worship ye know not what saith Christ to the woman of Samaria We know what we worship including himself among the rest that worshipped God aright for Salvation is of the Jews But may this suffice here to prevent a great mistake and mis-judging which many Christians of late have discovered themselves but too forward unto 2. This also lets us see how sad it is to be of the Popish Religion which teacheth halting This is a Religion that teacheth halting wherein it differeth from ours from the true it teacheth nothing but halting Halting in Faith enclining in part to God's written Word and in part to their unwritten Traditions Halting in Obedience betwixt God's Commands and the Decrees and Constitutions of the Pope or their Church Halting in Worship betwixt God and Saints betwixt God the living God and dumb and sensless Images The Apostle Peter was blame-worthy when he halted betwixt the Jews and Gentiles Gal. 2. The Popish Religion allows and teaches Dissimulation and Equivocation before men The Religion of the Samatitans was a strange composition when they feared the Lord and served their own gods such is the Religion of the Papists who add to the Worship of God a multitude of Jewish and Paganish Rites and Ceremonies How intollerable is their confounding of Christ and Moses how abominable their joyning their own works with Christs merits in the business of Justification How dishonourable unto Christ and dangerous undoing to themselves their depending partly on Christ's mediation and partly on the Saints intercession O What a miserable lame Religion Popery is A Wavering Religion A Religion as we may hope that shall not stand long It is sure to fall and to be crusht in pieces with its own weight The Lord keep us and ours that we never come under it Better dye and perish in a Wilderness than return to this spiritual Egypt Vse 2. For Reprehension and Humiliation that so much halting in Religion is to be found amongst us 1. What halting among our common Professors Halting between GOD and Mammon Though you know what Christ sayes Matth. 6.24 You cannot give your hearts both to God and to the World If you would give them to God you must take them off from the world if they are set on the world you do not give them to God Ezek. 33.31 Again I wish there were nothing to be found like halting between God and Baal Some more observant of the Custom of the place than of the Scripture-rule in their Worship Some that worship God partly according to his Word and partly after their own and others fancies besides or against the Word How ill the Lord takes this may be guessed at by that passage Matth. 15.9 In vain do they worship me q. d. they might as well do nothing Halting between God and Belial Modo Ecclesias modo Theatra replentas Some for the place of God's Worship to day and for a Playhouse or the Tavern or Alehouse to morrow One while for the Service of God another while for the satisfying of their lusts Some that have their good moods now and then their Consciences being awakened by a powerful Sermon or some smarting rod by a sharp correction come to them now and you would think they were â—â—lly resolved to break off their sins and turn to God whereas a temptation doth no sooner present it self again but they are drawn away by their own lusts and enticed How many that are turning with the various companies they fall into That can carry fairly and smoothly while in company with such as are of note for Religion and an holy strictness and are as ready to fly out be vain and carry like one of the fools in Israel when they are in place were they may take their liberty in the company of such as are loose and prophane How many that will turn with the times seem very forward in Religion while it is a thing in fashion but cast it off again if once it grows out of credit in the world Like the Samaritans who would pretend kinderd to the Jews but only while they were in a prosperous state 2. Come to the best of us such as are upright in the main O how much halting yet may such be taxed with How great unevenness in the frame of our spirits our hearts sometimes up in holy duties but soon down again our affections sometimes lively but soon flat and dead again Alas What inconstant creatures are we Aliud stantes aliud sedentes One thing in religious services another out of them If we get any warmth into our spirits on the Lords Day how soon that we take cold again when we go into the world How great unevenness in the course of our conversation At one time a little diligent at another time exceeding sloathful in our business One while serious and conscionable in the practise of secret duties another while too ready upon any slighty occasion to neglect and omit them or else to slubber them over One while fruitful in our discourse desirous to do some good to all with whom we converse other while as barren as may be How faint and weak sometimes in our resistance of sin whereas we should go from strength to strength Do we not many times suffer a foiled routed enemy to rally again are we not sometimes worsted by those very lusts which before we had put to flight driven out the field What shall we say that after some conquest of our corruptions we have turned our backs again have yielded unto and been overcome of them How ready to shrink at the apprehension the approach of Sufferings How little have we to say for God his Truth Ministers c. when there may be the least danger in owning God and His Interest here Like these in the Text answered never a word How willing to spare our selves Too ready to venture the favour of God to keep the favour of men or to venture upon His displeasure to avoid mans displeasure Other whiles we seem full of confidence in God and sometimes again as full of fears O what cause have the best to be humbled even such as do not hover or hang in suspence betwixt two contrary wayes such as are set in the right way yet alas we go very weakly lamely here What cause to complain of feeble knees Do we not find a clog of corruption at our foot which is a great hindrance to us in our spiritual course There is flesh as well as spirit and hence as Jacob halted in his wrestling with God so do we halt in our walking with God The Child of God sayes Mr. Perkins is like a lame man that goes the right way but yet halts at every step This should be matter of humiliation and lamentation to us all Use 3. Hence be persawded to take heed of halting in Religion Now my work shall be to give 〈◊〉 some moving considerations to press you to an holy care and watchfulness over your selves here and
and that under two heads 1. They are to remember how Truths have been delivered to them and Ordinances dispensed amongst them 2. How and after what manner they have received and imbraced the Truths and Ordinances of God First It is the duty of Christians to remember how the Word of God hath been preached and Ordinances dispensed to them and that in these four particulars 1. Christians should remember how plainly and in what simplicity of the Gospel of Christ the Word Sacraments and other Ordinances have been dispensed how close and home the Word of God hath been brought to their hearts and consciences This the Apostle Paul often minds those of to whom he writes and this as a means to keep them from being taken with flourishes external pomp and empâ—â— things in Religion 1 Cor. 2. five first verses As if he had said to them as I may say to you You have not been fed with gingling expressions meer flourishes of Rhetorick or empty speculations but with plain and wholsom Truths you have had Ordinances not in the dress of mens inventions but in the simplicity of the Gospel 2 Cor. 2.17 4.2 Paul was very jealous lest men should be drawn from the simplicity of Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 3. So that I say the remembrance of the plainness and simplicity in which the Gospel hath been dispensed among men will be a means to keep them from being taken with a meer outside Religion and way of Worship 2. It is the duty of Christians to remember how purely you have received and heard with what purity the Word Sacraments and other Ordinances have been delivered and dispensed without the mixtures of mens inventions how you have received the sincere milk of the Word without sophistication and Sacraments without any of the sinful additions of mens own devising Thus you have received them in the Scriptures thus Christ and his Apostles delivered them and so have faithful Ministers their successors endeavoured to do 1 Cor. 11.23 24. That which I have received of the Lord I have delivered unto you Paul though an Apostle added nothing of his own head 2 Cor. 2.17 and 2 Cor. 4.2 Oh Christians it is your duty to remember this and will be a means to make you in love with and adhere to pure Ordinances and fortifie you against all sophistications of them when you see men corrupting of them or adding to them 3. It is the duty of Christians to remember how powerfully they have received and heard with what power the Word hath been preached and Ordinances dispensed among you not so as to tickle your ears and please your fancies but to reach your hearts come home to â—nd work upon your consciences how the Gospel came to you not in word but in power 1 Thess 1.5 commending it self to your consciences as the Apostle phraseth it 2 Cor. 4.2 Hath not the speech and preaching of the faithful Ministers of Christ among you in some measure been as Paul saith his was not with enticing words of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and in power 1 Cor. 2.4 Have not you found the weapons of your spiritual warfare such as Paul mentions 2 Cor. 10.4 5. even mighty through God Oh! Christians should never forget this but continually remember it all their dayes 4. It is the duty of Christians to remember how plentifully they have received and heard in what great plenty they have enjoyed the Word and Ordinances of God Oh Christians you should remember what dews yea showers of heavenly Manna God hath rained about your tents ye have not been straitned in God If you be straitned it is in your selves even in your own bowels The heart and mouth of God yea and the hearts and mouths of God's Ministers they have been opened and enlarged to you 2 Cor. 6.11 12. You have had the Word in season and out of season the Word frequently preached and Sacraments frequently administred you have had line upon line and precept upon precept Christians should remember how much planting and watering they have had You should remember Christians what great pains cost and charges God hath been at with your souls to bring you home to himself at the first and to make and keep you lively and fruitful ever since O keep this for ever in your minds as a means to make you lively and fruitful Secondly It is the duty of Christians to remember as how Truths and Ordinances have been dispensed so also how and after what manner they have been heard received and imbraced by them This will be a means to keep the heart lively and to keep from degenerating into deadness and formality in Religion and in the Service of God And this in several particulars 1. It is the duty of Christians and a means to keep and recover them from deadness to remember how seriously with what seriousness of spirit they attended on the Service of God and holy duties at their first entertaining of them Christians at first are wont to wait on Ordinances as matters of great weight and moment yea as matters of life and death to read hear pray meditate receive Sacraments as for their very lives and as if every one were the last they should enjoy So those hearers of Christ received the Word Luke 10.48 they hung upon his lips received the Word as the Word of God Christians this should be remembred by you especially when you grow slighty and formal you should say to your souls It was not wont to be thus with me I was not wont to hear play receive Sacraments in this formal manner This remembring how you have received will be a means to keep your hearts lively and to cure you of spiritual deadness 2. Christians should remember how they have received and heard namely with what high estimations and appreciations of the Word and Ordinances you heard and received them how highly you prized the Word and the Dispensers of it how you ran after them as those who see the Sun but one half of the year are ready to run after it and even to adore it upon its first approach Did you not esteem the Ambassadors of Christ even as the Angels of God How beautiful were the feet of them that bring glad-tydings Were you not ready to do as those Galatians Gal. 4.15 When at any time you seel your estimations to abate of the Word Ordinances and Ministers of Christ Oh then remember how you have received say to your hearts Are Ordinances worse than they were Is there any change in the Word or rather am not I grown worse Is not the change in my own wretched heart The remembrance of this will be a means both to keep and recover you from deadness 3. It is the duty of Christians to remember with what lively affections they heard and received the Word and Ordinances of God the difficulties they were ready to break through to enjoy them the fight of afflictions they were ready to
