when thou hast heaped up Gold as the dust and Rayment as the clay and withall hast gotten a wound in thy Soul a worm in thy Conscience the rot and canker eats into thy soul what hast thou gotten who will be the wiser man when the sins whereby thou hast gotten this beginneth to stare like so many devils in thy face though thou hast builded thee an house a fair house and chambers by wrong and he that dwels in a tent is contented with a meaner condition with a good Conscience when the stone beginneth to cry out against thee out of the wall and the timber out of thy chambers and thy ears are full and thy heart full of the cry of thy sins and guilt whereby this hath been gotten who will prove the wise man then O surely Religion maketh not men fools Secondly It may be a word of retortion and serve to fasten the folly then upon the wisdom of the World Wordlings think the people of God fools for their preciseness but the Saints know them to be fools will ye believe when the Lord speaks do not harden your hearts now and say thou speakest falsly in the name of the Lord. Read that passage of the Apostle and tell me what you think then The Wisdom of the World is foolishness with God is not God the only wise God and do you think the Lord can be mistaken though we that are poor weak creatures like your selves may be mis-judge yet sure the Lord cannot he is wisdom it self and it is foolishness with God he judgeth it so and believe it they are wise whom he maketh wise and they are fools and that is folly whom he accounteth so by the rule of contraries it followeth if to walk circumspectly be to walk as wise men then to walk loosly and at large is to walk as fools according to our Text I will give you but two or three Demonstrations of their folly it may be the Lord will convince some poor creature of the folly of his ways First It is folly for men to pitch upon a wrong end to place their happiness in any thing but the chief good indeed now this is evident enough too plain that men of the world they do place their happiness in worldly things they have their god to worship as well as the Saints The lusts of the flesh the lust of the eye and pride of life to which the Apostle reduceth all that is in the World their pleasures their riches their honours these are their ends to which they drive on all their designs and here they rest and sit down and look no farther many of them now is not this a gross mistake and grievous folly to end so low as the earth and what the would can afford which will appear if we consider 1. That none nor all these things will run parallel with the souls to eternity therefore if they could make a man happy as long as he enjoyed them yet afterward they would then encrease his misery when they leave him fuisse faelicem miserum It is perishing bread uncertain riches many times they make wings and are gone even he himself outlives them a miserable happiness that a poor mortal creature can out-live if not yet the soul out-lives them he can carry nothing away with him saith the Text the poor soul must appear in its nakedness before â—he Lord Judge at that day of appearing after death and soul and body to eternity after the Resurrection shall never be the better for them alas the remembrance then of your pleasures and honours and riches will be but a sting to your souls to eternity that such enjoyments you had and used them no better 2. As they continue not so while a man can keep them they cannot they do not satisfie the soul if any man could Solomon might have pickt out an happiness out of them when he had so much wealth to procure them so much wisdom to improve them so gave himself to find out but the sum is vanity of vanities not only vain but vanity and vanity of vanities and all is vanity the greatest vanity they are empty there is no substance in them they will not satisfie the soul there is no sutableness between such earthy things and a spiritual being nor equality between their greatest vastness and the largeness of a soul they can never fill it and therefore it can never rest but the more a man hath the more he would have still drinking doth but increase their thirst and therefore well might the Psalmist bebeast and befool himself for setting such an esteem upon them So foolish was I and ignorant and even as a beast before thee when he thought them to have more in them then they had and therefore that they were the happy men that flourished and it was in vain for him to cleanse his heart c. Secondly If they should or do propound a right end yet they miserably miscarry in the means towards this end For First There are some that are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge at all and if men make God and Heaven their end is this the way to it will the way to the devil and the way to hell bring a man to Heaven and yet this is the course that most men run as if men would be saved by contraries and were Christians by antiphrases because they are most unchristian surely Brethren the Spirit of God and the Scriptures every where hath determined sin to be folly and calleth sinners fools therefore we read of working folly in Israel so much now if one part of Wisdom be to aim at the right end surely Wisdom agreeth notwith it self if this be another part of Wisdom the Wisdom to do evil which indeed is improperly called wisdom but it is a cursed skill and ingenuity which men have whereby they are more industriously wicked this is so far from Wisdom that it is the very height of folly Again Secondly It is the Wisdom of the World to get a name of Christianity and therewith satisfie themselves take the power who will so they have the name and pass for Saints gain is their godliness and when they have gotten the gain by it the Godliness they care not to walk in but in their pleasures of sin the shew of Religion is profitable but not the reality it is burthensom is not this folly with a witness can the Shadow be profitable and not the Substance the Shell and Husk and not the Kernel can that be profitable whose Praise is of men and not that whose praise is of God Again As the top and crown and quintescence of their folly they are wiser in their own conceit then several men that can render a reason as he spaaks of the sluggard and such are all those that will not be at pains for God and for Heaven if men might devote all 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
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
transmit unto Posterity the Names Memories Gracious Conversations of eminenter Saints especially Ministers who in their several Sphears and Generations have shined like stars of the first magnitude streaming and issuing forth a more then ordinary and illustrious Light 2. The lives of morally honest Heathens are both recorded and read with profit not only by fellow pagans but by us Christians Who knows not that Plutarchâ— lives have in them many things serving for Caution and Imitation More advantage doubtless will redound by reading the lives of the Evangelically spiritually and really religious 3 We have the warrant of sacred Writ which being not only Doctrinal but in a great part Historical doth much incourage to a Practise of this Nature The 11. Chap. of the Epistle to the Hebrews you will find to be an Epitome of the lives of the Fathers Now where we have the Spirit of God going before we may well follow after 4. The extraordinary strictness exemplary severity unwearied industry and activity of this man of God in the waies and work of the Lord do exceedingly excite and strongly provoke to make him thus publike and to propose the holiness of his life and comforts in death for the direction and consolation of those whose faces are set towards Sion and to whom this account of him shall come 5. That God may have the glory of what he had done in him in a way of gracious discoveries and manifestations of what he had done for him in a way of clear providences and encouraging dispensations of what he had done by him in giving success unto his labours and letting him see the travel of his soul to his no small solace and satisfaction 6. That the Name of such a Pleasant Plant and fruitful Bough might be preserved fresh green and verdant in the memories of Gods people eâ—ough himself be witheâ—ed lopt off by the hand of death and foâ— a while laid in the dust As Abel so other Saints though dead may yet speak and be made known And O what a glorious thing is it when departed souls are lodged in Abrahams blissful bosom and dead bodies intombed in living Sepulchres sending forth a sweet and refreshing savour into the nostrils of surviving friends A flower may smell sweet after it is cropt and a way made for the Sun to shine after it is set Mr. John Murcot the History of whose life is now to be related was born in the antient Town of Warwick of Parents considerable for their Extraction more for their shining and pious conversation His Fathers name Job Murcot who applyed himself to the study of the Law which brought him in a competent and comfortable subsistence though since humbled by the calamitous inconveniences of these distracted times whose various revolutions have occasioned a wasting and undoing unto many His mothers name before her marriage with his Father was Joan Townsend of raised parts and eminent piety the happy mother of an hopeful son the renowned Root from whence apppeared and sprouted up this fair and flourishing Branch planted by the Rivers of water who brought forth his fruit in his â—eason his leaves did not wither and whatsoever he did the Lord made it to prosper His Parents were conscientiously careful of his education made it their business to season him with sound and solid Principles in his young and tender years which he greedily suckt in as having an early thirst after God and he who erst while hung on his Mothers breast for milk now hangs on her lips for instruction His Parents perceiving in this their young Timothy an ardent desire to be intimately acquainted with the Scriptures and in order thereunto with Academical learning were very prone to contribute their endeavours towards the ripening of these hopeful Buddings and promising Beginnings and therefore in the first place committed him to the care and tuition of an able and godly School-master Mr. Dugard who instilled instruction both with his lips and life desirous to make him not only a Scholar but a Christian It s hard to say 〈◊〉 which was more diligent and industrious the Master in teaching or the Scholar in learning Time was not mispent and prodigally expended in the eager pursuite of childish vanities he ran at his first seting out and did not lazily loiter when he should be minding his work yea when other boyes would be sporting and playing he would be studiously retired solitariness and meditation being unto him instead of recreation Being competently furnished for the University his Father sent him to Oxford where he continued his former diligence in his studies under the conduct and oversight of Mr. Button his faithful and religious Tutor in Merton Colledge About two years after his thriving abode there the Kings Forces possessed themselves of Oxford put all things into an hurry and ingaged the students in such perplexing snares that Mr. Murcot to disintangle himself out of these uncouth inconveniences fled from Oxford disguised and repaired to the House of Mr. Leigh of Budworth an antient grave able and learned man and Minister of that place and there studied hard both day and night allowing himself but four hours for sleep so intent was he upon his Book and so wholly taken up with religious Exercises The cloud being blown over he repaired the second time to the University and his former diligence which caused the eyes of many to fix and fasten on him as perceiving something more then ordinary in him and expecting more than ordinary from him Though means and maintenance were now very short yet it did not discourage and cause him to deâ—ist he did not unbend the Bow and slacken the string he still stood an end to his Oar and with wonted diligence prosecuted his studies it being his meat and his drink to do his Fathers will Having taken his degree he returned to his old friend Mr. Leigh and was several waies useful to him who now called upon him to appear in publike which he did not without much fear and trembling as being conscious to himself of his own inabilities for so ponderous an employment and loth to put to his shoulders lest he should sink under the burden But being pressed and egged on by his friends and a Call from the Inhabitants of Ashbury he entred into the Lords Vineyard put his hand unto the Plough and was ordained a Minister at Manchestâ—â— He professed to use his own words that he was drawn as a Bear to the stake complaining and often bewailing his want of a sufficient stock of University learning The Lord was pleased to own him in his first attempts and endeavours giving him a seal unto his Ministry by the conversion of two especially who being awakened by his sound Doctrine smart expression and powerful delivery sadly bemoaned themselves and mourned over their lost condition even in publike From Ashbury a call being cleared up he removed to Eastham in Woral and gained mightily upon the affections of many especially the godly
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
enabled me to surrender you up heartily at the â—earâ—ng of which he lifting up his hands blessed the Lord. To hâ—s wâ—fe he said haste haste Love for my time is very short and withall told his Sister I shall not reach midnight Then lifting up himfelf he said these raptures tell me I must be gone quickly The consideration of his approaching rest did wonderfully revive The Messenger of the Lord whispered him in the ear and told him his Father had sent for him home which happy tidings made his heart to â—eap for joy within him The glimmerings of the white Throne of the Lamb sitting on that Throne and of the glorious troops of Saints and Angels all in white about the I â—rone with the apprehensions and confident assurance of his bearing a part in the Musick of their Hallelujahs caused in him sublime elevations and springing exultings of spirit in a body depressed and bowed down with pinching pains and the agonies of an approaching death He is now in the Cutfields of Emanuels Land and is gotten almost to the top of the Mount and his soul impatient of delaies is ready to leap out of the crazy and declining Cottage of mouldring Flesh Paper being brought he began thus I resign my spirit into the hands of the Father of Spirits and into the bosome of my dear Lord c. To this there were but three or four lines more added for he was in haste and longed to be at home To his wife having in a very short space dispatched his Will he said Bury me in silence without Funeral Sermon I will have no manner of pomp but was perswaded to yeild to the intreaties of his wife as to a Sermon As his children were called for Doctor Winter came in to visit him who unexpectedly seeing death in his face said with a loud and lamenting voice Brother Murcot are you leaving us who with unaltered countenance said Yes and desired him to pray quickly His children being brought he said to his eldest Will Hester be a good child and serve the Lord His son being presented he expressed himself thus The Lord break thy stubborn heart When the little one hanging on the mothers brest was exposed to his sight he lift up his hands and said The Lord bless thee Being put in mind of his servants he affectionately and even smilingly looked up upon one whom he had been instrumental to convert and said Bess hath a better Master the Lord be with thee Bess The children being taken away and his wife coming to take her last leave and final farewel of him he alone lift up himself and kissed her Dr. Winter desiring an interest in his prayers he said The Lord strengthen you for the double work that now lies on you and withal desired him to pray with him which he did in a most pathetical and doleful manner groaning out his requests unto God The people though desired are loath to leave the chamber and hang so thick on the curtains bed-posts hangings doors having not the power to leave their dear and departing friend so that he is in danger of being smothered and dying before his time Drawing near his end his sister said to him Are you in charity with all the Lords people though differing from you Who lifting up his eyes affectionately said Yes She desiring him to manifest it by his last request he lifted up his hands and requested that all the Lords people might be one as his way was one Then stretching out his arms and lifting himself up he said with a loud and shrill voice Lord Jesus draw me up to thee which sweet expressions by a frequent and fervent repetition wasted his spirits so that afterwards he lay in somewhat a silent posture waiting for his change which was now neer at hand About nine of the clock he breathed out his soul into the bosom of Christ and quietly slept in the Lord. The Wednesday following being the appointed time of his interment great was the confluence of people who attended the corps unto the grave The Lord Deputy Fleetwood followed the Body after him the Council then the Maior Aldermen and Citizens in such numerous troops that the like hath not been usually seen in Dublin Dr. Winter preached his funeral Sermon on Heb. 13. 7. Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation Upon the face of the whole Congregation sate a black cloud of sorrow and disconsolation being not able to vent it on that doleful and uncomfortable occasion into showers The Body being brought unto the place of burial the sadned spectators and standers-by sighed him into his grave and mingling his dust with their moist tears departed and left him in his bed of rest Relation I would willing back with Exhortation A few words of spiritual advice in the close of the whole may be of use though from an inferiour hand And first to you my Brethren in the Ministry I address my self and earnestly intreate you in the bowels of Christ Jesus our Lord to remember That you are not only Church-Officers but Christians Spend not your whole time in reading books and studying other men you will do well to study your selves and to be acquainted with the frame of your own hearts The way which you point out unto others walk in your selves and conscientiously practise the duties which you pangatively press Beware of beams in your own eyes whilest you are diligently plucking motes out of your brothers eyes Let not your own cloathes be full of dust when you are brushing other mens backs It s not handsom for us to be alwaies sweeping before the doors of others and picking up the least offensive straw whilest huge heaps of dunghil filth lie before our own doors unremoved It opens the mouths of opposites when we are taken notice of to bind heavy burdens on other mens shoulders we in the mean time refusing to touch them with the least of our fingers Know we not the pleadings of many at the last day Have we not preached in thy name and in thy name cast out Devils whom yet Christ will spurn from his presence and cast forth as an everlasting abhorring What though Judas had the grace of Apostleship so long as he had not grace with his Apostleship It was a wise course that Paul took and deserving imitation who did beat down his own body lest having preached unto others he himself should become a cast-away What though Satan fall down from heaven like â—ightning before us if he be not cast out of our hearts We have more reason to rejoyce in having our names written in the Lambs book of Life then in having the Devils subject to us O whilest we passionately endeavour the salvation of others souls let us have an eye of tender regard unto our own One hint more at parting We cannot be too often put in
to vvalk if a man be taken up vvith other things in his mind and it be intent upon them how unevenly doth he vvalk he is sometimes upon this side and then upon that side of the vvay up and down and many times loseth his way and heedeth it not but now if a man make his Journey his business he is intent upon it and looks about him at every turn and every turning lest he should go vvrong so to vvalk exactly then doth imply a vvatchfull eye a trembling heart fearing at every turning lest he should miss hâ—s vvay so David I said I would take heed to my ways lest I should go wrong so then to vvalk exactly is to lay our strength our might our vvisdom and all to it to keep our vvay so the word is used of Apollos he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being fervent in spirit diligently he taught the things of the Lord there it noteh not so much the exactness accurateness of his skill but of his diligence and industry for he knew only the Baptism of Iohn that is to say the Doctrine of Iohn and his Administration and so Herod is said to inquire Go and search diligently for the young child c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 search exactly diligently pry into every corner turn every stone use all means search from bottom to top to find him so then to vvalk exactly is to make it a mans vvork business to lay out his industry in this vvork if he can but keep in the vvay of Jesus Christ the vvay to heaven it is enough Now for the second thing to make it good that it is a duty so strictly charged upon the Saints me thinketh this Scripture it self is a full testimony there needeth no further proof but yet a word or two more you find in that of the Hebrews the Apostles exhortation make straite paths to your feet straite steps or make straite paths with your feet which may appear to others that are to follow you as you follow Christ tread with a straite foot and by a straite rule and in that of the Proverbs Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established weigh your steps before you take them weigh them every grain and scruple in the ballance of the Sanctuary walk you Suspenso pede Look before you leap look and look again this is the way to have your goings established and here in the Text see how it is charged upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see to it it is a word of strict charge as we use to say to men Well see you do such a thing see you fail not then so saith the Apostle see to it that you walk circumspectly it is not an indifferent thing nor of small moment but of great concernment see to it look to your selves and then that particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 increaseth the charge also See how ye walk exactly or how exactly you walk it is not the reflect act that is here commanded that they should view their ways and see how exactly they did walk this is not directly here commanded and immediatly though more remotely as it conduceth to this exact walking it may be here commanded but that particle doth intend the charge and heighten it but so much for the proof The third thing is why this duty is thus charged upon the Saints to walk so exactly circumspectly First because they are children of the light and therefore should walk as children of the light they should walk exactly without rowling out of the way without stumbling in the way because they have light they that are in the darkness and know not whither they go no marvell if at any time they stumble into the way of God yet they as easily stumble out again it is but suitable to them not to keep their way but now ye are in the light and therefore see that you walk accurately you have a light to your paths and a lanthorn to your steps therefore order your steps aright make them straite therefore saith Erasmus he well saith videte because nothing is seen in the dark but Beza thinketh this is more subtilly then need Secondly Because their steps are more eyed and taken notice of then other mens both by God himself and by other men first the Lord himself his eye runs to and fro beholding the evil and the good but specially in his own people he takes notice of them how they carry it and he takes notice of the most inward spirituall part of their hearts of the frame of their hearts and therefore let them look to it walk circumspectly in regard of him Secondly In regard of men 1. There are many out of the malignancy of their hearts do seek some advantage against the people of God they watch for your halting as the Prophet speaks they would have somewhat to accuse the brethren with to bespatter Religion with and therefore like their father the Devil if they cannot be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accusers they will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 false accusers But oh how glad is Satan and what sport is it to sinners to trap the people of God to take them halting and walking with an uneven foot though it is sport to none but devils and devilish sinners take that by the way they were enemies of the Lord that did blaspheme though David had given them cause report say they and we will report it concerning Ieremy some evil or other against him how much more if any thing fall from them which is justly blame worthy O a Candle upon an hill cannot be hid a spot upon white is easily seeâ— Secondly in respect of men who are scandalized by their uneven walking and those either good or bad men 1. Some of the Saints they are scandalized that is to say there is a stumbling block laid in their way whereat they stumble either thereby they are incouraged and imboldened to follow their steps though they sin against the Lord and so they fall and this is sad though a child of God cannot sure be so wicked as to intend the falling of others or drawing others into sin but his example as Balam did who put a stumbling block wittingly and wickedly before Israel taught the King of Moab to intice Israel by their women and they would draw them to Idolatry whereupon great wrath came forth against them this is hardly to be found but in aâ—â— Balaam and better a Millstone were hanged about his neck that shall do any such thing and he sunk into the sea never to rise again or else the thing in its own nature is matter of offence and occasions them to sin as the strong brohers eating things offered to Idols in the presence of the weak hat made scruple of it yet thereby were imboldned to sin but if it draweth not to sin yet it may be a grief to the hearts of them that
God would not have sadned God is exceeding tender of his peoples comfort and therefore he hath written somuch the scope of all which is that they might have consolation and their joy might be full and therefore if we by uneven walking grieve the hearts of the people of God surely we are like to smart for it it is a vexation to the righteous soul of Lot to behold the unclean conversation of the wicked but it is a grief and bitterness doubtless much more to the people of God to see the miscarriage of a David a Peter and to hear the reproach wherewith they reproach the way of Christ which fall upon them continually Secondly Not only good men but evil men are indangered to be scandalized by it and to be prejudiced against the ways of strictness and exact walking with God because they that profess it do so miserably miss it we should walk wisely towards them that are without left we fright them away from Christianity as the Papists by their Idolatry are an offence to the Iews to keep them off from coming in to Christ because they are exceeding tenacious now of the second Commandment God having purged that iniquity from them by a seventy years captivity and much longer since and so by their cruelty to the Gentiles where they go to convert them they are an offence to them and little doth a child of God know if he fall as David did how many may stumble upon him and fall head-long into hell never come to Jesus Christ upon this account Thirdly Because we have all of us erring hearts and naturally we love to wander and if the Lord have healed that affection that now it is wrought out of us yet we are apt to wander therefore so often compared to sheep I have gone astray like a lost sheep O seek thy servant c. We all like sheep have gone astray and therefore it is the more needful to be charged upon us home and deeply because we are so prone to turn a side it is a people that have alway erred in their hearts though they were his people in Covenant external yet they erred in heart who can say he doth not find many inclinations in the heart bent to backslide go out of the way and therefore it is needful to be prest upon us so much to walk exactly and see to it Fourthly because there are so many by-paths whereinto they may step awry truth is one but falshood is manifold there is error on the right hand and error on the left and but one straite path before them therefore it is two to one but they miss it and therefore they had need to use double diligence and be pressed to it to walk circumspectly to see they be exact in their ways Now for the Use then First it is to shew us that among the much profession of Chirst that is in the world there is very little power very little exact and circumspect walking men profess to walk with God but it is at a great distance they are strangers to him and he to them and no marvel The second Use and that I will a little insist upon shall be a word of Reproof and that of divers sorts and as the Lord beginneth his rebukes for sin at his own House Judgement beginneth at the house of God so will I first give the alarm to them a word of Reproof to them Alas how far short do the people of God come of this duty it is intollerable pride in the Papists that stand upon their tiptoes and talk of their works of Supererrogation as if they had done more then God had commanded and it is wretchless carelesness in us that we keep not nearer to what he hath commanded I speak not now of the many errors the most vigilant and close walking Christian will alas to his grief find himself guilty of when he maketh a diligent measuring of his actions by that rule but I speak of the carelesness of Christi ans walking wherein doubtless they might come up nearer to God if they did but stir up themselves ever and anon but we are idle we are idle and make many an idle complaint to God that wâ— are unable to do any thing which is true if we consider our selves apart from Christ Without me ye can do nothing but through him we may be able to do all things and if we be renewed in our inward man what is this but a powerful propensity of the Mind and Will towards God and that which is according to God It is not to be doubted but if Saints would but take more pains with their hearts they might have many a better frame to serve the Lord and they should not offer so many tattered sacrifices to him and if men would be but perswaded to the painful part of Christianity they may get their passions of lust more subdued which break out to the dishonour of God and shame of Christianity and therefore justly are we to be reproved if men would a little better cast their occasions and husband their time they need not be in such straits so often to neglect or slubber over their prayers And for civil things do you walk circumspectly as you might if you made it your work and study in things lawfull might not Christians have more regard then they have to the conveniency or inconveniency I am sure the Apostle had and therein he followed Christ and therein he is to be our pattern and so what is of good report and praise worthy me thinketh it is sad when there is no care unto our hearts of these things might not Christians walk at a closer scantling in point of offence the Apostle would deny his liberty in things lawful and haply we would think necessary too as the eating of flesh rather then offend his weak brother and we many times care not so we may have our wills how many we offend and so in natural things eating drinking sleeping Christians I doubt we generally too much indulge the flesh even to the loading of our minds and dulling our spirits for higher things how cometh it to pass Sabbaths are spent so sleepily but because some wil not allow themselves nor theirs competent rest the world incroacheth upon God or else they load themselves with the creatures so that they cannot hold up their heads either they are over-worked or over-charged with surfetting and drunkenness doubtless this is reducible to those great evils well the Lord reprove us for it for we are very guilty we walk very loosely in comparison of the examples of some of the Saints yea I do verily think there is many a poor blind Papist will rise up in judgement against many of us that are Professors that have more light then they 2. It is a word of Reproof of another sort that instead of walking exactly with God following him fully their hearts are devided some there are
