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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 â—1 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
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 â—usis 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
away from us A Christian when he does at any time find himself in any cheerful and comfortable frame of spirit he should endeavour to keep it up and maintain it allhe can as that which is of very great consequence and importance to him not only for the sweetness and pleasingness of the condition it self but also in reference to that duty which is to be performed by him yea we must know that it is also more pleasing to God himself that his Children upon good and right grounds should walk comfortably and cheerfully before him and rather to close with the Consolations of his spirit than to lye down under the suggestions of Satan or the false and dark representations of their own sad and mis giving hearts therefore walk in the spirit also in this sense that is in the comforts and encouragements of the spirit And so much may suffice of the first term in these words to be explained by us namely what is meant by the spirit which we have shewn in a twofold Explication In the spirit that is in his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us walk in the spirit that is walk after a spiritual manner and in the spirit that is according to his motions and suggestions as objected and propounded to us walk in the spirit i. e. walk according to the guidance and moderation of the Spirit of God The second Term here to be considered is walking and what is meant by that Now in this there are three particulars which seem to be intimated and implied First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion Walking it is a business of motion he that walks he does not stand still Secondly Here 's implied strength in opposition to faintness or remisness he that walks he moves strongly Thirdly Here 's implied perseverance in opposition to declining or giving out he that walks he moves constantly All these particulars are in walking and so appliable to our Conversation in the spirit First Here 's implied activity in opposition to bare speculation or profession or idleness in Religion he that walks he moves himself and does not stand still And thus must it be with us in Religion an the ways of God We must be active and put forward in them it is not only have the spirit or understand it or pretend to it no but walk in it that is be careful to improve the Doctrines and Principles of it in the activity and fervency of a godly and holy Conversation This is that which is in a special manner required of us as Christians and accordingly we shall find t preach'd and urg'd upon us As in vers 25. of this present Chapter If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit that is if we have a principle of spiritual life in us let us carry our selves answerably thereunto Look as the soul in the body it is not there after an idle manner but it does distribute motion and vigor to the several parts and members of it even so should it be with grace in the soul it should not nor will not be there to no purpose but so as to make the man of God perfect and ready to every good work that I may use the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 3. ult And so the Apostle Peter also signifies unto us in 2 Pet. 1.8 When he had spoken of the several graces of the spirit in the words before If these things says he be in you and abound they will make you that ye shall not be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledg of our Lord Jesus Christ This life of the spirit in us should work in us a walking up to it and whiles it is said here walking we may take notice of the variation of the phrase in the Original Text for it is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which latter signifies a regular and orderly walking a walking by rule so it becomes us to walk who live in the spirit so to walk as not turning either to the right hand or to the left not carried by our own corrupt lusts nor yet overswayed by the mis-guidings of others but led by the sweet conduct and inclinations of the Spirit of God in us and doing that which he requires of us In a word This is that which is commended to us in this Text that our conversation be answerable to our principles and that as we make any claim to Religion more than others so we should behave our selves suitably thereunto It is not leaves that God stands upon but fruit it is not profession but action it is not only the principles which are in us but the works and duties which come from us in a correspondency and agreement to those Principles Not every onethat saith Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven says our blessed Saviour but he that doeth the will of my father which is in Heaven Matth. 7.21 It is doing that God does principally look after And this it does sadly come home to the consciences of many people in the world which are very guilty in this particular which have a name that they live but are dead as was said of the Church of Sardis which talk much of the spirit and the gifts and graces of it but in the mean time shew but little power and efficacy of it upon their hearts by framing of their lives thereafter as it becomes them to do such as these can have but little comfort whiles they live here in the world or hope and expectation when they go out of it so remaining We see how the Scripture puâ—s all still upon action If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them John 13.17 And then are ye my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you John 15.14 And he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever 1 John 2.17 and many more places besides tending to this purpose Therefore we should not content our selves with any thing below this whatsoever it be First Not with agreat measure of knowledg only no more but so let not that satisfie or content us the devils themselves have this in great abundance and yet but miserable creatures they know and believe and tremble as the Apostle James speaks of them And there were many in this Church of Galatia to whom St. Paul here writes his Epistle which were very knowing and intelligent persons as to the Doctrine of Religion and Christianity which yet for all that the Apostle seems not to be satisfied with Therefore we may observe that he does not say Spiritually understand the law but walk in the spirit There have been some who have so supersticiously sought after and urged the former as that they have laid all the stress of Piety and true Religion wholly thereupon and counted them the only spiritual men which were exercised therein namely in finding out the
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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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
in their natural condition they are such as being out of Christ are therefore without Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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.
Son and Sheild unto it Bestowing Grace and Glory upon it and witholding no good thing from it as the Psalmist signifies to us in Psal 84.12 And so the Apostle Peter expresses it According as his Divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain to Life and Godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 Gods Care for his Church is seen in providing all things necessary and convenient for it and in Sanctifying all Passages and Events whatsoever unto it And this is the Inclusive Emphasis Now for the Exclusive That 's considerable also and that according to a twofold Explication First In caring for it when none else cares for it besides Secondly in caring for it when he cares for none else besides as to any special or tender Care of them First I say God cares for his Church and Land Exclusively when as none else almost cares for it This is that which sometimes happens and falls out in the World That the Church of God it has but very few friends that care for it or regard it It is the Land that many Persons care not for Those that are Concern'd to care for it from their Places from their Callings from their Ingagements from their Opportunities yet many times are at a point in this matter they care not what becomes of it whether it sink or swim so they may but injoy their Lusts and their Pleasures and their Vanities and their Worldly Accommodations it s all one to them what may happen or fall out in this particular Scilicet is superis labor est ea Cura peculi Whose will may take care of the Church for all them like Gallio they care for none of these things Yea but is there no care taken of it in such Circumstances as these yes There is one that mindes and regards it for all that The Church is the Land which the Lord thy God careth for And that 's sure to be very well cared for which is cared for by him The Church and every part and member of it as David speaks in the name of the rest Psal 142.3.4.5 When my Spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge sailed me No man cared for my soul I cried unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my Portion in the Land of the living Thus God cares for his Church Exclusively even when others do not care for it Secondly He cares for his Church Exclusively when he does not so much care for others This is also here intended in the Text The Land which the Lord thy God cares for Signanter with a special mark of Distinction upon it as the special Priviledge of it There is a common Care as I said which God has for other Places and People yea but this is that which he cares for more Especially and upon the point for none else It is the unhappinest of wicked Places and Nations that God cares not at all for them They are such as he does not minde what befals them but his Church is Deare unto him and accordingly he Expresses himself about it That he sets it as a Seal upon his Heart as a Signet upon his Arm. That he graves it upon the palmes of his hands and the walls of it are continually before him That he keeps it as the apple of his Eye and hides it under the shadow of his Wings All expressions of his great love and Providence of it He hath not delt so with every Nation It is the Land that he cares for Exclusively What does this in the next place come to but to teach us therefore to labour that our selves may come within this compass of being the Land which the Lord our God cares for we of this Land and Nation for our own particular It is that which the time has been tht we have had as great a share in it as any Land whatsoever besides under Heaven Even to the Observation and Admiration and Emulation of all other Lands besides in the World Ther 's no Land under Heaven which might be so properly said to be the Land which the Lord our God hath car'd for then we have been in regard of the Variety of Blessings in all sorts which God hath been pleased to heap upon us Blessings of Heaven from above and Blessings of the Earth from beneath Peace and Health and Plenty and Wealth and Honour and Prosperity in all respects as to Worldly and Temporal matters to say nothing of Spiritual and Divine and Heavenly which are chief of all Now how far does it concern us to indeavour that it may still fall out to be thus with us And that the Lord may not any way remit of his Ancient care of us and for us The onely way hereto is to be sure to Care for him for if we do not he will not care for us If we do not care for his Honour he will not care for our welfare and if it be an indifferent thing with us what becomes of his Worship and Services and Glory and Power and Ordinances it will be as indifferent a thing with him what becomes of our Peace and Happiness and Wealth and Plenty and Prosperity And he that has before Cared for us he will not now care for us at all nay he will now care for us so much the less as he has formerly and hitherto car'd for us and we have been no more sensible of it or thankful for it as we have Neglected his Care and abused his love and turn'd his Grace into Wantonness We hear what the Prophet Azariah said to Asa and the men of Judah 2 Chro. 15.2 And it is applyable to our selves The Lord is with you while ye are with him and if ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you Therefore let us look to it and Consider how it is with us in this particular And further know for this purpose that it will be a great deale worse for us for God to take off his care then to have denyed it Forasmuch as all Declensions have commonly their Aggravations with them And when God remit of his Care he does commonly bring in his anger and wrath in the place of it so that instead of caring for a land he does commonly contrive against it Instead of watching over it for Good he watches over it for Evil. He frames Evil against them and devises a Device against them as he threatens the People in Jer. 18 11. And as he has formerly brought all good things upon them so he will hereafter bring all Evil things upon them till he hath destroyed them from their good Land as Joshua tells the Israelites Josh 23.15 This is that which we should Especially look after to ingage God's constant care for us by walking faithfully and carefully
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
them must needs be granted to be a very great Mercy to those who are partakers of it Oh it is a great Mercy to be kept from sinful allurements especially considering what propensities and inclinations are in our selves to the closing with them we have a Nature in us which is like dry Tinder to these Sparks that presently takes And therefore to be prevented from the occasion is so much the greater Advantage What may we think by the way of those that run to them to meet them which put themselves voluntarily upon wicked and ungodly Company and so fetch as it were Egypt into Canaan as I may so express it surely such as these as they are not sensible of the Evil of Temptation so neither are they apprehensive of the Mercy in deliverance from it Secondly As there 's Pollution in these things in regard of Nature so there is offensiveness in regard of Grace Evil Examples and Temptations if they do not pollute and defile us yet they cannot but offend and grieve us so far as we are in part already naught so they corrupt us and expose us more to Sin and so far as we are on the otherside good so they trouble us and expose us more to Grief prove wearisome and tedious to us Thus it was with Lot in Sodom His righteous Soul was vext from day to day while he dwelt amongst them in seeing and hearing their unlawful deeds And so the people in their Babylonish Captivity they were cut to the Heart with the wickedness of the Enemy insomuch as they could not dispose them to special Services in the praysing of God now to be set at liberty from such a Bond age as this is and to have such a pressure taken off from our Spirits is a very great Happiness Thirdly there is also danger in them to in regard of the Consequents Danger both to Body and Soul To be Educated and brought up in Idolatry and superstitious practises in Ignorance and Unacquaintance with God this is a Misery which leads to a further Misery for time to come and we cannot fathom the Dephs of it Therefore let us pitty those that sit in Darkness and the shadow of Death as the Prophet speaks They are wretched and miserable places whatsoever they are else for other matters being under the Kingdom and Septre of Satan who like Pharaoh tyrannizes over them They are Miry-places and Marshes which shall not be healed but given to Salt Ezek. 47.11 And for our selves let us bless God that he has thus graciously dealt with us to cast us upon the opportunities of Knowledge and to bring us twice out of Egypt with in Paganish Idolatry and Popish as we shall have occasion to speak more anon So much of the first Explication as to the Terms of their Deliverance in General And that is out of the land of Egypt The Second is as it is laid down in particular and that is the Iron-furnace This is that which we find mentioned in some other places of Scripture besides As 1 Kings 8.51 For they be thy People and thine Inheritance which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt from the midst of the Furnace of Iron So Jer. 11.4 Which I commanded your Fathers when I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt from the Iron-furnace In each place one and the same phrase There 's a double Metaphor in it which is observable of us First A Metaphor upon Affliction in General which is compared to a Furnace Secondly A Metaphor upon this Affliction of the Israelites in particular and that is a Furnace of Iron First Here 's Affliction in General compared to a Furnace Thus Esay 48.10 I have chosen thee in the Furnace of Affliction Thus it is call'd not onely for the Scorching of it but likewise for the End and Vse of it What 's the use of a Furnace why it is to make the Mettle which is cast into it so much the brighter and better it is to purge the dross from the Gold and to make it pure And so are Afflictions to the people of God They are the Fyery-tryal to try them as it is 1 Pet. 4.12 And they are a Furnace to purge away the Dross That is the Metaphor under Affliction Then Secondly For this Affliction in particular which now happened to Israel it is called the Iron-Furnace Both in the Letter and in the Moral In the Letter First Because those Furnaces which they wrought in they were such as in which Iron was melted And so from the work they were imployd in Furnaces of Iron But then Secondly Of Iron in the Moral First An hard and laborious imployment Iron it is an Emblem of Severity Agrievous yoak a yak of Iron Dent. 24.48 Adestructive Rod a Rod of Iron Psal 2.9 Devouring-teeth Teeth of Iron Dan. 7.19 So here a sharp and sore Affliction and Persecution A Furnace of Iron Then Secondly As from the sharpness of it so from the Continuance of it likewise as Fire when it gets into Iron it is there lasting and abiding so was it here with the Captivity of these People it was long and lasting upon them They sat in Darkness and the shadow of death being bound in Affliction and Iron as it is Psal 107.20 That which we may observe from hence is the state and Condition of the Church of God here in this World and those which are the Members of it and that is a state of Affliction and Persecution God casts them into the Furnace And God lays them in the Iron the Iron enters into their Souls as some Translations have it Psal 105. vers 18. It was thus with the Church of the Jewes and it is thus also with the Church of the Christians to this present day even Christ Himself was in Egypt and His infancy was in the Furnace of Iron I have call'd my son says he out of Egypt Matth. 2.15 And the members are made conformable to the Head The use which we are to make of this Observation to our selves is therefore first not to wonder at it or to think much of it but to look for it and expect it as the Apostle Peter gives advice in the place before alledged in 1 Pet. 4.12 Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery Tryal which is to try you as if some strange thing happen'd unto you For it seems it is no such matter We see here how the very beginnings of the Church were laid in Affliction that accordingly we might think what would be the following condition of it And the Lord in his wisdom sees it fitting and necessary to be so that so we may not blame His Providence in this respect or think hardly of him For He does but as an Artificer with his work The Refiner puts the Gold into the Furnace and the potter puts the clay into the fire and both of them to very good purpose and so doth God And he is pleased in Scripture to take both these expressions
young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them and beareth them so the Lord alone did lead him c. There is a wonderful great tenderness which God expresses to his people so that when men are most cruel against them He himself is most merciful to them and expresses the greatest kindness towards them That 's for the first Expression here used in reference to their deliverance He hath taken you The second is Hath brought you and this as well as the other hath a double force in it First an Emphasis of Power brought you forth with a strong hand Secondly An Emphasis of Solemnity Brought you forth with a stretched out Arm. First There is power in it Bring you forth That is forced you forth whether your enemies would or no. Thus did God to Israel He made Pharaoh and the Egyptians to give them up whether they would or not yea as the Apostle tells us He would tells us he therefore for this purpose raised them up that he might shew his power in them Rom. 9.17 There 's no standing against the Lord when he has a mind to deliver His people He will bring them forth maugre all opposition in despite of all the powers either of Earth or Hell it self Secondly There 's also solemnity in it He brought them forth i. e. in triumph As with a strong-hand so with a stretched-out arm as the Scripture also expresses it Deut. 5.15 Stand still saith Moses and ye shall see the salvation of the Lord Exod. 14.13 Yea and not onely you shall see it but likewise others Psal 98.23 The Lord hath made known His salvation his righteousness hath He openly shewed in the sight of the Heathen He hath remembred His mercy and truth c. And all the ends of the Earth have seen the salvation of our God Now from both these expressions together Hath taken you and hath brought you forth we see the thing it self sufficiently declared unto us that God did at last deliver His people out of this Captivity under which they were He removed his shoulder from the burden and his hands were delivered from the pots as it is in Psal 81.6 8 13. Though ye have lien among the pots c. And so he does likewise with many more with them Though God suffers His servants sometimes to fall into the hand of their enemies yet he does at length free them from them This he doth upon divers considerations First out of His own bowels and compassion He will not alwayes chide neither keepeth He his anger for ever Psal 103.9 And Isa 57.16 He will not contend for ever neither will he be alwayes wroth for the spirit should fail before Him and the souls which he had made Secondly Out of respect to his People least they should be discouraged and provoked to evil Psal 125.3 The rod of the ungodly shall not lye upon the lot of the Righteous least the righteous put forth their hand unto iniquity The Lord will not too much draw out the corruptions and infirmities of His servants And then Thirdly Out of Regard to the enemies least they should insult Deut. 32 26 27. I said I would scatter them into Corners c. were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy least their adversaries should behave themselves strangely c. Let this therefore be the use which we make of it to our selves First to Expect it whereas yet it is not Secondly To acknowledge it and to improve it there where it is First I say to expect it where it is not It is that which God will do it is that which he has already done to our hands in this example before us we are ready when we fall into any trouble to think that we shall never come out of it and that there is no redemption from it well but see here the contrary in this instance of the Israelites brought out of Egypt and delivered from the Iron-furnace which though it threatned them with perpetual bondage yet we see at last had an end and consummation of it God took them and brought them forth Secondly As where it is not yet we should yet expect it so where it is we should improve it and that to several purposes First to thankfulness in acknowledging it The Spirit of God by Moses does often put them in mind of this Deliverance to draw thankfulness from them And if God's mercies have not this efficacy upon us we are then indeed very unworthy of them Secondly To Obedience which is the best expression of thankfulness Thus this Deliverance likewise is urged there in Jer. 11.4 For obeying the words of the Covenant which God commanded their fathers when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt from the Iron-furnace Thirdly To Dependence upon God and prevailing with him against another time That He which hath done so much for them already would be still pleased to do more As we find Solomon using that Argument in 1 King 8.52 For they be thy people which thou hast brought out of Egypt c. And so much may suffice to have spoken of the first General part of the Text viz. The Deliverance it self The second is the End or Consequent of this Deliverance and that we have in these words To be unto him a People of Inheritance as ye are this day In which passage we have again two particulars First The Design it self And Secondly The Amplification of it The Design it self To be unto him a people of inheritance The Amplification of it As ye are this day I begin with the first viz. The Design it self To be unto Him a people of Inheritance This is that which God aymed at concerning Israel Now this may again admit of a double Interpretation Either so as for Him to be their Inheritance or else so as for them to be His. The Scripture makes mention of either in sundry places First For Him to be theirs This is the Priviledge of God's People That the Lord himself is their portion and Inheritance and so expresses Himself to be to them Thus Psal 16.5 David speaking of himself The Lord is the portion of mine Inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest the Lot And so of Levi it is said That the Lord is his Inheritance Deut. 10.9 And the Church Lam. 3.24 The Lord is my Portion c. This is a great comfort to the Godly and to those which are most destitute amongst them to live upon the power of this truth what though they have none of the great Inheritance of the world yet as long as they have a portion in God they have that which may abundantly satisfie them and keep them from dejection forasmuch as from henceforth no good thing shall be wanting unto them He that overcometh shall inherit all things How so It follows in the next words And I will be his God c. Rev. 21.7 He that hath God for his God shall inherit all things he shall have a sufficient
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
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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
will give Grace and Glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly IN the Text it self we may for methods sake take notice of two General Parts which are considerable in it First The nature of God laid down in General Secondly The expressions of this nature in the particular communications of it to the sons of men The nature of God in General that we have in these words The Lord God is a Sun and shield The Expressions of this nature in particular we have in the words following The Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly We begin with the first viz. The nature of God propounded in General that we have in those words The Lord is a Sun and shield where we have God set forth unto us according to a two-fold resemblance taken from these things here below which are of ordinary use unto us A Sun and a shield The one an Embleme of Illumination the other an Emblem of protection we shall look upon them distinctly and begin here first of all with the former The Lord God is a Sun It is the manner of the Spirit of God in Scripture to teach our souls by our senses and to convey into our minds heavenly and spiritual notions by earthly and corporal representations as bring such things which are most familiar unto us and which we are best acquainted withall thus he does here in this place whiles he compares God Himself to a Sun It is an expression which we meet with also else-where and that even with this Application as Mal. 4.3 Where Christ the Son of God is called the Sun of Righteousness as Luk. 1.78 The day-spring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 2 Pet. 1.19 The Day-star The Lord God is resembled to a Sun in these regards which are sundry properties belonging thereunto First In respect of Illuminatin the Sun is the fountain of light that light which is imparted to the Air for the ordering of the world it comes first from the Sun and so it is especially with God himself in regard of his Church He is the Sun that gives light unto it With thee is the fountain of life and in thy light shall we see light Psal 36.1 The light of Grace here and the light of Glory hereafter which we find mention'd in the following part of the Text they both come from this Sun God is light and in him is no darkness at all 1 Job 1.5 This is the true light that lightens every man which cometh into the world Joh. 1.9 There 's a double kind of Inlightning which God does impart unto us either of Grace or comfort Whatever saving knowledge we have of Divine Truths we have it and must have it from him who is in this respect the Sun And whatever true and solid comfort we have likewise it is from Him also as we shall have occasion to shew more hereafter in the sequel of the Text wherein I will not prevent my self before the time but refer it to it 's due and proper place This is enough for the present which we may take notice of now in General that God is a Sun in regard of Illumination Secondly In regard of Calefaction the Sun as it hath light in it so also Heat which it doth communicate with its light It warms things and puts life into them so does this Heavenly Sun this Sun of righteousness where he is risen in the hearts of Believers he does warm them and put vigor into them we are all by nature frozen in sin as we may so express it As we are darkness without light so we are also coldness without heat till this Sun comes and thaws â—s and dissolves that congealedness which is in us and inables us to the doing of good which whensoever he is pleased to do he does it effectually The influences of Grace they are very comfortable and such as have a great deal of pleasingness and satisfactoriness in them they do abundantly cherish and refresh the hearts of those which are partakers of them Thirdly In regard of Fructification and increase The Sun by the operations of it causes things to grow and come up in more abundance and so does this spiritual Sun those which are under the beams of it they become more fruitful in goodness then otherwise they would be and they are in some measure inabled for the drawing on of others likewise to goodness together with themselves what ever is done in this kind it is done by the power and vertue here of this Sun All the droppings of Ministerial Instruction and all the Dews of friendly Admonitions and all the waterings of Godly Education they become so far forth efficatious and powerful in the consequences of them as God Himself is pleased to bless them and as this Sun whereof we now speak does concur with them which is that which he does vouchsafe to do as he thinks fitting in his own wisdom Lastly In regard of All-sufficiency the Sun is compleat in it self Communicates light to others but borrows no light at all from them It is a Fulness and Fountain of light and so is God he is compleat and All-sufficient in himself no want or defect at all in him In him are all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg he is full of Beauty and Glory and Lustre as the Sun it self is and there 's no measure nor stint of his goodness we may a great deal sooner want light which we do not fear while we injoy the Sun then we may have Goodness and Comfort and Happiness while we have God Himself present with us who in all these respects which I have now mentioned is resembled to the Sun The Consideration of this point may be thus far useful to as as from hence first of all to teach us to rest satisfied in God alone and our interest in him seeing he has a fulness of Comfort in Himself therefore having him for our God we have enough though we had nothing besides What is it that makes the Day Is it not the Sun And so what is it that makes the Happiness of a Christian but even God himself we should so esteem it and be perswaded of it and really believe it It is that which is hard for us to do and we are very difficultly brought unto it but we have Ground for it for all that and that upon this account because he is a Sun This is the difference now betwixt God and the Creatures the Creatures they are but like the Stars which have a double Disparagement or Diminution fasten'd upon them The one is that they have but a little light in regard of the Quantity and the other is that their light for the greatest part of it is derived unto them as to the manner of Conveyance It is not much inherent in themselves as it is imparted and communicated to them from the Body of the Sun this is the State and
