Peter as concerning his denial of his Master he was a person that had a great measure of Habitual Grace in him and in particular of affection to Christ and he poor man thought that this would support him and carry him through temptation and therefore he so considently proclaims it That though all men should for sake him yet that he would never forsake him but yet when he came to the trial and conclusion we know how it was with him and if Christ had not presently prayed for him that his faith might not fail and also by his Almighty power had not kept his faith from failing it had fail'd and ceas'd in him eternally Look as when he walked upon the Sea it was Christs support that kept him from sinking and perishing in the waters so also when he was under a temptation it was Christs grace that preserv'd and sustain'd him When my foot slipt thy mercy O Lord held me up Psal 84.18 This we may see likewise in Paul in the carriage of God towards him 2 Cor. 12.9 when he was there buffeted with Satan and had sought to God to be freed from that temptation how does God endeavour to comfort and encourage him in that his conflict why he does it from this consideration My grace is sufficient for thee And my grace that is not onely my preventing grace the grace which I have already wrought in thee when I at first call'd thee to my self but my grace that is my assisting grace the grace wherewith I still follow thee and am continually present with thee It is not thy grace but my grace not so much the grace within thee as the grace without thee that is my favour and good-will towards thee from whence I come to take special care of thee Thirdly The strength onely of former assistance is not that which will suffice neither As we need Christs Actual grace as well as Habitual and his Assisting grace as well as his Preventing so we need the daily and continual and fresh supplies of this grace unto us without which we can be able to do nothing at least for any time so as we should do This is another thing which is here to be added and taken in by us for the explication of this Particular Without me that is without me daily with you and standing by you and helping of you and imparting and communicating new strength and ability to you ye are indeed able to do nothing According to our particular occasions so must answerably be our support from the Spirit of Christ yesterdays strength and assistance will not serve for the repelling or conquering of this days temptation no more than yesterdays meal will serve the turn for this days strength and corporal improvements No but as new occasions do at any time increase upon us so proportionably is new ability to be imparted to us As a man that carries a burden which is heavier than what he carried the day before he must have somewhat more strength in him than he had before as adequate and agreeable thereto Every new affliction every new temptation every new condition every new duty and performance it requires new strength from Christ besides what has been formerly manfested for the bearing and resisting and managing and accomplishing of it So that though former assistance be so far forth very comfortable as it is an encouragement to the expectation of new yet it is not sufficient alone and of it self without new And thus have we seen this Point explicated and amplified in its several particulars Now the consideration hereof for the Use and Application of it may be drawn out in a various improvement we may reduce it for methods sake to three Heads First in a way of Confutation Secondly in a way of Information And thirdly in a way of Excitement First it serves for Confutation of the contrary Error and false Opinion of the Pelagians and others with them who teach that there is indeed General and Universal Grace communicated to all men from Christ from whence they have power for the doing of good but that the reducing of this Power into Act and the particular doing of it it is purely and absolutely from themselves who do determine themselves in particulars to that which God has given them onely power for in general This I say is plainly refuted from this present Scripture where it is said that without Christ we can do nothing as well as will nothing Answerable to that other place before mention'd For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure that is not onely the power but the act And indeed it must needs be so and cannot be otherwise For forasmuch as the Act is more noble than the Habit the Operation than the Power the second Act than the first therefore the Act cannot be ascribed to our selves and the Power onely to God unless we will prefer our selves before God and give him the lowest place and least stroke in any good which is at any time done by us Again further it may be cleared to us that Christ must needs concur with us not onely by a common and general Qualification but also by a special and particular influence in every good work which is done by us by a proportionable consideration of what is observable even in Natural Actions For so we see it is with Fire the property whereof is to burn yet if God do suspend his influence from it and concourse with it it can produce no such effect notwithstanding the natural propensity and inclination of it thereto as we may see in the three Persons in Daniel which were cast into the fiery Furnace And so though God hath given us a power of Natural life at first yet if he do not preserve this life in us and give us motion together with life we can stir neither hand nor foot for all that because in him we live and move and have our being And thus may this passage here before us serve in a way of Confutation Secondly In a way of Information and Satisfaction We may from hence be now instructed in the truth of this Point which is here before us and take notice of it in its full latitude and extent where whiles it is said that without Christ we can do nothing namely that is spiritually good as we have hitherto explained it we are to take it in all te appurtenances belonging hereunto and the steps and gradations of it whereby this assistance and enablement whereof we speak does proceed First It is He who must inform us and instruct us in that which is our duty which must inlighten out dark understandings in this particular for we are naturally so blind of our selves as that we are unable to discern it That which we do not know we cannot do But he hath shewn thee O man what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee Mic. 6.8 Secondly It is
presumptuous Question Page 97 Sermons XV. Psal 22.9 10. Davids Acknowledgment of Gods goodness Page 104 Sermons XVI Psal 10.13 Davids Expostulation with Contemners of God Page 114 Sermons XVII Psal 68.21 Gods Threatnings against incorrigible sinners Page 122 Sermons XVIII Psal 75.8 Another Sermon of Gods Threats Page 129 Sermons XIX Psal 27.8 Gods Invitation to Prayer and the Souls Acceptance Page 136 Sermons XX. Psal 36.7 The Excellency of Gods loving-kindness Page 143 Sermons XXI Psal 84.11 God a Sun and shield gives Grace and Glory Page 151 Sermons XXII Psal 94.19 David's Malady and Remedy Page 159 Sermons XXIII Psal 104.34 David's Contemplation and Exultation Page 170 Sermons XXIV Psal 77.10 Holy Remembrance a means to recover out of distrust Page 178 Sermons XXV Psal 118.18 Sore Chastisement yet not a giving to death Page 185 Sermons XXVI Psal 133.1 A good and pleasant Prospect before the Mercers Page 193 Sermons XXVII Psal 139.18 A Christians awaking with God Page 201 Sermons XXVIII Psal 148.11 God takes pleasure in them that hope in him Page 208 Sermons XXIX Prov. 3.17 Godliness is pleasant and delightful Page 216 Sermons XXX Prov. 9.12 Good counsel to be wise for a mans self Page 223 Sermons XXXI Prov. 16.3 Committing our works to God the way to be established Page 233 Sermons XXXII Prov. 17.3 Gods Fining-pot and Furnace Page 243 Sermons XXXIII Prov. 17.3 Mans devices vain Gods counsel shall stand Page 249 Sermons XXXIV Prov. 22.3 The prudent hid the simple punished Page 259 Sermons XXXV Isa 9.14 Gods Threatning to cut off head tayl branch rush Page 267 Sermons XXXVI Isa 57.21 No peace to the wicked Page 275 Sermons XXXVII Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into Hell Page 282 Sermons XXXVIII Isa 55.7 Gods Counsel and Promise to amendment of Life Page 290 Sermons XXXIX Isa 30.21 The hearing-ear God will vouchsafe to his people Page 298 Sermons XL. Isa 40.31 They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength Page 305 Sermons XLI Jer. 7.9 10. Gods Expostulation with the Jews Page 345 Sermons XLII Jer. 2.23 God no barren Wilderness to Israel Page 352 Sermons XLIII Jer. 4.19 The Prophets lamentation at the alarms of War Page 359 Sermons XLIV Hos 7.8 9. Ephraims sin and judgment Page 367 Sermons XLV Hos 7.9 Second Sermon Page 375 Sermons XLVI Jer. 18.12 Desperation dangerous Page 383 Sermons XLVII Jer. 13.23 Custom in sin exceeding dangerous Page 390 Sermons XLVIII Ezek. 21.1 2. Jerusalem threatned Page 400 Sermons XLIX Ezek. 9.4 Gods mark of safety upon mourners Page 406 Sermons L. Amos 5.18 The day of the Lord unsupportable to sinners Page 412 The Contents of the New Testament-Sermons Sermons I. MAth 5.20 Pharisaical Righteousness to be exceeded Page 1 Sermons II. Mark 12.34 Christs favourable censure of the Scribe his being not far from the Kingdom of God Page 8 Sermons III. Luk. 12.20 Wicked men fools in Gods account Page 17 Sermons IV. Luk. 13.8 9. Gods forbearance of the Fig-tree Page 27 Sermons V. Luk. 10.38 Mary 's Entertainment of Christ Page 35 Sermons VI. Luk. 10.41 Christs Reprehension of Martha Page 41 Sermons VII Luk. 10.42 The one thing needful Page 47 Sermons VIII Luk. 10.42 Mary 's Choice the better part Page 53 Sermons IX Luk. 22.31 32. Christs Warning of Peter Page 60 Sermons X. Luk. 22.32 Christs Praying for Peter Page 68 Sermons XI Luk. 22.32 Christ command to Peter Page 77 Sermons XII Joh. 3.8 The similitude of the Winds blowing where it list opened Page 85 Sermons XIII Joh. 8.30 31. The success of Christs Doctrine Page 93 Sermons VIV Joh. 8.31 Of perseverance in the Faith as 't is a duty priviledg Page 99 Sermons XV. Joh. 6.37 An account of the persons that come to Christ Page 105 Sermons XVI Joh. 13.7 Peter 's ignorance of Christs actions Page 111 Sermons XVII Joh. 14.27 Christs counsel against fear and trouble of heart Page 12â— Sermons XVIII Joh. 14 2â— Many Mansions in Heaven Page 12â— Sermons XIX Joh. 14.3 A Narrative of the consequences of Christs Ascention Page 125 Sermons XX. Joh. 1.18 Christs Revelation of the Father Page 132 Sermons XXI Joh. 14.6 Christ the Way Truth and Life Page 141 Sermons XXII Joh. 14.18 Christs promise of coming with comfort to his Disciples Page 147 Sermons XXIII Joh. 15.5 Humane inability without Christ Page 154 Sermons XXIV Joh. 15.5 Second Sermon Page 162 Sermons XXV Acts 1.7 Times and seasons not to be known by the best of men Page 169 Sermons XXVI 1 Cor. 1.21 The Wisdom of God by Preaching Page 251 Sermons XXVII 1 Cor. 1.21 Second Sermon Page 258 Sermons XXVIII 1 Cor. 1.22 Jews require a sign Page 264 Sermons XXIX 1 Cor. 1.23 Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling-block to the Greeks foolishness Page 271 Sermons XXX 1 Cor. 1.23 The Doctrine of offence and success Page 278 Sermons XXXI 1 Cor 1.24 Second Sermon on the Doctrine of offence c. Page 284 Sermons XXXII 1 Cor. 12.3 Covet earnestly the best Gifts Page 29â— Sermons XXXIII 2 Cor. 5.11 The terror of the Lord a fit means to perswade men Page 299 Sermons XXXIV 2 Cor. 1.10 A Commemoration of a Deliverance past signification of a Deliverance present and prognostication of Deliverance to come Page 313 Sermons XXXV 2 Cor. 13.8 Christians can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Page 423 Sermons XXXVI Gal. 1.8 9. Saint Paul 's Protestation against Seducers Page 334 Sermons XXXVII Rom. 2.4 Mans abuse of Gods Goodness Page 346 Sermons XXXVIII Rom. 6.21 The unprofitableness dishonour and perniciousness of sin Page 355 Sermons XXXIX Gal. 4.19 Ministerial Travel for the forming of Christ Page 364 Sermons XL. Gal. 5.16 Of walking in the Spirit Page 371 Sermons XLI Gal. 6.4 Mans duty to prove his own Work Page 383 Sermons XLII Gal. 6.16 Of walking according to Rule Page 397 Sermons XLIII 1 Thes 5.3 The peace of the wicked turn'd to sudden destruction Page 413 Sermons XLIV 2 Epist Joh. 8. The danger of losing what we have wrought Page 418 Sermons XLV 2 Epist. Joh 9. Transgression of Doctrine condemned Page 425 Sermons XLVI Revel 1.5 Jesus Christ the faithful Witness Page 434 Sermons XLVII Revel 1.5 6. Christs love to us in washing us from our Sins Page 439 Sermons XLVIII Revel 22.17 The longing desire of the Church for the Coming of Christ Page 445 Sermons XLIX Revel 22.17 Grace freely offered to thirsty Souls Page 453 Sermons L. Hebr. 2.1 An Admonition ta an earnest heeding of the things we have heard Page 460 Books lately Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel INtercourses of Divine Love between Christ and his Church being Sermons on the second Chapter of Canticles Several Discourses concerning the Actual Providence of God both by John Collings D. D. General Martyrologia of the Church In which is also an exact Account of the Protestants Sufferings in Queen Marys days with the Lives of 32 English
day of our Visitation lasts and continues to us And more particularly that we may speak still to the Scope and Sense of the Text and my Drift and End in the undertaking and handling of it in the Time of Youth and tender years That so hereafter we may reap the fruit of a timely and early conversion in a sweet and comfortable old Age. That we may end our dayes in peace which at length must be ended and having been long acquainted with God may be the more willing to go to Him and to resign our Souls into His hands as into the Hands of a Faithful Creatour So much may suffice to have spoken of the second General part of the Text viz. The condition in the Extent of it And so likewise both of this whole verse and for this present time His Bones are full of the sins of his youth which shall shall lye down with him in the dust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON X. Job 20.12 13.14 Though Wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his Tongue Though he spare it and forsake it not but keep it still within his mouth Yet his meat in his Bowels is turned it is the gall of Asps within him There can never be said too much nor enough against the ways of Sin whether we look upon it in it own Nature and Consider the Miseries which are in it or whether we look upon it in our Nature and consider the propensities which are to it When one would think we had said all we can and almost all we need there is still somewhat yet remaining behind as very pertinent and sutable hereunto The last day wee took occasion to speak of the Sins of Youth and the Impressions which they made upon Age and riper Years and the Extent of them even to Death it self and after Death out of the 11th vers of this Chap. where Zapher describing the Estate of an ungodly Person gives the Character of it That his Bones are full of the sins of his Youth which shall lye c. Now in these following verses before us he does further proceed in the Amplification of this Argument to us by preventing of an Objection which might be made by the Patrons of Wickedness as to the Heartning and Incouraging both of themselves and others to it and that as taken from the present sweetness and Contentment in it and the cunning Carriage and Contrivance of it which he removes and takes away by shewing the sad Effects which notwithstanding are consequent upon it Though wickedness be sweet c. IN this present Text before us there are two General parts considerable of us First The Disposition of a Wicked man in regard of sin Secondly The Effect of Sin to a Wicked man The Disposition of a Wicked man in regard of sin that is laid down in verses 12.13 Though Wickedness c. The Effect of sin to a Wicked man that 's exprest in vers 14. His meat c. We begin with the First viz. A Wicked man's Disposition in regard of sin and that is here Exhibited to us in four particular Branches First His Complacency in it It is sweet to his mouth Secondly His Concealment of it he hides it under his Tongue Thirdly His Favourableness towards it He spares it c. Lastly His Thraldom to it He keeps it c. First This is Considerable in the Disposition of a Wicked man to sin his Delight and Complacency in it Wickedness it is sweet to his mouth This Expression together with the rest is a Metaphor taken from Natural and Corporal Food which is pleasing and delightful to the taste which is seated in the Mouth or Palate as the proper Organ or Subject of it so is sin to a carnal Heart it is very sweet and relishing to it Especially in the first imbracing and entertaining of it There is no Glutton or Master of Appetite as he is called there by Solomon in Prov. 23.2 Bagnal Nefesh Which takes more Contentment in his Delicacyes and Corporal Daintyes then a Carnal and unregenerate Person takes in his Lust It is sweeter to Him then Honey it self as the Philosopher speaks of Revenge to a Malicious man It is so with all kind of sin whatsoever to those which are addicted to it it has a kind of false sweetness with it in regard whereof we read in Scripture of the pleasures of sin The Ground hereof is this Because it is sutable and Connatural to Him Delight it is founded in Convenience and an Agreeableness of the Faculty with the Object And so it is here with a Wicked man in regard of his Lust he has an Heart fitted to it That which is in the Temptation without Him it is in the Spirit within Him and the one it is the Counterpain of the other as the Wax answering to the Seal We may judg of the Delight which a Wicked Person has in Sin according to the Proportion of a Gracious Person delighting in Goodness what is the reason that those which are Godly delight in the ways of Godliness and look upon them still as those which are ways of Pleasantness How sweet is thy word unto my mouth even as Honey unto my taste It is because they have a renewed Spirit which is fitted and qualified thereunto I delight to do thy will O my God and thy Law is within my Heart Psal 40.8 While God's Law is in our Hearts our delight will be in God's will and his Commandments will not be grievous to us but exceeding pleasant and so it is also on the Contrary in regard of Sin And then again Satan who is the great promoter of sin he inlarges and advances things to them and makes them seem greater then they are The Pleasure of Sin and the delight which is taken in that it is for the most part a matter of Fancy and Imagination Now the Devil he has a very Great stroke in working upon that He presents things more Amiable then they are and thereby does intangle and insnare foolish men and make them to be pleased with those things which have little pleasingness in them The Desires of People to sins they are Diseases rather then Desires they are Extravagances and Distempers in them and do proceed from somewhat which is amiss in the Frame and Disposition of their Spirits as we see it is in the Body what 's the reason here that some delight in Coles and Ashes and Walls and such trash as that Why it is because they have a distempered palate and a distempered Stomack and they are under the power of a Disease this makes those things sweet unto them which another Body cannot indure even so it also with the Souls of Wicked men they take pleasure in Sin which is odius to a Gracious Heart because they are overtaken with Lust and have a Spiritual Distemper upon them The Consideration of this point may serve to give us an account of the Difficulty of
they do improve their wickedness as much as they are able to their own Contentment and Satisfaction or advantage and they suck all the pleasures out of it that they can perfectly find and meet withall in it Thus they do and they have a particular Art and skill and Ability in them to this purpose Look as Godly men do with a promise and some parcel of the word of God or as they do with a gracious Frame and Temper of Spirit when they have found it they preserve it all they can and make much of it Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee 1 Chron. 29.18 Even so do wicked men with their sins when it is said here they spare it we must understand it n that sense it is spoken which is not as to matter of commission but rather as to matter of Mortification a covetous man spares his money but he does not spare his sin They do not spare to act it but they spare to kill it and to crucifie it and to subdue it in themselves As to the Acting and exercising of it this they do and do not spare but lay on as much as they can like some hunger-starved person at a feast they feed and do not spare they commit all uncleanness with greediness as the Apostle speaks in Eph. 4.18 But they spare it as to the resisting of it and as to the doing of any hurt unto it A wicked man spares his lusts as Saul did the cattel of the Amalekites which he reserved for himself 1 Sam. 15.9 or as David spared rebellious Absalom whom he desired should be dealt tenderly withall Deal Gently with the young man Absalom for my sake this he gave in command to Joab the Captain of the Host 2 Sam. 18.5 Even so do such men say in their hearts as to their sins To Governours and Friends and Ministers O spare my lusts deal gently with such a sin and corruption for my sake Therefore sparing and not forsaking are very pertinently joyn'd together in the Text the one explaining the other He spares it and does not forsake it that is he spares to forsake it sake it He does favour and allow and indulge corruption and sin in himself This a wicked man does And it is here made to be a property so to do of him But because there are two several words which are here used sparing and not forsaking we will therefore take them asunder and consider them severally and distinctly And first of sparing which as in part I hinted before does imply that Indulgence which such persons give to their corruptions shewing them all the favour that may be And it is exprest in these particulars First As to matter of search and inquiry into them A wicked man he spares his sins thus so as to examine his heart about them David sayes He communed with his own heart and his spirit made dilligent search Psal 77.6 And he perswades others to do so likewise Psal 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart and be still But men commonly delight not so to do which have any guilt lying upon them They do not love to to look much into it or to be inquisitive what it is Bad Husbands they do not love to cast up their accounts nor to see what their estate is because they are afraid they shall meet with somewhat which will be displeasing to them And so it is also with bad hearts and false spirits in Religion they do not love to consider their wayes for fear their sins should fly in their faces and gall them for them They spare their sins that so their sins may spare them Spare their sins to search them that so their sins may spare them to torment them and to vex them for them Secondly As this sparing is observable as to matter of inquiry so also as to matter of resistance and opposition they are very sparing in this likewise they do as little as may be to restrain and hinder sin in the onsets of it Take a Godly man and one whose heart is taken off from sin and he hath no mercy at all for it but deals as boysterously with it as may be he desires to shew it no favour or kindness or respect at all but is most cross and opposite to it Whereas now on the otherside a wicked man he is tender of making any resistance but gives way to it as much as may be and so he spares it Thirdly As to matter of Expulsion and Ejection and Mortification they spare it so The Scripture requires men to pluck out their right eyes to cut off their right hands c. that is to destroy their dearest lusts and those corruptions which are nearest to them Now an Hypocrite he will not do this by any means perhaps he will be content to part with somewhat which he does not much care for and be willing to abstain from it but his Absaloms and Dalilahs and his Herodiasses and such sins as these Oh by all means let them alone destroy them not for there 's some sweetness to be found in them Thus he is said to spare it which is the first expression which is here considerable Secondly He does not forsake it he doth not leave it nor bid adieu unto it he never forsakes his sin till his sin forsake him and he can keep it no longer as sometimes it does in age and sickness and death Men have not then those opportunities of sin which they have had at other times for the acting and committing of them and so they forsake them But otherwise as to the Heart and Affection they forsake them never As friends they may be kept from one another by violence though never so dear but yet their spirits are still the same to each other and so it is with a sinner to his lusts he bears the same affection to them now in his restraint from them as he did before in his injoyment of them and what he cannot attain in Accomplishment he makes up in desire There 's no man can be said to forsake any sin in particular which does not forsake the way of sin for the General That is which is not converted and regulated and brought home to God As for another man let his condition be what it will be yet his corruption is still the same he is prodigal in a poor estate and he is proud in a low estate and he is Lascivious in a decrepit estate when his body withers yet his lusts flourishes and he never forsakes his sin till he forsakes himself and has any Being continued to him Now to lay both these together a sinners not forsaking but rather sparing sin in himself as we have hitherto heard and consider'd how much it makes to the aggravation of his sinful condition and misery likewise attending thereupon There 's no Greater mischief or cruelty which a
Translations besides The Hebrew word is Barak which signifies properly to bless and so we find it to be used even here in this present Chapter the 10th verse of it Thou hast blessed the work of his hands Berakta That which I shall speak of this word and passage here before us I shall reduce to two heads either by taking it in it's next and usual and proper and ordinary signification and so read it They have blest God or else by taking it in it's remote and contrary and improper and unusual signification and so read it They have cursed God c. First Take it in it's next proper and usual signification It may be that my sons have sinned and have blessed God in their hearts This at the first hearing seems to be somewhat incongruous Forasmuch as to bless God has no matter of sinfullness in it which yet here is suspected by Job at this time concerning his children in the conjunction of these two words both together But yet for all that if we shall well weigh the words there will be no incongruity notwithstanding and that as I conceive according to a threefold exposition which may be fastned upon them And that thus 1. It may be my sons have sinned and blest God in their hearts That is that they have sinned together with their blessing of God not that they have sinned by blessing but that they have with Blessing or in blessing And this word in their hearts Bilvavam to be referr'd not so much to blessing as to sinning They have sinned in their hearts it is to be feared whiles they have blessed God with their mouthes This meeting of Jobs Children it was a meeting of Joy and Rejoycing and probably also of praise and Thanksgiving wherein they did outwardly bless God and testifie their thankfulness to him for some special mercy received from Him This their Father Job was privy to and acquainted withal now although he did well approve of this performance for the thing it self that God should be blest by them who did deserve all acknowledgement from them yet because he was an holy man very tender of the glory of God and likewise a Godly Parent very fearful of his childrens miscarriages therefore he was somewhat suspicious lest they might offend as to the frame of their hearts and spirits in this service in which respect they might sin inwardly at the very time of their external benedictions and celebrations of Gods goodness to them Thus it will carry a very good sense and meaning with it and afford a very good instruction and observation from it And that is this That Inward failings and Distempers of spirit they do oftentimes accompany outward services and performances of Duty Men may bless God with their lips and yet in the mean time sin against Him in their Hearts This is that which is here implyed and supposed concerning Jobs children according to this Interpretation and is incident to many others besides together with them Thus Isa 29.13 14. This people draw near to me with their mouth and with their lips they do honour me c. but their heart is far from me c. And so Hos 7.14 They have not cryed unto me with their heart c. This is usual and ordinary and it does proceed from that Hypocrisy which by Nature rests in mens Hearts men are careful to have a good outside now and then and to conform to some outward Duties of Religion because they carry some speciousness with them but the Inward frame and Disposition of Spirit is little heeded or regarded by them Therefore we should from hence search and Examine our selves in this particular and be Suspicious and Jealous of our selves likewise as Job was of his sons see whether or no when we have Blest God we have not sinned against him in our Hearts Secondly It may be my Sons have sinned and blessed God in their Hearts It may admit of such an Interpretation as this Though my Sons have blest God in their Hearts and do habitually stand right to Him yet perhaps they may have fallen into some occasional and actual Miscarriage This is that which Job did suspect as that which was incident to his Children And so it is also to any else besides of the servants of God and there are daily instances of it There are Sins of three sorts accordingly as Divines distinguish them First Sins as we call them quotidianae incursionis of daily and frequent Incursion which whilst we remain here in the Flesh are inseparable from us and we shall never be freed from here below There are defects and faylings and infirmities which do more or less adhere and cleave unto us wheresoever we are and whatsoever we are about yea even in our Duties and Holy things themselves now it is not probable that Job by his Childrens sinning meant such a kind of sinning as this is for this had been without a may-be or perhaps he might be sure that they had sinned in this sense and no less could be expected from them Secondly Sins which do in a more special manner wound the Consciences and have a more notorious guilt with them which we call Devoratoria salutis according to the expression of Tertullian or which do drown men in Eternal Perdition according to the expression of St. Paul neither can I think that Job did mean or intend such a sinning as this when he says It may be they have Sinned For this though they were subject unto yet perhaps they were not so likely to fall into neither had he probably any occasion to suspect it Thirdly Sins of a middle Nature betwixt both which yet were neither Sins of Infirmity nor yet Sins of Presumption but rather of non-attendency and Neglect which yet it was very sad and unpleasing to be guilty of Job did fear that his Children might perhaps a little turn aside and slip into somewhat which was uncomely and unlawful for them upon this occasion though he did withall hope that for the main their Hearts were stedfast to God There are some Interpreters which retaining the word Blessing as the word of the Text do mention it either by a single Negation or by a Diminution of it in them By a simple Negation thus They have Sinned and not blessed God in their Hearts including the Negative in the word perhaps By a Diminution thus It may be my Sons have Sinned and little blessed God in their Hearts Each of these do charge Iobs Children as to this Business of their blessing of God either in it self or in the Circumstances of it First Take it Negatively They have sinned and have not blessed God i. e. They have sinned in not blessing of God and so he seems to censure them for their Neglect either of Craving a Blessing upon the Creatures or of giving thanks to God for them And that they did it neither Actually nor yet Habitually neither with their Mouthes nor yet in their Hearts The
