our deceitful hearts First I say here 's the tenderness and holy jealousie of the Apostle Paul and the Spirit of God in him towards the Galatians and in them to all Christians in that he does reiterate and ingeminate his counsels to us This is still the nature of love and sincere affection that it thinks it 's never sure of the safety of the party whom it loves and therefore it repeats its admonitions and cautions again and again and is not satisfied to do it in one expression but is willing likewise to do it in another for the greater sureness and certainty of it But then secondly Here 's also the falseness and slipperiness of our deceitful hearts which stand in need of such kind of repetitions and inculcations as these are we are apt upon every turn and occasion to fall into evil and therefore we have need of all the helps against it that possibly may be not only to have our duty propounded and that which is to be done by us but likewise to be forewarned of sin and the countuary evil which we are to take heed of and avoid what we can And this by the way from the Addition of this second particular to the first But to come closely to the words themselves Do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh This is that which is in a special manner prohibited to all Christians not only here in this present Text but also in divers others besides The Scripture either in the same words or else in expressions like hereunto is very full of such Admonitions as these And accordingly it concerns us to observe them to take heed by all means that we be not guilty in this respect and to take notice of them and that especially upon these following Considerations First Because it is contrary to their professions those which are Christians have renounced the works of the flesh and vowed against them It is a part of our Covenant in Baptism wherein we are consecrated and given up to God that we will abandon such courses as these and therefore it concerns us in no hand to have to do with them If we have we transgress our Covenant and break the Bond which is betwixt us and God as an engagement to our new Obedience and Holiness of life Secondly It is contrary to our Principles and the work of Grace wrought in our hearts which in Baptism is also sealed unto us those which are true Christians they have the spirit of Christ in them which does incline them and carry them a clean direct and contrary way to these lusts of the flesh This we shall find to be the Argument of the Apostle in another place as Rom. 8.9 c. Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you Now if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness Therefore brethren we are debters not to the flesh to live after the flesh c. Every one that has the Spirit of God in him is a debter to walk after the spirit and so therefore on the other side not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh Thirdly It is contrary to their practice and that which they have done formerly already every good Christian as he has a Principle of Mortification in him whereby he is inabled to subdue the flesh so he has in some sort put this principle into action and has actually subdued the flesh indeed They which are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts says the Apostle Paul in ver 24. of this Chapter Now therefore for them to come and fulfil them is very incongruous and unsuitable and unagreeable to their former practise it is to take sin down again from the Cross and to put life and breath as it were into it after it is once mortified than which there can be nothing more absure or unfitting to be done Thus the Apostle does abundantly reason in Rom. 6.6 Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin And again in ver 11 12. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof And so all along in that Chapter Fourthly There is this also considerable against the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh the great evil and danger which comes by it and that is that it brings death and destruction along with it to be carnally minded is death Rom. 8.6 And if ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8.13 And he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Gal. 6.8 And many such places as these which shew the deadliness and perniciousness of such courses What does all this now come to but teach us so much the rather to shame them and decline them and to abstain from them to follow and put in practice this counsel and admonition of the Apostle here in this Text Do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh For the better urging and pressing whereof it will not be amiss for us to consider the particular meaning of the terms themselves There are two Terms here to be explain'd as there were also in the former branch First What is here to be understood by the lusts of the flesh ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and what we have prohibited therein Secondly What is here to be understood by not fulfilling ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and what we have prohibited therein To speak somewhat to both First What are we here to understand by the lusts of the flesh Desideria Carnis Now for these we are hereby to understand all the motions and inclinations and actions of the unregenerate part in us of what kind soever By the lusts of the flesh we are not only to understand those sins which by an eminency are called fleshly lusts such lusts as are terminated in the body and acted by that as Drunkenness and Adultery and Fornication and Uncleanness and the like though these be so in a special manner and in that regard to be avoided but by the lusts of the flesh we are to understand all the motions and affections and emanations of corrupt nature in us not only as acted by the body but also as more immediate to the soul as pride and envy and malice and such as these these are included by the Apostle and not only included but also more especially intended as those sins which he did aim at to mortifie and subdue in these present Galatians to whom he here writes This we may observe from the context an the coherence of these words with the former He had spoken in the Verses before of using their liberty for an occasion to the flesh in uncharitable conversation and in biting and devouring one another by slanders and
portion in Him Now this is the condition of all Believers God hath made over himself unto them for theirs and whatever is His. All His Attributes they work for their Good His Wisdom to counsel them His Power to defend them His Justice to avenge them His Truth to make good all His promises of good unto them We should not take these things onely as Expressions but be perswaded that there is some Reality in them and accordingly strengthen our Hearts in the Belief and Expectation of them and dependance upon them When God does once Enter into Covenant with us and make us his People there is not onely a bare Relation betwixt us but a Relation with some Advantage As this People here of Israel after that God took them into his own propriety he made them the owners of very large Possessions Deut. 11.24 Every place whereon the soles of your Feet shall tread shall be yours from the Wilderness to the uttermost Sea c. That 's then the first Explication for God himself to be the Inheritance of his People The Second is for them to be his This is another thing which the Scripture makes mention of Psal 33.12 Blessed is the Nation whose God is the Lord and the People which he hath chosen for his own Inheritance So Deut. 30.9 The Lord's portion is his People Jacob is the lot of his Inheritance So Psal 28.9 Save thy people and bless thine Heritage c. For the better opening of this point unto us we must know that an Inheritance it does contain three things in it First Some good and Advantage Secondly Peculiarity and Propriety of Interest And Thirdly Succession and Derivation of it to Posterity now accordingly to all these Notions of it does God make choice of his People to be an Inheritance to Himself First As those which have some kind of Good and Usefulness in them Thus to speak strictly they have not nor they have it not of themselves any further then as he bestows it upon them which he is pleased to do He bestows Goodness upon them and then inherits that Goodness which is in them They are by Nature a barren piece of Ground fit for no use or Service at all but he does Cultivate and Manure them and thereby brings them into some good order and frame when he changes our Natures puts his Spirit into our Hearts Rules and Reigns in us he then makes us his Inheritance This is the difference betwixt Gods people and other men which are Enemies or Strangers to him they are for the most part Useless and Unprofitable having no Spiritual rellish or Savour in them but his people are Serviceable and Advantagious Secondly In an Inheritance there is Peculiarity and Propriety of Interest and so is there in God towards his People They are not onely his Treasure but his peculiar Treasure Seguleh as the Scripture still stiles them So his as no bodyes else besides Ps 135.4 The Lord hath chosen Jacob to himself and Israel for his Inheritance And Psal 114.2 When Jacob came out of Egypt Judah was his Sanctuary and Israel was his Dominion So Tit. 2.14 He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works This is the Condition of the Church This therefore First of all Teaches us what we ourselves should be Namely such as are wholly devoted and consecrated to him we are not our own but Gods redeemed by him and bought with a price therefore we should Glorify God both in our Bodies and our Spirits which are his as the Apostle infers 1 Cor. 6.20 We should not now give ourselves liberty in any sinful and unwarrantable Courses considering whose we are Sin against God it is not onely Disobedience but Sacriledge and an invasion upon anothers right and so the Scripture still urges Obedience to us upon this Consideration as 1 Pet. 2.9 Ye are a chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People that ye should shew forth the praises of him that hath called you out of Darkness into his marvelous Light We are the Inheritance of God therefore we should not suffer Satan to get possession of us nor any Evil to prevail upon us Secondly Here 's matter of Comfort to the true Church and People of God that being his Inheritance he will therefore take care of them and protect them and keep them from Evil we see how careful Naboth was of his Inheritance God forbid says he that I should part with that he chose rather to part with his Life then to part with that and how tender then will God be of his Even a great deale more It is comfort to the whole Church in General And it is Comfort to the Jews in particular that God will in time again reduce them and call them home to Himself and recover his own Inheritance God hath not cast away his People which he fore-knew as the Apostle speaks to this purpose Rom. 11.2 And that is the Second Notion in an Inheritance to wit Propriety and Peculiarity of Interest The Third is Succession and Derivation of it to Posterity and so a people of Inheritance is a continued People from one time to another This is that which God takes care of to have Populum Hereditarium a People hereditary from one Age and Generation to another and it is very Comfortable where ever it is so when Religion goes in a line from the Father to the Children and so downward to Succeeding times Here Paul takes notice of the Grace in Timothy Which dwelt first in thy Grand-Mother Lois and in thy Mothers Eunice and I am perswaded that in thee also This is very sweet and pleasing whensoever it is so and is intimated here in this Text. It is that which those which are Christians should in a special manner take care of I gave you a touch of it the last Sabbath from hence forth and for ever Psal 125.2 I desire now further Brethren to inforce it and to set it home upon you as a Duty which is belonging to you to take care of it Especially we should all in our several opportunities indeavour the Continuance of the Church in succeeding time That God may have to himself a Portion and People of Inheritance even when we are in our Graves This is done first of all by being good in our own Generation Wicked and Erroneous persons which advance Errour and Lust in their time they do what they can even to Extinguish the Church of Christ and to destroy this Royal seed and to put God as it were out of the World It is those which are Good onely that preserve him and keep up the memory of him which we therefore should do Secondly By taking care of others and Educating them in his Fear I know Abraham says God that he will teach his Children after him so should we likewise do that so we may preserve unto
First Vanity both of Spirit and Conversation That 's one kind of Distemper which this Age is Exposed unto so the Preacher has told us Eccl. 11.10 Childhood and Youth are Vanity Not onely Vain but Vanity it self in regard of that frame and temper of Spirit which is upon them They mind and imploy themselves chiefly about Toys and Trifles and Superfluities but in the mean time neglect Solider matters and those things which are more Real and Substancial How much part of men's time even the prime and floure of their Age is as Samuel speaks to the People 1 Sam. 12.1 Carryed after vain things which cannot profit nor content in the latter end because they are Vain Pastimes and Pleasures and Sports and Gaming 's and such things as these are they are made not onely the Play and Recreation and Refreshment but even the Work and Business and Imployment oftentimes of that Age. Lovers of Pleasures more then lovers of God 2 Tim. 3.4 Secondly Flexibility to Evil that 's another Evil in Youth easily wrought upon and drawn away and intised to that which is Evil. The very Heathen Poet Himself couldtake notice of it Cereus in vitium Flecti Like wax to any sinful impression which shall be fasten'd upon them Like dry Tinder to Sparks of Fire thus is Youth for the most part to Temptation quickly takes no sooner can they meet with any Persons which are willing to Corrupt them but they are presently Corrupted by them In matter of Judgment to such in any new Opinion though never so Gross In matte of Practise to conform to any sinful Course though never so vile this is that which is very much incident to the Age of Youth A Flexibility to that which is Evil. Thirdly Unteachableness and Untractableness and Uncapableness of Admonition that 's another thing in Youth Monitoribus asper that Age does disrellish such as would reform them and bring them into rights so deferring of Repentance c. Wax to Temptation and Flint to Admonition and the means of Reforming These and the like are the Distempers which that Age is subject unto in regard of the frame of their Spirit Now as for outward Practises and the actings of Sin so Impetuousness and Intemperance and Violence and Uncleaness and such Bodily Lusts they are such as though all are not guilty of which is not the meaning of this Discourse yet the Age it self is exposed unto which accordingly does give this Denomination of the Sins of Youth that is as it is First of all to be understood by way of Specification as denoting the kind of Sin The Second is as denoting the Time Thus a Sin may be in some sense call'd the Sin of a mans Youth when it has been committed by him in his Youth though it may be as to the Quality of it it was a Sin of riper years There are some kind of People in the World which do Antedate their Age to themselves as in other things so in matter of Sins in which they grow old betimes and make hast unto it As there are some which are guilty of the Sins of Youth in the time of Age so there are others which are guilty of the Sins of Age in the time of Youth Malitia supplet aetatem Their Wickedness it makes up their years when they were Defectives Now these also are as well as the other the Sins of Youth what ever Sins men committed in the time of their Youth they are to them Youthful sins by way of Denomination And so much briefly of the first Particular Considerable in this first General viz. The sin he Sins of his Youth The Second is the Punishment of his sin which is exprest and propounded in those words where it is said that his Bones are full of them Thus although it may be very well applyed as to the matter of Guilt as we shall hear more anon Forasmuch as Sin does as it were Incorporate it self into Wicked men and is as a part of their Substance yet as I conceive in this place it does refer Especially rather to the Punishment The Spirit of God would hereby signify to us the sad and miserable Condition of an obdurate impenitent sinner that has Especially lived for a long time in a Course of sin That he possesses the iniquities of his Youth as it is Exprest in another place of this Book His bones are full of it This word Bones it may be taken here in this Text two manner of ways either in a Corporal sense or in a Spiritual Either proper in a Literal or in a Mystical If we take it in the next and Literal sense Corporally so it does denote the Body and outward man If we take it in the Remote and Qualified sense Spiritually so it does denote the Soul and the more particularly the Conscience each of these are full c. First The Bones that is the Body and Flesh and outward man taken it Literally There are many which in old Age feel the sins of their youth in their Bones according to this Interpretation which mourn at last when their Flesh and Body is Consumed Prov. 5.11 And which receive in themselves that recompence of their Errour which is meet as the Apostle speaks Rom. 1.27 Namely in regard of those Diseases which does attend their Vicious Courses and hasten their Bodily Destuction There are some kind of Sins which God does punish even in this present Life and as they are committed with the Body so are they avenged upon the Body which is made the Subject of Punishment as it has been before of Miscarriage and all little enough to take off such Persons from them as are addicted and given up unto them Secondly By Bones here we are to understand not onely the Flesh but the Spirit and more particularly the Conscience Thus we shall find the phrase used in some other places besides of Scripture As Psal 6.2 Have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my Bones are vexed So Psal 38.3 There is no Soundness in my Flesh because of thine Anger There 's the remembrance of sin in the Body Neither it ther any rest in my Bones because of my Sin There 's the remembrance of sin in the Soul So again Psal 51.8 Make me to hear Joy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce The broken-Bones i. e. The broken Spirit and that occasion'd from the sense of sin Sin it will stick in the Conscience for a long while after the Commission of it And when men are grown old they then pay for the Sins of their Youth in the reflections of them God charges the Guilt of them upon their Souls when the things themselves are past and gone Thus it hath several ways and degrees whereby it does proceed First In rubbing up their Memories and bringing their sins to Remembrance There are many which in the heat of their Lusts and while they are in the full
upon them Thirdly Here was the Ingenuity of his Spirit I said this is mine Infirmity namely in a way of humble Confession and Acknowledgment it was in the thing it self and I signified it and declared it to be so I said it not onely to my self and in mine own Heart but as there was occasion for it I said it to others also and acknowledged it likewise to them This is another Disposition in Gods Children in regard of that Corruption which is in them to be willing to take shame to themselves that so they may give Glory to God and to acknowledg their own Infirmities that so they may manifest and more advance his Power The same words may be spoken and utter'd with a different Affection if we listen abroad in the world we shall many times heare such words as these are This is mine Infirmity But how and with what Spirit are they spoken and uttered for the most part Surely very Carelesly and Customarily and Formally and Corruptly Tell some men of such and such Sins and Miscarriages which they are guilty off they think to put off all with this by saying it is their Infirmity though perhaps it be never so Gross and Hanious a Transgression yet all is one with them it goes under the name of an Infirmity and so they think thereby to salve and make up the matter but Gods Children they speak of their Miscarriages with another frame and temper of Heart not as to Justify them but as to bewayl them not as to Extenuate them and make them less but to fasten a due Impression upon them as David here does as Loathing and abhorring them in themselves This Expression here in the Text it is not a word of Apology but rather a word of Aggravation and it further shews the Ingenuity of Gods Children not onely as to Confession it self but also as to the Nature and Quality and Condition of the Sins themselves which are confessed by them A Good and a Gracious Heart it bewails not onely its Iniquities but also its Infirmites and not onely open and Scandalous Sins which every Body sees and takes notice of but even secret and hidden faylings and the more inward Deflexions of Spirit Deadness and Hardness and Unprofitableness and Impatience and Unbelief These are the things which go near to the Soul of a good Christian as well as publique and more Notorious Offences as well as Gross and more Grivious Miscarriages Thus we see it was with David in another place as in Psal 73.22 When he was Envious at the Foolish and was troubled at the Prosperity of the Wicked these thoughts they were afterwards upon Consideration troublesom to him and he was geived in himself for them So foolish was I says he and Ignorant I was as a Beast before thee He befooles himself for his sinister thought such a Sin as if he had kept his own Counsell we should never have known he had been guilty of it The Ground hereof in the Servants of God is First That Wonderful Exactness and Curiousness and Sincerity which is remarkable in them see how it is in the Body Curious and Exact persons which are trim and neat Indeed they are affected with the least Spot or Blemish which is in their Garments not onely with Greater and wider Rents but with smaller and lesser Slits which may happen unto them Even so is it also in the Soul and as to the Concernments of the Inward man there 's the like Trimness and Neatness here also in a Proportionableness thereunto and so as to the Covering of the Body so likewise as to the Healing of it there is some which make as much of a Scratch as another would do of a deep wound as being of a far more tender and delicate Temper even so it is also here Tender Consciences they lament even Infirmities whilst hardned Hearts go away with Greater Sins Secondly It proceeds from that Love and intireness of Affection which a good Christian bears to God Love it is shy of any thing which may be offensive to the party Beloved not onely of Greater Injuryes but of smaller Vnkindnesses It 's troubled when it 's any thing defective in the Expressions of Love where it is due and it concerns it to be so and so it is also here A Godly man he has his Heart and his Soul full of the love of Christ and therefore is troubled for any thing which is displeasing to Christ not onely for unsavory Speeches but for unruly Affections not onely for ungodly Deeds but for ungodly Thoughts which have a mark also of Sinfulness upon them The Affection of a Christian is answerable to the Jealousie which is in God Now the Lord being a jealous God he does take notice even of lighter miscarriages even so does a Christian heart accordly bewail them in himself and is humbled and troubled for them Thirdly It arises also from Christian Prudence as considering whither infirmities tend and what they will come to if they be not better prevented As we see it is again in the body smaller matters being neglected and let alone they come to greater a lighter scratch it may chance to prove a mortal wound if there be not some care taken of it whereas those that complain betimes they doe thereby prevent and keep off more dangerous and pernicious distempers Even so it is in the Soul weaknesse it turns to wickedness if there be not the more heed and regard had of it by us Therefore a Gracious heart thinks it wisdom to complain of this and is sensible and apprehensive of it Now therefore accordingly it teaches us to be so likewise and that betimes Principiis obsta stop these very first Beginnings and Eruptions of sins in us Stifle these sins in the Conception before they come so far as the Birth and break forth into the outward expression Remember this that the very thought of foolishness is sin as Solomon tells us As it is the Advantage of a man above a Beast that he can reflect upon his own Actions so it is the praise of a Christian above other men that he does censure his own evil thoughts and findes fault with himself for those matters which no body blames besides And further observe here how he does more especially charge himself in this particular This Trouble which he had now about Gods Providence it was in part a Temptation of Satan who had injected this into his mind and had suggested it to him but yet he does principally and especially take the blame of it in his own particular as being likewise guilty of it This is mine infirmity it Satans malice as to the suggestion but it is my infidelity and unbelief as to the closing and complying with it The Devil could have no advantage against us as to the fastening of Temptations upon us if it were not for the falseness naughtiness and corruption of our own sinfull hearts which do in some sort yield and
more easily leave them Secondly let him be careful to be well employed and to be conversant in good Company and the like Attend upon the Ordinances frequent the Communion of Saints be diligent in his lawful Employments These will take off his Rellish from sin and make him to dislike it Thirdly And especially to labour to get into Christ and to close with him in the Covenant of Grace whereby his Spirit may be communicated to him There is no Mortification of sin to any purpose but such as flows from our Union with Christ who is a powerful Head to this purpose and does enable more or less in all his Members to express it in themselves In Rom. 8.23 it is said If ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye by the spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Mark If by the spirit ye mortifie Mortification is a Work of the Spirit and this Spirit is the Spirit of Christ And this flows from our Union to Christ and Conjunction with him by Faith which does mystically knit us to him We must therefore first of all labour to find this Union to be in us and then make use of it and improve it to such a purpose as this is which we now speak of And this if we do we shall accordingly find mercy at the hands of God as is here expressed And so much of the Promise in the first Branch to wit The Simple or Absolute Preposition in these words And he shall have mercy upon him The Second is The Additional Amplification in these words For he will abundantly pardon Wherein again we have two Particulars more First The Word of Promise or Encouragement He will abundantly pardon Secondly The Word of Motive or Enforcement For he will abundantly pardon Because he will do this therefore Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon First Of the Word of Promise or Encouragement He will abundantly pardon Here is set forth unto us the Fulness and Largeness of God's Mercy according to those Expressions which are made of it in Scripture Full of Goodness Rich in Mercy Abundant in Compassion and the like The words here in the Original Text are very Emphatical Jarbeh Lisloach And we may reduce them to a threefold Intimation First To the Pardon of great sins Secondly To the Pardon of many sins Thirdly To the Pardon of sins reiterated and committed again First This Abundant Pardon in God it extends it self to great sins He is Magnus and remittendum The great God will forgive great Offences sins of an high nature of a deep die of an heinous aggravation Thus Isa 2.18 Come and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool See here scarlet sins and crimson sins and sins of such a stain as these are God tells his People that upon their Repentance he will pardon them and forgive them unto them And we have divers Instances to this purpose in Scripture take the Apostle Paul for all the rest who styles himself The Chief of Sinners 2 Tim. 1.15 says of himself that he was a Blasphemer and Persecutor and injurious and yet even he obtained Mercy and the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus Was exceeding abundant upon which occasion ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã See here Abundant Grace The very Expression which is here used in the Text. Secondly It extends to many sins He is Multus and remittendum Here is the abundance of Pardon in this also that God does not only forgive sin in one kind but in more as he has occasion for it Thus Manasses who knew how many sins were layed to his charge that he was an Idolater a Sorcerer a Murderer one that made his own Sons to pass through the fire and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood It is said He wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord. And yet when in his Affliction he sought the Lord and humbled himself greatly and prayed unto him the Lord was entreated of him and forgave him Mary Magdalen she was one who had seven Devils cast out of her and it is said expresly concerncerning her that Her sins which were many were forgiven her for she loved much in Luk. 7.47 God forgives not only one or two or a few but even many Offences Thirdly To sins reiterated and committed again and again This Abundant Pardon reacheth to these and God has Mercy and Forgiveness for them For Relapses and Fallings back into sin and the Repetitions of them he is Frequens and remittendum He will multiply to pardon as the Marginal Translation carries it He that has commanded us to forgive others again and again he will certainly do it himself out of all question Hence is that Gracious and Evangelical Imitation of the Prophet Jeremy's in Jer. 3.1 They say if a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another man's shall he turn unto her again shall not that land be greatly polluted but thou hast stayed the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. So again in Hos 14.4 God says I will heal their back-slidings and will love them freely God heals Back-slidings and Apostatisings and Relapses and Recidivations sins committed again and again Thus we see how in all particulars it holds true that God will abundantly pardon The Ground and Foundation of this Truth is twofold First The Greatness and Infiniteness of God's own Nature considered in himself Secondly The Greatness and Infiniteness and Fulness of the satisfaction of Christ First The Greatness and Infiniteness of God's own Nature God is a great and infinite God of whose Perfection there is no end Therefore every Attribute in him is of Infinite Extent and his Mercy amongst the rest Thus it is said expresly of him His mercies are great or many in 2 Sam. 24.14 Mercy in us it is no more than a Drop but in God it is an Ocean In us no more than a little Stream but in God it is a Spring and full Fountain A Spring continually runs an Ocean is never drawn dry What is a little sparkle of Fire if it fall into the main Sea The same are the sins of a penitent person being propounded to the mercy of God Thus Micah 7.18 19. Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquity an passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy He will return again he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and he will cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea But Secondly and Efpecially This is founded upon the Fulness and Infiniteness
advantage of them so that where they will be troubled they shall be And where he at any time discerns any proneness or inclination in them to it he is ready as much as may be to promote it and set it on further that they may be troubled more He loves to fish in troubled waters and to add sorrow to sorrow for the greater perplexity of Gods People Hence he raises a great many fears and jealousies and suspitions in them whereby the more to afflict them Thirdly From the weakness of Grace Therefore it is that Gods Children are apt and subject now and then to be inordinately troubled in themselves because Grace is but weak in them We see how it is in the Body that those who are but of weak constitutions as Children and such as they a little matter troubles them and proves offensive unto them And so it is likewise in the Soul and Spirit and inward man Where Christians are but weak they will be disquieted and easily upon every turn put out of frame Thus it was now at this present with the Disciples of Christ They were as yet but weak Christians in regard whereof he tells them elsewhere that he forbore to speak of some things unto them This is the case also with many others They are but Children and Babes in Christ and therefore apt to be troubled Nay even those who have Grace in the greatest measure if we take it comparatively yet their Grace is but weak and slender in them here in this life as a ground of this perplexity in them Their Faith and their Love and their Heavenly-mindedness and their Zeal and their Patience all in a manner but weak and therefore are their Hearts full of fears and perplexities and disquietings in themselves as a consequent of it The use which we are to make of it is accordingly to take notice of it both in our selves and others that so we may be both humbled for it and prepared against it For it is that which the best that are they are prone to if they do not the better look to themselves It is that which we have dayly and continual experience of every moment How soon we are dejected and cast down and out of heart in our selves upon any occasion such a tenderness and moleities and softness and delicateness there is upon us as that the least thing that is it troubles us and fils us with disquietness And that 's the first thing here observable from these words viz. A Christians Disposition He is apt and subject to be troubled as appears from this Caution or Prohibition of Christ to his Disciples The Second is his Duty and that is not to be troubled or afraid Christians they should by all means shun and take heed of this trouble in themselves Let not your Heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Not troubled for the evil which is present and already upon you not afraid for the evil which is expected or looked for for time to come Here 's a Caveat both against Grief and against Fear Each of which are such Passions as in the miscarriage and exorbitancy of them have much evil and sinfulness in them We 'l joyn them both together in the handling of them as coming both to one and the same effect Where that we may rightly understand the Point we may not conceive as if our Saviour did here plead for a Stoical apathy or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a senselessness and stupidity of Disposition from whence men are altogether mindless and regardless of the condition in which they are This is so far from the mind of Christ as that he does rather exceedingly abhor it and abominate it in those it is in We see how even He himself sometimes was troubled as he consesses and acknowledges it of Himself And he did so far forth express his participation of our Humane Nature in Him Therefore it is not Trouble simply which he here prohibits but the inordinacy of it which therefore we should avoid For the better opening and prosecuting of this Point which we have now before us there are two things which we shall do with Gods assistance First shew how far we may or ought to be troubled Secondly shew how far we may not or ought not to be troubled for there is somewhat considerable as to both First then how far we may and ought There are two things which are the proper objects of Trouble which it is exercised and conversant about Sin and Misery And accordingly it is not unlawful but very requisite and warrantable for a Christian in a due manner and measure to be troubled for either of these as he hath occasion for it First A Christian may be very well troubled in point of sin yea and ought so to be That which troubles all the World as to the ground and matter of trouble as sins does it ought not to be slighted by a Christian but he is much to be affected with it Whether in himself or in other men as he does discern and observe it to be in them For himself first That which He is guilty of for his own particular it ought to go very near unto him It is that which the Servants of God in Scripture have been very much troubled for when they have considered it and reflected upon it as we may see in divers instances and examples David Psal 38.3 4 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine Anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin for mine iniquities are gone over my head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Peter Math. 27.75 When he had deny'd his Master and remembred the words of Jesus unto him He went out and wept bitterly Paul Rom. 7.24 Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Thus have the Servants of God been much troubled when they have thought of their sin First As a dishonour in reference to God and a grief unto him whose Glory is or should be very dear unto them Through breaking of the Law thou dishonourest God Rom. 2.23 And by this deed thou hast made the Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme 2 Sam. 12.14 This it should go very near to a Christian Heart If I be a father where is mine honour Can we call our selves the Children of God and have no sense of the honour of God surely this is very unsuitable No it becomes us to be much troubled for sin so far forth as it is a dishonour to God as his Name is occasionally reproach'd and blasphemed by it And then not only as a dishonour to him but likewise as a grieving of him for so it is Isa 63.10 They rebelled and vexed his holy spirit therefore he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them Grieve not the holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed c. Eph. 4.30 Shall sin grieve God and shall it not grieve us
blood of Christ hath that power and efficacy with it as to cleanse all such persons as are truly members of him from all their sins The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin as it is also 1 Joh. 1.7 For the better opening of this Point we must know that there is a double benefit which we do partake of from the Blood of Christ the one is the benefit of Justification as to the taking away of the guilt of sin and the other is the benefit of Sanctification as to the taking away of the power and dominion And each of these are here included in this expression First He hath washed us from our sins in his blood that is he hath freed us from the guilt of our sins in point of Justification Christs blood it is available to this purpose And so the Scripture signifies to us in sundry Texts of it as Ephes 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And Rom. 5.9 Being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him And Col. 1.20 He hath made peace through the blood of his Cross Where the pardon and forgiveness of our sins is still attributed to his blood Now there 's a twofold Ground which may be ââgn'd hereof unto us First The Dignity of the ãâã which he did sustain who was the Son of ãâã and so the blood even of God himself though not of the Godhead According to that in Act. 20.28 where it is said that God hath redeemed his Church with his own blood The blood of such an excellent person must needs be infinitely meritorious and have a wonderful efficacy with it for the taking away of any guilt whatsoever Secondly From the Relation to the Persons whom he does represent as it was the blood of him that was God so of him that was man likewise having taken our nature upon him and received it into the Union of his Divine Person and therefore it was so far forth our blood likewise and was as much as if we had shed it in our own persons because Christ was a publick person appointed by God in our behalf in the work of Redemption and stood upon the Cross in the room of all his Elect through Gods acceptation of him He bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors Isa 53. ult Thus hath he washed us from our sins that is from the guilt of them in point of Justification But secondly From the filth and stains of them also in point of Sanctification sin besides the guilt of it it leaves a stain and defilement behind it which does pollute the souls of such persons as are guilty of it Now the blood of Christ it washes off this also from that power and efficacy which is in it It not only pacifies but purges the Conscience And so the Scripture also expresses it as Heb. 9.11 14. If the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God The blood of Christ hath merited the Spirit of God for the sanctification of all his Elect and so is said to sanctifie them When it is said here That we are washed from our sins in Christs blood this must be taken by a synecdoche of the part for the whole By his blood we are not only to understand that blood of his which was shed upon the Cross but his whole Passion with all the circumstances and attendances upon it Yea indeed his whole obedience whether active or passive but his blood is here named as that which was indeed the complement and perfection of all the rest as also wherein the Legal Types are all accomplished as the Apostle intimates to us in Heb. 9.22 Almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission The Improvement of this Point to our selves may be drawn forth into a various Application First It may serve as a discovery to us of the grievous and heinous nature of sin which had need of such a remedy as this to be used for the removal of it We may see the greatness and desperateness of the disease in the nature and quality of the physick which is given for it and that is no other and no less than the precious blood of the Son of God himself Sin it is a bloody business and the Church she is Sponsa sanguinum she is a spouse of blood as Zipporah said once to Moses And we see upon what occasion she is so namely from sin Therefore we should hence learn to abhor it and to detest it and to be shy and afraid of it We know how it was with David in regard of the water of Bethlehem which was purchased for him but by the hazard of mens lives he would not drink it though he longed for it because it was the price of blood 2 Sam. 23.17 Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives Even so should we say when we are tempted to the commission of any sin Is not this the blood even of the Son of God himself which he was put to shed upon occasion of it There are many profane and atheistical persons in the world which make nothing at all of sin no not of the greatest and grossest that are think it but a trivial business and a matter of sport Fools make a mock of sin as Solomon tells us Now let such persons as these but consider with themselves what it cost as it is here exhibited to us that so accordingly they may rightly judg of it and be perswaded of it and accordingly be taken off from yielding unto it Suppose a man had such a disease or distemper upon him as nothing would cure but the heart-blood of some near relation would it not very nearly and closely affect him and how much then should men be affected with their sins which nothing else could expiate but the blood of Christ himself Secondly Here 's matter of comfort and encouragement also to the servants of God in all the troubles and upbraidings of Conscience and of Satan setting in with it that here 's a remedy and help for them Here 's a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness as it is Zach. 13.1 even the fountain of the blood of Christ which is able to cleanse us Therefore let us go to this fountain and let us bathe and wash our selves in this blood by the exercise of the Grace of Faith in us and let us not be discouraged Remember what the Apostle Paul tells us to this purpose Rom. 3.25 How that God hath set forth Christ to be a
shall be able to discern those things which are done abroad in the World Things Future things Distant things Secret Either by bringing the Object to the Heart or by carrying the heart out to the Object This is that which God in old time did Vouchsafe to the Prophets and Apostles for the Honour of their Function and Calling and in such a manner of Discovery as that themselves were sensible of it and could say Infallibly that they were present at such occurrances and their Hearts went with them This was the Extraordinary Presence which St. Paul had with the Corinthians in his absence from them 1 Cor. 5.3 For I verily as absent in Body but present in Spirit c. And so again with the Colossians Col. 2.5 Though I be absent in the Flesh Yet am I with you in the Spirit c. It is to be understood not onely of an Affectionate presence which we spake off before but also of a Supernatural and Extraordinary Whereby he did as Certainly know what was done amongst them as if he had been Personally present with them As appears by that which follows Joying and Beholding the Order and the Stedfastness of the Faith in Christ The like presence had Peter in respect of Ananias and Sapphira discerning the sale of the Possession Act. 5.2 And Elisha also in the Bed-Chamber of the King of Syria to discover his Counsels 2 Kings 6.12 And so also here in this place with his Servant Gehazi whereby he saw what he did even in absence And this is the proper meaning of this Passage which we have now in hand My Heart went with thee Now although this Priviledge be not granted to men in these days no not to the best men that are to be able thus to do Namely Infallibly to discern at a distance what is done by any in such and such places Yet there are sometimes the Equivalencies of it so far forth as is necessary and convenient Observable in the World And God has strange kinds of ways whereby he does now and then discover especially to some kind of persons the Extravagancies of other men And more Especially which stand in any neare Relation to them or to their Children or People Wee 'l instance in some one or two of the Chiefest of them as First By so ordering it in his Providence as that they shall be Eye-witnesses of their Wickedness though not thought or Suspected to be so this is that which God sometimes does dispose That those that think themselves Safe or undiscern'd in such and such Evil Courses and Practises which are undertaken by them yet shall have those to take notice of them in them whom they are least aware of When thou wast under the Fig-tree I saw thee as Jesus in another case spake to Nathaniel Joh. 1.48 So it may be said to any other Secondly By putting Fears and Jealousies and Suspicions into them God does sometimes find out Wickedness so by Suggesting to some men's minds upon reasonable and probable grounds that such and such Persons are guilty of such and such carriages which being pursued and inquired into prove indeed to be so Thirdly By guiding of the Tongues of his Servants either in the Ministry or in common way of Discourse to strike at such Sins as such Persons are especially concern'd in There is a Great piece of Providence in this the Minister sometimes he knows nothing or very little as to the thing it self yet is so carried and directed in his Ministry and the Execution of it as that this words so come home to the Consciences of those which are guilty as if they verily knew what was within them and they are ready to think that themselves were intended by them Fourthly and Lastly It so falls out that men's Sins and secret evil Courses are now and then discovered and made known to others by themselves though they know not that they have discovered them In their Dreams when they have been asleep In their Frensies and Distractions and mad Fits when they have been awake In their Troubles and Terrors of Conscience when they have been in Distress All these ways has their Wickedness come forth And a man may very well in this sense express himself thus unto them My heart went with you The Use and Application of all comes to this That therefore none do give themselves Liberty in any secret Course of Evil whatsoever from conceit of the Concealment of it or as of that which they think is not known for there is no certainty in this particular It may be it may be more known and taken notice off then they are aware off First It is always known by God Himself His Eye the Eye of Omniscience it is never off of them but does always behold them wheresoever they are whatsoever they are a doing they are still under his Observation Psal 11.4 The Lord is in his holy Temple The Lords throne is in Heaven His Eyes behold his Eye-lids try the Children of men So Prov. 5.21 The ways of a man are before the Lord and he Pondereth all his goings And Prov. 15.3 The Eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the Evil and the Good Therefore in all we do we should set God before our Eyes and consider with our selves to be in his Presence Secondly For Men whatever is done it may be manifested to them And God will discover it to them in one way or other and at one time or other and their Heart shall go along with thee and find thee out in thy cheifest Contrivances As he did here with this wicked man Gehazi in the midst of all his Lying and Hypocrisie and Deceitfulness and Reservations and the like When he thought he was most private and unknown he was discovered most Both those Arguments laid together are special Grounds for our Caution and Circumspection in whatsoever we are about For the one that God Himself is always present with us And for the other that he makes men to be present where they are not present by his Power And so ye have the first Emphasis in which this Question is Considerable of us namely as it hath the force of an Infirmation as to one that was Ignorant My Heart went with thee The second is as it hath the force of an Expostulation to one that was a Delinquent Went not mine heart with thee i. e. knowest thou not that my heart went with thee There was a double crime which Gehazi was here guilty of There was his fact and his Lye his Fact in going after Naaman and seeking a reward of him His Lye in denying it to Elisha and saying that he went no whither Now this question of the Prophet to him it meetes with each of those in him and so has a double reference with it First A reference to his Fact went not my heart with the to it and how durst thou then to doe it Secondly in reference to his Lye went not my Heart
thee and wouldst thou do it for all that whil'st I stood by thee and lookt upon thee and was present with thee as I was by extraordinary dispensation and thou knewest me to be so Here is the Scope and drift of the expression which affords us this Observation which I have now named Impudence and Boldness in sining it still aggravates and increases the guilt Thus Jer. 8.12 Were they ashamed when they committed abominations nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush Zeph. 3.5 The unjust knoweth no shame This is the Height of sin and when it is once come to this it is come to the top of all There are many which have corruptions in them but they bewail them and lament them and abhor them and there are some reliques of modesty in them which are a curb and restraint unto them But where this is once lost and extinct all goodness is lost with it even the Heathen themselves could conclude that that man was quite undone whom shame had no influence upon to keep from sin This is the Great misery and unhappiness of the times in which we live wherein iniquity is grown to a great height in this particular in regard of the great boldness which many people are guilty of as added to other provocations The shew of their countenance it doth witness against them and they declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not Isa 3.9 which do wickedly even in the sight of the Sun and are not ashamed of whom it may be very well said That it is a shame to speak of those things not onely as the Apostle speaks which are done of them in secret but even which are done of them in Publick The day sometime hath been when though people were no better then they should be yet they had a little tenderness and shyness upon them in regard of Discovery Si non caste tamen caute Some regard they had to Authority and Government and Age and the Eye of Relations upon them Those things which they would do in their Retirements yet they would not venture to do in their Appearances But now it is come to pass that they are vile and care not who knows it They are so and will be without Restraint and who shall forbid them This is a sad argument and Forerunner of Judgment and Ruine and Destruction if it be not the sooner prevented Where sin begins to be Impudent it begins to be Desperate and a certain token and presage of Perdition both to Persons and Places but so much for that viz. The first reference of this Expostulation here before us as it respects namely the Fact Went not my heart with thee to see it and how durst thou then to doe it The Prophet challenges Gehazi for his sinful excuse The Second is as it refers to his Lye Went not mine heart with thee to know it and how darest thou then now to deny it He calls him to an account for his Hypocrisy and Falsehood and Dissimulation and lying answer to his Question Thou sayest Gehazi thou wentest no whether why dost thou think to perswade me to that and to deceive me so to face me down in a Lye and to put me off with such an answer as this is why did I not see thee my self with mine own Eyes Did not I look upon thee and was not my Heart present with thee and how canst thou frame such a Lye and falsehood as this We see here that Lyes they shall not be able to prevail but at last will be detected The mouth of them that speake Lyes shall be stopped as the Psalmist tells us Psal 63.11 Gehazi made a full account to have smoother'd his wickedness by a Lye but it would not do His Master finds him out for all that yea finds him out in that it self The reason of it is this Because Truth it is Gods Interest It is a Branch of Himself and therefore he will take care in his Providence for the maintaining of it and will not suffer the Contrary to take place at least for any space of time but will certainly discover it He that speaketh Lyes shall not escape as it is in Prov. 19.5 Yea further as it follows in the 9. vers of the same Chap. He that speaketh Lies shall perish Therefore let none whosoever please themselves in such ways as these are it is the wretched and miserablest Condition of sinful Persons that they go from one Sin to another and to this Sin of Lying amongst others which they make to be a Cloak unto the rest But it is a Covering which shall be too short for them as the Scripture speaks and they shall lie a cold under it as the Prophet signifies to us in Esay 28.20 A notable instance hereof we have here in this story in the Text in the Example of Gehazi And so we have another in the Acts in the Example of Ananias and Saphira Acts 5.1 c. Where the Apostle Peter by a Prophetical Spirit sound out the Lying of those Persons and called them to an Account for it as a Sin not so much against Himself but against the Holy Ghost Thou hast not Lyed unto men but unto God in the 4 vers of that Chap. And so now I have done with the first General part of the Text which is the Question in its simple Proposition both referring to the Fact and to the Lye in these words Went not my c. The Second which I shall briefly dispatch is the Circumstantial Amplification in these words When the man turned again from his Chariot to meet thee This is added by the Prophet for further Evidence and Conviction of the Party because he had to deal with a bold and audacious Sinner that pleaded not guilty and pretended that he went no whether Here 's that which evinces the Contrary A most remarkable and Eminent passage and circumstance in the Business Which whilst Elisha was privy to and acquainted withall it was clear that he knew the whole matter For Gehazi might perhaps have replied so This is onely your Conjecture your Suspicion and Jealousy of me but you have no proof nor Evidence of it all yes I have proof enough and to shew it Take this Circumstance with thee The mans coming out of his Chariot to meet thee Which takes in all other Circumstances beside with it of time and place and Gesture and such appurtenances What did he meet thee No-where What did he speak to thee No-where What did he salute thee No-where Was all this for Nothing If thou hast not been guilty of what I lay to thy Charge what 's the meaning of all this Preparation This Expression of the Prophet to his Servant is as if one should say in the like case to any other whatsoever which were guilty of any the like Misdemeanors did not I see thee when it was thus and thus with thee At such a Time In such a Place In such a Company In
we say Lead us not into Temptation That is doe not in thy providence administer occasions of Sin unto us from whence we might be intangled with it whereas on the other side God threatens wicked men that he will lay a Stumbling-block before them and that they shall fall upon them Jer. 6.21 It is that which he oftentimes does in the way of his Providence which is the reason why many persons doe miscarry so as they do God lets loose Satan upon them and suffers him to present such and such objects and occasions to them which meeting with that habitual Corruption which is prevailing in them causes them to stumble and fall and ruine themselves But now for his Saints and Servants he does in a special manner watch over them to preserve them when he is said to keep their feet Secondly As by preventing of the Occasions of of Sin so by fortifying and strengthning the Heart and mind against closing with them so that although occasions be administred yet they shall have no power or efficacy upon them thus he kept the feet of Peter Luk. 22.32 Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you and to sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not And thus he kept the feet of Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 When he had the messenger of Satan to buffit him and prayed thrice that is often that it might be take away from him he had this answer returned unto him That Gods Grace was sufficient for him as it had been said God would not be wanting to him in the keeping and preserving of him from being overcome with that Temptation and so he does with divers others besides partly by Executing and stirring up in them those Graces which he hath already wrought partly by administring new strength unto them There are four Graces amongst the rest which are especially conducing hereunto First of all The Grace of Fear and Spiritual Watchfulness Blessed is the man says Solomon that feareth always Those which are confident and presumptious they do of all others soonest miscarry but God by stirring up in his Servants an holy tenderness and jealousie over themselves does by this means very much scare them who by fearing least they should Sin do come to avoid Sinning it self Secondly The Grace of Faith that 's another supporter likewise It is the sheild whereby we quench all the fiery darts of the Devil And Gods people in the use of this are much arm'd against Spiritual Assaults Faith it lays hold upon all the promises of Assistance and Strengthning and Confirmation which God has made to his Servants Such as this now here in the Text and hereby does preserve all such persons as are the subjects of it therefore it is said 1 Pet. 1.5 We are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation By the power of God as the Principal And by Faith as the Instrumental improving that power which is in God and drawing it forth according to the preset occasion and Necessities in which we are And this Faith still wrought and Excited and strenghthned by him that he may still have the Glory of all And that 's the second Explication God keeps the Feet of his Saints not onely by preventing them from the occasions but likewise by preserving them from closing and complying with them and yeilding and giving way unto them Thirdly Gods keeps the feet of his Saints from progress and proceedings in Sin when they fall or slip he holds them up from falling further Thus Psal 94.18 When I said my foot slippeth thy Mercy O Lord held me up This is another great Expression of Gods goodness to his Servants that he does not suffer them to run into the same Excess of riot with other men That though for reasons best known to himself as to humble them and to shew them what is within them he may perhaps suffer them now and then to fall into Sin yet he does Graciously keep them from the Degrees and Extremities of them Hence it is said 1 Joh. 3.9 That he that is born of God does not commit Sin What not Sin at all no That 's not the meaning of it for he had said in the first chap. vers 8. If we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves But not Sin in that height with that greediness in that measure and manner and circumstance as others do Though they may begin yet God lets them not go on and proceed in it but puts a stop and restraint upon them that they go no further He keeps them back from presumptuous Sins that they may not have Dominion over them as David prayes for himself in Psal 19. vers 12. Lastly He keeps the feet of his Saints from Relapse and Returning to Sin again He suffers them not like the Dog to return again to their former Vomit nor like the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire This he undertakes for them Thus says David of a Righteous man Psal 27.24 Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand As Paul Phil. 4.7 The peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Keep them as in a Garrison as the word in the Original Text properly signifies The proper Improvement of this point thus explain'd to our selves is a word of special Comfort and Incouragement to the Servants of God as being interested in a very great Privilege which does belong unto them What a wonderful Mercy is this that God will keep our Feet from falling as David speaks of Himself Psal 116.8 That he prevents us and keep us from Sin Especially considering the many Dangers and Snares and Hazards whereunto we are daily exposed It is a Comfort to the Servants of God as to matter of imployment In great Services and Undertakings whether in Majesty or Ministry whether in the Church or the Common wealth in regard whereof they may happily now and then be suspicious of themselves and jealous of their own Hearts as many Godly men now and then are A good Christian when he is called to some great and special Service he does not so much think with Himself how shall I go through it without trouble but how shall I go through it without Sin This is that which most sticks upon his Spirit How shall I avoid the Snares the Temptations the Sins the manifold Miscarriages which this my Place or Work or Imployment is by reason of humane Corruption compast withall now here 's that which may satisfy him He will keep the feet of his Saints Those which keep close to Him he will strengthen and inable them for the services whereunto he calls them and likewise from the infirmities which they are subject unto in these services So likewise as for matter of Imployment so for matter of Condition whether Riches or Poverty Prosperity or Affliction and the like These are many
