offend I will not eat a bit of flesh as long as the world lasts Beloved we use to say when we are averse to a thing Before I will doe such a thing I will never eat bit of bread such a kinde of zeale and such a kinde of expression may you imagin St Pauls to have been in his resolution of not sinning against Christ and yet how many are there that make no bones of this but let them take heed that God make not their bones and their hearts into the bargain ake for it Sure I am the new converts in the second of the Acts were pricked to the very heart at this very consideration see the place Acts 2.37 You may observe St Peter ver 14. beginning to preach his first Sermon after the ascension his first work is to take off a mistake a misapprehension from the people touching themselves These men are not drunken as ye suppose At ver 22. his Sermon begins to pinch close for he speakes plainely Ye men of Israel heare these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves know Ver. 23. Him being delivered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slaine He followes this argument close all along heightning the sinne by the consideration of Gods exalting of Christ and in ver 36. he puts Gods goodnesse to Christ and their wickednesse against Christ both together and with this as with a great and irresistible hammer God pricks their hearts in Peters Ministry yea he breaks them all to pieces for see ver 37. Now when they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe When they heard this that the same Jesus whom they had crucified was exalted by God to be Lord and Christ when they heard this and that they had thus sinned against their Lord their Christ their King this oh this pricked them to the quick this shivered them all to pieces this divided betwixt the joynts and marrow it broke downe all opposition Men and brethren what shall we doe such wretches such vile creatures as we are never were in the world What! is that Jesus that we have crucified is he our Christ our Lord have we thus wronged him thus dealt with him Woe umo us that we have sinned Thus you see how farre this consideration strikes terror here it did strike terror into their hearts may it not strike terrour into yours for know assuredly that that same Jesus the motions of whose spirit or of Gods Spirit you have stood out against I suppose you look upon it as all one for he and the Father are one is that very Jesus whom God hath exalted-heretofore yea and will exalt him again and he will make him actually both Lord and King in all the souls of his people and over all the world and this is he whom ye sinne against whom in a spirituall sense ye crucifie againe as it were even the Lord of glory nay let me go further with you and drive you up closer I must tell you that whilest ye rebell against the workings of the Spirit of God ye do at once sinne against Father Sonne and holy Ghost all at one stroake as I may say A time bath been and that in my dayes when a mans naming the sinne against the holy Ghost in the Pulpit would have made many a heart to tremble I am sure it made mine tremble when I was a boy and minded nothing but pastime and pleasure but though I tell you and I shall make it appear that in resisting the motions of Gods Spirit ye have sinned against Father Sonne and holy Ghost and that your actions especially in some have entrenched and bordered much upon the chanell of such actions as do leade directly to the grand sinne the unpardonable sinne even the sinne against the holy Ghost which you know Christ saith shall never be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come yet who trembles whose heart quakes nay do we not mock at fear and have not some sucked in such principles that doe utterly overturne all shaking all trembling either at the apprehension of their sinnes or of Gods judgements due to them for their sinne My friends for as yet I am no mans declared enemy in the world do not I tell you the truth Do not your hearts and consciences bear me witnesse and witnesse for me If so though you are so hardened that ye cannot cry out What shall we do Yet God hath so softned my heart towards you that I cannot but ask What ye will do Will ye go on I trust in God your hearts will not let you say We will go on and we will do what seemeth good in our own eyes and as for these words which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord we will not hear thee No will ye not Are ye resolved thus if you are I will break your resolutions if I can and rather then suffer you to runne on thus headlong into your destruction I will kindle a fire in your very bones I will vex your very souls and bring you with David to cry out as he Psa 6. My bones are vexed O Lord yea my soul is vexed but thou O Lord how long Consider then in the fear of God what I assert what I insist upon viz. That he that sinnes against the strivings of Gods good Spirit sinnes against Father Sonne and holy Ghost That he sins against the Father is evident 1. From those words which Christ useth Joh. 15.23 24. He that hateth me hateth my Father also If I had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sinne but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father also Would you have a clearer Text He that hates the Son hates the Father by the same argument He that sins against the Sonne sins against the Father and indeed he and the Father are one or else Union with Christ would not be enough to make Christs poor ones one with the Father but that this is sufficient you may most remarkably see from that heavenly piece of Scripture Joh. 14. from v. 7. to the middle of the 11. verse If saith Christ ye had known me ye should have known my Father also and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him The Disciples stumbled at this but Philip particularly saith to him Lord shew us the Father and it sufficeth us Christ seems to stumble at them as much as they at him for he speaks to Philip as in their stead Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me Philip He that hath seen me hath seen the Father and how saist thou then Shew us the Father Would ye