flourishing in the Courts of God under that plenty of Heavenly Manna that hath been rained down upon me and those soul-fatting Ordinances I have partaken of Thus improve your remembrance how you have received and heard When you find your hearts to grow dead and cold O then say Was it wont to be thus Where are those high estimations those lively affections those holy resolutions that seriousness of spirit those powerfull Impressions and gracious Effects of the Word and Sacraments that I have found in and under them Oh let this consideration excite you to this Duty in the Text and make this use of former Gospel-enjoyments and the good you found in them to shame and humble you that you have made no better improvement of them 3. A third Benefit of remembring how you have received and heard is That through the blessing of God upon it it will be a means and help to keep from sin in practice It will be a special Preservative against the Infection of the sins of the dayes and times into which you may be cast As you desire to be preserved from sin make conscience of this duty and it will be a means to recover you again when you have fallen into sin Psal 119.9 11. Hiding the Word of God in his heart was a means to keep David from sinning against God Attending to the Word of God is prescribed by him as a means to cleanse the wayes even of a young-man This will keep you from being superstitious profane and loose when others are so but if once you forget what and how you have received you will soon swim down the stream with others and quickly be over-run with sin Peter first forgot the word of warning Christ had given him and then he soon forgot himself and his own duty and fell into that foul sin of denying his Lord and Master Oh therefore remember how you have received and heard and improve your Remembrance of it to preserve you from falling into sin and to recover you when you are fallen When you are tempted to sin say I have been otherwise taught I have not so learned Christ I have been warned against these and these sins As Peter's forgetfulness of Christ's words was the cause of his fall so it was the remembrance of what Christ had spoken that helped to raise him up again when he was fallen And you should endeavour to improve the remembrance of the Words of Christ unto this end 4. A fourth Benefit of this Remembrance how you have received and heard is That it will be a spur to quicken unto Duty and a means to excite and strengthen Grace 2 Tim. 1.6 2 Pet. 1.12 13 14 15. 2 Pet. 3.1 2. In all these places you will find that this Remembrance of what men have received and heard is a means to stir up the gifts and graces of God's Spirit in them When you remember what you have received from God in Ordinances and in the performance of holy Duties it will make you desirous to converse in them and to love them the better the longest day you live You will say It is good to be here you will never be weary of waiting upon God whilst you retain a favoury remembrance of the sweetness power and efficacy you have found and felt in the Word and Ordinances of God And this will be also a means to increase and strengthen Grace in the Soul Grace in the Soul is nourished by the same means by which it is begotten Those Promises that inclined the heart to believe at first will now being remembred and fed upon by Faith raise Faith to higher pitches and degrees Remembring your former experiences of God's helping you when you have been in straits will help you to trust in God in future straits and tryals Labour therefore to remember and to make this use of the remembrance of what and how you have received and heard to quicken you to a more constant attendance on God in Ordinances and to increase and strengthen Grace in your souls 5. The Remembrance how you have received and heard will be of great use and advantage to your souls for it will keep up in your judgments an high estimation of and in your affections a sincere love to those precious Truths and those plain pure powerful dispensations of Ordinances you have partaken of even then when by sickness or any other hand of God upon you you may be deprived of the actual enjoyment of them If God should remove Ministers and Ordinances from you or you from them that you cannot enjoy them as you have done yet the very remembrance of them will be precious when you remember what heart-warmings you have had under them Labour to make this use of the remembrance of old Truths and former Enjoyments to make you esteem and love them 6. A sixth Benefit of remembring how you have received and heard is That it will keep up in you earnest and hungring desires after and stir up in you a mighty Spirit of Prayer for the keeping and restoring when you have lost them those precious Truths and Ordinances wherein you have found so much of God It will cause you to say with the Disciples Lord evermore give us this Bread It will and should cause you to cry to your Father for the Bread of Life to say as the Psalmist Psal 42.1 2. Psal 63.1 2. David remembred what he had seen of the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary and this sets his soul a longing for the restoring again of those blessed opportunities he had been priviledged with O make this use of this Remembrance how you have received and heard to cause you to wrestle with God in Prayer for the continuance and restitution of those comfortable Sabbaths and Sacraments that pure and powerful Preaching Praying and Administration of Ordinances God hath vouchsafed It was this remembring of what and how he had received that made that holy Martyr Bishop Latimer cry out Lord restore the Gospel once again to England And in such or the like cases it should make you and will make you pray that God would restore the Liberty of his Ministers and the Power and Purity of his Ordinances and try you whether you would not through his Grace improve them better than you have done 7. A seventh Benefit of this remembring how you have received and heard is that it will bring into your souls the comfort and sweetness of former Truths and Ordinances It will be as the rouling of a sweet morsel under your tongues You may hereby reap the benefit of former Sermons and Sacraments many years hence Many times Truth is more sweet and makes a more powerful impression on the soul in the meditation and repetition of it than it did at its first delivery And so it may do in you if you be careful in the practice of this duty 8. And lastly The remembring of what and how you have received and heard may and
is as the driving home of the nail That which one forgets another may remember Improve private conference and speak often one to another and when you meet together be more spiritual savory and profitable in your discourse than heretofore you have been and then especially when you may have fewer publick opportunities Time may come when this may be one of the best helps you may have It may be God may cut you short of many publick advantages to chasten you for your not using or improving private communion of Saints and to quicken you to use and improve holy conference and other private duties more and better 5. A fifth means to help you to remember what and how you have received and heard is Earnest and fervent prayer to God that He would strengthen your memories and give his Spirit to you according to his promise to bring all things to your remembrance Commit Truths to the Spirit 's keeping and trust not onely to your own memories Often plead that promise with God John 14.26 Christ would not trust his Disciples alone with his Sermons He knew their memories were slippery But He intrusts his Spirit to bring things to their remembrance and the Spirit can and will bring Truths to your remembrances in the most seasonable time And lastly Endeavour to practise the things you have received and heard and that will be a means to help you to remember them Labour to get good by the Word and Ordinances and you will not soon forget them He who daily writes after a Copy wil be better able to remember it long after Psal 119.93 I will never forget thy Precepts for by them thou hast quickned me Those Sermons Sacraments and other Ordinances in and by which God hath quickned and comforted you you will not forget So much for handling this Doctrine Might I have had liberty to preach to you as long as I hoped and the Law allowed I should have handled the two other Directions in the Text Hold fast and Repent But seeing I am like to preach to you no more I shall briefly touch upon them and leave them with you in a way of Exhortation A fourth Direction Christ gives to this Church in order to recovering of her from her deadness and formality is To hold fast what she had received The Doctrine is That it is the duty of Christians and a means to recover declining Churches and Christians to hold fast what they have received and heard And indeed without this you cannot be strengthned by it That which you have lost and let slip will do you but little good You must not onely remember but also hold fast I shall not handle this Doctrinally Time will not permit it And besides I have formerly insisted on this Doctrine and duty from the 13th and 25th verses of the second Chapter I shall therefore onely leave the Exohortation with you Hold fast what you have received and heard And here I shall briefly shew you first What you should hold fast 2ly Against what 3ly How you may do it First What you should hold fast 1. Hold fast the Doctrine of the Gospel you have received and heard Do not let go any Truth of God Buy the Truth but sell it not at any rate Prov. 23.23 You may meet with those that would pluck it from you but be sure you hold it fast 2 Tim. 1.13 14. 