Mercy Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the Grave or thy faithfulness in destruction Shall I have a shower upon my dying Soul Shall I be brought to have Communion with God Thus when the Lord seems to stand at a distance from the Soul he comes down in a shower by his Spirit that he finds very familiar Communion with God Therefore the Apostle when he prays for the Corinthians he prays That the Grace of the Lord Jesus the love of God the Father may be communicated unto them by the Holy Ghost 2 Cor. 13 14. The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen The Grace of Christ your Life the Love of God in Christ communicated to you through the Holy Ghost So when the Love of God is come down on the Soul then the Soul comes to have sweet Communion with God before the Soul was afraid to come to God but now it can say Lord thou knowest me and I know thee Lord thou knowest what is in me and what thou hast wrought in me Thus the Soul goes on knowing and being known So the Soul is carried on in this sweet Frame with that familiar sweet Communion with God that the Soul wishes it might always be employed in God's Service Again When Christ is revealed by the Spirit to the Soul the Soul comes to know its Adoption that it can and doth know God to be his Father the Spirit of the Lord poured out crying Abba Father Gal 4.4 5 6. But when the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of Sons Christ comes to redeem us the Holy Spirit comes to reveal to the Soul that you are no more Servants but Sons that we might receive the Adoption of Sons Sons of God redeemed by Christ's Blood but the Soul seems to be doubting whether it be so or no Well saith the Apostle because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father O what would many a poor doubting Soul give to call God Father Though many a Wretch calls God Father But a poor Believer if all the World were given him to be his Portion he would trample on all to call God Father in deed and in truth to go to God as a Father to have God for my Father that glorious God that made Heaven and Earth that glorious God that turns Men to Destruction and saith Come again ye Children of Men who feeds the Saints above with eternal Pleasure This God I can call my God my Father my Portion my Portion living my Portion dying a Portion beyond all the World This God by the Spirit the Soul comes to know to be his Father and the Soul is never well but when he is speaking to his Father there is such a Converse between the Father and the Child Again The Spirit when it comes with its revealing Evidence comforts the drooping Soul that Jesus Christ is everlasting Life to him They that live on Christ shall have everlasting Life from Christ The Believer hath many sweet and comfortable showers many precious drops flowing into his Soul that he can witness the Prophesie is come to pass The Prophet Joel saith Joel 3.18 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Mountains shall drop down new Wine and the Hills shall flow with Milk and all the Rivers of Judah shall flow with waters and a Fountain shall come forth from the House of the Lord. The Prophet alludes to those Waters that were conveyed from some Spring through Conduit Pipes towards the Altar Ezek. 47.1 2 3. for the use of the Temple in which Water the Priests washed what was to be washed This no doubt is a shadow of the purifying Blood of Christ and his sanctifying Spirit and Word and in that it is said to come from the Lord it intimateth that these glad Tidings this saving Grace shall be first Preach'd from Jerusalem and by the Church which is the House of God shall be published to others The Valley of Shittim that this Fountain shall water the meaning is it shall refresh purge and make fruitful all holy Works It was on the Plain of Moab on the Borders of Israel toward the South-East Numb 33.49 Josh 3.1 not far from the Dead Sea These Waters shall flow down to the dry and thirsty Mr. Pool's Annotations the barren and fruitless Gentiles and make them fruitful And it shall come to pass in that day in the day of the Gospel in that day that a Soul believes in Christ what shall come to pass In that day the Mountains shall drop down new Wine the new Wine of the Gospel not the old Lees of the Law but Wine upon the Lees. The Law may fret and grind your Spirits to Powder Mr. Strong 's Treatise of the two Covenants but what can melt them but the Covenant of Grace Isa 25. new Wine new Comforts new Peace and Joy that the Law could never bring Christ brings and the Hills shall flow with Milk the glorious Promises of the Gospel that shall be as Milk to the poor Soul Milk to poor Babes in Christ But then a poor Soul may object Truly I have desired Christ if