of Gods servants which are ready to mistrust themselves here especially though perhaps there may be less danger of them in that how they shall carry themselves through Adversity how they shall be able to take up their Cross to loose their very time from Christ if he should call them to it and not decline and start back from his work Here is that which may support them He will keep the feet of his Saints And so for any kind of Assault or Temptation whatsoever Here 's Gods promise which he has made for it and this use are we to make of it even to comfort and incourage our selves upon such Considerations as these are Forasmuch as Despair and Discouragement may in this case prove very hazardous and prejudicial unto us Now to make this point every way effectual and pertinent indeed to our selves we must here have a care of two things The First is the Qualification of our Persons we must look to that Observe here in the very Text it self whose feet it is that he here keeps It is the feet of his Saints They must be Saints whose feet God will keep Saints and his Saints too Saints of his Making and Saints of his Calling and Saints of his Owning Those which are such he will keep their feet that is as we have Explain'd it their Hearts and Affections and Ways He will preserve them from running into Extravagances and the Extremities of Sin His Saints that is such persons as are in Covenant with him and begotten again by him and have his Image and likeness Stamp'd upon them and his Seed remaining in them These are they which shall be thus kept and serv'd and none but they Those which are not thus they have no Ground for the Expectation of such a Favour or Priviledge as this is to be conpreferr'd or bestowed upon them Thus we may observe in the Connexion there in that place 1 Pet. 2.3.4 Begotten again who are kept in the last times None are kept but those which are begotten again c. It is the great misery and unhappiness of all men out of Christ That as they are deprived of many other blessings besides so amongst the rest of Divine Protection as to matter of sin and spiritual judgements They are more in danger of being given up to Satan and their own corrupt hearts then others are and being evil already to grow worse and more confirm'd in evil every day then other whereas those which are Regenerate and Renewed and Sanctified and have Grace begun in them they are thereby in some manner secured against those hazards which others fall into And he that hath begun a good work in them will confirm it and finish it in them until the day of Christ As the Apostle tells the Philippians Phil. 1.6 But Secondly That 's not all It is not enough for us to be right for our persons in the General Qualifications of them But we must be right likewise for our carriage and the behaviour of our selves Those which are the Saints of God may sometimes so order the business by their own wilful heedlesness and neglect as that they may provoke God for a time at least to suspend this protection and safeguard of them He may and does also now and then suffer them to slip that they may the better look to their feet at another time He will keep the feet of his Saints but he expects also that they should keep themselves and not rush themselves upon the occasions of evil as sometimes they are ready to do whiles they do so they may chance to smart for it and come with broken bones at last As God Himself undertakes it for the main so his Saints must also use their own indeavour as they are exhorted to it Eccl. 5.1 Keep thy feet when thou goest to the house of God c. But so much of the first reference of these words as they may be taken Spiritually and in relation to the Inward man Now further Secondly We may likewise if we please take them in reference to Temporals and God's Providence as to the things of this life He will here also keep the feet of his Saints That is he will prosper all events and undertakings to them He will bless them in whatsoever they do and whithersoever they go This is the meaning of it First He will bless them in their wayes Take notice of That This is one way to keep their feet And it is so likewise in the Language of Scripture As Psal 121.8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy comming in from this time forth and for ever-more And so Deut. 28.6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou commest in and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out Again Psal 91.11 12. He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy wayes They shall bear thee up in their hands least thou dash thy foot against a stone In all which places and the like we have promises made to God's people for the keeping and preserving of them even in their common and ordinary out-goings not onely for the preserving of their souls and spirits from sin but also for the preserving of their lives and bodies from destruction Therefore the Chaldee paraphrast reads it corpus servorum suorum He that keeps the body of his servants where the feet are put by a Senecdoche for all the other parts and the argument holds good a fortioris by reasoning from the less to the greater He that will keep the feet the most abject parts of the body and such as are of less esteem certainly he will not be wanting to the Breast and head those more noble and eminent parts but will be sure to keep them more especially He names the feet that from them we might rise higher to all the rest and those which are superiours Again further He names the Feet as those which are most exposed to danger and hurt of all other God bestowing the Greatest Protection where there seems to be the Greatest need and Necessity for it he gives more to that part that lacketh But the Sum of all comes to this God's Custody and Preservation of his people in their passages and goings up and down This may seem at the hearing of it to be but an ordinary Observation but yet is such as we may make very good use and Improvement of in the Course of our times Hereby to prevent the People of God from Inordinate and Exclusive Fears either for themselves or those belonging unto them in their Journeys and Travelings and the like That they are not onely under a Providence but under a Promise And whensoever they go in or out upon good and warrantable Occasions they may here expect God's preservation of them upon this Account His Word and Warrant for it He will keep the feet of his Saints And it is a great piece of weakness in any when as notwithstanding such an assurance as this is they
Prosecution of their wicked Courses little think of them or call themselves to an account for them who yet afterwards when the sin is over and past have leasure to be think themselves and to Consider what they have done Yea God himself does by his Spirit oftentimes suggest it to them and suffers even Satan also though for no good to do it for them When men are past the time of Committing sin then he thinks he may very safely remember of it that he may drive them to dispair about it which is all the thanks they have from him for hearkning to Him Secondly As there 's an Exciting of the Memory for the calling of such sins to mind which have been committed in Youth so there is likewise a Convincing of the Judgment in the nature of the sins themselves how grievous and notorious they are that those which have been formerly slighted and neglected and made nothing of as no more but tricks of youth it may indeed appear in their colours to be breaches of the Law of God And that in all the several Circumstances and Aggravations of them and especially in that amongst the rest of sinning against all the Counsel and Admonition which has been given to the Contrary by Ministers and Masters and Parents and Christian Friends as we find an Expression to that purpose in Prov. 5.12.13 Thou shalt say How have I hated Instruction and my Heart dispised Reproof I have not obeyed the voyce of my Teachers nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me Thus will God not onely remember men but convince them of the sins of their youth And then Thirdly Afflict them also for them That 's like wise in this filling of the Bones The Conscience made sensible of sin and perplext for it which is done in succeeding times When God deals Effectually with men's Hearts and calls them to an Account for their Miscarriages he does not onely set home upon them their present iniquities but also their former Miscarriages This he does both in order to true and real Conviction as also upon any other occasion Yea and those sins also which have been most secret as I shewed the last day at large upon another Scripture the same word which is here used in the Text for the sins of the Youth it signifies in the Hebrew Language secret sins which such sins oftentimes are and so we find it to be taken in Psal 90.8 Thou hast set our secret sins in the light of thy Countenance Gnalâmeni The reason why God does proceed against sins of Youth and set them home a great while afterwards First Because he will maintain his own Right and Interest in the world we use to say Nullum tempus occurrit Regi There 's no time which is slipt which can prejudice a Prince in his due no more can God Himself who is the cheif of all Sins of Youth they are sins still in their own Nature and so to be accounted Time does not alter the quality of them though it alters the Apprehensions of them through the weakness of our mindes Nay the longer agoe that sins have been committed by any the more they stand in Arrears to God Old and Ancient Debts they are the Greatest Debts of all because they have been so long without payment and satisfaction for them And so it is likewise to this purpose with old and Antient sins Continuance and Perseverance in sin for a long while and time together without reformation and renewing to God it becomes a further advancement and aggravation of it Secondly Because sins of youth they are commonly acted with greater Violence and vehemency of spirit It is observed by the Philosopher of Young-men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They do every thing with much intention in that which they do Quicquid volun Valde volunt Now sin by how much men's Spirits are more intent and carried out in it by so much the worse it is and more provoking of the Majesty of God who is offended by it Thirdly It is a Foundation of more Sin the sins of Youth There 's a Ground work laid for sin in after times and succeeding Generations where Youth is naught there is a great hazard upon old Age which is very difficulty reclaimed and reduced in such cases Therefore says the Young-man in the Proverbs being overtaken with Wantonness I was almost in all Evil in the midst of the Congregation and the Assembly Prov. 5.14 A Vessell what Liquour it receives at first into it it long retains the savour and relish of it And so it is likewise with the Heart and the Life and the Conversation It is much what it was at first The Consideration of this present point in hand is of Various Improvement to us First To those which are Young that from hence they would be so much the more careful and watchful of themselves and take heed of doing any thing which may stain and defile their first years and the Flower of their Age for if they do so they wlll find enough of it in following times and when as they think the worst is past Their Bones shall be full of the sins of their youth Perhaps their Bodies and outward man through Corruption and rotting Diseases which shall cleave unto them or if not so yet at least their Consciences either here or in a worse place And therefore let them not be secure and vainly flatter themselves as for the most part they are ready to do Youth is commonly full of Hopes and sometimes of Presumpteous hopes which have little ground or bottom for them and so in this amongst the rest of escaping the Alarms of sin But let none deceive themselves in this particular as Moses once told the Israelites in Numb 32.23 Be sure your sin will find you out Find you out to discover you and to manifest what you are And find you out to punish you and to afflict you for being so bad And the longer time of Intermission the Heavier the Account when it comes Beloved we should all study to Consecrate and devote our best time to God and to his Service And that is the time of our Youth while it lasts to any of us when we have health and strength and parts in the Vigor and Activity of them Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth before he Evil days come and the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Eccl. 12.1 And thus as for the thing it self so moreover in reference to old Age that so if we live unto it it may be so much the more Comfortable to us and free from Disturbance it is observed as to matter of the Body and Corporal strength and it holds as well in regard of the Soul that an orderly and well-temper'd youth it breeds an Easy and pleasing old Age and so the Contrary Moderata juventus efficit senectutem facillem Immoderata Gravem Oh it is a Blessed thing when Old
day of our Visitation lasts and continues to us And more particularly that we may speak still to the Scope and Sense of the Text and my Drift and End in the undertaking and handling of it in the Time of Youth and tender years That so hereafter we may reap the fruit of a timely and early conversion in a sweet and comfortable old Age. That we may end our dayes in peace which at length must be ended and having been long acquainted with God may be the more willing to go to Him and to resign our Souls into His hands as into the Hands of a Faithful Creatour So much may suffice to have spoken of the second General part of the Text viz. The condition in the Extent of it And so likewise both of this whole verse and for this present time His Bones are full of the sins of his youth which shall shall lye down with him in the dust ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã SERMON X. Job 20.12 13.14 Though Wickedness be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his Tongue Though he spare it and forsake it not but keep it still within his mouth Yet his meat in his Bowels is turned it is the gall of Asps within him There can never be said too much nor enough against the ways of Sin whether we look upon it in it own Nature and Consider the Miseries which are in it or whether we look upon it in our Nature and consider the propensities which are to it When one would think we had said all we can and almost all we need there is still somewhat yet remaining behind as very pertinent and sutable hereunto The last day wee took occasion to speak of the Sins of Youth and the Impressions which they made upon Age and riper Years and the Extent of them even to Death it self and after Death out of the 11th vers of this Chap. where Zapher describing the Estate of an ungodly Person gives the Character of it That his Bones are full of the sins of his Youth which shall lye c. Now in these following verses before us he does further proceed in the Amplification of this Argument to us by preventing of an Objection which might be made by the Patrons of Wickedness as to the Heartning and Incouraging both of themselves and others to it and that as taken from the present sweetness and Contentment in it and the cunning Carriage and Contrivance of it which he removes and takes away by shewing the sad Effects which notwithstanding are consequent upon it Though wickedness be sweet c. IN this present Text before us there are two General parts considerable of us First The Disposition of a Wicked man in regard of sin Secondly The Effect of Sin to a Wicked man The Disposition of a Wicked man in regard of sin that is laid down in verses 12.13 Though Wickedness c. The Effect of sin to a Wicked man that 's exprest in vers 14. His meat c. We begin with the First viz. A Wicked man's Disposition in regard of sin and that is here Exhibited to us in four particular Branches First His Complacency in it It is sweet to his mouth Secondly His Concealment of it he hides it under his Tongue Thirdly His Favourableness towards it He spares it c. Lastly His Thraldom to it He keeps it c. First This is Considerable in the Disposition of a Wicked man to sin his Delight and Complacency in it Wickedness it is sweet to his mouth This Expression together with the rest is a Metaphor taken from Natural and Corporal Food which is pleasing and delightful to the taste which is seated in the Mouth or Palate as the proper Organ or Subject of it so is sin to a carnal Heart it is very sweet and relishing to it Especially in the first imbracing and entertaining of it There is no Glutton or Master of Appetite as he is called there by Solomon in Prov. 23.2 Bagnal Nefesh Which takes more Contentment in his Delicacyes and Corporal Daintyes then a Carnal and unregenerate Person takes in his Lust It is sweeter to Him then Honey it self as the Philosopher speaks of Revenge to a Malicious man It is so with all kind of sin whatsoever to those which are addicted to it it has a kind of false sweetness with it in regard whereof we read in Scripture of the pleasures of sin The Ground hereof is this Because it is sutable and Connatural to Him Delight it is founded in Convenience and an Agreeableness of the Faculty with the Object And so it is here with a Wicked man in regard of his Lust he has an Heart fitted to it That which is in the Temptation without Him it is in the Spirit within Him and the one it is the Counterpain of the other as the Wax answering to the Seal We may judg of the Delight which a Wicked Person has in Sin according to the Proportion of a Gracious Person delighting in Goodness what is the reason that those which are Godly delight in the ways of Godliness and look upon them still as those which are ways of Pleasantness How sweet is thy word unto my mouth even as Honey unto my taste It is because they have a renewed Spirit which is fitted and qualified thereunto I delight to do thy will O my God and thy Law is within my Heart Psal 40.8 While God's Law is in our Hearts our delight will be in God's will and his Commandments will not be grievous to us but exceeding pleasant and so it is also on the Contrary in regard of Sin And then again Satan who is the great promoter of sin he inlarges and advances things to them and makes them seem greater then they are The Pleasure of Sin and the delight which is taken in that it is for the most part a matter of Fancy and Imagination Now the Devil he has a very Great stroke in working upon that He presents things more Amiable then they are and thereby does intangle and insnare foolish men and make them to be pleased with those things which have little pleasingness in them The Desires of People to sins they are Diseases rather then Desires they are Extravagances and Distempers in them and do proceed from somewhat which is amiss in the Frame and Disposition of their Spirits as we see it is in the Body what 's the reason here that some delight in Coles and Ashes and Walls and such trash as that Why it is because they have a distempered palate and a distempered Stomack and they are under the power of a Disease this makes those things sweet unto them which another Body cannot indure even so it also with the Souls of Wicked men they take pleasure in Sin which is odius to a Gracious Heart because they are overtaken with Lust and have a Spiritual Distemper upon them The Consideration of this point may serve to give us an account of the Difficulty of
they do improve their wickedness as much as they are able to their own Contentment and Satisfaction or advantage and they suck all the pleasures out of it that they can perfectly find and meet withall in it Thus they do and they have a particular Art and skill and Ability in them to this purpose Look as Godly men do with a promise and some parcel of the word of God or as they do with a gracious Frame and Temper of Spirit when they have found it they preserve it all they can and make much of it Keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee 1 Chron. 29.18 Even so do wicked men with their sins when it is said here they spare it we must understand it n that sense it is spoken which is not as to matter of commission but rather as to matter of Mortification a covetous man spares his money but he does not spare his sin They do not spare to act it but they spare to kill it and to crucifie it and to subdue it in themselves As to the Acting and exercising of it this they do and do not spare but lay on as much as they can like some hunger-starved person at a feast they feed and do not spare they commit all uncleanness with greediness as the Apostle speaks in Eph. 4.18 But they spare it as to the resisting of it and as to the doing of any hurt unto it A wicked man spares his lusts as Saul did the cattel of the Amalekites which he reserved for himself 1 Sam. 15.9 or as David spared rebellious Absalom whom he desired should be dealt tenderly withall Deal Gently with the young man Absalom for my sake this he gave in command to Joab the Captain of the Host 2 Sam. 18.5 Even so do such men say in their hearts as to their sins To Governours and Friends and Ministers O spare my lusts deal gently with such a sin and corruption for my sake Therefore sparing and not forsaking are very pertinently joyn'd together in the Text the one explaining the other He spares it and does not forsake it that is he spares to forsake it sake it He does favour and allow and indulge corruption and sin in himself This a wicked man does And it is here made to be a property so to do of him But because there are two several words which are here used sparing and not forsaking we will therefore take them asunder and consider them severally and distinctly And first of sparing which as in part I hinted before does imply that Indulgence which such persons give to their corruptions shewing them all the favour that may be And it is exprest in these particulars First As to matter of search and inquiry into them A wicked man he spares his sins thus so as to examine his heart about them David sayes He communed with his own heart and his spirit made dilligent search Psal 77.6 And he perswades others to do so likewise Psal 4.4 Stand in awe and sin not commune with your own heart and be still But men commonly delight not so to do which have any guilt lying upon them They do not love to to look much into it or to be inquisitive what it is Bad Husbands they do not love to cast up their accounts nor to see what their estate is because they are afraid they shall meet with somewhat which will be displeasing to them And so it is also with bad hearts and false spirits in Religion they do not love to consider their wayes for fear their sins should fly in their faces and gall them for them They spare their sins that so their sins may spare them Spare their sins to search them that so their sins may spare them to torment them and to vex them for them Secondly As this sparing is observable as to matter of inquiry so also as to matter of resistance and opposition they are very sparing in this likewise they do as little as may be to restrain and hinder sin in the onsets of it Take a Godly man and one whose heart is taken off from sin and he hath no mercy at all for it but deals as boysterously with it as may be he desires to shew it no favour or kindness or respect at all but is most cross and opposite to it Whereas now on the otherside a wicked man he is tender of making any resistance but gives way to it as much as may be and so he spares it Thirdly As to matter of Expulsion and Ejection and Mortification they spare it so The Scripture requires men to pluck out their right eyes to cut off their right hands c. that is to destroy their dearest lusts and those corruptions which are nearest to them Now an Hypocrite he will not do this by any means perhaps he will be content to part with somewhat which he does not much care for and be willing to abstain from it but his Absaloms and Dalilahs and his Herodiasses and such sins as these Oh by all means let them alone destroy them not for there 's some sweetness to be found in them Thus he is said to spare it which is the first expression which is here considerable Secondly He does not forsake it he doth not leave it nor bid adieu unto it he never forsakes his sin till his sin forsake him and he can keep it no longer as sometimes it does in age and sickness and death Men have not then those opportunities of sin which they have had at other times for the acting and committing of them and so they forsake them But otherwise as to the Heart and Affection they forsake them never As friends they may be kept from one another by violence though never so dear but yet their spirits are still the same to each other and so it is with a sinner to his lusts he bears the same affection to them now in his restraint from them as he did before in his injoyment of them and what he cannot attain in Accomplishment he makes up in desire There 's no man can be said to forsake any sin in particular which does not forsake the way of sin for the General That is which is not converted and regulated and brought home to God As for another man let his condition be what it will be yet his corruption is still the same he is prodigal in a poor estate and he is proud in a low estate and he is Lascivious in a decrepit estate when his body withers yet his lusts flourishes and he never forsakes his sin till he forsakes himself and has any Being continued to him Now to lay both these together a sinners not forsaking but rather sparing sin in himself as we have hitherto heard and consider'd how much it makes to the aggravation of his sinful condition and misery likewise attending thereupon There 's no Greater mischief or cruelty which a
man can possibly shew to himself then by thus doing The mercies of the wicked are cruelties as Solomon tells us Prov. 12.10 As it is true in other respects so amongst the rest it is true in this whiles he is merciful and indulgent to his sins and sparing of them he is in the mean while cruel to his soul which occasionally suffers from it yea indeed to his whole man in the full extent of it And that 's also the Third Particular in the Disposition of a wicked man to sin His favourableness towards it The Fourth and Last is his Thraldom to it exprest in these words He keeps it still within his mouth Betek kikko in the midst of his palate He does not onely forbear to hurt it which we had in the words before but he does moreover make much of it as a thing which is very precious and useful to him which he cannot be without This keeping of it still within his mouth it does imply these things in it First His carrying it in his Mind and Thoughts and Contemplation a wicked man he does rowl his sin much about in his soul and his Meditations in it are pleasing as a man that hath Sugar in his mouth he holds it there and lets it melt in it even so does a sinner with his sin There 's a great deal of Contemplative wickedness which is exercised and acted in the world And the Fansie and Imagination it hath a great stroke in the promoting of sin and especially in such cases where men are restrain'd from the commissions themselves Secondly It implyes his cherishing and nourishing of it in his heart sinners they do not onely think of sin and ruminate and meditate upon it and so make it a matter of speculation but they do likewise imbrace it and hug it in themselves and so make it a matter of Affection And they take all the wayes that may be for the strengthening and confirming of themselves in such principles as these are Thirdly It implies Constancy and Perseverance and continuance in it and so is a further addition to what he had said of not forsaking it and an Explication of it He does not forsake it but still keeps it as that which he is unwilling to part with All together serve to signisie unto us his Thraldom and Addictedness to sin which makes up to us the Fourth particular And so I have done with the First General part of the Text which is the Disposion of a wicked man to sin in the words which I have now open'd and explain'd Sweet in the mouth hid under his Tongue c. The Second General consists of the Effect of sin to a wicked man and that is exprest in these words Yet his meat in his Bowels c. we have the like expression to this in Ezek. 3.3 Speaking of the Rowl that was given him I did eat it and it was in my mouth as Honey for sweetness And so again in Rev. 10.9 10. St. John speaking of the little Book that was given him It was in my mouth sweet as Honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter Thus now here in the Text Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth yet his meat within his bowels is turn'd it is the gall c. The scope and drift of the Place is to shew and declare unto us the difference of sin after Commission in respect of what it is in Commission And it is laid down here in the Text two manner of wayes First In the General Proposition And Secondly in the Particular For the General it is this That his meat within his bowels is turn'd For the Particular It is this That it is the gall of Aspes within him First For the General His meat within his Bowels is turned that is the case is altered with Him over what it was before so that that which He thought to be his Advantage it is proved contrary to him As when a man takes food to nourish him and it proves in Conclusion to kill him and to make an end of him This is very sad and Lamentable yet this now is the Condition of a Wicked man delighting in Sin at the last he finds no such cause or matter of Delight to Him from it as a man that Eates any thing which is Unwholsome though it be sweet and pleasing in the Eating yet his Stomack being over-charged with it it proves Loathsome and Burthensome to Him even so does Sin to a wicked Person when he commits it perhaps it delights Him but after Commission it is Greiveous to Him and he then wishes with all his Heart that he had never medled at all with it Thus the Scripture sets it forth to us in sundry places as Prov. 20.17 Bread of deceit is sweet to a man but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with Gravel And so again Prov. 9.17.18 Stoln Waters are sweet and Bread eaten in secret is pleasant but he knoweth not that the Dead are there and that her Guests are in the Depths of Hell He speaks it of Sinners of Wantonness and Uncleanness which are acted in secret And so of the rest Again in like manner of Drunkenness and Intemperance Prov. 23.31.32 Look not thou upon the Wine when it is red when it giveth his colour in the Cup when it sparkels and moveth it self aright At the last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth as a Cockatrice The Reason of this change of the Condition of a wicked man after Sin committed is First Because the Pleasure and sweetness of Sin is now spent and wasted and Consum'd The delight which a Sinner has in his Wickedness it is but of small and short Continuance and when that 's gone there 's an end of all with them and so the Spirit of God represents it Therefore they are called the Pleasure of Sin but for a season ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Heb. 11.25 And so Job 20.5 The Tryumphing of the Wicked is short and the joy of the Hypocrites is but for a moment Eccl. 7.6 As the crackling of thornes under a Pot so is the laughter of a Fool. They make a great blaze for a while but quickly done A man presently comes to the bottom of all the Contentment that he takes in Sin the Guilt of it that 's lasting but the Pleasure of it is but of short Continuance and when this is once over and gone there is nothing left behind but Misery and Sorrow and Grief Secondly Another Ground of this Change is that Conscience is sometimes now awaked when the Honey is gone the Sting that comes after it The horrour of Conscience succeeds pleasure in Sin When men have had their fill of their Lusts and Glutted and satisfied themselves with the Commissions of them they begin now to be at Leasure to consider of their Madness and Folly which before they did not mind out of the eager pursuit of their Lusts Now when they have nothing else to do
Translations besides The Hebrew word is Barak which signifies properly to bless and so we find it to be used even here in this present Chapter the 10th verse of it Thou hast blessed the work of his hands Berakta That which I shall speak of this word and passage here before us I shall reduce to two heads either by taking it in it's next and usual and proper and ordinary signification and so read it They have blest God or else by taking it in it's remote and contrary and improper and unusual signification and so read it They have cursed God c. First Take it in it's next proper and usual signification It may be that my sons have sinned and have blessed God in their hearts This at the first hearing seems to be somewhat incongruous Forasmuch as to bless God has no matter of sinfullness in it which yet here is suspected by Job at this time concerning his children in the conjunction of these two words both together But yet for all that if we shall well weigh the words there will be no incongruity notwithstanding and that as I conceive according to a threefold exposition which may be fastned upon them And that thus 1. It may be my sons have sinned and blest God in their hearts That is that they have sinned together with their blessing of God not that they have sinned by blessing but that they have with Blessing or in blessing And this word in their hearts Bilvavam to be referr'd not so much to blessing as to sinning They have sinned in their hearts it is to be feared whiles they have blessed God with their mouthes This meeting of Jobs Children it was a meeting of Joy and Rejoycing and probably also of praise and Thanksgiving wherein they did outwardly bless God and testifie their thankfulness to him for some special mercy received from Him This their Father Job was privy to and acquainted withal now although he did well approve of this performance for the thing it self that God should be blest by them who did deserve all acknowledgement from them yet because he was an holy man very tender of the glory of God and likewise a Godly Parent very fearful of his childrens miscarriages therefore he was somewhat suspicious lest they might offend as to the frame of their hearts and spirits in this service in which respect they might sin inwardly at the very time of their external benedictions and celebrations of Gods goodness to them Thus it will carry a very good sense and meaning with it and afford a very good instruction and observation from it And that is this That Inward failings and Distempers of spirit they do oftentimes accompany outward services and performances of Duty Men may bless God with their lips and yet in the mean time sin against Him in their Hearts This is that which is here implyed and supposed concerning Jobs children according to this Interpretation and is incident to many others besides together with them Thus Isa 29.13 14. This people draw near to me with their mouth and with their lips they do honour me c. but their heart is far from me c. And so Hos 7.14 They have not cryed unto me with their heart c. This is usual and ordinary and it does proceed from that Hypocrisy which by Nature rests in mens Hearts men are careful to have a good outside now and then and to conform to some outward Duties of Religion because they carry some speciousness with them but the Inward frame and Disposition of Spirit is little heeded or regarded by them Therefore we should from hence search and Examine our selves in this particular and be Suspicious and Jealous of our selves likewise as Job was of his sons see whether or no when we have Blest God we have not sinned against him in our Hearts Secondly It may be my Sons have sinned and blessed God in their Hearts It may admit of such an Interpretation as this Though my Sons have blest God in their Hearts and do habitually stand right to Him yet perhaps they may have fallen into some occasional and actual Miscarriage This is that which Job did suspect as that which was incident to his Children And so it is also to any else besides of the servants of God and there are daily instances of it There are Sins of three sorts accordingly as Divines distinguish them First Sins as we call them quotidianae incursionis of daily and frequent Incursion which whilst we remain here in the Flesh are inseparable from us and we shall never be freed from here below There are defects and faylings and infirmities which do more or less adhere and cleave unto us wheresoever we are and whatsoever we are about yea even in our Duties and Holy things themselves now it is not probable that Job by his Childrens sinning meant such a kind of sinning as this is for this had been without a may-be or perhaps he might be sure that they had sinned in this sense and no less could be expected from them Secondly Sins which do in a more special manner wound the Consciences and have a more notorious guilt with them which we call Devoratoria salutis according to the expression of Tertullian or which do drown men in Eternal Perdition according to the expression of St. Paul neither can I think that Job did mean or intend such a sinning as this when he says It may be they have Sinned For this though they were subject unto yet perhaps they were not so likely to fall into neither had he probably any occasion to suspect it Thirdly Sins of a middle Nature betwixt both which yet were neither Sins of Infirmity nor yet Sins of Presumption but rather of non-attendency and Neglect which yet it was very sad and unpleasing to be guilty of Job did fear that his Children might perhaps a little turn aside and slip into somewhat which was uncomely and unlawful for them upon this occasion though he did withall hope that for the main their Hearts were stedfast to God There are some Interpreters which retaining the word Blessing as the word of the Text do mention it either by a single Negation or by a Diminution of it in them By a simple Negation thus They have Sinned and not blessed God in their Hearts including the Negative in the word perhaps By a Diminution thus It may be my Sons have Sinned and little blessed God in their Hearts Each of these do charge Iobs Children as to this Business of their blessing of God either in it self or in the Circumstances of it First Take it Negatively They have sinned and have not blessed God i. e. They have sinned in not blessing of God and so he seems to censure them for their Neglect either of Craving a Blessing upon the Creatures or of giving thanks to God for them And that they did it neither Actually nor yet Habitually neither with their Mouthes nor yet in their Hearts The
to disquiet where mens Hearts and Consciences shall tell them that they have been wanting and failing in those performances which the Lord has expected from them this will go near to sadden and trouble them and deprive them of that inward comfort which they should otherwise have Especially if we shall add hereunto where these have been the motions and suggestions of Gods Spirit inclining and provoking thereunto then the neglect is so much the greater and consequently the disquietness will be the more It 's bad enough for us to Sin against a bare command and to neglect our Duty there where God has given us a General rule for the performance of it but now further to sin against an Excitement and Motion and invitation of Gods Spirit this has a further aggravation in it Fourthly For the getting and preserving of this peace whereof we speak there must be a daily and continual renewing of our Covenant made with God Often reckoning we use to say makes long Friends and so certainly t is here in this particular The way to keep up our peace with God is frequently to make up the Breaches and divisions which may fall between us by speedy Humiliation and Repentance and turning to Him We should not let the Sun to go down upon any difference betwixt God and us but out of hand close it up and that as soon as we discern it and apprehend it and are made sensible of it Take heed that the Heart do not ranckle or fester under the guilt of any Sin or neglect which at any time may lie upon it These and the like Courses are to be taken for the procuring and preserving of a Quietness and Peaceableness in us and we shall put these Directions in Practise that we may procure and preserve it so indeed It is a pictiful thing to consider what strangers many people are to this Business we speak off how few there are which know what belongs to true Peace such a peace as is of Gods giving which passes all understanding which the World is not able to give and which will afford a man comfort which all the world cannot take away The most sort of persons that are regard it not attend it not consider it not we are all for an outward peace and I do not speak against it I would we had it upon good Conditions but who is there almost that looks after inward peace and Tranquillity of Conscience which consists in forgiveness of Sin Reconciliation with God and the assurance of his love and favour made over and confirm'd to the Soul Alas these are things which people may talk off and these are things which people may hear off but most people know not what they mean nor what belongs unto them And this may be the first Application Secondly Seeing this is so That no condition shall be troublesome to that person which is in favour and peace with God We see then here Beloved the happy estate of the children of God in the midst of all those outward prejudices and disparagements which they lye under Happy are the People which are in such a case yea happy are the people whose God is the Lord. We see here who are in the best condition in these sad and distracting times It is not those which have the greatest abundance of these outward comforts and injoyments but which have most of this inward peace It is not he which hath the most Wealth but he that hath the most Grace He is the freest from trouble who has the greatest quietness given him from God even there where he has least from men our happiness it is not so much from without us If we have calm and quiet spirits we may make a shift to do well enough even in troubled and perplext estates And this is the blessed condition of the children of God which should make us so much the more in love with the Generation of Gods people and with Godliness and Religion Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness and all her pathes are peace as it is said of spiritual wisdom Prov. 3.17 Beloved there is not that esteem of Religion and the estate of a Christian as indeed it is fitting there should be Men do not apprehend or consider what a noble Condition it is nor improve it to that height of Comfort and Contentation as it were possible for them and that 's the reason that there are so low thoughts many times of those which are the professors and true imbracers of it whereas indeed upon the proof and experiment there is nothing of so comfortable a Consideration as this is not onely in reference to Heaven and the Comforts of a better life but also in reference to the World and our being and abode here in our Pilgrimage upon Earth Godliness it has not onely the comforts of the End but likewise of the Way It has it's reward and Happiness in it so far forth as it carryes us on with comfort through all the troubles of this present Life When he gives Quietness who then can make Trouble We may understand it by taking trouble in a temporal signification When the Lord gives inward Quietness a man shall suffer no great inconvenience from outward trouble No condition in regard of the world shall come amiss unto him And that 's the First Explication Secondly We may also take it thus When he gives Quietness none then can make trouble That is Where God gives Spiritual peace and Tranquillity of Conscience none shall then be able to cause any disturbance or perplexity in it none can possibly take away the peace of that Soul which is at peace with God This we have plainly signified to us in Rom. 8.33.34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even c. This we may see made good in all the several particulars which we may conceive as any way capable to cause disturbance First Not Satan He shall not be able to make trouble where God will give peace Satan is a mighty stickler to disturb the peace of Gods people and to weaken their confidence and assurance of his love and he takes all advantages and opportunities that may be to this purpose especially in the hour of Death and the day of Tryal c. A foul pudder he makes oftentimes in this regard but yet where God will acquit and give quietness all is in vain Christ has spoyled Principalities and Powers Colos 2.15 And he has destroyed the Devil himself Heb. 2.14.15 The Accuser of our Brethren is cast down which accused them before our God Day and Night and they have overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 12.10.11 The blood of Christ sprinkled upon the Conscience discharges from the accusations of Satan neither is he able to do any hurt where the Lord will obsolve As for
the ground or occasion of making this Question For he hath said in his heart Thou wilt not require it which words may be here looked upon by us two manner of wayes either in the Absolute sense or in their Relative According to the Absolute sense and notion of them so they are a Declaration of the temper of wicked men They say in their hearts thou wilt not require according to the Relative sence and notion of them for they seem to be either a Proof or an Account of what was said before concerning such persons as to their contemning of God This is a Proof that they do so and this a reason also why they do so They say in their heart Thou wilt require it First Take it in the absolute sense The wicked hath said in his heart thou wilt not require it Wherein again two things more First The Speech it self which is uttered Secondly The way or manner of uttering it the speech it self which is uttered is Thou shalt not require it The way or manner of uttering it that is not with the mouth but in the mind He hath said in his heart c. First For the speech it self Thou wilt not require it This is that which wicked men think and say of God that he will not require their wickedness and Contempt of him when it is said That he will not require it there is two things implyed in this Expression First That he will not regard it And Secondly That he will not revenge it Each of these are intended in this Requiry First He will not require it that is he will not regard it so our former English Translations renders it whereby wicked men would take off from God all attending or observing of their Wickedness as if he minded it or heeded it not but let them alone without any regard at all of them He will not require it that is he will not inquire into it as the Hebrew word Darash which is here used does also import They think that God sits in Heaven but takes no notice of the Iniquities of Evil men here upon Earth This is very proper and natural to them it s our Translation also carries it in the Text. He saith in his heart Tush thou God carest not for us and so in vers 11. He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten it he hideth his face he will never see it and so Psal 94.7 They say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it This is that which wicked men perswades themselves that God mindes not their wicked ways and that he will not discover or find out them in it but rather pass by them as they said in Ezekiel The Lord hath forsaken the Earth the Lord seeth us not Ezek. 8.12 But Secondly He will not require it that is he will not revenge it This is another thus included and which such perswade themselves of that let them be as wicked as they will be yet they shall never be called to an account for their wickedness nor answer for it He will not require it that is he will not requite it this is that which they perswade themselves off among other things As we read of that presumptuous Person which is mentioned in Deuteronomy When he said he should have peace though he walked after the Imagination of his own evil Heart Thus does many others say with him they please themselves in the hopes of freedom from Punishment notwithstanding all their Provocations and that though they be never so wicked yet God will be indulgent to them This proceeds from that Settlement which Sin hath in their Hearts and that inordinate self-love which is in them they think it to be so as they desire it and would indeed have it so Those who are in love with Sin they would faine decline Punishment and hope to be free from it upon that Consideration Sin infatuates them and blindes their minds in this particular insomuch as they cannot discern that danger in which they are nor that vengeance which hangs over their heads and is near unto them And Satan also joyns with their corrupt hearts to perswade them further to that pass as he did in the very first time of all in his Temptations of our first Parents in Paradise Told them that they should not dye notwithstanding all that was threatned against them The like does he also do still in his Applications to the Sons of men and his inticeings of them This may therefore serve as a Discovery of the Misery which is upon man in this regard while it is thus with him Here 's the sad Condition of all wicked men which remain in their Natural Estate out of which they are not redeemed by Christ and his Spirit changeing of their Hearts That they are given up to such a Spirit of Delusion as this is in both particulars as to think that God neither observes their Sins nor yet will call them to a reckoning for them because they do not mind them themselves or because other men perhaps do not mind them therefore that God will not mind them neither This I say is a great Misery and a sore Evil under the Sun to be thus affected and is much to be bewayled in all such Persons as are subject thereunto because from hence as we shall hear more afterwards they are more exposed to the violence and prevalency of Sin in them as gaining and getting ground upon them The thoughts of Gods all-seeing Eye and Justice and Severity against Sin These might happily help them in one and restrain them from it But now while these are supprest in them they are hence exposed to all manner of Evil to raign in them wickedness it will stick now with them while they have such opinion and apprehensions of God as these are For a further Aggravation of this Speech of wicked men in the hainousness of it we may take notice of the manner of Expression as it is here set in the Second Person Thou wilt not require it Indeed some Translators read it in the third He will not require it But in the Original Text which is more Emphatical it is there as it is here in our own English Copies and it serves to this purpose to shew Impudence and notorious Boldness of wicked men in this particular who do not onely say this of God but say it to him Are not ashamed to declare it to his very face and to charge him as it were with it as if they would in a manner dare him and confront him and out brave him in it This I say is here further considerable in the desparateness of men we see what great cause we have among other reasons to take heed of giving our selves any scope or liberty in any thing which is Evil when it has such a sad effect as this is upon the minds of those who gave way unto it Oh stop it therefore at first in the
look to themselves as we see it was with David himself when he began he had never done but went on still in sinning against the Lord even to the sin of murder Secondly He that goes on in his Trespasses as he multiplies sin so he aggravates it He makes it more grievous and heinous then it was before and that as being now clothed with more odious circumstances for the longer a man continues in sin the more he sins First Against the Spirit of God wrestling and striving with him and moving and working in him He sins against all those Admonitions which are given him to the contrary in Education in the Ministery of the word in the good Counsel and Example of others He stifles those checks of Conscience which are administred to him which cannot restrain him and keep him in Secondly He sins against Providence whether in the Judgement or Mercies of God inviting him to Repentance And Thirdly Against many promises and Covenants and resolutions and purposes of reformation which have been made by him Thus in all these respects does he aggravate sin in himself and thereby procure punishment Lastly He confirms and settles sin in him The more that any man sins the more he may and the oftener he falls into the acts of it the more does he increase the vitious and sinfull habit Especially in case of Relapse after some former restraints of it when men have for some time abstain'd from sin and then return again to their old and wonted course in it they become from hence more insnared in it then they were before as it is in 2 Pet. 2.20 If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ they are again intangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them then the beginning For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness then after they have known it to turn from the holy Commandment delivered unto them now a course of sin is such as draws along judgement with it It is not simply he that falls into sin ignorantly non-attendantly through infirmity for some single mis-carriage or so though that be bad enough too but he that abides and continues in it He that walks and goes on as the word in the Hebrew Text Mithkallek properly signifies that 's the person who is here aymed at in the shooting of Gods Arrows against him So much for that first particular viz. The person threatned such an one c. Now the second is the evil threatned And that is wounding Jimchats He shall wound This it carries a double Emphasis with it First It is a Mollified expression Secondly It is a Peremptory one It is Mollified expression First It is not he shall kill but he shall wound God begins with wounding which is onely killing in the preparations and tendencies to it that so if it be possible men may be bettered and wrought upon by that He will not quite undo men if there be any hope at all of their amendment and reformation Therefore it is good for them to take notice of it do not slight any beginnings of wrath and vengeance which God layes upon thee for he does it thereby to reclaim thee He corrects thee in measure but yet will not let thee go altogether unpunished as it is in Jer. 30.11 This is a very Gracious and Merciful Dispensation The Lord if he pleased might wholly cut off and destroy make an utter and absolute end and consumption at once Now that he is pleased but to wound there 's the more favour and goodness in it and accordingly to be acknowledged yea t is a part of Gods Nobleness and Magnanimity satis est prostrasse He counts it enough for him to lay his Enemies flat He does not so much care to insult and to Triumph over them or to do the worst that He can against them But Secondly As it is a Mollified expression so it it a Peremptory He shall or will do it does it not yet it may be but yet means to do it hereafter if he be not the better prevented that he would have to be supposed and taken for granted Though hand joyn in hand yet the sinner shall not go unpunished as it is Prov. 16.5 God will certainly sooner or later wound all obstinate and pertinacious sinners whatsoever they be we see he has here threatned it and in many other places besides and he will accomplish it accordingly There are two things which make men to hope the contrary The one is the apprehension of Gods Mercy God is good and gracious and therefore may escape punishment this is the reasoning of many persons but such as these do not consider that He is just and righteous too Gods Attributes do not cross one another He is so far forth merciful to penitent sinners as that withall he is severe to pertinacious and these two they must not be devided or separated on from the other God hath a stroking for Converts and a striking or wounding for enemies both at once Therefore we find them both put togethere there in the Psalms Gracious is the Lord and righteous Psal 116.5 Again Another thing which makes many men to flatter themselves is because they have escaped all this while so as they have done God has not yet wounded them and therefore they think he will not wound them at all according to that of the Preacher Eccl. 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil But this is no argument at all if it be duly considered For Judgement that stayes for a while it will come at last and the less that men suffer at present the more their's to come God will be in no mans debt either for the reward of evil or good but will undoubtedly pay it into their bosomes That they may conclude on and make account of He will wound them it is a Peremptory kind of Expression For the further improvement of this passage we may take notice of one thing more in a way of Illustration and that is the singular Number such an one as goes on still in his trespasses It is not of those that do so in the plural but of Him that does so in the singular To signifie thus much unto us that God does not onely set himself against sinners at large and in the crowd but that he takes notice likewise of every particular offender And he will deal more immediately with Him as he has occasion for it There are many which perhaps may think either their Persons or their Sins to be so small as that God does not observe them or has any regard of them but they are deceived in so thinking for God has an eye upon every Sinner whosoever he is even the smallest and meanest that is and he will not onely punish the Assembly and
Congregation of evil doers but also every particular person that shall ingage Himself in evil ways and there is nothing which shall stand in his way as an Obstacle or Impediment hereunto He is resolved and determined to do it without any Gainsaying or Contradiction wound them he will And that 's the Second thing considerable to wit the Evil in General threatned and that 's wounding The Third is the part wherein and that 's here exprest to be the Head This is not Exclusive but Specificative it is not the Head so as if no where else besides but the Head as therein Especially As for obstinate Sinners they have many wounds inflicted upon them in other respects As First In their Good Names they have a wound oftentimes in them Prov. 6 33. A wound and a Dishonour shall he get and his reproach shall not be wiped away Those that go on wilfully in base and unworthy Courses they do hereby much desparage themselves in point of Reputation this is somewhat and that which is to be minded by them The very Heathen man could say Puto cum perisse c. I think he is lost and quite undon that has no regard to his good Name and Estimation This is the Lot of a Foolish Bold Presumptuous Sinner that refuses to be reclaimed he lies under a Reproach and Contempt He has a wound and a blast oftentimes in his Credit an Account in the world Secondly A wound in his Estate that does also many times from Hence lie a bleeding Idleness it is clothed with Rags as Solomon speaks Prov. 23.21 And he that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man Prov. 21.19 Loose and Licentious Courses they are such as bring men to Beggery and want which as an Armed man comes upon them Thirdly A wound in their Consciences which is the great wound of all This is another which God does inflict upon them As St. Peters Auditors Acts 2.37 When they heard these things namely their Guiltiness of such and such Sinns they were prick't in their Hearts That 's a wound which is not easily Cured or made up A wounded Spirit says Solomon who can bear This is that which is attendant upon Sins especially from the Continuance in it it does very much lay wast the Conscience and make holes and furrows in it All these wounds does God inflict upon his Enemies as it pleases him which are not to be Excluded But that which is here specified is in the Head and hairy Scalp God does especially wound them there This for the opening of it to us does denote three things to us according to the different notion which the Head does carry in it First In their Intellectuals takes away their Brains from them Secondly In their Vitals takes away their Life from them Thirdly In their Principalities and Eminencies takes away their Glory from them First I say In their Intellectuals takes away their Brains from them God infatuates wicked men besots them and spoyles them of their wits He confounds the wisdom of the Wise and brings to nothing the Vnderstandings of the Prudent c. 1 Cor. 1.19 Such a wound as this it was that which was inflicted upon Nebuchadnazar when his Vnderstanding was taken away from him Dan. 4.34 And when he was turned to eat grass like the Ox. This God does with many such Persons bereeves them of their Vnderstandings or if he does not doe it in a natural way yet he does at least in a Spiritual gives them up to a blind mind and to a seared Conscience and to a reprobate sense which is one of the Greatest Evils and Judgments that may be Thus it is recorded of the Heathens Rom. 1.28 That as they did not like to retain God in their knowledg God gave them over to a Reprobate mind c. Those that go on in Sin they many times come to such a pass as not to discern it or judg of it especially such as this Sin may be which they are guilty off which sometimes may so much the more stupify them and take away their Understanding This is one way wherein God wounds those which are his Enemies in the Head And we cannot wonder at it if we do but consider how they use their Heads oftentimes against Himself which they do by a double practise First In the contriving of Sin And Secondly In the defending of it Wicked men they use their Heads against God to each of these purposes and therefore does he wound them in them First As to the contriving of Sin they do many times abuse their Heads thus in being witty to invent and devise evil attempts the Brain of an Ungodly person is very fruitful in this particular he is still musing and plotting and casting about some evil or other never well but when he is taken up in such Devises as these are And therefore does God meet with him in them he disappoints the devises of the Crafty c. Secondly As to the defending of it this is another thing wherein men use their Heads and imploy their wits to strain an excuse of Sin a justifying and a maintaining of it such Heads as have evil Hearts joyn'd with them they labour all that may be to make Sin as little odious as they can to palliaââât and extenuate it and to put the appearance of Virtue upon it thus they use their Heads ãâã and accordingly does God punish them for it by wounding them in their Intellectuals and takes away their wit from them Secondly In their Vitals he takes away their Life from them The Head as it is the Seat of Reason and Vnderstanding so likewise of Sense and Motion it has all the Senses in it in a more full and perfect measure and degree then any other parts of the Body now therefore when it is said here that God will wound the Head of his Enemies we have hereby signifyed that he will destroy their Life He will give them a mortal wound so as to extinguish them and take them away out of the World This is that which he will do and which he threatens to do here in this place when he says that he will wound their Head And it is sutable likewise to other places besides where God does threaten as much against them Look through the whole Scripture and ye shall find it the currant Doctrin of it that God will wound the head of his Enemies thus Thus he did with Pharaoh with Senacherib with Herod and such as these Examples are frequent to this purpose Nor there are two principles which do ingage him and move him hereunto The one is his own Glory the other is his Churches good First His own Glory in the Vindication of his Justice upon evil men and so prevent Atheism in the word If God should suffer wicked men to go on without Controul they would be ready to think that there were no God at all but now when he punishes them he does here convince them so
no God will do it and surely he will do it this that in it But what will he do He will wound the head of his Enemiss what 's that why not onely his Enemies in the Head as we have hitherto handled it but likewise as we may further Explain it The principal of them He will wound the head of his Enemies that is he will wound the chief of his Enemies that 's another Explication which we may very well fasten hereupon according to that also in another place Psal 110 6. He shall wound the Heads ever many Countryes And Hab. 3.13 Thou woundest the Head This may be reduced to three Heads especially First To Satan Secondly To Antichrist Thirdly To all other potent Enemies whatsoever First Satan God will wound his Head it is the course which is threatned upon Him from the very beginning Gen. 3.15 Semu mulieris conterit caput Serpentis The seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head That is Christ shall break the head of the Devil This was promised to our first Parents in Paradise and it is that which we shall find to be made good to our selves So Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall tread Satan under your feet shortly And Luke 10.18 I beheld Satan like Lighting fall from Heaven This is that which the Scripture sayes of Him Secondly Antichrist It says as much of him also in 2 Thes 2.3 The man of Sin is there Emphatically called the Son of Perdition And expresly vers 8. Whom the Lord shall Consume with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his Comming Thirdly All other Potent Enemies whatsoever The Rulers Princes and Governous of the World Thus again Psal 110.5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath So Psal 2.2.3.4 And here in this present Psalm vers 11.12 The Lord gave the word great was the Company of those that published it Kings of the Army did flee apace and She that tarried at home divided the spoyl The use of all this is Comfort to the Church of God that we being delivered from all our Enemies c. So much for that Exposition and so also for the whole Text. But God shall c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã SERMON XVIII Psal 75.8 For the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them This Text which I have now read unto you is a very terrible Text which Carries a great deal of Terrour and affrightment and Consternation with it even in the very first Proposal of it but yet Couch'd and vayled under such terms and Expressions and Metaphors and allusive Resemblances as doe allay and Mollify it to us It is in one word an Account of the Severity of Gods Dispensations in the Dispising of these inferiour matters and affairs here below The Psalmist had in the verse before told us of Gods absolute Power and Soveraignty in the Ruling and Governing of the World that he is the Judg of all who Changes the Hours and Seasons as Daniel speaks Dan. 2.21 And takes upon him to remove and settle as he pleases he putteth down one and setteth up another in the 7th vers of this Psalm Now here in the Text he does amplify and prosecute this Argument which he had mentioned and propounded by taking men off from opposing or contradicting that truth which he had there promised from the Consideration of the danger which is consequent and insuing thereupon For in the hand c. IN this present Verse before us to give the full view of it we have a lively description and amplification of the Judgements of God upon the world which are here set forth unto us under a threefold representation of them First In their preparation Secondly In their Execution And Thirdly in their Participation The Preparation of them that we have in those words In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red c. The Execution of them that we have in those words He poureth out of the same The Participation of them that is in these words But the draggs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them We begin in order with the first viz. The Preparation of these Judgements For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture Wherein again we may take notice of three particulars more First The Vessel and that is a cup. Secondly The liquor and that is red wine full of mixture Thirdly The Preparer and Orderer and Disposer and Qualifier of it and that is God himself This cup of red wine and full of mixture it is in the hand of the Lord. First I say Here 's the vessel and that is a cup. This is one thing whereby the Judgements of God in Scripture both here and in other places are described and represented unto us It is Calix es poculum Indignationis Isa 51.17 The cup of fury And ver 28. The cup of trembling and Ezek. 23.33 The cup of astonishment and many such expressions as these are This it is among other reasons especially for this as hereby signifying the collection and gathering together of his punishments all in one that as in a cup you have the liquor united and incompast in such a space so is it likewise with the Judgements of God they are a great while gathering together and then they serve to make up a cup from the fullness and completeness of them God distributes these his sorrows not by drops only but cups To speak more distinctly of it and to open this Metaphor so much the better unto us By this Cup or Vessel of reception we may understand whatsoever it is which is the means and conveyance and derivation of any evil unto us For as there are divers evils and calamities in the world which our natures are subject unto so there are accordingly divers conveyances and transmissions of these evils to our hands since they come to us in one way and some they come to us in another and they are but the expression as we see it was with holy Job There were the Sabeans and the Chaldeans and the Fire and the wind from the wilderness All these were so many cups wherein the Lord gave him to drink of the waters of bitterness affliction And so he does with many others He hath his several conveyances to his purpose some he afflicts in their bodies and some in their spirits and some in estates and some in their relations All of them are but cups of displeasure and that they are They doe serve for this end and intent to be the means and instruments of their afflictions Indeed t is true these cups are of different sizes and capacities as I may so
