if comparison be made not betweene them and other of meaner gifts but betweene them and the effects of conversion what is a base sinfull man with all his complements to God and put case that sometime the Lord doe use some men of great esteeme with some carnall persons for their excellent parts the better to winne their great stomackes to like of his truth yet this commonly is but a generall preparative to their conversion for the Lord will strike the maine stroke afterward rather by some other instrument of meaner worth All the Scriptures doe with one consent beare witnesse hereof both in doctrine and examples Our Lord Jesus his worke of salvation was the greatest worke that ever was done in the world And who was he that did it I confesse in himselfe Esay 53. 1 Cor. 1.20 the wisedome of God and the power of God but in the eyes of the world most base the stumbling-blocke of the Jew and foolishnesse to the Gentile By a sonne of a poore woman not an Empresse one borne in a stable and a cratch not in a Palace one that had not an hole to hide himselfe in one that rode upon an Asse and had a few silly men and women cry Hosanna to him who dyed as a malefactor upon a Crosse the most cursed death of all other By him the Lord effects this great worke Not that hee could not have used greater preparations but so it pleased him even to make him the corner stone whom the builders refused So the Apostles were used to preach Christ in the world to subdue and conquer it all to himself who were they No men of great breed birth Luke 5. training or learning but poore Fisher-men utterly unlearned So Paul a poore creature in shew a poore withered branch a man that affected no quaint phrase no elocution but was weak in speech 1 Cor. 3. is used to do more then any of the rest See 1 Cor. 1. Yee know brethren your calling how that not many learned noble or rich but the mean things of this world hath the Lord chosen What is a greater worke then conversion and calling And who are greater and more pretious objects then the called Who honour God more then such as beare his image and are partakers of his Divine Nature Now if God should chuse great ones and jolly wise and politick ones to such ends he should confute this point but he useth the poorest as Saint Iames saith and most base off all of this world to bee heires of salvation That so when his excellency shines through the elements of their basenesse the glory may bee his owne Reason 1 Reasons of the point are many First the Lord delights in casting down and treading under feet all the pride of flesh and conceit of man in beeing instrumentall to his worke So saith Paul 1 Cor. 1. Where is the Scribe where is the Law interpreter where is the wise God hath confounded the great things of the world by his owne seely things No wise man or Artist hath such delight to discover and shame a proud Mountebanke and emperick as the Lord hath to confound a proud person who thrusts himself into his solemne businesse God delights to confute great things by seely He scattereth the wise in the imaginations of their owne heart And the Lord knoweth the wisedome of the wise that it is but folly The weaknesse of God is stronger then man and the foolishnesse of God is wiser then man and therefore by his weaknesse and folly he delights to controll the strength and wisdome of man Those false Apostles gloried much in their parts and speech and skill But the Lord chose poor Paul with his weaknesse to do more good in the point of conversion then all of them They made a great boast to man ward and who but they But the Lord laught them to scorne and all their complements as enemies to the grace of Christ and they who could discerne at length perceived all their scope to be the setting up that trinity of Belly Ambition and Covetousnesse Phil. 3.18 and so beeing discovered they vanisht in the opinion of the Church as smoke Reason 2 Secondly the Lord is very jealous least hee should lose any honour through the glorious shewes and shaddowes of humane ostentation strength or sufficiency God is very jealous of his glory When he gave Jerico into Iosuas hand he was very jealous least Israel should ascribe too much to themselves and therefore befooled all their great courage and strength with a march about the City Josh 6. and blowing with trumpets of Rams-horns and thereby the City walls fell downe prostrate on the earth J â—dg ... These could rob God of no honour they were safe instruments to use when Gedeon had a compleate number of souldiers ready for the battell they were an eye sore to the Lord he thought he should be a loser in point of honour and therefore he told him he should abandon all the rest of the Army and of those of the Army being yet too many he would trie who would lap water as a dog and who would take it into their hand to drinke these latter being many he sent away and the former being but three hundred he would use to get the victory The reason was because by them as no way proportionable to such an effect he could feare no treacherous robbing of his honour So true is that Esay 42. My glory is as my selfe deare to me I will not lose it upon any tearms nor give it to another Reason 3 Thirdly the Lord knowes that we are prone to Idolize the meanes more or lesse and to forsake him for our broken pits For either wee will beleeve no effect further then we see meanes for it We are prone to Idolize means or if we doe not so yet we cleave too much to meanes or if we set up God above them yet we would tie him to blesse them without faile Touching the first of these Jer. 2.13 we naturally goe to worke and weigh things in the ballances of our owne reason And that three waies The first and what they will afford we will yeeld the Lord but no more This age we live in excells in this carnall esteeme of instruments parts and abilities of men and smoother of all divine worke under these feathers As Samuel proportioned Eliab to a Crowne at first sight When great exploits bee done by such as are brave and jolly fellowes men wonder not but say Yea he was a brave man indeed It troubles our base eyes to looke beyond that which is next us and to see God in such effects As silver answeres all things in price so strength and parts answeres all effects in efficacie and working and so God is thrust out of doores As in a Market men lay downe money and take ware so in this Market of worldly wisedome men thinke to effect any thing if they bring
our places and callings and be not too indulgent to our backs bellies companies travells and the like sensuall recreations and contentments many men affect such a breâ—th in the uttermost of their liberties and jollitie that their very garbe bewraies them to bee men who savor not much of denying themselves goe to the Lord often with this thorne in thy heele and bemoane thy paine unto him 2 Cor. 12.6 till he ease thee as Paul did and ceased not till the Answ 6 spirit was sufficient for him Beseech the Lord not to leave thee to thine owne findings but to take thee into his own patronage maintaining thee at his cost and charge It is said that Ieconia long after his obedience to the Prophet Ieremy Jerem. 52.31 to yeeld up himselfe to the King of Babel was so honoured by God as to become of a vassall and captive a favorite and to be nourished from the Kings owne dish to have a portion of meate from him daily meditation of the Pearle Matth. 13.44 caused the Merchant to sell all and buy it How doth Paul Phil. 3. heate his heart with the Lord Jesus till hee cast out himselfe as dung Dâ—vid Psal 73. recovers himselfe out of his temptation of distrust and impatience by meditation and then breakes out Whom have I in heaven but thee Luke 2.51 Mary bred Christ in her soule by pondering the message of the Angell against her feare and doubting Nothing a greater nourisher of Selfe then unacqaintance and slothfull neglect of the promise Againe behold the practice of the Saints both in Scripture and experience both living and dying Heb. 13.7 how they have moulded their souls into the truth of God and have been content to hazard their own salvation thereupon saying if I perish I perish Let also as I toucht before the afflictions Answ 8 of God whether in our bodies or soules breake us off from our wilde olive stock and implant us into the naturall and sweet olive Say Lord it is a sweet mercy not to live to my self though it cost me deare to learne this discipline but to be at thine allowance As an idle wench chuseth to live basely and idely at her owne hand rather then under a Mistresse so would Self do if God did not over-rule the soul But when she is corrected and instructed then she smites upon her thigh and repenteth Lastly Answ 9 be not too eager in pursuit of our worldly affairs but quietly let us set our boate upon our streame of providence to crosse our selves in our carnall appetites and though God crosse us not yet deny we our selves inuring our hearts to mercy compassion to such as are in necessity bodily or spirituall Let not Papists the chiefe favorites of Selfe condemne us Protestants in this kinde farre it be it from us to foster a spirit of envy which lusteth in us after uncharitablenesse indignation morosity austerity censoriousnesse anger revenge suspitions contentions Jam. 4.4 discontents either with men or with providence and Gods administrations that please us not for these morall distempers will defile us spiritually if we be not aware of it Seeke not honour repute respect and acknowledgement from men let God alone with these Joh. 5.44 and let us not for such base scurfe yet highly set by in the world destroy the worke of God Oh! beloved consider what I have said of this weighty argument and the Lord give us understanding in all things for mine owne part I have cause to mourn that notwithstanding all I have spoken I have so small hope to prevaile with men because I goe against their edge and speake riddles to men of another metall What are we but signes and spectacles to men and divells in preaching these doctrines What serve we for save to harden their hearts For they will fulfill the doctrine and Selfe is like to quash their hopes when all is done The Lord prevent it in you for his mercies sake And so much also shall suffice for this whole use of exhortation to them that seeke conversion Now concerning the latter branch of Exhortation 2. Branch of Exhortation Gods people must practise selfe-deniall in their conversation to them who through mercy are converted already Let me urge this upon them so much the rather to deny all for Christ and his name by how much they have already obtained favour to count all as drosse in respect of pardon and reconciliation If in the former respect that of our Saviour be true how much more in the latter He that will bee my Disciple must deny all if the case so require take up his crosse and follow me And the truth is such are the times we now live in that I am in a manner forced to adde this point of use to the former For you must know the former is secret from the view of men though one day it shall be knowne to men and Angells so that we should doe men a world of wrong if we should judge them to bee other then selfe-denyers and beleevers Matth. 16. end But indeed there is another selfe-deniall a consequent upon faith and that is an outward renouncing of our selves and selling our selves out of all our profits pleasures ease and liberties for the name the truth of doctrine the profession of Christ in power That rather then we would betray these to the enemies thereof neither liberties nor lives should be deare to us Now herein what doe men Alas they shew that either they never knew what it meant to cast out Selfe to receive Christ or else they have found a narrow distinction between barke and tree to save themselves harmelesse viz. That although they deny themselves inwardly for him never so yet they have a dispensation so that outwardly they will not lose a dramme of wealth credit maintenance ease love of wife child will or appetite for his sake And at this plat the world of our professors now fall off Causes They love Christ with their hearts but they will not lose one straw for him Alas what wonder that it is so with them For why Why most men so little deny themselves for Christ To deny a mans selfe for Christ requires a better bottome then they have any The Lord Jesus never denyed himselfe to the death for the redemption of their soules never gave himselfe as a price to wrath for their pardon and peace The Apostle Rom. tells us Doubtlesse for a good man one would be content to dye Christ hath not been a good Christ to them for if he had they would deny themselves to the death for him They are upon their owne bottome still their owne ease will health pleasures life and liberties are too deare to them they love them as pretiously as a zealous Christian loves Christ therefore they will part with nothing for him If Christ were their Selfe their inner man their joy and content they would cleave to him as their
good should draw thine affection to be for them True it is servants are not as children in point of naturalnesse and neerenesse for the child abides in the house for ever but the servant only for a time yet during that time he pleades for fatherhood and regard from thee so farre as is meet Quest But wherein stands this duty of Masters toward them Answ Briefly in these things First in a preparation Secondly in a performance 1. Preparation Behold God in thy servants duty Gen. 35.5 First for the former When thou seest that thy servants heart is subject unto thee and that there is a reall awe and Religious feare of spirit put into him by God for thine advantage and that as it is said of the Nations when Iaacob went to Luz the Lord smites a trembling at the ordinance of government Thy duty is to behold God in this worke to see thine owne basenesse and to say who am I that thou shouldest subject the wills of men unto so sinfull a creature as I am It is not my worth authority or carriage which could claime that esteeme and service which my servants tender unto me It is thou O Lord that subduest my people unto me In me there is nothing but might breed disdaine and despising as well as reverence But thou hast covered my uncomely parts by the honour of thine ordinance Oh! that this might draw my soule in subjection and awe under thee Eph. 3.15 who art the father of whom all the families of the earth are called Oh that I could tremble at thy greatnesse Oh! that as thou hidest from my cretaures their owne strength and parts that they might be wholly under mine authority so I might remember that I am under thee far more absolutely then a creature can be under mine Oh! that I might not feele mine owne parts strength wisdome welfare but feele thy feare upon mine heart as a bridle to awe and to restraine me from any boldnesse or loosenesse before thee Lord I never see awe and feare in my inferiours to me-ward but presently I conceive thou art in it to reflect a greater awe of my heart toward thy selfe For every Kingdome and rule in this world from a King to an housholder is under a greater Oh! let not my servant rise up in judgement and condemne me in that hee could behold that in a sinfull peece of flesh which could subdue him but I could never see that lustre and glory that mercy and love in thee which should draw and subdue my heart to thy selfe and set thee up so therein that my selfe might bee as nothing Psal 73.27 that I might say Whom have I in heaven but thee or in earth like thee By this meditation with praier prepare thy selfe first and then the duty will follow the better 2. Performance 1. Yeeld fatherly respect to thy servant Secondly having thus first given up thy selfe to God give thy selfe also to the duty of fatherly and due respect to thy servants and let not thine heart checke thee for any such wilfull neglect of them as might cause the Lord to punish it in thy selfe Even thy very diet lodging and care of the body must be good Thy horse thou wilt sometimes attend busily and carefully because thou wouldest have him serviceable and loath he should faile thee even so looke what thou wouldest have thy servant toward thy selfe that utter by the managing his spirit and framing of him for thy use The Masters eye makes the fat horse and his care the good servant This generall branch out to thy selfe in these particulars First be sure that as thou thy self lookest daily Tender to him his share in spirituall instruction for the bread of the day from God so tender thou as thy servants steward the demensum or portion due to thy servant daily let him share in thine instruction catechising and information in the Lord with correction and reproofe warnings and admonitions encouragements and promises let him not goe up and downe shifting and gracelesse give him such as the Lord hath given thee with praier for blessing daily and know that this is as meete for him as his daily food or wages better unfed then untaught Trust not thine owne wisdome but carry him in thine armes to God and pray the Lord to wash him shave off his locks and pare his nailes to make him faithfull to lay his hands upon him and blesse him that so thou maiest have a servant of the maker purged and made usefull for himselfe and thee When thou hast him tyed to thee by Gods cords he is safe This whet every day will be no let unto thee Secondly feed him not onely by the eare but by the eye Feed him by the eare and eye too pull not down that in practice by an humorous passionate base and ungracious carriage which thou hast set up in him by teaching for this will make him loath thee and despise it But tender unto him an holy grave and pure example walke before him so that Gods authority may appeare in thee Stand not so much upon thy superiority of fatherhood over him as wisdome and respect unto him Above all as Salomon saith over heare not thy servant when he speakes evill of thee that is let him see that thou art a man who can rule thy passions for thy selfe canst tell that thou hast oft offended God in that kinde This convincingnesse of thy carriage will breed invincible reverence and reflection of obedience toward thee againe See that thy servant despise thee not This will command reverence Contrarily the heart of a servant will suggest thus if thou walke basely what is matter how I serve such a Master What if I filch from him neglect his worke speake evill of him and dishonour him runne away from him It is good enough for him God is just But holy walking awes a servant overpowres his heart shames him makes him blush and puts him to silence This is powerfull not by violence but by perswasion both in sight and behinde thy back Thirdly Looke to thy authority 1. In charges bee carefull both of thy authority in commanding and in practising For the former impose nothing upon thy servant which the Lord hath not warranted thee by his word Bee not so vile as to digest any thing so thou maiest have thy worke and thy will done by him Be thou thy selfe also under authority and be a Master in the Lord. Thou hast enough to answer for thy selfe endanger not his soule also to make thine account more grievous Stretch not thy conscience to pervert his urge him not to breake Sabbaths send him not upon errands that day as if it were loose and might be spared fleece not from God presse him not to make a lye for thee to sweare or forsweare for thy sake and the like carry him not with the to base lewd companies pleasures lusts 2. For practise So for practice Ye
us God launches out into the deepe but we must goe by the brinke and shore The soveraigne freedome of God is not taught to dishearten any in Gods way for who knowes Gods last decree touching himselfe but to teach us to goe to worke with awe in Gods way to feare him to be humbled submitting our selves to his revealed will with readinesse and without cavilling For otherwise this soveraignty and freedome in God hinders not his freedome of grace to allure draw perswade and soften the hearts of whom he will But this will try men whether they will yeeld to the way of God or kick against it and so provoke wrath Object But how can this stand with the Ministers preaching of the promise to all sorts finding fault with the rejecters and admonishing the backward In a word why doth he yet complaine I answer The Minister is Gods instrument to reveale Gods will to the people but not his secrets Hee must nakedly doe his office and leave the effect to God who workes grace in such as submit to him He knowes not what God hath intended to any one wicked man If any will cavill at him his damnation is just to reject Gods cords and ladder As for Gods complaining threatning denouncing it is no act contrary to his secret will but onely divers from it And it is a way which he blesseth to draw home thousands to himselfe Object But others object That the grace offered is one and the same in it selfe saving But the receiving of it is diverse Some receive it more cordially then others and that 's their owne free-will Answer I answer Doe they so and what is it that causeth the one to be so cordiall the other not Is it universall grace No surely For then what hinders why all receive it not so if the reason be meere LECTVRES VPON THE Fifth Chapter of the Second Booke of the Kings from the ninth verse to the fifteenth THE TEXT 9 SO Naaman came and stood before the dore of Elisha with his horses and charets 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying Go and wash thee in Iordan seven times and thy flesh shall come againe unto thee and thou shalt be cleane 11 But Naaman was wroth and went away and said Behold I thought he will surely come out to me and stand and call upon the Lord his God and strike his hand upon the place and recover the leper 12 Are not Abana and Pharfar rivers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel may I not wash in them and be cleane So he turned and went away in a rage 13 And his servants came neer and spake unto him and said Father if the Prophet had bid thee do some great thing wouldst thou not have done it How much more then when he saith unto thee wash and be cleane 14 Then went he down and dipped himselfe seven times in Iordan according the saying of the man of God and his flesh came againe as the flesh of a little child and he was cleane 15 And he returned to the man of God c. 2 Kings THE FIRST LECTVRE VPON THE NINTH VERSE THE holy Ghost hath replenished the whole body of the Scriptures The Scriptures full of rarities and wonders with more strange and miraculous relations then any pen of an humane writer could ever conceive or comprehend In which respect he may be called truly the Father of Histories For why Scarce we shall light upon any chapter in the history of the old or new Testament yea some Prophecies wherein some notable monument of Gods extraordinary and miraculous power either the bared arme and hand or some finger of God is not discovered In some one Chapter perhaps some two or three wonders offer themselves to our view one upon another of remarkeable note Witnesse those unheard of and unparalled examples of the deluge confusion of languages Gen. 7. Gen. 11. Gen. 22. Gen. 32. Gen. 42. Exod. 6.7.8 c. Exod. 13 Iosh 7.8 Iudg. 8. framing of the Arke the birth and sacrificing of Isaak the victory of Iacob wrestling with God the preservation of the Church in the famine the ten plagues of Egypt the wonderfull passage through the red sea and wildernesse to the holy land the victories of Ioshua even by Rams horns and potsherds Gedeons fleece the conquest of Sifera the Suns standing still and returning ten degrees Ionahs rescue from the Whale and the Prophet Daniel from the Lions And for the new Testament what is it save a continued tenor of divine and miraculous operations of the Lord Jesus and his Apostles So that we may perceive the holy Ghost to reigne in this kinde and to take a kinde of felicity to get out from naked and common discourse to some rare and wonderfull expression of the workes of God his Revelations visions and strange acts in and for his Church The cause why And surely if we shall enquire into the reason hereof we shall finde that the Lord hath in wisdome chosen this course as well knowing the mould and frame of them he had then 1 Our lumpish earthy mould and hath now to deale withall I meane both those Jewes and us Gentiles all the fonnes of Adam and the flesh That is with cloddy carnall dead and sensuall creatures stiffnecked and rebellious ones wits and affections savouring nothing but the creature or at least promises of meer temporall kinde but as for matters of divinity and spirituall nature utterly savourlesse Contraries are cured by contraries and if there be any thing able to raise and elevate muddy and loggish spirits from the dunghill and from creeping heer below it must be a divine streame of strange and unheard of accidents administrations and atcheivements whereby the base heart of man as the Angel in the smoke of the sacrifice may rise up to heavenly and holy thoughts and affections Hereby the dull and blunt sences the dead hearts of sinfull men are whetted up farre more then by ravishing musique to Gods matters and are taken off from the earth Moreover the Lord hath bin faine to take the advantage of our base frame 2 By sensible things God takes us at advantage which is much amused and astonisht at the sight and hearsay of uncouth and strange matters to drive in thereby holy things which else would be but flat notions vanishing and comming to nothing the tree which hath long lien sodding in the ditch if it be once unsettled may be carried home Much harder is it to stir the sence and quicken the affection lying dead and in cool bloud then to work a further and superior impression in it being once raised The spirit of a man though it be corrupt and dead yet being immortall cannot so far forget it selfe if once God quicken it as to lay aside her nature altogether Therefore the Lord mainly aimes at stirring of it up from her dead frame No other reason can be given why Iohn Baptist came
novelty carnall admiration jangling and unprofitablenesse which the Scripture especially serves to mortifie in us To give a taste of my meaning in an instance An instance of the exhort let that be the miracle recorded 2 King 7. to wit the Prophet Elisha his causing of the Iron to swimme when it was fallen into the water he that reads it as a bare miracle will onely vanish in a wondering humor but he that reads it with faith and reverence will behold the power of God over-ruling the creatures quality and causing the waighty body of iron to float like a chip contrary to the nature of it And what will such a meditation picke out of it Surely a sweet consolation in the power of God viz. to over-rule a worse nature in a worse subject even the dulnesse and lumpishnesse of an heavy heart in matters of God and cause it to mount up from this base dunghill whereunto t is fixed unto heaven and holy thoughts yea to change this hard heart more hard then a flint or iron and make it a soft and fleshy heart to write his covenant in it and cause it to walke in his Commandements where from t is as farre as iron from swimming If then the casting in of a sticke could worke such an effect if the bare power of God onely for a witnesse that the worke then intended was from God without any respect to the iron it selfe could doe this great thing what shall be the power of God working in and by the bloodshed and intercession of the Lord Jesus upon an heart of heavier frame and harder which thereby shall be much the better in it selfe besides the infinite honour which the worker of this miraculous change shall purchase to himselfe by it although to carnall reason it may seeme impossible And in particular 2. Branch particular let this exhort us all to be more studious and zealous observers of this text in hand Our Saviour could set a speciall marke upon it as containing peculiar instruction for us to cast down those strong forts and high thoughts in us Naamans story and the passages thereof very remarkable which doe destroy the simplicity of selfe-deniall faith and the obedience of Christ Surely if strange things will affect us as who now adaies affect not Athenian wise new and strange reports and accidents to heare and to tell them though emptily and as passages for present talke this text hath cause and may plead to be specially marked above many Which containes the cure of the onely leper to whom above all them in Israel Elisha was sent Naaman a stranger and Heathen Aramite sutable whereto are all the circumstances making toward it The very roote and first occasion of it was strange Particulars of it summed up by a poore damosell and captive yet one that had taken notice of Elisha to very good purpose The disease strange an incurable leprosie the cure strange by the applying of common water to his flesh to reason incredible The course by Naaman strange in mistaking an Idolatrous King for his Physitian in steed of an holy Prophet the redresse of the error strange by an intimation from God to fetch him the right way to the Prophet his carriage strange in humble sliding before a poore Prophets doore and to come neerer the text the message uncouth and strange for a Prophet not to vouchsafe to come to the doore to a petitioning Prince but to send an aloofe message Naamans enterteining it strange and promising but a sinister successe for what likelyhood is it that a patient raging at his Physitian should be cured The perswasion strange even by servants not likely either to perswade aright or to prevaile by perswading But above all the effect of this counsell strange that he should obey his servants who cavelled against the Prophet the successe of his obeying strange to recover his flesh as the flesh of a child And to conclude the consequents of the successe strange both his spirituall cure of Soule-leprosie the extraordinary zeale and resolution to renounce Idols for the true God and the most sincere detestation of that most predominant and beloved lust which before had prevailed to wit to worship Rimmon himself be his Masters leaning stock in that worship So many strange concurrences might I say justly force our attention to this story and yet the chiefe thing contained in it is no stranger thing then that which we daily carry about us I mean self and carnall reason But so intricated and wrapped about us so deeply seated and hidden in our spirits that without the great goodnesse of God we shall behold it read it over and over wonder at it in Naaman but see none of it in our selves and so leave the perusall of this Treatise with as small fruit as we began it Which penalty the Lord keep from us and so meet with us and match us in our reading hereof by the inspiration of his spirit that this story may be a looking glasse in which this great blur of selfe may so be discerned that the promise and word of God may present a better image unto our soules and transforme us into it from glory to glory that he that boasteth may not boast in himselfe but in the Lord. A second generall of the whole text The person of Naaman the Subject of it A second generall as equally concerning the whole text and mixed through it as the former is the subject of this whole text the person of chiefe note Naaman the leper The words used by our Saviour do occasion me to touch upon this point it s of no small importance To wit that the Lord passing by all other lepers in Israel neerer hand and liker to make use of the Prophets helpe then one a far off who onely by a report of a silly wench at second hand had intelligence of him should out of his meer grace send him to this Naaman and Naaman to him which phrase imports a sending of spirituall efficacy to conversion and make him a marke of greater mercy then his owne people yea an upbraiding to them in all succeeding generations Many lepers saith Christ there were in the daies of Elisha but to none of them all was he sent save only to Naaman the Syrian Whether no other lepers at all were healed by Elisha it s heard to say and me thinkes as hard to imagine that all lepers should so scape his hands Perhaps they did not and partly the Damosells report evinces it for how else should she so readily point at Elisha for the cure of Naamans disease if she had never heard of his healing others in that kinde Howbeit I affirme nothing she might speake from a generall honour she bare to the Prophets worth but this is sure although some lepers might come to Elisha yet he was sent to none save to Naaman that is the Lord used him not to the spirituall good and salvation of any other
rather their desire to oppose then any sound reason The latter is condâ—tionâ—ll How free The second Call is conditionall And that concernes such as are inlightned and that is also soveraignly free and meerely gracious For why this condition is Faith which is a second free gift to the elect following the former freedome of visiting with light Now this condion is not all mens lot All men have not faith 2 Thess 3.2 nay it is a flower growing in few gardens This floweth from Election So many as the Lord our God shall call Acts 2.39 and so many as were to be saved beleeved This condition of faith is not in our freedome of will but the Lords It s he who of his good pleasure workes both the will and the deed 2 Thess 3.2 Act. 2.39 47. Phil 2.13 John 3.8 Object and without his spirits breath which bloweth where it will nothing is done Now this condition of the Gospell Faith I meane being so few mens portion how can it otherwise be but where it is its free grace But here it s objected That this were to translate a crime upon God needlesly which may lye upon man I answer No still the crime lyes upon man God is free Answ If the Lord having man now sunke from his former integrity at a deepe yea infinite advantage which in Adam he had him not at shall worke out greater glory to his name and attributes then formerly he could have done shall any man grudge him this prerogative or count him cruell or tye him to his owne tether Matth. 20.13.14 Is it not free for him to doe what he pleases with his owne Is it not in his power to release or not to release his owne advantage Againe Object wheras the cause of this difference is cast upon mans owne default for not receiving that grace which he hath freedome to receive or refuse I answer Answ True it is that condemnation shall never want a just merit thereof viz. from mans rejecting of grace but this proves not a freedome in man to accept it of himselfe if he please for he rejects not grace by the actuall defect of any thing which he had power or free-will in himselfe to doe seeing that is meerely from the soveraignty of the caller but from his actuall contempt Object And whereas some alledge God will not be wanting to any who are not wanting to themselves I answer First Answ if this have any truth in it it is not from hence that ought in mans concurring with grace can further the worke of it But because first it is sure that those who walke not in Gods way are seldome converted and secondly because usually the Lord is mercifull to such as doe humbly subject themselves to his way not opposing and slighting him in it purposely and thirdly because we ought not to discourage any from close attendance upon the meanes But to affirme that God is in the least manner obliged to doe for all such as are not wanting to themselves if yet any can be said to be so it s unwarranted yea and more then so The Lord to shew his absolutenesse herein doth oft times communicate himselfe to such as seeke him not Esay 65.1 and hide himselfe from such as seeke him in some sort and forsakes the morall the pharisaicall the vertuous and cals the vicious the publicans and sinners That where sin abounded Rom. 5.20 grace might abound much more Many ungodly ones being convinced of their owne wofull incompliablenesse to the grace of God offred are called that they might magnifie the freedome of it and many more civill and morally disposed who might seeme faire for it yet are prone to joyne themselves purchasers with God in this great worke are defeated that he who will boast might boast of the Lord 1 Cor. 1.30 and all might stand as guilty and abominable before God But here some will object True it is All being fallen from the grace of Creation stand at Gods curtesie for he may condemne them Object and none can say What dost thou And againe whomsoever God saves they confesse that he saves them of his free and meere grace But yet they adde This grace is an universall one answering to the universality of corruption and therefore by vertue hereof all may if they will and doe not put a barre to themselves receive this grace but if they doe not the cause say they is not from any defect in the sufficiency of grace or from any soveraignty in Gods dispensing it to some more then others for say they as he ought it to none at all so when he offers it freely he offers it to some one with the same freedome and efficacy with which he offers it to any one and the difference of the accepting by one and the not accepting by another flowes from the different dispositions and free-will of him that nilleth or willeth but not say they from any diversity of disposition in God Besides the reason why they affirme grace must be universall is this because else say they God should deale hardly with the creature to urge it to such a condition of grace as he doth not allow him sufficient strength to performe and yet punish him for the not performing thereof more deeply then if such grace had never bin offred yea to urge it to performe such a condition as he never was able in his best integrity to performe I answer God doth not exact any such condition at mans hand Answ as he gave him not sufficient strength to performe For man had at the first strength enough to performe not onely whatsoever God did then require But also whatsoever he might require which included a power to obey universally And therefore man having lost that power by his fall stands justly guilty before God of his impotency to beleeve the promise But they still urge Adam could not possibly have the power to beleeve Instan in his innocency since that presupposes a thing which Adam Answ 1 then was not guilty of viz. Disobedience I answer Adam could not beleeve the pardon of that whereof he was not guilty But Adam could and did beleeve in generall by an holy trust or confidence upon Gods supporting him during his obeying which trust though it had another object in speciall then our faith hath yet in generall hath the same That looked at the alsufficient goodnesse of Creation this of Redemption yet both behold God as the same object still of infinite good in severall regards and fidelity to his creature Secondly I answer That is false and inconsequent to affirme that Answ 2 because God condemned all mankinde for the losse of that grace of creation which he gave in Adam to the whole nature of man Therefore he must needs bestow an universall grace of redemption in Christ upon the same mankinde before he can justly punish them for refusing it I say this followes not except it be first proved that
historicall dependance require the annalyse of the story before going Thus then briefly the story leads us to this verse First The Analyse of the whole History from the first verse it presents to us a noble man Naaman by name Earle Marshall to the King of Aram a man of great valor and courage for warre and of as great acceptation and esteeme with his Lord being his chiefe favorite upon whom Branch 1 the King leaned yet a leper and as much held under with his filthy noysome malady as set up by his dignity And surely if we had not some sowre sawce to our sweet meat we should surfet if all were according Branch 2 to our desires without check who should live with us Secondly wee have here a providence of God offering to Naaman the newes of a recovery For whereas in some former skirmishes the Aramites had taken prisoners of the Israelites and among the rest a young Damosell lo it was her lot to be taken into the service of Naamans wife The maide whether our of a better observation of Elisha then ordinary and remembring what worthy acts she had heard of him or whether out of a desire to win favor at the hands of her Mistrisse seeing how the case stood with her Master and perceiving well how welcome an addition the cure of his leprosie would prove to all his other happinesse calls to minde the Prophet Elisha telling her Mistrisse that if her Master were but with him he would soone heale him of it A speciall and first handsell of providence swaying her to be the first happy moover in this Branch 3 frame of miraculous cure Thirdly we have Naamans inquisitivenesse and restlessenesse Prov. 18.1.2 upon the hearsay For a mans desire he will soone separate himselfe So doth he le ts all matters lye by and seekes out immediately how to compasse his purpose and in the first place using the interest he had with his master the King to write letters in his behalfe to the King of Israel who now was the vassall of Aram and therefore at his command to doe what he could to content him he obtained his desire The summe whereof comes to this that although no letters were directed in speciall to Elisha yet because it was supposed that there was no subject of Iehorams who might not quickly be at call to serve his turne in the working of the cure therefore as it became a King he writes to the King of Israel to see the businesse dispatched Branch 4 Fourthly we have a great blur and disaster here in the attempt of Naaman a greater difficulty affronts his hopes then he feared to crosse him in his cure For the stupid King of Israel having small entercourse and lesse interest in the Prophet of God mistakes the letter and the scope of it and construes it to a sinister sense viz. that a quarrel was pickt with him he rends his cloathes and askes am I God to heale lepers which doubtlesse he had not said if his thoughts had bin upon the Prophets miraculous assistance two chapters before 2 King 3.5.6 when he was in a distresse for lack of water Branch 5 Here therefore the worke stands at a stay Fifthly therefore the Lord whose worke it was to bring Naaman thus farre within the Element of mercy and cure doth not faile but puts in life to the businesse and checks the sencelesse King by a messenger sent from Elisha who upbraiding him for his sottish ignorance prompts him with that truth which corrects Naamans mistake saying although thou canst not heale him thy selfe yet be it knowne to thee Israel hath a God who hath a Prophet even Elisha by name to whom if thou send this man he will heale him of his leprosie Upon this message the text tells us that Naaman forsaking the King who could doe him no good comes now full of courage and good hopes that although he had miscarried hitherto yet now at last he should without any more adoe speed of his journey And therefore he with his horses and charets come downe and stand before the doore of Elisha Thus we see the coherence and have the patient standing humbly at the doore of the Prophet forgetting his state and being at the curtesie of the Prophet for his cure Now for the last of these Two things I would commend unto you out of this verse Two generals in this ninth verse The former is the habit and behaviour of this great Prince and favorite Naaman being now at the doore of the Prophet Wee heare of no rapping or bounsing at his gate such as is mentioned of Iehoram in Cap. 7. Vid. cap. who sent a cursed messenger before him to beat downe the doore upon the Prophet and Elders met in a holy sort before God in the judgement of famine and following himselfe with a bloody threatning and swearing spirit God doe so and more if the head of Elisha stand upon him this day 1. Generall Nâ—amans humble carriage But all humble and lowly carriage such as became a petitioning Patient who though he brought fees enough with him yet could speed no way save by waiting and obeying This behaviour may seeme strange in so potent a Prince at so meane an house as the Prophets and toward a man in shew so farre inferior as a poore old man to a Kings favorite Surely these daies would scarce affords us such a patterne of humblenesse in great ones toward Gods Ministers But the reason was Naaman had and felt that burden and clog within which beat off proud thoughts not only the honour of the Prophet and divinenesse of the cure awed him but the yoak which was upon him subdued all hautinesse suppressed all stomacke and pride telling him as the case stood it was no season for him to take upon him imperiously He was now fighting a new battel wherein not his armes but his patience must beare mastries Doubtlesse his great spirits might rise and provoke him to insolency but still he minded his errand aand for the time thought it fittest to stoope lest he should loose the maine his cure hoped for this amed him and kept him low standing with all his pompous retinue at the poore gate of poore Elisha waiting and glad to waite for a favourable answer The point I would urge is this Doctrine Great straights are Gods season to pull downe a stout heart the only season of working a jolly and stout heart to crouch and creepe is when God hath it at a bay even to stand at his curtesie in some great straight and extermity It was thus with Naaman and is thus generally with most men who are not of desperate madnesse And the point is generall although I shall touch it after in a speciall sence by the text and applyable both to good and bad A more wilfull and wicked contrariety hereto we cannot have then that of Iehoram which I named who thought to fight it out with
all adversity as Oded saith If thou scape the Lion the Beare shall meet thee if both a Serpent out of the wall shall bite thee There is no struggling And besides why should a streight so scare thee from God hath it no power or use in it to draw thee neerer God will nothing serve thee save to hate him for amends whom thou hast already hurt Is not all for thy good if thou be not a Bedlam And mayst thou not blesse God for a Little-ease when the world could not hold thee nor the earth beare thee for thy wildnesse and insatiablenesse in sin Tell me Streights cannot bee well wanted if God had not matched thee who could hadst thou not been damned Shall then the remedy bee worse then the disease wilt thou breake all chaines wit hs and ropes like Samson cannot a prison hold thee when all is done Oh if not before yet at the last when God hath thee there grinding like an Asse look up and say I will return to my father Or thinkest thou that thou shalt not profit by it Remember it is a marke of a reprobate not to profite by the last medicine Oh! there is abundant gaine in a crosse and streight Beleeve the doctrine and apply thy selfe to it sue to God for an heart to concurre with him in it and thou shalt finde a streight to be more wholesome for thee then to have thy will Heathens could say so and art thou a Divell to deny it One of them a deep observer of moralls and events having knowne one to bee very licentious in life and after comming to see him on his death-bed writes thus of it to his friend Yesterday I understood by visiting such a one how much better wee are in sicknesse then in health For what sicke man shall you see covetuous or libidinous or revengefull or contentious So that it were to be wished that we were such in coole blood and in health as in feare of death wee are forced to bee So farre hee So that wee shall need to consult with no Scripture for the matter But if we doe we shall read Lam. 3.27 It is good for a man that he beare the yoke and vers 22. even in chains and banishment the Church confesseth The compassions of the Lord are renewed every morning which she did scarcely see in liberty I need name no more Onely let this be noted That it is not wise for us so studiously to shun or shift off streights Shunne not streights nor so eagerly to lay for ease and liberty to the flesh except wee would covet sorrow and avoid humiliation Rather lay together what vantage thousands have made thereof both Prodigals before conversion and Revolters after repentance how the pride and jollity of the one in knowing no God as Nebuchadnezzar and the Jaylor hath beene turned into meeknesse and how the carnall sensuality of the other as David being driven away by Absolom and Samson in prison hath been corrected and changed to sobriety and watchfulnesse Lastly let this exhort all who would be truly happy to looke up to God the maker of yokes the easer of yokes and the sanctifier thereof that he would concurre with them in giving them a kindly worke and issue Vse 4 upon our soules Exhortation Looke up to God for a sanctified use of all strairs Alas straits and extremities are no reall substance of goodnesse but only preparatives and accidentalls occasioning the worke The effect of grace resteth in the pleasure of him that sends them if with an heart of mercy they shall not cease till they have left the soule under the authority of grace if not they shall onely make it inexcusable in the day of destruction Rest not then in this which many rest in that they feele an awed fearefull heart checking and taming them from old ventrousnesse and sawcinesse against God This is a great change but not the change which they must looke after For as a Master Not onely to awe and tame us doth as truly loath a base slave as a sawcy fellow to be his servant preferring a lowly and chearefull subjection before both extreames so doth the Lord he loaths both the bold the servile spirit If Naaman had rested in this his crouching at the Prophets gate under the disease he felt he had never been cured and yet even this was one step to pull downe his stomacke We see that when hee was put to it in the next verse he raged as base as he seemed here A Lion is a Lion still both couchant and rampant But if a Lion were made a lambe it should be a Lion no more Religion stands in no forreigne violence or pangs and acts of compulsion but in inward habits and principles Every violent thing doth but watch her time to bee set at liberty as a prisoner to finde the doores open and to file his chaine off Why Because he was where he would not be and seekes to be where his delight is A proud carnall heart vaine and loving sensuall objects may be held from them a time and for the while in some respects thinke its well that its free from the tyranny of some lusts for the noysomenesse sake But when it can have liberty to them and be let out to old objects of vanity pride and sensuality it prefers it rather because the constitution of it is naturally so I say therefore rest not in such an estate Consider how endlesse it is to strive with a body of evill by a few pangs of actuall distaste and violent restraint Thinke with thy selfe how little thou hast prevailed by all this course and that it will be a work ever to do till the Lord binde the soule to her good behaviour by putting goodnesse into it and causing it to behave it selfe well it is but as the damming up of a violent streame which will have her course Be not too much dismaid at the thought of a new change of thine heart it s at the first a sad object to the carnall heart but the sweetnesse of it at last makes it welcome The Lord begins with violence but ends in sweetnesse the spirit of grace working a principle of delight in the soule But to work a change in the soule and to turn it to God The dismall thoughts of a true change by a milde and softly drawing the will freely to choose grace before corruption even for the good and savour which it feels therein As it was lately with a melancholy man upon his marriage he was exceedingly dejected to thinke that now hee had put himselfe into a new frame which hee had not formerly knowne and lost the liberty of his single estate brought the charge of wife children and family upon himself whereof before he was free so is it with the corrupt part when it judges of that estate which God pulles her to But if God match that feare with the sweetnesse of union and marriage
act concerning the welfare of his but he orders it He foreseeing the family of Iacob must els perish for food long before layes to prevent it in the antecedents of it Gen. 35.5 25. Gen. 45.7 Gen. 41.14 Suffers Ioseph to dreame an odious dreame his brethren to sell him to Putiphar his wife to attempt accuse and imprison him the two prisoners to propound their dreames and receive satisfaction Pharao in the distresse of his spirit to heare of him in that respect to consult with and resolve himselfe by him to promote him to be chiefe in the Kingdome under him causes Ioseph to prepare and store up corne and so relieves Iacob and his sons All this whole frame hee himselfe confesses to be from God you saith he intended evill to me but the Lord intended greater things even to preserve the lives of his Church That great worke of Redemption by the Lord Jesus had one main passage in it Luke 2.1 That Christ must be borne at Bethlehem Mary was now big and dwelt at Nazaret But the Lord causes Augustus Caesar to taxe all the world and to command all the Jewes to repaire to the City of their nativity and family This charge being exact poore Mary must carry her bigge body thither and there travaile of Christ Nothing could hinder Saul must be the King whom in wrath God appoints over discontented Israel To this end the Asses must goe astray he must seeke them be in a strait goe to Samuel and he warned of God must meet him 1 Sam 9.2 19. there Saul receives the message and is anointed Now marke the reason If the Lord be thus in all those events which concerne his Church in the gâ—nerall and the externall onely how much more shall he appeare to bee active in the most excellent part of all other viz. his drawing home all such to himselfe as belong to his Election Surely as the act is the most eminent peece of all other Providence so God his activenesse and powerfull concurrence thereto in swaying all premises to inferre the conclusion of his Purpose must be most eminently seene in that above all others Secondly if the effecting of the substance of their conversion whom Reason 2 he hath elected must flow from his grace and power then much more the accommodating of all such antecedents as conduce thereto must be from his direction But so it is the substance of the meanes is from him he calls home all whom he hath elected Rom. 8. The enlightning of them by the word the humbling the breaking of heart the perswading of them to beleeve is from him How much more the ordering and preparing of circumstances according of occasions accidents times persons and the like must also be ascribed to his most divine dispensation Thirdly if the Lord should leave his owne ends at randon to be ordered Reason 3 by the will and arbitrement of instruments occasions left to their owne pleasure and choice then should the infallible purpose of God hang upon the mutable and casuall actions of such instruments and the rash concourse of livelesse occasions which cannot act or bring together themselves to produce any such effect And by consequent such effects should faile Which because it is impossible therefore of necessity must both be subject to the over-ruling power of the Purposer determining some and conjoyning others wills I meane of men or accidentall occasions to the infallible effecting of the conversion of such as hee hath chosen Fourthly we know the end being once set downe in the minde ordereth Reason 4 and directeth the whole frame of those things which make toward it if a man have propounded to himselfe a purpose to marry to build to travell the Idea of these ends still enliveth the observation of all occasions and opportunities which a man meets with and draweth all to the attainment of such ends Where such ends are not proposed the minde is quiet and ordereth no occasions tending that way Thus it is with the Lord The end once being determined that stirreth and ordereth his wisedome and providence to fore-lay all meanes which tend thereto I meane the conversion of the poore soule I do not make Gods and mans intentions like in all points but illustrate the one by the other The difference between them is large for first mens ends are before their enterprises and they are successive also here one meane offers it selfe to promote their end there another Not so in the Lord who perfectly and at once though orderly doth both determine his ends and contrive his meanes Gods forefight mans differ much and beholds the effecting of the one in the other necessarily and unfallibly Gods meanes never faile him in his projects whereas man for lacke of sufficient fore-cast and provision is disappointed farre oftner then he succeeds Men may so concurre to their owne ends in their preparations as to use sinfull instruments sinfully partaking with them in their evils But the Lord although he oft use sinfull occasions and accidents and instruments to compasse his ends yet hee concurres not to their sinne but onely disposeth and over-ruleth it to good As the Lord used Ieroboam and Iehu's ambitious desires to effect the overthrow of the houses of Rehoboam and Ahab 1 Kings 13. Acts 9.1 So he used the sinne of Saul to bee an occasion of his deeper humiliation Acts 2.39 Acts 18. and the sinne of the Jewes Acts 2. who murthered the Lord of life to prick and break their hearts the more easily by Peters Sermon So the Jaylors desperatenesse cruelty and rage against the Apostles to convince him the more deeply convincing him afterwards So much for reasons Quest But here a question may be asked In what sort the Lord may bee said to act and accord all meanes which may serve to compasse his end in this kinde Answ I answer It is hard to set downe the variety of wayes by which the Lord worketh yet some few of the most usuall I may mention First and especially this Gods preventions wherein they stand and in what particulars The first branch God over-rules diverts our intents to serve his That the Lord over-rules and diverts and alters the intentions of men that whenas they intend one thing hee intends another either crossing their owne to effect his or wrapping in theirs within his owne as most prevailing and chiefe Thus did the Lord here in Naamans case He dreamt of nothing lesse then any cure of soule yet the Lord intends it as chiefe and casts him in the other as an over-plus Thus Paul discoursing of his conversion to Agrippa Acts 26. Acts 26. tells him hee was going like a Pursivant with a Bouget of Letters to Damascus to apprehend the Saints there But the Lord who had separated him to a farre other end even to be a chosen vessell of grace and an Apostle to carry his Name to the Gentiles cast him downe from his Palfrey smote
him to the ground and amazed him till hee had throughly subdued him under his owne will and government Herein shewing himselfe to bee as Paul Eph. 3. Epes 3.15 calles him the Father of all the families of the Earth For as the Master of a family over-rules his servants will and businesse and when he intends one worke in an ordinary course of service his Master hath some other businesse of greater consequence to send him about and so the servant is acted by his master to forbeare the one and dispatch the other so is it here in the great worke of salvation Many a man useth to make an ordinary worke of going to a place where the Word is preached hee aimes at businesse or company or novelties or perhaps cavilling at the Minister The Lord aimes at fetching him within his net that hee may divert his purpose and draw him to conversion Not onely as Esay saith Cap. 65.1 The Lord is found of such as sought him not that is prevents the thoughts which were roving helward worldward and sinward Job 33. Esay 65.1 to thinke of matters of greater consequence even heaven and happinesse But which is more when they perhaps purposed to crosse with God as Paul did the Lords intents overrule mans and turne him the way which himselfe intends As old Eli overrules Samuels feelinesse and saith if he call againe say speake for thy servant heareth Secondly the Lord where he meanes to convert will mightily over-power the soule from stumbling at such discouragements Overpowers the soule from stumbling at discouragements and obstacles Branch 2 that stand in the way This argues God specially present and to have a finger in the worke When another shall be a divell to himselfe to disswade himselfe from God by casting the difficulties alleadging farmes oxen and wife to hold him off and by framing to himselfe many Lions in the way so that if he goes yet it is as a Beare to the stake to heare the word if he heares once he neglects oft lo when God stirs his heart he shall feel such a strong perpetuall moover within him that these are nothing with him he beats them off as flies he feeles such a fire of purpose and bent in his heart to seeke after God as if he thought some pearle were there to be had he cannot finde in his heart to leave off hearing praying musing questioning and using all helpes which are in his power till he have felt the worke of them in himselfe Naaman heere had his dismaiments yet the Lord by a secret hand of his owne held him on asswaged his rage and set his servants on worke Gal. 1.17 Act. 9 till he had effected the cure When the Lord had Paul on the hooke once he suffered him not to slug out the worke till he had finished it Act. 9. Thirdly the Lord disposes of all outward occasions He disposes of all outward occasions both remooving them which let and framing them which helpe which lead to Branch 3 his ends and both remooves the opposites and accomodates unites and chaines together the meanes that the end be not frustrated Notable is that I noted Act. 10. of Peter who was no way like to goe with the servants to Cornelius as being an heathen what doth the Lord workes Peters heart from that objection and so from unwillingnesse nay more he doth make the one privy to the others want and as in a vision Paul saw Ananias comming toward him to open his eies so on the other side Ananias in a vision is informed of Pauls praying and waiting upon the Lord for remedy God brings both together and sutes the one with willingnesse to be holpen and the other with readinesse to helpe so they were mutually fitted to do and receive good each to and from other So in Pauls case when he was to go to Ananias how unwilling was he to be the instrument of settling satisfying him Therefore the Lord steps in and remooves that let and tells him he is a speciall man for his own use So oftimes when parents friends Minister himselfe are discouragements to a poore novice how doth the Lord foreseeing such a blur turne the eies of Crocodiles to Doves eyes alleniate and draw the hearts of fathers to the children what faire way doth he open Againe how doth the Lord dispose of such requisite circumstances as concurre to the ends without which it could not have been effected Sometime by bringing a man into such a place or Towne where a faithfull Ministry resideth sometimes into some such family where the name of God is called upon faithfully sometime preparing for a man such a dwelling as is compassed about with good neighbours whose example and helpe may be a loadstone unto him John 4. as the woman of Samaria being her selfe first drawne from her scoffing to beleeving drew all her kindred So oftentimes the Lord by shaking one maine Pillar-stone in an house causes many little stones to rattle downe after So many a young Scholler by a godly Tutor many a young youth or maid by a religious Master or Mistresse many an ignorant novice by marrying a good wife or husband and into a godly family growes to be religious All these are gracious preventions And from the same preventing mercy it is that the Chaine and Coherence of the meanes one after another is so united and so continued by the Lord that whereas the breaking off of any one might split and marre the frame the Lord holds all together for the effecting thereof As here except all the foure premises had held Naaman might have beene easily defeated of his issue But the Lord suffers no one linke of the chaine to breake Fourthly the Lord most aptly and fitly accommodates all circumstances Branch 4 by his providence to consort and combine to such ends disposing of apt condition Accommodates all circumstances fittly to the end age season person place and other opportunities If Naaman being so great had not beene made little by the condition of a leper could he have stooped so low as the Prophet All are not so fit to bee dealt with by every instrument some more are drawne by a still and softly voice others by the thundring of terror the Lord suits meet persons to meet objects that so the worke might goe forward Not alway the same person is apt to bee wrought upon by all occasions As when the minde is filled with businesse all that is spoken is as it were spoken in a mans cast Luke 10.40 Martha being cumbred with much serving was as a full vessell for the time all which had beene put into her had run over Therefore Mary whose minde was free and empty was fitter to sit at Christs feet and profit All places are not alike to all sorts While children live under their Parents wing at ease and liberty they minde nothing that good is perhaps being abroad and being put to it marked and noted
