of so great weight 7. But negligent in preparation to holy duties publike and private 8. How empty and vain in discourses and unprofitable 9. How distempered in hearing publikely and in conferences with the Church 10. Vile thoughts even in the time of reading and meditation which are deep hypocrisie 11. Yet back-slidden even since the last Lords Supper 12. Yet little pure love to the Saints as Saints 13. Yet not a sensible heart of the dishonour of Christ in these times 14. Yet not a tender nor believing heart in holding out the word of reconciliation 20. In preparation for the Supper-Ordinance he would bring himsels unto the Test and to say the truth was very clear in the discovering and making out of his own condition being well acquainted with the way of Gods dealing with the soul and with the way of the souls closing with Christ Instance April 3. 1653. upon search I find 1. My self an undone creature 2. That the Lord Jesus sufficiently satisfied as Mediator the Law for sin 3. That he is freely offered in the Gospel 4. So far as I know my own heart I do through mercy heartily consent that he only shall be my Saviour not my works or duties which I do only in obedience to him 5. If I know my heart I would be ruled by his word Spirit Behold in a few words the summe and substance of the Gospel 21. The Lord blessed his enquiries with gracious returns when he set himself seriously to clear up his interest in him Instance October 30. 1652. As I was questioning and searching whether I were a child of God or no me thought this was suddenly spoken in me or to me If I be not thy Father what am I then to thee Am I an enemy to thee which did much affect and melt my heart through much mercy In preparation for the Lords Supper Jan. 1. 1652. as I was upon the same Question within my self whether I was a child of God yea or no me thought this was suggested within me If I be not thy â—ather why dost thou follow me so hard and breath after me which also did much affect my heart at that time 22. He got ground on his corruptions and his grave-cloaths fell off apace while he was yet alive Several daies I find good recorded and no evil Instance Good Evil. In morning read a long Hebrew Chapter in closet-duty not altogether without his presence studied for my Sermons and the afternoon spent much what in preparation of my self for the Lords Supper and not altogether without his presence for blessed be his name he humbled me and melted me in the â—ight of my own vileness  About 7. weeks before his translation returning from London he found his Family in a languishing condition by reason of a feavourish distemper which had crept in among them It being the Lords wont to send some forerunning waves to dash against and wet us before he send that mountainous one with which he will overwhelm us His youngest child save one departs this life on Friday night being the 11. of Nov. 1654. How often are the little Lambs taken from the sides of their dams from whom they received life and carried to the place where they met with their deaths An hopeful branch must be lopt off before the Root it self dry up and wither Saturday morning that Chapter came to be read in course which contains Davids Fasting and mourning for his child whilst it lived c. Comparing his own condition with that of David he said Davids mourning went before but mine must follow after The duties of the Family being over he retires again into his study keeps the day as a Fast and being awakened by this affliction is put upon serious self-reflexions and searching endeavours to find out the cause of this smart-stroke of Gods hand an account whereof taken out of his Diary you have as follows God taking away my little babe Job November 11. 1654. Searching my waies c. 1. Not returning according to his multiplyed mercies to us not thankful enough the heart not endeared to him 2. More lax in watching over my thoughts 3. A foolish stupidity and security before this blow from the the Lord far from waiting for changes Jonah-like fast asleep 4. An unnatural heart to him and the rest insensible of his pains 5. Grown very slight in the Lords service though wofully distracted and dead in every duty almost yet not sensible of it nor humbled under it had lost of that spiritualness and heavenly-mindedness once I had through grace 6. Partial affection to the sons more then to the daughters therefore God took this away and smote the other His wife would have had the Funerals deferr'd till Munday but he would not give way saying I have other work to do tomorrow At even the people being come together he accompanied the Corps unto the grave into which he was observed to look very wishly as if he had been curiosly looking for a resting place for himself shortly to lye down in and had thus bespoken his dead child I shall shortly come to thee but thou shalt not return to me Coming home he was very raised and chearful and comforted his wife with this saying among many others Come love he has but got the start of us It being my work to track him and tread upon the print of his heels I must follow him even through the valley of the shadow of death which was not so frightful to him in its approach as to me uncomfortable in its description The time of his departure is at hand and no wonder He was ripe betimes and therefore gathered and taken into Gods Granary He had done his work and must therefore go to receive his wages and this I may be bold to say that he did God more service in a little time then many others whose line of life was twice as long as his He cannot be far off from his center because of the swiftness of his motion He was alwaies much upon the wing but towards his latter end he was wont to soar very high and took many a turn in Paradise every day and would be often hovering about the Casements of the Star-chamber which having delightfully peept and pryed into he came down again though not without much regret and grief yet solacing himself with this consideration that he should shortly meet the Lord in the air and then be ever with the Lord. During the time of his pilgrimage and abode in the Lords Vineyard he served his God and his Generation with all his might He ran faster then others and was therefore sooner out of breath He screwed up the peggs so high that the strings of his several faculties crack and can hold out no longer He did with so much vehemency and contention of spirit continually stir up himself to take hold on God and followed so hard after him that he sunk under the burden of his own
husks as many do but wholsom food Careful he was to preserve the poor Lambs of Christ from infection depredation If any sheep â—as stragling from the fold he would reduce and bring it back again if weak he would take it up in his bosom and carry it upon his shoulders His bowels were rowled within him and did exceedingly melt and yern towards those for whom Christ shed his blood The Lord having fixt him in the Firmament of the Church he proved not a wandring star his regular motion kept others within compass He was not a cloud without water as appeared by the flourishing growth of many Christians who sate under the honey drops that distilled from his lips How did he thirst after the salvation of souls and how anxiously inquisitive after the success of his labours It did not satisfie him that the seed was sown fruits must appear or else his heart is mightily troubled within him and little comfort taken in the comforts of this life It was an heart-breaking unto him that the hearts of sinners were no more boken their dry eys would cause his to overflow with briny tears The Lord did not give up his Ministry to the curse of a miscarrying womb and dry breasts He was able to say Lo here am I and the children whom thou hast given me Surely in labours he was more abundant then many others as his Closet Pulpit besides many other places can well testifie Recreations he declined so loath was he to be accounted a loyterer or idler in Gods Vineyard Having put his hand unto the Plough he did not at any time stand still he looked not back he sate not down in the cool and gentle shade but was always in an erect posture and continually pressing forward contented to bear the burthen and the heat of the day as knowing that the time of refreshing was shortly to come from the presence of the Lord. So eagerly bent was he upon his work that when seriously setled to it his necessary and appointed food was frequently neglected wife children and other Relations not taken notice of If any refreshing was urged he would say This is not the way to get my Fathers work done The Subjects that he pitcht on were usually adapted and accommodated to the temper of the Times and his own condition as Preaching both to others and himself It did not satisfie him that Truth was Preached unless it were seasonable and suitable The Sermons that he Prcached he throughly digested before hand and made them his own by a deep impression of them not only on his memory but affections so that he still spake from the heart to the heart They who beheld him in a Pulpir with a spiritually discerning eye thought the place to be as it were filled with smoak and signal expressions of the Divine Presence The growing and prevailing Corruptions of the Times he strongly opposed Errors though countenanced by great Ones were not basely baulked and passed by in silence The miscarriages of those in high Places were sure to meet with a severe and sharp rebuke He often bewailed and greatly mourned for the evil and dangerous consequence of corrupt men called to the Ministry who daub with untempered morter and slightly heal the wound that is made with a faithful hand When secure and sleepy sinners are at any time awakned by a stirring and a soul-searching Ministry and complain of the terrors of the Lord that set themselves in battle array against them these miserably-mercifull men with an oyly tongue labour to lick them whole again and skin over the sore they make it their design to bind up the broken bone without putting their patients to any pain perswading them that Ministers now-adays are too severe sour strict streight lacâ— and fright silly folk who do not understand themselves with Bug bears and Sear crows For a Waspish and inraged conscience thy provide a sweet and stupifying sop and so lay it to sleep again Thus are men flattered into a good opinion of themselves when in the mean time they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity Wo and alasâ— that ever men should be thus contentedly cheated of their souls and prefer their present ease before their future safety He who was chosen a Ruler in the Church was so in his Family which he ruled well and diligently instructed in the knowledge of Christ He prayed twice a day with his Family and expounded some portion of Scripture and in these exercises usually expended an hour and an half at a time In Singing he was much transported and even lifted up and delighted much in Psal 63. and 103. He was with Paul in fastings often and that not only when publickly required for he was herein often ingaged upon the account of his own personall concernments and condition In preparations for Fasts as well as in the celebration of them he was very solemn and severe as will afterwards more plentifully appear Food on such days he tasted not till late at night if any offered it was entertained with dislike in his very looks In Prayer at all times especially then he was copious inlarged spiritual powerfull to the melting of the Congregation into tears and sighs His love to the Ordinances was very great and his heart did even break with longing after that of the Supper and in preparation for it he would unbowel himself before the Lord and be very strict in the duty of self examination When his children were Baptized and had the Seals of the Covenant imprest upon them he would wonderfully rejoyce thereby declaring a sweet refreshing and full satisfaction With the Psalmist he had rather be a door keeper in the House of the Lord then dwell in the Tents of wickedness One day in Gods Court was better then a thousand elsewhere He would cheerfully chirp and sweetly warble out his high-strained Notes when with the Swallow neer Gods Alta but would mourn like a Dove and chatter like a Crane when the waters of the Sanctuary were dammed up and did not freely flow forth he would droop and hang the wing though under the broad spreading guords of carnal contentments He abridged and cut himself short in the use of the warrantable contentments of the present life He was unwilling to launch out too far lest he should lose the sight of his Harbor and a storm arise ere he got in again He was loath to swallow down large morsels for fear of an ensuing surseit and dismal dolefull distempers that might thence arise He knew that the fairest full-blown Rose was not without its grieving thorn and that a scratching Bryer lay lurking under the blooming leaves and therefore he passed over the most flowrie and fragrant walk with an hasty and trembling foot He was none of those whom the Apostle speaks of that mind earthly things His work was his wages His design was not to spread his roots in the earth
endeavours His late journey to London heated his blood and disposed his already-wasting body to a dangerous distemper which discovered it self on the Lords day in his forenoons Sermon which after his return from the Congregation he laboured to conceal from his wife by endeavouring to eat though it were much against his stomach she perceiving some alteration in his countenance and carriage said You are not well pray preach not again to whom he replyed away away hinder me not Whereupon he retired to his study and adventured to preach again in the afternoon though with some difficulty and apparent symptoms of sickness in his very visage It was upon the spirits of some that this was the last time they should ever hear him One seeing and observing him in his return said Thou art almost in heaven I shall never see thee more The Text which he preached on that day is considerable Psal 4. 6. There be many that say Who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us The former part viz. the enquiry Who will shew us any good he finished in the fore-noon and urged several arguments why men ought to sit loose from all things that are here below His expressions argued in him affections disingaged from matters dreggy and terrene One foot is off the earth already the other will be so too shortly He takes his flight from earth to heaven and in the afternoon made entrance on the latter part of the verse Lord lift thou up c. a suitable subject for him to speak to who was now about to enter into the gloomy horrours of the grave Those bright refulgent beams of heavenly light are never more seasonable then when we are upon the borders of the Land of darkness Ten glorious fruits and effects of the lifting up of the light of Gods countenance he held forth the heads of which because of the spirituality of the matter and being the words of a dying man and experienced Christian you will find in the Margin Judicious Christâ—ans plainly perceived him at that time to be wonderfully raised and his spreading sailes to be sweetly swelled with the powerful breathings of the Spirit for he spake more like one neer the Throne and in the company of Angels then one in a Pulpit and surrounded with mortalls At even the people according to their accustomed manner came crouding and thronging to Repetition His wife in vain perswaded him to dismiss the Assembly in repeating his Sermons Singing and Prayer he spent about two hours time At Supper he did eat a little with his wife and that chearfully yet complained of an unusual heaviness in his head and soreness in his eys when endeavouâ—ing to lift them up and took little rest the ensuing night The next morning seeing that he must be sick indeed he blessed the Lord that he found him in his work The Physitian being sent for and consulted with said he had got cold and was feavorish the second night is passed over with as little rest as the first A day of Thanksgiving in private for his own return from London and his wives late safe delivery was designed to be celebrated about this time the consideration of which occasioned some sadness whereupon to his wife he said This is sad love this looks as if the Lord would not accept of an Offering of praise from our hands And then he called for the Notes of a Thanksgiving Sermon preached long before by Doctor Jones on that passage of Hezekiah Who rendred not unto the Lord according to the benefit The third day as a choice Christian friend who came to visit him was discoursing with his wife he fell afleep and two or three hours after awaking he called for his wife who coming to him and kneeling down upon the beds side he fixed his eys on her and said dost thou know that place I will give them the Valley of Achor for a door of hope Who said yes He further asked her if she kâ—ew the meaning of it who expressing her apprehensions he said yea there it is and then a little nodding his head and pointing with his finger at her said Remâ—mber this Our valley of trouble shall be our door of hope About the fifth day in letting blood he fainted and with a low voyce said What means this it was not thus with me at Sir Roberts Kings To his wife looking upon him he said Now Love it is a weaning time He was more careful of Gods Service then of his own attendance causing the servants to leave him that so their duty to God in ways of worship might not be neglected The seventh day being the Sabbath he inquired who carried on the work and seemed to affect retirement and secret converse with God upon his own day Most part of the second week was passed over in a silent submission and quiet waiting on the Lord. The thirteenth day in the morning being Saturday his pains were very violent for an hour and half and extorted from him that doleful complaint Lord how long Ah my bowels my bowels I have grieved bowels this speaks much I have wanted bowels I have not been so pittiful towards others The Doctor being sent for and staying longer then was expected he said Lord give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man At night he was much refreshed chearful all night and prone to discourse and praised without any complaining and withall said I would have given the whole world for so much ease in the morning The Lords day in the morning the Doctor coming to him and looking on him wept to whom Master Murcot said How is it with me Doctor You may do well Brother I hope if you can get any sleep Master Murcot Tell me true how is my Pulse Doctor I confess it is but bad but you may do well if you can sleep which he indeavoured a while though in vain by closing his eys To his wife looking sadly on him he said Love canst thou pray for â—leep for me what saist thou to which her swelling grief permitted her not to return answer The rumouâ— of his weak condition being spread abroad a Doctor was sent from my Lord Deputy to see if there were any hope of life who speaking to him he said Doctor I am spent with sweating To his Sister he said and that without any amazement and peâ—turbation of spirit Sister I must now tell you I am not for this world and then lifting up himself he said Lord remember me how I have walked before thee in sincerity with all my might He wished the Sabbath were over that so he might do something about his Will though little were to be done His wife seeing hearing these passages said to him Now I see that you know that you must leave us He answered yes Love whereat she weeping he exhorted her to a Resignation to which she answered The Lord hath
again in the Resurrection a pledge and an earnest whereof they have in heaven not onely Christ the head his glorious body but Enoch and Elias Now there may be much desire happily for this coming of Christ that this may be made up but as the Apostle saith in another case God hath provided a better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect so they without the rest the fulness of Christ should not be made so compleatly perfect Well then the fulness of Christ must come in that day shall not come until there be not one soul more to come in which belongs to his fulness that is the fourth This reason indeed onely concerneth the great day of Christ his coming 5. To give time and space to men to repent and to work out their salvation in I gave her space to repent saith the Lord to that woman and she repented not Whether we understand this of a mans particular day or the great and general day it is true Why is not Sentence speedily executed upon sinners Why is it that they might repent despisest thou saith the Apostle the riches of his goodness and long-suffering to thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not knowing the goodness of God his long-suffering hath his tendency in it to lead to repentance being given for that end Mora sponsi poenitentiae tempus est Hilar can 27. So our Annot. So that this will leave sinners without any excuse If there had not been such a delay they had had no time to repent and they might have said so for themselves but now they have no pretence they shall be all of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned of themselves And for the Saints and people of God it is that they might have time and space to work out their salvation with fear and trembling to work it out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alas they must be converted and become as little children or else they cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven now there is much industry and pains required to bring the heart to this meetness for heaven and therefore he delays his coming As for instance If a Bride-groom too soon come upon his spouse that he knoweth hath a house full of filthiness and nasty places to trim and make handsom and her self to trim and deck and adorn he will stay a while give her time to make all pure and clean and fit for him and then he cometh and this is another 6. That the measure of sin and sinners may be filled up there is a fulness of Satan as well as of Christ a fulness of sin as well as of holiness you know he would not give Canaan a type of heaven to his people Israel because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full he could not give them Canaan but he must destroy them and therefore he would first have their measure full their Ephah full and then sink them with a talent of lead So here there is a fulness of Satans kingdom a fulness of sin upon which when he cometh he will come to pour out the fulness of his wrath and to tread them down in his fury for ever therefore he stays a while until they have filled up their measure He did not cast the Jews out of sight until they had filled up their measure by persecuting of the truth and the Saints which is a wonderfully filling sin indeed that quickly fills the bag to the mouth and then it is sealed they persecuted the truth that they might fill up the measure of their sins always and then you see he came against them Now when all the vessels of wrath are formed and they are fitted to destruction then he cometh as to receive his bride so to slay his enemies with a flaming sword and furious indignation that would not close with him This another 7. That the promises may be fulfilled which are many of them yet to come and to be fulfilled as the prophecy of Babylons falling the tenth part of the City even Rome which some judicious compute to be just the tenth part of what formerly it was The ruine of Antichrist the bringing in of the Jews the seed of Abraham his friend from all corners of the world whether they are driven through his displeasure and the fulfilling those many glorious things which are spoken of the City of God the new Jerusalem which cometh down from heaven which many of the Saints do expect yet to be fulfilled when Satan shall be bound for a thousand years surely a tittle of this word shall not fall to the ground not the word of promise heaven and earth may fall but this word of God cannot fall it must be fulfilled The Lord Jesus will be contented to be without his fulness until then and the glory of that fulness until then and therefore for this cause his coming shall be delayed he came once out of heaven with much readiness Lo I come I come though to dye to lose his life his peace his comfort the savour of his father rather then the prophesies should not be fulfilled as we have it often that it might be fulfilled c. He will be without his bride in fulness for a time and they must be without him in fulness for a time until the rest of the prophesies be fulfilled O how he glorifieth his word above all his Name 8. Lastly Happily to edge our desires after the day you know the withholding of a desirable thing for a time doth much draw out the desires as the drawing away the bait from the fish draweth it after it and truly all the ways the Lord takes with us are little enough to put us on to desire that day But so much for the confirmation of the Doctrine before it was said therefore it seemed long because we desired it importunately Now therefore we desire it because it seemeth long and so our desires after his appearing do feed themselves by adding this oyl to the flame even the length of the tarrying which doth partly arise from themselves so some things are mutually causes one of another as the Ice resolveth it self into water and again the water into Ice the vapours ascending into Clowds and the Clowds into vapours again after they are emptyed upon the earth So The Use of the Doctrine shall be first by way of reproof to convince us of sin in abusing this truth which nothing is more ordinary among men they dare not utter it with their mouths but this they speak in their hearts the Lord delays his coming and therefore they begin to eat and drink with the drunken to beat their fellow-servants they will neither work themselves nor let others work that would Mark how the Evangelist brands such a man calling him an evil servant or an hypocrite and indeed brethren It is not as if there were any thing in the nature of a delay to work such
though it be delayed and you know not how soon it will come upon you Now your waiting must be of another sort 1. With fear and trembling that which a man fears he expecteth in some sort as well as what he hopeth for O that this dreadful sound were but in the ears of Sinners wherever they went there is a day coming which will pay for all your pleasures of sin when God shall pluck your sweet morsels out of your belly and turn your stolen waters and bread eaten in secret which were pleasant and sweet to you into the poyson of Asps O do not say you are at an agreement with hell and with the grave for alas that agreement shall be broken the grave shall receive you and reserve you for this day of wrath and then give you up it will not hide you from the wrath of the Lamb hell will open for you Faelix trembled when Paul disputed of righteousness and temperance and judgement to come this day of Christs coming how terrible will it be to foolish Virgins O that all such would tremble before the Lord fear it fear it it is coming upon you it lingers not he is not slack 2. In order hereto you must labour to believe it it is an Article of our faith we profess the resurrection of the dead which is either to life or condemnation and thou that livest in sin canst expect no other but a resurrection to Condemnation But alas men do not believe this Devils are afraid of that day to which they are reserved in chains of darkness when they shall have their full cup given them to drink Ah dear friends that the Lord would single out such as he would perswade this day from the terrors of the Lord to fly-from this wrath to come to make ready for this day that is a coming wherewith I shall wind up all I shall say to this doctrine The last word therefore is of Exhortation since Jesus Christ doth delay his coming That we would make good use of the time he giveth us time and space to repent The people of God they have need to make use of this time have we not work enough to do before we can expect to be glorified with him how many of us have a world of iniquity to subdue how far are we from being as little children in malice and humility such we must become our Course is far from being finished O brethren Jesus Christ will adopt us to himself and we by the Spirit are to do it that we may be meet spouses to him then it will appear that we desire his coming indeed if we lay out all your might to prepare for it if the heart be â—luttish and so we let it lie if we neglect our ornaments are careless put them not on be not decking our selves how can we say we love his appearing even the appearing of the Bride-groom But then 2. How much more have Sinners to do It is true he delays his coming and so he hath a great while in respect of thee how many years hath he waited upon thee to be gracious to thee and yet thou are where thou wast at first Ah dear friends if Jesus Christ find you that profess his name in your blood at that day what will become of you Will you have time to repent if you repent not it will not be the time of love but of displeasure it had been better for you you had never had such warning O do not despise the riches of his goodness and long-sufferings towards you O consider your ways and the Condition of your souls at the last and turn to the Lord your God with all your hearts and not feignedly close with Jesus Christ get oyl into your Lamps and into your vessels for why will ye die why should that day come upon you before you are ready for it O make hast Brethren you are this day warned to fly that is to say with all speed to haste away from the wrath to come for judgement lingers not it will not stay beyond the appointed time even your own appointed time for the number of your moneths are with God it will not stay a jot longer now you do not know whether this may be the day the night this Sabbath the last this warning the last therefore lay hold upon the opportunity O that the Lord Jesus would seize but upon some of our hearts that we might make a good Vse of this delay And O bless his name and let us all admire his goodness to us that he doth delay his coming that we have time and space to repent to work out our salvation in and that until all the fulness of Christ be come in It is his long-suffering not willing we should perish but come to repentance O that we were thus wise that we could thus consider our latter end But so much for this Doctrine THEY ALL SLVMBRED AND SLEPT Here I say you have the occasion which the flesh took from the delay or carrying of Christ to slumber and sleep all of them both wise and foolish Some have understood it of the sleep of death that they al dyed good as well as bad but this cannot be so for it is not true understand the coming of Christ which way you will If for his coming to the universal judgement it is not true for all shall not sleep but some shall be changed as the Apostle hath it If we understand it of his particular coming to summon us to appear before him It is less true for when the summons cometh it is before we dye Death indeed is his Messenger or Serjeant and therefore they are not dead before he cometh to fetch them besides it is not so usual to set forth death by a double expression of slumbring and sleeping but rather sleeping onely Besides this slumbring and sleeping here is noted as a failing in the wise virgins as well as the foolish if I understand it aright for it is the privation of that watchfulness which is injoyned and wherewithall is wound up in the close and by this parable he sheweth us the sad inconveniences of sleeping and slumbring and the incidency of it to us and therefore exhorts us to watch Now sure to dye is not any fault when we are called to it but an appointment of God for us to dye to submit to which to be willing to which is a grace and not a sin Again in this parable there seemeth to be some time for the getting of oyl or at least for them to use some endeavours to get it though it be in vain which may be indeeed after a summons to death there may be some little time which a hypocrite may think to improve to get grace though it prosper not but after death there remaineth nothing but judgement The particular first and afterward the general The time of their sleeping is considerable indeed
c. and that day come upon you as a snare A snare you know is a sad thing and that which suddainly and unavoidably seizeth upon the poor beast or bird they are taken in an evil snare when they are sleeping and so brought to ruine this is the case it cometh on them like a snare like a Net from on high as snares rained from Heaven no avoyding them or else as a snare hid when men think nothing or the beasts are at their prey and delighting themselves in that before they are aware the foot or neck is in the snare and there is no breaking of it it is too strong a snare 4. Then usually hypocrites and sinners are at the worst and the people of God after their awaking and stirring up will be at the best sinners at the worst when they have setled upon their Lees in security and sleep for a while the foolish virgins never 〈…〉 d a heart awake towards God their heart never answered that Call Awake thou that sleepest their eys indeed were opened and they walkâ— up and down as men may do when the heart is asleep they had their Lamps some shew some formality but now when this day surprizeth them all is gone their form perisheth or at least will stand them in no stead their Lamps were gone out and therefore this is the very nick of time wherein the Lord Jesus will surprize hyporrites and give them their recompence of reward The people of God that sleep it is true they are unready when the Cry cometh but O how will this humble them to be found sleeping and what is the top of the Ladder but humility when will the â—oul be fittest to eâ—alt Christ but then and so when their Lamps are trimmed up again they will shine more bright then before and therefore then also will be a time for his coming to them 1. Then by way of Application this may inform us how it cometh to pass so many in the midst of their plots and purposes are taken away without any hope in their death surely every man would be happy they would have heaven but they think it is time enough to look after that when they have nothing else to do O if they had compast such a thing such a Land and such a House gotten such an inheritance then they would lay down these things and prepare for heaven and so the milk of their breasts and marrow of their bones they lay out upon their youthful Lusts and think their old age time enough to mind those serious things But the day cometh upon them at unawares and snatcheth them away in his wrathful displeasure in the midst of their endeavours for the world plucks them away from their place and it knoweth them no more Go to ye that say we will go to such a City and buy and sell and get gain whereas they know not what is in the womb of a day hence it is that so many perish from the way they are cut off in the midst and never reach their expectations and so remedilesly perish This day cometh upon them as a snare when they are sitting like so many Birds pluming themselves feeding and sporting and singing it cometh upon them and they are carryed away to their place Ah dear friends what sottish stupid and strange presumption possesseth poor sinners hearts as if they were of the Counsel of God as if they knew the number of their Moneths before hand as Hezekiah did and therefore might make bold to lavish out week after week upon their lusts do you know whether this night the snare will come upon you O that Sinners could but lay these things to heart that they might not perish like Beasts overtaken iâ— an evil snare but this is but the first 2. It will be a word of Reproof of the boldness of some who take upon them to know the time and many wanton wits have dared to sport themselves in so serious a thing to foretell the year one placing it upon 1533. others upon 1657. Alsted Chronol 1494. Piâ—us Mirandula upon 1905. Nicol. Cusanus upon 1700. and many others See Trap upon Mat. 24. 36. Many whereof time hath already refuted the grounds are weak of many of them this is to be wise above what is written vain man would be wise and herein he sheweth himself a wild Asses Colt indeed to pry into the secret which God hath kept in his own power no no it is unknown the day and hour the longer or shorter time there is no limiting of it by us it will be at midnight when men least suspect ordinarily but enough of that 3. It may teach us further that when we least expect it it is likely to be nearest to us a man would think this should be a startling word to all poor sleeping sinners you put away the evil day the day of the Lord far from you it is never nearer to you than then never are men usually more unfit for that day then when they put it far from them and never is it usually more near to them then at that time It is observed in nature that usually before an Earthquaeke cometh to swallow up men there is a great calm the air is quiet and the wind lies before the great rain fals When was the Old World more near destruction by that day of judgement from the Lord then when they thought least of it put it farthest off were most secure It is observed the Flood came in the Spring-time when the Spirit of God began to renew the face of the earth they had as fair a hopeful a fruitful year as before though there was one doubting Noah among them that dreamed of a dry winter yet when they were most secure most deeply secure then the Flood came when things were in their prime and their hopes of corn and wine and oyl in their flower the Flood came and swept them away And so Sodom when the Sun arose upon it what fairer ground of hope of a fair day doubtless they expected it they put off the day but then it was nearest to them So Laish secure before ruin and Agag so when they cry peace peace they shall do well God proclaims war against them by his Messengers Think of it brethren with your selves how stand your hearts affected in respect of this day are you not secure do you wait for it believe it the less you fear it the more cause you have to fear it or the less hope and love and desire and waiting there is in any of us to it the more cause we have to fear it for it usually seizeth upon men at midnight Is it not midnight with some of us dost not thou sleep thy fast thy dead sleep nothing will awake thee thou makest a mock of all these things The Lord give you but an eye to see for the snare is even coming upon you it is nearest to
righteousness and holiness made over to you imputed unto you as an Inner and Outward Garment or Cloathing I have hope of you you would not prove Foolish Virgins and that you are not so careless as not to regard whether you be found to have grace yea or no If there be any such let me tell such a man his Condition is next to desperate the Lord smite such sinners hearts but if you do not care there will come a time when you will care and every vein in your hearts will ake when you shall find alas you have trifled away your time your day you had to get grace in and now you have none Do you think brethren to go to heaven without grace must there be a wedding garment to his Supper here and must not there much more be a wedding Garment upon them that come into that nearest Fellowship with the Lord Jesus for ever Do poor sinners eat and drink judgement to themselves if they come without grace to the Supper O brethren do you think he will endure you to enter if you have not grace to sit with him at his Table to eternity No believe it Sinners shall not stand in the Congregation of the upright O that the Lord would perswade you How far are many of us from the Apostles temper he counted all things dung and dross not worthy his thoughts in comparison of being found in Christ and do not we count these things dung and dross in comparison of the world if it were not so surely men would lay out some of their care some of their thoughts some of their time for the getting Christ and grace 2. We must labour also to have our graces to get and keep our graces in act in a lively frame our hearts flaming towards the Lord continually the wise Virgins they slept and while they slept they could not watch now they had grace in their hearts but they kept it not in use in exercise as they should have done and therefore they underwent much inconvenience as you have heard and therefore our Saviour exhorts us to watch to take diligent heed that we run not the like hazard with them no more than with the foolish virgins Therefore labour to get your graces lively how should we think with our selves often when we find a listless fâ—ame growing upon us O what would my Condition be if the Lord Jesus should come this day to my poor soul Labour to keep your faith lively your Love lively so your humility and self-abasing that you may exalt him But alas you will say how can we do this we are poor imperfect creatures and therefore can we be alway acting our graces is it likely we should keep them alway in act that is enough for Angels and glorified Saints to do who are therefore called watchers I answer to this It is true it is not required we should always be acting of grace for then we should be able to do nothing else then we should neither sleep nor follow the works of some of our callings which require the intention of the mind as well as the labour of the hand therefore that is not the meaning nor indeed were we able to do it our spirits would fail us But how then Why We must be acting our graces when we are called to act them when ever is a time Mephibosheth eats bread continually at Davids table not that he did nothing else but eat without any intermission but at meal-times he did eat continually Note brethren we should see to it that upon all occasions we act our graces upon every temptation wherewith we are assaulted we should act our faith upon every tryal our patience upon every manifestation of himself to us to act our love and humility and thank-fulness But specially in our drawings nigh to him then see to it that we have our graces in act which alas how sar short do we fall of as in our daily performances prayers publike secret So meditating reading hearing receiving the Lords Supper if we would have them bright we must exercise them at these times how should we now renew our repentance in washing our hands in innocency as clean as if washed in innocency it self and so compass the Altar of God How should we as Jacob his family besides putting away their Idols change their garments also we should labour to get cloathed with another Spirit another frame then ordinary when we come before him upon these occasions It is said concerning the Steward which specially concerneth the Ministers of Christ Blessed is that servant whom his Master shall sind so doing giving every one their portion in due season A slothful servant is a wicked servant our Saviour saith he that receiveth grace in vain improveth it not stirreth not up himself to lay hold upon Christ upon special occasions such as are on foot upon such a day as this oporteâ— Episcopum concionari saith one eminent in his time The Lord hath given his Spirit to all believing people they have the habits of grace and he giveth it them as a stock to trade with as principles to act for him in their places O blessed is that servant whom his Lord shall find so doing he saith not whom his Lord â—hall find with grace in his heart but so doing acting his grace Ah blessed souls whom he shall find praying keeping up those duties in a lively manner whom he shall find receiving the sealing Ordinances and with a wedding Garment upon him a lively frame of spirit fit for it You have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you if you be his and will you let such a precious principle lie idle it is given to mortifie to sanctifie O blessed soul that shall be found so doing even by the Spirit to mortifie the deeds of the Flesh surely brethren nothing will keep us more awake then action will if we be found sleeping it will not be comfortable to us therefore look to the acting of your graces I beseech you Again Labour to love his appearing so as that we may wait for it for indeed if we love it not we shall be apt to put the thoughts of it far from us labour either to love it or fear it according to thy Condition if thy Calling and Election be made sure if thou knowest the things freely given thee of God then be ashamed that any thing in the world should lie so near thee as not to desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ renew these desires day by day nothing but the greater glory of God should make us willing to be here indeed action for Christ and his honour is of a high nature and ought to have great weight with us as the Apostle hath it but yet methinks the burthen of sins should make us groan for it methinks if we have an eye upon the recompence of reward the joy that is set before thee that full enjoyment
this particular for the most part If you have such affections do you not many of you wallow in your filthyness Indeed it is strange to see how some men have a tongue to speak for Christ seem to be wonderfully affected with any dishonour put upon him and to be great disputers for his Ordinances and Sabbaths ready to flie in the faces of them that speak against these things and yet themselves are very Sinks and Puddles of uncleanness will be drunk will be filthy will swear and lie and come and stand before the Lord as if they were delivered to do all these things what will become of thee if a foolish hypocrite shall perish where wilt thou appear It may be if thou avoid these gross sins thou makest nothing of a secret lust so be thou canst hide it from the eyes of men thou despisest the presence of the Lord with thee in thy secret place Again it may be thou hast done something for Christ but thou couldst not suffer for him but turn and shift and deny him before men O far before thee have many gone and yet perished never reached heaven It may be thou art so gross that even the people of God themselves can discern thy hypocrisie and thy own heart may condemn thee Well if others that have out-stript thee in these things fall short where wilt thou appear thou comest behind the Pharisees far enough and they enter not they fall short what will become of thee If the Virgins because foolish Virgins are not thought meet to enter into the Marriage-Supper the door is shut against them What wil become of thee that art an arrant strumpet-soul that hast thy gods thy Idols to worship thy gold and thy belly thy sport and pastimes to which thou devotest thy self so that thou canst not come under the notion of a Virgin O that the Lord would make men sensible If such as take all this pains for heaven fall short what is like to befall them that never set foot forward towards it Then It may serve to stir up every one of us that heareth this word this day to take heed be not high-minded but fear as the Apostle saith You see how far a hypocrite may go It may be further then many of us have gone what need then had we to look to it that that we have and that we do be in sincerity and uprightness for then it will hold out with the wise virgins To you that make a profession of Jesus Christ and of his waies I direct this Exhortation to you especially And I shall back it with these two or three arguments and then propound some few considerations to be made use of here in the tryal 1. Then consider brethren What ever men judge of you or you judge of your selves through mistakes sometimes yet God he seeth through all It may be the cobweb is so thick woven that the piercing eyes of the most judicious child of God cannot see through it but God can see through it And so the foundation of the house he seeth to be upon Sand when it may be the people of God cannot discern it We are exceeding apt secretly to bless our selves when the people of God think well of us and if we may be but admitted into their fellow ship we are well it is a thing to be eyed in its place but to make this our rest is desperate alas they have so much to do at home with their own hearts they cannot have so much time to pry into the actions of others nor if they do to enter into the heart of any and charity binds them to think the best where there is no discovery to the contrary but what if all the Saints should admire thee and look upon thee as a most precious glorious creature Yet the Lord sees thee to be but dung and dross and rottenness Men look upon the out-side of the Sepulchre God pierceth to the rottenness within his eyes behold the evil and the good let it lie never so deep the ends God discovers them Did you at all fast unto me saith the Lord no but to your selves So the Pharisees they had covering upon covering to hide their rottenness with but all would not do they had their long garments long prayers and many good actions which they did and much zeal which they seemed to have and yet God seeth through all this and calls them wretched hypocrites when all is done and tels them for what end they did it to devour widows houses and to be seen of men So God saw the Idols of their hearts though the Prophet could not Our Saviour knew their hearts and would not trust himself unto them Would it not be a confusion to you if the people of God should see your hypocrisie how would you hold up your heads before them Ah brethren how will you lift up your faces before the Lord then who searcheth the hearts If you be found with no oyl in the heart in the vessel only a Lamp a shew he can he will search it out and that your souls shall one day know And therefore it concerneth us now to search 2. The great danger of hypocrisie in profession in these daies now the times smile upon it for indeed let hypocrites pretend what they will they are sensual and it is their belly they serve and not the Lord Jesus and therefore as the times sway you shall have them bow where the loaves were there those hypocrites would be they followed not the Ordinance the bread of life for it self but for the loaves they subjected it unto their bellies the Bull-rush will not grow except it have much mire and water no more will an hypocrite except he hath his advantages ordinarily though sometimes they may go through persecution yet that is somewhat more then ordinary O how Judas loveth the bag more then the Master it was that that kept him so close to Jesus Christ he had a sweet place of it while he had the bag WelL If ever mens souls were in danger of being undone by hypocrisie now is the time Brethren And now it is the more hard to discern whether we follow Christ for the leaves yea â—r no therefore upon that account also we had the more need to search and try our hearts whether we be sound at the bottom or no. 3. The danger of the cure if we be pocrites Indeed in this respect the condition of a prophane man is better then a close hypocrite his distemper is more apparent and his own conscience cannot but judge him of many things but now many times a hypocrite seeth not his hypocrisie though sometimes he do it may be at the first if he had hearkened to the voice of his conscience charging him with hypocrisie in this and that he might have kept it tender but smothering it at last it groweth silent and harder seared and the eyes by degrees are blinded so that he
to Jesus Christ every weight and the sin which so easily be setteth us as the Apostle saith If we come with the world rooted in our hearts it is five to one but we shall be tryed as the young man in the Gospel was and as that other was the Foxes have holes c. you hear no more of that forward man afterward O but we are young and therefore we may have time enough before us it is time enough for us to look after grace many years hence No my brethren it is your duty to remember your Creator in the daies of your youth while the milk is in your breasts and you have some strength to lay out upon Christ The first-fruits were not to be delayed to be paid Exod. 22. 29. A young Samuel seasoned so young a young Timothy they may be eminent servants of Jesus Christ when others at the same years are but beginning to enter upon the work Besides is not thy life as uncertain as anothers do you not see that young men dye even as the old and young men are like to perish as well as old if they be not found with oyl in their Lamps and young men may enter with the Bridegroom as well as old if they be found ready And therefore I pray you for Christs sake do not so deceive your selves but while it is called to day young and old hearken to this voice of God and put noâ— off this main work any longer Alas but you will say my case is the case of these foolish Virgins I have long made a profession and I have my grace to seek and therefore there is no hope for me a gray-headed sinner who have trifled away my time You know some were called at the 11. hour Brethren and indured not the heat of the day with others and yet miscarried not while the day of grace lasts there is hope and while the Lord knocks by his Spirit and Word there is hope that to us appears to be a day of grace and that thy spirit is moved is yet a further Argument And therefore be of good courage if he have given thee a heart now at last to look after him and though thou lingeredst with Lot until God was even fain to pull thee out of the burning the everlasting burnings thou haste so much the more cause to magnifie the grace of Christ toward thee that he would after so much abuse of the day of grace look upon thee at all and when thou wert as a dry stick no strength nor vigour to serve him at all therefore God could have no eye at thy service nor any thing thou wert like to do but meerly to exalt his grace and therefore for ever thou maist more easily Conquer over-that temptation of resting in any thing in thy self priding thy self in any thing of thine own and give him the glory of all in an humble walking before him The second demonstration of their folly is that they went to the creature for grace They said to the wise give c. It is a note or point of great folly to seek unto the creature when men have neglected to seek to Christ then to go to the creature for grace you see this is the practise of foolish Virgins how far we may urge this I cannot tell but me thinks we do not put it too far if we may stand upon it at all Whether they would now at last being sensible of their want of the oyl in the vessel the grace in the heart they would have some of that oyl which they had in their vessels or whether only somewhat to make their Lamps burn as they did before it appears not nor yet what their highest â—nd was in it appears not if they aimed not at the highest end Gods glory and their own salvation as the ultimate end then they were grosly foolish in that respect for to miss the end is the most fundamental point of errour and folly but if they be supposed to aim right yet there is this Argument of their folly in the very Text which shall be all I will say for the confirmation of it They take not the right means for the accomplishing that end and therefore they are foolish for wherein doth folly consist else but chiefly in this they find not out or use not the right means for the attaining of a right end Now was this a right means to go to the creature to the wise Virgins for oyl Give us of your oyl this argues either desperate ignorance that they knew not whither to go to get oyl that they were ignorant of the Fountain of Israel the fulness that is in Jesus Christ from which fulness his people receive grace for grace and such blindness as this to be in men that profess Christianity it is very strange and argues great stupidity and folly or else if they did know it they had no heart to go to him they would not if they could get it otherwise well and good and bring oyl to him they had hope of acceptance but they would have none from him and this would argue a worse kind of blindness But of these things we will not spend our conjectures nor in such uncertainties Whatever the case is sure it is that they went not to him but to the creature for their oyl from the Sun to the beam from the fountain to the stream and so to the broken Cistern and is not this folly This then will teach us thus much That the Papists are as like these foolish Virgins as they can look poor creatures those merit-mongers and money-changers that fill the Temple of God do not some of them sell and others buy their pardons and indulgences do they not go to the Church-treasure of merit to make up what is wanting of their own and not to Jesus Christ in the hour of their necessity I know not what some of them may do and some others I believe may be wiser in this thing but surely many poor creatures are led away with this wicked error I cannot call it better Surely Brethren If any be the foolish Virgins to the life the Papists are some of them if they be true to their Principles 2. It may serve to reprove many among our selves that put off all the work which concerneth their souls live as if they cared not for God nor regarded him at all the people of God and Ministers of Christ are the object of their scorn or disregard they sleight them above others but when an hour of destruction cometh O then when they are ready to dye the Minister must be sent for and he must speak a word of comfort right or wrong they are ready to think I doubt that as much is in it as in a Popish Absolution according to their conceit then as if it were in their power or they were in Christ's stead to give them grace they hang much of their confidence upon
according to the meaning of the wise and foolish Virgins here but for that I shal leave it If that may be the meaning of the wise Virgins surely the foolish Virgins understood it not for it appears not that they went to him to buy but used some other impertinent endeavours as they went to the wise Virgins before and not to Christ Here is little ground for Papists to bottom their Doctrine of perseverance to be attained by their own industrie and pains for alway his price is not comprehended from being if it be from God from Jesus Christ it is alway excluded Come buy without money or without price as before except they purchase it of men But we may understand these words as many godly learned do for an upbraiding a mocking an Ironical consent as there are many instances in Scripture Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee but remember that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement And so that of Elijah he is a God cry aloud he is either in a journey or talking or some such thing that he cannot hear And so Micaiah spake to Ahab Go and prosper and the Lord shall deliver it into thy hand And that of Jesus to his Disciples sleep on now take your rest which is Ironical So as when Ahab would be humoured the Prophet speaks after his mind if so as it should seem he might perceive he spake not as he meant how long shall I adjure thee to speak nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord So these foolish Virgins they would have their grace from a creature and the wise answered them according to their humour and Ironically yield to them to send them to others though themselves had none to part with Aug. Ep. 120. and Calv. so understood them and so doth Beza and our Annot. The Note I would briefly hint to you from hence is this That such as trifle away the day of grace and are not serious in the work of getting grace the time shall come when they shall have none to pitty their misery If men may expect pitty or compassion from any it is either from the Lord who is a God of bowels and unspeakable unsearchable compassions Or else from the people of God who as the children of God do put on bowels of compassions as the Apostle speaks they are cloathod with bowels so that their compassions are eminent and to be seen by them that have to do with them but yet the time may come brethren if you now neglect so great salvation as is offered to you held out by Jesus Christ himself the Son of God speaking from heaven not froÌ„ the earth that you shall have no pitty from the Lord no nor from his people from God that is plain I will but name it because it may seem impertinent to the Text yet if it serve to no other purpose it may serve to shew us that the Saints if they do not pitty in some cases where it is evident the day of grace is past and men have wretchedly sinned it away that they have the Lord for their pattern for it therefore I mention it Then shall they call saith the Lord and I will not answer they shall cry c. I will mock when their fear cometh and laugh at their calamity Prov. 1. 26. It is spoken after the manner of men and sheweth the heavy aggravation of their misery that the Lord shall be so far from pittying them that he shall laugh at them So in the 2. Psal where the Annointed of God is lifted up upon Zion there are some that will not be bound will not have him to reign over them count it a bondage and a grievous one indeed the Lord shall laugh at them he shall have them in derision But for the people of God they expect it may be to be pittied in such a condition by them but they may meet with nothing but a mock though a holy one and indeed there is need of much holiness and in act too to mock and not to sin So here you see and so the Prophet by a spirit of Prophesie go and buy of them that sell But lest this may seem to be ground enough to build it upon because it is of doubtful interpretation therefore take another Scripture where he speaks of the Destruction of persecutors of the people of God such as Doeg was and there is the like reason for hypocrites when discovered undenyably and their Lamps gone out as here the righteous shall see it and fear and laugh at him when God should destroy him for ever and pluck him out of his dwelling place and root him out of the Land of the living then the righteous should see it and laugh at him have him in a holy derision yet with an holy awe of that glorious and fearful God who was so just in his judgements upon him And is it not just with God it should be so When such hypocrites have in their hearts despised the long-suffering and patience and tenderness of the Lord waiting upon them and made a mock and a jeast it may be at the intreaties of God at the earnestness of the Saints and their pressing so hard forward that now themselves in extremity should be mocked at by the people of God themselves This may be then in the first place a warning-word to all such trifling professors as all the while Jesus Christ stretcheth out his hands to them even all the day long they will not come to him they will sit under the shadow of their own gourd while it is green and not under the shadow of Jesus Christ they will sit by their own bottle their own cistern and not come to the Fountain which is opened for sins for uncleanness Remember Brethren there will come a day upon you wherein to the cutting and wounding of your souls you shall be sent to those empty things for comfort Papists will not now be perswaded but there is enough for them in their Church-treasurie and lay out their money upon them but when the Lord shall shew them their treasure is empty there is nothing in it it will not reach to pay the uttermost farthing no noâ— one farthing will it reach to pay then will the Lord and his people send such poor deluded souls to their Merit-mongers to their indulgences Now go to your treasurie of Merit for some sucker and râ—lief now go to your dry bottles see if there be any drop of water there to cool your tongues your inflamed souls with the displeasure of the Lord. As the Lord in the day of his peoples deistruction sends them to their Idols which they doted upon in a mocking way at their callings I will save you no more go to your Idols your gods that have eaten the fat of your sacrifices c. You have made lies
now the time of our working and Gods waiting is at an end God hath long waited to be gracious to us but now there is an end of waiting he seeth it would do no good as long as sinners could for sorrow or pain or death hold their vanities keep their sins their sweet morsels they would never spit them out therefore now he will wait no more though men were unready when Christ cometh yet if he would stay a while longer wait a year longer O if it might be but a Sabbath but a day what new creatures would men become they will promise fair No no the time of waiting is done he will not stay a jot they have had warning enough the cry hath past before him often enough Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye forth to meet him but you have not taken the warning now when he cometh and receiveth his own which were ready for him no more waiting the door is shut Though here in the Kingdom of grace God may be intreated to spare a barren tree or Vineyard a year or two longer yet when the time of waiting is at an end and he seeth nothing will do he will down with them by the roots into the fire with them so it is no time for us to work then to think of puting on Christ then if we would gather Manna it must be upon the six daies there was none to be found upon the seventh If we understand this of the day of the resurrection from the dead then it is clear as the tree falleth so it lyoth either hell-ward or heaven-ward But if of the time of death truly Brethren how ever this may sometimes through the exceeding riches of his grace be a time of repentance and faith to some yet ordinarily it is not so Alas they have enough to do to bear the weakness upon them they can mind little else or if they do return it is but feignedly for the most part with Judas and usually when a sinner hath so long trampled under foot the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord giveth them up to hardness of heart that they shall never repent or believe seeing they shall see and not perceive c. least they should be converted and he should heal them as it is there in the Revelations Let him that is filthy be filthy still let him that is an hypocrite be an hypocrite still this is fearful indeed So much for the Arguments For the Application Then Brethren What have we all of us to bless the Lord for that yet the door is not shut against us as we may hope indeed if God have sealed up any heart under hardness because of its long resisting the Holy-Ghost woful is his condition but doth he not breath now and then and stir and strive that is a good sign he hath not done with thee yet his waiting and striving time is not over he hath not given thee over yet c. What have we to bless the Lord for what are our lives Brethren good to us for in any respect besides but that we might work out our salvation make sure of God and Christ and heaven get our wedding-garment on put on the Lord Jesus for righteousness and holiness that our nakedness may not appear for heaven will not bear the nakedness of a sinner now though sinners have neglected this opportunity alas how many of us have we are exceeding busie making provision for our lusts our pride our luxury our backs our bellies provision for our wives our children but none for our poor souls and yet notwithstanding this he waiteth the door standeth open If you had many of you been cut off a year or a moneth ago and the grave had shut her mouth upon you would you not have found heaven shut against you and hell opening her mouth wide for to swallow you up Yea Brethren if this day he should come Ah I fear I fear Brethren as secure as many of us are now and sure of our conditions we should find the gate clapt against our souls O therefore Brethren bless the Lord admire his patience and long-suffering that yet draweth out our day of grace that yet holdeth his bowels open his arms open to receive us This is the first Secondly Then it may serve to lay before us the doleful condition of poor trifling creatures trifling professors that notwithstanding all the ado they make with their Lamps trimming of them and going up and down to buy they are found unready the door is clapt against them the Lord grant that none of your poor souls may ever see that woful day Brethren you will then know to your bitterness and sorrow what it is to sin away a day of grace an opportunity while the door stood open to receive you Ah surely there will nothing wound poor sinners more then this the time was I might have been happy I might have had heaven the bowels of the Lord Jesus stood open to me as well as to others but now alas it is past did it make the Lord Jesus weep for Jerusalem and was not her condition sad then and will it not make your hearts bleed O sure it cannot be but every such thought to Esau prophane Esau poor Esau when the blessing was gone he sought it with tears every thought sure of this time was I might have had the blessing but wretch that I was I sinned it away I despised it preferred a mess of pottage before it and therefore now there is no recovery of it Every thought sure in hell that heaven gate did stand open to you sinners you had as fair offers of grace and as long a season and opportunity to close with Christ as others but now they are gone will fetch blood from your very hearts and souls O the condition is sad and doleful Thirdly It shall be a word of Exhortation to us all that we would lay these things to heart It may be we have not so much minded them If this be true Brethren What need had we to look to it that we be found ready to enter which is an Exhortation I have already prest upon you there is a promise left of entering a threatning also that some shall not enter even as many as are not ready you see it here by the wise Virgins who enter and the foolish against whom the door is shut and the Apostle to the Hebrews Take heed lest any of you fall short through unbelief as those fell short the Apostle maketh that use of it to warn the Hebrews though Disciples in profession and many of them doubtless in reality such so here from this example I desire Brethren both mine own and your hearts may be quickned to look about us lest when all comes to all we have the gate of heaven clapt upon us 1. Then you that are yet in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity have yet your filthy garments upon you your rotten
in this we may understand two things 1. That they do work iniquity some sin they live in if not many notwithstanding their profession of Christ and therefore they are workers of iniquity 2. That the very form of godliness and all their shew is but a working of iniquity First then they are workers of some iniquity or other and that either in an outward gross manner as gross hypocrites or else more closely and inwardly as close hypocrites and yet they are workers of iniquity and the Lord Jesus will not know them nor own them First then for gross hypocrites such as have their hands full of blood full of bribes their houses are builded by wrong and their chambers by unrighteousnesâ— and yet they bless themselves in being a people to God surely the Lord will not away with this such are the gross hypocrites among us that will all the week long make a trade of lying in their shops in their callings of sweaâ—ing forswearing of drunkenness and adultery and come and wipe their mouths with the Harlot and say hey have done no wickedness they are pure in their own eys yet not washed c. come upon these days and sit before the Lord as his people as if they were delivered to do all these abominations the drunkard will not believe nor the swearer but they are as good Christians as any though all have their infirmities and theirs are no more well th 〈…〉 e are lying words you trust unto they will deceive you for saith the Lord I will not hear when you make many prayers your hands are full of blood God doth not regard the services of such a people he examineth mens hands to see if they be hard with labouring in their iniquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if so it is not your words that are smoâ—ther then oyl that shall serve your turn Quid verba cum sacta videam to cry Lord Lord and yet go and serve and drudge for the Devil as if he were their good Lord will not the Lord search this out O surely he will not know such a person as this 2. It may be it is more secret there is not an hypocrite but he regardeth iniquity in his heart and in heart he works wickedness if not with his hands it may be he may wash his hands with Pilat but not his heart O how do mens mouths water after the pleasures of sin the stoln waters and bread eaten in secret if they durst do it for fear of being discovered and ashamed before men or for a galled conscience a secret lust a secret wound which bleedeth inwardly is not so visible is as deadly as any other now I say be it never so secret let Judas cover his Treasury never so close and Ananias and Saphira their double dealing their covetousness it is to no purpose burning lips and a wicked heart are like a Potsherd covered over with silver dross it maketh a glorious shew burning of lips with love much love shewed with it but the heart is wicked and therefore base as a Potsherd a vessel of dishonour fitted to distruction and shall never enter into glory but be dasht in pieces But Secondly the very form of godliness though in it self materially it be good yet as they use the matter to make it a cloak for their sin a fair skin over a belly full of Garbidge and filthiness it is iniquity it is iniquity saith the Lord even your solâ—mn meetings Incense is an abomination to me I am weary to bear them What was the matter why they did but flatterwith their mouths their hearts were not with him therefore the Lord hated it this is working iniquity working out a form of godliness with much pains and sticking there the prayer of the wicked is sin it is an abomination it will amount to no more then to filthy garments filthy rags and in these brethren the Lord will not know us O no workers of iniquity shall not dwel with him Dine and Sup with him in heaven the feast of new Wine he will not open to them and what greater iniquity then hypocrisie Simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas an hypocrite when he thinketh he is at the best is at the worst then his hypocrisie is at the height and God will not admit any he knoweth them not Thirdly Not our part of the Conclusion that at that day it shall be declared openly to hypocrites that the Lord Jesus knoweth them not that is to say that he owneth them not notwithstanding all their seeming delight in his ways and their following of him in a profession yet this is the doom they are like to receive He knoweth them not this is also plain from this Text and also from that in Mat. 7. At that day that is to say the day of general Judgement or the day of death which is every particular souls Dooms day they shall say Lord Lord c. and then will I say to them Depart from me I know you not I never knew you First then Why is this so that at that day many Professors shall have this doom I know you not I never knew you it shall be thus declared from the mouth of the Lord Jesus himself it may be taken from the Office of Jesus Christ to be Judge God hath appointed to judge the world at that day by one even by Jesus Christ and therefore he shal pronounce the Sentence either with his own mouth or the ministration of Angels but rather me thinks with his own mouth this word shal go forth which shal be as a flaming two edged Sword to enter into the bones bowels of sinners and divide them in sunder for ever here sinners are shut up under sin they have chains of darkness upon their hearts already and hypocrites are lyable to this condemnation and are held with the cords of their sins and then shall be the time of the doom therefore then it shall be declared a Prisoner feareth what the sentence may be before he cometh to the triall and so hypocrites sometimes may have some foretaste some fearfulness may surprise them but they skin it over again but now it shall be declared by the Judge himself he knoweth them not and therefore they must depart from him Secondly For a confirmation of the words of his servants and an everlasting rebuke of their unbelief of his Word by them for this hath been the message of Christ to formalists in the mouths of all his Messengers your form of godliness will not carry you through all conditions it will fail you sooner or latter your fig leaves will not shadow you from the everlasting burnings the hope of the hypocrite shall perish and give up the Ghost God loatheth no sort of sinners more though they take themselves to be highly favoured yet they are deeply abhorred of God yet alas there is scarce an hypocrite but hath his shifts to put by an hundred