2. Hold fast the plain pure and powerful Ordinances of God Oh do not let these go at least not through your default Let them not go for want of prayers and tears to keep them But may some say How if they should be gone How if God for our sins should take them away Why however yet 3. Be sure you hold fast a high estimation of the Word and pure Ordinances of God If ever you should want them yet prize and esteem them as your treasure let the want of Spiritual Mercies teach you more to value the worth of them Though you should lose many of your mercies and opportunities yet be sure you do not lose your esteem of them 4. Be sure you hold fast your love to the Truths and Ordinances of God as wel in the want as in the enjoyment of them Love the Word and love the Ministers of Christ even then when you may be deprived of them 5. Hold fast your appetite and stomach to the Word Ordinances of God though you should lose some of your meat take heed you lose not your stomach with your meat If you have lesse food yet you should labour to have the better stomachs Oh beg of God that though he should suffer your food to fail yet that he would not take away your appetites but keep them fresh and lively In temporals it would be a mercy if men wanted meat to want a stomach but in Spirituals it will be a mercy though you should have little food yet to have a good stomach continued This will be a pledge of Gods returning and restoring wanted and desired mercies For God hath said He will satisfie the hungry soul with bread 6. Lastly be sure you hold fast the good you have got by the Word Prayer Sacraments the Ministers and Ordinances of Christ Though you should part with these things themselves yet be sure you retain and hold fast the good you have got by them and those impressions of God's Spirit that have bin made on your hearts through under them And all this you must hold fast which leads to the 2d Particular against 1. The fraud and deceit of Seducers and Deceivers who would go about to cheat and cozen you of the great and precious Truths of the Gospel and of the true instituted Worship of God The Apostle tells you that such will a rise that will privily bring in damnable heresies 2 Pet. 2.1 2 3. and the Apostle Paul speaks of the sleights and cunning craftiness of men their methods to deceive They will perhaps plead Antiquity Tradition the Authority of the Church the Suffrage of Ancient Fathers Custom Example yea seeming Reason for many Opinions and Practices But Christians be not cheated of your Religion but that which you have received of the Lord Christ and hath been delivered to you by the Apostles in the Word those Truths and instructions of Christ do you hold fast Secondly Hold fast the Truths and Ordinances of Christ as against the fraud of Deceivers so against the force and violence of Persecutors As you should not be fawned so neither should you be frighted out of any one Truth or Ordinance of God or out of your love to desires after or owning of them Thirdly And the means to enable you to hold fast what you have received are 1. Diligent attendance on the publick Ordinances and Worship of God if and when you can enjoy them in any measure according to Gods will though not altogether in that manner you desire and they should be administred in I hope that for those many praying
109.8 Though he had the honour to be one of Christ's Disciples dignified with gifts ordinary and extraordinary yet his Apostacy procured him that dreadful Curse Wo be to that man it had been good for that man he had never been born They that were the constant followers of Christ whom he led out they are his blessed ones 3. Here is the action 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he blessed them and in blessing or while he blessed twice mentioned that we should well consider it 4. The circumstances of this Farewel and they are three the Place the Time the Gesture 1. The Place Bethany it was a Village about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem the Town of Mary and Martha and Lazarus where Christ raised Lazarus John 11.1 8 18. Bethany at the mount of Olives so it is called Mark 11.1 Reverend Beza upon Act. 1. 12. where the Ascension of Christ seemeth to be from Mount Olivet understandeth by Bethany not strictly the Village but the whole tract containing the Mount of Olives and that from the Mount near Bethany Christ ascended You see Christ could make a house of affliction or poverty as Bethany signifieth a place of blessing he is not tied to places but where two or three are gathered in his Name there is he amongst them where true Worshippers are worshipping him in Spirit and Truth there will he come unto them and bless them He preached and pronounced blessing in the Monnt The Disciples John 20.19 were met in a house and had the doors shut for fear of the Jews and Christ came and said Peace be unto you He might at his Ascension have Blessed his Disciples in the Temple or holy City but he led them out to mount Olivet where or nigh to which Bethany stood And why Some say lest being seen new troubles should arise but the main reason is because he would have a select number to be eye witnesses to testifie to the world that he ascended according to Acts 10.40 41. Him God raised up the third day and shewed him openly not to all the People but unto Witnesses chosen before of God even unto us so Beza on Acts 1.12 Historia ipsa The History it self sheweth that Christ would not ascend into Heaven from some place where there were many Inhabitants or other Witnesses of his Ascension but took only his Disciples into some part of the Mount Olivet to be Witnesses of his departure from us in respect of the humane nature till the last day 2. The Time when he blessed them Just at his Ascension he had blessed them before and doth it now solemnly with hands lifted up it was the last thing he did on Earth He was seen of his Apostles forty dayes after his Resurrection and now that they must see him no longer on earth he would shew them not only his hands and his feet as sometimes he did for the strengthening of their Faith but his heart enlarged in love and compassion his bowels yearning towards them he here kisseth them with the kisses of his mouth and his lips drop sweet smelling Myrrhe on them he speaks kindly to them Blesseth them and while he Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he departed 3. The Gesture used in Blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He lift up his hands Where observe it is arrogance and great presumption in the Papists to say for the upholding of their Crucifixes and Crossings that its very like that Christ Blessed them with his arms cross as Jacob Blessed Joseph's Sons Gen. 48.17 See Rhem. Testam Where Jacob as is evident from the text laid his right hand on the head of the younger by a Spirit of prophecy fore-telling that he should be the greater and at not all in favour of any their superstitious use of the sign of the Cross whereof Valentinus the Heretick was the first that made any great account as Dr. Fulke relateth out of Irenaeus We have Christ's Blessing in the Text twice mentioned and the gesture not omitted of lifting up his hands but a total silence of the sign of the Cross We may then conclude it is a cursed addition of the Rhemists who presume to father that upon Jacob nay on the Lord Christ which is indeed but a Novel fancy not in any estimation with the Apostles nor the Godly in their time How can they reade and not tremble Rev. 22.18 If any man add God shall add to him the plagues Nor can Christ's using of this gesture warrant humane Inventions in the Worship of God nor the rigorous enforcing of a heap of Gestures Vestments and other unnecessary and ungrounded Ceremonies so as men must not worship at all nor enjoy their properties without them since lifting up of the hands is but a natural gesture of Reverence and Authority neither is there any consequence in arguing from things written to things Apocryphal But as bodily exercise profiteth little so large discourses about it are but little to edification of common hearers Only let me mind you that Jesus Christ was faithful as Moses and his Apostles kept back nothing that was profitable for us Scripture must not cannot be taxed with deficiency And little children keep your selves from Idols O be not tainted with Romish Superstitions when her plagues are so nigh at hand But the Doctrine which I would this day commend to you from these words is this Doct. The Lord Jesus Christ went to Heaven solemnly blessing his Disciples In this Doctrine you have two branches 1. Christ ascended into Heaven 2. Christ blessed his Disciples at his Ascension 1. Jesus Christ went into Heaven 1 Pet. 3.22 There are three Reasons why Christ ascended The first is that he might fulfill the Scriptures In his Ascension he fulfilled Scripture-Types and Scripture-Prophesies Christ was typified in the High-Priest's going into the second Tabernacle alone once every year not without blood Heb. 9.7 24. Christ is entred not into those Holy places made with hands which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the figure of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us It was prophesied of Christ Psal 68.18 Thou hast ascended on high thou hast led captivity captive The Apostle Eph. 4.8 9. expoundeth this Text accomplished in Christ's Ascension 2. Christ ascended that he might be glorified He had glorified his Father on Earth and finished the work which the Father gave him to do and then went to be glorified with his Father John 17.4 5. He had been manifest in the flesh and then is received up into Glory He descended dwelt among men was a man of sorrows and again ascended and sate down at the Right-hand of the Majesty on high when he had purged our sins by himself Heb. 1.3 As it was impossible he should be held of Death so it was impossible he should be held in a state of Humiliation Ought not Christ to suffer and enter into his Glory Luke 24.26 The Vision of Christ's glorified Body is reserved for Heaven in mercy
given Him the Tongue of the Learned to speak a word in due season to him that is weary anointed Him to comfort them that mourn and he giveth his Disciples a Cordial to keep them from swooning and fainting something to allay their grief and bear up their hearts they could ill let him go except he bless them and He giveth them a rich Legacy My Peace I give unto you John 14.27 and here a Blessing which proved very effactual to turn their grief into Joy For it followeth in the next verse after my Text They returned to Jerusalem with great Joy 5. Jesus Christ would have all his People know That He will pour down Showrs of Blessing on his Church and People to the End of the World This Blessing at his parting shall prevail on all Ages to the strong Consolation of Believers The Efficacy of it abideth and shall be on the head of Joseph on the top of the heads of such as are chosen out of the world Christ's good Will was not only to his Disciples but also to all that shall believe through their word John 17.20 6. Jesus Christ ascended Blessing that he might arm his Disciples against Persecutions and Difficulties which they must afterwards encounter He knew they must meet with much Contradiction in preaching of the Gospel that they must seal his Truths with their Blood and drink of the Cup which he drank And to animate them he will have them eye-witnesses of his Ascension and as Elijah let his Mantle fall on Elisha he lets a Blessing alight upon them 7. The Lord Jesus would declare That he hath taken away the Curse from his People and hath Authority to bless Gal. 3.13 14. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us that the Blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles Christ by his Death and Sufferings hath turned the Curse into a Blessing blotting out the hand-writing against us and as Conquerours use to give gifts so He in his Ascension gave and pronounced Blessings among his People It was his Coronation Day the Day of the gladness of his heart he was entring into his Ivory-Palace with gladness where all the Host of Heaven must ascribe Glory to Him And He will have some of his Oyl of Gladness run down upon his Members here on Earth 8. Lastly Jesus Christ would well fill up all Relations in which he stood to his Disciples and be as good and better in point of Love and Faithfulness in such Offices and Relations than ever any was Four sorts of Offices and Relations used to bless especially at parting 1. Parents did bless their Children so did the godly Patriarchs and Job and David c. 2. Masters their Housholds and Servants Abraham blessed his Servant Gen. 24.7 3. Kings and Rulers blessed their People Moses Solomon Hezekiah and Esther prayed for their People Melchisedec King of Salem blessed Abraham Gen. 14.18 Blessed be Abraham of the Most High God 4. Ecclesiastical Officers Priests and Levites and Prophets under the Law Melchisedec Priest of the Most High God blessed Abraham And Ministers extraordinary and ordinary under the Gospel bless People Now Jesus Christ stood in such Relations to his People He is their Father Isa 9.6 Heb 2.13 14. and puts the Blessing of a Father on them their Master and blesseth the Houshold of Faith Their King and fulfilled that Type of Melchisedec's Blessing Heb. 7.1 6. As Prophet and Priest yea Apostle and High Priest of our Profession at his entring into Heaven he with hands lift up imparteth a Blessing on his People I come now to make some use of this point And first Seeing the Lord Jesus went to Heaven blessing his Disciples let us all learn of him to bless and not curse yea to bless them that persecute us Rom. 12.14 Here you have an exact patern the best Teacher follow his steps Render not railing for railing but contrariwise Blessing for ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a Blessing 1 Pet. 3.9 Here is a fair Copy to write after a good Lesson well becoming true Christians When Christ was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not 1 Pet. 2.23 His last farewel was Blessing Alas Christians we know not what spirit we are of for trivial injuries ready to be calling for fire from Heaven and to have our tongues full of deadly poyson and set on fire of Hell Therewith bless we God even the Father and therewith curse we man made after the similitude of God Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing My Brethren these things ought not so to be Jam. 3.8 9.10 O consider for the moderating of our spirits and tongues Jesus Christ suffered Contradiction of sinners was spit upon and had the highest injuries and greatest affronts offered him and though he could have commanded twelve Legions of Angels to have aided him yet he came as a Lamb to the slaughter and opened not his mouth nay he prayed Father forgive them Luke 23.34 His own Disciples shewed a great deal of unbelief and disobedience forsook him in the hour of darkness and had many ambitious thoughts and much selfiish discourse yet his Love covered a multitude of faults so as he blessed them at parting O let the same mind be in you that was in Christ be meek and lowly be courteous and pittiful forbearing one another and forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Let the Fruits of the Spirit Love and Peace and Meekness be found in you and abound 2. Use Christ going to Heaven solemnly blessing should teach us to expect all Blessings from Heaven only through Christ and that all the Blessings of the New-Covenant are dispensed by the hand of the Mediator only in him shall men be blessed Mens blessings are but blanks cyphers vain and of no value except Christ bless There is that blesseth himself in his wickedness saying I shall have peace Deut. 29.19 but in vain God's anger will smoke against that man There is no peace to the wicked The wicked flattereth himself Psal 26.2 but his iniquity will be found to be hatefull There are that bless the covetous but the Lord abhoreth them Psal 10.3 A sorry bargain to have mâ—n acquit and the Lord held guilty mans blessing will stand in little stead when the Lord shall say Depart ye cursed It is not in all the creatures to render him a blessed man whom Christ doth not bless To proceed There is no blessing to be had from God but only through Christ Christ is the Emmanuel through whom there is peace on Earth and goodwill towards men he is the true Mercy-Seat with the wings of the Cherubims spread over it whence the Lord will commune with his People He is the true Jacobs Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven from the top whereof the Lord declareth he is his Peoples God and will be with them in all places whithersoever
Jacob to all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles to such as are the most Excellent of the Earth the Worlds wonder Angels delight the Chariots and Horsemen of the Nations the brazen walls and gates of the Kingdoms they live in Grace investeth us with the same priviledges as the richest Saints of the world ever have enjoyed the same Justification the same Reconciliation the same Adoption the same Life eternal and Glorification Secondly If true Christians be Brethren than this may exhort us to several duties 1. To live in love amongst our selves the very term bespeaketh affection and the affection should never cease so long as the relation endures Who should love more than those who are united in the same Head and Hope and cemented with the same blood of Christ It was an honour to Religion once and therefore the Heathens said Aspice ut se mutuo diligunt Christiani See how these Christians love one another But alas may we not say See how they hate one another O take heed of discreditting your Profession of opening the mouths and hardening the hearts of the wicked by envie hatred or want of love one to another It was the Exhortation of John to his People when he could preach no more in the Pulpit that they love one another and it shall be mine in these my dying words that you love as Brethren And as the foundation of this relation is more excellent than others so let our love be more fervent and intensive 2. Labour to maintain peace and unity This is good and pleasant to behold Psal 135.1 Let it not be said that a legion of Devils can live in one man in peace and unity and yet Christians cannot Let not inferiours go beyond the bounds of their duty and place neither let Superiors stand too much upon their Prerogatives but rather for peace sake to abate of what they might justly chalenge upon their superiority the richer the elder the nobler you are the more endeavor to be good examples to others condescending to the infirmities of the weak that the golden bond of peace be not broken we see this in Abraham who though he was elder yet for peace sake gave liberty to Lot his younger to chose which way he would go to feed his cattel And Abraham said to Lot Let there be no strife between me and thee between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen for we are Brethren Gen. 13.4 Labour to be of the same judgment in matters of Religion it is pleasant to see Brethren of the same mind in matters of Religion Consonant sounds upon Musical Instruments sweeten the melody there was no hammer nor ax nor any tool of Iron heard in Solomons Temple while it was in building neither should there be heard or seen discords in the House of God Divisions of judgments blunt the edge of Christians love abate the fervency of affection create distance and shiness of society amongst familiars gratifies Satan grieves the Spirit of God weakens Christ's Kingdom and exposeth a People to ruine A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand and if one member of the body should fight with another and each member of the body scratch tear and rend one another how deformed weak and near to ruine would that be Unapt sounds upon Musical Instruments spoyl the melody the divisions of the Church of Corinth sounded harshly in the Apostles ears some said they were of Paul others of Apollos others of Cephas If you would be comforts and helps one to another if you would be a credit to your Profession and comfort and rejoyceing to your Minister live in unity of judgment in matters of Religion contend not for the shadow and lose the substance Be not substantial about circumstances and circumstantial about Substances In the language of the Apostle I beseech you Brethren that there be no divisions among you but that you be perfectly joyned together in the same judgment 1 Cor. 1.10 4. Be ready to help and succour one another Nature hath created a Sympathy and Compassion in every relation The mother pitties and abundantly tenders her sick child doth all she can to do it good to ease it under pain to recover it from pain and sickness One brother is ready to condole with the sufferings of another to supply his wants to defend him in danger As Moses the Israelite whom the Egyptian wronged Exod. 2.11 12. and how much more should Brethren in Grace the dearer the Relation the more tender Affection As Brethren sympathize ye one with another Succour such as are tempted reduce such as wander satisfie the scrupulous confirm such as are staggering and raise such as are fallen by Prayers for them by Counsels by Exhortations Improve your Gifts and Abilities your Graces and Experiences to relieve and succour them in spirituals as you would be ready to assist them in temporals with your estates 5. Ministers should not lord it over Gods Heritage 1 Pet. 5.3 they should not imperiously lord it over them nor lay greater burdens upon their Consciences than Jesus Christ hath impos'd We must do all things for their edification not any thing for their destruction We must further not hinder them in their progress to Heaven take away occasions not lay stones of stumbling before them How disgraceful and intolerable would it be to see one Brother to grow proud lordly and domineering over the other would not every one cry shame upon it And shall those whom Grace hath made equal usurp Authority and rule one over another when Christ hath not given such authority and jurisdiction And as Ministers must not lord it over the Consciences of their Flock so one Minister must not act Authority over another The Apostle Paul was a man extraordinarily called and qualified and so had an Authority over other Ministers but when this extraordinary Mission ceased the Superiority of Jurisdiction ceased also And though he was an Apostle yet he acted not imperiously over the Presbyters but called them Brethren neither had he Jacobs voice and Esaus hand he spake not as a Lamb and acted like a Lyon but his carriage and deportment was a comment upon the name Where Christ hath given no superiority of power and jurisdiction let no man claim it lest he be found an Usurper whom the Apostle calls in one place Bishops in another place he calleth Presbyters as in this place he calleth the Ministers of the Church of Ephesus Presbyters ver 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He called together the Presbyters of the Church And in ver 28. he calls them Bishops Take heed therefore to your selves and to all the flock over whom the holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath made or placed you Bishops or Overseers And the same Apostle in his Epistle to Titus calls Ministers Presbyters Chap 1.5 and the same he calls Bishops ver 7. Now if Presbyters Bishops had not been one and the same but names of dinstict Office Jurisdiction and Power the Apostle's reasons
