one Though thy affections be not so stirred consider the promises are made to ones comming in and taking Christ and beleeving in him they are not made to the commotion of the affections and here in the words the promise is made to humbling thy selfe out of a solidity of Iudgement It is no matter by what meanes you are brought to take hold on Christ so you come to him It is all one whether I come to my journeys end by land or by water on horse backe or on foote so I bee come thither If thou findest thou doest the things that an humble man should doe then though thy affections seeme not to be moved yet in very deed they are moved and changed as if thou art fearefull to returne to thy sinnes art resolved to please God in all things to thy power For what are affections but divers positions and scituations of the will and the feete it walkes upon they are but the divers motions and inclinations whereby the will shoots it selfe into the objects of it Now looke which way thy will is resolved and set that way are thy affections set also if thou seest one ro rise up soone and goe to bed late to avoyde poverty and to get riches a wise man will assure himselfe that his ayme is such and his heart set upon riches his actions shew that his affections doe move strongly that way though he sayes he feeles no such stirradge Therefore though thou findest this stilnesse of affections yet if thou doest the same things that they use to do who mourne and weepe more thou mayest assure thy selfe thy
affections are moved I adde this that it is no wound if thy affections be not so sensibly stirred and yet thy humiliation bee sound for it is the nature of the affections to shoot into their owne objects stilly and to runne along as water and winde doth if they meete with no obstacle to runne quietly if it meetes with trees then the winde riseth and if the tide meete with the winde then the waves rise so if our affections be crossed we are sure to heare of them then if thou hadst not some hopefull assurance of thy estate thou wouldest heare of mourning and drooping then it may be the worke of grace in thee hath alwayes gone evenly on the streame hath runne calmely and quietly but yet such doe finde that upon some suddaine accidents or drawings nigh when the LORD is pleased to make an impression upon them then they heare of stirring affections But to conclude all know and resolve upon it that the flowing and ebbing of thy affections is not that which thy salvation depends upon but solidity of conviction of Iudgement which turnes the will and makes thee to cleave fast unto Christ. Whereas you object you fall into the same sins againe and againe I answer you may fall againe and againe and into great sins for which you have been soundly humbled why should we speake that which the Scripture doth not onely take it with this caution that you find a constant warre against them as Israel with the Amalekites so as never to yield to looke upon their sinnes as a mans greatest enemy never to be reconciled though he be foiled againe and againe for what is true humiliation but to reckon sin the greatest misery and indeed if a man reckon any greater as losse of wealth c. then a man had rather fall into sinne then lose his wealth whence it is that falsenesse of heart doth a rise but humiliation makes a man to reckon sinne such an evill as he had rather suffer any thing than make a truce with sinne and the generall ordinary power of grace in a mans ordinary whole course is not seene in keeping men from relapses altogether but in setting sinne and the heart at oddes as health and sickenesse whilst a man is a living man he cannot be friends with any disease but nature will resist it it sets them at variance as the Wolfe and the Lambe as the spring and mudde and living waters will cleanse themselves though the mudd arise a thousand times if as the Wolfe which reckons the Lambe the greatest enemy it hath in the world by an instinct of nature so if thou reckonest sinne the most destroying thing in the world whence is this but because humiliation hath made that impression and apprehension of it on thy heart which God hath set on thy heart as a brand in the flesh that will never out then thou wilt fight against every sinne and never be reconciled to it as a Lambe is not to a Wolfe because nature hath implanted that enmity there if thou finde this to bee the constant disposition of thy minde keepe thy assurance strong though many weakenesses be discovered in thee It is utterly a fault among you to weaken your assurance by your daily slippings and failings and Satan labours that above all other for then when your assurance and hope is gone you walke unevenly and as a Ship that hath lost her Anchor or is without a Rudder thou mayst sometimes feele a hardnesse in thee and yet if this aforesaid bee the constant disposition of thy minde Weaken not thy assurance but say though I finde my heart hard and carelesse froward and angry often whereas I should bee meeke and humble Yet I will not question the maine but I will goe and renew my humiliation which will strengthen my assurance however hold that firme for it drawes into neerer Communion with GOD and further from sinne establisheth a man in well-doing and makes him abound in the worke of the Lord. Learne hence also that it is not enough for a man only to be patient in afflictions but he must also humble himselfe under them wee must not onely beare the crosse but willingly and cheerfully acknowledge Gods justice in it and our owne sinne for to bee humbled is a further thing then to bee patient as in 2 Chron. 