though he profess never so much love to Israel And O if he would give me a house full of gold and silver I cannot go beyond the Word of the Lord And O that my latter end might be as his Yet the Lord can see he is but a wretch for all this therefore Brethren I beg of you that it may be a searching word to us all Whether ever we have known him or be known of him have you ever touched him with the touch of faith for the pardon of your sins for the healing of your corruptions and have you found healing come from him yea or no have you known him the power of his death the power of his life and Spirit yea or no If you have not the Spirit of Christ you are none of his whose ever you be and he will not own you be sure Brethren for his sons for his friends to admit you to the feast except you be his indeed Ah dear friends I doubt many of us will be found with the foolish Virgins following after the creature resting in somewhat else beside the Lord Jesus Do not think your crying Lord Lord will do it this you may do and fall short did not Judas come with his hail Master and kiss him and yet his heart full of treason against him was this his kindness to Jesus Christ and do not many of us kiss him salute him with a kiss of love and homage or obedience in shew and yet in our lives deliver him up to be scourged by our loosness of carriage that there is no difference between us and other men open the mouths of the wicked and this constantly and without a returning to him will he own such a soul think you O how can we be contented to be uncertain in our conditions lest when all is done we should be disowned shut out at that day Thirdly Then Brethren let us all labour and be exhorted to it to study to approve our hearts to God more then to men a needful lesson to us all and it will be our wisdom surely for alas what if men know us and own us and favour us as Saints and precious people and Jesus Christ will not know our souls will this countervail O Brethren see to it that your praise be not of men but of God! O how apt we are to be lifted up and cheared if men think well of us and dejected if we suffer in their breasts if they disown us to be cast out of their hearts would go to our hearts it may be and we could not be quiet Alas what is this to that fearful sentence I know you not If Christ disown us what is it if all the Saints should own us and if he own us what should it discourage us though they none of them own us O labour to be more inward Christians and build your comforts upon the sure mercies of David in Jesus Christ No matter what is the rising way in the world which is the rising Sun Look to the mind of Christ keep a conscience void of offence toward him and make this your work to be found in him when all is done not in your gifts not in your duties not in your graces but in Christ O such a soul knoweth the Lord Jesus and such a soul is known of him and shall be known to all eternity Fourthly Here is an encouraging word to poor doubting souls It may be they are ready to pass this fearful sentence upon themselves sooner then many a wretched hard-hearted hypocrite to whom it properly belongs No matter man though thy gifts be not so great as another mans thou canst do little or hast not those sweet refreshings and enlargements which another hath Is thy heart approved to Jesus Christ canst thou approve thy soul to him that thou lovest him as Peter Lord thou knowest that I love thee though it may be not so much as other Saints do nor so much as the great things he hath done for thee call for yet thou lovest him and wouldst fain love him more be of good 〈◊〉 for thou art known of him If any man love God he is known of God A Judas may be an open professor of Christ and come to him in the day And a poor Nicodemus at the first dare but come in the night it may be and was a very shallow Scholar in Christ's School which is the discouragement of many a poor soul And Judas in the mean time a renowned Teacher of others and yet behold how the one betrayes the Lord Jesus and the other sticks to him when he was dead and professeth him openly at such a time as that when there was most discouragement against it O therefore Brethren though your grace be weak and little at the first if there be the root of the matter in thee if thou canst approve thy heart thou lovest him there is nothing in heaven nor in earth thou wouldest have in comparison of him though thy infirmities be many temptations be many thou art a poor wearied creature it may be with thine own heart be of good comfort the Lord Jesus hath already owned thee and he will own thee in that day And me thinks Brethren as on the one hand when such bold confident souls that make no other reckoning but of salvation but they reckon without Jesus Christ when they meet with so sad a disappointment in stead of an admittance they meet with I know you not O how will their hearts dye within them So on the other hand when a poor trembling doubting Thomas that it may be knoweth not what to think of himself nor his condition he is searching and trying and praying and fasting and humbling running and pressing hard forward and can get little ground of his corruptions which much discourageth him O he walks tremblingly lest he should receive this fearful sentence at the last that the Lord Jesus knoweth him not hath never had any thing to do with him notwithstanding all his profession sin is in strength corruption prevails though it is the bitterness of his soul O when such a poor doubting creature that haply many times looks for nothing but a fearful sentence depart from me shall have this pronounced O come thou poor soul I know thee I have known thee from the beginning of the world though thou hast been doubting of my love yet I know thee though thou hast been made black with affliction and thy visage so marr'd as others knew thee not refuge failed thee no man cared for thee for thy soul yet I know thee though thou hast been wounded with many sins many temptations and walked under many a discouraged heart yet I know thee O how will this be as everlasting life from eternal death to such a soul So that the soul shall now have now more place for doubting the satisfaction shall come with a mandamus he will speak salvation to the heart that it cannot
the heart of a sinner that was little worth before becometh a golden Vial full of odours it s concocted then the spices flow forth in the garden inclosed Seventhly the Sun dispels the mists and fogs which are unwholsom would poison the air yea and thick clouds which would muffle up the Sun from us we know this by daily experience So doth the Lord Jesus Brethren all the mists fogs and clouds of sin he dispels them for his name sake he blots out the transgressions of his people as a cloud It s the very heat Brethren of the love of Jesus Christ that consumeth as I may say melts away those clouds that they intercept not our communion and fellowship with him O! there is not a day but the streamings of our filthy hearts would gather into a thick cloud and cover his face from us were it not that the warm beams of his love did continually dispell them and scatter them we should never enjoy the light of his countenance an hour together if it were not for this and for his names sake he doth it And so the cloud of sorrow let the diseases of the people of God be what they will never so great and black clouds they are compassed about with their day is a day of gloominess and thick darkness how come these to be dispelled is it not the Sun of righteousness breaking forth on poor sinners that doth it one sight of Christ as reconciled to him puts an end unto all Eighthly the Sun is the cause of the sweet intercourse between the earth and the clouds and the clouds and the earth for its the Sun that exhales the vapours from the earth and draweth them up into the middle region of the air and there with the cold of the air its condensed into a cloud and hangs until it be dissolved and render it self to the earth again to make it fruitful and so the dew is in like manner begotten only is not far lifted up above the earth and with the cold of the night is congealed into little drops and so sweetly distills So the Lord Jesus he draweth out the hearts the affections of his people in prayers sweet breathings after himself and these prayers come down again sometimes on the same soul sometimes on another place they fall but abundance of sweetness and blessing and mercy is poured out by this means on poor creatures whereby they become fruitful Ninthly The Lord Jesus may be compared to the Sun for that the Sun Giant-like rejoyceth to run his race and who can turn him back alas all the clouds that gather about the Sun that to our apprehensions might haply seem to threaten a blotting of it out a clogging of it they are all below it It s true prayer once did hold him in his course and it looks like a word of command Sun stand thou still and so prayer may do much with Jesus Christ but not hinder him in his course riding on in his triumphant charriot conquering and to conquer enlightning poor dark places and people Before we come to the other we will a little apply this to our selves First then Brethren if the Lord Jesus be a Sun then they that have this Sun risen on them they are children of the day if the Sun be up it must needs be day and is not the Sun up Brethren among us is not the Lord Jesus gone forth as a Gyant to run his race among us we now have a day of Grace among us and how long or how short it may be I know not Brethren it seemeth to be declining in some respects and the shadows of the evening growing low O that we would be perswaded and stirred up to do the work of our day in this our day our great work which is to work out our salvation with fear and trembling I doubt if the Sun should set and the night come on you wherein no man can work you should have this work yet to do many of you especially brethren you into whose hearts the Lord Jesus this Sun of righteousness hath shone O how should you walk as children of the day not in surfetting and drunkenness I mean not with meat and fire only but with any creature-comforts and delights on this side Christ away then with all the works of darkness all practices which did suit better with the times of ignorance and blindness and now walk as becometh the light and the day that the Sun may not be ashamed to behold you Secondly Such as the Lord Jesus then hath not risen on they are yet in darkness children of the night and walk at uncertainties know not whither they go Alas many a poor soul thinketh he is as sure to go to heaven as he is to die when he is in the very rode to hell only some go in the broad trodden path open prophane impudent sinners some steal thither behind the hedge they are going to hell but in a closure walk hidden from others and from themselves Many night-Birds there are among us children of the night indeed though in one respect many of us may be said to be children of the day because Jesus Christ in the dispensation of the Gospel is held forth unto us as they are said to be the children of the Kingdom yet in respect of the inward revealing of Christ in the heart I doubt many of us are strangers to it though we fly about in the light yet we are but Owls and Bats darkness agreeth better with us our souls are full of darkness our works are nothing else but works of darkness How sad a consideration is this Brethren that in the midst of light we should be children of darkness 〈◊〉 noon-day when the Gospel is at the heighth and Christ the Sun as it were at the meridian we should be stumbling and groping as at midnight not knowing whither we go Then thirdly As there is this difference of persons where Christ cometh from them where he cometh not so it is in families and people Brethren what a sad people and family is that where they are all in Egyptian darkness Jesus Christ is not risen unto any soul among them they know him not experimentally but they are all in blindness Alas none can help another the Israelites and Egyptians though they dealed among one another in one family there was light in the other there was nothing but gross darkness that might be felt O who would live in such a family who would not haste out of such a condition you would think that a sad conditioned house that the light of the Sun and warmth of the Sun never entreth into of all places you would not live in it this is is nothing brethren to the total absence of Christ where neither Husband nor Wife nor Fellow-servant nor Children none of them have had the Lord Jesus shining into their hearts Gross darkness shall cover the earth saith the
them when they are come Or Thirdly From the evil of them the pinching and wringing and galling of the yoke First In respect of the fear of them They shall go forth he speaks here plainly to the believing Jews they were afraid of the judgments of God in the threatning while they did but hang over their heads and they were in a kind of prison or bondage by reason of this fear Well saith the Lord Fear not you shall go forth the Sun of righteousness shall arise upon you Job was afraid of his sorrows take and compare Job the none-such in the East a most eminent Saint and Paul in the New Testament and the one you find he is afraid of his sorrows Paul he glories in his tribulations you never hear him complaining of his sufferings no nor feared them he knew that bonds and imprisonments did abide him in every City but he cared not for any of these things he had a richer discovrey of the Grace of God in Christ then Job had and clearer it is like and therefore this set him free in a great measure from them and indeed his soul that knoweth the things that are freely given him in Christ knoweth now that he is his Father and what ever shall befall him it shall turn to his good what need he much to fear Secondly They shall go out from the presence of them this the Lord doth many times for his people what though the day of the Lord burn like an oven and burn up the chaff and stubble and devour them root and branch I will be an hiding place to you saith the Lord You that fear my name indeed and tremble at my word O the Sun of righteousness shall arise upon you and by vertue of his death ye shall be delivered as the Jews were in Egypt By the sprinkling of the blood of the Passover upon the Posts of the Doors which did represent and typifie the blood of Jesus Christ and in that place of Zâ—ch Mark you saith the Lord concerning his peoples Deliverance out of Babylon a type of spiritual deliverance and freedom of his people as for thee also by the blood of the Covenant I have sent forth thy Prisoners out of the Pit wherein there is no water this is done by vertue of the Covenant of Grace whereby this freedom and going forth is made out to Believers therefore you may observe when the Lord cometh to deliver Israel out of Egypt he ushers it in thus I remember my Covenant the difference between the deliverances of Israel and other people are the one is a Covenant mercy the other a common mercy meerly Well now saith the Lord ye shall go forth of the burning even as the children in the Furnace it burned but they escaped the Lord Jesus was with them so shall ye go forth and the Lord did provide a little Zoar for his people in the destruction of Jerusalem many of them escaped to Pella as the story goeth a little Town beyond Jordan and so the Lord doth seal the 144000. before he brings those bloody calamities upon the earth the persecuting world and those in the ninth of Ezekiel O who would not be in Covenant with God! they shall go forth Or thirdly They shall be freed from the destroying evil the hardening evil of affliction which is a bondage and a sore one too being bound in affliction and iron and so Job in the 13. ch ver 27. God writeth bitter things against him and puts his feet in the stocks and all his affliction together is called Jobs captivity he was as I may say resigned up to the pleasure of Satan for a while who led him from one affliction to another but the Lord brought him out and brought him off without the evil the Devil expected that he should curse him and dye curse him to his face now I say the Lord maketh his people go forth brings them through and not only so but without any of the hurt seizing upon them Sinners are the harder for being in the fire but they are melted as very a stone as Pharaoh was he began to burn in the fire and be hot and a man would have thought his heart had given but it was a stone still but his people came out melted refined with this Epiphonema to all their afflictions O it was good for me I could not have been without it much of my dross is gone by it and thus the Lord maketh his people go forth â—e shall go forth Twelfthly There is one more and that is the yoak of Ceremonies traditions of men I will put them both together the Ceremonies were a yoak you know circumcision was a hard service to draw blood of their children at eight daies old their journeys to their feasts at Jerusalem their offerings and oblations they were very chargeable insomuch that they grew weary of them and snuffed at them c. And for the Traditions of men they are a grievous burthen where their Doctrines are taught and received the Apostle comprehends both-under that word the rudiments of the world whereunto he would not have them be brought in bondage again the difference of meats and drinks c. the Lord Jesus hath let us loose from those observations and therefore it is a desperate doctrine a doctrine of Devils or at least of them that speak lies in hypocrisie to forbid to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving and blessed be his name that by the rising of the Sun of righteousness among us he hath brought us out from this bondage generally and if he would be pleased to shine among the poor ignorant Papists that they might but come to the knowledge of his will doubtless this would be quickly shakt off with them also but you have the parts of this liberty For the degrees of it we must know this that it is not in the same degree to every believer you have already heard how that before Christ's coming it was not in such power as since Ye shall go forth hath been accomplished in many respects since the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the more faith and the clearer sight we have of Jesus Christ with the greater power and splendor and glory he shines upon us the more of the riches of his grace we come to apprehend the more fully and perfectly to rest upon that grace the more shall we find that all these bondages shall be broken we have been speaking to but thus much for the two things which is what this liberty is Which are the arguments for the further confirmation of the Doctrine Where the Lord Jesus ariseth upon a soul there is liberty and enlargement First from the very nature of that gift of grace the arising of the Sun of righteousness upon them what is this but the giving of himself unto a soul
is in this case though a mans gifts and grace rise never so high and over-flow at his lips at his actions to make others also fruitful and to grow yet if there be not a continual supply from the Fountain would it subsist would it not languish therefore this is the comfort that he is an Author of it I the Lord hast thou not heard hast thou not known that I the Lord the Creator of the ends of the earth faint not neither am weary and therefore though you faint and languish yet I faint not saith the Lord I will renew your strength therefore and ye shall run and not be weary though now you cannot lift up your heads therefore this is the first reason It must needs be perfect every good and every perfect gift cometh from the Father of lights if any be more perfect then another sure they are the gifts of his grace but this is but the first The second Reason may be an auxiliary to the first The Lord will perfect the work of grace he beginneth and therefore there is such an increase as the Apostle calls it the increase of God now why is this because he hath appointed a measure of a fulness of stature to be attained by us before we be made meet for the inheritance of the Saints in light a child while a child is scarce able to mannage an inheritance he knoweth not what it meaneth and so for a weak Christian and therefore mark you what our Saviour saith ye must be converted and become as little children else you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God he saw some pride and swelling and ambition of their spirits well faith our Saviour this must be fetched out of you one way or other either by love or by the rod or both before you will be fit to enter into glory O how heavenly and sweet do the Saints generally grow before the Lord takes them Brethren if so glorious a building as the temple of God be intended will every rough stone a rough-hewn-Christian be fit to lay in that building O no surely those knotty pieces shall be plained and smoothed and pollished before they be laid in that glorious Temple in heaven remember it I say Brethren there is a meetness for heaven and though haply many of us care not for it we would not be too meet for it lest we be taken to it before we be willing to part with the world never fear that while thou hast such a heart it is well if thou be not so far from it that thou never come thither thou needest not fear coming thither too soon But there are two causes which seem to call for a word here to open them First what will you say then to persons that it may be no sooner are converted but they dye what time have they to grow in grace and to come to this meetness of the inheritance of the Saints Remember what was said before that growth is not alway in all of the same pace What if God will create one Adam in perfect stature the first day and the rest grow to it by degrees why may it not be so what if some grow as the Lâ—â—lies shoot up quickly much in a night and others are longer about it if all must grow and come to this fittness before he take them and so if the Lord be a whole year turning water into wine in his ordinary way of providence which is wonderful and at another time though not so often do it in a moment who shall say to him what dost thou this is as perfect wine as fit to be drunk as rich and full of spirits as the other so the thief upon the Cross he made a large progess in a short time for I tell you to believe in the Lord Jesus and confess him and at such a time as that was was no small power of grace when himself was under the agonies of death and Christ under disgrace and the shame of the Cross and crucifying and dying yea under the displeasure of his Father crying out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me when he was forsaken of his Father in a sort and forsaken of all men yeâ— and of his own Disciples also none of them then durst openly â—cknowledge him and crucifying at that time Peter had denyed him they all fled from him before though some of them stood and looked on yet if they had been put to it at that time it is a question what they would have done therefore our Saviour in tenderness towards them would have them be let go as you have it when himself was taken now at such a time as this when heaven and earth looked black upon our blessed Saviour to own him to despise the shame of the Cross at the first dash and to reprove his fellow that was crucified with him it was a great measure of faith I le tell you Brethren it is like he that wrought that in him had wrought a like measure of love when he told him he should this day be with him in Paradise what such a wretch as I that all my life time have lived so wickedly and now am dying under my guilt and in one day at the last moment to be translated into a glorious Kingdom O this could not but surely much enlarge his heart in love to the Lord Jesus and that is the perfection of the Law and so we see some Christians that grow more in a moneth in a year or two then many do in many years some are foolish children that stick long in the place of breaking forth some make haste and run much in a little time and therefore this hinders not but all should grow to their measure appointed of God before they come to heaven And for the children of Believers how can they come to this pitch you will say how can they grow â—o such a height of growth for answer First It is worth the noting that even they who deny them the priviledges of the Covenant of grace which are visible and outward in the Church of God yet dare not profess whatever they think to the contrary but that they are saved or may be saved and profess tender thoughts of them they are not such duri patres infantum as to exclude them out of the Kingdom it was the Disciples fault you know and so it may be good mens now to hinder them from coming to Christ they thought they were but troublesom guests to him they were capable of little and therefore forbad them but they got a rebuke for their labour what saith our Saviour is it not clear enough even from the old Scripture for there were no other then written and they had means to know that they did belong to Christ and the Kingdom else he would not have reproved them Do you not know to such belongs the Kingdom of God you might have known and ought to
ordinary that in things so much controverted as they are now a daies can in a few daies time be so tost with a wind of Doctrine as to take up a strange a contrary practise this easiness to forgo our principles argues we are childish and weak Secondly Are we grown in understanding you will find it by this thou wilt not be so ready so easie to take offence as heretofore thou hast been alas before men are acquainted with the waies of God at all you see they are offended at every thing they see the Jews were offended with the meanness of Jesus Christ his descent that he was the Carpenters Son he was not like to be the Messias alas it was the weakness of their understanding they did not consider those Scriptures where it is said there should be no beauty in him that we should desire him and that he should come meek and lowly riding upon an Ass and so they were offended at his Doctrine when he told them they must eat his flesh and drink his blood they could not conceive of it and many of his Disciples went backward and walked with him no more And so sinners O they stumble at every thing in the people of God when they consider them and pry into them and find they miss it and fall in their duties they are prejudiced strongly against the waies of God upon this score alas it is ignorance they know not that they have a corrupt principle within whereby they are laid open to sin when lust and temptation meeteth except the Lord do wonderfully keep them they expect they should be as the Angels in heaven altogether spotless and pure even while they are upon the earth and therefore they are offended And so a weak child of God that is newly come on to grace alas every little thing in the way they stumble at for this offending is nothing else but stumbling upon a thing so as to hurt themselves by it either by being drawn to sin thereby being encouraged to sin thereby or else by being grieved at it without cause you know a child cannot get over that which a man maketh nothing of but he stumbleth and falleth so the Apostle where he discusseth of the use of indifferent things saith he All men have not this knowledge that an Idol is nothing and therefore if some weak ones see a Brother that is strong eat of that which was offered to an Idol which he knoweth to be lawful for him to do he is offended at it this argues weakness now have we found it so that we have been apt to take offence at any thing at every thing in others almost and now we can bear it argues we see more clearly the grounds of such actions but thus much for this Secondly Another part of this growth upward I place in the will which is indeed the main the commanding faculty of the soul and indeed wherein the main of faith doth lie and of other graces as of tender-heartedness and the like dost thou find then that heretofore thy will was more unsettled and wavering being as I may say halting between two thou wast not able to come up so fully to such a resolution for God and for Christ as to trample all under-foot for them thou wouldst have them but either hadst some reservation in such a case thou wouldst be saved now thy resolution breaks through all whatsoever this is growth indeed A man of a weak resolution for Christ alas if a temptation come to deny him the allurements of the world he forsakes him with Demas and imbraceth the present world or the frowns of the world he draweth baâ—k to perdition or else is foiled with Peter or at least much abated in his zeal groweth to a more indifferency of Spirit would joyn Christ and Moses together with the temporizing Jews to keep themselves from being persecuted and as Peter himself afterward alas his resolution was not yet so strong as afterward for fear of the Jews he did forbear to walk with the Gentiles as before he had done and so was an offence to them Ah dear friends it may be some of us can tell the time when for fear of men we have sadly miscarried is it better with us now have we now more courage have we for fear of shame come to Christ with Nicodemus by night and now are we not ashamed of Christ nor of his Gospel As the Apostle he was not ashamed of it though it were persecuted and though his meanness of speech were despised his preaching in a suitable manner to the subject which is a great part of a Preachers duty he was not ashamed Well then now consider doth the Lord give thee such boldness such courage such resolution of heart as to hold fast the Word of his patience the suffering-truth it may be we may be tryed in this point if we be not grown we shall miscarry as heretofore we have done Alas Brethren a little touch with a finger a little blast will blow a c 〈…〉 d over and over but if we be grown we shall find greater resolutions against sin to avoid the occasions of it do you find Brethren O the yielding frame of your hearts to sin to weakness every day it is weaker then heretofore and done away that now you can peremptorily deny a lust deny a temptation O you may not do this and sin against God! then we are grown in the will indeed and the more strong we grow in these resolutions the more we grow in this respect but if we cannot cease to sin Brethren we are where we were it may be we may be sometimes affected a little with our sins upon a flash or pang but have no power nor strength to resist our wills our wills are as weak as water to any thing that is good and against sin we grow not Brethren Again as thus downward and upward so see how we grow in fruitfulness we have spoken at large to that subject that we must bring forth fruits or else we cannot escape the Axe now I speak of the measure of the growth therein a young tree of the first year cannot be expected to bear so much as when better grown no more a young Christian here I would only mind you of two things First that we bring forth more fruit that is that we do more for God then we have done and for his people and for our own souls it may be thou hast heretofore but now and then prayed to God dost thou now do it more often it may be three times a day with Daniel and David It may be heretofore thou gavest but little to the relief of the poor Saints and others in distress dost thou now give more and more proportionable to thy estate as the Lord hath blessed thee for that is the proportion which the Apostle maketh and so where heretofore thou didst speak but now and then a savory word now
indeed these are the sweet breathings of faith these are the near approaches of the soul to Christ this is to lay hold upon him though the soul feel little comfort for the present yet this is a coming to Christ So the Prodigal O make me but as one of thine hyred servants Fifthly and lastly it is a closing with Jesus Christ as he is offered not by the halves Christ is not divided as the Apostle saith his righteousness from his holiness nor his holiness from his righteousness therefore saith the Apostle as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him O here many are deceived they would have Christ but they will not be his what a strange unreasonable thing is this they would have the benefit of having him to be their Father and be heirs but they will not be subject as children they would have all the immunities and priviledges peace and prosperity of soul under him as a King but they will not submit themselves to him as King and Lord they would have him for an husband and yet will not obey O this is not a coming to Jesus Christ this is to serve our selves upon him but the Lord Jesus will search this out keep it as close as we can from others that they may think well of us yea from our selves also through the juglings of our hearts we cannot keep it from him he knoweth where there is a soul that takes the Lord Jesus without any reserve and equivocation Aug. Is non modo durus was no good sign of his condition at that time though afterward it was otherwise for we find he acknowledgeth it bewails it the Lord grant that the doom of Ananias and Saphira reach not to many of our souls for pretending to give up the whole to Jesus Christ and yet reserve part to our selves yea pretend to come to Jesus Christ and yet divide him Well you see Brethren what this coming to Jesus Christ is it is not then every one that saith Lord Lord nor cryeth out the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord that come to Christ it is not the having a few faint wishings and wouldings which like the untimely birth of a woman like a bable perish and never appear more that is a coming to Christ it is not your sucking sweetness from your own duties performances Ordinances priviledges any thing short of Christ that is coming to him Dear Lord Jesus how many of us loyter and take up our rest short of thee It is not a bare acknowledgement of our being sinners in the general and a Lord have mercy from the mouth without any sense of our condition upon our hearts that is a coming to Jesus Christ It is not a desire to be pardoned alone for then none of us should miscarry and O that it were so if the Lord see it good But it is the earnest breathings of a poor broken lost soul the moan of a poor wounded creature the pantings of a poor languishing heart after Jesus Christ a making him alone our stay a resigning our selves to him that is the coming to him here spoken of and such a soul he will not cast out Pardon me I know I am too slow for the acute and I wish I be not as much too swift for many of us that are dull of understanding slow of heart to understand and believe these things the condition of people now a daies I take it doth call upon us to speak oftner and more fully to beat it upon poor creatures the nature of this coming to Jesus Christ then any other thing as I find still in all the preachings of the Apostles they did endeavour to make good that truth most necessarily that Jesus was the Christ because that was most opposed in those daies so now this being granted by all and already that we are sinners the main work lies herein to undeceive poor creatures who think all is well enough with them and therefore I am the more large in this part and indeed much more large then I thought to be The second thing then is what is meant by this not casting out wherein lies the marrow and fatness and sweetness of this Scripture and indeed I think the whole Book of God doth not afford a more refreshing word a more establishing word to a poor weak creature then this is O then let us see what it is First he will not cast him out he will not cast him out of his heart that is the first not out of his love for we must know this all of us this day which may be a comfort to many a doubting trembling misgiving-heart that if the Lord Jesus have done this in us and for us hath given us thus to come to him in truth for degrees of the things formerly spoken of I intend not them as to make up the nature of our duty it may be in a weaker and a stronger measure but if in truth it can be found that so we come know for thine everlasting comf 〈…〉 t as base thoughts as thou hast of thy self and of thy vileness and of thy unworthiness thy dear Saviour hath precious thoughts of thee thou art written in his heart thou wast in his heart when he wrought this work in thee and for thee yea long before this for the truth is were not he first as well as last in the work the Alpha as well as the Omega in that work of salvation we should never come to him nor should we abide with him O thy Law is in my heart saith he in Psal 44. 8. thy command I delight to do thy will and what was that that all that the Father hath given to him he should redeem and deliver and save and therefore if it be thus with us we were in his heart before as it was said of that Queen when she dyed That if her heart were opened they should find Calice there Ah Brethren surely the names of the choice of God which now appears and breaks out by this that is given to us to come to Jesus Christ all that the Father hath given shall come to me I say our names were then upon his heart and now are upon his heart as the Priest did bear the names of Israel before the Lord and therefore the Lord will not cast out such a poor soul out of his heart out of his love O my loving kindness I will never take from thee however he may chastise however he may with-hold comfort for a time yet believe it O that every poor weak creature might this day have it given from on high to believe that the Lord will not cast them out of his heart this is thy greatest fear poor soul lest thou shouldest lose him lest he should disown thee and say I will not have mercy on thee Alas it is as impossible as white to be black or black white hath he once owned thee and made manifest his
Several Works OF Mr. IOHN MURCOT That Eminent and Godly preacher of the Word lately of a Church of Christ at Dublin in Ireland CONTAINING I. Circumspect Walking on Eph. 5. 15 16. II. The Parable of the ten Virgins on Mat. 25. from ver 1. to ver 14. III. The Sun of Righteousness hath healing in his wings for Sinners on Mal. 4. 2. IV. Christs Willingness to receive Humble Sinners on John 6. 37. Together with his Life and Death Published by Mr. Winter Mr. Chambers Mr. Eaton Mr. Carryl and Mr. Manton With Alphabetical Tables and a Table of the Scriptures explained throughout the whole LONDON Printed by R. White for Francis Tyton at the three Daggers in Fleet-street near the Inner-Temple Gate 1657. To the Right Honourable the Lord Deputy FLEETWOOD and the Lord HEN. CROMWELL My Dear and ever Honoured Lords THough you love not applause nor I can give titles to men lest in so doing my Maker should cut me off Yet must I perform my duty to God and to you in bearing witness to the truth as it is in Jesus and effectually and exemplarily dwels in you Your piety faithfulness zeal towards God tenderness to the Saints in whom is aliquid Christi your ardent love to the faithful Ministers of Christ and to this our dear Brother departed with his dearly beloved consort and children challengeth no less at my hands who was my Partner and Fellow-helper in the work of the Ministry an earthen Angel and an heavenly Mortal that I may so speak of whom I may say as the Apostle of that Brother his praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches I have seldom known of his years a head better hearted or heart better headed The enlargement of whose heart was the enlargement of his abilities He was a burning and bright shining star in the Firmament of our Church holy for Doctrine and Piety but shining with a borrowed light from the Sun of Righteousness which he was very sensible of For he did not offer to God that which cost him nought but gave up himself wholly to the Ministry of the Word and Prayer and the Lord was with him Who did not only as he said lay it on but with a warm hand rub it in I have sometimes thought when I have come into the Congregation that the Church-meeting-place was filled with the smoke of Gods presence such a power there was that went along with the word for he first did then taught and taught and did again Acts 1. Mat. 5. living over in the week time that which he preached to others on the Lords day as the Priest did of the Shew-bread which was set upon the Table which none but themselves might feed upon his life being a Commentary upon his Text and doubtless the Word is as efficacious to a gracious dispenser as to any of his hearers This is that which made his Ministry so efficacious Mat. 21. John wrought no Miracles but acting in a way of Righteousness he was more prevalent than if he had wrought Miracles for to obey is more than to work a Miracle as Luther said Hence it was that in him all Miracles almost met in one the blind see the deaf hear the dumb speak the lame walk the leapers are cured and the poor are evangelized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and turned into the mould of the Gospel not only the word delivered up to them but they delivered into the form of the word His style did piscatoriam simplicitatem olere savoured of Fisher-like simplicity as Chemnitius said he did not sore aloft in high expressions shooting over his hearers but did condescend to the capacities of the meanest which is an excellence in any A garish attire doth not become a chast matron neither doth the affectation of humane eloquence become a grave sober Minister of Jesus Christ as much affection as you will but no affectation for nothing affected affects nihil affectationum afficit aeger non querit medicum eloquentem sed sanantem We say of a Diamond quicquid absconditur perditur whatsoever is hid of it is lost those Rethorical flourishes are like the painted glass in the windows that make a fair shew but hinder the light therefore saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3. because the Gospel is glorious we use plainness of speech But that which was the glory of all in this our dear Brother was this I may boldly say his labours were crowned with the conversion of many souls which is an evident sign of the truth of the Ministry by which they were converted He was sweetest as Christ towards his latter end for he was not as a staff behind the door but being planted in the House of God and enjoying Communion with many precious Saints he grew fast whereas many with Thomas Joh 20. 24. absenting themselves have fallen short of that intimate Fellowship and Communion with Christ they might have attained to But he was not like Joshuah's Sun that stood still nor Hezekiahs Sun that went back but like Solomons Sun shining more and more to the perfect day neither did he set in a cloud as many that have ecclipsed Gods glory and therefore he ecclipseth theirs but sets gloriously in this world and riseth I am perswaded more gloriously in another therefore well may I cry out bitterly lamenting his death as that Prophet did My father my father the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof or as David concerning his son Absalom O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my son for I may truly say it hath been no small trouble to me that the Lord should take away this eminent instrument in the prime of his daies and leave me behind being a dry barren tree and declining fast as the dresser of his Vineyard but as in the means of grace God grants them to some that will not make use of them but denies them to others that would for his waies are unsearchable even so he takes away some more hopeful instruments and leaves behind such as are less hopeful To prevent that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incident to many that we might live above all having our hand upon the stern of duty and our eye on the Star Christ My Lords I present to your serious view this piece of this our dear Brother transcribed by his beloved Consort which though it hold forth the state of the Virgin-Church to come in the latter daies yet is it very suitable to the present times in which you may see like Peters Cock he claps his wings and calls upon others to waken out of their drunken sleep When the Cocks begin to crow the day begins to dawn when the Cocks crow young and old we say its clear day but when they hasten to their roost with the sweet chirping birds Cant. 2. night draws on Now the Lord look back upon us as he did upon Peter And give us to remember our Rulers even
such as have been as appears by the words following our Rulers and have taught us the Word of the Lord again and again considering the end of their conversation c. for assuredly the living speeches of dying Prophets live for ever Zach. 1. Their word took hold that is it did pursue overtake and seize upon that generation And so will the word of this our dear Brother fasten upon many a soul if not to his salvation certainly to his eternal destruction who if he were alive again would he not speak as now though dead in this present discourse he speaketh Oh! rest not satisfied with the Lamp of profession but get the oyl of saving grace into the vessels of your hearts and go forth to meet the Bride-groom that when he cometh whether at midnight cock-crowing or at the dawning of the day you may not be found sleeping but may enter in with him It s said of Arrius that as his errour with the sad effects thereof spread after his death so his torments were increased in hell for the Lord will render to every man not only according to his doings but according to the fruit of his doings If so as I believe it is a truth O then would we add to this our Brothers Crown and make it more massie and fuller of those choice pearls another day let us remember and forget not what by him was done and taught but say as she said Lord lay up this for me that whenever I have occasion to make use of it as when not I may so remember it as that I may practise and be blessed in my deed But I detain your Lordships too long I shall conclude with my hearty prayers to the Lord that as he hath made you eminently instrumental so he would take pleasure in you both to make you more and more instrumental in the hand of Christ which next to our salvation is one of the greatest priviledges in this life and lengthen out your daies that you may return slowly to heaven which is the humble desire of My Lords Your most devoted servant Sam. Winter The Epistle to the READER Curteous and Christian Reader THou hast here presented to thy view some Sermons os Mr. John Murcot whilst he lived a precious Instrument in the hand of Jesus Christ a Workman that needed not to be ashamed And now being dead yet speaketh by these and his other labours Concerning the Author he was according to his years of an exact judgement which appeared 1. In the choice of apt Subjects with respect to the persons and times wherein he lived as he aimed at the setting up of Christs interest and the welfare of his people so he singled out arguments answerable upon the improvement whereof he spent his best thoughts as might be instanced in these and several other pieces of his 2. In all his undertakings he laboured to discover to poor creatures the vileness of sin Gods free Grace yet ne◠〈◊〉 the prejudice of Gospel-obedience in the promoting whereof he laboured very much knowing the great relactancy of flesh and blood thereto 3. His wisdom appeared in his care and tenderness in that with the discovery of sin he always joyned the nearness of Mercy as he cast down with one hand so he raised up with the other a Bonerges and yet a son of consolation and oh how tender and humble towards poor troubled doubting souls 4. In the healing and preventing of breaches among Brethren he was admirable the Lord gave him wisdom above his years 2 As he was exact in judgement so was he full of affections how warm were they lying in the very bosom of his Master which appeared in his melting frame of Spirit ordinarily and in his thirst to draw down notions that floated in the brain to the heart and feeling wherein he was exceedingly successful 3 As for conversation he was not only spotless but active in good in his studies aâ—dlabours wherein as he was abundant and unwearied which probably helped to shorten his life that when his body came to conflict with the disease he had not strength to overcome at all other times doing or receiving good of whom it may be truly said that he did Epilcopum agere vivere act and live a true Minister of Jesus Christ blessed Bradford connted that hour lost wherein he did not some good with his tongue pen or purse It was the commendation of blessed Hooper that he was spare of Dyet spare of Words and sparest of Time These things being committed to another hand we shall forbear the scope of this Epistle being to acquaint thee with the grounds of publishing these Sermons and to intreat thy candid interpretation and acceptance of our endeavours therein First The satisfying of the longing desires of several some of whom eminent not only in Place but Piety that their hearts may be refreshed their memories strengthened by reading what they formerly heard with much delight 2. The general acceptation of the Author even with all sorts in those places where he lived or was known Secondly The seasonableness of the Subject it being an Antidote against the raigning of that most dangerous evil of the times Formality the most satisfying themselves with the bare Lamp of Profession not regarding the want of oyl in their vessels and the best too apt to be nodding when the cry is made and with the Apostles most sleep when it most concerned them to be watching which renders this Subject not only of present but lasting use and benefit Thirdly The manner of handling which is solid and spiritual so that the ingenuous Reader may find in this Lamp not only light to direct him but heat to warm him when he is a cold and a Cry to awaken him when he is asleep Fourthly The Authors exactness in penning them as if Providence contrary to his approved modesty had designed them for publick view which thou hast here as they were left in his own private notes and you know First That writing and speaking have their several Graces they were publikely delivered with much advantage Secondly They are set forth after his death and you know charity is due to Orphans the Authors more then ordinary growth in a few years assures us that had he lived to have revised this Work it would have been much more digested and refined Thirdly Being left in Characters in the transcribing whereof by the most diligent and exact some mistakes are almost unavoidable so that these may challenge allowance being transcribed by the Authors dearest relation who acquired the knowledge of his Character after his death Wherefore we intreat thee good Reader to bear with what might have escaped upon that or our own accompt which we shall willingly own judging it our duty to prefer the Publike and eternal good of souls to our own names for whose sake as the Pretious Author bestowed much of his oyl in the trimming of this Lamp so we have set it up in
view beseeching the Father of Lights to bless and own it with like success and entertainment in the hearts of those that shall read it as he did when it was at first preached Remaining Christian Reader Thy friends in and for the Truths sake Samuel Winter Robert Chambers Christian Reader MY Design in these few lines to thee is not to commend the work that is here presented to thy view I suppose it will sufficiently commend it self And if it should be otherwise it is not I nor any other who by a bare testimony can add to the Merit of it For though I must ingenuously confess that since it was left with me I have not had time to read it exactly nor could I keep it longer in my hands to satisfie my self that way without some injury having been confined in my retaining of it with me to a certain time Yet so far as I read I have observed that with much satisfaction to my self which I judge may be acceptable to others both to instruct them as also to awaken quicken refresh comfort them so that those who are wise and will diligently observe what they read may be greatly edified thereby My intent is rather to speak of the man that precious servant of Jesus Christ Mr. Murcot who now is taken to his rest in that near Communion which he enjoyes with and in his blessed Head then of any particular work of his I first knew him when he lived in Wirral near Chester and there was reason that I should be familiarly acquainted with him at that time both because he was Preacher at a place and also to a people there to many of whom my self in former times stood related till the violence of the then prevailing Prelates expulsed me thence and also because he took to wife from among us Mrs. Hester Marsden well reputed of by us and who now survives him a serious Mourner under the heavy loss of him He was while he lived there the glory of that Countrey A very quick and lively and powerful Preacher he was and mighty in prayer Eminent for piety gravity and holy innocency warming and heating the hearts of the Saints by his doctrine and life a considerable part whereof he spent in holy Communion with them And over-awing and silencing the rest of men where he lived by his wise grave and harmless conversation Dearly loved he was by some and greatly reverenced by others But in Ireland especially in the chief City thereof Dublin to which place he went when he left Wirrall and where he ended his daies he became like Jonah his Gourd he sprung up as it were in a night his growth was wonderful in that place he filled that City I may say in some sense that Land with his shadow his fame went abroad through the whole Countrey and reached to many parts of this Nation also And when the Providence of the Lord carried me over thither which was about twelve moneths since and about six moneths after he had finished his course though my stay there was but for a little moment yet I met with the sweet savour of his precious name which was like an oyntment poured forth in all places where I travelled God was doubtless very remarkably with him for a great work was done by him in a short time as it is clearly witnessed by all good people that live there He spake the Word of God as one who was much with God and indeed he had alwaies much inward close Communion with God in secret before he revealed any thing of him or from him openly He studied the peoples distempers and found out that formality was the great epidemical disease among professors as indeed so it is every where in this declining age And he was wisely guided in the choice of such soul-searching Scriptures by which he might then separate the Sheep from the Goats the wise Virgins from the foolish which will be Christs work hereafter In a word for prolixity is not so suitable for one who now presents all upon report there being all the while he lived there a Sea betwixt him and me he was a most industrious vigilant Pastor and a most austere and self-observing Christian And this Crown of glory the Lord put upon him which few others have had the honour to wear he was like a rising Star ever to his death in a rising State increasing in spiritual height and stature every day and grew more eminent and excellent in his gifts graces labours usefulness and profitableness continually and he lived not to be at a stay much less to decline but when he was nearest heaven the Lord carried him thither He may be reckoned among the Lords Worthies of whom the world was not worthy The Lord hath taken him but his remembrance will not be so soon gone He will live while any that knew him shall live and afterwards also if the Lords blessing shall accompany the rehearsal of his life and death and his Sermons Printed in such sort as his blessing hath attended the passing and spending of his life and his dying and in the preaching of such Sermons All which were greatly sanctified to the people that beheld and heard them Now that it may be so shall be the earnest prayer of Thy real friend to serve thee in the Lord Sam. Eaton Christian READER I Never knew the Author of this Work in Person while he lived but being dead I know him by his Picture and that the Picture of his better and more noble part The first Part of this Book is formally so being a very exact draft of his whole Life and the image of his inner Man in all the Divine Colours Lights Lineaments and beauties of it Few men have found such a Penâ—il to draw them and few Pencils have found such a man to draw He was but a little while in the world but he lived long else he had never yielded true Materials for so long a History of his Life The following Parts of the Book are vertually so I mean the Picture of his better Part or the image of his mind in which though dead he yet speaketh and breatheth through every Page and Line Truth and Holiness Zeal for God and Compassion to the Souls of men his own Tasts that the Lord is Gracious and â—is longing Desires to make others partake of the same Grace which himself had tasted Read the Book and therein you have the Soul of a faithful Minister of the Gospel copied out It is an amazing Providence to see many unprofitable Drones Idol Shepherds blind Guides Men whose Graces are not at all discernable in their lives and whose gifts are sapless Spiritless and upon the matter useless in their Ministery live to old age and wither upon the Stalk while others of shining Graces of lively Gifts and of unwearied Industry in the Lords Vineyard are cropt off in the very blooming and as soon as shewed to the world called out of it
One day instanced in as a taste Good Evil. In morning Closet duty not altogether without his presence studied my Sermons not altogether without him blessed be his Name My heart but in a listless frame this day In evening Closet duty by way of preparation very sweet meltings and outgoings of my soul after the Lord blessed be the Lord. Yet some distractions 1. He was very observant not only of the Out-breaches of sin but of its internal stirrings and more spiritual actings The very thoughts of his heart if irregular he carefully recorded and bitterly bewaited Instance O my proud thoughts rising and bubbling up this day 2. He set a watch not only before the door of his lips but before the door of his heart also with which he took unwearied pains being indeed the Fort-Royal either of Christ or Satan Instance 1. This day I could not get my heart in tune though I took an hour or two hours pains with it 2. Endeavouring some hours with my heart and yet alas it remained very untoward I could do little or nothing 3. Through mercy I desire a clean heart 3. Time he accounted precious and improved it to spiritual purposes and the best advantage Instance This day up early or This day lay long sluggishly Read 4. Hebrew Chapters with notes profitably Read 60. pages in Dr. Preston Studied my Sermons 4. The sight of sin did exceedingly sadden Instance 1. In examination of my self March 9. 1652. Through mercy I have a sight and sense of my sins and am affected and pained under the burthen of my daily wants 2. In closet-duty much humbled for the sins of the day before and melted 3. Many wandrings to the burthen of my soul 5. The sinful adherences of the best duties he recorded with regret and sadness of spirit Instance 1. Not altogether without him in duty though but dry and some wandrings of heart in duty At Supper-Ordinance ah my wandrings In prayer poor and in preaching 2. In morning closet-duty I could do nothing my heart very untoward full of vain thoughts in the evening meditation which put me out of order 3. In afternoon prayer before Sermon but little affected and though my self had little enlargement this day yet I perceive it was profitable to others God would hide pride from mine eyes 4. Distracted and formal in singing 6. Powerful assistance in holy services he gratefully recorded Instance In Baptizing of my son Job my heart much drawn out in prayer 7. Yea the least income and assistance was not passed by in silence Instance Not altogether left in evening closet-duty 8. The ebbings and flowings of the Spirit he distinctly considered Instance In the morning closet-duty not so much of his presence as in the evening closet-duty though indeed much melted after some pains taken with my heart 9. Diabolical injections he detested with highest indignation against which he was a reverberating wall of brass Instance This day pestred with blasphemous and horrid thoughts to my loathing to my wounding O horrid O abominable 10. To the distressed he gave friendly visits Instance Spent this day in visiting a condemned man and divers widows in sickness and sorrow 11. He made God the ultimate end of all his actings Instance Though much mixtures of self yet I desire to make God the great end of all my duties preachings prayers 12. He was wholly at the dispose of God contented to follow the conduct of Providence even through thorny waies Instance I hope I am made willing to come to him through any condition any tribulation taking up the Cross 13. When any spiritual distemper was upon him he would presently inquire into its causes Instance What may be the cause of my streightness and deadness now 1. Haply not being so thankful for enlargements when I had them 2. Haply because I cannot bear such enlargements I have not humility enough 3. Haply because I satisfie my self with them and not follow that which I preach 4. Haply a spirit of envy against others 5. Haply I more affect to have the hearts of the people ther the heart of God 6. Because I want love to poor souls and may mind more the setting forth my self then edification 7. Haply because I mind more enlargements and gifts then grace 8. Haply because I do not take the fittest time when my heart is in the best frame for study 9. Haply because more troubled at the want of enlargement then at all the sins which have caused it 10. Haply for want of searching Scriptures diligently constantly 14. Success of labours O how sweet and solacing Instance The 14. day His presence with me in preaching and prayer very much blessed be his name Several touched by that Sermon as the Nurse and my maid and Mrs. Taylor and my sister Hastings her maid who came to me afterwards A sweet pledge of his presence and since I hear divers others were stirred through much mercy at that Sermon 15. He was much inlarged in a way of thankfulness for mercies received Instance 1. In my journey from Cork to Dublin neer the passage to the Long Iland not looking to my horse he was ready to step down a deep precipice near the Sea Watchless over my thoughts that day 2. Afterwards at Clemell I had like to have run up into an infected house but the Lord prevented me I had much sweetness in Communion with God before 3. Delivered from fire in my study which lay smothering under the harth three daies undiscovered 4. The maid Elisabeth set fire on the bed with the child in it which if the Lord had not prevented all had been consumed 5. My wife and children wonderfully preserved two Bricks falling down the chimney they sitting by the fires side 16. The Lord God he made the object of his ardent desire and delight Instance Before the Supper upon examination I could find none in heaven or earth I did desire in comparison of God 17. He sought not happiness in himself or any other creature Instance Through mercy I renounce my own merit and all things in the world as an happiness and therefore resolve to seek the chief Good in Gods favour in Jesus Christ 18. Christ was high in his esteem and the dearly beloved of his soul Instance Through mercy I desire to prize the Lord Jesus above all that he may be precious to me 1 Pet. 2. 6. 19. In preparation for fast-Fast-daies he would unbosom and unbowel himself before the Lord He did not only skim off the uppermost froth of his heart but would search every nook and crany and fetch up mud from the very bottom Instance 1. O how proud and apt to be lifted up upon all occasions 2. How envious against others 3. Of late I have been very dead and formal in all services publike and private 4. Very backward to any service of God not constrained by love 5. Very trifling away my precious time 6. Very sluggish not up early about things
is a solitary duty and requires a calm and undisturbed retirement Now the curtains of a sick-bed are often opened and the languishing Patient seldom at rest The weeping wife lamenting children sorrowful servants busie Physitian condoling visitants must all be heeded and hearkened to and answers returned to their enquiries so that our time is taken up in meditating on our pain and relating it to others Doubtless health and a closet are most convenient for self-reflexions which if procrastinated till the last period of our lives are rarely attended with a real conversion and turning to God in truth and sincerity How seldom are dying men new-born and they added to the Church that are going out of the world The sins of departing souls come crouding and thronging in so thick upon them so that a distinct consideration of them cannot be taken and now mens former golden dreams of heaven and high-flown hopes of after-happiness vanish like smoak and leave behind them in their stead despair destraction confusion consternation and a certain fearful expectation and looking for of fiery indignation to devour O that men were wise that they would remember their latter ends and whilest the light shines provide for the daies of darkness for they are many The Devil hath a jealous eye upon all Engines that might probably batter his Kingdom loosen his hold and weaken his interest besides the flesh loves to be abundantly favoured and therefore I expect that objections against this course of calling our selves to account daily will be multiplied Object 1. The work seems to be attended with many thorny and inextricable difficulties hence mens loathness to take it up Answ 1. He that withdraws his neck from the yoak of Christ because of its pinching weight is unworthy of Christ In vain do men hope to be saved who provide for their own ease when Christ is calling upon them for service Never expect to look him with comfort in the face unless you resolve to be indefatigable in his work 2. Do not men upon a worldly score take abundance of pains in casting up their accounts Will not the practise of many merchants rise up in judgement against themselves and others at the last day They can rise early sit up late and immure themselves in their closets and counting-houses and there at large set down their receipts and disbursments Marriners when at Sea set down in their Diurnals every turn of the wind and when it began how many hours nay minutes the ship sailed such a point of the Compass and how many another yea though they sleep but half the night yet they must find time to do this because their lives lie at the stake and the safety of the whole is concerned How come souls trow to be at such a low and cheap rate that the safety and welfare of the Body should be preferred before them 3. It is better to take pains then to run the hazard of suffering eternal pains 4. The greatest part of the difficulty lies in the Porch when you are once entred into the House you will not repent of the pains you have taken but find encouragement to take more A clear discovery of a mans condition hath in it much of satisfaction Object 2. Multiplicity of unavoidable worldly occasions by some may be pretended for their omission of this duty they have not time and leisure enough to do as others do Answ 1. One thing only is necessary other things are but convenient It s necessary that you have grace and be saved not so that you be rich and advanced to an high degree in the world 2. Lessen your business and contract your occasions within a narrower compass Have less to do in the world that so you may have more time to spend in a devout retirement Believe it Christians Time is a precious Talent that must be reckoned for See therefore that you husband it to the best advantage Be sure you reserve the morning and evening for converse with God and communing with your own hearts not neglecting a watchful jealousie over your selves all the day Religion is not a little obstructed by unnecessary visits frothy discourses unsaint-like gaming 's and Paganish pastimes Take heed of being late abroad out of your own houses It becomes not those who profess they look for and hast unto the coming of the Lord to come stumbling home and to be groping for their doors at midnight when they should rather be in the secret chamber dressing and making themselves ready against the marriage-Supper of the Lamb. I am bold to affirm that reading the Scriptures instructing our families praying to God and singing praises to his name c. make sweeter musick in his ears then the ratling of Tables and the shuffling of Cards the bane of great mens houses and it were well if the infection had not diffused it self to multitudes of inferiour families The plain truth of it is men and women for the generality of them chuse not God for their chiefest good they make not him the object of their delight their rejoycing is not in Christ Jesus Religion is a sapless yea a sour thing unto them and hence it is that they turn aside to vain sports and sensible delights If you find your hearts averse to the practise of a Diary yet let me intreat and ingage you to make tryal of it for a few daies do not obstinately decline a course which you have no experience of But if you are resolved through grace to take up and persevere in the practise of the duty proposed beware that it do not degenerate into a customary and empty formality Rest not in the bare doing of the thing but prosecute the work in order to its ends which are spiritual and of unspeakable advantage FINIS CIRCVMSPECT Walking A Christians Wisdom Ephes 5. 15 16. See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the dayes are evil THE Apostle in this Chapter according to his manner doth build upon the faith in Christ Jesus to justification the Doctrine of good works and a holy conversation and matters of morality In this Chapter he devideth that his Doctrine as I may say into Ethicks and Oeconomicks rules more generally concerning the framing the conversations of all and rules more speciall and particular to Family ralations This he had begun in the former Chaprer ver 17. This I say therefore and testifie that ye walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind The Apostle descends to many Particulars in that Chapter and carrieth on the Exhortation in this Chapter wherein our Text is The general Proposition still being supposed That the Saints ought to be adorned with all manner of vertue and to keep themselves unspotted of the world he exhorts them to a freeness of pardoning one another wherein thy had the Example of God and it would declare them to be his dear children in the first verse of this
there is more in it and I know not but we may consider Virgins according to their state and condition here Now the Church is so called or compared to Virgins not in respect of their glorious unconquered outward condition as sometimes in Scripture even strange Nations yea Idolaters are called Virgins as Zidon thou shalt no more rejoyce O thou oppressed Virgin daughter of Zidon arise pass over to Chittim there also shalt thou have no rest So Babel Come down and sit in the dust O Virgin daughter of Babylon thou that as a Virgin hast hitherto abode in thy fathers house in a glorious beautiful condition thy pomp and glory now come down And so Egypt go up to Gilead and take balm O Virgin daughter of Egypt in vain shalt thou use many medicines thou shalt not be healed though the Papists make this a note of the Church the glory and outward splendor of it that is quite cross to that of our Saviour in the world ye shall have tribulation and how often have they been scatterd by Persecution Nor yet are they called Virgins because of their priding themselves and setting forth themselves as Virgins with their Ornaments Nor yet in respect of the first Constitution of the Church of Christ when they were all or most of them Virgins There were 12. and but one of them a Devil But I conceive It respects the condition of the visible Church as then it shall be specially And what is that how are they compared to Virgins Specially in these two things First Because all that profess the Lord Jesus and become visible S t s they profess to renounce their Idols the Apostle saith that he turned them from Idols to the living God Now Idolatry in Scripture is counted you know whoredom if they have been married to the Lord owning his Covenant or else fornication nothing more ordinary it is enough to hint it to you and therefore when there is a renouncing of Idolatry there the Scripture looks upon them as Virgins So when Judah and Israel had played the Harlot that is to say had worshipped and served Idols God chargeth their spiritual whoredom upon them But when they reformed as Judah did you know in many Kings daies Jehoshaphat Hezekiah c. And in the daies when Sennacher came up against them and blasphemed them the answer the Lord gave to Hezek by the Prophet was this the Virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee now having renounced her Idols he so calls her and having betaken her self to the shaddow of his wings alone from thence from the hole in the rock she despised the Assyr And secondly Because also now taking upon them the profession of Christ they escape and forego the pollutions of the world then gross scandalous sins they forsake even Hypocrites as well as others in which respects they may be called Virgins though their hearts be not right with God Secondly they had all of them Lamps they took their Lamps saith the text they have all of them a Profession of Christ they make a shew before men The Lamps I cannot take for any thing inward but meerly somewhat outward appearing unto men they are Christians outwardly all of them Even those really believers with the heart they do confess Christ with the mouth to salvation they are not ashamed to own him before men and their light of good works and knowledge shines before men that the world may see it there is the light of the Lamp And truly herein hypocrites may go far they have a form of godliness and as glorious a form as any others and they do as many good works materially good as others do and so they have a light shining before men as well as others So the Pharisees you know they made as many prayers did as much Alms fasted as often as others made a glorious shew here are Lamps Thirdly their lamps it seemeth were burning all of them Concerning the wise Virgins there need be no Question of it But for the foolish I think it will be gathered from that where they complain that their Lamps were gone out extinguished though it is true they were not fed with a right principle and therefore they went out yet they did burn they made a shew of heat and light also before men as Jehu you know did he seemeth to make a greater blaze in his zeal for God then Elijah himself did And so for light also knowledge aboundeth many times brethren in an hypocrites head a clear head and a muddie heart a sound head as the notion and a rotten heart may be together well this is the third I hasten Fourthly They all took them and went forth to meet the Bride-groom they all have their faces Zion-ward heaven-ward to meet Jesus Christ only the hypocrites they have faces one way and row another way as the Mariners do this I take to be their seeming to make for heaven all of them and the one to be as fair for it as the other for they go as it were hand in hand to meet the Bridegroom yea a hypocrite may go far indeed in externals as far as a child of God as afterward we shall have occasion to say you may have your faces Zion-wards and seem to go forth to meet the Lord Jesus and yet miscarry Fifthly When he delayed his coming until midnight they all slumbered and slept We must not understand this of giving up themselves to security and the wallowing in the sinful pleasures of the world the pleasures of sin for a season For this cannot sute with the truth of grace and therefore cannot agree to the wise Virgins he that is born of God sinneth not cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not work sin but his work is righteousness though he may have many by-blows in his work many mis-carriages yet his work is righteousness Nor can it for a great part stand with the very profession of a hypocrite to return again to the pollutions of the world which once he had escaped secretly haply he may rowl a sweet morsel under his tongue and be loth to part with it but the pollutions of the world which are open like wallowing in the myre will not stand with their profession therefore this is not meant by slumbering and sleeping but either Secondly Is meant by it the sleep of death in part for death is no more to the Saints though it be a sleep and a killing sleep to hypocrites our friend Lazarus sleepeth or else Thirdly Also partly a security and heaviness which groweth upon the Saints on this side death and me thinks the words seem to carry much for this there are two words they slumbered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they slept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the latter seemeth to be more then meerly Expository of the former The former signifieth only a little drowsiness when a man doth nap or nod a little as a man