in their conversation and behaviour seeing that the world is hard and living under strict government they begin to looke about them and to digest those counsells which they have long beene taught Every age is not so capable when yeares have hardened a man in his evill course he is farre worse to be wrought upon then in his younger time having lesse experience of evill So that the Lord takes men in the fittest season in youth and prevents the unfittest and so for all other circumstances Fifthly the Lord mercifully stops and prevents such accidents as if Branch 5 they tooke effect would be like to hinder the worke of his providence Prevents such evills as might hinder his ends Thus the Lord prevents an ill marriage an unapt yoke-fellow when as yet there was far more likelihood that way then any other Yet the Lord crosses and defeats it so that it shall not take effect so also he stops and cuts off some such companion by death either friend or husband or wife or the like whose example or counsell might possibly have hindred the good of the other party 1 Sam. 25. Abigail being freed from Nabal was at liberty for David and so many a well-minded childe over-ruled by a crosse and peevish father or mother when God removes that tye is at more liberty to enjoy the meanes and to profite So that the Lord when he intends any thing doth alway remove out of his way the lets which might hinder his worke Lastly and especially the Lord doth put life successe and blessing into Branch 6 all such courses and meanes from first to last Puts life and successe into all occurrences as are offered by his providence that they shall take effect and leave the impression of grace behinde them Because God meant well to the Prodigall hee so ordered the matter that even contraries seemed to worke together for the best God oft workes by contraries Luke 14. If he had kept still with his father ten to one hee had been as the other brother But even the misery which he felt which might have been the next way to have made him desperate and to have rusht himselfe upon vile courses to his ruine or caused him to have laid violent hands upon himselfe yet by Gods dispensation wrought him to an utter loathing of his bad wayes and himselfe and to an earnest desire to seeke to his father for pardon Much more then doth the Lord blesse other wayes of sinners which are lesse unlikely as wee see in Naaman here no one passage befell him but brought him one step neerer and when hee had his owne desire that wrought in him such a brokennesse of spirit that he was thereby fitted to receive a better boon from God with more thankfulnes So that poor blinde man Ioh. 9. John 9. whom Christ purposed to save although at his first cure of blindnesse he was not converted yet the Lord was so effectuall in his cure so brake his heart by that love that when hee was most bitterly reproached and excommunicated for confessing him yet he gave not in nor shranke but convinced them with shame and put them to silence and when our Saviour had him upon that advantage he meets him againe in his streight and by a few words speaking to him converted him But these may serve Now for use of the point it is manifold First it is terror and admonition Vse 1 to all brutish prophane ones and base hypocrites Terror with admonition to such as are under no prevention but alway at one point who walke securely in their way some neglecting all meanes others using the most holy and effectuall meanes in a meere formall manner Both of them justly left at large by the Lord to themselves so that nothing workes upon conscience But even as the Wind-mill turning in her round every way yet stirre not out of their place so is it with them after ten twenty yeares they are where they were the first day no step neerer God but many further off For why alas they are farre from acknowledging any preventing grace of God in their course They know no other means but to goe to Church and present themselves among others in the place and so home againe As for a providence to prevent them to bow and sway their hearts to any tendernesse and towardlinesse to see themselves drawn by God to know themselves to see into their nature to abhorre it and embrace all opportunities for their owne spirituall furtherance to salvation they are farre from it And as they live so they dye And if the Lord at any time do scare their conscience or move them to any better thoughts of their wayes yet alas they have no intimation from God of any mercy therein are soone weary of them they vanish as they came And when they looke backe into their course past their youth education company marriage dwelling Ministery or the like alas they cannot speake of any moving of heart stopping their lewd course still they are in their thorough-fare heare like blockes are wearie of good company shun all opportunities of good for feare of being better glad when they can wash off good duties and winde themselves out of all occasions for heaven Alas poore wretches yee shall not need put off with one hand that mercie which you cannot pull on with both It must bee singular grace which must prevent you if ever you come to good But to goe against the edge of providence thinking your selves happiest when yee are out of the element of it is fearfull Doth it not sting you that you have felt so little of Gods prevention in all your wayes So many of your yeares time acquaintance not onely stirred but converted to God since your beginning and you still as saplesse and senselesse as ever Doth it not disquiet you to see all is too little for your ease will world lusts and vanities What have yee no sighes nor sobs in your dreams and upon your beds how it shall fare with you in the day of wrath and that there will be bitternesse in the end 2 Sam. 2. What I pray you is more miserable then to live without God in the world And who live so but such as feele not one pull by the eare one knock at the doore of your hearts or if they doe forget and shake it off with as little savour or regard as pigges tread upon pearles Alas if hee who is the authour of the Scriptures of Ministery of Sacraments of long-suffering of afflictions hath never yet cast the least seed of light or sparke of heat into you which should teach you to acknowledge these ordinances and administrations of his and to tremble at them Are you worse then Divels Application of the terror by admonition Therefore I pray you consider of what I say If the Lord raise not up the North winde to blow upon your spirits to encline and perswade them it
will be long enough ere you of your selves stirre one inch off your own ground If he alter not your intentions sure it is you will intend small good to your selves but please your selves in your drousie dead and senselesse way till yee goe hence and be no more Me thinks you should rouze up your selves and moan your selves to the Lord saying Am I the onely dry barren wretch of all others whom thy Spirit should never blow upon whom no mercies crosses or government of thine should ever affect I see O Lord thy steps wheresoever they goe drop fatnesse and thy fingers drop mirrh upon the handle of the doore Cant. 5.5 where thou knockest But I am still a barren desolate creature without any acquaintance with thee in thy wayes And for the second sort of such as have felt the Lord comming toward them in sundry wayes and that hee hath not left them without witnesse but by his Word his workes by death of wife or husband or by good company or losse of children estate name many privie and secret warnings of their conscience hath checked them or offered them many meanes of good and drawne their hearts thereby but they have shaken them off as a dog doth a blow on the head That sometime in such houses and places as they have dwelt in sometimes in hearing some searching Sermons or by the offer of Christian yoke-fellowes or by other occasions Such as God hath prevented beware of dallying the Lord hath solicited them earnestly to turn and repent howbeit it is with them as with Israel in the wildernesse whose carcasses were scattered therein they have tempted him seen his works but to no purpose for the Lord is vexed with them for their stubbornnesse and their hard and rebellious hearts which will not know God nor come in Oh! beware lest this patience of God which should have drawne you to repentance doe not harden your hearts to utter destruction To both sorts I say this Know it if those whom the Lord means to save he wil be alway busie about them to accommodate all things to their calling and conversion what a wofull case are they in who have all their lives long either seen no finger of his in meaning them good or else escaped his fingers most subtilly and slily as fast as he hath pursued them Doubtlesse for ought can appeare the Lord meanes them no good if they had been sheep belonging to his fold he would never have suffered them to erre and lose themselves so deeply in their lusts but hee would have recalled them But his not suffering the breath of his spirit one whit to stirre in them doubtlesse he meanes they shall nuzzle up themselves in a dead senselesse estate unto perdition Oh! what beds of ease doe you lye upon that you should take one nights rest two nights till you finde your selves out of this misery Secondly this should teach us to adore this great God and onely wise Vse 2 and that because hee hath the key not of the wombe onely and deeps Instruction Adore the wisedome and love of God in his preventing grace Jerem. 10.23 clouds and the grave but of the hearts of the sonnes of men Hee onely can order their courses wayes and intentions to their owne greatest good and his glory It is not in man to order his owne way the heart and purposes of men are their owne but the dispositions thereof are from the Lord as the issues so the preparations to life and death are in his hand It is no priviledge of a Prince over his subjects nor of a parent over his children nor of husband over wife They have authority to over-rule the bodies the outward behaviour and duties of such as are under them But for the secret over-swaying of intentions and turning them from their owne to his way it is onely the Lords prerogative It is with mans intentions as with the body of a man in a ship who walkes upon the hatches from East to West Yet the motion of the ship being contrary carries the man the way of her owne motion neverthelesse This should therefore breed in us singular reverence of God and provoke us to magnifie him both with our prayses and with our prayers With our praises first By praises As the Church in the Psalme having professed that shee had seene goings of God both towards their fathers and themselves Psal 68 24. Deut. 8. in wildernesse and Canaan that he might humble and try all in their heart subjoynes presently The men singers that goe before and the women singers after Psal 123.1 and praise the Lord. If the Lord had not been on my side shouldest thou say in disposing every way for my conversion I had never been brought home But I see that it was the finger of God that when I had run my selfe into desperate company forsaken the counsell of all friends shaped a course to my selfe perhaps to spend my patrimony riotously perhaps to haunt harlots and lewd companions or to travell beyond sea in an humour of discontent to seek my fortunes or to seek the world and implod my self in the dirt and dunghill of covetousnesse or to mâ—â—ch my selfe resolutely with one whom I fancied onely for her out-sidâ—â—ayâ—â—g Give mee her for she pleases me well then did the Lord provide better for mee then I deserved turn mine intentions quite off divert them to serious thoughts of mine estate prepare a good wife a peaceable life in marriage good friends good Ministery and turne mee from the pit I sought a good frame in a blinde corner under an Idoll the Lord tooke him away sent a better and tooke me napping in my hole and brought me home to himselfe Job 33. No good soule that hath tasted these preventions of God can bee silent Sundry passages of preventing providence one prayses God that living in a desolate prophane corner of the Country in the practice of drunkennesse and lewdnesse the Lord sent a friend by providence to the house where he dwelt who by his sober caniage and report of the fruit of the Gospel in other parts brake me off from my sinfull life bred a zeal after God good means by which I was haled out of my dungeon to live under the Ministery in Goshen where I was convinced by the light of truth and converted to God Another comes in and saith O Lord if I had rusht upon such a match lighted upon such a Ministery I had been quite lost thou plantedst me better As Psal 80. the Church blesses God for pulling her from Egypt where she grew as a lilly among thornes into a better soile So should we adore Gods preventing us accommodating and suting occasions crossing lets giving strength to the meanes and overruling purposes as no doubt the woman John 4. going to her kinsfolke and saying Come see a man who hath told me all magnified mercy which finding her in a cursed scornefull
and prophane way stopt her and changed her heart Paul to be sure did so 1 Tim. 1.17 having shewed how God found him a persecutor blasphemer and wronger of innocents yet abounded in mercy and called him home Oh! he cannot wonder enough at it tells it out to others and himselfe concludes Now to the immortall invisible olny wise God to sway all to his ends be all honour for ever yea and we should never cease to call upon ours aswell as our selves to doe it when I sent thee forth my child as Iacob to Laban the Lord did order thy journey for the best defeated thee of that thou wouldest and diverted thee to that which was farre safer and better for thee Dost thou not see how hee leaves others to themselves doth not prevent them with any softnesse and tendernesse provides not well suffers them to run wild and to tire themselves in their owne vanities Thus good Naomi perceiving that God had heard her prayers for poore Ruth a stranger Ruth 3. to rivet her into the Church and make her the mother of Davids grandfather provokes her to wonder saying who art thou my daughter And hearing her to entitle God to the worke she confirmes her to trust God for afterward Branch 2 And secondly it should stir up in us prayer for our selves and others that the good hand of our God may alway attend and overrule our intentions and waies for good Our prayers should succeed our prayses Gen. 24.12 Eliezer beleeving the Lord to be such a wise and powerfull disposer fell to prayer that when Rebecca should come out to draw water for the cattell and for himselfe the Lord would prevent her with such thoughts as might promote and succeed his enterprise So should we in our journeyes travailes attempts of weight changes of our estate going to the congregation meeting good company beseech him that his good haâ—d might appeare in all these and through all the occasions of the day for the furthering and not dismaying us in our holy course See Job 1. end Yea even for others we should earnestly beg and say Oh Lord this day my husband goeth to such a Sermon Thou knowest he lookes at nothing save his owne ends rests upon his smooth civill bottome that he is no grosse person his wordly wit ease and pleasure are the wheels to carry him on Oh Lord oft have I begd mercy for him to open his heart and change him Now prevent him Lord let thy Minister be in his bosome convince him lay some block of thine to stop him Ezek. 14.3 remoove the stumbling block of his owne iniquity send him home more humble then he went though thy spirit blow never so weakly yet let it blow and by little and little bring him home Let me be no let to him and thy worke My unquiet heart is ready to discontent my selfe and so the husbands to the wife when I see matters goe amisse and so give way to passions unkinde and unsavoury words But alas The worke is thy prevention So for others Lord when I send forth my children to the University or to service I hope all shall be well They shall meet thy good hand to prosper them they shall be brought nearer to thee in knowledge and thou wilt blesse studies tutor company to bring them to better passe But all is in thee I have hitherto been too confident they have miscarried and stumbled at base examples Lord now at last prevent them for good Gen. 43.13.14 and lay such hold upon them that they may not slip Iacob sending his sonne Benjamin to Egypt little thinking what God intended yet intreated God to blesse them and to send his Angel before them and to give them favour in the sight of the man The Lord heard him in that and added a further blessing for he so hampered them by Iosephs wise austerity and policy that their conscience began to check them for their selling him and so by degrees their sinne comming to light they could crie out God had found them all out in their basenesse Some of them incestuous as Reuben and Iuda others murtherers as Simon and Levi and the rest like them Cap. 45. but in likelihood this became the first step to their reclaiming Oh! so should we beg Lord we send them out into the wide world or wee are to goe to our long home and leave them behinde among Lions Beares and Wolves and Foxes Lord let them find favour with thy Majesty let thy good hand goe but with them All pray for wealth and prosperity for their children Psal 4.6.7 But Lord shew them thy countenance and that they are of thine Elect and therefore within thy Covenant wheresoever they become prevent them with grace let thy Ministers and people love them let all turne to their good their services their dwellings tradings marriages Ministery and let them see that none can finde out any thing after thee that thou art in all because things could not have any way framed better for them then they shall finde Stop all lets and crossings either from within their proud vain hearts or from without Satan his subtilty and the baites or snares of this world Adde so both these It should breed humiliation in our hearts It should hold us in an holy awe and reverence of God and teach us to set his Crowne upon his head when we see t is not all our counsells Ministery be it never so powerfull education thought and care which can prevent our owne hearts or the hearts of ours or others who belong to us with any goodnesse we may pray and commend them to God as Isaac and Rebecca did Iacob in that sad pilgrimage of his to Padan The Lord it must be who must succeed him Gen. 28.1.2.3 who must encourage him at Luz and set forward his journey with prospering So that this should abase us in all best attempts Salomon could not with all his wisedome foretell whether a foole or a wise man should inherit all his travailes I confesse it ought to stay us from discontent Eccle. 2.19 if God have not heard us for our children but suffered them to run riot if we have as Iob jealously offered sacrifice for them and commended them to the good hand of God but all this will not exempt us from greefe when we see them scapethrifts and unhappy ones when we doe not commend them to the word of his grace we may thanke our selves if they thrive not yet in our best and most solicitous desires wee must not rest satisfied in our endeavours but still humbly tremble under the power of that God whose prerogative it is to prevent them with mercy to accommodate all occasions to stop all obstacles and to succeed all helpes for their good Oh! the woefull ruine of thousands who have bin children of the choysest prayers teares cost and care should teach us to lie low before the Lord in this case
integritie of course To whom I answer Doe yee thus require the Lord O yee unthankfull people scarce worth the name of people Did the Lord give yee brasse out of the stones and silver out of his hidden treasures mercie when yee looked for none that yee should still distrust his promise If when yee were strangers yet he so prevented yee to make yee children shall hee forsake yee being now in covenant Did he kill the old Serpent and Leviathan and shall hee suffer her spawne to destroy yee Did he remove the guilt of sin from destroying you and shall he leave the venome of it to bee a goad in your side and a pricke in your eyes to make your life desolate No not except yee forsake the promise looking that God shoulâ— drop mercie still out of clouds and prevent you as at first without any beleeving of yours No hee now puts ye to it to work out your own salvation with fear having his pretious promises 2 Cor. 7.1.2 labour to perfect your sanctification To take his Sword Helmet and Breast-plate and fight the holy warre of God against your selves Judg. 3.2 and all enemies and not to looke that the Egyptians should still be drowned while you looke on While yee were children yee did as such but being men the Lord looks his stocke should grow and bee put to occupying and that yee should be setled and rooted therein As for outward blessings Esay 25. hath God made you a feast in the mountaines and will he deny yee it in the valleyes Luk. 12.23.24 Will he so cloath the Lillies that labour not nor spin and shall hee leave you to shift for your selves who next to the kingdome serve his providence for a meet portion here Matth. 6.32 shall hee not cast in these things without sin or sorrow Did hee prevent your soules from perdition and shall hee not prevent want from your bodies Doth he so cloath the hearb and flowers of the field which to morrow are cast into the Oven and shall he not doath feed and provide for you in this world 2 Pet. 1. for whom hee hath provided a crowne hereafter as Peter saith immortall and not fading To conclude if hee have over-ruled your intentions for his owne glory and your owne salvation should yee feare lest any Divell or instrument of his should come between you and home Say thou livest in dark times in places where the wicked beare sway Esay 63. what then As the Church Esay 63. cries Thou wert mercifull to us of old Lord what are all thy bowels and rollings restrained Oh! deliver us still Thou canst over-sway their intentions by the same prevention and turne them to the contrarie aime Their policies and devices against thee and thine shall not preuaile thou canst scatter them thou canst avert convert or pervert them at thy pleasure 1 Sam. 23.27 2 Sam. 17.7 Gem. 31.29 Acts 9.9 Avert them as Saul from David pervert as Achitophels against David convert as Paul from a persecutor They shall say as Laban to Iacob It was in my power to do you hurt but the God of your Fathers appeared unto me yester night and prevented me Acts 12.3 Herod Acts 12. intended to bring out Peter to be slaine after Iames but the Lord had another purpose which overthrew his as cob-webs swept downe with a besome In a word if God once declared his prevention of mercie toward us Oh! let us not presume yet let us honour him thus far by our experience that still the same God will be at worke for us in our particular course to turn all to better then wee could look for Ruth 2. 3. as to poore Ruth when she went out to gleane barley the Lord found her out rest all her dayes Oh! if once he have delighted in us he still will rejoyce to make us objects of like mercie so that all shall see us to be his favourites and long for our portion And for this point Sermon an Verse thus much Let us pray c. THE THIRD LECTVRE Vpon the tenth verse VERSE X. And Elisha sent a Messenger unto him saying Go wash seven times in Iordan and thy flesh shall come againe to thee and thou shalt be cleane VERS 10. But Naaman was wroth c. THIS poore Pilgrime and patient Naaman as yee have heard beloved hath stood some time at the Prophets doore denying himselfe and his esteeme Entry upon the substance of the miracle honour and favour with his Prince he and his train submitting themselves and standing at the courtesie of God and his Prophet for his cure And although we heare of no words or suit comming from him yet his very habit and standing in the deep silence of it speaketh and calleth aloud for the Prophets helpe And indeed it had been hard-hearted and unmercifull for Elisha having himself sent for him to his house when he was wildred seeing how humble his suppliant is to have let him to stand as a dumb pageant without salutation Courtesie and morals could not have denied him that favour and much more that Spirit wherewith the Prophet was filled a spirit of mildnesse mercie exorablenesse and easinesse to be intreated of a petitioner so miserable and comming so farre for helpe must needs hearken to his request This verse therefore shewes us what message Elisha sends him to the doore And now at this third Sermon weare passed the Antecedent occasions leading us to the Contents of the Cure and are come to the chiefe substance of the story Whereof to make a full Analyse all at once because it would clog the hearers memory therefore we thinke it here superfluous onely wee will severall the story into her branches opening the first of them here in our entrance upon it but for the rest we will referre them to the threshold of their particular handlings that every thing may be more lively and better remembred The whole story then hath these five distinct parts The first Elisha his message sent to Naaman standing at his gate and full of expectation and that in this tenth verse The second is Naamans entertainment and construction of it The generall heads of the story five and how it tooke with him and that in the eleventh and twelfth verses The third generall is the Rejoynder of his poore servants upon their masters misconstruction of the message and that containes their loyall and serious treatie and counsell of wiser interpretation and for better carriage that in the 13. verse The fourth is the issue and happinesse of all the sweet conclusion of a sad entrance and that is that upon the overture and intimation of his servants or rather of grace he changes his former resolution to be gone into an obedient submission to wash in Jordan The fifth and last the issue of his obedience partly immediate that hee found the Prophet true hee was instantly cleansed his flesh returning as a young childes
effectuall calling whether by Law or Gospel which may appeare by this that the issue of all the worke of calling is faith And faith we know is the cheefe obedience of the heart to the word both commanding and promising and tries most of all the subjection of the soule Such then as is the end such is the preparative all the whole course of God therefore in converting the soule is to yoke downe and subject the heart to himselfe 2 Cor. 10.4 by casting out all which is set up in it against it as Paul speakes All opposition all rebellion all enmity which is therein whether before the meanes revealed Note well as all naturall poison of heart such as Naaman here is full of carnall savour of his cure resting to the prop of flesh and the Prophets ability or under the meanes themselves revealed must stoop to God somewhat or other terrors or promises or both must rid the soule of each high thought strong hold and error which suffers not the Lord to enter So is it here with Naaman he comes full of carnall confidence upon the arme of flesh and his owne rewards hope of speeding and going home an whole man but the Lord intending to send him home a new man crosses him in his old and strives to subdue the savour of his flesh to the savour of divine power Object It may be objected that this prevaild not with Naaman for in the next verse he fell to rage against the Prophet Answ I answer Although this course of God tooke not effected presently yet it was not lost it lay as leaven in the meale the whiles and had the due effect in his season But for the point know it brethren and judge your selves thereby 2. Branches of use of Exhortation There is in the soule a kingdome of darkenesse and Satan ruling thereby If God meane good to the soule he will translate it Branch 1 from under the subjection of this kingdome before he translate it under the kingdome of his deare sonne Judge of our selves by this order Col. 1.13 Looke therefore to your selves well at this plat and first be not discouraged although you finde under the meanes and ordinances Word Law Gospel fasting and prayer wofull fightings of corruption and concupisence rebellion against the worke of the Law resistance of the Gospel These will be and oftimes it is better it be thus Rebellion in the regenerate tends to the greater humiliation Rom. 7.13.18 then not for if the Lord be in the worke this very rebellion against God shall turne to good and abase the soule so much the more after as before it swelled against God I meane when he shall overpower it by that Spirit which convinceth of sinne Then I say shall the sinfulnesse of the soule out of measure sinfull occasion to it selfe a deeper humbling then if it had never rebelled Be not therefore troubled at that but be sure that the worke which it leaves behinde it be sound be sure the soule revolt not to her former ignorance fleshly savour fulnesse of her owne wisedome and corrupt worldly proud peevish and prophane frame lest it grow worse then ever Branch 2 Secondly brethren to be short let Gods end be our end in the whole course of the Ministery Of exhor Rom. 14.17 Judge not his kingdome of grace peace and righteousnesse to be set up in us before the kingdome of sin and darkenesse bee pulled downe Christ and Belial two Kings two kingdomes cannot stand 2 Cor. 6.14 one throne must be set up upon the others ruines The text tells us 1 King 16.22 when Omri and Tibni stood in competition for the Crowne the followers of Omri prevailed against the other So Tibni died and Omri raigned Just so it is here Till Tibni die Omri cannot raigne The best judgement of Gods people is not by what they have but what they want The Kingdome of God cannot stand till Satans be pulled down for they are incompatible Judge not your selves then I beseech you by those fruits which make semblance of goodnesse in you as by encrease of knowledge gifts to pray much hearing good memory reforming and abstaining from some evills biting in some ill qualities which dare not breake out But judge your selves by the casting downe of your strong forts and high thoughts and stout hearts one dram of this will secure you more of a safe estate and hold out longer then a pound of the other Try whether in all your other proceedings seemings to grow in the house of God your selves grow daily lowlier meeker brokenner for all Gods gifts are seasoned with humilitie and negatives in this kinde are your surest markes not so much what you have got in knowledge but what you have lost of your owne If yee prove this latter the other will prosper alone otherwise this will be a canker to fret out the marrow of the other It is no hard thing for a man to judge what meat his appetite stands to or not Observe your owne frame after all your hearings God will not judge yee by the helpes meanes or gifts yee have but by what your selves are If then your secret consciences bear you witnesse that when all is done yet a proud heart a scornfull spirit uncharitable selfe-loving ranke for it owne ends resting upon carnall proppes angry revenging clasping to the creature as Naaman here did or the like still lurke in yee and beare the sway when ye are put to it in Gods feare doe not rest till the Word have wrought a further worke in you and cast downe this kingdome in you Seek for more working both by the terror and promise For surely till this old kingdome be down at least subdued and tributary as Sauls house under David Edom and Moab to Salomon all your hearings cannot profit you Tremble when yee meet with the old kingdome you shall soone try your selves when occasion of triall comes and be well assured that whom the Lord calls them he subdues and here he pulls up one prop there another pillar of the old throne here he subdues ignorance there a false heart there a carnall minde God subdues corruption in his by peece-meale the savour of the flesh the will of man the pride the stomacke the wordly ends till he have ruined the throne And although a subtile professor will cover all these with the mantle of Religion yet still the comparison abides because he wants an heart to be rid of it But as for others you may feele them with a glove for even in the midst of their devotions giving thankes for meat praying or hearing their hearts are with their covetousnesse and lusts and sometimes they will be quarrelling and praying talking of the world and saying grace with one breath But so much of this branch A second is this The second meditaion upib this I have noted before in Naamans crouching at Elisha his gate how that disease of his
abased him very farre to such an inferior as the Prophet was Now we see he receives an affront from him by him whom he so submitted himselfe unto being so far from healing him at the first that hee comes not out to salute him And why To teach him to cease his crouching to the Prophet and crouch to God another while Some might say alas poore man he had sorrow enough before but Object I answer spare your pitty This second winde shakes no corne It is not Answ in an outward crosse nor the power of it to subdue the heart to God it may handsome a man in his outside to manward and make him stoope to man but it cannot doe it to God Wherefore now the Lord puts a tongue into the word and Message of Elisha whereby he comes a little further to consider whom hee had directly to deale with even the Lord himselfe who suffers not the cure to proceed to the end that hee might looke better about him and see into his base heart which hindred it And wee must conceive that although this wrought not presently yet the Lord being with it it wrought somewhat at last Let it briefly teach us beloved thus much Bodily crosses can reach no further then bodily ends Job 33.13 no crosse nor bodily strait of it selfe can reach further then to a bodily end There must bee a word added to the workes of God before the heart will breake The Lord must as I noted before speak once and twice ere pride will be hidden and the soule humbled in kinde and then it stoopes Well said Habacuc Cap. 2. I heard thy voice and my lips quivered my limbes trembled and rottennesse entred into my bones that I might have peace in the day of trouble And Esay Cap. 28. asketh whom shall I cause to understand and whom shall I teach wisedome Heb. 4.12 even him that is weaned from the brests and who trembleth at my words The word and voice of God onely able to pierce the heart It is the voice of God which must pierce the heart till it tremble The voices of sicke mens repentance wanting a word vanish The reason is because the workes alone are a brute sound and have no tongue in them The word is all onely God hath blessed it and therefore other meanes are unblest The word must be the interpreter Nay many times under a crosse alone the heart waxeth more hardned and rebellious or at least wise it puts off God with confessions under the rack or else it windes out it selfe and counts it as a common accident befalling mortality It s my hard lot saith one God helpe me to be thus afflicted Even as blessings alone bring none to feele love from God of themselves being common things bestowed upon all sorts as it hits so is it with crosses Nay some blinde idiots imagine Popishly that their portion here in trouble and straits is a signe that they have their hell here and shall not therefore have it hereafter But however sure it is let a man have never so much sickenesse poverty reproach feare of death upon him none of these are blessed to search out his pride jollity carnall ease unsavorinesse Atheisme worldlinesse or the poyson of old Adam These all may lurke and abide under a crosse a man may still nouzell himselfe in his sensuality security rotten peace unbeleefe and hope that he is in Gods favour But when the word comes that dashes out all errours and false conceits Why so because it brings God into the soule as the Arke into the campe and causes the soule to behold herselfe in the glasse of his perfection the neerer it comes to God the more it loathes it selfe Job 42.2 I have now seene thee saith Iob therefore I abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes Let it teach us never to rest till the Lord hath turned us out of our common path and brought us into a narrow way even to deale with himselfe His word will present him unto us as in a glasse wherein we may behold him in his excellent Attributes his Justice Wisedome revenge of his enemies a Judge of the wicked a rewarder of the righteous This sight will coole our courage as it did Naamans here stop us in our headlong courses make our owne conceits and errours odious teach us to wait upon God till he shall hearken to us till he shall humble convince and perswade us Doubtlesse when wee come closely to behold his face and to feele his authoritie over the conscience how severe an avenger he is of all our pride rebellion and that he whom we have to deal with beholds our inward man and all the corruption thereof nothing is hidden to his eye but all things are naked and manifest before him then all our heat of spirit Heb 4.13 confidence of our happy condition disdaine of others pleasing our selves in our carnall hopes applauding our parts our duties performances will vanish as a private mans lands and livelihoods vanish in a great Mappe of the world Then our plumes quaile and we say depart from us O Lord sinfull wretches In the sight of this Sunne all our darkenesse and unrighteousnesse Luke 5.7 become irkesome and all our corruption is swallowed up in this sea of his perfection So much for this The third and last short meditation from this ground is this The last meditation that as the Lord began before to humble Naaman in part so he holds him still close to the worke of humiliation and enlarges him not Proud nature of man quickly forgets humilition till he had brought him to sound humbling of soule It shewes us what our nature is in this behalfe We are like to light Corke which will floate aloft and except a man hold it under by strong hand will pearke up to the top When we are downe and low one would thinke it should be a great worke to raise us up to any cheere againe But no sooner is the stone blown upon by a little puffe of winde although it have been steept in water a whole night but it waxes dry againe presently as if never wetted The hard and stony heart of proud man can never sufficiently be battered and tamed but it wil returne to her course againe instantly And the truth is These dayes especially and why the dayes we live in have a peculiar disease in this kinde above former dayes Gods wrath revenging our former contempt of his law and terrors of conscience and our dallying with them and shaking them off through a base heart weary of trouble To be abased and low when and while the Lord will have us so for our own good and to think well of it is a rare grace We are a kin to Ionah Jona 3. and 4. who was no sooner out of the Whales belly but contrary to vow and covenant pearkes up again presently and quarrells with God for converting Ninivee and for his slaine gourd
and no wisedome would charme his folly So Hezekiah 2 Chron 32.25 after the like recovery of the plague and promise of humble carriage yet instantly bubbles up againe upon the comming of the Embassadours If this be done by the greene tree what is to be looked for in the dry What wonder then if Naaman may so ill be trusted with a cure at first under hope of humbling afterward No the Lord will hold him while he hath him and treads upon his heele still with new affronts to keep him at that bay till hee have throughly cast out his scurfe God makes cleare way before him It is the Lords course to doe his worke substantially and throughly hee will not sustaine any dishonour in his owne that he hath built them by halfes As for hypocrites they flye before they are halfe feathered and can doe him no discredit Hence it is that the Lord hath been faine to prolong affliction and abasement upon his servants that others beholding them might suspect themselves It might seeme else a superfluous thing to adde water to the sea and so long crosses to Iob a man already truly humble and fearing God But Job 1.1 1 Tim. 1.16 as Paul speakes of Gods grace towards him that it was for the example of more then himselfe so was Iobs humbling a paterne for all men to behold their owne base heart in this kinde and what an hidden depth of scurfe is in the chinkes and corners of it Verily in these dayes he or she may be as wonders and strange sights who walk duly in the sense of past and present corruption before God with humblenesse and privitie to themselves As the sive holds water while it is in the water Simile and no longer so doth our proud heart stoop while the yoke is upon us But few subdue their hearts to this safe demeanure daily That if another man should come and tell them Friend me thinkes your spirit is very light and inconstant not swayed to humblenesse 2 Kings 2. he might answere with Elisha I know it hold your peace for I blesse God I am under the aw of Gods greatnesse and my base heart is ever before me Psal 51. I walke continually in a jealousie of my proud and fickle spirit in this kinde Word workes little without afflictions in our times How few are there now-a-dayes cast downe by the Word alone without some powerfull addition of afflictions to set the Word on working When the Lord hath cut the veines and let out some ranke bloud by the Law how is he faine to set men in an hot bath of some other crosse to keep these veines in bleeding So that except God keep us very low and bare so ranke we are that we fall into a Pleurifie againe instantly Use of the point The use we should make of this branch is briefly this First that wee walke heavily under this body of death in us Counting the same our heavie burden mourning bitterly that our base spirits should be so weary of Gods yoke so light so frothy and inconstant Oh should wee say who hath more cause to walke humbly before God every houre then I being guilty of so many rebellions so deep-died of so long continuance hardly washt out so canker-fretted and yet Lord help me my teares are as the morning dew my spirit more fethery and giddy then any mans So prone to relapse to my old humours and to forget the sorrow which my sinnes cost me and all the vowes of humblesse and a broken hearted carriage Walke heavily under the misery of a slight giddy heart Truely this disease causeth a good soule to walke uncomfortably and the very best graces of God to affoord lesse savour and comfort And secondly it should teach us all especially Gods Ministers not to be over-forward to rest secure of our childrens estate or of others who at first gave good hope of true humiliation under the Law Charity is good let us charitably hope the best of all But yet let us eate some salt with them and wait some time to see what fruits will come of it whether they wax not weary Heb. 12.7 1 Tim. 5.11 Heb. 12. of Gods chastening and like those widowes who waxed wanton against Christ and weary of Church-service returning to their old vanities But yet too much credulity not meet for Gods people being dead while they were alive Particularly observe whether the Law be as welcome to them still as at first how they brook the discipline of such a School-master that they might get downe their base hearts and keep them under Mark them whether the pride of their spirit opinion of themselves jollity of the world warmth of their owne feathers and pride of life cause them not to forget their former humblings as if now they had learned a new lesson to bee lesse precise and more wise If we see such stuffe in them wee shall have little cause to repent that we suspected their beginnings And lastly for our selves count we it the onely safe estate that which promiseth soundest comfort most peace best safety and sweetest feelings of Christ when our hearts are kept within the bounds of feare and humility and awfulnesse And desire the Lord not to trust us over farre nor leave us long without some wholesome Items and buffetings rather then we should wax loose and run out of his blessing into our owne warme Sunne Blessed is hee that feareth alway and if God crosseth him not crosseth himselfe And so much also for this third branch and this first observation Now I come to the second the Message is Wash seven times in Iordan The second â—bservation out of this tenth verse and thou shalâ— be cleane Touching these words as they contain a charge and a promise annexed I shall speake more at large when I come to handle Naamans obedience in the verses following Here I onely touch a point or two generally flowing from the words and first the meane which God appointed him to use for his cure to wit the washing seven times in Jordan Ere I come to this point a Papist or Master of superstition would here make a stop as a traveller at a crosse in the high way and pick out a mystery out of the number of seven Why seven times saith a Papist Quest and not twice or five times There is surely some religion in this period and some mystery to be observed in it I answer Answ I know none except perhaps the Lord would have Naaman acquainted with the ceremonies of the lepers clensings Levit. 14.8 c. which yet I dare not affirm for then he might have sent him rather to the Priest at Jerusalem then to an extraordinary Prophet raised up in the absence of the ordinary Priest which now was expelled from the ten Tribes Therefore rather I answer That so it pleased the Lord to have it See 2 Cro. 16.3.4
powder and shot to the battery The Lord therefore substitutes seely instruments in stead thereof and when mighty effects follow then is his might magnified For the second though wee deny not but the Lord is chiefe The 2. yet still we look at meanes and thinke God workes by them and why should wee not therefore embrace them Our base hearts fall short of God through lazinesse and distrust as well as by Atheisme And therefore even here also God layes a block in our way to stumble at and breake our shinnes to teach us to behold God more closly in the use of meanes both in matters of the World and of the Word he puts us off from our Elisha and sends us to wash in Jorden Thirdly if we goe a little further The 3. and set God up in his place above the meanes yet we take it for granted he must not faile us wee will tye him to over-rule and work by the meanes and thinke much if God satisfie us not accordingly Whereas wee should so look at God as an absolute soveraigne Agent who can work or not work by them above them against them without them Now I come to the use And first this is instruction in sundry kindes Vses 1 First Instruct to teach us why the Lord hath so stript our land and kingdome of Branch 1 so many worthy Lights and Instruments as he hath done some by death some by banishment others in warre others by other violence why hee hath so stript and bared us of many both in civill and Ecclesiasticall state Surely because we applauded our selves too much in their policie Wee have lost many worthy instruments because wee ascribed too much unto them their wisedome their learning experience and sufficiencie We have not looked upon God in their gifts zeale and labours wee have magnified our selves in our store and provision as if we should never be desolate as Tyrus did pride her self in her store of Jewels and pretious stones as Babel sate like a Queen and said she should never see sorrow and therefore was suddenly brought downe See Ezek. cap. 26.27 and 28. verse 13. Jer. 51.53 Lam. 1.9 John 5 35. and as Jerusalem thought her selfe the holy Mountaine and Citie of God the mirror of the world having the Ark of Gods presence his Temple and Priests his Ordinances and Prophets his Word and Oracles therefore Lam. 1. shee came downe wonderfully Even so hath it been with us No sooner hath the Lord planted in any place a faithfull Minister as a shining Light and burning Candle but the people have fallen to idolize him to rejoyce in his out-side to thinke themselves safe and happy in enjoying such Instruments ascribing all the effect of his labours to him little acknowledging the finger of God or the office which hee sustaines not honouring him for the worke sake which hee serves for to reconcile them to God to beget them to a lively hope by the Gospell This basenesse of our fleshly respects hath caused the Lord to rob us of them and to set mean ones in their roomes To teach men to lay to heart their former carnall ends How many have received Prophets to farre other ends then the Lord ever sent them To make them as tearmes of comparison between person and person some to hold upon Apollo 1 Cor. 3.3.4 some Cephas some Paul some others To censure to jangle and some to bring themselves and Townes into some credit in the countrey others to get good custome for their wares and shops others to make themselves wel reputed praised for their forwardnesse and zeal in profession whereas yet alas the meanes being gone and the sive taken out of the water they have proved as meere formall time-servers and as ignorant of their grounds as they who never made shew at all Others have securely rested in their labours never looking for any change of heart thereby but thinking the Prophets shall live for ever and when they are gone fretting at their precisenesse of conscience and unthankfully leaving them to sink or swim and shift as they can Is this beloved to honour God in his ordinance to cleave close to it as under God the mean of conversion Is this to count their feet beautifull and to adore the Lord in the varietie of his gifts and instruments Rom. 10.15 No no and therefore the Lord hath been fain to take them out of the way and leave us to our selves so that our supply was never so great as our defeat is strange All to teach us to looke at the simplicitie of Gods ends to serve God first and man with his leavings let the Lord have the heart set him up there in selfe-deniall humility faith sincerity and faithfulnesse and then let the instrument have the over-plus that honour and countenance which belongs to him for his service For God counts not himselfe robbed by that esteeme wherein we have his Minister under himselfe but that which he hath above himselfe And surely it is not for nothing that the renowned King lately slaine in the heat of his warres King of Sweden oft spake a little before his death that the Lord would not long suffer him to live because the people made him such an Idoll and robbed God of his due to magnifie him Papists worship a dead blocke for want of knowledge and we a living one for lacke of faith the one for a little carving and workmanship of gold and silver the other for a little varnish of gifts or excellencie or parts the one from man the other from God but both idolatrous because against the honour of the giver Branch 2 Another branch of instruction Instruction is to teach us why the Lord doth so defeat men of their purposes and projects which they frame to themselves when they goe to worke upon their owne heads in matters of God We have seen it with our eyes verified Eccles 9.11 which Salomon speakes That victory is not alway with the strong nor race with the swift nor wealth to the provident nor esteeme to the vain-glorious nor spirituall successe to the Minister though learned and rarely qualified because men have boasted of their strength swiftnesse policie experience providence and abilities more then the Lord. I am witnesse my selfe of some sad events in this kinde that men have spent themselves in their studie to perfect some speciall discourse and Master-peece of their owne braine either to beare downe the truth and broach schismaticall points or to win the spurres and get themselves the eternall repute of learned persons or some vaine applause of fantasticke auditors as if they sought a plaudite upon the stage a base prophanenesse both in them that seek it and them that offer it But the Lord hath so resisted their pride and struck off their wheeles brought them to such a reproachfull non-plus before all their auditors that they have verified the speech God resisteth the proud
Jam. 4.6 and some of them have got more grace when they became more humble Oh! what a terror it should be to all such as dare affront God in his owne element and covet to honour themselves with that which they sacrilegiously have stollen from God! If the Lord loath it in a meere politicke Atheist and in an heathen the one affecting the glory the other defiling the vessels of God Herod I mean and Belshazzar Dâ—n 5.5 Act. 12.23 both which were fearfully plagued If I say this were done in the green tree what shall bee done in the dry how shall they escape who with more impudence and resistance of light shall dare God to his face A third branch of instruction is concerning the wisedome of God Branch 3 in his ordinances Instruct Wonder not why God chuseth seely instruments Wonder we not why the Lord should chuse such poor and seely meanes and instruments for the effecting so incomparable events of humbling of the soule and converting it to God as hee hath done To speake of some personall instruments first may it not be wondred at that the Lord should worke by such poore yea contrary meanes to reason as he hath done in casting downe the throne of Antichrist and rearing up the kingdome of the Lord Jesus By poore Luther a despised Monke to convince a great part of Europe of their many hundreth yeares error and to bring in by degrees the light of the Gospel into so many nations making the very pillars of Popery to shake and the foundations to tremble By such a poore seely creature as William Tindall to subdue our poore English Nation to the knowledge of Christ By a Prince who both in practice and writing professed himselfe the Defender of Popish faith and sate in person upon the lives of some of Christs Martyrs shedding their bloud to satisfie that Whore to doe a worke which if many Princes together had joyned to doe had been unlike to be accomplished that is to cast out the Pope out of his free-hold and possessions throughout the land were not these great things are they not the Lords workes and marvellous in our eyes By our Iosiah a childe of seven yeares old afterward to settle the Gospel throughout the Dominion abandoning the refuse and taile that remained By what meanes since Luther these sixe score yeares hath the Gospel been supported and that against the gates of hell and the policies of Papists every day more and more increasing and recovering the wound which they received Surely even by poore seely instruments which God raised up in sundry Nations armed onely by the weapons of a spirituall warfare that the glory might be Gods As Zachar. 4. the Lord speakes of those two great Olives Iehoshua and Zerubbabel despised men crope out of captivity assisted with a poore multitude of captives in the midst of most potent enemies that even these two should restore the ruines Jerusalem both the Civill and Ecclesiasticke state though to man-ward there were no strength in them yet by my Spirit and my strength saith the Lord even as the two Olives dropped oyle without any helpe or Art of man into the Lamps set under them by divine providence And touching the Ordinances what were the authority of a sinfull man of like passions to us toward the subduing of the conscience of rebels and traitors and converting them to God What strength of the greatest warriors or Rhetoricke of Orators or wit of Politicians could come neere it Onely the Lord hath chosen such poore conduits and conveyances that his own glory might sustaine no prejudice by mens leaving the Lord and committing idolatry with the meanes Why hath he cloathed his Sacraments so poorly and allowed us no sumptuous pomp and bravery in them save to deliver us from a Carnall and to recover us to a Spirituall worship As if a jealous man over an unchaste Spouse should purposely receive no servants into his house save meanly bred base and deformed that so hee might remove all colour and pretence from her to fall in love with any save himselfe What is so ordinary as to heare a poore man utter a few words or see him powre out a little wine or offer a morsell of bread No voice being heard no sight to be seen besides Yea why is it that all furniture of Jewish Temple Altars Worship those Ordinances of outward solemnity the Ephod the Garments Gold and pretious stones those carnall wayes of visions dreames apparitions miracles and fire from heaven Heb. 1.1 are all turned into one way Heb. 1.1 more spirituall that is Christ preached by men Surely that the Spirit convoy'd by them might appeare to be from God and not man But of this read more in my former Treatise of Sacraments Object Then pull downe Arts and Sciences Ere I come to any further use here is an objection offers it selfe viz. If God use so mean things to do the greatest workes Then may some say it may seeme the meaner and sillier the persons bee the fitter they are for God to use and honour himselfe by and then why pull wee not downe Students learned men in Tongues and Arts and set up Tradesmen in their roomes Answ No. To which I answer No. The Church of God hath alway joyned the porch of the Schoole to the Church and drawne thence into her service men sufficiently qualified for all knowledge and parts meet for the Ministery When the Master leads the hand of a Boy to write the lesse the Boy moves of himselfe the meeter he is to grace the skill of the leader But if any should inferre hereupon that the Boy were better want an hand altogether who would not say this were a ridiculous consequence It must bee presupposed that hee who is not qualified with gifts to teach is no organ or hand at all for the Lord to make use of Amos was an Heard-man and in that respect meane enough yet withall exceedingly qualified by extraordinary inspiration so the Apostles unlearned and men of trade howbeit very admirably gifted for the Ministery Otherwise they had been no instruments of any honour to God at all but rather of great reproach as if God should appoint men for the greatest uses and not be able to qualifie them with gifts conducing thereto Even so now Arts and Studies are come in the stead of extraordinary inspirings If men should want the furniture thereof how should they interpret the Scriptures order their speech utter their minde perswade the hearer The grace of the Spirit runnes in these as in a stream But my meaning is that men of like infirmities with others mean perhaps for breed for other carnall endowments policie greatnesse in the world yet the Lord having qualified them with abilities of wisedome grace and poverty of spirit useth them as mean as they are to his owne greatest ends conversion I meane and edification of soules Though in other outward respects they promise little yet