I know my own Heart I would fain live upon Christ but yet I find my Heart very barren I do not find my Soul flourishing nor increasing nor growing but I find Comforts are absent from my Soul that I may say still the Comforter that should relieve my Soul is far from me To this I answer Soul you that desire Christ nothing in the World is like Christ to you you shall not miss of growth in Grace you shall not miss of this blessed Life though the Lord may not give it to you according to your Measures but according to his own good Will Grace and Wisdom for God hath very glorious Ends that you have not your Vessels full at once The First Reason is That you may depend upon Jesus Christ for daily incomes and supplies Alas while you are in this Life your Vessels are always filling and you are always to live in a way of dependence on Christ not only for that Grace you have received but for daily manifestation of Grace to your Souls for the grace of Faith and for the love of God to your Souls You are to wait daily on the Lord for strength Not I live saith Paul I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God 2 Gal. 19 20 21. I depend on Christ for all I live by the Faith of the Son of God and one that lives by Faith does not live by Sight There is something absent that a Man waits for for what we enjoy what
the Comfort of it But the Believer that lives on Christ whose Desires and Thirstings and Ends and Aims are that in all he may enjoy Christ I say when they are under Fears and Doubts they seem to be in a withering state but when Christ as the Rain descends down the Believer is revived and refreshed As Gideon's Fleece was wet when the Ground was dry so hath a Believer Heavenly Enjoyment and Communion with Christ when all the World is barren When the Believer is under fear and saith I fear I am a withered Plant that I am not watered Saith the Lord He shall come down as rain If we ask many where is your Comfort They will tell you here and there But say to a Believer Where is your expectation My Hope is laid up in Christ my expectation is from him To such saith God he shall come down as rain that is with his Spirit revealing his Love and Grace to the Soul as Rain comes from the Clouds So through the Clouds of Darkness doth Christ reveal his Grace to poor dark doubting Saints When the Lord Jesus poureth out his Holy Spirit into poor doubting Souls to comfort and refresh the weary and heavy laden Soul to give a Testimony of the Love of God to your Souls the efficacy of God's Holy Spirit revives the Saints and begets Life in dead Sinners Christ comes down to them and causes them to live that never lived before Indeed I confess there Christ is wonderfully beyond all showers of Rain for if we plant and sow Rain brings it up but Christ brings up Seed brings forth Fruit where it was never before So saith the Prophet Isa 32. from the 12th to the 16th They shall lament for the Teats for the pleasant Fields for the fruitful Vine Vpon the Land of my people shall come up Thorns and Briers yea upon all the Houses of Joy in the joyous City because the Palaces shall be forsaken the multitude of the City shall be left the Forts and Towers shall be for Dens for ever a joy of wild Asses a pasture of Flocks Vntil the Spirit be poured upon us from on high and the Wilderness be a fruitful field and the fruitful field be counted for a Forest This indeed was literally spoken of the Captivity of the Jews saith he All their pleasant places shall be filled with desolation and their Palaces shall be forsaken How long until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high But how should this be Why it might be supposed that the Spirit of the Lord came on Cyrus and those that gave the Jews Liberty to go and build the City of God But shall we think that this is the whole No every sinner that lives upon the face of the Earth is a barren desolate wretched Creature till the Spirit of God is poured upon him How long shall these sinners continue so Until the Spirit of the Lord be poured from on high And what then Why then this Wilderness shall become a fruitful Field the Wilderness becomes a Garden or Field The old ignorant poor carnal sinner becomes now a gracious Saint Doth he stand at a stay No And the fruitful Field be counted for a Forest When the Spirit of the Lord comes down then the Wilderness becomes a fruitful Field and the fruitful Field is counted for a Forest Many Professors there are that hear Christ preached hear what it is to live upon Christ but they not knowing Christ not having the Spirit of God poured out upon them are the same as ever they were Now how long will it be that you will hear of Christ and not live on Christ I can tell you until the Spirit of the