through their miscarriages it will likewise grieve them again by his own desertions Which made David so much to cry out as we find him to do there in the Psalm Cast me not away from thy presence and take not away thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51.11 The consideration of this should still make us so much the more wary and shy of sin and of doing any thing which is evil and unlawful forasmuch as it involves and contracts a double guilt with it not only that which is consequent and attendant upon the commission of sin but also upon the omission of duty As we must not only abstain from evil but we must also do good so as we desire to do good we must be careful to abstain from evil For these two they go together Sins of commission have sins of omission in them That 's a second observation Thirdly Observe also further this That no man can do any good till his nature be first changed and altered in him There must be a rectitude of principles before there can be a rectitude of actions we must be first of all good our selves before good can come from us This is also plainly in the Text for mark how the Prophet here sets it Can the Ethiopian change his skin c. then may ye also which are thus and thus do that which is good As who should say when those which are accustomed to the doing of evil are once changed and renewed in their natures then good may be done by them but because that is so difficult therefore this so contrary is impossible Accustomed and habituated sinners they cannot do good why because they abide still the same which they were before in their natural condition there 's no change or alteration at all which is wrougth in them And this is grounded upon that common rule and observation Orta attestantur principiis effectus non excedit virtutem suae causae No man gathers grapes of thorns or figs of thistles in the words of St. James or if ye will in the words of our Blessed Savious An evil tree bringeth not forth good fruit Whether ye take it for an evil man or an evil heart which is the condition of every one by nature Men are taught to do evil from their principles and the corruption of nature which is in them Look as created nature teaches the creatures such actions as are suitable to their particular kinds so corrupted nature teaches wicked men such actions as are suitable to their wicked condition We would wonder to see such wickedness as there is sometimes in the world and might ask who teaches it but that herein we have answer from corrupt nature it self this suggests such lewdness to them Whiles they sin against nature in the creation of it they sin from nature in the corruption of it Secondly By Doctrine Corrupt opinions cherish corrupt principles and improve them so much the more So the Apostle tells us that without Faith it is impossible to please God the work whereof does imply a change And therefore we should still look to this in all we do That our hearts be right in it and that whatever comes from us flow from a spirit and principle of Grace and regeneration in us which will make it to be of the true stamp and character indeed and also acceptable and well-pleasing to God who will still own his own work in us We should not satisfy our selves in the multitude of performances and the doing of such things which are only good in their own nature and for the matter and substance of the action but desire and endeavour that our own consciences may be upright and sincere that whatsoever we do we may do it in God's strength and likewise to his glory Otherwise they will find no acceptance or approbation with God at all but he will reject them and cast them away from him as things which he does abhor Thus we shall find him to do there in Isa 1.12 13. c. Bring no more oblations incense is an abomination unto me c. And so probably also here in this place It is likely these people in the Text that they did many good things for the matter of them and yet says the Lord here of them How can ye do any good These and the like observations may we gather from these words in general as they lye in themselves Now further We may likewise if we please look upon them reflexively and as coming from the Prophet himself And here there are these things in them which may be observed and taken notice of by us First The Prophet's confidence and assurance of that which he did deliver he speaks it with a great deal of boldness and freedom and certainty of mind in that which he speaks concerning the thraldom and captivity of accustomed sinners Therefore it seems to be a kind of challenging and triumphant expression Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard c Do ye think that to be possible did ye ever see that in all your lives can that enter into you to believe This is the force and emphasis of these expressions whereby he does as it were come upon his Hearers and surprize them before they are aware There 's somewhat more in these rhetorical interrogations than there is in bare and positive assertions to make the thing it self more effectual Secondly Here 's the Prophet's faithfulness in that he brings it home to their own particulars and expresses it as concerning themselves in the second person It is not how can they which are thus and thus but how can ye He lays it at their own doors and desires to make them sensible of it which were corrupted and polluted with it This is another thing which a Minister ought to do as he has ground and occasion for it that so his Doctrine and Reproof and Exhortation may have the more power and efficacy with it Thus does Jeremy here in this place Thirdly Here 's the Prophet's courage and undauntedness and impartiality that he speaks here absolutely and indefinitely to all which were sinners and guilty without exception As in the 18th verse before Say unto the King and the Queen humble your selves c. So also here Ye which are accustomed to do evil He spares not any whether great or small as he had no cause coming on God's errand In verse 15. Hear ye and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken c. And thus now also have ye the observations collaterally and reflexively arising from this Text which we have here undertaken and so likewise with the whole Text it self Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also which are c. SERMON XLVIII EZEK 21.2 3. Son of man set thy face toward Jerusalem and drop thy word toward the holy places and prophecy against the land of Israel And say to the land of Israel Thus saith the
so lost her first strength that she should do her first works that she should return to the acting of those things which she had now remitted and fallen from as that which was the best way to recover her to her former Condition and here especially to the use of the Ordinances Prayer and hearing of the word and receiving of the Sacrament which are the proper means appointed to this purpose Lastly In the renewing of their Faith and in the Exercise of it A Christian gathers new strength and supply of Spiritual Grace by reparing to the true spring and Fountain and Original of it which is the Grace of God in Christ Our strength it lies in Him and therefore by a spirit of Faith must be daily and Continually fetch 't from Him and that upon all occasions And it is our great Comfort and Incouragement that we may have it but for the fetching for so we may in a due and serious Appli of our selves to him we may draw strength from him Nay we shall do as is here signified to us They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength Here 's the priviledg and the Condition of being made partakers of it The Priviledg that 's renewing of our strength The Condition that is waiting upon the Lord. Be followers of them says the Apostle who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Heb. 6.12 And again Heb. 10.36 Ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the will of God ye may receive the Promise Even so it is here This promise of strength renewed unto us is not onely to the persons of Beleivers but to them especiall under this Notion and in the erercise of this act of Beleiving We must therefore still remember this that we be such as wait upon the Lord for that 's the Condition by which Expression the spirit of God comes home to the heart of many a weak Christian and satisfies the objections which they may make for some might be ready to say Alas we find no such matter as this is which you now speak off we have little or no strength at all if we have had some it may be heretofore yet we have lost it and know not how to recover it and to get it up again now for such they must be perswaded to wait and to consider whether they have done so or no for this strengthning it belongs to waiting and is promised to those that are careful so to do we must use the means and waite upon God for shewing us the use of them Go to the Ordinances and by Faith fetch power from Christ who alone can make them to be Effectual unto us Psal 27. vers 14. Wait on the Lord be of good Courage and he shall strengthen thine Heart wait I say on the Lord. To satisfie us the more in this particular consider but how it is with us in regard of our Natural Sustenance and the food of our Bodies The strength which comes by it it is not conveyed presently but by leasure when the meat is digested Indeed there is delight and sweetness and pleasantness even in the very first going down of it but the strength of it that comes after it Even so is it likewise here as to these Spiritual things The sweetness of the Ordinances that 's in the very partaking of them and in the time of the useing of them In Praying and Hearing and Communicating and Meditateing c. A Gracious heart it does taste and rellish them even then when 't is about them But the strength which is conveyed by them that 's a Business of leasure and time and therefore we must wait for it and stay Gods time for the giving of it Thou therefore that complainest of Weakness consider whether thou hast waited for strength and waited for it in his own way and in the use of those means which he has ordained and appointed to thee Especially Consider how far Christ Himself has been taken into this Business which is the means of all There are many think to renew their strength and how do they think to to do it Namely by strength of their own their own Vowes and Duties and performances which yet by the way must not be neglected but we must be strong in the Grace of Christ and in the power of his might and Spirit or else all our strength it will be but weakness it self This is that which the Apostle Paul was sensible of as we may see by his practise and the courses which he took to this purpose by his practise for the Ephesians Eph. 3.14.16.17 For this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ That he would grant you according to the Riches of his Glory to be strengthen'd with might by his spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in your Hearts by Faith that ye being rooted and grounded in love may c. So in like manner by his practise for the Colosians Col. 1.11 Strengthened with all might according to his Glorious Power c. And so now I have done done with the First General part of the Text which is the Proposition in General They that wait c. The Second is the Demonstration or Confirmation of this in the Particular that we have in the words following They shall mount up with Eagles wings They shall run c. Wherein we have the strength of a Christian laid forth and amplified to us by a resemblance from a threefold motion First Of Flying Secondly Of Running Thirdly Of Walking Of Flying They shall mount up with Eagles wings Of Running They shall run and not be weary Of Walking They shall walk and not be faint Wee 'l begin first of all with the former and that is the motion of Flight They shall mount up with Eagles wings Here 's mention made of the Wings of the Eagle as we may conceive for two reasons especially First As the Eagle is an Emblem of strength renewed for so it is as we find it in Psal 103.5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles Certain it is that the Eagle is longer-liv'd then many other Birds The Naturalists as Aristotle and Pliny c. Which write the story of living Creatures affirms this of it that it never Dies of old Age but onely of Famine for the upper-Bill being at length over-grown it is thereby hindred from putting meat into it's mouth and so at last comes to Die So the Prophet by this Similitude here signifies that those which wait upon the Lord they shall grow more and more urgent and lively enven to their old Age it self according to that also of the Psalmist Psal 92.12.13.14 The Righteous shall flourish c. They shall bring forth Fruit in their old Age they shall be fat and flourishing So then the Eagle is here pertinently mentioned in reference to this But Secondly The Eagle it soares aloft and flies on
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
presumptuous Question Page 97 Sermons XV. Psal 22.9 10. Davids Acknowledgment of Gods goodness Page 104 Sermons XVI Psal 10.13 Davids Expostulation with Contemners of God Page 114 Sermons XVII Psal 68.21 Gods Threatnings against incorrigible sinners Page 122 Sermons XVIII Psal 75.8 Another Sermon of Gods Threats Page 129 Sermons XIX Psal 27.8 Gods Invitation to Prayer and the Souls Acceptance Page 136 Sermons XX. Psal 36.7 The Excellency of Gods loving-kindness Page 143 Sermons XXI Psal 84.11 God a Sun and shield gives Grace and Glory Page 151 Sermons XXII Psal 94.19 David's Malady and Remedy Page 159 Sermons XXIII Psal 104.34 David's Contemplation and Exultation Page 170 Sermons XXIV Psal 77.10 Holy Remembrance a means to recover out of distrust Page 178 Sermons XXV Psal 118.18 Sore Chastisement yet not a giving to death Page 185 Sermons XXVI Psal 133.1 A good and pleasant Prospect before the Mercers Page 193 Sermons XXVII Psal 139.18 A Christians awaking with God Page 201 Sermons XXVIII Psal 148.11 God takes pleasure in them that hope in him Page 208 Sermons XXIX Prov. 3.17 Godliness is pleasant and delightful Page 216 Sermons XXX Prov. 9.12 Good counsel to be wise for a mans self Page 223 Sermons XXXI Prov. 16.3 Committing our works to God the way to be established Page 233 Sermons XXXII Prov. 17.3 Gods Fining-pot and Furnace Page 243 Sermons XXXIII Prov. 17.3 Mans devices vain Gods counsel shall stand Page 249 Sermons XXXIV Prov. 22.3 The prudent hid the simple punished Page 259 Sermons XXXV Isa 9.14 Gods Threatning to cut off head tayl branch rush Page 267 Sermons XXXVI Isa 57.21 No peace to the wicked Page 275 Sermons XXXVII Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into Hell Page 282 Sermons XXXVIII Isa 55.7 Gods Counsel and Promise to amendment of Life Page 290 Sermons XXXIX Isa 30.21 The hearing-ear God will vouchsafe to his people Page 298 Sermons XL. Isa 40.31 They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength Page 305 Sermons XLI Jer. 7.9 10. Gods Expostulation with the Jews Page 345 Sermons XLII Jer. 2.23 God no barren Wilderness to Israel Page 352 Sermons XLIII Jer. 4.19 The Prophets lamentation at the alarms of War Page 359 Sermons XLIV Hos 7.8 9. Ephraims sin and judgment Page 367 Sermons XLV Hos 7.9 Second Sermon Page 375 Sermons XLVI Jer. 18.12 Desperation dangerous Page 383 Sermons XLVII Jer. 13.23 Custom in sin exceeding dangerous Page 390 Sermons XLVIII Ezek. 21.1 2. Jerusalem threatned Page 400 Sermons XLIX Ezek. 9.4 Gods mark of safety upon mourners Page 406 Sermons L. Amos 5.18 The day of the Lord unsupportable to sinners Page 412 The Contents of the New Testament-Sermons Sermons I. MAth 5.20 Pharisaical Righteousness to be exceeded Page 1 Sermons II. Mark 12.34 Christs favourable censure of the Scribe his being not far from the Kingdom of God Page 8 Sermons III. Luk. 12.20 Wicked men fools in Gods account Page 17 Sermons IV. Luk. 13.8 9. Gods forbearance of the Fig-tree Page 27 Sermons V. Luk. 10.38 Mary 's Entertainment of Christ Page 35 Sermons VI. Luk. 10.41 Christs Reprehension of Martha Page 41 Sermons VII Luk. 10.42 The one thing needful Page 47 Sermons VIII Luk. 10.42 Mary 's Choice the better part Page 53 Sermons IX Luk. 22.31 32. Christs Warning of Peter Page 60 Sermons X. Luk. 22.32 Christs Praying for Peter Page 68 Sermons XI Luk. 22.32 Christ command to Peter Page 77 Sermons XII Joh. 3.8 The similitude of the Winds blowing where it list opened Page 85 Sermons XIII Joh. 8.30 31. The success of Christs Doctrine Page 93 Sermons VIV Joh. 8.31 Of perseverance in the Faith as 't is a duty priviledg Page 99 Sermons XV. Joh. 6.37 An account of the persons that come to Christ Page 105 Sermons XVI Joh. 13.7 Peter 's ignorance of Christs actions Page 111 Sermons XVII Joh. 14.27 Christs counsel against fear and trouble of heart Page 12â— Sermons XVIII Joh. 14 2â— Many Mansions in Heaven Page 12â— Sermons XIX Joh. 14.3 A Narrative of the consequences of Christs Ascention Page 125 Sermons XX. Joh. 1.18 Christs Revelation of the Father Page 132 Sermons XXI Joh. 14.6 Christ the Way Truth and Life Page 141 Sermons XXII Joh. 14.18 Christs promise of coming with comfort to his Disciples Page 147 Sermons XXIII Joh. 15.5 Humane inability without Christ Page 154 Sermons XXIV Joh. 15.5 Second Sermon Page 162 Sermons XXV Acts 1.7 Times and seasons not to be known by the best of men Page 169 Sermons XXVI 1 Cor. 1.21 The Wisdom of God by Preaching Page 251 Sermons XXVII 1 Cor. 1.21 Second Sermon Page 258 Sermons XXVIII 1 Cor. 1.22 Jews require a sign Page 264 Sermons XXIX 1 Cor. 1.23 Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling-block to the Greeks foolishness Page 271 Sermons XXX 1 Cor. 1.23 The Doctrine of offence and success Page 278 Sermons XXXI 1 Cor 1.24 Second Sermon on the Doctrine of offence c. Page 284 Sermons XXXII 1 Cor. 12.3 Covet earnestly the best Gifts Page 29â— Sermons XXXIII 2 Cor. 5.11 The terror of the Lord a fit means to perswade men Page 299 Sermons XXXIV 2 Cor. 1.10 A Commemoration of a Deliverance past signification of a Deliverance present and prognostication of Deliverance to come Page 313 Sermons XXXV 2 Cor. 13.8 Christians can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth Page 423 Sermons XXXVI Gal. 1.8 9. Saint Paul 's Protestation against Seducers Page 334 Sermons XXXVII Rom. 2.4 Mans abuse of Gods Goodness Page 346 Sermons XXXVIII Rom. 6.21 The unprofitableness dishonour and perniciousness of sin Page 355 Sermons XXXIX Gal. 4.19 Ministerial Travel for the forming of Christ Page 364 Sermons XL. Gal. 5.16 Of walking in the Spirit Page 371 Sermons XLI Gal. 6.4 Mans duty to prove his own Work Page 383 Sermons XLII Gal. 6.16 Of walking according to Rule Page 397 Sermons XLIII 1 Thes 5.3 The peace of the wicked turn'd to sudden destruction Page 413 Sermons XLIV 2 Epist Joh. 8. The danger of losing what we have wrought Page 418 Sermons XLV 2 Epist. Joh 9. Transgression of Doctrine condemned Page 425 Sermons XLVI Revel 1.5 Jesus Christ the faithful Witness Page 434 Sermons XLVII Revel 1.5 6. Christs love to us in washing us from our Sins Page 439 Sermons XLVIII Revel 22.17 The longing desire of the Church for the Coming of Christ Page 445 Sermons XLIX Revel 22.17 Grace freely offered to thirsty Souls Page 453 Sermons L. Hebr. 2.1 An Admonition ta an earnest heeding of the things we have heard Page 460 Books lately Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel INtercourses of Divine Love between Christ and his Church being Sermons on the second Chapter of Canticles Several Discourses concerning the Actual Providence of God both by John Collings D. D. General Martyrologia of the Church In which is also an exact Account of the Protestants Sufferings in Queen Marys days with the Lives of 32 English
his God so long both are implyed in this Thou art my God from my Mothers Belly First He here blesses God for being his God so Early My God from my Mothers Belly That is as soon as I had any being in the World He might have if he had pleased fetch 't it higher if we speak of Gods Decree in Election and have said from the beginning of the World Yea before the Foundations of the World were ever laid As Psal 90.2 But he speaks here rather of the Execution and Manifestation of this his Decree God is then our God properly when he manifests Himself to be our God by some special work of Grace in our Souls and by giving Himself unto us And so he is pleased to do to divers in the very first dawnings of nature in them The Prophet Jeremiah he was Sanctifyed in the womb Jer. 1.5 Before I formed thee in thee Belly I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the Womb I Sanctifyed thee and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the Nations And so likewise John the Baptist he had the same Grace and Favour also Timothy It is said that from a Child he had known the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 And Obadiah 1 Kings 18.12 I thy Servant do fear the Lord from my Youth This is the goodness of God to many persons to be early in his beginning of Grace which he works in them Thus there can be no other ground or reason assigned of it but onely his own free-Grace and good Pleasure and will towards them who as he is free in the thing it self so also in the time of Dispensation And there is a double use which we may make of this Observation First To inform and satisfy us as concerning the time of Conversion and beginning of the work of Grace which is a Question which does many times trouble and perplex many a Soul to know the distinct reason when God first brought him home to Himself For this It is not in all kind of Persons discernable by them Eccl. 11.5 As thou knowest not which is the way of the Spirit nor how the bones do grow in the Womb of her that is with Child so thou knowest not the work of God who maketh all Indeed for those who have a great part of their time lived profanely or a meer civil life in them because the change is more Eminent the time is more Conspicuous too but for those whom it hath pleased God to Sanctify in their Infancy and tender years and to carry them on sweetly imperceptibly in the tract of a godly and Religious Education all their Life in these it is not so easily distinguished neither should it trouble them when it is not If the time be up it is no matter when it is first begun It is not the change of a mans Course but the change of his Nature which is here required And that is done in those to whom God is a God from the womb Their Nature is changed in them though their Course it may be has been the same all their days to wit godly and Religious nay it is so far from being a Cause of trouble as that indeed it is rather an argument of greater comfort to them that God has loved them so soon Secondly Another use is Ingagement to all such in a special manner to love God so much the more And so much for that He blesses God for being his God so Early Secondly He Blesses God for being his God so long This is also implyed in this Expression Thou art my God from c. That is thou art my God still from whence we may note thus much That those whom God is a God too once he is a God too them always Those whom he takes into his Care and Tuition and Custody at first those he also preserves to the End There is no time wherein he Ceases to be a God unto them And therefore t is here without any sign of time Eliattah Thou my God that hast been and art and wilt be through all Generations This God is our God for ever and ever Psal 48.14 So Psal 71.6 By thee have I been holden up from the Womb c. The Ground of this in God is First His Vnchangeable Nature who is Yesterday and to Day and the same for ever If God were Alterable and subject to Varying he should then love us one Day and hate us the next to it For I am the Lord I change not Therefore ye Sons of Jacob are not consumed Secondly His Free-Grace who shews Mercy where he will If Gods Goodness were founded in us then he should Change and Vary as we do but this it is not There is nothing moves Him to be our God but onely because he will be so Thirdly His Exactness in all he does who loves to finish there where he has begun Ye know how it is with Exact men when they have begun a thing they love to perfect it and so here This should stir us up to the Observation and Acknowledgment of Gods goodness in this particular He has the perfection of all Love in him for he begins betimes and he Continues long and what could we desire more There are many which are good friends at last but they are a great while a comming on and before they can be perswaded to it There are others which are good for a while but they quickly give over But now the Lord he fails us in neither He is our God from our Mothers Womb. Even all our following and succeeding days And this it should teach us proportionably in the Second place to keep close to Him and as he continues constant to us so for us also to persevere to Him and to walk in the Constant ways of thankfulness and Obedience to Him And thus have I after somewhat long Travel brought this Child with Gods gracious Assistance at length to the Birth And have shown you here the several particulars in which David tenders his Acknowledgment and Sacrifice of Thansgiving to God For the Blessings of the Womb for the Blessing of the Breast for the Blessing of the Cradle and for the Blessings of the Covenant That is for common Mercies for ancient Mercies and for primitive Mercies and for constant Mercies Consider what I have said And the Lord give you understanding in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 SERMON XVI Psal 10.13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart thou wilt not require it Their cannot be a better Evidence of a Good and a Gracious heart then to be tender and sensible of Gods Dishonour and having first of all sufficiently bewayled its own Distempers and Infirmities to lay to heart the Enormities and Miscarriages of other men Like Righteous Lot whose Soul was vexed with the filthy Conversation of the wicked while he dwelt amongst them seeing and hearing their unlawful deeds as the
and favour towards them and comfortable presence with them then they have done in their saddest Conditions and when it has been worst with them in regard of the World then has he most tender'd and regarded them and come into them And Supt with them and they with him as we meet with that Expression there in that place in Rev. 3.20 And that 's the Third Explication the Loving-kindness of God is most Excellent in regard of its Efficacy Fourthly It is Excellent also for its Freeness and Impartiality It s Loving-kindness originated in Himself and not in any merit or desert of the Persons whom it is fastened upon men in the placing of their Affections they have somewhat for the most part in the object which is attractive and persuasive hereunto but in God it is not so Those whom he loves he loves freely out of his own propensity and gracious Inclination independently upon the persons themselves and what an excellent thing is this And then which is Pertinent hereunto his Impartiality also in this Business that he is no respecter of Persons as the Scripture proclames it of him Gods favour is not carried towards any for any worldly Eminencies in them Either of Birth or Estate or Pars or any such Induements from whence he does respect one man above another or disrespect those which are difficient in either of these particulars as it is commonly amongst men No but those which have true Grace in their Hearts and hath his Image instampt upon them they are acceptable and well-pleasing to Hin in the meanest Condition that may be which makes his favour to be so much the more Excellent Lastly to add no more at this time it is Excellent also for its Continuance and Duration It s such as cast's and abides There 's a Constancy and Perpetuity in it whom he loves he loves to the End The favour of men it is oftentimes very uncertain according to the Subject of it which is mutable and exposed to Change but the favour of God is otherwise It is such as does not cease to those which are once partakers of it as we have still signified to us in Scripture Thus we find it said expresly of Solomon Psal 89.33 If his Children forsake my Law I will Visit their Transgression with the Rod and their Iniquities with stripes Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail God may sometimes correct his Children but he does not in the mean time forsake them He may hide his face from them but he does not remit of his favour towards them he may withdraw his Countenance but he will not take away his loving-kindness this is still one and the same Therefore his Loving-kindness is called Everlasting Loving-kindness Esay 54.8 With Everlasting-kindness will I gather thee And it is set forth by such like sutable Expressions from the waters of Noah Thus we see in all these particulars how excellent the Loving-kindness of God is said to be Now the Improvement of all this to our selves may be to this purpose First We see from hence what great cause we have to pursue it and to seek after it Seeing it is every way so Excellent it is not then good for us to want it or to be destitute of it we see how ambitious many are sometimes of the favour of Men Especially which are great in the World and how much they will adventure for it and what a shame is it then for them to neglect the favour of God which has so much Eminency and Transcendency in it This was that which our Saviour laid sometimes to the charge of the Jewes That they Received Honour one of another and sought not the Honour that cometh from God onely John 5.44 And again John 12.43 That they loved the Praise of Men more then the Praise of God This is that which too many still do to this present day which is very unsutable and Disconsonant to the present Truth which we have now in hand If Gods Loving-kindness be so excellent why then certainly it is worth the regarding and looking after we should give no rest to our Eyes nor sleep to our Eye-lids till we have in some manner assured and made this Condition good to our selves that it is so with us for our particulars as to be Subjects hereof And further Secondly Let us take heed of forfeiting it or doing any thing which may hazard it to us let us take heed of doing any thing whereby we may incur Gods displeasure or provoke him if not to take away his favour absolutely in it self yet any expression or sense of it in our selves By how much more excellent it is in its own Nature by so much more chary and tender should we be of it to take heed of the doing of such things as may any way rob or deprive us of it But by all means keep up in our selves a perfect feeling and apprehension of it This we should do Especially upon a two-fold Consideration First In order to Comfort And Secondly In order to Duty That we may be more chearful and also more Servicable in our present Pilgrimage First In order to comfort to make us more cheerful there 's nothing more becomes Christians then a chearfullness and pleasantness of conversation as much as may be for their own greater contentment and the honour also of Religion it self Now this can be no further expected from them then as they walk in the light of Gods Countenance and the expression of this excellent loving-kindness the want of this puts men into darkness and sadness and blackness of spirit it self and fills them with horror and confusion Secondly This is also further requisite in order to Duty to make us so much the more serviceable The Apprehension of Gods favour and loving-kindness is a great quickning to us in His work to make us to undertake it and to dispatch it with the more alacrity and intention of mind then otherwise we should when a servant is perswaded of his Masters favour it does much hearten him and incourage him in his work The Joy of the Lord is here our Strength which puts nimbleness and activity into us in all our performances Now If we would further know how this might be done by us how we might keep and preserve our selves still in such a Condition I answer by walking warily and fruitfully in our whole course that 's the best and readiest way hereunto warily in regard of Miscarriages take heed of doing any thing amiss and Fruitfully in regard of Performances Take heed of omitting any thing which should be done these two are especially necessary for the keeping up of Gods favour towards us in the Vigor of it First I say we must walk warily in regard of Miscarriages we must be suspicious and Jealous over our selves that God himself may not be jealous towards us they that make no bones of any Sin or the tendencies
