spiritual sense God only is your Father he it is that begets you of his own good will by the Word of Truth Jam. 1.18 Though indeed that Word be dispensed by us as instruments and when he hath thus begotten you he is pleased to trust and honour us so far as to make us Foster-Fathers and Nursing-Fathers to you and this cannot but beget some kind of Affections and Respect in us to you and in you to us as there is between Nurse-Fathers and Nurse-Children and a lothness to part But I beseech you consider If a King that hath had a Child at Nurse some years in a private house judge it convenient to part the Child and Nurse one from another and the Nurse-Father upon notice given of the King's mind carries the Child home and delivers it up into the King 's own arms who is the true and proper Father and is a thousand times better able to provide for the Child than the Nurse-Father and more engaged to do it too hath this poor Child any hurt or any cause to complain or to cry after the Nurse-Father I will go home to my Father again Think my Brethren the case is the same here We have been Nursing-Fathers to you for some time God seeth it fit to make a change who are we that we should murmur or find fault or what cause have you to complain We resign you up into the hands of your Father and our Father your God and our God Why should you cry after us are you not well enough can you be better than in the arms of your dear gracious and mercifull Father Obj. But what shall we do for Ordinances how shall we live who shall feed and nourish our poor souls Ans You that do indeed love and prize and hunger after the Ordinances I will say to you as Abram did in another care My son God will provide As for the rest of you you that neither loved the Ordinances while you had them nor have been at all quickened by the withdrawing of them what God will do with you I cannot tell But you that love and prize the Ordinances I say to you concerning your souls as our Saviour concerning your bodies Take no thought what you shall eat and what you shall drink nor how your poor souls shall live in a time of straitness and scarcity That God that when Israel were in such a place as they could neither sow nor reap fed them with bread from Heaven that God if he bring you into such a condition as you can neither enjoy Word nor Sacraments will feed you too with hidden Manna that shall be better than Word and Sacraments that God who multiplied the Meal in the Widows barrel and the Oyl in her cruse that though her stock was little yet it served turn and lasted as long as the famine lasted So I dare confidently say it shall be with you that fear God in Truth and love his Ordinances in sincerity the less your stock of Grace in your own eyes be be it very little and small it shall hold out till you come to Heaven your handful of Meal and your cruise of Oyl shall not fail As for the rest of People in this Place and Nation what God will do with them I know not I am loth to speak what I see cause to fear even concerning this very place But I shall commend you to God after I have spoken a little of what follows And the Word of his Grace Mark here the Apostle doth not say I commend you to God and the impulse of his Spirit or I commend you to God and the Light within or I commend you to God and the Traditions of men or I commend you to God and the Customs and Orders of the holy Church No these are some of them uncertain others of them unprofitable things But we have a more sure Word 2 Pet. 1.19 A profitable Word a Word able to make wise to Salvation even the Holy Scriptures and to this next under God and in joynt co-operation with God for the good of their souls doth the Apostle commend these Christians I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace From thence observe That the Word of God it is the Word of God's Grace So we find it stiled not onely here but in Acts 14.3 They gave testimony to the Word of his Grace So in chap. 20. ver 24. it is called The Gospel of the Grace of God And the Word of God is the Word of his Grace upon this fourfold account Reas 1. Because it comes from Grace It was the meer Free-Grace of God that moved him to reveal and give forth this Word of his as a Revelation of himself unto the children of men Adam was at first created in such a condition as he needed not a word without to lead him into the true knowledge of the true God He was created after the Image of God in Knowledge Righteousness and Holiness he had the Law of God written in his heart And as the High Priest of old having the Vrim and Thummim upon his breast needed but cast his eye upon that and he might presently kmow any thing that he had a mind to know of God So Adam in his innocency it was for him but to reflect upon himself to cast his eye inward and presently he might know of God and of his Mind and Will that which he did desire But as the Vrim and Thummim being lost in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians God was pleased as the Rabbins tell us to favour his People with a vocal answer from the Oracle which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bathcol a voice without them instead of inward light and inspiration So this innate light of the knowledge of God being extinct and lost by that universal ruine which the sin of Adam hath brought upon all mankind and all mankind now being nothing but blindness and darkness alienated from the Life of God through the ignorance that is in them Ephes 4.18 able at the best but to feel and grope after God as the Apostles expression is Acts 17.27 even as the men of Sodom when they were struck with blindness groped to find the door of Lot's house til they wearied themselves but were never able to find it Gen. 19.11 So it is with all men now by Nature therefore the Lord who is said to dwell in Light inaccessible 1 Tim. 6.16 and who is a Fountain of pure Light inexhaustible 1 John 1.5 hath pleased to display unto his poor creatures some beams of his own Light and that in such a refracted way as their weak nature may be capable of without being overwhelmed and swallowed up with that Glory And to this end hath treasured up those Beams of Light in his holy Scriptures from whence they dart forth unto us not all at once and in their fulness but gradatim and by little and little as we are able to bear them