sitâ—ing or standing may sometimes but presently awake aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus But then the sleep is a deeper security when the eyes are altogether closed and a man is fast though some sleep faster then others do some set themselves to sleep they give themselves to it others are overtaken with it it seizeth upon them like an armed man sometimes and herein they agree the Saints and hypocrites formal and powerful professors of Christ they all slumbered and slept they were all it seemeth overcharged with the cares of this world or somewhat or other that their watch was down and they were surprized And alas Brethren if the day of the Lord Jesus should come upon us almost any day would it not find us sleeping or if not sleeping yet slumbering at least but of this more afterwards Sixthly They all arose saith the text when the cry came at midnight It was high time then to awake as souldiers that watch for an enemy they fall asleep set some to watch suddenly there is an out-cry an alarum O how quickly are they raised If the last trumpet be the cry it shall raise all both hypocrites as well as Saints only the dead in Christ shall rise first be awakened out of the sleep of death If the cry be the Ministry of the word by some smart visitation it will rouze them all let hypocrites be as secure of their condition as they will they shall have a time of awakening Seventhly and lastly They trimmed their Lamps Some say only the wise Virgins trimmed their Lamps for the foolish had only dead Lamps such as gave no light shining before men but why then are they said to be extinguished or to be gone out Beloved the words of the Text carry it for all they all arose and trimmed their Lamps the copulative joines both sentences together and therefore the universal reacheth the latter part as well as the former except there were some limitation It should seem Brethren that hypocrites may make as fair a shew and deceive themselves or being deceived by their own hearts even very long to the very last they thought now to arise with Sampson and shake themselves when they have been sleeping upon the lap of their Dalilah but alas their Lamps were out they trimmed them and stirr'd them up to see if they would burn any longer but they were gone out or going out as some render it A sad thing Brethren for us to deceive your selves even to the very last cast until there be no remedy O what treacherous hearts have we Eighthly They agree also in the number here in the Parable five were wise and five were foolish for this we must remember what was premised that every particular is not to be squeezed and prest too sore nor can we conclude from hence an equal number of real Saints or painted hypocrites in the Church no more then where there are Chap. 13. three evil sorts of ground and but one good we can cònclude that there are three to one unsound professors who receive the word to one honest and good heart which bringeth forth fruit to perfection there may be more there may be less our Saviour in the general tells us many are called but few are chosen he might therefore here haply have some respect to the number of Virgins which might accompany the Bride which some say were five because the number consists of the first equal and the first unequal number even two and three because in a marriage a superiour and inferiour male and female are joyned together but that is a nicity however this we may take up from it in the general that there are some which are not what they profess some are foolish and some are wise in the Church Now I come to speak somewhat to that which is distinguishing in the Parable between formal and real professors of Jesus Christ in this Kingdom First then in the general the one are foolish and the other are wise all are not wise that are within the Church there are some fools Why but is it folly then for any man to prosess Christ No it is not folly simply considered in it self but a duty to confess him and hold him out before men but to stick here is folly as we shall see more hereafter blessed be the Lord that there are some wise though there be many foolish some that will not be put off with forms nor shadows but must have the substance the bread of life and not husks they will not satisfie them O that we were every one of us such Brethren Secondly The foolish they took no oyl in their vessels though their Lamps burned afterward were extinguished when they should stand them in stead to enter with the Bridegroom they had no oyl What is meant here by oyl and what by vessels for the first some say one thing some another some as the Papists say good works is the oyl which is the life of faith without which it is dead which is as if a man should call the flame of a Lamp the oyl that feeds it therefore Brethren according to the Scripture expression elsewhere by oyl I understand the saving grace of the spirit of Jesus Christ true justifying faith repentance never to be repented of and love out of a pure heart unfeigned faith unfeigned repentance unfeigned love and indeed all the graces of the spirit These are they that feed the flame in the Lamps of the Saints whatever hypocrites have which maketh a flame and their Lamps do burn by it of which more afterward because I would not stay you too long in the opening of it this they wanted they cared not to make sure of this to have this true saving grace so they had but as much as would make a blaze among men that they might be seen to have Lamps burning and shining as well as others the rest they cared not for Secondly For the vessels some say the Lamps they had no oyl in them but me thinks the Text distinguisheth between the Lamps and the vessels they took no oyl with their Lamps he doth not say in them but with them and the next verse the wise took oyl in their vessels with their Lamps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is of a large extent but it signifieth somewhat believed the Lamp It is likely they had some vessels they carried about with them full of oyl that when the Lamp needed they supplyed it still else it would go out so here the vessel may be meant the heart brethren a truly contrite heart is the vessel into which the Lord pours the oyl of his grace and spirit and hence there is a continual supply like the oyl in the Cruse it fails not Now this the foolish they cared not for but they had somewhat at present that would make their Lamps burn for holding out they forecast not for that therefore provided no oyl in their vessels no
if you could as easily put by the coming of Christ as you can make a shift to smother the thoughts of it your hearts indeed might chear you and your condition were something like But he will come and though you be asleep in the Arms of your lusts know that your judgement sleepeth not and your condemnation slumbereth not And make what haste you can to be rich or to be honourable and such persons are not innocent make what hast you can in your career of sinning it travels as fast you and will be sure to meet you at the gates of death and hell if not sooner But it may be we think we have done this great work we are through grace acquainted with the Lord Jesus and his spirit which hath effectually wrought in us to believe in his name to love him the main is done with us and therefore sure we may have more liberty then others now Is it so but is this all that must go to watch for his appearing do we not find our hearts thrusting away from us that day and our hands fail and security setzeth upon us the Disciples were in danger to be surprized as well as others Is there any of us so liveth as that we could readily and cheerfully meet the Lord Jesus at an hours warning a daies 〈…〉 and who knoweth he shall have so much to set his house in order O there is need to press this duty upon us all brethren be our condition what it will we have yet somewhat to learn of it and shall have let us hear it as often as we can But I will leave what further may be said unto its proper place in the handling the Parable A word or two to the present occasion we are many of us now called to this sealing Ordinance And though we have been often stirrd up and taught our duty concerning it is there not need to chafe the oyl in upon our hearts our affections still Alas how often have we heard that what it findeth it sealeeth And yet do we not dare to come some of us with hard hearts with covetous hearts uncircumcised hearts I would not speak brethren to grieve the heart of any the Lord would not have grieved as they that have least cause will be most sadly assayling themselves with condemning thoughts but the Lord grant there be none found among us guilty kind As often as ever we come we hear how dangerous a thing it is to come unworthily prepared to it and yet the Lord knoweth how often we have thrust in here some of us without a wedding garment And that you have not been bound hand and fooe bound up in our grave-cloaths and cast out of his sight for ever it is unspeakable mercy O that this might melt us and humble us and though blessed be his holy name I believe there are many poor trembling souls who go about these things with trembling hearts least they should miscarry and grieve him and bring his blood upon their heads I doubt there may be some of us found whose hearts are far from such a frame had we not need then to be put in mind and remembrance again and again of these things It may be we have faith and love to Jesus Christ it may be we have humility and self-loathing it may be we have a mourning spirit over our sins that have grieved the Lord Jesus put him to all that grief for us it may be we have a thankful heart but are these graces now in action are they upon the wing how often have we been minded thereof that we must be actually prepared Alas alas haply some of us have not taken the pains with our hearts which we might and which others would have done if they had had the hearts which we have haply some of us have been striving but in our own strength and have done little haply others may have been helped in the preparing our hearts to seek him herein but by our pride or carnal confidence have lost our frame again It may be some of us brethren have not been very negligent but yet not so diligent as we ought O brethren how needful are these things bear with me if I do press you to them it is not tedious to me because I hope it is safe for you O! that I could do it with such a spirit and such bowels as the Apostle did the Lord set it upon all our hearts we are exceeding dull to believe and more dull to practise and do his will revealed to us Though the good be our own the glory onely his But I will not insist any further here the Lord give us understanding and believing hearts Now for the words of the Text. The Kingdom of Heaven is like to ten Virgins which went forth to meet the Bridegroom I shall begin according to the former method And first speak concerning Jesus Christ with respect to his Church And touching him there are many things in this Parable First he is the Bridegroom 2. His delay of his coming 3. The cry before his coming 4. The coming 5. The time of his coming at Midnight To begin with the first The Bridegroom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However it be that the scope of the parable be to stir up all men that profess the Lord Jesus to a perseverance in watchfulness to stand ready for his coming which being apprehended there is no necessity of pressing each particular in the parable yet I conceive according to our Saviour His opening of other parables we may insist upon the chief things therein as where HE would let us see what need we had to take heed What or How or Whom we Hear by the parable of the several sorts of Ground receiving the seed of the Word he not onely tells us the difference of the Grounds but what the seed is and who the Sower is or else in that parable of the good seed and the Tares he tells us particularly what is meant by each And therefore I must not here pass over this of the Bride-groom The Virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom The note will be The relation between the Lord Jesus and his people He is the Bridegroom and stands in that relation to his people that this is so we need go no further then this parable for who else is it that cometh and with whom they that are ready do enter into the Mâ—rriage then Jesus Christ who is our life who appearing we shall appear with him in glory Again the foolish virgins cry to him Lord Lord open to us Who is the Lord but Jesus Christ as will appear by comparing this with that speech of our Saviour Not every one that saith to me Lord Lord shall enter but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many will say to me Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name in whose name but in the name of Jesus Christ and in
yea all grace abound that you should have all things and all-sufficiency in all things yea and alway have it so that you may abound O brethren there is more riches in such a promise then in a thousand worlds if we could but live by faith in such a promise we should be fuller handed and freer hearted and more abound in good works of all kinds Well this is the sixth Seventhly He will present them to his Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing a glorious Church as there it is now alas Brethren the Saints sometimes lye among the Pots here the Apostle speaks of the top of the Saints perfection that which is due or which they are capable of There shall be no privation any more we are now but changing into his image from glory to glory then he will bring us to his father in full brightness of glory If the Church on earth brethren the glory of the Bride be so great as to be compared in her primitive purity to the glory of the Sun a woman cloathed with the Sun what will it be when Christ shall appear with him in glory No deformity shall there then be brethren but the Church shall be altogether lovely But here further by spot or wrinkle are meant the stain and deformity of sin onely or else the deformity of sin and suffering both Of sin if so then by spot we may understand any greater stain or blemish by wrinkle any less deformity by spot a gross sin by wrinkle an ordinary infirmity Or else by spot any sinful work by wrinkle any failing even in good works there shall be nothing but uprightness or else as some even Mr. Caryl making a double Metaphor yet to the like purpose there shall be no deformity which usually followeth age in things and persons In things an old garment is usually spotted and defiled In persons wrinkles use to deform them you know the moisture consuming the skin shrivels up and the beauty is gone now saith the Lord there shall be none of all this no such deformity no old things all shall be done away and all things shall become new they shall be like the purest garment in its gloss and lustre like the purest face in its flower no deformity at all Or else by spot we may understand sin and by wrinkle sorrow and so we know that sorrow will dry up the bones and marrow and moisture my flesh and my skin he hath made old that is to say by reason of sorrow it wrinkles the face breaks the beauty sarrows the Cheeks brings deformity upon the greatest beauty now there shall be no such thing sin there shall be none all pardoned yea all far removed none inherent as you heard before all glorious no deformity no vileness and then no sorrow neither to abate our fulness of joy but a merry heart a joy to swallow up now the wings shall be covered with silver and feathers with yellow gold yea those very afflictions wherewith we have been racked shall work out an exceeding and far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory specially if they be for Christ here is a priviledge indeed brethren nor any such thing any thing which themselvs or others may suspect to be a spot c. But then his presenting them to his father this is after the manner of men you know Isaac took his spouse and presented her to his father and brought her into his mothers Tent so will the Lord Jesus present his Church to his father here is my spouse now in that glory which I have put upon her the price of my blood this is my glory and he will not be ashamed to confess his people to own them for his Bride before his father at that day and then he will bring them into his fathers house there to abide with the Lord forever there to be swallowed up of his love and likeness forevermore O blessed soul that labours now under a body of sin and death and art loathsom in thine eyes lift up thy head this day draweth nigh every spot shall be done away yea there shall be nothing like a wrinkle upon thy soul O what will this be to the soul that is weary of sin indeed 4. Vse of the Doctrine shall be then to teach us the Dignity and Duty of a Gospel-Ministry Their dignity they are such as are intrusted with this great work to fit a spouse to Jesus Christ to reconcile her to him to espouse her to him they are no ordinary servants the Lord sends about such works yea even you see Eleazer was no mean servant the ruler of the house Princes send their Embassadors to treat about Marriages for them So we saith the Apostle in Christs stead as if he did beseech you To be the friends of the Bridegroom is no small priviledge but I will not stand upon this but rather a word or two of the Duty you may see how great it is that you may be the more moved to pray for them 1. Then the Duty lyes in this that we woo for Christ and not for our selves he that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom saith John but the friend of the Bridegroom envyeth him not that happiness but would further it what he can and that is his rejoycing this my joy is fulfilled saith he that people come in to Christ It is a sad thing brethren when we shall be found at the day of account to have spoken it may be but one word for Christ and two for our selves the Apostle tells us of some that should arise in the Church of Ephesus speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them I pray you mind to draw Disciples after them not after Christ It is sad I say when men shall compass the Sea and Land to make a Proselyte to an Opinion much pains laid out this way and when all cometh to all it shall prove but Copper and not gold but Jesus Christ is little beholding to them or if we preach Jesus Christ and intend our selves to lift up our own names and not the name of Christ O this is great unfaithfulness saith the Apostle Paul speaking of that Corinthian Church much like ours I am of Paul c. were you baptized into the name of Paul was he crucified for you c. Alas saith he I have done nothing but wooed you for Christ espoused you to one Husband and not to so many The children of the Bride-Chamber are never called together to prostitute the Bride to them but to rejoyce and celebrate the Marriage with more solemnity Yea by how much the greater honor it is to have the charge of the Bride by so much the greater sin it is to deal falsly with Christ in it and to draw them after our selves when we should draw men after the Lord Jesus 2. Their Duty is to present them to the Lord Jesus as a pure virgin having espoused
them to one Husband now to watch over them to take such care of them and pains with them that having escaped the pollutions of the world they may not return any more to them but be kept pure and holy to the Lord and therefore saith the Apostle I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie jealousie is a kinde of fear sorrow and anger It is the rage of a man saith Salem indeed it doth as it were raise a man above himself carry him out of himself therefore saith the Apostle bear with me if by reason of my earnestness I seem to be out of my self it is for your sakes I am jealous for you saith the Apostle And what was the matter they were in danger to be seduced by false Apostles to be corrupted from the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and this was that the Apostle was jealous over them for and surely brethren it is commendable and imitable I plead not for passion and wild-fire but a holy zeal for the glory of Christ the well-fare of souls we ought not to be cold but zealous jealous for you brethren if in danger of seducing at any time this is a large duty indeed we are apt to sleep especially if sang asleep by the delusions of weakness and mildness and love falsly so called and then the mischief is done but enough of this I hope you see there is cause enough to pray for us 5. Another Vse then shall be tending to the wooing of some poor souls this day to accept of the Son of God the Lord Jesus and of his love and to make up the match with him this is our work indeed And O that it might prosper in the hand of a poor unworthy servant and friend of the Bridegroom this day you have heard Who he is and What he is you have heard already the glorious priviledges which arise from a closure with him yea how often have you heard these things and yet you are coy and hang back I am come this day brethren to tell you the sum of the message is that the Lord Jesus is willing to have you if you be willing to have him How long shall the Lord Jesus follow you with these mercies the price of his most precious blood and yet you slight him What can you desire that is not to be had in Jesus Christ If you would have beauty he is the chief of ten thousand If you would have riches you shall have all things with Christ how shall he not with him give us all things Would you be honourable those are truely honourable that God honours now he will honour them that will honour him and honour his Son And wherein is he and his Son honoured but in this if we believe in his name give him the glory of his mercy and faithfulness 〈…〉 at I were able to speak of him so as that you might some of you fall in love with him this day Shall I a little stir you up to this First If you have him not you are like to live and dye under that cruel husband the Law and Sin the Law as it is the strength of sin which is the cruellest bondage in the world the Law 1. It commands a most absolute obedience and conformity to it self there must not be the least turning aside to the right hand or to the left not a lota be missed all things obeyed and continued in and that upon pain of an eternal curse cursed is every one that continueth not in every thing which is written to do it it is a most rigorous exacter of obedience to its cominands there is no pitying no sparing as there is now in Jesus Christ he pityeth and spaâ—eth as a father his son as a husband his spouse If a man could from his youth up keep all and but miss it in a word in a vain thought all his life time there is no pity no sparing it condemneth to the lowermost â—ell O what a condition are you in sinners upon whom all your breaches of this Law doth lye 2. It is a cruel bondage because it giveth no strength if it did impose never so much if it did give any strength it were something It is true we had strength which God gave us at the first until we wantonly fell and broke our bones so brought weakness upon our selves but now in this condition yet we are under the Law as a husband which will command peremptorily but giveth us no power like the the Egyptians task-masters they would have them make bricks and yet give them no straw and yet the Law is holy just and good Now the Lord Jesus what he commandeth he giveth strength to perform 3. It admitteth of nosurety we must do it our selves obey to the utmost our selves or else be ruined to the utmost perish to the utmost cursed is every one that continueth not in every thing one man cannot be accepted for another the soul that sinneth it shall dye And 4. Yea more then all this It provokes us as we are corrupt to break it as a bank against a strong stream it maketh it swell and rage the motions of sin which were by the Law this is by the Law but not from the Law but from our corrupt hearts but sin takes occasion by the commandment nitimur in vetitum cupimusque negata like wild Asses Colts when the law cometh to yoak us and hamper us we break the yâ—ak and the bands as the Prophet speaks will not endure to be held Now is not this a sad condition to be under such a hus 〈…〉 d as this and yet how many of us are in this case and contented so to be Well remember brethren the end of these things will be bitterness and death that is the wages 2. Another Motive may be this he is ready to close with you if ye be ready to close with him be you what you will never so vile in your own eyes for it may be this is the discouragement of many they would rather then their lives have the Lord Jesus for a husband but alas there is no beauty in them he is the chief of ten thousand and they are the vilest of ten thousand the chief of sinners he altogether lovely they altogether loathsom He is white and ruddy they are black and bloody lying in their blood and filthiness cast out to the loathing of their persons and what hope can they have that he will accept of them very great hopes brethren for this is the tenour of the Gospel to be preached to every Creature without exception or Limitation and every one that believeth in him cometh to him he will in no wise cast out if he would what had become of Paul or Manasseh say not then Alas I am poor and miserable and naked yea Leprous and filthy and therefore it is not for for such a one as I to think on Christ indeed thou canst
not think of him until he first think ofâ—hee nor work towards him until his heart hath been working towards thee and is not that demonstrate that he is willing to receive thee to make a match with thee though we be worms and no men have cause to cry out if we were never so holy Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him as to visit him with such salvation make him so near thy self in thy son Yea surely he is willing he would not have moved towards thee else he doth not use to mock poor Creatures to make them believe his heart is towards them and when their heart echo again and say thy face Lord will we seek then to shut up his bowels and shut out their desires Brethren take heed of too much being alive to the Law for that seemeth to be the savour of our spirit while unworthiness is the obstruction to our coming to Jesus Christ we must be dead brethren to the Law and the righteousness thereof all our performances and best duties else we cannot live to Jesus Christ The Lord Jesus never matched with a Creature because it was worthy of him of so near an union with him for alas what creature being but a creature can be wotthy of such an union with the Lord of life and glory No no he â—akes an Ethiopian and washeth her clean from her filthiness before he hath done with her nothing but that fullers sope will fetch out the spots Yea I will say one thing more that the Lord Jesus never Matched with any that thought themselves worthy of him there is an encouragement to such poor drooping soâ—lâ— did Paul think himself worthy of Christ nothing less nor any of the Saints He that will not have Christ freely is never like to have him I will love them freely saith he No saith many a proud sinner thou shalt not love us freely we hope to approve our selves worthy of thy love I tell you brethren such a soul hath not known what the meaning of grace is to this day Well then remember be you as unworthy as you can in your own apprehension all the mercies of God purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ they are freely offered and tendered to you this day to thee man to thee woman that art viler then the earth in thine own eyes yea to hard hearted sinners that see not themselves they are tendered to melt them down and if this will not do it nothing will do it O that I could speak of these bowels with such bowels as some of your hearts might be stirred and moved this day but so much for this second 3. Motive the Lord Jesus is not only willing thus to communicate himself to poor sinners but it is his delight so to do It is the satisfaction of the soul of Jesus Christ when he beholdeth the precious mercies purchased by his blood accepted of by poor sinners and to work mightily in them and to them He shall see his Seed and shall be satisfied the father is satisfied and the son is satisfied when they behold this this is all that they expect the father for his love such a love as the world cannot paralel a Sic without a Siout God so loved the world It is all he expecteth that those mercies which he hath purchased should be freely be bestowed upon and freely accepted of by poor sinners and it is the satisfaction of Jesus Christ also it is all he expecteth of us I say the continual streaming of that fountain opened for sin and for uncleaness they are as if he had said I have enough for all my pains my sweat my agony my eclipsing for the pangs of hell in my soul for my death and blood and burial all the contempts powred out upon me and the sorrow â—endured though there was never grief like mine yet this is enough saith he he shall be satisfied if he do but see poor sinners to receive him and so become his Seed close with him and so become his spouse for it is the same thing though clothed with a diverse Metaphor Brethren iâ— may be you would satisfie Christ another way you would do this and that for him Labour as abundantly as you can be as holy as you can perform your duties in as lively a manner as you can but when you have done all if you hang your peace and comfort upon this and not in your free acceptance of Christ and with Christ you seem yet to be marryed to the Law and not to Christ or at least you turn aside to your former Husband a Covenant of works this is a dissatisfactiou to Jesus Christ as if there were not riches of grace in him to swallow up all your unworthiness O Brethren that the Lord would perswade your hearts this day what a delight and satisfaction it is to him to see poor sinners come and lye at his foot and willing to receive him to match with him notwithstanding their unworthiness 4. Consider but how little a thing will do the deed and espouse thee to the Lord Jesus Alas you will say you find it a hard thing to believe as hard a thing as to keep the Law It is so in respect of our strength but many they mistake and think except they have such and such a strength of faith they have none at all nor do not close with him nor he with them If they could say with Thomas my Lord and my God or with the spouse my beloved is mine and I am his then there were some encouragement indeed Brethren if it be but as a grain of Mustardseed it will do the deed look upon me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved A look upon a woman to lust after her is Adultery in heart it is a heart union of two to one flesh for it is yet the heart the mind that seeth more then the eye the eye may look upon many things and discern nothing distinctly if the mind be upon another thing so here why should not a look after Jesus Christ to desire him when the soul hath a sight of him passing by in his Glory O that he were my Husband O that I were Marryed to him that he would accept of me O happy souls that enjoy seeking communion with him This Brethren at the first is enough to make a Match between us As the Lord Jesus is willing to have thee art thou willing poor trembling soul to have him have him thou shalt yea thou hast him already though this saith must grow up to a greater measure happily before thou cast discern it or have the comfort of it Only lest any should be mistaken I will here give a word or Direction or Caution First take heed of thinking thou art willing when thou art not for as there are many poor drooping souls who think they are not willing to have Christ when it is that their souls do ever break for
Rejoyce in the Lord saith the Apostle and again I say rejoyce it is a duty of that moment he cannot leave it he goeth over and over with it do not think I am mistaken when I bid you rejoyce because happily your condition may be afflicted other ways again I say rejoyce I am still of the same mind The Lord Jesus rejoyceth over you as sad thoughts as you have concerning your selves he rejoyceth over you he is glad to communicate his love and shall not we rejoyce then in the receiving of it Can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn while the bridegroom is with them saith our Saviour it is not sutable to their condition when he shall be taken away then they shall mourn I deny not Brethren but if the Lord do withdraw himself we should lament after him and seek him sorrowing as Mary the Mother of Jesus did and the more love we have received if we grieve him this will be the more grief of heart but if you that have his presence in a sweet manner and yet hang the head and droop as if our joyning to the Lord had been the undoing of our souls So pensively and sadly we many of us walk that indeed we are a shame and dishonour to the Lord Jesus If you should see a Virgin espoused to a man and should from that day forwad never hold up her head but walk heavily what would you think sure she apprehends she hath made an ill choice her expectations are frustrated therefore Brethren look to it that we rejoyce if the Children of the Bride-chamder cannot mourn but rejoyce to hear the voice of the Bridegroom much more then the Bride The Lords takes pleasure in the prosperity of thy soul and why shouldst not thou â—ake pleasure in the prosperity of thy own soul being made one with Jesus Christ 5. Look to it that you be faithful to the Lord Jesus as a Bride when once espoused if she turned aside to another it was death they were looked upon as in a marryed state and condition indeed the truth is when the Lord hath truly espoused his soul to himself he hath done it in faithfulness and maketh the soul faithful to him that in the great Article of the Covenant they never deal falsly with Jesus Christ that is to say they choose not another Saviour another Lord under whose dominion to put themselves constantly yet there may be sometimes to Jesus Christ even in his own people If that once it cometh to this that we imbrace sin and consent to it and take any delight in it this is to play the harlot with Jesus Christ O take heed of this brethren indeed the heart is all that he looks at how we stand affected to those evils which yet remain if Paul have a body of death yet he delights not in it but groans being burtheued this he accounts not unfaithfulness but when a mans heart beginneth to sit loose from the Lord Jesus to be almost indifferent he could sometimes in a fit of wretched carnality be content to have another Lord to rule over him to be free from Christ O! this the Lord looks at and he will search out this will move him to jealousie therefore take heed of this a woman may do as much service and seemingly as readily to her husband as before but yet her heart be gone and she could be contented to be loose this is heart-Adultery this the Lord Jesus in us brethren looks at as such if we serve him and do duties but in such a manner that we could even be contented to be at liberty it is not right take heed of provoking the Lord Jesus lest it prove in the end that he never knew us indeed Labour to be faithful then in this in the main Again In managing all he puts into our hands be faithful The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her It is the commendation of a woman of a thousand in the Proverbs she will be improving It may be you have not so much to turn as others have others have ten times more parts and opportunities to do good let them look to it they have ten times as much to answer for and must do ten times as much but thou mayst be as faithful in a little as they in a great deal One servant is a Steward in the family hath all under his hand and another he is a poor under-servant hath some mean service committed to him why now he may be as faithful in his place as the other in his Moses was faithful in all the house of God he had a great command Caleb might be as faithful for what was committed to him following God fully as the Text hath it say not then If I were a Magistrate a Minister a publike person had such opportunities to do good I might do much but I am an obscure person Well be thy condition what it will be thou mayst do good and be faithful in thy place according to what thou hast received thy lips may drop like a hony-comb and feed many and like choice silver and inrich many though thou be never so mean and so for the Family and up and down where ever thou comest look that thou be faithful to do all from Jesus Christ and to do all to him that thou rob him not of the glory of what he hath done for thee and by thee for then thou art not faithful 6. Another Exhortation shall be then to desire the coming of the Bridegroom the Spirit and the Bride say come the spirit in the bride breathing in her as it is in the Revelation they say come We looke upon the day of death as if it were the day of divorce from the Lord Jesus for the most part truly for them that are out of Christ it is no marvel if it be a King of terrors to them but to the Saints me thinketh who look for the appearing of the Lord Jesus to consummate the marriage between them it should not be so terrible as it seemeth to be to the most of us and to this end take ye here brethren at the marriage feast he turns our water into wine but in heaven our wine into spirits and setteth them a flaming our love flaming to all eternity 7. Exhortation which is to look to our Ornaments to get them ready why do we hang back but because we are not ready we have somewhat or another unready still our work is not done can a maid forget her Ornaments or a Bride her attire yet my people have forgotten me As a Bride adorneth her self with her Jewels so he hath cloathed me with the garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness Eleazer put jewels upon Rebecca before she came to Isaac and therefore the spouse is called Callah in the Original because of her perfect adorning therefore look to this brethren that you be adorned O every
day put on your Ornaments and make ready for his appearing for while your hearts are out of order your Spirits out of frame you are not fit to meet the Lord Jesus and therefore you will hang back but so much of this Exhortation The last Application will be a word of comfort to such as through grace have yielded up themselves to the Lord Jesus or are desirous or do so to be espoused to him according to the several conditions of such creatures there may from hence be a various and strong consolation administred from this Doctrine First Then alas you will say withal your souls you close with Jesus Christ there is nothing you more gladly undertake but you know he is a righteous God most just and most pure of eys and therefore he will surely be displeased with you and you shall have little comsort yea you do finde that your fruitlesness of walking doth provoke him and therefore you are afraid sooner or later he will cast you off before you come to enter with him into the marriage O I shall one day fall by the hand of this Pride of this uncleanness of this lust or the other For Answer to this remember 1. That the Lord when he doth betroth he betretheth forevâ—r and he doth it in faithfulness so that if the saithfulness of Jesus Christ could fail who hath espoused thee thou mightest miscarry Men indeed after espousals if they discover any deformity which they knew not before may be apt to change their minds yea sometimes where there is no cause at all but their own fickleness and changableness but there is no variableness nor shadow of turning with him hath he spoken it and will he not perform it I will never leave thee saith he to Jacob until I have performed all the good which I have spoken concerning thee But a little more fully to open it 1. I say by way of Concession he may sometimes be angry with his spouse or at least withdraw himself properly he is not angry at all nor subject to any passion but he may behold that in his people for which he may sometimes put them to a little grief and make them believe that he will cast them off as you have it in many of the Psalms he may frown and hide his face from his people but as on their part every withdrawing from him is not a breach of the marriage-Covenant so neither is every withdrawing of his refreshing presence a breach of his Covenant yet when he doth so withdraw brethren alas his heart works towards his people as to Ephraim I do earnestly remember him still he may give his people sharp words sometimes which will be a cutting to the souls that are deeply in love with him but they go to his own heart as well as they do to theirs here is the difference brethren between our withdrawings from him and his withdrawings from us that are his people our hearts are many times gone in a great part to sit loose from him though not altogether for the Church when she slept her heart waked but now with him it is otherwise his heart is never gone in the least from his people onely he may speak sometimes a bitter word to them but all this while his heart is full of sweetness and love to them this is one 2. Remember this also as a pillar of the former that he hath builded and founded this espousal and union between him and his people so sure as that it can never be shaken upon the freeness of his grace and therefore it cannot be moved Upon his full knowledge of what we would be indeed if the Lord Jesus had not known what fruitless froward creatures we would prove how unthankful how unkind it had been something for a poor doubting soul to have fed his fears with but he knew long before brethren and if he had seen that he had not had bowels enough to swallow up all our unworthiness he would never have made love to us for he is God and his work is perfect he would never have begun except he had been able to lay the top-stone Again the satisfaction of the Justice of God is to the full this is that which amazeth and alrighteth many a poor soul they forget themselves and look upon their failings as those which expose them to divine vindicative justice which is a great mistake for that was once fully satisfyed in Jesus Christ and he is well pleased in him with all that can bring him in their arms if we can but come to God with Jesus Christ in our arms he hath no more to say to us all is made even in Christ there was never such a declaration of the Justice of God as in giving his own son to be a ransom a sacrifice once for all and the Apostle saith it was to declare the righteousness of God therefore he was given to be a propitiation for the remission of sins there God appeared righteous indeed that the flames of hell must kindle upon his son yea and burn to the lowermost hell in a sort that he might be satisfyed that justice might for ever lye still and be silenced as to his people it is more that Christ suffered then if thou and ten thousand such as we are should suffer to eternity we could never have paid the utmost farthing which he paid to the uttermost else he could not have saved us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides we should have been long paying that we payd he at once payd all and therefore this Marriage is so founded brethren upon this satisfaction of Jesus Christ that it cannot be shaken Yea 3. As to that of afflicting his people and frowning upon them he is not forward to it he is not strict to mark what is done amiss to take notice of every slip and failing if he were we should never have comfortable moment no he is rather strict to mark what is good in us what beauty there is in us if there be but one beauty or fair place in the midst of many spots his eye and his heart is rather upon that as some observe in that of Sarah there is but one good word in her speech calling Abraham Lord all the rest savours of unbelief and yet the Holy Ghost takes notice of that So Rahab Jos 2. 4 5. Heb. 11. 31. Alas what miserable mangled Services do we offer up to our own eys there is not any thing desirable that is ought Well if there be but one sigh one groan in sincerity he is more ready to take notice of that then of all your failings and therefore is not forward to put his spouse and people to grief O he is full of kindness and tenderness to us Yea 4. It is observable that he is said to rejoyce over his people continually as a Bridegroom over a Bride not onely his heart is constant to them but it is constant in the same
fervor of affection towards them a Bridegroom rejoyceth exceedingly over his Bride though happily afterward he is not so much affected for it is our natures the imperfection of them that new things affect us more then old now with God there is nothing new nor old but his heart is the same and so is Jesus Christ his heart he rejoyceth over his people continually as a Bridegroom over his Bride not as a man over his wife but as a Bridegroom over his Bride now surely if a man do afterwards cool in his affections towards his wife and could be content to be separated from her yet upon the day of espousal or Marriage he will not be induced to it he rejoyceth over his Bride Why such is Gods heart and Christ his heart continually to his people But so much for this Therefore the Lord help us to conclude from those promises however it be however he may speak against us sometimes and act so as it seemeth to us to be against us as Jacob saith all these things are against me yet he will not part with any soul he hath espoused to himself Ahashuerus may put away the Queen upon a seeming scorn or contempt refusing to come at his command when he was in is cups but brethren though it may be thou hast and thou dost many times slight the call of Jesus Christ thou wilt not come nor follow him when he would have thee thou shalt follow him in darkness and lament after him when he is withdrawn but he will not put away It is said in that of Mal. the Lord hates putting away it is true it is firstly intended there of mens putting away their wives but surely if he hate it in us he will not admit it in himself though it is true he is above all Law given to us yet he hath set forth this mystery of his union with his Church by the Marriage-union I shew you a mystery saith the Apostle but I speak concerning Christ and his Church And as it holds in love and cherishing and nourishing and not hating so why not in this that he hates putting away the Lord cannot admit of such a thought of putting away such a soul if Satan would move for it the Lord hates it and hates him for it Be of good chear therefore thou poor drooping soul that hast received him accepted of his love closed with his wooing and intreating thee to be reconciled and given up thy self to him assure thy self he will never put away any poor soul Ob. Alas but you will say this is little comfort though he be thus unchangeable yet I may change and break the Marriage-Covenant with him or I have done it I fear and therefore in such a case he may put me away and yet not change for the change is in me For this brethren remember It is not the back-slidings of his people that can undo the match made between him and them did not Israel go a whoring after other Gods and is not that the breach of the Marriage-Covenant he speaks there of that Church a man will not receive his wife again likely in such a case yet return again to me saith the Lord and I will receive you If that the Lord had not foreseen those back-slidings in his people it had been somewhat if Christ had not fully satisfyed the father for them as well as for other sins it had been something if upon this account there were not forgiveness laid up in store enough with God for these things it were somwhat indeed And it is very observable brethren I speak the more because I know that poor creatures in this condition they are full of jealousies and fears and all that can be said is little enough to quiet and comfort first observe that the Lord speaks over and over and over again Israel had back-sliden in that Prophesie of Hosea as appears ch 14. 4. I will heal their back-slidings Well now they could hardly believe that God would receive them again they were so confounded they had nothing to say therefore he puts words into their mouths in that chapter teacheth them what to say but observe in the second chapter I will betroth them saith God I will I will you have it no less then three or four times which speaks the certainty and ardency of affection in doing the thing in answer to their doubtings I will do it saith the Lord. Alas saith the poor soul it will not sink with me that after such Apostacy and backslidings he will receive it I will do it saith the Lord again O! I cannot believe it saith the soul I will do it saith he again Yea 2. Observe there that he will do it and espouse them betroth them again as one very well hoteth he saith not he will receive them as a man may recive his Adulterous wife again but I will betroth them saith the Lord as if they were virgins pure and unspotted the Lord will receive them not upbraiding them with their going a whoring from him so the virgin daughter of Sion you have heard they are called upon their repentance as if they never polluted themselves so that if the Lord give thee but a repenting heart thy back-slidings will be as if thou hadst never started from him and from final departing he will keep them I say he will keep them here is the difference between this espousal and those between men and women there if the mans heart continue faithful happily hers may fall off and never close again and there is an end of the matter but here the Lord Jesus his heart is not onely toward his people but he keepeth their hearts with him that they shall not depart It is the very tenor of the Covenant of Grace I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall not depart from me as long as God is faithful and the Covenant of Grace stands they shall not depart let Satan and sophisters say what they will Then in the next place this being made good there is a spring of comfort ariseth from this and that is in respect of troubles and crosses afflictions and losses the fading vanities of the world Thou mayest lose thy dear husband that is as dear as thy life But thy Maker is thy husband if thou believe and thou canst not lose him nor he will not lose thee Thy dear children they are but fading flowers that even wither in the hand and perish in the using as all these outward comforts do but here is a comfort never fades thou mayst be afflicted happily with the cooling of the affections of dear relations to thee why the Lord Jesus his heart is at the same pass alway to thee it is alway a day of espousal with him he rejoyceth continually as a Bridegroom over his Bride Methinketh brethren whatever your troubles are inward or outward here you may relieve your selves by having recourse to your interest in Jesus Christ your Redeemer and
takes encouragement to lay the reins upon the neck to run to all maner of excess the very same you repeated by Luke therefore it shall suffice to name that I will add but one Scripture-more which happily may be of more use then any of these to some perceiving judgements for happily you will say this is but a bribed judgement of some wicked persons bribed and blinded by their Lusts indeed there is not such a delay which indeed is a great part true for the delay is for the most part to be measured by our weakness and shortness as afterward will appear yet somewhat there is of a delay and that you shall find in the Apostle to the Thessalonians Let no man deceive you by any means be not quickly removed or shaken in mind or troubled whether by Spirit or by Word or by Letter as from us as the day of Christ is at hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but there must first come a falling away c. which is fulfilled in the great Antichrist the Pope who sits in the Temple of God as God c. Yet the other Apostle saith the Judge standeth at the door 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grudge not one at another complain not one of another for the Judge is near at hand ready to judge you all for it So sin lyeth at the door that is to say to be near at hand It is no contradiction to that that the day of the Lord is not at hand for that is the day wherein he hath appointed wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he raised him up from the dead If this judging which is near is a temporal Chastisement he would lay upon them as if when children are envying one another quarrelling and grudging one at another accusing one another and falling out one should move them to forbear and by this Argument take heed your Father is at door with a rod in his hand and he will judge you all So he judgth the people that they might not be condemned with the world I thought good to speak thus far lest that seeming contradiction might trouble any so much for the proof The second thing will be to open the terms and First What is meant by coming the coming of Christ This will open the particle of time in the first verse then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened c. the same Key will open both To omit then any other opinion of it I understand it either of the coming of Christ to a particular soul which is no sooner separated from the body but cometh to judgement Now Christ may be said to come he cometh to put the sickle to such as are ripe for it he cometh to gather into his barn if they be wheat or else to burn them up with unquenchable fire Or else 2. And rather of the day of Judgement that great day and appearing of our Jesus Christ who is our life when his people shall appear with him in glory which day will find many alive who shall then be changed before they enter in with him and which day will find doubtless many in deep security and formality to have their work to do And for those that are then dead and shall be raised up it will find them in that state wherein they lay down in the dust either of faith or unbelief and accordingly either they shall be shut out or admitted to the Marriage And methinks this doom of our Saviour I know you not which is parallel to that Mat. 7. 23. Depart from me you workers of iniquity I know you not which surely doth agree to none except it be at the day of death or the day of judgement for any other time I will not trouble you with any thing about And so much for this first 2. Now for the delaying What is Jesus Christ more backward then the Church to this union that they go forth to meet him and seem forward and he delays his coming for what will make more hast then love will it not bring him upon Eagles wings yea riding upon the clouds and wings of the wind and how are we to understand this of his delay of his coming or what is he an idol-Christ that is taken up in a journey or any other business as to forget his spouse and neglect her to come speedily to make up the match to bring her into his Fathers house this were indeed agreeable to a poor finite forgetful Creature but not to Jesus Christ Yea more then this Is he not said to come quickly in divers places and how stands that with the delay of his coming See that place in Luke in the Parable of the unjust judge overcome with the widows importunity though he neither cared for God nor regarded man yet because of her importunity he would avenge her of her adversary how much more God who is love it self and tender of his people as the apple of his eye who is most just and most faithful and who doth indeed fear the wrath of his adversary after the manner of men being tender of his people and of his own name lest he should reproach his name and that reproach with ruin fall upon his people and besides all this being importuned by them as the souls under the Altar crying continually how long Lord holy and true wilt thou not avenge our blood upon the inhabitants of the Earth why saith the Text shall not God avenge his own Children which cry day and night to him though he bear long with them that is to say with their enemie I tell you he will avenge them speedily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speedily in a trice a moment by and by according to that of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quantulumcunque how little soever as little as may be and he will not tarry How hang these things together For the clearing of this it is necessary to say something And first I will shew you in what respect he is not said to delay or it is denied that he doth delay his coming but it is short and quickly and then 2. In what respect he is said to delay his coming and then come to the argumentss 2. Then he is not said to delay his coming in respect of his own eternity wherein all the differences of time are swallowed up and appear not at all there is no time long or short in eternity there is not prius or posterius there and therefore the Apostle in this argument speaks in this wise know saith he to them that were ready to mock because it was so long before the promise of his coming was fulfilled for the glorious liberty of the Sons of God from under their iron yokes put upon them by their persecutors why saith he God is not slack as some count slackness or
tardiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who reckon it according to Days and Months and Years and Ages no saith the Apostle alas a thousand years are but as one day to the Lord to eternity eternity doth not bid us with the unjust Steward sit down and write 50 for an 100 but a thousand for one 366000 for one for it is to one day that a thousand years are compared to in eternity and so one day as a thousand years it is as long as a thousand years with him which we cannot conceive of because we are not able to reach to eternity Now if Sentence against an evil doer be deferred but a day we count this a swift witness against such a mans sin as in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye the death but if it be a thousand years it is all one with God So that though to us poor finite Creatures who number actions according to days and months it may seem a delay yet to God it is not for all times past present and to come are present to him it is but one eternal nunc or now and therefore there is no delay in that respect 2. Yet further there is no delay but he cometh quickly suddenly very speedily in another respect Because he doth not stay longer then the appointed time Hab. 2. 3. the vision is for an appointed time it will not tarry then we are said to delay properly when there is a time prefixed for such a thing and we keep not touch but stay longer this is properly delaying Now you know there is a day appointed wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained there is a a day an hour which no man knoweth indeed and therefore men but do proclaim their vanity in guessing at it the times and seasons it is not meet for us to know which the Father hath kept in his own power Well then this day now he will not out-stay not a day longer will he stay but come quickly very speedily the very self same day as the very self same day he came to deliver Israel and to judge their Enemies The people might indeed think it long whiles they were in bondage groaning that he delayed his comin yet he did not for if the day appointed before had come sooner he had delivered them sooner he keeps touch to a day 3. He doth not delay his coming that is to say so as to omit the season of it for every thing is beautiful in its season there is a season to suffer the enemies of his Church to ride over their heads and there is a season to bring them under their feet again and give them their necks to trample upon there is a season to permit them to eat up his people as they eat bread and to make themselves drunk with the blood of the Saints and there is a season to give them blood to drink for they are worthy You know if a man omit his season for any thing he may never have another he is lookt upon as a slack negligent person as now he that puts off his gathering of harvest from Summer to winter so to day if you will hear his voice there is a time limited a season of getting grace which if omitted and put off by delays we shew much hardness of heart and little wisdom to think we shall do that to morrow which we have not heart to to day men think God is slack when indeed he is onely patient and they are ignorant and see it not but for the season he doth it most opportunely for his own glory and the good and salvation of souls as will appeare in the Arguments of the Doctrine But I will not anticipate my self 4. He doth not delay as some men may count delays or slackness as if he would never come they are ready to think because judgement is not speedily executed â—ush the Lord seeth not he regardeth not what they do he watcheth not over their sin he will not bring them into judgement for these things and so think he is just such a one as themselves Why because when they are offended happily except they take revenge when they are moved at the first they forget it afterwards and never set themselves in cold blood to it though many mens malice is much more durable a little tract of time will not do it out though we should go to school as children in this respect but I say If it be not presently we judge the Lord and measure him by our own thoughts if he hold his hands for any while our hearts are fully set in us to do wickedly we are ready to think he will not come at all to witness against our wickedness or formality and luke-warmness in his ways but thus he will not delay And so much for the Negative Secondly then for the Affirmative In what sense he is said to delay his coming and 1. In respect of the long time between his first and second coming his appearing it is long enduring many ages and generations many believers dying in faith and not receiving this promise of his second coming as those did who were before his first coming they lookt for him from age to age and the Prophets searched what and what manner of sins those were which they spake of they did a little pierce into them as much as they could they might think it long that the promise made to Adam so many ages before should yet be unfulfilled And so the coming of Christ the second time it is long between 1600 years already but this is not so properly a delaying but surely his delaying of his coming is to be understood according to our apprehensions of it and not according to his determinations who hath appointed the time and staies not a jot longer and hath appointed it according to the Counsel of his own will with admirable wisdom in the best season 2. Then he is said or may be said to delay his coming because our daies are short and we are ready to reckon upon it according to our daies it is many daies indeed and many years before he cometh to take a poor weary soul to himself and because he is poring upon the daies and upon the years and moneths therefore he thinketh it is very long and tedious the delay and therefore the Apostle doth meet with this covertly in that of Peter be not ignorant of this one thing saith he that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day Alas if we number by daies which are short and nothing it will seem a delay indeed but if we look upon eternity wherein a thousand years are but as a day then it is but short but this is understood by the opposition it hath to that which went before therefore the less of it here 3. Because of the
a carelesness in us for if he came more speedily what is the language Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye whether he be a swift witness against men or whether he tarry all is one if he do not speedily execute the Sentence which is past upon men evil doers their hearts are fully set in them to do wickedly and if he do threaten to come speedily and avenge himself upon them let us eat and drink for to morrow c. forgetting the after-clap that after death cometh judgement do not then pretend brethren this for your selves and lay the fault upon God as Adam did and all the sons of Adam are ready to do Say not then If God had threatened as he did Niniveh Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be overthrown yet forty days and thou shalt come to judgement sinner thou wouldst have repented as well as they did no but as Abraham speaks to the rich man in the parable if they will not believe Moses and the Prophets they will not believe though one rose from the dead So in this case if thou wilt not repent and believe though the coming of Christ do tarry a while I will be bold to say thou wouldst not repent if thou shouldest know that within forty days or forty hours thy soul should be taken from thee the fool in the Gospel when he thought he had many years before him and goods laid up for them he nourished his heart as in a day of slaughter and when it was told him that this night his soul should be taken from him do you think the fool had so much wisdom to repent we read it not nor do I see any cause to think it A second sort which are to be reproved or convinced of sin are such as mock at the coming of Christ It is a prophecy of the last days in the last days there shall come scoffers walking after their own lusts saying where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were since the beginning of the world That these are the last days if we had no o her Argument the impudence of many now adays denyinng resur ection and judgement and any such things as these are are too clear a proof of it Observe Where is the promise of his coming a promise to the people of Christ for he cometh to give them the Crown of righteousness having fought their fight and finished their course c. but a threatning to the sinners of the world as that the seed of the woman shall break the Serpents head Well you tell us of a glorious appearing of Christ but where is it we see no alteration all things continue as they were there is no sign of such a coming O what wretched Athiesm is in the heart brethren that because the hand of God doth not presently seize upon us therefore we make a mock at it thinking there is no such thing O this unbelief is the ground of all departing from God do not your actions proclaim this that you expect not his coming you rather make a mock at it you make so light a matter of sin of the most horrid sins Yea some that seem not to Question his coming though I think that is the ground of it their secret unbelief that there will be any such or no they do even provoke the Lord and pluck him out of his place they challenge the God of heaven that say Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it and let the counsel of the holy one draw nigh and come that we may know it that we may feel it for we fear it not this is the language of the men that declare their sin like Sodom heed it not stout-hearted sinners that set God at defyance bid him do his worst they will abide all that cometh rather then they will part with their lusts wherein they walk as the Apostle hath it they would fain see who shall controul them who should cut their Cart-ropes and Cords of vanity wherewith they draw iniquity and toyl and tear themselves like horses in the drudgery of sin Well I will speak a word or two to all these it is a terrible one indeed the Lord give us trembling hearts at it First However long it seems to stay it will come before thou art ready for it and for all this gallantry of spirit that sinners cloath themselvs with the stoutest-hearted sinner that heareth this word when that cometh shall quake and tremble What cared Belshazzar for the God of Israel he thought it was nothing to carouse in the vessels of the Sanctuary but you see with two or three words writing what an Agony it wrought him into Amos 5. 18. You desire the day of the Lord poor creatures you do not know the day of the Lord is darkness and not light your hearts will dye within you like stones when it cometh upon you Observe it brethren usually those that are the most stout-hearted in setting the Lord at defiance are most dejected when it cometh I will the Atheist say if this were true that this day would ever come it were something but we see no appearance of it Why Brethren are you such Atheists I hope there is none such here but will own the Scriptures to be the word of the living God and how often have you it there written he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by Jesus Christ and God is not slack as men count slackness as some count it as if he would never come believe it believe it Sinners your judgement lingers not and your damnation slumbereth not but travels as fast as you do and it will meet you one day and seize upon you O if God should send such a hand to write upon the wall of the Taverns where men are carouzing c. mene mene thou art weighed c. this night shall thy soul c. Deut. 5. 5. He that believeth not these things is an Atheist indeed worse then the Devil himself who believeth and trembleth James 2. 19. But me thinks reason it self should evince it and teach us that the first Principle of all things made himself the end of all things He that is first must also be the last and therefore such as would not serve that end and honour God here he will honour himself upon them he must needs be righteous and give every one according to his works Now Sinners do not receive according to their works many times here but they are lively and grow old and are mighty in power their seed are established before them c As it is in that place of Job their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them they have no changes and therefore they fear not God they spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave
that is to say without any tedious sickness such as Job had and therefore they encourage themselves in their evil ways they say what profit is there if we should pray unto him we prosper as well as any who is the Almighty that we should serve him Let him depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of his ways whereas a Job a Paul that are upright fearing God eschewing evil exercising themselves to keep a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men they shall be plagued every morning God shall take them by the neck and shake them to pieces and pour out their gall upon the ground and break them with breach upon breach Now brethren if Sinners were not reserved to a day of judgement and destruction that they should he brought forth to the day of wrath how would the Lord be righteous and just it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that trouble you â—but to you that are troubled rest with us Again Thirdly Remember this Thou despis 〈…〉 the riohes and long suffering of God not knowing that this goodness leads thee to repentance It hath a tendency thereto God is not slack but is long-suffering to us not willing any should perish he waits to be gracious Sinners he giveth you space to repent though he tell you not how long that space shall continue that while it is called to day you might hearken to his voice Now instead of turning to the Lord you despise this his patience let him wait upon whom he pleaseth you desire him not to wait upon you but let the day of the Lord come that you may see it because you prosper and your brests are full of milk and your bones watered with marrow as it is in the Original you make a scoff at the judgements of God and mock at all his terrors as if nothing concerning you What is this but not only to break the yoke of Christ and his Cords of obeisance but the Cords of a man and of love wherewith he draweth sinners towards Repentance it followeth in the text that such men treasure up wrath against the day of wrath after their own hardness and impenitent heart let them put off the day of judgement as well as they can they do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath treasures of wrath are abundance he stores up treasures as we do sin God seals up such mens sins among his treasures indeed you fill up many bags and apace as a few great stones will fill a bag over little stones will do nothing heightens your sins more then this the despising the goodness and patience and forbearance of God riches and treasures of goodness and long-suffering abused and perverted to a wrong end to encourage your hearts to strengthen your hands to sin Swell the treasures of the displeasure which hangs over your heads every moment Ah dear friends that God would give some poor hard-hearted Sinner a trembling heart at this word I doubt it is some of our cases do you know what you do Sinners you heap up sin they are gon over your head I that is not al you treasure up wrath against the day of wrath that day when all the treasures shall be broken open the Sluces opened and the tyde of streaming vengeance shall carry away poor sinners to that bottomless gulf O who may abide this day No Nor do not think You shall have worse then other men and you hope not so bad you never yet sinned as some others have done you bless God you are no Drunkards nor Extortioners you never sinned as Sodom nor as Gomorrhah suppose so Yet it may be more tolerable for them then for many of us who shall despise this long-suffering of God and the riches of his goodness to us The Lord of that servant that encourageth himself to sin upon his Lord his delaying his coming he will come in a day when he looks not for him and he will divide him asunder Either rend his soul from his body whether he will or no this night shall thy soul be taken from thee Sinners are not willing to part with theâ—r souls and no marvel when they behold hell from beneath moved for them Or else he will separate them from himself and the Congregation of his people for ever they shall not stand in the Congregation of his people though here they were mixed together Or else he will bring upon him the most exquisite tormenting evils as men sawn asunder or as Agag or as they Dan. 3. 29. So in the Evangelist And give him his portion with Hypocrites as some gloss it they are the free-holders of hell the lowest place they have for simulata sanctitas duplex iniquitas and therefore they shall receive double even according to their deeds See brethren we may be his servants in name and profession and he may commit to us the Stewards office also and if this be our own end a sad word for us as well as for you for loose and contentious and ungodly Ministers and yet notwistanding perish with deepest destruction if we despise this long-suffering toward us 3. Again It reproveth such as of prophaness of their spirits upon every slight occasion will be calling upon God to judge them appealing to him nothing more ordinary in prophane mens mouths then this the Lord judge them Yea more fearful indeed so fearful that I hardly think the Devil himself would so speak for they believe and tremble that God would damn them calling for that day upon every little vexation when men suspect them or censure them for any thing they would clear themselves and to that end use such fearful imprecations as these Ah wo be to them that say let the day of the Lord come what if the Lord should take such men at their word and put an end to his long-suffering and say Well judge thee I will this hour thy soul shall be taken from thee would they not be in an other Note you need not call for it it will come fast enough 4. It reproveth such as out of a conceit they have of their own innocency they will be calling for that day Job himself was blame-worthy that he presseth so much upon this O that I might come to him where I might find him that I might come even to his seat I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments I would hear the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me And so again Chap. 13. Withdraw thine hand far from me and let not thy dread make me afraid then call thou and I will answer thee charge upon me what thou canst of wickedness or prophaness and I will clear my self or let me speak and answer thou me let me be the Plaintiff saying out the sad condition of my soul and do thou answer me justifie thy