's his thoughts his Meditations his Expectations his Hopes and Desires He is nothing but Earth in the whole frame and temper of his Spirit Therefore are wicked men in Scripture Emphatically call'd the World and men of the World and Inhabitants of the World and dwellers upon the Earth as if there were nothing else which they cared for or had any mind or affection unto And then as it is their portion to we must take in that with it Terram dedit filicis hominum God has bestowed the Earth upon them as being all which he makes account to give them here they have their Portion and Reward and Inheritance and consolation as the Scripture does abundantly signify and demonstrate unto us more particularly and expresly in that place of the Prophet David Psal 17.14 Men of the world have their portion in this life as expressing the quality of the offender Thirdly The Wicked of the Earth it may be taken by way of Denomination that is such persons as are more notoriously wicked and are guilly in a more eminent degree The Spirit of God makes choyce of such words which might be most expressive and proper to the business in hand he does not say simply Sinners for then no man should be excluded forasmuch as the best that are they have the Defilement of Sin in them nor he does not say onely the Wicked that is meer natural and unregenerate persons for there is a difference also of these and all are not so deeply involved and ingaged in Sin one as another but he says the wicked of the Earth that is such as are more Scandalous and Presumptuous and Impenitent and farthest from Reformation such as these who for the nature of the Sin are more Abominable and for the continuance in it are more Incorrigible these are they which the Holy Ghost does here point at in a more principle manner And this for the persons here mentioned to wit the wicked or ungodly of the Earth The Second is the Evil which is denounced against them and that is That they shall wring out the Dregs and drink them Where again two things more First The Draught or Potion it self and that is the Dregs of the Cup. Secondly The manner of Participation of it and that is by wringing them out and drinking them .. For the First The Potion or draught it self it is the Dregs of the Cup. This is the Potion and Portion of wicked men while t is said they shall drink the Dregs there are three things implyed in this expression as belonging unto it First The Reservation of Judgment they shall drink the last Secondly The Aggravation of Judgment they shall drink the worst And Thirdly The Perfection and Confirmation of Judgment they shall drink up all They shall drink the last they shall drink the worst they shall drink all each of these are implyed in the Dregs First They shall drink the last here 's the Reservation of Judgment The Dregs they lie at the botom and are not come to till all the rest of the cup be drunk up before And this is the Stato and Condition of wicked men As to the Judgments of God they are such as are last in it When God has warmed Himself a little with his Children in the Chastening and Correcting of them then he pours forth the fierceness and fury of his Vengance and Indignation upon his Enemies in the Punishing and Destroying of them so that they have in a manner the weight and Impression of all that went before Look as in the shewing of Mercy in Dispensation of Himself to his People God reserves the best for the last to them as he did with the Wine at the Marriage in Canaan so likewise in the Exercise of Wrath and execution of Judgment upon his Enemies God reserves the worst for the last to them also He reserves wrath for his Enemies as it is in Nahum 1.2 Therefore let none flatter themselves from present forbearance and by thinking that they are not involved in the common Calamities for although they be not as yet they may be time enough hereafter and their condition so much the heavier It is is no sign or argument of innocecy alwayes to escape present Judgement The wicked they drink the dregs that is the last of the Cup. Secondly They drink the dregs and that 's the worst of the Cup If there be any thing worse then other at any time it still settles at bottom there 's the collection and congregation of all the venome and poyson together And so t is with ungodly persons in regard of Divine Judgements they partake of the very worst of all the rest .. That cup of mingled wrath which we spake of before it comes to them with the greatest disadvantage that possibly may be They have that which others have left and which there soul abhorred to partake off which they desired to be delivered from and were heard in that which they desired That wicked men do taste of and not onely taste but swallow down and as they are the vilest in sinning so they are the miserablest in suffering and that 's the aggravation Thirdly Here 's the Perfection or Confirmation of Judgement they shall drink up all there 's nothing comes after the dregs that 's the last of all in this cup and therefore they that take down them they take down all And this is the lot of ungodly men there 's not one judgement which belongs unto them which they shall not partake of As they fill'd up the measure of their sins so they shall likewise fill up the measure of the wrath of God which shall be poured upon them for their sins Yea and they shall All do it too we may not omit that neither All the wicked of the earth As there 's an universality of the Judgement so there 's an universality of the Patients They shall drink all of it and they shall all of them drink it that so no man may here favour or flatter himself They that are far from thee shall perish thou shalt destroy all them that go a whoring from thee as it is in Psal 73.27 And thus much for the first Particular to wit the draught or potion it self The dregs of the Cup. The second is the manner of Participation They shall wring them or suck them out and drink them whiles t is said they shall do it There are two things implyed in this expression First The Certainty of it it is unquestionable And Secondly The necessity of it it is unavoidable They shall do it that is they are sure to do it and no body shall contradict it and they shall do it that is they shall be forced to it and themselves shall not escape it or divert it or withdraw from it but do it thy shall First I say here 's the certainty of it it 's unquestionable there 's no doubt to be made of it God hath said it who is truth it self
them by their Father But he withholds no good thing from them that walk uprightly Therefore let us be sure to look to that and indeavour to find it in our selves before we challenge the Providence of God And yet withall I must add this that this word Vprightly is not to be taken neither in the strictness and rigor of it so as to be free from all kind of Sins or Infirmities whatsoever which is not to be Expected here in this life but Evangelically and in the Sense of the Gospel for a study and Indeavour after Uprightness and Carefulness all we can to walk Holy and unblameably in our Conversations This is the walking Vprightly which the Holy Ghost here intends in this place and which has this Blessing attending upon it Of no good thing withheld from it So much of that viz. The Proposition in the Negative and so also of this whose verse For the Lord God is a Son and shield c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã SERMON XXII Psal 94.19 In the Multitude of my Thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul The Blessed and Holy man David as he was a man of manifold Afflictions which he was exercised and tryed withal so also of manifold Comforts and Consolations in those Afflictions as He had deep calling unto deep in regard of his Troubles so he had Height also calling upon Height in regard of his Inlargement The latter is that which we have now at this time before us IN this present Verse before us we have two General Parts especially observable of us First The Malady And Secondly the Remedy The Malady that we have in these words In the multitude of my Thoughts within me The Remedy that we have in these words Thy Comforts delight my Soul We begin in order with the first viz. The Malady In the Multitude of my thoughts within me wherein again we have these four following particulars First The Grief it self and that is Thoughts Secondly The Amplification of this grief and that is Multiplicity a Multitude of thoughts Thirdly The Subject or if ye will the occasion of it and that is David Himself My Thoughts Lastly The intimacy or closeness of it and that is within me For the first The grief or evil it self which did afflict and trouble at this time it is exprest to be thoughts Cogitationes meae Thoughts considered simply in themselves do not contain any matter of grief or evil they are the proper and natural issue and emanations of the Soul which come from it with a great deal of easiness and with a great deal delight but it is the exorbitancy and irregularity of them which is here intended when they do not proceed evenly and fairly as they ought to do but with some kind of interruption And so the word which is here used in the Text seems to import the Hebrew Sagnaphim carrying an affinity with Segnaphim which is derived from a root that signifies properly a bough Now we know that in a bough there are two things especially considerable as pertinent to our present purpose First there 's the perplexity of it And Secondly there 's the agitation Boughes they usually catch and intangle one in another and boughes they are easily shaken and moved up and down by the wind If there be never so little Air or breath that is any time stirring abroad the boughes they doe presently discover it and are made sensible of it So that this expression does serve very well to intimate and set forth unto us the perplexity and inconstancy of Thoughts which David was now troubled withal and whereof he now complains as grievous and offensive to him They were not thoughts in any consideration but thoughts of distraction such thoughts as did bring some grief and trouble with them This the Septuagint Translates it were so fully apprehensive of as that they quite leave out thoughts and render it onely by griefs ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã According to the multitude of my sorrows But it is more full and agreeable to the word to put them both together my grievous and sorrowful thoughts such thoughts as in regard of the carriage and ordering of them do bring grief and sorrow with them And here we may by the way observe thus much That God need not go far to punish and afflict men when he pleases He can do it even with their own thoughts no more but so He can gather a Rod of these boughes and make a scourge of these twistings wherewith to lash them and that to purpose If He does but raise a Tempest in the mind and cause these thoughts to bluster and bustle one with another there will be trouble and affliction enough though there were nothing besides It is no matter whether there be any ground or occasion for it nor in the things themselves It is enough that there be so but in the conceit and apprehension God can so improve a fancy a meer toy and imagination it self if that he will indeed fasten it and set it on upon the soul there shall be no quiet nor rest for it It is that which many a poor Creature in the world is too sadly acquainted withall a meer vexing and tormenting it self with its own thoughts and the distempers and prevarications of its own brain Belshazzar his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him Dan. 5.6 What does this now teach us but from hence to stand in awe of this Great God who is the searcher and tryer of the thoughts and has the ordering and disposing of them who forms the spirit of man within and declares to him what is his thought as he has that property ascribed unto him Amos 4.13 how I say should we tremble and fear before him Here is that which may take men off from security and hope of impunity in regard of their sins Because it may be sometimes they are out of the reach of humane censure and man cannot so easily come at them they may therefore think themselves safe and well enough no but they are not so for all that God can muster their very thoughts against them and raise a force out of their own Consciences if He pleases which will be punishment enough what 's the Hell of Hell it self That worm that never dyes and that fire that never goes out but this perplexity and irregularity and exorbitancy of distracted thoughts And how often is God pleased in a degree thus to torment them before their time to shew them what he will hereafter do more fully And more particularly let us here be advised to have a special regard to our thoughts above any thing else let us not give our selves too much scope and liberty here but restrain them and keep them in awe There are many which think thoughts are free and that they have leave to think what they please without any contradiction no but they are mistaken in so thinking Even the very thought of foolishness is sin as
of Gods servants in this regard who dare not trust him with their lives and the preservation of them notwithstanding so many Gracious Promises and experiences which they have received from him As David he was but just before delivered out of his enemies hands and he presently cryes I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul even so it is with many others besides who as the Apostle speaks through fear of death are all their life-time subject to bondage Heb 2.15 Now for such as these they may be here said from this passage before us though God may bring them to danger yet as he sees cause he will deliver them from it as he did here with this servant David The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to death Secondly Where we partake of this mercy let us acknowlelge it with all thankfulness Thus does David do here we are to take notice not onely of his words but also of his Affection which is signified in them and the Spirit from whence they came from him he utters them with a great deal of feeling and sensibleness of Gods goodness to him And so they are not onely a narration of his present condition but an acknowledgement of Gods favour to himself to an answerable temper and disposition which he does here Express by the words which came from Him He hath not given me over to Death They are not words of Boasting and Vanity and Ostentation and Carnal Rejoyceing but the words of Soberness and Piety and Discretion And there are divers things intended by them First He would make it an Argument for Patience The escaping greater Evils should breed Contentation under less That as God afflicts us below our Deserts so also below our Capacities that he does not afflict us in the utmost Extremity and so to this purpose should we argue and reason with our selves he has taken away my Health but he hath not taken away my Life He hath exercised me in my Body but he has spared my Soul He hath deprived me of Earthly Comforts but he hath not deprived me of Heavenly of the Graces of his Spirit of the assurance of his Love of the Communion with himself of his own blessed and Gracious presence these he hath not denyed me but continued them still in the midst of all other Discouragements Secondly He would hereby silence the false rumours which were to the Contrary and the Insultations of his Enemies from them for their mouthes were full to this purpose and delighted to be so as these which spake according as they would have it as in the place before alledged Psal 41.6.7 And if he come to see me he speaketh Vanity his Heart gathereth Iniquity to it self when he goeth abroad he telleth it all that hate me whisper together against me against me do they devise my hurt This was the Condition of David in regard of his Enemies They Tryumpht before the Victory and pleased themselves both in the thoughts and speeches of his supposed Ruine and Destruction now by this Expression here in the Text he does in an holy and Humble manner signifie their Mistake and Disappointment as if he had said unto them it is not so bad as ye thought it nor so bad as ye hoped it nor so bad as ye talked it I am through Gods goodness alive still for all the surmises The Lord hath Chastened me sore but he hath not given me over to Death Thirdly Which is here namely Considerable David I say would hereby express his Thankfulness to God for this Mercy they are words of Praise and spiritual Rejoyceing as appears by those that follow in the 19 verse of this Psalm Open to me the Gates of Righteousness and I will go into them and will praise the Lord namely for this his Goodness to me This is that which we all should do as we have occasion for it and indeed there 's none of us all but have so one way or other though some more then other either by way of prevention in keeping of Evils from us or by way of recovery in delivering us out of those Evils and especially in these late Distempers which have been so rife and frequent amongst us for this year now last past wherein Death hath come up into our Windows as the Scripture speaks that we should not be given over to it is matter of due praise unto us and to be acknowledged by us And we cannot better nenew the year unto us then by such performances as these are And further stir up others to do so occasionally from our Example which is another thing here intended by David in this Expression he does not onely hereby signify his own Thankfulness but also excite and stir up others to praise God both for him and themselves upon the like occasion as we find him in another place Psal 34.2.3 My Soul shall make her boast of God the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O magnify the Lord with me and let us Exalt his name together But especially as a third Improvement of this point let us be careful to use our lives well which God has given us to his Glory and so give them back to him again who has first given them too us Life it is a Blessing as it used and ordered by us For men to live onely a Natural Life here in the word to Eat and Drink and take their pleasures like brute Beasts Alas what a poor thing is that for men to live onely for such a purpose as this is to fiill up the measure of their Sins and to aggravate their Account at another Day by thinking that they are delivered to commit such and such Abominations this is very sad and Miserable but then is Life indeed when it is improved to Gods Glory The doing of good in our several Opportunities the Furtherance both of our own and others Salvation and laying up in store a good Foundation against the time to come laying hold on Eternal Life Therefore I beseech ye let us be careful especially to look to this and that likewise those which are in the prime of their Years and Health and Strength let them not neglect so Blessed an Opportunity as that is those that are past it let them indeavour to redeem it for time to Come We should labour to find our lives given us and continued to us in Mercy and Love which we may know to be no otherwise then accordingly as we have hearts given us with them for the improvement of them as we may do any other Mercy besides where it has the stamp of Gods love upon it it makes us to serve him better with it and our selves to be really and indeed so much the better for it whereas when it is otherwise it is a fign it is in wrath and to harden us so much the more in Evil There 's none are so bad as those who are bad after Mercies Received both as having
and then between them fratrum Concordia rara est It is a piece of that misery and unhappiness which mans Nature by reason of his fall and transgression and departure from God is so sadly degenerated into that it should be thus with him Thus Cain and Abel Isaac and Ishmael Jacob and Esau Joseph and those who were his Brethren we know what sad differences there were between them Now the Contrary is that which in this place is here commended unto us That those brethren should be unanimously affected Secondly Brethren in a Civil sense by Custom Contract or Imployment or Civil Association which is that which does more properly belong to your selves these are likewise Brethren and have Peace and Love and Unity charged upon them That they do Unite and agree together Indeed as in the former there are now and then differences here also those who are of the same Art and Trade and Profession They do not always so well sute and correspond one with another as it becomes them to doe These have their strifes and contentions But Brethren these things ought not so to be as the Apostle James speaks Jam. 3.10 There 's a great deal of sweet love and concord and agreement which is required betwixt these and it is that for which such Meetings and Assemblies as these are which we are gathered together at this time were at the first instituted and appointed as for other Considerations besides in reference to your Trade and Merchandise So especially and above all for the continuance and increase of Love They are not onely matters of Complement or formality but of Friendly Improvement Thirdly Brethren in a Spiritual sense from the Principles and Considerations of Piety and Christian Religion these are again Brethren That profess the same Faith that worship the same God that are members of the same Head that expect the same Heaven and Salvation and future Inheritance There are none who have a better Title to this Appellation of Brethren then such and consequently none who have Peace and Vnity more required of them even in that consideration likewise Such Brethren as these are they should especially live together in Vnity And the Scripture is especially inviting them and perswading them and calling them hereunto as most sutable and agreeable to the Principles of their Religion it self as I shewed before unto you Thus Eph. 4.3 When the Apostle had premised this Counsel and Exhortation unto them That they should indeavour to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace He adds these things presently as a Motive and Argument for it There is one Body and one Spirit even as ye are call'd in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Al which are Considerations taken from the very Nature of Christianity it self and from their Interest in it This was that which was the great Praise and Commendation of the Primitive Christians as St. Luke takes notice of it in them That the multitude of them that beleived they were of one Heart and of one Soul Acts 4.32 What a lovely thing was this And so afterwards in succeeding times also The unity of Christians was so famous that they were known by this Discription a people that agree amongst themselves and their very Enemies took notice of it so as to commend and applaud them for it being that which their very Religion and Profession carried them unto And so it does Christianity it is Spiritual Fraternity and upon that account ingages to Vnity and Concord and Correspondency and mutuall Agreement and that more then any other else besides And that 's the second particular to the Subjects of this Vnity here mentioned Namely Brethren and that in all the several Notions and Denominations of it whether of Nature or Civility or Religion The Third and Last is the Exercise or Improvement or Manifestation of this Vnity and that is in dwelling together For Brethren to dwell together in Vnity There are two words at once and both of them very significant the one is the word together and the other is the word Dwelling each of which have their proper Force and Emphasis with them and do belong to this Vnity which is here mentioned and commended in Brethren First We may take notice of the Former to wit the word Together This is much intended in the Text as appears by the word which is added to it in the Original though not exprest in our English Translation and it is Gam which signifies Even Gam jachadh even together and so it is a word of Society and mutual Converse They that dwell together they come together and they meet together that 's one thing which is implied in it as pertinent here unto Vnity it is much exprest in Communion and Sociableness of Conversation and as exprest in it so likewise preserved by it and nourished and kept up from it Those that forbear to meet in their Persons they do not so easily meet in their Affections nor in their Hearts one with another whereas that it is a very great Help and Meanes and Conducement to this It makes Friends and Christians so much the better to understand one another and to be accepted with each others Dispositions to know one anothers Natures and to discern one anothers Graces and to be sensible of one anothers Perfections and so consequently to receive the more Comfort and Benefit one from another There is a very great Advantage in such Occasions and Opportunities as these are both for the doing and receiving of Good As Iron sharpeneth Iron so a man sharpeneth the Countenance of his Friend Prov. 27.17 Therefore in Heb. 10.24.25 When the Apostle had premised this Exhortation That we should consider one another to provoke to Love and good Works he presently adds and infers upon it as belonging unto it not forsaking the Assembly of our selves together as the manner of some is Because so doing is a very great Hinderance and Impediment to such performances yea indeed a cutting off all Occasions and Opportunities for them not onely such Assemblings as are of sacred and religious Constitution but likewise which are Common and Civil which do very well go together as they do now in your own present Practise and comming together at this present time Now these are so much the more desireable and Commendable when they are in Peace and Love not onely when there is a Concurrance of Persons but a Concurrance of Hearts and those which are in the same place are of the same mind This is that which is Expresly noted of the Apostles and the Diciples who were met together on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.1 That they were all with one accord in one place and not onely in one place Horses and Beasts may be so they may sometimes stand together but in one place with one accord This was that which
was remarkable in them and is also commendable in any others with them and that which makes Society pleasing and comfortable to them Yea indeed there 's no true Society to speak of without this that meeting which is separated from Love and Vnity and Charity and friendly Agreement it is not a Meeting but a Justling it is not an uniting of Bodies but a disjoyning and dividing of Souls and Spirits which makes the Cheifest and greatest Conjunction That 's the first word here Considerable viz. Together which is a word of Society and mutual Conversation Second is to Dwell sheweth which is a word of Residence and Abode and Continuation This is also pertaining to the Love and Concord of Brethren a Perseverance and Persistency in it not onely to be together or to come together or to meet together for some certain time but to dwell together in Unity this is that which is here so extolled and Commended unto us it seems to be no such great matter nor to carry any such great Difficulty in it for men to command themselves to some Expressions of peace and friendship for some short space of time though there are many now and then which are hardly able to do that but to hold out in it and to continue so long that is almost Impossible to them yet this is that which is required of them as Christians and as Brethren one to another even to dwell together in Vnity to follow Peace and Love and Concord and mutual Agreement not onely upon some occasional Meetings but all along in the whole course of their Lives while they converse and live together For the better opening of this present Passage before us of dwelling together in Vnity we must take it in it's full Latitude and Extent and that is by making it as large as the Persons which are the Subjects of it who are here exprest by Brethren These I told you before came under a threefold Denomination of Natural of Civill and of Spiritual And accordingly also has this Vnity in dwelling together the like reference and respect with it in those that do so Domesticall Politicall and Ecclesiasticall each of these are here signified and intended First Domesticall Unity that dwell together in the same Family Here 's a Commendation of such an Vnity as this is and indeed it is that which is very much to be minded by Christians as that which is in a manner the Ground and Foundation of all the rest As Piety it is to begin here so likewise Vnity that those who are the several parts and members and Inhabitants in it they do serve one another in Love whereby they may be able so much the better to serve God And that their Prayers may not be hindered as the Apostle Peter speaks in 1 Pet. 3.7 This is the Gift of God himself and of him alone who accordingly is to be sought unto for it He is the God that makes men to be of one mind in an House as some Translators reads it in Psal 68.6 Moshiv jechidhim baijth and that fashions their hearts alike Ha-jotser jechidh libbam as it is Psal 33.15 That 's the first kind of Unity which is Domestick The Second is Political Vnity Brethren that dwell together that is that dwell together in the same City as which in regard of any Civil Obligations are interested in it These are also concern'd in this Business there 's nothing more Honourable for Citizens then as much as in them lies to studdy the Peace and Wellfare and Happiness and Prosperity of the City whereunto they belong considered in General and of the Company whereunto they belong considered in particular This is also for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity as it is here exprest this was the Commendation of Mordecai That he sough the wellfare of his people and spake peace to all his seed Esth 10.3 And how does David himself pray for Jerusalem which he tells us was as a City that is at Vnity in it self Psal 101.6 c. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee Peace be within thy walls and Prosperity within thy Palaces For my Brethren and Companions sake will I now say peace be within thee Because of the House of the Lord our God I will seek thy Good That is both upon a Civil account and Religious We know when the Jewes were in Captivity in Babylon the Lord required them to seek the peace of that City wherein they then dwelt Because in the peace thereof they should have peace Jer. 29.7 And if it was so in regard of Babylon how much more should it be so for Jerusalem The Third therefore is Ecclesiastical for Brethren that dwell together that is that dwell together in the same Church or if ye will take it more restraindly that dwell together in the same Parish belong to the same Congregation are under the same Ministry and do partake of the same Ordinances and Exercises and spiritual Advantages and Opportunities Of these also there is required this Unity and Unanity and mutual Agreement in their Society and Converse with one another This is that which the Apostle Paul does so often and Vigorously press upon the several Churches to which he writes to the Romans chap. 15. vers 5. c. Now the God of Patience and Conselation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to Christ Jesus that ye may with one Mind and one Mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ wherefore receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the Glory of God To the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1.10 Now I beseech ye Brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same Judgment To the Ephesians Let all Bitterness and Wrath and Anger and Clamour and Evil speaking to be put away from you with all Malice and be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Eph. 4.31.32 And so again Chap. 5. vers 1.2 Be ye followers of God as dear Children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a Sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling Savour Last of all to add no more at this time to the Philippians Chap. 2. vers 1. c. If therefore their be any Consolation in Christ if any Comfort of Love if any Fellowship of the Spirit if any Bowels and Mercies Fulfil ye my Joy that ye be like minded being of one accord of one mind See how Earnestly and Vehement and Importinent this Blessed Apostle here now is to perswade these Christians to love and agreement as apprehending some special worth and necessity in it And so much may be spoken of the first Branch of this first General in
establishing of his own Counsels Thus it was said to be as concerning the Betraying of Christ He was delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God Act. 2.23 Though it was also by the wicked plottings and contriving of Men. And again Act. 4.27 28. Against this holy Child Jesus were Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people gathered together To do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done Their malice did but further God's design So the Egyptians and Pharaoh for the diminishing and destroying of the Israelites The more they conspired to lessen them and thought they did wisely in doing so the more their number multiplyed and increased And so Haman instead of destroying the Jews he confirmed their Peace and Liberties to them so much the more I might be infinite in Examples in this kind wherein God has over-ruled Men's Devices by the Accomplishments of his own Purposes And the more that they have had their Will the more at last has he come to have had his occasionally from it But To shut up all which hath been spoken with a Word of Application and to conclude These Points thus opened unto us may be drawn forth in a Various Improvement First As matter of Conviction to all such persons as walk contrary hereunto And they are of two sorts especially First That Device without God And Secondly That Device aginst Him That Devise without him first They herein come to be censured and so to be awakened Alas it is but a vain and foolish thing for them so to do as neglecting that which is principally to be looked after by them for the prospering of their Counsels to them that they may be successful Woe be to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that come with a covering but not by my spirit that they may add sin to sin as it is in Isa 30.1 That advice of Solomon is rather better which he gives unto us in Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths Secondly As which devise without God so also which devise against him These are far more vile than the other and their case is desperate for Did ever any man harden himself against God and prosper as Job expostulates Job 9.4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Saul Saul why persecutest thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks in Act. 9.5 Surely there is no wisdom nor conscience nor understanding against the Lord in Prov. 21.30 Therefore the Church of God has sometimes upon this Account triumphed over her greatest Enemies whether for Wisdom or Power as we have a notable place to this purpose Isa 8.9 10. Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces and give ear O ye of far Countries Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Take counsel together and it shall come to naught speak the word and it shall not stand for Immanuel or God is with us In which excellent portion of Scripture the Spirit of God seems to come home to the disposition and practice of men to this purpose in all particulars Men are apt to think with themselves that if they cannot obtain a thing one way they may haply do it another if they cannot do it at this time they may haply do it hereafter if they cannot do it themselves yet they may perhaps do it if they take in other if they cannot do it upon the suddain yet they may do it upon deliberation advice and consultation Well but here is signified that none of these things shall prevail Not Combination not Strength not Counsel nor all these matters reiterated and repeated again If there be a mistake in the End all the means are frustrate that lead and carry unto it But Secondly Here is likewise a Word of comfort to the Church it self and to every true member of it Here is the Encouragement and Security of a good Christian and that in all Varieties and Changes and Uncertainties and Revolutions that are in the World Whosoever belongs to God he may be sure it shall go well with him for his particular because The counsel of the Lord shall stand We know saith the Apostle that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose We know not what things shall be nor we know not what time shall be But what ever either times or things happen to be we know they shall all be for the good of Gods People to the best for them that own him and are saved by him Those who are the called of his Purpose his Purposes shall be sure to be establisht to them and for them There is none besides in the world who can have this promised to them Eccles 8.12 Though a sinner c. Yet I know it shall be well with them that fear the Lord but it shall not be well with the sinner c. It is the Blessed and Happy Privilege of all those that are in Covenant with God that God does nothing in the World but he does it for there sakes and they have a share and interest in the Good and Benefit of it both because they are mainly and principally intended in it as also have hearts in themselves to improve it to their own Advantage All the paths of the Lord are mercy and Truth to them that keep his Covenants and his Testimonies So that the Firmness of his Counsel is by Consequent likewise the firmness of their Conditions Lastly Here 's a Word of Direction how to carry and behave our selves in answerableness to these Truths here propounded and premised Seeing after all the Devices of Man the Counsel of the Lord shall stand as we have all this while heard there are therefore three things especially which do lye upon us to be done by us in reference and order to this Counsel First To be carefull to know it Secondly To be carefull to own it Thirdly To be carefull to improve it and to have recourse unto it First To endeavour to know it let us be carefull of that To know it How can we do that Who hath known the mind of the Lord Or who hath been of his Counsel says the Prophet first and then the Apostle And so it is true in regard of an absolute knowledge and discovery of it His ways are unsearchable and his Judgments are past finding out His way is in the Sea and his path in the great Waters and his footsteps are not known There is a depth in the riches both of the Wisdom and knowledge of God as the Scripture tells us But yet so far as he reveals it us we may be acquainted with it and it concerns us so to be Be
And that Punishment which is light of it self Impenitency aggravates it And that Punishment which is passive of it self Impentence stays it Impenitency is the Cause and Ground and Occasion of the greatest and heaviest Judgments that are And the reason of it is this Because it does seem in a manner to own and justifie sin and stand in the Commission of it Where People sin of Infirmity but yet repent they do thereby in a sort and interpretatively undo what has been done by them And though the Acts of it cannot be recalled by them yet the Guilt of it is in some manner quallified by a contrary frame and temper of spirit and consequent departing from it But Impenitency does as it were repeat and renew the former miscarriage even there where for a time there may be an Actual Abstinency from it He that does not repent of Sin he commits it even then when he refrains it as to the Actual Condition of it Again further Thus is this also in Impenitency that it does in a manner trespass upon all the Attributes of God which it either questions or else vilifies and makes nothing at all of them The Omniscience of God as to the deserts of Sin Psal 94.7 Tush the Lord doth not see neither doth the God of Jacob regard it The Truth of God as to the Threats of Sin 2 Pet. 3.4 Where is the promise of his coming for since the father fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation The Justice of God as to the punishing of Sin Considering God to be all Mercy and Pitty and Indulgence c. The Power of God as to the executing of Judgment As thinking that his hands cannot reach them nor that he is able especially in some cases to be avenged upon it or to do what he threatens against it Yea the Mercy and Goodness of God which it abuses to a further Continuance and Persistency in Evil. Thus trespassing upon all God's Attributes it must needs especially draw down God's Judgments The Third and Last thing observeable in this Passage for the ground and occasion of Judgment whereupon it proceeds is their Continued Obstinacy This was that which was the unhappiness of this People here in the Text as it is also sometimes of divers others besides not only that they did not repent but moreover that they would not there was not only their Negative Remorselesness but also their Positive Perverseness Far as they did not turn to him that smote them so neither did they seek the Lord of hosts They were now so settled upon their Lees and confirmed in their wicked and sinful Courses as that they were wholly and absolutely incorrigible And this must needs now introduce and hasten and hale and pull the Judgments of God down upon our heads Therefore and therefore with a witness will God now proceed to the punishing of them The Consideration of these things should makes us so much the more wary of our selves in this Particular As we desire to avoid Punishment so to be careful to abstain from sin and to take heed of that And especially to take heed of Impenitency and persistence and abiding in sin If by chance we should fall into it not to stay and rest in it Shall we continue in sin saith the Apostle God forbid And so long as we do not repent of it God makes account that we do continue in it which we should be heedful and wary of And more especially above all of Obstinacy and Perverseness of Spirit It is bad enough to sin at first and after that to forbear to repent but to sin and to refuse to repent that is a great deal worse by far and so most of all to be declined by us And so near I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is the Ground or Occasion of God's Judgments threatned against this People included in the Particle Therefore as relating to what went before Therefore because of their impiety and Therefore because of the impenitency and Therefore because of their obstinacy The Second is The Judgment it self in these words The Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail branch and rush in one day Wherein again we have three Branches more First The Denuntiation of the Judgment Secondly The Extent of it And Thirdly The Time The Denuntiation of it The Lord will cut off from Israel The Extent of it Head and tail The Time or Season of it In one day First To speak of the former viz. The Denuntiation of the Judgment The Lord will cut off from Israel Wherein again take notice of three things further First The Author of it and that is the Lord. Secondly The Matter of it and that is Cutting off Thirdly The Subject of it or the Persons and People which are more particularly involved in it and that is Israel For the First The Author of this Judgment which is here mentioned it is expressed to be the Lord. The Expression of it is to be referred to such as themselves who took Samaria and led Israel Captive to Assyria 2 King 17.23 But the Infliction of it is to be referred to the Lord as sole in it Whoever may be the Instrument it is God alone who is the Author of Judgment The Lord will cut off take notice of that This is that which the Scripture does every where declare unto us as Isa 42.24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the Robbers did not I the Lord He against whom ye have sinned And so Isa 45.7 Saith the Lord of himself I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do all these things And so Isa 10.5 6. O Assyrian the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is my indignation I will send him against an hypocritical Nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire in the streets There is no evil in the City that is of punishment and the Lord hath not done it This holds good especially upon a twofold Consideration First Of the Sovereignty and Power of God It is he only that is able to punish It is he alone that hath all Men and Creatures under his Command Men are sometimes out of the reach one of another And though they have now and then a mind to punish yet they have not always an Ability or Opportunity But as for the Lord he is able and powerful As he is mighty to save where he will deliver so he is mighty to punish where he will destroy And then Secondly Upon the Account of the Holiness and Purity which is in God There are none which are so fit to punish others as those who are innocent Persons Guilty and Obnoxious Persons although sometimes they are prevailed to punish in regard of others miscarriages And although
this now is the first Branch of the Punishment of Hell here mentioned viz. The Punishment of Loss consisting in the Privation of the Blessed and Glorious Person of God with the appurtenances of it to all Eternity The Second is the Punishment of Sense which consists in the unspeakable torments inflicted upon Soul and Body for ever and ever All the Parts and Members of Body filled with anguish and pain All the Power and Faculties of Soul filled with horror and destraction from the unexpressible Words of God following upon each of them Therefore set forth by unquenchable fire because fire being one of those things which is most grievous to corporal sense is therefore fittest to express and resemble this condition to us And so by Tophet where the Idolaters did use to burn their children to Moloch which he is said to have made deep and large the pile thereof to be fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a stream of Brimstone to kindle it Esai 30.33 We think it very grievous sometimes to suffer the power of ordinary sickness and diseases here in the World especially such as they may be and hence more then ordinary torture in them the Gout and Stone and Collick and such as these and that but in one Part of the Body alone by it self but that is very grievous also to have but some common greif troubling and perplexing our minds but for a time But what is it to have the whole Body miserably tormented in every part and the whole Soul and Spirit overwhelmed and swallowed up with horror and confusion This is that which is considerable as belonging to this Place and State of Hell whereof we now speak The use which we are to make of this Point thus opened and explained to us viz. The Description of Hell in both the Parts and Branches of it is accordingly for our Parts to believe it and to be perswaded of it Seeing there is indeed such a thing a thing as this we should therefore acknowledge it and behave our selves answerable to it Indeed there are a great many of People that think it too bad to be true And have slight apprehensions of it as they make a mock and scorn of Judgment as I shewed you before so they make a mock also of Hell which as I said is one result of it If so be that mocking would satisfie and serve the turn But alas it will not do so These things are too manifest and evident to be so handled and to be put off by mocking However perhaps for a time People may flatter themselves in such courses as these are But this will not avail always there will be a Time of Punishment come when it will be too late to avoid it And of this Punishment which we now treat of the Damnation of Hell We need go no farther for a proof of it than to the Consciences of many poor wretches themselves in this particular which do declare as much as this comes to For look as there are Beginnings of Heaven and the Anticipation of future Glory in these comforts and Heavenly inlargements which Gods People partake of here in this present World knowing in themselves that there is in Heaven an induring substance as the Apostle speaks to the Hebrews So there are proportionably the beginnings of Hell and precurrences of future Misery and Torment which many People do also feel in their Consciences here upon Earth and whilst others do scoff at them are themselves so sensible of them especiaily so long as they lay not hold on the means of recovery from them Now therefore let all others learn by their example and take heed of doing that which they find lest they find that themselves at last by experience which they now call in question For Hell is for them to feel which at present refuse to believe Acknowledge it and acknowledge it in all the Circumstances and Aggravations of it For there are many who if they will in some respect grant the thing considered in it self yet they are ready to deny it in the full Latitude and Extent of it Think that it is not so grievous and so terrible as some would make it to be but rather diminish it and take from it Well but take heed of that also for there is more in that than men are aware of Who as they are not able to conceive of the Joys of Heaven so neither of the Torments of Hell which are aggravated especially from the continuance and perpetuity of them and the constant thoughts and despair of any freedom or deliverance from them when they are involved in them Neither may we think much of such Parts and Duties as these are in the course of our lives Being such which in their place and season are of singular use and advantage and do much avail to our future good It is better to hear of Hell than to feel it And a good way to keep us from the one is to close with the other The more we hear of Hell meekly and humbly and submissively with a Spirit of Faith and tenderness and awfullness and due obedience the more easily through the blessing of God shall we be kept from it and secured from falling into it That that place and state may not surprize us And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text which is the Place or state it self which is here mentioned and that is Hell The Second is The Persons adjudged and condemned to the places which are here layed down two manner of ways First of all Comprehensively And Secondly Emphatically The Comprehensive Representation That is in that word The Wicked The Emphatical Representation that is in those And all the Nations that forget God First To speak of the former to wit those Persons in their Comprehensive Expression And that is The Wicked Reshagnim Which is a word of great Latitude and Extent It may be reduced for Explication sake to three Ranks and Sorts of People included in it First To all open and notorious Sinners Secondly To all close and reserved Hypocrites Thirdly To all Carnal and Unregenerate Persons whatsoever These are here termed the Wicked and propounded as such as are liable to the Condemnation of Hell First All open and notorious Sinners These are easily known what and who they are who are wicked and that with a witness Carry their very names in their foreheads declare their sin as Sodom and hide it not as the Prophet Isaiah speaks of them such are Drunkards and Whore-masters and Swearers and Lyers and Cheaters and Extortioners and the like The Scripture does in sundry places give in a Catalogue of them and passes this fatal and final Doom upon them of Everlasting Destruction and Damnation In 1 Cor. 6.10 and in Gal. 5.21 it is said expresly of them that They shall not inherit the Kingdom of God In Ephes 5 6. that They have no Inheritance in the Kingdom
is not enough neither to purpose and resolve against Sin for time to come and to lay strong Engagements upon one's self no more to commit it This is another thing which some also will do and when they have done so satisfie themselves in it But it will not serve the turn Yea sometimes if there be nothing more done it does but so much the more entangle them because where there is the greater Restraint there is often times the greater Inclination and Desire after that which is evil And Sin from the Prohibition takes an occasion to be exceeding sinful Neither of these Particulars now mentioned come up to this Forsaking here required Not mere Confession of sin not mere Lamentation over it nor mere Purpose and Resolution against it What may some say then is that which reaches to it and wherein consists it We may reduce it to two Heads especially The one in regard of the Activity of Sin and the other in regard of the Affection The Forsaking of it it contains and comprehends each of these in it First The Practice or Activity of it To forsake Sin is no more to commit it or to be overtaken with it This is one thing which is pertinent hereunto and it is not compleatly performed without it Let men pretend to what they will otherwise yet if they return again to the Commission of their Sins they cannot be said properly to forsake them Forsaking is exclusive of the Acts of it But Secondly That is not all the abstaining from the outward Performances There is many an one who thus forsakes his sin because his sin forsakes him He wants it may be an occasion and opportunity as formerly he has had and therefore good cause he should leave it because he knows not how to commit it There are divers and sundry sins of this nature which men cannot always act though they would and have desire good enough towards them This seems now to be a forsaking but yet it comes short of it and is defective of that which is here required And therefore we must add hereunto a forsaking of it as to the Affection and Love of it Then a man truly forsakes his sin when his heart and spirit is set against it when he forbears it not only from the power of Restraining Grace but from the Principles of renewing Grace and the Work it self Denyal and Mortification wrought in his heart Then we forsake sin indeed when we loath it and hate it and detest it and are out of love with it As a man is said to forsake his Meat not when he cannot get it or come by it but when he has no Stomach to it So is a Man said also to forsake his Lust not when he has no opportunity but when he has an affection for it not when he does simply abstain from the Actual Commission of it but when he has an Habitual Enmity against it And which I must also add hereunto founded in the nature of sin it self and the iniquity of it For a man may sometimes dislike his sin so far forth as he has some dammage by it when as notwithstanding he has otherwise affection good enough for it He may be angry with his sin when he does not hate it But he forsakes it then when he hates it And when he hates it upon the Account of that intrinsecal evil which is in it That is the first Term which is here to be explained namely the word Forsaking The Second is the word Way which takes in Sin in the full Latitude and Extent of a Man's Life and Coversation It is not enough to Repentance or New Obedience for Men to reform in some Particulars either as to the abstaining from some few sins or to the performance of some few Duties but there must be a care of a man's whole Course In all a man's Stations and Relations and Capacities wherein he is considerable If in any of these he has been exorbitant he must forsake the Miscarriages of them Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments says David Psal 119.6 Ye shall have many People sometimes who are content it may be to forsake some sins but they desire to retain others or to reform in some part of their lives but in the rest to give themselves liberty This is not to forsake their Wicked Way which is of a more large and general Extent and Consideration and is diffusive through their whole life And so much may be spoken of the first Reference of this Act of Aversion namely as it respects and relates to a Man's Course Let the wicked forfake his ways The Second is as it reaches to a Man's Mind And the unrighteous man his thoughts That which is here translated Vnrighteous man is in the Hebrew Ishuven that is The Man of Iniquity a Title which belongs to Antichrist Who is accordingly so styled by the Apostle Paul The man of sin 2 Thes 2.3 Here in this present Text it seems to be little different from that which was mentioned before Rashang The Wicked Man unless we shall restrain the former to the Breach of the first Table and the later to the Breach of the Second But I rather incline to think them to be Synonymous and that they are both of the like Extent The Wicked Man and the Man of Iniquity Vnrighteous Man they are both one and the same for their signification That which is here required of them is as before to forsake their way so here now to forsake their Thoughts This is another thing pertinent to true Repentance yea indeed the very proper root and ground of it It is not enough for us to change our ways except also we change our hearts Nor to alter our Conversations unless withall we alter our Affections This is that which is here observable of us that Religion it reaches it self to the heart and inward man we are accountable to God even for our Thoughts which where they are evil are to be left by us And so the Scripture intimates to us in sundry places of it thus Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou maist be saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee So Peter to Simon Magus Thy heart is not right in this matter Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven unto thee Act. 8.20 21. And Jam. 2.4 Are ye not Partial in your selves and become Judges of Evil thoughts c. Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us First Because the Law of God does reach and extend to our Thoughts for the ordering and regulating of them Our Obedience and Reformation must be sutable and agreeable to Gods Law Now this I say it reaches to these and is possible to be transgressed by them The very thought of Sin is Foolishness says Solomon Prov. 24.9 Not only the practise
of Christ's Satisfaction Therefore will God abundantly pardon because Christ has abundantly satisfied and payed the Debt which was required at our hands If we have no more to say for our selves than God's Nature and the Infiniteness of that it will not serve our turn for as God is infinite in Mercy to pardon us so he is infinite in Justice to punish us And where are we then But now in Christ his Justice is fully answered and there is an opportutunity for the Expression of his Mercy together with it This is that which is our great releif and accordingly we should make much of it for our great Comfort and Consolation that God hath set him for a Propitiation for our sins Christ has payed a Ransom which is sufficient for the taking away of the greatest sins that may be and therefore will God also pardon those greatest sins God's mercy must needs reach as far as Christ's death Now this takes away all sins whatsoever The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin He is a Physician that is able to cure all Diseases What matter what the Disease be whilst the Physitian has skill to remove it and to cure it and to take it away Or what matter what the Debt be where the Surety has already payed it and made satisfaction for it Christ has satisfied for great sins and God forgives great sins yea the greater the sins are the more does he delight to manifest his Goodness in the Forgiveness of them That where sin abounds Grace may much more abound as the Apostle expresses it in Rom. 5.20 The Consideration of this Point is matter of singular Comfort to all such Persons as are humbled and broken in heart and lie under the burthen of their sins and are willing to leave and forsake them and in good earnest to quit themselves of them Here is Grace and Mercy and Reconciliation offered unto them if they will accept it upon those Terms and Conditions whereupon it is offered And therefore let none reject it or refuse it or put it away from themselves Take heed of denying or diminishing this Free Grace of God which is thus richly tendered in the Gospel as there are some kinds of persons are now and then apt to do There are some sullen Spirits in the World which will be damned as we may say whether God will or no that will have none of that Mercy which God offers and holds out unto them that cry out with desperate Cain My sin is greater than can be forgiven Oh take heed of that It is not the greatness of thy sin but the greatness of thy stomach and the pride of thine own corrupt heart that lies in thy way Thou wouldst fain stand upon thine own bottom and be justified from thy self and go to Heaven through thine own Righteousness and art loath to be beholden to God for such a favour as Pardon is and therefore it is that thou opposest it and standest out against it Or it may be thou hast a false heart and art willing to keep thy Lusts still and not to come up to God's Conditions But do not thou any longer nourish such a corrupt disposition in thy self as being that which is very odious and abominable in the sight of God Despair is in a manner the greatest sin of all a devillish and hellish sin and such as is worse than any other which is there made the occasion of it because it is a sin against the sweet Bowels of God and the Riches of his Mercy in the Gospel which he desires to extol and magnifie above all other things in the World Therefore by all means take heed of it and withdraw from it Remember to observe the Condition and thou mayest undoubtedly expect the Promise to be accomplished and made good unto thee Though thy sins be many though they be great though they be repeated again and again yet at last wholly left and renounced there is mercy for them God looks not so much at the greatness of thy sin in its own nature as rather at thine affection to it That sin which is not too great to be forsaken it is not too great to be forgiven A great sin being left shall be pardoned whereas a smaller sin being returned shall plunge thee into Everlasting Death and Condemnation And so much may be spoken of the Word of Promise or Encouragement here mentioned He will abundantly pardon Now the Second is the word Motive or Inforcement in the Counsel For For he will abundantly pardon Because God will abundantly pardon therefore let the wicked forsake his evil ways And so there is this in it That God's Mercy is a special Argument and Motive for Man's Reformation Because he is so ready to forgive sin therefore we should be as ready to forsake it Thus the Scripture still sets it as in Psal 130.4 And it holds upon this account because here now we see that our labour is not in vain If a man might repent and turn to God and for all that God would shew him no mercy he were still but in the same case as before and might be ready to think with himself that he had as good go on in his sins still and enjoy the present delight and sweetness of them But now when he hears that upon his Repentance God will forgive him this Carnal Objection is removed and taken off from him And then it holds also in a way of Thankfulness and Ingenuity in answer to God's goodness Seeing God is ready to do so much for us as to pardon our sins so we should be ready to do so much for him as to remove our sins from us Therefore let us accordingly make this Use and Improvement of it Let us take heed of abusing such a sweet Truth as this and so turning God's Grace into wantonness as many sometimes are subject to do for God will be sure not to hold us guiltless if we do so Whosoever shall commit any sin with these thoughts of presuming on God's mercy without Repentance he does so far forth deptive himself of the comfort of this present Doctrine which still supposes the Renouncing of sin as the Condition annexed to the Promise Carnal and corrupt persons they pull this Text asunder which is to be taken still in its Connexion They are for the latter part of it only where it is said God will have mercy and will abundantly pardon But they are not for the formre part of it where the wicked is required to forsake his evil ways Now the one is of noforce without the other that so as men may not despair so they may not presume and as they may not deny God's Mercy so they may not retain their own Iniquity but rather search and examine their hearts in such cases as these are and observe God's dealings with them who oftentimes suffers them to fall into great sins for the punishing of their neglect of smaller And that also occasionally
