us as there must first be the sight prepared before the eye can take notice of it And here this Behold it seems to carry a threefold force or Emphasis with it First As an excitement of Faith Behold it to believe it Secondly As an Ingagement of Affection Behold it to admire it Thirdly As a Provocation to Obedience Behold it to practise it and to imitate it and to conform unto it All these three several intimations may be beheld in this word Behold First I say as an Excitement of Faith behold it to believe it and to give your assent unto it This Ecce here it is Ecce Demonstrationum The Psalmist delivered this Truth with so much Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit as that there is no denyal of it and therefore confidently points unto it as this is that which we may conclude on for a Truth and which upon Experience we shall find to be so if we put our selves upon it There are many things which go sometimes for good which yet do not prove so in Conclusion and there are many things which are thought to be pleasant which yrt have bitterness in the end But this Concord and Agreement of Brethren it is good and it is pleasant unquestionably that so we may believe it Secondly As an Ingagement of Affection behold it to admire it and to be very much taken with it Goodness and Beauty they are such things as are atractive of respect and men do not usually behold them but they are ravished and overcome with them and so should we now here be in the Contemplation of this Heavenly Virtue and Grace which is here commended unto us and of this Spectacle which is set here before us we know how much commonly men are taken with other sights in the World as the Disciples were to our Saviour Maâ—er see what goodly buildings are here why here is such a sight as deserves our just Applause and Admiration this dwelling of Brethren together in Unity And this is also hinted to us in the very form and manner of Expression which carries some kind of Astonishment and Admiration in the very words themselves Therefore it is not onely Ecce quod Bonum or Ecce quod juecundum behold that it is good or behold that it is pleasant in the positive Declaration But Ecce quam Bonum Ecce quam juecundum as it were in the Superlative How good and how pleasant a thing it is as being unable to Express it or to say how much it is so indeed Thirdly It is a provocation to Obedience behold it to practise it and imitate it and to conform unto it there are many who perhaps will be ready to acknowledg it in the Notion that it is a good and pleasant thing to live friendly and peaceably together and he were not worthy of the name of a Christian or a man that should deny it Yea but when it comes to the performance there they desert it and fall from it it is good for others as they are ready to think but not for themselves Good in Thesi but not good in Hypothesi Pax ab omnibus Laudatur a paucis servatur Peace it is commendable of all men but it 's followed and imbraced but of a few Now therefore give me leave to commend this excellent Duty to your practise and Christian observation not as if I did any thing doubt of it or would make any question of it amongst your selves but that upon this occasion I might so much the more quicken you and excite you and stir you up to it as a Grace which has so much Excellency and Commendableness in it Let us therefore follow after things which make for peace and things wherewith one may Edify another as the Apostle Paul speaks in Rom. 14.19 What may some say are they I can but name them unto you First Meekness and Humbleness of mind it is a great Advancement of Peace Onely by Pride comes Contention says Solomon Prov. 13.10 And Phil. 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or Vain Glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better then themselves An humble mind will be peaceable Secondly Patience and mutual forbearing and forgiving one of another take heed of Jealousness and causeless Suspicions and misprissions one towards another The Devil does hereby much promote discord and Contention and so hinders this fraternal Agreement Make not the worst of every thing but put the best and most favourable construction and Interpretation upon it which the nature of the thing it self will bear and when it is Capable Thirdly Justice and Righteous dealing there 's no such preservation of Vnity as when every one knows what it is his own and what belongs to him for his particular Opus Justitice pax The work of Righteousnrss shall be peace and the Effect of Righteousness shall be Quietness and assurance for ever as the Prophet Esay tells us Esay 33.17 To set home all this the more fully and successfully upon us let us be sure especially to keep in good terms with God preserve our peace with him When a man's ways pleases the Lord he will make his Enemies to be at peace with him and he that is able to make Enemies to be Friends He is able accordingly to keep Friends from being Enemies As it is he that makes men to be of one mind in one House as shew'd before so in a Church in a City in a Company or in any Corporation and accordingly he must be sought unto and call'd upon for it without him it is not to be Expected I beseech ye beloved Brethren that this Discourse it may not prove in vain unto you but may take deep impression upon you in every one of your Hearts If there be any motive or argument in Profit you have it there for it is that which is good or if there be any motive or argument in Pleasure you have it there for it is sweet also Let this twofold Cord unite you and knit you together which is not easily broken It is no uncomly sight to behold you here sitting together in your Civil Ornaments and Qualifications as you now appear at this time in this your solemn Assembly in your Ranks and Orders and Habits and such like Accomplishments these have an outward Decency and Comeliness in them Oh but that which will especially commend you to the Eyes and the Hearts of all spectators and which will prove your greatest Honour and Glory indeed is to see you sit together in Unity This is that which is the best and truest Confirmation of your Officers This is that which sets the Garland upon their Heads c. This and Health is that which you should affect so much the rather c. It is a Mercy to sit together in Peace but it is a Grace to sit together in Vnity and Love There 's a threefold Gradation in this Spectacle to see Brethren to see Brethren together and to
as he had it in the Promises so he had it likewise in the Performance and the accomplishment of that promise to him as we may see in 2 Tim. 4 16 17. All men forsook me but the Lord stood by me and strongthned me There was the Lord in the top of the Ladder In the Multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my Soul in Psal 94. vers 29. And so much of the First reference of this Passage as it respects the Ladder it self in the full Latitude and extent of it whether of Christ or of the Church or Jacob. The Second Reference is to the Motion of the Angels that passed upon it The Lord stood above them also as ordering and guiding and disposing and governing of them The Angels as Great as they are yet they are still but Creatures and at the Command of God himself who is the Lord and Creator of them And so the Scripture testefies of them in Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that do his Commandements hearkening to the Voice of the Lord. It was a great Comfort and Advantage to Jacob that he had the Angels to waite upon him in this his present Condition to ascend and descend upon his Ladder Oh but this was the main of all that God himself stood above it for the ordering and regulating of them The greatest means of Comfort without God are altogether uncomfortable and helps which have no help in them it is he who alone give virtue and Efficacy to any Creature and that makes it advantagious in him and without which it can do us no good nor benefit us at all be it in its own Nature never so excellent This was that which was the Glory of this Vision and that put an Eminency upon it which as I may say is a Ladder it self and consisting of its several steps and gradations in it and neither of them could be wel spared Here 's the Ladder and the Angels and the Lord. If Jacob had not seen the Ladder as a pledge unto him of the happiness of his Conveyance he would have been at some loss within himself If he had seen the Ladder and had not seen the Angels ascending and descending upon it he would have been to seek still And if further had seen the Angels upon it and had not seen the Lord stand above it he would have been very miserable for all this This is that which is the excellency of Angels that they are the Angels of God and this is the good that comes by them That the Lord stands above them This is true and holds good not onely of Angels Properly but of Angels Metaphorically not onely of Angels by Nature but also of Angels by Service and imployment which are the Pastors and Ministers of the Church who have sometimes this appellation of Angels fastned upon them and are so denominated we may apply it even to them also by way of Analogy The Pulpit it is as I may so call it Jacobs Ladder that reaches from Earth to Heaven It has its footing on Earth for we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels But the top of it is in Heaven for we bring with us the glad tidings of Salvation The Angels of God they ascend and descend upon it in the exercise of their minesteriall Imployment But it is the Lord that must stand above it and give virtue and Efficacy to it or else all is in vain and to no purpose It is he that must give us Assistance and it is he that must give us Success and a blessing upon all our undertakings or else it will go but very ill with us nor with you neither If thy presence go not with us carry us not up hence as Moses said in the like case Exod. 33.25 Who is Paul and who is Apollo but Ministers by whom ye beleived even as the Lord gave to every man I have Planted and Apollos has watered but it is God that gave the Increase as the Apostles speaks 1 Cor. 3.5 And so I have done with this first General part of the Text which is the Vision it self in the three several Branches of it The erection of the Ladder The Motion of the Angels and the Superintendency of God himself The Second is the Provocation of Attention or the Proposal of this Spectacle to view in the word BEHOLD which is now breifly to be dispatch'd by us This though it be first in the Text yet it is last in our handling of it as it is also in the Nature of the thing For first of all the sight is prepared before the Spectators are call'd into the vewing of it And so here this word Behold as it lies in the Text is very Emphaticall and more then ordinary in other Scriptures where also sometimes we meet with it as we may observe in the Multis lications of it for we have it here under a Threefold Repetition the more to awaken our attention to it Behold Behold Behold Behold the Ladder and behold the Angels and behold the Lord. All are to be Beheld by us And the Viewing and beholding of them all will serve as the Application of all that heitherto has been delivered about them There are divers sorts of Looking and beholding which are here required of us in order to this Spectacle before us First So behold it with an Eye of Wonderment and Admiration as a very Great and Glorious Mistery especially so far forth as it concerns Christ himself Here 's that which calls for special heed and attention from us we heard before how the very Angels themselves looked upon it with Astonishment and how much more then should then Sons of Men who are themselves so deeply Interested and concern'd in it There 's nothing which belongs to Christ but it is worth the beholding and has commonly the Provocation of it affix'd unto it Behold a Prophet Behold a Virgin Behold the Lamb of God still behold when there 's Speech of Christ and so here Forasmuch as he is pleased thus to offer and Exhibit himself to our view we should not take off our Eyes from him but fasten them upon him Look upon him in both his Natures and look upon him in all his Offices as they are laid before us It is that which is here required and expected from us This Vision it was not onely for Jacob but also for us and it does very much belong unto us This Ladder is still standing even to this present day and is not removed or taken down but we may look upon it Not in a Dream but waking nor in the Shaddow onely but in the Substance We all now may with open face Behold as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord c. as it is 2 Cor. 3.18 Secondly With an eye of Faith we are to behold it so also as improving it to our own great Comfort and Consolation in the greatest Troubles and perplexities that may befall us
with thee to know it and how durst thou then to deny it There 's each of thesein it First This Question of Elisha it is an expostulation with him as to his Fact went not mine Heart with thee And how durst thou to do it whilst thou couldst not but know that I my self looked upon thee and was observing of thee As Joseph sometime to his Brethren Did ye not know that such a man as I could certainly Divine Gen. 44.15 So Elisha here to his servant Didst thou not know that such a man as I could certainly discern that I could understand what thou wert doing and going about And could'st thou then think to lie hid whil'st thou servest such a master Who was it that healed the waters of Jericho was it not I Who was it that commanded the Bears out of the Forest for the slaughter of the scoffing children was it not I Who was it that rais'd the Shunamites child wa st not thou with me then And could I do all these things and thou know and understand that I could do them and yet couldest thou think or imagine that I could be Ignorant of thy wicked Haunt or durst thou venture upon such an Attempt even under mine Eye This is the force of these words here before us Now there are divers points which are here observable from them First of all we see here that a great cause of many men's Sinning and allowing themselves in evil Courses is because they conceit they lie hid and are unknown and undiscern'd in them by those Especially who have the Goverment of them Their Parents and Masters and Ministers and such as these This is here supposed and taken for granted in this Question of Elisha to Gehazi Went not my Heart with thee as who should say if thou hadst beheld this thou wouldest never have done that which thou didst thy hope of Secresy gave occasion to thy Presumptious Attempt and so it does to many others besides abroad in the World They never durst do what they do if they thought they were observ'd in doing it They durst not Theive nor Cheat nor Whore nor mispend their time in Lude and Villanous company as by Experience too often they do if they thought that others knew of them or that the Heart of those which are their Governours went along with them Therefore it is good for men in such cases to suppose such as are present before them As the Heathen Oracle gives that Rule whereby to keep men in order by considering that such men as Cato and Scipio looked upon them Where all Modesty and Ingenuity is not lost there is a great restraint upon some mens ways from such and such Persons beholding them That 's the first Observation Secondly Observe also this That the Presence of Man does commonly more affect men in Sinning then the presence of God This we gather from the Nature of the Prophet Elisha's Argument to his Servant Gehazi Where he does not say to him did not God see thee was not the Eye of the Lord upon thee But did not I my self see thee And did not mine Heart go along with thee Not but that the other Argument was more Effectual consider'd in it self but it was not so Effectual with this Person Elisha he framed Himself to Gehazi's temper and dealt with him according to that he knew that Gehazi if he could but hide his Wickedness from his Master he never cared for Gods knowing of it therefore he shews him how he was discovered in them And so it is with many more else If they can but keep their Evil practices and Courses from the Knowledg and Acquaintance of men their Friends and Neighbours and Governours and those whom they depend on that 's all they care for whether God know it or no. The Ground hereof is that exceeding Atheisme and Infidelity which abounds in the Heart Because men have not due thoughts and Apprehensions of God himself but think meanly and Scantily of him Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thy self as God speaks there to that Atheist in Psalmes Psal 50.22 Nay they think him not so much as one of themselves may be in this particular First They do not think him Omniscient and Omni-present That he is one who is privy to all the things which are done by them Thus Job 22.13 How doth God know Can he judge through the dark Clouds So Psal 64.7 They say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it So Ezek. 9.9 The Lord hath forsaken the Earth and seeth not Secondly They do not think him to be Just that he is one who will call them to a Reckoning and Account of what is done by them For men they are sometimes restrain'd by that Authority which is upon them but for God they seem to deny it Thirdly They doe not believe him in his Power and that ability which he hath in him to destroy them and to make a sudden end of them and hence it is they are more in awe of men than they are of Himself The consideration of this point should serve to humble men in this particular and to affect them with grief and amazement What art thou affraid of men and art not thou affraid of God himself Art thou ashamed that thy master should see thee or thy Minister should be acquainted with thy miscarriages and art thou not much more ashamed that the Lord takes notice of thee and beholds thee in all thy ways what a madness and folly is this and how much Atheism at the bottom of it But yet again further Thirdly There is here inclusively an assistance from God c. whiles Elisha sayes Went not mine heart with thee Because as I have formerly shewn in the opening and explaining of the words His heart did no otherwise know it then by Revelation and Instruction from God So that Did not my heart know it is in effect Did not God know it first and so there is this in it That this is enough to confound men in all their secret and hidden abominations That their Practises and Contrivances are discern'd by God himself That His Eye is upon them and that His Heart 's with them and that He sees them and observes them in all I have set the Lord alwayes before me therefore I shall not fall sayes David Psal 16.8 Thus should we doe likewise upon all occasions and make Him present to our Faith and Fear who is alwayes present in His own infinite nature and regardfull of what we doe Lastly There is this also in it That sin is so much the more hainous as it is at any time the more Impudent this we gather from the scope of the words where the Prophet would shew the greatness of Gehazi's sin that he should sin in such circumstances when he could not but know that his Master understood what he did and was all this while acquainted with it Went not mine Heart with