Contentment in it Oh how great is thy Goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.19 The Lord is Good a strong hold in the day of Trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Nahum 1.7 It was a great Comfort to think of that because from a Good God nothing can come but good and that which is like to Himself And then the Wisdome of God to meditate on that also that he is great in Counsell c. and the Scripture proclaimes him that he can foresee all Events and discern all Hearts and search into the secret corners of the Soul That there is nothing hid from his Eyes c. That he confounds the wisdom of the Wise and brings to nothing the understanding of the Prudent as it is said of him This is that which affords matter of satisfaction to that Soul that does duly Contemplate it And so Lastly To add no more at this Time the Truth and Faithfulness of God the God that keeps Covenant and Mercy that is true to all his Promises and that performes what ever he undertakes It is very pleasing to think on this and thus is the Meditation of him sweet in reference to his Attributes which is the first Explication of it to us Secondly The word of God which is a part of Himself the Meditation on that is sweet also It is said of a Good man That his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in that Law doth he meditate Day and Night namely for the delight of it Psal 1.2 So Psal 19.8.20 The Statues of the Lord are right rejoycing the Heart the Commandments of the Lord are pure inlightning the Eyes more are they to be desired then Gold yea then much fine Gold sweeter then Honey and the Honey-Comb How much sweetness is there wrapt up in a Promise and to be drawn out of it by a serious Meditation especially fitting to the present State and Condition which at any time we are in here it must needs be very sweet indeed and so it is and the Servants of God have found it so upon their own Experiene'd promises of Pardon of Assistance of Deliverance and such as these they are all of them very sweet If we look into Scripture we shall find variety of Gracious Intimations suted to particular Conditions now these they cannot but be very Comfortable to those that are in them in Sickness in Poverty in Captivity in Temptation and the like and we cannot better provide for our own Comfort and Contentation in them then by thinking and meditating upon them in our own minds and where we are not furnished with particulars yet at least to close with the Generals which have a miraculous sweetness in them also I mean such promises as are made to Gods Children at large that God will give his Spirit to them that ask it That no good thing will he withhold from tehm that walk uprightly that he will never leave them nor forsake them That all things shall work together for good to them that love him It is unexpressible how much sweetness there is in the Meditation upon these Truths which are Exhibited to us in Scripture being set home by the Spirit of God Himself which must be taken in as pertinent hereupon Thirdly The works of God the Meditation on them also it is very sweet and that in all kinds As First His works of Creation to consider of them as they are all very good and beautiful considered in their Nature and kind so is the Contemplation on them is also remarkable As Psal 8.1 c. O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the Earth c. When I Consider thy Heavens the work of thy singers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained c. And so for this present Psalm which we have now before us the Hundred and fourth all throughout of it a meditation upon the works of Gods Creation which the Psalmist pleases Himself in and which he blesses God for So Secondly The works of Providence how sweet is it to meditate on these also to reflect upon all Ages and to consider what great things God has done for his Church and People in them What Mercies he has bestowed upon them what Deliverances he has wrought for them and that also sometimes after what a strange and miraculous manner It is very delightful to think of it This has satisfied and comforted Gods Servants when they have been in great Temptations and Trouble and perplexity of Spirit as for instance the Psalmist Himself Psal 77.7 Will the Lord cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more Hath God forgotten to be Gracious c. And I said this is mine Infirmity well but what was that which holp him and relieved Him in it He adds presently hereupon I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High I will remember the works of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy works and talk of thy doings Meditation on the works of Gods Providence it was here sweet unto Him Thirdly The works of Redemption how sweet is it likewise to meditate on these To meditate upon God in Christ By whom he has reconciled himself to the world forgiving them their Trespasses as the Apostle Paul expresses it in the 2 Cor. 5.18 This is the sweet Meditation of all and without which we cannot meditate upon God without any true Comsort or Contentment The thoughts of God out of Christ they are not sweet but dreadfull and terrible Thy Heart shall meditate Terrour whosoever thou art that meditatest on him thus Deus Absolitus as Luther called it God considered absolutely and in Himself there 's no comming near him here so much as in our very thoughts and Meditations No but God manifested in the flesh taking our Nature upon him the Mediator God and Man together This is that which affords unto us the most Comfortable matter of Meditation Especially if we shall take him in his full Latitude and Extent and as he is of God made unto us Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption c. 1. Cor. 1. vers 30. Take Christ in all his Offices of King and Priest and Prophet and how sweet then is the Meditation of him Of a King to subdue our Enemies and to Govern and order our selves of a Priest to reconcile us to his Father and to make both Satisfaction and Intercession for us of a Prophet to reconcile unto us the whole will and mind of God all these are sweet things to think on And so as the Offices of Christ so his Graces which are likewise Emanations from Himself they are all very sweet and lovely there is not a work of the new Creature in us but it is very lovely and amiable in it self and the reflexion upon it also very delightful When a Christian by the help of the Spirit shall be
us as there must first be the sight prepared before the eye can take notice of it And here this Behold it seems to carry a threefold force or Emphasis with it First As an excitement of Faith Behold it to believe it Secondly As an Ingagement of Affection Behold it to admire it Thirdly As a Provocation to Obedience Behold it to practise it and to imitate it and to conform unto it All these three several intimations may be beheld in this word Behold First I say as an Excitement of Faith behold it to believe it and to give your assent unto it This Ecce here it is Ecce Demonstrationum The Psalmist delivered this Truth with so much Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit as that there is no denyal of it and therefore confidently points unto it as this is that which we may conclude on for a Truth and which upon Experience we shall find to be so if we put our selves upon it There are many things which go sometimes for good which yet do not prove so in Conclusion and there are many things which are thought to be pleasant which yrt have bitterness in the end But this Concord and Agreement of Brethren it is good and it is pleasant unquestionably that so we may believe it Secondly As an Ingagement of Affection behold it to admire it and to be very much taken with it Goodness and Beauty they are such things as are atractive of respect and men do not usually behold them but they are ravished and overcome with them and so should we now here be in the Contemplation of this Heavenly Virtue and Grace which is here commended unto us and of this Spectacle which is set here before us we know how much commonly men are taken with other sights in the World as the Disciples were to our Saviour Maâ—er see what goodly buildings are here why here is such a sight as deserves our just Applause and Admiration this dwelling of Brethren together in Unity And this is also hinted to us in the very form and manner of Expression which carries some kind of Astonishment and Admiration in the very words themselves Therefore it is not onely Ecce quod Bonum or Ecce quod juecundum behold that it is good or behold that it is pleasant in the positive Declaration But Ecce quam Bonum Ecce quam juecundum as it were in the Superlative How good and how pleasant a thing it is as being unable to Express it or to say how much it is so indeed Thirdly It is a provocation to Obedience behold it to practise it and imitate it and to conform unto it there are many who perhaps will be ready to acknowledg it in the Notion that it is a good and pleasant thing to live friendly and peaceably together and he were not worthy of the name of a Christian or a man that should deny it Yea but when it comes to the performance there they desert it and fall from it it is good for others as they are ready to think but not for themselves Good in Thesi but not good in Hypothesi Pax ab omnibus Laudatur a paucis servatur Peace it is commendable of all men but it 's followed and imbraced but of a few Now therefore give me leave to commend this excellent Duty to your practise and Christian observation not as if I did any thing doubt of it or would make any question of it amongst your selves but that upon this occasion I might so much the more quicken you and excite you and stir you up to it as a Grace which has so much Excellency and Commendableness in it Let us therefore follow after things which make for peace and things wherewith one may Edify another as the Apostle Paul speaks in Rom. 14.19 What may some say are they I can but name them unto you First Meekness and Humbleness of mind it is a great Advancement of Peace Onely by Pride comes Contention says Solomon Prov. 13.10 And Phil. 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or Vain Glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better then themselves An humble mind will be peaceable Secondly Patience and mutual forbearing and forgiving one of another take heed of Jealousness and causeless Suspicions and misprissions one towards another The Devil does hereby much promote discord and Contention and so hinders this fraternal Agreement Make not the worst of every thing but put the best and most favourable construction and Interpretation upon it which the nature of the thing it self will bear and when it is Capable Thirdly Justice and Righteous dealing there 's no such preservation of Vnity as when every one knows what it is his own and what belongs to him for his particular Opus Justitice pax The work of Righteousnrss shall be peace and the Effect of Righteousness shall be Quietness and assurance for ever as the Prophet Esay tells us Esay 33.17 To set home all this the more fully and successfully upon us let us be sure especially to keep in good terms with God preserve our peace with him When a man's ways pleases the Lord he will make his Enemies to be at peace with him and he that is able to make Enemies to be Friends He is able accordingly to keep Friends from being Enemies As it is he that makes men to be of one mind in one House as shew'd before so in a Church in a City in a Company or in any Corporation and accordingly he must be sought unto and call'd upon for it without him it is not to be Expected I beseech ye beloved Brethren that this Discourse it may not prove in vain unto you but may take deep impression upon you in every one of your Hearts If there be any motive or argument in Profit you have it there for it is that which is good or if there be any motive or argument in Pleasure you have it there for it is sweet also Let this twofold Cord unite you and knit you together which is not easily broken It is no uncomly sight to behold you here sitting together in your Civil Ornaments and Qualifications as you now appear at this time in this your solemn Assembly in your Ranks and Orders and Habits and such like Accomplishments these have an outward Decency and Comeliness in them Oh but that which will especially commend you to the Eyes and the Hearts of all spectators and which will prove your greatest Honour and Glory indeed is to see you sit together in Unity This is that which is the best and truest Confirmation of your Officers This is that which sets the Garland upon their Heads c. This and Health is that which you should affect so much the rather c. It is a Mercy to sit together in Peace but it is a Grace to sit together in Vnity and Love There 's a threefold Gradation in this Spectacle to see Brethren to see Brethren together and to
pressing and inculcating it upon them This as he does in many other Scriptures besides so amongst the rest in this present Text which we have now before us THE Text is nothing else but a Discovery and Intimation to us of that special and singular Delight which God takes in his People which is here considerable of us two manner of wayes First Absolutely and Emphatically and by way of simple Proposition He delights in them Secondly Exclusively or Comparitively and by way of Relative Opposition He delights in none else or so much as he does in those c. Each of these are here exhibited to us We begin with the Former Namely the Truth as it is considerable in its simple Proposition and deliver'd Emphatically The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy Where those words of them that fear him are again considerable under a twofold Notion First As a General Description of the Saints and Servants of God and so they are taken by way of Specification Secondly As a Particular account of Gods Delight and taking pleasure in them and so they are taken by way of Reduplication For the first Take them Specificatively as they are a General Description of God's people which they usually are in Scripture And so the Lord takes pleasure in them God does very much delight in his People That 's the point which we have now before us Thus Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his People he will beautifie the Meek with salvation The Church is call'd Hephzibah which signifies My delight is in her Isa 62.4 And the Prophet there gives the reason of it Because the Lord delighteth in thee Prov. 11.20 They that are of a froward heart are an Abomination to the Lord but such as are upright in the way are his Delight For the better opening of this present Point unto us There are divers things which are here considerable in the People of God as to which the Lord himself may be said to delight and take pleasure in them First He takes pleasure in their Persons and delights in them That which was said more particularly of Daniel in Dan. 8.23 that he was Ish chamoudhim A man of Desires or as we Translate it greatly beloved it may be in a sort applyed to all the Saints and Servants of God they are Persons in special Favour and Acceptance with God and He is very much delighted in them Thus He is so far forth as they Members of his son Jesus Christ and by Faith incorporate into Him Christ he is the First Lovely The Son of Gods Love His Dear Son as he is call'd Col. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And all true Believers they are accepted and beloved in Him He hath made us accepted in his Beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 1.6 This is my Beloved son in whom I am well pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pleased not onely with him but in Him With Him for himself and with all his Members in and through Him and for His sake Whiles God looks upon a Believer as clothed with the Righteousness of Christ and made one with him He cannot but take pleasure in Him and so he does Thus Christ expresses it Himself in His Prayer to his Father Joh. 17.26 I have declared thy Name unto them and will declare it that the Love wherewith thou hast Loved me may be in them and I in them The same Love that God bears to Christ Himself he does proportionally bear also to all those that are Members of Christ This is the Difference now betwixt the children of God and other men As for the men of the world and such who are as yet remains in their Natural and Carnal Condition God hath no delight in them at all but their very Persons are odious to Him so considered As they take no pleasure in God so neither does he in them Heb. 10.38 They are said to be an Abomination to Him to be abhorr'd of Him to be such as his soul hates and such expressions as these My soul loathed them and their soul abhored me as he sayes of the evil Shepherds in Zech. 11.8 This is a sad and miserable Condition where ever it happens to be so but now on the other side for those who are his Servants they are very acceptable unto him and takes a great deal of delight in them and that as I said especially from that Relation which they bear to Christ who is his first beloved Behold my servant whom I uphold Mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth It is spoken particularly of Christ Isa 42.1 And the Comfort and Benefit of it does redound to all Believors by Reflection from him And that 's one Explication of God's taking pleasure or delight in his servants to wit first of all in their Persons Secondly As He takes pleasure in their Persons so also He takes pleasure in their Graces and those Heavenly Qualifications which are in them This He does especially as they are so many Reflexions of himself and expressions of his own Image in them The Graces of several Christians they are the work of the Spirit of God in them which are therefore so far forth delightful to God Himself as he is much pleased to observe them in them upon that consideration There are two special Denominations which the Scripture puts upon Christians as we shewed before His Sons and the work of his hands And in reference to either of them does God delight in them for their Graces First As they are his children who are regenerate and born again to himself and so are as it were the Image of Himself as the Son is of the Father Partakers of his Holiness and partakers of the Divine Nature as the Scripture expresses both unto us in Heb. 12.10 and in 2 Pet. 1.4 God delights in them so And then Secondly As they are his workmanship created by Him in Christ Jesus to good works as the Apostle also expresses it Eph. 2.10 He delights in them so far forth likewise Thirdly He takes pleasure in their Prayers and their Applications of themselves unto Him He takes very great Delight in these also Job 42.8 My servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept Job had Acceptance with God in Prayer which his Friends had not So Cornelius Act. 10.3 Thy Prayers and thine Alms are come up for a Memorial before God Prov. 15.8 The Sacrifice of the wicked are an Abomination to Lord But the Prayer of the upright is his delight Let me see thy Countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voyce and thy Countenance is comely sayes Chirst to His Spouse Cant. 2.14 Thy voyce that is the voyce of thy Prayers This is as sweet and pleasant Musick which sounds in the ears of God and Christ Fourthly and lastly In the Services of his People He takes pleasure also in them He Delights very much to improve them and to make use
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
in hand it is an Act likewise of Confidence and special Assurance The former Qualifications mentioned are requisite as a good Ground and Foundation for the commiting our Works to him This Present for a Performance of it Though a Man should be in Covenant with God and also in his favour yet if he doubted of it and called it into question he could not so readily commend his business to him therefore this must be added to the other that we may perform this so much the more fully That we make our Calling and Election sure and keep the Evidence of God's Love and Fame clear and undefaced to our selves which will otherwise much obstruct us and hinder us in this present business It is one thing desparately to cast away our Works and another thing graciously to commit them Lastly It does imply Innocency and Unblameableness especially for the Works themselves which we offer to commit unto him We must commit our Works to God upon those terms as we must commit our Souls And that is as the Apostle Peter has expressed it in Well-doing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 4.19 He that presumes at any time to commit an evil work to God he does but implicitely put God in mind to punish him and to be avenged upon him for it which will make but a very sad Reckoning and Account in the conclusion of it Besides that it is a making of God himself the holy God to be a Co-partner with him in his sin which is a most fearful and horrid Abomination Therefore when it is said here Commit thy Works to the Lord this is that which is to be taken for granted that the Works themselves be just and unblameable And so this Commitment here spoken of it is to the rest An Act of Innocency And thus we see also the several Qualifications which are required of us in the performance of this Duty The summ of all is still no more but this even to put us upon it There are two things which are here to be looked after by us First That we be above all things careful to be in such a condition and frame of Spirit and so well employed as from whence we may comfortably and to good purpose commit our works unto the Lord and then absolutely and directly and positively and in good earnest to do the thing it self Then we shall come home to the Counsel and Advice which is here given us in my Text. This as we may safely do in all things else so more especially in such kind of Works as wherein God himself chiefly and immediately is to be concerned Those Works wherein we are serviceable to him in a more peculiar manner and in which his own Honour and Glory is interessed These are such as we may with greater confidence commit to his care As ye know it is amongst men Those which are partners together in their Trade they do trust one another with the work because their mutual gain is concerned in it Even so here betwixt God and us As in the Ministery and such Services as these The same which is our Work it proves to be his Work also besides Therefore we may well Commend it to him and our selves in it Malach. 3.17 As a man spareth his Son that serveth him A Father will take care of his Son because of his Relation but then his Son that serves him over and above because of his Work Those Works whereby God and his Church are any thing advanced they may be safely committed to him And that still we may do this so much the better let us more and more inure our selves to it for the more we do it the more we may do it When we are wont to Commit our selves to God in smaller matters we shall be the better able to do it in greater when dayly and constantly and continually in our own Particulars be so much the better upon occasion in the affairs of the Church This is very Comfortable and this is that which we should bring our selves to And now I have done with the First General Part in the Text viz. The Precept or Counsel Commit thy Work unto the Lord. The Second now follows And that is the Promise or Argument to inforce it And thy Thoughts shall be Establisht Where First here is somewhat which is Imply'd and Secondly here is somewhat which is Exprest and each of them Considerable of us First Here are some things as Implyed from the Phrase and Manner of Expression for observe how the Holy Ghost here sets it Commit thy Works and thy Thoughts shall be Established In the Sutableness and Correspondency of Expression one would have thought it should have been rather said Thy Works which is likewise here to be understood as we shall see afterwards But the Spirit of God rather gives it by the Thoughts whereby there are sundry Intimations exhibited unto us I can but name them First We see here thus much That where there are Works there will be Thoughts Yea and that likewise sometimes Thoughts of Trouble and Perplexity and Distraction such as have need to be Established This is clear from the Coherence and Connexion of these two both together in the Text Thy Works and thy Thoughts This has a double ground for it First The nature of the things themselves which are such as do properly and immediately produce the one of them the other Thoughts they do breed in Works as Worms do breed in Wood especially such as the Works may be for the Condition of them If they be great Works Works of deeper importance than other they will draw along Thoughts with them that 's a business out of all question And it is very fitting they should do so likewise if we consider rightly of it It is very fitting and requisite that men should there exercise their Thoughts and intend their Minds where their business is more than ordinary Secondly There is also a ground for it in the nature of the Mind It is a peice of weakness and infirmity in some Dispositions to be thus affected and disposed in themselves That never so little Work or Business it does presently disquiet their Thoughts and set their Minds and Spirit upon the racks that they have no settlement in them Works and Thoughts do here easily meet This teaches us not to wonder at it but accordingly to prepare for it and to make account that so it will be And therefore so to dispose our selves as those which expect it And especially by putting in practise the present Duty of the Text mentioned before but so much for that Secondly Observe here from hence also this That our chiefest business lies in our Minds to compose and settle them Therefore Solomon instances in these Thy Thoughts shall be Established As who should say When that were once done all besides were done to our hand And so in a manner it is Stablish but once a mans Thoughts and then ye have done enough
These are the several Parts of the Text as they lye before us We begin with the first General viz. The Specification of the Persons The Prudent and the Simple that is indeed The Righteous and the Wicked For these are the Titles which are frequently given them in Scripture not only here but in dives other places where Godly Men are described by Wise Men and Wicked Men are described by Fools It is that which we frequently meet withal but never more than in this Book of the Proverbs I shall not need to make a distinct handling of these two in the Prosecution of the Text but invole one in the other as mutually consequent and dependent For if Godly Men be eminently Wise Men then Wicked Men are consequently Fools who are so far opposite to them And if wicked men be transcendently foolish men then Godly men are consequently wise ones who do so far depart from them and do set themselves in ways against them Now that this is so indeed that the Godly are truly wise and none properly so but they will appear and may be made good unto us in sundry respects not only in that they are so often called so by the mouth of Wisdom it self but likewise if we look upon them in those Qualities and Action and Principles and Properties which do belong unto them Whatsoever is truly considerable as concurring to a wise man the same is to be found in a good Christian and Child of God And so again whatsoever is observable and remarkable in a Fool the same is in a wicked person and such an one as is devoid of Grace Nay to joyn them and put them both together the weakest and simplest Christian is wiser than the wisest and subtillest Worldling Take a Godly man but of low and mean parts as to Natural or Acquisite Qualification and he hath more true Wisdom in him than a Wicked man of the choicest Abilities and Accomplishments either of Art or Nature That this is no empty Flourish but a Truth may be evidenced to us upon these Consideration First A Godly man hath the true Principle of Wisdom in him Wisdom is not a Fit but an Habit and does imply a Spring and Principle for the nourishing of it No this is that which a Godly man hath and none but he What is the right Principle of Wisdom It is a Gracious and Savoury Spirit the Work of Regeneration and the New Creature in us In a word The fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom as it is signified both by David and Solomon This a Godly man hath He hath that Wisdom which is from above as it is called in Jam. 3.17 which is also in other places called The Wisdom of God whereas wicked men have only in them the Wisdom of the Flesh and the Wisdom of the World which is opposite and contrary to God yea indeed to true Wisdom it self Foolish Wisdom being Earthly Sensual Devilish as the same Apostle there speaks of it in the place before alledged Secondly As in regard of his Principles so likewise in regard of his Ends and the Aims which he does propound to him This as much as any thing else has a stroke and influence upon Wisdom what it is that one propounds to one's self Now for this a Godly man carries it above any one else as whose Aims are heavenly and spiritual the Glory of God the Salvation of his own Soul the Good of others These are a Christian's Ends and Proposals which are all very good and warrantable and such as do justifie and approve him for true Wisdom in that which he undertakes Thirdly In regard of the Rule whereby he is led That is a part of a wise man to have good Rules whereby he is squared Now a Christian has here the Word of God which is the perfect Rule of Wisdom This is that which the Apostle mentions to the Philippians Let us walk by the same rule Philip. 3.16 And to the Galatians As many as walk according to this rule Gal. 6.16 Lastly In regard of the Object whereabout he is conversant which is the Gospel the Doctrine of Wisdom We speak wisdom amongst those which are present 1 Cor. 2.7 As Christ himself is The Wisdom of the Father so that Doctrine which treats of him and leads to him is a Dostrine of Wisdom and they themselves wise which are employed and occupyed in it Thus in all these respects is a good Christian the only wise man This then serves to rectifie men's Judgments and Opinions in this particular The World accounts none wise but such as are so in their sense wise to get great Estates to set up themselves to advance their own Lusts to become great in the World wise to circumvent others to do evil Yea but see what is the Opinion of God himself and the Censure which his Word passes upon it Accounting those the wisest indeed that are wise to God that are wise to Salvation that are wise to lay hold on the Eternal Life These are the wise ones indeed whatever contrary Conceit men of the World may have of them The Godly are the only Wise Men and the Wicked are the only Fools and Simplicians that are in the World So much may suffice of the first General which I propounded to be handled in the Text viz. The Persons specified The Prudent and Simple The Second is the different Account which is given of each consisting also of two Parts First the Account of the Prudent that is of the Godly In these words He foreseeth the evil and hideth himself Secondly The Account of the Simple that is of the Wicked In these words They pass on and are punished We begin with the first viz. The Account of the Prudent or Godly Man Which is again layed forth unto us in two Particulars more as the Discoveries of Wisdom in him The one is in point of Judgment and Apprehension He foreseeth the evil as the Antecedent And the other is in point of Practice and Activity as the Consequent And hideth himself First Here is a Godly Man's Wisdom discovered as to his spiritual Judgment and Apprehension and Spirit of Discerning He foreseeth the evil It is a part of Wisdom to do this and such as is in special the property of a good Christian He does not only see the Evil when it is upon him which is that which many do not neither but even then before it comes at him He does not only see it but foresee it This is that which is here commended to us in him And it is not only so here in this place but also because it is so certain a truth it is signified to us likewise in another and that here in this Book Prov. 27.12 We have this Verse repeated again in so many terms which does serve so much the more to certifie and assure us of it So Prov. 14.16 A wise man feareth and departeth from evil but a fool rageth
which is here used in the Future Tense Va-Jakreth He will cut off Where whilst it is said here that He will there are three things at once which are included in this Expression First As a Word of Premonition Secondly As a Word of Procrastination Thirdly As a Word of Resolution First As a Word of Premonition Take notice of that We see here how God does not usually surprize men or come upon them before they are aware if the fault be not their own but he gives them warning before he destroys them and proceeds to a final and utter desolation of them He tells them He will do it before he does it indeed He does so in the way of his Providence by many turns and passages thereof which do bespeak such things unto them if they would but observe them Their Destruction in the Previous Causes and Simptoms and Tendances to it before there is Destruction in the Event it self and Absolute Accomplishment of it And so he does it also as I hinted before in the mouths of his Prophets and Ministers who threaten it and give warning of it And also in the hearts and spirits of men themselves Which should therefore teach us to hasten it and to give heed unto it Despise not God's Gracious Hints and Admonitions of Judgment before hand for fear lest we be overtaken with them before we are as it was with those in the days of Noah in the Deluge of Waters And as it were with those in Sodom and Gomorrah in the Destruction of Fire and Brimstone The word Will is a word of Premonition that is the first Secondly He will It is a Word of Procrastination It is a Speech of Delay and present Forbearance God cuts off impenitent Sinners but he does not do it presently but after some temperate Indulgence towards them As he gives them warning so consequently he gives them time if they will make a right Use and Improvement of it Thus we know he did with the old World Gen. 6.3 The Lord said my Spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years God is slow to Anger and consequently slow to Judgment Which his Work but his strange Work his Act but his strange Act. This is a Ground likewise for our slowness to the provoking of him If God be so slow to punish we should be as slow to sin and not abuse his Long-suffering and Patience in this particular but rather hereby be lead to Repentance which is the proper use and improvement of it as it is in Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance But yet Thirdly It is a Word of Resolution It is that which he hath fully purposed and determined to do in Conclusion God will not be always Willing he will be at last Doing and reducing his Will into Act and absolute Execution Which is that which is here further intimated in this Expression He will do it and none shall hinder him and keep him from it Thus Job 9.12 Behold he taketh away who can hinder him and who will say unto him what doest thou And so in Job 23.13 He is in one mind who can turn him and what his soul designeth that he doth He will in regard of his Vnchangeableness None can alter him from his Purpose And He will in regard of his Powerfulness None can restrain him of his Purpose For who hath resisted his Will This is here especially to be understood after all means which he hath used for reclaiming them and all to no purpose As long as there is any hope of Repentance and Amendment and Resignation of People's Lives so long God seems to be in some doubting and disputing with himself whether he had best to destroy them or no How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel how shall I make thee as Admah how shall I set thee as Zeboim my heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together Hos 11.8 But when they once prove to be incorrigible and past hope of being any thing better then he comes to I will and that as a word of Peremptoriness and full Resolution And this for the Nature of the Judgment The Lord will cut off The Third is The Subject of it or the People involved in it and that is Israel If it had been from Egypt or Assyria or Edom such Nations as were not only Strangers but Enemies to God the matter had not been so great For the Lord to cut off such as those it might have appeared to be no great wonder For If a man find his Enemy will he let him go well away says Saul himself to David 2 Sam. 24.19 But for Israel which was God's own special and peculiar People and whom himself had made choice of above all other Nations of the World For the Lord to cut off such as those this was strange and remarkable Yet this is that which we may here observe and take notice of in this present Scripture The Lord will out off from Israel his vineyard his inheritance his pleasant plant his peouliar treasure He will not spare or indulge these but in these Circumstances will cut them off This is the sad Nature and Condition of Sin that it does frustrate all kinds of Privileges which any People are capable of as to the exempting them from God's Afflicting Hand If Israel shall provoke God by their Impenitency and Obstinacy against him even Israel shall be punished and cut off by him He will not forbear even such as those in such conditions Nay sometimes he will proceed so much the rather and the sooner against them Judgment shall begin at the house of God as it is in 1 Pet. 4.17 And you only have I known says God of all the families of the earth therefore I will be sure to punish you for your iniquities in Amos 3.2 Therefore let none bear themselves up by such things as these as to hearten them and encourage them in sinning as to cry with them in Jeremy Templum Domini The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are those Jer. 7 4. that is to trust to their mere relation which they stand in to God as Members of the Visible Church and Partakers of the Outward Means and Ordinances and such like things as these for these will not defend them in their sinning against Gods Visitations nor Destructions of them The Lord will cut off from Israel c. That is the first Particular in this second General viz. The Denunciation of the Judgment The Second is the Extent of it and that we have expressed to us in a double Metaphor the one from the nature of the Head and Tail and the other from the nature of a Tree in the Branches and Roots Both of them coming to