the true reason why the Pope and his Accomplices do so studiously smother the Scriptures from their People is that rendred by our Saviour John 3.20 For every one that doth evil hateth the Light neither cometh to the Light lest his deeds should be reproved And their doom shall be with those Luke 11.52 Wo unto you Lawyers for you have taken away the Key of Knowledge you entered not in your selves and them that were entered in you hindered In the second place This reproves the Impiety of the Papists who under pretence of honouring the Scriptures shut them from the commom people So this on the other side reproves the blasphemy of those that think themselvs too good to stand in need of the Scriptures the Word of God The Papists think the Scriptures too good for the vulgar people to have any thing to do withal these think themselves though God knows they are poor ignorant people yet they think themselves too good to have any thing to do with the Scriptures or to stand in need of any instruction or direction from the Scriptures the Word of God they think they have the VVord of God within the Light within and that is sufficient for them Indeed they will grant you that the Prophecy of Isaiah and Jeremiah it was the Word of God to Isaiah and Jeremiah and the People that lived in their times and so the Epistles of Paul and Peter they were the VVord of God to Peter and Paul and to those to whom they wrote them but as for themselves they have they make account the same infallible Spirit that Peter and Paul had and the dictates and motions of that Spirit are the same infallible VVord of God to them that it was to the Prophets and Apostles binding them and others to whom they are sent to speak it as infallibly as the Revelation of God to the Prophets and Apostles and their speaking them to others did bind them O Pride O Blasphemy Supposing it to be true which they say that they have the same infallible Spirit which the Apostles and Prophets had Yet first it will not follow that they have it in the same Operations and Manifestations that the Prophets and Apostles had it is a certain Truth that all the Elect of God that are sanctified have but one and the same Spirit quickning all guiding all As it is written There is one Body and one Spirit Eph. 4.4 But saith the Apostle there are diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit and diversity of Administrations and diversity of Operations 1 Cor. 12.4 5 6. And all these worketh one and the same Spirit ver 11. Thus it was in the Apostles dayes all that had the same Spirit that Peter and Paul had to renew them and sanctifie them and work all Grace in them needful to Salvation had not the same infallible Guidance of the Spirit to enable them to deliver things that should be infallible and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Are all Apostles are all Prophets 1 Cor. 12.29 much less then can it be said now And it is highest presumption for any one that thinks he hath received and hath indeed received the Spirit unto sanctification to think that therefore he hath the Spirit in its infallible guidance and direction Secondly Suppose that these People had the Spirit of infallible guidance and direction and were indeed inspired Prophets yet that doth not give them a supersedeas from attending to the Scripture the Word of God Daniel was a Prophet immediately infallibly inspired yet he studied the Scriptures Dan. 9.2 I Daniel understood by Books the number of the years whereof the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the Prophet So did David though an inspired Prophet Psal 119. So did all the Prophets 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Of which the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the Grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the Glory that should follow So that were they what they would pretend to be which they are not Prophets yet they are not too good to attend still upon the Scriptures the Word of God Methinks I hear the God of Heaven speaking to these poor but proud ones as sometimes he did by way of holy sarcasm to the Prince of Tyre Ezek. 28.2 and so on Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a God He that saith he is godded with God and perfect as God is doth he not say I am a God Behold thou art wiser than Daniel ver 3. Daniel was such a simple man as though he was a Prophet and had glorious Visions and Inspirations yet he like a simple man would hang upon the Scriptures the written Word of God but thou art wiser than Daniel thou regardest not the Scriptures thou hast as sure and infallible a Light within thee as that Word is Thou sealest up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty ver 12. Thou hast been in Eden the Garden of God every precious stone was thy covering ver 13. Thou art the anointed Cherub thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire ver 14. Thou wast perfect in thy wayes from the day that thou wert created ver 15. All this is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the opinion that the Prince of Tyre had of himself God doth but speak his own words and thoughts And truly such are the thoughts of this proud generation they think they are so perfect and so full of wisdom they have no need of the Scriptures the VVord of God In the third place Let this that you have heard That even the best have need of the VVord O let it teach every one of you to labour to maintain in your heart an humble sense of your continual need of the Word an holy hunger after the Word a ready closing with every Opportunity of attending upon the Word a lothness above all things to part with the VVord to be left without the VVord better part with the Light of your eyes with the Bread that is the staff of your lives yea with the Life of your bodies than part with the VVord which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified And so I come to the third Doctrine which is this That the VVord of God is able to build up the Saints Therefore saith Paul here I commend you to God and the VVord of his Grace which is able to build you up Yea might they think it is true if we had such a one as Paul for to preach the VVord of God still unto us then indeed we should hope to be edified and built up Nay saith the Apostle though I shall preach no more to you and though you shall see my face no more whatever becomes of me yet the VVord of