Lord be poured upon you from on high until the Spirit be revealed from on high it signifies a plentiful communication of the Spirit it hath a respect to the times of the Gospel for altho God gave his Spirit in some measure before yet he poured it not out before he was first anoynted with his Fulness a larger measure of God's Spirit is now given then was before Then we shall return and say Lord the Wilderness is become a fruitful Field and the fruitful Field is counted for a Forest but the mean time you sit unconcerned while you send us home mourning you sit on your Seats unconcerned and go home so but your poor Minister goes with sorrow to the Lord. How long Lord shall I preach before one Soul be converted by my Ministry How long shall I teach before one Sinner is converted Dr. Owen on the Spirit The Lord answers Until my Spirit be poured out upon them from on high Many Sermons may be poured out and Hearts and Lives of Ministers poured out before your Souls are converted except the Spirit of God be poured upon you How much do they err that tell you If you will you may believe and that there is no such thing as an irresistable Power put forth But let them that know Christ speak whether the Arminians speak Truth or no. You know you were barren before the Spirit of God came you that are rush'd into a Profession of Religion that are barren and dead and carnal and live so still I profess you are in a miserable condition you never did know Christ if you did you would lead other kind of Lives but those that have received Christ that live upon Christ and thirst for Christ Christ comes down and revives them with new showers from Heaven Isa 44.3 4 5. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and flouds upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my blessing upom thine Offspring And they shall spring up as among the grass as Willows by the Water-courses One shall say I am the Lord's and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel These Words call for your attention the beginning is Jacob was afraid he was forsaken of God Israel of old was under Discouragements and the Evangelical Prophet reacheth to all the Israelites of God Verse 1. Yet now hear O Jacob my Servant and Israel whom I have chosen Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the Womb which will help thee fear not O Jacob my Servant and thou Jesurun whom I have chosen We see here plainly that which many of our Age do deny God's choosing of one more than another God laies the Foundation of Israel's Comfort in his peculiar choice of them Israel whom I have chosen If God hath not chosen Israel what is all Blessings or Mercies But Lord if I am chosen yer I am under Trouble Straits and Fears Saith God I will pour Water upon him that is thirsty and Flouds upon the dry ground I will pour my Spirit upon thy Seed and my Blessing upon thy Offspring That is all that are in Christ If you are Christ's then you are
14.19 saith Christ Because of him you shall live also He lives and you shall live he is in Glory and you shall be in Glory he is on the Throne and you shall be on the Throne he is beloved of the Father and you are beloved of the Father Believing in Christ is a safe way no way safe but by believing in Christ There is a poor Christian in Troubles and Trials but he is happy his Life is bound up in his Lords Life which is the Life of Lives When Jacob was in his Journey to Padan Aram when he came to lie down at night he had but an hard Pillow Indeed many times it is hardest with the outward Man when it is best with the inward Man He had a stone for his Pillow but a cordial for his Soul A Ladder that reached from Heaven to Earth This Ladder hath six glorious Rounds that make a Believer to ascend up to the enjoyment of God his Birth his Life and Doctrin his Death and Resurrection his Ascension and Intercession Christ is that Ladder that reacheth from Heaven to Earth the Saints Salvation is begun carried on and finished in and through and by him he is the Author and Finisher of our Faith we are elected in him Ephes 1.1 Christ is Principium Caput Electionis he is the first Elect in whom and for whom all other are elected God elected Christ to be Head of the Body all the Members chosen in him he is made All to the believing Soul from first to last he is made of God Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 It was a Figurative Discovery of the Lord Jesus Christ whose Deity and Humanity was set forth by this Ladder This Ladder may be considered either 1. Literally and so it is represented to Jacob the Providence of God who tho he dwells in Heaven extends his Care and Government to the Earth and particularly makes use of the Angels as ministring Spirits for the