handled this Proposition consisting of two Branches that where God will give peace to a Kingdom none shall hinder it Where he will deny the same peace none can procure it We took this Proposition asunder and handled each Branch by it self c. THe Second reference of these words is as they respect a particular Person a man onely and so are to be considered of us at this present time and accordingly they have this proposition which is exhibited in them That when God will give a man quietness none can trouble him when God will hide his face from him none can uphold him where we see that the Proposition in this reference as well as that which we had before consists of two Branches and so together with that is distinctly to be handled by us Wee 'l begin in order with the former and that 's this That where God gives a man Quietness none can make him Trouble And this again may have a double sense in it either First Thus where God gives inward and Spiritual peace a man shall suffer no great inconvenience from outward trouble Or Secondly thus Where God gives inward and Spiritual peace a man shall there be kept and preserv'd from inward Trouble either of these may be here understood First I say where God gives inward and Spiritual peace a man shall suffer no great inconvenience from outward Trouble that which seems troublesome to others and also is so in the nature of the thing yet shall not be troublesome and molesting to such a Person Trouble to speak properly of it is not so much from the Condition as the Affection It is not so much from the State as the mind we see in ordinary Experience that one and the self same thing which one man makes a great deal of stur with another is not troubled at all with it So then this is the result of this Busines That no Condition shall be troublesome to that Person which is in favour and peace with God When he gives quietness c. Where a man has peace and quietness of Conscience he is so far forth provided against all trouble and disturbance whatsoever whether Publique or Private This the Scripture does abundantly reach forth to us in several places As Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear none Evil for thou art with me thy Rod and thy Staff they comfort me And Psal 27.1 c. The Lord is my Light and my Salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the strength of my Life of whom shall I be affraid Though an Host should Encamp c. So Psal 46.1.2 God is our refuge and strength a very present help in Trouble Therefore will we not fear though the Earth be removed and though the mountains be Exalted into the midst of the Sea And Psal 112.7.8 Speaking of a Godly and Righteous man Surely he shall not be moved for ever c. He shall not be affraid of Evil Tidings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is Established he shall not be affraid untill he sees his desire upon his Enemies These and the like Testimonies there are to make this truth good unto us And the Grounds of it are these First Because he which has peace and atonement with God he has that within him oftentimes which does swallow all outward sadness and trouble whatsoever Those which are full of Comfort a little trouble is not troublesom to them but is easily swallowed up in them and they do not regard it Now thus is it with those which have this inward and Spiritual peace they are so exceedingly ravish't and transported with joy that lesser Evils are in a manner and in Comparison nothing with them Look as it is on the otherside in the terror and trouble of Conscience those which lye under the pressures thereof and have the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in them they take but little Content or delight in any outward refreshment Those things which others are taken with they are all nothing to them even so is it also here in peace and quietness of Conscience those which have the sweetness of this it makes them to forget and to despise any outward trouble whatsoever This Comfort of a good Conscience is like the Wine which has wont in times past to be given to Malefactors when they were going to Execution Prov. 31.6.7 Give strong Drink to him that are ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy Hearts Let him drink and forget his Poverty and remember his misery no more Even thus is it with this wine of the Spirit it causes a forgetfulness of those Evils which are upon us Thus it was with the Martyrs in former days they needed not Cordials and comforting Potions to sustain them and chear them in those Conditions No but they had that within them which was Enough to do it alone even the peace and Comfort and Tranquility of their own Consciences this was to them as a continual Feast and which made them to forget that Misery which their Enemies and Persecutors cast upon them And so it is still to the Saints of God in those Conditions which they now fall into They have so much joy and Comfort within doores as it makes them slight all the Trouble without Si fractum c. Secondly He which has peace with God there is nothing which is able to trouble him because that which is the main ground and Occasion and Foundation of trouble is removed and taken away from him And that in one word is Sin and guilt and the anger of God Affections are not so far forth troublesome to speak off as they are displeasing to Nature or rather as they are reflecting upon Conscience The Sting of Death says the Apostle is Sin and that which he says of Death is also true of every other affliction which is tending thereunto It is Sin which puts a bitterness and Malignity into it Now where God is pleased to give quietness this is removed I say and taken away that is to say in regard of the guilt and condemning power of it Thirdly Where God gives this Quietness and Peace whereof we speak there is also an intimation and assurance of all those Evils and outward Calamities as working and making for our good Though they take impression upon us according to the apprehension which we have of them and as we may conceive and imagine either good or evil comming to us from them we make a great deal of difference in our selves detwixt the wounds which are made by a Souldier and the wounds which are made by a Chyrurgian Because the one we know strikes to Kill whereas the other strikes to Cure Evils are there less troublesome to us when we look upon them as meanes and Conducements to further good Now thus does a person reconciled upon all the troubles and Miseryes and Calamities which he meets with here below he looks
besides And therefore under this expression of seeing and of beholding with the Eyes is signified the Conviction of those Persons that called the things in Question They shall be Subjected and laid open to their view as matters indubitable and out of dispute This God will have to be done for these reasons First For the Greater shame and reproach and confusion of those who have doubted of them There 's nothing which does usually more shame men then to see themselves frustrated and disappointed of their Expectations whether in Hopes or Fears especially accordingly as they have been any thing more then ordinary peremptory in them as it was here in the Text. Extraordinary Confidence goes away with Extraordinary Astonishment where it is obstructed and falls short and God delights so to have it for which reason he does commonly in his Providence so order and dispose it That as the Sin is a matter of Pride so the Punishment might be matter of Shame as most fitted and accommodated thereunto Secondly For the Greater Honour and Glory of God Himself so long as men are not sensibly convinced of Gods Power and Truth in the Event so long are they apt in a sort to triumph over them and to have as it were the better of them from whence the name of God is ready to be Blasphemed But now while he cleares them to men's Experiences they can do no less then give Glory to Him and are forced to acknowledge Him to be that which he is indeed God is hereby justified in his sayings and overcomes by that which he does in his Providence Men's mouthes are from hence stop't as to matter of Cavil and Exception and also open'd as to matter of praise and due Acknowledgement The consideration of this point should teach us therefore the more readily to close with God at first and so to Honour him by believing of Him we should not offer to stand out against that discovery which he makes to us of Himself in his Holy word but yeild and submit to it as that which we shall be fain to do at last whether we will or no. Heaven and Earth may pass away but Gods word shall not pass away nor one jot or tittle of it but it shall come to pass as God will one day be Glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe As he says he will be 2 Thes 1.10 So he will be also be Glorified in his Enemies and in all those that do not believe likewise Because what is wanting of their Faith shall be made up in their Senses as those that shall at last feel and see what they would not believe and then it will return upon them with so much the greater Disadvantage then otherwise it would have done Thus the Church sometimes expresses it self concerning her Enemy and in her own Condition Mic. 7.10 Then she that is mine Enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her face which said unto me where is the Lord thy God Namely as calling in question his Power and Truth in her behalf she should see it and discern it at last and her Eyes should behold it to her shame And so Esay 26.11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed Namely because they have not seen all this while but refused to do so This point is useful both to those which are wicked Persons and absolute unbelievers to meet with their Obstinacy and gross Infidelity of mind as also with the Children of God which are weak Believers to meet with their Doubtings and Staggerings and weakness of Faith Each of these may consider what is here Exhibited to us that their Eyes at last should behold First For Gross and absolute Vnbelievers which are especially here intended in the Text. Here 's an Item and Caveat to them upon this Account not peivishly to stand out against the Word and Truth of God which at last they will be constrain'd to yeild to and especially in those things which concerns their Eternal Salvation For as God will be sure to be true in all other things so especially he will be true in these and so they shall find him and nothing which he has threatn'd or foretold shall be deminisht to them If men as they are wilfully blind for a time could be blind always as they do not see these things at first so they could chuse whether they would ever see them it were then another matter with them but thus it shall not be they shall at last see them with their Eyes as it is here Exprest And so as they shall not be able to divert them from them Again Secondly For weaker Believers and doubting Christians here 's that also which may serve to quicken and excite their weak Faith and especially as to these Gracious promises and overtures which God has made unto them of Peace and Comfort where they have the word of God for them not to be questioning or staggering about them but readily and cheerfully to entertain them as being such things which God in conclusion will evidence and demonstrate unto them What a shame do we think it was some time to the Apostle Thomas that he was forced to Believing by Seeing that what he did not apprehend by Faith he was constrained to acknowledge from Sense Because thou hast seen thou hast believed The like will it be to all other which are guilty of the like unbelief and distrustfulness in their own Heart after conviction shall shame them of former Infidelity That whereas they had so very good Ground to believe God upon his bare word yet they have not without so much ado been brought to the believing of Him This shall reflect with shame upon them and be a grief and breaking of heart to them at another day We may from hence also observe thus much that when men are most confident they are then oftentimes soonest disappointed and frustrated in their expectation That which they think most impossible see Exod. 15.9 10. The enemy said I will pursue c. so Beâ—hadad God do so to me and more also c. It many times comes soonest to passe of any thing else thus it was here in the Text this person here was mighty confident If the Lord would make windows in heaven could these things be This the Lord will have to be partly to shew men their vanity what poor and frail creatures they are And partly also to subdue their pride and to keep up his own Sovereignty and Authority and Providence in the world Therefore it should teach us modesty and sobriety in this particular Not to trust to our own fancies and conceits and apprehensions but to be still in a dependance upon God who hath all things in his own hand and does whatsoever he pleases both in heaven and earth Those that forecast without God they reckon without their Host and so at last may very easily miscarry God will
run Christ must Oyl the wheels of our Souls and put a nimbleness and readiness into them e're we make any Applications towards Him or have converse with Him Look as it is with Children at Play their Parents must first seek for them before they care to come home to their Parents Even so it is commonly with us in this particular And as it is necessary thus to be so we may observe how God is willing thus far to condescend to us in this regard and to begin indeed first of all with us This we have here in the Text and in this order which we now mention Thou saydst seek my face that is thou begannest to say it and wert first in this Proposition This is matter both of great mercy in God and likewise of great Condescention which accordingly it concerns us to admire and to be much affected withall what a wonderfull Dispensation is this That the great God of Heaven and Earth should thus seek to his poor Creatures to receive Vertue and Comfort from him That the Sun should intreat the Air to partake of its Beames and Light that the Fountain or rather the Sea should intreat the Rivers to participate of its fulness That the Creditor should sue to the Debter to take a Discharge from Him That the Physitian should intreat the Patient to be willing to be recover'd by Him Why this now and a great deale more then this is there considerable in Gods dealings with his People when as here he first invites them to converse and Communion with Him That 's the first thing here Observable from the order and method of Gods proceedings The Second is this That Gods Servants they have the Liberty of free Access and Approach unto him without any restraint they may seek and see his face in some sense and are invited to do so This is the Excellency of the Lord that he hath no Reservedness nor Stateliness in him but does admit into his presence the poorest and meanest that are Yea and he does very freely Impart and Communicate himself unto them which is the Ground of this Expression here from Him because he is of a Communicative Nature With men it is oftentimes otherways It is an hard matter now and then to have access unto them and their Condition is such as does require it there is sometime a necessity for it that it should be so with them but in God there is no such necessity It is no Inconvenience nor Disparagement to him for as many as will to come before him This by the way shews the Vanity of Papists in their Doctrine of Invocation of Angels and Saints departed and the use of their Mediation and Intercession for us with God what needs this when as in the name of Christ we may go to God freely of our selves seek ye my face says he here to us that is come directly to me and to none besides As the woman of Canaan when her Daughter was tormented with the Devil she went her self to Christ not to James or Peter or John or any other of the Apostles but presently and Immediately to our Saviour acquainting him with her present Condition This is the Blessed and Happy Priviledg which belongs to all good Christians that they may have immediate Communion with God reconciled to them in Christ He having first made the face of God lovely and amiable to them which out of Christ was terrible they may now with a great deal of boldness and freedom look upon his face and seek unto it And so the Apostle teaches us and advises us to improve it as we may see in Heb. 4.16 Seeing we have a Great High Priest that is passed into Heaven Jesus the son of God c. Let us therefore go boldly to the throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need And we should learn somewhat also by way of Imitation from this example of God here before us and that is a sweetness and amiableness of Spirit and Conversation Yea shall have some kind of people now and then of that harsh and severe and rigid and reserved Disposition as that they are wholy unaccessible there 's no coming near them or looking upon them But Religion teaches otherwise and especially Christianity The Spirit of God it is a Spirit of sweetness and openness and Condescension Thou saydst seek ye my face that 's the second Observation Yet further Thirdly Take in this also with it that though God be full of goodness and Communicative of his goodness to us yet he does ordinarily expect our labours and indeavours in reference hereunto Therefore observe here how he sets it thou saydst seek ye my face God will manifest himself unto us but yet withall he will have us to seek and to pursue these his Manifestations and accordingly puts us hereupon he does not say loe here I am presenting my self to you no but do you seek me God has Majesty mingled with his Goodness and knows both how to be Open and to be reserv'd both at once As in Ezek. 36.36.37 I the Lord have spoken it I will do it I will yet for this be inquired off by the House of Israel The Reason of it is this because there is that in God which is worth our seeking and which will abundantly compensate it to us and make it up And it is fit we should know the worth of it by seeking after it that we may the better both esteem and improve it Those Mercies which are got by our seeking are the most precious to us of all other Therefore we should not think much of such a course as this is or think it to be needless and superfluous as we are sometimes apt to do For Experience shews the Contrary All the seeking that can be is little enough for such a business as this is Especially as the case may be with us that so we may not decline it or withdraw from it But here it may pertinently be demanded how or when or wherein does God speak to us to seek his face Because it is exprest here When thou saydst I answer three manner of ways Especially First In the publique Ministry of the word He says it to us there all the whole work of Preaching in the true Nature and scope of it is nothing else but an Invitation of us to the seeking of Gods face in Christ that so being lost in our selves we may be found in Him This is the main end and drift of all our Ministry we are all by nature Enemies and Strangers to God Now the Gospel invites us to acquaintance and reconciliation with Him And we who are Ministers of it we are Gods spokesmen in this particular and friends of the Bridegroom we are Embassadors for Christ and as though God Himself did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God in the 2 Cor. 5.19.20 Secondly In the private stirrings of