sometimes it was confin'd onely to the limits of Judea but spread abroad even to all nations which have a share and interest in the Gospel as to be preach't unto them Yet Thirdly It is excellent also in regard of the peculiarity and appropriation of it Gods loving-kindness is excellent as it is precious and so the Hebrew word signifies in the Text which is jakar that imports as much unto us There 's a specialty in this Universality All partake of the outward means but all partake not of the efficacy of those means for the success of them to themselves Here now Gods loving-kindness is excellent as well as his Wisdom we put a price upon things which are rare and more restrain'd from common use and injoyment Thus 't is now with the Grace of God To you 't is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven sayes our Saviour but to others it is not so given The Election hath obtain'd but the rest are blinded The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit but he that is spiritual judgeth all things yea the deep things of God There 's an opposition of these two to one another and a distinction of these two from one another that hereby the loving-kindness of God towards his Servants may be so much the more advanced And thus now I have done with these words as they may be consider'd absolutely in themselves and as exhibiting this simple Truth unto us That the Loving-kindness of God is most excellent whether we take it for the loving-kindness of Affection The Favour that he bears towards his people and as emminent in himself or whether we take it for the loving-kindness of Expression The goodness which he does for his people as it is transient and terminated upon them I come now to the consideration of these words after another representation and that is reflexively as coming from the Psalmist who does signifie thus much unto us As Gods loving-kindness is excellent in it self so it is so in the thoughts and apprehensions and expressions of the Prophet David And here now there are divers things very pertinently observable of us as agreeable hereunto First Here 's a sound Judgement Secondly Here 's a special favour Thirdly Here 's a gratefull acknowledgement Fourthly Here 's a joyfull Publication First I say Here 's a sound and good Judgement David is rightly opinionated and perswaded of Gods loving-kindness and thinks of it truly as it is whiles he sayes it is excellent This is the first thing to be taken care of by us to be sound and right in our understanding and apprehensions of spirituall things And amongst the rest of this more especially of the excellency of Gods loving-kindness This is that which a Godly man does It is that wich is necessary for us that so we may the more diligently pursue and seek after it our selves Forasmuch as of that which we know not or esteem not we have commonly no desire Thus it was with David somewhere else as Psal 4.7 Many will say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us as who should say there was more good in that then in any thing else besides And so also not onely in the thing it self but as well in his apprehension This is the difference now betwixt a true Christian and another man as for others men of the world they do not believe such a point as this is nor think that there is that truth in it That Gods Loving-kindness is so excellent as it is declared and said to be they think that there 's some excellency now and then in the favour of men to be well thought of and esteemed of by them but for Gods favour they do not so value it or set so high a price upon it It is not so precious or estimable with them yea but now the children of God they are of another mind they do believe and think it so indeed and that especially from the Spirit of God which does clear their minds and understanding in this particular according to that of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 2.10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God Secondly Here 's also further considerable in this passage a special sense David does not onely speak here out of Judgment and the strength of his Understanding but out of sense and the certainty of his Experience who had found and felt the workings of this special favour and Loving-kindness upon himself in his own Heart and so accordingly speaks Gloriously and Triumphantly about it There are many which in the General notion of it are ready to acknowledg that Gods favour is most Excellent and to assent to it in the bare Proposition yea but they never knew what this meant for their own particular They never had the love of God shed abroad in their own Hearts nor were affected answerably in themselves Yea but this now is the property and Disposition of a gracious Soul which is further considerable of us to have a sense and feeling of this favour and from hence to be well perswaded of it which is that which we should all indeavour to find in our selves So to find our Sins pardon'd our Corruptions subdued our Salvation sealed and evidenced to our own Consciences as that we may say and cry out by good Experience How excellent is thy Loving-kindness O God It 's one thing for a man to say that Honey is sweet because he reads it is so and another thing to say so because he tastes it And so 't is one thing for a man to say that Gods favour is precious because he hears so in the Preaching and Ministry of the word and another thing to say because he finds it so upon his own Tryal and Experiment Now this latter is that which is here commended unto us And it is that which is especially useful and real to us at sometimes more then others This truth it is always a truth considered in it self but it is never more a truth to us then it is when we our selves seem most of all to stand in need of it or are supplyed with it As for instance in case of some special Spiritual Desertion or the Eclipses of Gods favour towards us for such a particular time when any Soul is now come out of this Condition and has Gods love renewed to it again which before it was deprived off Then how Excellent is thy Loving-kindness O God Thus indeed it does appear and shew it self to be that which it is And accordingly it is that which we should often bring to our Remembrances and have continually in our minds The frequent thoughts and Meditations upon this point aae such as may be very useful and beneficial to us and may have a very great influence upon our lives First To quicken us to Duty and to make us so
knowest that I love thee so of any thing else In our sighings and groanings and lispings out of Prayer unto him that he searcheth the hearts and knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit as the Apostle signifies Rom. 8.26 All my desire is before thee says David and my groaning is not hid from thee Psal 38.9 What a great comfort was this to David and so when he had a mind to build God a Temple God saw that it was in his heart and commended and recorded him for it as if it had been actually accomplished by him 1 King 2 18. Whereas it was in thine heart to build an House unto my Name thou didst well that it was in thine heart God judgeth of his Actions by his Affections and so he will do of any others where they are real and sincere accept of the will for the deed and that which we would do in the uprightness and integrity of our spirits to account as done by us And so likewise as to the thing it self so to the manner Though there may be failings in some particular circumstances yet the Lord tryeth the hearts and judgeth of his Servants according to the Habitual Frame and Disposstion of Spirit which is in them There is much comfort in this And so much may be spoken of the First Notion in which Trying may be taken namely in a way of Discovery and Manifestation The Lord tryeth the heart namely So. The Second is in a way of Purification He tries them that is he purges them and removes their Corruptions from them This is another thing which is observeable in him and exhibited also in Scripture thus Mal. 3.2 3. He shall sit as a refiner and purifyer of silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver And this not excluding the former seems principally to be here intended in this Text as may appear by the force of the Comparison which is used for the Illustration of it The Lord undertakes the purging of the hearts of those which belong unto him and removing of their Corruptions from them Thus also Zach. 13.9 I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tryed they shall call on my name This the Lord delights to do upon sundry consisiderations First Out of love to themselves that he may make them Vessels of Honour God has a special regard to their betterment and amendment in it as the Gold-Smith has to his Gold which we shewed out of the former words Secondly In reference to their Works That they may bring forth more fruit Joh. 18.2 And that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness Mal. 2.3 An untryed that is an unpurified heart cannot present any thing acceptable to God nor do any thing which is well pleasing in his sight Vnto the pure all things are pure all things are pure but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled as it is in Tit. 1.18 And then Thirdly For the sake of others also there is much good which comes likewise to them The Tryals of some of God's Servants make very much for the Improvement of the rest As we may see indivers examples of the Saints if we look into the Book of God This is first Matter of due Thank fulness and Acknowledgment from us We have great cause to bless God who is pleased to take such courses with us not to suffer our Rust to eat into us or our Dross to adhere and stick close to us over-long without some purging of it away from us Where we learn also to submit to his Skill and Wisdom in this particular The Clay may not say to the Potter What dost thou nor yet the Gold and Silver his Refiner If God will please at any time to try us and purge away our Iniquities from us we must leave it to his Holy Providence by what ways to do it for us as he shall judge most fitting and expedient whether by his Word or by his Rod by Mercies or Crosses by the fire or any other way It is enough for us that God will purifie us but which way he should do it whether in this or in that this we must freely commit to himself to determine for us Therefore we may farther here add for this purpose That as there is an indefiniteness in the Object so likewise in the Act As it is Hearts indefinitely so it is Try indefinitely also neither limiting it to the Fining Pot or to the Furnace not to one more than to another Secondly As this is matter of Thank fulness so it is moreover matter of Enquiry We should try how far forth this Tryal hath past upon us and hath had effect in us that we may be pure Metal to Christ and he may take some delight in us which otherwise he will not do And more especially after those means of Tryal which God hath been pleased to use towards us and as I mentioned before let us see what we are after these when we have been in the Fining Pot and in the Furnace how much better we are for them It is an Examination which may well become us whether our hearts or no for our particular have come under these meltings of God here implyed If they have they will run out so much the more in obedience to him as in the place before cited Zach. 13.9 I will try them as Gold is tryed and they shall call upon my Name Where there is Liquatio Metalli as we may so speak the melting and overflowing of the Metal This Gold being tryed it does run out in calling upon God and owning him for theirs And so much for this But in the first sense as it has an Emphasis of Proportion The Second is an Emphasis of Exception But the Lord tryeth the hearts As restraining the skill of the Refiner in this particular he may be able to refine his Silver and Gold and try and discover those Metals Oh! but he cannot try the heart This is so deep a bottom as there is no Creature can dive into it nay not even the Devil himself unless there where we open the door unto him There is no outward means whatsoever which in the simple use of them can better the Inward Man As not the Refinings so neither the Offerings of Gold and Silver will better the heart in any measure In matters of the World men can sometimes extend their skill inwardly as Physicians now and then to the detecting and likewise curing of inward Diseases But in spiritual things here we are at a loss and are mistaken if we expect any thing from them where by the way we have condemned the Superstitious Conceits of Papists and such like in this matter Thirdly This does further carry in it an Emphasis of Appropriation But the Lord tryeth the hearts that is the
behind us saying This is the way walk ye in it when we turn either to the right hand or to the left But now farther if we please we may take these words a little more at large as I in part hinted before When ye turn to the right hand or to the left not as touching it of two extreams but in reference to all the passages of our lives whatsoever they be When ye turn to the right hand or to the left that is whatsoever place ye are in whatever business ye are about whatever condition befalls you ye shall have the hints of the Word and Spirit of God assistant to you This is the promise which is made to the Saints and Servants of God And it is made not only here in this Text but also in divers other places besides as Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass So Prov. 3.6 In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy pathes So again in Prov. 16.3 Commit thy Works unto the Lord and thy Thoughts shall be Established This Disposition in God towards his People is founded on his Affection to them He loves them and therefore he Counsels them and cannot abide to see them miscarry Love it is full of direction of the party which it is placed upon and will not suffer him to go out of his way And so it is with God to us This is a great Comfort and Incouragement to us and should quicken us especially in his service wherein especially we are sure to have him to guide us and go before us and be assistant unto us And that in the darkness of this World wherein we walk If a man have a bad way yet if he have a good guide it is some Comfort to him This is the Lord to his Servants He teaches them to go taking them by the hand as it in Hos 11.3 Oh how much should we be affected herewith Especially in this Age and Time wherin we live In which we have so many Labarynths and uncertainties that a great many do not know what to do nor what way to betake themselves to We have so many humours and conceits amongst us that we know not almost what to believe nor what to practise It is the case and condition of many people that they are at a nonplus and almost at their wits ends in this particular Well in all these uncertainties and distractions Here 's the Comfort and Incouragement of Gods servants which do not provoke him to do otherwise with them from some default or miscarriage in them in which case it may be suspended to them That they shall hear a word behind them saying this is the way walk in it when they turn c. But here it may partinently be demanded How this word shall be discerned and known because there 's a great deal of deceit and mistake in the particulars many taking that to be the word and spirit of God which is no more but their own foolish fancy and the suggestions and intimation of the Devil joyning with their own corrupt hearts It is the condition of many people now in these present days and never more than now it is For this There are divers Touchstones and discoveries of it which we will briefly instance in First Let this within thee be regulated by the word without thee And the motions and suggestions of the Spirit examined by the Rule of the Scripture and the written word of God to the Law and the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isa 8.20 God never speaks in the Conscience contrary to what he speaks in the Scripture for he is unchangeable and cannot deny himself If therefore we have any motions in us which are cross and opposite hereunto we have very greet cause to suspect them as coming to us from another hand yea to abandon them and to bid defiance to them For which as the Wind does not sit at the same time in two contrary corners North and South so neither does the Spirit breath in two contrary motions Good and Evil. The motions of the spirit are always suitable and agreeable to it self Secondly They are also orderly and regular They keep men within the compass of their Callings and the spheres and the place which God has set them in Motions either from mens own Spirits or the spirit of Satan acting in them they are many times out of course they carry them above their line and make them to stretch themselves beyond their measure as the Apostle speaks But those which come from God and the suggestions and inclinations of his spirit they confine them and keep them within bounds They order them and frame them and keep them within bounds suitable to their several stations and Relations and Conditions and Circumstances in the world which they have regard and heed unto So likewise which we may refer hereunto they are agreeable also to the law of Nature and Civility and ingenuity in us Therefore such motions as cross these they are not such as come from Gods spirit but from the spirit of the Devil when any are carried to such acts as are against Civility and common modesty it self Thirdly They are also mild and gentle and seasonable They are not ordinarily violent raptures but such as leave a man in a right apprehension of what he does and reflexion upon it A man knows where he is and what he does while he is followed with them which in the motions of Satan is otherwise Fourthly They are discernable also from their Effects and the ends which they tend unto all the hints and motions of Gods spirit they still tend to make us better and to carry us nearer to himself one way or other they serve to promote Piety and Holiness in us and to better us especially and above all in our Inward man whereas those which are contrary and do serve to weaken Grace in us they have another spring for them Lastly In all these Cases the Spirit commonly brings his own Conviction and Evidence with him And as he says This is the way walk ye in it so he does likewise manifest that it is he that says it from whence the Soul of a Christian may be assured that he is not mistaken or deluded in it Look as those which had the Spirit of Prophesy they did by the same light know both the truth of the things themselves which they prophesied about as also that it was from God that message which they delivered even so is it with those also still which have any motions of the Spirit of God in them they do at one and the same time know both the things themselves which they are moved unto as also the Authour and Original of them But so much for that In these hints and suggestions of the Spirit this voice behinde us may be discovered by
so lost her first strength that she should do her first works that she should return to the acting of those things which she had now remitted and fallen from as that which was the best way to recover her to her former Condition and here especially to the use of the Ordinances Prayer and hearing of the word and receiving of the Sacrament which are the proper means appointed to this purpose Lastly In the renewing of their Faith and in the Exercise of it A Christian gathers new strength and supply of Spiritual Grace by reparing to the true spring and Fountain and Original of it which is the Grace of God in Christ Our strength it lies in Him and therefore by a spirit of Faith must be daily and Continually fetch 't from Him and that upon all occasions And it is our great Comfort and Incouragement that we may have it but for the fetching for so we may in a due and serious Appli of our selves to him we may draw strength from him Nay we shall do as is here signified to us They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength Here 's the priviledg and the Condition of being made partakers of it The Priviledg that 's renewing of our strength The Condition that is waiting upon the Lord. Be followers of them says the Apostle who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Heb. 6.12 And again Heb. 10.36 Ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the Promise Even so it is here This promise of strength renewed unto us is not onely to the persons of Beleivers but to them especiall under this Notion and in the erercise of this act of Beleiving We must therefore still remember this that we be such as wait upon the Lord for that 's the Condition by which Expression the spirit of God comes home to the heart of many a weak Christian and satisfies the objections which they may make for some might be ready to say Alas we find no such matter as this is which you now speak off we have little or no strength at all if we have had some it may be heretofore yet we have lost it and know not how to recover it and to get it up again now for such they must be perswaded to wait and to consider whether they have done so or no for this strengthning it belongs to waiting and is promised to those that are careful so to do we must use the means and waite upon God for shewing us the use of them Go to the Ordinances and by Faith fetch power from Christ who alone can make them to be Effectual unto us Psal 27. vers 14. Wait on the Lord be of good Courage and he shall strengthen thine Heart wait I say on the Lord. To satisfie us the more in this particular consider but how it is with us in regard of our Natural Sustenance and the food of our Bodies The strength which comes by it it is not conveyed presently but by leasure when the meat is digested Indeed there is delight and sweetness and pleasantness even in the very first going down of it but the strength of it that comes after it Even so is it likewise here as to these Spiritual things The sweetness of the Ordinances that 's in the very partaking of them and in the time of the useing of them In Praying and Hearing and Communicating and Meditateing c. A Gracious heart it does taste and rellish them even then when 't is about them But the strength which is conveyed by them that 's a Business of leasure and time and therefore we must wait for it and stay Gods time for the giving of it Thou therefore that complainest of Weakness consider whether thou hast waited for strength and waited for it in his own way and in the use of those means which he has ordained and appointed to thee Especially Consider how far Christ Himself has been taken into this Business which is the means of all There are many think to renew their strength and how do they think to to do it Namely by strength of their own their own Vowes and Duties and performances which yet by the way must not be neglected but we must be strong in the Grace of Christ and in the power of his might and Spirit or else all our strength it will be but weakness it self This is that which the Apostle Paul was sensible of as we may see by his practise and the courses which he took to this purpose by his practise for the Ephesians Eph. 3.14.16.17 For this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ That he would grant you according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthen'd with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may c. So in like manner by his practise for the Colosians Col. 1.11 Strengthened with all might according to his Glorious Power c. And so now I have done done with the First General part of the Text which is the Proposition in General They that wait c. The Second is the Demonstration or Confirmation of this in the Particular that we have in the words following They shall mount up with Eagles wings They shall run c. Wherein we have the strength of a Christian laid forth and amplified to us by a resemblance from a threefold motion First Of Flying Secondly Of Running Thirdly Of Walking Of Flying They shall mount up with Eagles wings Of Running They shall run and not be weary Of Walking They shall walk and not be faint Wee 'l begin first of all with the former and that is the motion of Flight They shall mount up with Eagles wings Here 's mention made of the Wings of the Eagle as we may conceive for two reasons especially First As the Eagle is an Emblem of strength renewed for so it is as we find it in Psal 103.5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Certain it is that the Eagle is longer-liv'd then many other Birds The Naturalists as Aristotle and Pliny c. Which write the story of living Creatures affirms this of it that it never Dies of old Age but onely of Famine for the upper-Bill being at length over-grown it is thereby hindred from putting meat into it's mouth and so at last comes to Die So the Prophet by this Similitude here signifies that those which wait upon the Lord they shall grow more and more urgent and lively enven to their old Age it self according to that also of the Psalmist Psal 92.12.13.14 The Righteous shall flourish c. They shall bring forth Fruit in their old Age they shall be fat and flourishing So then the Eagle is here pertinently mentioned in reference to this But Secondly The Eagle it soares aloft and flies on
and called us with an holy calling Our holy calling calls us to holiness Fourthly Our Sanctification there 's an argument likewise from that Rom. 8.12 Brethren we are debters not to the flesh to live after the flesh And Eph. 4.23 24. Ye have put on the new man which is created in c. And Eph. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained Our Sanctification does engage us to a strict kind of life in both the parts of it First as to our mortification and so it is urged by the Apostle Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin And so ver 11. Reckon your selves to be dead indeed unto sin c. Secondly our vivification and spiritual quickening Col. 3.1 2. If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth That is conform not your selves to the world Lastly to add no more at this time Our Justificaion likewise that lies as a restraint upon us also Being justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 and Tit. 3.7 Especially if we shall take in with it the seal of the Holy Ghost upon our consciences Eph. 4.30 Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Upon all these grounds and considerations have we it evidenced and cleared unto us how unreasonable a thing it is for God's people to mingle themselves with the corruptions of men of the world As contrary and unsuitable to their Election Redemption Vocation Sanctification Justification and Obsignation of all to them by the Spirit of God in their hearts and consciences Now therefore all these things considered we see here how blame-worthy those are which none of these arguments do prevail and work upon to perswade them in this particular What a shame is it for those which are Christians and profess themselves to be so to be as vain in their conversation as others when as the Lord has made so wide a difference and distinction and separation betwixt them as he has done in his dispenfations towards them For Ephraim to mix himself with the people let all those think of this who are led away either with the errors of the times in matter of Doctrine or with the miscarriages of them in matter of practice which cannot hear of any new-fangled opinion but they are ready to follow it let such as these I say consider how unsuitably they walk to Religion and their Christian profession The Lord took it very ill from Ephraim of all others that he should be tainted and defiled with the abominations of the Heathen and so will he likewise proportionably do from all others besides which are in the same condition with them He will not suffer them to go unpunished but will avenge their iniquities and miscarriages upon their own heads This is signified to us in the second sense which may be put upon these words not only as a complaint but a threatening As if the Prophet had said Ephraim shall be mingled among the people that is he shall have the same kind of judgment and punishment executed upon him that others have look as God punishes the Heathen so he will likewise punish Israel he will make no difference betwixt one and t'other And this it follows pertinently upon the other The like judgments are consequent upon the like sins For God is a just God and is no respecter of persons and his justice engages him hereunto And therefore he does upon this consideration deal thus with his people to take them off from these ungodly mixtures As Rev. 18.4 Speaking there of Babylon Come out of her my people that ye be not partkers of her sins and that ye receive not her plagues Implying thus much that as long as she was the one she must expect likewise to be the other If Ephraim will mingle himself with the people in regard of sin God will mingle Ephraim with the people in regard of punishment Now acccordingly should this argument affect us and work upon us It is true if we have any spiritual wisdom or ingenuity in us we might be disswaded from this sinful mixture as it does drive away the Spirit of God from dwelling in us and as the contrary does move him to receive us According to that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.17 18. Wherefore come ye out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be my Sons and Daughters saith the Lord Almighty This if there be nothing else in it I say might take us off from this compliance and ungodly conjunction But moreover there is this considerable with it even the punishment that is attendant upon it which is an involution in common judgment But so much of the first Branch to wit Ephraim's unhappy mixtures He hath mingled himself with the people The Second is their indifferent temper Ephraim a cake not turn'd Now this as well as the former may admit of a double exposition The one as an amplification of their sin and the other as an aggravation of their punishment It may carry both senses in it according to a different application which may be made of it First Take it as an amplification of their sin we will begin with that first Ephraim is a cake not turn'd Thus it follows as an illustration of the former He hath mingled himself among the people They were ready to boast of themselves that they were the people of God that they had circumcision and the worship of God amongst them whereby they were distinguisht from other Nations and that therefore they were not so bad as perhaps they might be conceived to be To this the Prophet answers by way of anticipation to them that they were a cake not turn'd which was baked but on one side that is of an imperfect and indifferent temper in Religion They had somewhat which was good amongst them but they did not come up to that exactness which was required of them This it is such an expression as may be applyed to divers sorts of persons and has divers miscarriages in it As First it is an expression of hypocrisie and false-heartedness in Religion When people shall be good in profession and outward appearance but naughty and corrupt in their hearts their outside fair and specious but their inside unclean and odious the cleanest part uppermost the foulest underneath Here 's a cake not turn'd This is the temper and condition of too many persons in the world which have it thus with them And the Scripture does reckon them up to us Isa 29.13 This people draw near unto me with their mouth and honour me with their lips but their heart is far from me So Psal 55.21 The words of his