Christian to grow weak and so to continue to fall from his former strength and not to return to it again which is the condition of many in the world we for our parts should indeavour to be otherwise where we observe any decayes of spiritual strength in us there as soon as we can to renew it This it will neerly concern us to do upon these considerations First In point of Honour and that especially with God himself Spiritual weakness it is a disparagement especially if ye take it in the relapse and after some former degrees of strength It is no disgrace for a man to have a weak body That has no moral evil or inconvenience in it but to have a weak soul is very disgraceful For one that heretofore has been strong in spirit and in his inward man now to decline and grow weaker and continue so it is very dishonourable The excellency of dignity and the Excellency of strength they go both together and he that falls from the one he does with Reuben fall also from the other whiles he becomes as weak as water he shall not excell Gen. 49.2 Secondly As it concerns us in point of honour so likewise in point of Ease a weak Christian is so far forth a burden to himself as meeting with many difficulties which he cannot grapple withall but prove to hard for him There are many occurrences in a Christians life which do necessarily call for spiritual strength in him to the management of them which if he has not he will be sure to lye under them and to be overcome by them There are many Temptations to resist and many Afflictions to indure and many duties to perform All which are not done without strength nor without strength in some degree of it neither at least not done strongly and as they ought to be done by us weakness it will work like it self where the faculty is but indifferent the operations will be answerable thereunto it is so as in naturals so in spirituals Thirdly In point of safety there 's anothers consideration in that Those which are but spiritually weak they are exposed to sundry dangers to staggerings and fallings especially from the spiritual enemy who is still sure to apply himself to the weakest and to none more then to such as are so from any Apostasie or Declining where he can find an advantage against us here he will be sure to follow it and improve it to the utmost and that also to a further weakning of us still Besides that then we are under greater hazzards from God himself where we are weak with a weakness of imperfection weak in grace as children are weak there the Lord pitties and helps us He knows our frame and he considers what we are He relieves our infirmities for us But where we are weak with a weakness of Relapse through carelesness and neglect of our selves there the Lord doth oftentimes punish us and corrects us as being angry with us In regard therefore of the dangers which we stand in towards God it concerns us to renew our strength upon any seeming decay Lastly In point of comfort also it concerns us also for this A weak Christian will be an uncomfortable Christian he will not have so much liveliness and refreshment in his own spirit Because that Grace will not reflect with so much evidence upon him A man that hath but Grace in a weak measure though he has true Grace in him as well as he which has stronger yet he will not be able so easily to discerne it and consequently will not reap so much comfort and sweetness from it as otherwise he would Those that are but weak Christians and are content so to be it will be a very hard matter for them to discern and apprehend whether they be Christians or no and so they will be ready to go drooping and mourning all their lives long from this distemper All these things laid together should accordingly serve to work upon us and to perswade us to this duty in hand of recovering our strength there where 't is decayed in spiritual matters we see how it is with men in other matters in matters of the world If it be as to their outward man where they observe any decayes in themselves do all they can to repair them If it be in their Estates to make up their weakness there If it be in their bodies to heal their weaknesses there Men can no sooner find themselves weak and consuming in these particulars but they will use all the means possible that they can for their recovery in such conditions And why then should we not be as carefull and dilligent for our weak souls which do a great deal more nearly concern us and lye upon us then the other does Certainly it proceeds from that Atheism and Infidelity which is in our hearts and unsensibleness of these particulars But so much of the first explication Christians they are to renew their strength that is to repair it by way of recovery where it is impaired But Secondly That 's not all They are to do it also by way of increase and addition to it there where it is continued A Christian is not to content himself with any measure of strength which he has received but to labor still for more The more strength so much the better is it with us And therefore we should be carefull to improve it more and more yea we will do so if we be so as we should be as we shall now see in the point that follows So much for the Particular viz. A Christians Duty They shall renew their strength that is they ought to do it It is that which they are Commanded The Second is their Disposition They that wait upon the Lord they will renew their strength that is they will be ready and carefull so to do This is the temper of a good Christian to grow every day stronger and stronger Thus we have it in the words of Solomon Prov. 24.5 A wise man is strong yea a man of knowledge increaseth in strength There ye have it in the Proposition ye may take it likewise in the example for which we can have no better an instance than the Apostle Paul and such as he was 2 Cor. 4.16 For the which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish yet the inward is renewed day by day Mark It is renewed and he says it is dayly renewed he gathers every day some strength or other A good Christian has still so much good Husbandry with him as repar are deper ditum to supply that which is lost Now as every day if we be not carefull we are apt to loose some strength or other according to the variety of occasions which are offered unto us in the world so if we do indeed mind our selves we will be diligent also to repair it and make it up We may therefore from hence now take some kind of account of our selves
which would be apt and ready otherwise to fly in their faces Those who are guilty of great sins they have now and then sad remembrances of them in their own souls Even Natural conscience is so far active and effectual as that it oftentimes very much afflicts such persons as are deep in transgression Now that this may be a little allayed and pacified in them they think it the best way for them to turn into such kind of Duties as these are Men do naturally affect a slight and easie Religion such as will cost them no great pains or labour with their own hearts and if they can but reach to this they are well satisfied and contented in themselves and sit down abundantly pleased They are willing to do any thing which they may do with the keeping of their lusts and the enjoying of their corrupt Affections that so they may have some kind of quietness and tranquillity in their own minds Now thus because it is obtained in some sort in these meer outward performances therefore do they so much the rather apply themselves to them The consideration of these Points both together the consistency and concomitancy of prophaneness and formality with one another is therefore useful to the right apprehension of mens state and condition in Grace that they may not mistake themselves in this particular as to think the case is presently good with them according to their conversation or abundance in such matters as these are Alas if there be nothing else which they can approve themselves for but this they are but in a sad and miserable condition That Religion which is consistent with the indulgence of base lusts and corruptions in the heart is but a poor Religion indeed This is that which is observable in Popery in a special manner where if they can bring themselves off to some outward and corporal services and performances in the Worship of God this is that which serves their turn whiles in the mean time they allow themselves in secret and inward lusts which also break forth into open abominations And every man by nature has somewhat of this rooted in him Men had rather do any thing than once deny themselves and cross and contradict the byas of their base and corrupt inclinations Oh this goes to their very heart and they cannot indure it They may sometimes come to Church and hear the Word and receive the Sacrament in a formal and customary manner and this breaks no bones if ye go no further than so They may do all this and when they come home return to their wonted wickedness and leudness as is here exprest in the Text and therefore they can comply with such things as these are But to give God their hearts and to serve him in Spirit and Truth and to cross themselves in those sins which are nearest and dearest to them this is that which is difficult for them and they cannot indure to hear of it Here they go away sorrowful as it was with that rich man in the Gospel when Christ put him upon a Duty of self-denial and inward obedience And so much may be spoken of these words in their positive and absolute consideration as they have an implicit Assertion in them for so they have and so also some Translators express it Will ye do so and so that is ye will do so at the same time both steal and kill and commit adultery c. And you withall come and stand in my house Propââ ãâã and formality they are consistent and conââ ãâã one another they are ãâã as may very ãâ¦ã in this thing and they are such as do very much concur in the person Now the second and next view of these words is in their sense of expostulation as our last Translation here renders it and most agreeably to the Hebrew Text Will ye steal and murther c. And come and stand before me in this house c where the Lord calls this people to an account for their mixture of these two both together How whiles they allur'd themselves in the one they practised the other whiles they were guilty of so great and so many notorious Miscarriages How together with them they did joyn these semblances and appearances of Devotion And this Question or Expostulation it hath a double Emphasis or respect with it First How can ye do so in regard of your selves as to your own satisfaction And Secondly How can ye do so in regard of Me as to My content First How in regard of your selves How can ye satisfie your own Minds and Consciences with such kind of doings Can ye think but in your own hearts that this is a thing fitting and convenient The Lord here seems to appeal to their own Judgments in this particular as he does also in other places of Scripture This is the great unhappiness of prophane Hypocrites and Formalists that they are in a manner condemned of themselves and their own consciences many times tell them that their actions are otherwise than they should be when they consider seriously of them they cannot but conclude against them and acknowledg them to be very unreasonable And therefore does the Lord himself in such cases upon these terms proceed with them as he does here with this people of the Jews Will ye steal and kill c And come and stand before me c That is can ye satisfie your selves in so doing Their Actions though as I shewed before they were consistent yet they were incongruous though they were such as were done together yet they were not such as did hold together but as the legs of the lame were unequal There was a repugnancy in them as themselves could not deny That 's that which is here signified and accordingly it is that which may be done to any other in the like cases whether in the exercise of the Ministry or in private and Christian Admonition we may herein appeal to mens consciences in this particular who if they will deal indifferently and impartially cannot justifie their own proceedings Hypocrites whiles they hope to please others yet they inwardly displease themselves as doing that which is not warrantable or allowable even in their own Judgments And that 's one Emphasis of this expression How can ye do so in regard of your selves How can ye please and satisfie your own minds in this wretched mixture and conjunction But then Secondly which is chiefly considerable how can ye think to please Me or not rather highly to displease Me and to provoke me by such waies as these are The Lord does here by this expression not only argue with them but reprove them and express his displeasure against them that they should carry it thus towards him And there are two things especially which he seems here to tax and challenge them for To speak distinctly of it First he taxes them for their Formality in that they thought to please him with their bare external performances And
to her we had then plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil that is We were delivered because we had committed all these abominations Our iniquities make for our peace and comfort and are advantageous unto us This is that desperateness of spirit which many people in the just judgment of God are sometimes given up unto That they shall put their mercies and deliverances and preservations upon the score of their sins This proceeds from that self-love and flattery which is in mens hearts from whence they are ready to think too well of their own ways and of those things which are done by themselves and to be so far from condemning as to be rather applauding of themselves for them And this is that also which the Lord does here censure and tax in this people even their stupidity in this particular As if a Patient should conclude his taking of Poison to be the way and means for his recovery and the occasion of his restoring to health than which there can be nothing more absurd and repugnant and contradictory Thirdly and lastly Here is also their Incorrigibleness and Persistence in evil or if ye will rather their Ingratitude and perverse improvement of Gods deliverances and preservations of them And this according to this our English Translation which we have here before us We are delivered to commit all these abominations to commit them that is as an opportunity for the more free commission of them And thus now this word Say it is not to be taken so much in the mouth as in the mind or rather in the practise ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Greek Scholiast has it men say it even then when they are silent because their works and actions declare it Thus did this People in the Text they did carry themselves so leudly and abominably upon their deliverances as if God had delivered them on purpose that they might commit such abominations their practise it did plainly intimate and declare as much to the world Now this again is another thing which is taxed and censured by the Prophet Jeremy yea even by the Lord himself through his Prophesie Will ye say so indeed that is Will ye carry and behave your selves so as if indeed it were so What a fearful thing is this Those which are naught after afflictions and deliverances they are commonly the worst of all and are in the greater danger of punishment and judgment than any other besides And there is a double reason for it First because it is Means perverted And secondly because it is Mercy abused either of which are very pernicious First Means perverted Afflictions and deliverances from them they are Gods Spiritual Physick and Means which he has instituted to make men better and to draw them nearer to himself now when these shall drive them farther from him it must needs be exceeding bad as Physick when it is perverted it tends more to the destruction of the Patient Secondly Mercy abused Gods goodness it leads men to repentance and his love it constrains them to duty This it does in the nature of the thing it self and according to his own appointment and institution and intention in it Now when this shall be turned into wantonness and a further progress and self-indulgence in sin it soon comes to be more exasperating and provoking and exciting to punishment This were well to be thought of by all such persons as are partakers of any mercies and deliverances whatsoever in one kind or other and in particular as the season now hints it from sicknesses and diseases and distempers that they would now recall themselves from their former sins and miscarriages and iniquities which they have heretofore been guilty of and not think that they have now an opportunity to return to their former wickednesses with as much earnestness and greediness as before to think that they are restored to their health that they may be restored to their lusts to their malice and wantonness and luxury and uncleanness and idolatry and such as these as are here mention'd in the Text for if they do so God will bring his judgments again upon them either in the same or far worse degrees and make them at last effectually and in good earnest to know that they are not delivered to commit all these abominations SERMON XLII JEREM. 2.23 O Generation see ye the Word of the Lord Have I been a Wilderness unto Israel a Land of Darkness Wherefore say my people We are Lords we will come no more unto thee It is a part of great Condescension in God towards his people in his doings and dealings with them that whereas he might justly if he pleased without any more ado proceed to the punishing of them for their miscarriages towards him yet he chuses rather first of all to expostulate and plead the case with them and to convince them of the unreasonableness of these courses which are taken by them that so if it were possible he might in a manner shame them out of them This is that which we find him here to do in this Scripture which I have now read unto you which consists partly of an Implicit Protestation of his own Innocency and good carriage to them partly also of an express conceit of their perverseness and ill carriage to him O ye Generation c. IN the Text it self there are three general parts considerable First A Demand And Secondly An Expostulation Thirdly An Invitation to the view and consideration of both The Demand that we have in these words Have I been a Wilderness to Israel a Land of Darkness The Expostulation in these Wherefore say my people we are Lords we will come no more unto thee The Invitation to the view of each in these Oye Generation see ye the Word of the Lord. We begin with the first of these parts viz. The Demand Have I been a Wilderness to Israel in which for the better understanding of it seems to carry a fourfold force or emphasis with it First It hath the force of a Remonstrance or Protestation of Self acquitting or Justification Have I been a Wilderness to Israel that is I have not been a Wilderness unto them Secondly It hath the force of a Remembrance or seasonable Intimation Have I been a Wilderness unto them Nay I have rather been the quite contrary I have indeed been a Paradise Thirdly It hath the force of a Reproach or implicit Exprobration Have I been a Wilderness to Israel as indeed Israel has been rather to me And last of all it hath the force of an Appeal or Provocation to themselves and their own Consciences Have I been a Wilderness to Israel that is let Israel themselves speak what they know and think in this particular First I say it hath the force of a Remonstrance or Protestation of a Self-acquitting or Justification Have I been a Wilderness unto Israel c that is I have not been either of these unto them Here
that which is implied I will speak Secondly as a matter of necessity in that which is exprest I cannot hold my peace First to speak of the former to wit the parts affected both simply propounded as also doubled and repeated My bowels my heart These though if we take them corporally and according to a Bodily Dissection or Anatomy of them they are parts distinct yet here in this Spiritual notion and consideration of them they are one and the same and do signifie no more than the Soul and inward man yet as working likewise upon the body and outward Thus have some of the antient Expositors and Interpreters of Scripture understood iâ as Gregory Nyssen upon that place of the Canticles Cant. 5.4 My bowels were moved in me he has this Gloss upon it ' H ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The belly or bowels here meant is the Intellectual and Discursive Faculty of the Soul So in like manner Gregory Nazianzen in his 17 Oration speaking of this place of the Prophet ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã meaning by his bowels his mind .. And St. Ambrose to the like purpose De Spirituali non corporeo ventre dixit propheta The Prophet did not speak of a corporal but of a spiritual belly This spiritual belly it is the Mind and Soul of Man There are three special Reasons among others which may be given by us for this expression of the Mind and Soul by the Belly or Bowels First The secrecy of it as that which is most inward and retired ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as he before Greg. Naz. The Mind and Soul it is hidden and invisible as the belly and bowels within the body Thus Prov. 20.27 The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly So Psal 103.1 Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy name Within me i. e. in my bowels in viscerebus as some translate it And more expresly Psal â1 6 Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom The bowels do well express the Soul in regard of their secresie That 's the first Secondly Because the Mind it does receive and digest the Thoughts as the Belly does the Meats Mens coquit curas ut venter aescas Greg. past 3. part admonit l. 3. The mind it does digest and boil out cares as the stomach does the food which is put into it and those Notions which at the first are but raw yet through meditation and often turning of them in the mind they come to be concocted Thirdly The Mind it is the Mother of Thoughts it is the fruitful Belly which doth send forth so many conceptions as the proper fruit and issue of it Vt proles in utero concepitur sic cogitatio in mente generatur says the same Author Greg. Mor. l. 12. c. 27. As the Child is conceived in the Womb so is the Thought generated in the Mind Thus in regard of this threefold Analogy and Correspondency is the Mind exprest by the Bowels or Belly so that My bowels my bowels and My heart my heart that is as much as My Soul my Soul my Spirit and my inward man There are two words here in the Text put together for the greater emphasis Bowels and Heart both the one as the explication of the other My Bowels my Heart that is My Bowel which is my Heart and indeed there is so great a nearness and affinity of these two to one another as that they are frequently put the one for the other and signifie the one by the other Thus Psal 22.14 My heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels not as if his Heart were in his Belly but in regard of the vicinity of these parts the one to the other it is thus exprest And because of this coincidency sometimes the Bowels is put for the Heart sometimes the Heart is put for the Bowels The Bowels for the Heart Jer. 31.33 I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts In their inward parts that is in their Bowels but the meaning of it is in their Hearts as the latter word explains it to us Again the the Heart is also put for the Bowels as in Jer. 48.36 compared with Isa 16.11 In Jer. 48.36 we find it thus My heart shall sound for Moab like pipes In Isa 16.11 we find it thus My bowels shall sound like an Harp for Moab and mine inward parts for Kir-hajesh There mine heart here my bowels and inward parts From both together we are to understand in one word the affections which while they are described by the Bowels it does shew 1. The retiredness of them they were such as every one did not see within the walls of the Heart Kiroth libbi as it is exprest in the Text. 2. The fixedness of them deeply rooted as low as the Bowels 3. The truth and sincerity of them without hypocrisie or dissimulation c. The second Particular in the first General is the grief of these parts both in the kinds of it My heart is pain'd and in the effect of it My heart makes a noise within me From both together we may observe thus much what work and disturbance passions and affections make in the Soul if they be not the better restrain'd they put all out of order and frame and cause great commotions of spirit in those persons which are exercised with them Indeed this of the Prophet it was not an inordinate but a regular stirring in him both because as we shall hear afterwards it was upon a just occasion as likewise that he was carried by the Spirit of God in it But yet we may occasionally from it take notice also of the tumults which do arise in the Soul from the distemper and miscarriage it self And so I say thus much How that Passion it puts all out of frame it puts the Soul out of joynt and takes off the wheels of it it is the ground of very great trouble and anguish and disquiet unto it this it is in all the kinds and specifications of it whether anger or sorrow or fear or what ever it is The excess of it is very outrageous and and such as there is no abiding or enduring of it not onely in others but in men themselves If we look into Scripture we shall find what work it has there made even in the best men in the world for example The Prophet David do but see it in him Psal 31.9 Mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly Psal 32.3 My moisture is turned into the drought of summer Psal 38.3 No soundness in my flesh c. This extravagancy of affection it is not onely an affliction to the spirit but has also an influence upon the outward man Now there is very good use which we may make of this observation that we
what Christ there saies of them Thou sayest that I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked This people they were wretched and miserable and notwithstanding for all that they were ignorant of it They knew not in what a bad state they were And so here now Strength is gone and gray hairs come upon them and they do not know it This proceeds first From the deceitfulness which is in sin it self it oftentimes palliates it self and puts on the cloak and appearance of Grace and Vertue upon it Prodigality goes for bounty lust for love pride for magnanimity passion for zeal and and so of the rest Now in regard of this counterfeiting is not sin alwaies so fully apprehended Take heed saies the Apostle lest ye be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Sin if it be not better lookt to will have that effect with it Secondly Satan he also colours it for them The God of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not 2 Cor. 4.4 It is he which casts a mist before their eyes whereby they may not see it sometimes as it may make for his purpose to provoke men to absolute despair there he gives very hideous discoveries and represenrations of it to them but otherwhile as it may lull men asleep and make them secure so he conceals it and hides the vileness and filthiness of it from them Thirdly There is a deceitfulness also in a man 's own heart it self and a blindness contracted by custom and continuance in sinning That which is ordinary and usual it is not many times so easily discerned and apprehended by us because it is in a manner natural and familiar to us so it is here with sin And so it is with Judah likewise Men upon the same consideration do not see nor discern that neither My people know not the judgment of the Lord Jer. 8.7 Strangers have devoured his strength yet he knows it not Where there are two things by the way which may be intended either their ignorance of the evil it self or the instruments and conveyance of it to them They knew not that their strength was gone from them or if so be they did in some manner knowthat yet they knew not that this was brought about by strangers That strangers did it they did not discern it This is the misery and great unhappiness of many people to be undone and not to see who hurts them that so by this means they might be the more shy and wary of them as in all likelihood and probability they would be if it were otherwise with them whereas now their ignorance and confidence and presumption it does expose them to further ruine and destruction He knows it not This does imply their simple ignorance That 's the first thing here intended in not knowing Secondly Their wilfulness and obstnacy He knew it not that is he would not know it He diverted and turned away his mind from attention to it and consideration of it This is another thing which may be meant by this expression The sins and miscarriages of Ephraim were so gross and notorious in them as that they could not but in some manner discern them And their calamities were likewise so pressing as that they could not but be sensible of them But thiy did not know them that is acknowledge them and confess them and lay them to heart They did cast away all kind of thoughts and reflexions upon them And this discovers to us another piece of distemper which is upon the spirits of many sinful persons that though their sins testifie to their face as it is said afterwards here of Ephraim in ver 10. of this present chapter yet they will not be convinced of them or brought to accuse themselves for them They thus know them not Would ye know the reason of it namely That pride and self-love which is in mens hearts this makes it to be thus with them As those which would be counted young they will not own the gray hairs which are upon them and they have their arts and devices to conceal them Even so is it also with men here in spiritual respects because they would be counted good and righteous and innocent and free from defilement therefore they will not own their defilements though never so much abounding in them and so as not their own sins so neither Gods Judgments There are many which had rather bite in the pain than once acknowledge the justice of God in punishing of them or meekly and humbly submit to his chastisements which he does inflict upon them This is commonly mans humour and disposition either it is no sin or it is no punishment for sin but some common and ordinary dispensation Thirdly They know it not practically Here 's denoted their want of due carriage and behaviour and demeaning of themselves upon the knowledge of it And here divers things are also included First He knows it not so as to be humbled and cast down for it Then we know any thing indeed when as we know it with such affections as are due to the knowledge of it And so we know either our own sins or Gods Judgments when we know them so as to lament them and to bewail them and to tremble at them God never makes account we know them to any purpose till we know them thus To know sin and to justifie it and to allow it and to defend it in our selves this is worse than to be ignorant of it and not know it at all but to know it indeed it is to be grieved and troubled for it and to be sorry for our guiltiness of it Secondly He knows it not so as to amend it and to be reformed and bettered by it Then we know Judgment when we yield to it and then we know sin when we forsake it otherwise we know them not When Afflictions have their errand upon us and message which they were sent to us for then we know them And when sins are left by us and we purged and purified from them then we know them also but till then we may be said in a manner to be ignorant of them Those which know they have gray hairs will pluck them out as thinking them a disparagement to them And so here for sinners those which know them will rid themselves of them Thirdly He knows it not so as to prevent it and keep it off for time to come ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã We use to say That the Child when it burns it it then knows the fire knows it i. e. is afraid of it and dreads to come near it and so will we if we have either sin or punishment to purpose we will be afraid of coming near them of having any thing to do with them of the temptations and occasions and tendencies which lead unto them whiles it is otherwise than thus
in this Scripture And there are divers grounds of this also as well as of the other First a piece of spiritual laziness and sluggishness which is in them There is a mollities and softness upon some spirits which makes them impatient of resistance and fighting against sin who rather than they will endure the conslicts and combats of it do rather yield the cause they find temptations so strong and violent and frequent upon them and their corruptions so fiercely to beset them that they think they had as good now give up and so they do Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin says the Apostle in Heb. 12.4 Nay they give themselves over to lasciviousness to commit all uncleanness with greediness Ephes 4.19 Secondly Men come to despair of conquering their lusts and corruptions from Infidelity which prevails in them because they believe not those blessed and gracious promises which God has made to this purpose This is that which sometimes even the servants of God themselves are too much guilty of who are ready to conclude in this case that they shall one day perish by the hand of Saul not considering what God has promised for their encouragement that he will subdue their iniquities for them and that he will put his Spirit within them and that he will cause them to walk in his statutes c. This Infidelity it breeds Despair and the want of Faith it is the cause of the want of Hope with it therefore there is so little of the one because there is so little or none of the other there is a questioning of God in his Promises Thirdly Carnal confidence and reliance upon mens own strength By his own strength shall no man prevail 1 Sam. 2.9 those that think to do so may be disappointed and so they will be Now this is that which most men do and are thereby at last driven to despair Men go about the conquering of their lusts by their own strength and neglect Christ and so it is no wonder if they be at last out of hope Alas what hope is there in our selves I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me that was the conclusion of the Apostle and so it must be of every one of us we must use our own endeavours and do all we can for the resisting of sin in us but in them all depend still upon Christ and fetch strength from him which not doing we shall quickly be out of heart It is not the strength of Natural Reason it is not the peremptoriness of Vows and Resolutions it is not fear or poenal restraints which will be able to mortifie sin though there be also use of these but the grace and power of Christ My grace is sufficient for thee as the Lord said to Paul 2 Cor. 12.9 Fourthly Another thing which makes men to despair of being better and of getting victory over their temptations is because indeed they have false hearts and have no good mind to the thing it self Those who are resolved are courageous and where they have a mind any thing should be done they do not question the doing of it But it is otherwise here with men in this particular there is no hope they should be better because indeed they are well contented with their present naughtiness that they are so bad as they are as it was here with these people before us in this present Text. The use which we our selves are to make of this Observation is as much as may be to free our selves from this miscarriage and to prevent this distemper i us Let us take heed of giving so much advantage either to Satan or to our own evil hearts as to lie under the power of our corruptions and to yield our selves up unto them Oh by all means take heed of that take heed of base despair and infidelity and hardness of heart to say ye shall never be able to overcome such and such sins It is that sluggishness and softness and falsness which makes you to say so because ye are indeed willing to be overcome by them As there is no evil whatsoever which is above the Bloud of Christ as to matter of pardon and remission of it so there is no defilement whatsoever which is above the Spirit of Christ as to matter of power and Dominion over it There is enough in the grace of Christ to mollifie the stoutest heart and to purge away the greatest corruption and therefore make use of that upon all occasions First labour to be in Christ and to be at first incorporated into him by a Faith of Vnion And then be daily fetching strength from Christ for the subduing of corruptions in thee by a Faith of Communion But to despair and to cast off all hope it is to betray thy Soul into the hands of Satan himself and to shut thy self out of Heaven it self in the conclusion of all What was that which lost the Israelites their earthly Canaan a great many of them Why it was their Despair and Infidelity they were afraid of the Sons of Anak those mighty Gtants which were in the Land and whom they thought they should never be able to conquer Numb 13.33 and they doubted of the power of God for them It is said They could not enter in because of unbelief Heb. 3. And so it is that which will hazard the loss of the Heavenly Canaan too if we look not to it for which cause we should beware of it And that 's the first reference of this expression here in the Text namely to the People themselves There is no hope in regard of us that we for our parts should ever be better or get the victory over our present corruptions The second is in reference to the Prophet Jeremy There is no hope namely of Thee that thou shouldst ever be able to do any good upon us by all thy arguings and reasonings with us or preaching or discoursing to us thou dost but spend thy labour to no purpose for we are resolved and determined in this business what to do This is agreeable to some other Translations of the Text. The Septuagint reads it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã We 'll play the men the Arabick and Syriack Let us take heart and courage to our selves namely as these who will not be beaten off from our own devices This is another description of the temper of evil and sinful persons to labour to discourage even the endeavours of the Ministery amongst them if it will be discouraged by them that those who should heal and recover them may have no hope of them Of this we shall find an express instance in another place of this Prophecy in Jer. 44.16 Then all the men c. answered Jeremiah faying As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee There they tell him as much to his face The People that Ezekiel had to do withall they
cannot do they cannot do good Take a man that lives in a vile and sinful course and his heart is off from all good whatsoever he has no mind not list unto it cannot pray cannot read cannot hear cannot communicate cannot sanctifie a Sabbath cannot perform any duty of Piety or Religion which is required of him but is very backward and averse thereunto Or if it may be he may come off to the bare work and outward performance yet his heart is altogether flat and dead in it he has no life no spirit at all in him nor favour or spiritual rellish of that which he goes about but is as 't were out of his Element Nay further let it be one who has some beginnings of Grace in him and who is in some manner changed by the Spirit of God yet so far forth as he has any sin which is prevailing and domineering in him so far forth will his heart and Soul be much averse and indisposed to any goodness and he will find a great deal of difficulty in himself as to the managing of it Ye know how it was with David a man as I said before after Gods own heart whilst he lay still in those great sins whereof he was guilty how his heart was from hence out of frame and temper as to that which was good and therefore when he begins to recover and to come to himself he prays to God for a clean heart and a new spirit to be bestowed upon him and then he could teach transgressors the ways of God which before he could not do in that manner as he ought As Paul says of himself The good which he would do he could not do And as he tells the Galatians Ye cannot do the things that ye would that is indeed that ye ought This is the great thraldom and slavery which sin brings men into Men may do that which is good materially though evil but not good formally Secondly There is precipitancy to evil that 's another thing here considerable and is impli'd though it be not exprest as we may see if we make up the comparison in its full force for the strength of the sense runs thus As the Ethiopian cannot change his skin but as he is black so will he be black still and never but black And as the Leopard cannot alter his spots but as he is spotted so will he be spotted still and never be otherwise In like manner is the case with such a person as is accustomed to do evil so he does and so he will do continually and never give over A man that 's rooted and confirm'd in sin by daily and constant practise it is an hard matter ever to wean him or to pull him from it he has upon the point taken up his course which he will hold on and persist in to the end His heart is fully set in him to do evil as ye shall find that expression used by the Preacher Eccles 8.11 The ground of this prevalency of Custom is the fixedness and setledness of it it being as it were a second Nature which is sure and constant to its Principles Naturalia non mutantur Those things which are natural are unchangeable and this custom seems to be and therefore compared to those things which what they are they are by a Natural impression upon them as it is with the fore-mentioned resemblances which we spake of before Custom in sin it breeds an habit and that is such as it is not easily removed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but is as radicated as Nature it self The use which we may make of all this to our selves is briefly this First take heed of any thing to do with sin at first What Solomon says of strife it holds good as to any other miscarriage The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water therefore leave off contention before it be medled with Prov. 17.14 The same we may say to this purpose concerning sin Principiâs obsta stop it in the very beginning and the first entrance upon it of all if we do not we know not where we shall make an end after we have begun but are in danger of proceeding from one degree of wickedness to another from lust to consent from consent to act from act to custom and from custom to hardness of heart which being brought to the perfection of it as the Great Transgression of all proves unpardonable It is a good and safe course for a Christian not to think slightly of any sin at all though never so little for lesser sins make way for greater and beginnings make way for proceedings in such persons as dare to venture upon them Take heed brethren says the Apostle lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin in Heb. 3.13 and it is good counsel for sin will harden where at any time our hearts are enclined and carried unto it yea and it will entice too and bring the sinner from snare to snare till it has quite undone him and overwhelm'd him in absolute destruction There are many people which are ready to think when they make bold with such and such evil practises as the occasions which tend unto them that they will certainly go no further Alas when they are once got into the briars they do not know how to get out or to expedite themselves but like those which run down the hill they are at the bottom before they are aware We see it again in the example of David who when he had once begun he had almost never done but was miserably perplexed Again secondly If any should perhaps by chance fall into sin at the first yet as near as they can let them not stay and abide in it still but hasten out of it as soon as may be Shall we continue in sin says the Apostle God forbid No but as those which are out of their way and perceive and know themselves to be so they get into it as soon as can be because every step which they take otherwise leads them so much the further from home than they were before Even so should it be here with us as to the ways of Godliness and Religion where we find our feet any thing to slip and turn away be careful presently to rectifie them and bring them into rights again Lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet lest that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed Heb. 12.13 Again further thirdly Take heed of Relapses and falling back to sin again If sin be such a Tyrant as it is and especially a slave in sin let then those which are in any measure delivered and freed from the Tyranny of it take heed of coming within the compass and snares of it again For who being set at liberty from imprisonment or captivity or any great bondage would willingly return to it again and undergo the
done by a man 's own skill and power it is a work of Heaven Secondly Can he do it i. e. can he easily do it It is not done with a meer sleight or turn of the hand it is a work of difficulty Each of these limitations are implyed And First of the former He cannot do it that is he cannot do it of himself An unregenerate person or such an one as is accustomed to evil he cannot alter his own heart or course This is one thing here implyed as the same Prophet also else-where O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himself it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Jer. 10.23 We see here the impotency of nature and the inability of free-will to the doing of any thing which is good It is possible for the heart to be chang'd but this is not within its own power Therefore it is worth our observing that it is not said here Can the Ethiopian's skin be changed in a passive expression but can the Ethiopian change his skin in an active that is can he do it himself and by his own power No he cannot do it We are not able to think any thing of our selves our sufficiency is of God in 2 Cor. 3.5 And it is he which worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 We can no more alter our corrupted nature than we can our created no more make our selves of bad good than we can of men Angels We can no more convert our selves than we can create our selves give our selves a spiritual being than we can a natural nor raise our selves from the death of sin than we can from the death of the grave That 's the first limitation Secondly He cannot do it that is he cannot easily do it it is a business of some work and labour and which carries some difficulty in it the reclaiming of such an one which is used and accustomed to any sin yea and that even there where there is some work of Grace wrought in the heart and so some ability conferr'd and bestowed in order hereunto yet the thing is not so easily brought to pass Those that let themselves loose to any evil or vitious custom it costs them a great deal of pains with their hearts ere they recover and get up again Naturam expellas furca licet usque recurret Still there will somewhat arise and bubble up of the old corruption in them The ground of this difficulty if we would know it lies in this First because Satan will be very busy in the presenting of his temptations where he has a long time conquered and prevailed he will not easily there go over his hold but will keep his ground as long as he can and will not endure to be dispossest without a great deal of trouble Secondly Lust in the heart of man will also have its course and vent and being unhappily wrought into the soul will work forth and shew it self as there is any occasion for it so to do especially when the object is strong and enticing which is propounded unto it The flesh lusts against the spirit c. says the Apostle Gal. 5.17 Thirdly Grace is oftentimes asleep which should suppress and keep sin down and restrain it from breaking forth And when that is so sin and the flesh takes occasion to work in the room and place of it These are the reasons why sin where 't is rooted and habituated is not so easily removed And thus much of those Points and Doctrines which are mainly intended as the chief scope of the Text. Now besides these there are divers others which are collaterally observable from it and which do also implicitly lye in it As to instance in one or two of them First observe here thus much that it is not enough for us to abstain from evil but we must likewise do good This we may gather from the manner of the expression here before us According to the proper manner of speaking the words should have run thus How then can those which are accustomed to do evil cease to do evil but the Holy Ghost was not content with that to say no more but so and therefore he adds likewise further to do good why and upon what account namely that hence he might teach us what is required and expected from us This we shall find also in other Scriptures as Psal 34.14 Depart from evil and do good c. Isa 16.17 Cease to do evil learn to do well Rom. 12.9 Abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good c. Still we are put upon this practice of vertue as well as upon the abstaining from vice and doing good as avoiding of evil Therefore this meets with your negative Christians which are always harping upon this that they are inoffensive and do no no hurt like the Pharisee there in the Gospel that he was not as other men no Extortioner no Thief no Adulterer nor even as the Publican Well but what are they in the mean time and what good do they do according to those abilities and opportunities which are afforded unto them This would be demanded of them as being that which God himself does look for That 's one thing which we may here observe by the way Again Secondly observe thus much That sins of commission they have sins of omission in them They that do that which they should not they neglect to do that which they should This is also in the Text for ye see here that they which are accustomed to do evil they are taken off from doing good the one it still follows upon the other and ye shall always observe it And that upon a threefold account which may be rendred as an occasion of it First they want the opportunity Secondly they lose the ability Thirdly they betray the assistance They want the opportunity First we may observe that Those which are much in sin they have little leisure to any thing else they are so addicted and given to their vile and vicious courses that they have no time for any thing besides they are so hot in the pursuit of their lusts that they cannot mind those things which are better and contrary to them Hence it is that evil men do so delay and put off their repentance or any other good work which is to be done by them Secondly They lose the ability If they had time and leisure for good yet they have little strength or power unto it which is eaten out by the strength and prevalency of lust and corruption in them as I in part intimated in a point before Every new sin as it encreases the habit of evil so it weakens the habit of good in us Thirdly They betray their assistance for God himself in such cases does withdraw his Grace from them which should be helpful to them in that which they undertake The Spirit of God being grieved by them
through their miscarriages it will likewise grieve them again by his own desertions Which made David so much to cry out as we find him to do there in the Psalm Cast me not away from thy presence and take not away thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51.11 The consideration of this should still make us so much the more wary and shy of sin and of doing any thing which is evil and unlawful forasmuch as it involves and contracts a double guilt with it not only that which is consequent and attendant upon the commission of sin but also upon the omission of duty As we must not only abstain from evil but we must also do good so as we desire to do good we must be careful to abstain from evil For these two they go together Sins of commission have sins of omission in them That 's a second observation Thirdly Observe also further this That no man can do any good till his nature be first changed and altered in him There must be a rectitude of principles before there can be a rectitude of actions we must be first of all good our selves before good can come from us This is also plainly in the Text for mark how the Prophet here sets it Can the Ethiopian change his skin c. then may ye also which are thus and thus do that which is good As who should say when those which are accustomed to the doing of evil are once changed and renewed in their natures then good may be done by them but because that is so difficult therefore this so contrary is impossible Accustomed and habituated sinners they cannot do good why because they abide still the same which they were before in their natural condition there 's no change or alteration at all which is wrougth in them And this is grounded upon that common rule and observation Orta attestantur principiis effectus non excedit virtutem suae causae No man gathers grapes of thorns or figs of thistles in the words of St. James or if ye will in the words of our Blessed Savious An evil tree bringeth not forth good fruit Whether ye take it for an evil man or an evil heart which is the condition of every one by nature Men are taught to do evil from their principles and the corruption of nature which is in them Look as created nature teaches the creatures such actions as are suitable to their particular kinds so corrupted nature teaches wicked men such actions as are suitable to their wicked condition We would wonder to see such wickedness as there is sometimes in the world and might ask who teaches it but that herein we have answer from corrupt nature it self this suggests such lewdness to them Whiles they sin against nature in the creation of it they sin from nature in the corruption of it Secondly By Doctrine Corrupt opinions cherish corrupt principles and improve them so much the more So the Apostle tells us that without Faith it is impossible to please God the work whereof does imply a change And therefore we should still look to this in all we do That our hearts be right in it and that whatever comes from us flow from a spirit and principle of Grace and regeneration in us which will make it to be of the true stamp and character indeed and also acceptable and well-pleasing to God who will still own his own work in us We should not satisfy our selves in the multitude of performances and the doing of such things which are only good in their own nature and for the matter and substance of the action but desire and endeavour that our own consciences may be upright and sincere that whatsoever we do we may do it in God's strength and likewise to his glory Otherwise they will find no acceptance or approbation with God at all but he will reject them and cast them away from him as things which he does abhor Thus we shall find him to do there in Isa 1.12 13. c. Bring no more oblations incense is an abomination unto me c. And so probably also here in this place It is likely these people in the Text that they did many good things for the matter of them and yet says the Lord here of them How can ye do any good These and the like observations may we gather from these words in general as they lye in themselves Now further We may likewise if we please look upon them reflexively and as coming from the Prophet himself And here there are these things in them which may be observed and taken notice of by us First The Prophet's confidence and assurance of that which he did deliver he speaks it with a great deal of boldness and freedom and certainty of mind in that which he speaks concerning the thraldom and captivity of accustomed sinners Therefore it seems to be a kind of challenging and triumphant expression Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard c Do ye think that to be possible did ye ever see that in all your lives can that enter into you to believe This is the force and emphasis of these expressions whereby he does as it were come upon his Hearers and surprize them before they are aware There 's somewhat more in these rhetorical interrogations than there is in bare and positive assertions to make the thing it self more effectual Secondly Here 's the Prophet's faithfulness in that he brings it home to their own particulars and expresses it as concerning themselves in the second person It is not how can they which are thus and thus but how can ye He lays it at their own doors and desires to make them sensible of it which were corrupted and polluted with it This is another thing which a Minister ought to do as he has ground and occasion for it that so his Doctrine and Reproof and Exhortation may have the more power and efficacy with it Thus does Jeremy here in this place Thirdly Here 's the Prophet's courage and undauntedness and impartiality that he speaks here absolutely and indefinitely to all which were sinners and guilty without exception As in the 18th verse before Say unto the King and the Queen humble your selves c. So also here Ye which are accustomed to do evil He spares not any whether great or small as he had no cause coming on God's errand In verse 15. Hear ye and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken c. And thus now also have ye the observations collaterally and reflexively arising from this Text which we have here undertaken and so likewise with the whole Text it self Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also which are c. SERMON XLVIII EZEK 21.2 3. Son of man set thy face toward Jerusalem and drop thy word toward the holy places and prophecy against the land of Israel And say to the land of Israel Thus saith the
begin in order with the first viz. the Persons mentioned those that sigh and cry c. from whence we may observe thus much That such persons there are that do so and it is their duty so to do even to sigh and cry for the abominations all of them that are done in the midst of the City We read of divers in Scripture which have been noted for this disposition in them Thus it is said of just Lot that he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing vext his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds as it is in 2 Pet. 2.7 8. David he beheld the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not Gods word Psal 119.158 and rivers of water ran down his eyes because they kept not his law in verse 136. of the same Psalm Jeremy his soul wept in secret places for their pride c. Jer. 13.17 And Paul his spirit was stirred in him at Athens when he saw the City to be wholly given to idolatry Acts 17.16 Thus have the Servants of God been still affected with the abominations of the places and people whom they have lived withall and amongst whom they have at any time converst And this it hath proceeded thus in them upon divers and sundry considerations First out of their inward hatred and antipathy even to sin it self The children of God being born again and become new creatures and having grace in their hearts they cannot but abhor any thing which is opposite and contrary hereunto from that new nature and spirit which is in them Look as on the other side wicked men they are troubled at the slourishing of Religion where they see any to improve in goodness and to be any thing more forward in piety their hearts and spirits rise as it were against them and boil in them from the devilish disposition which is in them and hatred even of goodness it self So here those that fear the Lord they are as much troubled at the improvements of sin from that work of Regeneration which is in their hearts Secondly Out of love to God and a tenderness of his honour and glory Where abominations are at any time committed there God is exceedingly dishonour'd his Laws are slighted his Attributes are question'd his Name is blasphem'd Now those that are good themselves they have a great regard hereunto Those that are Gods children they are very jealous of Gods honour as any other children besides are of the honour of their earthly Parents and so accordingly they cannot but grieve when there is any trespass at any time upon it Those that areotherwise they shew but little love and affection which they bear unto him Thirdly Out of respect to themselves and their own advantage The more sin there is abroad the more are all men concerned in it not evil men but good who are from hence in so much the greater danger and that in a twofold respect both as to matter of defilement and of punishment They are more in danger from hence to be polluted and they are more in danger from hence to be afflicted and this makes them to be so much troubled at it First In order to Defilement they are more in danger from hence to be polluted Great and reigning sins and abominations are usually great temptations which do hazard the souls of many persons that converse amongst them and therefore there is cause to be grieved for them What is it that which makes men now so troubled to hear of the spreading of certain sicknesses and diseases Why it is because they think that themselves may haply come to feel them and to be infected with them that which befalls others they think at last it may light upon them And so is it likewise with gracious persons as to spiritual distempers when they hear of such corruptions and wickedness which are abroad in the world they are therefore much afflicted with them because they fear lest they themselves should be any thing defiled from them they are jealous of their own hearts in case of the prevailing of such sins and so do grieve and mourn for and under them And this they do it in order to defilement as being in danger to be polluted Secondly In order also to Punishment as being in danger to be afflicted Common and publick abominations they beget common and publick plagues and judgments which follow thereupon This those that are wise and prudent Christians know and discern well enough Evil men understand not judgment but they that seek the Lord understand all things says Solomon Prov. 28.5 Fools make a mock of sin and those that are wicked and ungodly they are commonly hardned and secure in the midst of the greatest wickednesses that are commited Because they do not suffer for them presently therefore they think they shall not suffer at all Yea but the children of God they are otherwise perswaded they know that sin will sooner or later come to a reckoning and when they see it to increase in the world they foresee the judgments that attend it and therefore tremble at the sight of it as knowing that God is so much the more provoked by it and so will at length proceed to the punishment of it There are two things in the increase of sin and the spreading of more nauseous abominations which to this purpose do very much affect the children and servants of God the one is they are conscious of Gods anger and displeasure in the cause of them And the other is as they are prognosticks of Gods wrath and judgment in the effects First I say as they ar consequents of his anger and displeasure for so they are There is nothing which is more redious to Gods children than the anger and displeasure of God Now reigning abominations they are a symptom and discovery of that they are a sign that God is very much offended with those places and persons where he suffers them and permits them to be in them and gives them up to them We many times make light of it but believe it for any people to be given up to more notorious wickedness is the greatest argument of Gods anger that can be and in that regard a special ground for mercy to those that are good As it is a sign of God's anger against a person to be given up to strong and strange lusts An whore is a deep ditch and he that is abhorred of God shall fall into it so it is a sign of Gods anger against a Nation when he gives them up to more eminent sins and abominations in any kind whatsoever And so there is very great cause to grieve at it But secondly As those raging abominations they are the consequents of Gods anger in the causes of them so they are the Prognosticks of Gods wrath in the effects they do as good as foretell some judgment ere long to be brought upon