Refidence amongst their People be you then exhorted to make good use and improvement of present Gospel-Enjoyments you are not sure of a constant enjoyment of pious able and painful Ministers and the uncertainty of the future should make us lay in store of provision at the present lest by neglecting present opportunities we run our selves upon the damage of a future necessity The Jews were togather twice so much Manna on the sixth day as on other dayes because on the Seventh there was none to be found The Mariner hoiseth Sails to the present seasonable and right Gales of Wind. The Husbandman layeth hold on the present seasonable weather for the reaping and gathering in of the Fruits of the Earth And all of you in Summer lay in Provision for Winter Present Opportunities neglected may not in the future be enjoyed No Manna could be found on the Seventh-day the Wind turns and stands contrary the Summer is ended no harvest no reaping in Winter A People that enjoy a faithful and painful Ministry have the Manna of God's Word falling round about them they have the pleasant Gales of God's Spirit to waft them nearer to Heaven they have an harvest day of and pleasant seasons to make provision for Glory but if you neglect present Seasons you run desperate hazzards and adventure your precious souls upon great uncertainties He that sends his Embassadours to day may call them back to morrow God hath threatned his Spirit shall not alwayes strive with men The tongue that is speaking to you this day will be tyed up and silenced before the next Sabbath How miserable would it have been with Egypt in the seven years of Famine if there had not been vast provisions and innumerable store laid up in the seven years of plenty How miserable would they be pintched with hunger and cold in winter who have not laid in full and sutable provisions in Summer How miserable will they be in a famine of God's Word who have made no provision in times of plenty To be without Ministry and Ministers without World and Ordinances is the most miserable and destructive want in the world Where there is no Vision the People perish A People without a Pastour are without a Watchman to warn and awaken them without Lights to enlighten them without Guides to direct and lead them without Salt to season them without Physicians to heal them without Shepherds to watch over them to feed and defend them and the condition of such must needs be a miserable condition And to have such are as spoken of in Isa 56.10 11 12. blind and dumb covetous and greedy and drunkards or such as are mentioned in Ezek. 34. that are dispersers of the Flock not dispensers of the Word and Ordinances with force and cruelty to rule over you will be your cross not your comfort The actions of publick persons are very influentiall as is the Praetor such are the Citizens as is the Pedagogue such are the Children as is the Pastor such are the People like People and like Priest and how can there chuse but be Whoredom in Ephraim and Defilement in Israel when the Priests commit lewdness Am. 6.9 10. No wonder if that people be made a prey and brought to nought whose Watchmen are blind whose Preachers are dumb whose Champions are lame whose Physicians are sick whose Salt is unsavory whose Teachers are untaught whose Guides are ignorant of the Way whose Pastours are Impostors whose Pillars are Pollars fleecing but not feeding the Flock Doth not hence spring the ruine of the Church the contempt of the Ministry and all Church Orders and Ordinances the corruption of manners a sinck of sin and deluge of prophaness the starving of Charity the debasement of Religion the hazarding of your Graces the endangering of your soules for ever And for a Christian now to order his conversation aright it requires that God's Word should dwell richly in him in all Wisdom and to be preserved safe and found in infecting times it is expedient and necessary that he be fraught with the impregnable Cordials and Plague-expelling Antidotes of God's most holy Word This was the Preservative and Security of that good King Psal 119.11 I have hid thy Word in my heart that I might not sin against thee Therefore my Brethren for the glory of God for the honour of Christ the credit and ornament of your Profession the rejoycing of your dying Minister and your own Salvation See that you walk in the strength of that Doctrine and Word I have almost for the space of these four years delivered unto you as the Prophet Elijah in the strength of the Cake until you come unto the Mount of God 1 Kings 19.8 That whether I come again unto you or be absent yet I may hear of your affairs that your conversation be as becomes the Gospel that ye stand fast in one Spirit with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel Now I have done with the Sore A Ministers Departure from his Poople I should now shew you the Plaister and apply it But of this by and by SERMON XIV Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified These words I have told you are part of Pauls Valediction to his Beloved Ephesians the Parts and Arguments whereof I have briefly shewed you In the words you have a twofold Remedy in opposition to a twofold Malady The first Malady was Affliction and Persecution mentioned in ver 29. for which the Apostle prescribeth God as the Sovereign Cure and Remedy And now I commend you to God The second Malady is Infection and Heresie mentioned ver 30. for which the Apostle prescribeth God's Word as the best Preservative and Remedy And now I commend you to God and the Word which Remedy is further implified by the title given to it Grace the Word of his Grace 2dly From the precious effects and benefits of the Word first Edification secondly Life Eternal in these words which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance amongst them that are sanctified Then the relative name Paul gives to the Ministers of Ephesus Brethren from which word you may remember I gave you this Observation Doct. That true and real Christians are Brethren It is not only true in respect of Ministers but of all Christians Pastors and People I have demonstrated it briefly and briefly improved it by way of Application But then secondly from the Provision of Security and Comfort that Paul commendeth his Ephesians to at his departure you had this Doctrine Doct. That God and the Word of his Grace is the best Security and Comfort a departing Minister can commit his People unto You may remember I took this Doctrine in two and gave you this Note or Doctrine Doct. That Ministers cannot alwayes expect a continued and uninterrupted Residence amongst their
will be careful that the Fornace be not too hot nor the Temptation too strong nor the Burden too weighty the good Shepherd is wonderfully careful of every Sheep in his stock and when the Lambs cannot go he will carry them he will not over-pace the Ewes with young but in his diligence and care will accommodate his journeys his drivings to the weakest and tenderest in the flock So Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of his Church will not only seed his Flock but be careful that neither Devils nor wicked Men drive on Temptation nor the storm of Persecution too furiously but according to the strength of the weakest He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd He shall gather the Lambs with his Arm and carry them in his Bosome and gently lead those that are with young Isa 40.11 Jesus Christ is that Eliakim Isa 22.21 22 c. upon whom all the affairs and concernments of the Church in general and all the concernments of every Soul in particular do depend whether they be concerning the soul or body temporal or eternal or all And as he is faithful so he is diligent to perform and keep all things committed to his charge such is his faithfulness and diligence that nothing shall miscarry that is committed to him And therefore Be not distractively careful what shall become of you who shall teach you and how you shall be taught but by Prayer and Supplication Cast your care upon him for He careth for you Phil. 4.6 5thly To commit you to God is to commit you to Infinite Power to protect you to support you and deliver you What is Power without Love and Compassion and What is Love and Tenderness without Faithfulness What is Faithfulness without Diligence and what is Diligence and Care without Power Willingness to help without Ability and What is Ability without Love Compassion and Willingness these are unsafe security but when all these are united together they must needs make strong Security and Defence and solid grounds of Comfort Here then is an infinite Power 1. To defend the Church and every Child of God in the greatest dangers God's Church is that Aijeleh Sahar the morning Stag mentioned in the title and inscription of Psal 22. As the Hunters early in the morning single out one Stag or Deer from the whole herd to chase and pursue all the day so all the Devils in Hell and all the wicked men of the world single out the People of God to chase and persecute with fury and rage so long as they are in the world She is surrounded with great dangers and She is secured with strong Power A man when he is besieged by a potent politick and cruel enemie in a Castle whose foundations cannot be undermined whose walls cannot be battered down nor scaled whose gates cannot be broken nor burnt whose provision inexhaustable and all within faithful and trusty he needs not fear the thundrings of the Cannons the roarings of great Granados the glittering Swords nor bloody Flags of his Enemy So though the gates of Hell all the policy and power of infernal furies are united against God's People yet they shall not prevail there is more with than against them our God even this God to whom I commend you is security enough to defend them He is compared to a Rock which all the Devils in Hell cannot undermine 2 Sam. 22.2 3 4. Mat. 16.18 Compared to a Tower whose walls can never be beaten down Prov. 18.10 The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower and the Righteous flie thereunto and are safe Compared to a Shield that cannot be pierced Psal 28.7 and 33.20 To great Waters that no Ship nor Boat with oars can pass Isa 33.21 Compared to a Wall not of stone which may be battered down or time waste and consume but to a Wall of Brass Jer. 15.20 yea a Wall of fire Zech. 2.5 Other walls may be approached unto scaled but a Wall of fire cannot be scaled nor touched it terrifies the enemies at a distance All these shew God's infinite Power to defend his People He is a Munition of Rocks to defend his People that can neither be undermined nor battered so high that they cannot be scaled he is such supplys of provision that they cannot be famished forth Isa 33.16 He shall dwell on high and his place of defence shall be the Munition of Rocks his bread shall be given him and his water shall be sure Well then let this comfort you that you are incircled with so great a Power for protection 2. Here is infinite Power to support your spirits under the greatest trials that they faint not It is a wonder to consider the multitudes and mountains of afflictions heaped on the People of God and they not discouraged when liberty riches relations and life lye at the stake yet they faint not surely this must needs come from a Divine Power which is glorified in mans weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 Would you not wonder to see a Torch a Candle to burn in a mighty storm and tempestious wind Would you not wonder to see a spark of Fire to burn and keep alive in the midst of a Sea So it is a wonder that these mighty storms of Persecution and floods of Affliction that fall upon the Godly should not daunt and dis-spirit them God proportions his Joy to the Sufferings of his People He can make them to account Prisons to be as Palaces and Dungeons as places of delight Ropes and Iron-Chains to be more to them than Golden Ornaments He will so support your spirit under sufferings that you shall glory in Tribulation for him Rom. 5.5 As the Sufferings of Christ abound in you so the Consolations of Christ shall abound to you 2 Cor. 1.4 5. 