that have the name of Christians and yet altogether neglect the honest and harmless conversation among men and are altogether taken up with some small duties of Worship and shews of Religion as the Proverb hath it Angels in the Church and Devils in the House Devils in their Callings such were the Idolatrous Iews the Prophets with one voyce do testifie against them for this thy cried The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these c. but considered not that they made this Temple of the Lord a Den of Thieves a Sanctuary to defend them a cover and cloak for their wickedness and so the Prophet again This people draw near me with their mouths honour me with their lips but are far from me and the conversation also which answers more to their hearts then to their lips it is the very counterpane of their hearts usually 〈◊〉 this an exact circumspect walking do you think thus to impose upon the holy one of Israel doth not he regard think you what your dealings are between man man and how you carry it in your Families in your Shops as well as in the publike altogether this is very reproof worthy our Saviour thought it so and all the Prophets thought it so and O that he would speak this to every carnal Gospellers heart this day Again secondly There are others that are all for morality and honesty of conversation they give every one their own they are not injurious they are no extortioners with the Pharisee they are no drunkards but for the worship of God they know nothing what it meaneth to worship in Spirit and truth this is not an exact walking with God these things you should do and not leave the other undone else you follow not God fully indeed there is many a Moralist that is rather an Atheist then a Christian but I will not stand upon this Pour out thy c. Again thirdly There are a sort that neither fear God not reverence man and yet will not indure but to be called Christians for the worship of God if they come at it in the publike there are their bodies but their hearts are gone they come to see and be seen to mind faces and fashions and so sin and trifle away the Ordinances of God in their houses nothing but hellishness all their words full of deceit and poyson their accents are oaths it is all the emphasis and grace they think of their speech their lives what are they but rottenness and fraud and pride and over-reaching they have no regard to right or wrong good report or evil report all actions are alike to them being past feeling and under a reprobate sence they cannot judge of good or evil but call evil good and good evil Is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to walk uprightly exactly Ah surely brethren if it be exactness it is of the devils coyning when men teach their tongues to speak falsly as in Shops many do and make nothing of it and teach their hands to work deceit and wickedness this is to walk exactly with the devil to walk as other Gentiles do whose hearts the God of this world doth mightily work to their own destruction the Lord rebuke this power of sin where ever it is Again It may serve to reprove another sort and those are they who are so far from walking circumspectly or exactly that there is nothing more the object of their scorn and contempt then this it is the drunkards song as David was and so preciseness and strictness of walking is ordinary the world cannot bear the burning and shining conversations of some of the Saints they are so cuttingly reproved by them that with those Heathens they curse the Sun that by its shining doth scorch them It is no new thing the seed of the Serpent did alway persecute the seed of the Woman and he that was born after the flesh persecuteth him that was born after the Spirit even so it is now saith the Apostle and so it is now may we say Ismael mocked Isaac and is it not so still or if it be not so bold a sin as formerly it is because the times not sinners hearts are changed they malign them still watch for their halting report say they and we will report it well remember this you that are scorners at strictness and circumspect and exact walking with God you are set down in in the scorners chair the Lord be mercifull to you for few that arrive to that pitch and take up their rest in sin that are therein setled are brought on to Christ you are the Ring leaders in the way which leads to destruction this is another The next Use then shall be a word of Exhortation to us all If it be a duty so much lying upon us then to buckle our selves to it to walk exactly O see to it I charge you all and the Lord lay the charge upon mine own soul as you will ever lift up your faces without spot and with comfort at the day of your summons and appearing before the Judgement seat so walk circumspectly I know none of our hearts but they do or may accuse us of much unevenness in our walking do you know it brethren and will you dare to continue in it I may not descend to particulars but do not your hearts smite you for looseness of spirit towards God hanging back often neglecting shuffling and cutting with God putting him off with any thing and is not this a cursed thing to do Gods work negligently to bring a female when he have a male doth not your hearts smite you for this you do not take heed to your ways lest you sin with your tongues there is much falshood therein lightness and foolishness if not poyson and destruction there nor to your feet they make haste to vanity you shun not occasions of sin as you would an infected person or family O surely if it were not so an importunate duty the Apostle would not so charge it upon Christians that make Christianity their business to walk so exactly but a little to move us to it I will add some few Considerations and then some words â—f Direction which you may look upon as an Appendix of this Use or else as a distinct Application of this Point First Motive Consider that the way wherein you walk is all overspred with snares and nets to trap you and that your ways 1. To trap you in sin 2. To trap you for sin First To trap you in sin had not the Bird need to he wary and heedfull and make good use of her sences to discover where she may light without danger when every place is full of Limetwigs is there an hook under every fair baite and had not the fish need to take heed how she biteth or nibleth lest she be taken this is the case there is a truth and a great one in it there is nothing we
have to do with either towards God or towards men or towards our selves but there are many temptations accompanying it and particular conditions have their particular temptations and if we be not very circumspect and exact it is a thousand to one but we miscarry we are snared and taken and carried away captive to some vain imagination to some high thought to some base lust and there kept in strong holds and it may cost us somewhat before we be released again the world was never more full of snares then now brethren for beside the ordinary snares in our trading profession or way of gaining Lord how many snares are there it would be an infinite work to trace them through in all our relations Snares they are apt to steal away our hearts if lovely and desirable or else to occasion much sin another way if otherwise in Reliligion never so many never more seandall by the falls of eminent Professors never were there more various pretences to the Truth more false ways and every one pretending to the Truth so that it is somewhat difficult to find a solution for that Question what is Truth never was the world more full of witcheries then now more powerful in its enticements then now it is hard to bear the frowns of it upon the truth but more hard to avoid the imbraces of it and the smiles upon error and falshood if they think it be the way to thrive to be of this or that opinion men to whom gain is godliness they will rather burn incense to the Queen of heaven and tell the Lord to his face that his Prophet is a lying Prophet to speak against their way of worship which brought them in so much they had their corn and wine and oyl then and therefore they would not be beaten off by a Thus saith the Lord to the contrary will the Silver Smiths let Diana go upon easie terms and will not men stickle for a way of falshood if thereby come in their gain and preferments and will not all the world follow that way almost had we not need to walk exactly then to take heed where we tread besides if there were nothing but our own hearts they are as snares and nets to us how easie is it for us to be intangled in the cords of our own sins our own pride and self-confidence and self-love doting upon our selves and a world of iniquities each of them being a snare Oh brethren if you did walk among pits and pits covered from your eys if men did walk upon a bog ready to sink every step how would they walk Suspenso gradu Secondly The necessity of it to the end if we would reach the end of our faith the salvation of our souls it must be by an exact walking it is not a little form of godliness without the power spreading it self through your lives will do it else those in the 7. of Matthew had had a sufficient plea for themselves else the Pharisees had not been much out when they under a pretence of long Prayers devoured widdows houses but they were miserably mistaken Dear friends be not deceived let no man deceive you with vain words and tell you the way to heaven is broder then it is it is a narrow way and it is up the hill and if you will come to heaven you must not think that any by-path will bring you to it that there is any nearer cut then the Lord hath made Many shall seek to enter and shall not be able and what if that prove any of our cases who never were sensible of such a duty in strict close exact circumspect walking how wâ—ful will our conditions be men seek to enter but they will not strive they will walk hand in hand with the people of God ' but they will not walk exactly they will take a liberty to their spirits though their souls perish by it Thirdly The difficulty of the way should put us upon exactness it is a narrow way there is a necessity you heard before if you miss it you sink and perish but men think it is easie to find and keep but this is ignorance our Savioâ—ur saith it is a straite way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an afflicted way or a way crushed close together a man cannot tell almost how to miss the way to hell he may wink and walk thither he needeth no light to his feet the way of the wicked is as darkness and while they are in that darkness they may be sure they are in the way to destruction and he that is but a fool bungler at the service of sin is not ingenuous may make a shift to come thither how easily to tumble down the hill but to recover a mans self to get up the hill this is the labour indeed It is narrow and then it is not such a beaten path and therefore not so easie found some track there is but it is not so beaten and beautified with the feet of the shining Saints as to be easily discerned but it is rather a way in the ayr and indeed none can see it untill he be in it and therefore there is a necessity of exactness circumspection in walking if a man have a hard way to find be upon a great plain or a waste howling Wilderness where there is no way beaten and among enemies in danger to be destroyed this man had need look well about him to walk exactly indeed A third Motive may be because Iniquity abounds the love of many waxeth cold and therefore from hence it is that there are so many offences so carelesly given and so easily taken if Peter and the men of Knowledge have no more love then to walk so offensively have no more tenderness of others what need had the weak then to walk wisely circumspectly lest you be drawn away with the dissimulation of a Peter as Barnabas was he looked not so well to his steps as he should as on the other hand if you slip and fall and walk not wisely if thy foot slip and thou stumble there are few that are so spiritual and full of love as with the spirit of meekness to restore thee again it is too too apparent even in the eminentest Saints they are rather ready to a withdrawing a casting off communion and fellowship and therefore thou hadst need who ever thou art to walk wisely and circumspectly else thou wilt be in danger of giving offence to some of the little ones and woe be to him by whom offences come or else thou maist be insnared and stumble upon others miscarriages and so thy soul be destroyed or in danger of it as the Apostle speaks will not that man walk warily that hath stumbling block upon stumbling block is in a rough way and if he tread aside is in danger to put out a joynt or break his bones so it is here Fourthly How much honour hath God by a
measuring at the first setting out vvill serve your turn you must be often measuring as an Architect he vvill often use his Plum-Line or rule if you would make straite and exact work of it ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established do you think once for all vvill serve the turn no David did think upon his vvays and turned his feet unto his testimonies the word there for thinking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noteth some accurateness in surveying a mans life the word signifieth curiously to devise as cunning Artificers because such devises are the work of the thoughts so then he did with great exactness think upon his ways studied to find out every error to an hairs breath and so to frame his course and why should not the godly make as curious vvork of it in holiness as sinners do in sin and this is the very reason vvhy men do often miss their vvay they do not often inquire vvhat the rule is vvhereby they vvork and for vvhat end they do this or that this is to look round about us as a man if he go on and there be many turnings and never look backward nor upward to see vvhither his course be straite it is five to one but he goeth out of his vvay ye should have said vvhy do vve persecute him so they should have said but so they did not say they should have inquired for vvhat end they did it by vvhat rule so the Jews in their blind rage against Christ alas they knew not vvhat they did look to thy foot then in thy spiritual and thy civill conversation in thy spiritual and offer not up the sacrifice of fools for they know not that they do evil make rash vows and then break them and think to put it off by saying before the Angel it was an error this is the sacrifice of fools they inquire not before hand what they do and so in your civil conversation inquire what and why you do this or the other action that the end be holy and the rule holy even the Word of the ever living God and then there is hope you will go straite A fools bolt is soon shot they neither mind the art of shooting nor the mark and therefore never hit the mark how came it to pass the Jew swere so bruitish in their adultery and Idolatry to worship Stocks and Stones why saith the Text None considereth in his heart neither is there knowledge and understanding to say I have burnt part of it in the fire yea also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof I have roasted flesh and eaten it and shall I make the residue an abomination and shall I fall down to the Stock of a tree he feeds on ashes a deceived heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul nor say is there not a lye in my right hand so a deceived a bewitched heart with some pleasant lust or somewhat that men are bent and set upon turns them aside they cannot deliver their souls they cannot say is there not a lye in my right hand and if they could but say thus and examine their ways lay their steps to the rule they would walk more orderly Fifthly In every serious undertaking enquire of God seek his face in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths but indeed here is the misery of it we will first resolve what we will do and then go and enquire of God which is to mock him to his face David went among the Philistians of his own head without inquiring of God and what came of it we see he was gotten out of the way and many a snaâ—e was he taken in and many a stumbling block did he fall upon before he returned into the way again how hard was he put to it to tell lyes to Achish to dissemble and put hmself on to fight with them against Israel but that the Lord did wonderfully deliver him never poor man was in a greater straite at other times he did beg of God to direct him and he did lead him and upheld his goings O that my ways were directed saith he to keep thy Statutes Without his Spirit though we have the rule of the Word yet we cannot rightly apply it to our particular cases and actions and therefore we had need to go to him Sixthly Be sure we look to our humility to keep our hearts low before the Lord for those are they he will teach his way the more humble a man is and the lower thoughts he hath of himself the more circumspect will he be this humility is opposed to that confident rage of some men A prudent man looks well to his goings but a fool rageth and is confident This I say saith the Apostle that every one of you think of himself not more highly then he ought to think but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every one the measure of grace When a man is so confident he knoweth his way as well as any can tell him and therefore he will enquire of no man this man of all other is most likely to go astray therefore look to this Seventhly Take heed of Squint eyed ends for they will draw aside the heart the affections the feet of the soul if we look not straite before us but alway looking on one side it is not likely we shall make straite steps to our feet therefore saith the Wise man Let thine eys look strait on and thine eye-lids look strait before thee to the mark of the price as the Apostle aimed at that look strait before you to the strait rule it is to walk before you and this is the way to keep your selves right in the way this is the way not to turn to the right hand nor to the left they were Jehu his ends which drew himself aside afterward to countenance and set up the same Idolatry which he himself had destroyed or else to continue some Idolatry though he destroyed some Eighthly Take heed of halting between two of going to a kind of neutrality as the Jews were guilty much in this kind If God be God follow him and if Baal be God follow him little better were they that vvould reconcile us and the Papists together by a commission for this haltingwill draw us out of the vvay by degrees make strait steps to your feet lest that which is lame be driven out of the way and not healed away then with complying with the times and parties vvhose vvays vve judge to be false any further then the Law of Christ the Law of Love requireth us to own them vvalk vvith them Ninthly Forecast vvhat temptations and snares you may meet vvith in the vvay of God lest if you meet vvith more then you expected you be overtaken by them therefore our Saviour tells the man vvhat he vvas like to trust to The Son
manner to come with a rod if there were need Again there is much wisdom to be used in the dressing the same truth again and again for the truths which you are necessarily to know they are not for number infinite and you will easily find if you consider the Scripture how the same truths are proposed to us in the Scripture an 100. waies several waies because the Lord knew our frame that naturally we would have somewhat new and were affected with variety therefore he giveth us the same truths under divers dresses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle the Preacher chose not acceptable words though It would not feed that itching humor that is in some yet I would allow as much as love and prudence examined together would advise because of the weakness and frame of men and if one therefore diversly dress the same truths omne tulit punctum will the Lord seal this instruction to such of us as it concerneth And Brethren pray for us that we may be wise-hearted and know how to fit our selves and bait the hook so as it may be most drawing Thirdly It may serve to humble us for our dulness then and those many other defections which are the rise of this necessity to beat the same things upon us again and again Dear friends we swallow much every Sabboth every opportunity how little doth incorporate with us how little abideth with us what pains is the Lord fain to take with us line upon line and precept upon precept here a little and there a little in season out of season and yet Brethren how little the better are we for it May we not all of us lay our hands upon our hearts is it not matter of humbling we should put the Lord and his Messengers to so much pains with us and be yet little the better for all O let us magnifie the long-suffering of God and bless him for the long-suffering of his servants with us that he is pleased to follow us up and down with this and that necessary truth It may be thou hast heard some things which now thy soul hath the experience of thou wouldst not loose for a world and many a time thou hast heard them but it hath been like water spilt upon the ground and at last the Lord hath fastened the nayl to the head if it had had but one blow it would not have stuck Fourthly It may caution us brethren against nauseating Divine truths because they are so often beaten upon us it may be the same things It is safe for you brethren it is good for you if you know the things belong to your peace say not then occidet misâ—ros crambe repetita Magistros What shall the Disciples say to Christ because he so presseth them to watch for his appearing here is nothing but harping upon one string nothing but watching and watching prest upon us we would have somewhat else we are weary of this No but rather continue O sure it is needful our dulness calls for it and it is much tenderness that he will not give us over until he hath wrought it upon our spirits Should the Philippians cast it in Pauls teeth he had told them often of those unruly masters that they had heard enough of that O no now he tels them with tears with more melting then before the same thing in a more affected manner they had no reason to lothe It was the great sin of the Israelites you know they had manna every morning this was their daily bread at last they grew weary of it nothing but this manna our souls loatheth this light bread for a while it was excellent and delightful but after a while they loathed it It seemeth it had not a taste to suite every mans palate what was most delightful to every one as some thought then they would not have loathed it but they might dress it divers waies and yet they loathed it this was a lust which put their mouthes out of taste and so far as that they prefered Garlick and Onions before it It is nothing to be taken with the word when a Teacher is as one that plaies skilfully upon an instrument toucheth every string and in such a manner as the variety maketh sweet melody but this harping upon one string is not so pleasant here is a tryal of your love to the word as it is the word whether in its nakedness and simplicity you can love it and though you have nothing but the word and the word the sincere milk Another Caution shall be this to take heed of that humour which reigns in abundance among us all affecting novelties O such itching ears would not have suited with our Saviour his manner of Preaching they have the same again and again from him A new light though it be but a Comet draweth more eyes after it then the Sun because he daily runneth his course this is a great vanity in mens minds and truly it is so in spiritual things A new Doctrine Oh how it bewitcheth men as that did the Galathians it is more then ordinarily taking with us else the power of darkness and errour had not been so great in our daies as it hath been and truly when we begin to be weary of the eternal Gospel which never waxeth old and cannot away with the same things after we have once heard them which argues we receive not the love of the truth imbrace it not because of it self but its dress or its novelties or some such accident we are in the very high-way to delusion as the Apostle saith I am sure Antiquity was the commendation of the Apostles Doctrine even to the Romans themselves he brought no new Gospel but what was from the beginning Is it not the same spirit surely that works so mightily among us whereby men would commend any thing for its novelty It is horrible pride both in Preachers and Teachers Lucifer-pride and a strong savour of the old Adam that rather then we will be confined to a course and dwell upon such things as have been received as truths in Jesus we will have somewhat new or else we will to our own inventions for it the Lord deliver us from such a spirit And lastly brethren it is necessary that the same things be thus inculcated upon us then surely we may hence learn that there is somewhat more for us to learn still in every truth we hear it may be often we have heard such a duty pressed such a sin descried there is somewhat in it that God meeteth thee it may be everywhere with the same message they spoke with one mouth the same thing to thee Is there not cause to fear Surely that is one consideration and the Lord in mercy to thee will not let thee alone but one Bell in Aarons ring sounds louder then all the rest in thine ears Surely surely there is somewhat unhealed that every one thou comes near
and ruddy the chief among ten thousand either his divinity and Humanity or his fulness of Grace and his bloody Merits in a sweet exact mixture O how beautiful do they make him he is fairer then the sons of men If that beauty will carry it he is the very Paragon of Heaven 3. For Riches there is none like to him This is a great allurement you know indeed for the most part men do marry the gold and riches of the world rather then the person though this be a madness an Heir to a great estate likely will not need a wife Why the Lord Jesus is heir of all things all things in Heaven and Earth He is the onely Son of God the heir apparent of heaven he is being the Son of God so that what ever we want it will be abundantly supplyed in him Abraham his servant wooing saith his Master was rich and had onely one Son and he heir of all Gen. 24. 35 36. 4. If Honours will do it for that is somewhat which much takes with men he is no less then a King and no mean one he is the King of Glory a glorious King indeed as he is called in that Psalm Yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 17. 14. A most high and eminent Kingdom who hath all other Kings at his command a hundred seven and twenty Provinces were a great Dominion but not onely all the Kingdoms of the earth are the Lords and his Christs but by him Kings rule and Princes decree Justice it is by his permission any of them exercise their power 5. For Power as well as Authority and Majesty he it is that can do what he pleaseth he is indeed the Mighty God and what then can stand in his way He is our Maker and there is much in that thy Maker is thy Husband thy Redeemer the Lord of Hosts is his name thy Maker he that gave thee thy beeing when thou haddest none by a word of his mouth O here is power indeed he that could give us a spiritual being by the same word there is yet more power for in the first there was no repugnancy but here there is he is the Lord of Hosts It was much to Israel to consider who was their Husband even the Lord of Hosts he that could Redeem them out of Egypt sink all their enemies in the Red-Sea go as a Captain before them drive out the Canaanites notwithstanding their Iron Chariots the Anakims that were a terror to them He now was their Husband He is a man of war and a most mighty man of valour for that Goliah himself which defies the Armies of Israel is nothing in his hand the roaring Lyon is nothing in his hand he can tear him in pieces and bruise him under his feet even as a Lyon tears a Kid. It is very much brethren this to commend the Lord Jesus to us he can fight our battels for us so that if we can but stand still we shall see the salvation of the Lord. 6. For a lovely sweet disposition which is none of the least desirable things in a Husband O never was there like to Jesus Christ for disposition he is love it self and tenderness it self bowels and compassion it self there is many a one though they have beauty and riches aâ—d honours and birth and power in an Husband yet if there be an unsuitable disposition there be rigidness and harshness it imbitters all O do but observe how sweet a disposition he was of so far from harshness to his people that he melteth over his very enemies that refused him Ah that thou haâ—st known in this thy day c. O how he is touched with our infirmities afflicted in our afflictions A woman that hath such a husband what a sweetning is it to all her afflictions If love will do he â—â—ll never take any other course never any estrangement of himself from a soul here is a Bridegroom indeed But I will not speak any further Brethren you have heard much and much better of the excellencies of Jesus Christ then I am able to speak to you this onely for the second thing There are yet to be considered the Causes which according to their several influences concur to the making up of this relation between Christ and the Church of a Bridegroom and a Bride whichwhen I have spoken somewhat to I will proceed 1. Then The Father he giveth them to his Son and the Son to them This is above comparison though the Father of the Virgin give her give his consent and so the Parents of the Son they give their consent But here is God the Father who doth all he giveth his son for his people and to his people as you have it in that place he so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but might be brought in to the nearest unity with him might have life everlasting in communion with him If thou hadst known the gift of God saith he to the woman of Samaria and who saith to thee give me drink or And he giveth us to his Son that is to say as many as were in his purpose of grace thine they were and thou gavest them to me they were thine not so much by Creation for he speaks of many that yet were not created nor are to this day likely created but in the purpose of grace they were hâ—s and as absolute soveraign over all so they were his to do with them as he pleased to have made them vessels of dishonor if he had pleased as Ananias was it not thine own mightest thou not have done with it what thou wouldest So here we were the Fathers as Soveraign all of us and his Christs not onely so but in his purpose of grace he gave them to his Son to be his Spouse his wife 2. But yet Alas they would be under the hands of sin and Satan inslaved in an Iron Furnace hard bondage he must redeem them if he will have them they are sold under sin and Satan the Prince of this world therefore he must pay the price they were obnoxious indeed to his Justice or would be in time and therefore he must provide a satisfaction or else they could not be set clear It was the manner in some Countries brethen to give Dowries for their wives to buy them before they had them quite contrary to what is among us Ask me never so much dowry saith Sechem and I will give it he was now in love with the Virgin and nothing was too much for her now so here the Lord Jesus as well as his Father he before the world was foresaw what a happiness it would be to poor Creatures and what a glory and joy to himself and them for ever one in another and therefore he delights now in the habitable parts of the earth in the sons of men O now what
means though the Spirit alway is the great wooer and worker in this kind I say the Spirit by their word doth work to the revealing of a poor creature breaking that enmity that was in the heart to Jesus Christ So the Apostle I have espoused you to one Husband so we read it which Beza disalloweth not but he readeth optavi Erasmus adjunxi the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have joyned them to the Lord saith he Eras velâ—t ea quae glutine aut ferrumine comittuntur but yet me thinks saith Beza the the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I might present you as a pure virgin to one Husband c. confutes is speaking afterward of a nearer joyning to Christ then now therefore he readeth it I have fitted you for the Lord wherein 1. Is a reconciling of the persons to Jesus Christ We beseech you saith the Apostle be ye reconciled to God In Christs stead we do it as if he did beseech you himself we pray you be reconciled and O that we could do this brethren but with such bowels as the Lord Jesus or as this Apostle did We are soon answered and take a denyal of you for you practice a denyal and we are too easie to take it O I beseech you saith the Apostle be you reconciled Alas poor sinners you are enemies to Christ and how will an enemy be marryed to an enemy while such you think you are not enemies and you are not so indeed in word and profession but in your deeds you are enemies You do nothing but wound and tear his name and are you not then enemies you hate the strictness of his ways and his people that walk in them and are you not enemies you are in love with your sins which were the very speare at his heart the knife that butchered him and are not enemies Ah! how many such here this day Now our work is to intreat you first to be reconciled as for his part he is ready to forgive and forget all and to look upon you as if you had never had offended him if you had but hearts given you towards him as his is towards you 2. Not onely but then there is the espousing brethren and that is when there is a mutual promise past between the Lord Jesus and the soul he will be a Husband to thee and marry thee to himself and thou wilt be faithful to him wilt never follow other lovers any more Thou wilt be his and his alone if he be pleased to be thine Now the Gospel which we preach is the word of this faith It is indeed the spirit brethren which is received by the hearing of faith by the word of faith as the Apostle spake that doth perswade a soul to this to close with him to take him upon his own terms He will be his virgin now for ever 3. There is yet further an adorning her when so espoused and so fitting her for him to be presented him a pure virgin That I might present you not only chaste but all manner of purity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this is nothing else brethren but the integrity and uprightness of the soul the abounding of the soul with all the graces of the spirit wherein there is a growth by degrees And this is the work of the servants of Jesus Christ a part of their fitting of them for him To labour to carry on his work so in his peoples hearts that they may be adorned and meet for such a Bride-groom There are but two things more to be hinted before I come to the Application of this And the next is The manner of this espousing or betrothing but before that we must note That as there was a betrothing of virgins some time before the compleating of the marriage which custom is commendable you know Joseph had Mary espoused to him before he took her to his family as compleatly and fully So among the Heathens also placuit despondi nuptiis hic dictus est dies saith the Comic Terent. only to the faith of the marriage Now they were counted by the people of God and by the Law man and wife Husband and wife * It was death for them to violate that betrothing as well as if they had been never so compleatly and solemnly marryed whereby it appears God would have them look upon it as a perfect marriage though the consummation of it were not until afterward the taking of her home and solemnly engaging de presenti as they say So here the consummation of this marriage is deferred a while as you have it in the very Text at last at midnight the cry was Behold the Bridegroom cometh and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage that is to say into heaven Then when Isaac took Rebecca and brought her into his Mothers Tent and became one with her more neerly she became his wife indeed so hereafter when he takes us into his fathers house brethren when he takes us into Heaven there is the marriage consummated indeed But for the manner of his espousals First remember this in all He doth it freely For alas Brethren what can the Lord Jesus now if he come into the Congregation this day see in any of us that he would take for his spouse what can he see in us there is nothing desireable nor lovely in us we are like poor Infants cast out in our blood not washed nor salted but stinking loathsom the navel not cut nor bound up cast out to the loathing of our person Ah Brethren while poor sinners are in their sins they smell not the loathsomness of their souls they have stinking nostrils to which the savour of sin is suitable and therefore they smell it not we are as persons that have been long in a filthy Jakes or Dungeon and by continuance of it we feel it not it is so habitual or indeed connatural to us but now bring a man out of this place a little while and put him into it again O then how loathsom it is to him yea bring him to the door of it O it is ready to sink him so it is in this case you see it not poor creatures O that such of us as the Lord hath made sin loathsom to could tell how to pitty you but sure you will finde it so if ever the Lord Jesus do espouse you he will first let you know what you are to whom he doth this Alas what can he see in us brethren or hath he seen in any of us that he stands in this relation to for birth you have nothing but baseness The Devil is our Father and his works we will do I mean as to corruption that is within us whence is it but from Satan For Beauty there is none but all deformed wounds and bruises and putrified sores full of corruption that stink and are loathsom and what beauty can there be in such a