inconstancy nor God will not have us to be peremptory there where we are meetly dependant We are but tenants at will and so we must carry our selves to this great and mighty Landlord of Heaven and Earth This the Apostle James enforces and sets on upon us in Jam. 4.13 14. Go to now ye that say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow For what is your life it's even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away For that ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that Thus in every particular we must be dependant still upon the Lord the preserver of our lives And thus as it must be in our lives so also in every thing else friends husbands wives children and the like The more men make account of them the less hold they have of them and they are then taken away when they are most of all expected to remain God loves to discover to us what vain creatures we are and how our whole subsistence is in him This is the Second Proposition The Third has some affinity with it and that 's this Thirdly The life of man lies open to innumerable hazards they shall take away thy soul we in our translation read it passively Thy soul shall be required of thee but in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is impersonable and also indefinite to signify to us how many things are able to do it They cannot be numbred and therefore they cannot be named They that 's indeed All there 's nothing whatsoever but is here at God's command Where then are those which boast in their youth and their health and their strength and their vigorous constitution as if nothing could mar them but a disease or old age Alas there are an hundred thousand things besides They shall take away thy soul If men could covenant with sickness yet they cannot covenant with chance and casualty and unexpected accidents there are more of these than diseases This should teach us therefore to be always in readiness and preparation seeing eternity depends upon our lives and our lives are so full of hazard how should we then be careful to look to our selves A Christian with the Apostle Paul should dye daily and look upon every day as that which might be his last for ought himself knew And for this purpose be often in converse and communion with God that so that which is so obvious when it comes may not be tedious not a strange and uncouth thing It will be no such difficult matter for that man to go to God at his last day who converses with God every day Seeing life lies open to so many evils and dangers it should teach us to be more in preparation and disposition for our departure Further we may here see what a little distance there is betwixt wicked men and hell They use to put away from them the evil day and to think it a great way off and far from them but ye see they are neer it as they are subject to so many casualties This should frighten men out of their natural condition and perswade them to make their calling and election sure who would be uncertain of his salvation so long as he is uncertain of his life who would not labour to find himself to be a Christian who considers himself to be one Oh the madness and folly of men in this particular methinks we should not sleep quietly nor eat nor walk about the streets whiles they remain in their unregenerate estate because that wheresoever they go or whatsoever they set themselves about they go not only in danger of their lives but likewise in danger of their souls they are not only exposed to death but exposed to damnation if they should dye in that condition Again we here see how much we are bound to the providence and goodness of God towards us and what cause we have to be thankful that seeing so many things might take us away yet so few things do Oh! we little think what an eye waits over us and rescues us from many evils which we were subject and liable to in our infancy and in our childhood when we were unable to help our selves how God protected us and kept us and gone along with us and how have we cause to bless and praise his name for it This is the Third Proposition Fourthly Ungodly men their souls are taken from them by force It shall be required of thee that is it shall be drawn by compulsion The children of God although they have the reluctancies of nature which others have yet they sweetly resign their souls into the hands of the Lord as our Blessed Saviour for a pattern Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And the Apostle Peter to this purpose in 1 Pet. 4.19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator This is the excellency of the Saints that they can commit their souls to God and deposite them with him as a man does any thing of value and esteem with some special and some faithful friend Thus the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 1 12. I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Thus I say 't is with believers and the children of God but for the wicked their souls are forced from them they are pull'd and haled out of the world whether they will or no. Not as if any one were to hasten his own death himself we mean not so but wicked and ungodly men God in a manner turns them out of doors and bids them be gone His own children when they perceive their lives once out they give up their lease themselves upon his intimation without any more ado But men of the world they stand out till they have a writ of Ejection They shall take thy soul from thee For this we have a notable place in Job 27.19 c. The rich man shall lye down but he shall not be gathered he openeth his eyes and he is not Terrors take hold on him as waters and a tempest stealeth him away in the night The East-wind carrieth him away and he departeth and as a stone hurleth him out of his place And this is the Third General The threatning and menacing tidings This night thy soul shall be required of thee The last General Head is the expostulatory inference Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Which words contain in them a double signification First a note of resolution and Secondly a note of ambiguity whose shall these be That is first of all they shall not be thine that 's once take that for granted
here made by the Vine-dresser in the behalf of the Fig-tree that is of the Ministers in regard of the Flocks belonging to them which is the Forbearance of them Let it alone The Second is the Determination of the Time for the exercise and continuance of this Forbearance and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This year also There 's a special Emphasis in this which is not to be passed by us We 'l take things as they lye before us and as they offer themselves to us to be handled by us And first This we have here intimated to us the Patience and Forbearance which is in God towards the sons of men for some time even of his own accord This also here in the Text it is a Relative particle which has respect to some former indulgence of this Lord of the Vineyard towards this Fig-tree whiles he says Let it alone now also it does imply that he had for some time let it alone already and so indeed he had as we may observe out of the foregoing verse He had spared it and let it alone for three years together in all which time he had looked for fruit from it but yet had found none That which we may observe from hence is this That the Lord does not presently proceed to Judgment upon people for their unfruitfulness but is willing and content for some time to let them alone and to stay waiting and expecting from them Here was one year looking for fruit and none then yet it is let alone He comes the next year and is also disappointed yet forbears it still one year more to try what it will do and is still disappointed and yet is still patient with it And this I say sets forth unto us the patience of God towards a people ere he proceed in judgement against them This is observable in him in divers instances and examples of it which we meet with-all in Scripture Thus it was with the Old World God did not presently bring the I lood upon them but gave them a fair warning of it long before Gen. 6.3 The Lord said My Spirit shall not alwaies strive with man for that he also as flesh yet his daies shall be an hundred and twenty years According to that of St. Peter in 2 Pet. 3.20 where it is said That the long-suffering of God waited in the daies of Noah whiles the Ark was in preparing And so for Israel he was very patient towards them 2 Chron 36.15 16. The Lord God of their Fathers sent unto them by his messengers rising up early and sending them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling-place But they mocked his messengers and despised his words and misused his Prophets till the wrath of God arose against his people and there was no remedy And so for Jerusalem our blessed Saviour expresses himself after this manner towards it O Jerusalem that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a Hen gathers her Chickens under her wings and ye would not Luk. 13.34 35 c. This the Lord is pleased to do upon divers considerations First out of his Nobleness and Royalty and Generosity of mind as we may so express it To shew that he does not take pleasure or delight in the death of sinners as he hath sometimes told us He loves not to destroy there where he can any way spare His long-suffering it is salvation and has that in the scope of it not only eternal but also temporal which does sometimes also follow upon it Therefore he loves to give them all the fair quarter and advantage that may be and which they are oâ—â—ble of from him There may be now and then in Trees some accidental Impediments upon them besides the natural barrenness of them which may perhaps for a year or so keep them from being so fruitful And therefore the Master of the Vineyard will not at the first cut them down but let them alone rather for a while that he may see how it will be with them and whether they 'l be constantly so yea or no. Secondly The Lord does thus with many people that thereby he may leave them so much the more inexcusable and may be justified in his proceedings against them when he comes to judgment indeed that all mens mouths may be stopp'd and that they may believe so much the more fully in God If the Lord should cut men off presently so soon as he is provoked to do it they would be ready to say he dealt too hardly and rigorously with them now therefore for a while does he forbear them Thirdly Sometimes to exercise this patience of the Vine-dressers themselves which labour and take pains about these Fig-trees God will hereby sometimes prove them and God will sometimes hereby trouble them as St. Paul observes it in himself from the non-proficiency and impenitency of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 12. ult And by his own patience and forbearance of such persons God will leave them his Ministers to a spirit of patience and forbearance in themselves in conformity to God's own example The Vse which we may make for our particular of this observation is briefly this namely that we should not therefore think our selves at any time to be wholly free or exempted from judgment because it does not presently light upon us for we may be mistaken in so thinking There 's many a man and there 's many a people which God spares it may be the first year and the second year and the third year and yet at last cuts off in the fourth spares in one hand and yet cuts off in another Forbearance is no acquittance as we use to say there 's a let us alone speaking even in anger and wrath and indignation as we find it hinted unto us in Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned unto idols let him alone But of this we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter out of the following words and therefore I shall pass it over here That 's one thing which is signified in this expression Let it alone this year also to wit some former forbearance which the Lord and owner of the Vineyard had vouchsafed of his own accord Secondly whiles he says here this year also here is implyed a further desire of continued patience and forbearance The Lord of the Vineyard as I shewed before had hitherto let the Fig-tree alone of his own disposition inclination Now the Vine-dresser desires him that he would do as much for one year more upon his request and intreaty for it From whence we learn thus much that those who are faithful Workmen and Labourers in the Vineyard of the Lord they desire as long as may be to keep off God's judgments from his people if they cannot wholly and absolutely prevent theâ— yet at least that they may for a while respite â—â—â—m and so lengthen out their tranquillity to them This
begin it and continue it with him in all conscionable obedience to him We are apt for the most part to please and flatter our selves with thoughts of security and indulgence To morrow shall be as this day and the next year shall be as the last and more abundantly But this is a matter of great uncertainty to us and it is fit should be so It is not for us to know the hour our selves but it is for us to prepare our selves for all times and seasons that may be and to endeavour to make the times so much the better and comfortable to us by our conformableness and fruitfulness under them Lord let it alone this year also till I shall dig c. SERMON V. LUKE 10.38 Now it came to pass as they went that he entred into a certain Village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house Our Blessed Lord and Saviour who was the great Creator of Heaven and Earth was yet so far pleased to abase himself for our sakes as to have no place of dwelling and abode here upon earth Although he was the Son of the Carpenter yet he had no house built him of his own and that upon the same ground as he was willing to be the Son of the Carpenter which was a piece of his humiliation Foxes have holes and Birds of the air have nests but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head But yet though he had none certain yet he had as many as he pleased at command and though he had ill entertainment from the World yet there were some whom he knew he could be acceptable and welcome unto Where-ever he had an heart he was sure not to want an house where there was ability and opportunity for it And thus here in this Scripture before us he takes up his lodging in the house of two godly and devout Women and Sisters Martha and Mary Wherein we have declared unto us a different frame of spirit in the entertainment of him It is a very pleasing and delightful Story and through the blessing of God upon our thoughts and meditations on it may prove as profitable THis whole Contexture of Scripture in the perfect view of it does contain in it especially two General Parts First Christ's Entertainment which he had in the place where he came And Secondly Christ's carriage and behaviour towards those which entertained him and to her especially which now received him into her house The former of these we have in the three first verses The latter in the two last and close of the Chapter We begin in order with the first the Entertainment which was here given to Christ which we have in the three first which we shall run over with as much expedition as possibly we can And we 'll take them as they lye before us forasmuch as Scriptures of this nature do require another kind of handling than others do Now it came to pass as they went that they entred c. In this we have two things observable First The nature of the place which Christ at this time turn'd into He entred into a certain Village Secondly The party that entertain'd him and took him in upon his entring into the Town A certain woman named Martha receiv'd him into her house To speak a word of the first the nature of the place He entred into a certain Village We see here that Christ did not only take care of Cities and great Towns and populous places where there was great resort of people coming to them and those it may be of quality and estate but also of poor Villages and mean places He had a special regard even to these for the exercise of his Ministry amongst them and the filling them with his heavenly doctrine And thus it does likewise become other Ministers also to bear after the example of Christ himself not only to affect such Auditories and to confine themselves to such kind of places which are more eminent in worldly considerations but also now and then where they are called thereto as there is occasion and opportunity afforded to turn aside into the Villages themselves Thus our Saviour Christ did here and thus we we find him also to have done in other places Jesus went about all the Cities and Villages teaching in their Synagogues and Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom So Mark 6.6 He went round about the Villages teaching And Luke 17.12 He entred into a certain Village c. In Cantic 7.10 The Spouse invites her Beloved hereunto Came says she let us go forth into the Field let us lodge in the Villages This was the temper and disposition of Christ to condescend so far to such places as these are for the scattering of his heavenly Word and Doctrine amongst them And thus there is very good reason for other Ministers likewise to do upon occasion in divers regards First because here 's an opportunity of doing good as well as else-where There are souls to be saved in the Villages as well as in the great Cities And this is that which our work does chiefly and principally respect it is to convert men and bring men to Heaven and this is that which is indifferently to be regarded in one as well as in another All souls are in this sense equal they cost the same price one with another and we are accordingly to be tender and heedful of them Christ had compassion on the multitude when they were as sheep without a shepherd And this drew him abroad into the Villages a love to poor souls And we should labour to find the same gracious affections and dispositions in our selves Secondly There 's incouragement of a man's Ministry in these as well as in other places and sometimes more All Religion is not compast and comprehended within the walls of a City there are gracious souls in the Villages and Countrey-Towns yea often-times more of the sincerity and power of godliness indeed than there is in those places which are of higher education and so likewise a better and more cordial entertainment of the means themselves The full stomach loaths the honey-comb those which are at the well-head and enjoy the means of Grace in great abundance they are apt to scorn and despise those opportunities which are afforded unto them whereas others which are more straiten'd they have them in greater account And then Thirdly For a difference of gists and various improvements of those abilities which God pleases to dispense God bestows upon his servants in the Ministry sundry talents and those fitted to sundry dispositions and sundry places which call for a seasonable exercise and improvement of them Those which do well in one place they may not do so well in another and those which cannot so profitably be exercised and employed here else-where may do very well Now therefore that those which God has given in such and such a kind may accordingly be drawn forth there 's good ground for
the name for good understandings now we see here how they may do so and indeed attain hereunto which is by walking in such ways as are good and which tend to everlasting life and salvation This is the great wisdom of all and most to be looked after Who is wise and he shall understand these things Prudent and he shall know them Hos 14.9 Men commonly think it a part of wisdom in them to choose such ways as are best for the world but that 's wisdom in good earnest to choose such ways as are best for Heaven and as may serve to bring a man thither Secondly It is an argument also of a gracious and savoury spirit Men choose commonly according to their affections and there 's much of their spirit in those things which they fasten upon we may see what 's within them and what principles they are acted by according to that which they make choice of A spiritual heart is most affected with spiritual objects and places its greatest delight and contentment in such things as these Thirdly It is an argument of some courage and self-denial and resolution of mind For the better part it is not commonly without opposition and resistance in the world there will still be some or other that will malign it and set themselves against it There 's hardly any man that can make choice of goodness but he shall be sure to have enemies enough for it They that hate me says David are many in number because I do the thing that good is Psal 38.20 Now therefore to make choice of it in such circumstances it argues some kind of boldness and spirit and courageousness in it Lastly It is also an argument of an elect and chosen Vessel It is a sign that God has chosen us when we choose him and such ways as these which are good and pleasing to him For there where God elects he qualifies where he makes choice of any person he does withal confer a disposition suitable and agreeable to such a choice This is that therefore which we should labour and endeavour after and be still careful of to put it in practice In every thing whereunto we apply our selves still to choose that which is best to close with the best persons to cleave to the best causes to take up the best opinions to take the best courses and ways that possibly we can that by so doing we may approve our selves the better to Christ It is the disposition of many people in the world that if there be any way worse than other they 'l be sure to make choice of that and to make it their own Now what a fondness and madness is this we see in other matters for the world how careful men are what they are able to make the best choice that may be and there 's nothing good enough for them so exact and curious are they And how much rather should they then choose the best in spiritual matters The way hereunto is first of all To beg direction of God himself for the guiding of us Alas we are but fools of our selves without his Spirit to teach us and therefore we must have recourse to him Thus the Prophet David for himself Psal 143.8 9. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning for in thee do I trust Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee And again Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God Thy Spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness Thus the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of revelation cap. 1. ver 17. And for the Philippians That they might abound in all judgment cap. 1. ver 9. And for the Colossians That they might be fill'd with the knowledg of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Secondly We must also seriously weigh and compare one thing with another Good election it proceeds from good deliberation Eccles 7.27 Behold this have I found saith the Preacher counting one by one to find out the account or as some expound and read the words weighing one thing after another to find out the reason If we would choose those things that are best we must not take them in their simple proposition or have a slight and superficial view of them but examine them and dive into them and consider them in all their circumstances Thirdly Take in the advice and experience of well-grounded and experienced Christians to help us We see how men do in other matters where they have no skill or very little in such and such Commodities themselves they will take with them those that have to choose for them and so should they learn to do here It is a good rule in doubtful matters to advise with the generation of God's children which in all likelihood should know what is best and be able best to guess at it Quilibet in Arte sua credendus est Lastly To labour to be acquainted with the power of Religion our selves Those things men best choose which they are best verst in A Trades man in his own Commodities and Mysteries and so likewise a Christian And this is the first observation That it is the commendation of a Christian to make choice of such ways as are best and most approvable to Christ as Mary here did The Second is this That we are then good to purpose when we are good upon right Principles namely of judgment and consideration in us when it may be said of us as it was here said of Mary that we have chosen the better part Religion it is a matter of election it is not a business of chance but a business of choice There are many persons sometimes in the world who do not so much choose Religion as rather Religion chooses them and they stumble upon it before they are aware But this should not be sufficient for us neither should we content our selves with it but labour rather to set our selves to it upon due grounds and motives upon us Thus David concerning himself Psal 119.30 I have chosen the way of truth thy Judgments have I laid before me I have stuck unto thy Testimonies c. Beloved It is true indeed it is a great advantage to have gracious opportunities of goodness afforded unto us and we are to acknowledg God's Providence in them and to bless him for them good counsel good example good education good company and the like But yet we are not to rest our selves in these but to have somewhat further to act us We are not to be carried only by others principles but by principles of our own not only to take the better part but to choose the better part that is to take it out of a liking of it and out of an affection to it at least to do so at last and before we have done Indeed I do not deny but those helps which I mention'd before may
for Now observe here further for this Praying it self how it is exprest namely in the time past it is not I will pray for thee but I have prayed Not I will do it hereafter no but I have done it already We see here the readiness and forwardness of Christ for us He is full as nimble and as speedy as Satan Satan he had desired already And Christ he had prayed already He is as forward to help us as the other to conspire against us This is still the comfort of Believers that they have such an Advocate as this is one that sits at the right-hand of God and so is privy to all the accusations which are brought against them and attempts which are made upon them it is very sweet and comfortable There 's no danger which is incident to a Believer but Christ he is acquainted with it and there 's no danger which he observes to be neer him but he takes care and diverts it from him We see here how Christ's afore-hand with us He prayed for Peter before Peter prayed for himself or very well knew that he had any need of being prayed for at all We see here also Christ's sweet love to us Peter knew not that Christ had prayed for him till he now told him This shews us those concealed bowels which Christ bears unto us he thinks of us when we think not of him and prays for us when we think our condition to be so good and safe as that we hardly stand in need of it as Peter here did Let us therefore comfort our selves and one another with these words as the Apostle speaks for indeed they are very comfortable That we have Christ praying foâ— us It is a comfort sometimes to Christians to think that they have such and such friends praying for them it may be when themselves are at some distance and remoteness from them yet that they have the benefit and advantage of the prayers of such a relation a Father or Husband or Brother or any other acquaintance Gracious and holy persons they take a great deal of contentment in the mutual remembrances of one another at the Throne of Grace Oh! but when they shall consider that they have the remembrance of Christ himself this must needs be especially pleasing and delightful unto them and satisfy them in any condition Yea it is comfortable in all our own weaknesses and inabilities which are upon us It falls out to be sometimes the case and condition of the servants of God that they are hardly able to pray for themselves such a straitness and difficulty in them and indisposition upon them But now when they can have Christ to do it for them this supplies it and makes it up to them with a great deal of advantage There 's a double supply to the servants of God in such cases The one is the intercession of the Spirit and the other is the intercession of Christ And both very considerable of them First For the Spirit 's intercession that we have mention made of in Rom. 8.26 27. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit if self maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Secondly For Christ's Intercession that we have here now in this Text Behold I have prayed for thee This is matter as of great encouragement so likewise of great engagement How should this knit us to Christ and oblige us so much the more unto him What a sad and fearful thing is it for us to be sinning against him whiles he is praying for us for us to be tempting him whiles he is praying for us to be kept and deliver'd from temptation as sometimes it happens to be I have prayed for thee c. Christ tells Peter of it which he knew not before And there 's very good use now and then of such a carriage as this is not only of praying for our friends in the thing it self but likewise in some circumstances of signifying as much unto them Though it is better they should know it in the event and by the efficacy of it to themselves yet there may be some cases and causes sometimes for the discovery of as much unto them As St. Paul frequently in his Epistles making request for you and remembring you in my Prayers c. Partly for the increase of love and affection between Christian and Christian which hereby is very much preserv'd Partly also for the stirring up of our Brethren to the performance of the like office of love for our selves as we have occasion for it And partly again to secure one another as to the state and condition in which we are who having a stock of prayers going for us and being accordingly inform'd of it may from hence be more comforted in our selves And thus did our Saviour here to Peter in this intimation I have prayed for thee Before we let go this Passage there is somewhat here further to be observed from this Adversative Particle But. But I have prayed for thee which stands in opposition to that which was said before concerning Satan's desires Satan has desired to have you but I have prayed for thee which he adds by way of consolation and to prevent discouragement in Peter and in the rest of his Disciples It was a grievous thing for them to hear of Satan's attempts that he laid wait to catch and entrap them and desired to insnare them yea but here 's now that which qualifies it that Christ also does pray for them and the Prayers of Christ are more prevalent than the desires of Satan He shall be able to do more for them than the other shall be able to do against them And God will sooner hear his Son begging and entreating for them than he will hear Satan's clamouring and crying against them A Christian's priviledges are above his disadvantages And we may here further observe and take notice of the wisdom of Christ in the expression of himself here to Peter where he endeavours to keep him in an even temper betwixt fear and hope that he might the better provoke him to watchfulness and heedfulness and care of his ways he therefore tells him that Satan had desired him and yet withal that he keep him from discouragement and despondency and dejection of spirit he tells him also that himself had prayed for him But I have c. In this Adversative But there 's a threefold Antithesis or Opposition which may be here observ'd and taken notice of by us First an Opposition of the Persons Christ against Satan Secondly an Opposition of the Actions Praying against desiring Thirdly an Opposition of the Success Establishment against Circumvention First An Opposition of the Persons Christ against Satan It is the Devil that
the state of a regenerate person which is here illustrated and set forth unto us by a lively comparison or similitude taken from the Winde And that in three Particulars which may serve to make up unto us the parts of this Text. First from the quality of its motion Secondly from the sensibleness of its effects And Thirdly from the intricacy and mysteriousness of its proceeding The quality of its motion that we have in these words The winde bloweth where it listeth The sensibleness of its effects that we have in these Thou hearest the sound thereof The intricacy or mysteriousness of its proceeding in these But knowest not c. We begin in order with the First of these Parts viz. The quality of the motion The winde bloweth where it listeth Some by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated the winde understand the Spirit of God in the first sense and so render it But we are rather to take it in the analogy according to our own English Translation First the Winde and then the Spirit of God as compared and likened unto it Look as it happens in the blowings of the winde so it falls out in the breathings of the Spirit where whiles it is said that it bloweth where it listeth there are three things further implyed in it First the indefiniteness of it it is not limited Secondly the freeness of it it is not engaged Thirdly the efficacy or irresistibility of it it is not hindered First Whiles it is said of the winde that it bloweth where it listeth there is hereby signified to us the indefiniteness of it in its motions that it is not determined or limited in them no more it is not The Winde it blows where and when it pleases sometimes out of one corner of the world sometimes out of another Sometimes in the East and sometimes in the West and sometimes in the North and sometimes in the South There 's no certain place for the Winde which it is tied and restrained unto but it is indifferently inclinable unto any Sometimes it rises and sometimes again it lies still it is indefinite in all respects And as it is thus with the Winde so it is thus also with the Spirit of God which is thus far here compared unto it It is indefinite and undetermined in its Applications Thus it is in regard of Nations and thus it is in regard of Persons In regard of the means of Grace which it affords And in regard of its blessing of those means which are afforded Take it in regard of Nations And this winde of the Spirit it blows where it lists here as not limited to any particular either for place or time neither where nor how long it shall do so but all is still within the compass of his own will and good pleasure Thus in Acts 16.6 It is said of the Apostles that when they had gone through-out Phrygia and the region of Galatia they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia And again in the seventh verse of the same Chapter After they were come to Mysia they assayed to go into Bythinia and the Spirit suffered them not to Preach in those places either by some express prohibition of them or by withholding of his assistance from them And that at such a time as when in other places they had more liberty and freedom The winde it serv'd them for one way when it did not serve them for another We may see this if we compare the Eastern Churches and Western together The time was when this Winde it blew more Easternly witness those famous Churches of Asia in the Apostle St. John's time which are made mention of in the Book of the Revelation they did for a time enjoy the Preaching of the Gospel in a plentiful and glorious manner whereas now they are altogether defaced and under the power of Mahometism and Turkish Tyranny Again on the other side the Winde is now come into the West and the Gospel is Preached in these parts which are more remote from the other Thus it is indifferent in regard of Nations sometimes vouchsafed to one people and sometimes vouchsafed to another though never so opposite And so as for Nations so for Persons it is unlimited here likewise God's Spirit is not always confined or determined to them He may deal with them at one time and at another time withdraw from them move in their hearts now and for hereafter be for ever silent to them and never more apply himself to them It is that which he often-times does and which many persons have the experience of in their own particulars who sometimes have gracious stirrings and excitements of them to good which at another time they may be deprived of and have no such thing in them The proper Use which we are to make of this Point is still to close with the present advantages and opportunities which are vouchsafed unto us and to take heed of the neglecting of them Be not high-minded but fear We should do in this case as it is with those who have some voyage by Sea who watch the winde when it makes for them and are careful to take hold on it so should we in this our passage to Heaven Let us not think to have the windes always at our command for we are mistaken if we think so The winde bloweth where it listeth as it is here exprest unto us And so does this winde of the Spirit and so there 's a variety and an uncertainty in it It is dangerous for any persons to neglect and especially to resist the secret and gracious motions of the Spirit whether as restraining and keeping from evils or provoking and exciting to good because it may so fall out as they may never meet with them again It is not as we list but as he lists remember that And therefore observe him and attend upon him and give heed and respect unto him all that may be It pleases God sometimes in his Providence to be more free in his dispensations than otherwise it may be occasionally from such a Sermon or such a Discourse or such a Conference more effectually to stir in the heart and to deal with such a particular person Now it is wisdom in such a case to follow it and to close with it and that upon this ground and consideration which we have now in hand as an argument and motive hereunto And that 's the first thing considerable in this motion of the winde and so consequently of the Spirit as to the quality of it Its indefiniteness that it is not limited The Second is its Freeness that it is not engaged The winde blows where it lists that is nothing moving it or enclining it thereunto but it s own proper nature and disposition And so is it also with the Spirit of God in the activity and operations thereof There 's a voluntariness and a spontaneity in it what he does in this respect he