3. Here is infinite Power to deliver you from your greatest fears and sufferings He hath done great things of old for his Church and he is the same God still and will do great things for his Peoples deliverance But of this by and by 6thly To commit you to God is to commit you to a Fountain of All Grace for supply and preservation of Grace 1. Here is a fulness of the Grace of Gifes All the eminent Gifts of God's People have come from this Fountain the gifts of Wisdom and of Knowledge the gift of Miracles the gift of Prophecy of discerning of Spirits 1 Cor. 12.8 9 10 11. When you are called before Courts the learned Fathers and the Sons of the Church to plead for maintain and defend your Religion he will give you Wisdom that your adversaries shall not be able to resist He that ordaineth his praise from the mouths of Babes and opened the mouth of Balaams Ass will teach you what to say with such Wisdom that your enemies cannot gainsay Luke 21.15 The learned Rabbies among the Jews were not able to resist the Wisdom and the Spirit that was in Stephen Acts 6.10 Apollos was a man mighty in the Scriptures and he mightily
little before his death made his last Will and Testament and amongst other things he solemnly commended the tuition of his Seep to his Fathers care intreating him by all the dearness betwixt them that he would preserve them from the Devil and all his evil designs against them John 17.11 15. he had received them from the Father upon his commendation ver 6. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and he had kept them safe while he was with them Those that thou gavest me I have kept and none of them lost but the Son of Perdition ver 12. And being now to go out of the world intreats the Father that as he had kept them upon his commendation so he would upon his recommendation undertake the protection and tuition of them I Pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil ver 15. and again Holy Father keep through thine own Name those thou hast given me that they may be one as we are one ver 11. And now at my departure according to these great Patterns worthy of imitation I commend you to God When without my seeking for I had the unanimous Invitation and general cheerful Reception of the whole Parish I looked upon it as a demonstration that God intended to intrust me with your souls And according to that small Talent the Lord hath lent me I have been willing and ready to spend and be spent in the service of your souls and by soundness of Doctrine unblamableness of Conversation to win you to Christ and though I had no wheaten bread yet rather than your souls should starve according to the pattern of my great Lord and Master I gave you barley bread the nourishment and strength of which I leave to your experiences I did what I could while I was with you to keep you to fore-warn and fore-arm you and now having no more time to be with you I commend you and yours to the protection of the God of Grace and Peace Whatsoever there is in an infinite God that may make for your security and comfort I commend you unto it to his Mercy to pity and pardon all your sins to his Righteousness to plead for you to his Power to defend you to his Al-sufficiency to supply you to all the virtue of his Arm to all the affection of his Bowels to all the depths of his Wisdom and to whatever else in an infinite God that can make for your defence I commit you to it From Him I received you with him with his Love his Mercy his Faithfulness c. I leave you To Him 1. Because he is able to comfort you in all your sorrows who can and will shine upon you in the darkest nights and turn them into a bright day He is the Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort And as the Sufferings of Christ abound in you so your Consolation shall abound by Christ 2 Cor. 1.3 5. he will give you an assured and impregnable Peace within when you have Troubles and War without This was Christ's Legacy for his People Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you not as the world gives give I unto you Let not your heart be troubled let it not be afraid John 14.27 Your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you John 16.22 This peace shall so keep and defend your hearts that all the beleaguering sufferings and afflictions shall not take nor vanquish them Phil. 4.7 And the Peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall keep your hearts as in a strong well-fortified impregnable Garison 2. To Him I commend you who is able to support under your greatest burdens Satan that great Leviathan would alwayes have more liberty to lay load upon load upon your backs he would load you with temptations and persecutions without he would have loads of corruptions and dissertions within to be heaped upon you he desires to winnow you and try your strength he would break you backs dash your hopes your comforts your joy and peace by accumulated miseries But this God can and will make his Grace sufficient for you and glorifie his Power in your weakness 2 Cor. 12. When you are weakest in your selves the Lord will shew himself strongest to you and for you and make those burdens easie which before appeared formidable and insupportable to you Rom. 8.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God will take up one end of the staff and the heaviest part of the burden upon himself 3. To him I commend you who is able to establish you in the most shaking times Christians must not be as reeds bow with every wind of Doctrine nor moved away with every storm of Persecution but they must be like those two brazen Pillars in Solomons Temple called Jachin and Boas Stability and Strength You must be strong stedfast in the purity of the Doctrine in the simplicity of the Worship of the Gospel of Christ Now you are not able to stand by your own strength against storms and winds but God will stablish and strengthen you and make you like an house built upon the Rock that all the waves and floods of Persecution shall not be able to move you The God of all Grace after that you have suffered a while will make you perfect and strengthen and settle you 1 Pet. 5.10 You that are Christians indeed are built upon such a foundation Jesus Christ as conveyes life strength and stability to the superstructure As broken bones once knit are the stronger as trees shaken by the winds take deeper root So God by all shakings and stormy winds will make you more stable and setled It is your Security and my Comfort and stand not by your own strength but by the Power of God 4. To Him I commend you because he is able to provide strong and suitable supplies for you Should I commit you to men they would seek their own profits but never bestow their pains they would feed upon you but not feed you reap the fruit but never watch nor water nor manure the Vineyard But this God is the great the good and faithfyl Shepherd who when he removes one Instrument can raise another When he takes away one Minister he can provide you another that can send you an Elisha after Elijah one to whom he hath given a double portion of his Spirit 2 Kings 2.9 a man of greater parts learning and abilities of greater experiences and skill in the great things of Christ in the great concernments of your souls both a Boanarges and a Barnabas 5. To Him I commend you who is able to bless the smallest means and make them equally profitable and beneficial as the best Though in regard of men you may doubt of the former yet in God you may be confident of the latter All means are in God's hand Paul may plant and Apollos water but it is
but Bochim's Humble your selves under the mighty Hand of God in your Debasements Do not rise against them whom the mighty Hand of God hath exalted lest haply ye be found sighters against God Plotting and Fighting will not bring Mercies again that a People have sinned away God needs none of our sins to advance his Sons Kingdom When God hath softened our hearts by his sweet Grace he can and will if he see it best tender the hearts of our Superiours to pitty us by his most powerful Providence How did these Mourners at last find an heart touched by a mighty Hand that called them out of their Graves and made open Proclamation for their return as you read 2 Chron. 36.22 23. Secondly Neither is it any part of the business of this Doctrine to embitter you into Schism and sepation from the Assemblies that through Mercy are yet continued which I for my part dare not but call or at least some of them Solemn Assemblies Church Assemblies though perchance in my eye they may want something of that Solemnity Majesty Purity and Power which I and you could desire they had If you may not hear me yet it is some mercy that you and I may hear some others I would not so mourn for what is not as to forget to bless God for what yet is I hope there are yet them to be found that preach Christ of good will and in the simplicity of their hearts continue in their work though many of God's willing Servants have not freedom so to do Take heed of extreams It is the ordinary temptation in a time of Differences to think we cannot run too far from them we differ from and so whilst we decline one Rock we split our selves upon another Remember the old Non-conformists were equal enemies to Superstition and Separation Maintain I beseech you sober Principles such as these are that every defective Ministry is not a false Ministry That sinful Super-additions do not nullifie Divine Institutions That Impurities do not make Ordinances Nullities no more than Leprosie doth unman him that hath it That sinful defects in Ordinances do not hinder the saving Effects of them The seed may come up that is sown by a leprous-hand That there is a difference betwixt directing a Worship prescribing things simply evil and manifestly Idoltrous and directing about Worship things doubtfully good being enjoyned but the unquestionable substance of Worship being maintained This latter doth not justifie separation If Corruptions in Worship I mean such do unchurch a Church it will be hard to find when there was a true Church or where one will be found That the Church of England was a true Church a true reformed Church though not a full compleatly reformed Church is acknowledged by most sober Spirits A man of name amongst the Brethren of the Congregational Perswasion speaking of the Church of England and its first Reformation hath these words As for the great things of the Gospel matters of Faith or Doctrine the Reformers had so happy an hand therein that there is to be found little if any hay and stubble therein But in matters of Order which concern Worship and Discipline let it be enquired into whether they were so exact therein Although this must be said that God did take care for all fundamental Ordinances of Worship And it is a bitter Error and full of Cruelty to say That we have had no Churches no Ministers no Sacraments but Antichristianal So far Dr. T. Goodwyn Fast Serm. before