and favour towards them and comfortable presence with them then they have done in their saddest Conditions and when it has been worst with them in regard of the World then has he most tender'd and regarded them and come into them And Supt with them and they with him as we meet with that Expression there in that place in Rev. 3.20 And that 's the Third Explication the Loving-kindness of God is most Excellent in regard of its Efficacy Fourthly It is Excellent also for its Freeness and Impartiality It s Loving-kindness originated in Himself and not in any merit or desert of the Persons whom it is fastened upon men in the placing of their Affections they have somewhat for the most part in the object which is attractive and persuasive hereunto but in God it is not so Those whom he loves he loves freely out of his own propensity and gracious Inclination independently upon the persons themselves and what an excellent thing is this And then which is Pertinent hereunto his Impartiality also in this Business that he is no respecter of Persons as the Scripture proclames it of him Gods favour is not carried towards any for any worldly Eminencies in them Either of Birth or Estate or Pars or any such Induements from whence he does respect one man above another or disrespect those which are difficient in either of these particulars as it is commonly amongst men No but those which have true Grace in their Hearts and hath his Image instampt upon them they are acceptable and well-pleasing to Hin in the meanest Condition that may be which makes his favour to be so much the more Excellent Lastly to add no more at this time it is Excellent also for its Continuance and Duration It s such as cast's and abides There 's a Constancy and Perpetuity in it whom he loves he loves to the End The favour of men it is oftentimes very uncertain according to the Subject of it which is mutable and exposed to Change but the favour of God is otherwise It is such as does not cease to those which are once partakers of it as we have still signified to us in Scripture Thus we find it said expresly of Solomon Psal 89.33 If his Children forsake my Law I will Visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquities with stripes Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail God may sometimes correct his Children but he does not in the mean time forsake them He may hide his face from them but he does not remit of his favour towards them he may withdraw his Countenance but he will not take away his loving-kindness this is still one and the same Therefore his Loving-kindness is called Everlasting Loving-kindness Esay 54.8 With Everlasting-kindness will I gather thee And it is set forth by such like sutable Expressions from the waters of Noah Thus we see in all these particulars how excellent the Loving-kindness of God is said to be Now the Improvement of all this to our selves may be to this purpose First We see from hence what great cause we have to pursue it and to seek after it Seeing it is every way so Excellent it is not then good for us to want it or to be destitute of it we see how ambitious many are sometimes of the favour of Men Especially which are great in the World and how much they will adventure for it and what a shame is it then for them to neglect the favour of God which has so much Eminency and Transcendency in it This was that which our Saviour laid sometimes to the charge of the Jewes That they Received Honour one of another and sought not the Honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 And again John 12.43 That they loved the Praise of Men more then the Praise of God This is that which too many still do to this present day which is very unsutable and Disconsonant to the present Truth which we have now in hand If Gods Loving-kindness be so excellent why then certainly it is worth the regarding and looking after we should give no rest to our Eyes nor sleep to our Eye-lids till we have in some manner assured and made this Condition good to our selves that it is so with us for our particulars as to be Subjects hereof And further Secondly Let us take heed of forfeiting it or doing any thing which may hazard it to us let us take heed of doing any thing whereby we may incur Gods displeasure or provoke him if not to take away his favour absolutely in it self yet any expression or sense of it in our selves By how much more excellent it is in its own Nature by so much more chary and tender should we be of it to take heed of the doing of such things as may any way rob or deprive us of it But by all means keep up in our selves a perfect feeling and apprehension of it This we should do Especially upon a two-fold Consideration First In order to Comfort And Secondly In order to Duty That we may be more chearful and also more Servicable in our present Pilgrimage First In order to comfort to make us more cheerful there 's nothing more becomes Christians then a chearfullness and pleasantness of conversation as much as may be for their own greater contentment and the honour also of Religion it self Now this can be no further expected from them then as they walk in the light of Gods Countenance and the expression of this excellent loving-kindness the want of this puts men into darkness and sadness and blackness of spirit it self and fills them with horror and confusion Secondly This is also further requisite in order to Duty to make us so much the more serviceable The Apprehension of Gods favour and loving-kindness is a great quickning to us in His work to make us to undertake it and to dispatch it with the more alacrity and intention of mind then otherwise we should when a servant is perswaded of his Masters favour it does much hearten him and incourage him in his work The Joy of the Lord is here our Strength which puts nimbleness and activity into us in all our performances Now If we would further know how this might be done by us how we might keep and preserve our selves still in such a Condition I answer by walking warily and fruitfully in our whole course that 's the best and readiest way hereunto warily in regard of Miscarriages take heed of doing any thing amiss and Fruitfully in regard of Performances Take heed of omitting any thing which should be done these two are especially necessary for the keeping up of Gods favour towards us in the Vigor of it First I say we must walk warily in regard of Miscarriages we must be suspicious and Jealous over our selves that God himself may not be jealous towards us they that make no bones of any Sin or the tendencies
thoughts shall be Established The word in the Text is Role that is put of thy burthen from thine own shoulders upon his So 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your Care upon him for he careth for you This for the right and more expedite performance of it supposes first our Interest in God and Acquaintance with him this belongs to the Covenant of Grace in each respect both on Gods part and on ours when we are in Covenant with God he will then undertake our thoughts for us and when we are in Covenant with him we shall be inabled to commit them to him and may safely and with Confidence do so First I say he will then undertake them when God at any time enters into Covenant and Ingages himself to be our God and takes us to be his people he does not onely hereby take upon him to bring us at last to Heaven and to land us safe there but to provide for us in all our way and Journey thither to guide all our thoughts and purposes and Actions and undertakings whatsoever upon which Ground we may safely settle and Establish our thoughts in themselves and then we shall be able also upon this account to cast our selves upon him This committing of our thoughts to God in a way of reliance it supposes our submitting of them first of all to him in a way of Obedience that 's the first Interest in God as requisite here Secondly The use and exercise of this performance the more we do it the more we may do it and it is of use to our selves to do it in some things which makes us the better to do it in others from particulars arising to Generals That we may still be further incouraged thus to do let us consider but two things more First That 's a thing very easie for God to settle our thoughts for us And Secondly That it is very pleasing that we should commit our thoughts to him to this purpose It is very easie first of all for him to undertake them and settle them we put him to no great cost or trouble hereby let them be as great or as many as they can be and of as great concernment he can as easily take care of a Nation as he can of a person and of the whole Church as one particular Believer and member of it he can rule the Ocean as well as the smallest River or Breach that passes through the Earth Secondly It is very pleasing to him also while we thus delight our own Souls we refresh his while hereby we have him in his Goodness and Power and Truth and the rest of his Attributes wherein he delights to be admired and Glorified by us So much may serve that and likewise for this whole Text. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XXIII Psal 104.34 My Meditation of Him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. As it is the Excellency and Priviledge of a man above other Creatures here below that he is capable of Reflection and Meditation and has his Thoughts and the workings of his mind which are remarkable in in him so is the Excellency and Priviledge of a Christian above other men that he has the ordering of those thoughts aright with the best advantage and contentment to himself that so whiles some are imploy'd in one thing and others are imploy'd in another He has his Thoughts fasten'd upon God and concentred as his chiefest happiness and united in Him and that with a great deal of delight and Complacency and satisfaction of Spirit This is that which we have here exhibited to us in this present Scripture which follows as a very good close of others which have been hanaled by us very lately we have heard of the several Properties of God in a Variety of Perfection Of his Power and Goodness and Faithfulness and Pittifulness and the like And what now remains as the Sum and upshot and conclusion of all this unto us but that the Meditation of Him should be sweet and that we should be glad in him Which is that which we have here presented unto us in these words which I have mentioned unto you IN the Text itself there are two General Parts considerable First Davids Contemplation Secondly Davids Exultation His Contemplation that is in thess words My Meditation of him shall be sweet His Exultation that is in these words I will be glad in the Lord. We begin with the former viz. Davids Contemplation in these words My Meditation of Him shall be sweet wherein again two particulars more First The Performance implyed and that is Divine Meditation My Meditation of Him that is of God Secondly The Qualification it self and that is pleasantness or sweetness My Meditation of Him shall be sweet First Here is considerable of us the Performance implyed And that I say is Divine Meditation It is here supposed and taken for granted that David did indeed Meditate upon God whiles he makes mention of his Meditation and so there is this in it That Gods servants they are much imploy'd and taken up in the Thoughts God in Holy and Divine Meditation This is that which there Mindes and Thoughts are very frequently carryed unto The Prophet David Himself was very much in this Performance as we may see in divers passages of the Psalms and we read of the Patriark Isaac that he went out in the fields to Meditate Namely upon God himself Gen. 24.63 Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us as whereupon it proceeds First The Gracious and Heavenly Frame and Temper of a Christian Soul being sanctified and renewed by Grace Mens Meditations are much as their hearts are Vain and Frothy Spirits they have commonly answerable Meditations and those that savour of the world they have their thoughts fasten'd upon it but Gods Children being born from above they have accordingly thoughts above in sutableness thereunto David he was a man after Gods own Heart as the Scripture declares him and therefore he was much in the Thoughts of God and so it is likewise with all others of the same frame and temper with him forasmuch as they are born of God and have his Image stampt upon them they doe bend their thoughts to him to Contemplate upon him They which are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 Grace it is the Byass of the soul which does move it and incline it to the Mark and the scope which is propounded to it and set before it which is thus Active in those that are Regenerate Secondly The servants of God are much in thoughts and Meditations of Him because as their hearts are made like unto him so which also follows thereupon fasten'd upon him They have made God their Happiness and therefore they doe accordingly make him their Meditation For where the Treasure
persons as mind their Health they will take a sickness in the first risings and beginnings of it Even so also in regard of the Soul such persons as mind their Salvation they will in like manner resist their sins and temptations in the very first beginning Now therefore accordingly should we learn this piece of spiritual wisdom and Prudence our selves even to indeavour our spiritual recovery upon the first apprehensions of Distemper Let not Satan take possession of our souls let not vain thoughts lodge in us let us not continue in sin nor suffer it at any time to continue in us but exterminate it and dispossess it and discard it as soon as may be And apply our selves to such courses as may free us and deliver us from it The first grace is to see our Infirmities but the next grace is to remove them and shake them off as soon as we can as the Psalmist here did This is mine infirmity But I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High And thus much of the scope in General Now to come more Closely to the words themselves in particular I will remember the years c. The words in the Hebrew Text are Shenoth Jemin Gneljon which I find to be variously rendred and translated by Interpreters I shall not trouble you with them all at this present time but onely take notice of two of them which I conceive are the Principle and most comprehensive the one is of our Oldest English Translation and the other of our last and Newest the Former reads the words thus The right hand of the most High can change all this the latter reads the words thus as we have it now before us I will remember the years of c. The main Ground of this Variation is the different Exposition of the Hebrew word Shenoth which may be translated either to change from the Verb in the Infinitive mood or else may be translated yeares from the Noun in the Plurall Number This hath given the occasion to this difference and variety of Translation but the sense is very good and agreeable which way soever we take it and such as contains in it matter for our special Instruction First Take it according to the former Translation as it does Exhibit to us the Power of God The right hand of the Lord can change all this This was that whereby David did support himself in his present Affliction which we had mentioned in the beginning of the Psalm that the Lord was able to change and alter this his Condition to him and that for the better Mutatio Dextrae Excelsi There is a change in the right hand of the most High Though God himself be unchangeable considered in his own Essence yet his works and Providences and Dispensations have a variety in them and all such as do perfect and Accomplish his most unchangeable Purpose and Decree which he has set down with himself God does never less change his mind then when he does most change his Carriage and Practise and outward Administrations as being able from Contrary means to bring about the same Gracious Ends and Effects which he hath appointed to accomplish so that this Expression hath no Repugnancy or Inconsistency with it at all but is freely to be admitted by us and to be improved as t is here by the Psalmist This is the great Comfort of the Church and of every Person who is a member of it that let their present State and Condition be never so troublesome and Calamitous and full of Affliction yet the Lord is able to qualify it and mitigate it to them yea to mend it and better it for them and they may say in the words here before us The right hand of the Lord can change all this Where for the better amplifying and Illustrating of this present Passage unto us we may take notice of two words in it which are very Significant and Emphaticall The one is in that God is here called the most High And the other is that there is mention made of his Right hand It is not said God can do it no more but so but the most High and with his right Hand The one is an Expression of Eminency which carries an Advantage with that And the other is an Expression of Strength which carries an advantage with that likeness First There is the Advantage of Eminency in that God is called the most High because Height it has the Opportunity of Prospect he that stands Higher then others he has the advantage of overlooking them and beholding them and of seeing what they do and so is able to order and to manage his affairs accordingly with greater success Now thus is God the Lord he is the most High God and so he is said to dwell on High frequently in Scripture from whence he has the better Inspection to behold the things which are done both in Heaven and Earth and likewise the greater Influence as to the ruling and disposing of them Secondly There 's the Advantage of Strength in that there is mention made of his right hand which is a word of Power The right hand of the Lord doth Valiantly the right hand of the Lord brings mighty things to pass Prov. 118.15.16 And so Psal 89.13 Thou hast a mighty Arm strong is thine hand and high is thy right hand Gods right hand it is a strong hand and does great things in the world But more particularly as pertinent to the Text David does Comfort himself in this Power and strength of God and this right hand of the most High As to the Business of Change and Alteration The right hand of the most High can change all this And here again it has a double Reference or respect with it The one in order to his Condition And the other in order to his Mind as also the word Infirmity mentioned in the former part of the verse it may have a double sense with it either as it denotes his outward State or temper of Body or as it denotes his inward Disposition and frame of Soul This is mine Infirmity but God can change that that is He can renounce this present Distress which is upon me or again This is my Infirmity but God can change that that is he can remove the present Disturbance which is upon me he can heal the Infirmities of my Spirit Gods Power it extends to both First As to the Infirmities of his Condition and the present State in which he now was Take it so and here he Comforts and pleases Himself that as bad as it was now with Him God was able to better it to him Here 's my Sickness but there 's my Physitian This is my Infirmity but there 's a Power to Deliver me from it even the right hand of God This is a great Satisfaction to Gods Servants in the worst Conditions that there is Hope and Help for them in God when they know not how to help