Professors and Embracers of it Now shall we exempt such Persons as these from being Wicked Men or from being liable to Eternal Damnation Or shall such as these think to flee from the Wrath to come Surely no in no wise they are as deeply engaged in it as any other and are as certainly inovlved in it Therefore Let none flatter themselves in this Particular or think ever the better of themselves in such Circumstances for they have no cause so to do For they are notwithstanding wicked Persons as they are here termed And accordingly shall have the Portion of the Wicked to happen unto them which is to be cast into utter darkness and to have their part in that lake which burns with fire and brimstone For this purpose consider thus much That God looks at the inward frame and temper of their Spirits more than any thing else which is considerable in that And if that be not such as it should be he has no reckoning or esteem of them as such who are little better herein than the Devil himself Take the Devil himself and If he were to live here in Humane Shape upon Earth he would not be a common Drunkard or Swearer or Whore-master or Ranting Person but would in a manner scorn such kind of Brutish and Swinish Sins as those as which would not be so much for his advantage No but he would be rather a secret Envyer and Underminer of the Power of Religion he would oppose and hinder Goodness and Piety all he could he would Scoff and Mock at Christianity and the Principles of it and do his utmost indeavour to draw men from the entertaining of it All this and the like he would do in a fair outward and civil conversation And whiles many others do no more then so and in a manner do as much How can they do other than fall into the condemnation of the Devil which is here mentioned that is To depart into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Therefore though we have Civility and would have others to have it also and to be conscionable in the practise of all the Duties that belong unto it as they are laid down in the Second Table of the Law Yet we would have men to rest or content themselves in such a state as this is without somewhat else added unto it of Repentance and Humility and Self-denyal and Faith in Christ A new and gracious frame and temper of heart causing them to hate all kind of sin considered as sin and for the forsaking of it and to apply themselves to every thing which is Good for Goodness sake To be renewed in the spirit of their minds as the Scipture expresses it To take this part which we are now upon in the full Notion and Latitude of it concerning such Persons as are wicked and shall be turned into Hell we are to take in this as in a special manner belonging hereunto and as principally intended in it namely The Sin of Vnbelief and Disobedience to the Gospel of Christ. Such as are guilty of such Sins as these are the Main and Chief Sinners which are here spoken of as exposed and given up to this Punishment This is the Condemnation says our Blessed Saviour That light is come into the world and that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil Joh. 3.19 And so the Apostle Peter seems to declare unto us in that his quick and convincing Question and Expostulation 1 Pet 4.17 If Judgment begin with us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of Christ And if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appear Where by the Ungodly and Sinner he seems to intend more especially such as he had said were disobedient to the Gospel These being such as do in a special manner deserve such names to be put upon them These shall not be able to appear at the General Day of Account with any Confidence or Boldness in themselves Therefore though other Sinners are as we have shewn before included in this Expression of Wicked Persons and so consequently liable to the Judgment which is here passed upon them Yet these are more especially intended above the rest as being mainly concerned in it Vnbelief it is the great Damning Sin because all other Sins besides that do especially damn in the strength of that as giving an Actual Force and Efficacy unto them especially where it is joyned with slighting and contemning of the Mercies and Ordinances and Opportunities of Salvation Here it is damning indeed and puts those who are guilty of it into the lowest place of Hell This our Saviour intimates to us in the Case of Corazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum those Cities wherein most of his mighty Works had been done with little success as to the Improvement of them That it should be more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Judgment than for them Matth. 11.22 The Tyrians rnd Sidonians and Sodomites they were great and grievous Sinners They were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly as the Scripture tells us Gen. 13.10 But yet these people which repulsed the Gospel and refused to comply with that they were wickeder and greater Sinners than those and are threatned with a hotter place in Hell as belonging unto them And so much may suffice to have been spoken of the Persons here adjudged and condemned in their Comprehensive Representation expressed in that word The Wicked as reduced to three Ranks especially that is Open and Scandalous Sinners Close and Reserved Hipocrites Carnal and Vnregenerate Persons The Second is as they are laid down Emphatically in these Words And all the Nations that forget God Wherein again two Particulars more First The Subjects of the Punishment here mentioned and they are all the Nations Secondly They Guilt which is fastened upon those Subjects as the Ground and Foundation of that Punishment and that is forgetting of God For the First The Subjects of this Punishment here mentioned They are all Nations Those if they prove to be wicked they shall not escape the Judgment of God Neither their Wealth nor Strength nor Power nor Multitude shall in this life be and security to them Why do the Heathen rage and the People imagine a vain thing saith the Psalmist Thou shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to peices like a Potter vessel Psal 21.9 In Jer. 25.17 It is said That all the Nations were made to drink of the cup of Gods fury And in other places we also read of the Destruction and Desolation of all Nations So as these as well as particular persons are concerned and involved in it And there 's a twofold Ground for it The one is the Great and Almighty Power of God And the other is the Great and Vehement Importunity of sin First Gods Peace and Omnipotency When we consider what the Lord himself is in his
is not enough neither to purpose and resolve against Sin for time to come and to lay strong Engagements upon one's self no more to commit it This is another thing which some also will do and when they have done so satisfie themselves in it But it will not serve the turn Yea sometimes if there be nothing more done it does but so much the more entangle them because where there is the greater Restraint there is often times the greater Inclination and Desire after that which is evil And Sin from the Prohibition takes an occasion to be exceeding sinful Neither of these Particulars now mentioned come up to this Forsaking here required Not mere Confession of sin not mere Lamentation over it nor mere Purpose and Resolution against it What may some say then is that which reaches to it and wherein consists it We may reduce it to two Heads especially The one in regard of the Activity of Sin and the other in regard of the Affection The Forsaking of it it contains and comprehends each of these in it First The Practice or Activity of it To forsake Sin is no more to commit it or to be overtaken with it This is one thing which is pertinent hereunto and it is not compleatly performed without it Let men pretend to what they will otherwise yet if they return again to the Commission of their Sins they cannot be said properly to forsake them Forsaking is exclusive of the Acts of it But Secondly That is not all the abstaining from the outward Performances There is many an one who thus forsakes his sin because his sin forsakes him He wants it may be an occasion and opportunity as formerly he has had and therefore good cause he should leave it because he knows not how to commit it There are divers and sundry sins of this nature which men cannot always act though they would and have desire good enough towards them This seems now to be a forsaking but yet it comes short of it and is defective of that which is here required And therefore we must add hereunto a forsaking of it as to the Affection and Love of it Then a man truly forsakes his sin when his heart and spirit is set against it when he forbears it not only from the power of Restraining Grace but from the Principles of renewing Grace and the Work it self Denyal and Mortification wrought in his heart Then we forsake sin indeed when we loath it and hate it and detest it and are out of love with it As a man is said to forsake his Meat not when he cannot get it or come by it but when he has no Stomach to it So is a Man said also to forsake his Lust not when he has no opportunity but when he has an affection for it not when he does simply abstain from the Actual Commission of it but when he has an Habitual Enmity against it And which I must also add hereunto founded in the nature of sin it self and the iniquity of it For a man may sometimes dislike his sin so far forth as he has some dammage by it when as notwithstanding he has otherwise affection good enough for it He may be angry with his sin when he does not hate it But he forsakes it then when he hates it And when he hates it upon the Account of that intrinsecal evil which is in it That is the first Term which is here to be explained namely the word Forsaking The Second is the word Way which takes in Sin in the full Latitude and Extent of a Man's Life and Coversation It is not enough to Repentance or New Obedience for Men to reform in some Particulars either as to the abstaining from some few sins or to the performance of some few Duties but there must be a care of a man's whole Course In all a man's Stations and Relations and Capacities wherein he is considerable If in any of these he has been exorbitant he must forsake the Miscarriages of them Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy Commandments says David Psal 119.6 Ye shall have many People sometimes who are content it may be to forsake some sins but they desire to retain others or to reform in some part of their lives but in the rest to give themselves liberty This is not to forsake their Wicked Way which is of a more large and general Extent and Consideration and is diffusive through their whole life And so much may be spoken of the first Reference of this Act of Aversion namely as it respects and relates to a Man's Course Let the wicked forfake his ways The Second is as it reaches to a Man's Mind And the unrighteous man his thoughts That which is here translated Vnrighteous man is in the Hebrew Ishuven that is The Man of Iniquity a Title which belongs to Antichrist Who is accordingly so styled by the Apostle Paul The man of sin 2 Thes 2.3 Here in this present Text it seems to be little different from that which was mentioned before Rashang The Wicked Man unless we shall restrain the former to the Breach of the first Table and the later to the Breach of the Second But I rather incline to think them to be Synonymous and that they are both of the like Extent The Wicked Man and the Man of Iniquity Vnrighteous Man they are both one and the same for their signification That which is here required of them is as before to forsake their way so here now to forsake their Thoughts This is another thing pertinent to true Repentance yea indeed the very proper root and ground of it It is not enough for us to change our ways except also we change our hearts Nor to alter our Conversations unless withall we alter our Affections This is that which is here observable of us that Religion it reaches it self to the heart and inward man we are accountable to God even for our Thoughts which where they are evil are to be left by us And so the Scripture intimates to us in sundry places of it thus Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou maist be saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee So Peter to Simon Magus Thy heart is not right in this matter Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven unto thee Act. 8.20 21. And Jam. 2.4 Are ye not Partial in your selves and become Judges of Evil thoughts c. Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us First Because the Law of God does reach and extend to our Thoughts for the ordering and regulating of them Our Obedience and Reformation must be sutable and agreeable to Gods Law Now this I say it reaches to these and is possible to be transgressed by them The very thought of Sin is Foolishness says Solomon Prov. 24.9 Not only the practise
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
mouth to receive it an appetite to be carryed to it and a stomach to entertain and digestit Even so the Word of God is not a perfect blessing neither except there be an Ear to hearken to it a spiritual taste to relish it and an heart to receive and digest it and to close and comply with it Now this is that which God does here in this place I say promise to his People when he says Their ears shall hear Not only a simple Partaking of the word Preacht but also an attendance upon it and obedience to it Hearing in the Language of Scripture being put for Obeying without which it is all in vain This was that Hearing which was in Lydia Act. 16.14 whose heart the Lord opened unto the things which were spoken by Paul The Things were spoken by Paul There was the word behind her Aud she attended to those things which were spoken There were her Ears hearing this word and both together made it to be a perfect and compleat blessing to her as it is also to any one else Let us therefore accordingly indeavour to find this made good in ourselves That we be hearers of that word which God does afford and vouchsafe untous And that not only with our outward ears although it were well if some would do that but also moreover with our inward affections and attentions to that which we hear seeing God follows us day after day and time after time with these advantages and opportunities which he offers unto us let not us be so far neglectfull either of him or of our own good as to divert our minds from them Considering what Solomon hath told us to this purppse Prov. 28.9 He that turns away his ear from hearing the Law even his Prayers shall be an abomination And so much of these words in their first Acceptation as they may be taken properly and in the Letter Thine Ears shall hear a word behind thee As relating to the Word of the Ministery and the Continuance of such opportunities as theâ—e are The Second is as they may be taken Metaphorically as relating to the word within us The inward Motions and Suggestions of the Spirit and the Dictates thereof This may be very well meant hereby likewise and as the other is not excluded So perhaps this is principally intended here in this place when it is said Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee speaking Gods Spirit speaking to our Spirit This is such as God does vouchsafe in his Church as well as the other As they have the word sounding in their Ears So they have the Spirit also whispering in their Consciences and stirring and moving in their Hearts Those that live in the Bosom of the Church within the pales and compass of it they have many such advantages and opportunities as these are which are vouchsafed and afforded unto them This as well as the former is very fitly called a word behind thee not only in all these respects which I mentioned in reference thereunto as a word pursuing recalling and provoking All which it is but also which we may moreover here take notice of in these two regards First In regard of the Privacy and Secrecy of it Look as that which is behind us we do not so easily see and discern no more do we many times so readily perceive such motions as these are God speaks once yea twice but man perceives it not as it is in Job 33.14 Hence it is called a secret word Davar laat Job 15.11 Are the Consolations of God small with thee or is there any secret word with thee And a stollen word as it is in the Hebrew Text Davar jegunnav Job 4.12 Now a word was secretly brought unto us and mine ear received a little thereof Whereby are signified the secret whisperings and murmurings of the Spirit of God in us Secondly As it is a word behind us in regard of the Seâ—resie and privateness of it Likewise in regard of the Proximity and Nearness The word is nigh thec as it said in another case It is but looking behind us and we have it It accompanies us and goes along with us as the shaddow with the Body That 's another thing here considerable and that in this expression of being behind Here 's the Constancy of these motions which God follows his People withall without intermission They are never free and exempt from them but they are still about them and stirring them where ever they are and whatever they are doing upon all occasions as I shall shew more anon in the following part and close of the Text. Behold I stand at the door and knock as it is in Revel 3.20 He stands which is a Posture of Perseverance This is a very great Favour as well as the Former It is not only a mercy that God gives us his word without us in the Dispensations of the Ministery but likewise his word without us in the Dispensations of the Ministery But likewise his word within us in the Dispensations of his Spirit And this is that which he annexes and joyns together with that in the promise of it This we find mention made of here in some other places of Scripture likewise These Dictates and Suggestions of the Spirit 1 Joh. 2.20 Ye have an Vnction from the Holy One and ye know all things So again in ver 27. The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and teacheth you all things So Joh. 14.26 The Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance c. Again Joh. 16.13 When the Spirit of Faith is come he will guide you into all truth c. Still there 's mention of these Suggestions of the Spirit The Use which we are to make of it is accordingly to bless God for it that affords these things unto us We see here the happiness of being brought forth within the compass of the Church where such means as these are vouchsafed and we should acknowledge Gods Goodness to us in this particular for though there be the stirrings of Conscience sometimes even in Civil Men in Heathens and such as these are yet these Motions of the Holy Ghost they are more proper and peculiar to the Church where there is the Ministers and Ordinances and Means of Grace in the Dispensation of them And we should not think it a small matter for our selves to enjoy them Next to God's giving of his Son to us is his giving of his Spirit and his continual Application of himself to our Hearts and Consciences But so much for that I have done now with the first General which is the Monitor here signified unto us in these words thine ears shall hear a word behind thee Understood either properly of the Word of the Ministry or metaphorically of the Suggestion of the Spirit I come now to the Second which is the matter
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
to sin there is not onely Privative evil in it but a Positive He that toucheth Pitch shall be defil'd and so here srequent converse and society it does convey a similitude of disposition which goes along together with it nay this fire it does quickly take but upon a little mingling and joyning in this particular We see here then what to think of such persons as are for all companies and Societies whatsoever they be that care not with whom they converse and associate themselves it is a sign that they have little of true grace or goodness in them for if they had they would be a little more wary in this respect they would consider where they went and whom they joyn'd and appli'd themselves to in regard of their intimacy and intireness We see how it is with men which regard the health of their bodies they will not go into infectious places but as they desire to avoid the plague so they will shun and avoid the house which is visited with it They that would keep themselves from Leprosic they will take heed of coming near the Leper The same should it like wise be with them in regard of their Sould when it is not it is so far taxable in them as here in Ephraim He hath mingled himself among the people it was a fault in him to converse with them no more but so That 's the first Explication as we may understand a mixture which is Local The second is a Civil mixture a mixture of Affinity and Alliance this is another thing forbidden in the People of God with Heathen and Idolaters that they mix not themselves with them thus Thus Exod. 34.15 16. Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the Land and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons c. So Deut. 7.34 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them c. Again 2 Cor. 6.14 Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial Such unsuitable mixtures as these are of Gods People and those which are either enemies or strangers to Religion they are not without a great deal of mischief and hazard in them they are like the lying of a living and a dead body together which was wont to be accounted of the greatest punishments that could be But thirdly which seems here chiefly and principally to be intended a mixture Spiritual or Moral Fphraim hath mixed himself with the people that is Israel hath shared in the iniquities and abominations of the Heathen And so it seems not to be much unlike to that in Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to idols For Gods people to comply with those which are wicked and ungodly in their practises and to conform themselves to their customs and manners is a thing very grievous and unsufferable This is that which the Prophet especially condemns here in this place and it is that which the whole Scripture besides does almost every where set it self against in sundry passages as Rom. 12.2 Be not conformed to the world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds c. So 1 Cor. 8.6 A little leven leaveneth the whole lump Purge out therefore the old leven c. And Eph. 5.11 Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them And many such places as these are This we have cause to take care of upon sundry grounds and considerations First as contrary to our Election and Gods special designation of our persons to eternal life Those whom God has separated from others in regard of their end and final condition they should be separated from them likewise in regard of their way and present conversation Now thus is it with those which are the Saints and Servants of God God has appointed them to another end than he has done those which are not his people and therefore their course especially should be varying and different from them This is the very argument and reason of the Scripture it self as 1 Thess 5.6 Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober Why upon what ground it follows in verse 9. of that chapter For God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Because we are not appointed to wrath as others are therefore let us not walk in ways of wrath as others do that so the Way may be suitable to the End So Ephes 1.4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love God hath chosen us that therefore we might be holy So again Rom. 8.29 Whom he did foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son as in glory so also in suffering and in holiness tending to glory And 2 Tim. 2.19 The foundation of God standethsure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his And Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity Gods peculiar interest in our persons by reason of Election calls for a peculiarity of carriage from us towards him again as to our holy life and conversation Secondly This conformity of Gods people to the fashions and manners and corruptions of men of the world as it is contrary to their Election so it is likewise opposite to their Redemption we are redeemed for another purpose than this is Thus Luke 1.74 75. That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life And Tit. 2.14 Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works So Heb. 9.14 How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God And 1 Pet. 1.17 18 19. And if ye call on the Father c. pass the time of your sojourning here in fear forasmuch as ye know that ye were redeemed from your vain conversation not with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb c. Thirdly Our effectual Calling and Vocation This is another thing which restrains us herefrom we should not therefore be mingled with the world because we are call'd out of it and God hath thereby distinguisht us from other men which are in it This the Scripture does likewise with other arguments press upon us to this purpose As Eph. 4.1 I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech ye that ye walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called So 1 Thes 4.7 God hath notcalled us to uncleanness but unto holiness And Heb. 3.1 Holy Brethren partakers of the Heavenly Calling And 2 Tim. 1.9 Who hath saved us
and mourning or them and lamenting over them That 's the second emphasis in this expression Thirdly It is a note of displeasure and indignation So it is used also sometimes in Scripture Thus Jer. 21.10 I have set my face against this City for evil and not for good So Ezek. 25.2 Set thy face against the Ammonites And Ezek. 28.21 Set thy face against Zidon and prophecy against it And Ezek. 29.2 Set thy face against Pharaoh c. So here now Set thy face towards Jerusalem that is as expressing thy displeasure and distaste against it This is another thing which does also very well become those which are Ministers to testify against sin in their very countenance where they see any thing which is unworthy or unfitting to be done by any even to discountenance it and frown upon it and discourage it all that may be This is that which is here commanded Ezekiel And so much may be spoken of the first clause of judgment which is here specified to be denounced namely in reference to the City Set thy face towards Jerusalem the State Civil The Second is in reference to the Church or State Ecclesiastical And drop thy word towards the holy places This it respects the Temple which is exprest by the plural number in regard of the chief and principal parts of it Here 's God's judgment denounced against this the Lord's Sanctuary Now this as well as the former has two things considerable in it The place which is aim'd at and that is the place of holiness the Temple and house of God Secondly the carriage which is required of the Prophet towards it and that is to drop his word upon it and drop towards the holy places For the first the place it is the Church and house of God Here 's God's vengeance threaten'd against that as to the destruction of it This is worse than the former by how much spirituals are better than temporals and any prejudice to our souls worse than to our outward estates yet this is that which God here threatens by his Prophet Ezekiel when he will have him to proclaim against the Sanctuary It is a judgment in spirituals The Sanctuary here in this Text must be taken in the full extent and latitude of it and then it does imply three things in it which are here threaten'd First the place Secondly the persons Thirdly the performances The place that was the Temple The persons they were the Priests and Ministers in it The performances they were the Ordinances All these have their several judgment and punishment denounced against them in this dropping upon the holy places First Here 's a threatening of the place the Temple it self which was afterwards verified and made good in the destruction and rendition of that Not one stone left upon another as our Saviour likewise speaks of it God threatens to take away that visible token of his presence from amongst them which was one step of this punishment Secondly Here 's a threatening of the persons the Priests and Ministers there 's an heavy judgment belonging to them sorasmuch as they had corrupted themselves and others with them It is a judgment upon the Church of God when God's wrath is any thing poured upon those which are Ministers about it and employed in the services of it The Temple and Sanctuary suffer in this dispensation As to instance in some particulars First In the removing of their persons When God shall once begin to do this as in Isa 3.2 The Lord there threatens to take away the Prophet This was a great judgment when those which are Watchmen and should give warning of the dangers which are approaching are taken from any people this is a great evil to them As Psal 74.9 We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long It is that which God has done very lately amongst our selves many Ministers in divers places of the Land have been taken away which certainly is a very sad affliction if it be thoroughly consider'd and which has more evil attending it than it self Secondly the taking off their hearts and affections that 's another thing A discouraging of them in their spirits that 's in effect as bad as the other and in some respects worse if it be duly laid to heart when they shall not have that freedom and cheerfulness and alacrity in their work and employment as formerly they have had Thirdly the restraining of their Gifts or the exercise and improvement of them As Acts 16.7 The Spirit suffered them not These and the like are a judgment upon the Sanctuary in respect of the persons the Prophets the Priests and Ministers In the third place in reference to the performances The Ordinances and Ministerial dispensations God drops upon the Sanctuary when he threatens to suspend these as oftentimes he does when he sends a famine of his word as he speaks in Amos chap. 8. ver 11. I will send a famine of hearing of the words of the Lord This is a very great evil and none like it and it is that which the Lord is sometimes provoked unto Especially when his Ordinances are neglected and laid aside when there 's no heed or regard unto them in such cases as these does God remove them and otherwise bestow them neither is there any thing here which shall stand in the way of his judgments It might seem a strange kind of business that God's wrath should be upon the holy places of all other places besides For what should exempt from judgment if holiness could not nay but even this will not suffice or serve the turn where sin once gets into them It is not holiness of profession which is able to make amends for unholiness of conversation These holy places are called so in regard of their dedication the use which they were at first appointed and ordained unto but now being employed to another purpose we see here what 's their destiny which is even to be destroyed When Bethel shall once be turned into Beth-aven the house of God into the house of sin and vanity there can nothing else now be expected but misery and ruine and destruction attending thereupon nay here rather than any-where else Let this be the use then which we make of this observation not to trust and rest our selves in such refuges as these are not in the strength of our Walls or our Towers or warlike preparations sor God sâ—ts his face against Jerusalem which was a great and fenced City even the City of the Great King as it is sometimes calâ—ed No nor yet to trust in our Temples that is to say in our profession of Religion To cry the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are we as they did in Jer. 7.4 For see here how God's wrath 's upon the Sanctuary and the holy places It will be no booty to us to keep us from
