none can say certainly what they expect but I hope the best as well as others would you have me to say certainly that is more then Paul doth or I think any Saint Nay but do not so reckon Mark the Apostle not onely in the behalf of himself but of others also 2 Cor. 5 1. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Mark Christians the Christians expectation not that every childe of God doth come up to this faith of certainty and assurance but we are all for to desire it as all strangers they desire home and know their home and travel after it though it be but by steps and strides yet a constant pace goes far so Christians must all keep journeying and going on though not coming to this attainment and thou poor weakling faith though thou canst not say so much yet think the more press hard and follow after though thou canst not go so fast as such whose evidence is sure Though thou canst not say I know and we know yet say I hope and it is best yea happy for that soul whose evidence is clear though we all cannot say We know yet let us not be sad but say We may know In this Pronoune We lies much divinity for the comfort of a Christian for we know we have tabernacles of clay poor bodies of dust and ashes And why should not we know we have a building of God with all such properties as not made with hands eternal in the heavens Methinks every Christian is like a stranger and a traveller that comes into his Inn and takes up his lodging for a night the people bring him meat and drink and gives him bed and board but they know not whence he comes nor whether he goes but now he knows himself where he goes and whether he would so Christians though the world knows not yet they do For we know c. I am a traveller and a stranger but I have a home a house a heaven a building I expect it saith Faith c. I am a stranger saith Patience but I have a building I wait for it saith Patience It is but to day and to morrow and the next day it shall be perfected so saith Patience I must have its perfect work a little to day more to morrow the third day I shall have possession I am a stranger in the earth saith Love but I have a building and O how I long for it Psal 42. 2. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appear before God! Now unto such souls that make out after home heaven and happiness with such a triplicity of We We expect it saith Faith wait for it saith Patience long for it saith Love to such gathering of a heart in Grace the Lord doth make a gracious answer Cant. 1. 11. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver Mark poor soul here is a We to answer thy We not a Wo but a We not to dismark thee but to make thee gracious and glorious Thou that hast an I of faith expecting and I of patience waiting and an I of love longing this is a Christians We Now the Lord unto thy soul hath his We We will make thee I will saith God the Father and I will saith Christ the Son and I will saith the blessed Spirit All this makes this We to make the soul graciously glorious and gloriously gracious Now be perswaded O soul upon this thy future expectation here thou art a stranger living in thy houses of clay bedecked onely with furniture of infirmity weakness and crosses and a few broken comforts and crackt enjoyments but in heaven there is brightness and purity there is blessedness and peace there is never broken joys and everlasting comforts there are houses richly furnished with furniture free from all infirmity bordered with gold and set forth with silver all variety interwoven for soul satisfaction Hasten O strangers O strangers hasten without lingring long for this thy expectation But may some say I know every childe of Obj. God shall be well provided for of their heavenly Father Eye hath not seen nor ear heard 1 Cor. 2. 9. neither can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what the Lord hath prepared for them that love him but there is that to be passed would make one fear the straits of death is not an easie passage it fills my heart with grief and my eyes with tears at the present sence of my deceased friend but what fears and pain and staggering may it be if I should be called to pass the straits of death the Lord knows In Answer unto this and so as pertinent to our present occasion I shall adde but a word of comfort and consolation and so conclude the time and Doctrine CHAP. VII Containing comfort for dejected souls in their loss of Christian friends and encouragements for estranged Saints in this world 3. IF it be so that the Saints are strangers on the earth then Saints be you freed from fear grieve not for the death or departure of the faithful nor being faithful be thou not afraid to dye To all Gods children death is but a messenger of life and a calling from the cross to the crown You know every one will hasten to a father or a friends house and what though there be a plash of water and a few bryers to go through if we do wet our feet or tear our garments so long as we are going home such things are nothing home and the father makes us through all Christians I will not say all your way is paved and smooth to heaven and happiness but some rubs fears sorrows may be in your way but know assuredly Christ hath sweetned the grave for every childe of God what though you do wet your feet by fears and pricks your hearts with sorrow let the hope of home and father and Christ make you be comforted and encouraged Captain Death hath taken away a friend now and he stands in the way to press thee too but may not we be comforted in this My friend was a stranger here and he is now gone home to his dwelling place where father and friends are yea where he shall want for nothing freed from fears and cares aches and pains but fed with favor love and life such dishes that the world never had at their tables The Saints indeed have meat in heart and hand I mean at present that the world knows not of but alas Saints though this be wine and milk yet this is but the first mess in this spiritual banquet Our Master Christ keeps the best wine and the best chear and best welcome until the last After death every thing to a faithful soul is disht out and disht up unto Eternity the longing soul through the straits of death is satisfied and