have things clearer yet viz. that Union with Christ is sufficient to make up Union with the Father and consequently he that sinnes against Christ must needs sinne against the Father Would you I say have it clearer then go on to the 10th verse Beleevest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me The words that I speak unto you I speak not of my self as if he should say The Father speaks them as well as I nay The Father that dwelleth in me he doth the works too and then he proceeds Beleeve me Philip that I am in the Father and the Father in me Plainet words then these surely cannot be used to assert the Point in hand That sins against Christ are sins against the Father My next work must be to prove that they are sins against the holy Ghost likewise and then I have done in point of proof To evidence this clearly and plainly I suppose we take it for granted that the holy Ghost and the holy Spirit are all one that being granted me as a Suppositum not so much as disputed by your selves Let me put you in minde of some Texts of Scripture wherein the same actions being spoken of you shall finde are in one place implied or expressed plainly to be sins against God by which I understand to be meant the Father in another place they are termed sins against Christ by which name we understand the Sonne and in a third place sins against Gods holy Spirit by which 't is already supposed we mean and understand the holy Ghost These Scriptures being produced and asserting the thing in hand I suppose I have gained the Cause Compare then these three Scriptures together Numb 21.5 1 Cor. 10.9 Isa 63.10 Let us look first upon Num. 21.5 The people of Israel it should seem were in great affliction they wanted bread and water and their soul lothed the Manna they call it this light bread Being in this distresse and affliction it is said expresly They spake against God and against Moses saying Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Aegypt to die in the Wildernesse for there is no bread neither is there any water and our soul loatheth this light bread here you see plainly the Israclites sinne of murmuring under this affliction is said expresly to be against God They murmured against God and against Moses by which word God I hope you will give me leave to understand the Father and never trouble your selves with much scruple or dissatisfaction in the businesse Let us now go to the next Scripture which ye shall finde 1 Cor. 10.9 Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroied of Serpents The Question will be how it appears that the same sin is spoken of in both places To make this sure I must turn you back to Numb 21.6 again which tels us that God for their sin of murmuring immediatly before sent fiery Serpents among the people and they died Now reade the verse I have quoted out of the Corinthians Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroied of Serpents Do you desire I should argue now Is it not plain that that which was called murmuring against God in the Book of Numbers is called tempting of Christ in the Epistle to the Corinthians For what did the Lord send fiery Serpents among the people for murmuring against God For what were they destroied of Serpents for tempting of Christ These then were both one unlesse you understand any other destruction of Serpents to be intended by St Paul then this which was by the biting of the fiery Serpents mentioned in the Book of Numbers My proofs touching Father and Sonne I have done with My next labour must be touching the holy Spirit or holy Ghost as we call him For this view my third Text Isa 63.10 where the Prophet having in the verse before mentioned the gracious and generall loving kindenesse of the Lord toward his people in the daies of old sets down in the next words in the beginning of the 10th verse the general demeanour and carriage of the Israelites his people toward God And what was their carriage 'T was sad I confesse I fear ours is so too They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit Their general posture of actions against God is termed here you see a rebelling and vexing his holy Spirit certainly if all their wicked actions come under this expression then this action likewise of murmuring against God or tempting of Christ being one of their actions must needs do so too And now I think I have gained my cause Having done with my proof let me now treat with you a little you that have sin'd so often against the motions of Gods Spirit and therein in some sense troden under foot the Son of God for Gods sake What do ye think of your selves have ye done well think ye thus at one blow as it were to strike Father Son and holy Ghost in the face Is this recompence for his mercies in sending Jesus Christ to shed his bloud for your sins a fair recompence to the Father Is it equal that such a Lex Talionis should be returned to the Son that we should thus grieve and vex the holy Spirit Certainly if there be any fear of God before out eyes the doing of these things cannot rightly please our hearts But because ye are so hardened in your wickednesse and rebellions against him who will either glorifie you if ye willingly submit to him or torment you for ever if still ye persist be ye under what Form or Administrations ye will For I love not to flatter you in your imaginary shadowâ— taken up of your own heads nor do I place godlinesse or wickednesse in externall Forms but rather in submitting or walking contrary to Christ Let me presse you a little eagerly to consider what ye are doing when ye are sinning against the motions workings and pleadings of Gods good Spirit striving within you as doubtlesse sometimes he doth or else things go very sadly with you Be as merry as ye will Shall I minde you in one word what ye do ye sinne against Father Sonne and holy Ghost all at once ye do in a sense as I told you tread under foot the bloud of Jesus Christ the Son of God for this treading things under foot what is it 't is an expression whereby we signifie our scorning and lothing of a thing as when we say If I could I would tread thee under my foot My Brethren my brethren what do ye lesse when ye do so resist the motions of Gods good Spirit that ye cannot endure to hear him speak to you Nay how many are there who when the Spirit of God would pleade with them and reason them into godlinesse or into the omission of this or that or the other particular sin as of whoredom jeering at good things drunkennesse covetousness or the like presently they take the first