they will ground themselves upon the wisedome of flesh and the preaching of such as seeke with curious and quaint oratory and the deceitfulnesse of man to entangle the minde or else they care not whether they heare any or no. But oh ye wise worldings know ye that God doth usually the greatest things by meanest instruments know ye not that flesh loves it selfe and that there is small hope of doing any great things by fleshly meanes should then flesh glory in her selfe and take away the glory from God by an unsanctified and unsavoury boasting of it owne strength Surely looke to it they who build their faith on man must rush their soules to destruction of necessitie And the wisedome of God hath chosen the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that beleeve If ever yee looke for this be wise intime and become fools that ye may be truly wise to salvation 1 Cor. 1.1.27 Of which I shall speake more fully in the next use Vse 5 Lastly therefore let it be use of examination to all sorts to try themselves about this issue Examin what great things God hath wrought in them by the poore and silly meanes of his Ordinances Try whether the Lord hath by them translated you from the kingdome of Satan and darknesse to the kingdome of his deare Sonne rid you out of the thraldome of your lusts and Idols to serve the living God Thinke not that the kingdome of Christ stands in a few trickes of wit or entising words of a frothy Mounteebankes tongue thinke not that fine sentences or strong lines or a jangling wit priding it selfe in a vaine-glorious Preacher will goe for pay when Christ shall come to judge Trials and markes of our fleshly wisedome subdued Luke 18.8 The great worke which hee will look for will be faith unfained a broken spirit love out of a pure heart a new creature Therefore take some markes hereof and try your selves First the Lord by poore meanes will cast downe that frame of carnall Triall 1 wisedome in you be it never so strongly setled and convince yee of your folly in that you should ever so besot your owne selves as to thinke that the way to heaven should lye in such a course as you have walked in Oh! shall you say if ever I goe to heaven God must turne a new leafe with mee flesh and bloud a curious humorous conceit will never inherit the kingdome of God The Lord I say will discover to your eye such an excellencie in his Ordinances even when they seeme weakest to your fancie that you shall fall downe and say The Lord is in you of a truth The scales of your carnall eye shall fall off Acts 9. Revel 3. Psal 119. and you shall bee annointed with eye salve to behold wonders in those poore instruments and ordinances which you have so long despised The old judgement of error and this foolish world shall be taken away and a new Spirit of discerning shall be given you to looke off from the base out-side of man of preaching of Sacraments and you shall see a divine power and majestie therein The Asse shall not seeme so base as the rider seemes glorious and you shall strew your clothes and bowes of trees in the way of Christ crying Hosanna and magnifying God that by such poore pipes and channels conveyes so great things to men Ask your selves did you ever perceive such a worke wrought in you If not you still abide in the gall of bitternesse and are pur-blinde seeing nothing a far off Secondly the Lord will make you so farre from your disdaine that he Triall 2 will make you crouch and be glad of the silliest Minister of God in all the countrey as those Acts 2. Acts 2.37 who came trembling about those same Apostles whom in the former Chapter they had flouted and mocked as drunken with new wine and said Men and brethren what shall wee doe to be saved So shall you doe such as you have jeered for zealous men of the Spirit you shall now be glad to bee admitted to aske them what course you may take to escape hell and surely try your selves in this point if still your disesteeme of Gods Ministers continue in you you are none of those in whom GOD hath wrought any great worke in Thirdly the Lord shall correct that corrupt selfe-love and partialitie in Triall 3 you whereby the affectation of some odde Minister whom you humored covered and darkened the graces gifts of God in others lesse reputed of by you Oh! now shall the Lord purge out your private judgment and put a publicke spirit of communion of Saints into you Alas you shall see all the Ministers of Christ one as well as another to bee the mutuall aiders of your faith and furtherers of your joy given by God not for this or that man but for the good of the whole body And accordingly you shall prize them even for the graces of God in them and for the use which they serve even the worke of the Ministerie 1 Cor. 3. Ephes 4. and the edifying of the Church in love Partialitie and private ends of your own shall stinke unto as knowing that if God convert you to himselfe hee makes you members of the body which beares you up not you it Not the meannesse of the vessell shall now offend you but the rich treasure in it shall ravish you now if your souls may be saved all other respects shall vanish 4 Triall Fourthly God will teach us to deny our selves in that base ease and sloth of our spirits which satisfies us in having in hearing a Minister and the sound of his words which contents us in that wee enjoy Sabbaths Sermons and Sacraments by course in a rolling succession without observing the power and savour which any of them leave in us This commonnesse and taking all for granted upon a custome blindes us even as a cloath hung before our eye hinders the action thereof and puts it out by degrees This ordinarie accustoming of our selves to that which is obvious casts a veile over our hearts so that we never come within the holinesse of the ordinances neither mark any great worke done by them either in our selves or others And by this meanes wee are hardned by them rather then wrought upon either by humbling quickning or renewing How hath the Lord then wrought in us have we after a long sleepy and drowsie hearing and receiving at last been pulld by the eare and jogged by the Spirit to stand up and be awakened to see the wonders hidden under the veile of humane infirmitie and the povertie of the Ordinances Doe we wax wearie of formall remembring of a few sentences or commending the Preacher talking of what we heard and doe our hearts begin to burne within us when the Word is opened through the evidence of that Spirit which speakes in the Word Luke 24. Doe we feel the weight of truth uttered
washing in Jorden The third gerall The third and last point out of this verse I will propound by answering a question briefly Object arising out of the former doctrine For it may bee demanded seeing that not the waters themselves were the cause of effecting this cure upon Naaman but the power of God onely in and by them To what end did the Prophet so presse upon him the washing in Jorden and why had it been so heynous a contempt for him to have neglected this charge Answ Why God useth outward means to convey grace viz. To stop mans devices The answer is double First in respect of the necessary concurrence of the water to the instrumentalnes of Gods working Secondly in respect of a signe or ratification of the promise in the heart of Naaman To open both these in a word For the former it is alway the course of God to worke by meanes and instruments sensible and bodily when hee hath to doe with us men of a bodily and sensible nature As in the duty of prayer though the worke thereof is properly spirituall and holy and the Lord can tell our hearts as well as our tongues yet it is his will that we offer it up by the instrument of outward speech orderly set sensible Take unto you words say Hosea 13.2 receive us graciously So though the power of regeneration stand not in speech but in the Holy Ghost yet the Lord will not so worke immediately but by the ministery of man to man hee hath ordained to convey his spirit into the heart And the reason is plain for else what a door should be set open to the fantasticall spirit of man to vent his owne speculations and conceits without any warrant from God Who would not frame to himselfe revelations of the Spirit and devise new inventions of serving God How doe Anabaptists boast of their owne fancies How doe they despise the ordinary calling of Ministers and preaching and thrust forth themselves by the instinct of their owne spirit as if they were some great persons How do Papists devise new worships as that Masse of theirs which is nothing else save a masse of many ingredients added by sundry of their Popes or masters of ceremonies and those many Sacraments of theirs whereof not one print of Gods appointing appeares in all the Scriptures If this be done by them against the expresse will of God what would they have attempted if they had been left unto themselves How infinite would they then have been Therfore the Lord wil have all that look for any worke of his Spirit to attend the means closely and reverently and only by through them to expect for blessing If God please to unite his grace only to them ordinarily may it not well beseeme us to tye our attendance and observation of his power in and by them This is one cause why the Lord would not extraordinarily convey himselfe to the Eunuch to Cornelius Acts 8. Acts 10. Acts 9. to Saul at Damascus save by the intermediall instruments of Peter Philip and Ananias our spirit is alway in our extremities for either wee runne to our fancies conceits sloath and ease contemning the meanes or else when meanes must be used we fall to idolize them both which the holy Ghost abhorres Another reason is in respect of Naaman himselfe who was a novice Reason 2 It was the will of God to heale him by faith in a promise Why are signes sacraments used by the Lord for the effecting of spirituall things viz. to assure our weak faith Now because that was a difficult object for him to settle upon the Lord appoints him this outward and reall signe of the waters to prop up his faith by and to settle his inner spirit by the externall sense As if he should say Goe thy wayes I will heale thy leprosie beleeve me and if that be unlikely to thee loe I give thee a signe even the waters of Jorden that as verily as thou shalt drench thy selfe therein so verily will I by my spirit heale thee Occupy thy selfe in obeying of me and loe I will be present with thee to put thy weake heart out of doubt concerning thy cure This was alway the course which the Lord tooke with his old Church whensoever he promised any blessing or deliverance unto them Judg. 6. 7. 8. Thus Gedeâ—n a man inexpert in warre was faine to be strengthned by the fleece both dry and wet and by the dreame of a barley loafe by one of the Midianites yea the Lord never revealed any purpose of his to the Prophets concerning either the publique or any special person but he strengthned it by some outward signe suting the thing and affecting the sense Thus when the Lord meant to rend tenne Tribes from Rehoboam and give them to Ieroboam 2 King 12. Ahijah the Prophet is sent to teare his garment into twelve pieces and to give him tenne and keepe two A very reall resemblance And that young Prophet to strengthen his denunciation against the same Ieroboam Cap. 13. and his idoll at Bethel told him two signes one present viz. the falling out of the ashes from the broken Altar of sacrifice the other to come Iosiahs poluting those high places by burning the bones of the Priests upon them So Esay strengthens Hezekia in the newes of his recovery Esay 37. by that famous signe of the Sunnes going backe tenne degrees And so when Ahaz refused the signe Esay 8. the Prophet gave the Church one touching the deliverance from Rezin to wit the conceiving of a Virgin some two or three hundreds of yeares after even with a sonne whoâ—e name should be Emanuel Infinite it were to speake of Ezekiels bricke pourtraying the siege of Jerusalem the hole in the wall by which he convayed away his stuffe Ieremies basket of figges the best and worst that could be eaten to describe the difference betweene the Jewes in Babel and the rebels at Jerusalem The like was Agabus his taking Pauls girdle and the very false Prophets Zidkijah and Hananiah affected the like course in their hornes and yokes Even so the Lord did teach his people by many bodily ceremonies cleansing of leprosie by the Priest and washing by outward sacrifices and the like And by those many resemblances of the blood of the Paschall Lamb sprinkled and the flesh of it eaten as also by Manna the Rocke gushing forth with water Also by the cutting off the foreskin of the male he made the Lord Jesus and the power of his death and crosse to bee knowne sacramentally although but darkly in his Church And now under the New Testament although the worship be more spirituall Sacraments excell common signes yet the course is the same True it is Sacraments exceed signes in their efficacy yet agree with them in this generall kinde of outward signifying or strengthning the soule by signes For what else doth the Lord
colour is to confute the Prophets message The summe is the Prophet hath sent for me to make a gull of me pretending to heal me when he intends nothing lesse For if he did to what end should he prescribe me to wash in Jorden If washing there would serve how comes it to passe that there bee so many Lepers in Israel unhealed And if so be Jorden be such soveraigne water what are our rivers at home Abana and Pharfar which yet never were knowne to be medicinable for the leprosie What a message then is this to send me Wash in Jorden and be clean Lo I beseech you to what a man may come who is blind-folded with selfe He will stiffen himself in his error by any argument comming next hand Carnal reason then here offers it selfe to confute the message as a mockery And how I pray doth it argue Thus It s a senslesse unlikely thing nay impossible to reason What then hast thou forgot thy selfe Naaman Camest thou to be healed by reason or by a Prophet What a consequence is this Carnall reason judgeth otherwise therefore it is ridiculous that Jorden should heale Nay rather if a Prophet from God will heale by Jorden why may he not For he heales not by Jorden as Jorden but as by an instrument of Gods divine power Therefore rather to argue against God by carnall reason is more ridiculous Thus much for the opening of these two verses The first generall handled viz. Why God delayed the cure still That he might know himself I will first give a briefe touch of the triall which God put here upon Naaman in delaying his cure Why was it To try all which was in his heart and to make him see what metall he was made of God was loath to send him away with his cure and a proud wrathfull heart withall Therefore now he discovers him to himselfe and rather by this delay of the miracle chuses to make all his crouching and humblenesse breake out into rage and distemper bewray him openly then he should nuzzle up himselfe in a faire opinion of that which is not in him Question But it wil bee demanded Did Naaman feele the Lord present in this worke Did hee not as a carnal man in all this or is it any wonder he should be a wrathful raging man being a Heathen and crossed in his maine aime I answer Answer We must not so much conceive him as he is in his owne sense as in Gods shaping him to his own end by grace and conversion Naaman to be conceived of as one under Gods workmanship When once Naaman truly came to himselfe both the former rubs and this affront of delaying his healing wrought a marvellous abasement in his soule and set forward the worke exceedingly I have already handled the reason why the Lord stopt Elisha from comming out Now I would briefly adde this how God tries him in disappointing his haste and thereby occasions him to rebell and break out that he might know himselfe yet more thorowly And let it teach us this That the custome of God is Doctrine Whom God will save he will teach them to to know all in their heart when hee is working any great change in any hee will try them deeply and make them know what is in their spirits They shall finde many a stop in their course things shall not succeed as they desire God wil hide himself from them and seeme not to regard their labours prayers teares endevours but suspend their hopes and desires from such successe as they look for And why To try them of what frame they are whether their forwardnesse Reason 1 and zeale bee well planted in them or no whether they will wait or make haste attend meekly or run headlong If they fall to distemper and wearinesse God will shew it unto them that they may afterward watch and have themselves in a deep jealousie and not bee deceived with the appearance of grace in stead of substance If they stick to the triall and carry themselves meekly and quietly under Gods delayes and prolongings of his time that then they may acknowledge by what strength they stand However it is very fit they should be tried Thus the Text saith Deut. 8.2 Deut. 8.2 that the Lord dealt with the Israelites in the Wildernesse First hee would not lead them the right way by the land of the Philistims but by the Wildernesse and there hee would so hold them occupied that whereas they might have been there in fourty dayes he led them a traverse of fourty yeares Hee held them to hard-meat and when he gave them a supply yet hee gave them but from hand to mouth and why was all this Moses tells them even to try all that was in their heart to turne it up-side-downe that by all the weary journey of the Desert their hunger their wants Gods provision their unthankfulnesse Gods judgements wasting them delaying and crossing their lingring after Canaan a land flowing with milk and hony by the ruine of all the carcasses of them that came out of Egypt the Lord might cause them to know themselves the Lord thorowly deny themselves wait upon his promise and enjoy Canaan with a more humble and thankfull heart then else they had done Otherwise what boot had it been to have brought thē into Canaan with their fathers spirits The land certainly had surfeted them and vomited them out else as soone as they had come in but now Reason 2 experience of the Wildernesse taught them how to walke before God God begins with his people as he means to proceed The Lord begins with his owne as hee means to proceed Hee meanes to make them patient meek enemies to selfe privie to more corruption then the world knowes of jealous and watchfull and willing to be as God will have them and to thinke it best to be base when God sees it meet this I say the Lord is faine to deale with his betimes even in the first beginnings of his grace as a man would bow a twig as he would have it grow after And therefore in the very threshold he stops their hasty course and whereas they would thinke they might be converted and beleeve quickly asoone as they feele their need and heare of a promise lo the Lord makes it a longer worke then so and delayes them till he have laid a foundation for after times till he have made them know all that is in their heart and not think much of Gods corrections afterward as having been traind up to the yoke from their youth Ephraim was as an heifer unaccustomed to the yoke Jer. 31.31 but when she was yoked and humbled she converted to God and smote upon her thigh and so was fitter for mercy then when she was wild and unbroken Reason 3 And to say the truth if the Lord did not thus delay us in our haste and put a stop upon us in our proceedings
To teach us the price of grace which of us would ever thinke grace to be such a thing as it is which of us would not wax wanton with God and forget our former condition which of us would pâ—â—se mercy and conversion as the inestimable free gift of a gracious God who might have left us at large to the corruptions of the world and the depth of the Divell But when we see how the Lord crosseth us what blocks are in our way and how hard it is to be vessels prepared for mercy to be clensed from our evill savour which would defile the grace of God then we wonder that ever the Lord should bestow any mercy upon us at all And so we walke in the sense and savour of it more humbly and thankfully afterward we suspect our base hearts we are jealous of forgoing it earnest to pursue it glad of the least dram of it and why we know the price and worth of it In this frailty and corruption of nature we can beare no great measures of grace by good experience of that it cost us to compasse it Where is there a man who is meet to enjoy any great matter from God either outward blessing or spirituall favour without pride and swelling So that the Lord is faint alway to be much in preparing such as he intends to bestow any great matter upon How long was David in preparing by the Lord See 1 Sam. from chap. 15. to the end of the book ere he came to the kingdome Between his first anointing and his Crowning how many turn againes and pursuits had he Surely as the Merchant of the East Indies who ventures for rich wares and pretious commodities hath an hard taske of it goes through strange hazards by pirates by tempests by winds by rocks and by continuall feare both going for them and comming home with them and all to teach him the price of them that he may after enjoy them more soberly so is it here The Lord is faine to prolong the day of his mercy and pardon and to bring the soul through many adventures to teach it to enjoy mercy without wantonnesse giddinesse lightnesse and boasting A drunken man can beare strong drinke or wine with his weake braine aswell as our slight hearts can entertaine grace we wax vaine and frothy idle and empty as not knowing what we have received from God nor how sober and wise we ought to be in the use of it 2 Cor. 1.2.3 So Paul the Lord meant to betrust him with deep revelations But before that how was he faine to buffet him what bitter greetings had he of his vile heart and how was he abased in his owne feeling And why Surely to teach him to walke humbly not to swell nor disdaine others but to distinguish the excellency of Gods grace from the basenesse of his owne spirit As we see it to fall out in the disposition of seasons and weather Simil. while the winter season is in her setling and height although there be a generall coldnesse of the aire yet it is mixed with some calmnesse and moderation But when once the spring tide is approaching we see what inequality of weather there is winds raines tempests and blustering all to purge the sky and to bring down the winterly distempers of it that the coast being cleare the sweet season of the spring and summer may succeed Just so it is with the soule perhaps while it lies under the winter of her owne desolation she makes a shift and hath no great chaines upon her as being under the hatches of misery But if once the Lord cause the spring time of life and conversion to approach strange it is what tempests clouds and weather arise the heart growes full of feares corruption rebells by occasion of the Law and selfe rises up in armes by occasion of the Gospel a marvailous change appeares in the soule through terrors bondage doubtings resistings cavellings and distempers of a base heart loth to leave that hell of hers which by custome became her heaven But all this is but as it should be the Lord proceeds gradually and by steps delayes the worke of grace and all that the coast may be somewhat cleared before hand and the soule prepared to welcome the season of mercy with calmenes humblenesse and modesty To conclude the Lord is Reason 4 most wise in thus trying his owne servants before he convert them To discerne them from such as are not his owne to the end that he may discerne them from such as are not of his number For why when hypocrites once come to see the conditions of grace what attendance upon means what knowledge and sense of sin what deep convincing of conscience is required how humble hungry painfull earnest the Lord lookes the soule should be that desires grace how plain-hearted in her aimes and prising it above all liberties how willing to sell all and glad it may to buy this pearle lo their rotten carnall hearts fly off and abhorre to stoop so low upon any hopes They thought heaven might be compassed with small adoe and that they might have it and their owne wills too But when they see it will not be nay more that many a poore honest soule is faine to waite long at Gods gate till he see it a fit season to bestow his grace upon it alas poore wretches they never were either so pinched with sinne nor affected with mercy as to bestow halfe the cost for it although they might be sure of it and therefore they fall off either altogether and so turne backe to their lusts or else if light and compulsion of conscience scare them from that they still abide as they are in a saplesse fulsome and dead course But it is not so with the others Gods true Merchants of the best pearles who know the true worth of them will not be beaten off by such discouragements but but with Naaman in the verses following rather then they will forfet all their hopes and carry back their lepers skin With them See Mat. 13.44 they will put their lives in their hands or rather themselves in the Lords to deale with them as he please and whatsoever difficulties or delayes they meet with they will beare them seeing they are for the best all shall end well By waiting the Lord will appeare at last but by giving him over they are sure to perish Oh! there is great use of this course how many desperate hypocrites doth the Lord trie hereby discovering their basenesse rage and discontent and how doth he comfort his owne faithfull poore servants that have waited upon his salvation assuring them it was his owne grace that sustained them in such delayes and difficulties to hold on Vse Instruction admonition to all Novices in grace not to be dismaid for difficulties The use whereof should be instruction and admonition to all Naamans and novices in regeneration and the worke of
conversion first that they make no other account before hand but to finde difficulties and affronts in their way although perhaps they set forward at first with faire winde and great hopes yet that both winde and tide may turne against them before they have done Let not him that puts on his harnis boast as he that puts them off Rather make account of the hardest before and be armed against it be not discouraged nor faint in the onset for I tell thee the worst of Gods way is easier then the best of thy former course of lust and ignorance the pathes whereof are pleasant yet going downe to hel And being warned thus it will be halfe an arming to thee it will coole thy carnall heat send thee to God for strength and make thee out of savor of thy selfe-attempts Secondly when thou shalt meet with such hardnesses in the way wonder not nor shrinke backe say thus I entred upon regeneration with this proviso and laboured to cast the hardest If easier termes be offred by Gods providence if Satan be kept off or corruption held under or the work made sweeter then I feared let me count it my gain and a portion which many of my brethren want But if I meet with brunts let me not desist and goe backe to Egypt but proceed on towards Canaan hoping that yet the issue shall be good Say thus now the Lord is trying of me of what mettle I am made even as he tryed those souldiers that sooped water Judg. 7. or lapped it now is the season for me to looke about me now let me abhorre to play the timeserver hypocrite staggerer and revolter from Gods way because I meet with offences in it If now I turne away and be distempered vowing that I will never goe on one step further nor strike one stroke more I shall shew my selfe and the mettle I am made of but if I shall meekely devour and digest these affronts then I shall shew a patient wayting heart upon God and one that esteemes grace above all my labour and a rich bargaine upon the price If Naaman had beene aware what God intended him before hand hee had said no lesse God tryes me by this delay God make me meek and keep me from rage But because he was yet ignorant therefore hee must bee conceived as one whose passions and anger the Lord meant to cover and pardon in due time and therefore now over-ruled for his good afterward Quest What difficulties are they which Gods travellers endure But some may aske what difficulties doe ye meane I answer such as these Many enter upon conversion upon great hopes and affections stirred up by the Gospell But after a while perhaps it pleases God to shew them their faces in such a glasse of terror and confusion that their hopes are turned into horror for some good space together Answ Manifold 1. Inward And in this condition they are tempted perhaps to avoide wounds of conscience by making away themselves if God staid them not Others feel a raging heart against the Law and Minister for searching their sores and convincing them so deeply if God turned it not to good after and thereby tawed them not more throughly by their owne corruption Others are in consult with themselves whether they were not better abandon all hearing and praying any longer and returne to their joviall company and pleasures of sinne againe that so they may shun this sharpe Schoolemaster by playing the trewants and so be at some ease except God shew them that this discipline as untoothsome as it is yet is wholesome Others stick long at this knot having a slavish sad melancholy spirit delighting in fullennesse and feare especially if sad crosses mixe themselves with inward heavinesse as ill marriage debts pursuits ill successe and the like They thinke God frownes more upon them then in the former daies of their ignorance Others are as much amazed on the other side because their terrors were never so great as others nor were their consciences so deepely affrighted with wrath and hell and therefore not duely humbled Others feele a great measure of unmortified lust and filth to dwell in them as wrath pride hollownesse revenge and to dog them so that they cannot thinke that such poyson and mercy to pardon can possibly stand together Others mistake the doctrine of preparation to faith thinking it to stand in the greatnesse of measure deepe sorrow breaking of heart deepe streights and being at a deepe losse great longings and thirstings after mercy and so of the rest It is long ere they come to see that there must bee a seed of the Gospell wrought ere these be or that they serve rather for marks of the spirit of grace then any furtherers of it from any thing in themselves Others feeling these wrought in them yet when they heare that faith only can put them into a safe estate they begin to feare that although they are prepared by the condition yet the Lord will not performe the effect of faith for them forgetting that Gods meaning in the one was to worke the other or at least thinke it will be a long time first and they shall be out of all heart ere then or they may dye ere the Lord make an end of his worke Others conceive amisse of the promise thinking it to be offred to such as can take hold of it by themselves not knowing that the strength is Gods and not theirs Esay 27.5.6 and that the offer comming frō the strength of a satisfaction to justice doth strengthen the Lord to make and tender it to a poore soule that needs it and concurs with that soule strongly to fasten it thereon as the due portion belonging to it Others are marvailously disquieted about their Election doubting that all their mournings and travailes are to no purpose because they strive against Gods will not remembring that secretes are for God not for for them and their surest markes come from the obeying of the revealed will Others when the fruit is come to the birth have no strength to bring forth it seemes impossible or hard or unlikely that such base ones should ever beleeve it were too good for so unworthy ones and in truth men looke wholly at their owne ends so much and so little at the glory which the Lord chiefly seekes to his grace that they little muse of the worke as becomming the omnipotency and free bounty of a reconciled God but of that scurffe they feele in themselves These are inward Others are outward affronts which meet with the soule 2. Outward some are molested grievously with sad motions and temptations and conflicts from Satan buffeting of them and stopping of their way by thoughts of feare injected into them as by Atheisme doubting of God of the truth of Scripture or with such qualmes and combats as doe arise up as sparkles from the over deepe terrors of conscience or the endlesse risings of their corrupt hearts
our families and living quietly with our wives hearing Sermons and the like But the Lord who will have us knowne to be such as feare God and eschew evill and declare our selves to be further off from mortall ones then so will take a course to try us further what is in our heart We see a lowd winde may long blow upon a rotten tree on the good side and the tree make a shift to stand But at last there comes a shrewd right winde and gets into the hollow of the tree Similie and affronts it on the rotten side and then it puts hard to it ten to one if it lay it not under feet Let us not then fence the hedge where it is highest but where it is lowest strengthen the feeble knees and rectifie that which is crooked seeke not praise to our selves for our gifts and labours but know there is a greater worke lies upon us to stick to our tacklings when the Lord tries us if God will bereave us of our onely beloved lusts and take from us the pleasure of our heart and that which is pretious in our eyes as he told Ezekiel if hee so bring it about Ezek. 24.16 that we cannot have him and our credit ease and carnall content also then let us consider what we have to doe and whether we will bee faithfull or no Now is our day of triall now to magnifie our selves and seek applause and spare our owne selves for ease for outward respects is unseasonable Thinke of these matters ere they come let us not be so busie with cockle shells and toyes upon the sea side that we forget the tide and so be swept away all on the sudden Despise not Gods trialls nor put the thought of preparing for them out of our minds as matters of lesse import thinke not to carry our course so smoothly as that we shall never be moved lest God gaster us with some such enemies as come with the necessity of armed men upon naked and unprovided ones and so make each veine in our hearts to ake because of our rashnesse Beware lest they make us examples unto others of more wisdome and prevention who might have given example to others of self-deniall uprightnesse of heart and trusting God in the greatest streights For surely if wee do thus seeke to save our lives Matth. 16.26 we shall lose them and no great thanke for our labour and that which we have preferred before God and peace of conscience shall come out at our nostrils as most irkesome vomit Amplification of the point John 21. The day of triall will not bee to us as the day of our freedome and ease but as our Saviour tells Peter When thou wert young thou girdedst thy selfe and wentst where thou wouldest but when thou art old another shall gird thee and lead thee whither thou wouldest not Prepare we for that day in our day of liberty Know that Halcyon dayes will not last alway but it is meet that offences and stumbling-blockes bee laid in our wayes to try us And commonly when we thinke our selves most stapled in our ease and exempted from trials then are they at our heeles So that it were our best wisedome to suspect our selves most when our way is most pleasant Suspect trials most when our estate seemes to be calmest and our neast warmest and best feathered Iob did thus and when sorrow came upon him in the midst of his prosperity yet if came not before it was feared Use wee our best outward contents as if we used them not and so the forgoing of them shall not be so excessively distastfull nor lye in our way as stumbling-blockes when God shall try us Behold them as things which may give us the slip when we least looke for it Nero that tyrant having a faire woman to his Empresse would sometimes take her by the necke or chin with these bloudy words O goodly face and necke but when I list it shall be cut off Such an Item should we give our best contents lest perhaps if we trust them to far they suddenly betray us to sorrow in forgoing or an ill conscience in retaining Oh faire mercies but when God will they shall bee cut off And not so onely but labour wee to stand upon good bottome and to trade not like banquerupts with other mens stockes who when they breake are found never to have been their owne men but with our own stocke be it never so little if it be good that is the love of God soundnesse of heart to the truth good conscience and faith unfained These being joyned with zeale and courage in the defence of a good cause will be armour of proofe without and a continual feast within whatsoever our affronts and discouragements shall be Faith shall then beare us out as a shield beares off blowes and assure us that let this cursed world bee never so disastrous yet God will keep us from absolute straits and so order it that wee shall not depart from his feare nor forsake his covenant They say that the Bezor that creature which hath that cordiall stone being hard hunted by the hounds and knowing by instinct also what it is she is hunted for not her skin nor carcasse but her stone will bite off her privities and leave them to the dogges to save her life And the like I have heard some affirme of the Fox that being catcht by the legge in a snare she wil gnaw it off flesh bones to escape with her life Let us take heed of such policie to wit when our pretious conscience is pursued which to some Nimrods is a more pretious thing then the pretious life of a man to an harlot then to bite it off and throw it to such Beagles Prov. 6.26 to save our skin carcasse They will make themselves as much or more sport in rejoycing at our flesh and nakednesse Judg 16.25 Gen. 37.30 then the Philistins did at Sampson their enemy and when we have lost that Jewell as poor Reuben spake of Ioseph how shall we behold the face of Iacob without confusion Or what shall it profit us to fish with a golden hook for a poor fish and lose it for our labour In vain is a net laid for that which hath wing or the deceitfull meat of the wicked ruler set before us to snare us Prov. 22.1.2.3 when we are jealous of our appetites and put our knife to our throats Let us also to conclude walke in this dangerous world Conclusion of all with admonition as a man would walke in a place full of snares laid to catch him Not onely with no purpose of committing evill but with a full purpose and armed minde not to commit it Watch we to the occasions of triall Seeing our way is so strawed with snares let us watch and bee armed which are offered us small ones may discover us to bee weake if unarmed when strong ones shall not
owne unworthinesse or Gods long delaies which provoke the heart to wearinesse or comparing of the forwardnesse of others with her backwardnesse or else that God meanes not as he speakes but the contrary even to cast her off with some marke of vengeance sometimes rushing upon the rock of election as if all labour were lost because she is not predestinated to salvation as if we were to get to the highest step of the ladder before we have ascended by the lower sometime descanting about the way of revealing why it should bee onely by the word and spirit and not by sensible waies of expression by voice from heaven or extraordinary convincements and so in sundry other respects 10. Selfe-feare 10. Feare that the work of faith will be so hard and tedious that it will never be compassed by so weake and fraile a creature as she is so ignorant forgetfull corrupt and estranged from God the present sense of these and other corruption dazeling the spirit and enfeebling the heart so that it growes to a falling sickenesse and is at a losse upon each occasion each Sermon it heares seems to speake dismall thinges unto it and it thinkes it were better wholly to give over hearing then heare yea and in a strong tech and pang dare not or will not continue to heare for feare it should bee worse and heape up wrath instead of mercy so that all which is said either in publique or private seemes to leake out Heb. 2.1 and sometime this feare commeth from unlikelyhood of ever forgoing all sin or holding out to the end Eleventhly selfe-staggering 11. Staggering when the soule is betweene the condition of the promise and the performance as for example if she be urged to beleeve because the condition is already wrought then she questions that whether it were ever wrought at least aright because alas her sorrow is little she hath never been so deeply tozed by the law nor so broken hearted full of affections and diligence as others on the other side when shee feeles the condition comfortably present then she staggers about the promise saying the condition is not the matter but the beleefe it self and that is above her power many come farre who never beleeve and faith is the gift of God and free and what if it should never bee wrought or shee should die and be past hope ere it be effected Thus Satan comes between cup and lip to defeate the soule of her due whereas if she were staied and settled upon the word and as 2 Ioh. 8. would not lose those good things which she hath gotten but hold a little closely till more come the worke would not be alway to beginne as the frame of a Carpenter when it is disordered as fast as hee laies it together Twelftly selfe-fullennesse and unthankefulnesse 12. Sullennesse which is in a contrary extremity to ease when the soule will not see or acknowledge what God hath done for her nor abase her selfe as meaner then the least mercy of God nor confesse that any step toward conversion is more then the Lord oweth her having her at an infinite advantage by her guilt and so chusing to spend her time in sullen complaints for the measures she wanteth then gracious meltings and praises for any thing she enjoyes whereas the Publican thought it mercy to tread on the earth to looke up to heaven and it is mercy that she is not in hell but under hope and Gods ordinances and patience This is the fruit of pride and doth set back the soul more from profiting then if she could stoop to be at Gods dispose Thirteenthly 13. Ease self-ease or dalliance when the soule through idlenesse hath lost her former diligence and earnestnesse and painfulnesse in using all meanes publique and private for the making of her calling and election sure waxes slacker in her esteeme and in her love and affections as thinking her selfe now past danger and so neglects the seasons intimations of the spirit plies not nor followeth the motions of the assisting and perfecting grace but le ts them wanze as if she could meet with them at her pleasure but by this meanes Satan circumvents afterward and stings her for this confidence and presumption because she is guilty of slighting such grace as she feels to be past her reach to recover and therefore justly suffers for her loosenesse and giddinesse 14. Dulnesse 14. Selfe-dulnesse and deadnesse of spirit in not marking and pondering digesting and applying the truthes we heare and so growing towards ripenesse Heb. 5.10 which sinne makes us not only non-proficients in the doctrine of Christ but also inferior to our selves and farre short of that we might be especially when this disease comes not from naturall disability and unavoidable weakenesse but from affected error as from an heart overmuch implodded in the earth and made heavy by sensuality and carnall ease Luke 21.37 Luke 21.37 15. Foolishnesse Againe Fifteenthly selfe-folly I may better call it selfe hatred when we are not so wise or forward to dispute for the truth and honour of God and his promise as we are to reason against it and our owne soules thereby making a worke not easie of it selfe to be more wearisome and tedious then it need to be whereas rather we should reason the matter seriously betweene God and our souls as in Ierem. 2. vers 9. the Lord biddes us to doe Jer. 2.9 and Esay 1.18 Esay 1.18 and laying the desperatenesse of our misery to the hope of his promise wee should rather wonder that all place of pleading should not be taken from us then cavill against a plaine naked word of God pinned upon our sleeves Those Ninivites when yet they had no cleare promise Jona 3.8 yet reasoned thus who can tell whether Gods fierce anger shall turne away or no They thought it their wisdome rather to catch at a word a farre off then to lie in present misery without hope But self-folly still delights to shut out it selfe by her disputes against God cowardly to shun a possible mercy that it might lie down in remedilesse sorrow This I say must needs be horrible fool-hardinesse rather to perish 16. Slinesse then venture upon a promise of ease and remedy The last of all is selfe subtilty or slinesse whereby the soule secretly withdrawing her selfe from the power of the promise which ought to work all her works for her both preparing and finishing and finding her owne affections of hope sorrow joy desire and the rest very ready to put forth themselves in the work of disposing the soul towards Gods grace and to mixe themselves wi h the word doth welcome and applaud her owne selfe and all her abilities and beginnes to compasse her selfe with her owne sparkles with her owne feelings and with the joyes which come from her owne welwishes to her selfe which having no roote of Christ and his spirit in them but of selfelove
Secondly in respect of the Gospel selfe is but flesh The Gospel presents Christ to the beleeving soule dearly and favorly but selfe failes in both her eye-sight and heart-sight of him I mean both in understanding and will For the first selfe cannot see so much of Christ as God offers in his Gospel shee beholds onely such an excellencie of Christ offered therein as is severed from the gift to receive him with which upon poynt is as good as nothing for it is but a shread of Christ which an hypocrite may have Rom. 2. Ephes 4.21 Rom. 2.5.6 But a poore soule sees Christ even as the truth is in Jesus and as hee is offered to the soule that is not as a bare price of pardon and peace but as a thing enabling the soule to buy and receive him into her own bosome 1 Cor. 1.30 Of him saith Paul are we who is made unto us of God c. Marke not as onely as cloath which will make a garment but as a garment fitted for us and ready made for that he serves for both covering and defence As the twy-light differs from the brightnesse of the morning Sunne upon the top of an hill whence a man may see all the wide sky so doth a beleeving soule and selfe differ in beholding Christ That which is said in another sense Matth. 24. Matth. 24. That the Sonne of mans day shall bee as the light which shineth from East to West that may bee said of Christ offered to the eye or minde of a beleever that the whole light for kinde of the Sonne of righteousnesse Matth. 13.11 is discovered to him As our Saviour tells his Disciples To you I speake clearly to others in Parables that seeing they might not understand because they will not selfe putting in a condition of her owne which God puts not For the Lord so offers Christ that the vertue of the offer becomes to a broken soule both price and Chapman yea breeds that in the soule which it offers even faith to embrace it But selfe puts in a condition If I can accept it Shee would in a sort bee cloathed and fed upon her own purse Now this condition God puts into the offer I will create the fruit of the lippes Esay 57. Jer. 31.31 I will take out the heart of stone I will write my Lawes in their heart and cause them to beleeve c. Selfe heares these things as the noise of many waters I see saith shee an excellent thing offered to such a one as can receive it and then shee goes about to perform the condition her self hoping thereby to compasse Christ But this labour might be spared if she beheld the offer aright as able both to prepare the soule with brokennesse and emptinesse and also to beget faith in it The honest soule puts faith into Christ crucified and the offer saying thus If the Lord will save mee I will let him alone also to worke faith in me by the Merit and worth of the thing offered for why God doth not offer me a dead Christ but a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15. not as a bare object of excellencie serving to enable me to concurre with him of my selfe and to be a partner with him in the poynt of application but as a purchase of satisfaction to justice 1 Cor. 1.30 and also of faith for mee to embrace it with that he who boasteth might boast in the Lord. Oh! if selfe could know the gift of God and who it is who offereth one that can doe that for us which he did for that woman Joh. 4. and that blinde man Joh. 9. while he talked with them what a light would it afford to the soule The ignorance of this causes the soule to bee in as deep a stagger after Christ is revealed as it was before for why Selfe is ready to cavill Lo God offers Christ as one should offer an hundred pound to one for the running of a mile whose legges are cut off But a needing soule set out of and beyond her selfe spins out all her hope and helpe from the promise trusts not to her own steppes which she makes to Christ but to the steps which Christ makes toward her both as her price and Advocate to apply it 1 Joh. 7.8 Joh. 8.22 the Way the Truth and the Life Secondly Selfe failes also in the Heart-sight of Christ And the heart sight of Christ For although she hath some glimpse of affections toward the things of the Gospel yet she savours them onely as things good to her selfe so long at least as that savour lasteth and promise to her some welfare A carnall heart must be pleased and the Lord Jesus must serve to that purpose But a poore needing soule so sees Christ offered as by that sight all other objects of sense are eclipsed yea dispossessed receiving thereby such a bottome of spirituall rest and content into the soule as needs no other false bottome to eike it out withall Selfe so apprehends Christ as an object of good making up some formerly enjoyed good not able to satisfie of it selfe and so both holds her owne still as essentiall and addes another to it as onely a bettering of another not a casting out of another that Christ might be all in all that he I say might be in stead of Selfe A pearle to one that findes it is both house and ground sheep cattell pullen and all makes all base to come under the worth thereof So doth Christ bear downe Selfe and becomes to the soul that which all wealth ease sports company pleasure and content could bee Selfe soders matters of all sorts together and makes an Image of all mettals mixed with clay joines a horses crest and shoulders to the head of a man Why is this because Christ is not revealed to the heart as her Adaequate and full object shee heares of him as the Jewes dream'd of release an halfe object of happinesse not as an excelling good in comparison of which all former are dung and drosse Satan so blindes the eyes of Selfe 2 Cor. 4.4 that this glorious sight never comes at the heart to possesse and fulfill it I say Selfe shuffles and huddles all together and reacheth at the Lord Jesus with that carnall savour wherewith shee reacheth at profits and pleasures as a fulsome fellow who complements with all sorts alike so he be satisfied with any thing he is glad As for discerning of things that differ and ascribing the maine esteeme of heart to that which best deserves it out of judgement and savour what is best hee is farre from it onely the honest heart sees a peculiarity of savour gaine and sweetnesse in Christ and as once the Oracle bid them that asked who should have the Kingdome Give it the best so shee gives up her selfe with all her content and delight even her Kingdome and prerogative to the best the true and undoubted Lord even Christ shee separates the
seeing hee might not build him a Temple Salomon might build it not looking at the doer so God might have it built And Paul would have Christ preached any way rather than not preached by any as well as by himselfe rather then not at all yea chose rather to lose his owne happinesse then Israel should not be saved To draw to an end what subtilty is this 5. Instance To offer to God more then he askes to imagine that the offering of God more services then he ever commanded should discharge the conscience for breaking such commands as hee expresly enjoyned What else was the religion of them Micah 6. save to baffle Gods eyes with their selfe worship And this is a true marke of Selfe to outbid true worshipers in the multitude of our devotions that we might bee dispensed within our underbidding of the price which God calls for why is this but that we might be spared in the maine work of selling self and all our out bidding the Lords owne asking is no marke of our selfe-deniall but rather of subtill-selfe which would teach God to pitch a new price upon Christ but not offer him that price which be demandeth when the Lord bids thee bring nothing wilt thou bring him thy cost and when his price is thy selfe dost thou offer him other things to keep back that price what is an handfull of brasse worth to him when he demands a dram of pure gold why doe we loath Popish superogations save that they come short in their kinde of that which God asketh within the kinde offer to him the least dramme of selfe-deniall and soundnesse but else out of kinde no performance is welcome seeme it never so plentifull what shall thy subtilty do thee good when thy issue and Gods issue will not joine thou bringest in prayers teares duties devotions abstinences affections and he called for none of them as his price but thy will Prov. 26.23 thy wisdome thy conceit thy selfe give him his asking and as for the other thou shalt be in them all as a defiled clout and they shall be no more unto thee in point of Christ then if thou hast never done them And this may serve for the first branch Branch 2 Secondly consider the danger of this disease enough hath beene said of it in the reasons before of Admonition See the danger of Selfe Now I adde two or three things to the former And first to urge that maine danger in the doctrine mentioned That it threatens to deprive the soule of grace it selfe when all is done and to throw downe all the false building thereof at once as if one should with his foote dash a little childs house of oystershels which it hath built with much labour Esay 55.2 2 Joh. 8. Now what a sad thing were this to lose the good things which thou hast earned with much travaile so that thou shouldest never enjoy the fruit of all thy toile and labour under the Sun of Gods ordinances Selfe forfeits all her labour and cost in worship and dutâ—es nor eate of the worke of thine hands what a misery were it if it were but to lose the cost of thy plowed field thy compasse and husbandry the cost of thine orchard and garden planting graffing setting sowing how unpleasing a thing is it But then what is the losse of a few bushells of wheat plumbs or apples berries or flowers to the losse of Christ thy eternall crop Selfe will come betweene thee and home in this kind if thou prevent her not The Estrich laies her egs in the sand Job 39.13.14 as Iob saith and leaves them to their lot to the feet of beasts to tread on but why God hath denied her understanding to lay them in secret and to hatch them Art thou destitute of understanding to value so meanly thy cost in hearing in questions in travaile in trialls in duties as to forget what they cost thee If a Schollar should see all his note-books papers a great rich man all his silver and gold his evidences a Farmer all his corne and graine to bee consumed would it not sting him Are they not the fruit of his travell which every man naturally more priseth then a thing that befalls him which he never took paines for when the ship makes shipwracke in the haven what saith the merchant It grieves me as much for the losse of my voiage as for my ship is this the issue of my three yeares sailing over the seas my adventures my exchange of wares mine escapes of rockes and quick-sands so shouldst thou say in this case Oh! it grieves me as much for the losse of so many sweet Sabbaths Sacraments Communions Ordinances as for mine owne soule shall I thus lay heapes upon heapes and die for thirst Judg. 15.16.18 how much better had it been that I had never travelled to beate downe some forraine enemy of lust and prophanesse then that this inbred elfe this selfe and selfe-love as a viper should eate out my bowells and defeate me of heaven To what end should I come up to the City as farre as the suburbs to lie downe there and die for lacke of heart to enter the City gate Thus hast thou done O poore soule thou hast given faire onsets and hopes Thou hast felt thy selfe lost mourned prised Christ laboured and held out longer then many of thy companions here thou hast left some behinde thee sticking in the deepe slow of the earth others have turned backe having the winde the sunne the stormes of persecutions crosses and enemies in their face others in their pleasures and lusts which have overtooke them and shall a bosome enemy doe thee as much hurt as these and shalt thou for all thy twelve houres toile fare no better then they who came in at the last Oh! consider how desperate thy case will be and what a world of regret losse of heaven will be when so narrow and small an oddes must deprive thee Oh! it will sting thee as fire to see that such an offer of an invaluable purchase was made thee which thou biddest faire for and forsookest at last in a tech that thou wouldest not give a penny more whether have it or lose it This parting penny shall sting thee as much as now it troubles thee little Oh! there is but a little oddes betweene thee and home thinke that now the loving heart the heart bloud of the Lord Jesus wooes thee in this manner saying one thing yet remaines besides all thy preparations adde but this let none of these be thy Christ mistake them not they are but sparkles comming from my fire that onely can put life into thee deny these let me and my promise be thy pardon thy peace thy strength and thou hast bought the pearle I say do but consider the mischiefe of this selfe which causes in thee this sad mistake and will worke in thee so remedilesse repentance Besides in the second place The
of Simoniacall contraâ—ts for Benefices that such Simony creates a lapse Will any Minister having a living freely offered him by his Patron chuse to contract for money Is he not well worthy to lose his living by lapse The Lord Jesus is offered thee freely by thy Patron of Heaven the Lord Almighty wil nothing then serve thee but Simony to come to it by thy selfe Thou deservest to forfeit him and to be cast out by lapse Thy money O Selfe perish with thee Act. 8. because that thou thinkest by thy price to obtaine such a gift Lo thou hast no fellowship with this businesse I conclude therefore lay not out thy silver for no bread Esay 55.2 nor thy labour for that which profits not eate good things Esay 52. end and let thy soul delight in fatnesse enjoy the fruit of thy travell and refuse no pains to cast nest nest-egge on the dung-hill Trust God upon his bare word for a principle of strength from Gods fountaine which will hold out both Winter and Summer when the Brookes of Tema shall be dried up Cease joyning Selfe with Grace Doe not thinke it so desolate a worke to hang upon a promise except thy selfe have a finger in the worke and feel some warmth from thine owne feathers Bad digestion in the stomacke is not bettered by concoction such as thy root is such the branches will bee and an errour in the foundation will meet thee perpetually in the building so that either all must be puld downe againe which is tedious or else thou must rush forward with an uncomfortable spirit and upbraiding conscience False mixtures are odious to God and hee who forbad the field to bee sowne with two graines or a garment to be made of linnen and wollen meant another thing for what are these to him but abhorred the soile of the soule should be sowne with selfe and Christ and the backe apparelled with Christs robe upon an inward garment of thine owne 2 Cor. 5.5 Thou chusest to be cloathed upon but God will have thee naked for what use is there of covering one that is covered already The mixing of divers heapes of corne together mars both pease or tares are good in their kind if severall but if mixed tares are soile in wheate nay the wheat is marred by them Duties and affections if considered as fruits of Christ and his promise are good things but if they mixe and incorporate then they prove soile and marre all Filch not from God to bestow upon Selfe feed her not with Gods dainties rob not God to satisfie her to nourish up thy base heart against the simplicity of grace begge of the Lord that he would teach thee to discerne copper from gold and to shew thee the face of this Selfe in his glasse to take out of thine heart this slavish base unbeteaming and underbidding nature be affraid lest thou shouldest undergo thy selfe in purchasing the pearle looking more at the one bird in the hand then two in the bush and beeing so pennywise to detaine Gods due price and to keepe selfe with her brats selfe-pettishnesse worldlinesse ease sloth selfe-credit self-will wit and instinct that thou are pound foolish and deprivest thy selfe of a pearle worth both all that thou forgoest with an hundred fold gaine and heaven it selfe at last Hate Selfe for her selfe in point of her enmity and contrariety of Spirit to the Lord Jesus and then her branches will soone wither and lose their sap and life And this may serve for the former branch of this use of Admonition Branch 2 to the godly The second branch of this watchword may reach to the godly themselves who must know that although they have escaped this gulfe in the maine point of beleeving a mercy deserving the thanksgiving of their whole life yet she is not quite expelled from being an inmate and daily pricke and goad in their side while they live a perpetuall Peninnah Selfe a perpetuall enemy to the regenerate Let such then wonder that the Lord should ever bring them out of the endlesse maze of this selfe and give them broken humble and plaine hearts to avoid the thousand turnings and doublings of a base spirit 1 Sam. 1. and to tread the true path of wisdome leading to life Oh! should they say how loath would I be now to hazard my soule upon the successe of former labours how loath would I bee in this barren world and base heart to have the matter put to a venture Oh! I would not for a world be to beginne againe a thousand prayses to him that hath not put my soule to such a perill and not so onely but be warned also to beware lest when this divell cannot deprive us of heaven yet it should defeate us of our other hopes to grow in grace to joy in our possession to live by faith to be sound in our worshipping of God and duties to be fruitfull in graces to serve our time to bear our crosses to persevere in our course to be ready for Gods comming What is it but this wofull inmate that hinders in all these what but this selfe and presuming of our selves causes grace to be so unthrifty and to hang downe the head what but ascribing to our selves in our meanes using makes them so unfruitfull what but our utmost taking of our liberties pleasures ease and denying our selves nothing which hath but the least colour of lawfulnesse causes Christians to be so full of sorrow and repentance what is that which glues us so fast to the creature that we are loath to part with it for peace of conscience or the attaining of heaven loth to die and goe hence what caused Iob so much sorrow save the cure of this disease Job 42.2 to teach him to abhorre himselfe what save Selfe in the creature wedding our selves to our next hand props of children wealth meanes welfare causes the Lord to cut off these members altogether that as in the body which hath a leg or arme cut off the spirits might not goe to that which is dead but that which liveth even from the streame to the fountaine That we may learne by experience if the base creature be so sweet in which so small a dramme of the Lord is what is then the God of the creature worth Why should the Lord afflict the godly with so much sorrow save this that they will not be brought to improve the Lord for his strength to subdue their lusts and corruptions in speciall to make good his promises to be alsufficient in outward blessings to uphold us in our straits But we content our selves in this that we have found him good to us in pardon and reconciliation thinking the danger to be past and our selves free from taking care for the subduing of this wofull Selfe in the course of sanctification I might instance in twenty particulars take it in these two what should so much sting a poore soule