that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you That is If God dwell in your hearts by faith all the current of your lives will be to dwell in him by love by hope and by obedience Thus Gal. 4. 6. God hath sent forth his Spirit into our hearts whereby we cry Abba Father Here is the Spirit of Donation and of Grace sent from the Spirit of Power and Glory God hath sent So Joel 2. 28 I will pour forth my Spirit on all flesh Here is the Spirits pouring forth the Spirit namely the fruits of the Spirit which are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith c. which Spirit cooperateth in our hearts through which we have communion in our union I shall cast all that I have to speak at this time from these words into these three Considerations 1. How may a Believer and Christ be said to be one Spirit 2. What Evidences may I have that my soul and Christ are thus in union And then 3. What benefit and income have I by being united unto Christ For so the Text imports it by way of triumph benefit and blessing to that soul which is one Spirit with Christ And in all these three Considerations I am not to speak of the Maximum quod sic or the Minimum quod sic Not of the Degrees of believing knowing that the least grain of faith doth as truly unite to Christ as the Plerophoria faith of assurance though not so strongly First How may a believing soul and Christ be said to be one Spirit I shall demonstrate this in some few and brief particulars 1. This will appear in the life of Christ and the life of a Believer Take a Believer in his birth and progress in this world in his first and in his last and still you will find Christ and Believers walking hand in hand and heart in heart they do not only close together in the final close but through Christ their whole life is a harmony joying and joyning and rejoycing in one another True it is as Musitians may have in their Descant some sharp and flats some rests and pauses yet even they set out the harmony So a Believer may have some withdrawings of divine light Christ may seem to stand behind the wall and to be estranged but no sooner doth Christ call but straight saith the holy soul Draw me and I will run after thee Can. 1. 4. And if the Saint cries I am my Welbeloveds Christ saith presently She is his Can. 2. 16. Likewise as Christ and the soul have an union in life so have they also in death and suffering If they suffer he suffers if he suffers they suffer if Christ dies the Saints die yea count reckon your selves so saith Paul Rom. 6. 11. yet with this difference Christ dyeth for sin the Saints to sin Christus non filius fuit irae sub ira Christ was not a Son of wrath though under wrath But we were both and yet what we had done Christ counts himself had done and stands in our stead So that as Luther saith He was the greatest sinner in the world And he bids the Saints believe that all their sins were laid on him and that not only so but that his righteousness is made ours for so saith the Prophet He is the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23. 6. And if we be afflicted Christ is afflicted he having the same Isa 63. 9 spirit of sympathizing must needs have the same spirit in suffering Out of this sense if Christ be bound and led to Mount Calvary to suffer for his Saints saith the holy Soul I am not only ready to be bound but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus Act. 21. 13. 2. We are one Spirit with Christ by having communion and interest in all the precious graces of Christ This is the Saints testimony 1 Joh. 4. 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit which Spirit is the sweet fruit of all the graces dwelling in our hearts and by which we cry Abba Father And if you would know what this Spirit of Grace is the Apostle tels you in opposing it to the worlds envyings Gal. 5. 21 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance Be not proud of this thy Spiritual income but be joyfull and be chearfull for against such there is no law Why no law against such Because Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. 4. So then if we rank up all these graces Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness c. these being one Spirit with Christ we by being in union with Christ have a communion with all the graces of Christ Thus Christ dwels in us by faith and we are in Christ by faith Christ dwels in us by love and we dwell in Christ by love only We love him because he loved us first So that though we be many members and have diversity of gifts and several operations yet but one spirit one body one hope of our calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Ephes 4. 4 5 6. Thirdly believers are one spirit with Christ in that they leave all other relations in coming to Christ If any thing oppose tribulation peril sword father mother friends a believer will through thick and thin cross or comforts good report or bad report through all to Christ How is man and wife one flesh by leaving all to be joyned to one another Matth. 19. 5. For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh Thus is it in the spiritual union between Christ and the soul they leave all for Christ And this is but that which Christ hath done for us for he left Glory Father House and Home Phil 2. 5 6 7. Let this minde be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant yea he was made in the likeness of men and humbled himself and became obedient unto death And what was all this for but that his Saints might be joyned unto him in spirit in righteousness in life in grace in glory Christ left all for us that we might have a union with him so we must leave all other relations and cleave unto Christ alone And therefore let us put the question unto conscience How many of us can part and leave all for Christ if we finde not this resolution within us but we have a cleaving to father and mother to this worlds comforts and enjoyments profess what we will for Christ yet so far
