him Justice is Gods strange work as if he was not used to it but mercy is his proper work it is as natural for him to shew mercy as for the Bee to give Honey Why may not mercy give the casting voice for this Nation according to that Scripture In his love and in his pity he redeemed them Love and pity will do great things Gods mercy it is not only free sending out pardons where he pleases but which is more Gods mercy can as well heal as it can save it is a healing mercy Hosea 14.4 I will heal their backslidings Observe Gods mercy it can reclaim the Persecutor it can soften the Impenitent it can bring back some that are gone astray Mercy can destroy the sins of the Nation and yet save the Nation it is a healing mercy I will heal their backslidings These are the sparks of light that God causes to arise Obj. But you will say Still things look and seem as in the dark and we would have more light What must we do how must we carry our selves till God makes light to arise to us in darkness Ans. 1. Let us in all dark Providences go into our chambers Isa. 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy chamber and hide thy self Enter thou into thy chamber that is we must go and search our hearts by serious meditation and self-examination go into this chamber of your hearts Let us in the first place search our Evidences for Heaven bring our graces to the Touchstone let us see what faith we have and what love to God we have Doth Conscience witness we not only serve God but love him Can we cry out for God for the living God Are we carried up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot of love Is it thus with us Oh let us search into the chambers of our hearts and see how all things stand betwixt God and our Souls My Brethren when things are dark without we had need to have all clear within Secondly Let us go not only into the chambers of our hearts but let us go into the chamber of Divine Promises and there let us a while judge our selves Oh! these sweet Promises of God which our Souls may take comfort in God hath promised comfort to all his mourners God hath promised that he will strengthen the infirm Isa. 40.29 God hath promised a Crown of Glory Rev. 2.10 He hath said He will never leave us nor forsake us Let us now by faith hide our selves in these chambers That 's the first thing we are to do Secondly Having done this let us under all clouds of darkness in the next place commit our selves to God that he would safeguard and keep us This I ground upon that Scripture Psal. 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord in the Hebrew it is roll thy way upon the Lord Commit thy self and thy cause to God by prayer as an Orphan commits himself under the care of his Guardian so should we give all our care to God Commit thy ways unto the Lord. Let us do our duty and trust God with our safety It is our work to cast care it is Gods work to take care Thirdly Having gone into these chambers the chambers of our hearts and the chambers of Divine Promises so in the third place let us now wait Gods time till he shall make light to arise in our Horrison until God turns our darkness into the light of the morning God can of a sudden disperse the black clouds God can create light God can strike a straight stroke by a crooked stick God can remove the Mountains that lie in our way till light arises Let us patiently wait light will spring up the blessings that we are in expectation of are worth waiting for To see the golden Fleet of Prayer come laden home with rich returns of mercy To see Peace and Truth united To see Popery and Prophaneness abominated To see the beauty of Holiness shining forth like a Lamp that burneth To see Christ ride in triumph in the Chariot of his Gospel To see the Righteous honoured and renowned and be like the wings of a Dove covered with yellow gold These certainly are mercies worth waiting for therefore let us wait patiently And to encourage holy waiting I will shut up all with that Scripture Isa. 30.18 And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of Iudgment blessed are all they that wait for him SERMON VII St. John 10.14 I am the good Shepherd and know my Sheep and am known of mine EVery line of Scripture hath a Majesty shining in it Jesus Christ is the very center of the Gospel if the Scripture be the Field Christ is the Pearl in this Field and blessed is he that finds this Pearl the Scripture gives various descriptions of Christ sometimes he is called a Physician he is the great healer of Souls sometimes he is call'd a Captain Heb. 2.10 Captain of our Salvation and here in the Text a Shepherd I am the good Shepherd and this Shepherd hath a Flock so it is in the Text I know my Sheep and am known of mine These Sheep are the elect company of Believers these are his rational Sheep First I shall speak of the Sheep then something of the Shepherd as they do relate one to the other First Concerning the Sheep I know my Sheep The Wicked are compared to Goats the Saints to Sheep Christs People they are his Sheep and there be some near Analogies betwixt them as First A Sheep it is an innocent Creature it is not hurtful or ravenous as other Creatures are but is very harmless and inoffensible so those Sheep that belong to Christ and are of his fold they are Innocent Phil. 2.15 That you may be blameless that you may be harmless the Greek Word is without Horn or without Pushing or Horning that you may be harmless Christs people walk so as near as they can that they may give no just offence they had rather suffer wrong than do wrong those that are set upon mischief are not Christs Sheep but they are Birds of prey Those who would plot the ruin of a Kingdom and spill Protestant blood these are none of Christs Sheep these are Wolves they have been suckled with the Milk of the Romish Whore these are Goats that Christ will set at his left hand Mat. 25.32 Secondly A Sheep it is noted for meekness in Scripture it is a meek Creature Let the Shearer take its wooll it doth not resist if you strike a Sheep it doth not snarl or fly in your face all Christs Sheep that belong to him are meek spirited 2 Sam. 16.12 Though a child of God may sometimes fall into a froward fit yet he grieves for it and weeps for his unmortified passion Thirdly A Sheep it is a cleanly creature it is neat and cleanly it delights most in pure Streams