12. 6. when the people were left in the hand of Shishak it is said that the Princes of Israel humbled themselves and they said the Lord is righteous where being humbled is expressed by acknowledging God to be righteous which is more then to be patient God lookes for this in all afflictions therefore he sayes in 1 Pet. 5. 6. humble your selves and not bee patient onely under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time Many a man in affliction may say he will be patient but that is not enough but he must humble himselfe which is more then patience for pati ence is only to beare it contentedly but a man must goe to God and say Lord I confesse I am sinfull and have deserved more then this punishment I wonder not at thy judgment but at thy long suffering rather that it is no worse with me the least of Saints and the greatest of sinners So wee see it was with Naomi in Ruth 1. 20 21. call me not by an honorable name not Naomi but Marah I went out full but I am come home empty and the Lord hath afflicted mee and seeing hee hath afflicted mee I will carry my saile accordingly This is truly to humble a mans selfe And thus did David when hee fled before Absolon Let the Lord doe with mee what seemes good in his eyes 2 Sam. 15. 26. And so said Eli In all this the Lord is good that is the Lord is just in all this and I and my sonnes deserve it and more Thus when a man thinkes it reasonable that God should punish him he blesseth God that the crosse is no greater without complaining or repining If the Lord will leade thee through variety of conditions say with Paul I know how to want and how to abound and how to goe through bad report as well as good report and I am not onely content but chearefull in all this and would be if it were farre worse If the Lord hath said hee will bee mercifull to the humble then let us humble our selves more and more and get our hearts lower and lower seeing there are such mighty and large promises belonging to the humble and know that as the Lord suspends his promises upon this here so they shall bee fulfild upon the performance of this and as wee doe this more or lesse so shall the promises be fulfilled to us more or lesse therefore let us doe this more and more for if we humble our selves the Lord will fill our hearts with good things when he sees a man taking a low place hee will
who Christ and God is consider the persons of them and so chuse them as a father and an husband to live and die with And then secondly he is to consider what he shall have with him yea to looke upon the benefits themselves but chiefly to this end and so as that they may stirre up your hearts to love him the better and not simply as benefits only so as to say in your hearts though he is most beautifull in his person and so though I had him alone I should have an exceeding great reward of himselfe yet withall when I consider that all within the compasse of this world is mine a great dowry that Paul and Apollos and all the good Ministers that ever have beene have beene for my sake that whatsoever is in this life or after death is all mine and that all these hee brings with him all which you should looke on as motives entirely to love him and not as bare benefits and say hath not hee given me al these sanctâ—fied me and redeemed me and set me at liberty when I was a bond slave of sinne and Sathan and have I not reason to love him this is to seek his presence It may be though you have done the thing yet you have not had this distinct consideration yet use it henceforth to help you say not I am in misery and there is a promise of pardon and adoption but looke first to the Lord Iesus go to him and take him To convince you further of this there is none of you but will say I cannot be saved without an holy conversation and what is that but to converse with God and Christ all converse is not with things but persons therefore in an holy course all that you have to do is with the Lord himselfe to open your hearts to him to resort to him for counsell to delight in him to converse with a man is to deale with him upon all occasions you are not only to looke unto to be dealing with duties alone and privileges for then with whom doe you converse not with the LORD but with notions with duties and your sinnes but your chiefe businesse is with the Lord in all these and with these as meanes to bring you to the LORD into his presence and unto his person this is to walke with GOD as Enoch did which still respects his person for so walking with implies Againe no man can bee saved without love to God and that love must not be amor concupiscentiae but amor amicitiae a love of