of mirth But now how constant are they in sable their eyes bedewed with tears their hearts with sighs fears and dismayings begirt them round about Well Christians God the Father and Christ the Son takes notice of it Saith Christ Ioh 14 1. Let not your hearts be troubled but rest depend rely Ye believe in God believe also in me Though the wicked rise high in their false and fleeting joy yet know believing soul Christ is for you and the Sera certa vindicta Dei Father is for you And though he comes slow yet he comes sure yea he hath engaged himself on your behalf given you his promise Ioh. 4. 18. and his hearty love is in it I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you And this is not only Christs but the Fathers express too Fear not be not dismayd I will help thee I will uphold thee c. And now what 's the matter thy soul is still cast down thy heart so full of sighs thy eyes so full of tears Come hither in the name of Jesus I summon every ingenuous drooping doubting Christian to bring in all your fears all dismayings yea all objections let them be what they will Here 's that in the Text will answer all let the souls necessities be what they will If the Father of comfort can help if the God of consolation can cure thee if he that trod the wine press alone that led captivity captive and triumphed over death and hell yea if Christ the right hand of Gods righteousness can sustain thee all this in this Text is held out unto thee for so the 14. verse tels thee Fear not thou worm Jacob and ye men of Israel I will help thee saith the Lord and thy Redeemer the Holy one of Israel Compare this but with the Text and you may clearly gather the scope of the Holy Ghost is to set out the tender care and zeal of God the Father and Christ the Son to stop the current of fears and dismayings which are so incident unto his Church and people This truth speaks Moses Exod. 3 7. Thus saith the Lord I have surely seen the Videndo vidi certò seriò affliction of my people and I have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows If God take such acquaintance with his people while in the land of Egypt when the child is in darkness what doth he do the Child being light in the Lord Jesus In the Text you have him like a husband who knowing his wives weakness and mistrustings will lay in symptoms of his love to take off jealousies and fears Though I am abroad saith the husband yet still I am with thee I am at home my Love and my care is still for thee So saith the Head and Husband Jesus Christ unto his Church Thou harbourest fears and jealousies of my love thou thinkest I am like a wayfaring man staying but for a night but know my love is constant and my care is tender believe it and be comforted I give you no such cause of jealousie and fears The world thinks thee a poor go-by-the ground as one forsaken A worm and so is ready to tread on thee But for my part I am thy Redeemer the Holy one of Israel fear thou not but chear thy heart and free thy heart from these dismayings for I am with thee I am thy God c. Thus doubting Christian does thy Head and Husband lay in symptoms of his zeal and realities of his love as Paul sayes to the Colossians c. 2. v. 5. Though I am absent in the flesh yet am I present with you in the spirit c. So says Christ unto his Church and to every believing soul Though I am absent yet I am present and I joy in thee why shouldst not thou joy in me However do not fear be not dismayed Mark how kindly he speaks it as if he would take near and dear acquaintance with thee communicating himself in the life of all relations Were I with thee but as a Lord thou being my servant or as a friend I counting you my friend as at the 8. verse where he sayes Thou believer art my servant the seed of Abraham my friend this were enough But now when God is with thee not only as a Lord but as a friend not only as a friend but as a favourer not only as a favourer but as a Father yea as a Head as a Husband as a Redeemer yea combining all these in one I am with thee what a sweet pledge of love is here Who would be dismayed or rather who would not be in love with such a Love whose presence is fulness of joy Psal 16. 11. In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand pleasures for evermore Why this gracious presence is about every Believer I do not say glorious And it is the same right hand which if evermore pleasures do attend it why should ever and anon fears and dismayings so affright it Have you not seen the ingenuous Mother sitting up with her beloved Child suckling and feeding it to quiet the crying and complainings and in the swooning fits laying the head in her bosom the child in her lap begirts it round with her arms saying Peace my child thou shalt not fall why dost thou faint c. Just thus is God our Father in the Text you have him as it were sitting up with his Church and people in their swooning state putting his right hand of righteousness round about offering of it wine and milk I am with thee why dost thou faint Be not afraid my Babe of grace thou Petty fidian Having me by thee what wouldst thou more Therefore be not faithless but believing be not fearful but be chearful I may do as the Nurse doth sometimes she takes away the stool that the Child may close and clink more fast to her hand So may I says God who am a Father and Mother both to a fearing Christian I may take away all outward supports on which thou art so apt to lean but if I stand by thee my self and support thee with the right hand of my own righteousness be not afraid be not dismayd And that God does all this is very clear in the face of the words yea and that he might fasten this upon every believer do but mark how the Lord avers it over and over again I will strengthen thee I will help thee yea I will uphold thee As if he should say If you had but my bare word you may believe me but if yea and yea and yea will serve turn you may perceive my heart is in it too Yea poorest believer to take off thy feares and troubles my bowels yearn I am in the earnestness of my affections and that 's the reason I double and redouble my expressions Therefore fear thou not nor be dismayed I am with thee I am thy God And thus much for the scope
heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire but thee All the glory honour and riches of this Creation cannot administer one word of comfort to my bleeding heart but the shining of thy face is better then life Oh how excellent is thy loving kindness O Lord They that shelter here are safe and they that seek here have succor yea satisfaction yea abundance they shal be abundantly satisfied w th the fatnes of thy house how much more with the beauty of thy presence For with thee is the fountain Ps 36. 9. of life and in thy light we shall see light For God is a fountain fulness running over all tears and fears Be but in his presence as his presence is with thee and thou shalt in his light have light and everliving comforts The special presence of God that is about a believing soul is a glorious graciousness and a gracious gloriousness made up only of mercy love kindness and that on purpose to banish fears and dismayings Now mercy love and kindnesses of Mercy is a royalty for the fearing soul to boast in God is such a royalty that may be boasted in Psal 34. v. 2. My soul shall boast in the Lord. And sayes David this truth is to be made good on such that are cast down The humble or the tamed as the word signifies shall rejoyce in it and be glad And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he would have such souls presently to wind up unto this key he brings in the Chorus in the next verse O come magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together And his case was the same with a doubting soul full of fears But saith David I sought the Lord that is his special presence and there I found such a glory of mercy grace and love that it hath delivered me from all my fears So v. 4. Oh but may the soul say David was one Obj. of ten thousand a man after Gods own heart a type of Christ and would you have me to do as David did Why yes Thou having Davids principle Ans why not Davids practice If thy portion be the same why not thy joy the same Thou hast faith in Christ David had no more He had this special presence and thou hast as much Yea though thou thinkest thy self a worm God singles thee out in special with this Fear not I am with thee And though David was a Type of Christ thou art a Member and that is more A shadow hath the lineaments by reflection from the substance but the least and meanest Believer is a member and so bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh And if the same sympathizing in fears and tears why not the same heroick spirit over fears and dismayings It was a precious expression and a precious experience that David reports to a doubting soul Psal 85. 9 Surely his salvation is neer unto them that fear him that glory may dwell in our land This surely is thy certainty For what is true of the whole is of every part nay in particular unto such that fear Salvation is nigh to them that fear him This is Davids experience who had but faith And thou hast faith and God himself saying Fear thou not I am with thee To what end Why David tels thee that glory may dwell in thee Which is as much as if he had said There is a beauty and splendor about every Believer that one would not expect such an Inhabitant at least to dwell there as fears and doubtings but love and joy and peace that glory may dwell c. And this is but the language of the Text I am with thee hath a glory in it for a gracious soul for saith the Lord there is such a glory in my grace such a beauty in my presence that the very shines of I am with thee I am thy God is enough to dispell all slavish fears doubts and dismayings But now may the believing soul say Quest There is a glory in this I am with thee and I see clearly that it is darkness that causeth drooping but now God being with me and with such a beauty and splendor what 's the reason that I cannot see him so that I may not fear nor be dismayed First It may be thou lookest for an outside Ans glory when this special presence is rather an inside glory And so I may say unto thee as the Apostle sayes Ye have not because ye ask not Or Ye receive not because Jam. 4. 3. ye ask amiss So fearing soul thou perceivest not because thou look'st amiss Turn but the eye of faith inward and there is Christ in us the hope of glory What saith David Ps 45. 13. compared with v. 15. The Kings daughter is all glorious within The believing soul is clad with all the Needle-work graces but we must look within if we would see this beauty and splendor And therefore it follows They shall enter into the Kings palace Kings daughters are not to be expected in common but in the Chamber of presence Enter therefore into thy Graces there shalt thou see this glorious excellencie with gladness and rejoycing But secondly thou seest not the glory that is round about thee by Gods special presence because though thou lookest aright yet thou lookest through an infirm I will not say a false medium God sees thee face to face beyond fears A similitude and dismayings but thou dost not see him Faith is like the Prospective glass it makes things that are afar off seem to be neer but yet with a great deal of weakness So Faith it discovers visions of God yea and it brings it neer but because it is an infirm medium we see fears and doubtings when indeed the object of faith is full of joys and chearings So that we may say of this special presence as David sayes of the mouth Psal 81. 10. Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it so may it truly be said of the eye of faith Open it wide yea wider and Gods special presence will shine unto the full assurance of light and life and glory Heaven and happiness it self is but this special presence So saith David Ps 16. 11. speaking of Gods glorious presence In thy presence is fulness of joy at his right hand pleasures for evermore Why now the difference between Gods glorious presence and his gracious presence lies mainly in this God seeing us with the eye of glory through a gracious Christ we seeing him with the eye of grace through a glorious Christ The special presence of God is no less then heavenly joy and glory only to us it is contracted to the narrow eye of faith and because of this we do not see clearly the things that are given us of God Like A similitude a great Volume that is put into a very narrow Print which one can hardly read with the choicest and