satisfie us and content us though we had nothing else but them If God will but forgive us our Sins and change our Natures and put his Grace into our Hearts and give us the Seal of his Spirit that we are his Children certainly we may very well bear with him in the denyal of many other things besides unto us and therefore let us not limit and confine God too much in this particular but let us leave it to his Holy Wisdom and providence who knows what is best for us better then we do our selves and in the supply of his own Gracious Spirit and presence with us can make up to us all things else whatsoever we can desire And further where we do injoy these Comforts let us preserve them all we can and take heed of parting with them let us not be prodigal of Spiritual Comfort or careless or negligent of it If we do herein we forsake our own Mercy and are Enemies to our own greatest Good Let us take heed of offending and displeasing the blessed Spirit of God and of grieving him whose office it is to comfort us Lastly Let us see also here what cause there is for us to look after true Godliness and Religion and to become true Christians indeed that so from hence we may come to partake of these Divine Comforts which we do no otherwise then so far forth as we have the Spirit of God in us and are become his Children Those which are Strangers in Religion they are also Strangers to the Comforts of Religion and to the sweetness which is in that Condition so that though there be Comforts Enough in God yet they have no Interest in them nor no Ability whereby to derive them and to convey them to themselves therefore let us look to that by all meanes Yea and moreover to abound in Grace and Holiness all we can for as we come to be partakers of Gods Comforts by being Godly and Religious so we partake of them the more as we are Godly and Religious in greater measure The closer we walk with God the more comfort we have from him not onely hereafter in Heaven but also now at present here upon Earth which should therefore be a further spur to incite us hereunto And so much for these Comforts in the first Notion considered absolutely and distinctly The Second is by considering them connexively in reference to what went before in the beginning of the verse In the Multitude of my thoughts The words in the Hebrew are Be-rov or as some would have it Ke-rov The one makes it to be in multidine as our Translations render it to us the other makes it to be secundum multitudines as the Vulgar Latin following the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It makes no great matter which there being but little difference betwixt them according as they run in the Text whether in the sound or in the sight From both together we have a singular commendation of these Divine Comforts which David was now refresht with in three particulars First For their Concomitancy Secondly For their Opportunity Thirdly For their Conveniency each of these are in this expression First Here is their Concomitancy by making in to be as much as cum In my thoughts that is altogether with them and so it does imply thus much unto us That the children of God they are never wholly and absolutely disquieted and dejected in themselves but as God does in his providences suffer them now and then to be troubled with sad thoughts so at the very same moment and instant of time does he administer comfort more or less unto them They have some light in their greatest darkness and they have some refreshment in their greatest sadness and they have some comfort in their greatest Distraction In the very midst of judgement upon them does God remember mercy towards them This is the state and condition of Gods people God does secretly uphold their hearts from sinking when it seems to be never so ill and sad with them This proceeds from his singular love and indulgence towards them who does not afflict his servants willingly nor does not desire to lay upon them any more then they may be able to bear If we should have all thoughts and no comforts there were no subsistance or holding out but God does now graciously mitigate and qualifie his dispensations towards us that so the spirit may not fail before him nor the souls which he has made as Himself gives that very reason and account of it Isa 57.16 He corrects in measure Isa 27.8 This teaches us both to expect it and also upon occasion to acknowledge it it serves both to excite our patience and thankfulness First Our patience in expecting it and making account of it when we fall at any time into trouble let us not aggravate it and make it worse then it is for it is neither so much as it might be nor yet so much as we deserve And therefore let us take heed of charging God foolishly in this particular as we are many times subject to do if we do but a little reflect and consider how it is with us we shall find that it is so as is here presented to us namely Comforts and some glimpse of mercy in the greatest sorrows And this is the great difference now betwixt the condition of men here in this world and of the damned in Hell those sad creatures there they have the thouhgts but not the comforts they have the destractions but not the qualifications there is sorrow without any refreshment but those which live here in the world especially those which are Gods children they have a mingling of some sweetness with their greatest grief And this Secondly excites our thankfulness and calls us to the acknowledgement of it upon all occasions and to bless God for it as David else-where does in Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy Judgements are right and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me And that 's the first particular which is commended to us in these Comforts viz. their Concomitancy The Second is their opportunity In the Multitude of distracting thoughts That is just when they were come to their height and extremity in me The Comforts of God are seasonable and observe the proper time for their coming neither too soon nor too late not before that were too soon nor after that were too late But in That is just in the very point and nick of Time This is another thing here spoken of In the Thoughts and in the Multitude of the Thoughts not in the indifferency of thoughts but in the perplexity not in the Paucity of thoughts but in the Plurality our extremity is Gods opportunity In the mount will the Lord be seen when we have thought and thought and thought all what we could and know not what to think more then does God delight to tender and exhibit his Comforts to us There are divers instances and examples
thoughts shall be Established The word in the Text is Role that is put of thy burthen from thine own shoulders upon his So 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your Care upon him for he careth for you This for the right and more expedite performance of it supposes first our Interest in God and Acquaintance with him this belongs to the Covenant of Grace in each respect both on Gods part and on ours when we are in Covenant with God he will then undertake our thoughts for us and when we are in Covenant with him we shall be inabled to commit them to him and may safely and with Confidence do so First I say he will then undertake them when God at any time enters into Covenant and Ingages himself to be our God and takes us to be his people he does not onely hereby take upon him to bring us at last to Heaven and to land us safe there but to provide for us in all our way and Journey thither to guide all our thoughts and purposes and Actions and undertakings whatsoever upon which Ground we may safely settle and Establish our thoughts in themselves and then we shall be able also upon this account to cast our selves upon him This committing of our thoughts to God in a way of reliance it supposes our submitting of them first of all to him in a way of Obedience that 's the first Interest in God as requisite here Secondly The use and exercise of this performance the more we do it the more we may do it and it is of use to our selves to do it in some things which makes us the better to do it in others from particulars arising to Generals That we may still be further incouraged thus to do let us consider but two things more First That 's a thing very easie for God to settle our thoughts for us And Secondly That it is very pleasing that we should commit our thoughts to him to this purpose It is very easie first of all for him to undertake them and settle them we put him to no great cost or trouble hereby let them be as great or as many as they can be and of as great concernment he can as easily take care of a Nation as he can of a person and of the whole Church as one particular Believer and member of it he can rule the Ocean as well as the smallest River or Breach that passes through the Earth Secondly It is very pleasing to him also while we thus delight our own Souls we refresh his while hereby we have him in his Goodness and Power and Truth and the rest of his Attributes wherein he delights to be admired and Glorified by us So much may serve that and likewise for this whole Text. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy Comforts delight my Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XXIII Psal 104.34 My Meditation of Him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. As it is the Excellency and Priviledge of a man above other Creatures here below that he is capable of Reflection and Meditation and has his Thoughts and the workings of his mind which are remarkable in in him so is the Excellency and Priviledge of a Christian above other men that he has the ordering of those thoughts aright with the best advantage and contentment to himself that so whiles some are imploy'd in one thing and others are imploy'd in another He has his Thoughts fasten'd upon God and concentred as his chiefest happiness and united in Him and that with a great deal of delight and Complacency and satisfaction of Spirit This is that which we have here exhibited to us in this present Scripture which follows as a very good close of others which have been hanaled by us very lately we have heard of the several Properties of God in a Variety of Perfection Of his Power and Goodness and Faithfulness and Pittifulness and the like And what now remains as the Sum and upshot and conclusion of all this unto us but that the Meditation of Him should be sweet and that we should be glad in him Which is that which we have here presented unto us in these words which I have mentioned unto you IN the Text itself there are two General Parts considerable First Davids Contemplation Secondly Davids Exultation His Contemplation that is in thess words My Meditation of him shall be sweet His Exultation that is in these words I will be glad in the Lord. We begin with the former viz. Davids Contemplation in these words My Meditation of Him shall be sweet wherein again two particulars more First The Performance implyed and that is Divine Meditation My Meditation of Him that is of God Secondly The Qualification it self and that is pleasantness or sweetness My Meditation of Him shall be sweet First Here is considerable of us the Performance implyed And that I say is Divine Meditation It is here supposed and taken for granted that David did indeed Meditate upon God whiles he makes mention of his Meditation and so there is this in it That Gods servants they are much imploy'd and taken up in the Thoughts God in Holy and Divine Meditation This is that which there Mindes and Thoughts are very frequently carryed unto The Prophet David Himself was very much in this Performance as we may see in divers passages of the Psalms and we read of the Patriark Isaac that he went out in the fields to Meditate Namely upon God himself Gen. 24.63 Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us as whereupon it proceeds First The Gracious and Heavenly Frame and Temper of a Christian Soul being sanctified and renewed by Grace Mens Meditations are much as their hearts are Vain and Frothy Spirits they have commonly answerable Meditations and those that savour of the world they have their thoughts fasten'd upon it but Gods Children being born from above they have accordingly thoughts above in sutableness thereunto David he was a man after Gods own Heart as the Scripture declares him and therefore he was much in the Thoughts of God and so it is likewise with all others of the same frame and temper with him forasmuch as they are born of God and have his Image stampt upon them they doe bend their thoughts to him to Contemplate upon him They which are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit Rom. 8.5 Grace it is the Byass of the soul which does move it and incline it to the Mark and the scope which is propounded to it and set before it which is thus Active in those that are Regenerate Secondly The servants of God are much in thoughts and Meditations of Him because as their hearts are made like unto him so which also follows thereupon fasten'd upon him They have made God their Happiness and therefore they doe accordingly make him their Meditation For where the Treasure
with God as it is usually described 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Damascene The Ascension of the mind to God and Communion with Him Now this is very sweet and delightful to a gracious heart There 's no friends that have such mutual complacency and contentment in one anothers seciety as God and his servants have in one another It is pleasing to them to think of God but to speak to Him and He to them is a great deal more comfortable when the heart opens it self at any time to God and he again returns upon it there 's most unspeakable Contentment in it or on the otherside the Denyal of this has a great deal of sadness and bitterness with it Therefore we see what cause still we have to accustom and inure our selves hereunto all that may be Acquaint thy self with him and be at peace Job 22.21 And again ver 26 27. Thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty and shalt lift up thy face unto God Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him Christians should make Conscience of Prayer and recourse to God upon all occasions not onely as a means of obtaining any thing from him but also a maintaining of Fellowship and Communion with him which is done in this Performance The Third and last notion of this word in this Text is Discourse which refers to the Communion of Saints and the converse of Christians one with another and so there is this in it My Conference about him is very sweet Christians they find a great deal of Contentment in Holy and Religious Communication not only when they think upon him within themselves which is Meditation not only when they speak unto him which is done in prayer but also when they speak of him and about him in converse and Christian discourse It is very sweet to make mention of God and to declare Him upon any occasion Thus Psal 145.5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majesty and of thy wondrous works And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible Acts and I will declare thy greatnesse So Psal 34.1 c. I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall be continually in my mouth My soul shal make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad O Magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his Name together This mutual Conference and Discourse about God it doth afford very much Contentment And that in these respects First As it is the Performance of a Duty which God requires of us In all Discharge of Duty there is Delight because the Conscience has thereby lighten'd it self of that burden which was upon it and so it is here It is pleasing to have paid a Debt Now this is that which we do very much owe to God to speak much of him we doe hereby so much the more Honour and advance him as it becomes us to do Secondly As it does good to others there is a great deal of pleasingness in this to a good Heart now this is that which follows upon this Performance as the Spouse in the Canticles whilst She spake of Christ to the Daughters of Jerusalem and set him out in all his Excellencies She hereby stirred up their desires after him and made them to be in love with him Thirdly It does so much the more settle things upon our own Hearts and inlarge our Affections to Christ in our selves as it was in the Instance we now mentioned of the Spouse while She spake of her Beloved to others she did thereby so much the more increase her own love and desires after Him Thus we see in all respects how much sweetness there is in this Performance as of Lovers to speak of their Beloveds Therefore we should learn from hence to make Conscience of this Duty together with the other before mentioned which have a mutual Connexion and Conjunction of one with another Meditation prepares for Prayer and both together prepare for Discourse and all have their interchangeable pleasure and delight and sweetness with him What an Heaven as it were upon Earth might a Christian live in all these particulars if he were not herein wanting to Himself we need to go no farther then Religion and the exercise and practise of Christianity whereby to make our lives Comfortable to us in the several varieties of it The Meditation of God is sweet the Converse with him and the Discourse and speaking of him all which are here intended in the Text. And so much may suffice to have spoken of the first Emphasis of this passage as it has the Nature of an Assertion and as signifying and declaring the Nature of these things The Second is as it has the notion of a Resolution that he would make it for his own Practise that is that he would comfort himself in such parformances as these are whilst others took pleasure in other things he would please himself in Communion with God this should be his Solace and delight upon all occasions David promises himself a great deal of Contentment in this exercise of Divine Meditation which he undertook with much delight And so likewise do others of Gods Servants of the same Nature and Disposition with him in the like undertakings They make the Ordinances and Duties of Religion to be great Refreshments and Recreations to them Prayer and Conference and Meditation and such as these they do not onely simply fall upon them and apply themselves to them but their Hearts and Spirits are in them and they are the very rejoycing of their Souls they reckon upon them and make account of them aforehand as their greatest Satisfaction There is nothing almost which is sweet or delightful but the Servants of God doe find out in the Ordinances and in particular in Divine Meditation which has a variety of Contentments in it First Of Company in Solitariness Solitude and Uncouthness is very burdensom to the Nature of man who by his Constitution is a Sociable Creature and desirous of Society now this is that which is supplyed by Converse and Communion with God whom a Gracious Heart delights in as a Companion and makes him to be so to him by his thoughts and Meditations of him he resolves when he is alone to betake himself to God by these Duties and indeed he is never less alone then when thus imployed Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus Divine Soliquyes has the advantage of the sweetest Society Secondly Of Counsell in Vncertanties Thy Testimonies says David they are my delight and my Counsellers Psal 119.24 His delight and his Counsellers that is his delight because his Counsellers his Counsellers and therefore his delight we know how delightful it is to any to have the advantage of good Counsell according to the perplexities and Distractions in which they may be Ointment and Perfume rejoyce the Heart so doth the sweetness of a mans Friend by hearty Counsell
not some Light ones onely but such as were very Irksome and hard to be born That is Chastening me sore First I say in this Expression we have the Frequency and Reiteration of these Chastenings even again and again This is one thing which God is pleased sometimes to do with his Children when he has Chastened them once to return to it and Chasten them a fresh and to renew his Chastenings to them When Sin is repeated Punishment is repeated likewise and when we return to our Transgressions God himself returns to his Corrections and Chastisements of us as is most requisite and Convenient for us Look as it is with Physitians in regard of the Body when the same Distemper comes again they give the same Physick to remove it and to take it away even so does the great Physitian in reference to the Soul Relapses into Sin will cause Relapses into Sickness or into any other trouble for Sin which it is a ground and occasion of The one follows upon the other in Gods most wise and prudent Dispensations Secondly Here 's the Multitude of Corrections He hath Chastened me in Chastening that is he hath sent one Affliction upon another this is another thing here observable in Gods proceedings towards the Sons of men one Deep calls to another Psal 42.7 Deep calleth unto Deep at the noise of thy water-spouts all thy Waves and thy Billowes are gone over me And so Job in Job 16.14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant Thus did the Lord with that Holy man he had Messenger upon Messenger of Evil tidings which hapned unto Him of the Chaldeans and Sabeans c. Thou renewest thy Witnesses against me and Increasest thine Indignation upon me in Job 10.17 Thirdly Here 's the Greiviousness of the Correction Repition implies Intention and so here he hath Chastened me in Chastening that is He hath Chastened me sore as our own Translation here gives it Thus God oftentimes does likewise he layes heavy Afflictions upon his People Thus the Church complains to God Psal 44.19 Thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadows of Death And Psal 80.5 Thou feedest them with the Bread of Tears and givest them Tears to drink in great measure Job The arrows of the Almighty were in him Heman His wrath lay hard upon him Paul He was Prest above measure and so of the rest And there 's very good cause for it God sees it to be necessary for us oftentimes to deal thus with us as simply to Chasten us so now and then to Chasten us sore and that especially that Patience may have its perfect work in us and that the Cure may be throughly wrought in us For strong Humours require strong Physick to purge them out Where Corruption is deeply rooted in the Heart there it is not a light or small matter which will serve the turn to work it out No but there must be a great deal of stir and adoe which is to be made with it The Use which we should make of it is therefore from hence to learn to understand the Providences of God in this particular to be satisfied in them and prepared for them we are apt to think our troubles to be such as none were ever before us see here how it is with David Chastened me sore And as I said there is cause for it that God may be clear when he Judges there are some Natures and Dispositions which a small or light Correction will doe no good upon him but they are apt to despise it and therefore God sees it necessary to deal more severely with them and to take a sharper Course to mend them And so I have done with the first General part of the Text which is the Condition it self The Lord hath Chastened me sore c. The Second is the Qualification of this Condition But he hath not given me over to Death which words are to be considered of us two manner of ways First in their Connexion with the words that went before And Secondly In their absolute Consideration as taken alone by themselves First In their Connexion and so I say they are a Qualification of those that went before and they serve to shew unto us the manner of Gods dealings with his people which is to mitigate his Afflictions of them and to Correct them still in measure he Chastens them but does not undoe them Thus 2 Cor. 6.9 As Dying but behold we live As Chastened but not kild And so 2 Cor. 4.8.9 Troubled on every side but not Distressed Perplexed but not in Dispair Persecuted but not forsaken Cast down but not destroyed And 1 Cor. 10.13 God is Faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able but will with the Temptation find a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it Though he cause Grief yet will he have Compassion according to the Multitude of his Mercies Lam. 3.32 And so here now in this present Scripture Though he Chastens yet he gives not over unto Death The reason of it is this because Gods Ayme and Intent is not Destruction but Reformation which Death doth hinder and prevent the opportunities of unto us Though it is true that even in Death it self God can work much to this purpose as to the Changeing and bettering of the Heart yet for the outward Life and Conversation and the reforming of that this by Death is taken away Secondly As God does thus mitigate his Corrections in Wisdome so also in Mercy because he is a Gracious God and he continues still so to be without alteration Lam. 3.22 It is of the Lords Mercies that we are not Consumed because his Compassions fail not They are new every Morning great is thy Faithfulness And Malach. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not Consumed The Lord is full of very much tenderness in this particular as it is related Concerning the Israelites that though they carried themselves perversely towards him Yet he being full of Compassion forgave them their Iniquities and destroyed them not Yea many a times turned he his Anger away and did not suffer his whole Indignation to arise for he remembred that they were but Flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again Psal 78.38 39. And Psal 102.13.14 Like as a Father pittieth his Children so the Lord pittieth them that fear him for he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are but Dust in Psal 103.13.14 And again Esay 57.16 I will not contend for Ever neither will I be always wrath for the Spirit would fail before me and the Souls which I have made God stands very much upon this to prevent Discouragement in his Servants This should therefore First of all teach us to acknowledg Gods Goodness in this respect and to praise him for it as David Psal 119.75 I know O Lord that thy
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
tam ubi animat quam ubi amat even so it is with a Christian towards God He is alwayes with him in regard of Disposition and Affection to Him Secondly In regard of Actual Application A Good Christian is careful still to repair to God and to draw near to him whensoever he can To raise and excite and stir up his heart to take hold upon him Thus may this passage be taken in an Indefinite and Hypothetical signification But further Secondly which I conceive most proper and pertinent to the scope of the place it may be taken more Restrainedly and Positively making Quando to be as much as Quamprimum When I awake that is as soon as I awake And so there will be this in it That it is the care of a good Christian as soon as ever he findes himself awake to be still with the Lord. And this for the Explication of the Time Designed when I awake Now for the state it self which is Being with God this remains to be unfolded by us what is to be understood by it and in what respect a Christian when he is awake may be said to be with him we may take it in three particulars especially First by Meditation Secondly By Communion 3dly By Action A Christian in each of these respects is said to awake with God First By way of Meditation A Gracious soul is with God when he awakes in this particular It is the care of a good Christian and so ought to be to have God and the things of God when he awakes still in his thoughts Our Thoughts are precious things being the immediate issue of our souls and are not to be lightly bestowed by us especial our first thoughts And on whom can we better bestow them then on him that helps us to them and without whom we are not sufficient of our selves so much as to think as the Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 3.5 My Meditation of him shall be sweet Psal 104.34 This is sutable to the Context it self in 17 verse of this Psalm How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God! where by thy Thoughts we are to understand not onely what God thought of David by taking it Subjective but also as well what David thought of God by taking it Objective How precious are thy thoughts that is the thoughts which I have of thee and whereof I have Ground and Occasion ministred to me from thee It was a great delight and refreshment to David when he first awak'd from sleep in the morning to have God still in his Thoughts And so is it likewise with every other Good man besides There 's the same desire and Disposition in him This proceeds and arises from the sutableness which is in the heart of a Christian to God Himself Every mans thoughts commonly are pitch'd according to his Inclination Because David was a man after Gods own heart therefore was Davids heart fastened upon God in Contemplation and he was ever and anon musing upon him Therefore he remembred him upon his Bed and meditated on him in the night watches as it is in Psal 63.6 This is a sure Rule That where a man's Treasure is there will also be his Heart And this is the Reason that the Worldling has his first Thoughts still upon the world The Covetuous man when he awakes he may say He is still with his Gold And the Ambitious man when he awakes he may say he is still with his Preferments And the Voluptuous man when he awakes he may say he is stil with his Recreations and Carnal Pleasures What 's the reason of this Because these are such things as such Persons do most agree with and so consequently their Thoughts and Meditations are most upon them In like manner does it hold of a good Christian in reference to God His thoughts are first upon Him because his Heart is chiefly towards Him This is to be understood especially of such thoughts as are setled and deliberate and composed such thoughts as a man sets himself to with intention and suffers to abide in him these are for the most part sutable and agreeable to the frame of his Heart Now because a Godly man has his Heart full of Heaven and God and Goodness and the Graces of the Spirit therefore are such things as these very often and early in his thoughts When he awakes he is still with God Namely in regard of Meditation That 's he First The Second is in regard of Communion that 's another ay whereby we are with God We are with him as conversing with him there is a sweet Familiarity and Entercourse of Spirit which a Godly man exercises with God in the Morning and in the Night it self as of one friend with another not only in the more solemne performance of Prayer at large but also in the more short and sudden Ejaculations of Soul or Spirit drawing as it were breath from God and sending up holy desires and affections to Him Look as Friends when they meet in a Morning they have their mutual greeting between them a loving and friendly salute one of another Even so is it with it's due proportions betwixt God and the Soul the Soul speaking to him and he returning upon it by way of Reciprocation Thus the Scripture seems it self to hint to us in divers places as in Job 35.10 None saith where is God my maker who giveth Songs in the Night Mark Songs in the Night what 's the meaning of that that is those sweet and Heavenly Conferences which are betwixt God and the Heart in those times of repose and retirement There are many who when they lie awake in the Night it is very pleasing and Comfortable to them to hear some songs and other musicall refreshments Oh but there 's no musick or Melody which is so sweet as this which is that therefore that a Christian should especially look after for this we have the example of the Church the Spouse of Christ Cant. 3.1 By Night on my Bed I sought him whom my Soul loved c. Not onely when she was up and abroad in the Streets but upon her Bed in the Night she then calls and cries for her Beloved So again in Esay 26.9 We shall find the like manner of expression the Prophet there brings in the Church thus speaking to God With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek the Early I have desired thee in the Night what does he understand by that There are two things which he may mean by it First By taking it Metaphorically in the Night that is in the time of Affliction that we shall find sometimes to be set forth by such an expression because it is a season of Sadness and in this does the Church most Earnestly seek unto God when she is destitute of all other helps and deprived of all other Comforts In this black and dismal Night does she then make this Application Or Secondly