Judgments are right and that in Faithfulness thou hast Afflicted me For indeed he does wonderfully moderate Himself in these his Corrections He punishes us less then our Iniquities deserves as Ezra makes Confession in Ezra 9.13 And although we do not always think so yet he always Corrects us in measure as himself declares unto us in Scripture thus in Esay 27.8 speaking concerning his Vineyard that is his Church In measure when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth his rough Winds in the day of his East-winds And Jer. 30.11 I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee though I make a full end of all Nations whether I have scattered thee yet I will not make a full end of thee but I will Correct thee in measure and will not altogether leave thee Vnpunished Mark how these two are very happily joyned together I will not altogether leave thee unpunished and yet I will correct the in measure God will not leave his people altogether unpunished that he may the better rule them and keep them in awe and yet he will punish them and correct in measure that so he may keep them from Discouragement and Dispondency and dejection of Spirit Therefore I say let us observe Gods dealings in this particular and acknowledg his goodness in them It should teach us to entertain good thoughts of God and to look for such dealings from him as for time past it should draw out our thankfulness and so for time present it should strengthen our Patience and so for time to come incourage our Faith and Hope and Expectation That he that hath delivered will deliver and though he may Chasten sore yet will still mitigate his Chastenings to us that they shall not altogether overwhelm us and swallow us up but that we shall finde relief in them Indeed we cannot always expect it in the letter of the Text as to an absolute Freedom from Dissolution for that must come and will come at last after all our preservations from it upon such and such particular occasions Recovery is at the best but a Repreive and so must be accounted by us and what ever Evils we do escape there 's no escape of this comming to Death but yet under this phrase here we have signified Gods General inclination for the mitigating of his Corrections to us And therefore Secondly it teaches us also Bowels and Compassions in our selves in imitation of this goodness of God There are some kind of people in the world whom nothing will serve their turn but absolute ruine and destruction Like those two fierce Disciples in the Gospel presently calling for fire from Heaven or like the children of Edom in the Psalm concerning Jerusalem Raze it raze it to the foundation down with it down with it to the ground yea but these are taught better here from the Example of God himself who does hold and restrain his hand in the chastisements and corrections of his people This is still his manner of dealings especially where there 's any hope of proficiency for time to come He will not there presently make an utter end but spare them in much mercy As in Isa 65.8 When the new wine is found in the cluster oh destroy it not for there 's a blessing in it so will I doe for my servants sake c. And so much may be spoken of these words consider'd in their connexion The first part of the verse with the second as qualifying of it Now Secondly let us look upon them in their absolute consideration the latter clause of the verse distinctly and alone by it self He hath not given me over unto death We see here how God does graciously preserve his servants from Death and destruction he keeps and maintains their lives This David often makes mention of in other places of the Psalms besides As Psal 30.3 Oh Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the Grave Thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the Pit So Psal 116.8 Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling This the Lord is pleased to doe upon sundry considerations First out of his Goodness and Mercy and Love unto them thus David sets it forth in that place Psal 116.5 6. Gracious is the Lord and righteous yea our God is mercifull And what follows hereupon The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me So in verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints And Psal 72.14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence and precious shall their blood be in his sight It is not an indifferent matter with God the death of his Servants neither does he lightly take away their lives but where there 's good cause and reason for it and in order to some greater good to them Secondly Because he hath work and service for them to do In death no man shall praise thee and who shall give thee thanks in the pit Psal 6.5 And Again Isa 38.18 19. The Grave cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee The living the living he shall praise thee As long as God has any work for any man to do so long he is sure to live and abide in the world Here 's a double goodness of God manifested to us First In designing us to service and the work it self And Secondly In preâ—erving our lives that so we may serve him and doe the work he has design'd us to This should so much the more incourage us in fruitfulness before him we cannot take a more expedient way to prolong our lives than by doing as much good as we can in them Useless and unprofitable persons which live idly and out of any imployment they doe but stand in the room of those which would do better then themselves and they provoke God oftentimes in Judgement to remove them and to take them away As the barren Figtree in the Gospel it was cut down that it might not cumber the ground But those that are active and serviceable they are a great delight and content to him and he takes a great deal of delight in thinking upon them as himself also expresses it in Malach. 3.16 17. They shall be mine sayes the Lord of Hosts in that day when I make up my jewels and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him A man loves all his children as children and from his Relation to them Oh but those who are of his Trade and which work to him those he loves and tenders more especially and would be lothest to part with them of any other besides and so is it here with God his sons that serve him their death is more precious with him of all the rest neither will he easily give them over to it Not that he simply needs any work or service of ours who when we have done all we can are at the best but unprofitable
the Text and that is the Duty commended Fraternal Agreements For Brethren to dwell together in Vnity The second is the Terms of this Praise and Commendation or the Particulars whereof it consists and this is taken from a twofold qualification First From the goodness of it Behold how good a thing it is And secondly From the pleasantness of it Behold how pleasant This is a very high Commendation if we rightly consider it and that not onely by taking it distinctly but likewise joyntly There are many things which sometimes are good but yet they are not very pleasant Again there are other things which sometimes are pleasant but yet they are not very good This for the excellency of it is both good and pleasant to Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci. We begin in order with the first and that is the Goodness of it Behold how good c. Brotherly Concord and the Improvement of it in all occasional expressions it is a very great Good This is and will appear to be so in sundry Considerations As first In regard of the Authour and owner of it which is God himself who layes special claim hereunto Therefore in Scripture we find him to be from hence denominated and intitled 1 Cor. 14.33 God is not the Authour of Confusion or of unquietness but the Authour of peace So 2 Cor. 13.11 The God of peace and love Peace it is called the Peace of God Phil. 4.7 And God He is called the God of peace each of which expressions does refer it and reduce it to him and does thereby advance it Yea He is not onely call'd the God of Peace and of Love but even love it self to advance it and to extol it so much the more as 1 John 4.16 God is Love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Look then how far forth God Himself is said to be good so far forth is this dwelling in Unity good also as it is commanded and owned by him as it appears thus to be Secondly It is good in the Nature of it It is good as any Grace is Good it is good morally Love it is a Fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 And so to dwell in Love and unity one with another it is a goodness reducible thereunto It is not only Bonum morale but Bonum Spiritualis It is not onely such a good as is taught by Moral Philosophy and practised by the Principles thereof but is taught by the Holy Ghost himself and is a part of the work of Regeneration and in the new Creature in us especially if we take it in the full latitude and extent of it as it becomes us to do Indeed it is true men may go very far in it out of meer Moral Principles and sometimes doe Goodness of nature and sweetness of temper and facility of Constitution and Common Civility they are great promoters of this Concord and many from the strength of these doe sometimes go beyond those which pretend at least to better But yet in the true notion it is not good nature but Grace Thirdly It is good in the Effects and Consequents and Concomitants of it it has much good attendant upon it It is Bonum utile There 's a great deal of advantage which comes by Brethrens dwelling together in Vnity especially spiritual advantage and for the doing and receiving of good Where there 's envy and strife sayes St. James there is confusion and every evil work Divisions of Mind and Affection they divide men in their work and imployment and hinder them from doing that good which otherwise they might do in their places and especially in their mutual Society and Communion one with another But now on the other side Love and Peaceableness of Disposition as it Vnites them in their hearts so it strengthens them so much the more in their undertakings and the good things which are done by them This the Divel knows well enough better then we doe and accordingly makes use of it by hindring it and obstructing it and and destroying it all that may be what 's the reason that Satan is so busie as for the most part he is in the sowing of strife and discord betwixt brethren It is for this very reason here in the Text Because Unity and Brotherly concord is good and tends to make men better He being an evil spirit does all he can in opposition to what good is which he knows he cannot hinder more effectually then by such courses as these are Which therefore by the way should teach us to be the more jealous and suspicious of him we should not be ignorant of Satans devices in this particular but rather be the more watchfull over him and over our own hearts and when we find our selvs any thing inclined to things of this nature to strife and division and contention one with another think there 's somewhat of him at the end of it And so much the rather avoyd it shun it and take heed of it We may be sure it is for no good but rather the contrary even to keep us from goodness And that 's the first Qualification from whence this Vnity of Brethren is commended Namely that it good The second is the sweetness of it because it is Pleasant It is not onely Bonum utile and bonum Honestum but it is also Bonum Jucundum it has a great deal of pleasure in it Pleasure is such a kind of goodness especially to some kind of persons as that they care not almost what they doe or part with to obtain it and all other good besides is nothing to them if it be devoyd of this Therefore for the further advancement of this Fraternal Unity to us there is this also considerable in it that it is Pleasant Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her paths are peace Prov. 3.17 Thus it is with respect had to all sorts of persons whatsoever that are made sensible of it First It is pleasant to God it is such as is very acceptable to Him It is that which he much delights in wheresoever he observes it being himself as I shewed before a God of Peace he does therefore so much the more delight in peaceable persons and especially in peaceable Christians and such as do relate to himself How much do natural Parens rejoyce in the Agreement of their Children to see them loving and friendly and kind and courteous to one another oh it tickles them and joyes them at the very heart And so is it likwise with God to those which are his To see his children dwell together in Vnity it is that which is very pleasing and acceptable to Him He is exceedingly taken with it and does much rejoyce to behold it And on the other side He is very much grieved and offended with the contrary It grieves the holy Spirit of God in us when there are strifes and contentions amongst us as the Apostle seems to
that which is implied I will speak Secondly as a matter of necessity in that which is exprest I cannot hold my peace First to speak of the former to wit the parts affected both simply propounded as also doubled and repeated My bowels my heart These though if we take them corporally and according to a Bodily Dissection or Anatomy of them they are parts distinct yet here in this Spiritual notion and consideration of them they are one and the same and do signifie no more than the Soul and inward man yet as working likewise upon the body and outward Thus have some of the antient Expositors and Interpreters of Scripture understood iâ— as Gregory Nyssen upon that place of the Canticles Cant. 5.4 My bowels were moved in me he has this Gloss upon it ' H 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The belly or bowels here meant is the Intellectual and Discursive Faculty of the Soul So in like manner Gregory Nazianzen in his 17 Oration speaking of this place of the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning by his bowels his mind .. And St. Ambrose to the like purpose De Spirituali non corporeo ventre dixit propheta The Prophet did not speak of a corporal but of a spiritual belly This spiritual belly it is the Mind and Soul of Man There are three special Reasons among others which may be given by us for this expression of the Mind and Soul by the Belly or Bowels First The secrecy of it as that which is most inward and retired 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he before Greg. Naz. The Mind and Soul it is hidden and invisible as the belly and bowels within the body Thus Prov. 20.27 The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly So Psal 103.1 Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy name Within me i. e. in my bowels in viscerebus as some translate it And more expresly Psal â—1 6 Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom The bowels do well express the Soul in regard of their secresie That 's the first Secondly Because the Mind it does receive and digest the Thoughts as the Belly does the Meats Mens coquit curas ut venter aescas Greg. past 3. part admonit l. 3. The mind it does digest and boil out cares as the stomach does the food which is put into it and those Notions which at the first are but raw yet through meditation and often turning of them in the mind they come to be concocted Thirdly The Mind it is the Mother of Thoughts it is the fruitful Belly which doth send forth so many conceptions as the proper fruit and issue of it Vt proles in utero concepitur sic cogitatio in mente generatur says the same Author Greg. Mor. l. 12. c. 27. As the Child is conceived in the Womb so is the Thought generated in the Mind Thus in regard of this threefold Analogy and Correspondency is the Mind exprest by the Bowels or Belly so that My bowels my bowels and My heart my heart that is as much as My Soul my Soul my Spirit and my inward man There are two words here in the Text put together for the greater emphasis Bowels and Heart both the one as the explication of the other My Bowels my Heart that is My Bowel which is my Heart and indeed there is so great a nearness and affinity of these two to one another as that they are frequently put the one for the other and signifie the one by the other Thus Psal 22.14 My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels not as if his Heart were in his Belly but in regard of the vicinity of these parts the one to the other it is thus exprest And because of this coincidency sometimes the Bowels is put for the Heart sometimes the Heart is put for the Bowels The Bowels for the Heart Jer. 31.33 I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts In their inward parts that is in their Bowels but the meaning of it is in their Hearts as the latter word explains it to us Again the the Heart is also put for the Bowels as in Jer. 48.36 compared with Isa 16.11 In Jer. 48.36 we find it thus My heart shall sound for Moab like pipes In Isa 16.11 we find it thus My bowels shall sound like an Harp for Moab and mine inward parts for Kir-hajesh There mine heart here my bowels and inward parts From both together we are to understand in one word the affections which while they are described by the Bowels it does shew 1. The retiredness of them they were such as every one did not see within the walls of the Heart Kiroth libbi as it is exprest in the Text. 2. The fixedness of them deeply rooted as low as the Bowels 3. The truth and sincerity of them without hypocrisie or dissimulation c. The second Particular in the first General is the grief of these parts both in the kinds of it My heart is pain'd and in the effect of it My heart makes a noise within me From both together we may observe thus much what work and disturbance passions and affections make in the Soul if they be not the better restrain'd they put all out of order and frame and cause great commotions of spirit in those persons which are exercised with them Indeed this of the Prophet it was not an inordinate but a regular stirring in him both because as we shall hear afterwards it was upon a just occasion as likewise that he was carried by the Spirit of God in it But yet we may occasionally from it take notice also of the tumults which do arise in the Soul from the distemper and miscarriage it self And so I say thus much How that Passion it puts all out of frame it puts the Soul out of joynt and takes off the wheels of it it is the ground of very great trouble and anguish and disquiet unto it this it is in all the kinds and specifications of it whether anger or sorrow or fear or what ever it is The excess of it is very outrageous and and such as there is no abiding or enduring of it not onely in others but in men themselves If we look into Scripture we shall find what work it has there made even in the best men in the world for example The Prophet David do but see it in him Psal 31.9 Mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly Psal 32.3 My moisture is turned into the drought of summer Psal 38.3 No soundness in my flesh c. This extravagancy of affection it is not onely an affliction to the spirit but has also an influence upon the outward man Now there is very good use which we may make of this observation that we
done by a man 's own skill and power it is a work of Heaven Secondly Can he do it i. e. can he easily do it It is not done with a meer sleight or turn of the hand it is a work of difficulty Each of these limitations are implyed And First of the former He cannot do it that is he cannot do it of himself An unregenerate person or such an one as is accustomed to evil he cannot alter his own heart or course This is one thing here implyed as the same Prophet also else-where O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10.23 We see here the impotency of nature and the inability of free-will to the doing of any thing which is good It is possible for the heart to be chang'd but this is not within its own power Therefore it is worth our observing that it is not said here Can the Ethiopian's skin be changed in a passive expression but can the Ethiopian change his skin in an active that is can he do it himself and by his own power No he cannot do it We are not able to think any thing of our selves our sufficiency is of God in 2 Cor. 3.5 And it is he which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 We can no more alter our corrupted nature than we can our created no more make our selves of bad good than we can of men Angels We can no more convert our selves than we can create our selves give our selves a spiritual being than we can a natural nor raise our selves from the death of sin than we can from the death of the grave That 's the first limitation Secondly He cannot do it that is he cannot easily do it it is a business of some work and labour and which carries some difficulty in it the reclaiming of such an one which is used and accustomed to any sin yea and that even there where there is some work of Grace wrought in the heart and so some ability conferr'd and bestowed in order hereunto yet the thing is not so easily brought to pass Those that let themselves loose to any evil or vitious custom it costs them a great deal of pains with their hearts ere they recover and get up again Naturam expellas furca licet usque recurret Still there will somewhat arise and bubble up of the old corruption in them The ground of this difficulty if we would know it lies in this First because Satan will be very busy in the presenting of his temptations where he has a long time conquered and prevailed he will not easily there go over his hold but will keep his ground as long as he can and will not endure to be dispossest without a great deal of trouble Secondly Lust in the heart of man will also have its course and vent and being unhappily wrought into the soul will work forth and shew it self as there is any occasion for it so to do especially when the object is strong and enticing which is propounded unto it The flesh lusts against the spirit c. says the Apostle Gal. 5.17 Thirdly Grace is oftentimes asleep which should suppress and keep sin down and restrain it from breaking forth And when that is so sin and the flesh takes occasion to work in the room and place of it These are the reasons why sin where 't is rooted and habituated is not so easily removed And thus much of those Points and Doctrines which are mainly intended as the chief scope of the Text. Now besides these there