does it freely and willingly and of his own accord without any thing in us either to move him or mind him of it or to perswade him and engage him to it There 's nothing so free as Grace in the Collations and Distributions of it It is bestowed without any worth or Dignity in us at all to Promerit it This may appear if we shall consider but the Persons upon whom it is bestowed who are often times such as have nothing in them tending hereunto whether we take it as to worldly qualifications or else to moral It is very free in either Consideration As to worldly Qualifications first of all the Aposte Paul has here informed us how that not many wise men after the Flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise c. And Secondly as for moral Qualifications God sometimes makes choice of such as are the greatest Sinners where he passes by some other Persons of greater Civility Matthew the Publican Mary Magdalen the Harlot Saul the Persecutor the Barbarian Jaylor That Gods Spirit should blow upon these whiles it blew over others which were better what does this speak unto us but that it bloweth there where it listeth Into what can we possibly resolve it but into the will and good pleasure of God! Look what St. Paul says sometimes of the common gifts the same may we say also of the sanctifying But all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 And again Vnto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gist of Christ Whatever Grace any man partakes of he has it purely from the Spirit of God who of his own accord bestows it upon them And therefore it is said in 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God All we have it is of free grace and it is freely given and conferred upon us The consideration of this point may be thus far useful to us First as it may teach us where to acknowledge all that we receive If any have more Grace than others let them see here how they came by it not by Merit but by Gift not by any thing as deserving it in themselves but from the goodness of the Spirit of Godas bestowing it upon them and therefore not to attribute it to themselves but to Him who is the Author and Giver of it as St. Paul himself gives us an example in 2 Cor. 15.10 By the Grace of God I am that I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Secondly We have here an account of the difference and variety of Christians both from one another and from themselves we see why one Christian abounds in Grace more than another and we see also why the same Christian is better at one time than he is at another Both are from this ground in the Text because the Spirit bloweth there where it listeth And every one to this purpose should rest satisfied in this equal dispensation God may do with his own as he pleases and he pleases thus to do with it that so hereby he may shew his own liberty and freedom in this particular We are able to move no farther in good than the Spirit of God helps us so to do As ye know it was in the Vision in Ezekiel as the Spirit moved the living Creatures which were in the wheels so the wheels went when that went they went and when that stood still they stood still with it Ezek. 1.2 Even so is it here in these motions of the Soul we are so far forth more lively in regard either of Grace or Comfort as the Spirit of God is pleased to breathe and to infuse either of them into us And without Him we are able to do nothing as may be worth any thing to us Therefore thirdly Let us also make this use of it To be depending upon him for it If we cannot do any thing without his blowing and his blowing be onely there where he pleases we see what cause we have to keep in good terms with him and to do nothing which may be displeasing to him for if we lose his favour we lose his influence and his assistance which is the effect of it it is where he lists and onely there where he blows And therefore make much of him and wait upon him take heed of grieving so good and so gracious a Spirit as this is and besides who is so useful to us and necessary for us And further Fourthly let it teach us also tenderness and compassion towards others who it may be do not partake of so much grace or comfort as our selves For it is God and his Spirit who makes this difference betwixt us it is not we our selves Let us take heed of insulting too much over others weaknesses forasmuch as it is that Grace that distinguishes us and makes that difference that is betwixt us And that 's the second thing also in this motion its freeness that it is not engaged The third and last is its Efficacy or unresistableness that it is not nor cannot be hindred Whereever the Spirit of God will blow there is no standing out against it it blows where it lists that is it obtains whatsoever it endeavours Who hath resisted his will Surely none at all to any purpose Indeed corrupt Nature sometimes opposes the motions of Gods Spirit and that even Conversion in it self reluctates and strives against it but all in vain where he sets to the work Look as it is not in the power of a Child to hinder his own first birth even so it is not in the power of a sinner to hinder his own new birth where God undertakes and sets himself to it because his Spirit it does effect whatsoever he pleases Who hath gathered the wind in his fist as Agur makes the question in Prov. 30.4 Surely it is not Man but God Look as no man can hinder the wind or stop the blowings and motions thereof so neither can any man hinder the Spirit and stop the motions and influences thereof that they should not prove effectual This is a comfortable point in all contrary blasts whatsoever Satan who is the evil Spirit he has his blowings too and he oftentimes blows very hard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom speaks but yet he does not blow where he lists nor can his blowings prevail against this blowing which we have here before us in this present Text which carries all before it and shall overturn and overthrow whatsoever stands in opposition to it It is said of Antichrist the man of sin and who is a great instrument of Satan that the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth and destroy
him with the brightness of his coming And so he shall and all such persons as do adhere unto him The Spirit of Christ shall scatter the spirit of Antichrist and the wind of the Holy Spirit shall confound the wind of the evil Spirit and what ever is attempted by it This is a very comfortable point in all the assaults and temptations of Satan and his endeavours either against the Church in general or against any particular member of it Every Christian is thus far secure and in good condition as he has this Wind as I may so say for him which is sure to blow him nothing but good The Reason of it is this Because he is one that belongs to Christ and has an interest in him and so consequently has an interest in the Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ and so all the motions of it subordinate and subservient to him and disposed of according to his pleasure There are different and various winds which blow now and then both upon the Church and likewise upon the Soul but they are all ordered and regulated by him Therefore we find in the Canticles how it is Christ himself that stirs up his Spirit for the good of his Spouse Awake O North-wind and come thou South and blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out The Spirit it blows where it lists and it lists there where Christ lists too which is very satisfactory for all those that seek unto him And so I have done with the first part of the Text as to the resemblance betwixt the Spirit and the Wind in the work of Regeneration and that is the Quality of the Maker The Wind bloweth c. The Second is the Sensibleness of its effects in those words And thou hearest the sound thereof The wind it comes with a Sound and so does the Spirit of God It did so in its first coming of all when it came upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost There came suddenly a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting Acts 2.4 And so it is still to this present day in a proportion It has a sound and such as may be heard Now thus it is in a two fold consideration The one is the sound of it in the Ear and the other is the sound of it in the Conscience First There is the sound of the Spirit in the Ear and that is in the external Preaching of the Word and Ministerial Dispensation where this is performed as it should be it is no other than the sound of the Spirit and the voice of the Holy Ghost himself speaking to us Their sound is gone forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Rom. 10.18 This is such a sound as may be heard and it is a mercy to hear it and to be made partakers of it and that in regard of the virtue and benefit which by the blessing of God is conveyed by it for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God as the Apostle there tells us Rom. 10.17 Therefore accordingly we should prize it and esteem of it and apply our selves to it as that which is appointed for our good If we look upon Preaching onely as the work of men so there is but little in it and it may be rather matter of contempt in regard of the meanness of it But when we shall consider that it is the Ordinance of God and the voice and sound of the Spirit here 's that in it which commands our regard and attention to it And we should be glad of all opportunities which are at any time afforded unto us for the partaking of it that we may hear the sound of this wind blowing upon us That 's the first The sound in the Ear. But secondly that 's not all there is moreover the sound in the Conscience which is the main and chiefest of all This is that which comes home to the heart of a Christian for his conversion and the raising him from the death of sin under which he was held Like the voice of Christ to Lazarus when he bad him come forth of the grave This is that which is heard also by those persons whom it pleases God to vouchsafe it unto according to that of our blessed Saviour in Joh. 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Thus we shall find it was with the Disciples going to Emaus Luke 24.32 They said one to another Did not our bearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and whiles he opened to us the Scripture There was a special efficacy went with his word to the hearts of his hearers And so it was with St. Peter's Converts Acts 2.37 When they heard these words they were pricked at their hearts And the Jaylor Acts 16.33 he heard not onely the sound of the wind but the sound of the Spirit and this sound of it whereof we now speak in the heart-quake as well as the earth quake which he was sensible of upon that occasion And so it has been with many more and still is they daily hear this sound made unto them they have strong and strange impressions upon their hearts and spirits to this purpose which they cannot but hear in several kinds sometimes checking them for sin and sometimes restraining them from it sometimes exciting them to good and sometimes encouraging them in it The Spirit of God in their hearts and consciences deals diversly and variously with them and it is their duty and wisdom accordingly to attend unto him They that hear thus they shall hear that is they shall hear effectually as it is intimated in the place before cited And therefore it concerns us to regard it and to give heed unto it all that possible may be There are a great many people in the world who though this sound which we now speak of in both the branches of it be continually exhibited unto them and such as may be heard yet they do not or at least will not hear it who like the deaf Adder stop their ears and will not hear the voice of the charmers charm they never so wisely as the Prophet David speaks of them in Psal 68.4 5. Now what do such as these but as much as in themselves lies hinder their own conversion and regeneration and the work of grace in their hearts which is accomplished by such ways and means as these And besides after a great indignity and disrespect to the holy Ghost himself as the Apostle Paul signifies to us in 1 Thess 4.8 He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given us his holy Spirit Whose voice as it is sensible to be heard so it ought to be heard by us as we have occasion for it And so
affections and hearts off from the principles But Thirdly Especially let us go to Christ himself to hold us in his hand Joh. 15.4 Abide in me and I in you c. We must first labour to find our selves truly ingrafted and incorporated into Christ and then we must draw strength and power from him whereby we may subsist We must continue in Christ himself that so his words may continue the better in us And so ye have both parts of this Speech of Christ brought together The Duty supposed and the Priviledg inferr'd and one following upon the other It is the priviledg of all true Christians to be the Disciples of Christ indeed and that which chiefly gives them right and title to this priviledg is their continuing and abiding in his words If ye continue in my words then are ye my Disciples indeed SERMON XV. JOH 6.37 All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out The World's rejection of Christ and of the Doctrine which is delivered by him it is no disparagement either to Christ himself or to his Doctrine which was delivered but to those rather which reject both Him and it which is that which by way of prevention he does intimate here in this Scripture Our blessed Lord and Saviour had in some Verses going before shewn who and what he was and the Excellencies and Commodities which were in him Now because the Jews might perhaps have objected That for all this he was not generally so embrac'd but there were many still which held off from him For this he tells them That the Truth of God not withstanding has that honour given it which belongs unto it for let others be that which they will be those which are Chosen and Elected of God they are sure to have benefit by it and to make a profitable improvement of it All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me c. IN the Text it self we have two General Parts observable of us First An account of the persons that come to Christ All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me Secondly Christs Entertainment of those that come to him and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out We begin with the first viz. an account of the Comers All that the Father hath given me shall come c. Before we come to handle the main Doctrine which is here exhibited to us there are two Terms in this passage to be opended and explained by us First what is meant by coming to Christ Secondly what is meant by being given to Christ by the Father When we have understood both of these we shall the more easily proceed in the points which slow from them For the first Coming to Christ it hath a various sense in it and may be diversly taken by us but we will reduce it to two Heads First an Outward coming in application of our selves to the means we are then said to come to Christ when we come to the Ordinances of Christ This is that which we often meet withall in Scripture a coming thus Mark 10.14 Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not And so in many other places besides in the Gospel There were divers which came to Christ that is they had access to his person and did repair unto him this we cannot do now in the Letter and directly but we may in the Analogy and that is by our attendance upon the external means of Salvation so long as we come to them we do in a sort come to Him He that receiveth you receiveth me Matth. 10.40 And Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me 2 Cor. 13.3 But this is not all the coming which is intended here in this place there is somewhat more in it than so Therefore secondly Coming to Christ is as much as closing with Christ embracing him and believing on him and submitting to him it is a coming not onely of the feet but especially of the heart of the Soul and inward man This is the coming which is here principally aimed at when we so come to Christ as that we do yield up our whole selves to be at his disposing When we come off to him and comply with him and resign our selves to him then we come to him and come to him to purpose and not before And that 's the first term to be explained what 's meant here by coming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall come unto me The second is What by Given All that the Father hath given me Now for this we must know that there is a double Gift of us to Christ First In God's Eternal Purpose and Counsel and Decree We are given to Christ when we are design'd and set apart for him That 's the Gift of Election So All that the Father hath given me that is All that he hath separated for me that he hath made choice of as Members of me Secondly We are given to Christ in the drawing of our hearts unto him in our effectual Calling and Vocation when God by his Spirit does perswade us to close with Christ in those terms which he offers to us in the Gospel then he is said to give us to him And this Giving it is mutual and reciprocal Christ he is given to us and we are given to him and so there is a Marriage-knot which is drawn and contracted betwixt us And this now for the meaning of the words what we are to understand by Coming and what by Given Now to come to the main Doctrine it self which is here exhibited to us All that the Father hath given me shall come unto me This it hath a double force or emphasis with it either first of all as an expression of Latitude and Vniversality or secondly as an expression of Confinement and Restriction According to the first sense so there is this in it That whosoever are Elected shall be Converted All that God has given unto Christ that is ordained and set apart for him they shall be converted and brought home unto him According to the second sense so there is this in it That none can come to Christ but those which by God himself are given to him All that the Father hath given me as excluding any other besides from this Condition We begin with the first viz. as it is an expression of some Latitude and Universality Whosoever are Elected shall be Converted Whosoever are appointed to Glory they shall be made partakers of Grace Rom. 11.7 The Election hath obtained it but the rest were blinded And Acts 13.48 As many as were ordained to eternal life believed So 2 Thess 2.13 God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth This must needs be so because the End and the Means they still go both together according to Gods manner of dispensation and the foundation of the Lord is
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
Mothers or Nurses do sometimes with their children who whiles they perceive them to be loth and unwilling to let them go from them they do usually still and quiet them by perswading them that they 'll come to them again that so the hope and expectation of their return may pacifie them and satisfie them in their departure Even so does Christ here with his Disciples when he was taking his leave of them he puts in this with it I will come unto you Nay to make it so much the more emphatical and that it might work the more effectually upon them in the Original Text it is not onely in the Future but in the Present not onely in the Future I will come but in the Present I do come unto you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 's the word in the Greek which is of a present condition before he was as yet gone from them he makes mention to them of his coming again that so he might the better perswade them and work upon them Now in that he uses this argument to them we may learn this from it That there is nothing which will satisfie a Christian in Christs absence but onely his return again to him Thus it was here with Christ to his Apostles He does not say I will not leave you comfortless for I will leave you rich or I will leave you great or I will leave you honourable and the like it was none of these outward accommodations which could satisfie in the absence of Christ no but this I will come again to you If Christ would give them any thing and not give them Himself it would not suffice or content them Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none on earth which I desire besides thee Psal 72.26 None but Christ none but Christ as that holy Martyr at the Stake And another He is come he is come And the reason of it is this Because the Plaister must be as broad as the Sore and the Remedy must be as large as the Disease and the Comfort must be answerable to the Grief What was that which troubled these Disciples and made them at the present thus comfortless it was this that Chirst would go from them That therefore which must refresh them it must be this that Christ would come to them there 's none can supply the want of Christ but Christ himself And as there is nothing can do it indeed and in the thing it self so there is nothing neither can do it as to the sense and apprehension of a Christian he himself will not be satisfied with any thing else for his own particular As Luther spake once to God when he enjoyed some temporal refreshment from him Lord says he I will not be put off with these comforts if thou thinkest to give me these for my portion I will not be satisfied or contented with them Even so does a Believer say to Christ in such cases as these are Lord give me thy self or it will not suffice me Spiritual comforts may much uphold in temporal losses but Temporal comforts will not satissie in Spiritual deprivations So much for these words in the scope of them Now secondly to come to them more directly in themselves for the matter and substance of them I will come unto you this is that which Christ promises to his Disciples and with them also to all other Christians We may take it three manner of ways There is a three-fold coming of Christ whereby he does supply to Believers his temporary going away from them First The coming of his Resurrection I will not leave you comfortless but I will come unto you that is though for a time I shall leave the world yet within a while after I shall rise again from the dead This was such a coming as was proper onely to the Believers and to those that lived in those times to have the immediate comfort of it Though he rise to all others in the efficacy of his Resurrection yet he rose onely to the Apostles and to a certain number of other persons to converse with him after his Resurrection To whom he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them fourty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts 1.8 And this he did he came to them when they were comfortless and full of grief that they were deprived of so gracious a Master he came to them and comforted them in his Resurrection The Resurrection of Christ it was such a coming as did much comfort the Disciples and did in a manner drie up those tears which they had shed for his former departure But secondly that was not all nor that chiefly which is here intended in this Text wherein he tells them that he will return again to them I will come unto you it is not meant onely of the coming of his Resurrection but more especially of the coming of his Spirit the coming of the Holy Ghost which was also the Spirit of Christ and by him sent from the Father It was the coming of Christ himself when the one came the other came in him and so is conceived to do and interpreted This is the chief and proper meaning of this expression Now Christ is said to come in his Spirit according to a three-fold empartment and dispensation of it especially First in the Gifts of it Secondly in the Graces of it And thirdly in the Comforts First in the Gifts of it I mean the common Gifts of it These which we call for distinctions sake Gratiae gratis datae The gifts and abilities of the Ministery These were such as our Blessed Saviour upon his departure did in a large and plentiful manner effuse and pour forth upon his Church Wherefore he saith When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men Ephes 4 8. This was that which was performed on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came upon them in the shape of cloven and fiery tongues and they were all filled with it Acts 2.2 This was a piece of satisfaction to them for the withdrawing of his own Person they had not Himself now to instruct them but they had his Spirit to do it for them and thereby to enable them also for the teaching and instructing of others This is further considerable under a two-fold Amplification First in the variety of these gifts And secondly in the Succession In the variety and several kinds and in the succession of several persons First for the various distribution to consider it in that That Christ does sort and dispose of his gifts so as he does that one shall have an excellency in one kind and another shall have excellency in another that to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 12.8 One has a gift of Judgment another has a gift
of persons amongst the rest as Pharisees and Justiciaries and the like which boast of their legal righteousness and of the good works which are done by them as having some great matter in them Indeed when it comes to the point and trial it is just nothing at all Hoc aliquid nihil est Without me that is out of me says Christ ye can do nothing at all And we may take it in a threefold gradation First nothing really Secondly nothing acceptably Thirdly nothing comfortably and to your final satisfaction First nothing really and to purpose and good carnest ye can do nothing so The vertues and good works of carnal persons they are but shadows and pictures and skeletons as it were of vertues they are not the true vertues themselves like a body without a soul as being devoid of a principle of spiritual life What a vanity and fondness is it for men to make a great stir and noise as if some great and mighty matters were done by them when-as up starts nothing at all Parturiunt montes like clouds and wind without rain Secondly ye can do nothing acceptably That 's done to purpose which is done to the mind and liking of him that employs us and sets us on work Now this is that which all natural persons are failing in that which is done by them whatever they do in matters of Religion though never so specious and glorious in outward appearance yet it is all but loathsome and irksome to God He quarrels with all their services and can take no contentment in them As we may see a pregnant place to this purpose Isa 1.11 12 c. Where God tells them that their Incense is an abomination and that their sacrifices he cannot away with and that their assemblies are a loathing to him he cannot endure them Those things wherein such persons do sometimes most please themselves they are such wherein they least please him Thirdly ye can do nothing comfortably or profitably or with advantage to your selves ye shall get nothing by that which is done by you no reward for it at all which is that which follows consequently upon the former And serves to make such kind of persons perfectly miserable as whereby they are hereupon excluded from eternal Salvation As he that does any thing and does it not so as he should do he loses his aim and end which he propounds to himself Because as good never a-whit as never the better And further there is this use likewise of it which follows from the former even to perswade all men which are out of Christ as soon as may be to get into him which is the only way to attain to such a freedom of will which we speak of as may carry them to spiritual good actions If the Son shill mike ye free says he himself ye are free indeed Joh. 8.36 And till he shall please to make ye so ye cannot be so And he makes you so no otherwise than by union and conjunction with him and incorporation into him which accordingly should be the endeavour of all such persons in the use of such means as he has sanctified to this purpose Lastly Let this Doctrine serve as an antidote against all contrary errors whereby the power of nature and man's free-will is advanced and the power of Grace and God's Spirit is weaken'd and disparaged in the world It is true indeed that God in Scripture does call upon men for the doing and performing of such and such actions not as implying that they have power in themselves of their own ability to do them but by convincing them of their won weakness and insufficiency to provoke them to fly to Christ for his assistance And likewise sometimes moreover as medium's and conveyances of his vertue and power into them As when Christ call'd dead Lazarus out of the Grave he did not suppose that Lazarus of himself could hear him but by calling him he made him to hear together with the voice of Christ in speaking to him there went forth the power of Christ for the enlivening of him Even so likewise is it here in this particular Whiles in the Ministry of the word Christ bids men that are spiritually dead to do such good duties he does by his Spirit in his word put a strength and ability into them whereby they may do them As when Paul preached to Lydia God opened the heart of Lydia that she attended to the things that were spoken by Paul And whiles Paul as the Minister of Christ required such things of her Christ himself by his Spirit in Paul's Ministry enabled her to do those things which were so required So much for that and so of this expression Without Christ as it may be taken for an exclusion of interest c. Without me that is without union to me It may be also taken as an exclusion of influence without me i. e. without assistance from me SERMON XXIV JOH 15.5 For without me ye can do nothing There is nothing more necessary for Christians in order to their Christian course and conversation than to be well advised and informed in themselves where their strength or weakness lies as to Christian and Spiritual Duties and Performances which are required of them that so accordingly they may be the better able either to improve and make use of the one or to supply and make up the other Now this is that which is here the scope and drift of this present Scripture which I have once again read unto you namely by taking us off from our selves and the confidence of our own Personal Abilities in regard whereof we are very short and insufficient and by pitching and fastning upon Christ and his Fulness in whom as the Apostle teaches us whiles we have his Power resting upon us when we are weak even then are we strong For so indeed we have it here told us even from the mouth also of Christ himself who knew it best That without him we can do nothing THis Text which we have still here before us is as I have formerly delivered unto you a discovery of the necessity which we have of Christ as to any Spiritual Performance which is such as without him as it is here exprest unto us we are able to do nothing of that nature And this expression without him as I have also already hinted unto you may be taken two manner of ways First Without me that is without interest in me or ingrasture into me sever'd or separated from me Secondly Without me that is wthout influence from me or dependance upon me whether you neglected by me in regard of giving it or I neglected by you in regard of fetching it and drawing it from me As for the former of these senses viz. without me as it is an exclusion of Interest or Incision and Ingrasture into Christ of this we spake to at large the last day where we shewed you That all such persons as are still remaining