begin in order with the first viz. the Persons mentioned those that sigh and cry c. from whence we may observe thus much That such persons there are that do so and it is their duty so to do even to sigh and cry for the abominations all of them that are done in the midst of the City We read of divers in Scripture which have been noted for this disposition in them Thus it is said of just Lot that he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked For that righteous man dwelling amongst them in seeing and hearing vext his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds as it is in 2 Pet. 2.7 8. David he beheld the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not Gods word Psal 119.158 and rivers of water ran down his eyes because they kept not his law in verse 136. of the same Psalm Jeremy his soul wept in secret places for their pride c. Jer. 13.17 And Paul his spirit was stirred in him at Athens when he saw the City to be wholly given to idolatry Acts 17.16 Thus have the Servants of God been still affected with the abominations of the places and people whom they have lived withall and amongst whom they have at any time converst And this it hath proceeded thus in them upon divers and sundry considerations First out of their inward hatred and antipathy even to sin it self The children of God being born again and become new creatures and having grace in their hearts they cannot but abhor any thing which is opposite and contrary hereunto from that new nature and spirit which is in them Look as on the other side wicked men they are troubled at the slourishing of Religion where they see any to improve in goodness and to be any thing more forward in piety their hearts and spirits rise as it were against them and boil in them from the devilish disposition which is in them and hatred even of goodness it self So here those that fear the Lord they are as much troubled at the improvements of sin from that work of Regeneration which is in their hearts Secondly Out of love to God and a tenderness of his honour and glory Where abominations are at any time committed there God is exceedingly dishonour'd his Laws are slighted his Attributes are question'd his Name is blasphem'd Now those that are good themselves they have a great regard hereunto Those that are Gods children they are very jealous of Gods honour as any other children besides are of the honour of their earthly Parents and so accordingly they cannot but grieve when there is any trespass at any time upon it Those that areotherwise they shew but little love and affection which they bear unto him Thirdly Out of respect to themselves and their own advantage The more sin there is abroad the more are all men concerned in it not evil men but good who are from hence in so much the greater danger and that in a twofold respect both as to matter of defilement and of punishment They are more in danger from hence to be polluted and they are more in danger from hence to be afflicted and this makes them to be so much troubled at it First In order to Defilement they are more in danger from hence to be polluted Great and reigning sins and abominations are usually great temptations which do hazard the souls of many persons that converse amongst them and therefore there is cause to be grieved for them What is it that which makes men now so troubled to hear of the spreading of certain sicknesses and diseases Why it is because they think that themselves may haply come to feel them and to be infected with them that which befalls others they think at last it may light upon them And so is it likewise with gracious persons as to spiritual distempers when they hear of such corruptions and wickedness which are abroad in the world they are therefore much afflicted with them because they fear lest they themselves should be any thing defiled from them they are jealous of their own hearts in case of the prevailing of such sins and so do grieve and mourn for and under them And this they do it in order to defilement as being in danger to be polluted Secondly In order also to Punishment as being in danger to be afflicted Common and publick abominations they beget common and publick plagues and judgments which follow thereupon This those that are wise and prudent Christians know and discern well enough Evil men understand not judgment but they that seek the Lord understand all things says Solomon Prov. 28.5 Fools make a mock of sin and those that are wicked and ungodly they are commonly hardned and secure in the midst of the greatest wickednesses that are commited Because they do not suffer for them presently therefore they think they shall not suffer at all Yea but the children of God they are otherwise perswaded they know that sin will sooner or later come to a reckoning and when they see it to increase in the world they foresee the judgments that attend it and therefore tremble at the sight of it as knowing that God is so much the more provoked by it and so will at length proceed to the punishment of it There are two things in the increase of sin and the spreading of more nauseous abominations which to this purpose do very much affect the children and servants of God the one is they are conscious of Gods anger and displeasure in the cause of them And the other is as they are prognosticks of Gods wrath and judgment in the effects First I say as they ar consequents of his anger and displeasure for so they are There is nothing which is more redious to Gods children than the anger and displeasure of God Now reigning abominations they are a symptom and discovery of that they are a sign that God is very much offended with those places and persons where he suffers them and permits them to be in them and gives them up to them We many times make light of it but believe it for any people to be given up to more notorious wickedness is the greatest argument of Gods anger that can be and in that regard a special ground for mercy to those that are good As it is a sign of God's anger against a person to be given up to strong and strange lusts An whore is a deep ditch and he that is abhorred of God shall fall into it so it is a sign of Gods anger against a Nation when he gives them up to more eminent sins and abominations in any kind whatsoever And so there is very great cause to grieve at it But secondly As those raging abominations they are the consequents of Gods anger in the causes of them so they are the Prognosticks of Gods wrath in the effects they do as good as foretell some judgment ere long to be brought upon
Salvation and the concernments of a beter life take it singly and alone by it self and it does not reach thereunto Therefore Thirdly and in the last place let this be the Use of this Doctrine to perswade men to look after such a righteousness as does indeed exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees What may we say is that and what does our Saviour mean here by it I answer briesly thus That it may be reduc'd to two Heads both to imputed righteousness and to inherent The righteousness of Christ's Person without us which is made ours by Faith and the righteousness of Christ's Spirit within us which does change and alter our natures and make us in part conformable to him Each of these are the righteousness here intended First That righteousness of ours which is thus transcendent as is here implied it is the righteousness of Christ himself imputed to us both of his nature life and death This is our righteousness so far forth as it is accounted for ours and we have a share and interest in it whilst by Faith we lay hold upon Christ's person we partake of Christ's righteousness and this to be sure is beyond the righteousness of all Scribes and Pharisees because it is such as is fully satisfactory to the justice of God and will endure the severest and exactest trial at his Tribunal But this though it be here included yet I conceive it not much intended in this present Text. Therefore Secondly By this transcendent righteousness of ours we are to understand our inherent righteousness which by Christ's Spirit is bestowed upon us and wrought in us and this is such as must be beyond the righteousness of Pharisees or else will not serve our turn This consists principally in the changing and renewing of our natures and transforming us in the spirit of our minds in an hatred of sin as sin and in love of goodness as goodness in a sight of our own unworthiness and renouncing of any considence in our selves or the best of our performances in a conscionable endeavour and desire to please God in all things and a sear and shyness of doing any thing which may be displeasing unto him This is such a righteousness as exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees with all their glorious and specious performances and must be endeavoured after by every one that makes account to come hereafter to Heaven And accordingly it should perswade every one to look after it As nothing should satisfy us but Salvation so nothing should satisfy us neither but such means as do reach salvation because failing of the means we must needs consequently fail of the end which hath a conjunction and connexion with it and whereupon it depends as it is with any thing else which is of truth and regard This hath been the temper and disposition of all such persons as have understood themselves and that have known what has belong'd to Salvation As we may see it for an instance of it in the Apostle Paul who was a Pharisee and as he tells us himself one of the strictest way and carriage amongst them One that went beyond many of his equals in the Jewish Religion one that as touching the righteousness which is of the Law was blameless But yet when he comes to be converted and turn'd Christian he reckons all this as very defective and insufficient Phil. 3.8 What things were gain unto me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things to be but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffer'd the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and may be found in him Not having mine own righteousness which is of tke Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith Thus it was with the Apostle Paul and so it is likewise ready to be with all others which are in his condition And so now I have done with the First General Part of the Text in the order in which I have now handled to wit the principal Doctrine here propounded and declar'd in these words Except your righteousness exceed the righteousuess of the Scribes and Pharisees c. The Second is the Preface or Introduction hereunto in these words For I say unto you Where we may observe a special Emphasis in every word and that three-fold First in the Speaker I. Secondly in the form of speech Say Thirdly in the persons spoken to You. There is somewhat in each of these which is considerable of us First In the Speaker I. Who was that namely Christ himself It was He that said it We know that Speeches they do frequently receive an impression from the condition of the persons that utter them And so did this here now in the Text so far forth as it was uttered by Christ The Scribes and Pharisees they had cried up their own righteousness as sufficient and somewhat more and thereby had kept men off from the Kingdom of Heaven They had taught men to rest in an outward conformity to the Law without any regard at all to the inward man yea but Christ now when he comes he teaches them another lesson than this and causes them to look further than the outward letter of the Commandment even to the sense and spirituality of it I says he say thus and thus unto you And I as we may again take it according to a threesold reduplication First I that am your Law-giver Secondly I that am your Prophet Thirdly I that am your Judge First Your Law-giver I consider'd so It is I that say who can better expound the Law or his Authority so to do than he that makes it than he that gives it Now this is that which Christ has done He was present at the making of the Law He was an Agent in the publishing of it It was ordain'd by Angels in the hand of a Mediator and this Mediator was Christ who as he was the Mediator of Reconciliation through whom we are accepted of God And as he was the Mediator of Intercession through whom we have access to God so he was also the Mediator of Instruction and Information through whom we receive he commands and injunctions of God And forasmuch I say as 't is he that propounds it is he also that properly expounds them and is the best expounder of them of any other else besides Secondly I your Prophet Christ is also considerable so in reference hereunto Christ he was in the bosom of his Father and best knew his Father's mind and he was ordain'd to be the Prophet of his Church for the revealing of this his mind unto them Heb. 1.1 c. God that in time past spake to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son c. Thirdly I your Judge It is I also that say it That 's
deceive you with vain words for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Rev. 21.8 The abominable are said to have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone and Rev. 22.15 Without are dogs Dogs what are they namely filthy beastly people who have impudence joyn'd with their uncleanness What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial St. Paul makes the question 2 Cor. 6.14 and we may answer it in the negative even none at all Such as these they are at a very great distance from Grace and eternal Salvation forasmuch as they are in a state of absolute repugnancy and opposition against it and therefore may justly tremble at such a Doctrine as this is howsoever they may otherwise be perswaded and flatter themselves Secondly all hypocrites or secret enemies and haters of goodness which though perhaps they may not be so openly and notoriously scandalous as some others are yet have bitter and malicious spirits and affections in them against the ways of God Such as these being of a devillish nature and the spirit that works in the children of disobedience ruling in them they are therefore far from the Kingdom of God and the government of Christ and his spirit which is a spirit of Holiness This was the condition of those other persons in this Chapter which came to Christ The Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians they came to him with a malicious affection to intangle him and insnare him in his speech and thereby to betray him who therefore were said here implicitly to be far from the Kingdom of God which this honest Scribe was not And so in other places of the Gospel our Saviour does in special manner strike at the Pharisees for thus their malicious opposing and contradicting of the known truth which does set men in as great a distance to this purpose as any thing else and nothing more even there where 't is veiled with the fairest pretences that may be Thirdly all such persons as are meerly civil or formal which have no more but common and moral honesty in them though this in it self and simply consider'd be very good we do not speak against it nor had not need in these times yet such I say who are no more than so they are far from the Kingdom of God There 's an infinite distance betwixt Civility and Piety betwixt God Nature and Grace betwixt Formality and the power of Religion Those which go no farther than that they come far short of this and so in conclusion if they go no farther of that which is the consequent of it eternal life Thus our Saviour himself tells us Matt. 5.20 I say unto you that except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Scribes and Pharisees they were very strict and exact persons in many respects Their conversation to the world was very fair and free from offence they were punctual in their observations of the Law and the outward parts of God's worship and service and yet for all this our Saviour tells the people whom he there speaks to that except they took care to go beyond them there was no coming for them to Heaven no more there was not they must have somewhat more in them than this or no Salvation And thus it has likewise been apprehended by those whom God has pleased to enlighten and to work a further work in them As for instance the Apostle Paul himself we cannot have a better proof of this point than in his Epistle by considering him what he was before conversion and considering him what he was after Take it from his own mouth Gal. 1.14 He there tells us what he had been before how he he had profited in the Jews Religion above many of his equals and had been exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his Fathers So Phil. 3.6 He says that touching the righteousness which is in the Law he was blameless and if any other had whereof he might trust in the flesh he had more well but now at last he durst not trust to it for all this as ye may see in the words that follow in ver 7 8. What things were gain unto me those I counted loss for Christ yea doubtless and I count all things to be but loss c. This is the judgment which St. Paul passes upon himself before conversion to be but in a lost condition notwithstanding all his exactness in the way of a civil conversation his outside and formality in Religion And so it is likewise with any other persons besides who are no more but so They are in this respect but short of the Kingdom of God There 's a double defect or insufficiency in meer civility to this purpose First in regard of the object or matter which it is exercised about which is considerable chiefly in the inferior things of the Law and such as do regulate and reform the outward conversation as Justice and Temperance and Sobriety and such as these but as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weightier and more substantial matters as Faith and Repentance and Self-denial and Mortification here 't is more lax and remiss or nothing at all Secondly in regard of the Principle and Spring whence these actions proceed which is not an heart any thing changed or renewed in the spirit of its mind as the Apostle speaks but still remaining in its natural condition and original corruption and defilement which it had contracted to it self In each of these respects does civility sall short of Salvation And therefore let none of us rest satisfied or contented with it let this be the Vse and Improvement which we make of this observation to labour to find a further work than this comes to upon our hearts A sight of our wretched and miserable condition by nature and mourning under it A new byass and inclination put upon us carrying us out to that righteousness which is in Christ a closing with Christ upon the terms and conditions of the Gospel to forsake our dearest lusts to forego our strongest corruptions to be willing to do or suffer whatsoever he shall lay upon us to deny our selves perfectly for him and to submit to his Scepter and Government to take place in us to have a special savour and relish of the Truths and Doctrines of the Scripture especially as they are any thing more pertinent to the practical part of Religion to love the children of God upon this account because they are his children and have his image instampt upon them These and the like are such things as are somewhat further than meer civility and the common honesty of the World which whosoever have not in themselves more or less and in some kind of measure and degree are so far forth in this distance and remoteness
ill-beseems a Christian more than any in what-ever business he undertakes and therefore should wrestle with it c. For this purpose it may be very pertinent to consider both the Causes and Remedies of this distemper and the one will very fitly and pertinently follow upon the other The Causes of it are partly these First sometimes a dependence too much upon outward means He which trusts to outward means will be distracted because these they oftentimes fail and give a man the slip There 's nothing does more perplex than frustration and disappointment and this he shall be sure to meet with who does rely upon the stay of the creature and outward things Secondly A limiting of God's providence to such a particular way This is another thing which causes distraction When we conclude that such and such things must be brought about after this manner and find it otherwise this will distract It is said of the Israelites that they limited the Holy One of Israel Psal 78.41 This is the fault of many others besides which in conclusion does much perplex them Thridly An over-prizing and over-valuing such a project and design Our distractions are often-times according to our estimations where we make too much of any thing it will be sure to trouble us when it falls contrary to us and we shall have so much the more trouble in disappointment as we promised our selves happiness in the enjoyment Lastly A special cause of distraction is a special sickness which is upon the soul in this regard weak things are apt to be unquiet and frowardness it causes trouble Now this is that which all men by nature have abiding in them a spirit of frowardness and discontent more or less except it be those whose Grace does qualify it and subdue it in them And thus much for the causes of distraction whereupon it is founded Now the remedies against distraction are likewise these First a commending of our selves and our ways to God by prayer Phil. 4.6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God So 1 Pet. 5.7 Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you Cares which are divided are lessened as we see in friends one to another And so is it betwixt God and Believers they make themselves so much the less as they cast the more trouble upon him Secondly A consideration of our Call to such and such businesses and ways which we fall into It is a great quieting in business when we shall consider it is that which God himself calls unto for then we are most likely to meet with his assistance in it Thirdly A meditation on the promises which God has made in such and such conditions There 's no such cure of care as Faith and this it is founded upon the promise God has given us many comfortable intimations to encourage and hold up our spirits and to keep us from fainting And thus much of the Third thing here reprovable viz. Martha's distraction And so I have done with the First particular considerable in the Second General of the Text and that is Christ's Reprehension of Martha Martha Martha Thou are careful and troubled about many things The next is his instruction of her But one thing is needful But c. SERMON VII LUKE 10.42 But one thing is necessary or needful It is a very hard and difficult matter for us to do that which we should do And yet withal together with it not to do more than we should Such is the corruption cleaving to our natures as that the best performances that may be are very easily defiled in us And we have cause to be check'd and reprov'd at least for the circumstances of those actions for which we are ready to think that we deserve the greatest applause There could not be a more commendable business consider'd in its own nature than the courteous entertainment of Christ which Martha a gracious woman and one that was a friend of Christ did upon occasion with her Sister Mary vouchsafe unto him But yet she so handles the matter by her over-doing and sollicitude about it as that she receives a rebuke from him And he thinks it no incivility to be at once both a Guest and a Reprover Martha Martha Thou art careful and troubled about many things in the verse before the Text. But as those Reproofs are commonly best that have instruction going along with them The reproofs of instruction are the way of life Prov. 6.23 So it is that which we may here observe to be practised by our Blessed Saviour in his carriage to this holy woman He does so tell her of her infirmity as that withal he admonishes her of her duty and puts her in mind of that which was chiefly to be minded by her which he does here suggest unto her But one thing is needful c. THis Text which we have here before us in one distinct and entire Proposition which will need no division of it but is to be handled alone by it self It is in it self a compleat Doctrine and accordingly shall we now at this time with God's Assistance take notice of it Which that we may do it so much the better it is requisite that we should first of all explain it and discover the proper sense and meaning of it This depends upon one word and that is one thing What are we to understand by this Some would have it to be one dish as restraining Martha's excess in her entertainment of Christ at her Table and reducing her to some kind of moderation in that particular unum ferculum est necessarium But this though it hath some Philosophy and speciousness with it yet seems not to be altogether so probable nor that which is so much intended as may appear by that which follows afterwards in the same verse therefore I take it rather to be understood in a spiritual sense This one thing which our Saviour here means is Religion and the fear of God with all the appendices and appurtenances of it To glorify God in the working out of our own Salvation This is the one thing which is necessary And here there are two things further to be explain'd First how this is said to be one thing And Secondly how this alone is said to be necessary as if none were so but this First How it is said to be but one For if we speak of spiritual matters we know that there are divers and sundry things of this nature and they have their varieties in them There are the Graces of God and there are the Ordinances of God there 's the Spirit of God and there 's the Kingdom of God These they are not one but many in the kinds and in the operations of them To this we answer That these all they come to one and tend to one purpose in conclusion The Spirit of God in the use of the Ordinances working Grace in
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
Establisher and a Sealer of this Faith in us and to us He who hath anointed us and hath established us is God who hath also sealed us and hath given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts 2 Cor. 1.20 Thus we see how it comes to pass that the Faith of a Believer is unmovable But now further as this is true of his Faith at large and consider'd in general so is it true likewise of his Faith more especially in reference to temptations in which sense we are now more particularly to understand these present words I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not that is that thy Faith fail not at such time as thou shalt fall into temptation and when Satan according to his desire shall set upon thee This is indeed the particular scope and drift of the Text. And so again there are two things to be observed by us in it First there 's somewhat implyed and Secondly there 's somewhat exprest That which is implyed is this That a stedfast Faith is a singular help in temptation That which is exprest is this That the servants of God they shall have their Faith much upheld in such conditions First We have this implyed That a stedfast Faith is a singular help in temptation This we draw from the occasion of these words which are here added by our Saviour Our Saviour had in the verse before told Peter that Satan had desired to have him and the rest of them to sift them now in this verse he tells him thus much That he had prayed that his Faith should not fail and he tells it him by way of encouragement Now where does the encouragement lye namely here That his Faith not failing he should be therefore arm'd against Satan's assaults and attempts upon him So that this I say is the scope of the Text to signify to us the efficacy of Faith in such conditions as these are He whose Faith does not fail him he is sufficiently provided for temptation Faith it is a fortifying Grace which does keep the Soul in very good safety And so the Scripture still sets it as amongst the rest in that eminent place Eph. 6.16 Above all taking the shield of Faith whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the Devil And so again in 2 Cor. 16.13 Watch ye stand ye fast in the Faith quit ye like men be strong Where it is supposed that if Faith be but sure and stedfast in us every thing else will with us Now the efficacy of Faith in temptation is discernable in these particulars First as it pitches us upon the strength and power of God That which keeps up a soul in temptation it is an Almighty Power it is a Power which is above all the Powers of Darkness it self Now such is the Power of God alone and therefore the Apostle when he would arm us against Principalities and Powers c. he bids us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Eph. 6.10 Be strong c. for we wrestle c. Now this Power it is improved by no Grace so much as by Faith We are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last times Kept by the power of God as the main cause and original of our preservation and withal kept through Faith as apprehending and laying hold on this power and applying it to it self Secondly Faith helps in temptation as it lays hold upon the promises of God It has pleased the Lord to make many gracious promises to his servants in temptations for the sustaining of them in them as 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but 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 And many such like gracious intimations as these are Now Faith it applies these promises and makes use of them in time of need and so by this means does much help and support and keep us up in temptation Thirdly As it lays hold upon Christ and pitches us and fastens us upon him we are so far safe and sure in temptation as Christ has any hold of us and we of him Look as it was with Peter when he sometimes walked upon the Sea what was that which then upheld him and kept him from sinking why it was the hold which he had upon Christ Even so was it with this same Peter likewise when he was set upon and assaulted by Satan and when the waves of temptation came upon him his security was Christ's sustaining of him Now Faith is that which makes us to do this even to cling and cleave to Christ and keep close to him This accordingly teaches us how much therefore it concerns us to take care that this be vigorous in us and as Christ here himself prayed for us so also to pray for our selves that this may not fail in us That Prayer of the Disciples for themselves Lord encrease our Faith it is that which is necessary for every Christian and that especially in order to temptation that we be not vanquish'd and overcome by that And further Here is that which may satisfy us in the Providence of God himself towards us we may think it a strange dealing with us that he suffers temptations sometimes to befal us yea but here is that which makes amends that he hath provided also such a Grace as is sufficient for the encountring of them He has given an Antidote for this poyson and a Buckler against this assault where there 's Faith there is an help against temptation That 's that which is here implyed Secondly For that which is exprest It is this That Peter's Faith shall not fail at such a time as that is It shall not fail that is it shall not fail in temptation at such a time as Satan shall assault him and set upon him as afterwards he did Where by failing we are not to understand some temporary shaking or obscuration for that we know his Faith had but an absolute and total deficiency Peter when he was at the very worst even at that time when he denied his Master yet his Faith did not thus fail in him There was Faith and Grace at the bottom even in that miscarriage This appears from hence in that he recover'd and got up again He was sensible of his defect and repented and mourn'd for it he went out and wept bitterly as the Scripture says of him As soon as ever that Christ looked upon him his heart smote him this would not have been so if his Faith had absolutely failed in him no it did not do so but as it is noted of Eutychus that fell from the third story and was taken up for dead yet notwithstanding his life was in him Acts 20.9 10. Even so was
it also here with Peter who fell from the third story in a spiritual sense by his threefold denial his spiritual life was still abiding in him though he seemed to be as dead This may serve to comfort and establish the hearts of God's servants in such cases There are many of the servants of God who are apt sometimes to question their standing and continuance in Grace especially in times of great affliction and temptation which they shall never be able to hold out but shall quite fall away And Satan himself sometimes does endeavour to press this upon them Well but they may here be well satisfied from this present passage and promise before us where it is signified of Peter and so consequently of all other Believers that when Satan shall desire to have them and to sift them their Faith shall not fail This Point is not to be improved by us to security and presumption of spirit but to watchfulness and use of the means Because we hear that our Faith shall not fail therefore to endeavour that it may not fail As indeed where-ever God intends the one he works the other God never preserves any Christian from having his Faith to fail in him but he does withal stir up in him endeavours for the strengthening and confirming of his Faith as much as he can and so as from whence he may assure himself that God will indeed bestow it upon him And so much may suffice to have been spoken of these words consider'd absolutely in themselves and as signifying to us the safety of Peter's condition which was such that his Faith should not fail The Second is to consider them respectively and in their dependance upon the words before and so as signifying to us the cause of Peter's safety Because Christ himself prayeth for them I says he have prayed for thee that thy Faith may not fail And so there is this in it that the stability of a Christian does much depend upon Christ's Intercession therefore it is that a Believer's Faith shall not fail because Christ interposeth for him This is expresly signified to us in that Prayer of Christ at large in Joh. 17.11 Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are one When the stability of a Christian is said to depend upon the Prayers of Christ this is exclusive of any vertue or merit of their own The perseverance of a Believer is not so much from any thing within him as rather from somewhat without him not from his own personal excellency but from the Grace and goodness of God himself From God's Covenant and from God's promise and from God's purpose and amongst the rest as here from Christ's Prayer The consideration of this Doctrine is very much still for the comfort of Believers as to this particular They may from hence in the use of good means be very confident and perswaded of their perseverance because they have Christ praying for them And there are two things in this that make for them The one is as I said First The acceptance which Christ is sure to have with his Father To have one to petition in our behalf who himself were in no great favour that were no great booty to us But now here is our advantage in this matter when we have Christ himself praying for us that we have one praying for us who is sure to be accepted In Joh. 12.41 42. Father I thank thee that thou hast heard me and I knew that thou hearest me always In Matth. 3.17 This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased And Eph. 1.6 He is said to have made us accepted in the Beloved As long as Christ is beloved and as long as we are accepted in Christ so long we may assure our selves that Christ's Prayers shall be available for us and in particular efficacious to establish us Secondly As there is Christ's acceptance so the constancy of his interceding for us If Christ should only pray for us sometimes we might seem to be no longer upon sure terms than such time as he prayed for us But now he ever liveth to make intercession for us And he is daily at God's right-hand pleading for us so that no sooner are we ready to stumble but he is as ready at hand to help us up Because he does not fail in praying we do not fail neither in standing The Use of all comes to this That therefore First we acknowledg the great love of Christ to us and the great benefit which we receive by him We see how much we are beholding to Christ that so we may still labour to be acquainted with him and to be incorporated into him and to depend upon him Beloved we have need of Christ not only in reference to eternal salvation and to bring us to Heaven at last but also in reference to our present sustentation and support in this present life here below not only for the justification of our persons and delivering us from the wrath to come but also for the sanctification of our nature and the continual influence of Grace upon our hearts whiles we live here in the world Christ is and should be all in all unto us as being both the Author and Finisher of our Faith What a blessed thing is it to be under Christ's Regiment to be within the door c. For where Faith once is it shall be perfected Again We learn from hence to walk worthy of this love of Christ to us Christ prays for us that we may be kept from temptations and the prevalencies of them Let us take heed of sinning against Christ and in particular against these Prayers of his which he makes for us by putting our selves upon ways of temptation and voluntarily exposing our selves to the mischief and advantages of our enemy for hereby we shall provoke him to withdraw his intercession from us and to give us up to his malice and will as he desires to have us So much of these words consider'd respectively and in connexion with those that went before and so exhibiting to us the cause of a Christian's stability For a close of all Let us here in the general take notice what it is that the care of Christ does especially extend to about his people as exprest in his praying for them and that is their spiritual good and the welfare of their inward man Christ has the chiefest regard to that that their Faith may not fail As for other matters to wit the things of this present life Though the servants of God are even here also under a special Providence and Godliness has the promise of it to them as the Apostle speaks yet this is not the main business which he takes care of concerning them as not the main business which concerns them no but these spiritual improvements and the establishment of Grace in them here The Lord can dispence sometimes with our outward man and