are divers others which are collaterally observable from it and which do also implicitly lye in it As to instance in one or two of them First observe here thus much that it is not enough for us to abstain from evil but we must likewise do good This we may gather from the manner of the expression here before us According to the proper manner of speaking the words should have run thus How then can those which are accustomed to do evil cease to do evil but the Holy Ghost was not content with that to say no more but so and therefore he adds likewise further to do good why and upon what account namely that hence he might teach us what is required and expected from us This we shall find also in other Scriptures as Psal 34.14 Depart from evil and do good c. Isa 16.17 Cease to do evil learn to do well Rom. 12.9 Abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good c. Still we are put upon this practice of vertue as well as upon the abstaining from vice and doing good as avoiding of evil Therefore this meets with your negative Christians which are always harping upon this that they are inoffensive and do no no hurt like the Pharisee there in the Gospel that he was not as other men no Extortioner no Thief no Adulterer nor even as the Publican Well but what are they in the mean time and what good do they do according to those abilities and opportunities which are afforded unto them This would be demanded of them as being that which God himself does look for That 's one thing which we may here observe by the way Again Secondly observe thus much That sins of commission they have sins of omission in them They that do that which they should not they neglect to do that which they should This is also in the Text for ye see here that they which are accustomed to do evil they are taken off from doing good the one it still follows upon the other and ye shall always observe it And that upon a threefold account which may be rendred as an occasion of it First they want the opportunity Secondly they lose the ability Thirdly they betray the assistance They want the opportunity First we may observe that Those which are much in sin they have little leisure to any thing else they are so addicted and given to their vile and vicious courses that they have no time for any thing besides they are so hot in the pursuit of their lusts that they cannot mind those things which are better and contrary to them Hence it is that evil men do so delay and put off their repentance or any other good work which is to be done by them Secondly They lose the ability If they had time and leisure for good yet they have little strength or power unto it which is eaten out by the strength and prevalency of lust and corruption in them as I in part intimated in a point before Every new sin as it encreases the habit of evil so it weakens the habit of good in us Thirdly They betray their assistance for God himself in such cases does withdraw his Grace from them which should be helpful to them in that which they undertake The Spirit of God being grieved by them
begin in order with the first viz. the Persons mentioned those that sigh and cry c. from whence we may observe thus much That such persons there are that do so and it is their duty so to do even to sigh and cry for the abominations all of them that are done in the midst of the City We read of divers in Scripture which have been noted for this disposition in them Thus it is said of just Lot that he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing vext his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds as it is in 2 Pet. 2.7 8. David he beheld the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not Gods word Psal 119.158 and rivers of water ran down his eyes because they kept not his law in verse 136. of the same Psalm Jeremy his soul wept in secret places for their pride c. Jer. 13.17 And Paul his spirit was stirred in him at Athens when he saw the City to be wholly given to idolatry Acts 17.16 Thus have the Servants of God been still affected with the abominations of the places and people whom they have lived withall and amongst whom they have at any time converst And this it hath proceeded thus in them upon divers and sundry considerations First out of their inward hatred and antipathy even to sin it self The children of God being born again and become new creatures and having grace in their hearts they cannot but abhor any thing which is opposite and contrary hereunto from that new nature and spirit which is in them Look as on the other side wicked men they are troubled at the slourishing of Religion where they see any to improve in goodness and to be any thing more forward in piety their hearts and spirits rise as it were against them and boil in them from the devilish disposition which is in them and hatred even of goodness it self So here those that fear the Lord they are as much troubled at the improvements of sin from that work of Regeneration which is in their hearts Secondly Out of love to God and a tenderness of his honour and glory Where abominations are at any time committed there God is exceedingly dishonour'd his Laws are slighted his Attributes are question'd his Name is blasphem'd Now those that are good themselves they have a great regard hereunto Those that are Gods children they are very jealous of Gods honour as any other children besides are of the honour of their earthly Parents and so accordingly they cannot but grieve when there is any trespass at any time upon it Those that areotherwise they shew but little love and affection which they bear unto him Thirdly Out of respect to themselves and their own advantage The more sin there is abroad the more are all men concerned in it not evil men but good who are from hence in so much the greater danger and that in a twofold respect both as to matter of defilement and of punishment They are more in danger from hence to be polluted and they are more in danger from hence to be afflicted and this makes them to be so much troubled at it First In order to Defilement they are more in danger from hence to be polluted Great and reigning sins and abominations are usually great temptations which do hazard the souls of many persons that converse amongst them and therefore there is cause to be grieved for them What is it that which makes men now so troubled to hear of the spreading of certain sicknesses and diseases Why it is because they think that themselves may haply come to feel them and to be infected with them that which befalls others they think at last it may light upon them And so is it likewise with gracious persons as to spiritual distempers when they hear of such corruptions and wickedness which are abroad in the world they are therefore much afflicted with them because they fear lest they themselves should be any thing defiled from them they are jealous of their own hearts in case of the prevailing of such sins and so do grieve and mourn for and under them And this they do it in order to defilement as being in danger to be polluted Secondly In order also to Punishment as being in danger to be afflicted Common and publick abominations they beget common and publick plagues and judgments which follow thereupon This those that are wise and prudent Christians know and discern well enough Evil men understand not judgment but they that seek the Lord understand all things says Solomon Prov. 28.5 Fools make a mock of sin and those that are wicked and ungodly they are commonly hardned and secure in the midst of the greatest wickednesses that are commited Because they do not suffer for them presently therefore they think they shall not suffer at all Yea but the children of God they are otherwise perswaded they know that sin will sooner or later come to a reckoning and when they see it to increase in the world they foresee the judgments that attend it and therefore tremble at the sight of it as knowing that God is so much the more provoked by it and so will at length proceed to the punishment of it There are two things in the increase of sin and the spreading of more nauseous abominations which to this purpose do very much affect the children and servants of God the one is they are conscious of Gods anger and displeasure in the cause of them And the other is as they are prognosticks of Gods wrath and judgment in the effects First I say as they ar consequents of his anger and displeasure for so they are There is nothing which is more redious to Gods children than the anger and displeasure of God Now reigning abominations they are a symptom and discovery of that they are a sign that God is very much offended with those places and persons where he suffers them and permits them to be in them and gives them up to them We many times make light of it but believe it for any people to be given up to more notorious wickedness is the greatest argument of Gods anger that can be and in that regard a special ground for mercy to those that are good As it is a sign of God's anger against a person to be given up to strong and strange lusts An whore is a deep ditch and he that is abhorred of God shall fall into it so it is a sign of Gods anger against a Nation when he gives them up to more eminent sins and abominations in any kind whatsoever And so there is very great cause to grieve at it But secondly As those raging abominations they are the consequents of Gods anger in the causes of them so they are the Prognosticks of Gods wrath in the effects they do as good as foretell some judgment ere long to be brought upon
one thing needful therefore be sure to mind that and at the least not to neglect it Seing it is needful it may not be slighted or despised by us Secondly By way of Order Seeing it is the one thing needful therefore take care of that first mind Religion a-fore any thing else Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness c. Thirdly By way of Measure and Degree Seeing it is the one thing needful therefore give it the greatest care and endeavour that may be necessaries are to be preferred in our pursuit above superfluities And to make it full and compleat let us take it also in its full latitude and extent Religion it is the one thing needful and it is needful for all persons and all ages and all conditions It 's needful for people in their youth to look after their souls then and to begin with God betimes that so they may sweeten their life to them for ever afterwards whiles they abide in the World that they may avoid the snares and temptations and dangers which that age is exposed unto And it is nedful for people in their old age that so they may end their days in peace and exchange this life for a better It is not needful only then and never before as some young ones do sometimes imagine but it is needful then in a special manner And so for all states and conditions of life for Magistrates for Ministers for States-men for private Persons what-ever they need besides to qualify them for the places in which they are This one thing to be sure it is most needful and necessary for them and they cannot be without it And so I have handled this Point both in the Doctrinal Part and in the Applicatory But one thing is needful So much may serve for this time SERMON VIII LUKE 10.42 And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her Our Blessed Lord and Saviour was fruitful where-ever he came He went about doing good and took all occasions that might be for the profiting and benefiting of those persons whom he converst withal especially as to their inward man and the good of their souls What-ever house he came into it was still the better for him and he brought Salvation with him to those who were the aimers at it at least in regard of the means and opportunities which he afforded unto it And this we may observe him to have done in the carriage of this present Scripture here before us Whiles he came into the house of Martha with her Sister Mary and was entertained by them He was not only their Guest but their Instructer and so entertains them which entertained him Martha the Elder Sister and who had the chief care of the Family out of a good affection which she bore to Christ as the ground and foundation of it thought she could never enough express her respect unto him and therefore was very active and sollicitous in providing for him But yet as the best actions are sometimes through humane weakness and infirmity subject to be corrupted she was here guilty of a double miscarriage the one of over-toyling her self in that which was less material and the other of over-blaming her Sister for that which was more tolerable and upon the point commendable in her Now our Saviour accordingly applies himself to each of these distempers in her in this verse which I have now read unto you As to the former which was her own sollicitude about that which was of less consequence He tells her that one thing is needful and thereby informs her of her duty And as for the other which was the censuring of her sister for that which was of greater importance He tells us that she had chosen the better part c. And so commends her Sisters prudence and discretion The former of these we have spoken to already the last day out of the former branch of the verse But one thing is needful Now the latter is that which we are to speak to with God's assistance And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her THis Second Branch of the verse is our Saviour's justification of Mary the Sister of Martha in respect of that which she was charged withal by her as to the neglect of what belong'd unto her in her attendance upon Christ Martha would have had Mary to have been rebuked and chidden because she did not help her And Christ here rather excuses her and defends her and takes her part Mary hath chosen c. Before we come to speak of the words particularly and distinctly by themselves there are some Points which are to be observed in general and by way of preamble as arising out of them As First of all from the occasion there 's this That there is sometimes a strife and emulation even betwixt good and gracious persons themselves and these also now and then even in the nearest and chiefest relations Thus it was here in this place Martha who was otherwise a good woman she here a little emulates and censures her Sister Mary who was godly and religious also There are sad instances of it both in Scripture and in common experience if we look abroad in the world We know what emulations there were betwixt Joseph's Brethren and him betwixt David's Brethren and him What a sharp contention there was for the time betwixt Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15.39 c. And the Disciples of Christ himself he had much a-do to keep them quiet and in order as being ready still to quarrel and to fall out one with another upon every occasion This proceeds First from corrupt nature which is still remaining in part in them and shews it self where it is not more carefully restrain'd Nature corrupt it overthrows nature created and hath little regard unto it According to nature created and the bonds and obligations of it so Brethren and Sisters they should be at great agreement one with another and none more than they But sin that has perverted this order insomuch as it is sometimes the quite contrary Fratrum quoque gratia rara est There are none who are further in affection than those sometimes who are the nearest in relation And the contentions of Brethren are like the bars of a Castle Prov. 18.19 And then Secondly From the malice of Satan who watches all opportunities that may be to divide those that are good one from another that so thereby he may make them less useful and serviceable one to another and also may bring the greater prejudice and disparagement upon goodness it self Therefore this may teach us not to wonder when we observe it sometimes to be so as we shall do in the world for it is that the more the shame which has still been so more or less from the beginning Not only an enmity betwixt the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent but also an emulation
besides If Heaven were a meer Fancy if Glory were no more but an Imagination it the state and condition of Believers hereafter were but an empty dream if there were not such glorious Mansions provided for us as are sometimes hinted to us certainly we should have been acquainted with it from Christ himself If it were not so I would have told you That 's the second General viz. The Rational Illustration The third and last is the Additional Encouragement in those words I go to prepare a place for you This is a very comfortable passage and such as deserves very much to be regarded and taken notie of by us as giving us an account of Christs departure and removal to Heaven now at this time it was for the god and benefit of his Church that he might promote their intererest and do that which was most expedient for them We see here where Christs chiefest thoughts were when he was now leaving the world they were not so much upon Himself as upon his poor Disciples how to comfort and encourage them and how to cast and provide for them that it might be well with them however it went with him They were loth now to part with him and were much troubled at the thoughts of it and now he satisfies them and pacifies them with this That he went away for their sakes He did not go away first to take away the place from them and to prevent them by going before no but to take up the place for them and to make room for them against they came themselves There were three special acts of Christ whereby he might be said to prepare a place in Heaven for Believers by his Death by his Ascension and by his Intercession First by his Death he prepared for them by that so far forth as the merit of that did reach and extend hereunto Christ by suffering of death and therein satisfying the Justice of God did obtain unto all his Members a right unto everlisting Life and Glory Thus 1 Pet. 3.18 it is said that Christ hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickned by the spirit Bring us to God how is that namely by reconciling us and re-joyning us to him again and so giving us an entrance into his glory according to that in Heb. 2.20 It became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings And so likewise in Heb. 9.11 12 15. Christ being become an high Priest of good things to come not by the bloud of goats and calves but by his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtain'd eternal redemption for us And for this cause is he the Mediator of the new testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first testament they that are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance that is the eternal inheritance which was promised From these and the like places it is clear that Christ by his death did prepare Heaven for his people But if this be so it may be demanded What one may think of the Fathers that lived under the Old Testament and before he coming of Christ into the World If Christ by dying did prepare Heaven for Believers in what place were they who left the World before the death of Christ The Papists in answer hereunto tell us that they were in Limbo a place distinct from Heaven and in the confines of Hell which they have intended and devis'd for them But there 's no need at all for such a Device or Imagination as this is We say that they were even then in Heaven and that also by vertue of the Merit and Efficacy of the death of Christ which is of an infinite and eternal extent and reaching both forward and backward Forward to the salvation of all Believers that came after it backward to the salvation of all Believers that went before it Hence is Christ sometimes said in Scripture to be a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world not as to actual accomplishment which was perform'd in the fulness of time but as to virtual efficacy and extent as reflecting upon all Ages and Generations indefinitely and redounding to the special good and benefit of them as many as believed in them This is that which hath prepared a place in Heaven for all Believers under Both Testaments even the Death and Bloud of Christ According to that again of the Apostle Heb. 10.19 20. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a true and living way which he hath consecrated for us that is to say through the veil of his flesh and having an high Priest over the house of God let us draw near c. This serves so much the more to magnifie and advance the great love and kindness of Christ unto us that was pleased to take such a course as this was for us that he might procure and promote our happiness that was willing himself to die that we might live and to be crowned with a Crown of Thorns that we might be crowned with a Crown of Glory He went to prepare a place for us Went that is went unto the Cross And went that is went into the Grave he prepared it by his death and sufferings and the Virtue and Merit thereof That was the first way of his Preparation Scondly By his Resurrection and Ascension He prepared Heaven for us by going into Heaven before us After going to his Cross so also by going to his Grave When he had overcome the sharpness of death when he had by himself purged our sins he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high Heb. 1.3 he did open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers Opened it by himself entring into it There was the opening of Heaven Christs Personal taking possession of it And it was the opening of it for us also who are said upon that account to be our selves already entred into it namely in Him who is our Head and hath entred into it afore us and in our behalf according to that of the Apostle in Ephes 2.6 He bath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ This was that whereby our Saviour desired at this time to satisfie the minds of his Disciples as concerning his departure and present going away from them that it was in order to their greater good He left Earth that so he might go to Heaven and he went to Heaven that so they might come to Heaven after him and come to Heaven by him as he signifies in the verse immediately following And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also