such places especially when they come to be common and general and universal then they bespeak speedy destruction That which many people take as an excuse and shelter to them in in that is indeed if it be duly thought of the greatest matter of affrightment and aggravation which is this that it is usual and ordinary and that more are guilty of it for then it is an argument that sin is shameless and impudent and incorrigible and in a manner desperate and that there 's nothing almost to be expected but ruine and desolation And is not this then just matter and ground for mourning to all such persons as understand themselves Lastly The servants of God have herein also a respect to others even sometimes to wicked men themselves whom considered as men they lament and mourn for whiles they are guilty of such and such miscarriages Those that cannot mourn for themselves through the obstinacy and hardness of themselves yet they have in those cases others better than themselves to mourn for them Thus we see what grounds there are for Gods childrens mourning in this particular for their sighing and crying for the abominations which are done in the places in which they converse Therefore this may very much satisfie us when we observe it at any time to be so when we see any to be thus affected that we may not think it a superfluous business or more than needs for there is very great causes and reasons for it And accordingly it does condemn the contrary neglect which is in many persons There are a great many of people in the world who as they lay not to heart the afflictions of other men in a way of compassion so they lay not to heart the abominations of other men neither in a way of compunction As they are not humbled for their own sins so neither for the sins of others whom they converse withall Yea but now those that belong to God they are careful to do this as it is here intimated to us in the Text. And so accordingly should we all labour and endeavour to do likewise we should labour to get such a publickness of spirit such an hatred and detestation of sin such a love to God and zeal for his glory as to lament and bewail mens sins and miscarriages wheresoever we find them and to be really affected with them some persons there are that do so and we our selves should be careful to be of this number As for spreading judgments and calamities men are perhaps a little sensible of them and may now and then so long as they are upon them express some kind of sorrow for them But who takes notice of the sins and iniquities which are the causes of these judgments This were well to be thought on by us as being that which the Lord does require and expect from us Surely some there are that do so as it is here signified to us though in comparison but very few For the better opening of this passage we may here pertinently take notice of the several expressions which are here used and there are three things here considerable First the expressions of sorrow that sigh and cry Secondly the occasion of this sorrow and that is the abominations that are committed Thirdly the extent of those abominations for the acting and committing of them that are done in the midst of the City First Here are the expressions of sorrow and they are two sighing and crying In the Hebrew Text they are very emphatical as carrying an elegant Parekaa or Paronomasia with them Hanneenwchim ve-hanneanckom both of them terms of sadness The first which is sighing that signifies such a mourning as is more secret and retired in it self The second which is crying that signifies such a mourning as is more open and exposed to observation Both of them such as are agreeable to the occasion and business here in hand Those that are the servants of God they do both of them upon these occasions they do both inwardly conceive grief and also they do outwardly express it First They conceive it inwardly and that is here signified in sighing and it is all that sometimes they can do to any purpose When they see wickedness to abound in any place as now and then they do they have no remedy left them but sighing and bewailing it in their own breasts betwixt God and themselves As in the place before cited out of Jeremy Their souls weep in secret which is the best and truest weeping of all This is that which they may do this is that which they ought to do as the least and sometimes the most which in some cases especially can be done by them It may so fall out sometimes with the Servants of God in regard of the manifold abominations that are committed in the places wherein they live that they can neither complain of them nor redress them neither openly testifie against them nor yet actually resorm or amend them yea but in the mean time they may sigh for them for all that and this is that which is required of them and which is here commended in them First I say it may so sall out that they can not openly complain of them that is either with safety or success not with safety because men are apt in such cases to rise against them and as it were to trample them under their feet as our Saviour speaks Wicked and profane persons they do not love to hear of their abominations though they love to commit them and therefore they are ready ever and anon to flee in the faces of them that reprove them for them and bear witness against them As St. Paul was the Galatians enemy because he shewed them the truth He that rebuketh a scorner begetteth to himself a blot as Solomon tells us Well but there is no danger in sighing and in secret mourning all this while this may be done very quietly and safely and accordingly it is wisdom to do it and God's Servants are careful of it they put up many a sigh to God and she many a tear before him for those sins and abominations which otherwise they could not safely complain of Again As not with safety so not with success they may be likely to do little good by open complaining of them For those which are guilty of them may be so far interessed and engaged as that they would hear no complaints which should be made against them There is that obstinacy in many people's hearts that the more sometimes they hear of their wickedness the more resolv'd and bent they are upon it which harden their necks being often reproved as the Wise-man speaks Now to what purpose is complaining here Yea but sighing may be to very good purpose sighing to God may there be very profitable where complaints to men may be ineffectual we may sigh where we cannot complain either safely or else sufficiently So again we may sigh where we cannot redress This is
Salvation and the concernments of a beter life take it singly and alone by it self and it does not reach thereunto Therefore Thirdly and in the last place let this be the Use of this Doctrine to perswade men to look after such a righteousness as does indeed exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees What may we say is that and what does our Saviour mean here by it I answer briesly thus That it may be reduc'd to two Heads both to imputed righteousness and to inherent The righteousness of Christ's Person without us which is made ours by Faith and the righteousness of Christ's Spirit within us which does change and alter our natures and make us in part conformable to him Each of these are the righteousness here intended First That righteousness of ours which is thus transcendent as is here implied it is the righteousness of Christ himself imputed to us both of his nature life and death This is our righteousness so far forth as it is accounted for ours and we have a share and interest in it whilst by Faith we lay hold upon Christ's person we partake of Christ's righteousness and this to be sure is beyond the righteousness of all Scribes and Pharisees because it is such as is fully satisfactory to the justice of God and will endure the severest and exactest trial at his Tribunal But this though it be here included yet I conceive it not much intended in this present Text. Therefore Secondly By this transcendent righteousness of ours we are to understand our inherent righteousness which by Christ's Spirit is bestowed upon us and wrought in us and this is such as must be beyond the righteousness of Pharisees or else will not serve our turn This consists principally in the changing and renewing of our natures and transforming us in the spirit of our minds in an hatred of sin as sin and in love of goodness as goodness in a sight of our own unworthiness and renouncing of any considence in our selves or the best of our performances in a conscionable endeavour and desire to please God in all things and a sear and shyness of doing any thing which may be displeasing unto him This is such a righteousness as exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees with all their glorious and specious performances and must be endeavoured after by every one that makes account to come hereafter to Heaven And accordingly it should perswade every one to look after it As nothing should satisfy us but Salvation so nothing should satisfy us neither but such means as do reach salvation because failing of the means we must needs consequently fail of the end which hath a conjunction and connexion with it and whereupon it depends as it is with any thing else which is of truth and regard This hath been the temper and disposition of all such persons as have understood themselves and that have known what has belong'd to Salvation As we may see it for an instance of it in the Apostle Paul who was a Pharisee and as he tells us himself one of the strictest way and carriage amongst them One that went beyond many of his equals in the Jewish Religion one that as touching the righteousness which is of the Law was blameless But yet when he comes to be converted and turn'd Christian he reckons all this as very defective and insufficient Phil. 3.8 What things were gain unto me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things to be but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffer'd the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and may be found in him Not having mine own righteousness which is of tke Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith Thus it was with the Apostle Paul and so it is likewise ready to be with all others which are in his condition And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text in the order in which I have now handled to wit the principal Doctrine here propounded and declar'd in these words Except your righteousness exceed the righteousuess of the Scribes and Pharisees c. The Second is the Preface or Introduction hereunto in these words For I say unto you Where we may observe a special Emphasis in every word and that three-fold First in the Speaker I. Secondly in the form of speech Say Thirdly in the persons spoken to You. There is somewhat in each of these which is considerable of us First In the Speaker I. Who was that namely Christ himself It was He that said it We know that Speeches they do frequently receive an impression from the condition of the persons that utter them And so did this here now in the Text so far forth as it was uttered by Christ The Scribes and Pharisees they had cried up their own righteousness as sufficient and somewhat more and thereby had kept men off from the Kingdom of Heaven They had taught men to rest in an outward conformity to the Law without any regard at all to the inward man yea but Christ now when he comes he teaches them another lesson than this and causes them to look further than the outward letter of the Commandment even to the sense and spirituality of it I says he say thus and thus unto you And I as we may again take it according to a threesold reduplication First I that am your Law-giver Secondly I that am your Prophet Thirdly I that am your Judge First Your Law-giver I consider'd so It is I that say who can better expound the Law or his Authority so to do than he that makes it than he that gives it Now this is that which Christ has done He was present at the making of the Law He was an Agent in the publishing of it It was ordain'd by Angels in the hand of a Mediator and this Mediator was Christ who as he was the Mediator of Reconciliation through whom we are accepted of God And as he was the Mediator of Intercession through whom we have access to God so he was also the Mediator of Instruction and Information through whom we receive he commands and injunctions of God And forasmuch I say as 't is he that propounds it is he also that properly expounds them and is the best expounder of them of any other else besides Secondly I your Prophet Christ is also considerable so in reference hereunto Christ he was in the bosom of his Father and best knew his Father's mind and he was ordain'd to be the Prophet of his Church for the revealing of this his mind unto them Heb. 1.1 c. God that in time past spake to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son c. Thirdly I your Judge It is I also that say it That 's
world that I should bear witness to the truth Joh. 18.37 Even so may every one say besides For this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should live according to the truth The consideration of this Point may be thus far useful to us First to teach us where especially to spend our chiefest thoughts and endeavours And that is upon this one thing which is so needful and necessary for us as we have heard it is We see here where to begin and fasten our studies First to take care of necessaries before we take care of superfluities It 's mens practice in other matters and it should be more especially so here in this We count him to be a mad-man in reference to the world who looks after flowers and pictures and musick and such things as these and in the mean time suffers himself to starve and want bread Even such a kind of mad-man is he who spends all his thoughts and time upon these outward things here below and in the mean time neglects Heaven and the salvation of his own soul Such a mad-man was he in the Gospel Luke 12.20 who laid up much goods for many years but never thought what would become of this and therefore God calls him fool for it as he very well might and tells him his following doom Thou fool this night thy soul shall be taken away from thee and then whose shall these things be which thou hast provided Certainly if there be but one thing necessary it is the greatest folly and madness that can be to neglect that of all other and such as we should especially take heed that we be not guilty of it And yet if we look abroad into the world how many shall we find to be guilty in this particular and how few careful of the contrary It is a sad and woful thing to consider what a general Atheism abounds almost in every place men live as if they had no souls to save or as if there were no such thing as salvation belonging unto them Religion is the least of their care or those things which may any way tend to the promoting of it Instead of being the one thing necessary it is with them the one thing superfluous and they think there 's the least need of it of any thing else in the World therefore it is that they so much slight it and contemn it and scoff at it and at those which do any thing mind it or regard it and look after it which themselves neglect to do That time which men should spend upon their souls they spend upon their lusts and upon their vanities and such things as tend to their utter ruine and eternal destruction So far are they from minding those things which are of better and higher concernment Well There 's a time a coming when things will appear in another kind of view than now they do when this one thing needful will appear to be needful indeed And our Saviour will justify and make good this his sentence and declaration about it when Grace shall be esteemed above all the world besides and those accounted the wisest persons who have got the greatest stock of it aforehand and have treasured it up unto themselves and therefore we should accordingly be perswaded to think and judg of it As there 's a truth in the Doctrine it self that this one thing is needful so we should for our part be convinced of the necessity of it in our own minds that from thence we may be drawn to pursue it and follow after it The reason why most men do no more regard these things than indeed they do is because they do not think them to be so needful as indeed they are They think there 's no such great matter in them as Ministers and Preachers would perswade Who hath believed our report Now therefore this is that which in the first place we should work our selves unto an apprehension of the necessity of Religion The way hereunto is first of all to get a spiritual savour and relish and appetite in us what makes men to think meat to be needful but because their stomachs call for it from them and their mouths crave it at their hands as Solomon speaks And so what is that which makes men to think Grace to be necessary It is because they have gracious dispositions in them which accordingly we must labour for This will make us with the Prophet David to think the word of God to be to us as our necessary and appointed food He that has a principle of spiritual life in him he can no more be without the Ordinances and means of spiritual nourishment than he that has natural life in him can be without bread and natural food The one will be as needful as the other with such persons as are proportionably affected and disposed unto them there being the same ground and reason for either and so likewise which is pertinent hereunto look upon things in their order and connexion and subordination and in reference to their particular ends See how Grace and Glory are linked and tied together and subordinate and subservient to each other how a man must have another kind of life when this life is gone and so we shall see how this one thing is needful and shall be perswaded the more to seek after it Secondly Labour to be convinced of the vanity and insufficiency of the creature This will make us to think one thing necessary that is Religion and nothing else For it may be we think it necessary but other things as necessary as that and this divides our cares about it Nay but nothing to speak of is needful and necessary but this as will appear from the vanity of the creature All these things here below they perish in their using The world passeth away and both the lust and the fashions of it as we have it from the testimony of two Apostles together in Scripture The creature in some conditions especially can do us no good at all at least which is able to satisfy us and give us content It cannot pacify a disquiet conscience it cannot heal a broken heart or a wounded spirit it cannot settle a mind troubled and perplext with the sight of sin This nothing can do but the Blood of Christ sprinkled upon the conscience and the testimony of God's love in them applyed by his Spirit which in part makes up this one thing here in the Text. Thirdly Get our hearts freed from those lusts and corruptions which are in them and are apt to prevail over them that 's another way to make us to mind this one thing necessary What was that which made Martha here in this Scripture to neglect the word of Christ why it was because she was a little too much addicted to the world and her secular affairs And so what was that which made the young rich man in the Gospel to despise
was this that his Servant Job was a perfect and upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil and still held fast his integrity It was le-balgno chinnam To swallow him up without cause and therefore it was that he could not perswade him to it We should all endeavour that it may be so with us That though God may always find cause himself to destroy us and swallow us up yet that Satan may never find cause to provoke him and perswade him thereto from careless and uneven walking and conversing before him And that may be the first thing considerable in this expression of desire viz. Satan's restraint He was limited and confined by God whose leave must first be ask'd in this particular Secondly As here 's Satan's restraint so moreover his malice and boldness of attempt Magnis tamen excidit âusis He ventures high Two things there are that do commonly encourage men in asking and in putting up their requests the acceptableness of the thing ask'd and the acceptableness of the person that asks it neither of these are here in Satan in asking of God his children and therefore a bold request It is not only a bare and single desire but this desire drawn out into a Prayer which is somewhat more Even Satan himself prays take notice of that So sometimes may those also which are Instruments of Satan as to the outward action and substance of the performance But what kind of prayer is it and what does it tend unto That he may have Peter and the rest of the Apostles and do what he pleaseth with them He desires of God that he would give up these his Servants into his power This was a very insolent request As if a man should ask leave of a Father that he might cut his child's throat Such was this desire here of Satan So it was also there concerning Job Thou movedst me against him Job 2.3 This I say was a very great boldness yet such as was in Satan towards God in regard of Job as here in regard of Peter and the rest One may desire that which he is loth to signify that he desires Many an one desires that which he is ashamed to ask And many an one desires that which he scorns to ask especially if he must ask it of an enemy And yet thus does Satan here of God He asks his servants of him This is a sign he has a good mind to you and it should teach us the more to look to our selves and to overcome desires with desires impudence with prayers How much more reason and encouragement have God's children to pray to God for themselves than Satan to pray against them But so much also for this Before we proceed any further we may here take notice of one thing more which is The word of attention Behold This is ordinary and frequent in Scripture by way of Preface and Introduction But here as I conceive it hath some further Emphasis with it which is to excite and awaken Peter and to make him the more look about him in his present condition And there are these things observable from it First here is implyed Peter's ignorance and present unadvisedness He was not aware of this attempt of Satan So is it likewise with many others of God's servants Satan does secretly lay siege unto their souls and they do not discern it It is a great piece of skill to know indeed when we are tempted and to be apprehensive that we are under a temptation There are a great many persons which are so which yet do not perceive it nay there are many which think the quite contrary which are very secure in this particular and so secure as that they take and interpret Satan's temptations even for the motions of God himself This is a very dangerous condition and such as these have need to be admonished and warned most of all and therefore here Behold Secondly We see here also the love of Christ who helps our ignorance in this particular and advises us where we are less regardful This as he did then by word of mouth so as I said before he does still likewise by his Spirit in our hearts if we will but hearken and listen to him in those suggestions Thirdly Here 's also as sometimes the eminency and conspicuousness of the temptation It is such as is very obnoxious and open to all mens eyes so that one may easily see and behold it if they will but give heed unto it But so much also for that It is a sign he hath a mind to you and some hope of you or else he would never do as he does To come now to the object it self of this desire To have you he hath desired this this is I say very pertinently added to make up the fulness of the sense and accordingly we may take notice of it There are two sorts of Satan's temptations and so answerably there 's a double having of them which may be here understood by us First there are temptations to sin And Secondly there are temptations for sin and both here included And so to have you two manner of ways To have you to corrupt you To have you to afflict you First To have you to corrupt you Satan has desired this To have you so to have interest in you to have influece upon you to have service from you Satan has much wish'd for this To have you that is to have you for his turn This is that which as near as he could he would obtain of the servants of Christ he would have them out of the hands of Christ in his own enjoyment and possession This is that which he would fain have if he might have what he desired It is not that he would have your estates or your liberties or your lives only No but he would have your selves and he would have your souls He would have you and the best part of you He would have you and all of you at his command You and you indefinitely that is every one of you one as well as another And you and you extensively that is you in every part of you your whole soul and body and spirit There is nothing which God has of you but Satan would have of you too He would corrupt and defile your whole man This may serve as a very good item and caution to the servants of God in regard of the temptations of Satan and their own yieldings to them to be well advised and consider of them The Devil in the baits which he lays whereby to catch and insnare poor souls he makes them often to believe as if he were very modest in his requests and demands of them only that they should do such and such actions for such a particular time and that 's all that he would ask of them Nay but that 's not all which will content him he desires to have them themselves with the whole bent and inclination of their souls
He desires to have you and you so as to have you at his beck and will and command There 's no such Tyrant as Satan where he once gets âooting into any soul Therefore this should teach us still to be wary and jealous of him Having this warning given us by Christ for what he said to his Disciples he said to all of us we should accordingly make use of it and that is to watch and to take heed to our selves Let us take heed of promising our selves safety in the midst of the greatest danger but rather consider the attempts which are made against us and by whom For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood but against Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the darkness of this World against spiritual wickedness in high places When we consider what our enemies are what advantages are upon them and what they aim at and propound to themselves even the undoing of poor souls certainly all this should awaken us and make us look to our selves He that now can find in his heart to be secure he is not asleep but plainly dead This were enough to make us look about us that Satan would have us to corupt us but yet that 's no all He would have us to afflict us too That 's another Branch of his desire which is here also included and given notice of in this warning of Christ's As Satan would weaken our Faith so also darken our comfort And as he would draw us into sin so likewise trouble us and torment us for it He aims at this These are fiery darts of the wicked which the Scripture makes mention of to us in Eph. 6.16 Look as on the one side the Holy Ghost He is first a Spirit of Holiness and then he is a Spirit of Joy First a Sanctifier and then a Comforter So on the other side Satan the evil Spirit he is first a Spirit of wickedness and then a Spirit of Sadness First he perswades to sin and then he carries on to despair and fills the soul with horror for sin Yea not only does he afflict for sin and labour to disquiet for that but even also to afflict there where sin has not indeed that forcing as in others it has He labours to make salse representations to Believers of their estate and condition and of the affection of God towards them that so they may walk dejectedly and uncomfortably all their days Because he hears that comfort is a vigorous condition and that the joy of the Lord is heir strength therefore he labours all he can to hinder them and to intercept them of it That so whiles they walk uncomfortably they may walk unprofitably and be less useful and serviceable in the places in which they are as by this means they come to be Therefore we should remember to be jealous of him here likewise and in all trouble of spirit labour to discern and understand how far Satan mingles himself with it what is from the Spirit of God convincing and reproving for sin and what is from the evil Spirit in enlarging the matter of trouble to us beyond its due measure and bounds This was the care of the Apostle Paul in the business of the excommunicated Corinthian who was now humbled and cast down for his sin he was careful that he might not be overwhelmed with over-much sorrow and he gives this reason for it lest Satan should get an advantage against us for we are not ignorant of his devices 2 Cor. 2.11 It is usual with Satan thus to fiâh in troubled waters and so to abuse poor afflicted souls which we should mind both as to others and to our selves Satan would have you to afflict you That 's the first Branch in this passage to wit the design it self Satan hath desired you The Second is the Amplification of it And to sift or winnow you as wheat This it may be taken two manner of ways either in a bad sense or in a good If we take it in a bad sense so it signifies the intent of Satan by that which he desires If we take it in a good sense so it signifies he event of Satan and that which though against his mind and beyond his intention he does actually effect and perform First Take it in a ill sense As Satan's intent so to winnow you is to shake and remove you Look as Corn when it is winnowed it is shaken from one side to another and never lies still even so does Satan with the Disciples of Christ and endeavoured to do at this present time to shake them nd toss them up and down with his violent temptations and the variety of them This expression shews the unweariedness of Satan in his attempts upon the Godly and his several courses which he takes with them to annoy them He shifts them and he removes them from one temptation to another now on this side and then on that so that they never are quiet and at rest As he did thus with Christ himself as we may see in the story of his temptations so he does thus also with the Members of Christ This teaches us to labour therefore for so much the more constancy and solidity and settlement to be well rooted and fasten'd in Christ and by a Spirit of Faith to hold upon him that so none of all the shakings and concussions of Satan whatsoever may be able to do us any hurt but we may still stand stedfast and immovable and hold fast our profession without wavering Thus may this expression be taken in an ill sense and so as expressing to us Satan's purpose and intent But Secondly It may be also taken in a good sense and so as expressing to us the event of Satan's practises though beyond his own desire and intention The winnowing of the Corn in the Fan it is not for the hurt of it but for the good of it And therefore the Gospel is in other places of Scripture compared to a Fan whereby the Wheat and the Chaff are separated and distinguish'd one from the other Thus in a sense also are Satan's temptations And so these words He hath desired you to sift you as wheat are to be understood thus He hath desired to do that with you which shall be to you as the winnowing of the Corn. And so we learn thus much by it Two things especially First That the temptations of God's people they are great advantages and benefits to them as it pleases God to order and dispose them They purge them from that dross and chaff and corruption which otherwise would adhere unto them And they also serve as separations many times of the precious from the vile according to the effect which they have upon them And they fit them also for future service Secondly We see here how also God out-wits Satan and destroys his own plots by himself who in that way wherein he thinks to do Believers greatest mischief he does them many times
compassionate to others in that condition Heb. 2.17 18. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his Brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people For in that himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Thirdly God suffers his servants to be tempted for the honour of his own Grace in supporting them and keeping them up and for the confusion likewise of the enemy in his attempts upon them Satan here desired to have Peter and the rest of the Disciples and he promised himself very great matters in the having of them thought he should surely conquer them and have them for his own now would Christ therefore suffer him to assault them that he might come off with the greater reproach that when he had done all he could against them he might see at last how little he could prevail upon them Thus ye see it was in the case of Job the Lord triumphs as it were over Satan in that attempt Hast thou consider'd my servant Job that there is none like him upon the earth a perfect and an upright man c. As if he had said thou hast endeavoured Satan to do all that thou could'st to undo him but yet for all that it will not do he has still the better of thee and for all that holds his integrity This reason which we now mention for this dealing is exprest in the case of Paul why the Lord did not take away his temptation but rather gave him Grace sufficient against it For my strength is made perfect in weakness And the Apostle himself also so improves it in the words that follow Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me 2 Cor. 12.9 Thus we see that there is cause why Christ should suffer his servants to be tempted as he did Peter c. The Use which we are to make of it is therefore to arm our selves against temptation as much as we can We should not promise our selves absolute freedom and immunity from it but be prepared for it We should as our Saviour elsewhere advises pray against it that we enter not into it but yet withal be provided against it and to this purpose get a stock of Grace that may then stand us in stead Let us not then have our Armour to get when our Enemy is coming upon us but be furnish'd afore-hand and remember that we trust not to any Grace which we have already received but be still labouring and striving for more We had need of more Grace for the saving of that Grace we have already and especially the Grace of watchfulness and circumspection and of an holy fear But so much of this Passage in the Negative what our Saviour here does not pray for It is not for the preventing of Temptation which he did suffer and permit to befall the Apostle Peter The Second is the Positive part of it in the words of the Text That thy Faith may not fail Which words may be again consider'd of us two manner of ways First Simply and absolutely as they lye in themselves and so they do signify to us the safety of Peter's condition Secondly Respectively and dependantly in their connexion with the words going before and so they do signify to us the cause of Peter's safety First To take them Absolutely as they lye in themselves and so they do signify to us the safety of Peter's condition and together with him of all other Believers Their Faith it shall not fail Those who are true Believers they shall never wholly depart from the Faith but shall abide and continue stedfast to the end For the better opening of this present Point unto us we must know that there is a double Faith and so consequently a double sort of Believers There is the Doctrine of Faith and there 's the Grace of Faith There 's Faith as it lyes in the understanding and is a belief of the Truths of the Gospel And there is Faith as it is rooted in the heart and is a receiving and embracing of Christ Now it is not the former but the latter which is here chiefly intended The Papists that they may from hence prove that their Church cannot err which they will never evince from this Text they carry this Faith altogether to a Faith of Doctrine and so would infer That Peter as the Head of the Church should be infallible But besides the silliness of the inference they are much mistaken in the ground and supposition For the Faith which our Saviour here speaks of it is a Faith of Principles a saving justifying renewing and regenerating Faith whereby we are united to Christ as Members of his Mystical Body This is that which our Saviour here prayed for Peter that it should not fail in him Indeed it has a truth likewise of the other so far forth as it is included those which are born again as they are acquainted with all necessary Truths which God's Spirit does lead them into so they are likewise by the same gracious Spirit preserved in it But that which is mainly here intended is that Faith which lays hold upon Christ which though not excluding the former is more especially the Faith of God's Elect Tit. 1.9 And so Faith may here be taken by a Synecdoche for the whole work of the new creature in us This it is such as shall not fail and so is intimated to us in this Scripture and so in other places besides As Psal 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Sion which cannot be moved but abideth for ever And Isa 6.13 He shall be like and Oak whose substance is in him whiles his leaves fall and the holy seed shall be the substance thereof c. This it may be made good unto us from sundry considerations First The nature of Grace it self which is an abiding Principle Faith is not a thing taken up as a man would take up some new fashion or custom but it is a thing rooted and incorporated in us and goes through the substance of us it spreads it self through the whole man and is as it were a new creature in us Therefore it is said of a regenerate person that he cannot commit sin namely the sin of Apostacy and that sin which is unto death because the seed of God remaineth in him 1 Joh. 3.9 Secondly The Covenant of Grace which is an everlasting Covenant Jer. 32.40 I will make an everlasting Covenant with them that I will never turn from them to do them good but I will put my fear into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Therefore Faith shall not fail because God himself does not fail who hath put this Faith into the hearts of his servants Thirdly The Spirit of Grace which is not only a Worker but an
him with the brightness of his coming And so he shall and all such persons as do adhere unto him The Spirit of Christ shall scatter the spirit of Antichrist and the wind of the Holy Spirit shall confound the wind of the evil Spirit and what ever is attempted by it This is a very comfortable point in all the assaults and temptations of Satan and his endeavours either against the Church in general or against any particular member of it Every Christian is thus far secure and in good condition as he has this Wind as I may so say for him which is sure to blow him nothing but good The Reason of it is this Because he is one that belongs to Christ and has an interest in him and so consequently has an interest in the Spirit which is the Spirit of Christ and so all the motions of it subordinate and subservient to him and disposed of according to his pleasure There are different and various winds which blow now and then both upon the Church and likewise upon the Soul but they are all ordered and regulated by him Therefore we find in the Canticles how it is Christ himself that stirs up his Spirit for the good of his Spouse Awake O North-wind and come thou South and blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out The Spirit it blows where it lists and it lists there where Christ lists too which is very satisfactory for all those that seek unto him And so I have done with the first part of the Text as to the resemblance betwixt the Spirit and the Wind in the work of Regeneration and that is the Quality of the Maker The Wind bloweth c. The Second is the Sensibleness of its effects in those words And thou hearest the sound thereof The wind it comes with a Sound and so does the Spirit of God It did so in its first coming of all when it came upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost There came suddenly a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting Acts 2.4 And so it is still to this present day in a proportion It has a sound and such as may be heard Now thus it is in a two fold consideration The one is the sound of it in the Ear and the other is the sound of it in the Conscience First There is the sound of the Spirit in the Ear and that is in the external Preaching of the Word and Ministerial Dispensation where this is performed as it should be it is no other than the sound of the Spirit and the voice of the Holy Ghost himself speaking to us Their sound is gone forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Rom. 10.18 This is such a sound as may be heard and it is a mercy to hear it and to be made partakers of it and that in regard of the virtue and benefit which by the blessing of God is conveyed by it for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God as the Apostle there tells us Rom. 10.17 Therefore accordingly we should prize it and esteem of it and apply our selves to it as that which is appointed for our good If we look upon Preaching onely as the work of men so there is but little in it and it may be rather matter of contempt in regard of the meanness of it But when we shall consider that it is the Ordinance of God and the voice and sound of the Spirit here 's that in it which commands our regard and attention to it And we should be glad of all opportunities which are at any time afforded unto us for the partaking of it that we may hear the sound of this wind blowing upon us That 's the first The sound in the Ear. But secondly that 's not all there is moreover the sound in the Conscience which is the main and chiefest of all This is that which comes home to the heart of a Christian for his conversion and the raising him from the death of sin under which he was held Like the voice of Christ to Lazarus when he bad him come forth of the grave This is that which is heard also by those persons whom it pleases God to vouchsafe it unto according to that of our blessed Saviour in Joh. 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Thus we shall find it was with the Disciples going to Emaus Luke 24.32 They said one to another Did not our bearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and whiles he opened to us the Scripture There was a special efficacy went with his word to the hearts of his hearers And so it was with St. Peter's Converts Acts 2.37 When they heard these words they were pricked at their hearts And the Jaylor Acts 16.33 he heard not onely the sound of the wind but the sound of the Spirit and this sound of it whereof we now speak in the heart-quake as well as the earth quake which he was sensible of upon that occasion And so it has been with many more and still is they daily hear this sound made unto them they have strong and strange impressions upon their hearts and spirits to this purpose which they cannot but hear in several kinds sometimes checking them for sin and sometimes restraining them from it sometimes exciting them to good and sometimes encouraging them in it The Spirit of God in their hearts and consciences deals diversly and variously with them and it is their duty and wisdom accordingly to attend unto him They that hear thus they shall hear that is they shall hear effectually as it is intimated in the place before cited And therefore it concerns us to regard it and to give heed unto it all that possible may be There are a great many people in the world who though this sound which we now speak of in both the branches of it be continually exhibited unto them and such as may be heard yet they do not or at least will not hear it who like the deaf Adder stop their ears and will not hear the voice of the charmers charm they never so wisely as the Prophet David speaks of them in Psal 68.4 5. Now what do such as these but as much as in themselves lies hinder their own conversion and regeneration and the work of grace in their hearts which is accomplished by such ways and means as these And besides after a great indignity and disrespect to the holy Ghost himself as the Apostle Paul signifies to us in 1 Thess 4.8 He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given us his holy Spirit Whose voice as it is sensible to be heard so it ought to be heard by us as we have occasion for it And so
belonging unto it as First of all in sorrow for sin They are ignorant and un-apprehensive of this and know not what belongs unto it Natural men they have a natural sorrow and grief for sin after a legal manner They may have great troubles and terrors of Conscience which for a while they may be exercised withal whereby they may be driven to great perplexity and desperation it self as we know it was sometimes with Judas But that Godly sorrow which St. Paul speaks of which worketh repentance to Salvation not to be repented of this is such as they knew not what it meant Sorrow for sin as it is an offence against God and so as may lead them and carry them nearer to Christ and pitch them and fasten them upon him This is such as is unknown unto them and far enough from them Secondly as for Spiritual Joy the comforts and consolations of the holy Ghost they are to seek also in these they are strangers to it and meddle not with it This is the hidden Manna and the white stone which no man knows save he that receives it The Spirit in the Witness of it is a Mystery to a carnal heart this is Honey which such persons never tasted nor had any sense or apprehensions of it They may have sometimes false joys and false comforts and false ravishments from the delusion and suggestion of Satan who is so far Gods Ape But the true joy of the Spirit of God indeed which is not onely chearing but purging not onely filling with comfort but quickning to duty and encouraging and engaging to obedience This is such as they are unacquainted with it and but ignorant of it which is a Peace and Joy above all that the World can confer Thirdly The Spirituality of holy Exercises and Duties of Piety Carnal persons they are ignorant of this likewise they can come off with some external performances as Prayer and Reading and Hearing of the Word and the like so far as they concern the outward man and as they are to be done by that but to perform them after a spiritual manner and to enjoy Communion with God himself in the performance of them this is that which is a Riddle to them and they understand not nor know not what to make of it A natural man he knows not what belongs to the Spirit of Adoption and to the going to God as to a Father in Christ He knows not what belongs to the improvements of Faith and to the getting of strength in his inward man occasionally from those Duties of Christianity which are performed by him as a man receiving strength in his body from that nourishment which is conveyed in his meat Fourthly The Exactness of Christian obedience and the inward life and power of Religion This is also a Secret and Mystery to an unregenerate spirit A natural man he may conform to some good things in Religion which carry no great difficulty in them and which do not cross him in his dearest lusts but as for others he is more weak and indisposed The Precepts of Self-denial and Mortification and Repentance and the Trade of Piety in holiness and righteousness of life and conversation these are more grievous to him Faith and Patience and Love of Enemies and forbearance of Revenge and such things as these the more refined and sublimer part of Religion as consisting in such matters as these are this is such as a carnal heart does very much stumble at and is offended with it Fifthly Perseverance and continuance in the Faith and Profession of Christianity notwithstanding all adventures In the multitude and violence of temptations in the changings and variations of Providence still to abide and remain the same and to hold out and to persist unto the end without declining or going backward or falling away This is that also which a natural man understands not but is much to seek and very ignorant about it It may be when he is out of a temptation and not strongly provoked to evil there he can such as it may be abstain from it But let it be a sin which his nature inclines to and let him be strongly assaulted about it and here he presently yields unto it Whereas now in the work of Grace there is strength given against strong temptations for the conquering and vanquishing of them And so as for the varieties of Providence not to be shaken or overturned by them in Prosperity not to be lifted up nor to forget God and say Who is he And in Adversity not to be cast down nor to blaspheme God or murmur against him nay which is more still to trust in him and to love him and to stick close unto him These are such things which the natural man knows not what to make of nor cannot perswade himself that they are in Reality Lastly Take this work of Grace also in the Reward of it and as it is swallowed up in Glory and it is very intricate and mysterious here also especially to such kind of persons As they know not whence this Wind comes so neither whither it goes nor what it tends to in the blessed fruits and effects and consequences of it Carnal persons they commonly think of Heaven as of a carnal place and as of a carnal condition a Fools Paradise such as Turks and Pagans and Infidels fansie to themselves or at least in some affinity and nearness thereunto They are not partakers nor any way discerners of the glory that is to be revealed Thus we see how as to all particulars as concerning the work of Regeneration such persons as are themselves unregenerate and but in the state of Nature are ignorant and inapprehensive of it Now there 's a double account which may be given hereof unto us The one is taken from the impotency of humane Reason and the other is taken from the indisposition of Nature corrupt First Humane Reason is impotent and unable to reach such a business as this is We do here suppose that many natural and unregenerate men they have notwithstanding sometimes great parts and abilities of humane wit and sagacity in them whereby they are able to dive into many great Mysteries and Profundities of Nature yea but they are not able for all this to dive into the work of Grace nor to comprehend the Mysteries of Religion which are far above them and superiour to them Secondly As from the Impotency of Reason so also from the Corruption of Nature which makes Reason more impotent and blind than otherwise it would be Wicked men they do not understand the work of Grace because they are strangers to it they have their under standing darkned and so are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness their heart as the Apostle himself gives us an account of them Ephes 4.18 There is not onely a blindness of the mind but also a perversness of the will which has an influence
we find the truth of it in our own experience When we give God the honour of his Providence he will give us the comfort of it and make good all that to us in the event which we before by a Spirit of Faith did expect from him There 's nothing lost by self-resignation and submission to God in any thing whether inward or outward together with the appurtenances of them Nay we cannot engage God more than by seriousness in this particular And if we are not satisfied with that which God does for us here and this small pittance of time here in the world which indeed is but very narrow and short yet let us think of the advantages which he has for us in eternity and in the extent of our being He has there and then scope enough for the gratifying of us Hereafter if we take it in this sense ãâã I shewed before it might be taken it has enough in it to make us amends and to compensate all our expectations God will justify himself at the length that we may be sure of and it is enough for us that he will so though he should not do it so soon as we might desire or look for it from him and expect it at his hands This Text which we are now upon it serves so prevent a double distemper in us both our Curiosity and our Impatience Our Curiosity in the First Part What I do thou knowest not now no nor art not able to know it therefore do not too curiously and affectedly pry into it as being a thing above thy reach It is a wise and safe ignorance to know no more than God will have us to know Our Impatience in the Second Part But thou shalt know it hereafter Therefore be not too forward nor hasty nor eager for the present be content to stay God's leasure and time for the discovery of it which is always the best I will hut up all with the words of the wise man Solomon Prov. 3.5 6. Trust in the Lord with all shine heart and lean not to thine own understanding In all thy ways acknowledg him and he shall direct thy paths SERMON XVII JOH 14.27 Let not your Heart be troubled neither let it be afraid There is nothing more necessary for a Christian than a Calmness and Tranquillity of Mind And there is nothing more conducing hereunto than the Principles of Christianity it self Especially drawn forth into Exercise and Improvement of Religion as it is good for many other things besides so amongst the rest to keep up the Heart and to preserve the Spirit from Dejection Not onely to bring us to Heaven and to lodge us safely there but likewise to sustain us upon Earth and to carry us with the greatest Grace and Comfort and Facility and Contentment in the mean time through the World Therefore in these times of cruelty and distraction which are now upon us in regard of what may happen to us from future Events we cannot better provide for our selves and our own Security and Contentation than by recourse to such helps and means as these are especially as exhibited and tender'd in the Word of God and the Ministery and Dispensation of it which will still be that which it is after all our thoughts about it And for which purpose I have made choice of this Text which I have now read unto you being the last Advice and Counsel of our Blessed Lord and Saviour and given by him to his Disciples upon the saddest occasion that ever befell them in this World which was his own Departure from them Though the occasion was very lamentable and remarkable and their Condition very sad yet he would not have them to be discouraged or put out of Heart for it but to hold up and to be contented notwithstanding Let not your Heart be troubled neither let it be afraid IN the Text it self there are three General Parts considerable First a Christians Disposition Secondly a Christians Duty Thirdly A Christians Security or Happiness or Priviledge The Disposition of Christians That is to be very much troubled and full of fears The Duty of Christians that is not to be troubled or to have fears prevail upon them The Priviledge or Security of Christians is to have Christ taking care for the prevention of fear and trouble in them First For a Christians Disposition it is this to be very much troubled and full of fears This is here implyed and supposed in this Caution of our Saviour which he gives to his Disciples whiles he wishes them that their Heart might not be troubled he does intimate that it was subject to be troubled as when Joseph admonishes his Brethren that they would not fall out by the way he does signifie his suspicion that they were likely to fall out by the way And indeed this is the Case of the best of Gods Servants that are Even the Disciples of Christ Himself they were not free from it but very apt and subject unto it Especially now upon his removal and departure from them to be very full of sollicitude and distraction And the like disposition upon occasion has also discover'd it self in divers others of God's People beside Now there 's a various Ground which may be given hereof unto us why God's Servants here in this life are subject to inordinate Troubles and Fear and Anxiety in them First from the Reliques of Corruption Secondly from the strength of Temptation Thirdly from the weakness of Grace First From the Reliques of Corruption It is sin which is the cause of Trouble not only in the Condition but in the Spirit And this is that which Gods Servants have in them as still cleaving and adhering to them They have corruption and so have distraction as attendant and consequent thereupon And especially such sins and corruptions as do more immediately tend hereunto as diffidence and distrust and worldymindedness and inordinate affection to these things here below These where-ever they are they will cause trouble and fear And they are in part even in the best of Gods Servants There 's a double kind of Trouble which the Servants of God are subject to here in this World There 's the trouble of State and the trouble of Mind The former is not that which we now speak of as being not matter of Sin but of Affliction But the latter is that which our Discourse tends unto and which our Saviour here intends in this place now before us This is that which God's Children are prone to from the Corruption which is remaining in them They are apt to be much troubled in their Spirit from any thing which falls cross unto them And that because they are Flesh and Blood and have sin still more or less cleaving unto them Secondly As from the remainders of corruption so also from the strength of Temptation and the violence of Spiritual Assaults which are made upon them Satan he is an Enemy to them and loves to make his
an open and familiar manner So likewise of Jacob. Gen. 32.30 he relates it concerning himself I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved And therefore he called the name of the place Peniel which signifies the face of God So likewise the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 6.2 I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up c. And that we might know what Lord he means he adds presently afterwards in the fifth verse Mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts not Adonai onely but Jehovah that is the true God These and such like places of Scripture which sometimes we meet withall they do seem to imply as if God sometimes had been seen by men And therefore we must speak somewhat for the explanation of this passage here before us and the reconciling of it with those other Scriptures that at first hearing seem to contradict it Now this will best be done by removing Truth from Falshood and by considering how far it does hold good and again how it does not hold good that any man hath seen God c. For in a different sense and respect there is a truth in either Proposition which may be observ'd by us We may for methods sake reduce the terms of Explication to three Heads First to the Object Secondly to the Act. And thirdly to the Medium When we have fully considered of these three we shall be able to understand this Proposition which we have now before us according to its true proper and genuine meaning First the Object that is here express'd to be God No man hath seen God Now God in this Text is not to be taken Essentially but Personally God that is God the Father the First Person in the Blessed Trinity no man hath seen Him at any time It was not the Father that appeared to the Patriarchs but the Son who though invisible also in his own Nature yet by way of Preamble to his Incarnation would appear unto them in humane shape or in the similitude of an Angel and thus he appeared to Jacob Hosea calls him an Angel Hos 12.4 So the Holy Ghost is said to have appeared in the shape of a Dove at the Baptism of Christ in Matth. 3.16 and of cloven fiery tongues on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.3 4. These two Persons the Son and the Spirit they have sometimes appeared and been seen but the Father never took upon him any visible shape but hath always and altogether remained invisible namely as to Dispensation That 's the first thing here considerable viz. the Object God Secondly here is considerable the Act which is denied to this Object and that is Sight hath not seen This is to be taken in the full latitude of seeing whether corporal or mental whether with the eyes of the body or with the eyes of the mind no man hath seen God either of these ways First not with the eyes of the Body he cannot be seen so For the act seeing presupposes the Object to be visible now this God is not because he is a Spirit and so hath neither corporeal Light nor Colour nor Figure nor any thing else which is requisite to the visibility of any Object No nor secondly with the eyes of the Mind can he be seen here neither namely as to his Divine Substance and Essence There is a two-fold kind of seeing of God which our minds in some respect are capable of but neither of them reaching or extending to this which we now speak of The one is the sight of God by the Light of Nature and Humane Reason and the other is the sight of God by the Light of Grace and Divine Revelation which is a further advancement of it First take it as to the Light of Nature and Humane Reason There is thus far some kind of sight and knowledge of God which even the Heathens themselves did partake of as the Apostle Paul declares to us sufficiently in the first Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans But this comes short of the sight of him in his Essence which is here now intended There are three manner of ways especially which Divines do usually assign to Reason for the discovery of God the one is by way of Causality the other is by way of Negation and the third is by way of Eminency But each and all of these are I say very imperfect and defective First by way of Causality when as by the Creatures whereof God is the Cause we do contemplate the Creator But notwithstanding this Knowledge the Essence of God is invisible For the Effect cannot show the Essence of its Cause but when it is the same with it in kind and has the whole virtue of the Cause in it The Creature shews that there is a God from whom all things receive their Being but what this God is it doth not show And so the sight of God on our part it is but short in the way of Causality The second is by way of Negation or Remotion when considering the imperfections of the Creatures as Mortality Passibility Peccability and the like we do remove these from God in our minds and conceive him as wholly free from them and uncapable of them as who cannot die suffer nor sin But this does not yet discover to us what God is but onely what He is not And no Privatives are de Essentia positivi We are still to seek of the Essence of God for all this The third and last is by way of Eminency when as considering the several perfections which are scattered and disperst through the Creatures we do attribute them and ascribe them to God after a more eminent and transcendent manner As because Goodness and Wisdom and Holiness are Perfections of the Creature therefore we conclude them to be in God in the highest degree when we call him most Good most Wise most Holy and so of the rest But neither hereby do we yet attain to the sight of God in his Essence because none of those are predicated of God and the Creature after an univocal manner and they do onely shew what manner of one he is but not what he is And thus for the sight of God by the Light of Nature or Humane Reason as being here deficient The second is the Light of Grace or Divine Revelation whereby we come also to the Knowledge of God but yet not of his Essence neither whiles we are here in this world And this again is of two sorts either Ordinary or Extraordinary Ordinary in the Discoveries of Faith Extraordinary in that which is caused from Prophetical and immediate manifestation by God himself First there is the discovery of Faith and the sight of God by that This is that whereby Moses is said to have seen him that is invisible Heb. 11.27 but this but an obscure and imperfect sight of him and therefore sometimes opposed to sight 2 Cor. 5.7 We walk by faith and not by sight as