lose nothing by such improvements as these are but gain by them rather and they return upon us with so much the greater advantage that so we may be encouraged thereunto in the practice of them This Oyl it encreases in the spending and this Bread in the breaking of it And to him that thus hath it shall be given We should therefore be perswaded to put this duty in practice upon all occasions God has made and appointed us for the good one of another and not only for our selves therefore as we have any thing our selves we should mind one anothers good in it As the Ministerial official parts of the body The heart and liver and stomach they do not only receive nourishment for themselves but for the whole body So should we which are Christians in spiritual things As the Heavens what light and influence they have in themselves they bestow upon the earth even so should we do to those which are below us especially in these places of society We see how active evil men are in that which is evil Those which are themselves perverted they 'll be sure to pervert their Brethren and make others as bad or perhaps a great deal worse than themselves And why should not we then do the contrary in matters of goodness What a shame is it for the children of this world to be in this sense also wiser in their generation than the children of light Oh! let us cast off this sluggishness and remisness from us let us make it our business to make others partakers of the same Grace and comfort with our selves This is done divers ways as First by discovering and laying open the flights of sin and the subtilties of the spiritual enemy The reason why many miscarry and are surprized with spiritual evils is because they are not aware of the danger which is incident to them and which themselves are subject unto They are apt to think that there is no such great hazard in such ways as are undertaken by them as indeed there is Now here it concerns us being our selves converted to admonish them and warn them of it Peter who had now unadvisedly gone into the High Priest's Hall and mingled himself with the evil company which he met withal there in that place he was better fitted to advise others to take heed of such kind of temptations Exhort one another daily whiles it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.13 Secondly By quickening and exciting and stirring up one another to good we do hereby strengthen our Brethren There 's nothing does more strengthen men in goodness than the practice of goodness And there is nothing which does more promote and advance this practice in them than the quickening and exciting of them Therefore it is the Apostle's Exhortation in Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works We should be putting one another upon good as much as we can and thereby settle them in it yea we should encourage them and hearten them in it by convincing them of the great good and advantage which comes by it This is a means to confirm and strengthen them What strengthens men at any time in evil why it is the apprehension of little hurt in it and as they conceit a great deal of contentment The same would also confirm men in good if it were truly and really understood which we should therefore labour and endeavour to assure them and perswade them of and to fasten upon them Thirdly By imparting and communicating of our own Experiences we do hereby likewise strengthen our Brethren when we shall shew them what good we our selves have found by such and such good courses This is a means not onely to draw on but to confirm others with us And so when we shall shew what comfort we have felt in such and such like cases our selves this is a means to comfort our Brethren and to give satisfaction to them Therefore we shall find the Prophet David to be mindful of this practise in Psal 66.16 Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul As persons which are themselves recovered of such and such a sickness or distemper they are apt to tell what has done them good and thereby to refresh their Neighbours which are exercised with the like infirmities Even so should it be also with Christians in their spiritual conditions In case of temptation to sin I have found benefit by such a word of Command which has restrain'd me from it And in case of temptation for sin I have found benefit by such a word of Promise which has comforted me in it When I have been ready almost to sink in my self an to faint under such an affliction such a Divine Truth or such a Divine Attribute has been a Cordial and a Relief unto me and kept me up When Christians do thus mutually impart and communicate their Experiments to each other they do hereby wonderfully establish and confirm each other in good whether as to point of Grace or of Comfort And then further Not onely by imparting but by comparing these Experiences together one with another I was just in such a case my self and found these workings in me as you have done for your particulaâ— Why this is now a great Confirmation It appears from hence that Religion is no matter of meer fancy or imagination but has a Truth and Reality in it because it is thus uniform and consistent to it self as it is in one man as well as another Thus we see what ways those which are themselves converted may strengthen their Brethren To help us and enable us hereunto we must labour especially for such Graces as are conducing to the practise of it As first A Spirit of Discerning whereby to judge aright of the case and condition which our Brethren are in It is a great part of skill in a Physician to be able to find out the Disease and to know the just temper and constitution of his Patients Body and so is it also for an Healer of Souls All kinds of Remedies are not to be used to all kind of Persons some have need of one kind of help and others have need of another which is a piece of spiritual wisdom and prudence in our selves to be able to discover There is a word in season which must be spoken to the weary Soul or else it will do no good Isa 50.4 Secondly A spirit of love and tenderness and condescention There is a great deal of meekness required in a Spiritual Strengthner and Restorer Gal. 6.2 Restore with the spirit of meekness Men which are rough and austere and which stand too much upon their own terms they 'll never do good to others No there must be a yielding and bearing and pitying in such works and ways as those are There must be a putting on of the
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
upon this ignorance in them and does make them to be unable to conceive of such things as these are The consideration of this Point thus opened and enlarged by us may be variously useful to us First in a way of Confutation Secondly in a way of Information And thirdly in a way of Correction In a way of Confutation first of all of the fond conceit and imagination of such persons as would subject Religion to Reason and would make the Mysteries of Faith to come within the reach and compass and capacity of common and humane understanding Alas how vainly is this thought and expected by them when as the wisest and learnedest that are are not able to sink into them We see here in this present Scripture how this great and learned Pharisee one who in those days went for a Rabbi and great Scholar yet how childishly he discourst of this point of Regeneration and how dull and stupid he was as to the conceiving and apprehending of it And if it was so with him may we not think it so with more And if it were so in this one point is it not so also in many others Yes undoubtedly and out of question that so we may not think of men above that which is in them nor advance the power of Nature or Reason above its ability Men may please themselves in their own devices and in the vanity of their own thoughts but when all comes to all they will find themselves to come short of such things as these are as to any rational discovery of them which what is known of them to any purpose is revealedunto us onely by the Spirit which as it is said searcheth allthings even the deep things of God Secondly as to matter of Information We see here whence it comes to pass that many persons do no more look after such a work as this in themselves and besides over and above do deride it and scoss at it in others surely it is because they are ignorant of the nature of it We know that what men do not know they do not desire And so it is here in this particular And for the same reason also do they condemn it and speak evil of it They speak evil of that which they do not know and they censure it because they know not what belongs unto it Therefore they think godly men fools and the strictness of Religion to be superfluous because they are strangers to the discoveries of this spiritual life And we have cause no more to be troubled at it or to be offended with it than we would at some Art or Mystery with the censures of such persons as had no skill or insight into it The spiritual man judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of no man says the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.15 that is The man who is truly regenerate he does so much understand of God's truth as may concern his own salvation having his Faith grounded upon Gods Word and setled in his heart by the holy Ghost independently upon the judgment or censures of other men Thirdly as to matter of Conviction we may make use of this Point so as from hence to take off the prejudices which do arise in carnal minds against the truth and reality of Regeneration as proceeding from the intricacy and improbability of it It is no Argument that there is no such thing as this New birth it self because that such and such persons do not presently discern and apprehend it Look as it is no good Argument against the Wind as if there were no such thing as that is because men do not know the particular original of it nor the course which is taken by it as long as they hear the noise of it and see it and feel it in the effects so neither is it any good Argument against Regeneration and the work of Grace as if there were no such thing as that is because men know not the particular nature and motion and proceedings thereof which in the mean time they see it in the influences and consequents and products of it It may be yea and it is in reality although the manner of its being be a mystery and not so able to be exprest as it is felt by such persons as are the subjects of it This is the very scope of the Text and the main drift of our Blessed Saviour in this his passage to Nicodemus Therefore let us strengthen and confirm our selves in the belief of this Point and be fully perswaded of it against all cavils and objections to the contrary and not suffer our selves by any means to be diverted or removed from it That there is such a thing indeed as Regeneration and the great benefit and necessity of it as our Saviour in this Chapter declares it so necessary as that without it there is no seeing of the Kingdom of God Let us not argue a non-apparere ad non esse from the non-apearance of it to the not being for if we do so we shall deal perversly For as we believe there is a Soul though we understand not the manner of its production and as we acknowledge there is a Wind though we see not the rise of its motion because there are such acts and effects as do demonstrate thus much unto us So to believe that there is a work of Conversion and Spiritual Generation though the circumstances of it may be unseen and undiscern'd by us as a Child in the womb that lives though it reflect not upon its life in that condition And especially and above all let us labour to be made partakers of it for our own particular There 's no such way for us to be convinced of the reality of Religion considered in it self as to have the sense and experience of it upon our own hearts Those who are themselves Regenerate will not deny or make a question of the work of Regeneration as being sufficient proofs and witnesses of it in their own Persons and believe it because they feel it Whereas on the other side those that do so question it they give great occasion of jealousie and suspition that they never had yet any work of it upon them Their speech in this case bewrays them and discovers them to be that which they are Therefore let us labour I say our selves to be partakers of this new birth of life in our selves and so we shall be able the better both to understand it and also to demonstrate it And this is a general Rule which accordingly is to be observed by us as to all the practical Points of Religion for the setling of our judgments in them There are great arguings and disputings now and then to and fro about such Points as these are and very hot contests about them about Free-Will and about Free-Grace and about Conversion and Perseverance and the like But the most compendious way to resolve them is to labour for a sanctified heart and a renewed mind and
to blame in this particular Secondly when it makes us unthankful and unsensible of the mercies of God towards us There are some Christians who are sometimes so dejected and cast down and troubled in themselves for such particular evils that befall them that they take no notice at all of any mercies which they enjoy with them Like some wayward and froward children who if they may not have what they would they throw away that they have but this does but provoke their Parents to correct them more sharply that so they may cry for somewhat indeed And so it is also oftentimes betwixt God and his When men take no notice of his mercies because of some concomitant afflictions he adds to these afflictions the removal of those mercies from them Thirdly this trouble is further inordinate in the effects and consequents of it when it makes us unserviceable and unuseful when either it keeps men from their work and the performance of that service which God requires of them or else when it distracts men in their work and disturbs and interrupts them about it First When it keeps from it is inordinate then as it is with every other affection besides whether love or joy or fear or whatever it be If it hinders a man from doing his duty and that work which God requires of him it is so far forth irregular and disordered Even so amongst the rest is grief and trouble of spirit It should be with us as much as may be in our affections as it was with Christ himself in his who whatever sadness of mind was upon him was still careful to do his work which there was nothing could keep him from Again Secondly When it distracts in duty it is inordinate then also when it makes us listless and heartless and indisposed in the service of God as for the most part it is apt to do This is a part of humane infirmity and not without some mixture of flesh and corruption in us And thus have we seen what this trouble of heart here is which our Saviour does prohibit to us And so also the Second General Part which is observable in the Text viz. A Christian's duty in not being troubled The Third is the Priviledg of a Christian in the care of Christ for him and advice and counsel to him in this admonition which he gives to his Disciples when he was now going from them Let not your heart be troubled c. That which was their duty to avoid it was his care and love to perswade them that they might avoid From whence we note thus much That it is the mind and desire of Christ that his Servants hearts should be kept from inordinate trouble and distraction He does not love that they should be frighted and disquieted more than needs This is the reason that he is so careful to advise them and to counsel them to the contrary as he does both here and else-where He had begun the Chapter with it Let not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in me And here now he repeats it again towards the close Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Because it much in his mind it was much in his mouth as things commonly use to be yea and which makes it so much the more remarkable when himself was now in a sad condition He forgets and neglects his own trouble and takes care for the prevention of theirs There are two particulars which are considerable of us in this passage of Christ's desire to keep his Disciples from distracting trouble and fear First the reason why he desired it And Secondly the manner how or the circumstances and concomitants wherewith For the reasons why First they are the same for which he desires that any other of his Servants now should be also kept from the like distempers as namely these First For the honour and glory of God which is much disparaged by the contrary When Servants go sad and mournfully it reflects unhandsomely upon their service and their Masters whom they attend upon as if they were some way wanting to them in those things which were convenient for them And so it is likewise with the Servants of God in their relation to him as if there were not enough in him for the satisfying and comforting of them It is a denying of him in his Attributes and the fulness and extent of them A denying of the God that is above Job 31.28 Secondly Out of respect to Religion and the profession of Christianity it self A sad and disconsolate conversation it brings an ill report and conceit upon the ways of Godliness and makes that to be ill thought of in the World From hence men are apt to conclude that there 's no comfort to be found in such ways as these are that Religion is the high-way to melaucholy and trouble and disquietness of mind When men observe these things in the subjects they conclude this of the principle And when they see it is thus with Christians considered in concreto they conclude it to be thus with Christianity considered in abstracto which though it be a great mistake and false reasoning in them yet there should not be an occasion for it administred by us Thirdly For our own good and advantage By over-much sadness and distraction and fear we do very much prejudice our selves torment our selves before our time and sometimes more than we need make our lives uncomfortable and by grieving of our own spirits grieve the Spirit of God also in us and cause him so much the more and the rather to depart and to withdraw from us And besides as I hinted before hereby make our selves so much the more unserviceable and unuseful in our several places especially for the comforting of others among whom we live and with whom we converse which is a very great part and branch of the communion of Saints which is to be exercised and practised by us So far forth as Christ desires our good so far forth he desires our comfort and a spirit and conversation in us suitable and agreeable hereunto Now because it is Christs desire it should be likewise our indeavour which we should aim at and apply our selves to we should as much as in us lies discharge our selves of all distemper and inordinacy in this particular whether of Grief or Fear And for this purpose here know and take notice that it is in some sort in our power so to do Whiles our Saviour says to his Disciples Let not your Heart be troubled he does hereby imply that they were able to keep their Hearts from being troubled and so indeed they were And so likewise are any other of the Servants of Christ besides How may we say is that How may Christians preserve themselves from trouble of Spirit To this I answer two manner of ways First Negatively In withdrawing from such ways as may either occasion or cherish Grief in them And
capacities and therefore he sometimes tells them that he had many things to declare unto them but they could not yet bear them but what-ever they were capable of learning he was not backward of instructing No more should any other Teachers or Instructers be besides And accordingly should those who are Learners give heed unto them and stir up themselves to the minding and regarding of them The contrary whereof is that which the Apostle taxes and finds fault with in the Hebrews professing that he had many things to say to them which were hard to be uttered because they were dull of hearing For whereas for the time they might well have been teachers of others one had need now to teach them again what were the first principles of the Oracles of God and they were such as had need of milk and not of strong meat Heb. 5.11 12. This is that which we for our particulars should be careful that we be not guilty of but to be answerable to the duty and industry of our Teachers in their instructing of us as they also are to be answerable to the pattern and example of Christ which is here propounded unto them That 's one expression of his regard respect unto them namely in the faithfulness of a Teacher in instructing them in what was to be known But then secondly here is also signified to us the faithfulness of a Minister in informing them of what was to be expected If it were not so I would have told you that is I would not have deluded you deceived you with vain hopes making you to look for that which ye should never partake of or enjoy but I would have dealt plainly and freely with you and told you how things were indeed that accodingly you might expect This is that which Christ seems to intimate in this present expression and there is this observable from it that Christ always acquaints his Servants with the worst still beforehand He does not lead them into a fools Paradise and make them believe they shall have that which shall never come near them no but he does manifest the truth and reality of those things unto them This he does both in matter of Evil and in matter of Good In matter of Evil first he tells them aforehand what afflictions are likely to befall them in his service Thus ye see he did with his Disciples in divers places of the Gospel that they should be persecuted and hated of all men for his sake and what sad things should happen unto them as so many Sheep amongst so many Wolves in Matth. 10.16 c. This he did that so he might fit them and prepare them for such conditions and that they might not seem strange unto them when they fell upon them but might see them to be so as he had said And here now is a different carriage in Christ from the course and carriage of the world and of Satan who is the Prince of the world The World it puts the best foot forward and Satan who is a Broaker for it he makes still the best of it and puts the fairest colour and gloss upon it represents that which is delightful but conceals that which is distasteful tells men of the pleasures and profits which are to be found in it but tells nothing of all the dangers and hazards that do attend upon it that so thereby he may the better ensnare men and involve them in evil Yea but Christ now as there is occasion for it makes a discourse of the troubles which are in his service Again farther as in matter of evil so in matter of Good likewise Christ does not hide this neither from his Servants where it is expedient for them to know it but does inform them and acquaint them with it for their greater encouragement He tells them what they may expect from him as he did his Disciples in the Gospel Matth. 19.28 You which have been with me in my tribulation ye shall be with me hereafter in my Glory And so in the Book of the Revelations Him that overcometh I will do thus and thus for him make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out And I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the City of my God which is the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven and I will write upon him my new name Thus is Christ pleased to acquaint his Servants somewhat aforehand with their future state and condition Indeed he does not do it so distinctly and in all particulars that 's not so sutable to their present state here in the world wherein they are saved as it were by hope and to walk by faith rather than by sight But as to the general nature and condition of Heaven that he does even now in some sort make known unto them Eye hath not seen nor ear heard c. But God hath revealed those things to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God 2 Cor. 2.9 10. And the reason why Christ is pleased thus to do is for the furtherance of us in his service and to make us so much the more cheerful both in doing and suffering his will It is a great motive and argument to make us stedfast and unmovable always to be abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore we should hence learn to strengthen and comfort both our selves and one another with such meditations as these are As St. Paul speaks to the Thessalonians 2 Thess 5.5 Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things Even so may Christ also say to us He has told us what good things he will bestow upon us in another world and therefore we may live in the hope and certain expectation of them and assure our selves that if it should not have been so he would not have said so Satan and the world and mens own hearts may sometimes suggest those things to them which neither are nor never shall be but Christ who is Truth it self will not do so he will never make things better than they are not worse neither but give a true and just and exact representation of them as he does here signifie unto us This accordingly shews us what course is to be taken by us in all the doubtings which are at any time upon us when we are apt sometimes to question the reality of such things as these are and think them as they did of the news of Christs Resurrection to be but idle tales Let us here for our better settlement and establishment run to the word of Christ and consider what he has said to this purpose and tending hereunto If he has not said it it is no mater who says it else his word is to take place with us above any ones word
of Vtterance a third has a gift of Interpretation one is better in the Applicatory part another is better at the Expository This diversity and variety of gifts wherein all are excellent and it is very hard to say which is best it comes from the Spirit of Christ as the same Apostle also tells us in the same Chapter All these worketh one and the self-same spirit dividing to every man severally as he pleaseth 2 Cor. 12.11 Secondly As for the various Distribution so likewise for the Succession As these gifts in several persons so likewise in Ages and Periods of Time and Generation one after another It is very considerable this That Christ does so order it in his Providence that his Church shall still one way or other be furnished and provided for in the world the Prophets in their Age the Apostles in theirs succeeding Ministers in theirs and that in each of these in the withdrawing of one there hath still been the substitution of another for the preservation and upholding of the work Elijah translated but Elisha left behind him Jeremy imprisoned but Baruch inlarged Paul in bonds but Timothy at liberty John the Baptist removed but Christ continued Christ himself departed but his Spirit coming in his room I will not leave you comfortless but I will thus come unto you The Use of all this to our selves is with thankfulness to acknowledge the love and goodness of Christ in this particular and to improve it to our best advantage not to carp or cark or quarrel with the gifts of our Ministers or to compare them or set them one against another as we are apt to do but rather to bless God for them in the various ordering and distribution of them and to partake of that good from them which God affords us for the good of our Souls which is to walk answerably to Christs dealing with us in this particular And that 's the first conveyance of Christ's Spirit to wit In the distribution of the gifts of it The second is in the Distribution of Graces Christ comes by his Spirit in them not onely in his gifts of Edification but in his gifts of Sanctification Faith and Love and Patience and Humility and the like We find that after Christs Ascension there was a greater measure and abundance of these Religion was now more Spiritualiz'd and Christians themselves were now raised to a more heavenly and spiritual frame of Soul than before they had been As the Word of God grew and multipi'd so likewise the Improvements of it and the Graces of those who had the priviledge of being partakers of it It is said of the Romans that their faith was spoken of throughout the world Rom. 1.8 Of the Corinthians that they were enriched in all graces 1 Cor. 1.4 5 c. The Apostle commends the Colossians for their faith in Christ and love to all the Saints in Col. 1.4 c. Thirdly In the distribution of Comforts Thus did Christ come by his Spirit especially not onely as he was a qualifying Spirit furnishing them with all Gifts not onely as he was a sanctifying Spirit induing them with Graces but also as he was a comforting Spirit filling their hearts with joy And thus he did This is that which is principally stood upon here in this Scripture as we may see in the Connexions of it thus in verse 16 17. 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 c. The sadness of Christs departure it was scattered by the presence of the Comforter which was interpretatively his own presence with them Thus in all these respects did Christ himself come to them by his Spirit in its Gifts and Graces and Comforts Now to improve this still so much the more and that it might be a full Argument to them for the pacifying of them I will not leave you comfortless I will come unto you we may take this in further with it that it is considerable under a two-fold Emphasis the one Discretive and the other Consequential The Discretive Emphasis is this Ye have no cause to be very sad or uncomfortable for though I go from you yet I will come unto you The Consequential Emphasis is this Ye have no cause to be sad or uncomfortable for because I go from you therefore I will come unto you my coming to you is both the consequent of my departure and following upon it And again my coming to you is also the effect or result of my departure and flowing from it First Take it in the Discretive Emphasis Though I go away yet I will come There was good reason why they should be satisfied from that that he was not quite and utterly lost or gone irrecoverably but cum animo revertenti with a full purpose of coming again or if not of coming in his Person yet of coming in that which was better at least for them and that was of coming in his Spirit which he here intends and which we have spoken to all this while His going had no cause to disquiet them whiles it had his coming following upon it to them Secondly Take it in the Consequential Emphasis Because I go away therefore I will come This was that which was here also considerable as it follows afterwards Christs going in his Person was the cause at least sine qua non of his coming in his Spirit if he had not gone that way he had not come this Thus we have it in Joh. 16.6 7. Because I have said these things to you namely of my going from you therefore sorrow hath filled your hearts Nevertheless I tell you the iruth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you But if I depart I will send him unto you That is if I do not go I shall not come but if I do go I then shall And that 's the second Explication of his coming the coming of him in his Spirit To this last of all we may add a Third with which I conclude and that is his coming in Glory at the last day This is very frequently and emphatically call'd in Scripture the coming of Christ and it is that which may very much pacifie and satisfie Believers in his present absence and keep them from being sad and comfortless that he will come thus This is that which he makes mention of in the three first Verses of this Chapter and wherewith he does labour to comfort them Let not your heart be troubled c. I go to prepare a place for you And if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also This is in other words call'd his Appearing and Revelation and such like phrases as these This in the meditation of it is very comfortable to all true Saints and Members