and that in reference also to Preaching Now to draw up all these at once into a word of suitable and seasonable Application as near as we can Here 's that which does first very much justisie and commend such places of good literature and education as these now are in which we converse Here 's for Schools and Colledges and Universities and such kind of Societies and Corporations as these are to shew us the needfulness of them and likewise to shew us the worthiness of those who have been Patrons to them look how much there is in these gifts which the Apostle does here commend unto us so much there is likewise by consequent in those gifts which have been furtherances and encouragement of them We know how in times past there were the Schools of the Sons of the Prophets at Nasoth at Bethel at Jericho and such as those where they were profitably gathered together in society one with another And so there 's the like ground and reason for the same even still now As we have need of these spiritual gifts so we have need also of such supplys as these are for the furthering of these gifts in us as means which do properly and pertinently conduce thereunto And those which either despise or neglect them cannot expect in a probable way so readily to attain unto them Again secondly In reference to that passage wherein we noted that there were variety of gifts and some in particular better than others there is good use which may be made also of that As first From hence to guide and direct us in regard of our own endeavours seeing there are gifts which are better therefore let not us rest contented with meaner but labour for the best that we can get It is an ignoble and unworthy disposition in any Schollar to desire no more learning than whereby he may subsist and live in the world there should be a regard to the gifts themselves The better gifts to labour for them Better whether we take it specifically in regard of the kind of the gifts which we look after or else better by taking it gradually for such a measure and degree in them as labouring all that may be to excell in such and such a profession This is that nobleness of spirit which does well suit with these better gifts Again Secondly Seeing there is difference of Gifts with regard of Gods dispensation we see ground also for difference of incouragements in regard of mens dispensation likewise As there are some gifts better than others and some persons more partakers of those gifts than others are in a Christian and well-ordered state so there 's very good reason also that there should be some preferments better than others too and not as some seem to plead for a distribution to all a like which is the most unequal equality that can be Those which are against the incouragements of learning they are against learning it self which is much promoted by such incouragements It is true I do not deny but that true learning and knowledg it carries a reward within its own compass whereby it triumphs over all the outward neglects and disparagements which can be cast upon it But yet as long as we are men and consist of humane principles and from the condition of our natures have need of such outward supplies as these are for our outward substance so long it is both lawful and usual to be much quickned by such kind of Motives as these are for our study and endeavour He that ploweth he ploweth in hope as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 9 10. And take away once this Hope and this Plough is likely to stand still at least not to cut so deep or to go so fast as otherwise it would do Pueris dant frustula Blandi Doctores elementa velint ut discere prima Horat. So should those which are Fathers of the Common-wealth in a tenderness and indulgence to mens minds in these matters Lastly As to that point of coveting and earnest desire of these Gifts We should make this improvement of it as to set an edg from hence upon our affections notwithstanding all the seeming discouragements which may at any time be administred unto us yea from hence to increase them so much the more as we use to do in other matters by desiring them so much the more fervently from their restraint The more others neglect them or despise them the more should we be taken with them And from hence also take notice of the vanity and fondness of all such persons as cry down learning and gifts and parts c. But here it may be by the way demanded To whom is this Exhortation here given I told you before to the Corinthians and so it was yea but Corinth was a large place wherein there were multitudes of persons of all sorts and ranks and conditions And were these promiscuously and without any difference to covet after these spiritual gifts What had they to do with them or what need or use would they have of them for which they should desire them To this I answer That this must be understood as written to the whole Church of Corinth but as particularly in the scope of it directed to those persons in it to whom it did belong more peculiarly Private Christians may desire the enjoyment and improvement of such spiritual gifts in them as belong to their place and condition but not such as belong to the publick Ministry of our Church it being such as they are not called unto And our desires in every thing are to be regular and subordinate to reason and comeliness and order as much as may be which these seem not to be Much less is it seemly for such persons to take upon them the exercise of such gifts as those are which are out of their way It is one thing to affect these gifts and another thing soberly to desire them the latter whereof is that only which is here spoken unto neither is it what men may presume upon for themselves in their own conceits and private apprehensions which will here bear them out for my part I do justly honour the good gifts and admirable abilities which are in many private Christians which I pray God to multiply and increase an hundred-fold and sobriety and humility with them But yet in the mean time I do not think that all such persons are presently fit for the Ministerial function or the exercise of the performance of it every one that speaks commendably in Religion cannot presently hereupon preach or make a Sermon There 's a great deal of difference betwixt godly talk and Preaching For every one that has good natural parts of wit and memory and language and considence and the like and these also it may be promoted by custom and common education is not therefore presently qualified to be a publick dispenser of the Gospel or dispenser of the Mysteries of Christ there is more than so
as to be preferred before the other the more excellent way before the better gifts and so likewise should we upon all occasions do our selves labour for those gifts most which tend most to edification and labour more to edifi◠with our Gifts than to glory and boast of them more to profit and to advance the Church than to promote and set out our selves This is that which we should give our selves to But so much my suffice to have spoken of the first particular in this second general and that is the thing it self which is propounded to wit the more excellent may The second is the Proposition of it That we have in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shew it unto you Shew it How did he shew it Two ways as we may conceive more especially First He shewed it in Thesi and Secondly he shewed it in Hypothesi First he shewed it in the Proposition and Secondly He shewed it in the practice in the Rule and in the example He shewed it in his Doctrine and Ministry declaring as much unto them and he shewed it also in his life and conversation as giving them an example of it in himself for his own particular He gave it them in the Rule and he gave it them likewise in the Pattern for the better inforcing of the Rule upon them that so he might be no ways wanting unto them for their instruction and direction herein each of these ways he shewed this way unto them First He shewed it them in his Dictrine and by way of simple proposition he publisht it and declared it unto them and that at large here in this Epistle in the Chapter immediately following he shewed it them by rhetorical inlargements and amplifications Though I should speak with the tongue of men c. And so if we please we may understand that phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here in the Text not only as referring to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to the way only but to the shewing of it According as St. Basil of Caesarea seems to carry it in his Epistle Ad Neocaesarienses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do in an Hyperbolical manner shew this unto you which he does indeed in the very next words that follow etsi linguis c. Here I might by the way shew you which I have also observed lately elsewhere an use of Rhetorick and Hyperboles in such discourses as these are so it be done in a grave and sober manner without ridiculousness and affectation there is good warrant and authority for it but I shall at this time pass over that The Apostle shewed unto these Corinthians the most excellent way and he shewed it first of all in his Doctrine Here are divers things which from hence I might very pertinently insist upon as First In that the Apostle speaking of Piety and Religion says here Demonstro Vobis we see here that Religion is capable of Demonstration It is such as may be clearly evidenced and demonstrated and made good to those who will not be pee◠vish and refractory and perverse A good and sound Christian he does not go upon conjectures only and meer guessings and doubtings and uncertainties but has firm footing for his treading he is sure and very well perswaded of the way in which he walks and is able to shew it to others If men will mot be peremptory and obstinate there is such an Autopistie and authority in Religion as does command their assent unto it so as they may as well deny a demonstration as they may deny that Here are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens Alexandrinus speaks Words and Reasons that do compel yieldance to them Again secondly In that the Apostle here speaking of his Preaching and Writing and Ministerial Dispensation says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shew it unto you We see here in what kind of way Preaching and Teaching is to be carried namely as the Apostle does also express it in another place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Demonstration of the spirit and power 1 Cor. 2.4 It is not enough for us simply to propound truths but as near as we ean to evidence them and demonstrate them and make them clear and to deliver them in such a manner as whereby we may convince the gainsayer of the truth of them I shew it unto you Therefore we are here especially to take heed of any thing which may be any hinderance or prejudice hereunto and that is as the Apostle has noted an affectation of the enticing words of mans wisdom This St. Paul in that place before mention'd does oppose to this demonstration of the spirit and in the 17th verse of the first chapter he tells us that it makes the Cross of Christ to be of none effect As too many flourishes about a Letter keep the Letter it self from being discerned or as Chrysostom makes the comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Look as fair and beautiful bodies when they are set out with paint and colours they do lose of their native beauty and comeliness so likewise the Word of God when 't is too much tricked up with humane illustrations it loses of that demonstrative power and efficacy which is indeed in it and becomes no more than an ordinary discourse Thirdly Here 's a further Rule likewise for Ministers in order to the matter of their Doctrine and the things themselves which are delivered by them whatever they teach men besides especially to build them up in Grace and to press such points home upon them as do tend to the furthering and promoting of a godly and holy conversation St. Paul would stir up these Corinthians to the coveting of the best gifts they could Oh! but he woule be sure in the mean time not to forget to propound unto them the most excellent way Yet I shew unto you or moreover the word in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who should say I have not as yet done with you I have somewhat more to say to you than so And thus he shewed it First of all in Thesi in the bare and simple Proposition Secondly He shewed it also in Hypothesi in his own practice and example this we may gather from the next Chapter Though I should speak c. without charity c. Though I should is here as much as I do not and I is not only persona supponens but persona proponens and this is another kind of shewing which does belong to all Ministers else whosoever they be Without which the other shewing will do little or no good at all The Apostle Paul as he was a sound Teacher so he was likewise a Follower of that which himself did teach This is requisite to be thereby to make our Doctrine more effectual and full of success Who will believe our report when we do not believe it our selves As we give just occasion to suspect when we report that which
much as the day of the Lord together with all the consequents and circumstances of it which does carry a great deal of fear and astonishment with it It does so and it deserves to do so in these respects First From the severity of the proceedings in the ordering and managing of it which shall be with a great deal of terror In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power Is not this very terrible and a dispensation of much severity it cannot be denied And therefore those that think otherwise are mistaken and exceedingly deceived of that day it is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wastness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess c. Zeph. 1.15 And as it is so in it self so it is especially so to all wicked and ungodly persons to them it is the terror of the Lord with a witness from the guiltiness which is upon them This is that which properly gives this denomination unto it if we take it abstractly considered in it self or in reference to the Children of God so it shall not have such terror or dreudfulness in it those alone who are reconciled to God through Christ upon them it shall have another impression and another notion as it is the day of refreshment the day of redemption the day of restitution the day of recompence and reward The second is the Apprehension of this object in reference to the mind and understanding and that is knowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We see here upon what terms we proceed in Christianity and Religion not upon meerer fancies only and conjectures and bare probabilities but upon a certainty and good assurance Divinity it is a matter of Knowledg and it is the excellency of it that it is so elpecially compared with some other things in the world which are of another nature it stands upon good grounds as the bottom and foundation of it which is the Word of truth it self Thus 2 Pet. 1.16 We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his majesty c. And v. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophesie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place c. This is the Scripture and Word of God But how did Paul know this which he here speaks of this Terrour of the Lord and the accurateness of this judgment of Christ which he had before mentioned and here refers to He knew it divers ways First By immediate revelation and inspiration from God himself it was delivered to him from the Lord as he says elsewhere of other truths I have received from the Lord that which I have delivered unto you It pleased God from Heaven to inform him and to acquaint him with this Divine truth concerning the Judgment to come together with some circumstances which shall attend it which he does discover as a profound mystery in some other places And that which he had as it were even from Gods own mouth and intimation of that he might very well say that he knew it as here he does knowing it by revelation Secondly He knew it also by Discourse and collection of one thing from another There 's very good reason for it that there should be such a day as this is the day of Judgment and that God should call men to an account hereafter for that which they do now in the flesh It 's very agreeable to the justice of God a righteous thing with him as it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2 Thes 1.6 When we shall consider that little recompence or reward is give here below either to good or bad we may from hence very rationally conclude that there is another time and place for it which shall not escape it That which seems to make most against it with carnal and secure persons is the delay and procrastination of it because it is not presently therefore they conclude that it will not be at all as those mockers in Peter Where is the promise of his coming c. But as the Apostle there resolves it Gods slackness is only long-suffering Patientia est non negligentia as Austin to the same effect Non ille potentiam perdidit sed nos ad poenitentiam reservavit c. de Verb. Apost Ser. 20. Some read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the subjunctive and so make it a matter of counsel and exhortation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Oecumenius But I think we need not do that I shall rather take it as it is here offered in the Indicative It is an expression which carries a various emphasis in it Thirdly He knew it also by Experience and by some sense of it upon himself in his own heart he knew it thus As he was wrapt up into Paradise and carried unto the Third Heaven so he was likewise cited to Christs Tribunal and brought before his Judgment-seat in his own soul and consicence S. Paul did not speak of these things at random and loosely but he had some practical apprehensions of them from where he knew them and did therefore to much the more boldly and freely and confidently discourse of them to other men There 's no man that knows what sin is but he consequently knows what judgment is and by the sight of the one is lead to the preconception of the other forasuch as sin in the guilt and nature of it summons to Judgment This was the Apostles great advantage in this business which he discoursed about that he spoke of it from his own spirit with some kind of sense and feeling of it which is that which all other Ministers should labour and endeavour to do in the whole course of their Ministry and in the Doctrines which are delivered by them First to work and fasten and imprint them upon them own hearts and then from thence to commend them to their hearers with the greater efficacy and success that so even in this sense likewise as well as in regard of affection they may impart unto them not the Gospel of God only but also their own souls 1 Thes 2.8 as being sensible and really satisfied in that which they deliver And thus much of the first thing here considerable in this first General of the Ministerial performance viz. the Motive Knowing the terror c. The second is the Work it self We perswade men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where again four things more whereof two exprest and two implied First What. Secondly Whom Thirdly For what or what to Fourthly Upon what ground There 's the Act and the Object and the End or