as he is God but as he is God-Man as he is the Mediator and Head of the Church in which sense we are here to understand it And so he is variously exprest in Scripture as the Tree of Life as the Bread of Life as the Water of Life Christ he is every way and in all respects Life unto us both in reference to Grace and Glory I am come says he that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly Joh. 10.10 Christ he is both the Author of our life and the matter of our life too He is the root and spring of it in whom it is and from whom it slows unto us And he is the substance of it in whom it consisteth because he only is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2.2 He is our life as that which we feed on and are sustained and nourished by as a man is by his natural food in the life of nature His flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed and conveys life indeed by it There 's a threefold life which Christ does convey to all those who are true Believers First the life of Justification Secondly the life of Sanctification And Thirdly the life of Glory And in the conveyance of each of these unto them he is said to be emphatically the life as also in another place The life was manifested and we have seen it in 1 Joh. 1.2 First Christ is the life of Justification as to the pardon and forgiveness of our sins Persons that are condemned they are so far forth said to be dead namely as they are appointed to death they are dead in Law And this is the state and condition of us all by nature by reason of our first transgression there was a sentence of death past upon us and we were adjudg'd thereunto In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 3.17 Now Christ he hath reverst this sentence and removed this death from us by dying for us By his obedience and suffering he hath satisfied the Justice of his Father and thereby hath reconciled us and put us into a state of life again Thus Col. 2.13 You being dead in your sins and the circumcision of your flesh hath he quickned together with him having forgiven you all trespasses Mark He hath quickned you by forgiving you I orgiving it is a kind of quickning because it makes a man a child of life who was before a child of death And this is that which Christ hath done for us he hath quickned us thus so far forth as he hath absolved us and set us free from condemnation by taking our guilt upon himself and that 's called a Justification of life Rom. 13.18 Now this it hath another life which is pertinent and belonging hereunto and consequent from it which therefore we may look upon under the same head with it And this is a life of peace and spiritual comfort For as by reason of sin we are plainly and absolutely dead and have a sentence of condemnation past upon us So from hence where it is discovered to us and we are made sensible of it we come to be dejected and cast down in our selves We are not only all dead but we are all a mort likewise Therefore as answerable to one death of sentence we have need of a life of absolution So answerable to the death of despair which is apt to follow upon that death of sentence where it does not appear to be remitted we have need of a life of consolation to be bestow'd upon us And this is Christ also unto us He is our Peace as the Scipture stiles him not only in the thing it self but also in our own consciences not only as to our state but as to our spirit not only as to our state to make it justifiable but as to our spirit to make it comfortable And in that respect also our life Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and rejoyce c. in Rom. 5.1 c. Secondly As Christ is the life of Justification so he is the life of Sanctification likewise When God pardoned our sins through the Blood of Christ he gives us Grace and Holiness from the Spirit of Christ as a fruit and consequent of that pardon and reconciliation And Christ himself does impart and communicate his Spirit unto us for this purpose He is of God made unto us wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 The law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death Rom. 8.2 Not only from the law of death as to matter of guilt and condemnation but also from the law of sin as to matter of filth and pollution and hath put a new and another law into me which is the law of Grace and holiness of the Spirit This is the method wherein we partake of this spiritual life that it is first of all subjected in Christ and from him derived unto us The Spirit of God first sanctifies the humane nature of Christ and from thence sanctifies us and conveys a new nature unto us Christ lives in us by his Spirit Gal. 2.20 And therefore call'd a quickning Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 This Life is further considerable not only in the principle of it but in the activity of it not only as that whereby we are simply enabled and made capable of doing our duty but also are made vigorous in it Christ is our life so far forth as we have a livelihood in any thing which is good And thus also the life of Sanctification Thirdly The life of Glory Christ is that likewise so far forth as he makes all his Servants to be partakers of it For so he does he raises up their bodies from the grave and he possesses both body and soul with eternal happiness And so the Scripture informs us Thus Joh. 11.25 Jesus said unto Martha I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye c. Christ is the life of the resurrection forasmuch as his resurrection hath an insluence and effect upon ours and is the cause of it Whatsoever is done to us it is done first of all to him He lives and we live in him He is risen again and we shall rise again by him and from him According to that of the Apostle in 2 Cor. 6.14 God hath raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power And again 2 Cor. 4.14 Knowing that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you And again Phil. 3.22 Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Thus is Christ the life
By me that is by my Blood and by me that is by my Spirit by my Blood in taking away of the guilt of sin And by my Spirit in subduing the power of it Jesus Christ came by both himself and we by both as consider'd in him must come to God and so to eternal life and Salvation As no man can come c. Therefore let us thus look up to him and in this way and method which he has set expect Salvation from him It is both unthankfulness and peevishness in us when it is otherwise with us when-as because there 's no other way to be saved but onely this therefore we 'll choose to be damn'd rather than to lay hold on this When if we may not be saved our own way we will not be saved by God's which is that which he hath here laid forth and exhibited to us So much for that I have done with the Second General Part which is the Additional Amplification And so with the whole Text it self now before us I am the Way and the Truth and the Life No man cometh unto the Father but by me SERMON XXII JOH 14.18 I will not leave you comfortless or Fatherless I will or do come unto you There is nothing which is pleasing in the enjoyment but it is as sad and uncomfortable in the loss and deprivation Those things which we are willing to keep we are loth to part with and lament when they are taken away from us Yea not onely in the actual deprivement but likewise as well in the fears and apprehensions and expectations aforehand This was the case at this present with the Apostles and Disciples of Christ they were now made sensible of his likeliness to remove from them which was very grievous and irksome to them in the very thoughts and reflections upon it And here now in this present Chapter does he endeavour to satisfie them about it and more particularly here in this Verse of it which I have now at this time read unto you by answering them That for his part he would not leave them altogether destitute but would comfortably provide for them to their best contentment and satisfaction I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you c. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First the Condition of the Disciples upon supposition of Christs removal from them and that was sad and comfortless Secondly the care of Christ for them in reference to such a condition and that was not to leave them but to come unto them We begin with the former viz. the Disciples condition upon supposition of Christ removal and that is here exprest to be sad or comfortless Christ foresaw that his departure from them would put them into a very uncomfortable condition and so indeed it would and had cause to do I will not leave you comfortless therefore if I should leave you you would be comfortless that 's implied in it Those that are deprived of Christ are deprived of comfort c. I will not leave you comfortless but I will come Therefore you are likely to be comfortless unless I come Those that are without the Spirit of Christ they are in a sad and comfortless condition no true comfort indeed but from the holy Ghost c. The word which is here translated Comfortless is in the Original Text Fatherless or Orphans as we have it in the margent because such persons as those commonly are so Children that are deprived of their Parents their condition is commonly sad if we look upon it simply in it self And therefore it is a very fit expression to set forth any spiritual deprivation which is taken from such a resemblance And thus was this now here in the Text of the Disciples in their deprival of Christ they were like so many poor helpless desolate and fatherless children de prived of their natural parents Look what sadness or sorrow ye would conceive in such as these the same was now likewise incident to the Disciples in this condition which was now coming upon them and likely to befall them And that especially in these following considerations First as deprived of his Doctrine and those heavenly Truths which dropt from him whiles he was resident and abiding amongst them Our blessed Lord and Saviour whiles he was conversant here upon earth with his Disciples and other men he was very full of his Divine Instructions and for his Apostles especially he did declare many mysteries to them Now therefore was it sad for them to become destitute of him as a Teacher To want the benefit and advantage of such a Master and Instructer as this was must needs very much affect them especially according to the nature and quality of the things themselves wherein they were instructed which was concerning the eternal welfare and happiness and salvation of their Souls We know how apt sometimes we are to prize it to have one to teach us but some common Art or Trade or Mystery and Profession in the world we count it a priviledge to enjoy it and an inconvenience to be deprived of it and how much more then must it needs be so here as to this Mystery of Religion and Christianity the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven which our blessed Saviour made known to his Disciples To you it is given says he to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it is not given Matth. 13.11 He spake to the multitude in parables Whiles he spake to his Disciples more plainly Secondly As by Christs removal from them they were deprived of his Doctrine so of his Counsel which he was useful in to them They needed not onely information in regard of their judgment but also direction in regard of their practise which is that also as much as the former for which Children stand in need of their Parents and which Fatherless Children are restrained of This was another thing wherein our Saviours departure was so irksome to them they were now by this means likely to be to seek in many things in which he was wont to advise them As oyntment rejoyceth the heart so doth the sweetness of a mans friend by hearty counsel says Solomon Prov. 27.9 And so no question but the counsel of our blessed Saviour did those who were about him and partakers of it It was a great comfort and refreshment to them in their doubts and scruples and troubles and the afflictions which they were subject unto to have such an one as he was to settle them and consequently the deprival of it must needs make them very sad and comfortless Thirdly The loss of his Example and the benefit which came by that likewise That was another very great evil and inconvenience to them As long as our blessed Saviour was amongst them and conversing with them he taught them not onely by his Doctrine but by his Conversation he gave them an example that they should follow his steps
and acknowledged on both parts whether orthodox or heterodox in this business whether of the right or of the contrary judgment Secondly by shewing what it is that the former do deny to the latter and wherein they do dissent from this First then by way of concession and acknowledgment as to the first term in the Proposition which is a man fallen and lapst in Adam it is granted that even such an one when he once comes to be restored by Grace and to be renewed in the Spirit of his mind that then he hath some power even of his own to such a work as is truly and spiritually good Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty says the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.17 And again Being made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness c. Rom. 6.18 When God hath once changed us and converted us and brought us home to himself there is then restored unto us that freedom and liberty to good which we once lost by our fall God that in our first creation did put into the will an habitual inclination to good he hath also in our new creation restored unto us an habitual conversion to the same good The will being freed by Grace becomes free Secondly As to that term of free-will If by freedom of will be meant no more than a freedom from natural necessity or extrinsecal violence and coaction so that a man does will and choose and do that which he does upon counsel and reason and advice leading him thereto there is no controversy at all in this business For freedom of will in this sense does as essentially belong unto a man as reason it self and to strip him or spoyl him of it were to turn him into a very beast We do will indeed we do will freely neither can we otherwise will any thing Therefore it is one thing to enquire of the nature and another thing to dispute of the power and ability of free-will in us Which latter especially taken in the active sense of it we say is wholly lost and extinguisht in man by his fall as to the performing of such things as do belong to eternal Salvation It is true that in the will of man fallen there is a passive power for the receiving of a supernatural being which by God shall be conferred upon it but there is not an active power for the producing of such a being as this is either of it self or with any thing else That Speech of St. Austin's is very significant to this purpose and which all must yield unto Libere velle est opus naturae bene velle gratiae male velle corruptionis To will freely is the work of nature to will well of grace to will ill of corruption As also that of Tapperus Opus pium quatenus opus ab arbitrio est quatenus pium a sola gratia quatenus opus pium ab arbitrio gratia simul A good work as it it a work it is from free-will as it is good from grace as it is a work and good from free-will and grace both Thus free-will in the true and right notion and acception of it is not rejected by us Thirdly As to the last term which is here exprest in the Text by nothing If we speak of that which is evil here we have freedom of will more than enough our corrupt nature carrying us too readily and freely hereunto But therefore we are here to understand it only of that which is good we are naturally prone to evil but to good we have no mind And here again there are divers particulars which we do further yield and acknowledg as First that a man in the state of nature and out of Christ may be able to do that which is good as to the matter and substance of the action By taking this word doing for the bare and simple effecting of the work in it self consider'd without any respect had either to the principle from whence it is produced or to the end whereunto it is directed Secondly A natural man he may be able to perform a work morally good according to a kind of moral honesty and the conditions of a virtuous action as prescrib'd by moral Philosophy not only as to the substance and matter of the action it self but also as to the very circumstances and manner of doing of it namely such as moral Philosophy does teach and require as honouring of Parents giving of alms and the like Thus the Apostle Paul tells us that the Gentiles which have not the Law they do by nature the things centained in the Law Rom. 2.14 Thirdly We also grant that the Grace of Sanctification and the power of living holily is not infused into any persons living idly and taking no care of any thing but in the diligent use of such means as God has appointed and sanctified to this purpose as coming to Church waiting upon the Ministry hearing the word of God both read and preach'd c. God will not save us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as St. Chrysostom speaks nor sleeping and snoring and doing nothing but in our conscionable endeavours And so far forth as any one hath power to move and walk so far forth has he power to those things also as are ordinarily consequent and following thereupon in a way of ordinary providence Fourthly It is also acknowledged that an unregenerate person and as yet unconverted may be able to perform not only those outward good actions but some even inward good actions likewise As he may be able to have some kind of knowledg and apprehension of the will of God he may be able to meditate of God and of the things of God He may consider his own sins reflect upon his own guilt and have some kind of fear and horror in him upon the reflexions of it and much desire to be delivered from it These and many such things as are previous and antecedent to Faith and true repentance are required of men before the infusion of sanctifying Grace and accordingly may be performed by them Fifthly We likewise yield that in the Church of God where the word of God is ordinarily preach'd and the means of regeneration are ordinarily administred this Grace which does make men able to do such good works as are truly spiritual and saving is not denied to any before the repulse of initial Grace that is before they have resisted the Spirit of God in his preparatory works and refused those free and gracious offers and invitations which he has made unto them Lastly It cannot be denied but that some of the ancient Fathers did sometimes let fall some speeches and passages in their writings which at the first hearing or reading of them do seem somewhat to encline to this Doctrine of free-will whereof we now speak And thus have we seen what is granted and acknowledged on all hands by way of concession Now further it remains we should shew wherein the difference and
saving Grace but also a contrary principle of death that is of sin dwelling in him whereby the sinner is both habitually turn'd from God as also habitually turn'd to the creature and carried contrary to the Law of God The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be The Third Proposition All the works which are wrought by any man before the Grace of Christ and the Spirit of God changing his heart they have in them the nature of sin As for example the vertues of many of the Heathen Aristides Socrates Scipio and the rest although they might be called civil vertues and so far forth as they were thereby useful and serviceable to humane society they might deserve to be commended yet forasmuch as they were defective of such conditions as in the Law of God are required to the making of good actions for the subject a sanctified heart for the end the glory of God and for the principle Faith working by love however in regard of the matter they may be accounted good yet for the manner they must be esteem'd vicious as deprivations of good works rather than as performances of them The Fourth is this That forasmuch as man in the state of nature is so miserably depraved and prone to all manner of evil and indisposed to any thing which is truly and spiritually good we conclude that as to the first work of conversion and actions of the like nature with it man is meerly passive and receptive not active or operative that is that he hath no free-will or power working with God but is a meer subject receiving the mighty work of God upon his soul According to that of St. Bernard which is very full and express to this purpose Deus est Author salutis liberum arbitrium tantum capax nec dare eam nisi Deus nec capere eam valet nisi liberum arbitrium God is the Author of Salvation free-will is only the receiver neither can any give it but God neither can any take it but free-will Which yet notwithstanding is not so to be understood by us as if in the workings of Grace the mind and will of man did not at all move themselves but were only moved as inanimate instruments as the hand moving the hatchet or the like this we do not say But thus That God in the work of conversion does by his regenerating Spirit so reform the will of man as that the natural power thereof which before did carry and apply it self to evil it does now carry and apply it self to good Wherein the act of willing is indeed from the will it self as the proper subject of that action but the supernatural goodness of this act is wholly from God who does use to work suitably and agreeably to the nature of the creature The will of man in his regeneration is not as a meer stock or stone or forced to Faith and conversion against the created properties of it but naturae voluntatis congruentes suitable to the nature of the will For besides that passive power which is in the will of man to God which is not in a stock or stone God does moreover in conversion not violently force the will but sweetly drive it with the reserving of those properties to it which were bestowed upon it in its creation The last Proposition is this That for the conversion of man in the state of nature and the performing of any good work by him it is not sufficient to have his will only excited and assisted by extrinsecal and additional Grace but it is also necessary to be healed and quickned by intrinsecal and renewing Grace and to have new qualities and principles and dispositions put into it That life which was not before is to be newly created not that life which was before to be newly excited This Grace of God in conversion it is not only a moral suasion or indifferent influx which it is in the power of men to assent or not assent unto but a strong and effectual motion as whereby he raised Jesus Christ from the dead Eph. 1.19.20 The Grace of God I say in conversion is not a meer moral suasion or indifferent influx which it is in the power of man to assent or not to assent unto As a Guest which stands without doors which a man may either take in or keep out as himself pleases but it is a strong and efficatious motion whereby God according to his mighty power raised Jesus Christ from the dead doth quicken a man which is dead in sin makes him a new creature and works in him not only a power of willing but even to will it self According to that of the Apostle Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Mark he does not only excite but work which hath some efficacy with it And these now are the Propositions which do serve to clear this Ponint unto us From all which thus laid together both the consent and dissent of adversaries together with the explication of the terms the whole matter in hand comes to this result and conclusion viz. That man being fallen in Adam not as recovered and restored by Grace but as still abiding in this his lapst condition hath not free-will not understanding it of the nature of the will but of the power of it And of the power of it not in a passive sense but in an active Not with Grace but without Grace And Grace not only exciting and moving and assisting but also changing and healing and quickening to a good work not which is good only Philosophically but good Theologically And for the doing of this work not only as to the substance of the action but also as to the manner of the performance the end and principle and all requisite circumstances And these circumstances consider'd not only according to the rules of morality and which are to be sound even in Heathen Authors but according to the principles of Religion and which are derived from the holy Scriptures I say A man that is at present out of Christ and so still continuing in this his state of nature hath not any freedom of will thus explained remaining in him to any thing which is good And so this speech of our Blessed Saviour truly fulfilled Without me ye can do nothing This we shall now labour to evince by these following Arguments First From the general and universal corruption of our whole nature where the principles are corrupted the actions which slow from those principles must of necessity be corrupted likewise As the spiring and fountain is so are the streams that issue from it Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean says Job not one in Job 14.4 Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles says our Saviour A corrupt tree must needs bring forth evil fruit Matth. 7.16 17. Now all the principles of
in their natural condition they are such as being out of Christ are therefore without Christ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is separated from Christ as we find this expression used of the Ephesians before their conversion Ephes 2.12 that they were at that time without Christ c Now for such as these we have accordingly also shewn how they are able to do nothing As the branch cannot bring forth any fruit in the course of Nature where it is separated from the Vine so the Soul cannot bring forth any fruit neither in the course of Grace where it is separated from Christ The second sense or notion of the words is that which is to be handled by us by God's assistance at this present time which is to shew that without Christ that is without influence from him and dependance upon him we are able to do no good neither in a spiritual and supernatural way as may conduce to salvation All our strength and ability as to the doing of any thing of this nature is to be fetch'd and drawn from Christ For the better and more distinct opening of which Point of Doctrine unto us we may take notice of three things especially which are requisite to any Christian performance each of which we do and must receive from Christ as tending to the accomplishment of it First a Spiritual life as the general grand work and foundation Secondly a Spiritual power slowing from this Spiritual life and answering to that particular Duty for the kind of it which God does require of us And thirdly a Spiritual activity or operation for the reducing of this Spiritual power into particular action of life As it is to explain it to you by a resemblance in Natural Motion There are three things which do make up this to us There 's the principle of Natural life there 's the Locom-motive faculty founded in this life and there 's the Walk it self which is produced and effected by this Faculty And as each of these are from God as the Author of Nature so each of the other are from Christ as the Fountain of Grace First There is a Principle of Spiritual life as the general Ground-work and Foundation of every Spiritual good work that comes from us Look as a man that is naturally dead cannot do any thing which belongs to Nature so a man which is spiritually dead also he can do nothing which belongs to Grace because Actus non excedit vires suae potentiae the Act cannot go beyond the Principle as we use to speak Now this Principle of Spiritual life we do derive wholly from Christ as the Branches derive life from the Root and the Members from the Head In which respect we are said not so much to live our selves as Christ is said to live in us in Gal. 2.20 Look as the First Adam was the Spring and Root of Natural life to all his Posterity so is the Second Adam the Spring and Root of Spiritual life to all his Members Therefore unless Christ by his Spirit do first change our hearts from that state of Spiritual death and corruption which we are in by Nature and put a contrary and better Principle of Spiritual life and holiness into us we can never be able to do any thing considerable to the purpose This I have in part declared already in our former Exercise and therefore shall not insist upon it now But secondly besides this Spiritual life whereby a Christian is qualified in general for the bringing forth of the works of new obedience namely the work of Grace and Conversion wrought in him by the Spirit of Christ there is moreover a Spiritual power slowing from this Spiritual life whereby a Christian being renewed by Grace hath some ability communicated unto him for the doing of such and such Duties as in particular in such and such cases are required of him And this is another thing which we do receive also from Christ without whom we are able to do nothing Of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace Joh. 1.16 that is answerable to grace in Christ grace in us We know that besides the common principle of Regeneration in general there are several habits of grace in particular according to the several kinds and distributions of them which have each of them their several abilities and qualifications belonging unto them as Faith enabling us to believe Love enabling us to embrace Patience enabling us to endure and so of the rest Now these particular Graces in specie as well as the work of Grace in general are communicated unto us from Christ and upon his account who is the Treasury and Storehouse of all Grace whatsoever for us It is true indeed that it is God in Scripture who is proclaimed to be the God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 but we must understand it still of God in Christ and in the mediation of the New Covenant out of which and out of whom God hath no intercourse at all with us nor we with him This is our state and condition now in the Covenant of Grace and a blessed state and condition it is that all our Grace and Comfort and Ability it is originated and founded in Christ who having taken our Nature upon himself and therein satisfied the Justice of God and being by Faith apprehended by us and united and made one with us is from hence a fit person for the conveying of all Grace unto us which we have need of and occasion for in the whole course of our lives Therefore it is profitable for us to understand and to take notice of the right method which is here in this particular used with us and wherein we come to be made partakers of this grace whereof we now speak and that 's this That the Spirit of God first of all sanctifies the Humane Nature of Christ and from thence sanctifies us who are Members of him The same Spirit that sanctified that blessed mass of his Body in the Womb of the Virgin and the same Spirit that sanctified his whole Nature both of Body and Soul which is now in Heaven the same Spirit does now also sanctifie his Mystical Body which abides still on earth and which is made partaker of Grace by communication and derivation from him As the Oyl which was upon the head of Aaron it ran down to the skirts of his garments which were upon him so the Spirit which is upon the Head of Christ and which he is said to have received without measure it runs down upon all Believers and they have it no otherwise than as he conveys it and transmits it unto them We see then here in what sense we are said to do all things by Christ and without him to have power to do nothing namely so far forth as he gives us grace for the doing of them The Faculties of the Soul are three the Vnderstanding and Will and Affections and such as these but the sanctifying of all
to understand them and to know the meaning and intent of them that is to say for which cause and reason God is pleased to send and inflict them that so they may make a right use of them this they do not see which it concerns them to do To know the times and seasons thus namely in reference to God's judgments Thirdly The duties and engagement of the times it becomes us likewise to know these and it concerns us to study them to know what Israel ought to do as it is there exprest For there is a particular duty and carriage and behaviour and conversation which is proper to such a particular time which in another time is not so convenient Every thing is beautiful in its season as the Scripture tells us and that which may be a sin at one time it may be a duty at another according to the several circumstances and appurtenances which it may be clothed withal which it concerns all wise and prudent Christians to be advised of and lay to heart In Rom. 12.11 We find this advice given by the Apostle to the believing Romans and in them to all other Christians Not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord but according to some translations it is serving the time which is not to be understood by us of a base and unworthy complyance with the sins and corruptions of the time but of a careful and discreet consideration of the necessities and conditions of the time which are very much to sway and regulate those actions which are to be done by us This is to be supposed and taken for granted and laid for a rule That we may never do any thing which in its own nature is unlawful or against the word of God There 's no time for sin no not the least sin that is neither may we at all indulge our selves in it so as to frame our selves to it But for those things which are of a middle nature and in themselves consider'd indifferent there 's another account to be given of them and the time of performances here 's considerable as of very great influence both as to the honour and glory of God and as to the good and advantage of God's people And thus we have seen in what respect it may be pertinent for us to know the times and seasons whether in a natural sense or a civil sense or a spiritual sense and religious But the sense in which it is impertinent and whereof we now speak is suitable to the occasion of the Text and as we hinted before as to the time of mens particular deaths the change and alteration of affairs in Kingdoms or States the end and consummation of the world and the time of Christ's coming to judgment such times and seasons as these it is not for you to know that is it is not proper for you it is not your business nor belonging unto you Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but revealed things belong unto us and to our children for ever Deut. 30.20 Secondly It is not for you that is it is not profitable for you it is not your interest or advantage For men to know the times and seasons in this last sense as I have now explained it 's no way useful or beneficial to them neither is it any matter whether they know them and whether the time of their own particular end or of the end of the world It might please as a matter of speculation and so there are divers that busy themselves about it for the discovery of it but it cannot profit in a way of instruction neither does it tend to any true or real edification There 's no considerable advantage which can be thought to come by it nay indeed there is rather much of the contrary it is prejudicial and inconvenient Partly as it would be perplexing and distracting and partly as it would be apt to retard us and take men off from their duty and doing of such things as at present are required of them Thirdly It is not for you that is it is not possible for you it is not within your reach or compass or which you are able to attain unto The time and season of the end of the world and for Christ's coming to judgment it is not in your power to know nor comprehensible by you This agrees with that which follows in the close of the verse which we handled before where it is said that the Father hath put it in his own power and so out of the power of any other besides This agrees with that which our Saviour himself hath in another place likewise declared to this purpose in Mark 13.32 But of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven neither the Son but the Father Where there are three sorts of persons excluded from the knowledg of this time Men and Angels and the Son that is Christ himself The latter whereof especially seems to carry some difficulty with it which I shall briefly resolve how Christ who is said in another place to know all things Joh. 21.17 yet is said in this place not to know the day and hour of the last judgment And it is so much the more considerable forasmuch as it is he himself who is appointed to be the Judg as we have it in Acts 17.31 God hath appointed a day in the which he will judg the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordain'd This man is no other than Jesus Christ who is God and Man both Now that he who was to be the Judg should not know the time of the judgment seems to be a little incongruous and yet notwithstanding it is here intimated as if he did not know the day For the right explication we must consider in what sense this is spoken and we may reduce it to a threefold head First to the subject of this knowledg Secondly to the means of it Thirdly to the manner of it According to either of these he may be said to know it well First Take it as to the subject of this knowledg The Son knoweth not that day and hour But how consider'd namely not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man forasmuch as Christ doth sustain in himself both natures the Godhead and the Manhood therefore by a communication of properties what belongs but only to one nature it is attributed to the whole person As therefore Christ is said to dye not as he was God but as he was Man because the Manhood only is capable of mortality so Christ is said to be ignorant as he was the Son of Man not as he was the Son of God because the Manhood only is capable of ignorance And as he is said to know all things because he was God so on the other side not to know some things because he was Man And so some of the ancients carry it He that knew it as he was God and
Christ crucified But why Christ crucified rather than Christ exhibited in some other consideration why not rather Christ incarnate forasmuch as that was the first news of him or why not Christ risen again or Christ ascended which was a great deal more glorious Why does the Apostle fasten upon this mystery in Religion and Christianity above the rest Christ crucified Surely there 's very good reason to be given for it First because he would give them the worst of Christ at first that he might shew he was not ashamed of him nor of that Gospel which made him known but that hereby he might the better prepare them for other Truths and make them the welcomer to them Christs Cross is the first letter of all in a Christians Alphabet and they that can take out this lesson they will learn the other fast enough Gods beginnings with us are commonly most tedious His conclusions and closings are for the most part very sweet and comfortable and so here Secondly Because Christ crucified it is vertually and implicitly all the rest For why was Christ Incarnate it was for this end that he might be crucified therefore he was born that he might die and therefore he took flesh upon him that he might lay it down again after he had taken it Again when Christ was risen and ascended what were the terms which he was risen from was it not from death and the grave his Resurrection it pointed at his suffering and death which were conquered by him So that all upon the point is Christ crucified Thirdly This was that Mystery which did most concern us for the good and benefit which comes by it as we shall hear afterwards his death was that which pacified Gods wrath and paid the debt which was due for our sins And therefore the Apostle instances in that rather than any other Lastly Christ crucified because this was that which these people had a particular hand in as instrumental hereunto they had been active in the crucifying of Christ themselves and therefore it was most fit that they should hear of Christ crucified to chuse of any thing else Therefore accordingly we shall find that this was the practise of the Apostles in the whole course and way of their Ministry still to urge and inculcate this upon those whom they Preached unto As soon as ever they had received the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost they presently fall upon this as it was that which Christ himself much spoke of That the son of man must suffer many things so it was that which the Apostles of Christ much urged as Peter in his first Sermon Act. 2.23 this was that which he inforced upon them their crucifying of Christ This was that also which he preached so boldly in the Temple Act. 5.28 insomuch as the Council told him that they intended to bring the blood of that man upon them And Act. 8.32 the Providence of God directs them to a Scripture to this purpose out of Isa 53.7 8. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before the shearer so opened be not his mouth Thus was Christ crucified the chief point which they still urged in their Ministry And so it is that which is the chief work of ours it is the Doctrine which is to be chiefly preached by us and that upon these following Considerations First As it is a Doctrine of the greatest Humiliation it is an humbling and convincing Doctrine every Evangelical Truth being set on by the Spirit of God concurring and going along with it has an answerable work upon the conscience to bring it into a spiritual frame the Incarnation to work in us desires and affections after the new Birth the Resurrection to raise us up to new activity in holy duties c. the Ascension to carry us up to Heaven and Heavenly things and so the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ to humble us and to crucifie us for sin This Doctrine rightly preached and understood and believed and imbraced has a might power and efficacy in it for Conviction and Humiliation and to cast down th strong-holds of Sin and Satan in us This you shall see in the effect which it had upon the Apostle himself Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of the Lord Jesus whereby the world is crucified to me and I unto the world By the death of Christ was the world crucified to the Apostle And so St. Peter's Auditors Act. 2.37 When they heard this namely of Christ crucified then they were pricked at their hearts This same ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was that which pierced them to the soul their piercing of Christ And so the Disciples which went to Emaus this made their hearts burn If we ask how this is done I answer by an Act of Reflection and special Consideration to this purpose namely as from hence taking notice of this grievous and odious nature of sin those which make nothing of sin in the commission of it and when they are set violently upon it in the strength of their lusts and temptations they may here see what it is now in the price which was paid for it and the pain which was endured to expiate it in Christ crucified And those which make a mock of a sin and sometimes of those which warn them of it they see how sad it is in those effects which it had upon the Redeemer and this is to be a means to humble them and lay them low in themselves Every nail which was struck into his Blessed Body it is here a piercing of our hearts every thorn which stuck in that opprobrous Crown it is a thorn in our sides every drop of blood which issued out of his sides it should fetch buckets of tears from us if we had not hearts harder than the flints This Doctrine of Christs Passion it is thus in this way of Proceeding a Doctrine of Humiliation and therefore fittest to be urged in the course of our Ministry And that because this is a main part of our Ministry to humble men and convince them of sin sutable and answerable to the work of the Spirit of God upon the Conscience for that 's a main work likewise of that The Spirit when he comes he shall convince the world of sin Joh. 16.9 Now thus it should be with Preaching which is a special conveyance of the Spirit the work of this is not to sooth men up to flatter them to give them scope to sin no but rather to humble them for it Secondly This Doctrine of Christ crucified as it has cause to be the chief work of our Ministry forasmuch as it is an humbling Doctrine so it has cause likewise to be so too because it is a comforting Doctrine and a Doctrine of the greatest comfort that can be We which are Ministers we are made to be the helpers of the joy of Gods people as we are called 2 Cor. 1. ult Now
this that we should Preach of no other subject but only of the death of Christ for there are many other points besides which it is necessary for a Minister to speak of and for a Christian likewise to hear of But when we are commanded to Preach Christ crucified and to make this the object of our Ministry there are these things included and involved in this expression as to be understood by us First For the matter of our Preaching as I have already shewn that we are to preach this principally and to make people sensible of this point more especially above any other because the hinge of the Gospel turns upon this point and we are Ministers of the Gospel therefore to beat more upon this than any other Secondly For the order of our Preaching to do all in reference to this then we preach Christ crucified not only when we discourse of this Argument for the particular subject of it but likewise when we preach of such points as are introductive and preparatory hereunto or which are superstructed and founded hereupon When we shew men their own corruption by nature and the necessity which they have of a Saviour And when we teach men to live holy lives and to be crucified in their affections and lusts then we preach Christ crucified as well as when we discourse of the thing Thirdly For the manner of our Preaching we then Preach Christ crucified when we Preach Christ and the Doctrine of Christ in a grave and sober fashion this is clear by the opposition which the Apostle Paul himself there sets 1 Cor. 2.2 where he sets this Preaching of Christ crucified as opposite to the excellency of humane speech I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom declaring unto you the testimony of God For I de termined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified As who should say the one would not consist with the other They that profess themselves to be Preachers of Christ crucified they should abstain from all kind of looseness and affectation and flanting in their Preaching as a manner which does not agree with the matter Suppose now that any one were to paint a dying or crucified man would he paint him in a garment of colours or in a garment of black surely in the most grave and solemn attire that could be even so it should be likewise with us whiles we Preach Christ crucified we should endeavour to set him out after a crucified manner not in the wisdom of words lest we make the Cross of Christ of none effect but in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit which may have conviction and power with it And thus we see what it is to preach Christ crucified Again further Here 's that which may satisfie Ministers as for those things which oftentimes they are subject unto and that scorn and ignominy which is many times cast upon them it is but futable to the Doctrine it self which they teach namely Christ crucified and therefore it should satisfie them in it and make them more willing to endure and to bear with them whiles they Preach Christ crucified to be content to be crucified and to meet with the same entertainment which he did in the world The Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant above his Lord. Besides The Doctrine it self is odious A stumbling-block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles as we shall hear God willing hereafter And therefore they must be needs odious that bring it and so for the most part they are as the Apostle professes of himself 1 Cor. 4.9 c. But then secondly Here 's somewhat not only for Ministers but people and not only for Preachers but hearers as first to teach them what Points and Doctrines they should chiefly affect and look afer We live in such an age at this present as tha the wholsome and savoury points of Religion are of no esteem with us but we loath them and are weary of them but we must have every day some new-nothing to be brought unto us we do not like this Doctrine of Christ crucified but must have somewhat else given us for our lusts as the Israelites for their bodily food Now here we are better instructed in this present passage of the Apostle wherein he tells us That he preached Christ crucified That which is the main object of the Ministers Preaching is the main of our hearing also And therefore let us take heed of this same itch which is abroad in the world in this kind I hope I shall not need to say much here in this place to this purpose but only this in a word First This is a cause why many people are so formal in Religion and have so little of the power of Godliness in them because they look rather after notions and speculations than solid Truths Their strength is according to their sustenance Secondly This is the cause of so many Errors and false Doctrines amongst us men first turn their ears from the truth and then are turned unto fables as it is in 2 Tim. 4.3 4. Thirdly This is the cause of so much strife and division amongst us because every one stands more for the devices of their own brains than they do for the Truths of Christ Now there 's this Use which may be made of this Point to all Christians namely that seeing Christ crucified is the chief Argument of a Ministers Preaching it should be also accordingly the chief rule of a Christians practice The Preaching of Christ crucified should teach us to be crucified with Christ that so the labours of the Ministers may be digested into our lives When we preach Christ crucified it is not only by way of narration to tell you that such a thing is done but it is rather by way of information to perswade and work upon you for living answerably hereunto And 't is not only to work upon mens fancies and to stir their passion a little for a while in a Frier-like manner but to mollifie and soften their hearts and to bring their spirits into a temper suitable hereunto This Doctrine of Christ crucified it should crucifie us more to sin to the world and to our own selves as we shall have occasion hereafter to show And as this Point should always take with us so especially should we now more meditate and think upon it as is that which is especially tendered and exhibited to us in the Sacrament which we have so often partak'd of The Sacrament of the Lords Supper it was instituted in remembrance of Christs death and to assure us of the great love of Christ to us in this particular This is not only to be thought of us at the very instant and time of receiving but upon all occasions all the days of our life which we are to regulate and to frame hereunto And so I have done with the Apostles Doctrine it self Christ crucified How farther this
regard of the world of no great descent so likewise for his conversation in the world it was after a poor and mean fashion Foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests but the son of man knew not where to lay his head This was another thing which made them to forsake him and to withdraw from him Those which are worldly-minded themselves they look at nothing else in others but worldly accomplishments Thirdly His Company and Converse that was another thing which rendred him offensive that he had society with Publicans and Sinners whereas indeed he had it for no other end but only for their good not as delighting in their sinfulness but rather as taking occasion to take them off from it But lastly and especially which is that that is here mentioned in the Text he was offensive in regard of his Death Christ crucified was an offence unto them that he who was called the Saviour of the World should suffer death from the hands of men this they looked upon as a contemptible business and they now began to scorn that Doctrine which brought such tidings unto them This we see made good in the mockings which they cast upon him on the Cross it self If thou be the Son of God save thy self c. And thus we see how Christ was a stumbling-block or scandal in point of Cavil or Exception Secondly He was so likewise in point of Temptation he was a scandal or stumbling-block to the Jews as he was an occasion of sin unto them and this he was as Christ crucified also an occasion not as given by him but as made and taken by them First as being themselves instrumental in the very act of his Crucifying for so some of the Jews had been Their wicked hands as the Apostle Peter plainly and roundly tells them had crucified him and put him to death And was he not then truly a stumbling-block and a scandal unto them in this regard what greater sin could there be than the crucifying of the Lord of Glory and the putting of the Son of God to an open shame why this now some of them did and so fell into a grievous sin But then secondly that was not all that they were active themselves in crucifying him but further in that being crucified they took occasion from hence to abhor him and so much the more to withdraw from him so that now he is indeed a stone of stumbling to them and they stumble at this chief corner-stone as the Scripture speaks This is the great misery and wretchedness of wicked men that they are so far from being the better as that they are the worse for the Mysteries of Salvation and their hearts are now so much the more hardened as these things are tendered and exhibited unto them As the Apostle observes of the Law it was an occasion of sin unto him Rom. 7.10 Thus he was a scandal also in point of Temptation Thirdly A scandal also in point of Destruction Christ crucified and the preaching of him was to the Jews an occasion of ruin and plunged them so much the deeper as it fell out in condemnation And that because they rejected this means of Salvation which was now offered unto them this the Apostle himself signifies unto us in Rom. 9.31 32 33. Israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness Wherefore Because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone as it is written Behold I lay c. And so the Apostle Peter again 1 Pet. 2.7 8. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to them which are disobedient This was Christ crucified to the Jews He was through their own sin and corruption instead of a Saviour a Destroyer and instead of a means of recovery an occasion of great mischief and ruin Now what 's the Moral of all this to us For I suppose the Spirit of God intends somewhat more than the bare history and narration and what is written before in this kind it is written for our learning There is somewhat which we may take notice of as profitable for our own instruction from this of the Jews and that 's this That the means of Grace and Salvation are to corrupt and perverse hearts the occasions of greater ruin and destruction Christ who by Gods appointment was a precious and chief corner-stone is to the Jews a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence They break their shinns at this stone and are bruised by it This is a truth in sundry Particulars wherein it is made good take it in what you will almost and so you shall find it This very Doctrine it self of Christ crucified It is such as by many persons is wrested to their own perdition and destruction For what do divers sorts of people conclude from hence why that therefore they may live as they list and give no account of their carriage Christ died and therefore they think that hereby themslves are discharged upon what terms and conditions they please This is the Cross of Christ a stumbling to them they are ruined and undone by it and occasionally more involved in condemnation And so as for the Death of Christ so also for the Remembrance of this death which is exhibited to us in the Sacrament of the Lords-Supper which we are now to approach to Those which are yet in their sins even this is also a stumbling-block to them He that eats and drinks unworthily he eats and drinks damnation to himself not discerning the Lords-body as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 11.29 The word in the Text is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies judgment and it respects either temporal or eternal it being in a sense true of both First Temporal judgment forasmuch as in the profaning of this Ordinance he provokes God to inflict many temporal evils upon him For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep as it is vers 30. Profanation of the Ordinances is an occasion of many corporal diseases But then se condly also spiritual and eternal there are such evils as these which are oftentimes consequent hereupon and I join them both together as relating one to the other First Spiritual and that even here in this present life in a judgment upon the soul and spirit Careless and unworthy Communicants they do much prejudice themselves here both in reference to Grace and Comfort for Grace instead of improving in this they improve more in sin and their corruptions encrease more upon them than they did before When a man comes conscionably to this Ordinance and receives it so as he should do it is a means through the Blessing of God for the weakening of corruption in him and for the strengthening of the Graces of Gods Spirit but when he comes carelesly and hand over head it proves the contrary to him Let a man have any Grace
of Gods election he hath chosen a certain number of each I shewed you before how our effectual calling is founded upon our predestination Now there is a number of each which are elected therefore there must be a number of each which are called forasmuch as those which are appointed to the end they must of necessity partake oF the means which tend to that end Now for Jews and Gentiles they are both elected and chosen and therefore both also effectually called For the Jews they are said as touching the Election to be beloved for the Fathers sake Rom. 11.28 And for the Gentiles 1 Thes 1 Knowing Brethren Beloved your election of God Thus Jews and Greeks are both elected Accordingly God is said to be the God not only of the one but of the other Rom. 3.29 c. Is he the God of the Jews only Is he not also of the Gentiles Yes of the Gentiles also Seeing it is one God c. Secondly Christ died for both for one as well as for t'other therefore there are those which shall be saved of both That Christ died for both 't is clear as out of that place in John 21.51 52 where it is said that Caiaphas who was the high priest for that year prophesied that Jesus should dye for that nation And not for that nation only but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad And so 1 John 2.1 2 We have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole That is not only for the Jews but the Gentiles And hence we are all both one and the other said to partake of the same mystical body 1 Cor. 12.13 By one spirit we are all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit They have both alike interest in Christ Thirdly They have both alike interest in the Gospel and means of salvation this was cleared by Peters going to Cornelius Acts 11.17 18 Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance and the condition which is given in charge to the Apostles runs thus Go unto all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature and go teach all Nations Mat. 28.19 They partake in the means and therefore consequently in the thing it self The consideration of this present point is thus far useful unto us as it teaches us two things First To pray for the calling and conversion of the Jews And Secondly to pray for the accomplishment and fulness of the Gentiles First For the calling of the Jews which is a mystery revealed unto us as that which in time shall be Rom. 11.16 c. We have here further a good ground to expect it from that which is done already being there were some which were called from the beginning in the days of the Apostles there shall be more of them at last wrought upon and converted And St Pauls argument holds good to this purpose If the first fruit be holy the lump is also holy and if the root be holy so are the branches The conversion of so many Jews in the first plantation of the Gospel was a pledg and fore-runner of many more to be brought into the same number Secondly It also holds for our expectation of the fulness of the Gentiles we see there are yet many Gentiles which are still kept out of the pales of the Church which never heard of Christ nor as yet have partaked of the means of Salvation well but let us not from hence be discouraged and put out of hope we have some cause to look for it and expect it from those which are brought in already also The calling of these Greeks gives us ground to hope and expect that there will be divers others in time likewise converted The performance whereof is that which the Jews also stay for according to that of the Apostle in Rom. 11.25 That blindness is in part happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved And so much for the words in that sense To them which are called both Jews and Greeks But then again a little further These words may be here taken not only in an Historical sense but in a Moral not only as spoken particularly of these two Nations the Jews and the Greeks but likewise as spoken of such persons as were noted either for simplicity or wisdom as those Nations do point out unto us so that the Jews represent the one and the Greeks the other The Jews being notorious for their stupidity and the Greeks famous for their learning as I have formerly shewn unto you And so there 's this in it That God has his lot and portion amongst learned and unlearned both there 's no exception in point of conversion of either of these two we have instances of either of these in Scripture of the learned in Paul himself and many others whom we read of in Scripture converted to the faith and of the unlearned in many of meaner parts which did partake of the rich priviledges of Salvation The ground hereof still is this The good pleasure and will of God who is no respecter of persons but bestows his grace there where he pleases without any account given to any Therefore let those which are unlearned not here excuse themselves and say they are no Scholars c. though they be not Scholars yet they may be Christians and though they be not book-learned yet for all that they may be learned to Salvation And so it becomes them to labour to be and to endeavour thereafter because there are called of the Jews Again for those which are learned let them not rest themselves in their humane learning and that wisdom which they get here in the world but labour further to be taught from God and to have the knowledg of his ways in Christ because there are called also of the Greeks But so much of the first Part in the Text viz. the Persons here mentioned To them which are called c. Now the second is the success of this Preaching it self Christ the Power of God and the wisdom of God where we may observe how as the Apostle crost these Jews and Greeks in what they desired so also he did in a sort comply with them Here 's the opposition and the accommodation both in this Text the Jews require a sign and they have brought unto them a stumbling-block the Greeks seek after wisdom and they have preached unto them foolishness there 's the opposition and contradiction Again the Jews require a sign and they have brought unto them the power of God the Greeks seek after wisdom and they have Preached unto them the wisdom of God There 's the accommodation and agreement Now the latter of these