Parl. on Zech. 4.6 7 8. Now me-thinks if it was a True Church notwithstanding some supposed Corruptions retained it should be to still notwithstanding those by some reputed Corruptions returned for if the Disease do not unman a man his Relapse into it after a recovery cannot We have still that Doctrine professed we have still those fundamental Ordinances maintained And methinks where a Church as to the main keeps the Form of found Words and the Substantials of that Worship which is Christ's some adjudged defects in order cannot justifie Separation I dare not dismember my self from that Church that holds the Head I think whilst Doctrine is for the main sound Christ stayes with a Church and it is good staying where he stays I would follow him and not lead him or go before the Lamb. That speech of the beloved Disciple 2 John 9. may without wrong be applied to a Church He that abides in the Doctrine of Christ hath both the Father the Son It may be some may think that these Times that are gone over us have left an obligation upon us in an orderly peaceable way to endeavour Reformation I have no call here to debate that but this I am sure of they have withal brought forth many sad warnings against separation in the sad Apostacies both in judgment and practise which many of that generation of men have been left unto Therefore 1. Maintain communion as far as you can 2. Crave indulgence where you cannot 3. Mourn in secret over what in pulick you cannot help let that which upon good grounds you judge a corruption have that work upon you which Peninnahs provocations had upon Hannah make you weep sore and pour out your hearts before God if there be any smoak in God's Temple let it be smoak to your eyes 4. Enlarge your care and pains in your preparations a right stomach makes good nourishment of an indifferent meal You may be warm though in a colder air and room than you have formerly been if you will but put on more cloaths before you come 5. Watch your hearts more narrowly and speak you things to your hearts more than ever you have done you will not so well know what to do with your hearts if you do not increase own your watch and pains It is the wise man's speech Eccl. 10.10 If the Iron be blunt and he doth not whet the edge then must he put to more strength Now 3. I come to tell you what the errand of this my Doctrine is And it is an exhortation first to all upon whom at this day any measure or degree of this affliction lies And then secondly to some who have a larger share in this affliction than others First then You that are losing or have lost your Solemn Assemblies know that you have a loud call unto mourning The Wayes of Zion mourn after a manner Lam. 1.4 let us mourn after a Godly manner who are the Inhabitants of Zion because the channels of comfort that have releived our souls are gon or going far from us Such dews should fall at or after Sun-setting Jeremiah puts this into his Lamentation that God had violently taken away his Tabemacle as of a garden He hath destroied his places of Assembly The Lord hath caused the solemn Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion Lam. 2.6 Mercies use to be most lovely when they have their backs upon us and we best see the worth in the want of
endure So Christians you should do as you are exhorted Heb. 10.32 Remember what baths of godly sorry and compunction of spirit you found in hearing what earnest pantings after Christ and his Ordinances Could you not once say as the Psalmist Psal 42.1 2. 63.1 2. 84.1 2. Remember what flames of Divine Love to God Jesus Christ and his People you once felt burning in your hearts Remember those Raptures of Joy you have felt while you have been with joy drawing Waters out of the Wells of Salvation Remember with what delight and complacency you conversed in holy duties what zeal you had for God and his Ministers how even the zeal of Gods house eat you up O when you begin to feel your affections cool and grow flat say Why am I thus Is not God and Christ as lovely and desirable the Wayes of God as delightfull and pleasant as ever Such a remembrance how you have received will be a means to keep up a lively frame of heart in most dead times 4. Christians should remember with what readiness of mind they heard and received the Word of God with what holy resolutions to obey the Truth and to give up themselves to be guided by it and to walk with God to live and die in Gods wayes and for them too if God called them to it Thus God's People have received the Word So did those mentioned Isa 2.2 3. Acts 10.33 and so have you if ever you received it savingly Oh remember this as a means to quicken you when you find holy resolutions to cool in you 5. Christians should remember with what impressions upon their hearts they have received the Word and Sacraments Oh remember Christians what impressions Truths and Ordinances were wont to leave upon your hearts what work they made in your souls what wounds were given to sin what heart-meltings and heart-revivings you have found while one while your hearts have been melted yea even dissolved into penitential tears and another while filled with raptures of spiritual joy What workings of Faith Love Desires Hath it not been thus with you sometimes Christians Oh remember this to quicken you when you grow dead and can yea do sit under Ordinances with few if any such impressions as these are 6. And lastly Remember with what efficacy you have heard and received the Word and Ordinances of God You should remember what gracious effects have been wrought in and produced on your souls by these Oh Christians you should remember what good you have got by the Word Sacraments Prayer Communion of Saints what communion with God you have enjoyed in them and what of God you have received by and through them what quicknings what comforts you have been made partakers of while you have been attending upon them Have you not found the Word and Sacraments and other Ordinances of God wounding yea killing your corruptions enabling you to overcome temptations strengthening of grace enabling you to duty Hath not God spoken Peace to your souls in and through these Hath he not administred comfort to your souls in times of dissertion under sore afflictions against most bitter sufferings and most hot and fiery persecutions Oh remember this to keep your hearts alive in and your love warm and lively unto those precious Truths and Ordinances you have received so much good through how much soever they may be despised and scorn'd by others SERMON II. Preached Lords-day July 6. 1662. Rev. 3.3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent c. BEloved when I entred on this verse in my coâ—â—â— of the Friday-Lecture I little thought that I â—aâ—â— so short a time to preach among you I hoped I shoâ—â— have enjoyed some further opportunities for some â—ew weeks at least as long as the Act of Vniformity â—llowes But it hath pleased God by his wise and holy Providence to order it otherwise I being suspended from preaching here from this day forward for Non-conformity how regularly or legally on mans part I shall not dispute but leave to the righteous God to determine I desire that both you and I may not eye man but God in this dispensation I did not think to have preached my Farewel-Sermon to you from these words but having begun this Text and finding the matter of it so seasonable and suitable to rhis sad occasion I shall by God's assistance proceed in the handling of it Being probably like to preach no more unto you I judge it very seasonable to leave the Exhortation in the Text with you to call upon you that you would remember what and how you have received and heard and 〈◊〉 hold fast those wholsom Truths you have heard and those precious Ordinances at least the remembrance impressions and gracious effects of them that you have enjoyed and been priviledged with and also to repent of those sins which have provoked and may further provoke God to come on us as a thief to take away many of his Ministers from among us The words as I have already shewed are Christs counsel to a languishing Church and to decaied Christians to repair decaied Godliness and Religion in a Church and in the hearts and lives of particular Christians which renders them more seasonable to these days we live in and to the condition of many of our souls I have already opened the Doctrine and confirm'd it by several Scriptures Namely That it is the duty both of Churches and particular Christians and a special means to recover them from formality decaies and deadness in Religion and the exercise of Grace to remember what and how they have received and heard I should now proceed to give you the reasons of the Doctrine but I shall chuse rather to reserve them to the Application and then press them as Motives to inforce the Counsel and Exhortation grounded on the Text and Doctrine and so shall immediately proceed to Application Vse 1. The first Use is of Information 1. It informs us that there is somewhat more required of Christians than bare hearing of Sermons receiving and partaking of Sacraments and other Ordinances It is not enough to hear and receive but it is the duty of Christians also to remember what and how they have received and heard what good they have got by and what communion with God they have injoyed in the use of the Word and Ordinances 2. It informs us what it is we are to make the rule of our Faith Practice namely the Word of God contained in the Scriptures and the Truths you have heard rightly grounded theron They ought to be the Standard to which we should bring all Doctrines preached all things introduced into Divine Worship and imposed upon us in practice Bring all things to this Test It is your duty to search and study the Scriptures and bring all things to the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to these it is because there is no light in them