these and the disposing of them to do all things Spirtually it is not ours but Christ's As a Trumpet that gives a sound but it is from the breath of the Man that blows through it so it is with us in this particular we perform such and such Duties materially and as to the outward substance of the action but it is Christ that chiefly and principally works in us and by us as the Apostle Paul most fully expresses it to this purpose 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain but I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me The third thing considerable to this purpose is a Spiritual Activity or Operation which is likewise conveyed to us by Christ and by him alone he does not onely give us the life of Grace and a Power issuing from this life but he likewise gives us the very Act and Deed it self for such a particular performance There is not the best man that is and who has most of the sanctifying Grace of the Spirit of Christ in him but he needs the present and actual assistance of the same Spirit as immediately concurring to such particular good actions that is to be done by him he needs not onely preventing and operating grace but assisting and co-operating grace to be bestowed upon him and to be joyn'd with it And this is that which is here intended by our Blessed Saviour speaking to his Disciples and in them to all other Christians whiles he sa◠〈◊〉 without me ye can do nothing not onely without me as who must give the general activity but also without me as who must give the particular accomplishment If Christ does not give the actual performance as well as the general qualification there is nothing which will be done by us to any purpose This can be no wonder to us if we do but consider how it is with us even in other matters of inferiour consideration take 〈◊〉 but in common business and the transactions of our ordinary Callings and we shall find it to be so even here That we have need not onely of common and general inablement but also of special and particular assistance In the Ministery for example it is not enough to have some general qualifications and abilities for the work but there is need moreover of Gods particular assistance and immediate concurrence with us in every particular Sermon and Exercise that is undertaken by us In the Souldiery it is not enough to beat large qualified for the Wars but they need Gods assistance of them and standing by them in every Battel and Encounter And so in Physick it is not enough to have skill in general but an application of it to his particular Disease and Patient and Condition certain hints and suggestions from God himself answering to the present occasion As it is said of our Blessed Saviour himself when people came to him to be cured of their several infirmities that the power of the Lord was present with him to heal them Luke 5.17 Such a presence of Power as this is whereof we now speak is requisite for any other besides Now as it is thus in Temporals and Corporals so it holds in Spirituals and Supernaturals especially that there is required not onely Grace in the Habit and Principle but also in the very Act and Performance This is suitable and agreeable to divers other places of Scripture as Hos 14.8 it is the speech of God to Ephraim From me is thy fruit found and Isa 26 12. it is the speech of the Church to God Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works for us or in us And so Ezek. 36.27 I will cause you to walk in my statutes c. To open this Point a little further to us and speak more distinctly of it we must know that there are three things which God does work and which it is requisite for him that he should work in us in order to any Spiritual performance which is to be done by us even after the first work of Conversion and saving Grace wrought in our hearts First he strengthens and confirms the habit of them whereby he fits us and qualifies us for such a duty which he requires of us Secondly he excited and nourishes this Habit whereby he inclines us and makes us disposed to the performance of this duty Thirdly He assists and concurs with this Habit as to the act and performance it self Each of these does God do for us and it is requisite and necessary that he should do so or else otherwise there could be no good action expected from us He strengthens the Habit he inclines to the Duty and he assists the Act. First I say he strengthens the Habit whether of Faith or Love or Patience or any other Grace which might be named by us This is the spring and source of all good actions in us which therefore had need to be preserved and confirmed in us all that may be and the ' rather because it is subject to so much weakness and shaking as it is There are so many corruptions and temptations which the Servants of God are exercised withall as that they have need of daily confirmation of the Graces of the Spirit of God in them which would otherwise languish and decay and for this purpose does God do it for them This was that which the Apostle pray'd for in behalf of the Ephesians Ephes 3.16 17. That God would grant unto them according to the riches of his glory to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith c. And so likewise in behalf of the Colossians that they might be strengthned with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness strengthned with all might And this accordingly is that which the Apostle Paul professes of himself that he can do all things through Christ that strengthens him Phil. 4.13 Which words that we may rightly understand them are to be taken by us in their latitude and emphasis both Positively and also Exclusively that through Christ strengthning him he can do all things and without Christ strengthning him he was able to do nothing That 's the first thing here considerable in this business of Christ's concurrence with us in the doing of good he strengthens the Habit. Secondly As he strengthens the Habit so he likewise inclines the mind to the particular duty to be performed For though we have such and such Principles and Habits of grace conferr'd and bestowed upon us as qualifying us for such and such Duties yet we have not always and continually in us a readiness and promptness of mind for the exercise and improvement of them but we have a great deal of sluggishness and awkness upon us in this
particular Now therefore does Christ here by his Spirit awaken the Habit and provoke us and sets us on doing making us ready and prepared as the Scripture speaks to every good work Thirdly He assists the Act that is he helps and concurs with us in the very performance it self and this is that which we now especially speak of at this present time as considerable of us to this purpose For we though we have some general power and ability for such a duty and withall some kind of desire and propensity towards it yet we cannot particularly act it and bring it about without the immediate help and assistance of the Spirit of Christ carrying us bringing us through it For partly our own natural corruption which remains still in part in us does retard us and keep us back and partly Satan joyning with our corruptions does exceedingly hinder and interrupt us and therefore there must be a stronger than each come between which may scatter the power of either and may help our infirmities Hence it is that the Apostle Paul complains sometimes of himself that to will is present with him but how to perform that which is good he finds not Rom. 7.17 And speaking of acts of charity and bounty to the Corinthians he requires that as there was a readiness to will so there might be a performance also of that which they had 2 Cor. 8.11 Because these two they are such as may be possibly separated and divided the one from the other and oftentimes are But now Christ he joyns them both together wheresoever he pleases the Act with the Habit and the Performance together with the Will and it is necessary that he should do so or else they are never likely to concur or meet together Without him we can do nothing that is without him assisting of us in the very act and point of performance And God will have it thus to be upon very good ground as namely first of all That so hereby he may keep us in an humble frame and in a state of dependance and subordination He will have us to see how that all our strength lies in himself and that we are able to do nothing any further than as he is pleased to concur with us whereby we may be the more engaged unto him As the beginnings of Grace are from him so likewise the proceedings and the further actings and accomplishments of it according to that also of the Apostle speaking to the Philippians He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ yea and he must perform it too if ever it be perform'd at all or else it will never be so which the Apostle speaks with a great deal of boldness and freedom of spirit In regard of the great certainty and assurance which he had of it being confident of this very thing Phil. 1.6 Where by the way whiles it is said of God that he will perform such and such good works it is not so to be understood as the Subject of those works but onely as the Essicient not as if he himself did believe or repent or hope or any such as this but that he helps and enables us to do so which is observable in him He works in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.13 And all for this purpose to make us pure in spirit and sensible of our own insufficiency For Humility it is the Beatifying Grace it is that which does adorn and set forth all other Graces in us and which God takes so much delight to see acting and flourishing in us and therefore takes such a course as this is with us Again secondly God will have it to be thus likewise that so we may relish the greater comfort and sweetness in that which we do For whilst we have strength communicated to us from Christ in every performance our hearts are so much the more cheered and enlarged in it whiles we apprehend his assistance of us to be a pledge of his special love and favour and good-will towards us This is that which makes us to be so much the more lively and comfortable in that which is undertaken by us Thirdly That hereby Christ may have the greater Honour and Glory from us as not onely the Author but Finisher of our faith as the Apostle styles him Heb. 12.2 that is not onely as of him that begins but that perfects Grace in us and the Author not onely of Salvation as the End but of Sanctification as the Way and Means that tends to it and of this sanctification of all the works and and operations of it For the better enlarging and illustrating of this Point yet still further unto us Whiles it is said that without Christ we can do nothing here is an exclusion of a three-sold strength as but weak and insufficient to this purpose First the strength of meer Natural Parts Secondly the strength of meer Habitual Graces Thirdly the strength of no more than former Assistance First I say the strength of meer Natural Parts it is not that which will do the deed We know that Natural Parts they do many times make a great shew and lustre in the world and that men may go sometimes very far with them in matter of Religion being applied unto them but yet they are able to do nothing to any purpose or so as it should be but are very defective Men may be able sometimes hereby as I shew'd you the last day to reach perhaps to the outward shell and hull of the action and carry it as it may be very gloriously and with a great deal of humane applause but to come up to the Spirituality of the Duty and to perform it so as whereby it may find acceptance with God himself this is that which such as these onely cannot reach or attain unto The Heathen Philosophers some of them though they pretended to a great degree of mortification which they could accomplish by the strength of Reason yet in truth they fell very short and wide of it Secondly the strength of meer habitual Grace it is not that which will serve the turn neither Though habitual Grace be very good and necessary also in order to Spiritual performances yet this alone and of it self is not sufficient it is requisite that we should have it but it is requisite also that we should have somewhat else with it besides that especially according as the ease and condition may be with us It is not any inherent Grace of our own which is our security in the day of trial but the assisting and strengthning and quickning Grace of Christ so far forth as he does actually excite and stir up those fruits of Grace in us which he hath already bestowed upon us It is not onely the goodness of our Principles but the Spirit of God concurring with them in us Of this we have an eminent example in the Apostle
to understand them and to know the meaning and intent of them that is to say for which cause and reason God is pleased to send and inflict them that so they may make a right use of them this they do not see which it concerns them to do To know the times and seasons thus namely in reference to God's judgments Thirdly The duties and engagement of the times it becomes us likewise to know these and it concerns us to study them to know what Israel ought to do as it is there exprest For there is a particular duty and carriage and behaviour and conversation which is proper to such a particular time which in another time is not so convenient Every thing is beautiful in its season as the Scripture tells us and that which may be a sin at one time it may be a duty at another according to the several circumstances and appurtenances which it may be clothed withal which it concerns all wise and prudent Christians to be advised of and lay to heart In Rom. 12.11 We find this advice given by the Apostle to the believing Romans and in them to all other Christians Not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord but according to some translations it is serving the time which is not to be understood by us of a base and unworthy complyance with the sins and corruptions of the time but of a careful and discreet consideration of the necessities and conditions of the time which are very much to sway and regulate those actions which are to be done by us This is to be supposed and taken for granted and laid for a rule That we may never do any thing which in its own nature is unlawful or against the word of God There 's no time for sin no not the least sin that is neither may we at all indulge our selves in it so as to frame our selves to it But for those things which are of a middle nature and in themselves consider'd indifferent there 's another account to be given of them and the time of performances here 's considerable as of very great influence both as to the honour and glory of God and as to the good and advantage of God's people And thus we have seen in what respect it may be pertinent for us to know the times and seasons whether in a natural sense or a civil sense or a spiritual sense and religious But the sense in which it is impertinent and whereof we now speak is suitable to the occasion of the Text and as we hinted before as to the time of mens particular deaths the change and alteration of affairs in Kingdoms or States the end and consummation of the world and the time of Christ's coming to judgment such times and seasons as these it is not for you to know that is it is not proper for you it is not your business nor belonging unto you Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but revealed things belong unto us and to our children for ever Deut. 30.20 Secondly It is not for you that is it is not profitable for you it is not your interest or advantage For men to know the times and seasons in this last sense as I have now explained it 's no way useful or beneficial to them neither is it any matter whether they know them and whether the time of their own particular end or of the end of the world It might please as a matter of speculation and so there are divers that busy themselves about it for the discovery of it but it cannot profit in a way of instruction neither does it tend to any true or real edification There 's no considerable advantage which can be thought to come by it nay indeed there is rather much of the contrary it is prejudicial and inconvenient Partly as it would be perplexing and distracting and partly as it would be apt to retard us and take men off from their duty and doing of such things as at present are required of them Thirdly It is not for you that is it is not possible for you it is not within your reach or compass or which you are able to attain unto The time and season of the end of the world and for Christ's coming to judgment it is not in your power to know nor comprehensible by you This agrees with that which follows in the close of the verse which we handled before where it is said that the Father hath put it in his own power and so out of the power of any other besides This agrees with that which our Saviour himself hath in another place likewise declared to this purpose in Mark 13.32 But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven neither the Son but the Father Where there are three sorts of persons excluded from the knowledg of this time Men and Angels and the Son that is Christ himself The latter whereof especially seems to carry some difficulty with it which I shall briefly resolve how Christ who is said in another place to know all things Joh. 21.17 yet is said in this place not to know the day and hour of the last judgment And it is so much the more considerable forasmuch as it is he himself who is appointed to be the Judg as we have it in Acts 17.31 God hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordain'd This man is no other than Jesus Christ who is God and Man both Now that he who was to be the Judg should not know the time of the judgment seems to be a little incongruous and yet notwithstanding it is here intimated as if he did not know the day For the right explication we must consider in what sense this is spoken and we may reduce it to a threefold head First to the subject of this knowledg Secondly to the means of it Thirdly to the manner of it According to either of these he may be said to know it well First Take it as to the subject of this knowledg The Son knoweth not that day and hour But how consider'd namely not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man forasmuch as Christ doth sustain in himself both natures the Godhead and the Manhood therefore by a communication of properties what belongs but only to one nature it is attributed to the whole person As therefore Christ is said to dye not as he was God but as he was Man because the Manhood only is capable of mortality so Christ is said to be ignorant as he was the Son of Man not as he was the Son of God because the Manhood only is capable of ignorance And as he is said to know all things because he was God so on the other side not to know some things because he was Man And so some of the ancients carry it He that knew it as he was God and
and Greeks to an hair in all which they desired When the Jews required a sign he was able if he had pleased to have wrought it And when the Greeks sought after wisdom he was able if he had pleased to have tendered it and to have complied with them in those ways which either of them were ambitious of And yet we see here how purposely he declines it and balks it and withdraws from it We preach Christ crucified What does this now teach us but thus much That plain and familiar kind of Teaching and laying down the Mysteries of Religion in easie and perspicuous manner is that which may well become the greatest and learnedest that are it is no shame nor disparagement for any Teacher let him be qualified how he will be or can be to apply himself to such kind of Doctrine as may suit with the lowest capacities and apprehensions that are and to preach so as to be understood by them Thus it was here with the Apostles and so likewise with Christ himself whose Apostles they were he gave them a good pattern hereof in the course of his Ministry who in this manner taught the people which sometime he had to deal withal And truly why not if indeed we consider all for first there 's a great deal more of art and skill sometimes in it than otherwise to preach Christ crucified and such fundamental Truths of Religion as these are and in that manner as they ought to be Preached requires a great deal more of wisdom and cunning as belonging unto it than many other points besides which it may be to some vain kind of minds seem far above them It is an easier matter to preach fancies and notions than it is to preach solid truths it is an easier matter to preach in the inticing words of mans wisdom than to preach in he powerful evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of God Therefore the Apostle Paul makes this to be the very master-piece of the whole work of the Ministry 1 Cor. 3.10 According to the Grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation He that can well lay the foundation can tell them he is a master-builder indeed and that in Religion as well as any thing else And in the building of the Church as well as in any other building besides This does he that does labour to frame himself to such kind of Doctrines as these are in the Text. Secondly As there 's more skill in it so there 's likewise more modesty and less temptation and danger of miscarriage the venting of strange Speculations and the Preaching plausibly to mens humours and affections in this respect is not without some hazard of pride and self-applause in those that shall do it And men had need to be very watchful over their hearts which are carried out hereunto now in the plainer points of Religion there temptations are more easily avoided and shunned by us Thirdly There 's also profit and advantage hereby to our Hearer as concerning the good of their souls It is the charge which the Apostle gives to Timothy that he should not give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than edifying Again 2 Tim. 2.14 Of these things put them in remembrance that they strive not about words to no prosit but to the subverting of the heart Now that best becomes any Preacher which is most to the prosit of the Hearer and the benefit of those which in Preaching he hath dealt withal The Consideration of this present point shews us how much they are mistaken who think otherwise in this particular there are many Preachers sometimes of this opinion that they think it stands not so well with their credit to condescend to the plain Truths of Religion and to stand upon them Alas these are ordinary businesses such as are fit for novices and those which are but beginners in the work but for them they think they must do somewhat which is singular and out of the way or else they shall suffer in their repute and estimation in point of learning they shall be counted no Scholars and the like and no more but common and ordinary fellows Well let such look here upon the Apostle and see how it was with him He 's not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ no more should they but think it their greatest honour the more they are able to impart and communicate such things as these are which are of such singular use and necessity He is learned indeed that can make another learned and learned in the highest pieces of learning and such is this which we are now speaking about The foundation of Religion Besides if we speak of humane learning and eloquence it self we must know that this does not cross nor contradict plain kind of Preaching There may be a great deal of learning sometimes in a plain Sermon and in the opening of a plain truth in that Sermon We use to say that Artis est ulare Artem it is a piece of Art to hide Art And so indeed it is when 't is more wrought into the substance of the performance than lyes in the meer top and surface of it And that 's the second thing in the Apostles carriage for his Ministry it 's humility and self-denial in laying aside of his own wit and parts and condescending to the plain points of Christianity We preach Christ crucified Thirdly Here 's his faithfulness and indifferency and impartiality to either part in the indefiniteness of the Subjects which this his Doctrine extends unto to Jew and Gentile both alike he preaches Christ crucified to either as a Doctrine which might well fit them both And in particular not only the Jews which were a people of more low capacities but likewise as well to the Greeks which were a people of more raised apprehensions Now that which we may note hence is this That the Doctrines and Principles of Religion they are such points as may very well become the learnedst Audience that is not the Jews only but the Greeks This is another thing which we here note from the Apostles carriage Some might have thought that though the Apostle Paul in his Preaching taught such things as these to the Jews yet for the Greeks he should have had somewhat else as they sometime expected it from him no but is all one with him for that whether Jew or Gentile Christ crucified and such Doctrines as these he thinks fit enough for them This we find to be his practise in another place Act. 17.19 They there brought him into Mars-hill at Athens or into the Court of the Areopagites and there made account to have heard some fine things from him but he for his part Preaches nothing but Jesus and the Resurrection these he thought were such Doctrines as might well sute the learnedst of them all And so indeed they are And a Minister does not wrong his Hearers with
is amplified to us from the entertainment which it has differently in the world on the one part as a Doctrine of offence Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness and on the other part as a Doctrine of Acceptance But unto those which are called c. But this I must leave to be handled in the next Sermon SERMON XXX 1 Cor. 1.23 But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness It is a part of the faithfulness of an Embassador and Commissioner here in world who is intrusted with any business of state and transaction of special importance to abte nothing of his Errand nor of the message which is committed unto him but whether it please or displease to deliver it with all integrity and boldness And surely it is no less likewise the duty of those also which are the messengers of the Churches as the Scripture sometimes calls them and Embassadors of God for Christ They are to express the like faithfulness and sincerity in their employment namely to exhibit their Message and that Doctrine which they are intrusted withal howsoever the world stands affected or disposed unto it And this is tha which we may here observe to be done by the Apostle Paul he had to deal with two sorts of people in the course an dispensation of his Ministry and such as both of them were very much prejudiced against that truth which was to be delivered by him but yet for all that he is not hindered or restrained in the delivering The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified This was that passage in this Scripture which we fell upon in our last exercise where after divers preparatory points which we raised from the words we insisted upon this main Principle That Christ crucified is the main object and matter of our Preaching WE have here in these words set down to us the different entertainment which this Preaching of the Apostles met withal in different persons and that is twofold First It was a Doctrine of offence and secondly it was a Doctrine of success It was a Doctrine of offence on two parts Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Gentiles foolishness And it was a Doctrine of success on two parts more But unto them c. We 'l begin first of all with the former as it is exhibited in vers 23. so far forth as it is a Doctrine of offence But before we come to speak distinctly and particulary concerning this we 'l observe somewhat from the Text in general and that 's this That the same Doctrine and Preaching of the Word has not always and in all sorts of persons the same effect This is clear from the connexion before us Here were Jews and Greeks which had both of them Christ crucified preached unto them yet the entertainment of this Doctrine in both was different and various This is agreeable to that which the Scripture does declare unto us 2 Cor. 2.15 We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish to the one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other the savour of life unto life So a different savour in each Thus when Christ himself preacht some said He was a good man and others that he deceived the people And when Paul preached at Athens Act. 17.32 34. some clave to him and believed others mockt at him and put him off till another time And Act. ult 24. some believed the things which were spoken and others believed not Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us from whence it proceeds First from the consideration of the Teacher and of him that delivers the Doctrine there 's a great matter in that The different spirit and carriage of the Preacher has a great influence upon the success of the Doctrine which otherwise may be one and the same Look says St. Chrysostome as it is in matter of musick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in an Harp or Lute there 's a great deal of difference according to the hand which is imployed about it Even so it is in the Divine Oracles and the dispensation of the Word of God there is a great of difference for the improvement and benefit which comes by it according to the condition of the person which has the handling and ordering of it and the difference we may conceive here to lye in sundry particulars First In his Gifts and Ministerial Abilities there 's a singular dexterity and skilfulness which belongs to Ministers in their several ways for the conveyance of their Doctrines into the minds and hearts of their hearers and to make those Truths which they treat of to be their own It 's one thing to deliver comfortable Truths and it is another thing to be a comfortable Teacher and it is one thing to speak words of reproof and it is another thing to be a skilful reprover There 's a right application of the Plaister or a right making of the wound which every one has not skill in them to do Thus Eccles 12.9 Because the Preacher was wise he taught the people knowledg c. Wise what 's that that is not only wise for his own particular in reference to his own understanding but wise for the good of the people in reference to their benefit and profit This Wisdom here it is not only an immanent wisdom but a transient not only which rests in the Teacher but from him is conveyed to the Hearer Now because Solomon was thus therefore he taught the people knowledg and he taught them successfully and he sought out acceptable words c. So it follows the words of the wise are like Goads and like Nails fasten'd by the Masters of the Assembly and given by one Pastor Look as it is in other matters it is not enough only to put a Nail into a piece of building but there must be a fastening it and striking it home to the head even so is it here as concerning the Ministry It is not only enough to propound such Truths but there must be a skilful inforcing of them and that according to the condition of the Hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2 Tim. 2.15 Now according to a different skill and ability to this purpose is there oftentimes a different benefit and success for those things which are Preached Again As this difference lies much in a Ministers Gifts so also in a Ministers Spirit and manner of undertaking the work when men go about any thing in the strength of their own wit or in a dependance upon their own parts and industry it is not oftentimes so successful But when men look up to God for his assistance and rely upon him for his concurrence this is most likely to take effect in what they do The way for any Preacher to make any Truth