seemes to me to consist of these grand parts First Of severall Exhortations full of life which St John received from Christ the author of them Secondly Of certaine high and heavenly predictions which represented to St John the state of the Church till the end of the world The Exhortations are set down in the 2d and 3d Chapters The predictions from thence to the end Which he concludes so sweetly as if he knew not whether he were out of the body or in the body witnesse those words of ravishment Rev. ult ver 18. And the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely And those other gracious words ver 20. He which testifieth of these things saith surely I come quickly Amen even so come Lord Jesus As for the first Chapter I looke upon it as containing principally three things First The Title of the whole Booke in the three first verses Secondly The Preface or Dedication of the whole Booke in the three next verses Thirdly A solemne and majestical description of Jesus Christ the Author of the whole Booke which I finde something scattered in divers parts of the Chapter This description seems to be in 4. fragments One is set forth by St John in his Preface A second is aimed at in the terriblenesse of his coming to judgement ver 7 th And the third comes to us in the words of Christ himselfe ver 8 11 10. A fourth is presented to St John in a vision and in that vision to us if we have eyes eyes to see and eares to heare from v. 13. to v. 17. This vision was so full of amazing majesty that when St John saw it he fell at Christs feet but Christ soone layes his right hand upon him and revives him saying unto him I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore and have the keyes of hell and of death This vision being over and St John having got to himselfe againe Christ gives him directions to write 1. The things which he had seene 2. The things which are 3. The things which must be hereafter That is as Pareus in effects observes First Transactions which St John himselfe had been witnesse of from the first preaching of the Gospel after Christs ascenfion till the time of Domitian Secondly Things which at the time of St Johns writing were then on foot Thirdly Things which from thence forwards should come to passe till the end of the world But whether some other transactions touching the condition of the Church before Christ were not withall aimed at in some of those visions which were represented to S. John and are mentioned in this Booke of the Revelations I must confesse I am yet to learne But to close as fast as I can You see the maine body of the Revelations branched by me into Exhortations and Predictions or rather Representations My Text you see falls out to be part of the Exhortations being part of the third Chapter which concludes them These Exhortations are inscribed to the severall Angels of severall Churches Touching which let me give you one note of Pareus Caeterum non ad solos Episcopes saith he sed ad ipsas quoque Ecclesias spect are Epistolas ex Epilog is intelligitur But from the Conclusions its evident that these Epistles I have called them Exhortations doe not onely belong to the Bishops but also to the very Churches themselves for each Epistle ends thus He that hath an care to heare let him heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches But what are the names or distinctions of these Churches to whose Angels or Bishops these Exhortations are inscribed I will barely name them and haste to my Text. The first is the Church in Ephesus Ch. 2. v. 1. The second the Church in Smyrna Ch 2 v. 8. The third the Church in Pergamus Ch. 2. v. 12. The fourth the Church in Thyatira Ch. 2. v. 18. The fifth the Church in Sardis Ch. 3. v. 1. The fixth the Church of Philadelphia Ch. 3. v. 7. The seventh and last the Church of Laodiceans or as the margin of the great Bible hath it in Laodieca Ch. 3. v. 14. I might give you a note here that the Churches are called Churches in Ephesus in Smyrna in Pergamus in Tbyatira in Sardis in Philadelphia nor would any objection crosse me in the tendency of my note that the last Church is called the Church of Laodiceans or in Laodicea but I promised you the naming of the Churches onely and therefore I presse not my note but haste according to my promise At length you see plainely and methodically that my Text is part of those Exhortations or Epistles which were directed by Jesus Christ to the Church of the Laodiceans Which if Mr Brightman observe aright in making it a type of our Church here in England it must be granted that we are the more concerned to hear what the Spirit of Christ saith unto this Church let me cite his note which having lately seen in his Latine edition onely I think I may give you the sense of them in english thus But why doth he say that he stands at the doore and knocks Why doth not himselfe open the doore Why doth he not directly enter in especially seeing he hath the key of David by which he openeth nor doth any shut as v. 7. And then he adds These things saith he are most significantly spoken pro ratione Laodicensis nostraeque Ecclesiae with a sutablenesse to the Laodiceans and our Church in which Christ stands before the doores but our hearing saith he is in a manner quite stopped or intercluded I will not dispute here whether the Spirit of Jesus Christ intended the Church of the Laodiceans to be a type of the Church in England or not But be it as it will this both you and I and all of us in England must yeeld him that the reproofs and accusations fastened upon this Church are as fit to be spoken and charged upon us as upon any Church this day in the world Let us take the words as they lie in our way what more true then that Jesus Christ knows our works that we are neither hot nor cold and so because we are lukewarm how justly may we fear yea fear and tremble that Jesus Christ will spue us out of his mouth if ever we were in it for we are generally so wicked that it may be questioned How justly may Christ charge us as the Laodiceans that we say We are rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and know not that we are wretched and miscrable and poor and blinde and naked How fit are we in some sense viz. in respect of our condition for that heavenly and spirituall counsell of Christ v. 18 I counsell thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire
that thou maist be rich and white raiment that thou maist be cloathed and that the shame of thy nakednesse doc not appeare and annoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou maist see Being such sinners such lukewarme professors how suitable is it that we should be put in minde of afflictions and of the chastenings of the Lord especially if he shall be pleased to rebuke and chasten us in love To conclude How exactly seasonable and agreeable is the exhortation to repentance immediately before my Text be zealous therefore and repent How doth the fire of Gods judgements and his late judgements of fire conspire as it were to set on this Exhortation to repentance but if Jesus Christ doe not set it on too by his own powerfull spirit all is to no purpose But for this end I hope we shall finde Jesus Christ knocking at the doores of our soules as heretofore he did at the hearts of the Laodiceans and happy are we if we heare him knocking and open our doore for if any man heare his voice and open his doore Christ will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Christ Behold I stand at the doore and knock this is my Text and you see how I am come to it be pleased to observe in it First A note of preparation Behold Secondly A declaration of an action which Christ did to this Church of the Laodiceans he stood at their doores and knocked The note of preparation fixeth us upon two Considerations First That the thing which followes after it is worth the marking and therefore Mr. Perkons calls it a note of Attention Pareus to the like purpose saith thus Ecce ex itantis particula pulsat aures corda ut dict is attendant This behold saith he is a particle of stirring up it forcibly strikes upon the eares and heart that they should attend to those things that are spoken both agree in one that the words of Christ here spoken werr diligently to be headed by the Laodiceans for they were written to them and that they are diligently to be heeded by us likewise for I suppose we take it for granted that they are written for our instruction Oh then let 's heare him let 's heare him pity it is we should turne the deafe care upon him for ever we have refused him enough already have we not aske your owne consciences commune with your owne hearts upon the point and be still and I am confident they must say they will say we have we have refused him enough but shall we refuse him still is that fit is it reasonable What shall we keepe Jesus Christ out of doores though perhaps his head be fiâ—led with dew and his locks with the drops of the night shall we let him knock till his heels ake as we say nay till his heart ake rill his provocations arise to such a height that he will be gone and leave us hath Christ deserved this of our soules or doe our soules stand in no more need of Christ then thus to serve him thus to set him packing with a construction of unkindenesse that we would not so much as open doores to him Doth this sound well or will it sound well in our eares to be charged with this at the day of judgement Is it well for Christ or well for us or well for any but particularly is it well for our Children that we should be so disobedient so gainsaying so mad not well for Christ sure for what friend can but take it unkindly to be so dealt with Not well for us neither for being so dealt with what can we expect but that Christ being thus denied thus refused thus driven away as I may say he should resolve to doe with us since the times of the Gospel as God did in the old Testament before the times of the Law My spirit shall not alwayes strive with man In a word what can we looke for but that he should call no more knock no more waite no more and then may we not justly say unto our souls Woe unto us for we have exceedingly sinned When Christ was dealt unkindely with by the Spouse Cant. 5. Consider the passage and you will see how nearly it concerneth us you will finde what pains it cost the Spouse before she and her Beloved met again At the 2d verse we finde she sleepeth but my heart awaketh saith she that 's well her awaking heart heard the voice of her Beloved It is the voice of my Beloved that knocks saying Open to me my Sister my Love my Dove my Vndefiled Oh how sweet are these words how heavenly these transactions how ravishing are these passages to such as understand them and the loving kindenesse of Jesus Christ in them Well Christ doth not only knock and call and it may be these or such like were the words which Jesus Christ used to the Church of the Laodiceans notwithstanding their wickednesse and indeed I am apt to think so by an inclination of my spirit which seems rationally to leade me this way and that is the reason that whensoever I shall have ended my Sermons upon this Text I shall follow them with these words of Christ in this 5th of Cant. v. 2. and the middle part only and then return to this 3â— of Revelations and the residue of this 20th verse But this by the way To return where I was Jesus Christ doth not only knock and call as I said for he would fain come in but he reasons the case and pleads for entrance Open open my Beloved for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night as much as if Jesus Christ should have spoken in other words thus Pray thee my Spouse my Love my Sister my Undefiled my Dove my Delight my any thing my every thing that is delectable and sweet to me Pray thee open door thou little thinkest what pains I have taken to come to thee to night Alas I am wet I do not say all over but my head is filled with dew and my locks are full likewise of the drops of the night thou knowest not but I may catch cold with thy staying Open quickly my dear sweet friend my Sister my Love if thou lovest me that am thy husband open and let me stay no longer Well you see the plea but doth it prevail a man would think it should 't is strange it should not but it doth not The Spouse reasons Christ away and in reasoning him away reasons her self into sorrow as you may see by what follows Jesus Christ being dealt unkindely with withdraws himself and it gone the Spouse then gets up when 't was too late it seems that he had pleaded so long that she was just rising as I may say when he was going It seems likewise that directly at parting he spake a word for a farewell that pierced her to the very heart and soul it may be 't was no more then in