in that but for their Gardens and Orchards and Vineyards wherein they take much delight these they are carefull of the preservation of them upon hat account And so is the Lord of his Church and People in whom he delights Thirdly In point of Provision God takes pleasure in them and therefore he will take care of them and see that nothing which is fitting for them may be wanting unto them It is that which may very much strengthen the Faith of Gods people in his Providence to consider that they are such as are in special favour with God The Lord God is a Son and sheild the Lord will give Grace and Glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly as the Prophet David tells us in Psal 84.11 There 's nothing which they can need or desire but they may be sure to have it confer'd and bestowed upon them What is thy Petition and it shall be given thee even to the half of my Kingdom It was the saying of Ahasuerus to Queen Hester in whom he delighted she could ask nothing but she might have it It is said in Psal 35.27 That God takes pleasure in the Prosperity of his Servants Now how does he come to take pleasure in their Prosperity but because he first takes pleasure in their Persons while their Persons are acceptable to Him their Conditions are accordingly ordered and provided for by Him and while he takes pleasure in their Prosperity he cannot indure to behold their Destruction This is a very Comfortable Meditation under the greatest fears and perplexities that may be when the Servants of God do not know what will become of them as to such and such particulars yet knowing for the General that they are in favour and acceptance with him they may from hence conclude and be assured that therefore nothing shall befall them amiss or therwise then is convenient for them Thus David Himself reason'd and teaches us to reason likewise 2 Sam. 15.25.26 If I shall find favour in the Eyes of the Lord he will then bring me back again and show me his Ark and his Habitation But if he shall say I have no delight in thu behold here am I let him do to me as seemoth good unto Him Thus we should learn to resolve and to determine in such Cases as these are that so far forth as we are delightful to God and as he takes any pleasure in us we cannot Miscarry The Lord taketh pleasure in his people and he beautifieth the Meek with Salvation they are both joyned together Psal 149.4 But here it may be seasonably demanded and inquired into by us how far forth this may be known and discovered to us that we are such indeed in whom the Lord does take pleasure I answer briefly thus First by his Communion with us those that delight in any persons they never care to be out of their Company nor to have them out of their sight they love to be Continually in presence and society with them Now according to this Character may we judge of Gods delight in our selves when as namely he draws nearer unto us by the Gracious motions and influences of his Spirit There are sweet and Heavenly intercourses betwixt God and that Soul which he delights in when men shall pass from day to day and have no converse at all with God by his Spirit but shall carry Himself as a Stranger to them and be averse from them it is a sign that he hath no delight in them but delight it is still followed with Society and Communion as belonging thereunto Secondly By his Imployment of us those that men take any delight in they will make use of them upon all occasions and do take pleasure in setting them on work but now when God shall lay men aside as useless and unprofitable persons they are as so many Vessels wherein is no pleasure as the Scripture expresses it so far forth as God delights to imploy us so far forth does he delight in us Hide not thy face far from me put not away thy Servant in Anger they both go together Psal 27.9 Thirdly By his kindness to us and the things which he does for us his delight in us is discovered by that especially according to the Nature and Quality of them Those that God delights in he delights to do good to their Souls and their inward man to mortify their Lusts to subdue their Corruptions to preserve them from Temptations He that pleaseth God shall not be taken in such snares whereas others shall be taken in them and by them So far as God favours a man he will keep him from great Miscarriages and from an allowance and indulgence of Less And that 's the first use of this point in a way of Consolation The Second may be in a way of Conviction to perswade us more and more of this Truth for although this be so indeed as has been now shewn and declared unto us yet it is that which the Servants of God do not always so readily Beleive and entertain in their minds There is a base and secret Jealousy which is apt oftentimes to arise in the people of God so as to think and suspect as if God took not that pleasure in them which indeed he does And therefore there can never be too much said to perswade them of this point now before us The Ground of this Suspition in them does for the most part proceed from his outward Carriage and Dispensations to them they cannot think that God delights in them so long as he Corrects and Chastises them but do from hence conclude rather that he hates them This was the mistake of Gideon Judg. 6.12.13 When the Angel of the Lord came to him with this salutation The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour Then Gideon said unto him Oh my Lord If the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us He could not think that Gods presence and his Corrections could consist together when as they were such as were very well Consistant Because whom he loveth he Chasteneth c. And so it is also in the Misconceit of Sion Esay 49.14 When it was said in the verse before that God had Comforted his people and would have Mercy upon his Afflicted but Sion said The Lord hath forsaken me and my Lord hath forgotten me This is that which the dearest Servants of God are subject to and therefore they have need to be well-setled and confirmed in such Truths as these are and to consider them and rule them in their thoughts which howsoever perhaps at other times they may think they are sufficiently perswaded of yet in times of trouble and outward Calamity they are very ready to call into question Thirdly It serves in a way of Exhortation and Excitement and that to a double purpose and intent First To teach the servants of God by way of gratitude and thankful returns to delight in Him Secondly
this Mercy and that we are inabled so to do it is that which every one cannot do even there where there is Mercy fitted and prepared and provided for him go praise God for that Thirdly That God accepts of this Hope from us and is so well pleased with it in us we have cause to praise him likewise for this to say the Lord be magnified as who rejoyces in the Prosperity so takes pleasure in the Graces of his Servants and that even at such times as he neglects the great thins of the World and in a sort despises them That the Bones of the mighty are oftentimes broken while they that stumbled are girt with strength as Hannah in her Song expresses it 1 Samuel 2.4 And so I have done with these words as in their absolute Consideration so in their Comparative and so with the whole Text it self The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his Mercy SERMON XXIX Prov. 3.17 Her wayes are wayes of Pleasantness and all her paths are Peace It is the Nature and Disposition of Artists and those which are of any Mystery or Profession as much as they can to extoll and advance that Profession which they are off and to Commend it to the Consideration of others As Paul of the Ministry of the Gentiles I magnifie mine own Office Rom. 11.13 Every one is ready to magnifie that way which he takes up to Himself above all others whatsover and this as it is observable in other things so amongst the rest especially in Religion and the wayes of Godliness Those which are the Professors of this they desire as much as may be to Commend it and set it forth to the view of other men Wisdom is justified of her Children as our Saviour tells us Thus we may observe it to be here in this Scripture which we have now before us in the Example of the wise man Solomon who being a Son of Wisdome and of special Wisdom especially that is Grace and Holiness and Religion which he here speaks off does in divers Chapters together applaud it and praise it all he can that so thereby he may invite others unto it IN these words we have described unto us the Excellency of Godliness and Religion in two particulars which may serve to make up unto us the parts of the Text. First From it's Pleasure and delight Her wayes are wayes of pleasantness Secondly From it's Tranquility and Quiet And all her paths are peace We begin First of all with the former to wit the description of Godliness from the pleasure and delight which is in it The wayes of Godliness and Religion are exceeding pleasing and delightful wayes they carry a great deal of sweetness and Contentment and pleasantness in them This is the point which is here exhibited unto us and it dâ—â—â— appear out of other places of Scripture likewise as Psal 36.8 David speaking of the Church and members of it sayes That they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Gods House and that he would make them to drink of the Rivers of his pleasures And Psal 118.15 The voyce of joy and Salvaton is sayd to be in the Tabernacles of the Righteousness So Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the Righteous and Gladness for the Vpright in Heart Esay 51.11 The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their Head they shall obtain gladness and joy and Sorrow and Mourning shall flee away Esay 64.5 Thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness where you see they are both joyned together And Galat. 5.22 The fruit of the Spirit is joy Now this Truth it may be further amplyfied and made good to us in sundry particulars which do prove and confirm it unto us There is a great deal of pleasure in Religion in sundry respects Wee 'l take them in that order as they do offer and present themselves to our thoughts As First of all In the work of Grace and Regeneration wrought in the heart All the several Graces of the Spirit and the habits of Sanctification which are in us they do reflect very sweetly upon us and there is a great deal of delight and Contentment to the Soul which does see them in it self Take a man which is full of Lusts and Corruptions which bear sway in him and he is a loathsome and abominable Creature sometimes even in his own Apprehensions A wicked and ungodly man he is in some manner odious to himself and is overcome as I may say now and then even with his own stench like a man which is in filthy Rags and torn and uncomely Garments he does not like himself in them But now on the otherside a good Christian which has the Grace of the Spirit of God in him and the work of the New Creature in his Soul he is so far forth pleasing to himself Grace is a very sweet and odoriferous Qualification as it casts a sweet savor into the Nostrils of all others that stand by it so especially as I may say into the Nostrils of all those that partake of it That Soul which is indued with it is like one that has roll'd himself in a Bed of Spices who is all over sweet and delightful I might set it forth to you in all the resemblances of Comfort and Contentment look whatever it be which in the discovery and discerning of it does usually afford delight to our selves the same may be applyed to the Graces of Gods Spirit and the sanctifying Qualities which are in us not onely as odoures and sweet spices to the smell it 's pleasing to be sensible of them But likewise further as Treasures of Gold and Silver there are many which much delight in them The Rich man when he looks in to his Coffers how much contentment does he take in them even there where others deride him and laughed at him Populus mei sibilat c. Yea but now a Godly man recounting the Graces which are in him has more true comfort and content by far And that 's the First particular wherein Godliness proves so delightful In the work of Regeneration and the habits of the Spirit of God in us Secondly As there 's a sweetness in reflecting upon Grace in the having of it so especially in the Exercise of it Every Grace the more it is improveed carries a delight and pleasurableness in it in what kind soever Therefore the Psalmist tells us that in keeping of Gods Commandments there is great Reward Mark not onely for the keeping but in the keeping be-shomran Psal 19.11 There 's Praemium ante Praemium A reward before the reward even in the thing it self Sutable to the nature of the Grace is the Exhibition of the comfort yea the very Heathen and Moralists themselves so far forth as they exercised vertue and practised that natural goodness which was in them they had some kind of comfort and contentment
sence a comforting of us in Distresses a companion for us in solitariness and loneliness and what not If there be so much contentment in other Authors how much more is there in the book of God which is the chief Book of all It is the want of Experience and Tryal of such performanees as these are which makes any to be ignorant of the Delight and sweetness which is in them Those which have tasted of honey they know the sweetness of honey And so those which have tasted of Gods word they know the Excellency and Comfortableness which is in it and will desire it again and again Thirdly The Communion of Saints how pleasant likewise is this That holy Conference and Discourse which Christians have one with another in provoking one another to love and good works in quickning one anothers graces in Communicating one anothers Experiences in the inlarging of one anothers Comforts As Iron sharpens iron so does the heart of man here his friend It is the begining even of Heaven it self and a pledge of that perfect contentment which the Saints shall have hereafter in that place which should stir us up so much the more to the practise of it We see how it was with the Disciples in the first Plantations of the Christian Church Acts 2.46 They continued daily with one accord in Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of bread from house in house and did their meat with gladness and singleness of heart They did eat their meat with gladness namely in regard of the delight which they had one with another Fourthly The Communion which Christ and the Saints both take at the Lords Table There is a great deal of Contentment here also How does the soul of a Christian feast it self with these Royal and heavenly Preparations Here Christ spreads His Table as it were for us sets before us His Milk and His Wine and His Honey and His Oyl and all that may be to give us refreshment A conscientious Christian who uses these things as he ought not Formally not Customarily but in obedience and dependance upon God He findes a great deal of Comfort in them which another does not find As Jonathan when he had tasted of the honey in 1 Sam. 14.27 It is said his eyes were enlightned by it and he was cheared and revived in his spirit and more strengthned for the pursuit of the Philistims even so is it with a Godly soul in its partaking of these Comfortable dainties this spiritual honey and Oyle he becomes more inlighten'd in his judgement more quicken'd and inlarged in his Affections and so much the more fitted to incounter with all his spiritual enemies whereas those which abstain from that grow weary and faint as the people did there in that place that abstained from the tasting of the honey There 's no Epicure has such pleasure in his Corporal dainties as a good Christian has in these Spiritual which he does by faith apply himself to and in an holy manner partake off Lastly In a word Take the whole Sabbath together The sanctifying of the Lords day in all the several performances of it and the mixture of the one with the another how much sweetness is there in it The Scripture tells us of some that make the Sabbath a delight as there are others which make it a burden Isa 58.13 14. Amos 8.5 This is the different Disposition of Persons in the world though some snuff at the Ordinances yet others take Contentment in them A Godly man he rejoyces when the Sabbath is come it is the best day to him in all the week in regard of that satiety of soul which he meets with in it He is hereby taken off from the world and the distracting imployments of it He is set upon thoughts of God and Heaven and Salvation and the life to come such thoughts as have some kind of a satisfactoriness and pleasingness in them And the very change and intercourse of Duty is not without its delight herein also sometimes Prayers and sometimes Hearing and sometimes Meditating and sometimes Conferring and sometimes Reading and sometimes Singing How graciously has God provided for our weakness in this particular while our Natures are so desirous of Varity that no one duty might be tedious to us we have many Duties to imploy our selves in and to exercise our selves with And that 's a Third Explication of the Pleasantness which is in Godlyness viz. from the Duties and Exercises of Religion Now the point thus Explain'd unto us may be fruitful in these following Applications Namely First As it serves to confute the fond conceit of men of the World which they have concerning Godliness and the ways of Piety There are many which are of this opinion that Religion is a Melancholly Condition that it makes men pensive and sad and has no pleasure nor delight in it at all and hence they come to be discouraged from the following and professing of it and are apt to discourage others likewise from following it to But this proceeds from a plain mistake and Ignorance and erroniousness of Judgment in them for indeed it is quite contrary as 't is here exprest to us in this Text. Her wayes are wayes of Pleasantness There 's a great deal of sweet delight and refreshment in the wayes of Godliness to those which walk in them and what ever is pleasant in any ways the same is to be found here in these First Godly Prospects they are one thing which make a way pleasant green Fields and flowing Rivers and the like to walk by such wayes as these it carries a great deal of pleasure and delight with it why thus now does the Spirit of God in Scripture set forth to us the wayes of Religion Psal 23.2.3 He makes me to lie down in green Pastures he leads me besides the still Waters he restoreth my Soul he leadeth me in the paths of Righteousness for his name sake Where the latter is an Explication of the former The green Pastures and still Waters are no others then the paths of Righteousness and the Ordinances which lead thereunto Secondly Another pleasantness of wayes consists in their Lightsomeness to walk in dark wayes in Holes and Woods and the like it carries no pleasure at all in it He that walkes in Darkness he knoweth not whether he goeth sayes the Apostle and from thence can have no pleasure in his walk such are the wayes of Sin and Wickedness no comfort at all in them Who leaves the paths of Vprightness to walk in the wayes of Darkness Pro. 2.13 But the wayes of Grace are otherwise Light is sown for the Righteous as it is in the place before used And joy for the Vpright in heart Thirdly Another Pleasantness of the way is much taken from the Company Comes facundus in via per rehiculo est Why this now is the advantage of Goodness there 's good Company in this way Prov. 2.20 That thou mayest walk in the way
of Good men and keep the paths of the Righteous Indeed I must further add thus much as concerning the further opening of this point that when we teach that the wayes of Plety are pleasant wayes First We do not deny but that Religion causes some kind of Greif and Sorrow which goes along with it It discovers sad things to the Soul concerning Sin and Hell and Damnation and wrath to come but then it discovers them so as to free those persons from them to whom it does discover them The Sun raises Vapors in the Morning but then it scatters them and dispels them by Noon and so does the Spirit of God with the Soul in this Business as our Saviour told his Disciples Ye shall indeed mourn but your sorrow shall be turned into joy Blessed are you that weep for ye shall be Comforted Godly sorrow it always ends in Heavenly Comfort and God never sadden any of his Children but he does it to this end and purpose that so occasionally from hence he may cause them the more to rejoyce and that their joy may be so much the more firm and fixt and lasting to them so that still 't is a way of pleasantness in regard of the end The more we sow in Tears the more we shall reap in joy That 's one Qualification of this point Again Secondly When we say that the wayes of Spiritual Wisdom and Grace are wayes of pleasantness we do not mean it of the mad mirth of the world which consists in nothing but Vanity and Folly and Luxuriancy of Spirit No it is not such a kind of pleasantness which is here intended but a Sanctified and Spiritual kind of pleasure A delight in Heavenly and a delight in Earthly things in an Holy and Heavenly manner For this we must know likewise that Godliness does not deny us a free and liberal use of the Creatures in the due time and measure which does therefore further take off the scandall which from hence is cast upon Religion as if it did utterly exclude all outward and worldly Joy In Friends and in Estates and in Recreations and such as these No It does not so indeed it moderats and qualifies it that it exceeds not and passes not it's Bounds A man that professes Religion though he may lawfully use the Creatures yet he may not be vain in the use of them and give himself that scope and liberty which others take to themselves in the injoyment of them Here there is a restraint upon him but for the thing it self there 's none Non Isaoc moroeter sed aries sayes Bernard sweetly It is not Isaac must Die but the Ram. Isaac in the proper notion of the word it signifies Laughter God will have us to offer it he will not have us to kill it Non peribet tibi laetitia sed Contumacia It is not thy joy it self which God will have slain but the ramishness and rankness of it the excrescency and perversness of it Take away this and Religion has as much rejoycing as any other Condition allowed unto it Again Thirdly We must take in this likewise that it pleases God to exercise his Children with Affections here in this world above many others besides Not onely with trouble for Sin but likewise with trouble from outward Crosses but still he is doing them good by them in their inward man and he follows their outward Crosses with the inward Comforts of his Spirit which does abundantly make it up Yea this is one benefit of Godliness which I named as an instance to prove the point in shewing wherein it is pleasant in that it does make even Afflictions themselves to be comfortable in the bearing of them so that take it which way we will the wayes of Wisdom will be wayes of Pleasure from whence we justly see the madness of those which think otherwise of it But against this it may be happily objected If Religion be thus pleasant as we speak off what may be the reason then that no more look after it then they do and take no more pleasure in it To this I answer First of all The reason why no more look after these pleasant wayes is indeed because they are ignorant and unacquainted with the Pleasantness of them we use to say Ignoti nulla cupido where there is no knowledg or apprehension of any good in any thing there is no desire of it and so t is for the most part here men are to seek in the Excellency of these things and therefore neglect them If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink thou wouldst have askt of him and he would have given thee living water sayes our Saviour to the woman of Samaria John 4.10 Even so may we say in this case to Worldly men if they knew the sweetness which were in Religion they would not be void of Relgion but would by all means apply themselves to it They do not know or believe the Scriptures and the Spirit of God in the Ministry of the word which gives knowledg and intimation of these things Secondly As this proceeds from Ignorance so it likewise proceeds from un-activity and want of tryal of the sweetness of these wayes Though a man should know or at least believe that such and such a meat were sweet and pleasant yet if he did not eat it and take it into his mouth he would have no actual delight in it Delight it proceeds from operation and so here Those that are not Conversant in Religion they have no pleasure in Religion Those that doe not walk in these wayes they cannot discern how pleasant they are And thus 't is in this present business Men do not therefore take contentment in Godliness and the pathes of Spiritual Wisdom because indeed they are unacquainted and un-accustomed for the most part to them Thirdly it does likewise proceed from the want of a right principle What 's Delight but a Suteableness and Agreement of the Faculty with the Object Let the Object be never so pleasant yet if â—â—ere be not an Eye to see it or a taste to rellish it and the like there can no delight or comfort arise from it All the sweet-meats in the world are nothing to a Distemper'd Palate All the pleasant Meadows that are they are nothing to a blind eye and so again 't is here Men are therefore not perswaded of the Sweetness and Pleasantness which is in Godliness because indeed they want such gracious Principles as should make them sensible and apprehensive of it This is the work of the Spirit of God and of him alone who therefore must be sought unto for it And this is the true account of mens carriage in this particular which yet is no disparagement to the thing it self nor any sufficient warrant for men therefore to think the worse of Religion And therefore this may be the first Use Namely as a word of Conviction and