proceedings with me Though he did well to retain his integrity and justifie that before men yet it was too much boldness to offer to enter into judgement with God and so earnestly to desire that day Alas brethren when he shall bring to light the depths of our hearts that we never saw who shall stand before him at his coming thus to lay us open if he enter into judgement with us indeed 5. It reproveth another sort and those are they that when their Consciences are a little galled happily by the Word or some other way they are ready to cry out for the day of the Lord they think mans judgement and mans day is very hard and harsh and hope to be relieved by this day of Jesus Christ doth the Lord make his Ministers sometimes sons of thunder and is not he the Father the God of thunders then is your day brethren so dreadful that you cannot bear it if while he sitteth to purge as a refiners fire you be scorched with that so that you cannot abide the day of his coming do you think to help your selves by putting yourselves upon the everlasting burnings It is true the word of God is a fire and if it get into a sinners Conscience it will scorch and burn and make the soul even fâ—y again but what is this to the flaming vengeance wherewith the Lord Jesus shall be clothed when he appeareth and his coming is you think we handle you roughly sometimes and you shall find more tender usage from the Lord Jesus O he is more merciful full of bowels indeed he is so infinitely more merciful but you will find him to be infinitely just as well as merciful Sinners he hath a Go ye Cursed as well as Come ye blessed to pronounce he will handle you more weightily then Creatures can if you be not ready for his appearing If you cannot bear the smoke of the bottomless pit over which you are held it may be sometimes will it be a mending your condition to leap out of the smoke into the fire It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God therefore it may serve to reprove such as would hasten this day of the Lord and yet can have no hope the Lord knoweth in the Evil day The next Vse shall be then to stir us up every one to wait for this day this coming of Jesus Christ specially the people of God You that hope for mercy in that day as he prayeth for the house of Onesiphorus what should we do but wait for it Yet indeed it may reach the Condition of all whether good or bad If he delay his coming then wait for his coming Onely the waiting of the people of God is somewhat of a different nature And therefore let me speak a little distinctly to the waiting of the Saints of God for that day wrerein there are two or three things included as several branches of this duty 1. There must be a love and desire to this coming of Jesus Christ and this presupposeth that that day and the coming of it will be good to the people of God for we cannot love or desire or will any thing evil under the formality of evil be a good day a day of transcendent gladness of heart when the Bride shall be taken by the Bridegroom presented to his father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing when there shall never be any estrangement between the Lord Jesus and the soul any more never any withdrawing any clouding any disturbance of peace any more will not this be a good day when our grace shall be all glory then shall we appear with him in glory And therefore Job speaks after this manner I know that my redeemer liveth c. in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another therefore it is the same body by the which and not a new one which never had union with the soul before though my reins be consumed within me so we read it that is to say though inwards as well as outwards are consumed in the grave yet I shall see him but though is not in the Original and therefore it may be read without my reins are consum'd within me the reins are the s 〈…〉 of the desires therefore I have such desires after that day that even my reins are spent in them and consumed by them this is going forth to meet him indeed It is not every Christian that can desire this but such as are ready for his appearing whereof afterwards But then Secondly 2. In this waiting there is an Act of faith also to be put forth cast not away your confidence that believe there will be such a day it is certain though it be future though we see it not yet because he hath said it therefore believe it and if we so believe we shall not make hast that is to say more hast then is meet press hard forward toward the Mark Phil. 3. 13. 14. we ought to do but we should not take any indirect course to bring our selves to it so much the sooner as some by a dispatching themselves under a temptation when faith is overwhelmed or else by such cruel macerating of the body to beat it down that the frame of it should be quickly be dissolved though we should be weary of the body of sin and we cannot well be weary of it yet faith now should eye that glorious liberty of the sons of God and it maketh it present It is the substance of things hoped for it giveth it a being already and therefore this also is implied in this waiting And then 3. In this waiting brethren for his appearing which is proper to the Saints there is a patient continuance in the waiting a patient continuance in well-doing the Apostle mentioneth there should be desires not a fit and start but a Continuance in them and so a drawing out the acting of faith believing that day will come which shall put an end to all our fightings without and terrors within when we have need of patience when we have done all that we might receive the recompence the promise of temptation whether inward or outward our patience is put to it very sore yea and in a fit of ravishment with Christ then we would have no delay but in heaven we would be even that very moment and those holy flames are sweet but yet if the Lord see it good for Paul to continue in the Body and he must yet undergo more for Christ before he come to raign with him why he is satisfied and so ought we to wait patiently for this his appearing The Virgins waited it should seem and were forward and ready but their patience held not out as it should therefore labour for this But then Secondly For the waiting of Sinners Wait for this day for it will it come
vigilancy there creepeth a security on a people which is a main ingredient into this spiritual sleep as the virgins here they were all secure they looked not for the coming of Jesus Christ And so when instead of a fervency of spirit in serving God a deadness a dulness creepeth upon men they pray as if they prayed not if it be but for an act it is slumbering now they are dead and then they are lively it may be next time and then they are dead again this is slumbering napping and nodding Now they can act their faith and then they cannot now they can avoid this sin and that and then they cannot but are overtaken by it this is slumbring and alas brethren are we not all of us lyable to this Yea it may be these things seize upon us more violently we not onely offend in many things but continually lying secure continue in such a dull listless frame little or no actings or strivings of faith or love or fervency or wayting for Jesus Christ and his appearing this is sleeping Well I wish we had not too general and too good proof of it by our own experience You have had already in this part of the discourse the general reason of this sleepiness of the Saints respecting our selves and that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a seed of that Poppy-seed which lays us so often asleep a filthy heart streaming continually filthy gross vapours which clog and seize upon our graces and hold them prisoners as I may say for a time that we cannot act them But I will a little more particularly descend to speak to some cases Not to speak of that vindicative hand of God upon some when in vindicative justice he sendeth upon men a spirit of slumber and of sleep for I hardly think that is competent to the Saints though to hypocrites it may yet those are not they I am mainly to speak to in this discourse but of other causes And First A cause of it may be this sloathfulness it casts men into a deep sleep It is so in naturals and it is so in spirituals a sloathful man that will not labour the vapours gather and becloud and bemist him that he cannot break through them but they seize upon his senses and hold him prisoner a great while and if he be stirred yet a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep that is the slothful mans guise and as the door turns upon the hinges up and down so the slothful man doth upon his bed Labour and pains taking it dispels the vapours scatters them and so they clear up so it is here a sloathful spirit is the immediate forerunner of this sleep therefore the Apostle exhorts them not sloathful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord. And you shall finde brethren when he that had one talent given him he improved it not the Lord calls him a wicked and sloathful servant Alas his soul was asleep and his talent laid tosleep in a Napkin well this is one cause if we have opportunities in our hands to do good and we do it not as the Apostle exhorts us to do we are sloathful A man that is idle shall have very much ado to keep himself from sleeping a wonder brethren if we be not all asleep we have so many opportunities to do good such talents put into-our hands some of us most of us and yet do so little with them Secondly Another cause of sleeping may be wearyness you know the sleep of the labouring man is sweet so you see Sisera after he was toyled and spent with his fighting and flight he was ready to lye down to sleep presently so brethren it is in this case when we have run a while in the race that is set before us or fought against our corruptions toyled hard if we sit down when weary we are asleep presently O saith the Apostle be not weary of well-doing if you be you will fall asleep this we find in the case of them in the Hebrews they were harased and persecuted grievously their faith and patience were even tyred out alas their hands therefore were weak and knees were feeble their members began to languish and sleep to seize upon them Sometimes when we toyl all night and take nothing we spend and are spent we are apt to be weary brethren and then it is two to one but we fall asleep That is another cause of this sleep Thirdly Another Cause may be the false questions which men make the mistaking of things a man mistaking the day for the night he slumbers it may be and thinketh it is night or the day is not at hand he sleepeth this is clear I think in the present case What made the virgins thus to give sleep to their eys and slumber to their eye-lids they thought their Lord would not come yet he delayed his coming and likely they thought he would do so still and therefore thought they might sleep or else atleast they might think while he delayed his coming it was no great matter whether they slept or waked it would be of little availment to them and therefore they even laid them down formally to sleep O how easily are we lulled asleep with such mistakes as these now how false was this in the mean time for there is much to be done while he tarryes to wayt for him to have our lights burning our lamps trimmed our ornaments ready to wait for him until he come for we shall be paid for our wayting as well as for our our working and then we should be ready to open to him whenever he comes this another Fourthly Another cause or occasion at least of this sleeping what is it but a letting down our fear and care if we served the L. continually with a holy trembling as the Psalmist cals upon us we should hardly sleep a man that hath a trembling heart sleep passeth from his eys or a man that hath his head fâ—ll of cares and his heart also they will keep him waking so Jacob his sleep departed from his eys O the care he had of Labans sheep he slept not Ah how far short are many of us that have the charge of the slock of Christ purchased with his precious blood for we sleep let the Wolves come sleep and let the envious man sow tares Paul O how watchful a man washe how diligent he warned them night and day with tears what was the matter O the care of all the Churches were upon him Why brethren we have every one the care of our own souls yea and of one anothers we ought to watch over one another tender one another to walk fearfully lest we be stumbling-blocks one to another hurt one another we are our brothers keepers and if we have this care upon us lively of our own souls and others it will keep us waking The rich
mans abundance will not suffer him to sleep he is afraid of losing it a man that hath a great charge about him and walks through woods and dangerous places he is afraid of every one he meeteth lest he be robbed he will hardly sleep O you have precious souls to lose brethren And some of you have grace to lose which may in part be lost in its own nature it is looseable being but a creature depending continually upon a divine supply as the Ray upon the Sun If there be now such a care as this it will keep the soul awake but now if we grow confident and bold and do not fear alway we are then falling asleep so it is see it plainly in the Disciples that went with Christ into the garden to behold his Agony they were wonderfully heavy asleep the soul was asleep their graces were not upon the wing what was the matter if you mind it they were the men that above all others had been most confident and secure and had expressed it before Peter said that though all men should deny him he would not and when our Saviour told him he should deny him he was so blinded with his confidence now that he would not believe Jesus Christ but rather believed himself and his own folly he said he would rather dye for him then deny him Well when it cometh to the pinch he falls asleep Ah Peter sleepest thou thou of all other men methinks shouldst have waked with me wilt thou dye with me and yet cannot wake but fall asleep not one hour wake with me thou such a confident man and yet when it cometh to the pinch fall asleep And the two sons of Zebedeus with him they were very confident they would sit on the right and left hand of Christ in his kingdom Why can you drink of the cup I am to drink of Yea say they we can and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with yea they could Now those are the men above others that are asleep Who can tell but if some other of the Disciples that had been lower in their own thoughts and had walkt more tremblingly before him but they might have waked when those slept This another Fifthly Stupifying the head the senses with some injury it will lay a man asleep yea more then ordinarily into a swoun so that he feels nothing as for instance let a man have a great blow upon his head it stonyeth him he fals asleep under it he can feel nothing now his senses are lockt up as if in a dead sleep it is so here a great sin brethren it stupifies a mans conscience it maketh him past feeling for the present in a manner we would hardly think it it may be we would think that men are rather apt to fall asleep that have none of those great sins but onely of an ordinary nature they are apt to slumber and that great sins would rather awaken men and stir mens Consciences indeed it may be they may put a man to some more torment a little at present but afterward they do stupifie the deceitfulness of sin maketh hard as the Apostle saith specially if it lye unrepented of a while do you not see how David lay in a dead sleep a great while upon that his fall in the matter of Vriah all his senses closed up he could not open his mouth to speak to God O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise And so Jonah his sin was very great running away from God to Tarshish when he sent him to Niniveh and who more sleepy then he in the vessel up why sleepest thou thou sleeper said they alas the poor Mariners lookt upon themselves as lost men he feared nothing he was asleep Conscience asleep Soul asleep Fear asleep he was benummed with that great blow he had given his soul he was more sleepy and heavy then natural men themselves their Consciences were sooner awaked by the hand of God then his was a fearful condition Now be not mistaken brethren I mean not by great sins only such as are gross in our own account but the greatness of a sin lies in the liking of it indeed if there be a liking or love to a greater sin it maketh it so much the greater but if there be a less sin it maketh it very great even greater then the act of another sin that for the act is greater then it Sixthly Another Cause you know is surfeting and drunkenness Excess in the use of the creatures we use to say loaden bellies leaden heels the bellies being full the bones would have rest It is so in nature and so it is with the soul Lot when he was drunk he fell asleep and slept so deeply that his daughters played the harlots with him and knew nothing neither when they rose nor when they lay down truly brethren the drunkenness of the mind casts men asleep if a man be drunk with erroneous principles of loosness it casts him into a sleep presently the head is giddy with it but chiefly if a man be drunk with passions or drink or surfet of the delights of the creature abusing the world in using of it this was the sleep of the old world they never dreamed of the flood they believed it not at all Why they eat they drink they marryed they gave in marriage There is no Copulative between the words in the Text which they call an Asyndeton as if there were no distance of time between one and the other they made it their work and business to give themselves to these things And so it will be at the last day when Christ shall come This is the sleeping then surely in a great measure this day came upon the foolish virgins yea and wise too unawares and why might not this be a great part of their sleeping or a Cause of it they thought now they had made sure of the main work they might give themselves a little more liberty then before and might busie themselves in the world as well as others and so were excessively taken up with it and then the day of the Lord cometh unawares Therefore our Saviour giveth this caution take heed your hearts at any time be not overcharged with surfeting and drunkenness and the cares of this life and that day come upon you at unawares Alas men are too busie in the world to mind the coming of Jesus Christ or to wayt for him they are drunk and therefore fall asleep drunk with delights with love to these things care about them they have more then their load as we say of men drunk and therefore they sleep I wish this were not the sin of the Saints themselves Seventhly Another Cause may be the company of sleepy ones this may be the case at least to some and it is not unlikely but the foolish virgins and wise walking together the foolish might give such an
example and the wise not wise enough to avoid but would sleep for company and so it is still in the visible Church because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold some think this may be hinted in that place but sure it is that examples are very potent plus vivitur exemplis specially if a person be in repute a man of name or renown among the Saints a brother or a sister whose praise is in the Churches if such a one as this shall grow earthly and carnal and that carnality and earthliness damp the soul and bring a deadness upon the graces why how many wil be ready to think they may sure let the rayns as loose as they and may seek after the world as well as they Peters example you see when he dissen bled what a force it had thou compellest the Gentiles to live as as do the Jews by his example he did it when the Jews came down from Jerusalem therefore David complains indeed of the example of wicked wo is me c. And so Isaiah complains wâ— is me I dwell among a people of uncircumcised lips and I am such my self and they help it forward but indeed the examples o loose and cold and sleepy Professors are more mischievous especially if they have been more lively and insensibly decline and decay because we have the less suspicion of them and therefore they are notable quench-coals indeed This is another ground Eighthly And the last I shall speak to shall be this from all the former When the Lord his holy spirit is grieved by all these he withdraweth his spirit and then we fall fast asleep and alas if a man be waked out of a dead sleep except there be one watching by him or one that hath a Lethargical distemper apt to prevail upon him except he hath some to sit by him to keep him awake he falls asleep and such pains is the holy Spirit at sitting up with us to keep us awake Now if we do grieve him and he depart from us presently deep sleep fals upon us like an armed man and we cannot resist so the Disciples had grieved the spirit of God by their self-confidence nothing more and therefore he leaveth them well he will see what the end of this their trusting in lyes will do and he letteth them fall again and again and you see how woful sleepy and drowsie they were they could not watch one hour they fell asleep again and again three times after another though they were sharply reproved for it they were prickt and provoked to awake but it would not do alas the Spirit was withdrawn from them Thus much shall serve for the Arguments For the Use then brethren in the first place May it not serve to humble us surely this is one end of Gods leaving his people to such a drowsie frame that they may be humbled as it was in the case of his Disciples he would make them know how weak they were if he did but depart from them as confident as they were how should we be ashamed of our selves as a servant when he sleepeth when he should be about his business and is reproved for it alas he is confounded he hath nothing to say for himself so the Disciples they wist not what to say saith the Text What are you now saith our Saviour asleep now when it is a time to exercise your graces and to pray if ever you will pray are you now asleep He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame to himself and others it is a time of work and to be lazing and drowsing upon the bed it is a very shameful thing indeed O that the Lord would lay this as a Plaister upon our Souls as many as are drowsie or have been drowsie or sleepy to hold the Plaister on though it be a smarting plaister yet better it is for us to have some smart then to dye of the Lethargy better be cupped and scarified and anything Ah when God cures sin by sin it is a smarting cure like the curing of a poysoned wound with more poyson or fetching out of fire with more fire wherein the severeness of the Physician appeareth and his love to us who had rather we should smart then dye well be humbled for what we have done if this work be some smart unto us our many sleepy Sermons Prayers sloathfulness security we have been and it is well if we be not upon our beds now this very day if our souls be not asleep If you be the Lord humble you for it as he humbled his own Disciples that this may be your care But not onely so But let us all take notice of and be humbled for our great proneness to slumber and sleep Water the root brethren If we be awake and have not lately been overtaken yet remember we have the root within us water that with our tears be humbled before the Lord for it yea labour we to walk continually humble before the Lord for the sight and sense of it it will appear how apt we are to fall asleep if we consider that whatever our condition is we are apt to it For a prosperous state this is like a rocking and singing to the soul how quickly did the Church fall asleep in Constantine his days in his lap and the child in the mothers lap Outward prosperity inward prosperity Was not David slumbring when he said I shall never be moved and so Iob I said I should dye in my nest what not onely when he had an outward flourishing condition but when he had such a strength of grace as to inable him to do much for God to walk uprightly with him to be fruitful in good works then I shall dye in my nest I shall multiply my days as the sand he was even going then O this is matter of humbling indeed brethren that when we should be putting forth the fruits of his love unto our souls we should drop asleep But then a man would think this is more natural now to fall asleep in the Sun shine and in the midst of the sweet refreshings of the spirit of God as musick and delightful things which do mulcere they do perswade sleep if we have not somewhat to keep awake But a man would think now that an â—our of trouble and affliction except it be so great as to stupifie it should rather keep a man awaking as the Psalmist thou holdst me waking saith he in the night Now the Disciples they were in an hour of temptation and a great grief and trouble and though they knew now their Lord was ready to depart from them and now entering upon his agony yet alas how dead and lumpish were they they fell asleep though there may be some natural cause for grief of the soul to make the body heavy as it seemeth to be rendered as a reason for they were sad they were heavy with grief
do which may advantage himself or others how can a man pray when he cannot act his faith nor act his love nor his zeal and fervency of Spirit but all are a sleep Ah what weak service hath the Lord from many of us upon this account 4. Another Consideration shall be this the unseasonableness of the thing Every thing is beautified by the season and if it be out of season it is uncomely It is not a walking honestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honestly or comely to sleep now brethren it is enough for â—inners that are of the night that never â—aw the day-star appear nor the Sun of righteousness arise upon them for them to lie sleeping now it is something suitable for they that sleep saith the Apostle sleep in the night and they that are drunk are drunk in the night the night was for sleep naturally and therefore man goeth forth to labour and to his work until the evening So in spirituals it is most unsuitable to sleep in the day-time brethren if you believe you are of the day and not of the night as the Apostle saith We count him a Drone a Lusk or Lurden that shall sleep in the day-time It was David his fault to be upon the bed in the day-time And so likely Isâ—bosheth except the Custom of the place being hot might excuse it Well then hath the Lord in in finite riches of grace brought thee out of the dark night made it day with thee when it is night with many families and poor souls about thee and wilt thou make it â—ight by sleeping it is unseasonable it is enough for them that are in darkness to sleep Again 2. Consider It is the time wherein you are called upon to act for God and for your own souls It is not only the day but the time for work It is our harvest brethren wherein should lay up not for many years as the fool in the Gospel said but for eternity treasure up grace for eternity lay up a good foundation for the time to come O how richly laden are some of the Saints over others are that have made a profession of Christ as long as they live what is the reason why they have slept while they should have gathered he that gathereth in Summer is a wise son but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame there the one is opposed to the other that soul will cloth himself with shame and Confusion one day that sleepeth in harvest in the time of labour wherefore doth the Bridegroom tarry but to give you space to repent to work out your salvation in and instead of working shall we sleep out this time and will it be Comfortable in the end will it be comfortable if instead of labouring in the vineyard we sleep all the heat of the day what account shall we make when we come to receive the recompence 3. Yet more unseasonable it is also If you consider that usually the time of this falling asleep is after a good while converse and walking with God then men fall a napping the wise virgins they had their oyl and their Lamps burning it is true they had provided for the main and it is likely went forth to meet him but in the way the nearer they came to their journeys end for there must be some good competent time sure before they would conclude that the Bridegroom tarried and then they lay aside all and fall asleep Remember that of the Apostle knowing the season saith he that now it is high time for you to awake for now is your salvation nearer then when you believed Now is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to awake out of sleep now is salvation nearer What is the meaning of this the meaning is now is the most unseasonable time of all other for you to be asleep now you should press hard forward now just at your journies end as a Traveller or a man in a race holds up his head all the way and maketh speed and when he is near the journies end and should lay hold upon the goal that then he should sit down and sleep this is unseasonable and utterly unsafe if he expect to obtain by his running Ah brethren sure you would obtain else why did you run if you expected not a reward Now may I not say with the Apostle you did many of you run well but who hindred you how came it to pass you dropt asleep or are you inclining to it O take heed it is not safe at the end of your race the night is past the day is come or the night the time of this ignorance for our life is compared to the vision of God in heaven may well be compared to a night and that to day well this day is at hand it is nearer then when you began to believe for that is the meaning of that Phrase as such a King reigned that is to say began to raign ordinarily in Scripture Well then it is utterly unseasonable therefore let me beg of you brethren and the Lord prevail with our hearts to take heed of it Fifthly Another Consideration shal be this that while you lay your selves to sleco you lose God and Christ you lose their presence when the soul open to Jesus Christ he cometh in and the father and Holy Spirit with him and they bring their dainties with them and abundantly refresh the soul with his love which is better then wine and as long as the soul doth give him entertainment and followeth to improve its Communion with him he will sâ—ay but truly brethren if we sleep he will not then tarry but he takes his leave and leaveth us sleeping and alas before we are aware we have lost him and know not where to find him It was Sampsons case alas his strength was in the presence of God with him when he departed he was as as another man he lies down upon Dalilahs lap and then he fals asleep and at last he was robbed of his strength God was departed from him he he had many forewarnings but he was bewitched with a Lust it did so imprison his reason that he could not see what he was to do at last he wist not that God was departed from him he went thinking to shake himself as at other times but alas his strength was gone Ah brethren if a man have a Dalilah it is sive to one but sooner or later it will lull him asleep and if it can but get him asleep it is easie to get away the Lords presence from him and he know it not untill afterward Sixtly Another Argument shal be not only that not only when we fall asleep we not only lose the Lord Jesus and the presence of his Spirit but we then shall keep him out also the senses are locke up A Servant fast asleep when his Master cometh home he may knock long enough before he open to him why alas
Joseph and therefore God brought them into that distraction they were never awaked until now If men will not awake with calling we use to take them and shake them and use them more hardly The Lord cals brethren you have the voice of the Turtle the joyful sound of the Gospel among you If we awake not what will he do he will take you by the Neck and shake you awake and truly brethren the Lords shakings are terrible shakings he will shake the soul into a trembling and astonishment What was the reason that the Lord followed Jonah with a storm he was asleep his Conscience and Soul asleep and no easie means would awake him the Lord was fain to let loose his hand upon him and by a terrible tempest to awake him sure I am this will not be comfortable 3. Afterwards It will not be quietness nor rest to your souls the Disciples you see when they had slept their sleep had so many reproofs how were they ashamed of what they had done they wist not what to answer him were fain to hang the head It is a disquâ—eting to a mans spirit to be covered with shame and confusion O when shall he come and upbraid the soul with his slothfulness What is this thy love to me now is this thy kindness to thy friend is this thy faith and zeal for me that thou hast fallen asleep and slept so long as thou hast done was my Love and my Communion no more worth is this the esteem thou puttest upon it to fall asleep in the midst of it will you have a word to say to Jesus Christ now in such a case will it not be confusion to us O brethren It may be we may bear the shame and reproof of such a sleeping fit upon our backs all our days Besides can it chuse but be a very great distraction to us that when we are awaked and slept out our time and see then that now Christ is at hand the day of his coming is here and we have our work to do in a great part our Lamps to trim will not this be a distraction to us if we do escape the destruction of that day when a servant that hath a house to make ready sleepeth away his time and by and by tidings come his Master is at hand and the house is unready to receive him O what a hurry and confusion and distraction is he in then and what fruit hath he then of his sleeping it ends in bitterness and trouble and disease and therefore Brethren as we tender our peace our Comfort take heed of sleeping Alas you will say what should we do to keep our selves from this sleeping since it is so dangerous I shall propound a few 〈◊〉 to you 1. Then take heed of the beginnings of declinings Aristotle reports the Lyons of Syria bring forth the first year five whelps the next four the next three and so on until they come to a barrenness like Mandrobulus in Lucian who offered to his god the first year gold the second silver and the third nothing See Trap upon Mat. 24. 13. If we would avoid sleeping we must take heed of slumbering of heaviness of any thing inclining to it Do you not mind whether your Love be as hot in prayer as fervent as heretofore if there be a rebatement of it fear it you are going to sleep Observe your selves brethren Is not your Love grown much colder then it was because iniquity doth abound so that you have prejudices so many love is eaten out O that the Lord would help you to look to it at the beginning 2. Take heed of composing or setling your selves too easily this will provoke to sleep O do not put off your Garments with the spouse Men that would not sleep will hardly put off their Clothes nor lay themselves upon a bed Not as if Saints did lose the habits of holiness or grace But the Acts the outward garments they may say aside and so setle themselves to sleep It is vain for a man to hope to be kept waking in such a case O take heed of loving ease wo be to the n that are at ease in Sion Brethren If you be any thing acquainted with the times or your own hearts you will find enough to exercise you Keep in Action acts dispel the vapors which perswade sleep O brethren time shall come when we shall have our graces continually in act why should we not breath after this even upon earth get as near to it as we can 3. Take heed of putting off the day of the coming of Jesus Christ that seemeth â—ere to be the immediate cause of the Virgins slumber and sleeping while the Bridegroom tarryed they thought they might have time enough likely they might take a nap 〈…〉 unbend a little if we would avoid sleeping labour to keep fresh that upon our spirits the appearing of the Lord Jesus a love of that appearing and a fear of an unsuitableness to that appearing when it shall be O brethren that we could once attain to Jobs pitch to wait for our change every day all the dayes of our appointed time I doubt some of us can scarce say that we â—ait for it any day we put it off and therefore no marvel if we sleep It is that which is present which must affect us such is our Constitution things though never so certain and though never so desirable on the one hand or never so dreadful on the other yet they affect not except they be present some way or other present in our thoughts in our expectations present to our faith which is the evidence of things hoped for as once King James said such a man Preacheth as if hell were at his back ready to swallow him up that will keep a man awake either the joy of heaven set before us and as I may say continually present the coming of Christ Or else the terrors of everlasting burnings the immediate Consequent of this day O who can sleep that hath the coming of the Lord fresh upon his spirit 4. Take heed of Pride and self-confidence You see brethren that hath laid the very Watchmen themselves asleep the three chief Apostles If Sampson had not rested upon his own strength would he when he had so many warnings have committed himself again to the Lap of his Dalilah surely no. 5. In the next place take heed of excess in the use of lawful things O saith our Saviour take heed your hearts be over-charged with surfetting or drunkenness and the cares of this life that will quickly lay a man to sleep You know the thorny ground went far and yet though it endured Persecution and the Cup of trembling could not carry away the soul the Cup of delights in the world it laid them asleep the Sun did not burn them but the thorn choakt them Licitis perimus juvenes the time is short saith the Apostle it is rowled up as
prick and beat her yong ones out of the Nest else they would be lazy and sleep there Well surely brethren If love and sweetness will not do it gall and vinegar must awakened we must be for sure we cannot go to heaven in a sleep and how terrible will it be if we put him to it thus to teach us by terrible things in righteousness and mercy It is faithfulness and mercy to us he will be at the pains with us And then brethren let me but add this only When the Lord Jesus shall deal thus with us we that now are so fast asleep we may sleep then if we could there will come such a day upon us surely if the Lord do not in tender compassions awaken us before hand It is a bitter ironical reproof the Disciples had need of such sharpness in the reproof for milder words would not do sleep on now saith our Saviour it is enough what did our Saviour allow them to sleep surely nothing less specially all this time for that his next words are arise let us go hence behold they are at hand who betray me why then they could have little list or leasure to sleep but our Saviour doth with a holy mocking of them as I may say Well you have been sleeping all this while now take your rest now sleep if you can now you shall have your hearts so full of cares and fears and be sobeset with temptations you shall have little list to sleep A righteous hand upon them for their sluggishness as the young man rejoyce O young man in thy youth c. and let thine heart chear thee but remember for all this God will bring thee to judgement Well brethren as light as you may make of this you that love sleep and give your selves to security when this day cometh upon you it will make your hearts ach The Lord perswade us of it I desire not the woful day to any of you but rather that you may escape Again Another Vse of the Point may be then for such as are kept through the Almighty grace from this sleeping it may be when others are sleeping about thee one in this corner another in that thou art lively thy graces are kept in vigor thy sweet communion with Christ maintained O how much how infinitly art thou engaged to the Lord Jesus magnifie his grace How many considerations here might be heaped up to heigthen your prayses that the high prayses of God might be in your hearts and mouths As 1. To consider It s meerly free mercy that maketh this difference between thee and the most sluggish Professor most slothful sleepy Professor For it is not surely brethren because they have improved the grace which thou hast received better then others have done it may be others have received more grace and walked as diligently as thy self and yet notwithstanding left to some fearful fall to stupifie or deaden them asleep O magnifie his grace that thou art thus far kept again 2. To consider How much misery and sin thou dost hereby avoid the loss of Jesus Christ and his presence c. O it is unspeakable for what sin what temptation will not take with a poor soul when he is in this drousie condition As Lot in his sleep what would he not do the soul asleep and in security what would he not do the things that now the soul abhors the thought of them if thou hadst been left to such a sleep as this is thou wouldst have made nothing of as wel as others as you see in the fearful example of many apostatizing Professors in these days that have walked very strictly before which surely as it should minister matter of holy fear and trembling to us so of great prayses to the Lord. And then the misery to awaken us to put us to those distractions which have been already spoken to Besides 3. To consider What great advantage thou hast now above many others Thou hast the presence of God which others want thou hast the light of his countenance thou hast many a sweet communion with him which others want being left to this sleepy condition they have slept away their harvest thou art kept awake to gather in the Summer O how rich in grace may such a soul grow if he do but know his season and opportunity and are not these great matters of praise Again in the next place then brethren if we be so apt to sleep Let us consider one another to provoke to stir up suffer not one another to sleep Indeed brethren so far as we are defective in this duty of love one to another so far we our selves are asleep O be ye followers of Jesus Christ and be full of love as he was he cometh to his Disciples and findeth them fast asleep what doth he do let them alone or refuse Communion with them no he stirreth them up giveth them a reproof to provoke them and he doth it again and again and again And so in the case of Peter he did you know look upon him otherwise what had become of him so he would not let Jonas or David go in their Conditions but sendeth a Prophet to one and sendeth a storm after the other to awake him and afterward cometh himself And so the Church in the Canticles see how he cals upon her there and afterward cometh nearer O Brethren that I might be counted worthy this day to speak one word home to some poor sleeping soul to awaken you either a word of love or a word of terror I have spoken both but will you remember this as a duty Doubtless we have occasions before us every where do we not know many lazy sleepy Christians do we not judge them to be so where are our bowels towards them why do we not shake them do our endeavour would we not be sorry to see them forsaken of Christ altogether as to their sense and sadly lamenting after him would we not be sorry to see them battered and bruised with the temptations of Satan in this sleepy condition are they not in danger shall we see them lie as a prey just ready for the Devils mouth and not endeavour to stir them up to remove that drowfie frame from them the Lord help us brethren such as are more wakeful among us for I believe some there are that the Lord hath magnified his grace towards exceedingly in this respect O how can you improve your mercy better then thus by stirring up others that they may enjoy the same sweetness in Communion and close fellowship with the Lord as your selves do But thus much for this Use also Vse 7. Then Let us be tender in judging one anothers Condition judge not a mans state by the present frame that is upon him Come into a Garden in Winter and there is no appearance of any flowers the roots are within the ground shall we conclude therefore there are none no so in this case
that watcheth with us to keep us awake lest if he withdraw we fall asleep when of all other times we had most need to be awake Fifthly Then what have some of the people of God to bless him for and to rejoyce in the Lord for that he hath kept them awake specially in the time of need it is double and treble mercy You heard before it is matter of great praises to be kept awake ordinarily But in an hour of temptation to be kept awake watching and praying so that when others have entred into temptation thou hast been delivered O what mercy is this and whence is it that the Lord doth so highly favour thee more then others of his people So when he hath in his Ordinances sometimes been as I may say transfigured before us and when others have been asleep have seen nothing of it at all or very little thou hast been kept awake all the while O that we could tell how to set a price upon such a mercy as this how sad a loss would it have been if thou hadst slept away such a season as others have done that haply thou mightest never have seen again what had the Disciples lost if Jesus Christ had suffered them to sleep all the while of his transfiguration somewhat they saw of it and by that they saw they might gather the better what they had lost it may be thou hast lost something in such a time by sleeping a while but hath he awaked thee to see the rest Oh that God would help to prize our mercies to bless and magnifie him for it Sixthly in the last place then if we find our selves growing secure and slumbring and sleeping suspect there is an hour of great need to watch to be awake at hand Either the day of our appearing before the Lord Jesus which is a time of greatest need and if Satan can but get us asleep against that day he knoweth in likelihood we may set in a cloud which will be dishonour to Christ discomfort to his poor people or else some hour of temptation is coming and his design is now to lull us asleep that he may the more deeply wound us take his aim better where to hit us and if he might have his will to smite us once for all O suspect if Dalilah spread her lap for us If the delights of the world do open their bosom for us to lye in and begin to sing sweetly in our ears and charm us O take heed rouse up your selves with Sampson before hand as he did it afterward still until he was taken indeed the Lord being departed from him a sad end of his sleeping But suspect there is some design in hand upon us the aym is to get away God and Christ from us our peace our holy frame from us to bring the Philistims upon us Or else that there is some glorious manifestation of God towards us in his Ordinances he is about to cause his glory to pass by and the envious man and our wretched hearts would sain rob us of it therefore suspect our selves if we finde we are growing thus sleepy that there is some time of need neer at hand for our waking for we are exceeding apt to sleep when we have most need to wake But so much for this Doctrine Verse 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 IN this Verse we have Christ his preparatory to his coming In the next verse Its influence upon those unprepared virgins towards a preparation of themselves for his coming and their own meeting of him In this preparation you have 1. A cry which is laid down first in general or first it is declared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that there was a cry 2. 〈◊〉 what this cry was Behold the Bridegroom cometh c. And then the season of it in the second place it was at midnight A Cry was made at his first coming there was a forerunner and that was John the Baptist and he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness an earnest zealous loud speaking prepare ye the way of the Lord. And now at his last coming there is a like preparation of his way there was a Cry made Calvin thinketh the Cry here is put metaphorically for the suddeness of his coming or that it may be understood so because when any great thing cometh upon a people suddenly they make a stir a tumult it discomposeth them Or as Children or Scholars that are all out of their places and at their sport their Father or Master cometh upon them suddenly O what a stir there is an out-cry the Master is coming the Father is coming Or when an Enemy surprizeth a place cometh suddenly beateth up their Quarters there is a Cry O horse horse arm arm they are here upon us But I know not what Reason thus to understand it of the suddenness of his coming the Effect being put for the Cause because before the suddenness of his coming is set forth in the season plainly as hereafter shall appear he came at midnight I rather therefore take this for a Cry by some messenger of God as a fore-runner of his Sons appearing or coming to his people either to take them to the marriage or shut them out of the marriage for ever The Doctrine briefly will be this The fore-runner of the coming of Christ is a Cry At midnight a Cry was made It is likely that this is spoken by way of accommadation to the Prothesis of the similitude as the manner of Marriages then when the Bridegroom was coming likely there was some messenger going before to prepare them that were with the Bride to meet him that there might be no confusion when he came so here in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the similitude the professors of Christ and the world they are unready for the most part and in a sleep And therefore this fore-runner goeth before the coming of the Bride-groom to give them warning that they prepare c. That this is so the Text it self is so express I think it not very needful to prove it further by Scripture but shew you that it is his course in all his comings to send some messenger before him to prepare his way to make way for his coming his coming to particular Judgments as with the old world he sent his harbinger Noah a Preacher of righteousness and every blow of the workmen upon the Ark was a Cry and might have been as a dreadful sound in the ears of the world he being the warning the Ark must be so long an hundred and twenty years in building the report of it then might go over all the world in that time for ought I know Was not Lot sent to Sodom before their ruin Jonah to Niniveh crying yet fourty days and it shall be overthrown But I will not stand upon this you see it is suitable to his former proceedings in coming to judge any people or deliver his own
among them and destroy the rest which will be the effect of this coming of his Only here let us note something concerning this coming of Christ in a word or two for I will not dwell upon these things having dispatched the main things in the Parable already for the most part and 2. Something touching this Cry what it is and 3. Something concerning them both relatively considered one respecting the other 1. For the coming of Christ which is the substance of the Cry as you heard before either it is his coming at last to judge the world to gather the Saints together and carry them into the Marriage as one spouse topresent them to his father the purchase of his dearest blood which we must surely understand here to be principally meant And 2. The coming of Christ to a particular soul or people to gather them either to the spirits of just men made perfect the assembly of the first-born the general assembly or else to separate them from the congregation of the righteous here indeed they live mixed as in the first Psalm but then the sinners shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous but then the wheat goeth one way and the Chaff another the Gorn one way the Tares another the good fish in the Net one way and the weeds and trash drawn in the Net another way Before the foolish Virgins might be counted wise it may by many as well as the wise yea happily the only wise and the wise Virgins the foolish but now he cometh to make a difference and lay it open to the view of all which are which 2. For the Cry It is to be noted that the force of the word imports a strong voice such a voice happily as would Stentora vincere there is a still voice and a loud voice a Cry is when the voice is lifted up when the throat is extended as I may say when persons are hard of hearing Isa 58. 1. Cry with the throat Or it is to be extended to a great distance there is a Cry made So then this is no ordinary voice or warning but a loud Cry a shrill sound that is to be the fore-runner of Christ his coming But then What this Cry is that is here spoken of will be the subject of a further enquiry Why surely brethren we must understand it according or suitable to our exposition of the coming in this place If we take his coming here to be his general coming to judge the world then the Cry may be one of these two and both of them are fore-runners though the one is more immediate then the other 1. Then The preaching of the Gospel to all the world their sound is gone forth into all the world The Gospel of the Kingdom must first be preached to all the World and then shall the end be it must be for a witness to all Nations this is a sound a Cry and the substance of the Cry is behold he cometh go forth to meet him he that is the Bridegroom that hath purchased with his precious blood a peculiar people to himself to be his spouse even as many as shall believe in his name Therefore go forth to meet him make ready for his appearing when he shall come to fetch his Bride see to it that you be found in the number this Cry is to go forth into all the world But this is further off But 2. The voice of the Archangel for the Lord himself shall deseend from heaven with a shout with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shout Beza saith it is taken from Seamen or the like who when they are pulling an Anchor or Cable with one voice cry together and pull together as I may say a Hertamen stirring up one another to pull so this will be a shout happily of all or many of the company which come with Jesus Christ crying out O he is coming make ready for him or what ever it be some shout there will be or like the shout of men ready to set upon and destroy their enemies The Archangel is chief there being orders it should seem among them he doth as I may say cry before the rest and instead of the rest and Calvin maketh this exposition The Trumpet also whatever it be sounds to sound forth the majesty of the appearing of Jesus Christ i◠is the loudest sound that is made with instruments I think and used much in Israel in the gathering together their holy and civil and martial-Assemblies and for preparation to warn Well this will be a Cry that all the world will ring of the very dead in their graves shall hear it they that are in the grave c. Not while they are dead nor be quickned by any vertue of a Creature as this Cry is but the power of Christ then going forth and raising them up they may be said to hear it or at least they are raised at that time The trumpet Calvin mentioneth unto the Corinthians to be nothing else but metaphorical the voice of the Angel the loud Cry which shall be by the Angel formed As a General by Trumpet cals together his Army so God will cite all the world to his Tribunal or as at Mount Sinai to the giving the Law one people were called together with a loud noise or trumpets so much more when all the world shall be called together the Majesty and terror of the appearing of Christ If we take it here brethren of his particular coming to particular souls to gather them to himself in part before that day which I know not that it can be excluded from being a part of his meaning then the voice the cry is otherwise to be understood 1. Then It may be meant of the warning words which the Lord giveth his people by the Ministry of the Gospel every where in his Churches specially indeed brethren this hath been the voyce of all the Messengers of Christ ever since his first coming that he will come and come quickly his last and general coming will be quickly but his coming to us particularly will be quickly Now the importunity of them that call upon us to repent to prepare for the coming of Christ to our souls by death when we are like to receive our doom for our everlasting state this may be meant cry aloud spare not lift up thy voyce Or else 2. Happily some Afflictions God opens the mouth of some rod some heavy visitation the rod cryeth as it is in that place of Micah whether it be the affliction the sickness or stroke whereby the Lord takes men away this cryeth to men repent O prepare to meet the Lord Jesus he is coming he is now even at the door therefore go forth now to meet him as Hilarian chid his soul out egredere O anima egredere
get this oyl in their vessels they slept away their opportunity the Gospel must be preached for a witness to all Nations and now they can have no cloak for their sin for their unreadiness for his appearing the â—ord will manage his affairs so as that every mouth may be stoped and confess before him That none of his own may be â—left therefore he sendeth a Cry before him for none that are unfit for entrance with him into the Marriage shall enter into it no soul shall go to heaven in a sleep they are not fit for it as you heard before nor when he cometh will he wait upon any now is the time of waiting to be gracious to poor souls then is the time of recompence either love or displeasure â—e will not tarry then and therefore it is said here in the Text those that were ready went with him in to the supper of the Lamb into the marriage those that had their Lamps trimmed and the door was shut if the Saints themselves should not be found ready in some measure he would not then stay love is impatient of delay then now he would not lose any and therefore he is long-suffering and patient long before he cometh for that very end because he would have none of his perish so also for the same reason doth he thus warn them by a Voyce a Cry to rouze them awake them lest if they should be found unready they might miss of entring with him For the Application Then brethren let us take notice of the goodness and tenderness of the Lord to his own people in awakening them though it may be it may disease them a little at first to have such a cry in their ears as not to suffer them to sleep when they would nestle themselves upon their pillow he is loath to leave them behind he will not lose any of them and therefore he rouzeth them If Jesus Christ had left his Church in Cant. 5. Or his Disciples sleeping and gone his ways their condition had been sad If death had come upon poor David while under that guilt in the matter of Vriah and in so deep a sleep how sad had his condition been and so for Jonas if the belly of hell had been his grave the belly of the Whale and he had not been awaked out of that sleep what had become of him he had miscarryed for ever or at least he had suffered great loss and therefore it is much tenderness in the Lord to his poor people that he will not let them sleep but he rouzeth them up 2. How easie should this make and how should it sweeten the severest of Gods dealings with us to awake us Suppose we have a dreadful sound in our ears when nothing else will do it the terrors of God displayed and set in battle array against our souls God writeth bitter things against us and all little enough to awaken us we are so secure it may be It must be the lowder voyce of the rod that must do it if other means will not and this seemeth not joyons but grievous at present but it brings forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness O! the end will be sweet when the soul thereby shall be awaked and kept awake and ready for the appearing of the Lord Jesus I know the people of God would not for a world that day should come upon them and finde them in such a frame so heavy so listless so untoward as they are sometimes and know not how to shake it off I but give the Lord leave to shake it off bear then the Cry though it be loud sometimes and seem offensive if this be the end to awaken thee O why shouldst not thou bear it thankfully and chearfully 3. If there be a Cry going before his coming Then brethren see whether or no you have not had this Cry in part sounding in your cars and what use you have made of it hath it awaked you or not The Gospel it is here the voyce of the watchmen that continually stir you up and tell you the day of Christ is coming is at hand If not the general yet your particular day the day of his coming to our souls particularly cannot be far off this is the daily cry in our ears and O that we could cry lowder and lift up our voyce with more affection to your souls but as such poor worms are able we cry to you we are messengers sent before his face the Cry is behold he cometh go forth to meet him Now brethren where are you Are you upon your beds still How many have been awaked by this awakening word the terrors of the Lord against them that sleep Have you done any thing to your further sitting for heaven Can you with comfort go forth to meet Jesus Christ open to him when he knocks Surely you have not made use of this Cry that hath been made Ah how many are sleeping as deeply as ever and do not yet dream of his coming though they know not but that he is at the door and this night their souls shall be taken from them 4. Then how should this stir us up every one to attend to the cry that is made and obey it now you have the cry made in the word this is our preaching to awaken you Look not upon Sermons only as the affectionate discourse of a poor creature that wisheth well to your souls but look upon it as the warning word of Jesus Christ as the Cry that goeth before his presence afterwards himself wâ—ll come and that speedily and how soon you know not and as he findeth you then so it will go with you O that the Lord would speak by his Spirit and rattle you up a little poor sleepy souls both wise and foolish virgins not that I desire the grief of yours or mine own soul for if I make you sorry who is it that must make me glad but you that are made sorry by me as the Apostle saith Yet dear friends as I hope I could be contented rather to be shaken out of a sleep my self then be found sleeping at the coming of Christ so had I rather it should be with you how shall I bespeak your poor souls this day I would fain prevail with one poor soul to shake off this drowsiness and sloath and sleepiness that is upon us O arise arise for your souls sake for your peace sake as you tender your comfort now you hear the Cry going before him think with your selves sometimes Can you look Jesus Christ in the face with such a frame of heart as you have every day O arise arise will such sleepy souls be fit to sing Allelujahs to eternity to God O arise arise Deborah to sing praises to the Lord awake then that sleepest you cannot else be fit for heaven this the first Consider secondly If this Cry will not awaken you you shall have a more dreadful sound in your
ears haply ere long some sad blow or affliction as there in Job Elihu saith God speaks once yea twice but man regardeth it not often but to no purpose what then Why then he chasteneth him with pain and the multitude of his bones with strong pain and openeth his ear and seals instruction to 〈…〉 â—oring of his ear costs him something Why will you put the Lord to it to speak lowder and more terribly to you for if you belong to him awaked you must be or if you do not awaked you shall be some way or other and if this will not do it 3. Death shall do it and O how sad will it be for a man to go on securely and not to behold his unfitness for the appearing of Christ until just he be upon him but if that will not do it Sure I am the everlasting burnings will awake you sinners if you never wake until then O the Lord forbid you should have hearts so desperately hardened from his fear as never to awake until there be no remedy no providing for your eternal state O therefore arise arise as those Virgins did here in the Text yea though they were but formal professors yet they arose their Consciences were awaked and somewhat they did though they fell short what will become of you then that never rise but will sleep let the Lord Cry and though the trumpet sound lowder and lowder you look at the terrors of God as the horse that rusheth into the battail looketh at fear that which is a fear to others Ah dear friends it is no mocking at these things your precious souls lye at the stake therefore as you love them beg of God a heart to tremble at this his Cry which is going out before him how did all the Congregation tremble when the Lord sounded upon Mount-Sinai at the giving of the Law do but think how terrible the coming of Jesus Christ will be to avenge himself upon sinners that violated this Law and are not found in him O this will surely awaken you when you shall have little list to sleep or rest any more for ever But the Lord give you rather to hear this Cry to have it sounding in your ears continually that you may recover strength before you go hence and be no more seen that with the wise Virgins having your Lamps trimmed you may go in with the Bridegroom into the Marriage FOR THE SEASON of this coming of Christ its preparation to it It is at Midnight a time later then they thought of and sooner then they expected it is spoken by way of accommodation to the Parable as the other was before they fell asleep the Virgins did and in the deepest of their sleep the Bridegroom cometh they are raised up to meet him Note from hence That Jesus Christ his coming to many poor souls will be at Midnight Or his coming ordinarily is at Midnight What this coming is you have heard before All the difficulty here is to understand what is meant by Midnight Some have taken it properly for the Midnight that part of the natural day when the Sun is farthest off us and when it is darkest in the night and Jerom is said to report it for an A. â—radition that Christ should come at Midnight and because it is first in the order of nature to know the day before the hour therefore the day was pitched upon and that was the even of the Passover when it is said that the Primitive Churches did watch constantly yearly that night expecting it whereby it should seem they knew not the year but every year stood upon the watch at the same time but methinks the year is first in order to be known before the day and the day before the hour but surely this was vain and a mistake of theirs for our Saviour saith that of that day and hour knoweth no man Therefore we shall understand it here by way of Accommodation to the Parable and first then at Midnight siguratively may import in the first place an unknown time it was not revealed before hand at what time he would come our Saviour saith If the good man had known when the thief would have come he would have kept his house from being broken of that day and hour knoweth no man saith our Saviour speaking of his coming in general it is a secret thing belonging to God he keepeth it in his own power as he saith there in the first of the Acts. And for the particular day of his coming to us it is not known to men for the most part indeed Hezekiah his case was extraordinary to have his limits set him so long before to know the number of his days so long before hand else ordinarily the people of God know not the time or very little before they depart or be called for As these Virgins here when they were asleep alas they knew not what time it was that the Alarm came the Midnight is usually the most unknown time or at least a time wherein the coming of Christ is most unknown for to that indeed the ignorance is rather to be referred though persons asleep at midnight know not the time of the night nor any evil which is ready to surprize them at that time 2. The midst of a mans life is such a time as the coming of Christ is not looked for Now this is more then the former for though they had not known the time yet they might have waited and expected every hour when he would have come but they because it was uncertain looked not for it in a day he looked not for him Luke 12. 46. It is likely they had looked for it but their waiting was wearyed they went forth to meet him at first with their oyl and Lamps the wise Virgins until they thought it long for it is in respect of their opinions that he is said to delay his coming as you have heard Well now their watchful eys were sealed up with sleep so that he came later then their expectations and he came sooner then their expectations also for they were surprized by the Cry before they were aware just as a servant that hath in the beginning of the night expected his Masters coming home and a good while waited for it now he giveth over looking for him so his Master cometh after his waiting and yet before it too for when he is at his rest and before he awakes again to return to his waiting for his Master he cometh upon him this is the very case a child of God it may be at the beginning when the impressions of God upon the heart are strong and fresh he expecteth the day of Christ his coming hath it much in his eye but after awhile when he seeth he cometh not he letteth down the watch and groweth more remiss by far and when he is in the depth of that sleep before he renew his watching likely the Lord
Jesus cometh upon him 3. A little more particularly which is but the beating out of the former he cometh at the midnight of mens lives that is to say at such a time of their lives as they neither hoped for it nor feared it for the expectation of the coming of Jesus Christ doth diversly affect men according to the different conditions of their souls if they be such as are ready for it for his appearing habitually ready and actually ready that is to say such as have his grace in their hearts oyl in their vessels and that grace doth not lye sleeping there but it is in act and lively and the affection flaming towards heaven and the eye upon the recompence of reward such a man he will act his hope for that day look for it with hope and with desire because he expecteth then a Crown of glory a fulness of joy unspeakable everlasting bosom-communion with Jesus Christ knowing also that while he is present in the body he is absent from the Lord his looking for the appearing of the Lord is I say with hope and desire because it is the day of his raigning the accomplishment of it when the God of peace shall bruise Satan perfectly under his feet with whose temptations it may be he is even wearyed out and therefore as a labouring man longs for the shadow of the evening so doth he desire it Now a child of God he may have the root of this grace of hope for the coming of Jesus Christ but while he is asleep his hope is not in act when it should be he doth not stretch forth the neck as one earnestly expecting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he doth not lift up his head because his redemption draweth near and his salvation is nearer now then it was when he believed alas his hope is asleep with him A woman espoused expecting her Husband to come and Marry her desires the day but in the mean time falls asleep then her desires and hopes cease looks not for him all that while and in that time he cometh On the other hand they fear it not neither for they are asleep and so their expectation ceaseth as prisoners they fear the coming of the Judge they have a dreadful sound in their ears and fear exceedingly when the Judge will come to deliver them up to the tormentors to the execution Sentence being past upon them but if they fall asleep now their fear ceaseth if their sleep be fast so a man that dwells in a place of danger for robbers he may expect them and fear and yet if after a while of waking they come not he falls asleep he fears them not then as he would do if he were awake in an hour he thinketh not of it Luke 12. So wicked men and hypocrites formal professors if they be conscious to their conditions at any time as when an hypocrite hath his Conscience inlightned at first why then surely there cannot but be a fearful expectation of the coming of Jesus Christ to judge them but when once they fall asleep those impressions they had wear off by degrees then they fear not though they have as much cause as ever they had so then the Midnight is a time not expected The Arguments whereby this may be confirmed First It is for his own glory to come in such a time unknown The glory of God is to conceal a thing but the honour of Kings is to search out a matter here is an opposition of persons and actions the persons opposed are Kings and the God of Heaven the King of Kings the honour of Kings is to search out a matter they are men of poor shallow apprehensions and little knowledge and therefore they had need to search to finde out a matter but now the Lord he is an infinite unsearchable wise God and he knoweth all things and it is for his honour to keep some things secret that he may be admired reverenced adored his unsearchableness acknowledged No further then he pleased were the mysteries of himself and his so◠revealed to the ages before nor now at this day much he hath reserved for another time and place and that is the time of his coming his own secret which belongs to him he hath kept in his own power and it is for his honour so to do And this is the first 2. Therefore he will come so suddainly and unexpectedly as I may say at Midnight that many yea the most of men that men might learn to watch to be alway ready this is abundantly proved by the many exhortations of our Saviour to his Disciples to watch inforced by this very Argument therefore also be ye ready for in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh even as a thief in the night In the foregoing Verse Behold I come as a thief saith he blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he be found naked and they see his shame Whether this be understood of his last coming or no if any coming of Christ being suddain unexpected uncertain it should teach us to watch and is not this the Use which our Saviour maketh of it in the thirteenth verse of this Chapter And so in that Epistle to the Church of Sardis If therefore thou shalt not watch I will come on thee as a thief The reason why he tells us he will come like a thief suddainly in the time least suspected is to deter men from sleeping and security for if they lye to sleep it will be such a suddain surprisal but if they watch and be ready it will not be so unexpected and this is a reason I say wherefore the Lord keepeth it secret and uncertain when he will come that men might watch As Caesar it is said of him that he would never let his souldiers know the time of his removal or the time of his Onset scil Vt paratum intentum momentis omnibus quo vellet state educeret So the Lord Jesus who is the Captain of our salvation he letteth not us know when it will be that we might expect it alway If men should know that Jesus Christ would come to call for them but sixteen years hence or six years alas how bold would they make with him ordinarily and spend five of the six in vanity if not more and truly such is the corruption of our hearts also that that very thing which our Saviour who well knew the constitutions of men and what might be the most likely Argument for watchfulness lays down this of the uncertainty of it unexpectedness of it if men sleep surprizing them yet we will make bold and venture at all in so much that he seldom cometh to a soul and findeth him watching 3. To make his coming like an evil snare to sinners to hypocrites So it is in that place of Luke take heed your hearts be not over-charged with cares of this world