person Alas our hands are withered as to any thing that is good and our Legs are Lame throug Hypocrisie we halt between two we are very Criples indeed no strength not so much in our Ankle-bones as to stand upon our Legs We are blinde and cannot see deaf and cannot hear pride like a Tympany swells us All manner of deformities gathered into one are the very picture of a poor sinner O brethren who could affect such a creature were not this free altogether free We must have something or else we cannot take a person into such a relation we must have beauty and parts and birth and wealth and wisdom and what not we are blacker then Ethiopians more bruitish then fools viler then the earth poor and naked and miserable and what not and O that ever the Lord Jesus should take such as we are in such a condition well this is the first 2. He doth it so willingly as to rejoyce in it It may be it may make a man more serious and Melancholly in such a condition if he be sensible of the weight of the things he goeth about but now the Lord Jesus knowing the issues of things and that it will be eternally happy for the poor soul and he shall have glory in it he doth it and not onely so but he rejoyceth in it even â—s a Bride-groom rejoyceth over his Bride as the Prophet hath it The words of the Text are very Emphatical as a young man marryeth a virgin so shall thy sons marry Thee he speaks of the Church of the Jews their sons shall abide with her as one that marrieth another and dwells with her and they shall not be removed but a young man marryeth a virgin a chosen young man the freely chosen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 happily because they used to choose young men for explâ—its in war or otherwise as being of more strength and activity such an one marrying a virgin not an old man a virgin nor a young man marrying a widow or Ancient woman but a young man a virgin so an old man an old woman the reason of it is that hereby God might set forth how every way there being a suitableness to give full content and satisfaction he rejoyceth therefore over his people he thus espouseth as a young man over his virgin his Bride that he marryeth therefore she is called Hephsibah my delight is in her and Beulah she is marryed And this if it be not full enough take another place and it is that of Zeph where he prophecyeth in like manner of the restoring of Jerusalem and Gods taking her again after she was put away as it were the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty he will save he will rejoyce over thee with joy he will rest in his love he will joy over thee with singing Minde you he will rejoyce over thee with joy that is to say exceedingly rejoyce as in another case the friend of the Bridegroom rejoyceth with joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he rejoyceth with joy that is to say GREATLY yea he will rest in his love he is fully satisfied and contented yea rejoyceth with singing an outward expression of it How many expressions are here whereby he would have us know the largeness of his heart towards us in this his espousing any of us to himself and Alas all little enough to poor trembling souls to raise a drooping spirit to believe any thing of this kind and it is not onely a flashy ungrounded empty joy but he will rejoyce over such a soul to do them good I will rejoyce over them to do them good as if he had said it is the very joy and rejoycing of my heart to do you good Though you think happily that Jesus Christ is hard to be intreated and you have sought him long c. and you finde little O entertain not such thoughts for surely he doth rejoyce over his people to do them good but so much for that 3. He doth it brethren so firmly in every respect to all after-claps being provided for it shall never be broken There is many a man espouseth a wife and happily through weakness of the disposition or some disease or the like which afterwards being discovered procures a disrelish and happily breaks all or the like but I will a little insist upon this because it is very considerable and therefore 1. The Lord Jesus he doth it in such a way as that sure he will be that Justice shall be satisfied to the utmost in the behalf of a soul whatever the debts brethren have been if 10000 Talents whatever the offences have been you have been guilty of which happily may lie sore upon you O you are afraid of the justice of God he is just and dreadful and though he may forbear me for a while thinketh the poor doubting soul yet he may afterward come upon me for all and what will become of me then no the Lord Jesus he hath before-hand satisfyed all that can be demanded he hath paid to the uttermost for them being a Saviour to the utmost all the black and bloody bills chargeable upon thee were charged upon him It is true indeed hrethren if this contract or espousal between Christ and the soul were made without provision of satisfaction to justice he might come UPON THE SOUL AFTERWARDS and break and undo all again but our Saviour is wiser in his negotiations then so he hath first cleared all as to the merit and having taken satisfaction in his son and given him an acquittance being well pleased in the Lord Jesus he cannot now again return upon thee for arrearages that is a great and rich Scripture indeeed he came to be a propitiation then through faith in his blood that God might be just the justifier of them that believe that he might be justifier and yet so as himself be just not onely in fulfilling his promises of Christ his coming but be just that is to say his justice fully satisfied and yet his infinite mercy take place 2. That he is real in what he doth he doth not mock and delude poor creatures indeed a man that is variable and changeable as the shadow he may make a shew of much love and carry on a Match far and when all cometh to all cast her off and take up other resolutions but the Lord Jesus surely he is real in what he doth indeed God hath much ado with us many times to perswade us to this that he meaneth as he saith and we shall finde him full as good as his word and his offers because alas we judge him by her own unconstancy because our hearts are so hollow we think his may be also but remember his thoughts are above our thoughts and his ways above ours saith the Lord I will betroth thee unto me I will betroth thee to me and again the third time he repeateth it I will I will I will
is he not upright and just and true hath he said it and will he not make it good hath he not said as many as come to him he will in no wise cast out and is â—is word worth nothing indeeed if a man fail once in his word we will hardly trust him the second time and if ever sinners or Satan can come forth and say that the Lord Jesus made a promise and was not as good as his word then you may indeed have a jealousie of him but they cannot they cannot the Devil will tell you his promise of the seed of the woman breaking the Serpents head he hath felt to his wounding and his promise of Satans falling down like lightning and there is not a sinner in hell can charge the Lord Jesus with breach of promise But it may be this is not enough to poor unbelieving souls therefore you shall have it written and sealed and witnessed there are witnesses in heaven and upon Earth and seals the Sacraments the broad seal and privy seal of the spirit yea there is an oath also to make it good what would you have more what can you desire more then this would you see the work done why is not the giving up of Jesus Christ to the death for sinners the greatest part of the work Sure if ever he would have baulkt there and yet you see it stuck not O therefore be not jealous of him who hath so freely and so largely laid out himself for sinners 3. Now then ye that are Saints indeed love the Lord Jesus O love the Lord ye his Saints None have such reason to love him as they that have tasted of his love if there be any ingenuity in us love will beget love as one flame begets another because he hath set his love upon me saith the Psalmist therefore I will deliver him if we could love the Lord Jesus more we should be delivered more from those evils we mourn under How lamentable a thing is it how much love have we for Creatures and how little love for Jesus Christ did Husband or Wife die for us ransom us from the pit and hell I hope there are some of his people believe it that have more affection for Jesus Christ then ever they had for the Creature Ah blessed souls how infinitely are you engaged to him for so fully seizing upon your hearts O who are you that you should be able thus entirely to love the Lord Jesus and admitted to it but thus it is and magnifie his Name But alas for the most part the complaint of the people of God is they cannot love him O labour to get those carnal affections mortified the fore-skins of our heart taken away and our heart circumcised and then we shall love him you have a promise improve it for that end If we could but spare time to set our selves to it to study his heart towards us and ours towards him his excellency and loveliness we could not but love him O beg the spreading abroad of his love sheding it abroad not only upon our understandings but our affections for no further then he sheds it will it spread it will stay in the brain in the understanding if the passages between head and heart be not opened by him we shall never be affected and warmed by it Alas you will say our distances are so great that kils our love No brethren that cannot be the distances are not so great now for the relation between Christ and thy soul if thou believest is the nearest relation he is one Spirit with thee and therefore there is not such a distance and though in respect of dignity and worth there be a distance yet remember now we are 〈◊〉 part of himself and partake with him of his dignities also but however love knoweth not that over-much aw and respect as to kill it but it will be working towards the person beloved Mary Magdalen loving him holds him by the feet and weeps over him If a Prince will marry a begger surely he will take it well and expecteth it to be loved of her and he would not be pleased with such a dejection in respect of her own vileness as to quash her love yea brethren me thinks the meaner we see our selves the more we should love him for what can we do else but love him we have nothing else lovely or desirable but our love our hearts therefore Oh love him and abundantly love him O ye Saints of his whom he hath so loved Alas But our love is little in comparison of his love to us and this discourageth us It is true What proportion between the drop of a Bucket and the ocean Some there is but there is none between the largeness of Christ his heart toward us and ours towards him But shall our love perish and dry up because there is not as much in the little limbeck as in the fountain in the river as in the sea He is love it self brethren and therefore we must be contented to fall infinitely below in love but let us love him according to our measure Again if there be the whole heart to love the Lord Jesus it is as much proportionably for us if we could reach it as it is for him to love us with his whole heart as he is pleased to express it The Creature is infinitely less then Christ and therefore must needs have infinitely less love to him then he hath to us but yet there is nothing wanting where there is Totum therefore rather it should provoke us He hath loved us first aâ—d loved us more abundantly then we can love him therefore labour to get our hearts as much enlarged as we can in love towards him though we fall short of what we might attain to he will make up imperfections there is love enough in him and there is the advantage of his love being above ours that he can cover those imperfections in our love to him which if he had not more abundantly then he could not do What shall I say more Love is that which commandeth all it draweth all the affections along with it which way ever it turns thither the desires are bent there is the hope fixed there the delights are quâ— amat amat nihil aliud novit She that loveth loveth and knoweth nothing else O how shall we not be able to do any thing against sin for Christ if we loved him so entirely then our hearts would be in Heaven we could not grufle as many of us do then we should be more tender of his name and of his honour then now we are but alas I am not able to press these things home the Lord set them home You must love him brethren else you will have little joy of your communion with him which is to endure to eternity Again Labour to rejoyce in him and in his love rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous saith the Psalmist
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
your husband if you believe in him But I will not stand any longer upon this Doctrine I had now thought to have gone on with what is spoken concerning Jesus Christ according to the first proposal of a method But it may happily be as well if not better to many understandings to take things as they lye in the Text and therefore I shall so do Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened to ten virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom For the Adverb of Time Then I shall happily speak somewhat afterward The Kingdom of Heaven that is to say the visible Church I might inâ—ist upon it and shew you that the Church visible is a Kingdom and that Christ is the head of this Church the King of the Saints and not onely ruleth the Saints which really believe by his word and spirit which abide and dwell in them but also he ruleth his Church visible by his word and spirit and Ordinances all the Administrations of the Kingdom But that Kingdom hath been lately spoken to by a brother therefore I will wave that I might also speak something to the heavenliness of the Kingdom the Kingdom of Heaven and shew you how it is heavenly in its Original in divine Laws Institutions and many other ways But you had it held forth largely by a better hand therefore I will not trouble you again with these things so soon It shall be likened to ten virgins There is another Note which floweth clearly I think from the words and that is this The visible Church for the matter is made up of visible Saints that this is so will appear from the very Text it self First It shall be compared to ten virgins he saith not to a mixed multitude or to 10 women five wherof are virgins and 5 harlots or strumpets but to 10 virgins and what that word doth import I believe you remember since the words were opened to you such are turned from Idols to the living God as he speaks of the conversion of the Thessalonians according to the judgement of Charity for else so far as a professed subjection to Jesus Christ and renouncing them reacheth he spake according to a judgement of verity for that they did profess and so escaping the pollutions of the world forsaking gross and loose courses and professedly subject themselves to the rule of the government of Jesus Christ To such the Church visible is here compared and the most the Lord speaks of his relation to his people it is after the manner of men under such similitudes as we can conceive of and as we may be led by as by a clew into the understanding of the deep mysteries of faith and salvation But if any will think or say this is not a sure bottom to build such a truth or point upon because the virgins here are not considered as virgins but as persons accompanying the Bride going forth to meet the Bridegroom I shall first say That as they are not onely considered as virgins so neither is the consideration of their virginity to be waved for as in the similitude usually they were those virgins which did accompany the Bride so I suppose in the Apodosis now of the comparison we are to look for somewhat which may answer that virginity And you finde it in Scripture to be answered by those things I have proposed that is to say their forsaking Idolatry turning to the true God and their renouncing their former prophane conversation And then secondly I say this is not the only bottom in the Text whereupon it is builded For in the second place besides that they are called Virgins or compared to virgins they are also said to take their Lamps and surely if we must expound what is meant by the Lamps we can understand and nothing less by it then a visibility of Saintship But if this will not carry it neither methinketh the Third should be undenyable they went forth to meet the Bride-groom that is to say they went forth from home and forlook their fathers house and mothers they set upon their journey heavenward Zion-ward to meet Jesus Christ who is the Bridegroom who will ere long come to take the Bride unto himself There are many Scriptures will speak fully to the proof of this Some prophesies there are as that in the Prophet Isaiah there he speaks of a high-way shal be cast up and the unclean shal not pass over it Again none uncircumcised in heart or flesh shall enter into his Sanctuary this applyed not only to the times of their returning from Babylon but to the Gospel-times What can it speak less then this Brethren that no visible unclean creature shall ever enter into the Church of Christ It should consist of visible Saints This is plain by the tares and the wheat which while in the blade are are so like they hardly discernable in those Countries as Jerom saith And so by the Apostles wherefore else do they call them holy to the Saints which are at Corinth at Ephesus c but either they were all such visibly and in the judgement of charity or else ought to have been such Mistake not I say not that none should be a member of a Church but he that is a real Saint and shall be saved for then there could be no Church wherein we could walk or administer or receive any ordinance de fide because we know not who are such nor cannot know as I conceive nor have any rule to make an infallible judgement of any man but only probably to conclude concerning the state and conditions of men that which is invisible to us it is true its visible to God and that which is visible to him is invisible to us But visible Saints surely they ought to be Now for the further opening of this what I mean by visible Saints and Saint-ship I shall endeavour to lay it down in these particulars as plainly as I can to your understandings First Then it is requisite to Saint-ship that there be a separation to God from the world that is holiness whether in things or in persons when they are separated to God for any special use of his they are called holy Common and unclean are convertible tearms as you have in it in the Acts and as appears by the sanctifying of the Vineyards and Orchards when the Lord had had the first-fruits of them then they themselves and others had the free use of them the word in the original is they polluted or prophaned them the common use of them is distinguished thereby from the holy use whereby they were separated before from them to the Lord whether persons separated to themselves to the Lord acti agimus the Lord turns them and they are turned or whether they be altogether passive as in the first work of God we all are if it be a separation to God this is a Holiness a Saint-ship he
drunk the cup of the Lord and it hath been a cup of deadly wine to thy soul thou hast eaten and drunken thy judgement and condemnation so often that thou art even stupifyed and past feeling it is to be feared it not onely argues a desperately hard heart to come and look upon Christ crucifyed held out in those Ordinances as our meat and drink to nourish us and not to relent but it hardens us so much the more Thou mayst yet come oft ento receive the Supper of the Lord but as often as thou dost it thou dost but more deeply poyson and fill thy soul O! Brethren that the Lord would let us see this day whether this be our condition and we have rotten hearts covered over with a glorious profession that we might not dare to draw near for we cannot have a Wedding-garment upon us brethren if we have not the habits of grace if we have not Christ for righteousness and holiness how can we act that grace which we have not Thou art fit for any thing else but for the worship of God thou art fit for thine own occasions and fit to serve the Devil to be at his beck but not to worship God in those Ordinances remember remember brethren though you may have somewhat now to answer us when we preach this word and to answer your own consciences and can make a shift to silence them when they tell you though you have a profession and name and are reckoned among the Saints yet you never were born again never did put on Christ indeed you cannot have a wedding garment though you may brethren deceive your selves and us and take this and that for a wedding-garment when the Lord Jesus shall come and ask you how comest thou in hither without a wedding garment thou hadst not a dram of grace thou never puttest me on for righteousness in believing how camest thou hither how durst thou be so bold as to draw nigh to my table to meddle with my precious blood and body broken for sinners when thou haddest not a wedding garment on you shall then be speechless it shall be so evident O take him bind him hand and foot hang these Ordinances and priviledges which he hath so long abused my blood and body which he hath eaten and drunk that is to say Sacramentally the signs of them as those in 1 Cor. 10. they did all eat the same spiritual meat c. and yet most of them perished sink him sink him he hath trampled my blood under his foot counted it an unholy thing else he would never have cared to have come with an unholy heart to it therefore now I will trample his soul in my fury unto the lowermost hell O! how this will sharpen the teeth of the gnawing worm to eternity O how this will inrage the flames of those everlasting burnings therefore consider this your sad condition let it be a terrible word to you the Lord give you hearts to tremble at it And in the last place Let us take heed how we rest and lean upon a profession and a name Methinks there needs no more Arguments to move us then what hath been spoken already What folly is it for a man to hang his weight upon that which he is told will break and then he falls into an irrecoverable gulf O! that we had that alway sounding in our ears in the seventh of Mat. Lord Lord open to us we have done this and that heard thee preach done wonderful works they were visible Saints surely at least and yet he calls them workers of iniquity which they might do in secret acts with pretences for God but intending themselves What if Simon Magus had had that power to give the gift of the Holy Ghost and had done it and replenished his purse by it for likely he that would have bought it would have been as ready to have sold it again he might have past for a Saint but what would his end have been O Brethren consider your latter end the Lord teach you that one point of wisdom that so in time 〈◊〉 may flee from that wrath to come But so much for this Doctrine also Verse 3 and 4. And they that were foolish took their Lamps and took no oyl with them But the wise took oyl in their vessels with their Lamps WE may read a wise man or a fool in his actions and so here the foolish took no oyl with their Lamps and what more foolish then that For the opening of the words I shall not need to say much by the Lamps I understand here a profession of Jesus Christ a name a shew the Apostle speaks of the Saints as light-bearers they should be burning and shining lights as John was Light there is and sometimes appearing heat even in formal professors as you see in the case of John how zealous for God And Judas a man would have thought him zealous when he said Why is this waste but it is like the light of the glow-worm touch it and it hath neither light nor heat they are indeed sparks of our own kindling as it is in that place of Isaiah the sparks there may be the action of Devotion and Duty which may be elicited or educed by the help of nature and of education and custom the conscience being enlightened by the Law of God in some measure and self-love working somewhat in men will put them on to do something to quiet their Consciences but alas these sparks quickly go out and the Lamp is put out in obscure darkness There may be also somewhat of Common-grace some enlightning of the minde and some kinde of affection as the second ground received the word gladly and Herod heard John gladly but a great difference between these and the Disciples who receiveed the word gladly the one rejoyced happily in that which in the word is suitable to a carnal appetite as the Eloquence as those in the Prophet thou art to them as one that plays on an Instrument but the other rejoyced in that of Christ which is therein found So the Bee is pleased with the Flower the Sheep with the Blade the Bird with the Seed and the Swine with the Root But new for the oyl in the vessels what is that The foolish took no oyl in their vessels with their lamps By this I understand brethren the oyl of the Spirit ye have received an anointing the Spirit of grace and the grace of the Spirit of Christ the Spirit dwelling in us there is a Cruse opened that will never be drawn dry like the Fountain of waters or Rivers springing up with eternal life it never sails By this then I understand the true saving work of grace in the heart a receiving of the Spirit of grace the Spirit of Christ by faith as the Apostle speaks by the hearing of faith by the Gospel the word of faith which was blessed to the working of saith in
in the Gospel who put off the day of death so long thou hast goods laid up for many years Eat drink and be merry I but what was there laid up for eternity was there any Grace laid up to carry him through death no not a jot thou fool this night shall thy soul be taken from thee and then whose shall these things be these are things which in themselves are not either they take wings and are gone as a flock of Birds in a mans ground or else they are taken from them and leave them to they know not whom for naked must they return thither to the grave which Job had in his mind and happily pointed at it in that speech he was a fool that put off the thoughts of death for many days upon the greatness of his riches which could not profit him in the day of wrath nor day of death neither but now this wisdom if the heart be applyed to it will provide somewhat that will carry them through they will provide some oyl in the vessel that shall not fail somewhat to follow them when they are dead to enter with them into the Marriage of the Lamb A man may number his days and think of his death and wish it much yet if God teach him not to make this use of it it will not be O therefore beg of him such a heart so to number them as that you may apply your hearts to this wisdom if death be so near eternity at hand there is entering with him into the Marriage or being shut out for ever O what need had we then to bestir our selves get this oyl this grace in the heart for indeed we shall find brethren though we may live by a form we cannot dye by a form of Godliness but it must be the Power of it that must carry us through death It may be a further Instruction to us then surely there must be a great change in us to this true wisdom for alas we are born like wild Asses Colts none more stupid An Ass a wild Ass a wilde Asses Colt what more brutish now this must be a wonderful change to make such a man wise to salvation but what is too hard for the grace of the Almighty we are fools by nature and yet we have a conceit we are wise affect wisdom and because we would be wise we easily believe we are so self-love bribing our judgements also but now when God cometh to work in us he emptieth us of our own wisdom first and our conceit of wisdom rather for indeed the wisdom of the flesh and the world is foolishness with God but the conceit of wisdom is much this must be captivated those high thoughts and we must become fools that we may be wise there must he a great change indeed which alas many a Professor never had experience of Be not satisfied nor contented then to use the Ordinances of God which are the means more remote from the end until you find and feel that the Lord Jesus doth in them embrace your souls and your souls embrace him until you feel this oyl poured into your hearts until you find your selves changed into his image your hearts coming in to a better frame thereby and kept in a holy frame thereby in some measure is it not better to try now then he tried by his hand at death when there is no place to get it c Alas you will say how shall we know we have this oyl of grace in our hearts It is a notable way Brethren to know it by the overflowing of it when it abounds you shall see it as it is set forth the presses burst out with new wine then it discovers it self the reason why we see it not nor cannot see it is because we have yet so little of it thought it be a Well springing up to eternal life yet while it is low and much mud it is hard to discern it but doth it spring up when the vessel is filled with oyl you shall see it is there and have the comfort of it O but this is little comfort to them that are weak you will say Why press forward forget the things which are behind Slothfulness and Ease are not the way of comfort and peace but the diligent hand which maketh rich Again ye know grace is set forth by oyl as it softens and sweetens so we shall find that operation of it in the soul doth it change thy nature from harsh and crooked and perverse to sweet and gentle this is a fruit of this spirit a consequent of this annointing And so it will be uppermost what it is that lies highest in thy soul which thou liftest up Is it this Hast thou ever been upon serious examination and dost thou make God thine end thy happiness Canst thou say Whom have I in heaven but thee c the world is not thy end And then for Jesus Christ dost thou close with him hast thou ever believed rouled thy self upon him by faith receiving him and the spirit by faith this is the oyl here is a fountain a cruse that will never fail a spring springing up to eternal life Verse 5. While the Bridegroom tarryed they all slumbered and slept THe Coming of Christ is compared to the coming of a Bride-groom to take his Bride who cometh with the Virgins her Companions to meet him Now these solemnities used to be performed at the beginning of the night but here in the Prothesis of the similitude it seemeth which was more then usuall he delayed until midnight he came not at the time expected and they were ready for his coming and going out to meet him but he came at a time they looked not for him when their waiting was at an end they fell asleep and then the Cry goeth before him behold he cometh You have heard already who is the Bridegroom Jesus Christ Here we have his coming the delay of it and the occasion which the wickedness of some and the weakness of others took from hence to fall asleep It was abused for an occasion to the flesh A double Note from the words but of the first only at this time The Lord Jesus doth delay his coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall a little prove it by some Scriptures parallel and then open the terms confirm it by Arguments and apply it by use to our selves 1. Then for the Scripture-proof take that place where our Saviour stirreth up his disciples to watch they knew not what hour their Lord cometh of which hereafter if the Lord will Blessed is that servant which being set over the houshold to give meat in due season shall be found so doing but now if the wicked servant say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and begin to beat his Fellow-servants and eat and drink with the drunken here you see there is a delay and from hence this wicked servant
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
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
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
The people of God which are wise to salvation as well as foolish formal professors are lyable to slumber and sleep the best men and women are lyable to it That the Saints may fall into slumbering and sleeping when they had most need to be awake as you see in this case Happily I may handle them distinctly if I see it may not be too tedious For the first that the best of the Saints such as are wise to salvation yet may slumber and sleep I think there needeth not much to be said by way of confirmation you see this is plainly the heart of the Parable we have in hand or else I know not what it is Jonah you know he was fast asleep in the side of the ship it was bodily sleep indeed but it was an effect of this spiritual sleep that was upon him his graces were now sleeping his fear of God against whom he had sinned in running away from him and his self-denyal these were asleep and made him so secure that though they were in a storm he feared it not as a drunkard that sleepeth upon the top of a Mast in greatest danger and seeth it not nor so much as dreameth of it and it is thought by some also that Zachary that good Prophet who had so many visions from the Lord that he was drowsie and sleepy notwithstanding more then was meet his mind as well as his body but there shall be no question made of the Disciples they were the best of men then alive they were first chosen out of the world the world is a wilderness they were as a garden inclosed therefore the best considered in respect of others and yet you find how often our Saviour endeavours to stir them up to watchfulness What I say to you I say to all watch watch and pray And how much in these chapters surely it argues they were lyable to sleep they were prone to it else that lesson would not have rung so much in their ears Or would David have come over so often with that quicken me O Lord according to thy word quicken me according to thy word but that he found himself going napping and nodding But if we will go to the Christian of Christians the flower in the garden inclosed there were three Disciples that were favourites it seemeth that the Lord Jesus took with him as witnesses of his transfiguration before and now to his passion and Agony yet notwithstanding these favourites when they should watch with Christ they fall asleep their souls were asleep in a great part and therefore their bodies also were asleep However our Saviour saith the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak the spirit is in part weak and unwilling else if perfect it would have kept them awake there is a willingness and unwillingness and for an act the unwillingness may prevail against the willingness as in this case Peter should be carryed whether he would not and yet sure he would there his willingness prevailed but I will not stand any longer onely note you here brethren one thing farther is this that they fell asleep the second time and the third time after they had been reproved for it again and again and that sharply that they had nothing to say they knew not what to say saith the Evangelist and yet they fell to it again if these were so apt to fall asleep sure then much more such poor weaklings as we are in comparison of them Well then if any one further enquire What this slumbring and sleeping is By slumber and sleep I understand brethren the unbending the bow of our souls as sleep is a cessation of the animal actions of a living creature by the obstructon of the animal spirits by the abundance of vapours ordinarily there are some other cases but this is not so much for our purpose Slumbring is when there is a little shorter failing or cessation of the actions of a living creature when the senses are binding as I may say but they break through it and so awaken the person doth there is a double principle in man in every child of God I mean there is a corrupt and regenerate part there is flesh and spirit as you have it in that of our Saviour the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh this flesh this corrupt part we may not unfitly brethren resemble to the vapours that continually arise from the stomach toward the head And the Spirit to the Nerves the instruments of action the graces of the spirit are the nerves of the spirit indeed and by some of them as by the nerves the continual supplies of grace and fulness of Christ the head where the fulness of the animal spirits are is communicated to all the parts to the strengthening of all graces that is to say by our faith Now this being so I take it then a man slumbers and sleeps When his corrupt part doth either with a less or a thicker steam of lusts seize upon as I may say and hinder the graces of the spirit from doing their work from acting specially that grace of faith which indeed doth derive from the head Jesus Christ the spirits lively influences therefore not unfitly is corruption compared to wet moorish places a moorish â—ennish heart that is full of such corruption or a body full of such humors you know is much more sleepy then another Well then to bring it to an issue when sin so fully prevails over us as to damp the graces of the spirit either for a shorter time it being quickly dispelled there is a slumbring or for a longer time there is a sleeping aliquando bonus dormit at Homerus So that brethren when ever we are called to act any grace of the spirit and we do it not though it be but for an act that is as I may say a slumbring though you may quickly recover your selves If it be for more acts or continue any time it is a sleep Thomas his faith was asleep he would not believe his unbelief prevailed much seized upon his faith bound it as I may say and so ignorance and blindness prevailing over the understanding But for faith methinks that is plain When the son of man cometh whether it be to that general day or any particular day of avenging his people shall be find faith upon the earth faith in act to believe this alas people will be asleep their faith surprized and so for love which is another grace it is prophesied of the latter times the love of many shall wax cold the Church of Ephâ—sus had lost her first love she was fallen asleep this is the active grace faith works by it now this action ceased as in a man asleep his members languish and hang down and are not fit for any action so their love waxed cold And so when instead of a holy