Furnace This we may be sure and take notice of for our instruction we are not born Christians but made so Christiani Non nasciuntur sed siunt It is not a business of Nature but a business of Art Nor of Humane Art neither but Divine as we shall see more hereafter out of the following words of the Text The Lord tryeth the hearts And therefore this may discover to us the vanity of all such persons as have other conceits of it which think to be Gold and Silver as they come out of the impure Earth without refining in their pure Naturals No it will not be If we have no other Principles in us than which we brought with us into the World we shall never be Currant Coin in God's Account no such as he will one day take or accept from us But he will reject us and cast us away at the Great Day and time of Payment Therefore I say let us here take notice of our Conditions in this particular and see what we are Take the best of us by nature and there we are nothing but Dross no Gold nor Silver at all in us but such as is counterfeit And take us when Grace has refined us and we have many gross and drossy Intermixtures still adhering to us which will not be removed but by those means which God has sanctified and set apart for such a purpose a these here before us in the Text. These are here under a Double Specification The Fining Pot and the Furnace which have their answerable Preparations even in Spirituals The Fining Pot that is the Word of God And the Furnace that is the Rod of God Either of these does the Lord as he sees sitting take an occasion to purifie his Servants by First By his Word he desires to begin with that The word of the Lord tryed him Psal 105.29 And so it does many more besides This it has a Special Vertue through the power of God's Spirit joyning with it to reform and better the heart and to purge away its dross from it Heb. 4.12 For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart This it will shew a man his Corruption of Nature and discover to him the wickedness which is in his heart As we have divers instances hereof in the Disciples that went to Emmaus Did not our hearts burn within us And St. Peter's Converts When they heard it they wee pricked at their hearts And so the Jayâ—oâ— and divers others to whom the Word of God has been instead of a Fining Pot to separate their Corruption from them as to discover it to them Secondly By Affliction that is his Furnace Isa 58.10 I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction Affliction is God's Furnace wherein he purges and purifies his Gold and takes away the dross of it And accordingly does the Scripture represent it Therefore it is called the Fiery Tryal which is to try us 1 Pet. 4.12 And the tryal of our faith which is much more precious than the gold that perisheth though it be tryed with fire c. 1 Pet. 1.7 Therefore we should so look upon it and be perswaded of it and of God's Intendments in the imposing of it The Furnace it is not for the hurt of the Gold but for the advantage to make it more pure and useful and precious to form it in some Vessel of Service and Honour sit for the Master's use and so are Troubles and Afflictions to the people of God which should make them the more patiently to bear them when he lays them upon them It is true that this is an harsh Doctrine to Flesh and Blood and we are all ready to shrink at it but Grace it will close with it so far forth as it is prevailing in any measure in us And so it should We should look upon the Furnace not so much in the heat of it but in the improvement the end of setting it up and the effect which follows upon it and then we shall be satisfied exceedingly by it as the Apostle intimates to us Heb. 12.11 There is no chastisement which for the present is joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it brings forth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness to those which are excercised thereby This is that which we should look upon such Dispensations as these in the love and Wisdom of God which does appoint them and the blessed and happy Fruit which does arise from them And further labor also to be bettered by every hand of God upon us that so therein we may close with his gracious Ends If God casts us into the Furnace to come out of it better then we went in be sure of that otherwise it will be so much the worse for us Yea if we be true Gold indeed it will be so with us Corruption it is hardened by Affliction but Grace it is refined Take a man that has a wicked heart and crosses they do not make him better but make him worse more impatient and obstinate and Rebellious and standing out against God and contesting with him like that wretched Jehoram 2 Kings 6 ult But a man that hath a true work of Grace wrought upon his Spirit he will be so much the better more wary of himself more compassionate to others more meek and humble tractable and obedient and thankfull These things will follow with it But so much for this as also of the First General in the Text viz. The Propsition The Fining pot c. The Second follows which is the Reddition But the Lord Tryeth c. According to the usual manner of Speech it should not be but but so But we will take it as lies before us where this Adversative Particle hath a Threefold Emphasis in it First an Emphasis of Proportion Secondly an Emphasis of Exception Thirdly an Emphasis of Designment or of Appropriation An Emphasis of Proportion First by taking but for so And so it signifies thus much unto us that the Lord is no less able or carefull to try the hearts of the Sons of men then the Goldsmith is his Silver and Gold As that does the one so does this also the other so the Lord tryeth the hearts When we speak of Gods trying of the heart it may be taken two manner of ways Either first of all in a way of Discovery or Secondly in a way of Purification He tries them to make known what is in them and he tries them to remove that which is corrupt and amiss from them to each purposes he tries them First In a way of Discovery He tries them so as to discern them and make known what they are This the Lord does and this he is said to do in Scripture not only here but elsewhere Thus Exod. 16.4 I
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
behind us saying This is the way walk ye in it when we turn either to the right hand or to the left But now farther if we please we may take these words a little more at large as I in part hinted before When ye turn to the right hand or to the left not as touching it of two extreams but in reference to all the passages of our lives whatsoever they be When ye turn to the right hand or to the left that is whatsoever place ye are in whatever business ye are about whatever condition befalls you ye shall have the hints of the Word and Spirit of God assistant to you This is the promise which is made to the Saints and Servants of God And it is made not only here in this Text but also in divers other places besides as Psal 37.5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass So Prov. 3.6 In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy pathes So again in Prov. 16.3 Commit thy Works unto the Lord and thy Thoughts shall be Established This Disposition in God towards his People is founded on his Affection to them He loves them and therefore he Counsels them and cannot abide to see them miscarry Love it is full of direction of the party which it is placed upon and will not suffer him to go out of his way And so it is with God to us This is a great Comfort and Incouragement to us and should quicken us especially in his service wherein especially we are sure to have him to guide us and go before us and be assistant unto us And that in the darkness of this World wherein we walk If a man have a bad way yet if he have a good guide it is some Comfort to him This is the Lord to his Servants He teaches them to go taking them by the hand as it in Hos 11.3 Oh how much should we be affected herewith Especially in this Age and Time wherin we live In which we have so many Labarynths and uncertainties that a great many do not know what to do nor what way to betake themselves to We have so many humours and conceits amongst us that we know not almost what to believe nor what to practise It is the case and condition of many people that they are at a nonplus and almost at their wits ends in this particular Well in all these uncertainties and distractions Here 's the Comfort and Incouragement of Gods servants which do not provoke him to do otherwise with them from some default or miscarriage in them in which case it may be suspended to them That they shall hear a word behind them saying this is the way walk in it when they turn c. But here it may partinently be demanded How this word shall be discerned and known because there 's a great deal of deceit and mistake in the particulars many taking that to be the word and spirit of God which is no more but their own foolish fancy and the suggestions and intimation of the Devil joyning with their own corrupt hearts It is the condition of many people now in these present days and never more than now it is For this There are divers Touchstones and discoveries of it which we will briefly instance in First Let this within thee be regulated by the word without thee And the motions and suggestions of the Spirit examined by the Rule of the Scripture and the written word of God to the Law and the Testimony If they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isa 8.20 God never speaks in the Conscience contrary to what he speaks in the Scripture for he is unchangeable and cannot deny himself If therefore we have any motions in us which are cross and opposite hereunto we have very greet cause to suspect them as coming to us from another hand yea to abandon them and to bid defiance to them For which as the Wind does not sit at the same time in two contrary corners North and South so neither does the Spirit breath in two contrary motions Good and Evil. The motions of the spirit are always suitable and agreeable to it self Secondly They are also orderly and regular They keep men within the compass of their Callings and the spheres and the place which God has set them in Motions either from mens own Spirits or the spirit of Satan acting in them they are many times out of course they carry them above their line and make them to stretch themselves beyond their measure as the Apostle speaks But those which come from God and the suggestions and inclinations of his spirit they confine them and keep them within bounds They order them and frame them and keep them within bounds suitable to their several stations and Relations and Conditions and Circumstances in the world which they have regard and heed unto So likewise which we may refer hereunto they are agreeable also to the law of Nature and Civility and ingenuity in us Therefore such motions as cross these they are not such as come from Gods spirit but from the spirit of the Devil when any are carried to such acts as are against Civility and common modesty it self Thirdly They are also mild and gentle and seasonable They are not ordinarily violent raptures but such as leave a man in a right apprehension of what he does and reflexion upon it A man knows where he is and what he does while he is followed with them which in the motions of Satan is otherwise Fourthly They are discernable also from their Effects and the ends which they tend unto all the hints and motions of Gods spirit they still tend to make us better and to carry us nearer to himself one way or other they serve to promote Piety and Holiness in us and to better us especially and above all in our Inward man whereas those which are contrary and do serve to weaken Grace in us they have another spring for them Lastly In all these Cases the Spirit commonly brings his own Conviction and Evidence with him And as he says This is the way walk ye in it so he does likewise manifest that it is he that says it from whence the Soul of a Christian may be assured that he is not mistaken or deluded in it Look as those which had the Spirit of Prophesy they did by the same light know both the truth of the things themselves which they prophesied about as also that it was from God that message which they delivered even so is it with those also still which have any motions of the Spirit of God in them they do at one and the same time know both the things themselves which they are moved unto as also the Authour and Original of them But so much for that In these hints and suggestions of the Spirit this voice behinde us may be discovered by
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
Civility and Moral Principles This was the strength which was in Paul before his Conversion He seem'd to have much strength in him and so in a sense he had for we see what a strict man he was and how unblameably as himself sayes he liv'd and profited in the Jewes Religion above many of his equals in his own Nation But what was the reason of it and how came it to be thus with him why it was because he had taken it by Tradition from his Fathers He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees one that was brought up amongst them that sate at the feet of Gamaliel a great Rabbi and Doctor of the Law and from hence came to do so many things which belong'd thereunto Thus this strength in all these wayes as I have shewen is incident to a man before Grace and Conversion wrought in his heart but this is not that which will serve the turn They that wait upon the Lord shall change that is they shall have another bestowed upon them and such as will be more usefull to them In stead of this more Natural and Moral and Customary strength They shall have a super-natural and spiritual given unto them This is different and surpassing the other First In regard of it's Original as comming from the Holy Ghost which is the worker of it He strengthens with might by his Spirit Eph. 3.16 And by his Spirit not onely in his common works but also in his special and peculiar This strength it proceeds from the Spirit of God as Sanctifying Then Secondly It differs in the Subject for the former strength is onely in the outward this is in the inward man and the inwards of that inward I pray God sanctify your whole Soul and Spirit 1. Thes 5.23 Thirdly It differs in the Effects for this Spiritual and Supernatural strength it is able to do greater matters then the other can do helping a man to deny himself to overcome the world to mortify Lusts and Corruptions c. So much for the change in Quality The Second is a change in quantity and degree this is further the priveledge of good Christians that they shall through Gods Grace grow stronger and stronger If by some mischance they do abate in their Spiritual strength yet they shall recover and repair it again They shall renew their strength This for the better illustrating of it to us may be laid open in two particulars First In the Cases wherein And Secondly In the means whereby each of these are Considerable to this purpose for a Christians renewing of his strength First The cases wherein There are some cases and conditions especially wherein a Christian has most need of having his strength renew'd unto him and in such cases as these does God graciously renew them here As First Against a new Service which is to be done by him Every new performance it does in a manner call for a new strength to the Effecting of it which it is not easily done without Especially if it be of any Consequence or Importance Now therefore does the Lord of his Goodness herein give us some proportionable strength as the Apostles when Christ sent them abroad into the work of the Ministry it was not a common strength which would serve their turn and therefore he tells them that they shall have strength from above Tarry ye in the City of Jerusalem untill ye he indewed with power from on High Luke 24.49 The like strength does God vouchsafe to his servants in a measure and degree proportionable in any service which he designs them where he renews their work he does also renew their strength Secondly Against some new Temptation and Conflict with Satan The Lord does here renew their strength and they passively renew it to themselves God does in some manner fit and inable them to enter the Lists and Combate with so potent an Enemy Thus we see in the Example of Job how mightily did God renew his strength when as Satan opposed him and set upon Him And so in the Example of Peter Luke 22.32 Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have you and to winnow you as Wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren So again also in the Example of Paul when he prayed so earnestly to God to be delivered from the buffetings of Satan God told him this that his Grace was sufficient for Him and his strength was made perfect in his weakness As he increased his Temptations so proportionably he renewed his strength Thirdly Against some new Tryal and affliction from God himself As the Affliction abounds so does the Consolation and as the suffering so the strength God lays no more upon his servants then he inables them to indure but gives them strength inabling them to bear it As we see in the Martyrs and Holy men of old what great things they suffered This it was not from strength innate or inbred but from strength given and renewed Thus we see what Case and Conditions this Priviledge does hold good to Gods Servants which wait upon him Now Secondly For the means or wayes whereby we may take them thus Christians they do renew their Spiritual strength in these observations First In the renewing of their Repentance as Sin it weakens us so Repentance it recovers our strength it puts us in statu quo brings us back to our former Condition By true and unfained Humiliation for any strength which has been lost by us through any defect we do get up that strength again in us which accordingly is a very good course in such a case to be taken by us when we find our Spiritual strength to be decayed bewaile it and lament it before God with sadness and bitterness of Spirit while Christians do thus they do hence very much profit and benefit themselves in this particular Secondly In renewing of their Covenant as by bewayling what is past so by Solemn purposes and ingagement of themselves for time to come as long as men are at an indifferency whether they should leave their lusts or no so long their Iusts prevaile upon them and as long as men hang off from good purposes and are not fully resolved about them so long do they contract more impotency and indisposition to them But now Absoluteness and Peremptoriness of Ingagement this does convey some strength unto them while we are strong in our Resolutions we come from hence to be strong in our Performances and to be more fitted and inabled for them Thirdly In the renewing of their Obedience Look by what we lose our strength by the contrary to that we recover it and get it again now we lose it many times by the doing of that which is Evil and by the omission of that which is good therefore by that which is opposite and contrary hereunto we must restore it Hence 't is Christs counsel to the Church of Ephesus which had lost her first love and
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 Principiâ—s 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
in its severity and unsupportableness IN the Text it self there are three general Parts considerable First an awakening Commination Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. Secondly a convincing Expostulation To what end is it for you Thirdly an express Conclusion or Determination The day of the Lord is darkness and not light We begin with the first of these Parts viz. The Commination in these words Woe unto you c. In which passage there are two terms to be explain'd by us First what is here meant by the day of the Lord. Secondly what is here meant by the desiring of this day of the Lord which is here censured and threaten'd in this people For the former the day of the Lord Jom Jehovah it may be here reduced to a threefold explication First to the day of death or personal dissolution Secondly to the day of captivity or National dissolution Thirdly to the day of Judgment or general Account Each of these are the day of the Lord and may promiscuously one with the other be understood of us here in this Scripture Now Secondly for the other term which is the desiring of this day and as it is here censured and threaten'd in this people this it may be taken three manner of ways First for their desiring of it rashly because they did not consider it Secondly for their desiring it scoffingly because they did not believe it Thirdly for their desiring it desperately because they did not fear it All these kinds of desire in reference to this day of the Lord in either of the fore-mentioned considerations are here condemned in them First Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord that is that desire it rashly and foolishly because ye do not consider it Such desires as these of this day there are sometimes to be found in the world whether in reference to death and judgment or in reference to common and publick calamity First take it in reference to death and judgment There are divers persons sometimes which we meet withal who do seem very much to desire the day of the Lord in this sense though in the mean time if they duly consider it they have little cause or ground to do so Such as Job sometimes speaks of that long for death whiles it cometh not and dig for as more than for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave Job 3.21 22. Indeed there is a desire of such a day as this which in the right constitution of it is very noble and commendable and is sometimes made the character of the true servants of God to breathe after death and departure out of the world and to wait and long for the coming of Christ to Judgment Thus old Simeon when he had seen Christ come in the flesh and now had him in his arms he sings his nunc dimittas Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation Luke 2.29 30. And St. Paul he desired to depart and to be with Christ as in it self much better than to abide here in the flesh Phil. 1.23 And the Prophet Elijah as some interpret it out of an holy zeal he cryes out It is enough now Lord take away my life first for I am not better than my Fathers 1 King 19.4 Thus have the servants of God sometimes desired the day of the Lord as it concerned their own death and dissolution And this desire of theirs has been looked upon as very warrantable and commendable in them So likewise as it has concerned the last and general day of account they have desired this day of the Lord also And it hath been remarkable in them so to do Look as it was the character of the Servants of God in the days before Christ to desire and wait for his first coming his coming in the flesh Therefore Abraham is said to have seen his day and to have rejoyced and Simeon before-mentioned to have waited for the consolation of Israel So it is also now the character of God's servants in these days since Christ to desire and wait for his second coming his coming to Judgment These are compared to faithful Servants that wait for the coming of their Master and that with desire Thus Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say come come Lord Jesus come quickly And the souls under the Altar they hasten his coming also Rev. 6.10 How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judg and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth Rev. 6.10 So St. Paul tells us that Christ will give a Crown of righteousness to him and not unto him only but also to all them that love and desire his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 So that it seems such persons as these are there have sometimes been and are still in the world which do desire this day of the Lord and that as having no woe belonging to them neither for so doing but rather the contrary which have not been threaten'd but rather encouraged for such desires as have been in them to this purpose But yet these here in the Text they have a woe denoune'd against them for their desire of the day of the Lord and so have many others besides as those who desire it rashly and foolishly as not considering for what end they do so We may reduce it for methods sake to three Heads First from discontentedness in their own condition Secondly from presumption of their own innocency Thirdly from ignorance or misapprehension of the nature of the thing it self These people here in the Text they seemed to desire the day of the Lord thus and so are condemn'd and declared against for their desiring of it as that which is unwarrantable and unjustifiable for any to do so First They desired the day of the Lord that is the day either of death or judgment and in particular of their own personal and present departure out of a principle of discontentedness in their own conditions Because they had not all things to their mind and just as they would have therefore forsooth they would presently be gone and leave the world they wish for death and departure hence out of a spirit of impatience Thus it hath been sometimes even with some of God's Servants themselves when he has left them to themselves such fits of distemper as these have now and then discovered themselves in them Thus some have suspected it of Elijah in the place before alledged when he prayed to God to take him out of this present life it was out of the rediousness which he did conceive from Ahab and Jezebel's persecutions So Job though at other times noted for his admirable patience yet for the time he was surprized with this distemper Chap. 6.8 9. Oh that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let
inconstancy nor God will not have us to be peremptory there where we are meetly dependant We are but tenants at will and so we must carry our selves to this great and mighty Landlord of Heaven and Earth This the Apostle James enforces and sets on upon us in Jam. 4.13 14. Go to now ye that say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow For what is your life it's even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away For that ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that Thus in every particular we must be dependant still upon the Lord the preserver of our lives And thus as it must be in our lives so also in every thing else friends husbands wives children and the like The more men make account of them the less hold they have of them and they are then taken away when they are most of all expected to remain God loves to discover to us what vain creatures we are and how our whole subsistence is in him This is the Second Proposition The Third has some affinity with it and that 's this Thirdly The life of man lies open to innumerable hazards they shall take away thy soul we in our translation read it passively Thy soul shall be required of thee but in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is impersonable and also indefinite to signify to us how many things are able to do it They cannot be numbred and therefore they cannot be named They that 's indeed All there 's nothing whatsoever but is here at God's command Where then are those which boast in their youth and their health and their strength and their vigorous constitution as if nothing could mar them but a disease or old age Alas there are an hundred thousand things besides They shall take away thy soul If men could covenant with sickness yet they cannot covenant with chance and casualty and unexpected accidents there are more of these than diseases This should teach us therefore to be always in readiness and preparation seeing eternity depends upon our lives and our lives are so full of hazard how should we then be careful to look to our selves A Christian with the Apostle Paul should dye daily and look upon every day as that which might be his last for ought himself knew And for this purpose be often in converse and communion with God that so that which is so obvious when it comes may not be tedious not a strange and uncouth thing It will be no such difficult matter for that man to go to God at his last day who converses with God every day Seeing life lies open to so many evils and dangers it should teach us to be more in preparation and disposition for our departure Further we may here see what a little distance there is betwixt wicked men and hell They use to put away from them the evil day and to think it a great way off and far from them but ye see they are neer it as they are subject to so many casualties This should frighten men out of their natural condition and perswade them to make their calling and election sure who would be uncertain of his salvation so long as he is uncertain of his life who would not labour to find himself to be a Christian who considers himself to be one Oh the madness and folly of men in this particular methinks we should not sleep quietly nor eat nor walk about the streets whiles they remain in their unregenerate estate because that wheresoever they go or whatsoever they set themselves about they go not only in danger of their lives but likewise in danger of their souls they are not only exposed to death but exposed to damnation if they should dye in that condition Again we here see how much we are bound to the providence and goodness of God towards us and what cause we have to be thankful that seeing so many things might take us away yet so few things do Oh! we little think what an eye waits over us and rescues us from many evils which we were subject and liable to in our infancy and in our childhood when we were unable to help our selves how God protected us and kept us and gone along with us and how have we cause to bless and praise his name for it This is the Third Proposition Fourthly Ungodly men their souls are taken from them by force It shall be required of thee that is it shall be drawn by compulsion The children of God although they have the reluctancies of nature which others have yet they sweetly resign their souls into the hands of the Lord as our Blessed Saviour for a pattern Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And the Apostle Peter to this purpose in 1 Pet. 4.19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator This is the excellency of the Saints that they can commit their souls to God and deposite them with him as a man does any thing of value and esteem with some special and some faithful friend Thus the Apostle Paul in 2 Tim. 1 12. I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Thus I say 't is with believers and the children of God but for the wicked their souls are forced from them they are pull'd and haled out of the world whether they will or no. Not as if any one were to hasten his own death himself we mean not so but wicked and ungodly men God in a manner turns them out of doors and bids them be gone His own children when they perceive their lives once out they give up their lease themselves upon his intimation without any more ado But men of the world they stand out till they have a writ of Ejection They shall take thy soul from thee For this we have a notable place in Job 27.19 c. The rich man shall lye down but he shall not be gathered he openeth his eyes and he is not Terrors take hold on him as waters and a tempest stealeth him away in the night The East-wind carrieth him away and he departeth and as a stone hurleth him out of his place And this is the Third General The threatning and menacing tidings This night thy soul shall be required of thee The last General Head is the expostulatory inference Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Which words contain in them a double signification First a note of resolution and Secondly a note of ambiguity whose shall these be That is first of all they shall not be thine that 's once take that for granted