such persons of all others 4. It will be a word of Terror then to all hypocrites and formalists and all sinners in that this day of the Lord will surprize you and come upon you at unawares What maketh death so terrible to poor sinners when they come to it but the judgement which followeth it so that let a sinner have warning of it and it is terrible but when it cometh upon a sudden and unexpected this exceedingly addeth to the terror of it it amazeth astonisheth O what a terror must it needs be to the old world that when their hopes were in the spring in their verdure then all on a sudden the world was on a flood the fountains of the deep and the clouds above conspired to swallow them up And will it not be think you as great an astonishment when the world at the end shall look for nothing less and before they are aware the world shall be on a flame about their ears O then the sinners in Sion will be afraid and fearfulness will surprize the hypocrite put as good a face upon it now as you can How terrible is a sudden storm upon the poor Mariners which they never lookt for they are all inveloped in darkness the clouds and seas seem to come together How terrible was the coming of Gideon upon the Midianiâ—es on a sudden at midnight when all asleep likely to see and hear so many Trumpets blowing so many pitchers clattering so many Lamps burning such a cry the sword of the Lord and of Gideon all on a sudden O how terrible it was it put them besides themselves they knew not what to do they thrust their swords in one anothers bowels O that we had but hearts to believe how terrible a day it will be to us if it overtake us as a snare Yea surely it will have somewhat of amazement terror in it to the people of God themselves that shal be found sleeping with whom it shall be midnight in respect of security And though they may avoid the ruine and destruction of the day they shall have a share in the distraction and terror of it but poor sinners poor hypocrites poor formalists shall have the amazing terror and never come to themselves never recover themselves but perish for ever by it 5. Then knowing the terror of the Lord we perswade men to this watching which is the main thing intended in the Parable And concerning which you have heard somewhat already having spoken so largely to the Privation or defect of this watching in the slumbering and sleeping of the Virgins Nor do I intend to insist largely upon this watching here only here I suppose it most naturally falls into this main part of the Parable Watching here is as much as diligent taking heed to our selves that that day come not upon us at unawares As a man that watcheth against an enemy is surprized he takes diligent heed so our Saviour take heed to your selves that that day come not upon you as a snare so take heed to your selves and the flock over which the Lord hath made you overseers c. Watch therefore saith he for after my departure grievous wolves will enter As a party of soldiers when they would take diligent heed to themselves lest they be surprized by their enemy they watch they express it that way so here then The Exhortation is brethren to us all To take diligent heed to our selves lest we be surprized by the coming of Jesus Christ for we know not when he will come there is no determined time and if we take not diligent heed it will come upon us unawares You have had some of the Motives to press this duty heretofore or the Caution against sleeping I pray you remember how you cannot be too often put in mind of them surely our Saviour cometh over with it so often again and again you have heard the danger you are in while you sleep But we will rather take up a Consideration or two from hence First the difficulty of the duty so continually to take so diligent heed If the good man had known what hour the thief would have come he might more easily have watched to have prevented him it is much more easie to hold out such a watch for a while then constantly now every hour being in danger because we know not what hour he will come this is more difficult which should not discourage us but whet us on to double diligence Jam per periculum animâ— Alexandri It is an easie thing to be a Christian as many are lazy droans listless sleepy Professors that alas alas would scarce ever be found upon their watch when ever he should come But it is a matter of great difficulty and will work all your faculties to the utmost to watch for his appearing 2. The dreadfulness of the thing if you be surprized would you have Jesus Christ find you with your ornaments laid aside find you naked how will you hold up your heads and look him in the face either you will perish with the foolish Virgins and I doubt that will prove the portion of many of our souls or else you will be saved but you must run through fear through some shame confusion distraction when you are taken unawares Besides you are not of the night but of the day saith the Apostle that that day should not take you at unawares 1 Thes 5. 5. And otherwise we give not God the end of his dispensations which is that we might watch What then should we do surely brethren There are two things specially for us to do according to the scope of this Parable which our Saviour thus applyeth because the foolish Virgins and the wise both by their sleeping suffered such loss the one lost all their precious souls all the world not being able to recover them the other lost their comfort and sweet peace and quiet and had much coniusion in their latter end the soul being in a hurry to make ready when it should go forth to meet the Lord Jesus should have nothing else to do but to dye Therefore this watching being opposed to both their sleeping I conceive there are two things specially in it First That you be sure to have your oyl in your vessels ready that we have grace in our hearts Take heed to your selves diligently then in the name of Jesus Christ that you give not sleep to your eys nor slumber to your eye-lids give not the Lord nor your souls rest until you have this Communication of Christ to your poor souls how many poor hearts that hear this word have not a dram of grace though you have long had a name to be Christians yet that hath been all Brethren What do you mean can you dye comfortably hopefully except you have grace in your hearts this oyl this Spirit of grace dwelling in you will any thing else enable you to lift up your faces before him but his
must needs perish God will not be merciful to them Isa 27. He hath a controversie because there is no knowledge of God in the Land Hos 4. and where no vision is the people perish they perish for want of knowledge which cometh by vision and yet it is not knowledge alone will stand them instead the Devils are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that for their knowledge and yet are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for their malice thou mayst have enough then to light thy Lamp and yet have no Oyl in thy vessel remember this Secondly A Hypocrite may have not only knowledge but his affections may be stirred also he may be warmed in the Lamp before it be extinguished there was heat as well as light Some have light without heat such are meer notions others have heat without knowledge and this is not good so far but the Hypocrite he may have light and he may have heat and affection also and yet be a foolish Virgin when all is done Let me speak a little to some affections among many others which they may have As 1. They may have sorrow for sin being convinced of it and what it exposeth them unto How doth Darius when he had signed the Decree against Daniel and his kingdom lay at stake his people would rebel if he executed not the Decree he laboured to deliver him he was sorry for what he had done and he could not rest nor sleep that night and early in the morning cometh with a lamentable tone to him O Daniel servant of the living God art thou yet alive There may be a spirit of bondage to fear or witnessing to a man that he is in a condemned state which is not succeeded with a Spirit of Adoption Sinners you may have your Consciences so galled sometimes with the Law that you cannot rest but cry out of sin O sin sin what a bitter thing is sin yea so far may this sorrow prevail that it may make you vomit up your sweet morsel make you make restitution with Judas God may so fire the Coal you cannot hold it in your bosom any longer the fire of Gods wrath upon Judas even melted his pieces they were too hot for him to hold and yet but a Judas still And I tell you brethren this is much a strong effect of those troubles 2. There may be some desires and seemingly earnest desires after things really good and which bring to salvation as those there in that place of John were they not much affected when they cried out Lord evermore give us of this bread As very a wretch as Balaam was yet he had his wishings and wouldings O that I might die the death of the righteous c. O how beautiful are his Tabernacles c. he seemeth to be taken with them or desires to enjoy that communion and fellowship with them in their Ordinances how beautiful are they And the young man in the Gospel had he not good desires and is it not said our Saviour loved him for that good that was in him though not with that special love of pitty to save him that we read of his desires carried him out far and yet never reach heaven I doubt not brethren but many of us this day have sometimes some good desires and you would have it go well with your souls you may cry out sometimes with the multitude O Lord evermore give us this bread you would be loath to part with the Ordinance of Christ it is good but all this may be in you and yet you may be hypocrites foolish Virgins O that you could lay it to heart 3. There may be also some hope we read often in Job of the hope of the Hypocrite he hath certainly an hope for heaven else he would never be at so much pains as many a Hypocrite is at as you shall hear afterward would the foolish Virgins think you have done so much as they did if they had not had a hope when hope expireth all endeavour giveth up the ghost with it 4. There may be also a joy and delight in holy things as those that kindled a fire of their own in that place of Isaiah saith the Text They walk in the sparks of their own fire that is to say they delight themselves in it And surely brethren the Galathians when they would have pluckt out their eyes for the Apostle they had no ordinary rapture upon them and yet alas how did they apostatize some of them And is is not sad to see in our days many that the Ministers of Jesus Christ whom he hath made instruments of God to their souls they have been as dear to them as their eyes and what is it come to with many of them are they not come to cast off all what shall we think brethren of such in such cases According to the hope so is the joy if the hope be sound so is the joy if the hope be false so is the joy which springs from it the Lord hinders it not haply doth not damp and overcast the soul and O how Satan endeavours to water such a plant as that is for what more available to lay a soul asleep then this he hath joy in holy things this is an high attainment indeed they take delight in approaching to God And we read in Heb. 6. that such as fall away may have a taste of the joy of the world to come such a temporary faith the light of it doth convince and shew us things worth the rejoycing in and then a false hope of a title to them when it is no such matter it will raise the spirit to rejoyce Well this is no ordinary pitch of affections and yet but a Hypocrite the stony ground received the word with joy and they rejoyced in John Baptists light for a season Thou art unto them as one that hath a pleasant voice c. 5. There may not onely be those affections and others but the fervor of them a mans affections may seem to be boyled up to a great height Zeal for God seemeth to be much this is Jehu his case how hot and zealous was he for God and so Judas seemed very zealous of good works when he would have had the box of oyntment spilled Ananias and Saphira seemed to have more heat of love then others to sell their possessions to be with the forwardest and yet you see what became of them and so may we brethren Not but that zeal is exceedingly to be commended and lukewarmness is the most loathsom temper to the Lord he will spue such a man out of his mouth yet there may be this fire which is not of Gods kindling The false Apostles did zealously affect those Christians to whom the Apostle writeth they seemed to be men of more then ordinary love and warm affections to their souls but yet they were but false Apostles they did it enviously to work the Apostle
but yet it shineth more and more the Sun runneth his race though now and then a cloud intercepts his comfortable beams from the earth And that of the Psalmist his leaf shall never wither the leaf is the profession he shall not wither but be green An hypocrite indeed like a Bull-rush will wither as we shall see by and by when the mire and the water fails but a child of God withers not There are two Conditions which usually wither mens profession but the child of God stands it out in both 1. In a prosperous state that useth to choak the word they that will call upon God in the day of distress in their afflictions wil seek him earnestly yet when his hand is taken away they no more remember the Lord their Saviour but a child of God now in his prosperous condition he loseth not his profession altogether though the Lamp may be damped yet not extinguisht And 2. For adversity that indeed is a trying time all this is come upon us yet have we not dealt falsly in the Covenant will the hypocrite alway call upon God he will not call upon God alway nor wait for him Yea the time of affliction usually is an advantage to the people of God if ever their Lamp burn brighter then another it is in the dark and cold night of persecution and affliction a Torch the more knockt against any thing the more it burns Secondly Because they have within them a Spring of oyl that feeds the Lamp therefore it goeth not out It is set forth in another metaphor in that place of John out of his belly shall flow Rivers of water springing up to eternal life Now where there is this within the flame will live while there is oyl to maintain it It is like fire in a mans bosom he cannot carry it so surely but it will discover it self as fire in the bones as the Prophet speaks of the word of God And 3. Because that cruse of oyl is continually supplyed by the Spirit and from the fulness of Christ therefore it never fails If the oyl in the vessel could fail then the Light in the Lamp might fail but it faâ—ls not and why not because it is not perishable in its own nature being but a creature but because it is kept by the power of God we are kept by the power of God to salvation alas if it were in our keeping we should quickly with the Prodigal run our selves out of all as we do in a moment lose the most precious frames the Lord is pleased to put upon us but it is kept by that power none is able to pluck them out of this hand of the Father the Son Sin is strong indeed strong lusts and Satan is strong a Lyon a Dragon a Prince of the power of darkness and Armies of lusts he hath warring in our members a great strength and all these pluck at us but they cannot pull us out of this hand of Christ And thence it is that their Lamps are not put out in obscure darkness O how fain would Satan blow out the Candle that we might walk in the darkness not knowing whither we go but it is held in the hand of Christ and it is above the reach of his poysonous breath to do it A damp of lusts from our own hearts if any thing would do it this would and it maketh them burn very dimly and blew many times but yet cannot overcome the Lamp may want trimming but it is not out For the Application then of this Doctrine If it be so that Believers are subject to such declinings yea when they should be at the best in their latter end when they should bring forth fruit in old age that then they may be ready to wither or in a great part the leaves their profession may change colour and lose its greenness What should this teach us all in the first place but to take heed of placing our confidence in any thing which may fail us If any thing on this side the Lord Jesus himself might be trusted in it might be grace for there is not any other so near approach to God without which Angels were but Devils the very perfection of Saints and Angels And yet because it hath its imperfections therefore it is not to be trusted to Nothing indeed is more spiritual then grace the choisest communications of the eternal spirit to the Creature but yet considered in comparison with the God of grace it is but flesh if it be rested upon the strongest mountain that a man would think should never be shaken yet sin and Satan if the Lord permit can get under it and blow it up Yea if our grace were perfect yet we might not rest in it because yet it hath its comparative imperfections it self being but a derivative and dependent Being upon the God of grace at the best it is but a stream a beam though nearer the Sun and nearer the Fountain and but the water of a Cistern and if whole before yet this resting upon it would make it a broken Cistern Well then bretbren if our profession flourish never so if it be spring time with you trust not in it for there may come a fall after this spring there may come a time of scorching heat may make you wither in a great part at least Though your Lamp burn and shine never so gloriously and the light be great which ariseth from these sparks of Gods kindling you see it may come to want trimming to burn more dimly therefore trust not in it 2. It should teach us then to live by faith in respect hereof Alas brethren we are withering every moment if we have not waterings every moment what would become of us now whence must this come but from the fountain of Israel the eternal spring and fulness which is in Jesus Christ Of his fulness we receive saith the Evangelist What made the difference between the rest of the Disciples their profession of him and Peters all their Lamps were damped in that hour and power of darkness it was so great and gross but his was almost gone and giving up And for those acts the flame was even out but that the Lord blew it in again by the breathing of his spirit O Labour to live by faith in Jesus Christ for preventing grace then that we may not be removed from our stedfastness The Apostle had a strong perswasion that neither life nor death the intisements of the one nor the terrors of the other should separate him from the Love of God in Jesus Christ O it was that love he hung upon You see that grace it self which is the oyl in the vessel which seeds the Lamp is loseable and therefore much more the external fruits and effects of it Now if the power of God do not keep us we are gone therefore we must hence learn to live by the faith of the son of
Christians are become meer Atheists how many have suffered a great abatement in their zeal and vigour and life and closeness of walking with God by this means O therefore take heed of falshood at the beginning 3. Take we heed of learning their ways by conversing with dead-hearted Professors where there is not that life and power that light and heat but a cold luke-warm frame for such as our Company is such shall we be in a great measure why must men make no friendship with an angry man lest he learn his ways And truly brethren a formal Professor a loose Professor that hath little of the power of Godliness upon him he is a quench-coal and by degrees you shall find your selves growing to a more listless indifferency then before therefore though you may pity them pray for them stir them up and provoke them as occasion serveth yet that inward familiarity as to lie in their bosoms which will be followed with a conformity to them take heed of you shall find it will work a declining 4. Take heed of deceiving our selves with false measures and weights The Apostle tell us of some that compared themselves with themselves and were not wise or comparing themselves with some others which are haply behind them this maketh them slack So the Church of Laodicea what was the reason of their lukewarmness they lost their love the heat and burning of their Lamps were gone whatever light they had why they thought they were rich and had need of nothing they needed not that eye-salve to buy of Christ nor gold nor raiment O this is the desperate undoing sin indeed when men think now O they bless God they are rich it is for others to press forward they need not walk so painfully as others their corruptions are more subdued then others Si dixisti sufsiciat periisti See Phil. 3. I forget what is behind c. 5. Arm your selves against the smiles and discouragements of the world for though like Sampsons foxes they look with their faces contrary waies yet the effect is one and the same not to fire but to quench that light and heat that is in a believer for the smiles of the world are her embraces she doth use to smother with them and as I may say overlay a soul when Davids mountain was made strong and by Gods favour too then he began to be secure to fal asleep and his Lamp was almost gone when God hid his face from him his comfort was lost in a great measure How many Demas's are there which forsake the work of Christ for this present world yea indeed many that can endure the frowns of the world yet are overcome by her smiles Jesurun kicked not nor forgot the God of her salvation so much as when she waxed fat So in that of Nehemiah they took strong Cities and a fat land and possessed houses full of all wels digged vineyards and olive-yards and fruit-trees in abunndance so they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in the great goodness notwithstanding they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy Law behind their backs c. and slew the Prophets which testified against them O watâ—h against this take heed we do not abate our earnestness after more and more of Christ lest while we are panting like the Hart after the water brooks we take up with a drop for all the Creature-comforts in the world are no more and our thirst after spirituals be more cooled and we solace our selves under our Guord instead of the Aple-tree the sweet shadow of Christ And to this end alway keep fresh upon your hearts the love of Jesus his smiles when the Diamond is present the Load-stone cannot draw Again Arm we our selves against the frowns of the world discouragements we must expect to meet with sooner or latter specially if we do not like a hollow-hearted bulrush bow and bend and comply with every thing a notable embleme of an Hypocrite If we stand firm like an Oke or Cedar we shall feel strong gusts It may be some of us have known what they meant and some have had experience of their weakness to bear up against them O how should this humble us and make â—s double our watch Satan will raise a storm if the Lord permit him thinking on a sudden to blow out our Lamps but we must arm against it and be sure to go on though it be weeping As the Milch-kine that carried the Ark up from the Philistins to Bethlehem they had their Calves left at home which were a strong avocation and yet saith the Text they went strait forward lowing and lamenting after their Calves but yet they went forward It may be we may be put to it as that Marquess of Vioum in Italy even Galeacius that forsook house and lands and wife and children and all for Christ It may be we cannot do it without some reluctancy yet it must be done it may be we shall have many discouragements from our own hearts strong temptations violent temptations haply more then ever yet we have had so that we cannot go on but weeping and wailing yet resolve upon it by his grace however we will go on such a well-grounded resolution often renewed with a waiting upon the Spirit for his strength to perform it will carry a man on far 6. Be sure not to neglect the Ordinances of Christ nor be slight in the using of them And one of the two I doubt we are often guilty of and therefore we may thank our selves for much of the deadness that groweth upon us daily these are the golden Pipes whereby this Oyl is conveyed continually from the Lord Jesus for the keeping our Lamps alive and lively Would you not wither but continue your verdour and greenness you must keep close to the waters of the Sanctuary they shall be like Trees planted by the rivers of water his leaf shall never fail he that delights in the Law of God meditates in it day and night there is private conversation with God And they that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God yea in old age they shall flourish and bâ—ing forth more abundantly when many times it is the declining time A diligent careful serious use of all the Ordinances with an eye to faith seeing through them all but as empty pipes without his presence to fill them this exceedingly conduceth 7. Be sure your aim be as high as heaven and the perfection which shall be at the resurrection of the dead So the Apostle Nâ—t that I count that I have attained but I press hard forward and all his diligence was that he might attain the resurrection of the dead by a Metonymie of the Adjunct it is put for the perfection of that 〈…〉 aâ—e at the resurrection see how high he aimed at and therefore he did not languish nor
conform to Gods Ordinances you have some knowledge and there is the light of the Lamp though it may be but little a Glow-worm or the Moon no heat in it no affections to Jesu Christ you never felt your hearts burn within you when he conversed with you never knew what it was to be sâ—ck of love for him to delight in him and yet you are secure and think all is well with you because you hear and read and keep the external part of Sabbaths though you know not what it is to sanctifie it in your hearts you think all is well Alas brethren I pray you consider did not Judas follow Christ up and down and did more then many of us have done yet at last appeared to others and himself to be but an hypocrite though I discommend not but encourage you to do these things and to abound in him yet let me tell you and O that God would speak it to your hearts you may do it and much more and yet be but Hypocrites God looks not so much at the multitude of your sacrifices as he doth at the frame of the heart the truth in the inward parts at the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit that is to say a heart made truly sensible of its own vileness and emptiness so that it expecteth nothing for it self but lies at Christs foot for healing and mercy and mourns after him Now I pray you brethren you that are so confident of the goodness of your condition in the midst of all your Sabbaths you keep and duties you perform have you ever found such a heart yea or no O that the Lord would awaken you yea are there not some that ground their confidence upon their own security because they never doubted never suspected themselves they can bless God for it they have alway had a good heart towards God and they never had cause to suspect their hearts and affections towards him and shall they begin now Brethren let me tell you this is a truth in Jesus that a notorious Hypocrite may go on long and never question his condition yea it is rather the sign of an Hypocrite that he never did question his condition Was Judas ever the better for his backwardness to question his condition because he was the last that we read put the question Lord Is it I Surely no he was a Judas the Lord pitty you for you know not the danger you are in poor confident secure Creatures You may take your selves to be sweet Christians and yet be in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity your Lamps may burn long and yet no oyl in the vessel and at last go out and then you will cry out with the foolish Virgins alas our Lamps are gone out our profession is gone it will stand us in no stead now 2. Another word shall be an Exhortation to us all then If it be thus that an Hypocrite may thus long lie hid from himself and yet at last be discovered and that when it is too late O how should this quicken us Brethren to work out our salvation with fear and trembling O be not high-minded but-fear You see these foolish Virgins they had a glorious profession and we may in our dayes come to the like pass and when discovered be made a Magor Missabeb O fear and tremble before the Lord lest this prove our own condition how should we be much in the great duty of self-exanimation and searching whether we have misgiving hearts or no yet let us search if we have misgiving of heart that it is not right with us O how inexcusable shall we be that we were so lazy we would rather venture our immortal precious souls then take a little pains to search and secure their condition Is there any man that suspects his estate that will think much of his pains to spend day after day and time after time to search into it and if it be possible to secure it Why what account do we make of our souls brethren that we can be so wretchedly careless of them do you believe you have souls do you believe they are immortal do you believe it brethren that they shall live for ever in the enjoyment of God or else in unexpressible misery do you believe brethren that hypocrites shall have the deepest damnation And do you suspect your selves to be hypocrites and yet will not be perswaded to be at a little pains with your deceitful hearts yea much pains and often to secure the eternal welfare of your poor and yet precious souls 2. Suppose you do supect your selves to be hypocrites how do you make a shift to quiet your consciences do they not trouble you are your hearts so desperately heardned that you have no disquietness seizing upon you can you enjoy your selves I believe you must needs then sometimes have a terrible apprehension of wrath approaching why will you not search It may be you may find your condition better then you expected and so may live more comfortably and sweetly then now you can while you have such a suspition of your selves your condition may be safe but cannot be comfortable and you cannot be satisfied without this comfort in respect of your outward condition Is that so great in your eyes and this so little O for sin and shame let us set a higher value upon these things be more afraid of losing our souls then of losing the world But then see if thou be confident of thy condition either this confidence is well grounded or groundless and whether soever it be there is great need of searching still If well grounded Brethren yet we must know that the renewed searching and discovery of the soundness of our confidence and the truth of our condition is that which will renew our joy in the Lord our thankfulness to him for the impressions of these things upon our hearts they are apt to wear away with time and therefore if we would keep them fresh upon our hearts the sweetness and safety of our condition that our hearts may be more enlarged toward the Lord then we must be often perusing our evidences and the grounds of our confidence Besides alas Brethren how much doth daily intervene which is enough to darken and cloud all if we do neglect this great work of searching it may be within a while our hearts will be so over-grown with weeds that we shall not discern the root of the matter within us so much ashes that we shall scarce find the fire O therefore keep up this inward difficult differencing duty of a diligent impartial search and trial of our selves And then if we be confident upon no good ground we had most need of all to search yea and how shall we come to know the grounds whereupon we are confident to discern them clearly except we search it may be thou maist upon the search find that thy condition is dangerous thou art but a
was not long after the Israelites came in out of Egypt before the Lord denounced against them Said in his wrath they should not enter into his rest though he bore their manners indeed afterward yet they had quickly lost their hope of Canaan Believe it brethren God is now more swift and more peremptory in his determination against souls in these days of Gospel-light then heretofore O how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation saith the Apostle your judgement is nearer then when you had no profession no name If a man continue a wild Olive or prove an empty branch he will not be long endured now if men did believe this sure they would count it gross folly to trifle away the season specially being so short a season and so uncertain a season who can tell if he putoff Christ how soon his heart shall be sealed up and the everlasting doors of his soul have locks and bolts to clap upon them that they shall never lift them up to receive the King of glory and then they are undone for ever First Use then will be to reprove us all of this folly as many as are guilty how many poor graceless souls hear this Word this day you think you are the wise men who by your wits can live and by your industry increase your selves for the world but if you will believe God rather than your own deceitful hearts or Satan you are fools was he not a fool that provided so industriously for many years when he had not a day to live This night shall thy soul be taken away from thee and not one thought nor act of care for eternity nor for his precious soul though he might be sure he must live to eternity Psal 49 1â— and 13. you hope that your selves or else your houses shall continue for ever which maketh you so industrious to build inlarge and beautifie them and fill them with treasures Ah poor creatures that spin their bowels out to make a Cobweb one stroke with a Wing sweeps it quite away Psal 39 6. In vain do men trouble themselves geting goods and know not who shall enjoy them whether themselves shall enjoy them one day or whether any of theirs shall enjoy them a day but you are sure that you must indure an eternity your souls must last whether your houses do or not either with God or separated from him and yet you generally neglect them are we not fools are not the most part of us such fools many deal with God thu so youth they must take their pleasure in old age they will not take so much pains as Diong when he took the golden cloak from Apollo said This garment neither agreeth with Summer nor Winter in Summer it is heavy in Winter it hath no warmth c but because men have some secret reserves of others that they think will bear them out they can ward off many such blows as these they never reach their hearts because they have a privy coat of Male some carnal reasonings or other wherewith they oyl their spirits that this Ink will not stick will not take impression therefore I will inforce this Use with some Considerations which I intend as to cut off the very sinews and strength of a Formalists security First We have not one day at command this is that which men do not believe they think they have much time before them specially those that are young and indeed old sinners dote in this point as well as others they always think they may live a year longer still if they were never so old yea they promise themselves long life and then they cannot but believe themselves they have so good an opinion of the faithfulness and wisdom of their hearts but alas do you not know the number of your moneths is determined and have you one day at command Guido Bituricens reports that one inviting Menodamus to a Banquet to morrow he asked him why he did invite him to morrow he durst never promise himself to morrow expecting death every hour we are but a breaths distance from eternity who can say he hath such an interest in the dispensation of God as to say he shall live unt ll to morrow who can say that is in unbelief but he shall be in hell before the morning light before another Sabbath do you not believe this wherefore was that written Thou fool this night c. but for our learning that sinners might hear and fear Men have not leisure to provide for their souls untill they have filled such a bagg compassed such an estate then they shall be at leisure They must go to such a City and buy and sell get gain but what if in the midst of all that thou be cut off and have not grace what will become of thee then you cannot command a day Can you say with Ioshua Sun stand still and hasten not or Sun go backward will the Lord hearken to your voyce as he did to theirs that so you may have a little time when your glass is run to work out your salvation with O that ever we should be so vain to believe our own hearts without the least ground in the world and not to believe God where there is all the reason and arguments and all the experience in the world to confirm it Secondly Remember this brethren We have not God at command the Spirit bloweth not where we but were it self listeth therefore Millers and Marâ—iners will not lose the wind they have it not in their fist This is a deep deceit in the opinion that lays men to sleep they are so secure putting off the main Work they dream they have God and grace at command as if he were bound to give them grace and heaven when ever they shall think they have enough of sin O no brethren he will not be commanded by us no sure will he be alway intreated by us there is a time when he will not be found It is not your Lord Lord open to us that will move him if once the door be shut against you Then shall they call but I will not answer they shall seek me early but shall not find me and what reason is there you should expect God should be at your beck when you have so long resisted his Spirit in his Word and his Spirit stirring and moving upon your hearts whereby he hath striven and taken pains with you when the Lord had his bosome opeâ— his wing spread his hands stretched out his voyce lifted up his Embassadors sent to woo you you would not know when the grave and hell shall swallow you up or open for you and you think you can have God at your call believe it believe it He will not be found He is not at your command Thirdly Remember this That you have not your hearts at command neither you cannot alway move towards God this is usually a
reserve to sinners against the fear of the other though God be not at our beck yet he hath promised if we return and repent he will accept be it when it will I but what comfort is this except men believe thatthey can return when they please they can receive Christ and close with him at any time Can you so Surely brethren if this were so no man would hardly go to hell that is convinced there is a Christ to be had and salvation through him and him alone O be not mistaken you know not your selves how many resolutions of reformation have many of you broken you see you cannot command your hearts Epâ—r im was sensible of it O turn thou me and I shal be turned can you think a good thought of your selves what solly is it then for men presuming upon their own strength which is none to neglect the season when the Lord offers his Spirit and grace yea and striveth with us by his Spirit many times and yet we will not but put it off Then it may serve to stir us up every one to cut off all delaies whatsoever and now brethren while it is called to day to get this oyl in your Vessels that you may not have it to do when you should in the greatest extremity use it Alas brethren I am a child and cannot speak and O that the Lord would perswade by his Spirit this day now since he hath given you another Sabbath and another opportunity to be called upon what doth the Lord yet say unto thee Seek his face will you not be clean will you not close with Iesus Christ O when shall it once be O answer the Lord and say to day Lord Jesus to day will we close with thee we will put it off no longer blessed be the Lord that hath not taken the advantage against us and put an end to our day of grace long since O admire that mercy and now improve it lay hold upon the opportunity Shall I a little stir you up to this 1. Consider I pray you and believe that it is the greatest design of Satan to fool us out of our salvation to draw away from us day after day untill we have not one day more to live when God cries to day to day to day If you will hear his voyce harden not your hearts who is it think you that crieth to morrow to morrow that Corvina vox as Augustine calls it Cras cras Surely it is Satan that Lier that will not stick to contradict the Lord and what is the devills intent in this think you doth he mean you shall repent to morrow as he saith no I warrant you but when to morrow is come it will be to morrow still and the next day it will be to morrow still and O how this pleaseth him to steal away our precious time and rob us of our lives our day of grace and our souls at once If you be ignorant of this device of Satan know it this day for a truth The devil careth not if all the world were such Christians in the future tense Semper vic 〈…〉 as Seneca saith but never live indeed they will and they will but never do it the Lord make you wise to discern this cunning craftiness of the wicked one 2. Do but consider How long a day of grace you have had many of you already you have even grown old under the means of grace and yet are to begin to get grace me thinketh this should shame us and warn young ones for it is likely many that are older thought they would repent and believe and close with Christ long enough before this but that to Morrow never came if we had any shame in us it might wound us and shame us that Jesus Christ should waite so long upon us and we never had a heart to give him any entertainment yet to this day If many a poor soul had had but half the patient waiting upon them what would they have been long before this 3. Though you delay the getting your grace remember that your Judgement lingers not nor Condemnation slumbreth not it cometh on apace whether you go towards heaven or no there is a set time to every poor soul wherein he shall get grace or else not for ever and how doth this hasten upon you do you know how near it is and there is a set time for â—udgement to seize upon you if you be found without grace O therefore be exhorted now while it is called to day there will be no Manna found upon the seventh day if you get it not before you are undone they found it so by experience 4. Do not expect brethren to have a second day of grace if you trifle away one if once the Apostles shaked the dust off their feet against a people sad was their condition when the Apostles turned away to the Gentiles and the Sun set among the Jews did it ever rise again surely no. Though we have a day yet remember it is but a day and one day and no more if we let it slip we are und one because we shall never have a second day Foelix put off Paul when he was so far wrought upon as to tremble he put him off untill a fitter opportunity but it never came for ought we read well if the Spirit do move and stir and strive with thee take the opportunity strike while the Iron is hot thou dost not know but this may be the last hour of the day with thee and that thou shalt never feel any such breathings more but thy heart shall ever be like a dead Sea and seared and past feeling any more 5. Untill then all our services are abomination to God let our professions be what they will and let us think as well of our conditions as we can believe it breth en our Prayers our Hearings our Receivings are abomination what do we do here to receive the Supper if we have no grace no faith no love no repentance can we be prepared do we not imbrew our hands in the blood of Jesus Christ and is not this an abomination were not the Sacrifices of the Jews abomination as if they slew a man as if they cut off a dogs neck was or could this be acceptable did not his soul hate these things and what are our sacrifices but the slaying and crucifying Jesus Christ Ah while we come with ungratious hearts to those Ordinances O how often hath many an hypocrite had his hand in the blood of Jesus Christ every such service and duty he performeth to God and is not this sad is it not high time to look about us 6. Lastly If at last you do come to get Christ and God will waite upon you so to the last as to overcome you at the last and you shall not mifcarry Suppose it be so though this is not ordinary that men should so desperately presume upon it yet it cannot
your refuge now go and shelter your selves under them now go and see whether your gourds will shade you from the scorching of the everlasting burnings O how this will grate and gall a guilty conscience every such word will speak confusion and hell to the very heart of a sinner and this is that you must expect You that now cannot down with a searching powerful Ministry can abide the shining but not the burning of a John Baptist that will deal faithfully with you but you must be daubed and bolstered up you must have such as will speak peace peace to you right or wrong the time will come when God shall shew you that this hath been the ruine and undoing of your souls and then in contempt and scorn you shall be sent to them Go now to your Parasite-Preachers when the consoience is all on a flame and you see your Lamps are gone out and the Bridegroom is ready to come and there is but a step between you and hell Ah the woful condition of such a soul then may the Lord and his people say Now go to your daubers now see if they can heal your breaches see if they can bind you up if they can cool you and quench you you shall have it of Gods hand to lye down in sorrow and then see whether your daubers with untempered morter shall lull you asleep O how grievous will this be from the Lord when they shall have nothing but derision from him and from his people Now the people of God will pitty you and pray for you but the time may come if you know not the things which belong to your peace in this your day that they shall laugh at you they shall in a mock a holy scorn send you to your false refuges for help Go to them that buy go to your flatterers see if they can comfort you 2. This then is a comfort to the people of God that are now guided by the holy Spirit to go to Jesus Christ to the Fountain indeed to hang their souls upon him replenish themselves still from his fulness as it is in that first of John because Brethren there will come a day of distinguishing between such as have made the Lord their hope their strength and such as have dallyed and trifled and as the one shall have a mock from God and from his people the Believer that hath been used to make the name of the Lord his refuge he shall then find acceptance find a free access What time I am afraid saith the Psalmist I will trust in thee dost thou not love to be flattered wouldst thou have thy soul dealt faithfully with and not gently as is said concerning Absolom happy art thou when others shall be sent to their broken Cisterns thou shalt be admitted to the Fountain to the fulness of Jesus Christ to which thou usually hadst recourse as the wise Virgins here they trimmed their Lamps they got a new supply of oyl but the foolish are sent to them that sell to their flatterers their Mountebanks their money-changers to see what they can afford them In such a time as this thou shalt come to the true Physitian to the high-treasurer of heaven c. Verse 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HEre it seemeth they had no more wit then to go to buy of them that sell How difficult is it to beat a man off his creature-confidence and refuges which he hath for his soul For these foolish Virgins here they had kindled sparks of their own and walked in the light of their own sparks a great while and all that while it was an exceeding hard matter to perswade them to the contrary but their penny was as good silver as other mens to perswade a painted hypocrite while his paint lasts that he is but a Sepulchre and full of rottenness and no resting in that conditlon is as hard as to perswade a man that looks upon his money baggs he is a beggar But now a man would have thought when this Lamp had gone out and they saw their sparks of their own kindling would not endure to eternal life that then they should have bethought themselves of a higher born flame a higher principle that would endure to get that oyl and that fire from heaven that would aspire and never rest until it reached heaven my meaning is that when they saw the profession and form which they could by their industrie and parts work out of themselves went out and failed them they should have thought of going to a higher principle but what do they do they go to the creature you see to the wise Virgins for oyl there they have another repulse they had none to spare for them By this a man would have thought they might have taken a hint that sure it is not to be had then from the creature we must look higher if any creature could furnish us tht wise Virgins the Saints indeed could furnish us but we have knockt at their doors and it is not to be had there And do they now bethink themselves of going to Christ no not at all Let it be considered yet further that they had a very sharp blow to rap their fingers off the creature which a man would have thought should have made them afraid of ever laying hold upon an arm of flesh again for this Irony or holy mock of them go to them that sell if they understood it so was a reproof as full of Vinegar as can be As that of our Saviour sleep on now saith he take your rest now they are at hand let us go hence they had little list to sleep after such a reproof as that and yet we see these foolish Virgins are so stupid that this mock of them it beateth them not off at all but to the Creature they go still to try whether there be any oyl to be had among them that sell the flatterers and merit-mongers they think not of going to Jesus Christ And whence doth this appear brethren but first From our corrupt nature which hath departed from the Lord and is now ful of enmity to him and is loth to return to him so proud we are that as long as we can find any thing in our selves we will go no further but when we see our own gourd is withered our torrent is dried up such is the enmity of our wretched hearts to God in the way of his Grace that we would go any whither for succour rather then to God to Christ the Jews would not come to Christ that they might have life they might have it for coming for but they would not they would take any pains in their own works men will rather put themselves to any pennance mortifyings and maceratings of the flesh as the Papists some of them do will be at any charge for their indulgences from men rather then they will go to Jesus Christ Thus the Lord complains of his
to this readiness a making the calling and election sure by adding faith to faith and grace to grace as it is in that place of the Apostle Peter Then when Simeon had gotten Jesus Christ into this arms of his faith as well as of his body and saw his salvation with the eye of faith as well as of the body then he cryeth out Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Now he was ready to enter into glory And so the Apostle Paul had such a perswasion and therefore he was ready henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of glory c. 2. There goeth many times if not alway to this abundant entrance as a readiness or preparation to it an earnest waiting of the soul for its change a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better There is many a poor heart when the body of death weigheth them down and tryeth them groan earnestly and could be contented to dye that sin might dye with them As Sampson said let me even dye with the Philistians if no other way will destroy their lusts But alas when they are to seek in point of assurance they look upon death as a dark passage that leadeth them they cannot tell whither this maketh them fly back this kills those desires nippeth them as soon as they put forth they come to no maturity But now when a man hath the right art of believing notwithstanding his body of death he groans under as the Apostle that yet he is perswaded through Christ it is pardoned and shall be utterly dissolved and not hinder him then he can bless the Lord and desires with Paul to be dissolved So many of the Patriarks it is said of them they dyed full of daies satisfied with daies that is to say they lived as long as they desired they had now a desire to be at home knowing that while they are present in the body they are absent from the Lord from that near and sweet and full Communion with him whereof they have had a little taste and earnest but if they know not that they shall be present with him by departure but for ought they know more separate from them no marvel if they go to death with drawing back Yet I deny not but a child of God may be ready before he desire it And may desire it before he be ready for this entrance I say a child of God may be ready before he desire it as in the case before mentioned and upon other grounds as Hezekiah and David that I may declare thy power to this generation may be ready and not have such an assurance but he is not ready for an abundant entrance until the Lord come with a full sealing of his love to his heart 2. He may desire it before he be ready as in some passionate impatient fit as Elijah 1 King 19. 4. weary of his life the King persecuting him and thinking he should fall by his hand would have God take away his life from him but he had not yet done his work And so Job God had not yet done with him he must pass through more changes and prosper and flourish again and hold forth his name to that generation before he departed he had not done his work But I speak of the serious settled well-grounded frame of a Believers heart upon a sound perswasion of the Love of God in Jesus Christ and a knowledge that he hath finished his course then for such a one to wait for his change when the blessed hour will come is a part of readiness for an entrance an abundant entrance into glory But this is not the portion of every child of God many Suns set in a Cloud c. For the second thing which are the arguments of the point they are such as these First because else Gods work would be in vain he hath prepared an inheritance for the Saints a Kingdom prepared before the world was and his work upon our hearts what is it but to prepare us for this Kingdom as the Apostle speaks he that hath wrought us to this self-same thing is God he hath wrought us to it there is no suitableness between heaven and an ungracious heart a glorious Kingdom and a vile filthy spirit therefore the Lord takes much pains with us to purge us to himself to purifie us to adorn us with the rich graces of his Spirit and all is to work us to heaven to salvation to prepare us for this entrance and therefore when God hath done this shall his work be in vain surely no not a soul that is so wrought up by the Lord to a heavenly frame and temper and nature that shall miss of an entrance when it is thus prepared else Gods work were in vain the greatest work of God 2. Because else the Lord Jesus would fail of his purchase and prayer for his poople who did buy us at so dear a rate as his own most precious blood was it think you to suffer us for ever to be at such distances from him whom he so dearly loved did his love to us draw him out of heaven to us and will it not think you draw us to heaven to him he will not have his Spouse that he hath redeemed with his blood to be absent from him any longer then is needful for his Fathers glory and their good It is a fruit of his death and of his prayer Father I will that where I am there they may be for they are the fulness of Christ and he accounteth himself as I may say imperfect without them and therefore he will have them there Indeed Brethren so dear is the heart of Jesus Christ to his people that he would not suffer so long an absence at so great a distance from them but that there is a necessity in it though at his first pitching his love upon us he looks at nothing but notwithstanding all blackness and deformity and loathsomness his love overcometh all Yet before they come to this Communion and fellowship with him they must be purified with spices and odors as those were for the King of Assyria and for other holy ends 3. Because else the promise of God and hope of the Saints would fail and heaven and earth shall sooner fail then the word of promise Christ hath promised not only to give life but eternal life God hath promised to give not only grace but glory there is a Crown laid up in the purpose and promise of God and if they should miss of this they would be made ashamed of their hope now this cannot be the Psalmist prayeth that he might not be ashamed of his hope which is virtually a promise it shall not be never any yet were disappointed that hoped upon right grounds Indeed if men make Promises to themselves of heaven let them live after the imaginations of their hearts or whether they truly believe or
no more to do then will give you leave to maintain your communion with God and make sure of the main thing to get your souls ready and keep them ready for the appearing of Jesus Christ O that we would be perswaded to this end to have every day some converse with this his coming and to labour to work the thought of it upon our hearts that accordingly we may be affected with it as we find our selves ready or unready and so be carried out to make provision for it And how should we willingly submit to any dealings of God with us that tend to make us ready Therefore the Apostle would have them count it all joy when they fell into many temptations or trials this is the knocking of the torch this is the snuffers which must take off the wick of our Lamps and so trim them up we shall find one day we have more cause to be thankful for our afflictions if sanctified then for the contrary dispensation I do verily think there is nothing here below helpeth us forward more And labour to see all working together for this great end that we may be found ready at the appearing of the Lord Jesus And labour for a readiness for an abundant entrance into Glory As the Apostle exhorts them And though at present thou canst not find thou art ready be not discouraged for thou mayst be ready in a good part and for the main and yet not know that thou art ready only stick not here let not fear so overcharge thee as to hinder thee and weaken thy hands but make it thy work with thy whole might to make ready for his coming pray hard study thy heart much stir up thy soul and the graces that are there though much corruption do appear the ashes fly about their ears in this searching yet search and try and yet not so much blow the little spark as to blow it out but labour to cherish it increase it O Lord increase our faith then corruption will down then communion with Christ will rise higher and higher for it is with us indeed according to our faith therefore whatever we do take heed of what weakens our faith of discouraging desponding thoughts study promises the necessity of God in Christ O the unsearchable treasures of comfort that are in every promise in every letter of his Name Labour to live by faith brethren and as that groweth all the rest will come on and thou wilt come at last to be sensible that thou dost believe to feel it and know it and then thy readiness for Christ will be more then ordinary and thy entrance abundant into this Glory The next thing we are to consider in this coming of Christ is that they went in with him to the marriage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The note will be this That such as are ready for the coming of Jesus Christ they go in with him to the Marriage with the Bridegroom Here is to be noted then 1. The Marriage and 2. The going in with Christ the Bridegroom to the Marriage and some what said for the opening of them And then we shall confirm the Doctrine and apply it First The Marriage here what is meant by that Here then by Marriage we may understand a Marriage-feast the consummation of the Marriage and the Marriage-feast made in token of joy nothing was more ordinary then this at Marriages to make feasts As in the example of Sampson at his Marriage they made a feast And so Laban made a feast of seven daies long for the Marriage of his daughter fulfill her week and then I will give thee the other also And so again in Cana of Galilee you see they were at a Marriage-feast So now at the Mariage of the Lamb of the Lord Jesus there is a feast a Marriage-feast Yea but you will say this is not ground enough to understand here by the Marriage a Marriage-feast for they are distinct things It is true they are distinct but yet in ordinary practice they were not separated one from another but went so together that usually in Greek and Latin the Feast is comprehended under the word for Marriage if not principally signified in many places So in that of Laban he made a Feast saith the seventy Interpreters he made a Marriage So there was a Marriage in Cana of Galilee that is to say a Marriage-feast was made there And so it seems the Syriach renders it usually in the New Testament by a Feast as Grotius upon this place and Matthew in the beginning noteth Therefore here by Marriage we will understand a Marriage-feast So Esther 1. 3. The King made a Marriage-feast Now the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a Feast both the kingdom of Grace and the kingdom of Glory The kingdom of Grace is a Feast and a rich Feast full of royal dainties as you may find by several Scriptures In that of Matthew The Kingdom of Heaven shall be compared to a certain King who made a Marriage for his Son which the Syriach well terms a Marriage-feast or Banquet which Matthew cals a Dinner and Luke cals a Supper and indeed it is both for the Father Son and Spirit do come in and dine and sup with us they do continually eat bread at his Table as Mephibosheth did at Davids Table 2 Sam. 9. 7. So it is clear Behold I make a Feast of fat things of wine on the Lees a Feast to all Nations what is that but the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Ordinances thereof and Christ held forth in them to be a Feast to every one that will come to him as the carkass is to the Eagles as the Lord sometimes in Scripture invites the fowls of heaven to a Feast he maketh for them that is to say to the dead carkasses of his enemies but here to the carkass of his Son who is slain for Sinners a crucified Christ is the carkass he is the fatted Calf indeed he is the kidneys of the wheat the fat the finest of it his flesh is meat indeed and drink indeed Now this must be spiritually understood not carnally the Kingdom of Heaven is not in meat and drink much less in eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Christ carnally as the Papists say but spiritually It is joy peace and righteousness joy in the holy Ghost here is the Feast If here below we must know that this Feast may be lookt upon either according to the externals or else the internals of it and yet in both respects spiritual The Jews that fell in the wilderness did all eat the same spiritual meat and drink the same spiritual drink and yet they fell in the wilderness The ordinances the word the sealing ordinances baptism and the Lords supper sitting at the Lords Table these are the externals of the Feast that many Carrion-Crow may come to And you see there in the Gospel He
King did Arauna give to the King liberally freely it was a great gift freely given So here it is a King that maketh this feast Kings usually have larger more noble spirits as they have larger purses and therefore at their feasts they use to shew the Magnificence and glory of their Kingdom And so doth God here Brethren A King yea the King of heaven the King of glory the King of Kings and King of Saints he will shew the glory of his Kingdom and his magnificence the excellency of his greatness in making this feast therefore surely there must needs be fulness of love and joy 3. It is a feast not an ordinary but a Marriage-feast and such used to be more then ordinary also being a time of greatest rejoycing you see the Marriage feast at which Christ was what an abundance of wine there was turned from water by our Saviour if you compute it it will appear some 300. gallons full six water-pots holding three measures a piece or two and each measure an hundred pints very great store indeed 4. It is a feast a Marriage-feast not only for a servant or friend being married but for a Son the only Son a Son and heir of all a beloved Son most dearly beloved all these surely will exceedingly heighten the considerations of the fulness of the feast brethren the fulness of that love which shall there be manifested and of the Believers joy in that love these things are heightned to us in that place of Matthew Indeed the very feast here in the Gospel is heightned by these considerations but much more then this Yea 5. Consider yet further It is a Marriage-feast for which preparation hath been making from eternity God hath been providing for it Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the world in these things he would have us surely to understand the decree and purpose of such a thing And withal we may note the greatness and magnificence of the feast You know men if they would royally entertain a Prince they make provision long before and as long as they can to get all about them the rarities that the earth or Sea affords specially if a King be the provider O Brethren the Lord hath been laying in as I may say this wine preparing it for us from eternity therefore surely it will appear in an unspeakable fulness Lastly It will be more constantly without interruption and lastingly without any end No interruption at all here we have our vicissitudes now we have a sweet cup a draught a full draught a flagon it may be to stay us when we are sick of love by and by we have nothing but our wormwood and our gall to chew upon now we can behold him have a glorious view of him and our hearts ravished with it by and by he is upon the Cross nailed by our sins and we cannot but look upon him with a mourning eye But there Brethren shall be no interruption nothing but eating and drinking this Love of God in Jesus Christ All his thoughts will be love to us and all our thoughts love and joy no room for one sigh for one tear of sorrow for one groan any more and then it is not for a term and then to end but it is for ever at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore For the time when and the place where this shall be It will be at that day in the Kingdom of the Father It will begin at the souls going to the spirits of just men made perfect it goeth to Christ this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise it goeth to the bosom of the Lord Jesus to Abrahams bosom and beginneth this feast But the fulness of it is not until the glorified body shall be united to the glorified soul and then both together shall be filled with this fulness of love and fulness of joy to all eternity For the place It is in heaven where Jesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father There Stephen saw him and there he abideth where he is there the Saints will be some think this is typified probably by the upper Chamber where they did eat the Pass-over and the Supper but no more of that Now the second thing cometh under hand that is to say That they go in with the Bridegroom to this feast Wherein these things will be considerable First How he brings them in unto the feast And then Secondly Why it is so And then somewhat to the Application First then he may be said to bring them in and they to go in with him into the feast because he is the meritorious cause of their entrance into glory As he is the entrance of a Believer into the grace wherein we stand as the Apostle speaks so also into the glory There is no acceptance with the Father no access but in and through Jesus Christ as a poor creature hath no admittance into the presence and table of a King but that the son takes him by the hand and leads him in the Lord Jesus then is the meritorious cause he went to prepare a place for us Secondly he doth now as I may say when a soul is brought to heaven after the manner of men I may say he doth receive it and so present it they go in with Jesus Christ But Thirdly And chiefly at the last day at that day he shall come again with his glorious Angels to gather all the Saints together and so to bring them to his Father to deliver the Kingdom up unto him to present them as a Spouse without spot or wrinkle or any such thing thus he shall appear the second time without sin to them that look for him and so they shall for ever be with the Lord. Fourthly He brings them unto the Marriage they go with him even into those joyes unto that eternal bliss and glory he leads them into and there sitteth down with them at the Marriage-feast eating drinking with him this new wine in the Kingdom of the Father It is not only his bringing of them or their going in with him into the place where these glorious manifestations of God shall be for ever but even into the very depth of those discoveries and there he sitteth down with them For the Arguments Besides that none else could do it for us as you heard First His faithfulness to them requireth it He hath promised he will never leave them until he had fulfilled for them all the good that he hath spoken now this is spoken that he will give them glory as well as grace that he will give them eternal life and raise them up at the last day else he were not a faithful High-Priest nor a faithful Saviour if he should leave them short you know it was his last Will and Testament in that place of Ioh 17. and will he see his own Will and
the evil savour of their sins upon them such as have their prison cloaths their rags by the exactest righteousness that ever creature performed upon them no no you must first come to Jesus Christ have these bolts knockt off He it is that looseth the prisoners you must first have your â—ilthy garments taken away from you and be robed with the royal apparrel such as is put upon them whom the King of Heaven delights to honour with so near an aporoach to himself for ever you must have the savour of his Oyntments anointing â—our head his Spirit poured out upon you first brethren as they used to annoint their heads with sweet oyl at their seasts before you can come to that feast sinners do not think you shall croud into heaven in the condition you are in but be perswaded in the Name of Jesus Christ first to come to him to get your hands and hearts and all washed in innocency it self in the blood of the spotless Lamb else believe it there will be no entrance for you 2. There is an external communion also which men that have no more but a profession may have eating the spiritual bread and drinking the Sacramental feast brethren which the Saints ought to come to have communion with the Lord Jesus and his people will until he come again it is not an indifferent thing Do this in remembrance of me and as often as you do it ye keep in remembrance the Lord his death until he come Now brethren we do immediatly invite you to come to Jesus Christ to close with him that you may be washed and cleansed through faith in his blood and have your hearts purified by faith in him and then to this Sacramental Communion with Jesus Christ which is a sign and pledge of this Marriage-feast in heaven as plainly our Saviour tels his Disciples I wâ—ll henceâ—oâ—th drink no more of this fruit of the Vine until I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom Well this is but the first Secondly brethren that by your now coming in to Jesus Christ you do as I may say take up your room in your places before hand at his Table in his heavenly Kingdom In which respect the Saints now are said to sit together in heavenly places and hereby you will come to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus in his Resurrection and Ascention and his Work in heaven which is to prepare a place for his people and as I may say to keep it for them and as one sweetly expresseth it wriâ—ing as I may say every ones name over his Mansion over his Place even with his own blood that none shall take it from them over their heads If Jesus Christ prepared not a place for you in heaven now brethren you will find no room at his Table Therefore now brethren Let me press this Exhortation upon you that you would come to him now even now while it â—s called to day it is his voyce brethren that speaks to you O that your ears were bored to hear the fatted Calf is killed the Lord Jesus is Crucified for sinners the Wine is mingled all is ready there wants nothing now but your coming to Dine and Sup with Jesus Christ yea indeed but your opening to him he knocks he will come to you to feast with you bring his royal dainties with him and his wine of the Kingdom his Royal Wine with him O his love which is better then wine if you will but open to him O do not nectere moras now can the Lord Jesus brethren find in his heart to have his blood poured out to become royal Wine indeed full of spirits sweet and cordial to a poor fainting soul to give his own flesh to eat which is bread indeed it is virtually all dainties therefore the Scripture setteth it forth by Wine and Milk and Honey and Bread and Marrow and Fatness the fat of the Kidniâ—s of the Wheat by Apples and Flagons Is he willing brethren to be the Feast to be fed upon and shall we not come O therefore come where the Carkass is follow not your Carrion any more the stirâ—king loathsome delights and pleasures of sin for a season Be ye no more drunk with wine but be ye filled with the Spirit of Christ saith the Apostle be Inebriated as some read it abundantly satisfied with the goodness of his House and with the flowings of his heart towards you poor sinners But me thinketh now I hear the returns that sinners make to Jesus Christ to this invitation say some I have a feast already Stoln waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant and shall we forsake these delights we have in the world for we know not what Ah poor souls you know not what you say if this be the language of your hearts If you mouths were not much out of taste you would never judge sin a sweet thing a poor child of God that hath his taste healed though but in part he drinketh nothing in the world so bitter to him as sin that which goeth down so merrâ—ly with many Were not the Israelites mouths much out of taste when they preferred their Onions and Garlick stinking things of Egypt before their sweet their heavenly Manna their Angels bread fit for them to eat or which came by their Ministry 2. Remember this brethren though it be sweet to the taste it turns to bitterest gall as the Wise man speaks of wine that moveth it self aright it sparkles is lovely sweet to the taste at last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adâ—er Behold such are all the delights of sin and whether you believe it or no now you shall be sure to feel it after a little season for your pleasures are but for a season So that you know not what you say if any thus excuse himself for coming Again Shall you change for you know not what Indeed you do not know for eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive before he hath had experience of it himself O that I might but perswade you brethren to make a tryal and if you do not find one days communion of Jesus Christ be not worth a thousand with your companions in sin then believe not this Gospel any more there is much sweetness indeed in the breasts of the world to a wordly Pallate O what drink golden drink do poor Earth-worms drink and this is their Nectar Believe it brethren if the Lord do but bring you and set your mouths to the wounds of Jesus Christ set your mouths to the sweet promises of pardoning grace and purging mercy to draw from them strong consolation you will find the other but Gall and Wormwood to you O let them perish saith Galeac and his money with him that preferreth all the world before an hours communion with Jesus Christ I pray you therefore do not