the course of this present Text and Scripture which we have now read unto you where the Apostle gives us an account of the deliverance of him with his company from a great danger which happened unto them and therein expresses his thankefulness and holy rejoicing as also gives us an hint of expectation of further deliverance from the like dangers that might happen unto them and therein expresses his hope and most holy faith Who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust also c. This passage it relates to a story which we meet withal in Act. 19.29 30. which we may read at our leisure though I suppose that most of us are already sufficiently skilled in it and acquainted with it So that I need not now rehearse it or declare it unto you IN this present Verse before us we have three General Parts considerable of us First The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Secondly The signification of a Deliverance present Thirdly The prognostication of a Deliverance to come The Commemoration of a Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a Death The signification of a Deliverance present And doth deliver us The Prognostication of a Deliverance to come In whom we trust that he will yet deliver us Here 's all that we can possibly desire for all the limits and periods of time whether past or present or future This Deliverance it is extended to each here 's matter of thankfulness and matter of joy-fulness and matter of hope We begin in order with the first viz. The Commemoration of the Deliverance past Who delivered us from so great a death Wherein again we may take notice of two Particulars more First the terms of the Deliverance or the evil it self delivered from and that is here exprest to be so great a death Secondly the Deliverance it self or the time for the vouchsafing of it Who hath delivered us First We have here the terms of the Deliverance or the thing delivered from so great a death For the evil it self death and for the aggravation of it a great death it is a deliverance from both Chrysostom together with some others gives it in the Plural number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so great deaths And indeed there are more deaths than one which God does undertake to deliver his servants from and from which he delivered St. Paul with his Brethren and Companions amongst the rest And which it may not be amiss for our selves at this time by the way to take notice of though I shall insist chiefly upon that which is here chiefly intended and is most agreeable both to the scope of the Text and the present occasion First From spiritual death the death of sin that 's a very great death it puts a man into a state of death not only as exposing to wrath and future condemnation but likewise as disabling to the actions of Grace and Holiness alienating us and depriving us of that life of God which should be in us Ephes 4.18 For as there is a life of grace distinguisht from the life of glory so there 's likewise a death of sin distinguisht from the death of condemnation And this death of sin it is such as is to be numbered among great deaths and the deliverance from it reckoned among great deliverances Indeed it is not always counted so at least by the generality of the world they for the most part are ready to make nothing of it a light and small matter as for the death of the body do all they can to shun that but as for this body of death which the Apostle Paul so much complain'd of and blest God for deliverance from it this is such a thing as they are little troubled or solicitous about Well but every good Christian who has the eyes of his understanding inlightned and his heart truly sanctified with grace he looks upon this as a very grievous and fearful death and accordingly blesses Gods for his deliverance and redempton from it Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom. 7.24 25. Secondly Eternal death the death of wrath and condemnation that 's another great death also and such as follows likewise upon the former without recovery from it He that 's finally dead in sin he shall be certainly dead in judgment the death of sentence and condemnation follows upon the death of spirit and disposition This God has also delivered us from He hath delivered us from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 And we are saved from wrath through him Rom. 5.9 This is a great death among other Considerations in this respect forasmuch as it required so great a death for the expiating of it which was the death of no other than of the Son of God himself who therefore tasted of this death for the kind of it that he might free us from it We are reconciled unto God says the Apostle by the death of his Son What a sweet and blessed Saviour have we that cares not how great a death he dyes himself that so he might free us from death for whom he dyed We should take all occasions that may be to celebrate our deliverance from this which I am therefore so much the willinger to mention upon this phrase which I now here meet withal in the Text though it is not that which I desire to insist or stand upon I come to that which is more pertinent The third and that which is here particularly aim'd at is Temporal Death which though it be the least Death of all compared with the former yet it is great considered simply in it self and so much the greater according to the several circumstances and aggravations which it may be cloathed withal Which we may take in these following particulars First From the nature and kind of it A violent Death not a natural This is a great death and so consequently a great mercy to be delivered from it to be kept from accidents and casualties and mischances which we are subject unto when the Candle is not put out but goes out when our life is not taken away from us but ends of it self This is a Temporal Blessing and such as when it is granted to the Children of God is granted in love and answerably to be looked upon by them as a merciful dispensation which they are to be thankful for As for wicked men it is threatned as a judgment upon them Joh 27.20 That a Tempest shall steal them away and a storm shall hurl them out of their places and they shall lye down and not be gathered and such was this God thrusts them and turns them out of doors like a company of disorderly persons whom he will no longer have patience with but now as for the godly and righteous there 's an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fair and kindly death which so far forth as they have an
Godliness by their scandalous living in the profession of it These are great Enemies to Religion and to the Truth it self they are not only Enemies to Religion who do in plain terms and words revile it and speak evil of it but even those which silently walk contrary to it and express not the power of it in their lives and conversations The improvement which we are to make of all this is our selves to take heed of it that we be not guilty in either of these particulars or in any other way besides of acting against Religion for if we be we shall not escape unpunished What was said before of Truth in the Doctrinal notion of it is true likewise of the whole substance of Religion that it will prove too hard for any that oppose it and so they shall find Whosoever shall fall on this sione shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder as we find that expression used in Matth. 21.44 But so much may be spoken of the first General part of the Text which is the Apostles Proposition in the Negative what he could not We can do nothing against the truth The second is the Affirmative But for the truth This it follows well upon the other and is not to be sever'd from it it is but small commendation for any not to be active against the Truth though it were well some were but so no but it is required that they should be active for it This is the true temper of a Christian and especially of a Minister according to that of the Apostle John in 3 Joh. 8. We ought to be fellow-helpers to the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 co-workers and assistants to it helpers to the Truth and fellow-helpers one to another in helping of the Truth This is that which is required of us There are a great many of Negative Christians which are as good as no Christians at all and they please themselves wonderfully in it and think to come off well enough with it that they are not thus and thus no they do not this and that But is that enough for the servants of Christ and who have given up themselves to him Nay but what are they what good do they do how do they advance and promote Religion and the ways of God That were well to be enquired into by them how far forth they are for the Truth There are two things-considerable in this passage First That we may do somewhat for the truth And secondly That we must do somewhat for the Truth Here is our priviledg and our duty The opportunity which is afforded unto us and the engagement that lyes upon us as to the imbracement of this opportunity First I say here is our opportunity We may do somewhat for the Truth that 's here supposed and implied in this opposition But for the Truth God does put advantages into our hands very much for the advancing of his Truth especially according to the several stations and ranks in which we are some have greater advantages and some have less but all have some one way or other We that live under the Preaching of the Gospel and especially which are dispensers of it God has committed his Truth to our care and has intrusted us with it so that if we will we may do very much for the promoting and advancing of it And he takes delight to use and improve us in such a business as this is though he needs none of our help himself nor his Truth neither yet he is pleased to desire so much of us and to give us occasion for it This is to be looked upon by us as a great honour and priviledge to us and so to be accounted and esteemed as what is done for our own good and advantage The reason why God calls us to the helping and assisting of his Truth is not so much for it as for us that we may receive honour by it and comfort from it and in the doing of it farther our own salvation and blessed account hereafter at another day Secondly As here 's our opportunity so likewise our duty and the one following upon the other The more advantages God does afford us of helpfulness and assistance to his Truth the more does it concern us to improve them and to lay hold on them and to do somewhat or other for it yea to do the most we can There are sundry ways of doing it which accordingly we may take notice of First and principally by our imbracings and cherishings of it in our own hearts We cannot do Truth and Religion any better service than by our selves closing with it and cleaving to it and imbracing of it It is not our profession of Truth which makes so much for it where it is single and goes alone nay in some cases it may make more against it where it is separated from a love of it and conformity to it no but it is the yielding and complying with it which is the thing when our hearts are in some sort fashioned and moulded into it and better'd by it Secondly By our prayers and supplications to God we promote it so as it is in 2 Thes 3.1 Brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified We should be very earnest with God for Truth and Religion that it may flourish in the world and that there may be a free course and passage of it Thirdly By our Counsels and Directions as we have occasion for it to speak a good word for Truth and to advise others in order to it It is a great advancement of it which whenever we neglect to do we are very much wanting to it and to our duties about it who are required and called thus to do In a word whatever ability or talent God trusts us withal whether of parts or power or estates or whatever it be it is an occasion which he puts into our hands of doing some good for his truth which accordingly should be followed by us And the greater are our abilities the more should be our improvements we should do it in our selves we should do it in others by those incouragements which we give to them also as in the place before cited 3 John 8. We ought to receive such that we might be fellow-helpers to the Truth The Consideration of this point comes home very closely to the consciences of abundance of people in the world who are grosly guilty in this regard to whom Truth is very little beholding as to doing of any thing for it There are some which are ashamed to own it and to appear in the imbracing of it as thinking it a great deal more wisdom to conceal and reserve themselves that so according to a variety of circumstances they may be of what judgment they please and take such ways as in prudence may be most accomodate and convenient for them but our blessed Saviour himself has
which accordingly may be appliedby us to this present Verse here before us which is the Sum as it were and Reversion of that which went before and has been hitherto handled by us Wherein the Apostles going over the same thing once again was not frivolous or superfluous in him but to very good purpose There are three things especially which are pertinently considerable in it First His confidence and firm perswasion of the Truth which he had taught and delivered It is a sign he was no Sceptick in his Religion nor yet in his Ministry but was well assured of that which he both belived and imbraced himself as also preacht and commended to others Those things whichmen are doubtful of they think it is enough to speak but once and hardly that It sticks for the most part in their teeth and comes difficultly from them they do but whisper it or lisp it out as well as they can but where they are certain here they are more free and bold in the uttering of it And so it was here with St. Paul he was confident and therefore he stuck not again to repeat it And we see from hence what it becomes every one else to be upon the like occasion Those which are Preachers and Teachers of others they had need to be well assured of the Truth of that which they preach and vent in their Ministry not to speak things at random or at a venture they care not how but deliberately and upon grounds of confidence First Because they deal in matters of great importance and the highest concernment As it is in the affairs of the world where men speak upon life and death they had need to be sure what they speak forasmuch as otherwise their miscarriage will be such as is irrecoverable Even so it is likewise in these spiritual matters and the subjects of the Ministerial Dispensations because they are such as concern mens souls and their well or ill being to all eternity therefore we had need so much the rather to take heed what we say To say no more than we are able to prove and make good if we should be questioned about it especially if we shall add the threatnings which they join with it as here Let him be accurst He that curses another for not being of his opinion had need to be sure of that opinion Secondly Because there are many more whose judgments do depend upon it If a Minister or Preacher mistake many others mistake with him It is not a single miscarriage but a multiplied for which cause it concerns him to have good ground for that which comes from him For if the blind lead the blind they shall loth fall into the ditch as our Saviour himself has told us Thirdly For the better inforcing of the Truth and Doctrine it self The confidence of the Preacher stirs up belief in the Hearer and makes him so much the more ready to assent to the things which are propounded As we see Agrippa to Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian Perswaded him how did he so namely from that confidence and resolution which he did discern to be in him Whereas now on the other side as he that asks coldly we use to say teaches to deny so he that teaches coldly he does in like manner teach to mistrust and makes men to call in question the truth of that which is taught by him This the Apostle Paul here in this Scripture did not do but the contrary by that confidence which he exprest in himself Indeed this Point which we are now upon it both may be and often s abused by some kind of persons for we shall find by daily experience that there are none which are more confident than those which are most ignorant Truth it is for the most part modest and ready to suspect it self whereas error is bold and dark There are some kind of people in the world which are as stiff and resolute and peremptory in the assents of their private fancies and the imaginations of their own brain as if they were Divine Oracles and the very Articles of Faith it self neither Paul nor an Angel from Heaven could take them off from them The Devil the God of this world does two things with them first blinds their eyes from seeing the truth and their ears from hearing the errors and mistakes about it But what shall we now commend or imitate such a confidence as this no in no hand at all Neither is this that which was here observable in the Apostle this confidence of his it was of another strain and tincture which was in it It was not a confidence of presumption but a confidence of well grounded knowledg It was not a confidence of fancy or conceit but a confidence of assurance He knew and understood what he said and because he did so was therefore confident about it He that heareth speaketh constantly Prov. 21.28 And this Confidence is such as is commendable in any other besides when first of all we labour to be satisfied and well-grounded in the Truths of Religion and then keep our selves to them and stand stiffly and resolutely upon them in this case we should not cast away our Confidence which hath great recompence of reward as it is Heb. 10.35 Whether private Christians or Ministers private Christians as concerns the imbracing of the Truth and Ministers as concerns the spreading of it we should both of us so order our selves in this business as that nothing may be able to unsettle us or divert us from that which we have undertaken or discourage us in the prosecution of it For though some as I said are confident causelesly yet it is not so therefore with all There is a great deal of difference in reality between a presumptuous confidence and a rational as between one which is asleep and which is awake Both persons seem alike assured but in the thing there 's a wide distance betwixt them even so it is here But that 's the first Particular here considerable namely the Apostles confidence he was well perswaded of what he delivered The second is the Apostles zeal in the cause and truth of Christ There was a great deal of earnestness which was here exprest by him not only in the expression which he used in the simple Proposition Though we or an angel from heaven mentioned in the eighth verse but also in the additional repetition of it here again in the ninth verse What we said before c. that which men often speak of and repeat their affection is much in it and that which mens affection is much in they can never have done with it and so it was here with this blessed Apostle and holy man of God his heart it was very much raised and transported now in him when he considered how the Truth of God was now in danger to be impair'd on the one side and when he considered how the people of God were now in danger