one word Farewell or I am gone I will stay no longer you use me coursly unkindely as if you loved me not What ere the words were 't is sure they stung for she saith expresly her soul failed when he spake Well but what follows sad work Christ knows and your souls know too if you have any acquaintance with Christ I sought him but I could not finde him I called him but he gave me no answer No! what Christ give no answer when a poor afflicted soul cals that 's sad my brethren but thank your selves for it he cals oft and you will not answer him and therefore it is but just with him that when ye call he likewise should not answer you 't was so with the Spouse and haâ—h been so with us if we have any experimentall knowledge of Christ as a Beloved The Spouse under this transaction findes things go sadly with her afflictions come tumbling on her like waves one upon the neck of another and truly no wonder seeing Christ is gone Woe unto you when I depart from you But see how she is put to it she hunts after her Beloved when he was gone she now seeth 't was better rising before as she hunts and seeks about she lights upon the watch and the watch upon her she was catched abroad at unseasonable hours after midnight belike it may be about four of the Clock in the morning but how did the Watch serve her they smote her and the blows were no small ones we use not to strike children so 't is said they wounded her nay it should seem they left her dead else 't is like they would have carried her to prison but by them she is left belike and then she fals into worse hands at least not better for the Keepers of the Walls light upon her and they take away her Veil Beaten Wounded Rob'd you see she is this was great affliction hard usage but all this is nothing to the losse of her Beloved 't was he 't was he that was gone that had withdrawn himself her soul failed when she spake for him she is sick sick at heart sick of love and I tell you my Brethren and Sisters love-sicknesse is heavy sicknesse What sicknesse like it 'T is an affliction greater then beating wounding robbing especially if spiritual the Spouse tels you that plainly for though beaten wounded rob'd and â—ob'd by those that should have comforted her yet all her complaint seems to be that her Beloved was gone that he had withdrawn himself that she could not finde him and therefore being wearied with searching she seems to sit her down panting under her affliction and as if she were able to do no more she cries out to the Daughters of Jerusalem by which I think you may understand such afflicted souls as are beginning to look after Christ and being young do groan like little young children after him To these I say she cries out as being most probably likely to tell her some news of Christ because of his tendernesse to such souls as being perpetually ready to succour them And how doth she cry out to them truly she speaks as if she were now fainting and could do no more for her self I charge you O ye Daughters of Jerusalem that if she finde my Beloved ye tell him I am sick of Love And what think ye now my sweet Friends is it good slieghting of Christ Is it good refusing of him Doth the Sppuse think so No. And What can you think so that have heard this experiment Take need Take heed my Brethren what ye do You see what it cost her you know not what it may cost you if you deal unkindely with him If ye refuse to hearken and to yeeld up your affections as well as your ears to the words which he speaks what know you whether he will speak again for ever You cannot say absolutely but that the spirit of Jesus Christ may be speaking to you in me now at this very time season and moment I say nothing whose I am God in due time will bear me witnesse and bear witnesse with me if I am his Fly not like the moth too busily about the Candle of your own Consciences If you slieght the burning light of that Candle yet consider betime that 't is too great a boldness to play and dally with the Spirit of God who is a consuming fire Oh kisse the Soune lest he be angry if he be angry yea but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him For Gods sake for Christs sake for the Conversion of Souls sake for your Childrens sake methinks these concernments should have some prevalency with you By all these and all the mercies of God if ever Christ knocks deal but as civilly with him as generally we do with strangers ask him Who 's at doore he will answer you doubtlesse 'T is I 'T is I Pray you open and let me come in for this he knocks calls cries But what will he do when he comes in He will do any thing that is good for us he will sweep the house clense our hearts wash away our sins wash our garments or clothe us at least with clean white linnen These things done he will make ready a Feast for us a Feast of fat things and when all is ready he will sit down with us he will sup with us nay his Father will sup with us too he with him both with us we with them Come Come my hearts I am again your Petitioner for Christs sake for your Souls sake for your Childrens sakes little do you think how much they are concerned in the account of your yeelding yeeld yeeld great hearts throw down the bars away with your oppositions your lusts your sins Let me break open doors at this time with those words of the Psalmist Psa 24.7 8 9 10. Lift up your heads O ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in Who is the King of glory the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battell Lift up your heads O ye gates even lift them up ye everlasting doors and the King of glory shall come in Who is this King of glory the Lord of Hosts he is this King of glory I have done with the word Behold as 't is a note of Attention but I told you it sixeth us upon two Considerations and the second Consideration is point of Admiration I must say something of that too The word Behold is often used in such a tendency of signification Behold a virgin shall conceive with childe I need not quote Texts for that which is so obvious it is a note of Wonder and let it be granted so to be here for surely 't is matter of admiration that Jesus Christ should stand at the doores of such a wicked people such ungodly hypocriticall professors as this Church of the Laodiceans was we are but behold he doth it though it