which is required to such a work as that is If ye ask what is required else I answer a competent understanding in the whole Body of Divinity and Religion a Genius which I know not how to express to you a particular faculty for the understanding and interpreting of Scripture a Theological and Ministerial frame and disposition of mind a spirit of discerning in reference both to persons and truths together with a mind wholly imployed and taken up in such things as these are and given up altogether to them The whole frame and bent of a mans course is to be inclined and carried on this way and dedicated to it an ability rightly to divide the word of truth and to give every one his portion in due season as Paul to Timothy 1 Tim. 4.15 Meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them that thy preaching may appear unto all or in all things as some interpret it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be in them wholly The work of the Ministry is such as it requires the whole man and all his time to be taken up in it or else in such things as do border and confine upon it and belong unto it at least not such as are alterius generis or do divert from it This in other and private Christians of other callings is not nor cannot be which yet is necessary to be And this we speak of the intrinsecal and immediate qualifications hereunto Besides all this to say nothing now at this time of the setting apart hereunto by the Church if there be any which have real gifts for it and approved of though of other callings I should not be sorry but close with you with all my heart but this is sooner presumed than to be hoped But so much for that And so now I have done with the first General part of the Text viz. the Counsel or Exhortation which is here given by the Apostle Covet earnestly the best gifts The second is the Additional Regulation of the said counsel and yet here the Apostle raises his note a little higher than in the former he had done He would not have the Corinthians rest in the common gifts of the Spirit of God and to content themselves only with them but to proceed somewhat further than so as he does here intimate and imply unto them that it was possible for them to do In this second Branch of the Text we have two parts more considerable First The thing propounded The more excellent may Secondly The Proposition of it I shew it unto you We have each of these observable of us First Here 's the thing it self propounded The more excellent way The more excellent way what way do ye call that why surely that will quickly appear if we do but read on to the following Chapter which there are some Interpreters of very good note that would make these words of the Text to be the beginning of And there we shall find charity to be especially commended unto us Charity it is a large word of large extent as large as the whole Decalogue no less than so It is as the Apostle calls it the fulfulling of the Law whatever we can imagine as required in Gods Commandments we have it epitomized and comprehended unto us in this one word of Charity or Love love to God and love to our neighbour and our selves in a due manner and in reference to God this is Charity And so indeed and in effect and conclusion the more excellent way it is nothing else but Piety and Religion Grace and Holiness and Goodness the sanctifying and saving gifts of Gods Spirit both for the habit and operation of them in us these are that excellent way which the Holy Ghost by this advice to the Corinthians does commend unto us There are three points especially which are here observable of us First That Religion it is a Way Secondly That it is an excellent way and more excellent than all other ways and abilities and accomplishments besides Thirdly That it is such a way as we are to pursue and follow after in the most principal manner First I say Religion it is a way and so it is here represented unto us This distinguishes it from a mere sitt or some transient act and no more which abides only for some particular time True Grace and Holiness it is not so it is not only the doing of one or two good Duties and away and for such a season as we may judg most expedient but it is a fixt and setled course through the whole time of our lives Therefore we may from hence judg and conclude of our selves what we are examine what our course is and what it is that we do for the most part apply and bend our selves to and how one part of our lives is suitable and agreeable to the other This is the best discovery of us Even Saul himself may be sometimes among the Prophets and there is not the worst man that is but he may be now and then found in a good action But this is not his way and course and so from thence he cannot be concluded to be good It is the question which Job puts about the Hypocrite Will he delight himself in the Almighty will be always call upon God no he will not in Job 27.10 Secondly As Godliness and Religion is a way so it is the most excellent way of all others it is via per eminentiam as it is here exprest unto us it 's via Regia although it be not via publica a way which has a transcendency in it above any other So the Arabick Interpreter another way which is more excellent One would have thought that when the Apostle had made mention of the best gists he could now have gone no higher for what can be the better than the best But yet he does for all that here 's a superlative beyond a superlative and that 's the most excellent way which belongs to Religion True Grace and Holiness it has an excellency and transcendency in it above all learning and common Gifts whatsoever This will be easily cleared unto us upon this account First Because it is that which does bringus into a nearer likeness and similitude to God himself that 's undoubtedly the most excellent way and carries he preheminence to all other which does make us most conformable to him who is the chiefest excellency Now this we are not so much by our gifts and parts and such accomplishments as those as we are by the work of Grace in our bearts The most exact Image of God it does consist in righteousness and true holiness as the Scripture expresses it to us Indeed it is true that we are made like unto God in some sort in the natural faculties and powers of our Soul our Reason and Understanding c. But this is not all nor the chiefest no but so far forth as we are new created and made over again by the sanctifying work
circumstances and aggravations which I have now mentioned First For the nature and kind of it it was a death of violence it was a forced and unnatural death Unnatural indeed it was in a double consideration First It was unnatural actively in regard of those which complotted it and desired to inflict it For who I beseech you were they but those of our own Country Englishmen and bred at home The nearer at any time the relation the more unnatural still the rebellion Englishmen to destroy Englishmen as it has been in these latter times especially a most fearful and unnatural destruction contrary to the common principles of nature and that affection which God hath put into Heathen and strangers which never head of Religion This death which we now speak of it was such an one as this contrived and conspired by those which were of our own Land and Nation and came as it were out of our own bowels And then again it was unnatural passively as all deaths of violence especially are a taking away of mens lives from them and turning them out of the world a death of greater pain and reluctancy and indisposition and so it was great Secondly It was a great death if it had taken in regard of the suddenness it was the taking away of men without any warning or preparation at all the cruellest thing that could be in reference to the Patients and the cowardliest thing that could be in reference to the Instruments The manner and carriage and contrivance of it had the aggravations of a great death in it and made it more remarkable First I say it was cruel and very grievous in reference to the Patients or those which were designed to be so To come upon men on a sudden without any warning or preparation at all when they should neither settle their Temporal estates for this life nor yet which is more their spiriritual or eternal for a better what an unmerciful thing was this How great was that death wherein men should had no warning given them of avoiding everlasting death but have been in danger as much as men could make them of perishing both ways at once in body and soul And then besides how cowardly and unmanly also for those that acted it How unsuitable to the Principles of an Heroical and magnanimous spirit There was no skill in it but only violence no art at all but the black art no mystery but the mystery of iniquity It savoured and smelt of no other than Hell it self it was treachery and conspiracy and falshood the basest kind of killing of all as David said once of Abner 2 Sam. 3.33 c. Died Abner as a fool dieth thy hands were not bound nor thy feet put into fetters As a man falleth before wicked men so sellest thou So had these Worthies died if they had been taken away as a man falleth before wicked men basely cowardly injuriously without any provocation for no cause for no wrong for no offence but only their goodness they had not died as sools had died Not by their own carelesness not by their own wickedness not by their own rashness not by any default of their own but only by the mischief of those which were the children of iniquity not by the hands of law and iustice their hands nor feet had not been bound but only by the hands of cruelty and rebellion Thus had they been taken away thus had they fallen at this time and had not this been a great deliverance Thirdly It was likewise great in regard of the untimeliness and immaturity of it it was the taking of Persons away before their time many in their very youth and many in their riper years and many in the midst of their hopes in the fulness of their strength for their bodies and in the height of their parts for their minds and in the midst of their counsels for their imployment It was the barbarousness of that Soldier in Syracuse that killed the Mathematician in his study and whiles he was drawing his lines even so as I may say it had been here men in the midst of their very work And what work was it to not a work of ordinary concernment neither but the setling of the affairs of the Kingdom in Church and State the establishing of good and wholsome Laws this was the work which stuck so much in their stomacks and which provoked them to this means of interrupting it as it was the reason which some of them gave for the choice of the place Fourthly It was great also in regard of the extent of it here it was great indeed First for the number and plurality of the persons how many had been involved in this death even the whole State it self the Representative Body of the Kingdom assembled in Parliament As he that wisht he could cut off Rome at one blow what a sweeping death had this been which had carried away so many at once And what an unmerciful conspiracy that had bowels left for none We see how unlimited and unbounded malice is that nothing will serve its turn but the ruining and undoing of all friend and foe hopeful and desperate one as well as another all should have gone to the pot without any difference These are the Principles of such kind of persons All 's fish with them that comes to net Secondly For the condition and quality of the Persons consider that to make it somewhat more a multitude of mean rank and condition they are more easily spared but the loss of those which are of greater worth and eminency for their parts and place this is more to be lamented The death of great men it is no other than a great death It was that which grieved David so much in the aforenamed slaughter of Abner not only the wrongfulness of the cause but the eminency of the person Know ye not that there is a Prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel 2 Sam. 3.33 If David made such a matter of it the death but of one great person what had been the death of so many great ones at once King and Prince and Nobles and all the Peers of the Land to have been taken away in one moment Head and Tail Branch and root in one day the stay and the staff the mighty man and the man of War the Judg and the Prophet the Prudent and the Ancient the Honourable man and the Counseller the cunning Artificer and the eloquent Orator this had been the case here and how great had this death been Thirdly Look upon this extent likewise yet further in that which they principally aimed at and propounded to themselves herein which was not only the ruining of persons but also the ruining of Doctrines and the faith and truth of Christ it self the death of he Gospel and the death of the Ordinances and the death of Religion and the death of our own precious and immortal souls And now tell me whether
this was not a great death indeed If we lose our lives yet if we can recover our souls our loss will not be so considerable And if we part with many other things which are near and dear unto us yet after all this if notwithstanding we can hold fast our faith and profession without wavering we may do pretty well But this was the mischief of these enemies that they did then hast to spoil us of these It was not so much other matters which they had an eye to life and liberty and estates though that were somewhat but even Grace and Truth Piety Salvation it self that we might not see our signs not there might not be a Prophet amongst us as the Psalmist speaks This was that which they principally aim'd at as it is said of the Adulteress that she hunts for the precious soul Prov. 6.26 even so it may be said of such as these And thus ye see how it was a great deliveran Fourthly Namely in regard of the extent both to the persons and cause Fifthly From the neerness and approximation of the danger It was great so also for it was even almot come to the execution of it we were even upon the very point and brim of destruction in this design as it was with Paul in this present Text indeed we thus sar differed from him that we knew not what danger we were in which he did we had not the sentence of death in our selves but we had the sentence of death in our conspiracies they had give in and past us for dead and had made as full account of it as might be they made no question at all of it but so it would be The plot discovered but the very night before God brought it to the very extremity it was seen in the minute he manifested himself graciously in our preservation when there was death at the very doors Thus it was here 6. It was great also in regard of the mischievousness of the contrivers it was carried with great wickedness as could be possibly imagined all the strength even of Hell it self here was ingratitude hypocrisie cruelty unnatural affection what not yea here was moreover which made it so much the more hainous the taking of the blessed Sacrament upon it consider that A setting of Gods Seal to their own wicked Counsels an eatin and drinking of damnation to themselves whiles they vowed and conspired and indeavoured destruction to others What an horrible and fearful thing was this to all the rest What wonder that they should make nothing of the death of others which made nothing of the blood of the Lord Lastly A great death in regard of what it should now be to all of us for our apprehension and acknowledgment we should make a great matter of it and so account it And for this purpose lay before us all the aggravations which I have now named to work it upon our selves Narrow capacities have commonly but streightened affections therefore let us help the one by inlarging the other let us labour to raise our hearts to a right frame and pitch of thankfulness this present day and all the days of our lives And let us not have these things only in our fancies and take them as rhetorical expressions but let us labour to get them into our affections and to have impressions of them upon our spirits let us look upon the greatness of this danger even at this distance and remoteness of it which in it self consider'd is still the same as it is with sins which are long ago committed and examine our hearts how indeed we are affected in this particular Whereby we may have some discovery of our selves what we are likely to befor future deliverances if God should vouchsafe them We are all ready to think with our selves that if God would now but give us peace and free us from those fears and distractions under which we lye and settle things quietly amongst us both in Church and State Oh how thankful we would then be to him for it Why what are we now at present for that which he has already done for us What are we for the deliverance of this day from the Gunpowder Treason He that will not be thankful for this he would not be thankful for that neither if God should please in his Providence to grant it He that will not pay the Arrears neither would he pay the new debt It is but the falseness and deceitfulness of our hearts that here cosens us and therefore let us look to our selves and quicken our felves more in this business to be sensible and apprehensive of it and to have answerable enlargements upon it And to the advantage take in all other mercies and deliverances besides with it whether national or personal as in a day of general humiliation we are to be humbled for personal miscarriages so in a day of general and publick Thanksgiving we are to acknowledg personal mercies and personal deliverances And so now I have done with the first General Part of the Text And that is the commemoration of a deliverance past who deliver'd us from so great a death The second now follows and that is the signification of a deliverance present in these words And doth deliver ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He that hath delivered does deliver It is very fitly and properly put in the present tense and also indefinitely because it is that which is always in being or acting and never otherwise God is never out of this work of deliverance and preservation of us He delivers us daily look how many are the evils and dangers which we are subject unto so many are the deliverances which we partake of in the eating of our meat in the travelling on our way in the lying down on our beds in the going about in our imployments where-ever at any time we go or whatever at any time we are about we have still experiences given us of Gods gracious deliverance of us At home or abroad at work or at play a sleep or awake still in all and either of these does Goddeliver and we have good cause still to acknowledg it but we are to take it here in the Text and so likewise in the occasion in a more limited and restrained signification namely in reference to the business in hand and the particular danger now mentioned and remembred The Apostle here tells us how God had delivered him from the late danger in Asia and to amplisie and extend it further he adds also this That he does still deliver namely in a reference to that particular deliverance before spoken of He delivers with a respect had to that This may be made good unto us according to a twofold Explication First In the continuation of that deliverance which he has formerly given and vouchsafing a further fruit and benefit and efficacy of it Secondly In the multiplication or renewing of the like deliverance and vouchsafing other deliverances which are
now the Servants of God they do receive the Truth in the love of it and as they discern it with their understandings so they likewise imbrace it in their hearts and therefore cannot act against it Look as there is an impotency in evil men to that which is good so there is likewise in some sort an Impotency in good men to that which is evil And so the Scripture seems to set it in another place as Gal. 5.17 The flesh insteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things which ye would Cannot in either reference as the reluctancies of the flesh hinder ye that ye cannot do that good which ye would do from the principles of Grace so again the reluctancies of the spirit hinder ye that ye cannot do that evil which ye would do from the remainders of corruption And this latter is that which we are here to take notice of when the Apostle says of himself and other faithful servants of God that they can do nothing against the truth he means so far forth as regenerate and living by the principles of grace and regeneration in them so they can do nothing against the truth indeed though otherwise when as left to themselves and the natural corruption of their hearts they are sufficiently capable of it and prone and inclinable to it as in case of desertion and temptation is too abundantly declared unto us This is the sum of all that as the work of grace in Believers which is sometimes call'd the seed of God does preserve them from other sins and the presumptuous commission of them so amongst the rest from opposing the Truth and setting against that they cannot do it because they are born of God and have his Truth setled in them Thirdly From a spirit of faithfulness and ingenuity which is over and above in them The Children of God they are conscious to themselves of many engagements which are upon them to truth from the vows and promises which they have made and from the favours and mercies which they have received and therefore can do nothing against it Where men are under any Covenant they are tyed thoug they had never so good mind and inclination to the contrary And so it is here If we could suppose the Children of God to be such as whose affections would serve them for the hindring of the Truth yet their promises and voluntary Covenants are a restraint upon them they have solemnly dedicated and given up themselves to the Truth and so upon that account are now able to do nothing against it And so likewise for the mercies which they have received there 's a restraint from them also The Truth where-ever it is imbraced it does sufficiently reward those who have been imbracers of it besides that they are intrusted with it Now for them therefore to do any thing against it it would be very unworthy they cannot do it upon the point of ingenuity That 's another and the third Consideration Now all together may serve as a satisfaction to mens minds in this particular There are many which are apt oftentimes to wonder at that strictness and rigidness which is in many of Gods servants that they keep so close to the Truth so that there 's no shaking or removing them from it or perswading them to do any thing against it Here 's now a true account of it whence it is so indeed in them It is from hence that they cannot do otherwise we cannot do any thing says the Apostle Paul against the Truth And as he could not do it himself no more can others do it with him They are better taught and they are better affected and they have other kind of Bonds upon them and restraints than other men have who are more loose and at liberty in this respect as for them they cannot do it It is not selfishness or peevishness or perverseness or a spirit of singularity as the world is ready for the most part to construe and judg and interpret it in them no but it is Grace and Religion and Christianity we cannot i.e. we will not there is a restraint upon us of Principles Thirdly We cannot i.e. we shall not It is a restraint likewise of Power we cannot although we would but herein shall be prevented and intercepted we cannot attempt it and we cannot effect it there 's both in it cannot attempt it as prevented by the Providence of God denying us opportunities cannot effect it as prevented by the power of God denying us success First We cannot attempt it God preserves his servants from this even from endeavouring any thing against Truth he keeps them graciously from such temptations and occasions as might put them hereupon and besides what we spoke of before the general frame of their own hearts considered as regenerate there is the particular actings and restrainings of his own spirit in them whereby he does keep them from such a miscarriage and sin as this is Gods servants are under a blessed conduct and government which does prevail upon them whereby they are preserved from those evils and snares which others are taken with and do very readily fall into We cannot that is we shall not attempt it he denies opportunities But then secondly we cannot i.e. we shall not effect it as denied success This it holds good both of themselves and all men else We cannot do any thing against the truth That is we cannot prosperously we cannot successfully we cannot safely We may do it but we had better let it alone Cannot to our own comfort and contentment And we may do it but we had as good spare our selves a labour Cannot as to any real prejudice or disparagement to truth it self Those that seem to do most against it yet indeed they can do nothing at all nor never shall This although it be not the proper and direct sense of the place but rather the other which we mentioned before with some other which we shall speak of afterward as also the analogy of faith yet it agrees very well with the words and may by way of overplus and redundancy be taken in to the explication of them to us even to signifie and declare thus much That all endeavours against the truth are in vain and to no purpose Veritas magna est praevalebit the truth is strong and is sure to prevail When we have done all that we can do against it yet this all is as good as nothing it will at last be too hard for us But I will not insist upon this Point now as not being that which is so much intended I only give an hint of it by the way So much of the first word of Emphasis which is here to be explained and taken notice of by us and that is the word cannot there 's a force in that The second is the word any-thing for so indeed it
should be rather translated we cannot do any thing this makes the impotency to be so much the more and does serve as an amplification of it even this word of restriction here before us There are many who as their power is restrained so their impotency is limited they are impotent in some things but they are not impotent in all As Satan in his attempts against Job could not meddle with his life but he could meddle with his goods could not hurt his soul but he could afflict his body and outward man Yea but this impotency here against truth it is general and universal and indefinitive we cannot do any thing against the truth whatever it be Not any thing that is the least thing that is this we cannot this we may not do The Spirit of God here meets with the reservations of a false heart which though perhaps in some things would be somewhat tender of acting against the truth yet in other things would take more liberty to it self in the hindering of it No says he not any thing at all not speak against it not write against it not preach against it not argue against it not live against it not think against it whatever otherwise we can do in this sense we cannot do against it This proceeds from Gods jealousie and affection God is a jealous God and of nothing more than of his Truth Now this is the nature of jealousie that it provides against the least appearances and shadows of disrespect any unbeseeming carriage any uncomely glance it is displeasing unto it as in Gods care of Jacob in regard of Laban Take heed thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad that is see thou have nothing at all to do with him Gen. 31.24 Do not hurt him in the least kind that is The same care doth God take of his Truths that not any thing be done against it Any wry or oblique look any discouraging or discountenancing of it it is very grievous and offensive to him he cannot endure it There are two things which God is tender of his People and his Truth and he that touches either he touches the very apple of his eye This may therefore accordingly regulate and order our carriage in this particular We should be jealous of our selves there where God is jealous of us And take heed of doing any thing which may prove prejudicial to truth not only directly and in the thing it self but remotely and in the preparations to it There are many who sometimes have proved adversaries and enemies to Truth before they have been aware beginning with some slight and easie oppositions of it at first perhaps out of curiosity only to shew the nimbleness of their wit or perhaps out of a love of contradiction and gainsaying of others who have afterwards fallen foully upon it and proved both haters and persecutors of it Therefore I say we had need to be very cautious and watchful over our selves in this respect especially take heed of disputes against Principles of Religion it being ill jesting with these edg tools Though it be lawful and in some sort necessary to argue and dispute against truth for the further clearing and evidences of it and drawing it forth yet even in so doing there is a special care to be had of the frame and temper of ones spirit That we do not any thing against the truth And that 's the second word here to be explained The third is the truth it self which may be taken either indefinitely or emphatically The Truth that is any truth at large expressing no particular Or the truth that is the main truth of all the Gospel and Doctrine of Christ which is called the word of truth more especially First It may be taken indefinitely We can do nothing against the truth that is the truth considered at large As not any thing so not against any truth that is Divine and Theological Truth There is a regard to be had even to other Truths in their place as Natural and Philosophical But the Apostle here speaks within the compass of his own perfection and so understands that which is spiritual There is not any truth in Religion which we ought to do any thing against whatever it be Those which in themselves are less material yet being fences and hedges to the rest and besides proceeding from God himself who is the God of Truth they are accordingly to be nourisht by us and preserved inviolable we have not liberty to diminish the least truth that is nor to deny it or to part willingly with it even for the greatest good All Truth is precious and sacred and inflexible it may not be opposed Indeed there are some seasons more than other which are proper to the discoveries of it according as it may be There may be sometimes a forbearing and withholding of some truths from some people till they are capable of them as we see in the carriage of Christ to his Disciples and the Apostle to the Hebrews there were many things which were to be spoken unto them but they were not able as yet to bear them and therefore for a time were kept from them But this was no opposing of the Truth but rather promoting it where the concealment or suppression of any Truth tends to the disparagement of it or of those persons to whom it belongs there it may in no case be concealed or supprest by us let the truth be what it will be Thus we may do nothing against the Truth i.e. against any truth whatsoever taking it indefinitely But then secondly Take it Emphatically the Truth i.e. the truth of the Gospel the Doctrine of Jesus Christ We may do nothing against that more especially This is the main truth of all and which is of highest concernment to us to be known and to be acknowledged by us and we must do nothing in opposition or contrariety to it or to any Branch or Particle of it and that for sundry Considerations First Because it is the most noble and excellent Truth in it self and considered in its own nature this the Gospel is for it treats of Christ himself who is the Way and the Truth and the Life It contains admirable Points and Mysteries and Speculations in it which no other Doctrine does besides now to do any thing against such Truth as this is were very dishonourable Secondly It is of the greatest interest and concernment to us for our particulars Christians should by all means be shy of doing any thing against the Truths of Christianity as being indeed their proper Charter the reward of them and chiefest priviledges entitling them even to Heaven and Happiness and eternal life and salvation it self And Ministers of all others more especially they are concerned in a tenderness to the Gospel and the Truths of it as being their special employment who are said by a special denomination to be Ministers of the New Testament and to have the Word and Ministry of
he oftentimes pretends to and present as a bait to many persons to catch tem and involve them in sin the fruit and profit and benefit which they shall receive by it but in conclusion it proves none at all as both the Scripture it self here testifies and the experience likewise of all men that deal with it can bear witness thereunto Thirdly Here 's that which on the contrary does advance the ways of goodness in opposition and contrariety hereunto Here 's the great difference now betwixt Sin and Grace betwixt walking in the ways of Holiness and walking in the ways of sin And this improvement we may the rather make of it because it seems to be that which is so chiefly intended by the Spirit of God in this Chapter viz. to compare these two both together and to shew the preheminence of the one above the other in this particular as we may see in the verses both before and after the Text When ye were the servants of sin says he ye were free from righteousness what fruit had ye then c. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life This is the difference betwixt them take any man whatsoever which imploys himself in the ways of vertue and godliness and he has a great deal of benefit and profit and advantage which does redound to him therefrom peace of Conscience and tranquillity of spirit and joy in the Holy Ghost which is glorious and unspeakable as the Apostle speaks Though a man should have no fruit of it at all from the world yet he has enough within the compass of it self and that satisfaction which it gives to the mind of him that is conversant therein Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour as it is said of this spiritual wisdom in Prov. 3.16 17. Whereas on the other side for sinful courses and the ways of wickedness and ungodliness this is all a man comes off with a reproachful imputation of unprofitableness that a man gets no benefit by it in all such labour as this is especially which he has under the Sun Nay further as a man has no benefit by it or from it or after it so neither has he indeed in it which is another thing to be taken notice of by us and pertinent to the illustration of this point What fruit had ye then and what fruit had ye in there 's an Emphasis and a force in that to meet with the fond conceits and apprehensions of many people abroad which though they have no good by their Sins at all after them yet do imagin that they have some good at least in them that then when they are imployed about them and are in the actings and commissions of them that then certainly they have some advantage by them nay but not so neither they are mistaken if they think so It is not what fruit have ye from these things but what fruit have ye in them It is not what fruit have ye now but what fruit had ye then not only now when the Sins over and the commission of it is past and you find the sad effects and consequents of it in your selves but then when it was in the very best and prime and activity of it not only now when you are converted and changed and altered and of another mind what fruit have ye now but even then when you were in your natural condition when you were most eager and bent upon Sin and thought your selves the happiest people in the world if you might but obtain an opportunity for the committing of it What fruit had ye and what fruit had ye then in such things as these are This is that which the Holy Ghost would here teach us the unsatisfactoriness which is in Sin even to that mind which is most intent upon it and most vehemently carried away with it the pleasure of Sin it is a false pleasure and the delight of it is a false delight and the contentment which seems to be in it no true contentment at all which when men seriously reflect upon and consider in good earnest with themselves as St. Paul bid the Romans here to do they do easily find and observe and accordingly are perswaded of it to be so indeed The acting and committing of Sin it has no true comfort in it but much of the contrary rather an the upon a twofold account First From the disconvenience of the object the unsuitableness and unagreeableness which is in Sin to the mind of man it self which though so far forth as it is depraved and corrupted does close well enough with it yet so far forth as it has any relicks or remainders of goodness at all in it so far forth is opposite to it This we may observe sometimes in the worst men that are except it be such as are given up to a reprobate sense and to and hard and obdurate heart through the just judgment of God I say otherwise the worst men almost that are they have somewhat in them which does contradict Sin through the Law of God written in their hearts and though their corruption does carry them headlong to it yet their better principles do set them against it not only those which are truly regenerated but even natural men themselves they have some common moral principles in them which at least to some kind of Sins do make them more or less indisposed so that whensoever they come to commit them yet they do them with some kind of abhorrency and reluctancy in themselves and because they do them so therefore they do them not with full delight neither can they have that contentment in them which they might be thought to have Secondly Another thing is the rising of Conscience it self and some implicite sense and apprehension of Gods wrath and judgment and vengeance against those Sins which are committed A man have no true contentment in sin in the commission of it because at the very same time that he does indeed act and commit it his Conscience does in some degree or other check him or it and cite him to Gods Tribunal and Judgment-seat in reference to it this is not done so fully and expresly in some persons and Sins where men are transported with violence to them but yet in some weaker measure it is in all which are not exceedingly hardened and given up to the lusts of their own hearts certainly in all others besides there are more or less such stirrings and girdings of Conscience as do much imbitter the sweetness of Sin in any act or kind whatsoever especially to such kind of persons which live under godly education or powerful Preaching or in good society such as these they cannot escape now an then such workings as these as a true account of this present point in
perhaps you were very little or nothing at all affected with it Now ye are ashamed This now it may admit of a various and manifold Explication First Now since the time of your Conversion and Regeneration and coming home to God Secondly Now since the commission of your sins and the intermission or the withdrawing of the temptation Thirdly Now since the experience of Gods Goodness and the sense and apprehension of his special love and favour towards you since these all or either of these ye are now ashamed of those things which formerly had no impression upon you or at least which ye did not look upon as any great matter of shame unto you First I say now that is since the time of your Conversion and Regeneration and coming home to God Conversion as it makes a change in a mans condition so also in his affections it makes him to have other thoughts and apprehensions than formerly he had and in particular in point of shame he is a shamed of those things which before he did not regard And whereas before sin was nothing with him now he looks upon it as the greatest reproach can befal him A man after Conversion will be ashamed and confounded in himself for those ways which he walked in before Thus it was here with these Romans yea thus it was with the Apostle Paul himself when he looked back sometimes upon his former condition before his Conversion he was ashamed to think of it and he speaks of it with a great deal of abhorrency and indignation as we may see in Act. 26.10 11. 1 Cor. 15.9 1 Tim. 1.13 14. Thus it proceeds upon these following Considerations First The clearer discovery of the nature and condition of sin it self which is the ground and matter of shame shame in the affection is according to the apprehension of it in the occasion those that are not thoroughly convinced and perswaded of any thing to be shameful they are not consequently ashamed of it but those which are so they will be affected with it And this is when it is apprehended to be filthy and base in ââself as the Philosopher describing this affection sets in forth unto us that it is properly imployed about those things ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which seem to have some vileness in them and which are apprehended so to be Why thus now is it with a man which is converted in regard of sin He looks upon it as a shameful business and proportionably is ashamed of it he sees sin in its colours and in its nature what it is by the light of Gods Spirit assisting him and inabling of him so to do which another does not It 's a good observation of Chrysostom's which he has to this âurpose ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. Every sin does then indeed appear how vile and filthy it is when you empty it and strip it off the affection of him that commits it Tell an angry man when he is cool of the words which he spoke in his passion and then he will be ashamed Then a drunkard when he is sober the things which he did in his cups and then he will be as contented bring an unchast person to his harlot when his lust is over and he will then abominate both her and himself and so he goes on These Romans when they ââere here converted the Apostle dares appeal to themselves and needs no other witness besides for the confirmation of that which he said If people had but the same thoughts of sin in the committing as they are likely to have after it they would never be guilty of it There 's a double light which is communicated to a Christian as pertinent to this purpose the one is whereby he sees the filthiness of sin it self and the other is whereby he sees himself as guilty of sin Where either of these is wanting there is not this shame which we now speak of when either we see not sin in it self or see not our own interest and propriety in it as belonging to us then we shall not be affected with it no more than a blind man is with those spots which are upon his garments but where both these concur there is blushing and shame of heart and thus in a person converted Secondly This shamefacedness does arise from a serious and due apprehension of the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God Those which many times are not much ashamed of things simply considered in themselves yet when they think they are taken notice of by others this is a means to work shame in them Now a good Christian he is sensible of this he has set God always before his eyes that thereby he might be restrained and considers him as everywhere beholding both the evil and good Therefore it is emphatically exprest there in Ezra and twice repeated in the place before cited O my God I am ashamed and I blush to lift up my face to thee O my God if we had real and daily and constant apprehensions of him as present with us as it becomes us to have it would make us ashamed of doing any thing which were unworthy of Christians from the sense of his presence This is more than to set before us some Cato or Socrates or Seneca or any such persons as those were as the Philosopher advised in such a case Thirdly A Christian after conversion comes to be ashamed of his ways and courses before from the height and nobleness of his Principles and that spirit of Grace which is now in him over what formerly he had Men when they come to be men and are grown up to years of maturity and riper understanding they are ashamed to think of those toys and tricks which they plaid in their child-hood and Scholars when they come to some perfection they are ashamed of those exercises which they made in their former and younger time and all from this Consideration because they are now better qualified and more inabled than formerly they were even so is it also with a Christian upon conversion and turning t6o God He is not now the same man that heretofore he was and therefore the same things will not satisfie him or give him content but he is apt to quarrel and find fault with them yea to blush and to be ashamed of them when he reflects and looks back upon them especially his sins and evil courses which is that we speak of at this time because he has a new nature in him which does bear in most direct opposition and contrariety to all such courses as these are Yea further which is also pertinent hereunto a gracious person has an holy reverence and awe of himself which does encline him and carry him hereunto it was that which some of the Heathens did sometimes advise unto in their Moral Philosophy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of all others reverence thy self This a good Christian does and from hence comes to blush and to be ashamed of
sin yea even such things also which others are not much affected withal secret sins which no other eye beholds smaller sins if there be any sin small as there are comparatively A good Christian is affected with these and ashamed of these not only commissions of evil but omissions of good and not only simple omissions but defects and miscarriages in performances failings in the measure and failings in the manner and failings in the end look as accurate work men they are ashamed of smaller faults in their work while bunglers make nothing of great ones so likewise accurate Christians they are ashamed of smaller infirmities in them whiles Hypocrites and Formalists and Atheists are not ashamed of the greatest that are And that may be the first Explication now that is since their conversion and regeneration and coming home to god Te are ashamed now Secondly Now that is since the commission of your sins and the intermission of the Temptations from you Now ye are c. There are many persons which when they are in the heat of their lusts and when temptations sets strong upon them they have then no shame at all for sin because they have no sense or feeling of it but their minds are wholly taken up in the prosecution and following of it who yet afterwards when the sin is over and past they recover themselves and then there 's nothing left them but shame as a recompence to them for the carnality of it We should therefore still learn and endeavour to have the same apprehension of sin in us before-hand as we are likely to have afterwards and never be perswaded by any means to the doing of any thing which we think we shall be ashamed of when we have done it rather let our watchfulness before a temptation prevent our repentance after it and think with our selves however we may be affected in our selves for the present yet there will a time come for remorse Quid mali fieri potest says Prosper unde nec erubescant illi quos ipsa flagitia sua delectat What evil can there be done which even those which are delighted in it are not for all that ashamed of it Thirdly Now since the experience of Gods Goodness and the sense and apprehension of his special love and favour towards us Te are ashamed now The Romans they were now become Christians and had tasted of Gods free love in Christ and besides had divers of them partaked of many outward comforts and refreshments from him Now certainly these could do not other than melt them in the Consideration of their sins and shame them for them There 's no such breaking and moving argument as this if we have any bowels or ingenuity at all in us And therefore the Apostle beats upon this in another place Rom. 12.1 I beseech you by the mercies of God It Gods mercies will not work upon us what will surely this is more than all the rest And as for the quickning of us to duty so likewise for the restraining us from sin and the affecting and afflicting of us for it What to sin against so good a God so gracious a Father so holy a Spirit so merciful a Redeemer c. What a great shame is this If God had never done any thing for us yet we might be ashamed to sin against him for that Goodness which is in himself abstractly considered but when we shall further over and above consider his Goodness to us for our particulars and notwithstanding the offending of him How should this affect us with grief and provoke us to shame in good earnest Shall God do so much for us and shall we do so much against him Especially if we shall consider further that this sinning of ours hath been at any time with any of these mercies which he has bestowed upon us there 's a fearful aggravation with a witness as these Romans here had done making the members of their bodies members of iniquity and uncleanness What a fearful and shameful thing is this when men shall use their health and their strength and their parts and their wealth to no better purpose than to provoke God by them May not this justly fill them with shame and confusion of face They that will not be ashamed now in the sense and consideration of this when and what is it indeed that they will be ever ashamed of I beseech ye let us improve this argument to the utmost advantage of it and drive it home as much as we can And not only as to temporal mercies but especially and moreover to spiritual Let these affect us with shame for sin as the Apostle here urges it in this Chapter Those which are dead unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord He stands much upon this as a means to prevail with them and so it should upon us Methinks it is a shame for them in the world to do any thing below their rank and place and condition in it Shall such a man as I do thus and thus And why should they not do so as to Heaven and the things of Grace and Sin We should think our selves too good for the doing of any thing which is sinful and take an holy state upon our selves in this particular And when we discern and perceive that we have done so that we have done any thing which is unfitting we should be confounded and ashamed in our selves upon this respect and consideration as no question but these Romans here were they were now ashamed that is now upon the experience of Gods Goodness and sense of his special love unto them And that 's the third Explication which may be fastened upon this expression about the time The Consideration of all together which hath been said in this present point may be thus far useful to us First From the shame of condition that follows upon the Commission of sin we have here another Argument against it which is the scope of the Apostle in this place Remember as it brings no fruit with it so that instead of it it brings shame and reproach and disgrace it is no honour at all to commit it If ever we would stand upon our honour and do all we can to the avoiding of shame let us then be sure to take heed of sin which is the most disgraceful thing that can be disgraces us with God and disgraces us with Angels and disgraces us with men and disgraces us even with our selves and our own private consciences in particular so much shame and ignominy there is in it This same sin it was that which brought shame first of all into the world and it has continued it ever since upon all those which have been the followers of it This for the shame of Condition Again secondly For the shame of affection In that these Romans are said here to have been ashamed of their former courses that is to have been affected with shame for them we learn
ingagement to all men which are in such an estate to get out of it as soon as it is possible Secondly Here 's matter also of thankfulness to all those whom God has freed from this condition and brought into a better estate by Christ as these Romans here were they have great cause of praising and blessing God who hath dealt thus graciously with them who whiles before they were unfruitful and disgraceful and dead and lyable to destruction are now freed from all these and have the contrary qualities put upon them And as a special Testimony of our thankfulness indeed we should endeavour especially to live accordingly and to shew forth the praises or vertues of him that has call'd us out of darkness into his marvellous hight as St. Peter speaks 1 Pet. 2.9 This is the proper use which the Apostle Paul himself seems to make of it in the very next Chapter Rom. 7.5 6. When we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death But now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter This is that which we should all labour after whom it hath pleased God to deal thus withal as he had here done with these Romans before us And thus I have done with the third particular inconvenience of sin and so also with this whole Text in hand What fruit had ye them in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for c. SERMON XXXIX Gal. 4.19 My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you It is the manner of all those which are exact and accurate work-men not to rest themselves satisfied at any time with any thing which is done by them till they have brought it to some perfection and accomplishment but where they essay any present flawes or defects in any of their work to return to it and come ouer it again for the rectifying of it And this is that which me may here observe in the carriage of the Apostle Paul to these Galatians to whom he here writes he had taken a great deal of pains with them to convert them and to bring them to the Faith and to acquaint them with the knowledg of Christ as we may see in the former part of the Epistle but they partly through their own negligence and non-attendency partly through Satans malice and the seducement of false-teachers amongst them were much apostatized and departed from the Truth in intermingling the Gospel of Christ with the Law and Ceremonies of Moses from whence the very Characters of Christ were as it were defaced and and obliterated in them Now St. Paul in this Scripture besore us does here signifie his endeavours towards them for the reducement and recovery of them and the restoring of this Image of Christ in them My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you This is the scope of the Text. IN the Text it self we have three General Parts considerable of us First The Compellation which the Apostle puts upon the Galatians and that is little children Secondly The Condition in which he stands in reference to them and that is that he travelleth in birth Thirdly The extent of this condition and that is till Christ be formed in them To begin with the first viz. The Compellation My little children Now this it hath a double notion or Emphasis which may be fastened upon it First An Emphasis of Affection And secondly an Emphasis of Diminution There 's love and disparagement both in this manner of Expression First There 's affection in it even the affection of a Father to his Children or a Mother to the fruit of her Womb which is also in a good Minister towards his People he tenders them even as his own bowels Thus did Paul these present Galatians Therefore as before in ver 12. he call'd them Brethren so here now in this 19th verse he calls them little Children The same affection does he likewise express towards some others in other places as 1 Thes 2.7 8. We were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth her children So being affectiontely desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the Gospel of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us So likewise the Apostle John often in his Epistles uses this phrase to Believers of little children all to express his good-will and affection towards them and that 's one thing which we may observe in it here Secondly As it has in it the Emphasis of affection as shewing the greatness of his love so it has also the Emphasis of diminution as shewing the tenderness of their growth and proficiency in Religion who were now but of a low stature and degree in Christianity Thus the word sometimes is taken also in Scripture as 1 Cor. 3.1 And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ So Heb. 5.12 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of rightenusness for he is a babe In which places and the like a weaker Christian is set forth by the name of a babe or little child And so here now in this Text before us We shall see the Resemblance made good in sundry particulars First From that which I mentioned before the smallness of their growth Little children they are but mean of stature and far short of manly perfections and so are weaker Christians and young beginners as to matter of Religion they are but infants and little children in comparison and therefore are to be perswaded to attend upon the means of growth not to stand always at a stay but to put on and to drive forward to perfection as the Apostle Paul professes of himself that he was careful to do Phil. 3.12 13. Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus c. The contrary hereunto is that which is much to be bewail'd in divers Christians there are many which are well-grown and old men in reference to the world which yet are but babes and little children in Christ such as the Apostle complains of to the Hebrews chap. 5. vers 12. Who when as for the time they might have been teachers of others one had need to teach them again what be the first principles of the Oracles of God c. Nay we may go a little further than so not only which for the time may be teachers but which for the thing will be teachers and take upon them so weighty a work as that is who it they were well sifted and exawined and call'd to account would be found short in the common Articles
imagination of many a sinner that where they have once begun in any evil they had now as good to go on and to make progress in it Oh but take heed of that do not yield to such a temptation as this is it is very dangerous and pernicious to the soul and so will prove God requires we should do our utmost to the avoiding of all manner of sin in us and where we have not so much grace as to come off to such a measure and degree of mortification yet at least to go so far as we can Est aliquid prodire tenus si non datur ultra We should endeavour as much as may be to subdue the very principles and first motions of sin in us if they will still remain yet to prevent the acts If any act of sin break forth from us in the beginning and inchoation of it yet to stop it and to restrain it in the progress then shall we truly put in practise this exhortation and command of the Apostle wherein he does charge us not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh To set this home a little more fully and effectually upon us let us over and above take notice of the intention of the Prohibition in the Text it is given us in two negative Particles ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both which carries so much the greater force with it and by the way likewise shews us how far it concerns our selves to have respect unto it it shews us how desirous God himself is that we should withdraw from such sinful courses and likewise how far of our selves we are subject unto them and therefore stand in need of such earnest and importunate prohibitions as these are and they should not be in vain to us but should work upon us to bring us to so much the more caution and heedfulness of spirit Indeed there are some spirits in the world which from hence are so much the worse and do too much make good that observation of Nitimur in vetitum Sin taking occasion by the commandment works in them all manner of concupiscence as the Apostle speaks and the more they are restrained from it the more eager and violent they are upon it There are some which let the Ministers and servants of God say what they please yet they are resolved to do what they list and the more they abound in admonition the more do these abound in transgression and purpose to do so still But this is a fearful perverting of Gods gracious dealings with us in such opportunities as these are and such as where we are guilty of it will highly aggravate our sins upon us which we should therefore especially beware of And further observe how this counsel of not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh it is indefinite and given to all sorts of persons not only to Monks and Eremites as Luther observes upon the place but to all ranks and conditions of men and as he particularly instances in to Magistrates who then put this counsel in practise when they are conscionable in the discharge of their places and careful to close with those opportunities of doing good which in those relations are afforded unto them when they watch over the temptations of their callings and the snares which they are subject unto from the corruption of men which is in them without better heed and regard to their hearts c. And so now I have done with this clause in the first acception of it viz. as it may be taken Imperatively and by way of Prohibition as denoting a Christians Duty Do not in any case fulfill the lusts of the flesh The second is as it may be taken Indicatively and Declaratively by way of Promise as shewing a Christians Priviledg which belongs to him upon his walking in the Spirit and that is that he shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh In the handling of which words in this sense we may take notice of two Particulars more First of somewhat which is implied and secondly of somewhat which is exprest That which is implied is this that it is a great priviledg and advantage to be freed and exempted from the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh that which is exprest is this That those which are careful and industrious to walk in the Spirit they shall be made partakers of this priviledg and advantage I begin with the First namely with that which is implied That it is a great priviledg and advantage to be freed from the fulfillingof the lusts of the flesh This I gather from the scope of the words and the Apostles intent in the bringing of them in here in this place and that is to perswade the people of God to this duty of walking in the Spirit from the benefit that shoul come to them thereby We must look upon the Apostle as here speaking somewhat extraordinary when he tells them that it shall be thus and thus with them he does not simply tell it them but he tells it them as some encouragement to them which accordingly he would have them to observe and take notice of and so should we also do with them and this is that which we should take notice of That there is a great deal of benefit and advantage herein to be exempted from the fulfilling of lusts What 's the benefit of it it's manifold and various I 'le instance in one or two Particulars First Liberty and freedom of spirit that has always been counted a great advantage And so it is To be free and not subject to the tyranny of dominion of enemies why this now is the happiness of that man which does not fulfil the lusts of the flesh He is a free-man and to speak the truth there is none other which is so but he Take any other man besides which walks in base and filthy courses and he is a very vassal and slave he is in thraldom and subjection to Satan by whom he is led into captivity according to his will 2 Tim. 2. ult And Satan he 's an absolute tyrant which will be sure to exact the utmost upon those which are made subject to him He is the spirit that rules in the children of disobedience but those which have got power over their lusts they are freed from this slavery and bondage Satan hath now no more part or share in them A second Benefit is peace with God quiet and tranquillity of Conscience This is another thing that follows hereupon Those that follow the by as of their corruptions they cannot so easily or fully be assured of the love and favour of God himself towards them which will be apt to be very much darkened and obscured thereby But now those that resist and overcome them they have this a great deal more certified and confirmed unto them They have more quiet and peace and serenity in their own breasts and spirits than otherwise they would be likely to have Thirdly More expediteness
to Duty and the doing of that which God requires of them in their several places Great and strong lusts are hinderances to any noble performances and high atchievements which are to be undertaken by us The Apostle tells us in the verse immediately following to the Text vers 17. of this Chapter that from the flesh lusting against the spirit the Galatians were disinabled from doing the things which they would and so they were and all others with them whereas on the other side where these are kept down there is strength and ability thereunto namely to serve God with so much the more strength All these laid together do shew us the happiness of this particular condition and the truth of this point in hand to wit the benefit and advantage of not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh Again further we may here also take notice that as it is a benefit in it self simply considered so it is such as is apprehended and counted so by all those which have the Spirit of God in them Those which are the true children of God they look upon this as one of the greatest mercies which can happen unto them to be freed from the power of their lusts This is also implied in the Text it was not only so in the thoughts of the Apostle but also in the thoughts of the Galatians to whom he here wrote or else he had said nothing to the purpose and it had been to no end to signifie as much unto them that by walking in the spirit they should have this benefit confer'd upon them if they had not thought it to be a benefit indeed But now he uses argumentum ad homines and speaks to them in their own Element to their heart as the Hebrew phrase hath it He knew he should now please them and bring that which would be acceptable to them when he should tell them of being freed from their lusts and so he did A good and a gracious heart looks upon this as the greatest mercy and priviledg in the world which he longs for and most eagerly desires as the Apostle Paul Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord which is such as makes him willing to desire even death it self where in he shall indeed partake of this priviledg Again Moreover observe this as another thing implied in these words That the reward of Religion lyes within the compass of Religion The Apostle had stir'd up these Galatians and in them all other Christians to an holy Life and spiritual Conversation to walking in the spirit Now what does he here for their encouragement signifie to be the reward and recompence hereof unto them Why namely this that they should not fulfil the lusts of the flesh He does not say ye shall have such and such outward comforts heaped upon you riches and honours and the like nor he does not say ye shall have Heaven at last given you and ye shall be free from condemnation though this also be true no but ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh If we had no other recompence of a godly life but only that which is emergent from it and immediate to it yet this were enough to satisfie us in it and to perswade us to the leading of it And so much for that which is here supposed and implied in this expression I come now in the second place to that which is exprest which is the words of the Text And ye shall not fulfil c. This for the right handling of it we must take in its conjunction and connexion with the words before and as dependent thereupon Walk in the spirit and so ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh the one prevents the remedy against the other the more spiritual any are the less carnal and the more we are guided by the spirit the less we shall yield to the flesh This truth and expression may be made good to us according to a various explication which may be given of it First Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have so great a mind and desire to fulfil them ye shall be restrained in regard of inclination though Grace and the exercise of it does not as I said before wholly extirpate all cortuption out of us and make it cease to be whiles we live here in this world yet it does qualify the dominion of it and makes it cease to be in that measure and degree wherein it was in us before And as sinful acts do increase the habit of sin in us as we have formerly shewn in the point above so the other side do gracious acts dminish this habit and make it less It is the avantage of that man who is imploy'd and taken up in well-doing that he has not that lust and propensity in him to that which is evil as another has Godliness it puts our mouths out of taste to the pleasures of sin as on the other side sin does make goodness to be disrelish't by us Look therefore how far a man is freed from fulfilling the lusts of the flesh by having little or no desire unto them so far is he freed from them also by this course of walking in the spirit which is advantageous and effectual to this purpose to mitigate the desire of sin in them Secondly Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have temptation to fulfil them ye shall be kept from lustful and sinful suggestions and provocations The reason why many fall into sin now and then is because they have strong temptations and instigations to it because the Devil is very busie with them and it pleases God someimes in his Providence to give them up into Satans hands But now when men are careful to walk in the spirit they do very much provide for themselves in this particular Satan has not that power over them and advantage which otherwise he would have in the neglect of it nor they are not so much under the power of temptations as they would be if they did not thus walk This is true upon a ouble account both on Gods part and on Satans on Gods part who in this case does not so much give them over to temptation and on Satans who in this case has not that incouragement to fasten his temptation upon them First I say on Gods part who in this case does not so much give them over to Satan to be tempted Take a man that neglects his daily walk and converse with God that does not look so strictly and narrowly to his steps as it becomes him to do it pleases God now and then for his exercise and tryal and partly his correction to let Satan loose upon him and to suffer him to molest and trouble him with sad temptations not only for sin