to pass that your Churches your Families your hearts are so choakt with tares and weeds What could we answer him should we have a word to say for our selves well the Lord affect our hearts with it so much for this Vse The next use of the point shall be a distinguishing word between the sleep of Formalists sinners and the sleep which is incident to the Saints the people of God the wise Virgins slept their sleep and the foolish theirs and however in the expression there seems to be no difference yet there is a difference sure between them to be found for it may be this may trouble some poor souls who may think because they sleep therefore they are surely of the foolish Virgins And others may be emboldned and their hands strengthened What the best sleep as well as others therefore though this be my Condition yet all shall be well I would therefore add a word or two to this First Then remember this Sinners at the best and Hypocrites at the best their hearts are asleep and the Saints at the worst their hearts are awake indeed in naturals we use to say when a person is ready to drop asleep his heart is asleep already but it is not so in Spirituals with the people of God Judas when he was at the best that ever he was before he discovered his covetousness in the business of the poor he was unsound at the heart his heart was dead indeed it is a dead sleep that is upon their hearts and yet he walkt up and down as men in a deep sleep sometimes will do in a strange manner but his heart was asleep Now Peter he he fell asleep too in the matter of his denial of Christ but his heart was awake though the senses were closed up for a time yet when the Son of righteousness broke forth upon him lookt upon him you see he presently waked so the Church I sleep but my heart wakes in the deepest sleep of the Church of Christ the heart is awake there are divers apprehensions of this Some understand it thus I sleep but my heart wakes that is to say Christ who is as the heart to the Church the seal of life and vital spirits he wakes or else taking the Church Collectively she sleepeth but the heart waketh that is to say she may miscarry in some lesser matters as External but in the main the fundamentals the heart of religion in that she never fals altogether But we shall speak to it as it respects particular persons as wel as the general as doubtless it doth I sleep but my heart waketh the Church was Lazy and drousie slumbred and slept but yet not so but that the heart was awake it was not a dead sleep and this will appear if we consider two or three things 1. The Church then hath a Conscience not altogether past feeling but in fome measure awakened and then 2. The will and affections not altogether lost and gone in such a Condition 1. Then the Conscience that hath yet some stirring and that will appear because 1. The Church here knew the voice of her beloved even when she was asleep when he came and called to her my love my dove my undefiled open to me She now knew the voice of Christ so many a drousie soul that is slumbering and sleeping knoweth the hints and motions of the Spirit which he hath but alas hath not power to obey for sleep hath so overcome them security hath so seized upon them that though they hear yet they do not as me thinks in that very business of Jehoshai which I have thought strange of when his Conscience was awake he would hear the voice of the Lord in Micah he thought all the rest of the Prophets of Baal were false he would have the Word of the Lord from the mouth of a true Prophet a man would have thought now he should have done it presently being an upright hearted man also no yet if you read the text you shall find he went with Ahab notwistanding here he had a Conscience awake plainly but yet he did not obey he was so far engaged now to Ahab not only in affinity but his word was out and his honour at stake and though Conscience likely might check him for the thing as well as put him on to enquire of a true Prophet yet those Lusts now love to his own honour and carnal interest and affection laid him asleep he went up notwithstanding well this is the case in this place Can we not many of us set our seals to this truth how often in a fit of security have we had Convictions and Checks we have heard the voice of Christ open to me my love let my word have rooâ— in thee this thou dost is not pleasing to me O why wilt thou shut me out deal so unkindly with me yet your persons asleep though we hear many things we heed them not much but turn upon our beds as the door upon the hinges and cannot get off 2. Conscience is so awake usually in the people of God as to tell them they are asleep they have somewhat secretly whispering them in the ears that they are not in the right way they are slothful or sluggish David I think was in a deep a sleep as any that we read of yet I can hardly think but David had this within him some grudgings and misgivings that all was not well with him at that time But because happily this may be common to them with Hopocrites except they be very fast asleep indeed therefore I will rather insist upon the third 3. I say usually the People of God as they know they are asleep when they are asleep so they complain of it they rest not so questionless sinners do usually there is nothing disturbeth them so far as to complain of it I sleep saith the Church but my heart is awake it appeared the heart was awake indeed because she complained of it as a man that is droufre and cannot keep his eyes open he naps and nods it may be and wakeneth again or if he apprehend himself in danger to have any pressing business upon him if he sleep longer it is unquietly his mind is troubled with the thing and it wakes him often and he wouldshake it off but cannot laboriosius dormiunt quam vigilant saith one â—o our Annot. So the Conscience might then when asleep lash them stir them up many times tel them they do amiss prick them for it Nowan Hypocrite will hardly complain of his sleepiness not in reality â—f it be a practice that may â—et him off with men to be whining and complaining he will complain happily more to men then to the Lord but this poor Creature that sears the Lord his sleep O it lieth like lead at his heart he groans under it But then for the Will that also is awake in part when a Child of God sleepeth It was so with Paul
a Mariner near his port rowleth up his sails or as a piece of cloth rowled up one turn more and we are turned into the grave What then It remaineth that they that buy be as if they possessed not and they that have inheritances by Lot also be as if they enjoyed them not they that have wives as if they had none for the fashion of this world the Scheme the Mathematick figure of this world passeth away Was it not this which cast Solomon into such a sleep He offended by women though the wisest King So Mat. 24. 37. They eat they they drank 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some observe It is a word used most properly of beasts living sensually in the delights of the slesh they feed themselves without fear as the Apostle Jude hath it out of measure and so in time there is a season for all things c. make not provision for the slesh c. O that there were more sobriety brethren and moderation among us appearing among us there would not be so much sleeping 6. Take heed of any sin unrepented of of continuing in it for surely that will damp the soul and cast it into a sleepe as you see in the cafe of Jonas David the brethren of Joseph O specially of such sins as stupifie and seal and harden sins of a high hand and against light against mercy with a high hand these are dangerous 7. Be often stirring up your selves as the Apostle speaks to Timothy stir up the grace of God that is in thee the gift in thee as fire under the ashes A man that is drousie had need to shake himself as Sampson did Ah brethren there is a carnal mind in us all which is death it deadens all that is good within us And except we do often stir up our selves labour to keep upon our hearts some quickning Considerations to press them home to hold them to the soul we shall do what we can we shall sleep or at least slumber And beg with David O quicken me according to thy word Alas life is his and all quickning and renewing grace is his therefore we should lye much before him for this mercy if we would not sleep indeed So much for this Use The next Vse of the Doctrine shall be an awakening word It may be brethren many of us that have this word alas are asleep and had need to be shaken and O that the Lord would even do it for us Alas It is not our word will do it it dyeth in the Ear and goeth no further as a bullet whose force is spent dyeth reacheth not the mark except the Lord add an Almighty force to it it will do nothing But I shall endeavour alittle this work by offering some considerations to you You that lye upon your beds 1. Remember in the first place that if Jesus Christ come while you are in this sleep you will be found unready what do you think that a sleeping will put your hearts into frame to meet the Lord Jesus with Surely no One of these two things will befal you either your works will be quite undone you will have your grace to get when you should enter into glory or never Or else if you have it not to get you will not have it in its brightness and lustre as Ornaments upon you ready to open to him to enter with him either your Lamps will be out or else they will be to trim when you should enter O that the Lord would inforce this Argument and his own exhortation Luke 12. 35. Stand ready therefore with your loyns girded and your Lamps burning wayting for his coming that you may be ready Do you think this can be comfortable to you 2. Do but consider seriously what danger we are in when we sleep when we give sleep to our eys and settle our selves to it when we strive not against it First The Philistims will be upon us as they were upon poor Sampson If Satan and our hearts can but sing us asleep then the Philistims are upon us as they were upon him and at last you see how sadly they destroyed him you see what danger Saul was in when he was asleep David might have taken his life from him And Sisera by a poor woman perished when asleep And so Ishboshâ—th when asleep Surely brethren the devil never lulls us asleep believe it but he hath some desperate design upon us which he cannot do when we are awake What danger were the Disciples in when they were sleeping when they should have prayed they were just entring upon the pikes and they were asleep and see what fearful work there was they were all scattered from him and Peter how fearfully he denyed him Could Satan think you ever have brought Lot to that wickedness if he had not been fast in a deep sleep It was strange sleepiness in him to drink so much of the wine Excess overthrew him Surely brethren if ever there were an hour of temptation this is one If it might be tolerable at any other time yet not at this for hell is broke loose the devil is come down and hath great wrath because his time is short O how he hunts after poor souls and who are so like to be drowned as poor creatures asleep Secondly Then God usually doth for sake a soul if he fall asleep As you see in the Canticles her beloved was gone he wayted upon her a great while she would not awake when she got up he was gone O what a sad case was Saul in When God had forsaken him answered him not by Vrim or Thummim and the Philistims were upon him it made him out of his wits almost Ah dear friends If the Lord being provoked by our unkindness giving our selves to sleep do let loose sin this or that lust upon us to worry us And himself depart and stand and see what the latter end will be this will be sad thou cryest to him he will not hear but is as one asleep to thee because thou wast as one asleep to him O what will you do in this day Thirdly Then he is least able to act grace when he hath most need of it because the spirit is withdrawn from him Jesus Christ is departed from him he cannot resist a sleeping he hath no strength A weak woman may drive a nayl through the Temples of a most valiant General then O what advantage hath Satan against us and sin against us The least temptation then 〈◊〉 too hard for us we have no strength to resist come what will come we are naked to receive the thrust And but that the Lord stays the hand of Satan that it shall not reach the heart how quickly would he give such sleeping souls their deadly wound 3 Consider yet further how we put the Lord Jesus to it to prick us and stir us up lest we should lye sleeping and sleep the sleep of death They say the Eagle will
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
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
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
out of their hearts so to hinder this work among them Well remember this such as are more forward then others are there may be heat as well as light and yet but foolish Virgins but hypocrites when all is done Thirdly An hypocrite he may be careful in avoiding much sin not only in an imperfect will which is overcome by an interest such as Herod and Darius had who were wretches though not so properly hypocrites but an hypocrite may go as far as they surely they may forgo their Idolatry and gross wickedness as Simon Magus left his Sorceries and these virgins therefore they are called virgins though foolish virgins likely though I will not build much upon it but yet we see the unclean spirit may go out of a man for a time and yet enter again he may forsake his gross pollutions and yet return to that folly again wallowing in them as the swine and the dog in that second of Peter there is an escaping the pollutions of the world and yet notwithstanding a returning to them again he that stole stealeth no more I was a drunkard may some one say but now I thank the Lord I am none I was a filthy wretch but now I am filthy no more this is very far and yet all this may be but hypocrisie a profession and no more in the end we may appear to be foolish Virgins Fourthly An hypocrite may have conflict within himself concerning sins that others can take no notice of and this is more then the former there may be an inward regretion and re 〈…〉 ctanâ—y against our secret evils the Conscience being inlightened and di 〈…〉 ng â—hose vain thoughts should be abandoned this pride of heart is loathsom against God it quarrels with the Affections and Will if it be a sin a man would keep and so there is a busle in the soul and many of us may mistake our selves and think it is the lusting of the flesh against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh in us when it proveth nothing so Fifthly They may also do much many duties services be much in action not Napkin up their Talent but act and act much as the foolish virgins you see they went as far as the wise for ought appears step for step Did not Judas act as well as the rest following Christ up and down going forth to preach the Gospel as well as the rest did not Jehu act in an high manner for God Come and see my zeal for God he did much more then many would do And did not Joash reform much in Jehoiadahâ— time he was zealous for the Temple of the Lord and blamed 〈◊〉 Priests they were not so forward as himself was and yet what 〈…〉 d he at the last have we not fearful examples in our own times how many diligent Christians as they seemed to be and yet alas how went they out yea truly I will say one thing more sometimes there may be a doing very great self-denying actions Was not that a self-denying action of Rehoboam and far greater then this of Jehu he had an Army ready to fight with Israel when they revolted 180000 fighting men and yet when the word of the Lord came and told him it was of God and bid him cease he obeys though a kingdom lay at the stake and he was in so fair a posture for it and yet he is but a Rehoboam still and one that forsook the Law of his God when he was strengthened though before he made much of the servants of the Lord. Sixthly An hypocrite may have the assisting inlarging presence of God with him in his service They had preached in the name of Christ his presence had been with them also and yet you see they are cast out It is said of Saul that he had another spirit given him from that day forward a spirit to gift him for the government and when God had rejected him and his service the spirit departed from him and an evil spirit vexed him he had a more then ordinary presence of God with him and yet but a Saul a wretch many a Minister that preacheth your souls to heaven and salvation may perish himself he may have great gifts given and much of Christ his presence with him in the exercises of them and yet perish for all this As the Nurse though for the present eats dainty fare not for her own sake but the sake of the great mans child whom she nurseth So may it be with us the Lord prevent us with his loving kindness And you that are Christians God may give you a gift of Prayer a gift in conferring you may be eminent therein God may assist you much therein It is for his peoples sakes that he will build up thereby refresh thereby your selves may perish notwithstanding O brethren Is not this faâ— that an hypocrite may go Seventhly He may hold out very long and yet in the end prove but an hypocrite and this is the saddest of all the rest and this you see plainly here in the Text the foolish Virgins had well nigh gone to the end when the Cry came they were found with the wise indeed in a sleeping condition but they were as forward as they for externals had not their Lamps gone out it is strange to 〈…〉 der that Judas should be such a rotten creature at the heart and yet should follow him so far many of his Disciples were quickly offended at him and went backward and never walked with him again but Judas went far it may be we may think the better of our selves for our continuance so long in the ways of God it is good if it be right in the root so that it hold oâ—t to the end Hypocrites may hold until they come as I may say within the sight of heaven or the pâ—ice of the Goal and then they tyre and give up Joash how long did he continue following God it was a long passion considering it was not a new nature in it that was the principle a torrent without a Spring to feed it to run very long indeed and so it may be with many a poor soul do but consider under this head two things 1. They may continue and weather out a persecution endure the storm and yet perish in a calm may have indured persecution for Christ his sake for his name and cause and yet alas fall short as for instance the third sort of ground it was not scorched with the Sun when it was up but continued and yet alas brought not forth fruit to perfection for the Thorns choaked it he not only withers like the Bull-Rush before other hearts but sometimes like a tree he continueth and abideth the heat of the Sun Job 8. 17. And that Alexander that indured so much for the Apostle hazarded his life for him Act. 19. 32. is thought by some to be that Alexander which did him much evil of which he complains
Pass-over but they made nothing of the greatest moral pollution that could be of falsly accusing the most innocent person and prosecuting him to the death this they made nothing of and so they scrupled not to give thirtie pieces of Silver as a price for Jesus Christ that they might bring him to death but when they had done they would not cast it into the Treasury The Papists they make much ado it is a grievous offence to violate one of their fasting daies enjoyned by the Pope but to murther Christian Princes under the notion of Hereticks they make nothing of that this is the condition of many a poor creature Mint Annice and Cummin they must tythe these externals and ceremonials a Gnat they strain at but a Camel they can swallow 3. Another thing in their obedience is this an hypocrite he can be contented to take up the easie part of Christianity ordinarily but not the difficult that which is more inward and laborious they can come to heaâ— the word to confer with the people of God to receive c. But the inward part the great duty of self-examination alas they are strangers to it that high duty of spiritual contemplation that of keeping their hearts with all diligence because out of it are the issues of life this they are strangers to they cannot down with these things to forgive injuries from their brethren this is a hard duty to love their enemies yea to love them that think meanly of them despise them as well as those that think more highly of them this is no easie duty here the hypocrite will give others leave to take up this part ordinarily truly Brethren Search and see is it not so with some of us 4. Another consideration is this An hypocrite maketh not Jesus Christ his last end he doth all for self-ends Who do seem to be more Religious then the great Questionists of the times usually yet the Apostle tels us if they consent not to the wholsom words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to godliness he is proud knowing nothing doting about Questions and strife of words whereof cometh envy strife railings evil su 〈…〉 isin 〈…〉 and perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness there is the root of all this Brethren of all this zeal and contention supposing that gain is godliness was not this the argument whereby the Devil would have proved Job an hypocrite if thou touch all he hath he will curse thee doth he serve thee for nought he hath self-ends in it O surely brethren if our hearts condemn us and tell us We work for our penny in the Vineyard of the Lord we serve for our penny it is not right it may be we may pretend the glory of God and may seem to take a right aim for God and for Christ but like a deceitful bow we turn aside and have somewhat else in our eye that setteth the wheels awork when the glory of Christ will not O this is gross hypocrisie So those in Mat. 7. they prophesied in the name of Christ but not for his name but for themselves and though a child of God may be pestered with such thoughts creeping in upon him yet he suffers them not to lodge with him but whippeth them and giveth them their pass he mourns under them prayeth for pardon of them and healing and subduing of them 5. Another thing is touching the conflict which the soul may have with sin How may we know whether that be right or no An hypocrite may have some regret doubtless in sinning until he hath hardened his conscience so by custom that he is past feeling Do but mind these two things 1. Where the quarrel lies where the battle is fought Is it between the understanding the judgement or the conscience convinced and the will or is it between the will and the will the affections and the affections the former may be in an hypocrite the other is not Peter had this conflict between his will and will he should be carried whether he would not that is to say to be martyred Why then if he were altogether unwilling how could he be a Martyr No he was willing and yet unwilling there is a lusting of the Spirit and a lusting of the flesh it is not for nothing that the Holy-Ghost expresseth it in those terms he doth not say the spirit judgeth one thing and the flesh lusteth after another but there is lusting on both sides the flesh against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and those two are contraries and they are in the will and affections and therefore as contraries they must needs fight until one be subdued the Apostle saith with his mind he served the Law of God and with his flesh the Law of sin but mind there is not meant the understanding as distinct from the will as sometimes it is understood but it is understood of the regenerate part set in opposition to the corrupt part in the soul and the one fighting against the other so that the things we would do we cannot do many times Consider then Is it thus with thee carnal affection carryeth thee out this way but thou hast not only a judgement to the contrary but thy affections and will carryeth thee to the contrary and thou art not alway overcome but ordinarily prevailest O this is a sign of an upright heart 2. Consider in this conflict also another thing Whether you â—e not treacherous alway holding on the side of sin So an hypocrite will be he hath some regret against sin its true but yet he favours it and would willingly excuse for it palliate and plead for it and O how glad such a man is when he hath but any Scripture that will seem to make for it that he may have but liberty for his lust as a covetous man O how he is more then ordinarily pleased with those Scriptures which seem to make for it and such a man holds in with sin and will not come to the light but hates it is willingly ignorant of some things libenter ignorantur ut liberius peccent Is it thus with us brethren believe it if it be we have cause to fear all is not right with us we are unsound at the heart and though we may go far yet the end will be rottenness Again lastly See to it whether we love anything else more then Christ If House or Land or Father or Mother or nearest relations or life it self more then Christ we are hyporcites sure and this is a thing will not be so easily known specially by such as with â—eter denyed him being ashamed of him it may be upon a slight account O happy is he that can afterwards say as Peter Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest I love thee though I dealt so unkindly and unfaithfully with
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
is wonderful ready to help in such a case above what we can conceive for it is he indeed in case of such backslidings that puts words into his peoples mouths when they have nothing to say and cannot look up nor hold up the head for shame nor look their God and Father in the sace they have so grieved him and shamed their profession yet then the Lord puts words into their mouths in that fourteenth of Hosea It is the very case of the Prodigal for he was a Son and therefore calls God Father in his return denyeth not the relation nor calls it in question notwithstanding his unworthy carriage towards him but he had mispent all as sadly as thou hast done likely and yet when he came and returned his Eather giveth him the meeting and runs and falls upon his neck and kiseth him and was ready to make up all again therefore go to him be earnest with him and see if he make not your Lamps to shine again gloriously and swallow up that glory in his greater glory his presence for ever Verse 8. And the foolish said unto the wise give us of your Oyl for our Lamps are gone out IN this Verse we have another part of the Parable wherein we have upon the awakening of the conscience of these hypocrites and formal professors and the discovery of their condition their request to the godly their Application of themselves to them and the reason of that request The request Give us of your oyl the reason of it for our Lamps are gone out The reason being first in order of nature as the cause of the other the root from whence the request doth spring we will begin to speak a little to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are extinct or they are going out and yet we have not a supply to keep them alive they are gone and for their own part they had no oyl in their vessel to do it with the Note from this Clause is An hypocrites profession will not carry him through all Conditions These foolish Virgins made a shift to satisfie themselves and blind the world with their Lamps which they carryed and went as far with them a great while as the wise did but the end is that which differenceth persons conditions as the Holy-Ghost speaks by the Psalmist Mark the perfect man behold the upright the end of that man is peace he doth not say mark the perfect man for in his life time he hath such a distinguishing Character his life is peace and the other is trouble No but the end whatever his life hath been before his end is peace This is a clear case his profession will not carry him through all conditions and that for these two reasons One of them will be sure to meet with them all for either 1. Their profession fails them before the day of death and so carries them not through or else 2. At death First then ordinarily I think it is a truth that a formality or profession of Christianity if there be no more doth fail a man and is discovered to others and to himself so that though he hath rested upon it and made it his hope heretofore yet now it fails him Here you see it is the very case when the cry came to prepare them to awake them that they might fit themselves for his appearing which is infinite mercy that he did not rather surprise them while they were in this sleep and security Now I say before the Bridegroom himself came actually to fetch them that were ready it is discovered to themselves and they see they are hypocrites And it is discovered to others that their Lamps are gone out they are themselves made the Publishers of their own shame therein You know Judas was discovered unmasked before his death and laid open to be what he was indeed a thief a wretch a traytor And so those many Disciples that followed Jesus Christ he knowing their hearts not to be right delivered such a trying word as gave them offence and they went backward and walked with him no more And the Reason of this is very plain Because they have not a spring within to feed their profession As far as the spring they have or the wet or mire they move by little as far as that will carry them they will go but then not a step further A beast and a servant or a child follow a man the one followeth him for a bottle of hay so soon as he laies that down before him he goeth no further after him but the son followeth him home and will not be shut out by any means As haply now while Religion thrives he will be on the Sun-side of the hedge where it is warmest he is a Summer-bird suppose now a time of tribulation come for the word sake will he abide No he withers as the sandy ground in the 13. Matth. Will he delight himself in the Almighty and alway call upon God No their profession are like Jobs friends deceive him in the day of trouble as a brook and as the stream of a brook they pass away like a loud flood make a great shew run very fiercely carry all before it for a time but it is presently dryed up because it hath no spring to feed it as some note that in Peru there is a diurnal-River which runs in the day with a great stream but in the night the channel is dry because in the day the Sun melteth down the Snow upon the Mountains and that maketh a great stream but in the night it ceaseth In grace now it is otherwise there is a principle within there is the Spirit of grace dwelling in the hearts of Believers and this supplyeth them continually there is a new nature and that is a thing durable But Secondly If it fail not before death as here it doth yet some passions being longer then some Joas◠held out long yet he was discovered before death but suppose they continue longer yet usually they will not carry them through death men may make a shift to live by a form but they cannot dye by a form indeed affliction opens many mens eyes to see that they were but rotten counterfeit gold will not endure the fire or not the seventh fire at least fire is of a searching nature and yet notwithstanding some they pass this tryal and are not discovered until death and then it fails them If Balaam dye his own death and not the death of the righteous what a miserable creature will he be And death doth open many mens eyes O what labouring is there then many times to be spared a little that they may recover strength before we go hence and be no more seen All the life time they thought all was well but now they find they are deceived their Lamps are gone out O brethren the valley of the shadow of death is full of such damps as every Lamp will not