and doth convey it by his Spirit So thirdly He doth maintain this peace by his daily Intercession What Saint alive doth not sometimes offend God and cause the fury of his anger to rise up in his face Now when the case is thus that we offend God and are ready to break his peace then Jesus Christ he stands up as an Intercessor and he speaks to God the Father on our behalf and it is his request that God would lay aside his anger and that he would smile upon his people again and therefore in Scripture Christ is called our Atonement to make peace and he is called our Advocate to purchase peace When we break our peace Christ he pleads our cause and makes up this peace again by his Intercession 1 Iohn c. 3. v. 7. To make some Application of this Use 1. First By way of Inference See then here to what Coast we must trade for this Pearl whither we must go for this spiritual peace that is our consolation in life and death Go to Christ for it That in me ye might have peace Saith Cyprian peace it is in Christ as sap is in the Root of the Vine as water is in the Spring That in meâ— ye might have peace saith Christ. This blessed peace that Christ gives it 's worth going to him for it is superiour to all other peace Peace in a Kingdom it is very desirable peace it is every ones Vote Peace it is the very quintessence of earthly blessings To sit quietly under our Vines and Figg-trees surely better a great deal better is the sounding of the Lute and Viol than the roaring of the Cannon See what a sweet promise God makes Isa. 2.4 He will break their Swords into Plowshares all shall be peace But what is this peace to the peace Christ gives to his People that is sacred This peace our Saviour gives it hath these two properties or these two qualifications to name no more First It is an Emboldening peace Secondly It is a Lasting peace First It is an Emboldening peace Friends that are at peace they use a kind of freedom and boldness one with another So we having peace thorow Christs Blood conveyed by his Spirit may be bold to make use of Gods Promises There is never a Promise in the Bible but a Believer may pluck a Leaf from and be at peace with God thorow Christ. We may now use a holy boldness in prayer We may come to God as Children to their Father Heb. 4.16 Let us come with boldness to the Throne of Grace God is our Father and he being at peace with us he will not deny any thing that may conduce to our real good This may make us come with boldness to the mercy Seat That 's the first It is an Emboldening peace Secondly Christs peace that he gives as it is an Emboldening peace so it is a Lasting peace Here is a peace that will hold For all Earthly peace to speak properly it is rather a truce than a peace a truce that is but for a small time and it ends Yea but this peace that Christ gives it is for ever Once in Christ and ever in Christ. Once justified and ever justified Here is a Lasting peace Isa. 54.10 The Covenant of my peace shall not be moved saith the Lord. The peace of a Believer it is but begun here in this life it is perfected in the Kingdom of Heaven Isa. 57.2 He shall enter into peace Here is a godly mans priviledge when he dies he dies in peace and as soon as ever he is dead he enters into peace he shall enter into peace that is he shall go to the Ierusalem above that City of peace Here the Saints peace it is but begun it is but in the seed there it shall be in the Flower Here it is but in its infancy there it shall be in its full growth That 's the first see to what Coast you must trade for this peace Go to Christ for it That in me ye might have peace Use 2. See what a sad condition all wicked men are in that live and die in their sins They have nothing to do with peace What! Shall they have peace that make War with Heaven persecute Christ in his Members Shall they have peace that deride and grieve the Spirit of God whose very Office it is to drop peace into the Conscience What a sinner to have peace 2 Kings 9.22 What peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezabel and her Witchcrafts are so many A wicked man is a worker of iniquity As a man works at his shop so he works at the trade of sin and what hath he to do with peace and how deplorable is his case What if a Foreign Enemy should come sinners would be in a storm and have no where to put in for Harbour It is a very sad thing to be in Sauls condition the Philistines upon him and God departed It is a very sad thing to have fightings without and fears within to have the Bullets shooting against the Ship and the Ship leaking within Isa. 57.21 There is no peace to the wicked saith my God And if God saith it he knows it to be true The wicked perhaps they may delude themselves and presume that though they go on in sin yet they shall have peace but to undeceive them turn to that one Scripture Deut. 29.19 And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse that he blesses himself in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination of mine heart Verse 20. The Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his Iealousie shall smoke against that man. One may as well think to suck health out of Poison as to suck peace out of Sin. Sinners they may be quiet or rather secure for the present but as 2 Sam. 26. it will be bitterness in the latter end Guilt will sooner or later raise a storm saith Chrysostom Sin will conjure up the Winds and Storms into the Conscience I have sometimes thought it is with sin as it is with poison there are some sorts of poison that will lie a great while in the body and not work but at last it does wring and torture the bowels a fit resemblance of sin Men they drink this poison and they may be quiet a while but at last especially at death then it begins to work and then the poison begins to touch the Conscience The great God of Heaven and Earth hath set up his Standard and proclaimed open War against every impenitent sinner and it will not be long if men go on in sin before Gods Cannon Bullets will begin to flie Gods wrath may seem to be like a sleeping Lion but this Lion will awake and roar and tear his prey I will say but this I confess God may bear long with wicked men let them alone he may bear long with them in respect of punishment when