excuse your selves with them in the Gospel I have bought this and that and I cannot come I have so many Custodiums I cannot mind these things I have so much to do in the world and it is to be minded A poor ditch-water that is preferred before this Wine of the Kingdom will dross and dung meat and husks which is Swines meat nourish your souls to eternal life make as much account brethren of these things as you will to slight now the matters of eternity time will come when you would give all the fruit of your labours if it were a thousand times more for one sight of Jesus Christ one taste of his love one hours communion withhim before you go hence and be no more Alas But some will say I am a poor sinner the vilest filthy creature lame and blind and have all my life time been feeding with Swine upon husks and swill and trash these delights of sin and pleasures of the world O my days are consumed in sin and doth he invite such as I and may I come Yea brethren you find the poor lame and blind from the hedges and high-ways side were invited to his feast if you come but to Jesus Christ he will open the eys of the blind he hath eyeâ—alve for you and he will be legs to the lame and cloathing to the naked if you do but come to him put on Christ It is not any other infirmities which will abide upon the best of Gods people in part that can exclude us or cast us out but only the want of the wedding Garment if a man be never so well furnished otherwise as he thinketh O therefore come Brethren the Feast is made for such as you you are invited to it the simple the man void of understanding that is to say the sinner for sin is folly in Scripture-phrase you are invited to turn in this day to the Feast the Marriage-feast which is begun here upon earth but will end in heaven therefore be not discouraged Ah but you will say I have no such appetite to the Feast to hunger and thirst and is there any invited to come to it but such as have an appetite what shall they do there I answer no marvel thou hast no great appetite until thou hast more communion with him if thou hast had any And no marvel if thou hast no appetite if thov hast never been with Jesus for thou hast so long lived upon trash that it takes away the stomack to the sweetest and wholsomest food in the world But withal remember this who ever will is invited to come brethren and take freely It may be thou dost not find poor sinner such a strong desire such a breaking of soul for longing but hast thou a Will wouldst thou have Christ wouldst thou have his body this meat indeed this blood this drink indeed this wine of the Kingdom and begin this Feast this Marriage-feast upon earth why dost thou not take him then come and take it freely O that this might be the day of his power to many of your poor souls that you might become a willing people that you might have a heart to close with him to take him upon his own terms that you might begin your heaven upon earth your communion with Jesus Christ I will but add one word more and that is this It is no indifferent thing whether you close with this invitation or no there is a necessity lies upon you to come to the Marriage-feast except you resolve upon it to perish for ever God he was wroth and sent forth his armies to destroy c. Ah what gnashing of teeth will there be to poor sinners in hell when they shall see their neighbours who heard this Gospel with them sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob at the table of Christ in his kingdom and themselves cast out Ah brethren I beg for you a believing heart you must either feast with Christ or starve for ever with Satan and his Angels and then not a drop will be had to cool your tongues now flagons are tendered you now wine and milk without money and price now rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand and fulness of joy is promised you is held out to you cometh a begging to you Ah then then brethren shall you beg for a drop and shall not have it rivers of burning brimstone will be your bathing when the Saints are swallowed up of those rivers of pleasures at his right hand then will you be chewing upon your gall and wormwood then will you be breaking your teeth upon your gravel when the Saints are drinking this new wine in the kingdom of their Father with Jesus Christ Ah think of it brethren think of it you have now your good things many of your eyes stand out with fatness you spend a world upon your lusts live like Epicures wantonizing in the abundance of your enjoyments how woful will that sentence be Son remember thou in thy life time hadst thy good things and now thou art tormented hadst thy wine and drinking unto drunkenness now the stings of it abide upon thee the Saints have their worst first and the best kept until the last but you have your consolation in this world and the wine of astonishment will be your portion for ever if you will not be perswaded Therefore take your choice brethren I set life and death before you and consider of it How will you escape if you neglect this great salvation you may now be received to the Feast the door stands open it will not alway be so it will be shut against you O how will you answer it another day before the Lord Jesus if you now trample under foot his blood and precious offers of his Grace though by the hand and mouth of a poor worm like your selves Thirdly Then Brethren let as many as have received power to believe in the Lord Jesus and so are admitted to the beginning of this Marriage-supper upon earth to inward fellowship with Jesus Christ in the Graces of his Spirit and merits of his death and resurrection labour brethren to prepare your selves for this Feast in heaven by feeding heartily upon these dainties upon earth the more men eat and drink the more their stomacks are extended usually and the more they will receive surely it is so in spirituals the more a soul feeds upon Christ and the more abundantly he drinketh the more he may it enlargeth the desires Hitherto saith our Saviour you have asked nothing little or nothing Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full the more abundantly the soul is satisfied with the goodness of the house of God the more will the mouth be opened to receive now as our capacities do enlarge so much the more fitter are we for this Marriage-feast O therefore let us not come to the table of the Lord brethren this sign and
filthy rags of your own services duties prayers alms as if those were a wedding-garment you that are more profane it may be and cloath your selves with violence as with a Cloak and with cursing as with a garment and so for all manner of prophane persons I would beg of you for Jesus Christ sake this day you would consider this doleful word the gate will be shut against you if you be found unready for the appearing of Christ Now there is none of you but your consciences will tell you that you are not ready for it can a drunkard a swearer a blasphemer be ready for the coming of Christ can you hold up your heads sinners when he appears and look him in the face with comfort Ah no. Either men believe not this coming of Christ to them or else because it is not present they put it far from them therefore they are not affected with it O that I could preach this day Brethren as if hell were at sinners backs as if the Lord Jesus were at your backs now ready to call for you out of this world that you may be a little startled That I would beg of you shall be this that you would without any more ifs and ands without any more delaies set about this work to make ready for his appearing lest the gate be clapt upon you you have too long delayed it already therefore now if ever set about the work What would you have us to do you will say I answer Brethren without any more delay to consider your waies and turn to the Lord to repent that you may believe and believe that you may repent O that you might have hearts to believe this terrible threatning that so your hearts might be shaken sinners out of your security for this is the reason you make nothing of all these things you do not believe that there will be a shutting out or you do not consider it and that your selves are as likely to be the men that have the door shut upon you as any others O therefore learn this day a necessity of believing if you would not be shut out a necessity of repenting you see they were shut out by reason of unbelief I know what answer your hearts will make to this If believing will do it you will never be shut out for you do believe and will believe and have believed alway you have had a good heart and a good faith towards God and Christ Brethren I tell you that you never lookt upon the Brazen Serpent for healing if you were never wounded It is for them thatare wounded You that are all faith now before God have touched your hearts and set your sins in order before you if ever God come and shew you your guilt there will be nothing but doubting and fears and terrors It is an evident sign to me that a sinner never did believe because he maketh so light a matter of it No no Brethren you do not come to him indeed the door stands open now and you are invited to come and enter in by the door by Jesus Christ into the Marriage-feast but you do not come to him O therefore be exhorted sinners now while the door stands open to come and enter in take heed you fall not short by your unbelief and then upon this faith in Jesus Christ will follow a Gospel-repentance a melting and mourning over the Lord Jesus whose love and bowels you have abused and the love of Jesus Christ will constrain you to another course of life then you have led quite contrary you will not be the same men O break off your sins by righteousness be abrupt in your repentance in greatest haste men think it is hard to break off in the midst of such a design for the world or suddenly to leave their companions in sin but by degrees they will do it O break off c. Again Secondly For you that have somewhat more then ordinary of a profession of Jesus Christ I beg of you to look to it Brethren that you have the main thing lest when all comes to all the door be shut upon you as upon those foolish Virgins me thinks if we did but consider how many poor souls of great hope have gone out and sunk under such a sad disappointment as this is it were enough to startle us all O look to your footing Brethren for Jesus sake look to your Evidences the day is coming that if we be not ready there will be no entrance for us let us pass for what we will here among men I cannot stand to press these things I have already spoken much to the same purpose before 1. I pray you consider that upon this moment of time for our lives in comparison of eternity are no more a hand breadth a shadow a vapor nothing you that have lived thirty sixty years in sin now it is past the season you have had in your pleasures what is it but like a dream when it is past but as short as this time is upon it depends eternity he hangeth the heavyest weights upon the weakest wires O Brethren me thinks if men did but believe this and it were present now and then upon their thoughts there is an eternity to be enjoyed or lost an eternity to be endured or avoided an endless happiness or endless misery this should make you see to it to make sure you be ready lest this gate be shut upon you Brethren you live to eternity and you dye to eternity how careful was that Painter of every line very exact took much time to draw a piece O saith he Eternitati pingo As you live here so shall you live to eternity If in sin Brethren you shall lye down in an eternal bed of sorrow in everlasting burnings shall your souls be rouled up together if you make it your work to make ready to be found ready for his appearing there is an entrance into everlasting joyes a feast which never shall have end 2. Though time be short whereupon eternity depends yet you have time Brethren though it is true none but the present time be yours that which is past is gone that which is to come you know not what it may produce whether you shall see it or no but you have a time now while it is called to day Ah Brethren some of us have had a long day our day of grace hath had already some six some seven some eleven hours and yet it is day with us we have not wanted time but we have wasted it trifled it away but since yet there is time let this stir us up O the long-suffering of God should lead you to repentance Ah blessed are your ears for they hear and your eyes for they see Brethren they see a crucified Christ held out before you with his arms stretched out all the day long ready to receive you they see the door open stand open for poor
sinners to come Your ears they hear the joyful sound now you are called upon and intreated to be reconciled to believe Well you cannot say sinners another day but that the Lord gave you space to repent space to make sure of heaven but you neglected it 3. This opportunity and season it is headlong it staies notâ— maketh haste and to keep pace with your season of grace you must make haste and if it be once lost it is never recovered again O therefore Brethren with the greatest haste I beg of you to set about this work lest at last you cry out all too late all too late as it is said of a Lady that likely spent her time vainly but when she came to her death-bed O then she lamentably cryeth out O time time a world of wealth for a moment of time an inch of time Opportunity is bald behind there is no hold to be taken of it only by redeeming it double your diligence if you have lost a great part of your season have you been idling and loytering a great part of the harvest Now therefore lay about you so much the more earnestly for the opportunity cannot be recalled when once it is past that is the third O what would the damned that have been damned from under such means and mercies as you enjoy give for one of their Sabbaths for one of their Sermons for one of the many daies you enjoy but it is past help 4. Consider Brethren If the door be shut by Jesus Christ none else can open it and he will not himself open it any more and what will become of you then It may be sinners think this is not so sad a word that the door shall be shut they think they can bring a golden key of their own that shall open it No no believe it Brethren it is the key of David only that can open and shut this door and this Jesus Christ alone hath the Wards of your keys are not fitted for this lock he shutteth therefore and no man openeth none else whatsoever openeth Nor will he open it himself any more to them he knoweth full well upon whom it is that he shutteth the gate he knoweth who are and who are not his who are ready and who are not O therefore Brethren I beseech you consider it now while you have time before it be too late while there is hope concerning this thing O let not the world Brethren nor your sinful pleasures eat out all your time consume your season of grace except they could open the gate of heaven for you if they could it were somewhat indeed for men to baffle so with Christ and trifle away their souls as they do but if you will not believe nor be perswaded by any thing which in so much weakness can be said nor by what is delivered in a better manner by others you shall see it to your sorrow when you come to heaven gate and find it shut against you O then you shall know Brethren what it was to have such a warning to flee from the wrath to come and not have a heart to embrace it Thus much for this Application and this Doctrine Verses 11 12. Afterwards came also the other Virgins saying Lord Lord open to us but he answered and said to them verily I say unto you I know you not I Would take up two or three brief Notes from these words That men may come very near to heaven and yet be shut out never enter into heaven Which though it be much what the same with a former observation I will speak a few words to it here if it were nothing else but to refresh your memories and but a word or two of it It is plainly taken up from the Parable here the foolish Virgins they kept their Lamps burning long until the very point of the Bride-grooms coming yea not only so but when the door was shut and others received which whether it be at the day of judgement or at each particular souls particular day we will not now enquire but yet they come mind you after all this and they bounce against heaven gate as I may â—ay they cry Lord Lord open to us they would have heaven and come to the very gate as I may say and they seek it of Jesus Christ too and they are very earnest in it the doubling of the expression imports it is not a cold frozen prayer such as many an hypocrite yea sometimes many a child of God puts up but an earnest cry Lord Lord O Lord save us shut us not out save us we perish we sink hell opens her mouth to swallow us up O quickly open to us or we are gone Did not Israel come out of Egypt and march through the wilderness and through many difficulties and enemies and temptations there and come to the very borders of Canaan and yet fell back again were turned into the wilderness again the Lord sware they should never enter into his rest Many run saith the Apostle but all obtain not yea some do run to the very last until they be even within sight of the Goal and yet there sink and perish So Joash did he ran far and yet fell short when all was done And when many fell back from Christ Judas continued with him the Bag its likely kept him more then Christ but he continued until the very last and then perished There was but one step as I may say between the young man in the Gospel and heaven he went very far did much he had kept all those things from his youth yet there was one thing wanting which he could not reach too our Saviour convinced him thereby how short he was and had need of a Saviour but we find not that he came to him any more How near was Ananias to the Kingdom of God he professed Christ in those persecuting times owned him but it seems his love of the world and distrust was not killed he went far as well as others to sell all he had and to lay it at the Apostles feet a very great piece of self-denyal only a little reservation in hypocrisie you see carried him aside and he perished To make this a little better appear consider First That the light and principles of nature will carry a man very far how far did many of the Heathens go how Saint-like would they speak and how heroically and self-denyingly would they act many times Yea and some of them in their whole course to the shame of most Christians the sparks of our own kindling will rise and flie upward but yet they fall short Because alas 1. It leads us not to Jesus Christ and by his own strength no man shall prevail for heaven but he must lay hold upon the strength of God in Christ The Doctrine of Jesus Christ is a mysterie hid from ages from all people but where the Lord is pleased by the preaching of the
Gospel to make manifest the savour thereof Now there is no other name but the name oâ— Jesus Christ whereby men can be saved 2. Because alas there is not any of them but they hold the truth in unrighteousness though they do much yet they have a light more abundant in them then they walk up to It is imprisoned in their understandings not shed abroad upon their hearts so that they could see nothing but folly and that which is worse And so every one must needs be condemned of his own heart Secondly Common grace and gifts of grace that will carry a man very far there is a taste of the heavenly gift and the powers of the world to come and this will seem to enliven and warm the affections and carry out a man to do great things as those foolish Virgins had and so Ananias and others Thirdly with all these a mans secret false ends concurring help to carry on a man far Judas had the bag which he loved more then Christ and as long as he had the bag he was well enough he could follow on so long as there were loaves to be had by following Christ what multitudes follow him and throng upon him Our Saviour knew their deepest ends though haply they saw them not their hearts were too deep for themselves but not for him So many ends so many springs and weights there are upon a man which will add somewhat of strength to him in his course they are indeed the marrow of the bones that moysten them and give life and vigor to his actions So it may be a man cannot keep his conscience quiet it is roused a little and is dogged and snarls and it will not be quiet except he stop the mouth of it with some duty and service and following the waies of God as to the externals And so a mans glory and honour specially when Religion is in repute it is a dishonour to be esteemed otherwise mens reputations will carry them further then we are aware of Yea if the waies of God were discountenanced yet a man may go far in them upon this end to have his name much set by as a couragious heroical spirit he may suffer much and yet not love Jesus Christ It is then love to himself to his honour or somewhat else that is the ground of it but alas Brethren when all this is done it may carry a man near the Kingdom of heaven but he shall fall short And that upon these two considerations First because though they may come near Christ and haply delude themselves and think they have him yet they never were ingraâ—ted into him and historical faith and temporarie that will comply with the times a man may have and miraculous too and yet never implanted into Christ and then though a man may come near the Kingdom of heaven yet if be he Christless he is undone he must needs be shut out The Lord will in giving those gifts those common gifts of the Spirit to men honour himself by them he will have glory but they may never have the comfort of them they may tend to their further sinking and condemnation Secondly because that all those things though precious in themselves yet they never change a mans heart it remaineth the same still so they never do him real spiritual good Judas a traytor a Devil though it appeared not to men because cloathed over with so many common gifts and graces And so Ananias his heart was not throughly changed Alas Brethren the giving of these gifts to men whereby they do much as a gift of prayer or a gift of prophecying or preaching whereby they do much and pass for eminent persons with men they are but like flowers laid in a window as Doctor Preston compareth them they grow not Or else as outlandish plants removed into another Countrey they grow not they prosper not because the soil is not changed the grace they have doth not redundare in personam make their persons good no more then a pearl in a swines snouâ— changeth the nature of the swine the pearl is a pearl and precious but the swine is a swine and filthy in her disposition And so beauty in a whorish woman it is beautiful and lovely but she is nevertheless whorish and abominable and therefore notwithstanding all the Attainments of a man by nature by common grace by his own ends which will carry him very far put a great lustre upon him seem to bid fair for heaven carry a man after the things of God to the very last it may be yet it will not change a man and therefore no admittance for him he is shut out when all is done First then Brethren If a man may go so far and yet fall short What will become of them that never set foot forward toward heaven to this day It is true many come to hear the word now and then or constantly I make account this is but little when it cometh to the doing the practising What have you done to this day many of you the young man in the Gospel did all those things he thought and that from his youth and yet you see he fell short Thou never didst any of those things thou never didst love the Lord thy God worship him as thou oughtest makest nothing of renting his name in pieces of prophaning his day what else meaneth so many idling so many sporting themselves so many walking up and down so many drinking upon the Sabbath-day thy parents thou never didst honour them thou hast been an unclean wretch injurious thy tongue taught to tell lyes and speak folly a covetous wretch Brethren what do you mean sure you will never come so much as near the Kingdom of heaven If any perish you are the sinners are sure to perish They fell short that came to Canaan what will become of you that never came out of Egypt if you are yet by your flesh-pots your Garlick and Onions of Egypt and will not be beaten off your loathsom delights of the flesh your mirth and company and gaming and dicing and drabbing and drinking Must a mans righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees or he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Do you believe this Brethren What will become of thee then that art so far from what they did they prayed often much and long they fasted often they gave much alms paid tythe of all they were no extortioners nor unjust but thou art such a one they were no drunkards but thou art a drunkard they were no unclean adulterers but thou art one and yet they fell short and where wilt thou appear the Lord shew you how unlikely you are for heaven Secondly this sheweth also the woful condition of hypocrites they carry a sair sail and seem it may be to be driven with as fair a gale as any only there is a Leak sprâ—ng in the bottom and they sink or rock themselves
when they see the very gate of mercy shut against them O say sinners here we shall have peace though we walk after the imaginations of our own hearts to add drunkenness to thirst thoâ—gh God have told such men His anger shall smoke against that man yet they are confident nothing will drive them to seek a Christ to make their peace with him to accept of deliverance and no marvel for when they see the mouth of hell opened for them and the belly of hell moved for them and the gates of heaven shut against them and they have no Christ to appear in yet they have the face and boldness as to cry Lord Lord open to us Secondly It may teach us to have an holy jealousie and an holy pitty over poor creatures that can be and are upon their death-beds so confident so presumptuous they can come to God without a Christ having all their life long trampled his precious blood under their feet rested in their formalities and yet can cry out then to God to open to them as if thy were the only Saints upon earth and were the only men of faith Ah brethren so they may do and yet be but foolish Virgins how have they carried it in their lives they would never be perswaded to call upon God morning and evening to pray in closet in family to make sure of Christ and yet now they will not stick to appear and cry for heaven without him O this presumption will not prosper though believing alway prosper you may have the Gate of heaven shut upon you your souls shut out for ever and yet in your extremity have a Lord Lord in your mouths therefore look to it betimes before hand but enough of this The third Note of Doctrine is this Though men will not come to Christ for Grace yet they will come to him for Glory While Jesus Christ is dispensing the Grace of the Kingdom they neglect him and his Grace they are busied about somewhat else but when he is to dispense the Glory of his Kingdom then every one will come to him Luke 14. 18. They cannot come but now they will come This is clear in the present case These foolish Virgins they would not come to Christ for Grace for you see how many times they were beaten off from the Creature and yet they fastned again when their Lamps failed which were sparks of their own kindling or else some common work at most then they went to the wise Virgins not to Christ when they repulsed them sent them away empty they went to them that sold they would by no means come to Jesus Christ not a word of that and yet now the Glory of the Kingdom is to be dispensed you see n ow they cry Lord Lord open to us if they had taken this course before and cryed Lord Lord when their Lamps were gone out O Lord now we see our own sparks dye before they reach heaven O pardon this our Hypocrisie and O give us of thine oyl thou art the Olive-tree pour out of thy oyl into our vessels as they went to the wise Virgins and this in truth of heart they had had oyl they had been ready and entred with Christ no but they would not and see now when the Gate was shut upon them now they cry Lord Lord open to us they would not come to him for the wedding Garment but they would be beholding to him to let them in to the Feast without one though heaven would have held them but a little while if they had entred in that condition So the Jews They would not come to Christ that they might have life that they might have the life of Grace and then the life of Glory but they would come to him to have the life of Glory Ye shall seek me and ye shall not find me but shall die in your sins This is Esau's case prophane Esau he would not keep his birth-right when he had it nor seek it again when he had lost it but the blessing he would have without the birth-right he could part with the birth-right for a mess of pottage for his lust rather then extreme hunger as some think but the blessing he could seek it with tears The grounds of this are such as these First Because it is a principle indelebly written in nature to will happiness the end in general that is to say happiness is not that which cometh under deliberation and matter of choice at all but only the means that tend to that end no man living can possibly prevail with himself to be willing to be miserable it is as natural as for the fire to fly upward or the stone to decline downward A Balaam would die the death of the rigteous he would go to heaven when all is done notwithstanding his Sorceries and Enchantments against Jacob and Divinations against Israel A man would think such a wretch as he that would have cursed Israel fain if God would have hearkened to him a deadly enemy he was to them that he should scarce have desired to come where they should be As I have heard of some whose spleen hath been so great against the people of God that if they came to heaven they would never come thither such are worse then Balaam yet he would die the death of the righteous Secondly Because of the woful ataxie and disorder that is in all our souls whereby we are in all things preposterous in all things that are supernatural in things purely natural and civil we do not expect the end without the means none but fools and mad men do it A man would live and have his health this he desireth therefore he will eat you cannot perswade him to starve himself with hunger he will take physick though never so loathsom never so bitter to him what ever it cost him skin for skin and all he hath he will give for his life this is the highest end he hath in these things but now in spirituals there is nothing but confusion the end we do confusedly aim at we would have it doubtless there is not the veriest unbeliever that heareth this this day but would have heaven and you cannot with all the arguments you can bring make him willing to perish in an everlasting separation from God if he understand any thing what he saith yet he would have this without the means without this union and fellowship with the Lord Jesus whereby he may be made meet for it 3. Because of mens unbelief and unacquaintance with the mysterie of salvation the mysterie of free Grace in Jesus Christ they do not believe that a man must come to Christ for Grace or else they can have no Glory from him That he is the way the truth and the life they think he will save them upon any terms he came to be a Saviour of sinners and sinners they are and a Saviour he is and therefore let Ministers say what
they will they think if they have but time to cry Lord Lord though it be when the Gate is shut as these foolish Virgins it will do Ah brethren if the foolish Virgins had been acquainted with this that they must have their oyl from Christ or else they should never hold out nor enter with him would they not instead of those trifling impertinent endeavours made some application to him all that while but they saw it not it was hid from their eyes The Lord will give Grace and Glory and never will he give Glory sure if he give not Grace O for hearts to believe this it would be a cure of this disorder Fourthly Because of the enmity that is in our hearts against Grace nothing is more contrary wherevever Grace cometh there is a continuall quarrel between it and sin the holy Ghost when he cometh to dwell in a heart he knoweth he must have no peace there but continually lust against the flesh and endure the lustings of the flesh against it self O brethren then where a heart is altogether in sin what an enemy is it to Grace and to Christ as the Author of Grace so saith the Apostle you while you were enemies in your minds through wicked works hath he reconciled now a man will hardly come to an enemy to help him except he be in very great straits indeed as when men are sinking into hell then they will come to Christ for entrance into heaven for then their misery is present and imminent they see there is no avoiding of it hell is at their backs the avengers of blood are now upon them ready to hurry them away to destruction therefore now it is high time for them to cry Lord Lord open to us but while they can but keep these things at a distance put off the thoughts of heaven and hell they care not for coming to Christ at all yet as great as their enmity is it may be overlaid by the present apprehensions of their necessity and danger they are in if they come not to him and this is that brings in any soul to Christ for Grace here while he is dispensing Grace until the Lord let the Sinner see his sins in order before him see the hand-writing upon the wall against him Mene Mene until God write his condemnation upon his Conscience in bloody Characters and visible that he that runs may read it he careth not for coming to Christ for Grace and so for heaven if a man neglect all this yet when God sheweth him the rivers of burning brimstone sheweth the teeth of the worm which is ready to fasten upon him opens a mans ears to hear Satan come jingling with his chain to fetch his soul to tear it away whether he will or no O then though he hath no mind to go to Christ now he will go and cry Lord Lord open to me Why But you will say If he be such an enemy to Grace and to Christ as dispensing Grace is he not much more an enemy to Christ as glorious and receiving sinners to Glory Yea brethren I believe for my part that they are such enemies to an heavenly work a glorious state that if they were admitted with such hearts as they have it would be a weary place to them they cannot endure the reflection of the sun upon a burnish'd soul how will they endure the face of the Son of righteousness himself but the sence of their danger and looking upon heaven as a place of freedom from the torments of the condemned not as upon an holy place wherein Grace is made glorious therefore they desire to enter alas what would these foolish Virgins have done there if they had entred in this unready condition heaven would have been too hot to hold them but freed they would be from misery happy they would be poor creatures though they mind not that the happiness of heaven is such as if they had not had Grace first to make them meet for it it would have been no happiness to them What is more tedious to them then the Glory of Holiness upon the Saints then spiritual communion with God they cannot bear this All delight ariseth from suittableness between the object and faculty and all grief and trouble from the unsuitableness of the object and faculty and truly Grace glorified is so much the more unsuitable but yet I say they apprehending that misery is approaching would go any wihther for shelter Fifthly and lastly Because now they can keep their lusts no longer therefore now they would have heaven as long as the sinner can keep his lust he will be for no other Master nor Lord he cares for no other pleasure the pleasures of sin are the fools paradise to the wanton and so is sport and pastime to the young gallant they care not for any thing serious If men could keep the world for ever they would never desire to come to heaven they could be contented to have their heaven upon earth their inward thought is they shall continue for ever they call their houses after their own names and they think as they would have it now when they see they can hold the world no longer now they would have heaven therefore they care not for Grace so long as they can have their fill of these delights if men be Hypocrites close Hypocrites have no open prophaness or lust yet some secret Dalilah they have that they delight themselves with but when the pangs of hell begin to catch hold upon men when their consciences do catch of the fire of hell and this to flame they see they are going and there is no other way with them but one and being at the brink as I may say the flame catcheth upon them as it did those Executioners in Daniel then O for heaven Lord Lord deliver us save us For the Application This may serve then in the first place to justifie the Lord Jesus let him be for ever clear when he judgeth and justified when he speaks though he speaks condemnation and everlasting separation from himself to many men at the last day or at his coming to Summon if you call then and he answer you not if you cry Lord Lord open to us and he give you this answer I know you not blame your selves you cannot but justifie him why because you might have had heaven and salvation in his ways If you had sought early you should have found but you never seek him until the Gate be shut against you as long as you can keep the world and your lusts you will not come unto him that you might have Pardon might have grace that you might live for ever now your sins leave you the world leaves you or you must leave the world they are ready to take away your souls from you now you will come and cry Lord Lord open to us is it not just and righteous if he cast you out Secondly It
may serve then to humble us brethren all of us before the Lord for this is the frame of all our hearts by nature though the Lord Jesus so loved sinners that nothing was too dear for them even to his very life and blood and yet we are all of us so unkind to him again that we would never come to him we would not be beholding to him through the pride of our hearts until we cannot subsist without him and then we will come though it be too late so that upon the matter Brethren we do but make Jesus Christ our sinning stock all the dayes of our lives and yet when we can sin no more we would serve our own turns upon him meerly we would have entrance into heaven by him we desire him not for any loveliness that is in him or in the Grace which is revealed by him Is not this great cause of humbling As suppose a Prince that deperit virginem a poor ragged filthy creature and he even dies for love of her so be that she will but come and take him she shall have all the priviledges of a wife his honour shall be hers his crown hers his beauty hers she shall be like him also be she as uncomely as she may he will put off his comliness upon her no she will not hear of coming to him at all until at last she is even perishing and then cometh and would have his Glory but not himself meerly to serve her self upon him O this is great unkindness do you thus requite the Lord ye foolish people and unwise And thus it is with all us until the Lord mightily change us Thirdly It may serve to convince us of our folly herein folly is a thing we cannot endure the imputation of But what greater folly is it then brethren to dis-joyn the end from the means specially where the end is so necessary to be had to happiness and the means so absolutely necessary to that end surely then this is gross folly he is a fool that would have health and strength and yet will not eat nor drink nor sleep nor recreate will not use the means well brethren you would have heaven every one of you you would have this blessed slate after death we are carried to it with a natural impetus the end is necessary we must enter or perish for ever 2. This means is as absolutely necessary to come to Jesus Christ when the door stands open while his bowels and bosom are open and ready to receive us for when the door is shut there is no remedy we may enter if we come while the door is open afterward we cannot Now is not he a fool in grain that will trifle when the door stands open and even goeth a begging to poor sinners and yet think to enter when the door is shut Ah Brethren this folly fils every sinners heart What is the reason else so few are perswaded while it is called to day to come to seek him early that they may find him You are wise for the world and men will speak well of you if you do well to your selves but you are fools in Gods account in the account of Saints and Angels they speak not well of you witness the Fool in the Gospel that spent himself for vanity and neglected his soul which that night was to be taken from him O that the Lord would so convince us that we might not dare to linger and trifle away our day of Grace lest when we come to cry the door be shut against us 4. Hath the Lord so far shewed us this our folly as now while the Gate stands open to make ready to get our oyl not to put it off until it be too late O bless his name magnifie that Grace of Jesus Christ towards us when others are mourning ye may rejoyce when others howl for sorrow of heart you may sing for joy of heart when others are crying Lord Lord you shall be singing everlasting Haleluâ—ahs Thou wouldst have Grace as well as Glory thou wouldst have Christ and none but Christ with him all things else shall be given in and thou wouldst have him poor soul thou thinkest it long before thou have him why whence isit that thou art not trifling away thy time going to them that sell whence is this but from the free mercy of the Lord towards thee magnifie him give him the glory of it for ever and ever Verse 12. But he answered and said verily I say unto you I know you not HEre is the sad Catastrophe of all the hopes of the Hypocrite in the Parable and that wherewith I shall conclude my thoughts upon this Text they would not be beaten off though the door was shut against them they come and bounce against it with a Lord Lord open to us to you who are you that I should open the Gate now it is shut upon you upon what acquaintance shall I do this for you you are strangers to me verily I say unto you I know you not In this similitude is held out to us the doom of Hypocrites and such as are not found ready for the coming of Christ Or if you will rather the reason of the doom the door was shut upon them before they are excluded heaven there is no entrance there is a repulse and here the reason of it is given as there in Mat. 7. Depart from me saith he which is equivalent it is as much as the shutting the door at least if not more the same reason is there given for it I know you not So that here seems to be two or three things note-worthy in these words I will speak briefly to them and dismiss all winding it up in one application First That many that profess to know Jesus Christ and to be his people yet are not known of him he knoweth them not Secondly Such as he doth not know shall not enter the door is shut against them and when they plead to have it opened they have a denial which is presupposed and as I may say included in the exceptive particle but Lord Lord open to us But he answered I know you not therefore I will not open the door to you Thirdly Whatever formal Professors may delude themselves with as if known of God then it shall be declared to them that he knoweth them not For the First That many that profess Jesus Christ and to know him yet are never known of Christ That this is so I think the Text is as clear as the noon-day as for these foolish Virgins they did go forth to meet the Bridegroom had their Lamps took pains to trim them when they were out and you see they have a Lord Lord in their mouths at the very last and yet saith our Saviour saith the Bridegroom I know you not do but add that other Text and there will need no more proof and that is in Mat. 7. Many shall say unto me at that day Lord Lord open
think it is for carnal end for your corn and wine and oyl that you howl upon your beds you little think when you pray and seek after God it is for ends meerly that you might spend these things upon your lusts that you may appear to be some body be esteemed among men be of esteem among the Saints Well Brethren carry it as covertly as you can so that your own souls are juggled into a delusion it may be yet be not deceived God is not mocked men are apt to be deceived and think that their secrets of sinning their bread eaten in secret their morsels under the tongue shall never be discovered but the Lord seeth all this he knoweth you throughly he searcheth the hearts and tryeth the reins of the sons of men Secondly because he knoweth you therefore he doth not know you he approveth not of you it may be men do approve of you your praise may be among the Churches among the Saints but yet your praise may not be of God he loveth you not savours you not with that favour that he bears to his people indeed some love Jesus Christ had to the young man in the Gospel that was but near to the Kingdom of God he doth not disallow of a form and profession it hath its use the leaves of the trees of righteousness they may be for healing to others an holy profession and walking to the appearance of others may win others to Christ and yet a man may perish when all is done and a profession may serve as a Motive to quicken up themselves to look to the power if the power of godliness be not good and necessary why do men take up a form and if it be good why rest they in a form and neglect it but if there be no more he will not know such a man he doth not know him Thirdly What ever you dream of now he will pronounce that sentence upon you at that day O that dreadful sentence that he knoweth you not he never knew you Ah dear friends if the Lord would but single out any one of us and tell us we are the men what agonies would it put us into Ah Brethren this will make sinners ears tingle to hear this word from the Lord Jesus O let fearfulness surprize the hypocrites yea I tell you this will make your hearts to bleed and your heart-strings crack within you this will pierce you through with the sorrows of hell Ah dear friends if the voice of his Messengers discoursing of righteousness temperance and Judgement to come be so great as to make a Foelix a great man a stout hearted sinner tremble that was not converted O what will it be when the sentence is pronounced against them from the Lord himself for while you hear Preachers though it be terrible when the conscience is opened yet there is a Cordial at hand but when once pronounced by the Lord Jesus there is no more remedy if one word from the Lord Jesus when the Souldiers came upon him and he asked them whom they sought I am he saith he this struck them to the ground souldiers in such Garrisons in Countries kept by the sword they were won by use to to be men of stoutest spirits that would dare sometimes the very Devil himself and yet one word from Jesus Christ's mouth struck them to the ground O Brethren surely this word of sentence will speak men not to the ground but to the lowermost pit It will speak them dumb forthwith that they have nothing to say for themselves It will speak them into confusion and amazement it will speak them into the flames of hell in a moment O this roaring of the Lyon of the tribe of Judah who may abide If the Law was so terrible in the giving what will it be in the execution You read how the Mountains shook Moses himself trembled but the sentence of the Law is nothing to the sentence of the Gospel as this condemnation of hypocrites will be it is to men that have in appearance owned Christ followed him done much in his name and yet he will profess he never knew them they pretended acquaintance with him now but he will never own them You then Brethren that have only a semblance of holiness you seem to have somewhat and have nothing then shall be taken from you that which you seemed to have then your vizard will be pluckt off you pretend to be friends of Christ and of his people to be his Father Brethren and Mother but now will he profess he knoweth you not you that preach in the name of Jesus Christ and do not preach for his name for his glory but for your own he will not own you he will say to you he knoweth you not you rest in this your form this you are ready to plead and not stay your selves upon him he will not know you O but we do lean upon the Lord so you say but mark that of the Prophet you lean upon the Lord and say the Lord is among us and yet they build up Sion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity the heads thereof judge for reward and the Priests teach for hire that is to say their tongues may be hired to say any thing pass any judgement right or wrong and yet lean upon the Lord say you lean upon the Lord and yet will be drunk swear lye cheat over-reach be filthy and unclean allow your â—elves in c 〈…〉 mplative wickedness be sure the Lord will not know such You that regard any iniquity never so little never so secret in your hearts believe it the Lord will not own you he will not know you he will not here own you much less will he when it cometh â—o the judgement It may be thou mayest soar a higher pitch in respect of parts and gifts and confidence and pretend to live higher then other men as many men of higher dispensations they say now do but yet as the Eagle when at the highest pitch hath a learing eye after her prey below so have they such a learing eye a lingering heart after their iniquity and their mouths water at it but for shame O surely Jesus Christ will never own such fear and tremble at this word as many as it concerneth O how will such souls be filled with amazement when they made no other reckoning but to come to heaven if any men in the Countrey should be saved a man would have thought they should have been the men they have done much suffered much wrought wonders c. and yet when all comes to all the heart was never right with God and therefore the heart-searching Judge will never own them never care for them become of them what will he will never know their souls Secondly then it may be for a searching word to poor creatures O be not deceived God is not mocked he knoweth a Balaam to be a Balaam
refuse it the desire accomplished is a tree of life as hope deferred is a sickness of heart but now where a man could scarce act hope as it is the case of some poor creatures O when the Lord shall against their hope own them and that to eternity it will be unspeakably sweet this will fill them with fulness of joy and glory for evermore But so much for this Time and Text. FINIS CHRIST the Sun of Righteousness hath healing in his wings for sinners MAL. 4. 2. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and grow up as Calves of the stall MAlachy is the proper name of this Prophet it signifieth an Angel or Messenger only with the addition of ' as is usual when common names are made proper He is not so called as if he were an Angel incarnate as some have imagined nor yeâ— as if he had his revelation by Angels But haply the name might be put on him without 〈…〉 foreknowledge of what the Lord would call him unto haply 〈…〉 Prophetical Spirit it might appear that God would make h 〈…〉 Messenger But however such an one â—e was and 〈…〉 mporarie with Nehemiah because he exhor 〈…〉 to the building of the Temple as Haggai and 〈…〉 those corruptions among the Jews 〈…〉 the last sheweth to have been among 〈…〉 over the Jews as marriage with 〈…〉 ng the tythes Chap. 3. 8. Depravation of Divine worship Chap. 1. 13. and 2. 8. And that this is the last of the Prophets they themselves acknowledge therefore he admonisheth them that they should take heed to the Law of Moses keep that they might expect no more Prophets until the great Prophet the Lord Jesus come and John his fore-runner God did in Babylon cause Visions to perish from among them in anger There is none to tell when this calamity shall end said they in the Psalmist and now again he causeth it to cease from them that their expectations of the Messiah that great Prophet and of Elias his fore-runner might be raised and that by the want of Prophecy they might be the more ready to receive Christ that great Prophet and to praise him when he should be revealed the Law and Prophets Prophecy until John Zech. and Elizab. and Simeon and the Baptist were so immediately before him that they rather shewed him pointed at him come than prophesied of his coming After he had reproved those corruptions among them as you hear he threatneth spiritual Judgements on them he tells them their expectations would be frustrated they looked for the day of the Lord as if that would heal all their troubles No saith the Prophet it shall be such a day as you dream not of they looked for peace but behold trouble for light but behold darkness they looked for a day of shadowing from the displeasure of the Lord but behold saith he the day of the Lord shall burn like an Oven What day this is is very much questioned some would have it to be the day of the last Judgement only and suitably they understand the rising of the Sun of righteousness to be his last appearing that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illustrious appearing But this seemeth not to be the All if it be intended here but this seemeth not to be a time for growing up as Calves now is the time of perfection in glory Nor yet secondly do I take it only of the day of their calamiâ—y when they suffered so much under the Grecians Kings of Syria and Egypt the Seleucidae and Lagidae the two leggs of that Image in Dan. as some understand it though this also might partly be meant But this day I understand to be the time of Christ's appearing and manifestation to Israel which to some would be a day of grace and rejoycing indeed to others a day of gloomyness according to that in this third Chapter The Angel of the Covenant shall suddenly come into the Temple but who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth for he is like the Refiners fire and like Fullers Soap And alas the most of them would be found but dross and stubble which must be purged away they could not abide the fire So when they rejected the Lord Jesus how fearful a day came on them who could abide it At the destruction of Jerusalem 1100000. slain beside near 100000. taken captive This day burned like an Oven O! a devouring fire it was so fearful a thing it s to have a day of grace a day of Christ come on a people and yet they sleight it and reject it Greatest love rejected turns into greatest displeasure flaming love into flaming wrath heat of affection into a burning of an oven a furnace Hear and tremble Brethren at this we who now have a day of Christ and a day of grace lest we find it in the end such a day as this so terrible to us But now lest those mourners in Zion that did wait for the consolation of Israel did fear the name of the Lord were tender and did tremble at this his word should be discouraged he opens here a creek to let them in to hide themselves provideth a shadow a skreen to set between them and this consuming fire in the words of my Text But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness saith the Lord arise with healing in his wings Ye that tremble at my word shall not be scorched nor this smell of the fire pass on you as it was with the three children The day of the Lord shall be a wounding to others but it shall be a healing to you they shall be cast into a burning oven as stubble or hay but ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall So that the words are nothing else as I conceive but a Covenant of grace tempered into a cordial for poor drooping Spirits which might now be ready to faint to hear how terrible a day this day of the Lord would be which they had expected promising themselves so much happiness in it and their expectations should not be frustrated he would not make them ashamed of their hope But unto you that fear my name c. Here is Christ promised who is the Covenant the substance of it the mediator the surety of it and with him all things else Synâ—â—hdochi understood in these few things here implyed and expressed as light and healing and liberty and growth going on from strength to strength growing fat and flourishing prosperping into a Kingdom yea an everlasting Kingdom The Text then you see being the summ of the Covenant of grace must needs be a bundle of promises made to such as fear the Lord. I may not stand to open each of them until I come to speak particularly to them lest I hold you too long in the porch and we not be able to view any
of the inner rooms of the Text so full of sweetness and comfort Therefore first we shall speak to that promise of Christ unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings and yet before we speak to the promise it self something we must say to the notion under which he is represented in this promise and that is a Sun of righteousness from whence we will observe this Note That the Lord Jesus is a Sun of righteousness There are two things Brethren here to be cleared First that he is a Sun to his people And secondly a Sun of righteousness and what is meant by that First then for that he is a Sun if it be granted that it s he who is here meant there need not much more to be said to make it good And that its a particular promise of Christ-God manifested in the flesh surely none will question for who else is it that 's that good Physitian that can give healing but he I am the Lord that healeth thee but that will appear better afterward Let me add for the present a Scripture or two more to back this with That Christ is held forth to us in Scripture under the Metaphor of a Sun arise and shine saith the Lord to his people in their low and afflicted state he commands Babylon to come down so he would have his people to lift up their hearts arise out of the dust wherein they had wallowed Why what is the matter thy light is come the glory of the Lord is risen on thee and who is this but the Lord Jesus is it not he that was given to be a light to lighten the Gentiles to be the glory of his people Israel the Sun is the glory of the heavens and earth when it breaks out it maketh a glorious day and every thing glorious whose beauty before did not appear yea puts glory on things that had none before its strange to see Brethren things how glorious even over-dazling the eyes they appear when the Sun shines on them which have little or no glory at another time And here in the second verse darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people But the Lord shall arise on thee Well it s he that is that light that is that glory of the Lord. Add but that place in Luke where he is said to be the day-spring from on high visiting us through the tender mercies of our God its true the word there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth either the rising of the Sun most ordinarily or else the place of the Suns rising the East or else some render it a branch that did arise out of the root of Jess But me thinks that is not so agreeable to the scope of the place for the next words are to give light to them that sit in darkness therefore we may here note that the day-spring or rising of the Sun is put for the Sun it self by a Metonymie and the Sun by a Metaphor put for Christ he is the Sun which rising maketh it day yea some there are that would have it understood of the Sun at noon-day of the rising of the Sun to the meridian where it shineth most gloriously and most hot according to that in Matthew where the Sun riseth they wither that spring up quickly and have no root that is the Sun arising to its height then it scorcheth and withereth And this I will not altogether reject here because this seemeth to be spoken then comparatively because the promise is made here to the comfort of such as did then fear the Lord and may afterward fear him which could not be except the Lord Jesus this Sun of righteousness had had some influence on them therefore this may seem to be meant of his rising to the height of the increase of his glory when manifested in the flesh I mean the glory of light manifested to us though it were his own diminution but haply more of this afterward Now I will consider it only absolutely that he is this Sun The Lord is a Sun and a shield and how can he so be except it be in Christ as God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself So of a consuming fire he becometh a refreshing Sun to his people in his influences on them But wherein is Christ said to be a Sun We might follow the Metaphor very far yet not too far neither We abhor that dotage of the Manichees who said Christ's body went no further then the Sun but there it was incorporated on which account they worship the Sun But we will a little instance in two or three particulars wherein the resemblance holdeth between Christ and the Sun First the Sun is one and therefore called Sol from Solus he only hath the ruling of the day ascribed to him And so Brethren the Lord Christ is one though he be two natures yet he is but one Christ one person though he be God and man truly yet he is but one Jesus one Mediator between God and man the Lord Jesus Christ he speaks of him as man not excluding the God-head but to suit to the weakness of poor unbelieving creatures we may go the more boldly to him the distance between us now being not so great he having taken part of flesh and blood whereof the children his poor people are partakers It s true many false Christs there have been and some there are now in our daies but these alas they are but blazing Comets make a little streaming light for a while and fall into a filthy slime at last There are also some Parelii as they call them images of the Sun made in a cloud fitly disposed for such a reflexion of his beams But alas how soon do these images and appearances vanish as soon as by any disturbance the clouds cease to be so disposed the Image of a beauty in a glass in water is far from the beauty it self So do all false Christs and false Saviours whoever vanish He is but one Secondly the Sun is the glory of the heavens Moon and stars have their glory but one star differs from another in glory but there is none like to the glory of the Sun O! the Lord hath put the excellence of glory on the Lord Jesus he is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shining forth of his Fathers glory he speaks here of Christ as incarnate as the glory of God did shine in the face of Moses so that the people could not behold so now the glory of the Lord shineth in the face of Jesus Christ as the Apostle hath it so that we cannot behold it it dazles our eyes stedfastly to behold this his glory as it doth to behold the Sun in his glory Here is the glory of his grace the glory of his wisdom of his mercy his power and all in Christ he is the
is a Sun in a special manner O Brethren have you not experience of it where and how come in your warmings on your spirits is it not in the Ordinances of Christ doth he not breath there and feed there with his people if a man should be so peevish as that he would not have the Suns influence except he did shine in his chamber did move there or shine on the earth or move there were he not most justly deprived of them Here Brethren here in the Word preached and heard in the Seals and Prayer and all the Ordinances of Christ he will be found of his people and above others in private be much in maditation of the sweetness the riches of his love to poor Sinners such as thou art this is to set our faces Brethren towards the Sun O how will this clear the eyes of an Eagle indeed one that is gloriously born of heaven though Owls are blinded by it How will this Brethren darken the beauty and glory of all things here You complain of earthliness and you are fast glewed to the world O beg of God that he would turn your eyes toward himself toward the Lord Jesus behold this Sun in his strength and glory and see if this do not make all things else dull to you to have no excellence in them in comparison of Christ that you shall cry out none but Christ none but Christ O Brethren this would make us sparkle like Diamonds lying under the influence of the Sun it s for want of this that Christians are like Diamonds in the dirt this will make us sparkle as Moses face did shine this Brethren is the way to contract the beams as in a burning glass and set the heart on fire with love to Jesus Christ then our affections will flame then shall we be a zealous people of good works otherwise not Fourteenthly Arise then and shine thou poor fearing soul that liest in the dust be inlightned lift up thy eyes thou that languishest and thy spirit is ready to faint within thee thou art even dying and couldst with fears of thy condition Oh thy light is come is not the Sun in the Firmament though he may be clouded from thee what though there be much darkness in thee of ignorance of discomfort thou walkest in darkness and seest no light the Sun may be up though it appear not it may be day with thee poor soul and thou a child of light and of the day though thou beholdest not the Sun nor the bâ—â—ms from the Sun if thou hast not the light of the Sun the light of his countenance thou mayst have the influence of the Sun notwithstanding that reacheth the parts where the light cometh not And be not discouraged at the enemies of Christ what though the clouds of ignorance errour prophaness and idolatry gather together and seem to threaten the Sun Alas how soon can he dispel them consume them with the brightness of his glorious appearance what if the Dogs do bark at the Moon the Church or at Christ the Sun will that hinder him in his course what though the People when they are scorched with the heat of the Sun as some Pagans are do curse the Sun can they hinder his course O no as a strong man he will run his race and who shall hinder it and those that will not be made fruitful he will burn up and consume therefore be not discouraged and thou that hast much deadness and coldness and hardness be not discouraged there is influence enough in Christ go to him labour to act faith on him set thy self under his influence wait on him in his Ordinances and see if it come not into thee to warm to melt to make fruitful in the work of the Lord. Now for the second which is that Jesus Christ is the Sun of righteousness But lest I should dwell too long on the Text if I should at large handle every part therefore I will rather sum up several things in one Observation and its this Vnto them that fear the Name of the Lord the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings or dâ—th arise with healing in his wings Wherein I will labour to unfold several things and then come to the Application of all to our selves First then What is meant by them that fear the Lord here in this place of the Prophet I conceive by the coherence of the Text that hereby are meant such as when the Prophet had denounced the fearful threatnings of Judgement The day of the Lord to be as a fire oven to consume the stubble c. they were afraid they feared the Lord and his judgements they were apt to be too much dismayed at it but he tels them that to them it should be a day of healing and liberty and light and refreshing to his people The people of God may and ought to be afraid of the judgements of God when they hang bound up in a black cloud but yet in the womb of a threatning and so Josiah was afraid and rent his clothes and humbled himself his heart was tender and he did tremble at this fearful word the judgement threatned against Hierusalem A stout stubborn brawny hard heart never melts nor moveth but such as those are afraid or else if judgement do break out and the decree bring forth the clouds pour out upon Sinners then they are afraid So David was afraid of the judgement of God executed on Vzzah and afraid of the Angel of the Lord. Now to such as these the Lord promiseth a Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing such fear hath torment in it and anguish and therefore hath need of healing but is this to be restrained either to their persons or to their conditions surely no the prophesies are Divine they are of the nature of the author with whom 1000 years are but as one day therefore we are to allow to them a greater latitude such as is agreeable to them they are not fulfilled punctually at once but have springing accomplishment and germinant throughout many ages though the height or fulness of them may refer them to some age and of all other prophesies it is most true of that of Christ with respect to the saving vertues of his blood to his people therefore for persons we must not confine it to them no nor for things to that sort of fear which seemeth to be meant by the series of the context but this as all other promises of God are applyable to any condition of poor creatures to which its suitable As that of Joshuah I will never leave thee is applyed to want in outward things and to encourage them to walk without covetousness Therefore Secondly Fearing of God may be meant such as God hath begun to work on hath convinced them of sin and of wrath by reason of sin there is a fear wrought in such an heart as the poor Jaylour came
so many years and yet not healed have you so often received the Lord his Supper the outward part of it and yet are not healed what have you been praying and reading and coming to hear until you have one foot in the grave and yet not healed what have you been doing all this while that you have never got a sight of Christ a touch of him to this day that you might be healed Ah sure you have spent your time your money upon the Physitians that cannot heal you you have gone to the Disciples in stead of Christ you have expected healing from the Ordinances themselves and expected it haply from us in whom healing is not as they lookt upon the Apostles Why look ye upon us as if we had done this by our own power O no it is Jesus Christ alone can heal and therefore if you are not yet healed he did never arise upon you to this day It may be sinners will be ready to say what if Jesus Christ hath never risen upon us is that such a great matter Indeed I doubt we make a light matter of it but I will tell you what a great matter it is you are yet in your sins and it is a very great hazard but you may die in your sins if he never rise upon thee thou shalt undoubtedly die in them and is this nothing O but you will say God is merciful it is his nature to be merciful he triumpheth in exalting that perfection and making it glorious It is true brethren but it is in Christ all light and healing is from the Father but he hath filled the Son now with inlightning and healing influence so that they who will have it must have it from the Son he hath all power committed to him all the medecines are his now and the power of applying them is so that he heals whom he pleaseth therefore dream not of it you that are wicked transgressors that have not your sins healed that God will be merciful to any but in Christ O but we may have our sins healed though it be not yet It is true thou maist be healed and this is somewhat but consider what a cold comfort this would be to a man that had the plague seised upon him in a violent manner why faith he it may be healled and yet alas be never looks after the Physitian nor â—â—e Physitian after him but groweth worse and worse and yet he may be healed It is true if the Lord do not cut thee off before thou maist be healed or if God swear not in his wrath thou shalt never enter into his rest or say to thee thou shalt never be healed O these secret things belong not to us the Father hath put them in his own power and we presume upon our courses of sinning as if we knew them were privy to them and knew certainly that we should have a day of grace an hour of mercy this is desperate if thou die in this condition with all thy running sores upon thee from head to foot no sound part but loathsome wretches what do you think the Lord Jesus will put such into his bosome Well consider this for the fourth Application of the Doctrine Such as are not healed of their lusts they have never had Jesus Christ arising upon them as yet they never knew Christ to this day let our knowledge be what it will our parts be what it will our seeming following Christ be what it will and thronging upon him never so much we never yet touched him he never yet shined upon our souls O how many such poor Christless souls hear this Word this day 5. Then let us labour to raise our spirits in admiration of the riches of grace in Jesus Christ given to poor sinners to provide a healing for us that when we had faln from the height of mercy or rather grace and goodness and so had all to be broken and bruised our selves broken our bâ—nes that he should provide a healing for us when we could never think of such a mercy what were we more to him then Angels if he had let us all lye under our broken bones under the wounds we had made in our selves and diseases we had contracted who could have had any thing to say against him for it this the Apostle maketh an argument of his love and it is doubtless a heightening of it to consider how free it is that their wounds should not be cured and ours healed when both alike curable to him and considering that they might have been much more serviceable to him then we being creatures of a more glorious active nature then we are yet he took not hold of the nature of Angels But consider we first the infinite disproportion between the Physitian and the Patients were it not wonderful condescention for a K 〈…〉 o come off his Throne to buckle himself about the business 〈…〉 eal a worm that hath been trodden upon O it pittieth him to see them bleeding and therefore he maketh it his business to cure them brethren you would think this strange but this is the case yea this is but a shadow Iacob is but a worm and that the Lord of Lords the King of Kings should descend from his Throne from heaven disrobe himself as I may say put on rags and all to have to do with the wounds and diseases of poor sinful dust and ashes worms and no me 〈…〉 Brethren my tongue is not able to express it we would thin 〈…〉 a great matter such of us as live in the highest honour wear soft raiment are delicate in all things to take up a poor creature in the streets that is full of sores cast out to the loathing of his person to search the wounds have to do with those loathsome sores O what love were this it may be we could be content in pitty to give money for others to do it but to do it with our own hands there is the trial and yet this creature is of our own kind but what are we to the Lord or to his Christ who would do this for a Dog for a Viper a Serpent a Toad if wounded if sick and diseased can we conceive what tenderness it must be above what we have it may be we would not kill or destroy such a creature but if otherwise hurt would we heal them O herein is the love of God to poor sinners high above our thoughts as heaven is high above the earth alas we are more ready to tread upon Serpents and Dogs we would cast them out put them away from us it is but a dog Ah dear friends what are we that are strangers from the Covenant of Promise as we are all until he entereth into a Covenant with us we are as dogs as he speaks to the Syraphinitian woman all such unclean creatures yea we are a generation of Vipers as full of venom of sin as a Toad is full of poyson and
that is our nature as soon as we are born yet alas the Lord Jesus would not have such as we to perish but rather then it should be so he himself would become our Physitian O here is rich grace Secondly In that the Lord Jesus like a Son of righteousness indeed doth not stay until the poor sinner the patient do send for him do come to him but he is the first in the motion you know Physitians of eminency and worth do not use to go up and down to bespeak their patients to proclaim it up and down who hath any work for them no they are too hi 〈…〉 that if any will have to do with them let them find the 〈…〉 out let them waite upon them Mountebanks use to do so they must hang out a bush else it will not be known that they profess they can do any thing pardon the comparison for our Saviour compareth his coming to the coming of a Thief and if a Mountebank be no better yet the comparison is tollerable by that of our Saviour himself I say he will rather come to sinners then that they shall misc 〈…〉 he came to seek and to save that which was lost for alas the lost creature never will seek him but wander and loseth it self more and more therefore we are compared to wandring sheep we all like sheep have gone astray yea the very Saints themselves when once they have been found yet will lose themselves again as David I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant else we should never find the way to Christ again dogs and such kind of creatures if lost will find the way home again but a sheep will not so when we are utterly lost Repent for the Kingdom of God is come unto you saith our Saviour O repent and turn for the Gospel and the grace of the Gospel is come to you the Kingdom of heaven goeth a begging as I may say cometh and knocketh at this door and that door at this family and that to see if they will give entertainment to Jesus Christ whether they will be healed this day is Salvation come to thine house saith the Lord to Zacheus it came to him before he came to Christ though he did indeed run a little for curiosity sake before Christ to see his person yea our Saviour inviteth himselâ— to him he invited himself to come to his house so did not the Lord Jesus come to seek Paul and where did he find him but in blood up to the ears even the blood of the Saints may we not set to our seals to the truth of this That he is found of such as never sought him may we not say truly that alas our own souls and our own families were poor dark ignorant hard-hearted creatures that never thought of Jesus Christ until he first came and brought healing to us the Son doth not stay until he be called up but he riseth of his own accord upon the world Brethren the Lord Jesus this day though by the mouth of a Babe and uncircumcised creature in heart and lips doth invite you all is ready and then he cals this is a part of the message I have from Christ this day and it is a sweet one to invite every poor wounded Sinner ev 〈…〉 poor diseased creature to come to Jesus Christ for healing and O that I could bespeak you as he himself would bespeak you were he upon earth with such a melting heart and sence of your condition O why will ye die is the expostulation of the Lord Jesus why will you die of your wounds of your plague-sores here is balm for you here is healing for you if you will but accept of it O do not slight it do not run away from the Physitian Hath the Lord Jesus been at all this pains to procure a medicine and shall we cast it away and slight it Thirdly Here is the riches of the Grace of God toward poor Sinners that though we cannot tell our Physitian what we ail yet he knoweth our diseases and from him it is that we are convinced of our condition in this respect Physitians are not able to see into the inward parts into the veins the arteries the liver the heart but they judge according to outward symptoms or according to the Patients relation of his disease and how often do they miscarry and mistake but here is such a Physitian he so heals as that he knoweth all our diseases he needs not feel our pulse to see how they beat he can tell where there is a poor burthened soul or a sin-guilty soul knoweth all the guilt and taâ—es notice of it first and from his own notice of it takes occasion to heal it I have seen his ways though he was walking on in the stubborness of his heart though he were smitten he saw not his own ways how froward they were nor his own heart how hard it was but saith the Lord I have seen his wayes and I will heal him Alas how long might Paul have been before he had known his disease except the Lord Jesus had opened it to him come and convinced him of it and so in the case of David and Peter Fourthly Yet further consider the riches of Grace Sinners herein to you herein held forth in that notwithstanding all our unkind dealing with him yet he giveth not over the work would not an able Physitian take it ill that his Patient should go away from him and run to a cheating Mountebank and prefer him before him were not this enough to lose a Physitian Alas do we not all do so He stretched on t his hands all the day long to a gainsaying and rebellious people one runs to one thing another to another The Prodigal to his husks rather then to his Father and the poor woman to her Physitian of no 〈…〉 lue rather then to Christ if Sinners can make a shift to lick over their sores with a good tongue a smooth tongue crying peace peace where there is no peace a sad condition when Conscience is quieted upon mistaken grounds if they can quiet it with a little duty they are well if they can skin over their wounds they are well enough they will stick any where rather then come to Jesus Christ and yet for all this he is ready to heal them O how do Persons beside themselves abuse their Physitian many times fly in their face and so do Sinners now the Lord Jesus cometh with his cordials in one hand his purgatives in the other hand ready to purge to cleanse to heal us and we fly in his face use him most unkindly and yet for all this he is not overcome giveth us not over until he hath healed us of this and all the rest of the distempers of our souls O how do you think the Lord Jesus can endure to be kicked in the very bowels to have his blood trampled under foot