and take them in And because this Discovery which God makes of himself to sinful and fallen man by his holy Word is an Act of meer Grace which Man had no wayes merited not could merit nor God could no wayes be obliged or engaged to therefore this Word of God is called the Word of his Grace in respect of the original of it it came forth from God it was the Grace of God that first revealed it Reas 2. It is the Word of Grace materially because the Grace of God towards sinners in Jesus Christ is the principal proper and specifick matter and subject of it True it is indeed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All-that can possibly be known of God is revealed in the Word The simplicity unity perfection of his Essence the glorious Mystery of the Trinity of Persons the Wisdom Power Goodness Justice Holiness of God all these are made known to us in his Word wherein as in a glass we behold the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 But that which the Word doth principally and chiefly reveal it is the Grace of God towards sinners in Jesus Christ this was the substance of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that first Word which God revealed immediately after the Fall of Man in Paradise The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head This was the substance and scope of all the Old Testament all the Sacrifices Laws and Ordinances concerning holy Persons and holy things they all tended to this And this is more clearly and fully the scope of the Gospel and New Testament to make known the unsearchable Riches of Christ as the Apostle speaks Ephes 3.8 And therefore of all the parts of the Scripture the Gospel the New Testament is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called the Word of Grace and the Gospel of Grace because the whole design and scope of that is to reveal and make known unto sinners the Grace of God in Christ and that and that alone reveals it Men may talk what they please of those Universal Preachers the Sun Moon and Stars and tell us that they preach Christ The creatures indeed do sufficiently reveal God so as to leave all the World without excuse for not fearing and serving of God who made Heaven and Earth but worshipping the work of their own hands in his stead but Christ and the Grace of God towards sinners in Christ is the proper peculiar sole Revelation of the Gospel which therefore is called the Word of Grace Reas 3. The Word of God is the Word of Grace effectively because it works inherent qualitative Grace and Holiness in them that hear it not indeed in all the Word doth not work Grace in the hearts of all nor never did No but where-ever Grace is wrought in the hearts of any there ordinarily it is the Word that works and therefore it may be justly and duely called the Word of Grace So the Apostle Rom. 10.17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God So Gal. 3.2 Received you the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith So our Saviour John 17.17 Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy Word is Truth So then the Word worketh Faith and Sanctification in the hearts of God's Children and therefore it is the Word of Grace Reas 4. The VVord of God is the VVord of Grace because it not only begets and begins Grace and layeth the foundation of it but it maintains and increaseth and carrieth on the work of Grace unto Glory As it follows here in the Text The VVord of his Grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified Now this in the first place should teach us to bless God for the enjoying of his VVord more than for any other our Enjoyments whatsoever It is true we have cause to bless God for any thing for every thing we enjoy that we have bread to eat though never so course that we have rayment to put on though never so mean we have cause to bless God that we live in a Land of Hills and Valleys that is watered with Springs and with the Dew of Heaven in a fruitful and plentiful Land but that we live in a Land whither God hath caused the Word of his Grace to come this we have cause to bless God for infinitely more than for Corn and Wine and Oyl in greatest abundance Had God inriched this Nation with all the Mines and Treasures of both the Indies were all the Hills and High-wayes in England as full of Gold as they are of Sand were all the Rivers as full of Pearls as they are of Pebles did Cinamon and Cassia grow in England as thick as Bulrushes were all the Riches and Glories of the World laid up here as in Natures Store-house yet if God had hid the Word of his Grace from us what a miserable Nation had we been all this our Wealth would have exposed us to the cruel covetousness and rage of other Nations as it hath done the poor Indians and have sent us down to Hell certainly and unavoidably without any help or remedy But blessed be God for the Gospel of Grace for this VVord of Grace blessed be God blessed be God for the Word of Grace bestowed upon England he hath not dealt so with every Nation In England is God known his Name is great in England in England is his Tabernacle and his Dwelling-place in England He hath not dealt so with every Nation he hath not dealt so with any Nation Praise ye the Lord. Psal 147.20 In the second place This should teach us above all things to fear and deprecate the taking away the VVord of Grace from us or from our posterity after us It was a sore Judgment which the Lord threatned against Judah Jer. 16.5 I have taken away my Peace from this People saith the Lord my Loving-kindness and Mercy O my Brethren when God takes away the VVord of his Grace from a People then is this direful Judgment come upon them then hath God taken away his Peace from that People even Loving-kindness and Mercy then is that People left Regnum Cyclopicum in the Region of Darkness and the shadows of death an habitation for Dragons and Devils Take the Sun out of the Firmament and what would the World be but a Chaos of Confusion a Land of Darkness And satius esset Solem è Colo said the People of Constantinople of that famous Preacher Chrysostom Better the Sun should be taken out of the Skie than Chrysostom out of the Pulpit Chrysostom and an hundred Chrysostoms may be taken out of the Pulpit and yet the Word of Grace not taken away but if once the VVord of Grace be taken away then VVo Wo We to that Place and to that People Brethren you may remember I am sure you ought to remember that upon the 13th of October 1658. from those words Amos 8.11 I shewed