for heavenly discourse He that exercises communion with God shall be better able to exercise and maintain communion with men And he that converses with his own heart shall be the better able to deal with others because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks as our Saviour tells us He that will lay out must lay up and he that will ever be profitable to others he must have a treasury and store-house within himself None can give but he that has And this is one rule to be observed by us as tending to this duty Secondly We must also have respect to the company we converse withal There 's a casting of Pearls before Swine which our Saviour has given us warning of Thirdly To time and season Every thing is beautiful in its season and a word spoken then is like apples of Gold in pictures of silver The use which we are to make of this Point is in our places to conform to this example and to study all opportunities of doing good that possibly we can Thus much for that which is here implied Christ's instruction and improving of himself whiles he was here present with them The Second is that which is exprest The different entertainment of him by these two Sisters Mary she sate at his feet and heard his word but Martha she was cumbred about much serving We 'll speak to the carriage of them both c. First Of the carriage of Mary She sate at his feet and heard his word Wherein we have divers things observable of us First here was her wise improvement of the opportunity for the good of her soul She was not sure to have Christ always therefore she would make use of him whiles she had him From whence we learn the same wisdom for our own particulars we should get as much good as we can from Ministers and other Christians whiles they abide and continue with us And we should also draw them forth and improve them Thus in all probability Mary did here Christ did not only speak to her of his own accord but she ask'd him and question'd with him Thus the Queen of Sheba did with Solomon she pursued him with hard questions 1 Kings 10.1 c. She tried him and put him to it So the Disciples to Christ upon his Ascension c. This is requisite to be done First From the proportion of gifts which God does variously distribute to his servants There are some which have knowledg in them but such as does not run out of it self till it be pumpt and drawn forth yea oftentimes the greatest abilities this way the deepest as Pearls which must be digg'd for ere they be had Prov. 20.5 Counsel in the heart of man is like deep waters but a man of understanding will draw it out Secondly There is also sometimes an indisposition and retiredness in many persons which must accordingly be quickned and removed Thirdly There are particular cases wherein such and such particular persons do need advice and instruction which are best known to themselves And therefore they must be active in the expressing of them How shall a Physitian be able to apply himself to such and such Patients except themselves shew their disease This condemns the contrary course of many people Many of excellent abilities which are as good as lost for want of this That 's one thing here observable in Mary she improves the opportunity of Christ's presence to draw forth knowledg and instruction from him whiles he was with her Secondly She sate at his feet Here 's another expression of her carriage which has also its several intimations contain'd in it as especially these two First Her reverence and composedness of carriage and quietness of mind Martha she ran up and down the house as one which was distracted with business but Mary sate still at Christ's feet A composed gesture is a good argument of a composed spirit Those which cannot sit still in a place but run up and down from one to another as many do sometimes in our Assemblies they shew but little reverence and regard to the business in hand This holy woman she sate still as a note both of her inward reverence and quietness of mind free from worldly cares and distractions This is one qualification required of worthy hearers they must come as near as they can with free minds A roving and unsetled hearer can never be a good hearer Be still and know that I am Col Psal 46.10 For this purpose we should come with preparation and premeditation afore-hand labouring to disburthen our minds of those cumbrances which are apt to molest us otherwise the world will be ready to be choaked in us and become unfruitful to us And that we may the better do this disuse our selves from our worldly employment Thus when the Sabbath's approaching we should lay aside our trade betimes And on other days when we go to hearing the word we should not go immediately out of our shops but fitting our selves to it by prayer c. And that 's the first thing here observable in Mary to wit her reverence and composedness of spirit Secondly Here was her humility She sate at his feet This expression is taken from the custom of ancient times which is still continued to this present day That the Teachers were plac'd in some higher and more eminent part not only for the opportunity of speaking that so they might be the better heard but also as a Symbol of authority and eminency in regard of their Doctrine In which regard their Scholars and Disciples were said also to sit at their feet Thus Paul Act. 22.3 He is said to be brought up at the feet of Gamaliel Here in Mary it does denote that subjection and tractableness and pliableness of spirit which every hearer ought to bring with him to the word of God We are to come with meek and humble and double affections hereunto Jam. 1.21 Laying aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness receive with meekness the ingrafted word which is able to save your souls This was the commendation of Cornelius and his company Acts 10.33 Now therefore we are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God They came with an humble and teachable spirit to the word of God as ready to yield obedience to every thing which should be made known unto them So the Thessalonians 1 Thes 2.13 c. We have many hearers sometimes which do not sit at the feet but rather at the head of their Teachers which will be teaching those which should teach them intruding into those things which they do not know vainly pust up by a fleshly mind as the Apostle's phrase is Col. 2.18 We have many captious and frivolous hearers which nothing will please or satisfy them but such as suits with their own lusts having itching ears This godly woman in the Text was otherwise disposed She sate at Christ's feet a note of
upon the point even eternal life it self It was because he had great possessions or rather because he had an heart too greatly set upon them and too deeply affected with them And therefore our Saviour accordingly makes that improvement of it How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God It is easier for a Camel to go thorough the eye of a needle c. Luke 18.24 25. A covetous heart will never prize this one thing nor care for attaining unto it And so for any other lust besides where it is in the tyranny and prevalency of it it scorns happiness and salvation it self Therefore I say take heed of lusts and remember to look at the main chance We should let no day pass over our heads wherein we do not do somewhat to bring us nearer to Heaven and tending to our eternal welfare We have many shifts and pretences sometimes to excuse our selves and now and then are ready to plead a necessity for it to keep us from the Word and the Ordinances and such means as these are and Satan joyning with our deceitful hearts does many times cozen and delude us But we should consider if there be any necessity like to this which we have here before us of the saving of our souls And that 's the first Vse of this Point seeing one thing is needful Therefore we see here where to place and spend our chiefest thoughts and endeavours Secondly Seeing one thing is needful we should therefore not only mind this one thing it self but also mind every thing else in reference to that one We should make all our projects and actions and undertakings subordinate and subservient hereunto what-ever we do we should examine what connexion it hath with this how it furthers our Salvation how it advances the Glory of God how it promotes our spiritual welfare We may reduce it and apply it to divers and sundry particulars wherein we may make use of this rule First In matter of Doctrine and Opinion look at the one thing needful here There are many frivolous and unnecessary disputes which the World sometimes is troubled withal which take up mens heads and minds and divert them from better things Now here this counsel and advertisement is very seasonable to remember the one thing necessary We must here distinguish betwixt Wit and Grace betwixt Fancy and Faith betwixt empty Notions and Speculations and solid and substantial Truths These Doctrines are worth the studying and striving and contending for which will make a man wise to Savlation and build one up in the fear of God which will better us in our inward man and which tends to the leading of a godly and an holy life and according hereunto are we to make proof and trial of them We may know whether they be from God or no by this discovery Whatsoever comes from him it carries to him Those opinions which are good for nothing but only to shew the wit and parts of those that vent them to set Christians at difference and variance one with another or at the best to fill their heads with fancies and subtilties and conceits Those opinions which are compliances with the principles of a carnal heart which set up Reason in the room of Faith and Nature in the room of Grace and Works in the room of Christ such as these they may be very well suspected and so consequently are to be rejected by us But those are the prime Points indeed which have a contrary efficacy with them to the changing of the soul to the discovery of a man's corrupt nature to the drawing of a man home to Christ and so thereby to bring him to Heaven And such as these should be chiefly studied and pursued by us and so the Scripture it self to this purpose gives us direction Thus 2 Tim. 2.14 16. Charge them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers And again Shun profane and vain bablings for they will increase unto more ungodliness Tit. 3.9 Avoid foolish questions and genealogies c. for they are unprofitable and vain This is that which many people in the World are often times failing in as not walking by this rule here before us in this particular They never consider the influence or extent of those things which they hold as to the making of a man better or worse but indifferently rush upon them without any heed or regard at all Nay there are many which make choice of such Points as may most feed corruption in them as they do sometimes also of other occasions There are many that bring their opinions to their lusts and make their judgments to be subservient to their affections Those Points which will best consist with the following of such and such courses those are the Points which are most embraced and admired by them Those that are for loose lives they are commonly for loose opinions which may nourish and cherish and maintain those lives in them they begin not first of all in the head but rather in the heart as a faulty and corrupt stomach sends up noysome vapours into the brain For which reason heresies are by the Apostle called works of the flesh because the flesh and corrupt affections has a great stroke and predominancy in them for the managing of them Now by a regard to this one thing necessary there will be a shunning and avoiding of these things Secondly In the duties and exercises of Religion look still at the one thing which is needful and that according to the particular nature and quality of them There are many religious performances which have that which is meerly accessory to them And we are to separate and distinguish the circumstances from that which is substantial and to have our eyes chiefly to the latter as that which is most necessary not to rest our selves in the shell of duty but to look after the pith and kernel nor to perform it plausibly so much as to perform it profitably and to enjoy communion with God himself by his Spirit in the performance of it In Prayer to pray in the Holy Ghost In Hearing to receive the word with meekness In Fasting to afflict the soul In Communicating to feed upon Christ and so of the rest Still in every exercise of Religion and Christian performance not to have only the form of Godliness but to look after the power as that wherein the Kingdom of God does especially consist Thirdly In our Employments and the works of our ordinary Callings let us have an eye also still to this Consider what that is which is principally required of us There 's a double end and use of these things the one is as they are means of supportment and outward subsistence in the world and so serve to make up a livelihood And the other is as in the exercise of them men become profitable to the publick good whether in Church or
the name for good understandings now we see here how they may do so and indeed attain hereunto which is by walking in such ways as are good and which tend to everlasting life and salvation This is the great wisdom of all and most to be looked after Who is wise and he shall understand these things Prudent and he shall know them Hos 14.9 Men commonly think it a part of wisdom in them to choose such ways as are best for the world but that 's wisdom in good earnest to choose such ways as are best for Heaven and as may serve to bring a man thither Secondly It is an argument also of a gracious and savoury spirit Men choose commonly according to their affections and there 's much of their spirit in those things which they fasten upon we may see what 's within them and what principles they are acted by according to that which they make choice of A spiritual heart is most affected with spiritual objects and places its greatest delight and contentment in such things as these Thirdly It is an argument of some courage and self-denial and resolution of mind For the better part it is not commonly without opposition and resistance in the world there will still be some or other that will malign it and set themselves against it There 's hardly any man that can make choice of goodness but he shall be sure to have enemies enough for it They that hate me says David are many in number because I do the thing that good is Psal 38.20 Now therefore to make choice of it in such circumstances it argues some kind of boldness and spirit and courageousness in it Lastly It is also an argument of an elect and chosen Vessel It is a sign that God has chosen us when we choose him and such ways as these which are good and pleasing to him For there where God elects he qualifies where he makes choice of any person he does withal confer a disposition suitable and agreeable to such a choice This is that therefore which we should labour and endeavour after and be still careful of to put it in practice In every thing whereunto we apply our selves still to choose that which is best to close with the best persons to cleave to the best causes to take up the best opinions to take the best courses and ways that possibly we can that by so doing we may approve our selves the better to Christ It is the disposition of many people in the world that if there be any way worse than other they 'l be sure to make choice of that and to make it their own Now what a fondness and madness is this we see in other matters for the world how careful men are what they are able to make the best choice that may be and there 's nothing good enough for them so exact and curious are they And how much rather should they then choose the best in spiritual matters The way hereunto is first of all To beg direction of God himself for the guiding of us Alas we are but fools of our selves without his Spirit to teach us and therefore we must have recourse to him Thus the Prophet David for himself Psal 143.8 9. Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning for in thee do I trust Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee And again Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God Thy Spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness Thus the Apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians that God would give them the spirit of revelation cap. 1. ver 17. And for the Philippians That they might abound in all judgment cap. 1. ver 9. And for the Colossians That they might be fill'd with the knowledg of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding Secondly We must also seriously weigh and compare one thing with another Good election it proceeds from good deliberation Eccles 7.27 Behold this have I found saith the Preacher counting one by one to find out the account or as some expound and read the words weighing one thing after another to find out the reason If we would choose those things that are best we must not take them in their simple proposition or have a slight and superficial view of them but examine them and dive into them and consider them in all their circumstances Thirdly Take in the advice and experience of well-grounded and experienced Christians to help us We see how men do in other matters where they have no skill or very little in such and such Commodities themselves they will take with them those that have to choose for them and so should they learn to do here It is a good rule in doubtful matters to advise with the generation of God's children which in all likelihood should know what is best and be able best to guess at it Quilibet in Arte sua credendus est Lastly To labour to be acquainted with the power of Religion our selves Those things men best choose which they are best verst in A Trades man in his own Commodities and Mysteries and so likewise a Christian And this is the first observation That it is the commendation of a Christian to make choice of such ways as are best and most approvable to Christ as Mary here did The Second is this That we are then good to purpose when we are good upon right Principles namely of judgment and consideration in us when it may be said of us as it was here said of Mary that we have chosen the better part Religion it is a matter of election it is not a business of chance but a business of choice There are many persons sometimes in the world who do not so much choose Religion as rather Religion chooses them and they stumble upon it before they are aware But this should not be sufficient for us neither should we content our selves with it but labour rather to set our selves to it upon due grounds and motives upon us Thus David concerning himself Psal 119.30 I have chosen the way of truth thy Judgments have I laid before me I have stuck unto thy Testimonies c. Beloved It is true indeed it is a great advantage to have gracious opportunities of goodness afforded unto us and we are to acknowledg God's Providence in them and to bless him for them good counsel good example good education good company and the like But yet we are not to rest our selves in these but to have somewhat further to act us We are not to be carried only by others principles but by principles of our own not only to take the better part but to choose the better part that is to take it out of a liking of it and out of an affection to it at least to do so at last and before we have done Indeed I do not deny but those helps which I mention'd before may
Shulamite return return there 's a doubling still of the word The Spirit of God he speaks quick and he speaks often again and again where he would prevent from danger Thus it teaches us accordingly to submit to such quick and close admonitions as these are as we have need of them There are many that do not love to be startled they would fain go to Hell quietly without any disturbance or interruption and therefore abhor all such persons as deal roundly and tartly with them and would awaken them out of their natural condition Oh but we see there is sometimes cause for such dealings and we should not think much of them whether from Ministers in the way of their publick Ministery or from private Christians in the way of Christian converse and private admonition not to be offended with their rouzings and excitements of us which the state in which we may be in and the danger which is neer upon us may call for to be used to us That 's one intimation in this doubled and repeated expression viz. The greatness of the danger The Second is the security of the person warned Peter was not more in danger than he was insensible of his danger He thought the case to be well enough with him as he expresses it afterwards in verse 33 of this chap. Lord I am ready to go with thee both into prison and unto death He thought himself a jolly man and that he could do very great matters till it came to the trial was well perswaded of his own strength and of his ability to resist temptations Now therefore does our Saviour here awaken him out of this secure temper and disposition by this manner of expressing himself unto him As danger calls for excitement so especially there where it hath security with it As the Angel to Lot and his company when they took them and pulled them out of Sodom because of their lingring in it Even so is there need to be done with some souls from that presumption and security that possesses them Thirdly The affection of the Monitor or Person that gives the warning that 's also in the doubling of the appellation It is a sign Christ's heart was much in it and that he bore a singular love and respect to Peter in that he does thus passionately admonish him Love is full of sollicitude and carefulness for the party beloved and can never express it self as it thinks sufficiently about it for the welfare of it And this is seen in nothing more than in spiritual things It is a singular token of affection to give warning of spiritual dangers and hazards to the soul and of temptations which it is exposed unto This is that which Christ does here in the Text to the Apostle Peter and which he does also to the rest of his Servants by his Spirit still in their hearts He does secretly forewarn them of those evils which are neer unto them if-so-be they will take warning by him and that also with much importunity and vehemency as that which concerns them So much for that and so also of the First General in the Text viz. The person warned the Apostle Peter in these words repeated and doubled Simon Simon The Second is the matter of the admonition or the warning it self Behold Satan To say nothing of the word of attention Behold which yet might be inlarged upon There are two particulars here further considerable First the persons aim'd at and that is you Secondly the design upon them Satan hath desired to have you and to sift or winnow you as wheat For the First The persons aim'd at they are here said to be you He spake before to Peter in the singular Simon Simon now it is you in the plural To signify thus much unto us that there 's the same condition of all Believers as of one That which befalls one Christian it is incident to all the rest They have all the same dngers which they are exposed unto and enemies which do endeavour against them though they may not always have the like opportunity for the expressing of their enmity against them one as another Peter and the rest all alike The reason of it is this Because they all consist of the same natures and are acted by the same principles they all have the reliques of the same original corruption as yet in part abiding in them and they have all the same Spirit and work of Grace acting in them And so as to temptations they are all one and the same for the danger which they are liable unto Therefore it should work all to an holy jealousie and suspition of themselves and tenderness to others when we see any poor soul at any time exercised with Satan's temptations and it may be sometimes foyl'd with them let us not think that his case is peculiar and that we for our parts shall do well enough No but rather be so much the more watchful over our own hearts Be not high-minded but fear for that which befalls others if thou look'st not to it may befall thee And so it should teach us also bowels and compassion towards others under temptations not to be harsh with them and rigorous towards them and censorious of them but to use all kind of gentleness and tenderness to them considering that the case might be our own if God should permit it Thus the Apostle Paul improves it in his exhortation given to the Galatians Gal. 6.1 Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such an one with the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Which rule if it were more observ'd there would be a great deal of more Christian affection in the world than commonly there is Men look upon the temptations of others as if themselves were altogether exempt and freed from them whereas if they were in the same circumstances they would bewray the same infirmities and weaknesses that others do afore them that so they may carry the greater bowels and pitty towards them As it is an argument to remembrance of others in bonds and adversty as being your selves in the body and so ready to be bound with them Heb. 13.3 So it is an argument for compassion towards others under temptations as being your selves liable and exposed to the same condition and apt and ready to be tempted with them And indeed this is the reason why God is pleased many times to exercise sundry persons in this kind and to expose them now and then to temptations that so from hence he may teach them to be less harsh and rigorous to others in such conditions which when themselves are free they are oftentimes subject unto that they may preserve in themselves a sweet and amiable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and tenderness of spirit to the rest of their Brethren and that their moderation may be known to all men as the Apostle requires it should be Phil. 4.5 It is
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 â—ooting 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 fiâ—h 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
assaults but it is the Saviour that labours to divert it And there 's a great matter in this A Potent Assistant is a great encouragement against a Potent Assailant Now thus is Christ in comparison of Satan He has the greater prevalency with him especially in approaches to God and the requests which he makes to him for his people This I it has a very great force and emphasis with it whereby to comfort Peter in his condition This should by the way teach us to labour to get an interest in Christ and to improve it and to make use of it to our best advantage For whatever Christ be in himself if we have not a part in him we shall have little comfort or benefit by him If-so-be that we have a part we may rest and confide in him and in an holy confidence rejoyce and triumph over all the adversaries and enemies of our Salvation Because they which are with us are more than are with them as Elisha of the Heavenly Host For this purpose we must take this I in its full latitude and extent and then bring it home to our souls Christ has all the advantages that may be for our comfort in this particular Of favour and acceptance I that am the beloved of the Father Of proximity and nearness I that am in the bosome of the Father Of authority and dominion I that from the Father have all power both in Heaven and Earth committed unto me it is I that have prayed for thee These things are not meer notions but have great realities in them and accordingly are to be improved by us as we have occasion for the improvement of them And in nothing more than in temptation we should go forth against our Spiritual Goliah in this name and in this strength as David sometime against that Philistine 1 Sam. 17.45 Thou comest to me with a Sword and with a Spear but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts the God of the Armies of Israel c. That 's the first Antithesis the opposition of the persons Christ against Satan It is I. The Second is the opposition of Actions or Performances Praying against desiring Satan has but desired yea but Christ has prayed These two are much different from one another It is one thing to ask or crave any thing from God and it is another thing to pray to him for it There 's not the worst that are but they may ask even Satan himself and so also even the Instruments of Satan Wicked and ungodly men they may be much in their desires to God and oftentimes are especially in such conditions as they may fall into They may be very frequent in such performances Hos 5.15 In their affliction they will seek me early And Psal 78.34 When he slew them they sought him they return'd and enquir'd early after God There are many loose and wild desires even in evil and ungodly persons but these are howlings they are not prayers This is the property of Christ alone and of those which are Members of him it is these that pray and none but these I have prayed for thee Prayer it is the voice of the Spirit and in the true and proper notion of it a communication of the Soul with God which wicked men cannot have nor Satan especially on whom they hold It is a performance above their reach For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness or what communion hath light with darkness or what concord hath Christ with Belial c. However in a general and common sense such persons are said sometimes to pray Lord in trouble they have visited thee they have poured out a Prayer when thy chastening hath been upon them Isa 26.16 Yet in the strict notion of it they cannot do it And therefore sometimes also described by such people as call not upon God's name They may desire but they cannot pray which Christ does here in opposition to Satan And this practice of Christ's it is here signified with some efficacy in it to the comfort both of Peter and all other Christians besides and accordingly to be taken notice of by us Christ's Prayers are prevailing above Satan's desires and shall at last get the better of them We may here further observe by the way how Christ advances his own Ordinance and thereby even teaches us likewise to advance it our selves He could if he had pleased have restrain'd Satan by his Almighty power and overcome him by his meer commands For with authority and power he commanded the unclean Spirits and they obeyed him Mark 1.27 But he chooses rather here to do it by Prayer that he might hereby sanctify this performance to us and shew us the efficacy of it as to the vanquishing of temptations themselves There are some Devils which are not ejected but by fasting and prayer Matth. 17.21 And there 's very good use of it in such cases as these are in which Peter at this present now was It is that which will countervail all the contrary attempts which are upon us And that 's the Second Antithesis The opposition of actions or performances Christ's Prayer set against Satan's desire and begging of Peter c. Therefore we should make use of it take heed of restraining Prayer before God and despise not the prayers of the meanest Christians to this purpose God does sometimes for this very purpose exercise some Christians with temptations that they may stand in need of their Brethrens prayers for them The Third is the opposition of Success Establishment against Circumvention Satan has desired to have you But I have so order'd the matter that thy Faith shall not fail notwithstanding His attempts upon thee shall be in vain There 's this also signified in this But. The frustration and disappointment of Satan as a consequent and effect of Christ's Prayer This we shall speak of more particularly and distinctly by and by in the Second Branch of the Text when we come to that We may here now in the mean time take notice of it in its General Intimation as that which is of use to us It is very comfortable to the servants of God to consider that their enemy is interrupted and intercepted in his designs upon them That as he is subject to disappointment because his power is limited and restrain'd as I have shewn heretofore out of the former verse so that he shall indeed be actually disappointed which is signified here in this And so he shall Christ has taken care for it and accordingly will bring it to pass This Spiritual Senacherib God will put his hook into his nose and his bridle upon his lips and turn him back by the way whereby he came The Scripture is very pregnant in many gracious promises to this purpose Thus Rom. 16.20 The God of Peace shall tread down Satan under your feet shortly Rev. 2.10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer Behold the Devil shall c.