all spiritual and temporal fears may be personal yet all personal fears may not be spiritual but the believer may be surprized with all these fears spiritual fears temporal fears personal and fears national c. The worst of fears are spiritual and these do most usually disquiet the peace of Gods peculiar and therefore I shall first speak to them and I shall be brief in each Gird up therefore the loyns of your mindes as Job speaks Job 38. 3. and bring in all your Objections here 's enough in the Text to Answer all let your fears be never so numerous and never so great 1. Objection will arise from sin for that 's the ground of all fears and troubles Saith the soul I have been a great sinner broken all Gods righteous Laws and Object Christ hath indeed satisfied so that I need not fear but the remembrance of them cannot but be grievous unto me in regard I was so wilful and so wicked against a God so gracious surely God may cast such a one as I out of his mercy and out of his remembrance Ah but thou must not so remember that Ans which the Lord forgets thou mayest indeed remember thy sins with joy and rejoycing that Christ hath satisfied but such kinde of fears and doubtings argues distrust And to chear thee in this account keep still in minde the Lord remembers them not Isa 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out transgressions for mine own name sake and will not remember thy sins and the Text is positive I will not remember What thy sins why For I am with thee So Verse 5. of the same Chapter and here in the text the Lord saith the same I am with thee which I would not be if thy sins were in my remembrance For I the Lord am of purer eyes then to behold the least iniquity Paul remembreth indeed his sins but he does it with joy at the thought of mercy 1 Tim. 1. 13. I was a Blasphemer a Persecutor and injurious but he triumphs in mercy I obtained mercy and so do thou for mercy is a Royalty that may be gloried in by every fearing soul But saith the soul my sins are not Obj. onely many but Giant-like and this aggravates my affrighting Paul sinned greatly indeed but ignorantly I have sinned greatly and wilfully and have not I just cause to fear No if thou apprehendst pardon by Ans Christ The Prodigal was wilful when he said Give me my portion Luke 15. 12. and he goes away spends all wilfully and one would have thought the Father should never have received him more but he no sooner returns but the Father imbraces him kisses him takes him about the neck and if in this there was cause of fear he might have feared So though thy sins be never so mighty yet they are not too big for the right hand of Gods righteousnesse for that imbraceth thee that upholdeth and Gods presence is so far from fears that it speaks comfort and bids thee fear not But saith the doubting soul I have abundance Obj. of temptations that daily beset me and Paul saith Heb. 12. 11. No chastning for the present seems to be joyous but grievous Ah but what follows why meat in thy Ans very mouth Temptation brings in enough to Answer servile fears For it yieldeth saith the same Apostle the peaceable fruit of righteousnss unto them which are exercised thereby And adde but Christs promise that he will succor and his special presence which will uphold and strengthen and thou hast enough What will not the everlasting arm of Gods righteousnesse accomplish thou mayest very well say as David doth 1 Sam. 17. 37. He that delivered me out of the paw of the Lyon and out of the paw of the Bear c. So if Christs right hand of righteousnesse could free thee from the condemning power of sin never fear but the same hand that is about thee will deliver thee from the tempting power of sin which thou confessest to be the cause of thy fears and affrightings David might very well make such an Obj. inference for he might speak as in the person of Christ of whom he was a type And I do believe that Christ hath done it and is both able and willing but I have sinned against my heavenly father and if Ps 130. 3. he be strait to mark what is done amisse but in one days infirmity what soul is there but must needs fear 'T is true indeed were God so strait unto his own children as he is to wicked men then we might not only fear but tremble But mark the Text Ps 130. 3. If thou Lord An if of inference not of doubting wilt be extreme to mark what is amiss c. It is by way of supposition and it implies that God is not strait but is to thee to succour and support thee yea to cover a multitude of infirmities forgiving iniquitie transgression and sin and thou mayst read thy Fathers heart ready to relieve thee by his special presence so far is he from grieving of thee or fearing of thee that like a tender father to his beloved child he bids thee fear not yea Christ who knew thy Fathers heart very well would not have said that if thou be but a little one yea the least of all in the stature of grace yet saith Christ Mat. 18. 14. It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish for he is about thee by his special presence Well but I am a poor worthless Creature Obj. what am I that God should give me his presence or have regard to my afflictions and fears Many times the soul will say in its fears as the Centurion Mat. 8. 8. Lord I am not worthy thou shouldest come under my roof As Moses saith Exod. 3. 11 Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh But mark the Lords answer it is like Ans unto the Text. Thou thinkest thy self unworthy but certainly that shall not excuse thee I will be with thee for I have seen the afflictions of my people and the oppression wherewith the Egyptians have oppressed Exod. 3. 11. and thou must go for their relief and fear thou not for I am with thee even I not Angels though they be ministring spirits for your comforting yet as touching your fears and sorrows I am with thee and be thou couragious But the believing soul may object and say There will come a time indeed when Obj. all tears shall be wiped away and trouble shall cease it will indeed be so that sorrowing and sighing shall flie away but this is for the time to come for the future as the Apostle Peter speaks Act. 3. 19. When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord then indeed may I expect relief from all my fears and sorrowings But the Text answers in the present tense Ans yea and is in earnest that thou shouldest