from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it When men shall consider that that which they have they have by free gift here is that which may pull down their pride and prevent them from that haughtiness of spirit whereunto they are otherwise too much addicted and inclined So likewise further it holds well for the improvement and exercise of these gifts which God hath given us that we be no niggards or restrainers of them but good stewards of the manifold Grace of God as the Apostle Peter admonishes and as our Saviour exhorts his Disciples and in them all others Freely ye have received freely give And thus much briefly of the phrase or expression which is here used by the Apostle and that is Gifts Now in the next place for the thing it self this is that which is here commended to these Corinthians to look after these free endowments and to endeavour to partake of them themselves for their own particular and so are we from them desired to do the same also to covet earnestly these best gifts not only the saving and sanctifying Gifts of the Spirit which we shall have occasion to speak of more hereafter but also the common and ordinary common and ordinary in one sense though in another sense more peculiar and restrained Such Gifts as we mentioned before Knowledg and Language and Eloquence and such as these these are better gifts and have especial dignity and excellency in them The Dignity and excellency of them may be briefly laid forth unto us in three Particulars First From their original and conveyance when we shall consider how we come by them and how they are indeed derived and transmitted unto us there is somewhat in that and that is not only from God and his Spirit from whom all good things come to our hands but likewise as a special fruit and consequent of Christs Ascension These gifts they are as it were the legacy of Christ and the relict which he dropt and left behind him when he went up into heaven According to that of the Psalmist Psal 68.18 repeated again by the Apostle Ephes 4.8 When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men See how these gifts did follow upon Christs Ascension and did take their first rise from that as the occasion of them Now if there were no more but this in it there were very good reason certainly why we should a little look after them The gifts of dying friends they are for the most part in very great account and valuation with us let them be but what they will for the substance of them yet we esteem them in regard of the circumstances and the relation which is upon them And so it should be with us here in regard of these several gifts we should prize them in reference hereunto Forasmuch as Christ when he took his leave of the world and was now gloriously ascended to his Father did pour forth these his gifts upon his Church as a special testimony of his love unto it He received them of his Father that he might bestow them upon us And therefore that which in one place of Scripture is accepit in another place of Scripture is dedit id est accepit ut daret So that we have cause to regard these gifts first of all in the notion of their original and conveyance But secondly That 's not all there 's a further ground for our embracing them besides and that is by considering them substantially what they are in their own nature and that impression which they leave upon the subject in which they are these gifts if we do but consider them in themslves they are very amiable and lovely and so make those persons further to be who are endowed with them They are special ornaments and beautifyings to them and do much raise them above other men not only those extraordinary perfections which were conferred upon the Apostles themselves in the Primitive times of the Church but even likewise those more ordinary and common gifts which men receive even now in these days They are such as do much adorn and advance and set a luster upon those which have them and are partakers of them Thirdly And especially for their use and improvement and those gracious ends which they lead unto And that is as the Apostle himself does express it to us in so many words for the work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the body of Christ These gifts they reach to these ends Ephes 4.11 12. Every thing is so far forth desirable as it serves to better purposes and designs Now this is the advantage of spiritual gifts especially there where they are drawn out into their full extent that they do at least for a very great part of them serve to build up the Church of Christ The manifestation of the spirit is given to every one to profit withal 1 Cor. 12.7 But of this we shall speak more anon So much therefore now for that viz. the first particular considerable in this first General and that is the object propounded Gifts The second is the qualification of this object by way of comparison or distinction and that is the best or better gifts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where we may observe two things more First that which is implied And secondly that which is exprest That which is implied is this That there are some Gifts better than others That which is exprest is this that if there be any Gifts better than others those are they which we for our particulars of all others are to apply our selves to First For that which is implied there are some gifts which are better than others this is here supposed and taken for granted whiles the Apostle propounds the better gifts to be coveted after he does thereby imply that there is a distinction of gifts and that there are some of them which are better than the rest and so there are though all in their kind very good as proceeding each of them from one and the self-same spirit yet there is a difference and a distinction amongst them according to that which we have in the fourth verse of this present Chapter Distinctiones sunt donorum sed idem spiritus There are diversities or distinctions of gifts so some render the words but the same spirit For the better opening of this present point it will not be amiss for us to consider wherein this distinction does consist namely in what respect some gifts are said to be better than others and do partake of this better denomination First Gifts sometimes are counted better as they are any thing more rare and unusual Those which can do somewhat which few else can do besides they do from hence for the most part esteem themselves to be better qualified and think that therefore
read these their doom in Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels Mark not only ashamed of me but ashamed of my words that is of my Doctine and Truth and the profession of it He that 's ashamed of these of him also will Christ be ashamed when he will wish to be owned by him Again Others there are who though they own Truth yet will do little for it as to the defence and preservation of it though as a ravish't Virgin it crys out for their aid and relief yet they refuse to be helpful to it but are content to see it even undone before their eyes There are few which have tender bowels towards truth or active hands for the promoting of it Now this is that which the Apostle takes upon him here in this Text in the behalf not only of himself but also of his fellow-labourers and brethren that they were such as did not only declare all actings against it but close with all opportunities for it Not any thing against the Truth but for the Truth Nay further which seems also to be included their necessary inclinations hereunto for so we must likewise take it We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth that is we cannot but do for the Truth as there 's an Impotency to opposition so there 's an impotency likewise to neutrality and remisness and indifferency of spirit According to that of the Apostles Peter and John in their reply to the Priests and Elders which prohibits them to Preach any more in the Name of Jesus We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Act. 4.20 This is the temper of a gracious heart that it 's all inflamed with a love to Truth and cannot as there 's occasion and opportunity administred to it but express and shew it self for it as it was sometimes with the Prophet Jeremy Jer. 20.9 His word was in his heart as a burning-fire shut up in his bones he was weary with forbearing and could not stay or as it was with the Apostle Paul when he came sometime to Athens and saw the City wholly given to Idolatry It is said his spirit was stirred in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was put as it were into a Fit of a Feaver through his zeal and ardency of affection upon that occasion This has been the condition of Gods Servants in such cases as these are as we may see especially in the story of the Martyrs they could not withhold but they must shew themselves for truth sometimes even in the greatest dangers and hazards which were incident unto them from that rooting and settlement and foundation which it had in their hearts But so much for that and so I have done with the Affirmative Proposition likewise But for the Truth And now that I have seemed to go through the whole Text. I might very well begin it again and make a new Sermon upon it For the Truth of it is we are not yet come to the point nor to the scope of the Holy Ghost in this place We have hitherto handled the words absolutely and in the general notion of them but there is a Relative Consideration of them which is to be observed and taken notice of by us which is yet behind and intimated in the Connexive for as to the joyning of this Verse and the former both together and to make them dependant upon one another he had said in the Verse before Now I pray to God that ye do no evil not that we should appear approved but that ye should do that which is honest though we be as reprobates Now he adds For we cannot c. He speaks it of the exercise of his ministerial authority amongst them which he signifies to be in him not for himself so much as for them nor for his own respect and advancement but for the glory of God the good of the Church and the advancement of the Truth which is chiefly and especially and principally regarded by him And therefore if at any time he were more sharp and severe with them whether in the reproving or punishing of offenders he did still desire herein to approve himself as one that aimed at Justice and Piety and Vertue in that Administration as the main ground and end for which that Power was indeed bestowed upon him This is the proper and genuine and direct sense of these words as they here lye before us We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth which are nothing else but a limitation of the Apostolical and Ministerial Power And that again twofold First As considered in the office and Ministry it self And secondly As considered in the persons namely himself and his fellow-Apostles and Ministers which were then the subjects of it For the first viz. The office and Ministry it self There is here in these words a limitation fastened upon that whiles it is said We can do nothing c. and thereby signified thus much That Ministerial Authority is not extended beyond Christian Edification The Apostles could do nothing but what was consonant and consistent with Religiou whether consider'd in the Doctrine of it or the practice This is that which is here exhibited to us and it is agreeable likewise to other places of Scripture as in 2 Cor. 10.8 For though I should boast more of our Authority which the Lora hath given us for edification and not for your destruction This was the end for which that Authority which he had was ordained and whereunto it did tend not destruction but edification so 1 Pet. 5.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as Lords over Gods Heritage or over ruling your several lots and divisions but as ensamples to the flock that is not for our own private advantage but for the good and benefit of the Church This is true as to either parts of the Ministry whether of Doctrine or Censure First If we take it of Doctrine that is limited and bounded by this Ministers they have a Didactical Authority and authority of teaching God has committed this unto them and to them alone there 's none have authority of dispensing the Mysteries of Faith and Religion but those only who are especially called and designed thereunto But yet this Authority even to such and such persons it is limited and restrained to the Truth We can here do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Ministers have not power to impose any Doctrine or Maxim whatsoever upon the people to be believed by them but what is agreeable to the Word of God and the Will of God laid down in the Scripture they may not make any new Article of Faith or require assent unto it Thus we have it also in 2 Cor. 1. 24. Not that we have dominion over your faith
three Discourses in their Pockets or perhaps in their heads it may be none of their own when all is done and put them out of one of them and there 's an end of my Preacher he has no more to say for himself This rawness and shallowness and idleness and insufficiency does not become the servant of the Lord who like a good Scribe instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven is to bring out of his Treasury things both now and old and new as well as old to be as much as may be furnished to every good work A workman that needs not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth 2 Tim. 2.15 We speak not for the allowance or patronage of any exorbitancies but in the due observation of circumstances We urge here the rehearsing and repeating of the very same Doctrines according to that of the Apostle Paul in another place Phil. 3.1 To write and so to speak the same things unto you to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe That 's one thing in this particular As we said before so say I now again his constancy as to the matter of his Doctrine The second is as to the Quality of it The same for the nature of it and coming to the same effects as I said before c. that is I am still in the same mind that I was in before and I Preach the same to you as I Preach'd before This is that which is commendable in a Preacher to pitch upon that which is the right and to hold himself to it not to change and alter and vary upon every turn but to be firm and constant in the Truth Ye shall have some kind of persons in the world that as they never hold long in one opinion themselves so neither are they constant to the Doctrines which they teach and communicate to others that what they write or Preach one year they cross and contradict the next change and alter their Doctrines according as they conceive it may most conduce to their own ends and the designs which they propound to themselves such as these discover themselves to have no principles in them to be meer empty blanks in which ye may write what ye please but in the mean time at a very great distance from this spirit of the Apostle Paul as he is here represented unto us Not that men should hold to their Doctrines and Opinions whatsoever they be whether true or false When we plead for Constancy Persistence and Perseverance in the same points it must be understood according to the nature and condition of the points themselves which it is applied unto for men may be sometimes too peremptory and immovable from their former Tenets and be fierce and vehement for them which is not approvable in them Those who through non-attendency or seducement have by chance fallen into some by and sinister opinion which they have taken up to themselves and with themselves led others into it they do with a great deal of commendation renounce it and withdraw from it but this gives no warrant at all to that which is contrary It 's ingenuity to retract error but it is Apostacy to depart from Truth and has the reward of Apostacy with it The latter end of such persons being worse with them than the begining as St. Peter tells us It having been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn away from either the holy Commandment or the holy Truth delivered unto them c. 2 Pet. 2.20 21. But that 's the first particular wherein the Apostle exprest his Constancy Constancy to the Doctrine which he taught As we said before c. that is now as we Preach'd so we preach again I am the same in the Truth which I delivered The second is Constancy to the Censure which he imposed As I said before so say I now again that is as we curst before so I curse now again I am the same in the Threatning which I denounced and so it relates to what preceeds spoken universally before as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same verse Curses and Execrations of others they do for the most part proceed from a troubled and distempered spirit and are such as which men when they are cool and come to themselves they are ready to retract and revoke and begin to be somewhat sorry for them and to repent of them because they are sent forth in rashness and heat of blood But this of the Apostle Paul was not such there was no such disorder as that in it but was free from all kind of passion and violence and distemper and inordinate affection and therefore he still owns it and sticks to it and is peremptory in it As I said before so say I now again let him be accursed We see here by the way in what manner and with what kind of spirit Ecclesiastical Censures should be inflicted namely so as the inflicters of them may upon good grounds stand unto them and make good what is done by them that they may not play fast and loose do and undo as they list and make the keys of the Church turn round in the lock but to be more solid and serious and grave and well-advised and constant in a business of so high a nature and concernment as this is such punishments as these as they should not be imposed lightly and rashly upon every occasion so neither should they be lightly removed and remitted and taken off It was the great abuse of such things as these were which prevailed in some later times where the greatest Censure of all Excommunication and giving up to Satan as it was inflicted for every trifle so it was also upon as easie a matter dispenst with and reverst by those that inflicted it to the great ignominy and scandal and contempt of Gods own Ordinance and the just offence of God's own People such carriages as these are do not become the Ministers of Christ who are intrusted with such a Power as this is which is committed unto them no but rather to understand what they do that so they may be more constant in it and not upon every turn waver and divert from it lest as those Disciples in the Gospel James and John who would have presently in all haste called for fire to come down from heaven upon the Samaritans to consume them they receive this check from Christ for their presumption Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of Luk. 9.54 55. And so again likewise are we to be wary as I hinted before of all rash and private imprecations of one man against another as being such as we cannot for the most part so well assert and maintain and stand to or say as here in the words of the Apostle As we said before so say I now again as being herein condemn'd oftentimes in our own consciences in such cases checking us
to travel with them again Alas what a pitiful thing is it to be the means of bringing those into the world which shall be enemies to Christ and to suffer the pains of travel that others may suffer the pains of hell This Parents cannot otherwise prevent than by prayers and good example and education and this they should do and say in the words of the Apostle here in my Text with which I will conclude My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you SERMON XL. Gal. 5.16 This I say then Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh There 's nothing which is more ominous or pernicious to the Church of Christ than the divisions and contentions of those which are the members of it one with another being such as do threaten the ruâ—n and consumption and destruction of the whole and there 's nothing which does more lay the way and give ground and occasion hereunto than a diversity and contrariety of Doctrine and opinion in matters of Faith This is that which the Apostle Paul does in a more especial manner take notice of in the course of this present Chapter more particularly in the Church of Galatia to which he here writes who were now at this time more especially apostatized or declined in a very great measure from their former profession and were over-grown with very strange errors which did breed strange affections amongst them Now the Apostle here does three things in reference to this present evil First He shews the nature of it Secondly He shews the danger of it Thirdly He prescribes the remedy He shews the nature of it in the 13th verse that it is namely a carnal humour and such as proceeded from the unregenerate and unsanctified pant in them therefore he bids them not to use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh He shews the danger of it in the 15th verse that it is namely a mortal disease and such as carries no other than death and desolation in the bosom of it But if ye bite and evour one another take heed ye be not consumed one of another He prescribes the remedy in this particular verse which we have now in hand the 16th verse of this Chapter whereby because that contraries are best cured by contraries he does therefore endeavour to remove carnal distempers by the provoking of spiritual performances This then I say walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh IN these present words before us we have two General Parts especially observable of us First A Preface or Introduction Secondly The Doctrine or Matter which is delivered thereupon The Preface that we have in those words This I say then The Doctrine or Matter delivered in these Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh We will a little invert the order and begin first of all with the particular Doctrine or Matter it self which we have laid down in the latter part of the verse Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill c. And here again there are two Branches more which offer themselves to us First A Precept or positive Injunction Walk in the spirit Secondly A Promise or according as some read the words a Prohibition And ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh We begin in order with the first viz. the Precept Walk in the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein there are two terms to be explain'd and stood upon by us First The spirit to consider what is meant by that And secondly Walking in the spirit what is the sensen and meaning of that and what we are taught and instructed from it For the first By the spirit we are here in one word to understand the spirit of God the Holy spirit And that either first of all in his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us or else secondly in his motions and suggestions as objected and propounded to us either of these do imply the spirit First In his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us Walk in the spirit i.e. walk after a spiritual manner And this again is done two manner of ways First When we are frequent and conversant in spiritual duties when we are much in the Exercises of Religion which are the currents and conveyances of the Spirit then we may be said in one sense to walk in the spirit which is here required of us Those which profess themselves Christians they must be much in the Duties of Christianity as Praying Reading Hearing Communion of Saints c. These are such things as they must apply themselves to with a great deal of diligence and endeavour It is true there are other things also to be done in reference to humane life and conversation here in the world as the works of our ordinary callings and imployments which belong unto us these they are not to be neglected but we must be also mindful of other and apply our selves to the performance of them even the exercises of Piety and Religion And that especially upon this consideration as being such actions wherein we have special communion with the Spirit of God and wherein he takes occasion to communicate himself unto us These they are the pleasant walks of the Spirit as I may so call them the green pastures in which he makes us to lye down and the still waters besides which he leads us for the restoring of our souls as the Prophet David there expresses it in Psal 23.23 The Galleries wherein Christ is held Cant. 7.5 and a great deal of good to be gotten by them Those which talk of the Spirit and in the mean time cry down the Word whether in the reading or preaching of it which vilifie Ordinances and Religious duties and such performances as these are they speak those things which are inconsistent and which will never hold together For these they are Pabulum animae they are the food and nourishment of the soul which it lives upon and the sweet and happy channels wherein the Spirit of God does glid into us Secondly When we are daily and continually in a spiritual frame and temper of heart This in another sense is to walk in the spirit and seems also to be laid upon us in this present Expression in the Text. We may not judg of our walking in the spirit always or only by the matter and substance of the actions themselves wherein we are imployed but rather according to our carriage and behaviour in them A man may walk in the flesh even then when he is religiously exercised as for the nature of the performance it self And again A man may walk in the spirit even then when he is about business but of common and ordinary consideration The want of right distinguishing here hath been that which hath given occasion to such mistakes especially amongst the Papists and those of that way for
they still put all spirituality in the outside of Duties themselves reckoning them for the only spiritual men in the world which are mured and shut up in a Cloyster and are imployed in their superstitious Devotions and practices of Will-worship and in the mean time wirhdrawing themselves from all serviceableness and usefulness to the world and places wherein they live This is not to walk in the spirit but rather in the flesh We must therefore take a further account of this business than as yet we have done and here to walk in the spirit will be as I in part intimated before to be heavenly and spiritually minded in our whole course and conversation Whatever the things themselves be so not sinful which we are occupied about let them be matters but of our ordinary callings yea even lawful recreations themselves a gracious heart will be spiritual in them and so we ought to be when we do every thing as in God's Presence to his Glory and as accountable to him for whatever we do then do we indeed walk in the spirit when we are in the fear of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23.17 Which makes up the first Explication understanding by the spirit the spirit as bestowing grace as subjected in us Secondly By the Spirit we may here understand his motions and suggestions as objected to us Walk in the spirit that is walk according to the guidance and dictate and moderation of the Spirit of God And this again in two particulars more First In the directions of the Spirit Walk as the Spirit of God inclines you Secondly In the Consolations of the Spirit Walk as the Spirit of God comforts you and gives encouragement to you First Walk in the spirit that is after the directions of the spirit as the Spirit of God inclines you be sure and careful of that It is the blessed and happy advantage of those which are the servants of God that as they have the Spirit of God working grace in them at first so they have also the same gracious spirit still exciting and provoking and stirring up that grace which he has wrought in them for following times Thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying This is the way walk ye in it c. Isa 30.21 Now then are we said to walk in the spirit whensoever we listen and hearken hereunto and move our selves accordingly when we do that which the spirit commands us and provokes us to do and when we shun that which the spirit forbids us and takes us off from not only in the word but in the conscience wherein he does also apply himself to us and that in a suitableness and correspondency unto the word look what he commands in the one he suggests in the other and never contrary or opposite thereunto whereby it may be discerned whether it be the Spirit of God or no. There are many who sometimes pretend to follow the dictates and motions of the spirit when-as it is rather the propensities and inclinations of their own corrupt and carnal hearts but such as these delude them This is the priviledg and duty of Christians to be guided by a better spirit than their own even the Holy Spirit to suffer his motions and suggestions to take place in their hearts and to rule and bear sway in them This we should labour still to do upon all occasions whenever we find any stirrings of good in us presently to close with them and to improvethem all we can toturn the motions of the spirit to resolutions on our behalf and not only into resolutions but into practice which is the life and vigor of all This is to walk in the spirit And this is that which we should apply our selves unto in obedience to this command or counsel which is here given us in the Text especially such amongst us as have any thing more of this Spirit of God dwelling in us the more that any partake of the spirit the more it concerns them to walk in the spirit and to yield themselves up to the Power and Authority of the Spirit upon them because that such as these have greater and larger opportunities than other have As for other men which are but of common and ordinary principles yet living within the bosom of the Church and there partaking of the means of grace there are very few of them except they be such as are desperately concluded but they have now and then some kind of stirrings and workings of the Spirit of God moving in their consciences whereby he diverts them from evil and puts them on to the doing of good and it concerns such as these accordingly to walk in the spirit and to follow those motions and suggestions which are thus offer'd and tender'd unto them yea but now as for the children of God which are regenerate and born again and have saving grace wrought in their hearts such as these they are seldom without them but are frequently and continually exercised and inured unto them And therefore for them not to walk after them is a matter of great indignity which is hereby offered to so holy a Spirit and such as does not pass in them without some trouble and affliction upon their own spirit usually for it that so they may take the greater heed of being guilty or neglectful herein at another time as is manifest from the experiences of many which have made complaint in this partiular and should be a caution and warning to all the rest We should take heed of grieving the Holy Spirit of God by refusing his gracious Motions and Applications of himself to our hearts but walk in the spirit that is first after the spirits directions as the Spirit of God inclines us Secondly Walk in the spirit that is walk in the spirits Consolations as the Spirit of God comforts and incourages you This is such a kind of walking in the spirit as the Scripture does sometimes make mention of as Act. 9.31 it is said there of the Churches That they walk'd in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost This is also our duty to do and though perhaps it be not that which in this place is chiefly intended yet neither is it altogether excluded it is the special office of the spirit to be a comforter therefore to walk in the spirit is to walk in his comforts We find among other fruits of the spirit which are reckoned up here in this Chapter Joy is named for one as that which does belong thereunto and certainly we do then walk in the spirit when we do preserve this joy in our selves When we labour to keep terms of peace and reconcilement betwixt God and us from whence our hearts may be filled with comfert When the Consolations of God are not small with us but we do value them and make much of them and do not easily do any thing which may forfeit them or provoke God to take them