friendship the one respects things the other persons your love must first be to the person and then to the commodities you have by him and the duties you are to perform to him But you will say how shall we doe to bring our heart to this this is exceeding hard It is easie to seek the benefits come by CHRIST self-love will cause most to doe so Any man that needs a thing would faine have his wants supplyed A man that is prest with a burthen would willingly have it taken off it is easie to have your desires quickened this way What therefore shall wee say to set an edg upon your affections to seeke the Lords person If wee had the tongue of men and Angells all would bee too little therefore let us beseech the Lord that he would be his owne spokes-man and reveale himselfe unto us There is no way to set our hearts a worke to seeke his face but by seeing of him and to helpe you to a sight of him is not in our power and yet he useth to do it whilst we are speaking of him in the ministery of the word It is said Psal. 9. They that know his name will trust in him and as they will trust in him so they will seeke his face What was the reason Abraham and Moses sought the Lord thus for himselfe because they had seene his face Thus of Moses it is said hee spake with him face to face There are two wayes to know a man by report or sight by heare-say or by face and this later way have all the Saints known him in some degree and have therefore sought him though Moses in a more particular manner yet all saw him Benevolentia Good will sayes Aristotle may arise from a good report but Amicitia Friendship from sight and acqâ—â—intance that is we may beare good-wil to one of whom we have only heard a good report but we doe not come to love him intirely and as friends to him till we have seene him and doe come to know him and be acquainted with him Therefore though a man have a generall knowledge of him by heare-say yet he will not seeke his face till he have seene him face to face 2 Cor. 3. ult The Lords face appeares indeed in the word as in a glasse but yet till the veile be taken away we see him not face to face therefore in the first place go to God and beseech him and say Lord shew me thy face reveale thy excellency to me by thy spirit of revelation that my heart may be stirred up to seeke thee and will the LORD deny you this request if you do so no No man knowes the Father but the Sonne and hee to whom the Sonne reveales Him sayes CHRIST Therefore goe to CHRIST and beseech him to shew you himselfe and his father The reason we see not God as we might or but by glimpses is that we forget to go thus to the Son or if we do we seeke not earnestly You know how hardly Moses did obtaine this and you must beg hard as he did and when you have obtained this know you shall see wonderfull things strange things in him which eye hath not seene There are wonderfull things to be seene in the Law if a mans eyes be opened Open my eyes sayes David Psalm 119. that I may see the wonderfull things of thy Law How much more wonderfull things are there to be seene in the Lord if if he doth but reveale himselfe and open your eys for the Law is but an expression of him such as is the expression of a man in a Letter or Epistle of which we say it is Character animi it is the portraitâ—re of a mans minde When therefore your eyes are opened to see the Lord himselfe you will see such things in him as will make you in love with him What was the reason that the Spouse in the Canticles Chapter 5. was so sicke of love that she could not containe her selfe but because the Lord had taken away the veile and shewne himselfe unto her And so if God would take any of us here into the Holy of holies and into the Presence-chamber and open himselfe to him then we would say as Thomas and Peter did Now Lord we will go with thee now Lord we will live and die with thee and when wee lose him wee would seeke him with the Spouse from
owne eyes But then some will say that it is not necessary that the preaching of the Law should goe before if the Gospell doth it Yes the preaching of the Law is notwithstanding as a preparative In all that are brought up in the Church there is some knowledge in the Law that praecedes but it is the Gospell that softneth the heart first as ice is broken in peeces with hot water as well as with hammers so is the heart with the Gospel as well as with the hammer of the Law and indeed maketh that knowledge of the Law that proceeded to bee operative and sets it a worke so as the Law in its true working cannot bee without the Gospell nor the Gospell without the Law so as to a perfect worke of the Gospell the knowledge of the Law must precede Whatsoever a mans sinnes are if hee be truly humbled for them and forsake them they shall bee forgiven him This is the maine point you may observe by the way that the Gospell was as fully preached to the Iewes as to us So you see it was here they had the same way of being saved that we have as great mercy promised and dispensed Onely these great mysteries of the Gospell wherin grace and mercy is displayed were not opened so to them as unto us they had the promises of forgivenesse as fully and clearely but knew not the grounds of them as Christs incarnation death and resurrection as wee doe nor those glorious priviledges in particular w ch wee have by Christ. For the proofe of the maine point take that one place to make it good to you Esay 1. 