us which lusteth to envie to selfe-love and carnall ends is brought lowest Rejoyce therefore and attend closely to this worke of Gods visitation Jam. 4.4 Say as once one answered to him that discouraged him from New Englands voyage by the wants and affronts which hee should meet with there and in his journey as lacke of diet good lodging and the like Oh saith he what know I but by this abasement the Lord will crucifie me to this world and the contents of it marriage pleasures travelling up and down belly gain the like What shall I lose by this bargain David in his heavie affliction of spirit Psal 51. could say My sinne is ever before me yea the sinne of his Nature and that Selfe the seed of all evill was then terrible whereas before in his jollity neither murther nor adultery was sensible Looke up to God and beseech him that in this glasse of conscience affliction I meane thou mayst behold the thiefe that doth thee all the hurt that Grace by little and little may drop in and Selfe goe out that thou mayst partake his righteousnesse who emptied himselfe of all mayst learne obedience by sufferings and behold that venome which hath drunke up and wasted the spirit of selfe-deniall and faith and marred all thy hearings and use of meanes till this houre onely this caveat I add Let no man ascribe more to crosses then is their due They cannot worke of themselves save in and by the Word But where the seed lieth under the dry clod this storme may possibly moysten and breake it and cause the seed to root and grow up So much for this use There is yet another use of instruction remaining But I have already been too long I must referre it with the other uses which follow to the next Sermon Here therefore an end for this time Let us pray c. THE SIXTH LECTVRE CONtinued upon the eleventh Verse and so forth on to the verse following VERSE XI VERS 11. But Naaman was wroth and said Behold I thought thus with my selfe Surely he will come forth and stand and call upon the Lord his God and strike his hand upon the place and recover the Leper VERSE 12. Are not Abana and Pharfar rivers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel may I not wash in them and be cleane So he went away in a rage c. 2 Kings WEE laboured as wee could beloved to come towards an end of this maine point of Selfe in the last exercise but were faine to breake off in the Branch 3 use of instruction of Instruction Therefore no further to trouble you we come to the third and last branch of it And that is to teach us what the reason is of so much irresolution and staggering in the spirits of many Professors Staggering unproficiencie of Christians in the fruit of Selfe why their faces are all so pale their hands are upon their loyns and sides as a womans whose paines are upon her the fruit being come to the birth but no strength to bring forth Where almost are there any other now-a-dayes to bee found except wee meane such as never came to feele themselves in a streit at all sure it is their number is great who although in measure they affect the best things and to set such a price upon them as that they are loath to goe without them at last yet still professe they can attaine small setlednesse and rest upon the promise with perswasion comfort Surely the reason is because although as they conceive that desire which is in them toward God comes from the Word which hath convinced them of their need yet either they are ignorant of that which is able to settle them viz. the freedome of the promise of forgivenes comming from the heart of a reconciled God in his Sonne or else will take no paines to digest and rivet it in their owne hearts but chuse to wanze away in their owne inconstancie being glad when they feele any affections stirring in them but when they are cold and dead in their spirits againe then their hopes turne to feares and leave them so conceited as if there were no way left for them to recover any setling or confidence This policie of Satan to hold hearers upon this rolling stone of their owne bottomes is no other save that he blind-folds them with this Selfe and selfe-love For why so long as they were meerly carnall and led by prophane Selfe they confesse God might justly cast them off But when once they finde their mindes and hearts to be truely bent and set heaven-ward then they conceive themselves as other manner persons and thinke that no man can blame them if they looke for some fruit of their labour and wonderfull difficult it is to draw them from a carnall savour even in the most spirituall things of God Wherefore say they have we zeale and feelings and hopes by our hearing the promise save that wee should ascribe somewhat to them and thinke our selves in better case then when we wanted them And whence are they save from the word and the glad tidings of the Gospel To whom I answer I grant all to be true which you have said but what then Is there no difference thinke you betweene the newes of salvation offered to a needing soule rejoycing to heare that one lying in the dungeon may come out and resting in some hope that it may be his owne portion and betweene one who is actually drawne out of it by applying those cords to himselfe which God hath laid before him I meane by beleeving the promise to be his owne Are there no degrees of the worke of the Gospel save only to fall in love with it because it pleases us Put case the Lord is content at first to draw us with the cords of a man that is by an object which is welcome to nature while we are uncapable of further things shall this satisfie the soule and make it by and by to thinke it selfe in good case Is there not a condition of the offer as well as some preparations wrought by the offer or shall some pangs of hope jealousie sorrow loathnesse to forgoe the promise be set by as much as the promise it self beleeved No surely for so the Maide should bee preferred before the Mistresse and those passions of the soule which God useth for the pulling of her closer to himself in the embracing the offer shall be equalled with faith it selfe which were most absurd For why faith is a worke issuing from the digestive power of the Spirit so urging the faithfull meaning of God reconciled to a sinfull wretch in Christ that he is willing to put away all enmity and become a father to pardon her and set her at liberty whereupon the soule so fastens that finding such properties in her selfe as belong to such an one shee with holy and humble boldnesse takes them to her selfe as her owne
portion never to be taken from her To apply the answer the cause of such staggering is self-love That which you feele to agree with your selves and to come easily pleaseth you too well and causeth you to dwell upon it too long and to withhold you from better things The remedy of your disease must bee to ascribe no more to your selves but to the glory of grace to abase selfe and to exalt mercy to renounce all selfe-reflex from duties and endeavors of your owne because they cannot shed any meritorious bloud to save you and to claspe to that promise which is established upon a satisfaction to justice which though it be out of your selves yet is after a sort made your owne by him that promiseth because faith is his gift and he hath covenanted to give it you for that end and purpose What skils it how little grace you feele within when as he who offereth you mercy onely seeke such as want it that he may have the glory Or what shall it boote you to thinke you have lesse sinne then others when as he who calls you to forgivenesse cares not how great it be so it hinder not your beleeving in him Read this wisely who seekes the superabounding of grace where sinne hath abounded Accept then such grace offered as those in whom nothing dwelleth toward any grace Grace best accepted by such as of themselves are emptiest of it and as if yee had stept no one step toward it more then the vilest publican and sinner have done Be content to gird your selves and serve grace and let not grace attend you as if you had wrong if it be not laid in your laps but come under the banner and authority of it the ends and honour of it It is something that grace runnes in your streame but your staggerings shall never cease till your streame be dried up and turned to runne meerly in Gods streame to be carried both whither how soone how and how farre it shall please him Use all meanes walke so in the way as making use of all incouragements but still looke forward to the price of the high calling of God boast not your selves as if you had put off your harnesse But rather thinke thus if it be so joyfull a message to heare of a pardon how much better were it to sue it out and apply it to my selfe and how wofully should it sting me if any things should come betweene cup and lip to defeat me of it Remember that all preparations of grace serve onely to testifie to the soule that the Lord hath beene at worke not that it should rest in a taste of absent but presse on with unweariednesse to obtaine the fulnesse of a present and enjoyed happinesse and betrust it selfe wholly to his workemanship who would never have begunne if it had not beene in his power and will to finish Stand therefore at his curtesie wholly as disabled in thy selfe to cooperate with him much lesse to have him at the bent of thy bow binde Selfe to the altar with cordes and turne thy active medling spirit into a meere passive and waiting spirit upon the worke of God not as a slave nor as a loyterer but as a self-denyer and one whose strength is to sit still and behold the salvation of God Oh beloved that I could so follow this councell of mine with effectuall prayer to the Lord that through mercy it might become a mean to put to an happy end those endlesse innumerable complaints of staggering consciences to settle them in some tolerable measure with comfort and quietnesse And so much may also serve for this third and last Branch of instruction Vse 4 The fourth use of this point may be examination of your selves concerning this secret sinne of Selfe Examination I say not the being of it for hee that would be rid of it must goe out of the world but the raigning and defiling and deceiving power of it to keepe the soule from Christ I need not be large in this I have prevented my selfe already in all which I have said before to describe this theefe by his markes But what shall it profit you brethren to say they are laid down in the opening of the doctrine if ye let them lie there apply none of them to your selves to find out your owne let What shall it availe that I have told you what grosse Selfe is and what this secret and wyredrawne Selfe is To have shewed you many instances of it The steppes and degrees of it The carriage of it both in the ground the proceeding and the scope of it The reasons of it both from the cursed nature of Selfe the curse of God and Satans advantage What good will it doe you to heare the danger of it described by the naturalnesse subtilty closenesse violence of it If none of all these will stirre ye up to cry out and aske Am I the man O Lord or with Rebecca feeling her twins to stirre within her to goe to God for counsell Alas brethren To this end all serves else all is as water running over in a full vessell some of yee perhaps will say there is so much said of this that it fills your head so that ye know not where to beginne I answer If it be so much it may make some amends for the little or nothing which most men will speake of it and oh that it might occasion others to speake more But to answer you I say take any one of these and trie your selves by it especially cull out such instances and markes as you thinke sort best with your condition let not plenty make you barren Who knoweth what is in the spirit of man save the Lord and it selfe Or rather the Lord searching the heart by his owne Spirit Jerem. 17. and teaching it to dive into the depth and secrets of sinne Selfe requireth good and deepe searchâ—ng Who can judge whether it be grosse Selfe or privy and subtill Selfe which pesters the soule and disables the promise Who knowes whether ease or pride feare or presumption conceit or error and ignorance hinder most Try therefore thy selfe knowest thou not that Selfe must stoope if Christ enter doe not thinke that because here thou maiest finde some markes of this else therefore by and by thou hast snatcht him no no thousands who know their diseases carry them under their privy garments as running sores till they destroy them especially remember if Selfe bee so deepe an evill so naturall a twinne eating laughing and living in thy bosome with such familiarity and bewitching what save the infinite wisedome and power of God can worke the discovery or resolvednesse of heart to cast it out Therefore not to urge any thing already urged in speciall I doe onely in generall urge thee to make use of what hath beene said already of this mischiefe Goe aside hide thy selfe in thy chamber Esay 26. powre out thine heart to
his vantage and all things considered it is no great selfe-deniall to sell all for so infinite a gaine to lose a present little for a future unknowne estate therefore his eye will not spare he will abondon all his worth and gage his credit too but hee will have it and so he makes it his own But having so done will not take twice the worth of it again Oh! do thou so poor Soule and prosper sell all selfe and all for though it be not worth in it selfe the parings of thy nailes yet because opinion and errour and a corrupt heart of selfe-love doe set such a price upon it he Lord is content to take it as a price of the Lord Jesus As David thought a pot of water upon such tearmes as the hazard of three Princes lives a meet offering for God so I say Offer God selfe and all it is scarce worth a pot of water of it selfe but as it is the price of life so it makes the selfe-deniall pretious to God Skin for skin and all that a man hath will hee give for life but even this pretious life and all will a sinfull soule give to save Selfe Oh! what is every man save his minde Each mans will more deare to him then the world The minde of every man is the man the spirit of the Miser the mind of the Drunkard the conceit and opinion of a Papist an Heretick or Schismaticke the will of an Adulterer though all of them are as vile as dung yet they are more pretious to them then life it selfe They will engage all rather then their will and selfe Even so fares it with corrupt selfe The Lord offers to the soule the Lord Jesus the fruit of his bloud and satisfaction to pardon save it But upon what tearmes Surely these that the soule sell all Alas what is all she hath to sell worth Shee hath nothing but bare walls within and a dung-hill without he that should carry them away to have them should take them at a deare rate for what is old Adams wealth but misery and nakednesse Oh! but there is a further thing in it the soule thinkes her selfe rich and full This conceit must be first abhorred the offer of Christ seemes to bee too hot and heavie carnall wisedome reason wit ease feare of losing liberties and all other selfe resists it yea she so likes the Pearle that she will yeeld a devotion a religion of duties of costly service to redeeme this price of Selfe the halfe of the Kingdome she can forgoe and the other halfe shee will yeeld to Christ and so save her stake but to sell himselfe wholly to the skin that Christ may be all in all ground money gold apparell meat drinke and all this is death But even this God must have or nothing For why This will lay grace and the thanke of the soule under feet which God cannot endure Therefore this price the Lord will have or nothing Oh! give it him freely One peece of Selfe will plead how canst thou spare thy darling Another to live at ease in an opinion of a safe estate to God How canst thou part with it being thy Idoll thy bosome delight But if thou be this merchant royall who is able to weigh the worth of the Pearl offered thee peace of conscience an happy death and happier life after I advise thee put it not off for the sake of a thousand Selves except thou will bring such sorrow upon thy selfe after as all thy will cannot make recompence for when the bargain is rejected As the Mariners in Ionah would have rowed to land to have saved Ionahs their own lives Jonah 1. but when no way would serve they threw all into sea Wheat and other provision And when nothing would do they cast Ionah himselfe in so let this last enemy Selfe as perverse as Ionah in his owne device be throwne over-boord rather then the pretious soule should bee in jeopardy Ministers must be the formost in self deniall Josu 3.15 And let us Ministers of God like the Priests that first stepped into Jordan when it gave way into Canaan bee the first that tread out this way to the people of God for it is a way which though it bee troden out plainly enough in the Scriptures yet had need of lively practice to teach it before men will beleeve it These sheep are much led by the eye as well as the eare by beholding the examples of their Shepheards I meane as well as by doctrine Oh! when they heare us declaim against Selfe and plead for selfe-deniall very stoutly with our tongues they lay their eare to our practice and hearing our Lute strings to jarre and seeing us wire-draw and cast about every way rather then we will part with any thing for peace of conscience or glory to God not onely not our livings but not our passions of wrath envie contention vain-glory not a brasse farthing of our gaines not a dramme of our pride ease idlenesse pompe and jollity will and stomack pleasure or preferment for Christ and his Gospel they have the measure of our foot by and by and resolve to give us the hearing till our tongues be torne but till they see in us more selfe-deniall they will never beleeve that wee speake the truth for Gods cause but onely as Parrets for fashion sake Oh! the infinite prejudice which we our selves brethren by our close cleaving to our selves have done to this great cause of God And this I can say That such of Gods Ministers as have hazarded themselves most for God and purchasing advantage for their Ministery have obtained more roome in the consciences of their hearts then many of such as have stood out to the uttermost and would not abate any ace of their owne for the winning of reverence to their doctrine And yet I would also exhort Ministers to be as instant in the teaching of this truth as in lively exemplifying it in their practice And rare it is to see it otherwise that those who have found by experience the life of this truth of selfe-deniall in themselves can keepe hot coales in their bosomes but must needs utter themselves to their people in a serious and painfull preaching of this doctrine There was a Statute we know of Mortmaine The true Mort-maine which was faine to bee enacted since the times of superstition in this our Kingdome to cut off the validity of such gifts as were given to the Clergy for Popish ends This Statute should every good Minister enact in his owne soule if ever he looke to doe good to others first to cut off and make Selfe a Mort-maine a dead hand for God doth so if it shall dare to bring any gifts to God for Christ and to count them as absolute forfeits as if a Popish fellow should give moneyes and yearly gifts to a Priest to read Masse or Dirigies for the weale of his soule after his decease And
so the people let them bee exhorted also to exalt free grace and meere Christ in the promise not muttering that they find not that fruit of their selfe-deniall that they expect but counting it their chiefe work to wait at the posts of grace not as foolish pilgrimes doe at the gate of the Popes entrance knocking with a golden hammer till he bring them his Jubilee blessing but with patience attending the promise till the Lord shall stirre the dead poole of their hearts and quicken them with hope confessing that it is mercy they may live and breathe in Gods aire much more by the aire of a promise although not yet so established in their hearts as they could desire yet sufficient to keep them from grudging to make them lay their hand upon their mouth and to bee dumb Malac. 3. till the Lord bring healing in his wings and put an end to their waiting But as for esteeming themselves for their common gifts of knowledge or zeale to be ever the neerer to God for which thousands are in hell abhorring it and chusing to be the poorest doore-keeper in Gods house then the highest Pharisees in the Church who need no righteousnesse of another because they boast of their owne Therfore in all matters of God deny thy self cleave to God God is the first cause and therefore the true end of our being actions service All Rivers runne into the Sea For us to make our selves our owne ends were to make our selves God independent and to make God an Idoll To deny our selves is to distinguish our selves from the ungodly who make themselves and the creature their happinesse Wee looke to better our selves by our selfe-love but indeed we destroy our selves Selfe is our disease selfe-deniall is our cure Whether is it better for us to yeeld to but we infinitely better our selves by denying our selves even an hundred fold as Christ tells us Object But who ever hated his owne flesh Doth not God himselfe perswade us by selfe-loving arguments As by profit pleasure peace I answer yes Selfe is a plant of Gods planting in our nature But it is one thing to destroy an horses good mettall another to rectifie and subdue it so it is one thing to destroy Selfe and affections with Stoicks another to regulate and direct them Love thy selfe and spare not so the Lord by his word may order thee in it and take off thine exorbitant Selfe as in the love of thy wife seeking of learning wealth honour favour c. For the better perswading of thee hereto take some motives and some meanes First for motives Till Selfe be denied thou dost in vaine enterprise to be religious thou opposest a desire of thine owne against an whole body of death for Selfe is overspread in all the lims and faculties of thy body and soule as the forme is over the matter and the Call over the inwards Thou wilt be tried with selfe resistance except the principle be first removed Flesh will so dog thee with her askings that thou wilt be weary with refusings Till the soule be thus prepared there can be nothing done The first husband must be dead ere thou canst marry a new at least in the rectified intention and preparation of thy soule The flesh of the Virgin had beene a clogge to the second person except first separated and purified by the holy Ghost Else Demas might have clave to Paul as well as Silas the ten spies to God as well as Caleb and Iosue But they were of two spirits No agreement betweene two crosse principles Secondly God will never stoope to thee his will is not to be bowed to thine nor ever will while the world standeth For his will is the rule thine the string out of tune What should order a crooked thing but a streight Neither can they both stand together take whether you will both you cannot have you cannot have your will and swinge in your contents of world lust and liberties and Christ too no man can serve two Masters nor drive two such trades at once as a Fullers and a Colliers the one sullyes as fast as the other whitens nay of the two there is more to be made of following Selfe alone without Christ then Selfe and Christ by the former a man may at least get himselfe a worldly happinesse though he lose heaven after But by the latter a man makes him wretched and distracted so that he can neither enjoy the one nor the other Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life The heart of a Christian is single in respect of his object onely God and his favour no mixtures with it Either deny nature in her inordinatenesse or else give God over for both cannot consent in one degree of eminency who cares for a wavering minded man either to make him our chapman or friend or husband For still hee seekes not us but himselfe Let no sweet morsell be kept in our palate to cause God to be out of rellish with us Better key-cold then lukewarme Thirdly it is equall that Christ and God be chiefe because they have bought us with a price to bee theirs Wee should doe him great wrong who hath bought a Captive if hee should doe his owne worke God hath not onely bought our service but our selves Except then wee never made such a bargaine with God wee must bee for him who hath so dearly bought us To be sure God will bee revenged of us as well for not making that bargaine as for not keeping it 2 Pet. 2. Some hypocrites are said to deny Christ who bought them A servant is his Masters mony Fourthly The soule feeles a heaven in selfe-deniall What inward content thinke we had Abraham when he had denied Isaacs life And Moses and Paul when they could preferre God and his Church before their salvation to suffer afflictions with Israel rather then to be a Prince in Pharaohs Court Contrariewise what an hell carrieth that man in his soule who for base ends denies God and conscience Let but a man deny one base lust of revenge wrath and what an heavenly heart doth he carry with him to prayer Fifthly Think what an emptinesse there is in thy self thine own aimes and bents of heart and in those creatures and objects which thou judgest so sweet Wells wanting water and cloulds without raine As one saith of the Pagan Gods why did men chuse so many save that each one was emptinesse When the eie of Selfe falls downe from one cleere Sunne it thinkes it sees three or foure but they are all but fancies The fullest creature is but a brittle glasse full of water give it but as a cracke and it is gone If we were convinced hereof who would seeke vanity Who would deceive himselfe in eating ashes Esay 44. and hold a lie in his right hand It is meere inconsideratenesse and want of weighing things as hee saith there of the Idolater Sixtly Either be armed strongly
doubtfull hearts and the Lord will not bee wanting to give you now and then such handsells of mercy as are meete to stay you and to assure you of better measures afterward But say the truth is there not within you a secret loathnesse to give up your owne bottome hopes and hold to the meere freedome of eternall mercy Or have you not kept a false measure within you that is to mixe your selves with mercy being loath to deny your selves your feelings zeale labours and devotions Have you cast these out and come under the power and authority of the Word I feare there is such a pad in the straw If there be not it is some sin against conscience which hath wasted you which must be abhorred but if it be as I have said alas poor soules then wonder not that God hath crossed you for it is for good even to fasten you to himselfe and above all meanes to acquaint you with his owne power who in the midst of these distempers of yours can forgive you can imbrace you with mercy and finde in his heart to love you even then when perhaps you could bite your tongues because you are so bad and this if you can beleeve it will carry meate in the mouth when all your own mixtures must vanish Try your selves by this marke whether the Spirit of Grace have so wildred you in the best and most pleasing waies of your own Esay 26. till he have driven you into your chambers to hide your selves there under the secret of the Almighty under that free infinite full covert of the promise till the evill be overpast Tell me brethren when you can feed and revive your spirits at this feast and warme your selves at this fire is it not high holy-day with you Finde you not a difference betweene this and your owne sparkes Bee content then resigne up your soules to this worke and say the Lord hath done you no wrong to weane you from your owne breasts that you might suck at his promises Seventhly and lastly the Spirit of Grace opposeth Selfe in all her errors and subtilties For the former Selfe is a great blinder of the eyes and causes the soule to sleep in a whole skin she doth so baffle her selfe with her owne shewes and forwardnesse that shee doubts not but her estate is good She saith with Iehu 2 Kings 9. Come and see the zeale which I have for the Lord of Hosts But the Spirit of Grace is a Spirit of discerning between errour and truth it seperates between the pretious and the vile gives clearnesse to the eyes of the simple Psal 19. causing them to judge according to the grounds of the word which cannot deceive to distrust her owne conjecturall and slight bottomes Truth is able to approve both her selfe and her contrary whereas error can comprehend neither truth nor her owne vanity And secondly she discovers those subtilties of Selfe It were endlesse to mention them by a few judge of the rest Sometime she is so slye that when her affections and duties forsake her she can recover her selfe by her whinings complaints and mutterings against her selfe as if she mourned because she attaines no better fruit of her labours Sometimes she will pretend that she desires grace really and is willing to be searched and that shee knowes not that evill which she would not gladly be rid of that she might attaine it But yet she deceives herselfe with dead wishes and will not ensue those meanes closely which tend thereto nor profit by the experience of her owne basenesse but her experience leaves her dead in the nest as it found her and she will not endure the triall nor set one foot forward to remove the stumbling-blocke of her iniquity from before her Ezek. 14. and her Idols from between her brest Therein she is as she was Againe a third subtilty is that she will spare her owne lazy skin and cut her selfe off from those more convincing ordinances and more pertinent and seasonable meanes for her owne good by putting herselfe upon such as are lawfull and good in their kinde as to avoid close attendance to reading of the word by singing of a Psalme also prayer by reading a Chapter instead of secret and private prayer she will chuse to pray with others or in family or upon a booke instead of extraordinary duties shee will content herselfe with her ordinary houres and all to shew that shee is glad to put off the Lord and save herselfe harmelesse with as small a pittance and as poore measures of spirit and courage as may be And commonly when Selfe pitches upon her course this is her property she is loose with God in the best meanes Againe she will so contrive her matters that for the shifting of some close duty of worship as meditation searching her corruptions repenting after falls or renewing covenant she will alway finde some occurrent or other duty of calling conversing with others needlesly or by some worke of mercy and duty of the second Table or any other fained pretence to rid herselfe of that which would stick to her spirit and discover her loose grounds Sometime which I would have marked when she is so hunted that she cannot shelter herselfe and is pressed to leave all for a promise she will turne presumptuous and professe that she hath cast herselfe upon that also and thereby hath put an end to all her former distempers purposing to cast about and fling out no more but settle herselfe upon the truth of God But alas this her fained cleaving to the word is nothing else save a dead relyance perhaps shee quashes her former feares and doubts But how Surely by a lazy and slothfull pretence of beleeving that she might be free from any callings upon reproofes or paines taking and delude her selfe with ease for why Come to the triall of her confidence alas it is without savor peace contentation or joy of heart saplesse barren and ventrous dissembling a selfe-deniall and calmnesse of heart but indeed a lethargy of the spirit willing to deceive herselfe No true desire to honour God in the fruit of a sound course or to purge out old distempers can appeare I say all the subtill and sly tricks of selfe-delusion the Spirit of Grace pierceth into and purgeth the soule of for looke what I have said of a few might be said of all the rest Although I deny not but many a poor soule hath some secret shreds of Selfe lying hid and unknowne yet I say the nature of the Spirit is to discover them if the soule be not wanting thereto And this be said touching the former generall head of the Spirits opposing Selfe Second generall How the Spirit of grace that it serves wholly for Grace In three things 1. In discovering the mystery of it Now for the second generall a second marke of the Spirit of Grace is That it serves wholly for Grace And that both in the
discovery of Grace in the effects of that discovery and the end of it For the first of these The Spirit of Grace is all for Grace in the discovery of the mystery of it the amplenesse largenesse height depth and length of it to the poore soule that it may appeare in all the excellency and fulnesse freedome bounty unchangeablenesse and wel be teamingnesse thereof that no corner of it may lie hidden from the heart of a sinner so farre as may further him in the bottoming of the soule in mercy This is a singular and peculiar act of the Spirit tending to this end that the soule may not stagger about the sufficiency of Grace which God offers unto her but may behold the power of the Priesthood of Christ once offering up himselfe as a compleat and spotlesse sacrifice and satisfaction for the sins of the elect needing no more to be offered able to procure from the Father endlesse wel pleasednesse and acceptance also a free offer of reconciliation and to create in the soule alone and of it selfe without any antecedent free will liking and cooperating of Selfe a most sufficient clearing of conscience from guilt and feare yesterday Heb. 10.3 Heb. 13.8 to day and for ever This cannot sinke into the heart of an hypocrite he cannot bee perswaded that there is enough in the Lord Jesus alone to discharge him in the Court of heaven the offer and promise are empty notions with him to sway all his strength upon neither dare hee rest thereupon with peace without a further addition of his owne feelings But the Spirit of Grace grounds the poore soule in this as the maine worke of all that so all the building may subsist thereon and makes sure retreat and refuge for her in the midst of her distresse that her foundation may not be shaken I wish that the method of that Epistle to the Hebrewes especially in the 7.8.9.10 Chap. might well be observed to the understanding of this act of the Spirit Secondly the Spirit of Grace doth not onely offer such a light to the soule but lets it in by her owne working into her setting the soule on worke to concurre with his revealing light and shewing it both that the Lord will conferre no lesse then all this Sufficiency upon a needing soule and therefore shee may without presumption take and partake them from his hand It sheweth her that it is the endlesse matchlesse Grace of God that he can find in his heart to pardon her yea to cast love upon her not only when she seems zealous and affectionate for Self can make her beleeve that but even when she is basest in her owne eies and under the conscience of her guilt when she is in her bloud when her originall loathsomenesse her actuall wickednes of thoughts of words of wrath hypocrisie and the like doe lye as a burthen upon her yet then even then marke what I say he hath love in a corner of his heart for such an one such as he will have herselfe confesse to be causlesse on her part yea such as if he had no more aime at being knowne to be loving then to love for any amiable thing in the object he would never shew to any Nay more lest the Spirit of Grace should leave any thing behinde him he doth offer to create the gift of faith in the soule Esay 5â— 19 to claspe upon this gift of mercy and includes this gift in the offer as knowing that it were in vaine to offer the one without working the other And hereby he causeth the soule to lay hold upon his strength and ablity to save as having received a ransome sufficient which is no other saving the writing of his covenant in the fleshy tables of her heart Esay 27 4.5 prepared by himselfe for the nonce And moreover that all this hee hath done of his owne free will and motion without any former principle acting him to intend it or concurring with him to create it I say he hath done it of himselfe as judging it meet for himselfe to doe whatsoever we bee and for the glory of his Name No entreaty of men or Angels no difficult tearmes of perswasion caused it but it flowed naturally from him as most honourable to his Majestie to doe Fifthly the Spirit of Grace stayes not here but proceedes to accommodate the soule to embrace this power of God for to what end should the Lord be willing to do it in her for her except she also felt sutable inclinations wrought in her soul towards it And therefore he moves her sadly to digest this grace offered to count it no light nor strange thing no nor yet beyond the soules apprehension but as on the one side hee causeth it to be most weighty pretious and to be highly valued so on the other side he makes it familiar sweet clear and evident not a thing above the clouds nor under the earth farre fetcht but neere the soule put into her bosome Rom. 10. belonging to her not to bee rejected or thrust away from her except she will perish These together with the infinite benefite of receiving it and the endlesse losse in forgoing it as being the onely remedy doe marvellously stablish the thoughts upon it and ravish the affections with it so that layes a most sad charge upon the poore soule upon paine of forfeiting her peace for ever not to passe it by slightly deadly and formally but to view and meditate of it savourly deep y unwâ—ariedly with admiration till by this mirrour of beholding the Lord with open face she be transformed to the gloriousnes of this gracâ— and carried 2 Cor. 3. end yea left in the streame thereof by the Spirit of the Lord. This for the first of the three particulars The second is the effect of this presenting worke of the Spirit And that is union The second worke the effect hereof viz. Union Whereby the Spirit of Grace shewes the soule into what a condition she is translated by faith in the promise That is she is made one with the Lord Jesus thereby and really partaker of all his good things true peace contentment in blessings crosses all conditions freedome from all former garboiles feares enemies joy in God and his salvation never to be divorced from him any more This causes the soule to shake off that wearisomenesse of Selfe never settled that bottomelessenesse never grounded that inconstancy and vanity never at rest and why Because it had no reall good to fasten upon and to determine those restlesse desires of hearts But now the Lord Jesus himselfe both in his present grace and hope of glory to come runues in her streame or rather turnes hers into his so that looke what Selfe was to her before emptily and barrenly now Christ is in her stead Christ is the Selfe of the soule he is all in all to her acts her comforts her staies her quickens her guides upholds
the whole Army of corrupt Arguments which both within and without beset the soule against the naked truth of the promise before ever he set them at liberty And the truth is onely the worke of regeneration is able both to drein away this spring and floud of contradiction and to dry up her streames that they may not so abundantly flow out to beare downe all the force of truth in us or perswade us to conversion And the same spirit it must be which must turne our streame to run another way and take off this rolling doore of our corruption from the old hinges to open and move a contrary way Onely Grace must consume all our base inventions which man hath found out against God as Eccles 7.29 Civils against Religion sundry of theâ— named That this Sect of Religion is everywhere evill spoken of If once a Christian ever a slave a beggar a foole These Preachers tell us many tales of a tub against sinne and of the judgements of God but the best is wee see not thunder and lightning to follow upon every word they speake If all were so cursed whom they declaim against they would looke as blacke as foot there would bee no living among men but thankes be to God we see all things still continue as they were and men are as white in the face as they were wont buy and sell goe to markets and faires to Ale-houses and merry meetings their pleasures and good fellowships as free and fast as ever Therefore we see they would but rob us of our liberties and make us such fools as themselves which God forbid it were pitty that for their pleasures the world should be so turned Iopsie-turvie Others come in and backe themselves with this That your best Preachers are no better then they should be and in corners they are as other men Some thinke if religion once beare sway then their trades must be forsaken they must sell all and give it to good â—â—lke and Preachers not unlike to the Popish Jesuites who in their Sermons tell the people that English Protestants have long tailes and hornes in their foreheads and looke as grizely as Ghosts and some grinne like Dogges and the like Againe others cavill say These Christians are so sad and melancholick that I am afraid I should die of no other disease save of very thought and care Others come neerer and consider God would have their lusts and lewd qualities from them which are necessary evils to them they cannot part with them Religion is better to make shew of for mens ease as Machiavil said then to make us sound at heart and so cost us much paine Others cavill and say The best cannot tell whether they shall be saved and they can hope as well as others and so hope well and have well Others thinke it impossible to change their natures and to be converted They have assayed often but they finde little come of it and they love no worke which is never at an end nor then neither They love that religion which a man can tell what to make of and come to a point but as for that which is never content but first men must forgoe their lusts then their liberties then themselves beleeve repent and bee broken-hearted this is precise and curious not for their tooth Others say If yee heare the Preacher yee will lose your wits and drowne or fore-doe your selves Others yet come closer and cavill thus Wee see the more we are terrified for sinne the further we are from God God hath not appointed all to bee saved all cannot mourne or beleeve it is the gift of few we know not whom God hath chosen men may fall away after they have beleeved and if some say true the justified may revolt and be damned and they can be no worse though they never begin Many goe so farre as few can match them and yet for one cause or other they must prove hypocrites and lose their labour therefore they will save theirs altogether they had as good sit for nought as toyle for nought Others say their corruptions doe so weary them that they shall never get through them and others are afraid that they shall never persevere but at one time or other fall foully and dishonour their Religion therefore dare not give the on-set To conclude others have taken offence at the rigour of the Law and so run out to seek old liberties alledging that bondage to be most irksome And others who proceed further yet say This and such like doctrines of Selfe doe discourage them they feare that a man cannot be rid of it and they see it is hard even for the best to discerne the Spirit of God from a mans owne Endlesse it were to reckon up all cavils onely the Lord must change the heart ere it be rid of these her inventions To dispute for God is a great work of grace And much more must the Lord turne the streame a contrary way ere the soule wax resolute against all such objections and bee turned to dispute for God to hold close to the promise and to devise as many as strong and as witty reasons for her owns salvation as before shee did against it Some instances of disputing for God To argue thus is not common The Lord hath his number and will ever have and they are such as leaving his secrets cleave to his revealed will Such as are loaden with their corruptions mourne after ease not for ease onely of their feare and guilt but to take the yoke of Christ upon them in stead thereof Such if any may claime the promise And such an one through mercy I am Few indeed shall be saved but then as few lament after God till they finde him and many glorious lights fall away but then their light was in themselves they were not humble True it is the elect are knowne to God but yet such as will first beleeve shall in time know themselves to bee elect And why should I thinke my inducements to beleeve to bee so weake or few Nay rather why should not I if I be lead by the Spirit of Grace turne disswasives into perswasives and sway all objections to the naked promise Surely Caleb did so And Gods reasons are many and strong Num. 14.5.6 Mee thinkes it is a strong motive that the Lord will leave none but such as forsake him first His meaning seemes very cordiall unto me when he bids a sinner be reconciled For why There is bottomelesse patience in his heart to forbeare smiting hee hath mercy cut off his owne plea he hath neglected no meanes to satisfie his owne justice hee that would not refuse to forgoe his onely sonne will not lose his cost surely he meanes well to a poore wretch He hath received a ransome declares himselfe to be appeased wishes us to be so threatens us if wee refuse His Spirit is annexed to his offer he allureth draweth encourageth and yet
he urgeth nothing at our hands but himselfe promiseth strength to performe he can and will subdue the hardnesse of an unwilling heart by an irrestible prayer he promises to rebuke Satans subtilty and malice to doe all our workes It is his owne glory which he seekes why should he lose it And why should he doe that which he hath done except he meant to perfect it I say thus to argue in truth is not every ones measure but theirs onely to whom it is given to answer strong doubts and to quench fiery darts To say with Mano ' as wife we shall not dye Judg. 13.23 if the Lord had meant to slay us he would never have so farre have declared himselfe to us as he hath done To say with that rare patterne yet Lord the dogges may eate crummes c. so answering the objections of her Saviour against her Matth. 15. To say with Iob though thou kill me yet will I trust in thee against all the terrors with which thou affrightest me I say it is the Lord who only can turn the heart to be wise to salvation And to be sure as it should humble all such cavillers who are alway proudest of that wit which damps them most as feele this nature unsubdued in them so it should raise up a speciall spirit of thankefulnesse in all them whom God hath pluckt out of all such snares causing them to turne their Satyrs into songs and their invectives into admirations and to blesse him who hath put their soules out of those questions which if they were now to resolve the greatest question would be whether ever they would be resolved This I have briefly said of this point generally whereof much more might have been said save that my text pitches my thoughts upon the speciall cavill of Naamans carnall reason unto which I hasten hoping that in this instance I shall satisfie them who are desirous to heare more of the generall The second point then out of this answer of Naaman is this Carnall reason a great enemy to faith That carnall Doct. 2 reason is a great enemy to the soule in point of assenting and cleaving to the truths of the word So it was here to Naaman and so it is to all who leane thereto For the better conceiving of which point first in a word I will shew what I meane by carnall reason what sorts of men and in how many respects and instances it resists the word Secondly I will prove the point by Scripture and sundry reasons And lastly come to the uses and therein answer one maine question how farre forth mans wisedome may be admitted to have any thing to doe in the matters of God Carnall reason what For the first by carnall reason I meane not the power of reasoning according to rationall and sensible grounds nor yet the exercise of that power in such things as are objects of reason I meane humane matters which sense can judge of For to deny such things were to make men meere idiots and to disable them from capablenesse of Religion But I mean that carnallity of reason which judges and disputes according to sinfull corrupt and depraved reason and calls Gods holy and mysticall truthes which are onely judged of by a superior power of spirituall reason and understanding to the barre or ballance of an unregenerate See 1 Cor. 2.15 that is an inferior and disabled reason and judgement which hath lost the the gift of discerning truthes by the error and corruption of old Adam Three steppes of carnall reason Now this erroneous judgement hath three steppes and degrees For first carnall reason buyes and sells God and his actions according to the meere proportion and scantling of outward appearance and weighes him so just in her ballances that she will abate him no one dramme of weight in the reckning but he must be just the same not one haires bredth under or over Psal 78.19 then she allowes him Thus the Israelites when they were in the wildernesse because they saw no reall second causes or meanes of a supply of meate and drinke deny it possible that they should be furnished at all concluding that they must of necessity perish Can the Lord say they spread a table in the wildernesse They would allow the Lord no more power then the meere possible or probable meanes would afford This is carnall reason in grosse somewhat like the grosse condignity of Popish merit This was Naamans reason here in the Text. A second steppe is when although light out of the word and common convincing experience dare not confine God so close nor girt up his power so narrowly but hee must have a power beyond any thing which appeares yet for all that in secret she thinkes it very meet that God should tye himselfe and yeeld of himselfe to worke by rationall and likely means and when he doth so shee is best satisfied and stumbles when it is not so Luke 7.4.5 Thus the Jewes thought it a very meete congruity that Christ should heale his servant who had built them a Synagogue and loved their nation as if Christ were tyed in doing miracles to gratifie his benefactors and so his mother herselfe Ioh. 2.4 when she saw they wanted wine would needs forestall him saying Sonne thou canst doe a miracle and thou canst not doe it at a better season then now to supply their want of wine as if our Saviour served onely to attend mens opportunities by the power of his Godhead indeed hee did the miracle but not upon either the ground or end which she framed This is a dreg of the former The third steepe is when we confesse God and his will and power above all and confesse it must be hee onely which must worke all of himselfe and is above the meanes but yet in the use of meanes we expect God should not frustrate us but worke by and through them not remembring that as in the first the Lord is tyed to no meanes and in the second he is a free agent and is above all meanes so in this third he can worke aswell without the meanes and against them as with them and useth meanes onely for other causes not for his but our better helpe and convenience So that this base carnality plaies her prises one way or other and dares act her part upon Gods stage so that no one mystery administration worke or ordinance of his can passe her fingers without some verduit or other of her owne she will have an oare in every boate In this first branch I would further have it considered What subject carnall reason dwels in in what subjects or persons I conceive this carnall reason to reside when I say it is an ill judge and a great enemy to the matters of God I doe not here intend Atheisticall reason such as that of the Epicurean sect was who thought the world to be eternall both before and after because there could
remaines both of this and the other uses to the next Sermon if God will Let us pray c. THE EIGHT LECTVRE still continued upon this twelfth VERSE VERSE XII VERSE 12. Are not Abana and Pharfar rivers of Damascus better then all the waters of Israel May I not wash in them and be cleane So he went away in a rage VERSE 13. Then his servants came neere unto him and said Father if the Prophet had sayd some great thing c. I Could not beloved in our Lord Jesus finish in the former exercise 2 Kings that which I intended concerning the doctrine of carnall reason I repeat nothing but call to your minde that in the fourth branch of admonition I first spake by way of watch-word to the severall conditions of my hearers And first I entred upon caveat to Gods Ministers and so proceeded to the people Let me now come to Parents and Object 3 Governours Bee carefull to what Tutors and Teachers Parents and governours beware of it Masters and Guardians ye commit the education of your children Carnall reason lookes at carnall ends where children may not be backe and belly beaten where they may learne their bookes and trades and have their stocks restored at their yeares end and this I dislike not so be it that ye neglect not their soules which else will crie out against you and leave them to themselves so be it you plant them not under Masters which are content so they doe their worke to give them their liberty upon the Lords day to drinke to game and to keepe company with them by whom they may soone be carried into the depth of Satan and grow debaucht in their manners all their life after Worldlings make but a mock of this I grant and say so they may have their children taught to behave themselves civilly and learne their occupation they care not greatly for precisenesse or to have them more Religious then themselves but when they see this narrow scantling will not be kept but irreligion teacheth them to grow drunkards uncleane swearers and the like Oh! then they wish they had beene brought up with Puritans Oh ye husbands Object 4 and parents looke to it let not carnall conversing with your wives and training up your children and servants Husbands and wives humoring them in their vices for peace and ease teach them the common religion of the times swearing cogging deceiving breaking Sabbaths geering and squibbing at those that are better then their selves I tell you look what Characters are in your seale will soon be seen by your wax they shall have cause to curse the day that ever they saw your faces nay perhaps one day your owne consciences shall rend you in peeces for that you see the fruit of your government appeare so fearfully and shall say it was I that nipt this blossome on the head I corrupted my wife I tainted my children in their youth I shall pay the shot of their soules ruine Object 5 So ye Physitians Physitians take heed of the disease incident to your profession even to be haife Atheists and that by ascribing so much to naturall and second causes and too little to God Philosophy and Physicke will reveale no better except Divinity teach you to ascribe all to the supreame cause and be content to stoop and be at a set in your cures when providence will have it so Teach your selves your patients who is that great Physitian that rules your Art and take not upon you to keep that key of successe those issues of life or death which are under divine custody who can kill by a disease not mortall All sorts and can save when the disease is deadly Object 6 Likewise you Magistrates Magistrates boast not of your skill in the law but feare God say it is the Lord who subdueth the people unto us you schollers Object 7 and Sudents beware of that prophane tradition that ye cannot be religious and learned Sâ—holars and students set up the Bible above your other library and prayer above your studies and the Lord above your wits tye your boates to his ship to be led according to his motion follow the star till you have found out the babe Jesus and doe homage to him with the first and best Object 8 of your treasures Ye tradesmen shopkeepers and labourers sacrifice not to your nets Tradesmen say not to your hands you have made us rich ye rich men Object 9 say not to the wedge of gold thou art my stay this were as Iob saith to Object 10 deny the Almighty ye poore folke now in this deare time despaire not of releefe Rich and poore Job 32.16 because you see few friends say not God give me health or else I starve for more then I worke for I looke not for use industry but set up God above adore his providence who all this yeare hitherto hath so provided that yet ye are not starven make him your God alsufficient Object 11 Ye midwives teach not women in their travel to call upon our Lady Midwives Jona 3.9 but bid them say salvation is of the Lord. And thus would I speake to all sorts if they were present cast out that carnal reason whereby ye feele your selves most tempted to distrust God 2. Branch of this fourth Admonition 1. Prejudice an abettor of carnall reason And to these former let me adde also other caveats in a word against those evills which nourish this carnall reason in you As first one prop of this sinne is prejudice and forestallednesse Such as those Jewes Acts 28. bewraied who when Paul made his defence told him This sect of Nazarens is every where ill spoken of and from this carnall ground they renounced his apology and cause A second is scandall at the power of Religion Oh! it is a pinch and a checke to their carnall liberties men cannot endure such chaines Psal 2. and will have no Lord to curbe their lusts A third is offence and stumbling at the meanes of Christ and Religion Doe any of the Pharisees follow him 2. Scandall at Religion and her meannesse 3. Base feare of man Luke 1. Tradition None save these people who are accursed embrace him A fourth is base feare of man more then God My grandfather father friends favour not this way I see it breeds losse danger trouble and pursuit A fifth is the tradition of men As Zachary disliked to name his sonne Iohn because none of his family were so named rather they chuse to be irreligious still then to change the custome of their forefathers And the threats of parents to their children doe deterre others saying if I thought thou wouldest be one of these zealous ones thou shouldest not have a foote of my land A sixth is lewd counsell Lewd counsell of such as egge away the yonger sort and tell them it is the next way to reproach and beggery A seventh is base
heare ill when we have done well which is a royall grace indeed Secondly this also may be just reproof to others though not so ranke as Vse 2 the former and these are of many sorts First Reproofe such as although they live in a bad course and know it yet are no sooner convinced thereof but they cavill against God himself and lay him in all the fault they would as faine be better as the Preacher and they cannot deny but they are farre from that they should be But these Ministers they say would goe beyond God and have them better then God will make them which cannot be for till God change and mend us all we can be no better let men teare their tongues to the stumps And and whence is this cavill Truly from base prophane Selfe which is crossed in her way imagining that because it is easie for God to worke as he please Cavillers against God as if he were in fault for all their errorâ— convinced and the worke of conversion is onely his therefore they may live the whilst as basely idely and prophanely as they list They would have grace droppe out of the clouds on the suddaine into them that their hearts might all at once be humbled comforted and turned to God before they bee aware and then they thinke they might scape a great deale of trouble that others meet with who are so restlesse painfull and unwearied in the use of the means For their own part they will use good means too on the Sunday and come to Church and heare but they will waite till God worke To whom I answer The Lord rebuke all such wretches God open their eies For tell me I pray you these waiters upon God how live they the whiles Most loosely deny themselves no liberty lust or will of their owne but lash it on upon the score till grace come and wipe off all they spare for no sinne committing to be lewd companions drinkers covetous or the like For why should they If heaven will be favourable it can pardon great as well as small offences If it will not in vaine should they strive For they have no strength of their owne they confesse to restraine from any such courses till God turne their hearts then you shall see what manner of persons they will be when they be of Gods making you shall see what new men they shall be But oh you white Divells you that turne rebellion into smoothnesse and play the still swine who eate up all the draffe how should such as you ever come into Gods mint to be new stamped I denounce unto you that all your hypocrisie tends to the vailing over of your sinne it is not grace you seeke if your brests were open hell and destruction are there and the way of peace you have not knowne Peace you would have pardon and heaven Gods love and favour but your cursed wills you would not forgoe And therefore that ye would have mercy I meane you shall never have and what ye would shunne you shall for ever inherit even woe and wrath I know some of this sort are not so prophane as others but feed themselves with duties and moralities a smooth way of Religion and so wait Matth. 3. Esay 30. But who hath taught such to escape the wrath to come by their sloth and ease What although it be our strength to sit still Must we therefore suspend our labour paines and use of meanes Will God be found in a way of ease of yawning desires and lazy hopes which abhorre to be guided Gods way and to come to his oath and covenant of humiliation aith and selfe-deniall No neither the prophane nor the lazy shall enter into his rest no more then the rebellious They maintaine a secret distemper and pritch of heart and tetch of selfe against God and either will be saved their owne way or not at all And therefore to these I also professe with sharpe reproofe The way to peace yee have not knowne neither will you rather will quarrell with God for not fulfilling you wills to make you such as you would bee without your trouble This way God never knew Nay I say more Though God would save you yet you would not if ye might and I may say truly salvation it selfe cannot save such as would not because it saves none but the willing Pull downe your cursed spirits and cease to kicke against the pricks for till you be content to abandon your lusts and ease you doe secretly cavill with him whom you shall never be able to make your cause good against you stand not right in your plea the Court is Gods the judgement is his who shall curse all weapons formed against himselfe and condemne all those most justly who cavill against him Therefore I say againe take this word of reproofe with meekenesse Esay 54. ult and sit still in the point of cavilling but abhorre to goe against Gods edge by your prophanensse or your ease for the Lord will never beleeve that either of these will ever be content to finde mercy though they might enjoy it And as Esau when time came would have had the blessing but yet would be still a sensuall Epicure and therefore it was finally denyed him So I say to you If in truth you would have grace pray to God to plucke up that roote of bitternesse which springs up in you Heb. 12. for that will defile you faster then all your idle and false wishes can clense you and no wonder if you well weigh it And secondly here come to be censured all such as go yet a steppe further Branch 2 and will close with meanes and be deepe in paines taking Selfewilled ones who binde God to their labours convinced but then when they see that God will take no paines for full price but for serving his owne grace and good pleasure onely then they fret and fume at their lot because God regards not their labours What say they Is this equity that the Lord should alike esteeme of the painfull and the lazy I answer thee yea if Selfe defeated be the caviller Thou takest paines it seemes that thou mightest be warme by thine owne sparkles and have somewhat to alledge why God should regard thee That is thou wouldest have him for thy sake to forsake his owne way and turne free grace into wages Rom. 9.13.14 And because he will not as indeed hee never will be a servant to the runner or the willer therefore thou frettest and fumest at him for not serving thy turne But oh man Who art thou that disputest with God Shall the axe quarrell with him that cutteth with it I answer thee therefore The Lord doth not simply equall thee with such as take no paines keepe thy paines still and if thou wilt adde more unto them but rather take away thy upbraiding spirit doe that thou dost with meeknesse and be content to sinke in thy