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
does it freely and willingly and of his own accord without any thing in us either to move him or mind him of it or to perswade him and engage him to it There 's nothing so free as Grace in the Collations and Distributions of it It is bestowed without any worth or Dignity in us at all to Promerit it This may appear if we shall consider but the Persons upon whom it is bestowed who are often times such as have nothing in them tending hereunto whether we take it as to worldly qualifications or else to moral It is very free in either Consideration As to worldly Qualifications first of all the Aposte Paul has here informed us how that not many wise men after the Flesh not many mighty not many noble are called But God hath chosen the foolish things of the World to confound the wise c. And Secondly as for moral Qualifications God sometimes makes choice of such as are the greatest Sinners where he passes by some other Persons of greater Civility Matthew the Publican Mary Magdalen the Harlot Saul the Persecutor the Barbarian Jaylor That Gods Spirit should blow upon these whiles it blew over others which were better what does this speak unto us but that it bloweth there where it listeth Into what can we possibly resolve it but into the will and good pleasure of God! Look what St. Paul says sometimes of the common gifts the same may we say also of the sanctifying But all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will 1 Cor. 12.11 And again Vnto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gist of Christ Whatever Grace any man partakes of he has it purely from the Spirit of God who of his own accord bestows it upon them And therefore it is said in 1 Cor. 2.12 We have received the Spirit of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God All we have it is of free grace and it is freely given and conferred upon us The consideration of this point may be thus far useful to us First as it may teach us where to acknowledge all that we receive If any have more Grace than others let them see here how they came by it not by Merit but by Gift not by any thing as deserving it in themselves but from the goodness of the Spirit of Godas bestowing it upon them and therefore not to attribute it to themselves but to Him who is the Author and Giver of it as St. Paul himself gives us an example in 2 Cor. 15.10 By the Grace of God I am that I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Secondly We have here an account of the difference and variety of Christians both from one another and from themselves we see why one Christian abounds in Grace more than another and we see also why the same Christian is better at one time than he is at another Both are from this ground in the Text because the Spirit bloweth there where it listeth And every one to this purpose should rest satisfied in this equal dispensation God may do with his own as he pleases and he pleases thus to do with it that so hereby he may shew his own liberty and freedom in this particular We are able to move no farther in good than the Spirit of God helps us so to do As ye know it was in the Vision in Ezekiel as the Spirit moved the living Creatures which were in the wheels so the wheels went when that went they went and when that stood still they stood still with it Ezek. 1.2 Even so is it here in these motions of the Soul we are so far forth more lively in regard either of Grace or Comfort as the Spirit of God is pleased to breathe and to infuse either of them into us And without Him we are able to do nothing as may be worth any thing to us Therefore thirdly Let us also make this use of it To be depending upon him for it If we cannot do any thing without his blowing and his blowing be onely there where he pleases we see what cause we have to keep in good terms with him and to do nothing which may be displeasing to him for if we lose his favour we lose his influence and his assistance which is the effect of it it is where he lists and onely there where he blows And therefore make much of him and wait upon him take heed of grieving so good and so gracious a Spirit as this is and besides who is so useful to us and necessary for us And further Fourthly let it teach us also tenderness and compassion towards others who it may be do not partake of so much grace or comfort as our selves For it is God and his Spirit who makes this difference betwixt us it is not we our selves Let us take heed of insulting too much over others weaknesses forasmuch as it is that Grace that distinguishes us and makes that difference that is betwixt us And that 's the second thing also in this motion its freeness that it is not engaged The third and last is its Efficacy or unresistableness that it is not nor cannot be hindred Whereever the Spirit of God will blow there is no standing out against it it blows where it lists that is it obtains whatsoever it endeavours Who hath resisted his will Surely none at all to any purpose Indeed corrupt Nature sometimes opposes the motions of Gods Spirit and that even Conversion in it self reluctates and strives against it but all in vain where he sets to the work Look as it is not in the power of a Child to hinder his own first birth even so it is not in the power of a sinner to hinder his own new birth where God undertakes and sets himself to it because his Spirit it does effect whatsoever he pleases Who hath gathered the wind in his fist as Agur makes the question in Prov. 30.4 Surely it is not Man but God Look as no man can hinder the wind or stop the blowings and motions thereof so neither can any man hinder the Spirit and stop the motions and influences thereof that they should not prove effectual This is a comfortable point in all contrary blasts whatsoever Satan who is the evil Spirit he has his blowings too and he oftentimes blows very hard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom speaks but yet he does not blow where he lists nor can his blowings prevail against this blowing which we have here before us in this present Text which carries all before it and shall overturn and overthrow whatsoever stands in opposition to it It is said of Antichrist the man of sin and who is a great instrument of Satan that the Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth and destroy
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
we have also the Second part which is the sensibleness of this wind in its Effects Thou hearest the sound thereof The Third and last is the Intricacy or Mysteriousness of it in its proceedings in these words But canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth This the nature and condition of the Wind that there can but little account be given of it at least as to the manner and reason of its motions We can say It blows here or It blows there but the rise and original of it from whence it first comes and the term or end of it where it rests and stays that we are not able to discern forasmuch as at one and the same time the Winds are different on the Sea and in the Land And there is no fixedness or certainty in them We hear the noise and sound of them but we know not in the mean time what becomes of them as it is here exprest unto us by our Saviour in this present passage which we have now before us And as it is thus with the carriage of the Wind so more especially with the carriage of the Spirit and the proceeding of the Holy Ghost in us as to the work of Grace and Regeneration It is such as is not so easily perceived or discerned by us but is remote and hidden from us Therefore it is set forth to us in Scripture by such expressions as these Of the hidden Life of the hidden Manna of the mystery of Godliness and the like in regard of the great intricacy and imperceptibility which is upon it as that which is so difficultly apprehended It is such as the best that are and those who are the subjects of it do not discern or apprehend perfectly but it is such as natural and unregenerate persons do not discern at all The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned as the Apostle tells us 2 Cor. 2.14 Indeed such persons as these may discourse at random about it and speak problematically of it as the Philosophers do of the windes and they may have some common notions and apprehensions of it as far as Parts and Books will carry them but to speak distinctly and understandingly of it that they cannot do as wanting the sense and experience of it upon their own hearts And those that have this experience of it yet are they to seek of it in sundry particulars We may take notice of it in either of these persons whether those who are not regenerate or which are so and so shew you how either of them are in their kinds ignorant of this Mystery First Take it as to those who are regenerate and themselves partakers of this new-birth and work of the Spirit even such as these cannot give an account of it in some particulars which are belonging unto it as to instance a little in some few amongst the rest For the manner of working of it for the moment in which it is wrought for the growth and encrease of it for the condition of the persons wrought upon why in these and not in others These are things which are not so easily discerned or if in persons that are grown and come to years there may be some clearer footsteps of these things than in others yet for infants and younger children how it pleases God to work upon them it is a Mystery which the most intelligent Christians are not able to determine And we may apply hereunto that which the Preacher has of the natural generations As thou knowest not what is the way of the Spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child even so thou knowest not the works of God that maketh all Eccl. 11.5 And the Argument it holds here in this particular business a fortiori If we cannot discover the Mysteries of Nature much less the Mysteries of Grace and if not the things of Earth how much less the things of Heaven which are so far remote from humane understanding This is the very scope and drift of our Saviour here in the Text to conclude the one from the other That because the motions of the winde were imperceptible therefore were also the motions of the Spirit And so we may reason likewise as to other things of the same nature with it As for example the soul of man and the manner of the production of that whether by creation or generation whether as infused by God himself or as resulting out of the matter prepared we know there are great disputes about it and difficulties in it Now if it be thus as to the Soul in the natural state of it how much more may it be thus with it in the spiritual This God will have to be for this reason amongst the rest that so we may the more adore him and acknowledg him in such works as these are and say that it is he that hath made us and not we our selves Not only as to our first make but as to our second Here 's that which does plainly shew how little we do confer or contribute to the work of Grace and Regeneration in our selves when-as those themselves who are regenerate can give so little account of Regeneration as it appears indeed by experience that they can What likelihood is there that they should work it that cannot know it or that it should take its rise and original from them who cannot express the conveyances of it that cannot tell of this Spirit whence it cometh or whither it goeth This should teach us all with modesty and humility and admiration to lay our hands upon our mouths and at last to break forth and cry out in the words of the Apostle Paul Oh the depth of the riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God! how unsearchable are his works and his ways past finding out as it is in Rom. 11.33 And thus does it hold good of the Regenerate as that which is not discerned by them But Secondly And more especially does it hold good of those who are unregenerate and at present in the state of nature such as these to be sure do not discern it or apprehend it indeed And these seem especially to be intended here in this Scripture where our Saviour applies himself in this his discourse to Nicodemus who was as yet but such a person as this though a great Master and Doctor and Teacher in Israel even he did grosly betray his ignorance in such a Doctrine and Point as this was of the new-birth And so in him we may take notice of the condition of all carnal and unregenerate persons They are such as who are very much to seek in the mysteries of Grace and Conversion and in the state and condition of a Christian in order to this Regeneration This is considerable of us in all the Parts and Branches of it and secrets which are
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
viz. The Duty supposed If ye continue in my word This is that which Christ requires of these Jews which now believed on him that they would go on and persevere in the Faith And it is that which he requires of all others besides In Christianis quaeuntur non initia sed finis It is not so much the beginning as the end which is looked after in Christians Therefore it is the counsel of Paul to Timothy that he should continue in the things which he had learned 2 Tim. 3.14 And to continue in the Doctrine 1 Tim. 4.16 Acts 14.22 The Apostles confirm'd the souls of the Disciples and exhorted them to continue in the Faith This perseverance and continuance is such a duty as the Scripture does generally in every part of it commend unto us As for the further prosecuting of this Point unto you I shall reserve that for the latter clause of the Verse in handling of the Connexion where it will come in with greater advantage All that I shall do in the mean time before I pass to that shall be to take notice of the phrase and manner of expression in this passage and that is that Chirst says not If ye continue in the Faith although that was the main thing which he meant but if ye continue in my Word Why does he so There are divers reasons which may be given of this expression First That he might hereby carry them to the Spring and Original of that Faith which was wrought in them And that was the word of Christ This was the means of drawing them to believe and Christ would have them to remember it and to take special notice of it for their greater reverence of his own Ordinance For when all comes to all this is that which must work it in an ordinary way It is true Christ is able immediately to infuse the habits of Grace into us by his own Spirit without the Preaching of the word but it is that which he will not commonly do If he does as in infants and young children yet the Word has still the honour of exerting it and drawing it forth from whence at last it is all resolved into that as the Principle of Conversion Of his own will begat he us by the word of Truth Jam. 1.18 And now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you God has put a dignity upon his word to this purpose And that not only in the mouth of Christ himself as it was here in the Text but also in the mouths of his faithful Ministers and Servants whose word is the word of Christ when 't is delivered in his Name and by his Authority as truly though not so fully as that which came directly and personally out of his own mouth it self Therefore he tells his Disciples that He that despiseth them despiseth him And St. Paul to the Thessalonians He that despiseth us despiseth not man but God who hath also given us his holy Spirit To abide in the Doctrines of the Prophets and Apostles and other Ministers is to continue in the word of Christ And to continue in the word of Christ is to continue in the Faith Secondly As to shew the rise of Faith so to shew the rule of Faith to shew what it is which out Faith must be regulated by and that is by the word of Christ We must henceforth believe nothing of Christ but what is exhibited to us in his word and which is taught us in that Search the Scriptures for they bear witness of me says Christ himself Joh. 5.39 All Doctrines which are beside this word they fall to the ground Thirdly To shew the improvement of Faith whence it is that our Faith is to be nourished and strengthened in us Ex eisdem nutrimur un de renascimur we are nourish'd by the same means as we are first born The word of God it is both seed and food to its seed as to the begetting of Grace and it 's food as to the encrease of it And so the Scripture stiles it The immortal seed and the meat that endureth for ever The word it hath both properties in it and so both are attributed to it The first in the former verse which we have handled As he spake c. And the second in this other which we are now upon If ye continue in my words So much for the reason of this expression and for the first Branch as it is here considerable of us viz. The duty required The Second is The Priviledg inserr'd Then are ye my Disciples indeed Where there are two things again distinctly considerable of us First the Priviledg it self and that is to be a Disciple of Christ Secondly the ground whereupon this Priviledg is founded or the condition of it Then If ye c. For the First The Priviledg it self simply consider'd it is to be a Disciple of Christ which is further set forth by the word of Amplification indeed A Disciple indeed This is that which every good Christian is and which every one should labour to be Not to be a titular Disciple only but a real Which is an expression that the Scripture does very much stand upon in sundry places of it Thus our Saviour speaking of Nathanael Joh. 1.48 says he was a true Israelite or an Israelite indeed And St. John speaking of our Saviour says he was that true light 1 Joh. 2.8 Our Saviour speaking of John Baptist Mark 11.32 says he was a Prophet indeed So here our Saviour again speaking of good Christians and sound Believers says My Disciples indeed Now to open this expression a little to you A Disciple indeed it does contain three properties especially in it First Sincerity Secondly Vniversality And Thirdly Perpetuity He that 's a Disciple indeed he is one unfeignedly And he is one indefinitely And he is one uncessantly First Unfeignedly A Disciple indeed does imply sincerity in it in opposition to hypocrisie and dissimulation There are many who are Disciples in pretence but that 's not that which will serve the turn nor which we should be contented withal but to be so in reality and good earnest that is to have the heart and spirit and substance of true Religion in us For look as in naturals painted fire is no fire where it wants the operations of fire in it and a dead man is no man but a carkass because he wants the Soul which is the form and life in him Even so it is also in Spirtuals one that is but a meer Professor he is no true Christian because he wants the life of Grace which should act Christianity in him This is that which Christ especially regards and requires in us 1 Joh. 3.18 My little children let us not love in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth And what he says of the Grace of love may be applied also to any other besides God esteems of us in Religion so far forth as we are hearty
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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
expression it is none of all these things in themselves which makes Preaching so powerful a Conveyance no but the Ordinance of God which has appointed to work by these means and the Spirit of God who is pleased to concur with it in working It is he which has made us able Ministers of the New Testament says the Apostle Paul not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life 2 Cor. 3.6 This is that which gives an efficacy to this Preaching Well for the thing it self we see 't is a blessed means to a blessed effect to wit of saving souls and that not withstanding all the low apprehensions which the world commonly has of it and the disparagement which they are apt to cast on it and upon those which are the dispensers of it after all which can be any way said against it to the extenuating and diminishing of it here is that in the Text which is able to bear it up and advance it That by it God is pleased even to save them that believe The improvement of this Point to our selves for Application may be twofold First as it concerns Ministers there 's a very good item for them to quicken us and encourage us in our work and the conscionable discharge of it without fainting and giving out For see what a work it is and what a blessed and happy end it tends to Even no less than to bring men to heaven and to make them heirs of eternal life Who would not think himself honoured in such a noble imployment as this and accordingly go thorough it with a great deal of cheerfulness and alacrity in the midst of all discouragements whatsoever which we can meet with in the world our very work it self is a reward though there were nothing else and to save a soul is more than to gain a Kingdom Let us not be ashamed of that which is the power of God to salvation as the Apostle speaks Again Let us also hence learn so much the more faithfully to discharge and make that our chief end in undertaking it which was Gods chief end in ordaining it What was Gods chiefest end here in the first appointing and instituting of this Ordinance why 't was to save them that believe let that be now our main end in taking it in hand That in this service we may be instrumental to Gods Providence in the bringing in of the number of his Elect. This should work and prevail with us above all other ends besides And this for the Ministers Secondly Here 's somewhat also for the people and that is so much the more carefully to attend upon this Ordinance of Preaching and to take heed of the despising of it as a weak and foolish thing they which despise Preaching they do in effect despise Believing yea they do despise Salvation it self And therefore let us take heed how we be guilty of such a sin as this is Do not say that Reading is as good as Hearing and a Sermon read in a mans study is as good as a Sermon preached in the Church for we are mistaken if we so think for though it be as good for the matter of it and it may be better yet it is not as good for the performance which does receive a greater efficacy from Gods Ordinance and blessing upon it And we must not be wiser than Him in such dispensations as these are Elisha's staff will do no good without Elisha's spirit to improve it and go along with it This is that which is more frequently in Preaching whereas in reading it is for the most part cold or at least not the latter in such a full and plentiful measure Besides that 's good which is seasonable and in due time And further let this teach us with what affections to come to the Ordinances the Preaching and hearing of the Word namely as those which expect and desire salvation from it as the end whereunto it is intended Let us not come to a Sermon as to a Prize or a meer trial of wits to see who can do best only to spend our verdict upon the Preacher or out of meer fashion and custom only because others come afore us but let us come to it with meekness and humility and fear and expectation as that whereby we must be judged and whereby we must be saved Jam. 1.21 And so I have done also with the third Particular viz. The means of working the foolishness of Preaching Now the fourth is the work or design it self which we have in the last words To save them that believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where among many other things which might be profitably observed by us concerning Salvation in the nature of it and the causes of it and the means of it and the like I shall at this time only fasten upon that which is here especially presented unto us and that is the subjects of it Believers To save them that believe The Gospel is the power of God to salvation to them that believe This is the restriction which is put upon it Rom. 1.16 I call it a restriction and so indeed it is and that also in this present Text which we have now in hand Where this word here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is to be taken not only Specificativè but Exclusivè Believers and none else them that believe and them only that believe and none but them This Preaching it saves none besides in all the world whether Jew or Gentile we must take this expression here in a limited and restrained sense as pointing out a certain number of persons distinguisht from all others in this business as concerning them that believe the receiving of benefit and salvation by Preaching And here there are two things again which this restraint does extend it self to First here 's a restraint of the benefit of Preaching to Faith And secondly Here 's a restraint of the benefit of salvation to faith There 's none which have benefit by Preaching any further than they believe and there 's none which do partake of Salvation but those only which do believe neither By the foolishness of preaching he saves them that believe First I say there 's none which have benefit by Preaching any further than they believe it is Faith which makes Preaching effectual without which it is but an ordinary discourse This is clear out of that place in Heb. 4.2 The Gospel was preached to us as well as unto them but the word preached did not profit them because it was not mixt with faith in them that heard it It is faith or the want of faith which makes Preaching either profitable or not And the reason hereof is this Because that this is the Applicatory Grace which does suck and draw all to it self look as meat does no good in the stomack except it be digested so Preaching does no good in the soul except it be believed There must be a concocting faculty
to digest every truth which we hear and to make it our own or else we can have no benefit by it There must be a turning of our spiritual nourishment into the substance of our souls as of our corporal nourishment into the substance of our bodies and that suitable to the several parts of it now this is the work of Faith Faith it makes every truth ours by appropriating it and bringing it home to our selves And that in a proportion suitable to the nature of the Doctrine it self If it be a Doctrine of Information Faith makes it ours by framing and conforming our judgments thereunto and setling us there If it be a Doctrine of Consolation Faith makes it ours by closing and complying with it and so drawing comfort from it If it be a Doctrine of Threatning Faith makes it ours by trembling at it and reforming for it Thus Faith is active in all as that Grace which does apply all to us The consideration hereof may be thus far useful to us As first It may teach us how to address our selves to the hearing of the Word namely by labouring to prepare our hearts by a spirit of faith Oportet discentem credere we must come with a resolution to imbrace every truth of God which he propounds unto us Preaching will do us no good without believing if we had all the Preaching in the world without it we make the Ordinance but a Complement and meer word of course unto us Why but then may some say If Preaching does no good without believing why then we should preach only to Believers and none but them To this I answer No for by Preaching we make them Believers through Gods blessing upon it Preaching is a means to work that Faith which does improve it self and without which it is ineffectual as wine enables the stomack to work it self to the good of the body Secondly Seeing Preaching does no good without believing let us here then see why there 's no more good done by Preaching many times than there is we are apt when we profit not by the Word to lay the fault on other things the Doctrine and the Preacher and the like but we should confider whether it lyes not in our selves in our own hearts It may be we come not to the Word with that faith and expectation from God as it becomes us to do and then no wonder if we profit not by it Thirdly Let us hence not glory in the means that we have the Ordinances and the Word Preached unto us but let us consider what faith our selves have for the receiving and entertainment of them And that 's the first restraint None have benefit by Preaching but Believers The second restraint is this That none have the benefit of Salvation but Believers Salvation is restrained to Faith He that believes shall be saved but he that believes not shall be damned Mark 16.16 No Faith no Salvation They could not enter in because of unbelief Heb. 3.19 Of them that believe to the saving of the soul Heb. 10.39 Faith is the saving Grace as infidelity is the damning sin Not but that there are other saving Graces and other damning Sins but those which are so they are in the strength of these as being prinoipal and most effectual hereunto These are so by a special quality and property in them either to save or damn And for saving because that 's to our purpose faith has it here attributed to it self First as the radical and fundamental Grace and that which puts a life and vigor into all the rest And therefore ye shall find in the Eleventh Chapter of the Hebrews how all 's ascribed to this By faith they had a good report for every thing else which deserved good report If they had love or patience or humility or self-denial or zeal all was from faith In Enoch in Noah in Abraham in Moses and the like By faith they are said to do all whatsoever they did Secondly Faith has it attributed to it because it is that whereby we please God Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 Thirdly It is Faith which lays hold upon Christ who is the Author of Eternal Salvation Gal. 2.20 I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me c. This knits and unites us to him asour Head and when he is saved we are saved too by this union Fourthly It is Faith which gives most glory to God Rom. 4.20 Giving glory to God And 2 Thes 1.10 To be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe Fifthly Faith is that which does most conquer temptations and subdue all the enemies and adversaries of our salvation Ephes 6.16 Lastly Faith is said to save as the condition which God requires and will have in them which shall be saved and this were enough though nothing else to give account of it In all these respects is Salvation attributed hereunto But what is this Faith which we speak of all this while and wherein does it consist Sure it is not a meer assent to the truth revealed though that be somewhat which belongs thereunto yet this is not all the Devils thus believe which yet tremble as knowing that they are sons of wrath Jam. 2.19 But saving faith is quieting faith too Being justified by faith we have peace with God Rom. 5.1 Now what faith is this this is no other than a taking and receiving of Christ upon those terms in which he is offered in the Gospel for a Saviour and Lord too To as many as received him c. Joh. 1.12 As we must be willing to be saved by Christ's Blood so we must be willing to be ruled by Christ's Spirit Now this Faith has this also in it an assent to the whole truth of God which is revealed unto us Historical faith is comprehended in Justifying-faith as the less in the greater as the Vegetative and Sensitive soul in the Rational But the proper act of Justifying-faith is to lay hold on Christ Ens incomplexum est object um sidei justificantis Thus we see what Believing it self is The close of all for our selves is but to find this in our selves for our own particular And as we love Salvation accordingly to make good our Faith This we may discern and discover by the rise and fruits and workings of it For the rise of it it comes by Preaching and is suitable to the Doctrine of the Word Those which contemn the Ordinance they have none of the Grace For the fruits of it it works by love p1 It makes us afraid to displease God p2 It makes us couragious for God p3 It makes us love the Children of God p4 It quite changes and alters our converse from evil to good And so I have done with the fourth particular the extent of the work it self To save them that believe And so likewise with the second General in the Text Gods supply of the worlds defect
such points whosoever they are First Because they are such points which are indeed if we rightly consider them of a very deep reach in Religion though God in his Providence has brought it down to the capacity of the meanest yet in that it is such a Doctrine as does sute with the learning of the greatest and such as the greatest wits in the world may not scorn to search into What do we speak of the world and men when the very Angels themselves admire it and bow down to peep into it as the Apostle Peter tells us 1 Pet. 1.22 If they are such Mysteries as are high enough for Angels surely men have no cause to disdain them or scorn them or be weary of them though never so fully accomplished in regard of humane wisdom and learning here 's that which will hold them tack whosoever they be Secondly The wisest and learnedst that are such points as these may very well become them forasmuch as they are necessary points and such as tend to Salvation it self If wise men will be saved they must be glad to hear of saving truths there being but one way to Salvation for them and all others besides Those who have the greatest skill in Physick they are glad to take the same potions for their health which others take and so those which are the most famous for wisdom they may be glad also to partake of the same truths for their spiritual edification which others do of meaner parts Thirdly Again there is this besides considerable in it That there 's an infinite depth in these matters which we can never sufficiently reach or dive into and those that knew never so much of them yet they are still capable of knowing more and every new discourse about them it still adds somewhat unto them as every time that we read the Scripture we may still gain some new knowledg by it Besides further That we need affections even there where we need not information This is a special ground for the Preaching of plain Truths to great Wits thereby to work upon their hearts and to draw their love and affection to them There are many which know a great deal but their knowledg is very cold and dead and heartless in them and therefore to put some fire into them it is necessary to inculcate and preach these points upon them as men eat not only to take away hunger but also to gain spirits not only to satisfie their appetites but likewise to encrease their strength and corporal vigor This may then teach all such persons with patience to submit to such Truths and Points as these are and to receive with meekness that word which is able to save their souls as the Apostle James speaks Chap. 1. v. 21. Let us not disdain the common Doctrines of Religion nor think them too low for us which as no man is too good to preach of so no man is too good to hear nor to have imparted and communicated unto them And that 's a third thing here in the Apostles carriage his faithfulness and indifferency of mind The same Truths to Jews and Gentiles Fourthly There is here one thing more in his practise and that 's this namely his wisdom and discretion in the course which he here took for the curing and removing of the distempers of these Jews and Gentiles in reference to Preaching and that is by the very exercise of Preaching it self They counted it the foolishness of Preaching Well how does the Apostle now go about to free them and deliver them from this mistake why he does it no other way than indeed by preaching to them The way to bring men in love with Preaching is to use Preaching amongst them diligence in the performance will make them to affect the ordinance One would have though when the Apostle had perceived what mean apprehensions these people had of Preaching he should have now forborn Preaching amongst them and resolved as Jeremy once did that he would never preach more I said I will not make mention of him nor preach no more in his name Jer. 20.9 But St. Paul does not so he now Preaches so much the rather and falls to his work so much the faster We preach Christ crucified And this there 's good cause for First Because a great occasion of peoples prejudice against Preaching is because indeed they are unacquainted with it they speak evil of that they do not know whereas if they knew it better they would be more in love with it Now the use of it does discover this to them this shews them that worth which is in it which otherwise they do not so well discern as it is in other matters the strangeness which is betwixt friends is cause from want of converse c. so here Secondly Because there 's an authority in Preaching and an effcacy which goes along with it which does command respect unto it it is not in mens power and liberty whether they will honour Preaching or no they shall do it by meer force and as it were against their wills whether they will or no as Physick makes men in love with Physick This therefore is first a good Item to Ministers what to do in such cases to do as the Apostle here do's And secondly we see here how to cure this distemper in many places in the Country namely by sending Preachers amongst them And so for the curing also of an itch in hearing the way is to preach sound and powerful Doctrine to them But so much of the first Particular viz. The Apostles carriage as concerning the ordering of his Ministry which we have seen in four several Instances The second is the Apostles Doctrine for the points delivered by him and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ crucified This was the string which the Apostle here harped upon and the lesson which he principally taught from whence we may observe thus much That Christ crucified is the main object and matter of our Preaching the chief work and imployment which lyes upon us in our Evangelical Dispensations is to lay open the Cross of Christ The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified In the second Chapter of this present Epistle and the second verse the Apostle professes that for his part he determined to know nothing else I determined to know nothing amongst you save Jesus Christ and him crucified I determined the word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I judged not only in a way of resolution I purposed to know nothing else but also in a way of approbation I esteemed nothing else besides so fitting to be known To know amongst you what 's that that is indeed to make known A Minister knows no more in this sense than he publishes and declares to others and makes them know as well as himself Now this was that which the Apostle was resolved on especially to beat upon in his Ministry