long called them to the exercise of them Who can speak with more weight and power concerning the things of Heaven and the World to come than they that by long sufferings are become crucified to this present world Who shall better or more effectually perswade to the hatred of sin than they that have felt the smart of it or to prize the blood of Christ and the promises of God than they who have largely tasted the sweetness of them How excellently will all that laziness coldness worldliness that is apt to overgrow us in a time of prosperity be scoured off by afflictions if God sanctifie them And then behold what zealous industrious heavenly serious Ministers shall be seen coming out of the Fornace Here I might descend to particulars and shew you how by the goodness of God and his wise ordering the particular afflictions that happen to the faithful Ministers of the Gospel do fall out many times to the furtherance of the Gospel Darius used to say his poor Souldiers were his best Souldiers Whether Christ Jesus will say so or no I know not but sure I am he hath said that his Souldiers should not entangle themselves with the affairs of this life 2 Tim. 2.4 And experience teacheth us that it is a hard thing to have high and rich concernments in the world and not to be entangled by them As for Reproaches they have ordinarily this effect upon a good heart to make more hardy valiant watchful For though our enemies do not alwayes tell us truly what we are or what we have done when they reproach us yet they tell us what we may be or may do if we take not heed Banishment is either from a particular Congregation or from a more general place as suppose a Kingdom or Nation These both sometimes fall out to the furtherance of the Gospel There are some that will bear witness with all thankfulness that God hath blessed the Banishment or forceable removal of some Ministers from their own Congregations and that not long since to be a means of carrying the Gospel to dark corners of the Kingdom to Congregations whom no one cared for to Sheep that had no Shepherd Many a poor soul I doubt not hath cause to bless God for the spoils of other Churches Concerning the latter kind of Banishment I need not tell you how it hath become a means to transport the treasure of the Gospel into other Lands the Persecution and Dispersion of the Apostles and Evangelists from Jerusalem doth so abundantly testifie it It was well for the world that our Saviour gave that Commission to his Apostles Matt. 10.23 That when they were Persecuted in one City they might flee to another for so it hath come to passe that as the Sun so the Light of the Gospel setting in one part of the world hath risen to give light to others And this brings me down to the Proposition it self directly contained in the Text that The restraint of the Ministers of the Gospel doth sometimes fall out to the furtherance of the Gospel Now the restraint of the Ministers of the Gospel is twofold either Personal that we call Confinement or Imprisonment or Ministerial that is Suspension or Silencing The furtherance of the Gospel is twofold also either the furtherance of the Doctrine of the Gospel or the Interest of the Gospel Now both these kinds of restraints God can make to fall out to both these kinds of furthering of the Gospel 1. The Confinement of the Ministers of the Gospel doth sometimes fall out to the furtherance of the Gospel And that 1. Of the Doctrine of the Gospel and that by these wayes 1. It stirrs up the world to make enquiry into the cause why Ministers lye in Bonds And so the knowlâ—dge of that way is encreased and the Doctrine of the Gospel spread Men as men are led by common compassion to desire to understand the grounds of mens sufferings And besides that if there were no ingredient at all of compassion yet the nature of man is curious and inquisitive And indeed the nature of Justice and Government is such that it cannot long suffer the Crime of a person under bonds to be concealed By this means the sufferings especially the Imprisonment of the Apostles carried the Doctrine of the Gospel to many places where the Apostles themselves never came nor perhaps could come for although they were commanded to go from City to City yet fame would go faster and further too than they could go It is a very effectual way to propagate the knowledge of any way even that the most eminent propugnators of it should lie in bonds for the defence of it It fell out thus in the Apostle Pauls case here as he himself explains himself in the verse next following my Text So that my Bonds in Christ are manifest in all the Palace and in all other places My Bonds in Christ are manifest that is the cause of my Bonds the reason of my Imprisonment is come abroad and so the Gospel is spread It were no hard thing to give instances amongst our selves and that not long since how the person and way or cause of Ministers have become famous and notorious by this means which otherwise would have been more obscure But 2. This Restraint falls out to the furtherance of the Doctrine of the Gospel in that it stirs up others seeing the necessiâ—ies of the Church and having compassion on it to put their Sickle into the Lords Harvest and to draw forth their breasts to the fainting Flocks of God And so perhaps the Chruch gets two for one or an eminent guide in the room of a meaner It is expresly said once and again that after that John was put in prison Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God Mat. 4.12 Mar. 1.14 Our blessed Saviour took that occasion to enter solemnly upon his Ministry And it seems by the Apostle Pauls Imprisonment Preachers were multiplyed Though some indeed preach'd Christ out of envy and strife yet others out of good will ver 15. 3. It quickens others who are imploy'd in the same work to discharge it with more diligence and boldness This is strange indeed to the eye of reason that the sufferings of some should make others not fear to suffer yet so God hath brought it to pass So it fell out in the Apostles case here ver 14. Many of the Brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the Word without fear Waxing confident by my bonds that is by the courage constancy and patience which I shew in my Bonds The Apostles Bonds were an occasion of manifesting his Courage and his Courage encouraged many many of the Brethren are much more confident to speak And indeed one would almost envy the incomes of God and his Spirit upon the Prisoners of the Gospel and purchase those spiritual Enlargements with corporal Restraints 4. When God shall have
enlarged them the consideration of their Restraint will quicken them to greater pains care and faithfulness Oh how will they then labour to fullfil their Ministry which formerly perhaps they had been more remiss in this evil befalling them will make them the more industrious to do the more good God can also enlarge the hearts of their People to receive them the more gladly and their Doctrine the more readily How welcome do ye think a Minister rising from the dead would be to a people formerly it may be ungrateful to him Why some degree at least of such welcome may a Minister returning out of Prison find Absence doth usually endear things unto us And why may not God make their Imprisonment to endear them and their Ministry too to their People This some of the Prisoners of the Gospel have found 2. The Confinement of the Ministers of the Gospel doth sometimes fall out to the furtherance of the interest of the Gospel I mean the cause of Religion the Work of Grace the power of Godliness And that by these wayes amongst others 1. It is an occasion of exercising the Charity of God's People We need not go far to prove that in times of prosperity and universal rest even Professors themselves are apt to settle themselves upon their worldly concernments to grow earthly minded and to fully themselves too much with the dirty commodities of the world And the Ministers of Christ do find the Prophecy of their Lord made good by their own experience that the love of many shall waxcold And indeed in times of prosperity and liberty there seems not to be such need of the Manifestations of Charity and the Expressions of Affections as in times of Confinement By this therefore doth God try the dispositions of Professors towards their Ministers that have spent and been spent amongst them and draw forth the bowels of compassion towards them Our Apostle's present condition at Rome was an occasion of exercising the Philippians Charity towards him even then their care of him flourished Phil. 4.10 This the Apostle rejoyces in not so much because it was a supply of his wants as because it was an exercise of their Grace and would abound to their account knowing that God would supply their needs in as much as they had supplied his ver 17.18 19. 2. It is a singular occasion of quickning the People of God to prayer And in prayer the exercisings of Repentance Faith Hope and Heavenly-mindedness are emeninently seen It was sometimes prophesied concerning Christ the great Shepherd I will smite the Shepherd and the Sheep shall be scattered Zech. 13.7 And so it was indeed but it many times falls out otherwise in the smiting of the Ministers of the Gospel those inferiour Shepherds for thereby the Sheep are gathered I mean gathered to Prayer gathered to seek God Thus you know they were gathered together for Peter when he was in prison Acts 12.5 and ver 12. Many were gathered together at the house of Mary praying This the Apostle Paul calls for from his Philippians ver 19. of this chapter and from the Jews Heb. 13.19 Pray for us the rather that I may be restored unto you the sooner for the Apostle was even then a Prisoner at Rome as the most judicious Commentators do conceive It may be the prayers which were wanting for the preservation will be abundantly poured out for the restauration of the Ministers of the Gospel and this I do account is highly for the advantage of the interest of the Gospel There is certainly no great evil towards us so long as the prayers of God's People are well maintained and indeed I see not how any good thing can be long kept out where Prayer fervent faithful Prayer is kept up 3. It confirms the courage of the People of God that are so indeed when they see their Ministers lye for the defence of the Gospel it conduces much to their settlement in the Truth and encouragement in their Profession 4. It serves to the uniting of the People of God and the keeping up of union and communion amongst them Now if ever will they that fear the Lord speak often one to another even when he is removed that should speak to them all See how close the Disciples kept together when their great Shepherd was removed Acts 1.14 and 2.1 The like in some measure may follow amongst the People of God upon the removal of their Teachers into corners and this will undoubtedly be to the furtherance of the interest of the Gospel viâ—â— unita fortior their combined powers will be impregnable So much for the personal Restraint or Confinement of the Ministers of the Gospel and its falling out to the furtherance both of the Doctrine and Interest of the Gospel 2. Ministerial Restraint that is Suspension or Silencing the Ministers of the Gospel This doth also sometimes fall out and God can make it fall out to the furtherance of the Gospel And that 1. Of the Doctrine of the Gospel And that 1. By puting Christians upon a more strict enquiry into those Points Doctrines or matters of Religion that the Ministers of the Gospel are restrained for and so knowledge comes to be encreased and the truth to be found out Some have observed God's good ends in suffering errors to be broached in the Church by that means the Truth hath been more narrowly look into and more abundantly cleared The erroneous Tenents and corrupt usages of the Corinthians about the Lord's Supper fell out exceedingly to the furtherance of the Truth in that matter the Apostle Paul taking occasion from thence to write that eleventh Chapter of his first Epistle by which we are more instructed in the Doctrine of that Sacrament than in all the Scriptures besides Something like may be observed to have fallen out in this case that I am speaking of It is something that they are suspended for And what is it is it a sufficient ground of suspension are the next enquiries Instances for the confirmation of this are not wanting in our own and other Churches For you must not expect under this head of Suspension that I should bring any Scripture-instances of its falling out to the furtherance of the Gospel For I do not read of any such restraint laid upon the Ministers of the Gospel in the Scripture It might have been expected that Moses should have restrained those that prophesied in the Camp I mean Eldad and Medad Joshua indeed said My Lord Moses forbid them But Moses thought there could not be too many Prophets in Israel so that the Lord would but put his Spirit upon them And as for Joshua it was nothing but zeal for his Masters credit that put him upon it as appears Numb 11.29 Moses said unto him Enviest thou for my sake Would God that all the Lord's People were Prophets c. It might have been expected that Paul here at Rome should have shewed his Apostolical Authority at least and have forbidden them