endure every profession will not abide but it overcometh them But haply they may go down quietly and go away with confidence in their conscience a strange confidence have many poor blinded hypocrites whose consciences are seared Yet Thirdly Be sure brethren It will not carry them through the Judgement after the death the Judgement we may make a shift to pass through this world and haply delude our selves and think all is well and through death and yet never dream of our misery but if we be hypocrites be sure that a form will not endure to appear in Judgement before the ever lasting burnings the consuming fire There the Lord will examine mens hands what ever their professions have been and their hearts as it is said of Tiberius when he examined a fellow that pretended to the Crown he was so confident and cunning he could not trap him in his words at last he examined his hands and finding them hard with labour he found him to be but a servile mechanick fellow he was then so startled saith Mr. Caryl that he had no more to say So the Lord will examine mens works then and the principles of their works from which they acted and they shall be forced to confess they are hypocrites and their mouthes shall he everlastingly stopt depart from me ye workers of iniquity you tell me ye have preached in my name or prophesied c. let me see your hands you are workers of iniquity For the Application then What a terrible word to all formal professors who have only a Lamp a form of godliness but deny the power of it in heart and in their conversations Let all such if any such be here present know First Your profession will fail you sooner or later You think when you have done so many duties you have acquired such gifts and such supposed graces of the spirit and 〈…〉 w all is well these are enough to lift you up to heaven a Tower a Ladder that will reach to heaven But alas it is not so it is but a Castle builded in the air they are lying words you trust in who cry The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these You are his people and have his Ordinances a fine web a spider weaves takes great pains spins it out of her bowels but alas it never cometh to any thing it will not make a garment to cover their nakedness from the Lord Jesus Hypocrites rest in a formality and some observances of the Law as if it were their hope that should secure them from all storms and injuries whatsoever but alas it will not these things will fail Secondly Is it not worthy observation also that an hypocrite if he go to decay in this life his hypocrisie be discovered he decaies quickly suddenly more suddenly then another man ordinarily therefore he is compared to a Bull-rush that withers before any other plant when they are once blasted cursed as God doth curs them many times alas the next day they are gone and withered as the tree that was dryed up by the root which the Disciples wondered at a sad thing to-have leaves without fruit a form without power the withering curse doth light upon them soonest sooner then prophane persons and how quickly are they withered they are like the grass upon the house top that withereth before it groweth up Thirdly It will be sure to sail a man when he hath most need of it as in the hour of temptation the hour of affliction the hour of death and the hour of judgement in all these usually it fails as a man standing him in no stead◠as the brooks run in the winter when there is no need of them but in Summer when the traveller is ready to perish for thirst then are they dryed up in that place of Job Like the Apples of Sodom if a man come to touch them would be refreshed by them they turn to dust poor creatures think they have faith until an hour of temptation or affliction when they should act it then they have none So they think they have love and bowels but when an opportunity is offered and they have most need of them then they fail like the house there in Matth. 7. It was builded as fair to see to as another as the wise mans house and served him while it shone upon his Tabernacle but when once the storms arose the winds came and the waves beat against it alas it fell and great was the fall thereof Fourthly that which will set an edge upon all the former is the sad disappointment of the hypocrite or formalist in all this for his hope is cut off like a spiders web there are two Pillars he leans upon as Sampson upon the Pillars in the house the Jachin and Boaz What are they but the good things of this world and life eternal and alas both fail him For the good things of this life they many times leave him the mire and the water which made the Bull-rush to grow they are dryed up what is become of his hope then he leans laies hold on his house and is loath to let it go but let him hold it as fast as he can yet down it must go when the Lord cometh to manifest his displeasure against him Secondly For things eternal those he expecteth and is as high until he be discovered to himself in his expectation of heaven as any other but alas he is but in a golden dream all this while as an hungry man dreameth he eateth c. but it is nothing but a fancy when he awakes he is never the fuller but rather vexed so much the more being disappointed for a man to have his hope cut off is the greatest cut in the world nothing breaks the creatures heart more then this O how great hope may a Minister be raised to being an instrument in the hand of God to save others that he also shall be saved they themselves have means to castout the Devil and shall they go to the Devil It is indeed the very emphasis of damnation to be cast down from such a height of hope to be so near to heaven in their hopes and yet miscarry O how should this make us afraid of hypocrisie and formality which is ready to creep upon us how bitter a thing is it in the end to hypocrites yea to the people of God in their way when God opens their eyes to behold it in its colours therefore let us be exhorted every one of us to take heed of it lest it be found in such prevalency among us as to denominate us hypocrites believe it brethren If we be hypocrites our duties will not commend us to God be they never so many never so plausible because our hearts are not changed which is a notable sign of an hypocrite he doth much duty but never reacheth to a better heart is not changed
found or will be found for indeed if it were then there would very few perish out of the visible Church every man almost except a very desperate ignorant prophane wretch will have God and Christ and mercy in their mouths and many liftings up of eyes and hands though they do but dissemble and flatter him with their mouths as is proved by too ordinary experience come to many a poor creature upon his death and you would think him a Saint a true penitent and that if God would restore him sure he would never return to his folly again but alas alas experience proveth how quickly such men return to their vomit again to their wallowing in the mire again and lay out their strength and time and meats and marrow and money and all upon their lusts with as much eagerness if not more then before and prove very Devils incarnate or at least grow as listless and lazy in seeking God after their restoring as they were before though in the time of visitation then they would seek him early and nothing but seek him 3. He may discover Hypocrites to themselves before death likely and yet many times the time is past for the understanding of which brethren we must know that every Professor and all professing people who have the means of Grace the Sun of righteousness rising upon them in his Ordinances whether he arise upon them in their hearts or no this maketh a day of grace Jerusalem had her day as you have it in that of Luke Now this day may be conceived to be either revealed so as that we may judge of it according to Scripture or else secret which God hath reserved to himself The revealed is usually bounded by the time of a mans life or the continuance of the means of Grace to a people at least all that while according to our estimation Gods patience waiteth upon men upon formal Professors to see if they will repent and amend Or else 2. There is a secret day which God hath kept in his own power that is to say he resolveth with himself however it may be the means of Grace may continue longer to a people yet if they stand it out such a time so long he will never make them available to their souls So the Jews in that their day O that thou hadst known saith our Saviour in this thy day but now they are hid mind you now they were hid they should never have a sight of them though they might have the means of Grace the Gospel preached to them yet longer as they had yet the things which belonged to their peace were hid from their eyes And so it may be with an Hypocrite for ought I know the Lord may open an Hypocrites eyes convince him that he is an Hypocrite and yet the time be past of his recovery So the foolish Virgins you see their Lamps went out in obscure darkness irrecoverably though there seemeth by the Parable to have been a further time before the judgement a time wherein they did use some impertinent and improper endeavours for their restoring they went to the wise Virgins and them that sold of which afterward not to Jesus Christ that was hid from their eyes or else if they did it was to no purpose you see they missed their aim and then brethren one of these two things will be the effect of it Either First The heart will sink and die within them through some despair either when God hath opened this wound in their Consciences they will die of it their life and souls will go out at the wound as you see in Judas's case he could not so much as look to Jesus Christ that he might be saved but his heart was sunk within him when he saw how he had played the wretch with Jesus Christ selling his Saviour for so small a price when he had pretended so much love to and to value him at a so low a rate Or else Secondly The heart will grow desperately hard and Conscience seared afterward that it will be past feeling and so commit all iniquity with greediness and yet with a brazen face and with the highest confidence come and cry Lord Lord open to us as it is here in the Parable and in the seventh of Matthew after a thaw it will freez harder again and then Conscience will be covered with a stone as it said in Job And surely brethren the reason is plain why the Lord doth not ordinarily discover Hypocrites in his Church until it be too late for a just recompence of their hypocrisie his soul abhorreth hypocrisie more then any thing their Sacrifices and solemn meetings are an abomination to him he is even weary to bear them why because they drew near him with their mouths honoured him with their lips but the heart was wanting that which God looks at as all in all in our services and therefore they were like dead carkasses however garnished with many pretty sweet flowers common gifs and very taking manner of performances of them yet they are but dead Carkasses and therefore he abhorrs them and therefore no marvel if he seal up men under such a Condition until it be too late The Lord intendeth not mercy to such a soul such a people though their own hypocrisie and iniquity intervene as the immediate cause of the execution of this purpose and therefore it is that he letteth them walk in their own sparks the light of them please themselves with their Lamps their profession until they have trifled away the season of grace A sad consideration for Hypocrrites For Application of this Then it may serve in the first place for a startling word to all formal Professors the Lord make it an awakening word I doubt I speak to many sleepy souls our voice is not loud enough to pierce the ear in the heart and therefore O that he would do it Brethren if I seem uncharitable to you it is my love to your souls it is for your sakes else I have no such delight to speak things so cutting and wounding as these are I fear brethren in such a multitude of Professors that many of us have no more but a form of Godliness and many of us not so much but I speak not so much to them You see that five of them were foolish and they had nothing but Lamps a Profession I cannot conclude from the equality of number that there are as many wise as foolish or no more foolish then wise but many foolish there are that we may conclude and yet we expound it according to the Analogy of faith they are more by many then the wise You may then brethren be very confident of your estate rest as securely as if you had the greatest assurance of your Condition the foolish Virgins slept as soundly as the other suspected their Conditions no more then the other nor so much neither in all probability You think brethren that because you
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
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
But now this strait Gate is shut against them and therefore they cannot enter But so much for the proof of this Doctrine I shall not stay long upon it nor indeed is it needful having spoken before to their surprizal Only a word or two brethren for the opening of the Point and then to confirm it and then some short application of it to our selves For the opening of it What is meant by the unreadiness here supposed for it is against them that the door is shut And then the shutting of the door what is meant by that First then What is meant by this unreadiness I hope you have not altogether forgotten what was spoken lately to the readiness of a poor creature to enter in with Christ to heaven which if you remember you may easily conceive what it is to be unready we will not speak to the readiness for an abundant entrance but only for an entrance into heaven and you remember they were such things as these 1. There must be a pardon of a mans sins a righteousness of faith in the blood of Jesus Christ else a man is never ready Every unbeliever therefore is unready let him be as specious in his shews and pretences as he may yet he is unready he is in his sins condemned c. Joh. 3. And though the Gate of mercy and the kingdom of Grace â—â—and open for sinners to come to Jesus Christ yet the Gate of Heaven whereby an entrance is made into Glory stands not open to any but such as are pardoned have the robes of their elder Brother the Lord Jesus upon them Ah how sad a word is that of the Jews ye shall die in your sins then surely brethren they are not ready for heaven the door will be shut against them 2. There must be a dying to sin as well as a pardon of sin before we can be ready as you heard the roots must be withered before the wall be tumbled down therefore every unmortified man or woman is unready Hear this word of the Lord ye whose Lusts are yet in their full strength your pride and hardness of heart and sensoriousness your looseness and wantonness you that walk with a froward mouth and perverse lips whose hearts devise mischief whose feet make haste to do evil it is an ill sign that the old man is mortified you are an abomination to God as the wise man speaks and will he not clap the door against all such workers of iniquity no evil can dwell with God Ah brethren you that cherish that old man of sin as I may say rub him and chafe him and pour wine and strong drink into him aqua vitae and spirits into him by your meditations of sin vain thoughts lustful proud passionate thoughts nourish your sins ordinarily and so blow up the coal into a flame you are far from mortifying your lusts instead of bringing water and the blood of Jesus Christ to kill your sins you bring to the flame well all unmortified persons are unready let our profession be what it will the door will be clapt upon such I mean such as are altogether unmortified have done nothing in the work I know a child of God may not be so mortified as he should and sometimes for some acts may cherish sin use the bellows to the fire within but it costs him bitterness afterward he liveth not in such a course If he do it is good for him to be jealous of himself how the case stands with him Thirdly He is unready that hath no real holiness put upon him without it none shall see God he knoweth his prima facie as I may say he can see the image and comeliness upon a soul if it be there If not he will not own any bastards any supposititious children changelings that Satan laies in the lap of the Church as I may say and rocks in the Cradle of security but the Lord will shut the door against them This real holiness you know what it is a conformity to the will of God in our understandings light as he is light and no darkness in him In our wills and affections conformity to his will revealed to us A holy disposition of heart to do his will suffer his will and delight in it which occasioneth our grief when we cannot well this is holiness Hear this then ye that never mind the will of God purblind ignorant creatures stubborn rebellious creatures you that have iron sinnews and brazen faces which refuse to return or to be ashamed though the Lord do blazen your iniquities before you continually by his Heralds which cry aloud and teach Jacob their transgressions and Israel their sins and spare you not nor spare themselves yet you refuse to return and to be ashamed to conform to the will of Christ you never were brought to that sweet submissive frame of Paul Lord what wouldst thou have me to do Well believe it thou art unready the gate will be clapt against thee Fourthly Then others are unready And who are those Such as have received work to do and they have not done it men of no action for Christ then the Apostle was ready and our Saviour when they had done their work he gave them to do Christ had wrought out a perfect righteousness for his people and therefore he went up to heaven and the world seeth him no more and this the Spirit convinceth the world of if he had not done that work perfectly heaven would not have held him Remember this then Brethren they are unready that have not done their work whether Magistrates Ministers or private people He giveth to his servants some five talents some ten some two some one mind you he that had but one haply out of envy at others who had more or dejection and discouragement or thinking he had little and therefore could do little good with it hid it in a Napkin and did not trade with it and therefore was the gate open to him No thou wicked and sloathful servant saith the Master to him c. and so he is cast off the merchandise os wisdom is better then the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof then fine gold that is to say the great gain and improvement that cometh by using the wisdom and knowledge the gifts and graces which God giveth us O the tongue of the just is as choice silver and the lips of the righteous feed many Do we do our work Brethren or have we never set stroke in it God hath given some charge of souls how little have they done in it Masters of Families have the charge of children of servants their souls you have done nothing you have gifts and parts enough for every thing else Well Brethren such shall be shut out also Now to shew you two or three sorts of persons who will likely be unready in some or all these respects First then all such as trisle
just in the very harbour this is the saddest of all the rest many a storm they have ridden out they have indured many a wave and to split themselves in the very harbour within sight of the land as a man miscarrying just at the gate of the City of Refuge O how high must such mens hopes have been and how low will their hearts sink now when so â—adly disappointed hope so disappointed maketh ashamed confoundeth the soul as Esau his hopes were at the highest when he came with his Venison to his â—ather this will kill the heart O Brethren above all others hypocrites will be cloathed with the deepest confusion because they have been men of the fairest hopes for heaven Therefore it is said he went away sorrowful for it must needs be so for he was a man of more light then others and surely had a conviction that Jesus was the Messiah that it would be advantagious to have him and therefore coming so near to him and yet put back he went away sorrowful another man would have made nothing of such a repulse hypocrites have great enlightnings and they have had a taste of the heavenly gift as I may say as Israel had a bunch of grapes to taste the sweetness of Canaan and encourage them to go in to possess it O this when God turned them back into the wilderness for their rebellion that they should perish there was a great aggravation of their misery if they had never come so near it and never tasted of it they had not known what they had lost what they had deprived themselves of So here surely Brethren hypocrites have many a taste they have some glimmerings of heavens light and glory somewhat they have to draw them on to the very borders therefore for them to be turned off here and shut out O sure it will much aggravate their misery Ah wretch that I was to come so near take so much pains for heaven and yet that I should miss it will be the doleful ditty of hypocrites to eternity Thirdly It may teach all young beginners that are now as I may say starting in the race that is set before us that you look to it Brethren you be so furnished as to be able to run so as to obtain you are now launching into the deep O look to it there be not a privy leak somewhere though it be but small yet it may make a shift to sink you even at the very haven of heaven Ah dear friends it will be worth your pains to look into the truth of your condition though it cost you many an hour many a hot and cold fit yet give it not over be sure of this one thing that you be bottomed on Jesus Christ and have his Spirit to dwell in you his fear put in you according to the Covenant of grace and then you shall never depart from him you shall never fall short If once you be but in him you shall enter in with him the reason why these foolish Virgins entred not they were not in Christ they had nothing but their own account their own profession and what they could rap and rend and get from the creature alas this was nothing though it might carry them thus far it would not make way for their entrance into glory therefore let me beg of you to make this one thing necessary sure neglect this and all is nothing Fourthly It may teach all of us even such as have not only begun but gone far taken much pains for heaven to tremble and fear lest for want of a little more we fall short Ah dear friends if we would offer violence to heaven it must be while we are here when the door is shut it is too late therefore now let us press and spare no pains and look to these two things 1. That what we do we do it in Christ and for Christ else what do we differ in our work from the glistering Sinners among the heathens And 2. That our hearts be changed and made better and growing liker heaven every day then other else they will nothing avail us at all we shall be shut out notwithstanding all our prayers preaching gifts performances priviledges nothing but an interest in Christ and an heart sanctified by him will give entrance into heaven but so much for this Doctrine Another Note I will take up from the Virgins crying to God now when they saw the Gate of heaven shut against them That the hearts of sinners are full of self-confidence and presumption That they could have an heart to cry to Jesus Christ to open the door to them when it was shut it is strange presumption and boldness indeed for they had not one word to say for themselves why they should have entrance but only Lord Lord open c. in respect of any pleadings of Faith or the Covenant of Grace they were dumb not a word of this but if they had any thing to say it was such as those in Mat. 7. had to say for themselves he had preached in their streets and they had eat and drunk in his presence so here Lord Lord open to us why we had Lamps burning until a little before thy appearing we walked in fellowship with them that are truly admitted now into thy presence we have endeavoured to get some oyl to renew our Lamps though alas they found none but however they would have heaven this is very strong impudence and confident presumption that is in the hearts of Sinners the Lord Jesus turns them off and they will not be turned oâ—f now they will offer violence to the kingdom of heaven when it is too late Whence ariseth this Haply out of the ignorance whereupon heaven is to be had upon what conditions or else out of the presence of their eternal misery now they see they are sinking to hell they begin to cry out for opening of heaven Gate to them now the Gate is shut upon them they never cried before but I will not insist upon this Only a word or two of Application First then it is no marvel brethren if sinners are so full of boldness and presumption now let us tell them that we will set life and death before them as you have had it set before you many a time every Sabbath every opportunity almost alas they care not for it they hang out a flag of defiance against God they have made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell and this they make account shall stand let the Lord say what he will though he tell them he will break that Covenant he disanulleth it in the day he heareth it for both they and death are under his command and therefore he may disanull their Covenant he is Soveraign over them all yet they believe it not they rage and are confident for when the very overflowing scourge cometh upon them they are so confident to go and cry to God
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
to us just as here as if the door was shut upon them there as well as here but what is it they plead O say they We have prophesied in thy name and done many wonderful works wrought miracles in the name of Christ thou hast eat and drank in our streets surely prophecying and working miracles in the name of Christ will amount to as much as profession of him they must needs have his name called upon them that could do such things in his name and yet mark the return Depart from me I never knew you never knew you not before time nor since the world began did I know you but chiefly I never knew you that is to say when your profession was at the highest when your Grace was most green upon the house-top then I knew you not therefore now I know you not Here I shall only endeavour to open to you what is to be understood by Christs knowing of a soul and so come to the next Note from the words because I would hasten to an end First then it is not to be understood as if the Lord did not understand the wayes of an Hypocrite and see the close contrivances of his heart as if he did not know who they are and properly to speak of knowledge it is not the paint of the sepulchre can hide the rottenness within from his al-seeing eye it is not the fair leaves that can deceive him and cover the rottenness of the root from him did he not understand Judas from the beginning and knew he was a white Devil a son of perdition though he followed him as his Saviour well were it for Hypocrites if in this sense the Lord did not know them and surely their hearts do so conclude with those Atheists in the Psalm The Lord beholdeth it not and is there knowledge in the most high but thus he doth know them and that appears plainly by his not knowing of them as afterwards we shall mention and that appears by his declaration to them that he knoweth them not he knoweth full well to whom he speaketh this fearful sentence but this is but the first Secondly Yet after the manner of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet we must understand it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he may be said not to know them I know you not you are so deformed and dis-figured so utterly unlike the men you were when you came out of my hands that I know you not As Jobs friends when they came unto him his visage being so marred with the affliction it is said they knew him not which some understand as a weak affirmative that is to say they scarce knew him is this Job their ancient friend Is this Naomi they scarce knew her to be the same person that formerly she was so altered paint will exceedingly deform them that use it they say but sure I am Hpyocrisie is the greatest deformity it is the picture of Satan who changeth himself into an Angel of light and therefore after the manner of men we may look upon this speech of Christ as thus I know you not you have such strange apparrel on you have such paint such deformity so ugly have you made your selves I know you not Thirdly He is said not to know them in that he doth not approve of them in this sense knowing persons and things is often taken Psalm 1. The Lord knoweth the way of the upright the righteous he approveth of it though this be not all in that expression as by and by you shall see but this is one thing He deligheth in his way he knoweth his people at the last day as he knoweth not Hypocrites and this is part of it Well done good and faithful servant c. he approveth of them And so the Jews that is One inwardly and circumcised in heart whose praise is not of men but of God he is approved to God and approved by God So the Apostle Paul That evil which I do I allow not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know not that is to say I approve not of it I judge and condemn my self for it I would not do it because I allow not of it and to come nearer even to the same use of the expression applyed to God himself They set up Kings but I knew it not saith the Lord it was not by me by my advice I approved not of it They would needs have a King and I yielded to them indeed but it was in wrath and displeasure I never knew it that is to say never approved of it else he did understand it and reproved them for it also at that very time by the Prophet Samuel And by Jeroboam though there was his disposing hand in it and in a way of providence he gave the ten Tribes to him yet he approved not of their revolting the people had no command from him nor did they stay for it to separate from the house of David Fourthly He is said to know men when he not only approveth of them in their wayes but loveth and favoureth them and not to know them when he doth not love them nor favour them as we are said to know God when we love him and keep his commandments so he is said to know us when he loveth us and so that may be understood He that loveth God is known of God that is to say is loved of him favoured of him For he that loveth me my Father will love him and I will love him and manifest my self to him In the Hebrew Verbs of knowledge affection is included and the ground of this seemeth to be because we know Love breedeth familiarity and familiarity breedeth knowledge and acquaintance and so on the contrary where no love there is estrangedness and that ends in a not knowing of a Person so then he knoweth not many that profess that is to say he loveth them not Fifthly This knowing here spoken of may be also an owning of them for his own an acknowledging of them You only have I known saith the Lord of all the People and Nations of the earth and therefore I will not pass by you unpunished that is to say I have owned you of all the families upon the earth you have been taken for my family I have owned you and therefore you shall be sure to be visited with the stripes and rods of men not to destroy So saith he to Moses I know thee by name that is to say I acknowledge thee and own thee in a neer manner indeed therefore that place of Amos is no more then that of the Apostle I chastise every son whom I receive this knowing them then may be such an acknowledging of them for his own they never were his children never given of his Father nor came to him and therefore he acknowledgeth them not as his in so near a relation Sixthly He knoweth them not by experience as I may say
he hath had no experience of them they never came to him to touch him that vertue might go forth from him to heal them and pardon them and therefore he knoweth them not that is to say he never had a touch of faith from them whereby they are said to know him for then he should have known them and have known that vertue went forth from him to heal them he had no acquaintance with them they never acquainted themselves with him but their hearts were alway estranged and far from Jesus Christ though they drew near with their lips their hearts never touched one with another they rested in somewhat else as gifts and miracles and therefore he knoweth them not by experience of communion with him and letting out his healing power upon them Seventhly and lastly He knoweth them not that is to say he careth not for them nor their souls to defend them save them let them do what they will be regardeth them not As in that first Psalm The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish by the opposite there it appeareth that Gods knowing the way of the righteous is to keep it from perishing the antecedent including the consequent many times in the Hebrew and so the perishing of the way of the ungodly the Consequent including the Antecedent his not knowing of their way or else it is all onâ— Thou hast known my soul in adversity this is one part of the meaning thou hast had a care of me in six and seven troubles to see that no more were laid on then I could bear to keep me that the Spirit that thou hast made did not fail c. so the righteous man knoweth the life of his beast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he knoweth it he is tender of it to keep it and so some understand that my sheep hear my voyce and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life I will know them to eternal life now many professors he knoweth not that is to say he regardeth them not what becometh of them let them sink or or swim shift for themselves take their own course he regardeth them not Now who these are among professors that the Lord knoweth not I believe you easily understand they are such as are meerly formal have a Lamp and no Oyl a form and no power But so much for this first Secondly The next Note from the words you may remember was That such as he knoweth not shall never enter into this Marriage-Feast the door is shut upon them and thâ—s is given as a reason wherefore our Saviour would not open it to them upon their crying Lord Lord but he answered and said I know you not there is no reason you should expect to have the door opened for I know you not and so in that of Matthew if he know them not he sends them away from him Depart from me for I know you not First Because many that profess Jesus Christ yet are very strangers to him and he to them and therefore they shall not have the door opened to them they never knew him nor he never knew them there was never any acquaintance now strangers that we never saw who useth to admit to a Marriage-feast they are the familiars and favorites if Jesus Christ knew them not surely they are strangers for he knoweth all his own children his own sheep let their condition be what it will under never such desertions and cloudings and questionings of his love he knoweth them A woman may forget her children but God cannot forget his people if once acquainted with them he writes their names before him yea upon his very heart they are written whither nothing can come to blot them out now many a professor is a meer stranger to Jesus Christ though he throng upon him yet never toucheth him he never had a sight of Christ a touch of him is a stranger to the righteousness of Christ to the holiness of Christ to the joy and peace Kingdom of grace and therefore surely he will not admit them he knoweth them not it is no place â—or strangers but â—or favourites they must be friends of the Bridegroom that must hear his voyce behold his beaâ—ty rejoyce in it for ever which every professor alas is not Secondly Because of the pride of heart which indeed is the great root of the former estrangedness of many a professor from Christ and Christ from them what was the reason the Prodigal would feed upon husks rather then go to his Father O his stomack was too big to acknowledge his failing to his father as long as ever he could hold out and you see it plainly in the poor woman that had spent all she had upon the Physitian a stout heart would not down while she had a peny And surely you see you see here these foolish Virgins they never went to Christ for oyl but up and down where they could beg or buy of any body they were too stomachful and slout so the Apostle They submitted not to the righteousness of Christ as if it were an act of submission and self-emptying indeed as it is to close with the righteousness of another to be righteous and stand before the Lord in this they would not do they would have heaven by their own works or never have it so the foolish Virgins would have oyl sowewhere short of Christ or they would go without and so they do Ah we are proud beggers proud of rags filthy rags and the Lord knoweth the proud indeed but it is afar off he will never admit them to the nearest commâ—nion with himself for ever therefore he will not open to them This is the case of many a professor who will spin his own web and 〈…〉 lk by sparks of his own kindling and not by the light of God they will to their Herb to heal them and not to Christ the Physitian of their souls and therefore if they be so stout let them take what followeth he will not regard them he knoweth them not near as his friends but afar off Thirdly They are all of them workers of iniquity and therefore he will not know them he approveth them not he careth not for them he will not admit them David that had but a spark of the holiness that is in Jesus Christ the holy one of God and God equal with his Father he would not know a wicked person Depart from me ye workers of iniquity away with you I am not company for you I am a companion to all that fear God both small as well as great though he were a King and a vile person he contemned be he as great as he would away with him from me what communion can light darkness have can they dwell together surely no Depart from me I know you not ye workers of iniquity into that holy place none that defileth can enter now
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