is no ambiguity the word that signifieth to commend by way of praise is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Luke 16.8 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 8.8 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 5.8 and 16.1 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 3.1 and 5.12 but the word used to signifie commending by way of trust is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Luke 23.46 Acts 14.23 and that is the word here used in the Text I commend you that is I resigne you over I deliver you up I commit you to the Trust of God That is the second thing the Act. The Third thing is the Subject of this Act or the persons thus commended You amplified by their relative compellation Brethren Brethren I commend you to God It is clear that this relates to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus and it is probable that some of the Vulgar some of the Plebs might be there also especially if they understood that Paul now sent for the Elders to take his last leave of them doubless some of the Brethren and Church-Members would willingly put themselves to the trouble of so small a journey to be present at this solemn parting and if you consider well the words of the 20 25 27 verses methinks it is more than probable that there were present upon the place some of Pauls ordinary hearers and ordinary members of the Church as well as the Elders therefore we may safely conclude that this you Brethren includes both Elders and People Brethren I commend you The fourth thing considerable is the Person to whom he doth thus commend these Brethren and that is first to God the Wise the Gracious the Faithful the Almighty God The same God to whom with my Lord and Master Jesus Christ I would commend my spirit if I were now a dying into his hands I commend you I commend you principally and in the first place to God and then secondly and subordinately to the Word of his Grace as a powerful means and nstrument of God unto you Brethren I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace Fiftly You have here the Eulogie of this word which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified which clause may either refer to God I commend you to God who is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified or to the Word of hic Grace I commend you to God and the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up c. and so in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is God is able by his Word to build you up and bring you to Heaven Or The Word of God is able to build you up in Grace and bring you to Glory Lastly You have the time when Paul doth thus studiously and solemnly commend the Brethren to God and to the Word of his Grace and that is Now Now that I am departing from you never to see your faces more Now that after my departure grievous Wolves shall enter among you Now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified Which words will afford variety of Observations First For the term of Compellation Brethren This term Brother or Brethren saith Hierom quadrupliciter accipitur is taken four manner of wayes 1. First For those that are born of the same Parents 2. Secondly For those that are of the same Linage though not of the same immediate Parents those whom we call Cousins are usually in Scripture called Brethren and Sisters 3. Thirdly For those of the same Nation 4. Fourthly For those of the same Religion and Profession 5. To which we may add fifthly For those of the same place and co-habitations Thus Lot calls the men of Sodom Brethren Gen. 19.7 6. Sixthly They are called Brethren that are of a like quality and disposition so Prov. 18.9 He that is slothful in his work is Brother to him that is a great waster Here it is used upon no other but upon a Religious Account The Apostle calls these Persons here present Brethren because he and they had one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father therefore Brethren If we suppose this Compellation used to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus then we may reade in it the exceeding great humility and condescension of the blessed Apostle Paul who though he was advanced to an Office and Dignity of highest Eminency of any that ever Christ instituted in his Church even the Office of an Apostle which is another manner of Title and Dignity than that either of Bishop or Arch-Bishop or Patriarch or Cardinal or Pope And though the Apostle sufficiently understood how to magnifie this Office of his when necessity or occasion required it Rom. 11.13 yet so modest and humble is the Apostle that he doth not disdain to give unto a company of poor plain Presbyters or Elders of the Church that were in Office and questionless in Gifts and Graces many degrees inferiour to the Apostle yet I say he doth not disdain to give unto them the title and respect of Brethren So that other Apostle Peter whom the Papists forsooth would fain have to be the Prince of the Apostles and Head of the Church see what modest language he useth to the Elders of the Church 1 Pet. 5.1 The Elders that are among you I exhort who am also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fellow-Elder with your selves One would think it would have sounded better and more like the Prince of the Church to have said We will and require you We Peter by divine dispensation Prince of the Apostles Head of the Church the Vicar of Christ to whom the Keys of Heaven are given WE will and require We charge and command the Elders that are among you to feed the Flock of God This indeed is more according to the language and genius of those that pretend to be the Successors of Peter and of the Apostles But those Primitive and purer times knew no such distance betwixt the Ministers of the Gospel nor no such Lordliness of the one over the other the highest Officer in the Church looking upon the lowest as Brethren and Fellow-Elders These gracious and holy Souls had not yet forgotten the Words of their Lord and Master Luke 22.25 The Kings of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lord it over them and they that exercise Authority upon them are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benefactors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as for you it shall not be so but he that is greatest among you let him be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the younger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he that is Ruler or Governor among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Deacon or Minister or Servant The Servants of Christ had not yet forgot these Words of their Lord and