but to sin also thereby to humble him and bring him low and to shew him the vanity and sinfulness of his own corrupt heart But now when a man walks in the spirit and is careful to keep close to God God will free him from such evils as these Again secondly It holds also on Satans part who in this case has not this incouragement to tempt as thinking he shall but lose his labour and do all to no purpose It is true indeed that Satan is not easily put out of heart in regard of his temptations nor yet does he always forbear men because they have more grace in them nay therefore does hereafter sometimes so much the more violently set upon them he throws his sticks the fastest at those trees which have the most fruit upon them because he thinks thereby he shall have the greater booty but yet where he sees Grace in the activity and the exercise and improvement of it in a spritual way he is not so much heartened and incouraged and provoked to tempt men as otherwise he would be Resist the Devil says St. James and he will flee from you Give him but the least advantage and he will be sure to take it and improve it to the utmost but resist him an give denial to him and then he is gone Why thus now do those that walk in the spirit they leave no hole for Satan to come in and they put on all their spiritual armour whereby they stand against the wiles of the devil Ephes 6.11 Thirdly Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall not have leasure or opportunity to fulfil them The more business a man has in goodness the less vacant he is to sin and has less time for the committing of it This a man shall be sure to find upon tryaland experience of it That man that truly walks in the spirit will find so much work for him to do in a spiritual course for the watching of his own heart for the getting of a farther stock of Grace for the serving of God in his relations and the place wherein God has set him as that he will find but little leasure for the lusts of the flesh at all And this is another Explication Lastly Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh that is ye shall be kept from the thing it self in regard of the immediate influence and efficacy of a spiritual Conversation which it has in the nature of it for the restraining and preserving of the heart from any sinful miscarriage This ye shall not as to actual accomplishment we shall find to be true according to all the former senses and explications which we have given of this walking in the spirit take it in which ye will and ye shall find that in the practise of it Ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh First Take it in the Graces and Principles of the spirit Walk in the spirit so and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh The more spiritual we are in our Principles the less carnal shall we be in our Conversation This is clear from the words that follow in the next verse to the Text the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary one to the other so that ye cannot do the thing that ye would Ye cannot do the things that ye would it holds true of either part not only as to the doing of good ye cannot do the things that ye would that is whereby ye would with your sanctified will because the flesh which is in you is an hinderance and impediment to you but also as to the doing of evil ye cannot do the things which ye would neither that is which ye would with your corrupt will because the spirit which is also in you is here a curb and restraint upon you Look as the inherence of sin and corruption remaining in us keeps us from a full and perfect walking in the spirit so the infusion of Grace and Holiness abiding in us also keeps us from an absolute fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh Again Secondly Take it also in the motions and suggestions of the spirit and they all take us from the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh whether we understand it of the suggestions of Counsel or whether we understand it of the suggestions of Comfort they do either of them hold us back in this particular First The suggestions of Counsel the directions and excitements of the spirit they are such as if we follow them we shall be sure never to fulfil the lusts of the flesh which by the way shews the horrible blasphemy and wickedness of some persons in the world which would make their lusts of the flesh to be the motions and suggestions of the Divine Spirit What a grievous and fearful thing is this yea and how false is it too and incongruous the Spirit of God is an holy Spirit ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Spirit of Holiness it self as the Scripture stiles him and therefore he does not nor cannot provoke men to that which is unholy no but it is the desperate vileness and rottenness of their own corrupt hearts together with the spirit of Satan of joyning and complying with them and improving of them Satan hath fill'd thy heart to lye against the Holy Ghost as Peter to Ananias So likewise secondly for the suggestions of Comfort which the Spirit of God does let in into us if we walk after them also we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh spiritual comforts and consolations they do not breed security and presumption or make men the more to abound in sin as some men vainly pretend against them no but where they are in reality and good earnest they make men so much the more to avoid sin and to be more shy and fearful of it To take heed of doing any thing whereby we should deface our evidences and lose that sweet and comfortable testimony of Gods love which he does vouchsafe unto us This is the proper improvement of such experiences as these are in the hearts of those which are God's People as also the proper consequence and connexion of the things themselves The Consideration of this point in hand may be thus far useful to us as it may serve to put us upon the search and examination of our own hearts and ways we may see what our selves are according to this Doctrine There are many which pretend to the Spirit and to the walking in it Well but how are they now as to this particular whereof we now speak the fulfilling the lusts of the flesh When men give themselves over to these without any curb or restraint at all Can they say and say with any truth that they walk in the spirit Certainly no such matter He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as
not to wholesome words even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to godliness he is proud knowing nothing c. Where wholesome words and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Doctrine which is according to godliness are made to be synonymous to each other and to signifie still one and the same According to the second sense of the phrase so here is the like Censure of all unsoundness and averseness whatsoever from Evangelical Truth more especially The Doctrine of Christ that is that Doctrine which treats of Christ in his nature and person and offices and such as these either of these have one and the same Character fastned upon them and sentence pronounced against them and that is that they have not God Our business at this time will lye chiefly inthe latter of these as I conceive more especially aim'd at and intended by the Apostle and that is the Censure of such persons as do trespass upon the Doctrine of Christ as it is taken specifically for the Doctrine of salvation by Christ And that first of all in the simple denial and rejection of it Whosoever transgresseth i. e. transgresseth this Doctrine and transgresses it so notoriously with a special Emphasis considerable in it as denying or opposing himself to it suchan one hath not God It is not every transgression at large which is here intended as excluding those from having God which are guilty of it for then we were all of us in a very sad and miserable condition there being none of us but have enough ofthis in us and more than we should Our transgressions are multiplied upon us as David speaks But we must take it in reference still to the matter in hand the Doctrine of Christ whosoever transgresses this that contradicts it as the Arabique reads it or that sets against it as the Ethiopick carries it such an one comes under this censure Whosoever either on the one hand think Christ to be needless and superfluous that he might well enough be spared or on the other hand thinks Christ to be imperfect and insufficient that there is not enough in him either of these transgresses the Doctrine of Christ In one word Whosoever they be that do lessen and diminish from Christ as the Mediatour and Saviour of the Church and as the Scripture propounds him to us to be received and entertained by us such as these they have not God He that is not a Christian he is an Atheist and he that isnot a Christian in the true notion and sense of Christianity he is no Christian at all and as the Gospel does exhibit it tous let his name and profession and appearance be what it will be Thus 1 Joh. 2.23 Whosoever denieth the Son the same hath not the Father not only because that the Father and the Son are one simple pure and indivisible essence but also because the Father doth not manifest himself to salvation but only by his Son as we shall see more anon Therefore further in Ephes 2.12 The Ephesians at what time they were without Christ at the same time they are said to be without God which two expressions are both joyn'd together there in that place Wherefore remember that ye being in time passed Gentiles c. That at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the Common wealth of Israel and strungers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world without Christ and without God they infer one the other And so now here in the Text He that transgresses the Doctrine of Christ he hath not God This may be said ofhim divers manner of ways First In point of Knowledg they have not the right notion and apprehension and understanding of God The Apostle Paul speaks of some in the Church of Corinth that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they have not the knowledg of God 1 Cor. 15.34 And he speaks this to their shame the same may be said of those which receive not the Doctrine of Christ they have not the knowledg of God neither they are ignorant of God and if they be such as live in places and under means of knowledg it is so with them upon the same terms of sham and disgrace unto them In 1 Thes 4.5 It is made a description of the Heathen which were persons living without Christ The Gentiles that know not God And in 1 Cor. 1.21 it is said That the world by wisdom knew not God It is true indeed some kind of knowledg of God they had even by the light of nature and therefore we read in Rom. 1.19 of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of that which may be known of God as manifest in them for God hath shewn it unto them they knew that there was a God but who this God was they did not know nor in the way of his most considerable and comfortable manifestations of himself There is no true knowledg of God indeed and such as will give satisfaction but as he is revealed in Christ who is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person as we find him call'd Heb. 1.3 Therefore 2 Cor. 4.6 it is said That God who commandeth the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ In the face of Jesus Christ there we have the knowledg of the glory of God as who otherwise is a light whom none can approach unto therefore he is said to be the Image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 Why of the invisibel God not only as invisible to the eyes of the body which is true of every spirit but likewise to the eyes of the mind it self also out of Christ God without Christ is imperceptible and altogether undiscernable of us we cannot possibly each to any competent knowledg of him There 's no Knowledg of God without Christ nor there 's no Knowledg of God out of Christ no knowledg of God without Christ because it is he that declares him no knowledg of God out of Christ because it is he that resembles him and represents him and exhibits him to us First I say no knowledg of God without Christ because it is he that manifests him Joh. 1.18 No man hath seen God at any time the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him It i Christ only that gives the kowledg of God Therefore in Matth. 11.27 we find this expression That no man knoweth the son but the father neither knoweth any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him Secondly No knowledg of God neither out of Christ because it is he that represents him As we cannot look upon the Sun directly but in its reflexion so neither can we see God in His Majesty and as considered absolutely in himself but as his Glory shines
out in Christ which it does in so full a manner as that he that sees the one he sees the other And so Christ himself tell us Joh. 14.8 9. When Philip said unto him Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Jesus saith unto him Have I been so long with you and yet hast thou not known me He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then Shew us the father And again ver 11. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me In Christ who is God-man we have a full true sight and knowledg of God and no-where else So that those who deny the Doctrine of Christ they have not God First in point of Knowledg Secondly They have not God neither in point of Worship God out of Christ is an Idol as to any true adoration of him or religious service exhibited to him This is true both in regard of the object of worship as also in regard of the medium In regard of the Person worshipped as likewise in regard of the conveyance of this our worship to him For the Person worshipped it is still God in Christ from whom abstracted and divided we cannot apprehend or conceive of him in our prayers Forasmuch as in Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells as the Apostle speaks in Col. 2.9 therefore out of Christ there is nothing of God to be found and so consequently nothing of God to be worshipped Those that worship God out of Christ they worship they know not what as our Saviour speaks to the Woman of Samaria in Joh. 4.22 Thus it holds in regard of the Object and the Person that is worshipped It holds also in regard of the Medium and the conveyance ofthis worship to him as there 's no worshipping of God neither but in Christ so there 's no worshipping of God but by Christ in whom our worshipping and service of him is alone transmitted to him He is that Jacobs Ladder which touches Heaven Earth and whereby we ascend from Earth to Heaven No man cometh to the Father but by Him He is the way and the truth and the life Joh. 14.6 As none comes to Christ except the Father draw him so none comes to the Father except Christ bring him It is he that makes our way for us even a new and living way which he hath consecrated to this purpose as the Apostle speaks Heb. 10.20 Through him we have an access by one spirit unto the Father both Jew and Gentiles Ephes 2.18 And in him we have boldness and access and confidence through the faith of him Ephes 3.12 By him who is our high-Priest we go boldly to the Throne of Grace c. Heb. 4.16 If we pray it is in his name or else to little purpose Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you Joh. 10.23 If we give thanks it is still by him Heb. 13.15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually giving thanks to his name And Col. 3.17 Whatsoever ye do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by him So that take away Christ now and we take away all approach to God and adoration and service of him who is the only Angel that with incense offers up the Prayers of all the Saints upon the golden Altar Revel 3.8 They that have not him they have not God in point of worship neither as to the object nor medium Thirdly They have not God in point of Interest they have not that relation to God as is desirable for them They have God indeed in the common relation of a Creator and so even the Devils themselves have him but they have him not as a Father or Friend or beloved they have not God as a God in Covenant which is the right having of him indeed this being alone founded in Christ This is the misery of all those which are out of him and walk in opposition to his Doctrine that they are deprived of his sweet and comfortable relation God out of Christ is a stranger there 's no acquaintance with him and God out of Christ is an enemy there 's no standing before him But in him there is peace and agreement Col. 1.21 You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh Him hath God the Father sealed Joh. 6.27 And him hath God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Rom. 3.25 He hath made us accepted in the beloved and him alone Ephes 1.6 He is the true mercy seat in whom we have intercourse with God the Father Those that think to come to God upon the terms of nature and common providence they will have little comfort in such approaches for God considered out of Christ he is a consuming fire and our nature is now through sin become odious to him as it is in it self There 's no coming now unto him without expecting to be devoured by him But it is Christ who assuming our nature and in that nature satisfying Gods justice who hath made our nature now amiable to him in those persons who by faith apprehend him and are united to him and in them alone We are not now acceptable to God so much as bearing the image of the first Adam but rather as bearing the image of the second by whom the image of God himself is now renewedand repaired again in us and we in a manner partaking of his likeness which is usually the ground of love and delight in several persons one to another Therefore those that have not Christ in this sense they have not God They have not God to own them nor they have not God to justifie them nor they have not God to adopt them nor to accept them and take them as his thus they have him not They are at an absolute distance from God and have no comfortable relation to him nor interest in him Lastly They have not God i.e. they have him not in point of influence this follows from the other forasmuch as all benefitfrom God proceeds from interest in him Therefore those who are strangers to Christ and his Doctrine as they have no interest in God so neither to speak of have they influence from him And that according to all these kind of influences which are to be desired and those benefits which are of the greatest concernment As first Of Grace and Holiness they have not God to sanctifie them and to communicate his holy Spirit unto them God is the God of all Grace but it is God in Christ he is the channel and conduit-pipe and conveyance of the grace of God unto us in all the several kinds and particulars of it wherein it is communicated Look as by the first Adam sin is derived unto all those who partake of him by carnal generation so by
Thus 1 Pet. 2.5 Ye are an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ Every good Christian he hath great interest in Heaven and can very much prevail with God through Christ in his approaches to the Throne of Grace And we have frequent instances and examples of it both in Scripture and in daily experience Secondly As to the keeping of themselves from the pollutions and defilements of the world The Priests they were prohibited the touching of those things which were unclean and so are Christians careful to keep themselves unspotted of the world Thirdly As to the teaching and instructing of others in the Communion of Saints The Priests lips should preserve knowledg Mal. 2.7 And so should every Christian also in his way and within his compass Parents and Masters of Families should be thus far Priests in them as with Abraham to teach their children and their housholds after them Gen. 18.19 c. Fourthly As to the offering up of themselves to God they must be Priests in this respect also The Priests they were used and imployed in the killing of beasts so should Christians be in slaying of their lusts and unruly affections And then the High-Priest especially he entered into the Sanctum Sanctorum so should every Christian have his heart always towards the Holy of Holies c. Lastly The Priests they still blest the people so would the mouths of Christians do others with whom they converse 1 Pet. 3.9 not railing but contrarily blessing c. The sum of all comes to this namely to raise the esteem and opinion of Gods people in the world and from hence to set an high price and valuation upon them The world it commonly looks upon the Saints and Servants of God as a base and contemptible generation but see here what names and titles the Spirit of God in Scripture puts upon them namely of Kings and Priests which have the greatest Dignity and Excellency in them of any other whatsoever These they are so to God and the Father howsoever they be to any other that is not only to his service but likewise to his Approbation The Father is here named as the first in order and fountain of the Godhead though the whole Trinity be included and intended in it So much for that And then there is this Use also of it in the close of the verse To him be Glory for ever and ever c. And so I have done also with the third and last Description of Christ in the execution of his Offices And hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father Now to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen SERMON XLVIII Revel 22.17 And the Spirit and the Bride say Come This Text which I have now read unto you is a further improvement of that Scripture which was handled by us the last day and does contain somewhat in it as additional and accumulative thereunto For there we had propounded to us but only the hope and expectation of Christians as those which looked for the Lord Jesus Christ to come from Heaven out of that place of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians Chap. 3. ver 20. And here we have exhibited to us their desire and earnest importunity so that he comes not before he is welcome and he is not more certainly expected than he is gladly and joyfully entertained For the Spirit and the Bride say Come That is the Church by the secret suggestion and instigation of the Holy Ghost towards her does invite him and call for him and hasten him towards his second Appearing This is the scope and drift of the Text. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The Persons mentioned Secondly The action which is attributed unto these Persons The Persons mentioned they are the Spirit and the Bride The action which is attributed to these Persons that is a calling after Christ they say to him Come We begin with the former viz. the Persons mentioned The Spirit and the Bride By the Spirit we are here to understand the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God which is called the Spirit by way of Excellency the third Person in the blessed Trinity And by the Bride we are to understand either the Church of God in general or every faithful and believing soul which is a member of Christ in particular These are the Persons here that speak And we must take them in a mutual reference and connexion of one with another The Spirit speaks in the Bride and the Bride speaks from and by the Spirit And so they both speak together and have the same action ascribed unto them First Here 's mention made of the Spirit and that as considerable of us under a twofold notion First Of his Presence and secondly of his Influence Of his Presence as join'd with the Bride of his Influence as assistant unto her and helping and enabling of her First Here 's the Spirits presence the Spirit and the Bride they are joined both together to signifie and intimate unto us that special residence which the Holy Ghost hath in all true Believers where-ever there is the Bride there 's the Spirit that is where-ever there is any true Christian there 's the Holy Ghost abiding in him And so the Scripture sets it in sundry places of it as 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you And so Chap. 6. v. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you So again Ephes 2.22 In whom ye also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit The Spirit of God resides both in the whole Church at large as also in every particular Believer as the soul is in the whole Body and also in every particular member Therefore we may accordingly know whether we are espoused to Christ or no upon this account and consideration If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Because where ever there is the Spouse there 's the Spirit It holds both as a discovery of Churches and as a discovery of Persons As a discovery of Churches to distinguish the true from the false and as a discovery of persons to distinguish the sound from the Hypocritical Again as it is distinguishing so it is also comforting It is a great satisfaction to the Church in the present withdrawing and absentation of Christ from her that his Spirit is yet with her that he does not leave her altogether destitute in an orphan-like or fatherless condition as himself hath sometime exprest it Joh. 14.18 but that he does provide for the supply of her I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive as it is also there in that Chapter And again Chap. 16.
tremble and quake at this coming and at the thoughts of it as malefactors at the coming of the Judg They desire that Christ would not come and where he gives any symptoms of it they cry out with the unclean spirit in the Gospel What have we to do with thee thou Son of God art thou come to torment us before our time A guilty and defiled conscience it abhors the coming of Christ and withdraws from it if it were possible it would altogether shun it and never have it to come to pass and when it does come it is matter of the greatest terror and astonishment to it that can be Therefore it is said of such persons at such a time That they shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and shall say unto the mountains and rocks Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Rev. 6.15 16 17. The ungodly shall not stand in judgment Psal 1.5 Not stand that is not stand upright but fall down before it and accordingly shall do all they can to avoid it Whereas on the other side the Children of God shall be well-pleased with it and hearty and couragious in it and very freely and cheerfully entertain it When he shall appear they shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Joh. 2.28 Indeed there are some cases and circumstances and times wherein the Spouse of Christ her self may not be always in such a present frame and disposition of spirit as to utter this speech here before us and to say Come even in this sense which we now speak of even the servants of God themselves may at least for such a particular season have an indisposedness upon them hereunto As namely when they have not finished their work or got their businesses ready about them but yet they have always a general and habitual preparation for it in them As a steward that is for the main faithful yet he may not always have his accounts made up and in that regard may not yet wish for the Audit And a Spouse that has a good affection for her Beloved yet may not presently have all her Ornaments upon her and in that Consideration may sometimes wish for the delay of his coming This is tha which is here chiefly considerable that God's Children they do still labour to frame themselves to an entertainment of Christ at his coming And that 's the first notion of this Expression as it may be taken for a word of simple acceptance or entertainment Come that is thou mayst come if thou so pleasest and shalt be welcom to me The second is as it may be taken as a word of desire or invitation Come that is I pray come it is my earnest suit and request that thou would'st come And here now we have a further inlargement and improvement of Grace in a Christian which is not only to be content with Christs coming and submitting unto it but also to be desirous of it and longing after it This is the temper and disposition of a good and of a gracious heart to pant and breathe and thirst for the second coming of Christ and not to be satisfied in it self till it does come The Spirit and the Bride say Come that is they say it importunately and earnestly with a great deal of affection This desire whereof we now speak it is laid and founded in sundry Considerations which do make for it As first in reference to the world it self in the present frame and constitution of it The world is at present in that condition as that the coming of Christ if very desirable in that regard And there are two particulars especially which do make up this unto us First In point of sin and wickedness And secondly in point of misery and affliction Both these two taken together do cast a disparagement upon the world and do therefore make Christians to desire the destruction of it First As it is a wicked and sinful world The world taken at the best was never over-good since it first began to be bad even presently upon the Creation of it Sin made an entrance upon it and got possession of it and not long after the whole earth had soon corrupted it self as the Scripture tells us but now as it 's grown any thing older and of longer standing so its sinfulness is so much the more improved and it grows worse every day than other The very times themselves we live in are a sufficient demonstration of it to us and we find it so by sad experience as being such wherein iniquity abounds more than ever and wicked men grow worse and worse as the Apostle speaks In these latter days and times of the world more especially as the spirit has foretold it there are the greatest incursions of wickedness of any other and that in all the kinds and degrees of it Now this is that which makes a gracious heart so to long for this second coming of Christ that so thereby he may put a period to these days of sin that God may be no longer dishonoured his Name may be no longer blasphemed his Laws may be no longer transgressed his Ordinances may be no longer despised his Spirit may be no longer grieved A good Christian has such an enmity and antipathy against sin as that he cannot but be very desirous of that which is destructive of it as the coming of Christ is not his first only but his second For this end will the Son of God be manifest that he may destroy the works of the Devil And for this end also do the Children of God so much desire the manifestation of him that so by this means sin may be destroyed and have a period and end put unto it And that both in others and also in themselves The Children of God they are both scandalized and offended at others abominations and likewise they are burdened and overprest with their own corruption and in each respect do desire that Christ would come for the remedying of either that their righteous souls with Lot's may be no longer vexed with the Conversation of the wicked and that themselves also with Paul may be delivered from the body of death that is the body of sin as we shall hear more anon in the following Explication But secondly As there is the world in the sinfulness and wickedness of it so there is the world also in the misery and afflictiveness of it which does make for this desire in them also that exceeding vanity which is upon the creature and those manifold calamities which do attend upon humane Life This is another thing here considerable in the world which does put the Church upon this Prayer for Christs coming that as God has promised he may wipe away all tears from
their eyes and may take away the rebuke of his people from off all the earth that there may be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor any more pain which is the condition consequent to Christs appearing as we have it Rev. 21.4 Alas this present world it has a great deal of trouble annext unto it and commonly the Servants of God have the greatest share and part in it and therefore we cannot wonder that they should so desire the coming of Christ which makes for their release and discharge from these Calamities And therefore it has such Titles and Appellations fastned upon it as whereby it is exprest unto us it is call'd the Regeneration When the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory Matth. 19.28 It is call'd the time of refreshing and restitution of all things Act. 3.19 21. It is call'd the time of the glorious liberty of the Children of God in Rom. 8.21 And last of all it is call'd Emphatically the day of redemption in Ephes 4.30 And God's Children are upon that account call'd upon to lift up their heads even by Christ himself When these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh in Luk. 21.28 Can we wonder to see Prisoners desirous of being releaed from their Bonds or Captives to be redeemed from their captivity and in that regard longing for their coming which should do it for them No more can we wonder to see Christians upon that account desirous of Christs appearance which has this benefit ensuing upon it The world in which they are being a place of great Bondage and Captivity That 's the first Consideration He comes to put a period to this world both to sin and likewise to affliction Secondly This desire of the Church as to Christs coming it is founded upon a respect to her self and her own immediate advantage which hereby is much furthered and promoted and so is very much concerned in it First In the helping of her infirmities and the removal of her weaknesses from her As there is the wickedness of the world in regard whereof the coming of Christ is desirable to put an end unto it as we shewed in the former particular so there is the weakness of the Church which does make for it also as we may take notice in this even the best of God's Servants they have distempers hanging about them and cleaving unto them and the best things that are whiles they live here below in the flesh they are vitiated and corrupted unto them they cannot now serve God with that purity and fervency and liberty and freedom from distraction as they desire to do But Satan he is apt to disturb them and to interpose and mingle himself with the best things which are done by them This is that which is very grievous and troublesom to a gracious heart which by Christs coming shall be freed from these distempers Secondly As to the increase of their Graces and the perfecting of Holiness in them they desire it for this also Those Graces of the Spirit of God which the children of God in this world do partake of but in an imperfect degree they shall then be compleated to them when Christ shall come in his Glory When that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13.10 There shall be Grace without the mixture of sin and Grace in the fullest latitude and extent of Grace Thirdly As to nearer and closer union to Christ and communion with him The Church as I hinted before in this present life is no more but contracted she is to be married in the world to come therefore she desires Christs coming for the perfecting of her Espousals and as the approach of the day of marriage which is to be consummate in Heaven that 's the time whereunto this is reserved Ye are dead says the Apostle Paul and your life is hid with Christ in God When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory Col. 3.34 And so the Apostle John 1 Joh. 3.2 Beloved we are now the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him for we shall see him as he is The state of this present world is a state of distance and remoteness from Christ as the Scripture expresses it While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord For we walk by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5.6 7. But the day of Judgment and the Resurrection that 's a time when we shall be brought nearer to him and come into the full enjoyment and fruition of him And this is that which makes the Church to cry come as longing and waiting for this We know how it is in the world Friends and especially Spouses they are not satisfied in one anothers Affections without the enjoyment of one anothers Persons and society and converse with one another and so it is also with the Spouse of Chrise and her Beloved He says come to her and she says to recompence and requite him come to him also as we may see at large declared unto us in the Book of the Canticles which was especially pen'd to this purpose First Christ says come to her in his wooings and invitations of her to communion with himself Cant. 2.11 Arise my love my fair one and come away and she says also come to him upon the same terms and conditions likewise Make hasts my beloved and be thou like a young roe or hart upon the mountains of spices Cant. 8.11 Fourthly In order to the Body for the perfection and consummation of that also she crys come also with regard to this The souls of Believers in Heaven they do cry come also as well as these on Earth and the Church Triumphant as well as the Church Militant And that upon this present consideration That there may be a speedy re-uniting of soul and body together Thuogh the spirits of just men have an union to Christ already in part even in the state of separation from the body yet this does not satisfie them and content them without the Glory of the Lody too And there is still a natural inclination of the soul to its own body for the perfection of the person which makes it accordingly desirous of the second coming of Christ and day of Resurrection Thus we see how the Church desires Christs second coming in reference to her self which is the second consideration Thirdly In reference also to others that they may partake of the same happiness with her self For the perfecting of the Saints and for the compleating of the Body of Christ She desires that Christ would hasten to bring in the number of his Elect. There are many persons and people that for the present remain unconverted who yet do belong to
most eager and longing and earnest to be partakers of it And he does not the former for the most part without the latter He does not supply their wants but so as withal he satisfies their desires and relieves the sense of want in God So the Scripture still sets it Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden c. says Christ Mat. 11.28 He fills the hungry c. Now this it may be resolved into two things further by way of Explication First Into a sense of our own misery and wretched condition which we are in by nature And secondly Into an apprehension of the necessity which we have of Christ and consequently a desire after him These two Dispositions of Soul do express to us this spiritual thirst which is here laid before us First A sense of misery thirst it has painfulness in it and grief attendant upon it and so it is with all those who are athirst spiritually they are afflicted with the present state and condition in which they are and mourn under it thus it has been with all those who have been converted and brought home to Christ they have first seen themselves undone without him and have bewailed themselves in their present circumstances Paul and the Jailor and St. Peters Auditors they have been all thus far athirst as their natural estate and condition hath been grievous and irksome unto them and they have complain'd of the wretchedness of it as they still have done and so it is with all others whom Christ does here invite to himself that they would come unto him they have a sense of their misery Secondly An apprehension of the Excellency which is in Christ and a desire after him this is also in this thirst it is in the spiritual thirst as it is also in the natural In natural thirst as there 's the tediousness of drought so there is likewise the longing for water for the quenching and abating of it and so it is here in this spiritual there 's a groaning under the burden of sin and there 's a panting after the Grace of Christ and such as have both of these properties and qualifications in them they are more especially here called upon by him to come unto him Let him that is athirst come And there 's a twofold account which may be given hereof unto us The one is as it is that which is the greatest favour to them and the other is as it is that which is the greatest honour to him First For Christ to invite especially the thirsty it is the greatest favour to the persons themselves which are invited by him as those who do from hence receive the greatest benefit from him where there 's the greatest want and sense of it there 's the greatest courtesie in supplying it And so it is here The whole needs not the Physician but the sick And the full stomach it loaths the honey-comb it self And those that are at the well-head they despise the waters which are brought home but to the hungry and thirsty soul such supplies are exceeding sweet Those that are scorched with the fiery beams of the wrath of God against sin and have the flames as it were of hell in their consciences for these to have the water of life as it follows afterwards offered unto them it must needs be a great mercy indeed and so it will be apprehended by all those that shall attend unto it And God delights still so to order his favours as may be with the greatest advantage to those persons upon whom he confers them And this I say in this business it is the greatest mercy to them Secondly It is the greatest honour to himself he gains the greater glory and renown by it and receives the greater thanks and acknowledgment for it We know how it was with Paul a man that thirsted after the Grace of Christ how he blesses and praises Christ for it O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of dath I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord c. Rom. 7.24 25. namely for his delivering of me out of this condition And 1 Tim. 1.12 c. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me c. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious c. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant c. Now as God delights so to order his favours as may be most for our content and encouragement so he desires likewise so to order them as may be most for his own honour and glory Therefore let us call our selves to an account in this particular and see how it is with us whether or no we have this spiritual thirst in us which is here commended unto us as being that alone which does dispose us and fit us for coming to Christ so as to be accepted of him There 's a great deal of excellency in such a temper as this is to be taken notice of by us First It is a very good argument of Grace already in some manner begun and wrought in us As we use to observe it in corporals where the Patient grows thirsty it is a sign that the Physick hath wrought kindly and that the body is now perfectly purged Even so is it here in Spirituals when a Christian thirsts after Christ it is a sign that those afflictions and troubles of spirit which God has been pleased to exercise him withal as spiritual Physick they have had an effectual operation upon him and have purged corruptions out of him The earnest desire of more Grace is a sign of Grace already obtained and it is a very good advantage to have such a comfortable evidence in our selves That 's one consideration Secondly It makes us capable so much the rather of receiving more this is the proper notion of the Text Let him that is athirst come as who shall be sure not to be sent away dry God will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground Isa 44.3 Such souls as these they do so much the more easily draw and suck in the Grace of God into them and God himself as I said does delight the rather to bestow it upon them Thirdly It makes Grace it self so much the sweeter and better rellishing in the enjoyment as want provokes appetite so appetite increases delight those things which are most remote are most desired and those things which are most desired are most comfortably enjoyed and so it is amongst the rest with Grace an the appurtenances of it Thus how much the more we desire it so much the more we rellish it The consideration of these things should put us so much the rather upon endeavour after this which we now speak of we should not content our selves with an indifferency of spirit in this particular as many do who have now and then some faint kind of wishes and imperfect inclinations towards Grace but no serious and hearty desires
of God in Christ These are the things which he means the particulars are not set down but we are to take them under this general expression whereby he intends the Doctrin of the Gospel and that in all the Branches and Parts of it these are the things which we have heard and these are the things which we ought to give heed unto and that to several purposes and intents as we may take them in this following Explication First We are to take care that we understand them we have heard them but that 's not all which is required of us we must in some manner comprehend them likewise The Gospel calls for this from us in the hearing of it Vnderstandest thou what thou readest says Philip to the Eunuch of Ethiopia Act. 8.30 when he read a piece of the Gospel so say I here Understandest thou what thou hearest also we must be careful to hear with understanding in Matth. 13.19 When any one hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not then comes the wicked one and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart this is he which received the seed by the way side So then we must take heed that we understand it that 's one Branch of the Caution here propounded Secondly We must also believe it that 's another thing which this our heed and carefulness must extend unto likewise as conceive of it so assent unto it The Gospel it calls for this to make it effectual as we may see by the opposite miscarriage Heb. 4.2 Vnto us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it or because they were not by faith united to it without faith no prosit at all by the word Preached or heard by us Thirdly Remeber it take care of that also we must lay it up in our memories and minds Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Luk. 11.28 Look as it is with meat in the stomach if it be not there kept and retained it will not do any good as to the nourishment of him that receives it even so is it likewise with the Word of God in the mind where it is not in some manner remembred it will not be improved Fourthly Be ingrafted into it that 's the head which is here principally required We must take care that the things which we have heard be wrought and riveted into us and digested in us and made our own it is not enough for us to hear the word nor understand it nor to yield assent unto it nor to remember it in a notional manner no but it must as it were be incorporated an naturalized into our hearts our souls must do with it as nature does with meat in the stomach sucking out a strength suitable to every part and member of the body we should never leave thinking of it till we are changed and transformed into it and have the proper impressions of it fastned upon our souls and spirits This is that which we must take care of and apply our selves unto and which as I conceive is chiefly here meant by the Apostle when he here tells us That we ought to give heed to the things c. So to hear them as to close with them and to be changed and wrought upon by them This is to give heed as we ought And observe that we ought to do it likewise Take notice of that it is not a matter of advice only but a matter of command it is not arbitrary only but necessary there 's an oportet in it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã We must give heed It is our duty and concernment so to do that which God requires of us and that which he will call us to an account for if we neglect to do it that we may not think our selves at liberty in this particular We ought to give this earnest heed that those things which we have heard be imprinted and fastned upon our hearts But how may some say may this be done what course shall we take for the effecting and doing of it Now for this there are four Helps which do very much conduce hereunto The first is Meditation upon them that 's a good means to fasten them and to make them to take rooting in us when we revolve them and turn them in our minds when we are often thinking of them those things which are much in the thoughts will be much in the affections consequently which do follow from them As on the other side take it in evil What 's the reason that carnal persons are many times so ill disposed and affected in their carnal way It is because they have answerable musings and workings and meditations in their own minds they have naughty thoughts and devices and accordingly have naughty practises suitable to them even so is it also here in Goodness Those that have gracious and holy Meditations they are in a fair way for holy Affections Those which are much in thinking of the word they are likely to have much benefit by it For this we have an example in the Prophet David who made the Law and Word of God his continual Meditation and we see what he got by it It is this ruminating and chewing of the cud which is most beneficial as it is the third concoction which causes nourishment Therefore let us look to that it is a great means to make us to profit and benefit by the word this Meditation The second is Conference that 's another help likewise as working them in our own thoughts so discoursing with others likewise about them that 's a good means to imprint them and to get them written in the tables of our hearts therefore we find them both joyn'd together Meditation and Discourse Deut. 6.6 7. These words which I command thee this day they shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the may when thou lyest down and when thou risest up Whiles we speak of these things to others we do hereby the better work them into our selves that 's the second The third is Prayer and calling upon God for his blessing of them to us As it is not our meat eating that nourishes us but the blessing of God upon it so it is not the word of God heard that profits us any further than as he concurs with it Therefore we should thus far also take heed to the things that we have heard as to beg the influence of his Spirit upon us that we may reap benefit by them we should desire him to set home every Truth most effectually upon us and to give us affections in our selves answerable to the nature of it humble spirits from Truths of Conviction and cheerful spirits from Truths of Consolation and setled spirits from Truths
of Instruction still we should have recourse to God for his assistance and blessing of us as before we come to hear so after we have departed from it Lastly âractise that which we hear and know already we are never thoroughly sure of any Doctrine till we come to this when it works out into our life this will work it more into our hearts and so again by reflexion when we take things only with the ear and never make any use of them nor draw them out into practise we are from hence but the more hardned against them but when we act them then we suck strength and vertue from them Therefore says our Saviour If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 And again Joh. 7.17 If any man do his will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God or no c. These are the helps which tend to the working of these things upon our souls which accordingly we should take care of about them And so much for the first Particular in this first General viz. the thing it self simply required attention to the things which we heard c. Now the second is the Comparative Illustration in the word more earnest ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which does qualifie it and advance it to us it is not any ordinary attention which will here suffice or serve the turn but such as is more intense and abundant as the word properly signifies and we may state the comparison according to a threefold reference which seems to be carried in it First In reference to other matters of a lower nature We ought to give more earnest heed to these things which are spiritual and matters of Religion than to carnal and matters of the world Secondly In reference to other Doctrine and of a lower dispensation We ought to give more earnest heed to the Gospel and the Doctrine of Christ than to the Law and the Administrations of Moses Thirdly In reference to our selves and our own carriage and behaviour for time past We ought to give more earnest heed now to these things than has formerly been done by us Thus shall we see how this Caution here holds by way of comparison First In reference to other matters of a lower nature We ought to give more earnest heed to these things which are spiritual and matters of Religion than to carnal and matters of the world This at the first hearing will perhaps be thought to be a superfluous admonition for who is there almost that in words will not be ready to profess it and yet when it comes to the practice who is there that walks answerable to it What heed and earnest heed do men give to these things here below and in the mean time neglect the great matters of Christ and Religion and the Gospel and such things as these now here 's a corrective for us We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard And that upon this account especially because indeed they are matters of greater consequence and importance to us every wise and rational man will frame his heed answerable to the object which it is imployed about now if this be so should not these things of Christianity have the greatest heed and regard from us For what is there of greater interest and concernment than these things are Currite propter animam tota exaggeratio hoec est quod dicitur propter animam says St. Austin to this purpose Run for your souls this is the weight of all that it is said to be for your souls Is it not a mad and foolish thing to pamper our bodies and to neglect our spirits to pursue Temporals and to despise Eternals to grasp earth and to lose heaven Why this is the state and condition of many a wretched person in the world There are many which if they be to strike up a bargain or to make a purchase or to compass any worldly design Oh how wary and cautious will they be give all the heed that may be here and to such advice as might further them in it but as for these things of an higher nature and which concern the welfare of their souls for ever here they are more careless and remiss give no heed or attention at all now this comparison here puts them in mind We ought to give more earnest heed c. Secondly In reference to other Doctrines and of a lower Dispensation We ought to give more earnest heed to the Gospel and Doctrine of Christ than to the Law and Administrations of Moses This is another force of this Comparison and it seems to be very much intended by that which follows in the second and third Verses The Apostle here prefers the Gospel before the Law and would have us to do so likewise in our attention We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard that is to these Evangelical points and truths which we have been acquainted now withal they do call for so much the greater and more accurate heed from us As for the ground whereupon they do so that we shall see hereafter when we come to the Inforcement of his Admonition as it is signified in the word therefore the particle of Connexion we may here now only take notice of the thing it self That this greater and more earnest heed is required of us and expected from us to the Gospel than to the Law This is not so to be taken as if hereby we disparaged the Law or took from the authority of it which hath a respect due unto it as well as the Gospel but forasmuch as in it we have not God so fully manifested and laid open and declared to us as we have in that here it is as we shall see more anon that greater heed is required unto it Thirdly This Comparative expression it may be carried in reference to themselves and their own behaviour as to time now past they had began now a little to decline and to languish in their zeal for the Faith and the profession of the Gospel now the Apostle would hereby provoke them and excite them and stir them up to better diligence for time to come We ought to give more earnest heed that is than hitherto and as yet we have done to such things as these are According to which Explication the Emphasis does not lye so much in heed as it does in earnest some kind of heed they gave to them such as it was but it was not that which was enough or sufficient for them to give he would have them now to mend their pace to grow hotter and more eager in these thing than they had formerly been and not to be so sluggish and remiss in them as they seem'd now to be which accordingly concerns us all even for our own parts to take to heart And so now I have done with the first General part of the Text which is the
All things disparaged in comparison of the one thing necessary 51 58 59 To chuse the one thing necessary an argument of four things 55 Natural ability See free-will and free-grace What it may what it cannot do 155 Pelaginas confuted 166 Natural condition A miserable condition 159 160 O Ordinances Touching those who are without Gospel-ordinances 9 Whence their efficacy arises 31 P Pharisee What their righteousness was 1 Touching Pharisaical righteousness See Rightousness Prodigies and signs 266 Punishments Degrees of punishments 4 Peace What peace Christs death obtains 275 What it implies 406 Patience Of God 29 Why God bears long Ibid Pride How it discovers it self 39 430 Proveing How taken 385 Prayer Satan sometimes prays 65 Comfort when we cannot pray See Comfort VVhy Christ prayed although he could do all things without it 72 Incouragement to it 446 Papist And Jew wherein a like 266 Transubstantiation 267 269 Against their Tradition 339 Perseverance True Christians shall persevere 76 87 369 See Grace Persevere in two things 103 Helps to it Ibid VVhence the opinion of falling away arises 369 Motives to it 408 Providence Our ignorance touching Providence twofold 111 The intricacies of Providence and the reason thereof 112 Not for us to foretell its future events 113 VVhat in Providence God will at last make manifest 114 The properties of Gods Providence Ibid. VVhen God will vindicate his Providence 115 Prophesie See Enthusiasts Not for its to foretell future events of Providence 174 213 Imagainary Revelations censured 337 Opposers of Christs prophetical office 436 Perswading How taken 305 Preaching How men come to count it foolishness 261 VVhat it is 261 337 VVhence its efficacy arises 261 VVhy it profits not without faith 263 Directions touching it 270 271 298 350 274 278 437 382 301 VVhat it is to preach Christ crucified 276 VVhence it becomes unprofitable 263 279 280 Parents Duty to their Children 266 R Pighteousness OF Scribeds and Pharisees what 12 Defectiveness of the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees 3 10 The Principles of Pharisaical righteousness 3 VVhy Pharisaical righteousness cannot bring to Heaven Ibid. Pharisaical righteousness in a sense worse than notorious sins 4 Civil righteousness commended 5 The righteousness exceeding that of Scribes and Pharisees Ibid. Moral righteousness not meritorious of saving-grave 11 Reproof How to be administred 41 46 The best of Christians ought to be reproved 41 Cautions to be observed in reproving a good man 42 Riches Their vanity 25 Resurrection VVhy Christ is so called 144 Religion The one thing necessary 47 Motives to diligence in it See Diligence VVhat required unto being acceptably religous 56 VVhence staggering in it arises Ibid. Religion justified 59 47 91 VVhat in it chiefly to be minded 296 Relations VVhence discord between nearest relations especially arises 53 Comfort under the loss of them 132 450 Reason The impotency of humane reason 90 91 112 173 254 255 259 269 How it discovers God 133 A check to the Contemners of it 269 Rehearsed In Scripture of the same words what it implies 341 Repentance How the goodness of God leads unto it how not 353 Reward Touching it 423 S Scribes Their office 1 Stumling-block 281 Satan Why he most tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why most of all be iempts Ministers 64 His winnowings what 67 Sincerity A double effect of it 101 Sinner In what respects a fool 19 His danger and misery in this life 24 426 His ignorance 90 Incouragement ot prosligate sinners to repent 108 His impotency 163 Different sinners have their different corruptions whence it is 265 Why God bestows many good things on them and bears long with them 347 How without God in the world 426 Spirit Of God why compared to wind 85 How to get its supplies 168 What it is to walk in it See Walk How it witnesseth the Truth of Scripture 435 Scepticism The danger of it 266 Scandal VVhat it is implied 281 Lords-Supper What eating and drinking damnation signifies 282 Sin An umprofitable thing in what respects 356 Whence men come to be ashamed of it 359 Its aggravations 422 Its heinous nature discovered 442 How men sin against the blood of Christ 443 Speaking A threefold speaking 411 Security The danger of it 416 417 Salvation A Christians certainty of it 433 In what sense it 's said a Child of God cannot sin 325 T Thoughts Vanity of them 18 The evil of distraction in them 45 50 Causes of distraction in them 45 52 Remedies against their distraction 45 52 Taking freely what it imports 458 Temptations Why Satan must tempts the godly and those especially most godly 62 Why he most of all tempts Ministers 64 Support under Temptation 65 72 75 79 87 Walk against them 66 74 Why God suffers his to fall into them 73 How faith helps under them 75 Whence Christians come to recover out of them 78 The evil that comes by them 80 The good that comes by them 62 Time What knowledg of the times concerns us what not 113 130 171 What times it 's not fur us to know 169 Terrors Of the Lord what 303 Thirst spiritual what it implies 455 The excellency of spiritual thirst 456 Teason Gun-powder Treason 317 Truth How taken in Scripture 328 Toleration Against universal toleration 337 Tradition When equalized with Scripture condenned 339 V Vanity OF Thoughts See Thoughts Unity Among Christians 408 409 Bounded 409 Unbelief The hainousness of it 436 Voice of Christ in the Ministry the voice of the spirit in the conscience and the voice of the spirit in the Spouse to be heard 453 454 W Way Incourage any coming on in the Ways of God why 14 Word Ingemindation of words its end 41 60 World Take heed of worldly-mindedness See Mind Why continued 106 How taken in Scripture 152 Watch. Against temptation why 66 67 Motives to it 418 Work How Christ helps to the performance of a good work 164 Good works in what respects disparaged 156 Wisdom Humance in what respects disparaged 156 Walk To walk in the spirit what 372 373 What it implies 374 400 How walking in it secures against sin 380 Touching a Christians rule to walk by 403 404 Water of life what understood by it 456 What understood by Whosoever will let him take of the water of life Y Youth Motives to early Godliness 52 Good education a great blessing 266 Z Zeal How Christians come to decay in it 421 FINIS