insomuch that that the people thought it had beene better if the onset had never beene made Now when they saw this the Elders come to Moses saying God be judge betweene us and you q.d. we pray God there be plaine dealing among you for you have made us stinke in the sight of Pharaoh all goes worse and worse through your mediation Exod. 5.20.21 who would have liked this contrariety Yet the Lord who could exalt himselfe above all these lets and over Pharaoh himselfe wrought to his people a deliverance even from hence and that which this tyrant would not permit willingly to be done lo the Lord by forcible breaking in upon him doth compell him to and in the way of saving Israel from him overthrowes himselfe Joh. 9.5.35.36 See Joh. 9. When the Lord Jesus had once prevented that poore blinde creature with love and the handsell of his cure presently in stead of good successe all falls out very foule for why The Pharisees to stoppe the glory of it swarme like hornets about this poore man disquieting him with questions and snaring him with their malice till at last for his loyall Apology for Christ they had cast him out by excommunication This might seeme an hard gobbet for so weake a stomacke to digest and rather a meane quite to discourage him But could all their railing upon him and Christ alienation of him from Christ estrangednesse of parents doe it No as poore as that seed was in him yet lively it was and held out forcibly against all enemies valiantly defending Christs honour and innocency till when the time came that the Lord Jesus saw good to strike up the bargaine a few words served the turne and in the meane while no discouragements could beat him off all wrought him closer and faster to Christ by that secret and hidden attendance of the Spirit upon the poore entrance which had beene begunne Rom. 8. All shall tend from the first to the last to their good whom God loveth not onely in sanctification but in vocation also both being subordinate to election though the former under a stronger promise Act. 9.1.6.7.8 c. Who also thirdly could have thought that Paul had beene neare his conversion when he breathed out threats against the Saints like a Lion at his nostrills Yet that could not keepe off Gods preventing mercy from casting him downe and taming him and being so cast downe and a breach made let the Lord slacken his worke Did he not assist it strongly When this poore prisoner instead of pursuant lay blinde and desolate yea when all were affraid to meddle with him as thinking the Lion to be couchant for a skill that he might be rampant after how doth the Lord breake through all difficulties and sends Ananas to open the eies both of his body and soule and make him a sound man And thus here this poore Naaman in shew further from cure then at first how doth the Lord strangely turne the winde out of the East of a distemper into the South of a calme Causing here poore servants to become prevalent with their Lord to yeeld to that which he had renounced Surely so it is the Lord can on the suddaine cause deliverance to appear as recovery out of a long quartaine ague even when all hope is past when doome is given of shipwracke Act. 27. God shall make Paul to stand up with a word of hope to poore wretches he can hasten salvation with wings when it seemes a farre off when misery is at the deepest then comes up the seed of light which was sowne for the righteous As when there is no strength to bring forth the Lord unlooked for enlarges birth for the fruit that is to come to the birth and as the tender nurse overcomes the poore froward child with love and mildnesse till she have brought it out of it humors so here Esay 38. the doctrine then stands firme upon her bottome If any here aske Quest how and which way the Lord goes to work in such a businesse I answer Answ Assistance of grace wherein it stands by accommodating himselfe in speciall to the condition of such a soule as doth sticke thus in the birth and staggers between Gods preventing and perfiting grace I say his assistance is alway according to the soules difficulty Here in this case of Naaman we may clearly see how he steppes in by the servants furnishing them with more understanding of his case and inabling them to ponder the same with the sad effects of it more then Naaman himselfe and hereby kindling in them a sparkle of divine counsell which enabled them to speake wisely feelingly pertinently and in due season according to his condition with speciall blessing succeeding the same and carrying it home to their Masters spirit how easily had the thing fallen out otherwise in every of these had not God assisted him By these instruments the Lord first stopped the precipitate minde of Naaman from so suddaine a departure weakened his strong conceit overthrew his carnall cavill abated his pride cooled his rage enlarged the promise the easinesse the probablenesse yea the divinenesse and certainty thereof till having beaten downe his high thoughts he is made a low valley and prepared for cure and conversion So in like manner doth the Lord worke in any soule which needs his seconding assistance towards the enjoying of salvation he will not suffer them to want any helpe which may further them For example Instances Doth the Lord see their discouragements to come from others He will arme them with strong courage of resistance and resolution as Joh. 9. Are they miscarried with strong error agâ—inst the way of the promise The Lord will send them counsell from heaven to rectifie and settle them Are they held under great infirmity and crasinesse of spirit not daring to beleeve The Lord will not breake the reed that is already brused nor quench the smoking flax Are they prejudicate against the Minister God will bring forth his light as here he did Elisha's and imbreed an holy opinion of him Doe friends oppose and become enemies God will turne them to friends and furtherers againe Are they froward and distempered in spirit so that they are as troubled waters and cannot see light of truth or make so much haste that they cannot waite The Lord will sweeten and moderate their spirits with meekenesse and forbearance Are their corruptions strong The Lord will beate them downe before them Briefly be their lack and ayle whatsoever it can be God will supply it he will enlighten sustaine perswade enlarge prepare them for his worke both by casting out that which is contrary and by encouraging that which is weakly begunne till the worke be finished If he meane that the businesse shall be depending longer then the lets shall be smaller and more tolerable if the objections and oppositions be more forcible hee will shorten the season Note and hasten his worke
of God Thinke with thy selfe is this a lesse priviledge then the former Are all that are Gods people partakers of this grace Are they preserved by the power of faith to salvation without snares wounds and breach of their peace is this so common and thankelesse a favour to be carried as the Arke above mountaines so above the floods of great waters that they should not come neare us Behold the Saints in Scripture Gen. 7. Psal 32.5.6 how few escaped the trialls of their sincerity in a safe manner How many of them lost their peace wasted their conscience by drunkennesse uncleannesse intemperate passions pride the world disguised and at last comming to their grave with sorrow Witnesse David Salomon Asa Hezekia Ionah Peter others Behold the times in which we live Doe wee finde it so common a grace that those whom we have esteemed of well for uprightnesse and zeale to the Gospel still hold their beauty Doe they not beginne to change colour and wax pale and wanne Doe they not stagger temporize and grow common in their communion with all sorts in their affections to the truth to the power of godlinesse Is it not hard to finde one who may be trusted Oh then if God have kept thee close from the error of the wicked that thou mightest not be pulled from thy stedfastnesse nor wanze in thy first love count it a peculiar unspeakeable mercy Againe dost thou see the most professors to keepe from revolts Is not the world full of offences of such as gave their names to Christ Whence then are so frequent scandales of such as are fallen to uncleannesse in all corners and so to other reproachfull sins Art not thou one of them Hath the Lord hitherto holpen thee as Samuel saith Blesse him and wonder Oh Lord thou who gavest Paul the lives of all that were in the ship with him and notwithstanding all tempests and fears of shipwrack broughtest them all safe to land Thou hast graciously given my soule to the Lord Jesus put me into his ship kept me hitherto from sinking being cast away upon the rocks sands shelfes of this wofull sea in which I am tossed Even so O Father because thou hast promised else I had beene cast away a thousand times by temptation by offences by my corruptions But as nothing could intercept the Lord Jesus till his worke was done when they had beene on the toppe of the hill to throw him downe headlong Esay suddenly he passed through them without hurt fire could not burne water could not drowne him Divell could not tempt to prevaile nothing could hinder but he passed through all reports wrongs persecutions feares till he had fulfilled his course rose againe from death and conquered it And why Hee walked under the banner of his fathers protection Even so it hath pleased thee O Lord to fence and fortifie my poore soule that neither my desertions when I thought my selfe cast off and in despaire through unbeleefe nor the dint of my afflictions when as yet the arrowes of God dipt in venome stucke in me nor the malice of enemies nor the fiery darts of Satan piercing me by my lusts could ever wholly divorce me from thee Oh! how many thousands have fallen on my right hand and as many on my left since I beganne Men of like age birth and education of better parts and endowments then I and yet mercy hath kept mee hitherto nay Naaman was never so sullen and froward with the Prophet and with Jorden as I have beene wayward with God sometime weary of his crosses cavilling against his governement both in generall and speciall ready to leave his worke to renounce his Sabbaths Sacraments Promises and all because I could not see how God performed them to me when I have beene oppressed with Selfe and a dead saplesse and savourlesse heart ready to give the Lord and his trade quite over yet he hath revived me and not suffered me to revolt quite from him by all these still by the power of poore faith he hath kept mee to salvation he hath delivered doth and will deliver me still if I can waite Oh! wonder at this grace of his and let the first linke of vocation be a warrant to thee that the linke of justification sanctification and redemption shall never be broken but he that brought thee through so many unlikelyhoods to beleeve can and will now much more bring thee through as great oppositions to persevere enjoy thy priviledge stand at gaze and boast onely of the Lord. Thus much for the use of instruction Lastly let this doctrine be an incouragement to all feeble and fearfull Vse 2 soules who think they shall never wade out of their distrust Encouragement to all feeble and fearfull ones ignorance of Gods way their deepe pride Selfe rebellion and hypocrisie they behold these corruptions by which Satan holds possession as by Forts and Bulwarks as evident markes of their perishing one day and that they are so strong that they will master grace and deprive them finally of hope But poore soule stay a while doe not so hardly sentence thy soule Looke here upon a poore Pagan out of covenant an alien from God behold how freely God prevented him at first when he sought him not how graciously he assisted him and that when he was past all sense of it deepe in the sence of the contrary One I say that had no promise meerly an hangby to the visible Church save that he was supported by an invisible bounty of unspeakeable goodnesse and yet lo when he was at the saddest point and the lowest ebbe of dispaire suddenly as if this were Gods season to breake his heart and to win him to himselfe all hope of good successe being past there appeares a change of his wretched condition into an happy secret mercy had first marked him out for God and the same still waited on him not suffering him to slippe away and depart from welfare Hath God done this in the green tree and shall not he doe it in the dry Hast thou O poore soule either deeper distempers then Naaman had or sadder affronts then he within or without Canst not thou take courage to thy selfe by a promise when hee found mercy without one What is it then that causeth thee to be so heavy In the following points I shall speake further to thee onely here let me say this If thou canst prove that God hath once savingly prevented thee whereof upon the ninth verse I have at large spoken I can prove hee will not forsake thee he will not lose any one stroke of worke upon thee but will assist it and in time perfect it Sure I am thou canst not feel thy spirit deader or further off then did Naaman thou canst not be further out of Gods precinct then he was and yet the Lord beyond hope turned all to as happy an issue as the premises seemed uncomfortable Take thou like courage unto thy selfe All thy
Exhortation but to bee faithfull not to have such and such parts but to have one worth them all subjection and faithfulnesse Learne here of Naamans servants What a shame is it that such poore heathens should come forth so suddenly under the anvile of this one present occasion formed and moulded and thou under all Gods discipline shouldest be no better Oh! you servants remember what a long race of unfaithfulnesse riot falshood stealth stomacke disobedience Bad servants must not think it too late for them to repent rebellion you have runne hitherto Oh! that I could but see one Onesimus here this day one fugitive one lewd and slothfull or wilfull wretch whom this my doctrine might convince and convert to God But truly brethren I see so few broken in peeces for their errors so few penitent and tender for their old pranks that I am afraid to put new wine of Exhortation into such old bottells for fear all should break be spilt I have met with some I thank God I see no cause why the Lord should not take some of ye napping in your service and the sins thereof as others in the way of their bad government marriage or childhood What have ye gone from service to service have ye left your rags behinde you and scattered your scurffe so in the places where yee have become that you think it now too late to repent Are you so sapped soked in your way that you begin to thinke there is no hope Beware of being so desperate Say thus Is it not enough Lord that I have beene so lazy so false fingered so bold so answering againe drunke at times loose in liberties not for my Masters ends but mine owne but now I must fulfill my measure adde drunkennesse to thirst and an hard heart to my other prankes No Lord this were not to bee an unfaithfull servant to a man which is bad but a desperate one and impenitent to thee which is cursed If Onesimus had not robbed his Master he had never met with Paul nor beene converted his perishing was his happinesse Thou hadst grace for him O Lord thou madest him faithfull to thy selfe purgest him of his basenesse as deeply seated in him for ought I know as mine is in me that thou mightest have the honour Thou madest him faithfull puttest him into thine own worke settest thy marke on him sendest him backe of a wretch good for naught good for all thinges Ah Lord This day my sinfull service comes to my remembrance Lord batter me breake and thaw mine heart put me in hope pardon my sin put me in to the Lord Jesus his Schoole cleanse me of all my cheats and prankes and make me a true Onesimus fit for thine use according to thine heart and I doubt not but out of thy forge mine heart shall bee framed and moulded to all subjection and faithfulnesse to man Beg it hard Lord teach me to adore thy wisdome in ordaining servants to their places and Masters to be their governours Lord discover thy soveraignty to me and shine thy selfe with thine authority upon my Master and Mistresse that I may see God in their government either because they are holy or else because they are governours If I see not such a Master as I would let me see mastership from thee and bee awed under it Lord take my will out of my bosome and put in thine Speak Lord thy servant heareth give me a will to be subject and bee as thou wilt and then command and spare not I will doe not onely what thy selfe but what man under thee commandeth And it shall be my heaven and happinesse to be under for conscience sake Give me also faith Lord to create all serviceable qualities in me to lythe to forme and to accommodate my spirit and members to all welpleasing without flattery and obedience Let me under a good Master bee subject and faithfull with thankefulnesse to a bad one for conscience not compulsion as serving the Lord Christ Sundry charges Lord thou givest by thine Apostles Paul and Peter Servants be subject to your Masters in all feare 1 Pet. 2.28 not onely to the good but also to the froward for this is thankeworthy if a man for conscience sake endure griefe wrongfully Coloss 3.22 Servants obey in all things your Masters not with eye-service as men pleasers but with singlenesse of heart fearing God Doing it heartily as unto God not unto men knowing that of him ye shall receive the inheritance for yee serve the Lord Christ And so in other places Lord write this Law of thine in mine inward parts Thou hast also in thy word not onely scattered the examples of vile servants Ziba Gehazi Iudas and others to tremble at and abhorre but also of faithfull ones Lord to follow and imitate Thou hast set forth Eliezers example that old trusty servant Gen. 24.10 1 Sam. 25. Mâ—tth 25. Acts 10.22 Texts alledged above to the good of his Masters sonne Those servants of Abigail to the life of her and her husband that of Ioseph to the chastity of his Mistresse that of Cornelius his servants to the soule of their Master those of the servants that occupied talents to the outward advantage of their Master that of Davids for the succour and reliefe of their Master in straits the Centurions to the content and businesse of their Master Rhode faithfull to Gods Ministers and so of others No one object of faithfulnesse but some patterne of it or other thou hast added to sweeten it to assure me of the possiblenesse of obeying it Oh! give to thy servant somewhat of all these that I may be all in one a cast peece without cracke or flaw in respect of unfaithfulnesse and the rest cover O Lord accept and pardon Be earnest I say with the Lord beg of him an understanding heart put not all over to thy Master say not looke you Master what you command for that concernes not me I must doe all you bid me No examine thy Masters commands ere thou obey them But if they be according to God scruple them not yea although they be not yet if but negatives onely forbeare for a time and provoke not by rebellion say not I will not forgoe such a Sermon such a duty of Gods worship But if it bee positively bad abhorre it Beg also the spirit and life of this faithfulnesse Put thy selfe forth by occasion for a good servant is never tried till he be put to it throughly be in one as another service wholly your Masters watch and bee upon wing for faithfulnesse picke out duties be ready for duties be unwearied Let the honour of thy Master the trust of thy Master absent or present the good of children whether abroad in fields at home working thy selfe overseeing others among fellow-servants at praier in family about a journey and message of weight about thy lawfull liberties Still let this soule of faithfulnesse be wholly in all and each
part to guide thee aright The instinct of subjection and faithfulnesse will teach thee to speake and doe that which thy Master himselfe cannot teach thee Occasions of providence will teach thee how to answer perswade prevent when thy Master is farre off Eliezer and Cornelius his servants might be trusted to say what they saw meete the one to Laban and Rebecca the other to Peter And when thou hast done all let thy conclusion be Remember me O Lord not for my goodnesse but in thy goodnesse and according to my faithfulnesse I shall account pardon my best reward because at the best I have but been an unprofitable servant This for the fifth use Vse 6 To which I adde Consolation to all faithfull servants Alas poore wretches Faithfull servants may be comforted Heb. 6.10 you thinke you tread a maze of confusion and worke and are cast into a corner to play the drudges As those Eunuches in Ieremy yee thinke your selves cut off from name memory or reward But God overlookes not the labour of your love Oh! It would not grieve you I say if you might have a good word countenance or acceptance Encour 1 But consider I pray you whom serve you A Nabal or the Lord Christ Therefore be cheerefull Your businesse is not the thing God lookes at be it never so poore in kitching or in a ditch the subjection and faithfulnesse of heart is all which God lookes at Thy scouring spits or ditching or dunging the fields with such an heart shall be more to the Lord then the worke of a Justice of peace carried by oppression and injustice And the Lord can plead thy wronged cause in due time against thy bad Master Be thou faithfull though borne downe by flatterers God will bring forth thy light in due time and thy vertue the whiles shall be thy exceeding reward God shall send thee a good Master to requite thee for all the wrong which a bad hath done thee Againe know it the Lord prises subjection above all qualities more Encour 2 then any man can And yet Philip the King of Spaine if he might be beleeved when he heard that his under generall of his fleet in eighty eight I mean the Duke of Medina should say had it not been for obedience to his Lord the great Duke of Parma who charged him to attend his comming he could have put England hard to it Answered it now grieves me not that I have lost that Kingdome I see I have one servant who knowes how to be subject whom I prise above it whatsoever he did the Lord prises thy obedience above a world of rebellious servants Encour 3 And againe be not drawne by feare or man pleasing to dishonour God For there shall bee no acceptance of persons It shall not boote Absalons servants in that day to alledge wee were dogged to it by our wicked Master The Lord most justly plagues base servants by their lot to bee so as those of Ahazia who came to fetch downe Elija from the toppe of the mount The Lord destroied them in their service King 7.8 Coloss 3.25 their mends was in their owne hand So saith Paul There shall bee no respect of persons with God but a punishment to him that hath done badly Gods eie shall not pitty him as a poore servant that did as he was bidden but smite him for an unfaithfull one who did that which was unlawfull as to breake the Sabbath or the like to please a wretched Master Even so I say on the other side If thou hast beene faithfull to God against a wofull Masters commands although hee can heere beare thee downe with person and greatnesse yet thou shalt be heard where person is not accepted but the cause and the Lord shall quit an innocent servant against an injurious Master Moses had a Law that no Judge should favour a poore bad man in a case of evill for his poverty but then much more he had another which forbad to accept the person of the mighty against the meane in case of unrighteousnesse Lastly the Lord will blesse thy righteousnesse of a servant with fidelity in thy servants when thou shalt governe And as Adonibezek said Judg. 1. the Lord had justly required him for his cruelty so many Masters ill servanted may say the Lord justly plagues them with lewd servants for since they were rude and unfaithfull they never repented Well is that sweet coherence of the Centurions speech to bee noted Matth. 8. I my selfe am under authority and am subject and what of that God hath blessed me with such as are obedient come goe doe as I bid them and are at my becke I might be endlesse there were comfort enough in this if there were no more that at the last day of reckning when all servants shall be called coram then shall that blessed and finall sentence be pronounced upon thee Come thou good and faithfull servant thou hast beene faithfull in a little be ruler over much enter into thy Masters joy God gives no lesse then a Kingdome for the poorest the least duty of the meanest of his servants Let thus much suffice for this use also and so for this whole Doctrine Now ere I come to the next point in the text Addition to the former doctrine I must not passe by the relation of Naaman to them having said somewhat of the servants towards him Relatives goe together in nature and therefore in handling Masters must be fathers to their servants And as these servants performed the faithfulnesse of sonnes So Naaman by their owne confession was a father to them rather then a Master Servants will be glad to heare me say somewhat of the fatherhood of Masters as well as of their faithfulnesse and it would not grieve any servant to be faithfull to a Master who is as a father I will bring things to as narrow a point as I may Masters then must be fathers to their servants Not onely so in point of superiority and reverence to procure honour to themselves but in point of tender respect care and love to the good of their servants both souls and bodies Eph. 6.9 The Apostle having given servants their charge lest their Masters should beginne to overcrow them presently comes in And ye Masters doe the same things uâ—to them forbearing threatning knowing that your Master is also in heaven and there is no respect of persons with him For why First they are under thy roofe and have betaken themselves under the Reason 1 covert and shrowd of thy wings they have left their parents under whose protection they lived that they might bee wholly under God for thee reason therefore that thou shouldest be as a patrone protector and father unto them A servant may in a sort say to his Master I am thine save me for all things looke for support from them to whom they belong Againe thy servants are children to thee their close fidelity and denying themselves for thy
thy servants for ever Naaman here is not for nothing called father by his servants who are as thankefull to requite his respect And the truth is he might account the cure as wrought by their perswasion under God and his Prophet And still I say as before the fatherhood of Masters would breed childlike faithfulnesse in servants and doubtlesse the many clamors of both sorts against each other by taking these counsells would much what be stopped And so much for this point also added to the former by a necessary coherence So much also for the first qualification of servants and Masters faithfulnesse and respect The second thing in the persons attempting Their care for their Master with seasonablenesse and wisdome Now followeth the second thing to be noted in the persons attempting and that is their due behaviour of themselves in the attempt making Which I noted to consist in a compound of sundry vertues especially of wisdome tendernesse and seasonablenesse I will not handle them apart but altogether yet I would open them briefly for the better grounding of the doctrine And first their wisdome appeares in this that they mix awe and feare with love a due reverence compounded of both Some would rather have discovered disdaine of his folly and rage but even in these humours of his yet they bewray their reverence of him Father is a notion made of feare and love The ground of the point opened As if they had said your are our Master we your servants wee come now to treate with you in a case concerning your owne good yet wee understand our selves to be inferiours and that the person which we sustaine will not beare any boldnesse or sawcinesse Let our words therefore be accepted and wee shall thinke our paines well bestowed commonly men thinke reverence is superfluous in the case of welwishing to others we may be as bold and usurping as we list no but even in this also very great humblenesse and loyalnesse is required Secondly they are very tender meeke and mercifull to their Masters soule and present condition and because it needed some expostulating and contesting for the better piercing into him so yet they saw that his froward passion would not endure any harshnesse or sharpenesse from them and therefore they put on a meeke spirit instead of Master call him Father sugering the bitter potion they were to minister they come with the heart of a Lion for courage and resolution to thrust in the loose joynt into his place yet with the hand of gentlenesse and smoothnesse Even as Chyrurgians must doe to broken bones Wrath added to wrath would have caused madnesse But this mildenesse brake the dint of it Thirdly they adde seasonablenesse to both Angry men we say must be waited on till the humour is over But now the case required present advice For if their Master had set spurres to horse and made away homeward who knowes whether any opportunity would have beene offered them to treate with him But now while the Prophet was at hand and the cure in some hope it was their season to strike in with him and to prevent future danger Now therefore they rather chuse to take their time and to alay his wrath with much moderation of heart toward him then to waite for the cooling of it while remedy was past All these three come to one that is a due and discreet behaviour in attempting to heale one who was distempered and passionate If they had violently driven out one naile with another and taken him to taske thus Sir you shew your selfe scarse a man not wise enough to see what businesse you are about you are mad with your owne shadow and who shall be wise for one who will needs play the foole against himselfe Wee for our parts are resolved to give you over if you bee at this point goe home hardly and repent at leasure c. Alas what had come of it ten to one a further enraging of him and a splitting him against the rocke of his owne passion and making the disease incurable This therefore they saw was no course to be taken with him and therefore they melt him with mercy rather then batter him with terror saying Father if the Prophet had said some hard thing wouldest not have done c. They cover their expostulation with sweet speech as one that would lap up a pill in the pap of an apple The point then will be this It is no easie taske for any Doctrine It is no easie taske to advise rightly in spirituall distresses to encounter them aright who are in any distemper or thus To speak to them that are distempered in spirit to any good purpose is a worke of some difficulty And as touching the ground of this point out of the text it is evident that it was difficult for these poore servants thus to encounter their Master For to say truth it was none of their owne worke but the Lords in them who set them on As is was said of Hophni and Phinees 1 Sam 2.25 it was from the Lord that they should not heare the counsell of their father because he meant to destroy them and of Rehoboam 1 King 13. it was from the Lord that he should not heare the voice of his old counsellors that so he might fall So it was from the Lord that Naaman should take counsell of his servants not to turne away in a rage but goe to Jorden and wash that so he might be healed and therefore much more the meanes were from the Lord whereby this was effected The Lord sent them forth with meet furniture and caused them to prevaile which else would not have beene For these three qualities of wisdome tendernesse and seasonable fidelity Reason 1 are no common gifts either in servants or Ministers or any others for the redresse of the afflicted in soule and spirit Every one will jangle and prate of them that are troubled it is easie to play the foolish the harsh and unseasonable counsellors but wise meeke and savoury counsell is as they say of truth hidden deepe in the earth and hardly digged out I will say a word or two of the text and then enlarge my selfe further to the point First for inferiours to encounter a superiour Amplifying of the point out of the text a Noble man of great spirit was a thing of some difficulty especially in such a perverse temper as he was in Equals to equals or superiours to inferiours carry an hand of greater authority then inferiours to their betters Because the spirit of the great soone rise against the meane as if they thought themselves despised And therefore the Lord forbids every one to meddle with the elder or ancient by reproofe but to exhort them as fathers 1 Tim. 5.1 they will not easily beare it they must heare of their fault by implication as Naaman here doth And secondly distemper is a kinde of superiority of it selfe because
but let not words blowes and sutes follow as if you were heathens Oh saith one Shall I endure such a base fellow to overcrow me No hee shall well know I am a better man then himselfe ere I have done with him Oh earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord Abate thy heart abase thine heart and doe as he did Humfrey Mummouth who meeting his enemy who had sought his life when he could have crushed him entreated him to bee friends and brake his heart doe thou so and prosper Touching the second point of inferiours attempting superiours 2. Branch Instruction Inferiours dealing with superiours must wisely observe whâ—t their persons will beare let this caution be observed from Naamans servants that we wisely observe what our persons will well beare and admit Inferiour mens sway and stroke will goe but a little way with superiours The meannesse of the one and the prejudice of the other will be barres Yet so it may fall out that necessity may put some calling upon an inferiour as when there be no superiours or equalls present when silence would embolden the offender much when the glory of God lies at the stake unavoidably and especially when the grace of the reprovers wisdome may be like to over-match both his owne meannesse and the others stoutnesse Otherwise there had need be great caution lest inferiours rather run themselves into the suspition of sawcinesse receive great affronts and discouragements if not wrongs from the reproved lest also the offender be more hardned in his sin A caution and the ordinance with the fruit of it be dishonoured and unprofitable But to returne if God doe intimate to the spirit of any wise inferiours that they ought to reprove then let them suspect their owne persons and beware that they make no open contestation but bee content with privacy where no affront may be given before witnesses especially let it be carried with great aloofenesse and rather with insinuation of an error then taxing openly exhorting rather to a contrary duty then reproving the fault downeright 1 Tim. 5.1 Rebuke not an Elder not onely a Minister but a superiour in any eminency but exhort him as a father Otherwise if God afford not discretion and opportunity better is a warranted silence and commending the cause to God with some item of a grieved heart then a rash venturing and rushing beyond our bounds But to bee sure let all lenity bee used all possible acknowledging of their places yeares worth and worship give them all their due both titles and praises to the uttermost that it may appeare the reprover is so far from presumption that were it for the meere regard of the offenders soule the glory of God and the discharge of conscience with peace the reprover would much rather have chosen silence then to attempt reproofe and so leave the issue to God So much for this second Uses of the speciall fact of 〈◊〉 servants I come now to the Uses arising in speciall from this example of the servants wise and loving carriage towards their Masters spirituall distemper And first if it be so difficult a worke to ease a distressed spirit Let Vse 1 all such as have obtained this mercy from the Lord know that they have met with no common mercy Instruction It is a peculiar favour to enable the Minister to speake a word in season to a wearied soule But how much more for the soule to find the word and to feele it to be so Instruction to the heavy hearted Proverb is not as the gift in the hand which Salomon tells us prospers whithersoever it goes and carries a commanding power with it Esay 57. The setling of a distressed heart by counsell is a mercy highly to be prised No To speake to the heart is Gods worke whosoever be the instrument and none can create the fruit of the lippes save onely hee that first created and formed the body of the earth and breathed into it the breath of life We Ministers may speake to the eare discerne and advise urge answer doubts and convince but the spirit of grace which annointed the Lord Jesus to bee the Prophet of his Church can carry those words into the soule and cast them there as seed and give them a body and being altering ignorance doubting feares deadnesse bondage insensiblenesse infidelity heavinesse into light resolution hope life liberty feeling faith and comfort He that said lift up thy voice as a trumpet and convince my people of their sinnes and againe Comfort ye my people comfort them at the heart meanes not that we should pierce into and reach the heart for we cannot get to it but that we bee the messengers of peace and glad tidings God onely must by his Spirit convince Joh. 16.9 and he onely can carry consolation through those manifold turnings and crooked windings of the soule even home and close to the heart rootes He onely can say My doctrine shall droppe as dew Deut. 32 1. and as the small raine wetting at the roote Therefore whosoever thou art here in this audience whom ever the Lord hath caused to breake through the hoast of discouragements and to consult with the Minister sincerely aiming at the true ends of counsell and hath also met with thy speciall disease spoken to thy heart so that it hath gotten a reall bottome out of the word and promise for the sole of her foote to rest upon against feare and doubting Oh! learne to prise such a favour above all treasures Elisha was sent but to one leper as many as there were in Israel and did not he esteeme that priviledge Let the 15.16 and 17. verses witnesse for him So the Minister of God goes to hundreds of sicke and afflicted ones But perhaps he is sent in the spirit of counsell and sealing up of peace through pardon to a very few It is their portion to whom it pertaines those must partake it who can receive it and only such can be thankefull What is the cause why we comfort so many through the seven yeare of whom perhaps wee heare no more againe ever after Our feete are not beautifull to the most of them they never imbraced the power of truth they despised the counsell of God for their salvation and the consolations of God seemed small things unto them They have got that they came for a kinde of stopping of their outcries of conscience their wounds are kept sweete and doe not rankle as they thinke they can now follow their businesse and goe about the world at their pleasure pleasing themselves with that the Minister hath said unto them And that no man shall pull from them for it pleases them well to heare themselves to be under the condition of grace that faith belongs to them that the least desire of faith is faith But alas They are comforted all at once their comfort growes not as their doubts grow they are not unsatisfied in
seeking it they are not afraid to deceive the Minister about their condition and so deceive themselves But a dead comfort they are content withall and if any call it into question they stoppe his mouth with this the Minister of God comforted mee with such and such texts But oh thou beast It appeares since by thy base and common course that the Minister of God was deceived in thee thy glosing and semblance of sorrow thy selfe-loving complaints and desires and thirstings deceived him and thy selfe also Were that Minister to conferre againe with thee upon due knowledge of thee he would professe thou deceivedst him and thine owne soule much more for hee never comforted thee otherwise then upon such conditions as thou never hadst But I digresse too much In all these respects I say Conclusion who ever thou art who canst unfainedly speak it that God by the Minister hath met with thy sinne humbled thee for it let in some glimpse of mercy to stay thee for a time not suffered thee to rest there while thou couldest see how that light encreased as the day and how it bred in thee such affections as brought thee to settle upon the free and eternall satisfaction of Christ for pardon and peace I say in what poore measure soever these have beene wrought yet thou hast felt scales to fall from thine eyes deadnesse from thy heart and grace to enter by degrees till thou sawest cause to rest in some sort upon the naked love of the promiser Thou hast infinite cause to blesse God all daies of thy life I will not now bid thee beware of forgetting the Minister of God and passing him by as a stranger as hypocrites do for thou shalt prise him above the parents of thy flesh doe otherwise if thou canst Gal. 2. he shall bee so deare to thee that thou shalt pull out thine eies to doe him good yea esteeme him as one of a thousand and there shall be a perpetuall ascent of praises to God from thine altar it shall smoke continually and although thine edge may blunt yet thy metall of admiration and thankes shall abide for ever Consider tenne miscarry to one that prospers by counsell they returne to their old sloth ease and distempers they relapse to their worldlinesse selfe love and lie under a clod If then thou hast beheld the wisdome and savoured the good of the ordinance try thy selfe throughly as touching the fruit it hath wrought in thee take not glasse for gold and pebbles for pearles be sure the Lord have thee in a cord surely bound to him for playing the starter and time server as most doe and I say give over the Lord if thou canst But surely while these coales are in thy bosome thou shalt be burnt and as long as thou hast this treasure about thee thou canst not wilt not chuse but bee exceedingly thankefull and cheerefull So much for this Vse 2 Secondly let it bee a speciall caveat to Gods Ministers is it so choice a peece of worke Admonition 1. Branch M nisters must not count this a slâ—ght worke 2 Cor. 1. Esay 50.4 to speake a word in season to a heavy heart Doe not imagine the art of that to bee so easie as most Ministers doe the worke whereof is so difficult and the fruit whereof is so pretious Thinke it not a small thing to be a Minister of reconciliation Paul saith God hath made him meet for it hee had comforted him that by his consolation hee might comfort others A tongue of the learned is no easie matter to come by M.R.G. Once an holy man in this Church after long labours in the Ministery though contrary to some mens judgement thought it meet to leave his charge to betake himselfe to the worke of speaking a word to the weary as seeing it to be a full work great use of it finding himself fitted I would not advise any to do so whom God holdes in but I would have none of what parts soever to thinke this an easie gift such an one as will flow from the meere habit of his understanding studies of Divinity or paines in preaching alone Discerning of leprosie was a peculiar skill of the high Priest Read Levit. from the 12. to the 15. So this is a speciall gift by it selfe obtained by study of thine owne heart acquaintance with the infinite windings and subtilties of it by much selfe-deniall much strife in applying the promise Also much experience is required to judge aright of the states of the distressed much reading and through acquaintance with the Scriptures much meditation and conference much praier both ordinary and extraordinary must prevaile with God for it Helpes to enable a Minister to it yea commonly it is the gift of such as have beene much buffeted with temptations humbled and tozed under Satan and their owne corruptions such as have wrastled much with the Lord for a blessing and halted upon it that they might not be puffed up but learne to be willingly under infirmity I say it is the gift for the most part of such as have laboured to destroy their sense and reason in and by faith and the promise holding the realnesse of it from the truth of the promiser whatsoever flesh say to the contrary Yea it requires great love a meeke and tender heart burning with the weake to be all in all for Gods ends losing our owne in his and cleaving to the worke for Gods cause unweariedly against discouragements whatsoever I exclude no other learning arts tongues for a Divine but for this part of Ministry I say there is another course to be taken for it Alas who should wonder that there should be few counsellors under the Lord Jesus whose office it is Esay 8. of distressed ones Nay that in stead of comforters there should bee so many discouragers and miserable comforters Alas there are few that taste the method which I have spoken of If it were but this one thing alone it might easily resolve us of this wonder even to think how few there be who discerne aright of soul diseases or the estate of the poore as the Psalmist speaks How easie is it to be cheated by the cunning tricks of base hypocrites who come onely to serve their owne turnes How had blinde Ahija been deceived by Ieroboams wife but for God 1 King 4.4.5 I professe of late there came to my selfe a drunken companion for comfort and if God had not specially armed me beforehand and discovered his spirit I might have beene deceived in him and when he was gone hee reported me to be uncharitable But all that knew him knew that he slandred me Who is sufficient for these things If God keepe the state of a poore soule from us as Elisha said of the Shunamites dead child how shall we speake to the purpose but patter 2 King 4.27 How many worthy and wise ones have beene mistaken for I speake not of such as
last not long The greatest danger is lest the heart being rid of them wax wanton and secure and bee not humbled for that corruption whence these have their welcome and fiery fiercenesse 3. Rule Oâ—serve the measure of the trouble The third rule is observe wisely of what measure the trouble and affliction is If it be moderate then proceed accordingly But if it be excessive so that extremities may be feared succour the fainting heart with some hope even at the first though perhaps the condition of it may bee farre from applying a promise Yet because the horror or trouble may threaten despaire or violence Shew such a one that the Lord delights in no such thing but in mercy to the oppressed and when the heart is eased then returne to such a method of counsell by degrees as their estate needeth Necessity as we say hath no law Much may be done to avert a present danger which else might stay longer The jaylor was to be staid for feare of selfe-murther 4. Rule Whether terror come from sin or feare of punishment Fourthly discerne wisely of terrors of conscience whether from sin as sin or as a mischiefe which cloggeth and loadeth the heart excessively Many a wretch and these dayes are full of such will roare and cry out of himselfe the horriblenesse of his sins their returns upon him after intermission not from any true abhorring of the evill of them but because God dogs his cursed heart delighting in those evills with shrewd terrors which although they are two extremities I meane great swinge and sweetnesse in sinne and great horrors for sinne yet nothing hinders why both may not be at once and yet the mediocrity farre off In such a case to beleeve such a wretch for his outcries and horrors when it is manifest he doth but seeke for hope and sodering and possibility of pardon that hee may returne to his vomit the more boldly were to adde oile to the flame The marke of such is this their object is that which presently pinches them you shall heare little or no aime at Christ and his sweetnesse for they regard it not The counsell is to hold them hard to the law that their soules may bee under bondage of sinne as sinne and not onely under present accusation If this prevaile not they will rush themselves quickly out of their horrors into prophanenesse more and more And had not comfort beene well bestowed upon such as need none Fifthly though thou perceive the soule to bee under bondage 5. Rule Consider whether the frame of the heart under conviction be tame or rebellious yet consider well of what frame the party is If the heart bee rebellious and that sinne doth wax more sinfull by that conviction then though it bee a good signe for time to come yet the Lord makes no haste to comfort such a one till his rebellion bee brought downe and then his heart will be doubly humbled both for guilt and rebellion also It is meete that some should lie and wait under their legall abasings because else commonly they returne to their old byas againe if they come not to see how out of measure sinfull sinne is in her nature I observe it in this age of ours that the law troubles few except some violent crosses attend it which argues that they will hardly hold humble when their troubles cease Be not too hasty therefore Sixtly when thou seest it a season to speak a word to a poore soule 6. Rule Observe due season deferre it not For there may be as great perill in delay as in rash haste And shew thy selfe as carefull and cordiall in pressing of a promise earnestly and effectually to a soule in case to receive it as thou wert backward in applying it till it was so A loaden soul is under the condition of the promise and therefore to delay such an one from it is to defraud it of her portion due to it which is a worse sinne then rashnesse even as despaire is worse then presumption To this end bee conversant with the promises and be able to apply variety of them not knowing which may prevaile If the affliction bee an holding downe of the soule from beleeving 7. Rule Whether under the condition or no what lets it or if so what hinders beleeving when as yet it is under the condition of the promise search out what the speciall stoppe of the soule is and accordingly apply remedies For instance if the soule be tossed too and fro between the condition and the performance labour to settle the heart upon the condition first proving it truly loaden and hold it there telling it that the Lord is willing that it hold that which it hath gotten and then it shall be more easie to finish the other worke If the glasse bee shaken who shall see his owne face rightly So againe if the feare be that it hath not the conditions of the Gospel or hath them not in such a measure as it ought resolve such a one that the Lord having wrought a true loading in the soule will also worke the same to the sight of ease by the promise which promise as it appeares more and more reall both in the meriter and the offerer so it must needs afford more hope more desires mournings and longings after it As for the measure of these God snares no poore soule with them Be it never so feeble and brused hee will not breake it So againe if the trouble be that it hath long waited and is weary that the heart is exceeding hard corruption very strong others are got before us we are afraid we be not elected wiih a hundred more apply the remedy thereafter And whereas the maine stoppe is Selfe and aiming at our owne ends and a dead heart to beleeve let the counsell be thereafter Subdue the base heart under meer mercy enlarge the glory of the promiser above the gaine of the beleeve Also bee well exercised in the thorow opening and urging of a promise on Gods part by enlarging the length and depth of the free full and faithfull heart of God infinitely above that which a soule can long after But if I should enter into particulars I should be endlesse 8. Rule What to doe in revolts Eightly if the trouble arise from revolts and breach of covenant after repentance first observe whether former experience of mercy have broken such an heart or no if not then endeavour to breake it and to raise up the soule from the present desertion wherein it seemes destitute of that grace which formerly it enjoyed Convince it that the Lord hath never cut off nor cast out any branch which was ever planted in him Also that by such desertions he labours to hold the heart at a deeper bay of humility Read for this Jer. 3.1 and Hosea ult when once it comes to outgrow the confusion of feare and horror which a guilty conscience hath snared it
you may say the living are worse and stinke worse above ground then if they had beene rotting in their graves So that by experience we are now growne to trust no sicke mens promises whatsoever they bee Oh you wofull people Doe you thus requite the Lord Alas I foresee you are ripe for the harvest and groane for the sickle to reape you downe indeed at last without any remedy And although some of you make a shift to hold out 1 Thes 5.2 yet your damnation sleeps not it shall come like a whirlewinde when you cry peace most then shall it come swiftly Oh be reproved Sort. 4 And lest I should touch upon outward blessings and deliverances only let mee adde somewhat of Gods word and his patience towards others of us How have some of you here present complained of your sillinesse to conceive the things of God the hardnesse of your hearts to melt at the word How have you beene vile in your selves for your ignorance and unbeleefe How have you wondred at the gifts of others Oh! if I might obtaine mercy of God to pray as such to remember to conferre as they how should I use it The Lord hath heard some of you granted you light and discerning melted your hearts enlarged your affections ripened your gifts and hath any sweet fruit proceeded from hence Could ye also trust him for the creating of the grace of faith in you and for converting your natures have you not given him over in that worke for the granting whereof he was sealed Joh. 6.27 I meane the seeking of the meat that perisheth not No But hee hath beene content with common gifts and so rested You have therefore shewed you selves false in covenant and given over the Lord in the plaine chase when you might have felt and groped the Lord in his manifest providence Act. 14. Sort. 6 Others how hath God lengthened out their daies beyond expectation When as they never looked to have harrowed that which they had sowne not so much as to see one of their children brought up How hath God given them a restitution from paines and infirmities and made their latter daies which they never thought to see farre better then the former so that they have lived to see more of Gods truth both in word and works Rom. 2.3 then ever they imagined But what hath this long suffering of God led them to repentance Hath not their clay laid in the warme sunne hardened the more Is their any power in their soules to breake off their old lusts and to returne to God sincerely No surely but having the better end of the staffe they have prolonged life to encrease wrath and to treasure up vengeance Nay to speake a word to the better sort how many of us in our deepe heavinesse of spirit under the Sort. 7 burthen of conscience when no counsell could worke upon us have even given sentence on our selves that there is no hope Jerem. 2. how have wee counted our lives scarce worth a straw under our feete Yet hath the Lord blowne over our fears made a calme swallowed up death into victory Nay some of us in our deepest sicknesses of body when sinne and Satan are most busie have we not found God neerer to us then in our best health Hath he not answered us as Hanna in our long praiers Hath he not enlarged the promise unto us by the seale of his Spirit making as I may say the light of the Moone as the light of the Sunne and the light of the Sunne seven times greater then ever in comfort and holy confidence above all feares How hath this wrought with us Hath it knit us in so firm a covenant with God as never to be broken off Hath it caused us to walke here below as shadowes and to despise all the earth in comparison of our hopes I doubt not but some doe and shall finde the fruit of it at death But oh that such faire wether should doe harme and be an occasion to make us wax wanton earthly and thinke grace to be pind to our sleeves how reproveable is it Good brethren looke to your selves If carnall reason bee so base what is it to blindfold our eies against ocular mercies Oh! such favours as some of us have met with should make us cry out I have found I have found God hath not dealt with others as with me Therefore whether it be my lot to be in straits or whatsoever temptations I must endure yet I will call to minde the old mercies of the Lord and be comforted yea I will gladly be under infirmity 2 Cor. 12.9 that the strength of God may be perfected in me and though he kill me yet I will trust in him through mercy Oh that this fruit might appeare Who would have thought that when Hezechias request was granted to wit the going backe of the Sunne tenne degrees for the assuring of his recovery that his recovery should have beene so stained with apostacy But alas God hath made our fears and griefes goe back as many for us and yet we have revolted not as he did once but made a falling sicknesse of our course To conclude the Use In the Sacraments and Seales of Gods Covenant Sort. 8 how hath Christ come as it were in his likenesse unto us and by outward signes spoken to all our senses yea thrust our hands into his very sides that if it be not himselfe let us distrust him still see feele smell handle taste eate my flesh drinke my bloud a fancy hath no substance lo here is substance What fruit hath it had Brethren I shall speake a fearfull speech I am resolved that the carnall reason of most men is enlarged rather then diminished by the Sacraments And the judgement of most is become greater by them then if they had never had any Alas they cry not out as ashamed and convinced ones My Lord and my God! Thomas himselfe shall rise up against such So much for this Use also Thirdly let this be a caveat to Gods owne people to teach them to Vse 3 beware of this evill except they will have the Lord reprove them to Admonition their faces viz. That they will beleeve God no further then they see him when they heare the promises urged upon all broken and mourning soules what say they Yea you say well if wee could feele it thus Instances 1. Putters off the promise to be reproved First I say this may bee a pranke of an hollow heart and then it is horrible As we see in those Jewes who were alway pressing upon Christ for a signe Tell us if thou be the Christ And why Not as meaning to beleeve for so he tells them I have told you oft by preaching and miracles yet you beleeve not but as a cloake of your prophanenesse viz. That they could not so cleerly behold him as they desired But put case it be otherwise with us and that thou meanest
simply What then Is thy speech to be commended No in no case For why Dost thou not go by the worlds rule it seems not to be so I cannot thinke it Is this enough to bury the truth of a word of the eternall God under Doe not still speake evill of the way of salvation because God makes it not so rationall as thou wouldest and will not sell thee heaven for thy praiers and devotions He askes no more then his word beleeved will give thee power to performe if thou reject it not by distrust Instan 2 Another Instance is this Beloved so long as Gods government in the Church Administrations of God must not be quarrelled or upon our selves pleases us while hee dandles us in his lap holds off enemies enlarges our abilities keepes under our corruptions tries us by no great temptations annoints our paths for us and gives us better gifts fruit of our labours and outward blessings then we expected Oh how we can cleave to him This drawes water out of a marble stone But let our sunne enter never so little into an eclipse or if God remove our strong holds from us leave us to enemies seem to smile upon them side with them suffer them to enjoy whatsoever their heart could wish Psal 80.4 Job 1. Mica 2.7 in having their wills on us But to frown upon us not onely while we sinne but when we repent and to disregard us even in our most frequent importunate praiers Do we then persist in our uprightnes Dowe then as Micah saith beleeve that still Gods word is as good as ever it was to such as walke uprightly When neither Moon nor Sun appears for many dayes do we abhor to suffer darkenesse to possesse us within because there is such a darkenesse without Can we fall to Pauls remedy Act. 27.20 Act. 27.20 Judg. 6. Mica 7.9.10 I beleeve God No no wee cavill and say If the Lord be with us how are all these evills upon us Why I beseech you Although hee hath promised to all beleeving soules to shew them light in darkenesse and after to turne their darkenesse into light yet did hee ever promise us to keepe this darkenesse quite from us Had Christs love so appeared if he had come and kept Lazaras from dying as it did by raising him up when hee was dead and beganne to stinke Bring me forth one word sounding that way that God would alway keepe one even tenor of outward peace and prosperity over his Church and then tell him hee is not as good as his word But this is a Religion better fitting Papists who know not what faith is then such as we Oh be warned This carnality of ours sits neere Gods heart loades him as the cart with sheaves is loaden Doe not give God over thus say there will be light for the righteous it is sown for them though not come up yet God is good to Israel to the upright in heart The eternall strength of God is a brasen pillar Psal 73.1 which the soul may swing all her strength upon in the greatest straits although heaven and earth goe together such shall have peace peace that is sure peace as Esay speaks and as for carnall reason she shall see it too Esay 26.2.3 2 King 7.3 but she shall not eat thereof it is a dainty onely serving for waiters and beleevers It is faith which must doe the worke of workes keepe fire from consuming the bush or burning the three children It is faith which must doe all these feats Heb. 11.35.36.37 Carnall reason never wrought one miracle but it hath marred many Faith and the power of God hath kept a venice glasse from being broken against the wall when it was cast with violence But carnall reason breakes all it throwes Therefore to conclude take heed of her and learne admonition to lot upon the word of truth for thy selfe for the Church in the promise of God in the providence and alsufficiency of God If he satisfie not thy desires know it is not because he is weaker or falser or lesse pitifull then he was but he hath other ends then thou seest hee aimes at purging out thy canker of Selfe and perhaps hath more universall ends for the manifesting of his vengeance upon a Nation not worthy to be beloved deserving a decree to come forth This is no season for carnall sense to lowre but for faith to fall to worke if not to save others yet to save each one himselfe and lay in as Iosia did for himselfe Jer. 45. 2 Kings 22.20 that he may have his life for a prey and he may not see the evills which shall come upon others And so also to lay in pledges of hope for posterity that when Gods winter is come downe and his people scoured and his old brasse and candlesticks melted he will make better vessels of our posterities even zealous ones and prepared for every good worke And againe a third Instance may be this The outward difficulty of Instance 3 the times is great the Lord having marveilously plagued our spirituall surfeting upon his bread of life not onely with a famine of it but even with cleannesse of teeth This hath beene a sore yeare for the poore and pinched the rich What doe you poore ones now For the rich may scape better Do ye fall to fears that you shall be starven Or your do ye solace your selves that still the word abides for a stay unto hearts in these hard times Tell me truly Doth lesse meat serve you because you trust God Doth faith and a cheerfull heart make a little goe a great way Or doe ye runne to the cursed phrase If windowes were in heaven it could not be holpen Truly I hope some of ye speake the truth when you say Gods word for man is not fed with bread only doth sustaine you It is a signe that flesh and sense doe not altogether beare rule I am glad it is no worse goe on and prosper and as the Lord hath hitherto holpen you so that the scarsity of other thevish savage poore hath not oppressed you so hee shall still finde mercy in mens hearts and purses to relieve and helpe you through this famine while plenty come onely learne by this experience to build your altar with Samuel and say Hitherto the Lord hath holpen us and so hee will he hath not kept us from a Beare and a Lion that a Giant 1 Sam. 7.12 a Dog should destroy us Say thus The Lord hath not yet put us so sharply upon the pikes of famine as that we should eate our owne children or mice dogs cats and rats as in former ages of Popery they have done in this Kingdome Therefore I will trust him still and although there shall be no Calfe left in the stall Habac. 3. nor Bullocke in the flocke yet the Lord shall be my salvation I will not as poore as I am say as a Carle lately did