general and ordinary dispensation And especially be careful not to improve them to security and presumption and sinning so much the more as God does any thing spare thee and forbear to proceed against thee for this will increase thy guilt so much the more and make more for thy condemnation This sinning upon mercy received as it is laid here in the Text has a double iniquity in it First As it is a trespass against God in despising of his goodness And secondly as it is a trespass against our selves in the neglecting of our own salvation so far forth as it is a neglect of repentance in the mean which tend unto it and so in either respects is to be shun'd and avoided by us And this for our own particulars Now secondly also in reference to the Community as we are parts and members of that the Exhortation will prove very seasonable and pertinent here likewise that we despise not the riches of Gods goodness and forbearance and long-suffering but know that this goodness of his it does lead us and invite us to repentance and that in all relations and capacities in which we are considerable This Nation this City this Company this Parish and Congregation I might very well enlarge it and carry it down to all these Particulars and the rather out of the particular interest which my self hath in them all I might I say improve this admonition to each of these and shew you the engagements which we all have from the goodness of God But I will especially at this time insist upon the two first an commend them to your serious consideration and so conclude And that is this Nation and this City England and London in England it lyes upon us more especially For the Nation first what great things has God been pleased to do for us in all times and ages of the world from one generation to another As Moses sometime of the Israelites What Nation is there so great who heath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for How wonderfully hath God bestirred himself for our Deliverance and Preservation from time to time How many blessings in all kinds have we partaked of from him And how to this very day have we a sense of his miraculous Love and Providence over us in that Peace which at present we enjoy even to admiration From the Nation in general come down to the City in particular and look upon that and tell me what one under Heaven has the like mercies that we enjoy and that in all sorts and varieties whether Spiritual or Temporal For Temporal let me mind you of one amongst the rest which can never be sufficiently minded and laid to heart and that is the abundance of Health which is continued still amongst us notwithstanding the multitude of Inhabitants that increase upon us that whereas in former times that sad Plague of the Pestilence was ever and anon almost breaking in upon us of late we have not known what it meant but have been wonderously preserved from it And for Spiritual mercies how many and great here How much of the Gospel and Word and Ordinances above all other places Now what does all this speak unto us What to be so much the more secure and hardened and presumptuous and full of provocations to be so much the more peccant as God is any thing indulgent and favourable to us Oh no take heed of that by all means but rather be more watchful and careful and fruitful than ever we have been before to repent of those sad abominations which are every where amongst us and to eject them and cast them out from us As Bradford that Holy Martyr when he was imbracing the Stake and fire Repent O England and London Repent repent This is that which we should do ad this is that which we are called upon to do from these Divine Dispensations and which also we are admonisht to do from this present Scripture Not to despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance SERMON XXXVIII Rom. 6.21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death There 's nothing more useful and necessary for Christians after conversion than sometimes to be put in mind of their condition before conversion and to be compared in what they are with what they have been And it is useful to divers purposes and effects First to make them more humble in the reflexion upon their former miscarriages Secondly to make them more thankful in the consideration of that blessed change which God has graciously wrought in them Thirdly to make them more fearful and careful and wary in themselves of returning back again to that condition in which they were on at least of doing any thing which might be suitable and agreeable thereunto For these and the like Considerations and especially the last which I have named does the Apostle Paul here in this Scripture and Text which I have now read unto you apply himself after this manner to these faithful and believing Romans to whom he here writes wherein he does expostulate with them about the vanity and misery and unsatisfactoriness of their former courses whiles they remained in their estate by nature and before the time of their conversion to Christ What fruit had ye c. IN this present Verse before us the Apostle Paul lays down unto us the inconvenience of the ways of sin which he does in these Particulars First In their unprofitableness What fruit had ye then Secondly In their Dishonourableness Whereof ye are now ashamed And thirdly in their perniciousness For the end of those things is death There are three things which men commonly most look after their profit and their honour and their ease and pleasure and safety now sin it disappoints them in them all Here 's sin in all the periods of time and still with a disadvantage upon it for time past for time present and for time to come For time past there 's damage and loss no fruit for time present there 's a blot and disgrace now ashamed and for time to come there 's destruction the end of those things death We 'l begin in order with the first viz. Sin in its unprofitableness for time past What fruit had ye then The Apostle here appeals to these Romans themselves for their own particular as such persons which were now able to speak out of experience they had been some of them before their conversion great and notorious sinners and had walked in the ways of vanity and ungodliness with a great deal of liberty and freedom of mind now since that they were brought home to God he bids them speak what great profit or benefit or advantage they got by those ways It is a kind of triumphing and insulting expression wherein knowing he was
but in operations as walking it implies motion and action for so it does it is true that Religion and Christianity it begins here to wit in the infusing of gracious principles and dispositions into the hearts of those which are made partakers of it but here it does not rest These habits they are such as do exert and put forth themselves in a proportionable actvity and where there are the Principles there will be likewise the Operations suitable and conformable thereunto As it is in 1 John 2.6 He that saith he abideth in him i. e. in Christ ought himself also so to walk even as he walked Let us therefore be sure to make this good to our selves that it is thus with us so as the Graces of God's Spirit be active and operative in us and that we shew forth the vertue of him that hath call'd us out of darkness into his marvellous light as the Apostle Peter speaks in 1 Pet. 2.9 There are many which talk sometimes of their good thoughts and meanings and intentions and inward qualifications because they think no body can confute them and convince them in these matters But alas these are not enough without some outward acts of new obedience as discoveries that they are in us of a Truth as fairness of outward conversation is not enough without sanctifying Principles and a change of the heart within from whence it does proceed so neither is this declared to be in good earnest where it does not in some manner express it self in the life and behaviour Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven says our Saviour but he that doth the will of my Father which is in He aven Matth. 7.21 Christianity it is a matter of doing which is imply'd in walking Secondly It is matter of progress which is implied in walking also and improvement of that which is good A good Christian he is careful to put on and to go forward from one degree of grace to another They go from strength to strength as it is in Psal 84.7 Where grace is in the truth of it it is in the increase of it more or less it never stands at a stay but is still in motion and tending to perfection Thus we have it in the Apostle himself Phil. 3.12 13 14. Where he tells us that he counts not himself to be perfect but he presses forward to the mark c. Thirdly Here 's the extent of Christianity It is not only a work but a walk it consists not in some single performance but in an universality of carriage according whereunto it is denominated Grace it runs through a mans whole conversation and expresses it self in that as large as he has any opportunity of doing good afforded unto him whether publick or private in reference to others or himself Therefore it concerns every one accordingly to be careful to improve it There are many which single out some one or two duties or services to be done by them in which they rest themselves contented and neglect all others besides which do belong unto them This is not to walk as Christians for to walk it does imply a course and moving from one path to another and not always continuing in one A Christian he has his divers rounds as I may say which he takes to this purpose sometimes in his General calling and sometimes in his Particular and in his particular according to the various distribution of it But not to insist upon these things that 's the first thing here considerable in this first General to wit the nature of Christianity that it is a walk in the activity of it in the progress and in the extent The second is the Regularity of it it is an exact and orderly walking and we have two words in the Text which do signifie as much unto us First The word walk which in the Greek has this Emphasis with it it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to walk in order and rank Secondly The word Canon or Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 each of these speak this unto us And from both together there are two things here commended unto us which we may take notice of distinctly First That it is a matter of circumscription And secondly That it is matter of comeliness or order both of these are such properties as do pertain to the walk of a Christian First I say Circumscription to speak of that first A Christians walk it is remarkable for this it has its bounds and its limits set it Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere beyond which it cannot pass or hold A Christian is not a lawless person one that rambles and runs up and down like a wild creature like one distracted and out of his wits he is of a body politick which has its laws c. he knows not whether nor cares not how but he is confined and kept within compass he walks by rule And this is that which accordingly in other places we have exhibited unto us wherein we are bid to consider our ways and to ponder our paths and to take heed to our feet and the like This shews that we may not walk at random but with due regard had to our selves in this particular This is no piece of bondage but of liberty rather Profane and Atheistical persons they look upon the strictness of Religion as an imprisoning to them and think they cannot be free except they be loose and licentious but those who are the true servants of God are otherwise indeed and their practise is according hereunto they have restraints and impediments upon them and they reckon them as advantages to them and so they are Look as it is the priviledg of a man which is in his right senses that he is kept by the strength of reason in him from those exorbitances which one that is distracted falls into without controlement so it is the advantage of a man that is regenerate and a true Christian that by the strength of Grace in him he is kept from running into the same excess of riot with other men as we find that expression used 1 Pet. 4.4 Whiles it is said here emphatically by Rule for the better opening of this passage to us we may take notice of two things First Of somewhat excluded as opposite and contrary to this rule Secondly Of somewhat included as the kinds and parts of it and making it up For the first That which is excluded it may be reduced to these three heads First Custom and practise when men do things but because they have done them Secondly Humor and passion when men do things but because they will do them Thirdly Patience and example when men do things but only because others do them before them To walk by either of these Principles is to walk indeed by no Principles at all but opposite contrary to
rule and so very unsuitable and disagreeable to a Christian who is here limited and circumscribed in the Text by a rule set unto him This is that which is excluded which yet I will not now inlarge upon as not altogether so pertinent to be handled but rather leave it to your own Meditation The second is that which is included and so making up the kinds and parts of this rule untous And here again there are three things especially First The rule of Goodness A Christian he then walks by rule when he does that which is warrantable Secondly The rule of Charity A Christian he then walks by rule when he does that which consists with that love which is due to brethren Thirdly The rule of interest and propriety and calling A Christian then walks by rule when he does that which is proper and belongs to him to be done by him All these might be very well prosecuted but they will perhaps fall in more pertinently to be discourst of in the following head and therfore for brevities-sake I will pass them by here So much of the first thing here considerable as the condition of a Christians walk in point of regularity and that is circumscription He is not left at liberty and at large to rove up and down where he list but is kept within bounds and to his Rules The second is the comeliness and order of it in the Verbs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as I said is to walk in a due and decent manner And indeed this is as requisite and convenient as the other when a man does not only keep his bounds but observes his paces and measures and gait and carriage in walking This is what the Scripture sometimes calls in another place a walking uprightly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 2.14 And in another a walking exactly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5.15 See then that ye walk circumspectly or exactly not as fools but as wise A Christian must have acare of this and has so so far as he is a Christian he may be added as a fifth to Solomons four things which are comely in going Prov. 30 29. This is call'd a walking in wisdom in another place Col. 4.5 Walk in wisdom towards c. This is to walk with care and caution in regard of the manifold dangers and extremities which we are subject unto As Nazianzene speaks particularly of Ministers that they should be herein like those which dance upon ropes or which climb a Mast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for whom it is not safe to incline too much either one way or other but to keep themselves in an even state and posture of body Thus should it be also with all Christians in their several places which makes up to us the second particular considerable in this first General to wit the condition of a Christians walk and that is regularity he must walk and he must walk by rule The third which is the main of all and which therefore I have made haste unto as most peculiar and considerable in the Text is the Determination of the rule which a Christian must walk by and that is this rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And here now the question will be what this is and what the Apostle means by it Interpreters are at difference about it but I shall not trouble you with the variety of their conceits neither do I think it necessary We need not go far as I apprehend to find out the sense of it if we cast but our eyes back upon the verse immediately preceeding the 15th of this Chapter where we find it thus In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature or a new creation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So then this is the rule which he here speaks of Regeneration and the work of Grace in the heart As many as walk by this peace be upon them c. There 's the Gospel in the word of it and there 's the Gospel in the work of it each of these are a rule to Christians The former he had spoken of in the foregoing part of the Epistle The latter he here now speaks of in this pace in the new creature which he here commends to this purpose Now this for the clearing of it to us may admit of a double Explication and be taken two manner of ways Either first in the notion of a byass or secondly in the notion of a mark According to the first sense so it is to walk by this rule as having this moving and acting in us ratione principii and so it does simply denote Christians as Christians as many as walk by this rule of the new creature i. e. as many as have true and saving grace acting and working in them as the whole by which they are moved According to the second sense so it is to walk according to this rule as our own Translators render it as having this directing of us Ratione metae vel termini and so it denotes Christians walking in the power of Christianity and suitably to those gracious Principles which are really and indeed in them either of which may be understood by us First Take it as a Byass or Principle 't is rule so And here we have commended to us all such persons as have the work of the new creature wrought in them and are indeed acted by true and saving grace which do that which they do in Religion out of the Principles of Regeneration and the inclination of a sanctified heart than which nothing less will suffice or serve their turns This is that which every one is to regard and look after in himself It is not so much what any one does as what principle acts him in doing it and what is the spring of such actions in him This if it be not a new nature and an heart subdued and subjected to Christ it is nothing worth As many as are led by the Spirit of God and those alone they are the Sons of God Rom. 8.14 This is that the Scripture still stands upon Matth. 7.16 c. Men gather not grapes of thorns or figs of thistles a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit c. Quid est arbor mala voluntas mala says Anstin What 's an evil tree in this place An evil will and an evil heart if that be naught all 's naught with it And this evil heart is an heart not sanctified and indued with grace an heart of unbelief as we find it also called in Heb. 3.12 This is that evil tree whence no good fruit does come Therefore I say let us look to this that we may find it in ourselves there are many which rest themselves contented with the Principles of common ingenuity and morality and civility the strength of wit and natural parts and think they are safe enough here though they go no further But alas this will no do it must be the new creature as the