nations men and devils combine do not grumble nor fear the wil and work of your heavenly father must be done However beliver go forward with your occasions with a holy subjection unto thy fathers will but take this in that whether it be life or liberty prosperity or adversity for so did Christ it be with resignation of all to God Matth. 26. 39. Not my will but thine be done Believers in times of fears must do as the children of Israel did Exod. 14. they were incompassed with a huge host and the red sea yet they go forward till they could go no further and then comes in that Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord So must believers in the midst of all national fears still be a going forward and see the salvation of God in all their enterprizes But you will further object Though I fear national troubles it is not I alone but Obj. many godly and eminent Christians are at a stand about the present affairs and proceedings And can you blame me to have fears who am but in the lower form I shall not blame but argue what cause of fears since being a believer thou hast Ans such refreshments as Gods presence doth afford unto his in any straits and troubles And what cause of fears can there be when all for Gods people shall work for their advantage thus saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 28. All shall work together for good to them that love God and thou loving God let it be tribulation or persecution good will be brought out of thy troubles and afflictions God will overturn Kings and Kingdoms yet if it produce good for thee what cause of fears God hath thrown down Ahasuerus with his hundred and twenty Provinces and the more he throws down the nearer is the end of all things and this should be so far from grief to Gods people that they should rejoyce yea lift up you heads you redeemed of the Lord the more shakings of the worlds powers the nearer is your everlasting joy Be glad then and rejoyce for the day of your redemption draweth nigh And the Text gives you this comfort that though foraign invasions come never so strong and home-bred enemies plot never so secretly yet fear not overcoming for thou shalt overcome saith the Lord unto his Church and people at the 15 and 16 Verses Behold I will make thee speaking of the worm Jacob to thresh the mountains and beat them smal and shalt make the hills as chaff and fan them and carry them away Do but consider these expressions and here 's enough to answer all national fears and enough to draw forth thy spirit to rejoce in the Lord and to glory in the holy one of Israel Comfort for Believers From their Spiritual Incomes 1 Cor. 6. 17. But he that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit CHAP. I. Shewing the scope of the words and how Believers and Christ are one Spirit THe Apostle in the former part of this Chapter reproveth the Corinthians about their going to Law about things indifferent and in the verse before the Text about Fornication He brings in these words as lifting up his present Argument to a more high and spiritual Conclusion Know you not saith he v. 16. that is You do know what Moses saith that Two shall be one flesh this is matrimonial coupling The same effect hath Fornication and sin He that joyns himself to Drunkenness and Adultery is one with Drunkenness and Adultery But now the Lord to whom Believers are joyned hath a spirit above the world and such base carnal defilements For he that is joyned unto an Harlot is one body but he that is joyned to Jesus Christ is one Spirit The scope of these words holds forth that heavenly union and communion that is between Christ and every Believer And the Apostle brings them in as a royalty that every Child of God hath by being joyned to Christ as if he would have them boast in this their present Income above all such bitter sweets and pleasures of sin which are but for a moment Mark therefore how he opposeth it against â—he poor and beggerly Contracts of this World and Sin as being loth to speak so much of the worlds miscarriages and defilements and to hold so long from the spiritual souls enjoyment He doth as it were wind up another key delighting in that wherein his heart had found joy and experimental comfort for every Believer is in union with Christ and Christ is in union with every Believer Yea here 's my triumph here 's my glory Every Believer hath not only union but communion also for between a Believer and Christ there is union they are one and not only so but there is enjoyment of communion in this union They are one Spirit In the words two things are to be enquired into First what is meant by being one And secondly what is meant by being one Spirit 1. By Vnion we are not to understand Corporal or Personal union as if the Husband should be the Wife the Father the Son or the Head the Members or contrary but by being one with Christ is a Spiritual and Conjugal union an union of Relations as Head and Members Husband and Wife which though they be two in appearance yet are but one in compliance and acquaintance As Moses saith in Natures wedlock Two shall be one flesh that is man and wife shall live and move and act together for each other So Christ and every Believer though they be different persons as head and members husband and wife yet they both have but one Father one house one home they live and move and act together have one compliance one acquaintance one enjoyment one in love one in heart one all And the summ of this is eminently set forth in Eph. 5. from the 23. v. to the end of the Chapter 2. What is meant by being one Spirit for this is Spiritual conjunction In corporal conjunctions there is a union in flesh but this union of Christ with the soul is spiritual they are one Spirit By Spirit here we are not to understand the essential being of God or Christ for he is said to be a Spirit Joh. 4. 24. God is a Spirit He speaks it of his universal nature as he is Infinite and Omniscient thus neither Angels or men are in union with him onely Jesus Christ who is God equal with the Father blessed for ever comprehending all things by whom all things subsist But by Spirit here is meant the participation of the gifts and graces of God whereby he doth cooperate and work in our hearts a conformity to all those holy ends and purposes as he hath awarded in his Word to all the faithful in Christ Jesus So that by Spirit we are to understand the fruits of the Spirit And thus you may have a Cloud of witnesses Rom. 8. 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you He