good of his people and these Angels do not appear idle or standing still but always in motion either ascending to God to receive his Commands or descending to Earth for the execution of them which was a most seasonable Vision for Jacob in his sad and sorrowful condition that though he was forsaken and persecuted by Men and forced to flie away secretly for fear of his Life yet he neither was nor should be neglected or forsaken of God in his whole Journey Or Mystically and so it represents Jesus Chist by whom Heaven and Earth are united who is called the way to Heaven which this Ladder was who as the Head of Angels Mr. Pool's Annotations is perpetually sending them forth either to God or from God to minister to the Heirs of Salvation And he dreamed a Dream and behold a Ladder set upon the Earth and the top of it reached up to Heaven and behold the Angels of God ascending and descending Gen. 28.11 And he lighted upon a certain place and tarried there all night It is best tarrying though night when Christ is present because the Sun was set When outward Comforts go down and Christ arises it is a blessed change And he took of the stones of the place and put them for his Pillows It is a blessed Lodging where Christ is And lay down in that place to sleep Well may a Soul sleep quiet when Christ is present with him And he dreamed a Dream and behold a Ladder set upon the Earth and the top of it reached to Heaven This must be Jesus Christ figuratively For First His Protection was ready though this was but a Dream God did visit his People in Dreams of old before Christ was manifest in the Flesh Jesus Christ whose Humanity was set forth who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross he came from Heaven to Earth he was truly God truly Man And behold the Angels of God ascending and descending on it Still there are always ministring Spirits about the Heirs of Salvation still they keep the Rounds of the Ladder they are ready to serve God if they are sent a thousand Miles yea Millions of Miles to minister to the Saints shewing still only that a Soul in Christ hath protection and Guardian Angels to attend upon him he hath the Chariots of God to accompany him Psal 68.17 O Believer what are you Christ's And have you so many Angels waiting on you daily Where is your thankfulness Where is your Heart-love to God Psal 34. The Angel of the Lord encamps round about those that fear him Have you Angels waiting and attending on you Angels ascending and descending for your Good you are in a safe condition Believing Souls have you not found this Ladder many times when you have been in Trouble and under Desertion have you not found your Hearts hard your Comforts dead your Souls cast down have not you found Jesus Christ the Ladder by which you have ascended up to the Father Hath he not brought you out of that Wilderness condition Whosoever thou art that fearest the Lord be of good courage take thou no care neither be faint-hearted nor make any doubt of the Angels waking watching and Protection for most certainly they are about and by thee and do carry thee upon their hands But how or in what manner Take thou no care God saith it Luther therefore it must be sure and certain Although now adays they appear not visibly nor afford such outward help yet are these Heavenly Messengers employed for the safeguard and benefit of the Saints As Embroidered Cherubims environed the Tabernacle Ainsworth so do those Heavenly Soldiers guard God's true Tabernacle the Church Cant. 3.6 Who is this that comes out of the Wilderness Who is this From whence doth she come From the Wilderness a Wilderness of Trials Temptations and Desertions she turns her Back on them and her Face on Christ And how doth she come She ascends like Pillars of smoke What Incense hath she She hath perfumed Incense Myrrh and Frankincense with all Powders of the Merchant with the sweet savour of Christ with the Righteousness of Christ It ascends being drawn up by the Spirit of God it is perfumed having Christ's Righteousness No Powder of the Merchant can be sweeter than the Prayers of a Saint to God in Christ but they would not ascend if it were not for the Spirit of God While Persons employ their Gifts and Parts out of Christ they descend though they do perform Duty in the exactest manner yet there is Evil enough in them for God to abhor it they are as smoak in the Nostrils of a pure God But when they are perfumed by Jesus Christ they are a sweet savour Therefore be not afraid of those weak Prayers smoky Prayers they are perfumed with Christs Righteousness It may be the poor Soul complains I have been at Prayer but I have prayed with such wandrings and such deadness and such coldness that I fear God will abhor me But