take which he Preaches is to be earnest especially with God to go along with it and to bless him in it otherwise he may lose all his labour Again further The life and conversation of the Preacher there 's great matter in that also There are many Doctrines sometimes delivered which if we consider them in their own nature and for the matte of the things themselves which are spoken they have a great deal of weight in them yet as coming from such and such mouths they lose that efficacy and vertue which is in them He that 's a loose and scandalous liver can never look to be a profitable and successful Preacher nor to have any good at all come by any Doctrine which at any time he delivers I say he cannot expect or look for it Perhaps he may do some good by chance and unawares as God in providence may order it but he cannot expect or look for it and that indeed because he takes the quite contrary way hereunto For who will ever believe that that man is serious and in good earnest whose Doctrine tends one way and his life quite carries another way Nay further let me add this also That it is a great matter as concerning the efficacy and success of a mans Doctrine and Ministry not only how he orders his life and outward conversation but also how he orders his heart and inward disposition It is a duty which much lyes upon us as we desire that any Truth we deliver should take with our Auditory to labour to bring our own hearts and consciences to a conformity to it There 's nothing which goes to the heart so much as that which comes from it And when the words of a Preacher are the expressions of his own experiences and impressions and the working of his spirit within him We imparted unto you not the Gospel of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us 1 Thes 2.8 Thus do we see how this difference lyes in the Preacher himself and that 's the first Consideration The second lies in the qualification of the hearers We use say Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis What ever is received it is received answerably to the modification of that which receives it And so is it indeed among other things with the Word and Truth of God it has a different and various effect according to a difference in the Hearers and a disposition in their hearts It is the Comparison which is used in this case by Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Look says he as it is at Tennis It is a plain and homely similitude but it serves to illustrate the thing As it is in playing of Ball 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It does not depend alone upon the skill of the first striker but also as well upon the taker to keep the Game up Though he which begins behave himself never so skilfully yet if the other do but bungle with him if he mind not or mark not the business there will nothing be done to any purpose because those imployments they are actions of mutual dependance and reciprocation Even so also for the transmission of the Gospel and Divine Truths though the Doctrine it self be delivered with all the care and endeavour that can be yet if it be not carefully received there will no success follow upon it Thus Heb. 4.3 The Gospel was Preached to them as well as unto us but the word Preached did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it This is set forth to us by the Parable in the Gospel where that which fell in the High-way had not the efficacy of that which was sown in the good Ground Non impotentia seminis sed vino telluris as Athanasius well expresses it not from the weakness of the seed but from a defect in the Earth it self where there is not a good capacity in the Hearer the Word Preached will be there of no effect Now an indisposition here may be laid forth as consisting in divers things which concur hereunto First Prejudice and forestallment of Opinion and Apprehension in regard of the Preacher where people have at any time sinister and wrong conceits of those tha teach them they can never so kindly entertain the Doctrine which is delivered by them as when a Patient does not fancy the Physitian the Physick will not likely do him good This was that which made the Word of God to be no more received in former times We see how it was with the very Apostles themselves and amongst the rest more particularly St. Paul how the prejudices against his Person were sometimes great impediments to his Doctrine and the progress of his Ministry amongst them And therefore it is most necessary thing for all kind of Hearers to take heed of this Not to be rash in admitting any misprisions in this regard as Satan is most ready to breed them so should we be the readier to avoid them And again which we may take in here also as prejudice in an ill sense so prejudging also in a good there may be a danger in that also when people come to the hearing of the Word with too much expectation from the Preachers too and as trusting to their Gifts and Abilities this may be a cause of not profiting likewise when we shall have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of Persons It comes hence to pass that we are many times frustrated and disappointed and are sent empty away c. as Naaman to Elisha he thought the man of God would have come down c. 2 King 1. Secondly Another Hindrance in the Hearers is a want of due fitting and preparing of themselves for the publick Ordinances We see in other matters how preparation goes before the thing it self in Physick there 's a preparing of the body beforehand ere the principal Physick be administred and in Diet there 's preparation by exercise before the receiving of the meat even so is it requisite to be here in Divine matters likewise in our coming to the Sacrament and in our coming to the Preaching of the Word as we desire to get profit by these Duties so we must prepare our selves for them when we come to such things as these are immediately from our worldly imployments with our minds and thoughts full of the world we cannot ordinarily receive so much advantage and benefit by them Intus prohibet alienum Thirdly Some reigning sin and lust which prevails upon the heart that 's another impediment likewise in the behalf of the Hearer Look as it is in the body if any man have any constant weakness or sickness and infirmity about him that sustenance which he receives it does not commonly thrive with him but rather feeds and strengthens his disease than any thing else even so is it also here for the soul where there 's any corruption which is
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
they have presently the better gifts There 's an affectation in some kind of persons after singular and peculiar abilities according to which they do ordinarily reckon and account of themselves though the things in their own nature are but indeed of common consideration Thus it is with some Scholars just as it is with some Books which have a price set upon them more from their scarcity and hardness to be got than from the matter and composure of them or any intrinsecal worth which is in them But this is not such a betterness as the Apostle does intend in this place Secondly Gifts are sometimes counted better as they are more glorious and conspicuous and plausible in the eyes of the world thus there are some which are especially more than others which have a greater luster upon them and do more appear and vent themselves abroad to the approbation of other men which yet notwithstanding simply considered are not the better gifts nor really so to be esteemed This was that wherein the false Apostles had an advantage over the Apostle Paul and whereby they did work themselves into the hearts and affections of the Corinthians to the disparagement and diminution of him with them They had it may be a little better put-off than he had better language and utterance and clocution and considence and the like which he was somewhat inferior in at least in his own acknowledgment I am rude in speech says he though not in knowledg and therefore they carried the bell away from him And thus 't is likewise still with many people to this present day who commonly more look at the voice and delivery and freedom and carriage of the Preacher which yet I do not deny but in their place are also to be regarded than they do at his Matter and Doctrine and Judgment and Spirit and such things as those are Now this is not that which is here meant in this present Text better gifts that is gifts which are more plausible and which do gain the better esteem and admiration from men this I say is not here intended And therefore St. Chrysostome very well observes and after him Theophylact and Oecumenius that it is not said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the greater gifts but the better gifts not greater in the applause of the world but better in the things themselves which still we must seek out what is meant and signifed hereby for as yet we have not hit upon it It is neither those gifts always which are most rare and unusual nor yet which are most conspicuous and plausible which are truly the better gifts Therefore thirdly to speak home to the point there are two things especially which as I conceive have a special influence and ingrediency into this betterness and qualification which the Apostle does here mention to us And gifts may be said to be better some than others in a twofold respect Either first of all by taking them intrinsece materialiter according to that excellency which they have in their own latitude and the compass of these gifts Or else secondly by taking them extrinsece effective according to that extent which they have to â—he good of others First Gifts are said to be better intrinsecally and materially as considered within their own compass and sphere and so those are the better gifts which do serve best to polish the mind and understanding and reason and do raise the faculties and powers of the soul to an higher and nobleâ— pitch thus there are some which do more than others and these in this sense are the better gifts so they are both intended by the Apostle and to be esteemed also by us But then secondly Gifts are likewise said to be better extrinsecally or extensively in their effects as they do more communicate and enlarge themselves beyond the subject in which they are to the good of other men Thus those are the best gifts which do tend best to edification and which in the exercise of them have most good done by them Those gifts by which the world and the Church is most advantaged and promoted those in the Apostles sense in this place are the better gifts And thus much first for that which is implied That there are some gifts which are better than others The second is that which is exprest That if there be any gifts which are better than others those are they which we for our particulars of all others are to apply our selves to Covet earnestly the best gifts This the Apostle here requires and he does it but upon reasonable considerations ' if we take notice of them First That common and general inclination which is in all men in every thing else there 's nothing else in any kind whatsoever which men do at any time desire or look after but they would have the best of it as neer as they can even there sometimes where worse might serve their turn and might be good enough for them yet they must still have the best or none if there be any thing better than another their mouths water after that The best garments the best houses the best provisions the best preferments all they can get of the best this is for the most part mens humour and endeavour in Temporal matters that they are all carried continually to the better as the object of their pursuit It is St. Austin's observation to this purpose and expostulation upon it Quid est quod velis habere malum dic mihi nihil omnino non uxorem non filium non servum non ancillam c. What is it says he that thou couldst be contented to have otherwise than good nothing at all not Wife not Children not Servants not any of these things here below Bona vis habere bonus non vis esse Wouldst thou have that which is good and be the worst of all thy self what an incongruous and unsuitable thing is this We may apply it to this present particular whereof we now speak concerning spiritual gifts As we desire the best in other matters so we have cause to desire the best in these as the best gifts from men so the best gifts from God so the best gifts of the Spirit of God It agrees with our inclination in other matters Secondly The consideration of the nature of the soul it self that calls for as much from us The better the soul is considered in its own substance and essence the better would those things be which should qualifie it and which it would be endued withal The better gifts do best become the better part So noble a creature as the Soul is doth require the best accomplishments that it is possibly capable of Thirdly In reference also to practice and execution therefore the better gifts that we may accomplish the better performances and may do the most good The operations are answerable to the Principles those which have but mean gifts they
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
Thes 1.5 This is that which becomes a servant of Christ as the best principle of all to work upon namely his own knowledg and experience of those things which he speaks of But of this we may have occasion to treat more anon out of the words themselves 2. As here 's an account of his practice from the principle of it so likewise from the matter and the thing it self which was handled by him which is by beginning with terror and laying judgment before them and the last judgment in particular This is the course which is taken by him for the more effectual progress of his Ministry to lay the ground-work and foundation in this And it so was likewise with him elsewhere Thus he dealt with the men of Athens Act. 17. 30 31. And the times of this ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every-where to repent because he bath appointed a day in which be will judg he worlds So he began likewise with Felix Act. 24.25 He reasoned before him of righteousness and temperance and judgment of come So Heb. 6.2 Amongst the rest of the first Elements of Christain Religion we find there reckoned eternal judgment as that which is mainly and principally to be known and studied by a Christian as preparatory and introductory to many other Doctrines besides 3. We may likewise here take notice of the order and method which is observed by him in all this which is first of all informing himself and then instructing of others Here 's scientes prinsquaâ—â— suademus First Knowing and after that perswading There are some which invert this order Begin first with perswading and then come to knowing aftewards Which will be teachers before they are learners which will take upon them to instruct ere themselves are sufficiently instructed But this is not the Apostles method here in this place who begins at the right end and that which is most natural and probable to know before he makes known And thus much by way of preparation of these words in their dependance and connexion We come now closer to the parts themselves Where we have these two particulars considerable First The work it self and that is we perswade men Secondly The principle of this working or the Motive that put them upon it Knowing the terror of the Lord. We begin with the last first which is first in the order of the words as it is also in the nature of the thing and that is the nature or principle of working Knowing the terror of the Lord. Wherein again two particulars more First The object propounded and that is the terror of the Lord. Secondly The apprehension of this object in reference to the mind c. Knowing the terror of the Lord. The Vulgar Latine gives it Timorem Domini the fear of the Lord which is a little more mollified and restrained The Arabick Interpreter for fail puts them in both Timorem reverentiam Domini Terrorem takwi trabbi wa-hashaitiho Erasmus simpliciter terrorem which is also followed by our own Translators as best agreeing with the drift of the place which is that which we will now keep unto 1. I say here 's the Object propounded The terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was that which the Apostle knew and desired also to make known unto them for their edification and spiritual improvement It 's called the terror of the Lord emphatically and exclusively as hereby shutting out any other terror besides which does not so well consist with this for we must know that there are sometimes false terrors as well as true There are terrores Satanae as well as terrores Domini and these are very cautelously to be distinguish't one from the other The Devil as he has his false comforts and raptures and elevations so he has likewise his false fears and astonishments and dejections whereby he does sometimes depress and keep down the hearts of Gods People in his uncomfortable representations in his suggestions to despair in his dreadful prognostications and the like These are such kind of things as are very sad and terrible and which St. Paul also knew well enough and was sufficiently acquainted withal He was not ignorant of Satans devices whereby he labours to affright men and to take them off from doing of their duty and that work which does belong unto them through their too much attendance hereunto But he does not make any of these to be a ground for his ministerial perswasions no but the terror of the Lord those terrors which God himself makes and which are of his allowance and approbation What kind of terrors are those may it be here demanded Let us hear of them what they are and what is meant here by them in this expression which we here meet withal in the Text. For these there are divers kinds of them we may reduce them briefly to three heads which as I think will reach this phrase in the full extent and latitude of it 1. The terror of the Word in the threatnings and comminations of it wherein is revealed from Heaven the wrath of God against all unrighteousness as the Apostle speaks in Rom. 1.18 This is one terror of the Lord and a very great terror it is if it be duly considered there 's a mighty power in the work of God set on by the assistance of Gods Spirit for the terrifying of the most secure sinner and driving him out of that condition and presumption and stupidity of mind in which he lyes The Word of God is powerful sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit c. Heb. 4.12 And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God c. says the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.4 This we see in Paul to Felix who whiles he Preach'd before him astonish'd him and caused him to tremble 2. The terror of Divine Impression upon the heart and conscience This is sometimes called in Scripture the terror of the Almighty which Joâ— and David Heman and such as these did sometimes partake of when God himself appears as an Enemy and does immedlately wrestle and conflict with the inwards of any poor soul and write bitter things against it This is likewise the terror of the Lord and such as does indeed carry a great deal of terribleness with it but yet that 's not all which is meant here in this place 3. The terror of Judgment and more especially of the day of Judgment that 's likewise the terror of the Lord and it is that which is also principally intended here in this present Scripture which relates to that which was mentioned in the verse immediately preceding We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive c. Now knowing the or as some that terror of the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the demonstrative particle we do therefore perswade so that the terror of the Lord is as
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
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
despise not the chastening of the Lord c. Heb. 12.5 But to have his goodness and his mercy despised and to have his patience and long-suffering abused this is the worst of all Patientia laesa fit furor Patience when it is once abused it turns into fury and wrath And so will the Patience of God when it is exercised by the Provocations of men There 's a time a coming when Mercy will be worth the owning and will not be despised There are divers evils consequent upon this despising of the mercies of God First The removal and taking away of the mercies themselves When God bestows good things upon them and they make nothing of them or pervert them to a contrary use God does then justly deprive them of them and bestows them sometimes upon those which will better deserve them Thus Hos 2.8 9. She did not know that is consider that I gave her corn and wine and oyl and multiplied her silver and gold which they prepared for Baal And what then Therefore will I return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and I will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness There 's no better way to secure and to preserve any comfort to us which at any time we enjoy than by thankful and fruitful improving it to Gods glory and the doing of good with it whereas the contrary it does plainly forfeit and expose it to ruin and loss Secondly Vpon despising of Gods mercies there follows not only a removal of them but also a perverting of them and turning them to evil God as I said before is able to curse mens blessings and so oftentimes he does upon this account wherein he deals with them suitably to themselves For they do for their parts use his blessings to a contrary purpose and he does dispose his blessings to have a contrary issue to them that what is comfortable in its own nature shall be to them matter of disquiet Thirdly He does also hereupon inflict heavy judgments and absolute punishments when mercy will do no good he then takes another curse and proceeds to destruction especially where mercy is presumed on As Dent. 29.19 20. He that blesses himself in his heart and says He shall have peace although he does thus and thus the Lord will not spare him c. The Consideration of these things should make us therefore to be shy and careful in this particular Oh take heed of despising the riches of Gods goodness and patience And the greater mercies they are that God follows thee withal be so much the more tender of them because himself is more tender of them also and those are spiritual mercies and which concern our spiritual welfare do not neglect or despise them of any other besides the Gospel and Ordinances and Ministry and Dispensations of the Spirit the motions and stirrings and checkings of Conscience in the soul which I spake of before take heed of despising of these for it is a despising even of God himself and his goodness He that â—â—â—â—seth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10.16 And so 1 Thes 4.8 He that despiseth despiseth not man but God who hath also given us his holy Spirit says the Apostle to the Thessalonians There are many which are apt to think well themselves that when they reject the Ministry of the Word and slight such performances as these are that they despise but the pains and labours of some weak and frail man Oh but there 's more in it than so it is a despising of the Goodness of God even the riches of his Goodness as it is here exprest in the Text and of his chiefest goodness of all the riches of his grace which he most delights and takes pleasure in and would magnifie above all his works Before I pass this Head let me take notice of one thing more and that is the phrase and manner of expression Thon and thou O man by way of particular designation which shews the nature and property of the Ministry in the exercise of it which is to come home to mens particular consciences and to deal effectually with them in particular It is both an indefinite word and a restrained it is indefinite in regard of the Preacher but it is restrained in regard of the Hearer for the Ministers they cannot always know who are guilty of these and these miscarriages therefore they speak at random and in generalities they know not to whom But the Spirit of God in mens consciences brings it home to the particular persons of those which are concerned in it As St. Austin has it to this purpose Aures omnium pulso sed conscienties quorundam convenio c. I speak says he to al mens ears but I meet but with some mens consciences I do not say Thou such an one who art thus guilty amend thy self but whosoever in this auditory is thus guilty let him amend himself Publica est correctio sed peccata corrigit And so I have one with the first General Part of the Text which is the simple expostulation Despisest thou the riches of his Goodness and long-suffering c. The second is the aggravating amplification in these Not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Wherein again we have two Branches more First The truth asserted And secondly The truth questioned The truth asserted that 's on the Apostles part in these words The Goodness of God leadeth thee c. The truth questioned that 's on the Sinners part in these words Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance c. We begin with the former viz. The truth asserted The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance Now this will require a little Explication from us how it is to be understood by us and it may be taken three manner of ways First Occasionally as it gives the opportunity Secondly Argumentatively as it gives the Motive and Ingagement Thirdly In a sense also effectively and operatively as it gives the very thing it self First I say Occasionally as it gives the opportunity the Goodness of God does so far forth lead to repentanceâ—â—â—s it affords time and space for repentance for so it does If God should deal strictly with men in rigour of justice and cut them off presently in their very sins they would then find no place for repentance But now his patience and long-suffering towards them is in this respect an advantage to them as a Creditor that spares his Debtor and does not instantly fall upon him he gives him time to pay his Debts which otherwise he could not do Thus does God with the sons of men by his indulgence and forbearance of them he does hereby give them respite for this that they may consider their ways that they may bethink themselves that they may return and make their peace with him in the blood of
to travel with them again Alas what a pitiful thing is it to be the means of bringing those into the world which shall be enemies to Christ and to suffer the pains of travel that others may suffer the pains of hell This Parents cannot otherwise prevent than by prayers and good example and education and this they should do and say in the words of the Apostle here in my Text with which I will conclude My little children of whom I travel in birth again till Christ be formed in you SERMON XL. Gal. 5.16 This I say then Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh There 's nothing which is more ominous or pernicious to the Church of Christ than the divisions and contentions of those which are the members of it one with another being such as do threaten the ruâ—n and consumption and destruction of the whole and there 's nothing which does more lay the way and give ground and occasion hereunto than a diversity and contrariety of Doctrine and opinion in matters of Faith This is that which the Apostle Paul does in a more especial manner take notice of in the course of this present Chapter more particularly in the Church of Galatia to which he here writes who were now at this time more especially apostatized or declined in a very great measure from their former profession and were over-grown with very strange errors which did breed strange affections amongst them Now the Apostle here does three things in reference to this present evil First He shews the nature of it Secondly He shews the danger of it Thirdly He prescribes the remedy He shews the nature of it in the 13th verse that it is namely a carnal humour and such as proceeded from the unregenerate and unsanctified pant in them therefore he bids them not to use their liberty for an occasion to the flesh He shews the danger of it in the 15th verse that it is namely a mortal disease and such as carries no other than death and desolation in the bosom of it But if ye bite and evour one another take heed ye be not consumed one of another He prescribes the remedy in this particular verse which we have now in hand the 16th verse of this Chapter whereby because that contraries are best cured by contraries he does therefore endeavour to remove carnal distempers by the provoking of spiritual performances This then I say walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh IN these present words before us we have two General Parts especially observable of us First A Preface or Introduction Secondly The Doctrine or Matter which is delivered thereupon The Preface that we have in those words This I say then The Doctrine or Matter delivered in these Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh We will a little invert the order and begin first of all with the particular Doctrine or Matter it self which we have laid down in the latter part of the verse Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill c. And here again there are two Branches more which offer themselves to us First A Precept or positive Injunction Walk in the spirit Secondly A Promise or according as some read the words a Prohibition And ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh We begin in order with the first viz. the Precept Walk in the spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein there are two terms to be explain'd and stood upon by us First The spirit to consider what is meant by that And secondly Walking in the spirit what is the sensen and meaning of that and what we are taught and instructed from it For the first By the spirit we are here in one word to understand the spirit of God the Holy spirit And that either first of all in his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us or else secondly in his motions and suggestions as objected and propounded to us either of these do imply the spirit First In his Graces and Principles as subjected and radicated in us Walk in the spirit i.e. walk after a spiritual manner And this again is done two manner of ways First When we are frequent and conversant in spiritual duties when we are much in the Exercises of Religion which are the currents and conveyances of the Spirit then we may be said in one sense to walk in the spirit which is here required of us Those which profess themselves Christians they must be much in the Duties of Christianity as Praying Reading Hearing Communion of Saints c. These are such things as they must apply themselves to with a great deal of diligence and endeavour It is true there are other things also to be done in reference to humane life and conversation here in the world as the works of our ordinary callings and imployments which belong unto us these they are not to be neglected but we must be also mindful of other and apply our selves to the performance of them even the exercises of Piety and Religion And that especially upon this consideration as being such actions wherein we have special communion with the Spirit of God and wherein he takes occasion to communicate himself unto us These they are the pleasant walks of the Spirit as I may so call them the green pastures in which he makes us to lye down and the still waters besides which he leads us for the restoring of our souls as the Prophet David there expresses it in Psal 23.23 The Galleries wherein Christ is held Cant. 7.5 and a great deal of good to be gotten by them Those which talk of the Spirit and in the mean time cry down the Word whether in the reading or preaching of it which vilifie Ordinances and Religious duties and such performances as these are they speak those things which are inconsistent and which will never hold together For these they are Pabulum animae they are the food and nourishment of the soul which it lives upon and the sweet and happy channels wherein the Spirit of God does glid into us Secondly When we are daily and continually in a spiritual frame and temper of heart This in another sense is to walk in the spirit and seems also to be laid upon us in this present Expression in the Text. We may not judg of our walking in the spirit always or only by the matter and substance of the actions themselves wherein we are imployed but rather according to our carriage and behaviour in them A man may walk in the flesh even then when he is religiously exercised as for the nature of the performance it self And again A man may walk in the spirit even then when he is about business but of common and ordinary consideration The want of right distinguishing here hath been that which hath given occasion to such mistakes especially amongst the Papists and those of that way for
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what we have prohibited therein Secondly What is here to be understood by not fulfilling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