such thrusts as these by the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God and he hath a deceived heart within him telling him he hath fruit as well as leaves though it be not fruâ—t found from him and he hath had so many testimonies of his love to him he cannot conclude he is a person abhorred of God his hopes are high he will not believe not a word fasteneth upon him and he is apt to think the Minister too straite when he goeth to the quick and tels them if any iniquity be regarded in the heart the heart is not right with God they will not believe but keep their sin and doubt not of their salvation well now the Lord will dash this presumption of theirs the height of unbelief though they will not see their hypocrisie and their forlorn condition now he will make them see if the servants word will not convince them his shall and confound them also therefore he pronounceth it with a Verily I say c. that in the sinners own conscience he may be justified you see let Ministers say what they can be they never such Bonerges thundring from heaven upon men yet they will not be beaten off but at the very last come bouncing at the gate of heaven with a Lord Lord open to us The Ministers have often enough told them that when they cry the Lord would not hear them they would but appear before the everlasting burnings to be consumed they will not believe and therefore now the Lord Jesus himself he speaks he declareth it and with a full conviction to their consciences for he with his Word reacheth the soul and conscience so that now their confidence must needs be dashed not a word more hath a sinner then to say for himself and to confirm the words of his servants his faithful Messengers they have spoken as much as this cometh to before and it hath been slighted they thought God would be more merciful then those bloody Ministers are who wound and spare not but the Lord will now make them know that whose sins they retain clave non errante by a right application of the threatnings and terrors of God not one word of theirs shall fall to the ground but that they had the mind of Christ what ever you thought of them that is another Argument Thirdly For a Declaration and Vindication of his own Wisdom and Justice and Holiness his Wisdom in that now hypocrites shall see there was nothing could be hid from his eys he knoweth through and through even when they made the most dazling profession to the eye of the world that his piercing eye saw through all this saith the sinner there in that Psalm and it is the language of all hypocrites in heart Tush the Lord seeth not neither doth the God of Jacob regard it doth he look to the thoughts to a mans ends the secrets of his soul if he carry fair outwardly will not this pass the test yea with men but thou shalt know hypocrite that thou hast not to do with men but with God you may juggle so as to cast a mist before mens eyes but not before his and though you think you can yet he will now manifest it that you have all of you been a deceived people who have thought to deceive him he will now appear to be a God of wisdom and one that searcheth your hearts and will recompence into your bosoms the very secrets of your iniquity And so his justice and holiness because an hypocrite hath flourished long and hath had the use of many common gifts and flourished in the eyes of men made a great shew and God hath born with much patience Justice hath been as I may say asleep but now he will repay them into their own bosoms and so his holiness they thought God was such a one as themselves but he will reprove them and set their sins in order before them Now he will keep silence no longer that it may appear how he hateth all their hypocrisie that hath been fathered upon him and men have looked upon them as Saints yet now his holiness will endure no longer but shake them off they shall now see that such impure hearts he cannot away with to dwell with them though with much patience he did bear them here yet that he never knew them here never owned them cared for them here in the very height of their profession Fourthly Because now is the separating time nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest saith our Saviour in another place though chaff may go for wheat and gilt for Gold and alchimy for gold and dross and tin for silver now they shall be separated it is high time now to unmask the hypocrite he hath long enough deluded himself and others now therefore he will make it known himself will declare it to put an end to their false imaginations but enough for this Now to wind up all in a word of Application In the first place then it shall be a terrible word to all Formalists all gross and close hypocrites the Lord search you out this day and make it a word of terrour a shaking in your bones that you may be shaken off your security There are two or three things you shall see that are terrible to you herein It is your portion I must deliver it to you Let not any poor trembling child of God catch at the dogs portion no more then the dogs should at the childrens bread God would not have such sadned nor would I speak any thing to the grief of such as God hath wounded But for Hypocrites and Formalists let me speak it 1. He knoweth you 2. Therefore he doth not know you because he knoweth you And 3. He will not know you at that day First I say He knoweth you that is to say he understands you there are windows of Chrystal into your breasts all is naked before him with whom you have to do it may be you are a little affected with hearing the death of Jesus Christ that so innocent a person should be so unworthily treacherously and cruelly handled and now you take your selves to be such as have received the Spirit of grace and supplication and mourn over Christ whom you have crucified and it is nothing but a natural tenderness that would be as much affected or moved with hearing any sad story of another person Believe it Brethren whether you see this deceit or no the Lord knoweth it Your ends are deep in your actions which seem to be for Christ and with much self-denyal sometimes and yet even then in that self-denyal there may be an end for self at the bottom the commanding wheel that setteth all a work it may be this is too deep for any other to discern or for your selves sometimes yet the Lord seeth it he knoweth all the depth of your heart You pray and fast it may be when you are in any distress but little
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
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
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
and feathers compass clothe and adorn the fowl whose wings they are so the rayes do clothe and compass and adorn the Sun as it were how naked would a bird be without his feathers and how naked would the Sun be without his raies and beams Secondly because of the swift motion of the Sun not only in his diurnal course as in Psalm 19. He rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his race but no sooner is the Sun up but he doth in a manner spread his raies to all the Hemisphere as a bird quickly when she riseth spreadeth her wings abroad and therefore the Egypitans Hieroglyph of the Sun was a fowl spreading long wings every way Thirdly because the wings of a fowl are those under which she gathereth her young cherisheth them refresheth warmeth them that they may grow and increase So here the wings of the Sun are those whereby the creatures in their kind are healed and cherished as you know how the body will be benummed and languish with the cold of the night when the Sun beams come to beat on it again how doth it quicken and revive But now for the wings of the Lord Jesus what are his wings as he is the Sun of righteousness whatever answers to this Sun-beams are his wings and what are these In a word then I take them to be the Word and Spirit especially not excluding other Ordinances of Jesus Christ but these especially yea truly the Spirit in the Word and in other Ordinances of Christ I take to be these wings here spoken of The Spirit in the Word even whereby he cometh and preacheth to men even to them that were asar off from Christ is said to come and preach peace by which also saith the Apostle that is by the Spirit he went and preached to the Spirits in prison that now are in prison but not when he sent to preach to them the Spirit of Christ in the Word which Noah preached to them who was a Preacher of righteousness the Lord Jesus went and preached to them I say these are the wings of our Sun of righteousness and so they are called haply for divers reasons First that these proceeding from him even as the raies of the Sun which are his wings proceed from the Sun as the Sun sends forth his beams and influences in a powerful manner so Christ sends forth his light and his truth the Spirit as a person in the Trinity proceedeth from him as from the Father but as to his office to be an enlightening Spirit a quickning Spirit a comforting Spirit so he proceedeth from Christ I will send you the Comforter from the Father he poured out of his Spirit on his Apostles and many others who were to go forth in his name and preach the Gospel to the Nations and the Word he sends it forth out of his mouth proceedeth a two-edged sword which is his Word Secondly as the beams supply the absence of the Sun so doth the Spirit of Christ supply his absence therefore while he was yet present the Spirit was not yet given not poured out in that fulness but when he was to go he comforts his Disciples with this that if he went he would send them the Comforter another Comforter himself was one and he would send them another and that was his Spirit and he should lead them into all truth bring all things to their remembrance and be their Comforter and help their infirmities and so supply the absence of Christ Yea better then if he himself were with them as we use to say the Sun is come into such an house when the beams thereof are come in which do supply the absence of the Sun and better it is for us to have the beams then the Sun in our houses Thirdly because of the swiftness of the opening of the glory of Christ to the last ages of the world O! how swift are the beams of the Sun in a moment darted from heaven to earth and over-spread the whole Horizon So the Lord his Word being quickned by the Spirit doth run very swiftly as the Psalmist hath it in how short a time as the age of the Apostles did it overspread the Horizon gotten as far as Rome and how mightily did it prevail though the Jews did contradict and blaspheme and endeavour to take off the wheels of his Chariots yet it went on never the slower for that it grew and multiplyed Converts unto the face of the Church were as thick as the morning dew on the face of the earth which is generated by the Sun Fourthly as the beams of the Sun carry light and heat and refreshing along with them to the poor languishing earth and other creatures so doth the Spirit and the Word and the Spirit in the Word carries light with it thy Word is a light to my feet and indeed it is not Christ considered alone but as he is held out in the Gospel that is here resembled to the Sun of righteousness as I told you before their sound is gone forth into all the earth that is of them that preached the Gospel of peace and reconciliation through Christ And for heat O! how doth many a poor creature come under an Ordinance with an heartless mind cold and dead and his heart doth burn within him while the Lord by his Spirit hath communion with him in those Ordinances and what refreshings do arise to a poor weary soul when the Lord createth the fruit of the lips peace peace certain undoubted peace he doubleth it for emphasis that peace which passeth understanding and it shall surely be so and suddenly too not long he delights not to hold poor souls in anxiety trouble only what he seeth needful for their humiliation fetching them off themselves and sin and making Christ sweet to them indeed that he may be precious to them Other reasons might haply be given why the Spirit and Word and Ordinances are compared to the Sun which are the wings thereof but this shall suffice The fifth thing what is meant by healing and indeed this is large and as large as our spiritual maladies are some say there is nothing more wholsom then the Sun where it cometh with its beams how doth it purge the air wherein we breath consuming the noysom vapours that arise and would infect it quickly purging the earth from its dregs or else we should quickly find the offensiveness of it So the Lord Jesus by the breaking forth of his Spirit in the Word of Truth doth heal the air consume and scatter the venomous errors of men wherewith we should quickly be all poysoned were it not for this that be makes manifest their folly to all men and they proceed no further He heals the waters the waters of the Sanctuary how often have they been polluted yea poysoned by some and the Lord hath healed them again by his Spirit Again he heals the earth of its barrenness
in Winter the earth seemeth to be languishing and all things withered and dead when the Sun returneth how doth it heal it To it s here Beloved it is the Word and Spirit that opens the earth moistens the earth sweetly refresheth it calls forth the fruits thereof The fruits of the Spirit they are called as the fruits of the earth are called the precious fruits put forth by the Sun and by the Moon which shines by a derived influence from the Sun how precious are the fruits of the Spirit Brethren love meekness joy in the Holy-Ghost humility self-denyal these are the precious fruits put forth by the Sun the Lord Jesus by his Word and Spirit beating upon our barren hearts indeed he maketh the barren Wilderness to become a garden of God Again he healeth he reviveth the spirits which languish and are ready to go out as the poor Birds that in the Winter are hard put to it and some lye you hardly know where as if they were dead or dying when the Sun returneth how doth it refresh and revive their little spirits that were left before The night brings a heaviness and burthen along with it to the body but the morning when the Sun ariseth how doth it enliven and lighten Oh! so it s in this case many a poor soul can say by experience that when darkness hath been long on them they have no light no comfort no refreshing no breathing of the Spirit to their apprehensions in his Ordinances on their hearts O how have hands hanged down and their knees feeble and knock one against another for feebleness and that which was within them was ready to dye But now no sooner hath the Lord Jesus the Sun of righteousness looked on them but they have had their ankle-bones strengthened the joy of the Lord is their strength as Neh. 8. but I intend not here much to expatiate only these two or three things First then the first thing in this healing which is brought under the wings of the Sun of righteousness is pardon for our sins who forgiveth all-thy iniquities and healeth all-thy diseases these are exegetical one of another or may so be looked on Sin Brethren cuts off a creature from God and so maketh a wound which now is healed and made up when they are pardoned Make the heart of this people fat and let their ears be heavy their eyes closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes or hear with their ears or understand with their hearts lest they should be converted and I should heal them which Mark reads thus lest they should be converted and their sins be forgiven them So then forgiveness and healing are all one and its one thing surely included in that of the Prophet Hosea I will heal their back-slidings I will love them freely the justification freely by his grace as the Apostle calls it Poor sinner thou that ever knewest what sin was what a wound it was to thy soul knewest that thy pardon is a healing to thee So then this arising with healing in his wings is by his Spirit in his Word he conveyeth the blood of Jesus Christ the merit thereof maketh it over to the poor soul that believeth to the doing away of all the guilt So as a Sun of righteousness properly he healeth and this is the first Secondly He taketh away also the anguish and trouble that did arise from sin to the soul as when a wound is healed you know the anguish and smart is taken away though while it is healing it may be when searched and tented there will be smart and sore yet afterward it s taken away by degrees I know some of you have felt and haply some at present may feel the grief of your wounds O! how they will throb and beat and burn and smart sometimes broken bones are nothing to a broken heart nor the broken flesh any thing to a broken bone the Lord heals the broken in heart he bindeth up their wounds I have seen his waies and will heal him saith the Lord he speaks to the condition of a poor disconsolate soul under the wrath of God He was wrath and smote him yea he hid him and was wrath O how this troubles a poor soul he cannot but have his heart full of darkness and terrour and trouble that hath the face of God hidden from him well saith the Lord though he did walk frowardly before me gave me not my ends in smiting him yet I will heal him and wherein doth this healing consist Alas in restoring joy and comfort to him the poor soul now was over-whelmed with sorrow his heart now was ready to sink and fail within him and lest it should so do he will heal him and how is this but by his Word and Spirit therein which is the comforting Spitit he will create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him Here is a healing indeed the healing of broken hearts and broken bones it s the work that the Father sent the Lord Jesus for into the world in an especial manner that he annointed him for poured out the Spirit upon him annointed him with the oyl of gladness above his fellows that he might speak in due season that he might bind up the broken spirits Now the Lord Jesus Brethren our dear Saviour he delighteth to do this will and work of his Father O! he loveth to be doing with broken hearts And O that we had some work for the Lord Jesus this day he is among us now to see if there be any heart in this condition that he may heal us it s his delight to do it Well this is a second he hath his cordials as well as his purgatives his lenitives as well as his corrosives Thirdly he cometh with healing under his wings as to take away the anguish so also to purge away the filth of it to heal the running putrifying sore that it may not run and defile and pollute all that a man taketh in hand How much more saith the Apostle shall the blood of Christ purge our consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God With corrosives he eats down the proud flesh and the dead flesh he dryeth up the bloody issues then the person was healed when she touched Christ but the hem of his garment This is that which troubles many a heart more then the guilt of their sins and indeed the returning and recoyling of sin on them again and again occasioneth the questioning of their peace and comfort that they have had O how one cryeth out of this sin and another of that sin and walks heavily and sadly Well the Lord Jesus he will arise with healing under his wings for all these distempers Fourthly and lastly another healing is the taking away his anger manifested in outward calamities or diseases in a people or person I will heal their back-slidings and love them freely for mine anger is
like now if he were upon earth O how would poor Creeples set the best foot forward to come to him and such as had diseased creatures Lame Blind Palsie c. O how would they take themselves bound to bring them to Christ for healing and what is the body more then the soul Brethren You would think you were undone if you were lamed and could not stand upon your legs why this is nothing to have a heart and a heart Such a man is lame one leg shorter then another or walks with one foot in an higher way and the other in a lower and so halts and is this nothing O what would a tender mother give now if she had all her children and self under the plague at once or lying of the stone or gout at once one cryeth and another cryeth never pain like theirs What would a mother give now for such a Physitian and how ready would she be to carry them to him what is this to the plague of the heart and the stone in the heart and yet no out-cries at all nor care at all nay the Lord Jesus cometh himself is first in the thing visits with his salvation moveth intreateth to accept of pardon of healing and yet you will not what shall I say more Brethren 4. Consider that the Lord Jesus is most freely willing to heal poor sinners do you think if the Lord Jesus had not been in good earnest and hearty in the work of salvation of poor sinners he would have prepared such costly cordials made up of his own spirits and his own blood that so no disease might be so deadly but the soveraignty of the Medicine should be as lively Surely no did he ever refuse any that came to him for healing in the Gospel for healing of the body but rather while they came for healing of their bodies he did ex superabundanti gratia heal their souls they came to ask crums of him as the poor woman and he giveth them the childrens bread his flesh and his blood to eat and to drink to be food and Physick to heal and nourish them you have heard at large that none that come unto him he will in any wise cast out Therefore Brethren let me beg of you to labour with the Lord and with your own hearts and never give it over until he hath brought you and set you directly under the beams of this Sun of righteousness for the more direct they are the more power they have you know the reason beams of the Sun in winter will not heal the earth of its barrenness and frozenness but it s bound up and so some may have some glancing influence from Christ some kind of tasts and yet notwithstanding not amount to an healing though to an escaping of the pollutions of the world outward acts yet it is not healed to the bottom there are some lusts indeed that are like sullen weeds that will not live except it be in the shade and darkness as in wells and pits and the like where the Sun cometh not and therefore wherever the light of the Gospel cometh these are presently done away Some things are so gross as if there be but a glimmering of light discovered they fly away will not endure it but there are some secret lusts lie so close to the heart have cast out their roots so there and are so fastened in the spirit that except the Lord Jesus do shine in his strength into such a soul they will never up they will never wither nor dye nor the soul be healed but thus much for the Exhortation Lastly I shall speak a word of refreshing to such as tremble at this Word and every Word of God are indeed sensible of their condition by reason of sin and many sad complaints they make I may imagine but the Lord heareth the moan that every poor sinner maketh over his wounds and over his diseases before the Lord as you shall have a poor creature that feels he is wounded the heavy groans he fetcheth one cryeth out of the broken arm another of a wounded head a third of the stone a fourth of the plague O how it throbs and smarts when the Lord opens sinners eyes to see what they have done which they never saw before thus it is with them Why now poor sinner is this thy case dost thou see and know thy wound know this day there is healing for thee cast not away thy hope for so poor creatures are ready to say is there any healing for me there was never wound sure so deep as mine O never was there disease so loathsom so full of pain as mine yea here is a promise the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings upon them that fear him and now thou beginnest to be afraid of him though before thou knewest him thou madest nothing of rebelling against him yet now thou dost as they say bring a man that is guilty of anothers murther before him he will bleed afresh So the Lord Jesus when a poor sinner guilty of his blood suppose the worst and this is that which wounds thee now why his blood will issue afresh to heal poor sinners what is it that thou art troubled with is it in thine eyes is the eyes of thy understanding darkened he will heal this how ready was he when the blind men cryed to his that they might receive their sight you know he healed them What wouldst thou have thy memory healed of its slipperiness and treachery he will heal that he hath done it for many a one in a strange manner What is it thy thoughts it may be are wandering and vain he will heal that what is it thy love it may be is full of dissimulation is not out of a pure heart and not â—ervent as it should he will heal that and for thy will of its pronness to sin this sin that sin thy own iniquity he will heal that and so for the Irascible part he will heal thee of those fears and troubles and inordinate passions vanities lusts and vain desires O but saith one my disease is a Relapse I have found strength against such or such a lust but I have fallen back again Be it so he will heal their back-slidings though it be true if any sins be talents these are they Yea he will forgive an hundred talents as well as thirty pence back-sliding is a kind of compound of all sins so much the sadder it is by how much there is a slighting and undervaluing the blood of Jesus Christ wherewith we have been purged and cleansed but is this thy trouble as this Novatianism is in every poor troubled conscience to question Whether ever God will pardon or heal if they fall after repentance though I must tell you usually it costs them more smart yet the Lord will heal even such as these what was not Davids sin a back-sliding and Peters a back-sliding the most fearful sin and the most remarkable
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
Silver tryed and purified seven times that is to say his Promise therefore he concludeth That the Lord will keep them he will preserve them for ever and so pretious so confirmed by miracles that all other truth scarce deserveth the name of truth in comparison of it either it is not so pure but hath some dross or else not so pretious O they are pretious Promises indeed as the soul knoweth right-well when he cometh to stand in need of a Promise and the sweetness of it he sucks out and it letteth down the sweetness of it upon the soul but take a parallel Scripture to shew that Gospel is called the truth The Apostle speaks plainly For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel and again to the Ephesians In whom also ye trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the Gospel of your salvation in whom also after ye believed ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise So that this is the truth then the knowledge whereof shall make us free where the Spirit of Christ is there is liberty that is clear as you heard before Now how is the Spirit given but by the Gospel Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith which is that hearing of Faith by the Word of Truth the foregoing Verse even that which held forth a crucified Christ to them hearing of Faith not the rumour of Faith but hearing is such an hearing as whereby a man believeth and Faith by a Metonymie is put for the Word of Faith as the Gospel is called sometimes because Faith thereby is begotten now by this the Spirit is received and therefore liberty cometh and therefore the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit in that place of the Apostle because therewith the Spirit is given and ministred to poor creatures whereas the Law works Bondage and Wrath Therefore Jerusalem is free which is above that is to say the Church builded upon the Covenant of Grace is free is the Mother of us all but enough of this The Gospel is the outward instrumental cause Fifthly the inward instrumental cause or Con. as some will have it which I shall not now dispute that is faith whereby we close with this Covenant it is the Word of Faith and hearing of Faith that is to say of the Gospel so as to work Faith whereby the Spirit is given which brings liberty to the soul Alas many hear the Gospel of liberty which we preach and few do receive it few believe it for it appeareth by woful experience we are yet in bondage we have never gone forth to this day many of us though we have had as much preaching of the Gospel as any other Jerusalem that now is as the Apostle cals it was in bondage then though they had the Gospel preached among them a great while they believed not except the Spirit therein be conveyed the Gospel is but a dead letter as well as the Law and a deadly letter also and so much for the causes of this liberty or freedom which cometh by Jesus Christ The third thing under this head is the parts of this liberty or freedom which we shall consider two ways First Extensively in their latitudeâ— And secondly Intensively in the degrees of each of these parts in its latitude But that we may the better understand it we must know that liberty is a relative and respecteth some bondage some imprisoning or shutting up from which this liberty is a deliverance ye shall go forth and therefore to set off the lustre of this glorious liberty it may not be amiss to run a parallel between them That there is such a bondage under which every poor creature without Christ is held we shall at present presuppose though afterward haply I shall come to prove it I would not here too far digress before we come to speak of the parts of the bondage to which the parts of liberty will be opposite and correspondent I shall say in a few words something to the Author of this Bondage and Tenure of it and but a word or two For the Author of this bondage under which poor creatures are without Christ altogether and in part also many times when they are under Christ and under Grace First Some part of it is to be ascribed to the Lord so far forth as it is meerly vindictive or an inflicting of a just penalty upon Sinners for sin so far we may ascribe it to God as will more plainly appear in the following Considerations The Law which genders to Bondage it is his Law and holy and just and good though it gender to Bondage nor will it follow because we are delivered form it therefore it was an evil in it self but only per accidens by reason of our corruption and so the Spirit of Bondage which in some is vindictive when he binds and hampers a Sinner with the cords of his sin haply never intending that he shall see through those terrors to his comfort this is from him and justly or else if it be in order to a settlement to a peace to an Adoption a Sonship through Christ as preparative to the receiving of Christ this is from him and so several other parts of it are from him under this Consideration Secondly But so far forth as any part of it is sinful there it is from Satan and from our own evil hearts for darkness cannot come from the light nor can any thing unclean come from that which is altogether pure no more then a clean thing can proceed from an unclean as the bondage under sin which more at large afterward we shall discuss Secondly For the tenure for being in bondage we are in bondage to some person properly to some thing improperly and by a kind of Prosopopeia we are said to be in such a bondage now there is some Tenure as I may say wherein they do hold us in bondage there are three or four tenures if I may so call them whereby we are thus held under Bondage until Jesus Christ come to set us free First A Sale Secondly By Birth Thirdly By Captivity or Conquest Fourthly By Tyranny and resignation of themselves up to such a vassallage but a word or two to each of them First then There is a Bondage by Captivity when People are taken Captives this is so common there is none can be ignorant of it What are the Turks Gally-slaves but the prey of their piracies all is fish that cometh to the net so it is in this case This is one Part of the Tenure we are taken captive by Satan even at his pleasure Of whom a man is overcome of the same is he brought in bondage this is the military Law the Prisoners were ever the Conquerours slaves we have seen it but too evidently with our own eyes we have
greater measure and therefore we may understand this of a general state of the Saints before the coming of Christ the arising of this Sun of righteousness indeed hath shone into the very chambers of death themselves to let us see thaâ— there is not that real terrour in it that otherwise except himself had gone through it and broken the bars of it and pluckt out the sting and sanctified it as a passage to our Glory as well as to his own we should still have been in as great bondage as they were in this respect and therefore Simeon saith Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word now he had embraced the Lord Christ not only in his bodily arms but had a clearer discovery also of him to his soul doubtless and the sence may help faith also But then secondly According to the measure of the faith of his people is the degree of their liberty from this bondage alas it is terrible to many of us yea such as do believe but their faith is weak and the perswasions of sense are strong and hold down the soul many times but the Lord Jesus came to deliver his people also from this bondage and according to the degrees of his manifesting himselfto the soul will the soul go forth from these fears and though Aristotle died doubtful whither he should go and yet cried out Ens entium causa causarum miserere mei Yet the Apostle and those that attained that pitch to know that when our tabernacles are dissolved we have an house eternal in the heavens to know the sting of death and victory of the grave is swallowed up by Jesus Christ it left its sting in his side to know that when we are dissolved we shall be with Christ and know how much better that will be to the soul that is well studied in these things and grown strong in the faith that is in Jesus he will desire to be dissolved and to be with Jesus O here is a going forth now a liberty and freedom indeed by the arising of the Sun of Righteousness upon us Ninthly A freedom or liberty from the Govenant of works What saith the Law Do this and live continue in every thing that is written now when the soul cometh to see how spirittual the Law is and how earnal he is and sold under sin that it binds not only the thoughts but the desires of the heart that there must not be so much as a vain thought pass through his soul but if there do this Covenant knoweth no mercy alas this keepeth the poor creature under much bondage and trouble and doubting concerning his condition now we must know that this is not a bondage of Gods putting upon us though he gave us the Law but of our own making the Lord gave the Law with Evangelical purposes it was added because of transgression it was added that the Covenant of Grace that it might convince poor creatures of their condition by sâ—n and not to be their Saviour or a Covenant of life to them When the Commandment came sin revived and I died saith the Apostle that is the work of it indeed but now we would needs make it to be a Covenant of works and look upon it so and therefore do what we did in obedience to this Law as for life expecting to be saved by our own works and so the Hebrews the Jews to whom that Law was first given we see how they would not submit they would not stoop to have this yoke taken off from them they would not submit to the righteousness of Ged but would have a righteousness of their own they had two strings to their bow and as long as either of them would hold they would not yield to be righteous by the righteousness of God in Christ the one was their freedom by Birth They were the seed of Abraham and not the seed of the Bond-woman and therefore what need they care for this liberty the other was their own works they made account their own penny was good silver enough though the Lord knoweth it was but reprobate silver they went about to establish their own righteousness they would be justified by a Covenant of works And so there were some that came and endeavoured to turn aside the Galathians to another Gospel by teaching them they should again put their necks under this yoke not only of Ceremonies though that be one thing to the Jews if not to the Gentiles that never were under it but it is the Law the Moral Law as a Covenant of Works else to what end doth he mention the curse therein And if ye be justified by the Law Christ shall not profit you you are fallen from the Doctrine of Grace Well now the Lord Jesus when he is revealed to a soul delivereth him from this though I must tell you it is an harder matter to get clearly off it then many do imagine and even the people of God themselves shall find that too often they are turned aside to the bondwoman from the free from the Covenant of Grace to a Covenant of Works Again from the Law as provoking for that is the Bondage chiefly the Apostle speaks of Rom. 7. But the more clearly and fully the Grace which is in Christ is revealed to us with the greater power he ariseth upon us the more fully are we set free from it Here we might discuss the question how far we are delivered from the Law and how far by Jesus Christ I will rather reserve that to another place and proceed to conclude this part Tenthly There is a kind of bondage the people of God are under even that weakness and straitness and deadness of heart towards God you know that sickness doth weaken a man exceedingly in so much that he can scarce go upon his legs he is a prisoner a great while under that weakness from all action to purpose let but a poor prisoner be under hardship a while in the prison and how feeble will he be and scarce worth the ground he goeth upon a while longer he is a prisoner under that weakness so it is here therefore saith the Psalmist Then will I run the ways of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart Now the Lord Jesus when he cometh in with pardon speaking peace smiling upon the soul filling the heart with joy unspeakable this joy of the Lord is the strength of the soul he goeth forth even as a man to his labour in the morning when the Sun ariseth that drousiness heaviness deadness under which he was a prisoner before being now removed Eleventhly There is a liberty and freedom also from outward afflictions for these are also an appendix of the Law a part of the execution of it and therefore the Lord doth set his people free from the fear of these before they come which is a kind of bondage upon them Secondly From the presence of