without satisfaction made which Divinity passes my skill and I thinke savours more of Socinianisme and Humanity then Divinity I returne In respect either of the Fathers cutting off his plea and finding out a mercy in the bottome of his brest exceeding justice and revenge or the consent of the Sonne to admit of those conditions of obeying and suffering for the purchase of peace and abolishing enmity Col. 1. it is most strange unlikely and difficult But considering that he to whom all things are easie would apply and bend himselfe with all his power wisdome and truth to bring his good pleasure of free saving to passe and would devoure all difficulties therefore nothing could be hard but all easie to such love so armed and attended God so loved the world saith Saint Joh. 3.12 that he gave his onely Sonne But otherwise in it selfe it was a great thing Iacobs toile in heat and frost was great though love made it sweet And so to end though it cost Christ an infinite price yet being freely offered to us it cost us nothing its easie Reason 4 Fourthly the dispensation is easie In respect whereof the Lord doth not restraine nor limit his grace In respect of the dispensation of it and the efficacy of this price I speake now of his revealed will not secret but offers it by the Ministry of the Gospel to all sorts without let or barre That whosoever will submit himselfe to his way and dispensation with humblenesse the Lord will be found ordinarily by such without putting difference He doth not sh oll out or discourage any as if hee did not intend it to them he doth not reject any who reject nor him nor forsake any conceive me rightly who forsake not him And their rejecting or forsaking proceeds not from his decree working it but from their malice and unbeleefe procuring it But as for the Lord 2 Cron. 16.4 hee doth not forestall or prejudicate the spirit of any man to his dispensation but freely generally and fully offers to all sorts of sinners the benefit of his grace and pardon who doe not basely and treacherously withdraw themselves and cavill against his simplicity The Lord doth not put difference in his offer saying to such or such an one I offer it to such and such I doe not he offers alike to all and although some conditions go before the actuall application of the promise yet those conditions are wrought in the soule by the offer in all who doe walke with God in the wâ—y of his Ordinances except they fight and resist the same So then whosoever doth not despise the counsell of God Luke 4. and thinke himself unworthy of salvation but shew himself of the number of them who are drawne and perswaded to accept it he shall assuredly partake it So much for the fourth Fifthly to come a little nearer that is to the reall efficacy of working Reason 5 grace and the obedience of faith that 's easie also For why The condition of faith is easie to such as belong to election When as the Lord hath brought the soule under the condition of faith partly by loading the same under her misery partly by the presenting to her the sweetnesse gainfulnesse and faithfulnesse of the promise and partly by removing all such barres and lets as might disswade the soul from it then hereby to such a one it becomes easie to beleeve And to say the truth to these its onely easie in the true kinde and proper sense of easinesse For why These are exempted from the common sort of hearers to whose thoughts the very conceit of faith is a difficult thing much more the enterprise For alas Naturally what in all the world is so harsh and unwelcome to our carnall disposition as to obey the Gospel Not to preach to heare to give away our wealth to sacrifice our children to keepe the Law are so hard as this But to such as the Lord hath brought under the authority love and conduct of the word and the Spirit of grace working thereby he makes it sweet and easie Others plod and take on make a bungling worke of it Esay 63.12 Psal 23.3 as we see untidy servants goe awkely about their businesse which neate and skilfull ones dispatch at once but the Lord conducts these as a shepheard leads his sheep into the greene pastures and as those Israelites were led by the pillar of fire and cloud through the wildernesse If a traveller be set right on his journey his ease is in his guide As Isaac seeing Iacob bring venison so soone asked him how he came so quickly by it Hee told him because the Lord thy God brought it to his hand So hee had no need of Esau his hunting Now briefly it shall not bee amisse to shew by what steps the Lord makes this worke easie and familiar to his people First Cernaine particulars of this holy ease The first as he giveth them a sweet view of this worke of obeying the Gospel that is a cleer familiar conceiving thereof so that it is not an intricate and wearisome object As Salomon describes the way of the fluggard to be an hedge of thornes which no man is willing to medle with So also the Lord brings the soule unto the doore of hope shewing it an entrance and a possiblenesse of escape working a knowledge of it and withall an hearty and close aime and sympathy to it Hosea 2. It so plants the soule under the promise that the droppings of Gods myrrhe oile and balme do not light beside it but right into it When a man hath got the promise of a lease he is sure of the next vacancy So men that lay in for an advouzon waite for the next avoidance It is a good ease for a poore Scholar in the University to be made a Probationer of the next Fellowship as in some Colledges they use for then hee waites in hope and is eased of the hazard of missing Such Probationers and Candidates of heaven doth the Lord first make his poore people that so having an inckling of his meaning they goe on with sweetnesse because heaven is theirs in the grant and reversion As once an holy man told mee that the Lord intimated his heart with this thought that if he would seeke him faithfully in the meanes he would save him A marveilous priviledge So that looke when any grace falls from God they are the parties whom it will light upon this takes off an exceeding deale of bondage and makes meanes sweet So it was to them of Ninivee Jona 3.7.8.9 Judg. 14. Jer. 4.3 who upon this hint from God applyed themselves to the meanes very carefully This causes the heart to plow with Gods heifer to finde out his riddle and to see into the mystery of the promise and therefore to plow indeed and fall to worke to rend up the fallow grounds of her proud rebellious nature selfe and scurffe to hunger after
thou hast dealt with thy servant in mercy thou hast not laid heavy taskes upon me I cannot accuse thee like an hypocrite that thou hast taken up where thou hast not strawed nor reaped where thou hast not sowne Rather I may say that others have laboured and I am entred into their labours that is found a sweet and easie work of beleeving Now as I blesse thee for this so yet be not angry with me if I have another request to make unto thee Matth. 25.24 and that is that thou wouldest still hold the like hand towards me in making the life of faith sweet unto me and the course of obedience most welcome and familiar Oh! let it be no harsh thing unto me to beleeve all thy other promises Gen. 18.30 concerning strength against tentations power against my lusts And breed experience for time to come Lord let not the difficulty of walking be as great as the ease of conversion was mercifull just it were with thee to make it so and to try me what soundnesse what uprightnesse were in me by hard trialls But oh lead me not into tentation do not suffer my corruptions to wax stronger then I can master nor Satan to be more fierce and fiery in his darts then I can resist or quench I doe not pray against crosses or assaults but that they may be according to man and that an issue may be given with them that I may say thou hast been afflicted with me in all my afflictions to make them tolerable Esay 63.9 by thy meekenesse confidence patience and courage put into me Let the Angel of thy presence save me and conduct me beare me up by thy hand continually and redeeme me out of them all at last in an happy manner give me O Lord both the upper and the nether springs enlarge my coast and be with me against those Cananites of the mountaines Judg. 1.15 who have iron chariots If thou shalt indeed blesse me as Iabez said thou shalt be my God 1 Chron. 4.10 Teach me mercy to the distressed patience in affliction faith in straits sobernesse in blessings faithfulnesse if a Minister subjection if a wife understanding if an husband dutifulnesse if a child trustinesse if a servant and let there be sweet ease in all these Lust is sweet Lord to my unmortified part but present thou such a prevailing sweetnesse in thy love by thy promise that it may bear down the corrupt pleasure of my sinne so that while thy love and the joy of thy countenance is present the image of such scurfe may bee despised and it may not be tedious to mee to reject the tentations to wrath revenge earthlinesse loosenesse in liberties pride vanity But all these may become bitter to mee thy grace making them so Oh brethren the Lord teach you to thinke of this Strange it is how many of us goe to worke with God in the way of our conversation especially if private solemne dangerous disgraced hard duties be urged wee finde our hearts so sullen weary hollow fickle carnall in any duty which concernes us as if God were highly beholding to us for our worke What then should be the pitch of our ambition with God save that still he would carry us upon Eagles wings hide all difficulty of Religion from us present it to us as a sweet object remove our waywardnesse of will and fill us with love that wee comprehending the length depth and height of it might be filled with his fulnesse and be carried on without any great rubs or sad offences that our heads may not be brought to our graves with sorrow but wee may finish our course with joy David in that Psalme 27.4 having found one mercy with God staies not there but laies in for a new What is that One thing I will aske of God that he will not deny me That I may walke and spend all my daies in his house continually A child findes it no trouble to him to walke in the presence of a loving father who pitties and provides for him So shouldest thou Mourne thus if ever any thing come between my soul and ease it will be this treacherous heart which will come to a point It s that which so manacles and pinions my soule that I cannot reach that liberty and joy which thy servants feele It s that Lord which makes me so darke so lowring discontent unfruitfull and sad Esay 38. Oh Lord ease me here these have oppressed me deliver me I doe not lay in for liberty to the lusts of the flesh to fulfill them Pray for five things to make Religion sweet I desire the curbing and destruction of them for ever and their wasting daily But till thy sweetnesse satisfie my soule and soake me to the rootes I shall never be as I would be nor can thy worke bee as it ought to be Accept therefore first the will for the deed a little for much that shall be one vantage Then againe cover and hide defects and looke upon my better part thine owne grace and not my corruption interpret me with favour to the uttermost Then thirdly betrust me with those principles of love and sincerity which will make a little goe a great way And then make my lusts to be my clogs and as Sauls armour upon Davids backe who could not goe with them And to conclude make the yoake of thine afflictions easie and enlarge me to runne the way of thy commandements with cheerfulnesse So much for this third Branch Branch 4 But there is yet a fourth branch of Exhortation behinde flowing more necessarily from this Doctrine Nourish not feares about the way of God then any of the former And that is this That seeing the people of God have an allowance from God of ease in beleeving Therefore let all poore soules set their hearts at rest and not nourish fears within themselves of a more tedious entrance into the Kingdome of Grace then the Lord hath promised Nay rather let them fasten upon this priviledge not looking at themselves but at him who hath all impossibilities at his becke and can turne them to ease In which respect Abraham is said to beleeve that although in shew Sara's wombe was to be barren yet because God was able to make good his word therefore from one who was as dead should issue thousands Thus faith gives glory to God and drownes her owne fears in his power True it is wee cannot beleeve that God will make his promise easie till we beleeve But one excellent argument to draw us to beleeve is the meditation of it as an easie worke and that the Lord can and will make it so As I noted before the cause why so many start and shrinke from the way of God is the conceit of the most noysome and tedious hardnesse of it The sluggard still cries A Lion is in the way Proverb I dare not goe Take we heed of this bondage Wee cannot dishonour God
mocked It behooves us to hope the best of all whom we cannot convince of the contrary But except this principle be ingrafted first all other shewes will vanish and a false heart must one way or other bewray her selfe This open sincere heart is the best present for a Preacher and that which will doe great things if need be as Naaman was here ready to do It saith to the Minister there is mine heart take that in pawn and the rest will follow But an iron close hollow heart is poison to a Minister The Jesuits begged of King Henry the fourth of France that he would bequeath them his heart in token of his esteeme which they keep in a golden cup in one of their Chappell 's Let us doe so to the Minister of Christ and as I said let not Fryers and Jesuits prevaile more with their votaries for their hearts then faithfull messengers from heaven with their people That which is well for the present among us brethren I commend If the Gospel had not some friends it could not be so well as it is onely take heed that bad times eclipse it not But I speake as I doe because daies of peace are not as daies of trouble among some good hearts of sincerity many are hollow and the best may amend and learne to bee confirmed to doe that they doe upon grounds of conscience And I desire the Lord that without prejudice wee might heare this truth and receive it Aske thine heart whence is it that my affections are so blunt and dead towards Gods Minister The more I am loved the lesse I love 2 Cor. 12.15 What Did his message never pierce my soule Did it never convince me to be a ranke enemy of God by nature That the wrath or favour of the Almighty was my life or death Did it never convince me of this that the Lord Jehovah hath in the bloud of his owne sonne devised offered sealed up a reconciliation and that for me Alas what wonder if the hearth of that Altar be cold whereon Gods fire was never kindled O Lord work the sense of the message of immortality and life in me by the Spirit of grace and then I shall behold the honour and worth of thy Minister with a spirituall eye and that common base judgement of the world shall vanish Then shall his feet be beautifull his face and voice pretious and his love above the love of any earthly object Job 33. Then shall I call him with Elihu one of a thousand For where one Minister cares for reconciliation himselfe or teacheth it to others some others doe not so they have the fleece what care they whether men sinke or swim Oh! Now I see it s a rare grace for a Minister to prise a soule to tremble at the losse of it to value it at the price of the bloud of the eternall God and the losse thereof as the spilling of the heart bloud of Christ Oh Lord Didst thou meane a poore soule so well as to give him a part in this bloud And to send me tidings thereof by the messenger of peace thy Minister sealing up that unto me on earth which in heaven thou hast granted me My goodnesse my thanks cannot reach thee but it shall fall upon thy Minister whose blessed voice thou hast caused to sound in mine eares and to convey thy love into my soule I hope I shall not forget such a Levite all my dayes So much for this Use Fourthly and lastly this point is for Instruction to teach us what duty Vse 4 we owe to God himselfe Instruction If we owe the Minister great things what owe we to God himselfe If to the Minister a poore mortall worm we owe such honour and reverence what then owe wee to God himselfe If we should doe great things for the instrument of our peace who is the messenger onely of glad tidings What then owe we to him that is the fountaine of it and him that sends it from heaven to us What should seeme great unto us for such kindnesse How should wee carry our lives liberties soules and selves in our bosomes ready to lay downe for him What cost what price is so great which should part the Lord and us Gen. 23.15 As Ephron said to Abraham touching the price of Machpelah its worth so many shekels of silver but what is that betweene me and thee So should we say Oh what is my best treasure worth Lord in respect of losing thy love and communion God will have his servants do some singular thing for him Some shreds I doubt not we should beteame him what great thing would we doe for him What vertue goes out of us What streames of our love and affection goe to him from whose springs all proceed unto us What singular thing doe we for him who gave his Sonne to save enemies and his Minister to bring us newes of it Servants who attend royall Benefactors love to seale their loyall love by some undeniable exploit and marke of extraordinary service As those worthies of David would breake through an hoast of enemies to fetch him water 2 Sam. 23.15 so great an hazard that David thought it a present meet for God And all to teach us that he whom great things do become to give deserves the greatest from us even the very neglect of life it self if he aske it When I read of the strange adventures of men for the pleasing of their Lords and Commanders methinks it shames us Christians It s recorded of the souldiers of Charles the fifth who hearing that he desired a way to be made for his army over a certaine broad River then beset with the ships of the enemy They put their swords in their mouthes and drew those ships surprised to the shore and conveied over the army in them What was this but for the pleasing of a mortall man But when as one day the soule shall be summoned before God and demanded by the Judge what singular thing hast thou done to put it out of question what love thou bearest to me What a wofull regret will it be when it can bethink it selfe of nothing save shreds and parings We could beteame that God should straine himselfe to a demonstration of some great thing for us If it were to make the Sunne stand still or goe backe ten degrees to worke some miracle or shew some signe from heaven of love to us that it might appeare how great we are in his bookes And we make small account of small blessings which others share in with us who are lesser then the least But what doe we picke out to resalute him withall How doe we curtall him of his ordinary dues rather Gen. 22.2 as thinking much of that The Lord bad Abraham do a great thing for him even kill his son and he was ready to do it and the Lord said Now I know that thou lovest me indeed But if he should put us to
and his labour is with God if then for conscience he seekes their welfare and counts it his crowne if they obey Esay 49.4 its equall and righteous that they requite love for love duty for duty That they set his crowne upon his head by their faithfull obedience The businesse concernes themselves very sadly for the Minister preaches not comforts not exhorts not for his owne ends but for theirs If then he be for them and not himselfe shall they be able to answer it if they be not for their owne soules Alas what shall the discouragement they afford to the Minister hurt him Shall it not redound to them See Heb. 13.17 That were smally to their comfort He is from God and as in the stead of Christ doing his Embassage As Ieremy speakes to those rebells Chap. 44. Lo I am before you you may answer me as you will But know that he who sent me will not be so easily answered 2 Pet. 1.16 he will pay ye home for your rebellion If the Minister be bound to follow God and not cunning devises and fables of his own head and must give a strict account thereof to his Master Woe be to them that perceive not nor lay to heart What a solemne account will lye upon them if they dispise that message which he delivers upon such tearmes He hath saved his soule but thy bloud shall be upon thine owne head True love then is judicious see 2 Cor. 5.14 and as in all other things so in this she is loath to offer any measure to the Minister which she is loath God should offer herselfe Reason 3 Thirdly love is marveilous tender He then that loves his Minister is very sensible of that griefe and discontent which must needs smites his heart when he sees his labours slighted 1 Cor. 13. especially if he be a man wholly set to seek Gods ends in preaching A good heart will say I warrant you it stings the heart of him who teaches us soundly to behold in us slight acceptance Oh this will breed bad bloud This will load him with sorrow and he hath no whither to goe for ease but to him who set him on worke And the Lord will take his wrongs to heart and count them his owne and that will prove sad for us Oh! let us not provide so ill let us not cut downe the onely prop we stand on let us condole him in his heavinesse and remove the cause of it that so his heart being joyed may procure a good errand to heaven in our behalfe and bring downe a blessed answer from God unto us Reason 4 Fourthly love is given to esteem highly of that which it loves unites it and strengthens it selfe in the object delighted in she sets it up in her heart exceedingly and good cause why for love proceeds from some convinced amiablenesse and worth in the thing loved and that reflects backe honour and esteeme Now if it be so then love of a Minister will breed honour to him under God neither under his worth nor above it but sutable to it contrariwise if there be small or no love what will the answer be Tush what is he He is but a man as others yea and perhaps a weake one a man of passions and frailties So then marke A lovelesse heart despiseth a Minister shames him is as rottennesse to his bones thwarts the doctrine makes all that behold him in the mirror of such people to thinke they have a Minister of like disposition to themselves else for shame they would not be so base I conclude then true love will devise with her selfe what will grace and magnifie the Minister and his labours and finding that nothing will do it so much as the obeying of his voice they will force and compell themselves out of the meer nature of their love to obey him to the uttermost cost it them never so much the setting on as face answers face in water Proverb so doth the life of an hearer who loves his Minister answer his labours Love must needs destroy it selfe if it should disesteem her object therefore she honoureth that as she would support herselfe So much for Reasons This point first affords Terror to all basely minded men who live Vse 1 in the utter hatred and scorne of their Ministers thwarting Terror Two or three Branches vexing and crossing them to the uttermost in stead of obeying Such as Jer. 44.16 openly tell him The word of God which thou spakest unto us we will not heare it Such as live at open defiance with the Minister asking Shall this fellow reigne over us No Shall we be tyed to his girdle We scorne it Let us cast his cords from us Psal 2.12 What Lord shall controll us Our tongues our spirits and wayes are our owne Shall he teach us to marry to buy sell keep company use our liberties Shall he come among us to forestall our pleasures our wills and lusts They that live at open defiance with their Ministers are odious Cannot wee tell as well as he what is good for us He serves us and lives upon us and shall we maintaine our servant to be in our tops Oh base wretch He is thy servant for thy good but made so by God not a slave but a free honourable Minister of reconciliation not to serve thy humours but to controll them And as I said before then they will runne and ride and lay their purses together nay set on all the mastives of the Country against them to worry them out But oh wofull creatures Reproach of Ministers shame and spots of assemblies you need not to hunt them out Read but that in Mica 2.6.7 and there you shall finde God himself will doe it for you You say prophesie not But I say Ezek. 3.26 they shall not prophesie unto such lest they take shame I will not suffer their faces to be covered with such confusion as to be plagued with such I will rid them from among such and carry them to a people that love them As for these haters of them when as once their shepheards are gone I will come in among them and worry them that worried these And I will let in a flood upon them of woe when my Noa's are taken into mine Arke That which they sought for revenge of my Minister I will inflict as a revenge upon them and when they see themselves left to be consumed by those lusts of theirs which they scorned to be rooted out by him then they shall roare for very anguish some here under penury rags shame diseases and impenitency some in hell but then one houre of a faithfull Minister shall not be given them if they had the world to give for it Beware lest seeing the fearefull examples of vengeance in Scripture for contempt of the Minister besides daily experience of the sudden end of scorners and persecutors will not draw you from your trade God make you examples for
known some loose professors who have sought to exceed all other their neighbours in the love of a godly Preacher and who but they in their running riding assisting of him They have been as his right hand of trust and service But lo in a short time these fellows bewray that which lay secret to wit an uncleane covetous voluptuous heart and what then Surely all men see evidently that these clave to the Minister for their owne base ends and to conceale their vices A speciall watchword to all Ministers of God to beware how farre they engage themselves in the love of any professors A caveat to Ministers See Joh. 2.24.25 Ministers reproach themselves in ascribing too much and trusting too far such as they know not who make toward them in speciall relation Try them throughly in their obedience as well as their pretended love or else the time may come when as their basenesse shall discredit your persons and Ministery farre more then all their love could prevaile If when all is done they are so subtill that we cannot espy them the sinne shall be theirs wee have saved our owne soules and may wash our hands in innocency because we have done our duties When all is done therefore this will hold water if we obey Heb. 13. So saith the Apostle Obey them that are set over you And Paul I beare you witnesse you obeyed the forme of doctrine delivered unto you And againe you received our doctrine not as the word of man but as the word of God Every good hearer should say to his Minister as Elisha did to Gehazi 2 King 5. end Went not thy spirit with me when I ranne after the man So did not the spirit of my faithfull Pastor goe with me when I was in such a company recreation or worldly businesse Me thought it curbed me from lightnesse and vanity from deceit from sinning in my tongue or in any disguisement of intemperancy or cousenage or covetousnes to think if he now saw me how should I be ashamed to do thus Oh! he loves me tenderly my souls welfare and should I grieve him thus 2 Cor. 3.2 This is indeed to be the Epistle of the Minister written in our hearts approving our love unto him to purpose Not that there is not a stronger motive then this to awe and draw people from good to evill for there is an holy Spirit of annointing which is given to all good ones which hath shed the love of Christ into their hearts and filled them with the length and bredth of it this should hem in the soules of beleevers for so the word is 2 Cor. 5.7 and compell them to watch over themselves This must bee the chiefe Monitor in the Schoole of Christ If the voice of this great Prophet be not obeyed for it selfe the voice of the servant as he is called Esay 50. will be little worth For what wonder if they disobeyed the voice of Moses the messenger of God Heb. 2.2.3 who rebelled against that holy Spirit which set him on worke and vexed it all those forty yeares as it is Esay 63.11 No it must be the spirit of the Master which must make his Steward esteemed The love of the Lord Jesus must make the love of the Minister compulsive else it will prove nothing but slavish feare or to avoid base shame as we see in many a drunkard or swearer who for the presence sake of a sinfull man will for an houre or two bite in their qualities which yet they tremble not to commit in the presence of God all the yeare long Conclude this point then and say I pretend love to my Minister how shall I demonstrate it really As Cornelius did Act. 10. It s said he fell downe and tooke Peter by the feet in token of excessive love and respect But what was this all No surely But this that he tells him They were all ready to hearken to whatsoever the Lord said unto them by him This was a sure marke love and feare make reverence and thence comes obedience When love is solid it workes by feare and causes a loathnesse to doe any thing which might grieve the Minister it sits like Mary at the feet of the Minister ready to obey And that not onely in slight matters to remove some sinne which may be spared 1 Sam. 15. as Saul that killed the leane cattell and the baser sort of Amalek but even the belovedst lust and most pretious vice even the fat cattell and the King himselfe True love abhorres common evidence its painfull it will be singular and aske Matth. 5.47 Joh. 21. what singular thing doe I to approve my love When our Saviour would try Peters love he askes him Lovest thou me more then these As some think he meant of his nets occupation as others of his fellow Apostles Both will do well Love thy Minister by obeying more then others yea love him more then thy nets thy beloved trade thy lusts which bring thee in the greatest gaine thy sweet usury thy gaming thy deceit which others who love him not would as soone lose their lives as forgoe The forfeit of these will import strongly that thou lovest not him for any by respect but as he is a Minister of God I remember a story of Pope Pius the fifth one that was reputed as humble as a proud Pope might be who being told of a base fellow that had much abused him in a Pasquill answered I sustaine two persons one of a poore Monk another of Christs Vicar if thou hast railed upon me as a Monk I pardon thee if as Pope I must punish thee So there is no true Minister of Christ who lookes at himselfe as a man but at the honour of him whose servant he is and to whom he desires all the peoples obedience should be derived Try therefore whether thy lusts can draw thee stronglier then he if two loadstones draw both together the iron will goe to the strongest So let thy love goe to him from thy lust Fleire not in his face nor beare him faire in hand when as yet thine heart goes another way Doe nothing behinde his backe which thou wouldest not doe before him In all thy doubtfull matters consult with him let him come within thy bosome know thy secrets and hide nothing from him wherein he can informe thee for he is for God and Christ 1 Cor. 5.20 as a faithfull Embassadour for thy good Doth he tell thee O my friend I perceive your zeale quales shrewdly in this Laodicean age you heare oft but sleep much at Sermons you jangle so much of earthly businesse upon the Sabbath that I feare you meditate little Or you are zealous but you grow not in knowledge wisdome tendernesse to manage your zeal aright from rashnesse and censoriousnes Or you are noted to be full of words or a busie body Or you are given to flout and jeere when you are in company Or you are bold to
our Crib as binde an unstedfast man to one settled course in Religion or duties Alas he is a man at his owne hand an outlaw masterlesse not redeemed with a price from the service of himselfe and his vagrant humours to serve God Conclusion of the Use To conclude labour for truth as a girdle to compasse thy soule and that will set this argument on foote for thee and keepe in thy sides as a corner stone doth the walles from flying out this will set thy course streight If thou hast beene zealous in Gods matters this will awe thee to a zealous care of a sutable walking in the second Table If thou hast obeyed the Lord in doing his will it will urge thee to bee as conscionable in suffering also for God if thou hast denyed thy selfe in the promise of salvation it will compell thee also to renounce thy selfe liberty and life for God in the matter of persecution the crosse for his names sake It will alway be reading that maxime to thee whatsoever is done according to God is done equally Disproportion in Religion argues great unsoundnesse And as it will argue from the greater to the smaller for an holy sutablenesse so it will doe also from the smaller to the greater for the procuring of the greater glory to God For alas what is our greatest and best but silly Except he accepted us who hath said Thou good and faithfull servant thou hast been faithfull in a little be ruler over much Marth 25. enter into thy Masters joy Vse 5 To finish all this should bee comfort to all faithfull ones because God will trust them Disconsolation to the unequall and unsound and men wil honour them and dismayment to all sly and subtill ones who cannot bee trusted Let men plead for themselves as they will and insinuate themselves into the mindes of some Christians as they can thinking to encredit and ingratiate themselves into their affections by their shew of zeale at some running pulls or in their good moodes yet God and such as are wise to observe their inconstancy will be so bold as to doubt of them by their leaves It s to be noted that although Barnabas for kindred sake favoured Iohn Marke Act. 15.38 to associate him to the worke which himselfe and Paul went about yet Paul and the Church who had noted his staggering before in the same worke durst not trust him then and it was a just blur unto him The Lord warrants us to suspect the inconstant and hee will have constancy and sincerity to be honoured Read the Scripture and you shall observe a brand of infamy set upon them who have withdrawne themselves from the yoke of God Those spyes how are they blurred Numb 14. Caleb and Ioshua how honoured Phinees in the case of Zimri and Cozbi those Levites in the common defection of the Tribes to Idolatry Exod. 32. how are they graced That curse of Iaacob was by this meane turned to a blessing as appeares by the reason which Moses gives thereof Deut. 33.7 If we have observed a man not to be trusty in great matters of executorships or other trust reposed upon him though he be never so neer thee honour him not with such a trust for he hath disabled himself It is no uncharitablenesse at all but wisdome and caution He that in a smaller office of the Towne hath been slacke and backed the bad trust him in no greater let him have the repulse with shame The like I might say in other cases He that in marriage hath lived badly with one wife let him not have thy voice for another till thou see a change Put not thy child to be a servant to him or her who by their ill government of former servants is disabled in in their credit Hee that cannot rule his owne children well commit not the education of thine to him either living or dying for feare of unfaithfulnesse And so much for this Verse this Doctrine and Lecture The end of the Fifthteenth Lecture THE SIXTEENTH LECTVRE upon the Fourteenth VERSE VERSE XIIII Then he went downe to Iorden and washed himselfe seven times according to the saying of the man of God and his flesh came againe as the flesh of a young child and he was cleane WEE are now by Gods assistance come to the 14. Verse and the upshot of the foregoing Story wherein I told you brethren that the fourth and last generall head of the whole is contained Transition to the â—ourteenth Verse viz. the issue of the counsell of the Prophet and of the Servants That is the cure of Naaman both bodily and ghostly A very sweet conclusion of so sad a distemper as passed betweene and so happy as every one that would wish it a good end could not have wisht it better then it fell out In the which that wee may steere our course aright in the beginning let us doe with this as wee did with the former generalls that is analyse it into the naturall branches arising from it The Verse in generall containes the obedience of Naaman to the charge of the Prophet Explication and Analyse of this fourth generall and it hath two parts to wit the act of his obeying Or the consequents thence following In the former we have three things First the time when Then he went viz. being by the counsell of the servants and the perswasion of Gods Spirit brought downe from his former resolution and mollified to an humble spirit of obeying Then he went The Prophets message enraged him But the Servants counsel overpowres him We may say of it as Deborah in another case said to Barak Judg. 4. Thou shalt not have the honour of the victory but a woman So the Prophet must not have the credit of the conquest but the poore Servants The second is the act it selfe noting wherein the worke of faith consists even in the obedience of the soule to a word of command and promise He went and washed seven times The third is the extent of his obedience it was full as large and no more then the word of charge and promise imported for he did according to the saying of the man of God The sense of it is he went not casually or for his own ends or by compulsion because they would needs force him to it but of his owne accord by the leading of the word The second generall is the consequents hereof and they are first or remote The first and chiefe is the issue of his obedience partly expressed and partly implyed expressed at large as if the holy Ghost would be as full in laying down the issue on Gods part as he had done the obedience of the part on Naaman His flesh became as a childs cleere and contrary to the scurvy and unsightly flesh of a leper and he was cleane as if hee should say God was not wanting in his performance to the uttermost nay did more then he promised cast in
desolate and desperate which is the estate of hypocrites and selfe-deceivers Esay 50. ult and so God should put no difference between a poor humbled soul mourning for him and one that compasses himselfe with his own sparkles All these being of infinite absurdity and ill consequcnce it must needs bee that God will not bee angry nor contend for ever but finde a time an accepted season in which he will ease the heavy heart of her distempers and set her at liberty Thirdly the Lord hath the spirit of man and the passages and waies Reason 3 thereof in his owne hand to sway draw alter turn it as he pleases He formed the spirit first of his owne breath knows how it defiled it self understands the wofull inability of it to heale it selfe sees and beholds the secret windings and turnings of it how it wraps it selfe into endlesse errors and wearisome doubtings he permits all these in wisdome and when he sees his fittest time he can turne the course and streame of the spirit his owne way though the rebellion crossenesse feares and staggerings thereof be never so perplexed There is an absolute soveraignty of God over the will and conscience of man that when hee please he can do with it as men do with rivers of waters Proverb which though naturally they runne downeward yet by art and skill are recalled and derived to such uses as best serve to the benefit of the owners so that the question is not whether the heart would of it selfe encline but whether God enclines it Fourthly the power of the Spirit is such that it blowes at it owne Reason 4 pleasure and is of a most perfect freedome to blow where when how farre it selfe will and is not in the power of any Divell enemy man himselfe to crosse it God hath the winde of perswasion in his owne hand and he holds the winde in his fist All perswasions arguments and motives doe so farre prevaile or not prevaile with the spirit of man as the Spirit it selfe pleases to set them on When he will overrule the Spirit a little motive a word speaking shall effect it when he will stop the power of it nothing shall prevaile Luke 5.3.7 As Peters nets lay by when the season was so when the time of catching came all the fish came together and were enclosed under it So the counsells of the best wisest strongest must lye by as ineffectuall when God is absent the heart lies as a stone frozen into ice no axes mattocks strife of man shall break it But when his heart is enclining to man and meanes him good then shall the Spirit lye in another coast and suddenly thaw and melt the ice of the soule and dissolve those strong chaines which bound it before and made it past mans skill to pierce it so that as before nothing could soften it so now nothing shall harden it Now then marke If this power be in the Spirit of grace it must needs serve for somewhat it is not needlesse Therefore it must serve to this end to rid captives of their chaines to speake a word in season to a soule that is weary to carry the seed of life and the promise into the poore and fatherlesse spirit and there to enter open and enlarge the soule so farre that as it had no power to apply to receive or embrace any light or hope now it may be as the eternall gate opened by the eternall Spirit who hath the key of David and have no power to shut it selfe any more nor to resist the Spirits power and perswasion Reason 5 The fifth Reason is taken from the scope which mercy propounds to herselfe in the turning the soule to God Even the glory of it own selfe and that nothing may share with it selfe in this great worke of over-powring the soule As she onely hath those weights in her hand which can over weigh the base and backward heart so she will doe it when the soule hath struggled and tyred her selfe in her owne way hoping by her owne skill to effect it Then can mercy onely save the soule and remove the false principle which she found in the soule to crosse it even when the soule seemed to be most earnest in seeking it The Lord seeks more to honour himselfe above the soule then to shew it mercy onely for the private good thereof and when he findes that the soule herselfe can make no work of it is past hope in herselfe sees most basenesse in herselfe then is his fittest season to worke for his owne name and then none shall share with him in that point whereof he is so jealous that is his glory Esay 63.4 Esay 42.5 There is a speciall text of worth for this point which I wish all to observe Esay 57.17 I was angry with him and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart But I have seene his wayes and will heale him and restore comfort and create peace What While he goes on in his frowardnesse kicks against the pricks and hath no disposition in him to convert Surely no for all the work of Selfe is but the frowardnesse of a man with himself because he cannot have his will of God But then will God heale that man may be set on ground and bee convinced of his owne impotency for no reason can be given why at last the Lord should so overrule him save meer mercy to one in misery except any will say that a froward heart can merit any mercy So then the entire glory of the grace of mercy causes the Lord at last to finish the worke hee hath begunne that both the Alpha and Omega may be his both warpe and woofe from him Thus much for Reasons Now I proceed to some Questions Three Questions For upon that I have said sundry may be made Especially these three First wherein doth appeare that a soule in the way of grace and under the condition of it may yet a long time lie under such distempers ere it come to apply the promise this may arise from the present case of Naaman of whom the Doctrine saith that the Lord now found a time of grace for him though it were long first some therefore may desire to see it proved that it may be long first wondring that it befalls not the soule as soone as shee is under the condition of it The second question may bee why the Lord should permit such delayes and longsome staggering since that it may seeme it were better if it were speedy and put out of doubt at first Thirdly it is asked by what markes it may appeare to a poore soule that the Lord intends to finish his worke and to set her out of her old feares and distempers To answer the first of these this I say experience proves it that conversion is not finisht in many a soule which yet may be under a condition Quest 1 of it as soone as begunne Why conversion is not
Oh they say its pitty such Ministers should live they serve for no other save to gaster and unsetle men who are in peace They have done that with their words which all their labour with both hands cannot undoe againe Oh wofull wretch Is the Minister able to goe beyond the Lord Is he not a servant of God to doe what he will use him for Esay 10.15 Rom. 9. Shall the axe exalt it selfe against him that cutteth therewith Or the clay say to the Potter why dost thou make no more haste to fashion me No it s enough that he shall heale whom he hath wounded and make up the breach he hath made when God will use him In the meane time perhaps thy cavilling at the meanes bindes Gods hand behinde him thou needest not wonder that he doth thy wife or child so little good rather cease thy rebelling as bootlesse and yeeld thy selfe to come into Gods order that he may worke upon thy heart as he hath done theirs And so let it by the way encourage the Minister of God who pleads for the glory of God and travells with a soule burthened and despairing of ever seeing good day Oh Lord saith many a such one Vse 3 it is for thee that I have so urged the conscience of my hearer to trust upon thy accomplishment of thy word If I have deceived the people Encouragement to the Ministers of God Ezek. 14.9 Rom. 3.7 thou hast deceived me Oh if I should leave any poore soule in the briars and never see the worke of faith finisht in him I should be accounted a liar for God! what a dishonour were this Lord put to thine hand helpe thy weake servant save thine owne name and my credit Disable me not from being beleeved leave me not a reproach to vile ones Alas They whom I have to deale with are a sturdy and a rebellious people cavillers and such as will disgrace me if thy word should not prove true honour me therefore and set thy seale to my poore labours that in my truth thy name may be glorified 2 Cor. 10.4 Esay 57.18 batter and pull down their high stomacks plunge them into horrors and then create the fruit of the lips in them and strengthen me to be an able Minister of reconciliation that so the mouthes of them who would traduce thy Messengers and Ordinances may bee stopped Even as the Lord Jesus Joh. 17. praied his Father to glorifie him for the sake of them whom he had given him so doe thou entreat also Oh in thy weldoing be not discouraged by such nor be too sollicitous for God! feare not Esay 42.8 he will not give his glory to another he will not be laught at as unable to goe through that which he hath begunne These poore servants of Naaman were weake instruments to speake of but yet made strong enough by the Lord to conquer their Master so thou shalt perhaps be the instrument to water that which others have planted Gal. 2. And what if others enter into thine If God may have a Temple built by Salomon 2 Chron. 28.14 David will lay in Timber and Cedars and willinglly forgoe the name thereof And therefore distrust not God nor faint in thy service Thirdly let this be use of Admonition to us that since God hath Vse 3 said it He will not alway contend but create peace Admonition Cleere and justifie God in his delay of grace therefore wee judge not amisse of God when we see the worke deferred as if he did deserve the blame but rather cleer him and say He cannot lie the fault lyes some where else The truth is we heare of few who honour God in the improvement of this promise though it be not the fault of all for many doe beare witnesse to God in this kinde But why Because they wilfully make it a long journey which God makes short And first they will not confesse that which God hath done They think faith to be such a sensible effectuall grace that none can have it but by and by they shall see the flame of it and so not discerning any excellency of effects they consult with their owne feelings and conclude there is nothing at all Alas poore soules the beginnings of faith are poore though the encreases may be great Job 8.7 Spirituall things in a carnall subject are as hardly discerned as a pearle among much dung that which is our owne appeares easily and dismaies us But that which is Gods is more secret Againe many looke more at their owne stirrings of the poole then at Gods I can speak it by experience that whereas one hath made complaint of his not clasping to a promise and mourned simply for unbeleefe ten have bemoaned their losse of the affections which they have had in hearing praier or conference A signe that their owne is nearer then Gods worke with them Faith is not alway a victorious sensible and reflecting grace upon the soule wherein it is But a casting of her selfe after all her fruitlesse wrastlings as being convinced of the insufficiency and invalidity of them all upon the streame of the word to carry her to the haven of peace If then you have lost your first feelings and zeale give not God over but still seek him for a further spirit of recovery and encrease upon the best grounds Naaman here had lost his first hopes yet you see he recovers them againe by better insight and perswasion and that ere he looked for it Pray earnestly O Lord thou hast power to set the Sunne ten degrees backe Lord set mine ten degrees forward Thou oh Lord hast all instruments meanes seasons perswasions blessings crosses in thy hand to worke by apply them Lord and suffer not my soule which is sunke into giddinesse ease worldlinesse discontent of spirit and dead sullennesse to lye still in that dungeon Drive me out of my carnall tracke into thy Royall Rode and if I must be delaid yet keepe me in thy way presse the Lord with his owne word and say Thou canst discover to me all my steppings out of thy way all my stops and lets Thou canst uncharme Satans spell Thou canst multiply perswasion and weaken disswasion Thou canst remove that utter unwillingnesse and uncouthnesse of the soule to this work and cause lythnesse and complying therewith Thou canst pull me out of those snares which enwrapt me in bondage as the weeds did Ionah No rocks shall split me with feare no Syrens shall inchant me with baites if thou assist Thou canst menage thy Spirit with so strong an arme Esay 55.8.9 that it shall prosper to doe what thou wilt and cause that no raine no snow shall returne in vaine but doe that for which thou sentest it Take heed give not God over trifle not out thy time improve fasting to cast out the Prince of Divells Unbeleefe and frequent the Sacrament as Gods sealing Ordinance and then know that he who hath begunne will finish
persons disdained not to learne of so poore a counsellour what should such as wee doe who are yet as much more stout then they as they were wiser then wee are And so much for this poynt Doct. Another poynt offers it selfe from hence also and that from the order of his obeying The Text telles us Then hee went and dipped himselfe When I pray you Surely when his stomack was brought down and sunk in him then hee went dipped himselfe in Jorden when that which all this while letted was removed then did he obey believe and doe as he was bidden and that in a moment The poynt is very speciall to prepare us to the poynt following for it acquaints us with a main barre and stop which lies in the Preachers way and the Spirits way to wit a rebellious and selfe-conceited heart and with that which makes easie and sweet that is an heart convinced and yeelding to the Word No man I suppose will expect me to be large in much opening of this disease for I have spent many Sermons in the handling of Self Self-love carnall Reason Rebellion and coy Pride in Naaman when I went over the 11. verse Now I take all that for granted and from the issue of the Lords working thus long upon Naaman his humbling of him to the command Humility alway goes before grace compared with the effect of his obeying I would present unto your eye this poynt That alway when the Lord means to create faith in the soule he doth immediatly put an end to all that stoutnesse of spirit that hindred the same The poynt is cleare No sooner had the Lord emptied Naaman here of his opposing heart but immediatly followes his obeying the charge So true is that golden speech of Ieremy Jer. 31.18.19 I heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as an Heyfer unaccustomed to the yoke Surely after that I was turned I repented and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed and confounded because I did beare the shame of my youth The summe of the words is That all the while that Ephraim was proud and wilfull no grace would enter into him But as soone as the Lord thawed his spirit and made him humble lo hee presently submitted and bare Gods yoke with meeknesse and obedience Prophets there were before who did beat upon him and tozed him with rebukes and terrors but alas they were but as the blowes of the Smith upon his Anvill which is the more hardned But at last God cast into his heart a secret thought of his long rebellion and how little good it had done him then by and by hee listned and smote upon his thigh and repented Even so all the day long sayth the Lord by Esay Chap. 52. ult have I stretched out mine arme to a people in vaine None hath beleeved my report the word of God is revealed to none Why Hee addes because it is a stiff-necked and a gain-saying people q. d. But for this they had beleeved long agoe This is that which elsewhere the Prophet foretels under the Gospell that such as should bee converted unto God Esay 2.4 Esay 2.12.17 should turne their Swords into Mattockes and their Speares into Sythes that is of warlicke and turbulent ones become peaceable Husband-men and Inhabitants The Aspe shall suffer the young childe to play at the hole of the Aspe and the Lyon shall feed with the Lamb and the Beare with the Bullocke meaning the savage and wilde dispositions of men should turn meek and tractable Iob in one place brings in the Lord asking this question Job 39.5 Wilt thou tye the Unicorne to the furrow or wilt thou make the wilde Asse feed at thy Crib q. d. No their nature is unbroken thy Oxe and thy Horse are fittest for that whom thou hast tamed to the worke Even so assure thy selfe the Divell and Christ Light and Darknesse may as soon comply as a stout rebellious heart and grace Rebellion and Unbeliefe yoke together so doe Selfe-deniall and meeknesse of Spirit with faith and obedience As while the sinewes of mans heart is of Iron the Lords heaven is Brasse so when the soul begins to melt the Lord begins to turne and convert it It is with the soule in this kinde contrary to that it was with them in Acts 27. If these goe out of the ship it must needs miscarry But if pride and rebellion abide in the heart no grace will grow the man must perish Ottomans horse they sayd wheresoever he became made the grasse that it could not grow so doth a stout heart keep grace from the heart There is a secret intelligence between hell and a proud spirit And contrarily there is an entercourse between an humble heart and heaven Hosee in one place tells us Hos 2.21 That the Lord would speake to the heavens and they should heare the earth with rains and then the earth should heare man with fruits So first heaven must grant the heart tendernesse and relenting and then that will heare the Lord commanding and promising The windes being very loud the aire is dry but if they be downe then presently we have store of raine See that 1. King 19.12 So is it here when the tempests and stormes of the heart bee up whether in morall sinnes against the Law or spirituall rebellion against the Gospell there is no obedience but if they be downe never so little the clouds will follow after raine that is faith and obedience will ensue Prov. 15. ult The feare of the Lord is instruction and wisedome And before honour goeth humility Whom shall I teach Doctrine Esay 28.7.8 Even him that is weaned from the Milke and drawne from the Breasts The sweet milke of the breasts of Selfe and carnall Wisedome are alway opposite to the wisedome of God Sacrifices thou wouldest not but an eare thou hast boared Why That I might doe thy will O God who before did mine owne Vse 1 For briefe use First it is instruction to put us out of question why an heart of unbeliefe hath so long pestered the most of our hearers Instruction Why the most hearers are pestered with unbeliefe Because the heart was never brought down and why the Lords perswasions have so little prevailed to make us believe Surely if you doubt as I feare few need to doe the enemy is this wicked Haman of a rebellious heart Perhaps some of you are of another minde because you can so colour and crust over this sore with courtesie and good words but the truth of it is There is an heart within big and high and stout This is the Camell which suffers not the soule to goe through the needles eye Somewhat is the cause why the felon upon the hand swells it is an humor which is not yet let out if that were out the felnesse would cease Enquire and consult either a cursed heart will keep some base lust