and non-attendency in them There 's a spirit of Atheism which does possess the hearts of every man whereby they think it not a business worth the while to take any view of their own lives but as they do not much care to know what it is which is to be done by them so in like manner they do not care neither to know whether they have done it or not As it was said of Gallio they care for none of these things Secondly This want of self-tryal it does proceed in a great measure from presumption and self-applause The most men that are in the world they take it for granted that their state is good for Heaven and that that which is done by them is no other than that which it should be and therefore it is that they do not prove their own works There 's no man goes about to try there where he is sufficiently satisfied and perswaded Now this is that which most men are in regard of themselves through that presumption and self-love and self-flattery which is in their hearts c. Thirdly This forbearance of inquiry and examination of mens own works and ways it does proceed oftentimes from guilt and consciousness and self-suspicion Bankrupts or men of uncertain and suspicious estates they do not love to cast up their accounts for fear they should find that in them which would be irksome and displeasing to them and so it is with men of defiled consciences they are afraid to examine them for fear they should be troublesome to them and perplex them and grate upon them Therefore they are willingly ignorant both of what is to be done by them as also of what is done otherwise than it should be lest their consciences should either restrain them or else disquiet them Now for our selves we should be all effectually perswaded to put in practise this present Exhortation of the Apostles here before us Let every man prove his own work there being danger in being ignorant of it and because ignorance especially affected does not excuse but rather aggravate the guilt of those persons that are subject to it This tryal and discovery it is made by divers and sundry ways and means First By the Word and the Will of God as it is laid down in holy Scripture To the Law to the Testimony c. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path c. Psal 119.105 Secondly By the Principles of Godliness and the scope and drift of Religion and the work of the new creature in us Thus Gal. 6.16 when in the verse before he had made mention of the new creature he presently adds As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them c. Thirdly The Principles of Christian prudence and discretion There 's a regard to be had also to them wisdom dwells with providence Prov. 8. 12. And so Grace which is true spiritual wisdom it is to be accompanied with Christian discretion David he was a man after God's own heart but yet withal he had this Testimony given him by him that had experience of it and had cause to know it that he behaved himself wisely in all his ways and the Lord was with him 1 Sam. 18. 14. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good and whoso trusteth in the Lord happy is he says Solomon Prov. 16.20 Fourthly We may also prove our works sometimes by the frame and temper and disposition of our own hearts and the Spirit of God moving in us We may know what we do or have done by what we are and the intercourse which passes betwixt God and our own Souls These who are intimate friends they know when they have displeased one another by the mutual carriage and behaviour of each other your Fathers countenance is not towards me as at other times says Jacob of Laban And so here when men shall find themselves at any time dead-hearted and averse to that which is good a listlesness and indisposition upon them and the Spirit of God absenting and withdrawing of himself from them it is much to be suspected that all has not been right with them in some preparatory and antecedent carriage but when 't is otherwise there 's some hope of them even as David reasons of himself Psal 66.28 29. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my prayer but verily God hath heard me c. On the other side when he had sinned against God we knew how it was with him he wanted the light of Gods countenance the joy of his salvation the freedom of his spirit c. as we may see in Psal 52 c. And instead of these was exercised and afflicted with the broken bones c. We know in matters of health how a man that is observant of himself he knows that he has disordered himself some way or other not only by reflecting upon the occasion of the distemper it self but also by considering it in the effects and concomitants of it when he takes not his rest as formerly has not his usual stomach to his meat nor does his work as he was wont to do he hence concludes that all is not right with him in regard of his body and outward man which is known by those symptoms of it even so is it also with a Christian in this particular in regard of his soul he does not only prove his works by considering them in their own nature but also by looking upon them in the reflexions and consequents of them and those effects which they have had upon his spirit which in case of any eminent miscarriage if he well observe it will not be so as heretofore And so much may suffice to have spoken of this act of proving in the first acception of it as it may taken by way of Tryal and Discovery and Exploration Let every man prove his own work that is let every man examine what he does or not does whether it be good or bad and such as will be warranted and justified at another day when all mens actions shall come to tryal But secondly It may be further taken by way of allowance or approbation Let him prove that is let him approve Thus the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here used in this present Text is oftentimes taken in other places of Scripture as 2 Cor. 16.3 Whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So 2 Cor. 13.5 Prove your own selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And so here now in this Text before us Let every man prove his own work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as when in our ordinary course of speech we say to prove a will we mean to approve it Now this not excluding the former seems to be the more proper and genuine meaning of the place in order to that which follows And then shall he have rejoycing c. Every one that trys his work has not from
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek c. And we see it fulfill'd in Luk. 4.18 so Ephes 2.17 He came and preached peace to them that were a far off and to them that were near that no man may think meanly or scornfully of this work of Preaching and publishing of the Gospel it was the work and business and employment even of Christ himself in his own person But secondly He did it also and still does in his servants who were sent and appointed by him Thus 1 Pet. 1.10 11. Of which salvation the Prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signifie when it testified before-hand the sufferings of Christ c. And so St. Paul in 2 Cor. 13.3 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me c. It is Christ that speaks to us in his Ministers who have his Spirit given them to this purpose Thus is Christ a witness by way of Discovery and Revelation which is the first Explication Secondly By way of assurance and confirmation not only so far forth as he reveals to us those things which we knew not but also as he does further settle us in these things which we know in part already he is a witness in this respect likewise And that by virtue of his Spirit that dwelleth in us God hath revealed these things to us by his Spirit For the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God And as he reveals them so also he confirms them and gives us a further assurance of them as it is also intimated to us 2 Cor. 2.10 Now there are two things which Christ by his Spirit doth thus witness to all those that are members of him First The Truths and Doctrines of Christianity and Religion it self And secondly Their own spiritual condition and state in Grace as having such truths belonging to them First For the Truths and Doctrines of Religion Christ is a witness in regard of these namely so far forth as he does illustrate them and shine upon them and open our minds and understandings for the conceiving and apprehending of them As it is said of the Disciples in the general in Luk. 24.45 He opened their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures The Spirit of Christ in his children witnesses Divine Truths not only to their heads but to their hearts and gives them a further savour and rellish of those things which they know in part already which is the great difference betwixt them and other men Take common and ordinary persons who have no work of Grace at all in them and they have many times a great deal of knowledg in the Doctrines and Points of Religion so far as belongs to the brain and are able to discourse it may be pretty largely and plausibly of them But now a good Christian indeed he has another kind of knowledg of them He sees spiritual Truths by a spiritual light that which others discourse of he feels and has his heart transformed and changed into the nature of them Thus he knows the Scripture and written Word to be the Word of God not only from the testimony of the Church but from the testimony of the Spirit and as finding in his own soul the workings and impressions of it as Austin sometimes professes it for his own particular This is that accordingly which we should labour to find in our selves as being that which will be of greatest use and benefit to us and most likely to hold out with us It is the best and readiest way to perseverance and continuance and abidance in the truth when it is thus wrought and riveted into us When the Doctrines of Religion are meerly notional and speculative as swiming and floating in the understanding men do more easily let them go and part with them but when Christ by his Spirit does seal them and engrave them upon the heart then they are sure and certain and we shall constantly hold them out even to the end Again for a further explication of this Point as Christ may be said to be a witness of the Truths of Religion by his Spirit so also by his life and his whole conversation Joh. 18.27 For this end says he was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth Christs actions they gave a testimony to his Doctrine and to the truth and reality of it That which was done by him it was a manifestation of that which was said which is indeed the best witness of truth that can be given unto it And it teaches us the same likewise in some kind of conformity unto him We ought thus far to be fellow-helpers to the truth and promoters of it all that may be And so as by doing so by suffering likewise Christ was a witness to the truth also thus and enables all his servants where they are called unto it to be so likewise He is in a sense the first Martyr and all others take it from him that have any ability to be so That 's the first Branch of this witness as to the matter of it as extending to the Truths of Christianity The second is as to Christians own condition and state of Grace Christ is a witness likewise thus as he witnesses by his spirit to their spirits that they are his children Rom. 8.16 Thus 1 Joh. 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself that is wrought and imprinted upon his heart by the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in him and certifies him in this particular and that against all false witnesses and objections to the contrary When Satan or a mans own misgiving heart shall be ready sometimes to accuse him and fly in his face here 's the witness and testimony of Christ himself which will carry all down before it And so again when a man 's own heart acquits him and speaks comfortably to him here 's the witness of Christ also to confirm it and to add strength unto it which is the chiefest of all As Peter sometime to Christ Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Christ is not only a Judg but a Witness and accordingly we may appeal unto him for the clearing and justifying of us upon any occasion as this Disciple here does and he will be ready accordingly to give in witness to us and for us as it is proper unto him my witness is in heaven and my record on high Job 16.19 Yea and to give witness in us too within our own breasts Christ he can speak peace to the Conscience and make it speak peace to it self which no other witness can do besides He can so enlighten and over-power the Conscience as thereby to enable it to give a right judgment of it self which oftentimes
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 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 â—ractise 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
of the words and the Connexion of them with that which went before Solomon in 8 9. verses of this Chapter had said Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser And here now adds If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self he does not say If thou hearnest to reproof and good instruction though that he means by it But if thou be wise Hereby implying that so to do is a part of very great wisdom and so it is He that 's a Teachable man is a wise man He that has so much understanding in him as to give ear to good Counsel when it is given him he is a wise man indeed He is so and so he is said to be in Scripture especially in this book of the Proverbs in sundry places of it I shall not need to instance in them we do frequently meet with in them almost in every page tending to this purpose Not to stand upon this point which I onely take notice of by the by this will appear to be so in these following respects First It is a part of wisdom for a man to suspect his own wisdom and to think that it is possible for him to deceive himself He that trusts in his own heart is a fool Prov. 28.26 And so he that mistrusts it is a wise man Now this does such an one as gives attendance to good Advice he does thereby question and suspect himself and give more to the judgement of others then he does to his own which for the most part does carry a note of wisdom with it Secondly It is a part of wisdom to discern between good and evil to know what is to be left and what is to be imbraced Now this is in hearkening to good Counsel there 's a distinguishing spirit to put a differnce betwixt good and bad Bet wixt the motions os Lust and the Suggestions of Piety and Vertue The ear tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat Job 34.3 Now as a good and well temper'd Palate relishes good and wholsom Food which it is supplyed withal so a Gracious and Savory spirit closes and complyes with good Counsel and Advice which is administred to it and there 's wisdom in that Thirdly It is a part of wisdom to know ones best friends and to give them all incouragement of being further Friendly to us now thus 't is with those which doe yield to seasonable Admonitions they doe hereby discern their Friends they consider who wishes them best and incourage them in so doing Oyntment and perfume rejoyce the heart so doth the sweetness of a mans friend by hearty counsel Prov. 27.9 Thus in all these considerations is wisdom to hearken to good Counsel and he is a wise man that does so even in the Judgement of the Spirit of God who is wisdom it self We see then what to think of all those which are otherwise affected If it be wisdom to be admonished it is then folly to reject and refuse admonition And those that are guilty of doing so they are in this no better then fools Indeed they doe not alwayes think so which makes their foolishness to be so much the more The sluggard's wiser in his own conceit then seven men that can render a reason Prov. 26.16 But yet for all that he is not wise indeed and good earnest neither does God Himself so esteem it who is best able to judge of them with Him a wise man and an Obedient are all one He that hearkens to the voice of wisdom crying to Him and inviting to her self as it is here in this Chapter such as these are wise with Him and none but such So much for that first particular to wit The Title or Denomination put upon a Tractable Person of one that is wise If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self The second is the Benefit that acrues to this this wise man Thou shalt be wise for thy self which passage again hath a double Emphasis with it and may be taken two manner of wayes Either first of all simply in its latitude Or secondly Exclusively with its restriction simply consider'd and in the Latitude so it does denote unto us the great happiness which does attend upon Godliness If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self that is if thou best good and gracious and walk'st in the wayes of Heavenly wisdom thou shalt be no looser but a gainer thereby exclusively taken and with restriction so it doth denote unto us that whatever benefit does at tend upon Godliness it does belong especially and chiefly to those persons who are themselves the Subjects of it more then to any other besides If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self That is if thou hearken'st to good Counsel and walkest in such wayes as are good thou thy self wilt be the greatest gainer and thriver by so doing of any other whatsoever First Take it in the Latitude and simple consideration of the words If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self That is if thou be godly and Religious and walkest in the wayes of Piety and Holiness thou shalt be no looser but a Gainer thereby This wisdom of thine it shall redound to thine own greater Furtherance and Account Thou shalt be so much the better for it every way this is one thing which is here implyed in these words and it is sutable to other Scriptures wherein we have this often exprest as the condition of Godly men that it shall be well with them Psal 128.1 2. Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord Happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee So Eccles 8.12 I know that it shall be well with them that fear before Him Again Isa 3.10 Say ye to the Righteous that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings So here now Thou shalt be wise for thy self That is thy wisdom and Grace which is in thee shall be advantagious to thee Godliness it is great Gain as the Apostle Paul expresses it to us in 1 Tim. 6.6 There 's much good which is coming by it This is true in the whole Latitude and Extent of it First For thy self in thy inward man Thou shalt be wise for thy self in that and therein especially This is not the least part of our selves yea indeed the chiefest of all Animus cujusque est Quisque Every mans mind is himself Look then what it is which does advance and promote that by that is a mans self truly better'd and is not this now by spiritual wisdom and by this especially Surely so it is There is an accomplishment in humane wisdom which does adorn and beautifie the minds of those which have it but in heavenly wisdom above any other This makes us wise to salvation and does raise the soul to a nobler pitch and frame of Spirit then any thing else does If thou be
wise thou shalt be wise for thy self i. e. thy soul Secondly For thy self i. e. for thine outward man also for thy Body and Estate There 's an advantage which comes from Godliness to these which hath the promise of the Life that now is as well as of that which is to come as the Apostle tells 1 Tim. 4.8 And Deut. 28.2 There 's an instance in such blessings as these are Thirdly For thy self in thy Relations Those are also ones self Multiplyed Thou shalt be wise for them There 's no better way of providing for those which belong unto thee then by labouring to walk in good wayes In so doing thou prayest up a Blessing for Posterity and the Generation that succeed thee which are the better for thee This teaches us then thus much that no man serves God in vain Wisdom when she invites us to her it is not to our loss but to our advantage which should therefore incourage us so much the rather to hearken to her We see in the world what an argument there is in Self If ye can prove that a mans self shall be the better by any thing which you would advise him to you shall easily prevail with him in it why now this is the case here with us as to Godliness and the wayes of Religion we shall be wise for our selves and it will return into our own bosomes for our incouragement to attend thereupon ye know how we use to perswade men to Good-husbandry and industry in the world by telling them this it will be your own another day The same way we likewise say to any as to indeavour in the wayes of Religion you and our selves shall therefore be so much the better for it I say ye shall be so hereafter observe that For this it is here exprest in the future as that which is to raise our expectation for time to come The advantage of Godliness it does not alwayes appear at present no more then the disadvantage of Sin yea but in time they shew themselves both he that 's foolish that is scornful and neglectful of good Counsell he shall in time pay for it as we shall have occasion to shew afterwards And again he that 's wise and observant he shall hereafter be so much the better for it If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self Though thou seest not the profit of it as yet yet within a while thou shalt perceive it and be fully sensible of it Surely there is an end and thine expectation shall not be cut off as it is Prov. 23.18 God will be a debter to no man for any good that at any time he does but will abundantly recompence it to him sooner or later whosoever he be What a Gracious God have we that first is so good as to bestow his Graces upon us and then so good again as to reward those Graces in us where he Commands us he withall inables us and where he inables us there he requites us and payes us for doing that which himself inables us to do This is that then which may serve to uphold us and to carry us above all Discouragements which at any time we may meet with in the world as to matter of Goodness that when all comes to all yet at last we shall be gainers by it There 's not a good word which any man speaks for God not a thought which passes through Him not an Action which comes from Him which shall be lost or go unrewarded but shall reflect upon Himself God has involved our own good in his Glory so that while we indeavour to promote the one we advance the other while we are wise to God we are so far forth wise to our selves and for our own Accommodation Yea which is here further Considerable we are so onely in such a way as this is we are no further wise our selves then we are wise for our own Souls Godliness as it is self advancement so upon the point it is the onely self advancement which we are capable of There 's no man which is wise for himself that is not wise thus Indeed men are ready to think that it is quite otherwise think they are wise for themselves when they walk in wayes contrary to Godliness or at least when they are onely wise for the world and the things of that Psal 49.18 Whiles he lived he blessed his Soul and men will praise thee when thou doest well for thy self But this is not so in Conclusion nor will not prove so when men have done as much as they can to promote themselves in a way of the world they will at last find there must be somewhat else which must make them truly Happy All these things here below they have a vanity and emptiness in them which come short of absolute Contentment If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self by laying the Emphasis there that is if thou best Godly and Religious there 's nothing like this for the Conveyance of Happiness to thee and Universal welfare And thus much of the words in their First sense to wit in their Latitude and simple Consideration But that 's not all which is here pointed out to us There 's somewhat more and which indeed as I conceived is more cheifly intended and that is by taking them Exclusively and by way of Restriction If thou be wise be wise for thy self that is if thou harkenest to good Counsell thou thy self wilt be better for it then any one else and so this word thy self it is here taken not onely Specificative but Emphatical nor absolute but Comparative Thou shalt be wise for thy self that is thou shalt be wise for thy self principally as compared with any other besides This passage here of Wildom is added for the prevention of an Objection which might be made against her good Counsell for this is commonly the manner and disposition of those which are well advised that they are ready to think that those which counsell them and advise them have some reach of their own in so doing that they aime at themselves in it and not at the good of the parties which they give their advice unto Now for this Solomon tells them thus much that it is here no such matter If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thy self that is no body will get so much by it as thou thy self wilt As Evil Counsell is worst for him that gives it so good Counsell is best for him that receives it who even is a gainer by it he is a gainer most of all that entertains it While it is said here for thy self Exclusively there are these persons excepted by it First God Himself for thy self and not for him what ever good any man does he does not pleasure God by doing it neither is he any way advanced from it This the Scripture does sufficiently testify in sundry places As Job 22.2.3 Can a man be profitable to God as he
God our rejoicing is this or our glorying the testimony of conscience So then that which was others mens misery was his glory The unhappiness of many men is this that they are manifest to God however they they carry it with men but for the Apostle Paul and such as he was it was his greatest rejoicing Again secondly It is comfortable likewise as in mens ignorance so likewise in their neglects by taking the word manifestation by way of allowance We are manifest to God says the Apostle that is we are approved of him this was that which comforted him even then when it was not so with him in regard of men This is another thing which is very comfortable and satisfactory to the Ministers of Christ in all that slighting and neglect and contempt which they suffer from the world especially in such days and times as these are in which we live Well we are manifest to God for all this let us be as low as we can be in the thoughts and apprehensions of men let them count us and call us what they please and cary themselves as they list toward us yet the foundation of God stands sure notwithstanding this And even in this sense likewise The Lord knoweth who are his God knows the works and labours and endeavours of his faithful servants as he sometimes speaks to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus And he knows them likewise affectionately which is that knowledg which we are here to understand They are manifest to him so as one day to be rewarded by him and to have a recompense return'd upon them for them According to that of the Prophet Isaiah in Isa 49.4 I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought and in vain yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work or the reward of my work is with my God This is that which is very comfortable to us and ought to be so we are much to improve it and to be strengthened and encouraged by it As a servant if his master like him and commend him and be pleased with what he does he does not care what an hundred other men shall say of it or of himself about it We are manifest to God says the Apostle and he speaks it by way of encouragement And then withal ye may add one thing more to it by the way I 'le but touch it and that 's this To God not only as an approver but likewise to God as an avenger too we are manifest to God so not only as beholding our integrity and so accepting of us but likewise as beholding our wrongs and ill-handlings and avenging it upon others There 's no wrong or injury whatsoever which any of Christs servants suffer whether in their persons or their good names or in their estates or whatever it be but they are manifest to him in them and he will one day require it for them we are made manifest to God thus What is said of the oppressed in general is true of these amongst the rest in particular Thou hast seem it for thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand The poor committeth himself to thee Thou art the helper of the fatherless Psal 10.14 Look but into Numb 12.2 8. and see how God takes notice but of an ill word spoken against Moses and calls the speakers of it Aaron and his sister Miriam to an account about it Wherefore were ye not afraid says he to speak against my servant Moses So tender is God of his servants as that he will not allow of an ill word spoken against them but will call to reckoning for it and how much more then for any thing else which is of greater consequence and concernment to them for any wronging or defrauding of them or restraining from them that which is theirs which too many now in these days in many places are guilty of this is manifest to him their labours here will cry and their crys will enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath Jam. 5.4 But so much for that And so you have the first part of this Acceptance as it refers to God But we are made manifest to God The second is as it refers to the Corinthians And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences This likewise as well as the other is added by way of Anticipation and to prevent and objection for here some might have been ready to have replied You talk how you are manifested to God and that you approve your selves to him please your selves with that your inward and secret goodness because you think here none can confute or contradict you well but what are you to the eyes of men and what satisfaction do you give to them This would a little be enquired into by you To this now he answers here thus much And I trust also are made manifest in your Consciences Wherein again for methods sake take notice of two things more First the thing it self which he does assert and that is that we are made manifest in your Consciences Secondly the word of Transition or Introduction hereunto and that is I trust or hope so of it First For the thing it self We are made manifest in your Consciences Where for the better opening of this present passage unto us we must again distinguish of this word manifestation which here in this place may be taken again two manner of ways in which as yet we have not taken it the one is in a way of efficacy and the other is in a way of conviction We are manifest in your Consciences that is by that success which our Ministry hath found upon them And we are manifest in your Conscience that is by that approbation which our Ministry hath found with you Both these may be here understood First In a way of Efficacy from that success which our Ministry hath found upon them This is one way of manifestation The faith and graces of the Corinthians were a sufficient commendation and testimony to the Apostles Ministry This is that which he also signifies in other places as 1 Cor. 9.1 2 c. Am I not an Apostle am I not free have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord are not you my work in the Lord If I be not an Apostle to others yet doubtless I am to you for the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. The seal of it How was that namely in regard of that efficacy which it hath upon them for their conversion And so again 2 Cor. 3.1 2. c. Do we begin again to commend our selves or need we as some others Epistles of commendation to you of letters of commendation form you ye are our Epistle written in our hearts known and read of all men Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ ministred by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in fleshy
tables of the heart Those souls and consciences which it has pleased God to bring home to himself by the labours of his servants in the Ministry they are a manifestation of the Ministry it self and an approbation of them in it insomuch as they need no other Testimony but that to be given unto him This is that which does advance God's Ordinance more than any thing else and makes it such as it is to wit the efficacy and success of it that it does effect such great matters as indeed it does Casts down imaginations to every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledg of God and brings into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 And so Act. 26.18 It is said to open mens eyes to turn them form darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God This efficacy of it we may take notice of in divers examples First In Christ himself when he Preached to those which were going to Emaus Did not our hearts burn within us when he opened to us the Scriptures Luk. 25.2 And so it has been likewise with his sevants in the Ministry As Peter Preaching to the Jews when they heard these things they were pricked in their hearts And so Lydia and the Jaylor in the Acts ye see how effectual the Apostle Paul's Ministry was to operate and work upon them he was made manifest in their consciences Thus is it likewise with many others besides if they would consider it and reflect upon it They might find how the Ministry has been ratified and confirmed even in their own hearts which if ever they had any good or any thing tending unto good wrought in them it has been occasionally from such means as these are which have been used unto them God has sanctified this Ordinance as a meants to beget faith in the heart and to draw men so much the nearer to Christ I have begotten you through the Gospel says this Apostle to these Corinthians in 1 Cor. 4.15 Thus are we manifest in your consciences in a way of efficacy The second is in a way of Conviction or Approbation We are made manifest in your consciences that is indeed we are made manifest to you your consciences do bear witness with us This is that which the Apostle here signifies and he understands it both in reference to Doctrine and Conversation which were both of them so powerful in them as that they had nothing to say against them but were even from their own consciences forced to own and acknowledg them and thereby to give testimony unto them This is now the advantage of all such as are careful to do their duty and to approve themselves first to God and to be made manifest to him that they shall have the consciences of men also closing and complying with them as the Apotle Paul here says to them We are made manifest in your consciences This was ture whether spoken of all the Corinthians at large or else of those only which were godly and faithful amongst them which were true Believers It was true of both as 2 Cor. 4.2 By manifestation of the truth commending our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God First of the Corinthians at large yea of those which were naught amongst them It was true of them that St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles were made manifest in their consciences and so are all good Ministers in the consciences of such-like men they are made manifest in them and they are made manifest to them so as they shall have nothing to say against them And so likewise were all good men in what rank or condition soever This is the priviledg of Goodness that it shall have mens consciences where it has not their affections Though they love it not yet they shall inwardly like it and in their hearts secretly approve it and set their seals unto it There 's many a man in the world whom when a Minister reproves that sin which he is guilty of in particular and lays open the vileness of it to him though he hates the reprover yet the reproof it self sticks by him he knows it to be so indeed as the Preacher tells him his heart says Amen unto it This is to be made manifest in the conscience And it is that I say which falls out in the consciences even of the worst men that are As Herod though he loved not Johm Baptist yet he reverenced him and in his heart did admire him This as much as any thing is a great incouragement to us in our work the work of the Ministry that where we keep to that which is our business we go upon sure grounds and though men perhaps in a bravery and because they will not seem to own their own miscarriages they may prehaps speak neglectfully and contemptibly of the business when any sin is laid close unto them yet we know we are made manifest to their consciences which do speak the same things unto them even in their own breasts which we do to their outward ears Those that believe not are convinced and judged the secrets of their hearts are made manifest and they will report God is in your of a truth 1 Cor. 14.24 25. But then secondly if ye take this your consciences a little more strictly restraining it to true Believers and those amongst these Corinthians which were faithful and godly persons then it was in full force and is the more clear and out of doubt that St. Paul and the rest were made manifest in their consciences indeed Howsoever others may think of us yet those which are faithful will approve us and close with us in these Dispensations There 's none which are the Ministers of Christ but they approve of the Ministers of Christ and subscribe to that which comes from them in the name of Christ more abundantly to you-wards 2 Cor. 9.11 12. In your consciences especially in whosoevers else besides If by consciences we mean mens hearts and affections and inward embracements so we do not look to be manisested Some kind of men such persons as live by their lusts and walk in vain and unwarrantable courses these will be sure to speak against Ministers because they speak against them and cross them and contradict them in their main purpose and design The Ministers of Satan will never love the Ministers of Christ we do not expect it nor we do desire it It is a thing not to be thought of or lookt for from them yea but those which have any work of Gods grace wrought in their hearts we are sure to have them to own us and to acknowledg us and to concur with us We are made manifest in your consciences says the Apostle that is in the consciences of you which are believing Corinthians And when I say here we and the Apostle before me I do not mean it so much of the persons as indeed of the calling or of the persons