and acknowledged on both parts whether orthodox or heterodox in this business whether of the right or of the contrary judgment Secondly by shewing what it is that the former do deny to the latter and wherein they do dissent from this First then by way of concession and acknowledgment as to the first term in the Proposition which is a man fallen and lapst in Adam it is granted that even such an one when he once comes to be restored by Grace and to be renewed in the Spirit of his mind that then he hath some power even of his own to such a work as is truly and spiritually good Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty says the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.17 And again Being made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness c. Rom. 6.18 When God hath once changed us and converted us and brought us home to himself there is then restored unto us that freedom and liberty to good which we once lost by our fall God that in our first creation did put into the will an habitual inclination to good he hath also in our new creation restored unto us an habitual conversion to the same good The will being freed by Grace becomes free Secondly As to that term of free-will If by freedom of will be meant no more than a freedom from natural necessity or extrinsecal violence and coaction so that a man does will and choose and do that which he does upon counsel and reason and advice leading him thereto there is no controversy at all in this business For freedom of will in this sense does as essentially belong unto a man as reason it self and to strip him or spoyl him of it were to turn him into a very beast We do will indeed we do will freely neither can we otherwise will any thing Therefore it is one thing to enquire of the nature and another thing to dispute of the power and ability of free-will in us Which latter especially taken in the active sense of it we say is wholly lost and extinguisht in man by his fall as to the performing of such things as do belong to eternal Salvation It is true that in the will of man fallen there is a passive power for the receiving of a supernatural being which by God shall be conferred upon it but there is not an active power for the producing of such a being as this is either of it self or with any thing else That Speech of St. Austin's is very significant to this purpose and which all must yield unto Libere velle est opus naturae bene velle gratiae male velle corruptionis To will freely is the work of nature to will well of grace to will ill of corruption As also that of Tapperus Opus pium quatenus opus ab arbitrio est quatenus pium a sola gratia quatenus opus pium ab arbitrio gratia simul A good work as it it a work it is from free-will as it is good from grace as it is a work and good from free-will and grace both Thus free-will in the true and right notion and acception of it is not rejected by us Thirdly As to the last term which is here exprest in the Text by nothing If we speak of that which is evil here we have freedom of will more than enough our corrupt nature carrying us too readily and freely hereunto But therefore we are here to understand it only of that which is good we are naturally prone to evil but to good we have no mind And here again there are divers particulars which we do further yield and acknowledg as First that a man in the state of nature and out of Christ may be able to do that which is good as to the matter and substance of the action By taking this word doing for the bare and simple effecting of the work in it self consider'd without any respect had either to the principle from whence it is produced or to the end whereunto it is directed Secondly A natural man he may be able to perform a work morally good according to a kind of moral honesty and the conditions of a virtuous action as prescrib'd by moral Philosophy not only as to the substance and matter of the action it self but also as to the very circumstances and manner of doing of it namely such as moral Philosophy does teach and require as honouring of Parents giving of alms and the like Thus the Apostle Paul tells us that the Gentiles which have not the Law they do by nature the things centained in the Law Rom. 2.14 Thirdly We also grant that the Grace of Sanctification and the power of living holily is not infused into any persons living idly and taking no care of any thing but in the diligent use of such means as God has appointed and sanctified to this purpose as coming to Church waiting upon the Ministry hearing the word of God both read and preach'd c. God will not save us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Chrysostom speaks nor sleeping and snoring and doing nothing but in our conscionable endeavours And so far forth as any one hath power to move and walk so far forth has he power to those things also as are ordinarily consequent and following thereupon in a way of ordinary providence Fourthly It is also acknowledged that an unregenerate person and as yet unconverted may be able to perform not only those outward good actions but some even inward good actions likewise As he may be able to have some kind of knowledg and apprehension of the will of God he may be able to meditate of God and of the things of God He may consider his own sins reflect upon his own guilt and have some kind of fear and horror in him upon the reflexions of it and much desire to be delivered from it These and many such things as are previous and antecedent to Faith and true repentance are required of men before the infusion of sanctifying Grace and accordingly may be performed by them Fifthly We likewise yield that in the Church of God where the word of God is ordinarily preach'd and the means of regeneration are ordinarily administred this Grace which does make men able to do such good works as are truly spiritual and saving is not denied to any before the repulse of initial Grace that is before they have resisted the Spirit of God in his preparatory works and refused those free and gracious offers and invitations which he has made unto them Lastly It cannot be denied but that some of the ancient Fathers did sometimes let fall some speeches and passages in their writings which at the first hearing or reading of them do seem somewhat to encline to this Doctrine of free-will whereof we now speak And thus have we seen what is granted and acknowledged on all hands by way of concession Now further it remains we should shew wherein the difference and
particular Now therefore does Christ here by his Spirit awaken the Habit and provoke us and sets us on doing making us ready and prepared as the Scripture speaks to every good work Thirdly He assists the Act that is he helps and concurs with us in the very performance it self and this is that which we now especially speak of at this present time as considerable of us to this purpose For we though we have some general power and ability for such a duty and withall some kind of desire and propensity towards it yet we cannot particularly act it and bring it about without the immediate help and assistance of the Spirit of Christ carrying us bringing us through it For partly our own natural corruption which remains still in part in us does retard us and keep us back and partly Satan joyning with our corruptions does exceedingly hinder and interrupt us and therefore there must be a stronger than each come between which may scatter the power of either and may help our infirmities Hence it is that the Apostle Paul complains sometimes of himself that to will is present with him but how to perform that which is good he finds not Rom. 7.17 And speaking of acts of charity and bounty to the Corinthians he requires that as there was a readiness to will so there might be a performance also of that which they had 2 Cor. 8.11 Because these two they are such as may be possibly separated and divided the one from the other and oftentimes are But now Christ he joyns them both together wheresoever he pleases the Act with the Habit and the Performance together with the Will and it is necessary that he should do so or else they are never likely to concur or meet together Without him we can do nothing that is without him assisting of us in the very act and point of performance And God will have it thus to be upon very good ground as namely first of all That so hereby he may keep us in an humble frame and in a state of dependance and subordination He will have us to see how that all our strength lies in himself and that we are able to do nothing any further than as he is pleased to concur with us whereby we may be the more engaged unto him As the beginnings of Grace are from him so likewise the proceedings and the further actings and accomplishments of it according to that also of the Apostle speaking to the Philippians He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ yea and he must perform it too if ever it be perform'd at all or else it will never be so which the Apostle speaks with a great deal of boldness and freedom of spirit In regard of the great certainty and assurance which he had of it being confident of this very thing Phil. 1.6 Where by the way whiles it is said of God that he will perform such and such good works it is not so to be understood as the Subject of those works but onely as the Essicient not as if he himself did believe or repent or hope or any such as this but that he helps and enables us to do so which is observable in him He works in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2.13 And all for this purpose to make us pure in spirit and sensible of our own insufficiency For Humility it is the Beatifying Grace it is that which does adorn and set forth all other Graces in us and which God takes so much delight to see acting and flourishing in us and therefore takes such a course as this is with us Again secondly God will have it to be thus likewise that so we may relish the greater comfort and sweetness in that which we do For whilst we have strength communicated to us from Christ in every performance our hearts are so much the more cheered and enlarged in it whiles we apprehend his assistance of us to be a pledge of his special love and favour and good-will towards us This is that which makes us to be so much the more lively and comfortable in that which is undertaken by us Thirdly That hereby Christ may have the greater Honour and Glory from us as not onely the Author but Finisher of our faith as the Apostle styles him Heb. 12.2 that is not onely as of him that begins but that perfects Grace in us and the Author not onely of Salvation as the End but of Sanctification as the Way and Means that tends to it and of this sanctification of all the works and and operations of it For the better enlarging and illustrating of this Point yet still further unto us Whiles it is said that without Christ we can do nothing here is an exclusion of a three-sold strength as but weak and insufficient to this purpose First the strength of meer Natural Parts Secondly the strength of meer Habitual Graces Thirdly the strength of no more than former Assistance First I say the strength of meer Natural Parts it is not that which will do the deed We know that Natural Parts they do many times make a great shew and lustre in the world and that men may go sometimes very far with them in matter of Religion being applied unto them but yet they are able to do nothing to any purpose or so as it should be but are very defective Men may be able sometimes hereby as I shew'd you the last day to reach perhaps to the outward shell and hull of the action and carry it as it may be very gloriously and with a great deal of humane applause but to come up to the Spirituality of the Duty and to perform it so as whereby it may find acceptance with God himself this is that which such as these onely cannot reach or attain unto The Heathen Philosophers some of them though they pretended to a great degree of mortification which they could accomplish by the strength of Reason yet in truth they fell very short and wide of it Secondly the strength of meer habitual Grace it is not that which will serve the turn neither Though habitual Grace be very good and necessary also in order to Spiritual performances yet this alone and of it self is not sufficient it is requisite that we should have it but it is requisite also that we should have somewhat else with it besides that especially according as the ease and condition may be with us It is not any inherent Grace of our own which is our security in the day of trial but the assisting and strengthning and quickning Grace of Christ so far forth as he does actually excite and stir up those fruits of Grace in us which he hath already bestowed upon us It is not onely the goodness of our Principles but the Spirit of God concurring with them in us Of this we have an eminent example in the Apostle
the first verse which I have read ver 21. in order which we entered on in the Morning and therein observed as you know two General parts First The worlds neglect c. Secondly Gods Supply c. The second General Part in this verse is Gods gracious supply of that defect which the world before had been guilty of as concerning the improvement of the opportunities of Divine knowledg Hitherto by all their wisdom and the book of the Creatures before them they had not come to he knowledg of God Now God is pleased to find out and contrive another way for them that we have here in these words It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe Where for our better proceeding in them we may take notice of these following particulars First The order of working After that c. Secondly The Affection to the work It pleased God Thirdly The Means by which the work is wrought The foolishness of Preaching And fourthly The work or design it self To save them that believe We begin with the first viz. the order of working After that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where we must note that this word After it carries a double force and emphasis with it either first of all as a restraining word after that is not before or secondly as a resolving word after i.e. to be sure then First Take it in the restraining sense after that is not before not till the world had neglected the opportunity of knowing God another way till then did not God undertake this way by the Preaching of the Gospel And thus we may conceive him to have carried it for these following reasons First That so by this means he might the more fully and palpably convince the world of their neglect let them first alone and see what they 'l do of their own accord and then come in upon their miscarriage To have done it sooner would not so fully have left them without excuse as now we find it to do It shews how much neglect there has been hitherto when as God is fain to take such a course as this is Secondly That he might the more discover the insufficiency of meer natural and carnal wisdom which did not yet reach to the knowledg of God If God should have done his best presently we should not have known the weakness of humane wit But now when he suffers that to go before and to do what it can and yet miscarry he hereby discovers how much shortness and insufficency there is in that Thus Rom. 8.23 there 's the like expression Artists come when Bunglers have done Thirdly That he might gain to himself the greater glory He that does any thing after another which misses he has from hence so much the more honour to himself especially if he that misses be one that pretends to any great matters as here it was Humane wisdom that laid claim to great knowledg God confounds it by the foolishness of Preaching For these reasons does God do it afterwards i. e. not before which is the first sense of restraint Object How after when as it was before the world was laid Sol. In Decreto non in effectu manifestativé Secondly After that is to be sure then as it is a positive and resolving word when the world had lost it self in not improving the opportunities of knowledg God would not now leave it in this wretched condition but takes another course for the helping and relieving of it This he does in singular pity and compassion to the sons of men that he might not lose such a noble creature as Man is nor they him therefore would he find out some way to bring them to him What does this serve but to magnifie the riches of Gods goodness to us and to enlarge our hearts so much the more in thankfulness to him who hath taken this care for us whiles we took little care for our selves and our own salvation These are such matters as we cannot too much nor enough take to heart or be affected withal but should labour all we can to have fastened and imprinted upon our spirits But so much for that first particular viz. The order or time of working After that The second is the affection to the work It pleased God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this again as the other carries a twofold intimation in it First It is a word of freedom and spontaneity It pleased God that is he did it of his own accord and inclination being not moved or provoked thereunto by any thing out of himself Secondly It is a word of delight and complacency It pleased God that is it was very acceptable to him he took a great deal of pleasure and contentment and satisfaction in the doing of it as in nothing more First I say it is a word of freedom and spontaneity It pleased God that is he was voluntary in it and he did it of his own accord This is the spring and fountain and original of mans salvation wherewith it is at last to be resolved The good-will and pleasure of God it pleased him and therefore we were saved Thus the Scripture sets it in sundry places as Ephes 1.5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And again in vers 9. the same word Having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself Still his good-pleasure is brought in as the ground of all He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9.18 And that the purpose of God according to Election might stand In 2 Tim. 1.9 says the Apostle He hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace c. There 's the rise of All. And so Tit. 3.5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us All 's from the mercy and free Grace of God Therefore Luk. 2.14 Good will towards men â—â— This it does especially exclude two things of necessity which are contrary hereunto First Any provocation on our parts This salvation we were passive in it we did not solicite for it or look after it it came meerly from himself Secondly Any merit on our parts this Salvation it was not purchased by our good deeds as deserving it we were unworthy of it Both are excluded here in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First I say here 's excluded all provocation or beginning on our parts Alas if God had not looked after us we should never have looked after him if he had not pleased for his part we should never have pleased for ours nor much cared whether he had pleased or no we should have pleased still to have continued in our old state of ignorance and to have gone on in our old way of
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
and Greeks to an hair in all which they desired When the Jews required a sign he was able if he had pleased to have wrought it And when the Greeks sought after wisdom he was able if he had pleased to have tendered it and to have complied with them in those ways which either of them were ambitious of And yet we see here how purposely he declines it and balks it and withdraws from it We preach Christ crucified What does this now teach us but thus much That plain and familiar kind of Teaching and laying down the Mysteries of Religion in easie and perspicuous manner is that which may well become the greatest and learnedest that are it is no shame nor disparagement for any Teacher let him be qualified how he will be or can be to apply himself to such kind of Doctrine as may suit with the lowest capacities and apprehensions that are and to preach so as to be understood by them Thus it was here with the Apostles and so likewise with Christ himself whose Apostles they were he gave them a good pattern hereof in the course of his Ministry who in this manner taught the people which sometime he had to deal withal And truly why not if indeed we consider all for first there 's a great deal more of art and skill sometimes in it than otherwise to preach Christ crucified and such fundamental Truths of Religion as these are and in that manner as they ought to be Preached requires a great deal more of wisdom and cunning as belonging unto it than many other points besides which it may be to some vain kind of minds seem far above them It is an easier matter to preach fancies and notions than it is to preach solid truths it is an easier matter to preach in the inticing words of mans wisdom than to preach in he powerful evidence and demonstration of the Spirit of God Therefore the Apostle Paul makes this to be the very master-piece of the whole work of the Ministry 1 Cor. 3.10 According to the Grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation He that can well lay the foundation can tell them he is a master-builder indeed and that in Religion as well as any thing else And in the building of the Church as well as in any other building besides This does he that does labour to frame himself to such kind of Doctrines as these are in the Text. Secondly As there 's more skill in it so there 's likewise more modesty and less temptation and danger of miscarriage the venting of strange Speculations and the Preaching plausibly to mens humours and affections in this respect is not without some hazard of pride and self-applause in those that shall do it And men had need to be very watchful over their hearts which are carried out hereunto now in the plainer points of Religion there temptations are more easily avoided and shunned by us Thirdly There 's also profit and advantage hereby to our Hearer as concerning the good of their souls It is the charge which the Apostle gives to Timothy that he should not give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than edifying Again 2 Tim. 2.14 Of these things put them in remembrance that they strive not about words to no prosit but to the subverting of the heart Now that best becomes any Preacher which is most to the prosit of the Hearer and the benefit of those which in Preaching he hath dealt withal The Consideration of this present point shews us how much they are mistaken who think otherwise in this particular there are many Preachers sometimes of this opinion that they think it stands not so well with their credit to condescend to the plain Truths of Religion and to stand upon them Alas these are ordinary businesses such as are fit for novices and those which are but beginners in the work but for them they think they must do somewhat which is singular and out of the way or else they shall suffer in their repute and estimation in point of learning they shall be counted no Scholars and the like and no more but common and ordinary fellows Well let such look here upon the Apostle and see how it was with him He 's not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ no more should they but think it their greatest honour the more they are able to impart and communicate such things as these are which are of such singular use and necessity He is learned indeed that can make another learned and learned in the highest pieces of learning and such is this which we are now speaking about The foundation of Religion Besides if we speak of humane learning and eloquence it self we must know that this does not cross nor contradict plain kind of Preaching There may be a great deal of learning sometimes in a plain Sermon and in the opening of a plain truth in that Sermon We use to say that Artis est ulare Artem it is a piece of Art to hide Art And so indeed it is when 't is more wrought into the substance of the performance than lyes in the meer top and surface of it And that 's the second thing in the Apostles carriage for his Ministry it 's humility and self-denial in laying aside of his own wit and parts and condescending to the plain points of Christianity We preach Christ crucified Thirdly Here 's his faithfulness and indifferency and impartiality to either part in the indefiniteness of the Subjects which this his Doctrine extends unto to Jew and Gentile both alike he preaches Christ crucified to either as a Doctrine which might well fit them both And in particular not only the Jews which were a people of more low capacities but likewise as well to the Greeks which were a people of more raised apprehensions Now that which we may note hence is this That the Doctrines and Principles of Religion they are such points as may very well become the learnedst Audience that is not the Jews only but the Greeks This is another thing which we here note from the Apostles carriage Some might have thought that though the Apostle Paul in his Preaching taught such things as these to the Jews yet for the Greeks he should have had somewhat else as they sometime expected it from him no but is all one with him for that whether Jew or Gentile Christ crucified and such Doctrines as these he thinks fit enough for them This we find to be his practise in another place Act. 17.19 They there brought him into Mars-hill at Athens or into the Court of the Areopagites and there made account to have heard some fine things from him but he for his part Preaches nothing but Jesus and the Resurrection these he thought were such Doctrines as might well sute the learnedst of them all And so indeed they are And a Minister does not wrong his Hearers with
Christ crucified But why Christ crucified rather than Christ exhibited in some other consideration why not rather Christ incarnate forasmuch as that was the first news of him or why not Christ risen again or Christ ascended which was a great deal more glorious Why does the Apostle fasten upon this mystery in Religion and Christianity above the rest Christ crucified Surely there 's very good reason to be given for it First because he would give them the worst of Christ at first that he might shew he was not ashamed of him nor of that Gospel which made him known but that hereby he might the better prepare them for other Truths and make them the welcomer to them Christs Cross is the first letter of all in a Christians Alphabet and they that can take out this lesson they will learn the other fast enough Gods beginnings with us are commonly most tedious His conclusions and closings are for the most part very sweet and comfortable and so here Secondly Because Christ crucified it is vertually and implicitly all the rest For why was Christ Incarnate it was for this end that he might be crucified therefore he was born that he might die and therefore he took flesh upon him that he might lay it down again after he had taken it Again when Christ was risen and ascended what were the terms which he was risen from was it not from death and the grave his Resurrection it pointed at his suffering and death which were conquered by him So that all upon the point is Christ crucified Thirdly This was that Mystery which did most concern us for the good and benefit which comes by it as we shall hear afterwards his death was that which pacified Gods wrath and paid the debt which was due for our sins And therefore the Apostle instances in that rather than any other Lastly Christ crucified because this was that which these people had a particular hand in as instrumental hereunto they had been active in the crucifying of Christ themselves and therefore it was most fit that they should hear of Christ crucified to chuse of any thing else Therefore accordingly we shall find that this was the practise of the Apostles in the whole course and way of their Ministry still to urge and inculcate this upon those whom they Preached unto As soon as ever they had received the Holy Ghost upon the day of Pentecost they presently fall upon this as it was that which Christ himself much spoke of That the son of man must suffer many things so it was that which the Apostles of Christ much urged as Peter in his first Sermon Act. 2.23 this was that which he inforced upon them their crucifying of Christ This was that also which he preached so boldly in the Temple Act. 5.28 insomuch as the Council told him that they intended to bring the blood of that man upon them And Act. 8.32 the Providence of God directs them to a Scripture to this purpose out of Isa 53.7 8. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before the shearer so opened be not his mouth Thus was Christ crucified the chief point which they still urged in their Ministry And so it is that which is the chief work of ours it is the Doctrine which is to be chiefly preached by us and that upon these following Considerations First As it is a Doctrine of the greatest Humiliation it is an humbling and convincing Doctrine every Evangelical Truth being set on by the Spirit of God concurring and going along with it has an answerable work upon the conscience to bring it into a spiritual frame the Incarnation to work in us desires and affections after the new Birth the Resurrection to raise us up to new activity in holy duties c. the Ascension to carry us up to Heaven and Heavenly things and so the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ to humble us and to crucifie us for sin This Doctrine rightly preached and understood and believed and imbraced has a might power and efficacy in it for Conviction and Humiliation and to cast down th strong-holds of Sin and Satan in us This you shall see in the effect which it had upon the Apostle himself Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of the Lord Jesus whereby the world is crucified to me and I unto the world By the death of Christ was the world crucified to the Apostle And so St. Peter's Auditors Act. 2.37 When they heard this namely of Christ crucified then they were pricked at their hearts This same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was that which pierced them to the soul their piercing of Christ And so the Disciples which went to Emaus this made their hearts burn If we ask how this is done I answer by an Act of Reflection and special Consideration to this purpose namely as from hence taking notice of this grievous and odious nature of sin those which make nothing of sin in the commission of it and when they are set violently upon it in the strength of their lusts and temptations they may here see what it is now in the price which was paid for it and the pain which was endured to expiate it in Christ crucified And those which make a mock of a sin and sometimes of those which warn them of it they see how sad it is in those effects which it had upon the Redeemer and this is to be a means to humble them and lay them low in themselves Every nail which was struck into his Blessed Body it is here a piercing of our hearts every thorn which stuck in that opprobrous Crown it is a thorn in our sides every drop of blood which issued out of his sides it should fetch buckets of tears from us if we had not hearts harder than the flints This Doctrine of Christs Passion it is thus in this way of Proceeding a Doctrine of Humiliation and therefore fittest to be urged in the course of our Ministry And that because this is a main part of our Ministry to humble men and convince them of sin sutable and answerable to the work of the Spirit of God upon the Conscience for that 's a main work likewise of that The Spirit when he comes he shall convince the world of sin Joh. 16.9 Now thus it should be with Preaching which is a special conveyance of the Spirit the work of this is not to sooth men up to flatter them to give them scope to sin no but rather to humble them for it Secondly This Doctrine of Christ crucified as it has cause to be the chief work of our Ministry forasmuch as it is an humbling Doctrine so it has cause likewise to be so too because it is a comforting Doctrine and a Doctrine of the greatest comfort that can be We which are Ministers we are made to be the helpers of the joy of Gods people as we are called 2 Cor. 1. ult Now
is amplified to us from the entertainment which it has differently in the world on the one part as a Doctrine of offence Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness and on the other part as a Doctrine of Acceptance But unto those which are called c. But this I must leave to be handled in the next Sermon SERMON XXX 1 Cor. 1.23 But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Greeks foolishness It is a part of the faithfulness of an Embassador and Commissioner here in world who is intrusted with any business of state and transaction of special importance to abte nothing of his Errand nor of the message which is committed unto him but whether it please or displease to deliver it with all integrity and boldness And surely it is no less likewise the duty of those also which are the messengers of the Churches as the Scripture sometimes calls them and Embassadors of God for Christ They are to express the like faithfulness and sincerity in their employment namely to exhibit their Message and that Doctrine which they are intrusted withal howsoever the world stands affected or disposed unto it And this is tha which we may here observe to be done by the Apostle Paul he had to deal with two sorts of people in the course an dispensation of his Ministry and such as both of them were very much prejudiced against that truth which was to be delivered by him but yet for all that he is not hindered or restrained in the delivering The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom but we preach Christ crucified This was that passage in this Scripture which we fell upon in our last exercise where after divers preparatory points which we raised from the words we insisted upon this main Principle That Christ crucified is the main object and matter of our Preaching WE have here in these words set down to us the different entertainment which this Preaching of the Apostles met withal in different persons and that is twofold First It was a Doctrine of offence and secondly it was a Doctrine of success It was a Doctrine of offence on two parts Vnto the Jews a stumbling-block and unto the Gentiles foolishness And it was a Doctrine of success on two parts more But unto them c. We 'l begin first of all with the former as it is exhibited in vers 23. so far forth as it is a Doctrine of offence But before we come to speak distinctly and particulary concerning this we 'l observe somewhat from the Text in general and that 's this That the same Doctrine and Preaching of the Word has not always and in all sorts of persons the same effect This is clear from the connexion before us Here were Jews and Greeks which had both of them Christ crucified preached unto them yet the entertainment of this Doctrine in both was different and various This is agreeable to that which the Scripture does declare unto us 2 Cor. 2.15 We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish to the one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other the savour of life unto life So a different savour in each Thus when Christ himself preacht some said He was a good man and others that he deceived the people And when Paul preached at Athens Act. 17.32 34. some clave to him and believed others mockt at him and put him off till another time And Act. ult 24. some believed the things which were spoken and others believed not Now there 's a various account which may be given hereof unto us from whence it proceeds First from the consideration of the Teacher and of him that delivers the Doctrine there 's a great matter in that The different spirit and carriage of the Preacher has a great influence upon the success of the Doctrine which otherwise may be one and the same Look says St. Chrysostome as it is in matter of musick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is in an Harp or Lute there 's a great deal of difference according to the hand which is imployed about it Even so it is in the Divine Oracles and the dispensation of the Word of God there is a great of difference for the improvement and benefit which comes by it according to the condition of the person which has the handling and ordering of it and the difference we may conceive here to lye in sundry particulars First In his Gifts and Ministerial Abilities there 's a singular dexterity and skilfulness which belongs to Ministers in their several ways for the conveyance of their Doctrines into the minds and hearts of their hearers and to make those Truths which they treat of to be their own It 's one thing to deliver comfortable Truths and it is another thing to be a comfortable Teacher and it is one thing to speak words of reproof and it is another thing to be a skilful reprover There 's a right application of the Plaister or a right making of the wound which every one has not skill in them to do Thus Eccles 12.9 Because the Preacher was wise he taught the people knowledg c. Wise what 's that that is not only wise for his own particular in reference to his own understanding but wise for the good of the people in reference to their benefit and profit This Wisdom here it is not only an immanent wisdom but a transient not only which rests in the Teacher but from him is conveyed to the Hearer Now because Solomon was thus therefore he taught the people knowledg and he taught them successfully and he sought out acceptable words c. So it follows the words of the wise are like Goads and like Nails fasten'd by the Masters of the Assembly and given by one Pastor Look as it is in other matters it is not enough only to put a Nail into a piece of building but there must be a fastening it and striking it home to the head even so is it here as concerning the Ministry It is not only enough to propound such Truths but there must be a skilful inforcing of them and that according to the condition of the Hearers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2 Tim. 2.15 Now according to a different skill and ability to this purpose is there oftentimes a different benefit and success for those things which are Preached Again As this difference lies much in a Ministers Gifts so also in a Ministers Spirit and manner of undertaking the work when men go about any thing in the strength of their own wit or in a dependance upon their own parts and industry it is not oftentimes so successful But when men look up to God for his assistance and rely upon him for his concurrence this is most likely to take effect in what they do The way for any Preacher to make any Truth