his blood our services healed as well as our souls before they be worth any thing therefore I say he himself freely prepareth the Lances to open the wounds convinceth the poor creature of his condition he himself takes the pains to open the vein to empty the creature of himself to cure him of that Plethory He it is tempereth the Physick is at the charge of it O the richest Cordials in the world tempered of his own blood and water by his own Spirit to support the poor creature when ready to faint he sitteth over his people even as a tender Father over a weak wounded childe and with what a heart you may imagine he provideth Messengers of his own to be with them to minister to them to watch over them and himself is alway at hand Ah dear Friends that ever the Lord Jesus should set so high esteem upon poor sinners when we were in such a loathsom condition as that he would dwell in flesh and take part of flesh and blood that so he might have somewhat to make a restorative of a healing medicine of that we might not perish one drop every drop of his most precious blood with respect to the value which the God-head put upon it is more then if a world of pearl could be decocted into a cordial and yet he spared it not that he should visit sinners with this salvation with his corrosives his cordials with his healing vertue and power and his heart so ready to put it forth from time to time this is unsearchable riches of grace to do all this freely Yea Eighthly and lastly it will appear in this that the Lord Jesus brings his heart full and his hands full of reward with him to a poor sinner so that he will be but healed you see foolish children when they have fallen and wounded themselves they must be hired to let the Father or the Chyrurgion heal it put a plaister upon it but cryeth out as undone had rather do any thing then be healed but alas who would do it to a stranger it may be thou seest a poor leprous creature lie languishing at thy gates and thou canst heal him but he is not willing either he is in love with his disease or distrusts your good will or faithfulness or something but he is not willing to be healed now where is there a heart so full of tenderness as to be willing to offer him a reward I will give thee thus much or thus much if thou wilt but let me heal thee for I pitty thy condition Brethren a King and his subjects fall out they rebel against the King in the war the subject is wounded even to the death except there be more then ordinary care taken of him now the King his heart relents he cometh to him in the prison and doth not upbraid him with his unkindness nor pride nor stubbornness but intreateth him he will give him leave to heal him that he will but suffer his wounds to be searched to be healed to be closed so that he may not perish he will pardon all that he hath done amiss begs of him to accept of him he will make him the second man in the Kingdom he shall be near to him if he will but suffer himself to be healed Is not this rich mercy indeed is there any such Paragon to be found Surely no but lo this is in Jesus Christ and more for he not only promiseth a reward upon our healing but maketh the poor creature willing also willing to part with his lusts and to speak the truth I take this to be the greatest part of our healing when a poor sinner that was in love with sin before loved his lusts as much as his life O his merry companions were as dear to him as his very eye or his right hand he could no more part with one then the other and so his gain of unrighteousness Now when the Lord by proposing of objects which have a great force but that is not all but by a sweet and yet powerful bowing of the heart maketh the poor creature willing to be healed so that now he cryeth out with Augustine How long Lord how long this man is in a great measure healed and this is the work and yet he rewardeth for this promiseth a Crown giveth grace and glory glory with himself fellowship with him to lye in his bosom to all eternity O here is unsearchable riches of grace Brethren I have only if so much brought you to the vein where these riches lie O that you would dig a little by serious contemplating upon it You will find more then I am able to speak Sixthly Another Use shall be this to warn us that we do not upon this score because that Jesus Christ will arise with healing under his wings upon poor sinners therefore to make bold with sin it is no great matter the healing vertue of Christ will be so much the more magnified O how desperate is this would you not think that man were out of his wits that upon presumption upon the skill and tenderness of the Physitian should without any care how or where wound himself and gash himself he hath a Physitian that will heal him you that dare be so bold to sin that grace may abound and make work for Jesus Christ know this this day you know not what the grace of Christ meaneth that make such a use of it how did this stir the Apostles spirit God forbid he doth as I may say recoil as a man startled at some horrid sight O the Lord forbid you should suck such poyson out of so sweet a flower This concerneth two sorts of persons First such as yet never knew what this healing vertue of Christ is only by the hearing of the ear they hear the Lord Jesus is able to heal the most desperate wounds and that he is willing and therefore they make bold to continue in sin they may go on to inflame the reckoning a little higher yet it is all one with Christ to pardon millions as mites to swallow up mountains as mole 〈…〉 it is true if thou respect his power but how dost thou know that he will do it for thee sinner or what hope hast thou or canst thou have while it is thus with thoe It s true if sinners do not sin away the day of grace he is willing but did ever Jesus Christ tell thee that thou shouldest be healed particularly though thou go on rebelling against him wound upon wound upon thy poor soul Surely no be not deceived sinners these are the insinuations of the wicked one this is such Gospel as the Devil preacheth when he preacheth Christ as an Angel of light but in the close you will find the Law instead of the Gospel such presumption and security usually endeth in dispair the time may come that you that make so little a matter of it may cry out and roar O your wounds you refused to be
healed what if the Lord then say to you your iniquities shall never be healed you shall dye in your sins what will become of your presumption then Secondly it concerneth the people of God that have had it may be some experience of this healing vertue of Jesus Christ that have a long time been groaning under the loathsomness and anguish of their wounds and now at the last are healed through abundant grace O take heed of returning to folly any more will you make bold with sin that have known what it cost our blessed Saviour and what it cost your selves what it cost him when as he would himself purge our iniquities he took the Physick and thou enjoyâ—st the cure but is it no more to us Brethren the heaviness of his soul to the death must he bleed to death that we might not bleed to death that our bloody issues might be stopt did it cost him an ecclipse of the light of the countenance of his Father and wilt thou make so light a matter of it walk so watchlesly as we do to go on to grieve him as we do some of us O it is the want of keeping that fresh upon our hearts what the cure of it cost that is the great cause of our so often relapsing And so we forget what it cost our selves it is strange that the burnt child doth not dread the fire dost thou not remember when the Lord came to search thy wounds what it cost thee when he went to the bottom of them O dost thou not remember the stench of them when he came to pluck off the hard crust grown upon them and let thee see and be sensible of the filthiness in them is this forgotten that thou makest no more of sin O dost thou not remember the time when thou wast even weary of thy self a burthen to thy self thou couldst not rest many a weary day and night it cost thee many an aking heart and yet now so soon art making wounds again making work again for Christ Surely this is very ill requital of all that riches of grace Or what can we heal the breaches we make upon our peace by our recidivations when we please It is true if a man had his panacea in his pocket that whatever disease he fell into whatever wound he should make upon himself he could cure it again when he pleased it were somewhat like there were some colour but have you the treasuries of grace in your own keeping have you or hath any man a pardon in a box as the poor deceived Papists are grievously mocked Surely no Alas we can make wounds but we cannot heal them we can make a shift to break our faces and bones but we cannot heal them again it is in his hand and will it be for our comfort then to grieve him by such careless walking what if he resolve to grieve thee and give thee enough of thy back-slidings Will it not be bitterness in the latter end though he may heal it it may cost thee many a throb and much smart for this wantonness Brethren take heed of this O sickness is chargeable it may cost thee mourning all thy daies Seventhly Then let it be for Exhortation to us all that we get under the influence of this Sun of righteousness Sinners we have all of us need of the Physitian for there is never a whole soul among us though to our own apprehension some of us think it is well with us yet it is not we are full of wounds the whole head is sick the whole heart is faint the Lord Jesus hath sent me to tell you where you-may have healing and to perswade you to come to him but alas I am a child and cannot speak Where is there healing to be had you will say you know that as well as you can be told why then how cometh it to pass that you come not to Jesus Christ he hath set open the Store-house the Treasuries of pardoning-mercy and healing-mercy inviteth all that will to come and yet you come not Surely either you do not believe this report or else you do not believe your need of Jesus Christ O consider what hath been said to that part and the Lord help you to believe and perswade you to come to him for indeed it is he that must draw and make poor sinners willing to come or else they will never come to him only he doth draw one way is by proposing the object by holding out a crucified Christ for them And therefore let me a little propose something to you to perswade you to come to Jesus Christ 1. Your need of Christ you have seen for we are all wounded yea even to the death bitten with fiery Serpents the venom whereof inflames our souls and therefore a Physitian we must have or else dye Now there is no healing in any other but through his stripes if you know of any other Saviour that can deliver can heal you take him follow after him but I must tell you when you have spent all you must be fain to come to Jesus Christ for healing and is it not better to come before you have spent all upon other Physitians that cannot cure when all is done O that sinners could but believe this I tell you truth Brethren a Plaister of any thing else made of our own sorrow or tears or righteousness or good works or whatsoever it is so far from being a healing that it will venom the wound more and maketh yet further work for Jesus Christ if rested in as a cure I say you may make a shift to stop the Orifice of the wound with a balm of your own procuring but all the while the sore eats into the soul so much the deeper wrankles within O now the Lord Jesus he beginneth at the bottom and so heals it up say not then Are not Abana and Pharpar Rivers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel when we must go and wash in Jordan if we be healed 2. Consider this the longer you conceal your wounds and hold off the worse will it go with you for either the Lord will let you go on and never heal you but let you languish away in these waies of sin you please your selves so much in or else if he do the longer the wound is wrankling the worse it will be the harder it will go when it cometh to be searched when David had turned his back upon Christ for so long in the matter of Vriah it cost him somewhat it made him roar when the Physick came to work the Lord withdrawing from him haply as long O that while you are called to day sinners now while healing is tendered you would accept of it the Lord make you willing 3. Do but consider what thronging there was to Christ for healing of their bodily distempers they brought them from all parts to him such as could not come themselves and would there not be the
sins pardoned and healed were back-slidings only thou must be content to endure something for the healing of those fearful wounds thou hast made in upon thy soul for there is no wound cured in a moment nor without any anguish and all that he laies upon thee is nothing the smart is nothing though the plaister lie long upon thee before it be healed to draw the sore to a head to break it to draw it to heal it there will be some time but he will heal thee poor sinner if he have made thee weary of this sin desirous of healing indeed And for you that are crying out of broken bones it may be there are some whose condition this is that do fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servants it is the greatest fear of thy soul to displease the Lord to grieve him happy soul with whom it is thus but thou art over-cast thou art clouded thou seest no light thy bones are broken thy spirit is wounded O who can bear a wounded spirit Be of good chear man remember this hath he not promised it that he will arise upon them that fear the Lord with healing in his wings he will heal those broken bones and the flesh wherein there is no soundness by reason of thy sins he will heal it and he is doing of it though thou art not sensible of it he pittyeth thee and knoweth how to pitty thee for himself was ecclipsed though the Son of righteousness that he might know how to pitty them that suffer in the like kind for the time to come he knoweth thy frame what thou canst bear and he will not let thee sink O thou of little faithâ— though he may fright thee as he did his Disciples the cloud will be over again only thou must wait for him he knoweth what it is to be without the light of his Fathers countenance as well as thou and he knoweth what thou canst bear therefore be not discouraged man and beside thou hast his promise for it only look to it that thou fear him that thou put not forth thy hand to iniquity that thou say not with that wicked King Why should I wait for the Lord any longer he that shall come will come in the best season When the mercy will be most sweet and seasonable himself may have most glory by it and thy soul most refreshing O but saith another I am not healed I doubt then for alas I find though haply I break not out as before to uncleanness actually yet I have eyes full of adultery still I find the dispositions and inclinations and yieldings of my heart strong to mine own iniquity still some to one and some to another â—or answer to this Is this thy burthen thy grief that it is so dost thou loath thy â—elf for it dost thou hate it wouldst thou fain have it rooted up thou art healed in the greatest part there is the core fetched up from the bottom though the wound be not altogether healed up it is the work of longer time then haply God hath been dealing with thy soul but be of good chear man lay thy self under the Sun of righteousness labour to improve the Covenant of grace wherein he shines most gloriously he hath promised he will circumcise thine heart and thou shalt be able to love the Lord with all thine heart and that he will subdue all iniquity for thee and see if he be not as good as his word in his own time which is the best time We have already endeavoured to open the main promise in this bundle and apply it with what advantage the Lord and your own hearts can tell you have heard at large that Jesus Christ is a Sun of righteousness and that he will ariâ—e with healing in his wings upon them that fear him So that there is Christ promised light and heat and healing reviving and quickning promised and through him And now we are come to speak to the liberty which is promised with Christ which is none of the least considerable Appendices of our justification through his blood and though you have not long since heard somewhat upon this subject however if you hear but the same things the Spirit of the Lord may breath where and when it pleaseth we may meet with him sometimes in hearing the same things that at another time he hath not been found in And ye shall go forth This is principally as I told you spoken to the Jew to the Jew first but also to the Gentile as all the Gospel promises they were first preached to the children of the Kingdom when the Gentiles were strangers from the Covenant of promises but now the Lord hath made them nigh in the blood of his Son that were afar off in Christ all the promises are Yea and Amen to them as well as to the Jews I told you at the first that we are not to confine promises made to times and persons except by unavoidable neceâ—sity where the matter promised is such and the promise such as can agree to no other time or person no persons or peoples condition can become like to theirs to whom the promise is made or are not capable of the thing promised as the promise of the Messiah to come of David and that in Abrahams seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed c. therefore this is a promise concerning all the people of God as their conditions become alike yea all that fear the Lord in any of these senses we have already spoken to By going forth here some understand a going forth of this life or a going out of the grave which is a prison indeed to some though not properly so to the Saints but a place of repose until the appearing of Jesus Christ So Alap citing Tert. and Jer. the reason is because they took that which is spoken of the day of the Lord in the foregoing verse of the day of Judgement That day which should burn as an Oven but I do rather conceive that it is not meant of the day of the last Judgement but the day of the fearfull desolations of Jerusalem out of which yet the Lord did deliver and save his own people and the rather I conceive so because of the growing up like Calves of the Stall promised afterward now if that be the day there is no room then to grow any higher to spread any further but as the tree is cut down so it lies there is then in the words a promise of an inlargement from under restraint wherewith their spirits were bound up as I may say and were imprisoned and this we shall see I hope is very great only take here the note of observation from the words The Lord Jesus rising upon a soul brings inlargement to that soul or people ye shall go forth For the prosecution of this I shall propose this Method First give you the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the quod that it
is so Secondly the quid what this inlargement is which cometh along with Jesus Christ to a Believer Thirdly the quare why it is so And Fourthly the Vse of the Point First then for proof of this peruse a Text or two in that Evangelical Prophet who doth very eminently hold out Jesus Christ I the Lord have called thee in righteousness there is the Call of Christ And I will hold thee by thine hand or hold thine hand there is the support of Christ in that great work and will keep thee and give thee for a Covenant to the people for a light of the Gentiles He is indeed the Spirits of the Covenant the marrow of the Gospel the very Spirits of all the promises is Christ the speech is â—igurative Well but what is he to do To open the blinde eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house Minde you therefore the Lord Jesus was willing as I may say to be imprisoned in our body if I may so say or if not in other respects he was in prison that he might set his people free bring them out of the prison even as Paul when he might would not go free except they came and fetched them out of prison So here sinners would never go out except the Lord Jesus came and fetched them out A Prince for Rebellion casts his Subjects into prison in the dungeon there they lie and would lie and rot there their stomack is so great they will not ask for deliverance nay if they would they cannot set themselves free the Prince cometh with his own hands knocks off the bolts breaks the bars gates and bids them follow him so the Lord Jesus doth for sinners So again in that place of John If the Son make you free ye shall be free indeed there is much liberty and freedom and you will not hear of your being in bondage but saith our Saviour to set at Liberty is not the work of every one it is the Son that only can make you free and if he make you free you shall be free indeed The Lord Jesus you know came into the world not only to work out salvation for his people but to preach the salvation he did work out not only to shed his blood but to preach remission of sins through his blood as the Apostle hath it How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation Which at the first began to be spoken to us by the Lord and afterward by those that heard him so that he himself preached salvation he himself did work it out for no other name is given under heaven now he preacheth this as a main part The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek he hath sent me to binde up the broken hearted He was anointed there is his Office and because anointed as a Prophet to preach it therefore the Spirit of the Lord was upon him poured out without measure he was gifted and fitted for it which though some understand of Isaiah as well as of Christ yet of Isaiah but as the type Well then to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Now surely if this be the substance of his preaching where he cometh and revealeth himself inwardly to a soul in a soul giveth himself to a soul there must needs be a going forth out of the prison out of the bondage wherein the poor soul was held so we have it in that place saith the Lord again even as in chap. 42. so chap. 49. of Isaiah I will preserve thee and give thee for a Covenant of the people c. That thou mayest say to the prisoners go forth to them that stand in darkness shew your selves and it is no more with God but dictum ac factum his words are operative words mark you they shall Go forth when the Sun of righteousness ariseth upon them his Commission is his work for to say to the Prisoners Go forth if he bid Lazarus come forth he cometh forth he calls the things that are not as if they were commands light out of darkness and so commands Deliverance and Liberty for his poor people that are bound I hope none will say this is all Old Testament proof for this is Gospel as clear as the Sun and to take away all ground of a cavil read but Luke and you shall finde this is the very Text our Saviour preacheth upon to the Jews tells them that day this Text was fulfilled that is to say that he was the anointed of the Lord the Spirit of the Lord was upon him because he was appointed to preach the Gospel to the poor to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blinde and to set at liberty them that are bruised but I may not wast any more time it is but burning day light to hold a candle to the Sun It is written with a Sun-beam except you shut your eyes you must needs see it The second thing Is the quod what this inlargement or freedom is that is here promised and truly this is a large question and wherein most of our work will lie each of us in the general acknowledge a slavery a bondage we are under from which the Lord Jesus doth speak to his people to go forth yea brings them forth but we have not a distinct understanding of it and alas I am the meanest of them who make it their work to preserve knowledge yet as I have received I shall endeavour somewhat this-way to open the nature of this liberty That we may the more clearly proceed we must distinguish of freedom or liberty into Civil and Spiritual Civil is a freedom of maâ—s person from servitude of men so that he shall no more be under â—he yoke and thus the Jews misunderstood our Saviour when he spake of freedom If the Son do make you free you shall be free indeed why said they We are the seed of Abraham we are free-born and we never were in bondage to any man they meant sure they were never particularly sold for servants to any else bred in bondage to any to be their servants not meaning their publick state but private else they much did forget themselves for they had often been in captivity and bondage as in Egypt and Babylon and at present under the Romans but this is not the liberty we chiefly aim at nor may we extend it to this bondage any further then it is a curse now we know the Apostle tels us that if a man be called being a servant care not for it for such an one is the Lord his Free-man neither bond â—or free is there any difference they are all one in Christ therefore our Saviour did not come to break all yokes off the neck of
revealing himself in the soul as the Apostle speaks it pleased the Father to reveal his son in me by which means that darkness and terrour is taken away in great measure Christ is all in all the bondage you heard before it is either sin or the sad effects of sin the revelation of Christ answerably is either for holiness or else by joy and comfort wherein he meeteth with both the other the guilt the bondage he takes away to that end himself was made sin that knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him it is the power of Satan him he overcame yet the power of sin that is broken also sin shall not have dominion over you c. If it be terrours fears whatsoever our blessed Saviour where he maketh himself manifest to a soul is enough to take away all but this you have in effect had before therefore no more of it here he adopts us all Joh. 8. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was used in some Cities in Greece as Grot. noteth Secondly another Argument shall be this that they might serve him therefore they shall go forth while a man is under bondage he is at the command of such as he is in bondage unto and therefore cannot serve another Master whatsoever this specially respecteth that part of the bondage which concerneth sin and Satan when Satan had filled Ananias heart could he obey the will of Christ No no more could Ahab that had sold himself to commit wickedness it is impossible for a man to be a slave of sin and a servant of Christ at the same time I speak not what a man may do for an act or two but a man that doth work sin labour it hammer it in his brain forge it there art it and pollish it and with great dexterity for such a man to serve Christ ye cannot serve God and Mammon saith our Saviour mentioning one lust they are contrary one to another When a man doth wickedness with both hands earnestly there is never a hand left for Christ's service that is compleat service indeed when it is from the heart as seemeth by that opposition thanks be to God that ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the heart the form of Doctrine So that the heart is the main thing if that be gone after sin we cannot serve the Lord Jesus heartily and then for the carkass the lip the eye the tongue he matters it not therefore first the Marriage-yoak must be broken between the soul and sin before they can be married to another even to the Lord Christ to serve him ye are become dead to the Law that ye might be married to another when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness mind you if under the command of sin you are free from righteousness it hath no commanding power over you at all and if a man be under the commanding power of Christ there sin hath not the command of him we must be dead to sin and so free from sin as the Apostle saith he that is dead is free from sin or else we cannot be alive to God to serve him Brethren I know that every man would be thought a servant of Christ and we look upon him as the off-scouring of the world and not worthy to live among men that would not serve the Lord poor creatures while we are under the command of sin it cannot be when a man yieldeth his members instruments of unrighteousness to unholiness and yet pretends to be a servant of Christ What is this but a mockery but be not deceived God is not mocked would you not take this to be a mockery if one come and tells you O Sir I will be your servant if you will give me this or that reward but you must give me leave to do all the service I can to your enemy you shall have the name of my service but your enemy shall have the reality of it is not this a mockery Thirdly That their services may be more chearful therefore he setteth them free from their bondage and this respecteth that part of bondage which concerneth the Concomitants even sorrow and fears and terrours and the like the Lord doth not love to have his people follow him whining he loveth a cheerful giver and a cheerful doer of his will it is much for his honour that his servants should lift up their heads for what would we say to see a poor servant go discouraged and as if scarce worth the earth he goes upon amazed with fears with sorrows sure such a servant hath a hard Master that he hath so little joy of his life therefore the Lord Jesus maketh his people go forth out of the horrible pit setteth them free from all their fears and terrours that they may with a cheerful and a large heart serve him here is love indeed that the Lord doth so sweeten his yoak and his service as that his people shall delight in it therefore saith he that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our lives Fourthly that their services to him may be more strong then otherwise they would a man under bonds brought down with bard bondage cannot do the service which another man can but the joy of the Lord is the strength of his people as in that of Neh. 8. 10. therefore he doth enlarge their hearts that they may run the waies of his commandments takes off the fetters for this very end a poor child of God under terrours and fears or under the prevailing of a lust have as I may say their hands manacled they cannot fight their feet are fettered they cannot walk much less run Fifthly Yet one more and that is lest a poor soul held under bondage too long should put forth his hands to sin this respects specially the bondage of sorrows and fears which are ready to swallow up many a poor creature many times my spirit is over-whelmed within me saith the Psalmist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like case the Lord will speak peace saith the Psalmist unto his people that they may not return to folly any more for if the Lord should lay his hand upon them continually pressing them they could not alway hold out but if they can find no pleasure in God nor in his waies they would be inclinable to return to their pleasures of sin as in that Psalm let not the rod of the wicked alway rest upon the lot of the righteous lest they put forth c. as you see the Psalmists heels were almost thrown up and himself upon his back his faith upon its back in this very respect O saith he if it be thus I must be plunged every morning alway in the net under the yoak of affliction in affliction and iron continually surely I have cleansed my self in vain and these rods are the rods
the Lord who is most slighted in all this should pitty and make a way for their deliverance this is unspeakable rich grace that the Lord should as I may say study a course to make them willing to come forth to which end all the sad and fearfull Characters of this bondage in Scripture are to which end is the Law given that sin might appear to be sin and exceeding sinful and the bondage very great that they might thereby see themselves shut up to this end all those sweet invitations and powerfull expostulations with poor sinners in the Gospel O why will ye die why will ye perish and rot in prison since there is a ransom found for you the Lord takes no pleasure in your death and why will ye delight in your own death O what powerfull Rhetorick are these loving intreaties expostulations the yearnings of his bowels over them his tears over Jerusalem when they would not be gathered under his wings and all this to make the poor sinner willing and when all will not do that he should even put forth a power upon their wills and hearts inclining them to it by a sweet and yet strong though not compulsory influence of his Spirit upon them this is admirable what tenderness was there towards Lot that when he lingered and delayed the Angel took him by the hand and brought him without the City and bid him haste for his life truly there is not a soul delivered from this bondage but there is as much exercise of the patience and bowels of Christ toward them to make them willing yea to take them by the hand when they linger and make excuses as those in the Gospel I will follow thee but let me go and bid farewell to my friends I must not come off abruptly from my old Companions in sin but take leave of them handsomly I must go bury my father saith another but the Lord Jesus takes by the hand plucks us out as I may say by head and ears before we will come out Again consider how we have worn out our selves in the bondage and slavery of sin and with these fetters upon our souls or else spent so that now he may even say we our selves may say of our days there is no pleasure in them so Luke 4. 18. to set at liberty them that are bruised Dimittere confractâ—s in remissionem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words are not in Isaiah 61. neither Hebrew Greek nor Latine but they are added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Luke as some conceive â—atabl and others read them vâ—lneratos persons wounded shattered worn out with the hard bondage and service they were put to bondage is a weary thing at the best but when a man is such a slave as that he must like a Gally Slave work like a horse in the service of sin O what pains sinners do take with both hands earnestly they come to iniquity and so exhaust their spirits the best milk and marrow in the bones so that they are as dry sticks that are good for nothing and yet that the Lord Jesus should to such proclaim liberty bring them forth that are able to do him no service in a manner so the thief upon the Cross and so the Jew that Andreas is said to convert hanging upon the Cross and so many a gray headed sinner that never ceased serving sin yet now c. Truly if the Lord Christ should set us free with a respect to any service we should do him afterward I doubt none would ever be set free for Brethren what can we add to him if thou be righteous it profiteth him not at all he is a God infinitely perfect in himself our goodness extends not to him all the best of Lebanon and the wood are not enough for a burnt offering so great a God he is and yet though he be not advantaged by our service when we are set at Liberty but what commandments he giveth us to observe and giveth us hearts inclineth our hearts thereunto they are for our own welfare as in that of Deuteronomy The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath for his good his advantage and so is all the services or if it were yet alas I say how are we broken many times with the bondage of sin so that we are fit for nothing the understanding and affections so weakned and wasted and besotted with sin that afterward we can do little for him because of that sad effect sin hath left upon our souls and yet he delivereth us this the fourth Vse 5. Then it shall it be for Exhortation and invitation this day to every poor sinner that is in bondage that they would close with this promise that they would go forth O Sinners that you would but accept of Deliverance and Liberty that now the Lord Jesus after so dear a purchase of it doth tender to you you see he is willing he came on purpose into the world to preach and proclaim liberty to the Captives Now art not thou a Captive and hast thou no minde to be set free And for some Motives to stir us up a little at least to a consideration of our condition and what we do all this while First Consider this is the acceptable year of the Lord as in that of Isaiah O it beginneth with the preaching of the Gospel indeed the acceptable year minde you acceptable to Jesus Christ It pleaseth him wondrous well if sinners be willing to come out of prison to be set at liberty there is many a poor soul that thinketh with himself I am willing if the Lord Jesus be willing that I shall go forth O it is the acceptable year of the Lord there is nothing more pleasing to him then to see the ransom he hath laid down for you sinners take effect and bring out many out of bondage the Apostle applyeth it to the times of the Gospel There is joy in heaven c. The Father of the Prodigal how willing was he and then it is the acceptable year to sinners too O how did men that were in bondage long for the Jubilee and breath and pant after it especially if their bondage were hard that set them all free Dear Friends Consider this is the great Jubilee proclaimed solemnly with the Silver Trumpets of the Gospel that every poor creature that will may go forth out of prison yea that if now they go forth the Lord Jesus is willing we should but if we shall trifle away this year of the Lord which we know not how long it may last to us either the Gospel may be taken away from us or else we from the Gospel or else the things which concern our peace in the Gospel be hid from our eyes that we shall never see them O that sinners would but consider this these seasons the Father hath kept in his own power that sinners might be afraid to
trifle away one Sabbath wherein this grace is offered for fear that it never be offered more to us If the Servant did neglect to take the opportunity of the Jubilee he must be in bondage he and his until another Jubilee and so he himself was like to perish in that service There were only three things that did hinder their going free in that acceptable year 1. Either they were strangers and of the cursed Canaanites who were doomed to bondage now there was no going forth for them Or else 2. The Matters would not let them go free Or else 3. They themselves had no minde to go free and so bound themselves for ever to their Masters First I say The Strangers alas the Jubilee was not proclaimed to them and therefore though they might he willing to go free yet they could not they were as good never think of it it concerneth them not and the Masters knowing this would never let them go free surely this is not our case though the time was when we were sinners of the Gentiles and afar off and the year of Jubilee was not proclaimed to us yea the Lord Jesus forbid his disciples to go into the way of the Gentiles If this were our case then there were some excuse for our continuing in bondage and thus it is with many a poor people under the Sun this day the Lord Christ hath never said to them that sit in darkness go forth else haply Tyre and Zidon would have done it sooner then Coraz and Bethsaida Secondly then the unwillingness of him to whom we are in bondage to let us go free it is true sin is unwilling to let the sinner go alas how shall lust be satisfied and served then And so is Satan as long as ever he can he will hold his hold but doth not the Lord threaten the hard hearted Jews since they would not let his people go out of bondage that he would proclaim a Liberty to them to the sword and to the famine and to the pestilence Pharaoh was very loth to let Israel go as long as he had a being therefore he was destroyed And so sin and Satan they will not let the sinner go O how a mans lusts do cling about him then when he should go free what will ye forsake me now have I not brought you in so much content so many sweet hours you have had of repose in my lap so much gain and advantage have you not lived by me and will you now leave me these will stratle the soul and then for Satan either he multiplyeth his baits maketh the best of every thing in the way of sin that now beginneth to be laid open to find colours and glosses to put upon them or else he rageth and tells the soul thou go free dost thou think that now thou hast served sin so long Jesus Christ will accept of thee and indeed all that his wit or power can do he bestirreth himself now he seeth his kingdom going down and his yoak breaking I but remember this that the Lord will break him to pieces tread him under-feet if he refuse to let you go the Lord will pluck you out of his hands destroy his power Thirdly Our own unwillingness for if the servant said he loved his Master and his Masters service and he would not go free then the Jubilee served him in no stead he must have his ear bored to the door-post by the Magistrate and so be his servant for ever either this might be as a punishment of his contempt of liberty now he might have liberty which is rather to be chosen as the Apostle saith and the Lord out of a tender respect to them as his people that he hath bought out of bondage would not have them kept in bondage by their Brethren Now if he would not go free but loved his Master so well that he preferred his service before freedom he should have this torment and publike shame to be bored through the ear And I tell you Brethren it will not be the piercing of the ear that shall be the recompence of your refusing of this liberty but the piercing of your hearts as with a sword when you come to see what your bondage will bring you unto or else secondly That now they must never go out of their Masters doors without his leave the servitude must be stricter then ever it was and so truly I do believe Brethren that now where the acceptable year of the Lord is preached to sinners they have liberty offered and they will not accept of it that now they are more fully under the command of Satâ—n and sin then they were before Thirdly that hereby might be signified the willingness of their service for the time to come that they had as I may say their ears opened now to what ever their Master should command them and so in that Psalm Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not but mine ear hast thou bored or digged so the words may be read that is to say thou hast made me willingly obedient to thee to the death that obedience is better then sacrifice and truly this is the saddest of all the rest when men shall give up themselves with a fuller will to serve Sin and Satan then ever they did before in steaâ— of going forth O let us fear and tremble before the Lord lest while liberty is proclaimed we in stead of going forth be bored in the ear and become Satans servants for ever never go forth from our bondage Again Consider yet further that the day if liberty is proclaimed it is the day of the vengeance of our God also as the Prophet hath it as if he had said if it be not a day of liberty and of going forth to you it will be a day of vengeance to you as well as to the enemies of Christ for what desperate love is this to sin against Christ that when he hath been at so much pains and cost to purchase a liberty for us and we refuse and reject it will not part with our chains will rather rot in prison then come forth what can be expected but wrath to the utmost to come upon such a soul O surely the Gospel will be the savour of death to death to such a soul a savour of bondage to bondage and everlastâ—ng chains of darkness will be their bonds for ever Brethren think of this before the prison doors be shut and barred before you be sealed up unto this destruction Lastly Consider how sweet and precious Liberty is even civel libetty how sweet a thing it is else men would never expend so much treasure and blood as we have done for it Ah this is nothing to a freedom from sin and from other bondages which arise upon sin unto the soul Ask but any poor creature that is newly come out of the dungeon out of the horrible pit where there was no standing will they not
tell you that liberty is sweet it is not to be expressed If Paul had not been free he had had many a lash by those cruel tyrants If the soul be not free it is liable to perish to be whipped to death to eternal death with Scorpions ask but any of the people of God who have been wearied and almost worried with their lusts O the iron entered into their soul they did sit in darkness in the dungeon many a sad day and hour and at last Out of the depths they have called to the Lord he hath set them free O what an Heaven upon Earth they found it when they have been delivered in any measure from this bondage what would they take to be in the same condition again specially under the command of their lusts not all the world brethren the Lord perswade your hearts now now while it is to be had before you be called for out of prison to the judgement that you may go forth and enjoy this glorious liberty O but you would say Alas what should we do in this case we are convinced it may be some poor soul maâ— say of himself that this is a miserable bondage we are in even by sin and the consequents of it and we would fain be set free but we know not which way to go about it we are in a maze a wilderness a labyrinth a duâ—geon we grope and grope and cannot find the way out O what shall we do it may be this may be the case of some of our souls I will tell you what you shall do First Deny your own policy and wisdom know they will not set you free Judas had much knowledge and yet he hanged himself you will rather by depth of reasonings plunge your selves deeper the Gospel is foolishness to them through the pride in their carnal knowledge Secondly Labour to know the Gospel in its tenor and to close with it to believe it you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free truth truly known will set a soul free this truth is the truth of the Gospel for Grace and Truth come by Jesus Christ and it is observable that they are both put together Sanctifie them with thy Truth saith our Saviour thy Word is Truth There are three things here considerable First That there must be a through acquaintance with the bondage that we are under and the better condition of service how much the service of Christ is to be preferred before that of Satan for the truth is while a man knoweth no better he will be content to serve the worse there is never a sinner under the dominion of sin but thinketh he is the freest man and the people of God that are bound up in their Spirits to such a strict way of walking with God he thinketh they are the men in bondage but alas it is because he understandeth not his own condition nor is it a slight hint of such a thing that will usually prevail to a freedom from all sin therefore you must labour to study what this bondage is see what thou art exposed to by reason of it and see what a prfect freedom the service of Christ is O what great reward there is in the very keeping of his Commandments joy is such an inseparable attendant upon obedience that some measure of it followeth every good action as the very heathens themselves acknowledged much more then when the Lord Jesus is the Master and his service the work Secondly Thou must be acquainted with the commands of Christ his precepts are pure and they have an influence upon the heart that believeth them to bring him out of that bondage to set him free I do believe nothing more keepeth many a soul in bondage he knoweth not what the will of Christ is in such or such a particular else he would do it Be acquainted with Christ the summe of the Gospel you shall know the truth that is to say what he hath done to set poor creatures free became a servant obedient to the death was in bondage in prison in the horrible pit how he was put to it to overcome c. Thirdly and principally thou must be acquainted with the promises of the Gospel that are made to this end it is their excellency to help forward our freedom this part of the truth well known so known as to be closed with will make every poor creature free ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free and so this in the text the Sun of righteousness shall arise upon you with healing in his wings and ye shall go forth and so many other places sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace It is the very tenure of the Covenant and of the promises in Scripture that he will deliver his people save them from all their uncleannesses and subdue all iniquities for them yea though they work iniquity with both hands Vers 3. Either we know not these things or else we make not use of them we act not faith upon them the Lord doth love to have his people use the importunity of faith for nothing is so importunate as faith nor offers as I may say such violence to heaven as that doth O Brethren the Lord help our unbelief and forgive our neglect of our faith in this point if thou canst act it but weakly yet put forth some act of faith hang upon these promises tell the Lord he hath caused thee to hope upon this his Word else thou couldest not hope and thou dost hope in this Word else thy heart would altogether sink within thee and will he now make thee ashamed of his hope hath his promise ever failed a poor creature and will it now fail thee But beside this dost thou find thy heart moved made willing indeed to part with sin Art thou in good earnest in this business O yes saith the poor soul I would rather then my life be set at liberty for what good will my life do me if I must continually serve sin and grieve such bowels of love towards me in Jesus Christ have you searched do you know your hearts in this point it may be thou hast not that heed of trusting thy heart further then thou seest it it will deceive thee then but if thou hast searched it and beg'd of God to search it and thou dost not find but he hath through infinite riches of grace made thee willing to come out if thou couldst tell how I tell you Brethren if this be so the chains are fallen off from your hands and the bolts from your legs your freedom is in a great part accomplished only thou canst not find the way out of the prison O then follow Christ follow his Spirit when he moveth thy heart at any time to search and try maketh thee tender puts thee into a frame to bewail the evils of thy heart take
Take heed of returning to that Covenant of works or Covenant of life which was a yoak of our own making if our blessed Saviour hath been pleased to break it set us free shall we retâ—rn to that bondage again I doubt this is a great cause of much sorrow and heavy walking before the Lord of many a poor creature O he cannot do this and he cannot do that and therefore he doubts all is not well with him whether he have any thing to do with Christ It is true if he had made our doing our perfect obedience the condition of his Covenant it had been somewhat but he hath not but faith in him take from him for all ends and purposes not only for pardon but for strength for food for victory over our sin Now we go off this and therefore we move so heavily and cannot stir but are like a door off its hinges a Chariot off its wheels bring much bondage and trouble upon our selves and much of our time and pains is spent in poring upon this and getting healing again for this which might be spent in glorifying him Therefore beg of God to this end that he would establish you with his Princely Royal Spirit where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty the Son maketh us free by his Spirit and therefore David maketh that prayer as being sensible of this O beg this Spirit for establishment the Lord will be intreated he puts arguments into our mouths and giveth us the greatest encouragements to beg the Spirit of any other mercy that I know of as being the greatest mercy and the principal of all Gospel-grace and therefore being so great a gift poor sinners might be affraid to ask but saith he you are Fathers whose affections are finite and mixed you are not pure love yea you are evil and yet will give good gifts to your children much more will God give the Spirit this the Apostle is earnest with the Lord for that he would stablish and strengthen his people to every good Word and Work for grace is but a creature and so is weak cannot consist of it self without him therefore be earnest here Thirdly Since we are delivered from outward pressures the yoak that did gall the necks of the people of God as before hath the Lord set us above our enemies hath he before our eyes brought our Egyptians down in the red Sea of blood and shall we return thither again I speak not of the same bondage I hope the Lord will keep his people from that but I speak of a worse to be delivered from a tyrannie of man to return to a tyrannie and dominion of sin it is sad the heathens could say Servitus gravissima est sibi ipsi servire it is the heaviest yoak for a man to be yoaked with his own ends and interests to seek himself serve himself specially his sinful self to make provision for his lusts It was a sad character of Rome that Angustine giveth her Victrix gentium captiva vitiorum What are we the better for being delivered from that bondage if such as were humble then and low and meek and self-denying now are high and fierce and self-seeking proud and wanton and luxurious their whoreing hawking and hounding and spending their time in such sports which should have been laid out in publike service was lookt upon as a great evil God caused their houses and lands to spue them out I wish we be not beginning to come under that worse yoak now we are delivered from that of oppression was it not better for Israel to work in the Iron-furnace in the brick-kill then to be enslaved to their lusts in the wilderness and there to perish and was not Babylon better for them then to be at liberty and yet to become slaves to their lusts to their Idols Brethren I pray you let us look well about us every one it is true the day of the Lord it hath burned like an oven among us and many have been as stubble fully dryed put into it the bryers and brambles that did scratch and tear the people of God they are consumed God hath gone through them and consumed them and are we any thing the better are we not worse If we now melt away with the sweetness of our liberty grow luxurious and wanton wanton in opinions that men know not well what they would be but any thing so it be new and the thriving way and wanton in apparel are there not as many slaves to pride to vanity to self as there were then to the lusts of other men I beseech you which is the worse to be at the mercy of another mans lusts which can but reach the body and effect our sorrow for a time or the mercy of our own merciless lusts which will work our woe and ruine O therefore look to this then if set at liberty slie sin as he said to Lot flie for thy life c. slie fornication and youthful lusts c. said the Apostle The third part of the Exhortation then shall be to take heed how we abuse this our liberty as saith the Apostle not using our liberty as a cloak of malitiousness haply alluding to the manner of persons The Apostles scope in that place leadeth us to one part of the sense of this abusing of our liberty and that is to think they are so free now that they need not have their necks under the yoak of men at all for that goeth before exhorting them to submit themselves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake to be subject to the higher powers and subordinate powers is very consistent with this spiritual freedom was there ever any so free as our Saviour who is the Son that maketh us free and yet did not he submit submit to his parents was subject to them and subject to the powers under which he lived because his Kingdom was not of this world and would it suite with the head and will it not suite with the members But I hope I need not speak much to this But there is much more wherein we may abuse our liberty as children by a carrying it frowardly and rebelliously against their parents upon pretence of liberty and servants that are under the yoak it may be think they may do much in this case more then they have warrant to do because they are free it may be and their Masters haply in bondage under sin therefore shall they despise them No but count them worthy of all honour serving them in singleness of heart as unto Christ not for by-respects and ends for fear of their displeasure but for Christs sake to do it this is freedom indeed But to speak a little more generally many men think when once they have gotten their necks out of the yoak from under that bondage and those fears that they have been under they think now they are at liberty they are past
all the worst when they have gotten a little peace and therefore though before they walked mournfully before God and were diligent in following hard after him now they slack their pace grow remiss they have their consolations the loaves they would have and now they may take their ease O this is a horrible abuse of this liberty for therefore the Lord speaks peace that we might not return to folly and we quite cross because he hath spoken peace to us therefore give up our selves to folly is not this to walk contrary to him and will he not walk contrary to you is not this to make our liberty a cloak an occasion to the flesh a handle for the flesh to take hold of and so to bring you into bondage again and so make more work for Christ to set you at liberty again Brethren can we make our liberty a cloak to the flesh and do you think the Lord will not pluck that cloak over our ears and shew us our nakedness again and make us know how we come by it again before we have it and therefore take heed of this I beseech you lest your liberty degenerate into licentiousness Maxima libertate minima licentia said that Antient. But yet more particularly take heed of abusing of your liberty in the use of things lawful in themselves and indifferent it is a sign of a heart that hath little fear of offending God that dare walk just at the very brink upon the very line of destruction between sin and lawful liberty if it can be assigned You find the Apostle of another Spirit rather then offend his weak Brother he would never eat meat while he lived why how would he live rather upon herbs and fruits and such things then to eat flesh as long as he lived too I tell you Brethren in our daies though there is much discourse of liberty there is little true use of it when a man will offend all the people of God and his Brethren rather then he will part with an excrement and a woman rather then sorbear her spotting and painting and bedlam nakedness If the things be lawful in themselves which I think they are not or a man will rather grieve all the people of God then cross his humor this is sad Again Brethren one man may have a greater liberty then another in this case and another greater then he in another case as for instance now Abraham might look upon Sodom when it was flaming but Lot might not because there he had his desirable things lest it should draw back his heart from the journey now commanded him and so if a man do but observe when temptations and lusts meet together where his corruption lies what is the scum of his heart and what doth use to fire his lusts there he may not give himself such a liberty as another may whose temptation lies in another thing as if a mans temptation lie to excess in eating in drinking it is not lawsul for such a man now to look upon the wine when red c. to come in the danger of such a temptation and so if a man have eyes full of adultery that cannot cease to sin he may not behold an object that another may whose temptation lies not there In a word look to it Brethren that we serve one another in love this is opposed to using our liberty as a Cloak to the flesh to bear one anothers burdens Brethren we are not at liberty one from another we may not say with Cain Am I my Brothers keeper we ought not to despise the infirmities of the weak because they see not as we see and therefore are grieved and offended at many things that we make nothing of here we ought to bear their infirmities to cover them to labour to inform them and forbear them not despise them become all things to them that we may lawfully as the Apostle became all things but a sinner to gain them this is serving one another in love and the labour of love either to God or men is a free service indeed we are rather ready to serve our selves one of another for ought I perceive generally it is so then serve one another in love Brethren I doubt there is little love for Christ sake though there may be some for our own and then all the liberty we talk of it is but bondage the Law of love is a Law of liberty indeed but enough of this Fourthly Then look to it that we being free from sin we become the servants of righteousness that is to say that you give up your selves yield your selves unto God unto Christ as instruments for the holy Spirit to play upon as instruments tools weapons of righteousness for the Lord to make use of even as he pleaseth this is the end of all that liberty held out in the Covenant of grace that we being delivered from the hands of all our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness all the daies of our lives Now hath the Lord then set thee free brought thee out of the horrible pit broken off the shakles knockt them off set open the prison what can we do less then this spend our selves now in his service O if men would but consider how much of their strength and spirits sin hath had while we were under that bondage Me thinks it should put us on so much the more earnestly specially considering how our service addeth nothing to him it is for our own good as you heard before and it is all he expecteth for delivering of us What poor Gally-slave would not most willingly yield to a Noble-man to be his servant where his service is honourable and pleasant and delightful so be he would redeem him why this is the very case Beside if we consider the fruit here and the reward hereafter the Apostle puts both together and I will not put them asunder the first-fruits and the harvest they have their fruit unto holiness the more we serve the Lord Christ the more easie pleasant and delightful will his service be the more our souls will shine with the beauty of holiness as the bondage groweth by continuance so doth the freedom by this service I dare say the more acquaintance any poor heart hath with a diligent close humble upright walking with God the more pleasant the waies of God are to him yea and the more holy that man groweth it must needs be so because he hath more communion with the Fountain of holiness even God in Jesus Christ and the Spirit also would you be holy Brethren would you be more and more freed from the remainders of bondage which are upon you Believe it the only way is to lay out your selves more in the service of Christ the Spirit of Christ will delight to be where he is entertained where his motions are received every hint is taken and followed and improved and the
in the Gospel inculcate this upon the Disciples fear not him that can kill the body but fear him that killeth soul and body And so if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye but if by the Spirit ye mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live these threatnings surely would not have been written to Believers except they were to make some use of them to be as an awe upon their spirits to keep them from sinning to be a quickning to their souls Now on the other hand it is true that there ought not to be in us such a fear as to distract us to drive us from to weaken our Spirits to disable us from duty to cloud and drown all our delight in his waies to blot out our apprehensions of his loveliness and compassion and bowels so as to beget hard thoughts in our hearts of God which will produce hatred of him such a fear ought not to be in us and though there may be a spice of it sometimes even in the best when they are not themselves yet this is not the prevailing principle in the soul but an holy fear of offending him which ariseth from a mixture of love towards him and holy reverence and awe of him and of his Majesty and Greatness and truly Brethren this is no enemy to spiritual liberty But I must not dwell so long upon things But secondly the main thing that I know most troubles a gracious heart is that he finds himself so much under the power of sin O I find not this freedom this liberty you speak of I am a wretch then under the power of my corruptions O the sad complaints to Christians to men continually from some poor disconsolate souls and to speak a little for their consolation if the Lord breath in it First Brethren you must know this that as sin hath had a time of settling and rooting there will be a time of unsettling it thou art of yesterday it may be and dost thou think to be so free the first day as they that have many years been wresting and fighting and praying and fasting and mourning and believing down their lusts This is a great mistake it is infinite mercy that thou hast thy hands let loose and thy feet out of the mire and clay and that thou art set upon a Rock that thou hast now a standing and liberty to fight thou must not expect a liberty from fighting and conflicting with sin while thou art in the flesh mind you the Apostles two or three verses of the same Epistle to the Romans he saith the Law of the Spirit of life the powerful working of the Spirit of life hath set him free from the Law of sin and death and yet a few verses before O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death thou groanest under the burthen whereby it appears thou art delivered in a great part thou art willing to be freed and when the will is disintangled the man is free in a great part Secondly Brethren know this for your comfort that your labour is not in vain striving against sin fighting with it you are sure to overcome though sin lie hard upon you you shall overcome it First the Lord he is able to break all the bonds if he will deliver Peter out of prison what shall hinder his chains shall fall from his hands the Iron-gates shall open of their own accord before him nothing shall be able to hold them It was somewhat hard for Israel to believe that they should be delivered out of Egypt and somewhat a strange Message of Moses at the first even as one should be sent to the great Turk to tell him the God of the Christians commands him to let them go but God tells him and them that he is that he is I am hath sent me the great God who is being it self and from himself he is what he is he is able to destroy the Egyptians dost thou believe this that he can subdue thine iniquities thy strong impetuous violent lusts Secondly then he will do it he heard Israel groaning under bondage and came down to deliver them he remembered his Covenant it was his faithfulness Brethren that brought him out the self-same day the Lord delivered them and the Lord will keep time to a day with thee that groanest under this bondage if thou werâ— but humbled if it had done its work upon thee for that and such like ends he would not suffer sin to prevail upon thee any longer for he letteth not lusts loose upon a soul to woorry it but to humble it make it out of love with sin to drive it to himself to make it for ever cleave closer to him now there is promise upon promise for this you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free he speaks this to his Disciples who did already know it in part know himself the truth the way and the life and the truth in opposition to shadows grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and it shall make you free how many promises are there as in the text therefore surely he will do it Now what an encouragement it is to fight when we are sure to overcome yea to endure hardship in this conflict But thirdly consider it is the very office of Jesus Christ the work which he received of his Father is to destroy the works of the Devil to destroy strong holds to lead captivity captive therefore he came into the world if it had not been for such poor creatures as are under bondage there had been no need of Christ he came to give himself a ransom for many and to preach deliverance to them and the opening of the prison to them that are bound you have heard already and therefore he was annointed of his Father and received the Spirit that he might set open the prison doors Now poor burthened souls if any such whose body ofsin and death presseth them down sore and they walk heavily goâ— to him spread your condition before him put him in mind wherefore he came into the world to set open the prison to loose the prisoners and thou hast an infirmity and haply been bound with it many years beseech him to exercise his Office towards thy poor soul the Lord loveth to hear his people earnest and importunate to plead it thus with him but if thou canst not yet be sure he will do the work which his Father hath given him to do and what is that but to set at liberty such prisoners as thou art that groan under the burthen and bondage of their lusts Fourthly Consider how pittiful a heart he bears to his people labouring under corruption when we are weak it may be sometimes the spirits of a poor creature are spent in labour in other services and he thinketh he should be as lively then as at another time but it is not likly so to be
have known and therefore you deserve a rebuke for it and so it may be good mens faults now a daies but yet they dare not exclude them from the Kingdom of glory Secondly It is to be noted that no unclean thing shall ever enter into that place Children by nature are the children of wrath poor leprous polluted creatures and therefore if there be not a pardoning grace and cleansing mercy for them how can they enter into glory and because we cannot apprehend how it should be conveighed shall we therefore deny it are we not all of us pure receptives in the first grace and are not infants as purely receptives as we Yea are they not more purely receptives then we for though it is true they have the same seeds of rebellion the same spawn the same venomous poysonous nature with our selves miserable sinful off-spring of miserable sinful parents yet according to their own principles they cannot put it forth into such actual rebellion as we and do not the acts increase and strengthen the habits and the stronger the habits are the stronger the opposition is against Christ and therefore they are more purely receptive then we are and therefore Thirdly What hinders but they in as short a time as the thief upon the Cross may be brought to as high a degree of grace as he though in an unspeakable manner Was it not more then ordinary that John leaped within the womb at the voice of the mother of the Lord it was more then ordinary else the mother would not have wondered at it though a miracle it were truly Brethren every work of grace is a miracle and the greater miracle it is to work upon a desperate prophane hard-hearted sinner that hath all his life-time been working wickedness with both hands earnestly to make such an one in one day fit for heaven and glory as the thief upon the Cross where there is greater opposition is not this a greater miracle then the other Beside let it be considered I beseech you what our Saviour saith he that receiveth not the Kingdom like as a little child cannot enter into it It may be some will say this is nothing he compareth his Disciples to Doves and Sheep c. and so he doth to a little child this proveth nothing But let it be considered and weighed and then I leave it to the judgement of impartial persons he saith not only you must be like children and like Doves for innocency he saith not you must be like children for humility and want of envy for love no but ye cannot enter except ye receive the Kingdom as a little child the comparison lies in the receiving the Kingdom as well as in the qualities so that except little children did receive the Kingdom how can the Disciples be compared to them in receiving the Kingdom how can they be as I may say made the very standard in receiving the Kingdom of God we must receive it as little children receive it you never find such a like speech of Doves or Sheep that we must receive the Kingdom as Doves or as Sheep because they are not capable to receive the Kingdom it was never appointed nor prepared for them Now if little children be made as I may say the pattern for humility self-denyal which I tell you Brethren goeth far in Christianity O which is the first step humility the second humility the third humility it reacheth to the top of the Ladder and not only so but the very pattern in receiving the Kingdom of God Surely then such children as we allow as we must allow some else the comparison were not true nor rightly framed they must be allowed to be as holy as any others truly Brethren me thinks if we consider how much innocency there is in these little ones which is not in us O how we have rebelled all our daies which they never have done played the hypocrites before the Lord which they never have done dealt falsly in his Covenant which they never have done have such strong lusts in act and vigour and strong habits of sin pride and envy and hatred to oppose the workings of grace in us which they have none of me thinks it might easily be yielded unto that former supposition that many of them are saved and who dare deny it that they have grace and a great measure so as to be made the standard of receiving the Kingdom therefore they may quickly come to a great height but thus much for this reason I am carried further then I had any thought when I first minded it as an Argument Thirdly Another reason may be because the greater our growth is the more honour he hath from us and the more services and we the more comfort this doth much what concern the growth of such as are of years of understanding for to such I speak I give it therefore as a reason only of the growth of persons of understanding though some part of it may reach others First then hereby God hath the more service Alas what service hath a Father or Mother from a little child when it hangs upon the breast many a weary hand she hath with it in its frowardness but no help at all but when grown up it will do something so while a poor Believer is weak and feeble feeble knees and weak hands alas can scarce stand upon their legs every little wind of temptation or doctrine is ready to blow him over and stagger him he stands scrupling and trembling at every step and doubting he cannot set a foot before another but the Father is fain to take him by the hand and teach him to go as he did Ephraim this is the great time of Gods taking pains like a tender-hearted mother with his children and truly if his bowels were not as a mothers bowels yea much more infinitely he would never endure to handle us so tenderly in all our weakness and loathsomness now when we are grown up into Christ are strong in his might and power then we are able to do him some service and he expecteth it of us though the Lord knoweth we often requite him as Ifrael did after all his tenderness he nourisheth and bringeth up children feeding us with the bread of heaven Manna is our daily bread the Lord Jesus he maketh out somethng of him to us continually whereby we grow and presseth the promises by his own Spirit that they may give down their milk and sweetness to us and when all is done we rebell against him even to the breaking of his heart as he speaks after the manner of men but this costs the people of God dear whoever they be though it be true the Lord hath no need of our service we profit not him at all he can work deliverance for his people and Church if there were never a Hester to pray nor mediate to the King some other way he will do it yet he ordinarily useth