if you would not have the whole work of Grace in your souls decay and run to ruine If any of your now have a house in building and had laid the foundation begun to rear up the building and so let it stand by contented that your work-man should finish at his leasure when he could spare time when he had nothing else to do Would not all the world condemn you as very improvident men and negligent of your own concernments O that men were but as wise for their souls as they are for the world O why should you neglect your souls why should you suffer the building of Grace which God hath begun to rear up in your souls to decay and run to ruine as it will certainly do for Non progredi est regredi Not to go forward is to go backward O therfore be adding daily and doing something in your souls daily Could the Heathen Painter be so intent and industrious upon his trade of Painting that he could say Nulla dies sine lineâ and all that he might excell in that Art And shall not Christians be more intent upon and more industrious in their attendance to the work of Grace in their souls shall any day pass them without something done for their edification and for the carrying on of the work of Grace in their hearts unto more perfection O far be it far be it from every true Christan You Brethren building up your selves in your most holy Faith and praying alwayes in the Holy-Ghost keep your selves in the Love of God But you will say How shall we do that What can we do towards the building up of our selves Why the following Doctrines will tell you that the next whereof is this That the best of Christians have need of the Word of God for their edification and building up Therefore the Apostle here commends even the Elders of Ephesus who were themselves Officers of Christ and Builders in the Church of Christ the Apostle commends them to the Word of Grace so the Apostle exhorts Timothy 1 Tim. 4.13 Till I come give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrine Give attendance to reading to reading what certainly the holy Scriptures the Word of God Timothy was one that had known the Scriptures of a Child 2 Tim. 3.15 and that had received extraordinary Gifts of the holy Ghost by the laying on of the Apostles hands 2 Tim. 1.6 that was an Evangelist a Preacher of the Gospel to the Gentiles yet even this Timothy though thus qualified gifted and imployed must still give attendance to reading not only reade now then a chapter but give attendance to reading if he means to build up others or to be himself built up in Grace and Holiness So that you see the best of Christans have need of the Word of God for their building up and edification That this was the design and scope of God in causing his Word to be committed to writing is clear in 2 Tim. 3.16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration from God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works There is the end why all Scripture was given that the man of God may be built up unto perfection And that this is the end why Christ hath instituted in his Church a publick Ministry for the opening and applying of these Scriptures is clear out of Ephes 4.11 12. And he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Now if the infinite Wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ did not know that the best of his Servants would need his Word for their edification and building up He would never have committed his Word first to writing and afterwards have appointed a continual preaching of it in his Church in season and out of season as a means properly subservient to their edification We may conclude therefore That the best of Christians have need of the Word for their edification and building up And this first condemns the Impiety of the Pope I say of the Pope rather than of the Papists for the poor People suffer under this Impiety of the Pope and his Clergy who deprive their Laity as they call them of the use and benefit of the Scriptures making it a Capital crime for any of them to have the Scriptures in any common or ordinary language Italian French Spanish or the like Satan himself could never have invented a more speedy and effectual way for the destroying of souls that this is They pretend indeed for this wickedness of theirs reverence to the Scriptures and care of souls they would not they say have the Scriptures polluted and prophaned by being made common and handled with unwashed and unholy hands therefore they suffer none to deal with the Scriptures but men in holy Orders and they are afraid lest by putting the Scriptures into vulgar hands they should but put a knife into the hand of a child or mad-man wherewith to wound and destroy themselves wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction But O how foolish is the wisdom of man when it would exalt it self above the Wisdom of God! Did not God know how to provide for the Honour and Majesty of his Sacred Word and for the good and well-fare of poor Souls if the Word were exposed to the view and use of the meanest and lowest of People Why then were the Scriptures of the Old Testament written to the Church of the Jews in the Hebrew tongue which every man woman and child spake and understood and why where the Scriptures of the New-Testament written to the Churches of the Gentiles in the Greek tongue which was the proper and maternal language of most of the Churches we reade of in the New-Testament and generally understood by all to whom the Gospel was at first preached and what mean all those Commandments both in the Old New Testament for reading meditating and searching the Scriptures and those promises of Blessing to them that so do made and given promiscuously unto all if all may not yea ought not to reade the Scriptures And why did the Apostles guided by the Spirit of God direct and intitle their Epistles not to Bishops and Church Officers only but even to the whole Church the Plebs and all if the Plebs might not reade the Scriptures And why doth John write his Canonical Epistle to the Elect Lady and to Gaius a private Christian if Ladies and private Christians might not reade Canonical Scripture And why do Chrysostom Hierom Austin and others of the glorious Lights of the antient Church so vehemently exhort their People and Auditors to the reading and study of the Scriptures had these men no care of the Honour of the Scriptures or the good of the Soul Apage Away with these pretences