be a strange thing for us to patterne such a patience yet 't is not a strange thing for Christ to set us such a copy this is the Lords doing and 't is marvellous in our eyes that he is so good so gracious so patient so that we must needs looke a little upon this word Behold in this sense of wonder and truely wonderfull it is if either you consider 1. Who it is that declares himselfe 't is I saith Christ 2. What he declares himselfe to doe he stands Non dicit venio sed sto saith an honest Expositor He doth not say I come and I sit but I stand 3. But where stands he looke and wonder I beseech you he stands at the doore Cur non aperit saith Mr. Brightman Why doth he not open the doores nay Cur non effringat fores Why doth he not breake open doores say I he can if he will but he doth not but there he stands But is the doore open no the more wicked they we all 't is shut yet he will not be gone for my Text saith he seeks for entrance fairely he knocks He knocks saith my â—ext but if you looke into the following words in this very same verse you shall finde he calls too for 't is said If any man heare my voice and open the doore c. Surely a voice a call could not be heard nor supposed to be heard unlesse there were a call unlesse there were a voice both then must be yeelded he knockt he calld he did so to them it may be he doth so to us Let me onely put you in minde before I come to closer examination that it may be we shall finde this true that pulsando vocat vocando pulsat imo demum effringit fores that by knocking he calls and by calling he knocks nay at length breakes open the doores You know what Christ saith to this purpose if we rightly understand it The houre is come and now is when the dead shall heare the voice of the Sonne of man and those that heare shall live The first point of Admiration lyes in the Consideration of the party who declares himselfe 't is I Behold I stand at the doore and knock I Who is that ver 14. tells us Ver. 14. These things saith the Amen the saithfull and true witnesse the beginning of the creation of God He is called the Amen in the Greeke 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ille Amen that Amen and who is that Amen the next words tell us 't is the faithfull and true witnesse And who is this fairhfull and true witnesse let the Scripture tell you plainly Rev. 1.6 Grace be unto you and peace from him who is and was and is to come and from the seven spirits whih are before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithfull witnesse described after to be him that loved us and hath washed us from our sinnes by his owne bloud Anselme hath a very usefull note upon this very word quia dicturus erat scilicet Christus rem mirabilem quod tepidi excommunicandi de ore suo projiciendi essent qui ab hominibus boni credebantur subaudi nec tamen essent ideo promittit se veracem esse ut in his fibi credendum esse videatur ideo dicitur ille Amen or to this purpose and very neere these words Because saith he Jesus Christ was to speake of a wonderfull thing viz. that lukewarme persons were to be excommunicated by Christ and that these were to spued out of his mouth who were of men beleeved to be good and yet were not so he premiseth therefore that he is a teller of truth and that in these things it might appear that he ought to be beleeved therefore he cals himself the Amen or that Amen as much as to say My words shall be found to be true I warrant you Heaven and Earth shall passe away but one jot of my words shall not passe away When therefore you hear Jesus Christ by his Spirit in his Servants and Ministers threatning to spue you out of his mouth for your lukewarmnesse for do not your consciences tell you to your faces that you are neither hot nor cold nay are many of you of any Religion at all do not think that when your consciences are told of these things Christ dallies with you or that he will suffer himself to be dallied with for ever or that it is nothing to be spued out of Christs mouth or to take his Candlestick from you in case you think you have it Beleeve it eleeve it Gentlemen If Christ finde you in such a condition and course of sinfulnesse as to do this to you Evemere ex ere to spue you out of his mouth I must be bold to tell you that it were better for you that you had never been born or that so soon as you had been born you had every one of you a milstone tied about his neck and that you had been cast into the midst of the Sea You will finde these things true at the length for he that testifies these things which I have spoken of is the Amenille Amen that Amen not only in whom omnes promissiones as one observeth upon the place All the Promises are yea and Amen but from whom you will finde likewise Omnes comminationes all the threatnings of Christ will be yea and Amen to those that are out of him to those that have no part nor portion in him or whom he shall spue out of his mouth You see then who it is that stood at the doors in my Text 't is Christ and truly this consideration might be improved a little the better to fix upon our affections if we remember 1. The greatnesse and Majesty of Christ 2. That he is the party offended 3. The great concernment of souls that Jesus Christ is pleased to stand at the doore of any of us 1. If we consider the greatnesse and majesty of Christ In that place of the Psalmes which I quoted to you before he is termed the King of glory In the Vision which was presented to St John Rev 1. you finde amongst many other majesticall expressions that he is described having eyes as a flaming fite his feet were said to be like fine brasse as if they burned in a furnace in his right hand he is said to have the seven Stars the Churches implying he could protect them or do with them what he would he could throw them away if he pleased Out of his mouth it is said there went a sharp two edged Sword that could cut as fast as it spoke nay Heb. 4.12 Christ who is there called the Word of God is said to be quick and powerfull and sharper then any two-edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughter and intents of the hearts My Masters do you think to deceive him you
himself for you see who 't is 't is I 't is I saith Christ Here is 1. Comfort to the drooping soul 2. Terrour to the rebellious I begin first with Comfort to the drooping soul and indeed 't is pity but these should first be comforted before the other be terrified 't is for these mourners sakes amongst others and those others that shall be brought to this condition that the world stands for if once the number of Gods Jewels shall be compleated God will then go to gathering up of his Jewels Jews and Gentiles together and they shall be mine saith the Lord in the day when I make up my Jewels To you then let me first speak you see who stands at the door and from whom those motions of Gods Spirit come whereby your hearts are at any time wrought upon whether terrifyingly in the work of conviction upon your souls for sin by the right preaching and application of the Law or comfortably by the sweet strivings and wooings of the Preparations to the Gospel whether at this or at other times from whom come all these things My Text tels you in effect that they come from Christ and is