Christ when we walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit for a man to pretend to have no condemnation upon him and yet walk after the flesh loosly and vainly wickedly and yet never doubt nor question his condition I say that man is in a desperate security a lethargy it is very great odds but he perisheth in it the Apostle saith such shall die and they say they shall live but they will one day know whether Gods Word or theirs shall stand Well then this much furthers their comfort and this is one of the Lords great designs for our good that we should walk comfortably and therefore he brings oâ— that his work that spark in a great deal of green wood that smothers and smokes and puts out our eyes almost with weeping at it he bloweth it up by his Spirit more and more and bringeth judgement to victory victory over our corruptions through the strength of the Spirit and so victory over our doubtings fears and discomforts O what riches of grace is here but thus much for the Arguments of the point For the Application then First this will speak the sad condition of two sorts of persons and those are First Such as make a profession of Jesus Christ and yet grow not are at a stand we do innovere but not promovere like a horse in a mill go round and are at night where they were in the morning they go round in a formal compass of duty but alas grow not by it at all look upon many professors and consider what they have been and shall you not find they had as much life seven years ago as they have now they are grown in faith nothing their faith is still as a grain of Mustard-seed if they have any at all indeed as they may its true and yet not grow for a time the Apostle speaks of silly women that are alway learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth and there are silly men among us that are alway learning and yet are not come to the knowledge of the truth Some indeed I pitty much there is a natural defect in their understandings by mediation whereof all this growth is perfected and it is so great in some that they will hardly ever be able to apprehend much of the wisdom of God in a mysterie it is well if they understand the main thing without which there is no life but these are not the persons I speak of but such among us have wit and parts enough can understand and manage and improve any thing else they take in hand and yet in the matters of their souls they take up their rest like tyred Jades that will go no further the Apostle reproveth the Hebrews for it sharply that when for the time they might have been teachers of others yet we had need to be taught our selves the first principles of the Doctrine of Christianity truly Brethren me thinks you that have long known Jesus Christ and have gray hairs upon your heads and are found in the way of righteousness when you see young striplings out-grow you and apprehend much of the mysteries of Christ which you do not this should be a shame to you it is a strange sottishness and security that seizeth upon men in respect of their souls they would think shame that a young man of little or no experience should know them to manage their trade better then themselves that are of so long standing and experience but here they are content to be out-stript and content themselves with any thing that your grace should be so small as I may say in the seed still so small as a seed and scarce discernable to this day O what a sad thing is this now your salvation is nearer then when you believed and you are as far from being meet for it as when you believed O how unfit are we for death though we have one foot in the grave already some of us and we do not heed this Surely if this be a truth that those who are planted in Christ do grow and thou canst not find thou growest what canst thou conclude but one of these two things First that either thou hast all this while deceived thy self and thought thou hadst the root of the matter within thee and hadst it not for if thou hadst thou wouldst have grown The Kingdom of God will not be alway as a grain of Mustard-seed and that which is in thee haply appears to be no more and is not this a sad condition Brethren is it not high time for you to look about you when you are grown to such years and never have been planted into Jesus Christ never made one with him to this day I say a man that findeth he groweth not at all he is where he was so many years ago hath cause to fear this and me thinks this should startle us a company of lazie professors that never matter whether they improve or no. Or else secondly which is bad enough that thou hast some sad disease upon thee that hinders thy growth surely somewhat is the matter Brethren it is not right with you if you have a child stand at a stay for two or three-years while it should grow you see it is a living child but it groweth not O surely it hath some disease or another some obstructions hindering the course between the head and heart and the members and you fear such a child will not live O that you would but apply this to your souls sure you have some desperate disease upon you some obstruction or another it may be the world is gotten between you and the root and the head which is Christ and so the communication is hindred you grow not up into him draw nothing nearer to him at all doth it never enter into your hearts to consider this Brethren are you not afraid of perishing in such a condition I am sure your condition is sad that a growing sensible Christian would not be in your case for a world and are you not sensible of it it is so much the worse O how will you answer it Brethren considering how much influence you have had from on high the Ordinances the fat things of his house in abundance the sincere milk of the word you have had in this place for a long time more then most places have had it and yet your souls have prospered no more under it you have had five Talents and yet it may be many that have had but two but one have out-stript some of you where you have had five Sermons five opportunities of grace many a poor soul would have been glad of one and yet such it may be stronger in faith more in humility more spiritual minded then we are can you answer this at the great day But thus much for this first Secondly It sheweth us the sad condition of such as instead of growing in grace alas they grow worse and
are we to believe Satan and the world when they shuffle us off from this work of casting up the accounts of our souls I think we may all of us or the most of us plead guilty here have we our times Brethren we set apart for this work of self-searching and tryal not an hour in a moneth or many moneths when we come to the Lords Supper an hour in a quarter or a day in a year yea do you ever perform this duty at all truly it is an ill sign when we are so backward to search the Lord perswade you to the duty you heard before how sad a thing it is to be at a stand not to grow and beside how canst thou be thankful if thou take not notice of it he loseth his glory and that will neither be for our advantage nor comfort And here I hope it may not be beside the Text to speak of growth under that other ordinary Simile of growing like trees or plants in Scripture nothing more ordinary then that where Believers are compared to trees of righteousness and branches in Christ the Vine and what is included in this comparison here as to the growth in quantity increase in quality and goodness and swiftness of it I hope I shall meet with in the other First then look whether you grow more into the root you grow downward for if a tree grow not in the root proportionably you know it will be top-heavy and every blast is ready to over-turn it that soul groweth to purpose that groweth then in the root more now what is this root but the Covenant of grace as you have heard when God would cut a people down by the root he would dis-covenant them now the Lord Jesus is the main of the Covenant and therefore called the Covenant he and his Spirit are the great promises of the Covenant Chrisâ— as he is tendered for righteousness for holiness for redemption and all Now there are three graces specially which respect the root Jesus Christ whereby we may be said to grow in the root and therefore let us labour to search and try our selves by them The first is Faith Brethren whereby indeed we are planted into him and as that grows so we are said to grow in the root time was when our faith was but as a grain of Mustard-seed but now hath it deeper rooting faster hold of Christ do we now embrace him more closely then we did time hath been it may be when we have understood little of the Covenant of grace and so consequently could give but an assent to what we understood of it and an answerable consent but dost thou now understand it more to give a firmer assent to the truth of the thing wherein the Lord hath promised to give his Son and with him remission of sins that he will remember them no more and blot out their iniquities thou assentest to this truth now more then thou didst before O the bloodiness of thy guilt was that which dismayed thee the horridness the filthyness the multitude the aggravations of thy sins now thou seest and consentest to the truth of it that God will swallow up all they shall be though scarlet as white as snow though the time was the sight of thy sins did as much amaze thee as the sight of the Egyptians did the Israelites O thou knowest not what to do now thou canst look upon them as swallowed up in the red Sea of the blood of Jesus Christ O a Sea of mercy a red Sea of precious redeeming blood what will it not swallow up dost thou find it O observe Brethren how you grow in your assent to it and so for mortification subduing iniquities because thou hast been prest and pestered with thy lusts thou hast been ready to â—ay all men are lyars in thy haste O notwithstanding this Covenant of grace I find my corruptions strong and lively but now thou dost not upon this account question the Covenant but assentest to it and closest with it consent as well as assent and so waitest upon God for the fulfilling of it until his time he that believeth maketh not haste though he make it not to grow yet this is all thy salvation here thou hangest thy hopes and off this thou wilt not be beaten though heretofore thou hast found alas thou couldst hardly fasten upon it at all do you find this Bretheen see in what degrees if we grow not here we grow not at all to any purpose Secondly And that which is indeed included in the former is that of self-denyal if any man will be my Disciple he must deny himself and take up his Cross Deny himself all that is desirable in himself all that he lookt upon as conducible to salvation whether his works or gifts or duties his priviledges or whatever It is true we had a root of our own in Adam but that worm of sin hath smitten the root and it is withered and it is but rottenness and therefore there is no growth to be expected from it but what will be rotten Now Christ alone in the Covenant of grace is the root and the more we grow off our own root the more we grow into him as the root Now consider this Brethren it may be the time hath been thou hast builded much of thy hopes and comforts upon what thou hast had in thy self O if thou couldst but do this and that thou couldst be quiet and take comfort in thy condition now though thou do more or do less whatever thou art enabled to do through him dost thou find that thou canst bless him for it and yet go out of all and be as though we had never done any thing counting all but as menstruous cloaths and yet not the less but the more encouraged that our own righteousness is not the bottom because then it could not be sure but we have such a root as never withers even Jesus Christ Alas how far short are we in this though we have seen it many times when we would be standing upon our own bottom that we cannot stand upon a thing that stands not under us but sinketh only upon the Rock Jesus Christ yet we have not learned this many of us I doubt this hinders our growth much as if a vessel be indeed afloat yet so shallow keepeth so near the side of the shore as that it ever and anon strikes upon the ground it can make no considerable progress and is in danger of smiting beside so it is in this case well consider then this hath been our case we could not launch out into the deep perfectly trust to that grace revealed in Christ we must have one foot upon the ground we must feel something of our own under us or else we could not be quiet is it thus with thee now that thou arâ— more come off this thou canst now though thou see nothing in thy self yea when there is most appearing in
Jesus Christ Ah dear Friends I beseech you consider this some of us sure that hear this this day our hearts do tell us we have been the chief of sinners never viler then we and hath the Lord met with us not as an enemy but poured out upon us such a stream of love as we could no longer withstand it and yet do we not love him accordingly O labour to grow in love to Jesus Christ Thirdly Mind the particular experiences thou hast had of his love and tenderness to thee So the Psalmist I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice when he was in distress then he cryed to the Lord and he heard him therefore he would love him how many deliverances hath the Lord wrought particularly for us specially he hath kept us from sinning such a time and such a time so that thou didst not go on to the wounding of thy conscience the dishonour of his name and wilt thou not therefore love him O dear friends how often hath he shaken the rod over thee and yet hath spared and canst thou not love him yea though a child thinks the rod cannot stand with love yet when he cometh to lay away childish thoughts and to understand as a man he loveth his father so much the more that he hath chastened him and not suffered him to take the way of his own heart so should it be in this case But consider how many sweet experiences hast thou had of his love which it may be many a poor creature would have given a world for one of them many a kiss of his lips thou scarce ever appearest before him but thou hast a smile from him some refreshing some melting doth not this indear thy heart consider these things there is many a poor child of God that scarce ever findeth such sensible refreshings and yet hang upon him and loveth him and O it is pure love indeed when we hang upon him though he frown upon us though he seem to shake us off not to heed us nor regard us yet our souls it may be are sick of love for him we must follow him still But thou that hast such fore-draughts of his love sometimes yea many times O the remembrance of these me thinks should much increase love to him Now this is of very great moment for it will make us more abundant in the work of the Lord and with much more ease it will come off Paul laboured more abundantly then they all and it was nothing to him O he loved much and so it will be with us if we could get our hearts to it What was it think you that carried our Saviour so chearfully through all his travels and griefs and slightings of men O it was his love nothing is hard to love therefore labour to be like-minded to grow in love to the Lord Jesus But secondly To grow in love one towards another this is matter of rejoycing to the saithful over-seers of the Church of Christ we are bound to thank God alway for you Brethren as it is meet because that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity or love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth So again as touching brotherly love you have no need that I write unto you for ye are taught of God to love one another and ye do the same thing to all the Brethren which are in all Maâ—edonia but we beseech you Brethren to abound more and more you have it in that place of the Apostle to the Corinthians that to be full of contention and dividing zeal is a sign not of growth but childishness I am of Paul and I am of Apollo and I am of Cephas and I am of Christ are you not carnal that is to say I could not write to you as spiritual as grown men but as carnal as unto babes in Christ such in whom the flesh did much prevail surely Brethren the way of love is the edifying-way and therefore the body is said to edifie it self in love knowledge puffeth up and from that pride cometh contention as the wise man speaks but love edifies O how would the Church grow and the Saints grow if all the heat and zeal and pains which is laid out in maintaining breaches factions separations one from another did all run in one stream to build up one another in our most holy faith to make that our business It is sweet when the members have that care one of another that out of a pure spirit of love to consider one another to provoke to love and to good works Now if there be rents and schisms in the body there will not be that â—are one of another and therefore no marvel if the Apostle note such nigro carbone mark them that caused divisions contrary to the Doctrine that you have received and avoid them set a cross upon their doors have no fellowship with them You know in the body if there be a breach a dismembering of the body or some members out of joint or fearful wounds there is a grief of the spirit and the growth is hindered So it is in this case when the Churches walked together with singleness of heart then were they multiplyed then they prospered and increased indeed the Holy-Ghost is grieved with bitterness and wrath and anger when the Sea was divided for Israel to pass through it was weakened but when the waters were united again they are said to return to their strength so when the waters run in one Channel which is love O how strong is the Church of Christ it groweth mightily then then the Egyptians the enemies of Israel are drowned in it but so many fractions so many streams it being divided into each of them is easily passable by the enemies the Lord give a Spirit of love O if there were but more love in Ministers to people how would they do more then they do or at least in another manner then they do And so in people if they would be more earnest for their Ministers then they are therefore if we would grow indeed labour to grow in love to all the Saints wherever indeed the image of Christ is and to love them with a pure heart unfeignedly as the Apostle saith Fourthly To grow in humility to grow downward to be willing to decrease so the Lord Jesus may increase Ah Brethren if we were put to it it may be we should find it very hard to be laid aside as I may say as David was to the building of the Temple because he was such a man of blood or as Moses was for his unbelief at the waters of strife O the daily working this upon our hearts what we were and what we are through grace in Jesus Christ what infinite riches of grace is manifested to the vilest of sinners this will make us lie low before him but enough of this before Fifthly In mercy in bowels and compassions to persons in
that is up and doing thou findest thy Faith is weak it may be thou canst scarce call it any thing but unbelief labour to act it put it forth often the nature of it lies in the souls sincere willingness to take Jesus Christ to have him for a Saviour and Lord to save from iniquites as well as from the condemnation of sin now though weakly put forth the acts of willing Jesus Christ as he hath offered himself and thou shalt find it will grow often be rowling thy self and thy burthen poor burthened soul upon the Lord Jesus cast thy self upon him and thou shalt find as much rest in it for the present so also an increase of faith and a feeling also that thou dost believe after a time And so for other things alas is there a day that goeth over our heads but there is use for Faith it is the very life of a Christian The life I now live I live by the Faith of the Son of God and therefore as much need of the exercise of it daily as of any vital acts whatsoever and you shall find you have occasions for it either some temptations from your own hearts some corruptions stirring and disquieting your peace or some scourgings from without some buffetings of Satan some deadness and security growing upon you daily O there is daily need of acting Faith as there is to eat and drink therefore Israel their Manna was their daily food and if they were daily stung they must daily look up to the Serpent and which of us is not though you have a Lamp lighted Brethren There was enery morning daily a triming of the Lamps of the Sanctuary and pouring oyl into them afresh you know they will not continue but go out in obscure darkness except there be a feeding of them with oyl this we may do and this we ought to do and indeed a man that exerciseth not his Grace is as if he had none neither hath the strength nor the comfort of his Grace for Habits are for Acts and then Acts strengthen the Habits again The Learned Aristotle said A wise man differed nothing from a fool if he exercised not his wisdom and saith the Wiseman Even a fool when he holds his peace is counted wise the Act is that chiefly commanded and that chiefly rewarded of God the exercising of Grace and that whereby it groweth which is the main thing here I mind Hath not every day its evil sufficient to it now if faith â—e not upon the wing what a condition is that soul in therefore exercise it use legs and have legs And so for love put it forth exercise it toward the Lord Jesus daily and toward his people that is the way to grow Brethren how do benummed limbs that have no feeling nor strength gather strength but by rubbing and chasing and exercising of them though a mans legs be so benummed falling for a step or two he can scarce set them to the ground yet use them a little and they will come to themselves again If Merchants money lie still it is a dead thing it increaseth not but they must turn it up and down and return it use it and exercise their trade with it and it groweth And truly I am perswaded it is the great reason we are many of us so weak as we are we lie complaining and making sad moan before the Lord of our weakness and yet are careless in the exercise of the Grace wherein we pretend we would grow The desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour we may mourn our selves away off our legs and spend our days in lamentable complainings and shall never be the better except we put forth into act what we have already received if we be not faithful in trading with a little will he give us more action and motion increase heat if you see a poor creature lie starving ready to perish for want of fire his legs are stiff cannot hardly move them is that the way to help him no up to the fire up and exercise your limbs rub them chafe them if you would get heat and agility into them Secondly See to it that we exercise one as well as another for there is such a sweet harmony and dependency of the Graces one upon another that they do one strengthen another the acts of our Graces do as I may say co-operate and sweetly conspire to the promoting one of another that is to say of the acts and these acts then strengthen the habits As for instance you see in an Arch one stone strengthens another take away one of them and all the rest are ready to fall upon your head and therefore the Apostle exhorts so earnestly That they should add to Faith Temperance c. not as if they could add one habit to another for they are infused together but the acts are to be added one to another For if ye do these things saith the Apostle then ye shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ yea you shall never fall yea you shall have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom The strength of a building you know lies not in the strength of one piece but in the due compacting of it and joyning part to his part if there be never so strong beams if the other parts be weak the rafters the wall-plates or such considerable pieces and not well joyned together the building is weak and will easily fall therefore if you would be strong and grow indeed look that we exercise all the Graces of the Spirit we have already received not only Faith nor only Love nor only Humility nor only Self-denial but all labour to act them all and Temperance and Heavenly-mindedness c. and you shall find that as each Grace doth grow by the exercising of it self so by the exercising of them all they will have a mutual influence each upon the other to strengthen one another the act of Faith will strengthen the acting of love and that will strengthen faith again and so for the rest Thirdly If you would grow in Grace You must be much in prayer for a man of much Prayer is a man of much Grace and therefore the Prophet puts them both together He will pour out the Spirit of Grace and Supplication And so the Apostle Jude But you Beloved building up your selves in your most holy Faith praying in the Holy Ghost and there is the like reason for building up our selves in any other Grace praying by the Spirit of God is the way you see to grow in Grace there is very great reason that Prayer should be a great means of increasing Grace First Because in Prayer there is the greatest exercising of Grace of all Grace usually of any other service we do to God there our repentance is exercised for you alwaies find the Saints in drawing nigh to God David and Ezra and
lower thoughts of thy self to see the necessity of an high-Priest the more feelingly this humbleth this emptyeth of self more and is not this a growth in grace Yea and no small improvement But thirdly If thou be put to wait for an answer know it is the excellency of faith to wait upon him to hold out as the woman of Canaan And Jacob wrestled all night with God So Daniel his answer cometh not as soon as he began to pray but he must wait a while he must go through with his duty and afterwards the answer cometh if the Lord give thee a heart to wait upon him to hang upon him not to give him over Brethren you are growing and you are not aware of it it is no easie matter to wait upon God Alas a poor sinner in a mood sometimes and in a flash under a stirring Sermon O he will go and pray and if an answer come not presently there is an end it dyeth but a child of God he waiteth upon God he will have no nay if he will not answer at one time he will to it again and again as Paul sought God thrice for the removing the Thorn before he had an answer And so Elias seven times his servant was sent and brought an answer of nothing appearing and at last but a little cloud and his prayer was fervent too as appears by the story Fourthly You must grow upon God knock harder if he come not at the first cry louder cry out so much the more importunity will overcome him at the last yea if by the delay of an answer as thou thinkest thou be kept praying and more and more fervently there is nothing Brethren wherein we more grow then in prayer it self where the Lord exerciseth us with such occasions as put us on to stir up all our strength to wrestle with him Well the Lord perswade our hearts to a diligence in this duty for we are as averse from it as from any O how our hearts do hang back and if the Lord perswade us not and by the invincible bonds of the Spirit bind us close to it we shall see by woful experience how quickly our slippery hearts will either shift themselves out of it or else into a formality in the service Fifthly Observe your answers also take heed of being alway complaining as if we had received nothing or were nothing grown whereby God loseth the glory of what he hath done for us already this is not the way to procure more this is the way indeed to grieve Gods Spirit which is the Spirit of prayer and then if he be grieved we shall find a woful declining in prayer and then our growth will go on but very slowly I beseech you pardon me for standing so much upon this point to press it upon you I know many of you cannot but see the necessity of it and truly observe it since these times of outward prosperity of the people of God mind it in your own cases lookers on may easily observe it and since our hands have been so full of the world if there be not a declining and indeed I think If I am mistaken I should be glad to be mistaken that this is the main thing wherein we are hurt we are so upon hurries and so thronged our hearts and heads and hands so full of the world that we cannot have those times and seasons to work our hearts up in this duty it is sad when our hearts have most need of pains-taking with them as in such cases they have that we should find least time to do it in What can become of this think you Fourthly Another help to this growth in grace will be this Conscientiously and diligently to use the Ordinances all of them as well as that of prayer I speak to that particular because it is of so general concernment running along with all the rest for sanctification of them to us You heard before that knowledge is the great means whereby our grace doth grow it is conveyed through the understanding the consent of the will to close with Christ it is greater or lesser according to the apprehensions which the mind hath of Christ of his goodness his loveliness the necessity of him c. therefore grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and whom beholding as in a glass we are changed into his image this glass what is it but the Ordinances of God O how fat do men grow that fare deliciously every day is there not great difference between feeding upon husks when the kernel is gone and feeding upon the finest of the wheat how quickly will the weakest man grow strong feeding upon the one and the strongest weak when he feedeth upon the other Alas when it came to that the Prodigal was almost beaten off his leggs Why the Ordinances of God they are a feast a feast of fat things marrow and wines upon the less well-refined in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make to all people a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well-refined What are these but the Ordinances of God these are the green pastures and still waters with these he promiseth to satiate the soul of the Priest with fatness and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness saith the Lord And my soul shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house there it is and in the 63. Psalm the Psalmist longs after the enjoyment of God in his Ordinances in his Sanctuary O saith he my soul shall be satisfied with marrow and fatness What can be said more Brethren Is not this the way to grow fat to increase and did not God give therefore Pastors and Teachers to dispence the Ordinances for the edifying of the body in that place to the Ephesians Well but all this will not do except we make use of these Ordinances mind you they are the fat things of the house of God we must have them in the stall in the coop in the fold in the house of God that is to say the Church of God if we would flourish indeed as the Psalmist speaks they that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the Courts of our God and therefore the Spouse in the Canticles was so earnest Shew me where thou feedest thy flocks where thou makest them rest at noon Alas many poor Believers may be to seek where the Lord Jesus feedeth his flocks specially in these daies wherein there are so many pretences to the way of Christianity which is but one but at least me thinks this will follow from those Scriptures that the house of the Lord the Courts of his house is the Church of God therefore we should inquire where the flocks are fed that we may walk with them and among them it is the way where the Lord Jesus is found
love in drawing thee bringing thee to come to him and will he now change his mind It is true if he were as man he might repent but the Lord is not as man O what comfort is here what encouragement is this Secondly He will not cast them out of his Church that is his Kingdom his Family his School his Vineyard he will not cast them out for if there be this coming to Jesus Christ there is faith and by that faith as we are made one with Jesus Christ so also with all his members so saith the Apostle we are members one of another ye are come saith the Apostle to Mount-Sion and to the assembly of the first-born that is to say you are gathered into the flock of Christ and out of this ye shall not be cast it may come to pass that through the ignorance of men they may be cast out of the visible Church or Churches of Christ and have little fellowship and communion with them and it cannot but be a burthen to a gracious spirit and oh that the Lord would so clear up his mind that we might not thus by mis-apprehension be a burden each to other but here is the comfort if we thus come to Jesus we are of the invisible Church and he that knoweth the heart knoweth his own image there his own hand-writing there every spark of his own kindling there and cannot be deceived and therefore there is no fear he will not cast away out of this Church the assembly of the first-born not out of this his family will a Parent cast out his child that he hath begotten in his own image because of some deformity it may be and imperfection that it doth not resemble the father in or because of its weakness in those parts which it hath even grace for grace we have from the Lord Jesus though weak and imperfect and will he cast out surely no. Thirdly He will not cast out that is to say he will not send away empty cast them out of his presence when they come to him neither at our first coming no nor our after-coming unto him Not at our first coming where is the soul that can say that he did thus come to Jesus Christ and was refused was sent away it may be thou camest full full of thy self not with such an empty hand to take him it may be thou camest with a false heart and then well might he cast thee cut for he knoweth how the heart stands towards him it may be thou wast troubled only with the smart of sin and not the filthiness the putrifaction of the wound and loathsom nature of it and wouldst have Christ only to have served thy turn and then wouldst have turned thy back upon him alas he knoweth this and therefore he resisteth the proud a man of a Pharisaical spirit a man of a Laodicean temper that is rich and needeth nothing cometh to Christ for a complement thou comest to him whole not sick nor wounded if thou didst and with such a heart as we have said I cannot believe that the Lord Jesus would have cast thee out no more then I can believe that be can lie who is truth it self O who would not venture upon this Jesus Christ be his condition never so sad he will not refuse if we come to him we perish for our not coming Secondly Even in our after-comings to him he will not cast out tell me when didst thou ever come before the Lord with a heart sensible of thy want of him with a renewing of the acts of self-denyal being nothing in thy self that thou weâ—test away empty did ever any hungering soul come to this Ordinance where we have the most royal dainties that ever it self affords in some degree even the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus the strong wines of consolation and didst thou go away empty surely no he that cometh full goeth away empty but he that cometh empty goeth away filled with some refreshing Haply thou mayst be put to it to wait a little while for it but have it thou shalt If either the Lord Jesus wanted a fulness of mercy there were not room enough in his heart for us all it were something or if he wanted propensity and bowels it were something if he were not a merciful pittiful high-Priest or if he did not know our meanings by our very looks or if he did not know our hearts where they are upright it were something indeed there were some ground to be discouraged but who can suppose any of these O that we could more strongly close with these with what confidence should we then come to him and how full a recompence of reward should we find even in the first fruits here â—f there were no more Fourthly He will not cast them out of heaven for every child of God as I may say hath one foot in heaven already as an unbeliever hath one foot in hell already where our hope is there our hearts are O that I could â—ay they are there they should be there there is our Anchor in heaven there the Lord Jesus is our head is who hath taken possession for us and went to prepare a place for us and therefore the works of grace in the soul are called things that have salvation he will not cast them out no by no means two negatives do deny more veâ—emently some shall be cast out at the last day yea the Kingdoms children Members of the Church and such as have lived under the Ordinances as the Jews did strangers others any that hear and believe and obey the Lord Jesus shall be received in Now Brethren our hearts are so vain we can scarce settle upon it to think of the woful condition that will be to be cast out from the Lord Jesus but no man that cometh to Christ shall be cast out O then it is not greatness shall enter in nor riches nor beauty nor learning nor gifts nor any of all these but meerly the coming unto Jesus Christ he will never cast out such a soul You have seen already what it is to come to Jesus Christ in many particulars and what is necessarily presupposed and such he will not cast out no in no wise or sort whatsoever but alas the difficulty is to perswade poor creatures of this that are upon the turning pin many can say Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean but the willingness of Christ to accept of poor sinners is that we many times doubt very much of and it is not the tongue of men nor Angels that can perswade a man to this and well it is for us that it is so for then the Faith of poor creatures would consist in the wisdom of men and not in the power of God only let me lay before your hearts and my own a few considerations from Scripture which if the Lord be pleased to breath in them may be a support
did Paul and doubtless Stephen would have hug'd them in his bosom if any of them had then had their hearts changed and what then can and will the Lord Jesus do when such as have been guilty of his blood trampled it under feet turned their backs upon him crucified him when they come to him So in Acts 2. Thou thinkest if thou wert but such a sinner if thou hadst not sinned against such love and mercy he would have pardoned he would have accepted when thy thoughts are at an end and lost then is infinite Grace beginning to be Glorious Secondly Consider this that he hath left thee altogether without excuse he hath cut off all pretences that sinners might make for their keeping off from Christ both here and in other places O saith one He hath waited so long upon me stretched out his hands all the day long to me While I have been rebelling the Lord Jesus hath been intreating me to be reconciled he hath stood so long at the door knocking that now sure he is gone he will not come to my soul nor take my soul into fellowship with himself I am an old sinner as long as ever I could arm my heart and boy up my self with any thing carnal reasonings moral services vain delights and creature-comforts I would never come to him what though the Lord Jesus is ready to receive when ever thou come to him Had not the poor Woman in the Gospel spent all upon the Physitians before she came to Christ if she could have had balm any where else she would never have gone to Gilead for it nor for that Physitian and doth he cast her out notwithstanding surely no He giveth liberally and upbraideth not he hits her not in the teeth with her unworthiness to come to him but when she cometh he healeth her distemper Was not this the Prodigals case would he ever have gone to his Father if he could have gotten husks or any thing and what doth his father upbraid him with it what thou be received now that hast stood out as long as ever thou couldst it is necessity and not love that hath driven thee home therefore take thy course I have no bread for thee O this would have broken the heart quite and for ever discouraged him for coming no he meeteth him by the way notwithstanding and how ready he is to receive him and embrace him that Parable setteth forth O but saith another I am so poor miserable have nothing at all in me but sin and misery suppose so thou hast the more need of Jesus Christ and he is most ready to reveal himself to them that need him most yea thou art the more fit to come to Christ for while thou hast any thing to subsist upon thou wilt not come off thy self clearly and fully as thou oughtest besides remember this that the Lord Jesus is able to bestow his riches upon nothing as he did at the first make a world of nothing so in the new Creation in the soul he can he will bestow the riches of his Grace upon nothing it is like thou hast as much as the Prodigal had in his returning O but he cannot but abhorr me my sins are not slight scars and races but deep wounds and festering wounds running sores bloody issues loathsom in his sight did the woman with the bloody issue in the Gospel find a repulse because of the loathsomness of her distemper or the Lepers because of theirs or Lazarus because of his surely no therein is the great commendation of his love to poor sinners that though in their blood yet he loveth them yet he receiveth them In one word for all to stop the mouths of these clamours the Lord Jesus hath said it and will he not be as good as his word he hath said That if any man come to him he will in no wise cast him out be his distemper what it will be his uuworthiness what it will he will in no wise cast him out therefore never make that an obstruction but rather an argument to put thee on to go to Christ because thy want of him is so great more then is found in others Thirdly Consider that these hard thoughts of Jesus Christ before thou hast tryed and had experience of a repulse from him are but a prejudice against the Lord Jesus how glad is the enemy of our peace if any way he can keep poor souls off from Christ will you judge a man to be so hard-hearted and unkind to you before you have tried him and shall we judge so of Jesus Christ O this is to add sin to sin and much worsens our condition daily Fourthly Consider this poor soul and add to thy own experience the experience of all the Saints ask of them and they will tell thee O never was there viler wretches then they themselves were they had as vile and base thoughts of themselves as thou and were as much discouraged as thou art and yet when they came to Jesus Christ they did obtain mercy they found Grace in his sight the Scepter was held out to them Ask of Paul who though dead yet speaketh and he will tell thee thou never wast such a wretch as he imbrewing his hands in the blood of the Saints a persecutor blasphemer injurious Ask but Magdalen and she will tell thee that she had seven Devils for one haply that thou hast And so will Peter and David O thou never hadst thy hand in blood in adultery in denying the Lord Jesus these found mercy And is not Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever Fifthly Thou canst have no good evidence that thou art one given of the Father to Christ before the world began until thou comest to Jesus Christ All that the Father hath given me shall come What then shall sinners abuse this doctrine to set light by it cast off all care of their condition because if they be given of the Father they shall come no But sadly consider this if thou be not yet come to Jesus Christ thou art not as yet declared to be one that is given to Christ and if not given to the Son thou art a son of perdition and wo is thee that thou wast ever born and as yet thou art not come to Christ and how knowest thou thou shalt ever have an opportunity or an heart to believe or come to him Faith is not at your command nor Christ at your command for poor sinners O consider this ye that forget God and forget your own welfare As many as were ordained to eternal life believed the rest were hardened Sixthly A rational Motive shall be this In other distractions a possibility of relief will make poor Creatures put themselves upon extream hazards when it is not possible they should escape without such a hazard running how much more then in the business of our souls should we be willing to run an hazard if there were any
wish it may be thou hast relations estate name as good as others yet thou canst not be satisfied all is nothing without interest in him thou runnest from Ordinance to Ordinance from one Congregation to another from reading to prayer yet findest no satisfaction in all I will say to that soul Thou hast an evidence and a clear one too he hath indeed received thee or thou wert never able thus to breath after him and though he may hold thee off for a while yet he will not shut thee out Thirdly Hath the Lord made thee willing indeed to have him to receive him as King and Saviour to be purified by him subdued to him as well as saved by him Alas I know not whether I am or no if not what then meaneth all thy stuffing thy bed with groans What mean those Rivers of tears shed over him what meaneth thy following so hard after him What is it possible that any man should make such heavy moan as some poor souls do for Jesus Christ and yet not be willing to have him If thou wouldest not have him me thinks thou wouldest rather run away from him then run after him what ascending is there up into this tree and that tree as the Lord Jesus passeth by in an Ordinance to get a sight of him and yet the poor soul will not be perswaded that he would have fain have the Lord Jesus when one sight of him would be so refreshing to them O go away rejoycing and triumphing in the Lord Jesus that ever he hath looked upon thee to make thee willing in the day of his power for surely thou art a willing soul who art so affected towards him and this willing Brethren surely is the very receiving of Jesus Christ it is the closing with him thus taking with one hand Christ for pardon and giving up a mans self to him with the other hand which is the thing thy soul groans for now if Christ Jesus be so willing to receive poor sinners and thou be so willing to receive him what can interpose to hinder or break the match surely nothing Fourthly Thou must be content to wait a while haply before thou have the comfort of thy coming to Christ before I say thou shalt suck the sweetness that floweth from him to thy soul for thou hast broken thy bones with sin which brought wrath upon thy soul as David complains O there was no rest in his bones and they must have a time to knit again A man will rather lie upon his bed a Prisoner a few daies then be a Cripple all the daies of his life therefore they say a Horse leg is incurable if broke he will not endure to be bound to lie quiet Submit to the Chyrurgians hand and skill the Lord Jesus will do it it is doing but alas such broken bones heal but slowly through many humors by reason of the abundance of sin in the soul may be it will be the longer but wait Remember the pains that Elijahs servant took to go up and down that steep hill Carmel with wearyness seven times and brought news of nothing at all until at last he sees a little cloud which filled the heavens So it may be with thee and it will recompence all at last there will be abundance of rain to refresh thy weary parched soul Fifthly Be frequent in acting of faith putting forth the acts of thy willingness to receive the Lord Jesus if he be willing to receive thee for hereby the habit of faith will grow stronger the little grain of Mustard-seed thou shalt see take strong rooting and spread it self and then the acts will be stronger and those will yet again strengthen the habit and by this means the grace will appear more visible So that at the last thou shalt even feel in thy very soul that thou dost believe if thou often put forth this act of recumbency upon him casting thy self upon the Lord Jesus into his arms at his feet and see if thou find it not that at last thou have not this witness in thy self that thou dost believe in the Lord Jesus And then happy soul thou mayest take the comfort of that condition Thou shalt never be cast out FINIS The first Table contains the General and Particular Heads as they follow in their order in the preceding Subject Circumspect Walking A Christians Wisdom THe Text opened Page 55. out of which this first doctrine is raised That it is a duty Christians are strictly charged with to walk circumspectly ibid. But first there is enquired what it is to walk circumspectly Here you have first the Matter of a Christians conversation expressed by walking which includes all a mans actions 1. Spiritual 2. Civil 3. Natural 55 56 This Latiude appears 1. In that walking is a motion 1. From other Principles 2. By other Rules then the men of the world walk by ibid. 2. There is a Terminus a quo from whence they walk and that is from sin ibid. 3. A Terminus ad quem and that is to God in Christ 57 4. This Motion is a progressive motion 5. It is a constant Motion 6. It it a pleasant ibid. Secondly Here you have the manner of this walking Circumspectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now to this exact walking 1. There must go a Rule 57 2. Knowledge to understand and wisdom rightly to apply the rule 58 3. Keeping close to the rule 1. In not following a multitude as most do 59 2. In not following the Examples of the Saints further then they follow Christ 60 4. There must be a mending not only the external part but the inside and the Spirit of the rule 61 5. Carrying an even course towards heaven ibid. 6. Making it a mans work to walk exactly with 1. A watchful eye 2. A trembling heart The second thing in the words of the Text That it is a duty so strictly charged upon the Saints proved 63 The Reasons of the third thing in the words of the Text. Why this duty is charged upon the Saints viz. to walk circumspectly 1. Because they are the children of the light ibid. 2. Because their steps are more eyed then other mens 64 1. In regard of God himself 2. In regard of men 1. Many men watch for their Halting 2. Some men are scandalized by their uneven walking Either good or evil Men. 65 3. Because all have erring hearts and naturally love to wander ibid. 4. Because there are many by-paths whereinto they may step awry 66. The first Use shews that among the much profession of Christ there is little power ibid. The second use reproves 1. The People of God that come short of this exact Walking 2. Those that instead of following God fully have their hearts divided 67 1. Some that content themselves only with the shews of religion 2. Some that are all for morality and honesty of conversation 68 3. Some that neither fear God nor reverence Man ibid. Thirdly Those are reproved
that make exact walking the object of their scorn The third Use is for Exhortation to buckle to this duty of exact walking 69 From whence follows the Motives As 1. The way wherein to walk is all overspread with snares 70 1. To tempt into sin 2. To Tempt for sin ibid. 2. The necessity of it unto the end 71 3. The difficulty of it 72 4. The love of many waxes cold ibid. 5. God hath much honour by it 73 6 Others may be drawn to a liking of it ibid. The Directions herein how to walk exactly are 1. Labouring to get an heart sensible of wandrings 74 2. Setting the heart always as in Gods presence ibid. 3. Letting the Word of God dwell richly in the heart 75 1. In all wisdom 2. In all understanding 4. Applying the rule to a mans ways ibid. 5. Enquiring of God in every serious undertaking 77 6. Looking to Humility ibid. 7. Taking heed of squint-eyed ends ibid. 8. Taking heed of halting between two 78 9. Fore-casting what temptations to meet with in the ways of God ibid. 10. Labouring to Arm with a strong perswasion of Gods Al-sufficiency ibid. Now then Plead not against the difficulty of this circumspect walking 79 For first by how much the more difficult by so much the more exexcellent it is ibid. 2. There is nothing so hard but diligence will overcome if the soul be in Christ For 1. Then it hath a fulness of strength 80 2. It hath in Christ all the Promises ibid. The second Doctrine That it is a proof of Christian Wisdom to walk circumspectly Proved ibid. 1. From Places of Scripture 81 It is further confirmed 1. In that it is wisdom to propound a right end ibid. 2. To provide and make use of the right means ibid. 3. To take the nearest and easiest way 83 4. To suit and shape a mans course according to the exigence of his condition 84 5. To do it in its season or time 85 6. To go through sâ—itch with the work ibid. 7. To take a Course for the fullest enjoyment of the last end 86 8. To make sure the title of inheritance 87 The Application serves 1. To wipe off that slandering imputation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The false accuser of the Brethren c. Casts upon Religion 89 2. To retort folly upon the wisdom of the world 90 1. In Pitching upon a wrong end ibid. Considering 1. That all these things here will not run parallel with the souls to eternity 91 2. That these things while they are kept here do not satisfie the soul ibid. 2. In miscarrying in the right means 92 1. In being wise to do evil 2. In being satisfied with the bare name of Christianity 3. In being wise in their own conceits Now then Let the sons of true wisdom justifie her by a circumspectual walking 93 1. Labouring to cease from their own wisdom 94 2. Begging the Spirit of wisdom more earnestly 95 And it will be found that he will guide them by his Counsell And afterwards receive them to Glory The first Alphabetical Table containing the principal heads and matter in the foregoing Treatise of The Parable of the ten Virgins A ADmissions into Christs fellowship and communion they who are stricter herein then Christ would have them are to be blamed pag. 93 Affections in man are dull 22 Afflict his people Christ is not forward so to do 86 Afflictions are said to be a cry 201 Allegory what is it 2 Angels what are they called 192 Angry sometimes Christ is with his people yet not properly 81 Antichrist that we are delivered from him we should bless the Lord for it 308 Arch-angels voice the fore-runner of Christs general coming to Judgement is understood to be a cry 200 Awake the time of it 188 Awake that the people of God have been kept so in a time of need is double and treble mercy 195 Awakened to be by God should sweeten his severest dealings towards us 205 Aims our own they must be as high as heaven 253 B Beginners young are to look that they be able so to run as to obtain 382 To Believe things men are exceeding slow 21 Believers profession may decline 240 Believers profession growing low it is their duty to renew it 256 Breaches take heed of making them 98 Bride who this is 35 Bridegroom Christ stands in that relation to his people 33 Bridegroom Christ Jesus is he if you consider 1. His Birth 2. His Beauty 3. His Riches 4. His Honour 5. His Power 6. His lovely disposition from p. 38 to 40 Bridegroom and Bride the causes that concur to the making up their relation between them 41 Bridegrooms coming is to be desired 81 C Change in us to true wisdom must be great 118 Christ and the Church are related See Bridegroom Christ Redeems his people and woes them from p. 41. to p. 44 Christ hath satisfied all that can be demanded 49 Christ makes the soul give up it self to him 1. Considerately 2. In truth sincerely 53 Christ laies his people in his bosom 63 Christ owns many before they own him 97 Choice what is it 74 Choose not the prosperity that is expected to accompany Christ 74 Nor his graces but himself first 75 Church visible hath two sorts in it 9 Church visible compared to ten Virgins ibid. p. 10 Church visible is made up of visible Saints 87 Church and the world they are too blame that make no difference between them 92 Church visible hath in it some good and some bad 94 Church what she should do when Members become scandalous 99 Closing not with Christ the danger 69 Closing with Christ the Motives to perswade 70 Coming of Christ that he doth delay it is proved by Scripture 120 Coming what is meant 121 Coming in what sense Christ is said to delay it p. 122. and in what sense not to delay it 124 Coming of Christ such as abuse and mock at it reproved and a word to mind them from 130 to 137 Coming of Christ something noted thereupon 198 Coming of Christ ordinarily is at midnight 208 Communion in this life is twofold 353 Conditions two there are that usually wither mens professions 245 Conscience hath yet some stirring 158 Cry goeth before Christs coming what this is put for 6 Cry what is it taken for 197 Cry what is noted by it 199 And what it is ibid. Cry its relative consideration and wherefore there is such before Christs coming 201 202 Cry of such before the coming of Christ what use to be made thereof 206. and the danger if it be not done ibid. D Day of the Lord must be waited for by the Saints 137 Day of the Lord how sinners must wait for it 139 Day of Christ coming is like to be nearest when least expected 214 Day what is concerned by it 279 Declinings may be in the people of God even near their end 243 Declinings in Gods people should teach us many things 246 Delay
it much growth to be gotten 637 Converted ones though suddenly dying yet can grow in grace 579 Covenant of works from this there is freedom 504 D Day of the Lord what is meant by it 412 Darkness is a part of bondage 494 Darkness what is meant by it 495 Denyal of self as that grows so we grow 594 Duties holy labour to be more spiritual in them 615 E End look unto it 571 Enemies they are who would pluck away Christ from us 426 Enemies cannot be withstood unless there be growing 619 Errour all the ground of it 597 Experiences particular of love and tenderness of mind 611 F Faculties of the soul see whether we grow in them 595 Faith as it grows so do we grow 593 Faith in this grace labour to grow 607 Faith what is it ibid. And wherein the nature of it lies 622 Family where they are all in Egyptian darkness is a sad one 422 Fear all is not banished out of the soul 553 Fear is a part of bondage 499 Fear distractive fear ought not to be in us 554 Feared the Lord. See Them Fellowship with Jesus Christ is sweet 422 Free-set many think they are by Jesus Christ and yet deceived 517 Free-going in the acceptable year three things did hinder 530 Free-set that we might be what is to be done 533 Freedom there is 1. Invisible Both by grace 518 2. Visible Fruitfulness what growth is there in this 600 G God himself is to be much dwelled upon 635 Going forth what is meant by it 478 Gospel is an incomparable benefit 526 Grace the riches of it to poor sinners 457 Graee is either 1. Relative 562 Or 2. Inherent 564 Grace will grow by the opposition it meets withal either from 1. Without 601. Or 2. Within 602 Grace relative labour to grow more and more in the assurance of it 616 Graces three which respect the root Jesus Christ 593 Grow as Calves of the Stall the comparison wherein it stands 559 Grow when is any thing said so properly 565 Grow up in Christ before this be there must be implantation into him 567 Grow in Grace they do though no sooner converted but they die 579 See Children Grow if you do not conclude one of two things 558 Grow many do worse and worse 589 Grow how to know it 591 Grow the Motives to it 617 The Helps to it 621 Grow we must according to our measure 638. And herein help each other 641 Grow many may though they perceive it not 627 Growing up into Christ what is there in the expression 570 Growing to such as think they are not Comfort 643 Growth spiritual the nature of it 562 and the Arguments to prove it 577 Growth the greater it is the more honour and service God hath 583 Growth compared to Trees or Plants 592 Growth is placed 1. In the Uuderstanding 596 2. In the Will 598 Growth wherein to look to it 604 H Head the Glory of it wherein it lies 571 Heal if we could our selves yet our wound is incurable 449 Healing what is meant by it 438 Healing what it brings 440 Healing is not in us 448 Healing concerns two sorts of Persons 470 Heart-softness in this labour to grow 614 c. wherein it lies ibid. Humility as it grows so do we grow 595 Humility in this Grace labour to grow 613 Hypocrites may grow in some things 620 I Inlargement promised to a soul what is it 481 K Knowledge In this Grace labour to grow 604 L Liberty spiritual 1. It s subject 482 2. Its causes 483 3. Its parts 485 4. Its degrees 508 Light our from whence comes it 422 Love to Christ works the soul to a kindly hatred of sin 465 Love to Jesus Christ herein labour to grow 608. And that for several ends 609 Love towards one another herein labour to grow 612 M Malachy what it signifieth 411 Members grow not alike in the same measure 573 Mercy in this Grace labour to grow 613 Ministry all for what end 620 Ministers are to labour to grow 639 O Obedience slavish is a bondage 498 Ordinances wait diligently on the Lord in them 427 Ordinances being used conscientiously and diligently tend to growth 629 P People under the influences of the Sun of Righteousness are in a growing condition 560 Planted in Christ such as never were grow worse and worse 590 Prayer is a great means to increase Grace 624 Prayer what is it 625 Professed the Name of Christ many have and yet are fallen 589 Profession of Christ such as make and grow not are in a sad condition 587 S Saints Communion is to build up each other 637 Sin is a comprehensive evil 442 Sin hath ill qualities and consequences 444 Sin is the first general part of bondage 490 Sin the guilt of it is a part of bondage 494 Sin is a grievous bondage 512 Sin though it lie hard â—pon any soul yet shall it be overcome 555 Sâ—ns yoak to such as are strugling under it comfort ibid. Soul-distempers hinder growth 632 Spirit how he is grieved 545. And therefore cautions not to grieve him 546 Spirit properly is not grieved ibid. Sun Christ is to his people 414 Sun wherein doth the resemblance between Christ and it hold 416 Sun they that have it risen upon them are the children of the day 421 Sun of Righteousness against its shinings shut not the windows 424 Sun that God would give such is cause of admiration 427 Sun of Righteousness why is Christ so called 431 T Them that feared the Lord what is meant by that 429 Things best in them labour to grow 617 Truth will set a man free 533 V Vnderstanding in this let us try our growth 596 W Walking holy with God herein labour to grow 615 Wings of the Sun of Righteousness what is meant by that 435 Wings of the Sun of Righteousness what are they 436 Wings why so called 437 Word of God to such as tremble at it comfort 475 Wounded them that are so Christ pittyeth 463 The last Table containing the general and particular Heads as they follow in their order in the foregoing Subject Christ his Willingness to accept humbled Sinners THe Text opened 651 Out of which this Point of Doctrine issues That the Lord Jesus will not cast out any poor soul that cometh to him 652 Here is observed First That coming unto Christ presupposeth 1. Hearing 2. Learning ibid. By Hearing is understood 1. The usual means of Salvation 654 2. Some whisperings motions and secret workings of the Spirit ibid. By Learning is understood first the opening of the understanding 655 and thus a poor soul is taught 1. That he is lost in himself 2. That he must not lie securely in this condition ibid. 3. That there is no help in the Creature 656 4. That nothing can skreen him from the wrath of God but Jesus Christ 657 5. That Christ is willing to let out of his oyntments to heal ibid. Now for the Acts wherein
heart and see could he do so for his child though a Mother may take down much bitterness for her child yet would she be content to open a vein to bleed to death to redeem its life when ready to perish I know David in his passion said Would God I had dyed for thee but if Absalom had been alive and in cold bood he had been put to it I question though his affections were strong to his Son but they would have been as strong to himself Self is a mans nearest friend but now the Lord Jesus you see did it for his poor sinful people yea for strangers for enemies Brethren consider of it If any of us were Physitians here is a poor wounded creature lies in the way as the poor man in the Gospel fell among thieves left wounded and half-dead which of us now could find in our hearts to open our own veins and be emptied of all our blood and liâ—e that such a poor wretch might be supplied now this the Lord Jesus doth for such Sinners as we are Brethren if there must be pouncing and pricking he endures it lancing he endures it contusion he endures it For he was wounded for our transgressions bruised for our iniquites the chastisement of our peace was upon him and through his stripes we are healed his stripes are not the bodily buffetings his crown of thorns and such things were nothing in comparison no it is the lashing of his spirit the wounding of his soul the travel of his soul the agonies wrestlings with his Fathers displeasure to an agony when God laid on him so heavily that he was ready to faint and sink and his soul almost fetched at every blow O dear Saviour that ever the cure of such sinfull dust and ashes should cost thee so dear and we so little prize it But 2. That which he prescribes to us though there be some bitterness in it yet no more then must needs it may be a sprinkling from the top of the cup of trembling which may put us into a fear and trembling so much as he seeth needfull to imbitter sin to us it is true if love were perfect here below while graces are imperfect and our ingenuity perfect the looking upon a crucified Christ for us would be the greatest imbittering of sin to us in the world but we are very dull an 〈…〉 ow of heart and therefore a little taste we must our selves that we may gather from thence what the Lord Jesus indured for us we that never felt what a wounded Spirit meant and what the clouding of the face of God from us meant though we may hear of the sufferings of Christ we are not able to be sensible of them and so not to prize that love as strong as death but when a poor creature hath had a drop or two of scalding wrath fall upon his conscience a lash or two though gently upon his spirit that maketh him roar in the disquietness of his â—oul O thinketh he then if a drop or two be so full of terror and amazement what then was the whole Cup what was the dregs how should I have born that if my blessed Saviour had not taken it off for me That which did so parch him who was the Green Tree that he said he thirsted surely would have consumed the dry If he were as a Bottle dryed in the smoak it would have consumed us to ashes If it made Him sweat in such a manner it would have altogether dissolved our frame that we should have perished for ever O if a little wrath when God hideth his face be such a Hell in many souls What a Hell then had Jesus Christ in his soul when wrath was poured out to the utmost for he was not spared a jot And then to make us out of love with sin wherein doth lie the very heart of the core and of the cure surely such are the bowels of God in Christ that as he delighteth not in the death of a sinner so neither doth he delight in bringing the creature to life through so much bitterness and grief if any other means would so effectually work us out of love with sin as this for the Wise God surely would take the most effectual course it is all needfull else he would never do it Why but you will say that hatred of sin is never kindly except the love to Jesus Christ be the ground of it ye that love the Lord hate evil this takes the ingenuous spirit off from Omissions and Commissions It is true but yet consider brethren wherefore do we love Him but because he loved us when his love is revealed and manifested this warmeth melteth the heart indeareth the soul to him until the Lord Jesus be pleased to open and unfold his bowels of love to a sinner he will never love him now whereby should we estimate the love of Jesus Christ to poor sinners but by the unsearchably rich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he paid for them O the price of every drop of that blessed blood that run trickling down to the earth especially if it be considered by what means it was squeezed out of him this setteth a rate upon his love it is not love in word but in deed and in truth if nothing else will be a price to redeem them but his blood it shall go he is not dear of it to the last drop yea not to part with it by opening a vein but to have it extract out of the veins by the pores of his body O by the unspeakable weight of wrath upon his Spirit Now how can we judge of this except we have had a little taste of it our selves when we are put into a little sweat in our own wrestlings with the displeasure of God O then we see what our Saviour indured for us If a man would set the highest estimate upon love among men this should be the rate of it would they willingly have the face of God in Christ hidden from them for a year or two for the dearest friend they have in the world you that have felt what this lashing of your Spirit is that your breath was even gone at every blow and you were ready to perish and you had fainted except you had believed some secret undiscerned support Tell me would you redeem the life yea the souls of your dearest friends that you had in this world by lying under a wounded Spirit having a Hell kindled in your souls that should burn all your days I cannot tell I know dear Friends will do much one for another O saith one I could lay my hands under their feet to do them good O I could redeem their lives with my own Would God I had died for thee and haply because he saw he was in such a sad condition for his soul but David wouldst thou have been content to roar all thy days in the disquietness of thy soul to have his waves and billows to
go over thee not to wade in the shallows but to be in the depths to be overwhelmed with the displeasure of the Lord and that for Absolom if so it is much but it is nothing to this of Christ therefore this is the truest estimate we can take of his love and surely the higher our thoughts are and deeper of the love of Christ and the larger the greater will be our hatred of sin our loathing of sin which when it is wrought the cure is wrought what shall I play with the knife that hath pierced the heart of my Saviour Shall I harbour that in my bosom that was the sting of my blessed Saviour the poyson whereof-drank up his Spirits surely no. And then Secondly This will heighten our love to him and we shall be loth to grieve him when we love him O he hath indured enough already for me he haâ—h been wounded yea so wounded as to be all over gore for my-sins and so much as to be but all one wound and shall I grieve him more I am perswaded that the experiences of all our hearts that ever tasted of his love will subscribe to this that this is the great reason of our so often grieving of Jesus Christ because we have so little impression upon our hearts of his love to us and consequently so little love to him either we never had a strong impression or else by degrees it doth wear out and should be renewed by a serious contemplation of these things which we neglect and that is the reason else we should be very tender and fearful of grieving him after the manner we do daily But then Thirdly our own smart under the sence of his displeasure will do something do you think that the remembrance of the wormwood and gall will not do something make sinners afraid to meddle with sin and all little enough too so the Father when the childe walks frowardly takes him up I le make you remember my fingers a good while saith he so the Lord deals with his people but this is nothing to what the Lord Jesus indured for us he had the brunt he broke the waves of the displeasure of his Father who is the rock of our salvation though we that are lifted up upon that rock may be under water sometimes by those waves yet the force of them is broken upon Jesus Christ else they would dash us to pieces having not co-assistance enough to break them If ever Peter were solicited to deny Jesus Christ again do you think that the remembrance of this O how dear it cost me was not an awe upon him and so for David after those dolefull complaints from him while under the sense of his fathers displeasure do you think he was not more afraid of stollen waters though sweet and bread eaten in secret though pleasant after God had kept him awhile shut him up as I may say in the Chambers of death made him walk there awhile to make him know what he had done in sinning away the light of his countenance But Thirdly That which he himself prescribeth even the bitterest of it it is no more then he enables the creature to bear if he do lance our wounds and put us to some grief withall he giveth a Cordial that stays us from sinking it is true a right hand cannot be cut off nor a right foot a man cannot be dismembred but there will be some anguish and trouble nor a lust mortified but it will cost us some heart-aking but then he quickly stanches the bleeding keepeth the heart from sinking fainting he will not suffer us to be tryed above what we are able but maketh a way to escape he doth not leave us altogether without his presence when we are in the dark though we see him not I say if it were not for this I know the lot of Judas and Cain would fall upon every such sinner nor will he keep it a jot longer upon us then he will lengthen out our patience But what is all this Brethren to what our blessed Saviour hath taken down for us If darkness be so sad to us who never had but a glimpse of the light of his countenance what was it that the Lord Jesus felt then that had it in that fulness the creature was capable of and proportionably greater by how much the more iniquity was laid to his charge So that in a word it is our blessed Saviour that was wounded and we healed all that is done to us is but as a scratch with a pin to those wounds of his he felt all those wrings and pangs and we have the effects of the working of the Physick is not this unsearchable riches of Grace that we should be healed after such a manner as this Seventhly He doth all this most freely expecteth no reward as Physicians you know do the poor woman in the Gospel spent all that she had upon the Physicians but when she came to Christ he asked her nothing only willingness to accept of deliverance to believe his power his willingness to save and this is nothing to a reward yea and it is he himself that giveth the willingness to be healed he went up and down throughout the Synagogues and the villages healing all their diseases was it not the freest gift that ever was given to give himself his life his blood a ransom for poor sinners alas he knew we had nothing to give him and yet he cometh nevertheless freely for all he aimeth at is that his grace may have the glory and be made glorious and the poorsinner may be saved and therefore whether they have any thing or nothing it is all one yea if there be any thing that the creature looks upon as his money the Lord Jesus is so far from taking it as a reward that there is nothing hinders him more then this it is one of the great diseases indeed of the soul this holy self that Jesus Christ cometh to heal poor sinners are full of sores wounds and bruises and putrifying sores full of corruption every one hath his bloody issue now our duties or holiness which sinners sometimes so much stand upon the Apostle thought them gain once they are but as the filthy clouts upon our sores that are â—ull of the runnings of our sores as menstruous cloaths defiled with our bloody issues we think to plaister our wounds with them to salve our consciences with a few duties but alas they come off like filthy clouts from running sores and are these a reward for the Lord Jesus When a Physician cometh to heal a person of the Plague O saith he I will reward you you shall not take all this pains with me for nothing you shall have the rags that come off my sores for your pains Is not the Physician much beholding to him think you So it is here we have nothing but such rags to give the Lord Jesus and alas they must be washed clean in