as thy resolution fails thee of leaving all for Christ so far is my fear of thee that thou art not in union with Christ Fourthly To be one spirit with Christ doth denote the constancy and perpetual tye that is between Christ and the soul No knot will be lasting and holding but this between Christ and believers Couple our selves to flesh never so strongly yet all will be broken couple our selves to sin never so strongly This shall you have of Gods hand ye shall lie down in sorrow your vanity shall be bound up in vexation of spirit No conjunction can hold but that which is spiritual nor no spiritual conjunction but that which is between Christ and believers Sin will make a separation though God be thy Creator Preserver these knots between the Creature and God will all be broken But this union with Christ and our spirits it is a constant perpetual and an everlasting holding I have read of one that writing to his Consort would use this salutation Eternal thine This was an expression of excess that can never be made good to any but Christ and believers and therefore for thy comfort thou doubting believer Christ and thee being one spirit bear up the head against all temptations for thy head and husband salutes thee with Eternal thine Jer. 31. 3. The Lord hath appeared unto me saying I have loved thee with an everlasting love A love that is both boundless and endless with such a love hath Christ loved his Church and people And therefore though all fails as it will flesh and heart and all will fail yet this spiritual union between Christ and the soul shall never fail Rom. 8. 35 36 37 38 39. Summon all these into one Tribulation distress famine persecution peril sword life angels principalities powers things present things to come now follows your triumph Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But may the soul say If there be such Obj. affinitie between Christ and his Church and every believer and that all believers are partakers of one and the same spirit as Love Joy Peace Meekness Patience c. What is the reason of all that variance discord and dissention that is amongst even believers and professors The difference and disagreement amongst believers themselves ariseth from themselves Ans because our own spirits are most predominate If Christ did but Lord it whose spirit is righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost wranglig and discord would not be found amongst brethren we would not so strive and contend the faithful should contend onely for the faith not against the faithful members should not strive against members None should hate his own flesh Believers are flesh of one flesh and bone of the same bone all one in Christ why not so one with another This is our fault and indeed our misery we keep the spirit of Christ under and we exalt our own passions Christians therefore consider what you do in all your wranglings and disputings keep to this rule So far as you have attained walk together with a spirit of forbearance and complyance and bow your passions and your principles to the scepter of Christ for that is not a wangling but a righteous scepter I would have all Christians to keep to this rule against sin even to hate the Garment spotted with the flesh not to touch any unclean thing for what concord hath Christ with Belial light with darkness sin with saints No saith the Lord 2 Cor. 6. 17. Be ye separated and I will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters And Christians for your Saviours sake Let all bitterness and envyings and wranglings be put away from you as becometh Saints Ephes 5. 3. And thus much for the first thing considerable How Believers and Christ may be said to be one spirit CHAP. II. Touching Evidence whether we be one Spirit with Christ 2. THe next thing to be toucht upon is What Evidence may I have that Christ and my soul are one in this spiritual union For this is very considerable before we can draw any saving and solid comfort in the benefits and spiritual Incomes the soul hath by being one Spirit with Christ 1. As an Evidence for this union try your union with Christ by your communion with Christ Not that you should measure out your union by your communion for it is possible for the soul to be united unto Christ that as yet hath no acquaintance and familiarity with Christ As Mary did Ioh. 20. 15. talk with Christ as well as believe in Christ and yet she did not know him and why might not she have supposed him to be Christ as well as the Gardiner Therefore let us not measure our union with Christ by our communion but let us try our union by our communion and enjoyment Can thy soul say from experience as the Spouse Can. 2. 4. He brought me into the banqueting house and his Banner over me was love Without question so was house and table and all Hath thy sovl ever been fed with his dainties have you been at his table tasted of his wine It may be thou wilt say This I know that Christ hath stood Rev. 3. 20. at my door and knockt at my heart as he doth at many a Sinners in a Sermon But when was the time that Christ came in and supped with thee and when did you sup with him What inward feastings and familiarity hath there been between Christ and the soul We know the tie of Nature will constrain some exchanges and intercourses of love between man and wife but much more the band of Grace between the soul and Christ Try therefore thy union by thy communion 2. If you would know your Union try not only by your Communion but also by Convincement as Communion is an Evidence so Convincement We know that there can be no true marriage without convincement of love No more can there be between Christ and thy soul Now when was thy soul convinced of Christs alsufficiencie and thy self of thy own natural misery For this is the way Christ takes to wooe and win the soul unto himself Ioh. 16. 7 8. 3. They that have union with Christ flie the pollutions of the world None can be one with Christ and one with Swearing one with Drunkenness not one with Christ and one with Covetousness In such pollutions there is not communion with Christ and therefore no union For what communion hath light with darkness Christ with Belial The Spirit of Christ clears the heart of such guests as drive a trade with sin And would to God I might say of all you Professors as Paul saith of many of these Corinthians 1 Cor. 16. 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God 4. They that are one with