of this that thou art an Heir of Heaven arm thy self against the sears of Death let Death be terrible to those whose portion is solely and wholly in this life whom Death separates from all the good they have and hope for As for thee who art a Child of God an Heir of Heaven why shouldst thou fear Death that doth but put thee into the actual possession of thy Inheritance Ejus est mortem timere qui ad Christum nolit ire ejus est ad Christum nolle ire qui se non credit cum Christo incipere regnare saith Cyprian Let him fear Death that is unwilling to go to Christ let him be unwilling to go to Christ that doth not believe he is a Joynt-Heir with Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven The same Cyprian speaks of a man that when he lay a dying with some unwillingness and lothness to dye had a Vision of one like the Son of Man appearing by him saying to him with some kind of indignation Pati timetis exire non vultis quid faciam pro vobis You are afraid to suffer you are not willing to depart what shall I do for you O think what a shame it is for those who when they do hope for this Inheritance to be so unwilling and loth to die as that Jesus Christ should have occasion thus to speak unto them A fourth Duty we should learn from hence is To walk worthy of this Inheritance And so First Far be it from those who profess and believe themselves to be Heirs of Heaven to be eager and covetous and greedy of earth and earthly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If a King saith Chrysostom should take a Beggar from the Dunghil and make him the Heir of his Crown and be after this should go up and down a begging from door to door and be as solicitous about his raggs and patched clothes as he was before he was adopted to that Inheritance would not this be a disgrace to himself and to the King that had adopted him and would not all the World condemn him as a man of a base and dunghil spirit unworthy of that Honour and that Inheritance that was cast upon him For thee that art a Christian whom God hath taken from the Dunghil and made an Heir of Heaven for thee to be as greedy of the world as gripple of a half-peny or a peny as if thou wert one of the Worlds beggars still this is a base ignoble thing unworthy of such an Heir as thou dost pretend thy self to be Therefore abhor it away with it Secondly If thou be an Heir of Heaven labour to be content with thy present condition whatever it be in expectation and assurance of that Inheritance thou hopest for There is many a great Heir when he is in his minority lives in a pretty mean condition and makes nothing of it bears it all with patience he knows it will be better with him one day when he comes to Age there is a fair Estate coming to him and in the thoughts of that he comforts himself in his present condition So thou that art an Heir of Heaven though at the present thou livest barely and goest near the wind yet content and comfort thy self with this Thou hast a rich and glorious Inheritance reserved for thee in the highest Heavens when once thou comest to the enjoyment of that thou shalt be full and want nothing This was it which made the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob content with a poor pilgrim life and condition a wandring state and condition because they looked for a better Country and when this took up their hearts then they could chearfully sit down in their Tents they could dwell in strange Countries they could go on in obedience to God what way soever he called them readily and so should we Thirdly Never fret nor repine at the happiness and prosperity of the Wicked When we see them swimming and bathing in all that affluence of good things which Job or David expresseth Job 21. and Psalm 73. They have Corn and Wine and Oyl and Gold and Silver and House and Lands and Children to inherit them Thou poor thou hast none of these things but hast thou Heaven though but in reversion never trouble thy self thy portion is an hundred thousand times better than theirs Was it any grief of heart think ye to Isaac to see the sons of Keturah have great gifts bestowed upon them by Abraham one of them it may be so many thousand Yoak of Oxen another so many thousand Sheep and Camels a third so many Talents of Gold and Silver as long as Isaac had the Inheritance this was no grief of heart to him Much good may it do them thinks he as long as the Inheritance is mine So say thou Much good may it do the World with all their Wealth and Riches as long as Heaven is mine I envy them not Thus much for the two first things Heaven is an Inheritance This Inheritance is a Gift I come now to the third and that is this That God gives the Inheritance of Heaven to his Children by his Word Therefore the Gift of this Inheritance is in part ascribed to the Word Which is able to build you up and give you an Inheritance A Father gives such or such an Inheritance to his Child by Testament or by Instrument in writing The Word of God it is Testamentum it is Instrumentum whereby God conveyeth the Inheritance of Heaven to his Saints and Children First God reveals by his Word that there is such an Inheritance reserved in the Heavens which were it not that God had revealed it in his Word the weak heart of sinful and fallen man could have no true notions or conceptions of For eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him The poor Heathens did stumble upon the Notion of Eternal rewards and punishments but alas fell as far short of the true Notion of those rewards and punishments as Earth is of Heaven But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit 1 Cor. 2.10 that is by his Spirit in his Word Secondly As God reveals this Inheritance to us by his Word so secondly God makes offer of this Inheritance to us in his Word and invites and calls us to the participation of it 2 Thess 2.13 14. God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvution whereunto he called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ Thirdly As God revealeth this Inheritance and calls and invites to the participation of it so God in his Word specifies who and what manner of persons they are upon whom he will bestow it Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven which the righteous Judge shall give and not to me only but to all that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8