away from us A Christian when he does at any time find himself in any cheerful and comfortable frame of spirit he should endeavour to keep it up and maintain it allhe can as that which is of very great consequence and importance to him not only for the sweetness and pleasingness of the condition it self but also in reference to that duty which is to be performed by him yea we must know that it is also more pleasing to God himself that his Children upon good and right grounds should walk comfortably and cheerfully before him and rather to close with the Consolations of his spirit than to lye down under the suggestions of Satan or the false and dark representations of their own sad and mis giving hearts therefore walk in the spirit also in this sense that is in the comforts and encouragements of the spirit And so much may suffice of the first term in these words to be explained by us namely what is meant by the spirit which we have shewn in a twofold Explication In the spirit that is in his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us walk in the spirit that is walk after a spiritual manner and in the spirit that is according to his motions and suggestions as objected and propounded to us walk in the spirit i. e. walk according to the guidance and moderation of the Spirit of God The second Term here to be considered is walking and what is meant by that Now in this there are three particulars which seem to be intimated and implied First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion Walking it is a business of motion he that walks he does not stand still Secondly Here 's implied strength in opposition to faintness or remisness he that walks he moves strongly Thirdly Here 's implied perseverance in opposition to declining or giving out he that walks he moves constantly All these particulars are in walking and so appliable to our Conversation in the spirit First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion he that walks he moves himself and does not stand still And thus must it be with us in Religion an the ways of God We must be active and put forward in them it is not only have the spirit or understand it or pretend to it no but walk in it that is be careful to improve the Doctrines and Principles of it in the activity and fervency of a godly and holy Conversation This is that which is in a special manner required of us as Christians and accordingly we shall find t preach'd and urg'd upon us As in vers 25. of this present Chapter If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit that is if we have a principle of spiritual life in us let us carry our selves answerably thereunto Look as the soul in the body it is not there after an idle manner but it does distribute motion and vigor to the several parts and members of it even so should it be with grace in the soul it should not nor will not be there to no purpose but so as to make the man of God perfect and ready to every good work that I may use the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 3. ult And so the Apostle Peter also signifies unto us in 2 Pet. 1.8 When he had spoken of the several graces of the spirit in the words before If these things says he be in you and abound they will make you that ye shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ This life of the spirit in us should work in us a walking up to it and whiles it is said here walking we may take notice of the variation of the phrase in the Original Text for it is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which latter signifies a regular and orderly walking a walking by rule so it becomes us to walk who live in the spirit so to walk as not turning either to the right hand or to the left not carried by our own corrupt lusts nor yet overswayed by the mis-guidings of others but led by the sweet conduct and inclinations of the Spirit of God in us and doing that which he requires of us In a word This is that which is commended to us in this Text that our conversation be answerable to our principles and that as we make any claim to Religion more than others so we should behave our selves suitably thereunto It is not leaves that God stands upon but fruit it is not profession but action it is not only the principles which are in us but the works and duties which come from us in a correspondency and agreement to those Principles Not every onethat saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven says our blessed Saviour but he that doeth the will of my father which is in Heaven Matth. 7.21 It is doing that God does principally look after And this it does sadly come home to the consciences of many people in the world which are very guilty in this particular which have a name that they live but are dead as was said of the Church of Sardis which talk much of the spirit and the gifts and graces of it but in the mean time shew but little power and efficacy of it upon their hearts by framing of their lives thereafter as it becomes them to do such as these can have but little comfort whiles they live here in the world or hope and expectation when they go out of it so remaining We see how the Scripture puâ—s all still upon action If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them John 13.17 And then are ye my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 And he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever 1 John 2.17 and many more places besides tending to this purpose Therefore we should not content our selves with any thing below this whatsoever it be First Not with agreat measure of knowledg only no more but so let not that satisfie or content us the devils themselves have this in great abundance and yet but miserable creatures they know and believe and tremble as the Apostle James speaks of them And there were many in this Church of Galatia to whom St. Paul here writes his Epistle which were very knowing and intelligent persons as to the Doctrine of Religion and Christianity which yet for all that the Apostle seems not to be satisfied with Therefore we may observe that he does not say Spiritually understand the law but walk in the spirit There have been some who have so supersticiously sought after and urged the former as that they have laid all the stress of Piety and true Religion wholly thereupon and counted them the only spiritual men which were exercised therein namely in finding out the
to Duty and the doing of that which God requires of them in their several places Great and strong lusts are hinderances to any noble performances and high atchievements which are to be undertaken by us The Apostle tells us in the verse immediately following to the Text vers 17. of this Chapter that from the flesh lusting against the spirit the Galatians were disinabled from doing the things which they would and so they were and all others with them whereas on the other side where these are kept down there is strength and ability thereunto namely to serve God with so much the more strength All these laid together do shew us the happiness of this particular condition and the truth of this point in hand to wit the benefit and advantage of not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh Again further we may here also take notice that as it is a benefit in it self simply considered so it is such as is apprehended and counted so by all those which have the Spirit of God in them Those which are the true children of God they look upon this as one of the greatest mercies which can happen unto them to be freed from the power of their lusts This is also implied in the Text it was not only so in the thoughts of the Apostle but also in the thoughts of the Galatians to whom he here wrote or else he had said nothing to the purpose and it had been to no end to signifie as much unto them that by walking in the spirit they should have this benefit confer'd upon them if they had not thought it to be a benefit indeed But now he uses argumentum ad homines and speaks to them in their own Element to their heart as the Hebrew phrase hath it He knew he should now please them and bring that which would be acceptable to them when he should tell them of being freed from their lusts and so he did A good and a gracious heart looks upon this as the greatest mercy and priviledg in the world which he longs for and most eagerly desires as the Apostle Paul Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord which is such as makes him willing to desire even death it self where in he shall indeed partake of this priviledg Again Moreover observe this as another thing implied in these words That the reward of Religion lyes within the compass of Religion The Apostle had stir'd up these Galatians and in them all other Christians to an holy Life and spiritual Conversation to walking in the spirit Now what does he here for their encouragement signifie to be the reward and recompence hereof unto them Why namely this that they should not fulfil the lusts of the flesh He does not say ye shall have such and such outward comforts heaped upon you riches and honours and the like nor he does not say ye shall have Heaven at last given you and ye shall be free from condemnation though this also be true no but ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh If we had no other recompence of a godly life but only that which is emergent from it and immediate to it yet this were enough to satisfie us in it and to perswade us to the leading of it And so much for that which is here supposed and implied in this expression I come now in the second place to that which is exprest which is the words of the Text And ye shall not fulfil c. This for the right handling of it we must take in its conjunction and connexion with the words before and as dependent thereupon Walk in the spirit and so ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh the one prevents the remedy against the other the more spiritual any are the less carnal and the more we are guided by the spirit the less we shall yield to the flesh This truth and expression may be made good to us according to a various explication which may be given of it First Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have so great a mind and desire to fulfil them ye shall be restrained in regard of inclination though Grace and the exercise of it does not as I said before wholly extirpate all cortuption out of us and make it cease to be whiles we live here in this world yet it does qualify the dominion of it and makes it cease to be in that measure and degree wherein it was in us before And as sinful acts do increase the habit of sin in us as we have formerly shewn in the point above so the other side do gracious acts dminish this habit and make it less It is the avantage of that man who is imploy'd and taken up in well-doing that he has not that lust and propensity in him to that which is evil as another has Godliness it puts our mouths out of taste to the pleasures of sin as on the other side sin does make goodness to be disrelish't by us Look therefore how far a man is freed from fulfilling the lusts of the flesh by having little or no desire unto them so far is he freed from them also by this course of walking in the spirit which is advantageous and effectual to this purpose to mitigate the desire of sin in them Secondly Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have temptation to fulfil them ye shall be kept from lustful and sinful suggestions and provocations The reason why many fall into sin now and then is because they have strong temptations and instigations to it because the Devil is very busie with them and it pleases God someimes in his Providence to give them up into Satans hands But now when men are careful to walk in the spirit they do very much provide for themselves in this particular Satan has not that power over them and advantage which otherwise he would have in the neglect of it nor they are not so much under the power of temptations as they would be if they did not thus walk This is true upon a ouble account both on Gods part and on Satans on Gods part who in this case does not so much give them over to temptation and on Satans who in this case has not that incouragement to fasten his temptation upon them First I say on Gods part who in this case does not so much give them over to Satan to be tempted Take a man that neglects his daily walk and converse with God that does not look so strictly and narrowly to his steps as it becomes him to do it pleases God now and then for his exercise and tryal and partly his correction to let Satan loose upon him and to suffer him to molest and trouble him with sad temptations not only for sin
he walked 1 John 2.6 And how was that why according to the Spirit the Spirit of Holiness which was in him and acted him all his whole life If it be objected that David and Peter and other of the Servants of God have sometimes turned aside to these lusts First I answer that in the strict sense they did not fulfil them which is with delight and perseverance in them without repentance Secondly That so far forth as they did any way fulfil their lusts so far forth they did decline walking after the spirit but walk c. Again Yet further We may take these words not only simply and emphatically but if we will also exclusively walking in the spirit it does prevent and restrain the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh and upon the point nothing else but that at least so effectually and powerfully as that does There 's nothing which doe so infallibly civilize men as Grace and true Religion and the Spirit of God and the Power of Godliness This is the best means of Mortification that is in the world there are other means which are also happily used now and then as good company and fear of punishment and avoiding of occasions and the like But there 's nothing like this the living in the exercise of Religion This it makes sure work and sets our lusts at the greatest distance from us that possibly may be the best remedy against sin is duty and the best help against lust is grace every sin of commission it has commonly a sin of omission going along with it or rather going before it as the ground and occasion of it whereupon it is laid If we were but more in doing what we should do we should be less in doing what we should not therefore walk in the spirit if ever ye desire to be kept from fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh And in the spirit again in the highest and sublimest notion of it the spirit not in the natural or moral Consideration of it only the spirit of that 's his reason or ingenuity and good nature and the like though that be not excluded neither but in the spirit especially and actually in the supernatural Consideration of it The spirit of a man that 's his grace and his spirit indued with a principle coming from above it is not parts that will keep men from lusts but gracious and holy affections it is not reason but reason sanctified which will here serve the turn abstract it from this and it is too weak and feeble a Principle for such a business as this we now speak of We shall find by certain observation that men of the highest reason have been sometimes of the strongest passion and none have been worse for their Morals than those which have been most eminent and admired for their Intellectuals This I add that we may rightly understand it what spirit and in what sense it is spoken of here in this place when we are required to walk in it that we may not fulfil the lusts of the flesh And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which I propounded in order to be considered and that is the Doctrine or matter it self which is here delivered and propounded unto us Walk c. The second which we find to be the first in the method of the Text is the Preface or Introduction to this Doctrine and that we have in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This then I say This is as it were the dore in the Text and that which makes entrance into it This is such an Introduction as we oftentimes meet withal in Scripture and where we meet with it it is commonly with some special force and impression upon it Here in this present Text we may look upon it as carrying a fourfold Emphasis in it First As a word of Authority I say it that is I charge it upon you and require you to observe what I say I say it by special warrant and command mand from God himself and therefore know what I say it is not hoc dico ego non Dominus this I say and not the Lord as it was sometimes in another place 1 Cor. 7.12 But hoc dico ego quia dominus this I say because the Lord he has said it and I say it from him A Minister whiles he speaks from God he may speak boldly that which he speaks without difficulty or hesitation As Paul to Philemon I may be bold in Christ to enjoyn thee that which is convenient Philem. ver 8. When we speak purely from our selves according to the dictates of our own fancies or passions or the like here our speech may be well intercepted and hindred in us but we speak by direction from God here I say his Authority And especially may this confidence and boldness further be used when-as the things which we speak have some footing and foundation in the hearts of those whom we speak to It is great matter of confidence to a Preacher when he has the soul and conscience of the hearer bearing witness to that which he says and can say as the Apostle also does in another place concerning his Epistles We write no other things than what you read or acknowledge and I trust ye shall acknowledg even to the end in 2 Cor. 1.13 And again chap. 4.2 By the manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God And again chap. 5. ver 11. We are manifest to God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences Thus was St. Paul also here in the matter of this present Text and therefore says I say that is boldly as a word of Authority and Command And so 't is a word of Constancy I say it again and again and therefore confidently Prov. 21.28 He that heareth speaketh constantly that is he that is sure Secondly I say it is a word of experience I say it sensibly and I say it feelingly and I say it upon mine own knowledge as finding the power and efficacy of this Truth upon mine own heart from whence I may so much the more fully and freely commend it to you Thus did St. Paul say it here and thus should we also which are Ministers endeavour to say what we say upon such occasions and in such matters as these then indeed a Preacher speaks to purpose when he speaks thus When we deliver spiritual Truths out of raised and spiritual affections and more as the workings of our hearts than as the workings and inlargements of our brains it is not enough for men to speak out of Books from the spirit of other men or to speak out of themselves only out of the strength of parts and wit and invention and such kind of abilities to say what can be said of a Text in a way of logical deduction and as fetching one thing out of another by a kind of rational distillation but to spin
the judgment which on any is past by us We should so far reckon and esteem of any and of our selves as we have of this in us This it suits with the scope of the Text by comparing it with that which went before The Apostle had to deal with some in the Church of Galatia which stood much upon their Jewish Prerogatives and priviledges which they did partake of in that respect which did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made a fair shew in the flesh in ver 12 of this Chapter Gloried in their circumcision and conformity to the Law of Moses In answer to whom he adds the following words God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ c. And in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature And then he adds As many as walk by this rule that is as we may well understand it by this rule as to matter of judgment and estimation of any ones person This is that which we should be mindful of though respect is also to be had to other Considerations yet we should principally value any as they have more of grace and goodness in them walk by this rule in point of Censure Thirdly In matter of practise and the things which are to be done by us consult also with this rule Consider whether that which we do or not do be agreeable hereunto First Be sure to know and to consider what the new creature is and wherein it consists and then examine whether such and such actions do comply with it according to this we should either provoke or restrain our selves where we find our selves slack or remiss to our duty quicken our selves upon this Consideration that our Principles require better from us where forward and carried to evil check our selves also from this argument as being contrary to the new creature in us This is the state and condition of a Christian and of one that is indued with saving-grace that he cannot do those things which others take liberty in nor omit what others discharge themselves from but has a necessity upon them from whence it is that we read o◠such expressions as these in Scripture We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Act. 4.20 And we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth 2 Cor. 13.8 Here 's can and cannot with a Christian in such cases as these are because he is under a law even the law of the spirit Rom. 8.2 That which he cannot do with a good conscience he cannot do at all A Moral impotency is all one with him as a Physical and he is provoked or tyed up according to the Principles which are in him Fourthly As to matter of carriage and behaviour in every condition we must walk by this rule here so deporting our selves as may be suitable to Religion and the work of Grace in us forasmuch as that does very much fit and qualifie us for all estates whatsoever The Apostle Paul speaking of himself in Phil. 4.12 says He knew how to be abased and he knew how to abound everywhere and in all things he was instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need He was taught a suitableness and comeliness of behaviour in a variety of conditions And who and whence was he taught it surely not from flesh and blood but from the work of God's Spirit in him and by Grace wrought in his heart And so must every one else be besides and being so be careful to walk proportionably hereunto with patience and humility and thankfulness and moderation and contentment and compassion and fellow-feeling of the necessities of other men to exercise the grace of that condition in which we are This new creature if we observe it and be indeed acted by it it will lead us and carry us to such a frame and temper of spirit as this is whatever state happens unto us And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text which is the qualification of the persons here mentioned As many as walk c. The second is the signification of the blessings or priviledges belonging unto them Peace be on them and mercy c. I call it the signification of blessings but indeed there is somewhat more in it This passage for the clearing of it to us seems to carry a threefold Emphasis with it which may be fastened upon it First In the notion of a Promise or Divine Intimation Peace and mercy unto them that is there shall be peace and mercy unto them it is a priviledg which they have interest in Secondly In the notion of a Prayer or Apostolical Benediction Peace and mercy upon them that is let peace and mercy befall them it is the blessing which I do pronounce unto them Thirdly In the notion of a compliance or friendly salutation Peace and mercy upon them that is I am peaceably affected towards them and in charity with them either of these notions or all may be comprized in this expression here before us in these present words We begin with the first As it has the notion of a promise or Divine Intimation There shall be peace c. This is the advantage of all godly men living in the Power of Godliness and walking by the Rules of Christianity that they shall have peace and mercy for their portion which shall be bestowed upon them This is that which the Scripture does signifie in divers other places as Psal 119.165 Great peace have they that keep thy law and nothing shall offend them So Isa 26.3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee c. and Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds c. Peace it is a large word comprehending all kind of happiness and felicity in it whatsoever but we may here in this place confine it more especially to that which is spiritual Peace and mercy that is peace flowing from mercy in the pardon and remission of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ This is the peace here meant with the effects and concomitants of it as belonging to powerful Christians they shall have peace and reconciliation with God as the main ground-work and foundation of all and they shall have also peace in their own consciences as issuing and following hereupon To which also we may add as an overplus Peace with men and all other creatures so as not to be able to do them hurt but rather good even in their greatest oppositions and at last eternal peace and rest in glory to him that ordereth his conversation aright I will shew the salvation of God Psal 50.23 For the further amplifying of this unto us it ma no be amiss for us to take notice of the manner of expression by an Hebraism Peace not to them but upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And
the second Adam namely Christ Grace is derived unto all those that partake of him by spiritual regeneration There are three manner of ways by which Christ may be said to derive Grace to those which are his First By the benefit of his Passion Secondly By the benefit of his Intercession and thirdly by the efficacy of his Operation And this he does only to those which are Believers First By the merit of his Death and suffering Christ having offered himself a sacrifice well-pleasing to God did meritoriously purchase to his Church the favour and grace of God and all such gracious qualifications as were suitable to such persons as should be saved Now those which deny Christ and his Doctrine they have no benefit at all from this purchase Christ has merited Grace for none which do finally stand out against him and refuse to be governed by him The blood of Christ Jesus cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 Vs ◠who were they namely such as appears by the Context Who walk in the light as he is in the light and maintain fellowship with him c. Secondly By the benefit of his Intercession Christ does continually pray for those which are his that they may have competent Grace bestowed upon them I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not says Christ to Simon Peter Luk. 22.32 Now those who do not by faith receive him they have not benefit neither by these prayers Christ distinguishes his Elect from others expresly in this particular Joh. 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them c. Thirdly By the efficacy of his Operation Christ conveys Grace to his servants as an Head imparts life and motion to his Members and this he does by his Spirit not only working Grace in them at first but also strengthening and increasing it where it 's wrought Ephes 4.15 16. That ye may grow up unto him in all things which is the head even Christ from whom the whole body fitly join'd and compacted by that which every joint supplieth according tothe effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love There are daily and continually influences of Grace from Christ to Believers whereby he enables them both to the subduing of sin and doing of duty Hence we are said of his fulness to receive all of us grace for grace answerable to grace in him for kinds grace in us And hence is God said to have blest us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Ephes 1.3 4. And this is done by the power of his Spirit working in us It 's called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 Grace it is a fruit of the Spirit and the Spirit it is the Spirit of Christ and so sanctifying those alone which have this Spirit of Christ in them by vertue of their Vnion to him For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 We must rightly understand this method and order and connexion which God has set for the conveying of saving Grace unto us We have not Grace from the Spirit immediately but from the Spirit in reference to Christ The Spirit first sanctifies his Humane nature and then sanctifies us so that what we have of the Spirit in the graces of it we have it still derivatively from him As the Ointment which was upon the head of Aaron it ran down to the skirts of his garment so the Grace which is upon the head of Christ it runs down to all his Members and to them alone There are common gifts from God as a Creator and Governour of the World which common persons partake of and such as are out of Christ upon the understanding of natural abilities wit and sagacity c. and upon the will of moral qualifications temperance and sobriety and the like but no sanctifying grace but from Christ no spirit of mortification as to lusts no quickning spirit as to spiritual duties Without me i.e. separated from me ye can do nothing Joh. 15.5 He that hath not Christ he hath not these as not having the spirit of Christ from whence these should come into him Look as there is no beam without a Sun from whence it should irradiate not River or stream without a spring from whence it should flow and take its original so neither is there any Grace without Christ who is the only beginner and finisher of Grace in us He that has not Christ he has not God in the influences of Grace and Sanctification he has not God in him by way of residence and habitation and as taking up abode in his soul Nor he has not God with him by way of assistance and co-operation as enabling him to walk in such ways as are pleasing to God and as are suitable to a Christian conversation And so as to the Point which we now speak of to wit of gracious and sanctifying qualification He has not indeed God at all Secondly As not to the influences of Grace so neither to the influences of comfort no true comfort or peace of Conscience but from God in Christ He is our peace both in the thing it self as also in the discovery an manifestation of it The spirit of comfort it is of his sending and comes from him Comfort divided from Christ it is not comfort but security it is not assurance but fancy it is not Consolation but presumption None can perswade the heart of Gods love and favour to it but he alone that has purchased and obtained Gos love and favour for it and this is Christ alone God hath sent the spirit of his son into eur hearts crying Abba Father And it is his spirit that beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God He that hath not Christ and his Spirit he hath not God to comfort him Thirdly As to matter of Salvation not God to save him There 's no salvation out of Christ Act. 4.12 Neither is there salvation in any other For there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved He that hath not the Son he hath not life i.e. eternal life 1 Joh. 5.12 But the wrath of God abides on him Joh. 3.36 Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life as who should say without me 't is not to be had in Joh. 5.40 This which we are now upon it follows from all which went before Forasmuch as out of Christ there 's no knowledg of God no access unto him no interest in him no grace from him It will necessarily ensue that he that has not Christ he has not God in point of salvation Because whosoever are saved they have all these several priviledges as antecendent belonging unto them they know God have acquaintance with him are reconciled unto him justified and sanctified by him And thus we
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek c. And we see it fulfill'd in Luk. 4.18 so Ephes 2.17 He came and preached peace to them that were a far off and to them that were near that no man may think meanly or scornfully of this work of Preaching and publishing of the Gospel it was the work and business and employment even of Christ himself in his own person But secondly He did it also and still does in his servants who were sent and appointed by him Thus 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Of which salvation the Prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before-hand the sufferings of Christ c. And so St. Paul in 2 Cor. 13.3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me c. It is Christ that speaks to us in his Ministers who have his Spirit given them to this purpose Thus is Christ a witness by way of Discovery and Revelation which is the first Explication Secondly By way of assurance and confirmation not only so far forth as he reveals to us those things which we knew not but also as he does further settle us in these things which we know in part already he is a witness in this respect likewise And that by virtue of his Spirit that dwelleth in us God hath revealed these things to us by his Spirit For the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And as he reveals them so also he confirms them and gives us a further assurance of them as it is also intimated to us 2 Cor. 2.10 Now there are two things which Christ by his Spirit doth thus witness to all those that are members of him First The Truths and Doctrines of Christianity and Religion it self And secondly Their own spiritual condition and state in Grace as having such truths belonging to them First For the Truths and Doctrines of Religion Christ is a witness in regard of these namely so far forth as he does illustrate them and shine upon them and open our minds and understandings for the conceiving and apprehending of them As it is said of the Disciples in the general in Luk. 24.45 He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures The Spirit of Christ in his children witnesses Divine Truths not only to their heads but to their hearts and gives them a further savour and rellish of those things which they know in part already which is the great difference betwixt them and other men Take common and ordinary persons who have no work of Grace at all in them and they have many times a great deal of knowledg in the Doctrines and Points of Religion so far as belongs to the brain and are able to discourse it may be pretty largely and plausibly of them But now a good Christian indeed he has another kind of knowledg of them He sees spiritual Truths by a spiritual light that which others discourse of he feels and has his heart transformed and changed into the nature of them Thus he knows the Scripture and written Word to be the Word of God not only from the testimony of the Church but from the testimony of the Spirit and as finding in his own soul the workings and impressions of it as Austin sometimes professes it for his own particular This is that accordingly which we should labour to find in our selves as being that which will be of greatest use and benefit to us and most likely to hold out with us It is the best and readiest way to perseverance and continuance and abidance in the truth when it is thus wrought and riveted into us When the Doctrines of Religion are meerly notional and speculative as swiming and floating in the understanding men do more easily let them go and part with them but when Christ by his Spirit does seal them and engrave them upon the heart then they are sure and certain and we shall constantly hold them out even to the end Again for a further explication of this Point as Christ may be said to be a witness of the Truths of Religion by his Spirit so also by his life and his whole conversation Joh. 18.27 For this end says he was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth Christs actions they gave a testimony to his Doctrine and to the truth and reality of it That which was done by him it was a manifestation of that which was said which is indeed the best witness of truth that can be given unto it And it teaches us the same likewise in some kind of conformity unto him We ought thus far to be fellow-helpers to the truth and promoters of it all that may be And so as by doing so by suffering likewise Christ was a witness to the truth also thus and enables all his servants where they are called unto it to be so likewise He is in a sense the first Martyr and all others take it from him that have any ability to be so That 's the first Branch of this witness as to the matter of it as extending to the Truths of Christianity The second is as to Christians own condition and state of Grace Christ is a witness likewise thus as he witnesses by his spirit to their spirits that they are his children Rom. 8.16 Thus 1 Joh. 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself that is wrought and imprinted upon his heart by the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in him and certifies him in this particular and that against all false witnesses and objections to the contrary When Satan or a mans own misgiving heart shall be ready sometimes to accuse him and fly in his face here 's the witness and testimony of Christ himself which will carry all down before it And so again when a man 's own heart acquits him and speaks comfortably to him here 's the witness of Christ also to confirm it and to add strength unto it which is the chiefest of all As Peter sometime to Christ Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Christ is not only a Judg but a Witness and accordingly we may appeal unto him for the clearing and justifying of us upon any occasion as this Disciple here does and he will be ready accordingly to give in witness to us and for us as it is proper unto him my witness is in heaven and my record on high Job 16.19 Yea and to give witness in us too within our own breasts Christ he can speak peace to the Conscience and make it speak peace to it self which no other witness can do besides He can so enlighten and over-power the Conscience as thereby to enable it to give a right judgment of it self which oftentimes