next foul one lowring the other serene yesterday rainy to day shineing and usually one or both is intermixt the morning fair the noon orecast one hour fair the next hour cloudy but always subject unto such like changes And what else is the consistency of mans life but two days of uncertainty a day of sickness and a day of health a day of poverty and a day of plenty a day of strength and a day of weakness a day of youth and a day of age this hour crowned the next crost our whole life is but a certain uncertain condition like the buckets to the well sometimes up and sometimes down sometimes full and sometimes empty one while whole and anon broken such are the vicissitudes and changes of the life of man in this present condition And the reason is that all things might appear to be of God and not of man The Lord casts all into contrarieties and works in them and by them take them in nature or grace to the silencing of the reason of man who would still be judging according to present events The world consists of heaven and earth the heavens have influence on the earth the earth bringing forth as to the heavens and this by dying and in dying living light and darkness is Gods order both flying yet following one another death and life is contrary so is flesh and spirit yet live in one another adversity is opposite and against prosperity yet in Gods order they make a harmony though to man they are contrary yet from him they are both alike He setteth one c. So likewise in spirituals he gives his work out upon the soul in reasons contrarieties The north wind Cant. 4. 16. and the south wind must blow together that his garden may flourish and the spices be fragrant Reason would think that the way should be something suitable to the home but this is the Lords method unto his dearest children that through straights and troubles temptations and tribulations they must inherit the promises and enter into the Kingdom of heaven But now albeit that all in this our present and temporal condition all is consistent in two days A day of prosperity and of adversity both these being set before which would we chuse I know if reason might make choice it would fix on prosperity and sense likewise without question would close with that But now what saith Religion and a gracious heart Saith Religion as to my present state Give me neither prosperity or adversity as extreams Give me neither poverty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Effigies statutum nor riches feed me with food convenient for me as to maintain my likeness Prov. 30. 8. But saith a gracious heart Considering my natural inclination if I must chuse I had rather pitch upon adversity for that will put me to consideration which prosperity seldom or never doth but rather into carnal security But may some say what a sad life then Obj. must you needs have Well but saith the godly heart let it be what it will rather then to forget God and be puft up this is my choyce And this is both their motto's and valuation Vanity of vanities all is vanity The second observation is from what man doth in the prosperous day he rejoyces in the day of prosperity he considers not as commanded but as from sense and reasons practice Observe That man keeps a measure according to Doct. present events If he counts changes prosperous then suitable thereunto he treads his joy but if contrary he takes up sorrow If things run thus and thus saith reason then I shall do so and so but if things fall thus then must I do thus and thus If such an interest be advanced that is suitable unto self or such opinions stand that are suitable to my interest then accordingly is my joy But if mine be opposed supprest and others to be advanced then on the contrary we measure out our sorrow and our grief keeping a proportion so much and so much prosperity so much and so much joy and contrary c. And the reason is because mans reason is annexed to sense rejoycing that is annexed unto prosperity grief unto distress but both by reasons rule according to their measure in occasions whether they be exterior or interior Learn hence a clear difference betwixt Faith and Reason Reason keepeth measure with every present joy or sorrow But true faith soars above either Divine faith it fixes on nothing but All sufficiency in distresses faith acts above staggerings and in temptations above though under struglings True faith is not frighted by the worlds distresses nor heightned by the worldâ— success but in either reason 's mov'd and bringet forth fleeting joy or worldly sorrow The third Observation is That all our earthly comforts and all our earthly crosses are but things that are made by him that made all things The Lord makes one against another and values them both alike in number weight and measure which are not to remain but to be removed All earthly Kingdoms Crowns and Comforts will be shaken as things that are made so also all earthly crosses will be shaken for that they are made that those things which cannot be shaken might remain Heb. 12. 27. And if this be so then here is a comfort and a cross 1. If all our earthly comforts enjoyments are but things that are made What a cross is this to the carnal covetous and voluptuous man All thy worldly joy profit and prosperity it is but made and shall not remain nay they must all shortly if not suddenly be removed Secondly Here is a comfort to the distressed and such as are in this worlds adversity do not be cast down at anothers prosperity or thy own poverty for thy poverty is but made and in a little while shall be removed The fourth and last observation is from the last clause in the Verse which hinteth out the scope and end why the Lord setteth prosperity and adversity in such anaequipollence and that is To silence mans reason in determining by present events He setteth one thing over against another that man should not finde out any thing after him Whence observe That it is a folly for man to judge or determine by the present evenâ—â— or changes of this world Whether it be of Persons Armies Victories States or Kingdoms it is a great folly Doct. in any to judge and determine by present prosperity or adversity for the creature to determine love or hatred by the present sense of things is a great folly take it Nationally or Personally for proof take Eccl. 9. 1 2. No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them all things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the clean and to the unclean So in the 10 Verse of this 7 Chapter Say not thou or judge not thou that the former days are better then the present for