Ultimum Vale OR The Last FAREWEL of a Minister of the Gospel to a beloved People By MATTHEVV NEVVCOMEN M. A. late Preacher of the Gospel to the Church of Christ at Dedham in Essex Now to the English Church at Leyden in Holland Coelum non Animum Coelum ne Animum Non Animum ne Coelum Heb. 13.7 Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their conversation 2 Pet. 1.12 13. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things though ye know them and be established in the present Truth Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance London Printed in the Year 1663. Ultimum Vale OR The Last Farewel of a Minister of the Gospel to a Beloved People Acts 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified THe blessed Apostle Paul being from all Eternity intended and designed by God to be a glorious President of the Riches and Almightiness of his Pardoning Mercy and Converting Grace as the Apostle tells you 1 Tim. 1.14 God did therefore cause his Grace in the Conversion of Paul not only to abound but to super-abound As it is there expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that was a Blasphemer and was a Persecutor and was Injurious being now by the rich and powerful Grace of God converted to be a Believer to be a Preacher to be a Martyr So the Lord Christ tells him at his first appearing to him as himself records it Acts 26.16 I have appeared to thee to make thee a Minister and a Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non cuivis competit Every Saint of God is not called to such a degree of Honour as to be made a Minister and a Martyr the first day and that of their conversion No more than every King hath the honour to be a King as soon as he comes into the World But this was the exceeding abundant Grace of God towards Paul above all others Paul had now spent about some eighteen years in the painful and laborious discharge of his Ministry though not without some intermixtures of bitter Sufferings Drops of that great Martyrdom whereby he was to close and seal up his Ministry at last and glorifie God And having it now revealed to him that the time was drawing nigh wherein he must be offered up unto the Sacrifice and Service of that Faith which he had so long preached having visited several of the Churches planted by his own Ministry he now makes hast to Jerusalem though he knew that was the place where the Tragedy of his Suffering was to begin v. 22 23. Having therefore for the more expedition determined to slip by Ephesus for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and not to touch or enter there for fear of being too long detained among them and yet not willing Insalutatos praeterire to pass by his Christian Friends and Brethren there without so much as saluting them Therefore from Miletus he sends to Ephesus and calls the Elders of the Church thither to Miletus to him ver 17. Ephesus was the Metropolis the cheif City of the lesser Asia where Paul had spent at several times three years in the preaching of the Gospel and by the blessing of God upon those labours had gathered there a Famous and a Glorious Church unto Jesus Christ and had there as in other Churches Acts 14.23 constituted and ordained Elders to whom he resigned the whole Care and Government of those Churches and that by the direction and appointment of the holy Ghost himself It is observed by many and is indeed very obvious and easy to observe that though here be mention of a Metropolis or chief City Ephesus and mention of a Church in that City The Church of Ephesus yet here is no mention of a Metropolitan Bishop or any Bishop at all as certainly there would have been if there had been a Biship or Superintendant over that Church but the Holy-Ghost plainly tels us that that Church was governed by a Consessus Presbyterorum by a company of Elders who did govern Communi Consilio and all and every one of those Elders were equally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that Jure Divino Not one Bishop and the rest of them Elders of an inferior order To these Elders thus assembled Paul gives his Ultimum Vale in this pathetical parting speech Wherein First He looks back to the course of his Ministry already past among them ver 18.21 Secondly He looks forward to his approaching Suffering and Martyrdom ver 22 23 24. Where he sheweth that he was a Martyr Animo Voto Proposito already Thirdly He tels them this is the last time that ever they shall behold him ver 25. And as Samuel when he was laying down his Office of Magistracy appeals to the People concerning his integrity in the Magistracy 1 Sam. 12.3 So Paul here appeals to these concerning his uprightness and faithfulness in the discharge of the Ministry Happy are those Magistrates and Ministers that when they are leaving their Office and Imployment can make these appeals Fourthly He exhorts them unto a due care First of themselves and then of the Flock committed to them upon a twofold account First because it was the Flock over which the Holy-Ghost had made them Overseeres Secondly Because it is the Flock which God hath purchased by his own Blood ver 28. Fiftly He enforceth this care and diligence further by a prediction of the danger which he saw threatning the Church and the Flock of Christ among them v. 29 30. Sixthly He resumes the Exhortation again and presseth it under another term of Watching and urgeth it by his own example ver 31. Seventhly He fairly and piously takes his leave of them in ver 32. And afterwards propounds his own example again unto them for imitation and so the action concludes on his part with Prayer ver 36. on their parts with Tears ver 37 38. A solemn and sad parting In the words of the 32. vers you have First The Agent I Paul by the appointment of God a Minister once your Minister now no longer like to be your Minister nor a Minister unless in bonds I Paul There is the Agent Secondly We have the Act Commend Our English word commend is ambiguous sometimes it signifies to praise a person or thing so 2 Cor. 3.1 Do we commend our selves or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you or Letters of commendation from you Sometimes our English word Commend signifieth to resign or deliver up or commit a person or thing to the care or trust of another so Luke 23.46 Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit But in the Original there