in as much as thou art become a sonne of Abraham Luke 19.7 Thy Regions are white unto harvest thy staffe stands next doore to grace and thy redemption is neer nay the day of the Lords redeemed is come Esay 63.4 Oh! thou mayst lift up thy heart unto God and say How is it that the Messenger of the Lord is come unto me Lo on the sudden I feele mine heart so strangely thawed and teachable over it was wont to be that I can give no reason of except the Lord meanes to save me I therefore interpret it as a signe of favour yea thou mayst be sure of it and therefore repent thee not of all thy paines which thou hast taken for it seeing thy reward will abundantly answer thy travaile And so much briefly may serve to have said of this use and of the Doctrine The chiefe doctrine of the whole verse opened at large I hasten now to the point it selfe of Naamans obedience The greatest and chiefest of all other which I aimed at in the handling of this Scripture Then saith the Text hee went and washed himselfe seven times in Iorden What was this A common act as others were No other then the former to come out of Aram to goe to the King of Israel or to stand at the doore of Elisha Oh yes those were his own this is Gods those he made no bones of but this was that which had made all this pudder it was the Lords owne way and device for the triall of his faith in the miracle and the subduing his heart to the naked obedience unto him And lo now his stomacke is come downe the let is removed and therefore he doth as he is bidden and goeth and washeth seven times in Jorden Marke the point it will cost us some time to handle Doctrine The point is Every one who is able to prove himselfe Every soule within the condition of mercy ought to beleeve within the condition of the promise may and ought to cast himselfe upon it obey the command of God and beleeve For the proofe of the point it will be expedient that first we cleare the ground of it out of the example of Naaman in generall and then by some evident texts of Scriptures with a briefe reason or two And having so done we will proceed to the explication of the contents of the Doctrine For the generall correspondence of Naamans case with this point some may doubt how it may be said of an Heathen in the point of curing of a bodily disease how he can be said to bee under the condition of a promise and so to believe For answer Answer whereof I say as before that although the worke of grace were a stranger unto him in respect of his owne feeling untill the time that the Lord wrought indeed grace in his heart yet forasmuch as the Lord over-ruled all the occurrents in the businesse by his owne hand for the effecting of that which he intended and swayed his heart to those preparations which were fit to lead to such an effect Therefore I do not see why on Gods behalfe those severall dispositions which were in Naaman may not be proportionable unto those which are wrought in such as are converted to God That Naaman was truly brought home to God besides the sequell in the Chapter mee thinkes this is sufficient that not onely God would chuse him as the onely Leper whom Elisha should heale but also would order the circumstances thereof in so set and solemne a manner that all men may behold a gracious worke as well as a miraculous For I demand what should need so many interruptions and defeats in the miracle such a trying and searching of a mans Spirit and such a purposed drawing of him to see more then an externall hand in the thing except more then an outward cure had beene intended by God A very small and short matter might else have been made of it if the Prophet had been used onely to heale his body and as Naaman thought the bare comming out and laying his hand on or speaking two or three words might have served the turne But now the Prophet must not bee seen Naamans weaknesse must be discovered to himselfe and hence it appeares that the Lord would have his Spirit and Soule acquainted with God as well as his outward man So much for the answer of the doubt And so I come to shew what conditions were wrought in Naaman before his cure and then how his obedience must be an act of faith issuing thereupon respiting proofes and reasons till the Doctrine be suted to the Text till which it will not be seasonable to settle it upon her bottome But this wee will referre to the next Lecture THE SEVENTEENTH LECTVRE upon the fourteenth VERSE VERSE XIV Then he went downe and washed himselfe seven times in Iorden and his flesh came againe as the flesh of a little child and he was cleane I Having shewed you beloved in the end of the former Exercise that Naamans example may wel yeeld us the consideration under our hand referred the particulars unto this Sermon Naaman then may be conceived under the condition of mercy in the purpose of God sundry wayes In respect of the order that God tooke with him both in preventing him and assisting him before the cure In the former we saw how the Lord by a bodily disease made him in the generall case of one needing ease for he abased his person in the midst of sundry other happinesses with the noysome disease of Leprosie which was in it selfe a marvellous yoke and as God guided it a very pinching one unto him burdening him more then in a common manner How Naaman was under the condition of of cure If this had not been the first ground of the worke had been removed Next hereto the Lord prevents him very sweetly with the newes of one who in such a desperate case is credibly reported unto him to be a man like to heale him and this comes to him by a speciall providence appointing a skirmish between Aram and Israel wherein a Damosell might be taken prisoner and such a one one of a thousand who had taken notice of Elishâ—'s worth in this kinde and this being by Naaman apprehended tooke off utter despaire of incurablenesse and put him into some hope of a possible cure Thirdly hereupon he slackens no time but addresses himselfe in the best manner to use the most apt and likely meanes for the commending of his businesse to the Prophet and for the bringing of him to the speech of the Prophet having no doubt a speciall desire to obtaine that really whereof hee saw possibility before Fourthly by his travell and furnishing himselfe with gifts attendance comming to the King of Israel with his message wherein he was greatly defeated he is by the Lord so mercifully assisted that he ceased not till by the Prophets owne intimation and further light and assurance not only
upon us by the Spirit of Grace in a weaker degree at the first and unshapen doth at last by the same Spirit bring them to a more full and formed degree in such as are to bee saved Thirdly note It is a middle thing between meere corruption and grace that this preparation stands in a middle nature between meer corruption the gift of grace it selfe peculiarly so called Preparation is neither to bee called meere Nature nor any thing which nature alone can affoord nor yet can it bee called Faith but a previous supernaturall worke which in them that perish by suffering it to decay comes to nothing but in the elect ends in effectuall calling and beleeving the promise Fourthly note that yet this must not bee trusted unto as if it were in it selfe sufficient to make the soule happy for still that which the poore sinner must cling and cleave to for her pardon peace must be that only bloud of Christ the sati factioâ— of justice She must lay hold on this and make it her owne by faith in the promise Thus much for the present comes in my minde to tell you touching the nature of this Condition Now I come to the steps of it The first property issueth from the convincing power of the morall Law It is not to be trusted to alone The steppes of it 1. Loading by the Law A Loaden soule what it is and the markes of it working the conscience to be loaden through the spirit of bondage To speake much of any thing in speciall would spend more time then such an Audience and exercise admits I must take these things for granted having taught you them in my course of catechising One thing I will adde which there I omitted viz. to lay you downe some markes whereby you may discerne this condition of the Law All that are loaden lost deadly heart-sick of the Law are bidden to come to Christ But who are these 1. Such as cannot look back into their former estate of jollity liberty and life in sinne uncontrolled without wondring and detestation of themselves 2. A loaden soule feeles her selfe discharged quite from those false shoulders that suffered not so intollerable a load of sinne and curse to be felt but kept the soule in a rotten peace The Law abandons ease security boldnesse peace pleasures mirth and company ignorance and selfe-conceit which would not endure sinne to settle upon her right subject and lets in a veine of vengeance in stead of the veine of vanity and carelesnesse 3. The soule in this case fares as a thing oppressed with that which exceeds it As in all naturall excesses there is either a weakning or destroying of the Patient If light or heat be too excessively offered to the eye or fire to the touch they destroy both So this wrath of God ceazing excessively upon conscience doth spiritually kill it 4. This loading is such as exceeds all concealment or biting it in by modesty or patience it must vent it selfe Act. 2. Men and breâ—hren what shall we doe 5. It is glad to heare of the least ease not cavilling with the Instrument but joying in it 6. She confesses God might justly crush her in peeces without any purpose to redresse her 7. She walkes for ever after much more warily and tenderly against sin then such as never felt this load though their knowledge be greater 8. This load is unto the soule as a venomed Dart sticking to the flesh or a burden nailed to the shoulder not possible to be puld off but the more she struggles the more it settles 9. Other mens loads trouble her not so much as her owne shee hath no leasure to jangle of them having so much to doe at home 10. Though God should ease her shee would not readily return to her old vomit 11. It is not such a load that crusheth a legge or an arme but such as oppresses the whole man in each faculty and member 12. It is not such a load neither as quite destroyes but the soule is sustained by God from utter sinking till shee heare further Thus much of the Legall The second work is from the Gospel Before any further preparation is wrought the Lord ministers to the soule a further light and that is the Gospel which brings newes to the soule in such an estate of a possible remedy through the grace of Christ I must not insist in things largely handled elsewhere but take them for granted here The summe is that the Lord in the view of that full satisfaction of the Lord Jesus offers full and free deliverance and ease to a soule thus loaden without any equivocation or fraud And withall discovers to her the most pretious view of all the good things of God purchased for her though pardon immediately yet consequently all other whereby she may bee made perfectly happy and rid of her thraldome And according to the soules measures in the revealing of this light unto her she comes more or lesse forward in those affections and dispositions which wee call Evangelicall preparation of which there had rather bee a volume made then a Sermon and as elsewhere I have promised I intend a speciall Treatise of them if God grant life and liberty at least of so many of them as I have not already handled in other Treatises Evangelicall preparings either Negative or Positive Now it shall bee sufficient to point at them this being the least part of the Doctrine under our hand and then I will come to the latter branch This Evangelicall preparation is of two sorts The one negative and of them I point at these foure First a stopping of the Soul from her old courses and from relapsing into them Secondly a great sorrow of heart for sin past Thirdly a speciall aversation and abhorring for time to come Fourthly Selfe-deniall The other sort of these I call positive and heer take these foure also First an hope raised up in the soule which causeth her to hold still on with God in his way Secondly desire encreasing more and more after mercie Thirdly an high prizing of it above all earthly treasure Fourthly restlesse diligence in use of all meanes till her desire be accomplished with fainting under delay All these are the fruit of the Gospell drawing the soule to bee willing to hearken after God although as yet she cannot incorporate herselfe into the promise nor put Christ on as a garment made fit for her yet by these she is drawne to looke toward him And therefore to speake a word of each not as I named them but in their order First I say Such a soule is loth to give over that little taste she hath of him nor can bee pulled from her hearings duties prayers and meanes nor perswaded to revolt to her old vanities Psal 85.4 As David saith Such as hearken after God s mercy returne no more to folly Secondly such an one by the Gospel conceives an hope a farre
freedome that needs no word nor promise to support them That presently they are past all doubtings and need no prayer for pardon being past all gun-shot of corruption or unbeliefe Divell or temptation But I have confuted these elsewhere in a Treatise for the nonce here I will passe them over Vse 2 Secondly this is for reproofe of all such as run into another extremity of errour about this point of preparation Of Reproofe Repentance goes not before Faith And because they heare that God usually workes the condition of faith ere hee worke faith it selfe therefore they say that the grace of repenting goes before the grace of beleeving Thus confounding the preparations of the Gospell with sanctification the fruit of faith Or making sanctification the generall and repentance and faith two specialls and presupposing a needlesse faith for what needs faith to such as have repented and are converted to God without it And yet aâ—â—â—surd as this error is it is strange to thinke what abundance both oâ—â—â—nisters and people are rooted in this error Nay and dispute strongly for it too Oh! say they Doth not the Scripture say Christ will not dwell with corruption Light with darkenesse Doth not Iohn Baptist bid them repent the first thing he doth And Peter Act. 2. Repent and beleeve Oh ye blinde guides See you not how under the pretext of your devotion you overthrow Christ Saint Paul saith 1 Tim. 4. ult That Christ is the mystery of godlinesse as if he should say there is no sea but water nor grace save Christ but you will make grace to stand in a repentance before faith No no repenting cannot be conceived of without purging of the conscience first Now faith is the first and onely purifier of the heart We cannot of our selves dispose our owne hearts to grace to purenesse Therefore amend your errors arising from the mistaking of the text Iohn Baptist calls legall humiliation repenting as is evident by the words following for the Kingdome of Heaven is at hand by which he meanes the Gospell was approaching therefore it was not come already Saint Peter so places repenting before beleeving not as setling any order of the graces but as making both essentiall to conversion for in other Scripture we read otherwise Beleeve and be baptised and then repent Acts 16.31 2 Cor. 6.15 Touching the place of Paul it touches not the order of graces in conversion but speakes of them who were converted already saying That they sinned fouly in mixing Christ with Idolls that is offending weake consciences in their eating things sacrificed to Idolls and so partaking with heathens So much for these only I adde let no man thinke that I maintaine any succession of graces in conversion for all Christ is given at once to a beleever yet in an orderly understanding that which hath the nature of a forme first Note this and then that which is a formall consequent thereupon Thirdly this is also reproof and that sharpe 3. Branch Dall ers with the Gospell or attenders upon it for a season reproved to all such as although they affirm the same truth in doctrine with us yet deny it in effect and apply not themselves wisely and humbly to this way of the Gospell If this point be true that none save those who are under the condition of the promise may cast themselves upon it Then those are very faulty that dally with the Gospell in the offer of salvation feele no gracious preparations wrought in them thereby no sorrowes no desires no paines no love joy care to use the meanes no restlesse heart after faith But wanze away their pretious time as if one should set up a candle in a darke house to do no work by but to prate and jangle play and be merry and tell tales Others also who at the first newes of the Gospell were a little joyed and counted the feet of the Minister beautifull but neglecting that season of grace in which the Lord offered to worke in them and contenting themselves with knowledge or the good opinion of Preachers or some sparkles of their owne never proceeded further to try whence they came or whither they tended much lesse can prove that these were wrought in them by the promise or that they were truly loaden so that nothing else could ease them but Christ And therefore such are not willing 〈◊〉 â—ring their sorrow or desire to the touchstone but after a long pâ—â—â—sion when trouble comes or their Ministers are taken from them and so the sive is taken out of the water on the suddaine all which they seemed to have Luke 11.23 Matth. 25.29 wanzeth away They gathered not with Christ and therefore scatter as fast And in these that sad speech is verified To him that hath not shall bee taken away even that they seemed to have Dally not with the pretious things of God abuse not the Gospell and your hearings to please and pride your selves Consider well the scope and end of your trafficke It shall not be asked of you in the day of accounts how many Sermons you have heard or what affections you have had but what your selves are Be wise therefore amend both these errors First behold such pretious patterns of wisdome as God hath set before you of such I mean as began but ignorantly yet by their diligence have attained to much light and hope much godly sorrow unfained desire after Christ Tread in their steps and get you under the same condition of grace also and let your vanities pleasures base hearts be renounced with ease and love of your lusts which have hitherto kept you in slightnesse and saplessenesse and dalliance with grace learne to esteem matters of weight weightily 1. Thes 5.15 But as for the second To quench that Spirit of grace which formerly hath striven with you and stirred up motions in you to take hold of God beware of it if you be guilty labour to recover that Spirit againe ere it be damped lest your hearts be given over to such a frame as will not be softned nor wrought upon And try the soundnesse of such affections as the word hath wrought in you that you may not decay and lose your labour 2 Joh. 8. but get a full reward And so much for this Vse 3 Thirdly and lastly let this exhort all such poore soules as the Lord hath brought under the condition of the promise Blesse God for bringing us under the condition of his grace both to blesse God for it and to improve it wisely for their owne encouragement to proceed on to the grace of beleeving Be heartened to trust God who hath brought you thus far that he will not forsake his work till it be finished Many stops I told you of before in the first Doctrine upon this verse which assault poore Christians under the condition I will name them no more looke there and read them let none of them come
others Consider good friends what the Scripture speakes If yee will not beleeve you shall not be established Esay 7.9 Nothing but this Anchor will settle the ship nothing but Faith will overcome the world either within us or without us The heart being unpurified will bewray it selfe onely to faith is granted to weare the crowne of victory 1 Joh. 5.5 for this is that victory even our faith Oh! who would be alway unsetled and lye open to all mischiefe who might prevent it Zach. 12.10 Conclusion of the exhortation But I conclude this Use with the former Directions and Motives Pray to God for the Spirit of grace and supplication goe together that his spirit may perswade thy soule to both these to deny thy selfe and to resigne up thy selfe to the promise Say thus Lord thy workes are all perfect where thou beginst thou finishest It is beyond flesh to retaine this grace I have run I have laboured but except thou give me the hand to helpe me over this steep hill I shall fall back again to my old distempers the end will be worse then the beginning 1 Sam. 14.13 Oh therefore let me goe up the hill of faith as Ionathan did up the hill against the Philistines give mee a signe as thou gavest him and then all lets and oppositions shall fall before me all high things which set up themselves yea the worst that is the contrariety of heart to this thy way of beleeving shall be cast downe and then shall I submit nakedly to this obedience of faith The Lord grant it to us all for his Names sake This for the first and maine Use of Exhortation be spoken Branch 2 A second Branch of Exhortation is to all such as through mercie have cast themselves upon the promise already for pardon and life and that is that they still practise the same grace in the course of their life in all their straits crosses duties dangers and difficulties in all their temptations losses wrongs and pursuits at the hands of the unthankfull or unreasonable And in a word whether for things concerning this or a better life that they cast themselves upon the promises for salvation sustaining and full redeeming them from them all Know this brethren that as much adoe as faith costs us for pardon Plead the promise for sanctification as well as pardon Matth. 4.1 yet wee have not done there It is as great a grace to preserve the soule as it was to beget it at first enemies will not give us over as soone as wee are converted to God but rather assault us more forcibly as Christ himselfe was by Satan after his baptisme and unction to be Mediator Now then what helpe have we against all affronts save to cast our soules upon him for reliefe and redresse whom wee have already adventured upon for pardon and life What is our Charter save that of our Saviour Be of good courage I have overcome the world Joh. 16.33 14.1 Esay 26.3 Let not your hearts be troubled you beleeve in the Father beleeve also in me Cast your selves upon Jehova for he is eternall strength Here on the one side steps in feare and saith I shall never overcome such a corruption and lust of earthlinesse or pride or selfe-love or revenge or uncharitablenesse or I shall not grow in grace as others doe but alway stand at a stay or I feele no thriving by the meanes still after fasting Sacraments the old deadnesse of heart abides and I walke as the horse in the mill in one dead frame of heart and life Well deny thy selfe first and then resigne up thy selfe unto the promise Doest thou willingly yeeld thy selfe to any base corruption Or doest thou wilfully slight the meanes or defile thy conscience Then looke to thy selfe and lin not till thy pardon and peace be renewed But otherwise look not at thy distrust or unworthinesse but humble thy soule for thine unbeliefe and recover by the promise Say thus Lord when I was weake and without strength I cast my selfe upon thy word for pardon of sin and release of curse how much more may I doe it for supply of wants Plead the promise now as thou wert wont to cleave to it at first When Bathsheba was afraid her sonne Salomon should bee defeated of the Kingdome 1 King 1.15.22.26 she and Nathan plotted together to concurre with one Argument and came to David saying Did not my Lord the King say that Salomon should reigne How then is it that Adonija sits on the throne What did David He rouzes up his dying body and sweares As the Lord lives looke what I have said shall be accordingly done Thus by pleading they sped Plead thou the promise which once God gave thee and so shalt thou also Lord Didst not thou say Sinne shall not reigne Thine shall grow Thou wilt finish thy worke and they shall hold out to the end And now lo the Divel perswades me it shall be otherwise But O Lord had I first clave to sense and feeling I had never beleeved Therefore now teach mee to cast my selfe upon thy Word still and looke off from appearances Although I feele no great growth yet because thou hast said I shall and I doe not wilfully oppose it therefore I beleeve I doe In like manner steps in the malice of Satans instruments and they threaten my ruine and make me thinke I shall one day perish by them But I aske my soule Doest thou not side and sort with them by an ill conscience forsaking thine integrity Then cast thy selfe upon the promise Psal 73. end Call thy selfe a foole a beast for distrusting God Roll thy wayes upon him and say Was not I alwayes with thee Didst thou not promise to guide me by counsell till glory whom have I in heaven or earth like thee When Iehoshaphat in 2 Chron. 20.5 was beset with three armies what did he Cleave to sense and so despaire No he pleads a promise an old one made to Salomon at the dedication of the Temple Didst thou not say when enemies should besiege us and we looke up to thy throne thou wouldst looke downe Lo here is an object for thee Mount Seir and Moab and others What did God Instantly answered and scattered them all Alas brethren our faith forgets her plea and is weary of her worke God sets enemies about our eares to file off the rust of faith that shee may still honour him against feares and carnall reason We say we have cast anchor upon Gods bottome for pardon but how shall it appeare If we say so who shall gainsay us in a secret thing But shew it then in our course that secret grace may discover it selfe in straits and trialls that we may know all that is in our owne hearts either how weake they are that we may strengthen them or how strong that we may be thankfull But when sorrowes and feares beset thee on every side sicknesse debt losses of husband
our selves to trouble and need not We hope we are as honest as others and would be as loth in cold blood to prevaricate as others but being now snared we must provide for our selves as well as we can we must save our selves for better times and not betray our owne safety Our opinion is sound and our practice shall be honest howbeit if any command of men come betweene to try and compell us what would you have us to doe We can dispense so with our people that they shall not stumble at us we can so order it that we can confute that with one breath which we allow with another Oh! thou temporizing hypocrite is thy conscience kept in a box like those witches eyes to pull out and keep in at thy pleasure Doest thou I say not reject the paterne of Gods ancient and moderne Confessors and Martyrs Heb. 11.37 but the expresse charge of commands that thou shouldest dare to please men to dishonour God Exod. 32. Take therefore that famous example of Aaron that it may give thee thy belly full of thine equivocations and distinctions against a Command Moses being gone up into the Mount the people would needs have a Calfe and to that end would needs presse Aaron to make it for them they knew his authority would carry it through better then their owne and so urge him to bee active in it What should Aaron have done Surely abhorred the thought of it and clave to the second Command with many other to that purpose But here feare or flattery or infirmity steps in and makes him a Politician hee bethinkes himselfe of a witty trick to out-shoot the Divell in his owne bow for supposing they would not easily bring their Eare-rings and Jewels to be molten he tells them If they would have a Calfe it must be made of their costliest ornaments bring him them and they should heare more whereas hee should have checkt himselfe and said What if they bring them as indeed they did wil that discharge me No surely therefore I will put my life into Gods hands cease to colour against Command and abhorre their motion What came of this Alas he was taken in his owne snare and so was not able to goe backe but makes them a Calfe Had he not think we infinite many arguments to shift off his sinne Yes verily he feared their violence or was loath to crosse them too farre his conscience was honest in the maine and what should he doe What Should they rend him in peeces He knew Moses would curbe them afterward but he was not able But what of all these Could these shield him from Moses his bitter rebuke and Gods more bitter wrath Shouldest thou mine high Priest betray mine honour to the lust of rebells Was there none but Aaron to make the people naked Should their father their nurse expose them to wrath and vengeance Oh we see what it cost him Nay even Kings themselves have been such fearefull examples for their audaciousnesse Judg. 27.8 2 Chron. 24.17 Gedeon for his Ephod Ioash for hearkning to his Princes and their bribes Saul for sacrificing without Samuel And shall wee venture to violate the Soveraignty of Gods commands Beware lest if we dare to doe it wee pay for it as they When those Princes of Samaria heard Iehu's challenge for the children of Ahab 2 King 10.4 what said they Behold two Kings could not stand before him and shall we venture No doubtlesse we will send in their heads rather So say I let not any feare or favour of man embolden you to try conclusions with God to remove his landmarkes to descant upon his Statutes for if Prophets Priests Kings have not beene able to stand it out how much lesse you Transgresse who dare or will but bring you the heads in baskets to Iehu tender you close obedience to God The more ye are pursued for conscience the more sticke to it Cast not that away to the hunters As they say the Bezor whose stone we prize understands she is hunted for nothing save her stone therefore if the hounds put her hard to it she bites them off and saves her life Doe not you so lest the misery of a lost conscience prove more fearefull then all the gaine of your ease and ends can prove sweet And to adde another item to inferiours 2. Branch Inferiors follow not the example of superiours in the breaking of Gods commands If others will be so base as to betray us to make us naked let us winde our cloake the closer about us trust God and save the darling of our peace entire If our Ministers will defend usury petty oathes jeastings riots abusing of the Sabboth let us be so much the more resolved against them and for the Sabbath to keepe it holy not only as a day of voluntary devotion at our pleasure for so wee may grow to sanctifie one of tenne or twelve aswell as seven but the eight day and Lords day consecrated by himselfe doubtlesse by intimation to his Apostles and by their practice to the honour of his rest from the worke of redemption Note And howsoever so expresse a text for the change and prorogation of the seventh to the eight as we might wish be not found yet were not our sinfull hearts prejudiced against the power of godlinesse wee might rather conclude that by this silence God tries our honesty then provokes our treachery Epecially the command of the Sabbath If the Lord Jesus purposely would defile and abdicate the seventh day Sabbath of the Jew by lying in the grave that whole day and no other else that he might early rise upon the next morrow after the light appeared whereas else he might have lien that day too To this end that as the first Sabbath was devoted to the honour of Gods rest from his creation so this second might much more be deputed to the honor of the finished redemption a far greater worke shall we quarrell with him and call it a wil-worship Christ Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath translated the rest of Creation to the rest of Redemption No verily but rather the more we see Gods Sabbaths and their morality opposed the closer let us cling to them let us know that although the meditation of Gods creation and providence be not abandoned by the eight day yet there is added a more forcible one for us to chew upon To wit the excellency of the Evangelicall Sabbath serving to magnifie the power of the resurrection which as it gave our Saviour a rest from his worke of satisfaction so it gave us the full accomplishment of the merit thereof for what had his death and grave beene worth to us without his victory And what lesse fruit can we reape thereby then the clearenesse of our justification Rom. 4. ult As he shewed himselfe the sonne of man in dying so doth he shew himselfe the Sonne of God by the power of his rising
upon her so the streame and course of the world doth so inchant them that it is death to them to stirre an inch Men will to conclude run and ride till they tire themselves 7. Partiality to conferre with such as they thinke of their owne judgement such as will smooth and sow pillowes under their elbowes But if they might converse with others at the next doore who are of another judgement they shun them purposely And so to conclude wee all looke to buy by the largest Bushell from God but when we come to sell wee get the most scanty one that we can come by 8. Basenesse Looke among Papists and tell me what cost what extremities will they not endure rather then their Catholicke cause should goe down But among us where is there one of a thousand that cares for the cause of God the sinceriâ—y of truth or such as professe or suffer for it Oh! most unthankfull people Hath God taken all this paines to make his will familiar unto us to reveale himselfe to us in his narrowest truths to make his yoke sweet and his burden light and goe wee about to cast it off more desperately now then when our light was small Doe we thus requite the Lord like an unthankfull Nation Wee who should have been the closest and narrowest toward God and walked most uprightly and closely Deut. 32.13 doe wee kicke up the heele and plucke backe the shoulder Doe wee revolt and play the fugitives with Demas 2 Tim. 4.10 from the Banner and Colours of our Lord and Master Oh! that this day our sinnes might come to our remembrance The Lord shame us for it Brethren especially such of us as have buried our care and closenesse under a clod of carnall wisedome earthly affections feare of men love of our selves custome of the time examples of our betters The Lord I say gaster us off these Idols and teach us to leave off our correspondencies with hypocrites and to bee transformed in the spirits of our minds that we may approve what is that good acceptable and pretious will of his not onely in judgement but in power and life of obedience And so much for this Use Now I hasten to the last Vse 7 And that is Exhortation standing of sundry branches The first whereof is Exhortation Branches of â—t three 1. Mourne for them who have forsaken their closenessâ— of obedience That we mourne unfeignedly for the desperatenesse of others in this kinde Oh! If we be as ready to forgoe our Jewell and Câ—owne of close walking as this world is willing to robbe us thereof we are not like long to hold it Oh then if the world be so resolute to hold her own how should we learne to hold our owne by their example What a shame is it that the children of this world should in their generation be wiser then the children of light Should we then dare to prostitute our consciences to such If wee might have all the glory of this world for our worshipping this Idoll should we not abhor it Is it now a season to flye to stagger to betray Gods Commands No rather let us cleave the closer by their warping and as a chaste Matrone beholding a debauched strumpet closes more with sobernes then ever so let us doe with the obedience of Commands when we come before God in our most speciall devotions and praâ—ers let us not with those hypocrites feel a pleasure of our owne tickling us Esay 58. let not us seem to disavow the declining loosenesse hollownesse of others and in the meane time keepe false weights and measures within our selves let not us have a traitors heart to keepe our breadths in Gods narrow but come to the oath and covenant to come under the authority of God loathing all our slightnesse ease basenesse bondage bringing him so much the more close obedience by how much we seeme to detest the contrary And having so done learne we with David to prise the purity of Truths never the worse because others embase them when he had in the former part of the Psalme mourned for the manners of others he addes Psal 12.6 Gods word is as silver purged by fire from the drosse So should we be so farre from quailing of judgement or weakning in affection towards the commands of God because others vilifie them that rather that should provoke us to adore and admire the purity of them And not onely so but to cry out with him Helpe Lord for the godly men decay and hypocrites encrease Verse 1. Arise therefore quite thy cause deliver thy people set them at liberty that sticke to thy Name and bring forth their light out of darkenesse Psal 37.6 as the morning and their righteousnesse as the noone day Send forth O Lord raine downe grace and goodnesse and let it beare downe this streame of carnall liberty as the sea beares downe a brooke Bring thy Commands againe into honour and make all such as teach dispensations against them as odious as Monkes and Friars This is the first Another branch is 2. Branch Much more for our owne loosenesse in that kinde That all Gods people doe mourne and humble themselves for their owne playing fast and loose with Gods Commands What godly heart is there in the world that could not beteam God whole dayes nights in this lamentation Who should so poorly know his owne spirit in this kinde if he attend it at all but this work should be pretious Either to rid his soule of her base slightnesse or to fasten upon it the cords and chaines of God with more closenesse and delight Say thus to the Lord Oh I feel no power no girding of loines A forme of such a mournfull complaint no awe nor feare to lye upon my soule by thy commands I sit loose to prayer to watching to hearing to meditation I feele this day slipt from me without redeeming it to the best use in all my solitarinesse company liberties duties I have been as one in a dead sleep no vertue hath gone out of me this day either of living by faith in the promises or of compassion to the distressed of love to the Saints mourning for the afflictions of Ioseph I have met with objects of the world of impatience of uncharitablenesse and yet no chaines of thine have been upon my spirit but I have walked as one at his owne tearms Surely the cords of Gods Law have not bound my lusts as a sacrifice to his altar nor the loadstone of his love hath not sweetly drawne my soule to obey him with delight but I have beene mine owne man in all these My will hath not beene subject and as it were bound up in thine Matth. 8. I have not beene my selfe under thy authority as that Centurion was I looke that my will should bee done by all that are under me yea I looke that they should walke in all wel-pleasing toward a
sinfull wretch yea obey me punctually closely universally yea my very thoughts that he might be a servant according to mine owne heart and whether I give a reason or no of my charges I thinke it equall that my inferiour doe nothing at all swerve from my commands Oh! what shall become of me for my loose heart thoughts affections conscience What shall I answer for my dead hard lazy empty senselesse sensuall heart in point of a tender chearfull and upright walking with thee I see Sauls subjects being charged to fast 1 Sam. 14.30 trembled to see his owne sonne to touch a little hony so farre were they from tasting it and shall the awe of a man in a trifle saving the vow so absolutely surprise their wills and yet the eternall and righteous will of God not be able to prevaile over me O Lord I deceive all that know me when I doe the materiall part of a command the life of the duty is absent when I doe the morall part the spirituall is far off and although I see and know it thus I am so chained under the law of my corruptions that the integrity the scope the fruitfulnesse the large-heartednesse of my obedience is not to be seene Oh! I offer sacrifices halt and blinde wanting heart liver and reignes I am so fraut with my selfe Rom. 7.23 and the command of evill that good is seldome present A lust hath a principle in me causing mee to love it to serve it to use all means to fulfill it to shunne studiously whatsoever might crosse it But I feele not that spirit of grace which should cause me to obey from a principle of sweetnes still there is somewhat which me thinks I chuse rather to doe and to be swaied by then the law of love to God for his love to my soule Oh! herein the Lord my God be mercifull to mee that wheras I have found as much mercy as any yet I have bowed to this lust and that and worship my owne fancies and am as like to do still if the awe of God lie not more closely upon my soule Oh! that this fire might alway so burne upon mine altar as might consume my drosse and put some life and courage into into mee to get out of this Circle in which the Devill hath conjured mee to walke deadly and basely towards the Commands of God! Nay which is worse O Lord I am growne to this point even to lie as a beast in a slow groning under her burden so lie I in a fullen discontent of heart at the Lord himselfe that he enlarges mee no better when as yet I nourish my selfe all the while in my ease and carnall distaste of his streight Commands Oh! me thinks my cursed heart because it cannot have her will of him could even tell him to his face That he is an hard Master and gathers where he strawed not Alas I consider not that he hath mee at the vantage because I have lost the grace of my creation nay abused a better grace of Mercy and therfore may justly be punisht for the least Rebellion And not only thus but from this stubborne heart of mine it comes that I set my sayles abroad and commit my selfe to winde and weather am not smitten when I breake all cords in two as Samson I am loose in Sabbaths in the curbing of my passions my vaine thoughts have their through-fare and lodge in mee and yet I am not troubled I swallow every gobbet and let it go Once I could straine at a gnat but now I devoure Camels and heare no more of them Oh! Lord I picke quarrels with those lawes which have formerly been equall to mee And more then these Lord I am growne to this sad point that the sence of a bit and bridle is by custome of loosenes quite slipt out of my mouth I begin to frame God to be such an one as my base heart could be content he were even a God like to my selfe who will neither do good Psal 50. nor evill whose threats are as the clappes of thunder without any stroke following I hope to go on in a Round and way of easy Religion and doing of one duty after another successively without strayning of a joint But as for any sadnes of Commands to weigh downe my spirit to solid feare being thus accustomed to a slight and vaine course I feele it not God helpe mee In all these respects what shall a poore soule O Lord do Conclusion of this branch with it selfe What O my deer God shall bring me back againe after all these desperate revolts unto thee I wonder that I should not be wholy left to utter woe and open offences I know nothing in my selfe why Satan should not have mee at such a bay as to cause me to depart from God grossely and generally aswell as in these secret rebellions For I waxe weary of thy yoke and am content that others should abide the heate of thy worke and my selfe be released O Lord I am so farre from pleasing my selfe in this state that rather then I would be under the misery of my slightnesse I could wish thou woldst cast some other unpleasing chaines upon mee some stinging crosse some corrasive to eate out my dead flesh And as untoward as I am to suffer if I deceive not my selfe I could wish the sweet fruit or such a course with some pinch to my flesh rather then thus giddily to provoke thy Majesty by the transgression of thy Commands But thirdly and above all this is exhortation to all Gods people Branch 3 to sadden their hearts and to lie under the Authority of Commands for Conscience sake A most sollemne point above all that I can say to urgeit As before I spake when Iacob went to Luz God cast a feare upon the nations that they durst not stirre a joint against him Oh! Genes 35.5 such a feare shouldst thou beseech God to cast upon thy soule in secret Feare of God besetting the heart a great meane to keep close to God wheresoever thou becommest that it may hem in and compell thee to obey As it s sayd of the clowd which filled the Temple and caused the people to feare the presence of God who was in the midst therof so should this cloud alway lie upon thy soule to smite an awe into thy soule of offending Theris is a base spirit in us it is not love alone which can long hold us within bonds Heb. 12. end Therfore we had need as it is Heb. 12. end to hold fast such grace as may cause us to walke in reverence and holy feare Deut. 32.46 Moses summing up the contents of that Swans song of his in two words tells the people Set your hearts to all the words of this booke which I testifie to you this day that is the law of the covenant it s a sadde law sadly therfore set your hearts to it He whom wee have to do with
for this time Let us pray c. The end of the ninteenth Lecture THE TWENTIETH LECTVRE continued upon the 14. VERSE VERSE XIV Then he went downe and washed himselfe seven times in Iorden and his flesh came againe unto him as the flesh of a little child and he was cleane WEE ended last time with some exhortation But brethren because mee thinkes I heare some say Were it a thing within my power to compasse there is nothing which I more wish then to delight in the law of God in my inner man Quest But I finde no power to it Tell me therefore how I might attaine it Answer For answere whereto I will finish the whole Doctrine with those Meanes which direct hereto Meanes dâ—â—ecting to obey 1. Faith The first and one mayne is get the Lord Jesus to be thy lawgiver Moses is a commander of rigorous impossible duties serving rather to convince the soule of that power of created righteousnes which we have lost then to enable us to obey But the Lord Iesus is a more mild and mercifull lawgiver who as he hath united God with flesh in his owne person so therein he hath broken downe that wall which stood up as a Tower impregnable Coloss 1.20 Eph. 3.15.16 between God and us he hath made all levell and easie and fastned the hand-writings of Morals and Ceremonials unto his Crosse that it might never appeare against us Nay more hee hath fulfilled all righteousnesse both of doing and suffering that wee in him might be clothed with it as a Robe from top to toe and might fulfill the Law by faith Practic Catech part 3. Art 5. I have at large opened this point elsewhere in the doctrine of it Let us here urge the necessity of faith upon our selves and close with the promise to make it our owne The truth is there is no command of God but Christ hath made it possible and sweet and by a promise he conveyes it to the soule saying Take my yoke upon you for is easie Mat. 11.29 and my burden for it is light Of our selves wee have another Law in our members leading us captives thereto a law of lust pride ambition sloth prophanenesse hypocrisie and selfe-love These naturally we take thought to fulfill as Paul saith Rom. 13. ult But the Lord Jesus hath destroyed this power in us of sin and death Rom. 8.2 Rom. 13. ult eased us of the impossiblenesse of obeying through the weaknesse of our flesh He hath quit us of being debtors to our flesh to fulfill it and redeemed us to himselfe Nothing remaines now save that wee put on the Lord Jesus by faith that wee renounce our old base bondage and slavery that we be willing to be free-men and that we close with the promise of sweet obedience by our beleeving it For this was his scope in easing us of one burden to put upon us another yet easie and sweet Let this then be the first Rule If thou wouldest fulfill the Law beleeve Faith hath united all the elect to Christ his Flesh and God-head who fulfilled all righteousnesse Rom. 10.4 and was made under the Law that he might be the end of the Law to righteousnesse for all that beleeve Fasten then upon this That the Lord Jesus never brake one Law performed all never preacht Sermon lesse then hee was bound to never did one miracle lesse then hee ought failed in nothing ground substance manner measure end of obeying but did all in perfection And none of this he did for himselfe sure I am not properly and purposely but for us wee were his scope for our sakes he did all And why Surely that we might partake it not onely in freedome from guilt and wrath but also in acceptation with God as his beloved and his righteous servants prepared for every good worke As the Lord offered us Christ to the former end so doth hee for this latter he is as faithfull in the one as the other Therefore 1 Thess 5.24 Rom. 12.2 Coloss 1.10 Philip. 4. sunder wee not those things which God hath joyned together but put wee on Christ in both to redeeme us from guilt and to make us Priests and Kings to offer up sacrifices of all well pleasing and obedience with holy delight and cheerfulnesse He is faithfull that hath promised who also will doe it He who hath him for his owne who hath done and suffered all hee whose Christ is by imputation of righteousnesse and by not imputation of sinne sinneth not fulfilleth the Law and is that which he is unto whom he is united by faith This for the first Secondly if thou wouldest obey commands closely 2. Meditation of the object then muse seriously of the sadnesse and solemnesse thereof and incorporate thy soule into it First muse of the spiritualnesse of them If Gods Candle search the bowels of the belly and pierce the soule bee convinced in thy meditations that the basenesse of thy hollow vaine worldly wandring heart upon the Sabboth vexes the Spirit of God as much as working or playing and so in other duties Secondly of the universality of them Muse therefore of this It is not my wealth or poverty my greatnesse or meannesse my learning or ignorance which can dispense with me with God there is no respect of persons No time no place no circumstances can prescribe against God he is one and the same object of feare in all places duties times occasions Thirdly muse of the indispensablenesse of Gods Commands Courts may dispense with mens offences Gods penalties cannot be bought off nor commuted Gods commands are unappealable comming from the highest Court of heaven Lower Courts cannot be appealed unto from the higher Fourthly they are his Commands who is infinite in wisdome righteousnesse and vengeance sees knowes and tries all obedience is present every where and strong enough to punish the breaches of any one no man can avoid his eye or escape his censure He backs all Commands with threats and pursues threats with revenges Fâ—fthly they are absolute no colours no distinctions will be admitted they are subject to no mans interpretation but to their owne They are both Text and Comment to themselves Other mens charges and statutes are yet subject to construction and interpretation so oft as any ambiguous questions fall out about them and by that means are often perverted quite and cleane from their sincere intentions But no Divell hereticke or prophane person could ever remove Gods limits or overthrow his meanings As they were so they still abide 1 Pet. 1. ult The word of God abideth for ever Such thoughts as these being setled by meditation upon the soule may be as powerfull to perswade closenesse in obeying as the thoughts of bad men upon the wrongs offered them provoke them to revenge If the Lord goe with the one as Satan goes with the other they must needs prosper Righteous O Lord are all thy judgemens therefore thy servant feareth
their left hand doth They acknowledge little to come from them Matth. 25. they keep all to themselves When did wee see thee naked and clothed thee Hungry and fed thee Sicke and in prison and visited thee Why are you such strangers to your owne duties Then shall others be strangers to your joy onely your selves shall enjoy the priviledge of your own close walking For be yee sure God will not conceale it close love shall never want close peace unknowne welfare and comfort of heart prosperity in grace growth and experience You that walke in the regeneration of obedience with Christ shall not only sit upon Thrones hereafter in stead of your dust and ashes here But in the meane while you shall fare as Christ fared he who made it his meat and drinke to doe his Fathers will had meat to eate which no man knew of Joh. 4. Nourish thou a mourning heart for sinne thine owne and others a close heart to obey and no man shall bee able to judge what thy joyes are Prov. 10.29 Thy worke is also thy wages and yet the Lord shall besides support thee otherwise so that neither spirituall nor earthly requitals shall bee wanting till at last that life of thine which was hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 shall breake out before all Men and Angels Then shall close obedience bee swallowed up into exceeding glory and the garments of joy shall bee added to thy secret consolations in the day wherein Christ himselfe shall appeare in glory And so much also may serve for this Use and for this Doctrine Whereto I wish from my heart a blessing from God upon the Reader The next Branch of Naamans obeying was his closing with the promise The second branch arising from hence is that Naaman washed seven times according to the word of Elisha in respect of the promise added to his washing and that was That he should recover his flesh againe and be cleane This point I told you is as materiall as the other one cannot well goe without the other they are as twins which live and dye together The point I collect from it is this Gods promises must be beleeved according to the scope of promises that is according to the intent and extent thereof I say againe and marke well promises must bee beleeved according to that which is in them and that which they import neither must they bee shortned or straitned stretched or enlarged neither made lesse nor more then is in them Doctrine Promises must be beleeved according to their extent More then they are no man shall need to make them for all the store and fulnesse of God is in them Lesse then they are none may dare to make them That which the holy Ghost speakes in the conclusion of Revel 22. Hee that shall adde any thing or dâ—minish from the words of this booke the Lord shall adde to him all the plagues in this booke and diminish his name from the booke of life That I may say of the promises Let none make them greater then they are Opening of the ground of the poâ— nor yet lesser but let every one take understand and apply them to himselfe as they lye in the word not in the letter onely but in the spirituall meaning and purpose thereof Touching the ground of this point out of the Text it needs not many words to be spent about it It is evident that the obedience of Naaman in going to wash proceeded from no heat of sudden alteration of minde no pang or humour no blinde hope or had-I-wist as who say It 's but trying I will goe hit I or misse I it is but my journey No but as he was strongly held back before by a deep selfe-conceit so now hee is drawne forward by as deep an inspiration of God and a perswasion that the promise annexed to his washing was as certaine and undeceiveable as the charge was divine and absolute and therefore in obeying God commanding hee consents to God promising also in as full and absolute a degree and in all points and respects as the promise lay that is to say not that hee should perhaps be cured perhaps not but that the cure should bee whole and entire no manner of Leprosie should hereafter cleave to him any more but as now he was nasty and scurvie all over so then he should be healed by the healing of God better then if Elisha had laid his hand upon it that is as perfectly as if hee never had been Leper and his flesh should returne to him as the flesh of a little childe so clean should he become and return home and not repent him that he had beleeved the promise in the fulnesse thereof So much for the ground of the Text. Now as I noted in the former point here some may step in and object Object Why doe you ground a doctrine upon such a passage as this of Naaman Alas his washing was but an outward act and that occasionall and personall onely reaching to himselfe and determining with him Our case is otherwise and it must be a bottome of eternall truth which must ground a doctrine of this nature because it concerns the perpetuall practice of a poore soule in respect of pardon and sanctification To whom I answer in one word That the question is not here Answ what the particular of this promise to Naaman is or is not but what the nature of every promise requires whether it bee occasionall and temporall or spirituall and generall The point is this Every promise bee it what it will be whether for once and away or for adoe being from God requires an equall obedience and extent of faith to embrace it and cast the soule upon it as well as the moralest and generallest promise in the Word can doe The reason is plaine because in the one as well as the other is enclosed that power and truth of God which bindes the soule to an equall and uniforme obedience I speake now and marke well of such promises as require our faith for the performance for some promises are absolute in themselves and rest upon the naked word whether we beleeve them or not because they be universall Gen. 8.21 As that the rainebow shall be a sure signe of no more deluges That seasons of the yeare Summer and Winter sowing time and harvest shall continue That the Gospell shall bee preached to all Nations Mâ—tth 24.13 That there shall be a restoring of the Kingdome to Israel and Christ shall in this world bee knowne to bee Lord and King of his Church These promises though they deserve credit yet shall be performed howsoever being pitcht and appointed by God in their seasons But for personall promises not so That particular promise made to Abraham touching a sonne if yet it were particular or any other concerning a present mercy or deliverance Gen. 18.10 Esay 7.4 as that which was made to Ahaz of
thy ignorance and blindenesse may frustrate thy benefit but still the promise shall stand neverthelesse full of water of life Enlarge thy cord and plummet that thy slight heart deprive thee not of both the view and of the use of it Secondly having found out the bottome and depth of a promise 2. Draw out of this welspring of salvation bestow paines and draw waters plentifully out of this well of salvation bestow good labour and travell In fetching up water out of deep wells you shall see how many hands at once are at worke at the wheel or pully to get up the bucket This is the worke of faith alway to be tugging at the well with cable and armes to get out this water of life Esay 12.8 Say thus here it is put Lord by thy selfe and to be had I will therefore by thy strength handle a promise according to the uttermost of that which is in it I will draw and that with joy for there it is and thus it is to be had It s sad working hereat with the most but it should be a merry work we should sing at it and deceive our toil by the sense of our necessities and the variety of those ordinances meditation prayer and the like must be our hands and unweariednesse must be our instrument Take wee heed lest through sloath and a base heart we content our selves with scrappes and puddle water who might fill our selves with good things and with rivers of water springing up in us to eternall life 3. Give not over the promise though long held off Thirdly give not over a promise although the error of this wicked world and Satan together with the Lords delayes should weary us especially under our afflictions If our Lord Jesus his discouragements could have killed the courage of that poore woman of Canaan she had never obtained a cure Oh! our Saviour did what hee could to try whether she would be beaten from the promise viz. That Jesus the sonne of David came to save both the bodies and soules of all truly distressed ones Jewes and Gentiles But she had so farre extended the promise Matth. 15. which Christ seemed to restraine onely to the Jewes calling the rest Dogges that it was strange shee was not out of conceit as one mistaken But as if she had been in his bosome so doth she hold fast the promise Though he say nothing yet hee will doe somewhat I will still keep my right he meanes not Israel according to the flesh but the promise and such an one am I. Shee knew promises looked not at the worthinesse of man but at the mercy and faithfulnesse of God Surely I shall bee answered by and by for I have the scope and end of the promise on my side Faith had taken full measure of the promise by her owne want and therefore our Saviour sends her away with the admiration at her faith Oh! let us thus duly apply our soules to the seale of the promise and it shall leave behinde it the stamp of all that vertue and fulnesse which God hath put into it A base heart not concurring with God in this largenesse of his promises is as hard wax put under a faire seale Simile which takes no impression at all from it though clapt on never so hard But as the softned wax taketh all the counterfeit of the seale and expresseth them to the uttermost Even so an heart rightly prepared receives the print of the seale letter for letter face for face yea grace for grace Faith is both hand and hammer to drive the naile of the promise Eccles 12. given by one Pastor the Lord Jesus up to the head This for the former question Now I come to the latter Quest 2. How shall we practise this duty how this duty may be practised And for answer to that this I say Wee must know that the life of faith in all beleevers rests upon such promises as concerne their condition be it what it will be knowing that there are speciall ones given us by God as Peter speakes Chap. 1. and verse 3. of his second Epistle for our supply in all needs The soule then doth not foolishly misapply these but gathers them up stores them like a wise Steward both old and new that she may bring them forth in due season as a man would every morning put on the apparell of that day for his use and comfort And this is her putting on the Lord Jesus Rom. 13. ult who first hath taken measure of her needs and then offers himselfe in his promises and ordinances Word Sacrament Prayer and fasting and the like to fit her as her cloathes doe her body Some of these I have already toucht in one of the Uses before Ans diversly upon the Doctrine of Naamans obedience A few more I will adde now not pressing the use of them but barely presenting them to your view Sometime thy base heart feeles old guilt and accusation of conscience to returne after mercy tasted and hope of victory enjoyed But why is this Surely that hereby the work of Selfe-deniall might be perfected in thee 1. In the return of guilt strength of sin custome presence of it and sinne might be knowne to be out of measure sinfull that it might bee more abhorred and stronger faith in pardon and purging thereof improved Clasp upon the Word for it I am he who will heale all thy rebellions for my name sake both new and old It is according to a promise that the Lord should leave none of thy corruptions unsubdued Who is a God like unto our God who forgiveth iniquity transgression and sin Mica ult marke how many words he useth to include all sin whatsoever both of nature and course yea sinnes after the light of the Gospel embraced And I create the fruit of the lippes peace and I will heale him I have seene his rebellions and smote him hid me and was angry and he went on in the frowardnesse of his owne heart Esay 57. But I will heale him and restore comfort unto him Againe perhaps thy soule meets with some eclipse of Gods presence and forsakes me so that I live in darknesse and walke up and downe with a dead heart without feeling Well 2. In the deadnesse hardnesse of heart if it be by reason of some apparant sinne against conscience returne with a broken heart by a promise to God Jer. 3.1 A man having divorced an Adultresse will not returne to her But if thou wilt returne to me I will not reject thee Returne O yee backsliding people and I will have mercy upon you and heale all your iniquities But if the Lord bee departed otherwise know it is not to forsake forever For a moment I was angry Esay 54. But with everlasting compassion I will embrace thee And in the Psalme 55. The Lord will not leave his people for ever Sometime the soule is afraid she