not be in the Pallace or a man be in this house and yet not in the City which is much more large and comprehensive But thirdly I conceive that this visible freedom of theirs is to be limited with the time until they come to discover the contrary as an hypocritical professor to us he is visibly a Saint and free until his leaf do fade and fall and that be taken from him which he seemeth to have as it is in that of the Evangelist now the child is upon his Fathers root the Lord owning them with their parents in the same covenant of grace yet if afterward when they come to understanding and by the rule of Christ they are to own the covenant themselves actually if they do disown it they shall be cast out as well as Ismael was and therefore it is I suppose that our Saviour reproveth the Jews when they stood now at age and should have minded what themselves had done now standing upon their own and not upon their Fathers root they should have owned the Covenant themselves and believed that so they might have been free indeed invisibly but though they never wrought the works of Abraham to believe in Christ to come and now in Christ come they should have believed but wrought the works of the Devil yet they bound themselves up with this that they were the children of Abraham they were so indeed and this in their infancy was ground for a believing hopefully of them specially if their Parents were Believers but now the Lord required themselves I say to own the Covenant and walk worthy of it else that would not stand them instead it is just as if a man that maketh a profession of Christ gloriously for a while and in the judgement of all that behold him he is a gracious man but yet he falls off draweth back to perdition the latter end of such a man is worse then his beginning yet he bears up himself O I am a Christian I have professed Christ as well as you and yet at present is thus stubborn and rebellious do you think this would satisfie any mans spirit concerning him is not here as much vanity of hope concerning his condition as in the other case O but some will say what a Doctrine is this can a man be free in any sense and yet come into bondage again and perish afterward are not the gifts and calling of God without repentance therefore that children should be free by vertue of this Covenant and yet afterward become the servants of sin and Satan and be so desperately wicked and prophane this seemeth derogatory to grace and that any that have been in Covenant of God and free should now be bound with everlasting chains of darkness It is no derogation from the truth nor from the grace that came by Jesus Christ that it should be so for mind you it is one thing to be free in the account of God and another thing to be free in the account of the Church and people of God God judgeth not as we judge visibly we judge and he judgeth that which is invisible now it is true one that hath been truly inwardly delivered from the bondage of sin and so gone out of prison he can never be reduced to such a condition cannot perish and so that man that is or ever was invisibly in Covenant with God can never come to that place of darkness but such as only visibly and in appearance did own the Covenant or were in Covenant may miscarry how many glorious professors that made a great shew for a time and sprang up as fast and flourished as much as any that yet now are the fuel for those everlasting flames what could men judge of them but that they were in Covenant with God and so free-men and delivered from the prison from the bondage yet alas were in the hold of sin to that day and why may it not be so and allowed in this case as well as in that may not the children of the Kingdom be cast out into outer darkness I could wish that were well considered the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness we will allow professors a communion and fellowship with us as free-men as men in Covenant with God whose profession so oftentimes prove rotten and unsound and think this profession is a sufficient ground to declare to us they are in Covenant with Christ and yet we will not allow Believers children to be in Covenant with God because afterward they come to walk contrary to this Covenant Nor do we think the declaration of God that he doth own them as his as his children his servants as holy to himself to be as sufficient to make it out they are in Covenant with God For my own part I see not the pretended difference but if there be any advantage in the visibility of being in Covenant with God I take it upon this hand for I do and shall make more of a word of God where the Lord hath said it that they are his in a way of grace though it prove to be but visibly not invisibly then I shall make of any mans profession in the world which can amount to no more then a visibility or at least I shall make as much of it Well but then suppose thou wert a child of Abraham of believing parents and so wert free and in Covenant with God visibly yet alas this will not now stand thee in stead to salvation no more then a profession of a temporarie faith will do an hypocrite thou workest the works of the Devil art a very drudge to Satan and the world and thy own hearts lusts and yet will hang thy hopes of salvation upon a being born free we are Abraham's seed if any seed of Believers since the Covenant should have been saved and freed inwardly and savingly by being the seed of such parents when themselves came actually to renounce it in works to deny the Covenant in works they might have it by Abraham but yet you see our Saviour tells them the Son must make them free before they could be free therefore this is a vain conceit the Lord perswade poor sinners against it Secondly some there are that because they feel nothing of such a bondage as hath been spoken of therefore they conclude there is no such thing upon them they do not feel any such thing as fetters and ginns upon them they never were under any such slavishness of obedience under any such terrours nor under the command of their lusts they think they are Masters of themselves and can command their passions and appetites as well as any others and therefore sure they are free This is a deceit also The more undiscerned the bondage is the more sure it is it was the slateliness of some Princes they would not be seen by their subjects nor make their persons too common they should feel the weight of
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
it that it might be an easie yoak to us and wherefore have we a Law written in our hearts which is but a counterpane as I may say a disposition to do the revealed will of God except we have this revealed will of his to be a rule to walk by hath the Lord Jesus then lightned the yoak sweetened it given us his example chalked out our way thereby as a pattern to us and given us strength also to do it and shall we refuse this holy Law as a rule to walk by it is true it is not now in the hand of Moses as a School-master to lash to terrifie to bring us to Christ when once we are in him but now it is a rule in the hand of Christ in the hand of a tutor that with all gentleness doth lead us by his Spirit into all truth that is to say not the knowledge but the practise that is to be led into the truth man may know much and yet be far from being led into it know nothing as he ought to know now it is a rule in the hand of a Father before it was a Lyon terribly roaring upon us hell and wrath and ruine and so it is still to every unbelieving creature who are under it as to the satisfaction of divine Justice by suffering that is to say under the curse though as a Covenant of life none is under it since Adam for I conceive it was not given for that end but under it as to satisfaction of divine justice they are now I say it is terrible to such but when the Lyon is killed by our Sampson there is sweetness in it out of the eater came meat the very Law of God that is terrible condemning affrighting a poor guilty sinner it is the delight of a David indeed not a page of the Book of God but is as I may say a hand-writing against every wicked wretch wherein he may read his doom and not a page wherein there is not something that ministers consolation to a Believer for to see the terrours of the Law which is a wounding death overwhelming a sinner is a raising of his Spirit to consider what he is delivered from well then now it is a Law of liberty Jam. 1. 25. his commands are not grievous 1 John 5. 3. but yet we are under those commands still So the Apostle was not without the Law but under the Law to Christ we make it not void by faith but establish it But thus much shall serve to be spoken to this The last Use shall be a word of comfort to poor creatures that are yet under this bondage Something of encouragement I may give to sinners that yet are rebelling against the Lord Jesus though if you continue so doing there is no hope for you yet know this that the Lord Jesus hath laid down a ransom sufficient for all and publisheth this liberty to all he setteth open the prison doors and if then you will not go free thank your selves but of this before I doubt such sinners as these will be snatching at the comfort which belongs not to them Therefore mind it Brethren you that please your selves in sin are given up to the waies of your own hearts while you are such it is not my work to comfort you at all catch not at it it concerneth you not but I speak to poor sinners that are sensible of their condition that are striving strugling groaning under the bondagè the yoak of sin or the concomitants thereof which you have heard spoken to so at large Alas may one say I doubt all is not well with me if where Jesus Christ cometh into a soul revealeth himself in a soul he brings liberty with him to that soul then I am a poor creature without Christ to this day for alas I am in grievous bondage O there is bondage of â—ears and bondage of sin It is true I do something saith one but I doubt it is nothing but a slavish obedience out of fear for this we must know Brethren that though it be true there is a fear which is meerly slavish when a sinner looks upon god as a severe terrible Judge his Law a cruel bloody Law while he seeth no mixture of mercy and love and yet with Foelix trembles or as they at the deliverance of the Law when God revealed himself in so terrible a manner trembled could not endure the sight now a man under the curse of the Law he endeavours to do what he doth upon this ground because of terrours but a child of God he hath a principle of love it is mercy it is love it is tenderness in Jesus that setteth him a going terrours indeed do amaze and astonish and fright him out of himself but it is love in Jesus Christ that setteth his soul a work to do his will yet so Brethren as that you must know there is not all fear banished out of the soul but that we may the better understand it let us consider 〈◊〉 a little distinctly First there is to be a reverent fear of the Majesty of god in all his people let us serve him with reverence and godly fear saith the Apostle for our God is c. a great God and greatly to be feared what an awe there is upon a poor peasants spirit when he appeareth before a mighty Prince so here and I doubt we have most of us cause rather to complain that there is not so much of this holy awe upon us as there ought to be O serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling fear not saith Moses for God is come to prove you and that his fear may be before your faces Fear not that is to say be not dismayed astonished God is come now to give a rule of obedience that you may serve him with reverence holy fear and trembling Secondly There ought to be a fear of offending God as a Son his Father though he were sure never to be scourged for it or because he is his Father and carryeth so much love toward him so tender of him and good toward him therefore he would not offend him Thirdly There ought to be a fear of the judgements of God upon others David was affraid of his judgements when the Angel of the Lord was there he durst not go up to worship before the tabernacle in Gibbâ—â—n because of the Angel of the Lord I am afraid of thy judgements c. Fourthly We may fear chastizements the thing I feared is come upon me saith Job since we know we do so often offend him and grieve him we may expect and fear it yea it is hardness and security for us not to fear Fifthly A man a child of God may have a fear of everlasting damnation which serveth to rouze him up when he is growing secure when â—e hath drowned his evidences blotted them and it is necessary it should be so for why else doth the Holy-Ghost even
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
thee yet wave all come clearly off it and alone cast thy self upon the waters commit thy self to the deep where no bottom is to be felt this is growing in the root indeed Thirdly In humility this is another which indeed doth follow upon the other and must needs do so for nothing emptyeth more then faith nothing layeth the soul lower and indeed this is the prospering grace of the soul that soul that is lifted up as the Prophet saith is not right within him Learn of me saith our Saviour for I am meek and lowly O when the soul is thus low then it is hungry and thirsty and poor in Spirit and then it sucks from the Lord Jesus then a taste of his love is sweet to the soul then the Spirit being ready to yield to God in every thing to do all his will God is ready to yield to the soul in every thing that he requireth agreeable to his will how do we grow in humility Brethren examine this it is the first and second and third and every step of Jacobs Ladder dost thou find that whereas thou wast wont to over-look and undervalue in comparison of thy self now rather thou thinkest in good earnest that every one fearing God is better then thy self because of the vileness of thine own heart thou seest before thou couldst not bear a reproof but if thou didst not turn and all to rent him that reproved thee though with never so much mildness yet thou wouldst snarl and quarrel and be ready to cast as much as that came to into his own teeth that reproved thee now if thou be reproved thou hast nothing to say but fearest thy heart it may be too true of thee now it is welcome thou lovest them that reprove thee so much the more Brethren it may be heretofore you would be apt to complain of your selves and of your own vileness and make sad mone and yet if another speak but an ill word of you yea if they speak no more of you then you deserve you could not bear it now if they speak ill of you art thou ready to lay thy hand upon thy mouth sure the Lord hath bid them speak evil and there is cause enough for it and they cannot say worse of me then I am O here is a growth in humility before thou wert ready to envy every one that had more gifts or more grace more of the hearts of Gods people then thy self now thou art ready to say with Moses enviest thou for my sake thou canst sweetly submit to his disposal of thee the least thou hast is more then thou deservest O this is that which obtains much of the Lord when thy heart is in such a frame it is fit to receive so Jacob he was less then the least of his mercies it was an argument wherewith he pleaded with the Lord thou art content to be any thing though in never so mean a degree of service to him so be he will be but thy Father and own thee if thou mayst not be with him in the transfiguration upon the mount if thou mayst be but a Disciple if thou mayst not get within the cloud with Moses nor be a Benjamin yet if thou mayst be a Son and a Subject though no Favourite this is that thou art contented with O here is a growth Brethren search and try are we come to this pitch or how far are we gone herein is it better with us then it hath been in this respect But then secondly we must try whether we grow upward yea or no as well as downward and this I shall consider according to the chief faculties of the soul the mind and the will and speak somewhat to each of them And first for the mind the understanding 1. Do you find Brethren that you grow and increase in the knowledge of his will that the darkness that is upon your hearts naturally doth vanish by any degrees do you find the vail doth wear thinner that was upon your hearts that you begin to behold the Lord Jesus with a more open face then before time was when you were babes in understanding are you new men and women or are you past the state of babes Alas I doubt if the treasuries of our hearts were laid open we should find them very empty of this heavenly knowledge how few can bring out of their treasuries both new and old This will appear in these two things specially First if you be apt to be tossed up and down with every wind of Doctrine and are not-stablished in the present truth but your minds are floating and hovering and ready to settle upon any thing that is presented to you though contrary to what you have received it is a sign that you are but children in understanding how easie is it to deceive children to put upon them Counters instead of Gold to make them part with the one for the other and how easie is it to lead captive silly-women as the Apostle calls them that are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth a weak eye that cannot discern between things that differ hath not his senses exercised to discern it is very easie to put one thing upon them for another truly Brethren these times have the name for times of great light and greater knowledge then there was before and I do believe that knowledge shall encrease by going too and fro but yet for all that mens eyes are very weak they cannot discern between light and darkness but put darkness for light for what is the ground of all errour is it not the ignorance of the Scripture and the power of God and was there ever any times more fruitful in errour then these are Alas Brethren what strangers are many of us to the very principles of Religion if examined in them that pretend to such high discoveries and revelations of Christ in our times such have need of milk and not of strong meat the wisdom of God in a mysterie is a riddle to them the Apostle spake it to them that were perfect that is to say grown men and women in opposition to babes Well then look to it if you find your selves easie to be shaken to turn with every wind of Doctrine like a weather-cock it argues you are but children but babes you may perswade a child to any thing to be of twenty minds in an hour because alas he hath no sound well-grounded knowledge of any thing you may perswade him to part with his meat his drink for a toy or by some pretended loathsomness in it that is not and so it is with poor weak ignorant souls how do we see many cheated out of Ordinances out of duties out of close walkings with God as things of no moment by the cunning craftiness of them who lie in wait to deceive It is a sad thing to see persons that should be of greater knowledge then
grew for Jesus Christ And Hezekiah his pride in the business of the King of Babylon how it tended to humble him so much the more do we find it thus doth sin increase our grace increase even by our falls do we get ground of them yea or no if not it is not well with us And thus much shall serve for the tryal The next Vse then will be for Exhortation to us all If we find that we have none of this we grow not at all we are a company of poor formal professors we are at a stand for proficiency we know not what it means I should advise all such Brethren to look to their standing their being in Christ it may be you have been deceived all this while and except you be in him except the Sun of righteousness be risen upon you it is in vain to put you on to grow as to the event though not as to the discharge of our duty A rotten root will not carry the branches on to any increase they may be at a stand a while but they will wither and rot and perish as well as the root look to your foundation Brethren me thinks I should not need to press this upon you you know for the notion as well as it can be told you that except you be in him you can bring forth no fruit much less can you increase in fruitfulness If you do not shut your eyes Brethren wink with them as they in the Gospel did they stopped their eyes lest they should see with them the Sun of righteousness is ready to arise upon you are you willing to have it so would you have him to arise upon you would you be made one with him would you be found in him as the root the head from whence righteousness and holiness proceedeth deceive not your selves Brethren Christ offers himself to you all every one that will may come and take him for his head for his root and so grow up in him if thou wert willing then what is the reason thou art not in him well surely then thou art not willing whatever thou pretendest he would gather thee under his wings as a Hen the Chickens where they grow apace from the heat they are cherished with but ye would not ye would not look to this in the first place Secondly you that are alive through grace and have this union with Christ and yet it may be find you grow little or haply can scarce see that you have grown now will you be exhorted in the name of Jesus Christ in the Apostles words Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Labour to improve to come on to be fat and flourishing content not your selves to be babes in Christ no nor young men but grow up to be Fathers The prosecution of this Use the general Exhortation I shall first lay you down some particulars wherein among others specially we are to labour to grow because haply if we rest in generals each hearer hath not his skill to bring it to particulars Secondly the motives to enforce it And thirdly some general helps to growth and then come to some other Exhortations First then for the first wherein specially we are to look to our growth and first in knowledge we must â—ook to it that we grow in the first place as the Apostle hath it in that forecited place Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Knowledge is not here put by way of contradistinct from grace as if it were no grace but as being that special grace which doth so much promote and further the growth of all grace beside the Papists tell us ignorance is the mother of devotion and that faith is better defined by ignorance then by knowledge but the Holy-Ghost cals faith knowledge by his knowldege shall my righteous servant justifie many that is faith sure and this is life eternal to know thee the only true God now do but observe it they boast themselves so much of Peter and how little they own him in this point for saith he grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ the knowledge of a crucified Christ Now saith the Papists this is the way to errour and schism and ignorance is the mother of devotion just as the Jews made their boast of Moses and our Saviour confuteth them by Moses whom they so much boasted of there is one who accuseth you even Moses in whom you trust for if ye had believed Moses ye had believed me for he wrote of me So there will be one that will accuse them in this point of knowledge even Peter in whom they trust So the Apostle that ye may grow up in him speaking the truth in love the speaking the truth in love is the way to grow up in Christ and so the receiving the truth and the receiving of it in love a well-qualified knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified and therefore the Apostle desired to know nothing among them but this if they knew Christ and him crucified this knowledge would produce whatever else is requisite for them not by its own power but the Spirit of grace carrying it on And so the Apostle to the Colossians increasing in knowledge or the acknowledgment of God and strengthened with all might according to his glorious power to all patience and long-suffering with joy So the wise man himself tells us a wise man is strong yea a man of understanding increaseth strength Why but you will say may there not be much knowledge and yet little grace and therefore is this too necessary to grow in knowledge I answer It is true there may be much knowledge where there is little grace as in many an hypocrite and many know much but they know nothing as they ought to know it but yet however there cannot be grace without knowledge a compe 〈…〉 t considerable knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified Fuel may be where there is no fire but the fire will not burn nor continue if there be no fuel knowledge is as I may say the very oyl the very fuel wherein the flame of the Spirit liveth in the soul do but observe it grace and truth came by Jesus Christ grace and truth therefore grace aboundeth now in the time of the Gospel he came that they might live and live more abundantly because he came to reveal the truth in a more clear full manner then before when the vail is taken away saith the Apostle that was upon the face then beholding Christ with open face we are changed into his image from glory to glory and truly there is all the reason that can be for it for whereby grace is begotten by the same means it must needs be preserved and increased Now it is by the knowledge of the truth that we are begotten to God therefore the Spirit is promised to be sent
plant a Tree or Plant in such a dark place where the Sun never cometh but is kept off by this or that hinderance it will not grow and so under trees that shade the Sun and keep the rain from the seed most herbs will not grow and so it is in this case therefore look to this Brethren in the name of Jesus Christ as ever you hope to recover your selves and to grow indeed Sixthly Labour to make special use of the promises of God that particularly concern this matter I know this is reducible to that former head of exercising-grace and particularly the grace of faith because this is a special object whereupon the act is to be exercised but for orders sake we shall put it distinctly by it self in this place is this the grievance of thy soul indeed that thou growest not Why here is a rich Treasury in the promises which if it were drawn out cannot but much further our growth First then search out these promises they are many I cannot give you them all a taste I will to help the weak What a sweet promise is that in the first Psalm look upon it as such they shall be like the tree planted by the rivers of water Brethren nothing ordinarily kills trees more then drought I think and thus to have moisture with heat they must needs grow and flourish therefore in that place of Job a tree though cut down yet through the scent of water it will sprout again Now there is a sweet promise to that end and so they that are planted in the house of the Lord they shall flourish this in the Text they shall go forth it is a promise they shall grow up as Calves of the stall And that in Hos 14. 5. God will be as the dew unto Israel and he shall grow up as the Lilly and spread his roots as Lebanon grow in rootedness and grow quickly and grow in beauty and sweetness the smell shall be as Lebanon here the growth is set forth under that metaphor of a tree or plant the dew you know upon the mown grass maketh it spring again else it would wither and the corn for a time as dead under the clod yet the dew maketh it grow up or as the corn that seemed to wither away the dew refresheth it and maketh it revive indeed I will not burthen your memories take but one more and that is in the Prophet Isaiah to them that have no might he increaseth strength and he giveth power to them that faint to them that have no mights the original is very emphatical the plural with the Hebrews as some note when it is affirmative setteth forth the abundancy the eminency or excellency of any quaility or vertue as wisdoms for wisdom in many places in the Proverbs that is to say the most excellent wisdom or abundance So in the negative it often signifieth the great want in an eminent degree of such or such a qualification as here such as have no strength that is to say very little none at all such as faint and languish then you know strength is very little So again they are a people of no understandings in the plural number and again there is no safety or salvation or deliverance wrought in the earth there is no deliverance at all the meaning is not there are not many deliverances but there is not any at all and so here such as have no mights it is in the Original and we read such as have no might Alas they have no strength to those he will increase might Now I say gather together such promises as these Secondly Not only so but dwell upon them in your thoughts it may be at the first or second sight of them there will be little arising to the soul from them but you must dwell upon them as the Bee doth that will not off the flower until she hath gotten some sweetness from it So do you make these promises the object of your meditation can you have any thing sweeter to meditate upon then a promise in such a condition as this is Sure David when he meditated upon the Word of God and his meditations were sweet to him were not only the commands but the promises these indeed are the honey-suckles to dwell upon these you shall find much refreshing in break the bones if you would have the marrow in them You will not be able at first to find the depth of these promises to apprehend the fulness of them except you dwell upon them and then you can never further improve them to your comfort Thirdly More then this you must â—ay your mouths to them these are the breasts of consolations if the child will have any thing he must draw and draw hard sometimes and the mother is fain to help in some cases to press it down too all little enough the child is pleased and taken to see the breast but this will not feed nor nourish no more will our beholding the promises except we suck and suck strongly and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is ready Brethren to press those breasts to make them give down their milk their sweetness and fatness to us specially in prayer before the Lord take the promises that concern this condition of yours tell him he hath been pleased to make such gracious promises he was free and might have been so still if he had pleased but now he hath ingaged himself to give strength to them that have no might and Lord here is a poor soul that hath no might no strength I am in a poor lean faint languishing condition wilt thou not make good thy Word to thy poor creature thou hast caused me to hope upon this Word thou hast put the breast into my mouth or at least thou hast shewed it thy poor creature and wilt thou not make it give down its sweetness to me O make good thy Word to thy poor creature Lord I am in a declining condition I am even withering and lose of my greenness growing yellow or that which thou hast done for me lies under the clods thou hast promised to be as the dew unto Israel wilt thou not make good thy Word unto me and so thou hast planted me in thy house and promised I shall grow and flourish c. Press the Lord thus with his Word O he loveth to have his bond sued in the Court of heaven I dare undertake that such a soul that is thus stirred up to act faith upon the promises of God that soul is in a growing condition Brethren these are the wells in the valley of Baacha the wells of salvation you must draw from them and then you grow from strength to strength Seventhly another I shall name but this The greatness of the object whereupon your hearts are to dwell much and that is God himself for there is nothing doth greaten the mind more then the greatness of the Object whereupon it is conversant you