not Christ your friend think ye why are ye afraid O ye of little faith yea perhaps I may as yet say O ye of no faith In the 14th of St. Matthewes Gospel we finde that Jesus had constrained his Disciples to get into a Ship and to goe on the other side of the sea there mentioned whilest he sent the multitude away the Disciples no doubt hoped that Christ would not be long after them nor was he for we finde that when the Ship was tossed with waves in the midst of the sea for the wind was contrary about the fourth watch of the night Iesus went to them walking on the sea The Disciples seeing this were troubled they thought they had seen a spirit and they cried out for feare but Christ quickly comforts them Be not afraid saith he be of good checre 't is I. How fitly is this applicable to your soules ye sonnes and daughters of affliction Jesus Christ hath constrained you to get into a Ship a Ship of soul-affliction let that be supposed to be the Ship in this Ship ye are tossed and tumbled with waves for the windes are contrary and ye think poor soules ye shall never come to your haven stay stay a little my sweet daughters of Hierusalem doe not droope too much loose not your Anchor hold so easily looke about you a little and perhaps you will discern Christ walking in this sea of your troubles Perhaps not knowing him when ye see him nor being well acquainted with him ye will mistake him and be troubled and think 't is a spirit that will destroy you and that he is your enemy 't was thus with the Disciples why may it not be so with you But see ver 27. Jesus straightway spake unto them saying be of good checre it is I be not afraid If ye can hear Christ saying it is I it is I be of good chear be not afraid will your afflictions trouble you then Waire then upon the Lord patiently you know not how soone Christ will shew himselfe to you I can assure you 't is now towards the fourth watch of the night and 't is not long till the morning waite comfortably under your storme your afflictions cannot last long the day-starre will arise and if Jesus Christ give you the morning-starre will it not be worth all your afflictions all your sorrowes all your tossing in these waters all the troubles you have undergone in your fears Be of good chear 't is I 't is I. Would you have more when you hear him and see him catch him in your armes and cry out with old Simeon The Lord now lets his Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen his salvation or as Philip which spake to Nathanael I have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth the Sonne of Joseph Ioh. 3.45 I have done with you at this time I come next to the rebellious and forgive me if professing my selfe a true Minister of Jesus Christ I come to you like Christ with clouds with the clouds of Gods indignation with clouds of darknesse and trouble upon your souls for your sinnes in suffering Christ to knock so oft to call so long to cry so loud so that it may be truly said of him as Christs mother and brethren and sisters said touching themselves in seeking Christ he hath sought you sorrowing and you have beene the cause of it for ye have many a time suffered him to strive knock call cry cry aloud and yet ye have given him no entrance he is out of doors still the door is locked still nay ye have set strong barres of opposition to keep him out nay to keep him out purposely You think perhaps you have not but I can make it apparent ye have nay and God willing I shall make it appear in a spirituall enquiry after some soule transactions before I have ended all my endeavours upon this Text. And what will ye say then touching your wickednesse must ye not will ye not say then 't is of the Lords mercy we are not consumed how ye should say lesse I know not But to prepare you herein for this Sermon will be but the shell the outside the kernell is to come be pleased to remember from that which I have already spoken that when ye sinne against the motions of Gods Spirit which I am confident hath been long strugling with you that in so doing ye sinne likewise against Christ against that Christ that it may be hath washed us from our transgressions by his own bloud and we not know it This consideration of sinning against Christ was a tender thing once with the Apostle St Paul 1 Cor. 8.12 where reproving the Corinthians for offending the consciences of the Brethren in eating things offered to Idols a thing too usuall in a spirituall sense in these daies he reproves them and terrifies them in so doing by fastening this upon them that they sinned against Christ But when ye sinne so against the Brethren and wound their weak Consciences ye sinne against Christ as much as to say and what will ye do that will ye do so indeed What we Christians sinne against Christ that hath made us so that hath washed us from our sinnes by his own bloud what we doe it Tell it not in Gath. Let others doe it if they will doe ye doe it if ye will but I tell you plainely I Paul will never doe it God willing wherefore if meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh whilest the world standeth lest I make my brother to offend His words by plaine and ready arguing with halfe an eye you may see to come to thus much that rather then I will sinne against Christ which I must doe if I make my brother to
occasion they can of setting themselves against their own mercies they cannot endure the Lord to speak as it were one word more And therefore choaking him as soon as they can they run presently into a Refuge of lies good fellowship drinking musick some pastime or other to stop the mouth of conscience which would be convincing them of sinne of righteousnesse of judgement to come and by arguments drawn from thence would stagger them at their sinful courses but none of that I thank you their sins and they cannot part company so easily and therefore the Spirit of God is looked upon by them as their enemy because it tels them the truth and will not flatter them nor suffer them to run so quietly to their own destruction With some perhaps he gets a little faiter quarter they will hear the reproofs consider the terrors of Gods judgements which are threatned spiritually to their inward man to reclaim them from their sins but when they have heard all they think to make up all with a little humiliation a few tears a little rugging and striving to cry to God for mercy and if upon a duty of praier or humiliation they finde a little peace and quietnesse though Gods intention in