enemies are laying snares for them God is pouring Wine and Oil into his peoples wounds and his adversaries they are a pouring in Vinegar into those wounds How contrary do these act those that are of the Romish Whore are at this day plotting to the ruine of Gods people and would have the Church of God lie in a field of blood The Lord he makes light to arise to the godly the wicked they labour to make darkness and sorrow to arise to them But such as lay snares for the righteous God will rain fire upon them Psa. 11.6 Upon the wicked God shall rain fire and brimstone The wicked they strike at Christ thorow his members sides but let them know if they kick against the Rock Christ the Lord will be too hard for them at last God ordains his Arrows against the Persecutors Psal. 7. v. 13. and God never misses his mark if he hath his Arrow upon the string he will certainly shoot and he never misses his mark That 's a second Inference 3. See here the difference betwixt the wicked and the godly in all their darkness they have some light some comfort arises to them The wicked in all their outward comforts they have some darkness arises up to them conscience chides them and troubles threaten them It is like the hand-writing upon the wall Psa. 68.31 God shall wound the heads of his enemies and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses The sinner in his light time condition in all his outward mirth he may see some clouds of darkness Gods threatning Arrows are against him and Gods Curse is against him and Gods Curse it blasts where-ever it comes An impenitent sinner he lives every day under the sentence of death and there remains for him saith the Apostle a fiery indignation Heb. 10.27 When the hardened sinner dies he will be but in a bad case he drops into the Grave and into Hell both at once God hath brewed for the impenitent sinner a deadly Cup Psal. 75.8 Observe that Scripture In the hand of the Lord there is a Cup the Wine is red it is full of mixture and the dregs thereof the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them This red Wine it is the wrath of God and this Wine is full of mixture what 's that that 's the worm of Conscience and the fire of Hell Here is a mixed Cup and the wicked shall be ever drinking this Cup. God will never say Let this Cup pass away No they must be for ever drinking the dregs of this Cup of wrath My thinks this Scripture should be a damp to all their joy and mirth darkness is coming upon them 1 Sam. 28.19 It was sad news to Saul that the Devil brought saith he Tomorrow thou shalt be with me dreadful news Now men are sporting with their lusts and pleasures now they think they are in their gallantry and to morrow may be with the Devil A fourth branch of Inference Doth God cause light to spring up in his peoples darkness then see here the difference betwixt Earth and Heaven Here in this world there is a mixture of darkness with the Saints light in Heaven there shall be nothing but pure light no darkness there It is called an Inheritance of light Col. 1.12 As the Philosophers say Light is the very glory of the Creation it is the beauty of the world What was all the world without light but a dark prison Here 's the beauty of Heaven it is a place of light there is no eclipse nor dark shadows to be seen there Heaven is a bright body all over all over embroidered with light there is the Sun of Righteousness shining with the bright Orient beams of glory Rev. 21.23 the Lamb is the light thereof oh how should we long for that place of Paradice Use 2. is of Consolation For the Church and People of God. This Text is a pillar of light a breast of consolation To the upright ariseth light in darkness Doth God make light and joy and peace to arise to the righteous why then should we despair why should we despond when it is Gods great design to lighten his peoples darkness I confess things have but a bad aspect England is like the Ship in the Gospel almost covered with waves This may humble us and set our Eyes abroach with tears Yet let us not mourn as without hope This Text methinks le ts in some branches of light it gives some spark of comfort in our darkness Let me come as the Dove with an Olive branch of peace That it is some spark of light that there are many upright ones in the Land and the Text saith Light ariseth to the upright Indeed were the godly quite removed as it is the desire of some to destroy them God would soon make quick work with the Nation he would soon break up house here Gen. 19.22 Haste thee escape thither for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither The upright that my Text speaks of God will do much for their sakes The upright they are the excellent of the Earth they are the Chariots and Horse-men of Israel they are the very flower and cream of the Creation they are the glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8.23 and for their sakes God may yet cause light to arise and his Arm may bring salvation Secondly Another spark of light in our darkness that yet God is pleased to stir up in his people is a spirit of mighty prayer they cry mightily Certainly God will not say to this City and Nation Seek ye my face in vain Prayer is the Wall and Bulwarks of the Land. It is observable when the Lord intends to pour out the Vials of his Indignation he stops the sluces of prayer shuts up the spirit of prayer Ier. 7.16 Therefore pray not thou for this people neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them neither make intercession to me for I will not hear God hath not yet said so to us The Key of Prayer oiled with tears and turned with the hand of faith unlocks Gods bowels Prayer when it is important staves off wrath from the Nation Exod. 32.10 Saith God to Moses Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them And what did Moses do he only prayed Fervent prayer overcomes the Almighty Prayer finds God free but it leaves him bound it is as it was This his hand staves off Judgment this lets in some dawning light to this Land that God don 't wholly leave us especially remembring this that Christ Jesus praying over our prayers again presents them to his Father and perfumes them with his sweet odour which makes them go up as Incense Rev. 8.3 Thirdly Another spark arising is this when we consider Gods compassion and bowels of mercy Mercy it is Gods darling Attribute that he loves most of all to magnifie Micah 7.18 Mercy pleaseth