think to escape neither And therefore ye may again take notice of it that it is not only said Besides what we have Preached but what ye have received The receiver is as bad as the thief in this particular And as it is a cursed thing to scatter Error so it is as cursed a thing to take it up and carry it home and keep it by us or nourish it with us which therefore we should now all be perswaded in the fear of God to avoid and shun what we can It is a Caution and Admonition which is not needless to us or superfluous but very necessary and seasonable especially in these days wherein we live wherein so many and never more Errors abounded than now there do to take heed and look to our selves that we be not seduced and led away with them especially in those points which are of so great concernment to us The Authority of the Scriptures The Corruption of Nature The necessity of Regeneration The freeness of Gods Grace in Conversion The Perseverance of the Saints and the like Points which have again and again been inculcated to us and from time to time through several hands delivered unto us which therefore it concerns us to hold and keep our selves to as much as we can Especially you of this City that I may bring it a little nearer to you it behoves you especially above all other places of the Nation to be mindful of this Admonition as those who have been made partakers of the Truth in a more large and ample manner than any other else besides you cannot pretend the want of Preachers as having had more in this kind than any other City in the world not only us but Angels from Heaven as I may so express it which have come to you from all quarters and dispenst the Gospel unto you in the clearness and pureness of it yea and you have received it too which is somewhat more that is welcom'd it and imbraced it and given entertainment to it and exprest your affections to those who have been the Ministers of it both in former times and of late For which cause there are great ingagements upon you to stick close unto it and not to suffer your selves by any means to be taken off from it but earnestly to contend for that faith which hath been once delivered unto you It is a dangerous thing movere terminos to remove the bounds whether in civil affairs or in spiritual but in spiritual especially Here the Apostles rule elsewhere is seasonable for us To hold fast the form of sound words c. to keep that good thing which is committed unto us and to stand fast inone spirit with one mind and to strive together for the faith of the Gospel Gregory Nazianzene tells us of Constantine that when he drew near to his end of the three things which troubled his spirit this was one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he had made an innovation in Religion and the Doctrine of Christ The same will likewise any other which shall in like manner be guilty of it when they come duly to reflect upon it Let us for our parts be careful to maintain the Truth which for a recompence will maintain us and let us take heed of all such Doctrines and ways which are opposite and contrary hereunto Especially which now in these days do so much prevail and take place amongst us Socinianism Pelagianism Antinomianism Libertinism and the like And especially which is fittest to take in all the rest into it Popery and the abominations of Rome Le ts us take heed of that we may perhaps be secure in this matter and think we are now least in danger of this of all others but we are not for all that and our danger is the greater for our security the mystery of iniquity works and works now and all other Errors besides they do but usher and lead on to this and make way for it if we be not the more wary and watchful over our selves The Devil knows how to go backward that he may fetch the greater leap and have us at the long run and it is wisdom for us not to be ignorant of his devices This being the great design and project which he does now lay to himself for the undermining of poor souls I shall for this purpose and all other but refer you to what hath been formerly delivered unto you which you have heard and learnt and received and had confirmed amongst you from the mouths and pens of your forefathers and Blood of the Martyrs and conclude here as I began in the words of the Apostle Paul in this present Text Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel to you than what we have preached unto you let him be accursed As we said before so c. SERMON XXXVII Rom. 2.4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not known that the Goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance It is a part of the Corruption of Nature and of the misery of Man through his fall to make his remedy to be his poyson and that which should be the greatest restraint and prohibition to him from sin to make it the greatest argument and enconragement to him for it namely the grace and goodness and patience and long-suffering of God This is that which the Apostle Paul does in a special manner meet withal and fall upon in this present Scripture where having in the foregoing Chapter inveighed agains the sins of the Gentiles and the compliance of others with them occasionally from Gods goodness to them doeshere in this particular Text which we have now before us set himself with a great deal of vehemency against this distemper and as it were taking them out man by man does expostulate it and reason it with them in the former part of this present Chapter for divers and sundry verses together Our business at present is with the fourth verse of it which is more full and close than all the rest Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering c. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First The simple Expostulation And secondly The aggravating Amplification The simple Expostulation that ye have in these words Despisest thou the riches of his goodness c. The aggravating Amplification in those Not knowing c. We begin with the former viz. The simple Expostulation Despisest thou c. Wherein again we have three Particulars more First The carriage and behaviour of God towards wicked and worldly men and that is much patience and indulgence and kindness to them The riches of c. Secondly The miscarriage and unanswerable returns of wicked men back again to God and that is in much frowardness and perversness and contempt they despise this his Goodness to them Thirdly The accountableness in which they stand to God for this miscarriage of theirs Doest thou despise
and Points of Religion especially such as do more concern Christ himself And not only to be acquainted with them but also changed into them which is a further thing here considerable of us to make up to us this forming of Christ so as all the several Doctrines of Christianity they may have a work upon our Hearts and Affections answerable and suitable to the nature of the Doctrines themselves Thus Rom. 6.17 Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of Doctrine which was delivered unto you In the Greek it is into which ye were delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was the commendation of the Romans that as the Evangelical Doctrine was delivered to them so they also were delivered to it that is changed and transformed into the nature and condition of it and closing and complying with it This is the duty of all others besides We should not only hear the word to hear it and notionally to discourse of it but we should hear it that we may obey it and practically conform our selves unto it That 's the first Explication of this forming of Christ in us as it does relate to the Doctrine of Christ The second is as it does relate to the Spirit of Christ Till Christ be formed in you that is till ye are made conformable to Christ having the same mind and spirit in you which was first in him This is another thing which the Scripture urges upon us and makes mention of to us as Rom. 8.29 For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son Christians they must be conformed to Christ and made like unto him this is to have him formed in them Now this conformity it is of two sorts as the Scripture exhibits it First A conformity of disposition and secondly Of conversation First Of Disposition That we be like affected as he was Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus Phil. 2.5 So 1 Cor. 2. ult We have the word of Christ Christ he is to have an influence upon the framing and fashioning of our spirits And that again in two Particulars First In a conformity to his Death and secondly in a conformity to his Resurrection In a conformity to his Death so we have it in Phil. 3.10 That I may know him and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his death How are we made conformable to his Death when as namely his Death proves effectual to the killing of sin in us and the mortifying of corrupt affections in our hearts Thus also 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 for he that is dead is freed from sin Then for the conformity to his Resurrection that is when we do partake of a quickening power from Christ to enliven us in all holy performances Thus Rom. 6.4 5. Therefore we are buried with him by Baptism into death that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection So much of the first conformity to Christ viz. the conformity of Disposition The 2d is the conformity of conversation to others when as we walk as Christ also walked 1 Joh. 2.6 And Christ is formed in our course that is made conspicuous to others from our carriage and behaviour What the carriage and behaviour of Christ was we have at large laid down to us in the Gospel which is the History of his whole Life declaring how he still went about doing good where ever he came how full he was of meekness and sweetness and gentleness and compassion and yet with it an holy zeal also against sin and sinful persons Now what 's the result of all to us as we should improve it but that accordingly in our several opportunities we should conform unto it that as he became like to us so we also should be made like unto him If we would know how this may be done by us I know no better way for it than by looking upon Christ as he is there represented unto us We know what a force there is in sight to work upon the imagination as in cattel when they conceived upon the beholding of the party coloured rods and had lambs suitable thereunto But there 's a stronger power in the eye of faith beholding Christ as he is propounded in the Gospel to change us and to make us like unto him Therefore says the Apostle elsewhere We all beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 The sight of Christ in the Gospel is transforming and has a power to change and assimilate those that exercise it suitably unto it This is the forming of Christ in us in reference to his Spirit which is that that is chiefly here intended in this Text. Now the Use and Improvement which we are to make of all this to our selves is to labour to find that this be so indeed with us that is that Christ be truly formed in us that we partake of his blessed Image upon us and his living Spirit in us are one with him and incorporated into him as considering that nothing less will serve our turn this is absolutely necessary for us as to all purposes and conditions whatsoever without this we can do nothing which is spiritual or in a spiritual manner we cannot please God or be accepted of him at another day He will no further own us than as he sees Christ instampt upon us Therefore let us look to this above any thing else let us not rest our selves in a bare outward profession and form of Religion which has no life nor power at all in it but let us endeavour that the life of Jesus may be manifested in us and his Spirit wrought into us or else there 's nothing in Religion will do us any good We may talk and discourse of Christs Birth and Death and Resurrection and such great Mysteries as these but alas they will be all nothing to us unless we for our particulars have a share and interest in his Person What is it for Christ to be born into the world except he be born in us to be conceived and formed and fashioned in the womb of his mother except he be also formed and fashioned in our hearts and we our selves made conformable to him as we have hitherto shewn This is that which we should principally look to Not as if there were no other forming of him but only this as some would go about to perswade us but this is chiefly to be minded by us ut quod in Christo factum est per naturam in nobis
sense and meaning of the Scripture as they have thought after a spiritual manner and in the mean time departed from the power and scope of it by leading lives opposite and contrary thereunto But the Spirit of Christ here by the Apostle requires of us to make the Word of God the Rule of our life Secondly We may not content our selves neither with some Discourses an inlargements of speech as tending to Piety which is another thing which many are subject much to rest in and to satisfie themselves withal There are many which if out of the strength of parts or the advantage of company and education and converse they can speak commendably and plausibly in Religion that they have then discharged themselves and done all which is required of them nay but it is not this which will serve the turn neither This walking in the spirit it does imply more than simple discourse or Amplification of speech in Divine and Spiritual Points it is not talking but walking which is here commended unto us not the walking only of the tongue but of the whole man Thirdly It is not only good meanings and intentions as some please to call them which should content and satisfie us neither There are many which go no further than these pretend they have as good a mind to God-ward as any other though they do nothing which savors of so much in them promise and vow and resolve and are full of good purposes but such as at last come to nothing at all in them Now all such as these are cut off by this Exhortation Walk in the spirit It is not enough for men to have good intentions but they must have answerable actions it is not enough for men to have good purposes but they must have answerable performances they must do that which they do resolve on Indeed it is true in some cases God accepts of the will for the deed and the intention for the performance it self namely there where we are extrinsecally hinder'd and debar'd of an opportunity of performance as we may see for Abrahams offering up of his Son God was well-pleased with his willingness thereto and accordingly accepted it and so for Davids building of the Temple God took it very well from him that he had a mind and desire to do it though he did not do the thing it self as being prevented by Divine Dispensation This his Son Solomon signifies concerning him in 2 Chron. 6.8 The Lord said to David my Father Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my Name thou didst well that it was in thine heart Mark thou didst well because it was in thine heart to do so God looked upon it as well-doing good actions are good intentions incarnate because there was well-purposing and well resolving for as the thought of foolishness is sin so the thought also of goodness is grace and so to be accounted but yet where there 's opportunity for action there 's somewhat more which is required of us We must not rest our selves in good desires but endeavour to bring them into accomplishment what we can through the infirmity of the flesh and that 's the first thing implied in this walking viz. Activity c. Secondly Here 's implied strength in opposition to faintness and remisness he that walks he moves strongly so must a Christianin his course of Christianity He must labour to express some strength and vigor therein he must be able to do somewhat more than other men and the generality of people in the world in the subduing of corruptions in the bearing of afflictions in the performance of duties it does not become such an one as has the Spirit of God in him to be overcome or yield there where perhaps another would be foil'd no but as he has been made partaker of a nobler and higher principle so to put forth the vertue of it in his whole life and conversation both to the Honour and Glory of God as likewise to the greater advancement of Religion it self Thirdly Here 's implied also constancy in opposition to declining and giving back walk in the spirit that is continue and go on in goodness and proceed still from one degree of grace to another here 's improvement and perseverance in Holiness which is commended to us under this expression as it is said of the People of God Psal 84.7 That they go from strength to strength till they every one of them appear before God in Zion So it should be with us in our Christian course we shoul never give over till we come to our journeys end till we attain the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls as the Apostle Peter speaks 1 Pet. 1.9 Forgetting those things which are behind press forward Phil. 3.13 There are many which begin as it were in the spirit but they end in the stesh as the Apostle speaks of these Galatians they set upon that which is good but they do not persist and persevere in it Now this is that which he does here over and above require of them and in them of all others besides which pretend to Christianity And so now I have done with the first Particular in this first General viz The Affirmative Injunction or Precept which the Apostle here commends to these Galatians and in them to our selves Walk in the spirit The second is the Negative or Prohibition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and do not or ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh I put them both together because the words will bear either and I find them both in our own English Translation the one in the Margent the other in the Text. According to the former so it has in it the nature of a Prohibition or Dehortation as shewing what should not be According to the latter so it has in it the nature of a Promise or comfortable intimation as shewing what shall not be We may if we please take notice of both And first of the former sense as it carries in it the nature of a Prohibition and as shewing a Christians duty Do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh the Subjunctive for the Imperative Where we may by the way observe this in the general how careful the Spirit of God is to set us and keep us right and what means he uses thereunto Here 's precept upon precept and line upon line and negative upon affirmative one thing after another to make it so much the more full and effectual to us one would have thought it might have been enough to have said this Walk in the spirit no more but so for whiles we do thus we are not likely to do much amiss as we shall hear afterwards but the Apostle is not content with that he adds this to it moreover And do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh This he does upon a two-fold ground First His own tenderness and jealousie over us Secondly Our falseness and the slipperiness of
and work such points as these are out of the windings and turnings and actings of their own spirit This is to be a Preacher indeed and to speak with the greatest profit and edification to those which are our hearers because that which comes from the heart is most likely to go to it and to rebound more effectually upon it Thirdly I say it is a work of sympathy and Pastoral affestion I say it out of my love and tenderness and bowels towards you as pitying you to think ye should go on in courses of vanity without restraint which therefore I would take you off from by this seasonable and pertinent Admonition There were some Teachers now in the Church of Galatia which did labor to infect and corrupt the People of God with their carnal Doctrines which were spread by them Now therefore was the Apostle Paul here so much the more tender and jealous over them and would speak a word in due time for the redeeming and saving of their souls And this is another thing to be heeded and regarded by a Preacher not only to speak affectionately as to the things themselvs which he speaks about but also to speak affectionately as to the persons themselves he speaks unto This is that which Panl did in this Text. Fourthly and lastly I say it is a word of Comprehension or Recapitulation wherein he sums up all in effect which he had said before What had he said before why that they should not use their liberty as an occasion to the flesh that they should by love serve one another c. Now this then I say says he c. as the upshot and epitomy of all the rest as the Preacher in Eccles 12.13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments so here in the Text This I say walk in the spirit c. To shew that this is as it were the scope and sum of all our Ministry to bring men hereunto to eschew evil and to do good to abstain from that which is sinful and to walk in ways of Piety and Goodness This is the pith of all we can say And therefore accordingly we should set our selves to this more especially and above any thing else not troubling our selves and our hearers with fancies and strifes about words to no profit but the subverting of the hearers but study to shew our selves approved unto God and workmen that need not to be ashamed in distributing and rightly dividing the word of truth as is elsewhere advised in 2 Tim. 2.14,15 There are a great many Preachers in the world especially in these present times which when they have said all they can they have said nothing at all which when they have spoken and uttered many words neither themselves nor any that hear them can make any thing of them as being nothing but so many airy speculations and words of course But the Apostle Paul here was otherwise who what he said he said to purpose and was such as carried some weight and strength and efficacy and edification with it This then I say c. And so now I have done also with that other General viz. The Preface or Introduction to the Doctrine and so likewise with the whole Text it self SERMON XLI Gal. 6.4 But let every man prove his own work and then shall be have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another There are two grand evils and miscarriages which the generality of people in the world are subject to in point of Censure The one is to pass too hard and severe an interpretation upon others and the other is to give too favourable and indulgent allowance to themselves And these two as they do both of them for the most part go together so they do both of them seem to proceed from one and the self-same ground and root and occasion of them which is the want of a due Attention and Consideration of men's own hearis and of the actions which spring from them Therefore are men commonly so apt to judg and condemn others with the highest aggravations that may be because they do not look upon themselves as subject to the same passions and affections with other men And therefore again it is that men are so apt to appland themselves and to think well of what is done by them because they do not consider the defects and imperfections of their best performances Now for this cause the Apostle Paul in the course of this Scripture before us applying himself indifferently to the cure of either of these distempers does propound the same counsel and prescribe the same remedy for the removing and healing of them and that is by putting every man upon the search and examination of himself This be does as to the first evil in the two former verses of this Chapter Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault c. And this be does as to the second evil in the two next following verses to them He that thinks himself c. But let every man prove his own work and then shall he have rejoycing in himself alone and not in another our business at this present is with the latter of these two which I have mantioned and that which I have now at this time read unto you But let every man c. IN the Text it self there are two General Parts considerable First An Exhortation And Secondly The Argument to inforce it The Exhortation that is in these words Let every man prove his own work The Argument for the inforcing of this Exhortation that is in these And then shall be have rejoycing in himself c. We begin with the first viz. The Exhortation Let every man prove his own work Wherein again we have three branches more First The object his own work Secondly The Act conversant about this Object Let him prove Thirdly The subject of this Act in reference to this object Every man The Emphasis of the Text may be laid in either of these words for surenss we 'l consider it in all where we shall follow the method of the original though not the method of the Translation And so as we have here propounded it speak in the first place of the object his own work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiles the Apostle makes mention of his own work which he desires every man should prove Methinks he seems to intimate divers things in it which are here briefly considerable of us And as I conceive we have here a threefold Caution which is implicitly exhibited to us First Against idleness or unfruitfulness Secondly Against arrogancy or affectation Thirdly Against curiosity or intermedling This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text in carries a threefold Antithesis or opposition with it to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First In this Expression of his own work there seems to be a Caution against idleness and unfruitfulness of Conversation
Whiles the Spirit of God joyns these two together every man and his own work he does intimate and imply thus much That every man hath some work or other of his own which doth belong unto him and so he hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it does exclude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there 's no man whoever it be that is sent into the world to do nothing but he has some task and work and imployment which does lye upon him and that in his own particular person which so lyes upon him as upon no body else for him to free him or to excuse him from it every man in the world must work and every mans work must be his own which he pretends unto The contrary is that which is too much to be observed in the lives of many people who are very defective in this particular as doing nothing whereby they may be serviceable either to God or Man live out of all kind of callings and opportunities of doing good There are many that sometimes boast of their Relations and of the good works which have been done by others that have been allied unto them or lived before them but can shew no good which they have done themselves and there are others who do now and then assume the glory of other mens works to themselves who boast of other mens labours and of things made ready to their hand as the Apostle elsewhere expresses it in 2 Cor. 10. 15 16. Such as these do not prove their own works because they do not prove their works to be their own which they have stolen or borrowed from others That 's the first intimation as it is a Caution against idleness or unfruitfulness The second is as it is a Caution against arroganey or affectation his own work that is that work which of due and right does appertain unto him and which he is interested in to perform This is another thing which is intimated in this expression The presumptuous undertaking of any thing which is out of our reach and which we are not called to meddle withal that is properly our own work which is within the compass of our own calling and that station and place and rank which God has set us in here in the world which accordingly is to be proved by us that it is so with us that which is work in it self is not presently work for every man because it is not his own indeed there are some works which are so the works of one man as that they are the works of every man else namely the works of our general calling Prayer and reading and hearing and Communicating and the like the Duties of Piety and Religion These are all mens works and they may claim an interest in them they do belong to all sorts of Christians of what rank and condition soever but there are others which are more peculiar and appropriate and so to be acknowledged by us whether Magistrates or Ministers or private Christians they have their works so proper to themselves as they are not to be incroached upon by others Magistrates they are to do their works and Ministers they are to do theirs and those which are neither they are not to take upon them trhe imployment of either because it pertain not unto them as was now said in a particular case to Vzziab Whenever men do otherwise they do then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stretch themselves beyond their measure in 2 Cor. 10.14 And they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 walk disorderly as the Apostle elsewhere expresses it 2 thes 3.11 And there are many sad evils and inconveniences are consequent upon it as experience daily shews And that 's also the second Intimation as it is a Caution against arrogancy or affectation Thirdly It is a Caution against curiosity and intermedling with other mens affairs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus it likewise suits very well with the scope of the Text as we may see by the words that follow For every man shall bear his own burthen Because every man shall bear his own burthen therefore let every man prove his own work that is especially look to himself in a charitable and modest carriage and behaviour towards other men This is not so to be taken as if hereby we were absolutely excluded from all regard and observation of our brethren or others among whom we converse for that we are not we are in other places of Scripture required to try the spirits to prove all things to mark those that live amongst us c. And more particularly those who have the care and government of others committed unto them they are to do it more especially Magistrates and Ministers and Parents and Masters of Families and the like they are to prove the works of those that do belong unto them yea and all sorts of Christians they are in their places to watch over one another to exhort rebuke admonish and counsel each other Therefore this expression here is not to be taken exclusively but rather emphatically or if in some sense exclusively yet not in the exclusion of all just and due examination of the actions of other men but of a busie and pragmatical search and inquiry into them whiles in the mean time we neglect our own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle Peter phrases it 1 Pet. 4.15 The being a busie-body in other mens matters which hath no end of edisication at all in it nor is grounded upon any charitable affection but does only proceed from curiosity and such-like distempers This is that only which seems here to be forbidden and prohibited in this Expression There are many who are sometimes very forward to ask and equire after others who in the mean time are altogether strangers at home and in their own hearts and that do but little reflect upon the actions which come from themselves and there are others that sometimes take a pride and delight in the censuring of the works of other men there 's Libido pruritus maledicendi a certain lust and itch of evil speaking which is belonging to the works of the flesh and a part of them Now this is that which the Apostle Paul does take care about and provide against here in this place he would have every man in se descendere secum habitare to enter and retire into himself and to dwell at home in his own soul and to be acquainted with his own ways and to do his own business This is to prove his own work which is the property of a good Christian And so much may be spoken of the first Particular in this first General and that is the object his own work The second is the Act which is conversant about this Object Let him prove When we speak of proving we must know that in the common acception of the word it is taken three manner of ways First In a way of Examination Secondly In