v. 7. If I depart I will send him unto you The Holy Ghost is the Proxy of Christ that serves to bear his Bride company in the absence of Christ himself from her And he does carefully perform this office of respect unto her It was he that made her next to God Here 's the Spirit and the Bride both together And that 's the first particular in which he is here considerable of us to wit in the notion of his Presence or Personal Concomitancy The second is in the notion of Influence or operative concomitancy As it is the Spirit join'd with the Bride so it is the Spirit that is assistant unto her and what she does she does by his helping and enabling of her This is another thing here considerable of us it is the Spirit and Bride that say Come that is which make this particular request for the hastening of Christ second appearance And so there is this in general observable from it That the prayers of Gods people they are the workings of the Holy Ghost himself in them The voice of the Spouse it is all one with the voice of the Spirit they are not two voices but one and accordingly they are here in the Text join'd in one and put in a copulative expression It it not said the Spirit says come by himself and the Bride says come by her self No but the Spirit and the Bride say come both together as having the speech or action of the one transfer'd to the other We are the subjects of those actions which God himself works in us Certum est nos velle sed Deus facit ut velimus Certum est nos facere sed Deus facit ut faciamus says Austin We will but God makes us to will we do but God makes us to do And so we pray but the Spirit enables us to do so the spirit helps our infirmities Therefore we read of praying in the spirit Ephes 6.18 and of praying in the Holy Ghost Jude 20. And of the spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father in Rom. 8.15 and Heb. 4.6 c. this is called the intercession of the spirit In Rom. 8.26 27. The spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought but the spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God c. There are two things which the Holy Ghost does for us to this purpose the one is the suggesting of the matter of our petitions by teaching us what to ask and to beg of God in prayer And the other the stirring up of holy desires and affections in us and giving us an holy boldness and confidence at the Throne of Grace and perswading us of our acceptance with God in the name of Christ He makes intercession for us by making intercession in us and helping us to make intercession The Consideration of this Point makes much for the comfort of Believers in regard of the success of their Prayers Therefore they are sure to be granted at one time or other because they are the workings and operations of the Holy Ghost himself in them whereby they are also distinguish't from the Petitions of other persons As for natural and carnal men they may sometimes cry to God out of the Dictates and suggestions of Nature or out of the Principles of custom and formality but the Holy Ghost has little influence upon them in such Applications and accordingly they cannot expect so confidently to be heard in them or to find any such benefit by them but the Prayers of the faithful being wrought in them by the Holy Ghost that does prompt them and put them upon them and help them and assist them in them they are therefore sure accordingly to have an efficacy and successfulness with them because God will be sure to hear the voice of his own Spirit and it is not so much they that speak as his Spirit that speaketh in them Where Christians pray as they should do and observe the right rules of Prayer which the Scripture does prescribe unto them their Prayers shall be followed with a blessing and good effect of them This is the confidence says the Apostle that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we have desired of him in 1 Joh. 5.14 15. From hence also we learn to take heed of slighting such things as these are and of diminishing from them we should not think them to be of no value and to little purpose as some are ready to do But to set a price and valuation upon them there is more in the hearty prayer of the poorest and meanest Christian in the Church than the world is commonly aware of as being such as has very great Prevalence with God himself to whom it is tender'd But so much of the first of those persons which is here mentioned in the Text and that is the spirit considered both under the notion of his Presence as joyned with the Bride as also under the notion of his influence as being assistant unto her The second person is the Bride her self as she is here exprest and exhibited unto us By this title as I said we are to understand either the whole Church of Christ in General or every distinct Believer and Member of Christ in particular And according to either Consideration or Application of it it hath a twofold notion with it either of Eminency or of Diminution This word Bride as it lies before us in the Text is both a word of Excellency and a word of Extenuation It is a word of Excellency as it stands in opposition to Adultery and strange affection It is the Bride not the Whore It is a word of Extenuation as it stands in a distinction from Matrimony and compleat marriage It is the Bride not the Wife First I say The Church is here call'd the Bride as it is a title of Excellency and stands in opposition to adultery and strange affection It is the Bride not the Whore The false Church is an Harlot and a filthy and unclean adulteress it is the Whore of Babylon as she is called here in this Book of the Revelation the Mother of fornication c. And such an one as she is she never cares for the coming of Christ but rather desires he should stay away still and is glad of his staying as an Harlot is for the absence of her Husband The good man is not at home he is gone a long journey as she there expresses it Prov. 7.19 But the Bride which is the true Church as chaste and pure Virgin she longs for the coming of her beloved and calls after him as it is here declared
nature of the Ministry is the same should be the temper of heart which is wrought by it those that hear much of Christ the Excellencies which are in him and the good that comes by him and the inclinations of his soul towards them it is a shame for them to be of any other than of a Christian spirit such as these they should be moulded and changed and transformed into the Truths themselves with which they are acquainted That 's the first object of his hearing to wit the voice of Christ in the Ministry The second is the voice of the spirit in the conscience This we have also in the Text where it is said the Spirit says Come namely the spirit in the heart of a Believer as we have already expounded it This it prompts a Christian to desire this coming of Christ now when it does so and when a Christian hears it to do so it behoves him presently to say Come And so there is this in it That the motions of God's Spirit in our hearts they should be always and out of hand received and entertained by us when he calls we should answer when he beckens we should come when he raises we should rise when he puts on we should run when he commands we should obey and submit and put in practise what he requires of us we should be careful not to give any repulse to any suggestion of God's Spirit unto our minds This has still been the care of the Saints and Servants of God to eccho back as it were upon God again according to his Applications of himself to them When God calls Samnel he answers Speak Lord thy servant heareth When God calls Abraham he says Here I am When God calls Paul he is presently obedient to the heavenly vision When God says to David Seek thou my face his heart presently answers Thy face Lord will I seek Psal 27.8 In all the intercourses and invitations of God to a gracious soul still he that heareth says Come and so he should do it is that which is here in the Text required of him Therefore let us for our particular take heed of doing otherwise It is a dangerous business for any one to resist the motions of Gods Spirit upon his heart or to delay the performance of them it is that which does very much provoke Gods wrath and indignation against him and cause him to withdraw himself from him as he hath sometimes threatened as Psal 81.12 My people would not hearken to my counsel and Israel would have none of me therefore I gave them up c. And again Prov. 1.24 Because I have called and ye have refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regardeth therefore I will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh We should not think it a light or small matter to be guilty of such a sin as this is That 's the second object of this Hearing viz. The voice of the Spirit of Christ in the Conscience The third and last is the voice of the Spouse of Christ in the Church And this again is also in the Text the Spirit and the Bride say come as the Spirit in or to the Bride so the Bride by and from the Spirit It is the voice of the generality of Christians which are led by the Spirit of Christ in them thus to pray for the second coming of Christ and whosoever hears them doing so is to do so likewise Here 's the duty which lyes upon us for the following of good Examples and labouring to frame our selves to the temper and disposition of all vigilant and zealous Christians with whom we converse when we hear such gracious expressions and holy breathings coming from them we should endeavour that they may be in us likewise and should eccho as it were to them also Let him that hears others say come let him say come likewise himself As we must have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the Churches so we must have an ear to hear what the Churches answer again to the Spirit and hearing the Heavenly words that are uttered by them conform to them in our own particular practise This we shall observe to have been sometime with the Daughters of Jerusalem in the Canticles when they heard the Spouse of Christ inquiring after her Beloved her self and longing for his coming to her they fall inquiring after him also and have the same affection occasionally wrought in them as we may see in that Book Whither is thy Beloved gone Oh thou fairest amongst women whither is thy Beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee Cant. 6.1 It is a great advantage to light upon good company and the society of affectionate Christians who having first warmed their own hearts with the love of Christ and the meditation on it will be so much the readier to warm ours also occasionally from it And it is our duty to take occasion here from them in some manner to warm them our selves as those who are accountable to God for good patterns and presidents and examples which are afforded unto us and the speeches and actions and lives of others which are set before us We know how it was with Saul himself when he fell into the company of the Prophets and heard what came from them even he himself fell on Prophesying inso much as it came to a Proverb And how much rather then should those who are truly and really good be much quickened and in-livened from one another to such things as these are It is the great benefit this of the Communion of Saints which as it is a business which we all profess to believe so we should also all endeavour to promote and further both in our selves and others And so I have done with the first General Part of the Text viz. The provocation of desire or longing affection in those words Let him that heareth say come The second is the Invitation of access or seasonable Application in those And let him that is athirst come This is to be understood in a spiritual sense suitable to the scope and drift of the whole Discourse which is here presented unto us Christ directs his Invitation especially to thirsty persons and desires such of all others to come unto him Thus Isa 55.1 Ho every one that thirsteth come unto the waters c. And Joh. 7.37 Jesus stood and cried saying If any man thirst c. There are two things in thirst which are considerable as pertinent to this purpose the one is as it is a word of indigency and the other is as it is a word of appetite where there 's thirst there 's want of somewhat an where there 's thirst there 's desire of somewhat And so Christ does here graciously provide for his servants in each particular He supplys their wants by giving them that which they stand in need of and he fulfills their desires by giving them that which they are
or longings after it such as these they do shew themselves to be very far from spiritual thirst which is here offered unto us Thirst it is a desire with some earnestness and vehemency and unsatiableness which is in it as David Oh that one would give me of the water of Bethlehem to drink when he longed for it And Sampson though otherwise a strong man he was ready to die and perish for thirst even so is there likewise the same proportionable impetuousness in Grace as that nothing will satisfie it but a greater measure and degree of it self and of Christ himself who is the giver of it As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God Psal 42.1 2. And so Psal 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is Where thirsting is explain'd by longing as pertinent to it And so I have done also with the second General part of the Text which is the Invitation of access or seasonable Application in these words And let him that is athirst come The third and last is the Intimation of acceptance or grateful entertainment in those And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Wherein again we have three Branches more First The benefit mentioned and that is the water of life Secondly The persons to whom this benefit is offered and that is whosoever will Thirdly The offer it self let him take of it freely For the first The benefit here mentioned it is the water of life whereby we are in a word to understand the Grace of Christ according to the full latitude and extent of it whether the Grace of Justification in the pardon and forgiveness of sin or the Grace of Sanctification in the purging and washing away of sin or the Grace of Assurance in the comfort and peace of conscience either of these are implied in this expression which we have here before us and indeed all together This water of life it is the Grace of Christ with all the appurtenances that belong unto it and means that make way for it and effects which are consequent of it It is Grace and Glory both Grace as it tends to Glory and Glory as it follows upon Grace The gift of God is eternal life both in the end and in the means and this is the water of life which is here offered and propounded unto us for our receiving of it Thus it is if we take it generally and at large But if we take it more particularly and as limited and restrained so the Scripture it self is herein its own best interpreter as we have it plainly declared unto us in Joh. 7.38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water This says St. John he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified So then according to this reckoning the water of life should be nothing else but the Spirit of God in the Gifts and Graces of it which indeed not excluding the other is that which is here chiefly and principally to be understood by us That reconciliation which is purchased by Christ but received and applied by Faith which is a fruit and work of the Spirit and Holy Ghost in us as all other Graces are besides and so fitly and properly exprest by living water There are two words in this Metaphor to be observed and taken notice of by us the Principal and the Accessary the Principal that is water the accessary that is the water of life and the Grace of Christ it holds its resemblance and correspondency to both First It has a resemblance to water and accordingly is compared hereunto both in this Text and other places of Scripture in regard of that Analogy and proportion which it bears thereunto in sundry particulars Look what water is as to the necessities and supplies of our humane and natural life the same is the Grace of Christ as to our Divine and Spiritual We may take it in these following instances as a taste of the rest First For purifying and cleansing Water it is eminent for that and so is the Grace of Christ for the taking away of the several spots and defilements and pollutions of sin Thus Eph. 5.25 26. it is said of Christ that he gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word So Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water The Grace of Christ is a spiritual Bath wherein the whole man of a Christian both outward and inward is purified and cleansed Secondly For cooling and refrigeration and quenching of thirst it is compared to water for that likewise This Grace of Christ as abating the heat of lust and allaying the terrors of conscience and extinguishing of the fiery darts of the devil as the Apostle calls them Thirdly For increase and fructification Water it makes plants to grow and flourish and sprout up and so does the Grace of God such persons as are endued with it They shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches shall spread and their beauty shall be as the Olive-tree and their smell as Lebanon as it s in Hos 14.5 Fourthly and lastly Grace is compared to water in its manner of operation as namely that it so runs as that it is always joyn'd unto its Principle Sic fluit ut semper sit conjunct a suo principio It is an Observation upon it out of Austin and so Grace in a Christian it so flows as that it always knits and conjoyns him to Christ Of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace as the Evangelist has it John 1.16 And then the ascent of it is answerable to the descent of it even so is it likewise with Grace which as it first of all comes from God so it carries us up again to him That 's the first part of this resemblance as Grace is compared to water for the Principal The second is as it is compared to the water of life for the accessary and the advancement of it Thus it is frequently call'd in Scripture living water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This it is by way of Eminency as that which does tend to life in the scope and drift of it as also does end in life as the effect and that which follows upon it Indeed every thing which belongs to salvation it is usually in Scripture exprest and fet forth by life The word of life and the bread of life and the crown of life c. And so here now the
but to sin also thereby to humble him and bring him low and to shew him the vanity and sinfulness of his own corrupt heart But now when a man walks in the spirit and is careful to keep close to God God will free him from such evils as these Again secondly It holds also on Satans part who in this case has not this incouragement to tempt as thinking he shall but lose his labour and do all to no purpose It is true indeed that Satan is not easily put out of heart in regard of his temptations nor yet does he always forbear men because they have more grace in them nay therefore does hereafter sometimes so much the more violently set upon them he throws his sticks the fastest at those trees which have the most fruit upon them because he thinks thereby he shall have the greater booty but yet where he sees Grace in the activity and the exercise and improvement of it in a spritual way he is not so much heartened and incouraged and provoked to tempt men as otherwise he would be Resist the Devil says St. James and he will flee from you Give him but the least advantage and he will be sure to take it and improve it to the utmost but resist him an give denial to him and then he is gone Why thus now do those that walk in the spirit they leave no hole for Satan to come in and they put on all their spiritual armour whereby they stand against the wiles of the devil Ephes 6.11 Thirdly Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have leasure or opportunity to fulfil them The more business a man has in goodness the less vacant he is to sin and has less time for the committing of it This a man shall be sure to find upon tryaland experience of it That man that truly walks in the spirit will find so much work for him to do in a spiritual course for the watching of his own heart for the getting of a farther stock of Grace for the serving of God in his relations and the place wherein God has set him as that he will find but little leasure for the lusts of the flesh at all And this is another Explication Lastly Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall be kept from the thing it self in regard of the immediate influence and efficacy of a spiritual Conversation which it has in the nature of it for the restraining and preserving of the heart from any sinful miscarriage This ye shall not as to actual accomplishment we shall find to be true according to all the former senses and explications which we have given of this walking in the spirit take it in which ye will and ye shall find that in the practise of it Ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh First Take it in the Graces and Principles of the spirit Walk in the spirit so and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh The more spiritual we are in our Principles the less carnal shall we be in our Conversation This is clear from the words that follow in the next verse to the Text the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that ye cannot do the thing that ye would Ye cannot do the things that ye would it holds true of either part not only as to the doing of good ye cannot do the things that ye would that is whereby ye would with your sanctified will because the flesh which is in you is an hinderance and impediment to you but also as to the doing of evil ye cannot do the things which ye would neither that is which ye would with your corrupt will because the spirit which is also in you is here a curb and restraint upon you Look as the inherence of sin and corruption remaining in us keeps us from a full and perfect walking in the spirit so the infusion of Grace and Holiness abiding in us also keeps us from an absolute fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh Again Secondly Take it also in the motions and suggestions of the spirit and they all take us from the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh whether we understand it of the suggestions of Counsel or whether we understand it of the suggestions of Comfort they do either of them hold us back in this particular First The suggestions of Counsel the directions and excitements of the spirit they are such as if we follow them we shall be sure never to fulfil the lusts of the flesh which by the way shews the horrible blasphemy and wickedness of some persons in the world which would make their lusts of the flesh to be the motions and suggestions of the Divine Spirit What a grievous and fearful thing is this yea and how false is it too and incongruous the Spirit of God is an holy Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit of Holiness it self as the Scripture stiles him and therefore he does not nor cannot provoke men to that which is unholy no but it is the desperate vileness and rottenness of their own corrupt hearts together with the spirit of Satan of joyning and complying with them and improving of them Satan hath fill'd thy heart to lye against the Holy Ghost as Peter to Ananias So likewise secondly for the suggestions of Comfort which the Spirit of God does let in into us if we walk after them also we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh spiritual comforts and consolations they do not breed security and presumption or make men the more to abound in sin as some men vainly pretend against them no but where they are in reality and good earnest they make men so much the more to avoid sin and to be more shy and fearful of it To take heed of doing any thing whereby we should deface our evidences and lose that sweet and comfortable testimony of Gods love which he does vouchsafe unto us This is the proper improvement of such experiences as these are in the hearts of those which are God's People as also the proper consequence and connexion of the things themselves The Consideration of this point in hand may be thus far useful to us as it may serve to put us upon the search and examination of our own hearts and ways we may see what our selves are according to this Doctrine There are many which pretend to the Spirit and to the walking in it Well but how are they now as to this particular whereof we now speak the fulfilling the lusts of the flesh When men give themselves over to these without any curb or restraint at all Can they say and say with any truth that they walk in the spirit Certainly no such matter He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as
and work such points as these are out of the windings and turnings and actings of their own spirit This is to be a Preacher indeed and to speak with the greatest profit and edification to those which are our hearers because that which comes from the heart is most likely to go to it and to rebound more effectually upon it Thirdly I say it is a work of sympathy and Pastoral affestion I say it out of my love and tenderness and bowels towards you as pitying you to think ye should go on in courses of vanity without restraint which therefore I would take you off from by this seasonable and pertinent Admonition There were some Teachers now in the Church of Galatia which did labor to infect and corrupt the People of God with their carnal Doctrines which were spread by them Now therefore was the Apostle Paul here so much the more tender and jealous over them and would speak a word in due time for the redeeming and saving of their souls And this is another thing to be heeded and regarded by a Preacher not only to speak affectionately as to the things themselvs which he speaks about but also to speak affectionately as to the persons themselves he speaks unto This is that which Panl did in this Text. Fourthly and lastly I say it is a word of Comprehension or Recapitulation wherein he sums up all in effect which he had said before What had he said before why that they should not use their liberty as an occasion to the flesh that they should by love serve one another c. Now this then I say says he c. as the upshot and epitomy of all the rest as the Preacher in Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments so here in the Text This I say walk in the spirit c. To shew that this is as it were the scope and sum of all our Ministry to bring men hereunto to eschew evil and to do good to abstain from that which is sinful and to walk in ways of Piety and Goodness This is the pith of all we can say And therefore accordingly we should set our selves to this more especially and above any thing else not troubling our selves and our hearers with fancies and strifes about words to no profit but the subverting of the hearers but study to shew our selves approved unto God and workmen that need not to be ashamed in distributing and rightly dividing the word of truth as is elsewhere advised in 2 Tim. 2.14,15 There are a great many Preachers in the world especially in these present times which when they have said all they can they have said nothing at all which when they have spoken and uttered many words neither themselves nor any that hear them can make any thing of them as being nothing but so many airy speculations and words of course But the Apostle Paul here was otherwise who what he said he said to purpose and was such as carried some weight and strength and efficacy and edification with it This then I say c. And so now I have done also with that other General viz. The Preface or Introduction to the Doctrine and so likewise with the whole Text it self SERMON XLI Gal. 6.4 But let every man prove his own work and then shall be have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another There are two grand evils and miscarriages which the generality of people in the world are subject to in point of Censure The one is to pass too hard and severe an interpretation upon others and the other is to give too favourable and indulgent allowance to themselves And these two as they do both of them for the most part go together so they do both of them seem to proceed from one and the self-same ground and root and occasion of them which is the want of a due Attention and Consideration of men's own hearis and of the actions which spring from them Therefore are men commonly so apt to judg and condemn others with the highest aggravations that may be because they do not look upon themselves as subject to the same passions and affections with other men And therefore again it is that men are so apt to appland themselves and to think well of what is done by them because they do not consider the defects and imperfections of their best performances Now for this cause the Apostle Paul in the course of this Scripture before us applying himself indifferently to the cure of either of these distempers does propound the same counsel and prescribe the same remedy for the removing and healing of them and that is by putting every man upon the search and examination of himself This be does as to the first evil in the two former verses of this Chapter Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault c. And this be does as to the second evil in the two next following verses to them He that thinks himself c. But let every man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another our business at this present is with the latter of these two which I have mantioned and that which I have now at this time read unto you But let every man c. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First An Exhortation And Secondly The Argument to inforce it The Exhortation that is in these words Let every man prove his own work The Argument for the inforcing of this Exhortation that is in these And then shall be have rejoycing in himself c. We begin with the first viz. The Exhortation Let every man prove his own work Wherein again we have three branches more First The object his own work Secondly The Act conversant about this Object Let him prove Thirdly The subject of this Act in reference to this object Every man The Emphasis of the Text may be laid in either of these words for surenss we 'l consider it in all where we shall follow the method of the original though not the method of the Translation And so as we have here propounded it speak in the first place of the object his own work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiles the Apostle makes mention of his own work which he desires every man should prove Methinks he seems to intimate divers things in it which are here briefly considerable of us And as I conceive we have here a threefold Caution which is implicitly exhibited to us First Against idleness or unfruitfulness Secondly Against arrogancy or affectation Thirdly Against curiosity or intermedling This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text in carries a threefold Antithesis or opposition with it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First In this Expression of his own work there seems to be a Caution against idleness and unfruitfulness of Conversation