18. Come now and let us reason together saith the LORD though your sinnes bee as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red as crimson â—hey shall bee as wooll The Prophet had exhorted them to learne to doe well c. But the people might object What shall wee bee the nearer for all this if wee be such great sinners as you have even now declared us to bee to prevent this the Prophet tells them what though their sinnes bee great and bloudie sins of the deepest dye of guilt there are many kinds of red but crimson and scarlet are the highest yet you shall be as perfectly cleansed from all your sinnes as if you should see scarlet turned as white as snow or crimson as white as wooll and none of the former dy remaining and when he tells this to them marke his expression Come let us reason together as if he had said this is a point requires strong reasonings to perswade you to believe it and indeed it is a hard thing truly to believe the pardon of their sinnes and the time will come when you will finde it to be so Wee will therefore set the Lord and your consciences together and you shall see how the Lord reasoneth for himselfe and how he will make this goâ—d Wee will first prove it to you from all his attributes 1 From his truth the Lord hath said it and this is argument enough to perswade you And therfore having made this promise of forgivenesse in the verse before that hee would subdue their iniquities and cast their sinnes into the depths of the Sea he addes thou wilt performe the truth to Iacob and the mercy to Abraham which thou hast sworne unto our fathers from the dayes of old As if he had said you must rest persw Gâ—d of this for he hath not onely promised it but hath sworne it and that oath not taken lately but of old there is an oth to it and an old one an oath that hath many witnesses Abraham and Iacob and all the fathers that have beene since and will he not thinke you bee as good as his word and that Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witnesse that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sinnes It is Saint Peters speech to Cornelius sayes Peter we deliver this from God to you and not only we that are the Apostles say this but to this truth doe all the Prophets Isay Ieremy and all the rest beare witnesse Now when the Lord hath said such things and made an absolute promise he expects you should believe it It is a greater sin then you imagine not to lay hold upon such promises See how the Lord reasons it 1 Iohn 5. 9. 10 11. If we receive the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater for this is the witnesse of God c. He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar As if he should say will you not believe If a man that is of an honest disposition should promise you a thing you would believe him and will you not believe me As if a man had more truth in him then I have yea further you make the Lord a lyar if you believe not this his record of his Son what is this record why saith the Apostle I will repeate it againe The Lord hath given us eternall life and this life is in his Sonne that is whosoever believes and takes CHRIST his sinnes shall be forgiven and he shall have life It is the pardon that brings life to the condemned traytor 2 But though he hath said this is ingaged sufficiently and this is much to helpe our faith yet when wee shall further heare and know him to bee one of a mercifull nature and gracious disposition wee will goe the more willingly to him Therefore add to this how the Lord expresseth his nature to us Exodus 34. 6 7. The Lord God mercifull gracious and long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne As if he should have said to Moses wouldest thou know the very inward disposition and frame of my soule this is my nature to be mercifull and gracious c. this is the Lords Idea for his end here was to expresse himselfe unto us know that this is his nature and this will strengthen our faith in the promises for all his promises doe but flow from this nature of his and receive their strength therefrom and hee is rich in mercy because it is his nature 3 Adde to this the attribute of his wisdome and that will also helpe us to believe his mercies GOD that hath made these promises is exceeding wise and knowes with whom hee hath to doe hee knowes that originall corruption that is in us and is the mother of all sinne hee knowes our infirmities and what is in our hearts as hee that made us knowes what wee are as hee that makes any thing knowes the inward frame of it It is no strange thing for him to see us fall into sinne Therefore Psal. 78. 38 39. after he had spoken of those strange rebellions of the people of Israel into which they fell after their comming out of Egypt yet saith hee Hee being full of compassion destroyed them not but forgave