save draw the spirits of curious and distrustfull men to wofull Idolatry To put confidence in him under a Witch to expect successe from a cursed Principle to ascribe that glory which belongs to God alone to base means which all are reduced to the Divell their first mover Satan knowes he gaines more this way then he loseth by the truth he speaks or the good which followes He denies himselfe at no time save for wicked ends Beware therefore Dare not to confound those excellent wayes of God in his power providence and mercy to his creature with the Satanicall and Sorcerers courses of prophane beasts As for those miraculous operations of God in his Church throughout all ages of the Old Testament in the poole Siloam and the gift of ejecting Satan by some certaine persons there was enough to prove that they were from God John 5.4 Matth. 12.27 for the confirmation of Truth the strengthening of Faith the drawing of Proselites But as for all the other the Lord justly suffers Satan to deceive such as deceive themselves first and reject the truth as we see in Saul Esay 8.19 Should the living goe to the dead 1 Sam. 28.6.7 Jam. 3.15 and to them that whisper out oâ— the earth Geomanticks No but to the Law and to the Testimony if that favour not there is no wisdome in them save that which Saint Iames calls from beneath and divelish A most wofull thing that in a land where the Gospell hath beene preached this eighty yeares such abominations should swarme and that with impunity yea in some cases which I name not with Apology God amend it So much for this Branch Secondly Goodnesse of God in using weake and poore things to effâ—ct great is much to be admired hence acknowledge the infinite goodnesse of God in devising such aide and succour to poore creatures both their bodies and soules for the expressing of his tender mercies to us in this infirmity of our flesh That by a word speaking he should create the fruit of the lippes even peace Esay 57. by the Ministery of a sinfull man further off from power to convert a soule then Jorden to heale a leper and beget it to a lively hope and immortality and glory That thereby the word preached should carry with it the working of faith and regeneration As the Lord Jesus his own blessed words effected miracles in the speaking causing the dead to arise the lepers to be cleansed Marke ult the deafe to heare So the words of his Ministers by the same vertue from him should doe greater things then these even by instruments most weake how admirable is it To the end that our faith might not stand in man but in God! 2 Cor 4.7 That the deadly soule leprosie worse then Naamans bodily of infidelity pride hypocrisie selfe should be washt all away by the water of Baptisme through the word of the Covenant to which its annexed in all beleevers and these shall become sealing ordinances to ratifie the truth of regeneration to the soule and to confer the nourishing power of the Spirit unto life eternall how admirable is it It is the omnipotent power of God which causeth it which separates the silly creature of water bread and wine for the present from common use Sacraments how divinely appropriated to seale up to the soule strong assurance of salvation takes off the base outside of it casts an honourable mantle over it appropriates it to holy solemne and divine use and service unites the Lord Jesus himselfe with his whole merit and efficacy to it and all to effect this end to convey the Lord Jesus into the soule of the Beleever assuring it by vertue of this sealing ordinance that as verily as the body by vertue of appetite eates and drinkes the creatures so truly doth the soule take and eat the body and bloud of Christ to the souls nourishment by Gods command and promise This is a mystery and it should teach us that if God have assumed such poor creatures sacramentally into the partakership of himselfe therefore to take heed lest we vilifie the outward ordinance as pretending all the power to be from Christ but to acknowledge each part thereof to bee from him and one as true though not as effectuall a part as the other Ye parents make not Baptisme a common thing make not so solemne a thing to wait upon your leasure and complements when all your trinkets are ready then carry your childe to the Sacrament No let your bables attend it not it them Despise it not for the outside there is a blessing in it and under the basenesse of elements lies hidden a world of worth and honour Therefore not to be used as common things And you my brethren the people run not out from it so soon as the word is preached as if you discerned no Christ in and under it annexed to it for your owne speciall use and good I tell thee those silly creatures are essentiall parts of the Sacrament as well as the grace and ordinances of God to bee reverenced though I say not with our own invented yet with that esteeme with which God hath honoured them viz. to be channells and conveiors of that grace of the Lord Jesus for life and support else would he not have graced Sacraments with the like honor to Faith Except a man be borne of water and the Spirit John 3.3.4 Marke ult and He that beleeves and is baptised shall be saved God can worke without them when they cannot bee had but when they may he will have them share in point of honour with the graces sealed from which they cannot be severed nor may be rent So much for this second Use And lastly although I doe not here equall Jordens waters to a Sacrament Jordens waters a resemblance of baptisme nor dare I call it a type of Baptisme yet is there a cleere and lively resemblance thereof in it I speake not this to teach any to use their wits boldly to allegorize every thing as some have done In this its safest for us to captive our wisdome to God to bee no wiser then himselâ—e but where he pleases to expresse allusions there to follow with sobriety As in the allegory Gal. 3. end of Sina and Jerusalem to typifie the nature of bondage and of freedome So that of Noah's flood which Peter Epist 1. Cap. 3.21 tells us is semblable to Baptisme Else its best for us to forbeare types only we may make resemblances As here this healing of Naaman by Jorden and expressing of it by the flesh of a childe teaches us thus much That the Lord who occasionally used this water to such an end as to cure an incurable leprosie of an aliant and stranger from the Common-wealth of Israel doth assure us that much more by Baptisme as by an appointed and setled sealing way he is able to heale the fretting leprosie of sinne and curse in all his
to shift for my selfe it s I who have broken covenant with thee O breake my heart for it let it not be all one with me whether I feele thy presence or want it It s the death of my soule to be without thee I walke desolately mine heart melts in my bosome as wax I am consumed for thine anger as with a moth and I have no rest in all my flesh for thee Oh Lord let it exercise mee throughly and use any meanes rather then my disease should rankle and grow incurable in me 1 Sam. 20.1 2 3. When David saw that Sauls countenance was changed to him in what a pickle was he How did he bemoane it to Ionathan And yet his favour had beene deare of the price and shalt not thou mourne for the losse of presence and performance of promises from God Oh take heed goe not on adde not drunkennesse to thirst grow not from one or two falls to a falling sicknesse What is the life of most men but a sinning and repenting repenting and sinning againe Yea though the Lord be angry and smite them what doe they save go on still in the frowardnesse of their heart as Esay 57.16 Oh take heed Commune with God and thine heart consider the sad steps of thy revolt undoe thy worke get the Lord Jesus to be thy Mediator better then Ionathan for he was like to have beene slaine for his labour but Christ shall be accepted and the Lord shall restore thee againe and thou shalt bee as in time past unto him returne by a promise and by renewing thy faith as by thy unbeleefe thou didst revolt the Lord is willing that thou doe so and he will heale all thy backslidings and marry thee after thy harlots tricks and divorce Jer. 2. and 3. read the places Soder not up thy errors by duties weigh not good against bad but by a promise And so doing thy flesh shall returne like the flesh of a childe and thou shalt bee cleane and then thy title to the performance of promises shall bee restored And as the daughter of the Priest having buried her husband Levit. 22.13 might returne and eat bread in her fathers house as when she was a virgin so shalt thou returne to thy former demensum at the Lords board and thy charter of promises shall be restored and the performance of them If thou belong to God thus it shall be with thee some crosse or other God will send thee home by he will cause thy wounds to stinke and thy reines to burne within thee but hee will set home his truth in thee yea rather then faile he will set the Divell upon thee though he pull him off againe in mercy rather then he will lose thee But if thou be a revolting hypocrite and a server of the time thou maist goe where thou shalt God will not owne thee Thus much for this third Use Now it is time that we hasten to other Uses of the Doctrine A fourth Use therefore is instruction with caveat If God performe all his promises let us learne so to carry our selves as becomes them that beleeve Vse 4 this truth let not us joine purchasers with God in performances Instruction Caveat God must bee left to himself to performe promises without mixing of our wits and wills therewith Ruth 3.18 but stand still looke on and behold the faithfulnesse of God let us give faire way to his providence in this kinde and leave the businesse to himselfe as onely concerning himselfe As Naomi said to Ruth Rest and be still for the man will not be quiet in himselfe till he bring the matter about leave it to him so let us doe God needs not our negotiousnesse or double diligence to bring his matters to passe he can doe them best himselfe And yet so it is that as in all other lawfull actions we must come in and chop our gourds in the pottage to defile it so especially in the performing of promises Our mixtures must be added our humors and extremities or else all is marred The Disciples must needs crave fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans Luke 9.54 Matth. 16.21 or else their affection to their Master cannot subsist So Peter cannot love his Master except he disswade him from death Just so is it in this businesse with most men From the chiefe promise of salvation to the least and lowest we must have a finger in the worke and promises must passe through our dispatch To give God the honour of fulfilling as well as promising is too difficult for us And thence it is that we so hardly obtaine the promises they sticke betweene our fingers our hastnings our feares our dallying our presumption causeth so much sorrow betwixt the making and performing of promises If God were nakedly beleeved without our owne selfe-love the worke would soon be at an end Gen. 27.6 God promised Rebecca that the elder of the twinnes should serve the younger She could not rest content with that but she must devise how as if God needed her sinne shifting and lying to bring it to passe and in doing so she being taxed by Iacob tels him Indeed God foretold it to Abraham and alledged the sinnes of Amorites were not full yet why might not this come in as an externall motive to God his execution Gen. 15.16 Thy curse bee upon me my sonne But she could not so easily latch the blow For what might be the cause why Isaac fetcht over the blessing the second time save onely to reprove the indirect course that Rebecca had taken It s true that the spirituall birthright tooke effect from the present But the temporall was delayed six or seven hundred yeares till David brought Edom under bondage I submit my judgement to wiser men and I doubt not but other causes may be alledged but why might not the promise have taken effect sooner if shee had suffered the Lord to take his course We see Esau and his posterity were Dukes and Princes when poore Iacob was faine to bee a servant a pilgrim and his children to be slaves foure hundred and thirty yeares ere they went into Canaan Who doubts but that God guided all Yet I see not but we may suspect God to have had an hand of punishment for this prevention of his performances As the midwives subtilty spake of the Israelitish women to Pharaoh Exod. 2.19 That they were lively and needed not them So I may say Gods promises are lively and need no midwifery of ours they are not so weake that our wisdome need bring them to the birth Yet brethren we cannot be kept from venturing God hath promised to be alsufficient yet as if he could not be so without us we must step forth and bestirre us with using some indirect meane or other to purchase a performance God hath promised to blesse us in all we put forth our hand to but if wee marry a childe or purchase a commodity
done with ease Naamans worke was to beleeve But having so done all the thought is taken God lookes to the cure without his care Could any thing come between him and home betweene promise and performance Not possibly for who should hinder God Esay 43.13 Faith is the presence of God in the soule Heb. 11.1 by making an evidence of things not seen and a bottome in things absent grace for grace Ioh. 1.17 may bee grace of performing for grace of beleeving Let this use lead on anoâ—her then in the feare of God and teach us to try our faith by this excellent property of performing promises True faith is perforforming faith And how Thinke not thy selfe to have true faith except thou hast performing faith Men rest in a naked empty faith bearing themselves in hand that they have true faith and they looke at the faithfulnesse of God in promising but aske them of performances and then they know not what to say to the matter Alas poore soule Faith is no pang or passage of a mans spirit woulding this or that nor a looking at a promise of truth as a thing doubtfull to me ward but it is a bottoming grace concurring most holily and humbly with the Lord in his reall and faithfull performings also That heart which supplieth performances with conceits of things that are not with some carnall contents or other without the presence of the thing beleeved more or lesse is a dead faith and knowes not the kindly nature of faith Prevention of an offence My scope in thus saying is not to adde sorrow to sorrow and to pinch such poore soules as have sufficient griefe already for lacke of feeling But to convince all false hypocrites as rest in a faith of their owne not in the faith of God who as Esay 55.2 saith lay out their silver for no bread but in the meane time nourish in themselves a dismall faith which failes of the grace of performance I dare not say that all performances are alike sensible all hearings of our prayers are not alike manifest to our feeling all fruit of receiving Sacraments fasting and the like are not of one cize measure carry not the same evidence peace comfort But hence it followes not Faith when shee s at lowest is yet a performing â—â—ith that any true faith is or can be dead faith in point of performing Naamans cure here was a more sensible one then some spirâ—tuall cures of faith are because it was bodily But yet even when faith seemes poorest her performances are reall and she never truly resignes up herselfe to a promise but if she come short in feeling she hath a supply from the reall faithfulnesse of God who hath told her That such a corruption decayeth such a grace encreaseth such a good thing is cast upon her because God hath said it and this doth really stay and quiet her spirit in him As an ancient Christian being asked whether he grew all this while in grace answered that he could not much boast of that he felt howbeit he beleeved that he did for God had said it According to thy faith so be it unto thee And contrariwise hence learne the wofull misery and beggery of unbeleef As Salomon speakes of the field of the sluggard Prov 24.30 that the briars and brambles thereof argueth his sloth so I may say of unbeleefe that its the roote of all the rags and basenesse which men walke with The difficulty of getting over this steep hill of performances comes onely from hence 1 Sam. 14.13 Ionathan sought on the lower ground against the Philistins by faith as if he had had the vantage of the ground Many men have faire hopes and opportunities to get favours from God but it s not the price in the hand but the heart of faith to beteame it to the promise and to lay it out Unbeleefe bindes the armes of God from performing of promises Unbeleefe bindes the armes of mercy and grace in God behinde him If God be so faithfull a performer what hath stopt the fountaine all this while Why is it so little a seen upon thy soule How might this barren heath of thine heart ere now become a flood as Esay saith 43.20 if thy sinne had not dried it up Well as the sinne of an unbeleever shall not restraine the bounty of God from him that beleeveth so neither shall the faith of a beleever supply the lacke of it in one that wants it Thinke not poore soule that the Sacrament shall be ever the lesse savoury and effectuall to thee because of them who come in to it with a saplesse and gracelesse heart Doe not thou thinke ere the meanlier of thy faith because hypocrites lowre upon thee and discerne not thy priviledge Prov. 14.10 But looke the more narrowly into thy priviledge and solace thine heart in it for neither shall any stranger enter into thy joy nor yet shalt thou fare the worse for their beggery So much for this Seventhly this point affords Admonition to all who would rejoyce in effectuall Vse 7 faith and faith in performances Admonition To avoid le ts of performances 1. Let. Mistaking performances That they strive hard against every let in the way which might hold their faith in a barren and fruitlesse defect and unprofitablenes There is nothing so excellent but it hath some canker to fret out the pith of it to blast the beauty of it One barre is the mistaking of performances we frame to our selves such an Idea of Gods favours such a great measure of graces such a pitch of faith of mortification and holinesse that hereby our eyes are blindfolded from beholding such performances as the Lord bestoweth But consider Is God tyed to thy scantlings We see how they Mica 2.6 come in and complaine against God in this kinde But marke the answer of God Oh thou house of Iacob is my Spirit straitned Are not my words good to them that walke uprightly So say I is God false because thou overpitchest thy thoughts beyond Gods wisdome Thou aimest at another mans portion as they who gathered manna were too greedy But be content with thine owne If thou have enough to keepe thee in working case jealous of thy selfe and thy corruptions it s enough although thou have not all at once Thou wouldest have three or foure mens portions so much as perhaps the Lord sees would overthrow thee Alas what canst thou beare in this multitude of corruption If thou hadst thy fill it would cost thee much buffeting to keep thee from pride Know that the very meer worke of exercising thy faith is a reward of it selfe Secondly trust not to thy dead priviledge of being a Beleever 2. Carnality and deadnesse of heart and so commit all to winde and weather maintaine not a dull drowsie lasie heart of unbeleefe but hold quarter daily with the Lord in concurring with his promises see how his performances follow thy beleeving
the cost I remember how one of the poore Martyrs encouraged his fellow the one being a blind man and the other a lame being at the stake Be of good cheere saith the one to the other we have a sharpe breakfast but we shall have a sweete supper my Lord of London Boner shall heale me of my blindnesse and thee of thy lamenesse in a short space Could a poore blind creature encourage himselfe against the fire for the hope of freedome from his blindnesse and count a bloudy wretch a good Physitian in that respect What shouldest thou doe then for the hope of riddance from those distempers which have hindred thine inward peace and have held thee downe all thy dayes till now Oh! how good a Physitian should he be and how blessed a medicine should that be that should ridde thee from them Secondly how should thy loynes blesse the Lord for this mercy How precious was Elisha to Naaman for his cure how beautifull should the feete of them be that bring glad tidings of peace But especially what experience should this worke in time to come in all such as the Sonne hath thus freed What Giant shouldest thou feare having overcome the Lion and the Beare What after births and paines should affright thee having escaped the chiefe paines of travell and birth it selfe It is sweete to thinke how strong the Saints of God have beene by this experience and with what triumph they speake of this deliverance As Paul in 2 Cor. 1. Who hath delivered from so great a death who doth deliver and I am perswaded will deliver And yet who had such after reckonings as he had So often in spirituall desertions in soule-buffetings in perils by land sea enemies he was much in labour in travell often stoned imprisoned persecuted yet saith he out of all these the Lord delivered me yea and still will to his glory till my worke be finished Thus the Church speakes Psal 123. That if God had not beene of her side the waves had swallowed her up and yet God had broken the snare and her soule was escaped And what then Our helpe saith she stands in the name of the Lord. The poore lame and blind man in the Gospel being bidde to come to Christ was heartned on by the standers by Be of good cheere say they the Master calleth thee So say I Be of good cheere If when thou wert yet weake and unable to helpe thy selfe yet the Lord bare thee through eased thee of all thy distempers when thou saidst It shall never goe well Oh! what speciall lets by infidelity feare and tentation what speciall risings up and bubblings up of corruption can he not suppresse in thee Now he hath given thee strength and experience by his promise why shouldest thou distrust him One saith What can seeme great to him to whom the greatnesse of the whole world is knowne So what can seeme tedious to him to overcome who hath got the victory over his horrors of conscience and pangs of a froward sullen heart through unbeliefe Let us nourish this experience lively and effectually in our selves against straits either by inward desertings or outward enemies Our Lord Jesus felt both upon the crosse that we might trust him for freedome from both That Crosse to which he nayled all Devils and men enemies to his grace shall also overcome all their second assaults and affronts and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against us if we cast not away our confidence Yea this our freedome shall be our earnest-peny of that peace which the Lord shall settle upon our consciences for time to come a pledge of that eternall rest which one day when he shall cleare the coast from all tempests and blasts of this world with full serenity and calmnesse the Lord shall translate us unto hereafter If this Angel stand by us although we were in as deepe distresse as Paul when no Sunne Moone or Starres appeared for fourteene dayes we shall leape up as he did among a rout of Ruffians and Souldiers saying I trust God that not one haire of our head shall fall to the ground Oh! how well-pleasing to God is it that we give not over our hold and cast not away our Shield and Sword when we have greatest need of it And so much may serve for this Use Lastly this may serve for instruction to teach us the just proceeding of God against all Hypocrites who reject his Word in this respect loving their distempers so well that they care not Use 7 for getting faith to be rid of them The soule that longs for faith Instruct longs for peace and riddance of such slavish companions but they who withdraw from God and will not beleeve it is just with God to leave them and their distempers together till they cannot be separated Ezekiel speaking of the people of his time compares them to a seething pot whose meat liquor and scum sod all together till they with the pot it selfe were burnt all together So it is just with God that they who would not have the precious separated from the vile should have their owne faith still and be left to their staggerings unquietnesses false case deceits and delusions and never be purged from their defilements Peter excellently speakes to this purpose Epist 1. Cap. 2.6.7 of such as will not accept the Lord Jesus to be their corner-stone of safety Surely they find him a stone of stumbling and offence So I say to these Since you cared not to trust in Christ to ridde you of your corruptions dead hearts vanities lusts earthlinesse your unbeliefe false hopes feares your owne affections and wayes it is just with God to leave you still to astonishment and anguish of heart to sinke and perish to fall and be destroyed Esa 28. by this Rocke of offence Christ is either a Rocke to save or to crush in pieces And I have noted that many Pharisees and Hypocrites refusing Christ have turned cavillers against the way of God complainers murmurers against it as base tedious and difficult if not scorners and enemies So much for this Doctrine and Lecture THE THREE AND TWENTIETH AND LAST LECTVRE Vpon the fifteenth VERSE and so forward VERSE XV. to the XIX And he returned to the man of God he and all his company and came and stood before him and said Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth save in Israel Now therefore I pray thee take a blessing of thy servant But he said As the Lord liveth before whom I stand I will receive none And he uâ—ged him to take it but he refused And Naaman said Shall there not then be given two Mules load of earth to thy servant c. In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant c. To whom Elisha said Goe in peace Entrance upon this 4 generall ALthough Brethren at my first entry upon this text I propounded no more Verses of this Chapter to treat upon save what
I finished the last Lecture yet this one day of our Lecture being the last that you and I are like to teach and heare each other and the last of our yeare requiring that I should say somewhat unto you Also my studies having reached fully to another Sermon and besides this fourth part of the Chapter craving some connexion with the three other handled already I have set apart this day to this end One point may give light to al the particulars following being 7. if God permit To wit to handle some one such point out of the whole Harmony of these five Verses following as may give you some generall light into the whole context for time will not permit us to go through all These five verses then as I told you in their Title containe the remoter consequences of Naamans obedience To give you a briefe view and taste of them these they are First there is the true spirit of the cure to be evidently discerned in this new Convert feeling the truth of the Word in himselfe and virtue let out from heaven into Jordan to heale him he takes it not as a common thing and like a blocke without sense but is presently and instantly and erresistibly ravished as with a new spirit begotten by the worke of God upon his soule as well as his body The Lord darting grace of mercy and compassion into his heart as well as health into his flesh to intimate unto him by whose providence from first to last he was guided to so strange an effect Lo he comes to the Prophet with a spirit of impotencie admiration and zeale to acknowledge the Lord with all fervor of spirit and to knit his heart for ever in love unto him for this cure of body and soule Secondly feeling himselfe unable to reach the Lord himselfe he goes to his Prophet the next instrument of his good forgets his former discontent and entirely embraces him as the Prophet of God sent unto him for this purpose and to him he directs his thankfulnesse which fell short of God himselfe Thirdly hee enters solemne league with the Lord to be a close client of his for ever ejuring all former false and idolatrous service and vowing himselfe wholly to the Lord and his worship for time to come Fourthly he takes hold and possession of the Church of God acknowledging it to be the onely true Church and therefore scruing himselfe into it that although his face was Aram ward yet his heart was to Jerusalem ward and to the true and onely place where the Lord had visible residence and presence at this time And this although he testified by a weake and poore expression of taking with him the earth of the holy Land Yet the inward soundnesse of heart exceeded his weake signification Fifthly he discovers his unfained conversion by a most tender sense of that sin whereby he had formerly most offended God viz. his presence at the worship of Rimmon this darts into his converted soule even as a dash of the tooth-ach or the sting of an hornet Sixthly he is exceedingly pierced with feare and care how he might nourish that sparkle which God had begun in him and how he might shun and prevent that rocke of offence at which he had mortally stumbled before Seventhly he is very glad to aske direction while it was now to be had how he might order his whole course for time to come which being darke and doubtfull for the present hee therefore craves the Prophets advice and prayers unto which the Prophet gives him a mercifull answer These are the parcels of this fourth generall I can but goe over the first The point then is this Where God workes a true cure upon any soule Doctr. Every true cure hath the spirit of the cure attending it there he also workes the spirit of the cure By a cure I meane conversion of a soule from Idols not Rimmon but lusts and vanities to the living God By the spirit of a cure I meane that instinct and disposition that due temper and quality which such a cure deserveth at the hands of the cured And I say not the spirit of him who is cured but the spâ—rit of the cure that is such a spirit as the mercy of him that heales the soule instils into it viz to be for God who hath beene for it Onely this As Gods cure hath beene gracious so is the spirit of the cure zealous and as his worke hath beene entire whole and unfained to the good of the soule that it might no more returne to folly so is the spirit of the cure sincere intire constant God hates patchery and halfe cures and the spirit of the cure hates halfe thankes halfe love halfe affections In a word the spirit of a sound cure of a soule is a tender spirit the very first fruits of the heart enlightned with faith forgiven renued and warmed in the wombe of mercy the most naturall peculiar acceptable and well pleasing fruit of the soule to God What the spirit of a cure is It stands in a tender love truly called the first love a tender joy in God tender compassions towards him tender jealousie of that which might provoke â—im tender care to please him tendernesse of spirit both to him in affections of desire and delight and also for him in zeale and revenge defence and taking up armes for him And it rests not in him but descends to a tender love to his Truth Worship Services Sacraments Sabbaths Servants and all which hath any relation to God even for his sake This in short is that I meane by this spirit of a cure I pitch upon this point the more willingly because it hath an easie comprehension of all those seven consequences of the cure above named And although each of them be distinct yet because this is my last Lecture I am glad that one doctrine hath so good a lot as to give you though but in generall and farre off a view of the whole For in this spirit of the cure all those fruits of Naamans returne from Jordan may be coucht together as a garment into one knot Explication of the Doctrine Marke then for explication sake thus much It is with the soule in point of spirituall cure as with the body in case of a bodily Who being heal'd by some odde rare Physitian of a mortall disease and such an one as all the Physitians in the country could not turne their hands unto yea such as all others gave over as desperate and past their skill by some odde Physitian I say one of a thousand who himselfe could not have heald it neither except he had by divine hand beene peculiarly made and train'd up for the very nonce to be skilfull in such a disease and such a one as will by no meanes take money or fees but scornes it only stands upon doing good preventing sad wreck of the diseased that he might get himself a name of
being convinced of their killing the Lord of Life were prickt in heart and filled with mourning and tendernesse it is called there a powring out because of that impotencie and unsatisfiednesse which was in it that it could not tel how to expresse it selfe enough to God or man and the holy Ghost uses words of the plurall number noting how frequent their prayers were at first conversion and how bitter those complaints and mournings were for their sinnes So wee know John Revel 2. Revel 2.3 touches the same poâ—nt when he checkes the Church of Ephesus for the losse of her first love we know how tender and ardent that love is which couples do beare each to other when they are first espoused together it may be a patterne all the life after Sometimes it s styled by the name of joy as it is said Matth. 13.44 Matt. 13.44 That when the Merchant had found that Pearle for joy thereof counting himselfe happy therein he went and sold all that he had and bought that Pearle And those in Acts 8. Act. 8.8.39 rejoyced greatly having beene converted by Philip as those who have found an hooâ—d of treasure who would not part with it againe for a world so the Eunuch went away rejoycing Sometime by the esteeme of the messenger Ro. 10. Rom. 10.15 How beautifull are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of peace As Eliezer Gen. 24.30 who brought Isaacs tokens and bracelets and newes of an husband was very welcome for his message sake Sometime it is described by the close fellowship and cleaving of the Saints of God together as Act. 2. Act. 2.44 45. where those that beleeved could not part with each other but sold their possessions and gave the price for the maintenance of their poore brethren Sometime it is noted by the dearnesse of the heart to the Ministers of God as Galat. 4.15 Galat. 4.15 For I beare you witnesse tha you would have pull'd out your very eyes and given to mee And much more by that prodigall spirit of suffering for God Heb. 10.37 as Heb. 10. Call to remembrance the dayes of old wherein you suffered willingly the spoyle of your goods were made a gazing-stocke both by reproaches and afflictions and chap. 11. were persecuted and tormented refusing to be delivered Many phrases are used in the Prophets to describe the strangenesse of this change as chap. 55. end The Thistle shall become a Myrtle tree Esay 55. ult and the Bramble shall become a Fig-tree that is things before uselesse should now put on a new hew and become profitable for all uses yea to describe the acceptablenesse thereof to God it is said That the wildernesse shall be as a flood Esay 35.2 3. and the desert as the garden of God Esay 41.10 and as the face of the earth after the winter is gone and the spring is come In the Canticles there is much to this purpose The winter is past the spring is come Cant. 2.11 12. the voice of the bird is heard the trees bud and the blossomes put forth what do all these phrases of well pleasingnesse intimate saving that savour which the soule brought home to God affords to him and the favour which shee finds in his eyes But what shall I need multiply over-many proofes It is harder to conceale them then to name them Others will offer themselves in the processe of the Doctrine Reas 1 Now for Reasons they are plentifull the first may be this God will have it so for the manifesting of his worke in the soules of Converts For the manifesting of his worke in the soule their course formerly having beene so contrary base and odious to God and man noysome to themselves barren and unprofitable themselves so insensible so dead hearted blockish and savourlesse of good what can be a more sensible marke of mercy to them then that the Lord hath wrought such a change such affections desire hunger love tendernesse closenesse to communion forgetting their dung-hill their pleasures lusts vanities companies What could be a sweeter marke to a rude savage Jaylor of conversion Act. 16.29 then to spring in to the Apostles wash their wounds make them great cheere and send them away from their chaines What could more comfort the heart of poore Lydia Ibid. then for a coy Dame now to hang upon the Apostles and to say If you have found me faithfull abide in my house So that the Lord in part doth it for the better contenting the hearts of such who if some such apparent change were not wrought would be ready to vanish in their feares and acknowledge no worke at all to be wrought Reas 2 The second Reason Because as in the early loves of the married For their heartning against their difficulties See Luk. 5.34 35 37. while they are together in the Bride-chamber all is festivall after-sorrowes must not be mentioned for those will come alone and too soone now it is honey-moone now all must sound of joy and gladnesse and to talke of debts children charge of house-keeping and crosses it is out of season so is it here The Lord foreseeing the many brunts damps eclipses and sorrows which his people must meet with gives them this wine of his flagons and these Apples and dainties to make merry with that they might forget care and endeare their hearts at first so deeply in himselfe that when troubles must come the remembrance of the love of their youth may encourage them to beare the more willingly and when they are growne stronger to beare then he conceales their first delights and allots them harder conditions suffers their feasting to be turn'd to fasting their mirth into mournings their songs into sorrow suffers them to be crockt among the pots hurried in the world dampt with hard conditions and files of their first edge that their inward metall and substance may grow better Thus he fits them for both conditions Reas 3 Thirdly he causes these expressions to come from them that they may not lie hid To make them objects of observation in the world like Saul in the stuffe but be objects of marke and observation in the eyes of others Sometimes God puls out Wisedome out of her corners and clothes her with all orient and beautifull colours that she might raise up admirable love of her selfe in such as behold her And when it is thus each man covets to have a share in her These admirable operations which God workes in his converted ones are so convincing and precious that even they who do not desire them for themselves will yet covet them for their beauty and comelinesse which they see in others Whose heart was not pierced in the Gaolers house to see such strange affections bred in him all of a sudden when the Lord comes into a family and discovers his worke in some one or two in tender sorrow in savory desires after the promise unwearied
if it would if thy owne hopes workes or selfe could have reacht such a generation in vaine should the Lord have beene at all that cost when he brought forth his eternall Sonne into the world to die for it to shed his blood for it that it might become the seed of his Church by the Ministrie of the Word Deceive not thy selfe in this triall which is very easie to doe except God give thee an heart inquisitive willing to be resolved and earnestly craving that thou mayest not be deceived Secondly try thy spirit of Grace by the operations of it As the principle is so will the operations be By the operations of it Abishag may nourish David while there is any naturall heat left in him but if that faile she can put no life into him Adorne a dead King with a Scepter and Crowne and all his Robes Alas it will make a good Pageant 2 Sam. 1.2 3. but all is lost labour Trie then what the fruits of that spirit are which thou hast if they be such as flow from an outward accidentall cause violent and over-ruling they will faile when that cause ceaseth to worke But if thy hope joy and peace be from within let outward meanes and motives either continue or cease still thy operations will abide and flow sweetly currantly cheerfully from thee Water taken off the coales ceaseth to seeth yea growes colder then at first A sive held in the water holds it as well as a bucket corke held downe under water will sinke as well as lead But if the one be taken out and the other be left to her selfe all returnes to the old course So is it here A curious Philosopher once framed an engine of metall in the forme of a man and brought it to such perfection that it could jabber and patter out some words but one that beheld it cryed out Oh faire skull without braines As in mans body all true operations of life and sense to move to worke to sleepe eate and the l ke come from a principle of life and so serve the soule even so here Operations must not be the principle it selfe but onely belong to it but if they be the principle it selfe they are a false principle He that commends a Preacher because his friends love him 2 Chron. 24 16. as Joash served God while Jehoiada lived hath no love in his heart and therefore may hate his service after as he did He that cleaves to good company to hearing to profession for a vantage of his owne reputation to get good custome in trading or a good match or to serve his owne turne or keepe some of his own heat having no other Principle must needs turne bankrupt for lacke of a stock of his owne And the misery of such a one is Note That he heares prayes and worships that he might heare pray and no further from no hottome and so his operation becomes his principle Of all such wee may say such a principle will surely breed their ruine either their eternall ruine if no outward affronts intercept their course or else both ruine here and for ever if crosses come For why they do as a foole who commits himselfe to the seas in a broken Barge When means faile when Ministery ceaseth when it becomes a reproach to professe when false friends draw away the heart when suffring for the Gospell comes losses trials and troubles approach then all Religion vanishes No hypocrite can be above Gods stormes and tempests especially if a right wind blow it will be turn'd up by the rootes Every wind perhaps will not search each rotten tree 2 Tim. 4. but some one or other will The mind of the world searcht Demas the wind of pride and ambition Diotrephes The wind of secret lusts turne of some 3 Ioh. 8. the wind of affliction others and the wind of time and continuance will search deepest of all for a stone can flye no further then the strength of the hand which threw it will carry it Therefore be sure that the operations of goodnesse which come from thee proceed not from a false principle but from the spirit of grace Thirdly trie this spirit of grace by the constituion and frame thereof that is by the soundnesse of it Unsoundnesse of spirit Try it by the fâ—ame soundnesse of it cannot reach that which soundnesse can For why The best in an unsound person are his Negatives reall positive and habituall grace he cannot attaine unto So farre as a negative way may go an unsound heart may attaine To side with religion as good to deny himselfe in many things for it and to suffer somewhat from some confessed excellencie therein deserving it or some light restraint example or ends may be an unsound hearts condition but positively and really to lay the honour of God to heart inwardly to love that he commands to grieve for the sin of such as resist it inwardly to sympathize the furtherance of it that is beyond him The reason is because his love is not from union but from an adherence or hanging by in judgement or pangs of affection Take two examples It is said that two sorts strove for David to be their Kings the ten Tribes of Israel and the two other Tribes There was more Negative spirit in the ten then in the two Why say they should not David be more ours then yours we are ten and you are but two wee have ten parts in him we can conferre more honour upon him and give him more subsidies then you and many good morrows But whence came all this from shame and pride that they should be backwarder to fetch him home then the rest But the positive grace of love to David came from Juda and Benjamin for why he was bone of their bone he was their flesh Nature strove in them 2 Sam. 19.43 humor in the other their words therefore were stronger then the words of ten times as many tongues of counterfeits They no doubt made as great a brable but geniall love could not be dissembled So it was in those two harlots pleading for the child both spake earnestly neither could put downe other in point of words 1 King 3.26 the false mother was as deepe in her Negative principle as the other seemed to be For why she meant to be even with the true mother and would see her childlesse as well as her selfe So the living child might be divided she cared not But by this Salomon descryed her The sword being brought then that reall heart of a true mother appeared in the one which could not in the other for she had it not in her A wretch could be content to leave off all Religion if he were sure that none would take it up after him for he is good because it shall not be said but he will be as forward as any But if none would be good he could be willing to be naught Why for lacke
resist that spirit by which you speake and walke It is not your duties hearing Sermons which will serve turne except you get into the way of God and get your spirits whetted up to a lively temper of godlinesse you shall but adde heapes to heapes and die of thirst Rake up the ashes of your first sacrifice and see if there be any one sparkle alive Iudg. 15.16.18 to kindle that old fire in your hearts God hath now farre more need of it then he had then If you cannot find old sparks goe to Heaven for new for a double portion of it else you will hardly hold out in these cold times You young Novices here among us who in your youth have begunne well and honoured the labours of Gods servants by your zeale by your answering to Catechism by drawing on many to God be not discouraged that the same Grace which made you young Sts. can make you old ones I doubt it not but blesse God for the hope I conceive of your growth and fruit Esay 8.18 1 Iohn 4.4 though we are as signes both we and the children which God hath given us and wonders to the world feare not greater is he that is in us then with them You Magistrates hereabouts you Headborowes and Officers at home doe not play the cowards in the cause of God and the government of the Towne suffer not drunkards to fill up your Alehouses here upon the day of our Lecture and to rout in all cursed behaviour all the day after going together by the eares swearing and swaggering let not your Taverns and places of resort be more frequented then Gods house I see ruine before mine eyes and the young fry will prove worse then their Predecessors your glory is gone except you hold together and prevent sinne from flowing downe your streets and overthrowing all 2 Cor. 2.14 â—â— And in a word to all sorts I speake scatter the savour of this spirit of Grace all about the places where you dwell shine especially within your owne sphere and families lay in for grace and mercy for your husbands wives children kinsfolke and neighbours who have long beene ignorant profane or formall worshippers at the best pluck them out of the fire by violence Iude ult Perhaps some seed lies under a clod they are not so deeply sunk under the slavery of those Idols but that God may fetch out somewhat of them at the last and shall it die for lacke of stirring up Be earnest with God and strive hard for the whole corner this poore Countrey in which ancient zeale and the spirit of Grace decayes exceedingly Easie serving of God for fashion and this love of the creature hath eaten up all The last yeare we were almost starven for bodily bread but God be thanked better food did helpe well both to content the poorer sort and to uphold their spirits with patience yea and to perswade the richer sort to mercy and compassion Now we feare a worse famine if not want of the Word yet that the Lord for our wretched unfruitfulnesse may fill our mouthes with Quailes Mumb. 11.20 and suffer them to come out againe at our nostrils may fat us with meanes and curse us with leannesse in our soules Psal 106.15 Lord suffer not the child to die at the breasts for lack of milke nor having it to surfet Oh thou who hast bred us by thy Word with the lively spirit of Grace preserve us by the same nourishment whereby wee are begotten And so for such among us brethren as have continued constantly Branch 5 in this zeale of the Gospel Consolation to all such as walke in the comfort of the spirit of conversion I doe here reach out comfort unto them and say to them as Elisha to Naaman Goe in peace Though you and I should never heare the voyce nor see the face of other yet we shall do well as long as the peace of God is with us Nourish your hearts still till death in this love of the Gospel Make not shipwrack in the havens Thinke not now of any new way Turne not to the world for they care not for you you stink to them therefore hold to your old Master and be his servants for ever Let the Lord beate you out of his doores before you dare start from him you have beene his so long that as Peter said Whither should we goe Lord from thee Iohn 6.68 thou hast the words of eternall life Though there be neither Calfe in the stall nor Bâ—llock in the heard though the Olive cast her fruit and the Vine decay yet God shall be your salvation Though meanes faile Habac. 3.17.18 yet this spirit of grace in you shall be a lively immortall stock in you and preserve you by faith to the day of salvation 1 Pen. 1.5 These are times wherein sinne abounds it is the very houre of darknesse Revel 3.10 Pray that as you have kept the Word of Gods patience all this while so he would keepe you though all the world should be over-shadowed And although perhaps you take thought for your first edge which is blunted by long continuance and custome Ephes 3.16 17 yet so long as your metall holds good steele to the back and you grow rooted settled and stable in all faith love and fruitfulnesse feare not he that hath begunne will perfect his worke Faithfull is he who hath promised 1 Thes 5.24 To the worke of whose Grace I commend you which is able to sanctifie you throughout and both to keep your bodies soule and spirits 1 Thes 5.25 pure and blamelesse to his comming through the Lord Jesus to whom with the Father and the Spirit that immortall invisible and onely wise God 1 Tim. 1.17 be all honour and praise for ever Amen FINIS AN APPENDIX OR POSTSCRIPT TO THE READER ANd thus good Reader thou hast these Lectures penned to the uttermost wherein they were preached And as I inteÌ„ded to preach no more so neither doe I purpose to trouble thee with more then I preached The Verses following to the twentieth savour wholly of a spirit carried zealously towards God whose mercy cured both Naamans body and soule a draught whereof I gave thee in this last Lecture I grant there are some passages of obscurity attending the words next to them I have handled which some scrupulous Reader might thinke himselfe wronged if they should wholly be unsaluted Wherefore to give a very short touch of them thus conceive of the severals thereof THerefore take a blessing c. But he said Vers 15. end 16. As the Lord liveth Touching this Addition of his large gifts to his large heart I have already spoken of it in the servants arguments and shewed there the duty of the people to their Ministers And we must know it did not abhorre from the custome of those times either to offâ—r or accept gratuities by the Prophets But touching his refusall
His assistance shall be sufficient till judgement breake forth into victory Onely here may be a question why the Lord suffers such stops ignorances weaknesses feares and discouragements to abide in his poore servants so long Quest and yet lets them alone when he might remove them sooner Answ God hath speciall reason to delay his worke I answer The time is not yet come he will doe it after he hath well disciplined and yoked them to his owne way humbled them in the particular insight into their owne corruption basenesse and insufficiency of themselves and caused his power all that while to appeare to them which at the first could not so have appeared if he had prevented all such trouble at once But there is a time present for Gods sufficient grace to stay them from revolts and extremities and there is a time to come for Gods perfiting grace to set them free then shall they looke backe and see reason in all this way of God See Joh. 13.9.10 When Peter was averse to Christ in the offer of washing our Saviour tells him What I doe now thou knowest not but hereafter thou shalt 2 Cor. 12. A secret hand shall uphold thee the whilest but after shall discover the reason of all Now I come to some use briefly Vse 1 This first instructs Gods deare servants about the preciousnesse of their priviledges Instruction and that in two respects First it teacheth them what Branch 1 oddes there is betweene such as the Lord hath honoured with the grace of vocation above others Assisting grace of God the roote of manifold priviledges to a beleever Doth the Lord thus apply himselfe to such as are out of his covenant Doth he so prevent them at first or doth hee after so follow them up and downe as the nurses eie attends the feeble Infant for feare of shrewd turnes When their rebellious spirits cavill winde out of his armes and roll backe to their dungeon doth he clapse them more strongly Doth he take it to concerne him to doe so for his honour No surely and yet as the case stands with them he knowes they must sinke except he pitty them But he is free and bound to none save to whom he bindes himselfe therefore he speakes to the one and to the other very differently To his owne that golden promise belongs The Lord will dry up Euphrates to make a way for his scattered ones some thinke it concernes the returne of the Jewes miraculously as once through the red sea Esay 28. But to the other that fearefull speech There shall be a line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little Why That they may turn back spue fall and rise no more Blessings he meanes shall turne curses to enemies to condemne them But crosses and offences shall turne releases and eases to the other Oh! fearefull is the state then of the one happy of the other Well might it be said Luke 4. of Naaman There were many lepers in the dayes of Elisha but onely Naaman to whom he was so sent As Lysias told Paul he was faine to buy the liberty of a Citizen of Rome with a great summe which Paul was borne too for nothing Tell it thy soule in secret how few have I seene God compassionate and shew a tender heart unto when they have fought against mercy How hath he suffered them to roll to their dunghill Rev. ult His eie hath not pittied them but he hath said He that formed them will shew them no mercy let the wilfull be more wilfull and the caviller fulfill his measure let the carnall have is owne way stumble and fall and rise no more at the stumbling blocks of his owne iniquity Ezek. 14. If he will needs depart let him goe Joh. 6. Did our Saviour pull those time-servers which followed him for the loaves backe againe when they revolted and pickt a quarrell with him No surely he let them go But to his Disciples he said Will ye also go He was loath to part with them Oh! what should more prevaile to affect the hearts of al Gods people who have met with assisting grace then this experience Hath hee dealt so with all sorts as with you As Moses pressed the children of those Israelites that survived their fathers Did ever God so speake to man Deut. 4.33 as he hath to you and yet lived So say I Doth God no more for you then for all sorts Then account him but a God in common But hath hee even when you have beene at last cast suddenly caused light to appeare turned the low wheele uppermost brought light out of darkenesse and spread a table in a dry barren land This he hath not done for all If you have found the winde thus suddenly to turne Oh acknowledge it What if it had not beene so If God had not beene so on your side Surely the floods had prevailed and drowned you If he have made those waters walls to you Psal 123.5 which have beene gulfes to others is it no more then he ought you Or did you wade out of your owne strength Did your owne hand sustaine you Will yee play the Pelagians now in this kinde and ascribe this escape to the lot of your better judgement honesty labour and prevention then others Is there roome for such scurfe here Or may free will presume to bee named the same day with the assisting grace of God Those innumerable difficulties and dangers of shipwracke which thou hast avoided could thy owne wisdome and will shunne them No let thy soule breake out into admiration at this freedome of mercy now as at first and confesse Not to me Lord but to thy selfe give the glory Thou hast done it for thy name and to get thee glory else it had beene undone for ever they and I were digged out of one rocke Esay 63.3 and their prerogative was as great as mine Who am I that thou shouldest reveale thy selfe to me and not to the world That which put the difference was the grace that separated us being all of one rocke of one masse And secondly Assisting grace following prevention is a bottome of sound experience to a poore soule See Rom. 5.10 it should instruct Gods owne servants to gather experience Branch 2 from hence for all their life Is there such a golden firme chaine betweene one part of vocation and another Is assisting grace so tied to preventing and perfecting grace to both that nothing can sever them How much more then is sanctifying grace tyed to the grace of calling Tell me then poore soule hath the Lord done so great a favour as to make thee one of his own inspite of Selfe Satan and the world to redeeme reconcile and justifie thee to count thee his beloved his secret one Could nothing keepe thee from vocation and faith What then shall stoppe thee from heaven and life from perseverance and perfecting thy holinesse in the feare
questions Prayers confessions and the like who doth not wish himselfe in their case except it be some errant blocke who discovers his brutishnesse all are ravisht to see such early beginnings The Lord knowes the fittest way to worke upon men Sooner will a young novice by his active spirit of the cure stir up others then some solid and grave Disciples because the spirit of the one is more stirring active and drawing than the other Fourthly there is in the cure of the soule converted to God Reas 4 such an irresistible power and impotencie From that irresistible power of Grace in the soule especially in the first turning home of it that there is no choaking quenching or damping of it It resembles her originall Seed leaven mustard-seed are things of an active and encreasing nature Leaven in a little while will sowre all the lump Hence are those expressions of the Saints Thy Word was in mee as coales of fire in my bosome Can a man carry them there and not be burnt I would have kept in thy words saith David but such was the nature of them that they would not be concealed I had no rest nor peace till I had uttered them to Congregations Peter could not hold Christ in his bosome till he had uttered himselfe to Nathaniel That woman of Samaria had fire in her bosome when she went to tell her kindred citizens the news of Christs discourse The love of God workes in the breasts of his Saints as it first wrought in his owne he having conceived it once could not cease till it had discovered it selfe to poore sunken Adam and hee would rather chuse to make his onely Sonne a Masse shame then he would not expresse it Even such is the same love having once wrought in them it is as the new wine in the caske which must have vent or else it will breake It is like Josephs affection to Benjamin all must be had out from him Gen. 45.14 and he must utter himselfe to him and fall upon his neck with a kisse and teares The newer any thing is the more forcible So is it with love The Apostle hath a sweet word to expresse it The love of Christ constraines us 2 Cor. 5. The word signifies 2 Cor. 5.14 gathers us up together as a beast hemmed in a Pinfold hath an appetite after liberty so the spirit of love finds it selfe straitned till it breake out And 1 Cor. 13. love is bountifull and working 1 Cor. 5. full of affection hopeth all things endureth all things and the like The fifth God is the God of order and loves sutablenesse of Reas 5 Age and Temper youth naturally is hot and full of expressions God is the God of order it is comely for young ones to be so their lusts were so before grace therefore grace must be so also I restraine not this heat to meere youth for if God do convert elder ones as Naaman there is a spirituall youth or first age even in them also grace at the first is most operative be the yeares what they may be but especially when grace falls upon tender yeares as for the most part that is the season ere the soule be sapped in lewd customes then it quickens those hot spirits which it meets with to singular expressions Reas 6 Lastly by this spirit the Lord provides matter and argument of convincement For the due convincement of such as after may wax luke-warme and loose and inward checke for time to come if at any time his people shall revolt from this grace of first conversion The Lord knowes our mold and fashion just Psal 103. We seem at our first setting forth to the journey so trimme and so prepared that no troubles nor difficulties shall daunt our resolution But by that time wee have travelled a while what with the ill way what with ill weather bad successe and what with our owne weary and crazie spirits within we waxe unto ward and stagger whether we should goe forward or no. The Lord knowes how many waies this first spirit of the cure flagges and wanzes in us sometimes the abundance of iniquity causes the love of many to waxe cold this degenerate formall world is ready to quench our spirit the presidents of many zealous and painfull professors who are turned drunkards uncleane worldlings Epicures and sinfull wretches 2 Pet. 3. ult do shake us The errour of the wicked puls us from our stedfastnesse feare of some men flattery of others but especially a cursed heart on the one side giddie presuming venturous on the otherside slavish fearfull and distrustfull distempers us so that although we keep from grosse evils yet we are far from that frame of zeale closenesse and watching which we have found onely peace from Now when it falls out thus and that crosses debts ill marriage care of children and other disguisements come upon the necke of the other then is the Lord faine to step in and take us to taske to upbraid us and cast us in teeth with our first spirit of cure our early first love sweet affections covenants humble feare watchfull care diligent paines zealous spirit Luk. 23.31 What was this done in the greene tree and shall it not be done in the dry What shall first beginnings shame thee Didst thou begin in the spirit if yet thou didst so and wilt thou now end in the flesh Oh! is there not enough in that never dying spirit of an immortall hope of salvation to carry thee on in thy poore course with equalnesse of affection Say the edge be a little blunted what is metall gone too is the steele worne out of the backe That first spirit of sound joy in God should by this day have bred in thy belly a welspring of water flowing to eternall life Oh! for shame strengthen the weary hands Heb. 12.13 and feeble knees and correct the crooked that it turne not out of the way Thus the Lord charmes a declining spirit by an experiment of her owne and brings her backe with sorrow and shame to her former temper So much for Reasons Use 1 Now for Use first is the spirit of a true Convert thus zealous for God This then teacheth us a difference of cures and that all are not alike for there are many to be sure farre from this temper and frame of spirit Instruction with an item Not every cure hath such a stroake in the soule of a man thus to change qualifie and act his spirit to and for the Lord. And all to teach us to try our spirits and to be afraid to rest in any base counterfeit cures which afford none of this life and operation Who doth not now a dayes boast himselfe to have gotten this through cure Counterfeit cures very common in the world true cures rare If once baptized and professe the Gospell it is treason in these dayes to put a difference betweene men Alas yee poore wretches