giving it be but barely to bear up their hearts under soul affliction untill the times of a more full and more gracious dispensation comes then up they get upon their tiptoes presently their afflictions are all vanished or banished in a moment God is their God now sure for say they he hath heard our supplications he hath forgiven our sinnes herein miserably mistaking a little arbitrary consolation which God grants in a designe of supporting the soul till it be fit for a more gracious dispensation for a sure signification of forgivenesse of sins the groslenesse of which mistake I shall clear upon some occasion or other in Gods good time and it may be before I have ended my meditations upon this Text. Some the Spirit of God prevails so farre with that 1. They are willing to be reproved and chidden for their sins but from thence are too apt to conclude a sure estate of soul 2 The work of conviction being strong upon their souls they are apt to make many fair promises many strong engagements that they will do so no more 3. But then thirdly when Gods back is but turned as I may say or that they think him but out of sight they start aside like a broken bow and neither promises Covenants or any other obligations prevail with them at all but they turn with the dog to their own vomit and with the sow to the wallowing in the mire and if the motions of Gods Spirit presse them to consider their breach of vowes and Covenants and their promises of better obedience they either heal their hurt slightly with a few prayers and teares and then they think all is well as I observed before or secondly by a long practise of such ungodly eourses they come at length to such a desperate hardnesse of heart that they conclude there is no hope and so conceive it to no purpose to strive any more to pray any more to be humbled any more to hearken to the motions of Gods Spirit any more the finall conclusion is as they throw off all hope so they throw off all duty and let Christ by his Spirit say what he will they think all is to no purpose to hear him or obey him and this last and worst part of this character hath been my own case for almost this nine years or thereabouts till within this year and a half about which time apprehending some abatement of those judgements which my apprehensions had been long terrified with for my grievous sins especially for hiding my little Talent which I looked upon as given me by God not to hide but to publish I was about a year and half since resolved to submit my self to be at Gods disposing and to serve God as well as I could though I looked for nothing but hell as my portion for ever only I hoped it would be hell mitigated and me thought I had strange kinde of hopes that in hell I should finde a little comfort and a little strength to endure it and to dwell with everlasting burnings because I was willing to submit but these strange hopes soon vanished and became nothing for about a quarter or half a year after I was thrown down again into the dreadfullest apprehensions of Gods eternall judgements that ever were presented to any mortall man upon Gods earth since the creation of God or that the world began with this heavy load of apprehensions I walked for above half a year together viz. all this last summer and some little part of the beginning of winter but at length the spring is come and the chirping of Birds hath been heard by me there was never such mercy shewed such compassion manifested to any soul in the world I am alive and the loving kindnesse of God hath appeared to me But I tell you my brethren and friends my rebellion against Jesus Christ my standing out against the motions of Gods good Spirit hath cost me dear and so dear I would not for a hundred thousand worlds endure the like horrors again It would amaze you all nay almost affright you out of your wits to tell you what I have seen but God in Jesus Christ I trust hath delivered me for ever and God strengthning me I will praise him for it yea I will magnifie him as long as I have my being And now my dear friends I am set forth to you as an example of Gods terrors and judgements if ye shall rebell against Christ and perpetually resist the motions of Gods gracious Spirit striving with you as I have done I am withall a mirrour of Gods infinite rich mercies in the pardoning of iniquities and an example of heartning to you if God shall be pleased to give you repentance from your sins and from all your ungodly courses as to me I hope in God he hath done in some measure but if having such a warning given in such grievous judgements if the riches of Christs mercies in finding a way to pardon such a sinner as I am if neither of these nor both together prevaile with you nor be a means to hearten you and to cause you to live in some hope at least that it may be the Lord will have some mercy some compassion for you as well as for me If I say thesethings will be no means to reclaim you then I must be bold to tell you that I cannot say so much as a Judge to a condemned person Lord have mercy upon your souls I must leave you to God only at present let me put you in minde of these things which follow 1. That it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God Heb. 10.31 for our God is a consuming fire Heb. 12.29 2. That certainly you have sucked in some desperate principles touching the decree and election of God which do so poison your souls with hopelesnesse that if ye come to hear a Sermon 't is for very shame of the world lest men should account you of no religion accounting it in all other respects vain and unprofitable either to hear a Sermon or to serve God at all and the truth is I much suspect this latter it having had a strong influence into my own troublesome and dreadfull apprehensions for so long together 3. That you will finde it dangerous indeed to dally with Jesus Christ a little longer he is now coming in a solemne manner to treat about the businesse of leaving of our sinnes and turning to God and this I hope to evidence clearly as occasion shall offer it self if I can have the liberty of a publike Pulpit as I desire but if I cannot I trust Jesus Christ who is now nigh at hand in his spiritual coming will vindicate me from the charge of being guilty of other mens transgressions which God willing I will endeavour to my utmost to prevent if I may be suffered but if I alone must be hindred I hope God will regard my innocency and men will at length know my integrity and affection to their souls FINIS