you see the spirits conveighed from the head to the lowest parts it is by mediation of the other parts between the head and the foot before it cometh thither it passeth through some others I know the Lord Jesus is not bound up to any instruments he can teach by his own Spirit yea and always doth sometimes without means sometimes breathing in the means and this is most ordinary and therefore something we must look to it that we supply every one of us you have heard it is the end of all Christian Society to build up one another and it is the end wherefore the Lord intrusteth us with such Talents to lay them out for the good of others whereby our own Talents grow in the using and we are instruments in the hand of God to improve others hath the Lord then revealed himself to thee thou wast in an horrible pit where there was no standing thou sunkest yet lower and lower hath the Lord set thy feet upon the Rock what then wilt thou keep this alway to thy self when called to speak of it mind you Christ and David they speak of it what God had done And many shall hear and fear and shall trust in God it encourageth them wherefore doth Paul so often speak what he had been and he had obtained mercy O that others that should come after might believe and never be discouraged by their sins though never so great And so the Psalmist Again my soul shall make her boast in God the humble shall hear thereof and be glad this poor man cried to the Lord and he heard him No sooner did Andrew find the Messiah but he tels Simon O we have found the Messiah And so Philip saith to Nathaniel and the woman of Samaria she no sooner had the knowledge of Christ O she was full she was big until she was delivered O come and see the man that told me all that ever I did is not this the Christ I would saith the Apostle that your hearts might be knit together in love and comforted c. that to this end you should know what conflict I had for every one of you wherefore are we delivered out of temptation but to set up way-marks O take heed how you come there warn others that they come not neer such a temptation when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren and therefore comforted that we might comfort others and therefore indued with knowledge that we might feed many Now truly Brethren as the Apostle saith of the solemn meeting so I may say of the occasional meetings together it is not for the better many times but for the worse and how a sad a thing is this when Saints shall meet together to have so sweet an opportunity of stirring up one another to love to good works that either we shall spend the time in foolish talking and jesting and looseness and looseness of Spirit I tell you Brethren observe it you little know what hurt you do your own souls by this lightness nor what hurt you do to others do you never reflect in the evening what you have been doing what company you have been in what you have done what you have gotten methinks it should make our hearts ake to consider this day through the lightness and frothiness of my Spirit I have not only sinned my self but drawn others to it this is not to grow nor to help but hinder one another Or else we are discoursing of the world of this and that bargain or else raking into the infirmities of others and pleasing our selves with that specially of those that are not altogether of our minds whereby our spirits are imbittered not to stir up one another to bowels and compassions to them How many such opportunities doth the Lord put into our hands and we have no heart to them shall I beg of you and of the Lord this day that there might be a labouring either to do or receive some good O think every moment ill spent in the Fellowship of the people of God that is not thus improved and indeed if our hearts and mouths be not set a work thus they will be working upon somewhat which is worse to the grieving and wounding of our spirits and grieving Gods Spirit Thus much for this Exhortation also The last Vse then shall be a word of comfort to every poor believing soul that it may be from what hath been said may be discouraged If it be thus that such as upon whom the Lord Jesus is arisen they are in such a growing condition then what shall I think of my self alas I am weak am very feeble am at a stand c. For answer I shall say a few things First There are several states and statures in Christ there are babes in Christ and such as have need of milk and not strong meat as the Apostle saith ye have need of milk I could not speak to you as to spiritual but as to carnal as to babes in Christ that is to say such in whom the flesh was very strong and prevailing So the Apostle John writeth to all the Saints under three states some were babes some young men in their strength and vigour some old men Fathers of grown experience in the waies of Christ Fathers in Israel and Mothers in Israel some are but just entred into the School of Christ some are of a middle form some of the highest some are but gotten within the door of the house of God and happy it is for them that are but once within for then they shall go further and further Others are gone further into the inner Chambers and are acquainted with the Lord Jesus in the most inward manner What then wilt thou conclude that because thou art not a man the first day or presently therefore thou art no child of grace No suppose thou art but a child and weak and every temptation over-turns thee draweth thee aside yet remember thou art a child though thou be not a strong deeply rooted Cedar yet thou art planted it may be lately though yet for the time we might be men spiritual perfect as the Apostle saith to bear the wisdom of God in a mysterie and yet are babes it is matter of humiliation but not of despair Secondly Another is this that the people of God though they are in a growing condition yet it is not so to be understood as that every moment they grow they have their declining fits trees and plants you know have their Winters and children have their sicknesses and fits when they are at a stand though afterward haply they shoot out so much the more for it and so many times the people of God do they are under a distemper for a while and decline and a man would think they were even withering and dying but it reviveth again many times grace in the hearts of the children of God through corruption are like the light of a candle
come to me with hungry souls though you have followed me with hungry bellies for the loaves but if you belong to the election if you be of those the Father hath given to me from eternity you shall come and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise c. And him that cometh unto me the copulative and speaks as great a latitude of the subjects spoken of as you have in the former part of the verse All that the Father hath given shall come So the Greeks use the Neuter-gender to express universality though they speak of persons all that are given shall come and he that cometh being given of his Father for indeed there are none else that do come to the Son but such ye believe not saith he but all that the Father hath given shall come if you be not of that number ye may never come to me and then whosoever cometh unto me I will in no wise east him out Our Saviour in these words hath given us to understand what welcome what entertainment we shall be sure to have with him if we come to him he will not cast out any such soul So that at once he hath stopt the mouths or prevented and cut off the occasion of many doubtings whereby Satan and a mans own heart are very busie to block up our way to Christ that we should not come O I know not what success I shall have if I go to him I may haply be refused and it is as good sit still as rise and fall we use to say thus we are apt to be answering our selves before we come to Jesus Christ Now our Saviour to cut off all such excuses as these and to embolden us and encourage us hath made this free this general this positive declaration of his willingness to receive us if we come to him he will not in any wise cast out any soul The words will not need any division and therefore we shall before we speak any further to them make the observation which is this The Lord Jesus will not cast out any poor soul that cometh to him there is no more change of them then what necessity requireth he speaking of himself useth the first person we speaking of him must use the third and this variation is nothing This note I shall endeavour to explain prove confirm and apply to us all First then for the opening of the Doctrine First what is meant by coming unto Jesus Christ And secondly what is meant by casting out which he promiseth he will not do if any man come unto him For the first then what it is to come to Jesus Christ not to speak of that which is necessarily presupposed that we are all of us by nature far off from Jesus Christ and strangers from the life of God and Covenant of promises enemies to God and to Christ and to our own salvation we are miserable and are content to be so would be so but that I shall leave building upon it as a thing granted by all that it is so with us by nature every mothers child yea however we may seem to be near and have an outward nearness as the Jews were said to be his people near the Kingdom of God So it may be with us at the present that is to say the Lord opens heaven and le ts down the white sheet of the Gospel to us wherein we have all varieties of heaven in our Lord Jesus and the voice is arise and eat come and eat and drink and live but alas our hearts are so far from it that we turn our backs upon it and thus it s with every one of us untill the Lord proceeds further with us therefore in the First place Brethren to come to Jesus Christ in the order of nature doth immediately presuppose a hearing and learning of God in time haply they may agree and this I speak of because I neither my self would give you an effect without shewing you the dependance upon its cause lest some might fasten it upon a false root a false cause and so put a fallacy upon themselves this you have plainly in the 45. ver of this Chapter Whosoever therefore hath heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me where note the difference of the tense or time in the Text whosoever hath heard and learned doth come and therefore he cometh because he hath heard and learned this is Gods teaching and mans learning they shall be all taught of God all who all that are in the womb of Gods purpose all that he will bring in to Jesus Christ as he hath given to Jesus Christ Not simply all men for we see by daily experiences contrary how many dye and never hear of Christ how many that hear of him that never learn any thing at all and so do not come to Jesus Christ yea how many that seem to come to Jesus Christ and make a profession and yet depart from him are left to their own hearts to depart which is a kind of casting out as those Disciples afterward many of them went backward being offended at our Saviours speech concerning eating his flesh and drinking his blood and never walked with him any more therefore by the way note it a man may be a Disciple that never learned was never taught of God for all that are thus taught of God and learn they do come to Jesus Christ and they that so come to Christ he saith he will never cast them out as we shall see more afterward Well but this hearing and learning of the Father is as much as being taught of God which in order goeth before the conversion of a sinner or his coming to Christ whatever it be in time and if this Scripture would prove the needlesness of Ordinances now to grown Believers it would prove it as well to new Converts for these are taught of God as well as grown Believers or else they could never come to Christ and if they be not necessary neither for the one nor for the other to what end did the most wise Governor of the world and of the Church appoint them for nothing but that by the by I say this is as much as being taught of God as the Evangelist sheweth in the 45. verse bringing that Prophecy they shall be all taught of God and making this inference from it whosoever therefore heareth and learneth of the Father cometh unto me Again this being taught of God it is nothing else but the drawing of the Father as you have it in the 44. verse no man cometh unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him it is written in the Prophets they shall be all taught of God therefore I conceive that this hearing and learning may be understood thus First By hearing I understand the usual means of salvation and working of Faith and that is the Word of Christ the Gospel of Salvation How can they believe in him of whom they
have not heard saith the Apostle And Faith cometh by hearing and therefore it is called the word of Faith and therein the righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith thereby wherein even in the Gospel preached of which the Apostle was not ashamed by the preaching thereof poor creatures were brought to believe in the Lord Jesus and so the righteousness of Christ was revealed therein to them and conveighed to them by Faith I know not what course the Lord holds with the Heathen to whom the Gospel is not preached by men like themselves nor hath the Lord given us a positive account of his dealing with them and therefore I meddle not with it but this is the ordinary way of Gods working of Faith in them who come to be capable of hearing the Word and understanding of it therefore usually if God intend to bring on such a soul or such a soul he will bring them under the Word either to dwell under it or the Word accidentally to be among them It is observable that in Pauls conversion only he himself heard the voice of him that talked with him not the men that were with him because God intended this vision for Paul and not for them they are said in another place to hear a voice but not the voice of God but the voice of Paul and wondered to hear him speak and heard no body speaking to him hearing then of God is hearing him speak in his Word for it is he that speaks therein Secondly By the hearing may also be understood yet further some whisperings and motions and secret workings of his Spirit which many a man hath many times in hearing of the Word the Spirit passeth by and breatheth in the Word upon one soul and upon another putting on the soul to fasten upon such a a truth or such a truth as sweet and precious inwardly speaking to their understandings that they are sure the men concerned in such a threatning in such a promise and this is a part of Gods striving by his Spirit with rebellious sinners that do not believe nor obey Now this is a more inward hearing then the former some sit under the same Sermon and the Sword of the Spirit maketh no more entrance upon them then upon a brazen wall and it must be a sharp sword indeed that must divide an heart of stone many a blow is laid at a sturdy Oak an old grown sinner before his heart beginneth so much as to shake and this is the second Thirdly Then for the learning which is the main thing which goeth before the coming to Jesus Christ this I take to to be when the Lord not only by his Messengers maketh his word plain before us lays it to our Consciences as the Ax to the root of the Tree but when he opens our understandings plucks open our eyes to behold the light teacheth us indeed he teacheth a poor soul in special these two or three things 1. That he is lost a son of perdition for ought he knoweth many a poor Creature in the Ship like Jonas though ready to sink he was asleep if the Ship had sunk it had been all one to him they come and awake him up thou sleeper dost thou not see thou art sinking thou art dying thou art perishing so the Spirit of the Lord Jesus takes a poor sleepy dead sinner by the understanding tels him thou art the man condemned wrath abideth upon thee particularly what dost thou mean wilt thou have the flames of hell about thy ears before thou wilt stir a foot what wilt thou bring the blood of Jesus upon thy head thus the Spirit cometh and shaketh a poor soul out of his sleep in sin he never dreamed what his condition was before this is the Spirits convincing a man of sin setteth his sins in order before him setteth a man upon the search into his condition then represents all his sins in their bloody guilt and condemning nature every one of them with a mouth like hell ready to swallow him up this is a part of the cords of a mans convictions 2. It teacheth him yet further now no longer to lie securely in that condition if he continue here he must perish therefore now he beginneth to look about him O what shall I do to whom shall I turn my self is there no hope of pardon no mercy for me O what shall we do said they in Acts 2. to be saved if the Ship be sinking now it is time to look about for a Plank a Mast something to lay hold upon something to stop the leak if now Brethren granadoes be cast into the soul and be broken and tearing all to pieces the very flames of hell have caught hold upon such a poor creature there is no delay now the Spirit of the Lord working with a mans natural principle for self-preservation puts him on to enquire for somewhat to quench it now he beginneth to cry out fire fire in his soul O he cannot hold it 3. It teacheth yet further and the poor soul learneth this also effectually that there is no help for him in the creature neither in himself nor in any other if he take the quintescence of all his works which we usually before have a high esteem of and temper them together alas they will not make a balsom for this wound now all the Spirits in all the Creatures in the world if they could be extracted I mean the comforts that might arise from the enjoyment of them would not keep the poor languishing soul from fainting and dying waters of the fullest cup let them overflow never so much if a man have rivers of pleasures in the enjoyment of creature-comforts honours relations parts learning gifts whatsoever they be alas the poor creature is now taught they will not quench this spark that is gotten into the conscience I mean they will not allay the trouble of his spirit will not heal the wounds of his spirit so that now he knoweth not what to do the Hart they say if smitten with an arrow goeth to her herb to cause the arrow to fall out and other creatures being poysoned stung sick distempered run to their cure by a natural instinct but now when God hath shot this arrow into a poor soul it wounds too deep sticks too fast for the teeth of any creature to pluck it out or for the vertue of any creature yea they are so far from healing that rather the consideration of them are as oyl to the flame to vex and wound so much the more well this is much to be taught he that learneth this effectually and not in the notion only goeth far there are many convinced of their wounds their bleeding dying condition but they imagine there is help to be had in something else they run to a duty of their own as if a day of fasting would make amends for all run to this or that unfaithful Shepherds that will
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
where there is probability yea certainty of speeding if we come So the Lepers you know their argument If we stay here we must perish if we go we may escape So Esther she knew if she went not into the King at that time her neck was upon the block as well as the rest and if she did go in she might haply speed and prosper and therefore she ventures hard if the Scepter had not been held out to her it had cost her her life there but the body did lie at the stake as being starved for want or else designed to destruction by enemies but here soul and body lie at the stake and are in danger of perishing for ever there was only a possibility of escaping here is a certainty of escaping he will not in any wise cast him out O how cheerfully would Esther have run to the King if there had been such a Law that when ever the Queen cometh the Scepter should be held out to her so it is here there they ran a very desperate hazard but here is no hazard run here is a sure word of promise for it That heaven and earth shall pass away before a tittle of it shall pass away whoever cometh to Christ he will in no wise cast him out Seventhly It is a grief to the Lord Jesus that we should be thus wayward that we will not be perswaded of his good will toward us if we come to him that we should have such unworthy thoughts of Jesus Christ that he should make no more of his Word of promise his death his blood then to slight all falsifie all when poor sinners come to him according to his invitation he was grieved saith the Text because of the unbelief and hardness of their hearts It is said of the Jews O Jerusalem Jerusalem c. he wept over it when nothing would do to perswade them to close with him thou art grieved and Christ is grieved by this frowardness of thine Suppose the Father of the prodigal son in the Gospel had invited him to come to him promised him all the inheritance to put him in his bosom confirm his love to him no saith he I have mispent all I have undone my self fed upon husks as long as I could get them and now I am ready to perish not being able to procure them here I will sit and dye I cannot believe that thou wilt accept of me that thou canst ever love me or receive me more would not this grieve the father think you I know poor mourning soul thou wouldst not grieve the Lord Jesus I tell thee if thou wouldst not thou must come to him accept of his kindness and love believe his faithfulness and truth and so thy soul shall be established Vse 4. The fourth Use shall be then to exalt the riches of the Grace of Jesus Christ to poor sinners we might altus repetere and speak something to the purchasing of us at so dear a rate as his precious blood corruptible things as Silver and Gold are not worthy to be named the same day with the blood of Jesus Christ Alas there had been no possibility for us to come to him except there had been the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paid and then to invite us to come to him and not only so but to draw us with the cords of a man and the cords of love that we should hear and learn of the Father be all taught of God which is the drawing of his Father without which we cannot come which what it is you have heard already formerly Brethren this is abundance of Grace yea more he hath promised and doth and will perform whoever cometh to him he will in no wise cast him out If the Lord Jesus had limited himself to such or such a sort of sinners that he would receive all that should not continue so many years in sin or sâ—all not rise to such an height in sin yet it had been much Grace to receive any but he excludeth none if any man come to Christ he will in no wise cast him out Are there not many souls in the presence of God that can set to their seals that this is a truth in Iesus if he would have cast out any what would become of thee and me who are the chief of sinners if he would have cast out such as have been drunkards covetous unclean effeminate what had become of them in 1 Cor. 6 Such were some of you and what would have become of some of us if he would have cast out all that have been bloody persecutors what would have become of Paul Ah poor soul bethink thy self in what filth and blood thou didst wallow before he put off his own comliness upon thee and then think if the Lord Iesus had limited his receiving of sinners that come to such or such a measure what then had become of thee O what abounding Grace is in the Lord Iesus towards poor sinners let us exalt it meditate much of it labour to heighten it in thy thoughts there will be no thoughts more sweet or profitable more melting of that stone in thy heart we so sadly complain of more indearing and engaging of the heart to the Lord Jesus then these are Vse 5. Vse 5. Then surely there is no falling away from Christ from justifying sanctifying Grace once received for what else is this coming to Christ but coming for righteousness for pardon for he is the Lord our Righteousness the Father hath found a Ransom now in his Son and this the poor sinner maketh after in Christ and for holiness also for he is made of God Sanctification as well as Righteousness and Holiness to the poor soul that cometh to him now he will never cast him out that cometh to him he will in no wise cast him out If he had said I will not cast him out except he sin to this or that degree after my receiving him it had been somewhat but I will not cast him out no in no wise will I do it O blessed bosom which will never shut out the poor soul that is once gotten in to it and if the Lord Jesus cast us not out when we come what can It may be some will say that we our selves may do it Christ will not do it I but the sinner himself may â—all off though he have been received of Christ put in his bosom warmed with his love it is true if a sinner were his own keeper it were somewhat like if it were left to the liberty of our wils whether we would abide in Christ yea or no we should quickly be lost again but it is not the Lord Jesus doth not only not cast us out except we cast our selves out but he holds us in his hand and the Father holds us in his hand and they are stronger then all None shall be able to pluck them out of his hand he lays hold upon the
it is above the creatures power therefore we see what poor helpless creature we are there is need of the Sun of rightcousness to arise with healing all our influences upon our own hearts will not heal the least distemper The third Use shall be then to shew us the great necessity that we all of us have of Jesus Christ The whole need not the Physitian but they that are sick but the sick need it now alas what is the world but a great Hospital full of diseased creatures here lies one sick of the Stone another of the Palsie a third of a Dropsie some Lunatick out of their senses some of the Gangrene of Error which is dangerous for in a few hours it creepeth to the heart men sleight the Physitian while they are in health but once sick and wounded then how welcome is he what need had the poor Traveller that fell among theeves that left him wounded and half dead of the Samaritan that came and poured in wine and oyl alas what had become of him if God had not so ordered it for him when a poor Israelite was wounded with the fiery Serpent though he might not so much heed the Brazen Serpent before yet now he seeth his necessity oâ— looking to him that he might be healed his necesâ—â—y would promp him to it if the poor blind man do but hear of Christ passing O how sensible he is of his necessity and cryeth out to him Jesus thou son of David have mercy upon me but here is the misery of it the diseases and sicknesses of the soul are stupifying they seize upon the vitals and spirits in such a violent manner that if not at first yet after a little while they are past feeling and therefore our great work is to bring poor creatures to aâ—sence of their condition until then they will not accept of the glad tidings of life and salvation by Jesus Christ how ever this argues our necessity of Christ to be so much the greater thou feelest not that thy hearti stony and hard and therefore thinkest that when the sad condition of such a sinner is displayed it belongs not to thee at all alas thou art so much the harder tell such stony creatures they have need of the blood of Jesus Christ to dissolve this Adamant he being the â—oat slain for us as well as the Lamb for the Passover might be either a Goat or a Lamb and the Lord Jesus is our Passover thou thinkest this concerneth thee not alas poor sinner thou hast so much the more need of the blood of Jesus Christ How doth a tender-hearted Physitian pitty his patient that he seeth desperately sick and yet so stupified as that he will not be perswaded of his condition and O that we could look upon you and speak to you sinners with such hearts when we tell you of the plague of the heart a most deadly disease you know when the infection getteth to the heart in that disease there is scarce any remedy for it so it is with sinners and yet alas how hard is it to perswade them of this they are in as good condition as any they have no more plague sore upon them then another dear friends remember it the plague is in all our families these diseases are in all our families and in many of our own souls and whether we see it or see it not there it is and our necessity of Christ is so much the greater by how much the less sensible we are of it he that saith he seeth when he is blind had the most need of a care of all others he had first need of a cure of his e 〈…〉 or his mis-judging of his condition and then a cure of his disease what sad moan would Parents make if they had all their children lying of the sickness what out-cries would there be as in Egypt when one in a house was dead and yet alas poor sinners see not that their children are born leprous all over leprous filthy and yet they see it not O brethren what need there is of Christ to come to all our houses for Salvation to come to all our families to heal and cure our souls our children our servants that are all desperately sic of some disease or another Fourthly â—hen such as to this day have never been healed the Sun of Righteousness hath never arisen with healing in his wings there is no healing to be had from under the wings of Christ know men will be apt either to play the Empericks upon themselves or else to go to some Mountebank or another but alas they are Physitians of no value healing is not in them the poor creature may spend all upon such Physicians and yet be never the near when he hath done the poor woman in the Gospel since her bloody issue continued so long it argued she never came to Christ all this while if she had she had been healed long ago thy sores run as violently as ever and that continually polluting all thy ways truly â—his is an argument that â—hrist hath not arisen upon thee for when he ariseth upon a sâ—ul he doth it with healing in his wings brethren it may be you have lain at the waters a great while but you have never been put into them you maâ— have lived where Christ hath been preached but it is the Spirit that is the main thing that carrieth the healing vertue from the Lord Jesus and until he come and breathe in the Ordinances they are nothing brethren what shall I say to you is it not the condition of the most of us are not our lusts as strong and lively as ever they were are we not as blind wretches groping at noon day some of us as ever we were are not our hearts as hard as ever yea harder for the stone increaseth and groweth day by day are we not as licentious as loose as proud as ever why should this be ifyou had any thing to do with Christ it is a sign that such a sinner hath never touched Christ to this day for no sooner did the woman touch him but vertue came from him the least touch of faith doth it O what a faithless generation are we then O how many of us are in this condition what a sad thing is it that we should thus throng upon Christ and so few touch him but one poor woman in a whole throng come and steal a touch of Christ O if she might but touch him she should be healed and so haply now in a Congregation there cometh in one poor trembling sinner with his affections stirred his desires are up O if I may but touch him I shall be well when for the most part that is not our error Now dear friends what have you been doing all this while have you eat and drank in the presence of Christ have you heard his Word and Gospel wherein he is lifted up as the healing Serpent
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
Servants or to deliver all such relations no but it is meant here surely of a spiritual Liberty a freedom of the soul from its thraldom nay himself cometh to be a servant did he not rather sanctifie such a condition and relation then abolish it Secondly Then taking it for spiritual Liberty that is to say a freedom from Spiritual evils the subjection whereunto is a bondage to the poor creature we must know yet further that we may take it either in a larger or in a more restrained sense in a more restrained only for that liberty and freedom which the Saints have ever had through the Lord Jesus since the Covenant of Grace was preached to them and they closed with it for we must know that ever before Christ came in the flesh Believers believed in him to come they had a liberty through him as to the main parts of it and necessarily to salvation though haply not in that degree that now ordinarily Believers indeed have that freedom but there were some yoaks upon them then which now we are delivered from they are broken from off the necks of the Saints yea and such as were pinching yoaks indeed but yet less considerable by far then those from which they were delivered and set free so that now we see there is a larger liberty and more glorious which the sons of God have which will better appear when we come to speak to the parts of it only this I thought good to premiâ—e lost any should think that liberty began only when Christ was revealed in the flesh for it was the smallest part that then was added though I say the other liberty from the sore condemning destroying bondage of the soul they had before haply is now heightned to believers and so much by way of premise For the opening of this spiritual Liberty we shall consider 1. It s Subject 2. Its Causes 3. Its Parts extensive and intensive if we may so speak that is to say the degrees of it First then for the subject of this Liberty they are all Christians that are so indeed therefore it is called Christian Liberty not only from Christ the Author but from the Subjects they are Christians Believers both Jews and Gentiles Bond or Free Male or Female Jerusalem saith the Apostle which is above is free which is the Mother of us all all such then as receive the Gospel as the poor are said to do all those upon whom the Sun of righteousness doth arise they are set free they do go forth for the partial subject of this liberty that will better appear when we come to speak of the parts of this liberty some are for the freeing the minde some the will some the conscience some the whole man but of this afterward Secondly Then for the causes of this liberty which is here promised we shall speak to some of them First then The principal efficient cause is the Father Son and Spirit the work of the Trinity ad extra are individed the Father it is that cals us to liberty Ye are called to liberty saith the Apostle use it not as a cloke to the flesh I marvel saith the Apostle that you are so soon removed from him who hath called you into the Grace of Christ unto another Gospel The Apostle meaneth the calling to liberty which he cals the Grace of Christ and that Doctrine of the false teachers that would subject them again to the Law and Ceremonies and to that bondage subvert their liberty he cals it another Gospel And for the Son we have it If the Son make you free you shall be free indeed and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free false Brethren came to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage And for the Spirit it is as clear The Law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ hath made me free from the Law of Sin and Death the mighty powerful working of the Spirit is called the Law of the Spirit as the powerful operation of Sin is called the Law of Sin and so in that place where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and so the Spirit of Adoption it is that succedeth the Spirit of Bondage and setteth us free from that Bondage Secondly The impulsive cause is meerly his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his good pleasure yea his tender mercy his bowels So it is in the Original The bowels of our God whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us there is the arising of the Sun of rightousness upon us and the effect of it you have before That we being delivered from the hands of all our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness c. It is not misery is the motive only else he would do it for all as well as some for we are all of us in the same bondage naturally one as well as another Thirdly The meritorious cause is the blood of Jesus Christ no less then the blood of the Kings son is the price of the liberty of poor Slaves in bondage this must needs be tender mercy indeed rich love indeed so saith the Apostle That through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death that is the Devil no less then a Kings ransom is paid for the liberty of every poor creature that is made free and therefore he took upon him flesh and blood because the children were partakers of the same that he might die for them and to deliver them that for fear of death were in bondage all their life-time of which more afterward we are now speaking to the meritorious cause the price of his pretious mercy even the blood of Jesus Christ Fourthly The means of conferring or conveiging this liberty to poor Sinners is the Gospel of liberty the Covenant of Grace held out in the Gospel is the means and this is plain in many places As in that of Isaiah The Spirit of the Lord is upon me therefore he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaim liberty to the Captives if ever any preaching was the Gospel Christs preaching was and the Covenant who himself was given to be the Covenant to the people sure he would preach nothing but that or in subordination to that as he doth preach the Law too as would easily appear but we may not digress and so in thaâ— other place of Luke where either that or some of the fore-cited places in Isaiah are quoted Ye shall know the truth saith our Saviour and the truth shall make you free by truth there I take it is not meant indefinitely any truth whatever no nor a scriptural truth but the Gospel of truth which is called the truth Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ it is such a truth so pure and precious For his word is like