Fourthly God by his Word begets those that are by his appointment and nomination the Heirs of this Eternal Salvation God by his Word begets them again to a lively hope of this Glory 1 Pet. 1.3 4. Blessed be God who hath begotten us again to a lively hope to an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for us in the highest Heavens And that this begetting again is by the Word of God see afterwards ver 23. Being born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the Word of God Fifthly God by his Word doth not only beget his People to a lively Hope of this Inheritance but he prepares and fits them for the possession of it and makes us meet to be partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light Col. 1.12 Now this that God gives the Inheritance of Heaven by the Word this in the use of it still bespeaks our greatest affections for our highest esteem of our constant conscientious attendance upon the Word of God as that which is Patris nostri Testamentum Haereditatis nostrae Syngrapha Instrumentum The Will of our Heavenly Father the Deed of Gift and Instrument whereby he conveyeth over unto us our Heavenly Inheritance How Sacred and Inviolable do men count their Father's Will and Testament what honour do they put upon it what trust and confidence do they repose in it Such and infinitly more than such should be our honour for and our trust in the Word of God How precious do men count the Writings and Evidences whereby they hold their Inheritances So and infinitly more than so precious ought the Word of God to be unto us It being that Instrument whereby Heaven it self is passed over to us for our Inheritance Which is able to build you up and give you an Inheritance among all them that are sanctified In which words you have the proper and distinguishing Character of those to whom this Inheritance belongs and they are the Saints or Sanctified ones It is an Inheritance among ALL THEM that are Sanctified Where mark 1. The Restriction of this Inheritance it is limited only to them that are Sanctified 2dly The Extent of it it is in common to ALL THEM that are sanctified An Inhertance among all them that are sanctified I shall for the better dispatch put both these Particulars into one Doctrine namely That Heaven is the Inheritance of all Saints and only of Saints Or Heaven is only for them that are Sanctified and for all them Or thus No unsanctified person shall ever enter into Heaven Nor no Sanctified Person shall ever misse of Heaven The Negative That No unsanctified person shall ever enter into Heaven This is proved by clear and express Scripture 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterors nor Theeves nor Covetous nor Drunkards c. shall ever inherit the Kingdom of God Rev. 21.27 It is said of the heavenly Jerusalem there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Heb. 12.14 Without holiness no man shall see the Lord therefore no unsanctified person shall ever enter into Heaven And for the second Branch which is Affimative That every Sanctified Person shall inherit Heaven That no Sanctified Person shall miss of Heaven This is as clear in Scripture Therefore it is called the Inheritance of the Saints Col. 1.12 because all and every of the Saints the least as well as the greatest have an equal share in this Inheritance And indeed Sanctification is but the earnest the first fruits the infancy of Glory and can no wayes be separated from it and it is as impossible that any one that is truly Sanctified should miss of Heaven as it is impossible for any unsanctified person to enter into Heaven For First Sanctification and Glorification Holiness and Heaven are joyned together in the Appointment and Decree of God Whom God hath predestinated to Heaven he hath predestinated to Holiness and whom he hath predestinated to Holiness He hath predestinated to Heaven Ephes 1.4 5. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundations of the world that we should be holy without blame before him in love Having predestinated us to the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ unto himself c. Mark whom God hath predestinated to be Children and so Heirs of Heaven he hath chosen to Holiness Heaven and Holiness are joyned together in God's Decree of Predestination Secondly Heaven and Holiness are joyned together in the Purchase Look how many Christ hath purchased Heaven for so many he hath purchased Holiness for Heb. 13.12 Jesus that he might sanctifie the People with his own blood suffered without the gate Mark Jesus Christ shed his blood not only that he might Save his People but that he might Sanctifie his People and not one Person more will be saved by the blood of Jesus than are sanctified by the blood of Jesus Heaven and Holiness are joyned together in the Purchase of the Son as well as in the Purpose of the Father Thirdly As Heaven and Holiness are joyned together in the Purpose of the Father and in the Purchase of the Son so they are joyned together in the Work of the Spirit None are called effectually by the holy Ghost to the participation of Heaven and Glory but such as are first called by the same Spirit unto Sanctification and Holiness nor none are effectually called by the Spirit unto Sanctification and Holiness but are called at the same instant unto Heaven and Glory 2 Thess 2.13 We are bound to give thanks alwayes to God for you Brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to Salvation through the Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth whereunto He hath called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ Mark whom God calleth by the Gospel to Glory he calls by the same Gospel to belief of the Truth and Sanctification of the Spirit So that you see Heaven and Holiness are joyned together in the Purpose of the Father in the Purchase of the Son in the Operation of the Spirit And therefore it is not possible that ever any that are not holy should obtain Heaven and as impossible that ever any that are truly holy should miss of the Heavenly Inheritance Now this that no unsanctified person shall ever enter into Heaven nor no Sanctified Person shall ever miss of Heaven this in the use of it may be as terrible to all unsanctified ones as comfortable to all the Saints First This may be a sound of Fears in the ears and hearts of all unsanctified ones Is it impossible that ever any unsanctified one should enter into Heaven as you see it is O then think O then think of this and tremble you that despise Holiness you that mock and jeer at Holiness think of this you all you who