that hath one hath both he that hath not Christ he hath not God he that hath Christ he hath Christ and God too both the Father and the Son For this which is now before us it is an account given us of him that abides in Christs Doctrine that is as we have already explain'd it which is a general and thorow-paced Christian both as to matter of judgment and practice such an one hath both the Father and the Son Whiles it is said here of him that he hath them this having may admit of a threefold Interpretation First Hath them in him by way of abode and habitation Secondly Hath them with him by way of society and communion Thirdly Hath them for him by way of assistance and approbation First By way of abode and habitation He hath them in him Every true and sound Christian which keeps close to the Faith of Christ hath God in all the three persons of the Blessed Trinity besides in him Whiles we abide in God's Doctrine God himself abides in us and takes up his habitation in our souls Hence it is that we meet with such expressions as these in Scripture 1 Joh. 3.24 He that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in God and God in him In Ephes 3.17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith And Ephes 2.22 In whom you also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit And 1 Joh. 4.11 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God And Joh. 14.23 We will come unto him and make our abode with him This is a very high Honour which God is pleased to cast upon such poor creatures as we are that he whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain yet should dwell in such narrow rows as our hearts and yet this is that which he does Christians they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and they have the Spirit of God dwelling in them He honours them with his gracious Presence What a blessed priviledg is this and how does it serve to comfort them in all other inconveniences of dwelling and abode whatsoever Those who are desolate and solitary and remote and wandring up and down which have no certain dwelling-place as it is said of the Apostles or if they have yet alone and deserted and have no company coming near unto them yet that they have God Himself to dwell with them and in them what a comfortable advantage is this and how much to be prized by them How should those which are true Believers live indeed in the power and efficacy of this present Truth which we have now before us and make the most of it that possibly they can that they have God in them by way of residence and habitation Secondly They have also God with them by way of society and communion A man may reside sometimes in such a place but be in it in the nature of a stranger vouchsafe his Presence but not his Converse This now is not fully so comfortable yea but now further God vouchsafes to his Children this priviledg added to the other the priviledg of communion added to the priviledg of commemoration Thus in Joh. 14.23 If any man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Well but that 's not all it is said in ver 21. He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him Manifest my self unto him How is that that is in all sweet and gracious intercourse of communion with him according to that of Christ again in Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open unto me I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me There are two things at once in this Scripture First I will come in to him there 's the priviledg of habitation And secondly I will sup with him there 's the priviledg of communion And this as it is exprest mutual and reciprocal I with him delighting in mine own graces which I have bestowed upon him and he with me refresht with my comforts which he receives from me So 1 Joh. 1.3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And again in ver 6 7. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lye and do not the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another That is God with us and we with him there is a sweet and comfortable communion which passes betwixt God and all Believers they cleaving to him by an act of Faith and he imbracing them by an act of Love they by a Sprit of adoption crying to him and he by a Spirit of assurance owning of them There is not so express a fellowship of one friend with another which like Iron sharpening Iron do refresh each others countenances as there is of a gracious heart with God in that communion which it enjoys with him in its Christian course Thirdly He hath God also for him by way of assistance and approbation He that abides in the Doctrine of Christ and owns that he has God answerably standing for him and taking his part he has God to own him and has God to side with him and he has God to assist him and to defend him against all those that are opposite and contrary to him He has God not only as an inhabitant and companion but also as an abettor This is another great matter of consolation to a true believer and to one who is stedfast to Religion and the Principles of it when he may seem to stand alone and by himself and to have few or none to comply with him he shall then have the Father and Son and Holy Ghost too a Trinity of persons to stand by him and for him and this threefold cord is not easily broken whiles we stand for God we shall have God standing for us and upholding us against all that shall oppose us and go about to diminish from us The Lord is on my side says David I will not fear what man can do unto me The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me Psal 118.6 7. Now if God be for us who can be against us as the Apostle very well reasons Rom. 8.31 A Christian considered in himself is a very weak and feeble creature Oh but he has an Almighty God to take in with him to defend him and to stand on his side against all assailants whether of me or devils Fear not Paul for I am with thee and none shall set upon thee to hurt the c. Under this head we
blood of Christ hath that power and efficacy with it as to cleanse all such persons as are truly members of him from all their sins The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin as it is also 1 Joh. 1.7 For the better opening of this Point we must know that there is a double benefit which we do partake of from the Blood of Christ the one is the benefit of Justification as to the taking away of the guilt of sin and the other is the benefit of Sanctification as to the taking away of the power and dominion And each of these are here included in this expression First He hath washed us from our sins in his blood that is he hath freed us from the guilt of our sins in point of Justification Christs blood it is available to this purpose And so the Scripture signifies to us in sundry Texts of it as Ephes 1.7 In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace And Rom. 5.9 Being justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him And Col. 1.20 He hath made peace through the blood of his Cross Where the pardon and forgiveness of our sins is still attributed to his blood Now there 's a twofold Ground which may be â—â—gn'd hereof unto us First The Dignity of the 〈◊〉 which he did sustain who was the Son of 〈◊〉 and so the blood even of God himself though not of the Godhead According to that in Act. 20.28 where it is said that God hath redeemed his Church with his own blood The blood of such an excellent person must needs be infinitely meritorious and have a wonderful efficacy with it for the taking away of any guilt whatsoever Secondly From the Relation to the Persons whom he does represent as it was the blood of him that was God so of him that was man likewise having taken our nature upon him and received it into the Union of his Divine Person and therefore it was so far forth our blood likewise and was as much as if we had shed it in our own persons because Christ was a publick person appointed by God in our behalf in the work of Redemption and stood upon the Cross in the room of all his Elect through Gods acceptation of him He bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors Isa 53. ult Thus hath he washed us from our sins that is from the guilt of them in point of Justification But secondly From the filth and stains of them also in point of Sanctification sin besides the guilt of it it leaves a stain and defilement behind it which does pollute the souls of such persons as are guilty of it Now the blood of Christ it washes off this also from that power and efficacy which is in it It not only pacifies but purges the Conscience And so the Scripture also expresses it as Heb. 9.11 14. If the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God The blood of Christ hath merited the Spirit of God for the sanctification of all his Elect and so is said to sanctifie them When it is said here That we are washed from our sins in Christs blood this must be taken by a synecdoche of the part for the whole By his blood we are not only to understand that blood of his which was shed upon the Cross but his whole Passion with all the circumstances and attendances upon it Yea indeed his whole obedience whether active or passive but his blood is here named as that which was indeed the complement and perfection of all the rest as also wherein the Legal Types are all accomplished as the Apostle intimates to us in Heb. 9.22 Almost all things are by the Law purged with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission The Improvement of this Point to our selves may be drawn forth into a various Application First It may serve as a discovery to us of the grievous and heinous nature of sin which had need of such a remedy as this to be used for the removal of it We may see the greatness and desperateness of the disease in the nature and quality of the physick which is given for it and that is no other and no less than the precious blood of the Son of God himself Sin it is a bloody business and the Church she is Sponsa sanguinum she is a spouse of blood as Zipporah said once to Moses And we see upon what occasion she is so namely from sin Therefore we should hence learn to abhor it and to detest it and to be shy and afraid of it We know how it was with David in regard of the water of Bethlehem which was purchased for him but by the hazard of mens lives he would not drink it though he longed for it because it was the price of blood 2 Sam. 23.17 Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives Even so should we say when we are tempted to the commission of any sin Is not this the blood even of the Son of God himself which he was put to shed upon occasion of it There are many profane and atheistical persons in the world which make nothing at all of sin no not of the greatest and grossest that are think it but a trivial business and a matter of sport Fools make a mock of sin as Solomon tells us Now let such persons as these but consider with themselves what it cost as it is here exhibited to us that so accordingly they may rightly judg of it and be perswaded of it and accordingly be taken off from yielding unto it Suppose a man had such a disease or distemper upon him as nothing would cure but the heart-blood of some near relation would it not very nearly and closely affect him and how much then should men be affected with their sins which nothing else could expiate but the blood of Christ himself Secondly Here 's matter of comfort and encouragement also to the servants of God in all the troubles and upbraidings of Conscience and of Satan setting in with it that here 's a remedy and help for them Here 's a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness as it is Zach. 13.1 even the fountain of the blood of Christ which is able to cleanse us Therefore let us go to this fountain and let us bathe and wash our selves in this blood by the exercise of the Grace of Faith in us and let us not be discouraged Remember what the Apostle Paul tells us to this purpose Rom. 3.25 How that God hath set forth Christ to be a
tremble and quake at this coming and at the thoughts of it as malefactors at the coming of the Judg They desire that Christ would not come and where he gives any symptoms of it they cry out with the unclean spirit in the Gospel What have we to do with thee thou Son of God art thou come to torment us before our time A guilty and defiled conscience it abhors the coming of Christ and withdraws from it if it were possible it would altogether shun it and never have it to come to pass and when it does come it is matter of the greatest terror and astonishment to it that can be Therefore it is said of such persons at such a time That they shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and shall say unto the mountains and rocks Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Rev. 6.15 16 17. The ungodly shall not stand in judgment Psal 1.5 Not stand that is not stand upright but fall down before it and accordingly shall do all they can to avoid it Whereas on the other side the Children of God shall be well-pleased with it and hearty and couragious in it and very freely and cheerfully entertain it When he shall appear they shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming 1 Joh. 2.28 Indeed there are some cases and circumstances and times wherein the Spouse of Christ her self may not be always in such a present frame and disposition of spirit as to utter this speech here before us and to say Come even in this sense which we now speak of even the servants of God themselves may at least for such a particular season have an indisposedness upon them hereunto As namely when they have not finished their work or got their businesses ready about them but yet they have always a general and habitual preparation for it in them As a steward that is for the main faithful yet he may not always have his accounts made up and in that regard may not yet wish for the Audit And a Spouse that has a good affection for her Beloved yet may not presently have all her Ornaments upon her and in that Consideration may sometimes wish for the delay of his coming This is tha which is here chiefly considerable that God's Children they do still labour to frame themselves to an entertainment of Christ at his coming And that 's the first notion of this Expression as it may be taken for a word of simple acceptance or entertainment Come that is thou mayst come if thou so pleasest and shalt be welcom to me The second is as it may be taken as a word of desire or invitation Come that is I pray come it is my earnest suit and request that thou would'st come And here now we have a further inlargement and improvement of Grace in a Christian which is not only to be content with Christs coming and submitting unto it but also to be desirous of it and longing after it This is the temper and disposition of a good and of a gracious heart to pant and breathe and thirst for the second coming of Christ and not to be satisfied in it self till it does come The Spirit and the Bride say Come that is they say it importunately and earnestly with a great deal of affection This desire whereof we now speak it is laid and founded in sundry Considerations which do make for it As first in reference to the world it self in the present frame and constitution of it The world is at present in that condition as that the coming of Christ if very desirable in that regard And there are two particulars especially which do make up this unto us First In point of sin and wickedness And secondly in point of misery and affliction Both these two taken together do cast a disparagement upon the world and do therefore make Christians to desire the destruction of it First As it is a wicked and sinful world The world taken at the best was never over-good since it first began to be bad even presently upon the Creation of it Sin made an entrance upon it and got possession of it and not long after the whole earth had soon corrupted it self as the Scripture tells us but now as it 's grown any thing older and of longer standing so its sinfulness is so much the more improved and it grows worse every day than other The very times themselves we live in are a sufficient demonstration of it to us and we find it so by sad experience as being such wherein iniquity abounds more than ever and wicked men grow worse and worse as the Apostle speaks In these latter days and times of the world more especially as the spirit has foretold it there are the greatest incursions of wickedness of any other and that in all the kinds and degrees of it Now this is that which makes a gracious heart so to long for this second coming of Christ that so thereby he may put a period to these days of sin that God may be no longer dishonoured his Name may be no longer blasphemed his Laws may be no longer transgressed his Ordinances may be no longer despised his Spirit may be no longer grieved A good Christian has such an enmity and antipathy against sin as that he cannot but be very desirous of that which is destructive of it as the coming of Christ is not his first only but his second For this end will the Son of God be manifest that he may destroy the works of the Devil And for this end also do the Children of God so much desire the manifestation of him that so by this means sin may be destroyed and have a period and end put unto it And that both in others and also in themselves The Children of God they are both scandalized and offended at others abominations and likewise they are burdened and overprest with their own corruption and in each respect do desire that Christ would come for the remedying of either that their righteous souls with Lot's may be no longer vexed with the Conversation of the wicked and that themselves also with Paul may be delivered from the body of death that is the body of sin as we shall hear more anon in the following Explication But secondly As there is the world in the sinfulness and wickedness of it so there is the world also in the misery and afflictiveness of it which does make for this desire in them also that exceeding vanity which is upon the creature and those manifold calamities which do attend upon humane Life This is another thing here considerable in the world which does put the Church upon this Prayer for Christs coming that as God has promised he may wipe away all tears from
their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled There is a ripeness and maturity of sin which calls for the execution of judgment till which time judgment is delayed and put off and for a season procrastinated and then he that shall come will come and will not tarry Lastly This desire of the Church to Christ's coming and hastning of it it hath a respect to Christ himself who in a manneris hereby also perfected for the Church in the fulness of its Members is the fulness also of Christ and so it is called in Ephes 1.23 The fulness of him that filleth all in all We must distinguish of Christ in his person and Christ in his office If we look upon Christ as God and as the second person in the Trinity so he is absolute and compleat in himself and capable of no addition or augmentation but if we look upon Christ as he is God-man the Mediator and Head of the Church so he is so far forth perfected as the Church it self is perfected and compleated in the number of Members And as himself also has finished and compleated all the works which do belong to his Mediatorship which is coming in Glory This is the only remainder of what 's behind and lest yet undone as to the full work of our Redemption and therefore does the Church very properly call for it and put him in mind of it out of her respect unto him This if not so to be taken as if Christ himself would not come otherwise for that he would though she should be silent and never call for him nor yet if she could properly hasten it or speed it before its time for that she cannot neither God has appointed a day wherein he will judg the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained as the Apostle tells us Act. 17.31 As he has appointed the man namely Christ so he has also appointed the day which we cannot name nor it does not belong unto us It is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power Act. 1.7 But the Church prays for his coming as a testimony of her affection to him and as desiring thereby to put a respect upon him because in coming his Glory and Majesty shall be so much the more revealed and discovered And that 's the last account which may be here given of this Prayer and Petition When the Spirit and the Bride say Come namely out of respect to Christ The Vse of all to our selves serves to teach us to labout for such a frame of spirit as this is whereby we may in truth and sincerity come up to this requess and desire so as to pray and to pray heartily for the second coming of Christ and the appurtenances of it It is a request which is so much the more considerable as it is such as we are taught to make by Christ himself in that Prayer which he hath left unto us whereof one branch is this Thy Kingdom come As the Holy Ghost suggests it so Christ himself also commands it and requires it of us and accordingly we should all indeavour that it may be practised by us We should labor for the Considerations above-mentioned to say Come Lord Jesus come quickly as it follows afterwards in this Chapter Where when Christ promises it the Church presently apprehends it and returns upon him with desires answerable and suitable to so gracious an intimation For this purpose let us especially endeavour to have the Spirit of God Himself in us and to be filled with that For observe how it is said here in the Text The Spirit and the Bride say Come Nature that does not say it but rather reluctates against it and puts it off no but it is the Spirit that says it and we our selves say it to purpose so far forth as we are spiritual and act upon spiritual Grounds and Principles in the desires of it There are some kind of people who now and then in a discontent and when any thing crosses them then it may be they could wish for an end of the world and of their own lives with it But that may be perhaps from the flesh and not from the spirit and so to be suspected no but then it is so as should be when it proceeds from a work of the Holy Ghost and Spirit himself in us Now there are three ways especially whereby the Spirit of God does usually work such a desire as this in us and makes us in Truth and Reality to desire Christs second Coming First By discovering to us the vanity of all these things here below What is the reason that many people are so unwilling to think of another world It is because they think there is no other but this but place their happiness and contentment here in these poor outward things which if their hearts were taken off from it would be otherwise with them Now those whom God has a delight in he does by his Spirit convince them of the vanity and Transitoriness of this world Secondly By purging our consciences from any thing which may be burdensom to them and putting us upon duty and that work which is required of us in our present opportunities When Christians shall have this lye upon their spirits that either they have been sinful or unfruitful they cannot so easily wish for Christs coming either guilt or their work yet unfinished they are great pull-backs and retarders in this particular Now therefore does the Holy Ghost take order with them to both of these purposes by not suffering his servants to lye under the power of any known sin nor yet wilfully to omit and neglect any known Duty but to be sincere and fruitful both to such Christians as are so Christs coming will be the more acceptable to them Thirdly By manifesting unto them the Excellency which is in Christ himself and the blessed and glorious condition of God's People in another world together with their own interest and concernment in it When Christ had declared before that he was the bright and moring-star then the Spirit and the Bride say Come it is ignorance of Christ that makes men no more to breathe after him nor to be desirous of him Therefore the Spirit of God may rouse those desires in us he presents these Excellencies to us and gives us some glimpses and anticipations of that glorious condition which he has provided for us And then also which belongs hereunto vouchsafes some kind of assurance of our interest in this condition and that it belongs to us for our particular whereby the more to quicken our desires Excellency is nothing without propriety it is the Spouse of Christ alone which can with joy desire Christs coming When therefore the soul is convinced that it is so with it self that it is contracted and espoused to Christ and owned by him then the Spirit an the Bride say Come When we
or longings after it such as these they do shew themselves to be very far from spiritual thirst which is here offered unto us Thirst it is a desire with some earnestness and vehemency and unsatiableness which is in it as David Oh that one would give me of the water of Bethlehem to drink when he longed for it And Sampson though otherwise a strong man he was ready to die and perish for thirst even so is there likewise the same proportionable impetuousness in Grace as that nothing will satisfie it but a greater measure and degree of it self and of Christ himself who is the giver of it As the Hart panteth after the water-brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God O when shall I come and appear before God Psal 42.1 2. And so Psal 63.1 My soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is Where thirsting is explain'd by longing as pertinent to it And so I have done also with the second General part of the Text which is the Invitation of access or seasonable Application in these words And let him that is athirst come The third and last is the Intimation of acceptance or grateful entertainment in those And whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Wherein again we have three Branches more First The benefit mentioned and that is the water of life Secondly The persons to whom this benefit is offered and that is whosoever will Thirdly The offer it self let him take of it freely For the first The benefit here mentioned it is the water of life whereby we are in a word to understand the Grace of Christ according to the full latitude and extent of it whether the Grace of Justification in the pardon and forgiveness of sin or the Grace of Sanctification in the purging and washing away of sin or the Grace of Assurance in the comfort and peace of conscience either of these are implied in this expression which we have here before us and indeed all together This water of life it is the Grace of Christ with all the appurtenances that belong unto it and means that make way for it and effects which are consequent of it It is Grace and Glory both Grace as it tends to Glory and Glory as it follows upon Grace The gift of God is eternal life both in the end and in the means and this is the water of life which is here offered and propounded unto us for our receiving of it Thus it is if we take it generally and at large But if we take it more particularly and as limited and restrained so the Scripture it self is herein its own best interpreter as we have it plainly declared unto us in Joh. 7.38 39. He that believeth on me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water This says St. John he spake of the spirit which they that believe on him should receive For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified So then according to this reckoning the water of life should be nothing else but the Spirit of God in the Gifts and Graces of it which indeed not excluding the other is that which is here chiefly and principally to be understood by us That reconciliation which is purchased by Christ but received and applied by Faith which is a fruit and work of the Spirit and Holy Ghost in us as all other Graces are besides and so fitly and properly exprest by living water There are two words in this Metaphor to be observed and taken notice of by us the Principal and the Accessary the Principal that is water the accessary that is the water of life and the Grace of Christ it holds its resemblance and correspondency to both First It has a resemblance to water and accordingly is compared hereunto both in this Text and other places of Scripture in regard of that Analogy and proportion which it bears thereunto in sundry particulars Look what water is as to the necessities and supplies of our humane and natural life the same is the Grace of Christ as to our Divine and Spiritual We may take it in these following instances as a taste of the rest First For purifying and cleansing Water it is eminent for that and so is the Grace of Christ for the taking away of the several spots and defilements and pollutions of sin Thus Eph. 5.25 26. it is said of Christ that he gave himself for his Church that he might sanctifie it and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word So Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a pure heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water The Grace of Christ is a spiritual Bath wherein the whole man of a Christian both outward and inward is purified and cleansed Secondly For cooling and refrigeration and quenching of thirst it is compared to water for that likewise This Grace of Christ as abating the heat of lust and allaying the terrors of conscience and extinguishing of the fiery darts of the devil as the Apostle calls them Thirdly For increase and fructification Water it makes plants to grow and flourish and sprout up and so does the Grace of God such persons as are endued with it They shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth their roots as Lebanon their branches shall spread and their beauty shall be as the Olive-tree and their smell as Lebanon as it s in Hos 14.5 Fourthly and lastly Grace is compared to water in its manner of operation as namely that it so runs as that it is always joyn'd unto its Principle Sic fluit ut semper sit conjunct a suo principio It is an Observation upon it out of Austin and so Grace in a Christian it so flows as that it always knits and conjoyns him to Christ Of his fulness we all receive and grace for grace as the Evangelist has it John 1.16 And then the ascent of it is answerable to the descent of it even so is it likewise with Grace which as it first of all comes from God so it carries us up again to him That 's the first part of this resemblance as Grace is compared to water for the Principal The second is as it is compared to the water of life for the accessary and the advancement of it Thus it is frequently call'd in Scripture living water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This it is by way of Eminency as that which does tend to life in the scope and drift of it as also does end in life as the effect and that which follows upon it Indeed every thing which belongs to salvation it is usually in Scripture exprest and fet forth by life The word of life and the bread of life and the crown of life c. And so here now the
inabled to see the work of Grace to be wrought in his own Heart and shall have his Adoption Evidenced unto him it must needs be a thing very pleasing to him and such as he takes a great deal of more Contentment and Satisfaction in then in all Injoyments of the world whatsoever which it is possible for him to reslect upon as his Thus we see in all these Particulars and Explications which we have now mentioned how the Meditation of God is sweet And we have had an account of it in regard of the Object or the Person Meditated upon which is God Himself Now further we may take account of it from the Subject or Person Himself that Meditates and that is here exprest to be David it is not onely the Meditation of God is sweet but my Meditation of him is sweet which is here moreover considerable and that to make it compleat For let the Object be never so delightfull in its own Nature and apt to give Contentment in it self yet if the person that fastens upon it be not qualified for it there will be yet no Contentment in it It is not every ones Meditation No not upon God which has sweetness with it but onely of such Persons as have dispositions sutable thereunto and can draw out this sweetness which is in Him Now the Qualifications which are required to this purpose are briefly these First For the General a Savouriness and Heavenliness of Spirit as it is this which must put men upon such Meditations so it is this onely which must make them to relish them and to take delight in them There 's not the best things that are but they seem flat to a carnal Heart which can find no Contentment at all in them A vain and frothy Spirit takes a great deal of more pleasure in some Toy and Trifle and Song and empty Fable then it does in the highest points of Religion and all because it is not sutable and agreeable to such things as these are Therefore this Savouriness which we now speak off is necessary to this Spiritual Delight and the sweetness of this Divine Meditation for the Sensibleness and the Apprehensiveness of it Secondly A special love to God that 's also necessary to this Delight those that men care not to see they for the most part care not to think off but Affection it advances Contemplation how pleasing are Lovers in their thoughts one to another their Meditation of each other is sweet and so it is also betwixt Christ and the Believing Soul that Heart which is inflamed with his Love can never think enough of his Person nor of his Graces nor of the Excellencies which are in Him but is much ravished with the thoughts of Him And then Thirdly A perswasion likewise of the Love of God to Him he that will think of God comfortably must be in some sense and apprehension of Gods favour and of his interest in Him and that he is in good terms with Him not onely that God is reconciled to his Nature which we spake of before but also that he is reconciled to his Person and that he is actually at peace with him Those that are Enemies to God or which think God to be an Enemy to them they cannot but think of him with a great deal of horror and Astonishment and Trembling and Consternation of Spirit Lastly There 's required hereunto also a special sense of a mans own wants It is Hunger that makes Eating delightfull and it is Thirst that puts a pleasantness into Drinking there 's not onely the Palate which does conduce hereunto but also the Appetite and so it is also here in these Spiritual things Therefore as there is required a Savouriness so likewise a brokenness of Heart also how sweet are the Meditation of Christ and the Truths of Christianity to an Heart affected with the sight of Sin and the sense of Wrath. Oh Christ is now Christ indeed and the Gospel the Gospel and the promises they have a special sweetness and pleasantness in them Men that are addicted wholly to the world and to the pleasures and delights thereof they do usually but Scoff at such things as these are and make a mock and derision of them talk to them of delight in God and of the sweetness of Divine Meditation and they count it but a mear fancy and idle Speculation But such persons as have their Consciences inlightned and any work of Conviction upon them they relish and savour these things and indeed to speak of it none but they The whole they have no need of the Physitian but they that are Sick as our Blessed Saviour has told us and so the thoughts of the Physitian are not so pleasing to to any persons as they are to them These rejoyce when they do but think of him from the Consideration of their own wants they Honour the Physitian for their necessities which is an account of this Delight in Divine Meditation from the Subject or Person Himself that does meditate my Meditation Now the Consideration of this point thus open'd and amply fied to us may be thus far improved by us Namely as a great incouragement to the Saints and servants of God in what ever condition falls them That they may comfort and solace themselves in Him in the worst of those conditions and be sweetly supported in them when there 's nothing else that they can think of with comfort they can then think comfortably of God and of the Interest which they have in him as a relief and a refreshment to them And they should accordingly put themselves upon such thoughts as these are and inure themselves to them oh there 's a great deal of good which might be got by such performances as these if we were but more acquainted with them and accustomed to them in the course of Christianity and we loose a great part of the true sweetness of our lives when we are deficient in them For the better and more effectual working and inforcing of these things upon us It may not be amiss for us to take notice of this passage of the Text according to the full latitude and extent of the expression which is here used which according to the Original Emphasis is of various signification The Hebrew word which is here used is Siach which signifies three things especially and each of them very considerable of us First Meditation And Secondly Prayer And Thirdly Discourse According to the former notion so it signifies the sweetness which is in Divine and spiritual Contemplation and the musing on heavenly matters according to the second notion so it signifies the sweetness which is in Divine and Spiritual Communion and converse with God in Prayer According to the Third Notion so it signifies the sweetness which is in Holy and Religious Conference and the speaking of God one to another All of them very usefull and profitable Duties and Performances and such as are to be practised